“We’ll find out eventually, I’m sure,” Hayes growls. “But right now I’m more interested in discovering what’s under your skirt.”
“Is that why you’ve got your hands under there?” I ask sweetly, licking my lips as I feel myself open up to him. He grins and kisses me, sliding his tongue into my mouth as he fingers me carefully but firmly from beneath until I’m wet like a rabbit in the rain. I meant what I said about knowing this was forever, but at the same time, I do remember telling myself that it could only be a one-time thing with Hayes Henley, that we weren’t a match, weren’t each other’s types, certainly weren’t meant to have a fairy-tale romance where we both lose everything and still feel like winners.
“Hayes Henley for the win,” he whispers from somewhere below me, and when I look down I see Hayes nuzzling my naked crotch with his nose, licking me gently with the tip of his tongue until I’m a quivering mess.
“Are you talking to yourself?” I mumble.
“Was I talking out loud?” he mumbles back, his green eyes unfocused because he’s so damned aroused. “What did I say?”
“Never mind,” I groan. “I don’t remember. I don’t care. I don’t—”
His tongue slides past my slit, and the sentence is lost in the whirlpool of arousal that’s drowning me. Hayes pushes me against the wood-paneled wall, his hands firmly gripping my buttocks from behind as he eats me out with a need that borders on animalistic. I’m dripping down his nose and chin, bucking my hips into his face, thrashing against the warm wood as he curls his tongue up against the front wall of my vagina, dragging downward and coaxing my climax out into the light.
I come just as Hayes parts my rear cheeks and strokes my crack, and when I feel his finger circle my rim three times and then push into my rear pucker, I scream and come again, all over his handsome face.
Hayes shouts in delight, jamming his face back between my legs as he pushes his finger deeper into my asshole. I come again, and then Hayes stands and strips, ripping his tie off, popping the buttons on his shirt, whipping his belt past the loops so fast it makes the leather burn. I’m leaning against the wall, panting as I try to catch my breath. But it’s hard to catch my breath when I see Hayes snap the waistband of his black underwear and unleash his monster of a cock.
He’s so hard his erection springs out with a force that sprays me with pre-cum, and the sight of his raw need doesn’t do much for my panting situation. His heavily muscled chest is as mesmerizing as the vision of his throbbing shaft, and I gasp at the sight of this thick, heavy older man who’s about to take me as his.
Before I can say a word he’s up against me, grabbing my hip with one hand, my wrist with the other. With controlled power he pins me against the wall and kisses me hungrily as I bite at his lip and gasp. Then he rubs my mound rough and hard, lines up his cockhead with my open slit, and drives himself into me with authority.
My eyes roll up in my head as Hayes’s thick shaft pushes against my inner walls, stretching me in a way I didn’t think was possible. He pushes farther and farther, each inch of his advance making my breath catch. When he’s all the way in I can’t even breathe, he’s so deep.
Hayes looks deep into my eyes as he holds himself there, balls deep inside me, like he’s savoring the moment, reveling in how my pussy feels around his cock. He kisses me again, those green eyes of his penetrating me as deep as anything else.
His first thrust is gentle, with that same control that I sense holds back a power that could break me. But I feel safe in his thick arms, warm against his broad body, loved by his warm lips.
Hayes smiles down at me, draws back, and then goes back into me, this time a little harder, just enough to make my eyes go wide with the knowledge of what’s coming, of how much power Hayes carries behind that cock. I swallow hard, dig my fingernails into his muscular back, and then nod.
“You’re so damned perfect, Hannah,” he whispers, squeezing my boobs hard and then running his warm hands down along my sides, around to my ass, and then finally gripping my hips and digging in. “Perfect for me. All of this is perfect. And it’s going to work out perfectly, you’ll see. We made the right choice, and we’re going to walk out of this room as a couple, committed to each other, bound forever. We’re going to have the biggest, baddest, most ridiculously over-the-top wedding the world has ever seen. Your wedding ring is gonna make the iceberg that sank the Titanic look like a snowflake.”
Hayes keeps moving as he says all this, and I close my eyes and imagine it all, let his deep voice sweep me away into a fantasy that I know is going to come true. I picture myself in a white dress studded with crystals, shoes heeled with diamonds, eyes shining with love.
I groan and dig my fingernails deeper into Hayes as he takes me harder, and the fantasy of our wedding becomes clearer with each thrust. I see the guests admiring us as we stand there hand in hand and wave like we’re King and Queen of the world. The seats are filled with celebrities and stars, CEOs and Senators, the King of Siam and the Queen of Sheba.
Then I frown as my imaginary camera pans across the room and stops at an old couple sitting at the back of the hall. I don’t know them, but they’re looking at me and Hayes with pride in their eyes—pride that’s almost maternal but not quite; almost paternal but not exactly. Actually, I think as my vision gets so clear it’s scary, it’s not quite pride either. What is it? What do I see in that old couple’s eyes?
I try to focus, but Hayes is taking me so hard I’m getting slammed against the wooden panels, and suddenly I’m back in the room, the vision gone like smoke on a cold night.
I shake my head to clear it, smiling and gasping as Hayes kisses me hard and keeps going. I know he’s taking me with such force I’m gonna be sore tomorrow, but right now it feels so damned good I don’t care.
For a moment I think of that old couple again, but I know it’s just my imagination. I’ve got the mystery of Mother and Father on the brain, and obviously my imagination is trying to solve the mystery by coming up with faces for Mother and Father. Still, that last glimpse of those faces lingers, and I get the unsettling feeling that not all of it was my own creation. Yeah, the whole wedding scene was totally my fantasy, and even the other guests were like placeholders put there by me—but Mother and Father in that vision had a different energy to them, an energy that seemed to come from somewhere else.
I’m getting panicky now, and it’s only when Hayes kisses me again that I come back to this world, come back to my life, come back to the simple realization that regardless of all the unknowns still left to unravel, there’s one thing I know for sure:
He’s mine, and I’m his.
The thought shatters the uneasiness, and the moment Hayes comes it feels like the sun bursting out from behind a dark cloud. I scream as he roars, and suddenly I’m coming too as Hayes rams into me, fills me, makes me his.
His for the first time.
His for all of time.
7
HAYES
I come inside her for what feels like forever, and I hold her so tight it’s like I want to take her inside me, into my heart, even deeper. It’s a desperate, aching feeling, a sense that she’s the only thing I value, the only thing that matters, the only thing I care about.
And for some reason my own words from earlier today come back to haunt me. A casual remark I’d made to Ingram when we were joking around:
People are things too, last time I checked, I’d said with a cocky smile. And things can be bought.
I kiss Hannah and pull her into me, stroking her tussled hair as she breathes heavy against my chest. I smile and push away the memory of that comment, trying not to think of the possibility that if Mother and Father had access to everything I say and do, what would they have thought if they heard that comment? Do I really believe that or was it just billionaire bro-talk with Ingram?
I grit my teeth and shake my head as I realize this whole Mother and Father thing has gotten into my head. I can’t go down the rabbithole of ju
dging myself for every comment I make! I’ll go insane, and so will Hannah!
“Hannah,” I whisper, smiling as the sight of her cuddling into me fills me with a warmth that blows away any thought of judgment. This moment is so pure it can’t be judged by anyone, and regardless of the unknowns still out there, this part of the story is sealed.
She’s mine, and we’re together. The rest is just the paperwork.
“Where am I?” she whispers, sighing sweetly and looking up at me. “Who are you?”
I laugh and kiss her forehead. “You’re in heaven,” I say. “And I’m a unicorn who just took you as his mate.”
She giggles. “Being taken by a mythical hoofed beast sounds more like hell than heaven,” she says.
“Is that why you were screaming Hell yeah, Hayes when I made you mine?” I say tenderly, a twinkle in my eye.
She smacks my chest and glares up at me in mock horror. “I was not!” she says. “I was totally well-behaved and ladylike. Mother and Father would be proud.”
I raise an eyebrow at the mention of Mother and Father, and when she blinks and looks away I stroke her cheek, touch her chin, and gently make her look at me again.
“You all right?” I say.
She frowns back at me. “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I shake my head and flash a smile. “No reason. Come on. Let’s get dressed. We’ve been in here long enough. Ingram’s probably getting pissed off.”
I gather Hannah’s clothes—what’s left of them—before looking around for my own.
“You do realize that you tore your own underwear off,” Hannah says while stifling a smile. “Here. Give it to me. I’ll put it in my bag along with my own scraps of underwear.”
I whip my underwear at her, grinning as she squeals in disgust and turns her face. We’ve both smiling like kids as we dress, joking around like we don’t have a care in the world. Eventually we’re as dressed as we’re going to be, and so I take her hand and lead her to the long decorative mirror against one of the walls.
“How do we look?” I say, flashing a comically serious pose as Hannah does a fake pouty look that belongs on the cover of Vogue. I grunt in approval at my pretty bride-to-be, sliding my arm around her waist and resting my hand on her hip.
“Like a million dollars,” she replies, smiling at our reflection as I kiss her on the cheek.
“Speak for yourself,” I say with a wink. “I’m a billionaire.”
“Correction, you were a billionaire,” she jabs as we head to the door.
“Still am,” I say confidently even though there’s a hint of uncertainty that’s gnawing at me. “The game is over, Hannah. We won. Lesson learned. Worth proved. Prize claimed. Here. Lemme see your phone.”
“Oh, shit, it’s still behind the couch cushion,” Hannah says, breaking away from me and striding over to where I jammed her phone into the leather sofa. She turns it on and hands it to me.
I call my accountant, and my heart sinks even as my temperature rises. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Hannah turns pale when she sees my expression, and after she calls her own accountants, we look at each other in silence.
“Well, the phone was off. They couldn’t see or hear us,” I say. “They must not know that we chose each other regardless of the consequences.”
Hannah bites her lip and looks at me. “Did we, though?”
“What do you mean?” I say, my mood darkening.
“I mean, sure, we did get together, and it was real, honest, what we both wanted,” Hannah says. “But at the back of our minds we also assumed that getting together was what Mother and Father wanted for us, right?”
“Right. So?” I say.
“So although we made the decision to be together because we wanted to be together, we both kinda assumed that once we were together, we’d get our money back,” Hannah says. “Does that make sense?”
I crack my jaw and clench my fists as my gaze rests on her phone. Great. Mother and Father just heard us talking about how to get our money back. And they missed the part about how we loved each other. And now I’m letting this crap get to me, which means it’s time to short-circuit this game, end it once and for all.
So I grab the phone and just start yelling at it. “Enough is enough!” I roar. “We all won. You showed us that love is more precious than money, and we proved that we’re willing to trade all our wealth for each other. Now give us our fucking money back, you maniacs!”
I realize I’m the one who sounds like the maniac, and so I exhale hard and run my fingers through my thick dark hair. I hand the phone back to Hannah and force a smile.
“You done?” she says.
“Yes. Your turn to throw a tantrum now,” I say, my forced smile breaking into a wide grin when I remember that although I can’t just forget about my missing billions, what I have in front of me is wealth that can’t be counted.
“Come on,” she says with a sweet smile. “Your friend is waiting, right?”
“Right,” I say, straightening my tie and pulling the door open.
I expect to see Ingram’s face, but instead it’s the waiter who’s standing with his back to the door. He turns when he sees me.
“Oh, hello, sir and ma’am. You’re done with your private meeting?” he says, smiling nervously.
I nod and slip him a hundred-dollar bill. Thankfully Mother and Father didn’t pick my fucking pocket when I wasn’t looking. Though I should probably be careful with my cash, I remind myself. I almost take the hundred back from the guy, but when I see the smile light up his pimpled face, I let it go.
“Ingram got tired of waiting, I guess,” I say to Hannah.
“Oh, no, sir,” says the waiter. “He stepped away to take a call from his Mother and Father.”
Both Hannah and I freeze as the waiter nods respectfully and hurries off. I glance around the club lobby, but there’s no sign of Ingram. Well, Ingram can take care of himself. I got my own shit to deal with right now.
“What now?” Hannah says as we walk towards the main exit. It’s sunny outside, but somehow it feels like we’re going to be stepping out into the unknown. Unknown territory, at least. I don’t even remember what it feels like to be poor!
I look at my gold Rolex. Then I pull out my billfold and count my cash. “I assume our credit cards won’t work,” I say. “How much cash you carrying?”
Hannah shrugs. “A few hundred. Less than a thousand, for sure.”
I nod as I add things up. “And we have about thirty thousand between the two of us in those two small accounts that Mother and Father unlocked. Plus this watch. We can pawn it for a ring. I’ll try calling Ingram on the way, but worst case we can grab a witness at City Hall.”
“City Hall?” she says, blinking and then stiffening when she realizes what I’m talking about. “Are we . . . is this . . . are you . . .”
“Yes, yes, and yes,” I say firmly, putting on my shades as we step out into the sun. “In it to win it, baby.”
“I thought you said we already won,” Hannah says as I hail a taxi. My car is with the valet, and I doubt Mother and Father managed to lock that down. But I don’t bother to even check, because I’m getting a weird kick out of what’s happening here.
I look over at Hannah as we pull up to the pawn shop, and I see the excitement in her brown eyes. There’s something going on here, but this time it’s within us, not in the outside world. It’s this feeling of stepping into a totally new life, a life that we never dreamed of experiencing firsthand. It’s scary as fuck, but also exciting as hell, and I feel it in the air as we trade in my Rolex for two gently-used rings and scamper back to the taxi like bank robbers who just scored big.
I don’t even bother to call Ingram as we pull up to City Hall. Instead I hold out a hundred to a toothless homeless guy who’s sitting on the curb with his dog. The dog wags his tail at us, and I nod and shrug.
“Yeah, you’re invited too,” I say to the dog. “Try not to hump the judge’s leg.”
/> 8
NINE MONTHS LATER
HANNAH
“He tried to hump the mailman’s leg again,” I say to Hayes the moment the front door to our studio apartment swings open. “We need to get him fixed.”
Hayes smiles at the dog, who’s been with us since our wedding day. The homeless guy insisted we take the critter as a wedding gift, and it was only later we found out that it wasn’t even his dog.
“Next thing you’ll be wanting to get me fixed,” Hayes grunts, letting the dog lick his face. A moment later Hayes is licking my face, and I scrunch up my nose and protect my pregnant belly as Hayes slides onto the couch with me.
I laugh and then ruffle my husband’s hair as he lifts up my top and kisses my belly. I know we aren’t getting the dog fixed. We aren’t getting anything fixed, actually.
Because there’s nothing to fix.
Everything’s perfect.
Perfect like a hurricane that destroys everything, returning the land to its natural state, setting the scene for life to begin anew.
Though of course the first few months were hard for both of us. The giddiness of the wedding disappeared just like the thirty thousand dollars we had left. And when we finally turned our attention back to reclaiming our millions and billions, both of us hoping that the “game” was done, that Mother and Father would flip the switch and turn the fucking lights back on for us, we found out that the game was either still on or wasn’t a game at all.
“What do you mean you no longer work for me?” I’d snapped at my accountant. “Well, I’ll pay you when you find my fucking money! Hello? Hello?”
Hayes got the same responses from his guys, and when we went over to his mansion in a gated subdivision in the hills, we weren’t even allowed past the main gate! Turned out Hayes’s mansion had been seized by the IRS and auctioned off to pay a massive tax debt that Hayes swears isn’t real—or wasn’t real a few months ago, at least.
My own properties suffered the same fate, and as things were stripped away, so was our belief that if we just made Mother and Father “approve,” everything would magically come back.
Billionaire's Curvy Arrangement Page 4
