“It’s beginning to grow on me all right,” Alicia said with a sigh and reached for her mug of tea.
“Did you sleep well last night?” Erin turned her face to Xavier but could feel her cheeks burning. He had finally looked at her; he looked drowsy and tired, like he hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night.
Before he could answer, Alicia broke into a giggle which she immediately tried to subdue. But it was too late. Erin threw Alicia a threatening look but she had also noticed Xavier’s face fall and a certain kind of resentment build up in his eyes.
“I did, thank you for asking,” he said curtly and stood up from his chair. Within a second, he was gone from the balcony, and Erin and Alicia were left sitting by themselves.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry Erin. I didn’t mean to. I couldn’t control it,” Alicia said and leaned forward to grab Erin’s arm. She pulled it away from Alicia’s touch.
“Why do you always have to jeopardize everything? Why can’t you ever bear to see me happy?” she nearly yelled at Alicia before getting up to follow him inside.
“I’m sorry, Erin. I really am.”
She heard Alicia pleading but ignored her. She hurried inside and caught sight of Xavier’s figure disappearing in a huff up the stairs. She didn’t know exactly what to say or do, but she followed him upstairs anyway.
“Xavier, can we please talk?” she called after him, just as he was about to enter his room.
He turned to face her and then held the door of his room open for her. He did it in silence and she didn’t know what to expect but stepped into his room and he followed her. She noticed how he gently shut the door but didn’t allow it to close completely. What was he hinting at?
Chapter 5
“You told Alicia about last night.” He said it as a statement rather than asked a question. Erin immediately felt the anger he was hurling toward her. The smile she had tried to plaster on her face had disappeared.
“She’s my best friend. And she would have found out,” she said. She remained standing near the door while he walked over to the bed but didn’t sit down.
“I can’t believe I was that foolish,” he said and ran his hands through his hair. He looked even more handsome in the morning, she thought, but immediately tried to snap herself out of admiring him.
“You weren’t the only foolish one. Evidently,” she said and he looked up at her. His eyes softened, but only for a few seconds.
“You think this was a mistake, because you’re some kind of a celebrity? That it has no effect on my life? Because I’m a lay, man?” she huffed as she spoke and crossed her arms in front of her.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said softly, but Erin could see that he was still worrying about himself, so she rolled her eyes.
He saw her do it and his expression darkened again.
“In fact, Erin, it is exactly like that. My face gets splashed across cheap tabloids because of things like this. I misjudged you,” his voice was still gruff and low pitched, although it was clear to her that he was very close to entirely losing his temper.
“Misjudged me how?” she dared to ask him.
“I thought you’d be able to keep it between us,” he answered, almost immediately.
“Treat it like my own dirty secret?” She was clenching her own arm, her nails were digging into her flesh as she spoke to him. She couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.
“I did not expect you to go gossiping about it with your girlfriend immediately after, that’s all.” He had become even quieter and his prolonged silence made her feel worse.
“I wasn’t gossiping. In fact, I misjudged you too. I didn’t think it was just about the sex,” she spat out the words and whipped away from him. She had spoken her mind, she didn’t care anymore. She didn’t care that he knew she had feelings for him in such a short while. How did it matter anyway? In his attempt to keep it a secret, he wouldn’t exactly go around discussing her with his buddies.
Xavier remained silent and it made Erin more furious.
“You can come off your high horse now, Mr. Xavier Cowen. You might be a celebrity, but you’re just like every other man out there.” She turned to look at him again and she could feel the tears prickling the back of her eyelids. This was such a huge mistake. She didn’t need another man to make her feel like a complete idiot.
“Stop comparing me to your lying cheating ex-boyfriend,” he suddenly thundered and took a few steps toward her. Erin inched away from him, he hadn’t raised his voice before and for a second, it frightened her. His towering frame loomed over her, even though he was still standing a good distance away from her.
“Not just him. You’re like every other man. You saw something you liked, but you only liked it for the night. Now you can’t take responsibility for your actions.” She tried to keep her voice low, tried to frighten him away from her with the ferocity in her eyes.
“Take what responsibility? Do you want a foot massage? A scented love letter? A marriage proposal?” Xavier said with a sarcastic laugh, even though he didn’t look like he had faith in his own joke.
“That’s really rich. Yeah, it makes me laugh.” Erin tried to laugh too. “You think that is what responsibility looks like? You’re so far out. No wonder stupid rom-coms are the only movies you get cast for.” She turned away from him again and made for the door.
But he had stopped her. His hand was gripping her arm now, his fingers embedded themselves in her flesh. She tried to ignore the force with which he was pulling her away and tried to push the door open.
“Come back here,” he said gruffly and pulled her to him. She landed with a thud on his chest, her back to him.
“You can’t just throw something like that at me and try to make a smooth exit,” he spoke through gritted teeth, but softly and into her ear.
“Why, you always get the last word, is that it?” she tried to laugh, but this time she couldn’t. His hands had now traveled up from her arms toward her neck.
“Something like that,” he whispered into her ear again and with one hand, pushed the door shut in front of her.
“Let me go now. Aren’t you afraid I’m going to gossip about this too?” She tried to wriggle herself free, but his grip on her only strengthened.
“You know what? I actually don’t care anymore,” he said and without giving her a second to react, he bent her over. In order to avoid tripping, she placed her hands firmly on the closed door in front of her.
She heard the sound of him flicking open the buckle of his belt and then unzipping. Just the sound of that made her go wet between her legs. She had no idea how he could have this effect on her. She felt his hands grab her butt and give it a squeeze before he reached over to unzip her pants.
He peeled down her pants and then wrapped his arms around her torso, pulling her closer to him. Erin closed her eyes and arched her back. She felt him slide into her as he held her tightly. She could hear him breathing raggedly behind her. His beard scratched against her cheek and ear.
It was the same feeling of being taken, of being owned by him, only this time it was without any restraint. He was pumping into her from behind as she tried to keep herself steady with the door. He was big and hard inside her, and she could feel the ferocity of his thrusts increasing with every passing second. His hands eventually found her breasts underneath the sweater and he squeezed them and played with her nipples. The combination of sensations was too much for her to deal with, she didn’t want to pass out again.
They were both moaning and he eventually let her go, placing his hands on her butt. She was completely bent over, her legs wide apart and he pushed inside her in a quick rhythmic motion. This time, he reached the edge even sooner and so did she. They both came together and she didn’t care how loud they were or that the door squeaked with his every thrust.
He groaned as he emptied himself inside her again and pulled out. Her thighs were still quivering from the intensity of the orgasm, and when he was out of her,
she slumped to the carpeted floor.
“Erin,” Xavier said and she turned sleepy exhausted eyes to him. He was standing, naked from the waist down, in front of her and he had his hand stretched out toward her. She took his hand and he helped her up.
“Are you planning on tucking me into bed again?” she asked him with a shy smile. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Into my bed, you mean?” he spoke softly into her ear and she couldn’t help but giggle. He led the way and directed her to lie down on his bed. It smelled of him, she pressed her eyes closed and took in a deep breath of his scent. She opened them when she felt the mattress slump, he was getting into bed with her.
“I don’t know how you did it, but you’ve got some kind of hold on me.” His breathing was ragged as he spoke into her ear. His hands had found their way underneath her sweater and she felt a sharp tug on her nipple.
“I thought we were having a nap?” she teased him, just as he started licking her earlobe.
They exchanged looks and broke into laughter.
Chapter 6
It had been three weeks. Three weeks of bliss. Alicia had left the cabin and gone back to the city nearly ten days ago. Erin and Xavier had walked to the lake and were throwing pebbles in, watching them skid over the portions that were still frozen in the lake.
Erin watched Xavier as he laughed, collecting more pebbles from the bank. She had news to give him.
“What are you looking at?” he asked her when he caught her staring. He jiggled his butt in front of her to tease her into breaking into giggles. He came over to give her a hug, but when he started pulling away, he caught sight of a serious look on her face.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” he chucked one of the pebbles toward the lake but didn’t look to see where it had landed.
“I have to get back to work, Xavier. I can’t stay cooped up here with you forever.” Erin bit down on her lip as she spoke, already detecting annoyance in him. He had been trying to avoid this conversation for the past few days.
“You promised we won’t speak about it till the end of the week, Erin. Can we just enjoy the day?” Like a child, he was digging the ground with his shoes. She almost wanted to forget about the important decisions, hug him and stroke his head.
“I have to be back at work by the end of the week. I need to make arrangements now. I can’t keep postponing it.” She tried to remain as calm and collected as possible. He looked up at her sharply.
“You don’t need my permission, Erin. Leave if you want to leave. I can’t stop you.”
“It’s not a question of wanting to leave. I have to. For my work. Just like you should go back to Los Angeles and stop trying to run away. It’s time you took charge of what you want to do.” She reached for him and held onto his arm, but his muscles were tensed. Even though his voice remained steady, it was easy for her to tell that he was now upset.
“So what you’re saying is that we’ll never see each other again?” he spoke after several minutes of silence. He had turned away from her so that she could see him in profile now. His shaggy blue-black beard illuminated in outline by the orange light of the setting sun.
“What do you want, Xavier? You’re the celebrity here. I’m just a simple math teacher.” She let go of his arm and he turned to look at her. They held each other’s gaze for a few seconds till he looked away.
“I don’t want to go back to LA. I don’t want you to go back to Seattle and I most definitely don’t want us to be apart.” When he said it, she smiled. She would never have admitted it, but this is what she wanted to hear from him. Despite having spent three intimate weeks with him, Xavier Cowen was still an enigma to her. She knew he was fond of her, found her irresistible in bed, but she could never be sure what she meant to him, seriously. Now she was convinced. She could see it in his eyes, and the way he refused to look at him.
“I’m glad you say that because I have some news that I believe you should know about,” she said and he looked at her with a worried expression. Erin didn’t want too much time to elapse, to give him a chance to prepare himself. “I think I’m pregnant. In fact, I’m sure of it,” she said, keeping her gaze steady on him. She watched as his expression changed from surprise to disbelief to panic and then a struggle to calm himself.
“When did you realize?” Those were his first words. Erin wasn’t so sure if it was the right decision anymore.
“A few days ago?” She hung her head down as if embarrassed. He took a few seconds, and then came forward, hooking his forefinger under her chin. He lifted up her head gently and craned her neck backward so that she could look up at him.
“All the more reason to not go,” he said.
“What am I going to do then?” She was seriously asking him. She didn’t want a hypothetical answer.
“Quit your job. Move in with me in LA.” He was smiling now, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
“So you do want to go back? You don’t want to live in the wilderness alone forever?” she was only joking when she said it, but he answered in all seriousness.
“I’m going to be a father now. It’s time I called my agent and have him sign me up for a few casting calls.” He was serious but smiling now, almost speaking to himself.
“Are you serious? What kind of films are these?” She was excited too. She hadn’t seen him seriously consider or talk about his work.
“Some films that won’t pay much but are the kind that I’ve always wanted to do. If I’m going to be a dad, I might as well start building my legacy.”
THE END
Badass Billionaire
Leela Ash
Copyright ©2015 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work
Chapter 1
Riiiiing! Riiiing!
Amy sat at her desk finishing a report to give to a judge when the rather annoying sound of her telephone interrupted her. She was careful to minimize the word processing program before she turned to the beat up telephone that sat on the desk in her cramped office.
“Here For You, Amy Delaney speaking,” she answered, taking the receiver off the cradle.
“Miss Delaney, this is Tabitha again,” came the static distorted voice on the other end of the line.
“Yes, Tabitha, I was just working on your report,” Amy said, placing her forehead in the palm of her left hand, elbows on the desk.
“Yes, I just wanted to make sure that you were going to recommend that he stay in jail…you can’t let him get out.”
“Tabitha, as I have told you, the contents of my report to the judge are concealed until the date of the hearing,” Amy said gently, “If I told you what I am recommending, then I would lose my job and could go to jail, myself. You don’t want me to go to jail, do you?”
“No, no…I don’t want that! I don’t know if I could keep going without you, Miss Delaney!”
“Tabitha, it’s not me that has helped you move on, you’re helping yourself. Now please, if I’m going to finish my report and have it faxed to the courthouse in time for the hearing, I’ll need to get off the phone. Can we talk some more at your appointment on Tuesday?”
“Yes, yes, of course. I’ll talk to you on Tuesday, Miss Delaney,” Tabitha said, quickly disconnecting from the call.
Shaking her head as she replaced the telephone receiver on the cradle, Amy caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that hangs on the back of the office door. She stood up, and walked over to it, examining her reflection.
She had always known she was attractive, with her long dark and hair and chestnut eyes, but she was a little insecure around the midline at times. She thought she looked great, but it was annoying when everyone seemed to be cha
sing the bean poles. Oh well, she thought, her ship would come in. Her sometime boyfriend, Todd, didn’t help matters. He was seeing other girls every chance he got. He had even had the audacity to come right out and tell her that her weight “kind of bugged him”, and that he didn’t know if he could see himself in a “real” relationship with her. God, what an asshole.
Sadness overwhelmed her as she thought over her last “steady” relationship she had had. That would be Justin. He had joined the Marine Corps immediately after high-school, and proposed to her on his last night in Black Rock before he shipped out for Iraq in 2005. He was dead by 2006.
This had been the trigger that led to her eating more than anything. But Amy had never been one to hide. So, rather than not fit in at all, she began to compensate for her perceived lack of physical appeal with “fat” jokes…usually at her own expense. She wasn’t even that big. She was just curvy, but she found her place making the jokes nonetheless. Sure, she had plenty of friends all through her college career at the University of California at Berkeley, but between grief over Justin’s death and her subsequent weight gain, her sex life had consisted primarily of one night stands ever since.
“Whatever,” she thought, “I am who I am, after all.” The older she got, the less she could constantly worry about it. She had a plan to start hitting the gym soon, but in the meantime, if guys didn’t appreciate her as she was, well screw ‘em…they weren’t worth her time anyhow. Of course she still had her insecurities, but she was beginning to feel better and better about herself. She was actually beginning to sort of revel in her curves. The guys didn’t know what they were missing.
“Oh my! Is that the time?” Amy said to herself, coming out of her mental wanderings. She had glanced at the clock on the bottom, right hand side of her ancient PC after typing in her password. “No wonder I’m so hungry!”
DECKER: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 9) Page 121