Billionaire Romance: Desires (Complete Series) (12 page)

“Listen, Phil, we’ve known each other for a long time, and I know enough to know that I have never seen you like this, and this girl seems to have captured your heart and your attention. I can’t compete with that. I think you should go after her.”

Phillip looked at her, and he could see that she meant every word that she said. “Thanks for understanding, Courtney. I know you don’t deserve any of this, even though you only wanted me for my money all along,” he smiled.

“It wasn’t always just about your money,” she smiled back. “You are something special, Phillip, and I wish I had taken the time to see that before.” She rose now and took up her bag.

“Where are you going?” He asked her.

“Back to my suite. I don’t think I’m needed here anymore. Good luck,” she said, and walked out.

Phillip fell back against the bed when she left, and when he checked his watch, he realized that it was past midnight. He was tired before, but he couldn’t sleep now as thoughts of Melody plagued him. He tossed and turned for the entire night, and for the little time that sleep came, it brought with it images of her and the memory of her on his lips. He jumped out of his sleep, feeling for her, and realized then that he was only dreaming and she was not next to him. Tomorrow he would change all of that. Tomorrow he would make her see that they belonged together.

CHAPTER 7 - PHILLIP

Morning could not have come sooner for Phillip, and as the first light peeped through the window, even before the morning star dimmed, he was already packed and rearing to go. He went to check on his friends, but his constant knocking without answer told him that they were either indisposed or still fitfully asleep. He called them too, but the calls went straight to voice mail, so he left them both messages to come to the hotel, letting them know that the rooms were booked under his name if they were interested in a day or two away from the ship.

He went to the upper deck and walked quickly off the cruise liner. He scanned the environs, and specifically where he had seen her walk away the night before. He thought he would take that route, and he hoped he might run into her sooner rather than later. He looked out towards the bright blue of the ocean and got swept away in the beauty of it. He walked the shoreline and imagined that she had done the same the night before, and before he knew it he was at the south entrance of the property. He ascended the stone steps and entered the lobby area. He confirmed his reservations and then wandered up to his room. The place had a serenity that was comparable to none, and his breath was stolen from him by the magnificence of his penthouse suite. His room overlooked the sea, and directly below him was a garden that seemed like it had been transported from a fairytale realm.

It didn’t take him long to get settled in, and as soon as he was done he went back to the front desk to make some queries about Melody.

“May I help you?” The woman at the front desk asked him when she realized he was just standing there.

“Oh, I beg your pardon, I was distracted for a moment,” he said as he smiled at her. “Could you tell me if there is a Melody Mitchell staying here?”

She looked at him directly then and didn’t budge. “It is not customary for us to give out the details of our guests, Mr...”

“Conway,” he told her. “I admire your principles, but I assure you, I’m only trying to find this woman because I am in love with her, and I ran into her last night. I came in on the cruise and I can only guess that, from where I saw her, and from the direction she left in, she must be staying here. Please, help me find her,” he pleaded.

Maybe it was something in his eyes, but suddenly she softened. “I have always been a sucker for love. Furthermore, you don’t look harmful.” She opened her guest book then. “What did you say her name is?”

“Mitchell... Melody Mitchell,” he told her, and she turned the pages; with every one she flipped, so did his stomach.

Finally she looked up. “I don’t see her name here,” she told him. “Maybe she is registered under a different name.”

Phillip held his head down dejectedly. “I’m sorry, Mr. Conway. Perhaps if you had a picture of her...”

His head flipped back up again, but then he realized he didn’t have that either. “No, I don’t have any photos of her. Thanks for trying,” he told her, and walked off.

It didn’t make any sense that he wander around the property in search of her, so he walked to the dining hall instead, where they were just beginning to serve breakfast. The aroma was enough to distract him, and he wondered if they could make coffee like they did back home. He browsed the array of meals and was getting confused when someone rescued him.

“Try the breadfruit and salt fish, and don’t forget the coconut water,” a woman next to him said. He turned and recognized her as the woman from the night before. She looked at him now, and he saw recognition on her face as well. “You were on the cruise last night,” she said.

“I was, and you always seem to be giving me some much needed advice. I think I might need to pocket you and take you back home with me,” he smiled.

She laughed at the words he spoke. “I am afraid I will outgrow my usefulness to you,” she said as she winked at him.

“Thank you for the suggestion,” he said. “I had no idea what to have.”

“No problem,” she smiled.

Phillip ordered his breakfast and spun, perhaps too quickly, bumping into someone as he did so. He was so preoccupied with steadying the tray he didn’t see at first who it was, until she looked up. “Melody.”

“Phillip?” She asked, as if she could hardly believe her eyes. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?”

“Does this look like stalking to you?” He asked as he eyed his food tray. “Listen, I need to talk with you.”

“You have nothing to say to me that I want to hear,” she told him, and attempted to walk past him.

“Not this time, Melody,” he said as he placed the tray on a nearby table. “This time you are not walking away from me.”

Suddenly a tall man stepped closer to her, and he looked at the man and then at Melody. “Who is this?” Phillip asked her.

“That’s Milton, my escort,” she told him.

“May we have some privacy, please?” He said to the man who was standing too close to him.

“Melody?” He asked her.

“It’s alright, Milton. I know him.” The man dressed back to give them some room, but he didn’t stay far. “What is it you want to tell me, Phillip, and please make it quick? I am starving and I would hate to keep the gentleman waiting.”

Phillip had his chance to tell Melody all he wanted to, but the longer he looked at her, the harder it seemed to form the words.

“Not here,” he told her. “Over there, by the breakfast tables.”

She looked in the direction he was showing her. “Alright. Milton, I’ll be up shortly.”

Phillip looked at the tall man as he walked away, and he began to feel the green snake of envy wrapping around his heart. His arms would be the only ones she would need from now on, he promised himself.

CHAPTER 8 - PHILLIP

Phillip took up his tray from the table and waited for her to order breakfast for herself as well. Then he led her to a secluded spot where he could talk with her more intimately.

“Melody, why must you be so stubborn?” He began.

“Me? Stubborn?” She exclaimed.

“Can’t you tell the difference from when a man loves you than from when he’s trying to use you? I have only been with you for a day, followed by a dreadful morning after. If I didn’t want you truly, I would have disappeared a long time ago. I already slept with you, remember?”

“That is not the point. You lied to me about who you were, even while I was there bashing you, before I knew it was you. Then you went ahead and created a position for me out of pity. I didn’t need your sympathy.”

“I acknowledge all of that, and I was wrong to have deceived you, but I was conflicted the day I met you; I still am. That’s why I was so distracted to have run into you. There is nothing I would have done differently than I did that day. I needed a live-in helper, but I didn’t want just anyone. I needed someone I could trust, and who better to work with than the woman I wanted to be with?”

“You would have lied to me all over again, in other words?” She asked as she folded her arms and leaned against the chair.

“Yes, I would have. You were upset about the interview you didn’t have. If I had told you who I was, you would have either run off before I got a chance to know you, or you would have only seen me as your employer and nothing else. Lying was the best I could have done under the circumstances. And did you hear me say I love you at all?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I heard you. I just don’t know if I believe it.”

“What do you believe, then? What do you want?” He questioned her.

She looked him squarely in the eyes. “I think about that night all the time, and had it not been for my friend, I would not have been here now. Even walking along the beach the other night, I was thinking about you, and I never dreamed I would run into you here. And then I saw her...” she said and her voice trailed off. “Who was she?”

“Who? Courtney? She’s just an ex-girlfriend I ran into on-board. Like you, my friends encouraged me to take this cruise as a way to get my mind off of you. Imagine my surprise at seeing you here.” He reached out now and cupped her hands in his. “Please, can we start over?”

She looked at him, and he could see the ice melting, and it warmed him that finally she was seeing reason. “On one condition,” she said. “That you show me what a penthouse accommodation looks like,” she teased.

He laughed, happy now that she was returning to her old self. “So what about your island boy?” He asked.

“Oh, he’ll find some other tourist; he’ll be fine.”

They proceeded then to have the breakfast that was beginning to get cold, and Phillip couldn’t help complimenting the strange yet delectable meal. Melody had green bananas with her salt fish, and the coconut water afterwards was divine.

“So, how about that penthouse tour?” She asked him when they were done.

“Right this way,” he said as he rose and held his hand out for her. She took it, and together they left the dining hall and walked in the direction of the elevators. As he was passing the front desk, his eyes made contact with the lady there, and he winked at her. She smiled in understanding that he had found who he was looking for.

“By the way, whose name are you registered under?”

“Crystal Summers,” she replied. “Why? You went looking for me?”

“I did, but they didn’t have a Melody Mitchell registered. I’m just glad I didn’t have to walk around the entire place searching for you.”

“We have got to stop meeting like that, though,” she said.

Phillip laughed. “I don’t know, maybe that is our trademark.”

“We need a new one,” she laughed. He held onto her as they stepped into the elevator, and before it began to move his lips found hers once more. This time there was no hesitance, and she clung to him like a leech: unmovable without leaving a scar. Their breathing intensified, and by the time they heard the annoying ding of the elevator signaling they had reached their landing, they had to virtually rip themselves apart. He held her hand and swiped the door open. “Step into my living room.”

“Said the spider to the fly,” she ended. “That sounds like a threat.”

“It could be,” he said at her menacingly. “It all depends on what drives you.”

“So this is how the wealthy get on,” she said as she took in the room that was much larger than her own, and that had a mini bar, a balcony that overlooked the ocean, and several other amenities. She bet they even had a different sort of room service.

Phillip didn’t listen to her, but instead walked over and held her from behind. He brought his lips down on her neck, leaving butterfly kisses along her nape, and as he did so, he could see goose pimples rising in his wake. He cupped her breasts from this angle, feeing the softness of them through the sheer fabric of her blouse. She tilted her head and allowed him more room to play with her neck, and as he neared he earlobes, he felt her shiver and the sudden hardness of her nipples against his fingers. He turned her around and pulled her into him, kissing her hard, hungrily, like a mad man. She was tugging at his shirt, eagerly anticipating laying her body next to his, and with all the electricity between them, there was no extended foreplay needed. He raised his hand and allowed her to pull the shirt over his head, and as it fell to the floor, so did his pants. He took greater pains in undressing her as he admired her body in the warm sunlight. He had only seen her at night, and he absorbed every inch of her body methodically. Then he covered her twins one at a time with his mouth, and she held onto his head, already moaning in pleasure. He continued downwards, even as she stood there, and when he was close enough, he shifted her legs apart slightly, and let his tongue discover once more her hidden mysteries. She was already wet, and he relished the taste of her on his tongue.

He sucked her rising mound until she begged him to stop, and as he stood he pushed her back against the bed. She fell and her legs rose up flat against the sheet, showing him the way home. He wasted no time in stepping forward and sliding into her, slowly at first, and then when their breathing was cut shorter with each gasp, his rhythm changed and his speed increased. Melody clung at him, digging her nails into his rear, pressing him further. He loved the feel of her as her walls closed in on him, and unable to withstand the pressure that had been building up in him for weeks, he bucked and shuddered as he felt his own ejaculation coursing down his veins. He gripped her hips and sank further, making sounds like the call of the wild.