The Billionaire’s Pet (A 'Scandals of the Bad Boy Billionaires' Romance)

by Ivy Layne

  I closed my eyes, letting him guide me across the hall to the elevator. There were a lot of things I wanted to argue about, but if Jacob didn't want me to see the hallway, I wouldn't fight him. Common sense told me that nothing good had happened to the guards on my door. Not if Big John had managed to break into the penthouse.

  "The fire?" I asked as we descended to the garage.

  "Mostly smoke damage. Only minor injuries."

  "And the Sinclair team?"

  Jacob didn't answer, just let out a breath, his arm tightening around me. Finally, he said, "One down. Three guys are in the hospital, one in critical condition. No one you know."

  I felt sick at the idea that men had died and been injured because of my mess. I knew Big John had done the damage, not me, but they wouldn't have been anywhere near him if I hadn't gone to Jacob. I fell silent as we got in the car and drove north to the Winters estate in Buckhead. I'd never been there before, but I'd heard about it. This late at night, it was a quick ride from Jacob's building.

  He stopped the car in front of black iron gates that remained shut until he reached above his head to the visor and pressed a button on what looked like a garage door opener. The gates swung open smoothly, closing as soon as we cleared the entrance. I couldn't see much of the grounds in the dark, but the driveway wound up to the house, lined with live oaks arching over the road, every other tree lit with strategically placed spotlights.

  We reached a second gate, this one also black iron, but more delicate, blocking the entrance to a porte cochere. Jacob hit another button on the remote on his visor, and this gate opened as well. We drove through the porte cochere into a square courtyard with a lit fountain at the center. Looking around, I realized that the Mediterranean style house surrounded the courtyard on all four sides.

  The largest section, with a huge carved wooden double-door, was two full stories, while the other sides of the square were only one, wrapping around the courtyard with covered galleries, tall windows, and French doors. I'd guessed that the Winters estate would be big, but this was beyond my expectations, and I'd been raised around the wealthy of Atlanta. I couldn't begin to guess at the square footage. I'd seen hotels that were smaller.

  I was a little awed as Jacob parked the car and came around to let me out. "I'll get our bags and move the car later," he said. I looked up to see his brother, Aiden, standing in the entrance to the house, his height dwarfed by the tall double doors.

  "Don't worry about it," Aiden said. "Your rooms are ready for you, and there's a tray of sandwiches and tea. Just settle in and relax. We can talk in the morning." To me, he said, "I'm glad to see you're well, Abigail."

  My manners kicked in, and I said, "Thank you for having me." Aiden smiled, stepping back to hold the heavy door open for us.

  "This will always be Jacob's home, even if he doesn't live here."

  "See you tomorrow," Jacob said to his brother, whisking me out of the main entry and down a high-ceilinged hallway.

  We turned a corner, and he stopped before a set of carved wooden doors that mimicked the front doors, but smaller in scale. Opening the doors, he ushered me into a sitting room that reminded me of his penthouse. Elegant but comfortable, with creamy walls and dark woodwork, the sitting room had a small desk, a huge flat screen on the wall, a gas fireplace, and a deep leather couch that made me want to curl up with a book. Off to one side, an open door revealed a bedroom, the crisp white sheets on the bed already turned down.

  Spotting the tray of food on the desk, I said, "Do you want something to eat? I don't know if you got dinner—" I babbled, suddenly nervous to face Jacob after our argument earlier.

  "Abigail," Jacob interrupted, taking my hand and leading me to the couch. "I have some things I need to say, and I want you to let me talk before you tell me what's on your mind."

  I nodded, bracing myself for what might be coming. I tried to take a deep breath to settle my nerves, my lungs tight. Accusations from our ugly fight pinged through my head. So much had been wrong between us. I waited for Jacob to say something. He shifted on the couch and took a deep breath of his own. Was Jacob nervous? What did Jacob have to be nervous about?

  "Abigail," he said, and stopped. When he opened his mouth again, words poured out, spilling over each other. "I created a trust for your mother. For her care. It's irrevocable, and it pays for medical and living expenses for the rest of her life."

  I stared at him, too tired and anxious to keep up. "I don't understand. A trust?"

  "No matter what happens between us, you never have to worry about your mother again. If you decide to walk out the door, whatever you want, she's taken care of."

  "Why?" I asked, both terrified and thrilled at the gesture. "Why would you do that?" He was talking about a lot of money. A lot. So much that trying to cover the expense had nearly destroyed my life.

  "Abigail," he said again, looking uncomfortable, his eyes moving around the room before coming back to meet mine. Leaning forward, he took my hands in his and said, "I love you. I did it because I love you. And I want you with me because you love me too, not because you need to take care of your mother." My fingers tightened on his in reflex as I tried to understand what he was saying. He loved me?

  "You love me?" I whispered, afraid to give voice to the words.

  "I love you," he said, his lips inches from mine.

  "Oh," I said stupidly. Love, I hadn't expected. Not from Jacob.

  "Abigail?"

  "Hmm?" I said, still trying to take it all in.

  "This is the part where you tell me you love me, too," Jacob said, his silver eyes glinting with amusement and a shade of nerves.

  "I do," I said, the words a breathy rush. I blushed a fiery red at my words. He was telling me he loved me. We weren't getting married. One thing at a time. "I love you," I said. "I've loved you since the beginning. I think I started falling for you before—" I stopped, unable to admit I'd had feelings for Jacob while I was still married to John.

  "Will you stay with me?" Jacob asked. "Move into the penthouse with me? Forget about the deal we made and just be with me because you want to?"

  "Yes. Yes, Jacob."

  Jacob leaned forward and kissed me, his mouth claiming mine in a thorough, endless kiss. I wound my arms around his neck, dizzy with joy and the need to touch him. Jacob Winters loved me. I'd known for a while that I was in love with him, but I hadn't dared to imagine he'd ever love me back. Not after the way we'd begun, with me trading my body for his protection.

  His hands slid under my camisole, pushing the material up and over my breasts slowly, baring me to his hot silver eyes. "Abigail," he murmured, lowering his head to take one hard nipple in his mouth. I arched into him, wondering if he'd thought to pack any of our toys. I'd find out later. Too impatient to wait, I unsnapped my jeans and shimmied them off, leaving me naked. If Jacob didn't get the hint and strip his own clothes off, I'd do it for him. Now that I didn't have to be afraid, I wanted nothing between us.

  He rubbed his cheek into the side of my breast. "I love you, Abigail. I'm sorry I couldn't say it sooner. But I love you. I loved you when I made this stupid deal with you. I just didn't know it yet."

  He stood, lifting me off the couch and carrying me to the king-sized bed in the other room. I lay on top of the covers, naked, waiting for him to join me and getting more aroused by the second. I loved watching Jacob get undressed. He shed his civility one layer at a time until all that remained was a hungry man who wanted to fuck me. His fingers unraveled his tie and his eyes burned. He was going slow just to tease me. If he didn't get a move on, I'd show him some teasing.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  "Fuck," Jacob said, pulling his tie free and tossing it on a nearby chair. "Don't move. I'll be right back."

  He drew the covers over my naked body before leaving the room. Tucked so sweetly into the bed, I rolled on my side, hoping Jacob wouldn't be long. I heard him open the door, the murmur of voices, then nothing at all.

  I w
oke sometime in the middle of the night to feel Jacob's body wrapped around mine, keeping me safe and protected, even in sleep. He loved me. Tears flooded my eyes as I replayed his confession the night before.

  He loved me.

  The best I'd hoped for was affection. Maybe to continue our affair once Big John was out of the picture. I hadn't dared to expect love. There would be people who would think I was reaching too high. I'd heard what William Davis had called me. Tainted. Jacob had been pissed, but in a way, William was right. According to the rules of the society we knew, I was tainted. If Jacob didn't care, neither would I.

  I would ignore the people who gossiped and make my own place in our world. Not as my parents’ daughter, John's widow, or Jacob's love. I'd make a place for myself as Abigail, and anyone who didn't like it could go to hell. With Jacob at my side, making something of the fragments of my life wasn't a scary thought. We loved each other. We could do anything.

  With that in mind, I rolled over, pushing Jacob to his back. I'd fallen asleep before we could get to the good part. My head was still tender, but it no longer ached. I rose onto my elbows and studied Jacob's naked body—the cut lines of his chest, his ridged abdomen, his narrow hips. Even in sleep, his cock was half-hard. Maybe it sensed what I was up to. Sliding down on the mattress, I rested my cheek on Jacob's hip, my lips an inch from the head of his swelling cock.

  I flicked out my tongue and tasted him, loving the musky, salty flavor that was all Jacob. I never imagined I'd love a man's cock, but Jacob's was all mine. Wiggling closer, I dropped my mouth over his length, his cock fully hard after my experimental lick. I nudged his legs apart, moving between them and taking him into my throat, my hands roaming, stroking every inch of skin I could reach while I sucked his cock with everything I had.

  "Abigail. Sweetheart," Jacob moaned, his fingers threading through my hair. "Fuck, baby." His hips bumped up, not hard enough to interrupt my rhythm, just enough to tell me he wasn't entirely in control. I sucked harder, drawing my lips up his length from base to tip, twisting as I went, until he let out a low moan. I'd had a lot of time to learn what drove Jacob crazy, and I was using it all, loving the sounds he made as he moved beneath me.

  It was all over a second later. Jacob jackknifed up and flipped us both, laying me out on the sheets and coming over me, his silver eyes gleaming with heat in the dark room. Gripping my leg behind my knee, he pushed back, opening me wide, and fucked his cock into me, filling me in one long thrust. I came in an explosion of light on his second thrust, my body trembling, my fingers locked on his shoulders. He slowed as my orgasm waned, then started thrusting again, slowly, building me up again until I teetered in the edge.

  "I love you, Abigail. More than anything. Always and forever. I love you." I parted my lips to tell him I loved him too, and he kissed me, his tongue tangling with mine, his mouth branding me as his. I fell into bliss, my body and heart holding Jacob close, far too in love to ever let him go.

  EPILOGUE

  ABIGAIL

  * * *

  One Month Later

  Life went back to normal a few days after Big John's attack at the penthouse. Well, it didn't go back to normal. Rather, Jacob and I made a new normal. With Big John out of the picture, I was free to visit my mother again. I was spending most of my days at Shaded Glenn, sitting by her bedside. She rarely woke, and when she did, she didn't know who I was. The end was coming. I knew it, but at least I'd be with her.

  I usually got home in time to make dinner, or like today, I cooked ahead of time. It had been a long day, but dinner was warming in the oven and I was curled up on the couch with a mug of tea, waiting for Jacob to pry himself free of the office. He worked late more often than not. I imagined once I finished school and got a job of my own, I'd have a few late nights myself. While I waited, I flipped through the course atlas for the upcoming semester.

  Without asking me, Jacob had put in an application to Emory and begun the process of having my credits transferred. High-handed, but I was used to that. Since I'd love to go to Emory and wasn't sure I had the grades to get accepted on my own, I wasn't going to argue. I had a position waiting for me as an intern in the Winters Foundation, so I could get the job experience I needed while I finished school. My start date was still undetermined. The way things were going with my mother, I didn't want to get invested in school and work. I wasn't sure how much time we had left, but I knew it wasn't much.

  The door to the penthouse opened and I got to my feet, carrying my tea with me to the foyer. Jacob dropped his gym bag on the floor—he'd played racquetball with Vance that morning—and came toward me, his lips curled in a smile.

  "Good day?" he asked, pulling me in for a kiss. I held my tea away from him so I didn't dump it on his suit and leaned into his kiss, breathing deeply of his familiar scent. The after work kiss was one of my favorite parts of being with Jacob. No matter how late he worked, I always got a kiss as soon as he walked in the door.

  "Long day, but good," I answered. "You?"

  Jacob took my tea and set it on the table in the foyer before backing me down the hall to the bedroom. "Good enough. Vance cancelled on racquetball, so I didn't get a workout in."

  "That's too bad," I said, laughing into his lips as he dropped another kiss on my mouth. He crowded me though the bedroom door, stripping off his suit as he walked.

  "You know, I don't like to miss a workout," he said, pushing his suit pants to the floor, his hard cock bouncing free, jutting aggressively in my direction.

  "I know," I said, my hands going to the zipper on my dress. All innocence, I asked, "Did you want me to work out with you?"

  "That's the idea," he growled, tossing me on the bed the second my dress pooled around my ankles. He was on me a heartbeat later, raising my arms to the discrete leather loops in the bed frame. "Hold on," he ordered. I did, gripping the leather hard as he pressed my thighs apart and swiped his tongue over my pussy. Sometimes, Jacob took the time to buckle me into the restraints, but other nights, like tonight, he was too impatient to bother. He knew he didn't have to strap me down. I had no problem following orders in bed. Not when they came from Jacob.

  I was already coming when he lined up his cock and sank inside me. Pulling on the leather restraints, I lifted my hips and wound my legs around Jacob, fucking him back as he filled me over and over. It didn't take long before orgasm took us both. Jacob rolled to the side, idly stroking his fingers over my breasts while I lay sated, loosely holding the leather loops.

  "Are you hungry?" I asked, my own stomach threatening to growl.

  "Not anymore," Jacob said, pressing a kiss to the side of my breast.

  "For food."

  "Oh, food. I could eat. What are we having?"

  Reluctantly, I let go of the restraints and rolled from the bed. After a quick stop in the bathroom to clean up, I headed for the kitchen, Jacob following behind.

  "I made a polenta casserole with sausage and mushrooms. Rachel gave me the recipe."

  "Sounds good." Jacob got the plates, and I dished out the meal, carrying it to the table while he poured us wine. Tonight, I was eating in my robe, as I often did. This wasn't the first time Jacob's after-work kiss had ended up in the bedroom. Some nights, I still ate naked, decked out in the entire set of erotic jewelry he'd bought me. More than a few times, I'd cooked wearing nothing but my apron. Those nights, I made sure I picked a recipe that didn't need much attention.

  We didn't talk about anything of importance over dinner. Life was wonderfully quiet for the moment. Nothing more had come from the mysterious picture of his aunt and uncle's murders. I'd eventually told Jacob about the tie, but as I'd suspected, the Sinclairs had already found it, and no one knew what it meant. They'd all agreed to ignore it and hope it was a one-time thing. I didn't think they had much choice, with no more clues to go on.

  The Jordans were no longer a problem. Lucas Jackson had steered clear of us, but Cooper kept us updated on his activities. He'd led the Raptors into a full-scale
attack on Big John's criminal empire, stripping the remaining Jordans of product and associates until there was nothing left, just as Lucas had promised.

  To everyone's shock, once the Jordans were destroyed, he'd handed the Raptors over to his Vice President and dropped out of sight. I didn't want to get mixed up with a biker club, especially not the Raptors, but I wished I'd had a chance to thank him. If Lucas Jackson hadn't been looking out for me, I might never have made it to Jacob in the first place. Maybe someday, he'd turn up again. For now, I wasn't looking for trouble. I was happy with the quiet life as long as I could spend it with Jacob.

  After dinner, we went into the living room to watch a game on the TV. I wasn't interested in the game. Sports weren't really my thing, but I didn't feel like reading, so I lay draped across Jacob, my head on his chest, drawing random designs on his t-shirt with my fingertip. His phone, lying on the cushion beside us, beeped with a text. Holden.

  You talked to Vance today? He's not answering his phone.

  Jacob read the text and typed something back, then held the phone to his ear, stroking a hand over my hair as he waited for an answer. He must have been denied, because he looked at the phone, tapped it again, and put it back to his ear. The third time, I heard a click followed by Vance's voice, sounding out of breath and irritated.

  "This had better be an emergency."

  "Holden's trying to get you. Why aren't you answering your phone?" Jacob demanded, "Where are you?"

  "I'm at home," Vance said. "And I can't talk right now, okay?" The loud, squalling cry of an infant cut through his words, so loudly I could hear it clearly, despite my distance from the phone.

  "Is that a baby?" Jacob asked, sounding incredulous and amused. "Why is there a baby in your house?"

  "It's a long story," Vance said, sounding tired. "I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow."