Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (133 page)

Nicole felt him go deep into her, and
there was some pain and pressure.
 
He’d only done this once before—that night in Germany—and
this time both the pleasure and the pressure were intensified.

He wasn’t being as gentle, which was
good.
 
She didn’t want it gentle
right now.

She wanted to completely lose her mind,
and the way it felt—she was going to.

“You’ve been very, very bad today and now
you’re going to get fucked in your ass, Nicole.
 
You’re going to get fucked and you’re
going to come when I say.”

His hips pounded against her buttocks.

His shaft stretched her, hitting deeper
into her behind.
 
At the same time,
she was relaxing somehow—loosening, accommodating his girth.

Shockingly, the orgasm she felt building
now was almost too much to bear.
 
She didn’t know how her body would respond.
 
The wave was building and building and
she could see it in her mind’s eye, towering over everything.

A huge blue wave rising out of the sea,
rising up and up and up and up…

“Come now,” he commanded, and she
instantly did so—going off like a rocket.

He pushed deep into her cavity, groaning
as he did so, pulsating inside of her—but his hand was also rubbing her
clitoris and Nicole’s legs splayed outward as if she’d been given an electric
shock.
 

Her entire body was rigid with the
explosion of her release and she literally screamed.
 
She screamed again and again as wave
upon wave hit her.
 
She was coming
one time after another.

All of the energy was spent.

Red withdrew from her, leaving her sticky
with his semen.
 
She was wet and
full of his and her own juices.
 
Her
body was a limp noodle on the floor.

He rolled to the side and caressed her
hair softly.
 
“Did that do the
trick?”

She nodded, unable to speak.
 
Finally, after a long minute, she said,
“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.
 
Literally.”

“I needed that.”

“You’re going to be okay, Nicole,” he
said, still stroking her hair.

“I hope so.”
 
For now she was just glad to have
released some of the pent up energy she’d been carrying around for days.

Some of her depression felt as though it
had lifted, but she could also tell that it was waiting to descend upon her
again once her endorphins had stopped and the serotonin was no longer spiking.

Slowly, Nicole sat up, her legs curled
underneath her.
 
Red was sitting up
too.
 

“That was unexpected,” she told him with
a little smile.

“In a good way?”

She nodded.
 
“In the best way.”

“I don’t think Chef Roland would have
been able to do that.”

“Definitely not,” she laughed.

***

Red had some business to attend to in
Hartford, so he left around nine that morning.
 
“I’m looking at some office space for
the new company,” he told her.

“You’re not going to have any offices in
New York?” she asked.

He shrugged.
 
“New York’s played out.
 
Hartford’s got style, its got
character—and besides, it’s a lot cheaper to rent there.”

Nicole laughed.
 
“True.”

“What’re you going to do while I’m gone?”
he asked.

 
“I think Danielle’s going to come by for
a few hours.”

“With her new husband?”

“God no.
 
Luckily she didn’t ask to bring
him.
 
I’m not sure what I would have
said.”

“You’d have told her Kane Wright can set
foot on our property when hell freezes over.”

“Not so sure that would go down too
well.”

Red grabbed his briefcase and
straightened his tie.
 
He was
dressed up in a black Armani suit, purple tie, his hair styled,
clean-shaven.
 
“I’m off to work.”

She admired him.
 
“You look like how I remember you from
the first day we met.”

“In other words—I look totally
hot.”

Nicole rolled her eyes.
 
“Ego much?”

“Just a little.”
 
He leaned in for a kiss.
 
“Tell Danielle I said hi.”

“I will.”

He kept walking.
 
“Remind her she can still get an
annulment if she wants one.”

“Red!”

“I’m just saying…” his voice faded and
then the door opened and shut as he left the house.

Nicole cleaned up the kitchen a little
for Danielle’s arrival.
 
It felt
good to do some dishes, normal things that regular people did who owned a home
together.

She’d already showered, but now Nicole
also put on a pair of comfortable pants, sandals and a loose fitting
long-sleeve shirt.
 
She did her hair
and applied a bit of makeup.
 
For
the first time since the miscarriage she felt almost human.

Still, there was the pit in her stomach,
the deep sense of loss.
 
Nicole
didn’t think that would go away anytime soon.

Danielle arrived at the house in a
limousine.

She got out of the car, smiling, wearing
a sundress and one of those sunhats that old, rich women wear while walking
around resort towns.
 
“Hi girl!” she
shrieked, as Nicole came out of the house to meet her.

Instantly, Nicole felt annoyed at how
unabashedly happy Danielle was.
 
Then
Nicole reminded herself that Danielle didn’t know about the miscarriage.

“Hey, Danielle.”
 
Nicole hugged her friend, feeling like
she hadn’t seen her in years, even though it had only been days.
 

Danielle looked at her.
 
“You look thin and pale.
 
Are you doing low carb again or
something?”

Nicole shook her head, looking away.
 
“Nope.
 
Just a little tired, I guess.”

“So this is the place!” Danielle said,
putting her hands on her hips and taking in the outside of the house and the
grounds.
 

“Yup, this is it.”
 
Nicole already felt tired again.
 
Drained.
 
She’d actually been looking forward to
spending time with a friend who didn’t know that she’d gone through hell in
back these last few days.

But now that Danielle was actually here,
it was different.
 
Nicole was still
too raw, too wounded to just have normal girl talk and flit about like some
queen bee the way Danielle was doing.
 

“God, Nicole, this place is
amazing.”
 
Danielle pulled off her
enormous sunhat and started into the house without asking.
 
“I can’t wait to see the rest of
it.
 
It’s almost as big as my
house.”

“You mean Kane’s house?” Nicole said.

Danielle turned and gave her a strange
look.
 
“No.
 
We’re married now.
 
It’s my house as much as it is his.”

“Oh, yeah.
 
Of course.”
 
Nicole followed her inside.

“The foyer is lovely,” Danielle
said.
 
Nicole noticed how tan she
still was. Her skin looked glistening and fresh and youthful.
 
Compared to her, Nicole felt like an old
hag.
 
Pale, dry skinned, with dark
circles under her eyes and an aching wound in her heart.

“Let me give you the tour,” Nicole said
with fake cheer.
 

As they walked, Danielle gave running
commentary on the things she liked and the things she didn’t like—there
were plenty of both.
 
She liked the
floors but not the curtains in the living room.
 
She liked the table in the dining room
but she thought there should be a different color used on the walls.
 
Danielle thought the media room was a
bit small—the one in the mansion she shared with Kane was probably twice
the size.

But she absolutely loved the kitchen.

“I’m going to take a picture of this and
tell Kane we need ours to look exactly the same,” she said, pulling out her
phone to take a picture.

“Ummmm….I don’t think you should,” Nicole
said.
 
“I don’t think Red would like
it if you were taking pictures of our home to show Kane.”

Danielle looked at her.
 
“Are you serious?”

“Come on, let me show you the verandah,”
Nicole said, trying to change the subject.

When they stepped out to the verandah,
Danielle nodded but didn’t seem overly impressed.
 
“I’d want a better view of the pond,
personally.”

“Oh.”

“I’d take down that whole line of trees
that’s blocking it.”

“You’d just kill all those trees?”

“They’re killing your view.
 
Either way, something’s getting killed.”

Danielle’s harsh words made Nicole think
of her loss.
 
Something had been
killed all right.
 
Her baby was
dead.
 
Her dreams had been crushed—and
that poor little soul was never going to have a chance to live and grow and be
loved by her parents.

“Those trees have every right to exist
there, and I think they’re beautiful,” Nicole said, with sudden fierce emotion
in her voice.

“All right, all right.
 
Chill, Nic.
 
I was just saying—personally, I
prefer the view to the trees.”

“I get it.”
 
Nicole sat down and crossed her arms and
looked out at the rolling hills.
 
She thought the view was just fine.

Danielle stood and looked at her.
 
“Okay, something’s up.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean,” Danielle
said.
 
“What the heck is wrong with
you?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole lied.
 
“Maybe you’re the one who’s acting
weird.”

“Me?
 
How so?”

“You can’t be serious,” Nicole told her,
smirking.
 
“Just look at how you’re
dressed, for starters.
 
And coming
here in a limo?”

“Kane wanted me to use it.
 
His driver knew how to get here.
 
What was I supposed to do, take a gypsy
cab to satisfy you?”

Nicole shrugged.
 
“You’re the one who’s changed.
 
You’re like suddenly all high society.”

“It’s called being happy.
 
You should try it sometime.”

Nicole didn’t have much to say to
that.
 
“I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

Danielle sat down next to her.
 
“I think I know what this is all about.”

“Okay, tell me what you think.”

“I think this is about Kane beating Red
in some silly business deal and now you’re feeling protective.”

Nicole couldn’t help but laugh at
that.
 
The last thing she’d been
thinking about recently was Kane taking Red’s business from him.
 
After all, they still had plenty of
money and Red was rejuvenated with his new company.
 
But she didn’t say any of that.
 
She just cocked her head.
 
“Is that what Kane told you?
 
That he beat Red?”

Danielle held her hands out.
 
“I don’t want to get in the middle of
it.
 
I mean, I love Kane regardless
of all that cutthroat stuff he does.
 
And honestly—he wants to be a better man, Nicole.
 
You should have heard some of the things
he told me when we were together in The Caymans.”

“I’m sure it was lovely.
 
He’s a charming guy.”

“Don’t give me that.
 
You think he’s the scum of the earth,
and so did I.
 
But then he showed me
who he really is.
 
And underneath all
that suave masculinity, he’s just a regular chap with the same hopes and fears
as anybody else.”

Suave masculinity? Nicole thought,
stifling a giggle.
 
Kane Wright was
about as suavely masculine as a hammerhead shark.
 
And at least the shark would have the
decency to show you its teeth before it bit you in half.