The Billionaire's Gentle Rescue (The Sisterhood) (16 page)

“Just go away,” she cried as he stood in the doorway. “I hate you for doing this to me again.”

“I know, honey but believe me, it’s not what you think.”

She peeked out to look at him. “It looked like some woman was coming on to you.”

He grimaced but nodded. “Okay, that’s exactly what it was.”

Zoe rolled her eyes and turned away. “Just go away. I don’t need you. I can do this on my own.”

“I need you. Please listen to me. That woman at the bar, she came on to me but I was pushing her away when you walked in. If you’d gotten there five seconds later, she would have been a foot away from me and I would have been walking away. I’ve seen her before and her husband is a disgusting old man. She married him for his money and is desperate for a bit of action on the side. I’m not willing to give that to her when I have you.”

She groaned because it all made sense. He had been reaching up to her wrists which could mean he was telling the truth. “Marco, why should I believe you this time? You did almost the exact same thing ten years ago.”

He moved closer and took her hand, not letting go when she tried to pull it away. “Zoe, ten years ago my father saw me with you and told me if I was serious, he’d have to have you eliminated. He knew how head over heels I’d fallen for you in just a few days and, back then, he thought he could still pull me into his organization. If I hadn’t pushed you away, I was convinced that my father was going to hurt you and I couldn’t risk that.”

She looked up at him and stared, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. “How was he going to eliminate me?” she asked in a startled voice.

Marco shrugged. “I never asked him about anyone that went missing. But with you, there was no way I could let that slide. You came into my life like a Mack truck I hadn’t been expecting. And when he threatened you, I did the only thing I could to get you as far away from me and my family as I could. I know that I hurt you all those years ago, but you have to believe me when I tell you that I didn’t want to. And there’s no way I would hurt you now. Not tonight and not ever.”

She took a deep breath. “Who was she?”

He shook his head. “She’s not important,” he replied. “Not tonight.” He pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a perfect princess cut diamond engagement ring. “Zoe, will you please become my wife and live with me for the rest of my life and never let the viper women like Denise come close to me?”

Darcy gasped and sat up straight, staring at the incredibly lovely ring. It wasn’t gaudy big, but nor could it be described as small either. It was absolutely perfect. Stunningly, gorgeously perfect. “Are you serious?” she asked softly, ignoring the ring and looking at him. “Are you truly serious?”

“I couldn’t be more serious. No woman has ever been able to make me feel what you did with only a few kisses. For the past ten years, I’ve compared every woman to you and the excitement I felt just when you walked into the room. And I’m really sorry that your accountant stole all your money, but I’m grateful to him for giving me a perfect opportunity to come back into your life and help you out. Ever since my father died several months ago, I had been trying to figure out how to get you back into my life and now that I’ve found you, I won’t let anything take you away from me.”

Zoe threw her arms around his neck and threw herself into his arms, almost knocking him off balance with her excitement. Through her tears of happiness, she said, “I feel the same way about you. When you came back into my life I was so angry with fate for being so cruel. I couldn’t believe that the one man I’d been trying to avoid for the rest of my life was going to be the only person willing to get me out of that horrible predicament.”

“Ah, but you are on your way now.”

“Thanks to you.”

He shook his head. “No, we’re a team. And you haven’t yet answered my question. Will you marry me?”

She sniffed and wished she didn’t look like a complete idiot with her makeup all over her face and tears streaming from her eyes, but she didn’t care as long as he didn’t mind. “Yes. Are you sure you want to marry me with all this crazy fashion business?”

He chucked and nodded, pulling her into his arms. “If you can put up with all of my sister’s crazy animals, I can put up with your glorious designs.”

“It’s a deal,” she sighed happily a moment before he kissed her.

Epilogue

Marco watched as his wife waddled into the room, almost falling into the big easy chair as their child enlarged her body as it grew inside her. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was, knowing that Zoe was by his side. He smiled as she laughed at one of the dogs moments before they all came storming through the baby shower.

The other four women laughed as well, each picking up the tiny outfits that had all been unwrapped moments before.

Sergei walked up to Marco, handing him a beer as they both leaned against the counter watching their respective wives. “She’s in the club,” Sergei said without preamble, referring to Zoe being friends with Emma, Claire and Darcy, a sisterhood friendship that had endured since their freshmen year at college.

Marco noted that Debbie had also been included into the sisterhood so Emma, Claire and Darcy were expanding their trio into a crazy quintet. “I know,” he said flatly, sighing deeply with resignation.

Mitch walked up and took a sip of his own beer, watching his wife, Claire, as she balanced his daughter in her arms. “I told you not to introduce them to each other,” he commented, but winked at Claire when she glanced over after their daughter giggled.

Dharran sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, watching his Emma pull their son onto her lap. “She’s in the club too. It’s always dangerous.”

“I know,” Marco commented.

“It doesn’t get any better,” Mitch replied.

The other three men nodded their heads in agreement.

Marco smiled slightly when Darcy put a hand to her own slightly swollen stomach. “I don’t think I could handle it if it did,” he said softly.

Again, all four men nodded their agreement, watching their wives and their slowly growing clans. As each man smiled, they wandered over to join their particular wife, Dharran picking up his son and Mitch grabbing his daughter before she could pull Claire’s hair again. Nose to nose, father and daughter stared at each other. “You’re just like your mother,” he growled.

As she patted his face in agreement with her pudgy hand, the other men all nodded in accord while the women smiled adoringly at their husbands. No, it didn’t get much better than this they all thought.

(Read on for the excerpts from the other books in this series)

The Sisterhood Series

A trilogy about three women closer than siblings who meet in college and stick with each other through the years, protecting secrets and always providing a shoulder to cry on during the tough times or cheers when things are going well.

The Sheik’s Virgin Lover

Emma and Dharran’s story

The Billionaire’s Impulsive Lover

Claire meets Mitch

The Russian’s Tender Lover

Sergei kidnaps Darcy

And….due to reader requests…Marco saves Zoe in “The Billionaire’s Gentle Rescue”

All available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Excerpts below….

The Sheik’s Virgin Lover

“I just…I haven’t been sleeping well lately and….” She couldn’t say anything more because he was looking down at her, leaning over as if he were about to pounce. “Don’t do that,” she said, her voice barely a whisper and rough, her eyes dropping down to his lips.

“Don’t do what?” he asked, moving closer.

“Don’t kiss me.”

“That’s inevitable,” he countered. “Why shouldn’t I kiss you?”

“Because there’s no future for us.”

“Why don’t we let the future….” He started to say but he never finished because she reached up and kissed him softly, tentatively and quickly pulled back, her terrified eyes looked up to his to see if he was offended.

She wasn’t sure if the fire in his eyes by her actions was more frightening than the way she was feeling, but either way, she needed to get out of here. She started to pull away, get ready to leave and run for her sanity, when his lips touched hers. There was no hesitation and it wasn’t in any way tentative. When he kissed her, his mouth possessed, took over and there was no pulling back this time. His hand came up to hold her head while his other wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer.

All thinking, all rational thought was now a memory as her mind shut down and her body took over. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer, her body arching to have more contact with his hard planes. As he touched her, she gasped and reveled in the electrifying feelings ripping across her body, leaving her both weak and empowered at the same time.

Her fingers, emboldened by the flames tearing through her, reached up and tangled in his jet black hair, feeling softer than she would have thought possible.

Each time he explored a new area, she gasped in surprise, feeling more and more of an ache, something she’d known was possible, but had never experienced before. The only thing that would ease the ache was more of the same, but that in turn intensified the feelings. When his hand moved under her cotton blouse, touching her bare skin, she cried out and moved, her body automatically begging for more of that touch, more excitement.

The Billionaire’s Impulsive Lover

“Are you going to tell me how you knew I was here?”

He chuckled. “I don’t think so.”

She thought about that for a moment, then sighed once again. “I’ll just have to keep trying then.”

“Be careful of your actions. Breaking into my house might have consequences.”

She considered him for a long moment. “You could simply teach me how to do it correctly so I won’t get caught.”

He stopped stirring the vegetables and looked at her sternly. “You’re not going to break into anyone’s house except this one, Claire.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. And if you do, I’ll fire you and make sure you’re doing data entry for the rest of your life.”

She grimaced at that threat. “I’d rather go to jail.”

He laughed and picked up the spoon again. “No you wouldn’t. But that won’t even be an option.”

She sipped her wine while he chopped up something green and shoved it with the knife into the sizzling oil. “What if I try it and get away with it?”

“What would be the purpose?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Getting away with it?”

He stopped chopping and looked over at her. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you can break into my house without me catching you, then I’ll teach you whatever you want to learn. But until then, you can’t even try to break into any other building. Do we have a deal?”

Claire considered her options. “What if I say no and I go out on my own.”

He looked at her carefully, then shook his head. “You won’t.”

“Why won’t I?”

His smile was slow, and lazy. And sexy as hell, making her stomach muscles clench with both fear and anticipation. He walked around to her side of the granite counter, set her glass down on the ledge, then abruptly pulled her into his arms. “Because you want the adventure only I can give you,” he said a moment before his mouth covered hers in a slow, crazy passionate kiss that made Claire’s toes curl. As his mouth moved over hers, his tongue invaded her mouth, touching her own tongue, his lips sucking on her lips. His hands went from her waist, then pulled her black sweater upwards, his hands touching her bare skin and making her gasp with the pleasure the skin to skin contact created.

It took less than a minute before her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and her legs actually crept up to wrap around his waist.

There was no flash drive to retrieve, no code to build, just his mouth driving her crazy, his touch that inflamed her mind and her own desperate need to touch him just as he was touching her. She wanted to feel his skin, to know if his hair was soft or rough. Her arms reached up, wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer, molding her body against his as the fire increased in intensity, growing so out of bounds that she wasn’t sure where she was anymore. There was only a driving, obsessive need to touch and be touched.

Her fingers stole into his shirt right above the collar and the flames increased as she felt his hot skin under her finger tips, her palm molding against the muscles flexing wherever her hand moved. She cried out when his own hand moved under her sweater to rest on her rib cage and she moved slightly, wanting his hand on her breast.