“Kind of a boring way to live.” I’m picking my way across the crushed shell pathway.
“Necessary when you run a company the size of Johnson.”
Curious, I cock my head. “Is this what you wanted to do growing up? You have a ton of henchmen at your disposal, why don’t you take time off?”
His hands are stuffed into his pockets. “James was supposed to head the company. Firstborn and all, and he had a natural charisma people gravitated to. He would have been able to close a deal just with a smile.” He squeezes my hand. “Yes, I have plenty of henchmen who could run the company, but I need to be in control. It’s my thing. As for what I wanted to do growing up?” He pulls his hand through his hair. “You’ll laugh.” He gives me a shifty, sideways look.
“I won’t. I promise.” I cross my heart.
“A mechanic. I wanted to be a mechanic. I love taking engines apart, fixing them, and putting them back together.”
I stop dead on the path. “As in a guy who wears Dickies coveralls with an oily rag in the back pocket, who talks about crankshafts and timing belts. That kind of mechanic?”
This from the man who wears suits which cost more than my apartment. Who has his shoes handmade, who forks out thousands on Tiffany gifts?
“That’s the one.”
His face is so severe, I huff in a breath. My chest is burning, my lungs are on fire, but I can’t hold it in any longer. I laugh. Hands-on-my-knee’s laughter spills out of me. My eyes are watering, and I can’t help it.
“I knew you’d laugh.” He’s grinning at me.
I wipe tears from my cheeks. “It’s hard to imagine you under the hood of a car, or sitting in a lunchroom with a brown sack lunch, talking about the game, and worrying about the weekly delivery from O’Reilly Auto Parts.”
“I’ve never had a sack lunch in my life.” He shudders beside me, but there’s laughter in his tone, and I squeak when he picks me up caveman style.
“You’re going to pay for the laughter. Prepare to be tied to the bed and thoroughly fucked.”
Hours later, I’m officially out of orgasms. Jason is asleep beside me, his dark hair falling over his face. He looks untroubled when he’s asleep, boyish almost. I trace over the cursive letters that hug his hip which spell out ‘Praesidio’, wondering who he is protecting.
It’s then I get it like a shock to the heart. Jason isn’t living his life. He didn’t protect his brother, and then he stopped allowing himself to have a life.
My heart breaks again for the lost little boy and the closed-off man he’s become. I recommit my earlier promise. I will give him some happy before all of this blows up in our faces. Because it will. I look at Sleeping Beauty. He gets the house, I get the money, and we both walk away.
But I don’t want to walk away. I want to stay with this man forever. I’ve gone and done what I promised myself I wouldn’t do—fallen in love with a man who doesn’t love.
A tear falls onto my cheek.
“Asia?” Sleeping Beauty is no longer sleeping. He brushes the now free-flowing tears from my face.
“It’s nothing. Allergies,” I whisper, turning my back to him and stuffing my face into the pillow to stop the sob clogging my throat.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jason
“Why do we have to leave? You promised three days.” My assistant/wife yells at my back as I stride along the tarmac where the Gulfstream sits fueled and ready to get me out of this shit. This shit, being the cozy feeling of playing house with my assistant/wife that is feeling way too familiar.
“Problem with the henchmen,” I call over my shoulder. “Hurry up,” I bark, and her gaze narrows, then she walks slower, just as I knew she would. When I woke last night and found tears pouring down her cheeks and heartbreak written all over her face, I knew I had to get away because this won’t work. I’m better off going through life on my own because I’m the only one I can rely on. Everyone I’ve ever loved has left me, so why put myself out there for more abandonment and pain? I’m not that much of a masochist.
“You promised me three days, and we’ve only had one.” Her eyes snap, then spit fire.
She’s pissed, and I get it, but there’s only so much a man can take.
There is no problem with the henchmen, as my assistant/wife calls them. The company’s running fine. Now I’ve given them more responsibility, they are thriving, in fact, which pisses me off more than it should.
No, the problem is the feisty woman beside me who has slipped under my skin way more than I expected.
Business transaction, I remind myself daily, hourly, every two minutes. A mutually beneficial business arrangement.
I’m in my seat with pods in, which of course doesn’t deter Asia when she rips one out.
Concerned gold, green and brown eyes stare into mine.
“It isn’t about the business, because I’ve checked the inbox, and I can’t find any email that has us cutting our honeymoon short.”
That’s exactly the reason I need off the island. I want to wake with her in my arms, her head on my shoulder, my leg anchoring her to me, and I can’t have this. I can’t have her.
Apart from the obvious, that we have opposing futures, I really am going through life with the one person I can rely on.
Me.
I won’t abandon me.
I like my own company. Hell, if I could marry myself I probably would, then buy myself inappropriate gifts from sex shops.
If I were another guy, I’d be all over her, but I’m not that guy. I’m me, and I don’t want to hurt her by leading her on a false promise. I only agreed to the honeymoon because she’d stipulated it as a reason for marrying me. No honeymoon, no marriage, no house.
“It’s potential business,” I say as she laces her fingers with mine, and I don’t pull away. See, there’s the problem right there. “I’ll make it up to you.”
She nods, sits beside me, and stares out the window. “You should live your own life, not James’s life. You should be a mechanic, find what you love and live it. I bet he’d want that. You think you didn’t protect him, but you were a little boy, you couldn’t protect him from a terrible accident.”
I still. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say gruffly.
Asia, in true Asia style, stares me down. “I think I do, and I think deep down you know you’re not living your life but trying to live his because you think you didn’t protect him which is why you have ‘Praesidio’ tattooed on your body.”
She’s got no fucking clue that I didn’t protect two people. One in boarding school where a kid we should have been looking out for and didn’t nearly lost his life. That kid now lives as basically a fucking recluse because of the damage done that night. My biggest regret is not protecting James from me.
I ignore her because I’m not going there with her, so I don’t answer because I don’t want to fight, but ten minutes later I can’t bear the silence. I click her seatbelt and sigh. “Want to choose the movie?”
She turns to me, a smile on her face that pierces my heart and my dick. “Let’s do what married people do and compromise. Let’s choose together.”
After arguing for half an hour, I agree with her choice of The Color Purple, which is on a list of movies that should have won the Oscar.
“Holy fuck.” I turn to my assistant/wife at the end of the movie. “Not sure why you think that’s a love story.” I run my hand through my hair. “No jury on this earth would convict Celie for killing the men who abused her. She should have knifed Albert in the throat.”
Asia swats at her cheeks. She gifts me a watery smile, her eyes glossy. “Celie found love, forgiveness, and atonement. I think it’s beautiful.”
“Not my idea of beautiful.” I pull my assistant/wife onto my lap and hold her until eventually her breathing evens. She has fallen asleep. I gather my assistant in my arms and head to the bedroom at the back of the plane. I tuck a blanket around her and stare out the window, lost in my though
ts. All of them useless, all of them concerning the woman sleeping feet away from me.
“Hey.” Asia stretches, and the blanket falls away, leaving me feasting on a breast encased in turquoise lace. That’s a rom coms and Cinnabons color. I’d given her the underwear, confessing I’d always meant it for her. I lied that she could either have it or I’d give away several hundred dollars of lingerie to Goodwill. I omitted how much it cost, knowing she’d pitch a fit.
She pats the space beside her. “We didn’t make the mile-high club.” Her smile is sexy and coy. With one hand, she reaches behind her back, then dangles the bra on a finger before dropping it. My obedient girl then crawls on all fours to me. “Got any ties? I quite like being tied and to you.”
I ignore the last comment but walk to where suits, shirts, and ties hang.
My dick is harder than granite and pulsing to be in its happy place, inside Asia.
“Hands above your head.” A blush creeps up her chest before she shoots me a wicked smile which lands in my balls. I secure her hands with a red silk tie and push the blankets off the bed. Her nipples are already tight buds begging for my tongue. There’s a damp spot staining the lace between her legs. I rip off the material standing between me and paradise.
“I dream of you owning me everywhere.”
She bites her lip.
Reading my horny mind, she says, “It’s in your carry on.”
I smirk. “Didn’t want to explain it on the x-ray?” I riffle through my bag at the end of the bed and pull out seven inches of silicone. “Can’t wait to see this in your beautiful ass.” My mouth waters. “Spread for me, baby. Show me how wet you are.” I drop my jeans and briefs and grip myself as she opens her legs.
“Dripping,” she says in a hoarse whisper.
Fuck, she is. The inside of her smooth thighs are glistening. I lean in and scent her. Her eyes never leave my hand gripping myself. I can feel the pull in my balls. I flip her then push her up onto all fours. Two creamy cheeks are my present. Pre-cum is on my throbbing cock as I pump harder, knowing I’m going to be anchored in her hot, sweet body. And just like that, I empty over her ass. I spread my cum over her puckered hole, and she shudders. I flip her and lick between her folds. She’s sweet, musky, and the best tasting dish in the world. My favorite flavor. She moans when my tongue touches her engorged clit. She groans, writhes, and is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Her face flushed, her hands gripping the sheet, eyes hazy. I stare down at my assistant/wife, and I’m already hard again.
“Touch me, please,” she pants, sounding needy.
I grin down at her. I like her compliant and begging. She opens her legs wider.
“Jason, please.”
Not yet. I work a finger into her, then another while she moans my name. My face is between her legs. The scent of her arousal contaminates the air. It’s a drug, and I’m a junkie. I pull her clit into my mouth and feast, one hand on her lower stomach anchoring her to the bed. God, she’s beautiful. Her head thrashes. Her face reddens. The muscles in her stomach are taut. She arches off the bed, my name on her lips, her body thrashing, her eyes locked on me in wonder as an orgasm trembles through her body.
“You’re beautiful when you come.”
You’re flat out beautiful.
I flip her, dying to get inside her, but first things first. I coat the silicone with her juices and my cum, and line it up with her back hole.
“Yes,” she moans, bucking upward. I ease it into her while I explore her pussy with my fingers. She’s so hot I’m probably blistered. When the silicone is full in, I play with it, dragging it out of her, gauging her reaction. Things are looking up for me at a later date.
I line myself up with her entrance and push inside.
“Jesus,” I hiss, surrounded by sensation. Hot muscle clenches around my dick. I thrust, and my eyes roll back in my head. I grab her silky hair and fist it. She looks at me over her shoulder, and I’m fucking undone. Those hazy eyes, full pouty lips begging for my dick, silicone buried in her ass, and me buried in her pussy. I stop when I’m anchored full in her, and she moans. I’m fighting for control, and I’m losing. I thrust into her like an animal.
Feral.
Wild.
Desperate.
My balls tighten, and I shoot way earlier than I want, but this woman is a tiger and somehow along the way, I became her prey. She follows me home, shuddering through her release calling my name.
We lay like panting savages. When I can see straight, I undo the ties that bind her wrists to the bed and gently remove the silicone from her ass.
She crawls into my lap and cuddles me.
“I’ve liked sex, but with you, I love sex. I never wanted Leonardo in my butt.” She traces circles on my shoulder. Her touch brands me. She may as well tie an invisible band to my dick and my heart. She has captured both, and deep down, I know I can’t have this. This isn’t my life. The dog, the people mover, intimacy. That word alone a week ago would have me throwing up. But until we land, until our normal life resumes, I’m going to drink in the sunshine that is my assistant/wife. Milk her, make her come, hold her in my arms until the gray light of reality hits us.
From Kona to Los Angeles, I fuck Asia and she fucks me back. Our mouths clash, our tongues war like Vikings. She may like to be tied down, but she’s far from a sub. She knows what she wants and goes after it.
As do I.
Hence the bite marks on my ass.
Until I did something so fucking stupid and fell for my business transaction.
I’ve let a bit of her sneak into my heart.
Now it’s time to push her out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Asia
“What are you snacking on, girl?” Brutus asks me as I float around my apartment. I’ve floated since we arrived back in Los Angeles on Friday night, well and truly sated by my broody boss. It is now Sunday, and I’m still floating. Jason had been quiet when we landed, and even quieter on the drive here, but with all the sex, I face planted on my bed and woke up twelve hours later. I expect he did, too.
“I know exactly what she’s been snacking on,” Darlene says with a smile. “I wish I had snacks like that lying around, I’d be as fat as a hippo.” She’s stroking Blossom, who vibrates in pleasure. I grin at my cat, who ignores me. Her vet appointment is Wednesday. Earlier today I’d asked Jason for a few hours off via text, and sent a love heart emoji and a picture of a baby goat and a baby sloth, because cuteness overload right there. He has yet to reply.
I grin at Brutus, real name Marion. When you’re six-foot-five, look like a team of rugby players, and you’re named Marion, according to Brutus, you get tough early, or you don’t survive the streets of LA. Marion has his grandma’s name, and his mom loved her mom. When someone dissed her, they dissed him, and the nickname Brutus stuck. Outside he is a gorgeous giant of a man with soulful dark eyes, a quick grin, and protective as hell to the people lucky enough to orbit his circle. He is firmly in mine. And as an assistant manager at Costco, we are privy to his discounts, especially on movie nights.
“Wish I had me some of those snacks, too,” Brutus sighs.
My heart stutters for him. Tied to his high school girlfriend who treats him like shit, pulling him in when it suits her.
“You deserve better.” Darlene’s voice hardens. “Dump her ass. Your daughter will always be in your life.”
His shoulders droop. “You know how she is.”
Darlene and I exchange a glance. We do. The woman threatens with leaving the state, the country, with their daughter if he doesn’t comply with her demands. So he does. Every time.
“I’m guessing you’re doing the fine specimen of a man who thumped down your door?” Darlene raises a dark brow. “Not a good idea, banging your boss.” She cocks her head. “You’re from different worlds, girlfriend. We don’t mix in theirs.”
Heat rises in my cheeks. I can’t explain how it is so much more than just sex. I know Jason. I’m starting to really l
ike him. Underneath the gloomy, broody exterior is a man who wants desperately to be loved, who yearns for connection and roots, and little old Asia Brown is going to be the one to give him what he secretly wants.
Go figure.
The next day I saunter into work high on life, catching the eye of surprised men and a few women. I give them a big grin.
Looks like my shopping spree with Darlene has paid off. I’ve busted out of my haze of black, navy, gray, and beige; instead, they are replaced with fitted dresses, swishy skirts, and cute tops in all different styles, scoop tops, hip-skimming dresses and skirts that hug my hips. I’ve even found something for Jason which I hope he likes. It’s only been two days, but I miss him. My heart is bursting with glitter at the thought of seeing him. I can’t keep the stupid smile off my face, and I cannot wait to be held by him, like I matter, because I know deep down I do.
“Asia, is that you?” Gabriel, Jason’s driver, holds the elevator for me. His eyes are enormous, his mouth parted as he scans me in a floral dress in emerald, pale pink, white, and black, which floats over my body and lands just above my knees. There’s also a black short-sleeved cardigan and black kitten heels. A pink scarf around my neck matches my new lipstick. I am happy and want the world to know it.
Yes, it is me, feeling fabulous, sexy, and wanted.
By one man.
“Yes, it’s me.” I playfully swat his shoulder. My handbag and Jason’s gift is in my other hand.
“You look so…” He shakes his head. “I mean, you’ve always been smokin’, but fuck, you’re flat out everything.”
He isn’t bad himself. Tall, dark blond hair, fathomless gray eyes, tanned like he works outdoors. It’s rumored he could pull a nun just by looking at her. I don’t disagree, but he isn’t my husband.
The elevator pings and the doors open. “Can you meet me later for a drink?”
“No, she fucking can’t.” Jason pulls me from the elevator. His eyes are stormier than I’ve ever seen them.
Bound to her Fake Fiancé Boss: A Fun Sexy Feel Good Billionaire Office Romance Page 18