The Billionaire Possession Series: The Complete Boxed Set

by Amelia Wilde

  “You looked lost.”

  I pull back a little, giving him a look. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those men who goes after vulnerable women to fix them.”

  He laughs out loud, and his voice sends a curl of desire down my spine. “No. I’ve never been interested in damsels in distress.”

  “I ended up being in distress. You haven’t forgotten that pathetic phone call, have you? Because—”

  “Before you made that phone call, you turned me down. You looked me in the eye, and you told me you were worth more than I was offering. Not—not you, exactly, but your family, their estate. You wouldn’t even accept the offer as a starting point for negotiations. You dismissed me outright.” Levi laughs again, thinking of it. “It was the sexiest thing that’s happened to me in years. Most women—” His expression goes serious, but there’s still a light dancing in his eyes. “Most women either want my money or want me to think they need my money. You did need it. You wanted nothing to do with it.”

  “So as long as I don’t want your money, you’ll want more of me?”

  The last of the smile disappears from Levi’s face. “Oh, no. It’s way past that now. I want you aside from all of this. Aside from the auction, aside from money, aside from everything else. I want you. I want the way you’re so...” He drops one hand to the side of my neck, tracing a path downward to the neckline of my dress. “You keep your worries locked away, but when we’re together—”

  “You see all of them. I can’t hide from you.”

  “I can’t hide from you.” Levi’s tone is deadly serious. “I’ve never once lost control with a client before. I’ve never let it go so far. And I’ve never offered my services for practically nothing because I was so captivated by a woman that I couldn’t let her go.”

  I laugh, but it’s so full of heat that it’s almost more of a moan. “You were ready to let me go when I turned you down. You turned your back on me. You walked right out.”

  “I wanted to run back in.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Now that sly half-smile returns. “Levi Blake, running back into an estate sale to beg a woman for a scrap of her attention? Not likely.”

  “Not then, you mean.”

  “Not then. Now? I’d run into any room with you in it. I’d beg on my knees for your attention.”

  I don’t want to see him on his knees.

  That’s the truth that overwhelms everything else roiling in my mind right now. I don’t want to see Levi on his knees. I want to be on mine. I want that same power to hold me in place again like it did on the sofa two days ago.

  “Don’t beg on your knees.” It’s a plea that’s so soft I’m not sure that he hears it.

  But he does hear it.

  “Mmm,” he says, nodding. “No, it’s not for me to beg on my knees, is it?” I shake my head. “It’s for you.”

  Oh, my God, what have I gotten myself into? What happens when all of this comes crashing down? What if the guilt grows and grows, despite this wall that we’re building between business and pleasure, and drowns me?

  I want answers, but then Levi’s lips are on mine, and he’s pressing me back against the door of the town car, and I am lost, utterly lost, and the answers become meaningless.

  Then the car rolls to a stop.

  22

  Levi

  There’s a desperation in Ruby’s blue eyes that demands to be devoured—licked and stroked and fucked until it’s docile and demure and harmless—but I know how limited our time is.

  I’ve had the partition up between Phillip’s portion of the car and ours since before Ruby stepped into the car, and I’m glad for it now, because she’s trembling underneath me, lying back against the leather of the seats, her back braced against the door.

  There’s so much more I want to say to her. There’s so much more I want to know about her. But the need crackling between us in the air can’t be ignored—not for another second. It’s pulsing through both of us, from the little sounds that escape her mouth when I kiss her, crushing my lips against hers.

  It’s only a matter of time before it becomes awkward for us to be in here. It doesn’t seem like Ruby’s noticed we’ve stopped moving. Phillip works for me, and given the partition, he’ll realize that any exits might take a little longer than usual. But when Ruby does figure it out, she’ll insist. Professionalism, I’m fairly sure, will begin in the driveway.

  So I stretch the moment out for as long as I can, kissing her deeply, tasting the sweetness of her lips, the mint of her gum.

  Then I reach for her leg, pressing my palm against her skin above her knee and moving it upward, upward, inch by inch. I want to take even longer, to tease her, to draw out more little moans, but the clock is ticking,

  She gasps when my fingers meet the smooth fabric of her panties. Ruby spreads her legs as wide as she can, her left leg making contact with the back of the seat, and you can bet that I take the invitation. I shove her panties to the side, hooking my finger in the dampness and pulling them roughly away from her folds, making her gasp again.

  Ruby’s soaking wet, her juices collected between her legs. She opens her mouth to let me drive my tongue in at the same time that I slide two fingers into her hot opening. There’s no resistance, none whatsoever. She only sucks in a deep breath, her muscles clenching around the fingers, and I hook them to the front, fingertips brushing against the secret spot hidden inside her.

  “Oh…” Ruby groans. There’s only one thing left to do—she’s right on the edge. I press the pad of my thumb against her swollen clit and rub it in circles—one, two, three.

  There’s nothing prettier than watching her come, her hips jerking up and away from the seat of the car. She slaps her hand over her own mouth, stifling her cries, but they vibrate through her body, matching the rhythm of her hips.

  As she’s beginning to come down, I lean forward, twisting my fingers inside of her, and growl two words into her ear. “Good girl.”

  It makes her come again.

  It takes another full minute before she can open her eyes again. When she does, I slip my fingers from inside of her and put them to my mouth, sucking the sweetness from them. Her lips part, then curl upward in a smile.

  “You taste so sweet.” I kiss her one more time, and this time she reaches up, her hand curling around my jaw, insisting that I let her explore the taste of me. I let her. Hell yes do I let her.

  She releases me.

  “I also should tell you...we’re here.”

  Ruby gives me the most wicked grin I’ve ever seen. “Oh, Levi.” She waggles a finger at me. “Did you think I didn’t know?”

  Cataloguing the contents of the estate, with Ruby in that sundress, is nothing less than torturous.

  But a man keeps his promises.

  “Naughty.” I whispered the word into her ear and turned around, reaching for the handle of the opposite door. In the driveway, I removed my suit jacket from work, straightened my shirt, and headed for the entrance.

  It took only a few moments for her to catch up, her hands reaching for her hair. It’s perfect again in an instant.

  She noticed the empty spaces in the living room immediately.

  Yesterday I had a team come through and take the pieces I’m definitely including in the auction back to the warehouse—all but a few of them, which I had transported to a private storage area that’s separate from the rest of the inventory. I haven’t decided what to do about those—not exactly—but I know it needs to be something different. For Ruby’s sake.

  Her face fell when she noticed the missing items, but only for a moment. She didn’t allow herself to look devastated. Instead, she put a smile on. “We’re making progress.”

  In more ways than one.

  She turns to me in one of the upstairs guest bedrooms, her eyes shining. “Henry and I used to write plays in here.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Plays?”

  “Yeah. That desk—” She jerks her chin toward an ant
ique writing desk lined up in front of the window. “It’s perfect for pretending you’re Shakespeare or something.”

  “Is he a writer now?”

  The smile on Ruby’s face fades a little. “I’m not really sure that he’s anything right now. Up until his accident—” She bites her lip. “Do you want to know about all this?”

  The word accident is sharpening the details in my mind. Ruby doesn’t want to break down in front of people, and now it’s starting to dawn on me that the estate sale might not be the only thing weighing on her. “I want to know everything.”

  A flicker of a smile. “Henry was in an accident five months ago. He got sideswiped while he was riding his motorcycle.” Her chin quivers, but she sets her jaw. “He’s still in the hospital.”

  I reach for her, but then I remember—professionalism. I settle for patting her on the shoulder. Pink rises to her cheeks, but she gives me a little nod. “That sounds terrible.”

  “It’s not good.” She lets out a little laugh. “It’s awful.” Ruby shakes it off, straightening her back. “Before his accident, he was...” The smile reappears. “He was writing for a couple of the late-night shows.” She shrugs one shoulder. “I guess the desk was where it all began.”

  “Where did things begin for you?”

  Ruby cocks her head to the side. “It was about a week ago, I’d say.”

  “A week ago?”

  Her grin has my cock straining against my clothes.

  “It was when a man named Levi Blake walked into my parents’ house.” She nods her head, firmly. “Yeah. That’s when things began.”

  23

  Ruby

  I’m baiting him, and I know it.

  I can’t help myself.

  I meant it when I said I needed to keep things professional when we were working on this project—this devastating project—but being so close to Levi makes it impossible to follow through. At least, impossible to follow through completely. I know I shouldn’t bring up last Saturday. I shouldn’t make it seem like my entire life hinged on meeting him.

  But in this moment, it does. It really does.

  Levi looks at me with narrowed eyes. “That’s a highly unprofessional thing to say, Ruby.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Are you?”

  I’m ignoring the bulge in the front of his pants. “Very sorry.” I look down at my watch. “We should move on to the next room.” I raise my chin, holding my head high, and move toward the door.

  Levi catches me by the elbow. “You’re not keeping up your end of the bargain.”

  “What’s my end of the bargain?”

  “Professionalism. That’s what you wanted—isn’t it?”

  He’s so sexy with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his jacket abandoned on the seat of the car, his pants so finely tailored that I can’t help but notice the muscled strength of his legs underneath the fabric.

  “Yes. I need it.” There’s a flash of guilt in my gut. “I’m—I’m sorry, Levi. You’ve been keeping your word, and I’ve been—”

  “You’ve been a cocktease.”

  It’s the least professional thing he could have said, but the word—so filthy—is a dark mirror of the need that’s been expanding in my core since we got out of the car. I came twice on his fingers and I already want more of him. I want more of him so badly that I’m willing to go back on the thing I begged him to do in the car—to treat me like a client.

  His hand is firm on my elbow, but it doesn’t hurt in the least. I can tell he’s using every ounce of restraint right now. If I had to guess, it’s not that he can’t stop himself from using a strong grip. It’s that we’re right on the line between a hot fuck and a cool assessment of another room’s worth of pieces.

  “I have been.”

  My admission is all it takes.

  Levi breathes in deep, his shoulders rising and falling, his eyes never leaving mine, glinting silver in the fading sunlight coming through the bedroom window. “We’re done here.”

  My stomach does a slow turn, and I can feel the blood draining out of my face. “Permanently?”

  Levi allows himself one touch—one stroke of his knuckles against my cheek. “No, Ruby. For tonight.” Then he’s striding toward the door without another backward glance. “For tonight? We’re leaving.”

  I follow him out to the town car. He’s walking so fast that it’s a stretch for me to keep up with him in my high heels. It doesn’t seem to matter that I have home field advantage.

  Even Phillip is surprised. He’s leaning against the passenger side door of the town car when we come out, and at the sound of the front door shutting with a bang he leaps up.

  “Everything okay?” There’s real concern in his voice.

  “Everything’s fine. In the car, in the car. The penthouse.” Levi crosses the driveway and yanks the back door open, beckoning for me to get in. I can’t slide across the seat fast enough. He can’t climb in and shut the door fast enough, but as soon as it clicks shut, the town car is moving.

  I can’t take my eyes off him. His entire body is tensed, making the muscles of his shoulders and arms stand out in sharp relief. The view would be even more exhilarating if he had his shirt off, but I’m not going to say a word about it. Levi is in charge here. That much is clear.

  We’re back on the main highway when he finally turns his gaze back to me. There’s something animal in his eyes. I press one hand against the seat, ready to be pressed back against the door, ready to be ravished.

  “Do you want this?”

  The phrase that falls from his mouth is so loaded with meaning that I can’t decide which layer to answer first. In this moment, I want all of this. All of it, even the difficult parts.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you even know what I’m asking?”

  “I have an idea.”

  He moves closer, and the silver of his eyes overwhelms everything else. “I’m not leaving this to chance. Tell me right now if you want this from me, Ruby. Tell me right now if you want to be taken. If you want to be claimed. If you want to be mine.”

  It’s an effort to get air into my lungs, because all of it has been sucked out of the back of the town car. “This has nothing to do with the auction?” I have to ask the question.

  “Nothing. This is about you and me. This is after-hours. But if you don’t want that, tell me right now. Right now, Ruby.”

  I open my mouth to answer him, but the right words refuse to come out. I can’t describe how much I want this from him. I can’t describe the depth of my certainty that being with Levi like this—unbound by any obligations to my family, away from the looming heartbreak of the auction, nothing but the two of us, together—will change everything. It’s going to change everything. There are no words that seem adequate to tell him that beneath all my doubts, something at my core is crying out for him. Constantly.

  “I want it. I want you.”

  Then Levi’s hand is underneath my chin, his fingers wrapping around my jaw, tilting my head back so that my throat is exposed to him, so that I have no other choice but to look him in his eyes. His gaze smolders, and the very last of my doubts burst into flame. “Beg me.”

  The word takes on a different meaning entirely, but my muscles respond immediately, relaxing into Levi’s control. Who the hell have I become? Have I always wanted this?

  Yes. Yes, I have. Even if I didn’t realize it.

  “Please.” My voice rings low. “Please, Levi. Make me yours.”

  24

  Levi

  I release her.

  It’s the last thing on earth that I want to do, but I’m playing a longer game.

  Ruby started all this—today’s struggle between keeping it cool and giving in to the heat—in that second-floor bedroom. She knew exactly what she was doing, and it was such a transparent cry for me to do exactly this that I’m not surprised when she gives in immediately.

  It’s gorgeous, the way she breaks her own rules to get wh
at she wants.

  But if I had to wait all day to get what I wanted, she’s going to get a taste of that, too.

  When I take my hand away she bites her lips, leaning toward me. The air in the back of the town car is thick with anticipation. I’d bet every dime in my offshore bank accounts that Ruby’s nipples are hard beneath her dress, but I’m not going to search them out. I’m not going to roll them between my fingers until she gasps.

  Not yet.

  I give her an indulgent smile. “That was beautiful.”

  She shakes her head, confusion written on her face. “Beautiful?”

  “Those words, coming out of your mouth...” I close my eyes for a moment, savoring the memory of them. “Beautiful.”

  “Then what—”

  “No, no.” I hold a finger to my lips. “Stay quiet.”

  Ruby crosses her arms over her chest. “What game are you playing?”

  I lean closer, murmuring into her ear. “What game were you playing, back in that bedroom?”

  She blushes a deep red. “I wanted—”

  “I know what you wanted. And you’re going to get it.” I pull back. “But not right now.”

  “You’re sadistic.”

  “I’m really not.”

  “There’s enough room back here to—”

  “To fuck?”

  Ruby meets my gaze, fire in her eyes. “Yes. That exactly.”

  “Ruby, it’s hardly safe for me to take you in the back of a moving vehicle.” I’m so close to her that I can see the goose bumps rise on her neck when I breathe against her skin, but I don’t press my lips against the creamy expanse there.

  “Safe enough.” Her words are forced out against a breathless background.

  I shake my head, slowly, deliberately, so that she can’t help but notice the movement out of the corner of her eye. “I could never risk your safety over…”