Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (168 page)

Finally,
Hunter
was coming and as he came, Hunter grabbed Kallie’s hair and pulled hard enough
to send a shot of pain into her scalp.
 
His other hand pinned her hand, then picked it up and pinned it again,
and he suddenly was furiously fucking her, pumping
his cock into her harder and harder, deeper and deeper.

He
was completely wild and almost totally out
of control.

She
was
coming with him because she wanted it, wanted him to take her like this, and it
was incredible and a little terrifying all at once.

He
was
like a force of nature at the end, and he blew through her, and then he was
done.

They
lay
next to one another for a long while.
 
Both of them were breathing heavily, as if they’d just finished a tough
sprint.

Kallie’s
whole
body was covered with sweat.
 
She
felt glorious and loose and fulfilled.
 
She looked over at Hunter in the darkness.

He
was
in his own world, she saw.

“I liked that,” she said, finally.

He
turned to her.
 
“Me too.”

“You
know
what?
 
It kind of reminded me of the
sex scene from Blue Horizon, the one at the Holiday Inn.”
 
She realized as soon as the words left
her lips, that it had been the wrong thing to say.

She
sensed
his body stiffening next to hers.
 
“Did it?” he said, without emotion.

“I’m sorry.
 
I didn’t mean to dump that on you.”
 
She reached out to touch his shoulder
and he flinched a little bit.

“You
didn’t mean to?
 
Could have fooled me.”

“It
just
never seemed like the right time to mention that I’d read your book.”

“It’s fine,” he said eventually, in a voice
that told her it was anything but fine. “Lots
of people read that book.”

That
book
.
 
As if he didn’t have
anything to do with its creation.

“I
didn’t
even know who you were until you told me your name in the bathroom at the end
of the night.
 
I mean, you looked
kind of familiar, but I had no idea.”

“It’s
okay if you knew the entire time.”

“But
I
didn’t.
 
I have no reason to
lie.”
 
Suddenly, it felt very
important to make this clear to him.

She
was
sitting up in bed now, but he was still lying on his back, staring at the
ceiling.
 
It was getting too dark to
read his expression, but she could imagine it.

“That’s
very convincing, Kallie,” he told her,
sounding bored.

“Do
you
really think you’re that impressive?
 
So you wrote a book, Hunter.
 
Big deal.”

He
chuckled
without humor.
 
“Exactly.
 
See?
 
You know everything now.”

“Why are you being like this?”

“I’m
just being myself.
 
No hidden agendas.”

His
statement
hung in the air and she knew what it meant.
 
“I can’t believe you really think this
was some big plan on my part—to nab the famous author.
 
I couldn’t care less about that.
 
I like you because…”

“You
don’t
even know me.
 
I hate to break it to
you, but swapping spit—and other bodily fluids—doesn’t mean we know
each other.”

“Stop
treating
me like I’m some stalker.
 
I haven’t
done anything to deserve

that.”

He
sighed.
 
“You’re right.
 
I know you’re right.
 
It’s just—I’ve had a lot of issues
with people who are fans of that particular book.
 
They tend to have certain expectations
of me.”

“I
didn’t
know that.
 
And I can’t help that I
happened to read some of it.”

“Some of it?”

“I
didn’t
finish it.
 
It’s a long story, but…I
still need to read the last hundred pages or so.”

Now
it
was Hunter’s turn to sit up.
 
He
propped himself up on his elbow and turned to face her.
She could barely see his expression, but his voice was excited.
“That’s good.
 
That’s very good,” he
said.
 
“I want to ask you to do me a
favor.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t
finish
it.”

“What?”

“Promise
me
you won’t finish it.”

“Hunter, come on—“

“I’m
serious, Kallie.
 
I don’t want you to read the end of that
book.”

“Fine,”
she
said, only now she was annoyed with him.
 
She felt bullied.
 
It was one
thing for him to be aggressive in bed, which she totally loved.
 
But he was being just as bad post-sex,
and she really hated that.
 
She was
starting to regret this tryst, which hurt her deeply.

“I’ll
explain it some day, Kallie.
 
There’s just things about that book…”

“I
guess
I should have known something was up with you and that book,” she said.
 
“I mean, I saw that weird, cryptic
dedication at the beginning.”
 
She
was pushing him, she realized—but hadn’t he pushed her enough to warrant
it?

“Don’t
you
fucking talk about that,” he said.
 
His voice was dead serious.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re
so far out of line,” he started.

“I’m
out
of line?
 
Me?
 
That’s funny.”
 
She got out of bed and started putting
on her clothes as fast as she could.
 
“I can’t believe I was dumb enough to sleep with you. Holy crap.
 
I really am an idiot.”
 
She found her shorts and her bra.
 
Now where was her top?

“Kallie,”
he said, his tone suddenly conciliatory.
 
“Hold on a second.”

“Don’t
talk
to me.”
 
She wasn’t even remotely
conflicted and he knew it.
 
“Just
take me home,” she said.
 
“Right
now.”

Neither
of
them spoke as she finished getting dressed and went downstairs and then outside
to wait for him.
 
She hated that she
was now stuck with him for a ride.
 
Not just a short car ride.
 
They’d taken a damn helicopter to get here.

Finally,
he
came outside and got in the car.
 
They drove to the private airfield, and on the way, Hunter made the
appointment for her flight.

“Would
you
like me to come with you on the helicopter ride back?” he asked softly.

She
shook
her head no, although a tiny, tiny part of her cried out for him to come. It
hurt that things had gone so wrong after such a promising start.
 
But here they were— he’d been an
asshole and that wasn’t her fault.

“No
thanks.
 
I’m good.”
 
And then he’d parked the car, and she’d
gotten out without so much as a glance backward.

Soon,
she
was in the air, and against her better judgment, Kallie looked down and
happened to notice that his car sat where it was until she was out of sight.

***

Nicole
wasn’t
supposed to let herself get stressed, but she was stressed.
 
She was beyond stressed.

Kallie
had
been gone all day and into the night.
 
Red also had been gone for hours and hours.

He’d
called
her once to tell her that the work meeting was running very long, that they had
so much to cover.
 
He’d been very
vague about what was so problematic, and Kallie thought she could hear the
guilt in the timbre of his voice.

And
now
Nicole was pacing.
 
She was pacing
the verandah, and then sometimes she’d pace her way into the kitchen, one hand
on her belly, as if asking the baby to forgive her for being this upset.

She
was
picturing Kallie and Red in some penthouse suite, or maybe even his little
apartment in the city that he’d first taken Nicole to back in their heyday.

Nicole
imagined
Red tying Kallie’s hands behind her back, forcing her to kneel, as he cupped
her perky breasts in his hands and kissed her neck.
 
She would be blindfolded, of course.

How
can
he do this to us? Isn’t our love enough for him?
 
Isn’t the baby enough for him?

Calm
down,
she told herself.
 
You might be
wrong.
 
It really might just be a
coincidence.
 
And if they were
having an affair, they’d have to be idiots to make it so obvious.

Except
that
Nicole knew people really could be that dumb and that obvious— sexual
attraction made people do stupid things.
 
She’d done enough stupid things herself to understand how it could
happen.

Suddenly,
she
heard the front door opening, interrupting her pacing and frantic worrying.

Please
let
it be Red, and please let him tell me something that can make these fears go
away, she thought.

But
it wasn’t Red.
 
It was Kallie, trying to sneak upstairs.

“Kallie,
you’re
home,” Nicole said, walking into the foyer as the younger girl stopped in
mid-climb, looking guilty as sin.

“Oh,
hi Nicole.
 
I figured you might be sleeping.”

Nicole
shook
her head and folder her arms just above her belly.
 
“Nope.
 
Not asleep, Kallie.”

“Are
you
feeling all right?
 
Do you need
anything?” Kallie asked, still perched on the stairs, like a nervous colt ready
to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

Nicole
shrugged.
 
“I’ve been better,” she said, walking
closer to get a better look at her.
 
Kallie looked disheveled and tired.
 
Her hair was a mess, her clothes were

somehow
more wrinkled than they should have
been.
 
But it was her wrists that
got

Nicole
truly frightened—and truly angry.

There
were
red marks on Kallie’s wrists—marks that Nicole remembered all too well
after nights spent with her husband.
 
Her blood felt as though it had turned to ice.

“Let
me
get you some water or something to eat,” Kallie said.
 
“I just need to go upstairs and freshen
up a bit first.”

“What
did you do all day?
 
You’ve been gone so long.”

Kallie
couldn’t
even look at Nicole now.
 
And the
younger girl’s cheeks were burning crimson. “I just—I walked around
town.
 
Had ice cream at Scoop Du
Jour…went to the bookstore…uh…and then I hung out at a bar for a while.”

“A
bar?
 
Which one?”

Kallie
thought.
 
“You know, I kind of forget the
name.
 
I’m exhausted, Nicole.”

Nicole walked closer, right to the bottom of
the stairs.
 
“Kallie—“

Kallie
started
to literally run up the steps away from her.
 
“I just have to go to the bathroom,
Nicole, I’ll be back down in a minute.”
 
But she didn’t even get to the top of the stairs.
 
In her haste to get away, she tripped
and fell.
 
Her purse spilled its
contents out, including her makeup and cell phone, tampons—even some
random bills fell out.

Amongst
everything else that fell out of her
purse, was a small white bag with a blue bow around it—some sort of
gift.
 
It rolled down two or three
stairs before Nicole was able to catch it.

Inside
the
bag was a champagne bottle.
 
“What
is this?”

“That’s nothing,” Kallie said.