Loving the Secret Billionaire (Love at Last #1)(19)

Halfway up the driveway, though, I spotted the house. Even in the dark, I could see that it had been cleaned up and fixed. It no longer looked like the haunted place where an ax-murderer might hunker down, but instead had the look of…

Holy shit. How had I not noticed how huge it was?

I scanned the front. It was one of those big, clapboard farmhouses that keep getting eaten by urban sprawl. The yard had been cleaned up and trimmed and mowed and, suddenly, it wasn’t a yard anymore but more like one of those fancy gardens you’d see in a magazine. To the side, where I didn’t remember there being a building at all, a garage stood, a perfect match to the main house, with its neat black trim.

And the whole thing was perfectly illuminated by outdoor lights, which I didn’t think had been there before. This place had more in common with tonight’s fundraiser venue than my crappy downtown apartment.

Something flopped around in my belly. The man had money. Or resources or something.

Who is he?

Barefoot, I picked my way up the perfectly bricked front path, to the no-longer-sagging porch, and all the while my stomach worked itself into knots.

The thing was, I wanted this guy more than I’d wanted anyone. Ever. But he also scared me. Not in a creepy way, but in a what-am-I-getting-myself-into way. There’d been a big sting in town, a few years back. This group of three or four people had rented a massive, fancy-ass house, which they’d used as the headquarters for their massive fake ID ring. When the cops had shown up, they’d found weapons and drugs and all sorts of illegal stuff.

And I was worried. So much about Zach seemed…wrong. Not wrong, actually. Right, but off, or something. Like he’d put up a front that nobody could get through. Except for possibly me.

I raised my hand to knock.





8





Zach



* * *



I turned on every single light in preparation for her arrival. And then turned a few off. Because, Jesus, everything I did right now was overkill. Offering rides, inviting her over, installing a wine fridge in the kitchen filled with rosé, because she told me it was her favorite.

I rubbed a hand over my face and tried to remember if I’d forgotten anything. The wine she liked, those truffle potato chips she mentioned on the phone the other night—the ones she lusted after, but never bought cause they were seven bucks a bag. And, yeah, a big-ass box of condoms.

My cock was hard just thinking about them. Christ, I’d been hard off and on all week. Just hearing her voice and getting those texts. But I wanted to feel her against me again. I wanted to suck in her female smell and taste her when she came. I palmed my dick and willed it to go down. We hadn’t agreed to sex tonight, and no way was I pushing her to do it if she wasn’t ready.

Maybe I should go to the bathroom and make myself come. Just to take the edge off, because if I stayed like this, I’d be—

A knock, louder than I was used to with the new knocker.

Okay. Shit.

I walked to the door, pulled it open and, goddamn, she smelled good. Already, from here, I got a whiff. A perfume, which she hadn’t worn the last time, but she was there behind it.

“Hey,” was all I could manage. Slick as hell.

Something fell to the floor with a plastic bag rustle and she was in my arms. Soft. Real.

Our mouths met, hard, lips opening fast, tongues meeting, devouring. Our teeth clashed, but even that felt good—right, like we needed to meet on all fronts to make this count.

My shoulder jammed into something—the open door. I shut it and followed her as she stumbled back the two steps to lean on it.

It was impossible to find a spot for my hands to settle. Behind her head, on her side, stroking down to squeeze her hip, then behind her, where I cupped her bottom. Her legs made their way around my waist, I pulled her up and…

“Fuck, you feel good.”

She made that long, low Mmmmm sound I’d been dreaming about all week. I wanted to record it, bottle it, keep it with me and add it to my daily soundtrack.

“I love that sound.”

Instead of asking what I meant, she tightened her arms around my shoulders and wound her fingers into my hair, pulling me in. There was no room between us now. My cock pressed right up against that hot, ready place.

Like two parts of a well-oiled machine, we moved together, like we’d been doing this for years.

I was hard and ready and I wanted her. I wanted this, now.

“Is this good?”

“It’s good,” she said, sounding out of breath and eager.

“What should I…”

Her hips moved against mine with a rhythm that suited me perfectly and, if I just pretended, I could imagine how much better this could be.

“I want you in me.”

I stilled, my breath the only sound in the room. Possibly the entire world.

“I don’t…” Oh, God, don’t let me say anything stupid. I mean, I’d never done it, but I thought about it. All. The. Time. And I wanted it. With this woman. “I don’t know how to do this. Fuck.” I leaned back, loving the feel of our bodies entwined below the belt. Loving how it felt to carry her weight.

“I guess this position isn’t too practical.” She let out a long, slow exhalation as her legs slid to the floor. One of her feet rustled the bag as it landed. “I bought condoms.”