The Billionaire’s Lighthouse Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance

by Michelle Love

  “Okay,” I say and watch him go up the staircase until he disappears at the top. “I could come help.”

  “No, I want to surprise you with something,” his voice echoes in the empty building as I go to close the door.

  The lighthouse is already looking better than it ever has since it was moved here and I can foresee the place being very pretty and not too far in the future either.

  “Okay, you can come up,” he shouts.

  As I go up the stairs, I can smell an apple smell along with some cinnamon and find several candles lit when I get to the top. The blanket is laid out on the floor and the picnic basket is open. “Very nice.”

  He gets up and takes my hand, leading me to the blanket. “Your lunch is served, madam.”

  Taking a seat, Indian style, Zane sits facing me, sitting the same way. “This is sweet don’t you think?” I ask him as I take a ham sandwich off the platter. “You’ve taken me to some very fancy places to eat and I like this place and this food just as much, if not even more.”

  His eyes settle on me and he sighs. “You really do like the simple things so much more. It’s evident by how much you’ve smiled since we’ve been here. New York isn’t your thing at all, is it?”

  “Not really,” I confess. “But I do like being with you.”

  “And I like being with you. But you really are dead set on staying here, aren’t you?”

  With a nod, I take a bite of the sandwich and watch his eyes droop a little. “I’m sure you can stay in New York for the week and come back here every weekend. You have the jet.”

  “I’ve become accustomed to holding you all night, though.” He takes my hand and pulls it to his heart. “I’ve also become accustomed to seeing your pretty face every day. I want you with me. I want you to work with me. I want you around all the time.”

  “And I think that sounds kind of good but so does staying here. Going back to work at the diner and living here, sleeping here every night. Now that sounds like Heaven to me.”

  “I honestly didn’t think by giving you this place and fixing it up, I’d be losing you.”

  “You aren’t losing me, Zane. Now you’re just being dramatic,” I say with a sigh. “You and I haven’t been together long enough for some space between us to cause either of us much pain.”

  “If that’s so then why does my heart ache?” he asks me as he flattens my palm against his chest. I can feel it pounding and wonder why that is.

  Taking the half-eaten sandwich out of my hand, he places it back on the platter I got it off of and moves me back until I’m lying on the blanket with him hovering over me. His eyes search mine as he says, “I love you, Elizabeth Cook. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you do not love me.”

  I open my mouth to tell him that I do not love him. Not yet. But nothing comes out. My heart is going ninety miles an hour as I try to form the words that refuse to come. “What if I do love you, Zane? What would that change?”

  “Your last name for one thing. Your address for another.”

  Does this mean he really does want to marry me? And do I really want to marry him?

  Chapter 3

  ZANE

  The sunshine coming in through the circle of windows has her golden blonde hair shining like a halo around her gorgeous face as she lies on the blanket beneath me.

  I can see it in her eyes, the truth. But she’s yet to tell me what I want to hear come out of those plump pink lips of hers. So I kiss them with a long and sweet kiss then release her lips and look into her eyes again. “Tell me the truth.”

  “I’m just uncertain if what I feel is love, Zane. It’s not been any amount of time since I met you.”

  “If you never felt my touch again, would you miss it?” I ask as I trail my fingertips over her breast.

  The way she quivers with my touch tells me more than any of her words could. “Of course,” she says. “But I don’t know if that’s love.”

  “If I could never feel your touch again I can tell you without a doubt that I would miss it so much, I’m sure it would leave me permanently scarred.” I run my hand under her short, summer dress and up until I feel her breast underneath my palm. Giving it a gentle squeeze, I watch her eyes grow big.

  “Do you really think so?” she asks then bites her bottom lip as she arches her body up to mine.

  I give her what she wants and lie mine on top of hers. Leaning into her, I run my lips over her neck up to her ear. “I do. I love you, Elizabeth.”

  She moans as I grind my erection into her soft core. Her hands move over my back and she whispers, “Love is a strong word.”

  Her body trembles as I move one hand along her side. “It is. My feelings for you are that strong.”

  “How can you be so sure?” she asks.

  I kiss her again, running my tongue around hers until her breathing grows hard then I end the kiss and look into her eyes that are dancing with desire. “How can you be so sure you don’t do more than merely like me?”

  “That’s true. I do have more feelings for you than just liking you.” Her hand moves over my cheek then she cups the back of my neck, pulling me in for another kiss.

  I oblige her and kiss her harder. Her legs wrap around me as she bucks up. She pulls at the bottom of my T-shirt so I sit up and take it off for her.

  Just before I move back to her, she places her hand on my stomach, stopping me. “Let me look at you, Zane.” She moves her hands all over my abs then trails her fingers through the channels between them.

  Pushing her dress up more to expose her plump breasts, I pull it all the way off then unfasten her bra. Running my hands over her tits while she runs hers over me. “Say it, Elizabeth.”

  She smiles and shakes her head. “No.”

  Moving my hands off her breasts, I move them to her waist and tickle her a little, making her laugh and wiggle. “Say it, Elizabeth.”

  “No!” she shrieks with laughter.

  I stop tickling her and stand up as she giggles and watches me. “What are you doing?”

  Dropping my shorts and the underwear underneath them too, I get back down on my knees and place one hand on her stomach as I use the other to rip her panties off. She takes in a sharp breath as her eyes start to smolder.

  Sitting down, I pick her up to face me and sit her on my lap. She moans as I ease her down on top of my erection. “I want you to look at me as we make love and I want you to see in my eyes what I really feel for you.”

  She bites her lip and nods as I lift her up and down. Her eyes close for a second then she opens them again as I lift her to stroke me again. Her breasts mash against my chest as she presses them to me and kisses me.

  I lift her over and over as our mouths join to take us to another place far away from this lighthouse. She takes me to a place no one else ever has and I’m not about to let her spend even one night away from me, much less a week away from me.

  The slightest twinge inside of her has me changing our position. I put her on her back and pull my mouth away from hers. “Look into my eyes, Elizabeth. Watch what happens when you make me come.”

  “Zane,” she whispers. “Why do you think you love me?”

  Moving in and out of her, I say, “Because I think about you as I fall asleep. You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up. Your smile means more to me than anything has. That’s why I think I love you.”

  “It fills my heart with something when I see you happy too,” she admits.

  “So you care about my happiness you say,” I say as I make slow strokes. “Then you should care that I don’t want us to stay apart. I want you to come with me each week to New York and then on the weekends we can come here, together.” I make a deep stroke and grind into her. “That way we can feel each other like this, every morning and night.”

  Her face lights up even more as she arches up to me. “This does feel pretty damn good.”

  “I know.” I kiss her long and hard. Her body moves with mine like the waves in the ocea
n and before I realize it, our bodies have taken the others over the edge and we’re both screaming out with the intensity.

  Rocking with her, I stop the thrusts. Her body quivers as it takes the last little bits of pleasure from the orgasm then her eyes open as I hold myself up.

  Her green eyes are dark and stormy as she looks at me. “Don’t make me sorry for this, Zane.”

  With a shake of my head, I say, “I will never make you sorry for loving me, Elizabeth. That’s a promise.”

  Her hands move up my arms as I have them propped on either side of her, holding my upper body off of hers. Soft caresses begin on top of my shoulders then she’s pulling me down to her, slowly.

  I can’t stop looking into those eyes as they change color from dark to light. The stormy look is replaced by one of hope. One of her feet run up the back of my leg as her lips part. “Do you really think you and I can make something out of this mess, Zane?”

  “We have done that already,” I tell her then kiss her.

  Her hands move over my back and then I ease the kiss. I know she has every reason to hate how I made things so complicated with my damn lie. If I could turn back time as the saying goes, I would.

  What’s done is done, though and we’ll just have to figure things out as we go along. I need her to trust me. I need her to believe in me. I need her to love me the way I love her.

  “I desperately want to believe you, Zane.”

  “I desperately want you to, Elizabeth. Let the words go free, baby. You’ve been telling me you loved me from the first day we met. Why are you finding it so difficult now?”

  “Because now they’re going to be true. I want to be sure I’m telling you the truth, Zane.”

  “I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in your touch,” I whisper.

  She laughs a sweet, light sound that makes my heart flutter. “You know what, Zane? I think it’s true. I really do.”

  Kissing her again to get her back on track, I kiss her hard until her nails are digging into my back. When I release her mouth her body is shaking and her eyes are glassy. “Oh yeah! I do, Zane! I do. I love you, for real.”

  And that’s all I needed to hear. “I love you too.”

  Chapter 4

  ELIZABETH

  “White, I want it painted white, of course,” I tell the contractor.

  “But blue is nice too,” he says as he shows me a little sample of the color he’s trying to sell me on. “And we could make these black stripes around the top. It’s traditional.”

  Rolling my eyes to look at Zane, I make a huffing sound to get him to pay attention to our argument over here which he’s been ignoring. “What’s your opinion, Zane?”

  “She wants it exactly the way it was when it came here. So just freshen up the original colors.” He takes my hand and pulls me along with him. “Now we have to get on the plane and get the hell out of here. I have meetings starting in three hours. We’ll be back on Saturday to see what you’ve managed to accomplish.”

  Looking back at the local contractor Zane hired, I have to wonder if he’s going to do what I’ve said. Gus is an old guy who thinks he knows more than anyone else does and that has me nervous as hell.

  “I’m worried about him, Zane,” I say as he opens the car door for me.

  “Don’t. I set him straight. No more needs to be said. No need to worry,” he says then closes my door and walks around to get into the driver’s side.

  “This refurbishing business isn’t as easy as it looks on television. So many decisions have to be made,” I find myself whining.

  My head is throbbing with everything we’ve done this week to get this project going and Zane wants me to go with him to the meetings he has, later on, today. I just don’t see me being able to focus and I’m about to let him down.

  “When we get back to New York, I just want to take a nap. A very long nap, Zane.”

  With a glance, he says, “Fine.”

  “No argument?” I ask with surprise. “Just, fine?”

  “Yes, fine.” He nods his head and drives down the road toward the little airport where his jet is waiting for us.

  I expected a bit of disappointment. Instead, he looks calm and somewhat happy about me not going with him to the meetings. And now that makes me wonder why he’s suddenly fine with me not going.

  “Well, I can go if you really want me to,” I say as I look at him to gauge his expression.

  “No, it’s not necessary. You need to rest. You’ve been all tense with the decisions the last week. I think you should go home, take a nice relaxing bath and read a book then take a nap.”

  “Now you’re making me feel like a whiny bratty woman. No, I’ll get a hold of myself and go with you.”

  “Not today you won’t. You’ll do as I’ve told you to for today.”

  I stare at him in disbelief. “Really?”

  He nods. “Really.”

  “Who is she?” I ask as I narrow my eyes at him.

  “She?”

  “Yes, she. There must be a woman in today’s meetings that has you wanting to go alone,” I say as I tap my chin and think about things.

  “You know who it is and you know you don’t get along with her,” he says.

  “One of the evictions,” I say as my memory is jogged. “Meagan!”

  He nods and frowns. “See, it’s better if you don’t come.”

  “Now I’m going for damn sure!”

  He looks at me over the top of his expensive shades. “No, you are not.”

  His voice is calm and mine is kind of high and squeaky with an edge of fuck-you , “Take me to my apartment. I’m not even going to New York with you!”

  “You are coming with me and you are going to stop acting crazy right now,” he says.

  “Acting crazy!” I shriek. “I can show you crazy!”

  “And you’re doing it right now. Look, you know you have a temper problem with Meagan. You can’t be calling her names or cussing at her when she’s in her office, doing her job. That means you get to stay home, but not here, at our penthouse.”

  Rolling my eyes, I say, “Don’t call it our penthouse.”

  “I can call it whatever I want to. Should I stop at a store?”

  “Huh? Why?” I ask as I tap my foot and wonder how I can get him to let me go with him to that damn meeting.

  “You obviously are having some female issues. I thought you might want to pick up some feminine supplies before we get on the jet.” He chuckles like he’s really funny.

  Smacking him in the arm, I shout, “I’m not on the rag, jackass!”

  “Not yet, anyway,” he says with another chuckle.

  “Zane, that’s not funny!”

  He laughs harder and I’m starting to see red at the corners of my eyes. So I close them and count to ten in my head. And as I begin to think more rationally, I realize why I’m so angry and agitated.

  I’m being kept!

  I’m not making my own money at all. Even the rent on my apartment was paid by Zane this month. He also took care of paying the electricity and the water as well as stocking up the groceries.

  “I can’t do this, Zane,” I say as I think about what I’m doing. “I can’t let you pay for everything and me not work. Everything is yours. Even what was mine is now becoming yours. I have to stop this. I need to stop this right now.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Elizabeth. You’re working. You’re making the calls and decisions about the lighthouse renovations. That’s a job. It’s called being the project manager and you’re good at it. This experience will help you when we take on our next business project.”

  “The only reason I’m doing that is because you have given me the lighthouse. You’re giving me everything. I can’t let you continue to do this. I’m not a gold digger.”

  “I know you aren’t. You’re a smart woman with a lot of potential to become a great business woman. I can’t wait to work with you on a lot more than a simple lighthouse renovation. You
have great ideas and a natural knack with people. Most people, that is. Not everyone, but most. This meeting with Meagan is to get her to sign one of the eviction notices. I’ve had trouble with this one as one of my secretaries took a small payment from the people who are renting some office space in my building. She wasn’t supposed to do that and it might set us back on getting them out if Meagan won’t go ahead and sign the eviction notice.”

  “She’s mad at you too, Zane. She most likely won’t do it, anyway. You need to get another judge in your pocket and let her go.”

  “Easier said than done,” he says as he pulls into the parking lot at the airport. “Now, let’s get on the plane and get back to New York. Tonight I’ll take you out somewhere nice for dinner. This afternoon I’ll have the concierge bring up the hair, makeup, and nail team to get you all fixed back up. I’ll have a new dress delivered too.”

  I keep my mouth shut but my thoughts are pounding my brain. He’s treating me like his little doll. I’m not liking that at all. There’s quite a few things I’m not liking about this whole thing.

  Being kept has never been a thing I’ve ever wanted!

  Chapter 5

  ZANE

  The jet ride from Chesapeake City, Rhode Island to New York city takes less time to travel than it does once you get here and have to take a car to where you need to be. Sitting in the back of the cab, I can feel the tension radiating off Elizabeth as she’s kept very quiet most of the trip.

  “After I change, I’ll take off to handle today’s business. I’m going to have to order you a massage too.” I kiss her on the forehead and she pulls back as she scowls at me.

  “Can you just stop this pampering crap, Zane?” she asks me very loudly. So loudly it makes the female cab driver look at her through the rearview mirror.

  “I wish somebody would pamper me,” she mumbles.

  Thankfully, Elizabeth wasn’t paying attention because in the current state she’s in she’d most likely say something mean to the poor woman.

  Running my hand along her side, I lean in close and whisper, “Okay, no massage but how about I help you out myself with this bad mood before I leave.” I nibble her neck but instead of moaning and melting into me, she pulls away from me.