She started to turn towards him, wanting to tell him how sorry she was but before she could reply he was pressed up against her once more, his eyes blazing with such passionate intensity she could feel the fire dripping from every word that spilled from his beautiful mouth.
“But I’m not the man that you used to know, Bella. Not anymore. This time I’m not interested in any romantic idea of us being together. I don’t need it nor do I want it. Jason’s hands flew up to her shoulders and he gripped them tightly, pulling Bella tightly against his chest. “This time I just want you…in my bed. Give me that and you’ll get all of the help you need.”
Bella could barely breath with Jason’s broad chest pressed against her back. She opened her mouth struggling to force the words out from her trembling lips. “You want…you want me to sleep with you?”
He chuckled softly, his lips trailing softly along her neck. “I want to do a lot of things with you, Bella…but I promise you, sleeping will not be one of those things.”
“How dare you!” she snapped, twisting round and wresting herself from his hold. She met his sardonic expression with fury and distaste. “You’re right about not being the same man,” she fumed with disgust. “The Jason I used to know would never take advantage of an innocent woman this way.”
“Innocent woman?” he echoed, tilting one eyebrow mockingly. “Hardly a word I’d use to ever describe you. And I told you; I’m not the Jason you knew, Bella. That Jason was a fool.” He turned around quickly, his expression darkening as his eyes settled on his flushed cheeks.
“What could possibly be holding you back from accepting my offer, Bella? It’s not like I’m asking for anything that you haven’t given away freely before. God knows, you certainly spread it around back in college.”
Bella felt her cheeks sting at his words. “I don’t know what you mean about college, Jason. If you’re trying to say I was some kind of …”
“Bella, I know all about your escapades. With Roy, and probably half the football team…you had quite a reputation. I always wondered why I never got to see past your golden curls and baby blue eyes to know you were really nothing but a slut.”
Bella’s hand flashed across his face before she could stop herself. And then she stumbled back in shock at her own violent reaction, seeing the tracks of her fingers spread across his jaw before they disappeared.
He hardly seemed moved by the unexpected blow, though his lips thinned somewhat.
“I can’t see why you’re so flustered. You were hardly an angel, Bella.”
“I certainly wasn’t the whore that you seem to recall, either,” she choked, her fists clenched at her sides as she tried to contain her emotions. “I can’t believe you’d actually think me capable of that. I don’t know what rumors Roy may have circulated about me, but…”
“Bella, there’s no need to explain,” he said, raising his hands. “You never cared what anyone thought of you back then. You did what you pleased – I don’t think you should worry now. It’s all in the past anyway. All I’m really interested in now is whether you’ll accept my offer.”
Her lips curled in aversion. “You may think I’m cheap and lacking in morals…but then what does that say of you, huh? Bribing me into becoming your whore – the very thing you so harshly accuse me of being back in college.”
She quickly took up her bag that had slipped from her shoulders earlier, and forced herself to meet his silent gaze with a raised chin. “No thank you, Jason. I’ll find a way out of this mess without your help – and certainly without having to spend any amount of time in your bed!”
Bella turned sharply and was already at the door before his next words hit her.
“If you walk out that door, Bella, then you can kiss your business goodbye,” he told her coolly. “I’ll call in all the loans and within days, your whole shop will be closed down. Add that to you losing every other thing of worth you have as we move in to recover our losses.”
She turned sharply once more to face him, eyes widened with a sudden panic she could not conceal. “You wouldn’t dare…”
He smiled, and it was in no way reassuring. “Bella, apart from the fact that it’s my job…I’m actually going to relish doing it. It’s about time you realized that things aren’t going to keep falling into your lap. Now, if only you’d agree to fall into mine…” His grin widened with mirth, the blaze in his eyes unmistakable.
“I could take you right now, right there on that desk,” he said softly; coming forward to stand in front of her, close enough for her to see every tiny pore on his face. Her eyes were drawn to his mouth with its generous bottom lip as he formed those husky words. His hand lifted to trace his fingers over the slope of her cheek, before wrapping round her neck. “All I’d need do is push up that sinfully short skirt of yours, rip aside your panties…and shove my cock hard into you…again and again till I’m done. I can’t think of a better way to spend the next fifteen minutes.”
Bella could hardly breathe, immobilized by his words and his touch, which felt like they’d put her under a spell of lust, mixed in with anger and rage. Damn him, his words went coursing through her body like quicksilver, making her pussy twitch in incredible response. How could she actually even be considering what he was saying! She berated her treacherous body, as it trembled in anticipation.
“However,” he added, when she did not – could not- reply, “I do have some sense of…delicacy. I’ll be willing to take you to dinner first, maybe a bit of dancing. And then afterwards…” He slanted his head to plant a kiss right on the corner of her parted lips. The pressure was light, yet all the more breath-taking for its veiled promise. “It’ll take more than one night to slake the past four years’ frustrations…so I’m willing to make do with three. Three nights, Bella, and you get all the support you need for that quaint company of yours.”
It was only when he withdrew moments later that Bella could actually piece her thoughts together. His proposition rang through her head over and over, even as she stared into his face searchingly, just to be sure he was actually serious. There was no trace of jest in his eyes, which seemed darkened from grey to black with the strength of his intent.
He backed away, hands outstretched. “Well, Bella? You know the deal. This is your chance to wipe the slate clean – in more ways than one. So what’s your answer going to be?”
“My answer,” she began, eyes narrowing with the anger and powerlessness she felt, “is to let you know that you’re not going to get away with… sexually blackmailing me! I’ll speak to my lawyer about this and I’m sure he’ll know exactly how to handle your kind of “deal”.”
Instead of looking threatened, he actually smiled. “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll do that,” he said with a careless shrug. “The unnecessary embarrassment…the possible disgrace – not to mention the cost of taking action against an executive of this company. Face it, Bella, I’ll have more of a chance of convincing people that you tried to proposition me, not the other way round.”
For some reason, she realized that he might actually be right. It was unlikely that anyone one would look at Jason and think he’d ever have to sink to the level of blackmailing a woman for sex. Not only was he incredibly good-looking and fit, he was rich and successful.
She hid her inner consternation behind a smile. “Yes, I can imagine that you must have plenty of female admirers – which makes it so unfathomable why you would choose to do this. In a way, I know I should be flattered that you want me this bad that you’d sink so low. However, a part of me senses that this is simply a ploy to further demean me, shame me for what you think I did to you.”
“So what do you suggest?” he asked, ignoring her accusations. “Forget the past ever happened? Forget how you made me a laughing stock of all our friends? You were the spoiled rich girl, while I was the classic geek on a scholarship who fell for the cheerleading Queen. The tables have certainly turned now, haven’t they?”
“I never saw you that way, Jason!
” she replied emphatically. “I cared for you – a lot! It’s just…things went out of control with Roy. I never meant to…”
Jason lifted a hand, effectively cutting her off. “I’m not here to play the blame-game, Bella. I need an answer to my proposition and that is all I care to hear from you.”
Bella sighed raggedly. She could say “no”, but that would destroy any chance that she had of getting her life back on track. But damn it to hell if she was just going to lie down and take it like he wanted her to. She finally looked up at him and said, “Do I get time to think about this?”
She could see the look of gloating in his eyes, knew he thought he’d already won.
“You have until tomorrow,” he said brusquely, making her head shoot up in surprise. “As you know, time is of the essence, so I see no need for procrastination, do you?” He sent her a thin smile. “If you don’t show up here same time tomorrow, I’ll know your answer is “no”. That gives you, oh…about twenty four hours to make up your mind.”
“How generous of you,” she said, her own tone tinged with sarcasm. “You must have had this all thought out the minute you saw my name on that file. Well, Jason, I hope you don’t end up regretting this.”
“How can I?” he murmured, with that irritatingly careless shrug of his. “When either way, I win? If you refuse, you still pay. And if you say yes…” He left the sentence unfinished, but Bella didn’t need to hear more. He was definitely right; either way, she lost. She just had to figure out which was worse…losing her dignity and pride, or losing all she’d ever worked for…
* * *
Bella wasn’t sure how she’d left that office, or how she’d made it back home. All she knew was that she was standing inside her living room, staring into space and wondering how things had just gone from bad to worse.
Seeing Jason again, coming face to face with his frosty thirst for revenge – she hadn’t exactly foreseen that when she’d woken up that morning.
She had to remember that she had only a certain number of hours in which to make her decision. The bastard! His misplaced desire to make her suffer in some way for the past was going to cost her more than she ever dreamed. In her heart, she knew she should tell him to go to hell. But could she pay the ensuing price?
“Bella? Is that you?”
Bella turned sharply, dashing the tears from her cheeks and pasting a smile on her lips as she faced the woman who’d just walked into the living room.
“Hello, mom,” she said, and hoped she sounded normal, and she moved forward to embrace her mother.
“You’re back so early. Is anything wrong, are you unwell?” the older woman asked with concern. Katy Turner was still a very beautiful woman, but a frail one ever since she’d had to fight off cancer for a whole year. Now, she still had several treatments to go before she could be in the clear. Treatments Bella had to make sure were paid for.
Bella swallowed down a sigh, and then pulled back to look into her mother’s face. “I had a meeting earlier, mom. It really took a lot out of me. I decided to come home instead to rest…and think.” She patted the only slightly wrinkled cheeks of her mother with tenderness. “Or maybe I’ll just hang out with you. What are you up to?”
Katy Turner smiled, not really fooled by her daughter’s bright face and words. But she decided not to push. “I was just about to go into the garden, dear. My green fingers have been itching all morning to put those seeds in. It’s a few days early, but…”
Bella wrapped an arm around her mother’s waist. “I think it’s a great idea, mom. Let’s grab some gloves and an apron.” That, would at least, take her mind off her immediate problems. When her mother had walked in and Bella had seen her, with her graying blonde hair only just growing out after all that chemotherapy…she’d known what her answer to him was going to be. If she had only herself to worry about, then she’d have told him where to stick his filthy proposition. But there was her mother, whose expensive medical bills had to be seen to, among other things. Bella thought of facing Jason again the next day with her answer – and an involuntary shudder passed through her. Only heaven knew what lay in store…
* * *
"So you actually came."
The triumph, the scorn that laced his words was enough to make her want to turn right back around and leave. But she stayed still in the middle of his expansive, ultra-modern office. She’d been shown in just a minute ago, and her heart hadn’t stopped pounding in confusion, anger, and helplessness. Bella knew what she had to do, but it was the how that worried her…
"Yes, I came," she said through gritted teeth, "but only to see if I could talk some sense into you one last time. Jason..."
"No begging, Bella," he said coldly, face set in stone now as he rose to his feet in irritation. "It didn't work yesterday; it certainly won't work now. I'm afraid absolutely nothing could possibly convince me to change my mind."
Bella felt tears of anger sting the back of her eyes, choking her throat. "Why are you doing this, Jason, when you can have any woman you want?"
"Ahh, but that’s not true, is it Bella?”, he declared huskily, moving forward to where she stood still as a pillar of salt. “I couldn’t have you.”
Bella forced herself not to flinch when he placed himself behind her, his hands falling heavily on her shoulders as he whispered in her ear, "A man never really gets over his first love, you know. That first youthful, erotic fantasy… You sweetheart, have clouded every single love affair I've ever had since we parted. Every beautiful woman I've ever fucked...it was always your face I saw. Even those times I'm deep inside her and she’s calling out my name, it's your voice I hear telling me, "I'm coming Jason, I'm coming..."
He laughed deeply when she shrunk from his lips, tossing her head angrily. And then his voice hardened. “I want you like this, helpless, needy, desperate. I want it this way because it's dirty and nasty and wicked. And it's going to feel so damn good."
He's obsessed, she thought despairingly, the breath coming fast in her chest. She whipped round to face him. "So, if I do what you say, what then?"
She cringed to hear herself say the words. Hated herself for even thinking it. But she couldn't think about herself at such a time, could she? There was her ailing mother for one thing. Could Bella throw away her mother’s well being on some stupid sense of self-worth and dignity? Her business had kept the family going for so long; if she lost it, she lost everything.
Bella cursed her cheating, thieving boyfriend for the umpteenth time for his part in putting her in this situation. If she ever got her hands on him, she'd... All train of thought fled from her mind as Jason reached out a hand to trace the line of her jaw with his fingertips, before they dipped past her shoulder blade to trail down the lapels of her jacket. Her heart began to pound faster than ever as she looked up into his blazing, darkened gaze. The searing heat of lust in them almost made her feel faint with sickening anticipation. Why he had such power over her, she could never tell. There was an almost animal magnetism oozing from him that even she couldn’t deny. Raw, untamed and fierce – it seemed strong enough to engulf her in its flames.
“If you do what I say,” he returned calmly as his hand fell away, “Then I’ll call off the debts. Postpone them till you’ve got ample time to work things out. How’s that for a fair deal?”
Swallowing convulsively, she made herself say, “Oh, I think you can do better than that, Jason. For three nights of sex, I want the debts cancelled. All of them.”
He paused, then chuckled softly as he shook his head. “Making demands now, are we? I knew you’d want more. Okay, Bella. I’ll give you exactly what you want if you do the same. Consider it a deal.”
A ragged breath escaped her at his flippant reply. “So, what now?”
“Just be ready for me tonight.”
Her head shot up from the paper she held in her hand. “Tonight?”
“When I pick you up for our date, of course,” was his casual reply. Bella gritted her teeth to kee
p herself from saying anything. But there was more to come. She watched as he reached behind his desk and unearthed a small shopping bag, inscribed with the name of a prestigious lingerie boutique.
“I’ve got a little something I thought you’d like,” he murmured, and gave her the bag.
Bella looked inside to find a sinfully skimpy pair of lacy panties and a matching bra, her perfect size. She glared up at him. “You were so sure I’d give in, weren’t you?”
“I knew you were a smart woman, yes,” he said with a shrug, his smile thinning as he added, “I’d like you to wear that tonight, for me. You needn’t bother with anything else…except maybe a coat.”
“So it’s straight to the point, is it?” she muttered scathingly. “What ever happened to handling things with a bit of care? No wining and dining me before fucking my brains out?”
A grin crossed his harshly handsome face, and for a second, he looked almost human.
“Well, you’ll have to forgive my…exuberance. I must confess I literally can’t wait to have you. But then again, we’ll still have two other nights...”
She turned away in disgust from his smug expression, slamming her way out of the office to the sound of his mocking laughter.
***
The more she told herself it wasn’t happening, the easier it seemed to bear it. When Jason showed up outside her home to pick her up, she didn’t say a word before getting in next to him in his powerful automobile. He wasn’t in a talkative mood either, thankfully. He merely sent her a mocking smile before driving them off into the night. In less than half an hour, he was stopping them in front of a very exclusive hotel. The kind that one night spent in any of its rooms was equivalent to her six months’ rent.
“Flashy car, fantastic job, and now a night at an expensive hotel. Looks like you’re living large, aren’t you?” were the first words she spoke to him, her tone far from flattering. She sent him a cold, mocking glance. “A far cry from your scholarship days, huh?’
Red Hot Revenge (Erotic Romance) (Dominated by the Billionaire) Page 2