I grew more anxious the closer I got to my destination. When I went through a gated community, I was worried I went too far. I was in the right area though. As I pulled up to the largest, most lavish hotel in the area it began to sink in just how much he was worth. It was all Egyptian themed. The entire building looked like it was made of gold. Even the parking lot was paved with shinning bricks. I felt nauseous as I walked closer. I didn’t belong. This was all a mistake.
I didn’t drive across state for nothing, though. No matter how badly I wanted to turn around, I knew I couldn’t. Even if this was the last time that I ever stepped foot in Vegas, I knew that I had to do what I came to do.
26
Grant
My doorbell rang while I was in the middle of packing the last of my things. I had finally decided to go on a small vacation. Okay, a big vacation. I thought that Australia would be a good place. I heard only good things about it. Hawaii was on the list too, but I was getting a bit disenchanted with it by the amount of times that I have visited it on business. I didn’t know how long I wanted to be gone either. I know I wanted to leave long enough to get a break from everyone and everything, but I wanted to be back in time to see my half brother be born.
Thinking about it made my skin crawl. I wasn’t going to be the youngest anymore. I would have none of the privileges with all of the down side. This was sure to take some of my dad’s attention off of me, but it would just make my mom that much more desperate for all her kids. If I had kids, they would have an uncle that was only a few years their elder. I hated the thought.
It took me a bit to sort through the things of mine that were by the door to get to it. I didn’t bother looking through the peephole. I would regret that.
It was her outside my door. I had no idea what to do when I saw her there, standing outside. I began to shut the door again and I groaned with it.
“Wait!” she said. She pushed the door and let herself in. I plopped down on my coach and I waited for her to talk until she was done bothering me. She followed me to the coach and sat beside me. “Let me just talk to you. It won’t take long.”
I said nothing. I walked further into my house. She followed. I was starting to regret not locking my door. I would always check the peephole from now on.
“Talking to me is the least you could do after ignoring all my calls and texts. Besides, driving here by myself is probably the boldest thing I have and will ever do so this is your one chance to hear me out.”
I turned back to look at her. She followed me everywhere I went. I should have gone on vacation the minute I got back. I decided there was no more point, and I went back to the coach. I would be gone soon. I laid with my face down.
“You have five minutes. Anymore, and you won’t be able to afford me.”
She sounded annoyed. I might have hurt her by saying that. “Ouch, okay. That’s mean. But fine.”
“Time starts now.”
“Okay, so originally when we went away, I was using you. And what I wanted to happen happened exactly.” She wasn’t helping herself. I considered cutting her time short. “But that isn’t what I wanted after all. When you saw me downstairs with Tom, I’ll be honest, he came on to me. He said he missed me. He said that he wanted what we have and I couldn’t let him think that. I didn’t want him to miss me anymore. I just wanted to be done with him. And now I am done with him, but I don’t have you anymore.”
I turned my head to look at her while she spoke. She picked at her nails, but she looked me in the eyes with sincerity. I thought about the drive from her place to here. It had to have taken at least 4 hours. I didn’t know how she got my address. I didn’t care at this point. I just wanted to hear what she had to say until there was peace in the world again. “Keep talking.”
“So, when we went away, I was already confused. I have had an awful two years, and just when I think that my life can’t get worse, it does. But then, with you, I was having a really great time. I didn’t worry about the next day, and I didn’t worry about the day before. You made me feel like I didn’t have anything to worry about at all. It was so easy to hang out with you.”
It had been easy to get to know her. I still didn’t want to talk to her. She made me feel used. I knew that that had been my job, and it was my fault for being emotional, but I didn’t think that she would have been the type of person that took advantage of another person like that.
“The whole time I was getting to know you, it seemed like we spent most of that in front of other people, so it was hard to tell if you were acting or not. And then we had that dumb fight, and I knew you weren’t acting. I knew that maybe we did have something after all. I was pretty sold. I don’t know why I decided to listen to Tom. I was going to tell him off. I didn’t even let him talk me into seeing him again. He has been calling me nonstop all week, and I haven’t answered him once. That is so unlike me. When he and I were together I would wait on him hand and foot, and now I see him groveling and begging for me to come back. The only difference is that now that I have seen him, I don’t feel that way anymore. He wants me, but I don’t want him.”
I was starting to get frustrated. I had heard enough about Tom in the past two weeks for me to write a novel on how big of an asshole he was. It made me think back to that morning. I checked all around the room for her. I looked out on the balcony, even, and she wasn’t there. When she didn’t come back with breakfast I started to worry. I went down. I was betrayed. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she didn’t do anything right either. “Well, what exactly do you want, April? It seems like you and Tom are both confused by each other and you’re taking down other people in the process. If you know you don’t want him so bad then tell me, what is it that you do want?”
I sat on the edge of the couch, staring at her. My breathing had come erratic and I wanted to disappear. I didn’t want her to come visit me. I didn’t want to see her. I didn’t want her to know how much she effected me, how much she hurt me. She looked back to me. I saw the sadness in her eyes. I had no idea I meant anything to her.
I could feel her starting to lose her patience. I asked again. “Tell me, what do you want?” This time I said it softer. I crossed my fingers and prayed for the best. My wish came true.
“You.”
27
April
I couldn’t believe those words came out of my mouth. I had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment again. Again, I wanted to take the words back, scooping them into my mouth and swallowing them like a magic trick. I didn’t babble over it this time. I just looked back at him.
I had shocked myself, and I could tell that my answer shocked him too. After the silence filled the air for a few moments, I saw a smile spread across his face. I became nervous. Had I used the right combination of words? Did I win him back?
I didn’t know what to say, and I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t saying anything either. I had laid all I had on the table. I drove over 5 hours to get here to apologize, and now I wasn’t sure he deserved or wanted an apology. I still wanted him. It was true. He was what I wanted.
If I could go back and time and change it so that I never went to the lobby to meet Tom, I would have. If I could have just stayed in bed and kept my eyes and mouth shut, I would have. It was too late now. I messed up again. He didn’t have to date me in the first place, he certainly wasn’t going to after I hurt him.
Grant had called it, though. I don’t know if he had a premonition or just experience, but he had known from the beginning we were going to have sex. Maybe it happened because he said it would. Maybe it happened because I actually wanted it to, too. Even when I looked at him now, I still wanted him.
I noticed the suitcases around the room. The furniture stayed here, but it looked like most of the things around here were being moved. The inside was just as fancy as the outside. His place was well furnished and finished, even when it was bare of all decorations. Was I too late? How long had he known he was going to be moving? He never mention
ed it to me before. I guess we really never talked about much before.
I wanted to know him better, though. I wanted to be able to tell everyone his favorite movie, his pet peeves, and I wanted to know his birthday. I wanted to know if his family was as crazy as mine, and I wanted to know about what he has been doing the past 27 years. But I wasn’t going to be able to learn anything new because I blew it. Even when I didn’t do anything, I still messed things up. I was just a walking wreck. He was smarter for avoiding me. I saw that now.
A few more silent moments went by and I stood to leave. I didn’t want to stand here and be mocked by him. I had had enough damage in the past week to need to buy a new life. If he could be an escort, maybe I could too. It would get my parents off my back about money, for sure. It might even get Tom off my back for good. I clearly didn’t know what to say or do to win him back, so I was going to have to give up my dream. I turned and walked to the door. I had never done anything that soul baring before and it still didn’t work out for me.
“Wait.” I stopped and turned around. He was standing up, but wasn’t looking at me. He looked at his nails and began to pick them. That was my nervous habit, too. “I don’t know if you can have me.”
I looked at the boxes again. I wasn’t sure if he meant that in an escort way, or a timely since. Maybe neither. Maybe he thought he couldn’t handle me. He was starting to get on my nerves. “Is it because you don’t think I can take it?”
“No. It’s because I know I can’t.” He smiled at me when he said it. I felt my heart flutter. Was he beginning to flirt with me again, or was I just getting my hopes up?
“That’s too bad for you.” I flirted back, inching my way back into his apartment. “Because I wasn’t going to hurt you. I just wanted to have a little piece of you.”
“Just a little piece, huh?” He walked closer towards me too, moving as slowly as I was. He walked with meaning, but he was very playful when he did it. “How big of a piece is that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. If you can’t handle it then, I understand. All I really wanted from you was one measly date. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“Yep.”
“You aren’t going to tear me apart, or force me to go to another engagement party?”
I giggled. “Nope. I was just hoping to maybe go get some dinner with you. I have never been to Vegas before. But I see that that might be too much for your little heart.”
“My heart? So you aren’t using me as an escort Grant? You aren’t just trying to get me to chaperone you around the city?”
“Nope. Just trying to get you to go one a date, as date Grant and date April.”
“And there is no business arrangements? You won’t pay me for holding your hand or anything like that?”
“I won’t pay you a cent. I couldn’t if I wanted to.”
“Good.” He smiled and we were inches away. “Because you’re awful at business arrangements.”
“I know.” I was pressed up against his body and I could feel his abs through his shirt. “I’m no businessman like you.”
He quieted me with his lips. It had been too long since we had last kissed. I felt the butterflies be release more and more in my stomach, being sent out by the thousands. The way he moved his lips in mine made my legs turn to jelly. My heart was weak for him. I couldn’t have pushed him away if I had wanted to, and I knew I never would have.
He kissed me again and again, moving to my neck. He was beginning to make me gasp. I put my hands around his shoulders. He moved back up to my face and gave me one final kiss.
“So then how do you feel about sushi?”
“I love it.”
“Because,” his eyebrows perked and he looked mischievous, “we could just stay inside tonight, if you really want to.”
“As tempting as that offer is, I have never been to the city, and as soon as you said the word sushi my mouth began to water.”
“Sushi it is. But I’m paying this time.” He grabbed his billfold and stuffed it in his pocket.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
THE END
FREE EXCERPT: The Debt
When Brielle Thompson, a 25-year-old waitress, receives a mysterious check for $250,000, she uses the money to pay for her mother’s very expensive cancer treatment, saving her life.
Two years later, she is called to pay back her debt. All she has to do is travel to an isolated mansion and work for one year as a personal assistant to an arrogant asshole whom she hates.
Wyatt Wild is a gorgeous alpha billionaire playboy who’s not used to girls saying no to him. He has bedded models, actresses and socialites and then a waitress from some crappy roadside café dares reject him. Who does she think she is?
Wyatt always gets what he wants and his desires focus on the innocent and stubborn Brielle . Neither give in easily and they quickly get locked in a game of seduction.
Hot, Steamy and Romantic!
1
Wyatt
I wanted to fuck her the first time I saw her. She wasn’t my type. Not at all. A little plump with messy brown hair, and a sweaty forehead from taking too many orders and delivering food to strangers who left her fifty cent tips.
She was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and ratty jeans. The jeans dragged a bit on the floor, and the holes were definitely not made by a manufacturer. No respectable girl I knew would ever wear something like that and that made me want her even more.
Her jeans were tight at the waist, and she adjusted them periodically. Pulling them up over her hips while pulling down her shirt. She was trying to hide her figure as if she was embarrassed by her gorgeous thighs, hips, and breasts. Contemporary society is all fucked up. This girl’s, this woman’s body, was what every man wants. Every straight man of every race, ethnicity and creed. A tiny waist, shapely hips and legs, and breasts big enough to grab on to. Despite that, all the women’s magazines try to do is to convince them that they’re too fat because they’re not shaped like 12-year-old boys!
The name tag on her shirt said, Brielle, which was a fancy French name to have for a girl who worked at a crappy roadside diner in the middle of the workday. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was her full-time job. I would be surprised if she worked here to get through school. There wasn’t a college for a hundred miles in any direction.
No, this Brielle was all wrong for me. And the worst part was that she didn’t have any money!
I don’t like girls without money. It’s not because I’m shallow. It’s because I’m practical. I don’t fuck girls without money because it gets too complicated. It’s much more likely to make things more complicated. Girls without money feel taken advantage of. They want to see me more. They think that a one night stand is unreasonable. And if it goes past one or two nights then they want me to save them. Rescue them from their pathetic little lives. But I’m not a prince. I’m not a white knight either. I don’t have it in me even though I do own a white horse that I love to ride.
I don’t like to rescue girls. I don’t like needy girls. No, the girls I fuck have to have their own careers – a starring role in a TV show, a signed contract with a prominent modeling agency, or at the very least a reasonably-sized trust fund with one or two million from mommy and daddy. Oh hell, who are we kidding? It’s always from daddy.
I established these rules long ago. And I abide by them religiously. They are there to keep both of us safe. To make sure that we both have fun, but not too much. I don’t want the girls I fuck to have expectations about me. Expectations that I will never live up to.
And now, walking into this café, and seeing Brielle, I’m ready to toss them out of the window. I want her. I want to put my throbbing cock in her wet pussy and pull her hair until she moans.
I got hard in anticipation as I watch her take an order from an old trucker at the next table.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Brielle says, pushing his hand away from her
ass.
I was too focused on her breasts that I hadn’t even noticed the trucker’s itchy hand reach out and grab her ass.
“Oh I’m so sorry,” he says sarcastically and laughs to his friend.
“Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” she says, grabbing his uneaten plate of food.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know where you think you are, but this isn’t that kind of establishment. You can’t just go around touching women inappropriately here. And you’d better get the hell out.”
“But I didn’t finish eating,” the trucker stands up dumbfounded. He reaches out for his plate, but she moves it away from him.
“You’re done,” she says with the kind of determination in her voice that makes me ever more hard.
“Please leave,” Brielle says. “And don’t come back.”
“I’d like to see your manager, you little cunt. You’re going to get fired.”
“I’m the manager here. Now, get the fuck out!”
I get out of the booth and stand next to her. I’m thankful for my loose fitting jeans.
“You heard her, sir,” I say. “The lady would like you to leave. So please leave.”
People at the next booths start to clap, and cheer and my friends join in. The trucker and his friend curse her out, but head toward the door.
“You’re a real cunt. You know that? You’re going to be sorry for this!”
The Agreement: A Billionaire Romance Page 14