Fuck. I was way too on edge for that, but I nodded and took a deep breath before pushing in slowly. You can do it for her, asshole. You’re not that kid who used to be with her anymore. Just calm the hell down.
It was easier said than done when the grip she had on me was as tight as a pissed off boa constrictor and she was as wet as an entire water park, but I managed to keep my promise to her. Until she started fluttering around me and broke off our fervent kisses to look into my eyes when her orgasm took her.
I only just kept my rhythm so I wouldn’t spoil it for her, but all bets were off after that. My fingers tightened on her skin until I realized I might be bruising her but I still couldn’t let her go. Her headboard banged into her wall on every one of my savage thrusts, and I found myself glad she didn’t have any neighbors.
The tingling started at the base of my spine, and I mashed my forehead to hers when I finally found my release. My entire body quivered as I came so hard that I saw fucking stars before it was over.
You’re playing with fire, a voice whispered in the back of my head once my breathing started evening out.
Anna was tucked in against my side, her head resting on my shoulder while she absently traced the outlines of my tattoos with her fingertips. She smiled when she caught me following the movements with my eyes.
“Want to tell me the story behind more of these?” she asked, brushing over the small cursive script on my ribs. “These dates are for your parents, aren’t they?”
I nodded. “Their birthdays and their anniversary.”
“Did it hurt getting them there? I’ve heard it’s sore getting tattooed on your ribs.”
Her hair was soft between my fingers as I toyed with it while I debated just how much to tell her. “That’s why I got that there. I wanted it to hurt. I needed to feel the pain.”
Okay, so everything it is then.
I expected her to ask why, but she didn’t. It turned out she didn’t have to. “I get it. I might not have any tattoos, but I think there were times I’d have gotten them where it hurt a little bit more too.”
Rolling over to face her, I pushed myself up on my free elbow and frowned when I looked into her eyes. “What are you talking about? When?”
“I went through some stuff after you left. There were difficult days when it didn’t always look like Dad would get better.” She sighed and gave me another smile, snuggling deeper into my side. “This is getting too depressing, too fast. Let’s talk about something else.”
There was so much about that statement I wanted to dissect, but she was right. Now wasn’t the time.
We lay there talking about random other things instead. She asked me more about why I loved the cities I’d told her about earlier, and I found out what places were on her bucket list.
After a while, she yawned and sat up with the covers over her chest. “Do you want to stay over? I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to keep my eyes open.”
“I can’t,” I said, although it wasn’t entirely true. “I promised Jessie I’d help her out early in the morning. I should get going.”
She nodded, taking the sheet with her when she climbed out of bed. While I got dressed, she walked over to her closet and put on a robe.
If I’d expected her to be awkward after the fact or hurt that I wasn’t staying over, I’d have been wrong. Things were still easy between us when she walked me to the door, lifting up on her toes to press a soft kiss to my lips.
“Good night, William.”
“Good night, Anna.” I kissed her back, letting my lips linger on hers before finally pulling away. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Sure,” she agreed, giving me one last smile before closing the door behind me. I waited until I heard the lock click into place before planting a hand on the worn wooden railing on her stairs and running my palm along it as I descended.
The night air was crisp and cool, the silence so overwhelming it was almost deafening. Turning the collar of my leather jacket up against the bite in the air, I shoved my hands in my pockets and took off for the B&B.
I’d barely hit the road when my thoughts started running away with me. What the fuck had I just done? I hadn’t been planning on sleeping with her when I’d walked her home.
I should’ve known as soon as I saw her bed and imagined her naked in it before I’d even gone in that it was a bad idea. In fact, I had known.
Anna, me, and an empty bed when we were alone had never done good things for testing the limits of my self-control. With her sweet scent filling her place and the way she’d looked at me like she knew exactly what was going on in my head and wanted it too, I hadn’t stood a fucking chance.
But had I taken things too far? If I planned on going back to LA after this, I knew I shouldn’t lead her on. I wasn’t back for good, and I knew it, but would she expect things to be different now?
Did she think we had another real shot?
Did we?
My mind raced, my brain warring with itself as one part of it cussed the other out while that other part told it to calm the hell down. Anna was a grown woman. She knew what she’d signed up for and she knew what this was.
The sex was just a bonus. Something we’d both wanted. We knew each other so well and trusted each other so fully that we should’ve seen it coming anyway.
Besides, to me, in that moment, it had felt like we’d both needed it more than air or water. Who was I to question that now?
Did I even have to? No.
Just like Dave had said, there was no reason to overthink it. Anna sure as fuck hadn’t looked like she regretted it and I didn’t either. We hadn’t done anything wrong, and that was that.
My phone rang when I was about halfway home, jolting me out of my thoughts. Angelina’s name and a picture of her pouting at the camera flashed on my screen, and I sighed.
She’d been trying to call me for days. I knew she wouldn’t be ignored for much longer, and I really didn’t want her calling the B&B or, God forbid, showing up here.
Just speak to her. If I was ever going to get through the conversation I knew we had to have without losing my shit, it was now.
With memories of Anna’s sighs and moans fresh in my mind and thoughts about how good it was just to spend time with her again, I felt stronger than I had in weeks. The world didn’t begin and end with Angelina and her betrayal.
I can do this.
“What do you want?” I asked when I picked up, injecting as much venom into my tone as I could muster.
“Is that really how you’re going to speak to your fiancée who hasn’t heard from you in weeks?” she asked snippily before giving me an earful. “Especially since I’ve been watching you on the news spending all your time with some blonde bimbo.”
“Don’t call her that.”
“Or what? She is a bimbo, William. Any woman who spends so much time lusting after someone else’s man is a bimbo.”
“I’m not your man anymore, Angelina. I told you that we were over and I meant it.” I dropped my head back as I walked, looking up at the dark sky full of stars, so much brighter here than almost anywhere else I’d been. “Was there anything else you wanted, or can I hang up now?”
“Don’t be like that, baby,” she said, her tone changing from argumentative to whiny. “Come back to LA right now. Let’s work this out.”
“You’re in no position to demand that I do anything. I’m not coming back to LA yet. Not right now, and maybe not for the next few weeks.”
“I want to be with you, Will. I love you. Please don’t do this.” For once, she actually managed to sound sincere. Hearing those words hurt, especially since it sounded like she actually meant them. “Please, William. Just give me a chance. I really do love you.”
I didn’t say anything for so long that she eventually just sighed and whispered, “Just think about it. Will. I love you so much.”
She hung up before I said anything back, but I supposed she’d said what she had to sa
y, and I honestly didn’t know how to respond. Before she’d cheated on me, I’d had absolutely no doubts about loving her or wanting to spend the rest of my life with her.
Now I wasn’t so sure. Did I love her too? Or was it the idea of her that I loved? I just didn’t know anymore, especially not right now. Not while all I could think about was Anna and how she still felt like she was mine.
Chapter 26
ANNA
True to his word, William stole me away for a whirlwind weekend in Traverse City a few days later. He rented a car in Mackinaw, and it was waiting for us when we climbed off the ferry on the mainland.
The whole experience was surreal, more reminiscent of a movie than real life. He was a producer now, though. He probably thought more along the lines of movie moments than most other people did.
“Now you’ll truly get to experience what it’s like to be a tourist,” he said when we drove into the city.
I’d been here before but only once or twice and only for short periods of time. Since I’d never had a chance to look around properly, I decided to take William up on the experience and embrace being a tourist in my own state.
“Do you think we can stop at their Tourism Center? I’d love to talk to the locals to find out what they’d recommend we do.”
“Sure thing.” I doubted they had only one place around here to recommend touristy outings, but Will typed something into his phone and navigated us to a small center as if he’d done it before. On the other hand, considering how widely he’d traveled, he probably had done it before.
A much nicer old lady than Mildred managed this center, and she stuffed a bunch of pamphlets into our hands while talking a mile a minute about what we shouldn’t miss. William grinned when we walked out, his hand taking mine while we headed back to the car.
“What would you like to do first?” he asked, looking ridiculously sexy in his mirrored sunglasses, his auburn hair messy, and his all-black clothing fitted like it’d been made for him. He looked like an actual celebrity here—cocky swagger included.
His grin was all for me, though. A few people looked at him for a few seconds too long when we passed them, but they either weren’t sure who he was or they decided it couldn’t really be him.
I glanced down at the pamphlets once we were back at the rental car. “She said we had to see the farmers markets, Main Street for shopping, and the museums. A few of those things seem to be downtown. Should we start there?”
“You got it.” He pushed his glasses into his hair, holding the longer bits on top from falling into his face. “Do you want to walk it? We’re not far. It’s the best way to get a feel for a place, in my opinion.”
“You know I prefer walking anyway.” I kept holding his hand as we joined the masses of people on the sidewalk, just about gawking at the height of the buildings, the amount of pedestrians, and the general pace of things around here.
As far as cities went, I knew Traverse City wasn’t the largest in the world. Hell, it wasn’t even close to being the largest in Michigan, but the hustle and bustle was definitely awe inspiring to me.
William indulged my every whim, not complaining once while we spent the afternoon in the streets in the sun, dipping into shops, boutiques, and a handful of museums and art galleries. He pointed out landmarks as we went along, offered to buy everything I so much as looked at, and laughed whenever I spouted off facts from one of the pamphlets.
“Oh, look over there,” I said later in the afternoon, pointing toward a shop located off the street and only just peeking out from around the corner to an alley. “That looks like one of the antique shops the locals are so proud of. Want to go check it out?”
“Your wish is my command,” he said simply, tightening his grip on my hand and leading me into the store. “Anything in particular you want to look for?”
“I’d like to see if there is some furniture I can spruce up and make my own. We don’t have to drive it back with us. I’ll just see if they have a delivery option if I can find anything. Otherwise, I’ll ask Jessie’s guy to pick it up for me when he does her next delivery.”
“Jessie’s guy?” He pulled me to a stop, yanking off his glasses and arching a dark brow at me. “What guy?”
I laughed, punching him lightly in the shoulder as I shook my head. “She has a driver who owns a small truck. He delivers her things whenever she orders anything from here.”
“Right.” His shoulders relaxed, and a sweet smile appeared on his lips. “Let’s forget that just happened, please? She’ll never let me live it down if she hears about it.”
Lifting my shoulders in a shrug, I turned away from him with the intention of walking away and making him sweat a little when my gaze caught on a display case. Inside it on the top shelf and proudly displayed right up against the glass was the most beautiful ring I’d seen in a long time.
It had a white-gold band with a teardrop-shaped diamond set between several small sapphires. Will’s elegant, expensive scent drifted over me, and suddenly, I was aware of his heat at my back. He looped his arms around me from behind.
“What are we looking at?” he asked, resting his head on top of mine.
I didn’t mean to do it, but I leaned into him like I’d never lost the right to do it. “See that ring? I just saw it as I was turning and it caught my eye because it’s so unique.”
He didn’t let me go, but I felt him shifting around me to get a better look. “It’s unique but it’s not cheap.”
I hadn’t even looked at the price tag. It wasn’t like I was planning on buying it, so why would I? But when he mentioned it and I saw how much it cost, I winced. “Definitely not cheap. Who would pay that much for jewelry?”
“Me?” he said, stepping around me and walking up to the cabinet. Without hesitating for a moment, he called the sales assistant over and had her remove it. “Do you want it?”
“What?” I squeaked when I realized he was asking me, my heart instantly jumping into overdrive. “What would I want it for?”
He held it between two fingers, inspecting it before turning around to face me again. The sales assistant was hovering, obviously not inclined to let such an expensive piece out of her sight.
William dipped his mouth close to my ear when he walked back to me, making sure she wouldn’t be able to overhear us while also sending my pulse into a tailspin. “We can pretend to be engaged. What do you think?”
“I think your real fiancée wouldn’t appreciate that very much,” I replied, proud of myself for finding words when everything inside me was malfunctioning. My brain was on the fritz, firing off random thoughts too fast for me to make sense of any of them. My heart was alternating between pounding and skipping beats, and my stomach was all twisted.
He chuckled and made a noise at the back of his throat before actually saying anything. “Exactly.”
Well, maybe the noise made more sense than his answer after all. Before I could outdo myself by finding any more words, he broke away from me again and smiled at the assistant. “My fiancée and I will take it.”
How long had I been waiting to hear that word coming from him when the fiancée in question was me? God, the first time I remembered thinking about it, I had to have been about thirteen years old.
So why does it feel so wrong now?
I knew it wasn’t real, but the whole pretend thing hadn’t really bothered me until now. Maybe it was because I’d been able to keep our business arrangement separate when we were together and just enjoy spending time with him. More likely, it was because after the other night, the lines between fake and real had very much blurred for me.
We hadn’t spoken about it yet, and we didn’t really need to, but what I’d felt during our night together had sure been real to me. I’d seen it in him that he felt the same way. Nothing about sleeping together had been about business, our fake relationship, or even Angelina, whatever she really was to him now.
It had been about us, and that was all I needed to know about it. I
knew he was confused, and I didn’t need labels or definitions to know that what had happened between us had been all too real.
Now, however, he wanted me to wear his ring exactly because he knew someone else wouldn’t like it very much? I didn’t know how to feel about that.
I knew I’d agreed to faking this whole thing with him, but the other night had been so passionate and intense, and now this?
I wished more than anything that it was real when he smiled and slid the ring onto my finger right there in the shop, bringing my hand up to his lips and planting a light kiss over it. He ran the pad of his thumb over the stone.
“That looks really good on you,” he said. “The press is going to have a field day with it when they catch wind of a ring on your finger.”
Nausea rolled in my stomach. I never thought the first engagement ring I’d ever wear would be a ruse, and that was all this was. I might have the ring on my finger, but this was all really about another woman and about what a bunch of strangers thought.
“I’m sure it’s going to create quite a stir,” I agreed, inhaling deeply though my nostrils as I tried to gather my thoughts. Just because we were still faking it for the press didn’t mean that what was happening between us wasn’t real too.
Sure, the engagement obviously wasn’t real, but the other night? What I felt whenever we spent time together? That could still be real even while we continued our mission to fool the media in order to save his career. It didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said once we left the antique store. I looked up at him, wishing I had the ability to read minds—just this once and just this one mind.
Obviously, my superpowers didn’t kick in at the precise, opportune moment when I wished for them. Since I was still a mere mortal who couldn’t tell what he was thinking, I was relegated to asking. “Another surprise? What is it this time? A trip to the moon?”
The Billionaire’s Second Chance: A Small Town Romance Page 16
