The Billionaire From Las Vegas (United States Of Billionaires Book 16)

by Cj Howard

  Claire sipped her champagne and looked at the exquisitely cooked shellfish and vegetables and polenta in the bowl in front of her. “I will,” she said, meeting his gaze once more. “But I’m not promising anything.”

  “I am perfectly fine with that,” Benjamin said with a smile. “So let’s conclude the business of what you want to demand for your own peace of mind in our potential contract together.”

  Chapter3

  “The room is right ahead,” Benjamin told Claire as they walked the hall from the elevator together. He was not surprised that the beautiful woman had changed her mind about coming back to his apartment, but he knew that the deal—the personal one, at least—was not exactly sealed. He wouldn’t assume she wanted to have sex with him until she showed a much more definitive sign—or until she said so directly. He had always been a patient person.

  “Just so you know, this isn’t me saying we’re going to have sex,” Claire told him as Benjamin took out his key card to unlock his suite. He knew plenty of other casino owners in the city who didn’t like to live in Vegas itself, much less their own properties, but Ben had always found that it was easier to keep up-to-date on situations if he was on-premises all the time.

  “I know,” Benjamin told her. “You just want to see what my place here looks like.” That had been the excuse, after he’d told her that he lived in the casino itself. He was certain that Claire was—if buzzed—mostly sober, able to consent properly, and that was important to him. While in college, he’d seen too many entitled boys take advantage of girls who’d had too much to drink to even entertain the idea of using alcohol to convince a woman to have sex with him.

  He opened the door and revealed the entryway to Claire’s curious gaze. Ben had been exacting, almost demanding in his interests and requirements for his living space. He had had the walls soundproofed with top-of-the-line materials so there would be no hint, once inside the suite, that the casino existed. He’d even had the floors soundproofed before laying down the hardwood planks. He’d also gone to the expense of having indoor-adapted plants along the wall where a window faced out onto the city. The suite comprised two levels, with a pair of guest rooms and a shared bathroom upstairs, and a sprawling master bedroom, luxurious bathroom, living room, and kitchen downstairs, along with a few little alcoves.

  “With the private dining room, I wouldn’t think you ever cooked,” Claire remarked, slipping off her shoes as she entered.

  “Sometimes I like to eat something I’ve made with my own hands,” Benjamin told her, kicking off his own shoes. “Would you like the official tour?”

  Claire gave him a playful look. “The official tour? Do busloads of Japanese tourists come through here five times a day?”

  Benjamin chuckled. “Not yet—but if there’s money in it, maybe I’ll start offering that,” he replied. “We can start upstairs, if you want.”

  Claire seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding, and Benjamin led the way up the flight of stairs to the guest rooms and bathroom there. He knew he was showing off, knew that he’d made his home as impressive as it could be, standing at the top of the casino and hotel. He also knew it was well worth seeing in its own right. Still, everything he had planned for the evening was dedicated to convincing Claire to sleep with him, completely apart from the deal he’d proposed.

  “How often do you even have guests that you need rooms like this?”

  Benjamin shrugged. “Family visits sometimes, and it’s more personal to put friends up in my suite than to give them rooms downstairs,” he replied.

  Claire nodded her acceptance of that idea and followed him back down the stairs to the main area of the suite. Benjamin felt himself tense as he led her to his own bedroom; it was the important room, vital in his quest to see if Claire would actually express a desire to have sex with him—and possibly even make the first move. If she was stiff and uncomfortable in the room with him, Benjamin would finish up the tour, offer her a drink, and not make another allusion to sex the rest of the night.

  He wasn’t disappointed though. Claire seemed as curious about his bedroom as she had been about every other room in the suite, almost as if she hadn’t grasped the significance of it or couldn’t imagine any significance to it at all.

  “I think this bedroom is larger than my living room back home,” Claire told him, turning around to take it all in.

  “Well it’s partly a status symbol,” Benjamin admitted. “I’m the owner, so I took almost the entire top floor of the building, and instead of having a ridiculously large living room, I decided to have a ridiculously large bedroom and bathroom.”

  Claire snorted. “That makes sense in a way,” she admitted.

  Benjamin moved fractionally closer to her, still keeping a little distance, letting her get used to his presence. “Want to see the bathroom?” He gestured to the door that led into that part of the space. Claire briefly looked wary, but she shrugged and nodded, following him across the bedroom.

  Even after living in the suite for a couple of years, Benjamin was aware of the impact the master bathroom tended to have on people seeing it for the first time. He hadn’t taken for granted just how luxurious the space was: the size of most bedrooms, it had an open shower along one wall big enough for two people, with multiple shower heads—so that there was never that moment of chill within the shower’s space—and a bench along one side. There was also a Jacuzzi-style tub, large enough for three people, complete with jets, and a small sauna cubicle for personal use.

  “The thing that really strikes me about this is how much water it must use,” Claire told him matter-of-factly, and Benjamin laughed.

  “Water access is wealth here, there’s no doubt about it,” he agreed. “While there’s enough water for everyone, there’s a certain level of decadence to having fountains or multiple bathing options in a desert.”

  “A fold-down massage table, too,” Claire noted, pointing out that feature.

  Ben shrugged. “Sometimes you want the full spa experience without having to leave your actual room,” he explained.

  Claire shook her head, looking amused. “I think your bedroom might be larger than my apartment,” she said. “If you count the master bathroom here, it definitely is.”

  “If you decided you wanted to stay the night, I could show off some of the features here more...in-depth,” Benjamin offered.

  Claire looked briefly surprised and then—once more—little more than neutral, curious, and polite. Well, we’d only let her father rack up such debt because he managed to establish himself as a skilled poker player; she’d clearly inherited his ability to bluff.

  “I think for now I’d just like a drink,” Claire said. “Though that bathtub is tempting, I admit.”

  Benjamin nodded and led her out of the room, smiling slightly to himself when he was certain that Claire wasn’t looking. If I can get her to take a bath… The thought of Claire, sprawled in the tub, the water swirling around and over her naked body, was almost enough to start making Benjamin hard—he let it linger for just a moment before pushing it out of his mind.

  “I’ve got just about anything you could want,” he told her as they went back into the kitchen and dining area.

  “Maybe just a glass of wine,” Claire suggested.

  “Red, white, or blush?” Benjamin gestured to the section, set into the wall, where there was a wine fridge for the white and blush wines, and darkened spaces for the bottles of red.

  “I think white makes sense,” Claire said after a moment’s thought.

  Benjamin poured them each a glass and let Claire perch herself on a barstool, across the counter from him as he leaned on his elbows to look at her.

  “I’m curious about you,” he said, sipping his wine.

  “I had managed to figure that out on my own,” Claire told him.

  Benjamin smiled. “How likely do you think you are to go through with my proposal?” He set his glass down. “Strictly between us as people—not as a bus
iness issue.”

  “So that’s what this is really about,” Claire said, sounding almost disappointed. “Whether you need to turn up the heat or not? I thought you said I have a week to think about it.”

  “You do,” Ben confirmed. “It’s just that there are certain things that would be deeply inappropriate for me to do if and when you become my employee.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “I haven’t said that I want to have sex with you,” Claire pointed out.

  “No, you haven’t,” Benjamin agreed. “But I haven’t actually asked you if you’d want me to kiss you.”

  Claire’s eyes widened slightly. “I guess that’s true,” she said, and Benjamin saw the faint color spreading across her cheeks.

  He leaned in slightly. “Do you?” Claire licked her lips and glanced at her wine glass, leaving Benjamin to wonder if he’d been reading the signals from her wrong all night.

  “Maybe just a little kiss,” Claire suggested, meeting his gaze.

  Benjamin grinned. Oh she’s just perfect for what I have in mind for her, he thought, a confident little tease. He stepped around the counter, moving slowly, until he was inches away from Claire. “Like two freshmen going to the homecoming dance together?” he countered.

  Claire chuckled. “Exactly like that,” she replied.

  Benjamin took his time, leaning in, giving Claire ample opportunity to turn away or otherwise change her mind. He saw her eyes close a moment before he closed his own and brushed his lips against hers—barely making contact at first, but then pressing more firmly, keeping his hands at his sides. He felt the heat begin to course through his veins but made himself count slowly to ten.

  Then he pulled back, opening his eyes. Claire’s face was flushed more deeply than before, and up close he could make out the faint freckles on her cheeks that he hadn’t seen at the polite distance they’d maintained.

  “Was that what you were looking for?”

  Claire nodded. “Mostly just to see if you would try and do more,” she said, her voice sounding slightly breathless.

  “Do you want me to do more?” Benjamin asked, in little more than a whisper.

  “Maybe prom night, but not the end of prom night,” Claire said.

  Benjamin fought the urge to laugh. “But not prom night in front of the parents, right?” Claire nodded again, and Benjamin did chuckle at that, before leaning in once more.

  This time, he started out pressing his lips more firmly against Claire’s, breathing in the scent of her perfume. He reached for her but kept his hands on her waist once he found it, sliding around from her sides to her back as he deepened the kiss moment by moment. It felt like torture, holding himself back—but Benjamin loved it: the slow, steady seduction was exactly what he wanted, what he liked. He slid his tongue past Claire’s slightly opened lips and tasted the wine there, mingled with the sweet-spicy taste of her mouth. Benjamin felt Claire’s hands on his shoulders, brushing against his jacket as they made their way to the back of his neck.

  After a few moments, Benjamin lifted Claire off of the barstool, settling her on her feet in front of him, pulling her body close to his so that he could feel the crush of her breasts against his chest. He nibbled her bottom lip, kissing Claire even more hungrily, bringing his hands back around to her front to stop just short of her breasts before moving around to the small of her back once more. Benjamin groaned slightly as he felt his cock starting to stir and harden in his pants, as he felt Claire’s body heat and breathed in the smell of her.

  By the time he pulled back, Benjamin knew that Claire would—almost certainly—go to bed with him. “You said before you envied my bathtub,” he murmured, his lips almost brushing against hers. “Why not take your glass of wine and enjoy yourself in there?”

  “I’d feel weird sitting in a strange man’s bathtub on my own,” Claire pointed out.

  “I could join you,” Benjamin suggested. “And we could just soak in the hot water and enjoy each other’s company.”

  “Enjoy each other’s company? Naked?” Claire’s voice was breathless and amused. Benjamin took advantage of his closeness to barely brush his lips against hers in an almost-kiss.

  “We could keep our underwear on, if it makes you feel better,” he suggested.

  Claire snickered. “There would be one problem with that,” she said.

  “Oh?” Benjamin felt his heart beating a bit faster.

  “I have a bra on, but no panties,” Claire told him. “Even the thong I brought would have been visible.”

  Benjamin raised an eyebrow, heat beginning to pool more intensely along his groin at that knowledge. “Well, then I hope you trust me not to do anything you don’t want,” he said.

  Claire pulled back enough to meet his gaze. “I think I can trust you that much,” she said after a moment.

  Benjamin stepped back and looked for his glass of wine. “Why don’t we bring the bottle with us? We won’t want to get out of the tub for a while,” he pointed out, making a mental note to be sure Claire wasn’t drunk before he made any moves on her. He didn’t think that was a major concern though; she seemed to be drinking more carefully than him, even.

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Claire said, picking up her glass of wine and taking a sip. She gave him a speculative look that Benjamin returned, and he wondered just how much of a tease she was willing to be.

  Benjamin tabled that question for a moment and grabbed the bottle of wine back out of the fridge. Claire followed him into the master bedroom, then into the bathroom. “Let me grab a cooler for this and get the water going,” Benjamin told her, starting the taps for the tub. He tested the water’s heat with his wrist a few times before being satisfied—but once the tub was full, it would keep the water nice and hot, at his preferred, pre-set temperature, for however long he wanted.

  “You’ve got every conceivable creature comfort in here, don’t you?”

  Benjamin shoved the bottle of wine into a bucket-like sleeve, which he kept in a fridge tucked away in the bathroom.

  “Sometimes I like a beer or two while I’m in the tub,” Benjamin told her.

  “You know, I wouldn’t have figured an ambitious billionaire for the type of guy who takes time to relax on a regular basis,” Claire observed.

  “We’re just learning all kinds of things about each other then, aren’t we?” Ben smiled and took off his coat. The bathroom climate controls were set to keep it from getting too steamy—but also to keep it from being chilly after he got out of the shower or the bath.

  “It feels weird, I’m not going to lie,” Claire said, testing the water with her fingertips as the tub quickly filled up, and Benjamin began unbuttoning his shirt.

  Claire got his help with the zipper on her dress, and Benjamin somehow managed to keep taking off his own clothes as he watched her shimmy out of the fabric, revealing that she had not lied about wearing no panties. He drank in the sight of her mostly-naked body as Claire reached back and unhooked her bra. She was just as exquisite as he had thought she would be when he first saw her in his office that afternoon—full, heavy breasts that practically begged to be cupped and squeezed and played with, capped with dark brown nipples; below that a not-quite-flat belly, with a slightly inset navel, and below that, her hips and the deliciously tempting spot right between her legs, bare except for a small, triangular patch right above her labia, seeming to almost point to where her clitoris would be hiding between her vulva.

  “After you,” Ben said, gesturing for Claire to climb into the big, almost-full tub. Once they were both in it, the water would come up around them, floating them. He watched her climb the two steps outside of the tub to slip into the tank itself and admired the lush view of her firm, round ass, muscles shifting under her skin. He wanted to put his hands all over her, wanted to get right to the main event—but there was more waiting to do, Benjamin knew. He had to let her relax.

  Benjamin let Claire settle herself in the tub, making herself comfortable and putting her glass w
ithin easy reach, and then he climbed into the Jacuzzi from the other side, keeping just enough distance from her to keep her from becoming guarded. He noticed her gaze moving over his body, taking in the sight of his partial erection, evaluating him.

  “Want me to start the jets?” he sipped his wine and set the glass aside, giving Claire a little grin.

  “Let’s get the full experience,” Claire agreed.

  Benjamin took up the remote control for the tub and pressed a few buttons. The control mechanisms allowed him to bring to bear dozens of combinations of jets, bubbles, and temperature, but he thought that he would start things out slow and then build it up—he knew exactly where the jets were in the tub, and how to use them to get Claire in exactly the state of mind he wanted her to be in, the best state of mind to want to say yes, to want him to do more and make a move. It was, he thought, only a matter of time.

  Chapter4

  Claire wasn’t sure at what point she had begun really relaxing around Benjamin—even now, something kept telling her that it was dangerous to relax around a man who had her father in a fifty thousand dollar or better hole—and yet she ceased to even be self-conscious about being naked with him, lightly floating in water just a little warmer than her own skin, drinking a second glass of wine.

  She didn’t feel fuzzy-headed or tipsy, though she knew the heat was probably making the alcohol more effective than usual. She just felt at ease in a way she hadn’t been in days, maybe weeks—certainly not since she had heard from her father about the trouble he had gotten himself into. Even before that, you hadn’t really relaxed, she thought, as she playfully dragged her foot along Benjamin’s ribs under the water.

  They had been inching steadily closer, and Claire hadn’t been able to shake the fact—the knowledge—of his kisses, earlier in the evening. He’d done exactly what he’d committed to, exactly what she’d consented to, and no more. That on its own was unusual enough. But in spite of the warning bells chiming in her head, she couldn’t quite resist the desire to find out what it would be like to do more. Maybe if it goes really well, you can talk him into going easy on the debt a bit, she thought—though she knew better, ultimately.