Unlawful Escort (Unlawful Series book 1) (16 page)

He groaned and she felt his shaft pulse as he sunk so deep inside her she thought he’d touched her heart. The pleasure shredded her apart, inch by aching inch until tears streamed down her face. She shuddered uncontrollably; sobbing as he sank into the cushions, taking her with him. She felt as if she had survived a wreckage and was seeing the world through new eyes.

“Did I hurt you?”His voice
was tinged with anxiety as his eyes ran over her body.

Except
for a few love bites where he’d grazed her creamy breast, she seemed okay, but still…

“It was so amazing”, she couldn’t seem to stop the tears, “just hold me, please?” she begged and his face softened.

He gathered her, gently, in his arms and carried her to the bed and placed her beneath the blanket. And after disappearing into the bathroom for a short time, he joined her in bed and she placed her head on his chest; sniffling until she fell asleep and he, shortly afterwards. 

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

PAIGE WAS AWOKEN BY THE
enticing pressure of Sebastian’s soft lips gliding over hers. She groaned; rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her knuckles as a warm feeling unfurled in her chest.

“Wake up baby, its morning”, the tangy scent of his shower gel tickled her nose and her eyes fluttered open.

Sebastian
was seated at the edge of the bed; dressed in an immaculate charcoal, jacket suit.

She smiled shyly and pressed his arm to her chest, “come back to bed”.

She glowed with contentment and he had to restrain himself from doing exactly as she’d asked and ravishing her until they were both consumed with ecstasy.

But he couldn’t resist kissing her swiftly on the lips, “I
can’t but I have something for you”, her smile faltered a bit.

Her jaw slackened as
he produced a sparkling diamond necklace with an emerald pendant, “I bought it in Paris. I thought it matches the color of your eyes.”

The happiness inside her heart died of a cold death. She was nothing more than a pastime to him; a willing woman to warm his bed. She glanced
away from his dreamy brown eyes; shamed at the manner in which she had thrown herself at him like the whore he thought her to be.

“You didn’t have to…”-

“Shh”, he placed a silencing finger over her lips, “I know I didn’t have to. But I did, because I wanted to”, he slipped his hands under her hair and hooked the necklace around her neck.

“I have to go”, he glanced at
his watch, “I have a meeting in fifteen minutes. I’ll call you”, he kissed her nose before quitting the room.

She fingered the necklace; her eyes pooling with tears as he closed the door behind him;
he remembered the color of her eyes. And he was thinking of her aside from sexually. Her face creased into a hopeful smile as she threw back the covers and made her way to the shower.

“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” PAIGE QUERIED AS THE CAR
pulled around a curb.

She had never seen him drive before
and she had to admit he was as slick around the steering wheel as the impressive Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

“It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you where we’re going, would it”, his eyes flitted off the road to glance at her.

“I guess not”, she pouted disappointedly before perking up at a thought, “but you could give me a hint”.

He laughed uproariously, “you never give up do you?”

“And you never relent”, she rolled her eyes and fell back into her seat.

“Here we are”, he announced, halting in front of a bland building that appeared to be deserted.

She wondered what sort of surprise could be housed in a vacant building as he led her to the door and opened it. She frowned as they stepped inside and stared at the wide expanse in confusion.

He eyed her speculatively, “you still have no idea what the surprise is?”

She shook her head slowly. What the hell was he up to? She suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

“I’m giving you the building to start your café.”

“What!”

“
Its three minutes drive from Fifth Avenue, a private getaway from the rush of mainstream Manhattan that’s not too far away”.

“Sebastian”, she closed her eyes in an effort to calm the sudden throbbing inside her head.

He trudged over the open space, highlighting locations, “you could have the dining area here, kitchen or prep room here and of course a VIP lounge here”.

“This is very kind of you but I can’t accept
”

Ignoring her, he flicked
out his iPad, “I even created a designed for the interior, see”, he held out the IPad for her to see.

“Sebastian!”

“What!”

She hung her head
; suddenly feeling old beyond her years.

“Why are you doing this?” her voice was hoarse with emotion and she was holding onto her tears by a thread.

Tell me that you care, her eyes pleaded, that you aren’t just doing this on a whim. Instead his face hardened and his eyes smoldered with rage.

“I don’t need a reason to be generous”, he said through clenched teeth.

“Generous”, her heart clenched painfully; so she was just someone he was generous to.

“I thought this was what you wanted; I thought it was your dream.”

“And who gives you the right to fulfill my dreams”, she trembled with emotion, “money isn’t everything and you can’t just control people’s lives because you have it”, she knew she was being unfair but it was either lashing out at him or face the turbulent emotions coursing through her.

“Why
do I get the feeling this is always about my money. Yes, my father is rich but I’ve worked very hard to be where I am and I will not apologize for it”, he was livid with rage.

“Well I’m not your charity case and I don’t want anything from you
”, she spat venomously and his eyes clouded with hurt but he quickly masked the expression.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

PAIGE TURNED TO LEAVE, FEARFUL THAT THE TEARS IN
her eyes
would spill over.

“What
the hell is wrong with you? Why are you always so damned defensive?”

Because I love you,
you idiot, she wanted to scream, but you’re too stuck up to see it or even care.

“Because every time you touch me I
burn with shame afterwards at the reminder that I’m just the whore you hired to warm your bed”, she said instead and he was upon her so fast her head spun.

“Don’t ever let me hear you say that again
!” he roared; shaking her almost violently, “Do you hear me!”

“I can say any damned thing I want!” fear replaced
the rage inside at the anger emanating from his large body.

She knew he’d never hit her but for a moment she wasn’t so sure but she lifted her chin firmly.

“You sassy little whelp”, his lips captured hers with an almost bruising intensity and her head spun dizzily.

When he tugged his mouth from hers, her body thrummed with need.

“I told you from the onset that your body wasn’t part of the contract”, he stroked her cheeks soothingly and that ever present awareness resurfaced, “and there’s nothing about what we do to be ashamed of”, his lips brushed hers, “I want you so bad, I feel like a fucking furnace most of the times”.

As if she needed more convincing than the heat in his eyes, he pressed his arousal
into her thighs and she inhaled sharply.

“And you feel
it too”, he murmured against her lips, “I can feel it in the way your body responds to my touch”.

He backed her against the wall and she shivered with something other than the cold November air. His teeth sunk
, delicately, into the hardened buttons of her nipples through her cotton dress and she moaned loudly.

“Tell me shame is all you feel at this moment and I’ll release you and never touch you again.”

She should do just that, she thought maliciously, but what sense would it make when her body was melting faster than a Popsicle left out in the sun. What a day to decide to wear a dress, she thought absently, as Sebastian tore her leggings and panty in his urgency to access her inner thighs.

Deftly, he undid his fly
before slipping on a condom and hoisting her legs around his waist. He slid into her moist flesh in one solid thrust. She panted with need; looping her ankles behind his back as he gripped her hips; rocking back and forth inside her. It was a heated possession and their harsh moans filled the room as they strove towards completion. And when it came, they held onto each other as they shook in ecstasy; sliding to the hardwood floor together, afterwards.

“There should be a bathroom around here somewhere”, Sebastian noted breathlessly as he lay flat on his back
with her sprawled on top of him, “I started the renovations when I returned last week”.

She sat up and stared him directly in the eye, “I will accept your offer on one condition”.

He stroked her hair lightly; a telltale smile on his lips, “you’re as stubborn as a horse”.

“I’ll pay you back every penny.”

He snorted, “that’s preposterous”.

“You’ll get your lawyers to make a contract
outlining the details and I’ll sign”, she persisted.

He was silent for a moment before he sighed in acceptance, “ok, since you insist”.

She smiled triumphantly into his collar.

“Promise me one thing”, his voice was soft.

“What?”

“That you’ll never go back...”

He didn’t need to specify what he meant as she knew exactly where he was speaking of. And it was easy for her to agree as she’d never been there in the first instance. Yet she couldn’t shirk the pain that jabbed at her heart at his underlying meaning.

He had no intention for their relationship to surpass the contracted period and he wanted to ensure that she
didn’t lose sight of that fact; free his conscience perhaps. A harsh laughed bubbled inside her throat at the thought. Sebastian Bradley didn’t have a conscience. Well, she wouldn’t, she told herself staunchly. She would walk away from him, without so much as a backward glance, when the time came.

Then why did her heart feel as if it was being ripped from her chest?

“Ok”, she smiled wanly as she lugged to her feet; adjusting her disheveled clothing and rushed, on shaky legs, in search of the bathroom.

Once
there, she locked the door behind her and splashed cold water over her face. Only then did she release the tears that had been burning the back of her throat. She placed her forehead, gingerly, against the cold glass and silently cried her heart out. Since he cared so much about her not returning to her alleged profession, perhaps she should’ve told him that she’d never quit, she thought bitterly.

She shrugged aside the foolhardy notion as she dashed the tears from her eyes and stiffened her spine. She glanced around the room that was now her
s or would be as soon as she repaid him the money he’d spent on the building. It was evident the place had been renovated and thoroughly cleaned from the shiny glass and the pristine marble sink and contour. Similar to the room she’d just departed, the glossy hardwood floors were immaculate.

She thought for a moment of declining his offer as she
left the bathroom but decided that that would simply be stupid. Joshua’s illness had proved that she needed financial stability and this was as good an opportunity as any to achieve just that. She didn’t have to see him while she repaid the money, she could simply lodge it to an account through his lawyers.

Now all she had to do was get through the next few weeks
and leave when their arrangement ended.

CHAPTER THIRTY

THANKSGIVING CAME AND THEY HAD A QUIET DINNER
for two at the penthouse. She glowed with pride as he exclaimed in delight as he ate the turkey she had prepared. Afterwards, they curled up on a couch in the garden terrace and sipped homemade eggnog as they spoke of nothing in particular and somehow everything in between.

He’d drafted the contract as she’d requested and after completing the preliminaries;
she’d decided that she would wait until Joshua had done his transplant before she opened for business. He’d made no mention of their arrangement or her supposed profession after that afternoon in the building and she soon decided not to think of it.

December arrived in all its frigid glory
and they went out less; contented to watch movies and play chest or naughty card games before the living room couch, each night. Most nights would end with cataclysmic lovemaking while others, tranquilly, with his head resting on her stomach as she tenderly stoked his hair. Until she didn’t count the days they had left, with impending doom.