The Billionaire's Pledge (7 page)

Finally he would turn around and kiss her mouth, running his fingers through her hair and holding her close. They would kiss, long and passionately, until he grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the kitchen island, pushing his body between her legs.

Forgetting his past, his worries, his crimes, whatever they were. Deciding that she was worth it. Pulling her panties down, carrying her into the bedroom…

Her rational mind took over. It said:
Savannah, you’ve never been sexually aggressive toward men
.
Are you really going to start now?
 

She’d rarely made the first move, preferring not to take that huge risk of rejection. The one time she’d asked a boy out on a date, it was ninth grade. John Ericsson, freshman class president and all-around smart, funny, cute guy. With shaking hands, she’d called him on the phone and said maybe they could be more than friends. His words hurt so much, they’d stuck in her brain forever: “No, I don’t think so.” 

But something had changed in her since she’d seen Zac in the coffee shop that day. Each time she saw him, she wanted him more and more, and now she knew that he was attracted to her. She
KNEW!
He had told her! It was a fact. But still, every fiber of her being screamed out,
No! Don’t do this! He’s going to reject you!

She fought against all the negative self-talk that had built up in her life since her childhood. All the discouraging words from her father. All the times boys had looked past her when walking down the halls in middle school and high school. She fought against John Ericsson. She fought against Charles. She fought against her father. She fought against herself.

Her hands shook. Her stomach twisted in knots. Her heart pounded like a drum, echoing in her ears.

Fuck it. I can do this. He likes me. He wants me. Move, Savannah. Take a chance. Oh, God, I’m really going to do this.

I’m really going to do this!

I’m REALLY going to do this!

I am doing this!

Do it! Do it now!

With a deep breath and a final silent prayer, she took a step forward toward Zac and reached up with her hand.

CHAPTER 10

Zac stood at the sink, washing the dishes. For some reason, he’d always enjoyed washing dishes. It relaxed him. But tonight, it wasn’t working. Tonight, he was so distracted by Savannah that no amount of dishes-washing was going to help matters.

He’d told her of his debauchery. He’d confessed a few of his sins, hoping it would make him feel better. But here he was, feeling worse. Why was that? Usually telling secrets gave him a giddy sense of freedom and trust in another person, and he couldn’t figure out why that wasn’t happening tonight.

That wasn’t true, he realized. Still lying to himself. He felt wrong because he
hadn’t
actually told her the full truth. He’d held back the part about his vow of chastity. He’d tried to tell her, but the words had caught in his throat. Out of fear, embarrassment. Shame. What would she think of him? Who makes a pledge not to have sex? Would she hate him, and run off? Especially after he’d flirted with her, led her on, made her think he was not just interested, but available.

And if he didn’t tell her, maybe she’d still be interested and maybe they could…

No! Cut it out! Don’t think like that. You made a promise to yourself. You wrote it down on paper and signed it in your own blood! Well, not blood, but you signed it with that expensive red fountain pen.

He told himself to stop talking to himself in his head so much. If somebody could read his thoughts, doubtless they’d believe he was deranged.

He scrubbed the cutting board, making sure to get all the garlic and ginger out of it so they wouldn’t affect the flavor of whatever he cut next time. To take his mind off Savannah and the pledge and how much he wanted what he could not have, he thought about the success he’d achieved so far in life. It was extraordinary, by any measure. To be worth three billion dollars by the age of 34 was almost unheard of, except by inheritance. He was one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world.

It was an incredibly unlikely story, and that was why the tech media had always been so quick to repeat it over and over as a rags-to-riches tale of legendary proportions. His upbringing had been harsh. An alcoholic father who nevertheless drove a long-haul rig for a living, away from home for days at a time while his diabetic mother struggled to raise all five children, four of them boys. 

The trailer they called home was always both filthy and untidy, and young Zachary spent most of his time outside, trying to stay as far away from his mother and her nasty, abusive ways as he possibly could. Somehow he managed to finagle a scholarship to a small college in eastern Oregon where he discovered computer science. It was the first thing he’d ever felt he was good at in his entire life, aside from throwing things and taking punches. A few years later he started building his little company, and a few years after that he sold it for billions.

Yet here he was, still human, still unable to master his own feelings, or even to understand them. He tried to be logical. He’d come to Hood River to get away from a certain type of woman, and in so doing he’d made a pledge. But then he’d met a woman whose very existence challenged his ability to keep his vow. Challenged the whole concept of the vow itself.

(Was Savannah still in the dining room? What did she think of him? He got the sense she was very turned on and shared his attraction. But maybe she just thought he was a weirdo. Maybe she saw through his facade of confidence and could tell he was merely a regular guy who happened to be rich. He focused on the dishes for now.)

How important was the pledge, anyway? After all, it was merely a vow he’d made to himself. Only a couple of other people even knew about it, and he doubted if they cared. He could just drop the whole thing.

No!
What was the point of all this if he would instantly break his promise as soon as the first attractive woman came along?

And Savannah was attractive.
Very
. He pictured her in his mind. Her hourglass shape, athlete’s build, pretty face. The way she looked down and brushed her hair back out of her eyes when she was shy or embarrassed. The way she talked and the joy she’d taken in telling stories about her life. Even the fact that she was so into technology—all of it was strongly arousing.

He heard her set down her plate on the counter and it took all his willpower to resist turning around and kissing her right there in the kitchen. Kissing
was
allowed in the pledge. But he was sure of one thing: it would lead to touching, and touching would lead to sex.

Would she understand him, and what he’d done to get where he was today? Would she understand how important this was to him? Would she even respect him, or would she just laugh at his silly pledge?

His thoughts were coming hard and fast now, beyond his control. He imagined what she might look like naked. He wasn’t sure if this made him an asshole, but he suspected it was the way all guys thought when they were near a beautiful woman. He imagined the curve of her bare bottom as she might lie on his bed, on her stomach, legs spread and ready for him. He pictured her breasts, full and high, soft and smooth within his hands. Nipples tightening under his touch. Sucking them, using his tongue. He imagined lowering his head between her thighs, tasting the sweetness there, touching her most secret and sensitive places with delicate fingers…

Here in the kitchen, his cock sprang to life, instantly pressing against the inside of his boxers. She would orgasm for him. He loved to make women orgasm. Could he fudge the rules of the pledge? It wasn’t really sex, was it? What about if she only stimulated him with her hands? Maybe he could make an exception.

Stop! Remember the vow!

At that moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, gently touching him. He froze. What was she doing? Her fingers moved along the back of his neck, gliding along his exposed skin and sending a wonderful shiver down his spine. His cock was growing larger and larger as she ran her hand down his back.

Hot breath on his neck.

“Savannah…”

“Hmmm?”

“I…” It was hard to talk. The words came out as a hoarse whisper. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”

Her lips on his neck, softly kissing him. Her hands moving around to his chest. Her body pressing against his. He still couldn’t see her. It was strange, erotic, incredibly arousing.

His cock was so hard now that it was becoming almost painful.

“Please,” she said. “It’s okay. You’ll like it. I promise.” She sounded vaguely unsure of herself, her voice quavering. Was she nervous? Or was it something else?

He still hadn’t turned around, or even moved. He was afraid if she saw how aroused he was, she might go down on him and then all would be lost. A blow job was against the vow. He couldn’t deny that.

And he wasn’t sure he had the willpower to stop her if she got her mouth around him. 

She continued kissing his skin, using her tongue now a little bit, too, moving all along his nape, making him dizzy. He felt the soft press of her breasts against his back, the firmness of her pubic mound against his ass.
Holy shit. I’ve got to stop this
. Her hands ran up his tight abdominals and one of them slipped inside his shirt and went up and found his right nipple. She touched it gently, and this sensation was so powerful that he bent forward a little, involuntarily, and huffed out a breath. 

He wanted her to keep going; with every fiber of his being he wanted her to touch him and kiss him.

“Savannah, please…”

“What? Don’t you like it?”

“We can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Yes we can. It’s okay, you can trust me. Turn around. Please, Zac. I want to see your face.”

He sighed. She was right. He owed her that much. 

She deserved to at least look into his eyes as he rejected her.

CHAPTER 11

Savannah ran her open mouth along the back of Zac’s neck, letting the very tip of her tongue draw a line along his skin. The fingers of her right hand played with his nipple, while her left hand held onto his flat stomach. Deep inside her, so much heat was building up that she could feel herself getting wet.

She was doing it! She felt outside of herself, as if she’d stepped into another woman’s body, a woman who was confident and strong and sexy and all the things she’d never felt about herself. Taking that chance a minute earlier, making herself take that step and touch Zac’s neck…it had been worth it.

But still—she didn’t understand what was going on with Zac. On the one hand, she could tell he was aroused. Even though she couldn’t see his erection, his body language made it clear that he enjoyed every moment, every caress.

But he kept saying how they shouldn’t. Why not? What the hell was going on? 

Finally, she asked him to turn around. After a moment’s pause, he did.

He wouldn’t meet her eyes. She tried to look into his, but they were downcast.

“Savannah…” he said.

“Don’t you like it?”

“Yes, I do like it. I like it a lot, that’s the problem…” He kept trailing off, not finishing his sentences.

She put her hand on his chest, feeling the strength there. Her body was still on fire with desire for him.

“It’s okay,” she said in a low voice. She was slightly out of breath from sheer arousal. “Whatever it is, it’s okay.” 

She leaned up and brushed her lips against his cheek, then kissed the side of his neck. His body seemed rigid, not relaxed. She wanted to loosen him up, to make him realize he should take a chance just like she had. She moved up, kissing him softly every inch or so, until she kissed his square jaw.

“Savannah—”

“Shhh,” she whispered, putting her finger on his mouth and then letting it drop and replacing it with a kiss. His lips were warm and soft, and a thrilling dizziness filled her head as she sank into them. He kissed her in return, but not fully. She could tell he was holding back. As before, she wondered why. She put her arm around him and held him tightly, kissing him harder, feeling his bulge pressing against her lower stomach. It was a massive turn-on.

He truly kissed her now, finally seeming to get into it, and she ground her body ever so slightly against him. She let her tongue slip into his mouth where it found his. They kissed for a minute, and she took the tip of his tongue into her mouth and sucked it gently.

God, how long had it been? To finally have a man again after so many months, to finally be kissed with real passion and lust…it was like a beautiful dream. She closed her eyes and allowed the moment to sweep her away. Nothing mattered but the feel of his body and mouth against hers. His arm wrapped around her waist and slid down her back to her ass. She was so dizzy now and full of electricity, she didn’t know if she might faint or scream with pleasure.

Her heart pounded, and she was getting more and more wet by the second. She grabbed the back of his head and held it, pulling him even closer. It was hard to breathe. She wanted more. His hand stroked down her butt, squeezed it, moved down to the hemline of her dress, and lifted it up. He began to go underneath. He sighed a little, and she let out a little moan of pleasure. It was happening, just like her fantasy. She’d made it happen! She never wanted this to end. His hand moved up her thigh, against her bare skin. Slowly. So slowly. Without a thought, she ran her hand down his side, down his leg, then to his crotch. She stroked upward on his cock, feeling the whole length of him. He was seriously hard.

Then it was over, just like that. He pulled his mouth off hers and took his hand away and pushed her so that she had to step backward. She huffed out a breath and a sound of shock. What the fuck was going on? Had she done something wrong? She felt dizzy.