Undercover Billionaire Boss: A BWWM Contemporary Romance (9 page)

* * *

T
he following morning
, she saw the kids off to school with the promise that Christopher would show up at the school at nine in the morning. Nervously, she hoped that he would not forget his promise to her and the kids. They had had so many disappointments in their lives already. Still, Christopher had proven reliable thus far.

She returned to the house to do a little cleaning before heading to work. While she was at the hotel, Raina couldn’t seem to concentrate on her work as she shuffled papers without really taking in what they contained.

She could only relax when Christopher returned. The plan had been to come in to work and then excuse himself for an hour or two to go to the school. She hadn’t seen him at all and had resisted the urge to go off in search of him. Time ticked away slowly and every minute seemed to drag on. At half past ten, she looked up when she heard a soft knock at her door. It was Christopher and he gave her thumbs up.

Raina felt ashamed of herself at her first thought. He was dressed in his usual attire of jeans and a shirt which had seen better days. She had hoped he would have smartened himself for the occasion.

“How did it go?” she said.

“It went very well. The kids are doing well and they were proud to introduce me as their ‘Uncle Chris.’ " he said with a grin that melted her heart.

“Uncle Chris, huh?” Raina said, matching his grin with her own. “Thank you so much, I can’t tell enough—"

“Yeah, you already did. You’re welcome. Gotta go, I have tons to do.” Christopher brushed aside her thanks. He shot her a grin that caused a slight dimple to appear in his left cheek, and Raina almost melted. He gave her a quick wave and left.

The relief that Raina felt was huge, though it would be recapped in the evening when she heard the kids’ account of how the morning went. Now she had one less thing to worry about. She spent the rest of the day jumpy, expecting to see Roger’s smirking face at any moment. However, much to her surprise, he never showed up.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop was pure torture. She certainly didn’t think Roger was just going to forget about what happened in her office the other day. Still, as the clock showed the hour for her day to end, Raina gave a little prayer of thanks that she hadn’t had to deal with him that particular day.

* * *

R
eturning home
, Raina followed her usual routine of a quick shower and a change of clothes and then made a snack for the kids. She knew most working mothers usually had a sitter to watch over the kids after school for an hour or so, or sent them to daycare. But after losing their parents so abruptly, Raina hadn’t wanted to introduce another person into their lives or create instability.

She was bone tired, but the shower took care of that and she felt refreshed. The sound of the wheels of the bus crunching against the gravel on the side of the road alerted her to the kids’ homecoming. Eager to hear how the day went, Raina hurried out to meet them at the front door.

Their smiling faces and excited chatter warmed her heart and reassured her that all had gone well.

“Aunty Raina, you should have seen Uncle Chris, he was great. All the teachers loved him.” Crystal said. “My friends thought he was the handsomest uncle they had ever met.” She covered her mouth and giggled

“He dressed up too, in a real serious suit and shoes. He looked like a movie star.” Chantal sighed, and Raina suspected that her niece had developed as much of a crush on Christopher as she had.

She was so relieved and glad the day had gone well.

“What about you, Jeremiah?” Raina probed.

“Is … is Uncle Chris going to be our Uncle forever?” He looked down at his feet and shuffled.

Raina was momentarily dumbstruck as she realized how foolish she’d been. She’d seen a quick solution to her problem, by inviting Christopher to attend the kids’ event—and in doing so she had inadvertently made him an important figure in their lives.

“Ummmm …” Raina bit her lip, realizing suddenly that in bringing Christopher to the house she had done just what she hadn’t wanted to do; introduce a stranger into their lives who might just cause them all more disappointment.

She quickly changed the topic, unsure as to how to answer her nephew. “Who wants cookies?”

“Me!” “Me!” “Me!” The excited shouts came in unison. She did not often allow sweets, but she would have done anything to change the topic.

She ushered them in to the dining room and listened to their chit chat about their day.

Today, even Chantal was more forthcoming which made Raina wonder if the absence of a man in their lives had affected them more than she had imagined.

An hour later, Christopher walked in and the kids were all over him. He had his own front door key now, and though Raina knew it was a risk, her instincts told her that she could trust him.

The kids rushed to greet him and they wrapped their arms around his legs. He laughed, “Whoa! Whoa! You’ll knock me over!”

“Yea!” They screamed and proceeded to try to tackle him.

Raina only watched the domestic scene unfold, her heart both full of joy and heavy with trepidation.

“No it’s alright. Come on guys; let ‘Uncle’ Chris have a rest. He’s had a long day.”

“I’m fine, and I had a great time. Your kids are doing really well at school. Their teachers said so.” Christopher announced.

Raina started at that—that possessive “your,” he had used. But yes, she realized more and more every day that the kids were indeed “hers.”

She smiled as she readied dinner and listened to the chatter coming from the dining room.
This,
she thought to herself
, was what a home should sound like.

* * *

L
ater
, after the kids had gone off to bed, Raina and Christopher sat together on the couch having their customary cup of coffee.

“I probably should have bought you a bottle of wine or something as a thank you gift.” Raina commented. She bit her lip and smiled, looking down, a lock of hair falling over her face. “You really made their day.”

“Nah, this is perfect. The best part of my day.” Christopher said, stretching out his legs in front.

“I do thank you. A lot.”

Their eyes met across the couch and Christopher’s eyes locked onto hers. She felt her breath quicken and a shiver run through her body.

The scene appeared so intimate, Raina thought. They could easily have passed for husband and wife winding down their day. She broke the tension by looking away quickly as she stood up.

“More coffee?” Her calm and cheerful voice belied her inner turmoil.

Those were the kind of thoughts that could lead to heartbreak. But, God, he was attractive, even with his ugly cap and old shirt. He could probably clean up really well, she thought with an inward smile. She poured each of them another cup of the hot liquid and turned the conversation toward the topic she had long been curious about.

“What happened to bring you to maintenance work, Christopher? I know you haven’t always been a maintenance man. Not that there’s something wrong with that.” Raina hastily added. She didn’t want him to think she judged him for his line of work. It was good, honest, hard work, and he was a reliable worker.

He was silent for a moment until she feared that she had offended him.

“You’re right there.” He paused, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he chose his words carefully. “I wasn’t always a maintenance man. I was recently in a situation where lost a good deal of money.” he said with a tight smile. “So, I needed to regroup and figure out what to do about it. That led me to the Del Mar.”

“I’m so sorry.” Raina said sympathetically. She noted that he had not really told her more than she already knew, but she also sensed he did not want to discuss it, and she respected that.

His information brought closer home her own precarious situation right now. She was at risk of losing everything that she thought of as security. Her job. Her house. Her safety. She longed to know more about him, ask him more questions, but she decided to let it go when she saw that he had said as much as he planned to say.

“It’s alright. Things happen for a reason. Think of it this way, if that hadn’t happened, I would never have met you.”

He turned his eyes to look at her and Raina’s heart jumped. His look held so much, more than he was saying. She licked her lips and found herself lacking something to say. Again, the moment lingered and she felt the heat from his gaze suffuse her body.

To break the tension, she tried making a little joke. “I would think you’d be more excited about rubbing elbows with the famous guests of the hotel than you would about knowing me.” She let out a small laugh.

He gave a small half-smile, acknowledging her effort, but the intensity of his attention on her didn’t lessen.

“Raina McMillan, I’m certain that you’re the most beautiful person—inside as well as outside—that I have ever met.” His voice was deep, and husky, and she heard longing behind it. Longing that shocked and surprised her.

Raina’s lips parted in disbelief. This wasn’t what she had expected.

“Say something?” he coaxed gently.

What could she say?

I think about you all the time?

You look like a Greek God in those jeans and that T-shirt?

Do you want me as much as I want you?

And a million other things she would never permit herself to say.

She looked at Christopher again, knowing her deep brown eyes mirrored his own longing and betrayed her inner most thoughts. But no. She knew they were thoughts she could never permit herself to act on.

Raina, tried to gather her senses, clearing her throat to rebuff him and then … Christopher leaned forward.

H
e kissed
her like he was a man dying of thirst in the desert and she was water from the freshest well. His desire was strong, insistent, and overwhelming.

His arms pulled her to him, enveloping her hard against his broad, muscular chest.

Christian kissed her greedily, loving the feel of her full lips on his and her sweet scent. He ran his hands over her face, hardly daring to believe that this moment was real. She tasted sweeter than he could ever have imagined. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her hips closer to him, his lips never leaving hers as he continued to devour her.

After her initial shock, she responded to him in kind, her hands running frantically over her body, as though this was the first and last time she would ever touch a man. Her lips parted beneath his tender onslaught and he felt her melt against him.

Finally, unable to bear the barrier between them as they sat side by side on the couch, he lifted her easily and deposited her on his lap. All the while her eyes were tightly shut.

He devoured her mouth again, and teased her tongue with his. She let out a small groan, which fueled Christian’s own fire, and he felt his erection pushing hard against his jeans.

She pushed herself closer to him, her legs astride his. She was dressed in a short, green-patterned skirt, which now rode up her thighs and revealed her beautiful dark skin, so smooth against his palms.

Christian ran both of his hands along her thighs, all the way to the top, where his fingers came in contact with her silk panties.

Still kissing her and holding on to his sanity by a thin thread, one of Christian’s hand inched its way to her blouse and slowly, he opened her blouse.

Raina shrugged out of it, helping him as he divested her of the expensive garment. He stopped kissing briefly her to admire her breasts, letting out an audible groan before burying his face between them and raining kisses over them.

Working fast, Christian unhooked her bra, and her breasts spilled free. They were just as lovely as he had fantasized them to be. Her nipples were tight and a dusky brown. He held her breasts in his hands, rubbing his thumb over the hard little nubs then dropped his head to her chest again, his mouth leaving hot wet trails on her skin. He gave rapt attention to each nipple, sucking and teasing them until both became hard, worshiping her body as he did so.

Her fingers ran over his hair and she held his head to her chest. He did not need further urging.

“Oh, Christopher,” Raina moaned.

“You’re so damned beautiful Raina,” he groaned. “Do you have any idea how much?”

She opened her eyes then, the desire in them making the depth of their color even more pronounced. Heat flowed from her eyes, begging him to take her, and his own body exploded with lust.

“Shall we go upstairs?” he said, giving her an opportunity to make the decision on how far she wanted it to go.

She contemplated his words for a millisecond, then she kissed him passionately. She got off his lap and he fought the urge to pull her down on top of him again. He watched in fascination as she strolled out, walking comfortably half dressed. Not many women could look as good as she did without even trying. He picked up her bra and blouse and followed her up the stairs.

She passed two bedrooms and the bathroom before reaching her own. He entered close behind her and pulled her almost roughly to him. They kissed wildly, hands running all over each other, their breaths coming out in quick gasps. He ran his hands under her skirt, the curves of her thighs and buttocks driving him close to the edge of losing control completely.
God, she was sexy!

Her skin, her lips—everywhere he licked tasted exquisite. He felt her trembling in his arms and he took a step back to help her remove the rest of her clothes. She stood in front of him completely naked and he inhaled deeply.

She was exquisite.

She moved to cover herself and he sensed her confidence waning as he stared longingly at her. He closed the distance between them quickly, and whispered in her ear, his hot breath warm against her neck.

“You are a goddess.” He rained kisses along the nape of her neck and then pulled away from her slightly.

Keeping his eyes on hers, he quickly shed his clothes and when he was naked too, he pulled her to him.

Her hand snaked its way to his manhood and he groaned aloud when she wrapped her fingers around it. With fluid movements, she stroked him and with the other hand, caressed his muscled chest with its light dusting of hair. Christian could have come right there and then but with self-control that would have made any man proud, he fought it, wanting to be in her when he finally exploded with ecstasy.

Taking her hand, he guided her gently to the bed and lowered her against the faded patchwork quilt. It seemed almost sacrilegious, what they were about to do, against what he guessed was a family heirloom.

She lay there, like an offering to a pagan God, spread wantonly before him, the most perfect sight he had ever seen.

“I want you—”

Those tender, whispered words wrapped themselves in his heart as Raina reached for him, pulling him to her.

“Yes—” His response was a gasp as she gripped his cock, positioning him at her entrance.

They faced each other, faces visible in the blue glow of moonlight. He touched her cheek and smoothed back her hair. He took his time, circling his thumb around her nipples watching her reactions. He broke off the stare to lower his mouth to suck and tease her breasts.

By now, she had arched her body forward, begging him to enter her and he could feel her soft sweetness against him. Unable to hold on any longer, Christian lowered himself against her, spreading her legs wide with his strong hands.

She groaned and he parted her entrance and sank deeply into her in one stroke. She was completely wet and ready for him, and he bucked his hips against hers, rocking her gently, adding more pressure as he went along.

Raina’s body was responding to his as if she was a musical instrument and he was a master at his art. Her gasps and his moans were coming faster as their bodies moved in unison, hands caressing every inch of flesh, lips tasting fevered skin.

“You taste so sweet.”

His hand went between them, between her legs, and he played a primal rhythm against her mons. She gasped and cried out in pleasure as he claimed her lips with his.

He could feel her start to tremble and clench against him as his hands worked her to a fevered pitch. And then, he felt her find her release and she moaned as he plunged into her as deeply as he could go. His hips bucked against her pelvis wildly and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as he jerked against her, losing himself in the pinnacle of his own pleasure.

Gasping for breath, they lay together, Christian still buried within her as their orgasms subsided. Still holding her in his arms he rolled them to their sides and he kissed her forehead. Neither of them spoke, content to let the moment speak for itself.

* * *

W
hat seemed like hours later
, Christian propped his head on his hand and looked down at Raina. He could tell that she wasn’t asleep and after a while she opened her eyes. She smiled at him shyly. He stroked her hair and admired her form, sprawled out on the bed. He couldn’t get enough of her and he could feel his body responding to the alluring figure she made.

“That was amazing. You are so amazing, Raina—in every possible way.” Christian meant every word.

“It was—it’s been a very long while for me, I hope I wasn’t too rusty,” Raina said softly. She buried her head against his chest in embarrassment.

“Rusty? I certainly wouldn’t accuse you of that.”

Raina smiled shyly and looked down at her hands. He settled back down on the bed and pulled her closer so that her head was on his chest. They fit together like puzzle pieces. It felt so right, as if he and Raina had been together for years.

“We—We can’t let people at work know about us—“ Raina’s words were hesitant.

“Why, are you ashamed of me?” Christian tone was light, but part of him did wonder if she was.

If only she knew who I really am
. He tried to push the thought aside. It only condemned him for his deception. A deception he was now regretting greatly because he knew it meant he was lying to Raina.
And yet,
he thought to himself,
If I hadn’t lied to her, I never would have met her …

Would Raina agree with him that the ends had justified the means in this case?

“No, no. How could I be ashamed of you? It’s just too soon, and I never date my colleagues. It would cause all sorts of complications.…” Raina explained as she nestled closer to him.

“Relax, I was kidding, I understand.” Christian lied smoothly.

He wanted to take her to his own home and show her the real him. At the back of his mind, Christian realized that by making love to Raina, he had given her part of his heart. He had also taken his deceit to another level.

How would he ever explain that he was the same person she was falling for? That the only difference between
Christopher
and
Christian
was a bad dye job … and several hundred million in their bank accounts.…

He pushed the traitorous thought to the back of his mind. It was marring the joy he felt in the moment. He didn’t want to think about tomorrow—he only wanted to enjoy the moment.

And with that thought in mind, he bent his head to kiss Raina and rolled her over once again.…

* * *

H
e must have fallen
asleep because the next thing he felt was Raina shaking him awake.

“It’s morning, sleepy head, just a couple more minutes until the kids wake up,” Raina said apologetically. “They can’t see you here.”

“This early? It’s a Saturday!” Christian groaned.

Raina playfully pushed him toward the edge of the bed. “Kids don’t care about days off. They seem to have a sixth sense—sleeping in on school days, but up at the crack of dawn on a day off! So you’d better go!”

He laughed. “Alright, alright, I’m leaving but not before getting a kiss,” Christian said.

The kissed lasted for five minutes and he had to tear himself away.

By now he was fully awake, and he tiptoed his way out of Raina’s room and headed downstairs to the basement. It was six in the morning, and at that hour, Christian knew he would never get back to sleep. He took a shower and dressed for the day.

He hadn’t been back to his penthouse apartment in the high rise for days and he needed to touch base with the New York office and deal with a lot of business he’d been neglecting. There was only so much he could do on his smartphone on his breaks at the hotel and when he could steal a moment away from Raina and the kids. He’d left very competent people in charge in his absence, but there were still many things that needed his personal attention.

He texted his driver—he knew that no matter what time of the day or night, he would be waiting for Christian’s call and a short time later he was back in his cold and sterile penthouse.

Christian shed his shabby clothes and removed his contact lenses. He glanced at the mirror, longing to shave off the scraggly beard and the dyed hair, which had grown to lengths he had never kept before. He inspected the dark brown dye in his hair and was satisfied with it. Christian spent the next three hours reading and replying his emails.

He got one interesting email from Roger.

Evidently his uncle had found out why the Palm Beach Del Mar hotel was losing money. Roger was cryptic but promised that he would shortly give Christian all the details.

Interesting that he, Christian, had spent so much time at the hotel and learned nothing, other than everything at Del Mar was working well, yet Roger had gotten to the bottom of the problem. Then again, Christian realized that his investigation had stalled the moment he had taken a greater interest in Raina. He was annoyed of himself for losing sight of his mission.

Still, Christian felt uplifted by the news. The sooner this mess got straightened out, the sooner It meant that he could finally be honest with Raina. He was tired of walking around in old clothes and hiding who he was every day. He shut off his laptop and got ready for the rest of the day.