Red Hot Revenge (Erotic Romance) (Dominated by the Billionaire) (3 page)

“So what do you suggest?” he asked, ignoring her
accusations. “Forget the past ever happened? Forget how you made me a laughing
stock of all our friends? You were the spoiled rich girl, while I was the
classic geek on a scholarship who fell for the cheerleading Queen. The tables have
certainly turned now, haven’t they?”

“I never saw you that way, Jason!” she replied
emphatically. “I cared for you – a lot! It’s just…things went out of
control with Roy. I never meant to…”

Jason lifted a hand, effectively cutting her off.
“I’m not here to play the blame-game, Bella. I need an answer to my proposition
and that is all I care to hear from you.”

Bella sighed raggedly. She could say “no”, but
that would destroy any chance that she had of getting her life back on track.
But damn it to hell if she was just going to lie down and take it like he
wanted her to. She finally looked up at him and said, “Do I get time to think
about this?”

She could see the look of gloating in his eyes, knew
he thought he’d already won.

“You have until tomorrow,” he said brusquely,
making her head shoot up in surprise. “As you know, time is of the essence, so
I see no need for procrastination, do you?” He sent her a thin smile. “If you
don’t show up here same time tomorrow, I’ll know your answer is “no”. That
gives you, oh…about twenty four hours to make up your mind.”

“How generous of you,” she said, her own tone
tinged with sarcasm. “You must have had this all thought out the minute you saw
my name on that file. Well, Jason, I hope you don’t end up regretting this.”

“How can I?” he murmured, with that irritatingly
careless shrug of his. “When either way, I win? If you refuse, you still pay.
And if you say yes…” He left the sentence unfinished, but Bella didn’t need to
hear more. He was definitely right; either way, she lost. She just had to
figure out which was worse…losing her dignity and pride, or losing all she’d
ever worked for…

* * *

Bella wasn’t sure how she’d left that office, or
how she’d made it back home. All she knew was that she was standing inside her
living room, staring into space and wondering how things had just gone from bad
to worse.

Seeing Jason again, coming face to face with his
frosty thirst for revenge – she hadn’t exactly foreseen that when she’d
woken up that morning.

She had to remember that she had only a certain
number of hours in which to make her decision. The bastard! His misplaced
desire to make her suffer in some way for the past was going to cost her more
than she ever dreamed. In her heart, she knew she should tell him to go to
hell. But could she pay the ensuing price?

“Bella? Is that you?”

Bella turned sharply, dashing the tears from her
cheeks and pasting a smile on her lips as she faced the woman who’d just walked
into the living room.

“Hello, mom,” she said, and hoped she sounded
normal, and she moved forward to embrace her mother.

“You’re back so early. Is anything wrong, are you
unwell?” the older woman asked with concern. Katy Turner was still a very
beautiful woman, but a frail one ever since she’d had to fight off cancer for a
whole year. Now, she still had several treatments to go before she could be in
the clear. Treatments Bella had to make sure were paid for.

Bella swallowed down a sigh, and then pulled back
to look into her mother’s face. “I had a meeting earlier, mom. It really took a
lot out of me. I decided to come home instead to rest…and think.” She patted
the only slightly wrinkled cheeks of her mother with tenderness. “Or maybe I’ll
just hang out with you. What are you up to?”

Katy Turner smiled, not really fooled by her
daughter’s bright face and words. But she decided not to push. “I was just
about to go into the garden, dear. My green fingers have been itching all
morning to put those seeds in. It’s a few days early, but…”

Bella wrapped an arm around her mother’s waist. “I
think it’s a great idea, mom. Let’s grab some gloves and an apron.” That, would
at least, take her mind off her immediate problems. When her mother had walked
in and Bella had seen her, with her graying blonde hair only just growing out
after all that chemotherapy…she’d known what her answer to him was going to be.
If she had only herself to worry about, then she’d have told him where to stick
his filthy proposition. But there was her mother, whose expensive medical bills
had to be seen to, among other things. Bella thought of facing Jason again the
next day with her answer – and an involuntary shudder passed through her.
Only heaven knew what lay in store…

* * *

"So you actually came."

The triumph, the scorn that laced
his words was enough to make her want to turn right back around and leave. But
she stayed still in the middle of his expansive, ultra-modern office. She’d
been shown in just a minute ago, and her heart hadn’t stopped pounding in confusion,
anger, and helplessness. Bella knew what she had to do, but it was the
how
that worried her…

"Yes, I came," she said
through gritted teeth, "but only to see if I could talk some sense into
you one last time. Jason..."

"No begging, Bella," he
said coldly, face set in stone now as he rose to his feet in irritation.
"It didn't work yesterday; it certainly won't work now. I'm afraid
absolutely nothing could possibly convince me to change my mind."

Bella felt tears of anger sting the
back of her eyes, choking her throat. "Why are you doing this, Jason, when
you can have any woman you want?"

"Ahh, but that’s not true, is
it Bella?”, he declared huskily, moving forward to where she stood still as a
pillar of salt. “I couldn’t have you.”

Bella forced herself not to flinch
when he placed himself behind her, his hands falling heavily on her shoulders
as he whispered in her ear, "A man never really gets over his first love,
you know. That first youthful, erotic fantasy… You sweetheart, have clouded
every single love affair I've ever had since we parted. Every beautiful woman
I've ever fucked...it was always your face I saw. Even those times I'm deep
inside her and she’s calling out my name, it's your voice I hear telling me,
"
I'm coming Jason, I'm coming..."

He laughed deeply when she shrunk
from his lips, tossing her head angrily. And then his voice hardened. “I want
you like
this
, helpless, needy, desperate. I want it this way because
it's dirty and nasty and wicked. And it's going to feel so damn good."

He's obsessed, she thought
despairingly, the breath coming fast in her chest. She whipped round to face
him. "So, if I do what you say, what then?"

She cringed to hear herself say the
words. Hated herself for even thinking it. But she couldn't think about herself
at such a time, could she? There was her ailing mother for one thing. Could
Bella throw away her mother’s well being on some stupid sense of self-worth and
dignity? Her business had kept the family going for so long; if she lost it,
she lost everything.

Bella cursed her cheating, thieving
boyfriend for the umpteenth time for his part in putting her in this situation.
If she ever got her hands on him, she'd...
All train of thought fled from her mind as Jason
reached out a hand to trace the line of her jaw with his fingertips, before
they dipped past her shoulder blade to trail down the lapels of her jacket. Her
heart began to pound faster than ever as she looked up into his blazing,
darkened gaze. The searing heat of lust in them almost made her feel faint with
sickening anticipation. Why he had such power over her, she could never tell.
There was an almost animal magnetism oozing from him that even she couldn’t
deny. Raw, untamed and fierce – it seemed strong enough to engulf her in
its flames.

“If you do what I say,” he returned
calmly as his hand fell away, “Then I’ll call off the debts. Postpone them till
you’ve got ample time to work things out. How’s that for a fair deal?”

Swallowing convulsively, she made
herself say, “Oh, I think you can do better than that, Jason. For three nights
of sex, I want the debts cancelled. All of them.”

He paused, then chuckled softly as
he shook his head. “Making demands now, are we? I knew you’d want more. Okay,
Bella. I’ll give you exactly what you want if you do the same.  Consider
it a deal.”

A ragged breath escaped her at his
flippant reply. “So, what now?”

“Just be ready for me tonight.”

Her head shot up from the paper she
held in her hand. “Tonight?”

“When I pick you up for our date, of
course,” was his casual reply. Bella gritted her teeth to keep herself from
saying anything. But there was more to come. She watched as he reached behind
his desk and unearthed a small shopping bag, inscribed with the name of a
prestigious lingerie boutique.

“I’ve got a little something I
thought you’d like,” he murmured, and gave her the bag.

Bella looked inside to find a
sinfully skimpy pair of lacy panties and a matching bra, her perfect size. She
glared up at him. “You were so sure I’d give in, weren’t you?”

“I knew you were a smart woman,
yes,” he said with a shrug, his smile thinning as he added, “I’d like you to
wear that tonight, for me. You needn’t bother with anything else…except maybe a
coat.”

“So it’s straight to the point, is
it?” she muttered scathingly. “What ever happened to handling things with a bit
of care? No wining and dining me before fucking my brains out?”

A grin crossed his harshly handsome
face, and for a second, he looked almost human.

“Well, you’ll have to forgive
my…exuberance. I must confess I literally can’t wait to have you. But then
again, we’ll still have two other nights...”

She turned away in disgust from his
smug expression, slamming her way out of the office to the sound of his mocking
laughter.

***

The more she told herself it wasn’t
happening, the easier it seemed to bear it. When Jason showed up outside her
home to pick her up, she didn’t say a word before getting in next to him in his
powerful automobile. He wasn’t in a talkative mood either, thankfully. He
merely sent her a mocking smile before driving them off into the night.
In less than half an
hour, he was stopping them in front of a very exclusive hotel. The kind that
one night spent in any of its rooms was equivalent to her six months’ rent.

“Flashy car, fantastic job, and now
a night at an expensive hotel. Looks like you’re living large, aren’t you?”
were the first words she spoke to him, her tone far from flattering. She sent
him a cold, mocking glance. “A far cry from your scholarship days, huh?’

He shrugged off the barb with a
mocking smile of his own. “Moving up in the world has its perks, certainly. For
one thing, it means I can prey on helpless little women such as yourself.”

Helpless little…I’ll show you
helpless, she vowed vengefully, stepping out of the car as Jason too, got out
and handed the keys to the valet. Bella swore then and there that the first
chance she got, she was going to make him pay for this…

* * *

It’s not happening...it’s not
happening
, she
chanted in her head, breathing in and out deeply as Jason held open the door of
the suite, his dark eyebrow raised questioningly. She entered without a word,
and stood waiting as she heard him come in behind her, locking the door
securely after him.

Without preamble, he grabbed her
arm, twisted her round and tugged her hard against him. His lips covered hers
in a trice, grinding her lips strongly against her teeth. She whimpered and
fought against him, trying to shove him back. "Let me go, damn you!"

Jason drew back with a smile, hands
still holding her shoulders in a punishing grip. "A bit of resistance
play, I see. I think I like it. There’s nothing like some show of reluctance to
fire up the scene. So, shall we make up a few safe words now, or?" his eyebrows
lifted mockingly.

"I can think of one," she
bit out in sarcastic fury, glaring up at him. "How about "
lawsuit
"?"

He threw his head back and laughed.
"Yep, that’s sure to get my attention," he teased, and then the next
moment, was pushing her coat off her shoulders. Sure enough, she was wearing
the black lacy underwear he’d bought, and nothing else but her stockings and
heels. The coat fell unhindered to pool around her feet. The way his eyes
blazed at the sight of her in the sexy lingerie was enough to make her throat
constrict.

“Good girl,” he murmured, hands
skimming her face, and then encircling her neck. “Now just keep playing along
and who knows…you’ll start to enjoy this as much as I undoubtedly will.”

She was trembling so hard she was
sure he would be able to tell. His hands, large, the enamel of his long fingers
well manicured and square, felt so warm, almost hot on her bare skin. She hated
that her body responded so treacherously to his touch. The revulsion, the
distaste, she’d been so sure she would feel, wasn’t there. And
that
scared her.