Billionaire Badboy (11 page)

Okay, that might have been better than my monologue earlier.
Damn. She always wins. But could you imagine at twenty-four years old someone
saying that to you? Sure, in the moment it was powerful, but as soon as our
relationship began to frighten me, I blamed that day on the beach. I blamed her
thinking I was ready to be someone who I wasn’t yet meant to be. You know, I
wish she said it to me now, five years later. Maybe at this point in my life I
would’ve been able to see it for what it really was: a wakeup call. I would’ve
been able to turn my life around instead of using it as fuel when she made me
angry, or when she inevitably left me.

Come on, that’s no surprise, is it? You didn’t really assume
that we’d been together the past five years, did you? And if you didn’t, you
didn’t believe that it was she who was to blame for the break up? No, it
wasn’t. It was me.

“Then… then when you do something amazing, it means
something. And they’ll love you for it.”

Of course I kissed her. I grabbed her hair in my fingers,
pulling out the bow she had so neatly tied. I drew her ever so closer, wanting
more and more of her. I then clutched at her legs, pleading her to wrap her
hips around mine. She did just that, and I walked with her to the point where
the cliff met the beach. I pushed her back up against the rock, crushing her
between the earth and my chest. She didn’t argue, just followed along with the
movements of my tongue in her mouth. My fingers fumbled with her dress buttons
as she clawed her nails into my back, pulling up my shirt in the process. I
dropped my hands for a moment to help her slide my tee shirt up my torso and
off completely. She tossed it to the sand as she stared at my bare chest.

“Well done, sir.” She whispered close to my ear. The
tingling sensation shot throughout my entire body, and I moaned in
appreciation. My mouth found her neck, and I sucked my way down lower and
lower, pushing her up with my hips. I reached the cup of her bra, and slid my
tongue under the fabric just slightly. She let out a small squeal, which only
made me grow harder beneath her. I slipped my fingers behind her back, and with
one slight movement, unhooked her bra. I slithered both sets of straps down off
her shoulders, allowing me to witness her bare chest. She gave me an impish
smile as she took my hands and cupped her breasts with them. I pushed and
squeezed them in my fingers, but it wasn’t enough. My hands moved to her ass so
I could lift her nipples in line with my mouth. I kissed them hard, licked them
hard, sucked them hard, all the while her yelps heightened. The intensity was
growing too strong for me. I needed her. I needed the release.

Ashley tightened her legs around my hips and lifted my face
from her chest. She kissed my mouth with the passion of a woman who wasn’t
quite ready to stop the train we had set in motion. She then reached into a
little hidden pocket on the side of her dress and pulled out a condom, which
she pointedly placed in my hand.

“Only if it’s not a waste.” She winked.

“I’m never going to live that down.”

I wrapped my fingers around the wrapper, taking it from her.

“You do that. I’m going to do this.” She pulled me into
another kiss, not allowing me to take control. She was leading this leg of our
combined desire, and for once, I was completely comfortable with letting go of
the power. She was handling it quite nicely. I covered my erection, and then
moved my hands up her thighs to her hips.

I pulled away from her embrace. “Are you not wearing
underwear?”

“Left them at work.” She casually announced.

“You’re a little siren.” I growled at her.

“I just know what I want.”

And so did I. I quickly licked my finger, sliding it down
her torso and under the shade of her dress. I teased her briefly before pushing
my finger inside of her. She was warm and wet and I couldn’t hold out any
longer. I slowly guided myself inside of her, feeling her stretch with my
girth. Her muscles tensed around me, causing us both to groan involuntarily. I
pushed deeper, wanting to feel her surround me completely.

“Relax.” I whispered.

“Yes.” Was all she replied.

She let me in; she let me take her. I stayed slow, enjoying
every push and every pull in and out of her wanting body. I watched her nipples
twist and the sweat bead up on her chest. I watched the pain and pleasure on
her face as I angled deeper and deeper into her. I thought of all the ways I
wanted to have her, all the different positions I could put her in, but right
then I just wanted to watch her. I wanted to see her respond to me.

I moved my hands to her hips and she moved hers to my back. As
I pushed her down, she tore her nails into my skin. It was intoxicating, better
than any fantasy I had of her in her absence. Her yelps turned to screams,
which only heightened my pleasure and made me want to hear just how loud I
could make her. I sped up the flow of my hips, accelerating the movement even
faster by lifting her up and down on top of me. Her eyes shot open and her
breath hollowed.

“Teddy.”

“Ashley.”

“I… I can’t…”

“Yes, you can. Hold on for me. Just a little longer.”

The truth was, I could’ve absolutely exploded in that
second, but I loved watching her struggle because of what I was doing to her. I
delighted as each subsequent crash made her swallow with angst. She may have
started with the power, but I got it back in the end.

“Okay, three more. Ready?”

“Mmm hmm.” She managed.

“One.”

“One.”

She repeated me with her half voice as I pulled each thrust.

“Two.”

“Two.”

“Okay last one.”

“God, just…”

“Three!”

Her sharp intake of air and the feeling of her clenching
muscles around me as I released proved just how much power I really did have in
that moment.

I pushed her hair out of her face and caught her lips with
mine. She tasted different now that I had taken her. She tasted satisfied and
satiated.

“Well done, sir.”

I let out a deep chuckle. “Well done to you too, ma’am.”

She released her grip on my hips and lowered to the ground. We
both collapsed against the cliff wall out of exhaustion, and slid down until we
landed on the sand. I took her hand in mine and raised her fingers to my lips,
softly kissing the back of her hand. Her eyes were closed, but she softly
smiled and cooed.

“I have to get back to work.”

“You look like you just had sex.”

“Well then they’re all going to be jealous, I guess.”

But I didn’t let go of her hand.

“Stay.”

“Teddy, I can’t.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, first I’m going to awkwardly put my underwear back
on.”

“I mean, what are you going to do about your column?”

“My job. Teddy, I’m going to do my job.”

Good God, the girl drove me crazy.

“So I should expect a review on my performance in tomorrow’s
paper?”

She chuckled, cupping my face in her hands. “No. This is
between us. I can respect that.”

“So you are dropping it?”

“I’m dropping writing about you, yes.”

I wrapped my hands around her wrists and breathed a sigh of
relief. “Thank you.”

“Apparently I have a new adversary that needs to know I’m
not afraid of him.”

“Who?” But I barely got the word out before I processed her
meaning. “No. Ashley, no.”

“He asked for it. He started this. I can’t let him finish it
too.”

“You don’t know him.”

“That’s about to change.”

“He sent you on a dream tour of the world for a year and a
half. Even if his intentions weren’t pure, he took a pretty high road on the
execution. But he won’t always do that. Just as he can offer you a chance at
your dreams, he can also take them away.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Then drop this, please.”

“And let him win? Not a chance in hell. And the fact that
you would ask me to do that…”

“Means I care about you, and I don’t want to see you get
hurt.”

“I will never sit idly by and allow someone else to choose
my destiny for me.”

“Ashley…”

She quickly wrapped her arms around my neck and planted the
sweetest kiss on my lips.

“Today was amazing. You were amazing. I kind of wish I could
tell the world.” She smiled up at me, no doubt hoping she could gloss over the
more heated conversation we were just having.

I ran my thumbs softly over her cheekbones. “You are…
something else, Ashley Leigh.”

We slowly walked down the beach, hand in hand, until we
reached her car. Anytime I tried to bring up my father, she shot me down. There
was no talking to her. I watched her pull away and disappear down the narrow
street before I turned and made my way toward my house.

“Teddy, is that you?” I heard my father call as I walked
into the front door.

“Yup.” I yelled back.

“Could you come back to the study? I have a question for
you.”

I sauntered back through the foyer, under the sweeping
staircase, and to the doorway to his mahogany-walled study. Had I not been so
naïve, I would’ve seen it this next bit coming from a mile away.

“What’s up, Dad?”

“Teddy, you know Raymond Turner, yes?” A stout, bearded man
turned to face me.

“I do. How are you doing, sir?”

“Fine, thank you.” He nodded at me.

“And you know why we employ Mr. Turner?”

“As a private investigator? Yes.”

“So since you’ve been having such trouble with this little
reporter girl, I figured we’d try to dig up some dirt on her.”

No. No. No.

“You see where I’m going with this, son?”

I felt my face redden and my nostrils flare. How could I
have been so stupid? He touched his finger to his computer screen, and the
printer began printing.

“Let’s watch this together.”

The three of us stared as a picture began to print from the
device. But it wasn’t just a picture. It was a picture of Ashley, pinned up
against the cliff, and me, pinning her there.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I can fuck whomever I God damn well please.” I spat at him.

“Except when it’s the woman who has made it her mission to
paint you as some sort of hell raiser in every single article she writes. Was
that her you were screwing Friday night? And she wrote about it? You don’t
think she’ll write about your little daytime rendezvous today?”

“She won’t.”

“You’re smarter than this, Teddy. What the hell is happening
to you?”

“Just drop it.” I had no words. It was as if everything I
had ever wanted to say to him was right there, on the tip of my tongue, but the
words refused to be spoken aloud. I couldn’t fight back. Why was I so scared of
him?

“No, you drop her. You’ve proved you can’t handle these
sorts of situations on your own, so now it’s up to me. Have my car brought
around.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To have a little conversation with our favorite journalist,
that’s all.” He raised his eyebrows at me, letting me know he wasn’t to be
argued with. Any other day, I knew what that meant, but not today, not when it
dealt with Ashley. I couldn’t have him going to her. I couldn’t fathom what he
was capable of.

So I swung. I don’t know why I did it, but I couldn’t stop
my fist once it started. I connected right at his jaw line, sending his face
sweeping in the same trajectory.

He recovered quickly, bringing his hand to his cheek. Then I
saw that look in his eyes… the one that had haunted me since childhood. I knew
exactly what I had done, and I brought it on myself.

“I’m sorry sir.”

“Raymond, your services are no longer needed here. I will
transfer the money to your account.”

Raymond snuck by without a single word. It was just the two
of us standing in the center of the room.

“Sir, I didn’t mean to…”

“Punch me? You didn’t mean to punch me? Yes you did.”

His right arm left its resting place at his side and came
straight for my stomach. I doubled over, trying to find my breath. He pushed me
to the ground, straddling me between his knees. He punched right and then left,
leaving the strong taste of blood in my mouth. The man was almost thirty years
older than me; there was no way he should have been able to exert so much force
as to cripple me to the ground, but I was too scared to fight back. So I let
him. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. There would
eventually be a last time I let him beat me without putting up a fight, but
this wasn’t it.

It’s weird to sit back and watch a memory of a time when you
felt helpless. You know it’s a memory. You know there’s nothing you can do
about it, and yet, you still feel the need deep inside to tell your younger
self that it gets better, that there’s something to look forward to. You wish
you could tell yourself not to give up. You wish you could tell yourself how to
fight back.

But mostly, you wish you didn’t have to see it again. Although
I’ve become a remarkably stronger person in the last five years, not just
physical strength, but emotional, watching myself take the repeated swings to
my face brought me back to the state of a scared child. But what did I have to
be scared of now?