Just like Grey (Series ONE Complete Set): Billionaire Romance

by Jessie Cooke

  Her phone chirped, alerting her to a message. She shifted her attention to it to avoid making a decision regarding Reece.

  She saw Luke’s name pop up as the author of the text:: “I’m at the airport; can you get me?”

  A soft gasp from Bella captured Reece’s attention.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “You gasped,” Reece said.

  “Oh. Nothing,” Bella said as she texted an affirmative response.

  “Who was it?” he pressed.

  “No one,” came her flat response, a signal not to press the issue.

  “Well, I guess I’d better get to my gate. I don’t want to miss any more than I have to,” Reece said. She could tell he was stalling, hoping for a kiss, but knowing that Luke could see her put a damper on her ardor.

  “You’ll keep me posted, right?” she asked, a little more business-like than she had anticipated.

  “Definitely,” Reece responded.

  “Good luck,” she hugged him and then patted his shoulder amicably.

  Reece hoisted his duffle bag up on his shoulder, popped up the handle on his rolling suitcase, and headed into the airport. Inside, he turned and waved out the window at Bella who was still standing beside the car. She was finding it hard to shift her attention from Reece Hamilton to Luke Berringer. And she was completely caught off guard.

  She texted quickly: “I was out running errands. At the airport, ready whenever you are.”

  She imagined the scene: Luke walking off the plane and heading to the baggage claim, his shoulders back and his chin up as he glided through the crowds of people, barely brushing the broad shoulders of Reece as he headed to the gate for his private plane. How had this become her life? Two men. She was undoubtedly attracted to both, but there was something about Reece; something that Luke didn’t possess, but that didn’t make him any less important to her.

  “Hey!” Luke’s voice broke through Bella’s thoughts, and she found herself brightening at the sight of his reddish brown hair and mischievous green eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked as she launched herself into his arms.

  Luke easily picked her up and spun her around before he answered. “I missed you. I knew it was coming up on the grand opening, so I thought perhaps I’d come surprise you.”

  “I’m so glad!” Bella heard herself say, but she wasn’t sure exactly how glad she was, especially considering she’d just seen Reece off—without a kiss as well.

  “Are you?” Luke asked as he set her down on the ground, his nose pressed up against hers.

  Bella smiled. “Of course I am.”

  “There was a little hesitation,” Luke said, his eyes searching hers carefully.

  “I’m just surprised,” Bella said. “I had no idea I’d be picking you up at the airport when I started my day.” There was a lot she hadn’t had any idea about when she’d started the day if she were honest with herself.

  “Is it a good surprise?” he asked, a little sheepishly.

  Bella hoisted herself up on her tiptoes and simultaneously threw her arms back around him as she tilted her head and brought her lips up to his own, making a tight seal around his mouth as she licked the inside of his mouth.

  “Does a girl react like that when it’s bad?” she asked, dropping her voice seductively.

  Luke smiled, his eyes dancing. “How far is the resort?” he asked.

  “About twenty minutes depending on how quickly we can get to the dock and across the water,” she replied. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t know how much longer I can wait to get you back in the room for a few minutes.” He grinned, and she responded by biting her bottom lip. She was still feeling the effects of having Reece close by, and though she felt a little guilty about riding that wave, she knew she would feel even guiltier not turning on the charm to welcome him.

  “Let’s get you settled in,” she said with a wink.

  They put his suitcase and satchel in the trunk and climbed in. Luke massaged Bella’s shoulders as she pulled into the chaotic traffic of Port au Prince.

  “Can you believe I’m here?” Luke asked.

  Bella shook her head. “I cannot,” she said, the scent of Reece’s sandalwood and spice mixed with Luke’s fresh Calvin Klein scent, and she felt drunk and discombobulated, unsure of herself in this overlapping.

  They parked the car at the dock and boarded the boat. Evens was waiting to drive them back across the water.

  “Evens, this is Luke Berringer, my boyfriend,” Bella introduced. “He surprised me at the airport,” she explained. Evens looked from Bella to Luke and back to Bella, a perplexity furrowing his brow. Still, he offered his hand to shake and uttered a standard greeting to Luke.

  Bella settled herself for the quick trip and Luke followed suit sitting himself practically on top of her, like he couldn’t get close enough. She felt an odd swell within: the pull of her body needing to be touched by him, but the let-down that it wasn’t Reece. Luke began to trace a circle on her knee a few inches below her shorts.

  “You’ve gotten tan,” he said with a smile.

  “You sound surprised,” she commented.

  “Not surprised. Just wondering.”

  “Wondering what?”

  “If there are any tan lines.”

  Her stomach flipped as she imagined them in her room, Luke tracing his finger along the tan lines she did possess, only she kept seeing Reece in her mind’s eye.

  By the time they disembarked and Bella had gotten Luke to the villa, she was wet with anticipation, but a part of her was feeling guilty for the fact that so much of her excitement had come from her good bye with Reece and her imaging him coloring in the tan lines with his fingers.

  “Let’s see if there’s any tan lines,” Luke said as he tugged at Bella’s shirt-tale threatening to pull it over her head. She lifted her arms with a grin, revealing a dark brown tummy, her bra hiding the tan lines of her strapless bikini.

  “Just what I thought: you’ve gone native,” Luke said.

  “No, I haven’t,” she promised as she unhooked her bra revealing her small white breasts.

  “Thank goodness!” Luke breathed.

  “What?”

  “I don’t want you sharing all this beauty with just anyone and everyone,” he answered. “It’s too precious.” He was sliding his finger carefully across the lines where her bathing suit had protected her from the sun, caressing her skin as if it were precious fabric. “I don’t know how I stayed away from you as long as I did,” he whispered, his voice in awe as if it were the first time he were seeing her body.

  “We do what we have to do,” she answered, “and try not to think about the pain it may cause.”

  “So, you missed me, too?” Luke asked.

  “What’s not to miss?” she answered carefully. She threw back the white down comforter to reveal black sateen sheets. She pulled him towards her as she backed herself onto the bed, her shorts still on. Luke allowed himself to approach the bed with her and crawled across the king-sized mattress towards her, pulling on her shorts as she backed herself up.

  “Let’s get these things off,” Luke smiled as he gave them another tug.

  Bella reached down to unfasten the button on her shorts and the zipper slid down with Luke’s tugging. Then she pulled at the shoulders of his shirt, and Luke bent his head down as she pulled the shirt over and off of his body.

  “We’ll work on that tan,” she giggled as she lifted a leg to compare her bronzed skin with his.

  “Gotta work on this first,” he told her, his eyes holding her gaze as he lowered his lips to her belly and kissed his way up to her left breast. He suckled her nipple between his teeth gently sending shivers the length of her body.

  She tossed her head back and a pleasurable moan encouraged Luke to move to the other breast, making short work of his foreplay. His fingers below swept aside the pink satin panties that Bella had donned after Reece got his p
hone call. She had already dampened the material between her legs, and Luke took that as more encouragement as his finger slid up and into her easily.

  Bella clamped down on his finger and moved her body slightly up and down against his fist that was in just the right spot. Though her thought flicked over to Reece sitting in the plane and then Reece here in her bedroom, she brought it back by whispering, “Luke, yes,” as she toed his pants and underwear down to his ankles.

  His penis was erect, and when Bella caught sight of it, she felt her muscles spasm in response.

  “I want you,” she whispered, his ear just by her lips as he licked her earlobe seductively.

  “How much?” he asked before his mouth clamped down on hers and his tongue sought hers within her mouth. He pulled his finger out of her and massaged the spot that had hardened with anticipation. Bella responded by moaning into Luke’s kiss, as she tilted her pelvis towards his.

  “If you can’t tell, then you must be dead,” she responded.

  “How about I show you just how far from dead I am?” he said as his lips closed over her earlobe again and his breath came hot on her neck.

  She felt him enter her, and she moaned feeling the slide of him deep inside her. In response to her vocalizing, he slid himself out, just allowing his tip to stay in her warmth, then eased himself back into her depth and repeated the tease. His fingers flicked and played with her as he repeated his delicate dance steps driving her wild.

  She moaned and thrashed as she grabbed his buttocks and slammed him into her. “Harder,” she instructed. “Faster.”

  And he complied, matching the rhythm she set, her breath more shallow as she gasped her way to a climax, and her nails dug into the meaty flesh of his ass.

  38

  “Let’s go parasailing,” Luke suggested.

  It was morning, and Bella lay with her head on Luke’s shoulder, her dark hair fanned out across his torso.

  “Parasailing?” Bella’s eyes were wide, but Luke couldn’t see her shock. “Why?”

  “I’ve always wanted to go,” he said. “I thought I saw some parasailers when we were coming in to the island yesterday.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, let’s do it, you and me.”

  “If you really want to,” she said wondering how many parasailing outfits operated around the area.

  “Have you ever done it?”

  “Just once.”

  “Good. So, you can hold my hand if I get scared,” he teased.

  “We can do a tandem parasailing,” she offered, looking up into his eyes. Though she really didn’t want to share the experience with anyone other than Reece, she felt she owed Luke whatever he asked for.

  “That’d be awesome!” he said. “When can we go?”

  Within the hour, Bella found herself back at the beach with Jean Charles waving to her eagerly.

  “You’re back! Ready for another romantic sky sail?” he smiled, but Bella shot him a look that doused his exuberant welcome. He took a long look at Luke, and Bella thought she saw the flicker of realization cloud his face. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else,” he mumbled.

  They go through the lessons with Jean Charles, Bella half-listening this time. She found herself almost wishing she would get seasick so that they could turn around and go back, but the guilt was drowning her. She knew that part of their night could have been attributed to Reece; she wasn’t only reacting to Luke, and so this wish to parasail—even though she’d done it days before with Reece—was something she would not begrudge Luke. Hell, she felt so guilty that she’d walk on her hands through hot coals if he suggested it.

  As Jean Charles was strapping Bella in, Luke chatted with Chuy in the driver’s seat again. He asked about Haiti and if he’d ever been to the states, small talk that most likely many tourists had made with Chuy, but he answered patiently. When Luke told Chuy that he was from Texas, Chuy asked if he was a cowboy. Luke laughed good-naturedly, and told him no. Chuy seemed relieved saying that he thought Luke was too pretty to be a cowboy anyway.

  Bella, having avoided Jean Charles’s eye as much as possible, finally couldn’t avoid it any longer. He tightened one final strap and asked if she’s okay. When she looked up, he caught her glance, held it long enough to nod towards Luke, and winked at her as he whispered, “Chuy likes your friend.”

  She blushed and lowered her head wondering what they possibly thought of her. She knew that the chemistry between herself and Reece was palpable; she could feel it, and Christo had made her even more aware of the fact that it wasn’t lost on anyone either. Still, she knew she had chemistry with Luke as well, though not as potent as with Reece. She looked at Luke conversing with Chuy, and watched Luke throw his head back in laughter at something Chuy said. Chuy’s eyes wandered up and down Luke’s torso as he watched Luke laugh, and it appeared to Bella for a split second like Chuy might be flirting with Luke.

  “Are you ready?” Jean Charles called to Luke, and Bella watched as Luke patted Chuy on the shoulder and told him he’d see him after “suiting up.”

  This time as they stood on the platform at the back of the boat, Bella didn’t feel the nerves or experience the heightened senses as she had when she was strapped together with Reece. As Chuy accelerated the boat and Jean Charles told them to sit back into their harnesses, she did so mechanically, feeling a short burst of adrenaline in comparison to the jolt that surged through her body the first time.

  Luke, on the other side of her, squealed a high-pitched squeal of surprise when the parasail lifted them away from the boat. Bella laughed in spite of herself, and Luke joined in her giggles. She looked down at the water below them, still beautiful but not the breathtaking beautiful that she’d seen with Reece.

  “This is awesome!!!” Luke called to her. She turned, smiled, and gave him a thumbs up. “I feel like a bird!” He kicked his feet and let out a whoop. She laughed, remembering the feeling of her first time parasailing just a matter of days ago. She, too, had felt free, but this time, she felt the pull and tug of the parasail and the boat to which they were tethered. She realized this was her life, now: feeling the tug of Reece above her—the promise of flight and freedom when she was with him. And then feeling the pull and tow of Luke below her—her attempt to have a “normal” life in spite of Reece and what he’d put her through.

  I guess I’d better get used to it, she thought. I’ve landed myself right smack in the middle of them, and until I completely free myself from one or both, this is how it’s going to feel all day every day of my life.

  “Well, at least you’re being honest with yourself for a change.” A voice much like her mom’s penetrated her thoughts and whirled her away from her pity party. “It’s about time that you admitted to the fact that you’re not letting go of Reece so easily.”

  And she hated herself for putting herself in this situation.

  “I’m so excited!” Christo said as he burst into Bella’s bedroom.

  “I’m so glad I’m dressed!” Bella replied.

  Christo waved his hand. “I’ve seen you naked plenty of times. If I were gonna jump that ass, I would have already.”

  Bella laughed at his quick quip and then gave herself a twirl in the orange sequined micro-mini dress she wore. “What about this doesn’t make you want to jump my ass?” she said as she threw her long brunette hair over her shoulder and jutted her hip out.

  “The fact that you don’t have a penis,” Christo retorted. “Now if I knew you harbored a nice-sized package under those sparkles, we’d have to have a long chat.”

  She waggled a finger at him in warning. “Uh-uh-uh, you’re a married man now,” she tsked.

  Christo feigned innocence. “I said ‘chat’,” he defended. “Don’t get me into trouble. I’ll find it just fine on my own.”

  They heard Simon and Luke calling from the other room and simultaneously threw up their hands.

  “Five minutes!” they called in unison.

  “How do they expect u
s to look our best when they rush the process?” Christo asked as he smoothed out the lines under his eyes. “Oh, Bella, look! I’m getting crow’s feet.”

  “My mom says that’s the sign of a happy life, so you just embrace it!” Bella answered as she squeezed the curler onto her eyelashes. She batted her eyes before dressing them with mascara making them even darker and lusher as she peered at herself in the mirror.

  “I love the way your mom thinks,” Christo answered.

  They were getting ready to go to the discothèque. The official grand opening was kicking off tonight, and Bella had been riding high all day. It was refreshing to see the resort pulsing with people of all kinds: families celebrating vacation; couples on their honeymoon; couples on romantic getaways; friends leaving the daily grind behind. All coming for their little slice of heaven, and she had had a hand in it. She had soared when she heard the ooooooo’s and aaaahhh’s regarding the design upon walking into the registration hall, and she had enjoyed dining in the restaurants and hearing the compliments praise for the way everything had turned out. Now, heading to the disco, she felt like she was riding the waves of the elation, and she was ready to do some dancing.

  She and Christo made their entrance into the common room absorbing the whistles and cat calls from their partners and basking in the glow.

  “Of all the wonderful design and decorating I’ve seen at this place,” Simon said as he looked at his partner. “This is the most gorgeous by far.”

  Christo pretended to blush and ducked his head to the side before he said, “Go on.”

  The four of them laughed, and Luke poured glasses of champagne and handed them around.

  “To Bella and Christo and their designs divine,” Luke toasted.

  Bella and Christo eyeballed each other, their mouths falling open as one.

  “‘Designs Divine!’” they both echoed.

  “If ever the two of us should find ourselves building our own business,” Bella began.

  “That will be our name,” Christo finished.

  “You should think about it,” Luke said. “You two do great work together.”