The Forbidden Billionaire (The Sinclairs Book 2) (15 page)

Mara thought she heard a muffled, low chuckle rumbling out of his mouth, but she was too enthralled by the touch of his tongue to really decipher what was happening. She felt bared, shattered in a way she never had before. Everything he was doing was so much more intimate than anything she’d ever experienced, and her body was trembling with need.

Jared teased, flicking his tongue over the tiny bundle of nerves that were begging for his attention. He provoked, lapping greedily at every inch of her sensitized flesh, spreading her folds with his fingers, exposing her blatantly to him.

“Yes,” she hissed as he finally rolled his hot, wet tongue over her clit with more pressure in a flowing, stroking pattern that had her hips rising off the floor.

Grasping his hair, she writhed desperately, trying to pull him closer, harder. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” she pleaded hoarsely, needing him to keep giving her the pressure she needed to come.

She was close. So very close.

Her climax hit her the moment he thrust two fingers into her sheath, searching for and finding that sensitive area inside her, caressing it with bold strokes while his tongue laved her clit.

“Jared. Oh, God.” Mara’s head thrashed wildly, her orgasm rolling over her with so much power it was almost frightening. She held on to his hair like it was her lifeline, her channel clenching around his fingers with spasm after spasm as she lay there helplessly riding the storm of sensations that overwhelmed her completely.

Her body relaxed slowly, cognitive thought coming back to her as she panted breathlessly on the plush carpet.

“Okay?” Jared asked as he moved up her body, his fingers swiping gently over her face. “Did I hurt you?” His voice was urgent and demanding.

Mara realized that tears had escaped from her eyes and were trickling down her cheeks. “No,” she answered him hurriedly, removing her hands from his hair to dash away her tears. Wrapping her arms around his neck to reassure him, she tugged him down to kiss him tenderly. “I guess I got overwhelmed,” she said as she finally broke the embrace.

“Is that good or bad?” he asked curiously, his intense eyes still watching her face anxiously.

Smoothing his hair away from his forehead, she answered, “Good. So amazing that I couldn’t help crying. I guess I just realized all that I’ve been missing because I haven’t had a guy in my life for so many years.” Mara tried for some levity to lower the intensity between them, knowing that not just
any
guy would have alleviated her loneliness and set her body on fire. It had to be
him
. It had to Jared. “Or maybe I’ve just been waiting for you,” she mused, entranced by the ferocity of his expression.

“You’ve been waiting for me,” he said in a gruff, possessive voice. “I don’t deserve you, Mara, but I need you.”

His tortured look, the emotion in his voice made Mara’s heart ache. This was a part of Jared Sinclair that she knew he never revealed, yet he trusted her with his vulnerability. The one woman he’d loved had thrown his trust aside and stomped on it, and then she’d died, leaving Jared empty, nothing inside him except guilt and grief. “I need you, too.” She sighed softly, knowing she’d just given Jared Sinclair her heart. She’d been fooling herself to think that she could even fight it. From the moment he’d walked into her shop, Jared had been different from every other man she’d ever known, her attraction to him instantaneous. Before, she’d been able to call it lust, a balm for the loneliness she’d felt since her mother’s death. But he was more than that, and she knew it. Beneath his I-don’t-give-a-shit facade was the heart of a sensitive, generous man. An incredible, exceptional man who’d sacrificed so much for others, including his self-worth and belief in himself.

“If you need me, take me then. Take everything you want.” He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her on top of him so she was straddling him.

“I thought you didn’t want it this way,” she squeaked.

“Oh, I want it any way you’ll give it to me, but you can control it, take as much of me as you’re comfortable with. Condom is in my pocket.”

“I asked Sarah to start me on birth control when I went to her office for a checkup,” she told him, feeling suddenly shy. Sarah Baxter, soon-to-be Sarah Sinclair, was officially her physician now. She’d been using Sarah for follow-up care on her injured ankle, and she’d be using her for everything from now on. Mara had asked Sarah to put her on birth control. Maybe she always subconsciously knew that what had happened with Jared was going to happen again. Pragmatically, she’d told herself it was just a precaution, but her heart knew that she and Jared would never stay away from each other if they were working together. Yes, there were other reasons to use the condom, but she wanted him to know that she trusted him. “It was exactly the right time. I’m covered, and I’m clean.”

Jared’s eyes shot to her face, astonished. “You trust me? Granted, my female count isn’t as big as it’s reputed to be, but I’ve fucked a lot of women, Mara. I won’t lie to you about that. But I’ve never had sex unprotected, and I’m free from any diseases. I haven’t been with anyone but you since I was last checked out.”

She nodded slowly. “I trust you. You’ve never given me any reason not to. Just promise me that if you decide to be with somebody else, you’ll tell me.”

His eyes grew dark and he sat up with lightning-fast movements, wrapping his arms around her waist. “There won’t be anyone else. Ever.” Jared’s voice was guttural and deep as he buried his face in her hair.

Mara told herself not to believe what he was saying. Someday there would obviously be other women. He wasn’t staying here forever, and they were in a moment of passion. Nevertheless, her heart starting racing from his fervent declaration, wanting so desperately to believe it was true. Gut instinct told her she’d never be with anyone like Jared again. “Then fuck me, Jared. Now. Please.” She’d worry about changes in their relationship when that time came. Nothing in life was guaranteed. For now, this was all about them, and all about Jared healing from some wounds so deep that they hadn’t mended with the passage of time.

His hands moved possessively down her back and cupped her ass, repositioning her to accept his cock. “You need to let me know if I hurt you.”

“You won’t.” Mara gasped as he filled her, but she was still so hot and wet from her climax that he entered her naturally and beautifully, as though they were made to fit together like this.

Jared groaned into her hair, moving a covetous hand down her back while he held her ass in place to accept his thrusts. “You’re so hot, so wet. You feel so damn incredible that I’m not going to last very long.”

Mara smiled as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, their bodies skin to skin as he stroked into her sheath again and again. The position was intimate, every part of them touching as they flew higher and higher together. She tightened her legs around his waist, luxuriating in the affinity flowing between them, feeling every rapid beat of his heart against her naked flesh every time he thrust and retreated again.

I’m not going to last very long.

What was with his obsession about taking forever to come?

Control.

She knew she was right. The mask he wore was one of complete authority over himself and his actions, rigid restraint probably to make up for his emotional decision that had left him bleeding inside for years.

“I don’t need you to last. I just want you. I need you, Jared. Fuck me harder.” She nipped at the side of his neck, knowing she was daring him to lose his discipline and conditioning, the wall he’d built up around himself for protection. “You feel so good,” she panted into his ear, rotating her hips sensuously, taking his cock deeper with every thrust.

“Can’t. Lose. Control.” His voice was guttural and determined. “Need you to come with me.”

Mara had no doubt she was going to come hard. She was on the edge, her body already shivering with sensation. Being entwined with Jared like this, her hard nipples abrading against the coarse hair on his chest, feeling his hard, hot breath on her neck as he struggled for dominance over his orgasm—every single sensation intoxicated her.

Jared pumped into her harder, as though he couldn’t stop. Mara leaned her head back and closed her eyes, her belly clenching as her climax hit her. “Jared!” She screamed his name as the internal walls of her channel clamped down hard on his cock as though they never wanted to release him.

“Fuck, yeah. Come for me, baby.” Jared grasped her hair and pulled her mouth roughly to his, his tongue spearing through her lips and dominating her, sweeping her away with a reckless abandon that had Mara moaning as she came, squirming to get even closer to him.

“Mine,” Jared groaned as he moved his mouth from hers. “You’re mine, Mara.”

Mara dug her short nails into his back as she milked him of his orgasm, taking everything she could get, feeling as possessive of him as he was of her right now.

My Jared. My sweet, tormented, stubborn man.

Cradling her head against his shoulder, Jared rocked their bodies together, his fingers still gripping her ass. “I knew you were trouble from the minute I saw you,” he muttered huskily with a touch of amusement in his low rumble. “And I was right.”

His voice was teasing, and she smiled against his damp, sweaty chest. “You’re trouble, too. But only in the very best of ways,” she answered breathlessly, mimicking their earlier conversation and savoring the afterglow of her mind-blowing intimacy with Jared for a very long time.

CHAPTER 14

“I’m wrecked,” Jared confessed to all of his brothers the next day at Grady’s house. Leaning back in his chair, he ran a frustrated hand through his hair and took another slug of his beer.

All four of them were having a bachelor party that Jared was fairly certain Dante didn’t even want, sitting at Grady’s kitchen table and killing off a whole lot of beer. Dante and Grady roared with laughter, while Evan simply stared with his usual icy control.

“Bastards,” Jared mumbled irritably as Grady and Dante continued to chuckle.

“Welcome to the agony and ecstasy of love, little brother,” Dante told him jokingly.

“I don’t love her,” Jared answered hastily. Maybe a little too hastily.

Hell, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned his involvement with Mara, told his brothers how it was getting to him, but he needed a male to talk to. He figured maybe more than one was needed for this particular situation.

Grady and Dante starting chortling again, and Jared shot them both a dirty look.

“Perhaps he doesn’t love her,” Evan observed, taking a sip of his bottled water, which he’d insisted be served in a real glass. “Not everyone is cut out for obsessive love.”

Dante glared at Evan. “You might be capable of it if you’d take the poker out of your ass. When did you get so damned uptight anyway?”

Evan glanced back at Dante stoically. “The poker was put there by one of the best at torturing other people. And not everyone is cut out for love.”

“Who put it there?” Grady asked curiously.

Evan’s eyes fixed on his water, he replied, “Our father.”

Jared swallowed hard, remembering how Evan had always been the caretaker of every one of them when they were younger. His eldest brother had never let go of that particular habit. Maybe Jared
had
hated his oldest sibling when he’d dragged him back into reality, but Evan had been there for him, asshole or not. Sometimes actions were more telling than words. Evan might be frigid, but he wasn’t completely frozen all the way through.

Being the eldest, Evan had always been expected to take over their father’s business. Their old man had died while Evan was still in college getting his business degree, but his older brother had been forced into their father’s company almost every moment he hadn’t been in school. From the time he was a young child, the heir apparent was being trained up by the biggest bastard in the country as soon as he could walk and talk—their abusive, alcoholic father. Remorse hit Jared hard and fast, suddenly realizing that Evan was a product of the way their father had treated him. His oldest brother had saved most of his other siblings from spending much time with their disparaging and particularly vile parent. But nobody had ever been there to give Evan a break. He’d been his father’s target, a victim just because of his birth order. Evan just hadn’t ever complained. Sometimes, Grady had been his father’s main target because he’d been socially awkward as a child and adolescent, and he’d stuttered quite badly. Even then, Evan had done everything he could to deflect their father’s wrath away from Grady.

“I’m sorry, Ev,” Grady finally spoke, his voice full of regret. “I know the old man was a bastard, and you spent a hell of a lot more time with him than we did.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Dante interjected quickly.

“And me,” Jared added hoarsely, his throat tightening as he tried to imagine what his father had put Evan through as his eldest child and heir.

“I obviously survived,” Evan replied unemotionally. “The business has thrived, and I’ve doubled my own wealth over the last twelve years. I have nothing to complain about.”

Jared wanted to call bullshit on Evan. If his suspicions were correct, Evan had plenty of things he could bitch about that could have made him as bitter as he pretended to be.

“Was it bad?” Grady asked hesitantly. “The time you spent with him alone. Was it really bad?”

Evan shrugged nonchalantly. “You were all there most of the time. It’s ancient history now. We’re all happy.” He hesitated before adding, “Except possibly Jared right now.”

Jared knew that Evan was denying the real truth, but he wasn’t going to push his sibling right now. He knew Evan, and if he didn’t want to talk about his childhood and adolescence, he wouldn’t.

“Because our little brother doesn’t want to admit he’s in love with Mara,” Dante commented right before he slugged another gulp of his beer.

“Because I’m not,” Jared argued vehemently. He wasn’t, right? Just because he lusted after Mara every waking moment of his day, wanted to be with her when he wasn’t, thought of her all of the time, wondered if she was okay. Surely, that wasn’t exactly all about love.

You don’t believe in true love?

Mara’s question drifted through Jared’s mind as he tried to sort out his emotions. Nope. He didn’t believe in love. Or he hadn’t. Now he didn’t know what the hell to think. Was he any less obsessed than his brothers were about their women? At one time, he’d thought they were all crazy. Now he was the one acting like a lunatic.

“Would you walk through fire for her?” Grady asked quietly.

Evan shot him a questioning glance, and Jared almost squirmed as he answered grudgingly, “Yes.”

“What would you do if she didn’t want to see you anymore?” Dante queried.

“I’d seduce her.”
I’d fucking beg for the very first time in my life.
Holy shit. He wasn’t saying
that
out loud. Just thinking about it made him shudder, but he knew it was true. He needed Mara just that damn much. “She’s mine. She’s not going anywhere,” he added gruffly.

“Primal instincts,” Grady observed.

“Unable to function without her,” Dante added.

“Staking his claim,” Grady mused.

“Probably thinks about her all the time,” Dante interjected.

“You’re screwed,” Dante and Grady said in unison.

Jared looked at the knowing smiles on Dante’s and Grady’s faces and grumbled, “Assholes.”

“Leave him alone,” Evan ordered commandingly. “I doubt either one of you would have wanted your weaknesses pointed out when you were struggling through your own relationship difficulties.”

Grady and Dante sobered after a moment of thought and nodded slowly, both of them muttering an apology to Jared.

“I thought we were here to play poker,” Evan said evenly. “So far I haven’t seen any of you putting your money where your mouth is or dealing out the cards.”

Even though Jared was irritated, he almost smiled. Nobody could beat Evan at poker, and no doubt Grady and Dante knew they’d get their asses kicked. Not one of them had ever learned to really read Evan in poker, and he had absolutely no “tells.” His eldest brother had been mopping the floor with all of them at poker since they were kids.

Grady got up reluctantly. “I’ll grab the cards and chips.”

Dante rubbed his hands together. “I’m the groom. It has to be my lucky night.”

“We’ll see,” Evan said noncommittally, arrogantly. “But don’t count on it. Lucky at cards, unlucky in love,” Evan quoted the old saying drily. “I believe I’m the only one who can claim that truth anymore.”

A few weeks ago, Jared could have argued with Evan. Nobody had been more unlucky in love than him. Now, thinking about Mara, he kept his silence. He’d happily let Evan take his money if he could just have the woman he wanted.

Evan kicked everybody’s ass and left with a rather large IOU from every single one of his brothers several hours later.

He took his less-than-sober siblings home without ever cracking a smile for the pounding he’d given his younger brothers.

“I’m ruined,” Mara told the four women sitting in Dante’s living room as she downed the last of her second strawberry daiquiri. The bachelorette party was small, just her, Kristin, Randi, Sarah, and Emily. She wasn’t much of a drinker, so after consuming two drinks that tasted like Randi had gone pretty heavy on the rum, Mara had become very talky.

Okay. Yeah. She’d let her relationship with Jared slip, and after that, she’d blurted out most of the story—minus the mind-blowing sex part. Some things were just too private and much too intimate to share, even if she
was
a little tipsy.

Picking up another satin bag, she started stuffing in the adorable wedding favors that Sarah had picked out: miniature bottles of cognac, gourmet coffee, tea diffusers, and a crystal from Beatrice’s store, Natural Elements. She picked up the tiny card, an inclusion that Sarah had insisted on so that everyone knew about her fiancé’s generous nature. It explained that one of the party favors was a donation to a charity for abused women in the guest’s name. It was a unique idea, and Sarah had related the information to all of them earlier that Dante had donated an enormous sum of money to give a donation from every wedding guest attending. It was a charity being managed by Jason Sutherland, Hope’s husband. Apparently, it was a major joint project for the Harrisons, the Hudsons, Max and Mia Hamilton, and the Colters of Colorado, all billionaires and obviously compassionate families. How many of the ultrawealthy actually gave up that much time to charity? Sarah had told her that Hope’s husband, Jason, personally managed the funds for the charity, and the other billionaires donated a lot of time to fund-raising. Didn’t people that wealthy usually just write a check and forget about it? It sounded like a wonderful cause, and Mara was glad that money had been donated for her by Dante.

Obviously not all of them just wrote a check and forgot about the cause.

Sarah had explained that even Evan was heavily involved with the project, and Grady had happily jumped on board quite some time ago. When Dante learned about it, he came up with the idea for a wedding favor of donating for every guest. It was thoughtful and sweet. As a physician who had seen her share of abused women, Sarah adored Dante even more for donating and coming up with the unique idea . . . if it was even possible for Sarah to dote on her fiancé more than she already did.

Closing the ties on the black bag, which was personalized with gold lettering, Mara added it to the growing pile of finished favor bags and reached for the next.

“He’s
the one
, isn’t he,” Kristin said reverently from her seat beside Mara on the couch.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The single word echoed in Mara’s heart as she replied, “How do you know? How does any woman know?” Mara knew because she’d never felt this way before, and gut instinct had been gnawing at her insides since she’d met Jared. Something had been different about him, the connection she’d felt for him almost . . . magical. There was no doubt in her mind that she was in love with him. Deeply. Insanely. Passionately.

Sarah stopped stuffing her bag to look at Mara. “You just know, Mara. I think sometimes we fight it because we’re afraid to really feel that strongly. But we sense it. If he’s the man you’re meant to be with, nothing is too embarrassing to talk about. He loves you exactly as you are and doesn’t see your imperfections. He’ll be willing to risk everything for you, and you’ll feel the same way.”

Mara knew about how Dante had saved Sarah’s life. It was a small town, and the incident had been huge news. Although Jared hadn’t done something like that, he
had
risked baring himself to her. He trusted her, and that knowledge made her heart melt into a puddle at her feet. “It’s scary when you feel this way,” she muttered. It was also exhilarating, thrilling, and breathtaking.

“It really is,” Emily agreed readily from her seat in one of the recliners. “But the scary part eventually goes away and all that’s left is the happiness. It’s not like everything is always perfect. Grady and I disagree. We’re both stubborn. But even when we do, we still love each other.” She paused before asking, “Are you in love with Jared?”

Mara caught Emily’s gaze and finally nodded. “I am. I don’t know how it happened or why the two of us seem to fit together. We’re so different.”

“Different because he’s so rich?” Kristin questioned.

“No. It’s more than that. I don’t care about the money. I care about . . . Jared.” She wouldn’t reveal any of Jared’s secrets, even if she was a little intoxicated. “Jared is urbane, sophisticated. He’s brilliant at business, and one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. I’m a small-town woman who isn’t the least bit elegant. I had to drop out of college because my mother was sick, and I’ve only traveled out of the state a few times. I’m not worldly, and my life is fairly ordinary.
I’m
ordinary.”