Her Guardian Billionaire (Forbidden First Time Romance) (7 page)

“Oh, James!” Her desire and pleasure came out in whimpers and groans and he sunk lower. Kissing a trail from her breasts to her belly button, he worked his way down to the top of her slit.

As he dipped his tongue inside her slick folds, she cried out, thrashing on the bed before he could even caress her clit. With gentle pressure, he lapped at her plump, little nub, sliding her slick folds across it, teasing her orgasm higher with every stroke.

She grabbed at his head with her hands, tugging on his hair as he latched on and refused to let go. He hadn’t let a woman touch him like that in ages—ordinarily it turned him off and shut him down—but with Anna it only made him bolder. Hungrier.

Pulling off her clit, he thrust his tongue inside her virgin channel, pumping in and out until she rolled her hips into him—matching his rhythm, fucking his face like she’d eventually fuck his cock. He wanted to take her right then—raise up and slam himself balls deep without warning. But she deserved more.

To be pampered and cared for, brought to the brink of ecstasy and back again. He wanted her desperate for his thick shaft, not scared or unsure. Sliding back up, he teased her clit again and she broke, crying out in shock and wonder as an orgasm ripped through her.

He looked up, past her wet mound, over her gorgeous tits, to her face. Contorted in joy, mouth wide open in an O, flushed and hot—she was fucking beautiful. To think, he’d been ready to send her away only the day before. He couldn’t conceive of it now.

Standing up, he wiped his face with the back of his hand and tended to her restraints, unbuckling the leather and rubbing her ankles. For a novice in sex and bondage, Anna’d surprised him. He climbed onto the bed and scooped her up in his arms.

She snuggled against him, wiped out and satisfied, and he smiled. Kissing her shoulder, he pulled her close and wrapped her up in his embrace. He never thought he’d feel anything for a woman again—nothing more than sexual gratification or appreciation at the most.

But Anna forced her way into his mind and body before he’d known what had happened. Had she been there all along and he’d never known? He wasn’t sure. And in the moment, he didn’t care. She was his and he was going to show her the world. As if she’d heard his private thoughts, she sighed and turned her head, pressing her cheek into his chest and smiling.

Yes
. It felt right to be with her, to be her lover instead of her guardian. To see her as a woman and not an obligation. In the morning, he’d sign the papers and terminate the guardianship per the agreement.

And then he’d ask her out on a date like a real man, not some coward hiding behind a mask. Fuck the paparazzi. With her wrapped up in his arms, he wanted to destroy his carefully constructed life and live. For her, he wanted more.

S
UNLIGHT
FILTERED
THROUGH
the plantation shutters and fell across James’s face. He’d been awake for a while, watching Anna sleep and thinking of the future. On any other day, he’d have been up checking his investments and tending to the business. But none of it mattered right then.

Not when a gorgeous woman sprawled across his bed with delicious tan skin begging to be kissed. Malcolm hadn’t even delivered breakfast, but he’d probably put two and two together and left them alone.
So considerate
.

With a smile, James bent to kiss Anna on the shoulder. If Malcolm wasn’t willing to intrude, he’d rustle up breakfast for them both as soon as he fetched her something to wear. Slipping out of bed, he pulled on a pair of lounge pants and padded out of the room.

He felt lighter, freer than he had in years as he strode out of his wing and down the hall to Anna’s room. Busting in with a grin on his face, he scanned the room and paused. The whole place had been packed up and a collection of luggage sat by the far wall.
Right. She was leaving
.

He hated to root through her things just to find her something wear. But maybe he’d get lucky and not have to dig. Kneeling at the nearest suitcase, he unzipped it and flipped the lid. A folder sat on top and he set it aside, shoving past sweaters, jeans, a robe.
Perfect!

He scooped up the robe, shoved all the clothes back into place, and grabbed the folder. And sent all the papers inside spilling onto the floor.
Damn it!
Setting the robe down, he bent to pick them up, stacking them into neat piles when one caught his eye.
What the…?
He swore it had his name on it. With a frown, he set the rest of the stack down and began to read.

Dear Ms. Sinclair,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the social psychology Ph.D. Program at New York University. Your thesis proposal—an examination of the effects of tragedy on both private and public figures—is unique and a perfect complement to our current faculty. The insight you will provide on a persona like James Davenport is incomparable will only assist you in completing your thesis in record time.

Congratulations on your acceptance, we look forward to working with you. Sincerely,

The Faculty

James set the paper on the floor and took a measured breath. Had she really sold him out? Used his name and notoriety to snag a graduate school acceptance? He dragged his hand down his face and picked up the paper again, scanning for any other explanation. But he came up empty.

If she’d promised insight into his life—a chance to slip behind the image he’d painstakingly built and air his secrets…He stood up and looked around the room, unable to focus as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
She used me. She took my life and handed it to a bunch of academics to dissect and examine.
Closing his eyes, he thought about the day before. How she’d come from the brush of his riding crop against her clit. How she’d run her fingers through his hair as he pleasured her. How he’d fallen for her in a matter of hours.

And none of it was real. Flashbacks to a night more than twenty years ago flooded his mind. A girl, naked and tied to a bench, ass up in the air as a teenage James fucked her. Her moans and cries of pleasure echoing through the room right before his world crashed down.

He shook his head and forced the memories back into the dark. S
he’s just like Bianca. She fucking used me to get into graduate school
.
God, how could I be so blind?

There was only one thing to do. Pulling himself together, he pushed his hair off his face and stalked down the hall, anger building with every step. He passed Malcolm with a tray full of coffee and pastries and never broke his stride.

“Your breakfast, sir,” Malcolm called out.

“I won’t be eating. Call the chauffeur, Malcolm. Miss Sinclair is leaving. Now.” He kept walking, striking the floor with purpose as Malcolm struggled to catch up with him.

“But it’s Sunday, sir. The chauffeur is off today.”

“Then ready a car, I don’t care which one. She can keep it. But I want her out of here. Immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

Slamming his palm out, the door to his wing flew back and crashed into the wall, shaking the entire hallway. He tossed open his bedroom door the same way as Anna sat up on the bed. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and smiled as he forced himself to calm.
I was such a fool
.

In a voice that betrayed none of the rage simmering beneath, he addressed her. “Get out. Now.”

“What? James, what’s happened? What’s going on?” She pulled the covers up to cover her naked body, and he laughed, mirthless and hollow. Stalking up to the bed, he ripped the sheets away from her, leaving her exposed.

“You don’t deserve to hide from me.”

“James!” Anna clawed at the bed, her breasts bouncing in the cool air as she tugged at the sheets and attempted to hide her bare skin. “You’re scaring me!”

“And you’re using me. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That you’d weasel your way into my bed, find out all my secrets, and then what? Use them to write your thesis? Make yourself famous?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand!” She scrambled off the bed, backing away from him until her ass hit the wardrobe full of bondage gear. As she covered her breasts with her arms, her eyes widened in confused panic.

He crossed his arms and jutted out his chin. “You used me. Just like Bianca. Did Malcolm tell you about her?”

“No! He wouldn’t!”

“Oh, so, you tried to get it out of him? How charming. And to think, I almost thought I loved you.”

Anna paled, but stepped forward, reaching out into the empty air as her eyes filled with tears. “Tell me what’s going on. Please. There has to be a misunderstanding.”

“There’s no misunderstanding. I read the acceptance letter from NYU. The one where they lay it all out—how you’ll give them insight into
the
James Davenport and get yourself a shiny Ph.D., too.”

“It’s not like that. James, please, just let me explain.”

“Save it Anna, I don’t want your excuses.”

She closed her eyes and dropped her arms, revealing her naked body in all its glory. A pang of arousal rushed through him and he cursed his body’s reaction. He’d never touch her again.

Opening her eyes, she stepped toward him. “James, I applied to the program almost a year ago, back when you never gave me the time of day. Hell, I don’t think we’d even had a conversation in months. What I told you before was the truth. I want to study tragic events—how terrible things shape people, transform them. I sure as hell know my life changed. It has nothing to do with you.”

“They mentioned me by name, Anna.”

Throwing up her hands, she shook her head in shock. “Of course they did. Everyone knows I’m the orphan you rescued. The one you vaulted from the depths of despair to luxury and riches. I’m a fucking cinderella story, remember?”

She stepped closer, and he could see the shimmer of tears swimming in her eyes. “But I’m not cinderella and up until yesterday, you weren’t fucking close to a prince charming. It didn’t matter how much I crushed on you. Or how sexy, assertive, or compelling I thought you were. I was just a box you checked—orphan, one. Not a person, not a part of your life. Not a woman standing in front of you telling you she loves you.”

James closed his eyes and backed up. She wasn’t going to worm her way back into his heart. Not with her empty proclamations of love. He opened his eyes and ground his teeth together as he looked at her. “Good. Because I wouldn’t want you to embarrass yourself.”

A tear spilled onto her cheek, and he could see the hurt blossom in her chest like a gunshot wound. She gasped and ran past him, not caring about her naked body, him or anything. He’d finally broken her—but instead of her body, bound and blissed out beneath him, he’d crushed her heart. And she’d deserved it.

Anna ran, blinded by tears and anger into her room. She knew he could be heartless. But she never knew he could be so cruel.

If he’d only listened, he’d have understood. She would never use him—not in the way he was thinking. Sure, she explained about him and her past in the application. But if she hadn’t, what would they have thought?

Everyone knew who she was. The whole city watched when he took her in, expecting a little orphan Annie in the flesh. If she’d ignored him in her application, she’d have looked like an idiot. Going on and on about her mom, how her death at the hands of a Daven security guard changed her life, but never once mentioning him? Impossible.

If he knew her need to understand grief and heartache, how she wanted to help people and not exploit him, he couldn’t hate her.

Oh, James!
She fell in front of a suitcase and tugged it open. Why did she have to fall for James? The sexy, handsome, unavailable man she’d lusted after for years. The man she’d watched from behind her sunglasses, longing for him to see her as a woman and not just an obligation.

Damn him!
For the second time in her life, he’d turned her world upside down in a single day and this time she’d fallen. Hard. She wiped the tears and snot from her face and pulled out some clothes. If he wanted her to leave, she’d leave. And she’d never come back. Fuck him and his problems.