Pivoting, I hadn’t noticed someone had come up to my side, and I slammed into him. He was tall and smelled of the outdoors and something very familiar.
I took a step back and smiled.
“Here to bask in the glory of memories of your greatest day on Earth?” James asked with his cocky grin.
“James.” I jumped up with excitement and threw my arms around him.
He felt wonderful, and I didn’t care at all if he was damp from sweat. Since it was early September, summer was still holding on tight. Heat and humidity filled the air, along with bugs, and I was sure bees too.
His arms slid around my waist as his head lowered to the top of my head and he inhaled. “What are you doing here? It’s private property, remember.”
“I should ask you the same thing,” I said and pulled back slightly so I could look up at the man I was falling for. I wanted to kiss him and guide him back to the waterfall so I could do to his body what he had done to mine.
He brushed a few strands of my red hair away as he watched me with a soft smile. “Like I said, this is private property. Mine.” He waved a hand toward the construction workers.
“What? Was it your property last week, too?” I lightly slapped him on his chest. “Did you have me worry we were breaking the law for nothing?”
His chest rumbled with laughter. The sound was deep, and as he turned, with one arm still around my back, James appeared content.
“No. I bought it a few days ago. It took some time for the paperwork to be legalized and get the construction crew, but I made it happen.”
My head reared back. “A few days? It took me two months to get all the legal documents signed and approved for the remodel of Hard Grind, and that was just the interior of a coffee shop. Do you know the governor or something?”
His brown eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’m a billionaire, remember. Red tape and time delays don’t exist in my world.” He waved his hand in the air like a magician.
“Must be nice,” I mumbled, a little jealous of that power. I shook my head and decided money could make things get done quickly, but it couldn’t solve all problems.
“So, what is this? You building a house?”
He had talked about moving here once he admitted he wasn’t from the area. I found out he had a penthouse in Manhattan that overlooked Central Park. I didn’t understand why he wanted to walk away from that.
Then he explained he wouldn’t. That he would still own that property but find a place here to live regularly.
“Yes, but also a farm.”
I gasped. What was this man thinking? He couldn’t just build a farmhouse and become a farmer in a matter of days. He had casually mentioned living off the land before, but I just thought that was daydreaming talk, nothing serious.
“But . . . you’re not a farmer. Do you even know what type of farmer you want to be?”
“Type?” He glanced down at me with his brow pinched.
“Yes. Type. Are you going to have livestock like cows or pigs or chickens? Or are you going to have crops? Like corn or soybean or lettuce or berries. I don’t know much about farming, but I know that much.”
He rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers and had the same wild expression he had when we were lost trying to find the cliff last week. “A variety. I think.”
I swallowed and forced a smile. “Okay. Maybe while all this is being built you can research about farming.”
“Smart idea. I’ve been so focused on finding the perfect spot that I haven’t yet looked into how to farm.” He shrugged. “But when I first started my VidTube channel, I knew nothing about all the work that went into it, like advertising and cameras and getting subscribers. I just thought if I made a funny video and slapped it up on VidTube, viewers would flock to it. Boy, was I wrong.”
James chuckled and shook his head. “It took several months of research and watching other videos to see what those VidTubers were doing for me to realize how to set up my videos to make them more appealing to viewers. And that I had to seek other VidTubers so we could help each other. It took many years, but now, I have over a million subscribers and am one of the top VidTubers. I’ll just do the same with farming.”
“It doesn’t work like that, James. Social media differs greatly from working with your hands. You’ll be working with living things, whether plants or animals or people, every day. Your subscribers are sitting at home making split-second decisions about entertainment. A farmer has to deal with weather and disease and many things completely out of his or her control.”
“Sometimes there are glitches on VidTube that affect uploads or delays, which are both out of my control. That’s what backup plans are for. I once had VidTube change their advertising rules, which made it harder for smaller VidTubers, like me at the time, to get access to advertising. Advertisers wouldn’t be able to advertise with me, and therefore, I’d stop making money. I had to come up with an idea on other ways to make money. That’s the thing we have in common. Whether it’s farmers or coffee shop owners or billionaires, we are all working to make money. To put a roof over our heads. Food on our tables. Help our loved ones.”
He had a point, but I worried he was in way over his head. Scanning the area, I wondered once this farm was complete if he would abandon it, and it would all be for nothing.
My mother did that all the time. Told me about amazing endeavors she wanted to do, got me excited, and then she’d abandon it all for another idea that went nowhere.
I loved my mother, but I sometimes wondered if she loved thrills and excitement more than me. The decisions James was making reminded me of her. I knew we hadn’t been together long, but I wondered if he wasn’t interested in long-term. Was long-term boring for him?
I had no long relationships with men, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t interested.
“If this is what you really want, then I hope you have found your calling. The thing that makes you happy.” I smiled up at him as I rubbed at the ache in my chest.
I wanted so much for James to be different, and maybe he was. Maybe he wouldn’t run away from me like my mother did five years ago. But Sylvie said he never dated a woman longer than a few weeks. It seemed James never stuck to anything.
I tried to keep the smile on my face, but it slipped. It was difficult pretending that I would be fine if this didn’t last.
“I know it seems unusual for me to do something like this.” James waved his arm around the area. “I used to dream of working off the land. I told my mom all the time when I was little how I would grow up to be a farmer, and she encouraged me to follow my heart. But when I saw how my father’s death broke her heart, it scared me. I think my father was the one thing my mother loved most in this life. Us kids came second. And I was okay with that because I loved my dad too. He worked so hard, and he needed as much love as possible. But the way my mom wasted away when he died, I worried that following your heart when you had nothing to support you wasn’t worth it.”
I didn’t enjoy seeing James sad. I leaned into him and gave a soft squeeze. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am too, but I’m glad I made money first. It may not be the romantic way to follow your dreams, but it’s the smart way. Now I can afford to make mistakes. Have a bad season or two. I can do what I love whether it makes me money or not.” James took a step forward and put his hands on his hips, surveying the land. “What I have access to is rare. My father didn’t love construction. He did it because he had to. Rock worries I am being reckless, but I’m being smart. I’m following my dream the smart way.”
My mouth fell open, stunned by his confession. “So . . . you never enjoyed being a VidTuber?”
He shrugged and turned to face me. “It’s not that I didn’t like it. I enjoyed pulling pranks. I made sure the channel I had was something I enjoyed doing. But I never had dreams of being famous. I guess that’s where I was naïve. I hadn’t factored in the fame when I came up with my plan ten years ago.”
“You’ve been thinking about this for ten years? That one day you’d be a farmer, and you told no one?”
James stepped forward and placed his hands on my shoulders. There was a warmth in his eyes, and I felt it in my soul. “I told you.”
I was so utterly wrong about James. He was nothing like my mother. My chest ached again because I realized I didn’t deserve him.
Chapter 16
JAMES
“Keep your eyes closed.” I held Marika’s hands as I guided her through the weeds and grass.
“I think I stepped on a small animal. It felt like it might have fur,” she said between gasps of breath.
I feared Marika might pass out if I didn’t get to the spot I found yesterday while I was exploring my new land. Having her walk through the brush with her eyes closed was more upsetting to her than I realized. But when she showed up here by surprise today, I knew I had to make our picnic a reality with my new special spot.
“You can’t tell if an animal has fur with mountain boots on. We are almost there. Just a few more feet,” I lied, but I had to calm her down.
Glancing around, I realized we were finally at my magical spot. “Okay, you can stop. We are here.” I turned but held on to her hand.
We were far enough away that the sound of construction faded and only nature filled our ears. Birds chirping and the brook flowing in the distance were the music to our upcoming dining experience.
I didn’t think there was a five-star restaurant in the world that could compare to this location.
“Can I open my eyes now?”
“Oh, yes. Take a look.”
I watched Marika as her eyelids fluttered open. It took a moment, but I could tell the moment the view registered because I had the same reaction when I first saw it.
“Oh, James. It’s beautiful.”
There was a valley in the distance that had been cleared for a farm. But closer to us was a stream. A variety of trees, grass, and rocks dotted different areas of the view. If I painted, I would be desperate for a canvas.
“I will have the house here.”
“But I thought the area back there was for your house?” Marika looked around and couldn’t figure out where we had come from.
“There will be a smaller house there. I can’t imagine I will do all the work on the farm. I plan to hire some helpers and give them a place to stay on the property. That’s what the construction team is working on now. The house will be the last project because I want your help in its design.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” I stared down into her eyes and threw off the backpack I had on. There was affection in her gaze. How could I think of food when her beauty fed my heart? I cupped her chin and drew her lips to mine.
Her hand lifted to my neck, sending shivers down to my groin. She curled her fingers into my hair, tugging me closer.
How I missed her.
I was barely kissing her, soft dots on her chin and lips, and yet Marika was moaning as if I were parting her legs and licking her to satisfaction.
“I missed you,” I whispered as I moved down her neck. It was softer than I remembered. The lavender scent filled my nose and caused my cock to harden.
“I missed you so much, James.” She leaned back, and her eyes pierced mine as her other hand slipped down my stomach and firmly grasped my hard cock straining against my jeans. “So much.”
My hips flexed forward, unable to resist her touch, even with clothing in the way.
Marika did something that caused my mouth to go dry and words to disintegrate on my tongue. She fell to her knees and, within seconds, had my jeans undone and my cock out, ready to be licked.
Her steel-gray eyes flickered up, and already knowing I was too far gone to resist, she said, “Tell me if you want me to stop.”
I didn’t want her to stop. I would never want Marika to stop touching me. But I also had dreamed the past week of licking in between her sweet creamy thighs. Of shoving my ridged cock between her spread legs until she was crying out my name.
And while I fantasized about her on her knees sucking on my cock like the best popsicle to ever exist, I had a desperate fascination with making her come.
It wasn’t about what I wanted. It was about giving her bliss.
Since I said nothing, and my hand fisted her ponytail, Marika took that as the okay to lick my cock. She took her time at first, slowing gliding her tongue up and down my shaft. But when she would get to the tip, that’s when I knew the best had yet to come. Marika sucked my tip until I gasped.
After a few minutes, she surprised me by pulling my cock into her mouth. What wouldn’t fit inside was covered by her hand, working it furiously.
She felt incredible. I couldn’t see what Marika was doing with her tongue, but she needed to win a Nobel prize in physics because what she was doing defied it.
I’d come soon if she continued.
I pulled her back, and her adorably sexy brow wrinkled. “Was something wrong?”
“No,” I said breathlessly. “It was so right . . .but I need to taste you.”
She licked her swollen lips and nodded. Without having to ask, Marika undressed. Her green T-shirt, jeans, boots, and socks were off in record time. It was her white bra and panties that took longer. She put on a pretty show for me as she removed the final pieces.
When Marika turned to remove her panties, showing me her ass as she bent to tug them down, I couldn’t resist any longer. I fell to my knees and reached over, cupping her cheeks. Massaging them, I pushed them apart and saw her pussy was soaked.
She was sweet like honey as I reached out with my tongue for a taste. Marika spread her legs so I could lick more of her delicious pussy.
I sucked on her clit and moved my fingers up and down her wet lips until I slipped inside her folds. Her moans spurred me on until I moved more fingers inside her.
“Yeah, James. Fill me,” she moaned.
I only ever wanted to make her happy, so after pulling away, I guided her onto her knees. Grabbing my jeans, I found the condom I had in my pocket and, within moments, had it opened and on my cock.
I hunched over and kissed her shoulder, nudging my cock against her opening.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Yes, please.”
Pushing inside her was better than I had hoped. This was what I had been patiently waiting for: her arched back as I slid inside, her cry of pleasure that heightened my own, and the words she grunted as her head whipped back to look my way with a softening gaze.
“Fuck me, James. Please.”
I was here to please.
Chapter 17
MARIKA
My eyes rolled back into my head the moment he filled me. But that wasn’t even the best part. That was the tease.
“You want more?” he whispered in my ear, tickling me with his words.
James had been slowly easing in and out of me. It was agonizing, mind-numbing, and glorious. I wanted more. I begged for more, but he kept it slow and steady.
“Yes, please. More.”
My words were whiny. I was lost in his control and didn’t care how I sounded. Every time I tried to push back, take more, he stopped.
“Oh no. Remember, I’m the one who gives you pleasure. That’s my job.” He slapped my ass as punishment.
I sucked in a breath through my clenched teeth. The spank wasn’t hard. No. It was a joke. Just rough enough to elicit a tingle but so light I reached down to my clit, hoping for more relief.
But he caught me. He clicked his tongue, and I felt the rumble of his laughter in my core.
“God, Marika, you’re so fun. I couldn’t have imagined how responsive you’d be.” He pushed hard into me, causing my pussy to clamp down around his cock. But then he eased slowly back.
James was torturing me in the most beautiful place on Earth.
I turned my head and saw his smirk. He was enjoying every second of this. I knew he’d be big when I felt his cock through his je
ans. But feeling him fill me was more than I could have hoped. Even the tedious pace of his thrusts felt incredible.
I thought I was in heaven when I had his cock in my mouth. James was the perfect combination of salty and sweet, but I craved more.
I got my wish.
I bit my lip as I held back my smile, remembering his reaction to my mouth wrapped around him. I could see why he enjoyed controlling the pleasure—it was exciting and made me so wet.
“Is this what you want?” James reached around and slid his finger over my clit. For a moment sweet relief mixed with electricity filled my body, and I moaned in delight.
“Yes.”
His finger swirled and pinched haphazardly around until my hips jerked to grasp at the chaotic pleasure.
What I thought was relief was turning into another type of tease. He was purposely fucking with me. The more I squirmed or moaned, the wider his smile became.
“Fuck, you are so wet. I bet if I stuck this finger in your perfectly puckered asshole, you’d come so hard for me. Would you like that, Marika?”
“Yes, James. Uh . . . please. Fill me.”
Just the thought had me clenching around his cock.
“I’ll keep that in mind for when I’m ready for you to come.”
I was about to protest. That fucker. Why would he say that if he wasn’t about to do it?
Just as I opened my mouth to complain, I felt his finger clamp on my nipple and pinch. He picked up the pace, and all my problems disappeared.
“Oh, shit. Yeah,” I moaned, my head falling back.
His fingers dug into my hip, adding to the pain and pleasure mix.
My climax began to build, and as much as I loved how he felt, I wanted to come just to spite him. He loved messing with me a little too much, and now it was time to mess with him.
But my mouth betrayed me. It wasn’t my fault. He had worked me up so much I couldn’t control what came out.
“I’m going to come,” I said like an idiot.
Everything ceased. He stopped, and all I heard were the birds in the trees and his deep breathing.
Dating Disaster with a Billionaire (Blue Ridge Mountain Billionaires, #1) Page 10
