Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (10 Book Bundle)

by Selena Kitt

  And yet, with every look he sent her way when no one else could notice, Nick gave her no doubt that he was merely biding his time. He smiled that rakish smile of a man who knew the prize was there for his taking. And yet the handsome devil seemed to torture himself – and her as well, with the prospect that sometime soon, all the breathless waiting would come to an end.

  Being an only child and with his mother dying when Nick was just a child, Keyonna soon learned that Nick had grown up pretty much raised by close relations and family friends. His tough as nails father had never had much time for his young son which meant Nick learned early on in life to stand on his own. Keyonna respected that even as she wondered if that was all that had happened to turn him into the enigma he was now. Always, she sensed there was something beneath the surface, still locked away from her. A part of him she’d never get a glimpse of or even understand.

  Why she’d want to understand Nick Vitale was beyond her. The man was a heartless beast. He’d as much as held her future in his hands when he’d bought that company handling her life’s investments.

  That’s what you get for putting all your eggs in one basket, thought Keyonna. Though, in the back of her mind she was reminded that she’d brought this all on herself that night she’d flown into his arms and kissed him in full view of Mark – and unknown to Keyonna, Nick’s fiancée Rachel Conte.

  None of that mattered now. Keyonna had vowed to put that all behind her and move on, taking each day at a time. And when she went to bed at night, she prayed that when she woke up the next morning, it would get easier and easier to face the future.

  But it never did.

  * * * *

  Keyonna heaved a deep sigh as she heard Nick’s powerful car drive off into the night. Pushing away from her front door, she slipped out of her designer high heeled pumps and headed straight for her bedroom.

  It had been another one of those evenings; dinner with a handful of Nick’s most important business associates. The closer they came to the wedding date, the more pressure Keyonna felt when she thought of the role she’d have to play as Nick’s wife. People expected much from the woman wearing Nick Vitale’s ring. If she’d thought it would be in name only, he showed her many times that she was wrong. He wanted a wife in every sense of the word and now that the wedding was only a week away, Keyonna had that sense of panic as she wondered if it wasn’t too late to back out of it.

  Especially when she knew how much things had changed – on her part at least.

  She frowned, pulling the pins from her glossy dark hair as she thought of how preoccupied Nick had been all through the dinner in the exclusive Italian restaurant they’d dined at. She wondered if he too, was having second thoughts about them. A part of her shriveled to think that Nick might end up changing his mind about the whole thing.

  Maybe he’d decide he preferred someone more suited to what was expected of the handsome billionaire who’d dated models, beauty queens and heiresses? Like, what on earth had he been thinking, deciding to hook up with some barely-known interior designer with a small-town background who was trying to claw her way to the top?

  Keyonna felt her heart sink and pushed those disheartening thoughts aside. Billionaire or not, she told herself Nick would be lucky to have a woman like her. She didn’t care about his money or name. None of that mattered when he was close to her and she could inhale that special, heart-tripping scent that was all Nick. When he covered her hand with his, even with just a light touch, she felt it right down to her twitching pussy walls. A man like him was what fantasies were made of and Keyonna realized she must have been an idiot to hold back this long, keeping her desire for him at bay.

  All night, she’d been aware of him like never before. Even in his distant mood, she’d been drawn to how devilishly handsome he’d looked in his formal evening suit and impeccable tie. His hair, so dark and silky, had made her almost weep inside in longing to sink her fingers in the tempting locks. Every other woman in the room had found it hard to resist taking more than a second look and Keyonna had felt an almost irrepressible urge to scream, “He’s mine!” to let them know Nick was out of bounds.

  But then common sense prevailed as she recalled that Nick Vitale wasn’t hers. Soon, he would be but only on paper. Why was that prospect becoming more and more distasteful to her? Was she beginning to want something more?

  Before Keyonna could dwell on that possibility, she heard the doorbell ring. She was so surprised to have someone at the door at that time of night that she didn’t think twice before going to answer it.

  She rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw Mark standing there.

  “Mark, seriously?” she said, staying put in the middle of her front door in case her ex had any thought of letting himself in. In the past few weeks she’d had to ignore a load of his messages and calls, thankful that Nick never found out about them since she could never be sure what he’d be capable of if he knew Mark was still trying to contact her.

  And now here he stood, his handsome face strained, his hands shoved into his jacket as he waited on her doorstep with a lost expression.

  “You never gave us that chance to talk, Keyonna. I couldn’t stay away,” Mark said deeply before heaving a deep sigh. “And now I feel like you need to hear my explanation before you go ahead with your marriage to Nick Vitale.”

  Keyonna shook her head in disbelief. “Nothing you could say would change the fact that I’m getting married to Nick in a week’s time. Why is this so hard to understand, Mark? Whatever we shared, it’s over. No amount of explanation can bring us back together. I don’t love you,” she told him clearly.

  “And you love him?” Mark asked with a twist to his lips. “I was parked across the street waiting when I saw him drop you off just minutes ago. And I couldn’t help thinking; what does he have to offer you that I can’t? Oh sure, he’s almost rich as Rockefeller and then of course he’s got this fancy Italian heritage that seems to get women all in a tizzy. But you never seemed the type to fall for all that crap, Keyonna. You were always my girl; the kind I always thought I’d find waiting when the time came for me to come home.”

  “Well, you thought wrong,” Keyonna said quietly. She couldn’t believe he’d actually been staking out her apartment, waiting for her to return. Just imagining if Nick had run into him was enough to make goosebumps rise all over her skin.

  Hiding a shiver, she went on in a tight voice, “Things might have turned out differently if you’d worked as hard at our relationship as you did with your career in the military. You never bothered to call or even write me for more than a year before you got back, Mark. Now I can’t say what you must have gone through back there but if you cared, you’d have stayed in touch to make sure I knew you were okay, and that you were coming back to me. For all I knew you’d moved on with some other girl or had even gotten married. What did you expect me to think? What’s done is done. Just go home, okay? I’m sure you’ll have someone filling the space pretty soon anyway. Girls had never been a problem for you so I guess you’ll be fine.”

  Mark’s eyes looked pained as they held hers. “There may be other girls but it was always you, Keyonna. Yeah, I messed up. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me that. But back there in Afghanistan, I was facing a lot of stuff that just had me blanking out the world just so I could make it through the ordeal. I kept thinking that was the best way to deal with things but now I realize I was wrong. I convinced myself that the life I knew would be waiting for me if I ever got through that last mission. But then there was always one more operation, and then another until months passed and before I knew it, it was two years since we’d last spoken. I’m sorry I threw away what we had but if you give me one more chance.”

  Keyonna bit hard on her bottom lip, flinching slightly. She really, really hated to do this, especially when she thought of what they’d once shared. It had been innocent and sweet, and Mark had never ever done a thing to cause her pain while they were together. It was just never mean
t to be. She shook her head one last time at him, her eyes apologetic.

  “I’m sorry too, Mark. But no. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. And please, it’s best if you never tried to see me again, or call me. Goodbye, Mark.”

  Slowly, Keyonna closed the door on his broken expression. She released a deep sigh as she moved away to head to the kitchen for a glass of water and some aspirin. The strain of the conversation had her wondering about her closing words. She’d meant it when she’d said she couldn’t be with Mark even if she’d wanted to. A bit of it had to do with the fact that she was being trapped into marriage to another. But as she searched the deepest recesses of her heart, Keyonna knew that she’d fallen into another trap of a more dangerous kind. The one which involved her heart…

  Keyonna jumped when, for the second time that night her doorbell rang. What on earth? She banged down the glass of water and virtually stalked to her door and flung it open with a warning growl in her tone as she blurted, “Mark, I told you…”

  Keyonna stiffened with surprise. Standing there this time wasn’t Mark as she’d thought, but Nick. His playfully cocky smile disappeared at the sound of Mark’s name.

  “Mark was here?” Nick snarled, his face darkening with fury. Deciding she didn’t need this, Keyonna let out a huff and swirled round to stalk back to the kitchen.

  Nick was hot on her heels, the front door banging shut after him. Keyonna rolled her eyes and chose to ignore the throbbing increasing in her skull. She went for the glass of water she’d been interrupted from drinking and raised it to her lips.

  “I believe I asked you a question,” Nick said through gritted teeth, his hand closing tightly around her elbow.

  “Yes, Mark was here!” Keyonna snapped, finally facing him as she spun round. Her eyes held his with her own share of anger. “He showed up moments after you drove off. Don’t worry; he didn’t stay very long.”

  “Let me guess,” Nick sneered, “He was here to give his good wishes for your upcoming wedding.”

  “Something like that,” Keyonna said, with equal sarcasm. She gasped when Nick grabbed her shoulders and pulled her hard against him, his face a mask of rage.

  “If he touched you…laid even a finger on you…”

  Keyonna felt a cold thrill slide down her spine, feeling that same sweet hot rush she got from being so close to him. It had been a shock to find him standing on the doorstep and a delayed reaction began in her knees which were starting to wobble. His hold over her couldn’t be explained and yet somehow she could guess why she was becoming more and more vulnerable to his dominance.

  “He only wanted to talk,” Keyonna finally said, forcing the defiant tone from her voice. “I didn’t even let him in the front door. He…well, he tried to make one last attempt to change my mind about leaving him, but I told him in no uncertain terms that it was over and that I was definitely going ahead with my marriage to you. Needless to say, I advised him never to bother trying to see me again.”

  Nick’s lips thinned in a cold smile. “I hope for his sake, he heeds that advice. I’ve warned him more than once to stay away from you and I’m a man who hates to repeat himself. The next time, I might do just more than warn him.”

  “I’m sure he got the message this time,” Keyonna said with a twist to her lips. Seeing a jealous Nick would have been such a romantic, delicious buzz if she understood why the hell he could be jealous. It wasn’t like he was in love with her or anything. He’d made it clear that he’d have gladly married Rachel and had only chosen Keyonna out of necessity. He also claimed to desire her sexually so then maybe he was that type of man who hated to share his toys or whatever he felt was his property.

  Reminding herself of just what they had between them and that it had nothing to do with romance, Keyonna sighed and tried to pull out of his hold.

  “Just what did you come back for, Nick?” she asked tiredly, her palms flat against his chest. He merely tightened his grip, and when she made herself look into his eyes, she saw them soften with a glowing enticement.

  “My goodnight kiss,” he rumbled, his dark gaze deepening almost to black as they rested on her lips. His hands slid up her arms to encircle her throat lightly, and Keyonna hummed softly in both protest and pleasure, her heart pounding faster than ever.

  She felt all giddy and silly at the same time. She had wondered at how preoccupied he’d seemed all evening, so much so he hadn’t given her the customary kiss goodnight he usually did. She’d always felt it was just something perfunctory on his part; nothing dreamy about it but simply his gentlemanly way of reminding her she belonged to him. So how come those light brushstrokes of his lips over hers, though brief, always kept her moist and restless through the night?

  Keyonna had certainly noticed he’d neglected to bestow the parting gesture earlier that night after he’d seen her to her front door, but she’d put it down to his strange mood all through the dinner.

  Now, she laughed in disbelief as her eyes danced playfully. “You actually came all the way back just to get a goodnight kiss. Yeah, right.”

  Keyonna knew her cheeks were flushed, and she could hardly meet his smoldering gaze as her eyelashes fluttered low.

  Nick merely chuckled at her shyness, leaning down and closing the distance between their lips. “I don’t expect you to understand what it is you do to me,” he murmured huskily, right before he covered her mouth in an open-mouthed kiss that was nothing like the casual ones he’d given her in the past few weeks. Keyonna gasped, their breaths mingling as she opened her lips to welcome him. He flicked his tongue over her mouth and then dove in as he was a starved man keen for his first meal. It didn’t occur to her to resist, but then he had his hands holding her throat and keeping her in place, his grasp gentle yet possessive.

  Long, passionate minutes passed before Nick drew away just a fraction, enough for Keyonna to try to catch her unsteady breath.

  “Well, you’ve got your one kiss,” Keyonna said, her voice unrecognizable to her own ears. Damn but that had felt so good. Full of fire and ice and twinkles that had her belly coiling and twisting with desire. She wanted him so bad. Craved him. Wanting him was her one weakness that she was the most ashamed of. And yet she knew it was futile to keep fighting. Maybe she was tired of turning her back on what she so desperately craved.

  Her eyes still shut tight, Keyonna felt more than saw his smile as he plucked at her bottom lip ravenously. “Maybe I want more,” he growled, while pressing one hard kiss after another over her now plumped lips. “You taste of temptation and of all my favorite things. You make me so hard just by looking at you. Tonight, you looked so beautiful. Every man in the room wanted to be in my place. But you belong to me, Keyonna. And I hate to share. The next time I find out that Mark or any other man tries to get too close – he’s going to have a lot of broken bones. You’re mine,” he growled, his grasp on her throat tightening just a fraction as he seized her lips with such a passionate frenzy he soon had her moaning into his mouth.

  Her slight headache was long gone now. The heated pulsing agony had transferred to the V in between her thighs and as much as she battled with her own body, Keyonna knew she would lose. His lips on hers felt too perfect; the drill of his tongue into her mouth was too sensual and sweet to be denied for long. Her fingers clutched at his wrists and she lost herself in their mutual passion as they made love with just their mouths.

  Keyonna couldn’t tell how much time passed but for all she knew the world had stood still there in the kitchen while their hunger swirled all around them in a tempest. Keyonna found that the more she kissed him, the more she craved. Especially when he now had her backed up against the island, his hands sliding down from her neck to clamp over her heaving breasts.

  Keyonna gasped into his mouth, arching her spine and offering more of herself to his strong, passionate touch. His mouth moved from hers to sweep along her jaw line and then continued lower while she shivered all the more. Keyonna had heard of erogenous zones but it felt like ever
y inch of her was sensitive to Nick’s lightest touch. He massaged her tits over her silken bodice and moan after moan escaped her throat, feeling like no barrier separated her from his skillful ministrations.

  “So sweet,” she heard Nick rasp as he trailed his tongue moistly along the delicate sweep of her collarbone while he fondled her breasts with a more demanding desire than ever. “And so luscious and firm. I bet every part of you tastes and feels just as good.”

  He lifted his head to pierce her with his feral gaze. “Will you trust me, my beauty?”

  Keyonna shivered all over from the way he made the need swell to feverish proportions in her very womb. “I…yes. Yes, Nick,” she said, her voice firmer now.

  He took hold of her waist and lifted her to sit on the countertop. Her hands rested on his shoulders and she stared into his handsome face, a slight tremble in her bottom lip as she bit down hard on it.

  He watched the motion with narrowed, heated arousal. “Lie back,” he ordered, making Keyonna shiver once more as his rough commanding tone fanned the flame of her desire. Confused at how easy it was to obey him, Keyonna leaned back on her bent elbows, using them to support her as she saw him take position in between her knees which he drew far apart.

  Already, he had her whole body trembling in anticipation, all the more so when she heard his next words.

  “I want to make you cum harder than you ever have to show you what your beautiful body was made for,” Nick growled, hovering over her stretched out frame to suck lightly on the base of her neck. He gave her just a slight nip and yet it had her letting out a long, shaky moan.

  “You’re like a drug to me and it’s not hard to see why you’ve got me hooked,” Nick rasped against her heated skin, a slight shudder running through his frame. “Keyonna…oh fuck. I’m burning for you; dying to get your juices all over my fingers…my face. I want it all.”