Bare Skin: A Billionaire Romance (20 page)

A gorgeous silky white; radiant, luminescent color, striking my core.

I couldn't stop smiling, my cheeks were stuck turned up, eyes thinned in a grin of their own. The damn girl was so tough on herself, she'd never realized her own worth.

And right then, right in that moment...

She showed it for the first time.

Cocking her head, she eyed me from behind the small group of people that had approached her. Willow was nodding, her teeth bared in a giant smile as she talked to the unknown strangers.

They had crowded around her work, all pointing and asking questions. And Willow, she just looked perfect. Her head would nod, her slender fingers would drift around the painting as she spoke.

But her eyes, they were never far from me. Each glance, each turn of her head, and bat of her lashes, it sent sparks over my brain. My body would ignite, muscles tingling with envy and passion for the woman I wanted.

The woman I needed desperately with every inch of my being.

She had come into my world, and I would be damned if I was ever going to let her go. In a short amount of time, this girl had me questioning everything I thought I didn't need, everything I had cast away into forgotten memories.

Willow had conjured up feelings. Real, true, heart burning, lung seizing feelings. That wasn't going to go unnoticed, I couldn't ignore what she brought out in me.

As the last person shook her hand and stepped back into the festival, I leaned against the podium and smirked. My arms were folded across my chest, hands tucked into my ribs. “Looks like you're a better artist than you thought, huh?”

“Kash, I don't understand how you did this.” Her feet glided across the ground with ease, bringing her inches from my chest. “But thank you.” Teasing the loop on my jeans with her finger, her shoulders twisted side to side.

“I didn't do anything, this was all you.”

“Come on, you brought me here, you put this together. Credit is deserved on your part.”

Holding my hands up, my back went straight. “Hey, I just laid out the stage, the rest was because it was amazing, and those people realized it.”

Pursing her lips, she veered her stare. “You asked me before if my tattoo was treating me good.”

Nodding, I said, “Yeah, and is it?”

“How do I know my art didn't just sell because I'm linked to you?”

Laughing, I teased her elbow with delicate fingers. “Willow, didn't you notice? I had you sit down. Do you know why I had you sit down?”

“No, not exactly. I've never done something like this before, I thought it  was all part of the show.” Her finger spun a tight circle, head turning back to look at the seat that had just made her.

“I had you sit down specifically so no one would see the connection between us. I wanted this to be fair, it might not have been if they saw my name on your thigh. You sitting, made this all even better.” Biting my lip, I tipped my chin up.

“How?”

“Just so I could prove to you that you're worth everything.” My hand cupped her jaw, thumb caressing the curve in her throat.

Letting her head fall into my hand, her breathing quickened, pulse hitting my skin with a tender beat. “I can never repay you for this.”

“I'm not asking you to.” My fingers swept around the back of her throat. “This was just for you.”

“Why? After everything I said to you, the way I acted...” Biting her lip, her eyes searched mine for the answer. “I don't deserve this.”

“Why...” Pausing, I let my past drift through my mind. The moment, the sadness, the hatred for who I was; my heart cringed, the wound reopening as if it happened yesterday. “What if I told you that before you, I was a monster? Would you accept who I was trying to be now?”

“What are you talking about? You're not a monster, there's no way I could believe that after seeing what you did for me here.”

Believe it, because I was.

My needs always outweighed the people around me, and it was that same evil side that claimed your dreams.

“You have no idea how selfish I was, and because of that I lost someone close. Someone who always believed in me no matter how much I fucked up. I was too late to fix my mistakes.” Curling a loop of her hair around my finger, my eyes fell to the ground. “I'm not making that mistake again. This wasn't your choice, it was mine. I needed to fix what I stole from you,
your chance.
And I think you're worth all the risk, Willow.” My fingers tightened around her nape, the other hand walking over her belly, and gripping her hip. “When are you going to realize you're worth it?”

I couldn't bring myself to tell her the true nature of the man I once was. I lived a life flooded by selfish desires, fueled by alcohol and emotionless carnage.

The words, the truth behind the night I saw myself as the monster I was... It was hard to say it out loud. My family had abandoned me, blaming me for the entire event.

And I couldn't deny their claims. Because it was my fault, my selfish need to drink till I passed out.

Late one night a couple years ago, I was living at my grandmother's. She had been the only one to stay by my side during the worst time in my life. I was reckless, irresponsible, and didn't give a fuck about anyone else.

And that's why my family hated me to begin with.

But she kept gifting me her love, trying with everything she had to help me turn my life around. And I was to blind to see it at the time.

Instead I used her, took advantage of her kind nature.

When my own mother and father let me slip into the darkness, when they told her there was no hope left for me... She stayed strong, keeping her faith that one day I would cross over, and my world would have meaning.

I wish I had the chance to thank her. If I could go back and change, go back and do what I should've done...

She would still be here.

After an evening of hard liquor, I passed out as usual. Not one care in the world, no direction, no interest in a damn thing.

But that night, my life changed forever. My grandmother had a heart attack right in the middle of the kitchen. I was there, I could have and should have been able to help her. But I didn't, because I was so obliterated that nothing around me mattered.

My grandmother laid there on the floor till I found her the next morning.

And no one in my family had been able to forgive me.

I didn't blame them. I was a horrible person.

There was a point when I gave up entirely, and I even hated myself.

How do you live knowing that you're own vice had aided in killing someone you loved?

But, I changed. I stopped drinking heavily, I found direction. But I never had the chance to tell her I was sorry and thank her for all she did.

I will never miss another chance.

Never.

When Willow crashed into my world, the feelings I had lost long ago, bubbled back up to the surface.

I felt her pain, I felt her happiness on that stage, I felt her. Deep in my bones, covering my muscles, through every nerve... I felt her.

And I hadn't felt a damn thing since my grandmother's death.

Yes, I gave to others to try and make up in some way for what I hated about myself. But the people I gave to, they gave back to me. What I did for them wasn't free.

With Willow it was different. I could see her and her desires, I could see her love of art. I knew what it meant for her to succeed.

All of this, and everything else I had planned, it was all for her. To thank her for helping me find everything I lost, to apologize for being selfish and self-centered. To apologize for stealing her dream right out of her hands.

This was all to make sure I righted my wrongs, and cemented her place in my world.

Because she had stolen my heart.

I wanted her to know what she meant to me, I wanted her to see her self worth and realize that anything she wanted was in her grasp. She just had to take it.

Her palm hit my chest, fingers sweeping across my hardened muscles. She brought me back from inside my own head, forcing my eyes back on hers.

“I don't think that way, I guess I'm my worst critic.” Staring at me under hooded lids, her lashes flickered, sending a wave of electricity to my cock.

My chest was hot, small prickles rode my body with wanton need. She was stunning, her touch, her voice, it was all I needed.

Every freckle, every birthmark, the tiny crinkles that rested beside her eyes when she smiled. The way her hair fell across her face, the itchy fingers she couldn't stop moving when she was nervous.

Yes, I paid attention. I watched, I learned. I took her in, I sipped her body and all the perfect imperfections.

It didn't matter what part of her I was looking at, I wanted
all of her.

And it crushed me to watch her fill with sadness, to see her falling and having no control over it.

I couldn't take it. I had never felt so much pain for someone else.

But the flames that swept her dreams away, were the same flames that climbed into my heart and broke it free.

While her world had crashed, mine had been lifted. With her tears, I found happiness. Not because I'm an asshole (which I was before her), not because I owed her anything, or because it would benefit me; I did it because she deserved it.

For once in my life, I was completely selfless. Yes I wanted her, yes I claimed her. But I didn't do any of this for that reason. She held my mark on her body, that was more than enough to keep her for a lifetime.

But Willow was just as talented as she was beautiful, and she had the right to succeed.

She freed me, she made me look deep into myself, she made me feel.

And because of that, because of her... I was better, she made me better.

If in the end, Willow chose to leave me behind, it would hurt, and I won't let her go easily. But it wouldn't stop me from giving her everything she'd ever wanted.

Because she earned it.

Willow had done everything right, only to have it fall flat because of things outside her power. She couldn't control our meeting, she couldn't control the building and stop the fire, but she had changed.

I knew her for a blip in time, and  in that time, she had changed. I could see it, she walked taller, she spoke with more certainty, her eyes held on mine.

Willow deserved the world she pictured herself in.

And that's why I was here. Because I had the power to give it to her.

“You can stop critiquing yourself, you just made close to forty grand, what's there to doubt?”

“Don't I need to pay you? Don't you want compensation for what you put into all this?” Her hand took small steps up my abs, chin inching closer to my lips.

“Did I ask you for money?”

“No,” she said softly.

“Then why question it?” My lips fell to her cheek, the words buzzing over her skin.

Her body shuddered, a tender moan pushed off her tongue. Holding her chin up with my finger and thumb, I laid a gentle kiss on her lips.

I didn't want to consume her right then, not like I had before. This time I wanted to enjoy her, feel her, take her with time.

Her lips transformed as I pulled away, resting in a soft O, puckered and needy. Her shoulders swayed, head rocking in tandem. “Why did you stop?” she asked, the words leaving her mouth with sultry passion.

“I'm not taking you outside again. I want it to be us, just us. And I want to taste you, feel you, breathe you.” Nipping her bottom lip, I tugged it gently. “I'll be in touch. Congratulations on your big day.” Swiping my thumb over her lips, I turned and walked away.

Willow stood frozen, her eyes eagerly calling me to stay. Her mouth moved soundless words, unable to form them across her tongue.

Speechless. The best way to leave a woman.

And I planned on doing that to her over and over again, in more ways than one.

Willow was going to dream me, wake to me, and live her life begging me for more.

I didn't plan on making her wait long.

Just long enough to cause her to ache.

A little.

Willow

H
e'll be in touch?

Seriously?

I couldn't figure out why his mysterious ways enticed me, but they did. I liked that he kept me wondering, I liked that I never knew what to expect, and I liked that he made it clear he wanted me.

Pacing around my apartment, I waited for my phone to ding, or my doorbell to chime. I couldn't think straight, couldn't focus on anything. I was a ball of nerves just waiting for him to do something.

Anything.

Damn it. Why can't I settle myself?

It didn't matter how many times I asked the question, I knew why. I wanted to see Kash.

He gifted me a second chance, he stole me. All of me.

I'd misplaced my values, and what life should mean. Life was about finding what makes you happy, but that didn't mean happiness wouldn't find you.

Writing off relationships is what drove me into being an introvert, being left behind by my mother had scarred me. I expected everyone that grew close to me would eventually leave.

There was this invisible belief that even the most sincere form of love could be tarnished by actions and cold temptations. That if someone was brought to the edge of their own devilish seduction, they would choose the vice over me.

When Kash had said he claimed me, the words sliced my heart. It was callous and ignorant for him to think that he could just taint my flesh and that would be enough to call me his.

But then for him to do everything he did to let my name be seen, to broadcast who I was to the local art community... It put my broken heart back together, sealing him inside.

No one had ever gone out of their way to put me on a pedestal. I felt special, I felt...

Loved.

Is that what it is? Love?

Could someone fall into those four letters in such a small amount of time?

I didn't believe in love at first sight, I didn't think that even existed. How could it?

You needed to learn about a person, see every angle of their personality. The sweetest man could harbor the darkest secrets.