The Billionaire From Boston: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (United States Of Billionaires Book 11)
Page 6
“Now let it out some!” Nick instructed, flipping her reel. She turned partway in his arms and stared up at him in horror and shock.
“Let it out? Is this catch and release? Are we releasing it?” She was impressed with herself that she knew some of the terminology.
He laughed at her. “No, you are going to bring the fish in and let it out a bit, and then bring it in again. The fish is going to fight with you the entire time it’s on the line, and you’re going to have a battle of strength. One of you is going to get tired and give up first, and I’m hoping that it’s the fish!”
She understood then, and as she turned back to face the water, she clenched her teeth and sheer will and determination took over in her mind. She was ready for the battle of strength, and no matter what it took, she was hell bent that she wasn’t going to lose the fight, or the fish, or whatever it was that was at the end of her line.
“What do you think it is?” she called over her shoulder to Nick.
He shrugged. “No idea yet, there’s a lot out here. We’ll find out soon.”
He couldn’t have had better timing, as just then a great blue and white fish came arcing up out of the water with a great tail and a long, sharp nose. It wriggled in the air and then sliced back down into the sea, dragging the line far down with it.
“Let him take the line!” Nick told her. “Let him swim it out.” And they did just that.
“What kind of fish was that? He was huge!” she gasped, staring at the water and wondering if she would see it again.
“It was a swordfish,” he answered looking at her proudly. “And he’s a big one. That will be a good catch if you can bring him in.” He looked hopefully at her.
Chanel could not believe that she was fishing. She could not believe that she was standing on the back deck of a huge yacht sailing south in the Atlantic Ocean with a gorgeous billionaire who was paying her a million dollars for a portrait, and who had also incidentally become her lover. The whole weekend was a total surprise to her, and she never would have guessed that it was going to go that way, but it had, and there she was.
Closing her hands tighter around the fishing pole, she grew even more determined to catch the fish at the end of her line. She might not know a damn thing about fish, but she wasn’t about to let this one go, and she was definitely up for the challenge.
With Nick behind her holding himself around her and helping her only when she needed it, they sailed along with the fish fighting against the line for a long while, until two hours later when both the fish and Chanel were exhausted. The fish was the first to give up, and she was so filled with the excitement of the catch that she didn’t feel her exhaustion until after the deck crew and Nick had helped her bring her swordfish in. The crew hoisted the fish up by its great tail and she took a picture beside it, showing how big it was, and how she was nearly dwarfed by it.
Then she looked at Nick and smiled. “Are we throwing it back in now?” she asked, looking from him back over her shoulder to the huge fish.
“Throwing it back? No. We’re sending it downstairs to the kitchen. My chef is already planning on making swordfish steaks out of it. We’re going to eat it.” He laughed a little and gave her a hug. “You hunted dinner for us this afternoon, and you caught enough to feed everyone onboard the boat, and there will most likely be plenty left over for the crew at the docks when we get back to the port. I’m very impressed. Is there nothing that you can’t do?” He beamed at her and she laughed at him.
“There’s plenty I can’t do.” She shook her head and smiled.
“I have yet to see it,” he told her quietly as he took her into his arms and kissed her. When he let her go, he gave her a serious look. “How are you feeling?”
She realized then just how much of a fight the fish had put up, and just how hard she had truly worked to bring in the fish. “Um… actually I’m kind of soaking wet and cold, and I’m a little tired.” She was more than a little tired, but she wasn’t going to admit that, especially with some of the boat crew still nearby.
“Then I think it’s best if you head downstairs to have a hot shower and a nap, and I’ll come and wake you up before dinner.” He gave her another kiss, then turned her around with his hands on her shoulders, and gave her a little push. “Off you go.”
She listened to him and headed downstairs, going toward his cabin automatically before she remembered that she had her own cabin there, and she stopped short. Since she had come onto the boat, she had not slept in her own cabin once. She had spent all her sleeping time in Nick’s bed with him. It seemed strange to her to crawl into a bed on the boat without him and to fall asleep, but she was too tired to think about it, and after a short, hot shower, that’s exactly what she did.
Chanel woke up a while later, and when she did, she saw Nick lying beside her in her bed, and he was awake, watching her as she had slept.
She blinked in surprise and looked at him with a growing smile on her face. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, a while. I was just waiting for you while you slept. Watching you sleep, I guess. You’re a beautiful woman, and it’s interesting to me to wonder what you’re dreaming about and to spend some time here close to you this way. I hope you don’t mind.” He looked only slightly concerned for a moment.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t mind,” she told him with a soft voice. Then, leaning closer to him, she kissed him and he moaned softly and kissed her back.
“How much time do we have before we have to be upstairs for swordfish dinner?” she asked in between kisses as their mouths grew hungrier and their hands and arms began to wander.
He pushed her robe off of her body and closed his mouth over her dark and hardened nipple as he reached his fingers down in between her thighs and massaged her soft folds. “Dinner is going to wait until I’ve had you first,” he mumbled, sending waves of sheer pleasure all through her body.
“That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say,” she murmured as she kissed his neck and shoulder and ran her fingers through his hair.
Moments later he did one of his favorite things with her; he brought his mouth down to where his fingers had been, kissing and teasing her, tasting her, delving his tongue into the depths of her and making her writhe beneath him in ecstasy until she was overwhelmed with her orgasm. Then he rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him, thrusting himself into her and making her come again for him almost right away.
She gasped for air and rocked her hips over his as his hands closed over her breasts. He moaned along with her, loving the feel of her around his erection, in his hands and arms, and against his body. They moved together, tensed and tight in passion, losing themselves in the intense pleasure that they shared, until at last their bodies strained with the ultimate bliss they gave one another. Weakened with satisfaction, they laid back into the pillows together again, and kissed each other softly, holding hands and touching one another tenderly.
“I have never had an experience like this with anyone before,” he admitted to her. “It’s never been this easy, this… passionate, this incredible. You just blow me away every single time, and I just can’t get enough of you. I thought I was going to go crazy with want when I first saw you. There was just something about you that attracted me like I have never been attracted to any woman before, and I tried to forget it, tried to push it away, but you are totally irresistible to me, and the more I have you, the more I want you. You are such a sweet surprise. I really didn’t see this coming at all, and now I don’t want to let go. It’s just too amazing. You’re too amazing,” he told her earnestly.
She nodded and breathed out a long sigh. “I know what you mean. It’s the same for me. When I met you, there was this almost electric chemistry between us, and I could feel it. I tried to ignore it too, but you were like a magnet for me.
All I wanted was to be around you, but then when I was around you, all that I could think about was kissing you and touching you, and I felt so bad
about it because you’re a client, and this was supposed to be a business trip. But then you surprised the hell out of me and kissed me and all of the pretense just… it just fell away. I’m really glad that this happened between us, and I wouldn’t change it.”
“I wouldn’t either,” he replied with a big smile. He kissed her hands again. “We should go up for dinner, though.” With a soft laugh, he brushed his lips over hers once more and then pushed himself up from the bed. She followed, heading to the closet for clothes to wear to dinner. She was glad that she had overpacked, because she had enough to wear for her longer-than-anticipated trip.
He redressed, and the two of them went to the dining room and enjoyed eating the swordfish that she had caught that afternoon. When dinner was finished, they went out to the upper deck of the ship, where there was no wind. The air was still and warm on the late summer night, and it looked as if every star in the universe was out and shimmering just for them that night, like diamonds against a black velvet sky.
Nick had candles lit all around the deck, and soft music played as he took Chanel’s hand in his and drew her to him. She grinned as he held her in his arms and slow danced with her around the small area where the circle of candles was around them, with the stars and the night overhead. It was the single most romantic evening of her life; she felt like it might be magic or a dream, and she was almost afraid to breathe for fear that she might wake up and find out that it wasn’t real.
As they danced in each other’s arms, he kissed her sweetly, softly, slowly, and she felt as if they might be floating upward, she was so heady with pure happiness.
Nick couldn’t remember a more perfect night, and he was amazed that he didn’t even have to try. Everything with her seemed to just be coming together, like perfect puzzle pieces, and there was no work at all, only happiness and wonder, and the rest seemed to be coming naturally. It surprised him that around her he felt almost the same as he did when he’d had a little too much champagne, except that it felt even better than that; the headiness was intoxicating in a wonderful way, and he loved the way that it felt to him, and the way that he could see that it affected her.
When the night air began to cool some, and sleep was creeping upon them, he kissed her once more and then took her with him down to his cabin, where he lay in bed with her and held her in his arms, kissing her neck and ear lightly as she fell asleep. He watched her again, taking in the beauty of her, both inside and out, and it was a long while before he let himself close his eyes and fall asleep as well.
In the morning, he was awakened by her kissing him, and it brought an immediate smile to his face as he kissed her in return. “This is perfect. I love this. God, you’re so delicious.” He spoke softly as he kissed her again and again. Before long they needed one another, and she sank her body down over his erection, drawing it into the depths of her as they began a now familiar dance of love in between the sheets, within one another’s arms, and lost themselves to the powerful, blazing passions that they felt and shared together.
When they were dressed, they had breakfast and then went back to painting the portrait. She had a good deal of it done, but by that afternoon, she needed another break, so he put her in a small tender boat and took her to a nearby island. They pulled the boat onto a white sandy beach and tied it to a tree with a long rope.
From there they explored the small island, walking through the wildness of it and loving the untouched, unspoiled area. They found a natural spring at one place, a deep pool that spilled over rocks at one side and ran along the ground in a stream until it tumbled over a small cliff in a waterfall and cascaded into another pool.
They were alone on the island, and as the spring was warm, they pulled their clothes off and swam in the water, loving the feeling of it. The splashed each other and swam and enjoyed the water for a while. Then Chanel wrapped her arms and her legs around him, kissing him as he grew breathless, and they made love in the spring pool under the warm afternoon sun, their bodies glistening in the light.
When they left the pool and redressed, he pulled her close to him, kissed her softly, and then looked with some concern down into her eyes.
“I know that we didn’t plan this; in fact, we both had other plans and this was just supposed to be an overnight business trip for the two of us. You were going to paint my portrait and then go, but things worked out differently, and now we’re much more invested in each other than we were before.” His voice was tender, but there was a serious undertone to it, and she could hear the emotion in his words.
“What are you saying?” she asked as she gazed back at him, her heart beginning to beat more rapidly.
He drew in a slow breath, looked away for a minute, and then turned his sky blue eyes back to her. “This time with you has been so perfect. It’s like a dream, a beautiful dream. It just feels to me like it can’t be real, like I dreamed you into existence, or something.”
“It feels that way to me as well, like you can’t be real either… like this is a perfect, beautiful dream. Nothing in life is this perfect. Nothing like this really happens, and yet here we are. I’m pretty sure it’s happening, but then again, it’s so surreal that it must be a dream, right?” She laughed softly, but not in a humorous way.
He touched her cheek and ran his thumb over her lower lip. “Then if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up. I don’t want it to end. We’re both in control here. We’re both in control of this. I want to see you again when we get back to Boston. I want to keep seeing you and keep this thing we started going. I know it’s sudden and unexpected, but how could we let something this wonderful slip through our fingers?
We can’t, can we? So, tell me yes. Tell me that you’ll see me when we get back to Boston. Let’s keep this going. Let’s build on it. I want you. I want more of you. I want so much more of you.” He sighed and kissed her forehead and she exhaled slowly, feeling total happiness wash through her like the waterfall near them.
“Yes,” she said simply, with a wide smile.
“Yes?” He almost laughed he was so pleased with her response.
“Definitely, yes. I want this to keep going too. I never imagined that it could be like this with anyone, and you are a surprise for me. I didn’t expect this at all with you, but I want it to keep going and we’ll just see what happens. I love where we are right now, and maybe it could be even better than this, if that’s even possible.” She laughed a little then.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that.” He looked enormously relieved. “We’re going to keep it going, and it’s going to get even better. I know it. I don’t know how, but it will.” He grinned and kissed her again, long and slow, and when he let her go, they were both completely thrilled with the prospect of what could be in the future for them.
They hiked back to the little tender boat together and directed it toward the yacht. The rest of the afternoon was spent with both of them in the nude as she painted him and got far enough along with the painting that she would be able to finish it back at her studio.
They had one last night on the boat, and they spent it in each other’s arms in his bed, making love until they were exhausted. Then they fell asleep together, while the yacht was sailed back into Boston harbor, where it docked. When they awoke, they were both somewhat disappointed to find that their beautiful weekend was over, but they were both looking forward to being a couple in the city, and he days to come and what their newfound romantic interests in each other might bring them.
Chapter5
Chanel went back to her own home, and while it felt good to her to be there in her familiar surroundings, it was like waking up from the beautiful dream of the weekend, and that was something that she hadn’t really wanted to do. It seemed like a trade to her: comfort and security for the wild and unexpected excitement of the adventure she had shared with Nick.
She unpacked her bags, started her laundry, and gazed at the canvas of her beautiful lover, wondering how different the painting might look if s
he hadn’t become his lover, because she was seeing him with different eyes. She had painted most of him with a lover’s hand, as they had fallen into each other’s arms almost right from the start. She knew that had they not done that, and fallen to the temptation of each other, her painting and portrayal of him might look very different.
Her cell phone rang and she looked down and saw that it was Chris. With a gasp, she realized that she hadn’t talked to him since Friday morning when she left, and she had promised him that she would call him when she got back. She hadn’t even texted him, as she had been so lost in her new romance.
“Chris!” she gushed, her eyes wide as she held the phone in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. “I’m so sorry! I was going to call you, I was, but the whole weekend just got away from me!”
He chuckled. “That’s all right, darling. I had a little too much champagne and ordered Chinese delivery, and then the rest of the weekend was a blur of old movies and Kung Pao surprise. It was fabulous. So how was your painting job?”