ROMANCE: Billionaire Romance: Tantalizing Temptation (New Adult, Short Stories, Billionaire Romance, Contemporary BBW Romance) (6 page)

He took a frozen chicken from the freezer. “I’m not sure yet. You know me, I never really know until I start chopping and slicing.”

Brenda smiled and realized she knew it all too well; she had been a victim of his experimental career choices both emotionally and financially.

“So whatever happened to the culinary dream of yours?” Brenda asked as she watched Ryan move effortlessly around the kitchen.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” he started, and Brenda knew exactly where the conversation would head.

“A friend of mine is opening a high class restaurant right here in the city, and he wants me to be his chief chef,” Ryan explained. He tossed the chicken and some vegetables into a frying pan, then added seasoning that made Brenda’s mouth water. She didn’t know what he was cooking but it smelled good already.

“That sounds amazing,” Brenda said. “What a great opportunity.”

“There’s more to it,” Ryan said.

Brenda hid her smile. Here it came.

Ryan continued, “He’s offering me an opportunity to invest in his business so that I can also get a share of the profit when the restaurant begins to do well.” Ryan walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and selected a wine glass. He poured himself some wine as he waited for something on the stove to cook.

Brenda knew he’d keep talking, so she waited.

“So he says I should put down about thirty grand and I’ll be able to have ownership of the restaurant, too,” Ryan went on to explain.

Brenda could feel the garlic hang in the air and loved how he had mixed it with a touch of ginger.

“So I have put down about ten grand so far and I need the rest,” Ryan said. “I don’t know where I’ll get the money.”

Brenda knew he was trying to ask it from her indirectly, but she was tired of making things so easy on him.

“So will you help me out?” he finally asked, fixing his gaze on Brenda.

“Sure,” she answered and watched a smile spread across his face.

“After you pay me back my fifty grand first,” she added in a tone of finality.

“Fifty grand?”

“Oh yes.” She sat up straighter and gave him a hard stare.

His brows furrowed. “When did I ever borrow fifty grand?”

“Selective amnesia again?” Brenda shifted in her seat slightly before holding up her fingers and starting to count.

“Five grand for your food truck that I have never set my eyes on, ten grand to pay your mother’s hospital bills, and another ten grand that you needed to finish paying your tuition fee at the culinary school that you have never completed.”

Brenda was about to list more, but Ryan held up his hand in mid-air to stop her.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he said. He directed his attention back to the food that he was making.

Even though she’d “won” the argument, Ryan was sulking, and Brenda was no longer hungry.

“You have never believed in me, Brenda,” Ryan started to whine as he turned off the stove. “That’s why you broke up with me and ran off to get engaged to a billionaire.”

“First of all,” Brenda said as she got to her feet, “I broke up with you because you could never keep it in your pants. You cheated on me repeatedly.”

“But you know I always loved you,” Ryan said in defense.

“Did you?” Brenda asked as she felt the hurt that Ryan had put her through rise up in her.

“You know I did,” he said and moved closer to her. “Just like you love me enough to give me a bootie call when your fancypants fiancé is out of the country.”

He leered, and Brenda felt all the hurt and rage intensify.

“Get out of my house,” she shouted as she pointed to the direction of the door.

Ryan moved closer to her and tried to put his hands on her waist, but she instinctively pulled away and slapped his hands away from her. In her rage, Brenda had forgotten how much Ryan loved such games. She watched his erection grow as he slowly moved toward her again. The chase turned Brenda on, too, and before she knew it they were lost in a heated make-up session where they each tried to overpower the other but neither of them truly won. They were naked and on the floor in no time having rough sex, biting and scratching, tugging at each other’s hair.

After a few minutes of rough lovemaking, the two slumped down on the floor next to each other and like before, lay in each other’s arms.

“I hate you,” Brenda said out loud as she rested her head on Ryan’s hairy chest.

“I hate you too,” Ryan said and kissed her forehead. “We should stop playing these games.”

“I know,” Brenda agreed.

“Don’t marry him,” Ryan said and for a minute Brenda couldn’t tell whether he was pleading with her or commanding her. Either way it still made no difference; he couldn’t tell her what to do.

“Why the hell not?” she asked, trying to keep her anger in check.

“Because,” he answered, “I think you and I still have a good chance of we tried.”

Brenda could not help but let out a loud laugh. “You had your chance, big guy,” Brenda said and got to her feet. She walked over to the living room and her heart leapt when she saw a text from Paul.

Just boarded, will call you when I land
, he’d written. Brenda let out a smile after she read his words. Despite his odd request, he
was
thinking about her.

She then turned her attention back to where Ryan was still in the nude and lying across the floor.

“You and I had something strong going on,” he went on to say dreamily.

“Yes, we did,” Brenda agreed. “Only problem was that there was always you and me and another woman.”

“Well, now it’s just you and me and the billionaire,” Ryan said, pouting.

Brenda loved how irritable he sounded when she refused to bend to his terms.

“You are so heartless,” he said, before getting to his feet and walking back to the kitchen.

Brenda began to make the pieces fall into place.

“How is life treating you so far?” she asked and watched as he resumed the cooking that he had earlier started.

“Honestly,” he started “Life sucks big time.”

Brenda almost let out an “I knew it” smile but held back; she didn’t want him to think that she was laughing at his misery.

“I thought you were doing well at your new job?” Brenda said.

“And I thought you were in love with the man you are engaged to,” Ryan returned bluntly.

“My case is different,” Brenda said. She walked past Ryan in the kitchen and poured herself another glass of wine.

“How so?” Ryan asked.

“I do love Paul,” she said before taking a gulp of her wine, “although sometimes I doubt that he loves me.”

“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked. He moved his hands around, gesturing at their surroundings. “Look at all this, at all that he gives you.”

“You think someone throwing money around is a way to show they care,” Brenda said. “And you think sleeping with other people is okay. But for me it’s betrayal.”

“Then what are you doing with me?” he asked, looking puzzled. “You’re betraying Paul?”

She shook her head before giggling and placing her hand over her mouth. The wine had started taking its tow on her and she felt jittery and chatty.

“Brenda,” Ryan said, “what aren’t you telling me?”

“I’m just following directions, that’s all.”

He turned to busy himself at the stove, dumping the contents of the frying pan into a large casserole dish. “Are you going to tell me any more than that, or are you going to be all mysterious?”

“Mysterious, definitely,” Brenda said with a laugh.

He shrugged and grabbed two plates. “Fine. The food’ll be ready soon. I can’t remember the last time that I ate something homey.” The room was filled with the aroma of different spices and flavors. Brenda watched him in his element and couldn’t help but recall the days that she was deeply in love with him. She searched her heart again and wondered if there was any ounce in her that still felt attached to him. She could only find a hollow pit of bitterness and bile instead of the tender warm feeling she had felt. She had made the right decision to stick by Paul. It was too bad Paul didn’t make her feel quite the same way Ryan did in bed, though.

“A penny for your thoughts,” Ryan said out loud and brought her back from her reverie. She was just about to answer him, but the doorbell rang.

“Delivery for Brenda Sutter,” a man in uniform from the other side of the door said. He held a bouquet of white lilies in his hand. He had a box of chocolates, too, and Brenda couldn’t help but let out a wide smile. After signing for the package, she accepted the lilies and chocolates, and said a polite thank you to the delivery guy.

Ryan gave her a priceless look when she walked back to the kitchen with the bouquet in her hands.

“Corny much,” he said under his breath.

“Jealous much,” she replied and looked for a vase from among her cupboards.

“You never got me flowers when we were dating,” Brenda pointed out after bringing the lilies to her nose and taking in the lovely nectar smell that they were filled with.

“That was because I never saw the need to,” he replied.

And that right there was one of the problems they’d always had. He never apologized, never stopped taking her money. She’d taken out loans for him, loans she was still paying back from the generous allowance Paul gave her.

“So you’ve decided to go ahead with wedding?” Ryan asked. He was done with the cooking and was now serving food on two plates.

“There’s never been a question in my mind,” she answered as she stared into his eyes. She drank again from her wine glass and got to her feet one more time. There was a card in the lilies and she took it out to read it. Ryan read it over her shoulder.

Just because I love you
, it said.
I hope you’re having fun, and that you aren’t lonely.

“I guess the guy really does love you,” Ryan let out eventually, with a jealous tone in his voice.

“Yes he does,” she answered him. “And I love him, too.”

“I somehow doubt that.”

“I really don’t care what you believe,” Brenda answered and went ahead to take a bite of her food. The different flavors exploded deliciously in her mouth.

“So when are you supposed to start the chef gig?” Brenda asked.

“As soon as I get the money to put down.”

She listened to him go and on about the money. Inwardly, she was shaking her head at the way she’d heard him sing this tune before.

“I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to help you out,” she said with a tone of finality before taking a sip from her glass and looking up at Ryan’s face.

They bickered good-naturedly, then had sex on the kitchen table, and then argued some more, until Brenda eventually got tired and asked Ryan to leave.

She retired to bed early and tried to feel guilty about cheating on Paul with Ryan, but the feeling just was not there. Paul had asked her to do this. Shouldn’t she feel like a slut or something? Was she a prostitute? No, she was a woman who enjoyed sex, and who was frustrated by her fiancé’s long absences. He’d proposed a solution, and she’d taken it. The comfortable soreness between her legs was a testament to just how much she’d taken it. Still, she needed to let Ryan go and move on with her life. She drifted off to sleep with Paul’s image printed in her mind and the thought of resting her head on Paul’s shoulder soothed her soul.

*

Brenda woke up the next morning with two missed calls from the two men in her life. She texted Paul, knowing he would be too busy to call her back until later. Taking a deep breath, she called Ryan, not sure she was up for his particular brand of drama.

“Hi,” he said almost immediately.

“Hello,” Brenda started “What’s up?”

“I need your help,” he said. “My friend said he’s going to give the head chef position to someone else if I don’t come up with the money today. I know I’ve asked a lot of you in the past, but this is just five grand, and I’ll figure something else out and pay you back tomorrow, I promise.”

“Oh, no!,” Brenda said. “I need to make a call. Let me see what I can do.”

Brenda let out a smile after she hung up the phone and marveled at how Ryan would never stop to look for ways to con her. She padded toward the shower, smiling to herself.

After a long, luxurious shower, she toweled off and took a moment to consider her vibrator. It wasn’t nearly as great as being with Ryan, or even Paul, but it
was
drama-free.

Her phone buzzed at the edge of her bed where she’d left it. She picked it up and decided to ignore the next numerous calls that Ryan had tried to place through to her. She went downstairs and made herself a cup of steaming coffee. Her eyes settled on the lilies in her living room and she smiled once again. Her phone kept buzzing and calling out to her and she knew it must still be Ryan. She decided to ignore it and let it ring before blocking his contact.

She walked around the house and the same boredom and loneliness overwhelmed her once again. Paul had not called her but had confirmed that he had arrived safely. All her friends who would want to hang out with her were at work, so she flipped through the TV channels again. Her trainer was supposed to show up in about two hours and she did not have anything to do until then.