by Tee, Marian
* * *
"I'm sorry this night wasn't as fruitful as we hoped it would be," Claudette said with a sigh as the ball officially came to a close, with the host reaching the end of his farewell spiel.
"It's fine," Logan dismissed. "We're not exactly going home empty-handed." Although an emergency had the Crown Prince of Najma leaving just ten minutes into the party, it had been enough time for the billionaire to invite the notoriously horse-mad sheikh to visit his stables and enjoy an exclusive viewing of the newly-birthed foal of his most prized Thoroughbred.
Just as they were about to rise from their seats, one of the founding members of the ball's committee approached their table, the grey-haired matron asking Logan if he could join the rest of the committee for a photo.
The billionaire acquiesced, as was typical of him, and just as he walked away, Claudette noticed that he had left his phone on the table. Seeing it light up with an incoming message, she automatically took a peek---
Charlotte: Tilly and I are at the lobby waiting for you. If you don't come out soon, I might find myself bored and start swiping right for the both of us. Boys can't have all the fun, you know?
Claudette was disbelieving. Why the hell was Charlotte Carmichael helping the nanny bag Logan Hardwall? Her hand curled into a fist as she fought against the vicious urge to hunt the nanny down and slap her face for even having the gall to think she could be a suitable match for the billionaire.
Her mind worked furiously as she thought of the ways she could turn this whole thing into her advantage. If the rich widow's message was anything to go by, then - as incredible as it may seem - the slut had already managed to sink her claws into the billionaire.
But claws could easily be cut off, Claudette thought, and that was exactly what she planned to do.
"Sorry for that," the billionaire murmured when he came back to their table and automatically pulled Claudette's chair out before taking her hand to help her to her feet.
He reached for his phone, and seeing that he was about to check it for messages, she quickly distracted him, asking, "Please tell me they didn't mention anything about those rumors between you and the help?"
At her words, the billionaire pocketed his phone instead and turned his attention back to her, asking sharply, "What rumors?"
"That you're the newest name to be added to the long and continuously growing list of billionaires who are likely to lose a fortune..." Claudette deliberately injected a note of awkwardness into her tone. "Because stockholders can't trust someone who shits where he---" Her voice faltered at the icy glint in the billionaire's gaze, and this time she didn't have to pretend feeling nervous even as she could feel her fury mounting. What the hell did that woman have, to make a normally cold-blooded man like Logan Hardwall act so out of character?
"I'm sorry," Claudette forced herself to say. "I didn't realize there was any truth in the rumors."
"Forget about her," the billionaire said brusquely.
How can I, she wondered angrily, when that woman was just outside, waiting to steal you from me?
Even knowing that what she was about to do could mean losing her job, Claudette's bitter need to lash out still won over common sense. As soon as they were out of the ballroom, her gaze immediately scanned the crowd in the lobby, and she found the bitch occupying one of the couches along with Charlotte Carmichael.
Her gaze bored through the other woman's, willing for the stupid nanny to look up---
And the moment she did, Claudette turned to the billionaire and threw her arms around his neck as she covered his mouth with hers.
Logan jerked in surprise. What the fuck? His fingers snapping around her, he forcibly pulled her arms off his neck and scowled down at Claudette. "What the fuck do you think---" And that was when he saw her standing at a distance, white-faced with shock.
Tilly.
Chapter 17
"She forced herself on him." Charlotte was speaking in a nervous rush. "You know that, right? You saw how she did it, didn't you?" Because if Tilly didn't see it that way, she would never forgive herself for causing her friend to witness something unnecessarily hurtful.
Tilly couldn't make herself speak even as her gaze remained helplessly at the now-disentangled couple. The paps loitering in the lobby had gone wild at the sight of the kiss, and it had even gotten wilder when the billionaire, in full view of Claudette and everyone else, wiped his mouth clean as if the other woman's taste had repulsed him.
"Tilly? Are you okay?"
Charlotte's words were barely audible, with the noise and clamor around them as hotel security finally kicked in and did their best to prevent the paps from reaching the billionaire. Tilly knew in her mind that the kiss meant nothing at all, but it had still hurt, and she didn't want that.
I'm not hurt. I'm not jealous. I'm not.
"Let's get out of this madhouse," Charlotte was saying as she grabbed Tilly's hand and headed for the exit.
The guilty look on her friend's face forced Tilly to muster a smile as they finally made it past the doors. "I'm sorry you have to be involved in this---"
"No, no, I'm the one who should be saying sorry," Charlotte protested. "And I am. I'm really sorry, Tilly. I should never have brought you here, and if I hadn't, then you wouldn't have seen---"
"Another woman throwing herself at---" My husband, she almost joked, but something stopped her. Logan, she thought of saying instead, but her lips refused to say his name as well. "Mr. Hardwall," was all Tilly could say lamely in the end...but even this, she thought sadly, didn't feel right either.
Charlotte wanted to kill herself. Or Logan. Maybe both of them. Tilly only used to address the billionaire formally by way of a joke, but this was...different. In a really bad way---
And it's all my fault, she thought miserably.
Charlotte's car finally made it to the top of the hotel driveway, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God." She turned to usher her friend in first, and the first thing she saw was the billionaire's powerful figure striding towards them, a grim expression on his face.
Uh oh.
The hairs at the back of her neck started to stand, and Tilly knew without turning around it was him.
Logan.
She felt his presence before anything else, the billionaire coming to a stop right behind her, and a funny little ache squeezed her heart. A moment later, and his fingers entwined hers, and Tilly's gaze flew up to him in shock. "The t-timeline," she stammered.
"I wasn't the one who brought you here," Logan said roughly, "so this doesn't count."
That didn't make sense at all, she couldn't help thinking, but she was just too stunned and confused to confront him about it.
Logan's gaze swung to his friend. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"There's no reason for you to be mad at Charlotte," Tilly interrupted. "I was the one who insisted on coming here---"
"It's fine, Tilly. Really," Charlotte insisted when her friend didn't seem to believe her. "And I was at fault." She recalled the look of hurt shock on Tilly's face at another woman kissing her husband, and the memory left her feeling subdued. "I owe both of you an apology, and since I know you're too nice to rip into me, I'll leave Logan to do what's necessary."
"Count on it," the billionaire said silkily.
Tilly frowned. "But she's really not---"
"Tilly." It was that soft, calm tone again, and although a small part of her wanted to rebel against it, she found herself falling silent in the end...but not before carefully pulling her hand out of his hold. It was the smallest gesture, something she thought no one would care to notice.
But she was wrong.
Logan visibly stiffened, and Charlotte apparently hadn't missed it either, with the way her friend winced just before quickly saying her goodbyes, as if in a hurry to give the two of them privacy.
The billionaire's limousine was right behind Charlotte's car, and Tilly meekly let the billionaire help her in, feeling like there had been enough drama
for the night.
"We'll speak in my room tonight."
Tilly simply nodded, unable to think of anything to say.
The rest of the ride was spent in silence, and as hard as she tried to think of something else, she just couldn't stop replaying the image of Claudette kissing Logan over and over in her mind. He's mine. That man's mine. Mine. The memories desperately made Tilly want to say the words, shout it loud enough so that the whole world would know the truth and never go after her man again.
But she couldn't. She mustn't. Because those were against the rules, and she had Billie to think of.
Logan could feel Tilly hurting, and everything in him wanted to haul her close, kiss and comfort her, give her all the words she needed to hear to soothe her pain.
But he couldn't. He mustn't. Because those were against everything he had worked hard his entire life for, and if he broke his rule this once...Logan knew it wouldn't be the last, and before he knew it, he would already be no different from his father, with his future dependent on the whims of his wife.
The detour to the Montgomery home was a relief for Tilly. With Liam made energetic by his hours-long nap, the little boy talked nonstop, and listening to him offered her heart some much-needed respite from all the aching it had done over Claudette's actions.
It was past midnight by the time they made it back to Logan's ranch, and although the night nurse was already in the nursery, Liam had made a rare fuss about wanting Tilly close while he drank his milk. By the time he had finally settled down, it was already half-past one, and a sense of déjà vu struck her as she hesitated outside the billionaire's door.
She had stood at the very same spot just last night, and the memory had Tilly's heart feeling funny.
If he doesn't let me in again, my pride wouldn't be able to take another blow---
The door suddenly opened, and Tilly started in surprise.
"Why are you just standing there?"
The billionaire was still in his suit, just minus the tie now, and even with his mussed-up hair, he was still such a magnificent sight to behold. The sensual beauty of his face and the earthy masculinity of his presence - he was just too perfect. And wasn't that reason enough for her to accept that the time would eventually come that a man like him would lose interest in a girl like her?
"Tilly?" The billionaire's impatient tone dragged her attention back to him. "Why didn't you just fucking knock?"
The question caught her off guard, and it had Tilly sending him an unconsciously chiding glance. Why do you think?
The billionaire flinched, and she blinked. It was almost as if he had read her thoughts.
"Never mind that," Logan said under his breath. "Just come in." He stepped aside to let her in, and as his gaze followed the subtle but entrancing sway of her hips, he was reminded of the last time she had been in his room.
That had only been a week or so ago, and yet it felt like a fucking eternity had already passed. Just over a week, and she was already rocking his world so fucking hard that Logan knew he couldn't fucking let it continue. Just goddamn couldn't.
If he wanted to kiss someone else, he had every right to do so. He had bought her, and she had no power over him.
So make that clear once and for all, Hardwall.
But when he opened his mouth, something else came out entirely.
"I'm sorry," he said harshly. "I know you're smart enough to have figured this out already, but for the record, Claudette was the one who kissed me and not the other way around."
Tilly was staring at him blankly.
"Did you hear what I just said?" he gritted out.
"I d-did." Tilly's voice was faint.
"And?" His tone became forceful, defensively so, almost as if he didn't want her to know how much her answer meant to him.
Tilly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was just so like him, so, so like her beautiful billionaire to do this. He didn't owe it to her to apologize, but he had. The foundation of their marriage meant that he would always be the one with the power to call the shots, and yet here he was, treating her like they were on equal footing.
It made her feel special, but more than that, it made him special, and it was then Tilly knew.
She hadn't wanted to admit to being jealous, but she had been. She hadn't wanted to admit to feeling hurt, but she had been.
Her eyes squeezed shut, but the tears fell anyway.
Because I love him.
Logan whitened when he saw the tears slowly running down Tilly's pale cheeks. "Why the fuck are you crying?"
She choked out a teary laugh, not feeling offended at all, considering the genuine note of panic in the billionaire's voice.
"What the fuck did I say or do?"
The worst thing possible, she thought hysterically, which is to make me fall in love with you.
"Stop looking at me like that," Logan said between clenched teeth, "and just say it. In case you haven't noticed, I can't read your fucking mind---"
But you can.
"For fuck's sake, Tilly, just say it!"
I can't.
"You can tell me anything---"
Anything but this.
"Goddammit, Tilly."
And because the glint in his eyes told her he wouldn't be letting this go until he had the truth out of her---
Logan bit back an expletive when she suddenly started taking her clothes off. "You have got to be fucking kidding."
Tilly's blouse dropped to the floor, and his throat went dry at the sight of the sheer black lace cupping her succulent breasts.
"You can't keep using sex to win a goddamn argument---"
Tilly's skirt fell in a pool of satin around her legs, and he sucked in his breath as she stepped out of it before reaching for the back clasp of her bra. It had Tilly straightening her back, chest out, and when the bra finally fell---
"What the fuck do I know?" she heard the billionaire mutter seemingly to himself, and a fresh set of tears pricked her eyes even as a bubble of laughter threatened to burst past her lips.
Tough but tender, cold but kind, serious but funny---
Oh, how she loved this beautiful, contradictory man.
She slowly walked towards him, and his blazing gaze followed her every movement.
And she could be with him forever, as long as she never let her love stand in the way of his dreams.
Logan's throat was dry by the time she made it to him, standing so damn close that the rosy tips of her breasts brushed against the taut outline of his chest every time she breathed.
"I'm yours to command, Mr. Hardwall."
Fuck. Her voice was sweet, husky perfection, and it was enough to have his already-throbbing cock nearly poke a hole out of his pants. The urge to touch her burned, and when he raised his hand to slowly run his knuckles down one soft cheek, the way she closed her eyes and turned to his hand almost as if to savor his touch almost had him spilling pre-cum out.
Hot fucking damn.
"Dance for me then," he heard himself say.
Her big brown eyes swept open, and it was like being struck by lightning, with the way she stared up at him as a naughty little smile curved over her lips. She really was everything he wanted in a woman, his most delectable dream turned into flesh with her mix of sensuality and innocence.
"It will be my honor to do so. But first---" One small hand pressed against his chest, and he let her have her way as he walked back. She gently pushed him down after, and he lay back slightly, propping himself up on his elbows, his gaze never leaving her.
Walking in the nude, with a man watching her every movement, should have embarrassed Tilly, but oddly enough, that it was Logan only served to empower her. She loved the way he never tried to hide how much he desired her, the knowledge making her feel bold and beautiful, and more importantly, it gave her the confidence to be whatever he wished her to be.
Because when she told him she was his to command, she meant it.
Using his iPad to play some music, s
he began to dance in the way she imagined he would want her to dance. Slow, sinuous movements, her hands drifting over her body the way he liked to caress her. Fingers trailing down the side of her neck. All the way to her breasts so she could play with her nipples. And then dipping into the hot, musky valley between her legs.
He sucked in his breath at seeing her fingers disappear from view, and she saw in the glitter of lust in his eyes that her fingers touching her own pussy had him thinking of how his cock had also been able to experience the same thing.
Any moment now...
Their eyes locked, the billionaire's gaze wild with need, while hers simply asked a question.
Shouldn't you be fucking me by now?
Tilly's toes curled at the rough, guttural sound that came out of Logan's throat.
Oh, that sound...
It was like his inner beast coming to life.
And honestly?
She couldn't wait to have him ravage her.
Their gazes collided, and every cell in her body tingled in heightened anticipation.
"I need you here. Now."
Oh, yes.
She would have even crawled to him if he had asked for it. She just wanted, needed, loved him that much, and a squeal that turned into a smothered laugh escaped Tilly when the billionaire yanked her down the moment she was within reach and she tumbled into his lap.
He lifted her up.
"Logan!"
And then he was bringing her back down to impale her pussy on his cock.
She screamed.
And as he started bouncing her on his big, hard cock, she found out for herself just how long and high she could scream.
"Oh God, Logan."
"Yes."
"Like that."
"Oh God, yes."
Watching her spiral out of control had his cock pummeling harder into her, and her wild, breathless cries only served to spur him into a similar descent, his own control slipping away as the moist, hot tightness of her pussy started squeezing the last brain cells out of him.
He could feel his balls tightening, and he heard Tilly cry out as he found himself gripping the cheeks of her ass.
"Come for me, baby," Logan urged tautly.
