FREE (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 16) (3 page)

In the darkness, she saw Brayden’s face, his eyes, that wry smile.

In the darkness, she’d found the truth of herself and the man she’d come to love.

After her bath, Brayden had fixed her a simple meal of toast and jelly and bacon strips on the side. She ate it curled up in bed with the television on, the tray of food beside her.

She watched some silly Tom Cruise film from the eighties and laughed and smiled, and ate. The food tasted incredible.

Everything felt like a dream—a beautiful, perfect dream—only real.

It was so vivid.

Life, she thought, was better and more rich and complicated than any fantasy.

Even the horrible parts contained the seeds of beauty and redemption. But in order to find that out, you had to be willing to cross the desert and walk through fire.

Brayden showered while she ate, and then he came out of the bathroom in his white t-shirt and white boxers.

His body looked as delicious to her as the meal she’d just eaten.

“Should I take that tray now?” he asked, smiling. “Or are you going to eat the plate as well?”

Lanie smirked as she licked the jelly from her fingertips. “Maybe I will eat the plate,” she said. “Or maybe I’ll need something else to put in my mouth.” She raised an eyebrow at him suggestively.

He grabbed the tray and lifted it, shaking his head. “What you need is rest.”

She slid under the covers. “I don’t need anything right now,” she sighed, relaxing that much more as her body felt the soft silken sheets and her head sank down into the pillow. “Well, I do need one more thing…”

“Yes?” he asked, turning back to her as he was carrying the tray out of the bedroom.

“I need your body next to me,” she said, the smile fading. “Right away.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

He made good on his word, climbing into bed next to her and then sliding his fresh, hard body up against hers as she curled into his arms.

His lips kissed her cheek and then her neck. “Don’t ever frighten me like that again, Lanie,” he whispered. “For awhile there, I was sure I would lose you.”

“You’ll never get rid of me now,” she said.

“That’s a promise?” he said.

“A promise,” she laughed.

They snuggled closer, and she breathed his scent deeply into her nostrils, drank him in—his body, his soul, intertwining so perfectly with hers. Never in her wildest imagination would she have thought they could truly come together so perfectly as they had.

“I thought I’d been turned to stone,” he said softly.

She started to drift to sleep despite her best intentions to stay awake and drink him in.

“You? Turned to stone?” she smiled, drifting further.

“Then I met you and I found out that there was a river flowing inside my heart, just waiting for you to sail into it,” he said. “And for the first time in my life, I understand what it means to feel human. I love you so much, my Lanie.”

“I love you so much,” she murmured, knowing that the darkness was safe.

Safe and filled with the dream and reality of him.

* * *

W
hen Lanie awoke
the next day, Brayden was on the phone in the next room. She could hear his voice murmuring.

Her stomach turned over, firstly because she was so happy to be warm and safe and in Brayden’s home with him. But then her stomach twisted again, as she recalled the last time they’d spent the night together.

In the morning, Brayden had been a different person.

They’d fought.

She didn’t want to believe that it could happen again, even though she knew anything was possible.

No. He won’t hurt me again. He promised
.

Her heart began thudding against the inside of her ribcage, as she got up and started across the room. When she got to the doorway, she stopped and listened once more.

“I’m not going to do that. I don’t care if people suddenly think she’s more amazing than Princess Diana.” Brayden’s voice was low. “I don’t care about the fucking company,” he said, his voice rising louder now. “I’ll build another one. As long as I have her by my side, I don’t really give a shit.” There was another long pause and then he spoke up once more. “I’m not going to use my future wife to parade around for sympathy,” Brayden said. “I love this woman, and what she went through for me…” his voice sounded suddenly choked with emotion. “I don’t deserve her love, but you can damn well bet I’m going to make sure I do everything in my power to earn it from now on. Tell the PR team to go screw. I’m going to go live my life now, and maybe I’ll talk to you down the line.”

Lanie felt a surge of relief as Brayden came out of the other room and saw her standing there.

She smiled at him but there were tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t help overhear your conversation,” she said.

Brayden was still in his boxers and t-shirt. “Why do you look so sad?” he asked.

“It’s not sadness,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s relief. I thought when I woke up…what if last night was just a fluke? What if you’d changed your mind about me?”

Brayden grabbed her hands in his. His expression was pained. “I would never change my mind about you. I need you to believe me.”

Lanie nodded, the feeling of relief so sweet in her heart. “I just got scared for a second. I was afraid maybe this was all going to end.”

He pulled her close to him and held her close, his cheek pressing against her cheek as he spoke softly. “This isn’t going to end. If you heard the conversation, then you already know what my intentions are.”

She smiled and nodded, too emotional to really speak. He had called her his future wife. Even now, after hearing him say the words, Lanie still couldn’t quite believe her ears. “So what was that stuff you were saying on the phone about me and Princess Di?” she asked, finally.

He stroked her hair and then pulled back and looked at her. “Well, you’re a big star now,” he chuckled. “Ever since you gave those people outside my building last night a piece of your mind, the clips of it have been circulating on line. You’re now a viral internet sensation, Lanie.”

She felt her cheeks flush. “That’s a bit horrifying.”

“The PR team wanted me to do a whole bunch of promotion for my company based on you and me and our relationship. But I told them no. I just want to be together,” he said. “Fuck Hookup, fuck all of the nonsense about a damn app that helps people screw each other and then move on to the next conquest. I have better things to do with my time.”

Lanie gulped. “Better things like—“

Suddenly, Brayden got down on one knee, taking her hands in his and staring up into her eyes. “Better things like making sure that you’re always taken care of, always loved, and always the most important thing in my life.” He smiled, and in that smile, Lanie saw the intensity and depth of all they had experienced and been through together in such a short time. “Lanie Day, will you please do me the honor of marrying me, and making my life complete?”

She laughed, closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh of relief. “Yes, Brayden. Nothing could make me happier.”

When she opened her eyes, he was still there. His eyes were glistening with unshed tears. “God damn, you’re a beautiful sight,” he said, his voice husky.

“You’re making me blush,” she told him.

“I know that I don’t have a ring on me at the moment—“ he started.

“I don’t care about that,” Lanie said.

He squeezed her hand gently. “But I want you to know that I’ve got it in the other room. I bought it when I thought you were just out for a few hours with Ivy and Cullen, before I knew you’d been kidnapped. I was going to wait until later on, when we went out to dinner to propose on the rooftop of a beautiful building. But this is even better.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. “That’s what I love about you,” she said.

“My unpreparedness?”

“I love that you don’t care about all of the frills and nonsense. All I really need to be happy is you, Brayden. Not some fancy ring—just you.”

He stood up, wrapping his hands around her waist. “Well, as it turns out, you get me and a fancy ring.” He leaned in and gave her a long kiss. “Hold on just a second,” he told her, and then he went into the other room again.

When he came back out, he was holding a small ring case. Brayden presented it to her, lifting the top and revealing a gorgeous diamond ring that rivaled even the one Ivy wore on her finger.

“That’s too much,” she gasped. “Brayden, with everything that’s going on with your company, can we really afford that?”

He laughed. “I’m not quite in the poorhouse just yet,” he said. Taking the ring out, he slid it onto her finger delicately. “Sure, the shares of Hookup stock are pretty much worthless now, but I have plenty of money from the initial bonuses I was paid for, as well as my salary from the last few years—which has been quite substantial.”

Lanie stretched her fingers wide and looked at the engagement ring as it caught the light and sparkled on her finger. “Wow,” she said. “Just…wow.”

“So you like it?”

“I do,” Lanie said.

Brayden reached out and caressed her hair. “I just don’t want you to worry about me, or us, or the money. I know how to make money. That’s never been my problem.”

She sighed. “I know that. You’ve got way bigger problems, especially now that you’re stuck with me.”

“We’re stuck with each other,” he said. And now he pulled her in again for another, much longer kiss.

“I’m so gross, I need a shower,” she said, squirming from his grasp.

“That makes two of us,” Brayden told her. “Come on.”

He led her by the hand into the master bath, and then he turned on the shower and stripped quickly, stepping out of his boxers and pulling off his t-shirt.

Lanie undressed too, as Brayden stepped into the shower, his muscular, lithe body moving with ease as the water poured down his skin.

She couldn’t believe her eyes.

I can’t understand how it happened. I fell in love with a gorgeous, smart and caring guy.

I fell in love and he actually loves me back. Is this real? Did I lose my mind somewhere along the line? Am I stuck in some fantasyland? Because things like this don’t happen to people like me.

But there he was, his bare skin dripping, and he beckoned her to come into the shower with him.

Lanie walked into his strong embrace, and he pulled her close and his lips were on her lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth.

She reached down and stroked his hard cock, feeling his desire for her, as his hard shaft pressed greedily into her palm.

“Wait,” he said, pulling back from her grasp, his gaze concerned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, searching his face for clues.

“I’m afraid maybe you’ve been through too much. Your body’s been through an ordeal and I don’t want to hurt you.” He shook his head. “Maybe we should take it slow, not do this yet.”

“Brayden,” she said, grabbing his dick again. “What I need right now is to get fucked by my fiancé. And if you take it easy on me, I’ll never forgive you.” She smiled a little, and then he grinned back at her.

“Damn, I’ve been wanting you,” he said. “In every way.” His voice was thick with desire, and he allowed her to grasp his shaft more firmly, his belly tightening and flexing as he began pushing his dick into her hand while she stroked him.

The water pounded down on them and around them as the heat and steam increased.

“Oh, Brayden,” she moaned, as his hand slid down her belly and between her legs, his fingers working against her slick opening. Her buttocks tightened as he slid two fingers deep into her slit, pushing through, sliding in and out, as his thumb gently stimulated her clit.

She stroked his cock faster, moaning as he kissed her and slid his fingers in and out, as her juices soaked his hand and the hot water poured down over the both of them.

Her nipples stiffened and she felt him pushing his body towards her. Soon, she was pressing backwards into the shower wall, the moist tiles slightly cooler against her back.

Brayden was fucking her pussy with his fingers now, and she’d let go of his dick, her legs shuddering as he fingered her swollen mound.

“Oh, shit,” she moaned.

“I need to slide my cock into you, all the way,” he growled.

She turned around, pushing her palms against the wall, sticking her butt out and spreading her legs as he pressed into her from behind.

“Fuck me,” she said.

“I’m going right into that tight, wet pussy,” he whispered into her ear, and then she felt it—his cock, spreading her wide.

“You’re so big,” she moaned.

There was the slap of skin on skin as his hips crashed into her from behind.

“You’re so tight and wet, you make me want to come,” he told her, as his hips swiveled and his hardness seemed to fill her hole completely. She was gripping him, and his movement was sending shivers of delight all through her body.

Goosebumps raised on her skin, all over her body. She threw back her head and moaned even louder as his strong hands slid up her belly and then grabbed her breasts, squeezing tightly.