The Billionaire's Runaway Fiancé (Invested in Love)

by Jenna Bayley-Burke

  He gently lowered her onto his shaft, using every ounce of control he still had. Her hands crept to his shoulders, her mouth working his tense neck, the long vines of her hair wet against his cheek.

  She was weightless in the water, allowing him to lift her up and down on his shaft while her hot mouth seared against his skin. With a moan she pulled her lips away, arching her body backward. Her flushed skin told of her arousal, but the flicker in her bright green eyes let him know she had still more in store for him.

  His body had awakened to her touch—with just her passion-filled stare the response intensified deep inside him. She arched back until her head lay on the surface of the water, her body floating weightless for his pleasure. She anchored one of her hands on his elbow as she rocked against him.

  “More, Curtis.” Her throaty demand was all the encouragement he needed.

  Her body undulated with each thrust, the water rippling around them in the most erotic display he’d ever seen. That it was actually happening, to him, to them, nearly had him at the edge. It would have plunged him over if Robyn hadn’t arched farther, her face disappearing beneath the surface of the water.

  Water rushed over her face as she emerged, gasps for breath mixing with the sounds of pleasure. She taunted him this way, dipping back under the water until he was straining against his own release, too driven by his cascading desire to hold back much longer.

  With her leaning back, their joining was exposed to him, her clit ripe and full. He circled it, pressing lightly, but it only served to send her arching deeper into the pool. He quickened his pace, both with his hand and his cock, determined not to have her be the first woman to outlast him. Not now, not ever.

  She shot up out of the water, gasping and shrieking his name into the still night. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as her body began to shudder and quake. The tight spasms pulled his orgasm from him, his world narrowing as every nerve in his body exploded like a ball of lightning. The ache in his groin emptied into her, dispelling his frustrations and fears.

  She held him close, still quivering with the intensity of their coupling. They’d burned so hot it was as though they’d melted together, permanently fusing to the other. He felt taut and vibrant, yet as calm as he could ever recall.

  He rubbed a hand up her back, the bumps of her spine tickling his palm. “That was—”

  “What I was afraid of.” She tried to wrench herself from him, but he grabbed her by the shoulders, looking into her tear-filled eyes.

  “I hurt you?” He shifted, removing himself from her body, the cool water shocking his system.

  She shook her head, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “I knew it would be like this. You and I. I thought if it wasn’t then—”

  “After the day we’ve had, I knew it would be intense.” He’d been a little overwhelmed, too. She’d taken sex to a whole other level for him. They’d never get anything done again. Hell, they should move here and lock out the rest of the world forever.

  “No. I told you, it’s like this because we—”

  “Robyn, it was amazing.” He cleared his throat, unwilling to listen to her professions of love while his synapses were still scrambled. “But—”

  She covered his mouth with her hand. “Don’t say that now. Not right now, okay? Because if you would only let yourself feel something, anything, I think it would be for me.”

  Chapter Nine

  He’d ruined everything. In her experience, men liked to have sex then shut up about it. Not Curtis, no. He had to go and try to rationalize emotions. What a crock.

  Back in her room, Robyn rifled through her suitcase, looking for anything that resembled clothing. She should have grabbed his shirt off the lounger when she stomped her way back to the house, but she’d only been thinking of the way he dropped his gaze, shutting her out when she challenged him.

  There was no breaking down walls that well built. The best he had to offer was peeks through his armor, and that wasn’t a relationship. She fisted the lace of a teddy in anger, slamming it to the floor. So unfulfilling. She really ought to throw something that made a sound when it landed.

  Finally, she uncovered a silk chemise with a matching robe. Neither covered her thighs, but two layers were better than nudity. She’d thought of trying to find where Curtis had stashed his case and stealing another shirt, but the chances of being caught and having to face him while she was still so raw were too high.

  Tightening the sash of the robe, she tiptoed out of her room and down to the kitchen. There wasn’t much cleanup to do, just soaking the pot she’d heated the soup in and collecting their dinner dishes. She stared at the windows facing the pool. The still surface of the water meant he wasn’t there, but she didn’t know where he’d run off to or what he was planning. Curtis Frye always had a plan. She usually loved the way nothing ever held him back, but now that his skillfulness might be turned on her, she hated nothing more.

  Her body felt torn in two, her head demanding she stand her ground and hold on to her pride, but everything from her heart down told her to take what he offered. No point holding out for something he didn’t even have to give.

  Robyn walked to the windows, pulling her hair over her shoulder and twisting it into a braid as she looked for him in the pool, the hot tub. Nothing. She didn’t want to face him, but she felt guilty about basically calling him an iceberg. Even if it was true, she knew by the way he wouldn’t meet her gaze she’d hurt him. Somewhere.

  Good girls should not try to tempt bad boys. Not ever. They didn’t play by the same rules, so someone always ended up hurt. Curtis never accepted defeat as an option, so he’d keep pushing until she relented, and since she’d rather die than live a lie, they’d run the other into the ground until they were two pools of jelly.

  Good gravy. That would make the tabloids.

  Finally finding a smile, Robyn pushed open the sliding glass doors and stepped onto the terrace. A slight breeze blew, but not enough to take the heat from the air.

  “You want to know what I think?” Curtis’s voice rumbled from a blackened section of the deck.

  Robyn nearly tossed the plate she held, her startled heartbeat galloping away. “You scared me.”

  “I think you’re being naive.” His voice continued, though she still couldn’t tell from where. “If you polled a hundred women, I think you’d find they’d all envy your position. And I’d bet most women marry with less going for them than we have.”

  “Stop.” Stacking the plates, Robyn turned to the sound of his voice, barely making out the outline of him sitting in a chair, his feet propped on one of the end tables. “You can stop trying to sell me on something, because I’m not buying. And for your information, if I surveyed a hundred women, they’d all tell me to hightail it away from you.”

  She grabbed the dishes and marched back into the kitchen, then set them in the sudsy water already in the sink. Deciding she’d leave them for tomorrow, she pulled open the freezer and grabbed a pint of ice cream. Coffee with swirls of caramel and fudge. Rummaging through a drawer, she found a spoon and pried the lid off the container.

  “Why?” Curtis stood silhouetted by the windows, sliding the glass door closed. He’d put his pants back on and slipped the shirt he’d loaned her earlier around his shoulders, not bothering to button it. “I’m ideal husband material.”

  “Ha.” Robyn pointed her spoon at him. “You have serious commitment issues. You—”

  “I’m completely committed to you. Do you want a longer time frame on the agreement? Consider it done.”

  “I’m not negotiating with you.” She took a bite of ice cream, hoping it would calm her. He was about as emotionally committed to her as he was to a ham sandwich. “I’m just telling you, you aren’t as perfect as you think you are.”

  “I never said I was perfect.”

  She rolled her eyes and took another bite of ice cream, still waiting for it to work its magic. “There are a lot of reasons a woman wouldn’t
want to be with you. The publicity angle, you never think you’re wrong, you are blunt to a fault, you think the world revolves around you, work always comes first, you put in atrocious hours, and you don’t believe in love.” She pointed her spoon at him. “That, my friend, is reason enough.”

  “And yet you still wanted to be with me.” He crossed the room, leaning on the granite counter.

  “Yes, well, I’m in love with you. And I’m stupid enough to actually find some of those things attractive.” Another bite of ice cream and still nothing. She dug her spoon deeper into the container.

  “But not enough to actually stay with me.” His gaze bored holes in her. That must be why he always got what he wanted in negotiations. It was darned unnerving.

  “Someday, someone will love me completely, and I’m not signing on for anything less. You thought money and prestige were enough to appease me. I agreed to all of this because I thought with enough time together, I could coax more out of you. I could never respect a woman who settled for what you were offering me.” She filled her mouth with more ice cream, barely tasting it.

  He braced his hands on his hips. “I gave you everything you ever wanted, the entire damned Cinderella fantasy.”

  “Not even close.” She ground the spoon against the side, picking up a glob of fudge.

  “You had everything. You should have taken a look in the mirror, because you were completely transformed into a princess. Except the part of Cinderella you wanted wasn’t the happily ever after, it was running away and leaving your shoes.”

  Again with the shoes. “Cinderella was not about how she looked. It was about the prince recognizing the person inside, no matter how she appeared on the outside. It was about love transcending rank and class.”

  “I thought up the plan when you were wearing one of your awful boxy black suits. It wasn’t about how you looked.”

  “So much for always saying the right thing.” She jammed another spoonful in her mouth, almost a third of the way through the carton.

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Listen. I’m tired of fighting with you. Nothing you say is going to change my mind. When I decide to be with someone, it will be a man who loves me so much he can’t see straight. And because I love you, Curtis, I want you to feel like that for someone someday, even if it isn’t me.” She shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

  Sharp pain began behind her eye, seeping through her brain. She clutched her head, trying not to scream. His warm body was around hers in an instant, trying to pull her hand away.

  “What is it?” he begged frantically. “What’s happening?”

  “I want it to be me,” she mumbled, turning into him. The pain eased, releasing as quickly as it came on. “It was just an ice cream headache.” She tried to shrug him off, but he held her in his arms, locking her against his bare chest.

  He stared down at her, his blue eyes as soft as she’d ever seen them. “I like that about you.”

  “My intolerance for headaches?”

  “That you don’t bother with lies.”

  Oh, that. When he tucked her head beneath his, she gave in, wrapping her arms around him and letting him hold her. Because she’d made love with him tonight, and it had been better than her dreams. Because he was so big and safe, while she felt so small and lost. Because his presence was like an opiate, and she was horribly addicted to the way he made her feel. Because she knew soon reality would rush in, and she would never be this close to him again.

  …

  Curtis prided himself on always knowing how his opponent would respond in a negotiation. He’d never encountered a situation where he had to work with someone so completely irrational they couldn’t see reason.

  Though his own reasons for wanting to be with her were shifting. He still needed out of the limelight and knew Robyn was the shortest way there, but now he also wanted her. Her kindness, intelligence, and her body pressed so tightly against him singed him. He held her tighter, relishing the way she was soft everywhere, not a hard corner anywhere but in her mind.

  He was an expert at getting people to see things his way, figuring out what they wanted and giving it to them so they agreed to his proposal. He hadn’t found anything tangible Robyn wanted. The price was too high to give her what she asked for, but there had to be some middle ground. He only needed time to find it.

  Time alone with Robyn. His groin throbbed at the thought, his body absorbing the heat radiating from her skin. He slid his fingers along the ivory silk of her robe, reminding him of how her wedding gown felt. She was a vision in that dress. After she’d run, it hurt him to look at it. The long walk from the yacht to the house he’d had to keep ahead of her so he wouldn’t have to see her in it.

  “Is this what you would have worn to seduce me?” He slid his hands over her bottom, tracing the lines of the panties she wore beneath the robe.

  “I don’t know. I doubt it.” She tilted her face up so he could take in her bemused grin.

  “You didn’t have a plan to seduce me, did you?”

  “Kind of.” She placed her hand on his bare chest. His heart thudded harder, trying to reach her. “I doubt I would have gone through with it. I didn’t know what to expect if we were alone.”

  “I never expected the pool.” He returned her smile, then grazed his lips against hers.

  “The pool wouldn’t have happened. I didn’t think you were expecting anything.”

  “I decided to let you set the pace.”

  “Then I’d have found the nerve right about never.” Her glassy green eyes sparkled with amusement.

  “No wonder you ran.” Finding the hem of her robe just beneath the curve of her bottom, he slid his hands under the fabric, only to find another layer. “You thought being with me would be celibate torture.” He squeezed her butt, pulling her toward him as he pressed his growing erection against her.

  He captured her mouth before she could respond, savoring the coffee and caramel and chocolate. Fantastic. If only he could convince her that her taste in men was as good as her choice in ice cream.

  “Let me show you what it would be like, what we would be like.” She turned her shoulder to pull away, but he held her firmly.

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “We did that in the pool.”

  “The pool was nothing.”

  Her head whipped around, her green eyes flashing. “I rocked your world. I—”

  His hands on her hips, he lifted her up onto the countertop. Taking advantage of her surprise, he angled his body between her legs.

  “The pool was phenomenal, but imagine what we’d be like once we know each other, know where to touch.” He slid his hands up her pale thighs, pushing the delicate fabric with him. Her whoosh of breath told him he’d found the right place. “Know where to kiss.” Tugging the side of her robe, he brushed it from her shoulder, pressing his lips along the line of her collarbone, trailing kisses up her neck to the spot just behind her earlobe.

  “Sex isn’t enough,” she said on a breath, not pulling away.

  “I don’t want to debate, Robyn.” He pulled back enough to slide her robe from her shoulders, toying with the spaghetti straps of the matching short chemise she wore beneath it. “Let’s test the waters, see what we’re like together.” Deciding he wanted to see her, all of her, he reached for the hem of the lingerie and tried to lift it.

  Robyn put her hands down on top of his, stopping him. “We’re fantastic together. It clouds the issue.”

  He shook his head. “No issues. Just step away from reality.” He moved his fingers beneath the hem, pulling the back of it from beneath her. “We could knock out every item on your list. Starting with the kitchen.” He lifted the chemise above her hips, staring down at pink panties, the words “kiss me” embroidered on the front. His cock swelled at the invitation.

  “We can’t,” she said without effect.

  Hooking his thumbs into the sides of her panties, he tugged hard,
not surprised when she lifted up to help him. “What can’t we do?”

  “Kiss under a waterfall. See a volcano erupt.”

  “We’ll go to Hawaii on Wednesday.” He shrugged off his shirt and rid himself of his pants.

  Her giggle went straight through him, the sensation settling in his groin. The skin tightened around his growing erection. He reached for the hem of the chemise. Her hands caught him again.

  “There are a lot of lights on in here.”

  “I know,” he groaned, his gaze hungry for more of her naked body.

  “Too many lights.”

  “Making love with the lights on should be on your list.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Then it is the first entry on mine.”

  “But I don’t—” He silenced her insecurities with a kiss he hoped would burn out the last vestiges of doubt in her mind that he was thinking of anyone else. He didn’t want mechanical sex. He wanted Robyn alive and vibrant. He wanted to drown in her, to bury himself so deeply some of her kindness and enthusiasm rubbed off.

  When he pulled back to remove the chemise from her, the eager, expectant look in her eyes clenched his gut. She had a way of looking at him that he’d never experienced. He liked it, but if he took the time to think about why, too many things would have to change.

  The chemise joined the rest of their clothes on the kitchen floor. Robyn wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

  “I wasn’t going to sleep with you again.”

  “Glad I could talk you out of that.” He pulled her flush against him, his fingers twitching on her hips. With her hot wetness slick against him, he fought the primal urge to take her now, without any warning, but he couldn’t give in. That would be too easy. He’d never been this out of control with need, lust, and he liked the high it gave him. The thrill of skating on sharp edges at midnight, not caring where you were going, only how fast you could go.

  Lowering his head, he took her mouth, kissing her with all the determination he could muster. He fisted one hand in her hair, anchoring her to him, tipping her head back and exposing her throat. He trailed the kiss across her jaw to the place at the base of her throat where her pulse beat fast and thready beneath her skin.