Mountain Billionaire

by Eva Luxe

  Her words hit me like physical punches.

  “You say it like you regret it.”

  She hesitated. “I don’t,” she said.

  “You took a while to think about that.”

  “Don’t do this to me, Jacob. We have enough problems as it is.”

  Why was she holding back so much? Everything she did made me feel like she was on my side, like I meant something to her. But when it came down to putting it into words, she didn’t want to admit her feelings or what we were, after everything we did. I refused to believe that I was just a fuckbuddy. Kina didn’t seem like the type of person to do that. She was pure and wholesome, and it was something I loved about her.

  “So, what? Everything they’re saying in the tabloids is true. We’re just fucking around, and it means nothing?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Kina said.

  “Then what are you saying? I’m running out of things that it could be, considering everything you’re telling me it’s not.”

  “Why do you need to label it all?” she asked. “You’re acting like a woman. Be a man for a change and be the asshole who wants sex and nothing else.”

  I pulled a face, and I was glad she couldn’t see slivers of my temper surfacing. Seeing me angry was never pretty.

  “I don’t even know what you’re saying right now,” I said.

  “Just forget it, Jacob,” she said.

  “Forget what?” I asked, but she hung up before I could get an answer.

  I didn’t know what was going on, where we stood now. What was it that she wanted me to forget, the argument? The idea that I wanted more? That we had slept together at all? God, she was so damn difficult to read.

  I ran my hand over my short hair and groaned. Why was everything so fucking complicated? Why couldn’t I just play football and have a woman without all this shit? If it wasn’t a fight or my woman cheating on me, it was a sex scandal with a woman who looked like she wanted me but didn’t.

  Why the fuck was everything so difficult?

  Chapter 26 – Kina

  I had a full work day to try and work through my anger with Jacob. As if what was going on in the tabloids and my probation wasn’t bad enough, Jacob suddenly had all these questions about who and what we were. I was trying to put out fires, and he was trying to light more.

  I couldn’t do this. This was the reason I didn’t date. I already had Kyle to worry about, and now Jacob was a pain in my ass, even though we weren’t official.

  I didn’t understand him, either. I was more than happy to just do sex. Sure, I had emotions, but it was easier to push them away and make it about being physical. Jacob was a man. Wasn’t that what men wanted?

  But no, I was the only woman who had to deal with the guy getting serious when all I wanted to do was fuck. It sounded backward to me.

  When I finally got out of the office, I was drained. It had been a hell of a day. Even when no one had said something, it had been in the air. It had been in the way everyone had stared at me, the attention I’d gotten that was so much more than what I usually got.

  It was good to go back to my own apartment, a haven.

  Or not. Kyle was at home, and he was pissed off at me, too. Great.

  “I’m home,” I called when I walked into the apartment. No answer.

  “Kyle?” I asked.

  I walked through the living room and to the spare bedroom. Kyle’s door was closed.

  “Kyle?” I asked again and knocked on the door. When he didn’t answer, I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

  “Kyle, what are you doing in there?” I knocked on his door, rattling the door jamb. Fear coursed through me. What if it was drugs? What if he was in there, passed out or dying? What if I couldn’t help him?

  “How about, instead of asking me what I’m doing, ask yourself what the hell you’re doing?” he shouted from the other side of the door. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t passed out or so high on drugs that he couldn’t string together a straight sentence. He sounded pissed off, but that meant he was mentally intact. Small blessings.

  “Open up. Let’s talk about it,” I said.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. You want to fuck around with Jacob, of all people, I have nothing to say to you.”

  My relief disappeared, anger following in its wake.

  “This is none of your business,” I said. “I can do whatever I want.”

  “Or whoever you want, apparently,” Kyle said.

  “Don’t be a brat, Kyle,” I said. “Open the door. You’re being childish now. If I’m old enough to act as your mother and take care of you every time you need to be bailed out of jail or saved from the street, I’m old enough to choose who I want to be with.”

  Kyle laughed sarcastically. “You’re right. I don’t have a foot to stand on because I don’t have my life together the way you do. But I am still your brother, and the last time I checked, we look out for each other.”

  God, I couldn’t remember when Kyle had last been able to look out for me. When he wasn’t high, he was drunk. I hadn’t seen him as someone to call with my issues since we’d been in college together.

  “Do you love him?” Kyle asked.

  I froze. I had no idea if I loved Jacob. I couldn’t say no, and that bothered me. But I couldn’t say yes, either.

  “That’s none of your business,” I said. “My personal life has nothing to do with you.”

  “Only the rest of the world,” Kyle said. “Or did you forget that your personal life is all over the internet?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t need to remind you that you’re living in my house, Kyle. You needed help, and I was there for you. If you have an opinion, that’s fine. But telling me how I should live my life, lecturing me on who I am and what I do, that’s not acceptable.”

  “Fine,” Kyle said and yanked the door open. His blue eyes were angry, his curled hair a mess. He had one bag in his hand, another on the floor. He picked it up and stormed past me.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Away,” he said. “You keep telling me how hard it is to take care of me when you’re not exactly a saint, either. I’m out.”

  I walked after him. Kyle was headed for the door, and I was suddenly terrified I would lose him completely.

  “Don’t leave,” I said. “You don’t have to go.”

  Kyle didn’t respond. He walked out through the door.

  “At least tell me where you’re going,” I said. How was I going to find him if he did something stupid again?

  “Don’t you worry about me,” he said and just like that, he was gone.

  I felt like I was splitting in half. Kyle was my twin, and we’d always had a connection. I knew his pain in ways that he couldn’t begin to imagine. It was one of the reasons I looked out for him so much even though he insisted on throwing his life away, because when he was hurting, so was I, and since college, he hadn’t stopped hurting.

  But he was gone now. I didn’t know where he was. The unimaginable had happened. I had just lost my twin.

  I closed the door and walked back into the room, my arms wrapped around myself like I could physically keep myself from falling apart. This was just all one big mess. Jacob and I were fighting, Kyle wanted nothing to do with me, my career was hanging by a thread, and I didn’t know how to fix any of it.

  I sat down and took a moment to calm down. I could never think when I was upset.

  When I managed to calm down, I found my phone and dialed Jacob’s number.

  “Can we meet to talk?” I asked when he answered.

  “I’d like that,” he said. “The beach?”

  I knew what he was referring to. We’d been on a very secluded part of the beach when we’d had sex for the first time. The chances that we would be alone there again were good, and I needed that. I needed to be away from all the judgment, the prying eyes, the paparazzi and tabloids that made our lives seem like they were free for all.

&nb
sp; I met Jacob an hour later, on the beach. He arrived after I did, wearing a cap and sunglasses. He came to stand next to me, and the beach was as quiet as before.

  “This place has a lot of memories,” Jacob said.

  I nodded. It wasn’t easy to forget about the connection I’d felt with him that first time, how right it had felt to get down and dirty with him, have him inside me.

  “What did you want to talk about?” Jacob asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know what to do,” I said. Everything was a mess, now. Kyle had left, and I was upset. Jacob was the only person I could turn to, even if we weren’t doing very well.

  “I don’t know, either,” he said.

  “This is so unnecessary,” I said. “It’s hurting my career and my personal life so much.”

  If only I hadn’t drunk that much, if only I’d controlled myself better. But what was it they said about hindsight? There were so many things I would have done differently if I’d known this was how it was going to turn out.

  “I know it’s hard,” Jacob said. “Trust me, this isn’t my first rodeo. But it gets better. In time, they forget.”

  “And my boss? He won’t just forget.”

  Jacob shook his head. “Even they forget. Mine did.”

  “You got suspended and then traded,” I said.

  Jacob nodded. “You’re right. But I’m still playing football.”

  I shook my head. I was getting irritated again. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear from Jacob at all. I didn’t know what it was that I did want to hear, but this didn’t make me feel any better.

  “I can’t afford to be passed from one company to another. This was supposed to be my big break. Getting the high-profile football player was my promotion, so to speak. After I’d proven myself, you were my reward. And all that is crumbling, now.”

  Jacob nodded. “I know what that’s like. The assault charge and being traded felt the same to me. It’s hard when you’re in the public eye.”

  I nodded. I wanted to tell him the only reason I was in the public eye now was because of him, but I didn’t say it. See? I could control myself. It would only make things worse if I said that.

  “I’m just so sick and tired of this, and it feels like it’s just starting,” I said. “It’s affecting everything.”

  Including my relationship with Kyle, which hurt like a bitch.

  “If it’s any consolation, it’s affecting me, too,” Jacob said. “But I keep thinking, what if I don’t mind? They can’t get to me if I don’t mind. They only have a hold on me if I let them have it.”

  I glanced at Jacob, incredulous. “That’s great, Jacob, but I do mind. I can’t not mind. This is my life, and they’re tearing it apart.”

  “It’s because you let them,” Jacob said. “They can’t touch you if you don’t care.”

  I was angry again. That seemed to happen a lot lately. If I wasn’t upset or panicking, I was angry.

  “How am I supposed to not care? I worked my ass off for this position, to do as well in my career as I was doing. And then you came along and everything changed.”

  Jacob frowned at me. “It sounds a hell of a lot like you’re blaming me for this,” he said.

  “We weren’t on the same level, Jacob,” I said. “It’s easy for you to bounce back because everyone wants you around. I can’t afford to be careless.”

  “Is that what you think this is all about?” Jacob asked. “That I just fuck around because everything comes easy? You have no idea what my life is like, Kina. You have no idea how hard it is for everyone to hate me, for me to not fit in or be accepted. Don’t make it sound like you’re the only one suffering here.”

  “Well, you just said you don’t care, didn’t you?”

  Jacob shook his head. “What I said was that it was a choice to let them affect your life.”

  I knew I was being ridiculous. I knew I was blowing this out of proportion and blaming Jacob for something that wasn’t just his fault. It had taken both of us to get to this point, after all. But I was angry, and I felt like my hands were tied. I hated being in this position. Everything in my life had always gone right, and this black mark on my reputation was something I couldn’t stand.

  “You know what?” Jacob said after we stood together in silence. “I don’t have to be here and listen to you shove all the blame on me. I have a career and a reputation, too. I’m going to work on building that up, and when you’re ready to talk to me, one adult to another about what went wrong and how we can handle it, you call me. Until then, I think it’s best we stay apart, since we’re obviously not handling this as a team, together.”

  He turned around and walked away. I wanted to call after him, but I knew he was right. I was trying to blame everyone else when I had done something wrong. I was wishing it would go away.

  He had said we weren’t working like a team. A team of two. A couple.

  Did he really want to be with me? I couldn’t help but wonder. But then my own answer brought me back to the depressing reality. Well, if so, it’s probably too late now.

  I watched Jacob walk away from me, the second man in my life leaving me today. And it hurt like a bitch.

  Chapter 27 – Jacob

  When I walked away, I was angry. I was going to leave all this shit behind and move on. I wasn’t the one who had asked for a PR manager, for a woman who would change everything for me so that I considered dating again. If Kina was this set against having a relationship, there was no reason for me to stick around.

  Her car was parked much further down than mine was. Everything was secluded, with no one around.

  I got into my car and realized that I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to walk away. I didn’t want to leave her behind like whatever had happened between us was nothing.

  I wanted Kina. She didn’t want to date, and I didn’t understand it, but I wanted her. And she was so hot when she was angry, a fire burning inside of her that seemed dormant at other times.

  So, instead of getting into my own car and driving away, I tried Kina’s car door. It was unlocked. I got into the backseat and sank down, so I wouldn’t be visible to anyone that might pass by.

  It didn’t take long before she walked back to her car. She opened the door and got in. She put the key into the ignition but didn’t turn it. Instead, she leaned back and sighed.

  “Kina,” I said, and she jumped, spinning around in her seat.

  “Jacob,” she said with a gasp when she realized it was me. “What the hell are you doing? You scared me to death.”

  I leaned forward, putting my face close to hers. “I want to fuck you.”

  I was so turned on. Her anger had fueled me.

  “What do you think this is?” she asked. “You can’t just demand to fuck me after we had a fight.”

  She swallowed hard before parting her lips slightly. Her pupils were dilating, and I could tell I wasn’t the only one who was turned on. Besides, her anger was just making me hotter and hotter.

  “Come back here, baby. Let’s forget about everything.”

  She shook her head, but it didn’t look like she was saying no to me. It looked like she was fighting with herself.

  I leaned forward far enough that the seat dug into my chest, and I kissed her. She made a surprised little yelp, but she kissed me back. I pushed my tongue into her mouth, tasting her, exploring her. Her hands wrapped around my neck, and I knew she was in the same place I was. She wasn’t going to push me away.

  “Dammit, Jacob,” she said when she broke the kiss. She got out of the car, slamming the door like she still had a temper and opened the back door, getting in next to me. I didn’t let her say anything, even if she wanted to. I pulled her close to me and kissed her hard.

  My hand went to her breast, and I squeezed it, massaging her through her clothes. She whimpered into my mouth. Her hand moved into my lap, rubbing my erection through my jeans. It made me want to push my dick into her, to take her again and again.

>   When I started unbuttoning her blouse, Kina broke the kiss and looked around.

  “No one’s here to see us, sweetheart,” I said.

  “We can’t afford more gossip.”

  I nodded. “I know. But we’ll be fine, here. Let me help you forget about all of that.”

  She looked at me, her eyes large, before she kissed me again. I proceeded to undo her shirt and put my hands on her lacy bra. She looked fantastic in her underwear. Kina shifted her weight and broke the kiss to get rid of her pants. In the car, there wasn’t enough space for me to do the honors.

  When she was naked except for her bra and the open blouse, I reached between her legs. I pushed my fingers into her slit, and she moaned. She was so wet. I groaned, pushing my fingers into her, pumping them in and out of her body so she gasped.

  Her hand went to my pants again. This time, she undid the button and pulled down the zipper. She fiddled with my jocks, pulling them aside so my dick sprang free. I was hard, popping up like a jack-in-the-box. Kina moved her hand up and down my shaft, her fingers loosely jacking me off.

  We didn’t have a hell of a lot of time, or space, for foreplay, but it wasn’t necessary. She was so wet, she was almost dripping, and I was so hard, it ached. I hurried up when putting on the condom.

  Kina must have thought the same thing about us not having a lot of time, because she clambered onto my lap, her legs straddling my hips. She lowered herself onto my cock and gasped as I pushed into her. She moved around, adjusting to having me inside of her. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine, kissing me. I loved it when she did this. Sex with her was never about just getting off. Sure, we fucked, and it was intense, but she always seemed emotionally on par with me and that was so much better.

  Sometimes, I felt so much more connected to Kina than I ever had with Marisa, and that had been a long-term relationship. That just went to show that I had been with the wrong person before.

  This was what it was like to be with the right person, to be connected to someone real.

  I stopped thinking when Kina started rocking her hips back and forth, pushing me deeper into her and pulling back up again. The sex was fantastic. She was great in any position, whether I was taking her or she was doing the work.