Alpha Billionaire

by Deborah Garland

  “Why are you suddenly interested in me like this?” she asked.

  “That sounds a little accusatory,” Jonathan answered, reaching for her hands.

  Laney leaned back. “I’d still like an answer, please.”

  His hesitation startled her into believing there might be a sinister reason she ended up in his bed and not because she was having a good hair day.

  “Okay listen,” he whined. “You were spending too much time with that guy. You have no idea what he is.”

  “Tristan?” She strained to say his name without wincing.

  “Yeah, whatever his real name is,” Jonathan grumbled. “He might be a damn pretty boy, but he’s dangerous, Laney.”

  She scoffed low and deep in her throat. Of all things to label Tristan, dangerous wasn’t one of them. “I doubt that.”

  Jonathan’s lips curled back. “I know you heard what goes on here at that meeting the other night. Okay, I confess. But I’m an amateur compared to Tris. Tris bangs everyone here. Everyone Laney.”

  Her stomach turned over. She couldn’t accuse Jonathan of lying. Tristan all but admitted to being with almost every woman wearing a pin. “That still doesn’t explain why you want to sleep with me.” Laney pressed on. “Now. Why tonight?”

  He swore under his breath and plowed a hand into his hair. “Cass asked me to get with you so she could finally have her turn with Tris.”

  “Oh my God.” Laney sprang off the bed. “I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I wanted you for three years.”

  “What?” he snapped as if he had the right to be angry. “You what?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “We work together. I couldn’t throw myself at you.” She clutched her dress to keep it closed. “I tried to be funny and make you laugh.”

  “And you thought that would make me want to sleep with you?” He looked at her like she was insane. “The last woman who tried to get me into bed gave me a hand job under the conference table during a meeting.”

  “That’s disgusting.” She buttoned up her dress shaking her head.

  “Laney, what are you doing?” Light from a porthole window over the bed bathed Jonathan in a bluish tint, creating circles under his eyes. He didn’t look so angelic with such a pissed-off glower on his face.

  “I’m nobody’s pawn,” she said, checking around for her stuff.

  “You’re not leaving.” He stood and stalked toward her.

  “The hell I’m not.” She reached behind to open the bedroom door, but Jonathan slammed it shut.

  Uh-oh.

  “I’ve wanted Cass for years, but she spends most of her time with that Tris.” His rage got the better of him, as dabs of spit flew out of his mouth. “You keeping that playboy occupied this week freed her up to be with other guys. You made a lot of dudes very happy on this cruise, Laney. But I’m still waiting for my turn with her. Cass made a deal with me, if I keep you away long enough for her to get Tris, she’ll let me do her.”

  Feeling sick, Laney turned to yank on the door, but Jonathan hauled her right off her feet. Oh crap. “Jonathan, wait. Stop it.”

  When her stomach hit the bed, and he pressed a knee against her ass, her nerves cranked into overdrive.

  “Don’t give me that stop it, bullshit.” The anger in his voice and the strength of his hold sent a shiver through her. “You came back to my cabin and now you’re gonna say no? I don’t think so.” His hands tightened around her wrists.

  “You’re hurting me. Let go.”

  “I’ll let you go.” He thrust both her hands over her head and squashed them under his. “When Tris gets done with Cass.”

  With her dress already hiked up after the belly flop, meaty, sweaty hands coasted up her thigh and across her ass.

  “Fucking-A, you’ll do all right while I wait,” he murmured.

  “Please, don’t do this,” she whispered.

  “Shut up!” He glided his thumb up and over her curves. “You just told me you’ve wanted me for three years. No one will think this is anything but consensual.”

  She feared the worst, but Jonathan remained transfixed by her ass. In between rubbing her, he stopped, presumably to touch him himself given the intermittent groans. Again, and again.

  Jonathan’s odd timing choice to play with himself distracted him enough to allow her to think. Calm him down, lower his agitation level. Smashing her eyes closed, she said, “That...feels good.”

  “No shit,” he grunted.

  “Can I roll over, please? I want to see what you’re doing.” She wasn’t lying. It would help her figure out her next move.

  He pressed down harder on her hands. Shit, he hadn’t bought it. Then the pressure lessened and the mattress popped up a few inches. “Turn over,” he growled.

  Pressing into the sheets and using her new yoga arms to sit up, she swung her legs around. With the dark shadows across the bed, she couldn’t get the full monte of Jonathan, only that his slacks were undone and hanging low on his hips.

  “I can make you feel good, too. Tris isn’t the only god on this ship,” Jonathan said in a voice strained with lust.

  Laney soberly got her bearings. She’d dropped her wristlet on the credenza near the door earlier. She whisked away a hot wash of tears she’d never let this bastard see as she planned her escape.

  Jonathan stood before her, open and exposed. What a moron. This was almost too easy. Slowly, she closed both her fists into her championship volleyball serve. Smiling, she smashed her knuckles right up into Jonathan’s groin.

  His gurgling cry meant her punch hit the spot, all right. He stumbled back, but not far enough. Laney raised her right leg and kicked heel-first into his stomach. That did it! She watched him fall to the carpet, where he wouldn’t stay for long, maybe less than a minute, but it gave her a head start. She flew off the bed and pulled her dress down. In a blaze of speed, she tore the hell out of there, grabbing her purse on the way out.

  “You bitch!” Jonathan roared.

  She got his cabin door open and ran through the passageway, ready to scream if he came after her. Negotiating the metal risers in the nearby staircase outside his stateroom, Laney crashed and burned, flying down the last couple of steps. She landed on her hands and feet in the Downward Facing Dog position. Her knees may not have gotten bruised, but being so stupid about Jonathan for so long ripped her ego to shreds.

  The last thing she needed was a gut-wrenching ‘he said/she said’ fight about some rough inappropriate touching on a cruise where she’d told enough people she wanted to sleep with Jonathan. For three years.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  Her brain calmed down enough when she realized he wasn’t chasing after her. She marched through the lower deck’s winding passageway toward the elevator and slammed the button until a car showed up.

  Tristan

  WITH EVERY STEP TO his cabin, Tristan’s head hurt more and more. Watching Laney with Jonathan made his blood boil. That prick might be inside her at this very moment. The tight heavenly body that made him shudder and go weak would mean absolutely nothing to Jonathan.

  His stomach heaved and the key card slipped from his sweaty fingers. That woman had wrecked him.

  “Man, what’s up with you?” Cass bent down to snag the card.

  “You know what’s up with me,” he ground out.

  “I find it hard to believe that some stranger has you this fucked up.” Cass swiped until the door to his cabin swung open and waltzed in like she owned the place.

  “Does it matter? You’re here to screw me, right? Or do you want to talk?” he bit out, angrily.

  “Does that mean you don’t want me to go down on you?” Her hand curled around his belt buckle, brushing against his cock again setting off a new round of heaving. “Sheesh. I’ll go first. You usually love tearing my clothes off.” Cass lowered her dress, revealing beautiful swollen breasts with hard pink nipples.

  Tristan waited
for the celebratory rush. The fire in his veins because he should have wanted her so much. After a deep breath, he felt...

  Numb.

  “Okay, Tris. Let’s slow things down. How about a drink?” She sashayed to his wet bar and poured him a glass of whiskey.

  Zombie-like he answered, “That’s an excellent idea. Make it a double.” Come on whiskey-dick...

  If Tristan couldn’t feel anything with Cass, he didn’t want to remember, either.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Laney

  Shaken up from that screwed-up scene with Jonathan, Laney wobbled to her cabin, but didn’t go inside despite her body screaming for safety. Nikki had gone off to the casino according to her last text that read: Winning! Suck it house!

  Laney couldn’t remember feeling more like a loser. Of everything, including her mind. She appreciated being alone so she could fall apart in private.

  The trace of Tristan’s cologne lingered in the hall. It triggered a rush of memories from the past six days. Every moment with him had flowed from one second to the next so easily. He’d been falling for her, too, but she pushed him away. Why? Because Tris frightened the ever-loving hell out of her.

  Talk about stupid. And shameful. She’d said she could handle both sides of him. She’d have to if they stood any kind of chance. Sailing into New York Harbor didn’t have to be under a happy-ever-after banner. But could this whack-job cruise be the start of something real? No one fell in love in six days, no one decided forever in a week.

  They’d avoided the subject of how they felt about each other like a crazy wasp buzzing around their heads. Did they have a chance? At all?

  Despite him showing up to be a sex fiend and her there to throw herself at Jonathan, they’d acted nothing like those two people the entire week. They became friends. Then lovers. Then business people brainstorming ideas and opportunities.

  It’d all felt so right. What felt wrong, were the two people reduced to angry glares on a pool deck. Hell to the no, on that one! She charged down the passageway toward Tristan’s cabin, but the noxious female version of Old Spice, Cass doused herself with set her back.

  “Okay, okay. Breathe,” Laney whispered to herself.

  Laney would have to look past one tumble with Boobalicious. After all, she’d gone to Jonathan’s cabin willingly. Kissed him willingly. Until it turned non-consensual.

  She knocked on Tristan’s cabin ready to fight. The door wrenched open and her stomach flipped finding Cass standing there, naked and breathing heavily. Imagining them having sex was one thing. Seeing it...

  Stand your ground.

  “Where’s Tristan?” she asked, her head held high.

  “Waiting for me in his bedroom.” Cass leaned against the door and angrily looked her up and down. “What happened to you?”

  “What do you care?” She didn’t bother to elaborate on the ugly turn things took with Jonathan. That woman didn’t appear to have an ounce of empathy in her soul.

  “Just tell me if I have to fuck that idiot, Jon, or not.” Cass rolled her eyes.

  Jonathan’s week-long slam-fest had zero meaning to Laney. In the last hour, any shred of feelings for him had gone up in flames. Who was she kidding? One kiss from Tristan the first night and he’d ruined her for any man. Jon and Cass could do it on her couch while she watched television for all she cared.

  Laney didn’t have to reward bad behavior, though. “You don’t have to sleep with Jon. I’m here interrupting your turn, aren’t I?” Laney shoved her foot in the door. “Now move and let me talk to Tristan.”

  “You haven’t interrupted us yet, sugar.” Cass gave Laney a hard shove and slammed the door.

  Getting her breath back from having the wind knocked out of her, Laney considered what to do. Scream? Bang on the door? Throw down with some woman? Over a guy? A guy? No. Tristan Hart?

  “Hell, to the yes!” she shouted and lifted her leg to kick the door.

  “Hey!” a male voice yelled from halfway down the corridor.

  Laney feared Jonathan had followed her, but a man in a suit stomped toward her with a walkie-talkie. Security. Great, they show up here and not when she was yelling in Jon’s cabin.

  “You can’t be bothering Mr. Hart like this. Damn you seagulls. I gotta keep chasing you away from this door like it’s a half-empty Dorito bag.”

  Laney wanted to scream, except she could land in cruise-ship jail until tomorrow. “My cabin is right here.” She held out her key card.

  He took it and shook his head. “I suggest you go inside and stay there. Leave Mr. Hart be.”

  Defeated, she slogged back to her cabin. Dark and empty. Like her life. Packing should have been the order of business, only...Nikki had her all tidied up and ready to leave. Sigh. Instead, a bottle of red wine she’d bought a few nights ago and a bag of peanut M&M’s had her name written on it. She crept onto the veranda to freeze off this whole disastrous week like a wart.

  Off in the distance, the Verrazano blazed bright against the midnight blue sky. When they’d passed under the bridge on Monday, the metal grid underneath looked magnificent. It reminded her of the base of the Eiffel Tower. The bronze cross-hatch pattern had been the inspiration behind many of her geometric designs.

  In the quiet darkness of night, the small sparkling lights magnified the bridge’s elegance and magnitude. As it got bigger and bigger, she wondered if Tristan realized it was coming up.

  If there were any hope for her and Tristan, he’d remember the spot he told her to be when the ship passed underneath. If they were meant to be, he’d leave Cass to find her. Kiss her under the lights.

  Laney flew out of her cabin and strolled through the empty darkness that should have been packed with people. Not everyone had a balcony or a window. Did they realize what they were missing?

  Her pace slowed. Those devils must have been enjoying the last few hours with their consorts and the rest had probably been asleep for hours. She released a long sigh. The security of Tristan’s arms with his lips sealed over hers and their bodies connected had felt more perfect than anything else in her life.

  Her gaze fell upon the empty deck. The planks were moist and bleach stunk up the air around her. An image of a body, someone on the other side of the ship, clipped her breath. Her heart raced, hoping it was Tristan. They had spent the week geeking each other out, her with her blueprints and Tristan with his take on how magical the bridge was at night. Of course, he would show up to find her. Share it with her.

  When a broom and rolling cart came into the light, Laney sighed. Just a janitor. Damn. So not Tristan. Although she didn’t care if she found out that’s who he was. Or if Luke selling the hotel meant the only job Tristan could get was cleaning up after people.

  She could love him and any refrigerator carton he had to live in.

  Tristan

  TRISTAN COULDN’T STOP throwing up.

  What the hell?

  He held his liquor well enough, so why after one drink had his cabin started spinning? Nerves and panic, probably. He’d been stalling with Cass. Then she’d handed him a drink and told him to take his time.

  She’d handed him a drink.

  Son of a bitch.

  Whatever the hell that guy who’d drugged Nikki had, Cass must have gotten her hands on it. “You okay in there?” she asked from his bedroom.

  “Do I sound okay?” Tristan yelled back.

  How to play this? He stood, shocked at his reflection. Red eyes, hair all over the place, his cheeks hollowed out. How bad did Cass want him that she’d take him like this?

  After gargling with mouthwash, he opened the door and brushed past her in search of one of his Evian water bottles.

  “Well?” Cass stood there, all naked and glistening with her hands on her hips.

  “What did you put in my drink?” he asked, the vision not affecting him, at all.

  Her jaw tipped open. “Just something to help you relax.”

  She fucking admitted it! He’d heard she was
a successful businesswoman. Probably used her flirtatious nature to get what she wanted. Nothing wrong with that. She just wasn’t for him.

  “Call me a dick, a wuss, crazy, anything, but I can’t do this.”

  “You want that woman instead of me, your fantasy?” Cass shook her head and marched to the sofa where her maxi dress draped lazily over the arm.

  “I want Laney, for real.” Forever, but he wouldn’t tell Cass, before Laney. “I just hope she can look past all this nonsense. I’m sorry, Cass.”

  “Me, too. And um, you just missed her.” Cass pointed to the front cabin door.

  “What?” He held his stomach, ready to be sick all over again.

  “She was here.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why the hell had he not anticipated that one?

  And no doubt Cass had answered the door nude. The woman didn’t play fair. “Did she seem mad?”

  Cass stared for a moment, and something happened. Something Tristan had never seen on her before. She...blushed. “Okay, damn it. Here it is. I asked...Jon to get with her so I could be with you. Don’t look at me like that,” she said when he glared at her. “Where have you been all these years? Those are the games we play. And you’re the master.”

  He hated that she was right. “Not anymore.” Anger simmered in his veins. Laney had been played by both Jon and Cass. “So...did they?”

  Facing the hard truth if that slimeball slept with Laney, Tristan let his pragmatic side roar to life. She’d wanted a man she put on a pedestal for three years. Tristan cared enough about her to understand she deserved some closure to her obsession. No matter what happened with Jon, Tristan still wanted her. No, it wouldn’t stop him from being with her.

  Cass locked eyes on him, a pensive look changing the shape of her face. “She said no.”

  His gut unclenched. “Thank you,” he whispered praise to whatever angel had intervened there. And he wanted to believe with all his faith, Laney and her good sense made that right decision on her own.