One Night With The Tycoon (Billionaire's One Night #1)

by Roxy Sinclaire

  After a while, I pushed myself up, feeling a growing curiosity. Who exactly was Luke Bable? He'd said the room was his. I glanced around, but there were no personal effects visible, and I doubted there would be. When I thought my legs could hold me, I slid off the bed. I wobbled for a second before getting my balance. I looked back, but he hadn't moved.

  His clothes were still by the door where he'd discarded them. So were mine, but I didn’t even look at them. I went through his coat first, searching through all the pockets and finding nothing. Then I reached into his trouser pockets. I didn’t find the handkerchief wrapped condom from before, and wondered what he'd done with it. I found his wallet in another pocket and nothing else. I looked through the wallet eagerly, but there was no ID. Just some cash, not even another condom.

  I just sat there in a crouch, looking at the wallet, thinking of the implications. No man, not even at a party, would walk around without some form of identification. I took a chance and went around the room, quietly, but besides the nightstands, there wasn’t really a lot of places to look.

  There was a tiny wardrobe with a few clothes, basic T-shirts, some shirts and jeans and one suit, all about Luke's size, so I assumed they really were his. But otherwise there was nothing, and nothing else in the room looked like it could be hiding anything.

  I knew it could only mean one thing, that my suspicions were correct and he was Greco's hitman. It was too much of a coincidence to make me think otherwise. Which meant what I'd come here for was useless. I needed to leave. All I'd heard of him were rumors, but after meeting him I didn't think they were exaggerated.

  But my body wouldn’t move, kept pulling me back to the man in the bed.

  Why was that? This was a man that had killed, and if he knew what I was here for, I would likely be added to that tally. He hadn't hurt me, though, and it wasn’t like I planned on telling him my original mission. He was the first guy I'd liked in so long, and after him, plenty would pale in comparison.

  One more fuck couldn’t hurt, could it? It really had been too long since I met someone interesting, that foreign job about two years ago.

  My mission was all shot to shit, anyway.

  One more time with Luke, then I would disappear.

  Chapter 11

  Luke

  I didn’t realize I'd fallen asleep, but I blinked my eyes open to find the room was brightly lit and closed them immediately. I didn’t know what had woken me. I wasn’t really thinking at all and I tried to take stock of everything.

  I knew I was still at the wedding, so why was I lying down? I wasn’t supposed to be lying down.

  There was a reason why I even attended the wedding, aside from playing security guard for the boss. I needed an alibi for every job, no matter how good I was, and he didn’t pass up the chance to make sure I had one, though I didn’t particularly care.

  I had a job to do, and it had to be tonight.

  But then my mind really woke up, and my other memories of the night came back. I opened my eyes again and looked down my body. Elda was there, lying beside me, barely touching me, her head level with my hips. When I made a sound and she looked up to find my eyes on her, she grinned. Then she was leaning over me, her hair falling forward and covering what she was about to do, but I groaned as I felt her lips wrap around my soft cock. I hardened in her mouth, and she pulled back, throwing her hair over her shoulders, hands nudging my legs apart.

  I did as she wanted and she moved so she was lying between my thighs. One hand gripped me around the base, the other playing with my balls, as she took me back into her mouth and bobbed her head up and down. I reached for her hair, holding it out of the way so I had a clear view of her going down on me.

  We didn’t stay in the position long before she was getting off, moving so she was straddling my thighs. She reached for the nightstand and the strip of condoms, dropping them on the bed after tearing one off.

  "How are you not exhausted," I murmured, feeling a little dazed.

  I fell asleep after my last orgasm. I wondered how long I'd been out for, why she hadn't taken the time to run off.

  "I could say the same for you," she teased, smoothing the condom down on my cock with both hands.

  "I would say that was your fault." I grabbed her thighs, felt the toned muscles flex as she positioned herself a little higher up so she was right above my cock.

  "Well, I was just lying here with you for half an hour and I was growing bored. I figured thirty minutes would be enough time for you to recover."

  She stroked me with one hand, licked the fingers of her other hand and brought it between her thighs, stroking herself. Then she replaced her hand with the head of my cock, moving her hips so I was rubbing all over her sex. My hands slid up her thighs to grip her hips, I raised my knees, planted my feet on the bed. When she positioned my cock at her entrance and slid down, I met her in a slow upward thrust. She leaned forward, palms going to my shoulders as she rode me, fucking herself on my cock as I moved my hips to match the rhythm she set, until I felt tired and stopped and let her go on, only to start moving beneath her again, matching her, encouraging her to go faster, my hands flexing on her hips.

  What was I thinking of before this? About the job I was supposed to do. I couldn’t think of it, Elda had all my attention. I couldn’t even think about how bad that implication was.

  Elda was distracting me too much, but I couldn’t resist, her soft hands, her lithe body.

  I grew tired of her pace quickly, surging up and grabbing her so I could roll her over. She moved with me, her legs moving to wrap around my hips. I held her wrists down on either side of her head, bracing my upper body above hers with my elbows, and slammed my hips against hers with every thrust. Her moans, growing steadily louder, the slap of skin against skin and my own groans mixed in the room. I held out for as long as I could, gave her pleasure and made her come a couple of times. Then I was coming again, not as strong as before, but still amazing. It wasn’t enough to put me to sleep a second time, at least.

  I rolled off her, catching my breath. As my thoughts and my body calmed, I pulled myself off the bed. I wasn’t sure what time it was because most of the rooms in the house were practically soundproof, I couldn’t hear the party going on downstairs. But I didn’t need to look at a clock.

  Too much time had already passed. I had to leave.

  I glanced at Elda as I reached for my clothes, surprised to see her lying there with her eyes closed, her chest moving slowly with her breaths. I hesitated a moment, then went to pull the covers around her. I wanted to have more time, talk to her maybe, but I couldn’t. Hopefully, she'd wake up at some point, the party would be going on for hours still, I might even get back before they were done. I didn’t think I'd be lucky enough to still find her there. But I was running out of time, so I touched a hand to her cheek, pecked her forehead, and I left her there in the bed.

  I wondered who she really was. Elda Abba could be her name, but it could just as easily be an alias she was using. Would she tell me if I asked her? I didn’t think so, but I was still incredibly curious. Thinking of coming back to find her gone and with no way of meeting her, I'd feel disappointed not to see her again. When was the last time I felt that way about any human being? I couldn’t remember.

  But I pushed the thought out of my mind. It was a mystery that would have to be kept for another time.

  Right now, I needed to carry out a killing, or my boss would have my head instead.

  Chapter 12

  Elda

  I saw Luke get out of the bed. I could feel the draw of exhaustion about to claim me, but I knew better than to fall asleep here. I watched Luke get up and get dressed in something of a hurry. When he suddenly turned to look at me, I almost didn’t close my eyes in time, pretending to sleep, peeking through my lashes.

  I was surprised when he suddenly came toward me. I wondered if he'd realized I was faking, but then he was curling the covers around me, covering my nudity, giving me protectio
n from the cold. Then I felt his palm on my cheek, a whisper of his lips on my forehead, and he was walking out of the room.

  I stayed in that position for a moment after he was gone, then cautiously opened my eyes. I counted a minute, and when nothing happened, I slowly sat up, holding the covers to my chest. I glanced at the pile that was my clothes. My purse was in that pile, the one with the gun. Why hadn't he taken the chance to look through it? It made me feel kind of sleazy for going through his things when he was sleeping. Or was he just in a hurry?

  Whatever. If he was in that much of a hurry, he was going somewhere. How long had we been absent from the party? I wasn’t sure if I could leave yet or not because I suddenly wanted off this stupid island.

  I was still more than a little defeated about the whole mission. I'd been doing well, too, or so I thought. It wasn’t anywhere near my first real mission, and I'd mostly only had success. I could pretty much count this as a fail, though.

  I got off the bed and went for my clothes, dragging them back to the bed where my shoes already sat on the floor beside it. I pulled some wipes from my purse and wiped my body down. Then I wrapped the dirty wipes in more of them and left them in my purse. I pulled my panties on, feeling icky and uncomfortable, but I'd have to wait to be off the island before I could have a desperately needed shower.

  I got dressed, made sure I looked presentable, and made my way out of the room and back into the party, melding seamlessly into the crowd, and then walked around to see if there were any groups leaving. I couldn’t sneak off, but maybe if I just went with a crowd, no one would notice. These were proud people, after all. They wouldn’t take well to anyone assuming they were crashing such an important party.

  To be fair, though, I really had been invited to the party. I hadn't been lying to Luke when I said that. I just didn’t have an invitation, and I never had the intention of getting one, because my reason for attending was less than pure and I didn’t need to complicate things for myself by having my name added to some neat little list.

  Even after all that, though, it was pointless. I caught sight of Greco as I moved outside behind a group of people, but I quickly ducked out of his sight. I found myself unconsciously looking around for Luke as I was moving outside and I couldn’t anymore. I could have cursed myself for it, but at this point, I was feeling resigned.

  I was unclear why a total stranger could make me lose my focus so easily. I'd have to think about it once death wasn’t imminent.

  Chapter 13

  Luke

  Dammit!

  This was getting ridiculous.

  My lungs burned after all the running I'd just done. I was still fit, and twenty-seven was young, but I must have been going for maybe an hour. I didn't want to risk slowing down to get a vehicle, and I didn’t have one of my own. Usually, I just rented under some fake name, but I had someone to drive me this time, so I hadn't bothered to look for one.

  Once I was sure I could stop running, I found a dark alley and walked into it, but not too far in just in case. The last thing I needed was to drive myself into a corner. I took a minute to catch my breath and then reached for the phone in my pocket. It was a burner with only one number, and I made the call.

  It was picked up on the second ring. I didn’t wait for any pleasantries. The guy on the other end was waiting for the call anyway.

  "Tell the boss the job is done," I said the seven words, then disconnected the call and dismantled the phone. I'd dispose of the parts later, putting them into different pockets. I took a few more minutes to catch my breath and then slunk out of the alley.

  I had on a leather jacket over a hoodie, and I pulled the hood over my head as I walked down the street, keeping my head down and shoving my hands into my pockets.

  At least I had good news to send back this time.

  I was good at what I did. I didn’t brag—there really wasn’t anything to brag about being a good killer—but I had a good track record.

  It was getting shot to shit lately, and that wasn’t normal. Not for me.

  It all wasn’t my fault. My last two missions had gone so badly. Every time I was supposed to meet someone, they were not there, or there were a couple of people waiting for me. I was a paranoid kind of guy, so I didn’t go into situations recklessly. It was why I'd survived so long doing what I did. And today… I'd just made the kill when I heard voices getting too close and I had to hot-foot it out of there.

  I remembered what it used to be like, being in the army, going on missions, executing them flawlessly. I served to the best of my ability and beyond, and I was good at it. I'd made the IRA my sort-of home until it came to a point where I didn’t agree with what the army stood for anymore.

  And my old general, a man I had not quite trusted but I was forced to follow his orders because he was the leader of my unit, had decided I deserved punishment for my defection. He felt I was weak, and anyone that was defined as being weak in his eyes should be executed.

  He’d hunted me down like a dog, and when he couldn’t find me, he went after my family. Finding him, taking him out, was all I lived for now. But it couldn’t shield me and I couldn’t live on that alone; I needed money and a good sum of it.

  Then I ended up working for an Italian mafia boss in the US.

  I knew the only way for me to survive was to be anonymous and with someone powerful. I got to know the most powerful mafia bosses in the States and chose Greco by chance. He'd liked me from the first moment he met me, supposedly, and a mutual trust was established between us both when I started working for him.

  It wasn’t quite what I'd pictured for my life, but in a way, it was better than what I did before. So far, anyway. Greco hadn't sent me to anyone innocent. Usually, they were people he had deals with that either went bad or were dishonored. I didn’t feel sorry for them. But I wondered what I would do, the day he asked me to harm someone who didn't deserve it, simply because he wanted something that they either didn’t have or didn’t want to give up. I'd thought of it plenty, but I was going to properly think about it when I got there. No point in playing around with what-ifs. Until then, I would go about business as usual.

  Not that what was currently going on could even count as that. Not every mission could be a success. Shit happens, there were coincidences, and plans go out the window.

  Two missions in a row, though? And then tonight. I could feel my paranoia working overtime, but I didn’t think I was overreacting. Just because you were paranoid didn’t mean there weren’t people aiming for your back. It was a philosophy that had kept me alive in the time since I left the army, left my country, took on a job as a hitman.

  I was starting to get suspicious that something was going down.

  I didn’t need to go look for the boss. Typically, he would let me off for a day or so after a job, but I suddenly very much wanted to meet with him. I decided to head back and confront Greco about the failure of my missions. Maybe he would have something to tell me that made some sense.

  Chapter 14

  Elda

  I used to have dreams, once.

  My problems used to be light ones, things that would be trivial now in comparison. I'd always dreamed of being a lawyer, and I had worked toward that dream since before I hit high school. I was guilty of being a bit naïve, too, thinking that if I were a lawyer, I could help people. I was raised by my grandparents after my mother died giving birth to me. My father left my family before I was born, and I had no other family.

  I was good at making friends, though. I was sociable, not quite the life of the party but I attended plenty of them when my grandparents allowed me to, from the time I was in high school. I was self-conscious about my looks, but guys seemed to like me well enough, and I lost my virginity at the tender age of sixteen.

  Life had been so simple. I achieved what I set my mind to, and I made it into the school of my dreams. I might have grown a little wilder in college, but I never lost sight of my focus.

  It all came crashing d
own on me, that day I went to visit my grandparents. It was my birthday, and I was dropping in unexpectedly. I always wondered, afterward, if I had just called ahead instead of trying to surprise them, would they ever have told me? I'd like to think so, but it was colored by heavy doubt.

  So, I got home to find strangers in my grandparents' house, and they suddenly had these guilty expressions. An older couple, and three other people, two males and a female, both younger, and none of them familiar.

  "What’s going on," I'd murmured, feeling confused.

  Then my grandmother was there, leading me to a seat with grandfather taking his single seat, the guests seating around the room, my eyes on the older couple sitting across from me looking back at me with teary, determined faces.

  I'd thought it was odd, how the woman's face, though aged, looked like the single photo of the woman who was supposed to be my mother, how the man had her eyes.

  "Baby, we need to talk," grandmother had said gently, and stumbled her way through the whole story.

  I was startled by a sudden, sharp sound, my hand reaching automatically for the phone. It was a message, and I opened the notification.

  Nothing yet. I'll keep you posted.

  Dammit. I sighed and ducked my head for a moment, then erased the message and put the phone back down.

  I looked around, blinking at the room I found myself in, still thinking about that night. The room was tiny, cramped, with poor lighting, but it was a clean place to stay with a bed and I could pay for my stay in cash. I didn’t plan to stay long, already impatience clawed at me.

  Again, I blinked at my surroundings, finally waking out of my daydreams; reminded myself of where I was.

  I was back in Italy, still smarting after that failed mission, but I knew all I had to do was wait for a different opportunity. In the meantime, I trained some more, kept my ears, even the virtual and borrowed ones, open for any news that would give me a new lead.