Everything That He Craves (#2) (An Alpha Billionaire BDSM Romance) (3 page)

Papers were spread out all around them, covering every surface.  Callie was coming to realize that Hunter’s creative process was...messy.  He tended to scribble notes everywhere whenever the mood struck him.  They were on the backs of cereal boxes, in the margins of newspapers and even on his own arm.

“Can you make this out?” he asked, holding his hand out to her.  “It got smudged.”

“Maybe you should try writing on actual paper like a normal person,” Callie pointed out as she leaned in and tried to decipher the words he had scrawled on his skin. 

When he had begun to tease her again, she had initially been reluctant to respond.  She had felt too guilty.  But bit by bit, she had started to meet fire with fire, and the banter helped.  So she couldn’t help but mock his organization skills – or lack thereof.

“Just tell me what it says!” he exclaimed.

“Well maybe if you’d hold still – or try writing legibly for a change – I’d be able to!” 

“My writing is just fine, thank you.”

“Ugh, you moved again!  Stop doing that!” Callie complained, grabbing his hand.

The second she touched him, she felt a spark of electricity.  She nearly jerked away.

Hunter was giving her a strange look.  “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she fibbed, her face still burning. 

The sexual tension between them was palpable.  At least she didn’t think she was the only one who felt it.  She wasn’t quite sure.  If Hunter was uncomfortable then he had a much better poker face than she did.  He was stoic, while she was practically melting into a puddle at his feet.

Callie couldn’t concentrate.  She was having trouble thinking about anything except the way his insistent mouth had felt pressed up against her lips, the way his hard cock had felt pressed up against her belly and the way his tongue had felt...

“Oh God,” Callie murmured.

“What’s wrong?”

She blinked and stared at Hunter vacantly.  Had she really said that aloud? 

“Nothing’s wrong,” she told him, hoping he wouldn’t notice the way she was devouring him with her eyes.  She was trying not to, really.  But she couldn’t help it.  It was though a force more powerful than her had taken over her body.

“Do you need to take a break?” he offered.

“No!” she told him a bit too forcefully.  “No.” 

She just wanted to get through it.  If they didn’t hurry up and call it a night, she was sure she was going to soak through her panties.  As it was, she had to keep her arms crossed unnaturally over her chest.  Her nipples were poking out obscenely. 

Oh, the hazards of writing an erotic novel with a painfully sexy billionaire...

“Alright, we’ll keep going then,” he agreed.  “I took some notes on that first sex scene you wrote,” he advised, somehow managing to come across as being professional and businesslike despite the lurid subject matter.  “Hopefully I can find them.” 

He grabbed one of his many notebooks and began to rifle through it. 

“Are you sure you didn’t write them on your arm?” Callie teased.

“No,” he shot back at once.  “I definitely remember jotting them down in a notebook.  Anyway, it doesn’t matter.  I think I can remember what I wanted to tell you.  I liked the way you set that scene up.  It was a smooth transition, it seemed natural.”

“Thank you.”

“What I think we can improve upon, though, is the moment the characters’ clothes come off,” Hunter explained.  “There’s all this build up, our protagonist is tied to the bed and then...then it just fizzles.  The details are all there, you covered that nicely just like I wanted.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Callie asked.

“It all seemed very...mechanical.  There was no feeling there.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I know you don’t,” Hunter said patiently.  “It’s the same thing I’ve been noticing in a lot of your writing.  Your fan fiction is rife with sex scenes that
almost
hit the nail on the head.  But they’re missing something.”

Callie looked frustrated by his criticism.  “If I’m so terrible at writing sex scenes then why did you ask me to ghostwrite an erotic novel for you?” she wanted to know.  “Why not get someone who’s better at it?”

“You have potential,” he told her, momentarily breaking eye contact.  “But you’re still missing something when it comes to the sex scenes.  I think this is where you need to draw on your own experiences, kind of like what we were talking about before.”

She said nothing.

“It’s the characters’ first time together.  We need to capture that newness, that unfamiliarity.  Think back to your very first time,” Hunter coached.  “Think about what you were feeling.  Anticipation...?  Nervousness...?  Excitement...?  Draw on that.  Use that in your characters.”

Callie stared at him, looking a bit stunned.

“What, you’re not like, a virgin or something, are you?” he joked in what was most likely a misguided attempt to break the ice. 

When had it become so frigid in there, anyway?  The fire was crackling away, but it no longer seemed to be providing any warmth.  It was as though a cold front had suddenly moved in and crystallized everything in its path.

“I don’t know,” Callie admitted, ducking her head and staring at her bare feet.

“Wait...what?  How can you not...?”  Hunter trailed off as Callie’s words sunk in.  “Oh.”

She still wouldn’t make eye contact with him.

He stood up and crouched down in front of her.  “Look at me.”

She raised her head, obeying the command, perhaps acting on autopilot.  Her eyes were glassy, but it was as though she was too stunned by her admission to even allow herself to cry.  She blinked and the tears receded. 

He reached out as though he intended to take her hand in his, but then he seemed to think better of it.  Instead, he rested his hand about an inch from hers.  His eyes were compassionate and his voice was gentle.  “What happened?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Something must have happened,” he reasoned.  “What was it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Try.”

“I don’t remember,” she insisted.  “Anyway, we should get back to work.” 

“We should take a break,” Hunter said, sounding remorseful and deeply concerned.

“We’ll never get through the first draft if we keep taking breaks.  Let’s just keep going, okay?  What other notes do you have for me?”  She picked up one of Hunter’s notebooks, mostly just so she could stare at it instead of him. 

She rifled through it and then stopped abruptly.

“Callie?”

She looked at him and saw the exact moment when understanding sunk in.  He stared at the pile of loose papers that were tucked away inside the notebook in horror.  He looked back up at her, his mouth agape as though he couldn’t think of anything to say.  And there was nothing
to
say.

How does one even begin explain what Hunter had done?

He tried to take the notebook from Callie before she could see anything more, but she held onto it.  Several papers fell out, landing on the couch and floor.  Hunter grabbed for them, but not before Callie picked them up.  All the color had drained out of his face.  He looked as white as a ghost.  He looked like he was about to be sick.

As for Callie, well, her complexion was ashen.

“I can explain,” Hunter said as she examined the papers more intently.

“You’ve printed out my fan fiction,” she told him.  “But you’ve only printed out the sex scenes.”

“It was for research!” he insisted.

“And the notes you’ve scribbled in the corners?” she demanded, glaring at him accusingly.  “Were those for research, too?  You have notes about everything you think I’m into and all the things you want to do to me,” she gasped, wide-eyed.

“I can explain!” Hunter said again, practically pleading.

“Can you?”

“Well...no,” he admitted.  “There’s probably no talking my way out of this, is there?  Look, I’m sorry okay?  I came across your fan fiction online and it turned me on. 
You
turned me on.  Long before I even met you, I had this...crush.”

“More like an obsession, by the look of it,” Callie snapped.  “You even printed out screenshots of a blog interview I did!  What
is
this?!  What sort of well-adjusted man has a crush on some anonymous, faceless person online?  Oh, that’s right.  A well-adjusted man
doesn’t
do that!”

“It’s messed up, I know. 
I’m
messed up.  You were this mystery at first, this...unknowable person hiding behind a pseudonym,” Hunter tried to explain. “It made me want to know you.”

“So you tracked down my real identity and showed up at my workplace?” Callie demanded, jumping to her feet.  “That is so not okay.  What did you think was going to happen, Hunter?”

“It’s not like that,” he protested.  “Well, maybe it is but...I don’t know.  I needed a ghostwriter, and I really did want you for your writing. And when I saw how beautiful you are, and I already knew we have the same kinks...  My imagination ran wild.  I’m sorry.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.  I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, taking a step closer.

“Stay back!” Callie said shrilly.  “I know self-defence!”

“I have no doubt that you do,” Hunter conceded, looking down at his thigh and grimacing.

She crossed her arms, glowering at him from where she stood in the middle of the room.  “Every single time you asked for details about my sex life, was it all just to get your rocks off?”

“No,” he insisted.  “Even if we had been writing about something completely innocent and non-sexual, I still would have tried to make you draw on your own experiences.  I’m sorry if it came across as creepy.  I may have gotten carried away.”

“You think?  Do you even get how crazy this all is?”

“Probably not,” Hunter confessed.  “I’ve been famous for close to two decades.  I’ve gotten a lot of crazy fan mail over the years and I suppose in some way it warped my idea of what was and wasn’t acceptable behavior.”

“Oh don’t blame your own inability to respect boundaries on being famous!” Callie scolded him.  “That’s a cop out if I’ve ever heard one.  At least have some personal accountability in all this.”

“What do you want me to say?” he sighed.

“I don’t know.”  Her tone was less confrontational now, and she’d uncrossed her arms.  She took a step closer and gave him a strange look.  “You were really willing to pay me a million dollars just because of a crush?”

“Well when you put it like that it sounds pathetic.”

She laughed, surprising them both. 

“Does this mean you’re
not
going to use self defence on me?” Hunter asked hopefully.

“As long as you don’t give me a reason to need to defend myself,” she replied.

“I’d never do that.”

She raised an eyebrow.  “I found out your secret, you know.” 

She wasn’t sure why she had blurted it out like that.  Maybe on some level she liked seeing the powerful, arrogant billionaire squirm.  She liked the satisfaction of knowing that despite his money, fame and ego, she had the upper hand. 

So she said it.

A look of absolute horror came over Hunter’s handsome face.  “Callie...”

She held up a hand to silence him.  “Anything you say now will probably only dig you deeper into your hole,” she advised.  “I know, I know, I shouldn’t have been snooping.  But I found the room with the red door and, well, now I’m curious.  Were you planning to take me in there?”

“Oh!” Hunter exclaimed, exhaling in relief.  “You found my play room!”

“Well...yeah.  What did you think I was talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he assured her quickly. 

Was Hunter sweating?  Callie couldn’t remember ever seeing him so rattled before.  The normally in-control billionaire had, for a brief moment, looked downright afraid.  What was that all about?  Or was she imagining things? 

He took a moment to regain his composure before speaking again.  “To answer your question, I...don’t know.  I guess in my fantasies I’d take you in there if you wanted it, yeah.  And in my fantasies, you always wanted it.”

Callie’s face was bright red and felt hot, but it wasn’t due to anger. 

“I suppose you think I’m a creep now,” Hunter surmised.

“Yes, absolutely,” she nodded.  “But that’s nothing new.”

Maybe she should have been more appalled by what Hunter had done. 

He had essentially stalked her and hired her under false pretenses.  Well, that was the more incriminating way of phrasing it, anyway.  At minimum, he had infringed on her privacy and entered into a business arrangement with her, all the while secretly harboring a sexual attraction to her.  That was bad.

But Callie still couldn’t believe the lengths he had gone to for
her
.

The thought that the gorgeous, successful, talented billionaire was interested in her nearly blew her mind!  She was nobody.  She lived a quiet and sometimes lonely little life.  Her friends were outgrowing her and her job wasn’t going anywhere.  She was a woman who spent her Friday nights alone in the bath with a good book and a big chunk of chocolate cake.