Billionaire Romance: Desires (Complete Series)

by Grant, Bella

  “Is everything alright?” He asked.

  “I’m fine,” she lied. This time he didn’t ask again as he tried to kiss her once more. She couldn’t bear the thought of kissing someone else tonight, so she jumped up from the seat. “I’m sorry, Milton, but I can’t do this,” she said as she slipped from his shirt and threw it toward him before running off into the night. Why was she constantly plagued by thoughts of Phillip? He hadn’t tried to call her even once since the moment he came to her apartment and forced himself in. Surely he had moved on by this point, and she needed to do the same. Furthermore, he’d only been in her life for a day; why should he be impacting her this way?

  She removed her sandals and walked closer to the shoreline, allowing the sand to get caught between her toes as she sank them further in when the water washed over them. She was getting swept away in the moment and walking farther than she would have cared to. She barely heard the sounds of the music from the party she’d been at earlier, and she decided that maybe she had better turn back. She was about to when she spotted a cruise liner, and right away she began to imagine what it would have felt like to be on a cruise. She drifted closer until she was able to see the passengers as they descended the steps, while others seemed to be returning. She wondered how long they would be staying: perhaps overnight.

  She stood there with the wind whipping her hair about, and she hugged herself once more now that she was without Milton’s shirt. Something about the ship pulled her in, and she ventured a little closer. She stood there for minutes, as if she was waiting for something to happen, and then she looked back to see how far she had come. The beach was getting less populated, and she decided that she had better return this time. She was about to move when she made one last look at the cruise, and then froze. Now descending the steps was a familiar figure, and she squinted, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. They weren’t. The man exiting the cruise was no other than Phillip, and immediately her heart started thumping in her chest. She stood there paralyzed as she watched him step onto the wooden structure and walk towards a group of people. She wondered if she should go to him, make him aware that she had seen him, but her legs refused to move.

  She had to go to him, and explain that she was wrong and that she had mistaken his kindness for abuse, that he was all she thought about and that she wanted to start over. She stood there still, her legs moving slowly until she broke into a run. She no longer felt the chilly air as it left the ocean. She had only one resolve now, and that was to get back the man who had taken control of her mind and was slowly creeping into her heart. She was close enough to call out his name and make him aware of her presence when her run was cut short by an image she hadn’t expected. As he neared the group of people, a woman came forward to meet him, and as she held onto his arm, Melody didn’t need to guess to determine what she meant to him. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, and the two walked off, their backs to her now. She stood there frozen as the color drained from her face, now unsure of her next move.

  CHAPTER 4 - MELODY

  Melody felt weak inside as she stood there watching them leave, and finally she turned her back to run back to the hotel. But she wouldn’t go down that easily. Here she was pining away over this man who had entered and left her life like a freak storm, and he had gone ahead to plan a Caribbean cruise with some other woman. She felt the tears as they stung her eyes, and she tried to blink them back, but they refused to stay at bay. They came tumbling down now, and she wiped her face more vigorously now as the tears came down full force. But she had no one to blame but herself. He had tried, and she had shut him out completely, so what else was he to do?

  She looked back once more and decided that she would confront him after all, if only to make him aware of what she was feeling. She started to go back, but then she heard a voice calling to her from the distance. She turned and squinted, and could barely make out the shape of someone approaching her. She stood there and waited, and as the figure got closer she realized it was Crystal.

  “What are you doing all the way out here?” She asked, confused.

  “I needed some air,” she told her. “How did you find me?”

  “I saw Milton, and are you crying?” She asked as she circled her. Melody tried to mask it, but she was too late. “What’s wrong? Did he do something?”

  “No, he was great,” she had to admit. “It’s just that he was moving too fast and...”

  “Moving too fast? It wasn’t supposed to be a relationship; it was supposed to go too fast.”

  “Well, I didn’t want to go anywhere so soon with a man. You know I’m not comfortable with casual sex, and it was only after he started kissing me that I ran off. Then I started thinking about Phillip, and...” she hung her head. I think I was wrong about him. All along I thought he might be using me, and then he said otherwise, and so did you.”

  “Why are we even talking about him? We came here so that you could escape it for a while.”

  “And I wanted to do that, and I had started to, until Milton started kissing me and I started seeing his face. I wandered all the way down here and then I saw that,” she said and pointed at the cruise liner.

  “The cruise? What was so fascinating about the cruise?” Crystal asked, growing more confused the longer Melody spoke. “What did Milton give you to drink? You sound disoriented.”

  “I am perfectly sober, thank you. Anyway, I was walking to clear my mind when I was drawn to this ship, and just when I was about to return, I saw Phillip. He came on the cruise.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Crystal asked as she walked past Melody and focused on the ship.

  “I kid you not,” she told her. “I could hardly believe it myself. I thought it might be fate that had brought him here, until I saw who he was with.”

  “Who?” Crystal asked, getting excited now.

  “Some woman. She hung onto him, and it was clear that they came together. I was preparing to confront him when she stepped up to him.”

  Crystal stood there for a moment and then turned to her. “Look, I don’t have anything against Phillip, but I don’t think you should do this to yourself. You need to let this go.”

  “I can’t. I didn’t give this a fair chance and I think it will continue to haunt me if I say nothing to him. I need to know for sure of I was just a piece of ass to him, or if he wanted more.”

  “Don’t do this, please,” Crystal pleaded. “This may not turn out the way you want; he’s here with another woman for crying out loud.”

  The words only just seemed to register in Melody’s mind. “And that’s why I need to do this. I was just beginning to feel as if I was wrong, and now I see this,” she said as she looked back to the cruise. “I need to go and find him, here, now, while I still have the nerve.”

  Crystal threw her hands in the air in defeat. “Okay, you win; it’s your funeral. I’ll just tag along to bag the body,” she frowned.

  Melody smiled at her and the two set off in search of Phillip. “Where did you last see him?” Crystal asked.

  “Over there, by the bushes. I don’t suppose they would have gone far from the ship,” Melody replied. They kept walking in circles until Crystal began to get bored.

  “Maybe he went back on board,” she finally said when they could see no sign of him.

  “Maybe,” Melody agreed. “I guess I can always confront him when I get back home.”

  “Okay. Come on,” Crystal said and the two set off in the direction they had come. Melody was growing mad with jealousy and rage, and she wasn’t content on ruining her vacation by being mad at Phillip. She turned around again to scan the environs one last time, and it was then that she saw him a good distance away.

  “There he is,” she said to Crystal.

  “Where?”

  “Over there, in the white pants,” she pointed.

  “Oh I see,” Crystal said. “Are you going back?”

  Now that he was closer, Melody
lost her nerve and would have changed her mind, had she not seen the woman throwing herself all over him and laughing harder than anyone else. “I am,” she said as she stormed off. This time Crystal remained where she was, and Melody was grateful for it.

  She stomped in the direction Phillip was coming from, and when she was close enough she stopped, as she anticipated he would be walking by her. He didn’t see her at first, with her arms crossed before her as she observed him and his accessory. When he was close enough, he looked up and then he stopped walking. The woman next to him stopped too, looking up at him and wondering why he had stopped. Then she followed his gaze and saw who he was staring at.

  “Do you know her?” Melody heard her ask, but nothing came from his lips. Busted, Melody thought. She stood there the entire time, chomping mad, and then saw how he disentangled the other woman from his arm and approached her. She saw the woman look about her embarrassingly, but she stood there nonetheless, waiting for him to return.

  “Melody, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  “You know, I was beginning to think I was wrong and that you weren’t using me after all, that you genuinely cared about me and my wellbeing, that you didn’t just offer me a job to get into my bed. I was beginning to think that I was the one who had overreacted, but then I come here and look at what I find. Who is that? Your latest conquest?”

  Phillip didn’t answer, but instead he grabbed her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her lips that rocked her world to the core. It was so sudden that she didn’t have time to react, and by the time he let her go, she was dizzy with emotion. The kiss had left her confused, and she forgot everything she was about to say. And then he kissed her again.

  PHILLIP’S STORY

  CHAPTER 5 - PHILLIP

  She tasted like heaven to him, and as he clung to her, his lips feeling rejuvenated as if they had been a desert field all along, he wasn’t sure how he had let her go in the first place. She pulled back and looked at him, and he could see the old flame burning in her eyes, and he felt compelled to claim her mouth once more. He had completely forgotten about Courtney standing behind him, and all he could think about was this woman who he had shared a single day with, and who had become his everything. This had to be some sort of divine intervention, for he didn’t know how it was that they wound up at the same place, but whatever the cause, he was most grateful.

  She didn’t resist him at first, but then she pulled back and he saw her look behind him at Courtney. How was he to explain that she meant nothing to him? She backed away, and once more he had to stand there and watch her walk away from him.

  “You can go back to your cruise...and to...her,” she said. “You didn’t come here for me.”

  “Melody, wait,” he called, but she was gone, and there was no way he could chase her. What was comforting was that she was walking in the direction of the Cotton Bay Village, and that was exactly where he was going to be for an entire day. He would find her and make her see that she was who he wanted. Then he turned around and was the center of attention to eight pairs of eyes. “What?” He asked as she walked off.

  “Who was that?” Courtney asked, seemingly jealous that he had never displayed such affections with her. But how could he? She didn’t even show mercy to his wallet; the two were closer than he and she had been.

  “Nobody,” he said as he waved her off.

  “That didn’t look like nobody to me,” she said. “I thought we were having a good time, and suddenly you run into the arms of a ‘nobody’?”

  Phillip didn’t respond to her queries; he didn’t owe her any explanation. As far as he knew, he had come on that cruise alone and had only run into her by chance. She was merely a distraction for him, and her walking behind him nagging him like a wife of twenty years was not helping his mood. He got to the main deck and headed straight for the bar. He ordered brandy, and as the liquid seemed to melt his inside, he shook his head to relieve himself of the pressure of it.

  “You alright, man?” Matt asked. He still had his blonde next to him, and when Phillip looked behind him, Dan and Cindy were close by; they were all surveying him.

  “Can’t a man drink in peace?” He asked as he took another shot of the dark liquid.

  Courtney threw her hands in the air and then walked off. “I think I’ll go and freshen up.”

  The other ladies seemed to have the same idea, and they all disappeared as she did, leaving him with Dan and Matt. Oh brother.

  “Was that her?” Dan asked.

  “Her who?” Matt wanted to know.

  “He met this girl a few weeks ago, had a one night stand and a one day affair and he refuses to let her go.”

  “She must have been really good,” Matt whistled, and then cut it short when Phillip almost cut him with his eyes.

  “Phillip, you need to let this go,” Dan urged. “There are many other fine women here on this cruise, and even more back home for you to choose from. This girl will be nothing but a headache for you.”

  “There isn’t one like her. Dan, I have been with many women, Courtney included, and they all seem to want just one thing: my money. That one night that I spent with Melody, she gave me her all. The way she prepared dinner and the preparations for it; it was done with love and with no expectations from me other than to show up.”

  “Still, she rejected you,” Dan continued. “I think you should cut your losses.”

  “Wait, hold on a second,” Matt interrupted. “I think he should go after her if that’s what he wants; otherwise, he’ll spend the rest of his days wondering ‘what if’. I know what it feels like, and I wouldn’t wish it for anyone. I lost the one girl I should have chased, and now here I am chasing all the wrong tails. Man, go and get your girl.”

  “Thank you, Matt,” Phillip said, and they both stared at Dan, daring him to say another word.

  “Now, where is she staying, and for how long?” Matt queried.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Dan said in defeat and then ordered a scotch from the bar.

  “She seemed to be headed to the same hotel I booked for the day. When we get there, I’ll find her. I just hope she didn’t come with anyone,” he said quietly. The thought that she wasn’t there alone had never occurred to him until now, and nervousness overtook him.

  “I doubt it, though,” Matt said. “She walked in the direction of a possible girlfriend of hers.”

  Phillip’s mind seemed to be assuaged of the fears that had begun to rise in him, at least for the moment. The men spent the rest of the evening at the bar. The cruise was docked until two mornings after, and in the morning Phillip would check into the hotel. He was now sorry he’d not made reservations from tonight on, but the captain had told him they wouldn’t get to the island before midnight so it wouldn’t make sense to book the room earlier. Not that they needed to book a hotel room anyway: the cruise afforded them all the amenities.

  Soon afterwards, the ladies returned, and Dan and Matt stole away to have some private moments with their newly acquired escorts. Phillip watched them go and then ventured to the railing port side. He was standing there watching the dark water as it swirled around the whiteness of the vessel. It was rather hypnotic, and the longer he stared the more he felt like he would fall over into it. Still, it was relaxing, and he stood there until he felt someone steal up behind him.

  “Lovely night, isn’t it?” she asked.

  He looked over at the woman, but he didn’t recognize her. “It is,” he said, and then started to wonder if she had meant to speak with him.

  “I came all the way out here to escape the infidelities of my husband, and even here it finds me,” she said as she tossed some of the contents of the glass she held down her throat. Phillip stood there, his hands resting on the railing, unsure of what to say to her.

  “It’s alright, dear,” she said as she patted his hand. “You don’t need to say anything. I just have one piece of advice for you; don’t get ma
rried to someone you don’t love,” she said, and then emptied the remainder of her drink in her mouth. She patted his hand again and then walked off. Phillip thought all of that was strange, and he surmised that she was just drunk. Still, she had provided him with a useful piece of advice, and though he didn’t know her, he was grateful for it. And he didn’t even get her name.

  He turned around then, realizing that it was much too late and that he needed to get some rest. Just then he saw Courtney sauntering in his direction, and he felt disappointed hers was the face he was seeing now.

  CHAPTER 6- PHILLIP

  “Who was that?” She asked as she got to him.

  He looked around, but the woman had already disappeared. “I don’t know,” he replied. “She just came up to me. I think she just wanted to vent.”

  “Oh,” Courtney said, and then settled next to him. “So, do you want to go inside? It’s getting a little nippy out here.”

  Phillip thought about that for a while and then eased off the railing. “Why not?” He walked off, and Courtney trailed after him. He returned the glass to the bar and then proceeded to his cabin. She had been spending her nights with him ever since he ran into her, and he could safely assume that the man she had left him for was history. He could do without her company tonight, though, and the fact that she had seen him kiss another and was still intent on sticking around meant that she was serious this time—or broke.

  He got to his cabin, and she followed him inside, but she said not a word the entire time she did, and he was grateful for the silence. He went to freshen up, and when he stepped back into the room, she was standing there nude. He gazed at her and there was no denying she had a beautiful body; her skin was like ivory, and as she moved towards him, she seemed to be dancing the way she walked. Any other night, Phillip would have thrust himself on her, devouring her if even for the moment, but tonight his mind was elsewhere.