The Geek Billionaire Makeover

by Theresa Meyers

  Holy shit. All she had on underneath that towel was her underwear. Feeling like the adolescent boy who’d first fallen for her, Josh swallowed hard at the sudden lump in his throat. His hands grew warm and he hoped she didn’t notice as he tugged down the edge of the towel and popped apart the hooks holding her bra together. He couldn’t resist touching her skin.

  He slid the damp straps from her shoulder, his hands finding her skin cool and satiny smooth to the touch.

  “Mm,” she said softly. The sound was one of pleasure and enough to jack his need up another level. “Your hands are nice and warm.”

  The damp towel was making the belly of his shirt and the front of his trousers damp. He was damned surprised they weren’t steaming. Even though he’d promised himself he wouldn’t make a move tonight, he couldn’t help himself. He bent down and lightly pressed his lips in slow, soft kisses along the back of her neck. Her skin was slightly salty from the water, but underneath was pure, sweet Caroline.

  She gasped, dipping her head to the side, giving him better access. He wasn’t about to waste such a sweet invitation. He slipped his hands beneath the edge of the damp towel, resting them at first on her waist, while he continued to kiss her neck and across to her collarbone. The damp hair sprang into soft waves as it began to dry and still smelled of the jasmine scent she wore. Slowly, his hands touched the silky firm planes of her stomach and the bottom edges of her ribs.

  His skin was on fire just touching her like this. She made soft, sexy noises as she pressed the soft curve of her bottom into his groin. She reached beneath the towel, her cool hand covering his and bringing it up higher until his palm filled with the firm, cool weight of her breast.

  He marveled at the silky texture of it in his hand and let out a breath. It was so much more than he’d fantasized about.

  “Damn, you’re perfect.” She was soft, so damn soft, and smooth.

  Caroline leaned her head back, and his mouth easily found hers. Her lips were just as soft as the rest of her. The slow, sensual slide of the tip of her tongue against his, warm and wet, made him instantly think of other things that might be wet as well.

  She twisted in his arms, letting the bra fall along with the towel, leaving her clad in only her stockings, garters, and damp sheer black panties. He’d thought he couldn’t get any harder. He was wrong. He tried not to explode. It was like being a freshman all over again. He worked to keep his hands from shaking. Had he any clue she’d been outfitted like this beneath her dress he would have skipped dinner completely.

  “Anything else I can do for you?” he asked, deliberately keeping his voice casual despite the raw, needy edge it carried. Inside, he was a red-hot mess coming unglued by the sexy woman nearly naked in front of him.

  “I can think of several things.” The sensual tone to her voice was the stuff of midnight fantasies. Soft, inviting, eager. She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, her bare breasts pressing against his chest in a way that made him want to tear all his clothes off, so he could feel every inch of her against every inch of him. He groaned.

  “Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

  “I hope so, because I want you to touch me, everywhere.”

  If this wasn’t a green light to go ahead, he didn’t know what was. Screw the rules. Caroline Parker wanted him. Wanted him. And by God she was going to get everything he had.

  …

  Something flipped the switch, and that raw, hungry, sexually charged male she’d glimpsed once before broke to the surface, making her shiver. It was the way he looked at her, like she was the most glorious thing he’d ever seen, with an edge of I-want-you-now-and-I’m-going-to-take-it that made her skin tighten in anticipation and her pulse pounded not just in her ears, but in her fingertips, in her toes, and between her thighs.

  The firm planes of his chest against her aching breasts confirmed one thing. He hid a lot of his best assets under his clothing. With his hands on her hips, he pulled her in to cradle the hot, hard length of him against her mons.

  “You’re still not out of all your wet clothes.” The low, husky words penetrated her last reserves of resistance. She was done fooling herself. She wanted Joshua Martin in the worst way. Her body craved him. She wanted to feel him. Every. Hard. Inch. Of. Him. She ground against him and blue fire blazed in his eyes.

  “Guess I could use your help with that first.”

  Most guys would have just ripped off their clothes, and what remained of hers, and gone for it. But Josh was a man of ultimate control. Ultimate power. And he liked to call the shots.

  Slowly, he dropped to his knees in front of her, leaving a trail of wicked kisses as he went from her neck, down her bare breasts and ribs to her stomach, his tongue swirling around her belly button giving her all kinds of ideas of his capabilities. Everything in her melted following the trail of heat he left behind. He deftly undid the clasp on her garter belt, his hands rolling off each of her stockings, as he pressed kisses and soft bites to the insides of her thighs and behind her knees. She shivered, her body twisting tighter, aching, begging for release.

  “And the underwear?” she prompted, her breath coming faster, inhaling the scent of fresh soap and potent male.

  “Don’t rush me. The best things are worth waiting for,” he whispered against her skin. “But first I want to make sure you’re so hot and wet they could melt off you.”

  Already there. Thanks. She shook as he worked his way back up her body, paying special attention to her belly button and her breasts. Kissing, and licking, like she was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted and he was savoring her.

  By the time he reached her mouth again her skin was no longer cold, but scorching, beginning to grow slick with perspiration. She was trembling, the need to feel him touch her intimately barely leashed. He kissed her hard, pouring himself into her. She could taste the need and desire on his lips. His hands swept around her bottom, kneading it in his hands, then lifted her, until her legs wrapped around his hips. Her intimate heat pressed against him.

  Caroline rubbed herself against the hard ridge of him to relieve some of the pressure, but it sure as hell wasn’t enough. “Touch me,” she rasped, her breaths short. God, why couldn’t she get enough air?

  Sure, deft fingers slid inch by enticing inch across her bottom and the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, making her tremble with expectation.

  With an expert touch he maneuvered past the edge of her panties, his fingers sliding against the slick wetness of her. Into her. She gasped.

  He caught her mouth in a kiss, his tongue mimicking the motion of his fingers as he slid them in, out, and spiraling around her tender flesh. A delicious pressure increased, focusing and pounding in her blood.

  “Let it go,” he whispered against her ear.

  Her hips began moving of their own accord, bucking against him, her body searching for release.

  She moaned. “I need you…inside of me.”

  He brushed his mouth over her jaw. “Not yet.”

  An explosion of stars spun across her vision as she tightened from head to toe, not daring to breathe. The sensation rocked her to the core, driving her desire to feel him, all of him. She slid down the length of him, leaving one leg cupped around him and her wet heat pressed up against his pulsing arousal. She rocked against him. The tense cords in his neck and the flexing of his jaw told her that it was by sheer force of will that he didn’t drag her down to the floor.

  “God, you’re wet.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” she growled back, then panted, desperate for a sip of air. “We have a problem.”

  He pulled back a fraction. “You’re not going to ask me to stop, are you, because I—”

  She kissed him to shut him the hell up. “You’re wearing too many clothes. So am I. Get them off. Now.”

  A predatory smile curved his lips. “Whatever you say.”

  His fingers hooked around the thin band of elastic at her hips and peeled the damp underw
ear off her. He kissed her hard, then starting taking off his own clothes.

  Caroline had never seen a guy come out of his clothes that quickly. But when he was done, Caroline was truly shocked. She realized she’d never seen Josh without his clothes. And what he hid beneath them was amazing.

  Sleek muscle covered every inch of him. His arousal was thick and hard, flexing the second she looked right at it, begging her to touch it.

  Caroline scrambled up on the bed, kneeling, crooking her finger at him in a “come here” motion. Josh didn’t hesitate. He growled deep, an appreciative rumble vibrating in his chest as he followed her onto the bed. He cupped her bare breasts in his hands, caressing, stroking, and kneading them.

  “So perfect—” His words were cut off as he feasted on her straining nipple, licking it and sucking while his hand smoothed around the curve of her bottom and reached from behind her to tease her moist folds and curls again. He pressed into her heat and she arched.

  Desire, white-hot and intense, flashed through her like a lightning bolt. She wet her fingers and palm with a lick of her tongue and reached down to capture him in a slick grip. Teasing and gliding upward on the searing silky length of him, she rocked her slippery hand over the smooth, heated tip.

  “If you keep doing that, I won’t be able to finish this.”

  “What about if I do this?” She reached down and took hold of him, positioning him to slide between her wet folds, but not enter her. She swayed her hips forward and back, making the erection between her legs leap and rub her. She teased herself with him, letting the tip push insistently at her, but not letting it in.

  He muttered a curse. “How do you expect me to hold back?”

  “I don’t,” she rasped.

  He pressed his hot, hard palm across her bottom and pulled her into and on him in one thrust.

  Caroline fell apart clinging to him as the boat rocked, pressing him deeper, in a rhythm that left her breathless, tethered only by the feel of him as a part of her, as if she were lost in both time and space.

  Josh held her tight and breathed one word into her hair as he found release. “Caroline.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The morning light streamed in, illuminating the berth with an almost ethereal golden glow. The boat rocked gently, and the sound of wavelets splashing against the hull was a counterpoint to the leap of his heart as Josh realized this wasn’t a dream. He was awake, with Caroline curled up against him, naked beneath the tangle of sheets, her head resting on his chest.

  He wanted to scream, and shout, and tell the universe he’d accomplished the impossible. He’d gotten Caroline Parker, the woman of his dreams, in his bed and it had been better than his incredible imagination had envisioned.

  She made a soft stirring noise, nestling closer, her legs moving slightly, rubbing along his. God she was soft, and smelled good, and just feeling her silky skin against his made him rock-hard all over again. The crescent-shaped shadow of her dark lashes fanned out across the top edge of her cheek, her hair a silken web of chestnut waves that threatened to tangle him up with her. And that was all right with him. Every bit of it.

  That’s when reality hit him hard, making it difficult to breathe, just like the day he’d wanted to ask her to the Sweetheart’s Ball. He didn’t just want Caroline in his bed. He wanted to wake up like this with her every morning beside him.

  He wanted her to be his and his alone. Always.

  Caroline turned, her eyes still closed. “Good morning,” she mumbled softly, her voice still sleepy.

  It was a good morning. The best morning ever. “Good morning.”

  A sappy smile curved the rosy edges of her full mouth, driving him insane. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, then nibbled at her shoulder.

  “How about some breakfast,” he whispered in her ear.

  “That sounds fantastic.”

  Josh got up, threw on a favorite pair of jeans he kept on board the boat, and headed barefoot to the galley to make them something to eat. Knowing he’d likely burn eggs, he’d made sure to buy muffins and fruit, and bring along champagne and orange juice for mimosas on the slim chance that their date turned into anything more. At the time he’d thought it just a fantasy; now that it was reality he wasn’t exactly sure what to do next to prolong it. All he knew, deep in his core, was that he didn’t want it to end.

  Perhaps he was greedy, but he wanted more of Caroline. Not just a date or month or two, he thought as he sliced up some melon and apples and added a few dark red cherries to a plate beside the blueberry muffin. He wanted Caroline as his and his alone for as long as he could have her.

  The sound of her bare feet shushing over the wooden floorboards made him glance up. She was wearing the T-shirt he’d offered her last night, her long legs deliciously bare beneath the thigh-skimming length of the shirt. Her eyes were deep green, framed in dark lashes, and the light coming in the windows spun filaments of red and gold through the sleep-tousled locks of her chestnut hair.

  He caught a bit of it between his fingers, slipping the silken strand around his finger. “You look beautiful when you wake up, did you know that?”

  She playfully swatted at his hand. “Now I know you’re still dreaming.”

  “If I am, you don’t plan on waking me up, do you, because this is the best damn dream I’ve ever had.” He held out a full plate to her.

  She laughed softly, taking the plate and easing into the built-in booth in the galley area. He set his own plate opposite hers, but didn’t join her just yet. “Would you like a mimosa, just the juice, or just the champagne?”

  One of her dark eyebrows arched. “Are you telling me you planned on having me stay for breakfast?”

  “That’s not an answer to the question,” he said. “Juice, bubbles, or both?”

  “Both.”

  He poured them both some in wineglasses then sat down opposite from her in the cozy little eating space.

  “Thank you.”

  She popped a cherry in her mouth and he watched the movement of her lips, mentally calculating just how long he could hold out before he needed to touch and kiss her again.

  “You didn’t answer my question either. Was this all an elaborate plan?”

  “You mean setting the boat, I paid dearly to have restored, set on fire and then knocking you into the water on the off chance you might stay the night?”

  She grinned. “Yeah. You have a point. I guess that doesn’t sound like the most brilliant plan, if it were one.”

  “Sometimes you’ve just got to go with the moment and see where it takes you.”

  Caroline sat back and took a sip of her mimosa. “Touché. And where exactly would you like this moment to lead us?”

  “You mean other than back to bed?”

  She laughed and the warmth of it seeped into him, easing away any cold, lingering doubts. He wanted Caroline. And he always got what he wanted sooner or later. Last night had proved it. Why should this be any different?

  “You could just make it easier on both of us if you married me.”

  She tossed a cherry stem at him. “I’m being serious, Josh. Where do you see this all going?”

  “I am being serious. Marry me.”

  She sat up straight, pulling at the hem of the T-shirt. “What?”

  He met her startled gaze, every trace of languid relaxation gone.

  “Marry me.”

  Her open mouth snapped shut. “Don’t get me wrong. That was probably the most incredible sex of my life. But marriage? You don’t even love me.”

  More than life. Yeah, he did. Always had. But the words he’d kept hidden for so long refused to pass the constriction in his throat. I love you, the final frontier. “Don’t leave me hanging. Will you marry me?”

  He’d already asked multiple times and she still hadn’t said anything. Yet he knew this woman as he’d never known any woman. She loved him, Josh knew she did. But did Caroline know how much she loved him?

  A sinking
sensation grew heavy and sickening in the pit of his stomach when her eyes met his and she didn’t say anything for several heart-wrenching moments.

  “I can’t.”

  …

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  She didn’t dare tell him what was in her heart. How the hell could she hope to explain the total mess she was in? Her business’s future and his depended on her doing what she was being paid to do…and on getting Mr. X what he wanted. She was supposed to remake his image in order to get him attention and support for the launch of Aeon—the kind of attention and support he’d only get with a “somebody” on his arm. Not her. Wasn’t that more important than the chemistry that seemed to be brewing between them? And for all she knew, Josh was simply confusing seriously hot sex with love.

  “You don’t even realize what you’re doing, what you’re risking. This is crazy. We can’t marry. What about Aubrey? What about Aeon?”

  Josh gave her a goofy, totally in love grin, but in his eyes she saw the hurt, the need driving him to say these crazy things. “I don’t care. I just want to be with you.”

  Caroline shook her head, weaving her fingers through her sleep-snarled hair and lifting it back and away from her scalp so she could process this. “You’re not thinking straight.”

  “I believe I can think for myself just fine, thank you. I want you, Caroline.”

  “No, you don’t. I’m not going to let you shoot yourself in the foot over a one-night stand.”

  The light in his eyes darkened as he sat back, crossing his arms over his fabulous bare chest. “That’s all it was to you?”

  Deep in her chest her heart shrank in upon itself. She didn’t want to do this, but what choice did she have? “It was adrenaline, Josh. You were scared. So was I. We just took it too far. It was a mistake, one I don’t want to ruin your life.”

  “The only thing that’ll ruin my life is if you reject me again, Caroline.”

  She winced. God, this sucked. It really did. But she knew it was for his benefit and her sanity. She couldn’t risk tanking her entire career as an image consultant for a fling. Sooner or later when he’d worked through all his latent adolescent fantasies, he’d come back to the real world and realize being with her had cost him the successful launch of Aeon and he’d be done with her. And she’d be right back to square one—with nothing, no one to be with, and no job. Right now his success was more important for both of them and their futures than taking the chance on a relationship that was iffy at best. She turned away from him and looked out the cabin window. “Josh, there’s something you don’t know.”