Pawn of the Billionaire (17 page)

I
lay
on the therapy table as the physical therapist manipulated my back. It wasn’t comfortable, but I could feel the knotted muscles loosening. It would all help in the long run. Perhaps I’d been too stubborn, refusing to come here until a week had passed without it feeling better.

“Is that all right, Miss Chapman? Are you warm enough?”

“Mmm. It’s fine, thanks.” I wanted to be quiet, and just think.

It’d been a busy week. Suite Five was now full of people planning the marketing campaign. James had been wonderful. I’d finally asked him for help, and he’d sat down with me and Paul, going carefully through what we’d done.

“The first thing you need is to get a psychologist on board,” he’d said. “You can’t possibly anticipate all the questions needed without professional advice.”

Paul and I had looked at each other and burst out laughing. We’d not even thought of it. James had looked at me, bemused. I’d struggled to stop giggling long enough to explain. It had been a strange week. My mood was silly and giggly. I felt stupid, but I was just so glad to be back home. And it really felt like home.

I didn’t know how to broach the subject, but I was ready to leave the apartment. Each evening we’d have dinner, our conversations wide-ranging. Each evening, we’d end up on the sofa in his office, talking. We’d kiss, but James was driving me mad with his caution, and I was ready for so much more. But at the end of the evening Steve would be waiting with the car to take me back to the apartment, and somehow the right moment never materialized.

The therapist tapped my shoulder, and I rolled over and sat on the edge of the table. My back felt warm, but I could certainly move more easily.

“There you are, Miss Chapman. That should help.”

I smiled. “Thank you. It’s already looser.”

He nodded. “It’ll take a little while. I’ll see you in three days, and we’ll check on it again for you.”

A
s Steve drove
me back to the apartment, I decided that I’d have to take the next step. James wouldn’t. So I went to find Anne.

That evening, I dressed carefully, glad my movements were easier, and that I had such a wonderful choice in a walk-in closet that was bigger than the room Maria and I had shared back at the Lodge.

Steve came to the apartment and he carried my suitcase down for me. I was moving back, whether James thought I was ready or not. I leaned forward as we drew up towards the house.

“Steve, I’ll go in the front like I usually do. Can you take the case around the back and give it to David to go up to my room, please?”

“Yes, Miss Chapman.” He looked slightly worried. I smiled at him. “You won’t get into trouble. I promise.”

A
fter dinner
, James and I sat in the lounge again, and I curled up, so happy that I was moving more freely.

“I think the therapy helped,” James murmured, his arm around me.

“Definitely. Thanks for insisting.”

“My very own stubborn Toni.” He sounded amused.

I snuggled in closer, undoing one of his buttons and sliding my hand inside his shirt, feeling him as well as hearing his sharply indrawn breath. “Am I allowed to be stubborn about another request?”

“Hmm.” He pretended to think. “Well, it might be the best time, while I’m feeling indulgent. So, what is this demand, then?”

I looked up at him. “I’m staying here tonight. My suitcase is upstairs.” There was silence. His expression didn’t change, but under my hand, his heart beat faster. I jerked my hand away in confusion. He smiled.

“Thank God for that,” he said. “I’ve been wondering when you’d decide on that.”

I jerked around and stared at him. “I’ve been waiting for you to say!”

He shook his head. “The decision had to be yours. I wasn’t going to put you under any pressure.”

I couldn’t believe it. A whole week wasted.

No, not wasted. I stood up, faced him, hands on hips. “Okay. One more thing.”

His eyebrow quirked. “Only one?”

He’d made me practice hiding my feelings before. I’d got quite good at it, I thought. So I smiled sweetly instead of smacking him and said, “Well, one for now.” I leaned forward, the joke was over. “No more secrets. No more,
I’ll wait for this, even if I want it, I’ll make you guess what I want
.” I stood straight again. “No more secrets.”

His eyes shadowed over, and my heart nearly stopped. I’d not even paused to think he might not be being completely honest with me even now.

“No more secrets,” he echoed. “At least, no more new secrets.” He stood up beside me, and went to put his arms around me. I flinched. What was he going to say?

“There are two things you need to know about, Toni, but I can’t tell you yet, until they’re finalized.” He bent his head. “Neither will keep us apart.” He lifted my chin, gently. “Will you trust me, Toni, just with those two? Apart from those, I agree, no more secrets.”

I stared into his face. “What are they? Why can’t you tell me?”

He shook his head. “Neither are certain or clear. I have to make sure what I tell you is the truth and not assumptions. As soon as I know, I will tell you. I promise.”

I wanted to trust him, I really did. Did I believe him that I’d misinterpreted the call I’d overheard?

I thought for a moment. “Can you tell me though, is there anyone else involved in either of those secrets? Is there another person in your life?”
Please God, please God, let the answer be no
. I didn’t want to know if the answer was yes, but I had to, needed to.

His mouth was very close to mine. “My Toni, there is no other woman in my life. There hasn’t been for quite a while, and there never will be again. Only you, for the rest of my life. I promise.”

My heart turned over and began to race. I believed him absolutely. I wanted to trust him about those two secrets, so I pushed away my fear and lifted my mouth to his. His hand tangled up behind my head and his lips crushed against mine, his mouth open, demanding, and I yielded to him, feeling complete again. His other arm was around my waist, holding me up, as I felt my strength dissolving with the force of my relief and emotion.

I pulled away from his kiss a fraction. “Please take me upstairs.”

His mouth nuzzled back against mine. “With pleasure, my Toni. No secrets, it’s my pleasure.” He broke away and looked at me, held out his hand. “Come with me.”

H
e didn’t take
me to my bedroom, he took me into his. The understated monochrome look showed masculinity, as did the musky scent of him as he drew me closer.

“My Toni. I have you back, and I will never, never let you go again.” His hand behind me slid down the hidden zipper, and I wondered inanely how he knew where it was concealed. His hands went to my shoulders, slipped the straps off and my dress pooled around my feet. I could feel my breathing was ragged, shallow as I waited while he looked at me. The pain was tight in my chest, I’d waited so long for this.

“Hurry. Please hurry, James. I need you.”

He chuckled. His deep, warm comforting chuckle that I’d missed so much the week I was gone.

“Not on your life. I’m going to enjoy every minute I have you here.”

I shut my eyes, deliciously waiting. Maybe I swayed, but his arms were around me, and he was lifting me, placing me on his bed. The scent of him rose all around me, and I felt a warmth in my center. I felt his hand sliding down my leg, towards my ankle and he slid my shoes off. His touch was gone, and I looked to see where he was. He was standing beside me, unbuttoning his shirt, his eyes fixed on me.

I reached out. “Let me help.”

“No way.”

I had to be content with feasting my eyes on his body as he shucked off shirt and jacket together. Unbuckling his belt, his eyes on me the whole time, I felt my core clench with the anticipation of feeling him inside me. My pussy was swollen and throbbing with need so much it almost hurt, and I decided to speed things up a bit.

I rolled over and reached towards his nightstand. “Will I find something we need in here?” I hovered my hand over the drawer.

He kept a straight face. “You might find more than you bargain for, young lady.” His eyes met mine. “If you want to risk it, I shall use what you find.”

I jerked my hand away. What had he got in there? I thought I’d rather know first.

He laughed. “But if you’re looking for a condom, they’re in the other side.” I made a face at him and rolled over the other way, getting out a couple of the foil packets.

“I suppose I could get the pill, then we wouldn’t have to bother with these.” I ripped the packet open, seeing he was ready.

He took the packet from me, placing it on top of the nightstand. “Not yet.” His fingers tapped at my hips. “We’ve got a little obstruction here, I think,” he said and his fingers wriggled under the band of my panties, and pushed between my thighs.

I moaned, opening to him, ready past endurance. “Hurry, please!”

He bent over me, his mouth kissing my belly, his tongue flickering on my belly button, while his fingers pushed along my folds. “I love hearing you beg for me.”

I hesitated, could I ask for more? He must’ve sensed my thoughts, because he lifted his head, looked up at my face.

“Say it, don’t be afraid.”

“James, will you … will you be rough with me?”

My heart pounded in my ears in the silence.

“Do you want me to be rough?” His voice was deeper.

“No secrets,” I whispered. “No secrets.” I took a deep breath. “I liked it before. I just never thought I’d admit it.”

“No secrets, my Toni.” He lay beside me, and his hand cupped my face. “You can trust me.”

“I trust you.” And I rolled my body and twined my leg over his.

He huffed a laugh. “Wait,” he said and rolled away from me, reaching for the condom. I waited impatiently, drinking in the sight of his hard shaft, licking my lips as I imagined him taking me, plunging into me, filling me completely.

“Concentrate, Toni.” He was over me, the weight of his body pressing me down. “If you want to be restrained, put your hands over your head.” An instant’s thought, and I lifted them, my heart pounding. One of his hands grasped my wrists, held them pinioned and I felt my excitement spiraling wildly. His other hand ripped my panties away, and I heard his growl.

“You’re all mine, you can’t stop me now.”

“No,” I gritted. He knew exactly what I craved to hear, and I trusted myself to him. His thigh pushed between mine, and then he settled fully between me. I writhed under him, my excitement rising.

“James!” I tried to yank my hands free, but not very hard. This was good and I loved him. I trusted him now. I trusted him absolutely. I squirmed and wriggled as his shaft pressed at me. One hand was all he needed to hold my wrists, and his other hand slipped down over my fevered skin, and pressed between my folds. I was drenched, wet for him and he growled his satisfaction, pushing and I writhed again.

He lifted his head slightly and asked, “Carry on?”

“Yes, yes!” I was wild. This felt kinky wrong but so right. I must be awful, but it was so exciting, and I felt myself getting closer, my arms and legs were tingling as I was so — so, nearly — there.

He plunged into me in one thrust, pushing my body higher with the force of his entry, and he pounded hard into me, his hand now holding my leg fully bent, opening me wider to the force of his assault. I loved it, but it was going to be over too soon, and I felt the jolts of fire spreading along every nerve of my body and I wailed out my release as I felt myself squeezing around him, felt the heat of his climax and he collapsed beside me, his hand releasing my wrists. I lowered my arms.

“That was amazing,” I moaned and I curled up in his arms.

“You are — full of surprises.” He bent and kissed me. “And I love it.”

H
er eyes were
bright and excited as she stood beside me, the wind whipping her skirt around her legs.

“So, where are we going?” She pouted at me. “You promised no more secrets.”

I looked down at her sternly. “Surprises and secrets are not the same, young lady, and don’t you forget it.”

The captain approached us. “Ready when you are, sir.”

“Thank you.” I took her elbow and led her to the steps of the jet.

“I told you I was taking you on a short holiday before all the work stuff takes over, and that’s what we’re doing.” I smiled down at her excitement. “The only surprise is the location.”

She smiled as we went up into the cabin. “I can’t wait to find out where it is. And you had to help me get a passport. So it’s abroad.” She gave a little excited skip, and I tried to remember how long it had been since I’d been excited about going abroad. I enjoyed her excitement, though, and sat beside her as we took off.

“It’s a long flight, sweetheart, so we’ll have lunch as soon as we level out, then maybe we can rest this afternoon.”

She reached out, took my hand. “Thank you.”

I changed her grip, put my hand around hers, relishing her nearness. Three weeks since I’d found her, after fearing that I’d never find her again. Two weeks since she’d moved back in, and in all that time I could hardly bear to let her out of my sight. Two frantic weeks of work on her app and the extras. Two frantic weeks of add-ons for Chess too. And two weeks at home, discovering more about each other, two weeks of increasingly growing closer.

Two weeks of news from home, two weeks of heavy negotiations with lawyers and financiers. Now I was ready and prepared to tell her everything. Set her free to make her own choices in life unconstrained by insecurity. I just hoped that she’d choose to stay with me. But I needed desperately to know that she was making that choice freely.

I didn’t think I’d sleep as the jet flew on into the Pacific, but I did, the strain of the last days having built up. As the note of the jets altered, and I began to descend, I stretched, and looked over.

Toni was sitting watching me, wide awake and laughing at me. I made a face at her. “I’ll have the last laugh. It’ll be early afternoon when we land, and you’ll be tired long before me.”

“I’m far too excited to be tired.” She craned around, trying to see out of the window. “There’s not been much to see.”

I smiled. “Not long now.”

A
nd it was very soon
that we were met by a smartly dressed driver and limousine. A bevy of people saw us out and into the vehicle, and another followed with a retinue of staff.

There wasn’t the luxuriousness here of the top resorts, but I valued the chance at privacy more. Only our cabana on the beach, there was no one else unless I brought them here. I didn’t want to meet anyone, I had Toni, and I needed to talk to her, tell her what she needed to know and give her the best time of her life.

She was childlike in her awe as we walked from the simple but comfortable cabana straight out onto the beach. The fine white sand squidged between our toes, and she gazed around in awe.

“And this is all yours?”

“Mmhmm. I like the privacy. I couldn’t get that in a resort.” I strolled down with her towards the water’s edge. The gently lapping wavelets, and the brightness of the sun on the water let my body relax. I didn’t get here often enough. Maybe now I could slow the pace of my life and enjoy time with her away from work. I could feel the weight of the envelope in my pocket, and I hoped that we would be together at work as well as at play.

Past the clump of palm trees, and around into my little hideaway, where there was a lounging area with the beach and sea stretching in front and the trees and rocks behind us. It felt enclosed and open all at once.

“Let’s sit here for a while, Toni. We’ve got to talk before we can enjoy our holiday.”

She stared at me, wide-eyed. “Secrets.”

I nodded. “Secrets.”

“Okay.” She plumped herself down onto the sand, and arranged her back leaning up against the rock. “Okay, James. You’ve chosen the right location for this. Sun, sea and sand. I’ll probably forgive you everything.”

I grinned. “Don’t forget the sex. Sun, sea, sand and sex.”

She made a face at me. “You get into that topic and we won’t get around to the secrets at all.” She patted the sand beside her, and I sat beside her. Then she leaned back, shut her eyes. “Right. Shoot.”

I hesitated. I didn’t know how to start. Both topics, business and family swirled around in my head. She opened an eye, then sat up.

“I’m sorry. It’s not an easy thing, I can see that. But James, you promised that neither thing would keep us apart. So nothing can be bad, can it?” Her hand slipped into mine and she squeezed it encouragingly.

“No, I hope not.” I turned to her. “Everything sort of combines really, but I need to talk about them separately.” I drew the sealed envelope out of my pocket and gave it to her.

“We need to do this first, because once you know about it, it might affect the choices you make afterwards.”
Please God, she makes the same choices though,
I thought, as she looked at me puzzled and slit the envelope open. She read the letter briefly and glanced at the certificate. I heard her gasp and watched as the color flooded to her face. Then she folded the sheets and stuffed them back in the envelope.

She looked at me. “Explain.”

I didn’t know what to think. “Well, it’s the certificate and a covering letter confirming that you now own half the company. The shares have been transferred to you.” I smiled at her. “You’re the co-owner of a big app company, and a very rich woman in your own right.” I took her hand. “I wanted you to have security and freedom to make choices without ever having to worry about money again.” I kissed the back of her hand. “I want you to be beside me forever, but I want you to choose that because you want to, not for money.”

She turned her hand in mine and took mine to her mouth and kissed it. “Thank you,” she said and smiled up at me. “I’m not going to accept it, but I really appreciate the thought.”

I shook my head. “You can’t reject it. The transfer’s all gone ahead. It’s a done deal.”

She made a face at me. “Well, I might just be rich enough for a lawyer to undo it then!”

I put my arm around her, and lifted her onto my lap. “Let’s talk about the other stuff first, though. Then you’ll know everything you need to.”

She leaned against me trustingly and she fitted so snugly I felt my throat tighten. I stared out to the horizon. It was perfect. Nothing marred it.

“Just say it. It doesn’t have to come out perfect.” I was amazed at her perception, and I hugged her.

“Okay. Let’s do the business stuff first. As of now, you’re co-owner of the company. Now your app is nearly ready to start the pre-release hype, I can see two ways to go. You form a new company. You’re the sole owner and you release the app. I’ll transfer the rights of all the work done by Paul. So it’s yours.

“The advantages of that - you make all the profits. The big disadvantage - the media and reviewers don’t believe you can finance the back-end, and are cynical about it, so you have to do significant giveaways to keep everyone sweet. It’s very hard to start a new big business in this field now, unless the new apps have no back-end to manage.” I gave her a few moments to digest that.

“The other way would be to license it within our company. The company does all the work and pays you the full royalties - in fact, I’ll make sure you get a really good deal. Then, as co-owner, you’ll also get the profit share.” I hugged her close. “I also want you working in this business with me. Your creative flair would really help us with new ideas and directions.”

Then I let her sit silently, and we remained there motionless for a long time. But the silence was companionable. I didn’t feel that she was in any way upset. She was just thinking.

Then I sighed. I had to tell her the rest. “You see,” I started, then I stopped. I knew a better way to do this, although I hadn’t planned it quite this way, and hadn’t got the ring with me. But this felt right.

“You might be wondering why I gave you the shares in the company. It’s because I never want to wonder whether a girl might be marrying me for my money. So I thought if I ask someone who’s rich in her own right, then I’d know if she was …” I had to stop, as she squealed and locked her arms around my neck.

“Don’t say another word!” Then she leaned back. “Now, mister. You need to be very careful here. I have form for misunderstanding what you say. So be clear.”

I smiled and touched her forehead with my lips. “I wasn’t planning things this way, Toni, so it’s a bit garbled, I know. But I love you to bits. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I want to ask you in a couple of minutes if you will marry me, but the other thing I need to tell you might make you want to think about it.”

Her eyes wide as she stared up at me, she gave a tiny nod. I kissed the tip of her nose.

“I’m sorry if it’s not as romantic as I wanted. But you have to know, if you marry me, you’re marrying the younger son of an Earl. That would mean we’d have a normal life here, apart from having to prop up the family with money, which luckily, I can afford.” She nodded.

“Yes, I know that James, I didn’t ever want to be a Countess, unless …” And she stopped.

I bit my lip. “That might be the problem. You see, my brother, Edward.” I stopped to think. “Well, we don’t know for sure, but it seems fairly certain that he was on that plane that crashed last month. He was flying on a fake passport, so nothing can be proved yet. But if it is true, then you might become the Countess if you married me.”

She reached up and drew my head down to hers. “I’m so sorry. Losing your brother must be really hard, especially when nothing is certain.” She kissed me. “How long have you known?”

I shrugged. “My father rang to tell me the police were there the day you left. I was a bit rude, I think, I was more worried about you.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “You had all that on your plate at once.”

“It was an added complication,” I agreed. “But I’ve left it to the police and appointed a firm to pursue it from my father’s interests.” I looked down at her. “To be honest, I’ve not seen Edward for quite a few years. Apart from me solving his money problems, we didn’t have a lot of use for each other.”

“Well, if he was that awful,” — she grimaced — you’ve got a lot of making up to do if you were really going to marry me off to him.” And she made a face at me.

I smiled. “That was before I’d met you, even before I’d found out you existed.” I tightened my grip around her. “Now. You know my last secrets. Toni, I love you so very much. Will you marry me?” I couldn’t bear to wait for the answer. “And if you don’t want to get married, will you at least promise to stay with me?”

“James.” She looked up at me. “I love you too. So much. But, would it have to be a big society wedding with all the trimmings?” She looked anxious.

“I thought all girls wanted big society weddings.” I was puzzled. “You can if you like, but if you really don’t, then we’d better get it done before I officially become the heir.”

“That would be better, if you’re sure you don’t mind.” She gave a sigh. “I don’t want it posh.”

I tucked a finger under her chin and brought her face up to mine. “A girl after my own heart. Toni, you’re mine forever.” And I felt her lips part under mine as I kissed her. I never wanted to let her go.