Billionaire Season 3: Summer Ablaze (Billionaire Season Trilogy) (5 page)

“You
are
quite the catch, Mr. Warfield” Allie said, smiling and rolling her eyes just to prove him right. She moved closer to him, if that was possible, and he lifted her chin, his lips soft and urgent against hers and they were lost in each other with no hope of ever being found.

*

They walked along the beach holding hands and catching up on every detail they missed in each other’s lives in the long days while they were apart. Thirty days had seemed like an eternity and they vowed not to let anything come between them again. 

“It’s safe to say your dad will never speak to me again, I hope you’re okay with that,” William said as the surf rushed in to cover their bare feet and legs and then retreated. William wore an old pair of jeans and a thin fitted t-shirt and Allie wore itty-bitty bikini bottoms and one of his soft linen shirts.

“I’m trying not to care what my dad thinks, he showed up when I was vulnerable and acted like he wanted to have a relationship with me, but people don’t change that easily. I do feel a little guilty for not going with him but, not a major catastrophe. ”

“If I rattle off a list of serious obligations I set aside to be here with you will it help? I blew off tons of business meetings, an opportunity to buy the Saints, a charity polo match, my father’s wedding….”

“Wait a minute, what Saints, and you play polo?”

“I do and I’m damn good at it, the team can’t possibly win without me,” he laughed and told her that Walden was going to fill his spot on the polo team and that it was astonishing how well Walden was doing. “And I’m referring to the football team— those Saints— I’m interested in acquiring the franchise. You know, Walden claims his friendship with the amazing Alaina Darling has changed his life. I know how he feels, you’ve changed my life so much for the better, Allie, I was simply going through the motions before you climbed into my car at the airport, dripping all over my fine leather seats. You have quite an effect on the Warfield men— my father expects you to attend his wedding, by the way. And I have to admit that your hookup with Walden was my doing, not that the two of actually hooked up, I’d have a hard time with the idea of you sleeping with him.”

“Just like that you’re going to buy an NFL team, how much does it cost these days to ‘acquire’ the New Orleans Saints? And I did sleep with Walden once, not sleep as in
slept with
, we didn’t have sex. Please don’t give me that look, just
do not
go ballistic over this William. I passed out in that glass room on his roof and slept off a Sazerac cocktail incident. Oh holy shit, are you gonna be pissed because I went on a date with Brodie Maguire, got drunk, and your brother kind of rescued me?”

“A date with Brodie, wow, this just keeps getting better and better,” William said, scrubbing a hand over his face and standing still as waves crashed around him, soaking his clothes.

“You know,” Allie said, climbing up the beach and plopping down in the soft white sand. “You are the one who instigated this entire set of events, I was happy as a lark to be in love and content with you. I was not the one to mess up what we had, and you don’t hear me asking how many women you’ve had since….”

“Okay, okay, you’re right. I have no right to question or get mad and I know you didn’t sleep with him. I haven’t thought of any woman but you, darling girl, and I don’t intend to… ever. Besides, if my little brother had gotten one taste of what you have to offer, he wouldn’t have given up so easily.”

“Hmm, I thought you said this wasn’t just about sex,” she said with a bewitching twinkle in her eye.

William stood over her scowling, hands on his hips and honest to God he was so damn luscious it hurt to look at him. His tattered jeans were wet from the Gulf and water had soaked his thin, white t-shirt so that the trail of dark hair running from his navel downward was visible and made her swallow
hard
. He was built like one of those action figures kids played with, broad, thick shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. His face was a true masterpiece and a wicked gleam in his eyes threatened to melt her bikini bottoms smooth off.

“It isn’t. The sex is just an added bonus, like winning the lottery every time your skin touches mine,” he said and he reached for her and pulled her up and against him, his lips finding hers in a kiss so deep and full of hunger it was as if they hadn’t made love a half dozen times in the last twenty or so hours.

“That bath you mentioned earlier sounds good, or maybe a shower would be better.” She whispered when he let her catch her breath. “I’ve gotta a lot of sand in this bikini and a few other places, maybe you could help me wash it off. We should talk about some decisions I’ve made about my life— like not getting my master’s degree and what I really want to do. I want to write a novel, immerse myself in the creative process…. But we can save the details for later, I
am
sore but since you’re standing there looking good enough to eat
and
you’ve vowed to be my sex slave, there’s time enough for the real world later on.”

*

“What is it with you and sex and hotels, William?” Allie’s breathing was ragged as they crashed through the door of his suite, their lips and bodies melded together from the moment they’d entered the elevator. “I thought you were in the shipping business. Do you think I can only be seduced if there’s a lobby, a concierge, and an elevator?”

“Maybe,” William groaned as he set her down on the bed and stepped back to catch his breath. “I had an elevator installed in my new home in the Garden District. It’s not a necessity but I thought it might entice you to… well you know: You, me, hotels, elevators, we seem to get along incredibly well.”

“You’ve finished restoring your house already? Have you moved in, what about the townhouse?”

“It’s almost done, I lit a fire under the contractor and told him I wanted to be in before the end of summer. It’s a magnificent old house, lots of secret passageways and bizarre nooks and crannies and odd rooms for every conceivable activity. A massive house that will be a fine home for a family someday… I hope. A troop of decorators are scurrying around getting furniture and art work and drapes in place. I’m anxious for you to see it Allie, it has one room in particular that I think will appeal to you. I hope you love it, that it might be a place you’ll want to spend time… but that’s a conversation for another day.”

“Sounds wonderful, does the room you think will appeal to me have a bed in it. I’m kind of a mind reader, you might say,” she said as she crossed the room and stood with her back to him and her hands pressed against a window that overlooked the Gulf.

“Darling girl, you are not even warm with that guess. I told you, I’m in love with your mind not just you’re body, even though that is a spectacular bonus,” He whispered as his chest pressed into her narrow back, he lifted her long, heavy hair with one hand and scattered kisses along her neck while his free hand lifted the hem of her shirt. Her ass was small and high and fit into his palm so fucking perfectly that he wanted nothing more than to tear her bikini away and fuck her hard and deep as she steadied herself against the glass.

“Do you wanna know why I caved so easily when you showed up here asking—wait, make that
begging
—for my forgiveness?” She said, spreading her legs slightly as he slid two fingers over her sex so that she moaned and rested her fevered cheek against the window pane.

“Because you couldn’t stop staring at the outline of my cock in my pants?”

“That’s it alright, I
am
only in love with your body,” she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head although they both knew it was partly true. She turned to face him suddenly, lifting his fingers to her lips to watch his eyes while she licked the taste of her arousal from them. “Aside from what you have to offer in bed and on the floor and against the wall…. It’s your devotion to your brother and your father; your family. You put their needs before your own, it’s who you are and it’s… staggeringly awesome. When I recovered—somewhat— from my wounded pride and severely bruised heart, I realized that what had torn us apart was a big part of why I fell in love with you in the first place. You and I, neither one of us had a “warm and cuddly’ childhood and even with all your family’s money and privilege, you suffered through and survived some serious trauma. The thing is, it didn’t make you hard and bitter, it made you into the kind of man who puts the welfare of the ones he loves above his own. I’m pretty sure you knew that I would survive a broken heart, but that your brother wouldn’t survive if he wasn’t given a real shot at getting past his self-destructive habits. Walden said it—you’re a fixer. I love that about you, I wish I’d had someone as wonderful as you to depend on when I was growing up. Someday when I have kids, I want their father to be the kind of man who would do anything to make sure they’re happy and safe and….”

“I’ll make sure of it,” he said, lifting her against the window, inflamed by her words and her beauty and his unquenchable lust for his darling Allie. His hand threaded through her golden hair and forced her head back so that her neck, her lips, were bared to him. He kissed her urgently, licking up along her neck, her jaw, his teeth scraping along her full bottom lip, his tongue twining with hers until they were breathless and he released her, groaning. “I’ll always make sure you’re safe and our children will be happy.”

They were wild and greedy then, their hands undressing each other, he peeled off his wet t-shirt, kicked off his jeans and tossed them aside while Allie shrugged out of the linen shirt, untied her bikini top and let it fall away. William’s huge, warm hands slipped into her bikini bottoms, tearing them to shreds as he knelt and trailed urgent kisses up her long legs to the provocative V of her sex. He nuzzled her for a moment before his tongue flicked out, lashing her hidden folds and circling her clit.

He looked up at her, his eyes on fire as his hands skirted up the back of her thighs to cup her ass and hold her steady. “Spread your legs for me, Alaina, wider, baby, that’s right… so good,” he said and his voice was a deeply erotic growl.

She gasped and arched her hips, welcoming the tender invasion of his tongue and nearly crumpling to the floor as he worked one thick finger and then another inside her. He moved them in and out methodically and her own fingers clawed into his shoulders as he kissed her deeply and fingered her slowly, his thumb circling her clit in a maddening tempo until she fell into him, limp and trembling and shouting.

He caught her in his arms and spoke softly as her arms clutched him desperately, his breath and his words of love steadfast against her heated skin.

“Can you stand up, darling girl? Good, we’re so good together, Allie. Place your hands against the window, baby,” he crooned with a hand splayed on her narrow back bending her forward as he grasped her hip, tilting her pretty ass until his erection lay thick and heavy against the slick opening of her pussy.

“Ahhhhhh!” she cried as he worked the head into her, bucking back against him as he thrust deeply, a tortured growl hissing through his gritted teeth.

“Fuck, you are so tight, so fucking sweet. Don’t move baby, I won’t last. I want you to come on my cock, fuck, so wet, sooo…. God, you make me crazy.”

He was lost in the feel of her pussy, soaked and pulsing, clinching hard around him. The sound of her sexy cries and incoherent words as she tried to stay still as he drove into her, fucking hard, grinding on and on relentlessly, driving her to a violent, rending climax. Only then as she screamed with pleasure and fell limp against the window, he let go, let himself come, his cock swelling and pumping and filling the girl he loved more than anyone in the world.

Chapter Five

“I loved the
Pearl
, are you sure we have to go back to reality so soon?” Allie asked as the steward on the Warfield jet handed her a glass of iced tea and then disappeared to the far end of the cabin.

William sat across from her in a wide leather seat and his attention was on the tablet in his hand and the phone conversation he was immersed in. He glanced up at her and winked but it was no use, his was mind elsewhere, tending to business.

“Narrow the list to the top three and set up interviews in my office next week. I want someone with excellent references, he should be large and intimidating and… unattractive. He needs to watch over what’s dearest to me but I don’t want her to fall in love and leave me,” he laughed and raised an eyebrow, looking at Allie at last with a playful glint in his glittering dark eyes. “Okay, do your thing Tanya, I’m at your mercy as usual. How’s my little brother, staying out of trouble I hope? Good, I expect to see him at Father’s ridiculous wedding, when is it, by the way? Fuck, great, can’t wait. Later.”

“Who might fall in love and leave you? Not that it’s any of my concern,” Allie said, setting her glass in a drink holder and scooting into his lap as he tossed the tablet and phone aside, his arms closed around her as he buried his face in her fragrant hair.

“You, darling girl. I’m hiring someone to watch over you, a bodyguard. Don’t even try to talk me out of it, it’s nonnegotiable.”

“Why do I need a bodyguard, William? That’s insane, I’m just a girl from California who’s….”

“Who’s involved—deeply involved—with, I hate the way this sounds, but you’re my… girlfriend, and I’m… worth a lot of money. Abductions happen, people can be bloodthirsty and I won’t take any chances where you’re concerned.”

“I’m your girlfriend? So this thing between us is… happening?”

“Oh yeah, this thing between us is definitely happening and I… Well, just let me be romantic for once in my life. I want to do this right, so… hang in there with me and give me a chance to sweep you off your feet.”

“Whoa! Done. I am very much into you sweeping me off my feet. Which you do easily and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough,” Allie said, leaning into him, his purely intoxicating “William scent” turned her blood to fire in her veins and set scores of butterflies swarming down low in her belly. “William…” she whispered as he held her eyes in his and slid a hand under the flimsy fabric of her skirt. “Noooo,” she moaned against his ear, but she let her legs fall open when his fingers pushed her panties aside and poised at her slit.

“You’re mine, every part of you, Alaina. Anywhere, anytime. Are you good with that because I’m a possessive man when I’m in love,” he said, not bothering to lower his voice or move his hand when the jet’s steward paused in the aisle and cleared his throat.

“Seat belts please, Mr. Warfield. We’re preparing to land,” he said, turning a deep shade of red before he scurried back to his seat.

William didn’t bother to stop what he was doing, she was his, body and soul, and he wanted the world to know. “Come for me, Allie, you’re so wet, so ready,” he slid one finger inside her, searching, hitting, massaging that spot that was pure sensation while his thumb worked it’s magic, circling her clit as their eyes held. “Let go, baby.
Fuck
, you feel like silk, like hot, wet, silk.”

And that was it, that was all it took—the intensity in his eyes, his voice, his touch, and she was falling to pieces, shattered and writhing against his hand, and yelling that she was his, she would always, always, be his.

*

“I can’t believe this place, it’s incredible. So regal, and Southern, and romantic, can a house be romantic? This one is, I love the rose color of the stucco and the soft grey iron work. God, I’ve never seen so much intricate, lacy ironwork. No wonder so many great authors came to New Orleans and were inspired to write about over-the-top, no-holds-barred decadence. Of course it’s practically as big as a hotel, but we’ve already established that hotels are your weakness,” Allie said, as she and William stood on the brick sidewalk just inside the curlicued iron gates in front of the massive Italianate mansion.

“Well, this is a home not a hotel, darling girl, and I think you’ll be pleased with all the wonders it has to offer. Before we go inside let’s take a tour of the grounds, I have one or two surprises for you,” William said, he hugged her slender body to his and rested his cheek against the top of her head. They stood quietly for awhile, taking in the awesome grandeur of the house and the pristine grounds that encompassed an entire city block. “Come on, if I hold you this close for too long we might scandalize the neighbors by getting wild under the magnolias.”

“I’m good with that,” Allie said, the house was amazing but it didn’t compare to the look of adoration on William’s face as he smiled down at her. She couldn’t imagine that there would ever be a day when she wasn’t blindsided by her love for this man. His face was a pure and simple miracle, and his body, well, she couldn’t let her mind drift to the mind-bending pleasure his body made her feel. But mostly it was his heart that had melted and yet ignited every fiber of her being so that she felt soft and pliable just thinking of him, and also coveted and cherished, like a treasure he had discovered and held dearer than dear.

“Later then, I’ll taste every sweet inch of you right here in the light of day and again when the moon is full. Okay, hold that thought and follow me,” he kissed the tip of her nose and only brushed his lips to hers to keep from letting himself get carried away by his unwavering lust for her. The truth was that she’d ignited a flame in him from the first day they met. He could barely let himself remember how she’d looked framed against the arched window in his guestroom, her enticing little curves outlined by her rain-soaked clothes, long legs stretching from beneath her short skirt as she kicked off the flagrantly erotic pink rubber boots and tossed them aside. Her cheeks had flushed the exact bright pink as the boots when she’d turned and her enormous grey eyes widened, the pupils dilating as he tugged his shirttail down to cover his erection.

“Where are we going and what are you thinking about? I can see it in your eyes, William, that look makes me want to pull you down on the grass and do bad-good things right here and now.”

“Sorry. Hold on, Allie Darling, I’m all yours to do with as you please but… just hang on,” William said and he led her through landscaped gardens that were wild with azaleas and fragrant roses and frilly-leafed ferns under a sun-dappled canopy of centuries-old trees. “I had this built just for you,” he said and Allie inhaled sharply as she stopped short and tried to make since of the enchanting structure that stood in the midst of all that luxuriant foliage.

“You built a house for me so I could be… near you?”

“No darling girl, I built this fairytale cottage as an office or hideaway for you. I wanted it to be a place where you can take your sweet time going through all the letters and manuscripts from the Literary Society in peace and quiet, without anyone disturbing you. Where you can study, and if you like, write your own novel, this is your private space, there’s just this one key and it’s all yours,” he said, handing her a shiny brass key and motioning for her to unlock the beguiling stained glass door.

Allie was speechless as she walked through the cozy, picturesque rooms. There were three in all, each one appointed for a different purpose. The first was a sort of gathering room with a white-washed pedestal table surrounded by four tall, brightly slipcovered chairs, an antique French buffet a deux corps held cups, saucers, and dessert plates and on the opposite wall was a state-of-the-art wine and coffee bar. The next room was furnished as a sitting/reading room lined with bookshelves. It boasted a comfortably overstuffed arm chair and ottoman, an antique daybed piled with pillows and the Hermes throw from William’s Maserati, and a deeply cushioned chaise lounge sat in a wide bay window overlooking the garden. The third space was set up as an office with an enormous mahogany partner’s desk with a comfortable desk chair and intricate woven tapestries that were so large they hung from the ceiling and pooled on the floor. In each room there were newly bound manuscripts of the books and letters and miscellaneous correspondence from the Gothic Literary Society.

Allie lifted one of the bound volumes down from a bookshelf and ran her hand over the smooth leather cover. She was trying to make heads or tails of the embossed monogram—
ADW
. She reached for several more and leafed through the pages, each “book” contained fine linen paper printed with the words of the authors she had come to New Orleans to study.

“William,” she whispered, her voice raw with emotion and her eyes brimming with tears as she looked up at him. “You had copies made of every document at the Literary Society? You had them bound so… beautifully and you built this exquisite cottage to hold them all… just for me? My heart might burst now, you know, this is incredible… why did you…?”

“I thought it might sway you, make you say yes,” he said and he covered her lips with a long, sweet kiss as he slipped the ring on the third finger of her left hand.

“Oh. My. God.” She said, breathless from the kiss and the cottage and the thought he had put into this charming declaration of love. And then her knees buckled as she lifted her hand and saw the ring. It was indescribably beautiful and
HUGE
. “Oh my God, ohhhhhhh!”

“Will you?”” William asked, he caught her as her legs gave way and now he settled onto the antique daybed with her on his lap. “You’re making me sweat, Allie, I’m nervous as hell right now. An answer, any answer, hopefully the right answer….”

“I do… I will… of course. Yes, yes, yessssssss!”

They tried to be serious when their lips met again, to make certain they sealed their engagement with the binding agreement contained in a passionate kiss. And they did manage to kiss in short erratic bursts between bouts of smiling and laughing and saying “I love you, I love you” nonstop for at a long, long time. After that they lay on the daybed with Allie twining her slender arms and legs around the solid length of William’s body. They found it impossible to look into each other’s joyful eyes for more than a moment or they would lose themselves to the hunger of the flesh and give in to carnal desire. That wasn’t how it should go, they decided, this was not the time for the simply physical. It was the start of a sacred journey, a combining of all that they were, handing over their hearts with unflagging confidence, trusting the ancient promise: “The two shall become one flesh.”