Winning the Billionaire (Seattle Bachelors Book 2) (13 page)

She whirled around to face him. The tears that filled her eyes cut up his insides, but he had a feeling she was making a point and he needed to know what it was.

“I’m a forever kind of girl, Baz. If I ever marry you…” She stopped, swallowed hard, her voice wobbling. “If I ever marry you, it’s going to be for forever. Not a year or until you decide you’re bored with me. And it’s going to be because you love me, too. I love you too much to settle for less.”

She turned and stalked away, moving in the direction of the staircase. He let her go. He was pretty sure they both needed a moment to recover, because her words sank over him, settling into his bones, into all those painful places. Christina loved him like
that
. Not a simple love or a love easily dismissed, but the hard kind. Where you made sacrifices for the one you loved and made them gladly, sometimes even to the detriment of yourself.

The funny part was, she had no idea he
did
love her like that.

In that moment, he knew two things. Despite being honest with her, she still didn’t trust him. Hell. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to screw this up, the way he had with Jean.

He also knew that when this weekend was over, he had a big decision to make. Namely, was he really ready to lay his heart on the line? To fully commit himself to her and be hers and only hers? Was he ready to finally take the first step into moving beyond the legacy his father had left and finding his own happiness? He’d have to put their relationship on the line.

He’d have to risk losing her.

C
hristina stared for a moment into the familiar room. She’d ended up in what had always been her and Caden’s bedroom whenever their family vacationed here at Lake Washington. They’d had this cabin since she and Caden were young. Like Sebastian, they’d spent quite a few summers here.

The house wasn’t overly huge. Seated on the edge of the beach, it had gorgeous views of the lake and a private boat ramp. The bedrooms took up the top floor. With oak-finished wood-beam walls, handmade quilts, and a nightstand made from an old tree stump, the room—and the house itself—had a rustic, homey feel. Her parents’ idea of “roughing it,” of course, was no room service and meals they had to make themselves. The master bedroom contained the ginormous king bed, topped with a similar handmade quilt, and no doubt covered in more of the rose petals.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop her smile. Sebastian was right. That particular gesture, along with the red and white candles scattered throughout the house, screamed of Caden. Sebastian didn’t appear to have a romantic bone in his body. Out of all the women she’d seen him with over the years, she’d never seen him give any of them flowers. He’d always had a flare for the playful and mischievous. Caden was the one more prone to grand gestures.

She sighed into the empty room. She should never have allowed Sebastian to bring her here, should never have agreed to this weekend with him. It wasn’t like her. At all. She hadn’t decided yet if she truly wanted the dream. The kids. The husband. The house. What she craved in the dead of night, when the loneliness ate away at her need to be self-sufficient, was something simpler. She wanted a man who’d worship her the way Caden worshiped Hannah. The way her father worshipped her mother. She’d never been a romantic person. Being at the top of her class, her studies had always come first, which suited her father fine.

Caden’s romantic display at the bachelor auction last year had done her in. Christina wanted, more than anything, for someone to make that kind of gesture for her.

She’d always dreamed Sebastian would be the one. The silly schoolgirl’s dream had stuck. Cinderella had always drawn the part of her that was, as Caden often put it, overwhelmingly girl.

So, why the hell was she here?

She sank onto the bed on the right, lay back, and closed her eyes. Every bone in her body weighted with a sudden, overwhelming exhaustion. The truth beat behind her breastbone along to the thud of her heartbeat, strong and undeniable. She’d come because she couldn’t help herself. Sebastian’s touch was her kryptonite. In the car, he’d set her in his lap and wrapped his arms around her. God how she loved the simple bliss of being held against his strong chest, encompassed in his scent. When he’d actually gotten down on his knees in front of her and rubbed his erection against her, she’d almost caved and begged him to fuck her right there.

Mostly, she’d come because she’d allowed herself to hope. She needed to find out for herself if he truly meant what he’d told her.

The bed dipped, the old springs creaking in protest. Christina’s heart skipped, and her eyes popped open. On his hands and knees, Sebastian climbed onto the bed, rising over her. He settled between her thighs, holding himself on his elbows. The delicious weight of him effectively pinned her to the mattress. His heat infused hers and his luscious scent, all male and all Sebastian, swirled around her like a lure.

Somewhere over the last few minutes, he’d lost his jacket, and his hair fell over his forehead, giving him a rumpled but altogether alluring appearance. He could look so boyish sometimes, and it was a damn good look on him.

His heavy-lidded gaze settled on hers, full of a lethal combination of arousal and determination. “I have a few demands of my own.”

She nodded. It was only fair. “All right.”

“First one, no more walls. For this weekend, I’d like us to be honest with each other. That means you don’t get to run from me or hold anything back. No matter what it is.” He stroked the hair back off her face, the tip of his right index finger brushing the skin behind her ear. “I won’t make you any promises I can’t keep if you’ll let me in.”

His nearness, his tender touch, the husky tone of his voice, made her shiver. Her breathing hitched. This was the side of him she couldn’t resist. The heart of the man.

“That goes both ways.” She longed to bend her knees, to cradle his hips. He was mightily aroused. His cock lay hard and heavy behind the seam of his pants, and she ached to adjust her position in order to settle him more intimately against her. An inch down and to the right and the head of his cock would nudge her clit in the most delicious way…

“Exactly my point. All I want is to earn your trust. The way you looked at me before you left the room…” He shook his head and stroked his fingers through her hair again. “I hate it when you look at me like that.”

The regret rising in his eyes had something more than desire settling between them. That dark heaviness she’d noted in the limo returned. Sebastian could be broody when he wanted to be. She longed, more than she wanted to tell him, to know this part of him. Talking with him, getting to hold him, filled a part of her heart she couldn’t let go of. He didn’t show this side of himself often and God help her, she wanted more. She wanted all of
him
.

She shook her head, her stomach turning in confusion. “I—”

Sebastian brushed his mouth over hers, silencing her protest before the words could leave her mouth.

“You don’t trust me, and I can’t blame you. I can’t change my past or the places I’ve been, but I hate that all I’ve managed to do is hurt you.” His gaze flitted over her face, searching for a moment before he leaned his forehead against hers. Those hypnotic blue eyes pleaded with her. “I’d never do anything to purposely hurt you. Somewhere deep inside, you have to know that.”

She closed her eyes, her heartbeat ratcheting up a notch. God, he had to go and say that. She knew damn well Sebastian might be a lot of things, but he’d never been a cruel man. After all, Spike had been a homeless cat he’d lured off the street with basic things like compassion and a gentle touch. He’d taken the time to earn the cat’s trust. So, yes, she knew damn well Sebastian would never
purposely
hurt anybody.

She opened her eyes. The worry and palpable regret in his wrapped around her and sank deep. If she made it out of this weekend with her heart intact, it would be a miracle. This might well be a suicide mission.

“I do know, but the effect is still the same. You don’t know if you can truly be what I need, and I don’t know if I want to take the risk of ending up like Jean. I’m agreeing to this not because I think it’s wise or even because I agree with your little mission, though I think it’s sweet you want to earn my trust.” She stroked a hand up his back, enjoying the solid press of the muscle, the warmth of his body. “I’ve long suspected there’s a heart inside this chest somewhere.”

“Then why are you here?”

She sighed. She’d promised him honesty. “Because I can’t resist you, either. You touch me and my body melts.”

“Shit.” Sebastian’s eyes slid shut, a tremor running through him. “Wrong thing to tell me if you’re trying to keep me at arm’s length, sweetheart. I’ve been aroused since you were in my lap in the limo, never mind what you did downstairs. Lying with you like this is killing me.”

For a moment, Christina could only stare at him. His struggle moved across his face, his brow furrowed, his mouth falling open as he released a serrated breath. The last of her resolve deserted her.
This
. This was why she’d allowed him to talk her into coming. He trembled in her arms, as if her words and her touch did the same thing to him his did to her, and the power of it was intoxicating.

Unable to resist touching him any longer, she lifted her head and molded her lips to the curve of his jaw. She allowed herself to taste his skin, to revel in the rough scrape of his five o’clock shadow against her lips. She wanted to commit every tiny moment with him to memory. Her resolve to save her heart be damned. She needed him, too. “We’re in agreement, then?”

Whatever reservations had been between them evaporated. He rocked his hips into hers, groaned long and low, and buried his face in her throat. He feasted on her, nipping and sucking at her skin, over the curve of her shoulder, up the side of her neck and the edge of her jaw. One hand wandered her curves, from the side of her hip to her ass, squeezing gently. “Yes. Christ, yes. For now. Are we done talking, baby?”

She couldn’t help the quiet laugh that escaped her and nipped at his jaw. “You’re cranky when you’re aroused, Sebastian.”

He lifted his head, worry once again rising in his searching eyes. “I’m sorry. I need you. It’s been a rough month. I want to bury myself so damn deep in your sweetness I can’t tell where you end and I begin, and I don’t want to come out until sometime Sunday.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” She leaned in and raked her teeth over his earlobe. “Fuck me, Sebastian.”

He groaned, low and deep, and opened his eyes. The heat within them scorched her from the inside out.

“I’d never imagined you’d have such a dirty mouth.” He grinned, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “Say it again.”

He dipped his head, his lips skimming her body, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Down her neck. Across her shoulder. Between her breasts. Above the neckline of her dress. Everywhere he touched came alive. Another wave of heated shivery goose bumps ran the surface of her skin. Her eyes closed. When he planted a soft kiss at the top of her solar plexus, she gasped, her body bowing off the bed.

“Say it again, sweetheart. Tell me what you want.”

The seductive rumble of his voice against her body sent a wave of heat straight to her core. Sebastian in seduction mode was a powerful force indeed.

Her fingers curled into the quilt beneath her, fisting the soft material. “I want you to fuck me, Baz. Hard.”

He let out a sound that was half groan, half frustrated growl as he moved down her body. He planted a series of kisses down her stomach, his breath warm through the thin silk of her dress, his hands caressing, stroking, teasing. As he settled between her legs, his warm palms slid up the insides, setting her thighs to trembling. “I’ve thought about this for years. Lying between your silky thighs. Getting to push one of your damn skirts up past your waist, so I could see you. All of you.”

His comment caught her. Deciding she had to know, she furrowed her brow but didn’t open her eyes. “What’s the matter with my skirts?”

Quiet laughter rumbled out of him. His thumbs stroked the insides of her thighs, grazing her outer lips. “Out of all the things I said, you focus on why I hate your skirts? It’s because they hug your fantastic ass. Your skirts give me hard-ons.”

His warm breath whispered over her flesh as he bent his head to her mound. He inhaled softly, then groaned again.

“God, you smell good.” His hot tongue flicked out, the tip following the seam of her slit, teasing her already aroused flesh. “I’ve wanted to taste you for a long time.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. Tiny tremors ran through her body. Sebastian had her on the edge of a heightened state of arousal, but an ultra-vulnerable ache gripped her chest that had her trembling for an entirely different reason. She didn’t know how to tell him, or even if she should. She’d had a lot of lovers over the years, but none ever attempted to reciprocate when she’d given oral sex, and she’d never asked. The act was intimate and accepting made her vulnerable.

She reached down, attempting to pull him back up. “I’d rather you fuck me.”

He caught her hand in his, pinning it to the bed, and leaned in again, skimming his mouth over her lips. “Uh-uh. You had your way with me downstairs. Now it’s my turn.”

Pleasure slid to her toes. Her limbs began to quake in earnest, but her chest clenched with the fear of letting go. She’d never been this vulnerable with any man. She took charge on purpose.

She squeezed his fingers, reaching down with the other hand to pull at him. “Baz, please…”

His movements paused, his gaze burning into her, but she couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes or look at him.

“Has anybody ever done this for you before?” Disbelief laced his gentle tone.

Her face heated to a thousand degrees. What the hell did she tell him? That he was the only man who’d ever offered? That she’d always accepted that was the way it would be?

When she didn’t answer, Sebastian made a sound of displeasure in the back of his throat. Then his thumbs caressed her flesh, stroking the outsides of her nether lips, and his hot breath blew over her, cooling her heated skin. “Then it’s about time someone did. I’m honored it’s me.”

A heated shiver shot through her, but the ultra-vulnerable sensation wouldn’t release her or let her relax. Here, like this, she was at his mercy.

She turned her head, the heat in her face increasing. She might as well be a damn virgin. “Baz…”

He stroked a hand up her stomach, his fingers sweeping her left nipple, tight and extended with arousal. “Shhh. Relax. It’s only me, Tina. Let me pleasure you.”

He didn’t wait for her answer but slid his hands up her thighs, pushing her dress farther up until it settled around her waist. Every muscle tightened as her body sat poised on the edge, waiting for the first intimate touch.

She didn’t know what she’d expected from him or the exchange, but the first tender stroke of his tongue had her melting into the mattress. His tongue was hot, his breath cool against her moist flesh. His soft strokes, the way his warm, smooth palms continually stroked her body, had her reservations evaporating one by one.

He nuzzled her mound with his nose and mouth, stroked her nether lips with his fingers, his touch always tender. Sebastian took the act slowly, taking his time to caress her, to build her arousal all over again. Hands braced on the insides of her thighs, holding her open, he didn’t charge in. He dipped in, caressing her with the tip of his tongue or giving her a long, tender stroke and an occasional light butterfly flick.