An Improper Deal (Elliot & Annabelle #1) (Billionaires' Brides of Convenience Book 3) (7 page)

Instead of coming toward me to try something, he goes to his bar and brings out a bottle of scotch. “Now, about the
perks
of being my wife…” Back in his seat, he pours himself another glass. “Since you’ll need to look the part”—his gaze sweeps over my old Walmart clothes—“I’ll give you an allowance for clothes and whatever else women need. Transportation will be provided—I’m sure you don’t have an appropriate ride. And of course some jewelry, which you can keep after we’re through. I can’t regift old stuff.”

“If you just want to get laid, why go to all the trouble of marrying? Why not just go out and pick up some girl?”

“I already told you I need a wife for a year.”

“But why?”

“That doesn’t concern you.” He looks at me over the rim of his glass. “The only thing you should be thinking here is whether or not it’s a good deal for you, and how you can squeeze more out of me.”

“So you’re going to pay for everything, plus give me a million bucks when we divorce, in return for being my husband for a year.”

“Yes. ‘Husband’, of course, includes sex.”

His purring voice sends a frisson of heat to my core. “Right.” I swallow. “Sex.”

“There is one other requirement.” His eyes are hooded so I can’t read anything in them. “You will answer to Gigi.”

“That’s not my name.”

“So? I’m offering a lot of money.”

“Along with the ‘privilege’ of sleeping with you.”

“Exactly.”

I get to my feet. I’ve heard enough of this nonsense. There’s no way I’m going to waste more of my life, even if the man is so hot he could melt all the ice in Antarctica. “Go to hell.”

He’s on his feet now as well. “If you don’t like Gigi, you can choose another name. I thought it suited you.”

“My name is Annabelle, and that’s what I answer to. My god, how arrogant and obnoxious are you? I’m not some pet you can pick up and
name
. Will I get to call you whatever I want? Because Shithead sounds just about perfect.”

He comes toward me, his pace measured. A part of me wants to retreat, but my pride won’t let me. I’ll be damned if I cower before this obnoxious bastard. I don’t care how rich or smart he is. He’s absolutely horrible.

He stops when the tips of his feet are less than an inch from mine. I can smell the scotch on his breath, and feel the heat radiating from his large, muscular body. My lungs constrict, and I can only drag in half the air I would normally.

“You know…I’d be a little more careful if I were you. You have no prospects, no money and have a younger sister to support.”

I gasp. “How…?”

“Do you think I’d proposition just any woman off the street?”

I blink. I don’t know why it’s never crossed my mind that he would want to look into the background of the woman he intended to marry. He has a lot of assets to protect. An old pain turns my voice scratchy. “Then you found out about my dad.”

“I did.”

“You sure you want somebody like me in your household? Who knows what I might take?”

His gaze drops to my lips, and they tingle. Anticipation starts bubbling as he leans even closer and his five o’clock shadow scrapes my cheek. My skin prickles, and the ache between my legs begins to throb. “Oh, it’s fine. I plan to take just as much from you,” he whispers, his breath fanning my ear. “If not more.”

My chest rises and falls shallowly, and I realize with shock that I’m panting. He hasn’t even touched me. Or does that delicious feel of his five o’clock shadow count?

He starts pulling back. His lips are so close to mine. All I have to do is tilt my head just so, and I can steal a taste.

My heart thuds, but I don’t make the move. He looks at me through hooded eyes, stopping with his lips hovering over mine for a fraction of a second.

Then he cants his head and takes my mouth in a kiss.

The touch sends an electric shockwave through me. I haven’t been kissed since my parents’ death two years ago, and my body, starved, betrays me, angling closer for more contact. He wraps my ponytail around his fist and holds my head so I can’t run.

He doesn’t ask for permission, but he doesn’t exactly dominate either. It’s the confident kiss of a man who knows what he’s doing and takes what he wants. His tongue traces my mouth and probes at the opening. With a soft gasp, I part my lips and taste the scotch and something else that makes me so hot it almost hurts.

My knees shake, and I wrap my arms around his neck for support. His hand burns through my thin shirt, and I arch into him.

The kiss goes on and on. He’s sampling every inch of my lips…my tongue…like he was born with the right. My senses are saturated with him. His decadent taste. His delicious scent. His strong, hard body. His hands on me—

Pleasure laps at me like waves, dragging me further and further under. I’m drowning in him, but I don’t want to come up for air. I want to sink deeper until I forget everything but this.

The emptiness between my legs throbs. I moan softly at the sweet ache. He rumbles against my mouth as though he knows exactly what I’m feeling. His thick, hard cock presses against my belly, and the syrupy heat intensifies in my core.

“Fuck, you’re hot,” he whispers. “Why you would deny yourself this is beyond me.”

Because you won’t even call me by my name
.

The small voice of sanity cuts through the sexual haze like a scalpel. I shove him away from me with all my strength. It isn’t really enough to make him back off, but he pulls away anyway.

“No,” I say.

He drops his gaze to my beaded nipples and raises it to my eyes. “That’s what women say when they
aren’t
wet.” The heated expression on his starkly handsome face says he knows I’m soaking right now.

“Or when they’ve come to their senses.” I retreat and pick up my purse and put it between us like a shield. “If you really need to get laid, why don’t you get someone who’s interested?”

A corner of his lips tilts as he stalks toward me. “I already have. Your mouth says no, but your body says yes.” He pulls me to him, purse and all.

My heart beats frantically, blood roaring in my head. A finger glides along my slick folds, sending electric frissons of want through me.

Elliot licks his wet finger. “Sweet. Just as I suspected.”

I’m so hot I feel like I’m about to combust. I should be totally outraged, furious that he put a finger down there, but instead I want him to do it again. What is
wrong
with me? I haven’t even been drinking. I have no excuse.

“You’re a smart girl,” he purrs in my ear. “You’ll figure out what you really need. Meanwhile, think about it…”

Letting me go, he looks at my moist, tingling lips, and I can feel the need pulsing through the sensitive flesh. My legs are shaking so hard I don’t know how I’m standing upright.

He pulls out a business card, folds it lengthwise in half, and sticks it into my bra. “Call me when you’ve thought enough.”

Annabelle

“You’re really late,” says Nonny, looking up from a textbook when I finally get back home. She’s on her belly on the floor, ankles crossed in the air. Her hair’s damp from a shower. The oversized yellow nightshirt and blue cropped pants are relatively new—something I bought from Target before I got laid off. The sight of them makes me feel slightly better…even though they aren’t really proof that I’m doing a good job of taking care of my sister.

“Sorry. Really bad traffic, and I made a wrong turn on top of that.” The lie slips out surprisingly easily. But what can I say? I can’t tell her the truth. “Did you eat dinner?”

“Uh-huh. I had some of the leftovers.” She rolls over and sits up. “So how was it?”

“How was what?”

“Your first day at work. Duh.”

“Oh. Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. Actually pretty easy. No irate diners to deal with,” I say, looking through the fridge for something to eat. Nonny left me a portion of casserole from yesterday, which I decide to nuke.

“Really? Okay, well…cool.” She waits until I pull out my dinner before continuing, “I’m going to study hard and go to a kickass college and make lots of money.”

I raise an eyebrow.
What is this about?

“Good for you,” I say finally. “But you should find something you’re really passionate about, not just something that can give you a lot of money.”

“What I’m passionate about is a big paycheck.”

I laugh through a tinge of apprehension. “Seriously?”

“Totally. If we had money, we wouldn’t have to live like this, and you wouldn’t have to take janitor jobs.”

A sudden lump fills my throat. I go over and give her an extra-tight hug. “Nonny, I’m so sorry.”

She hugs me back. “You’re doing your share, so I have to do mine, right? I’m going to help you finish college.”

“Don’t feel like you owe me.” I look at her. My lower jaw quivers, but I put on a smile. “I’m doing this because I love you. It’s you and me against the world now.”

“But if you didn’t have me, you’d be happier. Like Caroline. You could go out and have fun and stuff.”

“I’m happy exactly where I am. And if I lost you I don’t know what I’d do.”

Nonny looks skeptical.

I cock my head. “Did Caroline say something?”

She doesn’t answer.

God
,
that meddling bitch
. I can’t believe this. “Don’t listen to her. She’s not worth it.” I put my hands around her arms. “Just worry about yourself. Not me.”

My poor little sister. She’s growing up too fast, maturing too soon. When I was her age, my biggest worry was how I was going to get away with skipping school and sneaking into parties with the older kids.

Nonny nods. As I pull away to go finish my dinner, her shirt slips, showing a bit of shoulder. She drags it back up fast, but not before I see something that looks suspiciously like a bruise.

“What’s that?” I take the shirt and pull it over. I was wrong about the discoloration being a bruise. It’s a bite mark. “Did you get
bitten?
”

Nonny’s voice is sharp, her motion jerky as she yanks the shirt out of my grasp. “It’s nothing.”

“We have to go to the hospital and get it checked.”

“It happened yesterday, and I’m fine. No need to waste the money.”

“It happened
yesterday?
”

She doesn’t look at me. “Just a stupid fight. It’s nothing.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because it’s not important! I yanked on her earrings, and she backed off. She’s dumb anyway.”

“Is she from the Evil Squad?”

“Yes, and she won’t do it again.” Nonny juts her chin out like a boxer before a match. A fierce light burns in her eyes, and I don’t know what’s happened to my sweet little sister.

She grabs her textbook. “I need to get some sleep. Gotta be up early for morning rehearsal.” She starts toward our bedroom. “By the way, don’t worry about the trip. I told the band director I can’t go.”

This hits me so hard I gasp. “Why?”

“You know…” She shrugs and kind of looks around at our cheap place.

“Tell her you made a mistake. You can go. I’ll make it happen.”

She shakes her head. “Forget it, Anna. It’s just a stupid hobby.” She goes into the room and shuts the door.

I stare at the closed door. My appetite’s gone. This is all my fault. I should’ve hidden my struggles from her better and warned Caroline to keep her big mouth shut.

But maybe none of that would’ve mattered. Nonny’s a perceptive girl, and it’s impossible to hide how little money we have.

I pull out Elliot’s card. It has his full name, plus a phone number, neatly written in black ink. Does he think this is how he’s going to get me? A kiss, a finger down there, a promise of some money and a card?

Shaking my head, I stick it back into my bag and change into my old PJs. They’re nice—Mom bought them before everything tumbled down around us. Nonny doesn’t have anything similar since she grew out of them all.

An hour later I crawl into bed next to Nonny and stare at the ceiling. Maybe Elliot
is
the answer to all my problems. It’s just sex, right? And only for a year. At least he’s open about what he wants and what he’s willing to give in return.

Of course there’s the possibility he’s some kind of psycho. What’s up with his insistence on calling me Gigi? Some kind of fetish? Or does he want me to act like an unrequited love of his? Some old girlfriend?

Probably not. I narrow my eyes. He’s too handsome and rich not to have everything he wants.

I wish I could talk to someone, but there’s nobody for me. I sigh. I don’t even have Traci’s number anymore. I deleted it from my phone after Nonny and I practically fled Lincoln City.

Closing my eyes, I will myself to sleep. Tomorrow’s another long day and I need some rest.

But when the sleep finally comes, I dream of Elliot…and his wicked finger.

Annabelle

Morning is a little awkward. Caroline, as usual, got home late, so she’s still asleep in her room. Nonny and I don’t really say anything to each other. I’m still stewing in my guilt and frustration over how little I can give her, and Nonny…well… I don’t know what she’s thinking as she splashes milk over her bowl of cereal.

I don’t bother with breakfast. A part of me is still too upset to eat, and another part wants to stretch what we have as long as we can. Payday isn’t for another two weeks.

Nonny’s clothes are old and frayed. And most of them are a size too small. It seems so unfair that I grew up with designer outfits and shoes while Nonny doesn’t get any of that. And she deserves them more than I ever did. She studies hard, rarely complains about anything, and she…

“I’m sorry, Anna,” Nonny says. “I didn’t mean to get upset like that.”

I sit in front of her and take her hand. “Me too. I should’ve handled it better. Now look, you tell your band director you’re going on that trip. I’ll make it happen, I promise.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll just wait until I get a part time job and save some money. I should’ve thought about it before, you know?”

No
,
you shouldn’t have thought about any of this
.
You’re still just a girl
.