Romance: Love Dies Hard 2 (Billionaire Romance Series) (Hard to Love) (2 page)

Sophi
e

Tonight is Hunter Investment’s elaborate Christmas party and as usual no expense is spared. It’s at the extravagant Beverly Hills Hotel and Marcus has reserved a suite for a pre-party.

We have an opulent bungalow towards the back of the property. Marcus invited the group of money managers that he runs with and their plus one’s to our gathering.

A few of the party guests take turns going into the bathroom in small groups and I catch Marcus go in briefly once during the evening. I’m not totally naïve about drugs, I dabbled in some during High School, but I got it out of my system and am done experimenting. As adults, smart adults, why are they doing this? Needless to say it doesn’t sit well with me, but I just try to ignore it and go with the flow. Marcus comes up to me and wraps his arms around me and his eyes scan my face. I can tell he’s trying to see if I’m upset and I play it off like I’m cool with it, reminding myself that he’s my good time guy, not my forever guy. Why bother wasting my breath, only to sound like a nag?

“Did I tell you how incredibly sexy you look tonight?” he whispers in my ear, drawing me in close and I melt into him.

“Yes as a matter of fact you did,” I laugh softly.

“Let’s go for a quickie in the bedroom, no one will notice,” he says suggestively and I throb at his words as I think about having him between my legs and I ache for him.

“No Marcus, later,” I rebuff him. He takes my hand anyway and starts leading me towards the bedroom and I stop, feet planted firmly to the ground. God I’m so tempted, just being near Marcus turns me on all of the time.

“No,” I say more firmly. It’s bad enough that everyone knows we’re sleeping together, but to go and do it right under their noses would definitely leave people talking.

We walk into the ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hotel and it’s lavishly decorated for the Christmas holiday.  A magnificent twenty-five foot Christmas tree adorns the ballroom and it is encrusted with jewel-toned ornaments and colorful blinking lights. Buffet stations surround the perimeter of the room. From Sushi to Prime Rib to Seafood, the delicacies abound. This is much more fun than the sit down dinner faire they usually serve at these kinds of functions. Hunter Investments knows how to throw a party. Marcus and I sit down with Christopher and his date. His date is a curvaceous blonde in a low cut dress with a slit up to you know where. She sits next to me and I catch her eyeing Marcus. Lots of girls eye Marcus because he’s handsome, has the Hunter name and he has money. Whatever, those things don’t impress me. I know you don’t believe me but it’s true. I’m with him because of the sex, not because of his money.

“So you’re dating Marcus Hunter. How did you get so lucky? He’s quite the catch,” she asks leaning into me, eyeing me up and down with a look of pure jealousy. Who is this chick, where did Christopher find her?

“Go figure, I have no idea how I got so lucky. We work together,” I reply coolly. Marcus leans into my ear on my other side and tells me he can’t wait until later, while running his hand up and down my thigh. The all too familiar throb down deep jolts me. Our eyes meet and I give him a small smile and a nod. We continue making polite dinner conversation with those at our table. I wish Tasha was sitting next to me instead of this blonde.

“Do you want to go and get some more food?” Marcus asks.

“Yes, I want to try some of the sushi and grab something from the dessert buffet,” I reply as we stand up. Again, that blonde next to me eyes him and tries to make eye contact with him.

“What do you think of Christopher’s date?” Marcus inquires.

“She’s rude, I saw her eyeing you. What do you think of her?” I ask.

“Not my type, I prefer petite brunettes myself,” he teases, giving me his signature panty melting smirk as he pulls me tight against him while we’re standing in line to get Sushi. His mother is nearby and I can feel her eyeing us with an expression of disapproval. I can sense that she feels I’m not good enough for her precious son, I wonder who would be?

“There’s my Mother, I want you to say hello,” Marcus says turning us in her direction.

“Mother, you remember Sophie Shawn?” Marcus says as we walk up to her.

“Yes dear, it’s nice to see you again. You look lovely tonight,” she says with a fake smile plastered across her cosmetically enhanced face. It’s obvious to me that she doesn’t approve of us being together.

“Thank you Mrs. Hunter. This is a fabulous party,” I say giving her my sweet smile.

“Have you tried the Prime Rib? It’s delicious,” she says eyeing Marcus’ arm which is wrapped intimately around my waist. The way he’s holding me screams that we know each other intimately.

“I’m in the mood for some dessert,” I say and then realize how bad that sounded as Marcus gives me a squeeze. He laughs and his Mother clears her throat uncomfortably. Good going Sophie, now you sound like a bimbo and I know I’m blushing. “No, I really mean, I want to go and check out the sweets on the dessert table,” I stammer out like a fool. Damn, I’m usually so polished, professional and refined in public.

“Okay, come on Sophie. Let’s get you some dessert,” he says winking to his mother as we scoot off.

“I can’t believe I said that, it came out so wrong,” I cry out as we walk away and head to the dessert table.

“Don’t worry about it, I thought it was quite funny myself,” he laughs pulling me in for a kiss. He needs to cool it with all of the public display of affection in front of his parents and the whole firm for that matter.

We take our plates back to our table and thankfully Christopher and his date are on the dance floor.

“Let’s dance,” Marcus says grabbing my hand. I look at him and can tell he is clueless that his Mother didn’t approve. Why do I even care?

When we get out onto the dance floor they’re playing
The Way You Look Tonight
by Maroon 5 and Marcus takes me into his arms and holds me close as we sway to the music.

“Are you having a good time beautiful?” he asks.

“Yes, Hunter always throws a wonderful Christmas Party,” I answer as he pulls me tighter into his hard arousal.

“Marcus, cool it with the PDA,” I whisper, moving away from him slightly as he tries to nuzzle into my neck.

“Why?” he asks.

“Please, it makes me look bad,” I remark and his body stiffens.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks genuinely clueless.

“It looks like I’m trying to sleep my way to the top, or that I’m some kind of gold digger.”

“Oh, I get it,” he clips out. When the song ends we head back to our table and I sit next to Tasha, away from the blonde. Marcus leaves me to go and work the room. He is mostly hanging out by the bar, pounding down drink after drink. He drinks too much when we’re out and it bothers me.

“You two are quite the couple now aren’t you? I saw you talking with Mrs. Hunter,” Tasha says.

“I can tell she doesn’t approve. No one is good enough for her son,” I sigh out, not sure why I even care.

“Ignore her,” Tasha says.

“Let’s go,” Marcus barks out when he returns to the table. He seems irritated and he has had one too many by this time of the evening.

“Bye, see you Monday,” I whisper to Tasha before I stand and Marcus and I walk out of the ballroom and head back to our suite. We hold hands as we stroll back to our suite and enjoy the moonlit night. Once we get back to our room he still seems a little agitated.

“What’s wrong Marcus?” I ask as I wrap my arm around him from behind. He’s standing at the bar making himself yet another drink.

“Nothing,” he says taking a big swig of scotch on the rocks, the hard stuff.

“Let’s go to bed, I want to ravage you,” he growls out. Taking my hand in his and leading me towards the bedroom of our bungalow. He takes me in his arms at the foot of the bed and kisses me hard while unzipping the back of my floor length gown. It puddles on the floor, leaving me standing there without a bra and just my G-string on. Goosebumps cover my flesh as Marcus cups and caresses both breasts then brings each nipple up to his lips. He takes a taste of each hardened nipple as he buries his face in them.

“Get in bed, you’re cold,” he commands as he starts to undress. I love to see his cock spring out from his trousers, it shows me how much he desires me.

He gives it to me good tonight, long and hard, like he’s angry. Rough sex, but I can take it, I like it.

I can’t believe Marcus crosses the line tonight. While he was buried deep inside me, he goes and tells me he loves me. What was that all about? I almost froze in mid act. I felt his words all the way down in the pit of my stomach. Of course I didn’t say it back, it scared the hell out of me. All I could do was look in his eyes as he was pounding into me, I became mute. Please don’t do this to me Marcus, don’t make me feel bad for not saying it back. I already told him I didn’t do love so why, why does he have to put me on the spot like this? He’s just supposed to be a good time and not get heavy on me. He should know better, he of all people, the first class playboy talking about love. Please spare me. Maybe it’s the alcohol talking or maybe he says this to all the girls when he’s buried inside them, that must be it. Don’t freak out Sophie, calm down and enjoy the ride, because what an amazing ride it always is with Marcus. I don’t want to talk about love, I’m not sure I’m capable of doing love. After he takes us both to oblivion and back, he rolls onto his back out of breath. Let me just say this about myself. I grew up in a household where we didn’t say I love you. Sure, I knew my parents both loved me, but we never said it to each other. That could be part of my problem with verbalizing I love you.

“My Mother gave me hard time tonight,” he sighs out staring at the ceiling.

“What do you mean?”

“She disapproves of me seeing someone in the firm.” I knew this, but I guess she came out and said something to him tonight.

“That’s no surprise to me. You already told me your Father warned you,” I say softly.

“Damn it, I’m serious about you and I want everyone to know it and accept it, even you Sophie,” he says boring his eyes into mine.

Marcus

After the firms Christmas party I realized that my parents don’t want me getting involved in yet another office affair. Who could blame them after my last mistake. I dipped in the office pool last year and it didn’t end well. But this time with Sophie it feels different on so many levels. I did the chasing this time, plus she has gotten under my skin. I’m the one that wants more, hard to believe.

Tonight, I took Sophie out to dinner and now I’ve brought her back to my place. We engage in a night of passion, our sex is on fire, but she seems a little distracted. The next morning I wake up to her staring at me. She’s on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, watching me sleep.

“Good Morning babe,” I say, brushing her cheek with my fingers.

“Marcus, I’m late,” she tells me.

“What do you mean you’re late?” I ask, her comment has definitely woken me up. It’s as if I’ve been doused with a bucket of cold water.

“You know what I mean,” she says sadly.

“Late as in you might be….I thought you told me you were on the pill?” I ask accusingly.

“I am, but sometimes I forget to take it. Maybe that’s what happened,” she breathes out, obviously as distressed as I am. Fuck. My Dad warned me to be careful and I think he was intimating don’t let yourself get trapped. Now I see what a fool I’ve been. I can’t believe I let her tempt me that very first night to ride her bare, no protection. Shit.

“Not very sexy is it,” she says dryly. We both lie there in silence for a long time. This cannot be happening. Sophie would never try and trap me would she?

“Have you been late before?” I ask.

“No, I’m usually like clockwork,” she whispers dejectedly. I let out the longest sigh as I have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach; I think I’m going to be sick.

“I’m going back to my place,” Sophie announces crawling out of bed. Did she not like my reaction? What was I supposed to say? I watch her as she walks to the bathroom to gather her things. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, scared shitless is what I am. There is no way I’m ready to be a father, I can barely take care of myself, let alone another person. This cannot be happening.

After she has packed up her things and gets dressed she comes and sits on the edge of the bed next to me.

“Isn’t there some pill you can take?” I ask gently.

“I checked into it, it’s too late to be effective,” she says. Clearly she didn’t want to get pregnant, but in my mind I question her motives.

“Let’s go to breakfast,” I offer.

“No, I need to get home,” she declines. I throw on some boxers to walk her to the door.

“See you tomorrow at the office,” I say kissing her. She’s down, she’s scared and I don’t know what to do to comfort her. Well, I guess I do know, but I’m still in shock so I let her leave.

Sophie

Tears stream down my face as I drive home from Marcus’ condo. I don’t know what I expected from him. Certainly not a marriage proposal, but you would think he would try to comfort me a little. I just can’t be pregnant. Look Sophie, don’t panic yet. You could just be late. Once I get home and eat something, a little while later my cell phone rings, it’s Marcus.

“Hi Marcus.”

“Hi babe,” Marcus says on the other end.

“Yes?” I say curtly.

“I’m sorry about earlier today, you just caught me by surprise that’s all,” he apologizes.

“I know, I’m scared,” I admit, my voice is wavering.

“I know babe, we’ll figure it out if you are,” he offers in comfort.

“Well let’s not panic yet, I could just be late.”

“I’m going to come over later and take you out to dinner.”

“You don’t need to, I’ll be fine.”

“No, I’ll be over around 5:00.”

“Alright, see you then.” I have no one to talk to about this except Marcus and I don’t know if he’s capable of comforting me. I’m sure he wants to run the other way and I wouldn’t blame him one bit. With his family’s money, I’m sure he has to wonder if a girl would try and trap him. Why on earth was I stupid enough to be sleep with him without protection is beyond me. I haven’t been myself since my arrangement with Marcus.  This will either bring us closer together or tear us apart.