by JS Scott
Okay. Yeah. He expected Paris, London, the Orient, or even Africa. Instead, she had mumbled quietly that she had always wanted to go to Disneyworld. Barely more than an hour’s drive from Tampa, and with a private jet available for travel anywhere in the world, he hadn’t expected this to be her dream vacation.
Granted, it had actually been fun. He especially liked it when she got scared on a ride and threw herself in his arms with a shriek and a delighted laugh. Tonight was their last night at the resort, and he was taking her to dinner in one of the best restaurants in Orlando. He just hoped that they had something big to celebrate.
Fishing his phone from his jacket, he looked at the caller ID. Hudson, Samuel.
“What?” he snarled into the phone.
“Did you ask her yet?”
Simon nearly laughed at the slightly nervous voice on the other end of the phone. Sam acted like this event was just as important to him as it was to Simon. “No. She’s getting ready for dinner.”
“You’ve had a week. What the hell?”
“What do you care?” Actually, Simon knew very well why Sam cared. He’d let it slip that if Kara said yes, Sam would very likely be seeing Maddie Reynolds again.
“She’s good for you. You need her. Plus, I don’t want to put up with your shitty mood if she says no.”
She wasn’t going to say no. She couldn’t say no. He would just have to convince her. Anything else was not an option.
The door of their suite opened, and Simon lost all interest in his conversation with Sam. “I’ll call you later.”
“Ask her.”
Simon clicked off the call and pocketed his phone, his eyes never leaving the beautiful woman in red, framed in the door of their suite.
God, she’s incredible. Will I ever get used to the sight of her?
Most likely...not. It didn’t matter where she was, or what she was wearing, he started having palpitations the moment he saw her.
Tonight, dressed in a red cocktail dress that flirted with her knees, and a pair of matching heels, she took his breath away. Her hair was down, tiny strands ruffling from the slight ocean breeze.
“You look beautiful,” he told her truthfully as he reached her side, planting a light kiss on her lips. You look like a fucking goddess.
Every day. Every single time he saw her.
“Thanks. You’re looking very handsome yourself, Mr. Hudson. Are we ready?” she asked, shooting him a happy smile.
I’m ready. Ready to strip off that sexy dress and see what kind of underwear you’re wearing. Then I’ll strip them off with my teeth and fuck you until you scream.
His cock was rock-hard, but that was nothing new. It happened every day, every time she smiled at him. Or when she didn’t smile at him. When she frowned. When she argued. Fuck! Her mere presence was all that was required to give him an erection.
Or her voice. Or just the thought of her. Damn...he was easy when it came to Kara.
“In just a minute.” He guided her back in the door, closing it behind him. “I need to talk to you.”
Her smile faded and he wanted to kick himself.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, her voice suddenly concerned.
“No.” He sat on a leather couch in the opulent suite and pulled her down into his lap. “I need to ask you something.”
Do it. Just do it. Before you go crazy.
He opened his clenched fist, showing her his final heart-wish.
“Don’t waste it on asking for sex, ’cause I’m pretty much a sure thing,” she answered, laughing softly.
He slid her off his lap and seated her beside him. Reaching into his pocket, he handed her a small box.
She looked at him, then the heart, and then the box. Taking the box in her hand, she lifted the lid slowly.
“I wish that you would marry me.” His voice was husky and filled with part hope, part fear.
“Oh, my God. Simon, I didn’t expect this.” She pulled the huge, sparkling diamond ring, housed in a platinum setting, from its velvet home, her fingers trembling. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes. Please.” Say yes or I’m gonna lose it.
She looked at him with a stunned expression. “You want to marry me? Simon, you haven’t even told me that you love me. I assumed you just weren’t ready. I didn’t expect this.”
How in the hell could she not have suspected? She’d owned his heart, body, and soul for what seemed like forever. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Surely he had said that to her before? “I do. I can’t believe I’ve never said it, but you had to have known.”
She smiled up at him. “I know. I just wasn’t sure if you were ready to say it.”
“I’m more than fucking ready. You’re mine and I want it official.” His eyes were intense, his body tight. “I should have told you that I loved you. I’ll make sure you hear it so often from now on that you’ll be tired of hearing me say it. You deserve to hear it every fucking day. Maybe I haven’t verbalized it because there aren’t really words to explain how I feel about you. Love seems lukewarm, not enough. But I love hearing it coming from your lips. I should have known that you wanted to hear it.” He sighed. “You’re my life, sweetheart. Please be mine. Mine forever.”
She threw herself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes tightly, knowing he held his whole world in his arms at that very moment.
“Mine forever,” she breathed, close to his ear, her voice incredulous.
He pulled back to look at her face. She was crying, tears spilling from her eyes in an endless stream.
“Don’t cry. I don’t like it.”
“I know. But they’re happy tears.”
Fuck! Crying was crying, and he hated to see her cry. He plucked the ring from her trembling fingers and grasped her hand gently, sliding the ring on her finger. His heart raced as he stated, “You’re marrying me.”
“I thought you were asking.” She shot him an amused look. “I haven’t said yes.”
“You will,” he warned, his expression dark. “Say that you will.” Say it. Before I have a damn heart attack. Say it. Now. Right fucking now!
She pried his fist open and pick up the heart gently. She tore it up, letting the tiny pieces scatter over the couch. “Wish granted.”
He blew out a relieved breath, his heart hammering. “Yes?”
“Yes. I’ll marry you. I love you, too.”
“Soon,” he demanded.
“We’ll see. Compromise?”
“No!” He took her hand in his and gently kissed the ring he had placed on her finger. “No compromise this time.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, dropping a soft kiss on his lips as she caressed the nape of his neck. “A small compromise?”
“No.”
He groaned as she pulled his head down and gave him a toe-curling, hot embrace that had him panting in the aftermath.
“You can give a little,” she told him in a low, persuasive voice.
He growled as her hand moved down his chest and palmed his erection through his pants. “Are you trying to seduce me into compromise?”
“Maybe. Is it working?” she answered in her irresistible “fuck-me” voice.
“Hell yes, it’s working,” he growled, pulling her into his arms. “Fine. We’ll talk terms. Later.” He stood and pulled her to her feet.
Fuck! He was easy.
“Later,” she agreed. “Much later.” She grabbed his tie and tugged, leading him willingly toward the bedroom.
Maybe being easy wasn’t always a bad thing.
They missed dinner and ordered room service hours later. In the hours preceding their celebratory engagement dinner in the suite, Simon learned that compromise wasn’t bad at all and that being easy could be a very, very good thing.
~*~ The End ~*~
This one is for the wonderful readers of The Billionaire’s Obsession series who loved Simon and Kara as much as I do and wanted to see more of them. Thank you for following the series and looking forward to each new book with enthusiasm.
>Also, many thanks to Karma for the selfless things you do for me as a friend and a critique buddy. Please get well soon.
~J.S.~
“Can we talk?”
Simon Hudson flinched as he glanced up from his computer screen to see his fiancée, Kara, standing at the entrance to his home computer lab, as she uttered the three little words that he swore every man in America probably dreaded hearing from the woman he loved. After living with the gorgeous brunette for over a year, seeing that familiar crinkle of concentration between her beautiful blue eyes, Simon knew exactly what was about to happen. Can we talk? Those words murmured in that husky, low, and seductive voice of hers was actually a warning, a sign that she was about to broach a topic of conversation that he absolutely, positively did not agree with or didn’t want to talk about.
He grabbed the mug beside his computer, taking a slug of coffee and wishing it were something a little stronger, even though it was barely eight o’clock in the morning. The last time Kara had wanted to talk, she’d badgered him about her personal security, wanting him to decrease it. That was so not happening. She already had far less security than he would like to see tailing her luscious ass every day. Swallowing hard, trying to get the coffee down around the huge lump in his throat, he tried not to notice how adorable Kara looked in a pair of baby pink medical scrubs as she sashayed into his office. Even after a year, just the sight of her, the sound of her voice, the thought of her, her enticing scent-anything that even reminded him of Kara-had him completely enthralled and his cock instantly standing at attention. Simon had convinced himself that his obsession with Kara would calm down after some time had passed, settling into a more rational love, one that didn’t make him completely insane. It hadn’t, and he had been seriously deluding himself to think that he could feel anything other than completely irrational thoughts when it came to all things Kara. If anything, his fixation had gotten worse.
I’m a goddamn billionaire, co-owner of one of the most powerful corporations in the world, sensible in every other area of my life. How can one woman make me so crazy?
Kara smiled at him as she stopped in front his desk, making his raging erection strain against the zipper of his jeans and his chest ache with happiness. Every fucking time he looked at her, Simon was constantly amazed that this incredible woman was his, had accepted him completely, with all of his faults.
Mine.
Simon wanted to reached across the desk and free that silken mane from its confining ponytail, pull her into his lap and kiss those smiling ripe lips until she made those needy little noises, abandoned moans that...
“Simon?” Kara’s questioning voice jerked him out of his erotic fantasies. Damn it.
Can we talk?
Oh, hell. Did he have a choice? He smiled up at her, but answered cautiously, “What did you want to talk about?”
“I need you to read something and sign it. It’s no big deal.” She dropped several papers on his desk, fastened together with a paper clip.
Scanning the top document quickly, his eyes flying over the printed words, he answered in a bewildered voice. “This is a contract. A prenuptial agreement.” He flipped the pages quickly, no stranger to contracts and legal documents. It didn’t take long for him to search out the pertinent information. “What in the hell is this?”
She sighed. “I had an attorney draw it up. We’re getting married in a month. You’re a billionaire and I’m a brand new registered nurse without a penny to her name. It’s hardly an equal arrangement. I think it’s only fair that you’re protected. I’ve already signed it. I just need your signature. Please.”
Eyes narrowing into a dangerous look, he raised his head and shot her a mulish glance. “Not happening, sweetheart. Christ, you aren’t allowing yourself anything. What attorney would even agree to this for their client? You’re never leaving me and I’m sure as hell never leaving you. Till death do us part, what’s mine is yours, etc. etc.”
Kara propped her hands on her hips and met his ferocious stare with one of her own.
Uh oh. Simon was well acquainted with that look, that ornery tilt of her chin, but he’d be damned if he was losing this disagreement. No prenuptial agreement, no divorce. Ever. He’d never survive it. The stubborn woman standing before him had become his entire world, holding his happiness in her delicate hands; she’d yanked him out of his previously lonely, empty existence, forcing him to face his issues head-on, changing his whole life from dysfunctional to extraordinary. Losing her was not an option.
“Things happen, Simon. You saved my life. We aren’t equals financially. I owe you this.” Her voice was frustrated.
The wheels on Simon’s computer chair screeched as he stood, stalking Kara as he moved around the desk. “Things don’t happen to us. And you don’t owe me a damn thing. You don’t let me buy you anything without a major argument; you won’t take a penny of my money. I’m willing to bet everything that I have that you’ve barely touched the money I put in your account over a year ago.” Taking a deep breath, Simon tried to contain his emotions, pushing down ruthlessly on the hurt and possessiveness that were trying to claw to the surface. There was nothing he wanted more than to give Kara everything, things she had never had before she met him, but she wouldn’t allow him to do much more than put a roof over her head and feed her, and it was killing him. Damn it, Kara’s life should be easier now that she was going to be his wife. Spending her entire life in poverty, working her ass into the ground-Simon wanted things to be different for her now; needed to give her a worry-free, happy life after the hell she had been through just to survive. God knew he had the resources.
Kara blew out a shaky breath before answering, “You rescued me from the streets, Simon. You sheltered me, cared for me, made me fall madly in love with you and loved me in return. You’ve given me every single thing a woman could ever want. Let me give you this.”
Bullshit. Not enough. Not enough. She deserves more. Probably a better man than I am, but I can’t give her up.
Shuddering as he breathed in her unique, feminine scent, Simon turned her around, slapping a hand on each side of the desk, imprisoning her. Denying this woman anything she wanted was hell since she asked for so little except his love, but he refused to give in this time. She had his love, his body, his mind, his fucking soul. Obviously, his woman hadn’t yet realized that she had him by the balls every minute of every day.
Mine.
His mouth nuzzled her ear, crowding her against the desk, shoving his body into hers just to feel those lush curves molded against him. God, how he loved the way her body surrendered to him, yielded to him, melding them together with her willingness to accept him as though his flesh was part of her.
Kara’s arms snaked around his body, her hands wandering beneath his t-shirt, her touch setting fire to his already hot skin. He groaned as she plastered her body against him, stroking his back, rotating her hips against his swollen cock.
His mouth next to her ear, Simon growled. “No contracts. Nothing between us. Not now. Not in the future. You’re mine. You’ll always be mine.”
Her irresistible fragrance surrounded him, drowning him in desire, his body begging his mind to take her. Feral need engulfed him and he pulled her head back gently by her ponytail, covering her mouth with his as she parted her deliciously tempting lips to argue.
Kara whimpered a sweet little sound of need as his mouth devoured hers, Simon swallowed the noise with hungry lips, desperate to claim his woman, to brand her with his touch until she could think of nothing but him, needed nothing but him. She tasted like coffee, peppermint, and pure carnal desire, and it nearly drove him mad. He plundered
, taking her mouth, groaning as her tongue slid along his, claiming him. His heart thundered against his chest wall, wanting to tell her that she had owned him forever, since the first moment he saw her. Probably, if he was honest, long before that. He had waited a lifetime for the woman he held in his arms, and he would never let her go.
Releasing her lips reluctantly, Simon buried his face in the side of Kara’s neck, panting for air and struggling for control over his rampant, covetous emotions. His hands slid down to her shapely ass, cupping it, pulling the heat of her core against his swollen cock.
“Simon,” Kara moaned in her husky fuck-me voice, her warm breath wafting over his ear.
Animal instinct slammed him in the gut, uncontrolled and wild. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was important at that moment except the driving desire to satisfy his needy mate.
“I love you,” she panted restlessly, her teeth biting gently at his neck.
This time, her words went straight to Simon’s heart, the pleasurable pain striking him directly in the chest. “I love you too, sweetheart.” Resting his forehead against her shoulder, he closed his eyes, floored by the strength of her emotions, humbled by the fact that this woman truly loved him. Him. The man. Not the billionaire or the material things he could give her. He bore the scars of his past, inside and out, but Kara never seemed to see anything except a man worth loving. She was a miracle, his miracle. “No more talk about prenuptial agreements, okay?”
He felt her silky hair brush against his jaw as she shook her head, pulling back slightly to meet his eyes. Frowning at him, she answered, “We have to talk about it.”
Nope. They sure as hell did not have to talk about it. She could drop the whole ridiculous idea and just kiss him again. And again. Simon wasn’t about to make the most incredible, happiest event of his life into a fucking contract. “You know I already revised my will. We went over it.” He’d made damn sure Kara would always be taken care of, no matter what happened to him.
She nodded slowly. “It’s one thing if you leave me unwillingly by death. But what if…”