Compromising the Billionaire_A Scandals of the Bad Boy Billionaires Novel

by Ivy Layne

  Ready, willing, and eager. But Aiden wanted to make me wait. His hands molded my breasts, his mouth dropped to mine. His tongue thrust inside and I wished it was his cock. Fingers pinched my nipples, sparks shooting straight to my clit. I rolled my hips into his, drowning in his kiss, desperate to get him to move, to get naked, to fuck me.

  Then he was nudging my entrance, pressing inside, breaking our kiss to take my breast in his mouth as he filled my pussy with his thick cock. He started slowly, sliding deep, grinding the base of his cock into my clit before easing almost all the way free of my clasping pussy, then doing it all over again. And again.

  His mouth fed at my breasts, sucking, nipping, devouring me whole, his cock keeping up the same steady pace. Thrust, grind, slide. I was losing my mind, the slow build pushing me higher and higher, not quite enough to shove me over the edge.

  Aiden owned me. My heart. My body. Everything.

  I was blind with need, deaf to everything but the rasp of my breath, the slick sounds of our bodies moving together, the growls of possession rumbling from Aiden’s chest. I barely registered the rattle of the door handle, the sound of muted voices through the heavy wooden door.

  Aiden ignored it. I whimpered into the quiet room, falling back, the cold granite firing off the nerves in my damp skin. Arms splayed, I arched my back, pressing my breast deeper into Aiden’s mouth.

  More.

  Faster.

  Harder.

  I didn’t know what I was saying, what I was begging for. I wrapped my legs around his waist, hooking my feet for leverage and thrusting into him, holding him there so he couldn’t slide out.

  “Please. I need it, Aiden.”

  His eyes went black with lust, his grin feral with possession. Hand on my thighs, Aiden spread my legs, pushing my knees wide and flat to the counter, pinning me in place. I tried to squirm, to take more of him, to get him to move. I managed no more than an inch before his grip stilled my restless body.

  “Tell me what you want,” he ordered in words so low and rough I had to struggle to make sense of them.

  When I did, I had only one answer. “You. I want you.”

  “You want this?” Aiden drew back until the head of his cock was barely past the gate of my pussy. He slammed inside, the sudden pressure on my clit driving a burst of pleasure straight to the base of my skull, exploding in my brain.

  “Yes. God, yes. Please. Yes.” I wasn’t making sense. It didn’t matter. Aiden knew what I wanted. He always did.

  He leaned over me, covering me with his body, sucking and biting at my shoulders, my neck, my breasts as he fucked me in hard, deep strokes that got more and more uneven, ragged, harder and rougher as we climbed the peak together.

  I went first, my pussy seizing around his cock, sucking and clenching so hard I couldn’t breathe. His control shattered, his teeth sinking into the side of my neck, his groan torn from him as he came, filling me with him, sending me flying.

  It wasn’t until later, when I had my breath back, that I remembered the noise at the door.

  “Oh, my god.”

  “I know.” I could feel him grinning into my neck, licking the spot he’d bitten. I shivered, my still tender pussy pulsing around his softening cock.

  “Not that. Did someone almost come in?”

  Aiden chuckled, the shaking of his body sending more aftershocks through me. “They tried.”

  “I should be embarrassed,”

  “Are you?”

  I thought about it. “Maybe later. I feel too good right now to be embarrassed about anything.”

  Aiden braced himself on his elbows and looked down at me. A frown creased his forehead. Shifting his weight, he lifted a hand and stroked the side of my neck where his mouth had been, tracing a tender spot there before sliding to my shoulder and from there to the side of my breast.

  “What?” I asked, alarmed at the dark expression in his eyes.

  “I marked you. I’m too rough with you.”

  Wiggling my arm from my side, I caught his fingers and brought them to my lips. I kissed them once, then again, then turned my face into his palm and rested my lips there. Tasting the salt of his skin, I said, “I liked it. I love that you lose control with me.”

  “I never want to hurt you.” The remorse in his voice burned a path straight to my soul.

  “And if I asked you to stop? If I looked like I was in pain?” I took his face in my hands and brought his mouth to mine. “You’d never hurt me, Aiden.”

  “I couldn’t,” he swore against my lips.

  “No, you couldn’t. You’d never hurt someone you loved.”

  “Never,” he agreed, between kisses, “Never you, Violet. I love you.”

  His mouth moved to my neck, my shoulders, passing over my skin in reverent, gentle touches so filled with love my heart sighed. “I love you.” He kissed and made promises, his cock hardening inside me, rocking into me, as sweet and gentle as the first time had been rough and claiming. I came beneath him, clutching his arms and sobbing out my orgasm, overwhelmed with pleasure and raw emotion.

  Aiden followed me, breathing into my ear, “Mine. You’re mine, Violet. Always.”

  At the time, his words filled my heart with joy. I wanted that. Wanted to be his.

  I should have stopped and thought about what that meant. Thought about what he was saying.

  By the time I realized, it was too late.

  I was too lost in him, in the promise of us, to protect myself from the inevitable.

  And when the crash came, it tore me apart.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Violet

  A few days after the scene in the wine room, Gage got the bright idea to have a family dinner, complete with the newest member of the Winters family, my brother. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to bring Chase further into the Winters fold or aggravate me.

  Knowing Gage, he was multitasking. He tossed the idea out in the middle of dinner, fully aware that everyone would love the idea, making me look like a churlish bitch if I objected.

  The truth was, I was nursing a grudge. It was long past time to forgive Chase. He’d screwed up. Fine. But he’d done it because he loved me. I could cut him some slack in the face of decades of being the best big brother on earth.

  Unable to stop himself from poking at me, Gage said point blank, “He won’t come unless you invite him.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The only thing worse than Gage getting under my skin was letting him know how deeply he annoyed me. I buried the need to scowl or make a sarcastic remark and gave him my best ice queen.

  “I’ll call him tonight. Find out when everyone is free and I’ll make sure he’s here.”

  Gage only inclined his head in agreement, mischief sparking in his eyes. He knew he drove me nuts. My hand itched to wing my dinner roll at his head, ice queen be damned. Instead, I raised my chin and turned my eyes to Aiden, dismissing Gage. If a low chuckle drifted over from his side of the table, I ignored it.

  Chase being Chase, he didn’t make me work for it. I called, he apologized for lying, and I said I was sorry for taking so long to get over it. Just like when we were kids, that was all it took. I could hold a grudge like a champion, but not against Chase.

  “I’ll come to dinner if you’ll think about coming home,” Chase said.

  I sighed, half in exasperation and half in affection, looking up to make sure the door to Aiden’s office was firmly closed.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “It’s too soon, Vivi. You barely know this guy.”

  I let out an exasperated breath. “I’ve known him for more than six weeks.”

  “Do you hear yourself? Six weeks. That’s nothing. You go away with him for the weekend, and now you’re living with him?”

  “I’m not living with him. I’m looking for a job, and as soon as I find one I’m getting my own place.”

  “You don’t need your own place. You have a place. Here.”

  “Chase, I
can’t live with you forever.”

  “I didn’t say you had to. But it doesn’t make sense for you to move out and pay rent on your own apartment when I have plenty of room here.”

  I raised my eyes to the ceiling, praying someone in the heavens would deliver me from overbearing men. “Can we talk about this later? On the list of things I have to figure out about my life, where I’m living is somewhere in the middle. First I need to find a new job.”

  “I’m sure your boyfriend would—”

  “Shut. Up. I’ve already had this argument with him, I don’t need to hear it from you. I can find my own job.”

  “Okay, okay. Shutting up.”

  More than ready to change the subject I said, “So, did you hear about our little raid on Mom and Dad’s file cabinet?”

  “Gage got me a copy of the papers you gave the Sinclairs,” Chase said, carefully.

  “Aiden said they’re trying to track down the attorney who brokered the adoption.”

  “Are you trying to find them? Your biological parents?”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I can think of a lot of reasons why,” Chase snapped. “Starting with the fact that there are all sorts of things fucked up about that adoption. Not just how much they paid. You’re poking a hornet’s nest.”

  “Is this why you didn’t tell me? Because you didn’t think I should go looking for them?”

  Chase was silent for so long I checked the screen of my phone to make sure we hadn’t been disconnected.

  Finally, gently, he said, “I’m afraid of what you’re going to find, Vivi. I’ve read that contract. More than once. That was not a standard adoption. This wasn’t some kid who got pregnant by accident and decided to have the baby and give it to a good family. Mom and Dad paid three quarters of a million dollars for you. That kind of money? It does not point to good things.”

  “I don’t know what that means, Chase,” I said.

  He sighed, and when he spoke again he sounded sad. “I don’t know either, Vivi. Not exactly. But I talked to Gage about it, talked to Cooper Sinclair. After their father died they found out he was involved in some shady business. Yours was not the only high-priced adoption they’ve come across. They’re digging, and they don’t have anything solid, but people paying that much money for babies…I’m scared for you. I wish you’d just let it go.”

  “I can’t.” The words felt pulled out of me, breaking as I spoke. “I need to know.”

  “Vivi, if you think you’re going to find someone to make up for what happened with Mom and Dad, I don’t—”

  “That’s not it. I’m not looking for another family, or a mother to love me. I just want to know. I want to know the whole story so I can put it behind me. They lied to us, and you lied to me. I want to know the truth.”

  I couldn’t explain it any better than that. It nagged at me, not knowing where I came from. I kept thinking that if I just had answers I could close it all up like a book and put it on the shelf. Make it part of my history and leave my parents and that contract behind.

  “Okay. I’m not going to try to stop you. But I’m here. Always. You know that, right? Forget about all this stuff with the Winters family. You’re my family. You’re my sister, my Vivi, and nothing’s ever going to change that.”

  “I know that, Chase. I love you, and I’m sorry I was such a bitch about the whole thing, you just hurt my feelings.” A tear ran down my cheek, taking me by surprise.

  “Yeah, well, sometimes I’m an asshole.”

  I giggled, the sound watery, but it was enough to reassure Chase.

  “See you at dinner?”

  “Don’t be late,” I warned.

  “It’s not me you have to worry about,” Chase said before he hung up.

  He hadn’t been at Winters, Inc. for long, but he’d heard plenty about Aiden’s reputation for working late. His comment might have been a stab in the dark, but it turned out to be wholly accurate. The night Chase was supposed to join the family for dinner, my phone vibrated with a text.

  Running late. Be there for dessert.

  Was he kidding me? The first time I was here with his entire family and he was bailing on me? Not going to happen.

  “What is it?” Annalise asked seeing my expression as I stared at my phone.

  “Aiden’s going to be late.”

  “How late?” she asked, grimly.

  “Not late at all if he values his life,” I said under my breath. Headlights flashed through the front windows. A car pulling into the courtyard. “Excuse me.”

  I went down the hall to Aiden’s office and pulled up his number, pacing the carpet in front of his desk. He answered with a rushed, “Violet, I can’t talk now.”

  “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Later, sweetheart. I’ll try to make dessert, I promise.” To someone else he said, “Put that over there and then get me copies of the file I emailed. Close the door behind you.”

  “Aiden!” I shouted.

  Silence. Then, vaguely annoyed, “Violet.”

  “What’s going on that’s more important than dinner?”

  “There’s an opportunity, a deal we lost opened back up. We need to reevaluate our initial offer and see what we can do to—”

  “Stop,” I interrupted. “Stop and think about what I asked, Aiden. What’s going on that’s more important than dinner with your family? Everyone is here. And do you know who isn’t here? You.”

  “I know, Violet, but they won’t miss me, and I have to get this—”

  “Aiden, no. They will miss you. You’re crazy if you think they won’t. Tell me why you work so hard.”

  “Vi, you can’t run a company like this without working hard. It’s part of the deal.”

  “But you don’t have to. What do you need? More money? Another house? Another plane? Why do you do it?” I knew the answer, I just wanted to make him say it out loud, to force him to really hear the words.

  “Violet, my father left me this company. This is my heritage. This company belongs to my family. I’m working for them. For all of them. For Vance’s little girl, for the kids I’m going to have one day.”

  “I know,” I said quietly. “And what do you think your family would rather have? More money or you at the dinner table?”

  “Violet—”

  “No, be honest. If I asked them. If I asked Charlie right now what she’d rather have, higher stock prices or her brother here for a family dinner, what do you think she’d say?”

  “Vi—”

  “Or Gage? If I dragged him in here right now and asked, what do you think he’d say? Tell me the truth.”

  “He’d tell me to put the offer together tomorrow and get my ass home,” Aiden said, slowly.

  “I know that things are going to come up that you can’t avoid. I know that you love what you do, that Winters, Inc. is a part of who you are. But this can wait until tomorrow, can’t it? I’ll come in and help if you need an extra hand. You’ve given so much of your life to that company, so much of your life to your family. They’re here, happy and healthy, celebrating being together, and you’re missing it. You worked so hard to get them here and you’re missing it. Come home.”

  Aiden went quiet. I heard a tapping in the background, his pen against his desk as he thought about his options. Finally, he said, “I’ll be there in twenty.”

  I was still saying, “See you soon,” when he hung up.

  “Thank you.”

  I jumped at the unexpected voice and turned, almost dropping my phone. I bobbled it, the smooth plastic case slipping through my fingers before I managed to get a grip on the edges.

  Charlie stood there, her tousled auburn curls pulled back on one side with a sparkly bobby pin in the shape of a dragonfly. A smile curved her lips and her eyes were soft on my face.

  “Thank you,” she said again. Embarrassed by her warmth, I rubbed the screen of my phone against my hip and slid it in my pocket.

  “He works too much,�
�� I said, trying for distantly cool and instead sounding awkward. It killed me to admit that I cared what anyone thought of me, but I wanted Charlie to like me. She was Aiden’s baby sister, the sister he’d practically raised, and at our first meeting, she hadn’t seemed thrilled I was with her brother.

  “I know. He fired me for being a workaholic, but does he slow down? No.”

  “Well, you know it’s not the same,” I said, dryly. “Aiden is the King of the Universe. Mortal rules don’t apply.”

  “Ha! He’d like to think so. You’ll have fun curing him of the idea. I already heard about the résumé fight. And the locked wine room.”

  “Oh, God.” I sank into one of the armchairs opposite Aiden’s desk, smacking my cool hands over my suddenly fiery cheeks. “I thought I heard someone try to come in.”

  Charlie smirked. “That’s the downside of this family—no privacy. We know everything, and what we don’t know, we eventually badger out of you.”

  “Privacy is overrated. Privacy is what you get when your family doesn’t care about you.” I could taste the bitterness in my words, and I didn’t like it.

  I wanted to shrug it off as if it didn’t matter that my parents didn’t love me. I couldn’t forget my father not bothering to greet me when we’d visited. He hadn’t asked how I was. Where I was living. If I was alright.

  I had all the privacy I wanted from them, and I would have traded it in a second to know they cared what happened to me. They weren’t built like that. I knew it, I’d had a lifetime of experience as a teacher. And still, I held on to a grain of hope.

  The sympathy in Charlie’s ocean blue eyes burned. I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me. How could she not? She’d lost her own parents, but from all accounts, they’d loved their children with everything they had.

  Aiden had been young, but he’d stepped into the breach to hold the foundation strong. They were loud, and interfering, and nosy, but this family knew how to love. I couldn’t help but envy Chase a little for having a claim to a portion of that love.