The Billionaire Boyfriend Trap (11 page)

He was in no hurry to end the day and send me
home, but by mid-afternoon, I thought it best to check-in with
Becky.

"Hey," I said when she picked up the phone.
"You okay?"

"Sure." The smile in her voice was
unmistakable. "You having a good time?"

"Yeah," I said. Hell, yes. Maybe too good. "I
might not come home until later."

"Tomorrow," Reece murmured, snuggling up
behind me. "Tell her you're not going home until tomorrow.
Late."

"Is that him?" Becky asked. "What's his
name?"

"I, uh, have to go," I said quickly. "Call me
if you need anything." I hung up before she could ask any more
awkward questions.

Reece rolled me onto my stomach and covered
my body with his own. He stretched my hands above my head and
enclosed them in one of his big ones, but not so hard that I
couldn't escape. Not that I wanted to. I wanted to see what he
would do to me, wanted to feel him inside me. He swept my hair
aside with his other hand and nuzzled my neck. It tickled and I
began to giggle, but all that was forgotten when he parted my legs
with his knee. I raised my ass, inviting, and he slipped his thick
length into me from behind.

He groaned. "God, you feel goooood, Cleo. I
love making love to you. I love being inside you, feeling you
tremble with desire for me, feeling your heat. I love hearing my
name on your lips, smelling your scent when you come."

I'd not thought a few murmured words could
drive me to higher and higher heights, but I was so turned on, he
could have done anything to me and I wouldn't have cared.

But he didn't take advantage. He cherished
me. He put my pleasure before his, always, and asked before he
tried something new. I felt like an equal partner and in control of
the situation at every turn.

It didn't make sense. I had expected a
demanding, controlling Reece Kavanagh in bed because that's what he
was like out of it. But he was the perfect gentleman.

It made me feel even more guilty.

"Reece," I said when we once more lay in each
other's arms, spent and sated. "I can't stay here all today and
tomorrow."

He propped his head up on his hand and
trailed a fingertip along the curve of my back. "Why not?"

"For one thing, I haven't got any
clothes."

He kissed my shoulder. "You don't need
clothes."

"And for another, I have to take care of my
sister."

"Isn't she old enough to take care of
herself?"

"Ye-es, but she's immature. I don't like
leaving her for long on her own."

He pulled back and leveled his gaze with
mine. "Why not? Is she okay?"

I swallowed heavily. I didn't want to tell
him about her past health problems. She may be in remission, but
she became tired a lot and I worried about her. But telling him
that would only make me more vulnerable to him. Bottom line, I
couldn't let him get too close. Reece Kavanagh was not long-term.
Sex with him I could manage; intimacy I couldn't.

"Of course she's okay," I said, maybe a bit
too cheerfully. "Why wouldn't she be?"

His hand stilled on my back. "I'll take you
home whenever you want."

"It's okay. I'll catch a cab."

"No, I'll drive you."

"Reece, I'm a big girl. I can catch a
cab."

He said nothing as he climbed off the bed and
picked up his phone. It had been ringing all day, but he'd not
answered it.

"I didn't mean right now," I said, sitting
up. "I can stay longer."

He nodded without looking up from the
display. "Excuse me, Cleo, I better return some of these." He
padded barefoot out of the bedroom.

I sighed. Damn. I'd just ruined the moment
and offended him by insisting on catching a cab.
Good going,
Cleo.

His voice seemed far away, but I could just
make out what he said. Most of the calls sounded work related, but
one caught my attention. He greeted his brother, Ash, but his tone
became gruff and then he must have walked further away because I
couldn't hear him anymore. Instinct had me getting to my feet and
going in search of him. I found him in what appeared to be a study,
his broad, naked back to the door and me. I stood near the door,
but out of sight.

"None of your damned business," he said into
the phone. "I don't want to talk about it." He paused, listening,
then added, "I don't want to talk about that either." More silence,
followed by, "Tell Mom and Dad it's not about them. It's not about
any of you. I'm in the business of making money for my
stakeholders, and my stakeholders want to build a hotel on the
site. The location is perfect." He listened again then sighed.
"Yeah, I know she is," he said in response to something Ash said.
"But she can get another studio elsewhere. She's not my
responsibility." More silence, and then Reece's shout made my heart
leap into my throat. "You fucking leave her out of this! Not
everything is about her. Do you hear me? You think everything I do
is shaped by what happened, but listen to me, little brother.
Sometimes it's just about the money."

He must have hung up because something in the
room smashed. The phone? I quickly ran back to the bedroom and lay
on the bed. He did not return and the next moment I heard water
running from the bathroom. I checked the study again and sure
enough, the phone lay in pieces on the floor. Something Ash said
had made Reece furious. Something to do with a woman and an
incident Reece was involved in. Had they been discussing
Cassie?

I returned to the bedroom and looked through
his closet for a robe. It was best I left if he was in a bad mood,
but I needed a shower first. The closet was as big as my bedroom
and half empty. It seemed a shame to waste such a huge space on a
man.

"Hey," came Reece's soft voice from the
doorway behind me. I spun round, unsure of what reaction I'd get,
but there was no evidence of his earlier anger. He was all crooked
smiles and smoky eyes again.

"I was looking for something to wear," I
said.

"Take any shirt you want. Later. For now, I
want you to come with me." He took my hand and led me into the
bathroom.

The scent of blossoms drifted to me before we
entered. The water was still running and I realized it wasn't the
shower but the Jacuzzi.

"I thought we could have a soak," he said,
hands on my shoulders, his chest at my back.

I tipped my head up to look up at him. "How
did you know my muscles needed it?"

He kissed my mouth. "Just a guess."

The man had an incredible ability to leave
one emotion behind and replace it with another. Or was it a mask,
not a replacement? Was he still furious at his brother on the
inside, but determined not to let me see it?

Or was he determined to forget? Forget the
conversation, forget the mysterious woman and whatever had happened
between them?

We climbed in and I lay back against his
chest, my head on his shoulder. He gently massaged my thighs
beneath the water, but did not turn it into something sexual. I
closed my eyes and sighed.

"Like that?" he murmured in my ear.

I nodded. "It's Heaven. Thank you, Reece. I
was afraid that I offended you about the cab."

I felt him shrug. "You don't want me to meet
your sister yet," he said. "It's okay. I get that."

"You've already met her."

"Not as your…"

"Boss?" Clearly he was having trouble
classifying what we were to one another now, just as much as I
was.

"Boss," he agreed.

"We'll see where this takes us. There's no
rush. Besides," I ventured, "you don't seem too eager to discuss
your family either."

"You met Ash."

"Not because you introduced us."

"I would have."

I narrowed my gaze at him.

"Eventually," he admitted, looking away.

"What about the others? Ash told me about
Blake and the younger ones. He called them hell raisers."

He smiled. "They are. One can charm any woman
into bed and the other is just wild. Keeping them both out of
trouble is a full-time job for our parents."

"That's the first time you've really spoken
about your brothers," I said. "Tell me about them."

He moved his hands to my breasts, cupping
them, massaging his thumbs over the nipples until they were tender,
tingling points. "There's nothing to tell."

I lifted my arms and wrapped them behind his
head, encouraging him to keep going. "What about your parents?" I
whispered, my mind already having left the conversation. "You
hardly speak about them either."

"You want to discuss my parents now?"

"Hmmm, maybe later. It seems you successfully
avoided the topic with your magic fingers."

"Magic, huh?" He tweaked both nipples,
sending a jolt straight to my vagina.

I bucked and moaned. "Touch me here," I said,
guiding his hand down.

"You do it. I want to watch you make yourself
come."

My face and throat heated. I'd never done
that in front of anyone before. I pulled my hand away from my heat,
but he caught it again.

"It's alright, Sweetheart. Don't be
embarrassed. Everything you do is beautiful and amazing, including
that." He directed my hand lower, lower until it was in position.
"Put your finger in." He held my hand beneath his, and I inched my
middle finger inside my folds. "Feel how hot you are," he murmured,
his voice like honey on my skin. "Feel how magical
your
fingers are. Now rub yourself for me."

I didn't think I could do it with an
audience, but after a few moments, I didn't care. I
wanted
him to see me. I rubbed as he filled his hands with my breasts and
teased my nipples to gloriously hard, achy points. I welcomed the
familiar heat as it swamped me and cried out his name as my own
fingers sent me over the edge.

I lay in his arms, my body a languid puddle.
Damn, he was clever. He had successfully avoided talking about his
parents and I was none the wiser about his family.

***

We spent the rest of the day and much of the
evening together, but I returned home late Saturday night in a cab
that he called for me. He seemed to have come to terms with the
fact that I wasn't ready for Becky to know he and I were sleeping
together, perhaps because he wasn't ready to introduce me to his
family either. It made for a weird ending to a wonderful weekend.
The pleasure fest had an undercurrent of sweetness to it that had
taken me by surprise and sucked me into Reece's spell. Yet the
distance between us was as wide as ever. It was very apparent that
he didn't want me to be a part of his life outside his bedroom and
office.

And I was fine with that. Totally.
Absolutely. Fine. I did not want to get any closer to the man whose
project I was supposed to ruin. The small hole that had opened up
in my heart would heal once this was all over and I'd had a chance
to move on and forget about him.

Becky greeted me with giggles and questions,
which I managed to avoid giving full answers to. We spent Sunday
together doing housework and lazing around until she needed to
paint something and I couldn't stay away from work any longer. I
was acutely aware that now I had Reece's attention, completing my
job for Ellen wouldn't take too much longer.

So this was how the trappers who slept with
their targets felt. Powerful, in control. But how did they close
their hearts? How did they cope with the gut-churning anxiety and
the horrible sense of foreboding? It shadowed me all Sunday. I
could hardly eat a thing and I slept badly that night, thinking
through everything that could go wrong. Thinking how much I didn't
want them to go wrong.

Stupid, stupid girl. I'd done the one thing
I'd vowed not to do. I'd fallen for Reece.

***

The fresh flowers on my desk were a nice
surprise and a good sign that he wasn't going to brush me off at
the office. While my computer booted up, I knocked on his door and
entered. He greeted me with an infamous Reece Kavanagh smile, all
crooked sexiness.

"Hey," he said, coming around the desk. He
clasped my face in his hands. His thumbs brushed along my cheeks
with aching tenderness. "I missed you yesterday."

"I missed you too." We kissed passionately,
like we hadn't seen each other for months. When we broke apart, I
realized the door was still open. Anyone stepping out of the
elevator would have seen.

He followed my gaze beneath hooded lids. "You
don't want anyone at the office to know about us," he said
flatly.

I tried to gauge his thoughts but it was
impossible to tell what he was thinking behind the cool façade.
Thankfully the phone at my desk rang, saving me from answering.

We worked apart for the rest of the morning,
only seeing each other in meetings. At noon, he came up to my desk
and asked me to go to lunch with him. I refused.

He crossed his arms over his chest and
frowned. "I let it go Friday night," he said, his words carefully
measured. "It was a crazy environment and the paparazzi were
waiting. But now…Cleo, is there something wrong with me that you
don't want to be seen with me in public?"

"No. Of course not."

"Am I not up to your usual standard of
date?"

I gave him a withering glare and he gave me
an innocent shrug back. "Yeah, I always go out with hot
trillionaires, and you're just a billionaire, so…"

"Hey," he said, "I'm working on it."

I threw my pencil at him and he caught it,
smiling, although there was something uncertain behind it.

"We spent one night together," I told him.
"Let's just cool it and see where this is going before we let
everyone know. Okay?"

He bowed his head, nodded. "If you won't go
out to lunch with me, it seems I have to get lunch brought in."

He returned to his office and shut the door.
Thirty minutes later, a caterer arrived with a basket of food for
Reece. I buzzed him and he came out.