Rocked by the Billionaire: A Billionaire's Club Story (3 page)

Spencer cleared his throat and picked up his wineglass as he stood from the table. His gaze landed on Kayleigh and a warm smile lit his face. Her mouth went dry and taking a deep enough breath to fill her lungs with the necessary oxygen to stay conscious was damned near impossible as her heart began to hammer in her rib cage like a stampede of wild stallions. What was he about to do?
Oh, god
. Kayleigh’s gaze slid to Rachael, her eyes as big as dinner plates and glistening with happy anticipation.

Spencer wasn’t going to do what she thought he was going to do … was he?

“Kayleigh.” Spencer reached for his pocket, producing a black velvet box and her vision darkened at the periphery. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but—”

“Luke Blackwell is in town.” Kayleigh shot up out of her seat, the words exploding from her lips in a nearly incoherent rush. “I saw him at the bistro tonight and he asked me out for dinner.”

A dark cloud settled over Spencer’s once bright expression and an uncomfortable silence settled on the table. Colton shifted in his seat and Rachael’s eyes were glued to Kayleigh, even larger than they’d been before and her mouth forming a silent “oh” of shock.

Are you insane?
She hadn’t meant to stand up and blurt out some sort of confession as though she’d stripped naked and screwed Luke right in the center of downtown. Hell, aside from the spark on her skin when he took her hand in his, their encounter had been as innocent as a run-in with one of her students’ parents at the grocery store. Though admittedly, none of her students’ parents greeted her with an offer to get naked … But the prospect of what Spencer had been about to do sent a tremor of fear through her center and she’d used the first available excuse at her disposal to stop him.

She liked Spencer. But he wasn’t Mister Right. More like … Mister Right Now.

“I have an early morning tomorrow, maybe we should take off, Rach.” Colton placed his napkin on the table and scooted his chair back. Rachael, on the other hand, seemed to be glued to her seat, her eyes bugging out of her head. They’d been friends since elementary school, Kayleigh didn’t need to have telepathy to know the questions spinning around in her friend’s head.

“Rachael.”

“What? Oh, yeah.” She looked over at Colton and then from Spencer to Kayleigh. “I have to show a house in the morning, too. So … yeah …” Colton was already up and headed out of the dining room leaving Rachael to bring up the rear. “Thanks for dinner, guys. I’ll talk to you later, Kayleigh.”

Spencer remained silent, his lips drawn into a tight line, blue eyes as hard and cold as ice. When the door shut behind Rachael, Kayleigh sank back into her chair but Spencer remained standing. He let out a forceful sigh and pinned her with an accusing glare. “I think we need to talk, don’t you?”

It was going to be a long night.

The great thing about small communities: you didn’t have to search too hard to find what—or who—you were looking for. Especially when she was living in her parents’ old house. Luke pulled up into Kayleigh’s driveway, his gut churning like an angry sea. Jealousy burned him from the inside out even though he knew he had no right to feel it. His heart still had a claim on her, even if she’d chosen to forget it.

For a few minutes he simply sat in the car with the engine running, headlights off. A man with even a lick of common sense would have turned his ass around and gotten out of there. But Luke never was one to play it safe. Besides, the spark that had ignited in Kayleigh’s eyes when he’d taken her hand was more than enough evidence that no matter how many years separated them, there would always be a fire that burned hot between them. And he wasn’t leaving there until she begged to feel the heat from those flames.

The porch light sparked to life and Luke recalled the many times that same light had flicked on when Kayleigh spent a little too much time out in the driveway with Luke after one of their dates. Fuck, he could practically taste the sweetness of her mouth now, feel the petal softness of her lips. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as the front door swung open. So help him, if the boyfriend was standing on the other side of that door, it would be all he could do to keep from pressing his foot on the gas pedal and running the fucker over. Lucifer Blackwell, indeed.

He eased his foot off the gas when Kayleigh stepped out onto the porch. Bathed in the soft light of the bulb, her skin all but glowed. Luke’s gaze traveled down the length of her body and the baggy T-shirt that hung down just below her hips. The boyfriend’s? The steering wheel creaked under his grip.

He rolled down the window and drew a deep breath of crisp spring air. She placed a hand on her cocked hip. Her head fell to the side and with it, a cascade of auburn curls. “Are you going to sit out in my driveway all night, or are you coming in?” Without waiting for a response, she turned and went back inside, leaving the front door wide open.

Hot. Damn.

Luke’s brain short-circuited at the sight of Kayleigh’s ass, the round half-moons of her bare cheeks peeking out from her booty shorts. He fumbled with the key and the engine grated in protest as he turned the ignition on rather than off. He’d be buying this rental if he didn’t watch out, but with his brain so full of Kayleigh, there wasn’t room for anything else.

Like one of those zombie parasites that took control of its host’s brain, lust dug its way into his, taking over his motor functions, and he had no choice but to obey. He killed the engine and hopped out of the Escalade, strolling up the front porch steps with a swagger that contradicted his pounding heart. He kicked the door closed behind him and froze just inside the tiny foyer. Christ, the place hadn’t changed much since he was a kid. Talk about surreal. It made him feel even more like he was crossing some sort of line. Pushing the boundaries of what was decent. And it sent a thrill chasing through his bloodstream.

Kayleigh was curled up on the couch, a fluffy blanket tucked around her legs and hiding all of that glorious bare skin from his view. Luke’s mouth went dry and his tongue might as well have been coated with a layer of fur. He couldn’t have talked if he’d wanted to, which was probably a good thing because the only thoughts in his head were of how beautiful she looked, and how badly he wanted to fuck her.

There was
definitely
a song there …

“I broke up with my boyfriend tonight.” Kayleigh gave a rueful laugh that was tinged with sorrow. Her eyes came up to meet his and for the first time, Luke noticed that they were red and puffy as though she’d been crying. “Who in the hell does that? I mean, seriously? Who in their right mind breaks up with a perfectly good guy because her ex blows into town?”

Luke’s heart soared at her words despite the grief that lined her face. He’d never intended to hurt her by approaching her at the bistro, but damn it, he couldn’t deny that her loss was his gain. “I’m sorry, honey.” That was the truth. He was sorry she hurt. Wished he could take that pain from her. “But if it was so easy to cut him loose, then maybe he wasn’t the guy for you.”

Her bark of laughter ended on a sob. “No, I guess he wasn’t. Apparently I’m a glutton for punishment. I only want men who don’t want me back.”

The words sliced through him like a razor blade, cutting deep into his flesh. Luke stayed rooted to his spot on the carpet, incapable of taking a single step. God, just standing near her cleared the clutter from his mind. For months he’d suffered artistically. Emotionally. Gone through the motions like a fucking zombie. Regurgitated lyrics that no longer meant a damn thing to him. He’d been hollow. But in Kayleigh’s presence, he felt full to bursting.

Kayleigh sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “What are you doing here, Luke?
Why
did you come back?”

“The truth?” Was that even an option? If she knew how badly he’d fucked himself over would she kick him out the door before he even got the chance to explain himself?

“I think I deserve it, don’t you?”

She deserved so much more than the truth. So much more than him. But Luke was a selfish bastard and he’d decided a long time ago that life wasn’t worth livin’ if he wasn’t willing to go balls out for everything he wanted. Right now, he wanted her. A slow smile crept onto his face and he hiked a casual shoulder. “What would you say if I told you that I came home because of you?”

A slow shuddering sigh released from between her parted lips. “You really are a son of a bitch, Luke.”

Probably. She wasn’t the first woman to tell him that at any rate. Luke put one foot in front of the other as he stalked toward her perch on the living room couch. The deep chocolate brown of her eyes glistened with unshed tears and her cheeks flushed crimson. Sorrow and rage, soft rain and a raging fire. Kayleigh had always been a walking contradiction. His muse. The basis for every raw emotion he’d ever put to paper. She took his breath away.

“I drive a Prius and I teach kindergarten. Most nights I crawl into bed with a book and on the weekends, I’m either hanging out at the lake or catching up on laundry. My life is far from exciting and I’m okay with that. I haven’t changed, Luke. I’m still all of the things you were trying to get away from, so you’ll excuse me if I think that your excuse for showing up here is total bullshit.”

***

Kayleigh had come to terms with the fact that life wasn’t fair a long time ago. If it had been, her parents wouldn’t have saddled her with a house that was rotting into the ground while they retired on a beach in Mexico, she wouldn’t have to tutor snotty middle-schoolers over the summer to make ends meet, and she’d be living happily ever after with the man of her dreams,
not
kissing every frog within a hundred-mile radius only to be disappointed time and again.

It only added insult to injury that the man she’d thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with was standing in her living room in the exact same spot he’d been in eight years ago when he broke her heart and told her he was leaving. She’d dreamed for countless nights that first year that he’d come back. That was the thing about Luke, though. He was every woman’s dream. Sensitive, yet aggressive when it counted. Raw. His emotions always close to the surface. He didn’t lack for words; they flowed from his tongue like the sweetest nectar. And even after so many years, the memory of his kisses left her flushed and breathless. He was everything Kayleigh had ever wanted. After he’d broken her heart into so many pieces, she’d feared that she’d never be able to put herself back together again.

“You’re right,” he said in that confident tone that gave her chills. “I am a son of a bitch.”

Luke closed the distance between them and snatched Kayleigh by the wrist, hauling her up from the couch. The blanket covering her waist dropped to the floor between them as he wrapped his free arm around her. Her breath raced, heart thundered as she jerked her wrist free from his grasp. Big. Mistake. Luke used the opportunity to his advantage, reaching around to cup her nearly bare ass. Dear Lord, how was it possible for something so simple to feel so good? Luke held her gaze, his nostrils flared with his heavy breaths as he searched her face, drank her in with a laser intensity that made her pussy wet as though on command.

She was a switch that only he could flip. Her body was fine-tuned to Luke Blackwell’s touch and it didn’t give a shit about past heartaches. Only this moment, and getting as much of him as she could.

A very male smirk accentuated his full mouth. He had her and he knew it. Damn him. “God damn, baby,” he murmured as he lowered his mouth to hers. “It’s been a long time since a woman made me want to lose control.”

How could eight years feel like a lifetime and a matter of hours all at once? Luke’s mouth on hers was a homecoming. It filled her with a sense of rightness that Kayleigh had never felt with anyone else but him.

“
Fuck
.” Luke’s breath brushed her mouth in a warm whisper that caused a ripple of chills to slide down her spine. “You taste like heaven.” His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened her mouth to him. Such a simple act and yet, that intimate welcome ignited something between them. A spark that flared to life and burned through his body into hers. “I’m gonna taste every inch of you, too.”

What was she doing? The day he’d walked out of her life, Kayleigh had vowed never to let him back in. Their breakup had been brutal. Emotionally crippling. She’d taken an entire year to heal from the wounds he’d inflicted on her heart. Starting college long after all of her friends just to get her head straight. How could she let him do this after everything that had happened between them?

“Luke …” She turned her head to the side and placed her palms on his chest. Tried not to lose herself in the warmth of him that soaked through his T-shirt into her palms. Kayleigh took a steadying breath and gave a weak shove at the wall of muscle pressed up against her, a totally futile effort. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Sure you can.” His heated breath caressed her neck and Kayleigh shuddered. “Just follow my lead.”

For as long as she’d known him, Luke had always played to win and he wasn’t going to make putting him at arm’s length easy for her. As convincing as the devil himself, he could coax a nun right out of her panties if he set his mind to it. Getting Kayleigh out of hers wouldn’t exactly take a whole lot of effort on his part.

“Come on, baby. Let me touch you. Kiss you.
Lick
you. Ever since this afternoon, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Your hair …” He stroked his fingers through the tangle of curls. “Your breasts …” He ventured downward, his fingers brushing the aching points of her nipples. Kayleigh sucked in a breath that caused a wicked grin to spread across Luke’s sensual mouth. “Your tight, sweet pussy …” His fingertips teased the low waist of her shorts and a tremor vibrated through her causing that very part of her body to throb. “I remember how wet you used to get for me. Are you wet right now, baby?” He dipped one finger below her waistline, the heat of his breath tickling her lips as he spoke. “Is your pussy dripping for me?”