What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (24 page)

“You’re so good at this,” she said lightly.

He chuckled again and the sound ratcheted her desire higher.

“Now slide those fingers inside, honey,” he coached. “I know it’s not as good as what I can do but…”

She laughed with what little breath she had, amazed at the way he made her feel so many emotions at once. She slid one finger in, then a second, moaning as she did it.

“Yes, that’s the sound I want,” his voice was tight now.

Reese imagined his jaw tight as he struggled for control.

“I’m going to come quickly,” she told him.

“Good, ’cause I’m right with you.”

She stroked her fingers in and out, circling her clit, listening to his ragged breathing and felt her orgasm building.

“Then, because I have to go fast and hard,” he said, “I spin you away from the door, put you on the end of the bed, spread your gorgeous legs wide and plunge over and over into the sweetest, wettest, hottest pussy I’ve ever had.”

Reese’s whole body felt like it tightened at that and then she flew over the edge of her climax, gasping his name.

Less than a minute later, her name came across the line on a long, guttural groan.

Basking in the afterglow was cut short by the realization that she was actually in a public bathroom at the airport. Reese moved her hand and straightened her clothes before moving to the sink to wash up. She balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder and looked up into the mirror. Definitely flushed, eyes bright, and…huge grin.

“You there, babe?” Tony asked.

“I’m here.”

“That was hot.”

“Yeah.”

“I want to watch you do that when you get home.”

She paused and stared into the mirror but saw Tony’s face instead.

“The whole fantasy thing?” she asked, hoping that’s what he meant.

“The you-with-just-your-fingers part,” he clarified.

She swallowed. It wasn’t that she didn’t do that. She just didn’t do that with an audience.

But she still felt tingling at the suggestion. And she wouldn’t mind watching his part of this show in person. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” she finally said.

“Done.”

She had to shake her head and laugh. She wondered if Tony ever gave anything a second thought.

The gate attendant chose that very moment to finally announce that Reese’s flight to Kansas City was going to start boarding.

“I, um, have to go.”

“The plane is there finally?”

“Sounds like it.” She emerged from the bathroom to find everyone in her gate area on their feet and lining up at the door leading to the plane. Thank God. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you, babe.”

She opened her mouth to respond, the words right there, nearly tumbling out on their own, but at the last second she said, “’Bye.”

And she thought about that all the way back to Kansas City.

Tony heard the key in the lock to the apartment door and then the door swing open and he came around the corner from the kitchen with a huge smile for his wife.

But it wasn’t Reese.

It was a stranger. The guy was thirty-something with dark hair that was a little too long and rumpled, a day’s worth of scruff on his jaw and chin and big brown eyes that were exactly the color of Reese’s.

Tony immediately realized that this was Reese’s brother, Sebastian.

Sebastian was clearly startled to see Tony. “Who are you?”

“Tony. And you’re Sebastian.”

Sebastian nodded and held up a key. “This is my sister’s place.”

“Yes, I know. Reese didn’t mention that you were staying here.” Because she didn’t know. Tony figured that Sebastian had either pilfered Reese’s key to copy at some point or had conned the building supervisor into giving him one. Either way, he was certain Reese wasn’t aware that her brother was staying at her place.

“She’s on her honeymoon. I’m apartment sitting for her while they’re gone,” Sebastian said. “They’re in Europe for two weeks.”

“Her honeymoon plans changed,” Tony said.

Sebastian looked around quickly. “Is she here?” It was clear he did not want to see his sister at the moment. Or at all.

“She should be home in the next hour or so.”

Tony had tried to keep busy after the hot phone call with his wife. But he couldn’t sleep, couldn’t concentrate on any work, didn’t want to go anywhere and his attempt to relax and read the latest James Patterson had been futile. He couldn’t concentrate on anything other than all of the things he wanted to do to her when he saw her.

He was actually grateful for Sebastian’s interruption.

Especially considering Sebastian had apparently been out of touch for a while.

“Who are you?” Sebastian dumped a backpack on the floor next to the door and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

“Tony Steele.” He extended his hand. “Reese and I just got married.”

Sebastian frowned. “You’re not Jeff.”

Ah, so Jeff had met the in-laws. That knowledge gave Tony a stab of jealousy.

Sebastian didn’t take Tony’s hand and he let it drop. So the guy was sizing him up. That made sense.

“No. I’m Jeff’s best friend. I was the best man at the wedding that fell apart.”

“So you married her instead?”

“Kind of.” It wasn’t like he was the consolation prize. Was he? Tony decided not to think of it that way.

“That seems weird,” Sebastian told him.

Not from where Tony was standing. “You and Jeff were tight?”

Jeff had never, not once, mentioned Reese’s family to Tony. What the hell was that? Tony wondered if he’d really known his friend all that well after all. Or maybe it was just that Jeff didn’t care about Reese’s family enough to mention them to his best friend.

Sebastian shrugged. “Jeff was kind of a douche.”

Tony couldn’t agree more.

“So why aren’t you guys in Europe together?” he asked.

“I prefer to take my wife on our own honeymoon rather than on the one she was supposed to take with another guy.”

“And your trip brought you back here. Already,” Sebastian said, the unspoken “this is the best you can do?” loud and clear.

Tony didn’t feel like explaining that he was now on a budget—because of his new wife—and therefore, unable to whisk her off on a dream honeymoon trip. “So you’re going to be crashing on
our
couch for a while?” Tony asked. He wasn’t going anywhere, and thought establishing that upfront was a good idea. Not that Sebastian was exactly acting like a protective older brother.

Sebastian looked toward Tony’s couch. “Crashing on
that
wouldn’t be much of a hardship but, no, I don’t think Reese will be cool with that.”

Frankly, the couch was hard to miss once you stepped through the door to the apartment. It was twice as long as Reese’s couch and six inches wider. It took up most of the space in front of the fireplace and television—which would
have
to be replaced by a flat screen above the mantel ASAP. They had moved her couch under the window and it looked great as a little sitting and reading area—if you ignored the fact that there was only about a foot of space to walk between it and the back of Tony’s couch. And that you had to walk between it and the back of Tony’s couch to get to the rest of the apartment. It was big because Tony had intended for it to be big. Big and couch went together like PB and J.

It clearly took another man to appreciate that.

“Reese will be glad to see you,” Tony said, moving into the kitchen. He was going to be casual about this.

He didn’t know much about Sebastian and his lifestyle or Sebastian’s relationship with Reese, but Tony did know that even if she was tough on Sebastian, Reese cared about him and she would want to see him. Tony couldn’t get her home any faster—a fact that was frustrating as hell—but he could keep track of her brother for the next hour and a half.

“So I’m gonna…grab a shower,” Sebastian said, already moving toward the bathroom.

“Absolutely.” That would kill some time and keep Sebastian busy. Tony wasn’t quite sure what he’d do if Sebastian decided he was going to leave before Reese showed up. Tony wasn’t convinced he could physically restrain Reese’s brother. Sebastian was an inch taller than Tony but wiry. However, Tony knew that determination made a lot of difference in a fight. Tony had never been motivated to beat another guy.

Sebastian disappeared down the hall and Tony called his sister-in-law. “I’ve got a guy I barely know in the shower and I need to keep him busy, but I’m not sure what to do with him.”

There was a long pause on Jaden’s end. “Of all the phone calls I’ve ever expected to get from you, this one was not on the list.”

“Hilarious, really,” he said dryly. “Reese’s brother, Sebastian, is here. She hasn’t seen him in weeks. She’s not home yet and I need to keep him here for her. I think. Should I keep him here?”

“Reese? You mean the woman that you swept off to Vegas and
married
this weekend?”

Emily had told them. And Jaden was pissed. Because she would have wanted to be there for his wedding. Which was sweet. And not at all what he needed right now.

“Jaden, focus.”

“If you promise that we’ll all have dinner tomorrow night.”

“Ja—”

“I want to talk to you about this. And get to know Reese.”

Actually, Jaden, Emily and Adam were three of the best things about Tony. He should take Reese over immediately. They all loved him, thought he was great…and had a plethora of embarrassing stories.

Dinner could wait.

“Maybe. Eventually, of course.”

“I need a promise,” Jaden said.

“I pinky swear that I’ll bring her over. Eventually.” Mostly, he was messing with her. He loved his family and he loved Reese and they were all going to get along wonderfully. Heck, Jaden and Reese already knew one another and they had a lot in common.

“Oh, gee, I gotta go, I hear Lillian.”

“It’s past Lil’s bedtime,” Tony said, referring to his four-year-old niece, Jaden and Adam’s youngest daughter. Technically, Emily was only Adam’s. Jaden had come into their lives when Em was fourteen. But everyone—especially Jaden and Emily—felt that Emily was Jaden’s daughter as much as Lillian was.

“I’m going to win this, Tony,” his sister-in-law said. “You called me. I have leverage.”

He gave a big sigh. “Fine.” Then he heard the shower shut off and he got serious. “Reese has a rocky relationship with her brother and hasn’t seen him in a while. Now he’s here but she’s not. What do I do?”

There was a pause before Jaden said, “Yeah, I think you should keep him there. There must be a reason he showed up, right?”

“I think it was because he was going to squat in her house while she was on her honeymoon.”

“Oh…okay.”

He chuckled. “So you can see why he might try to be gone before she gets here.”

“I still think you should keep him there. If nothing else, so she can try to get her key back from him if she doesn’t want him to have it.”

Tony laughed. “Okay, maybe. How do I keep him here hanging out with a complete stranger for the next hour or so?”

“You do what you do best,” she said.

“Which is?”

“You convince him that you are the most interesting and fun person he’s ever met and that he’d be a fool for wanting to be anywhere but with you for the next few hours.”

Tony started to give her a smart-ass comment, but he stopped. She had a point. People
wanted
to hang out with him. People sought his company. Everyone always had a blast when Tony was around. There was no reason to think that he couldn’t convince Sebastian that hanging out with him was exactly what he needed in his life at this very moment.

“You’re my favorite sister-in-law,” he told his only sister-in-law.

“You’re hilarious,” she told him.

“See you at dinner soon.”

The door to the bathroom opened.

“Tomorrow night.”

“We’ll see—”

“I’m not hanging up until you promise,” Jaden said.

Tony wasn’t the nicest guy ever, but he’d never hang up on his brother’s wife, the mother of his nieces and one of the best women he knew. Dammit.

Sebastian came into the living room and Tony said, “Fine. Tomorrow.”

“See you then,” Jaden said cheerfully before disconnecting.

Tony hung up and greeted Sebastian with a big smile. “How do you feel about
Seven Headed Monster
?”

“The band?” Sebastian repeated. “I like some of their stuff.”

Seven Headed Monster was a Kansas City band that was starting to get some notice. Tony knew some people who knew some people who knew them and they’d ended up at a party together about eight months ago. He and the lead singer and the bass player had then ended up in Vegas together. It had been a bonding experience.