“Abbie, no one would ever accuse you of being a gold digger.” He huffed. “You’re the exact opposite.”
“But I can’t just live off you. You’ve already bought all my clothes, that’s bad enough.”
“You’re being stupid.”
The word stupid shot through my head, setting me off. “I’ve worked so hard to keep my condo, I’m not about to lose it!”
“You don’t have to! Keep it. Use it as a city crash pad. Rent it out. Whatever you want to do with it, it doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter? It matters to me!” I stood and stormed out of the room, fighting back tears. Why couldn’t he see how much my condo meant to me? I had to stop marching sometime around the staircase. The house was too big to be able to stomp over the distance to get to my bedroom.
I chortled at myself. My bedroom. Full of my wardrobe, with enough clothes to last a lifetime. I plunked myself on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. What would I do? How would I ever be able to marry him?
Too many questions flew around in my head. I had to get back to my condo, to prepare for work the next day. I had to get to grips with the reporting in my new company. It was the only company that would hire me after the infamous email, and I wasn’t about to screw up this job. Unfortunately, I’d have to get Jay to drive me home because a taxi from out here would cost a fortune.
Then it hit me. The chauffeur. Whoever he was. Rosie could tell me, and I’d be able to get home without needing Jay.
I closed my eyes, thinking about Jay. About the cloud of bliss I’d been immersed in over the past twenty-four hours. Why did I drag myself out of it?
The door opened and Jay walked in, sitting himself on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t know why you left. That wasn’t exactly how I’d anticipated the first woman I ever asked to move in with me to react.” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t know either. It’s just the way you dismissed my condo. Dismissed my job. It was like you’d dismissed me.”
“Why would you say that?”
I closed my eyes. Did he really not get it? I worked so hard for what I had, I didn’t want my success to vanish into nothing. “How do you not see that’s what you’re doing?” I tried to keep my voice steady.
“And how do you not see what you’re doing is silly?”
“Silly?”
“Okay, look. If you want to pay something, pay for one of the bills here. How much is your mortgage? I’ll find a bill that costs the same. How about the movie streaming sites?”
I furrowed my brow. “You think Netflix is equivalent to my mortgage?”
“Fine. There are lots of bills. We’ll find one for you to pay. It doesn’t matter.”
I pushed my body back into the bed and looked at the ceiling. “That’s the problem. Of course it matters! But you just dismiss my money.”
“Abbie. Seriously. What you’re saying is that I can never have a normal relationship because I have too much money.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Honestly. You are saying I can never be with the woman I love because our finances don’t match up. Is that fair?”
I hadn’t considered that. Maybe he was right. But if I moved in, would I be giving up my financial freedom?
He took my hand and stood, tugging at me. “Come with me, I know a bill you can pay. I’ll show you.”
His eyes pleaded with me, and I allowed him to lead me away.
Chapter 11
We ended up in the basement, in the huge open space ringed by the comfy seating.
“Stand right here,” he said, placing me in the exact center of the room. “Oh, and give me your robe.”
I complied and stood in the middle of the room in my panties and cami. I was facing the wall of windows, looking out at the drizzly October day.
“What’s going on?”
“Stay there, I’ll show you a bill you can pay. I’m going to need the panties as well, but those can wait.”
Jay walked over to the edge of the room to a bank of switches. What was going on? He grinned at me and flicked a switch.
“Ah!” I yelled as the floor beneath me moved.
Jay laughed.
What was happening? I looked down, and the entire center of the room, a great big rectangle, was sinking. My heart fluttered while my brain tried to process what was happening. Was this part of the car parking thing?
The floor stopped moving when I’d sunk up to my chest. A wide staircase appeared at one end. Jay dropped his robe and pushed another button. With a great whoosh, water rushed in from the sides. I stared in disbelief, not fully believing what I was seeing. Jay stood at the edge, enjoying my reaction far too much.
The water swelled up around my legs, and within minutes the entire space was completely full of warm water. Jay slipped into the pool and waded over to me.
He put his hands around my waist and stared into my eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh at how surreal the situation was. One minute I was on a floor, the next in a swimming pool.
His lips found mine and kissed me in the most loving way. A feeling of overwhelming love pushed through me, and I kissed him back.
He lifted me from my feet and spun me around in the water. I squealed and splashed him with my free arm. I managed to wiggle away and carried on splashing him, laughing. He splashed me and because I was laughing so hard, I got a big mouthful of water. I stood and coughed, trying to clear my lungs.
“Are you okay?” Jay asked, putting his hand on my back, as if ready to start patting it.
I nodded and coughed a little more. I stood up straight in the water. My breasts were exactly at the waterline, my nipples hard against the fabric of my cami.
“I’m really liking this wet T-shirt look,” Jay said, cupping the sides of my breasts.
I jumped up and threw my arms around his neck, excited that the buoyancy of the water allowed me to get to his height for once. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him, feeling his cock grow hard underneath me.
Jay sunk down, so that the water swirled around our necks and our heads were the only thing above it. As we kissed, he made his way to the side of the pool.
When my back was against the edge, he tugged at my panties but the fabric was too wet to rip. I pushed them down and wiggled, using my knees and feet to get them off.
He broke away and stared into my eyes, his deep brown eyes mesmerizing me.
“I love you, Abbie White. I’ve never felt this way about anybody before.”
I wanted to cry at the effect his words had on me. Only it wasn’t his words that were causing the tears, it was the underlying truth of them. And the knowledge I felt the exact same way about him.
“I love you, James McAllister. More than Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart combined.”
He put his lips on mine, devouring me.
His hand slid along my side and worked its way between us, finding its way to my waiting pussy. For some reason, when he touched me, when his fingers brushed across my lips, my eyes welled with tears.
I had to stop kissing him, to turn my face away and lean on his shoulder, my chin quivering.
“I need you now,” Jay said, his voice breathy.
He spread my lips and pushed his cock into me. For a moment I forgot to breathe.
My chin continued to quiver, and soon my entire body was as well. The quivering grew into shakes, my shoulder twitching, my teeth chattering. All because I had never experienced such intensity before, my body didn’t know how to react.
His movements in me were slight, as if after entering me he didn’t want to even move an iota away from me. My hips moved with him, our movement so slow it would be imperceptible to any bystander.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered.
I gulped. I wanted to tell him I wasn’t cold. That my shivers were coming from the inside out and not the other way around. But I couldn’t form words. I’d lost my ability to speak.
He pulled himself from me and lifted me up. Cradled in his arms, he carried me up the steps of the pool and set me on a nearby sofa.
Jay climbed onto me, and right back into me. His body enveloped me and I curled into him, my legs wrapped around him and my ankles hooked together.
Our hips moved together, building tension throughout my body. I continued to quiver underneath him, but soon my quivering gave way to writhing.
My pussy pulsated around his cock. In unison, my pussy and heart exploded, sending out shock waves. Waves that crashed together each time one from the two epicenters collided.
Something strange happened. Something that had never happened during sex. I cried.
Soon my crying had grown uncontrollable, even as the last waves of the orgasm were still pushing through me.
“Beautiful, what’s wrong?” Jay asked, smoothing back my hair.
I couldn’t speak, my voice long gone. How could I explain it anyway, when I didn’t understand it myself?
Instead I kissed him. A deliberate, unhurried kiss that I hoped explained everything.
Dripping wet, we stayed on the sofa for some time. Eventually Jay got our robes, and we cuddled together, my body still quivering with emotion. I lost all sense of time and have no idea how long we were there for.
* * *
We’d finished watching The Way of the Dragon and were still cuddled together on one of the sofas in the cinema room.
“I need to get home and do some work. I have a few things I want to read about CQ Francis before tomorrow,” I said.
“That’s good. I have quite a bit of work I’ve been neglecting this weekend.”
I giggled. “Sorry for distracting you.”
He squeezed me. “I’m sorry work distracts me from you.”
My giggle turned into a deep laugh. The idea that I came first struck me as funny.
“Where are you staying tonight? You should stay here,” Jay said.
“I have to go home, all my work stuff is there.” I didn’t want to leave him, ever.
“I can send someone to get it,” he said.
Torn, I wasn’t sure what to do. “I need to, sorry.”
“Then I’m staying at yours.”
“Of course.”
“Can I pay rent? I owe you some, I was there all last week.”
“Don’t be silly.” I smacked his arm, embarrassed at the implication.
Jay laughed. “You are a hypocrite.”
“I am not!”
He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything. He left the room, and I sat there thinking over the last couple of weeks. After a few minutes he came back.
“Just sorting out the car,” he said.
I stood and played with the waistband of his pants. I stared at my hands and said, “Are you coming with me?”
“Of course I am.” There was something in his voice. Anger. Resignation. I didn’t know.
* * *
We sat side by side on my sofa, the radio on and a laptop on each of our laps.
It was crucial for my career that I get off to a good start at CQ Francis. But so far their systems eluded me. They were a young IT company that had exploded onto the scene, and I suppose that explained why the reporting seemed all over the place. My job was to sort that out.
I was going cross-eyed from the pages of numbers on my screen. I blinked a few times and rested my head on Jay’s shoulder and stared blankly at his screen.
“How’s Force McAllister doing?” I was amazed how easily the words rolled off my tongue, without any hint or hang up over my time there.
“This is a different company.”
“Oh?”
“I have lots of companies, you know. Force McAllister is just the first one I started.”
“How many do you own?” I was shocked. More because I didn’t know this about him rather than the fact itself. It was normal for these big companies to go around buying up other ones. But I felt like it was a revelation, something I didn’t know about Jay that I should have.
“Lots, but Force McAllister is my baby.”
How many did he have? Maybe I should Google it. Not with him sitting beside me though.
“Is that your first one?”
He laughed, “That’s why my name is on it.”
“What one are you looking at now?”
“One I might buy.”
Jay told me all about the potential takeover. Showed me their financials and business plan. He asked me my opinion, and we got into a big discussion on the merits of buying the company.
He valued me. Valued my ideas. For the second time that day I felt an overwhelming love from and for him.
“You’re wasted as a report jockey,” he said, stroking the back of my hand.
“One day. I’m trying, you know.”
“You should come back to Force McAllister, I’ll create a good role for you.”
“Everyone would just say I fucked my way into it. I wouldn’t be taken seriously.”
“You would once they heard you speak.” He put his arm around me, consoling me, convincing me. But I couldn’t face it. How could I work some place where everyone had seen me straddling him topless?
“I’ll put you in one of my other companies. Seriously, beautiful, I could really use your talents.”
I laughed. “Thanks,” I hesitated, “but, I need to get things on my own merit.”
Jay laughed. “Do you think you’d be the only person ever to take a job from a contact?”
I shifted my eyes down. It was true. So many people in this world got places they had no business being in because they knew the right people. I’d always believed it was what was wrong in the world. I’d be a massive hypocrite if I used Jay to get a job now.
Chapter 12
The first thing I did on my break on Monday morning was send Jenny a text.
OMG you will not believe what Jay asked!!!!!!!
Jay had left by the time I woke up, but since my first sip of coffee I couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d asked me to move in with him. It’s fair to say I was giddy with excitement. Even though I had to say no, it represented a huge milestone in our relationship.
SHUT UP, did he propose?????
I looked back over my text. Maybe it read that way.
LOL, no, just move in
I smiled to myself at the memory of the pool. Laurie appeared and pulled me away for a meeting.
* * *
I hoofed it the five blocks to meet Jenny for lunch. We’d picked a spot halfway between her office and mine, but even still it didn’t give me enough time to tell her everything about the weekend with Jay.
I was standing in line to order a bagel with cream cheese when Jenny ran up and hugged me. She squeezed me tight and jumped up and down.
“Don’t get too excited, I haven’t said yes yet.”
“What? You’re crazy!”
We ordered and found a table. I filled Jenny in on the highlights of the weekend — well, not all the highlights. I ended the recap at the pool. Because we were both too excited at the concept of a floor turning into a pool to get any further.
“I can’t believe you’re making him stay at your little shoebox,” she said once we’d calmed down.
“Hey! My condo is not a shoebox. And I’m not making him do anything.”
She raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She didn’t need to.
“I’m not,” I protested, but didn’t even believe my own words.
“Sweetie, do you think a guy like him is enjoying living in a place like yours?”
“Well, everybody likes a bit of variety.”
“No, no, no. You need to get over this bizarro hangup of yours and move in with him. I mean, you want to live with him, right?” She used her bagel to punctuate the point and a bit of cream cheese plopped onto her blouse.
“I can’t even imagine a day without him. How would I ever sleep without him holding me?”
“Look, I know you are…”
she gave her head a shake, “obsessed with relying on no one but yourself. But sweetie, you must understand, it is normal to move in with someone even if they have a lot more money than you. Hell, most women would be jumping at the chance.”
“I’m not a gold digger.”
“You can still move in with him and not be a gold digger!”
I sat back in my chair and said, “He offered to give me a good position in one of his companies.”
Jenny took a bite of her bagel and chewed. She was chewing over my news. The way I’d chewed over it all last night in bed. I took a drink of my Diet Coke and waited for her response.
I needed her advice. She could make me see the right answers, always.
“I don’t know what to say.” She shrugged in apology.
“You always know what to say!”
Jenny shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. What if you two broke up, then what would happen to your job?”
“We’re never breaking up, that’s not an issue.”
“Then why aren’t you living at his house?” she exclaimed.
I glanced at my watch. I had a one o’clock meeting with Laurie and her boss and I couldn’t be late for it.
“I have to run, but think it over and tell me what to do.”
“I’ll try, but I’m only going to give you advice, I’d never tell you what to do.” She gave me a little wink.
What a crazy lady. I loved her. Of course I’d do whatever she told me to.
I hurried back to work. As I rounded the corner to my office, Calvin appeared out of nowhere. One second he wasn’t there, and the next second he was standing directly in my path.
“Get out of my way,” I said.
“What’s the matter, sugar? Need to get back to work with your boyfriend?” He said boyfriend like he was a ten-year-old boy taunting an older sister.
“Fuck off.”
“Ooh, feisty. Are you like that in bed too? When you fuck the lying liar?”
Billionaire's Secret: The Complete Series Page 22