If it could happen, smoke would have billowed out of Alyssa’s ears. “Are you trying to make me mad? Are you trying to be as exasperating as you possibly can? Is this your idea of play-acting the way you would treat your beloved wife? I can just believe you would be that asinine.”
He took another sip of his drink. “Asinine. I never thought of it that way. That’s an interesting word for it.”
She turned away and sucked her straw. She wouldn’t talk to him again, no matter what he did. If he wanted to play the dick-head husband, she would play the vindictive, resentful wife. She could play that to a T.
“I didn’t organize this reunion to get you to come with me,” he told her. “I planned this reunion long before I met you, and I did it even knowing hiring a fake wife would cost me. I did it because I wanted to see my family and because I wanted to put my parents’ minds at rest seeing me with a wife. That’s the only reason I did it.”
Her eyes drifted back to his face, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak to him. He played her emotions like puppet strings. One minute, he provoked her most hostile rage. The next moment, he soothed it until she cared for him more than she could stand. She wanted off this roller coaster before she puked.
He studied the dewy patterns on his glass. “I talked to my parents on the phone maybe twice a week ever since I left home. I never wanted them to worry about me. I wanted them to know I was okay and that I was doing well. I could always tell they weren’t quite sure what to make of it. They asked more than once to meet my wife, but I never found a chance to come to Mexico. After this many years, I knew I couldn’t put it off anymore.”
Alyssa looked down at her drink. She shouldn’t have dragged that confession out of him. She shouldn’t question his motives. He wasn’t such a bad guy. He cared about his family. He wouldn’t manipulate them or her if he didn’t have to.
“What about you?”
Her head shot up. “What about me?” “Where are your parents?”
“They live in Madison, Wisconsin.” “Do you see them much?”
“Not since I moved to New York. That was five years ago. We skype a lot, though.”
“Do they worry about you?”
Alyssa snorted. “Not because they think I’m married. They’re worried I don’t have a boyfriend. They think I’ll turn into a lesbian if I spend too much time in New York. I don’t tell them anymore that I go out to bars. They would get the wrong idea.”
He smiled while he listened. “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?” “I don’t want one.”
His eyes popped. “Don’t tell me you are a lesbian? There goes the marriage!”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I’m not.”
He passed his knuckles across his forehead. “Thank God! I was going to have to slit my wrists if you were.”
She chuckled. “Cut it out.”
“It’s true. If you were a lesbian, there would be no more reason for a guy like me to keep living. Dreaming about a woman like you is the only thing that gives my life meaning.”
“Now why do you have to go and spoil a perfectly pleasant evening saying something like that? Can’t we have a quiet drink in a bar, just husband and wife, without you hitting on me?”
“Are we having a perfectly pleasant evening? I thought you said I was asinine, and no, we can’t have a quiet drink in a bar, or do anything else, without me hitting on you. You’re a fox, Alyssa. How am I supposed to go through the motions of sharing a romantic getaway with you if I can’t at least admire you from afar?”
“As long as it’s from afar, you can admire me as much as you like.”
He turned his eyes up to heaven. “Oh, the torture! You really know how to drive the knife into a guy’s chest and twist it. There really is no way you would ever give me the time of day, is there? Isn’t there any hope for me at all?”
“No. I only came here to earn fifty thousand dollars, not to be hit on by you. When are you going to get that through your head?”
“Never, Alyssa. Never. You are so damn hot. You have the most perfect body of any woman I’ve ever met. You’ve got the brains to match, and you’re beautiful, feisty, resourceful, talented…feel free to stop me anytime.”
She beamed. “Keep going.”
He didn’t say anything.
Alyssa waited, but when didn’t speak, she had no choice but to say something, “I’m really sorry you feel that way. I never meant to shut you down like that. I just don’t feel that way about you. Can you blame me? How could I respect you when you’re such a womanizing player? I’ve hated you ever since I first met you on the bar scene.”
He lifted his eyes to her face. “Is that the only reason you hated me and disrespected me—because you thought I was a player?”
“You are a player, and yes, that’s the only reason. That’s reason enough. You have everything else that could make someone respect you. You’re successful. You’re magnetic. You’ve got nerves of steel. I don’t know why you want to spoil it chasing every woman on the block.”
“So...if I wasn’t a player, or if you didn’t think I was a player, you would like me and respect me? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I would definitely respect you. You’re so far out of my league I would probably live in awe of you rather than like you.”
“I don’t want you to live in awe of me, Alyssa. I don’t want anybody to live in awe of me. I’m just a man like any other. I’ve encountered challenges, and I’ve overcome them. That’s all.”
“I realize that now, but I can’t get over what I already know about you. I’ve seen you with women in bars.”
“What have you seen?”
“I’ve seen you pick up girls and take them back to your cave.” He laughed, but she kept on. “I’ve seen girls in floods of tears after you dumped them and hooked up with somebody else right in front of them.”
“What do you say I should have done differently? Do you say I should pretend to love someone I don’t, just to spare her feelings?”
“Of course not, but you could be a little kinder about it. You don’t have to shove her nose in it by making out with somebody else.”
“What if she understood from the word go that I never intended to do anything else? What if we agreed beforehand to have a one night stand and kiss each other goodbye in the morning? Would that make it okay?”
“Then why is she crying into her shot glass about how you did her wrong?”
“How should I know? Maybe she agreed to something she didn’t really want, but that’s not my problem. As long as I was honest with her upfront, I don’t see how you can blame me for that.”
Alyssa shook her head. She couldn’t understand this man, and she never would.
Chapter 6
They finished their drinks, but when they left the bar for their room an hour later, Mason appeared to forget to take hold of her hand. They just walked back side by side without saying anything.
Once inside the room, Mason threw his keys on the table the way he did before. He turned around and found Alyssa staring at him. “Is anything wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking a guy like you shouldn’t really need to chase women the way you do. Why haven’t you got yourself a steady girl or a wife? Why do you have to pretend to be something you’re not?”
“I don’t chase women. They chase me.”
She waved her hand. “Come on. You don’t have to lie about it. I’ve seen you leaving the bars with women before. You’ve got a different woman every night of the week.”
“If I do, it’s because I haven’t found the right girl yet. I keep looking, but I never find her.”
Alyssa cocked her head to one side. “How many women have you told about your past?”
He turned away. He paced to the open door and murmured into the night, “None. I’ve never told anybody. You’re the first person I ever told the truth.”
She couldn’t hold back. She blurted out, “Oh! I’m so
sorry! That must be terrible.”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Do you think so?”
She jumped to her feet. She couldn’t keep still. “It must have been a nightmare for you all these years, keeping your real self a secret. It must have been torture.”
He looked away. “I never minded it until now.”
Alyssa stopped in mid-step. “What do you mean?”
“These last few days,” he replied, “I never knew talking to someone would feel so good. I never thought I needed to tell anybody where I came from or what I did to get there. I never realized I needed someone to talk to about that. Now I realize how much it hurt to live alone, with no one understanding, without a single person I could trust enough to tell. Now I know what having that person would be like.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off him. His shoulders rose and fell with his breathing, his words. She wished like anything she could put her arms around him right now, to assure him she would always keep his secret, that it would be safe with her.
She didn’t dare do that, though. She didn’t dare let this episode turn into something she would regret later.
In the end, he made the decision for her by turning around. His clear dark eyes bored into her soul. “I’m glad it’s you. I’m glad you’re the one who knows.”
She stared at his face as his voice caressed her.
“I trust you. It feels good to trust you, to face this with you standing next to me. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”
She wanted him to turn away, to go back to gazing out at the ocean, but he didn’t. He crossed the room to stand in front of her. His whole being radiated intoxicating magnetic energy so she couldn’t get away.
Her mind told her to pull back, to put some distance between them, but that force of nature only succeeded in moving them closer together.
He released a breath. “I had the idea that time I saw you in the bar. I always thought you were the hottest thing on legs I’d ever seen, but when you said you needed a job, I got the idea to ask you.”
“Mason, I—”
“I never chased anybody. Don’t you see? Women throw themselves at me wherever I go. I can’t walk into a place without a bunch of women making eyes at me. They don’t want me, though. All they want is money. That’s another thing I noticed about you. You didn’t want my money.
You’re the first woman I met in a long time to tell me to go stick my head in a hole. You don’t know how attractive that is.”
“We shouldn’t do this. We’re supposed to have a business arrangement. You said you’d sleep on the couch. ”
“I will sleep on the couch,” he replied. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. I just want you to know how I feel about you. I’ve never wanted anybody the way I want you, and not just to pretend there was something between us. I’ve spent years looking for the right woman I could spend my life with. You’re the first woman I’ve ever met I thought I could love.”
Alyssa sucked in her breath. “Love!”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Crazy right? Forget it. It’s not going to happen between us. We’re here for two weeks on a business arrangement. It’s just something I thought about.”
Alyssa couldn’t call him back. She couldn’t tell him she wanted anything with him. That would be wrong, wouldn’t it? She would be using him the same way he used others—or at least, the way she always thought he used them.
She stared at him until he took his same immovable place in the doorway. He might stand there all night long. She better go back to pretending. A terrible shudder passed through her from head to toe. She could go back to pretending, but nothing would ever be the same again. Love? He did not just say that!
He didn’t come right out and say he loved her, but he might as well have. How could she think of him that way? How could she think of anybody that way?
She headed for the bedroom. At least, she could close the door and forget him. He would stay on his side of that door until morning, and she would stay on her side.
His voice interrupted her thoughts. “Are you okay, Alyssa?”
She waved her hand, but she couldn’t look at him. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be all right? I’m your wife.” She burst into hysterical giggles.
He stared at her in surprise.
“I mean,” she babbled, “what could be wrong? I hate you, right?
Now you’re telling me you….I don’t know what you’re telling me. I don’t want to think about it. You said it. Now let’s forget it like you said. It’s nothing. We’re not married. We’re never going to be married—at least not that way.” She laughed again. The whole thing was too ridiculous to take seriously.
He stiffened, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t tell her to pull herself together or to go to her room, or any other such nonsense. He crossed the room, swept one arm around her back and kissed her.
She gasped as soon as she could get her mouth free. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t let her go. “We’re married. You’re my wife and I’m your husband.”
Before she could reply, he dodged in and kissed her again. He didn’t let her go this time. He stayed locked on her mouth. She struggled to get away, but he wouldn’t release her. He tugged her in tight and pressed his lips even more intensely onto hers.
She fought her way free. “Stop! I’m not your wife. We’re just pretending. You can’t kiss me like I’m your real wife. This wasn’t part of the deal.”
He gazed down into her eyes. Suppressed passion smoldered in his face. “Then make it real.” He moved in again, and his lips took hold of hers.
Make it real? How could she make it real? Even as her mind worked overtime to comprehend what was happening, she already knew the answer. She already wanted him. She just didn’t want to admit it to herself.
Why couldn’t she kiss him like that? Why couldn’t she even love him like that if she wanted to? They were both adults and they were already married. Exactly what would she have to do to cross that line between pretending and really loving him? Nothing. That’s what.
He seemed to sense the shift through her lips. She softened against him. Her lips inched open ever so slightly. What was she doing? How could she kiss him like this? Her mind came up with a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t be doing this, but her body and her mouth did something else. The electric tension between them grew greater and she felt herself give in to her instincts.
Her lips parted. They danced around his mouth in perfect harmony.
Their tongues met in a fiery clash. She opened her eyes, and there he was in front of her. Mason? Was she really kissing Mason?
Out of nowhere, she became aware of a burning warmth between her legs. Her pussy throbbed for him. Her breasts hungered for his touch. In a daze, she threw herself into the kiss for all she was worth. What the hell? She wanted him, so why not? What was there to stop them? Everybody expected them to. She could make it real with one tiny adjustment of her thinking.
He lifted her off the floor and she wrapped her legs around his hips.
His mouth devoured hers in a deep lustful Rhythm. She answered this pulse of heat as fast as she could. She wanted this. Oh, how she wanted this! What was the point of coming to a luxury resort with a man sexier than sin if she couldn’t enjoy herself?
If she took a roll in the hay with him, she could consider it another fringe benefit of the job. Fifty thousand dollars in the bank? Check. Five thousand dollars spending money and a round-trip ticket back to the States? Check. Smoking hot guy in your bed every night? Why not? Then she caught herself. Thinking of money and sleeping with him?
The thing was…They both knew exactly what was going on now. No more questions. No more pretending. Maybe she would never see him again when they went back home, but who cared? She had him now, and he had her.
He tipped her over backward to kiss her harder, deeper. He pulled her in tighter to press her body against him. His hand slid down to squeeze her ass. How long had he waited to get his
hands on her ass? Had he really dreamed of it ever since he touched her in the bar?
She could feel herself getting wetter and wetter as she arched herself up against him. She moaned against his mouth as he teased and toyed with her lips. She’d never been kissed like this before. He locked his arms around her and pressed his bulging cock against her. She hoped he would touch her soon.
The whole time, their eyes locked as they were caught up in each other. She searched his face but found no answers there beyond his bottomless desire. She gave him the green light with that kiss. Now he would run onto the inevitable conclusion.
She looped her arms around his neck and drew him down to her. Her thigh rose into his grasp. He lifted her leg aside and pressed himself between her legs. Her skirt brushed out of the way and somehow, his cock was out of his pants and to her quivering mound. “Oh, yes,” she urged him to go on and panted for him to delve into her pussy.
She wanted him to lie her down and drive into her. She wanted him inside her. She wanted every part of him all over her at once.
He didn’t do any of that, though. He kept her standing up, kissing her. His tongue in her mouth. He teased, taking his time with her, but she was already too worked up.
When she couldn’t stand the waiting anymore, he pulled away. He delivered delicate kisses down her neck before drawing away to gaze into her eyes. She tried to dart up to kiss him more, but he wouldn’t let her draw him in.
He inclined his head one way. “Are you okay with this?” he asked, in a sultry voice.
Alyssa smacked her lips and gave a gentle nod. He knew she was.
How could he tease her like this? She caught his lips between her teeth. In answer, she ran her hand up his thigh to the thick bulge between his legs. She took hold of his cock and rubbed up and down his heavy shaft. “Are you okay with this?” she retorted.
He nearly jumped in her grasp. Then he grew harder in her grasp. He pulled away a little to get control of himself. His abs seemed to ripple with his struggle for control as he exhaled. His cock throbbed under her fingers. He nearly burst out of his clothes, unbuckling his belt and dropping his pants to get at her.
Beauty and the Billionaire_A Bad Boy Romance Collection Page 4
