Passion Overseas: A Billionaire BWWM Holiday Romance (7 page)

“
More
than enough,” the woman said as she put two boxes on the
counter.

“
Thank
you so much,” Erica said as she took the change and boxes from
the woman. She was struggling to balance the two boxes in her small
hands as she walked to the parking lot. She had a spring in her step
as she walked and she hated that it was all about cake and nothing to
do with Daniel. “Well, that’s what happens when you leave
a woman alone in a strange country,” she thought as she walked.

“
Erica,”
she heard a familiar voice call out. She felt a chill run down her
spine when she heard her name called out. She knew that voice, a
little too well. She wanted to turn around and see who it was but
something told her that she had to keep walking. She quickened her
pace as she walked. “Erica,” she heard again making her
stop in her tracks. Her heart was beating hard in her chest as she
turned around to come face to face with her worst nightmare. It was
Eli, standing right in front of her. As she looked at him, she had
such a mixture of emotions. She wanted to scream at him and slap him
and probably even shoot him right between the eyes but as she stood
there, she was numb. She could not talk, she could not walk. She
could not do anything. “Hi,” Eli said smiling at her.

She took a long deep
breath and shrugged.

“
What
the hell are you doing here?” she asked.

“
I
needed to see to you,” he said as he looked at her.

“
Well,
there are so many ways of doing that without actually stalking me.
Facebook, Instagram and if you manage to get through to me, Skype,”
she said.

“
You
blocked me on Skype,” Eli said as he looked at her.

“
Do
you blame me?” she asked. He looked at her and took a step
forward. “Stay away from me,” she said taking a step
back.

He shook his head and
put his hands up.

“
I’m
sorry. I just want us to have a grown up conversation,” he
said.

She shook her head
and rolled her eyes.

“
What
the hell are you even doing here?” she asked again.

“
I
told you, I need to talk to you,” he said.

“
No,
I mean here in Athens. Why are you here?” she asked as she
looked at him.

“
I
was on a business trip and I ran into your sister. She told me you
were here,” he said.

Erica raised an
eyebrow.

“
So
you thought, I’ll just go all the way to Greece and track her
down? Gee, Eli. Psycho much?” she asked as she walked to the
parking lot with Eli following close. “Stay away from me, Eli.
If you know what’s good for you, you are going to leave me
alone,” she said as she walked towards the white rental Buick.
She opened the door and put the two boxes on the passenger seat
before she walked round to the driver’s seat.

“
So
I come all this way and you don’t even want to talk to me?”
Eli asked.

She sighed, her hand
on the door handle and looked at him.

“
I
didn’t tell you to come all this way now, did I?” she
asked as she opened the door. Eli put his hand on the door and
slammed it back shut. “What the fuck…” she started
saying before she looked at Eli.

“
You
have to hear me out,” Eli said.

Erica forced out a
laugh.

“
I
have to hear you out?” she asked as she looked at him. “Why?
Does listening to you give me more time on earth or something like
that? I don’t think so,” she said as she climbed into the
seat. She pulled the seatbelt and buckled herself in. She was angry
and really getting worked up.

“
Erica,
please,” he said in a soft voice.

She shook her head
and put the key in the ignition.

“
The
time for me listening to you is over, jackass,” she said as she
turned the car on. She was breathing hard and heavy as she backed out
of the parking lot. In her rearview mirror, she saw Eli run off to
some other side. She breathed a sigh of relief as she began driving
back to the hotel. She reached for one of the boxes and got one of
the cupcakes. She sighed loudly when she bit into the rich cream
cheese frosting. It was perfect. The lady at the cake shop had not
lied when she suggested the cupcakes. Somehow, the drive back seemed
longer. She switched the radio on and hummed along as she turned the
last corner to the hotel. She climbed out of the car slowly and
handed the key to the valet as she balanced the two boxes in her
hand. She was just about to walk into the hotel when she heard Eli’s
voice towering over people’s murmurs and the engines of the
cars speeding off. She took a long deep breath and turned around.
“You have now graduated from idiot to psycho Eli. You better
stay away from me or I swear I will call the cops on your ass,”
she said. Eli quickly walked up to where she was and held her hand.

“
Hear
me out. That’s all I want, for you to hear me out,” he
said as he looked at her.

She shook her head
and pulled her hand away. She did not want to hear anything from him.
There was no good that would ever come from listening to him. Her
heart was beating harder and faster than ever. Without knowing it,
she was shaking as she looked at him.

“
I
have nothing to say to you and you…you know where I…”
her voice trailed off as she looked around. She would have to move to
another hotel before Daniel came back. She never, ever wanted to have
this conversation.

“
Bumblebee,”
Eli started. She shook her head.

“
Don’t
call me that. You lost your right to call me that a long time ago and
for the love of God, I moved on, Eli. You should too,” she said
as she looked at him. He held her hand again and she tried yanking it
off but this time round, she couldn’t. He was holding her a
little tighter than he had before. “Let me go,” she said
in a soft voice.

“
No,
you have to hear me out,” he said. He was now pulling her into
the shadows. With everything that was going on, it became hard for
the doorman and the valets to notice what was happening with Eli and
Erica. She didn’t know why, but she was weak around him. She
had lost all will power to just walk off for some reason. “You
were always working. You were always busy and I had needs…I
had to feel like there was more to me than…” his words
trailed off. She could not believe he was saying this to her, at this
time. That was no excuse. He had his days too when he worked hard and
long hours.

“
So
cheating on me was the only way you saw out?” she asked as she
shook her head sadly.

“
Bumblebee,
it was a mistake. I loved you. I still do,” he said. Suddenly,
all the anger she felt, all the emotion she had kept bundled up since
she caught him cheating on her was bubbling to the surface. She
looked at him and there were tears in her eyes.

“
Well,
I don’t. I’m in love with someone else now,” she
said. He held her face in her hands but she pushed him off. “No!”
she said as she took a step back.

“
Bumblebee,”
he started but she stepped back again.

“
Go,
Eli. Just leave before I call the cops,” she said. He shook his
head and held her shoulders.

“
I
won’t. Not without you,” he said as he looked into her
eyes. Even in the dim light, he could see her beautiful brown tearful
eyes.

She shook her head.

“
I’m
not going anywhere with you,” she said as she pulled away from
him again and turned around. She was walking to the entrance when he
held her hand again, holding her back. She dropped one of her boxes
and gasped loudly. It was more of a cry than a gasp really.

“
Is
everything alright here?” she heard a familiar voice. She
looked up and as if this was some fairy tale or chick flick, Daniel
was standing right in front of her. Her knight in shining armor.
Eli’s grip loosened on Erica’s wrist and she half walked
half ran into Daniel’s waiting arms. He held her tightly,
stroking her hair as she sobbed on his shoulder. “Are you
okay?” he asked as he looked at Eli. The look in his eyes was
cold and hard and God knows he wanted to beat the living hell out of
Eli. She nodded and he pulled away from her. He looked at her and
used his thumbs to brush off her tears. “Yeah? You sure you’re
okay baby?” he asked as he looked at her. She nodded. She was
sure that whatever cake she had in her hand was already ruined but at
that moment, she didn’t really care. Daniel put his arm around
her and looked at Eli. “Who are you?” he asked as he
looked at him.

“
Eli
Morrow,” Eli said extending his hand. Daniel took a long look
at his hand before he finally stretched out his to shake it.

“
Daniel
Reese,” he said. “What is going on here? It looks like
you were trying to force my girlfriend into something she didn’t
want,” he said as he took a step towards Eli.

“
Girlfriend?”
Eli asked as he looked at Erica. “This is my replacement?”

“
Ah,
so you are the unfaithful ex. We finally meet,” Daniel said.

“
I
guess it was bound to happen at some point,” Eli shrugged.

“
And
why is that, is that because you kind of have some twisted idea of
getting back with her or something?” Daniel asked. Erica knew
where this was going. She held Daniel’s hand.

“
Baby,
let’s just go,” she said in a whisper.

Eli looked at her and
sighed. “I meant what I said earlier, Bumblebee. I miss you.”

Daniel forced out a
laugh and shook his head.

“
You
are a piece of work, aren’t you?” he said as he looked at
Eli. “What the hell is wrong with you? You had your time with
her and guess what, you screwed it up. So do us all a favor and crawl
back to whatever hole you crawled out of,” he added.

“
Look
man, I don’t want any trouble. I just came out here to talk to
my woman,” Eli said.

“
Correction,
she is my woman,” Daniel said. Erica looked at the two of them
and tugged at Daniel’s hand. Daniel looked at her and slipped
an arm around her shoulders before he turned around and began walking
with her towards the hotel’s entrance.

“
I’ll
stick around in case you change your mind. I still love you,”
Eli called out making Daniel stop in his tracks.

“
Baby,
just let it go,” Erica said. But Daniel was not taking any of
this. He pulled his hand away from her and turned around to look at
Eli.

“
Why
don’t you just accept that she has moved on?” Daniel
asked.

“
I
love her,” he said. He was looking at Erica as he said it. “And
there is nothing you can do about that.”

“
Come
on, don’t embarrass yourself,” Daniel said walking
towards him.

“
Embarrass
myself? You are the one who took advantage of a vulnerable woman,”
Eli said pushing Daniel off. Daniel looked at his shoulder where Eli
had pushed him and then looked at Eli.

“
You
don’t want to do that,” Daniel said.

“
What
the hell are you going to do, jerk?” Eli was shoving him again.
Daniel looked at Erica and then at Eli and shook his head.

“
You’re
not worth it,” he said. Erica covered her mouth with her hand
when Eli suddenly took a swing at Daniel and that was the straw that
broke the camel’s back. She watched as Daniel ducked and then
Eli threw another punch but Daniel blocked it. He suddenly executed
three swift moves that left Eli writhing on the ground. By this time,
the hotel’s security was already walking towards the two.

“
Mr.
Reese? Everything alright?” the head of hotel security asked.
Daniel looked at Eli who was squirming on the floor.

“
It
is now,” Daniel said. “Keep hat man away from this
place,” he told security as he walked up the steps and secured
an arm around Erica’s waist. She was shaking as they walked to
the elevator. “I’m sorry about that,” Daniel said
in a low voice.

“
I
think it’s okay,” she said as they rode up to their
floor.

“
I
think this is a good time as any to tell you that I have been taking
MMA for six years,” he said without looking at her.

“
MMA?”
she asked.

“
Mixed
martial arts,” he said as the elevator came to a stop.

“
So
Eli…” she started before he shrugged.

“
He’ll
live but he will be in a hell of a lot of pain for the next few days
and I will be canoodling with you in Belize,” he added in a
soft voice.

She looked at him and
followed him to their suite. She was not sure whether she was scared
or turned on at that moment.

As
soon as the two of them walked into the room, Daniel pulled her to
himself and pinned her against the door. She looked at him, her heart
pounding hard in her chest. Daniel slowly pulled his hands from her
waist and placed them on either side of her on the wall. She was
trapped in between his hands and she had never wanted him more. He
looked at her and ran his thumb and index finger across her face,
pulling down her lip when he got to her mouth. As she looked up at
him, she couldn’t help but feel weak. His lips were so
distracting. She wanted to feel them on her so bad. As her chest
heaved up and down with each breath she took, he was looking into her
eyes, his own eyes intense and dark with his wanting. She felt her
mouth go dry as he flashed her a slow sexy smile. It was the kind of
smile that let her know that he had so much in store for her. It was
the look that told her he wanted to try to lick her dry.