What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (6 page)

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Authors: Erin Nicholas

Tags: #contemporary;billionaires;wedding;runaway bride

BOOK: What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2
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He might need to see his doctor. Maybe he’d finally killed one too many brain cells.

“There is no way that I’m recapping last night for you,” she told him hotly, yanking her arm from his grasp.

“Reese, hon—darling,” he said, catching himself on the endearment. “I
really
want to know. I need to know. Did we have sex last night?”

She glared at him. “Three times. Is that what you want to hear? That we had sex
three times—
wait, I’m sorry, three
and a half—
” Tony flinched at the reminder of how he’d cut their last session short, “— and you don’t remember even one?”

“Reese,” he said, his voice pleading. “I must have had
a lot
to drink. A lot of tequila specifically.”

She propped a hand on her hip. A hip he really, really wished he remembered seeing, touching and kissing.

“I had as much to drink as you did and I remember everything,” she said.

He had to admit, he was impressed. “You’re a tequila girl, then?”

“I like the licking and the sucking involved.”

Heat slammed into him and there was one memory that he was never going to forget—the feel of Reese’s hot, wet body around his cock…just before he’d realized it was her.

He ran his hand through his hair and pulled in a long breath. Finally, he dropped his hands and met her gaze. “I don’t know what else to say besides I’m sorry, and I’d really like to start all over again. Minus the liquor.”

She narrowed her eyes. “All over again, huh?”

“Yes. I want another chance at…everything.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, really.”

“Yes. Honestly.” He put a hand over his heart. “I want this. I want
you
.”

“Oh, but,
honey
, you’ve got me,” she said.

He wasn’t sure why, but that sounded suspicious. But he wasn’t going to argue. “Then drop the sheet. I remember right where we left off.”

She gave him a smile that he could tell was fake. “So I guess that means you don’t remember the wedding chapel, huh?”

“Wedding chapel?”

“Yes, Tony, we got married last night.”

She probably shouldn’t be enjoying his look of shock so much, Reese thought as she watched Tony process her words. But dammit, he didn’t remember
any
of it? Hell, she should tell him that he’d bought her a yacht. He wouldn’t know any different.

But she didn’t really want a yacht.

She wanted him. And everything they’d done last night to be burned into his brain like it was hers.

She wasn’t
positive
he could buy her a yacht anyway. But judging by the way he’d thrown his money around last night and this suite, he either had a ton of money or an insane credit limit.

“We got married,” he said.

“Yes.”

He’d suggested it, she’d laughed it off, he’d gotten up on stage at the live music club and proposed in front of the entire room, she’d laughed it off again, so he’d thrown her over his shoulder and carried her to the chapel.

By then she’d been head over heels for him and convinced he felt the same way—he’d been sweet and romantic and sexy and attentive and kept telling her how stupid he’d been for not going after her himself. All of that combined with the liquor and the late hour and the fact that she’d been rejected earlier that same day and the fact that she’d already been partly in love with him for months and the general feeling of what-the-hell that seemed to hang in the air and infuse even the water in Vegas…and she’d finally said sure.

They’d said I do—without Elvis in attendance, thank you very much—and then headed straight back to the Bellagio where Tony had thoroughly rocked her world.

And he didn’t remember any of it.

She should probably be more upset.

She definitely was when she’d first realized the truth. Not to mention embarrassed beyond anything she’d ever felt before.

But now, as she looked at him racking his brain for the memory, she realized that this was probably for the best.

It had been a fantasy.

A fun one. One she needed. After Jeff’s rejection, she’d needed her ego stroked a little. But clearly Tony was her rebound. He was a big major oh-my-god rebound, but really…there was no way they were
actually
in love.

And there was no way they were going to stay married.

“Well, good,” he finally said.

She frowned, trying to remember what he was saying was good. Then she frowned harder. “It’s good that we’re married?”

“Yeah.” He moved toward her with a sexy grin. “That will make it a lot harder for you to stay mad at me.”

She backed up. That grin, his naked body—which was clearly remembering what they’d been up to until he’d realized who she was—the way he was looking at her, was all a really bad idea.

He hadn’t even known who she was when he’d flipped her on her back and started thrusting.

That
was enough to make her put her hands up to stop him.

“No. Fricking. Way,” she said firmly.

He stopped. “What?”

“You didn’t even know who I was when you rolled me over and started going at it,” she reminded him. “I could have been anybody. It wasn’t like you were
surprised
to have a naked woman in bed with you. That alone should give me pause.”

“You were giving me a blowjob.”

She flushed at the reminder. “So?”

“So I figured we probably knew and liked each other.”

She stared at him. “Seriously?”

“What?”

“I thought I was making
love
to my husband, a man who had promised to love, honor and cherish me until he died. You were fucking the random woman next to you who you
probably
knew and liked.”

“You were giving me a
blowjob
. I was acting on instinct.”

She shook her head. “This is my fault.”

He nodded. “Definitely. You shouldn’t give a sleeping man a blowjob if you don’t want to be flipped to your back like that.”

She huffed out a breath. Okay, he had a point there. And even his words made her hot.

She had turned wanton for him in less than twenty-four hours. Great.

“I’m not mad about you flipping me to my back.”

Heat flashed in his eyes and he took a step forward.

Reese quickly put a hand up. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. This is my fault for overreacting to my wedding debacle.”

Tony stopped and frowned. “What hell are you talking about? Your wedding debacle? As far as I’m concerned, marrying the asshole would have been the debacle.”

Okay, he had a point there too.

“Flying off to Vegas and having wild sex and getting married to another man within hours of being dumped is a little overreaction.”

“I
really
want to hear more about this wild sex,” Tony muttered.

She couldn’t help but grin at that. “Hey, you should know to lay off the tequila.”

“You’re not going to tell me anything about it?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I’ll tell you it was
really
good. You enjoyed it.”

He made a little growling noise and stepped forward again. “More.”

She shook her head. “No way.”

“Please.”

“Nope.”

“I’ll pay you. A hundred dollars for every detail.”

There was that throwing money around thing again. She fought a smile. “You couldn’t afford it. There were lots of good details.”

The corner of his mouth curled slightly. “Then maybe I should say you’re welcome.”

She snorted. He was so full of himself. But she liked his cockiness. And…he wasn’t wrong. He’d made last night amazing.

It sucked that he didn’t remember it. But she did. She most definitely did.

“Come to think of it,” she said. “I did see a great pair of earrings last night. They were about two hundred.”

Tony looked around at the floor, located his pants and picked them up. He took his wallet from the pocket and pulled out two hundred-dollar bills. He held them up. “Go.”

This was fun. Teasing him was fun. And she really did want him to know at least a
few
of the details of the night before. Especially any details that might turn him on and make him want a repeat…

She shut down that train of thought. That was stupid. Beyond stupid.

It had been one night. A crazy, spontaneous, amazing reaction to a crappy, self-esteem-crushing life event.

But she’d had her fun. She’d rebounded—oh, had she rebounded. There was no good reason for anything to be repeated.

Tony waggled the money. “Come on. Give me something good.”

She plucked one of the hundreds from his fingers. “Your first two shots of tequila were off of my stomach and you had me suck the lemon and then you sucked on my tongue.”

He pulled in a breath through his nose. “Well, that explains why I didn’t say no to the tequila.”

She grinned and took the second hundred from him. She could make anything up, honestly. He wouldn’t know the difference. But she didn’t have to. The night had been full of hot, fun moments. “At the second club, you told me I tasted like melted cotton candy.”

Tony took another step toward her. He was close enough that she could have counted the eyelashes that surrounded the deep blue eyes that reminded her of the blue flame on a stove—vibrant and hot.

“Where did I taste you?” he asked, his voice low and rough.

“Lots of places,” she said honestly. “But that was in reference to when you ran your hand up under my skirt while we danced and slid your finger inside my thong.”

His nostrils flared and his eyes darkened. “I don’t have taste buds on my finger.”

“And then put your finger in your mouth.” Thinking about it now made her thighs clench and she realized she’d started a very dangerous game.

“I want a redo.”

She stepped back and almost tripped on the damned sheet around her. She yanked the end of it higher and shook her head. “I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.”

They could easily get the marriage annulled. Vegas probably had places to handle that today, in fact. She and Tony were hardly the first, or the last, couple to stumble drunk into a Vegas chapel.

“I’ll pay you,” he said again.

She frowned at him. “Stop it.”

“Seriously. I’ll pay you to stay one more day and take me back through everything we did last night, everywhere we went.”

She studied him. He was serious. In fact, he looked very bothered all of a sudden.

“Tony, it was just a crazy night. I’m sure you’ve had a lot of those.”

“Not with you.”

She took a deep breath at that.

“Look,” he said sincerely. “I’m not going to lie and tell you this has nothing to do with the sex. I’ve wanted you since the first moment I met you, and the fact that I have now had you and don’t fucking remember it will, I’m convinced, make me crazy if I don’t have another chance.”

He seemed legitimately upset.

She glanced at the bed. She supposed they could…

“But, Reese.” He took her hand. “I’ve also been an idiot to stand by while another man, my
friend
, pursued you. I finally had a chance to show you how amazing I think you are and to make you laugh and to romance you and…I blew it.”

She swallowed hard. He hadn’t blown it. He’d actually done a great job on all of those things the night before. She’d been in heaven. He’d treated her like a princess. He’d made her feel beautiful and sexy. And turning him on had been every bit as much fun as being turned on. Tony Steele was a man who could have any woman. He could have had a dozen just last night on the strip. Probably the whole dozen at once if he’d wanted them. She’d noticed how the other women watched him walk by, how they smiled differently at him, how they’d given her jealous glances.

But he’d chosen her. He’d been all about her. She’d had his full attention and it had been addicting.

Reese couldn’t deny that she’d had a hell of a good time the night before.

A repeat wouldn’t be all bad.

But she wasn’t going to let him off easy. He didn’t remember their night. Taking him back through it could be fun, but she was going to be sure he not only remembered everything this time, but doubly regretted not having
two
nights of memories to look back on.

Like she would. For the rest of her life.

“What’s it worth to you?” she asked.

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