Billionaire Bachelor_Vitali

by Eve Black

  He was on the elevator before he knew what he was doing, his hands fisted at his sides, his chest tight. Tension sent ripples of apprehension through his body, but that only bolstered his determination to kick Lyuba to the curb, hand the Malaysia deal to Milos, and get back to his wife—whom he’d left quite angry and disappointed in their $5,000 per night suite.

  Closing his eyes, he imagined Mariana. Before he’d left, she’d been dressed in a light, flowing sundress bedecked with embroidered roses and bees. It was a frilly dress; not one he’d expect to see draped over the luscious curves of a kick ass lawyer, but…somehow it only emphasized Mariana’s delicate beauty.

  “Damn,” he cursed, his cock, once again, threatening to rip the seams of his tailored slacks. He needed to get his libido under control or else he’d have a boner in front of Lyuba, give her the wrong idea, and then spend the next year trying to rid himself of her. More than anything, he wanted the break with his best attorney and second best lover to be as clean and neat as possible. If she allowed it to be so. A niggling sensation at the back of his neck told him that he was walking into an ugly situation.

  Pulling his shoulders back, he waited for the elevator doors to open on the 27th floor, then strode from the lift and down the hall to the suite Lyuba had reserved for her own use during the business trip.

  Upon reaching room 2743, he used the keycard provided by Gregor, turned the knob and entered, not bothering to knock and announce himself. Lyuba was dressed in her usual suit and severe expression, and was seated on the couch, her laptop and a stack of files spread out around her.

  He could tell by the stiffening in her shoulders that she knew he was there, but she didn’t look up. Didn’t bother acknowledging his presence. It grated. She was the reason he’d shortened his honeymoon. She was the reason he was in her suite instead of his own, with a wife who was quickly losing patience with him.

  Dammit.

  “Lyuba, we need to talk about this mess. What the hell were you thinking refusing the board members—of the company we’re trying to acquire—a chance to review the contract?”

  She finally looked up at him, her iron hard expression in place. He hated that look; he could never tell what she was thinking. And that was dangerous.

  She cocked an eyebrow and sighed, pushing her laptop off her lap and onto the couch beside her—acting as if he was the imposition. As if his being there was disrupting her day.

  Fuck that.

  “What the hell is going on with you, Lyuba?” he asked, planting his fists on his hips, the urge to reach out and shake her nigh impossible to ignore.

  “What bothers you more, the fact that I pushed the board members a little too hard, or the fact that I cut your personal business in Moscow short?” The sharpness in her voice told him she knew more than she should about his personal business. Damn Milos! The man couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it. Just another fucking thing he’d have to deal with when all he wanted to do was strip Mariana bare and kiss every inch of her body.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Vitali refused to rise to Lyuba’s bait. She wanted him to lose his cool, to get riled—she liked it when he was riled, because they often had the best sex when they were both wound up. But not this time. This time he was wound up, but not for Lyuba—because of Lyuba.

  “You knew this deal was necessary to open doors in the Asian agricultural innovations market. If you can’t handle the pressure, step aside. I will not have you ruin my business just to get back at me for some perceived slight. My business is not a toy,” he said, his voice clipped.

  Lyuba’s brightly painted red lips flattened into a line, turning her once beautiful face into a grimacing mask of simmering anger.

  But then that iron expression slammed down over her face once again, and she stood, coming around the coffee table to stand before him. Before he could stop her, she reached up and slid the palms of her hands over his chest. A groan rose from her throat.

  “Vitali…it hurts me that you would think so little of me,” she purred, and he grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands from his body. Her touch made his skin crawl. Her eyes narrowed, the blue in them turning to glittering ice. “You used to enjoy my touch…” she murmured. “Who is she?” The acid in her voice made her sound like a snake readying to strike.

  “None of your concern,” he snapped, his desire to protect Mariana from Lyuba’s venom like a vice around his chest. Not that Mariana couldn’t hold her own against Lyuba… He just wanted to protect her, to keep her safe. It was a wholly new sensation for him. Warmth spread out from the aching hollows in his chest, and he gasped at the truth that began whispering through his mind: “You care about Mariana…”

  It was time to put aside the guilt over his breakup with Lyuba. It was time to stop letting the fear and shadows swirling in his mind control what he said and did. He was a fucking billionaire—shaped and sharpened by his choices. And the best choice he’d ever made was to step into Mariana’s courtroom two years ago.

  Sharpening his focus—and his determination to get back to his wife—he announced, “As of this moment, consider yourself terminated.” At her gasp, he dropped her wrists and stepped back, putting space between them, lessening the roiling in his belly from their nearness. “I will provide a severance that will cover your expenses here, your flight home, and six months’ pay. After that, you will be completely cut off from Trans-Global and from me.” And good riddance.

  Without a backward glance, he turned and left the room—and his greatest mistake—behind him. A burning, pulsing brightness seemed to beam from within him, and the smile it formed on his face made his cheeks ache.

  Mariana was waiting for him…and so was the future he hadn’t known he wanted until his past was finally laid to rest. As relief filled him, lifting him like an invisible flock of birds, he strode down the hall to Milos’s suite.

  He had one more thing to deal with before he could focus on what was truly important.

  13

  Blazing neon signs, glittering lights, and the twinkling of lanterns on fishing boats in the bay…Malaysia was beautiful with its weaving of the old and the new. The incandescent and the candlelight. The blaring and the bygone. Sighing, Mariana stared out over the city, willing her mind to stop spinning and her chest to stop tightening. A soft breeze played with her hair, which she’d left loose, and danced along the hem of the peasant skirt she’d put on—just something a little flirty and fun. After Vitali left, she’d paced their suite, wondering what she’d done wrong to make him withdraw from her. Her body still ached—deliciously—from the things he’d done to her over the last three days. But what did all that sex matter if there wasn’t intimacy outside of the bedroom? Raised by a single mother—the result of an arranged marriage that went south after six years—Mariana had yearned for a relationship that would bring her a sense of peace, of belonging. Through school and her career, that desire remained, no matter how far she buried it, it always resurfaced.

  And it still pricked at her. She was married now, she should feel something other than well fucked.

  You expect too much from Vitali. You’re strangers. Give him time.

  That thought was the reason she’d taken an hour to figure out what to wear, do her make up—light but sculpting, and prepare herself to be the lighthearted, flirty wife. She was tired of being the hard-nosed attorney, she wanted to be the carefree woman who could let herself just…live.

  She’d never felt more alive than when she was with Vitali.

  Her cell phone rang and she pushed away from the railing to head into the suite to pick it up. The air inside the suite felt stuffy and heavy compared to the air out on the terrace.

  The cell rang again and upon seeing the name on the caller ID, she groaned. “Hello, Mama.”

  “Where have you been? I tried calling Mia but she kept putting me off. I don’t like it, Mari, I don’t like not knowing what is going on,” her mother rattled on, her voice growing shriller by the second
. “Are you in some kind of trouble, mija?” The concern in her mother’s voice gutted her. It was her fault her mother was so worried.

  In Spanish, she replied, “No, Mama. I am not in trouble. I am on vacation—and I don’t know why Mia didn’t just tell you that.” She knew why; Mia was trying to save Mariana from having to share about whatever affair she was supposedly having with some beach dude in St. Lucia. Aw, Mia, I’m going to kill you.

  There was silence on the other end of the line, then a deep sigh. “Mija, I am glad to hear you have taken some time for yourself. You deserve a break. Take a year off! Take a lifetime off—you have enough money to last five lifetimes.”

  Not quite that much, she thought. But then she remembered she was married to a billionaire.

  At that startling reminder, Mariana’s stomach roiled. What would her mother do once she realized what was really going on? When she finally got Vitali to Chicago for their American wedding, what would her dear mama think of the man her only daughter had met and married in less time than it took to get a package from Amazon?

  “I don’t plan to be gone quite that long, Mama. And once I do get home, I have something I want to tell you…” Silence met that tease of information. Shit! That contract through the agency forbade her from sharing anything about the details, including where she currently was and why she was there. But, at least she could tell her mother about getting married to Vitali. She’d have to tell her eventually—she was her mother, she couldn’t keep her marriage a secret from her forever.

  Just until I get back.

  “Something bad?” her mother asked, her tone guarded.

  Letting out a strangled laugh, Mariana blurted, “No, Mama. Nothing bad. I promise.”

  More silence.

  Her gaze flicked to the large windows overlooking the terrace and the cityscape beyond. She needed to get out of that room, to immerse herself in Malaysia and not just the British owned luxury hotel chain where she was staying. “I’ve got to go, Mama. I love you and I’ll see you soon,” she said in a voice she hoped sounded light.

  “I love you, too, baby.”

  They ended their call and Mariana tossed the phone on the plush couch. Moaning with the slow building ache behind her eyes, she rubbed at her temples.

  “Something the matter?” a familiar deep voice rumbled through the room—and right to her pussy. Goddamn that man’s stealth and his sexy as hell voice!

  Thankful for the loose-fitting skirt, she squeezed her thighs together, trying to ignore the gathering wetness in her panties. Vitali was in front of her, his hands gripping her upper arms, in a matter of milliseconds.

  “Mariana, tell me.” Surprised by the deep concern in his voice, Mariana blinked up at him, a slow burn making its way through her core. With his hands on her, his darkening green eyes boring down into her, and the heat of his body flowing into her, she couldn’t think of anything but kissing him.

  Talk first. Kissing later.

  Clearing her throat, she offered him a soft smile. “No, there’s nothing wrong. That was my mother. She was worried about me because… You know…” She shrugged.

  A knowing look melted the worry from his furrowed brow. “Ah, yes. The contract keeps you from saying anything about where you are.” He grinned down at her. “What did you tell her?”

  That grin of his succeeded in making her all the more aware of the man standing before her—and all the things he could do with his mouth.

  “Um…” Think dammit! “I told her that I will be home, and that I would have something to tell her once I got there.”

  His smile only faltered for a fraction of a moment, but Mariana could see a wariness sharpen his gaze. “Back to Chicago?”

  Nodding, she wondered what she’d said that would cause the dramatic shift in mood. Again.

  “Yes. I’d hoped to invite her to our second wedding ceremony.” His grip on her arms tightened but then he dropped his hands, as if she’d become too hot to handle.

  “Ah, that’s right,” he said, then ran his fingers through his jet-black hair, mussing it until he looked like he’d just slid from bed.

  Dammit, stop thinking about him and bed. Focus on what needs to get done.

  “Did you get everything ironed out with that deal?” Yes, ask business questions. Keep your head above water. Business was something she could handle. She was the tiburon hembra of corporate business. The kick ass lady shark of the courtroom. But when it came to handling men like Vitali, she was a minnow in a pond of piranha.

  Turning, Vitali walked to the bar where a buffet of crystal decanters and tall bottles of Scotch, vodka, and bourbon were lined up. He grabbed the bottle of Scotch and poured himself two fingers.

  Mariana waited for him to respond, and watched as he turned back to her, raised the glass to his lips and sipped it—all the while staring at her with those penetrating eyes of his. She felt underdressed, nearly naked beneath that stare. It was disconcerting, enough so that she had to fight the urge to cross her arms over her breasts. Not that he hadn’t already seem then in all their plump, round glory.

  Tipping up her chin, she met his gaze head-on. “Well?”

  The side of his sexy mouth cocked up, and her heart stalled—then began racing. Disoriented by her body’s response, she nearly missed it when his gaze dropped to her mouth.

  “How would you like to spend the next week exploring Asia?”

  She held her breath. Did he mean it? Hardly able to believe this wasn’t some sort of carrot dangled before the wife, she arched an eyebrow and pinned him with a look of hopeful disbelief.

  “Just you and me? No business deals or phone calls in angry Russian?” So what if she was being selfish? The world—his business—had him for years. She’d had him for only three days. Mariana wanted the time to get to know him, truly know the man behind the sharp suits, gorgeous face, and deep accented voice. There was more to him than being a god in the bedroom. Intimacy was more than just a physical act, it was also becoming so close to someone, they can see into your soul.

  His smile grew and so did her longing for time alone with him.

  “Absolutely. Just you and me and all the sights, sounds, smells, flavors, and fun of Asia,” he drawled.

  Excitement burst through her and she rushed to Vitali, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him square on the mouth. He stiffened and just as he was taking control of the kiss, she pulled away.

  Now. She wanted him now.

  “We can see Asia tomorrow,” she purred, running her finger over his cheek to his bottom lip, and then to the top button of his shirt. “But first…I want to see you. Naked.”

  Vitali growled, his pupils narrowing to pinpricks, and his nostrils flaring—like a wolf scenting the air.

  “Whatever my wife wants,” he murmured low, right before claiming her mouth.

  14

  Vitali made short work of removing his coat, his shirt, and unbuckling his belt. He’d nearly stripped to nothing in his eagerness to be inside Mariana, but her hand on his wrist stopped him from undoing the button on his pants.

  “Let me,” Mariana said, her husky voice low, seductive. He dropped his hands, both curious and anxious—what would she do? His question was answered when she slipped her hands past his waistband and took hold of his erect and throbbing cock. Mariana stroked him, slowly, from top to bottom, and back again.

  He hissed, his body tensing. “Shit, Mariana, that feels good,” he breathed.

  She moaned low in her throat then removed her hand to attack the button and fly on his pants, opening them and then watching as his cock escaped its confines. A large, heavy, thick, and throbbing cock that needed Mariana’s special attention.

  “Take it,” he demanded, and she pushed his boxer briefs and pants down his hips until they were gathered at his knees. His dick pulsed, tapping his lower belly and leaving precum on his own flesh. Mariana slid to her knees and took his cock in her hands, stroking it again.

  “Vitali, this is…be
autiful,” she murmured right before sticking out her tongue and flicking at the drop of milky fluid at the tip.

  He nearly flew into the next dimension, rocking back on his heels in an attempt to get his bearings.

  “Fuuuuck—uhg—ah…just like that, baby, just like— Fuck!” She was getting the hang of things quickly, her tongue lapping at him, following the vein from just under the tip all the way down to his balls. He wasn’t going to last long…

  “You taste amazing,” Mariana huffed excitedly. She raked her nails down the slabs of his belly, trailing grooves along the lines of his muscles, like she was worshiping them, memorizing them. “I like this…tasting you like this.”

  Grunting, he looked down at her and arched an eyebrow at her. “Then put it all in your mouth.”

  It was her turn to arch an eyebrow, but she grinned wickedly, opened her mouth, and took him in as far as he could go. Hell! This was her first time, and she was going at it like a pro. Unbelievable. Unforgettable. The sight of this gorgeous, incredible, passionate woman sucking him like she couldn’t get enough—her dark hair rippling as her head bobbed on his swelling, aching cock.

  “Mariana….” He said her name like a prayer, and then he ceased thinking all together as she cupped his balls and gave them a squeeze.

  The pull of her mouth, the movement of her tongue, the look of pure desire and sensual light in her eyes made his belly clench. His hands moved to her head and got lost in the dark ribbons of her hair. And then, he realized an incandescent truth that shifted something in his being, something deep and critical.

  Pleasure exploded from within him, and he threw back his head and roared into the ceiling, thrusting his hips forward, and emptying himself into his wife’s throat. His own throat sore from his bellowing, he swallowed back the delirious utterances in Russian—words he couldn’t fathom speaking aloud. Words he never thought to hear his own mind conjuring. Mariana pulled away, wiping her gloriously swollen lips with the back of her hand. Her cheeks flushed, desire burning in her gaze, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.