Billionaire Season 3: Summer Ablaze (Billionaire Season Trilogy) (3 page)

“Damn, Wills. You are in some deep shit if you just admitted that you haven’t fucked any other women since you and Alaina… You two have been broken up for something like a month. Well, that’s some of your own private baggage, but as for me, let’s just say that Ellie Selig must have passed anatomy class with gold stars and flying colors. Christ, that woman
knows
her way around a stiff cock and every other part of the male anatomy.”

“Seriously Walden, do you say that sort of shit to Dr. Selig?” William asked and he couldn’t help but laugh for the first time in weeks.

“Yeah,” Walden said, grinning, his fingers played across a faint handprint on his cheek. “I did and obviously the kinky doc didn’t take it as a compliment.”

Chapter Three

Allie preferred the safety of the pool at the
Pearl Hotel
in Rosemary Beach to the rumors she’d heard about ten-foot Tiger sharks leisurely prowling the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She’d spent part of each day lounging on the powder-white sand at the beach that lay just beyond the
Pearl,
but she’d spotted several fins out over the waves and although the tourists had pointed them out as dolphins she wasn’t taking any chances. Allie emerged from the clear blue swimming pool taking the steps slowly, water sluicing off her sleekly curved body and she wondered if a hurricane or some other natural disaster was about to occur. The chic boutique hotel had been full to capacity all week but suddenly guests where gathering their belongings and leaving in droves.

“What’s going on, why’s everyone leaving?” she asked as she stretched out on a chaise lounge next to her father.

“I have no idea but I’ll check into it. Here sweetheart, drink some water, it must be a hundred and two out here today,” he answered, handing her a glass of ice water and motioning for a server. “Is the hotel closing for some reason? There seems to be a mass exodus taking place, anything to worry about?”

“You haven’t been asked to leave, sir?” the young woman bent to ask him, giving Allie a fresh towel and a radiant smile.

“No, is there a problem?”

“Not at all, you’re Professor Darling and Alaina, I presume?”

“That’s right, what the Sam Hill is happening?” Professor Darling demanded rising to his feet and staring out toward the Gulf as if he did expect to see lightning strikes and storm clouds rolling in.

“It’s nothing to worry about, really. Every room in the hotel, with the exception of your and your daughter’s, have been reserved for a single high priority guest. The hotel and its staff will be exclusively his… and yours, for the rest of the summer.”

“Excuse me?” Professor Darling looked astonished and Allie felt a tidal wave of emotion begin to churn in her belly.

Exclusively. His. William
. He was the only man she could imagine who would think he had cause to do such a thing. Who else would have every other guest relocated in the middle of their summer vacation and let her and her father stay.

The one person she absolutely, unquestionably, without a single doubt, did not want to see again. Ever. William Warfield with his gorgeous face, hypnotic voice, mind-bending kisses and knee-weakening masculine body… just to name a few of the specific parts Allie loved to hate about him.

“Dad, we should go. We should check out and… I don’t know, head on down the road, go back to New Orleans. I should pack up my things for the flight to London….”

“Dear God— William Warfield— will that name ever cease to haunt me? He’s coming here for you of course, Allie. How do you feel about that? Are you certain you no longer have feelings for him? I would hate for you to relive your mother’s life, longing for a particular man…. But we can go now if that’s what you’d like, just throw our things in the car and like you said, go to New Orleans and get on the plane to England.”

“I… I’m not sure, Dad. I mean I am, it’s over between us, there’s nothing left to salvage….”

“Isn’t there?” The deep, resonate voice was unmistakable and at the sound of it Allie felt a glow of warmth spread through her core even as his broad shadow fell across her body and blocked out the sun.

“William… you shouldn’t have come here,” Allie said and her voice was small and tremulous as she lifted her Ray-Bans to stare up at him. She wanted him to go away but she also wanted to stay. She wanted him to lean down, down until his weight pressed into her, his mouth on her lips, her skin, licking and biting gently and then rougher, marking and claiming her until she became part of him like she had been before.

“I’m Alaina’s father, Stephen Darling,” Professor Darling said, holding out his hand reluctantly.

“Glad to meet you… should I address you as mister or doctor or professor?”

“I hold a doctorate in English Literature so doctor is correct, but professor will do just fine,” he said and his sarcastic tone came through loud and clear.

“I have my reasons for being here… I have one reason for being here,” William said and he was nervous suddenly. Allie’s smooth, golden skin was flushed but she was guarded and distant as if she’d moved on with her life and left no space that he might occupy, and her father looked at him as if he were the lowest lifeform on the planet. “Alaina, you and I, just the two of us… we need to talk and… well… we
should
talk. I’m in the suite on the top floor, every suite and room is empty, take your pick. The entire staff is at our disposal, I have every reason to believe that we… the three of us, if your father is so inclined, can have an extraordinarily excellent few days or weeks…. Whatever works for you, a nice holiday at the beach. Okay? It’s simple really, you and I, Allie, we have so much to work out….”

“Wrong,” Allie said, she’d had time to collect her rampant thoughts and calm (to a certain degree) her damn willful heart. Although she felt as if something at her very center had gone warm and liquid and her lips and breasts and body were aching for his touch. “There’s nothing to talk about, William, nothing whatsoever. Dad, I have a massage appointment now, so I’ll meet you in the restaurant for dinner. And you, William Warfield, are not invited.”

“Allie, just listen,” William said, as she stood and slipped a thin tank top on over the tiniest bikini he’d ever seen. She dragged her fingers through her long, messy hair, grabbed her cell phone and left him standing there gaping.

“Alright then, I’ll definitely see you at dinner,” he called out decisively, because truthfully, the sight of Allie Darling from behind— sun-streaked hair hanging halfway down her back and legs that went on forever topped by the most perfect tight, round ass in existence— was enough to make his inner caveman groan with pleasure and solidify his resolve to lay claim to her once and for all.

*

Allie burst into the spa, collapsed on a stiff, armless chair and thought her head and heart might very well explode.
William. Fuck, fuck, fuck
! Ugh, all those moronic clichés that Remy and Walden and her father were so fond of: “Time heals all wounds. There are plenty of fish in the sea. You won’t even remember his name a year from now!”
Bullshit
. Her feelings for him hadn’t changed one bit, or if they had, they’d grown stronger.

“Miss Darling? If you’re ready for your treatments we can get started now.” A way too cheerful aesthetician smiled and motioned toward the fragrant inner sanctum of
Spa Pearl
. “Let’s see, we have you scheduled for a full afternoon of pampering. First we’ll work all those troublesome kinks and knots out with the full body Paradise Massage. Then you’ll luxuriate in the ‘Mother of Pearl’ signature treatment, that’s a total body skin polish followed by a white pearl essence body wrap that will leave your skin as soft and smooth as the day you were born. This way please, Danielle will take perfect care of you and any other treatments you care for— just let us know. Mr. Warfield wants us to see to your ultimate pleasure. Enjoy.”

Oh he does, does he? Well then why did he ruin US when he’s the only one who can give me ultimate pleasure
?!!! Allie wanted to scream those words, she wanted to ask Danielle if she had a magic pill to make the pain and white-hot need for him disappear. She wanted to
get over
William Warfield, she wanted the thoughts of their bodies, sweat-soaked and moving in a tantalizing rhythm, to stop haunting her. She wanted, needed, hoped beyond hope that he would go away and stop playing with her heart.

That didn’t happen. Allie left the spa feeling like her bones had gone soft and all the serious issues in her mind had evaporated. She felt euphoric for the first time in almost a month— ever since the day William had denied that he loved her.
How dare he show up at HER hotel on HER vacation
? She wondered as she made her way through the lobby and stabbed the button for the elevator a few too many times.
Fuck it all
! It was the first time in her life that her father had made an actual attempt to spend time with her and now…. There he was— William Warfield, leaning against the door of her room as she stepped out of the elevator.

“Alaina, you look beautiful, more than beautiful, you’re glowing,” he said curling his long fingers around her slender biceps and crushing her to his chest.

He was hot and fragrant and utterly familiar and her body craved him with an urgency that took her breath away. But she pushed back and forced herself to meet the intensity of his hypnotic deep-chocolate gaze.

“I’m that easily won over, is that what you think of me, William? Just a girl, not yet twenty-two, who lacks the mental or physical capacity to resist your killer charm? Well think again, you and I are
so
over with. And by the way, I’m not gonna ask why you’re here. I imagine you just happened to be in the area and decided to clear the hotel out so you could have some alone time. Or maybe you woke up with a wild hair up your ass this morning and thought— “Shit, I’m such a dick! I fucked up in the most asinine, irresponsible, didn’t-really-consider-the-consequences way. I think I’ll hop in my jet and go charm the panties right off that cute, gullible girl from Cali-whatchacallit! Like I said— think again,” she said, swiping the key-card to her room and vanishing inside before he could say a single word to stop her.

*

“You don’t have to accompany us, Allie, but I intend to join Mr. Warfield for dinner. We have issues to discuss,” Professor Darling said as they crossed the hotel lobby to the
Havana Restaurant
where William waited impatiently
.
The professor’s arm wrapped protectively around Allie’s shoulders and his gaze was fixed on William and it was heavy with the burden of having lived for more than two decades with a wife who loved William’s father with an intensity she’d never felt for him.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Allie mumbled, her voice was little more than a raspy whisper the closer she got to William. He was like a magnet dragging her into his sphere, her body responding to the nearness of his him, the waves of heat that carried his clean, spicy smell into her brain, tripping a chain of synapses that pulsed with the assurance—
He is mine and I am his
.

William held two fingers to his lips and tried not to smile, the effect he was having on Allie was obvious and it made him want to pull her against him right then and there and show her just how right she was— He had been an impulsive fool to think he could bury his feelings for her, it was pretty much the only thing in the world he couldn’t manage to do.

They followed the maitre’d to a table overlooking the Gulf and William held out a chair for Allie which caused her to move to the opposite side and take a seat. Assorted members of the restaurant staff lingered at the edges of the dining room whispering invented theories as to why the handsome young billionaire had commandeered the entire hotel for himself, an older man, and a stunningly beautiful girl.

“Evening! Drinks, anyone?” A waiter who looked and sounded more like a surf instructor asked, his smile bright as he stared a hole through Allie. “A martini or champagne? But dude, I mean miss… sorry, I’ll have to check your ID.”

Allie rolled her eyes, fished her driver’s license out of her purse, handed it to the handsome young man and his face fairly glowed. “Dude, California, seriously? Me too, whoa, we’re practically neighbors, I’m from El Cerrito.”

“I love El Cerrito, I hike in the hills there all the time,” Allie flashed her most luminescent smile.

William cleared his throat loudly and demanded a bottle of Dom Perignon and a different waiter.

“Neanderthal,” Allie hissed giving him her best I’m-so-unaffected-by-you face while twisting her lustrous hair into loose bun and then letting it fall around her nearly bare shoulders. She wore a silky slip dress with the thinnest spaghetti straps, it was delft-blue and sheer and she held a small, lacy sweater on her lap.

“The Neanderthal thinks you should put your sweater on, it’s rather cold in here,” William said and he stood up suddenly and was behind her guiding her thin sun-kissed arms into the sweater.

She knew she should protest and say “
See, you are a nothing but a domineering control freak who screwed up my summer—not to mention my life—and is used to having his own way!
” But there was something different about the way he looked at her tonight. It was as if he might have done some serious soul searching while they were apart, maybe he had examined his heart the same way she had and found that they were not
only
about heat and sex and attraction. She got the distinct feeling he wasn’t just being possessive and caveman-ish, maybe he’d found that he couldn’t love anyone else.

“Christ, Warfield, what is this? You love my daughter and then you don’t and now you show up acting like a jealous husband? Let’s get this out on the table right now,” Allie’s father said in his firm, don’t-talk-back-to-the-teacher voice. “I will not stand by and watch you hurt Allie the way your father hurt my wife. Your father was unbalanced from the time I first met him and from what I’ve heard he’s not fairing any better these days. Sorry about his heart attack, there’s certainly no love lost between us but I don’t wish him any ill-will. But back to the point, Alaina is much too young for you and I fear you’ve not only damaged her emotionally, I’m certain from the look on your face you have every intention of… seducing her.”