The Billionaire's Call Girl: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (14 page)

The door opened and Mariah walked in. She looked tired and Jake felt bad for her.

"I'm so sorry, Mariah." he said, reaching out to her and pulling her into a hug. He held her close, comforting her, and then they turned and looked at their boy, sleeping there.

"I have some news," he said softly.

She turned and looked up at him. "I do, too," she answered.

Jake, knowing that his would be far worse, shrugged. "Why don't you go first?"

"I told Felicia everything. I mean... everything about us and how she came to be connected to us. No more secrets with her." She lowered her chin and looked seriously up at him. "I told her that you're in love with her."

Jake's heart seized and flipped over all at once. "You did what? You didn't... I..." he paused and drew a breath, running his hand through his hair and staring at her with wide eyes. "Did she believe you?"

Mariah nodded. "Of course she believed me. Jake, you are in love with her, and you need to tell her. You can't keep it a secret. Your relationship with her is changing. I am going to be honest with you; I don't think it can continue like it has for much longer. You must know that. You must realize it." She tilted her chin and crossed her arms in front of her.

Jake shook his head and sighed. "I don't know how I feel about her," he breathed deeply.

Mariah's chin lifted in defiance. "Yes, you do! Stop ignoring it and pretending that it isn't what it is! Just admit it to her, already!"

He turned and looked at her. "I can't! What if it gets out somehow? I just can't take the risk that our lifestyle could be found out! What about the business? What about us? What about poor Christopher here? The doctor and nurse just came in here and told me that I'm not his biological father. They ran tests when I was going to donate blood for him and it came back showing the fact that he's not mine.

I had to fake shock and ask for some time alone, but now they know. Those two know without a doubt that he's not mine. No one else knows that! Just think what that kind of information would do to our lives and our business!"

He shook his head adamantly. "No, I can't tell her. I just can't take the risk. Everything is fine like it is. Things are humming along just fine, and there is no reason to rock the boat."

Mariah put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed. "Telling her you love her isn't going to rock any boats; it's the truth and it will be better for both of you if it's out in the open! Besides, she knows, now!"

Jake drew a deep breath and sighed. His shoulders slumped and he nodded. "Alright, alright, I know you're right. I'm just working so hard to keep everything together for us and show the best possible face to the public."

Mariah hugged him and smiled up at him. "We're fine. Everything is fine and it's going to continue to be fine." Then she looked down at her son.

"How's our little champ doing?" she asked, placing her fingers lightly on the boy’s leg as it lay beneath the covers.

Jake leaned over the foot of the bed, resting his hands on the footboard. "The doctor was just in here a few minutes ago and he said that it's going to be at least another twenty-four to thirty-six hours before they operate. They've brought his fever down a little, but they still aren't comfortable with it.

Right now, it's just a waiting game. We sit and we wait. Nothing is going to happen for a while, and they are going to keep him asleep that whole time so he doesn't burn up any energy being awake. He needs all the rest he can get if he's going to beat that fever and recover after surgery."

Mariah turned and looked up at Jake. "He's not going anywhere, and they're not going to wake him up for more than a day, so why don't you go talk to Felicia. Go on and tell her how you feel. I'll stay here with him and I'll let you know if anything changes. Okay?"

Jake hesitated a long moment, but Mariah pursed her lips and began to push him out of the room.

"Go, already! What are you going to do here, sit and wait? She's at the penthouse. Go talk to her and then come back and bring me some good Indian food when you do." She pushed and shoved some more and Jake held his hands up in defeat.

"Alright, alright. I'm going." he stopped and hugged her again, kissing her cheek. "Thanks, doll. I'll see you in a bit and take the next shift, okay?"

She nodded and smiled at him as he left, and then went back to sit beside her son.

Jake left the hospital amid stares and whispers, not really paying much attention to them; he was more focused on what Mariah had told him about telling Felicia that he loved her. He had trouble admitting it to himself; he had wanted to keep their relationship strictly business.

But her warmth and beauty, her sweetness, kindness, humor and definitely her passion, dissolved all of his inhibitions and walls. It was just as if they hadn't been there at all, and all that was left to him was the realization that he was, in fact, in love with her.

Mariah had seen it right away, but he'd taken his time admitting it to her when she pressed him about it. She was happy for him that he had finally found someone that he could be happy with, but for the sake of their public image and the company, Jake would not tell Felicia how he really felt. He had promised himself he would keep that a secret from her to protect both her and his family, as well as the business.

Now she knew. Now there was nothing to keep him from telling her, and from showing her how much she truly meant to him. As his limo zipped through the city toward the hotel, he began to anticipate her reaction and to grow excited about telling her. He began to feel some hope and a kind of freedom knowing that he wouldn't have to be so careful around her, hiding his true emotions and the depth of his feelings.

Relief began to surround him, and he breathed in deeply, hoping that she would feel the same level of love and that she would accept what he was going to tell her.

The car pulled up to the hotel and he was shocked to discover a sea of reporters and cameras all camped outside of the door. The staff of the hotel came right to the car, lining up and forming a human wall between the door of his car and the door of the building.

He didn't know what was going on, but he began to worry about Felicia, and a hot leaden ball of fear formed in his stomach. He rushed inside the hotel and up the private elevator to her, vaulting out of the doors when they opened, calling out her name.

"Felicia!" he called out loudly. "Felicia! Are you here? Are you alright?" his voice echoed through the enormous place.

She was just coming out of her bedroom, and at the first sight of her, he ran to her, pulling her into a crushing embrace, breathing her in and pressing his lips to her neck, her cheek, and finally her lips in relieved kisses.

Felicia didn't know what had gotten into Jake, but she always welcomed his heated kisses on her skin, and she kissed him back softly and sweetly, and then looked up at him.

"What's the matter?" she asked in a concerned tone.

He laughed a little thinly and nervously. "Nothing, I... there were dozens of uh... nothing. It's nothing. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright." He eased his posture and smiled at her to calm both of them down.

"Mariah told me that you two had a good chat." He decided that he didn't want to worry her with the giant mob of media downstairs on the street, so he didn't mention them to her at all, and instead changed the subject.

She looked down a moment and then looked back up at him through her thick dark eyelashes, grinning widely.

"She did?" 

He began to feel the familiar peace and calm that she brought to him wash over him and ease the pressure in him.

"She did. I was pretty shocked and put out at first, but then I realized what a good thing she had done. I wish she hadn't told you first, but I am glad that you know." He reached up and held her face in his hands, looking into her eyes deeply.

Felicia grinned and decided to play with him just a little bit. She wanted to hear him say it. "Told me what?" 

He stared at her, losing himself in her beauty and warmth. His smile faded and he spoke earnestly to her in a soft voice, his eyes locked on hers.

"That I love you." He said the words easily, as if he had said them a thousand times and not just once. He had thought them a thousand times; he had wanted to say them that many times, but it just hadn't been possible up until this very moment. This was the defining moment of both of their lives, the moment when all other truths would fall away behind this one and both of them would take a new road, a road that he hoped with all of his heart would be one that they took together.

Her smile fell away from her face as the intensity and significance of the moment washed over her, making her heart swell and her soul feel as if it had taken flight from her.

"I love you, too." she replied, shaking her head just a little. "So much. So much that I don't think I could even begin to understand it."

Jake couldn't respond to her, everything in him seemed to stop for an eternity as her words left her beautiful lips and graced his whole being like a kiss of life and love. He could do nothing except to pull her face to his and kiss her deeply.

It was a profound experience between them both; one that they shared and that overthrew every thought in their hearts. It took them over and made them new in one another.

"I need you,” he whispered hoarsely to her, as he often did when his emotion ran so powerfully through him. He led her to her bed and peeled her clothes from her body, and as each piece of material was removed, he covered her nakedness with hungry kisses, building up a fire in them both. He was stealing her breath away from her so that all she could do was cling to him, aching in her need.

Her dark lips moved over his shoulder and his chest, kissing, nibbling, and biting as she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him. He laid her back on the bed and kissed almost every part of her, holding tightly to her body.

He squeezed her flesh gently, pulling at her, and kneading her until his need for her had pushed him to his limits. Then he thrust his thick erection deeply into her body and moved quickly, filling her, making her cry out, and loving her passionately as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled him further into her.

She gasped for air, moaning and sighing loudly with pleasure as he caused her body to shudder and tremble in orgasmic bliss. After long minutes inside of her, he could not hold back any longer and, crying out himself, he buried himself as deeply as he could in her. He exploded in ecstasy, stiff and quivering until he was spent, and he finally rested himself at her side, catching his breath as his heart slowed down.

Felicia leaned in to him and kissed him softly. "I love you so much, Jake, and I'm so glad that we can say it to each other now. I have wanted to tell you for so long, and now I can. I wish you knew how much you mean to me and how much I feel for you. There's no one in this world that means more to me than you do, Jake."

Jake listened to her and tears stung at his eyes. He touched her cheek and her mouth with his fingertips and smiled a little at her. "I love you with all of my heart, with everything in me that can love. It's all for you, and it always will be."

He kissed her sweetly again, and then opened his eyes to her once more and lowered his voice a little. "Felicia Bennett, if I could marry you, I would do it. You would be my wife and my lover for the rest of my life. I wish there was a way I could have you like that, but I have a public commitment to Mariah, and it just can't ever happen. I am so sorry about that."

Felicia's heart raced when he said that he wished he could marry her. It told her just how much she really meant to him, and it was a tremendous happiness to her.

     "I wish that I could marry you. I would. I would walk right down that aisle into your arms and never leave." She smiled back at him. In her mind, there was a slow motion fantasy of herself in a beautiful white gown walking down a long aisle to him; white blooms in a bouquet in her hands and the biggest smile on her lovely face as he waited for her with loving eyes.