The Billionaire's Bauble

by Ann Montclair

  Sloane pulled David through the flap and began hungrily kissing his firm mouth. She licked the rain from his neck and nuzzled his wide shoulders.

  He stood up and took his shirt and pants off, while Sloane lay beneath him on top of the sleeping bag.

  “David, make love to me now,” she said, and he moaned in reply. He took her clothes off again, and they held each other tightly for a moment before his hands began to explore her curves, her valleys, her planes. Each movement brought a tingle of pleasure, until finally Sloane felt her whole body convulse under his adept touch.

  As he kissed her mouth, his fingers teased her nipples, and Sloane pulled his mouth from her own and lifted herself to put one breast into his wet, open mouth. When she could stand the suckling on its tender peak not a second longer, she traded for the other nipple. David obliged eagerly as his fingers found her center, hot and moist.

  Sloane gasped as the thunder began to roll and David left her breasts to trail his fiery mouth down toward her navel. He nipped at the tiny belly button and she cried out with longing until he parted her legs and put his tongue on her. Sloane raked her hands through his hair and pulled and tugged at his head as he expertly provoked her into an orgasm so intense even the lightening now flashing across the sky couldn’t match her sizzle. She thrashed and cried out, biting at the air in pleasure.

  “Now, we’re even,” he whispered as he tenderly kissed her panting mouth into silence.

  After a few minutes, Sloane giggled and said, “I’m grateful for the weather or we’d have woken the other campers.”

  “Oh, we’re not done yet, sweetheart,” he promised, and Sloane bit her lower lip in anticipation.

  Sloane woke to the familiar sounds of cardinals trilling just after dawn. She smelled bacon, and realized she was famished. She rolled over to see David, eyes closed, still sleeping. The hairs on his chest curled in a line leading to his navel. She ran her finger down his chest and he caught it. Without opening his eyes he pulled her into his arms and gave her a slow, thorough kiss.

  “Good morning,” he said once their lips parted. He looked at her languidly, taking in her disheveled hair and her large bare breasts. Sloane moved to cover them but David first had to kiss each one reverently. A thrill ran through her body before she pulled away and said, “We’ve got to get ready for a wedding.”

  David shrugged and pulled her back into his embrace. “We’ve got time.” He smiled wolfishly as she pried herself out of his steadfast grip.

  “Let’s go have some breakfast, and then we need to get to the house and help my mom. Knowing her, she never went to sleep last night.”

  David watched intently as she tidied her appearance. Loving the attention he gave her, she grinned and said, “And we’ll need to shower. I still have to steam press our clothes for the ceremony.”

  They exited the tent into brilliant sunshine. The rain, having scrubbed the sky clean, enhanced the vibrant green of an Upstate summer. Hand in hand, David and Sloane made their way to the campfire around which several camp stoves held pans of sizzling bacon.

  Rob was moving confidently between them, and he greeted his sister with a bear hug and gave David a slap on the back.

  “How’re you kids doing? Did you sleep well?” Rob smiled knowingly, and Sloane felt her cheeks color before she said to David, “My brother, the joker. Let me help you with the pancakes, Rob.” David stood beside her, smiling at her brother.

  “I never slept better,” David answered, and Sloane believed him. Several times throughout the night, she had woken, and each time, David snored contentedly beside her.

  A part of her had wanted to run away. Each moment in David’s arms made her heart swell. The love she bore him had redoubled again and again in the weeks they’d spent apart, but now . . . Now she was head over heels, and she was sure he could feel it. When he told her she belonged to him, he had no idea how true the sentiment had become. Did he sense that she was close to capitulating, to allowing him to hold her as a possession when what she really desired was commitment?

  She had to pinch herself. It was hard to believe two days ago her heart felt like a smashed object, and now, it felt full and almost uncomfortably heavy in her chest.

  David looked gorgeous in the early morning sunshine, and she pressed his hand to her lips before letting it go. Other relatives and friends trickled towards the picnic tables as the smell of bacon acted as an alarm clock for the hungry campers. After some French pressed black coffee and a plateful of pancakes, Sloane led David to the farm house where people were streaming in and out its many doors.

  “Looks like we’ll have competition for the showers,” Sloane said.

  “Well, maybe we should shower together to conserve energy and time. I’m willing to sacrifice,” David said, pinching her bottom and making her squeal.

  “I think that’s an excellent idea,” she agreed.

  The morning disappeared into a cloud of busy activity. Sloane, dressed in a short, bright pink silk dress, shone like the sunshine above as she hurried here and there with platters of food and vases full of flowers. As he watched her, contentment rose in his throat, almost bringing tears to his eyes. What was wrong with him? Sentimentality had never been a strong suit, but what else could he call it?

  Their time together had only intensified his growing feelings for her. He felt luckier than he’d ever felt, as if she made all his other successes pale. How had he lived without her for so long? The song of her voice, her passionate kisses, even her wise cracks filled David to the brim with unabashed joy.

  David viewed her with new eyes after meeting her parents, her friends, and relatives. Sloane had been buffeted with love her entire life, and the gleam in her emerald eyes, the quickness of her lithe steps, was not his doing alone. She glowed with the attention he paid her, but she’d always gleamed like a jewel, and now he understood.

  His own family had been so broken, so distant. He wished he’d grown up surrounded by the hard work and easy comforts of a rural lifestyle. He admired the big boned men and their rounded wives. He especially esteemed the affection and graciousness that came so naturally to Sloane’s family.

  David sat outside on the veranda watching the hustle and bustle of party preparations when the vibration in his pocket alerted him he had a call.

  Reluctantly he answered only to get the news he’d been waiting months for. Time to trade. David gave the go ahead to his accountant with the strict warning that no matter what the outcome of the venture he was not to be disturbed. The news did not sit well with his number cruncher, but David’s tone trucked no argument. David had promised Sloane on the plane that he would not do business that weekend. He avowed his attention belonged to her alone, and he meant it.

  As he hung up his phone and put it in his slack’s pocket, he took a deep breath, hoping the deal would go as planned without his constant intervention.

  Sloane approached him, and he watched her quick steps and the way her breasts bounced, large and luscious, underneath her hot pink halter style dress.

  “Oh, David I love your pin-striped suit. No neck tie…” She removed the silk tie and opened his shirt a bit.

  “I don’t recall this…” She fingered the gold medallion at his throat.

  “It was my father’s,” he replied brusquely.

  Sloane gave him a fond, understanding smile and kissed his throat just above the necklace before whispering, “Let’s go to a wedding.”

  David’s heart might have skipped a beat.

  Chapter 13

  David watched the wedding procession cross the dance floor to the white gazebo overlooking the pond. He and Sloane sat in the first row, in white wooden fold-out chairs, next to her parents and Rob. Usually bored with ceremony of any kind, David found himself listening intently as the bride and groom exchanged vows. When Charlie put a golden band on Eva’s finger, David pressed Sloane’s palm into his own and fingered her grandmother’s wedding ring.

  Sloane could be my wife, he tho
ught, and then quickly shoved the thought into the back drawer of his mind. He tried to lock the idea away, but everything he experienced encouraged the thought to return again and again, unbidden.

  After the marriage vows were exchanged, a DJ played older and contemporary popular songs. David found himself dancing, holding Sloane as she provocatively shimmied and shook to the beats. She had been tired earlier, but the roast beef dinner and wedding cake revived her. She laughed at her brothers trying to dance and told David she’d had a perfect day.

  By the time everything wound down and guests began to leave or settle in for the night, David couldn’t wait to get his hands on Sloane. He anticipated another night of lovemaking and pondered why he couldn’t seem to satiate his desire for her no matter how many times they explored each other’s willing flesh. David had been with a dozen women over the years, but none of them had stirred such a zealous response.

  Sloane Porter was the only woman in the world right now. Every move she made, every word she spoke drew his interest, captured him, made him feel that anything might be possible. Now, as she led the way to the tent, his loins ached. He had held her, kissed her, danced and romanced her all evening, yet he couldn’t wait to possess her. He followed, quickening his steps to match hers.

  Unfortunately, they had no sooner begun to playfully stroke one another’s bodies when Sloane sat up and said, “I think I might get sick.” He helped her out of the tiny tent, and she barely made it to the tree line before she lost the contents of her too full stomach.

  He held her hair back from her face and helped her back to the tent. He undressed her carefully, removing her dangling rhinestone earrings, strappy pink heels, silk dress and underwear. He got a water bottle from an ice chest outside and took off his own shirt. Wetting it with the cold water, he bathed her body and held her until she fell asleep in his arms.

  All the amorous plans he’d made were quickly forgotten in the wake of Sloane’s sudden illness. He remembered she’d complained of a tummy ache on the plane, too, and he wondered if it was nerves or too much rich food, or perhaps some combination of the two that upset her stomach.

  Before he could figure it all out, he found his eyes getting heavy. He closed them after making sure Sloane slept comfortably.

  When he woke, the sun was in the sky and Sloane was away from the tent. He looked through the flap and saw her sitting on top of a picnic table near the fire ring. She heard him rustling within and came over to the tent.

  Poking her head through the flap, she said, “Hi, babe. Sorry about last night. I don’t know what came over me, but I feel fine today.” David didn’t know if the information or her endearment warmed him more.

  “I’m glad. You look well.” And she did. She had already been to the house and showered. Her damp hair hung in waves about her face, and she wore a pair of blue jeans and a pink T-shirt emblazoned with Forster’s logo.

  “My brother Rob is bringing the ATVs. Get up, lazybones,” she remarked, and bent in to give him a sweet good morning kiss. Just as David lunged at Sloane, wanting to pull her into the tent for more, he heard the engine of Rob’s truck.

  “Some might call your brother’s timing less than perfect,” David said, and Sloane laughed and ruffled David’s hair lovingly, before she slipped away to greet her brother.

  The three of them shared a thermos of hot coffee Sloane’s mother had packed, and then they piled onto the ATVs Rob unloaded from his truck’s trailer.

  “Follow me,” Sloane said, as she pulled a hot pink helmet over her head and roared away. Rob went next and David brought up the rear. A tingling in his head alerted him something wasn’t quite right. He didn’t like the way Sloane rode with studied abandon, how she turned corners like a race car driver, the way she kept accelerating despite the uneven terrain of the rocky farm lanes.

  David could barely keep up, and at one point he decided it wasn’t worth the danger. But there was Sloane, waving her arm for him to catch up, so he obliged.

  Just as he was closing the gap, he heard a sickening thud, and he saw Sloane’s vehicle go one way while she went another.

  Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl as Rob and Dave careened to halt and ran to where Sloane lie crumpled in the roadway.

  She was conscious and moaning, though her eyes were closed.

  Through gritted teeth she hissed, “It’s my right arm. Feels broken.”

  Rob took off her helmet, scooped her into his arms, and started running in the general direction of the farm house. David got on the ATV and rode at breakneck speed to the campsite where he got the truck and drove to meet brother and sister hobbling up the lane. Sloane’s face, contorted in pain, made David’s whole body ache.

  “Oh, Sloane. Damned ATV. You were acting like a wild woman,” David chastised.

  “I thought you liked me that way,” she attempted to jest, but David was in no mood for levity. She had scared him badly, and he was shaking as he knelt beside her in the truck’s bed while Rob drove to the hospital only a few miles away.

  When they got out at the emergency room exit, David noted Sloane was pale as a ghost, and he hoped she wouldn’t go into shock. Having broken a few bones in his lifetime, he knew the pain could be excruciating. While he and Rob supplied Sloane’s information to the registering nurse, Sloane was wheeled into a cubicle in the emergency ward. Bill and Dora arrived within minutes, and all four waited anxiously to hear the doctor’s report.

  Minutes seemed like hours to David as he waited, pacing the floor of the emergency room. It was a quiet Sunday morning, and he was grateful they appeared to be the only ones in the ward. When the nurse finally appeared through the double doors, they all approached as if she had Sloane in his arms.

  “What’s going on? Has she seen a doctor?” David was the first to ask, though each of them spoke similar phrases.

  The nurse smiled reassuringly and said, “She’s waiting to go to x-ray. Looks like it could be a break, though it may only be sprained badly. We’ll know more once we get some pictures. She’s asking for David.”

  David grabbed the nurse by the arm and said, “That’s me. Please take me to her.”

  He gave a quick hug to Dora before following the nurse into a small white cubicle where Sloane waited on a portable gurney. David bent to kiss her lips softly, and said, “I’m here, sweetheart.”

  Sloane smiled wanly at him, and he asked, “Does it hurt terribly? Nurse, can she get something for the pain.”

  The nurse eyed him and said, “She refused medication.”

  “Why?” he asked and every hair on his body stood rigid. “Sloane, why won’t you take medicine?”

  “I feel queasy enough already. I don’t think it’s broken. I can move everything.” And she bent her arms to prove her theory, adding, “I just want to go home.”

  “First, you need x-rays,” he said and smoothed her brow with his palm.

  “Please take off your jewelry,” the nurse advised, and David saw Sloane’s green eyes go wide. She held her left hand to her chest as if to protect it.

  “Do I have to?” she asked, and David was struck by how childlike her voice sounded. Sloane didn’t want to remove her grandmother’s ring. She’d told him she never took it off, and the thought clearly distressed her more than the fall from the ATV.

  “I’ll hold it for you, keep it safe right here in my pocket, sweetheart. I promise nothing will happen to it,” he entreated, and Sloane looked at him accusatorily.

  “Please, Sloane. Take it off,” and he unclenched her hand to help her to remove the diamond ring. She didn’t help him, but she didn’t fight him either.

  A young man in blue scrubs came to the curtained doorway with a wheelchair, informing Sloane he would wheel her down to x-ray. “Your husband can wait here,” he said, and David smiled for the first time in more than an hour.

  “I will be right here when you return,” he promised, helping Sloane into the waiting chair. She held David’s hand tightly, and he felt her short nail
s dig into his palm. He knew she was scared. “You’ll be fine, my brave girl,” he cajoled and she gave him a little grin despite her pain.

  David held her ring in his pocket as he paced the little room. He felt his phone vibrate, and he switched it off. No cell phones were allowed as the many signs clearly indicated, but he wouldn’t have answered anyway.

  Sloane was only gone fifteen minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to David. When the technician wheeled her into the room again, David asked, “Well?”

  The technician shrugged, “Ask the lady.” David moved to her side and helped Sloane back onto the gurney. He pulled a blanket up to ward off the cool air pouring from the ducts above.

  “Is it broken, Sloane?”

  “No,” she said and held out her hand for her ring.

  David pulled it from his pocket and held her wrist as he struggled to put it on her finger.

  “Wrong finger,” she smiled, and he looked down at his clumsy hand. He was attempting to put the jewel on her ring finger, on her left ring finger, as if he were Charlie marrying Eva instead of David helping Sloane. He felt his face grow hot at his fumble. Sloane looked away, perhaps sensing his embarrassment and not wanting to add to it. He slipped the ring on her pinky then, and she was able to meet his eyes.

  “Can we go home now?” she asked, and she wiped gingerly at her dirty face.

  “We have to wait for the discharge papers. It shouldn’t be long,” he comforted, kissing her hand. The diamond caught and reflected the fluorescent light.

  A nurse bustled in and said, “Well, I guess we’ll just wait for the blood work.” She seemed conciliatory, as if something might not be right. Once again, David felt ominous premonition wash over him.

  “Blood work?”

  Sloane rushed to say, “Only a formality. Really. David, will you please update my parents? I’m sure they’re anxious.”