Billionaire's Bet: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (Billionaires - Book #12)

by Claire Adams

  “And you think differently now?” I asked.

  “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, and I really don’t want to scare you away. I know that whatever is going on with us is short term, and I’ll go back to my life, and you’ll go back to yours, but you make me want to change my life. Maybe even settle down someday with a woman who makes me feel like you do,” he said as he stood up and walked over toward me.

  “Hey, wait, you can’t look,” I said as I guarded my painting.

  “You’re far enough that you can finish it later,” he said as he pulled me toward his naked body and kissed me. “Let me draw you.”

  “Okay,” I said without protesting at all.

  I could tell by his face that he really expected me to put up an argument, but I was feeling bold. I was feeling adventurous, and I wanted to lie on that table for him. Tyler slowly removed my clothes and with each piece, the moment felt more and more erotic. By the time he had me naked, I could hardly contain myself and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him roughly.

  “Now, now, let’s keep our hands to yourself so the artist can get his work done,” Tyler said playfully.

  “Oh, yes, sir. Would you like me to lie on the table?” I said as I seductively walked over to the model table and lay down as I bit my lower lip. “It looks like little Tyler is getting excited. You might find it hard to concentrate on your drawing,” I teased.

  “Little?”

  “I mean huge. The biggest member I’ve ever seen.” I laughed. “I can’t imagine there is another man on this planet who has a bigger penis. If he’s out there, I haven’t seen it, that’s for sure,” I continued.

  “Why did we break up?” Tyler said as he stopped drawing and looked at me from his chair with intense eyes. “I know we broke up because I was a jerk, but was it impossible for us to work through it? Was I just so much of an ass that I didn’t see what a good woman you were? I’ve thought about this, and I can’t remember even trying to get you back. What kind of guy doesn’t try to get a woman like you back?”

  “It was time, Tyler. No matter what happened, we both had futures ahead of us and we lived our lives. There’s no take-backs with life. It is what it is.”

  Tyler dropped his drawing pad and came over to sit with me. His hand slid softly up and down the curves of my body as we continued to talk.

  “I guess you’re right. I just hate making mistakes.”

  “Then don’t think of it as a mistake. Think about all you’ve done in the last 15 years. You’ve built a company that employs hundreds. I assume you’re a good boss, right?”

  “Yes, I think I am.”

  “So, all these people have an amazing job that they wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t built that company. They have children, buying houses and taking fun family vacations all because of the jobs you provide for them.”

  “Well, now who’s twisting things around and seeing the positive side?”

  “I know it’s weird, but since we went to see your father, I’ve really been seeing life in a different perspective. I’ve got a really damn good life. I was lucky to have met a man who I cared about enough to have a child with, even if he decided to move on and not be part of his life. I got Clyde out of the deal, and I absolutely can’t imagine what my life would be like without him. I guess we all just need a little perspective in order to take control of our own happiness.”

  “You make me happy,” Tyler said and then leaned down and kissed me softly.

  His lips were so smooth that I found it hard to tell where his ended and mine began. I closed my eyes and took in the feel of his hands as they explored my body and his lips as they explored my mouth. Goose bumps formed in succession of his fingertips and the spots they touched first.

  I wrapped my arms around him and pulled his naked body closer to mine. The need to have his body near me was overwhelming and I couldn’t stop myself. It didn’t matter that we were in the middle of an art studio. I wanted Tyler, I wanted him right then and there.

  “Protection?” I whispered.

  Tyler just shook his head yes, but didn’t move to go grab it. Instead, he pressed me back gently onto the table and let his lips explore my body. He started at my neck and gently touched each side before moving down to my chest where he spent a few minutes getting familiar with my nipples.

  I let out a soft moan of delight as he pulled one of my nipples into his mouth and gently nibbled on it. Oh, it had been so long since I’d felt that level of pleasure, and we were just getting started. Tyler took his time exploring my body, kissing all the spots that hadn’t been kissed in a long time. I was his, every kiss cementing how my body wanted him, how I needed to feel him. The anticipation building and building until I felt like I might actually explode.

  “Should we move over to the hotel?” Tyler whispered as he lay next to me and let his fingertips trace the lines of my body.

  “No,” I said as I grabbed him and pulled him on top of me. “You need to get that protection right now,” I demanded.

  He stopped to kiss me for a moment and then jogged over to his pants and back to me. I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of his full erection and his playful smile as he wrapped the condom around himself.

  “I’m better at this now,” he joked.

  “I was just thinking that. Now get over here.”

  His eyes locked with mine as he leaned down and kissed me softly. I didn’t remember his kisses feeling so gentle when we were in high school. Now, there was meaning behind them; there was a true sense of longing for me like I longed for him. In some aspects, I was glad we had waited; now we both went into sex knowing much more about each other than we did back when we were younger.

  I couldn’t wait any longer though and pulled him down on me as he pressed my legs apart with his. There was a level of familiarity between us that I hadn’t expected. Even though we had never made love before, we had wanted to on many occasions, and now it was happening.

  Tyler smiled as he entered me and watched my face as the pleasure of his body inside mine showed through. He seemed to be intently interested in watching me, and I was all right with that. There was no other man on the planet who I could have felt so comfortable with as the pleasure of the moment rushed through my body.

  My hands clawed at his back and my eyes closed to take in the delight of our bodies together. Each stroke bringing me closer and closer to a pleasure that had eluded me. It didn’t matter where we were or how long it had taken us to find our way back to each other, this man was mine, and I felt it in every touch. The connection between the two of us was more than history, it was more than what we could have planned for, and it was truer than I had thought possible.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tyler

  “I’m going to head over to the art studio and grab our paintings before anyone shows up this morning; do you want me to grab some breakfast?” I whispered as I woke up next to Kelsi in the hotel bed.

  “Yes. Lots of food and coffee,” she said without opening her eyes.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Kelsi didn’t answer me, but she grunted and turned over in the bed. I stood there for a moment just looking at how beautiful she was. Even after staying up most of the night, she still looked amazing. Her red hair was swept to one side, and her tanned skin was barely covered with the 1,000 thread count hotel sheets.

  It took a little psychological motivation to get my butt moving, but the idea of the art studio owner seeing our naked artwork was enough to motivate me. I could only assume he was comfortable with the naked form, but I couldn’t assume he was all right with guests having sex in the middle of his studio.

  I arrived just before dawn and had the art studio cleaned up and looking exactly as it had looked when we arrived, but as I gathered our paintings as was about to leave, the owner showed up for the day. He was a nice man who had been more than willing to loan me the studio for the evening and I knew I had to stay and talk to him for just a little b
it before I went back to Kelsi.

  “Did your evening go well?” the store owner, Heath, asked.

  “Yes, it did. Thank you again for loaning me the studio.”

  “How did your paintings turn out?” Heath asked as he pointed to the two canvases in my hands.

  “It was very a titillating evening. I better get going, thanks again.”

  “Can I take a look?” Heath asked and grabbed at the canvas before I could stop him. “Very promising. Your friend is an excellent artist.”

  Heath took a moment to look at Kelsi’s painting of me, and I could have died right then and there. His face was serious as he moved the canvas closer to him and looked at the brush strokes. I could only imagine what he must have thought. After examining the first painting, Heath looked at the one I had started of Kelsi.

  Unfortunately, I had barely started the drawing of her before I got distracted by her fabulous body. I shifted my attention to the cars driving by as I waited for Heath to make some sort of comment about my work.

  “You care about her,” Heath said as he continued to analyze the drawing. “She’s very beautiful.”

  “Thank you. Okay, I better get going.”

  “Come back anytime. I’d be happy to let you use the studio.”

  “Okay, I will. Thanks again,” I said as I started to walk down the sidewalk.

  “Next time I’ll make sure to turn off the security cameras, though,” Heath hollered after me.

  I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t stand the thought of looking him in the eyes and trying to figure out how much of the security camera footage he had seen. Did he see it? Did he have some sort of app that he could watch his studio with? Oh, man, I couldn’t believe what had happened.

  By the time I picked up breakfast from the restaurant in the lobby and made it to our room, I was almost in a full fit of laughter as I thought about the security cameras. It was so funny, yet so embarrassing all at the same time.

  “What’s so funny?” Kelsi asked as soon as I walked in the room. “Oh, no, did he see the paintings? Man, that is so embarrassing.”

  Kelsi was curled up on the bed with a robe wrapped around her and dripping wet hair. She looked like she was texting someone on her phone and I assumed it was her parents who had watched her son the previous night. She was even more beautiful than she had been the night before, if that was even possible.

  “Well…” I started to say as I set our paintings down on the chair in the corner of the room.

  “Oh, he did see them. I’m so embarrassed,” she said as she covered her eyes.

  “Worse than that.”

  “Worse? What could be worse.”

  “Security cameras,” I said as I crinkled my nose and closed my eyes.

  I couldn’t bear to look at her when she realized what I was saying. The room was completely silent though, and she hadn’t made a noise at all since I told her. I had expected her to yell or scream or do something.

  When I opened my eyes, Kelsi was sitting there with her mouth open and the best expression of shock I’d ever seen. She wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t laughing, and she certainly didn’t appear to see the comedy in the situation at all. Instead, Kelsi looked like she was in some sort of trance as she stared straight ahead and didn’t respond to me at all.

  “It’s okay,” I said calmly as I moved over toward her. “He’s used to seeing naked bodies. They paint them in his classes all the time. He even looked at your painting and told me he thought you were an excellent artist. It’s fine, no big deal,” I continued to say as I rubbed her arm gently.

  “He saw us having sex?”

  “I’m not sure. He just made a statement about the security cameras as I was leaving. I didn’t want to turn back and question him to see what he knew. If he hadn’t already seen the footage, he was about to.”

  “I’m going to curl up into a ball and stay under these covers forever,” she said as she slid under the crisp white sheets.

  “Oh, stop. It’s no big deal.”

  “I’m officially a porn actress. My parents will be so proud.”

  “You’re not a porn actress. He’d have to sell the footage and make money off of it for you to get that title.”

  Kelsi quickly threw the sheet off of her and sprung back up into a sitting position. The smile on my face widened as I saw the distraught look on her face.

  “Do you think he’s going to sell it?” She asked seriously.

  “No.” I laughed. “I don’t think anyone wants to see a grainy security porn tape.

  “So, you admit it! It was a porn tape!” she exclaimed as she finally gave in to the comedy of the situation and started to laugh.

  “I’d make a porno with you any day of the week,” I said as I grabbed her and pulled her toward me.

  My fingers slid up and under her robe as I played with her body a little bit. She didn’t push me away, she pulled me closer and spread her legs so I could have easier access to her. The delicate touch of her soft skin was enough to have me throbbing with desire for her again.

  Even though we had been up most of the evening making love, I couldn’t get enough of Kelsi. I wanted her again. My whole body throbbed with the memory of what she felt like, and I couldn’t stop myself.

  Kelsi didn’t appear to want me to stop either. Her moans were getting louder and louder as my fingers played with her. Slowly, I untied her robe and lay her back onto the bed. Her smile welcoming me toward her as I slid out of my clothes as quickly as possible.

  “What time do you need to be home?”

  “By the end of the work day,” she said with a huge grin. “I took the day off.”

  “Oh, I like that.”

  “I thought you might.” She giggled as I climbed on top of her naked body with mine. “This has been the most fun I’ve had in a really long time.”

  “We should go out to the river,” I softly said in her ear as I moved.

  “Your river?”

  “Our river,” I reminded her.

  Kelsi and I had a part of the local river that was pretty much just ours when we were younger. It was so far toward the back of my family property that no one bothered to go out there. In high school, we would go there and sit for hours while we watched the water and talked about our dreams for the future. It looked like it was going to be a warm day, so the river wasn’t totally out of the question, although the hotel room was perfection for the time being.

  Our love making continued on for much of the morning until we finally decided we wanted to head over to the river and relax. Kelsi and I weren’t the type of people who just sat back and relaxed anymore, so I wasn’t sure how our afternoon was going to go, but I couldn’t wait to spend it with her.

  “Are we riding out there?”

  “Nah, I was thinking we should take the four-wheeler. How do you feel about that?”

  “Can I drive?”

  “No, you can’t drive. It’s my four-wheeler. You’ve been trying to get your hands on that wheel for 15 years now,” I joked.

  It was the truth, though: Kelsi had been asking to drive my four-wheeler ever since we first went out on it. I didn’t have a problem with her driving it by herself; my issue was if we were riding together and I had to sit behind her. Guys didn’t ride in the back, or at least that was what I always thought growing up.

  When we arrived at my house, I took Kelsi straight to the barn in the hope that we would avoid my mother and sister. If we stopped to talk to them, the afternoon could have dragged on so late that Kelsi needed to go home. No, I wasn’t going to risk it, I wanted her all to myself for the rest of the afternoon.

  “I think you should let me drive,” Kelsi said seductively as she pressed her ass against me.

  She grabbed my hands and wrapped them around her like I would do on the four-wheeler if we were riding. But instead of just holding onto her, Kelsi slid my hands under her shirt and cupped her breasts with them.

  “I’m getting convinced,” I admitted.


  “You could hold onto those two beautiful tits while I drove,” she whispered seductively.

  “I suppose if you really wanted to drive, I could give up my man card for a few minutes.”

  “Just because you’re not driving doesn’t mean you have to give up your man card. There is a distinct benefit to not driving. It means you can spend your time being occupied by anything else you’d like.”

  She pressed her ass back against me and urged my body to ignite again with desire. I quickly moved my hands to her hips and thrust myself against her as if I was going to take her right there in that barn.

  “I like to be in charge,” I demanded.

  “Oh, big strong Tyler has to be in charge,” she mocked me. “How about this?”

  Before I could even figure out what she was doing, Kelsi had spun around and pressed me back onto the hay behind us. She quickly climbed on top of me and used her knees to pin my arms at my side. Although I clearly could have pressed her off since she was half my size, I decided to go along with it for a little bit. Kelsi seemed to enjoy the idea of being in charge, at least for the moment.

  “I like this side of you,” I softly spoke as I looked up at her. “You should show this more often.”

  “Shhh, I’m trying to decide if I want to seduce your right now or wait until we get to the river.”

  “The river? You wouldn’t dare.” I laughed. “Are you the same girl I once took to the movies and she refused to kiss me in front of anyone? You can’t possibly be that same girl.”

  “I’m a new woman now. I’ve got big plans for taking advantage of you while you’re here in town. You don’t know what’s going to come next.”

  Eventually, she allowed me up and climbed onto the four-wheeler so she could drive. It was clear I didn’t have a say in this, and for the fun of it, I decided letting her drive wasn’t all that bad of an idea. I climbed behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist and slightly under the fold of her t-shirt.