The Billionaire From Portland

by Simply BWWM

  Her fingers and hands tightened on his shoulders and she breathed in short shallow gasps as she felt him push his erection into her, filling her slowly with his heat and desire. The pleasure was so intense that she closed her eyes and held herself tightly to him, unable to breathe or move at first until he began moving in her and she was compelled to respond, moving with him and sending fire through their bodies that neither of them had ever felt before.

  His every touch and kiss with her, his every movement was with her in mind, giving her as much pleasure as she could take, and in loving her that way, he made her want to love him back the same. Tenderness and passion bound them and the fires between them grew hotter and more powerful until at last they clung to each other, their bodies trembling with ecstasy as orgasms overtook them both at the same time and everything in the universe disappeared except the love between the two of them at that moment.

  Worn out with bliss, he laid on the sofa and rested her on top of him, kissing her tenderly and softly as their bodies calmed from the rush of passions they had shared. He traced his fingers along her skin, her face, her braids, and her lips, before kissing them lightly.

  The warmth from the fireplace and their exhaustion from making love overtook them and they fell asleep in each other’s arms, dreaming sweet dreams until she woke in the early hours carefully rose up off of him. She looked down on him as he laid there in his slumber, smiling at how sweet he was, how beautiful, and how good a man he was. She sighed happily, glad that they had shared such an incredible night.

  She slipped away silently and showered and dressed, just as the sun rose over a cold blue morning. The storm clouds had cleared and all that was left was a pristine blanket of snow covering everything the eyes could see.

  She knew that it was time to leave. She had to get back to Los Angeles, she had to figure out what she was going to do with her career, and she didn’t want to be in the cabin when Julian came home from the hospital, especially after having spent a passionate night with his brother.

  Gabriella called about the buses that ran through the town there, and a short while later, she had her bags packed and was ready to go. She took them down to the front door and left them, going to find Antonio. He was in the kitchen making coffee, and he looked up at her and smiled widely when he saw her.

  “There you are! I wondered where you’d gone to.” He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against him before lifting her chin and kissing her softly. He smiled at her and sighed happily. “Do you want some coffee?” he asked sweetly.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m fine thank you.” She sat down at one of the bar stools beside the island in the kitchen and folded her arms, leaning on them and looking at him as he poured himself some coffee.

  “I loved last night,” she said with a smile and he grinned and nodded.

  “I did, too. If I hadn’t been so tired, I wouldn’t have slept so hard, and I’d have stopped you from leaving me on the couch. We’d probably still be in there together.” He gave her a meaningful wink.

  She laughed a little and reached one hand back to run it over her braids. “Yeah, I’d like that, but I had to get up to get packed… get ready to go.” she said softly, raising her eyes to meet his. He stopped for a moment, frozen in place as he stared at her, her words trying to find some anchor in his mind and make sense to him.

  He blinked and set his coffee cup down slowly. “You don’t have to leave. You can stay as long as you want to.” He paused a moment. “I want you to stay,” he said softly.

  She drew in a breath and sighed, looking down and squeezing her arms with her hands. “I know you want me here, and I want to be here with you, but your brother will be back from the hospital soon, I have to figure out what I’m doing with the magazine and my career, and he can’t know that you and I were together, unless I’m fired already, and then I don’t care, but I don’t really know what’s going on right now. I have to get back to Los Angeles,” she said quietly.

  He watched her speaking, he saw how unhappy she was about it, and he saw that she was putting responsibility first. He knew that it was the right thing to do, even if it wasn’t at all what he wanted. He nodded his head, knowing that he had no right to ask her for anything more than she had already given him.

  Abandoning his coffee, he walked around the island to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his heart. “I understand,” he said in a whisper in her ear. “I do. I just wish I could keep you here.”

  She sighed and pressed her face against his neck. “I wish that, too,” she said softly.

  They were silent for a long while, holding one another, and then he let her go and looked down at her. “How are you getting back?”

  She shrugged. “I bought a bus ticket for today.”

  He frowned and nodded. “Do you need a ride to the bus station?” he asked, looking away from her and focusing intently on his coffee cup.

  “That would be helpful, yes, thank you,” she answered, feeling just as sad as he looked. She reached for his hand and as she closed hers around it, he looked back at her and took her into his arms again. He lowered his mouth to her ear and said quietly, “Thank you for giving me this time with you. It means a great deal to me.”

  She nodded and hugged him tightly. “Me too. Thank you.” She lifted her chin and kissed him once more, long and slow, and then he let her go and they walked out of the kitchen. He carried her bags to the car, and they drove in silence, holding hands, to the bus stop.

  He waited with her until the bus came, and then he held her close and kissed her tenderly once more before letting her go. He watched as she boarded and he saw her take her seat, watching him through the window. The bus pulled away, and as it disappeared down the road he felt his heart going with it.

  Chapter7

  Gabriella settled herself back into her apartment and as soon as her bags were unpacked, she called Lila to tell her all about the weekend and how it went.

  Lila answered right away. “Where are you?” she asked anxiously.

  “I’m home. It’s been crazy, though. I have a lot to tell you.” She sighed. Confusion had been tangling her every thought and emotion since she left Antonio at the bus station. She had loved being with him, but the further away she got from him, the more she wondered just what it was she was doing and what it was going to cost her.

  “What’s going on?” Lila sounded worried.

  Gabriella sighed. “Well, you know I texted you that Julian was taking me up to Bear Lake to do a photo shoot this weekend, and that I thought I was finally going to get the cover, right?”

  “Yeah…” She sounded uncertain.

  “Well, we got up there and I found out that he had been lying. There was no photo shoot. He just wanted to get me out of town to a remote place where he could try to make me sleep with him.” Gabriella explained, ire growing in her as she recounted it to her friend.

  “He did not!” Lila gasped in horror.

  “He did,” Gabriella confirmed. “He laid it all out on the line.” She thought of the words he used. “He said that I had to sleep with him or he was going to fire me and wreck my career. He said that… just like that. Plain as anything.” She felt nauseated repeating it.

  Lila was appalled. “What? That son of a—”

  Gabriella cut her off. “There’s a lot more.”

  “More?” Lila was astounded.

  “Yeah.” Gabriella’s mind went back to her fight with Julian in the library. “He demanded that I sleep with him and when I wouldn’t do it, he got angry and took off out of the house. The trouble is, he had downed most of a bottle of Jack Daniels by that point and I was upstairs in my room so I didn’t know he was leaving until he was already peeling out of the driveway and down the hill. I couldn’t stop him.

  Next thing I know, there are two highway patrol officers standing at the door and they are telling me that he wrecked his car and wound up in the hospital. He was going to be
okay, but he got really banged up.”

  “Oh no…” Lila, like Gabriella, didn’t like Julian at all, but she didn’t want to see him hurt, either.

  “So I called Antonio and told him about his brother’s accident and he came straight up from Los Angeles and met me at the house. He picked me up and took me with him to the hospital and we checked on his brother. The doctors put him in a medially induced coma until he had healed a little more, so there was nothing there that we could do.

  We stayed a little while and then we went back to the house. It was wonderful to be there with him, but I wish it had been under different circumstances. Anyway, it got really hot between us at first, but we kept our distance, and then when Julian woke up, we went to see him and he yelled at both of us. He told me off and ordered me to come back home here, and said when he got back I was going to have to decide what I’m doing or he would end my career. I believe him. I’m not going to sleep with him, but he is giving me what he considers to be my last chance.”

  Gabriella felt her heart come close to breaking. She knew he meant it, and she had no idea what she was going to do, other than contact everyone she knew in the modeling world. She wasn’t sure that that would help, because the minute Julian spread the bad word about her in the modeling world, her career was as good as dead, anyway.

  Lila groaned. “My god, what a mess. What a horrible mess. Honey, I’m so sorry.”

  Gabriella continued. “Well, there’s more. After Julian told us both off in the hospital, we went home and we had been being really good, but we just couldn’t hold back from each other anymore, and Antonio and I made love. He was amazing. It’s never been that good for me. Italian lovers…” She laughed a little and shook her head.

  “Anyway, I knew I was going to have to leave, because Julian was going to be heading home to the cabin soon and if he knew that Antonio and I slept together it would be a nightmare for us both. I have to figure out what I’m going to do with my career before Julian destroys it, and even though it was amazing with Antonio and I wish I could have so much more with him, I had to leave.

  I know he wants more, but I have to consider what’s happening with Julian, too. They’re brothers, Lila, and it’s a screwed up triangle, but there’s too much in the balance right now. I can’t take any chances with either of them.” She sighed and rubbed her fingers over her head, massaging away the stress that was building up there.

  “You are in a fine mess, my girl,” Lila said with a sigh. “Listen to me. I don’t care what you feel for Antonio or what you want with him, while Julian is still after you and in the picture, you leave them both alone. They’re brothers. Trust me, you don’t want any part of that.

  Family feud and angry men both after the same woman… it’s terrible. They make movies about this kind of thing, and they never end well. Just stay the hell away from both of them. Right? Do yourself a favor. A big one. Leave them both alone.”

  Gabriella nodded, though Lila couldn’t see it. “You’re right. I know you’re right. My career is the most important thing, and if I put that first, it totally wipes out the men. Both of them. So, I’ll focus on that. I don’t want to do any more damage. I’ve done enough already.”

  “Well, so have they,” Lila added. “Or, at least Julian has. Now, Antonio knows that his brother is after you and he still made a play for you; so that means there’s trouble in paradise for both of them. You don’t want to be in the middle of that. What brother goes after his brother’s love interest, even if it is just for sex? They don’t. Brothers don’t do that. Just stay away from them both. You don’t need the stress and the headache. Focus on your job.”

  Gabriella agreed. “I will. You’re so right about it. I’ll just focus on work and leave the guys totally out of the picture. That’s the best thing I can do.”

  They talked a while longer, and Lila caught her up on her work and her sister Sophie, who was up to crazy shenanigans as usual. They laughed and Gabriella promised to visit in the near future, and then they hung up. Gabriella made up her mind that work was going to come first. No guys. No problems.

  ***

  Antonio was sitting on a chair on the balcony off the room that Gabriella had stayed in. He was holding a coffee cup in his hand, gazing out onto the winter mountain scene before him. Thoughts of her were playing through his mind. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her since she’d left, and the silence in the cabin had become deafening.

  Julian would be joining him later that day, but he wasn’t quite looking forward to having him there. He would be there just until he was able to take the ride back to Los Angeles, which the doctor estimated would be soon.

  The cell phone in his pocket buzzed and Antonio pulled it out and saw his cousin’s name come up on the caller ID.

  “Marcus!” he said with a smile growing over his face. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m well, Antonio, thank you. I heard that Julian is having a hard time right now, though,” Marcus replied, sounding disappointed.

  “He’ll be all right. Just had a little accident. He’ll be back in Los Angeles soon.” Even with their cousin, Antonio was careful to try to keep his brother in as good a light as he could.

  “That’s good to hear,” Marcus returned. “I’m calling you about the company, Antonio. The board has made a decision and it is going to bring about some changes. I am quite sure your brother will not appreciate what they are going to do, but it’s for the best.”

  Antonio sat up straighter in his chair and took a deep breath. “What is it? What changes are going to take place?” he asked as his heart began to thud against his chest.

  Marcus paused a moment and then said simply, “Each member of the board is giving you some of their shares of the company. Not much, but enough that you will have the controlling half. Enough that your brother will never have control of it at all. Enough that the Fanellis won’t be able to take anything over, no matter what. We all want the company in your hands, Antonio. Your father should have put it that way to begin with, but now we’re fixing it. You’ll always be able to take care of Julian, Antonio, without fear that he may wreck what your father built up for you.”

  Antonio was floored. “My god…” he said quietly.

  “It’s already in the works. It’s being done. It’ll be finished by the time you get back to Los Angeles. You are not to tell your brother what’s going on under any circumstance until it’s done, do you understand me?” Marcus was deadly serious.

  Antonio knew he meant it. He had no idea what he would say to his brother anyway. He had no idea how to convey to his brother that Julian’s poor choices had cost him the faith of their private board members and no one wanted him to have any kind of control over the company.

  “I understand you. I’ll keep it silent.” He spoke quietly. He would too, and Marcus knew it.

  “Let’s have lunch when you get back to the city,” Marcus said with a slightly lighter note in his voice. “Take care of Julian,” He added with a hint of sympathy.

  “Will do, Marcus. See you soon,” Antonio answered, hanging up the phone and sliding it back into his pocket. He stared out at the frosty white landscape before him and sighed. Everything was going to change, and he had no idea whether it would be for the better or not.

  He was falling for a woman that his brother wanted and had forbidden him from seeing, and he was secretly going to take control of the company that he and his brother had inherited equally. There was going to be hell to pay, to say the least, when Julian found out.

  ***

  Gabriella went back to work at the magazine, not knowing when Julian might show up or when he might try to force his hand, but she knew he hadn’t said anything to anyone at the magazine and she wanted to work there as long as she could, so she went in acting like nothing was wrong, doing her shoots and avoiding Kathy’s evil gaze.

  They were shooting the April contents of the magazine and she tried her best to keep her mind off of the cover. She knew she coul
dn’t ask Kathy about it; she was just going to have to wait to hear if she would be on it, and no one was talking about it.

  The shoot that she was working on that day was all about April showers, and they were shooting in manufactured rain around fountains in a garden. The garden was set in a courtyard at the studios. It was thick with lush green plants and flowers, and the fountain was shining in the sunlight, though the shower of rain came falling down on her from an overhead apparatus.

  She was wearing a pretty blue dress with a blue raincoat over the top of it, carrying an umbrella and working on and around the fountain. She’d gotten to splash about and play in the water, and James was shooting her like mad while she did it. He called to her to get in the fountain and she climbed in, playing and splashing in the water and loving it as she got more and more wet and the umbrella did next to no good keeping her dry. James called to her to continue.

  Gabriella was smiling wildly, laughing and playing joyfully when she happened to glance off to her side where she saw a movement where there shouldn’t have been anyone. Her eyes landed on Antonio, standing on the sidelines, a bit further off from everyone else. He was watching her, his hands in his pants pockets, sunglasses on, and his mouth pressed into a line.

  She wasn’t expecting to see him at all, and the shock of it threw her off of her mental space for a moment, and James saw it. “Head back in the game!” He raised his voice to reach her. She nodded and tried to put the smile back on her face that had been there.

  She was glad to see him, but he was a complete distraction to her and she had no idea what he was doing there. There was no reason for him to be at a shoot, especially her shoot, except to see her, and concern pushed through her veins, worrying her slightly as she wondered why he was there.

  She wondered if perhaps something had happened to Julian and he was there to tell her about it. It didn’t make any sense, though; if anything had happened to Julian, everyone would have known. There was only one other reason that he would be there, and that would be to see her.