by Cora Bell
“What is it going to take?” he asked, standing and grabbing my arms.
“I don’t know,” I said, broken, trying not to cry.
“Don’t keep running from me.”
“I told you I’m not running. I’m doing what I need to do.”
His fingers brushed my arms, and I tried not to give in to his touch.
“I need to leave early on Friday,” I whispered, forcing the words out.
“Why?”
“My friend wants me to come stay with her.”
“Just temporarily?” He met my eyes. “Or is this a permanent thing?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Shock reflected in his eyes. I couldn’t do anything to help it. I had to take care of myself and do what was right—even if that meant letting Nash go.
I stepped away from him and walked to the elevator without looking back.
#
The damn sun was so bright. It was like I hadn’t felt it on me—really felt it—in years. Feeling the sun through the pane of a window was a whole different experience than feeling it while standing perfectly still out in the middle of whatever the hell this place was.
Some park Charles drove me to.
But there were people here—little ones and big ones. Kids playing with kites and parents watching them or talking on their cell phones. It was all so…normal.
I’d built it up to something huge in my head, until I didn’t think I’d ever be able to go anywhere again. And here I was. Outside.
Charles sat on a bench nearby, pretending not to watch me. I didn’t care. He knew what a struggle this was—or should be. But now…it wasn’t so hard. And it was worth it if I could convince Reyna to be with me.
I loved her, and if she was going to make compromises, I had to as well. I needed her in my life—and that meant being able to be with her in more places than just my home.
It wasn’t work to walk around the nearby lake, to smile at a family by the swing set, and pull off something more like a grimace when a man’s dog jumped up to sniff my crotch. But progress was progress, and I knew how important that was.
More than that, I knew it was possible to return to the real world. I’d gone out every single day this week, and tonight I had one more stop.
I found Charles on the same bench. “Let’s go.”
“Back home, sir?”
I shook my head. “Reyna’s.”
“Sir?”
I led the way to the car. “Take me to Reyna’s.”
“Then if I may, can I suggest one more stop before we go?”
Curious, I nodded and got in the car. An hour later, armed with a bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine, I stood outside her door. The nerves that raced through me weren’t because of stepping into a new building or the long ride over here. They were because I wasn’t sure Reyna would take me back.
I knocked and waited, anticipating what she’d be wearing, how she’d look. How her body would feel pressed against mine.
And then she was there, opening the door, her eyes going wide.
“Reyna,” I said.
Her mouth dropped open. “What are you going here?” She glanced around the hallway, as if expecting someone else. “Is Charles with you? Are you okay?”
I smiled and held out the flowers. “Why would I bring you flowers if everything wasn’t okay?”
“But…”
“Can I come in or would you like to do this out here?”
“Of course. Come in.” She stepped back, still in shock. “Do what?”
“Fix this once and for all.” I walked inside, charmed by her little apartment. “It’s cozy. You want a glass of wine?”
“Nash…”
I turned to smile at her again, to take in how good she looked in short shorts and a sort of silky robe over a tank top. Her hair was in curls hanging over her shoulders. I’d never seen her look so good. I’d never wanted my hands on her more.
But I kept my distance and instead pointed to the kitchen. “I think you could use a glass of wine.”
She walked ahead of me and pulled out a wine opener and glasses. When we both had one in hand, I asked, “You have a few minutes to talk?”
“I was just…” She gestured to her bedroom. “Packing for tomorrow.”
My stomach clenched, but I forced myself to stay calm. It was just a little trip. It was what she needed to do. And this was what I needed to do.
“Let’s sit.” I made myself comfortable on her couch, and she perched next to me. Close enough for me to reach out and touch her bare leg. “You look nice.”
She ran a hand through her hair with a laugh. “Thanks. Not exactly expecting company.”
“I needed to see you.”
“You must have needed to see me really bad if you came all the way here to do it.”
I reached for her hand, unable to stop from making that contact with her. “I did. It’s important.”
Her eyes searched mine, and then she squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you did. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. And I need you back in my life, Reyna. Wherever that might be.”
“You mean…” She licked her lips, looking unsure. “You’re okay if we—if we aren’t always at your place?”
“Looks like. I’ve been everywhere this week. To the park, to the damn mall, all over the hotel, and to the fucking Space Needle.” She laughed, and I continued. “But really, the only place I wanted to be was with you.”
Tear shimmered in her eyes, but then she said the last words I expected her to say. “I’m still going tomorrow, though.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“You’re still going?” Nash asked.
I couldn’t help but grin. “I promised Jane I would. But I’ll be back. It’s just a visit.”
“You sure? Because I couldn’t stand it if you left for good. I’d follow you.”
“You would?”
“I would.”
I climbed onto his lap, my heart bursting. “Good. Because I don’t want to be away from you anymore.”
His arms came around me immediately, holding me close to his body, so tight I could barely breathe.
“Reyna,” he murmured. “God…I can’t be away from you like that again.”
“I know. It was torture.”
His mouth closed over mine, tongue pressing inside of my mouth to lick deep. His fingers squeezed in the back of my hair. “Damn, you feel good.”
I wiggled against his cock, making him groan. “It’s been too long.”
“Way too long.” He stood with me still in his arms. “I’m going to make love to you in your bed.”
The way he said it. Your bed. Make love. There were so many things right about that. We’d never had sex anywhere other than his suite before, and he’d never called it making love. We’d fucked, drove each other mad and enjoyed it, but this…this was love.
Nash set me on the bed and then moved aside my suitcase. “You can take a few minutes off, right?”
“A few minutes?” I pouted. “That’s all it’s going to take?”
He growled out a response that had me laughing. “I’m pretty sure that was a challenge.”
“Bring it on. You—oh, God…” Words failed me when he yanked off my shorts and plunged two fingers inside of me.
My body instantly ached for him, ached to have him covering me and inside of me. Everywhere.
He made quick work of his clothes, tossing them on the floor with all the things I hadn’t packed yet. Then instead of picking up the pace, he crawled over the top of me, his cock leaving a trail of pre-cum up my leg and making me squirm. He kissed me gently on the lips.
“I really missed you. Everything about you,” he said, lips brushing mine. “I love you, Reyna.”
“I love you, too.”
He froze, shock the first thing appearing on his face. Then he scooped me into his arms, kissing my face, my neck, my shoulders and then my mouth again. “I never thought I’d hear you
say it.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close. “I’ve felt that way for a long time, but I was scared to say it. Scared I would and then things wouldn’t work between us.”
“They’re working, right?” he asked. “This is good.”
“It is good. I love you,” I said again, because I could.
He grinned. “You can’t say that to me and then just leave tomorrow. I can’t be away from you.”
“Then come with me.”
He didn’t respond at first, eyes dropping to my lips. Maybe because he didn’t know where else to look. Didn’t know how to answer.
“It’s okay.” I touched his cheek. “Nash, I understand. This is already a lot—all that you’ve done. I know you can’t go.”
He looked up, eyes locking on mine. “No. I can do this.”
“You really don’t have to. It’s a whole weekend away.”
He kissed me. “And I’ll be with you the whole time. Right where I want to be.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Although…” His lips curved. “You could work a little at convincing me.”
With a laugh, I pulled off my shirt and locked my arms around him, breasts against his chest. My nipples puckered at the contact. Every part of him felt so good, I could hardly slow down. I pushed him back on the bed so I’d have better access as I kissed my way across his abdomen.
His breathing quickened as I nipped his happy trail all the way down to his cock. It curved up to his belly, welcoming me. Making my mouth water. I wanted him to know how much I needed him. How much I’d missed him.
When I closed my lips over the head of his cock, Nash released a long breath and let his hands tangle in my hair. Then I started to suck, taking him as deep as possible and then sliding my mouth back up his shaft. I hollowed my cheeks and sucked hard, taking him from panting to calling my name over and over again.
“Reyna…what you do to me…”
I was fully prepared to make him come like this, more than once if I could, but his control broke and he grabbed my chin for a kiss. “I need to be inside you.”
He flipped me over onto my stomach, and I propped myself up with my elbows, already soaking wet for him. I needed him in me as much as he needed to be there. To feel home with Nash. Our new home.
He reached around me to cup my breasts, fingers teasing the nipples. And when my back arched, ass rising into the air, he slid inside of me. I was so full of him, all I could do was touch my forehead to the comforter and let the sensation hit me.
“That’s right,” Nash said. “Right there.”
He pumped his hips against me, moving in and out, the friction so delicious I was seconds away from coming already.
“I’m going to make you come over and over,” Nash said. “So you can feel it tomorrow when we’re on the plane. You’ll only be able to think about my cock in you and how much you’ll always want it in you.”
“Yes. Please,” I groaned, pushing my ass back against him.
His hands slid from my tits to my stomach, and then one pressed over my wet mound. He fingered my clit, making me jerk forward. Then he hauled my hips back against him while continuing to finger me, around and around, back and forth, up and down until my moans echoed off the walls.
“Nash, please—I can’t—”
He pumped faster and brought me to a quick climax, holding me as my body shuddered, and then slamming against me a few more times to take his own orgasm. And as he spilled into me, hot and warm, I realized something.
Both of us had broken free of the past. We’d done it together, and now we could have a future.
#
“We could have taken my jet,” I mumbled, mostly because I was nervous and I needed something to distract me.
Reyna only grinned as she sat next to me in first class. The engines started, and I gripped the arms of the seat. She pried one hand free and held it. “This is all part of the experience. You sure you’re okay?”
“As long as you’re here.”
“I promise I won’t leave.”
She chatted on and on about her friend Jane, taking up time as the plane taxied down the runway. “When we’re in the air, we’ll get a drink.”
“A strong one,” I said.
She squeezed my hand. “Are you sure this is okay?”
I returned the squeeze. “You don’t have to keep asking me. I wanted to do this. I am doing this.”
“You’re right.”
“So, what do you want to do first when we get back home?”
I looked over at her with a grin. “You said home.”
“I meant back to Seattle.”
“I was hoping you meant my place. Or yours, whichever you’d prefer. I want to live together.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really.”
“You’d move into my place?”
I shrugged. “I mean, I’d prefer something bigger, with studio space for my painting—maybe somewhere for you to work, too. But if you want to live in your apartment, we can make it work.”
“No. I mean, not no—I don’t care about my apartment, I just want to be with you.”
The plane picked up speed and instead of paying attention to that, I kissed her again. “You just made me really happy.”
“I think I’m going to be doing a lot more of that once we get to Jane’s,” she said, lifting her eyebrows.
I chuckled. “Why wait?”
“What?”
I waited until the flight attendant passed before pointing to the bathroom. “I dare you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re a dirty man, Nash.”
“Hey, I’m out here. In the real world. I might as well try everything.”
She grinned. “You’re on.”
Once the plane was at cruising altitude, she unbuckled her seatbelt. But before she stood, she leaned in to kiss me. “I really, really love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Her eyes lit up the way they always did when I said that. Then she got up and wiggled her fingers in a wave. “See you in a minute.”
I watched her ass as she swayed down the aisle. Then I waited another minute and went to join Reyna for another new adventure.
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Saved by the Billionaire Sneak Peek
Sienna
I didn’t know what to do or where to go after my mother’s death. But braving the city streets seemed a lot safer than staying with a stepfather who couldn’t care less about me.
So I find an abandoned building on Parker Street and make it mine. It might be the only home I’ll ever have.
Until the sexy owner of the building comes around and I have no choice but to run again.
Dawson
The building on Parker is my special project—a dedication to my parents—not a home for squatters.
Until I discover the squatter is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Now I have a new plan.
I’ve found the woman who I want as my wife and I just have to make her mine.
Chapter 1
A visit to my building on Parker Street was long overdue, but I didn’t think it would be because of a squatter.
“Sir,” my driver, Lou, said as he held the door to the limo for me.
I nodded my thanks and got inside. I still had the message from my lawyer on my phone telling me the police had spotted someone sneaking into the back of my building in the middle of the night. It wasn’t unheard of—especially in that part of town. Homeless men and women carried around bags and pushed shopping carts, slept by Dumpsters, and begged for food a
nd money. It was part of the reason I’d picked the building in the first place—against my lawyer’s advice.
My parents had had a soft spot for the underprivileged. They sponsored programs and helped teens and young adults get started in life. They were the most inspiring people I knew, and then they were gone.
A car accident.
I never believed before last year how quickly life could change, but now I knew it could in the blink of an eye.
It made me realize a lot of things. That I hadn’t done anything like they had with my life. That I hadn’t found much of a purpose. And I hadn’t found love.
With my parents, it had hit them hard and fast. They were engaged within a month of meeting, married within three.
“If I may,” Lou said from the front seat, “I’d recommend waiting for the police to check out the space.”
Lou started as my driver but had designated himself my bodyguard as time passed. I’d been rich from the trust my parents gave me upon turning twenty-one, but once they’d died and I’d inherited the rest of their fortune, people I didn’t know (and some I did) came out of the woodwork. Only twenty-eight and I was one of the richest men in the city.
One of the richest and one of the loneliest.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, brushing off his concern. “I wanted to take a look at the space anyway.”
It was about time I got some sort of project underway. Anything I could do to pick up where my parents left off. Maybe a shelter or some sort of program to help the homeless get back on their feet. Maybe a place for teens to come to get their start in life.
I had no idea; I just knew it needed to happen.
Lou pulled up to the curb and narrowed his eyes at the building. There was graffiti on the façade, elaborate swirls that wound around broken windows. It had been there when I bought the building as well, sight unseen except for a picture of the front.
I knew that part of town and knew plenty of the buildings were rundown or abandoned. There were a few more I had my eye on, but I started with this one. This one, of all the others, meant a little more to me.