MINE FOREVER (BOOK III: The Billionaire's Obsession) (6 page)

Holy Christ!

His heart paused, breathing halted, as his hungry eyes landed on Kara. She was spread out on a high ledge in the tub, above the mass of bubbles, water licking her ankles, caressing her thighs, lost in erotic ecstasy. Her thighs were spread wide, exposing the mouth-watering, glistening flesh between her thighs. Head thrown back, eyes closed, she wasn't aware of him watching her, mesmerized by the hand between her legs. Her luscious breasts bounced as her hips rose up and down in the water, meeting the furiously moving fingers that were teasing her clit.

He struggled for air, his cock hard enough to split diamonds. Biting back a groan, he knew he should leave her to her privacy, but he couldn't. It wasn't possible. Nothing less than the whole world ending in a cataclysmic catastrophe was ripping him away from one of the most erotic, beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Simon."

She was fantasizing about
him
. Imagining
him
. He wanted desperately to know what he was doing to her in her imagination. Probably exactly what he wanted to be doing right now.
Burying his head between those silken thighs, fucking her tight channel with his fingers as he pleasured her clit with his mouth and tongue
.

He stripped off his pants and briefs, his eyes never leaving her writhing body as he dropped them silently to the floor, stepping away from them. Part of him wanted to approach her, worship that begging, swollen pink flesh between her thighs, give some attention to those hard, pebbled nipples. But he couldn't move. He was swept up into her arousal, a sight so carnal that it had him palming his engorged cock, stepping closer to the tub.

A low, throaty groan that he couldn't hold back startled her. Her head jerked up, her eyes full of lust and sultry need.

"Don't stop. Please. I need to watch you come." His voice was graveled, raspy with desire and longing.

Her hand quit moving, but she left it on her pussy. "I'm sorry, Simon. I--"

"Make yourself come, Kara. Keep going. Think about me. There's nothing more that I want in this world than to watch you pleasure yourself. It's beautiful." She didn't know how beautiful she looked, skin flushed, wanton, abandoned.

Her eyes roamed his body, hesitating, narrowing in on the cock that he held tightly in his grasp. "No. You're beautiful, Simon. The most beautiful man I've ever seen."

He didn't think it was possible to get more aroused. But her low, come-fuck-me voice nearly sent him over the edge, the fact that she wanted
him
almost his undoing.

Their eyes locked, an invisible thread keeping them focused on each other. He groaned as her hand moved, her eyes growing steamier as he starting pumping his cock.

They watched each other with naked, unbridled passion. She became wild, uninhibited as she licked her lips, watching him jerk on his ready-to-explode cock.

Rivulets of sweats poured down his face as she whispered his name between jerky pants and erotic moans as they stayed connected, completely lost in a web of desire so fierce that he could barely remain standing.

"That's right, baby. Bring yourself off," he demanded as he fisted himself harder, the pure pleasure of feasting his eyes on her unrestrained lust making his balls tighten, the pressure inside of him building.

Tendrils of dark silky hair had escaped the clip holding her mane back and they framed her face, brushed over her shoulders. He was intoxicated, bewitched, enthralled with the feast for his eyes spread out in front him.

Moving her fingers from her clit, Kara pushed two fingers into her tight channel, filling herself, moving them in and out with strong, deep strokes. She gasped every time her fingers slammed into her opening, increasingly deep, faster. Simon increased his pace, keeping time with her.

"Make yourself come for me," he demanded, knowing he couldn't keep this up much longer, however much he'd like to watch her like this forever.

Her fingers moved back to her clit, gliding easily along the swollen nub. Panting, she threw her head back with a long, throaty moan.

She climaxed hard, moaning his name, her back arching, her whole body quivering.

Not able to hold back another second, Simon exploded, putting his hand in front of his cock to capture the stream of hot fluid that probably would have hit the damn wall had he not stopped it.

She leaned back, her breathing heavy and uneven, her eyes glassy. After quickly washing his hands, he crossed the space between them, and stepped into the tub.

He pulled her unresisting body into the water with him, his mouth covering hers in a tender, languorous kiss.

Her face was flushed as she pulled back, her eyes darting away from his. "I can't believe I just did that."

"Don't, Kara." His fingers gripped her chin, gently tilting her face, making her meet his eyes. "Don't ever be embarrassed with me. You're beautiful. The sexiest woman I've ever seen. Watching you come was so fucking hot that it damn near gave me heart failure. There's no shame in something that incredible."

Wishing he could express his desire to share all things intimate with her, his obsession to be close to her, he tugged her back onto a built-in lounge seat. After sitting and leaning back, water lapping at his torso, he pulled her between his legs. Molding her naked body to his, her back to his front, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist to anchor her. He nearly sighed in ecstasy as she relaxed against him, her head resting against his shoulder. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her tantalizing smell for the first time in three days, feeling like he was finally where he belonged.

"I've just never done that when someone was watching. I told you I don't have much experience." She sighed. "I missed you. I know I pushed you away. I shouldn't have. I just wanted you to share what happened with me, to help me understand what happened the other night. I'm really sorry, Simon. I--"

"Shhh...stop!" His mouth to her ear, he whispered, "It isn't you, Kara." Hell, it made his chest hurt to hear her apologizing when he should be begging her to forgive him. He'd treated her poorly. Shut her out. He just wasn't used to a woman who actually wanted to be close to
him
, a woman who actually gave a shit enough to try. "It's my problem. Something that I've never told anyone. Shit! I never even told the shrink that mom made me see after the whole thing happened. Not the whole truth anyway."

"Helen had you see a counselor?" she questioned in a low, thoughtful voice. Her hands covering the arms that he had wrapped around her waist, she squeezed gently in a comforting gesture.

He shivered, even though the water lapping over their skin was still hot. Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, knowing that at this point...he was
all in
. It was time to risk it all, throw all his cards on the table and pray that he came out the winner, that she cared enough to stay with him. Truth was, he did trust Kara. Did he want to talk about his shame and irrational fears? Oh, hell no...he absolutely fucking didn't want to talk about it. But his obsession was to be close to the woman he was holding in his arms, the woman who was leaning back against him with complete faith and trust, a gentleness and patience that held him in awe of her.

Nothing between us. Ever.

"Yeah, she did. I saw Dr. Evans for over a year." His voice was hoarse and hesitant as his instincts warred with his emotions. "Mom wanted to make sure I was okay emotionally."

She squirmed back against him, pushing her body tightly against his, getting as close as she possibly could. Her hands slid down his arms, finding his hand under the water, entwining their fingers together.

He breathed in the scent of her as she tilted her head, resting it against his jaw, her fragrance surrounding him.

"Simon?" she whispered softly.

"Yeah?" He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.

"I love you." Her voice was barely audible. "I love everything that you are, every part of you. Nothing that happened in your distant past is going to change that. I even love you when you're bossy."

"I'm never bossy." He answered automatically, the walls around his heart crumbling, allowing his heart to soar. Holy shit! He had wanted her to say it, but  he had never imagined that it was would feel this damn amazing to hear it. He wasn't sure what he had ever done to deserve a woman like her, but he wasn't stupid. He was keeping her. "You know that I'll never let you go now, don't you?" It wasn't really a question, but he figured that she should know his intentions.

"I didn't tell you so that you would feel obligated. I just wanted you to know." In a lighter tone, she added, "And you are bossy. Now tell me about Dr. Evans."

Obligated? She wasn't an obligation. She was his whole damn life. His arms tightened around her convulsively.

She loves me!

He relaxed, the tension draining from his body. Suddenly, talking about the past didn't seem quite so difficult. Yeah, he'd much rather take his woman to bed and show her exactly how much he worshipped her, but he wanted to do it with full disclosure. He needed to explain what had happened the other night, and the only way to do it was to talk about the past.

She loves me.

He started to talk.

Chapter 5

"Before I tell you about Dr. Evans, I guess I should start at the beginning."

Kara nodded, not wanting to interrupt the flow of his words with any questions or comments. She hadn't meant to confess her love, but she hadn't been able to help herself, hadn't been able to hold back the words. And she didn't regret it. She was weary from trying to hide it, and no man deserved to be loved more than Simon.

"My father died a month before the incident. Overdose. Drugs and alcohol. He was foolish enough to steal drugs from one of the biggest drug dealers on the west coast, a guy he ran errands for or distributed drugs for in return for enough drugs and booze to feed his own habit. He rarely got paid in cash, and even if he did, he didn't use it to feed his family or his wife." His voice was low, seething with distain for the man that had fathered him. "Mom tried her best, but she had dropped out of high school and couldn't get anything but minimum wage jobs. She did whatever she could to feed us and keep dear old dad's business away from our shitty apartment and away from me and Sam. Mostly, she kept us out of trouble, making us see that we could be something more, something better." His voice cracked, his adoration for his mother evident.

Everything that Helen had told her made sense
now
. Helen blamed herself for not being able to give her boys a better childhood. Kara frowned as she remembered the sorrow in Helen's eyes when she had talked about her boys, their crappy childhood. Didn't Helen realize that she had given her boys something to cling to in their childhood, something they desperately needed to survive intact? Helen had given Simon and Sam love...and hope.

Simon's voice strengthened as he continued. "Rose was my childhood friend, really my only friend other than Sam. She grew up in the apartment next to ours. She was a year old than me." He shifted uncomfortably, his foot bouncing in the water as though he were nervous. "We were as close as friends can be until my hormones started to rage and I started to see her as a female. I cared about her a lot and I thought she cared about me."

"So you did have a girlfriend when you were a teenager?" She wasn't sure where he was going with his explanation, but she sensed that it was important to his history.

"Yes and no. I guess. We kissed, we held hands. I had horny, teenage-boy wet dreams about her every night. I wanted to get laid for the first time and I wasn't exactly an attractive teenager. I was quiet and skinny, not much to look at. Clumsy as hell. I read a lot. Mom made sure Sam and I had books from the library or reading programs. But Rose seemed to like me even though I was a gawky, ugly kid."

Kara's heart contracted, trying to picture a young, awkward teenage Simon. She was willing to bet her nursing career that he had been adorable.

"She started changing when she turned seventeen. She dropped out of school, started hanging with my father's crowd, wouldn't talk to me anymore or was so distant that she acted like I was nobody."

She squeezed his hands. "That must have hurt."

"It did." He didn't bother to deny it. "I knew she was using, stoned out of her mind most of the time. I begged her to let me help her, but she wouldn't listen. She just laughed in my face, saying that there was nothing I could do because I was as poor as she was. And she was right, damn it! But I wanted to help her get clean. And stop working the streets."

"She became a prostitute?"
Oh God, poor Simon.

She couldn't see him, but she felt his shoulders lift in a shrug. "She had to pay for her habit somehow and I know she gave some of the money to her mom to help her younger brother."

"You didn't give up, did you?" Kara didn't need an answer. She already knew. Simon was stubborn and tenacious, his rescuer tendencies still alive and well. It wasn't in his nature to stop trying.

"No. I wanted to believe that the Rose I knew was still inside of her, waiting to come out again." He snorted. "It didn't matter how many times she tried to avoid me or told me fuck off, I still tried. I was pretty naive, I guess."

No, you weren't. You were good, even though life had dealt you a crappy beginning. You were a dreamer who wanted to believe that everyone could be saved.
You must have been as guileless, honest and direct as you are now. You just didn't hide it as well then.

"Having hope doesn't make you naive, Simon."

He laughed, but it was self-deprecating. "I was gullible. I didn't see her for about a month after my father died. Then one night, she showed up at our apartment, dressed in a short sexy skirt and a friendly smile. For a teenage male virgin...that was all it took for me. Mom was working and Sam had already gone to Florida to start a construction job there. I was getting ready to graduate from high school and Sam had made enough money working construction to bring us to Florida to join him."