The Billionaire's Hired Bride (BWWM Billionaire Romance Book 1) (9 page)

And then James brushed against that spot again, and again, and then more firmly, and all she could see was stars.  The orgasm was a rocket that made her lose any sense of the world around her except where she was being touched, James inside her and his lips on her neck the only two grounding points. She moaned, and then came back to earth, feeling like a charged vat of gel, something still electric inside her even though she wanted nothing more than to flow over the edges of the bed into a puddle.

When she could be aware of it again, James too was groaning, close. He came within her in only a few more strokes, his arms failing and dropping the weight of his chest onto hers.  She waited until he had ridden out the last of his release before wrapping her arms around him, squeezing his shoulders as she kissed him.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For being willing to wait.”

The expression on his face was one of comfortable bliss, one that put a fuzzy blanket over her heart to calm the nervous beating. “It was worth it.”

*

Epilogue

It seemed strange to Minnie that it had taken still most of the year for her to be able to meet James’ father. But here they were, having a small family Christmas, and the man had finally been convinced to take time off work to meet his son’s steady girlfriend of nearly a year.

Eugene Sanders – just Gene, to his wife and friends – was very much a blend of his wife and son. He had Flor’s adventurous attitude, and in the same way that Minnie could see the relaxed atmosphere between herself and James, she could see the energy that passed between the two of them, even at their old age. But like James, Gene had the habit of taking a little bit of work everywhere with him, even on vacation. Minnie laughed hard, in fact, when she realized that the two of them used almost identical clipboards to carry their “business homework” around, the only difference being the color.

“Like father, like son,” Flor said as she handed Minnie a cup of hot chocolate, still steaming, and Minnie could only nod in agreement with the older woman, as father and son, across the room, stood on matching ladders to pull down a string of lights from across the curtains that hung in front of the grand windows of the entry hall. It was three days after Christmas, and soon James’ parents would be leaving to go back to their own home, and his father back to the frantic pace of work that seemed to be the best way to keep him happy.

The next night was a party, but a bit different in scale from the ones she was used to attending with James. Rather than it being their age group, it was mostly business people and their spouses, plus a few of their children, ranging from bright-eyed toddlers who tugged happily on the skirt of any dress that caught their eye, to moody teenagers who lurked in the back of the hall, showing with every motion that they would much rather be elsewhere.

“It’s a networking opportunity,” James said, somewhere in the middle of introducing Minnie to a couple of his father’s old business friends. “Go network.”

Minnie laughed at him. “I almost think I’d rather babysit,” she said, looking off to the side of the room, where one mother in a cocktail dress was trying to keep control of a six-year-old boy who wanted nothing to do with his little suit except to get stains on it.

Her nervousness had hardly vanished, after all. James, following her eye, gently nudged her towards the woman. “Then go babysit. If we ever decide to have some of our own, the experience will help.”

Minnie blushed a little, but actually did wind up going over to help the woman, whose name was Jeanette, with her son, Kadin. Jeanette, in turn, introduced Minnie to a few of the other mothers who had brought along children of similar ages, some of them with older or younger siblings. “We could have found babysitters easily,” Jeanette was saying, as an explanation, “but the kids are mostly friends, so even if they get into trouble, it’s good for them.”

Even as she said that, her head whipped around, just in time to catch Kadin and his best friend, Jeremiah, attempting to crawl under a table. Before she could move, though, Jeremiah’s father –  Alastair, the odd male duck in the group of mothers, whose wife was actually vice president of one of the animation studios Minnie had been looking at for after she graduated – grabbed one boy around the belly with each arm and lifted them both out from their planned hiding place.

“And more eyes working together makes it easier to keep track of the whole batch,” Jeanette added, clearly amused, as Alastair deposited both boys back on their feet.

By the end of the party, Minnie was starting to feel, for the first time, that she could actually fit in with this world of glamor and sparkle. She’d made a lunch date with Jeanette for after the New Year, after Kadin was back in school, and so for once had something to talk about on the ride home.

When they got home, it was already kind of late, but Minnie made them both hot chocolate and brought it up to James’ room. She had started sleeping there once in a while, but still usually preferred her own room. She was starting to think that even if they got married – or when, if they stayed on the path they were on – she would still probably keep that room for herself. There were certainly enough bedrooms that they wouldn’t run out any time soon.

She snuggled up against James while they drank the hot chocolate, and it seemed that, in some way, he was reading her mind, because after a few sips he said, “So, have you decided how many of those bedrooms we’re going to fill up with children?”

Minnie nearly choked on her cocoa. “You’re thinking about that already? Aren’t you supposed to propose first?” The second question was accompanied by her lightly slapping him on the leg, more of a scolding gesture than anything.

James just grinned at her, his tone of voice teasing. “Well, I figured that since you spent so much time with the kids at the party tonight, you must not
completely
hate them.”

Minnie couldn’t argue with that. “Maybe three,” she said after some thought. “A couple boys and a girl. But I guess that’s kind of up to luck, isn’t it?”

“It’s a kind of luck I can put faith in,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. “After all, it was luck that brought me a stranger who wound up fitting so neatly into my world. We only met because of the word of a friend and the fact that we both had something the other needed, and look at us now.”

Minnie smiled and set her empty mug down before snuggling up closer to his chest. “And it turned out that
we
were what each other needed.”

“Exactly,” James said, putting his cup on the table in turn. A moment later, a wicked thought must have passed through his mind, because Minnie could see the plotting on his face. “So do you want to get to work on those children or not?”

Minnie, completely shocked, grabbed the nearest pillow and tried to slam it into his face – but James was too quick, sliding out from under her when she leaned to grab it. She chased him all the way to the bed, laughing, before throwing it on his face.

“I take it that’s a no,” he said, shoving it off to the side, but then she slid into his lap and kissed him.

“I wouldn’t say that,” she said after they broke apart. “Just… Say that I’m willing to find out more about the arrangement.”

“It’s worth waiting for,” James answered, smiling, and that was the last exchange they had before Minnie curled up against his chest, content.

The End

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