The TROUBLE With BILLIONAIRES: Book 1

by Kristina Blake

  “Try not to look so amazed,” he said, almost playful, more so than I knew he could be when sex wasn’t involved. “It’s an insult.”

  “I just thought…”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. I was wrong to assume. Let’s just get this over with. I wouldn’t mind going for a walk after. We need the fresh air after inhaling all this…I don’t even want to say. Plus, we’re in Italy!” I almost sang. “There’s no rain. There’s no fog. It’s just…sunny. And I don’t mean just the weather. The people here can’t seem to stop smiling. They’re so friendly.”

  “Of course they’re smiling. They’ve been visited by the sun,” Rawn said, glancing at me as he put a stack of clean plates into a cupboard. “I’ve already lined a walk of sorts up. There’s a vineyard down the road that caught my attention on the drive up.”

  “The one with the bronze statue on a hillside of a young peasant girl picking grapes?”

  “That’s the one. I’ve just made dinner reservations, which will follow a tour of the grounds.”

  We’d skipped lunch on the way out to the farm, so I was famished. “Sounds perfect,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he warned. “You don’t know what I have planned for you.”

  ***

  Tanned fields, golden like the sun, looked like patchwork next to the green fields of the vineyards. The hub of this particular vineyard was a sizeable stone lodge where tourists like ourselves could taste the wine and enjoy a meal. But Rawn had no interest in the wine when we arrived. He moved us quickly along to the tour, likely needing to stretch his legs as much as I did. Between the jet, our hotel suite, and the car, I was ready to move, despite how hungry I was.

  Rawn took my hand as we walked. “So you don’t get lost,” he said, indicating the tall vines that acted like walls within a labyrinth.

  I allowed it, releasing his hand only to take off my heels. They would make the tour almost impossible. The grass was soft against my now bare feet, much more so than the plastic within the heels. It felt so natural and made the tour even more enjoyable, as if I had somehow melded within the landscape and become part of its beauty rather than observing it.

  Rawn must have thought the same thing, because he could not stop looking down at my toes.

  “Don’t tell me you have a fetish,” I whispered as the man who guided us around the vineyard lectured on the growing process of the grapes.

  “I have a fetish for every part involving you,” he said back.

  The highlight of the tour was a glass of wine on top of the hillside next to the statue. Though the statue was of a peasant girl, she looked so carefree in her rags. So happy. I wondered if I could ever feel that way. I tried. With my colorful hoodies and the bright décor of my room back in Portland, I tried every day to keep a positive outlook on life. But it was very hard to think happy thoughts when so much anguish had passed by my door. And with a future that was so uncertain…

  “There you go, a million miles away again, but this time you don’t have your stars to blame,” Rawn said.

  “No, there’s no one to blame. Sorry,” I said, pulling myself together, trying to remember exactly where I was.

  I’m in Italy! And I didn’t spend a dime on the trip. Not bad for a twenty-one-year-old nerd, I thought. Take that, every popular girl out there.

  Back at the lodge, an iron table with lattices through it was set up for us outside on a patio surrounded by low-cut trees. As we approached, a waitress in a formal black and white uniform came out and spread a white cloth over the table before lighting a set of candles. It being autumn, the sun would soon set. It was all quite romantic, which made me as uncomfortable as it did excited. I had never experienced a day like today, and I likely wouldn’t again for a long time, if ever. I enjoyed the beauty of the day, but I was uneasy with the obvious seduction hidden within its layers.

  That feeling of unease only worsened when, after I took my seat at the table, the waitress gently tied a blindfold around my eyes, speaking something in Italian.

  “What did she say?” I asked, bewildered at what was happening.

  “She says your hair is the color of the golden fields that surround us. She wishes she had your hair.”

  It was a nice compliment, but it wasn’t the root of my question. “Why the blindfold?”

  “That was my request. It’s part of the experience. If we’re going to be working together like this, Madison, I need you to trust me. I know I don’t deserve it. Not after leaving you in the woods alone. But believe me when I say I was not aware of your predicament. I truly thought you knew your way back. I was foolish. Forgive me.”

  “Fine. Forgiven. Now can we take the blindfold off? I’m not sure I like it.”

  “It’s compulsory.”

  “According to who?”

  “According to me.”

  I knew he wasn’t speaking as my boss, but I didn’t resist. He couldn’t take me here, not at the vineyard with so many people around. I’d humor him now, but the blindfold would not leave the dinner table. However, complying with him didn’t mean I couldn’t speak on my own behalf.

  “Is it my trust you’re trying to earn, or are you trying to train me to accept your dominance?” I challenged.

  “Both. To me, they’re one and the same.” His voice was as liquid as the nearby stream that ran through the vineyard, rich and effortless. He held no shame in who he was, or what he wanted.

  “It’s a twisted philosophy.”

  “And yet you haven’t pulled the blindfold off. Like any scientist, you’re curious. It’s that curiosity that I’m relying on.”

  I couldn’t deny what he said, so I reached forward for my water, my throat suddenly dry.

  “Only a little,” he instructed when I found the glass. “Save some for the meal.”

  “What are we having?”

  He laughed lightly. “That’s where the trust comes in.”

  “You mean the dominance.”

  I could almost sense him shrugging his shoulders indifferently. Moments later, footsteps announced the arrival of the waitress. Her arms brushed past me as she set a plate down on the table, along with what was either a jar of water or a bottle of wine, based on the sound of the glass making contact with the table.

  When she was gone, Rawn spoke. “I’m going to feed you something. You may not like it, but you’re not allowed to spit it out. Chew it slowly, savor the flavor, even if it repulses you. Then swallow.”

  I bet he’s getting a hard on just telling me this, I imagined, bracing myself for whatever he was about to stick in my mouth.

  The cool metal of a fork pried my lips apart and a small, salty delicacy was placed on my tongue. To my horror, I felt it wriggle. Instinctively, I reached for a napkin to remove it from my mouth, but Rawn placed his hand over my own.

  “Chew,” he ordered.

  I did, for reasons I wouldn’t admit to myself. As I got over the initial shock of eating a living creature, I found the taste quite nice. It was definitely seafood. The texture was like rubber, elongating the time it took to swallow it down.

  “How was it?” he asked.

  “Different. I didn’t hate it.”

  “Which means you enjoyed it,” he said triumphantly.

  “That’s a bit of a stretch,” I said, taking a sip of water. “But I didn’t hate it. What was it?”

  “Raw octopus. It was only freshly killed. The tentacles have a tendency to move, especially if they come into contact with salt.”

  I took another sip of water, not sure knowing what it was made the experience any better, and leaned back in my seat. The chill of a breeze told me the sun had started to set. “I get it. You know what’s best for me. At least, that’s what you believe. I just don’t understand why men in power like you always feel the need to be in charge. Isn’t your ego fueled enough at the office?”

  “You have it all wrong,” he said. “Obeying me isn’t for my pleasure. It’s for yours. If y
ou would have me, everything I’d do to you would be entirely for your pleasure. I think you know what I’m saying to be true. You’ve experienced it already—in the woods.”

  Damn it. He had me there. Before he had abandoned me, it really had been the best fuck of my life. Technically, it still was. My thinking him an arrogant jackass didn’t change the way he had worked my body or how hard I had come.

  And if I was being totally honest with myself, after our conversation on the plane, I didn’t think him so intolerable anymore. Just more human.

  But he was still arrogant. And I hated giving arrogant men what they wanted, especially if there was a risk I could fall for such a man…that when such a man held my hand amongst the vineyards, more than just my body ached for him. I couldn’t fall for anyone. If Rawn knew what had happened to my sister, he wouldn’t be sitting here feeding me octopus.

  Thankfully, the waitress returned with another plate before I had a chance to respond. The smell that wafted with the breeze gave away that it was more seafood. However, this time when Rawn placed it in my mouth, it didn’t move. It was sweet and fishy, served on a piece of bread with garlic olive oil.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” I admitted, almost wishing for another bite.

  “Fried baby eel. Or cieche fritte. It’s a popular appetizer.”

  My heart flipped at the baby part. I wasn’t a vegetarian by any means, but I didn’t like the idea of eating any living animal that didn’t have the opportunity to grow. It’s why I didn’t touch veal.

  “I take it back. It was bad. I won’t eat baby anything. If there are any more dishes on the way, and they’re similar, please send them back.”

  “Just one more,” he announced. “A dish served with pasta known as pajata. But it involves calf.”

  “Nope,” I said, taking off the blindfold, enjoying the revival of the scenery around us. “Not happening. I have morals. What is wrong with these Italians?”

  “There is nothing wrong with unusual tastes. It’s just…different.”

  I took another sip of water, hoping to wash the baby eel completely off my tongue. “I’m not opposed to different. I just won’t eat the young.”

  I thought he would be irritated that I had put his game to an end, but his eyes shined. “So something strange and unfamiliar doesn’t scare you?”

  “I ate the raw octopus, didn’t I?”

  “And you enjoyed it.” It wasn’t a question. “There are other things you could enjoy, Madison. Things I could show you.”

  I swallowed my entire glass of wine down whole, forgetting the water. “You mean things you could do to me,” I amended.

  “Yes, there are many things I would like to do to you. But it’s your choice.”

  I still didn’t get it. Rawn could be so present, and so tender, but he could also be forceful. His presence was potent. Everything about him was potent, like an elixir, one I couldn’t help but drink, no matter how much I knew it would one day hurt me. I’d already had a taste. I wanted more. Even when I hated him, my yearning to feel his touch again never went away.

  “You really are a Leo. Creative. Strong. Magnetic. Proud.”

  He was too clever not to know what was coming next. “And?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Arrogant. Overbearing. Tyrannical. Harsh.”

  The waitress approached again with the plate of pajata, but he sent it away. “I thought astronomers had no patience for astrology.”

  “I like to keep an open mind.”

  “I knew you did.” There was that hunger again. If he could devour me right here, he would. It scared me that I could read his desire so well. But what scared me more was the undertone beneath that desire. There was an affection to his lust, a hope—all hidden behind the sleek confidence he carried, the fearlessness of a lion.

  “So do I have to sign a contract or something?” I asked, avoiding giving him a definitive answer.

  “No,” he stated. “No contract. All I need is your trust.”

  “Then you have it,” I relented, realizing the significance of my words. “I trust you.”

  I just don’t trust myself.

  Chapter Six

  “Cepheus Scientific does not market to the general public,” Rawn insisted as we drove back to the farmhouse in the Ferrari. “We have a long relationship with many of the top research facilities in the world. They are our priority. They would not be happy to know we sold the most advanced telescope in the world to little Jimmy.”

  “Little Jimmy is the only reason any of the bigger institutes survive.”

  “It’s noble to think so, but trust me, they’d survive, even without public support.”

  I flew my hands into the air, frustrated, just in time for a loose pebble to bullet itself across the side of my palm. “Ouch,” I moaned, rubbing my raw skin. “That felt like being shot in the hand with a BB gun.”

  “You okay?” he asked, concerned.

  “Yeah.”

  He seemed relieved. “Do you know what a BB gun feels like?”

  “I have a brother.”

  “Any other siblings?”

  “None still living.” Unwilling to leave the issue of the telescope alone, I quickly added, “But I do have a lot of cousins, all of whom would love to have a 3D telescope.”

  “It’s not up for debate.”

  “Then it’s your loss, because Dr. Giordano will not give you the license.”

  “Hey,” he said, looking over at me. “I need you to back me up. You’re team Cepheus.”

  “And I will. I’m just letting you know how it is so you’re not too disappointed when we walk out of here empty handed.”

  “What are you, the Oracle of Delphi?” he teased.

  I was serious. “That’s Greek, not Roman. And no, I’m not some oracle. I just know how to read people. That’s why I chose you at the park that day. I knew you were cocky, but I also knew you were genuine. I was right, for the most part. You’re genuine when you want to be.”

  He turned sharply up the road leading to the farmhouse. “And you don’t think I’m being genuine now?”

  “No, not concerning Dr. Giordano. You want to play on his emotional trauma—his quirks—to win the contract. That’s why you spent all of this morning going over his file. But as you know yourself, Dr. Giordano isn’t some crazy old man. He’s intelligent, more so than either of us. He will not budge on this issue.”

  Rawn tightened his grip on the steering wheel, smiling in a way I didn’t like. “And if you’re wrong? If I persuade him to sign without giving in to his demand to have it released on the mass market?”

  “Then congratulations. You knew better than me.”

  He shook his head. “Not good enough. If you’re wrong, I get to have you—any time of my choosing.”

  I folded my arms. “You want me to sell my body out for the sake of a dare?”

  “You already said you trusted me.”

  I thought about it. “Okay, then what about me? What do I get if you’re wrong, and he refuses to sign?”

  “The secret.”

  “You were going to show that to me anyway, whatever it is.”

  He couldn’t argue. “Then you get to drive the Ferrari back to the city.”

  I pursed my lips together. “So I’m betting my body against an opportunity to drive a Ferrari?”

  “Hey, you don’t have to agree…”

  “I’m in,” I said, mostly because I knew sleeping with Rawn was inevitable, ever since I told him I trusted him at dinner. The pulse I felt in my core while sitting next to him had become almost unbearable. I ached to be touched the way I had before. Enough that I wasn’t sure we’d make it back to the city before I took his cock into my hand. At least with the bet, there was a chance I could drive the Ferrari home.

  He looked smug. “See. I know how to persuade people too.”

  “You realize you’ve just put your own interest over that of the company?” I prodded.

  “With you the prize, it’s wort
h it.”

  As we arrived at the farmhouse, Dr. Giordano was already out front, adjusting the telescope to the night sky. Despite all the added devices to make it 3D, the size of the telescope was manageable, only slightly larger than those owned by most amateur astronomers.

  “It’s remarkable,” I praised, joining Dr. Giordano. “May I look?”

  “Go ahead,” he allowed, handing me the 3D glasses from his head. “Sorry, they’re my only pair.”

  “Thank you.”

  Adjusting the glasses to my own head, I peered through the lens…and gasped. The telescope was zoomed out, leaving the stars shapeless except for their bright light, but it was as if I floated among them, lost in a beauty I didn’t fully understand.

  Wonderlust, I thought, thinking of the security guard at Cepheus Scientific.

  Clearly, Dr. Giordano had manipulated the laser and mirrors so that they somehow sensed the object in the lens, giving it a 3D effect, but the science of such engineering still baffled me. And in the same way, awed me.

  “You’ve created something incredible here,” I said.

  Rawn stepped forward. “Incredible enough that we’re willing to offer you a fortune for it. You’ll never have to invent another thing again.”

  I cringed. Rawn may be gifted when it came to fixing flaws in product designs and recognizing potential within a product, but he was clueless when it came to working with people like Dr. Giordano—those who existed off the grid.

  “I think what Mr. Jackman means is that you’ll have the freedom to work on any invention you want. The money can buy all the materials you need. We recognize how important your inventions are to you.”

  Dr. Giordano took back control of the telescope. “Enough to market it to the public?”

  “Unfortunately, that’s not an option,” Rawn answered.

  “Then signing with you isn’t an option for me. I’ve told you—no matter how big the check is, it isn’t big enough to buy out my beliefs. I will happily die a poor man if it means my work reaches those who appreciate it the most.”