I Choose You: A Secret Billionaire Romance

by Krista Lakes

  “It’s weird,” I whispered. “I feel like I know you, even though we've only known each other for a little while.”

  “I’ve been thinking that same thing,” he said. He made small circles on my back with his fingers. “I believe that’s what made me want to talk to you when I first saw you a few days ago. You felt familiar to me. It sounds crazy, but…”

  “It doesn’t sound crazy at all,” I said, cutting his words short. “It’s how I feel, too.”

  I looked up at him and our eyes locked. The blues of his eyes deepened and pulled me into him. There was such kindness and warmth to their depths. He smiled and it caused me to melt.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, shaking his head in slow disbelief. “Where did you come from? A fairyland?”

  I chuckled. “I’ve wondered the same thing about you.”

  He leaned in and kissed me. His soft lips pressed against mine, momentarily taking my breath away. I loved the way he tasted. He used just enough pressure as he leaned in. Then he pulled away, gently. He teased me like this, pecking his lips forward and then leaning back a bit. The ebb and flow of the dance turned me on. I was practically panting after a few minutes. I couldn't believe how a kiss could be so sweet one moment and enticingly hot the next.

  I pulled away, catching my breath for a moment. I was barely able to catch two breaths before he kissed me again. This time, he didn’t pull away at all, though. We opened our lips and our tongues dashed in and out of each other’s mouths.

  I wanted to kiss him for the rest of the day. Time didn't matter anymore. His fingers caressed my skin, sending spirals of desire down into my fingertips. I didn't know how he did it, but every touch, every kiss, made me hungry for more.

  We were all alone here. I didn't have to worry about Tommy showing up or anyone walking by. I had been thinking of him all night, wanting to kiss him. Wanting to do so much more than just kiss him.

  Without breaking our kiss, I crawled over top of him, straddling his lap. We fit like two pieces of a puzzle. I moaned softly without breaking the kiss. My body took over. Thoughts were a thing that didn’t exist in that moment. I wanted him on a different level. I wanted to taste him and feel him, deeply and completely.

  Jacob’s hands drifted until they landed on the side of my legs, almost to my butt. He pulled away, though, looking me in the eyes. His pupils had dilated and there was a lust in his eyes that I could only describe as carnal.

  “I want you so bad right now,” he groaned, his voice rough with desire.

  “Me too,” I whispered. I rocked my hips gently to accentuate my point.

  “But, I don’t want whatever is between us to be just about sex,” he said. His eyes met mine and I could see the honesty and honor in them. “There's something amazing about you, and I don't want to rush things.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. My words were still paced between heavy breathing.

  “I want you right now, but I know that if we have sex before getting to know each other a little bit more, then I’ll regret it. It won't be as special.” He gave me a half smile. “We haven’t even had a proper date and I want to give you that at least. You deserve it.”

  My body was craving his. Every primal bone in my body wanted to feel him within me, but I couldn’t deny that I absolutely loved the respect he was showing me. He made it clear that sleeping with me wasn’t his only priority in our spending time. I loved that. I loved that so much.

  “A date, huh?” I asked with a smile, not quite ready to move off of him.

  “Yeah, what do you think?” he asked. He blushed slightly with nerves, and it made my heart flutter.

  “I think that sounds pretty nice,” I admitted. I bit my lip. “What did you have in mind?”

  Jacob looked up thoughtfully. “I have some ideas. Why don’t you let me just make it a surprise?”

  “A surprise?” I asked. “I guess I could get behind that. But you need to tell me how I should dress for it. I don’t want to end up wearing sweat pants or something.”

  “Wear something really nice,” he said, with a smile. “Do you have a dress that you never get to wear? Something special.”

  “I’ve got the perfect thing.” I thought about the little black dress in my closet that had been given to me as a birthday gift from my aunt a few years prior. I'd gotten to wear it exactly once, and had been looking for an excuse to wear it ever since. It was the fanciest article of clothing that I owned and it sounded like it was exactly what Jacob had in mind.

  “Good,” he said. A wicked grin crossed his face. “Oh, and one more thing.”

  My eyebrows rose. “What’s that?”

  “Let’s make this a phone-free date,” he said. “I know that we’ve been playing Monster GO quite a bit together and it’s a lot of fun, but I want to have an evening with you that doesn’t involve any distractions. What do you say?”

  My smile couldn’t have gotten any wider if I’d tried. “It sounds amazing.”

  He grinned. “Good.”

  “But, just because we are taking our time doesn't mean I want to stop kissing you,” I informed him. I was still on his lap and had no intention of moving.

  Jacob leaned forward and kissed me again. He tasted like sunshine. All I could hear around us was the sound of the babbling stream and the wind in the leaves. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment.

  “When did you want to go on this surprise date?” I asked, as soon as we broke our kiss.

  “How about Friday night?” he asked after a moment. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I replied, my heart already beating fast. I couldn't wait to see what he had in mind. “I’ll be ready.”

  “Me too,” he said, grinning like a kid before Christmas. “It's going to be amazing.”

  I doubted his excitement could even come close to matching mine. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of surprise he had in store for me.

  I started to slide off his lap, to take my place just sitting next to him again. He caught my waist in his hands, and held me still.

  “Just where do you think you're going?” he asked, his voice low and seductive.

  I frowned slightly. “You said you wanted to wait...”

  He chuckled, throaty and deep. “I said I wanted to wait for sex,” he clarified. “We still have all our clothes on.”

  He rocked into me, letting me feel his desire as he leaned forward and kissed my neck. The soft caress of his lips against the sensitive bare skin made me shiver and my core heat.

  “So, if we keep our clothes on, we don't have to stop?” I asked, my eyes fluttering as he kept kissing my throat and teasing me with his touch.

  “That's right,” he murmured.

  I found myself suddenly wishing I had worn less clothing. “I can handle that,” I said, rocking my hips to match his. My whole body reacted as he groaned and bit down on my shoulder.

  “You're going to make me regret wanting to be honorable,” he groaned.

  “Waiting makes it better,” I promised. “And I'll make it worth the wait.”

  Jacob looked up at me, his blue eyes full of dark desire. “I know you will.” He grinned, and continued to tease me as much as I was teasing him.

  Chapter 7

  I’d taken a shower and begun getting ready at four o’clock, a full two hours before Jacob was set to pick me up. I straightened my hair, painted my fingers and toes and even applied a thin layer of nude lipstick.

  Wear something really nice, he’d said, the words playing over in my head in the exact tone that he’d spoken them. I bit my lip as I stared in the mirror. It wasn’t a concern over my dress that was making me anxious, it was the entire statement as a whole. The fact that he’d prefaced our date with an expectation of, ‘really nice.’

  I certainly didn’t mind ‘really nice,’ in fact it was exciting, but that same excitement had been twirling in my stomach since breakfast and had now grown into a flurry of anxious anticipation. I had
no idea where or what we were doing. The nicest restaurant in town didn't really qualify as a “dressing up” kind of place, so that meant we had to be going to at least the next town over.

  My belly felt empty yet somehow full, with weightless pulses of energy and giddy eagerness. I felt the same sensation in my fingers as I applied the finishing touches to my makeup. I had no idea what was going to happen next or where in the world we might end up.

  Jacob had turned me into a little kid again. Between the Monster game and the persistent feeling of joyful jitters, there was no doubt about it. He’d introduced a new sort of spark that left me eager at the start of each day and cheerfully content in the evening. Even my mind pumped with a different chemistry than before, one of pleasant optimism and assurance. He was a beautiful substance, and I was hooked.

  I checked my image in the mirror one more time. My hair fell fairly straight while still maintaining a light wave, a feat I was rarely able to achieve. Generally my hair was obnoxiously uncooperative, a programming glitch that induced a migraine when I tried to fix it. But today, luck was on my side, and I didn’t take it for granted. I added a thin and diagonal braid to help pull my bangs back.

  I continued to watch the clock, even though I’d allowed myself plenty of time. Each and every minute marking another step closer to Jacob. It was just after five-thirty when Tommy knocked and then bounded through my door before I’d even answered.

  “Hey, guess what?” he said, and I spun around again.

  “What?” I asked, just grateful I had put clothes on. We were going to have to have a discussion about him knocking sometime soon. He wasn't a five year old little boy who didn't know better anymore.

  He extended his hand holding his phone. “Look! Now there’s a Monster Stop at the end of our block, at the park.”

  “Oh, wow,” I said, slightly surprised and a little excited. “When did that show up?”

  “I just noticed it today,” he said. He sighed like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. “Finally we’ve got one close to our house.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” I agreed. “It will be nice not to have to go so far all the time.”

  “Seems like they finally listened to me.” He smiled smugly, as if he had been the reason the game had added the stop.

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, if I was the one making the app I would have listened to you a long time ago,” I said. “I would’ve hooked you up.”

  I winked at him and then turned around again.

  “I know you would. It certainly took them long enough,” he said. “I wish you were working for them. Then stuff would actually get done.”

  “They’re probably off somewhere counting their piles of money,” I said. “I’m not sure checking user recommendations is exactly at the top of their priority list.”

  “Alicia, someone just pulled into the driveway,” my mom yelled up from the stairs not five minutes after Tommy left.

  Jacob’s here, I answered her in my head. I couldn't have wiped the smile off my face with sandblaster. I couldn't wait for this evening to start.

  My father was sitting in the corner of the couch with his feet propped up, reading a copy of The Wall Street Journal, his regular and favorite choice of post-work leisure. He was the first to speak as I came down the stairs, glancing up and above the top edge of his magazine cover.

  “You look nice,” he said with a warm smile.

  “Thanks, Daddy.” I grinned at him, pleased with the compliment.

  His comment drew my mother from around the kitchen corner. “Oh sweetie, you look gorgeous,” she said with a smile that rivaled my father’s.

  “You guys going somewhere nice?” My father peered over the top of his paper at me.

  “That’s what I was told,” I replied.

  “Do you know where?” my mother asked, an excited smile on her face.

  “Not yet,” I said. “It’s a surprise.”

  “Ah,” my father coughed. “Guy knows what he’s doing,” he said and offered a pointed look towards my mother.

  Mom rolled her eyes. “I have never liked surprises.”

  “Oh, that’s what they always say,” he said, giving me a wink.

  “But that never stopped your father,” my mother finished her sentence, leaving her stare on my dad for a moment before turning to me. I wondered what kind of surprise he could have given her that was creating this kind of reaction.

  “You know you liked it,” Dad replied, going back to his paper.

  Mom just rolled her eyes again and shook her head. “Have a good time, sweetie.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” I grinned at her and headed toward the door. “I have my key, so don't worry about waiting up for me.”

  “Of course, dear,” Mom replied, giving me an all too knowing look. I simply shook my head and left the room before my dad could comment. Jacob was on his way to the door as I stepped out.

  “Oh, you're not even gonna make me knock?” He smiled and looked me up and down. Twice. “You look absolutely stunning.”

  “You said wear something nice,” I said, shrugging. My cheeks flushed in a way that formed a smile without me trying.

  “I expected your beautiful self in a nice dress, but you exceeded my expectations,” he said as we embraced in a hug.

  My head settled into his shoulder and immediately I could smell his cologne, an aroma of a post-rain-like scent blended with a crisp masculine fragrance. I savored his smell like it was a nearby flower until our hug ended and the scent became lost in the surrounding air.

  “You look very, very nice as well,” I said and even allowed myself to look him up and down without feeling pretentious. No, it felt much more like pausing to admire a fine painting.

  He had slicked his dark hair back, which made him look sophisticated. It was amazing how his fine suit transformed him into someone worthy of a magazine cover. He grinned, crinkling the corners of his eyes. He wore his glasses this evening, which I thought made him look smart. They accented his eyes and fit his face well.

  He led me to his car and opened my passenger side door, gesturing with his hand to invite me in. I felt like a princess, or a celebrity. Those types of people had doors opened for them, not me. It was a wonderful feeling.

  “I was kind of hoping to get in a little Monster GO with your brother before we left,” he said, his right hand gripping the top of the leather steering wheel as we sped down the road to the highway. “It's too bad you beat me to the door.”

  “Really?” I said, looking over at him. He grinned back at me and immediately I felt foolish for sounding so surprised. I laughed as I realized he was just teasing me.

  “No, I’m kidding. No phones, remember?” he said and lifted up the center compartment between us. “I’ve got my mine buried in here, and that’s where it’s going to stay for the night.”

  I took my phone out of my small clutch and tossed it into the center compartment with his.

  “There,” I announced.

  “There,” he echoed, wearing a proud smile as he closed the compartment and rested his elbow on it.

  We drove in companionable silence until we reached the highway.

  “So where are we going?” I was so curious it had taken everything I had not to ask the second I saw him. I was impressed that I had managed to make it to the highway before asking.

  “It's a surprise,” he reminded me.

  I put on my biggest pout, pushing out my bottom lip as far as I could and giving him big, sad, puppy-dog eyes.

  He laughed. My pout was having no effect on him.

  “If I told you now, it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore,” he explained.

  “How about I just act surprised?” I said. “And I'll be surprised here, in the car.”

  “Nah. Doesn’t work that way,” he said, shaking his head. “That’d be like us getting halfway through a scary movie and me all of a sudden telling you how it ends. Besides, we’re almost there.”

  “Re
ally?” I asked. I peered through my window and tried to run through the list of nearby restaurants. We were well out of my small town, but since I hadn't been paying attention to which direction we were going, I wasn't sure quite where we were.

  “Well, comparatively speaking. We’re closer to dinner than we were this morning,” he said with a chuckle. “But, driving wise we’re maybe, eh, ten, fifteen minutes away.”

  “If you say so,” I replied. I slouched back in my seat and crossed my arms. I wasn't really angry. I couldn't be with him there. There was something about him talking to me, something about his presence that was both soothing and captivating. It was the thing I missed most when we were apart.

  He laughed and asked me about my day. Our conversation was easy and flowed as I lost track of how long we were in the car. Those ten or fifteen minutes felt like seconds.

  We were engaged in a serious debate about the merits of different computer programming codes when we pulled onto flat cobblestone that circled around a fountain and small garden. We rounded the circle halfway, stopping at the door of the restaurant.

  “We’ve gotta get out here,” he said as I gave him a confused look. “They valet at this place.”

  “Oh, wow,” I whispered to myself before stepping out the door. This was fancy.

  The restaurant’s entrance was grand in every aspect of the word. Designed to imitate a sort of Victorian-era mansion, the place was long and wide and looked to be three stories tall with triangular contours that jutted out peaking and blending into the shingled roof. The outer walls were a natural looking gray, but had vines and various flowers growing up their sides. Windows and balconies lined the building, and I could easily imagine Romeo climbing up to one to meet his Juliet.

  A thin stone path lead from the cobblestone driveway up to a beautiful deck. The deck was wide enough to collect assorted groups of guests, all conversing while sipping from drinks. I stole a glance at the patrons on the deck and was extremely glad Jacob had suggested a nice dress.

  Jacob offered me his arm as we stepped inside the beautiful restaurant. The hostess quickly greeted us and we didn't even have to wait for a table.