Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (10 Book Bundle) (98 page)

For the umpteenth time Keyonna wondered what the hell she was really doing. Yes, she felt insanely attracted to Nick. And yet was she ready to put herself in this situation? She barely knew anything about him and already she was feeling things she’d never thought herself able to feel. Hell, just half an hour ago she’d been moments away from having sex with him up on that bar stool just before the phone rang. And once again, she was getting entangled in his silken web of manly seduction and she was melting like an ice-cream cone.

Oh dear
. I can just see myself falling for him, realized Keyonna with a jolt. Stupidly, wildly, quickly. He’s all bad for me; I know he’s never going to feel close to the same way I do. He’s a viral stream in my blood and it’s going to take some serious emotional rehab to get him out of my system.

It was official: Keyonna was in deep trouble.

Forcing calm to rest over her racing nerves, Keyonna pulled back from the far too tempting sensation of his hard body and even harder arousal prodding her abdomen. He released her lips but wouldn’t let her completely go, grabbing her face once more as he gazed down into her eyes.

He scanned her features, making Keyonna flush as she became self-conscious, wondering what he was thinking. And yet his gaze was warm, appreciative, making a pool of heat settle inside her quivering belly.

“Perhaps I need to rephrase my earlier statement,” he said calmly, his tone in contrast with the black heat swirling in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have simply stated that I need a wife. I should have told you the whole truth – that it’s you I need, and not just any willing woman picked out from my ‘multitude’ of admirers.”

He smiled somewhat ironically, taking her hands and lifting both wrists to link behind his neck. Keyonna was brought as close to his formidably solid frame as any two people could be with their clothes still on. Keyonna could feel the thrilling firmness, the undeniable power of his masculinity as her soft body quivered against his.

“Do you feel what you do to me?” Nick rasped, running his hands down the sides of her hips, grabbing them and bringing her roughly against the throbbing thickness at his groin. Keyonna let out a tiny whimper of arousal as she came in contact with the undeniable swell of his own desire.

Tongue-tied, Keyonna felt torn
by the wish that she could pull back and place some distance between them – as well as the longing to get this gorgeously sexy man between her legs fast. Keyonna tried to calm her raging hormones, breathing in deeply as she closed her eyes so she could think with more rationality. A hard feat considering that Nick was now placing tiny kisses along her neck and up to her quivering mouth.

His lips were pressed lightly to the edge of hers, so tantalizingly close and yet, still out of reach as he murmured, “And it’s been that way since the first time I ever saw you. I don’t think I could ever forget that day. It was a meeting concerning my new luxury high rise apartments’ project. There were other people present but then you walked in and all I could think was
damn
.”

Nick plucked sensually on her bottom lip, his teeth nipping into the soft flesh. Keyonna’s palms spread flat over his chest and she was struck with surprise at how fast his heart was pounding beneath her touch.

“You had this air about you that only a man with ice in his veins could miss,” Nick went on in that hypnotically husky voice of his. “Never had a woman made a business suit look so hot. It wasn’t even super short or tight, but the way it hugged your thighs and that ass, it didn’t have to be.”

He suddenly chuckled, the sound stirring the tiny hairs on her skin, his sweet warm breath teasing her nostrils. “You’d come in and barely even spared me any attention above what the formality of the situation required. My manly pride was irked even as my cock grew so hard I had to stay seated behind a desk for the rest of the meeting. I’d never felt so physically drawn by any woman, not within seconds of meeting her. But with you it was different
; everything about you appealed to me on the deepest of levels. Your skin…so smooth and rich that it should have its own name.”

Nick lifted his fingers and trailed them down her bare arm, before running them up again.

By this time, Keyonna felt her secret folds saturate themselves with heedless desire for this man making love to her with his words, his voice. And now his hands, as they smoothed up to run through her scalp.

“Your hair…thick, black and glossy, framing your beautiful face with the soft bangs almost sweeping over one eye. It made me want to reach out and tuck the locks behind your ear to keep them from covering those beautiful eyes; dark, bright, round and seductive – all at the same time. And your lips – fuck, Keyonna. The things I thought about your lips
, that first time and since. So full and soft-looking, the outline perfectly shaped and tinted just the right shade; in short simply too kissable for words. Over and over I pictured them on my own lips, on my neck…my cock. Damn. I wanted you and it was almost impossible to hide it but hide it I did. I told myself to think of dead puppies, fat nuns – old saggy boobs. Anything to keep my insanely intense reaction to you a secret.”

Nick smiled wryly, his thumb smudging her lips gently as he stared down at her. “I know I’ve played the major asshole to you – but you could call it a
defensive mechanism. You have a way of getting to a man, and I didn’t want to fall. And yet, I have.”

Don’t
, Keyonna. Don’t listen, she warned herself frantically. His honeyed words, his sweet touch; the stroke of his lips across hers…it’s all just a ruse, she thought. He’d say anything to convince me to fall in with his marriage plans…

“Are you saying you’re in love with me?” Keyonna blurted out, finally finding the strength to edge away from the distracting pull of his beautiful mouth. She couldn’t think straight when he kissed her. Steeling her heart and her body’s weeping needs, she drew completely out of his hold while her eyes glared at him.

He released her, a twisted smile playing on his lips. “I should have known you’d ask that. Love…do I even know what that means?” He shrugged carelessly. “All I know – all that matters, is that we “vibe” in ways I haven’t felt with a woman in a long time – if ever. What’s that word they call it these days? Ah,
chemistry
. We’ve got good chemistry, Keyonna. And it goes both ways which is more than some so-called love-struck couples out there can claim.”

When he reached out again to grasp her chin with his thumb and forefinger, Keyonna didn’t flinch away, not when his touch was as caressing as his tone when he added softly, “I need you.”

“Just like you needed Rachel?”

Keyonna couldn’t help pricking him further. Couldn’t he see the many different ways in which this would never work? For one thing, there was no way she could settle for whatever he was asking; not with a man like him.

It would be a cold-blooded and calculated arrangement, and yet here he was citing the highly charged physical awareness they shared so instinctively for each other. Was that enough for her to agree to this farce? No way. Keyonna wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t born yesterday. She couldn’t hide the truth from herself that she was crazily attracted to him – could probably even be falling for him. And yet she wasn’t that desperate to have him that she’d allow herself to be used as a pawn in his billion-dollar stakes.

Her words made him sigh impatiently, his brow furrowing as his hand fell away from her chin. “I told you; I would have made do with her, yes. Rachel and I both knew the score. Two powerful and wealthy Italian-American families joining to cement their fortunes and friendships. Since we were younger, we’d had it at the back of our minds that we were meant to be husband and wife. There were moments when I considered resisting this impediment to my freedom of choice. But then out of respect for her father, I decided to stick with the program, so to speak. Besides, I’d already stopped believing in romance, or love. So I saw nothing wrong in progressing with an arranged marriage with no feelings involved. And then of course, my father died leaving that clause in his will commanding me to get married within a certain period. This narrowed my options even further. So I had no choice but to remain with Rachel anyway, because she was available and willing. And now she’s neither. Remind me again whose fault that is?”

Keyonna chewed on her bottom lip in confusion, deciding to ignore his sarcasm. Sighing, she replied, “I’ve apologized over and over for what I did, Nick. Kissing you at that party – it was totally out of line. Mark was pushing me to the end of my rope. And then you…you were being hateful, saying things that made me feel like germs found in a petri dish. And now you want me to
marry
you? Uh, uh. I’m not even going to consider it. Sorry. It’s a pity you came all this way on a lost cause, Nick. But that’s my final answer – in a word….no.”

Keyonna held his narrowed gaze with her chin raised high, forcing the quaking in her stomach to subside.

The slow, steady smile breaking on his lips did nothing to ease her apprehension, and she resisted the urge to wrap protective arms around herself.

“I was kind of expecting you to say that,” Nick murmured, that grim little smile on his face. “And I truly hoped that it wouldn’t have to come to this, but you’ve forced my hand, Keyonna.”

Keyonna frowned at his words and watched him retrieve an envelope from inside his suit, before holding it out to her.

“What are you talking about?” she asked suspiciously, her eyes fixed on him. “And what’s that?”

“Open it,” was all he said, handing her the envelope and turning away to look through the window.

Heart pumping faster, Keyonna opened the envelope, took out the folded sheets of paper and then scanned the printed lines with rising dread.

“How did you get hold of these?” Keyonna asked on a strangled gasp, her wide eyes flying to rest on his broad-shouldered back.

He merely shrugged, not bothering to look around. “I’m a powerful man, Keyonna. In more ways than just money. And yet in this case, my power
and
money did aid in letting me gain access to vital information – information that had me buying controlling shares in the same company financing your latest project.”

Keyonna could not conceal her dismay, the papers clutched in her hands. Just two months ago, Keyonna had pooled all her resources, her life’s savings – her very name, into a new real estate investment that was supposed to pour in returns in the next half-year.

It was the biggest move she’d ever made financially; a massive gamble that if it went as planned, would see her making enough money to go into early retirement if she wished. The kind of dough that would ensure she never had to worry about money again – as well as being able to build her own company and finally make the name for herself she’d always dreamed of doing.

That was the reason she’d felt irked with Mark for his unplanned and unwanted appearance. She had so much on her plate right now; she was finally on her way to the big time and she didn’t need a man holding her down.

But now, judging by the documents she’d just viewed, Nick could now single-handedly pull the plug on her deal of a lifetime – causing her to not just lose her money and her business, but to put her in debt for probably the rest of her life – it was either that or bankruptcy. Keyonna couldn’t hold back a shudder at the prospect of exactly everything that could go belly-up if he decided to go through with such a threat.

“You’d really do this? You’d hurt me?” Keyonna breathed to Nick’s implacable back as her chest tightened with disbelief and anger.

He finally turned to face her, walking up to where she stood like something turned to a pillar of salt. “Desperate measures, Keyonna. I’ve gotten to know enough about you to realize this is something you wouldn’t do, not willingly. You have a strong work ethic and sense of family loyalty. You’ve worked very hard to be where you are today. While studying at Columbia, you held down a job as well as did some modeling to meet your expenses. After college you chose not to be a career model and instead focused on your interior design career, getting interned with the best and putting yourself out there, working hard and working smart. Last year, you branched out and started your own business. You’re planning on a Master’s at Stanford and in the meantime, went into this high-risk investment scheme in the hope of finally hitting it big. You want it all, Keyonna. The money and the career. On your terms.”

He smiled thinly at her dazed expression. “Well, like I said Keyonna, I’m not that different from you. I’ll do whatever it takes to win, on my terms. It wouldn’t take much doing but yes, I can and will hurt you. But it needn’t be that way between us,” he added in a softened tone, his hooded eyes running meaningfully over her face and body. “It’s safe to say that I go to any length to make you mine. In every sense of the word. Just picture it if you can and you’ll see this would be the best move you’ve ever made. Marriage to me can’t be all that bad, can it? Think of all that money at your disposal as my wife. Your social status; the connections you can make as well as the respect you’d gain for being the next Mrs. Vitale.”

He had that hateful cold smile on his face, a mocking light coming into his eyes as he watched her conflicting expressions. “I’m quite sure I make a far better catch than Mark ever was – and let’s face it, I’m much more exciting.”

Keyonna pressed fingers to her temples and tried to calm down, fighting back the feeling that the walls were closing in on her.