Going Down Again: Billionaire Bad Boys Short Story

by Carly Phillips

  Not to be deterred, Kade continued with his roughened fingertips, slipping beneath one triangle of fabric and squeezing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, still cold from the ice. Arousal rushed through her at the pinch, and she squeezed her thighs together, need pulsing, dampness coating her bikini bottoms.

  She moaned and writhed on the chair, uncertainty of what he intended as arousing as his actions themselves.

  He plucked another ice cube from his cup and repeated the action, once again trailing a path from her belly button up to her top, tracing the edges until the cube melted and he was left with cold fingers. This time she expected the pinch, but she didn’t anticipate that he’d move the triangle square holding her breast aside and pull her nipple into his mouth.

  The tug felt sublime, and her hands came to rest in his hair, yanking on the strands as he played with her, suckling, nipping, and biting with his teeth before soothing the sting with his tongue.

  “Kade, please,” she said, arching her hips in supplication, silently asking him to fill her.

  “Shh. Just in case there is someone lurking around.” He took his big hand and slid it down her stomach, possessively touching her, owning her, finally dipping his fingers into the waistband of her bikini. “I’ve got you,” he said as his finger glided over her clit.

  She moaned and he pressed harder. She bit down on her lower lip and thrust her waist upward. Yanking his hand from her bottoms, he cupped her entire sex in his hand and began to grind his palm down hard in delicious circles. Eyes closed, she rocked her hips in time to the pressure he exerted, reaching for the climax that was within reach.

  Suddenly the waves peaked and she cried out, her release taking her over. Kade leaned down and swallowed her cries with his mouth, kissing her through her orgasm that seemed to go on and on.

  When she came back to herself, he had a satisfied grin on his face, and though his cock was hard in his bathing suit and it was evident he was suffering, he sat back and glanced her way.

  “Kade, let me–”

  He shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Take a nap,” he said in a gruff voice. “It’s going to be a long night with everyone at Elite.”

  And that was just part of why she loved him. Because her needs, her pleasure, her satisfaction in bed and out always came before his own.

  * * *

  Kade kept an arm around Lexie as they gathered with family for dinner before heading into the exclusive nightclub owned by Gabriel Dare. He’d heard Gabe and his wife, Isabelle, had been on the island last weekend. There was no chance he’d run into the man later tonight so he could thank him for getting this big crowd into Eden on such short notice and on a holiday weekend, for that matter. He’d have to send Gabe’s kids presents as a thank you. There was nothing else the man needed.

  They sat around a table of eight—Jeffrey couldn’t make it—in a private alcove of the resort steak restaurant. The waiter took their drink orders. Everyone agreed on a bottle of red wine, but Lexie opted for a club soda and cranberry juice, while Kade ordered his usual.

  He narrowed his gaze at Lexie’s choice, the second time today she’d opted not to drink alcohol. It wasn’t that Lexie was a big drinker, but when they socialized, she usually had an apple martini, enjoying the tart liquor. She didn’t meet his gaze but leaned over and whispered something to her twin.

  Kendall shot her a startled glance and Kade grew concerned. Something was going on with his wife. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, pulling her closer, his fingers grazing her now tanned, bare shoulder.

  “How could I be anything but fine on this gorgeous island surrounded by the people I love?” She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

  Frowning, he turned back to the conversation the men were having about a new idea for updating Blink. The app had been on the market for a while now, and they needed to stay current. With their table in a private alcove, there was no reason to worry about anyone listening in.

  The waiter stopped by with Kade’s drink. “Sir, Macallen 18, neat, filled three quarters of the way.” Then he put down a bottle of spring water. “Room temperature as requested,” he said, placing a straw beside the bottle.

  “Thank you.” Kade added five drops of water to the whiskey to open up the flavor in the glass.

  And though Derek met his gaze with a smirk, Kade knew his friend understood. It was as much about the taste as the routine for Kade.

  After the dinner orders were in, Julian spoke to the table. “We have an announcement.” He grasped Kendall’s hand. “We are adopting a baby to add to our brood.”

  Kendall, now a vet tech, lived with bipolar disorder. She had been in treatment and had only regulated her medications a few years back, and had begun to live a life without as many major ups and downs. She and Julian had decided she wouldn’t ever go off her medications in order to get pregnant or carry a healthy baby to term. They were foster parents and now they were going to adopt. Kade was thrilled for them both, for conquering, at least so far, their issues.

  “Oh my God! Kendall!” Lexie squealed, jumped up, and hugged her twin tight. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Kendall laughed. “Julian and I decided to tell everyone together tonight.”

  Cassie and Derek, Lucas and Maxie all congratulated Kendall and Julian on their decision. The rest of the night was spent celebrating and enjoying friends.

  When they decided to leave the restaurant and walk over to the nightclub, Lexie pulled Kade aside. “We don’t have to go.”

  She knew how sensory overload affected him, and a club, with flashing lights and too many people in close proximity, had never been something he enjoyed.

  “I don’t want to take the experience away from you. Eden Elite is fabulous or so I hear.”

  She shook her head, leaning her body close to his. “I’d much rather be alone with you.”

  At her words, pleasure filled him. “Then let’s go back to the room.”

  She smiled. “Let me just tell Kendall and we can say our goodbyes. I want to congratulate her again. Can you believe they’re going to have a new baby?” She clasped her hands together and spun to go talk to her twin … as realization dawned on Kade.

  A baby. The only other time his wife had steered clear of drinking had been when she was pregnant with Matthew. But why wouldn’t she just tell him if that was the case? He thought they shared everything.

  A frisson of unease crept up his spine. Did she not want another baby? His baby? One like Matthew, who was difficult on a good day? Nausea and panic filled him because the one thing he feared most was losing the woman he loved and the family they’d created. His mother hadn’t wanted him, had taken his brother and left the country to get away from him. Was Lexie realizing she felt the same way but she was afraid to tell him?

  He shook his head. No. Not possible. That was the pre-Lexie Kade talking. He knew better. He knew her better. But if she was pregnant and not telling him, there had to be a reason. And he had every intention of finding out … and fixing the problem.

  * * *

  Lexie woke up suddenly, severe nausea immediately taking hold. She glanced at a sleeping Kade and slipped out of bed, rushing to the bathroom, where she threw up. She closed her eyes and sighed, no longer able to deny the obvious. She was pregnant.

  She sat by the toilet and made sure she wasn’t going to get sick again before taking a quick shower and brushing her teeth. She wrapped herself in the fluffy white robe supplied by the resort and walked out to find Kade standing by the sliding doors leading outside, a cup of coffee in hand.

  “Hey.” Striding up to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. He wore a pair of shorts that rode low on his hips, and she rested her face against his bare back.

  “Hey. Did you get sick this morning?” he asked, turning to face her and pulling out of her embrace as he moved.

  She nodded. “I… We need to talk.”

  He visibly swallowed hard. “You’re pregnant.”

  She stared at him
in surprise. “How did you know?”

  “No alcohol twice yesterday, then Lexie said the word baby and it clicked,” he said, his expression serious.

  They’d come back to the room last night and instead of falling into bed, she’d fallen asleep. Another sign she was pregnant.

  Normally exhaustion wouldn’t have surprised her, but on vacation, where they were alone? That wasn’t like either of them.

  “You’re not happy about it.” She glanced down at her feet, not meeting his gaze.

  He tucked his hand beneath her chin and lifted her face toward his. “I think you’re the one who’s not happy or else you would have shared the news.”

  She blinked and unexpected tears fell, and she had a hunch it was too soon to blame hormones. “I was afraid to tell you,” she admitted. “I thought that maybe you’d think two kids so fast was too much. We don’t get a lot of alone time as it is, and now it’s going to get even worse.”

  “What? You think I’d be upset?” He shook his head, his expression one of utter shock. “Last night I worried you didn’t want another baby with me because Matty is so … challenging. Like I was for my mother.”

  “Kade, no!” Pain that he’d ever think such a thing exploded through her. He’d suffered so much as a child and overcome so much more as an adult, and she admired him for all of it.

  Before she knew it, she was in his arms, and he was hanging on as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He hefted her up so he could hold her more easily.

  “I don’t think that about Matty!” she assured him. “He’s had a rough go, what with the colic and reflux and having a hard time with other things, but that’s not his fault. And it’s not yours!”

  A wry smile lifted his lips. “I realized that’s not who you are or how you’d think, but yeah, for a second, it went through my mind before I shut those thoughts down.”

  “Kaden Barnes, I want as many babies as you give me. I just worried you’d think it was too soon.”

  He walked her back into the bedroom and deposited her onto the mattress. His deft fingers undid the belt on the robe, exposing her to him. “You, Lexie Barnes, are mine. You are my family, my life, my reason for breathing. And our children? I feel the same way about them.”

  He pulled off his shorts and climbed back into bed.

  Meanwhile, she slid out of the robe and they came together, naked, skin to skin.

  “Do I want time alone with you? Fuck yes. Will I do whatever I have to in order to make sure we get it? Also a yes.” His hard cock nudged at her entrance, and she was slick and ready for him.

  She smiled, her tears happy ones now. “I should have trusted you enough to tell you the minute I suspected. You do realize I’m not one hundred percent certain? But I have been queasy lately.”

  He nodded. “But you’re not a typical puker, baby, so I’m thinking you are pregnant.”

  She managed to laugh, though the thought of morning sickness didn’t make her happy. She’d gotten off easy with Matty. “I’ll take a test as soon as I get home.”

  “You’ll go to a doctor as soon as you get home.” His stern gaze told her he’d be escorting her there himself.

  “Yes, sir.” She stopped short of saluting.

  “You realize you’re just turning me on, right?” To prove his point, he thrust hard and deep, filling her completely.

  “Kade,” she said on a moan.

  “What?” He braced his arms on either side of her and rose above her, his gaze soft.

  “I love you,” she murmured.

  “I love you, too, baby.” He slid out and plunged back in. “No more secrets. No more worrying about what I think. Just remember how this feels. How we feel together.”

  He rocked into her, his erection filling her, his pubic bone gliding over her sex, arousing her, as he made love to her in the slowest, sweetest possible way. By the time she climaxed, her heart was bursting with love for this man. She hadn’t thought she could feel any more for him.

  She’d been wrong.

  * * *

  Back in New York, true to his word, Kade took Lexie to her doctor before she could even manage to pick up a pregnancy test and take it at home. She didn’t ask how he’d finagled the appointment. When Kaden Barnes wanted something, nothing stood in his way.

  “You’re pregnant,” the doctor confirmed with a smile on her face.

  And when they walked out of the office, he was the one beaming.

  He’d driven them to the doctor’s office, and when they arrived home, he helped her out of the large SUV.

  “You’re not going to treat me like glass again, are you?” she asked, glancing up at him.

  “Damn right I am. But right now, I have something for you. Come on.” He led her into the house, stopping in the den to grab Matty from where he was playing with Annie watching over him. “Come on, little man. Daddy has something for you, too.” He hefted his son onto his hip, and Lexie grinned as the three of them made their way to his home office.

  He opened the door and put Matty down.

  “Puppy!” he screamed, barreling on his two little legs over to the oversized stuffed animal on the floor right beside Kade’s desk. Where he could obviously watch over his son while he worked.

  Except Matty was now trying to drag the stuffed dog across the room. “Puppy. Annie.” He huffed and pulled and finally managed to make headway by yanking on the dog’s ear.

  Lexie grinned. “You want to show Annie your new toy?” she asked, giving her little boy a kiss on the cheek. “Do that and then we’ll make cookies together, okay?”

  “Cookies!” He clapped his hands, and Lexie called for Annie to come get Matty.

  Kade picked him up and swung him around, laughing until Annie came to get her little charge.

  When they were alone again, Kade grinned at Lexie. “Cookies? Chocolate chips?”

  “Of course chocolate chips. They’re both of my boys’ favorite cookie.” Mr. Healthy only cheated on his diet for her homemade cookies.

  “I have your gift.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a brown wooden box, handing it to her. “Now, I admit I wasn’t sure what to get for you. And the store shopping really did overwhelm me. But when I came home and gave it some thought, the answer was obvious.”

  She opened the box to find a women’s gold Patek Phillipe watch that was an exact match to his favorite timepiece in a size that would fit her wrist. “Kade, I love it,” she said in awe.

  She glanced into the face of the man she loved, and tears formed in her eyes. Once upon a time, she’d been a woman, living in an apartment paid for by her parents so she could play babysitter to her sick sister. Then she’d gotten a job for an overbearing, difficult tech billionaire who couldn’t keep an assistant. And her life had changed forever.

  He took out the piece, opened the bracelet, hooking the watch onto her wrist. “There. A perfect fit. Every time you look at it, you’ll think of me.”

  She smiled. “I always think of you, Kade. You’re my heart.”

  He pulled her to him. “And you’re mine.”

  His lips came down on hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth.

  “Mommy! Daddy! Cookies!” Matty called from what sounded like the bottom of the stairs.

  Laughing, they broke apart. And together they headed for the kitchen to bake.

  Dear Readers:

  Kade and Lexie are one of my all-time favorite couples that I’ve written … I think because Kade’s issues are so real and honest. I loved revisiting them and I hope you enjoyed being with them as well.

  If you haven’t read the Billionaire Bad Boys, you can find them here:

  Going Down Easy: Kade and Lexie

  Going Down Fast: Lucas and Maxie

  Going Down Hard: Derek and Cassie

  Going in Deep: Julian and Kendall

  And if you’re curious about the island of Eden, read Gabriel Dare and Isabelle Masters’ story in Dare to Surrender.

  Happy Valentine’s Day!r />
  Xo

  Carly

  Want even more Carly books?

  CARLY’S BOOKLIST by Series – visit:

  http://smarturl.it/CarlyBooklist

  Sign up for Carly’s Newsletter:

  http://smarturl.it/carlynews

  Carly on Facebook:

  facebook.com/CarlyPhillipsFanPage

  Carly on Instagram:

  instagram.com/carlyphillips

  About the Author

  Carly Phillips is the N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of over 50 sexy contemporary romance novels featuring hot men, strong women and the emotionally compelling stories her readers have come to expect and love. Carly’s career spans over a decade and a half with various New York publishing houses, and she is now an Indie author who runs her own business and loves every exciting minute of her publishing journey. Carly is happily married to her college sweetheart, the mother of two nearly adult daughters and three crazy dogs (two wheaten terriers and one mutant Havanese) who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. Carly loves social media and is always around to interact with her readers. You can find out more about Carly at www.carlyphillips.com.