The Billionaire's Prize: Taken & Tempted: (Book 3 Billionaire Bodyguard Series)

by Kristi Avalon

  “What about the link between my dad and Emilio?” Cade asked. “Dad brought in Bruno on an arrest warrant. But he brought Emilio in as a skip.”

  “What’s a skip?”

  “Someone who skips out on their bail.”

  “Hmm. Sounds like Emilio didn’t want to face prison time—or didn’t feel he should. What if Emilio was innocent?”

  Cade slanted her a look of censure. “Yeah, him and every other guy in prison. Half our income came from skips who believed they were above the law.”

  “Hear me out. Could Emilio have been a fall guy for Bruno?”

  “That’s possible. But there’s no way to prove it. If there was, Emilio’s lawyer would’ve had his sentence reduced. Like the lawyer did for Bruno when Dad was in his grave and couldn’t testify.”

  “Which brings me back to the mystery woman.” Kylie tapped her fingers on the paper as the pieces started congealing into a mass of possibilities and potential connections. “Wait. It’s becoming clearer.”

  “What is?”

  “The connection. It’s here, staring me in the face.” She hit on an idea. “I need to use your laptop. I have to log into my favorite legal database—Westlaw.”

  He slid it across the table to her. “What thoughts are going through your brilliant mind?”

  She snorted. “I’m not brilliant, but I can feel the truth coming together.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “It’s this feeling. It starts in my elbows and runs down to my fingertips in electric spirals. This excitement rushes through my veins. I know the truth is forming. Whatever answers I need are about to be revealed. It’s almost…spiritual. Does that sound crazy?”

  “An incredible gift is what it sounds like.” The warmth she found in his gaze when she glanced at him caused a different electric spark to prickle over her nerve endings. A look of complete, devoted belief in her. A humbling sight, and she wanted to tell him she wasn’t worthy of that devotion, but she didn’t want to lose this special moment tethering their souls.

  Before she could help it, her gaze dropped to his mouth. He took her unintended invitation, lowering his lips to hers.

  The slow, soft brushes of contact scattered her thoughts. Their breath mingled. His tongue licked the tip of hers. He draped his arm across the back of the seat and pulled away. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, catching her breath. It’ s better than okay. She wanted to continue kissing him , adoring the sense of a deep connection between them on so many levels, but she couldn’t lose the magic momentum she’d captured moments ago.

  His eyes crinkled at the corners and a grin tucked into his cheek, revealing a faint dimple. “Please, continue.”

  As she logged into the Westlaw database, her fingers trembled slightly. He drew her hair back over her left shoulder and grazed his knuckles along the exposed skin of her neck.

  Distracted by his touch but not wanting him to stop caressing her, she missed a few keystrokes. Finally, she entered her password correctly on the third try. She concentrated on drawing together the strands of thoughts that bobbed like balloon strings in her mind.

  “What are you looking for?” he asked.

  “Emilio’s case. The database is enormous but with the right search terms, I should have it up…” She clicked the magnifying glass icon. “Right now.” She quickly scanned the court reporter’s notes looking for Emilio’s attorney. Frustration filled her with disappointment. “Dang it, I thought for sure I’d see Skip’s name as the lawyer defending Emilio.”

  “That’s the attorney you interned with?”

  “Right. If the two had hired the same lawyer, that would’ve proven some alliance between the two. But it looks like Emilio had a court appointed attorney.” The spiraling sensation returned making the insides of her elbows tender. She flexed her fingers. “Okay, it’s coming back.”

  “The gift?”

  “It’s not a gift,” she insisted. “It just…is what it is.” She glanced back at the web she’d drawn on the sheet of paper. She retraced the line from Jacob Soren to the mystery woman, back to Emilio. “Cade, when we were in the hot tub at your penthouse, you said your dad had taken out money from the expense account.”

  His fingers stilled against her neck. “Yes.”

  “In what amounts?”

  His arm stiffened, and he tapped his thumb against the tabletop. “Usually two-thousand-dollar increments.”

  “In my experience, that’s a typical down payment to retain a lawyer. What if your dad tried to help Emilio? Through this woman? What if Emilio truly was innocent, and your father wanted to set the record straight by pinning the crime on Bruno?”

  “Sounds like something Dad might do.” A gruff sound came from his throat. “That’s a rather big leap, don’t you think?”

  “Helping a kid down on his luck sounds a lot more in character for your father than skimming funds from the family business to hide an affair.”

  Cade went very still. “My God. I thought the worst of him, when I should’ve expected the best.” He dragged in a rough breath. “Damn it, no wonder he doubted my loyalty. No wonder he pushed me away. I didn’t trust him, so he couldn’t trust me. That’s why he didn’t want me with him as backup that day.”

  Witnessing the agonizing blame that twisted his features, she veered in a different direction. “If the mystery woman had so much invested in Emilio that she went to your father for help, the very man who helped incarcerate Emilio, the woman has to be…”

  Cade finished her thought. “Emilio Ramos’s mother.”

  Chapter 8

  Awestruck, Cade stared at Kylie. He wondered if the heavens had sent him his very own oracle straight out of an ancient Greek myth.

  “It makes so much sense now. Everything I couldn’t figure out is crystal clear.” He curled his fingers into a tight fist on the table. “Not only did I fail to protect my father. I failed him as a son.”

  A tremor ripped through his chest with the force of an earthquake.

  How could he have been so blind? Why had he doubted his father, when he should’ve been the son Dad could confide in? The way it used to be before he left for college?

  Everything caved into a dark heap inside him. “I need some air.”

  Grabbing a fresh beer on the way, he climbed to the sundeck balcony. He drained his beer in thirty seconds.

  The sun sank like an angry red globe into the ocean’s edge. His heart sank inside him.

  He gripped the neck of the bottle with enough force to crush it, then hurled it at the horizon. It made an unmemorable splash in the ocean behind the wake of the yacht.

  What’s wrong with me? Why did I doubt him? Why did I assume the worst, when he gave me the best of everything?

  Dad never saved up to send his brother or cousins off to acquire a university education, away from the family business. Maybe Dad expected more from him. God, he’d failed. He’d failed him miserably.

  I’m so sorry, Dad. I should’ve been a better son to you.

  Hands curled around the deck bars, he stood facing forward against the wind for a long time. No matter how hard the breeze blew at his face or how firmly he stood confronting it, the ocean wind would never clear his conscience. Nothing would.

  Nothing could.

  A soft touch pressed the cloth of shirt against his back. Warmth seeped into his skin, a temperature of reassurance he hadn’t been sure he’d ever feel again.

  Petite arms circled his waist as he stood against the bracing wind, the salty current pricking his eyes. He felt the press of her cheek against his back.

  No one had ever comforted him this way, without the expectation of anything in return.

  “I know it’s hard,” Kylie said, her voice nearly snatched away by the breeze, but he hung on her every word. “I understand. You never really let go.”

  Control dimmed by the heady rush of emotion, he turned and slid his arms around her. �
�I don’t want to let you go.”

  Their gazes locked. He found permission shining in her eyes. He couldn’t help but reach out and take it. He needed her essence more in this moment than he understood how to ask for. He slid his hand into her hair and angled her mouth up to him.

  The moment their lips touched, he knew he had to take this all the way. He kissed her with a quick, insistent pressure. Then he pulled back and clasped her hand in his. “Come with me.”

  She licked her lips and nodded.

  But he couldn’t wait until they reached the owner’s quarters. The moment his feet left the final step he swept her up into his arms. Their eyes remained locked on each other’s, and he couldn’t imagine dragging his attention away. Cocooned in his arms, she rested her chin against his chest. He carried her through the door, kicking it shut behind him.

  He headed straight for his bedroom.

  Nudging the door open with his foot, he carried her inside, careful to ensure the cramped angles didn’t nick her skin. Her arms circled his neck as if she trusted him completely.

  As long as he lived, he would never violate her trust. This was his proving ground.

  Gently, he laid her down on his bed. He stood beside the mattress and stripped off his clothes, leaving on his boxer briefs. He hid a grin as he watched her exploring his body with her eyes. Her pupils contracted and dilated as her gaze roamed over him. When her glance fixated on the front of his underwear, her lips parted.

  Oh, yeah, he was ready. Had been, he realized, from the moment he saw her stepping off his jet plane.

  Right now he wanted to bury himself inside her, but he finally had her spread out before him, at his mercy. He had so much more to explore before he even considered letting her touch him there.

  “Put your hands above your head,” he said.

  Licking her lips again, her glance darted up to his. She complied with his instruction.

  “Spread your legs for me.”

  Again, she did as he said. God, she was perfect. She wasn’t even naked, and she looked beautiful sprawled on his bed. He’d take off her clothes soon enough, but for a moment he basked in the moment of rightness, knowing she was his at last.

  An unexpected rush of ownership shot through his veins. He’d never felt this way toward a woman, but he couldn’t help the growl that hummed in his throat as he crawled up her body, kissing his way along her porcelain limbs.

  He wanted her all to himself. His alone. Forever.

  When his mouth latched onto her throat, she offered an innocent sigh like she’d never been kissed this way. The thought compelled him to make this seduction memorable—a meeting of body and soul. He’d never been willing to give both to a woman until Kylie.

  He wanted to lose himself in her, forget the past. Forget every regret and failure. He wanted to soar with her to the heights of bliss, again and again.

  Propping himself on his elbows, he smoothed one hand over her hair, following the silky strands across the contours of his pillow. His thumb traced her lower lip before he slid his fingers behind her neck and angled her chin up to him.

  Their mouths met seamlessly. He finished gliding his hand along her hair and began unlacing her top. The bra she wore created a phenomenal valley of cleavage tempting him between the loose ties of her shirt, making his gut clench with need.

  In the shower back in his penthouse, he’d cupped the large full weight of her breasts but resisted the intense urge to take them into his mouth. This time he had no reservations. He slid her blouse up the scoop of her stomach, grazing his knuckles over her warm skin. He dipped his hand beneath the fabric, tracing the arcs of her ribs. His touch met the luscious outline of her breasts, rising and falling with her sharp intake of breath. He inhaled her sigh. He sipped her lips before leaving to explore the succulence he’d denied himself until now.

  Unclasping her bra with one efficient motion, he urged her up from the pillow so he could remove her top and slide the straps of her bra down her arms. He tossed the garments aside. Easing her back down, he kissed her lips again before he moved lower to trace his tongue along her cleavage. His cock flexed, begging him to bury himself inside her.

  Instead of heeding the primal lust scorching his veins, he ignored his own needs and took his time fulfilling hers. Not that he was complaining, he thought, his lips curling with a smile. He dragged his mouth along the underside of her breast, eventually circling inward. Closing his lips over the peak, he grazed the tight bead lightly with his teeth.

  She sucked in a breath. A trembling sigh left her throat.

  Cupping the soft firm flesh, he swirled his tongue from one peak to the other, taking his time. No way would he rush perfection like this. Then she raked her nails through his hair. Wound so tight, he almost leaped off the bed.

  Damn, he should’ve grabbed a bottle of champagne before he took her to his bed. A convenient excuse to take a time out, cool the intense heat of passion, extend the seduction. But the powerful desire coiled in his gut told him that wasn’t happening.

  When she twined one leg around his, the full flush of contact made his arousal swell and pulse insistently against her hip. Confident in his skills in the bedroom, he was surprised to find himself skating along the knife edge of losing control.

  Not happening, he told himself. But if he remained on top, his fierce desire might get the better of him. They needed to change positions. Soon.

  First, he wanted to remove the rest of her clothes barring him from her sweet taste.

  Pushing up onto his hands, he climbed between her thighs, his knees spreading her. He lifted her legs, pressing her heels against his chest so he could remove her skirt, then her panties, until she lay naked under his appreciative stare. She was his fantasy, curvaceous and soft and so stunning she took his breath away.

  Her glance drifted down his torso, pausing on his abs, then settling where the proof of his need jutted toward her. Her lashes fluttered and she licked her lips. He could almost feel her tongue gliding along his tip. She made him so hard he just might burst with the pleasure-pain of restraining his need to be inside her.

  God, he loved the raw attraction gleaming in her eyes. Women had looked at him like that all his life, but Kylie’s desire trumped anyone else’s. Because she wasn’t using him, for status or money or to satisfy herself in his bed and then brag she’d taken Cade Soren as her lover. Maybe it was her hesitation, an undercurrent of self-consciousness she fought to overcome that made her desire more real, more desirable, more valuable.

  Attraction and devotion swirled in her gaze. Her pupils contracted, and her irises turned a hypnotic deep blue around the edges, almost violet, surrounding vivid turquoise centers.

  As long as he lived, he’d never forget the image of her right now. Her golden-brown hair fanning out across his pillow, her hands clenched in his sheets as she lay before him, eager yet unsure, but trusting him completely.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

  She drew her lower lip between her teeth and glanced away.

  “Look at me.”

  A blush spread over her skin. She crossed her arms over herself. “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.” Locking his hands with hers, he lifted them over her head. He hovered above her. “Look at me, Kylie.”

  Gradually, she turned her head to face him. Their noses touched.

  “That’s better. I want you to look at me when I make love to you. I want you to see yourself the way I see you. How beautiful you are, how badly I want you,” he said. “Can you do that for me?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “I do.” Cade’s eyes glittered with sexual knowledge and pure confidence as he stared down at her. “Relax, sweetheart. I will give you what you need.”

  That she believed.

  Still, Kylie wished she’d bedded more adventurous partners in the past. She wanted to please him, but she felt too inexperienced to know how to play the part of a seductress, how to touch him the rig
ht way, how to make him tremble beneath her fingertips.

  What could she do to please this man who’d probably seen and done it all?

  He nudged her leg with his knee, a coaxing caress. “Give yourself to me.”

  When she nodded, he grinned and sat back on his heels, releasing her hands. His palms coasted from her shoulders, around her breasts, down her belly, then fastened on her hips.

  The heat of his touch sent shivers over her skin. Her nipples tightened and his gaze fixated on her breasts. His lips parted slightly, eyes glazing over.

  Never in her craziest dreams would she have imagined the most beautiful man she’d ever met would want her with the fierce longing that shone in Cade’s blue eyes. He stared at her body as if he might devour her at any moment.

  The claim she saw stamped on his features encouraged her to release her need for certainty or assurances. To take a risk and give in to what her body yearned for—the pure manifestation of ultimate attraction.

  Reaching out, she trailed her fingertips along his perfect abdominals, so sexy she found herself wet and aching for him to do whatever he wanted to her. Before her hand reached the impressive bulge jutting up from his underwear, he flipped their positions, placing her on top.

  Now she straddled him. Not what she’d expected. She rested her hands on his rock hard abs, unsure what to do next.

  Moisture from her desire seeped into the cloth covering his erection. He groaned.

  Excited by his response, she circled her hips, grinding against his arousal. His jaw tightened.

  His eyes snapped up to hers. “Not yet,” he said hoarsely. “This is all about you.” Gripping her hips firmly, he dragged her up his body until she straddled his shoulders. He flashed her a wicked grin. “That’s better.”

  A second later his mouth met her sex. She inhaled a sharp gasp. She clamped her hands over the headboard to keep herself from falling backward.

  Oh. My. God.

  He squeezed her backside gently, bringing her closer to his face. She couldn’t believe she was straddling him like this, his head on the pillow tilted at a perfect angle.