The Billionaire's Mistress Complete Series: Alpha Billionaire Romance (20 page)

“Yes.” Refusing to look away, I held her gaze. “I invited her to the event as a friend.” That, too, was the truth. I'd been attracted, yes, but I hadn’t planned for anything to happen. I continued, “As you’re well aware, Diamond, there are a number of functions that I attend that Paisley doesn’t like, and I don’t care to go alone. We agreed quite some time ago that I could invite a friend to go with me. So that’s what I did.”

“Yes. She and I have talked about that at length.” Diamond still had that pinched look on her face, as though this whole thing was distasteful. “And I’ve made my feelings clear. As your fiancée, Paisley should be the only one attending functions with you from here on out. Perhaps that’s something else the two of you should discuss. And might I add, it’s funny how you invited this
friend
, but she says nothing about her connection to Paisley or our family.”

Paisley made a pained noise in her throat, her hands moving over her stomach, as if cradling our unborn child.

I still didn't know how much of this was real, but the guilt over what I'd done was eating me up. I knelt down next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Paisley,” I murmured. Then I looked up at her mother. “You’ve already made it clear you don’t believe there's a connection to your family. From where I’m standing, you view your husband's part in Allie's conception to be more of a…biological donation.”

Paisley flinched, and I could have hit myself for my crudeness. I hoped she didn't think that I thought of our child that way. No matter how complex this situation was, our child would always be a part of us both.

Her shoulders hitched, and she sounded like she was about ready to start crying. Awkward with this kind of emotion from her, I smoothed a hand down her back.

“Paisley, I’m sorry. If I had known…”

“I know, Jal, I know.” She nodded, but she didn’t look at me.

“Perhaps you should take your fiancée home,” Diamond said. “I think you’ve upset her enough, and I highly doubt she wants to return to the gala.”

Rising, I met Diamond’s hard gaze. “I think I can handle this myself.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but I glared at her. “I’m not one of your little minions, Diamond. Don’t get it into your head that I am.”

Then, without saying anything else, I offered my hand to Paisley.

There were a lot of things I didn't know, that I still had questions about. There was, however, one thing I did know. I'd done enough damage. It was time to start making things right.

“
C
ome inside
, baby.”

Paisley had curled up against me for the entire drive home, her head pressed against my chest, and now, as the driver came to a stop in front of her townhouse, she looked up at me, her light gray eyes wide.

“I can’t bear to be alone tonight.”

I wasn’t sure I was up to
not
being alone, but since it was my own damn fault she was this upset, I couldn’t be even more of an asshole and leave. “All right.”

I left her in the back as I stepped out to speak with my driver. After a word, he moved to the trunk to grab the bag I kept there for occasions like this. Then I reached down and held out my hand to Paisley. She gave me a wan smile as she climbed out, staring up at the townhouse for a long moment before looking up at me.

“You’ll stay all night, won’t you?”

The beseeching look on her face had me nodding without thinking about it, and she turned into me.

“Thank you. I know you like your time to yourself, but I…I just can’t bear the thought of being alone right now. I’ve spent so much of my life
feeling
alone and isolated.”

“Come on.” I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her against my side. “Let’s get you inside.”

Leading her to the front door, I cursed every step I’d taken that had led to this.

Switching stylists – yeah, big mistake.

Flirting with Allie, bigger mistake.

Flying her to New York…

Every choice I’d made lately seemed to be one wrong choice after another. Now that I was here with my fiancée, it should seem like I was doing the right thing. So why didn’t it feel right?

Why did I feel like I was in the
wrong
place? Doing the
wrong
thing.

Being with the
wrong
person.

“Come on.”

Paisley took my hand and tugged me along behind her, into a room of soft blues, greens, and whites. It was her favorite room, but I always felt like a drowning fish in there. She kept the lights off but turned on the fireplace to take the chill out of the air. She'd gone on a tear when the designer had told her the building wasn’t up to code for a real fireplace. She'd fired that one and two others before she finally realized that the only way to get the fireplace would be to tear the building down and buy a new one. Since some of the other tenants hadn't wanted to sell, she'd tried every trick in her book.

When that hadn't worked, her father had sent her off with her mother on a girls' weekend, and when she came back, it was to find that the original designer had come in, done the project as they’d planned with a realistic-looking electric fireplace. She’d been delighted – mostly – and had declared she had the best father ever.

Since he owned the building as a whole, Paisley had the top floor, and this particular room took up almost a quarter of the unit. Her bedroom took up half, and the rest was her kitchen and dining room.

I frowned at the memories, trying to bring together how much I'd personally witnessed her father spoiling her with the story I'd just heard from Diamond and Paisley. I supposed it was possible that since Allie and her mother had left, Kendrick had been trying to make things up to his daughters.

But none of that mattered at the moment. I needed to make things right with Paisley before I worried about the rest.

She collapsed down onto the couch and pressed her hand to her forehead, a heavy sigh escaping her. “This entire day…it’s been horrid.”

“Yeah.” I could agree with her there.

I moved to the windows and stared outside, wondering where Allie had gone. Was she alone or had she gone home with Tao? And who
was
he? She said he was her date, but it was clear that they were close. I was willing to bet he was the same guy who'd gone with her to get her dress.

The dress that I'd been wondering how she'd bought.

Had he bought it for her? Who was he to her that he would buy something that expensive? Did they have some sort of
arrangement
?

The thought made me sick, and I hated myself for even thinking it, but with Diamond and Paisley's words dancing through my head, I couldn't stop myself. If Allie really was as manipulative as they said, was it possible that she was sleeping with Tao so he would buy her things? Had that been what she'd intended for me? Or was I more personal? Had she chosen me to get back at her father's family? To get back at them for having what she never did?

“Come sit with me, baby.”

Paisley's voice brought me back to the present. Pushing the other thoughts from my mind, I went. I sat next to her, closing my eyes as she cuddled up against me. It should've felt natural, but it didn't. Paisley's body was thin, long, not the soft curves I wanted.

“It’s been such a horrid day.” She pressed her lips to my neck.

“So you’ve said.” I thought of how Allie had looked at me, the way she’d set her jaw before turning and walking away, shoulders squared.

“Just awful.” She kissed my neck, the light caress soft.

And I felt nothing. My mind stayed caught on Allie, on the things I'd learned, the things Diamond and Paisley had said. The girl I'd come to know.

It didn’t fit.

She’d been aware that I had money, and it hadn't impressed her. I'd seen that. I'd seen the truth in her eyes.

“Make me forget,” Paisley said, her voice rough and low.

Before I could react, she climbed into my lap and took my hands, lifting them to her breasts. My hands completely covered them, felt her nipples harden against my palms.

Staring up at her in the dim light, I realized I could see similarities between the sisters. In the line of her jaw, the slope of her nose. If I really tried, I could almost pretend–

I stopped myself right there. I wasn't going to betray either woman that way. I'd always prided myself on not being
that
guy, the one who had to fantasize about another woman to get off. I wasn't going to start here.

“Please, Jal.” She ground down on my lap, the friction barely getting a twitch of interest from my cock. “I need you.”

Slowly, I slid my hands down to her waist and tugged her closer. She kissed me, her lips cool against mine. Paisley tugged at my tie, pulled it over my head. Once she had it free, she went to deal with the buttons on my shirt, and I remained still, watching her. Seeing what she was really doing.

She wasn’t looking to make herself forget anything. She was trying to distract me, and I knew it was because she didn't want me thinking about Allie. She might not have known the specifics of what happened between Allie and me, but Paisley knew I cared, that I wanted.

And still, I couldn't bring myself to stop her.

“I know she’s pretty,” Paisley murmured against my mouth.

My entire body stiffened, and not in a good way.

“What?”

She reached up and freed the fastening at the back of her neck. The front of her dress fell to her waist, baring her breasts. She cupped them, rolled her nipples between her fingers.

“I know she’s pretty, Jal. Everybody always talked about it, even when she was a little girl. That mixed skin and Daddy's eyes.” She kissed me again, then moved her mouth to my ear. “But I’m pretty too. Aren’t I?”

I could answer that honestly. “Paisley, you’re beautiful.” My voice was rough as I added, “You don’t–”

She pressed her finger to my lips. “Hush. It’s okay. Whatever it is, I don’t need to know. It’s okay. You’re mine. That’s all that matters.”

She slid off my lap and onto her knees in front of me. Her eyes darkened as she pushed my knees apart.

Shit.

“I want to show you what I can do for you. I want to show you what I can make you feel.”

She undid my pants, her eyes still locked on mine. I should stop her, but I knew what she wanted. She wanted to show me that she was desirable, that she could make me want her.

I was still soft when she wrapped her hand around me, but she gave me a couple hard, quick strokes, the rough friction making me suck in a breath. I didn’t let myself close my eyes though. I wasn’t going to pretend she was somebody else. I owed her that much.

I wasn’t so convinced that I was
hers
, but I wasn’t going to use her like that either.

Guilt made it easier.

But when you have to remind yourself to stay on target, it takes some of the fun out of getting a blowjob, even one from someone as skilled as Paisley.

Pushing my hands into her short mahogany hair, I kept my gaze on her. She leaned down, took the tip between her lips. Her teeth lightly grazed the crown and I tugged hair. Her eyes flicked up to me as I arched up so she’d take me deeper. She let my cock slide across her tongue and bump against the back of her throat. I moaned as she held me there, unable to stop my body's natural response to the wet heat of her mouth.

My cock glistened as it emerged from her mouth. “That’s my boy.”

My stomach clenched at her words, and I knew what I said next would either break us completely or give us a chance. Right now, I didn't know where we would end up, only that I didn't want to risk alienating the mother of my child. I'd asked for time, and now I realized that I needed more. And I needed Paisley to know that I was still trying to figure it out.

“Suck on it, Paisley.”

Heat flared in her eyes at the command. She liked to play it rough, but she never admitted to it. When it was all said and done, it was my fault for talking her into whatever kinky thing we did.

Women like her didn't do things like
that
.

My fingers tightened in her hair. “It's not going to suck itself.”

In response, she slid her mouth down slowly, pretending reluctance. I gave her head a push, shoving my cock deeper into her mouth. She worked me up and down, cupped my balls and rolled them. Her teeth scraped me again, and I swore, yanked her head off of me.

“Ready to fuck me now?” She grinned at me. “Take me hard and fast? You want me to bend over the couch so you can spank me, or take me to the bedroom so you can tie me up?”

I glared at her. “That’s enough. We’re not getting that rough. You’re pregnant.”

“But you’re not.” She pouted up at me. “Besides, pregnant doesn’t mean
fragile
.”

“You heard me. Be nice.” I stroked my thumb across her lower lip, swollen now and wet. With another light tug on her hair, I guided her back to where she’d been. She slowly opened her mouth and went back to business, sucking and licking until I finally exploded in her mouth.

After she swallowed, she stood and dropped her dress to the floor. She straddled my legs, putting her pussy right at level with my face. “Now it’s my turn.”

* * *

L
ater that night
, as I lay next to Paisley in her bed, my mind refused to let me relax. The orgasm should've been the precursor to a good night's sleep. The one I'd given her with my fingers and tongue had apparently done the trick. My brain, however, refused to turn off.

While I'd been going down on Paisley, I'd managed to keep Allie from my mind and focus on my fiancée – or whatever she was. Now, however, all I could think about was the woman I didn't have next to me.

I was in bed with one woman and dreaming about her sister.

I’d found myself in probably what was one of the more awkward situations in life. Engaged to one sister. Crazy about the other.

And that was the bottom line. It wasn't about the grass being greener, or getting cold feet. I wanted Allie, plain and simple. When I was with Paisley, I was thinking about her sister. And when I was with Allie, she was all I could think about.

If I'd known about the relationship between the two of them, I wanted to believe I never would have pursued her, but the truth was, I didn’t know. I had an almost obsessive desire for Allie, and nothing was going to change that. Even if I didn't act on it, it would still be there.

So…what to do?

Was I supposed to ignore the one woman who had ever really gotten to me?

Marry Paisley and ignore whatever this was with Allie?

Could
I do that?

And aside from all of that, none of it even made sense.

Definitely not the way Diamond presented it.

Granted, she had reason enough to pretend things in her own way, so I knew I couldn't take anything she said at face value. Something told me Allie wasn’t going to be all that open with me, even if I did ask.

One thing was certain…I had to figure out what I was going to do.

It would help, though, if I could figure out exactly what happened to begin with. At least that was a place to start.