Priceless: Contemporary Billionaire Romance Novel (13 page)

Maribel exhaled and raised her arms
above her head, nodding to herself. 
Yes, yes, yes, yes…she would try…how
could she not try
.  Miles took her cue and knelt before her, raising her
feet—one at a time—onto the strong arcs of his bare shoulders before shifting
her whole pelvis deeper into his mouth. 
God, yessssssss…
Maribel dug in
her heels and arched her back.  He spread open her cheeks and savored her. 
God,
yessssssssssss
…. She fell into a daze and gazed over at the moon.  It
illuminated their ghosted reflection in the panoramic glass.  It was as if she
was watching someone else—someone prettier, sexier, naughtier—submitting to the
dizzying sensation of pure sexual domination.  She could feel him, fully consuming
her now—licking her clit with his tongue, then lapping her wetness.  Her whole
body quaked with the palpitating rhythm of his stimulation.  Suddenly, she
sighed and released control of every aspect of her femininity with a primal
heave.  Miles secured her backside into his hands and delve deeper with one
final attempt to unleash her.  She shuttered with convulsions, unlocking her
climax in a way that made her whole body spasm with violence before wilting
with an overwhelming sense of relaxation. 

Miles enveloped her body into his
chest and guided them over to the broad leather cushions of his couch, burying
his own naked body over her.  Miles blazed on the gas fire place and massaged
Maribel’s body with warmth—her breasts, nipples, and backside chilled from
their exposure to the drafty air and the cool surface of the island.  Maribel
savored the heat from the fire place and noted how the reflection of its flames
softened Miles’ gaze upon her.  He lowered his lips and kissed her mouth with
affection.  His tenderness disarmed her—it always disarmed her—and she exhaled with
her confession.

“I’m always so reluctant to give
myself over to you.”  The sound of the crackling fire comforted her with a
sense of peace and security. “But then, you always find a way to make me feel
like I can’t resist.”

“Why are you so reluctant?” he
asked, his chin nestled over her shoulder, his body draped over her like a
blanket.

“Because I’m afraid of what happens
when you decide I’m not as special as you think I am.”

Miles suddenly pushed himself up
onto one hand and peered down at her, the reflection of the fire blazing in his
eyes.  “Maribel,” he said with determination, “every day we spend together, I
find out you’re more special than I had ever imagined.”

Maribel rolled her eyes.  He
laughed.  “What, you don’t believe me?”

Maribel could feel his warm limp
cock against her thigh.  She nudged him away, playful.  “No, I don’t.”

“Maribel,” he suddenly grew
serious.  “This isn’t just about sex for me.”

Maribel shifted away her gaze and
towards the fire.  He finally had named her most intense fear, but she wasn’t
ready to admit it to him. 
Even if it was just about sex
, she thought,
she
didn’t mind because they had been the most intimate, passionate three days of
her life. 
She just didn’t want it to end before she had a chance to know—somehow—if
she was truly different to him than all the others.

“Maribel,” Miles repeated with firm
command, “this isn’t just about sex for me.”

“But we barely know each other…”
she whispered, then shifted her eyes out through the panoramic windows into the
black abyss of the open night.

“No, you’re wrong,” Miles
countered, rotating his body deeper into her own.  “I’ve been watching you
every day since you were sixteen, every day since I helped you get your job
interview.  I fully expected you to fail, so I kept my eye on you—every day. 
In the beginning, I expected you to show up late to work, call in sick, or
simply quit—pushed out by the demands of working retail.  I was convinced that
I had made a mistake in appeasing my aunt and recommending you as a new
hire—convinced that somehow it would come back to bite me.  So every afternoon,
I came down from my office, just to prove to myself that I was right.  You know
what…?  It was you who proved me wrong because you never missed once.”

“I didn’t realize you had even
bothered to notice me.”

Maribel looked up at Miles.  His
eyes were seized on her, and he held her in his arms like she was his most
prized possession.

“And I didn’t realize how
determined you were,” Miles confirmed.  “That was the first thing I learned
about you.”

Maribel listened to his confession
and settled into his embrace.  Her mind drifted back ten years to those early
days.

 “I wasn’t sure that I was going to
be able to do it all—work and continue going to school every day.  But I knew I
didn’t have a choice, and I was so grateful to be able to make enough money to
take care of my mom and pay our rent. And yes, I was terrified of being late. 
I actually got permission from my high school to leave early every day, just to
make sure I could get to work early.  I knew from my mother that I was taking
over Mrs. Strauss’s position as a sales clerk.  I knew she had been there for
forty-five years, and that everyone knew and loved her, so I had to make a good
first impression. But I didn’t know you were watching me.”

 “I was watching you—carefully. 
Every afternoon, when I boarded the elevator, I told myself that I was checking
on you to appease my own pride, but really, I was checking on you because I had
become interested in you.  You were so young, but already mature beyond your
years.  I remember overhearing you greet the customers with such politeness—‘
Is
there anything I can help you with today
?’” Miles mimicked Maribel’s soft
voice and earnest care.  They both laughed with ease.  Maribel attempted to
nudge Miles away, but he refused to let her go.  

“And that was the next thing I
learned about you—your understated sense of composure and grace, which was
intriguing to me because I was so different.  I was just a self-centered,
arrogant, twenty-something bachelor who didn’t care about anyone or anything
other than making money and proving to the world that I was a force to be
contended with, just because I had bought a bunch of downtown properties, and
now I needed to be answered to.”

 “You did seem a bit arrogant,”
Maribel betrayed with a giggle.  “You used to stop in the middle of the Grand
Lobby and finish your business calls before heading into the elevators.  I
remember I could hear you talking sometimes—all the way in the ceramics
section.”

Miles flopped his head into
Maribel’s chest with shame; she giggled and stroked his hair. “Don’t worry. 
All the sales girls loved it.  You were quite the topic of conversation during our
lunch breaks.”   

“But you knew better, I’m sure.”

Maribel shrugged. “I was too young
and too busy to involve myself with those kinds of things.”

 “Yes, I used to always see you on
Saturday night and wondered why you weren’t out with your friends or boyfriends. 
Instead, you were always there at the department store, folding underwear and
arranging socks. You didn’t have much of a chance to be young and carefree, did
you?”

Maribel fell silent.  There was no
sense in feeling sorry for herself then—or now.  She turned the question back
onto him.

“What were you doing at the
department store on a Saturday night?  Didn’t you have better things to do?”

The sharp contour of Miles’ chin
shifted in the darkness, and she felt his heavy legs and warm chest releasing
his weight from her body.

“Keenly perceptive.” Miles leaned
back on his bicep.  “I’ve come to learn that about you as well.” He suddenly
grew pensive, gauging the emotional gravity of what he was about to say to
her. 

“Those months after my aunt passed
away, I often would stay at the office for hours after it got dark, usually
drinking and feeling sorry for myself.  My mother died when I was young.  My
father and I hadn’t spoken in years.  My aunt was the only person in my life
who knew the real me, knew I was just a lonely, insecure kid with too much
money and too little sense to know what to do with it.  So those days after she
passed were some of the hardest days of my life.  That’s why every night, I’d
come down from my office and walk through the department store, just to kill
time so I wouldn’t have to come here—alone. And it became a routine for me—a
comfort—because I knew I would have the chance to see you, and somehow, that
made everything a little more bearable.”

“I had no idea…” Maribel’s voice
faded as she watched the light from the fire place kindle emotions deep in his
eyes.  She didn’t realize about his own mother, or the acute pain he endured
with the passing of his aunt.  She suddenly felt the desire to reveal something
painful of her own.  “I remember how one night, you made an effort to come up
to me and acknowledged my mother’s death.  I was careful not to ever tell
anyone about her illness because I was scared that someone would report me to
the State.  So when she finally passed, the grief and suffering was like a secret
that I was forced to endure—alone.  But I remember how you came up to me and
touched me shoulder.  ‘
Maribel, I’m sorry to hear about your mother.  She
was a special woman who cared about you very much’
—you said to me before
striding away. I barely knew who you were, or that your aunt and my mother had
been sick together, but still, those few simple words of condolences meant the
world to me.”

“I didn’t realize you remembered
that.”

“How could I ever forget it?”

Their eyes locked.  He suddenly
kissed her—longer, deeper, more penetrating than ever before.  It was more than
just a kiss, and they both felt it. 

“See?  How can I resist you when
you kiss me like that?” Maribel laughed through the darkness.  He was invading
her heart and she knew there would be consequences.  “What if it’s all too far,
too fast?”

“Three days of sex doesn’t make a
relationship, Maribel. I won’t deny that because I know it’s true.  I’ve had
more casual relationships than I care to admit, and that’s how I know that this
is different for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s usually just a game to
me—a game of power and control, a way to prove that I can have anything I want—even
things money can’t buy.  But I’ve never pursued the sexy receptionists, or the
pretty assistants, or flirtatious wives whose husbands I wanted to fuck over in
a business deal.  I’ve always pursued the bitchiest woman—the hardass M&A
lawyers, the uptight accountants, even the catty clients who claimed to hate
Chicago and my buildings because they didn’t have the prestige and glamour of a
Park Avenue address—just to see if I could get them to relinquish their ice
queen personas by getting them flat on their backs.”

There was a meditative moment
between them, as if they were both absorbing the gravity of his confession. 
Maribel sensed that Miles wanted to tell her more, so she fell silent and let
the sound of the crackling fire help gather his thoughts.

“But it’s been a shameful way to
waste my time—and theirs—because it brought me nothing but misery, and taught
me nothing except that I’ve been acting like a narcissistic bastard who only cares
about reaffirming his own shallow ego.  So I understand your concerns, and why
you think this might just be all about sex for me.  But nothing could be more
different because you couldn’t be more different.”

 “Is that how you know Gillian?”

Maribel was careful with her
question; she heard caution in her own voice, as if she wanted to know, but was
afraid to hear the answer.  She felt the hesitation in Miles’ answer.

“Gillian is one of those
relationships that I regret…yes,” he finally confirmed.

“And now?”

“And now, she has the power and the
conviction to try to destroy as many of my business deals as she can.  And I’m
fine with that.  I’m fine with the monetary loss—even if it’s millions of
dollars—if it means regaining a bit of my soul.  But I’m not fine with her
trying to destroy the trust between me and you.”

Maribel felt his strong body,
towing her back into him.

“What we have between us is
something that I can’t explain and don’t want to understand.  I only want to
protect it because it’s the only thing making me feel like I’m happy to be
alive.  And I can’t change the past.  I can’t change all the mistakes I’ve
made, but I can strive to be a better man—now and in the future.  And I can
strive to be a better man with someone like you by my side.”

Maribel sensed that he was waiting, waiting
for her to meet his eyes to prove how much he was willing to give to her—how
much of himself he was willing to share.  When she finally found the courage to
look at him, he was staring at her with such intensity that it dissolved all
her insecurities about his motives and intentions.  They had stripped
themselves physically and emotionally bare, and now there was nothing left
between them except the inevitability of losing themselves completely to the
other.  Miles tongued her deeply, then lapped his lips over her belly, breasts,
and tits.  He did not seek to overpower her, like so many times before.  This
time was different.  He rose up to his knees, permitting her to stroke his
erection.  Miles rarely granted her the opportunity to touch him, but now, he
exhaled into her palm and released a sigh that revealed he was making himself
vulnerable to her.  He cradled her head and kissed Maribel again—and again—and
again.  Then, he stopped and peered into her eyes, and confessed from his heart
what his gaze had already requested.