The Billionaire's Son 8 : Always & Forever (A BDSM Erotic Romance) (Billionaire Erotica) (3 page)

"I can't use this!
" I was blushing furiously by now.

Derek began putting his jeans back on. "Don't worry. It'll remind me of how damn lucky I am."

I reluctantly used the t-shirt to clean up and gingerly slid off the desk looking for my clothes. I glanced down at myself and bit my lip with embarrassment. I was still wearing my heels and thigh high stockings.
Good lord.

I snuck a peek at Derek. He looked like a sex god: messy hair, gorgeous body, jeans
rid
ing low on his hips,
and
slyly
staring at me
like he could go another round
.

His eyes raked over me. "You'd better get dressed quick
ly
or we'll never
leave for
Paris."

Derek helped me gather my clothes. He slipped on his t-shirt while I
got dressed.

I smoothed down my rumpled clothing. "Is there a mirror in here? I must look crazy."

Derek was busy trying to return the items on Jackson's desk to where they belonged. "You look crazy
-
sexy right now. Let's get going
before I throw you down again
for another round
."

I
gave up on fixing my mussed hair
as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. We stopped by my office and grabbed my briefcase and purse.

Derek led me down the hall toward the front of the estate. "My car's parked out front. You can leave your car here for a couple of days. I'll make sure security knows."

I caught a glimpse of Marcy down a side hallway as we headed through the large foyer. She was mouthing "
h
oly
s
hit
!
" to me and giving me the thumbs up.
So much for my little secret.
Grinning, I brought my finger to my lips, silently telling her to keep quiet about it. She winked and gave me the okay sign, but I was far from confident she
w
ould keep her mouth shut
for too long
.

During the car ride to my home,
I couldn't get any information
about Paris
out of Derek. He insisted it all be a surprise. His fingers lazily rubbed my leg the entire time, compounding my excitement. I spent about
thirty minutes
frantically packing when we arrived at my house. I couldn't decide which dress, which shoes or which lingerie to bring so I threw them all in a garment bag. I probably had enough clothes to last a week.

When I was satisfied that I had all the clothes and toiletries I needed, I
quickly changed out of my rumpled clothing. Derek told me that there was a shower that I could use on the private jet, so I would wash up later.
There was no way I was going to miss showering on a jet.

***

Derek sat back against the soft leather chair
sipping a glass of
wine
.
All through dinner, he couldn't take his eyes off Julia.

After
surreptitiously
gawking at the luxuries
of the private jet
,
she
had showered and changed into a new outfit.
She was wearing
flowing black pants and
a silver halter top that accented
her
figure nicely.
It was probably designer clothing, but all Derek knew was that she looked damned sexy in it.
Derek had also washed up for dinner
, losing t
he black t-shirt
in particular
,
for Julia's benefit
.

When
they had
finished, Derek
set down his glass and
pulled
Julia
onto his lap. "You're too far away over there."

He loved how naturally she
snuggled
deep
into his arms, like
she
belonged there always.
Julia
sighed
wearily
,
almost as if she didn't want
to break the magical spell. "Derek, I wanted to talk to you about Jackson."

Derek's body tense
d
.
Jackson was still a sore spot with him
. "What about?"

L
aunch
ing
into
her
suspicions about the money laundering,
she told
Derek everything. Even how
she
thought Jackson might be
the one
behind the scheme despite the fact that he
had
hired
her
to investigate.

Derek sat quietly thinking for a few minutes. "I can think of two reasons why he may have asked you to investigate for him. One, he really knows nothing about this and is suspicious. But knowing Jackson, I somehow doubt this. Two, he could be using you to
see how leaky his operation is
- f
ind out how traceable everything is. I'm sure he had you sign tons of confidentiality documents?"

Julia
nodded. "Yes,
but I imagine I could ethically
and legally
breach a contract if criminal behavior
wa
s involved. Right?"

Derek
answered cautiously
. "I'm not sure. We'll have to get some legal advice before you do anything. I'm not sure I like this, Julia. We need to think this through all the way before you go to Jackson with your suspicions."

"That's what I thought too. Things aren't really adding up that well.
Nothing makes sense. I can't figure out
why Vaughn Enterprises
would
need to launder
large sums of money
.
"
Julia
rested
her
head on his shoulder.

Derek rubbed
her
arm absently.
He didn't want to scare Julia, but he was worried.
"Who knows? Since you couldn't trace the money to the recipient, it could be anything. Foreign governments, terrorist organizations,
drug trafficking - the list is endless. My instinct is that you
just forget you found anything.
It's
bound to be
pretty dangerous stuff."

Julia looked conflicted.
"I don't know if I could turn a blind eye to that kind of illegal activity. And I'm also worried that Jackson was so adamant about me checking up on you.
What does it mean?
"

Derek had given
Julia
access to his personal finances while he was away on his business trip. After Jackson's innuendos,
he
wanted to prove to
her
that everything
with him
was above-board. At Jackson's request,
she
had already scoured through Derek's companies and reported back that everything was in order.
Even though she resisted
int
ruding into hi
s personal finances, Derek had insisted.

"
Speaking o
f checking up on me, how many girls get to go through
their boyfriend's financial records with a fine tooth comb?
H
ow did everything look?"

Derek was teasing
her
.
She must
ha
ve
known
that
Derek was wealthy, but
he was certain she didn't
know
exactly
how
wealthy. Obviously, his father was loaded, but Derek had accumulated
an impressive amount of wealth on his own
.

Hesitantly,
Julia
answered, "Everything looked good. Quite healthy."

A laugh rumbled through his chest. "Healthy? Okay. But you're satisfied that I'm not doing anything underhanded?"

Julia
twisted in his lap. "I never thought you were! It was Jackson that kept insisting."

Derek kissed
her
forehead. "I know, Princess. I'm just teasing you."

"You know,
people would be surprised at how much you give to charities and other causes you support. Why don't you publicize that like your father does?"

Twirling a strand of
her
hair
between his fingers, Derek replied, "I don't really worry about what other people think of me.
There's only one person I'm trying to impress."

Julia looked wistful,
"I wish I could be like that. I'm dreading what my parents will say when they meet you."

Derek's eyes lit up. "Ah, so I get to meet your parents? You're not going to keep me hiding in the shadows forever? What would your parents say, anyway
-
a
m I that horrible?"

"No, of course not! It's just your reputation
with women
is
a
bit
notorious
. My parents would be concerned that I might get hurt - that's all."

"Well, I'll have to persuade them differently."

"I'm sure they'll come to see you like I do." Julia stifled a yawn.

Derek didn't miss
her tired
yawn.
"Why don't you go back and get some rest? I have a
few
more hours of work
to take care of
and then I'll join you. I want you to be well rested when we arrive in Paris. We'll have the whole day ahead of us."

Julia kissed him sweetly and then stood. "Okay. Wake me up when you come in."

Derek smiled.
"
You can c
ount on it."

***

Our day in Paris had been wonderful. After freshening up at the elegant hotel, Derek and I spent the day
sightseeing
.
At my request, we visited all the usual touristy sites.
I'm not sure that I had ever spent a more enjoyable day.

A
ll
the
defens
ive
barriers
that I had erected
to protect my heart
crumbled
along with any remaining doubts. It was the little things that Derek did, that made my heart
feel as if it might
burst with an engulfing love.
It was t
he way he
entwin
ed
his fingers in mine and
how he
constantly reach
ed
out to touch me
. It was
when I would catch
him staring at me with naked desire burning in his eyes
or
when he
whisper
ed sweet endearments
in my ear
or
how he always
pull
ed
me close to him
as we explored the city
.
I was n
ot one for public displays, but the couple of times that he
dragge
d me
against his
body and
kissed me with
a
burning passion
, I thought my heart might shatter. I was in love and I had it bad. But it felt
so right
.

That evening, t
he restaurant Derek
brought
me to was
located
in the heart of the city.
I had to work hard to make sure my mouth didn't gape o
pen when we stepped into the elegant dining room. Glittering crystal chandeliers sparkled overhead, heavy damask curtains highlighted the enormous floor to ceiling windows flanking one entire wall of the room and an intricate pattern decorated the mosaic tile floor.
Each table was lavishly appointed with fine linens, delicate china, crystal stemware, fresh cut blooms and romantic candlelight.

After we were seated, I had to ask, "So, this is your favorite restaurant? It's not quite what I expected."

Derek's
thumb circled
the palm of my hand. "I know it looks ostentatious, but the service and food here
are
worth it."

I listened to the lilting melody of the relaxing music and the quiet chatter of the
nearby
patrons. The atmosphere was grand and sophisticated.
The room looked as if it
had
been lifted directly out of the Versailles Palace
and placed
right
at this spot
.

"It's just that this doesn't really seem like your type of place. It's kind of stuffy."

Derek arched an eyebrow. "Stuffy? Are you calling me stuffy now? Have you grown bored of me so quickly
, Princess
?" The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, as if he were trying
to suppress a
smile.

I laughed at his preposterous statement and the serious face he was trying to maintain.
My laughter
caused the elderly women sitting at a table to our right to glance over and sniff with disdain.
I shot Derek a knowing look
and we both laughed at the women's obvious contempt for us.

Leaning in close
,
Derek spoke
more privately, "Really, the food here is delicious. If you'd like to go somewhere else, we can do that."

"No, this is fine. As long as we don't get kicked out for laughing!" I kept my voice low.

Derek
brought
my hand up toward his mouth
and
kissed my bent fingers. "
Julia, tell me that I can keep you satisfied.
I don't ever want you to get bored with me."

He was staring at me so intently that I sucked in a breath. "Derek, I don't think that's possible.
After all that crazy stuff with The Club, I'm longing for something more
normal
.
"

Derek's gaze was so piercingly intense. "You'll never quite get normal with me, Julia. If we don't hide our relationship, you're going to have to put up with
a lot of
intrusive
media attention. I'll shield you the best I can, but you won't be able to fully escape it. Then there's Jackson. When he finds out we're dating, I'm sure he'll make it his mission to make you despise me."

I was stunned. I couldn't imagine
a sexier or
more confident man
than Derek.
And he was insecure about
our relationship
!

Squeezing Derek's hand, I tried to reassure him, "The media is just a small
complication
. An annoyance, really. And if Jackson would try to hurt his own son like that, then I really don't want anything to do with him."

The waiter interrupted to serve our bottle of wine. When he left Derek sighed. "I told Elise's par
ents about her situation. They are still in shock
and I'm not sure what they're going to do, but at least I don't feel so awful about it anymore.
It's all out of my hands, thank God.
I don't want to waste another minute on that woman. But, what if she
carries through with her threats? What if I'm 'out
ed' at
The Club
? It could ruin my reputation. What would your parents think then?"

Strangely, the more Derek highlighted the obstacles in our path, the more my conviction grew. I had worried over these same things days before, but now they seemed inconsequential.

Derek looked so miserable that I wanted to
pull
him close and comfort him. I joked, "Have you checked you
r reputation lately? Being 'out
ed' at a sex club would probably
enhance
your reputation."

Finally, a devilish smile crossed his face. "There
were
quite a bit of fringe benefits to joining The Club. Seeing you in that rope
harness
dress
being one of them."

I took a sip of wine, trying to hide my embarrassment. "Or you in that white toga robe - so intent on
cuddling.
"

Derek groaned. "Don't remind me! I don’t know, Princess, maybe Alex and Katia should remain members. We can always pop into The Club every now and then to spice things up a bit."

My eyes grew huge.
Was he joking?
"It
would
be a good idea to keep an eye on all the girls
there
, make sure everything
wa
s okay…"

Derek twined his fingers through mine.
"I knew you were a keeper from the time I laid eyes on you in the cabana. I love how naughty you are."

I squirmed
in my seat. "
I'm really not
quite
as adventurous as you think.
I'm perfectly content just spending time with you here - even in this stuffy old place."

Derek's eyes lit with mischief. "Well, I'll just
have to
add
a bit of
excitement to this stuffy
old
joint, won't I?
I
have something in mind
-
if you're up for a challenge."

"I love a challenge."
I took another sip of wine, wondering what Derek had in store for me.

He looked
quite satisfied with himself
.
"Why don't you head to the powder room to freshen up. While you're there, check your purse. I slipped a present inside
for you.
"

"A present? I love presents! Why don't I open it now-"

Derek cut me off with a laugh, "No, trust me. Open it in private. I'll be waiting here for you. Impatiently."

As I rose from the table, Derek stood with me. He gave me a
quick peck
before I hurried off to the powder room. I couldn't wait to see what the present was. When I reached the
restroom, I sat on the elegant couch and opened my purse. My hands immediately found the small cloth pouch. I pulled the drawstrings on the little
satchel
eagerly and dropped the odd-shaped object onto my palm.

What was it?
Suddenly, the object vibrated. Squea
k
ing with shock, I almost dropped it. Two ladies passing through the restroom
to enter
the bathroom gave me nasty looks, but luckily
they didn’t notice the object buzzing in my hand
.

Was Derek crazy? He wanted me to wear a vibrator in public?