The Billionaire’s Desires Vol. 1 (6 page)

Ladies and gentlemen, the graceful subtlety of Marion.

“Don't look now, but there's a gorgeous guy who's been staring at you for minutes.”

“Maybe he's checking you out, Bruce Lee!”

My arm hurts, you brat!

“No, no, I'm sure that he's really into you.”

A little hurt by my martial arts comparison, she moves away towards the next room.

And suddenly I feel it, those eyes on me, more precisely, on my neck: magnetic, electrifying, overheating. Could it be that...I don't dare turn around to look at who's watching me, so I go the other way and make my escape to the first room of the exhibit. I hear footsteps behind me, has the stranger decided to play hide and seek? I speed up, just to see, and my ballerina slippers are almost clacking on the stone cobblestones of the lobby. The footsteps behind me also accelerate. Trying to avoid a group of people on a guided tour in front of me, I suddenly turn to the left towards the lift. As I press the button I hear the deep, warm voice of Gabriel Diamonds. I'd recognise it among a crowd of a million people!

“So it is you, I'm not dreaming.”

His gentle murmur paralyses me and his breath on my neck sends shivers down my spine.

Oh my god, he's really here! What do I do what do I do what do I do?!

Trying to hide my excitement, I don't turn around.

“So you're the sort of lady who likes photography?”

His tone is mocking, but I also detect a touch of tenderness in his voice.

That's new.

The lift doors open in front of me and we enter at the same time.

“Going up?”

As usual, Diamonds doesn't wait for my response and we start rising upwards as he pushes the button for the second floor. A few seconds later, he presses the red button which instantly blocks the elevator from functioning. About to protest, I look up at him but my attempt to rebel goes up in smoke. Once again I'm struck by how handsome his face is, how perfect his features are, the manliness that oozes out of his whole being. I barely have the time to notice a strange light in his eyes when I find myself glued against the icy mirror, his heavy and hot body pressed against mine. Our mouths, as if magnetized towards each other, come together and we share a long kiss.

A fire instantly ignites in my lower abdomen. His avid, sultry tongue inspects the furthest corners of my mouth. When he bites my lower lip, I can no longer hold myself back, I let out a moan of pleasure. An exquisite heat spreads through my entire body and before it's too late, before I reach the point of no return, I push my assailant back. Almost out of breath, I try to collect myself.

“What are you doing here?”

He gives me a dark look but can't help smiling, surprised by my courage.

Apparently he doesn't like it when people reject him! Whatever.

He comes closer to me again, with an almost threatening air and slides a firm hand over my neck, but yet again I resist.

“What does it matter what I'm doing here, Amande! I found you and I intend to take advantage of the coincidence!”

Take advantage? You mean take advantage of me, right?

Standing in front of me, he looks like a fashion spread in his three-piece navy blue suit.

Navy blue, like his sweater...

Our faces are just a few inches apart from one another. He looks me straight in the eye, without faltering. He wants me, that's obvious, but he's waiting for me to react. The sexual tension is palpable, irresistible. His intoxicating scent comes over me and in a rush of desire, I press against him to kiss him. This time, he's the one who refuses.

Is he messing with me?

Annoyed and a little humiliated by his rejection, I lower my eyes, no longer daring to look him in the face. Then, like a predator approaching his prey, he towers over me and narrows the distance that separates us. While our bodies, pressed against each other, become one, he passes his hand through my hair and, applying a little bit of pressure, forces me to lift my head and look into his eyes.

He wants me, I want him, what are we waiting for?

In response to the excitement in my loins, I feel his erection against my thigh. His hungry mouth latches on to my neck, he kisses me, bites me, devours me.

“Mmm, you have taste so good, my sweet Amande.”

The warm, taut lips of my handsome lover now kiss the bare skin of my décolletage, sending shivers throughout my entire body. The little voice inside of me asks if this is really a good idea, but the moment is so intense that I ignore it and let myself succumb to Diamonds' caresses. He moves one of his thighs in between my legs and, while teasing my earlobe with his expert tongue, slides a hand over my knee and slowly travels up my thigh. I hear him moan with pleasure as he finds the lace edges of my stockings underneath his fingers. His hand continues up underneath my dress, and it's my turn to moan with pleasure when he touches the edges of my already wet knickers.

“I want you so badly. This outfit looks so gorgeous on you.”

Then, in a harsher tone, he orders me:

“Turn around!”

To resist or not to resist? That's the question! As if you had the strength to resist him...

His choice of words and the authority of his voice turn me on irresistibly, and I turn my back to him with a pleasure that I can't describe. He hikes up my dress and caresses my butt with one hand while the other passes over my breasts. Then he slides my knickers down my thighs, and I can only lift my slippers one by one to free my legs as my pelvis sways, rubbing against the fly of his pants. I let out a little cry when I feel Diamonds' finger enter me, followed by a longer moan when he starts to gently rub and pinch my clitoris between his thumb and index finger. His sex, through his pants, fits into the line between my butt cheeks and he starts going back and forth in a way that drives me crazy.

When I'm at the point where I can't take it anymore, almost about to beg him to penetrate me, I hear the rustle of a condom wrapper. I stretch my body towards my lover with a desire that surprises and transcends me. He enters me at once, deeply, and my moans grow louder and louder with his thrusts. My chest glued to the mirror in front of me, I look at the image of our two bodies reflected in the infinity of the little lift. The coldness of the glass against the fire of my nipples makes me lose my mind.
Suddenly, the billionaire grabs my hips and starts to thrust even faster, harder and deeper. His face is in my hair, I can only hear his appreciative gasps. The pace has sped up light years since penetration and takes me into raptures. With a last burst, I orgasm intensely. He slides inside of me a little more and, lifting his head to meet my gaze in the mirror, orgasms, my first name on his lips. The right way!

He watches me, a smile on his face, while I put my knickers back on and smooth down my dress. Then he presses the red button and the lift continues upwards. Before leaving this delicious cage, he grabs me once more by the arm and plants a little kiss on my lips.

Is this another tender gesture, Mr. Diamonds?

“See you soon, Ms. Baumann.”

“Goodbye, Gabriel.”

Surprised to hear me say his first name, he squints while biting his lip. I expect a stinging slap, but instead of that, he turns his back to me and moves away, without another word. Our paths separate on the landing of the second floor. I quickly find Marion who jumps on me, two seconds away from a nervous breakdown.

“I've been looking for you everywhere for twenty minutes! Where were you?”

Twenty minutes. It felt like an eternity. I stutter about needing to go to the bathroom while looking for my handsome lover's silhouette among the other visitors. My mind befuddled, my body still palpitating, I follow my sulking best friend through the photographs, without seeing anything. I only think of the image reflected by the mirror in the lift: a very handsome man with a perfect body and penetrating blue eyes in the midst of making love to a young woman with a pretty face. When I realise I am that young woman, the pride I feel makes me smile.

Gabriel. You have no idea what you do to me!

“You've lost your mind. So are you in love or what?”

“I'm just tired, Marion, and all of these lights are giving me a migraine.”

Don't tell her what happened in the lift, she'll start with her lectures again.

It was so intense, so unexpected, so good, so -

“Amandine! Can you stop ignoring me all the time? Remember that you already ditched me for twenty minutes and I still have no idea why.”

Her reproaches start to get to me but I remain calm, impassible. I'm still in my own little world tough, the scent of Gabriel Diamonds soaks through my skin and sends me back to that surreal scene, to that sensual experience. I still feel like I'm floating, my body is really there, my feet are walking across the museum's floor, but my mind is elsewhere.

“If you must know, I was with him.”

“With your billionaire? Was that him who was staring at you back there?”

“Yes, I just shagged him. In the lift.”

I look her straight in the eyes and wait for a reaction. I'm probably going to get one of her endless monologues that always end with a stinging “I told you so!”

Nothing? Am I dreaming or did I just get the last word in?!

For once, Marion doesn't live up to her nickname “Ms. Know-it-all.” She seems blown away by my confession, starts to open her mouth to say something and finally changes her mind. To make sure that she didn't lose her tongue, I say something.

“You don't have any questions, this doesn't interest you at all?”

“I already said what I had to say: you're in love.”

I'm surprised at how my heart leaps at this remark. In love...never!

A few moments later, we leave for Saint-Paul, where we take the subway in opposite directions. I stroll through the streets of my neighbourhood, hoping that the fresh air will help me gently come down from the cottony clouds I'm still floating through. It's hopeless, my thoughts still gravitate towards Diamonds.

What was he doing there?

Is he following me or what?

Did he put a tracking device on my cell phone?

Amandine, you're raving mad!

Here I am in front of the door to my flat. All I want to do is flop down on my couch and eat the leftover penne all'arrabbiata from yesterday. I dig through my pockets, looking for my keys, which I always lose. My fingers find something hard in the right pocket of my coat. It's a cream coloured business card, printed on thick paper. My heart skips a beat when I see the name 'Gabriel Diamonds' engraved in golden letters.

My hands are trembling. This man really drives me crazy and it's starting to exasperate me. I turn the card over. On the back, a few words are written in black ink.

At the bottom, a cell phone number. My heart beating, I forget about going back to my flat, I stay frozen on the landing for fifteen minutes. I read and re-read the three lines without understanding what's happening.

Gabriel Diamonds inviting me to spend the weekend with him? Me? But what does he see in me?

I have a hard time understanding something I never even dreamed would happen. Overexcited, I call Camille and invite myself over to dinner at her house. I jump back onto the subway, my head spinning. When I get to my sister's house, I tell her the entire story. Her eyes grow wide. Dazed, because she understands, she asks me to repeat everything from the beginning several times. For once, we're on the same wavelength and I realise that maybe I could confide in her more often.

“What are you going to wear?”

Well, maybe we don't have the same priorities, but at least she's listening to me.

When I get back home, I feel relieved after speaking with someone other than Marion. I adore my best friend, we know each other inside-out and we're always there for one another, but sometimes she's just too negative. Camille though doesn't always see things in a bad light and tells me to go for it, to not miss this chance. Without procrastinating for hours, I send a text to the number written on the card.

I have a hard time sleeping that night, and even more of a hard time concentrating at work over the next few days.

The twenty-second is almost here and I spend my days on the phone with Camille and Marion. I ended up confiding in my best friend, but as I expected, she wasn't particularly thrilled. On the twentieth, my suitcase is already packed and two days later I have to make a huge effort so that Eric doesn't notice my impatience, not to mention my complete disinterest in what's going on at work.

On the train that takes me to Italy, I think of how crazy this is: after all, I barely know this man. We've only met a few times, yet he's already taken full possession of my body. But who is he really? I hope to find that out over this weekend, but at the same time, I'm scared to death. When I get out of the car that picked me up at the train station, I stare breathlessly at the beautiful estate I imagine belongs to Diamonds.

It's nothing much...what was I expecting, anyway?

A large white stone villa overlooks a natural pool surrounded by cypress trees. As far as the eye can see, fields and vines lie underneath the setting sun. I don't have time to dwell on the details of the landscape. I see Gabriel near a building that looks like a barn, and his beauty paralyses me. He's dressed simply in white linen pants, his torso bare. I see his full chest for the first time, and I'm struck by the splendour of his muscular, sun-kissed body. Tiny beads of sweat drip down between his pectoral muscles, and I realise he's chopping wood with an ax. He sees me and walks towards me, with a swaying step.

I need a cold shower, right now!