The Billionaire's Secret: A BWWM Romance Mystery (7 page)

Chapter
Fourteen

My phone buzzed.

Then it buzzed again.

When it angrily vibrated its way
right to the corner of the desk, I swore and shoved it into my purse.

When it kept buzzing, I swore again
and kicked the whole thing across the office.

Now the buzzing was faint enough to
ignore. I sat back down to my invoices and turned up the music on my iPod.

Let
him
stew. Let
him
be left
hanging, with no explanation, for hours on end. Let
him
feel shitty about himself for a while.

Kit poked his red head in from the
front of the store. "You okay back here, lover? I heard banging."

I gritted my teeth. "Yes, I'm
fine." It was a lie that I needed to believe.

Kit stood there for a beat, waiting
to see if I'd elaborate. When I didn't, he sighed. "It's deader than Shia
LeBouef's career up here. I'm locking up and heading out. You ready?"

I frowned at the stack of unpaid
invoices. After the optimistic rush of Valentine's orders, and the subsequent
spending on inventory and payroll, we fell right back into the red. The
longtime clients, used to Mrs. Young's lackadaisical bookkeeping, were up to
their usual tricks. I needed to come up with new funds - and quickly - just so
she could pay me. "Nah, I'll close up," I told him. "You go
home."

"Okay, lover, don't forget to
turn down the heat. Love ya." He sounded tired and dispirited. I
understood.

I gathered the stack of invoices and
the wheezing laptop and pushed through to the front. The sun was setting below
the snow clouds, sending out a weird golden haze over the glass-fronted stores
of 8th Street. The yellow cast it gave the snowbanks made the streets of South
Philadelphia look like the dunes of the Sahara. It was weird and otherworldly
and maybe that was why I jumped so badly when the door banged open.

"What the fuck?!" I shouted
as the icy blast sent my carefully cataloged invoices fluttering to the floor.

"Oh shit, sorry," Liam
rushed to pick them up before they landed in the puddles of melted snow he left
on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing
here?" I demanded, snatching them away.

"Well when you didn't answer my
texts," he bristled, "I decided I had better go see if you were
okay."

"How about Lily, is she okay?' I
shot back.

He stiffened. "Shay...."

"Don't 'Shay' me. I don't give a
shit what kind of sneaky, underhanded stuff you do with your own life, but
don't involve me in it. I'm not interested in being your other woman."

"You're not."

The way he said it, so direct, so
forthright, made me pause. There was no way he was lying...but of course he
was!

"You should go," I told
him.

He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'll go if you want me to."

I licked my lips. He was a cheating
dog, why was this so hard? "Okay then," I said, trying to keep my
voice from trembling. "Leave."

"No."

"What?"

He shook his head. "I'm not
leaving."

My voice broke. "You said you
would."

He took a step closer to me. His eyes
were so incredible. "I said I would leave if you wanted me to. You don't
want me to."

I could feel the heat rising off of
his body in waves. It carried his scent with it. "You don't know
that."

"I do."

"How?"

He took another step forward, forcing
me to look to at him. "Because you're biting your lip and you're breathing
hard." He swiped his thumb over my lip, raking it down over my teeth and I
hissed. "Because your eyes are as big as saucers and they're begging me to
stay," he brushed a kiss across the place his thumb rested, "and tell
you what you want to hear."

I was finding it hard to say anything
but echo his words. "And what do I want to hear?"

He pulled back. "That I'm not a
fucking cheater. On you or on anyone else."

I barked out a laugh, short and
bitter. "And how am I supposed to believe that?"

"Because I am telling you. You
said you needed to be able to trust me. Well, I am telling you that you
can." He was getting closer, and I could feel my walls crumbling as he
drew me in with those eyes.
 
"I
swear, Shay, there is only you."

His lips were on my throat somehow.
Every defense I usually had was faulty when it came to this man.

"Ah, dammit Shay," he murmured,
sending little thrills down my spine as he moved his lips up to my ear.
"You've got me all mixed up. I'm not used to feeling so..." he
trailed off in a sigh against my hair.

I knew what he meant. "Vulnerable?"

He pressed a kiss to my temple.
"Yes. Vulnerable. Maybe that's it." He pulled back and rested his
forehead on mine, so that all I could see were his eyes.

"I'm trying here," he said.
"Trying to do what you asked, be a gentleman," he swallowed hard,
"give you time. But things keep getting fucked up in the meantime."
He brushed his hand across my breast and I felt my nipple stiffen under his
touch. Without meaning to, I arched my back and a faint glimmer of a smile
twitched his lips. He ran his thumb back over the hardened pearl and his voice
grew husky. "The longer I wait...," he bent and brushed his lips
where his thumb had been, making me gasp, "...mmm...the more I'm afraid
I'm going to lose you." He pulled back and I fell forward a little. I
hadn't realized how hard I was pressing into him. His eyes blazed like
lightning in a storm cloud. "I'm not sure if I can risk being a gentleman
any longer."

My skin was on fire where he had
touched me. My heart hammered so loudly that he had to be able to hear it. But
he stood there, stock still, and cast his eyes down, waiting.

Waiting for me to tell him what I
wanted.

My fingers tingled, aching to touch
him. At that moment, the last thing I wanted was for him to be a gentleman.

Fuck taking time. I wanted him inside
of me.

Maybe I shifted, a little intake of breath.
 
Hell, maybe he really was unnatural and
could smell the change inside of me. But when I made up my mind, he knew, he
knew.
He snapped his eyes up from my
feet and demanded, in a harsh, ragged whisper. "Tell me you're ready.
"

I bit my lip. It had been so long
since someone touched me down there. I was practically whimpering with need.
"I'm ready."

I pressed my hands tightly to my
sides to keep them from quivering and betraying me, but he was watching. He saw
it.

My fears and suspicions. My mistrust.

Circling my wrist in his thumb and
forefinger, he gently lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
"There," he whispered, "See? I can still be a gentleman too. If
that's what you want."

I tried to answer, but it came out as
nothing more than a little whimper. For a moment, desire won out and I lifted
my lips to his.

He caught my chin in his hand and
tilted my face upward. Pressing his lips to mine, he waited. Leaving it up to
me.

Chapter
Fifteen

Are you crazy Shay? You're just going to believe him like that? How can
you be so stupid...again?

But my body wanted what it wanted. And
as my lips parted of their own accord and our tongues met and mingled, the
questions in my brain turned to him.
 
Are you what you say you are? Can I trust
you? Should I trust you?

He growled low and pressed into me,
pinning me between the cool glass of the counter and the heat of him. And as he
pressed into me, I felt the demanding length of him, rock hard and urgent. He
undulated then, rocking his hips against me, making me gasp.

Maybe it was that sound I made. Maybe
he felt how alert I was, stiffened and suspicious. But he pulled back just
then, and looked at me, those heavy lids and foot-long lashes veiled with
longing.

I shivered and clutched myself. I was
behaving like a tease, a high school virgin. What the hell was going on?

 
"Shit, Shay," he growled. Then
he took a step back. I watched him as he rolled his head from side to side,
then shivered a little. "Okay then," he said, clenching his fists
once and then releasing them. "I get it." A little smile quirked at
the edge of his lips. "You know," he said, "I promised you that
it would be good. And it will be, I stand by that. But maybe," he lowered
his voice, "maybe right now I should show you how good it can be for just
you, hmmm?"

"What?" I was still reeling,
my body and my mind locked in battle. I flushed with embarrassment.

But when he put his hand on my leg,
just resting it on the inside of my thigh, I flushed for a whole different
reason.

"Tell me," he said,
brushing his hand upward. "Is this good?"

I squirmed a little. The heat of his
hand trailed outward in a slow burn inside of me. It did feel good. Even my
brain could accept that much.

I opened my legs wider and nodded.
"Yes."

He trailed his hand over the outside
of my pants to cup his palm over my heat. I closed my eyes, feeling my brain
slowly shut down, my inhibitions melting. But he touched my face. "Ah.
Look at me. I need to see your eyes, Shay. I need to see that you're telling
the truth when you say you like it." He moved his hand then, rubbing over
the swollen flesh. "Open your eyes now."

I bit my lip and looked upward, then
caught my breath sharply to see his face so close to mine. When he had me
locked in his gaze, he pressed upward insistently. I gasped and he silenced it
with a kiss as I moaned into his mouth. "Is this good?" he asked,
moving his hand rhythmically now.

"Yes," I exhaled, wrapping
my arms around his shoulders. The only thing my brain cared about now was that
he didn't stop making me feel so good. My hips tilted up of their own accord
and a soft thrumming began to sound in my veins.

He moved his hand away and I couldn't
help it. I hissed. He chuckled softly and tugged at my zipper. "Greedy
girl," he rasped tightly, yanking down. I lifted my hips away from the
counter allowing him to pull my pants to the floor. He dropped down kneeling
and pressed a kiss to my inner thigh. "Still good, Shay?" he asked,
peering up from between my legs.

He looked like he knew the answer.

His warm breath hit the cooled fabric
of my panties and I blushed when I realized how soaked I was. "Yes,"
I moaned, quivering slightly.

He inhaled sharply and his eyes
darkened. Cupping his hands around my ass, he pulled me to his mouth. "Ah,
god!" I gasped as his lips touched my singing nub. I was practically
vibrating now. There was nothing between us but that fragile piece of damp
fabric.

"Let's get rid of these then,
hmmm?"
 
Liam said. The
vibrations of his voice against me made me squirm sharply as he yanked my
panties down. I heard the fabric tear but I didn't care. All I cared about was
how close he was to my center, how little it would take for him to just reach
out and touch me there, love me there, there...right there....

"Shit," he breathed as he
tossed my panties over his shoulder. "Shay, you're gorgeous." With a
growl, he lifted me again, depositing my bare ass on the counter. I brushed my
hands through his coarse, close-cropped curls as he bent down between my legs
again, and he smiled up at me. That devastating dimple nearly knocked me dead.
"Are you still good?" he asked....

Just before his flicked his tongue
over my clit.

I was so worked up that it nearly
sent me sailing off the counter. "Yes!" I shrieked, though I had
forgotten the question.

"Good," he rumbled. He
pressed the flat of his tongue against the whole of me, and then swirled his
finger around the outside of my entrance. Finger, tongue, finger, tongue, - he alternated,
dipping inside of me. He worked for a moment in perfect rhythm, before he moved
his tongue up again, flicking and fingering me in turn. "God you taste
better than I dreamed. So sweet, fuck, you're so sweet." He paused,
spreading my legs wider, then growled out an animal sound, "Fuck being a
gentleman, Shay. I don't think I could stop if I tried."

I clutched the countertop, braced
against his assault. "No," I hissed, "No stopping." I
squeezed my eyes shut and yielded the last ounce of self-control that I
possessed.

He rumbled something fierce and
spread my legs even wider, exposing the whole of me. I was on display to him
just like the flowers in the case and fuck if he wasn't making me bloom. I felt
myself begin to move in the rhythm of his tongue; hips rolling and pressing in
time with each stroke of his finger. I felt myself open up. Something that had
been closed a long time.

"Oh my god, Liam," I cried.
He was everywhere. Fingers, tongues, mouth, lips, every sensation a spark that
added to the blaze that was burning up inside of me, threatening to consume me
whole. I felt the shiver, the pause in the air while everything hung at the
edge.

And then the explosion.

With a sharp, guttural cry, I surged
upward and then collapsed back. He was right there, ready to catch me before I
plummeted off of the counter and he held me tightly while I shuddered and
quivered around his finger.

As my breathing slowed and I
dissolved against his chest, he pressed a kiss to my temple. I could hear his
ragged breathing, feel the rock hard press of his need, but he only held me
close until the last aftershock died away.

He pulled back. "
That's
how good it can be," he
said, slipping his finger out of me and trailing it up my stomach. I shivered,
still unable to form words.

With his other hand, he cupped my breast
and gently squeezed. "This is for me," he teased, squeezing twice
more.

"That was...," I was still
trying to find my powers of speech again. I failed. "Pretty good," I
finally gasped. Little shockwaves were still traveling up my spine and I wanted
to lie down.

"Tough customer," he
chucked darkly.

"Umm," I moaned.
"Satisfied customer."

If I hadn't already had an orgasm,
the sexy, cocky grin he smiled just then would have brought me right to the
brink. No one had any right to be this handsome, it was absurd.

But here he was. He existed and his
fingers smelled like me. It was all too much.

"Liam," I looked up at him.
"What does this mean?"

He cocked his head. "Mean?
There's no deep meaning here, Shay. I wanted you. I've been wanting you. I
still want you."

I lay back in his arms a little,
letting him cradle me. "I want you too. You'll tell me the truth, the
whole truth, from now on?"

His face darkened. "If you want
the whole truth, I'll tell it to you."

"Thank you," I swallowed.

"You're sure you want it?"

I looked up at him sharply.
"Yes, of course I do."

"So ask me," he said.
"If you have a question, then just, please, do me the courtesy of asking
me instead of running off or slinging insults. I promise I will give you an
answer."

I swallowed again. The veiled threat
- that I may not like the answer - hung in the air. But he had promised.
"Why did you leave Longwood?"

He looked at me, anger making his
eyes snap. "You already know this."

I pressed my lips together.
"Because Lily called."

"Yes."

"That's your answer?" I
slid off the counter onto my jelly legs.

"What more do you want?"

"Something, Liam. Give me
something."

"Okay, you want the truth? I'm
telling it to you. Right now," he thundered. "Whether you believe me
or now, you're it for me Shay. The only one I want. But if Lily ever calls and
needs help, I'll go to her. That's just how it has to be." He spun and
started pacing like a caged wildcat. "That doesn't mean I'm fucking her or
in love with her or whatever deep meaning you want to attach to it. It's just
my reality. Something I
have
to
do."

I clenched my fists. The afterglow of
what he had just done to me was still sounding through my body and now he was
telling me he would go to her? Over me? And that was that?

"Okay," I told him evenly.
"If you're not fucking her," I grabbed my pants off the floor,
feeling ridiculous. I was still soaked with his love. I couldn't believe we
were having this argument now.
 
"Then I want to meet her." It sounded completely reasonable to
me. "Clearly she's someone special to you. Then she should be special to
me."

His eyebrows slammed together.
"No."

I felt a little explosion of rage in
my right temple. "Why not?"

"You can't. It's not a good
time. For her."

His fingers still smell like me, and he's telling me this?
I couldn't believe his nerve. I
crossed my arms. "Then we have nothing here."

He stood back and paced the floor for
a second. "Shay, this isn't about hiding her from you. You're strong, you
can handle truth. You've made that amply clear." He looked up at me, imploringly.
"She can't."

"You're more worried about her
feelings than mine...."

"Yes."

There was no arguing. He was
immovable. Whatever she was, he wanted to protect her...from me.

"Just tell me one more
thing," I demanded.

He shoved his hands in his pockets.
"What?" he said, hanging his head.

"Is Lily the one you bought the
flowers for?"

His mouth worked. He wanted to lie. I
could tell. But he didn't. "Yes," he whispered, his voice ragged and
exhausted. "Yes, they were for her." He looked up. "And she
thought they were beautiful."