Billionaire's Forbidden Baby: BWWM Interracial Alpha Male Baby Romance Novel (6 page)

“That feels so good,” Kiara murmured as he slowed his thrusts, moving in and out of her with heavy, deliberate motions that made her shudder anew in his arms.

He dipped her chin up and laid a kiss on her lips – languid, soft and yearning – taking her breath away. While he could be a beast, ruthless and hard, he also showed her the tenderness that she imagined he didn’t reveal often. He hadn’t kissed her like
that
before. Like she was a lover, a partner, not just a hot, curvy body in a fantastic dress.

He pulled away from the kiss and their eyes met, her hazels boring into his blue depths. For a second in time, she felt completely connected to him, like nothing stood in their way, and they were simply free to enjoy one another without the difficulties of their reality.

Then, he kissed her neck, and a smile broke across her lips as he let out a stifled groan, thrusting into her one more time before he came. She loved feeling him release. There was something so intimate about the exchange that for her, it registered as far more than just raunchy sex at a party. He’d wanted her as badly as she wanted him, and that was beyond unexpected for her. When he pulled out and they cleaned up, neither of them could stop grinning.

Damien helped her get her dress back on the way it was supposed to be, and this time, she got the chance to retrieve her panties on time. She didn’t even pay any attention to what she was doing before she was already straightening his tie, like it was the most normal thing. Kiara paused, frowning at what she was doing.

“What’s wrong, sugar?” Damien asked, putting his hands around her waist.

“I... Oh, nothing. I’m just being silly,” she said with a weak smile, letting go of his tie. She hadn’t expected to feel so comfortable around him.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door and, a second later, Eliza strolled in. She looked devastating. Her slim body was wrapped in a tight red dress that left just enough to the imagination, and her brunette hair tumbled over her shoulders in loose, perfectly coifed curls. She looked like she’d just stepped off a magazine cover. Any other time, Kiara would have felt incredibly outmatched next to the young heiress, but standing next to Damien, that feeling was curiously absent.

Kiara took a step back from the man, creating some distance. As much as she was ready to give being with him a shot, it was far too early to let the world know. Still, by the way Eliza froze and her eyes narrowed, it was obvious that she suspected something was up. Kiara and Damien’s slightly frazzled, after sex glow was probably hard to miss.

“Damien, I’ve been looking for you. It’s time for the toast,” Eliza said, conjuring a mesmerizing smile on her lips.

“Alright. Guess it’s back to work. Don’t stray too far, Kiara. I need to talk to you later,” Damien said casually, lightly touching Kiara’s arm.

She nodded, and he retrieved his glass and stalked out of the room, those long, effortless steps of his making her think of a predator again.

“I’ll be right with you. Just need to freshen up,” Eliza said as Damien passed her, looking pleasant and approachable.

As soon as Damien disappeared through the door though, that veneer of hospitality cracked and fell. Instead, Eliza stared daggers at Kiara, her lips tightened into a small line and her expression severe.

Exactly what I needed,
Kiara thought sourly.
A scorned ex.

“I don’t know who you are,” Eliza started coldly, her words dripping with malice. “But I guess I should tell you a little something about the dashing Mister Thatch. Damien has a woman in every city he does business in. Probably more than one. If you want to fuck him, go right ahead, but don’t get any ideas about anything more with him.

You’re just another slut he’s found to amuse himself with, and if you ever think you’re anything more than a good time for him, then you’re sorely mistaken. He’ll use you up and throw you away, just like he does with all of them. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Kiara’s mouth fell open. In the span of a few sentences, Eliza had managed to take her happy glow and shatter it into pieces. Tears threatened to well in her eyes, and her throat as if collapsed into itself, making it hard to breathe. Eliza spun around and rushed out of the room, the long skirt of her red dress whooshing behind her. Kiara was left behind, stunned.

Could it be? Could Damien really be such an effortless bastard?

He didn’t promise you anything… and he didn’t say you were exclusive or anything. So why does it hurt?
Kiara thought bitterly.

She cradled her arms around her. A shiver ran through her, but this time, it wasn’t of happiness. It was disgust, with herself and how naïve she had been. Of course she was nothing more than a fun time for Damien Thatch! How could she ever think that she could be more, that a simple marketing specialist, and a colored one at that, could rope the most eligible bachelor in the world!

Tears fell in earnest now, and Kiara ran from the room, determined to get home as fast as she could and forget that this evening ever took place.

Nothing could happen between her and Damien, not anymore. She couldn’t afford to be so foolish with her career, after all.

Still, her heart broke at the thought of not getting to share another moment with him. Just when she had thought that there was hope for happiness, it had been yanked out from under her. It went to show that listening to her heart never got her anything good.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kiara

Kiara sighed glumly as Tessa, the office assistant, carted in another heavy armful of gorgeous flowers. With a certain bit of resignation, Kiara pointed to a shelf in her little office, motioning for them to be set down there. It was like someone had taken a knife, stabbed it in her heart and was now twisting it for all it was worth.

Why does he have to do this?

Kiara wondered to herself, already knowing who they were from without Tessa saying a word.

“There’s a card too,” Tessa said, a note of awe in her voice.

Kiara couldn’t blame her. Any woman would have been over the moon to receive such lavish attention from one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, and here she was, moping about it.

Kiara forced a small smile and took the card from Tessa. The thick paper and the gold embellishments on it felt rough under her fingertips.

“Thank you, Tessa. Is everything set for the meeting with the art department for Divinad’s Cadence line?” she asked, trying to dodge any queries on why Damien Thatch had been showering her with flowers these last few weeks.

Tessa nodded and slipped out of the office, undoubtedly to chatter with someone else in the break room about how Kiara was a thankless bitch, acting so miffed about getting an armful of lilies and orchids. Kiara dropped into her simple leather office chair with a resigned thud as the door slammed closed behind Tessa, giving her a moment of solitude before the meeting. She eyed the gorgeous bouquet, and a lump of bitterness rose in her throat.

Every day, another bouquet. Every day, another card. And she couldn’t enjoy any of it.

Kiara opened the card and true to form, it said:

Thinking of you, sugar. – Damien

It was always something like that. Something that made her stomach drop and her body heat up with lust. Every fiber of her being screamed to be in his arms again, to give in to his dogged determination and just forget all about her hurt and the sting of the tears she had cried as she ran out on him a few weeks ago at the banquet. And, if she had been face to face with him, she just might have.

But Damien had been out of L.A. for a while now, apparently on business in Asia as one of his phone messages to her had stated, explaining why he hadn’t been in touch as much since the party – and that was just alright with Kiara. It was enough to have to stare at the gifts he sent her and hear him spoken about in the conference rooms, always with high regard and reverent praise for giving Mirrorview a chance at competing for the promotion of the Cadence jewelry line.

Every time someone mentioned him, her breath would quicken, and her heart would pound loudly in her chest. He was making her physically sick, and it was really becoming kind of annoying.

Stop being such a girl, Kiara,
she scolded herself quietly, flipping the card around in her hands a few times before slipping it into a desk drawer that already housed several others like it.

Her lips thinned into a line as she caught sight of the ever-growing pile. She had to give it to the talented Mister Thatch – he didn’t give up easily. And why should he, she hadn’t outright declined him. In fact, she’d just about screamed yes the last time they met. A blush rose to Kiara’s cheeks, and she brushed her fingertips through her hair absentmindedly as the memory of the banquet came to haunt her.

She’d gone there shuddering with need for him, and he had done everything in the world to make her crumble to ashes at his feet. His touch was electric, his tongue in her mouth made her see stars, and when they had sex, it felt more than just a quick screw in a back room. It felt like… It felt like they had a connection. Like there was something there.

It had all been so promising before the model-thin and absolutely gorgeous Eliza Whitcomb-Divinad had stormed in and dismantled every naïve, optimistic little dream that Kiara had managed to build in her head between catching Damien’s eye at the seedy bar in New York and the moment he walked out of that library at the banquet. She cursed herself for being so silly. There could be no white picket fence for her and Damien.

There would be no babies and Sunday barbeques with friends and family, and there most certainly wouldn’t be any hot, mind-blowing sex or dark commands and words whispered in private.

Eliza had told her in no vague terms that Kiara wasn’t special. She was just another warm body that Damien Thatch used to keep himself amused. It wasn’t so much that it came as a surprise to Kiara – she should have realized that she was no more than just a trinket to pass the time with – but rather that she hadn’t figured it out herself and needed someone to say it to her face.

I can’t possibly be this stupid. Or maybe I am. Maybe he makes me do stupid things. You promised yourself you wouldn’t be one of those girls, Kiara. The ones that lose all their dignity and sense the moment a hot guy gives them a few moments of attention. So snap out of it. Get back to work, make something of yourself.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her stomach churned violently, making her physically ill. The strong smell of the lilies – which she usually loved – almost made her gag as she sat there at her office, trying to figure out whether she was feeling sorry for herself or whether she was just mad at her weakness for a man who she couldn’t possibly mean anything to.

Another moment, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She hadn’t even had breakfast but what little she had in her stomach wanted to come up.

Clamping a hand over her mouth, she ran for the bathroom.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Damien

Damien listened to his voicemails grimly, not waiting a second after his private jet had set down in L.A. to whip out the smartphone. He was telling himself that there were important matters that he had to resolve, and Jasmine, his assistant, had promised to leave him a message as soon as there was any news, but he knew that wasn’t the full extent of it.

He could try to fool himself, but he knew whose message he was hoping to hear – Kiara’s. The curvy chocolate-skinned marketing specialist had somehow managed to reduce him to a pining teenager, who couldn’t keep himself from checking his phone a hundred times a day. And it made his blood boil and his head swell with indignant irritation that she had ignored him for so long.

With any other woman, he wouldn’t have put a second of thought into it. After he sent the first bouquet and a box of chocolates a few days after the banquet without receiving any kind of reaction from Kiara, he would have forgotten all about it. But she wasn’t just
any
woman. Something about her made him pulse with need. He wanted her.

And what he wanted, he would get. Only this time, he wasn’t completely sure what conquering her meant. He’d already tasted her several times, and still he wanted more. When they made love, it felt perfect.

Making love? You’re getting soft, Thatch.

She was just the right mix of feisty and yielding, making him lick his lips with predatory satisfaction while soothing his need to protect and nurture. Her body made him stand up and take notice, especially in that skintight dress she had been wearing at the banquet. The memory of that night made him smile, and then his mood was wiped away just as quickly.

His brows knit, and he glumly tucked the phone back into the pocket of his slacks. Still no message, or note, or any kind of recognition of the fact that he had been sending her flowers each and every damn day. Damien didn’t expect her to fall over herself for him, but he’d also left a message on her voice mail after she failed to stick around until the end of the party, and there was no reply to that either.

In Damien Thatch’s world, that didn’t happen. A woman he had chosen didn’t just ignore him. Or if she did, he hadn’t noticed, because the woman hadn’t been worth the time it took to feel offended or scorned. But with Kiara, it suddenly mattered. It mattered a lot, and he didn’t know why. It was driving him insane, and that was a level of loss of self-control he couldn’t stand for.

Time to go to the source,
he thought, as the stewardess told him he could exit the plane.

He shared a few pleasantries with his pilot and made plans for the next trip in a few days, but his mind was already rushing far ahead. He was going to see Kiara again, and that deserved most of his attention.

***

He stood in the small conference room, staring out of the window at the modest view it provided him. Damien had asked the girl at the front desk for a private room to talk to Kiara, and he had insisted on the girl knowing that he didn’t wish to be disturbed. She’d seemed to get his point well enough as she’d skittered off to fetch Kiara. Damien bristled slightly at the situation. He’d had to come and find her, not the other way around.