Chapter 6
Simon popped open the door of the refrigerator with a flick of his wrist. “Diet Coke or water?” He reached for the Diet Coke, already knowing how she would answer.
“Diet Coke,” she affirmed, her attention distracted.
He flipped the top on the can and handed it to her. Opening a regular Coke for himself, he chugged half of the container down in seconds. Christ, no wonder Kara had been thirsty. He hadn’t been in the steamy room as long as her, but he was parched.
Lifting the can to her lips, she drank, but her gaze was fixed on the archway that led to the dining room.
Shit, he had completely forgotten his earlier errands. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” He gulped the rest of the can of soda and tossed the empty container in the trash.
Following her into the dining room, he scowled. She hadn’t said one word. Maybe Nina and Marcie had steered him in the wrong direction. Would she like any of it?
He’d tried to be organized about delivering stuff to the dining room: flowers on the table, candies on the chairs, jewelry and perfume gifts on the floor. Yeah, there were teddy bears and other miscellaneous stuff scattered around the room, but he had thought he had arranged things fairly well. “You don’t like any of it?” Damn it, he was firing his assistant and secretary in the morning. They had specifically told him that these were the things that made women feel good, special, cherished.
“Oh Simon, what did you do?” Kara ran a fingertip along the velvety surface of a red rose and tapped on one of the heart-shaped balloons, watching it sway back and forth through the air.
“Okay. Those two are definitely fired in the morning!” Fuck! He wanted to please her. Instead, she looked like she was traumatized. He knew he should have gotten other things, but the Veyron and the Mercedes had been full.
“Who are you firing?” She turned and looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Nina and Marcie. They told me that these types of gifts make a woman happy.”
Oh hell, he couldn’t fire either one of them. They did their jobs too well.
Honestly, it was his fault that he didn’t know a damn thing about how to romance his woman. But he was willing to try until he got it right. “We could go shopping. Pick something else,” he suggested, hoping she’d let him take her, see what she thought was romantic.
“You asked Nina and Marcie for advice?”
“Yeah.”
“Simon, this is incredible. I don’t know what to say.” Her voice was tremulous as she bent down and picked up a fluffy brown teddy bear and held it against her chest in a death grip. “I think Marcie and Nina were giving you suggestions. They didn’t mean for you to buy everything.”
Damn it. She sounded like she was going to cry. He fucking hoped she didn’t. “I don’t know your favorite flower. Or what kind of candy you like. I don’t really know your favorite color. Shouldn’t a guy know those things? Shouldn’t I know how to please you?” he answered, his voice disgruntled.
Dropping the stuffed bear gently to the floor, she turned to him. “You didn’t need to do all this. I’ve never even gotten flowers before.”
What did he do? He went shopping. Big fucking deal! Sure, he’d usually rather have a root canal than go shopping, but for the first time, he’d enjoyed it. “I went shopping. It wasn’t exactly a big effort.” At the last minute, because he had only just realized that it was Valentine’s Day. How pathetic was that? Thank God for Nina’s thoughtful husband!
“You did all of this for me.” Her arm stretched out, motioning toward the full dining room. “The flowers are beautiful. I love them all. I want a piece of that candy so badly that I can taste it already, and everything else is so overwhelming that I’m speechless. I would have been over the moon with a few flowers or a card. You didn’t need to do this. It’s more gifts than a woman gets in a lifetime. But it isn’t the things that amaze me. It’s you. Your desire to make me happy. You’re the most incredible man on the planet. That’s why I love you.” She took a long sip from her can of soda and set it on a small, available area of the table.
He caught her body as it rocketed into his arms, savoring her softness as she pressed against him. Warm lips nuzzled his cheek and the side of his neck. As he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, her body gliding slowly along his until her feet touched the floor, he decided that maybe he would give Marcie and Nina a raise instead of a lecture in the morning.
“You’re insane. You know that, don’t you?” Pulling back, she planted a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. “But I love that about you.”
Okay. He was willing to be bat-shit crazy if it made her love him more.
Giving him an adoring look, she added, “But one gift next time, okay? Or a card.”
Oh, hell no. He wasn’t getting roped into that promise. “We’ll see.” His answer was noncommittal.
“Wait. I have something for you.” She pulled away from him and scampered to her room.
She returned with a small gift bag, decorated with hearts and little devils. “The bag was definitely screaming your name.” Shooting him a mischievous smile, she handed him the bag. “I don’t really have my own money to spend, so I had to improvise.”
“You need more money? Why didn’t you tell me?” He glowered at her, pissed that she hadn’t told him that she needed cash.
“I don’t need you to give me anything more. I want you to take some of it back. I have almost a hundred grand in my bank account. I don’t need it, Simon.” She met his eyes with a stubborn tilt of her chin.
“You haven’t spent hardly any of it. How in the hell are you living, taking care of your needs?”
She snorted. “You take care of my needs. What in the hell do I need money for? I don’t have one single need or want. I’m living like a spoiled brat right now. All I have to do is mention something and it magically appears. I don’t need to buy one single thing.”
“Women love to shop. Buy things. Even when they don’t need them.” Hell, he knew that much from his mom. Her favorite activity was shopping.
“Not me. I’d rather be reading. Or playing Myth World II, if I have time. I have every comfort, every need met.” She reached a hand to his face, tracing his lips lightly, running the back of her hand softly over his five o’clock shadow. “The only recurring need I have is you.”
She was trying to distract him, and damn him, it was working. “The money was a gift. You’re keeping it,” he snarled, determined that she wouldn’t get her way by getting his cock hard...which it was. Extremely hard. Totally ready.
“I’m not keeping it.” She placed a soft kiss at the side of his mouth. “Open the bag.”
He had all he could do not to strip that fuck-me robe from her body and devour her whole. His whole body was tense as he opened the gift bag, trying not to think about his pulsating cock and his nearly impossible-to-ignore compulsion to be driving into her body right at the moment.
His head jerked up before he could finish the task, suddenly remembering that he needed to tell Kara that the other asshole who had tried to abduct her was in jail. “They caught the other guy today. He’s in jail. You probably have a message from Harris.”
“Oh, thank God. You can call off the security. I think they intimidate some of my fellow students. They don’t exactly keep a low profile anymore.” Her voice was light, but her body visibly relaxed.
He saw the relief on her face. No matter how much she denied that the man had been a threat, he knew it had bothered her, knew that she was still frightened. She’d have to be a fool not to be. She had come too damn close to losing her life on the day they had injured her. “Not happening. The security stays.”
“I don’t need them anymore-”
“No! I can’t take the risk of something happening to you. There are too many crazy people out there and I’ve made enemies over the years.” Granted, he hadn’t pissed as many people off as his brother Sam had, but you couldn’t become a billionaire without having a few people out there who hated your guts. “The security stays.”
He pulled on the red tissue paper in the bag, sending pieces of heart-shaped paper fluttering to the carpet. He caught one in his hand, clutching it tightly, before it hit the floor. She dipped a hand into the bag and pulled out the material that lay at the bottom.
She held up the black silk boxer shorts by the elastic. Generally a boxer-briefs type of guy, he stared for a moment before his lips curved upward. The black silk was dotted with little devils and hearts.
“They’re so...you, Simon.” She wiggled her eyebrows and the underwear at the same time. “You’ll look hot. Not that you don’t already, but all I could think about was how sexy they’d look on you.” She pulled the material to her face, nuzzling the soft silk.
He stared at her with horny fascination, imagining his cock inside those boxer shorts, her lips on the material. Holy fuck! Those particular underwear had just become his very favorite. He didn’t give a shit if he didn’t usually wear traditional boxers.
“I already took the tags off. Try them on so I can take them off later.” She held them out to him with a seductive smile.
He had his robe open in seconds and the shorts over his hips a moment later. He shuddered as he felt the soft brush of her delicate hands on his shoulders as she slipped his robe completely off, leaving him standing before her in his new pair of favorite underwear.
“Hot. Definitely very hot,” she whispered.
The needy, breathy sound of her voice nearly made him come undone. Actually, he liked the feel of silk next to his skin, caressing his engorged member. And he positively loved the look of hunger in his woman’s eyes as they roamed over his body, narrowing on the bulge at his crotch.
She didn’t bother to hide her desire for him and it made him insane. “What’s this?” He opened his fist, exposing the tiny cardboard heart. Flipping it over, he saw the handwritten words.
Good For One Wish!
He looked up at her, perplexed. She was worrying her bottom lip, looking anxious.
“It’s a heart-wish. I didn’t really have my own money-” She held her hand up as he drew in an audible breath to argue. “Don’t start that again. Anyway, I made these up. You can cash them in any time. They’re good for one wish or favor that you want from me. Anything that you can think of that’s in my power to grant you.”
“Anything?” His heart pounded as his mind filled with images.
She raised a brow. “Anything I’m capable of doing.”
“I wish you would keep the money I put in your bank account and not argue about the security.” Feeling a little guilty that he was using his gift against her, he frowned.
She gave him a look that his mother used to give him as a child. It was the dreaded “I’m-so-disappointed-in-you” look. Fuck! That hurt.
She folded her arms in front of her. “That wish interferes with my morals and values. Plus, that’s two wishes. Not fair.”
“Compromise?” he breathed softly, not liking the disgruntled look on her face.
Her face softened. “I’m open.”
“Keep the money in your account. Use it if you need to. I’m not saying you have to keep it forever. Just keep it for now. Until you graduate and get a job. We can renegotiate later.” Of course, he’d refuse to take it back later. But this was now, and he wanted her to be safe if anything ever happened to him.
“Wish granted.” She let her arms slide down her body and planted them on her hips. “Security?”
“Let me leave the security in place, but I’ll make them back off. You’ll barely know that they’re there. But let me keep security on you.” Holding his breath, he watched her expression. “For my peace of mind, Kara. For me.”
“I’ll do it for you provided they back off and quit scaring my classmates. Wish granted.” She snatched the paper heart from his hand and tore it up.
He dropped to the floor, searching frantically for the other heart-wishes. “How many were there?” He’d found two. Seeing another one lying under the table, he crawled forward, totally oblivious of the carpet burns on his knees. He wanted every one of those bad-boys in his hot little hand. They were definitely made of solid gold.
“Five,” she choked out with a laugh.
He heaved a sigh of relief as he snagged the last one from the carpet. As he stood, she had her hand out and an expectant look on her face. “What?” No way was she getting another one to tear up.
“You made two wishes. You owe me one of those.”
“I compromised,” he said heatedly. Compromise should count for something. It wasn’t like he did it every day, or for just anybody.
“Gimme,” she answered, wriggling her fingers.
Oh, hell. He had gotten his way. Mostly. Pulling one of the small hearts from his palm reluctantly, he handed it over with a grunt. “Can I have these every holiday?”
“We’ll see,” she muttered vaguely, a secret smile on her lips, as she tore up the paper.
“What did you mean when you said you’d never gotten flowers? You had a long-term boyfriend.”
She sighed heavily. “He didn’t do gifts. Thought they were a waste of money. Especially flowers, because they eventually die.”
“No offense, sweetheart, but why in the hell did you stay with him for so long?” His jaw clenched, wishing he could beat the hell out of her ex.
“I honestly don’t know. It probably had something to do with the death of my parents. I missed them. I felt so alone after they died. I guess I was pretty young, vulnerable, and stupid.” Her voice was forlorn.
Simon hated the bastard even more. She had been young and alone, stunned after losing her parents. He wished he could have been there for her then.
But he was here now. He pulled her unresisting body into his arms, vowing to protect her from this moment on. “Never again, baby. You’ll always have me. I’ll never let you be lonely.”
Neither one of us will ever be lonely again.
He took the clip from her hair and dropped it on the floor. As he ran a soothing hand over the silky strands, he realized that he had been lonely his entire life. He’d just never really recognized it. “I’ve been waiting for you forever,” he whispered to her in a husky voice. Somehow, he had known her from the moment he saw her. Not with his eyes, but with his heart.
And God, how he needed her.
She pulled away from him slightly to see his face. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. He could see her love, her heart glittering in her eyes. He traced her lips with his fingers, moving slowly to her cheeks and down her neck, savoring the softness beneath his fingertips. He drew invisible initials on her exposed cleavage, left bare by his too-big robe. His initials, tracing over them again and again, needing to stake his claim on this woman who drove him to ecstasy and to the edge of sanity.
“Simon.” She whimpered his name, pulling his head down to her lips.
He groaned into her embrace as her hands stroked over his shoulders, loving the feel of her fingers on his heated flesh, a touch so exquisite that his heart was thundering against the wall of his chest.
Needing to make her his, claim her, he thrust his tongue into her mouth with desperation, his need so intense that it was almost painful. The possessive beast in him sighed as she opened for him, letting him in, asking for more. He plundered until they were both breathless, panting. Pulling back, he sucked in a deep breath, nibbling at her lower lip, unable to separate himself from her, but also needing to have her naked.
He moved back, cupping one of her silk-clad breasts, running a finger around the prominent nipple. “Do you remember what I told you about this robe,” he rumbled against her lips, tracing them with the tip of his tongue.
“Every word,” she answered in a low, sexy voice. “I have very fond memories of this robe.”
“Me too,” he replied hotly, reluctantly releasing her and pulling one more tiny heart from his other hand. “But right now I wish you would get naked.”
With a graceful move, she swept the heart from his fingers and tore it up. Slowly, she opened the front tie of the garment, letting the silk glide effortlessly off her shoulders. He swallowed hard as her perfect breasts appeared and the garment caught at her elbows for a heart-stopping moment, before it slid to the floor in a pool of shimmering black.
He had to force himself to breathe, make the air move in and out of his lungs. She was so fucking beautiful. So very his.
Mine.
“I love these fucking hearts,” he rasped, his hand clenched tightly around the remaining two.
Her gorgeous blue eyes danced, but they were also hot with desire. “You wasted that one. I would have done it for nothing. I need you.”
I need you.
His soul echoed her desire, his body clamoring, clawing to possess what belonged to him. His cock was as hard as marble, ready to be buried in her wet, hot pussy. At this point, he was afraid he was going to explode the moment he buried himself inside her. He tucked the tiny hearts beneath a placemat on the table for safekeeping.
She took a step forward, bringing her silken skin against his, making him shudder. Her hand fluttered gently against the material of his boxers, stroking his ready-to-explode cock like it was a treasured pet.
He moved her hand and swept her up into his arms, unable to wait a moment longer. “Time for bed.”
“About time,” she murmured against his shoulder, obviously impatient.
Immediately, his mind shifted from his cock to the wanting woman in his arms. His woman. She needed him, wanted him to pleasure her, sate her needs. He’d get his satisfaction, but she came first. She would always come first. Literally.