The Billionaire From Los Angeles: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (United States Of Billionaires Book 9)

by Simply BWWM

  His mouth covered hers, and he kissed her long and slow at first, a sweet kiss of farewell, but she felt a pang of loss deep inside of her, and a dull need began to tug at her. She parted her lips, and they tasted one another, sensually, deeply, twisting their tongues this way and that as his arms went firm around her, and he pulled her up against his body.

  She could feel his thick erection growing against her through their clothes, and everything inside of her caught fire. She dropped the bag she had been holding and slid her fingers through the waves of his hair, tugging on it as she pulled him tighter against her.

  Desire began to burn in them both, and their breath grew short and shallow as their mouths and hearts began to move faster. His hands closed over her hips and her backside, and he pulled her up against him, fisting the material that covered her body. She moaned at the feel of him, and totally breathless, she leaned back and stared at him, the sense of loss in her growing rapidly.

  His sea green eyes were sharp and ravenous, and he visibly worked to control himself. She could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he spoke to her.

  “You don’t have to, I mean… you’ve done what you came to do, but if you wanted to … if you felt… like I do, that you just couldn’t walk out without just one more… one more time, what if you never feel like this again in your whole life? What if you knew right now that you’d never feel like this with anyone ever again… would you stay? Would you want this once more with me?” He sounded the same way that she felt. There was no denying the intensity with which they both ached for each other.

  She didn’t say a word. She couldn’t; emotion was crashing through her so strongly that she had no control over it. His words had struck her hard and deep. What if she never felt that way again in her whole life? What if it was never that good again with anyone? She couldn’t bear the thought. She launched herself back into his arms, kissing him deeply, hungrily, as he moaned softly and kissed her the same way in return.

  “Yes!” she managed to murmur, speaking into his kiss as their lips moved together and his hands pulled her dress from her. She busily tugged at his clothing as they slowly made their way to the bedroom. “Yes, I want you one more time!” she managed to gasp as he carved his hands over her curves and lines.

  She didn’t care that it might not actually be part of the deal. She wanted him. She needed him desperately, and because he wanted her just as much, she wasn’t going to deny herself the precious gift of one more time with him before she left.

  They laid back in his bed as the afternoon sun lit up the room, touching, tasting, and savoring in desperate passion, one last long, long time. He took his time with her, and she with him, their tongues and fingers going so slowly over one another, their kisses lingering and deep, him moving inside of her so slowly that it made her cry out with tremulous, torturous pleasure. She came more times for him than she had the three times they had made love the night before, and both of them worked hard to slow down, to savor, to hold on to the exquisite ecstasy that they shared in every way that they could, until at long last he finally released himself inside of her, holding her fast to him as he kissed her hard.

  When they parted, she rose and went to the bathroom to redress, and when she came back out, he was dressed as well. They were silent as he held her hand and walked her to the door, and when they got there, he stopped her and turned her to look at him.

  “Call me. Please… don’t let this be the end of it. I’m going to wait for you to call me. I don’t care if you’re with him, and I’d pay any amount of money to have you like this again, but I won’t, because I want you to want this again. I want you to want me of your own will and accord. I want you to call me because you can’t stop thinking about me, because you want to see me, because you need to feel me kiss you and touch you again. So, call me, and this won’t be the last time.” His green eyes seared into hers, and she could feel every single word that he said.

  He slid a business card into her free hand, as her other hand was clasped around the handles of her bag. She leaned forward and kissed him softly once more, and then silently walked out of the door. There was nothing to say; they had said everything, and she didn’t want to say goodbye, and she didn’t want to hear him say it either.

  With one last look at him as he stood in the doorway with one hand on the door handle and one hand up above his head leaning on the opposite doorframe, she stepped into the elevator, wishing that his somber eyes hadn’t been the last memory of him that she would have. She pressed the down arrow, and the doors slid closed. The box sank down through the floors of the hotel to the lobby.

  She stepped out of the elevator and looked down at a trash can that was there by the elevator doors. With a trembling hand and tears stinging her eyes, she swallowed hard and looked at his business card in her hand one last time, before she quickly tossed it into the trash and went to get the suitcase of money from the manager.

  Chapter5

  Tamika was driving to Maurice’s apartment, her mind and heart numb, the trunk of her car carrying a suitcase containing a million dollars in cash, and it felt to her like there was a massive weight on her chest. Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to get herself out from underneath it.

  As was always the way with her, and with her twin sister, she needed someone to talk with, to share it all with, and she pressed the Bluetooth button on her steering wheel and called Janet. Janet did the same when she was going through her own troubles, and it worked out perfectly that they had each other to fall back on whenever they needed someone.

  “Hey! So, how were drinks with Maurice last night? I can’t believe you ditched me,” Janet began, spicy as ever.

  Tamika swallowed and tried to take a deep breath. She had no idea how she was going to say it all, but she knew that once she began, it would probably all come gushing out like a waterfall. “Wow… drinks with Maurice yesterday. That feels like a million years ago.”

  “A million years ago? It wasn’t even twenty-four hours ago.” Janet sounded confused.

  “Yeah… well, a lot happened,” Tamika said quietly as she furrowed her brow and kept her eyes on traffic, wondering how to say it all.

  “What happened? Did he pull some jackass move on you again?” Janet had no patience for the man.

  “In a manner of speaking… I guess you could say that.” Tamika was still struggling with how to start.

  “Well? Spill it! What did he do?” Her sister was growing impatient with her, which was a trademark characteristic of hers; she was quick to be impatient with everyone.

  “I guess I should start with me. I was sitting in the bar waiting for him, having a glass of champagne, and this unbelievably gorgeous guy came up to me and sat by me. He was so… different. He was really polite and funny and sweet, and he was so different. He bought a bottle of the best champagne in the hotel and then said we needed to celebrate. It was kind of sweet actually.” She smiled at the memory of it, thinking how clever and original it had been.

  “Celebrate? What was he celebrating? Did I miss a sports ball win in LA or something?” her sister asked disinterestedly.

  “No, he said we were celebrating the moment that we met, and that’s how he introduced himself to me. He was celebrating us meeting while we met. It was really cool, actually. Then we talked and drank champagne, and he went on about how great he thought I was, and then…” She trailed off and bit at her lip, trying to find a way to say it that didn’t sound as bad as it really was.

  “And then what?” Janet was growing impatient again.

  “Aaaaaaaand, then he offered me a million dollars to spend the night with him. I told him I couldn’t, that I was meeting someone there, that I had a man, and he didn’t care. He offered me the money for one night, and of course I turned him down flat.” Tamika did her best to salvage some shred of her long-lost decency and morality, at least in her own eyes.

  “What? Did I just hear you right? I know I didn’t hear you right. I think the television
is on too high and I heard something else, because I know you didn’t just say what I thought you said.” Janet turned the volume on her television down. “Now what? What did you say?”

  “No, Jan. You heard me. He offered me a million dollars to spend the night with him, and I turned him down.” Tamika gripped the steering wheel tighter.

  “Are you kidding me? Was he for real?” Her sister did not sound convinced.

  “Yeah, he really was. He was staying in the penthouse at the hotel,” Tamika said in a low voice, surprised by how seedy it sounded when she said it all out loud.

  “And you turned him down. Have you lost your mind? I’d sleep with just about any fool for that kind of money.” Janet sounded annoyed at best.

  Tamika sighed and rolled her eyes. “I told him no because of Maurice.”

  “What? Maurice is no reason to turn down money like that. Especially from some gorgeous rich man. Maurice ain’t nothing at all, and you know it. I don’t know why you do so much for that fool and put him so high on your priority list.” Her sister was going off again.

  “Well… there’s more.” Tamika narrowed her eyes as if she had tasted something sour.

  “More? What else? Was he gonna throw in a Mercedes Benz with it too?” her sister threw out casually.

  “He gave me his room key. He said I’d change my mind. I told him I wouldn’t. Then, Maurice showed up and saw him talking to me, right before he left. He came to me and asked me who the guy was, and I told him all about it.” Tamika felt a bitterness rise in her, remembering how Maurice had behaved so ungallantly.

  “And what’d he do? Nothing?” Janet was irritated with Maurice as usual.

  Tamika cleared her throat. “No, he said he needed the money to start his business and to buy a house so we can finally afford to move in together. He wanted me to go do it for the money.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment.

  “Janet?” Tamika asked with uncertainty.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” Her sister’s tone was level and low, and Tamika knew that Janet was deeply angry.

  “No, I’m not,” Tamika replied quietly, waiting for the storm to hit.

  “That lousy piece of--” Janet began, and Tamika heard something slam hard on the other end of the line. “He wanted you to go sleep with a strange man so he could have the money. Did you tell him to go to hell, or better yet, to get his own ass up to the penthouse and go earn the money his own damn self if he wanted it so bad?”

  “No,” Tamika answered, not sure how to go forward with the truth.

  There was silence again, and Janet’s voice grew even more serious. “You didn’t.”

  Tamika drew in a long, deep breath. “Yeah, I did.”

  “You what?” Janet shouted at the top of her lungs. Then when she spoke again, it was the low and dangerous tone she had had before. “You’re telling me that you turned the rich guy down on your own, but when that jackass of a boyfriend of yours decided that he wanted the money, you went ahead and agreed to sleep with the rich guy, so your boyfriend could have the money? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Well, I guess it’s not just for him, I mean… it’s for us. It’s so we can afford to live together finally. I’ve wanted to settle down with him for so long, and he always says that we can’t afford to live together until we make more money. This will enable us to do that.” Tamika felt that her reasoning and argument couldn’t possibly have been weaker.

  “Girl… of course he’s telling you that, because he doesn’t want to move in with you! I don’t know where your head is. It’s cheaper to move in together and share the expenses instead of living on your own separately. He knows that. You know that.

  You’re just overlooking the obvious so that you don’t have to admit it to yourself that he’s just using you. He doesn’t love you or care about you, and he’s not going to move in with you because he doesn’t want to, not because he can’t afford to. That’s just crazy! Come on. Admit it! You know better! You’re not stupid. Come on!” Janet’s voice was growing louder as her frustration grew.

  Tamika fought back tears. “I guess it doesn’t matter what it was before, because that’s all changed now.”

  “You did it. You went up and stayed the night with that man, and he really gave you all that money? Are you telling me you got the money?” Her sister was in absolute disbelief.

  “Yes.”

  “You have a million dollars?” Janet asked in total denial.

  “Yes. In cash. In the trunk of my car, right now.” Tamika couldn’t believe it herself, but she had checked the suitcase, and it was more money than she could count without a calculator.

  “I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.” A chair scraped across the floor in the background, and she heard her sister sit down. “What about the man? Was he a creep? Did he hurt you? Make you do anything awful?”

  Tamika felt a smile grow wide across her face. “No, actually. He was really amazing. In fact…” She laughed softly. “In fact, it was the best time I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

  “You must be kidding.” Her sister’s voice changed, surprised and impressed and disbelieving all at the same time.

  “Nope. Not kidding. He was sweet and thoughtful, romantic, smart, funny, generous… playful, and oh my god is he the best lover I’ve ever had. He was… he was perfect. He was like a dream, and I am never going to forget it. It was truly the best time I’ve ever had. We had sex three times last night, and then once again today before I left. He bought me a new dress and shoes, and roses, and took me on a helicopter flight over the city and the shoreline clear up past Hearst Castle.

  It was… god, Janet… it was the best time ever. I still can’t believe it. We drank champagne and ate such good food. He was so good to me. No man has ever been that good to me.” Tamika was laughing softly as she spoke about it all, remembering every sweet moment with a huge grin.

  Her sister was quiet for a moment. “Well, I’m glad to hear that, at least. Are you going to see him again?”

  Everything in Tamika stopped short. “See him again? Oh god no. I can’t. I’m with Maurice. I mean, he wants to. I… I wish I could. I do want to see him again, but I can’t. I’m committed to someone else. I can’t go seeing someone else behind Maurice’s back and cheat on him. I mean, this thing for the money, that was Maurice’s idea; he wanted me to do it. He told me to do it, and he wanted the money for it, but anything more than that… well, that’s different. That would be cheating, wouldn’t it? I don’t want to do that.” Sadness took a sharp hold in her heart, and she frowned as she felt the emotion well up in her.

  “Well, first of all, I’m just relieved that you’re all right. You can’t trust strangers like that. You could have gotten yourself into a seriously dangerous situation. I can’t believe that you did it, and more than that, I can’t believe some crazy rich man paid you a million dollars to sleep with him. Who has money like that? My god.” Janet was confounded.

  “Well, I guess he’s a billionaire. He has money to spend like that. It isn’t much to him, but a million dollars is sure a lot to me, and to Maurice.” She rolled her eyes a little and felt her heart hurt some.

  “You think he was so great, and you said he wants to see you again, but you aren’t going to call him? You aren’t going to see him again?” Her sister was astounded even more so than she had been.

  “No, I can’t. I am in a committed relationship.” Tamika felt awful even saying it, and it was a strange sensation for her. She had always thought so much of Maurice, and it was different to feel unhappy about him in any way.

  “Oh, for the love of god. Break up with that fool and go for the rich guy. What’s his name?” Janet pushed harder.

  “Shane, and I can’t call him. He gave me his card, and I threw it away.” She felt her stomach turn, and her skin went cold. She had truly lost her chance to contact him in any way again.

  “You threw it away? God, girl, w
hat am I going to do with you? What on earth were you thinking?” Janet was miserable. “You have the time of your life and throw the card away.”

  “I had to! I have a boyfriend!” Tamika knew it was a weak retort.

  “You have a loser.”

  “I have a future with him. We’re going to take this money and buy a house, and we’re going to live together and settle down. I want a family someday. I have to get started on that soon. I can’t wait around. Maurice finally wants to settle down with me. I can’t waste that!” She thought of her future with him, and somehow it wasn’t nearly as bright as she used to imagine it.

  “That’s such a bad idea. It’s never going to work out. He’s such a jackass. Honey, if he wanted to settle down with you, he would have done it by now. He’s just using you, and now you plan on being with him, living with him. I think you should dump him and go after this Shane guy. He’s beautiful and rich, and he wants you. You said he wants you. I definitely think you should give him a try. It’s not going to be any worse than Maurice. That fool.” She groaned, and Tamika sighed.