Pawn of the Billionaire (6 page)

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? Maybe I can help.” I let my fingers trace along hers, up to her wrist, my nail lightly making a path along her skin. “I think you might be worrying too much about how much time you’d need to spend on being the wife of the heir.” I lifted the back of her hand to my lips, just brushing the skin.

“You spend so many hours working now, just to pay your bills. And then you’re so tired, you can’t build your idea.” I sensed her body beginning to respond to my touch, and I moved closer. “You know, not many people can make a success without the help of other people.” I was almost whispering now.

“I couldn’t have done what I did without the backdrop of not having to work a job as well as learning to code. And my family financing my education.” My hand smoothed over her hair, tucked a little tendril behind her ear.

“Look, Toni, being a success isn’t just hard work, it’s knowing the right people to help you. I can help you, with whatever you’ve got in mind. I can provide resources, people, whatever you need. And it’s not cheating, it’s all part of business. Teams do things these days.”

She drew away from me and sat up. Then she went to the windows. I sat, watchful. She stared out over the city. “What exactly would all this involve?” Her voice was cautious, but she sounded to me as if she was almost ready to agree. I felt satisfied, but my body was screaming at me to continue her seduction. I needed to fuck her. My body needed her like a drug. I forced myself back into the present moment.

Standing, I went to her side, and stared out too. I could smell her arousal, her need of me, and I wondered whether she was aware of that too.

“Well, joining the family would mean knowing and doing what is expected of you. So that involves learning a lot. The right way to behave, the right way to speak and the right way to dress. There’s a lot to learn.” I stopped. I was going to tell her about the finishing school, about how wonderful Switzerland was. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Leaving the US suddenly felt like too much to ask for, and I wanted her. I wanted her here with me. I could train her.

I smiled. My Fair Lady. A true pygmalion story. God! That would be fun.

“You would stay here, with me. I would teach you how to become a suitable person to be the wife of an Earl, and I would teach you everything that’s needed.” I thought a moment.

“I would work with you on your idea, or, if you’d prefer it, get someone in to help you work on it, bring it forward. Then someone to help with marketing whatever it is.” I pulled out my final weapon. “And I’ve got Lawrence, my secretary to work on finding and paying for a special program to help Sam. A program for disabled vets, because they should always have someone looking out for them. And you won’t be at the diner any more to look out for him.”

“Oh!” She turned right into my arms then. “You’d do that? For Sam?” Her eyes glistened. “You’d do that for me?”

“Yes, Toni. I’d do that for you.” Her face was turned up to mine, her lips parted, her face flushed. I felt my cock jerk, I had to take her soon.

“Will I be able to see him, so he’s okay?”

I smiled. “You could work with Lawrence, choose the right program for him, help him settle in.” I felt her relax.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. He deserves better than the diner.”

“Yes, he does.” I pulled her closer, “and so do you.” I dropped a light kiss on her forehead and then stepped back a little. Her nearness was uncomfortable, I had to keep a bit of distance.

“So, Toni. Have you decided to do this, to accept your birthright and have me and my team be able to help you become successful? You deserve a good, comfortable life, among people who can respect you for who you are and what you can achieve.” I looked into her eyes. The doubt and indecision were fading and she looked determined.

She turned to the windows again, and I gave her time to think.

“Thank you. Yes, I will. If you promise to help me with my idea, and promise that it stays mine. I want to earn my own security.” Her pride was evident in her eyes, and her relief when I nodded was palpable. I wondered idly what her idea was.

“Thank you, Toni. You won’t regret this. You deserve so much.” I put a finger under her chin. “But I do need you to make a definite commitment. I have to insist that this isn’t something you’re going to change your mind about. I know you’ve proved in your life that you stick at things, like you looked after your mother even though it wasn’t the way you’d planned things, and you’ve stuck at that hellish job. So I think you can commit and work at this. But I need you to promise me that you will do this.” I looked down at her, her serious face and wide eyes as compelling to my body as her arousal.

“Yes, all right. And you promise to help me with my thing.”

“I already have.” I dipped my head in acknowledgement. “Thank you, Toni — Antonia. Welcome to your new life.”

She giggled a little nervously. “I’d rather be called Toni. Is that allowed?”

I smiled, and took her elbow. “I’ll sometimes call you Toni and sometimes Antonia. I’d like you to get used to either. Now let me show you where you’ll be staying.”

“Oh, yes.” She sounded a little breathless, a bit worried at the speed of events. “What about work tomorrow? How will I get there from here?”

I set my jaw. “You won’t be working there any more, Toni. I’ll make sure that the owner knows and receives financial compensation to allow you not to go back. And I will arrange for your belongings to be collected.”

She jerked her head up, startled. I didn’t react to that, and she didn’t comment.

I
couldn’t believe
what I’d done. I must be mad. I’d just agreed — committed — to becoming a lady, to staying with a man I hardly knew, to marrying him and becoming the wife of an Earl. Thoughts were flying around my head, but all I really knew was that he was so hot and so attractive, I’d have agreed to anything he wanted, so long as it meant I could stay near him.

I hoped he couldn’t tell, but I was just a puddle of longing, my panties were damp and a deep throbbing need between my thighs was making it hard to think. He patted my hand.

“One moment,” he said and he went over to his desk and pressed a button on what looked like an intercom. He spoke quietly to someone, and I vaguely heard instructions being given about the diner and my job.

But I wasn’t really listening. I just stood there, hoping I didn’t have a goofy grin on my face. At least I’d had the presence of mind to insist he helped with my app and would allow me the credit. But all that seemed less important this evening, even though I knew I’d be back on track tomorrow.

“All right, that’s all sorted out now.” James came over. “Time to show you to your room.” He took me back to the huge hallway, up the wide sweep of stairs, along a short landing, opened a white door, and ushered me in.

It was hard not to stand open-mouthed in awe. This wasn’t a spare room, this was a complete suite. A comfortable sitting room, and a doorway leading through to a bedroom, all white, with a king size bed piled high with pillows. Just looking at it, I was sure I’d never want to get up in the morning. I wandered through another doorway from the bedroom to a large bathroom. An enormous roll top bath stood in the middle of the room, and half the room was taken up with a walk-in shower area. Twin sinks and enough marble countertop to build a Roman temple, and a stack of the softest-looking towels I’d ever seen. There was a walk -in closet as large as my whole room back at the apartment block, and a wrap around balcony which I could access from the sitting room and bedroom.

James was standing there with an amused smile on his face, watching me exploring, but when I came to the final door in the bedroom that I hadn’t opened yet, he stepped forward.

“This is for me to show you, Toni.” And he reached forward and opened the door. His hand behind me encouraged me forward and I went through into the bedroom of another, even larger and more palatial suite. Unquestionably masculine. Tidy, but lived in.

I jumped when I saw a movement in the sitting room. A manservant was placing a tea tray on the side table, then he moved away without even glancing in our direction. The main door to the suite closed behind him as I stared in shock. Then I felt movement behind me, and I turned to see James bolting the door between the bedrooms.

“This way, Toni,” he said, moving forward into the sitting area. I swallowed and followed him.

He smiled over at me. “Come and sit down.”

He chuckled, making me feel a bit better. “You’ll find I drink a lot of tea. Especially when I’ve got to do a lot of talking.”

I must’ve looked surprised, because he chuckled again — God, it was a sexy chuckle, and made my heart beat faster — and said, “I need to explain a few things to you.”

I went over to the sofa, and perched on the edge. “Why do you need all these suites and places to have tea? Surely there’s a sitting room downstairs?”

He looked serious. “Well, of course. But I wanted to be a little more private here. I want to talk to you about aspects of what your life will be like, how you will need to behave in order to be accepted in the village and other places. I can’t allow you to make mistakes in etiquette, and be looked down on by the other people you will mix with. You’ll be a Countess, one of the senior peerages, and you will need to know how to behave.”

He sat next to me on the sofa. “Toni, I’ll be the first to tell you it’s going be hard bloody work, and you’ll have to accept that.” He smiled that little tiny crooked smile at me, and I suddenly didn’t care if it would mean working all hours just to please him and have him smile at me like that again.

“It will be hard work, and you’ll hate me sometimes. That’s why I had to get you to commit to this properly first.” His hand covered mine, on my lap, his fingers overlapping onto my thigh, and I felt my throat tighten up and my heart begin to race.

“But, I don’t see why we can’t also enjoy some aspects of your training, do you agree?” His voice had become soft and caressing, his fingers just delicately touching my leg, the lightest of pressure feeding the electricity between us.

“Ye … yes,” I quavered. Oh God. He must be aware of what he was doing to me. I tried to make my breathing slow down, my trembling hands keep still, but I knew I wasn’t having much success.

“The only thing you really have to know this instant is the need for utter discretion. People in the public eye, whether it’s through titles or wealth or pop celebrity, they all find their lives dissected in front of the media unless they are very careful and discreet.” His hand was tracing its way down my leg and had reached my knee. I never knew just how sensitive my knee was until then.

“Do you understand that, Toni? It is vital that whatever happens in your life now is utterly private. There is no posting stuff on social media or anything like that, until it’s been approved by me. Is that clear?”

I was almost ready to bury my hands in his hair, pull his mouth to mine. “Yes, I understand.”

“Good.” He lifted his hand to my face, his finger just touched my chin and he raised my face towards his. I stared at his face. Serious, his eyes flickering over my features, settling on my mouth. I was finding it hard to breathe, surely he was going to kiss me. It’d been so long since I’d been out on a date, I didn’t know quite what to do, and I just sat there like an idiot.

He smiled. “Relax, Toni. This isn’t a test, enjoy.” And then his lips touched mine, featherlight and I closed my eyes. I could still see him in the darkness behind my eyelids, his lean serious face and those lips that were now pressing harder, demanding. A tiny gasp, and then I found myself yielding, my mouth opening to his probing demand, and an answering throbbing from my pussy lips and a gush of dampness. I was so ready for this.

In the background my mind was telling me that this was too soon, it couldn’t possibly last, and I was setting myself up for heartbreak later on. But the foreground of my mind was screaming to continue, to take what happiness and closeness I could get, and that this opportunity was too good to miss.

A slight, far-distant fear of being interrupted by one of his staff lent a delicious forbidden frisson of excitement down my spine and I was almost ready to come, much too soon. His tongue traced my teeth, pushed, demanded, controlled and his hand tangled in my hair, drawing my head closer to his demanding kiss.

His other hand touched me, his hand cupping my breast, his thumb sliding over the fabric hiding my nipple and I couldn’t contain my moan as my body twisted closer to his.

And then he drew his mouth away, and I was in his arms, all of me, being carried as if I weighed nothing at all, and he took me through to his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him. He laid me down on the bed, and I stared up at him standing above me, his eyes raking the length of my body, and I let my eyes drift down him too, almost shocked to see the bulge in his pants. Then he sat on the edge of the bed, his hands beginning to unbutton my shirt.

Slowly, so slowly, he stripped me, his hands everywhere, not allowing me to help, sitting beside me as I lay there, his head bent over mine, his lips exploring each part of me as he bared it. His sexy scruff of stubble tantalized my skin and very soon my over sensitized nerve endings had me writhing beneath his hands.

“James!” I heard my pleading, begging gasp and wondered at the new me. I’d never, never felt this way before, and I wondered if I could survive feeling like this for long.

Then his hand smoothed its way down my body, tracing a fiery path along my skin, and his hand slipped between my thighs, slick with my juices. My hips thrust upwards, pushing closer to him and his invading hand, and his smile reached his eyes.

“Are you ready for me, my sweet Antonia?” His finger parted my folds and his thumb found the center of my throbbing need.

As he pinched my clit, I jerked in response “Ah!!” And his hand explored deeper, his finger pushing in, into my waiting core. I couldn’t control my breathing, loud and ragged in my own ears, and my heart raced out of control. “Please, please, James.” I begged. I wanted him, wanted to be fucked, needed release more than anything else.

He shifted around to face my body as, still fully dressed, he continued to explore my secret places. His thumb was still circling and pressing my clit while his fingers were deep inside me, thrusting and rubbing my G-spot. His other hand slipped upwards, circled my nipple, pinched the pebbled erect nub, and I arched my body, throwing my head back at the overload of sensation.

“Come for me, Toni. Let me see you fall apart, come now.” His voice was soft and gentle, though the sense of command was still there, and I was so ready, I felt my thighs clench around his hand, and my pussy began to convulse around his fingers. The embarrassment I felt at losing control in front of him was overruled by my body and as the spasms spread down my limbs I clenched my eyes shut, watching the stars spread behind my clenched lids. His soft laugh was almost drowned out by the roaring tide in my ears as I came, lost control and knew that my life would never be the same.

James’ hands smoothed over my tender, swollen flesh as I came back to Earth. “There, Toni. You’re beautiful when you come.” His hands stroked, pleasured, explored me, and my sensitive skin was teased into beginning to become aroused all over again.

Then he was standing above me, and he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. His lean, toned shoulders and abs made my insides twist again. God! His body was as hot as his face, and I watched as he unbuckled his belt, my breathing beginning to accelerate again.

Then he was naked, my eyes drawn to his erection, huge and ready to invade my body. I felt my lips become dry, and I licked them nervously, and he lay beside me.

“Don’t be nervous, Toni. You’re beautiful and desirable, and I’m going to take you now.” His lips pressed to mine and his hands began exploring my breasts, his nails tracing a path over my nipples. I felt his hardness pressing against my hip, and jerked uncomfortably. Then he moved his head, took my nipple in his mouth and his tongue began to tease me, making my whole body tense again.

Cautiously, I began to touch his body, and ran my hand down his side, towards his ass, but he lifted his head and shook it at me.

“No, don’t touch me today. Today is for you to experience.”

I snatched my hands back as if burned. I watched him reach over to the nightstand and pull a foil packet from the drawer. He rolled onto his back and sheathed himself, before rising over me in the dusk.

“Toni.” His voice sounded husky. “Let me show you how beautiful you are.” He settled between my legs, supporting his weight on his forearms, his mouth nuzzling little kisses along the line of my jaw to my throat.

I gasped, and I felt the firm head of his cock pressing against my folds. I couldn’t help myself, my hands opened against his body, his toned muscles rock hard beneath my palms.

“Hands above your head,” James growled, and an instant later his weight on my body increased, and his hand grasped my wrists, restraining me.

I found it wildly exciting, even though I tugged and tried to free myself. Then I felt his cock sliding into me, penetrating me in one deep thrust, his breath warm on my cheek, his cock rasping past my tender clit.

“Ooh!” I felt myself becoming aroused again, felt his slick wetness as he slid into me, smelled his musky maleness, as he pounded into me, his cock filling me completely, and his groan as he swelled within me.

He slowed his thrusts, drawing out with a twisting motion of his hips, so he rubbed along my G-spot and agonizingly past my exquisitely tender clit.

“Come again, Toni. Come once more for me.” His murmur thrilled me right through my very being, and I felt the nerves tightening all along my legs which meant I was so close, so so close. I writhed underneath him again, clenched myself around his cock, feeling his body jerk in response.

Then he was slowing again, drawing out my feelings, pulling almost completely out of me before thrusting in again and again.

His hand gripped my wrists ever more tightly as I found myself jerking against his grip, and I could only twist my hips as I sought to get closer to him.

“Come. Now. You know you want this, don’t you?” How could his voice be so commanding even in such a low tone?

“Ye … yes,” I gasped, and at that moment, his lips crashed onto mine and his tongue penetrated me and threw me over the edge. I bucked and twisted underneath him, his cock still deep within me, and I felt the heat of his release as he went rigid above me, his grasp spasmed and his final jerks made my orgasm longer than I’d ever experienced.

As the tension eased slowly back to normal, I lay in a pleasantly foggy daze. No man had ever taken the trouble to pleasure me in this way before, and I knew that I’d never be the same again.

James rolled off me, releasing my hands, and I groaned as I lowered them, relieving my aching shoulders. James watched me, smiling, then he sat up and walked, gloriously naked, into his bathroom. I supposed he was going to get rid of the condom, but I felt curiously flat too. I hadn’t thought he would be the sort of man who would use a woman and then not act any differently than before.

I sat up on the edge of his bed wondering what to do. Should I dress, wait for him if he was only going to be a minute, or what?

Then he was walking back in, wearing a black silk robe, loosely tied. I could see his chest muscles, deeply toned, in the deep vee of the robe, and the sight caught my breath. Holy shit! I was turned on by him all over again, even though I’d just had the best fucking of my life.

I saw he was carrying a white silk robe for me, and I wondered at a man who had a ladies’ robe in his bathroom. Maybe I needed not to get too caught up in this man. He smiled and held out the robe for me to slip my arms in the sleeves.