The Billionaire's Bid (Mercury Billionaires Book 2)

by Nicole Casey

  The boat moved slightly and I grabbed a handrail to steady myself. It wasn’t until I heard the engine that I realized what had happened. He had tricked me into getting on board and was now sailing off with me as a hostage.

  Adam appeared on the deck after a few minutes. He was wet all over and only had a pair of shorts on. There was a giant grin on his face and a half empty glass in his hand.

  He took the controls again and steered us out onto clear water while I tried to calm down. I bit my tongue in order to not shout at him or say anything foolish.

  I felt a confusing mix of emotions as he swaggered towards me. I should be furious but I was incredibly turned on instead.

  He offered me a glass but I pushed it away. It fell to the ground and smashed into tiny pieces. He just laughed.

  “Looks like we are going for a sail together, Jess. Just you and me.”

  “This is kidnapping. Let me off this boat right now.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “I do. I want to get off. Now.”

  He was now standing very close to me and I hit him on the chest. It was a weak punch that I was immediately ashamed of but the touch of my first on his broad, hairy chest seemed to break down our defenses at last.

  Adam grabbed my fist and pulled me closer. It hurt a little and I slapped his chest with my other hand. The billionaire laughed and grabbed my waist.

  “I don’t even like you.”

  “In that case, I don’t like you either.”

  Time stood still while we looked at each other. Neither of us knew how to make the next move. Would it be a slap or would it be a passionate kiss this time?

  I could feel his big hands through the thin fabric of my clothes and I lost all control for the first time in my life. My free hand moved onto his stomach and then down.

  I looked at him defiantly. Was that fear or pleasure on his face as my hand slipped inside the waistband of his shorts?

  “Let go of my hand or I’ll pull your shorts down.”

  “Go ahead if you dare.”

  It felt like we are acting out our parts in a bad movie but we had to keep up the pretense a little longer for some reason. It was as though our bodies were giving us one message and our brains were trying to stop us acting on it.

  My hand moved inside the waistband and I could tell instantly that we were very aroused, just like I was. My hand skirted around the area where we both wanted it to be, teasing and taunting him with the power I now enjoyed over him. This felt good and I wanted to make it last.

  He needed me just like I needed him. For some reason, there was no doubt of that in my mind. His eyes were now pleading with me. Who was in charge now then, rich boy?

  “I’m not the sort of girl that a man like you can take advantage of easily.” The words stumbled out and I knew that they didn’t make any sense.

  “I don’t know what you mean. You are just a guest here. A beautiful, attractive guest with a great body.” His voice was gruffer and deeper than ever before but there was now tenderness in her eyes at last.

  I looked down at his shorts and pulled the waistband open daringly. I felt alive with the power and the control that I have over him at last.

  His hand was also now under my dress. He touched my inner thigh and then moved inwards, making me shudder with every inch of skin that he discovered.

  If felt like a wrestling match or some form of martial arts more than a couple about to make love for the first time. The feeling of anticipation was electrifying, as we each waited to see who would make the first definitive move.

  He did. With a deft move, he kissed me deeply and pulled down my underwear at the same time. I felt his fingers begin to probe and I tugged down his shorts so I could explore more freely too.

  Adam forced me backwards and I thought I was going to land on the wooden floor but I ended up on a soft bed that I hadn’t even noticed before now. Were we in the cabin or still out on the deck? I was completely and utterly disoriented.

  He tried to lift off my dress but it got stuck, as he hadn’t noticed the buttons round the back of it. I tried to help but for a few seconds it looked like our moment of passion was going to end in embarrassment or an accidental strangulation.

  In the end, he simply ripped the dress off and threw it into the water with my handbag still caught up in it. My bra followed next and it floated away to who knows where as he hungrily kissed me all over.

  I let my imagination run wild as I rubbed myself up and down his body and then wrapped my legs around his waist. He was groaning with pleasure and I realized with a start that I was making some sort of deep, guttural sounds as well.

  Our breathing seemed to be strangely synchronized and I vaguely remembered that being some sort of tantric technique. Was he doing it on purpose or was I?

  We had turned in to wild animals and the only sensible course of action now was to go with the flow.

  “Kiss my back.”

  He obliged, rolling me over and running his tongue all the way up from my ankles over my buttocks and on to my shoulder. I could feel the whole of his naked body pressing against mine as he moved down and then back up again, more slowly this time.

  I held in a scream as he moved in closer and pushed my legs apart. He was showing a strange mixture of roughness and tenderness that I was thrilled by. I had no idea whether his next touch would be gentle or brutish, and I loved the sense of the unknown that this brought to our passion.

  As we sailed out in the immense Rio de la Plata I screamed out loud and I think Adam did too. There was no one to hear our wild, primitive cries as we each discovered the joy that had been hidden deep inside of us for too long.

  Adam

  I woke up with the sun burning into my naked body. The feeling of dehydration and disorientation took a few minutes to disappear, as I wandered over to the giant fridge for a beer and quickly drank the whole thing.

  Jessie was still fast asleep and I looked over at her. A tear welled up in my eye as I looked at her naked body on my bed. Why did this strange, alluring woman cause me to get so emotional in every way imaginable?

  Life had just got very complicated. For a start, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t get emotionally attached to another woman again so soon after my past disappointments.

  Then there was the fact that my uncle had made it very clear to me just a few days ago that I was only going to get my full inheritance if I married the right kind of woman. There was no way he was going to approve of a penniless, headstrong backpacker who had just come out of the jungle.

  He wanted me to get hitched to some sort of minor royalty or someone from the same background. The only problem was that they were all hideously boring. Only Jessie has managed to make me feel as though I was truly meant to be with someone.

  I felt a dark mood settle over me. After I had finally found a woman that pushed all the right buttons I had taken very little time in seeing my dreams fall apart. My uncle would undoubtedly find a way to cut or stop my allowance if he found out about my relationship with Jessie.

  I could still remember how he had looked at me so coldly as he fixed his club blazer and tie in the mirror.

  “Get a wife that won’t let you down, son. There are lots of pretty little duchesses and heiresses out there that will let you carry on with your lifestyle even after you get married. Heck, you can even get a mistress if you like the common touch.”

  “Are you talking about a marriage of convenience?”

  “Call it what you want, Adam. It is the smart move for the family and for the business.”

  “I couldn’t…”

  He had laughed bitterly while smoothing out his trademark moustache. There wasn’t a single photo of him at any age without that moustache.

  “You’ll see sense eventually, Adam. We all do.”

  Come to think of it, I had never heard him say anything nice about his own wife, the pretty but slightly dim duchess from central Europe.

  Jessie stirred slightly
and I put a blanket over her. Would I ever see her naked, happy, and utterly defenseless like this again?

  It was a sunny day but the breeze on this giant river made it feel very chilly on the yacht. I was feeling a cold chill on my skin too but it was nothing to do with the weather.

  Everything had been perfect last night but in the cold light of day, I could see that this relationship was doomed from the very start. Why hadn’t I controlled myself instead of diving in headfirst and getting my emotions all mixed up?

  Now I was going to hurt Jessie and hurt myself at the same time. Which one of the two was most important to me? I couldn’t decide which came as a real surprise to me.

  I looked at the map but honestly had no idea where we were. I could steer the yacht well enough but I had no idea how to read a map or work out our present coordinates. My captain was probably in Puerto Madero right now wondering what on Earth had happened.

  Were we still in the might River Plate, the body of water that divided Argentina from Uruguay and the scene of historic World War Two battles? Or had we already drifted out into the Atlantic Ocean?

  Perhaps we were heading towards the controversial, British controlled Falkland Islands that the Argentines still called Las Malvinas and were desperate to claim back? I had no real idea what else was out there, as we had flown into Buenos Aires rather than sailing in? Was the Antarctic close enough for there to be a real danger of us drifting down there?

  A pair of silky smooth arms slipped around my waist. I had put my shorts on but I could feel that Jessie appeared to still be completely naked. Then I remembered that I had thrown her clothes overboard last night.

  Her hands teased my shorts a little but she seemed to sense that something wasn’t quite right and she stopped abruptly.

  I turned around and tried to paint a smile onto my face. I knew I had failed, though, as soon as I saw her expression.

  “Jess, we’re a bit of an odd couple, aren’t we?”

  She looked at me suspiciously and grabbed a sheet to cover herself up. The barriers she had joyously lowered last night were back up again and probably higher than ever before. That might not be a bad thing in the long run but it was tough to watch it happening in front of my eyes.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “We’re from different worlds. My uncle…” I let the words trails off, as I genuinely had nothing to say.

  “I still don’t know what you mean. Do you think I don’t belong on a rich playboy’s fancy yacht?” She looked around my favorite possession as though it disgusted her. “You’re probably right.”

  My head was spinning out of control. All I wanted to do was hug her and make it all better but every word I said only made it worse.

  “Maybe we just need to take things more slowly.”

  “Ah, more slowly. Well, that’s rich coming from the guy who kidnapped me and then seduced me on his boat in the middle of the ocean.

  “It’s a river.”

  “Who cares? Just take me home.”

  I stared out at the water. This was one of the widest rivers in the world and I couldn’t see land on either side. Uruguay should be over there to the right. Or was it now the left.

  “You do know how to sail this heap of crap, don’t you?”

  “Kind of.”

  “What? So are we just kind of lost rather than really lost?”

  “Just give me a minute.” I was in full-blown panic mode now but couldn’t afford to show it to Jessie.

  “This rich kid’s toy must have some sort of radio or internet on it.”

  “Yeah, about that…I was kind of getting the communication systems fixed in Buenos Aires.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you lured me onto a yacht that you can’t sail and that doesn’t have any radio or internet on it? What kind of stupid, spoiled little brat are you?”

  Jessie’s words stung me but I had to admit that I had been foolish. The opportunity to spend time on here alone with her was too good to miss and I hadn’t thought things through at all.

  “What about your cell phone, Jess? Mine has got hardly any battery left on it and I think Joe has the charger.”

  “You threw it overboard along with my clothes.”

  The words made me remember our night of passion last night. I looked down at her, still wrapped alluringly in a towel that left enough skin on show to get me excited.

  “Stop looking at me. I’m going to find an old t-shirt to wear or something.”

  Jessie went into the cabin and I stared out to sea all alone. The dark, open expanses of the sea always made me feel very small and insignificant, which is why I always avoided sailing alone.

  The truth was that meeting Jessie had shown me how trapped I had become in a pathetic, artificial world of pointless luxury and gold plated frustration. She had nothing but had somehow found out the true meaning of the word freedom by just being herself at all times.

  Could I learn how to be like her? If you had asked me at that moment whether I could give up all of my money to be with her then the answer was easy. I would have sunk that yacht with all of the expensive goods in it without a second thought.

  Yet, I knew that it could never happen. I was only fooling myself if I tried to pretend that there was some sort of future waiting for us. We came from different worlds and we wanted different things from life.

  Well, it seemed as though Jessie knew what she wanted but I was completely lost and had no idea what would make me happy apart from being with Jessie.

  With no sign of land on the horizon, it was going to be a long trip for both of us.

  Jessie

  I put on a t-shirt that smelled of his after shave. There was a full-length mirror in the cabin and when I studied myself in it I realized that the t-shirt was too tight in all the wrong places. If I wore this it would seem as though I was deliberately trying to turn on.

  I looked for another option in his massive wardrobe. Was I trying to turn him on? There is no doubt that I had chosen my best dress and underwear to go to the meeting in Puerto Madero, hoping against hope that he would rip my clothes off exactly like he had done.

  However, those moments of wild abandon and passion had now passed. For some reason, he was acting all cold and distant again. It was almost as though last night had just been some sort of delicious, delirious dream.

  Could it be that he had finally got what he wanted and now wasn’t bothered about me? No, that couldn’t be right, as I was sure that I had seen a real glimpse of the real Adam last night rather than some sort of pretense.

  I had melted into his arms without putting up any real resistance in the end. The look of genuine desire and pleasure on his face had made me feel as though he was truly mine for a few hours.

  Now he was drifting away from me just as this yacht was drifting out to sea aimlessly. I could try and reach him but what was the point when it was clear that we weren’t meant to be together?

  Finally, I found a t-shirt that was baggy enough to make it difficult to work out if I was a woman or a man. I drew the line at using his boxer shorts and I couldn’t find any suitable shorts so I would have to get by with just the t-shirt on.

  I stood and watched the deep, dark water, hugging myself to stay warm. I felt so alone in the world for the first time since leaving home so long ago. After being strong and independent for so long I felt my defenses finally go down.

  It was a struggle to hold back the tears. I had taken a gamble on getting close to a man who had a strange hold over my emotions but now I felt cheap and as though I had been cheated.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Adam was walking towards me. I had to pull myself together and not let him see that I was hurting. He had no idea that I had been dreaming of building a long, lasting relationship with him.

  It would be best if I tried to act like he was; as though it had been a cheap, meaningless one night fling.

  “Hey Jess.” There was a sadness in his deep voice that cut t
hrough me. “I’ve got some food out on the table if you want to join me.”

  I was starving but the idea of sitting down beside him was too much to bear. He saw me wavering.

  “Come on, you must be as hungry as I am.”

  It felt weird to sit beside him in the stately dining room. We had ripped each other’s clothes off just a few hours ago but now we were like a pair of strangers brought together for a business lunch.

  I don’t even know what we ate or what it tasted like. Presumably, it was expensive and delicious but I just swallowed it because I needed something in my stomach. Adam was playing with his food and ate even less than me.

  “Have you been to Brazil before?” He surprised me with the question while my mouth was full.

  “No. I was planning to go there after Buenos Aires and the Iguazu Falls.”

  “I had my 18th birthday party in Rio.”

  “Was it…nice?” I literally had nothing to say but I had to force out some sort of words.

  “It was…different. It was the day my parents died when they took a helicopter ride over Rio to fly a big Happy Birthday banner.”

  “I’m sorry.” The thought that he could have had loneliness and tragedy in his life had never struck me before. “Who did you live with after that?”

  “My uncle. He is looking after the company until I get handed the whole thing next year.”

  “Wow. Are you going to take over the company then?”

  “I think so.” He had come over to sit beside me and for the first time, I could really study his eyes and his expression up close.

  There was a sort of sadness there that I longed to help him shift. This guy was a real enigma. I had no idea what he wanted from life, or from me, that could make him feel better somehow.

  “Don’t you sometimes just want to give it all up and run away?”

  “Sometimes?” He laughed bitterly and stared at his shoes. “It’s all I’ve wanted to do for the last year.”

  “So?”

  “So?”