Evergreen: An Alpha Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  As she walked away, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I glanced at it and felt my blood run cold.

  It was Lucas.

  I willed myself to ignore it and push it back into my pocket, but just before my voicemail picked up, I answered it.

  God, I was weak.

  “Hello,” I said softly.

  “Ms. Whitlow,” he said in a low voice. “I thought that you might join me for dinner tonight.”

  Ms. Whitlow? So we were back at that again. “Lucas, you’ve seen me completely naked. Please don’t call me Ms. Whitlow again,” I growled.

  “Good to hear your temper is still intact. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “I did not agree to go out with you,” I snarled. “This is what you do. You just assume that you’re always going to get your way. You didn’t even actually ask me out to dinner. You just said that I wanted to join you for dinner. Why don’t you try asking me for once?”

  There was silence on the other end, and I thought he’d actually hung up. “Lucas?”

  “I’m suspicious that you’re setting me up just so you can have the pleasure of denying me,” he said finally.

  “Would it really be so bad if someone turned you down once in a while?” I muttered.

  Lucas cleared his throat. “I don’t want you to turn me down.”

  I had a feeling that was the closest thing I was ever going to get to a confession of any sort out of him. “Seven will be fine,” I said finally.

  He didn’t even bother to say goodbye as he ended the call, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

  But I did feel a little lighter as I picked up my bag. Lucas Montgomery wanted more than just a one-night stand. Something about that felt very good.

  By the time he’d picked me up, I had once again gone through every piece of clothing in my closet. Part of me wanted to raid Randi’s closet, but I wanted this date to finally be about me. Not about protecting me. Not about using me for the media. Just about me.

  I chose a pair of black pants and a simple blue top. It was filmy enough that I hoped it was sexy but it didn’t reveal any cleavage.

  “Classy,” I whispered as I stared at myself. “It’s classy.”

  Sure. Maybe if I said it one or two more times, I’d start to believe it.

  He was prompt. Always prompt. I opened the door right at seven and tried not to drool. He just got sexier every time I saw him.

  His eyes slowly raked over me. “Hello, Sloan.”

  “Lucas,” I whispered. “Thank you for the dinner invitation. I didn’t think you’d contact me again. I figured that since you didn’t need to protect me anymore, you wouldn’t feel obligated to hang out with me.” Hang out with me? Could I sound any more immature?

  “Tonight isn’t about your protection,” he said quietly. “I’m sure you already figured that. Come on. We’ll be late for our reservations.”

  He kept a hand on my back as he led me to the car. I was surprised to see that his driver, Danny, wasn’t present.

  “You drove?” I asked as he opened my door.

  “I like to drive.” There was no other explanation, and I slid into the car.

  “I assume that you’ve been busy with your paper, and that’s why you slipped out of my bed without saying goodbye.” He didn’t even bother looking at me when he started the car, but I heard the accusation in his voice.

  He wanted an explanation. I latched onto his excuse. “Yes. Study, study. That’s me.”

  “Have you recovered from the incident?”

  I’d barely even thought about. No nightmares. No residual fear. Memories of my night with him consumed me.

  “Yes, thank you. It helps me to stay busy.”

  The conversation was strained and polite, and we soon lapsed into silence. I was already regretting my decision to dine with him.

  When he pulled into Chateau Jean-Paul, I breathed a sigh of relief. A public restaurant that hopefully had no secret level that afforded couples more privacy and intimacy.

  Being alone with Lucas was dangerous. Being intimate with him again would be worse.

  “Relax,” he whispered in my ear as we walked into the restaurant. “Tonight we’ll eat like everyone else.”

  When I did relax, he chuckled but didn’t remove his hand.

  Conversation at dinner was just as tense as the car ride. I hid frequently in my wine glass and behind my food. When the bill finally came, I looked forward to leaving. The ritzy restaurant was his world, but I was too busy trying to not embarrass myself that I couldn’t even enjoy the food.

  There were times when I thought Lucas had lust in his eyes, but it wasn’t often. I started to think that maybe I was wrong. He seemed cool and controlled. I couldn’t help but wonder if this date was to remind me that we were from different worlds.

  That would be for the best, but that didn’t stop my heart from pounding painfully in my chest. I grew so anxious that my hands visibly shook when I picked up my wine glass to finish it.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” I muttered. Maybe it was the three glasses of merlot, but I decided that hiding wasn’t the answer. If I wanted to know what he was thinking, I would have to ask. “Actually, I’m not fine. I’m not sure why you invited me out tonight.”

  He smiled slowly. “Why do you think I invited you out?”

  Clearly, he wanted to play one of his games. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I think we can both agree that tonight is just not working. So thank you for the meal and the wine. You can clear your conscious of guilt.”

  “You think I feel guilty?” he chuckled. “If I seem quiet to you, it’s because I’m trying to gauge your state of mind. There is something that I want to discuss with you.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

  “I enjoyed spending the night with you, Sloan. I think you enjoyed yourself as well.”

  My eyes widened, and I felt my stomach twist. Where the hell was this going? “Lucas!”

  “I’ll compensate you for your time, of course. I know it’s valuable.”

  Freezing, I stared at him. “I’m sorry. What exactly are you saying? You want a repeat?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “And you’re going to pay me for it?”

  “Compensate.”

  For a half a second, I had no idea how to react. I just blinked. “My God. You’re serious.” The anger hit me like a brick wall, and my jaw dropped open. “I will not be paid to service you!” I hissed.

  He just raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t enjoy our night together? I think your multiple orgasms would suggest otherwise.”

  His voice was a little too loud, and I glanced around nervously. “Lower your voice,” I growled. “What I enjoyed is not the point. You’re like a drug, and drugs are not good. They’re fun for a few minutes, but then there’s hell to pay afterwards. I have too much going on to deal with this, and I am not a whore. Take me home. Now.”

  Trying to keep my composure, I got up and smoothed a hand over my hair. Squaring my shoulders, I held my head high. Of all the nerve! Did he think that just because I was a poor student, I would whore myself out for him?

  I left him sitting at the table and prayed that he wouldn’t be so angry that he wouldn’t take me home.

  I was a poor student, and I didn’t exactly have money for a taxi to take me across the damn city. Of course, using my credit card and digging myself deeper in debt might have been preferable to riding home with a man who wanted to pay me for sex.

  Chapter Four

  Lucas

  “You’re upset with me,” I murmured as she inserted the key into her door. She hadn’t said a word as I drove her home, and I wasn’t sure what exactly I’d done to warrant the cold shoulder. I wrapped my hands around her waist and felt her stiffen.

  “I told you how I felt,” she said stiffly. “I’m not some gold-digging whore that’s going to be at your disposal whenever you want.”

  She opened the door. I
had a feeling she planned on slamming it in my face, so I followed her quickly inside. When she whirled around, there was fury in her eyes. “I did not invite you in,” she hissed.

  Shutting the door with my foot, I pushed her hard against the wall and slid my hands up her side until my thumbs brushed under her breasts. She pissed me off, but God did she turn me on.

  “At no point did I ever call you a gold-digging whore,” I growled. “The problem with you is that you insinuate too much. Why can’t you just take my word instead of reading between the lines?”

  “Take your word?” she hissed. “Be at your beck and call and you’ll make it worth my time? Just how exactly were you planning on paying me for my services?”

  She may have been angry, but she was slowing arching into my touch. “Just because I was going to compensate you for your time doesn’t mean you’re a whore. I have connections, Sloan. I can accelerate your career path. I can get you in touch with anyone you need to finish your thesis. I can help you.”

  “You’re an idiot,” she said through gritted teeth. “It doesn’t matter if it’s money or not. It’s payment for sex. That’s what a whore does. If you didn’t want a relationship, all you had to do was say so. I’m a big girl, Lucas. I can take it.”

  Despite the fury in her eyes, I saw the flame of desire. Her pupils dilated, and her breasts heaved. She wanted to fight, but she also wanted to fuck. And I was hardening with every breath that she took.

  Leaning down, I kissed her hard. The time for talking was over. I didn’t want to hear another word come out of her mouth unless she was begging me to fuck her. She didn’t even bother pushing me away. Wrapping her arms around me, she just pulled me closer and reached for my pants.

  I let her fish out my hardness and wrap her hands around it. As she squeezed, I moaned and rested my forearms on either side of her. Smiling coyly, she started to stroke me. “Is this what you were going to compensate me for?” she mocked.

  “Damn it,” I hissed. Pulling out of her grasp, I whirled her around and shoved her against the wall. She automatically bucked her ass against me, and I smiled. “You can talk all you want,” I muttered. “But you want me.”

  “I can want you and still be pissed at you,” she grunted and pushed against me again. She looked over her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. “Just like you want me despite your anger.”

  I wanted to pull her pants down and take her hard against the wall right then and there, but that wouldn’t teach her a lesson. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. “You think that because I want you, you can control me?” I hissed as I pressed the palm of my hand to the apex of her thighs. “What happened to the naive woman in my bed not days ago? The one who didn’t know could have multiple orgasms?”

  “She’s thinking a little more clearly now,” she snapped, but her eyes were already closing as I pressed my fingers against her.

  She moaned softly and rubbed herself on me. Even through the fabric of her pants, I could feel her heat. “God, Lucas,” she panted. Suddenly, she slapped her hands against the wall. “I think you’re the one trying to control me through sex.”

  Unbuttoning her pants, I slid the zipper down and peeled them slowly them down her legs. As I bent to my knees, I felt completely at her mercy as I gently ran a finger down the black lacy edge of her panties. We could talk about control all we wanted, but I was hers, and she didn’t even have to touch me to prove it.

  Fuck. It pissed me off to no end.

  I ripped her panties down and turned my body so I could slip my head between her legs and the wall and press my lips to her. She practically screamed as I dragged my tongue across her slit and tasted her.

  She couldn’t seem to help herself as she rubbed her wet pussy across my tongue. Her legs quivered in my hands until my hold on her was the only reason she was still standing, but I didn’t let up. I flicked my tongue over her clit until she cried. I shoved my tongue deep inside her until she whimpered, but when I could feel her close to her release, I let up.

  “Lucas,” she moaned. “Please.”

  “Please what?” I hissed as I looked up at her. She rested her forehead against the wall, and her hair spilled down her shoulders.

  “Please let me come,” she whispered. “Please.”

  I blew gently against her until I had her squirming, and I finally raked my teeth lightly over her clit. Her whole body shuddered as the climax ravaged her body, and I loosened my hold as she slid down the wall. Pushing my body up, I leaned back and let her fall right onto my lap, her legs straddling me.

  She blinked and stared at me. “That doesn’t prove anything,” she whispered as she slowly moved across my erection. Lifting my knees, I worked my pants the rest of the way down.

  “It proves that you want me. And you can have me, Sloan,” I murmured as I tucked her hair behind her ear.

  Her eyes searched me. “Why can’t you just call it a relationship?”

  The word bit sharply into me. There were relationships with women, and then there was a relationship to one woman. I had plenty experience with the former but virtually none with the latter.

  And I wasn’t about to start now.

  Rather than answer her, I simply lifted her until I could slide into her. She welcomed me snugly, and I grunted as pleasure swept through me. She knew what I was doing. I could see the accusation in her eyes, but need drove us both. Instead of pushing the issue, she just lifted her shirt and unsnapped her bra so that her breasts swung free. As she rode me, I leaned over and took a nipple in my mouth.

  I was addicted to every sound of pleasure. The more she moaned, the more I wanted to hear her moan. She moved faster, her pussy stroking me, her body slamming against mine. I dug my fingers into her hips and urged her on.

  “Shit, baby,” I hissed. “You feel too good. I can’t hold on much longer.”

  She whimpered, and I knew that she was close. Digging my heels into the floor, I pushed my body against the wall until she took me so deep that I didn’t know where I ended and she began. The contact was too much for her, and she arched her back rigidly and exploded around me.

  As her muscles clenched and milked me, it was all I could do to hold her up as I reached my own climax. Moaning her name, I emptied everything inside her. All that I could give was hers.

  When she slumped against me, I closed my eyes and held her. I didn’t know if minutes or hours passed, but she finally pushed herself up and stared at me. “We should probably move before Randi gets home,” she whispered.

  “I’m not leaving,” I said darkly as I anchored her to me. “I don’t give a fuck if your whole apartment complex walks in on us. I’m not done with you yet.”

  She laughed dryly and shook her head. “I just meant that we should move this some place more private, like my bedroom. It has a door that locks.”

  Sloan slowly eased off me and grabbed our clothes. She didn’t even look back as she led me to the bedroom, and I felt a little relief when she locked the door behind me.

  “It’s going to be hard to slip out of your own bed before morning,” I remarked as I slid my shirt off. She stiffened and turned to face me.

  “You’re really not going to let that go, are you?”

  “Not until you tell me why.”

  She tossed the clothes on the floor and shook her head. “I shouldn’t have to. I’ve had exactly one sexual partner, and we were in a long relationship. I’d just had a one-night stand with a man I barely knew. I didn’t know how to act.”

  “It’s not a one-night stand anymore.”

  “It’s still a casual relationship, and I don’t know that I can do that.” She sat on her bed and brought her knees up to her chest, effectively covering her nakedness.

  She looked so innocent and vulnerable. I could barely look at her. Sweeping my gaze around the room, I tried to find some answers. The white walls of apartments were so sterile, and the neutral carpeting didn’t help. Her color scheme was safe. Grey and white. There were a few pictures
here and there, but no bold works of art on the walls. With the exception of her desk, it was meticulously neat. Clothes were hung, her shoes were lined neatly on the walls, and there was nothing strewn about on her dresser.

  Her desk, on the other hand, was a clusterfuck of books and papers. It was the first time I could say something concrete about her.

  She was a walking contradiction. Quiet and organized. Bold and passionate. Innocent and naive. Seductive and dangerous. If I had any sense, I would have walked away right then.

  I kept my voice even despite the knot growing in my stomach. “So tonight is it, then?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  Good. Even though I knew it was wrong, relief swept through me. I walked back to the bed and slowly crawled towards her. Pulling her ankles down, I moved up her body until she could do nothing but lie back as I settled my weight on top of her. “So what are you saying? You want romance? Flowers, jewelry, candle-lit dinners?”

  “Yes.”

  Fuck. I gritted my teeth and shook my head. “I can’t give that to you, Sloan. I’m just not that kind of man. I don’t want marriage or kids. I can’t look past today. But I can show you exactly what your body is capable of. I’ll let you act out your fantasies on me and explore yourself.”

  Her eyes darkened, and I smiled. She was hooked. “Would you be monogamous while we were together?”

  I chose my words carefully. “I don’t usually use the term monogamy because I don’t do relationships. But I know that your last boyfriend cheated on you, and I can only assume that it’s a sensitive point for you. If it will help you, I won’t be with anyone else while I’m with you, but I can’t pretend this is more than a sexual experience.”

  She never broke eye contact while she considered the agreement. Wordlessly, she nodded. Placing the palms of her hands on my shoulders, she pushed until I flipped us over. Giving me a quick kiss on the mouth, she slowly slithered down my body, her tongue trailing down my skin, until she poised hesitantly over my cock.