Unravel You: A Hot Billionaire Romance (Cole Brothers Series Book 1)

by Diana A. Hicks

  “You’ve never done this before?”

  “Not really. Once, and it didn’t go so well.”

  “How is that even possible?”

  “He didn’t like it. His reaction wasn’t what I’d hoped.” She glanced down.

  A swirl of anger burned like acid in my stomach. Alex, the asshole who got her pregnant her first year in college and then left her, couldn’t even give her a proper sexual experience. It pained me how little she knew about sex and how little we knew about each other. I didn’t regret paying off Max’s dad to leave them alone. To walk away from their lives forever.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

  Her cheeks turned red. This time, the blush reached her ears and spread down to her chest. I was so rock hard for her it hurt. She licked her lips, fisting her hand around my erection. “It’s like velvet.”

  Was she trying to kill me? I cupped her cheek with one hand while I guided my cock, tapping lightly at the seam of her lips. Her tongue licked me, and then she took me in. Her inexperience and eagerness to learn were such a turn-on. I pumped my hips a few times to show her the pace. When she sucked and licked as if she were trying to memorize my taste, I tunneled my fingers into her hair and drove my hips toward her face. How could she be so perfect? Heaven. She was heaven.

  A rap on the door made her jump. I held her face with both hands and kept up with her pace. “Ignore them.”

  “Derek! Wake up. These bloody marys are not gonna drink themselves.” Tyler’s voice boomed through the double door as someone jiggled the doorknob. Good thing I’d thought to lock it last night.

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” I gritted my teeth.

  “Are you up, at least?”

  “Oh, I’m up. Just a minute.”

  Valentina giggled before she resumed her sucking with renewed effort. Something about being caught in the act turned her on. What else did I not know about her? What else did I forget to tell her about me?

  “What makes you come?” The words fell out of her shiny and swollen lips. Her tongue lapped over the tip of my shaft and licked the precum while her free hand rubbed my abs. That was all I needed. I gripped her hair and pumped a few more times before I came. She moaned when I pulled out and spilled on her boobs and stomach.

  “Oh fuck.” I cradled her neck and kissed her hard. Another knock on the door made me pause. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging.”

  “Don’t be. I started it.” She beamed at me, wiping my seed off herself with her pajama top. Shit. My brothers could wait.

  “I think they’re doing it.” Zack’s voice filtered through the walls.

  Valentina pushed at my shoulder. “You should go.”

  “No. Let me return the favor.” I set her down on the bed and buried my face in her pretty pussy. When she breathed out my name, I lay on top of her and kissed her. My fingers slipped inside her while my thumb rubbed her clit and folds. I kept a fast pace until she forgot we were kissing.

  “Derek.”

  “I’m right here.” I sucked on her nipples hard. She bucked her hips against my palm, her walls pressing down on me as she found her release. “So sweet. So perfect,” I whispered on her neck.

  She relaxed on the bed, strands of hair covering half her face. “Oh my God.”

  “I know.” I pecked her on the cheek and went to the bathroom to rinse off. When I returned, she was on her side, half-asleep, with the sheets tangled between her legs. I could spend the rest of my life waking up like this. I wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed and sleep until noon. I ran my fingers down the dip of her waist and up the soft skin of her hips. She smelled of me. For now, I would have to settle for that.

  Downstairs, my brothers were not amused about having to wait. When they saw me coming down the steps, they all shuffled out the door, shaking their heads. I climbed in the front seat of the car and shifted my body to face the four of them. “I just needed five minutes.”

  Tyler snorted a laugh. “Dude, you’re an hour late.”

  I glanced at my watch. Shit. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You asked for two hours of work time. Now you only have one,” Zack said as if this were the most obvious solution.

  “Done.” I sat back in the passenger seat and let the image of Valentina’s mouth around my cock fill my senses.

  After work and a round of golf at Druid Hills, we landed at a pub near the house. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent an entire day with my brothers. All of us together. Today was Matt and Tyler’s first full day with the family. So of course, Zack was in a hurry to get them properly wasted.

  He set another round of beers on the table. “Okay, assholes. Drink up. But don’t get too drunk. Mom wants us on our best behavior tomorrow to celebrate the happy couple.”

  “I still can’t believe you made us wait for you while you got your jollies on.” Tyler drank from his glass.

  “Oh, come on, let him be. They’ve only been doing it for what? Two months?”

  “Really?” Matt almost spit out his beer. “You’re getting married after two months? What’s the hurry?”

  All of them stared at me, waiting for the obvious answer. “She’s not pregnant. We just want to get married. And move on with our lives. Why wait?”

  “Let him be.” Wesley downed his drink. After he set it down, he tilted his head toward Matt. “Derek’s the one getting married. He’s already winning. What I want to know is what’s going on with you? Did you figure things out?”

  Matt’s dark gaze met Wesley’s, then mine. “I messed up. My girlfriend is in the hospital, and I just took off.” He stuffed his hands in his hair. “I’m such an asshole.”

  “Wait, what?” Tyler sat up in his barstool. “When I left you in New York two weeks ago, you were her bodyguard. Now she’s your girlfriend?”

  “A bodyguard?” Wesley rose to his feet and leaned on the high table. “You’re a fucking marine. What the hell are you doing playing bodyguard?”

  Tyler slapped Wesley’s shoulder. “That’s exactly what I said.”

  “It’s a long story. And by the way, how’s your person of interest doing?” Matt sat back on his seat.

  Zack stood, rubbing his hands together, a big smile on his face. “Man, I missed family drama. What happened?”

  “I told you that in confidence.” Tyler glared at Matt.

  “No, you didn’t. You wanted to tell me.” Matt shrugged.

  Tyler let out a breath. I’d been so focused on Valentina I hadn’t noticed how much he’d changed. He was still all muscle but not bulky like before. Had he changed on purpose? “Are you in some kind of trouble?” I asked.

  “This all happened because of you. I asked you for a ride to New Jersey and ended up in a real bad scene.” Tyler raked a hand through his hair.

  “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize Dom and Emilia were in such deep shit when I asked you to escort her and make sure Dom was okay.” I should have gone with him, but at the time all I could think of was to keep Valentina out of Dom’s mafia problems.

  “Shit is right.” Tyler sipped from his beer. “Dom’s situation ended up in a fucked-up shooting. I spent three days at the ATF field office explaining what’d happened and why I was there.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I had it under control. There was no crime to pursue since both shooters, you know, ended up dead. But I was so rattled after it I went to a bar on my way out of town to cool off. I hated that there was nothing I could do to stop any of it. The whole scene was gruesome. Poor Emilia was in the thick of it. So was Dom.”

  I squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault I’m a dumbass.” Tyler rubbed the stubble on his face. “I slept with a person of interest in a case I was assigned to.” His cheeks turned red. Not in the way Valentina’s cheeks turn pretty and soft. He was pissed and worried sick.

  “Was?” Matt asked.
“When I last saw you, you were just laying low for a while. You got fired over it?”

  “Nope. I was reassigned.” He met Matt’s gaze, then Wesley’s. Matt and Wesley were in the Marine corps together. Tyler was ATF, but they understood the gravity of the situation better than Zack and I could.

  “If you need anything, let me know.” I meant it. I would spend my entire fortune to make sure my family was safe.

  “I’ll be fine. I just don’t like it when shit gets out of control like this.”

  “Yeah,” Wesley said, straight faced, and finished the rest of his beer. “Since we’re all in a sharing mood.” His gaze darted between Matt and Tyler. “Anabelle will be at the party tonight, so people will ask about her brother Charlie. Just tell them he’s still deployed. Okay? Tell them it’s all classified.”

  Matt pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know it isn’t.”

  “What the hell happened in Venezuela?” I asked Wesley. “You looked like shit the last time I was here.”

  “It’s classified.” He took another swig from his glass and got nothing but air. “Why is the service here so slow today?”

  “Because you assholes are drinking like fish.” Zack gave me a meaningful look to let it rest before he headed for the bar.

  A pang in my stomach made me sink deeper into my barstool. Mom had been right to be mad at me for leaving. I hadn’t just left Atlanta; I’d turned my back on everyone. The road to billionaire was a selfish and lonely road. What kind of trouble were my brothers in?

  Several times last night, I found Matt and Tyler talking about a woman they’d met in Venezuela and how Matt was certain she was in trouble again. Shit. All of this was official government stuff I had no access to and no way to help them.

  “If you need help with anything, you’ll let me know, right? I have a lot of friends who, for the right contribution to their election campaign, are willing to pull all kinds of favors for me.” I sounded like an asshole saying it, but it was the truth. I couldn’t touch marine special operations forces, but politicians? They were my specialty.

  “Thanks, man. I’ll remember that.” Wesley slapped my arm, grinning. “I’ll need to call on you soon. Just gotta get my shit together first.”

  Zack returned with a server. She had a tray with ten beers. Her brows furrowed when she saw there were only five of us. Two apiece, he mouthed to her with a wink.

  I took a swig from my glass. Straight ahead in my line of sight, I saw him. My blood rushed through me, and I jerked to my feet. Was he a hallucination? Was Valentina’s ex in Atlanta? It seemed so impossible. That asshole lived in Arizona. He had no reason to travel fifteen hundred miles to the South, especially after I paid him off to give up custody of Max.

  Had he come all the way here to make sure he got the other half of his money? I’d have to check with Dom later. Or maybe he was here just to mess with my head again, as he’d done before. Not this time. Valentina loved me. I trusted her. Wesley gripped my forearm, but I shook him off.

  I needed to find out if the asshole sitting at the bar with that stupid smirk on his face was Alex Maio. My barstool toppled over when I bolted toward the bar. On a Friday afternoon, the place was already crowded with patrons having drinks after work. I shoved them all out of the way, keeping my eyes on Alex. This wasn’t a coincidence. He was here to play his stupid mind games, as he used to, with Valentina.

  Before I reached the bar, another guy rammed me in the stomach. The rumble of wood scraping wood filled the room, and everything went still for a second. No one was there for a fight. So why the hell was this guy attacking me for no real reason?

  I shoved him off me. When he scrambled to his feet, he came face-to-face with me and my four brothers. One on one would not have been fair. Five on one… His eyes went wide, and then he scampered out of the bar, knocking a couple of drinks off tables as he went. What a douchebag.

  I returned my attention to Alex, but of course, he was gone. It was him. I was sure of it. Through the window facing the street, I saw the sway of the gray button-down shirt he wore over a black T-shirt. Tyler followed close behind me as I jumped over the chairs blocking my way.

  Outside, Alex stood at the corner, his phone between his hands as he typed furiously. He was waiting for someone. I adjusted my gait, sidestepping other pedestrians. Did Valentina know he was in town? I hoped not. She was terrified of him. Even after six years of being away from him, after the beating I gave him a month ago on her behalf, Alex Maio would always be her monster under the bed and in her nightmares.

  When he saw me coming at him, he took off running again. In retrospect, paying him off had been a bad idea, but at the time, all I could think of was keeping Valentina and her son safe. To give Valentina piece of mind knowing Alex no longer had legal claim as Max’s dad.

  Tyler gestured with two fingers for me to keep after Alex while he went around through the alley. Alex ran ahead, yelling something into his phone. At least I had that satisfaction. He was scared shitless of me. He rounded the corner. A black SUV jumped the curb and scooped him up before it careened away from me.

  Tyler met up with me and slapped me on the back. “Who the fuck was that?”

  “Alex Maio. Valentina’s ex from Arizona.” My voice was laced with acid and anger.

  “He’s a long way from home, isn’t he?” Tyler turned in place, his focus high over our heads. No doubt he was looking for security cameras. “How did he even know where to find you?”

  “No idea. I’ll alert the guards back at the house.” Last time Alex showed up at my door, he’d done it because Bridget paid him to feed me lies that made me doubt Valentina. I made the huge mistake of not trusting her back then. Alex had a fucked-up way of twisting his words to make her look like a gold digger. No way in hell was I making that mistake again. Valentina loved me. Even if her instincts kept telling her to run, she loved me. I had no doubt about that. “He won’t get to her.”

  I called my head of security in Arizona. When Alex had signed the custody papers for Max, I had one of my guys bug his phone. Not entirely legal, but I didn’t give a shit. “Alex Maio is in Atlanta. Why the hell was I not notified?”

  “My apologies, Mr. Cole. His last known location as of last night was Flagstaff, Arizona. The clicking of his keyboard filled the air. “Looks like he’s gone dark.”

  I gripped the phone tighter. “And Bridget? Where is she?”

  “She’s gone dark too.”

  15

  We Said No More Secrets

  Valentina

  “Hey, Mom. Where are you?” Max’s face appeared on my screen for a second before it swirled around the room and settled on a shot of the ceiling.

  I sat on my vanity chair. Max had sent me a video message last night. I’d replied with one of my own because by the time I’d gotten it, he’d already left for school. I grabbed my phone and dialed Em. Her phone went straight to voicemail. When I called the house, I got a ring but no answer. Maybe they were doing maintenance or something.

  A new message appeared on my phone from Derek’s security detail. Max’s trip for next Thursday had been canceled. Why would Derek do that? And why would I hear it from the guards and not him.

  I dialed his number. When he picked up, I didn’t bother with a hello. “I didn’t cancel Max’s trip. Why is your team texting me to let me know Max wasn’t coming?”

  “Actually, that’s my bad.” Derek stood by the bathroom door with a weak smile.

  “What happened? Why can’t he come to Atlanta?”

  “I swear I canceled the trip on my way upstairs. Sometimes my guys are too efficient.”

  I gave him the benefit of the doubt and ignored the fact that he hadn’t consulted me. “Why did you cancel?”

  He rubbed the furrows on his forehead as if that would make the worry on his face go away. “This thing with Bridget still has me on edge. He’s safe where he is. Why take an unnecessary risk? We’ll be back in Tucson in a week.”

  He had a point t
here. I missed Max terribly. FaceTiming every night helped, but it wasn’t the same. I missed his baby face and soft cheeks. But if Bridget was in Atlanta, the best place for Max to be would be in Tucson, away from her. I nodded. “You’re right. I was really looking forward to seeing him again, though.”

  “I know.” He kissed my head.

  “I tried calling Em, but there was no answer.”

  “Yeah.” He glanced down. Why? What was he hiding. He always did that when Bridget came up in conversation, as if he were afraid I’d get mad at him for even talking to her. “After Bridget showed up here, I ordered the team to reinforce security. You’ll be able to talk to him in the morning. I promise.”

  “Okay. How was the bachelor party with your brothers? You didn’t come home until very late last night.” I touched my hand to his cheek, and he kissed it. Something about him was definitely off.

  There it was again, that weak, sort of sad, smile. “I’m a little hungover. And I get to do it all over again tonight.” He cradled my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. “Maybe we can cut our trip short and go back in a few days. Thirty days was a little aggressive, especially with the wedding coming up in a few weeks.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with him on this. I’d been wanting to go home since I set foot on his private plane. “I would love that. I mean, if your mom doesn’t mind.”

  “She’ll understand. I’m gonna jump in the shower and head downstairs. Are you going to be ready on time?”

  His mind was all over the place. But he’d said the magic words: we were going home.

  “Yes.” I shoved him toward the shower. “And hurry up. Anabelle is coming over to get ready for the party here.”

  He grinned at me. “I’m glad you and she made friends.”

  “She’s kind. It’s been nice to have someone to talk to these past three weeks.”

  He showered in record time, then brushed his teeth, and combed his hair on his side of the double-sink vanity. I sat at my makeup dresser and watched him do these mundane things. He looked hot as sin in those boxer briefs that fit snug around his butt and muscular thighs. He walked into the closet and came back out dressed in his usual dark suit.