Billionaire's Bounty (Plus Size Loving) BBW Erotic Romance

by Adriana Hunter

  “You selfish brat,” he’d said coldly, eyes narrowing down at her. “All you think about is what’s best for you. You never cared about what happened, it never bothered you that dad lost control of the company he’d spent almost all his life to build. When mother died years ago, the company became his life. All I asked was for you to do one simple thing, be nice to a prospective financier, and you blew it.” His expression was furious.

  “Kirk is not even picking up my calls now. He’s not interested in hearing any of my proposals. Way to go, sis. You’ve been a great help, as always.”

  “But what had you expected of me? Why do I have to be offered up like a…a vestal sacrifice just so you could get what you want?”

  “Not what I want,” Jeffery bit out, his eyes hardening, “But what’s best for the family. If we can get back on track, then dad can come home, piece his life back together. The takeover of the company broke him, Miranda. You know that. And it’s the only thing that can bring him back.”

  With that, he’d shaken his head exasperatedly at her, and then swiveled around to leave the room.

  “I’m sorry, Jeff,” she said quietly, and he turned around with a look of that cut through her heart.

  “That’s just not good enough,” was his soft reply, and then he was gone.

  Now, back in the present, Miranda couldn’t help staring at the face on the cover page. He was the sexiest – and most dangerous – man she’d ever met. And they’d danced, flirted…his eyes had blazed with a dark heat she’d been powerless to ignore. No man had ever looked at her like that. It had thrilled yet frightened her – scared her to know that she had felt the very same; she’d been open to any of his overtures or propositions.

  And she wondered…if she hadn’t been so rash and quick to damn him, could she have used her position to an advantage? He’d desired her; she could feel it coming across in waves. If she’d had any kind of sense, she could have used it as leverage of some sort…

  But then Miranda snorted at herself. What did she know about leverage and all that kind of stuff? What did she know about men, period? She was twenty-five, not exactly a cherub, but far from experienced when it came to the male species. She didn’t even have a boyfriend. Not recently, anyway. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been on a proper date.

  Miranda had never tried to “conform” herself with what others thought or said about her. She felt fine with her looks; she loved her full figure, and made sure she stayed fit and healthy without needed to go on a starvation regime just to fit in. She made sure she took care of her appearance, and knew that though she may never fit certain people’s mold of what was the ‘perfect’ shape or size, she was happy with herself.

  Friends kept trying to hook her up, but Miranda had just not met anyone who could vaguely catch her interest.

  That was why she’d been so unprepared with Jude Stone. He was far, far different from any of the guys in college she’d known. His charisma had a steel-sharp edge, one she knew could cut deep if she came too close.

  Well, that wasn’t going to happen, she knew. Once she’d established who he was, any chance of a “dalliance” was totally scrapped – permanently.

  Sighing deeply and telling herself she felt not a single twinge of regret, Miranda turned away from the window as the phone on her desk began to ring. It was Heather, her secretary.

  “There’s a Carly Johnson here to see you. Should I let her in?”

  The name didn’t sound familiar, and Miranda frowned. “Just what does she want?”

  “She says she’s here on a private matter.” Heather paused, then added, “She’s Jude Stone’s personal assistant.”

  Miranda blinked in surprise, and then tried to calm the now unsteady beat in her chest. Finally, she said calmly enough. “I’d like to see her. Send her in, Heather. Thank you.”

  Miranda was seated behind her desk when the woman came into her office. She was lovely, slim and efficient-looking. She had a small smile on her face as she held a folder in her hand. Miranda took note of the wedding finger on her left hand, and wondered why she would be conscious of a detail like that. Jude Stone had a very pretty, attractive-looking female personal assistant – who was married. For some reason, that seemed like an interesting point to ponder.

  “Thank you for agreeing to meet me, Miss Quinn,” the woman called Carly Johnson said with a charming smile as she took the seat Miranda indicated, in front of the desk.

  “It was strictly out of curiosity, Miss Johnson,” Miranda said coolly. “Not courtesy. I simply want to find out what in the world I could have to do with Jude Stone’s personal assistant.”

  “I’m here to make an offer, Miss Quinn,” Carly Johnson said, her smile still easy, full of charm. “And to discuss terms.”

  “An offer? Terms?” Miranda huffed, sitting back in her chair. “I can’t imagine I understand what on earth you’re talking about.”

  Carly’s eyes fell to the magazine placed on the desk in front of her, her smiling curving higher when she saw the face on the cover. And then she looked up shrewdly at Miranda, who had followed her gaze and seemed to grow slightly pink in the cheeks.

  “For some reason, Miss Quinn, I think you do….”

  ***

  “Hello, Miranda.”

  He was standing there, at the table in the very prestigious restaurant, a slant in his smile. Miranda looked at him, and felt a strange pang. He looked no less devastating than that first night they’d met. If anything, he seemed all the more lethal now that there weren’t that many distractions around them, just the few other patrons in the ultra elegant restaurant.

  “Jude,” she nodded slightly in return, clutching her small purse in front of her.

  “You look ravishing,” he said deeply, his eyes never leaving hers for a moment. She swallowed imperceptibly. Why did she feel so many mixed emotions when he looked at her that way? She wanted, dearly needed, to loathe him. She wasn’t even supposed to be here.

  But here she was, meeting Jude Stone. When his PA Carly had come to see her, Miranda had sworn to herself there could be nothing they could have to discuss. Turned out she was wrong.

  “Thank you,” she said, all composure now as she took the seat held out by the hovering waiter. She remembered her inner vow back at the office when she’d agreed with Carly to meet him. Her plan was to come, listen to what he had to say, and then leave. There was no harm, she’d decided, in hearing him out.

  Some minutes later, their orders made, Miranda was speared once more by his piercing, darkly gleaming eyes. “I wasn’t quite sure, until I saw you walking in the door, that you’d come.”

  “Your assistant was very…convincing,” Miranda murmured, taking a sip of her wine as she stalled for time. She quelled herself to lift her eyes to hold his gaze again. “On one part, at least. My coming here…was just to find out for myself if this all wasn’t just some crazy ruse. To look you in the eye and discover if it’s really true what she said. That you’re willing to hand back the company on a platter.”

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t make the offer if it wasn’t possible, Miranda. I don’t make empty promises.”

  “But why would you do that? Why would you even want to?”

  She couldn’t keep the confusion from her tone, and saw him smile. “Why? Do you really need to ask? Miranda, have you looked in a mirror? I mean, really?” His smile widened as her discomfort increased, her neck flushing. His eyes scanned her swiftly, and it was like a laser passing over her skin.

  “I want you,” he said simply, shrugging one hard-packed shoulder. “Right from the moment I set eyes on you, I knew exactly how it could be between us. Everything about you, your sexy curvy body, your feminine air of assertiveness, showed me that you were just the type of woman with the power to drive me wild.”

  Miranda chewed on her lip, wondering if her complexion was ever going to shift back from pink to normal. “That doesn’t explain why you’re willing to give up a company you’d t
aken such time, effort and resources to acquire in the first place. I mean, who does that?”

  He lifted his shoulders in a Gallic shrug. “That’s just me. Nothing stands in the way of getting what I want."

  His fingers were drumming lightly on the tablecloth, and Miranda felt her eyes unable to shift from his intense gaze. Each word seemed to scald unto her senses like hot wax.

  “What I’m trying to say, Miranda is that we have this thing in the way, keeping us apart. And I’m willing to make the obstacle disappear, if that’s what it’ll take.”

  “So you’re trying to buy me, is that it? My body for the company.” Miranda’s tone was conversational, meant to hide the turmoil within her. “How dare you think I can be bought?”

  “It’s not about buying anyone,” he said with equal mildness, eyes narrowing to slits. “It’s about give and take. Something I’m sure you can understand plainly.”

  She watched him coolly take a sip of his wine, and she shivered deep inside. It was becoming clear to her that the man called Jude Stone was calm and calculating in every way – even in matters that were nothing to do with business. Here he was, methodically asking her to give him her body in exchange for returning power of her father’s company to her family. How was she meant to wrap her head around that?

  “Oh, I do understand. Perfectly,” she said at last. “I understand that just because you have all that money and power, it means you can acquire whatever you want. But you seem to have the erroneous belief that the only reason I’m resisting you is simply because of the way you took over my father’s company. Has it ever occurred to you that you’re actually not my type? Even without all this bad blood between you and my family, I still wouldn’t be tempted to have anything to do with you. You’re cold, calculating and cocky. Definitely not my kind of man at all.”

  There was a disbelieving look in his eye that made her grit her teeth. “You can tell yourself all the lies you want, Miranda. But if you decide to refuse my offer, then you’re not the smart woman I first thought you to be. Besides – I can’t seem to credit your claim that I’m so loathsome to you. If I remember correctly, you were melting in my arms well enough that night.”

  Her lips tilted slightly in a sardonic smile, though once again, he made a pinkness rise in her face. “I guess you’re free to tell yourself all the lies you want,” she murmured, throwing his earlier words back at him. She raised her glass of wine to her lips, noting the slight tremble in her fingers. Damn it! How could she be letting him get to her this way? She could keep putting up the act but she knew in her heart she was no match for him when it came right down to it. Perhaps it was time she stopped thinking she could best him – because it wasn’t going to happen.

  “It was a mistake to come here,” she mumbled, laying down the glass and reaching for her purse.

  “Your father hasn’t been well, has he?” Jude asked in an unhurried tone, making her pause unconsciously. His eyes were downcast, his expression veiled by his dark, enviously thick lashes. “From what I hear, he’s taken an extended holiday somewhere in Rio de Janeiro. He took the loss of the company very hard, I must imagine. And then there’s your brother, well-meaning but still, misguided. Trying to find ways to set things right but lacking the capital and the cunning.”

  “Now look –”

  “No, you look, Miranda,” he said, his voice chilling unexpectedly as he flashed his aqua-blue eyes to meet hers. “With just one word, you can make both their troubles go away. You could be the family heroine, doing what needs to be done to set things right. This might be the only chance available for the Quinn name to save face and get back on the ground. And all this with little or no cost to anyone.”

  “Hearing you talk, one would think you were asking to do all this for nothing,” she couldn’t help but sneer, jarred by his cold facts.

  Jude smiled slightly, relaxing back in his chair. “One week, Miranda. That’s all that’s required. I will be leaving for London in two days on a weeklong business trip. I will want you with me. To be at my beck and call, in a manner of speaking. Pleasing me in every way that I know that you can. Giving yourself to me again and again, with the same passion and desire that ignited between us that first moment we came face to face. I know you felt it – though you deny it with your eyes and lips, I know the truth. You want me just as badly. I’m simply making it easier for you this way.”

  Miranda wanted to think up something cutting and sarcastic to say, but couldn’t. Besides, the waiter had reappeared with their first course, and she had to bite back any retort. Just thinking about his proposition: one week alone with him in another city, there to satisfy his every whim. And in return, the company would be her family’s again. Her father could come home. Her brother Jeffery would have the weight off his shoulders that had turned him into such a mass of worry the past few months.

  In short, Jude Stone was presenting her an offer that was almost too good to be true.

  And one she might forever regret not taking up when she had the chance...

  ***

  Miranda still had that funny feeling everything that was happening was actually happening to someone else, not her. It was two days later and she was on her way to London with Jude Stone. He had a private jet – or course. And they had left the city two hours ago, en route to London. It was happening; she was officially taking the biggest, wildest step she’d ever taken in her life.

  Once she’d agreed to go along with his scheme, everything seemed to have happened in a blur. She’d barely had the time or even the presence of mind to pack. In any case, Jude had already made it clear that she wouldn’t need that many clothes anyway.

  He was seated across from her on the jet, looking through some papers. Next to him was his trusted PA, Carly. Their words as they discussed seemed to pass over Miranda’s head in a fog.

  I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought. But she was doing it. She was on her way to London with Jude to be his sexual plaything for a week. By day he would do his business deals, and by night, she was to be willing and ready to fulfil every one of his perverted desires.

  In her slim case, which lay on the seat beside her, was her copy of the papers that would Jude would sign by the end of their weeklong arrangement. With his signature, the company would be handed back to her father. Her family would be okay again, and everything would be back to normal.

  And yet, was that the only reason she was here?

  Miranda knew she would be lying if she said that. She looked surreptitiously at Jude, dressed impeccably as always in his sharp-fitting, stylish suit, hair waving in sleek golden locks across his forehead. He was all business, not sparing her much attention beyond asking if she wanted more champagne, or another tasteful, perfectly prepared dish to be provided by the on-flight chef.

  Funny how the moment she’d accepted his highly unconventional, fiendish proposition, he’d seemed to cool off into his untouchable persona. Almost as if, now that he knew the deal was in the bag, so to speak, he’d virtually lost interest.

  The very notion pricked. Which was annoying in itself. What had she expected, that he’d be drooling over her? He’d made an offer, she’d taken it. This was merely business, just like all the other corporate schemes he negotiated every single day. The sooner she phased herself into that concept, the easier this ordeal would be.

  Ordeal...well, that was what she’d like to tell herself this was going to be. Spending a whole week with the billionaire hunk Jude Stone – a man she was supposed to hate with all her mind and body – was going to be a chore, certainly. A man who treated everything, even people, like commodities to be priced and tagged. How on earth could she stand to be so objectified, agreeing to play the part of his paramour for seven whole days?

  Miranda thought of the letter she’d left, on her brother’s desk. It had been vague somewhat, but she’d tried as best as she could to explain her decision. “Jude Stone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she’d written. “I’m off to London
with him for a week. I’m trying to do what’s best for the family, and not just me, this time. I sure hope it will be good enough.”

  She wondered what he would make of it – but then she didn’t really care. She was showing him in her own way that she was far from the selfish brat he thought she was.

  Here she was, willing to take the bullet for the team. That had to count for something.

  She sighed deeply, turning to look out of the window, her heart torn between heaviness and a strange, twisting excitement at what was to come. And then she felt it.

  It was a warm, tingling sensation, and it grew stronger by the second. She turned her gaze instinctively in Jude’s direction, and had to suck in a breath.

  He was looking at her. It was just a brief glance, lasting no more than five seconds at most. But in that one look, she’d felt transported right into his mind, saw the blazing gleam that darkened his aqua-blue eyes almost to navy. It was a look so bad, so ferociously filthy, that she had no doubts of exactly the thoughts going through his head in those moments.

  And for the first time in her life, Miranda now could understand the feeling like her clothes were being stripped off her, in a trice. Knew what it meant to be desired so deeply that she could taste his want on the tip of her tongue; could almost catch a heady whiff of it in the air as their eyes held for those brief, searing seconds.

  In that one, long, lasing look at her, she had a glimpse of the hot, blinding flash of lust that reminded her exactly why she was here – and left her in no more doubt as to whether he’d cooled off interest. Now she knew that was far, far from the truth. The spell was broken when he turned once more to Carly, who had been busy reading out a paragraph from the papers in her hand and had been blissfully unaware of the very heated exchange that had just been made between Jude and Miranda. He was back to being business-like Jude, his tone crisp as he pointed out a line to Carly on the document.