Christmas With the Billionaire Rancher (4 page)

“Faster, Nate. Harder. Make me come.”

He increased his pace, pounding into her with quick forceful rolls of his hips that caused Chloe's breath to catch. He kissed her as though he feasted on her mouth, reveled in the taste. And with every low grunt and slap of his skin against hers, her body heated to the point of combustion. Sex with a perfect stranger shouldn't have been so intimate. Lights on, eyes wide open and searching, inhibitions obliterated. She admired Nate's fearlessness. The unapologetic way that he took what he wanted.

Chloe's muscles contracted. Her core tightened as though her body folded in on itself. The pressure built inside of her and she arched her back, urging Nate deeper. “Come for me, Chloe.” His command pushed her closer to the edge. “Come hard for me.”

Her body responded to his gruff voice as though it had no other choice. Chloe's world shattered into myriad particles that swirled in a violent whirlwind. The orgasm swept her away on a tide of sensation and she cried out. Long, drawn-out sobs that grated in her throat. Nate's jaw squared as he clamped his teeth together. His grip tightened on her throat with just enough pressure to send another exhilarating rush through her bloodstream. He rode her with purpose, his brows drawing down sharply over his intense hazel eyes and he grunted over her like a mindless beast. She'd never seen anything so wild. Primal. Another wave of coiling pleasure rocked her and Chloe cried out again, “Don't stop. Oh god. Don't stop, Nate.”

His wild thrusts became more disjointed. He threw his head back as he seated himself deep and nestled in tight against her thighs. Chloe felt the contractions of his orgasm against the sensitive inner walls of her pussy, a delicious thrum that sent a shudder of sensation through her. So intense.

Nate rode out his orgasm, his thrusts becoming slow and shallow. He braced his weight on an elbow but he didn't leave her body as he put his mouth close to Chloe's ear. “I'm going to fuck you until the sun rises.” His hot breath coaxed goose bumps to the surface of her skin. “I need more.”

There was a quiet desperation to his words that speared Chloe's chest. Maybe she'd underestimated the effect his father's death had on Nate. Maybe his unshakeable façade was just that. A mask he wore to protect himself. But from what?

She cupped the back of his neck and let her fingers caress the short stubble of his hair. He'd kept the military-style cut despite the fact he'd been discharged months ago. She liked that he grew it out on top, though. A sort of rebellious twist to a conservative haircut. For long moments they lay still, her legs wrapped around him, his cock still inside of her. He buried his face where her shoulder met her neck and inhaled deeply. “Sweet Jesus, you smell good,” he said on an exhale.

“Are you sure that's not the liquor talking?” she said with a nervous laugh. “After that workout I probably smell like a locker room.”

“You smell like sex and honey,” he growled into her ear. “And I'm not half as drunk as you think I am.”

Her stomach did a little flip.

Nate pulled out and rolled to Chloe's side. It surprised her how she instantly missed his weight on top of her, the sensation of him filling her. They lay in silence as he played idly with her hair. Gone was the hardness, the impenetrable shell of Nate's stoic exterior. Pensive. Introspective. Chloe sensed that he was no longer there with her but millions of miles away in some other moment in time. He was no less intense; even the feather-light strokes of his fingertips carried a focus that was at the same time unsettling and strangely alluring.

“I really am sorry about your dad.” Her voice was small, as though it couldn't push past the perimeter of their bodies.

“Mmm.” The sound vibrated in Nate's chest. Though it was common knowledge that Nate and his father had been estranged, Chloe couldn't help but think his death had taken its toll. That despite Nate's hard-boiled exterior, he balanced on the edge of succumbing to the emotional fallout.

Silence descended once again and Nate's breathing became slow and even. Chloe lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, his arm slung across her waist. She wanted to turn to look at him, but she worried that if he was asleep, she'd disturb him. Icy fingers of fear reached through Chloe's chest and squeezed her heart. She didn't know the first thing about Nate. There was no room for tender emotions and concern in a one-night stand.

With slow precision, his hand wandered from her belly, lower, eliciting chills that chased over Chloe's skin. He traced the juncture where her hip met her thigh and urged her legs to open. She drew in a sharp breath as his long fingers slid between her lips and slowly circled her clit. Again she was shocked that he knew her body better than she did as he rekindled her passion with easy, gentle strokes.

“Come for me again, Chloe,” he whispered in her ear.

She arched into his touch as a moan gathered in her throat. The authoritative edge to his voice made her shudder with anticipation. Did anyone ever deny Nate Christensen?

Four

Nate woke with a start, the familiar nightmare jolting him into awareness. His breath sawed in and out of his chest. A sheen of sweat beaded his skin. The deafening thunder of mortar shells exploding pinged around inside of his brain and he gave his head a violent shake as though it would dislodge the memory that would live with him until the day he died.

There was no fucking way he was going to get through the day. Meetings with his dad's lawyers and his board of directors and then a family meeting with his brothers so they could discus Miranda and what in the hell they were going to do to keep her pestering ass off their backs. He'd be a basket case by dinner and everyone would see firsthand what Nate had known all along: that he wasn't even close to having his shit together and probably never would.

He needed a distraction from his own goddamned thoughts and memories. Something to take the edge off …

Nate reached for the piece of hotel notepad paper and stared at the number scrawled across it. It had been a couple of days since his one-night stand with Chloe and he couldn't stop thinking about her. She'd left the next morning while he was still asleep, which usually sent a pretty clear message. But then he'd found her number scribbled on the notepad with her name below it.

Relationships weren't really Nate's thing. He used sex as a distraction. A form of self-therapy to keep him level. One-nighters and casual encounters with no strings attached got the job done. He hadn't even gotten Chloe's last name and that's how he liked it. Hell, he wouldn't have needed her first name to have fucked her that night. They'd had a good time, parted ways, and that should have been the end of it. Chloe was different, though. Her confidence, her brazen passion, and the fact that she was unashamed of wanting pleasure heated Nate's blood. He'd violate his one-time rule for her. He had to have her again.

Nate grabbed his cell from the bedside table and dialed her number.

“Thank you for calling the Youth Sports Foundation of Dallas. How may I direct your call?”

He pulled the phone away from his ear and compared the number to the one scribbled on the hotel notepad. “Is Chloe there?”

A pregnant pause answered. “Can I tell her who's calling?”

“Nate Christensen.”

“Oh!” The receptionist's tone perked up instantly. “Just a moment please.”

Her reaction was one of the reasons why he hated giving out his full name to people. He was immediately connected to his family's—well, his dad's—money and clout. Even in basic, they'd gone easy on him. Until Nate developed an attitude that gave the drill instructors no choice but to go even harder on him. Some frilly top 40 hit played through the receiver as he waited.

“This is Chloe Benson.”

Nate found himself smiling at her professional tone. As though she didn't know who was on the other line and the dirty things he'd whispered in her ear only a couple of days ago. “I want to see you.”

“I'm sorry, who is this?”

He heard the smile in her voice and it stirred something in his chest, not to mention his cock. “You know who this is. I want to see you. Today.”

“I don't know…” she said wistfully. “Usually when a guy waits longer than a day to call me I write him off. I've got a pretty full schedule today.”

“So do I,” he said. “Doesn't mean I'm not willing to move a few things around. I'll order room service.”

“Oh, will you? You think that's enough to get me to come over?”

“No,” he said simply. “You'll do it because of the way your body trembles when I make you come.”

She let out a rush of breath and that whisper of sound was enough to make Nate hard as stone.

“Eight o'clock.” She cleared the breathiness from her voice. “I have a late meeting tonight.”

Before Nate could respond, she hung up. He tossed his cell to the mattress beside him. He'd dreaded the trip to Dallas. Didn't know how he'd get through the next couple of weeks. But thanks to his feisty little eavesdropper, there was a light at the end of his very bleak tunnel.

His?
Not even close. But maybe he could make her his for a few days at least.

A knock came at the door and Nate took stock of what was going on down south before he made the decision to answer the door. He wasn't interested in dealing with company while his cock was flying at full mast.

He opened the door to find Carter waiting in the hallway, his shoulder propped against the wall. “Jesus, you're just now getting up?” Without waiting for an answer he plowed into the room leaving Nate to stare after him. “We're meeting with the lawyers in a half hour.”

“I told you, you don't have to go. I can handle it.” Christ, did everyone in the family think he was incompetent? “Where are the girls?”

“Babysitter. And I know I don't have to go. I want to go. If anything to convince you not to hand off the money you
deserve
to a deceitful viper who'll be moving on to her next seventy-year-old fat cat before the year is up.”

Nate snorted. “If I'd wanted this life, I would have gotten my MBA.”

“You wanted what we all wanted, to get the hell away from
him
. The business has nothing to do with it.”

Nate didn't know the first thing about being an oil magnate. Their dad had coveted his company. Put it before his wife, his kids,
everything
. Byron hadn't wanted his sons to go into the family business. He'd wanted them to go out and make their own fortunes and to keep their hands off of his. “Honestly, I still can't believe he left us any of it.”

Carter laughed. “Who the hell else was he going to give it to? Miranda?”

Nate shrugged. “I don't want this life. I like my house. Where I live and what I'm doing.”

“You don't have to live the life to take the money,” Carter said. “Why don't you wait to hear what the lawyers and the board of directors have to say before you start handing out checks?”

Nate stretched his neck from side to side. Eight o'clock was a long damned time away. He didn't know if he'd make it without blowing off some steam. “Yeah. All right.” He could placate Carter for now. But his mind was made up. He doubted any of them would be able to change it.

“Good. Now get dressed. We're late.”

*   *   *

“You must have made an impression.”

Chloe looked up to find her assistant Hailey smiling at her. “It took him two days to call. Somehow, I don't think that falls under making an impression.”

“He called. It doesn't matter how long it took. You'll have a big fat check in your hands in no time.”

Chloe doubted that. She'd showed up at Byron Christensen's ritzy memorial service in the hopes of beating the rush of people bound to show up at Nate's door with their hands out. She'd had a game plan: Find a way to introduce herself. Make a case for the foundation. And pray to god that Nate's generosity and compassion outweighed his father's. Instead, she'd fallen into bed with him.

“This is a disaster.”

Hailey clucked her tongue at Chloe. “Rome wasn't built in a day.”

“Was it built in a couple of weeks?”

How could Nate possibly take her seriously now that they'd slept together? How could she even broach the subject of the foundation with him? At best, she'd come off as a slimy opportunist. At worst, a high-priced hooker.

“You've already managed to secure a hundred thousand dollars, Chloe. That's not small potatoes.”

“A hundred thousand might as well be a hundred bucks in comparison to what we need.”

“This is a pessimism-free zone. Your rules, not mine. That sort of talk isn't allowed.”

It was true that Chloe encouraged positivity at the office. They dealt with at-risk kids who grew up with next to nothing and a good attitude was essential for doing their jobs. It was tough to keep her head up though, especially when the future of the foundation was so bleak. She had a couple of weeks left to raise three million dollars in operating funds. It took a fortune to keep their heads above water and they'd lost the support of several benefactors over the past year. The foundation was Chloe's baby. A chance for her to do some good in the world. Giving an opportunity to these kids, providing coaches, and facilities, and equipment—making their lives carefree if even for a moment—meant the world to her. She'd do anything to save the foundation.

Including sleeping with Nate Christensen?
What a nightmare.

Only … it
wasn't
. Nate had been on her mind to the point of distraction since their night together. Her blood heated with the memories and chills broke out on her flesh every time she thought about the dirty things he'd whispered in her ear. His intensity drove her crazy and it made her wonder what it would take to break through his tough exterior and really get to know the man inside.