A Forbidden Love (Eligible Billionaires Book 9)

by Maggie Marr

  He pulled at her bottom lip with his teeth. His thumb swept over her taut nipple.

  A gasp escaped her mouth. He slowly stroked and circled the tight bud.

  “I missed you too.” She pressed her lips to his as her hands grasped his hard maleness. She stroked up and down over the fabric of his jeans. A deep groan came from his throat. His sensual growl unleashed a primal need in her body, a pulsing ache she felt to her core.

  “Let’s go to my place,” she whispered around their kiss.

  He smiled against her lips.

  She held his hand and led him up the steps to her apartment on the second floor.

  *

  Devon had been in Ilana’s apartment exactly three times. Once to drop off groceries, once to pick her up for a date, and once to nearly fill it with paper. Never like this. She unlocked the door and they stumbled over the threshold, their lips locked together, his mouth working hers. He kicked the door shut behind them.

  He’d missed her. He’d never have enough of her, would he? God no. He cupped his hands around her jaw as his tongue plundered her mouth. Needing her. Needing the scent, the taste of her. He moved his hands down over her breasts, and a moan escaped her lips. He found the bottom of her shirt and had it up and over her head. The bed. Where was the fucking bed? This apartment was tiny. He opened his eyes. Across the room, behind stacks of paper boxes, was the bed.

  Devon lifted Ilana off the ground. She clung to him, her legs tight around his waist, her hands pressed to the sides of his face. Desire deep and thick curled through his body. This woman, my God, this woman drove him to the edge with a need greater than lust, a desire that reached to the center of his soul. With her locked to his body, he wove them around the boxes.

  He stumbled as his toe hit a stray box. “Shit.”

  “Sorry,” she whispered against his lips.

  His shins hit the mattress and he leaned forward, dropping her to the mattress. Devon pulled her jeans and her lace panties down over her hips. He leaned down and his lips roamed up over her belly. He lifted her, unsnapped her bra, and tossed it across the room.

  “That’s better.”

  Fuck yes. Her body a painting of alabaster skin now free of all fabric. Her lush blonde hair splayed out around her head. Those soft, whisker-chafed lips plump and pink. Taut rosebud nipples on wonderfully full breasts. A delicate flush to her skin and her breath coming in quick pants from want and need.

  “Open your legs.”

  The flush deepened and her eyes widened, but she did as she was told. Her knees fell open, revealing that lovely patch of blonde curls, damp with desire for him.

  His body tensed. Desire, a living thing, coiled tight in his low back. He kicked off his shoes, his gaze still devouring Ilana. Took his T-shirt up and over his head. She gasped as her gaze skimmed over his bare skin. He pulled down his jeans and his cock, hard and aroused for her, stood stiffly against his belly.

  He was going to make her come. He’d make her come so hard and so long and so many times that she’d never sneak away in the morning without making love to him ever again. She’d never be so busy that she’d forget to call or text, oh no. After he got done fucking Ilana, she would be completely his.

  Devon leaned forward, above that body he desperately wanted to fuck, and planted a hand on either side of her. His lips grasped hers and his teeth bit at her bottom lip.

  She let a soft whine fall from her lips as Devon pulled his mouth away and traced a hot trail over her neck to one taut puckered nipple that waited for his kiss. He wouldn’t disappoint. He pulled the pink perfect flesh between his lips.

  “Yes, oh please, yes!”

  Devon couldn’t get any harder, not now, not ever. His cock throbbed with want and need. He settled beside her on the bed. His fingertips stroked over her breast. He pulled his mouth from one nipple and moved to the other. Another moan. Her hand reached between his legs and she grasped his cock.

  Fuck yes.

  She stroked up and back down. Heat thrummed through him. He pulled away from her and his lips worked down her belly until he was just above her sex. Her hips rolled in a smooth, intoxicating rhythm, her legs open, her sex glistening, evidence of her desire for him. Her breath burst from her body in quick pants and she gripped the blanket with her hands.

  Devon settled between her legs. He swept his tongue over her clit. The warm earthy scent of woman, the taste of her on his tongue. Her hips thrust upward and she clawed the bed.

  “Please, oh my God, please,” she begged.

  Yes, he wanted her to beg. He wanted her to beg for the pleasure that only he could provide. He spread the lips of her sex. The scent made his cock throb even harder. His hand rested on the hard curve of her hip, holding her in place, but not stilling the rhythm of her pelvis. Soft skin against his tongue as he ringed the outside of her sex in lush sweeps, pressing his finger to her clit.

  A loud moan. Her body tightening with the pulsing desire.

  He slid one fingertip, then another, deep into her sex and touched his tongue to her clit. The slippery bead of pleasure. Then he pulled the swollen nub into his mouth. His tongue danced around her clit, tracing circles and lines, teasing her while her body rolled and tightened with the pleasure and her breathing grew shorter and shorter.

  “Devon, I’m going to come!”

  He tightened his mouth around her clit. Her body clamped around his fingers and her hips thrust upward. He stroked faster and sucked harder. He watched her face, contorted with pleasure, the muscles of her body clenching and releasing. A shriek burst from her lips.

  “Devon, oh Devon!”

  And with his name on her lips, she fell over the edge.

  *

  Ilana shattered into a million pieces. Devon’s tongue, my God, his tongue. She opened her eyes. She wanted the heaviness of his body on her. His thick sex in her. She reached down and pulled him up and his lips were on hers. Salty, earthy, the taste of her own sex. He thrust his tongue deep into her mouth. The head of his cock pressed against her sex, still throbbing with her just-finished orgasm. She needed him to fill her, wanted him to plunge deep into her body. His gaze on her, he raised up and pushed forward. Her hot, wet body sheathed his hard cock.

  “You’re mine.”

  My God, but she was. She was his. She nodded. She could pretend she wasn’t, she could fight the inevitable, she could fail to call or text or speak to him for days…but the truth was apparent in her heart. She was his for as long as he would have her.

  Devon owned her heart, her body, her entire being. How long had she known the inevitability of this moment? From the day she’d fallen while running? Since the first time they kissed? Maybe the first night they made love? She could deny the truth no longer. She belonged to Devon.

  His cock slid back slowly and the ache in her body grew. Devon thrust forward and her hips bucked upward with pleasure. She clasped one leg around him as he slowly slid in and paused. Restrained his movement. His eyes held hers, his pupils dilated, want shadowing his face. His cock still, deep in her sex, still wet from orgasm. His muscles tight. His gaze locked to hers.

  “Yes, my God, yes,” he moaned as he raised up and pulled back.

  “Faster,” Ilana breathed.

  The dark need in his eyes shifted with her words. A wildness inhabited his gaze, as though she’d just given him permission to let his desire consume him. He slammed forward, her body taking him and tightening around him.

  Bliss.

  Possessed by him. Taken with each thrust, with each stroke of his cock. With every deep growl that crossed his lips. Faster. Harder. She wanted him.

  She loved him.

  He pulled back and stroked hard and fast deep into the sanctuary of her body. His muscles tightened and the throbbing heat burst from his cock, every fiber straining for release. My God yes, with another orgasm, she was his.

  Chapter 12

  Ilana could totally run the Enrichment Center alone. So what if she’d forgotten to restock pa
int over the weekend? Sasha, Amelia’s substitute, had run out of blue paint halfway through art class, but Ilana had handled the crisis. A quick trip to Ultrecht’s art supply, and there’d been blue paint!

  Ilana hefted a box filled with more paint higher on her hip. The sun beat down and sweat trickled down the center of her back just beneath the band of her bra. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to hurry the uncomfortable errand along.

  Please let the air conditioner at the Center hold. She’d been ignoring the strange buzzing noise coming from the vents. She made a mental note to add “have air conditioning checked” to her list. The same list where she’d forgotten to add “buy blue paint.” Wasn’t like she was distracted…nope, not at all. Ha! Between the upcoming rent increase, her new family, and the idea of visiting her dying father, Ilana’s mind was stretched.

  But she could do this. She would do this.

  She turned the corner toward the Center and her gaze landed on a tall, good-looking man leaning against the wall beside the front door, scrolling through his phone. The sun kissed his blonde hair and reflected in his aviator shades, highlighting the edge of his sharp jaw. Hmm, why did he look familiar?…He looked up. A brilliant smile showed off perfect white teeth. Her gait hitched.

  “Cousin!” Alexi reached out, lifted the box from her arms, and pecked her on each cheek. She opened the Center door, dazed, and Alexi followed her into the chaos, still holding the box.

  Kids drew on the chalk wall and parents sat in the lobby, gabbing and waiting for their kids’ classes to begin or end.

  “Wow, this place is busy.” Alexi skirted around a toddler playing with a red Tonka truck on the floor.

  “Always. We’ve been lucky that way.” Ilana lifted two bottles of blue paint from the box and handed them to Doris, a student from Santa Monica College who was manning the Center’s front desk and helping while Amelia was away.

  “I’m taking the rest to storage, upstairs behind the library.” She pointed at the box and Alexi followed her up the stairs. The noise of the busy lobby dropped away with each step. When she opened the library door, three preteens looked up from the laptops on the tables.

  “Let’s leave it here,” Ilana whispered. “I’ll come and put it away after they’re finished.” Alexi put the box on a shelf near the door.

  “I’ve got a little time, come with me.” She turned toward her apartment and opened the door. There was that buzzing sound again. Damn, please don’t let the air conditioner go out.

  Alexi walked in behind her. “This is your place?”

  Ilana glanced around the studio apartment, still stacked with boxes of paper. “When we’re not using it for additional storage.” She nodded to the nearby couch and chair. “But it’s quiet and we’ve got a little space. Something to drink?’

  “Water?”

  Ilana walked to the tiny kitchenette. Beside the sink was a picture of her and Mama standing on the Santa Monica Pier, smiling. What would Mama think of Papa’s nephew hanging out with her? Had Mama ever planned to tell Ilana about the rest of her family? She turned back to her cousin, who stood on the far side of the room examining the books on her bookcase.

  “Nice collection.” He took the glass of water she handed him and sat in the chair opposite the couch. “Like your place. Great light. But man, you can’t ever get away from your work.” He nodded toward the boxes still stacked around her bed.

  True, if she ever stayed here…which she didn’t…hardly ever. But she didn’t yet need to share that detail with a cousin she’d met exactly once.

  Alexi set his water on a coaster on the coffee table and leaned back into the chair. “One of my clients has a gig coming up next week, and I wondered if you wanted to go. Thursday? Mom and Dad are going, and we were thinking you could come with us and we’d all grab some dinner before the show.”

  “Love to.” And she would. But her stomach tickled as anxiety rolled through her gut. Why? Because being in public with her family would mean questions. From people. And of course it didn’t matter anymore, because she was a grown woman and her father was in jail…but she’d have to tell Amelia and Devon…And suddenly everything that she’d been taught to keep private would become public.

  “Great.” Alexi slid his phone from his pocket. “I’ll send you the details.” He glanced back up at her. “There’s another reason I’m here.”

  Ilana’s chest tightened.

  “I’m going to New York on business, and I wondered if you wanted to come too.”

  “New York?” Ilana tilted her head. “I mean…I love New York, but…why?”

  “To see your dad.”

  Ilana’s heart stilled. Was this how it would be with her father’s family? Would they constantly harp on seeing her father? Pressure her? Make her feel bad for not wanting to see him?

  “Did Uncle Dimitry send you?”

  “No. Actually, Mom and Dad would be pissed that I asked. I’m here on my own.”

  Ilana twisted Mama’s opal ring around her finger. “I don’t think I want to see him.”

  “Fair enough. I wanted to throw it out there. I’d go with you, you wouldn’t have to see him alone. Really”—Alexi glanced around the room before his gaze settled on Ilana— “he’s going to die. I just don’t want you to regret that you didn’t see him.”

  “Do you think he regrets that he didn’t see me grow up?”

  Alexi kept his lips tight. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t know how he feels.” He looked at her. “And frankly, I don’t care. I’m making this offer because of how you might feel. I think keeping you away from your dad was a mutual decision on your parents’ part.”

  “Mutual? Really? Was it a mutual decision that my father hit my mother and we ran away to California?”

  “No.” Alexi shook his head. “No, you can’t ever defend a man hitting a woman, and I won’t try. But when your mom and dad were at my parents’ house—”

  “What?” Ilana frowned…that couldn’t be right. Mama had met with Papa…at Dimitry’s home? Her heart split.

  Alexi closed his eyes. “Dam.”

  “My parents were together. Without me?”

  “Once. One time. I was thirteen, so you would’ve been, what? Nine?”

  Ilana nodded. “Right, I think that’s right.”

  “From what I gathered, it was to discuss you.”

  “Me?”

  “You. Whether you’d see your father or us. What was best…” Alexi shook his head. “I remember my dad and your mom didn’t want you around your dad, which meant they didn’t think you should see any of us, either.”

  How could they have made these decisions without her? How could Mama have made these decisions and never told her? Not even after Ilana was an adult?

  “According to my dad, your father wasn’t doing well. He’d chosen some businesses that weren’t good for you to be around.”

  “I’ve heard about my dad’s businesses. There’s a reason he’s in jail.”

  “I’m sorry…I thought…I don’t know what I thought. Look, your mom must’ve thought that it was best you didn’t know.”

  “Right,” Ilana said softly.

  “Look, my mom didn’t go see her mother before she died, and I know it still haunts her, decades later. That’s the only reason I asked. If I can help you from feeling that way, then I will. That’s what family does. And I want us to be a family. My brothers would do the same. You could ask any one of us to go with you. Or my parents.”

  Ilana knew he was right. Uncle Dimitry had already said he’d go with Ilana to visit her father. But did she want to see her father? Did she need to? And how would she feel when she got the call that he had passed?

  “No pressure, okay?”

  Ilana nodded.

  Alexi stood, and Ilana walked him down the stairs.

  “I’ll see you next week?”

  “Definitely.” She pasted a smile to her face. Alexi pulled her in for a quick hug. The bell above the door chimed and De
von walked into the Center. He took in the scene in front of him and lifted a brow, questioning. Of course. She was hugging a man he’d never met, never seen before.

  Her chest tightened. Now she’d have to tell Devon about her family. Why was she so unwilling? It had to be her past. The words that her mother had hammered into her brain—don’t tell people about your family—still held power over her. And did she want to tell Devon about her family right now, with the entire Center filled? Did she want to tell Alexi about Devon? Not really.

  “Devon, this is Alexi.” Her cousin turned to Devon and extended his hand.

  “Hey, good to meet you.” Alexi furrowed his brow. “You look familiar. Have we met?”

  “Maybe.” Devon smiled. “Are you from Venice?”

  “Malibu. But now most the time I’m over in Hollywood unless I’m back here to visit my parents, Ilana’s—”

  “Thanks for coming by,” Ilana cut in, her sharp look silencing Alexi. Thankfully, he caught on that she wasn’t ready yet to share all the details of her newfound family.

  “Right.” Alexi nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  “I’ll let you know about next week, but I think Thursday works.”

  “Great, I’ll text you the details.” He glanced at Devon. “See you soon.”

  “Sure thing.” Devon turned back to Ilana.

  Her heart beat a crazy rhythm. She stepped forward and pressed her lips to Devon’s, hopeful that a kiss would still any questions that he had for her.

  *

  “I know what you’re hiding.”

  Ilana’s heart jolted. She tore her gaze from the pink sunset and looked into Devon’s eyes. He looked at her steadily, his head tilted, the smile that usually warmed Ilana’s heart absent from his lips. “Excuse me?”

  “Hiding,” Devon said. “I know what you’re hiding.”

  A chill rushed through her body and the bottom dropped out of her gut. Oh. No. Did he know about her aunt and uncle? Had he found out about her father? And why was she so determined not to tell him? She trusted Devon…she…she even loved him. She had to let him in, tell him this, there wasn’t a reason not to share what was going on in her life with him. “Okay…well…I just found out and—”