Keeper (A Billionaire Romance)

by Belle Roberts

  “Jonathan…” I said his name, barely able to speak as one hand grabbed hold of the armrest and the other one tangled into his hair, pulling at it as I felt my orgasm building.

  “Don’t hold back,” he said in a low voice against my ear.

  His words and the gruffness of his voice sent me over the edge and I came, hand over my mouth to stop me crying out in front of his driver. My body shook and my hips bucked against his hand.

  He withdrew his fingers as I took my hand away from my mouth and looked at him, trying to catch my breath.

  “I…” The words refused to come to the surface as I sat there spent and disheveled.

  He smiled, kissing my shoulder again. I moved my hand down to press against his erection, but he removed it and the car stopped.

  “I think there’s plenty of time for that later, don’t you?”

  He looked at me, his green eyes full of lust, anticipation, and a confidence that only he could have.

  The door on his side opened suddenly and our moment was gone in an instant.

  I pulled my dress down quickly and followed Jonathan out of the car into the lights of the city, my body still coming to terms with the biggest orgasm it had ever been put through.

  I stood up, nervous, giddy, and embarrassed that everyone around us was aware of what we’d just been doing, but he offered me a reassuring smile as we walked into the restaurant, his arm clasped firmly around my waist. Friday 5th Jan 11

  I pushed Erin’s words to the back of my mind. Of course I knew that men like Jonathan only wanted one thing. They wanted, loved, and craved sex. Anything more, anything emotional was off limits. He was the type of man that made a woman fall in love with him and then the next week she’d be left waiting for his calls. He was bad news, an emotional repellent with eyes that could make any woman turn around and give him anything he wanted, but not me. I wasn’t the type of woman to fall for someone like him. I’d been hurt way too many times to let my guard down even a little bit.

  I only wanted sex too. I couldn’t deal with emotions, drama and feelings so I knew, everything was going to be fine between us as long as I didn’t fall for him—as long as I didn’t let go of the reason I fought so hard to protect myself and my feelings from ever being hurt.

  Mirotic was an elegant, exclusive restaurant in the heart of New York. I knew from overhearing conversations at the hotel bar that the waiting list was almost three months long. As we approached the host, whose eyes lit up when he saw Jonathan, I was glad of his reassuring arm around me that allowed him to maneuver me through the main room towards the back where behind a sheer curtain was a table for two.

  Jonathan slipped some bills into the hosts’ pocket and they exchanged a few hushed words to each other before he left.

  “I hope you’re satisfied by my choice of venue?” he whispered into my ear, pulling the chair out for me to sit down on. I lowered myself down onto it, keeping my eyes on his and watching as he sat to my side. “It’s one of my favorites.”

  “I… I love it. Thank you. How did you…? I thought…?”

  He laughed easily, moving his hand so the waiter that had just joined us could pour our glasses of Laurent Perrier, and once he’d gone he leaned in closer to me, his eyes suddenly serious.

  “You’re worth it, Kate.”

  I kept his eye contact before looking away and picking up my glass to take a sip.

  “Jonathan, I…”

  “I know,” he interrupted. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy you.”

  He picked up his glass too and held it towards me.”

  “Let’s toast.”

  “To…?”

  “To exploring the boundaries of friendship and pushing ourselves to the limit.”

  I didn’t toast to it, so he tapped my glass instead and took a sip.

  “Tell me, what happened back there at your apartment?”

  “You mean the tears?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re young, vivacious, full of life…”

  “And unemployed not to mention homeless,” I cut in.

  “Oh. I see.”

  “My roommate and the only friend I had in the world is having a baby and dropped the bombshell on me with one month’s notice.”

  “One month’s notice for what?”

  “For me to leave. That’s when the baby’s crib comes, apparently, and she wants to start decorating the nursery, so that’s me out and our friendship gone.”

  “You don’t have any other friends or family perhaps that could take you in?”

  I shook my head, not wanting to open up to him too much about the reason why I was alone and the reason why without Erin I had nothing and no one.

  “It’s just me. Me and my belongings.”

  “Then I have the perfect solution.”

  He stopped as the waiter returned again to take our order. He chose for me, picking the fillet beef served with dauphinoise potatoes and a bouquet of seasonal vegetables, and I felt happiness spread through me that he wasn’t the type to order me a salad or something equally bland.

  He waited for him to gather our menus and leave before turning back to me, his voice low but firm.

  “Allow me to solve your problems, Kate. All of them.”

  “I won’t accept your handouts,” I said quickly before he continued, scared of being embarrassed as I suddenly allowed it to sink in that I was out to dinner with a billionaire and I had nothing to offer.

  “Kate…”

  “I’m not one of those women that can be bought, Jonathan. I’ve had to go through life helping myself because there was no one around to support me, it’s just the way I am. If this whole gesture of turning up on my door and plying me with expensive food is a way for you to control me then it ends now. I’m not interested in a sugar daddy.”

  I went to stand up, shaking the table accidently with my hip as he sighed and shook his head.

  “Sit down,” he said, his voice still low and calm.

  I didn’t so he turned it up a level.

  “Kate! Sit down!”

  I sunk back to the chair quickly, instantly regretting my outburst. I could feel the heat climb to my cheeks as it so often did.

  Years of fending for myself had made me hardened to being offered handouts and donations from people. I’d done the years of people pitying me, and all the pent up anger had been unleashed on Jonathan leaving me mortified.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, unable to look at him. “It’s just a sore point in my life right now. I just find it hard to… I can’t…”

  “You don’t have to talk about it. It’s fine, it’s okay.”

  He pushed my glass of champagne toward me and I took a large gulp before taking a deep breath and exhaling.

  “Better?”

  I nodded.

  “All of that just came from a bad place,” I explained. “I’m so unbelievably sorry. I just… everything is just so hard. See? I told you I was complicated.”

  “Well then, seeing as it’s half my fault and I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t do something, let me un-complicate things,” he took a sip of his champagne. “Marry me.”

  The words took a moment to register, and once they did, I thought I’d heard him incorrectly.

  “What did you just say?”

  “Marry me Kate,” he repeated. “Become my wife and your problems will be solved instantly.”

  I laughed nervously.

  “Are you joking?”

  He shook his head, his face serious.

  “Just say yes,” he pushed. “You wouldn’t have to worry about money or finding a place to live. I have a number of houses and you can take your pick.”

  I sat looking at the bubbles in my glass for a moment before looking back at him. He was watching me intently.

  “I mean, even a job would suffice. I saw an opening for a receptionist at DavenCorp and…”

  “Okay, well think of it as a job then.” He interrupted. “I’ll employ you to m
arry me.”

  “But wait, let me get this clear. You want to marry me… like an arrangement? Nothing to do with love?”

  “Correct. No love or drama, just a business deal. You get what you want and I get…”

  “What you want,” I finished, with visions in my head of being his sex slave, tied up in his bedroom with my legs spread ready to receive him whenever he wanted.

  “Which is? You don’t need to arrange a marriage, Jonathan. Look at you! You must have had piles of wedding proposals in your life. Why now and why with me? What’s in it for you?”

  “That’s for another time, Kate, but I can promise you it’s nothing kinky or weird or even remotely sexual.”

  “So basically you have a large inheritance you can’t get until your married?”

  He laughed.

  “Too many Harlequin romances have made you blur reality and fiction.”

  “How on earth do you even know about those books?”

  “I have an office full of women chasing their next long haired lothario in the hay and a mom whose shelf is full of them.”

  His eyes clouded over and he looked at the floor for a moment, deep in thought. I was about to ask if he was okay, but he looked back up at me and smiled.

  “So is that a yes?”

  “It’s a maybe.”

  “Okay, a maybe verging on yes?”

  “It’s a maybe, I’ll think about it.”

  He laughed and I saw the spark back in his eyes.

  “Fine. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a contract and I’ll give you three days to ‘think about it’.”

  They brought out our food and we ate it in silence, mostly due to my mind working overdrive as I tried to reason with myself. Was it really that easy? I just said yes, signed a few papers and entered into a business deal that added several zeros to the end of my name? There had to be a catch, something that made this offer too good to be true.

  A man like Jonathan, with looks, charm, and money had women crawling at his feet and when he’d finished with one woman there’d be another one waiting in the wings. Since our first meeting I’d done my research on him, and the question of who was going to ever tame him was on everyone’s lips. So why on earth would it be me? Why would he choose to marry someone as empty as I was when other women could offer and show him more love in a day than I’d ever had in my entire lifetime?

  Jonathan

  The car pulled up at Kate’s house and James opened the door. I followed her out into the now slightly cool evening and she shivered a little before I put my jacket around her shoulders.

  “Thank you again,” she said, giving me a small smile. “Thanks for such an oddly wonderful night.”

  “It’s my pleasure.”

  I took her arm and guided her up the steps to the door where she turned to me, her eyes searching mine.

  “I really have to thank you for the offer, Jonathan,” she began. “I just…”

  I pressed my finger to her soft lips. I couldn’t let her say no.

  “Shhh. Not now. Don’t tell me. Go to sleep and think about it.”

  She stared up at me, her large blue eyes trying to delve deeper than what I’d already offered her. Damnit she was beautiful.

  “But I’ve already…”

  I surprised myself by kissing her. Half of it was to prevent her from declining my offer, but the other fifty percent, the unchartered part of me had wanted to do it. I’d spent the night looking at her full lips and imagining what they felt like, so it was almost natural for me to want to kiss them, but that was the kind of thing you did when you liked someone. Kissing without a lead up to sex, it was the start of a dangerous game.

  I pulled back and her fingers flew up to her lips touching them as though they burned. I could tell she was thinking the same thing as I was.

  “So, will you call me once you’ve decided?” I asked, trying to divert her attention away from my mistake.

  She nodded slowly.

  “Sorry, I’ve lost your num…”

  I slipped another business card into her hand.

  “Good night, Kate.”

  “Night…” she breathed and I could tell that she was still confused about my kiss.

  I watched her unlock the door and open it before I called out to her.

  “Kate!”

  She turned to look at me, her brilliant curves illuminated in the light from the hall?”

  “Yes?”

  “We both only have to gain from this, remember? Friendship, no love!”

  “No love…” she echoed, our eyes meeting in a lingering look that I didn’t quite understand before turning and letting the door close behind her.

  I got into the car and hit the seat in front of me.

  “Everything okay, sir?” James asked, turning slightly.

  I shook my head.

  “I think I just messed up. I think I might have jeopardized everything.”

  We pulled away from the curb and out into the street towards the main traffic.

  “And how might that be?” he asked, stopping at the lights and turning to me briefly.

  “Because I kissed her. I just fucking kissed her.”

  Chapter Three

  Kate

  I woke up two mornings after my dinner with Jonathan to the sound of banging and dragging in the hall. I tried to ignore it, turning on the other side hoping it would go away, but instead there was a knock at my bedroom door.

  “Yes?” I called from the bed.

  It opened and Greg poked his head around looking at me as I pulled the blanket up over my camisole.

  “Greg!”

  “Sorry, just wanted to check you were up…”

  “Well, I am now!”

  “Good, because we need to put these in here.”

  He disappeared for a moment and came back pulling some large boxes behind him. I watched him angrily as he propped them up against the far wall.

  “What the hell are those?” I asked, pulling a sweater on and getting out of bed. “I haven’t ordered anything.”

  “They’re not yours,” he said proudly. “They’re for our kid. It’s the nursery.”

  “Already?” I followed him out into the hallway trying to keep up with his long strides. “But I thought I had another one or two months before I had to go.”

  “Relax,” Erin said coming out of their bedroom. “It’s just going to rest there for a bit until you leave.”

  “But I still live in there! That’s my room.”

  “Kate, don’t make this difficult,” she signed exasperated. “They’re just boxes. By tonight you won’t even notice they’re there.”

  “What about the ones that are coming next week?” Greg asked, turning to her with a lowered voice.

  She turned to me and in her eyes I saw jealousy. Jealousy because she thought that I was dating Jonathan now and suddenly everything fell into place.

  “You know what, Erin, have your room. Take it now if you want.”

  “What do you mean?” she pressed her lips into a thin line. “You don’t have anywhere else to go right now.”

  “The funny thing is, I do. I just didn’t think it through.”

  “Don’t talk to her like that!” Greg said in his most artificial menacing voice. “She’s pregnant!”

  I turned and left them both confused watching me, and went back to my room, pulling my suitcases from the cupboard and throwing all my clothes and as much of my belongings in as I could.

  Erin came to my door, hand on her stomach as usual despite being only twelve weeks with nothing to show.

  “What the hell are you doing, Kate?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “You’re not moving in with him are you? You’re not really leaving here right now?”

  I hated the tone in her voice, but it didn’t bother me in the slightest because I’d spent the last few days agonizing over Jonathan’s offer and wondering whether it was what I needed. As I stood there watching the people that used to be my friends push me out, I realize
d that I didn’t have to take it. I didn’t have to put up a fight to stay in their dark, depressing, downtown apartment. I’d been given the offer of a lifetime and I knew now that things like that didn’t happen to people like me.

  I zipped one case up and reached for another.

  “Kate!” Erin called, trying to get my attention. “Answer me! Are you moving in with him? With the rich guy?”

  I looked at her and shook my head.

  “No. No, I’m not. I’m marrying him.”

  Jonathan

  “Any new messages?” I asked Helen through the speakerphone.

  “No, nothing in the last thirty minutes, Sorry.”

  I let go of the button and turned my chair to face the window, trying to imagine how things might have turned out if I hadn’t kissed her. I wondered if she would have accepted my offer by now or would I have been without her anyway.

  The sound of my email turned me back to the computer, but it was just a circular. It wasn’t her.

  I picked up the photo of my mother on the desk and looked at it, studying her face and trying to picture what it would be like to say goodbye and know that I wasn’t able to fulfill her last wish—that I wasn’t able to make her happy.

  The thought alone was enough to make me press the button for Helen’s office again.

  “Still no new messages,” she laughed, “or was it something else?”

  “I need you to have James meet me downstairs in ten minutes.”

  “But you’ve got Evan coming in about fifteen minutes. You cancelled on him the other day, remember?”

  “Then you’ll have to cancel on him again. I need the car and I won’t be returning for the rest of the day.”

  I let go of the button and started to gather my things together when my office phone rang. I picked it up again.

  “Helen, it’ll be fine…”

  “There’s a commotion downstairs, Jonathan. Another of your ladies. Should I just get her details and add her to the book? Tell her you’ll call or send her out some flowers?”

  I hated the way she pre-empted some of my requests and made me sound like a complete ass. Was I really that bad? Kate had somehow managed to open my eyes to another side of a woman. She’d changed me.