The Corrupt Billionaire COMPLETE Box Set

by Hope, Camilla

  “I hated that you… that you didn’t trust me enough to take care of it,” he admitted. “I swore to you that…”

  “And I never doubted you. Not for one second,” I assured him.

  Lifting his entire body away from the pillows, he coiled my hair around his finger as his whisper hit my ear.

  “Then why run, Gypsy?” he asked. “Why would you…?”

  “Maybe it was my time to rescue you,” I answered.

  At the sound of my words, his eyes brimmed with the beginnings of tears, but he quickly blinked them back and fell back to the bed.

  “Rescue me now, Gypsy,” he pleaded softly. “I’ve been sick and sad without you.”

  He made no other move, and for the briefest of seconds, the horror that was the feel of being trapped under my father’s hands started to crawl from the pit of my soul to the forefront of my mind. As I looked down at my wounded hand, I saw it tremble at the thought that my dance with the devil in the space of a dream might not have done the trick.

  But how could it? How could it ever leave me entirely? But the man, the monster, was no more. And I was going to keep choking it down until the torment only reared its head in tiny flickers that I could wink away as quickly as Peter had blinked back his tears.

  But I needed to do more than know that he was gone.

  I had to show Peter… I had to show myself… that as hard as he might have tried, it would take more than his deranged idea of being a father to ruin me forever.

  “Hold still,” I gently cautioned Peter. With only one hand to work with, it took some doing to pull his buttons from their holes, but as soon as I had the entire expanse of his chest under my hand, I moved down to kiss his broad chest. His need to touch me filled the air, but he kept his arms by his side and as I kissed my way to his mouth, I pinched his cheek and laughed lightly.

  “What are you waiting for?” I teased.

  “You said to hold still,” he reminded me. “From now on, you give the orders.”

  Loving the sound of that, I stripped him of his shirt, both of my hands gliding down his arms until I touched the tips of his nails and lowered my head to tongue his flesh.

  “How did you know that’s just what I needed?” I moaned into his middle.

  “Lucky guess,” he whispered as he played with my hair and ran his hard hand down the length of my neck. “Bet it feels good, right?”

  “Feels amazing,” I answered.

  As I eased his zipper down, I felt him already hard and throbbing under my fingers. Kissing him there, his piece quivered under the feel of my lips, but Peter kept his lust in check as I backed away and pulled my blouse over my head. His pupils expanded at the sight of my breasts, and I eased his hands to my nipples with a gentle smirk.

  “Touch me,” I said. “I want your hands on my body.”

  He obliged with tentative traces of his hands, the sides of his fingers sliding across my breasts. Even as my head fell back with a series of contented sighs, I craved a harder hold and pushed his hand into my breasts, moaning for him to knead my flesh.

  Peter met my eyes, his stare seeming to search my face to be sure of my want. As soon as I nodded my head and licked my lips, he honored my wordless wishes and explored my eager flesh. Every push was followed by a smooth swipe, and I kept my bandaged hand resting on his chest as he reached under my skirt and lowered my panties. I saw him smile at the feel of my wet wanting, as his fingers explored my moist folds. Lowering myself carefully, I eased my body over his firmness, smiling as my flesh encircled his. Peter groaned as our bodies mingled, and my head fell to his chest.

  “Show me what you want,” he said. “Take charge.”

  I had his hands in mine as I started to rock my body to his. Peter’s pulse mirrored my movements, and I savored the feel of his piece growing larger and larger inside me. There was no hint of pain as he throbbed and thrust inside me, and my voice left my lips in soft pants as I tossed my head back and gave myself up to the waves of pleasure coursing through my body.

  “Don’t leave me,” I moaned. “Never go away.”

  “Cuts both ways, Gypsy,” he said breathlessly as he reached for my hair, his chest heaving as he thrust inside me. My head spun when he came to a stop and dragged his body closer to mine.

  “Promise me you’ll never run away again,” he insisted and as I looked into his face I could see beads of sweat dotting his brow. “Whatever it is… I want to share it with you.”

  “Then… then share it all with me right now,” I whimpered, my thighs burning against his as his shaft consumed me.

  Letting his lust loose in a one final thrust, my body arched and I cried out with pleasure. Peter cradled my neck and drew me close for a deep kiss as I draped my arms around his shoulders and struggled to catch my breath.

  Peter stayed inside me, his piece growing softer. Yet I still relished the feel of our flesh so close, and he stroked my back, his lips running down my face until we collapsed to the bed as one.

  “My God,” I finally managed to moan. “I feel… I feel so…”

  “No need for words,” he promised. “And it’s more than mutual.”

  I lingered in his embrace, a small part of me fearing that my father’s assault would pop back into my brain and drive me from his arms. But to my surprise, it did nothing but drift away until I had buried the memory in the deepest recesses of my mind.

  “Good,” I said. “Better get used to a lifetime of it.”

  With the terror tucked away, I flattened my good hand to his chest and lifted my eyebrows.

  “What are you wondering about?” he asked turning his head to one side.

  “When you’re going to give me the ring back,” I smiled.

  Peter looked up at the ceiling, but I cradled his face back to face mine and slowly nodded my head.

  “I never really wanted to take it off,” I said. “You… you know that, right?”

  He nodded his head and kissed me quickly as he reached for his jacket and dipped his hand into his rumpled pocket. As soon as the diamond hit the light, my hand started to tremble as he took hold of my wrist.

  “And this time it stays in place,” he said. “And so do you!”

  His order hit the air like a plea, and I smiled into his eyes as my hand steadied and I accepted the band.

  “That feels better,” I said as the huge diamond sparkled before my eyes.

  But I needed a better look.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as I left his body, wrapped the sheet around my body and grabbed his hand.

  “Come with me,” I coaxed.

  We reached the window and I flung the drapes aside. Moonlight poured through the glass, and I lifted the ring to the silver rays as he touched my waist and kissed the top of my head.

  “No need to hide anymore,” I told him.

  “No need at all,” he murmured into my hair.

  Peter turned me around to face him, and I stood on the tips of my toes on the precipice of his kiss.

  “How long?” I asked.

  “How long?” he echoed. “What do you mean?”

  “I… I don’t want to waste any more time,” I continued. “When can we… you know… like make it official?”

  He took a soft step back, and I bit down on my lip as he shook his head against his chest and held my hand.

  “You astonish me,” Peter said. “I thought… when you wouldn’t even let me touch you... I thought that I’d lost you again. Maybe for good.”

  Twisting my arm around his waist, I felt him breath deep as he moaned into my neck.

  “I don’t want us to lose each other again,” I promised him.

  Looking up into his eyes, I sighed at the feel of his hand on my face, and I watched with waiting eyes when he squared his shoulders and jutted his chin into the air.

  “Alright then,” he said. “We’ll do it here in Harrison.”

  Peter settled me back on the edge of the bed, and he sat at my side as he wrapped his arm around my
shoulders.

  “So how do we do this?” he started. “You want the whole town cleared out for the occasion? I could make that happen. Get Sabrina and Danny down on the next flight.”

  I nodded at the sound of that. No way would I want to do this without them. But as for the rest of it…

  “Think smaller, Peter. I don’t need a big show. Only you. With me.”

  “I should have known,” he said. “It’s whatever you want from now on.”

  We started to sink to the bed again when I shot up and seized his hand again.

  “Let’s give Nellie the good news,” I said.

  “Careful,” he cautioned as we were nearly at the door. “Something tells me that she’s going to have all kinds of ideas.”

  And I was ready to hear them all out.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “So hillbilly chic is like your new thing?” Sabrina said as she pulled a face.

  “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it honey,” I laughed.

  Sabrina wasn’t far wrong. One look out the window revealed wildflowers forming an aisle stretching towards the bank of the lake with twigs curling into an archway. But as I peered through the glass, I saw Peter standing and shuffling as Danny’s fingers fussed around his tie. The sun was just setting over the rippling water, and I wanted to rush to him right then and there when Sarina pulled me back and smoothed her fingers about the waves of lace crossing my legs.

  “Hardly the Vera Wang that I would have picked for you,” Sabrina said. “But I guess it has its own charms.”

  At the sound of Nellie’s snorts, I turned back to the mirror. She had said it was something that she was able to slip into without holding her breath in her younger days, and I exhaled now as I ran my hands down my sides.

  “No, Bree,” I said. “This is much better.”

  Nellie told tales of the gown hanging off her in her younger days. One look at her hips now made me doubt that any item of clothing had ever hung off her body, but as I touched my tummy, filling out didn’t seem such a bad thing. Happily married women grew large in the knowledge that they would always be loved. Maybe that was why my mother had fought so hard to stay slim up until the moment of the crash. Maybe she knew what my father had in mind. Maybe she would have done anything to keep my father interested as I grew into the one that he wanted…

  No, I thought. Not today. My father had already done enough and he wasn’t going to intrude on my special day. It had taken a few weeks to organize in spite of Peter saying he could make it happen the next day. There were formalities to deal with and flowers to order and Nellie said we had to do it properly or not at all.

  “Bree? Do you have the veil?” I asked over my shoulder.

  “Allow me,” Nellie said quickly.

  Nellie tore the floral crown resting above the silk train from Sabrina’s hands, and as she pressed it into my braided hair, I sighed at my reflection in the mirror.

  “No need to cover up what he’s already seen,” Nellie said.

  “You speak from experience, Nellie?” Sabrina asked

  Nellie sniffed the air as she smoothed the veil over my shoulders and tilted her head to the side.

  “Lots of rented rooms before I stepped into this dress for almost keeps. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t pure,” Nellie said with a wry smile.

  She pushed her fingers under my chin and blinked fast.

  “And so are you,” Nellie continued. “Don’t let anything that ever happened to you make you think otherwise.”

  “Thank you, Nellie,” I said as I hugged her tight and rested my eyes into the creases of her neck.

  I longed to be her. Big and fat and happy. But with one exception. What she had lost, I would fight tooth and nail to keep close by always.

  “I’m ready,” I said, suddenly feeling nervous.

  We were nearly out the door when Sabrina pulled me back by my arm.

  “What, Bree?” I asked. “I thought you were okay with him?”

  “What, a man that crashes a plane and…” Sabrina began with a laugh.

  “It wasn’t his fault!” I cried. “And I’d still be trapped with the man who called himself my father…”

  “I know,” she said. “I just wanted to give you these.”

  She pressed a bouquet of yellow roses into my hands, and I blushed at the thought that I’d nearly left them behind when she patted my cheek.

  “We’ve both been to the school of hard knocks,” she said. “You’re better off without him.”

  My buried fears started to creep to the surface, and I nearly wept at the fear that my so-called father might still work his way into this day when Sabrina took me into her arms and held me on the cusp of a whisper.

  “You didn’t see Peter,” she said. “He was like a mad man when he thought he’d lost you. That’s when I knew.”

  “Knew what?” I asked.

  “That he really wasn’t in on it,” she said. “And I thought… maybe this was someone you should end up with.”

  Hugging her tight, I thanked her and felt her kiss on my cheek before she smoothed the silk around my shoulders and a guitar started to strum.

  “That’s pretty,” I said.

  “That’s Wayne,” Nellie said with a grin. “I told him to practice hard.”

  Sabrina flicked my veil as she turned on her heel and started towards the lake. Nellie offered her wide arm, and I touched her gingerly as I lowered my eyes.

  “You really didn’t have to do this,” I said.

  “Your skinny friend’s not the only one that’s seen him at his worst,” Nellie said.

  “At his worst?”

  “All the moments when he doesn’t have you,” Nellie explained.

  She leaned close to my ear.

  “He looks good now, though, doesn’t he?” Nellie whispered.

  I nodded my head in agreement as Nellie marched me like the mother I’d lost to Peter’s side. Seeing Danny stand up for him as I handed Sabrina my flowers, I reached out my hands and Peter lifted my fingers to his lips.

  “Pretty,” he purred. “Perfect.”

  “Could say the same thing about you,” I beamed.

  A radiant reverend spoke the words that were meant to bring us together. When he asked who gave me away, I shuddered slightly until Danny took me by the hand.

  “I do,” he said.

  Peter bowed his head in way of thanks, but even as Danny pushed our hands together, he cocked his head to the side.

  “I still get to paint her,” he said. “My conditions.”

  “Conditions?” the reverend asked. “Is this an arranged marriage?”

  “No,” I said with a laugh as I kissed Danny’s cheek and held Peter’s hand closer.

  “Wasn’t it?” Peter asked. “I… mean…”

  My tongue and everyone else’s grew silent around us as we waited as one for his answer. I knew that he wasn’t a part of all the cruel twist of fates that had fallen down on my head. But was he still hiding something from me?

  He kept my hands in his as he hung his head, and my heart started to race up into my throat when Peter gave me his eyes again.

  “I didn’t deserve to find you,” he said. “Let alone… love you this much.”

  I had to blush when Peter pushed his fingers under my chin and eased my eyes to his.

  “So yeah,” he continued. “Arranged - by fate if nothing else.”

  Fate. It seemed the perfect word when it came to us, and I moved to kiss him when Nellie pushed her arm between our mouths.

  “How’s about you let him pronounce you first,” she said. “Then you’ll have all the time in the world for kissing.”

  Holding back, longing to pull him close and fall into his arms, I threw my shoulders back and strained my ears towards the sound of the reverend’s voice. Peter spoke fast when he was asked if he would take me and keep me close through whatever might come. Soon the question turned to me, and I stayed silent for a second as I let the words sink in.
r />   For better or for worse….

  Nothing could be worse than being without him. Morgan had lied when he told me Peter was dead, and my own father tried to bring me to a place where I almost didn’t feel that I was worthy of Peter’s arms under any conditions.

  But now…

  “I do,” I said “Of course I do.”

  Peter pressed a new platinum ring where the diamond had been, and as soon as I felt it on my finger, he snapped at the reverend to race to finish.

  “So by the power invested I me, I pronounce you…”

  But I couldn’t wait. Leaping into Peter’s arms, I kissed him hard and drank in the curve of his lips as a small round of applause erupted around us. As I kept kissing him, the claps and cries seemed to grow louder, and just as quickly they fell away. My world narrowed to the space of Peter’s eyes, and as soon as our lips parted, I felt his whisper tailing down my neck as he pressed me close to his chest.

  “Gypsy?”

  Looking up into his eyes, I watched his lips lift into a smile.

  “You were supposed to let me to the honors,” he teased.

  “I thought you said that I should take charge,” I said.

  Peter, my husband, started to speak when he just nodded his head and fingered my veil.

  “Grant me another kiss then?” he asked.

  My head hardy nodded when he flung the silk over our heads. Savoring the sense of the cocoon he somehow wove around us, I peered into his eyes and smiled.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” I laughed.

  Again our lips locked, and I felt as if I would fall out of my dress when he pressed me closer and stroked my face.

  “I love you, Gypsy,” he asked. “Are you happy?”

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  Nellie had set up a spread of hot and cold appetizers followed by finger sandwiches. Every time Peter tried to pop a shrimp in my mouth or offered me a roll from the deli platter, I politely waved him off, much to his concern.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” he asked.

  “Guess I’m just too excited to eat,” I told him. Sensing that he would burst if I didn’t bite down on something, I picked at a dinner roll and slightly nodded my head.