CHERISHED (By the Alpha Billionaire #3) (2 page)

Sawyer

The vision of Maisie letting her ex into her apartment haunted me. I loosened my navy blue tie as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror of the hotel. Staring into the eyes of a foreign reflection, I didn’t know who I was anymore. I hardly recognized the man standing before me. The man who used to grab life by the balls and take whatever he wanted with no apologies.

I should’ve went to her. I should’ve knocked on her door and interrupted her little reunion and taken what was mine. He didn’t deserve her.

I’d felt lost after Alexandria died, and for a brief five days of my life, when I was with Maisie, I felt found again. Maisie was sassy and she made me smile for the first time in months. Sex with her didn’t feel like meaningless sex with a stranger, though that’s what we essentially were.

I yanked my tie off and hung it on the bathroom door handle, my fingers working the buttons of my shirt until a knock at the door jarred my attention away from the task at hand.

“I’m good thanks,” I yelled toward the door, assuming it was a staff member of the hotel. Then I remembered the Best Western didn’t have concierges.

“It’s me,” a woman’s voice said from the other side. “Open up.”

My heart thudded hard in my chest, and the air around me felt laced with a certain kind of magic that couldn’t possibly be real. I was dreaming. She hadn’t found me. She wasn’t coming back to me.

I yanked the door open. “Mouthy Maisie.”

“Shut up, Mr. Fancy Pants Businessman,” she said. A wicked smile curled her lips.

She pushed herself onto me, slamming the door behind her and pinning me against the door as her lips kissed mine with a hungry fervor. With my hands grasping her wrists, I lifted them up and deposited them on my shoulders. My hands slid down to her round ass, copping a feel before hoisting her up. With her legs wrapped around my waist, I spun around, pinning her against the wall and burying my face in her soft cleavage.

“You came back for me,” she breathed, her hands in my hair. “Why’d you do that?”

I carried her over to the bed, laying her down gently and wasting no time freeing her of the constraints of her jeans. She tugged her shirt up and over her head before slipping mine off my shoulders. Within seconds we were lying naked, our legs tangled and every part of our bodies plastered against one another.

“Your plane break down again?” she teased as she kissed along my jawline.

I stopped her for a second. “Why was he at your apartment earlier?”

“Who?”

“Your ex. The pencil dick douche bag who cheated on you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Claimed he wanted to apologize. It turned into him blaming me for his…indiscretion.”

“Fucking prick,” I growled. I wanted to grab him by the neck and slam his head into a brick wall.

“I made him leave,” she said. “For good. Trust me. That ship has sailed.”

She lifted my hand to her soft cheeks.

“See, I didn’t even cry. I told you, I’m over him. I’ve moved on.”

“I can only imagine the lashing he got.” I ran my free hand up her neck, my thumb tracing across her full bottom lip. I leaned in for a taste. “But how can you move on from someone so quickly?”

“It helps to have a distraction.” She traced her finger along the indentation of my tricep. “A very hot, ridiculously sexy distraction. Besides, Luke doesn’t do it for me anymore. He hadn’t for a long time.”

My hand found the apex of her hip and brought her into me. “Stop talking about him. I’ve heard enough. The only things coming out of that hot little mouth of yours will be the sounds you’re making when I’m fucking that sweet pussy of yours.”

I rolled to my back, pulling her on top of me. My hands traveled down her sides, feeling each and every inch of her soft curves under my palms. Her tear-shaped breasts bounced with each movement as she wiggled her hips over mine.

I reached across the bed, grabbing my wallet from my pants. Sheathing my cock with a rubber, I wasn’t sure I could contain myself any longer. I was ready to burst, and I hadn’t even been inside her yet.

“Mm, you’re really turned on right now,” she said, her hand around my cock as she rolled the rubber all the way to the base.

“I’ve been turned on since the day I first saw you,” I growled, giving her ass a squeeze and a soft smack. My hands found her hips again, and I guided her over my erection. Her arousal made it easy to glide right in. As she lowered herself on me slowly, a soft sigh left her full lips. Her head dipped back as her hands steadied herself on my chest.

“Sawyer,” she whispered as she rocked back and forth on my cock. Her hips circled until she found a good rhythm, and she didn’t stop. My finger pressed against her clit as she rode me, her movements picking up in intensity the closer she seemed to get. “Come with me, Sawyer…”

Moments later, her cherry lips were parted into an ‘O’ as her face winced. “Oh, my God, oh, Sawyer, yes…”

She wriggled and writhed on my cock, as I unloaded myself. And when we were finished, she collapsed in a heap on top of me.

“You don’t know how much I missed that,” she breathed.

Before I had a chance to tell her I felt the same, she climbed off of me and pranced away to the bathroom. I couldn’t help but wonder if she missed me…or if she missed the sex.

Maisie

I crawled back in bed with him, breathing in his earthy, musky scent. I could’ve devoured him from head to toe.

I nestled into the crook of his shoulder, tracing my hand across his bare chest. “So, Sawyer, what made you come back?”

“You.” He didn’t miss a beat.

“Miss the sex that bad, did you?” I laughed.

The quiet that consumed the space between us caused my breath to suspend for a second or two.

“Yep,” he said. “I flew my jet all the way to Missouri because I just wanted to have sex with you one more time.”

I couldn’t tell if he was joking. His voice was so monotone, his face blank and his body so still. I couldn’t read him sometimes, though I felt like it was intentional on his part.

“I missed that mouth too,” he added. “I realized how quiet my life was after you flew home last weekend. Decided I had to do something about it.”

“Oh, yeah?” my heart raced, galloping like a runaway horse. “Funny you say that. When I came home, I realized how boring my life here is. I figured I needed to do something about it. I planned on quitting my job tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I have to finish out the school year, but as of May 31
st
, I’ll be free,” I said. “Free from this town. Free from my past. Free to live the life I was meant to live.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” I smiled, recalling our five days together. “I had a lot of fun in New York. Thought about going back there. Start a life somewhere new. A life nothing like the one I have here.”

He drew in a slow breath, his hooded eyes studying me as he seemed to be deep in thought. “I support your decision a hundred percent.” His full lips spread into a wide smile. “Not that you need my support. I’m just saying. If you were to move to New York, you already have a friend there. Someone to call if you need something. Anything.”

Who’d have thought the handsome stranger at the bar a couple weeks ago would end up becoming my friend. I forced a smile, though deep down I wished we were more than friends. Those things took time, though, I knew that.

“What do you see when you look at me?” I asked. “Do you just think of me as a friend?”

“I hardly know you,” he said, “for starters, but yes. I consider you a friend.”

My lips pursed at the corner of my mouth. I traced my hand along the messed up bed sheets. “Believe it or not, I think you know me better than most people in my life do.”

“I believe it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“You don’t let a lot of people in, Mouthy. I can tell that much. You’re tough on the outside,” he said. “People like you. Like me. Like us. We’re tough on the outside because we’re soft in here.” His finger landed on my chest.

I placed my hand over his. “You’re right. And all these years, I thought I was just a bitch.”

“A bitch? Never. Sassy and opinionated and smart-mouthed, yes. You’re not a bitch,” he laughed. His face turned a shade of serious. “I’d have never come back for you if you were a bitch. You’re quite the opposite, Maisie. You’re special. You’re different. There’s something about you.”

I lifted a single shoulder and shook my head shyly. “There’s nothing special about me, Sawyer. You don’t have to say that. I’m just an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life, wishing she were anyone else most days.”

His brows formed a V as he frowned. “Don’t say that. Don’t talk like that.”

He scooted closer to me, cupping my jaw in his hands and leaning in to kiss my tender lips with his.

“You’re far from ordinary,” he said, his voice a sensual whisper. “You’re rare, Maisie. You’re authentic. You’re beautiful inside and out. You should be cherished.”

“Really?” I kissed him back, craving his taste and yearning for him to whisper those magic words all over again.

“If you were mine, I’d cherish you, Maisie,” he whispered. “Fuck any man who’s too stupid to have let you go.”

I wanted to tell him I already was his, but my words were quieted with another delectable Sawyer kiss.

***

“Come with me,” he said the next morning. “I’m going to Denver for a few days for an airline conference and some meetings. Come with me. I’d love to come home to this after a long day at work.” He squeezed my left ass cheek and buried his head in the crook of my neck.

He’d just come out of the shower, and a white towel was the only thing between his naked, damp body and mine.

“I want to,” I said. “Believe me, I do. I have work. It’s not like I can just call in sick for a few days. It’s not that easy for teachers.”

He groaned, and disappointment coursed through me.

“I have to fly out today,” he said. His hand cupped the side of my face before trailing down my neckline. “I don’t want to leave you here.”

“I promise. I won’t go anywhere. I’ll be right where you left me. Waiting for you to come back.” I leaned in to taste him again, his lips minty fresh. The faint, clean scent of hotel soap permeated off his warm skin and evaporated into the air that surrounded us. I may have been just minutes from my apartment, but being in that hotel with Sawyer made me feel miles away from ordinary. We were in our own little world. “You’ll come back for me, right?”

“I’d be a fool not to.” He peeled himself away from me and headed around the corner, emerging fully dressed.

***

Sawyer flew to Denver that day, taking a piece of my heart with him. I longed for him. For his touch. His words. The way he looked at me as if I were the only girl in the whole entire world.

I headed to the grocery store that night to pick up a few frozen dinners. Standing in the check out lane, the energy around me suddenly felt ripe; thick with tension. As the woman in front of me whipped out a hundred and twenty-seven different coupons and proceeded to argue with the checker when half of them wouldn’t work, I took a deep breath and tried to find something to pass the time. I scrolled through my phone, re-reading some text messages Sawyer had sent me that morning. I’d probably read them a thousand times that day, but each time still felt brand new.

Smiling, I fired off a quick, “Miss you, Mr. Businessman” to him and slipped my phone back in my pocket. I still couldn’t shake the tense feeling in the air. Something was off, though I didn’t know what.

I turned around to grab a magazine to bide my time, only to be faced with the one and only Sara Foster. My stepsister. The backstabbing bitch. Traitor extraordinaire. Our eyes met for only a moment until she looked away.

“Hi, Sara,” I said. I wasn’t going to pretend like we didn’t see each other. Plus it was kind of fun watching her squirm. She held a blue shopping basket in her arm and nervously switched it to her opposite arm, almost trying to shield it from my view.

“Hi.” She forced a quick smile that lasted all of two seconds.

I glanced down into her basket, catching the white and blue packaging of a home pregnancy test before she quickly covered it with a tabloid magazine. A zing of shock zapped my heart, settling up into my throat. It was one thing to know that she and Luke were screwing around behind my back, but it was another to be faced with the fact that she might be carrying his baby.

Part of me wanted to say something. Acknowledge it. Have words with her. But it wasn’t the time nor the place. And as angry as I was with her, part of me was sad for her. Someday her looks would fade. The newness and excitement of an illicit love affair would be a distant memory. And all she’d be left with would be a baby she never wanted and a few stretch marks scarring her perfect, tight figure.

She could have Luke. She could have him forever if she wanted. He may have been the prize for a brief moment of her young, adult life, but he would forever be her punishment.

Luke was a loser. They deserved each other.

“Next,” the checker called out after the coupon lady pushed her overflowing cart toward the automatic doors. I hoisted my things onto the counter. “How are we doing this afternoon?”

“I’m doing absolutely fantastic,” I replied with a huge smile. I meant it. I meant every word. “How about you?”

“I’m doing great, ma’am,” she said as she scanned my items.

I turned to look at Sara one last time, her eyes avoiding mine still, before paying and getting the hell out of there.

It wasn’t until I reached my car, when I realized I’d be bumping into her much sooner than I’d hoped.

“Maisie, wait!” she called after me.

“What, Sara?” I couldn’t have hit the annoyance in my town if I’d tried.

She ran-walked toward me, slightly out of breath once she’d arrived. The lettering on the pregnancy test shone straight through the translucent plastic bag in her hand.

“I take it congratulations are in order?” I said with rampant sarcasm. Her eyes misted a little, though I couldn’t tell if it was because she was sorry for what she’d done or scared shitless to possibly be pregnant with Luke’s child. I jingled my keys in my hand. “I really need to get going.”

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” she said, her bottom lip trembling slightly. “I never meant for you to get hurt, and I never meant for it to go this far.”

“Sara, really, you don’t have to say anything. I’m over it. I’ve moved on. I assure you.”

“But how can you move on so fast? You were with him for, like, five years.”

My mind flashed back to our high school days. Sara had a bit of a reputation for going after guys who were taken. She never came out and said it, but I think she liked the thrill and the chase and the challenge. She could have any guy she wanted, but those guys, the ones who were taken, were the hardest to get. I just never thought she’d go after my guy.

“Luke’s an easy guy to walk away from I guess.” I shrugged unapologetically. “What’s that saying? One girl’s trash is another girl’s treasure?”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to reveal a text from Sawyer.

“I have to get going,” I said, never taking my eyes off his message. “Good luck with…that.” I pointed to the pregnancy test in her bag before hopping back into my car.

Perhaps most people would’ve been upset, but I couldn’t be. Luke and Sara deserved each other, and I had more important things to focus on. Like Sawyer. And moving. And living the life I was meant to live.

In a twisted sort of way, everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to happen. I shuddered to think of living a life of unfulfilled mediocrity as Luke’s wife.