The Billionaire's Triplets (A Steamy Contemporary Romance Novel) (15 page)

Now wasn’t the time, she had to get her head straight. In a few minutes she’d be making the presentation of her life. “Nothing’s wrong, it’s just that no one I spoke to was in a particularly good mood.”

Julio nodded in agreement. “There is a lot of money on the table. The fate of their consortium and their reputations are on the line. Keep them focused on the idea that you are here to give them a solution to their own fuck-up, not to sell them something.”

# # #

As lights dimmed and the projector came on, a hush fell in the room as Lissa took her spot in at the front. The crowd of mostly European men seemed to focus on her, expectantly, appreciatively. Lissa was glad she’d worn the sexiest of her blouses, the shortest of her business skirts, and the highest of her heels. Hands down, she was about to give the most important presentation of her career, and she wasn’t going to ignore a single advantage. Lissa knew that Julio was off to her left, watching her, his hopes riding on her ability to persuade. She couldn’t--wouldn’t let him down. Like a defense attorney about to give her final argument, she waited for every person in the room to give her their full attention.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you have no reason to abandon this project. In the next few minutes I will show you exactly how you can achieve your original dream, on time and on budget with the application of just a few critical and necessary modifications.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Lissa was on her game, dazzling the consortium members with her brilliant analysis, and explaining the importance and utter necessity of her creative workarounds. She’d brought them around, softened their skepticism, and when she finished her presentation she was met with loud applause. Julio joined her at the front and they fielded questions, together. Lissa felt flush with the success of their efforts together, and very happy working by Julio’s side.

The head of the consortium came up to shake first Lissa and then Julio’s hand. “Ms. Edwards. I warn you that you promised a great deal today.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“All this is, of course, theoretical,” he continued. “But, you seem to believe it will work. So we will throw down a challenge. We will give you one month to prepare a full proposal. You won’t be competing with anyone, but we will hear it and give you a yes or no when we see your vision, and the details of implementation.”

“We’d be gambling a great deal,” Julio said.

“Your colleague seems confident. We rather enjoyed her American optimism. I assume you meant what you said?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well then. We will see you here in one month.” He patted Julio on the back and walked away.

# # #

“You were incredible,” Lissa started at the sound of Julio’s voice close to her ear. She hadn’t realized he’d come back in the room, or that he’d managed to stand directly behind her without her knowing. Two of the consortium sat in the back row having a private conversation. Abby had already left with the projector and most of the other materials on a cart, but Lissa was putting together her notes and making sure nothing confidential was left behind.

Julio stepped in closer to her, and kissed that sensitive spot at the back of her neck. The men in the back didn’t notice. Instinctively, Lissa adjusted her neck, giving him better access. The men at the back row, started to stand up. Lissa pulled away from Julio.

“Not here,” she whispered.

She wanted to get him back to her room, or his, it didn’t matter. She wanted the victory fuck, she deserved it, they both deserved it.

But then the damn images of those pictures crossed her mind.

He was a player, Willa, those other women.

She had to think of her children, of getting a life, of not being some billionaire’s booty call. With those images taking over her brain, elation from the success of the meeting evaporated, and the fiery need that had only moments before tugged at her soul, became replaced by a dull, aching pain.

Without warning, Lissa rose from the table, and hurried out of the room, straight to the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror, her hands gripping the marble counter. She felt hot, there was sweat running down her neck, and slicking her chest and forehead. A wave of nausea doubled her over the sink. She channeled her breath, quick shallow gasps, as she waited for the sick feeling to pass. After she could lift her head without the fear of passing out, she splashed cold water on her face and then looked at herself. “What’s your problem, girl?”

At first there was no answer, but as she waited, understanding dawned. Now that the project was more or less in the bag, he wouldn’t be needing her anymore. He’d expect her to go back to the states and take the boys with her, go back to the way things were before. Sure, he might call on her expertise from time to time, but it was nothing that required her presence. There was nothing that couldn’t be done remotely from here out.

Except, of course, when he was in the mood to play father. He could just pop by for a hour or two off poppa time. He’d probably want her to open her legs for him then, as well. Kill two birds with one stone on each visit, baby time and booty call.

A weight seemed to settle behind her chest.

She didn’t want to be just a booty call, just a girl in one of his ports, waiting for her turn at some mind-blowing sex. Her logical mind had the answer.
Tell him how you feel.

But, the part of her that had been hurt before, the part that didn’t want him feeling pressured into marriage or anything serious just because of the accident of the three births, that part of her couldn’t bear playing a part in forcing something that he didn’t really want.

If he didn’t feel the same way, if he wasn’t falling for her the way she was falling for him – then it was just great sex and nothing more…. And if that’s all it was, then he was right. They should celebrate with a fuck. A simple, no-strings attached pussy-convulsing fuck.

“There you are,” Julio said excitedly the moment she stepped into the hallway. “I wasn’t sure if you’d gone back to the room. I was about to go up and check, in case you were laying on your bed, naked, waiting for me. Did I tell you how incredible you were in there? You had them eating out of your hand. Now, I want to take you back to my room and eat out your…” He finished the last word with a meaningful grunt, punctuated with a pinch of her ass.

“Why wait?” she said to him, and to herself, she said.
If you’re going to be a slut for your career, then you should do it right.

At the entrance to a hallway, Lissa saw a hotel maid pushing a bathroom cleaning cart. She  stopped front of the bathrooms near the entrance to the conference area, about twenty yards away. She looked around and realized that they were all alone in that part of the hotel. It was late, and there were no other meetings going on. This would be perfect.

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her right tit, and said, “Now.”

Julio’s eye brow lifted with surprise, and then he pulled her against him so fast and so hard, it knocked her breath away. He the kiss came, it was possessing, demanding, and knee weakening. Her doubts and concerns collapsed and she became caught up in the moment.

“You are the most beautiful, incredible woman in the world, Lissa, you make me insane.”

“I---

His mouth claimed her words. Time, place, work, children, everything disappeared except for his body, his touch, his incredible lips and tongue. He gripped her buttocks, and forced her hips against his need. She ground against him, the sensation annihilating all other thoughts. And then he stopped. “I want you now,” he groaned, his breath hot against her ear.

She gasped as he pulled her skirt up high on her hips, then slid his fingers behind her panties and into the wet heat of her sex. As his fingers spread her wetness, she groaned as her breathing quickened. High pitched laughter and the sounds of voices, carried from the main part of the hotel, just thirty feet away. But, that didn’t stop him. He changed his position, and added another finger, pushing it deeper inside her, as he tried to suck her nipples through her blouse.

A slutty fantasy filled her mind, and she wanted to turn around and bend over and have him take her right there in the hall. She wanted to feel him inside her, filling her, possessing her. But, then three innocent perfect baby faces popped into her head, and she knew she couldn’t do anything that bold, that risky. Who would take care of her baby boys if both parents got nipped on indecency? “Not here, please,” Lissa’s breath came in ragged gasps. “Let’s go to our room.”

“No, you’re going to come right here, right now,” he growled.

The maids cart wheels echoed in the hall and Julio flattened them against the wall. But then the wheels stopped. He peeked around the palm and said. “She’s doing the next bathroom, we have time.”

And then his hand was back up her legs, fingers probing, exploring within her wet folds.

He kissed her hard, almost bruising her mouth, as he worked her clit with his circling thumb.

“There, there, come for me beautiful.”

Before she could protest, the pleasure erupted inside her, as she convulsed around his fingers. He swallowed her cries with his lips, breathing in her pleasure. Her knees went weak.

He caught her, and helped her skirt back down her thighs.

Shhhhh,” he said, as the maid pushed the cart past them, paying them no mind whatsoever. Lissa placed her hand on his erection, gasped at how hard and big he felt behind the fabric of his Italian suit. The maid put her cone outside the lady’s room, and Julio tugged on Lissa’s arm, pointing to an empty set of conference rooms at the far end of the hall. “If I can’t put my cock into your perfect pussy right now, I’m going to fucking die.”

Lissa felt the same way.

Once inside the unlit conference room, Julio dropped his pants in an instant, not bothering to remove his expensive Italian shoes. In the middle of the room, with not even a table for support, he lifted her body off the ground and positioned himself between her legs.

She was so wet with desire and recently coming that his cock went all the way in until she was speared onto his dick. He had one strong arm under her ass and the other at the small of her back. He began to fuck her, relentlessly, without reservation.

Hanging on for the ride of her life, Lissa tried to lock her ankles behind his back as she held on, grasping her fingers around his collar for support.

He fucked her, his body moving backwards a little with each thrust.

“Yes, fucking, yes!” He grunted, as he picked up speed.

Lissa felt his body tense, the calm before the storm. And then she was lost at sea, as the powerful gale of his cock batted against her hull, splintering to bits the last of her reservations, flooding her decks with waves of crashing pleasure, sinking her forever into a sea of bliss.

Time stood still, as Lissa blacked out a little, drunk on what his body could do to her, what his cock could do to her, what he could do to her.

A short time later, as they ventured back into the hallway, the cleaning cart was gone. Their clothes were back in place, but they couldn’t hide the sweat, the messy hair, the flushes on their faces, or the smell of sex and cum on their bodies.

They walked in silence, separated by a few feet, wanting to appear like two professionals wrapping up after a long day, and not the people who’d just fucked like rabbits where anyone could have walked in on them.

Julio’s thoughts seemed distant, for the first time things felt awkward, wrong. Lissa suddenly wondered if she’d repulsed him, with her bold and slutty behavior. She needed time to think, time to be alone.

“Uh, listen, I need to get back and relieve Joan, she’s been alone with the babies all day.”

“Yeah, I’ve got some things I need to do as well, see you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

# # #

As Julio headed out the front of the lobby, to go do whatever he needed to go do, Lissa, didn’t get off on her sister’s floor. She’d totally lied about Joan needing a break.

They’d arranged for hotel nannies to help out, and she was sure Joan was just fine. They’d expected Lissa to be busy all day, maybe even all night. Joan had told her not to even think about coming back until morning.

So, she showered, and washed her hair, and went to bed naked.

She tried not to cry, she tried not to regret anything, but even still, it took many hours before she finally fell into a restless sleep.

She woke to the sounds of banging on her door. “Lissa, are you in there?”

The urgent tone in Julio’s voice made her instantly awake. She jumped out of the bed and grabbed a towel out of the bathroom, covering her nakedness as she opened the door.

It was dark outside, she glanced at the digital clock. It was three in the morning. Her heart flew into her throat. “Oh, God, what’s wrong?” she shouted as Julio pushed into her room.

“I’ve been trying to call you. Joan’s been trying to call you, get dressed. We need to go to the hospital.”

Lissa’s heart felt like it was going to rip out of her chest.

“Oh, my God, one of the boys. Which one? What happened?”

“I don’t know, Joan just called me and said to get to the hospital right away. One of the boys fell ill or something and all of them were taken to the hospital, Joan’s been trying to reach you. I’ve been trying to reach you.”

Guilt tore at Lissa, as she remembered that she’d taken her phone off the hook and had turned off her cell phone, while she felt sorry for herself, wallowing in her post dirty sex doubts. She hadn’t thought to call Joan and check on the boys.
What kind of mother does that make me?

“Come on, hurry,” Julio said.

Lissa struggled to find clothes, and couldn’t seem to remember how to put on her pants, as fear and panic gripped her, shutting down all cognitive power.

“Here, let me help you,” Julio said. He opened a drawer and found a t-shirt and helped her into it, neither of them caring that she wasn’t wearing a bra. He picked up her purse and room key off the dresser and walked her out of the room.

In the taxi on the way to the hotel, Lissa lost it, breaking into uncontrollable sobs.

“There, there,” Julio said, pulling her into his arms. “It’s going to be fine, I’m sure, everything’s going to be fine.” 

When they got to the hospital, Julio grabbed the first nurse he saw.

“My sons, my babies, can you tell me where they are?”

The nurse just looked at him, and shook his head, then pointed to a reception desk in the corner.

Julio was stomping towards it, Lissa right behind when they heard a familiar voice behind them.

Abby. “Julio, Lissa, thank god you’re hear. Joan’s about to go mental on me.”

“Abby, what’s happened, are the boys alright?” It was Julio, asking, the fear in his voice matching the fear in her heart. If anything happened to her boys while she was feeling sorry for herself, she’d never forgive herself.  She already felt bad enough every time she left her babies as she worked to become the best consultant in the business.

She felt Julio’s fingers entwining in hers, supporting her, and being supported as they awaited the dreaded news.
Please God, please God.

“Joan called me after she couldn’t reach either of you. She said that Marco was real sick, I got the hotel doctor to meet me up in their room, and Marco was a limp as a rag, feverish, barely able to open his eyes. The doctor took one look at him and called an ambulance, and while we were waiting he examined the other boys and said they were showing signs of getting sick as well. He made them take all three to the hospital.”

“Oh, my God, what’s wrong with them?” Lissa’s eyes were swimming with tears. “Where are they, I want to see my babies.”

“Follow me. Joan will be glad to see you.”

Julio’s fingers entwined Lissa’s and he held onto her hand tight as they followed Abby through the maze of hallways, before finally arriving at the infants and children’s ward.

Joan rose from her seat, as she saw them come in, and came running over to her sister.

The two women hugged.

“What’s going on, Joan?” Lissa asked.

“I don’t know, they won’t tell me anything,” Joan said, and then she collapsed back in to her seat and buried her head in her hands.

Abby spoke. “There’s the doctor.”

They all looked up as a diminutive woman with striking grey hair and even more striking grey eyes walked towards them, in her white doctor’s coat and stethoscope wrapped around her neck. She walked up to Julio and began speaking to him in rapid Spanish.

Julio nodded, and then his face broke into a relieved semi-smile.

“Gracias, doctor,” he said, as the doctor scurried away.

“What? What’s going on? Are my babies alright?”

Julio guided everyone to the seats. “Sit down, and yes. It’s good news but I’m not going to tell it to you standing up.”

Lissa felt relief flood through her, and almost burst into tears of happiness. Her worst fears weren’t materializing. Her boys were going to be okay.

“What is it? Julio, tell us!” demanded Joan.

“Apparently, the boys have contracted some kind of infection. Marco had it the worst, and he’s going to need the most time to recover, but the other boys were treated in time, so they’re already coming around. Either way, they want the three of them to remain here for a few days.”

“When can I see them?”

“He said that a room was being prepared and that the two less sick boys would be in there within the hour, but that Marco would need to remain on the intensive care unit until further notice. He said, that we could come back and see him in about thirty minutes, but just two people at a time.”

Thirty minutes later, Joan and Abby insisted that Julio and Lissa go back first. They followed a nurse into the back of the ward and were taken to a viewing room.

“Can’t we go in?” Lissa asked, as she realized that they were to only look at their sick baby through a window.

“Nurse?”

“Si,   ?”

Julio spoke to the nurse in Spanish, then translated. “No one is allowed in the intensive care nursery except doctors and nurses.”

Lissa sucked in her breath, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of her first born, her largest baby, looking weak and small in his glass enclosed crib, flanked by medical devices mounted to movable stands. Her baby lay there naked, save for a diaper, and all the tubes and monitor tags stuck to his skin.

“Isn’t he cold?” she asked.

Julio spoke to the nurse.

“No, she says the room is quite comfortable.”

Her baby’s eyes were closed, as if sleeping. She could see a tiny flutter of the eyelids and hoped his dreams were sweet and pain free. “I love you, Marco Julio,” she said through the window.

“Come on,” Julio said with a catch in his voice. “There’s nothing we can do for him now, let’s go see our other boys.”

# # #

It wasn’t until two days later that their three babies were released from the hospital. While they’d been waiting for the children to recover, work had come to a grinding halt, and Julio’s mother had insisted that they bring the children to her home in Barcelona, so they could recover fully.

Lissa didn’t argue, she had only one thought on her mind, bringing her boys back to health.

When they arrived at the home in Barcelona, Julio’s mother showed them to the living room which had been converted into a makeshift nursery, complete with a day bed and three cribs. Japanese Shoji screens for privacy. Lissa and Joan settled in with the babies, as Julio went upstairs to his room.

Julio’s mother, Gracile Torres was a tall, athletically built Spanish woman, with olive toned skin and dark, piercing eyes. When she moved, she had a grace about her, belying her age. Several of her female relatives, a sister, a sister-in-law, Lissa couldn’t keep track, had moved into to one of the guest rooms. They helped with the cooking, the cleaning, and the tending to the three babies. But, no one was more constant than Lissa. She never left their side except to go to the bathroom. She prayed and spoke and tried to make up for all the time she’d not been near them, her heart still reeling from what could have been an unspeakable loss.

She barely slept, and in the morning, the sun rose in Barcelona, and the fragrance of homemade bread and coffee filled Julio’s family home.

Marco, the sickest of the boys, the one she could have lost, was sitting on one of the Aunt’s lap, laughing, and looking like his old self-again.

“Marco Julio,” Lissa said, as she gently reclaimed her son from the older woman’s arms. She kissed her boy softly on the head. “Do you feel better? Momma’s so happy, you feel better.”

Her other boys heard her voice and were trying to stand up in their cribs. Ryland reached out his arms to her. He looked much better as well.

“I think these boys have seen enough of those cribs.”

Julio stood in the doorway, a huge smile on his lips.  His mother walked into the room. “Bring them into the kitchen, Lissa, I had Julio set up a big area where they can play while we have breakfast.”

While they ate, Lissa began to relax for the first time in days. The boys were back to their normal, healthy selves and they were having a blast playing with in the makeshift play pen in the middle of the large kitchen.

Lissa was starved and the food was delicious. She reached for another hot rosemary biscuit, slathering it with butter and washing it down with the delicious coffee and fresh cream.

“Mamacita,” Julio said, “What do you think of my new family?”

Lissa felt his hands rest gently on her shoulders, he was standing right behind her. The touch of thumb as it grazed against the exposed skin of her neck felt like fire. She stiffened. What did he mean? Exactly.

Julio’s mother didn’t say anything, she just waved a wooden spoon at his head and glared at him. Julio laughed, and Lissa wondered what that was all about.

He went over to the play pen and let himself in. A moment later, he and the boys were laughing and playing together. Lissa’s heart swelled. If only, he wanted more than just a drive by family. If only this would be permanent.

Her appetite, suddenly fled. He’d joked before about his mom wanting a wedding, but there would be no wedding if he didn’t ask her to marry him. That was obviously not in the cards. He liked having sex with her and having his kids around, but clearly that was as far as he wanted to take things.

Over the next few days, Julio was gone, back in work mode, leaving Lissa and Joan and the boys as continuing house guests in his family home. Lissa had offered to help out with the work, but Julio refused. Telling her to take a break, to relax and enjoy all his relatives. He insisted that he had everything under control.

The days were full, as everyone of Julio’s numerous relatives stopped by to visit and meet the new additions to the family. They went on outings into the city, spent hours in the kitchen learning how to cook, and went shopping. Julio’s mother, had a big surprise. One afternoon at Senora Torres’s insistence, Lissa and the two aunts helped her push the three strollers through the business district of the old city. It was stunning, and it was also nice for each of her boys to have a stroller of their own.

To date in their young lives, the triplets had gone on their outings in chariots of a different nature. With only Auntie Joan and momma Lissa to take them for the rare stroll’s around Central Park in New York, they’d determined from the get-go, that with only two sets of hands – three strollers would be impossible. Lissa had no interest in putting the lives of three baby boys at risk by stuffing them into one of those ungainly triplet’s stroller contraptions.

As they strolled up the ancient cobbled streets of the Plaza Dominica, attracting curious looks and smiles from everyone they passed, Ryland began to fuss. She wondered if that was because he’d never once had a stroller all to himself. Ryland, was in no hurry to get anywhere. He had the most laid back personality of any of her boys. But, he didn’t like being alone, ever.

When they’d first stated going on outings in the double and single strollers, Joan thought it would be a good plan to mix up, who got to ride shotgun and who got to be in front, and also who got a stroller all their own. But, it became quickly apparent, that Ryland was only happy in one spot, the spot in the back of the double stroller. Marco didn’t care which stroller he was in, provided he was in the front. He was the most eager of her baby boys, the most competitive, the most likely to walk first. But, since Hunter was a squirmer and his fussing eventually got on Marco’s last nerve, they’d adopted a consistent pattern. Marco in the lead in the double stroller with Rlyand in back, and Hunter in the single stroller, where he could squirm to his hearts delight.

But, here on the Plaza Dominica, Ryland was fussy because he was facing the world without one of his brothers close at hand.

“Let’s go in here,” Senora Torres said, and she pointed to a tiny tailor’s shop with beautiful men’s and women’s suits in the window.

Lissa had learned already that there was no point in arguing with the boy’s mamacita, and as the noon day sun was beginning to give her heat stroke, she happily consented and the caravan of women and babies let themselves inside the small shop.

A short, but handsome older man came up to Senora Torres, and smiled broadly and began speaking in rapid Spanish.

Then he looked at me.

“You are the mama?” he asked. His English wasn’t half bad.