Bull: A Steamy Billionaire Romance Novel (7 page)

I worked the rest of the
afternoon and early evening on figuring out a way to impress Ethan Sloane.  I
wasn’t at a total loss, but I had doubts about whether I could give him much
more than he’s already seen. 
If
he’s actually seen anything. 

I headed home that night
completely drained.  I didn’t leave the office until dark and I had about 10
missed calls from Jared.  I didn’t move my car right away.  Instead, I sat
behind the wheel peering past street lamps into the dark.  It resembled the
night Jared and I headed to the swinger’s party.  It mirrored the night we met
the bull.

I considered how the events of
that night prepared me for this moment.  The fear I carried all week slipped
from me like sand.  The bull showed me danger and how to face it.  My thoughts
drifted to the gleam in his eyes, the reflecting silver pools behind his mask,
and I felt a smile spread across my face.

I reflected on my life up until
this moment.  At home waited a warm, safe husband who loved me and I loved
equally in return.  Behind me, in the office building, awaited a foreboding CEO
who could ruin my life in more ways than one.  I contemplated the inescapable
changes that would befall me in the morning, and reveled in the fading sense of
doom that lingered throughout that afternoon.  I was surrendering myself to the
danger, like I had surrendered to the bull.

I looked out into the night,
dropped my arms to my side, and let out a long exhale.  I was going to face Mr.
Sloane head on in the morning and let him eat me alive.  Not that I really had
any other choice.

I arrived home calmer than I’d
been in weeks.  I hid my thoughts well from Jared.  I felt a strange euphoria
and wanted it all to myself.  Not like he’d understand anyway.  He was easy to
fool because I had stopped wringing my hands for the first time since Ethan
Sloane contacted me.  I was no longer nervous and my blood slowed almost to a
stop from the coolness I felt.  I was only focused on Jared’s beautiful love
amidst the danger that awaited me, and I lamented for how much I’ve taken it
for granted.

It was also the first night
since the swinger’s party that we made love.  He was no bull in bed, but he was
tender in all the right ways.  Tonight more than most, I was grateful for each
kiss and soft whisper.  Occasionally I’d get a bit rough with him, trying to
create a fire between us, fueling his aggression.  But as usual he let me bite
and pull without any repercussions until I finally gave up. 

His cock managed to be just as tender
as his fingers and I laid under him gazing at the ceiling, imagining the stars
that I’d find beyond it.  I surrendered to the calm and predictable way he
always fucked me, and I moaned as if it were the very first time.

After Jared had cum, he
collapsed above me, breathing on my neck and I thought how much nicer that felt
than everything leading up to it. 

“I love you,” he whispered in
my ear.  I loved him too but I couldn’t choke it out.  It seemed false and like
it would ruin a good moment.  Instead I kissed his forehead, ran my fingers
through his hair, and thought about the bull.

I’m not sure how it happened
exactly, but in that moment I felt complete with Jared’s cock still inside me
and the bull’s eyes in my mind.  It all seemed to fit perfectly together, and I
suddenly felt like the luckiest girl ever.  I had my safety and some danger
too.

It was another night of little
sleep and I spent most of the hours watching Jared breathe and dream.  I caught
him wrinkling his brows like someone had angered him, followed by a strange
smile.  I wondered what was happening and if it was more exciting than his
entire life.  I wished I could jump in the middle of whatever scene he created.

Instead, I slipped into
thoughts of my own.  I was now confusing Ethan Sloane and the bull and
fantasizing about fucking our company’s dangerous CEO.  Without a clear picture
of his face, I borrowed the mask and eyes from the only other dangerous man
I’ve known.  I imagined Mr. Sloane fucking me on his desk the way I had been
fucked at the party. 

I recalled the tease and
torture of that night and applied it to my fantasy.  I looked over to make sure
Jared was still in a deep sleep before sliding my fingers beneath my panties. 
To no surprise of mine, it was already dripping wet.

I shut my eyes tight and
pictured the bull between my legs.  Only this time, I saw his tongue on my
slit, circling around, dipping in an out.  I matched the movement with my
fingers until I came silently beside my husband.

I opened my eyes again to make
sure I didn’t wake him, but I hadn’t.  I exhaled and observed the eerie
stillness in our bedroom.  It was the kind of stillness that forewarned of
something tremendous in the works.

Beep, beep, beep
.

And there was my alarm.

7

My back stiffened as I got out
of the car and placed my feet on the parking lot’s asphalt.  Everything at home
seemed small, like I could control it all with the will of my mind.  I felt all
powerful and triumphant and brave enough to tackle any obstacle, but now that I
stood under a faint sun, facing our company’s building, I felt incredibly
miniscule.

I had shrunken in size and with
each step forward I grew smaller.  I reached as far as I could inside myself to
find a shred of the courage I had throughout the night, but it all scattered through
my fingers and I left it behind like bread crumbs to find my way home.  I might’ve
needed the trail when this was over.

I pushed open the front doors
and fell into the gaze of every worker there.  They heard I was meeting Ethan
and rumored what might happen.  I heard buzzing in my head and couldn’t
decipher its origin between the whispers or my lack of sleep.  I attributed it
to the latter when I noticed the walls begin to shake.

I’m losing it
, I
thought.  The hallway grew and shrunk and it felt like the building was alive
and breathing.  I tried to breathe along with it, its rhythm calming me.  I
must have faded into the back of my mind because before I knew it I was already
past the receptionist and staring down the handle of his office door.

“You can go on in, Mrs. Banks,”
she said.  Her voice was sharp and cold like a knife and I envisioned walking
the plank off a pirate’s ship.  “Mrs. Banks?” she asked and pushed me into the
depths of the sea to be devoured by the shark below.

The door opened.  There was no
turning back now.  He sat in his high back chair, turned away from me like a
villain in a movie, but silent.  The quiet was deafening and I had the urge to
speak, to shout, but my throat locked up and lost the key.  I stood like a
statue before his desk, waiting for him to lay eyes on me.

A few minutes passed and he
turned around, looking at papers on his desk, not once raising his eyes to
mine.  I was taken aback by his handsome figure, and his thick black hair.  He
felt familiar and I was compelled to reach out and touch him.  I shook the idea
out of my head and watched it fall on the office floor.

“Mrs. Banks…”  His voice was
deep and rugged but soothing.  I wanted to crawl inside of it and let the
vibrations bounce against my skin.  Chills inched through my body just thinking
about it.

“Yes, sir,” I managed to spit
out.  I felt myself getting stronger.

“What do you have for me
today?  It’ll need to be impressive to make up for that abominable presentation
the other day.”  His words shot through me like a bullet, and I suddenly cried
out.

“I can’t believe you.  You ask
me, a timid programmer, to give a presentation to the board and then have the
gall to criticize it when you didn’t even show!”  I was furious and
rediscovering my fearlessness.

“I didn’t have to show,” he
said, lifting his eyes to mine at last.  They sparkled green and pierced
through me.  “I gave you a golden opportunity to prove yourself, to come out on
top, and you used it to collect a man’s phone number.  Tell me Mrs. Banks, how
would your husband feel about that?”  He was ruthless and cold, but my anger
subsided as I considered what he was saying.

He was upset that I took a
man’s number.  He didn’t even know me and yet he was jealous.  Confusion swept
over me but with a warmth I didn’t expect.

“My husband wouldn’t care.”  I
couldn’t gather why that was my response.  I had so many other better choices,
like
why does it matter? 

He rose from his seat and moved
slowly around his desk.  He was tall and strong and made his way toward me.  I
took a step back for each of his steps forward.  We were dancing now, but soon
I was up against a wall, and he was less than a foot away.

“Is that so?  Well I mind, Mrs.
Banks.  I am not running a business so people can hook up at board meetings. 
It was very unprofessional of you and I’m disappointed in your behavior.”

“I’m sorry,” I pleaded, and
before I could stop myself I blurted out, “I thought he was you.”

That seemed to slow him down. 
He huffed and looked to his side, gazing out the window.  I followed his line
of sight and noticed for the first time since I entered his office the skyline
outside.  The glass ran from floor to ceiling and the sun reflected on all
sides of the city.  Each skyscraper was a variation of blues and greens against
a sky that was almost purple by comparison.  My heart palpitated and I forgot
where I was.

I was jolted from my trance by
a pair of strong hands lifting my wrists above my head and against the wall,
and a pair of silver pools, drained of their emerald sparkle, staring into me.

“
You
,” was all I could
say.  I would have recognized those eyes anywhere.  Standing there with my
hands tied, chest pushed out, I could feel his body heat swimming over me, and
my skin was electrified at his touch.

He didn’t respond, but moved
his mouth into mine and let it linger softly.  I barely felt him and yet was
consumed by his intensity. 

My head was spinning. 
Was
this really him?  Was this our bull?
  I found myself repeating his name
over and over in my head now that I finally knew it. 
Ethan Sloane.

His lips pushed in harder,
sending a shock through my jaw and prying my mouth open.  I felt his kiss like
an arrow through the back of my head pinning me to the wall.  He didn’t need to
restrain me, I wasn’t going anywhere.

With one hand holding my two
wrists, he used the other to tear my blouse open, exposing my lifted breasts in
their black push-up.  He buried his head in the nape of my neck, and left a
trail of hot kisses from my ear to my shoulder.  I could hear him smelling my
hair and I tilted my head to catch the essence of his.  His thick black head
harbored a woodsy scent, with a hint of strange spices, and I thought I could
almost swim in it.

My skin tinged red under his
touch and lips.  My body temperature was rising.  My breath escaped in rapid
panting as his mouth neared my chest.  He alternated between tender kissing and
soft bites of flesh.  My nipples rose beneath my bra and were almost strong
enough to lift it from my skin.

I fell in love with the way he
kissed me.  When he was smooth I thought of Jared, and when he was rough I
crashed back into my reality with Ethan.  I was fucking both of them separately
and simultaneously and it was intoxicating.

This is what I want,
I
thought. 
I need them both,
one in mind while the other was in my
hands. 

I felt my bottom lip part from
the upper to free a low moan from my throat which was finally opening.  Ethan
had removed the cups of my bra and had his lips surrounding my nipples.  My
body was on fire from his electric kissing and I shifted in his grasp as my
knees grew weak and my pussy dripped.

All I could think of now was
how glad I was that I wore a skirt.  Ethan’s hand was on my waist and when he
sensed I wouldn’t run, he lowered the other to my thigh, travelling slowly from
my knee to the hem of fabric hiding the rest.