Claire clenched down on him hard, and the combination of her pussy squeezing her cock and his mind screaming to claim her triggered his release.
He emptied his seed inside of her until he had nothing left to give. And then, he pulled her to him and held her close.
23
“So you like it here?” Simeon asked several days later.
Claire smiled, and then glanced up at him. “I love it.”
And she did. They’d spent days in his house exploring each other’s bodies. And even more, they had talked, gotten to know each other again, and Claire felt close to him. This morning, Simeon had said he wanted to show her more of the area, so they’d spent the afternoon on the beach, and then walking through the small town. It was so vibrant, alive, and the most beautiful place she’d ever seen in person.
She looked at Simeon as he gestured toward their server.
The company didn’t hurt either.
Claire couldn’t put her finger on what exactly it was, but something had changed since they had come to France.
Simeon had changed.
He seemed calmer, less intense, and more importantly to her, he didn’t seethe with rage toward her anymore. He seemed…happy, like he was at peace.
Claire may have wanted to pretend otherwise, may have wanted to resist, but she didn’t because she felt the same way. She was at peace. She was happy.
She’d never wanted anything for Simeon but the absolute best, wanted him to find the happiness that he had been so cruelly denied throughout his life, and she was contributing to it now. It was worth it. Even given the way they had started, the things that they had gone through, it was worth it.
She didn’t know what would happen in the future, and right now she didn’t care. They’d have this, their time together in this magical place. And she would enjoy every single moment and treasure it forever.
After they’d eaten dinner and sat in the outdoor café and watched the sun set, Simeon looked at her with heated eyes. Claire’s body began to tremble as she thought of all the new and imaginative ways Simeon would love her later. She smiled at him. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said.
“Okay,” he said. “Are you ready?”
Simeon pierced her with a searing gaze, and she felt her body began to respond. He’d phrased his words as a question, an innocent enough one at that, but Claire heard the meaning underneath.
“I will be,” she said.
“Good,” he replied.
Claire smiled again and then stood, headed toward the restrooms.
As she walked, the long skirt she wore swished against her skin, making her feel decadent, feminine in a way that she rarely had. Earlier, when she’d been feeling bold and daring, she’d teasingly suggested she go out in the bikini Simeon loved so much. She’d expected him to say a flat no, but he’d surprised her, smiled gently, and suggested the ensemble she wore now.
He had been right, too. Going out in a bikini was too much and Claire knew she would lose her nerve, but this compromise was perfect. She felt sexy, desirable in the sundress, like the kind of worldly woman that got whisked away on trips to Saint-Tropez by smoking-hot billionaires. In these clothes she was more than Claire, the plain, chubby, boring architect.
“Bonsoir.”
Claire turned at the sound of the French greeting and met the eyes of the tall man who’d spoke it.
“Bonsoir,” she replied, stumbling over the word.
Her French was terrible, not even passable, really, but the man smiled, seeming pleased as though she had accomplished some great feat.
“I saw you before, at the beach, no?” the man asked, his words flowing like music, the sound of his deep, accented voice clear over the din in the café. A few weeks ago, Claire might have been affected by him, or at least paid some attention, but next to Simeon, he didn’t make any impression.
He smiled and stepped closer, and his motion reminded Claire that he had asked a question. She had been so enraptured by Simeon that she couldn’t really recall seeing anyone else at all, but she instead of telling him that, she simply shook her head.
“Yes. It was you. One would never forget a face as beautiful as yours.” He let his gaze roam over her body. “The rest of you either,” he said.
“Thank you,” Claire said. Then she went to move, but was stopped by an unfamiliar hand on her elbow.
She turned, met the stranger’s gaze again. “Off so soon? Certainly you have time. Perhaps we can get to know each other better,” he said.
“I—”
“Take your hand off her.”
Simeon’s voice cut through the noisy café like a knife, and Claire watched as the whole place went quiet, most of the eyes focused on them. After glancing at the other diners, Claire looked at Simeon and saw an expression of rage so intense that it took her aback.
“You have a friend. My apologies,” the man said.
Then he quickly let go of Claire’s arm and smiled at her, though he rushed away when Simeon took a step toward him.
“I thought you were going to the bathroom,” Simeon said.
Claire frowned, glanced up at him and noticed that his expression had only softened a bit.
“I was,” she said.
“Is that what you’re calling it these days, Claire?”
“Simeon, what are you—”
“Let’s go,” he said, interrupting her.
Then, with no further words, he took her elbow where the stranger had touched her and led her out of the café. Where the trip earlier today had been fun, playful, the return to the villa was completely grim.
Claire didn’t even bother to attempt to speak, knowing that in the state he was now Simeon would completely ignore her. And as they walked her own anger grew. Why was he treating her this way? What made him think he had the right to do so?
When they reached the villa, Simeon let her in and slammed the door behind him. As frustrating as she found his actions, Claire didn’t want to lose the peace and happiness she had found here, so she tried to calm him.
“Simeon, don’t be upset. It was harmless,” she said, waving a hand to demonstrate how inconsequential that man had been.
Her words and her actions did nothing to calm Simeon. In fact, they only seemed to make him angrier.
“Nothing?” he said, his expression bordering on outrage.
“Yeah, Simeon. Nothing,” she replied, trying and failing to keep her own cool.
He scoffed, the sound bitter, humorless, and far too reminiscent of the Simeon who had confronted her those weeks ago, the Simeon she wanted to forget.
“It probably is nothing to you. You probably get off on it, don’t you? Are you disappointed that I didn’t beat the shit out of that guy? You would have liked that, wouldn’t you? Watching me protect your honor. Would you have fucked that guy if I hadn’t shown up?”
He seemed to transform before her eyes, and by the time he finished speaking, Simeon was nearly vibrating with rage, his expression verging on furious. She watched him, waited, and then realized that she couldn’t possibly reason with him. He didn’t trust her, and nothing she could say would convince him, not when he was like this.
Having decided that talking would be of no benefit, Claire turned and headed toward one of the other bedrooms. She hadn’t actually spent much time exploring the house, but she knew there had to be somewhere she could go to be away from him. Because she couldn’t look at him right now.
“Go ahead. Leave, Claire. You never wanted to be here and you never wanted me. And I don’t want you either,” Simeon said, his voice low and cold.
Her words stopped her and she turned toward him. He wasn’t yelling, didn’t even seem angry anymore, but she saw the flash of something in his eyes, something that was far too like hurt for Claire. But it was gone as quickly as she’d seen it, and for a moment she wondered if she had imagined it.
Then she wondered no more. She was sick of Simeon’s games, sick of always feeling wrong when all she’d ev
er wanted to do was love him.
“So you’re ending this?” she asked.
He seemed momentarily surprised, but then he narrowed his eyes. “Why not? I’ve gotten what I wanted from you,” he said.
She knew he said the words to hurt her, but her awareness of his intention didn’t make the words sting any less. She’d always known what this was, but she’d deluded herself into thinking it had grown into something else. It hadn’t, though, and she might as well drop the charade.
“And will there be consequences for this, Simeon?” she finally asked.
Her voice was cold, distant, but there was nothing else she could do. Simeon had exhausted her, beaten all of the fight out of her, and she wouldn’t let him take anything more.
“Consequences? Such as?” he asked, his distant billionaire self back in place, no hint of the old Simeon there.
“My job. My…parents,” she said.
He smiled, but she’d never seen a less amused, more distant thing in her life. And rather than filling her with happiness, that expression was another dagger in her heart.
“You weren’t perfect, far from it, but you held up your end of the bargain, so I’ll hold up mine. You can have your job, and don’t worry about your precious father. He has nothing to worry about from me. I keep my word, rich girl,” he said.
Claire recoiled as if she’d been slapped, and in some way she had been. She glared at him, responding though reason told her to let this topic lie. “Are you saying I don’t?”
His silence was answer enough.
His silence was also the final straw. She exploded.
“How dare you! How dare you!” she yelled.
He didn’t respond, which only spiked her anger, and she closed the few spaces between them and glared up at him.
“You may have forgotten this, Simeon, between your grudge holding and bitterness, but you walked out on me. Not the other way around. You broke my heart like it was nothing. And now you show up, threaten me, suck me back in with your stupid games. Then blame me!”
She glared at him, her heart galloping not with passion or desire, but with rage and heartbreak. Then she shook her head, a realization hitting her.
“You know what? It’s my fault. I knew you couldn’t be trusted. But I wanted you so much, missed you so much that I ignored it. And this is what I get.”
“Broke your heart?” He spoke low, his voice barely audible, but it brimmed with emotion. “You betrayed me. You lied to me.”
“Never! I never did that,” she said vehemently.
“You’re lying now. Did you lie to the others, too? How many men did you con with your nice and sweet and innocent facade? How many did you get with your pretty smile and innocent eyes and great tits? How many did you chew up and spit out like you did to me?”
His voice never rose above a tight whisper, but Claire couldn’t miss the scorn and anger it in. She deflated completely, all of the air sucked out of her.
She stared at him, searching his eyes for something that she didn’t find. Finally, she spoke. “There were no others, Simeon. There was only you. Ever. Only you.”
Claire continued to watch him and she still got no response.
Then, finally she asked, prim and proper like Simeon always accused her of being, “Would you please take me home?”
24
A week later, Claire turned into the familiar parking garage, everything around her as it had been before she left. The security guard sat in his booth playing sudoku and completely ignoring everything that happened around him. She saw the little herd of morning walkers who power-walked circles around the parking lot before they started their day and waved at them as she did every morning.
Yes, on the surface everything looked as it had, and it seemed nothing had changed at all in the more than seven weeks she’d been gone.
Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe everything was as it had been. But Claire wasn’t the same.
For the second time in her life Simeon Hayes had completely remade her. And for the second time in her life, Simeon Hayes had completely destroyed her.
It was her own fault. She’d cried countless bitter tears, spent long years getting over him, but she’d let him back in. And she’d done so on a lie. She had allowed herself to believe that she was being noble, that she’d gone through with this game because she’d wanted to protect her father.
She couldn’t ignore the truth now, though. She loved her father, and she’d wanted to protect him, but that hadn’t been her real reason. She had done it, had gone along with him, for herself. Because despite everything he had done to her, the pain he had caused, she’d still wanted him.
She had still loved him.
She still loved him now.
It didn’t matter, though.
He didn’t love her. He didn’t even like her. He thought the absolute worst of her. He blamed her for what had happened.
And worst of all, at least in her mind, was that he thought she was untrue.
The other things stung. His scorn, his dismissal, had hurt, but what hurt the most was that he thought she had betrayed him, that she would ever betray him, that she would give herself to someone else.
Knowing that made her feel even more foul than she had before. She had trusted him with her entire heart, loved him with everything that she was, and honored him every moment of her life, even those after he had left her. And it had meant nothing to him because he thought she was a flake, a vapid rich girl who used her body to capture men for her amusement.
She angrily turned her car off and withdrew her key before she managed to calm herself to the extent possible. Even after a week at home, she was still so angry that he had no faith in her at all.
And that she was so angry made her even angrier. Simeon should be the least of her worries. He’d said he wouldn’t hold a grudge, but she couldn’t trust him. So she might still be out of a job. Her father’s company might still be at risk, and all she could think of was how hurt she was at his lack of faith.
She really was a stupid rich girl.
Claire got out of her car, grabbed her bag, and slung it over her shoulder as she walked through the doors. She was surprised when her access card still worked, and at least some of the fear that was lurking below her anger relented. In its place was the resolve that had made it possible for her to even show up today. She hadn’t shown her face to a soul since she’d made the flight back from France, the return journey so vastly different than the trip over.
She’d toyed with running away, and it was past common sense for her to show her face here and risk seeing him, but Simeon had taken enough from her already, and she wouldn’t allow him to take anything else. Besides, an inconsequential architectural firm was probably nothing to him, so the chances of him showing up were slim. And if he did show up, she’d face him. And if he decided he wanted her job, she’d damn well make him tell her so face-to-face.
When she walked past the reception area and saw Sydney—plus her new royal-blue highlights—she felt the first genuine moment of happiness she’d felt since France. Claire waved and then headed to her table, Sydney close behind. It was exactly as she’d left it, no doubt due to Sydney’s efforts, and some of the tightness in her stomach started to loosen.
Claire dropped her bag, booted up her computer, and then headed to the office’s other conference room. Sydney closed the door and then pulled Claire into a hug. When she pulled back, she smiled down at Sydney, the corners of her eyes crinkling with concern and sympathy.
“Is everything okay, Claire?” she asked. Before Claire could answer, Sydney hugged her again. “I missed you!”
Claire laughed and then hugged her back. “Everything’s good. It’s mostly settled.”
She hated being vague, but when she had taken her leave of absence she’d told Sydney that there was a family member that she needed to take care of and left it at that. And even though Sydney had seen Claire escorted out of the building and thus probably knew Claire’s story was cr
ap, she hadn’t pushed, but Claire hadn’t missed the curiosity on her friend’s face then, nor did she miss it now.
“So you’re back?” Sydney asked.
“For the moment,” Claire said.
Her words were more cryptic than she wanted them to be, but Sydney nodded and looked relieved. “After what happened with the change in ownership and that…incident, I was worried. I’m so glad you’re back, Claire! This place blows without you,” Sydney said, smiling brightly.
“You’re exaggerating because I’m not that interesting, but I’m glad to be back, and I missed you too, Sydney,” she said.
“You want to grab lunch today?” Sydney said.
“Yeah,” Claire said, smiling as brightly as she could.
Her friend nodded and then left the conference room, and Claire went to her desk. Her computer was on, and some of the anxiousness that had faded came back. The log-in box taunted her, and Claire’s breath froze in her chest as she began to type in her password.
She hit enter, and the computer unlocked, the screensaver picture of her and her parents filling the screen. Claire relaxed even more, and absent anything else to do, she threw herself back into work and put thoughts of Simeon Hayes out of her mind.
* * *
“I don’t care what it takes. Just get it done,” Simeon said.
He looked down and began scribbling on the notepad in front of him, not looking up as his lawyer scurried out of the office.
Intellectually, Simeon knew he was being impossible and taking his own bad mood out on his employees, but he didn’t give a fuck. How could he be anything else after Claire had left him like she had?
He was so fucking pissed he thought his head might blow off. How dare she storm out on him like that, leave him like he was nothing?
Again.
And the bitch of it was that he’d been more than justified in his anger. She’d flaunted herself, flirted with someone else like she wasn’t his. He’d been rightfully pissed.
He still was.
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