The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (59 page)

If only.

He wore his most enigmatic smile as he sat
opposite her and put both his hands to hers. Bella's eyes darted
instantly to his designer watch. The face was intricate, delicate,
displaying all the fine workings of the instrumentation below the
glass. She had read about some Rolex pieces costing as much as
three quarters of a million dollars. She hoped to God it wasn't
worth anywhere near as much as that.

"Doesn’t that feel better?" He said quietly
to her.

She looked up as he tilted his head back saw
herself reflected in the deep brown of his eyes. It was an image
wracked with pain. She averted her gaze, took a long deep breath,
swallowed down the wave of emotion rising through her and then
looked back into his eyes.

"It feels so much better." She said and then
forced a brief smile before breaking down in tears.

Bella watched the fairytale unfolding before her.

It was a double wedding straight out of a
Hollywood movie and the sun was shining on the vast manicured lawn
of the Demovic estate as Suzy said 'I do' to her new husband
Zachary. Moments earlier Melissa had done the same with his older
brother Jason. The brothers looked even more incredibly handsome
than usual standing in their wedding attire and vowing endless love
to their new brides.

Bella had tears in her eyes as she watched
the four people she loved the most in the whole world enjoy the
happiest day of their lives, and yet nothing could ease the tight
knot of anxiety that gripped her stomach like a clenched fist.

She glanced across the assembled crowd, there
were nearly five hundred guests in all, but one set of eyes stood
out clearly and locked brazenly onto hers.

They were Harrison's.

He was directly opposite her on the other
side of the platform, watching her as she stood at the head of the
line of bridesmaids. Acting as best man to both his brothers, he
had been running around like crazy for the last couple of days
while she had busied herself as double head bridesmaid. They hadn't
crossed each others' paths since the episode in her apartment and
their inevitable re-encounter was profoundly uncomfortable.

She looked back to the happy couples,
embracing and kissing, and then to Harrison again. His eyes had
never left her. He was way more interested in her than in the
marriage of his two brothers and he wasn't afraid to show it, the
selfish bastard. Couldn't he at least pretend he cared about their
happiness more than getting her into the sack, for at least one
day?

She felt herself moisten for him and hated
herself for it, but there was nothing she could do. His relentless
attention was the worst thing possible for either of them but her
body didn't care anything about that. As far as her hormones were
concerned he was just there for the taking and to be thoroughly
enjoyed.

She darted her eyes back to her friends
again. She had to stop thinking about that crazy-sexy man and focus
on what was important here; get through this wedding ceremony,
survive the reception and then get out of Dodge.

If the whole damn thing wasn't such a
nightmare it would have been a dream come true.

God, I can't believe I have to run away from
all this. I can’t believe I have to leave everything
behind…again….

She looked down at her hands and checked
inside her glove just to check that her ticket was still there.

It hadn't moved. The tightly folded bus and
rail ticket she had concealed was valid for six months. She could
go anywhere in the country she wanted to and no-one would know
where she was. That was the beauty of an open ticket with no fixed
destination. It needed to be that way because Harrison was a man of
unlimited resources and if he wanted to find her then he would be
damn near impossible to run from.

She hadn’t told a soul about her plans. She
couldn’t risk it. Even Suzy, in tears of happiness before her, had
no clue about her intentions.

She choked back a tear of her own.

Suzy and Melissa were the closest thing to
family she had in this world.

She squeezed her open ticket tightly in the
palm of her hand again and tried to be strong.

Today is the day.
She thought.

Today was the day she would disappear from
all of their lives forever, but she would have to do it from right
under Harrison's nose. It was only two days since she had been with
him on what should have been the date of a life time, but in order
to get his watch and save Stacy from a beating she had needed to do
something she would hate herself for forever.

The guests were now being ushered towards the
reception area that had been set up in the vast gardens of the
estate. Her work was done and it was almost time to fade out. She
looked around for Harrison but he was nowhere to be found,
presumably surrounded somewhere by family and friends. Suzy and
Melissa would soon come looking for her too so it was now or never.
Once she was outside she would leave voicemail that she had a
family emergency and had to run but not to worry about her.

The very thought was breaking her heart, but
she had to be strong.

She sized up a couple of the more burly
guests who she suspected were Demovic security. There had been no
repercussions about the conclusion to her date with Harrison but
she couldn't take the chance that he hadn't noticed anything; if
anything he would just wait until the happy couples had left on
their lavish, story book honeymoons before taking action against
her, whatever that might mean.

Two suspicious looking male guests had been
hanging around a little too close to her since she had arrived.

Hell, they can't follow me to the ladies
room.
She thought.

She stood up and turned to go but a hand came
to her elbow. It was one of the ushers, a female usher. She was
tall, over six foot, and had a stern don't-screw-with-me
expression.

"Please step this way Ms. Wilson." It was
clearly an order. "Harrison would like to see you."

She thought about running but she didn't want
to make a scene. That was after all, the whole point; to keep her
friend's lives as normal and untouched by her tainted world as
possible. Before she could reconsider she was being led away and
the two burly undercover guards fell in behind her.

They emerged into the same long corridor
where she and Harrison had first been alone together only days
previously and Bella to the irritation of her escorts, stopped dead
in her tracks.

"Am I being arrested?" She said.

"No ma'am." The usher said.

"Then I'm free to go."

"You are free to go ma'am."

She pulled her arms free and straightened her
dress.

"I'll be seeing you guys then."

"I'll take it from here guys."

She didn't need to turn around; that was
Harrison's voice and he was right behind her. The security team
melted away but Bella felt more captive than ever.

Harrison didn't waste time; as soon as they
were alone he pulled her into his arms and lifted her up and drove
his lips to hers before allowing her to slide back down against his
abdomen. The dress was knee length, two-tone, backless and
strapless and she felt it ride up above her thighs as she sank
lower. If she hadn't been so terrified she would have been wildly
turned on.

She paused to catch her breath and as she did
so he caught her right wrist in his large hand and quickly removed
the small glove. Her open ticket fell to the ground and though she
struggled to retrieve it, he was faster.

"What's this Bella? Your getaway ticket?" He
flicked it open as she struggled to take it from him but he was too
tall.

"Give me that." She said uselessly.

"An open ticket." He said. "You're running
away again. Just like you did before."

He scooped her legs from under her and lifted
her chest high. Instinctively she put her arms around his neck.

"You're not going anywhere." He said. "Not
until you explain to me what happened between us the other
night."

He carried her around the corner and then
pushed a door in with his foot. It was a small guest room and he
flung her to the bed before returned to the door to close and lock
it behind him. Bella looked frantically around the room; it had no
outside windows and no other connecting doors. Even if she could
get away she was absurdly restricted in her bridesmaids outfit and
she would have to get rid of her heels and run barefoot. She
wouldn't make it down the hall let alone through Demovic security.
Besides, he had her ticket so she would have to pay for another
one, eating heavily into her meager savings.

Instinctively she retreated up the bed, away
from the door. There was nowhere else to go.

He took off his jacket and threw it to the
floor.

"I want some explanations." he said, coming
towards her.

"I'll scream."

"Scream all you want. I've got evidence you
stole a watch worth half a million dollars from me.

Bella blanched. It was the worst case
scenario. She had hoped the watch might be worth in the thousands,
just enough to keep Steve at bay, but half a million dollars.…

"My people will hold you here until the
police arrive. With your record Bella, I think you'll be in jail
for a very long time."

"It's not what you think Harrison. Please,
you have to believe me."

He stopped and waited, looking at her with
those damned dark brown eyes that Bella always failed to read and
it was excruciating. She still didn't know how much he knew about
her or even if he was bluffing about the evidence.

In reality he was watching her with an
ambivalence that threatened to tear his heart out. He was sure she
had taken the watch, although he didn't have the evidence yet, but
knowing what he did of her story he had to believe there was a
reason for it. He was desperate for her to make sense of it all for
him so he could just fuck her already and call off his people.

But was he making the dumbest mistake of his
adult life? If he had an ounce of sense he would have just had her
hauled away and booked. Could his desire to bone her really cancel
out all his good sense and leave him exposed to the lies of a
common, albeit irresistibly sexy little thief?

Looking at her squirm on the bed in front of
him wasn't making it any easier.

Just tell me goddamn it.
He was
thinking.
So I can take care of whatever the hell the problem is
and then fuck you already.

He had never needed anyone the way he needed
Bella and it was getting to him. The worlds of his love life and
his charity work had always been parallel, never coming together
for any reason but Bella had changed all that. She was a challenge
in every way; personally, emotionally and most confounding of all,
sexually.

"Tell me the truth Bella, or I
will
call the police." He pulled up a chair and positioned it squarely
between her and the door.

"Is that why you kissed me just now?"

He had no answer to her challenge. She was
right, the kiss had made no sense and hadn't been a part of his
plan.

He took out his phone and sank down into the
chair in front of her.

"I'm waiting." He said.

She looked around again; she was literally
backed into a corner and felt increasingly paralyzed with
indecision and fear. The man in front of her looked as incredible
as ever and under any other circumstances she would have happily
told him anything and then melted into his arms.

She opened her lips to speak before she had
any idea what to say.

Not a sound came out.

Harrison watched her, holding his breath and
praying that the words would somehow explain her bizarre actions,
but all he really wanted to do was kiss those lips, pin his woman
to the bed, and then take her in every which way she could possibly
desire.

Bella pushed herself up onto her knees and
came across the bed towards him. She had no idea what she was
doing. Harrison had been leaning forwards but now he sat up
straight in the chair, still holding the phone in one hand, ready
to call the police.

There was no way she could tell him the
truth.

"Harrison…" It was useless…

She put her hand out towards him and he
snatched it into his own sending a ripple of force through her
body. The phone dropped to the floor as he stood up, took her head
in his hand and then plunged his lips to hers. In seconds he had
encircled her waist with one arm and laid her back down on the bed.
Her body reacted instinctively, arching up towards him, goading him
on. He groaned in response and began to work his way lower. Damn
sure this hadn't been part of his plan either but did any of that
really matter? She was clearly as into it as him.

Bella he watched the tumult of his brown hair
as he ate his way down the smooth satin of her gown, crossing the
tightly contracting muscles of her abdomen and then lower still,
then disappearing between her welcoming thighs. Her hands struggled
to find a grip in his thick hair as she felt herself denuded below
her dress. This was it, he was going to take her and she wasn't
going to do a thing about it. Why should she? He had her boxed in
from every angle and all he wanted to do to her was what she
desperately needed and hungered for him to do.

"Oh my God…" she groaned as he toyed with
her, trembling as she felt his hot breath and probing fingers
exploring between her legs. She ached for him, only now fully
realizing just how much she had wanted him since they had first
laid eyes on each other. The tip of his tongue pressed slowly to
her inner thighs, teasing, toying, playing while his hands searched
under her dress and found her hips, her abdomen, her ass, her
breasts Then at last his tongue entered her and her body bucked in
response, her legs clamping against his head, her but pressing
upwards to his chin.