Billie leaned down and took a deep whiff of one of the roses, but he wanted to bury his nose in her hair and inhale her delicious scent. “Candlelight and board games. You really did think this through. I love it.”
“Curtis did all the work,” he had to admit. It was only fair.
“It was your plan, and you were kind of busy today. I think I can cut you some slack. Signing all those autographs today. I heard you even signed a set of world-class knockers too. That must have been fun.”
Damn. How quickly had that made social media?
He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and he opened his mouth to explain but she was already shaking her head. “I was just busting your balls a little bit. I know you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I assume there was video,” he said, relieved she wasn’t mad. He’d tried to be…delicate. Professional.
“More than one,” she confirmed with a smirk, checking the chilling bottle. “You did good. You managed to fulfill her request without touching her once. I think she was disappointed, though.”
Amber had been a bit miffed when she’d walked off but honestly what had she thought was going to happen? That he was going to sign her boobs and fall instantly and madly in love? Kirby might do that but Tyler was too damn old.
“I’m not worried about that girl. I was worried about your reaction.”
“If you wanted to be with that girl then that’s where you’d be. Not here.” She wiped off the chilled bottle with a small towel draped over the ice bucket and then handed it to him. “Can you open this? I think we should make a toast.”
He was happy to do that. As usual Billie was practical and no nonsense. “What are we drinking to?”
She held up the champagne flutes. “To being a team. No…to being a family.”
Soon they’d be husband and wife but he and Billie already had a bond that went beyond friendship. But her saying it meant more than just words. She wasn’t running from this and him anymore. He could see it in her eyes. She was here and she was committed.
“I’ll drink to that.” The cork popped out and he poured two glasses of the sparkling juice, handing one to Billie. They clinked glasses. Twice. “Here’s to you, me, and family. We’re a team, Billie. I’ll always be there for you no matter what.”
“I’ll always be there for you,” Billie echoed taking a sip of the golden liquid. “This is pretty good for grape juice.”
“Hey, this is the best sparkling grape juice money can buy,” Tyler laughed. “I spared no expense for my best girl.”
“Your only girl.”
That didn’t bother him in the least. Billie was all he needed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Their celebration had all the earmarks of a seduction. Gaylord-style. Roses. Fake champagne. Candlelight and soft music. An amazing dinner. The only thing out of place was the Monopoly game, but then he wasn’t a Lothario in the traditional sense. He didn’t need to try very hard.
A few days ago Billie might have called him out on his surprise but tonight she felt no such urge. This heat that had been shimmering between them was pushing them together, slowly but surely. She could kick and scream, fight it until she was exhausted but deep down that wasn’t what she wanted. She’d crossed over last night into a scary no-man’s land but turning back was impossible. Something inside of her had been awakened after his kiss and pretending they were just buddies wasn’t something she could do anymore.
They were a couple now, and she wanted to see what being Tyler’s woman would be like.
She didn’t however want to make it too easy for him. Knowing Tyler as she did, he appreciated things more when he had to work for them at least a little bit. She wanted to draw this seduction out and enjoy it as much as possible.
She stood from her chair at the dining table and went to retrieve the Monopoly box, holding it up for his inspection.
“How about a game while we eat our dessert?”
The chef had prepared a decadent chocolate cake to go with the chateaubriand and the garlic twice baked potatoes and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. Every bite had melted in her mouth and made her taste buds dance.
“You want to play, babe?” His blue twinkled and he seemed to be in a playful mood. “We can do that.”
Tyler pushed the dishes aside while Billie set up the game. It started the usual way but tonight it was more difficult to focus. She was distracted by his deep chuckle and his hands when he moved his token around the board. She’d never noticed before but he had a small scar on his thumb and a patch of freckles behind his elbow. Every single thing about him had become fascinating, making it tough to function in the real world.
As usual, Tyler bought every single thing he landed on while she was more cautious with her cash. When she landed on Boardwalk she easily had the money to purchase the property. Three turns later she landed on Park Place and she was off to the races. Tyler didn’t stand a chance as she began building a hotel empire. Thirty minutes later he surrendered his yellow properties to pay for rent and she began building there too with hotels on all three spaces.
“I’m screwed,” he groaned as he palmed the dice for his turn. His token was about to go through some dangerous territory and one wrong roll could almost wipe him out. “You’re a shark when you get the lead, baby. Have a little mercy.”
“Cry to your mama. Come on, roll the dice.”
Shaking his head and laughing, Tyler tossed down the two dice and they skittered across the board, stopping right by the Community Chest cards. He’d rolled a ten.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m fucked.”
Indeed, Tyler was in a sticky situation. He’d landed on Park Place and owed her big. Clearly he didn’t have enough cash – again – to pay. Billie was eyeing his two red properties. If he gave her those, she could build more hotels. But that would still be letting him off easy.
He held up two one hundred dollar bills. “This is all I have.”
“That is not all you have.” She tapped his property cards. “You’ve got some valuable real estate.”
Rubbing his chin, he appeared to be delaying, hoping for a reprieve. “If I hand over those properties I might as well just fold my tent and go home. It will be all but done.”
“You don’t know that for sure. You could make a big comeback.”
He eyed the board and then her mountain of cash. “Just how do you think I would manage that? Steal your money when you’re not looking?”
Ha. Like that would happen. She was always watching him, especially tonight.
“How about…?” Billie considered his situation and wanted to be merciful. “Both of your red properties and I’ll let you keep your cash.”
“How about,” Tyler countered immediately, “I give you one red property, one hundred dollars, and…the shirt off of my back.”
Wait. What? Tyler was offering his shirt? For real? She hadn’t seen that coming. Honestly she thought he’d be much more subtle about his seduction but now he was basically offering to strip for her.
When she really thought about it, a traditional seduction simply didn’t make sense. They had too much history as friends. But there was something more when she looked into Tyler’s eyes.
He was nervous.
Tyler Gaylord – sex god and movie star – was afraid of being rejected. For good reason too, because she’d been hot and cold since the day she’d agreed to this crazy engagement. He thought she might say no so he’d thrown out a goofy offer so if she turned him down he could play it off like it was part of the game.
So Billie had two choices. Refuse his shirt and demand both properties. They’d go to bed together but still very separate, the sexual tension still building between them. She wouldn’t have to deal with the reality of this relationship for at least another day and could sit back and pretend nothing had changed. Or she could throw caution to the wind. Something that did not come naturally to her. Her entire life she’d needed to always think a
head, be careful, strategic. Living wild and free was something other people did, but not her. Frankly, she didn’t know if she had the courage. Once she said yes, nothing would ever be the same.
Too late. It’s not the same now.
If she’d learned anything in her life it was that she had to move forward. Looking back over her shoulder and pining for what might have been wasn’t the answer. There could be no room for doubts.
She stuck out her hand and wiggled her fingers in a come-hither motion. “Hand it over then.”
Before I change my mind.
Tyler didn’t move at first but then a slow smile crossed his gorgeous face and his blue eyes darkened with…desire? Lust? The pupils were blown wide.
Tugging the cotton t-shirt over his head, he placed the garment in her outstretched hand. His scent hit her immediately as she tossed it casually over her shoulder. Her mouth went dry at the display of manly attributes before her. His chest was wide, his stomach flat, and the skin golden from the California sun. There was just a sprinkling of hair around his pectorals and then lower on his abdomen, a treasure trail that disappeared under the waistband of his jeans. Her fingers itched to reach out and explore it, find out if it was as silky as it looked.
Her palms began to sweat and she had to concentrate on her lips and tongue to be able to speak. “You still owe me a red property and a hundred bucks.”
Chuckling, he retrieved the rent but didn’t set it on the table, instead holding it out so she had to reach for it, their fingers brushing.
Billie wouldn’t have been surprised if sparks had actually flown from their flesh where they touched. Her hand visibly trembling, she shoved the card and the money to the side as her stomach tumbled and twisted in her middle. The chocolate cake suddenly seemed like a bad idea. Tyler would have to be blind not to see her turmoil and she wasn’t in the habit of disguising her emotions with him anyway.
Tyler held out the dice. “Your turn.”
This time she held out her hand, palm up so he could dump the dice into it. Distracted, they played a few more turns but the next time Tyler landed on one of her properties with a hotel he only had fifty dollars.
At this point, the sexual tension was sky high and the temperature in the room felt like it was a hundred degrees. She was hot and bothered, and all she wanted to do was open the window and hang her head out to get a lungful of fresh air. She’d had to set his shirt aside because whenever she inhaled she was getting a hit of Tyler that made her head swim.
“Looks like I’m busted,” he said, holding his lone fifty dollar bill. “Unless you’re willing to make a deal.”
“I’m listening,” she said, her voice coming out like a frog’s croak.
Just take the pants off, dammit.
Billie hadn’t had sex in almost a year and now she was acting like some sex-starved female, panting after a hot guy. The intimate act had never been all that important to her, frankly. She’d enjoyed it but she hadn’t screamed anyone’s name when she orgasmed or felt the earth move under the bed. Sex was good and nice, and she liked the closeness. Not once in her life had she fantasized about ripping off a man’s jeans and kissing whatever she bared.
Not once. Until tonight.
Now it was all she could think about. She’d seen Tyler in various states of undress many times over the last five years and it had never affected her the way just seeing him without a shirt did now. He wasn’t a modest man and he’d done partial nudity in his movies but this would be different. Tonight he would be all hers.
Leaning forward, his lips hovered mere inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek and she reached out, running her fingertips over his stubbled jaw.
“Perhaps we can work out a deal that will be mutually beneficial.”
Tyler’s voice dripped sex and the promise of pleasure to come.
Enjoy it.
Dinah’s words echoed in Billie’s head and for maybe the first time in her life she tossed away all of her inhibitions and grabbed the brass ring.
“It’s going to cost you,” she said, her own tone breathless and needy. He couldn’t have failed to notice her own arousal. Her cheeks were hot and her hand had wandered down his neck to his chest where it had splayed out over his heart, feeling it thud strongly under her palm.
“I’m ready to pay the price. Are you?”
Yes. A million times yes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Tyler had been half-aroused pretty much every single minute since last night’s kiss but the moment Billie had intimated that she’d make love with him he’d gone from half-mast to full-on ramrod hard in a flash. Heat flooded his veins and his heart thudded painfully against his ribcage.
He was fucking nervous. This was Billie, and for the first time in recent memory, sex was going to mean something. This wasn’t some passing physical attraction where they’d both get their freak on and then go their separate ways in the morning, never to lay eyes on each other again. This was more and she was everything he’d ever wanted.
Whoa. What the hell was that about?
He’d felt a momentary twinge of fear, like a noose tightening around his neck but then he’d thought about Billie and how it was all better when she was around. She truly was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and she was going to be his wife. The noose had slipped from his neck and wrapped painfully around his heart, squeezing to the point he could barely take a breath.
The relationship that had started out as fake and manufactured had morphed into something far different and more wonderful. This was what was supposed to happen all along. He and Billie were meant to make love.
What that meant down the road he didn’t ponder. This was big enough and he wasn’t quite ready to deal with the implications of making his best friend his lover. She’d said they would change and she’d been right. More than he’d ever imagined. He simply hadn’t thought it would be so good.
Lifting her from her seat, he set her on the table, insinuating himself between her thighs as his lips descended, capturing hers in a soul-destroying kiss. Her mouth was like velvet and he couldn’t get enough, his thirst for her unquenchable. She tasted like chocolate and sin as she returned his kiss with equal fervor. His hand cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her long hair, the strands wrapping around his fingers.
A mewling sound escaped her lips as a groan was torn from his own throat. This encounter was going entirely too quickly. Billie deserved far more than a quick coupling on the dining room table like animals. She needed gentle wooing, soft kisses, tender caresses, but his inner beast was growling and roaring, exhorting him to claim and conquer.
Pushing the neckline of her blouse aside, he trailed wet kisses over her jaw and down her neck to the spot where her pulse beat madly under his lips. He nipped at the sensitive flesh of her shoulder, feeling her tremble in his arms. The exposed portion of her bra wasn’t plain white cotton but it wasn’t black lace either. In true Billie fashion, it was a pale, delicate pink with lace edging along the cups. Not able to help himself, he ran his tongue along that lace, wringing a gasp from her full rosy lips.
“Do you like that, baby?” he asked, his face buried in the valley between her breasts, inhaling the delectable combination of coconut and vanilla. Breathing in her heady scent, he marveled that Billie didn’t need sexy lingerie or expensive perfumes to turn him on. All he needed was her. “Do you want more?”
She made a sweet sound in her throat but no words came, instead nodding her head as her fingers trailed up his spine. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, the pupils blown wide with arousal. If he had any doubts that she was as affected by him as he was of her, they were gone completely. Her hair was mussed by his hands, her clothes askew. She looked wanton and wanting, giving him a look he was sure was as old as time. His cock ached with need but tonight of all nights he wouldn’t be giving into its demand so easily. He wanted to make this evening special for Billie.
Mostly he didn’t
want her to have any regrets in the morning.
Scooping her into his arms bridal style he carried her into the bedroom section of the suite, laying her on the bed before pulling down the covers to expose the snowy white sheet underneath. Her green eyes glowing, Billie reclined on the pillows and held out her arms to him.
The wave of emotion that rolled over him was so strong he almost fell to his knees.
“Come to bed with me, Tyler.”
* * *
Tyler didn’t join Billie on the bed right away. To her breathless delight, he stripped off the rest of his clothes first, starting with those faded but sinfully wonderful blue jeans and ending with the black boxers and white cotton socks. Crawling over her, she allowed herself the luxury to truly study him, something she hadn’t ever allowed herself to do before.
Too good to be true. That’s the only way she could sum him up in mere words. The alphabet hadn’t yet been invented that did his male beauty justice and at the moment she couldn’t form real words or sentences anyway. Tyler was an athletic man and would have been whether he was an actor or not. Consequently, his body was all muscles, flat in some places and curved or ridged in others. That treasure trail she’d spied earlier during the game called to her and she could see that it ended at the base of his impressive cock, hard and long against his stomach.
She wasn’t even aware she’d reached out until her fingertips were tracing the purple veins under the soft skin. Teasing the underside, she was rewarded with a ragged moan sounding from somewhere deep inside of Tyler and his enjoyment of her exploration made her even bolder. Sitting up, she replaced her fingers with her tongue delighting in the gasps and moans her ministrations wrought from this man she’d thought she’d known so well.
But here in this intimate moment, just the two of them, Billie was aware that this was a part of him she’d never seen. The vulnerable male hungry for pleasure. Greedy for…her. Her need was just as urgent for him and she realized that he too was seeing a part of her that she’d never shown before. This was more than stripping off clothes. They were removing the masks of civilization that they wore for the real world and allowing their instincts to take control.
Wild on the Red Carpet (The Hollywood Showmance Chronicles Book 3) Page 17
