The Billionaire's Bet

  But now I was starting to think that things were turning around in my life. That I'd started doing the right thing, making the right choices. And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have her grow up like her mom.

  “Let's go to bed,” I said to Dorian.

  He grabbed my hand and smiled.

  If I'd known that Dorian would be showing up at my door with heartfelt apologies and a declaration of love, I probably would have tidied my room. I tried to discreetly kick away the little piles of laundry on my floor as we stepped inside, but he didn't even notice. His eyes were on me and only me.

  “Sorry about the mess,” I said lamely, looking away.

  He reached out and pulled my chin back around to face him. “I wouldn't care if we were in a cave in the middle of Siberia, as long as we were together.”

  I laughed nervously. “I think you were supposed to say ‘It's not even that bad,’ or something along those lines.”

  He made a show of taking a look around and shrugged when he returned his gaze to me. “I don't think it would be good to start our relationship with a lie.”

  My mouth dropped open, and I smacked his arm. “Jerk.”

  “Yet you fell in love with me,” he said with an impish smile. “What does that say about you?”

  I laughed and pushed him back on the bed, shaking my head with a bemused smile. “What am I getting myself into?”

  “Darling, you have no idea.”

  In an instant, he rose up and spun us, pushing me back on the mattress where he'd been only seconds before. I squealed in delight. He crushed his lips against mine and silenced me.

  Our kiss was a tantalizing mix of slow and deep. His tongue stroked mine and dipped into my mouth, exploring me. Claiming me for good. He wedged his knee between my legs and ground it against me, making me moan. The heat of our teasing turned into something more sensual, filling my core with molten lava. I fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, aching to feel his bare skin against mine. He leaned back just enough to allow me to strip him.

  I’d nearly forgotten how good his taut, muscular chest felt under my fingers. I explored freely, arching up against his leg as he continued to rub me through my thin pants. His hands pulled at the bottom of my t-shirt, and as soon as the air tickled my bare skin, his palms covered my breasts.

  “I’ve missed you,” he whispered hoarsely.

  “I missed you too.” I arched as he pinched one of my nipples, the latter half of my sentence coming out as a moan.

  He inched back from the bed just long enough to strip off his pants and underwear. My mouth watered at the sight of his hard, jutting length. I would have clenched my thighs together to help ease the ache, but his leg was already there.

  “You’re so goddamn beautiful.” He leaned over me, nipping my lip before trailing his mouth down to my breasts. One of his hands supported him on the bed, the other started tugging on my pajama bottoms. He pulled them to my ankles, where I kicked them off clumsily.

  Just as Dorian’s teeth clamped down on one of my nipples, he slid two fingers into my throbbing pussy. I moaned, then pulled a pillow to my face and bit it. I didn’t want to wake Mikala. This would be a little harder to explain than Elroy’s visit.

  He moved to the other breast while he continued exploring my slick folds, using his thumb against my clit even as his fingers worked inside me. He continued inching his body downward, eventually latching his mouth onto my sensitive clit, and it was all I could do not to scream.

  He worked his expert tongue with precision, swirling and licking until I shook with the need to release. My skin tingled everywhere, like he was somehow all around me and inside me, filling every cell in my body. I wrapped my thighs around his shoulders and arched up, seeking an end to the sweetest torture I’d ever known. He hummed and worked faster, giving me exactly what I needed to crest that rise. I fisted the sheets and bit down hard on the pillow as pleasure washed over me. I felt so weightless and limp that I thought I might drift away from the bed. I pictured Dorian having to pull me down from the ceiling and giggled as my climax began to ebb.

  “What is it?” He was climbing up the bed, pressing tender kisses along my flesh.

  “Oh nothing,” I said. “Just thinking about you.”

  “Good.” He reached my mouth and kissed me softly. “I want to be the only one you ever think about again.”

  “Keep giving me orgasms like that, and I’ll consider it.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

  His knees edged mine open, and the tip of his cock found my entrance, stretching me. I kissed him to smother my moan. He pressed in the rest of the way until there wasn’t even a breath of space between us. I was safe and full and happy. It was everything I ever wanted.

  He was everything I ever wanted.

  And then he lifted his hips and pushed in again, this time harder. I wrapped my legs around him and urged him deeper, already feeling the light tingle of another orgasm on the horizon. More. I needed more.

  His thrusts were slow but powerful, building tension in my belly until I thought I would burst. The pleasure coiled tightly as our world became two writhing bodies, sloppy kisses, and rasping breath. We were on fire, but not a blazing inferno. No, we were simmering, smoldering embers – white-hot at the core and made to last.

  The rest of the world ceased to exist. As my core burned with my approaching release, I rocked against him, riding his body as surely as he rode mine. He groaned as I began to spasm around his cock, cursing softly as he thrust harder. Faster. He drove into me with such intensity that I peaked again, this time moaning loudly enough that he clamped his hand down on my mouth.

  He pressed his face against the crook of my neck, muffling his own cries as with a last, shuddering thrust, he came, heavy breaths hot against my skin. I turned my head and kissed him, clutching him to me as our breathing slowed. We stayed like that for a little while, holding each other in silence. Our sweat-slicked bodies fit together perfectly, the same way we fit together perfectly.

  When Dorian rolled away, it was only to get us into a more comfortable position. He pulled me against his chest and kissed my forehead. I could feel the smile on his lips, and I knew he wasn't planning on going anywhere. At least not tonight.

  “So what happens now?” I asked. I hated to ruin the mood, but now that the sexual tension between us had been satisfied, I needed at least one big question answered. “When do you have to go back to New York?”

  His fingertips stroked my arm absentmindedly. “I don’t.”

  I looked up at him in alarm. His mouth was still tilted in a contented smile.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I don’t have to go back to New York. I’m going to move my part of the business here.” His smile widened. “Or you could move to New York with me. Or we could go anywhere in the world.” He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. “It doesn’t matter. Just as long as I’m with you.”

  I let the weight of his words sink in. “You would really rearrange your whole life for me?”

  I’d never had anyone put me first. For anything. Ever. I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes.

  “Silly, beautiful girl,” he murmured. “It’s not my life, it’s our life.” His breath whispered across my cheek as he brought his lips to my ear. “And it’s not for you.” A pleasurable shiver ran down my neck. “Although I would bring the moon down from the sky to make you smile, it still wouldn’t be for you. Everything I do, from now until forever, is for us, and that us includes your daughter.”

  Us.

  I liked that.

  And when he met my precious little girl the next morning, Mikala liked it too.

  Turn the page to start reading my new book, The Gamble.

  The Gamble: Preview

  1

  Cam

  “Brake!” I screamed. “Jesus-fuck AJ, BRAKE!”

  My life flashed before my eyes, or at least I thought it did. The words and a massive adrenaline spike bu
rst at the same time.

  “Fuuck!”

  Just my luck. I’m gonna die before I have the chance to make it to the NFL Draft picks.

  A behemoth of a semi-truck just swerved inches from the front of our car, cutting us off, barely missing the left front bumper. AJ yanked the wheel and the car jerked to the right. Without thinking, I threw my hands out against the dashboard to brace myself, but the seatbelt cut into my shoulder and stopped me. I was left flapping my arms in front of me like two spaghetti noodles. I looked like an idiot, but at least I had good reflexes.

  Then there was a loud pop, the kind of sound that makes your heart leap into your throat.

  “Fuck!” AJ repeated my sentiments, followed by a litany of foul language as he wrestled the wheel to straighten the car. “Dumb, motherfucker, goddamn, son of a bitch!”

  I held on as the car swerved, zigzagging down the road, until AJ managed to muscle it to the side. Our small compact came to a crunching stop when the tires hit loose gravel on the shoulder of the interstate we’d been driving on for the past several hours.

  My friend took a break from his expletives long enough to say, “My fucking tire just blew!”

  Why am I not surprised? He’d been driving like a bat out of hell ever since we left campus. You’d think we were on some kind of road race, instead of heading to Vegas for spring break. The old car, and the tires, probably baked dry as a raisin, couldn’t handle the hot pavement. No wonder it blew.

  Ever since I’d submitted my declaration for the draft list for the NFL, I figured I was on my way to realizing my big dream. I couldn’t afford to have anything, or anyone, jeopardize it now. Maybe spring break in Vegas wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  I turned to AJ, my body still wired on adrenaline and said, “What the fuck, man? You tryin’ to kill me?”

  “Mother fucking, fuck, fuck, fuck!” AJ punctuated the last three words, pounding a fist on the steering wheel.

  As usual, he was overreacting. It was just a flat tire. No biggy.

  I shot him a sidelong glance. “What the hell, man? Do you have Tourette’s?”

  “Fuck, yeah!” He blew out a breath, trying to shake off the frustration, and ran a hand through his hair. “Traffic induced Tourette’s.”

  “You’re an asshole.” I grinned. Now that I wasn’t dying and we were both actually okay, I found my friend’s tantrum rather comical for being such a burly football player. “Man up,” I said. “Don’t be such a pussy.”

  “Right back at ya, bro.”

  AJ clicked off his seatbelt and jumped out of the car to go check the tire.

  I did the same and kicked open the passenger door. An unwelcome blast of hot desert air nearly hit me back in the face when I stepped out to join AJ. He was standing at the front right corner of the car, hands on his hips, staring at the tire and shaking his head.

  “Well, you’re crappy, piece of shit car has done it again,” I said, walking up to join him. “Get many chicks with this ghetto ride?”

  AJ squinted up into the desert sun as if hoping by some miracle a little good fortune would fall out of the sky, but as I looked around, I knew that wasn’t gonna happen, not with our luck.

  “Well, it’s better than your car,” he said. He tilted his head and slung his remark with a playful glare. “Oh, wait, that’s right. You don’t have one.”

  “Hey, I got crazy-hot chicks in high school and I drove a Moped back then.”

  “You’ve really moved up in the world. Your agent should have comped you a car like others do for their NFL prospects. What’s up with that? If it weren’t for my car, we wouldn’t be going anywhere on spring break. We’d be sitting in the training room, sweating out about a thousand sit ups while everyone else got blowjobs and free college-age pussy from bikini girls on the beach.”

  “Fuck you very much.” I raised a teasing eyebrow.

  AJ was my roommate, my best bud, and we always gave each other an endless hard time, but it was all done with friendship and affection.

  Aw, geez.

  Did I just say affection? I meant, the buddy kind of affection, of course.

  I watched as he kicked the shredded tire with the toe of his low slung, skater shoe, pursing his lips. He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, giving me a deadpan look.

  “What…don’t give me that look,” I said. “This is not my fault. Why the hell doesn’t your dad give you a better car anyway?” I continued as I followed him around to the back of the car where he popped open the trunk. “We can’t attract chicks with a broken down car. We need something like a 5.0 Mustang, preferably in red, with a sweet leather interior. Your dad’s rich enough. Why the hell doesn’t he throw you a bone and get you a decent car?”

  AJ handed me the crowbar then removed the jack and the spare tire. “Says he wants to teach me something. Morals and values, or some shit like that. Says, he’ll buy me a new car when I graduate college and join the family business.”

  I dropped the crowbar on the ground where AJ crouched, and pulled out my cell phone, wondering if I’d even be able to get a signal out here. I glanced up the length of Interstate 40. “Hey, how far do you think the next exit is? I’ll find the nearest place to get a new tire. It can’t be far.”

  AJ just grunted as he cranked the handle of the jack.

  “Why couldn’t that fucker have waited to cut us off just a few more miles? I said. “There’s an exit right there.”

  I looked down at AJ kneeling at the tire. The car was sufficiently jacked up and he was spinning the wrench to remove the lug nuts. “I don’t know. Here, make yourself useful,” he said, “hold these nuts.”

  “Sorry, bro. I don’t hold nuts,” I said, holding out my hand anyway.

  “You’re a dickhead.”

  “Alright, I’ll hold them...gently, but I’m not going to fondle them.”

  AJ placed the last bolt in my hand, shaking his head at my bad joke. I noticed a smile struggling to break out. Just the reaction I’d wanted in order to diffuse his frustration at our crappy luck.

  My friend, AJ, was a good guy, but way too tense sometimes, and a little hyperactive. Qualities I’d noticed when we first met, freshman year in college. Now, in our junior year, we were first string on the Longhorns’ football team at The University of Texas, Austin. I played quarterback. AJ was a kicker and today, we were on our way to Vegas for spring break.

  This would be my last escape for some fun-filled guy time with my buddy, before the NFL Draft picks came out. Back in January I signed a representation agreement with an agent, Saul Rasmussen, a neurotic, worry wart with a flop of hair that refused to stay in place. He was a rather easily excited, OCD type of guy, but a good agent. He walked me through the process of submitting my declaration letter and had been mentoring me ever since, a little too enthusiastically at times, checking up on me with a voracious amount of phone calls and texts. But who’d blame the guy. When the day came he’d get three percent of my signing bonus.

  With any luck, and the talent I’d been honing since I was a kid, I’d get drafted to a professional team and quit college. Yeah, that’s right, I said quit. I wasn’t planning on finishing college. Not right now anyway. A diploma could wait. The NFL wouldn’t. I had to strike while the iron was hot. Get picked for a team at the peak of my skills, before anything like an injury could take me out of the game. I’d seen it happen to other players and I’d become consumed with the irrational idea that if I didn’t do this now, I may never have the chance, not even if I waited another year until graduation. I was at my best now and a year was a long time for an impatient guy like me. In my mind, it was like a gamble. A lot could happen in a year’s time that could ruin everything.

  I watched my friend work, changing the tire as the sun burned down on us. Under my t-shirt, a trickle of sweat rolled down my back and all I could think about was how nice the casino air conditioning would feel when we stepped through the doors. They always kept those places like a freezer. And this time of year, t
hey’d be filled with hot, college girls with luscious lips.

  I shifted my weight to one foot and started clicking my cell phone off and on, a nervous habit I had when I was anxious. “Your bad driving put us behind schedule. Can’t you hurry up?”

  “My bad driving? It was that asshole in the truck’s fault.”

  I leaned over and looked at the tail of our car, nearly sticking out in traffic and said, “Well, you did a shitty job pulling off the road. Your ass is practically still in the slow lane.”

  Just then, a black pickup truck, lifted and with monster tires, whooshed by swerving at the last second to avoid hitting our car. With a heavy hand on the horn, the driver blasted an angry warning, flipping us off making the universal “fuck-you” gesture as he passed.

  “See I told you,” I said.

  A more benevolent traveler came next, making a gentle, wide swerve as she veered away from our car and sailed past. “Your ass is in the road,” I repeated as if that’d do any good.

  I moved to stand at the rear of the car and watched as the next car approached. I put on a big smile and waved to it, hoping they’d change lanes and give us a wide berth. The car swerved, just enough to clear our tail. Then just as the passenger window crossed my line of vision, a beautiful blonde lifted her t-shirt and pressed her voluptuous tits to the window, giving me a show.

  Damn!

  I smiled and waved at her as she passed.

  “Oh my god, AJ. You should’ve seen it…ye-hee!” The girl was open-mouthed and laughing, along with what looked like a car full of college-aged girls.

  AJ was still hunkered down at the right front wheel. “See what?” he called out without breaking his focus.

  With a silly grin on my face, I trotted around the car to AJ. “Aw, man, you missed a good one. She flashed me! A hot girl just flashed her tits at me. It was awesome!”

  AJ just shook his head and kept working.