GABE (Silicon Valley Billionaires Book 2)

by Leigh James

  “Oh, fuck. Stop.”

  After a long pull, she reluctantly released my cock and looked at me. Her face was flushed and her lips were pouty, swollen. She looked at me expectantly.

  I wanted nothing more than to bury myself in her and take her six ways from Sunday, but then I would come right away, and I had plans. “Do you want to try something different?”

  “Tonight?”

  “I have something I’ve been saving to try with you…to increase your pleasure. And mine.” I stroked her cheek gently. “It might help take your mind off what’s happening.” I rolled over to my nightstand and pulled something out, handing it to her. It was textured glass, smooth and conical, with a knob at the end.

  She looked confused. “I don’t know what this is.”

  “I know you don’t.” I’d been her first, a fact that still made a hot pride bloom inside my chest. I wanted to open the world up for her, show her every pleasure her body was capable of—and tonight, I wanted to try to take her mind off the nightmare unfolding around us, even if only for a few minutes.

  After that text from Li Na, I also wanted to show her that I owned her ass—literally. “But I think you’ll like it…and I’d like to show you, if you’d let me.”

  She nodded, running her fingers tentatively over the plug. “Okay.”

  “Only if you want to, babe. If tonight’s not the right time, I understand.”

  “No, I want—I want to feel something. I want you to make me feel something besides…” She let her voice trail off, but her eyes met mine. They burned with sadness, but also with need.

  I grabbed a tube, and I watched Lauren’s cheeks flame as she guessed it was lubricant.

  I moved to the edge of the bed and sat down. “Lie across my knees and relax,” I commanded.

  She looked at me, unsure, but then she crawled across my lap. I cupped her ass and squeezed. She wriggled against me, and I spread her open a little, my fingers lightly circling her anus.

  Her breath hitched. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting you ready.”

  “For what?”

  “Relax, babe.” I stopped stroking her for a moment. “Have I ever hurt you?”

  “No,” she said hoarsely.

  “Have I ever let you down?”

  “Never.”

  “Do you trust me with your body?”

  She finally relaxed against me. “Of course I do.”

  “I’m going to make you forget about everything else, at least for a little while. I just want you to be with me. Let me take care of you.” I traced the glass plug against her skin, trailing it down her backside.

  She shivered. “Is that the…thing?”

  “It’s an anal plug.” I teased her open with my fingers and then gently slid the lubricated tip inside her. Her whole body tensed against the cool texture. “I want you to relax—that’s important. I’m going to slide this inside you, and you’re going to slowly get used to the feel of it.”

  Her breath hitched. “Okay.”

  I stroked her ass. “Once it’s in and you adjust, I’m going to fuck you very, very hard. I’m going to make you come—but not until I tell you to. I want you to feel me.”

  I slipped the plug a little farther inside her, and she shivered. “I want you to know that I own you. All of you.”

  I took my time, stroking her back, whispering to her, as I worked the plug all the way in. She moaned again.

  “Are you okay?”

  “It’s not uncomfortable, just…different.”

  I reached down and slowly pinched her clit, rolling it between my fingers. She cried out when I stuck my fingers inside her again, stroking her. Her breath was coming in short, hot spurts. I liked having her across my lap like this. I liked having my way with her, with unadulterated, VIP access to some of my favorite places.

  “So wet for me. My little virgin, all grown up.” I thrust my fingers in and out, and she arched against me, raising her ass in the air. She was ready—and I was about to lose it.

  “On the bed. All fours.”

  She crawled up the bed, and my cock bobbed after her as I watched the plug glitter between her ass cheeks. I wondered what she was feeling right now.

  But when she got on all fours and opened her glistening, wet sex for me, I had a pretty good idea.

  I knelt behind her, running my hands down her hot skin and cupping her breasts from behind. She rocked back against me, wet and wild. I ran my erection down her slit, making myself slick.

  Lauren ground herself against me with urgency.

  I couldn’t hold back anymore. I fingered the plug while inch by thick inch, I slowly entered her pussy. The pressure from the plug accentuated the snug fit of Lauren’s body around mine. I sucked in a deep breath. I wasn’t going to last long.

  “Are you still okay?” My voice came out thick.

  She moved against me, hot and urgent. “Yes—I want you to fuck me. Deep. Hard. I want to feel you all the way in.”

  Grunting, I flexed my hips and entered her fully. Holy fucking tightness. She cried out as I filled her, my cock sliding in and out. “You’re so wet.”

  “Please,” she whimpered. She started to finger herself and to buck against me, but I took both of her hands and held them behind her back, pulling her up onto her knees. At this angle, I could thrust into her very hard and very deep. She was at my mercy, just where I wanted her, finally. She cried out as I pumped into her. I felt my balls tightening as they slapped against her.

  I was so close. I let go of her hands and pushed her back onto all fours. I thrust into her deeply, savagely, one hand putting slight pressure against the plug, one hand finding her clit. Her whole body tensed, and she whimpered.

  “You can come now.”

  “Oh my God—Gabe!” She unraveled against me, completely giving herself over, her whole body trembling with the impact of the orgasm.

  Just how I wanted her.

  I came then, hard and hot. Her pussy clamped me like a vise. I kept thrusting, out of my mind, emptying myself into her. “Fuck, Lauren. So, so good.”

  After a few hazy minutes, I removed the plug, and we cleaned ourselves up. Lauren climbed back into bed and snuggled against me. “You were right about taking my mind off things. I almost passed out—in a good way.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You want to do it again?”

  “Hell no,” she laughed. “I can’t even keep my eyes open.”

  I leaned down, pulling her into my arms, kissing her tenderly. I was entirely spent from loving her like that, so hard and fierce.

  “I love you,” she said. “And I’m sorry.”

  “I know. I’m sorry I went through your messages. And I love you too. So let me. Let me love you.” I couldn’t hide the raw quality of my voice. I sounded vulnerable to my own ears.

  She looked up at me and stroked my face. “I want to. But I have to save—”

  “I know. But let it go for tonight. Sleep, and we’ll figure it out in the morning. Together.”

  “Together,” she agreed, and then fell asleep safe in my arms.

  Now I just had to figure out how to keep her there.

  Chapter 9

  Lauren

  Before I headed back to the office the next morning, I stopped by the hospital. A different nurse was in Wes’s room. She nodded, smiling at me encouragingly. “All of his vitals look good. The doctors are doing rounds this afternoon—they’ll run more tests.”

  “Thank you.” I waited until she’d finished with his IV and left the room before I went to the bed. “Hey, Wes.”

  His big body lay unmoving. The bruises on his face had faded to a sickly yellow.

  I clutched his hand and promptly burst into tears.

  “Sorry to cry like this, but I just…I just miss you, and I miss my sister, and I don’t know what to do. Hannah’s being so tough. I talked to her again. You would be proud—she’s been standing up to the guards.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m actually mad at her about i
t, but she’s holding her own. So that’s…that’s good, right?”

  It probably wasn’t fair of me to cry all over Wesley, but I couldn’t stop.

  “I need to get everything back to normal,” I continued, babbling. “For my sake, yours, Hannah’s—and for Gabe. I know that sounds crazy with everything else going on, but I’m worried about him. He’s having a hard time.”

  It felt good to release some of what I’d been holding inside. I squeezed Wes’s hand again, hoping he’d understand that I was falling apart. “Gabe’s trying to hold it together for me, but I know this is killing him. He’s used to being in control. He’s worked hard his whole life to make things right, and he can’t…he can’t make this right.”

  I laid my forehead on the bed, holding on to Wes for dear life. “He cares about you so much, you know? And Hannah. He just wants us all back together and safe. But now I have to sell the company, and Li Na wants me to exchange myself for Hannah…”

  I took a deep, shuddery breath. “I can’t lose Hannah. It’s me Li Na wants. I’ll find a way to come back—but I can’t let her hurt my baby sister. I’ve taken care of Hannah my whole life, and this isn’t any different. You understand, don’t you?”

  I waited for a sign from him, but nothing came.

  I stayed for a few minutes longer, listening to the sounds of the machines. I forced myself to calm down so I could leave Wes with some positive energy instead of my hysterics.

  I dried my eyes and straightened my shoulders. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have some good news.” That sounded like a lie, but I had to try to stay positive—for both Wes’s and my own sanity’s sake.

  I hustled back to the lobby, motioning for Timmy to follow. We headed back to my company—or rather, what was left of my company. On the surface, things looked the same at Paragon, but I still shivered as I strode through the doors. How many more mornings did I have left here? Stephanie greeted me as I headed into my office. She’d worked for me for six years, since Paragon’s inception—as had most of my employees. What was life going to be like for all of us after this was over?

  And would I even be here to find out?

  Inside my office, Bethany was already set up at a table, buried in a stack of paperwork. “Good morning. I hope you didn’t get into too much trouble with Gabe last night. What was that about, anyway?”

  “The text Li Na sent me yesterday. I didn’t tell you everything she said.”

  “I thought you weren’t telling me something. What’s going on?”

  I put down my bag and faced my attorney, one of the few people I counted as a friend. “Li Na wants me to exchange myself for Hannah as soon as this round of documents is finalized.”

  Bethany frowned. “What’re you going to do?”

  “I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’m hoping Levi can deliver on his promise to get Hannah back and somehow keep me safe.”

  Bethany tapped her pen against her stack of papers. “I can mess around with these numbers, which would make the revisions take longer. Do you want me to do that, just to buy us some time?”

  “No. Getting Hannah back is the priority. We need to do exactly what Li Na wants, how she wants it. My sister’s in bad shape. I feel like we’re running out of time.”

  Bethany went back to work without another word—she could tell I’d made up my mind.

  Stephanie buzzed in a little while later. “I have an Agent Marks on the line for you.”

  “Thank you.” I waited until the line clicked over. “Agent Marks? Do you have news for me?”

  “Unfortunately, no. But I spoke with Levi earlier—he informed me that you’d had another conversation with Zhao. Care to fill me in?”

  I scribbled furiously on a Post-it and shoved it in front of Bethany. Do I have to tell him everything? I didn’t want to compromise the agreement I had with Li Na, in case it adversely impacted Hannah.

  She shook her head no. Not unless he can help us, she mouthed.

  I doubted that he had more information than we did. “I really don’t know much. We just talked about the sale. I’m in the process of finalizing the documents to transfer Paragon to one of Li Na’s companies. Once I do that, she said we could talk about my sister’s release.”

  “Will you please keep me informed about what’s going on? I’m only getting monosyllabic answers from Levi.”

  “Do you have any answers for us? Is your division preparing to indict Zhao on any charges, or connect her to the shootings or Hannah’s disappearance?”

  He sighed. “I thought you understood—beginning a proceeding against Zhao, who is a Chinese national on home soil, is difficult if not impossible. But I’m still involved in this case, Ms. Taylor. I would appreciate the opportunity to intervene, if necessary—and not like last time, when I had to storm an office building with machine guns and multiple agents to rescue you at the last second.”

  “Of course. I’ll contact you if I have any news.” I hung up, not knowing what else to say. I looked at Bethany. “I can’t believe I just got off the phone with the FBI and lied to them, and it doesn’t even faze me. It’s just…a typical day at the office. Is it me, or are things really crazy around here lately?”

  She didn’t bother to look up from her document. “It’s not you. Trust me.”

  I went back to work, because that was what I did. Work had always been my solace in the past. I just hoped it could save my future.

  GABE

  Last night with Lauren had taken a little of the edge off, but only a little. Things seemed better with us, but I had to watch her—Lauren’s big heart and unfaltering loyalty would get her into trouble. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I headed from my room to get some coffee, my brothers already gone for the day. I enjoyed the rush of caffeine in peace, and then I called Timmy, who’d left earlier with Lauren.

  “Good morning,” he said. He sounded as if he’d been expecting the call. “I’m at the hospital with Ms. Taylor—she’s visiting Wesley.”

  “Okay, good. Listen, Lauren has been in direct communication with Li Na again. Did you know that?”

  “She mentioned it.”

  “Li Na wants to do the exchange soon. Nothing’s been finalized yet, but I need to make sure that unless she’s with me, you’re with her every second of the day. She’s not to go anywhere or meet with anyone unless I’ve approved of it beforehand. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, but…sir? Does Ms. Taylor know we’re having this conversation?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Of course not.”

  “Okay. Hopefully, we won’t need to worry about it.” Timmy didn’t sound convinced.

  “If she tries something, you say no. Then you call me. You’re working for me now, and I just tripled your salary.”

  I thought he sighed, but I might’ve imagined it. “Yes, sir.” He hung up before I could pester him further.

  Levi sent me a text. Let’s meet at the house tonight. We need to catch up on details.

  Fine, I texted back immediately. I wanted to type Hannah’s life is on the line, so you better actually have some goddamned details to catch up on, but I thought better of it. Instead, I headed to my Spyder, which I drove well over the legal speed limit all the way into work.

  Ryan jumped up when I came in. “We’ve had several phone calls from our partner in London,” he said, looking worried. “She doesn’t sound happy.”

  “Olivia? What’s the problem?”

  “It has something to do with the patch—that’s all I know.” Ryan backed out of my office, looking wary. “You might want to ask her not to swear at me next time.”

  I paced for a while before I called Olivia back. She’d been a friend of mine at Harvard, and our paths had crossed professionally again when I’d started Dynamica. She was tough, but she’d never given me any trouble before.

  As I picked up the phone, I had a sinking feeling that was about to change.

  “Hey, Olivia. My assistant said you called a coup
le of times—sorry I wasn’t in yet. What can I do for you?”

  “You can tell me why the hell Lauren Taylor’s selling her company to the Chinese, for starters.” Olivia’s British accent was clipped and angry. “And I’d like to know why I heard this from someone besides you. That’s a good place to start!”

  Taken off guard, I didn’t say anything for a moment.

  “Gabe? I’d like an answer, please.”

  I stood there, reeling. “I’d like to know who you did hear this from.”

  Olivia sighed, which sounded very British and dramatic. “I’m not getting into that right now, but I would like to know: is it true? The patch has been selling really well for us over here, and I mean really well, but I don’t want to get involved with dealing with a Chinese company—”

  “Nothing’s set in stone.”

  “But is there a possibility? Why does Lauren want to sell Paragon right now? We’ve just gotten started, and we’re selling well over the projected numbers. The patients love the patch and so do the lab techs. Does she just want to get rich and get out? I thought she was in this for the long haul.”

  “She is. I can’t really say more than that right now.”

  “Well, I need more assurance than that. A large part of our fiscal planning for next year involves our agreement with Dynamica—if things are changing, I need to know.”

  “I swear, as soon as I know something, I will tell you. You have my word.”

  She sighed again. “Fine.”

  I should probably have Skyped her. Historically, she’d always reacted well to my dimple. “Have you discussed this with anyone else?” I asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “You shouldn’t. This information isn’t coming from my office or from Paragon. It’s completely unverified—you should know that, and so should anyone else that you speak with. But I would like you to tell me where you heard it. I brought you in on this deal in the first place—I think you owe me that much.”