Possess Me: A Billionaire Romance (Intensity Book 1)

by TN King

  My chance. She swallowed hard, fighting sheer panic as she heard the announcer saying something about the Desaunt gown she was wearing, worn by Ellie White. Right. That was her. To feed a small country… she nodded, locking her focus on those eyes and drawing all of the courage she could from them. “Okay…” she muttered, letting out a breath and walking up that first step. One step at a time. It only looked like there were four left. You can do this. Make Morgan proud. Miss Petra’s parting words came back to her, “It was an honor to help you as your beauty is the kind makeup cannot do any justice to.”

  Two.

  Three.

  Four.

  And that was it. She’d squared her shoulders and took the stairs one slow graceful step at a time. She didn’t look out at the crowd, she didn’t look back at Morgan, she looked straight ahead, focusing. One small country. She reminded herself, fighting to keep her breathing calm and slow it at the same time. She was just walking out to get someone’s order. She almost snorted at the thought. Sure. A half a million dollar order. Obviously, she was working in Morgan’s type of cafe now, not the Liberty Bell diner.

  Suddenly she was there, under an array of lights so bright she had to fight blinking against them. She plastered her brightest, most excited, happy-to-meet-the-customer smile to her face, striding across the stage to where the announcer was gesturing for her to stand. She was going to damn well sell this as best as she could.

  Morgan

  He hadn’t thought about her not being used to this kind of attention, in his world women fought for that kind of acknowledgement, even at a charity dinner. He watched her take each step, his heart lurching in his chest as he did so. He’d just gone and put her up to all the scrutiny of his world. Dammit, he was a fool again. How could he have done that to her without asking? Without really explaining to her what it was actually? He felt honestly awful that she’d had no warning, that he hadn’t thought to go over it with her. Then she had gazed into his eyes, coming under his influence and calming almost immediately. Yes, perfectly in tune with him, and the perfect submissive. He watched with a growing awe as she finished ascending those steps, walking up there as if she did this every day—as if she had been fully prepared for the stunt after all. Pride swelled through him as she sashayed over to where the announcer stood with the microphone.

  “Miss Ellie White, ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer introduced her again, obviously taken aback by the beauty wearing the dress. He had been forewarned about the dress, given its details and the specs to expect, but no one could have prepared him for Ellie. No one could prepare anyone for Ellie.

  The lights glared down on her and glinted off the diamonds, sending a beautiful rainbow array out across the stage off of her. Her face alone seemed to glow from the diamond light, her porcelain skin suddenly ethereal.

  The announcer cleared his throat, starting off about the different aspects of the dress that made it so unique. As he spoke Ellie took a slow, graceful walk that looked more like she was gliding, around him, showing off those parts of the dress that he was speaking of. He went into detail about the 24-24 karats she was wearing and she stopped, angling herself so the crowd could get a better look. The more he spoke, the more she shifted, finally turning so she could slowly turn and show off that deep V in the back of the dress.

  His chest tightened at the pure luster of her smooth, unblemished skin on display under those lights. Like the silk she wore, her skin looked the same only white and against the cobalt, it looked creamy and lovely. He could practically imagine the way it would glide beneath the pads of his fingers. The dress continued to dip- all the way down to those two dimples resting in the small of her back, just above those lovely ass cheeks he could so vividly remember squeezing and adoring as she rode him into heaven.

  Morgan’s throat constricted, his rock hard cock throbbing within his suit pants, and his heart beating hard against his ribcage like it was trying to escape. His chest was suddenly too tight, as were his pants, his heart feeling as if it were trying to either constrict to a stop or leap out of his chest and escape him, but couldn’t make up its mind which to do first.

  My god, I do really love this woman!

  This realization hit him full force. With a sledge hammer accuracy, knocking what little breath was left in his lungs right out of him. I am not just falling ‘in love’ with her. I already love her! Every time he thought that he had a handle on it… it seemed that the feeling only grew. Like every new moment was a new revelation for him to contend with.

  The crowd oohed and ahhed, entranced by Ellie as she gracefully turned about in her ball gown of diamonds. They were enamored by her completely, and they were only reflecting a tenth of the sudden and overwhelming feeling that Morgan was enduring watching her up there. On that stage where she had fought going onto in the first place.

  The bidding started, a flurry of voices and signs raising in the air, but Morgan barely heard any of the proceedings, all he could do was stare. Stare at the little slip of a girl he’d pulled from the raging diner fire. One who owned that stage once she stepped on it, despite her misgivings. She owned the crowd too. Even the MC stood and stared in a stunned awe. The man almost forgot to acknowledge a final bid of—what did just he say? Morgan tried to hear over the gasps in the crowd, snapping back to attention and nearly gasping himself.

  “One million dollars!” the MC announced with a rasping sound in his voice, as if he were afraid the winner might renege. “Going Once, Going twice…Gone, to the man in the far corner!” he wheezed out, nearly collapsing against his podium in awed glee.

  Morgan’s stunned gaze swung around the room to land on the one and only, Chance Givens.

  He stood proud in that corner, a blazing, handsome glory that had attracted more than one wandering eye between the amount of the bid he placed and his natural looks. Chance smiled at him from across that room, his form straightening slightly. Then mouthed, “I at least got the dress.” A playful twinkle to his features even from this distance.

  Morgan glared at him for a moment, realizing that he’d never get to see Ellie again in that dress of diamonds that might as well have been made for her. But his face slowly transformed into a smile as he realized that he had won, even still. He got the woman inside of the dress, and she was worth more than a measly million dollars. She was worth more than any monetary value he could even think to place on her.

  His attention was diverted again, swinging to Ellie coming down the steps back towards him, forcing him to jump back to attention so he could meet her halfway to help her down.

  All of her courage seemed to be leaking out of her, form trembling slightly as she took his hand and allowed him to assist her. But on her face was the brightest smile he thought he may have ever seen, on anyone ever, her teeth glinting in the light.

  “I don’t have to take the dress off yet, do I?” she asked breathlessly, her wide blue eyes sparkling and all of her demeanor that of innocent wonder.

  She never seemed to realize the effect she had on him, he stopped completely, foregoing her hand to grab at her waist, swinging her body down into his and leaning in as devilishly close as he dared. “Not until I take it off of you.” he whispered, his lips brushing against her temple, mind full of the various images that such dialogue inspired.

  She lifted her widened gaze up to him, that trembling stopping and transforming into something else entirely, her arms looping around his neck and pushing her torso closer to him even still in invitation. One that she didn’t even wait for him to take her up on, face lifting and her lips covering his this time. Her lips were slow and sensual, folding over his and pulling his whole body into hers with it.

  And Morgan allowed her to lead the kiss again, allowing her to take him where she would, refusing to overstep the boundaries that he’d been given.

  With all her exhilaration, joy, and sexuality, Ellie kissed him. Like the world behind them was lit on fire and this was the last chance that they had, she poured everyth
ing she had into that kiss, her tongue sweeping along his lower lip and nibbling at his skin there delightedly.

  To Morgan, it was the sexiest, most sensual kiss that he had probably ever received from a woman, as Ellie now owned the kiss she gave him. He was already fallen, he had already given himself over, but now it was like a sweet kind of torture that only her hands could carry out.

  They lasted like that for another few moments, only when she broke the kiss did either of them stop. She held his face in her hands, staring at him with a look of wonder that he couldn’t quite follow deep in the lines of her features. “Thank you for this, Morgan,” she whispered, her blue eyes sparkling with repressed emotion. “It has been the most perfect night of my life,” she finished still breathless, staring into him like she meant to pull his soul out with her eyes.

  Morgan was breathless from her kiss and her humbling words as he gazed into those pools of sparkling blue, mesmerized by all that was Ellie, and all he could do was nod. For once, he had nothing to say, silently echoing her sentiment. It was the most perfect night of his life too. But then, it seemed, that any night now involving Ellie was destined to be.

  Ellie

  Her giddiness didn’t end with Morgan’s kiss. Although her desire to still be at the ball did. She hadn’t been lying, it was the most perfect night she’d ever experienced. After a day of being treated like a princess, after a night of Morgan introducing her to everyone in his life, she had been allowed to accomplish something she thought she would only ever dream of. And Morgan had enabled her to do all of it.

  When they walked off of the stage and through the ballroom… applause sounded out again, those nearest even reaching out in congratulations as they passed. She was stunned. Flabbergasted. Awed. She couldn’t even describe the feelings she had tearing up the inside of her chest. And to think she had worried so adamantly about fitting in or being good enough… only for it to turn out like this? Her cheeks burned from all the adulation, each call of congratulations louder than the last.

  Morgan leaned in close his side brushing against her and nearly sending her into another heated wave of desire. “I think this is our cue to exit while we’re on top,” he whispered, his chuckle cutting off as someone clapped his back as they passed by.

  Ellie nodded her agreement, unable to work actual words up out of her throat just yet. He steered them, expertly leading them through the crowd of people back towards the double glass doors that they had come in through, but as they neared, she spotted a man in a tux waiting. Is that…?

  Chance didn’t even pause, waving the doormen aside and opening the glass doors for them, bowing in reverence and with a wide grin spreading across his lips cheerfully.

  Ellie gaped, staring at him, her gaze cutting once to Morgan and back again, unsure of how she was supposed to react.

  Beside her, Morgan slowed his confident stride as he stared at his best friend, his own lips twitching as they approached.

  “Well done, Miss Ellie White. Well done,” Chance greeted, lifting his gaze only as they reached him, his green eyes sparkling, and his wink spurring them out of the door.

  Spurring also Ellie’s giggle, her free hand lifting up to her lips as Morgan guided her through the doors, leaving the brilliant lights, opulence, and sophisticated people behind them. The doors fell to a soft close, the sound only of Ellie’s heels against the marble to be heard. That is, until she stopped, extracting her hand from Morgan’s grip and pausing in the middle of the room, her bright smile encompassing all of it.

  Morgan stopped walking as well, looking back to her with a raised brow and a hint of concern.

  Ellie stood there for a moment, bunching one side of her dress up in her hand, lifting it and revealing a creamy thigh for Morgan’s gaze.

  He wasted no time, his gaze dropping down the line of her leg, traveling from the furthest point of where her thigh was revealed, all the way to the tip of her sparkling blue diamond shoe, and then again just as slowly back up to her face. His grey gaze was heated, but still he gave her that signature Morgan Hunt smile.

  Ellie stared back at him, biting her lip, and slowly releasing her dress. She just stood there for a moment, and then she jumped into the air…her whole body lifting off of the ground and one of her fists pumping high above her head. “Oh. My. God!” She whooped out, landing back to the ground and fist pumping once more for good measure.

  Morgan just stood, staring in silence for a few moment, his awed incredulity giving way to hilarity, head tilting back and laughing at her antics.

  Ellie didn’t care though. She couldn’t. She felt… Oh, man. She felt like she was on top of the world. She felt like a million bucks! The amount that had just been paid for her dress. It hit her all at once, realizing how momentous such a thing was, and it had happened to her. Someone had paid a million dollars for the dress that she still wore, while her body was still in it. Now that same body seemed to give into the adrenaline and sheer shock of it all, shaking as the world spun around her. She couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t stop, couldn’t come down from the high, but it all proved to be too much. Her knees gave way from beneath her, body crumpling as if to fall forward.

  Of course, she wouldn’t land on her face though, with Morgan there.

  His smile slipped, his whole body jolting forward to catch her before she hit the marble, arms banding around her again.

  “Oh…” Her breath whooshed out of her, a soft sigh following it. “Oh, my God,” she repeated, as if she still hadn’t even grasped it.

  Morgan swung her up into her arms, laughing lightly as he hauled her against his chest. “Well, that is enough of that.” he decided, hefting her in his arms and striding along out through the second set of doors and down the walkway they had come in on. He didn’t pause, didn’t seem to falter once, not even when they reached the limo ‒ his driver opening the door for them before he bent to slide her weakened body into the seat and across.

  She could feel her eyelashes fluttering, the excitement from the evening finally having caught up to her. It was like her whole body suddenly weighed two tons, and she had no sort of strength to combat keeping it up, so she slumped, falling half over towards the other side of the seat.

  Morgan’s body slid in beside hers, the door closing and his concerned voice sounding as if it came from some fog dense shore several leagues away. “Ellie?” he tried. “Sweetness?”

  However, she couldn’t so much as open her mouth to tell him she was fine, really—she was just out of it.

  He bent again, lifting her off of her seat and into his lap, arms circling around her protectively.

  “Ohhh,” was all she finally managed to utter, a weak sort of acknowledgement to his words, and an acceptance of those arms around her.

  “Shhh,” he soothed, tightening his arms and pressing his lips chastely onto the side of her forehead. “I’ve got you,” he promised, his voice sounding nearer, combatting that fog which had drug her under.

  His embrace combined with his scent seemed to help in bringing her slowly back, fighting the weakened state that had tried to undo her. His soothing presence and calming words only helped further that feeling ‒ her body sinking into his and her arms slowly lifting to wrap back around him. Just that fast she felt more grounded, a long sigh escaping her lips slowly.

  “That’s it,” his low voice whispered in her ear. “You’re okay, now,” he assured her. Like he was trying to soothe some wounded beast. Which maybe she was acting like. Or had been acting like. Her trembling that had seemed to persist deep from inside of her bones seemed to readily abate, her heart rate calming once more.

  It had just been a lot to catch up with her all at once, and now she felt slightly ridiculous for her over-the-top reaction.

  Especially now, feeling like she was sitting on a cloud with her angel man. This was where she belonged, here with him. It felt so real, so cemented in this moment.

  “You are so precious,” he whispered to her hair, fingers sweepin
g up and down her back as he leaned even further into her.

  The sentence was like another shot to the chest, her eyes widening and her gaze meeting his with a startling kind of shock. Precious? She’d never been described like that by someone before, in all of the time she’d been alive. She’d never even thought she would be… she tightened her grip around his neck as if to impart her emotion into it. She couldn’t help it, her heart hurting from how much she felt in this single moment.

  They rode in silence from there, their arms around one another and reveling in one another’s presence alone. Like they were recharging after the long day they’d had. Her head rested gently on his chest, taking in his heartbeat and his breaths as they drove.

  “We have arrived, sir,” a voice announced over the speakers again, the driver informing them with little other explanation.

  Morgan nodded, despite the driver not being able to see them, patting Ellie’s back as if to further soothe her, despite her no longer shaking.

  She shifted again, moving to get off of his lap in order to slide out of the car, but the circle of his arms stopped her.

  “No,” he ordered, stopping her movements directly.

  She stopped moving without question or response, stilling instantly upon his say so.

  His head dipped, smiling into her neck as if to show her that his refusal for her movement wasn’t out of irritation or upset with her. “The trip is on me, remember?” he asked softly, pulling her further into the circle of his arms and up. He hoisted her against his chest again, holding her as he got again out of the car, carrying her out with him.

  Ellie giggled, gasping when she realized that he wasn’t immediately setting her down once they got outside of the car. He wasn’t going to carry her all the way through the lobby! She flinched at the thought, imagining how many people they would have to pass in order to reach the top floor. She shifted, going to try and move, as if to get herself down...