Billionaire Bachelor: Lily LaVae Collection (Diamond Bridal Agency)

by Lily LaVae

  “So…which one of us was supposed to sing?” She smirked at him, and he laughed, until she realized he wasn’t finished with her yet. Liam had never bothered. Once he’d climaxed, he’d always considered the deed done. Morgan’s thumb swirled around her apex, gently stirring her back toward the edge, building faster. He nipped at her breast and the tension built between her legs.

  She’d never had a full orgasm before. The building heat and desire was terrifying and glorious all at once. He pushed her closer to the edge as he massaged, and nipped, kissing the tender flesh just after until she was begging him to do it again. He finally coaxed her enough to let go of her fear and her reserve. When she did, the stars in the heavens burst.

  “You called my name just now. Do you remember doing it?” He laughed as he lowered himself next to her, brushing her short hair out of her face.

  She couldn’t recall doing that or much of anything else, just the glorious feeling of relaxation. Sex had always left her full of stress until now.

  “I don’t. So, that’s what it’s like.” She sighed.

  “Wait…” He pushed himself up on his elbow to glance down at her. “What do you mean?”

  “Just because I wasn’t a virgin, doesn’t mean there are certain things that have never happened for me.” Why did he have to look at her like that, like she was some kind of oddity?

  Morgan shook his head and traced her jaw. “I’m not what you’d call the tender sort. I’m just not that kind of guy, but it makes me furious that man could get you pregnant, tear apart your self-worth, leave you, and after all that taking…couldn’t even give you an orgasm? I guess I’m glad I got to be your first in some way.”

  She tried to roll over to get off the bed and get away from him. Her past wasn’t going to help, and digging that deep would only make her think of all the things she hated. How could Morgan bring this up now and ruin what she’d just had, what they’d just had. Her past was something she would never be ready to share. Not with Mr. Orgasm or anyone else.

  He blocked her from leaving, then slid his hand up her side, cupping her chin and turning her face toward him. “That wasn’t meant to scare you away. It’s never mattered to me before. Women just didn’t matter. There were too many options and I always leave. You’re different. I don’t know why, or how, but you’re different. I want you—not just the sex. I want you, here, in my life.”

  He only thought so because she was there and available. She wasn’t leaving, so she wasn’t like any of his other PAs. He’d made sure of that with his contract. He’d turn on her soon enough, though. Wasn’t that log book the other assistant left behind proof enough of that?

  “You only say that because you’re stuck with me for a year. Your brain needs to figure out some way to justify why you should feel anything.”

  He was hovering over her in a second, his power a visible thing in his taut muscles. “I don’t just say shit. I don’t just feel shit.” His mouth came down and overpowered her. He drew her hands above her head and held them captive with one of his as he took some of his weight off her with the other.

  She wanted to believe him, to believe she was somehow special to someone, but there was nothing about her that would make her believe Morgan, the star, would ever see anything in her.

  When he rose above her, his eyes were full of something she couldn’t name. It was a strong passion, but more than that. The fact that she couldn’t name it frightened her. “We’ll see how you feel at the end of the year.” She gulped back tears, because he’d made her feel more in the last hour than she’d ever felt before, and a year didn’t seem long enough.

  10

  They’d been on the road for a week and she’d managed to avoid Morgan as much as she could and still be a good assistant. Her mother had always told her business and pleasure don’t mix and she had to believe that was true. Morgan didn’t seem to mind that she’d left him alone and stayed in her own bunk at night. He certainly hadn’t tried to persuade her back to his.

  She glanced out the window of the bus and the all too familiar sights of Nashville flew by. Home. She shivered. Morgan was back in his room with the door closed and she wouldn’t bother him. The driver pulled off the freeway and after a few minutes they were in a residential area. She didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t anywhere near where she’d grown up, but it was still too close to home.

  They’d had to leave her car behind and now that the boredom of being on the road had set in, especially because she was keeping her distance from Morgan, she missed the freedom of just jumping in her own car and driving, anywhere but on that bus.

  Morgan came out of his room and stretched. She glanced away. His sculpted tee reminded her of places she’d kissed. Don’t mix business with pleasure…

  “You going to ignore me for a year?” He sat down next to her.

  Too close. His scent wrapped around her, teasing her. He’d managed to wash up and he smelled so good she wanted to bury her face in his neck. “I’m not ignoring you, just doing my job.”

  “That’s the problem. You’re so busy doing your job and going to bed early—like the minute I come out of my room—that I haven’t seen you all week.”

  It wasn’t like he missed her, not really. She was just an assistant. She’d read through the log book again, just to remind herself exactly why she couldn’t be near him anymore, and maybe to remind herself just how good it had been. He was right, the log book didn’t do it justice.

  “I’ve been right here.” She opened the book and slipped the itinerary for his day from it and handed it to him. “Do you need me to do anything special while the team sets up today?”

  He stared at her, and that strange emotion she couldn’t name was there again. “No.” He sighed, his beautiful strong mouth was almost too much to bear. “Just keep everyone away from me today. I’m in no mood to talk to anyone.”

  That was strange. He’d seemed more than willing to talk to her. Morgan went up front with the driver as they pulled into a huge parking lot, the arena was just ahead. All the buses and the vehicles with trailers pulled into the parking lot so they could get set up. The drivers had done it so many times before. They knew where they needed to park so the process would be easier, but it was still confusing to Eloise.

  When they stopped, Morgan left the trailer and since he didn’t ask her to come with, she assumed he didn’t want or need her. Perhaps his sour face would keep away the people he didn’t want to speak to.

  The door opened a few minutes later and Kent came in with a tall redhead. “Eloise, this is Amanda. I arranged to meet her here and she’ll be riding along the rest of this tour.”

  Amanda glanced back at him, her smug smile immediately unlikable. “Maybe. We’ll see what Morgan says.” She crossed her arms. “So, are you his new assistant?”

  Kent kissed Amanda’s neck and mumbled that he needed to go help unload. Though she could hold her own, she hated the idea of being alone with Amanda and she didn’t even know why.

  “You realize you won’t last, right?” She raised her eyebrows. “He goes through assistants faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. No one can please him. Not me and certainly not you.” She gave Eloise the once-over and she wished she’d put something on other than her holey jeans and tank top.

  “I have a contract. I won’t leave for one year, and he won’t fire me.”

  Amanda laughed, but it was contrived. “You think that’s going to matter? Let me guess. He already slept with you and within two days he quit talking to you. When he does talk to you, he’s moody.”

  She’d hit Morgan dead on. It wasn’t just that she was avoiding him. He’d avoided her, too.

  “There’s no room in that dead heart to keep anyone around that long. His bandmates are all that matter. They are like family. Everyone else, dispensable.”

  Amanda was only saying what Eloise had already begun to believe. She’d been too rash. She’d slept with him when she’d had too much to drink—not that she wouldn’t do i
t again—and he’d been hot on her all that day. But she must have disappointed him. Other than his brief talk with her before leaving the bus, she’d hardly talked to him since.

  “Hey, don’t take it too hard. You aren’t quite a woman if you haven’t been screwed over by Morgan. I wish I could say I was sorry, but I’m not. If Morgan wouldn’t have hired me, I wouldn’t have found Kent.”

  At least Eloise didn’t have to worry about competition. She couldn’t compete with the pretty Amanda.

  “How long after did he fire you?”

  “Within two days of sleeping with him, he started making my life hell. I quit about two weeks later. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I stayed a total of three weeks.”

  Three weeks. She hadn’t even been there that long, only about half that. He still had time to treat her like crap and force her to quit. If she did, he’d agreed to only a tiny severance. She was stuck.

  “Thanks for warning me.” She didn’t know what else to say to the woman who’d just told her she would lose everything, and didn’t seem to care. But Amanda didn’t know the stakes. She had no idea what would be lost if Eloise left.

  Amanda left the bus and Eloise went to her little built-in dresser beside her bunk. She dug through all of her clothes until she found Ed’s card, buried amidst her underwear. Her phone was there, too, and she slid it into her back pocket as she headed for the only private place in the whole moving city that was the Turner motorcade—Morgan’s room.

  She shut his door and flopped on her stomach on his bed. She’d made it enough, and been there once, she needed personal space and the desk just wouldn’t do. The card was crumpled and bent, but still easily read. Eloise dialed and waited.

  “Dr. Johnson.”

  She sighed. “Ed, I’m so glad I caught you. This is Eloise.”

  “Fontaine, how are you holding up?”

  She bit her lip. How to answer that?

  He cleared his throat, sounding a little nervous. “How did your job search go?” His voice crackled a little over the connection.

  She needed to get out, get away. Her heart would be in pieces if she didn’t. “I got a job, but I need you to think of a way to get me out of this.” Leaving Morgan was the only way, no matter how much it hurt. She had to cut ties with him, if she didn’t and he hurt her, it would ruin the one good memory she had.

  “Are you hurt? What’s wrong?” His voice was all business now. She’d forgotten that he was a required reporter.

  “I’m not being abused, Ed. I’m just in over my head. I’m in Nashville and my…boss. He…” How could she say what needed to be said? She couldn’t lie about Morgan and she didn’t want to tarnish his name.

  “You don’t have to say another word. I’m on my way. I’ll catch a flight and come get you. You’re only a few hours away. Where can I find you?”

  “I’m at the Arena. You’ll see all the buses in the back. I’m in the biggest one.”

  The connection was silent for a moment. “You’re on a bus?”

  “It’s hard to explain, you’ll understand when you get here.” She bit her lip. Please don’t give up on me, Ed.

  “See you soon.” He killed the line.

  “So, going back to the lover that left you? The one who took your kid? He treated you like garbage and you’re calling him? From my bed?” Morgan was furious. His face was pinched and the muscles of his shoulders bunched.

  “My son?” She’d mentioned she’d been in labor, but had never told him her child had died. “He doesn’t have my son. Ed is not my lover and never was.”

  Morgan crossed his arms and glared at her. “I gave you space. I didn’t want to. I wanted to see what you were all about, find out about you. I wanted you with me all the time, but you pulled away. You didn’t screw up the job, so I figured you’d been too drunk and were regretting what we’d done. Fine. But this shit? Going behind my back and calling for help? What the hell did I do?”

  He hadn’t done anything, not yet. But he would. He always did. “Amanda was here, she—”

  “Fuck Amanda. I’m not with her. I was trying to be with you. I want to be with you.” His rage exploded. “Just don’t leave without talking to me. Give me at least that courtesy so I know where you are.” He slid his leather coat off and threw it on the couch, then stared at her.

  Did she dare give him that promise? It would be hours before Ed got there. “I can’t. I have no idea where you’ll be when he gets here.”

  “I just don’t get it. I’ve treated you better than anyone. I wanted to give you even more. I wanted to give you everything.”

  His past had ruined that, how could she trust him when he’d tossed aside everyone else? What did she have that they didn’t? Nothing but a contract and that’s all he was looking to keep.

  He strode up to her and dove his hand into her short hair, she gasped but didn’t pull away.

  “I care about you, Eloise. You make me feel things—want things—I haven’t wanted in years. I have no way to show you.”

  He kissed her, not with sexy passion like he had before, but with a need that matched the look in his eyes. The look she hadn’t been able to name. Her heart ached for the very same thing… Home. Family. Connection. But connection to him would hurt too much. She pulled away and rested her hand against his chest, tracing his cross tattoo through his thin tee.

  “I can’t stay, Morgan. It hurts too much. I can’t take it if you turn on me.”

  He sighed and slid his hand to the back of her head as he tugged her forehead to his lips. The kiss was warm, soft, more tender than she ever expected from the likes of Morgan Turner. Then he was gone.

  And a bit of the world she thought she was saving, crumbled.

  11

  Morgan stared out at the crowd, but it wasn’t the same as usual. Oh, they screamed his name the same and begged for more the same, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to be there. Eloise had still been in his trailer when he’d gone in to warm up. She’d be gone now.

  He stepped back from the mic and waved as he left the stage. They were happy, euphoric really. Why couldn’t he join them, why couldn’t he let her go? She was just an assistant, like every other. Only she’d had a sweet innocence about her that made him protective, and he couldn’t quite be the jerk to her that he’d been to everyone else and still feel good about himself. She’d treated him like a person, not a star, and that had made him feel at home with her.

  Then there were her little insecurities that probably annoyed her, but he found gorgeous. The way she brushed her hair from her face and tilted her head when she was nervous, and the way her eyes flashed if he made her mad. He’d never found his other assistant’s anger particularly likable. Maybe she wasn’t just another assistant. Maybe the Diamond Bridal Agency had known what he needed all along. Someone to call home. A wife.

  He jogged off the stage and ignored the calls from everyone as he ran to his bus. There were no lights on and he cursed. The door swung open and a man in a suit stepped out. This had to be Ed, the one Eloise had been calling so frequently before she’d met Morgan. He held up his hand in greeting, but Morgan wasn’t up for pleasantries.

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s still here, in your bus, despite my counsel to leave. I’m Dr. Ed Johnson, Psychiatrist.”

  A doctor wouldn’t have said all those terrible things to Eloise, and wouldn’t have left her in labor… “How do you know her?” Mrs. Creed had only told him what she could glean from records. If Eloise had been hurt by her former lover, she may have needed a counselor. “I’m not trying to hurt her. I just want to see her, and she is in my trailer.”

  Ed remained in his way on the stairs to his bus. “Can we talk out here for moment first?” The doctor was a little too casual for Morgan’s liking, he looked like the kind of guy who would sip martinis while reading Forbes and considering his golf swing.

  “Whatever, as long as Eloise is still in there.”

  Ed smiled and glanced behind him. �
�She is. She agreed to let me talk to you first after I had a conversation with her that lasted pretty much from your first set to your last.”

  “Fine, what do you want to talk about.” He’d had just about enough emotion for one night.

  “Eloise finally told me why she’d been having so much trouble with anger and after she told me why she was having so much trouble leaving you, I decided to stay and see if I couldn’t work this out.”

  “It’s about her kid, isn’t it? She doesn’t want to be away from him anymore.” He’d been thinking about it the whole afternoon as he was setting up. She missed her kid. Maybe she couldn’t get custody back if she took up with another guy. It was possible. The courts did some crazy things with custody battles. He’d come up with every possible reason she would have for wanting to leave and that’s what he kept coming back to.

  “Partly, but there is no way she can be with her son this side of eternity. So, tread lightly when you make accusations like that.”

  The news was a direct hit to his gut. The anger was explainable; avoiding alcohol for two years made perfect sense if she’d been pregnant. Only touched by one man, because that man had left her to have a baby who wouldn’t survive. “Who was he?”

  Dr. Johnson tilted his head and leaned against the bus. “Who?”

  “Who was the father?”

  He sighed. “She never said and it really doesn’t matter. What matters is right now. She wants to stay with you, but doesn’t. She’s frightened. If you want her to stay, you’re going to have to convince her that you want her to. If she still can’t decide, I’ll make the decision for her and take her home. It isn’t like you don’t know where she is, since you hired her.”

  Except he had no clue. The agency never gave him her home address—it hadn’t mattered. He couldn’t even ask his driver, because his driver had called an uber for her before he’d fired the lazy jerk.

  “Can you give me ten minutes with her, alone?” He hated to pour out his heart at all, but he wasn’t about to do it in front of some suit.