Distracting the Billionaire's Son (5 page)

I would pack my bags and walk back to my school if they showed
up. The Silvers couldn’t know that though. I didn’t want them to know that my
family was the exact opposite of theirs.

The Silver clan consisted of over fifteen other people,
aunts and uncles and cousins of all ages and varieties. The McCollisters were
the only ones left to arrive when the parade of beautiful people started toward
the beach that night. Shannon watched the road to the house, nervous and eager,
sometimes grabbing my hand, sometimes not. She still wore her summer dress, and
I’d changed into one of Shannon’s dresses to accommodate the upscale beach
party. It had tiny straps and a heart shaped neckline. It fitted to my torso,
plunged in the back, and flared out in soft, nearly see-through fabric at the
skirt. The hem was uneven, longer at the sides, and when the ocean breeze
caught the petal-like fabric I felt like some sort of fairy. The underwater
blue-green color made my strawberry blonde hair stand out. It felt like too
much, but Shannon said it was just enough.

We abandoned our sandals early on. The sand was cool and a
little damp and reminded me of the night before when I wasn’t ready for it to.
My cheeks would flush in response and I’d glance around to see if anyone had
noticed. Jonah kept his distance, but sometimes I’d catch him watching me and I
wondered if he was reminded of last night, too.

The Silver clan were interested in me briefly, the newest
attraction at the zoo, as Jonah had said, but they quickly grew bored and moved
on to catch up with each other. There was another boy Jonah’s age, around 26 or
27, all the way down to pre-teens running around after each other. Shannon had
a twelve year old cousin named Samantha I was sure was a burgeoning pyromaniac.
She sat increasingly close to the fire, feeding everything that wasn’t nailed
down into the flames.

Shannon plied me with some cherry flavored, carbonated mixed
drink with cherries skewered by a sword. I’d had four of them and was feeling
pretty bubbly by the time the sun painted the sky a thousand different colors
of orange and pink as it doused itself into the ocean.

“He’s here, oh Jess.” Shannon’s voice pulled me from my
reverie and I turned to see the car pull up and deposit the McCollisters at the
edge of the beach. There was Mr. and Mrs. McCollister, blond and pale versions
of Mr. and Mrs. Silver, two teenage girls in bikini tops and short shorts, an
older girl about Melissa’s age in a bikini top, apple green jacket, and sari,
and then, a dark haired young man that did not illicit any reactions from
Shannon, and the infamous Henry.

He’d clearly not given up surfing in the years since Shannon
had seen him, and I totally understood the appeal. His blond hair was sun
colored with skin like honey and muscles that, wow, took both our breaths away.
He didn’t even bother to wear a shirt and only brightly colored swim trunks and
tennis shoes without socks. He smiled easily and greeted Shannon with the appraising
gaze she and I’d both been hoping for. When he hugged her, I could feel her
tremble all the way to where I was standing.

“Henry, this is my best friend and roommate Jessica Lewis.
Jessica, Henry McCollister.” She kept her hand on his arm when he took my hand
and shook it. Strong, confident. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Shannon
deserved a boy like Henry.

“A pleasure, Jessica. This is my mate, Cole Veras and my
sister Eva.” Cole took my hand too, squeezed instead of shaking it. Cole
mimicked Henry in being one of the most good looking boys on the beach that
night. His blond hair was darker, a little longer and slightly curly. It made
his face softer, more boyish. He smiled, winked.

“Jessica. Can I call you Jess?”

“Sure,” I breathed and was sad to feel his hand pull away
from me. “Everyone else does eventually.” Everyone except Jonah.

Eva nodded and quickly disappeared into throng of Silvers.
Shannon invited Henry and Cole to the bar and I stepped back from the mass
hugging that then took place between the McCollisters and the Silvers. I’d
already filled up my lifetime of hugs in one night and had no interest in
getting swept up in more.

I lifted the sword of cherries to my lips and took the first
one into my mouth. He appeared then, from behind, maybe so I wouldn’t run away.
I sensed him before I felt his hand on the small of my back just above where
the dress covered my skin. His breath touched the back of my neck, exposed
where I’d pulled my hair up into a messy ponytail. It took all my will not to
pull away.

“Now that,” he murmured, “looks familiar.”

My body blushed for him from my cheeks down to my thighs and
everywhere in between. He could have no idea how his breathy voice made me
react.

I sucked the cherry between my lips, pursed them. His nostrils
flared just a little.

“You’re being admired,” he said and lifted his eyes across
the bonfire to the bar. Sure enough, Henry and Cole were watching me, Cole
leaning into whisper to his friend. Henry turned to Shannon, accepted a drink
from her. “Will you meet him tonight?”

“Would it matter if I did?” I asked. I took another cherry
between my lips. His fingertips pressed lightly into my skin. He didn’t say
anything for a moment.

“No, it wouldn’t matter. I was just curious.”

Liar
, I thought. His answer hurt. Cole was very good
looking and I liked the appraising looks he was giving me across the party, but
he’d want me to take off my shirt and he’d be frustrated by my inability to do
so. He’d question it, because they always do, and he’d spend the rest of the
retreat avoiding me. Jonah’s strange attention, as inconsistent as it was, was
preferable. He didn’t ask questions last night and I didn’t think he would
start now.

“I should go join them.” I started to step away but his hand
briefly held me still. I waited, waited for him to pull me back, but then he
let go and when I glanced over my shoulder, he was already gone.

***

Cole, as it turned out, was completely predictable by
Jonah’s standards. He asked me if I would like to meet him on the beach that night,
after the party had died down. He said he wanted to get to know me. He touched
my hair, tucked it behind my ear, didn’t notice when I flinched away. He said
he liked my dress, that he saw me as soon as they’d pulled up. The compliments
were lovely and free flowing and a little addictive and I told him yes, I’d
meet him. I liked the ocean in the moonlight. Not a lie. He didn’t need to know
I was thinking about what I’d already done there, not what we might do.

After dinner, a messy, BBQ affair, Shannon and Henry
disappeared and I was glad for her. I caught Jonah sometimes watching me, but
most of the time he was engaged in conversation with Eva McCollister, who I
began to hate as soon as she took off her jacket and gave him full access to
her stomach and breasts.

It was after Shannon disappeared that Mr Silver decided to
regale his family with news that Jonah was leaving the states for Japan for a
year. There was no cheer in his proclamation, only disappointment and disgust.

Mr. Silver poured more champagne into his glass and into
those glasses around him. “Because my money, my fortune, my legacy isn’t good
enough for Jonah. He’s got to make his own name. Isn’t that right Jonah?”

I stood on the other side of the fire, but it was impossible
not to see the smoldering humiliation in his dark, handsome face. The muscles
in his jaw flexed and he kept his eyes on his glass. I couldn’t tear my gaze
from him. It felt wrong to leave him to the wolves like this.

“I had no idea I wasn’t allowed to have my own future. I’d
have made wiser choices if I had known.” His tone was icy and quiet, but
unsettled. No one interfered, most of the tipsy family members pretended to
ignore the display, just like Shannon and Eric did.

My gaze must have been heavy indeed, because finally he
looked up straight at me and held me still beneath his commanding stare.

“Here’s to the only Silver to ever abandon the family.
Cheers.”. Mr. Silver raised his glass in the air and none of the family members
clapped.

Jonah polished off his mixed drink in one swallow and came
at me with determined steps that overtook me in seconds. He wrapped his fist
around my upper arm and dragged me away from the fire and away from the
celebration. If anyone noticed, they didn’t say, but then everyone was trying
to avoid looking at Jonah.

He dragged me up the beach to the docks where the boats were
kept. Jonah said nothing and I didn’t dare speak until we were out of sight of
the bonfire and he pushed me against the back wall of one of the outbuildings
along the shore.

“Lift up your dress,” he demanded and pressed his palm
against the metal wall beside my head.

“W-what?”

He growled deep in his chest, a rumble of anger I could feel
in the space between us. His mouth fell close to my ear and his voice lowered to
a dangerous level. “Lift. Up. Your. Dress.”

My hands shook as I obeyed, excited and also a little
scared. I clasped the soft, slippery material in my fists and pulled the hem up
my thighs to my belly.

Jonah leaned against the wall, his face above mine but
intimately close. He pushed his knee between my legs and forced my feet apart
shoulder width. And then he touched me, pressed his hand between my legs and
rubbed me hard over my panties. My eyes opened wide and I groaned because finally,
finally I could find release where he’d denied me the night before, even if it
was in this humiliating position, spread legged, in the shadows in public where
anyone could walk by and see what he was doing to me.

“Listen to me,” he instructed and it was difficult to
compose myself enough to turn my eyes up to his hard gaze. He was bathed
entirely in darkness, but the moonlight caught the whites of his eyes just
right so I could see them burning hot into mine. “You are not to orgasm until I
tell you to. Do you understand me?”

I had no idea what he was saying. The way he was fondling me
between my legs was exquisite and needy, desperate in the way we’d both been
the night before. I needed to feel that release, needed it so
badly
. Was
he asking me not to? How could I not?

Jonah suddenly grabbed my whole sex in his hand and held me
tightly against the wall with his body. “Look at me.” That got my attention. I
looked at him, gave him my whole attention. My whole obedience. I knew what was
happening, knew this was his response to his father’s verbal public whipping. I
could feel the need in his voice to control something, anything. Me. “You will
not climax. Not until I give you permission. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes.”

“Don’t you dare disobey me.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

He held my eyes and I didn’t dare look away. I needed his
power to keep me from disobeying him, especially when he slid my panties aside
and pushed his fingers into me. His face remained hard and impassive, but his
breathing became quick and irregular when he discovered how desperately turned
on I was by him.

He slid his fingers in and out of me quickly, groping and
probing feverishly for some hidden treasure within my soul. Jonah pushed his
palm against my clit and rubbed while he fingered me, sent shockwaves of
intense pleasure into my body and I had no idea how he wanted me to obey him
when he did this to me. Kittenish mewls escaped my lips, moans like begging I
couldn’t possibly quiet. My thighs quivered under his expert ministrations, so
much so I thought I was likely to collapse before I could possibly climax.

“Control yourself,” he whispered and I was at once desperate
and ashamed. How did this man have such wanton control over me like this? Why
couldn’t I control myself? It made no sense. I’d never have been attracted to
someone like him before in my life.

“Control yourself right
now
. Don’t you dare take your
pleasure from me without permission.”

I was panting and so was he. He worked his fingers roughly
between my legs, pressing me back with his body, and his breath felt so hot on
my face. He was so close I thought he might kiss me. He moaned quietly when I
tilted my head back and whimpered, ashamed and insanely more turned on in that
moment than I ever had been in my life. His hand was absolutely soaked I was so
hot for him. He groaned and pressed his mouth against my throat and sucked like
some kind of unchecked teenager.

“Please,” I begged. “Please Jonah.”

“What?” he whispered, his mouth moving irresistibly close to
mine.

“Let me come. Please let me come for you.”

He rubbed his body against me, the size of his engorged
erection pressing into my hip through his pants. “Mmm. Do you deserve it? Do
you honestly think you deserve it?”

“Yes, yes please, Jonah.
Please
.”

Abominable bastard stopped fingering me right at that
moment, cupped me in his hand and leaned his mouth against my ear. He kissed my
earlobe with almost affection. Almost.

“No,” he whispered, barely more than a breath. “You don’t
deserve it. Not yet.”

And then he pushed away from my body, abandoned me there,
and walked out from behind the building and back to the party without another
word. I stood there with my head back against the wall, shock and shame and anger
coursing through my body. I gripped my skirt up around my hips even still. My
neglected pleasure soaked the thin fabric pressed between my thighs. Denied.
Monster
. How could he do this to me twice in a row? How could I have so
eagerly let him?

Why did I wish, more than anything else, he’d change his
mind and come back to fetch me, to press me into the sand and take me in the
cooling waves?

I waited several agonizing minutes, but he did not come back
and strangely, even though I was seconds away from bursting through the dams
and letting the fireball in my belly explode, I didn’t touch myself. He’d told
me not to climax until I was given permission and something in the way he’d
said it, demanded it, also made me want to listen even now. I fixed my dress,
my panties, my hair, and stumbled down the beach back to the party as if
nothing had happened. I didn’t look for him when I returned to the crowd,
didn’t search for him, but I could feel him everywhere. I could smell him. He
was near, always, but I didn’t have the strength to seek him out.