The Billionaire Next Door (14 page)

Yeah…right.

As they got out of the car and went up to the shallow front porch, she said, “Well, thank you for the day. I had a wonderful time.”

Sean stopped. Looked her in the eye. Took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. About being a buzz kill.”

“Why did running into that man bother you so much?”

Sean glanced across the street, but she was sure he wasn’t seeing the other row houses. “He and I went to college together.” In a dry voice, he added, “I was on scholarship, Rolly wasn’t.”

Oh, that explained it. It must be hard to see people who were so much more successful, who had so much more.

“Money isn’t everything, Sean.”

He smiled his disagreement. “Sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes I think my whole life is about chasing the stuff.”

“I totally get that,” she said as she thought about her mom. “But come on, how much did today cost us? The two sandwiches were eight bucks. The cookies were what…four dollars? A six-pack of water was a dollar ninety…on sale, I might remind you. And the cones were nine dollars with an eleven-dollar tip. For thirty-three dollars and ninety cents, which could have been even less if you hadn’t left so much at Ben & Jerry’s, we had a perfectly lovely afternoon. After all, the sun and the Frisbee game were—”

He swooped in and kissed her, his mouth lingering on hers before he pulled back.

“—free,” she finished.

Sean ran his fingertip down her cheek then took a deep breath, as if he were bracing himself for something. “So you wouldn’t think of me differently, rich or poor?”

“I enjoyed today because of you. The fact that you’re not wealthy never even occurred to me.”

His eyes grew shrewd as if he were assessing her down to her DNA. Then he nodded once, took out his keys and put one in the lock. When he paused, his stare shifted over to hers and the hazel in it burned.

“Do you want to get together tonight?” he asked in a very low voice.

Lizzie swallowed hard, knowing very well what it meant to say yes to the question. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“I’ll come down right after I shower.”

He pushed the door wide and held it open for her. As she walked by him, a horrible realization hit her and she wanted to curse.

Oh God…in the space of two days, she’d somehow become attached to this man.

And she feared there was no going back.

In the shower upstairs, Sean soaped his body up and rinsed off as if he were an Indy 500 pit crew. He shaved just as fast and managed to nick himself under the chin, which necessitated tearing off a piece of Kleenex and sticking it to where he bled. After brushing his wet hair back, he did the cologne thing and inspected the razor cut.

With relief, he ditched the little white square. Man, there was no looking good with that kind of thing on your puss.

Boxers went on without incident as did a fresh black polo. Pants were an issue because his jeans were grass-stained, so in the end, he pulled on his suit slacks. Thank God they didn’t have any pinstripes, so he didn’t look ridiculous.

On his way out the door, he slipped a couple of condoms in his back pocket out of necessity and picked his BlackBerry up out of habit.

Oh…crap, he thought as he stared at the phone.

He couldn’t believe he’d left the thing behind today. How had that happened?

Then again, the oversight had been a blessing. Part of the reason the afternoon had been so relaxing was that the ringer hadn’t gone off constantly.

He flipped through the screens. He had an in-box full of e-mails and seven voice messages waiting for him. He almost started checking it all, but at the last moment, he stopped. He didn’t want to know what was falling apart. All he wanted was just a little more time with Lizzie. Then he’d get back to real life.

Shoving it into his pocket, he left the apartment and was at her door in three heartbeats. After he knocked once, he heard her call out and he went inside.

She ducked into the living room wrapped in nothing but a towel, her hair in damp ringlets. “Hi, I’ll just get dress—”

She didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence.

Sean went to her in two long strides, clamped his hands on either side of her face and dropped down, fusing his mouth to hers. As he pushed her back against the wall, he was hard, hot, hungry, his hands finding the edge of the towel and stripping it away.

With a quick move, he picked her up and carried her to her bed, laying her out flat on the comforter. He tore his shirt over his head, kicked off his shoes and covered her body with his own, all but out of control as he kissed her deep and long. He kept at it until they were both breathless, then went to work on her neck.

“I need to…” His voice cracked as he palmed her hip and squeezed. “I need to be inside you.”

She nodded with a jerky head bob then dug her hands into his hair and pulled him up to her mouth again. It was the perfect move because he couldn’t get enough of her lips, her scent, her crazy moaning…. The way her legs were scissoring underneath his was driving him insane.

Somehow, his pants disappeared along with his boxers. He wasn’t sure how and didn’t care; maybe the damn things walked off his legs by their own volition. What mattered was that he and Lizzie were both wild and naked and he was pressing into the soft space between her thighs with razor-edged desperation.

He needed this so badly. He needed her so badly.

Sean was all carnal demand and Lizzie loved it. Especially when his fully naked body came down on hers and his thighs split her open to him. His skin burned as if he had a fever and his hands were rough and his mouth was hungry and he was going to take her hard just the way she wanted him to. It was the kind of full-tilt sex she’d only heard about and had assumed was wildly exaggerated.

And yet as she cried out, he went still. “Lizzie…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m going too f—”

She locked her legs around his hips and went for his mouth, frantic for more of him. As her tongue pierced his lips, he groaned wildly and his arms shot around her, his hips falling into a grinding rhythm that blinded her. Everything was fast, fast and edgy and just a little reckless, nothing she was used to and everything she wanted.

“Lizzie…can I—”

“Yes.”

He reared back and rose off her, his arousal jutting out from his hips, proud and ready. He ripped a condom wrapper open with his sharp white teeth, spit out the corner, then he sheathed himself with quick, sure hands. His heavy weight came back down on her and she trembled, ready, but bracing herself for a powerful thrust.

Instead, he eased into her. As they slowly came together, his head dropped down beside hers so they were ear to ear.

“Are you okay?” he asked hoarsely. “This okay?”

His ragged breath and the sweat on his skin gave her an idea how much his self-control was costing him.

She dug her nails into the small of his back and arched. “More.”

With one smooth push, he locked his hips against hers and they both moaned as their pelvises merged. Their bodies took over, meeting and retreating, his advancing, hers receiving. As he moved inside of her, his muscles bunched and relaxed in his shoulders and his legs, and his slick skin slid over hers. The rhythm of it all intensified until she was nothing but sensation and instinct.

“Lizzie…Lizzie, I’m about to—”

A phone started ringing right by the bed, but it wasn’t one of hers.

As it went off again, Sean froze then cursed and squeezed his eyes shut.

She cleared her throat. “Ah…do you want to get that?”

His answer was a straight, to the point expletive followed by the wordno .

As the ringer kept going off, he resumed pumping, falling into a driving, primal pace that took her right over the edge. As she soared beneath him, he fell over the brink himself, his head tilting back, his neck straining. He roared, more beast than man in the beautiful moment that he gave himself to her.

When he stopped bucking against her, he collapsed, his heart pounding so hard she could feel every beat in her own chest.

With the phone now silent, the only sound in the room was their breathing.

As passion’s heat faded from their bodies, her chest ached although she wasn’t sure why.

Sean was utterly sated as he rolled to the side and took Lizzie with him. Looking into her face, her eyes were so clear and guileless he wondered how he could have ever thought she was calculating, and he loved that she was so transparent.

What he didn’t like was the fact that she seemed a little rattled.

“Lizzie…” He kissed her softly. “You okay there?”

She ran her hand up the back of his arm and nodded.

“Lizzie? Did I hurt you?”

“Oh…no…it’s not that.”

“Talk to me.”

“I…ah, I didn’t know…” Her eyes dropped. “I didn’t know it could be like that.”

Sean went utterly still; he didn’t even breathe. Time became a meaningless measure of nothing important. “Lizzie—”

His cell phone went off again, the soft tone landing like a bomb.

With a curse, he shot out of bed and grabbed his boxers, holding them in front of his hips as he headed for his pants.

“What?”he snapped as he answered the damn thing.

“Where the hell have you been?” Ah yes, Mick Rhodes. Lawyer. Friend. And when in that tone of voice, bearer of bad news.

“Just spit it,” Sean muttered. “What’s on fire?”

“Condi-Foods. Name ring a bell? Damn it, I called you five times this afternoon. Where have you been? You know the deal is shaky—”

“Skip the lecture and give me details.”

Mick swore a couple of times then launched into a news flash that set Sean’s teeth on edge. “The revised tender offer from the acquirer is coming in two hours from now. Condi-Foods’ board chair wants you and only you to render the opinion and he wants to hear it in person. So you need to drop whatever you’re doing and get your ass into Manhattan now .”

Sean cursed and reached back down for his trousers. Then realized he wasn’t getting dressed unless he made a quick trip to the bathroom. “I’m on my way.”

“Hey, there’s an idea—”

“I’ll call you from the plane.” Sean hung up. Dropped his arm. Looked over his shoulder. “I have to go.”

“Was that your boss?”

“Basically.” Actually, he was Mick’s boss, as he’d hired the guy to work on the legal aspects of these deals. But his pal was right to goose him. He’d left a two-billion-dollar negotiation hanging in the breeze today. So he could play Frisbee for God’s sake.

Not a smart career move. Or a responsible one.

Sean went into the bathroom, snapped off the condom and washed up. Without looking at himself in the mirror, he put on his boxers and his pants and headed back to the bedroom.