3 BOOK BUNDLE: Flown By The Billionaire I, II, & III (8 page)

S
corching unshed tears
blurred my vision as I all but ran back to the La Tremoille. Nausea rolled
through me in lurching waves, as I thought about Alex touching his wife in the
same way he’d touched me. Most of all, the question beating at my brain and making
me want to stop and throw up right there in the street was: how stupid could I
have been?

Did I really think, even for a moment, that someone like
Alex Race could be interested, truly interested, in me? No, I was a plaything
to him. Perhaps after I’d told him about attending a Catholic school, and not
losing my virginity until my junior year of college, he thought me prudish or
frigid and perceived it as a challenge. Well, then he must be very proud of
himself. He’d had me shaking with desire, begging for more and screaming in
orgasm. How flattering for his ego to know that I’d never been that way with
any other man.

In my frantic, angry, self-loathing state, I did not think
about the fact I hadn’t got a room key. It wasn’t until I reached the suite and
stared at the stupid card-scanning lock that I realized I should have stopped
at reception.

“Damn it,” I muttered, kicking the door with my black,
flat-heeled pump and immediately regretting it. Pain shot through my
uncushioned foot and all the way up to the ankle. As one salty droplet left my
eye and skated down my cheek, I spun from the door. However, I didn’t stride
back down the corridor as I had intended.

Alex stood no more than eight feet away, his features somber
and anguished.

“Don’t bother,” I stated, my voice cracking. “I don’t want
to hear anything you have to say.”

He came nearer, sliding a hand into his pocket and
retrieving the key. “I...” he mumbled, his rich eyes staring at me as though
I
had somehow harmed
him
.

The fact that he dared feel wounded made me all the more
furious. How did the man have the gall to look at me like that?

“You lied to me,” I told him, the words pushed out in a
harsh whisper. “
You
,” I emphasized, “lied to me. And nothing you can say
now will change that.”

His strong jaw dipped and he stared at the carpet. “You’re
right,” he eventually sighed. Suddenly, his head rose and he nodded. “But if
you would just let me explain,” he added.

“I don’t want-” I began, shaking my head vehemently. My
insistence was halted by the sound of the elevator doors. I swiveled toward the
suite, hiding my tear-streaked face, as two middle-aged women stepped out of
the car and passed us. Although emotions were churning passionately, shame and
embarrassment still prevented me from drawing attention to myself.

Without a word, Alex stepped forward. His arm brushed my
shoulder, causing me to leap back, as he stretched across me and stuck the card
key in the door. The tiny light blinking green, he pushed the door open and
gestured for me to enter.

Not looking up, I strode quickly across the threshold. Once
in the room, my feet didn’t slow. I scurried through the living room to the
bedroom, scooped up the suitcase I’d left on the floor, and tossed it on the
bed. My fingers reached out to unclasp the case, but my eyes were suddenly
captivated by the bed and its sheets, which were creased and strewn haphazardly
over the mattress. White hot rage filled me and I felt the color drain from my
face, as the memory of what we’d done just two hours previously stabbed me in
the chest. That time, he’d even told me he loved me. Another lie, no doubt.

Briefly, I closed my eyes, and the words resonated in my
head. His strangled voice muttering, ‘I love you’, as his climax spilled warmth
into me. Oh, God. That was something else. I hadn’t just been having sex with a
married man. I’d been having unprotected sex with a married man. If he’d lied
to me, then maybe he’d done the same to other women. He could have been having
multiple affairs.

“How many?” I mumbled, my eyes still fixed to the mattress.

Alex was standing by the bedroom door. I had felt his
presence and the heat of his eyes, but he’d remained silent until then. “What?”

“How many others?” I asked, my face snapping around to his.

“Others?” he muttered, shaking his head.

“How many other ‘other women’ have there been?” I asked
harshly, annoyed that he didn’t understand.

His chest moved with a deep inhalation. “There isn’t anyone
else,” he insisted. “You’re the only one.”

“Hmm,” I muttered sarcastically. Turning my head away, I
focused once more on the suitcase, unzipping it quickly. “Isn’t that the line
you give your wife?”

“Mel,” he softly uttered. “Look, I understand if you want to
leave and I won’t stop you, but you’ve got to listen to me. Katherine and I
have been separated for nearly six months.”

His words were penetrating on some level, but as I stalked
to the dresser, yanking at the clothes I’d placed there not half an hour
before, I tried to look as though I wasn’t listening.

“The divorce
has
been filed. It’s taking forever to
iron out the details; she’s been dragging it out and...”

“Maybe she’s dragging it out because she doesn’t really want
a divorce,” I pointed out, dumping an armful of clothes into the case, uncaring
that they were a messy heap.

“No, she’s trying to get every cent she can, and she’s
trying to keep my son from me,” he responded, suddenly not as calm as he had
been.

“It doesn’t alter the fact that you’re still married,” I
said, striding back to the dresser for my underwear.

“Yeah,” he admitted quietly. “But in every way that matters,
Katherine and I aren’t married,” he added. “We don’t love each other, we don’t
live together, we haven’t seen each other outside a lawyer’s office for months,
and we haven’t slept together in even longer than that.”

I didn’t know whether to believe him or not. There was no
proof, except that his wife, although frosty toward me, didn’t seem surprised
to see Alex with another woman. The fact that they were separated was, I
suspected, true. What about the rest? Lots of couples still see each and still
have sex despite being separated. However, this was not something I had any way
of knowing for sure, so decided not to debate the potential truthfulness of his
statement. Instead, I stuck to the thing I did know. “But you are still
married,” I repeated, tossing the delicate cotton into the bag as carelessly as
the rest of my clothes.

“And I should have told you the complete truth,” he said,
stepping away from the door and moving gradually toward the bed. “But the
situation is complicated, and because, as far as I’m concerned, I am divorced,
it was just simpler to say, ‘I’m divorced’.”

“You summed it up pretty simply a moment ago,” I pointed
out, not looking at him as I fastened the suitcase.

“I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea,” he sighed.

“No,” I snapped, my head flicking up and eyes intently
fixing on his. “What you wanted was for me to open my legs for you,” I stated
abruptly. “And you knew that I wouldn’t if you told me the truth.”

He blinked, but didn’t flinch from my gaze. “Sex?” he
breathed. “That’s all you think I was interested in?”

I, on the other hand, did blanch beneath his stare. It was
too heavy, too emotionally charged, and somewhere deep inside, I knew what I’d
said wasn’t true.

“If sex is all I wanted, then why did I try to fight the
attraction I’ve felt for you? Why did it have to be you, Mel? If all I wanted
was a quick thrill, why didn’t I have a one night stand with someone else?” He
continued to look at me, even though I could not meet his eyes. He asked the
questions earnestly, insisting that I really think about them.

However, I didn’t. Instead, my reply was a knee-jerk one. “I
don’t know,” I bit, snatching the handle of my case and sweeping it off the end
of the bed. “Woman who went to an all-girls’ Catholic school; inexperienced,
repressed, and frigid,” I shrugged. “Making her scream your name is the stuff
of male pornographic fantasy, isn’t it?” Part of me knew that Alex didn’t think
with his genitals. When he looked at me, it was obvious, but because he’d hurt
me, I wanted to hurt him. If memories of the two of us had been sullied in my
eyes, why shouldn’t they be tainted in his, too?

I’m not sure if he knew I was speaking out of pain and
anger, but I didn’t plan on standing around to find out. Lifting my case, I
took a pace forward.

A
lex
stepped to his left, blocking my path.

“You said you wouldn’t stop me from leaving,” I reminded
him, pushing my shoulders back a little, just in case he thought his physical
presence intimidated me. Of course, Alex wasn’t really intimidating. Despite
his broad shoulders and his six-feet-something frame, I don’t think it was in
him to use his strength or size to threaten anyone.

“I won’t stop you,” he softly replied. “But I want you to
look me in the eyes and tell me you want to just throw what we have away.”

Solidly, I lifted my head. My now-dry eyes settled
confidently on his. “You lied to me,” I calmly reiterated. “You made me think
there was something between us, and the truth is, I was nothing more than your
mistress: a warm, willing body.”

“My marriage is over,” he insisted. “This was never an
affair, you were not the ‘other woman’, and I meant everything I said to you.”

“How can I ever know that for sure?” I asked weakly, the
tension beginning to seep from my rigid body as the warmth of his eyes poured
his tenderness and emotion into me, softening the resolve of my heart.

 He gently reached forward with the fingers of his left
hand, tentatively grazing my forearm. When I didn’t immediately recoil, he
stroked his way down to my hand and took the case from my grip. “It’s no secret
that Katherine and I have called it quits,” he quietly uttered. “You can ask
anyone who works for me, and they’ll tell you it’s the truth.”

“I don’t mean that,” I responded, unable to remove my focus
from his expressive eyes. I wanted to run, but somehow I could not find the
will to move, either. “I mean, how can I know that you meant the things you
said?”

With smooth, measured movements, Alex placed my suitcase on
the light gray carpet at his feet. “Tell me what you need me to do to make it
right,” he offered, one hand agitatedly drawing through his deep brown hair.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I shook my head. “There’s nothing
you can do,” I mumbled. “Everything’s different now.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s...it’s...” I stammered. “It’s dirty now,” I
sighed. “The times we’ve been together weren’t what I thought they were. And
now, when I think about being in that bed with you...” Fresh tears sprang into
my eyes and I sobbed, as I gestured to the disheveled sheets. “It feels sleazy
and cheap.” My voice trembling, I released a hitching breath. “
I
feel
sleazy and cheap.”

Alex reached forward, spreading his arms and inviting me
into his embrace. I refused, stepping back while soundless tears continued to
stream down my face. I did not want him to touch me. And it wasn’t just because
that touch was now sullied. Being near him, the scent of him, that energy that
always surrounded him, was like a drug to me. It made me lose all sense of
reason and all control. That fact scared the hell out of me.

Lowering his hands to his sides, Alex swept his tongue over
his upper lip thoughtfully, before speaking.  “Because a piece of paper hasn’t
been signed?”

“No,” I muttered. “Yes,” I quickly determined. “Partly,” I
shrugged. “It’s about more than just a divorce decree, it’s about trust.”
Swiping the back of my hand across my damp face, I sniffed. “I trusted you. I
trusted you enough to let go and share a side of me that I’ve never-” Stopping
the outpouring dead in its tracks, I shook my head.

“Okay,” he replied softly, nodding. “All right, I know I’ve
let you down. I was stupid.” Alex took a step forward as he spoke, closing the
gap I’d created between us. “But, I swear, I never meant to hurt you. And I
will never hurt you again.”

“I...” I breathed. “I think I should go.” In flat shoes, as
I looked straight ahead, I was eye-level with his chest. And the sudden desire
to bury my face in it was unbearable. I knew, if I didn’t get out of that room
quickly, I would end up doing something I could regret for the rest of my life.

“I don’t want you to go,” he responded, his right hand
lifting to my face and lightly sweeping a few strands of my blonde hair from my
cheek.

“Please don’t, Alex,” I begged, closing my eyes as my
willpower was pushed to its very limit.

The pad of this thumb brushed warmly along my cheekbone and
I began to feel his soft breath closer to my skin. Soon, there was the
familiar, delicate pressure of his lips against mine. It was such a light, ephemeral
kiss that I wasn’t absolutely sure it had happened.

Gradually lifting my heavy eyelids, I found his face just a
breath away. His heavenly dark chocolate eyes silently pleaded with me; waiting
for my reaction to that fleeting graze of lips.

“Alex,” I spoke his name reverently, imploring him in turn.
What I was begging for, I was not exactly sure.

His mouth, however, quickly swept back down to mine, and
while one hand continued to cup my face, the other swept around my waist.
Pulling me to his firm, muscular body, he massaged my lips tenderly with his
own.

My hands, meanwhile, slid up to his chest, the palms pressed
against his pecs, but not quite finding the will to push him away. As the tip
of his tongue rolled gently over my lower lip, I mewled contently and granted
him access.

Passion ignited quickly, raw emotion rapidly spilling over
into desperate, fierce desire. While our tongues entwined, we shared needy
moans and increasingly urgent pants. With Alex’s strong arm still held tightly
around me, he took two large steps forward. I mirrored them with several
shuffled backward steps of my own until I was pressed against the cool, clean
white wall.

My hands, which were still trapped between us at his chest,
were now creasing his light blue dress shirt with a pale-knuckled grip. But as
I pulled my lips free, I whispered, “Alex, I can’t do this.”

Torso undulating with his rapid breathing, he met my eyes.
“Tell me to stop,” he urged, his fingers grasping the edge of the cream woolen
sweater I’d tossed on before we’d gone out to lunch.

As the backs of his fingers brushed the naked flesh at my
waist, an inferno engulfed me. The heat spreading over every inch of skin, I
could do nothing but surrender myself to the flames.

His palm stroking over my lower abdomen, he pressed his
cheek to mine. “If you tell me to stop, I will,” he whispered. Even as he
spoke, he was using his other hand to smooth the sweater up my torso.

Not only did I not say ‘stop’, but my arms quickly rose,
helping him to slide the garment over my head. I wore only a bra beneath, and
as Alex dropped his head to my collarbone and began to kiss his way down my
chest, goose bumps popped up on the back of my neck. He admiringly trailed his
lips and tongue over the curves of my breasts before reaching around me to
unclasp my underwear.

The black bra slithered from my shoulders and soon found its
way to the floor. “Alex,” I groaned, the sound coming from deep in my lungs as
his warm, wet mouth carefully claimed one of my nipples.

Able to focus any clearer than me, Alex’s fingers were busy
with their next task: unfastening my jeans. Sucking slowly, he savored one
breast and then the other, as he pushed the denim from my hips and allowed
gravity to take it the rest of the way. When my pants pooled around my ankles,
I kicked off my shoes and stepped out of the puddle of blue denim.

Breathing hard, he lifted his flushed face to mine. “Mel,”
he tenderly said. “I love you,” he added, his aroused, sensual eyes earnestly
meeting my dilated pupils.

“Alex,” I whimpered, one hand clutching at the nape of his
neck while the other stroked hungrily up and down his chest, smoothing the soft
cotton of his shirt. “I love you,” I whispered, scared to give voice to it, and
yet knowing that the fact I felt it meant my heart wasn’t safe; hadn’t been
safe for weeks. Whether he knew it or not made little difference.

A small smile teasing one corner of his mouth, he quickly
kissed my lips. The brief respite from urgency was over and the desperation,
once it resumed, was more intense than ever. Alex’s right hand slipped between
my legs and he cupped my sex, massaging me through the crotch of my panties. I
was wrestling with the buttons of his shirt, hurriedly yanking them free in a
need to feel the heat of his skin.

Alex found me so wet that my panties slid easily between my
folds. “Oh, God,” he groaned against my mouth. “Hmm...so warm,” he growled.

Having managed to get his shirt unbuttoned, I spread my
hands over his pecs, allowing the pads of my fingers to linger over the short,
fine dark hair. Soon, however, my hands were sliding over his shoulders and
pulling him near. His chiseled torso was pushed deliciously hard against my
chest, squashing my breasts. “Ugh,” I moaned, my hips jolting in anticipation.

Alex’s erection was nestled just beneath my navel, the
strained fabric of his khaki pants rubbing against me with every tiny movement
of his body. Momentarily moving his hands from me, he shucked the shirt from
his shoulders and then unbuckled the brown leather belt he wore. As he did so,
my own quivering fingers tugged down his zipper.

Disengaging from the kiss, Alex smiled down at me, fingers
moving from his pants and sliding over my hips. Hooking his thumbs into the
edge of my underwear, he carefully coaxed it down. Meanwhile, I took a much
more aggressive and unsophisticated approach to tugging his pants and boxers
from his waist and leaving them bunched at his calves.

His shaft springing free, I quickly enclosed it in one hand
and stroked him firmly. When I reached the tip and found it weeping clear
fluid, I rolled my palm over the large, rounded head and smeared the arousal
down his thick, rigid length. The veins throbbed beneath my touch, his member
twitching and seeming to lengthen even more.

“Ugh, Mel.” His voice rumbled sexily, as he smoothed his
hands over my thighs, pushing the cotton underwear with them.

My panties soon fell to my feet, and I automatically stepped
out, kicking them to one side. My hips were immediately grasped by large, sure
hands and Alex lifted me, my back sliding up the slick surface of the wall.

Instinctively, my legs wrapped around him, ankles crossing
over his buttocks. My arms, meanwhile, snaked around his shoulders, grasping
him tightly enough that my hands could grip the opposite elbows.

Still holding most of my weight, Alex glanced down. His
erection was pushing against my thigh and with small movements, he inched me
into position. When the bulbous tip of his immense manhood was in line with my
channel, he guided me gently down onto it.

I pushed my heels against his ass, parting my thighs a
little more and urging him in. “Alex,” I gasped, my body expanding under
pressure of his. “Ahh,” I breathed, my head tipping back against the hard wall.

We moaned in unison as his shaft entered me smoothly. The
muscles of my sex, seeming to remember his shape and size, quickly and
preemptively adjusted for his form, yet it was still tight. I was stretched to
the limit; so full of him that he seemed to become part of me. Closing my eyes,
I thrilled in the fact that all I could smell, all I could feel, and all I
could hear was him.

Once he’d sheathed himself completely, he released a deep,
masculine groan, his breath coming hot against my cheek. “Ugh, Mel,” he sighed.
“You feel so good.”

“Hmm,” I smiled. My eyes still shut, I was focused on the
sensation of him and the way my channel squeezed and throbbed along with the
galloping of my heartbeat. “You feel good,” I echoed. Then, out of nowhere, the
thought of Katherine entered my head. Unbidden, she appeared at the forefront
of my mind. Her long, slender legs wrapped around Alex, her full red lips on
his skin. And, worse, him inside her; filling her, stretching her body just as
he was doing to me. Had she loved the way that rigid shaft impaled her? Had he
whispered her name and told her she felt good?

“Mel,” Alex mumbled, his breath not coming quite so frantic.
Using his hips to push me firmly against the wall, he slid one hand up the
curve of my waist and then stroked the outside arc of my breast. His hand stilled
as he reached my shoulder, his fingers curling around it. “Mel,” he urged.

Opening my eyes, I looked directly at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I replied, shaking my head and smiling. He didn’t
need to know where my crazy thoughts had taken me.

“Where have you gone?” he probed, refusing to accept my
answer.

I don’t think I was able to dismiss the distracted
melancholy from my features, but I tried. “I’m right here,” I attempted to
breezily tell him, with a hollow chuckle.

“Your body’s still here,” he replied, his face moving toward
me and his forehead leaning on mine. “But you’re not.”

Beginning to tremble slightly, I opened my mouth to speak.
“I...I...” I feebly attempted. “It’s not important,” I eventually breathed.
“Please don’t stop,” I added.

The pressure of his head remained, but he titled his face a
little. “I need you with me,” he told me softly.

“I’m here,” I replied, stroking my hands over his back. “I’m
here, I promise.”

Pulling his head back, he looked at me skeptically. Then suddenly,
he relaxed his hands, withdrew his hips, and lowered me to the carpet.
“I...umm...” he murmured, the warmth of his fingers not quite leaving me, but
only barely there.

I felt bereft at the loss of his body, the loss of the heat
that had been so palpable between us. Now, the room seemed chilly. And I felt
exposed in my nakedness. “Alex?” I asked.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he sighed. “I won’t hurt you.”

“What are you talking about?” I mumbled.

“If you don’t want this,” he began to explain, “then I don’t
want you going through the motions. I’m not like—” abruptly, he stopped his
flow of words.

“You’re not like what?” I insisted.