The Billionaire's Christmas Cinderella

by Carol Marinelli

  ‘Was I such a sure thing?’

  Of course she was—Naomi knew that.

  He reached for her arm but she shook him off. Naomi was trying to remember if she had money in her bag to get a cab, except with one bare foot and bare arms on a freezing night she was struggling to think. The frigid air delivered more than a cold slap. It was like the pain of stubbing her toe, except it ran the length of her body and did not abate, and she wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to get warm.

  ‘Here...’ He held out his jacket but she declined it.

  ‘I want nothing from you.’

  ‘So you’re going to freeze to death to prove a point?’

  And she very possibly might, because her teeth were chattering and her hair was going stiff, and she was no Cinderella as he pushed her down onto a bench and put his jacket round her shoulders and then pushed her less-than-dainty foot into the shoe.

  And he was no Prince Charming because he was telling her off.

  ‘You just can’t run off in this weather,’ he snapped, making sure her foot was in the shoe ‘What the hell were you thinking? If you’re going to be with me, you’d better get used to being talked about and not always nicely, and not run off crying every time someone makes a disparaging comment about me.’

  ‘With you,’ Naomi sobbed. ‘I want to be as far away from you as possible, Abe. Did you sign another contract with her, with Candice?’

  ‘Not now,’ he said, and stood, but Naomi wanted answers.

  ‘Were you with her today?’

  He didn’t respond. In fact, he didn’t breathe because the air didn’t blow white as he declined to comment.

  ‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ Naomi answered for him. ‘Are you keeping her for another year? Agh!’ She revolted loudly at the end, for she hated that word, and hated that she’d been reduced to asking him, but that was what this man did—he kept women.

  ‘I was trying to be nice.’

  ‘Nice? You wouldn’t know nice...’ she attempted, but she couldn’t get the rest out. Naomi, who would never hurt anyone, had risen to her feet, and the only reason she didn’t pummel his chest was because she knew she might end up sobbing on it.

  ‘Let’s not do this here,’ Abe suggested.

  And she should respond, Let’s not do this at all, as she had the first time he’d broken her heart, but all she wanted was to get back to the house, pull the covers over her head, and for this horrible birthday to be finished with.

  For Christmas to be over and done.

  To conclude this.

  And so she let him lead her, but she threw off his arm and walked alone.

  He called his driver to come over and as they waited, she watched all the beautiful people spilling out of the hotel, and heard shouts of Merry Christmas as they climbed into the waiting cars.

  It certainly wasn’t a merry one for her.

  Abe said nothing. He just looked ahead, unable to believe how his meticulously planned night had panned out.

  Where are we going?’ she asked as they sailed past his father’s home.

  ‘To my place,’ Abe said. ‘I don’t particularly want your fan club policing this.’

  ‘My fan club?’

  ‘Merida, Ethan, Barb, Bernard... You’ve got a lot of people in your corner, you know, my father included.’

  And while she was grateful to have them, Naomi looked over at the one she wanted more than anyone in the world.

  It was a pointless want.

  He might as well be a poster on a teenager’s bedroom wall or a film star on the screen he was so unattainable, but for a while there she’d let herself think that she might belong, even for a night, in his world.

  His world was stunning, Naomi thought as she stared out of the car window. The streets were wider here and the trees were sparkling with fairy lights. There really was a village feel to the shops, with shutters open, revealing gorgeous displays and Christmas wares. Closed cafés that by day would beckon you in for catch-ups and brunch and she could see why Abe loved it here so much.

  ‘We’re here.’

  They had turned into a gorgeous tree-lined street and the car pulled up outside a huge brownstone house. She climbed out of the car and, rather than hold his arm, she held onto the rail as she climbed the stoop and then stood as he opened the door to his home.

  As she stepped inside, it was luxurious, yes, but it was certainly a home.

  The hallway was long, with archways, and there was one staircase leading up and one leading down.

  ‘Come through,’ he said, but she did not know where so she followed him down the long hallway, the dark wooden floors softened with a Persian rug that her heels sank into. Beyond the hall she could see a large kitchen and she could almost picture him sitting on one of the stools, sipping coffee. Beyond, Naomi glimpsed a softly lit garden, and it was cruel to be in his home, for now she would picture him here for ever.

  Abe pushed open a door and as she stepped through it the delicious scent of pine hit her, and even though it was officially Christmas Day, the sight of a tree gorgeously decorated and beneath it presents added another layer to his lies.

  Naomi stood clutching her bag and shivering in his jacket as he lit the fire. He was drenched from melted snow and his hair was as wet as if he’d just come out of the shower.

  He’d lit a fire on the night they had met, Naomi recalled. It felt such a long time ago. Then she’d sat, at first innocent to his charms.

  She wasn’t now.

  He’d snaked into her heart that night, Naomi thought.

  So much so that when she’d found out about Candice, she’d chosen to believe him when he’d said it was over.

  Those dark eyes, that kiss had melted her inhibitions away. She looked at way the shirt clung to his back, recalling her hands sliding over his naked torso as he’d brought her to her first orgasm.

  And for him she’d broken all her own rules because she’d been hoping for more tonight.

  Instead she stood there dripping wet, and the night ruined, by his fire.

  On Christmas morning.

  She looked at the ornaments on the mantelpiece, and the tree in the corner with presents beneath and she unearthed another of his lies. ‘I thought you didn’t bother with Christmas.’

  ‘I don’t usually,’ Abe said, and with the fire starting he stood. Her absolute lack of faith didn’t perturb him, he got why she had none. ‘Naomi, how many times do I have to tell you that Candice and I are through?’

  ‘And I’m supposed to believe you? She told me—’

  ‘Why would you listen to her?’ Abe demanded.

  ‘Who else would I listen to? You?’ Naomi retorted. ‘You haven’t spoken to me in a week. You couldn’t even look at me when I came to your office...’

  ‘I’ve been cleaning up my life,’ Abe said. ‘I’ve been trying to right an awful lot of wrongs. Naomi, I saw Candice this afternoon, yes. And she finally signed a contract that means for another twelve months she can live in the flat, but that’s it. I thought I’d sorted it, but I hadn’t. I’m sorry for what you went through tonight, but the fact is you’re going to have to start trusting me.’

  ‘Trusting you?’ The man with the reputation, the man who should come with a warning sign attached, the man she still wanted, even now. ‘You!’ Her purse clattered to floor as she jabbed a finger into his chest. ‘I wouldn’t trust you if you were the last man...’

  Except he was the first man.

  The first man to really make time for her. The first man she had wanted and her very first love, and she was terrified that he really was her last, because she couldn’t envisage ever feeling this way again.

  ‘Naomi...’ He took her angry hand that was jabbing at him and gripped it between their bodies. ‘I was going to talk to you when we were alone. I’d booked a suite f
or after the ball.’

  His assumption incensed her. ‘You were you so sure that I’d come up?’

  ‘Yes,’ he shouted, because he had been sure, and more so on the dance floor, and even more so as she went to pull away the hand he was tightly holding, but she took his with it. He could feel the softness of a heavy breast and the rise and fall of her chest and when her hand released his, Abe’s remained. His fingers were like ice on her skin but she did not flinch, and he looked right into her eyes as she looked into his face.

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t have come,’ Naomi insisted, except her voice was all breathless.

  ‘Liar,’ he told her, and then proved that she was with his kiss.

  It was rough and demanding but, then, so was she, her tongue duelling with his, and she was pushing him away but only to get to the buttons of his damp shirt.

  She barely knew herself.

  All the hurt was placed on hold as all her anger morphed into the want she had suppressed for so long. For she would give anything to be bold enough, to dare enough to give in to the desire that screamed in her veins.

  ‘You would have,’ he insisted between hot kisses, his hands rough and delicious on her body, roaming her curves and pulling her into to his primed body.

  ‘I would have,’ she whimpered, as his mouth located her neck and he kissed her deeply there.

  Yes, yes, she would have. She didn’t need Cabo San... Oh, why couldn’t she remember its name? But, yes, she would have gone up to the suite, Naomi knew, recalling the certainty before Candice had ruined their night. And she thought of what was in her purse, and while she still had a shred of common sense she dropped to her knees to retrieve it.

  And down on the floor she heard his voice and for a second froze.

  ‘Oh, Naomi...’

  There was this gravelly note to his voice, and his hand came to her hair and it took a moment for her to register he wasn’t asking why she was down there.

  Did Abe really think...?

  She was at eye level with his crotch and simply couldn’t not touch, and she looked at her unfamiliar, manicured hand, so pale against the black of his trousers as she felt him through the fabric. And Abe made it so easy not to think, to just completely misbehave, because his gorgeous long fingers were making light work of his zip and Naomi felt a little dizzy as he undid his trousers, revealing just how turned on he was.

  ‘I was getting protection,’ she attempted, except her voice was all thick and she had to clear her throat before continuing, but before she could he spoke.

  ‘I know you were.’

  ‘You know?’

  ‘I saw them in the car...’

  And, of course, a man like Abe wouldn’t mistake them for a tin of mints.

  ‘The thought of us has been driving me wild all night,’ he told her.

  And now didn’t seem the time to tell him it had been a complete accident because, right now, she didn’t want to be anywhere else. She looked at his thick length, darker than the rest of him yet pale against the black of his suit, and it looked both delicious and crude jutting out, yet she felt her heat tighten with the desire and the ache of needing to see more of him, but Abe had other ideas.

  ‘Taste me,’ he said.

  She could feel him warm at her cheek and the male scent of him was enticing but she told him her truth. ‘I don’t know how.’

  ‘Try.’

  He sounded breathless. He sounded tense, but not in a way that she’d ever heard, and she pulled back her head and looked up at him.

  Oh, this was so not what he’d planned, Abe thought, but in the very nicest of ways.

  She must have had too much champagne, Naomi decided, because she kept missing with her mouth, yet she’d only had two glasses.

  Then she held him with her hand, and she broached with tentative lips and tasted the tip slowly with her tongue, and his moan was her reward.

  His hand came to her cheek and he brushed her hair back and she felt the caresses of his gaze as she kissed down the sides, growing accustomed to the feel of him as he grew to her palm, and then she took him a little way into her mouth.

  He tasted soapy and his scent had always driven her wild. His fingers were in her hair, pulling out all the pins that had been so carefully placed there. He was so tall that she was up on her knees, and holding onto his thighs now to steady herself. Abe’s hands guided her deeper than she would ever have dared go herself and his ragged breathing brought intense pleasure that had her wanting to sink back on her knees, except she knelt higher and took him deeper. She could feel his restraint, even as he started to thrust.

  Naomi could feel her breast spilling out of her gown, and though she’d dreaded it happening all night, it was freeing now.

  She felt him swell and his hand push her head down, and it didn’t daunt her, it thrilled her, and when he climaxed, the real shock for Naomi was the desire-filled, intimate beats of her own, the pleasure so mutual that it made her feel giddy as she knelt breathless, topless and his.

  Always his.

  How did he look so immaculate? she wondered as he tucked himself in and, holding out his hand, brought her to stand.

  Abe pulled up her dress and tucked her in too, as if he was readying her for church, rather than about to carry her upstairs, but even if she loved him, Naomi did not know this man.

  He went and poured two drinks but he drained his in one draught.

  ‘As I said...’

  And she frowned as he handed her a drink and then continued the conversation where they’d left it an indecent while ago.

  ‘The press are going to be merciless, and there will be exes selling their stories, but if you’re going to be my wife then you’re going to have to start trusting me.’

  She heard the first bit.

  And the last bit.

  But there was too much roaring in her ears when she tried to replay the middle.

  Did Abe just say she was going to be his wife?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘WIFE?’ NAOMI CROAKED.

  She really couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  Even when he retrieved his jacket, which had long since dropped to the floor.

  As he went into a pocket and took out a box, Naomi kept waiting for the punchline, for a mocking flash mob to appear, for this to be some sort of terrible, elaborate joke, for she just did not know love.

  ‘Naomi,’ he said. ‘That came out wrong...’

  He was nervous, Naomi realised as he spoke on.

  ‘I had flowers and champagne and everything planned, but as long as you say yes, I wouldn’t change a thing. Will you marry me?’

  Naomi stared down at an exquisite marquise-cut diamond set in delicate rose gold and could not quite comprehend it.

  ‘So that I’ll sleep with you?’

  ‘In part...’ He smiled, but it faded when he looked at a woman who had never known love yet would have been brave enough to risk her heart to him, and he took that very seriously indeed. ‘Naomi, when you told me that you wouldn’t sleep with me until we were married, I didn’t take it that well.’ He looked at her. ‘I didn’t tell Jobe that I was going to ask you to marry me, but I asked for his help to get you to agree to come the ball.’

  ‘Jobe was in on it?’

  Abe nodded. ‘I needed his help to get Ethan and Merida on side. I knew they wouldn’t want me taking you to the ball and, in fairness, I can see why. And I had Khalid looking out for you, and Felicia.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘She was so good sorting out your dress that I asked her to the ball on the condition she shadow you all night. I know how poisonous that lot can be. A fat lot of good she did.’

  Naomi giggled, but then it died in her throat as the magnitude of it all caught up with her. Abe hadn’t been ignoring her, instead he had been paving the way for her to be in his life. And then he tol
d her why. ‘Naomi. I’m asking you to marry me because I love you.’

  And to hear Abe Devereux saying I love you felt as if molten gold was being poured into her heart, and she started to believe this was real.

  ‘Do I have to ask you again?’ Abe checked, when still she hadn’t replied.

  ‘No,’ Naomi said, because he did not have to ask her twice. ‘I mean yes, oh, yes, Abe, I would love to marry you.’

  ‘Well, that’s all right, then.’ He slipped the ring onto her newly manicured fingers and when she looked down she didn’t even recognise her own hand, let alone the world he was inviting her into.

  And when she looked up into those black eyes Naomi knew it would take for ever to know him, but they had for ever now.

  ‘I love you,’ she told him, and, for Naomi, it was the ultimate luxury to share those words with another.

  ‘I know you do.’

  ‘Take me to bed,’ Naomi said, and he obliged, taking her by the hand and leading her up the stairs, presumably to paradise.

  Except paradise was a lot more like a guest room than the master lair she’d been expecting it to be.

  ‘You’ve got your own bathroom...’ he said.

  ‘Abe?’

  ‘You wanted to wait until we were married,’ he pointed out. ‘We’ve come this far...’

  ‘Oh, no! You can’t just leave me like this,’ Naomi pleaded. She was in love and in lust, turned on and turned inside out by all that had happened tonight.

  And a sated Abe was heading off to bed!

  ‘Hell, isn’t it?’ Abe said as he gave her a light kiss and wished her goodnight.

  ‘Abe, please...’ she said, but the door was closed.

  His Christmas wish had come true.

  Naomi Hamilton in, okay, a guest bed, rather than his own.

  But she was pleading.

  * * *

  ‘Happy Christmas.’

  Those were the words she woke to on the best Christmas Day yet.

  There was snow on the window and there was the sound of carols being sung outside somewhere, and there was a ring on her finger.

  No bells on her toes, but she was quite sure, if she asked, Abe would oblige.