The Billionaire Shifter's Curvy Match (Billionaire Shifters Club #1) (11 page)

“You,” was all she could say. His chest bounced as he laughed soundlessly, his free hand entangled in her wet hair. With his foot, he popped up the tub drain, and the gurgle of disappearing water finally made her pull back and look him in the eye.

“What’s that for—” But his soft, sweet kiss was the only answer she would get. Covered in bubble foam and rose petals, surrounded by candlelight she only now noticed, she was infused with a flushed heat. Lilah nudged her hips just so as the water disappeared and she lowered herself onto his thick, demanding cock, her body crying out for more.

More.

More
, he agreed without moving his lips.

Gavin’s hands grasped her hips with such power she flinched for a moment. The pain of his fingers digging in was balanced by the skillful movement of his thighs and hips, intensity pouring from his barely restrained need. Soon Lilah found herself completely transported to a place where flesh was words. Where sound was sex. Where touch was sound.

None of it made sense except for the forbidden reality that she was completely his.

In every way possible.

“Lilah,” he cried out as his climax hit hard, pouring into her like hot lava, her fingernails digging deep grooves into his back, her heart slamming so hard against her breast she feared it would fall out. “You are the only one, Lilah!” Gavin gasped as he thrust into her, up and hard, as if making an eternal mark inside her that no one else could see.

But that branded her his—and only his.

She felt it as surely as if it were burned into her skin.

A
tray
of drinks in her hand, Lilah paused at a tall window between the bar and the guests in the great hall to admire the view. The ranch perched on the edge of a lake, surrounded by forest, jagged mountain peaks, and the famously big sky. The dome of blue stretched higher and wider than she’d ever seen.

She sighed, feeling a rush of giddiness. How had she ended up here in this beautiful, heavenly place? With a fun job that paid incredibly well, in the company of a man whose every word and touch made her happy? Who made love to her every free moment and treated her like a goddess?

It was almost too much.

Not quite, but almost.

“Better get back to work,” a low voice said behind her. “Don’t want to displease the management.”

She spun around and saw Derry, who promptly relieved her of two of the full champagne flutes on her tray. Gavin’s brother continued to flirt with her but never crossed the line. Smiling, she moved the tray out of his reach before he could gulp his two down—they were like thimbles in those giant mitts of his—and steal two more.

“Yes, sir,” she said, bowing her head in mock obeisance. Surely he knew what she and Gavin had been up to. Before he could say anything else, and the wicked twinkle in his eye suggested he was about to, she hurried across the vaulted great room that looked like a log cabin on steroids. Really expensive, luxurious steroids.

Polished wood gleamed on the walls, floors, and ceiling. Two-story windows peaked in the center of the room, framing the lake and mountain view. Most of the guests were gathered there, as if trying to compete with the landscape for attention. Most were men, a few were women, but they all smelled like money, even in casual clothes.

She saw Mason Webb too late to avoid him. He stepped directly in front of her, patting her down with his eyes before helping himself to the champagne. “What a pleasure to see you again.” He licked the rim of the glass before tipping it back to swallow.

Skin crawling, Lilah flashed him a quick, professional smile, avoiding eye contact, scanning the crowd. Dozens of other guests were rightfully thirsty as well, a reasonable excuse to get the hell away from him as soon as possible.

“I didn’t realize the girls from the Plat could be rented out,” he continued, eyeing her over the rim of his glass. His tongue made another appearance. “How much do you charge?”

If she clenched her teeth any harder, she would crack a tooth. What could she say that didn’t sound like an invitation? “I’m here as a representative of the Platinum Club, as are the other servers.” She managed to hold her smile before turning away on her newest pair of heels that matched the emerald green of the forest outside.

What a slimeball. Gavin had apologized that Webb was loathsome but useful, and she had assured him she understood. Didn’t mean she was going to be any nicer to him than she had to. Striding around a cluster of multi-thousand-dollar suits, she avoided the toad, dispensed the rest of her drinks, and strode back to Carl for more.

He had an unusual scowl on his face as he poured drinks behind the bar, a gleaming plank of cedar atop a handcrafted wall of stone. Like the rest of the buildings on the ranch, it captured the rough beauty of the outdoors around them. The friendly bartender, however, wasn’t enjoying any of it. He’d warned her during the plane ride that he was a city boy, hated wide-open spaces and fresh air, and would be counting the minutes before they returned to Boston.

“I saw a bear this morning,” he said with a shudder. “Swear to God.”

She shoved her tray to him, thrilled. “Cool! Where?”

“Where do you mean, ‘where’? Outside.” He said it as if it were a disease.

“Where outside?”

He scowled deeper. “Near the spa. I went out there this morning. Won’t make that mistake again.” Eva had told the staff that they could enjoy all of the facilities when they weren’t on duty. A perk for which we could thank Mr. Stanton, she’d added, giving Lilah a glance that suggested she knew everything.

But Lilah wasn’t taking any chances about losing her job. At least at this reception, she was going to stay as far away from Gavin as she could. If she came within ten feet of him, the glow would show all over her face. Hell, her erect nipples would give her away.

Carl hadn’t said it outright, but he must’ve guessed. His eyes saw everything. She’d slept in her own bedroom last night, but only because she and Gavin had exhausted themselves for days leading up to the flight west. She shivered at the thought of joining him tonight in his private house here at the ranch, wherever it was. The property was immense.

“I heard the wolves, too,” Carl said. “Howling like animals.”

She laughed. “They
are
animals.”

He stared at her. “Yeah, well,” he said after a second, dropping a few ice cubes into a glass, “they make me nervous.”

A strangely awkward silence stretched between them, as if he’d said something inappropriate. But of course a bartender from Boston wouldn’t want to hang out with a pack of wolves in rural Montana. Who could blame him for that?

Leaning over the bar, she lowered her voice and said, “I’m more afraid of the wolves inside the house.” She gestured at the crowd across the huge room. “That guy Webb is here.”

Carl gave her a weird, unreadable look and opened his mouth as if to say something. His eyes glanced over her shoulder, and his lips snapped shut.

“What?” Lilah asked. How weird.

He shook his head slightly. “Yeah, I know. I tried to water down his bourbon, but he complained to Eva, who told me to give him what he wants, at least for now.” Carl set the drink on the bar. “That’s for him, by the way. I’ll give it to Nina.” Nina was one of the other waitresses with them at the ranch.

“Nina’s busy. I can do it.”

“No way.” Shaking his head, he lifted the drink out of her reach. “Nina’s not his type. You are. Besides, you’re doing the champagne. This crowd demands a constant supply of Krug.” He pushed a tray of bubbling flutes at her.

Tempted to argue about Nina dealing with Webb, she hesitated for a second before lifting the tray and returning to the crowd. It had grown while she was at the bar, and her tray was emptied in seconds. She hurried back to Carl, relieved to see two more waitresses had arrived, and began the dance of keeping the guests hydrated and happy.

When she was returning with her tenth empty tray, she almost ran into a man standing near the windows by himself, so still and quiet she hadn’t noticed him. Luckily, with the tray empty, the damage was minimal; she only crushed his toes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she gasped, stumbling against him.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders and righted her firmly on the floor. “My apologies. I was lurking.”

“You weren’t lurking, you were standing,” she said. “And I walked right into you.”

“Understandable when a person has the ill breeding to lurk about like a statue.”

The British accent reminded her of a certain sexy someone. She studied him with fresh interest, curiosity blooming. Could this be one of the Stanton “brood”? He didn’t look much like Gavin. He was about his height but looked broader, although that could be because of his loose sweatshirt. And his light-brown hair was windblown, flopping into his hazel eyes.

A surprisingly thick beard, just a little too long to be considered neat, covered the lower half of his face. Jess had called that a “lumbersexual” look, and it made Lilah wonder what Gavin would look like with a beard.

And how a beard would feel against her inner thighs.

“Is there a problem here?” Gavin appeared at her shoulder, scowling at the man who was still holding her upright, making her thighs tingle with the surprise.

“I’ve caused this young lady the distress of barreling into me.” The man released her, then put a large, calloused hand on his chest. “For which I’ve apologized, dear brother.”

Aha! Another brother!

“Lurking again, were you, Edward?” Gavin asked.

“Indeed I was.” Edward gave Lilah a sad smile. “I was trying to figure out how to cross the room without undue notice being paid to me. You have quite a soirée underway, I noticed.”

Gavin snorted. “All these years of fighting fires in the wilderness seem to have made you exceptionally observant.”

“Guilty again.” Edward was studying her more carefully now than he had been a moment earlier. “Will my brother be introducing us, I wonder?” he asked her.

“Like hell I will,” Gavin said.

Lilah bit her lip, stifling a laugh, not wanting to look too friendly with the host or his brother. “Hi Edward, I’m Lilah.” Rather than offer her hand, she showed him her empty tray. “I should get back to work. Sorry again about your foot.”

“Its distress was minimal, I assure you,” Edward said.

“Just wait.” Gavin’s voice was gravel.

Edward’s eyebrows went up. “I’m leaving, don’t worry. You know I hate parties.”

“There’s a door right behind you,” Gavin said.

The two men stared at each other. Finally, Edward smiled. “So there is.” With a nod of his head, which sent another wild strand of hair into his eyes, he walked away.

She stayed at Gavin’s side, unable to muster the strength to leave it. It had been over fifteen hours since he’d held her, kissed her, fucked her...

“It’s nice to meet your family,” she whispered.

Edward, over ten feet away under a beamed archway, stopped and turned. “And it was a pleasure to meet you, Lilah Murphy.”

Blushing, she said, “You too,” just before he disappeared around a corner.

Gavin must’ve told his family about her. Why else would Edward know her last name? She was just one of the waitresses. Except—and here her heart squeezed—here was proof she wasn’t. Not to Gavin, not to his family.

Her body ached for him. She had to put some distance between them and return to work before she embarrassed herself or the reputation of the Platinum Club. “I’ll let you return to your guests now, Mr. Stanton.”

“To hell with the guests.” He took a step closer, lowering his voice. “There’s been a change of plans.”

Heart skipping a beat, she licked her lips. “There has?”

Regarding her under lowered brows, he nodded. “I’ve just decided I’m going to make you come right there on the bar. You’ll sit up there, drinking champagne, spread open for me, your legs over my shoulders, that dress hitched up around your hips so I get at every inch of your luscious, delicious pussy.”

Her mouth went dry as all the moisture in her body pooled between her legs. “Oh,” she breathed, the bar and the guests and the champagne forgotten in a haze of lust.

“And when you come, you’ll beg for more. And if you’re very, very loud, and very, very good, I’ll give you what you need.”

She held her breath and nodded. The tray hung at her side, loose in her grasp.

“You’ve never sucked my cock, have you, darling?”

Ohgodohgod. There were several men in suits standing ten feet away, drinking but not talking. If Gavin raised his voice just a little, they’d hear him. That should’ve sobered her, but instead it aroused her more.

“No,” she whispered, swaying on her feet.

“You’ll look so beautiful with your lips encircling my cock, Lilah,” he continued. “You’ll have to pull back that beautiful hair so I can see your face when I let you suck me.”

Whatever shred of control she had was turning to dust. She clenched her internal muscles, burning for him. “Whatever you like, Mr. Stanton.”

His eyes turned black. An infinitesimal smile curved one corner of his mouth. “And if I told you to walk over to the bar right now, climb on top, and spread your legs? You would obey me even with all these people here?”

She wasn’t going to lie. “Yes, Mr. Stanton.” She would. At that moment, she’d do anything for him.

“Oh, my darling,” he began, reaching for her.

But just then a woman’s arm in a blue silk blouse slid between them and caught Gavin’s shoulder, spinning him aside.

“There you are,” Eva said, hauling him another foot away from Lilah. “Your guests have been looking for you. Or rather, looking
at
you.”

The spell was broken. Lilah, suddenly aware of what she’d almost done, took an uneven step backward, lifted her drink tray to her chest like armor, and fled to the bar. Her legs wobbled, and for once, she regretted the elegant heels on her feet.

Come to my house
, a low voice said in her mind.

She gripped the polished wood counter on the bar, trying to stay upright.
Now?

Carl took the tray from her. “Shift’s over, Lilah,” he said. “Looks like you need a break.”

Now.

* * *

“
I
realize
,” Eva said in a low, dulcet tone that was sugar and spice dipped in whisky and wrapped around an iron rod, “that you enjoy partaking in all of the services the club offers, but you’re being too obvious, Gavin.”

“Too—?” He heard her, but his eyes tracked Lilah’s ass as it begged for his attention, sashaying out of the room and heading off with Carl toward the commercial kitchen wing.

“Dear God, Gav, why don’t you just fuck her in front of the fireplace with hundreds of guests watching?” Eva hissed, yanking hard on his arm. Few women in his life had permission to treat him this way.