The Billionaire Deal

by Lori Ryan

  Fairy tale for a year, she told herself, and commanded her heart to be okay with that deadline. That was far more than she’d ever had before this adventure had started.

  Slipping into silver, strappy heels, Kelly buckled the thin straps around her ankles and walked down the stairs. She came into the front hall as Jack was stepping in from the office. He’d arrived home just before the guests were due but had changed into his charcoal suit at the office.

  She smiled at the color of his suit. He had no idea they were coordinated, but she’d enjoy showing him that after the party.

  Jack froze in the hallway when he saw Kelly. As he watched her, she let out a small laugh.

  “That’s funny that you chose charcoal,” she said with all the innocence she could muster. “My lingerie is charcoal tonight.”

  Jack’s eyes went wide and Kelly was fairly sure she heard him growl. “Damn, woman,” Jack grunted and the next thing she knew he had her in a fireman’s hold over his shoulder and was headed up the stairs with her.

  “Mrs. Poole, greet the guests,” he hollered over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs with a laughing Kelly hitting him in the back with balled up fists as he went.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she cried out as he plopped her down in their bedroom, but she was still laughing.

  She barely had the words out before Jack’s mouth was on hers, burning into her, seeking her, finding her. She moaned into his lips as she wrapped her arms around him and melded her body to his and returned his kiss with just as much heat. She matched him stroke for stroke with her tongue and fisted her hands in his hair.

  Jack broke from her mouth only to bring his lips to her neck, slowly pressing one firm kiss after another down her neck, into the vee of her dress as he softly caressed the top curve of her breasts. Kelly’s head fell back and she breathed out his name, and the soft, throaty sound of her plea sent heat flaming through him.

  He raised one of her arms and began to kiss her shoulder, then trailed his kisses down her arm to her wrist where he lingered on the soft skin on the inside of her wrist before he broke away and found her mouth again.

  “Jack,” Kelly breathed, “I need….”

  “Stay,” he commanded and left her against the door as he went to the nightstand for a condom.

  He returned to Kelly and captured her mouth with his again before he reached between them and undid the zipper of his pants. Jack donned the condom and pulled aside the small scrap of silk and lace covering Kelly.

  Lifting her, he wrapped her legs around his waist and sank into her, taking her against the door of their bedroom as their guests arrived downstairs.

  He buried himself deep again and again as she pulled him ever deeper with her legs around his waist. Both reached a breathless orgasm in record time.

  When they were cleaned up and dressed again, Jack crossed to his armoire and pulled a black velvet jewelry box out of one of the drawers. He opened it and turned to show Kelly a stunning set of diamond stud earrings and a light, delicate diamond necklace that complemented her dress perfectly.

  She gasped and covered her mouth while Jack laughed at her reaction and clasped the necklace around her neck. He stole a few kisses on the back of her neck, but stopped himself before they reached the point of no return again.

  “Jack, you shouldn’t have,” her hand shook as she fingered the beautiful jewels at her neck.

  “I like doing things that make you smile, Kelly. I love your smile. Here, put the earrings on.”

  Kelly put the earrings in her ears, and Jack took her by the hand to go down to greet their guests.

  Chapter 47

  Kelly looked out across the lawn at the beautiful white tents drenched in tiny sparkling lights and filled with guests, wait staff, and a band. Out past the lawn, the water sparkled and reflected the lights back onto the party. The boat dock had been set up with tiny café tables for guests who wanted to stroll down to the water.

  On the lawn, there were large round tables with white linens and linen-covered chairs set up under the tents for the sit-down dinner that would be served in an hour. She sucked in her breath as she looked out at the scene. She couldn’t believe that Mrs. Poole had been able to pull this all together in a week.

  As Jack and Kelly made their way down to the tables, guests stopped them. Most congratulated Jack with a slap on the back or a private toast. More than one commented that Kelly must be a hell of a woman to have caught him, and Kelly laughed and hinted at blackmail and espionage.

  Andrew nearly choked on his appetizer as he walked up to greet them, and Kelly thought he must have heard her comment. She laughed as she realized Andrew was one of the few people at the party who knew how close her explanation danced to the truth. She thought she saw approval in his smile.

  “Is she spreading vicious lies and rumors again, Jack?” Andrew said as he shook Jack’s hand and kissed Kelly on the cheek. “If you get tired of this guy, I’m always available,” Andrew said winking at her.

  “Back off,” Jack growled and Kelly laughed at the two men posturing. “Get your own woman, Andrew,” Jack said jokingly to his best friend, but there was a hint of an edge to his voice.

  “Okay, okay,” Andrew said, raising his palms in defeat.

  The three friends walked down toward the tents together, and Kelly felt content and happy as she greeted her own family and friends. She introduced Jack to the people who hadn’t met him yet and watched him share a drink with her father and brothers.

  Kelly saw Roark, the attorney she’d met in Jack’s office the day they signed all the contracts for their marriage. He looked like he was trying to help Mrs. Poole as she oversaw the caterers, but she was having none of that.

  “What’s that about?” Kelly murmured to Jack, discretely tilting her glass in the direction of the pair.

  Roark was grinning. Mrs. Poole was scowling at him in a way Kelly had only seen her do behind Mabry’s back.

  Jack grinned. “My lawyer has been in love with my housekeeper for at least three years. Probably longer.”

  “And she has a problem with that?” Kelly watched as Mrs. Poole seemed to blush and then shoo Roark out of her path.

  Roark, for his part, seemed entertained by her objections, but he did as she asked and backed off. From what Kelly had seen of the older gentleman, he wasn’t the type to push a woman where he wasn’t wanted.

  Flirt? Yes. But push her if she told him no? Not so much.

  But Kelly saw the way Mrs. Poole’s eye stayed on him as he wandered away and she wondered how much of his attention the woman really objected to. She’d need to remember to ask her about it later.

  Kelly’s family, Chad, Mabry, and Andrew all joined Kelly and Jack at the largest of the rounds in the center of the tent for their meal. Conversation swirled from Kelly’s law school plans and her work at the legal aid clinic to Jack’s latest investments. At a lull in the conversation, Mabry struck out at the newlyweds again.

  “So, Jack, no plans to take your beautiful wife on a honeymoon? I’m surprised you didn’t whisk her away after the wedding,” Mabry said too sweetly.

  Kelly’s cheeks flamed, and she jumped in quickly to try to explain away the unorthodox absence of a honeymoon. “Oh, with Jack’s work, we can’t really go running off on a honeymoon,” she said.

  “Actually, Kelly, I cleared three weeks in August right before you start school. I got us tickets to Italy for a week, then a week in Paris, and then to Greece before we come home. I thought I’d surprise you.”

  Kelly thought he must be making that up to maintain the façade of their marriage, so she was stunned when Jack pulled their airline tickets out of the inside of his suit pocket and grinned at her. Her sister squealed, but all Kelly could do was stare at him and wonder why in the hell he would do something like that.

  Jack was beginning to wonder why he was doing all of these things for Kelly when this marriage was supposed to be on paper only. The truth was, he liked seeing her smile and
the idea of three weeks abroad with her sounded fun.

  He shrugged off the nagging feeling that there was something more going on here and focused on her smile. He leaned in to cup her face with one hand and kissed her luscious lips as she grinned and her sister continued to squeal.

  Jack hadn’t stepped from her side the entire evening, and his hands had rarely left her body. He seemed to want… no need to have a hand on her at all times, playing in small circles on the small of her back, holding her hand with fingers entwined, or running softly up her arm, over the curve of her shoulder. Jack wondered if she could feel how much he treasured her tonight.

  He hoped her family was having fun. Her mother was gaga over the house, and Jack thought her father had been impressed too. Kelly made the right impression on Jack’s business associates, making small talk when she needed to.

  Andrew and Chad taunted him and flirted with Kelly to see how far they could go before he would strike out at them. Andrew joked that he could steal her off to a private island and whisk her away from all of this. He swept his arm out to encompass the beautiful grounds and home as if it were torture for her to live in such opulence.

  Kelly laughed at them and placed her hand calmly on Jack’s arm, but even that couldn’t deflate the rage he felt watching them. Would it be wrong to tear their limbs off, he wondered?

  Jack noticed that Chad asked his mother if she needed a ride home, and he wondered briefly if his cousin knew that Mabry was staying with him and Kelly. He would have to remember to ask Chad about that later.

  Jack whirled Kelly around the dance floor. She was so light and graceful even though she claimed she rarely danced. He spun her and laughed with her and nuzzled his lips to her neck, wanting to hide her away from all of these prying eyes and hurry back to the privacy of their bedroom once again.

  Chapter 48

  Kelly and Jack said goodnight to the last of the guests and strolled hand in hand across the lawn and up to their room. He put his arms around her as soon as the door to their room shut and she laughed, open and free.

  Her laughter didn’t last long as Jack spun her to face him and began to string searing kisses across her shoulders and up her neck. A moan escaped from her lips and he found the zipper on her dress, pulling it down and letting the silky fabric glide to her feet.

  Jack kept his lips pressed to Kelly’s as he quickly lost his clothing then looked down at her in the smoky gray demi bra, lace panties, garter belt and thigh-high stockings. He let out a visceral groan as he dropped to his knees and kissed her stomach, her thighs, the soft patch of silk and lace between her legs.

  He took his time, exploring her, teasing her with his hot breath over the lace of her panties. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he stood, lifted her, and carried her to the bed. He laid her down on her stomach and stretched out next to her, and then licked, nipped, and kissed his way from her shoulders down to the small of her back and the beautiful curve where her back met her bottom.

  “You are so incredibly stunning, you take my breath away,” he whispered to Kelly as he pressed his body against her, spooning her in tight to him, her back to his front.

  She wriggled herself back against his hard body and moaned in his arms.

  Jack unhooked her bra and slipped it off her shoulders, then brought his arms around to the front of her, one arm to her breasts where he lightly rubbed and caressed, the other hand finding the lace of her panties where his hand slipped inside to make her gasp and beg.

  “Please, Jack,” Kelly said as she tried to turn toward him.

  Jack refused to let her turn. “Ah ah ah. Patience, beautiful,” he whispered into her ear, letting his breath tickle her skin.

  Jack let his fingers play over her body as he drew out her pleasure and let it build slowly until he felt her tense, and moments later come crashing over the edge.

  She convulsed with pleasure in his arms, and he quickly sought and found a condom before he turned her and plunged into her, releasing wave upon wave of the sweetest, aching pleasure as he buried himself, and found his own release deep within her.

  Jack woke with Kelly in his arms, feeling better than he had in a long time. He slowly kissed her as she began to wake, and they came together again in a half-dream state and made love as the sun came up. He had never experienced a feeling like this before with another woman. He was insatiable in Kelly’s arms as if he could never get close enough, never have enough of her, never tire of bringing her to new heights of pleasure.

  They lay together, recovering, and Jack lazily ran his fingertips up and down Kelly’s arm as she slept again. He held her for a long time and wondered at the way she made him feel, at the intensity of his feelings for her, before falling back to sleep himself.

  When they awoke again a short time later, she stretched in his arms and smiled up at him.

  “Shower?” she asked with a smile, and he grinned down at her.

  “I’ll go start the water. See you in there in a minute,” Jack answered as he slipped out of the bed to start the shower for them.

  Chapter 49

  Kelly felt as if she were walking on air the week after the party. She hadn’t spotted the car that had been following her all week and thought maybe Aunt Mabry was beginning to give up on having her watched.

  She smiled to herself as she got ready to go to the clinic for the day. She replayed the week with Jack in her head, and laughed as she remembered how he grabbed her in the shower.

  He had pressed her up against the wall and slipped his hands down between her legs to tease her. She thought he would drop her when he lifted her up, but he didn’t. She’d wrapped her legs around him and he’d entered her, making love to her as the water streamed down around them.

  Wednesday night, they skipped their usual movie and went straight up to bed after dinner, where Jack had stripped her of her clothing slowly, sensuously, kissing her as he went. Kelly had gasped with pleasure when she felt his mouth warm and wet between her legs, and she never stopped gasping for breath as he sucked and licked until she cried out.

  She had never been with a man who was so giving before. He seemed to take such pleasure in giving her pleasure, in telling her how much she turned him on—and he demonstrated that in every action.

  Kelly couldn’t help but repay his generosity the next night when she surprised him by slipping into his home office after dinner. Jack’s eyebrows shot up when she locked the door, closed the blinds, and dropped to her knees between his legs to give her husband a much-deserved break from his work.

  She smiled to herself as she walked down the stairs to leave for the legal aid clinic. She went to the kitchen and kissed Jack good-bye and said good-bye to Mrs. Poole then walked out the front door. Before she could even make it down the wide stone staircase, she realized her car wasn’t in the driveway. Jack’s car was there and there was a red BMW convertible—but her Honda Civic was gone.

  Puzzled, Kelly turned to walk back into the house, but a grinning Jack stood right behind her.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “Like what?” Kelly asked slowly. She didn’t want to believe that Jack had bought her a car. And apparently gotten rid of her car. Without even asking her.

  Jack held up a set of car keys and smiled at her. “Your new car.”

  She leveled a stare at him. “Where is my car, Jack? My Civic?”

  “I donated it to the Big Buddies Mentoring Program.”

  “You did what!” Kelly all but yelled, and Jack’s face fell into confusion.

  “Well, yeah. You won’t need it with your BMW, and this is a safer car anyway. Much safer. I passed the dealership driving home and saw it and couldn’t resist. I wanted to surprise you,” he explained as if he couldn’t understand why she didn’t appreciate such a nice gesture and such a great car.

  Kelly sighed as she noticed the hurt look on his face. “Jack, you can’t do things like that. I have to go back to my life after the year is up, and I need my car,” she said.r />
  “You can keep the car at the end of the year,” he said, and this time anger seeped into his voice. “Why would you think I’d make you give up the car?”

  Kelly crossed her arms and faced him head on. She didn’t honestly know why his actions angered her so much, but it felt like a big reminder of what she was; a wife who was bought and paid for, who wouldn’t be needed after her expiration date.

  Kelly didn’t want to be reminded of that fact.

  “That’s not the point, Jack. I have to go back to living a normal life instead of this fairy tale. I’ll be a student. And now I’m a student who has to pay to insure a BMW. And maintain a BMW. And fix a BMW if it breaks down. Did you think about that, Jack, because normal people have to think about these things? Did you even think to ask me before you gave away my car?”

  She hated that she sounded so edgy and needy, but she couldn’t reel the emotions back in. It was like a dam had broken and there was no sticking a finger in these holes.

  “I’ll pay for the insurance and maintenance for you, Kelly. I won’t abandon you when this is over.” Jack looked confused as though he genuinely wanted to fix things, but he couldn’t fix this for her.

  She stepped back as if she’d been struck. “So, I’ll be a kept woman, huh? You’ll put me up and pay everything for me and what? You’ll swing by for a good lay when you feel like it?”

  Now Jack stepped back. “You don’t understand, Kelly. I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t mean it like that. Maybe you shouldn’t leave in a year. You can stay.”

  Jack said it cavalierly as if it were nothing for her to stay with him, and that’s when Kelly’s dream came crashing down around her. She had been so caught up in the fun fairy-tale life, in the incredible sex with Jack, and in getting to play house that she’d forgotten that she shouldn’t—couldn’t—fall for this man.