by Cherry Kay
As fun as it was in the moment, it had serious repercussions at work. Tiffany had already taken two acetaminophen for her headache. She drank enough Vitamin Water to keep her visiting the bathroom at regular intervals throughout the day. But she still felt like she wasn’t able to focus on the work in front of her – and that was a major problem.
While Thomas might be fun and carefree with his money, Tiffany still had an enormous tuition debt to pay off on top of things like rent and phone bills. While Thomas might be happy to pay for dinners that cost about the same as what she earned each month, that didn’t mean she was going to start planning the rest of her life around having him take care of her.
Even if they did marry someday, Tiffany wasn’t sure she could ever give up her career. She worked hard to be taken seriously in her industry, and she had one of the best jobs of any of her classmates. The firm she worked for represented multinational brands with iconic ad campaigns, and already Tiffany had produced work that had become a part of print and television ads that had been seen by millions of people.
Deciding that a quick walk around the block was just the thing to clear her head, Tiffany put her computer to sleep, told someone she’d be back in fifteen minutes, and slipped out of the office. Once downstairs, she pushed open the large glass foyer doors and strolled outside, relishing the energizing warmth of the sun on her face. A light breeze rippled through the city making what might have otherwise been a stifling day feel rather mild and pleasant.
Knowing she didn’t have more than fifteen or twenty minutes before she had to be back, Tiffany walked down the sunny side of the street with the intention of doing a short loop of the neighborhood that would bring her back to the office. It wasn’t the most scenic of routes, but she enjoyed the distraction of watching other pedestrians and looking at interesting displays in the windows of the few boutique shops and galleries in the area.
One of the advantages to working for a hip, up-and-coming marketing firm was that they’d chosen to set up their offices in a more trendy and functional part of the city rather than in the cold and impersonal downtown core of which was all cold and soulless skyscrapers and corporations.
This neighborhood still had trees and cafés, and funky little bistros that had to maintain a high standard of quality in order to keep from going under.
Tiffany had walked only three blocks when she caught something odd out of the corner of her eye. Thinking she must have been mistaken, she backtracked to the small newsstand that had attracted her attention, and she picked up a business magazine with a very familiar face on it. Staring out at her from the cover of the magazine was the man she’d been dating for the last few weeks, but the caption below it referred to him as Thomas Belmont rather than Thomas Belton as she knew him.
Tiffany paid the news vendor for a copy of the magazine, and she took it to the nearest bench. Sitting down and flipping to the feature, she read about how Thomas Belmont had shaken up the business world through a series of multi-million dollar acquisitions in an effort to grow his holdings in the tech world. The article focused mainly on his recent purchases of several start-ups, and investment in things like incubators and venture capital firms.
The author seemed to be making a point of pointing out how Thomas had done an incredible job of making his inherited father’s business into the digital age where other similar companies had floundered in their inability to adapt to the rapid market changes.
Looking at the cover once again, there wasn’t a doubt in Tiffany’s mind that Thomas Belmont had lied to her about his name and his career. She felt sick with betrayal, and wanted to call him immediately to demand an explanation, but she knew that would destroy the rest of her day. It was still mid-afternoon, and Tiffany could not afford to fall any further behind at work. She would see Thomas later that night, and she decided to wait until then to confront him about his misrepresentation.
Back at the office, however, she couldn’t help doing a bit more research. A quick search for Thomas Belmont revealed that he was none other than Thomas Belmont III, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. His estimated net worth was in the billions, and although he was in his early forties, he had yet to marry or even be known to have been in a long-term relationship.
Wanting to believe that she made a mistake and that these two men simply bore a strikingly uncanny resemblance to each other, Tiffany did an image search that pulled up hundreds of results. She skimmed through the photos and knew that there was no mistaking that the man she’d been dating was the very same man photographed shaking hands with some of the most influential people on the planet. Thomas Belmont was about as rich and powerful as a man could be, and yet he had lied and pretended to be a simple investment banker.
Tiffany closed out her web browser and loaded up the design file she was working on at the moment. She had a lot to think about, but it would have to wait until later that evening when she had a chance to question Thomas directly.
The car pulled up in front of Tiffany’s office seconds after she emerged from her building. She’d texted Thomas and suggested that they have a night at his place instead of going out, and he insisted on sending a driver to pick her up. Until now, she’d always believed these cars to be regular town rental services used by so many city residents who counted on them as being far cleaner and more reliable than the iconic yellow taxis that swarmed the city streets.
Now she wondered if this driver was in the personal employ of Thomas. She couldn’t remember having seen this exact driver before, but then again, had she ever really paid attention?
The doorman at Thomas’s building greeted her with a smile when she walked past him towards the elevator. She smiled in return, and pressed the elevator call button. The elevator arrived almost immediately, and as she rode up and exited on Thomas’s floor, she considered the fact that this was not the sort of building a man of Thomas Belmont’s supposed wealth would have a residence. It was fancy enough for the investment banker he presented himself as, but it was hardly suitable for a man whose company had a valuation of a half-trillion dollars.
Tiffany smoothed her skirt and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She’d been in this building more often than her own apartment lately, but suddenly everything about it had changed. Where once she’d felt giddy excitement at being with a handsome and charming man who treated her like a queen, she now felt fear turning her stomach to acid.
The door opened and Thomas stepped out to kiss her on the lips before pulling away and leading her into the apartment. “I hope you don’t mind my not consulting you, but I ordered dinner. I had the most ridiculous craving for Chinese food and it only arrived a minute before you did.”
The idea of Thomas ordering Chinese food was ridiculous enough to make her laugh despite her anxiety over confronting him. Even not knowing about of his true net worth, they’d eaten nothing but the finest food at the best restaurants the city had to offer. It was so out of character for such a cultured man to have two greasy brown paper bags sitting on his coffee table.
Thomas grabbed two plates out of the cupboard and brought them to the table. He then returned to the kitchen and fetched two cold Japanese beers from the fridge. “It’s not the right country, but it’s close enough, right?”
Tiffany slipped her purse off her shoulder and sat on the couch, leaning back and watching Thomas remove several cartons and tin foil containers from the bag. He tore the end off a pair of paper-wrapped chopsticks, shook them free, and used them to serve himself a heaping pile of noodles, vegetables and spicy chicken. The scene was so absurd that she began to wonder if she hadn’t really been mistaken after all. There was no way the man eating Kung pao chicken directly from a takeout container was Thomas Belmont III.
“Not hungry?” He asked after swallowing a mouthful of beer. “I should have waited for you. I’m sorry, but I missed lunch and am absolutely starving.”
“It’s not that,” she said, unsure of how to proceed. “It’s just…
Well, there’s something I have to ask you and it’s kind of awkward.”
Thomas set down his plate and beer, shifting his position on the couch to better look at her. “What is it? You can ask me anything.”
“I know who you are, Thomas,” she blurted out. “I know your last name is Belmont and not Belton. I know you are not an investment banker either. I know you’ve been lying to me since the first day I met you.”
“Oh,” said Thomas. He reached for his beer and drank deeply, wiping his lips with the back of his thumb before setting the bottle down on the table. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to have this talk for a while yet.”
“So it’s true then? You’re one of the wealthiest men in America, and you didn’t feel that was worth mentioning at any point in the last few weeks?” Tiffany shook her head. “You told me you were an investment banker, for fuck’s sake.”
“Well, I sort of am,” he replied. “I went to business school and graduated top of my class. While I employ actual investment bankers to do a lot of the final paperwork for me, I initiate most of the investments my company makes.”
“You probably went to Harvard or Princeton, I suppose?”
“Stanford, actually.” The edge of Thomas’s mouth curled in a slight smile. “My father was a Stanford man, and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. When you’re the son of a man like that, you don’t exactly say no to him.”
Reaching for her own beer, Tiffany twisted the cap off and tossed it onto the table. It was cold and delicious, the soft alcoholic warmth going a long way towards calming her anger and frustration. “I don’t get it. Why lie to me? Hell, what were you doing on an internet-dating site to begin with? You could have any woman you wanted. Shouldn’t you be married to some society wife or a super model or something?”
“If I wanted those things, I’d probably already have had them and been through my first divorce by now.” replied Thomas.
He stood up and walked to the window, staring at the city lights for a while before responding. “For a long time I struggled to get out from under my father’s shadow. When he died and I took over the company, suddenly the whole world was watching me to see how I’d perform. I was such a stress case for most of my late twenties and all through my thirties that I didn’t want to inflict that on anyone. I knew I couldn’t be a good boyfriend or husband, and so I didn’t bother looking for anything real.”
“That doesn’t explain why you had a Matchr profile,” she pressed. “Why look on the internet when you must be surrounded by gorgeous women all the time?”
Thomas turned back to face her. “I can’t even begin to describe how shallow that world is, Tiffany. There is so much political maneuvering between families that you’d think we still lived in the Middle Ages. If it’s not that, it is some girl looking to find a rich husband who can take care of her. There hasn’t been anything meaningful in any of the short-lived relationships I’ve ever had, and I’m sick and tired of second guessing everyone’s reason for wanting to be my friend or lover.”
“Rationally, I can understand that,” said Tiffany, “but it’s a shock to learn that none of this is real. I mean, it explains this apartment. At first, I thought that you were just a minimalist guy who didn’t want a lot of clutter around, but now I see that this place has no personality because it is just a front. It’s like a down to earth jacket that you put on for the girls you are trying to trick. Everything I know about you is a lie.”
Thomas crossed the living room in a few long strides and sat next to Tiffany, reaching for her hand. “That’s not true. I lied about my name and my job, and no, this isn’t my regular apartment, but everything else I’ve said to you is the absolute God’s honest truth. I’m not in the habit of bringing women here, and if I wanted to impress girls just to fuck them, I’d probably just use my helicopter instead of tricking them into thinking I was an investment banker.” He looked into her eyes and squeezed her hand. “Tell me we haven’t had a good time together. Tell me you haven’t felt like you’ve connected with me the way I feel I’ve connected with you. Would any of that have been possible if you’d known who I really was?”
“I…” Tiffany paused and thought about it. Would she have acted like herself had she known the man she sat across from at dinner on their first date was a billionaire? The betrayal stung, but the reality that she might not have been able to get this close to him without his deception bit deeper.
“No,” she finally said. “I don’t think it would have. I wouldn’t have known how to act around you.”
“You have to believe that I would have told you eventually. I only wanted to know that you felt what you felt for me was because of who I was, without my company or my money.” He lifted her hand to his face and kissed her palm. “I’ve come to care about you a great deal, and I don’t want to lose you over this.”
“Do you really have a helicopter?” asked Tiffany, a reluctant smile forming on her lips.
Thomas grimaced. “Two, actually.”
“You have two helicopters?” she teased. “And here I was feeling guilty over all the things you’d bought me.”
“I meant what I said that night before the opera. All of those gifts I bought you were pale shadows of beauty until they found their way onto your body. You’re an absolutely stunning human being both inside and out, and I’d be eternally grateful if you’d forgive me for hiding things from you.”
In answer to his request for forgiveness, Tiffany leaned in and kissed him. She felt a swell of feelings for this complicated man that she couldn’t deny, and so she forgave him with her lips and tongue, her body speaking the words for her.
Thomas responded by shifting his weight forward until they were lying side by side on the couch. He continued to kiss her while his hand slipped down her body, brushing over her breast and down her belly to travel along her thigh, where it reversed direction and moved under her skirt until it reached the firm swell of her bum.
Letting her own hand drift downward, she rubbed her palm against his crotch and felt the bulge of his growing erection. The hunger with which he kissed her intensified when she squeezed his manhood, and she gasped as his hand yanked her thigh sideways as he rotated, pulling her into a sitting position on top of him.
Tiffany could feel the ridge of his cock pressing against her through his pants and her quickly dampening underwear. Thomas’s fingers worked nimbly to undo button after button until her blouse was free to fall back over her shoulders with a little shrug. Saving him the trouble, she then unclasped her bra and threw it to the floor, taking his hands and placing them over her firm breasts while she pressed her pussy against his hardness, rubbing her clit against him and feeling the first tingles of pleasure from the stimulation.
Clearly eager for more than a bit of dry humping, Thomas’s hands moved down from her breasts and onto her thighs, sliding her skirt further up her waist until her purple lace panties were clearly visible. He then cupped his hands over her butt and pulled her upwards, bringing her into position so that her pussy sat over his face.
Thomas’s tongue darted out and ran down the seam of her underwear, tickling her in a delightful manner. She was on the verge of giggling from the feeling of it, when he ran the flat of his tongue along her pussy, soaking her panties and putting hot pressure on her clit. After a few more teasing licks, he used his finger to pull the lacy material aside so he could lick her properly.
Tiffany let out a soft sigh of happiness and braced herself on the couch’s arm above Thomas’s head while his tongue danced in quick circles around her swelling bud. Now and again, he switched up the movements, dipping his tongue into her hole or sealing his lips around her clit to suck it in a way that nearly drove her mad with excitement.
Leaning back, Tiffany blindly unzipped Thomas’s pants and reached through his fly to pull out his cock. Jerking him with increasingly urgent strokes with one hand, she wrapped her fingers into Thomas’s hair and pulled his face into her pussy with the other. She felt an
orgasm hovering just below the surface, and with a few more flicks of his tongue, she was there.
Crying out and gasping as her climax took hold of her, Tiffany squeezed Thomas’s cock and bucked her hips against his face. The sound of his grunting exertions as he licked her and tried to keep from being smothered by in her excited state only served to make the orgasm that much sweeter, and she finally pulled away feeling breathless and eager to get him inside her.
Shifting down the couch, Tiffany hurried to undo Thomas’s belt buckle so she could get his pants off. Once he’d been relieved of his clothing, she stood up and wriggled out of her skirt and panties, taking a moment to kneel down and take his cock in her mouth. Stroking gently with her hand, she licked and sucked him until the noises he made turned somewhat desperate. She knew what he wanted, and she was ready to give it to him.
Tiffany stood and threw her leg over him, positioning her wet and ready pussy over his cock. Reaching between her legs, she grasped him by the base of his shaft and held him ready as she lowered herself onto him, savoring the look on his face as she took him in inch by inch. When she’d sunk all the way down onto him, she began to move her hips rhythmically, luxuriating in the feeling of his manhood sliding in and out of her.