Her Indecent Proposal (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (8 page)

“I’m dead serious,” she said, nodding.  “I had no idea sex could be
this good.”  Then she gave him an impish grin.  “I want to do it again.”

He laughed then.  “No problem, honey.  Any time you want, but no
more for now.  You’re new to this so I want you to take it slow, at least for
now.”

“I’m not new,” she growled.

“Shh,” he whispered and put a finger on her lips.  “To me, you are. 
You’re practically a virgin.  Now get some rest.”

And with those words he eased himself off her and rolled over to lay
beside her.

And that was when she looked down and saw him, stiff and red and
standing at attention.

Melanie gasped and her eyes flew to his face.  “Sloane, you didn’t
come.  I thought-”

“Shh,” he whispered again as he reached up to pull her down into the
crook of his arm.  “I’ll be all right.  Remember,” he said as he stroked her
arm, “we have three more nights on the island.  Plenty of time for us to work
up a sweat.”

At his words, Melanie shivered.  But it was a good kind of shiver, a
shiver of pure anticipation.

Because, if the next three nights were going to be anything like
this one, she could hardly wait.

CHAPTER NINE

Sloane slammed the ball across the net and watched as Patrick dove
to reach it.

No such luck.  The spinning ball flew past his racquet to land just
inside the white line and then it bounced up and away.

“It's over”, Sloane yelled and raised his hands in victory as Patrick
threw down his racquet and stalked off the court.  The guy was practically
throwing a tantrum.  All that was left was for him to throw himself on the
ground and start screaming like a two-year old.  But that was Patrick.

Grinning, Sloane ran toward the net and leaped over it then followed
his friend into the club house.  It had been an intense game and he’d really
worked up a sweat.  After months of not being on the tennis court, it felt
good.

He caught up with
Patrick
in the locker
room. “Done sulking yet?” he teased.  “You know I’m the man on the tennis court
so what’s up with the pouting like a girl?”

Patrick hung a towel around his neck then turned to glare at him. 
“I had a bet on that.  Fifty bucks.”

“Oh, yeah?  Who with?” Sloane was not surprised.  His friend was
always pitting himself against him even though Sloane was bigger, faster and
more physical.  It had always been that way since they first met in the fourth
grade and although Patrick was far superior in all things technical – stereos,
computers, video games – he was still way past competitive whenever they faced
off in any kind of sport.

“Marc.”  He gave Sloane a guilty grin.  “I know, I know.  I need to
put down this vice but I was so sure I’d beat you, with you being rusty and
all.  You haven’t been on the court all year.”  Then he shrugged.  “And
besides, you’re a married man now.  Everybody knows once you get married you
put on weight and get sluggish.”

“Man, I’ve only been married two weeks.”  Sloane walked over and
slapped him on the shoulder.  “Give me at least a few months.  I’ll grow a
paunch and go to seed.  Promise.”

That made Patrick laugh, then he jerked his head toward the
benches.  “Listen, I want to talk to you,” he said.  “Let’s jam over there for
a second.”

“Sure.”  Sloane shrugged, went back to grab his towel off the hook,
then sauntered over and dropped himself onto the bench.  Patrick plopped down
on the other end.  “Ever since you dropped that bombshell,” Patrick began, “you
and I haven’t really had a chance to talk.”  He cocked his head to one side. 
“Now tell me, why the heck did you keep this thing a secret all this time?  The
guys and I were ribbing you just a couple of weeks before you announced your
engagement.  You didn’t say a word.  What’s up with that?”

Sloane chuckled.  “You’re not going to believe this, but I was
probably more shocked than you were.”

Patrick looked at him askance.  “What the hell’s that supposed to
mean?”

“It means,” Sloane said, giving him a smug grin, “when it comes to
whirlwind romances this was the ultimate.  When you guys were on me that day, I
honestly didn’t know I’d be walking down the aisle months later.”

“Huh?” Patrick’s face was a study in confusion.

“I know, I know, I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”  Sloane laughed
softly but despite his casual exterior he wasn’t as calm as he was pretending
to be.  He had a lot of explaining to do all right, even to himself.  He’d
taken a huge leap without even giving it the level of thought he would have
given a minor business deal.  And all because a woman he’d met almost twenty
years earlier had asked him for a baby. 

Had he made the biggest mistake of his life?

If he’d asked himself the question the first night of his honeymoon
he’d have probably said yes.  But now?

He smiled to himself.  No freakin’ way.  He’d taken that leap of
faith because, as strange as it seemed, from the day Melanie came into his
office, somehow he’d known they were meant to be together.  It was like his
destiny had walked in the door.  Yeah, it sounded corny and he was hard put to
explain it, but that was just the way he felt.

Sure, her response in bed that first night had given him a shock,
but after that…

Sloane’s eyes glazed over as his mind flashed back to his days…and especially
his nights…in Jamaica with Melanie.  After she’d had that first orgasm – and he
still couldn’t believe he’d been the first to give her that experience – it was
like she couldn’t get enough.  Of course she was a bit hesitant the next time,
but she loosened up quickly and then she had her second orgasm and then her
third.  And as the night passed, and as she got bolder and more demanding, he
stopped counting.

And she had this cute little pout that she used when she didn’t get
her own way in bed.  He loved it.  If he wasn’t careful, he’d soon be falling
in love with his wife.

“Earth to Sloane.”  Patrick snapped his fingers in front of Sloane’s
face.  “What’s that smirk about?”  Then he shook his head.  “You know what?  Don’t
tell me.  I have a feeling that what’s on your mind should stay there.”  He
swiped the towel across his forehead.  “So you beat Michel to the punch, and
then you have all of us guys catering to you at your wedding and we still
hardly know your other half.  When are you going to bring her over to the house?
 Jacqueline’s dying to meet her.”

“What about next Sunday?” Sloane asked, happy to change the
subject.  He still didn’t know how he was going to explain his sudden marriage,
not without revealing the baby element.  And he had absolutely no intention of
going there.  He made a mental note to think up a good story before the subject
came up again. 

“Sounds good to me.  You guys can come over for dinner.”

“Thanks.  Melanie will have a ball with Thierry and D’Jean.”  Sloane
got up and walked back to his locker and grabbed his bag.

“Hey, you never know,” Patrick called after him.  “Seeing the kids
might inspire her to want one of her own.  She’ll soon be harassing you to get
her pregnant.”

Sloane just chuckled.  If Patrick only knew. 

***

“Come on in, Ken.”  Melanie gave a nod of acknowledgement as her
financial controller peeped around the door.  She returned her gaze to the
spreadsheets she’d laid out across the conference table in her office.  “You’ll
have to go through these numbers with me again because this is not looking
good.”

As Ken walked over he gave a heavy sigh.  “I know and that was what
I was telling you before you left on vacation.”

“It wasn’t a vacation,” she said, her tone just a tad bit
defensive.  She hardly ever took time off from work and the one time she did,
it was like everyone kept mentioning it.  Workaholic that she was, she couldn’t
help but feel guilty.

“Sorry,” he said, his tone apologetic.  “Your honeymoon.”  And then
he gave her a weird look, almost like he still couldn’t believe it.

Well, it had been a shock to everybody, including her.  She glanced
down at her wedding band.  She still couldn’t believe it herself.  She was a
married woman.

But now there were other, more pressing matters on the table. 
Literally.  She pulled her eyes away from the ring and focused on the papers
spread out on the table.  “Now tell me what these numbers are saying.”

By the time her meeting with Ken Ferguson was done Melanie was
feeling sick to her stomach.  The film studio she`d bought was turning out to
be a money-sucker rather than a brand new star in her portfolio of companies. 
She’d made the wrong call with that one and she was pissed.

When Ken left she flung herself down into her chair and stared
ahead, her eyes unseeing, as she ran her dealings with Rapid Films through her
mind.  She’d let her next in line, the chief operations officer, handle most of
the assessment as he had seemed so caught up with the project.  She'd joined
the discussion in the later stages when she met the former owner and CEO of the
company who painted such a rosy picture of its potential that she’d bought it –
hook, line and sinker, as they say.  He’d been a charismatic speaker and a
brilliant negotiator but she’d always been a tough nut to crack, so why had she
folded on this one?

But the thing that really baffled her was that she’d gone through
the numbers, line by line, with her VP of Finance.  It had looked like the new
acquisition would turn a profit immediately.  How could they have been so
wrong?

And with competition heightening in the media industry, that was not
a mistake she could afford to make.

With a hiss of frustration she got up and walked over to the window
overlooking Rue Rene-Levesque below.  She needed to clear her mind, put this
behind her, at least for the moment.  She drew in a deep breath and,
absentmindedly, she began to twist the ring on her finger.

Suddenly conscious of what she was doing, she looked down at the
band of gold glittering up at her.  An involuntary smile softened the tight set
of her lips and her mind immediately went to Sloane.  She couldn’t help it. 
She still found it hard to accept that he had married her…her, of all people. 
With all the women he could have had, he had chosen her.  He was so weird but
she couldn’t be happier that he was.  Because of him she was now happily
married, working on getting pregnant and, wonder of wonders, having great
sex.   

Her smile widened into a grin.  Who would have thought that she
would have a bigger appetite for sex than Sloane Quest himself?

As she stared out the window her mind drifted back to the last time
they made love on the island…on the starched white sand of their private
beach…under the light of a tropical moon.

Yes, a tropical moon, because it had all seemed so surreal, with the
distant chirps of crickets in the trees, the sound of the gentle breezes
rustling the leaves overhead, the fragrant frangipanis filling the air with
their perfume, and the soft twilight of the moon bathing their naked bodies. 
They’d been bold enough to lie there on the massive towel they’d commandeered
from the pool house, and they’d made love...over and over and over again.  It
was their own private beach, after all.  And if a wayward stranger had happened
upon them she would not have flinched because it was the last night of their
honeymoon, their perfect night, and she never wanted it to end.

As the memories came floating back it drove all thoughts of the
present from her mind and Melanie felt a subtle heat, a now familiar heat,
rising up her body.  Her heart picked up pace as the heat spread until it
tickled a most intimate part of her anatomy.  Good grief.  She was standing in
the middle of her office and she was horny as heck.

“May I come in?”

Melanie swung around just in time to see her assistant peeping around
the door. 

“I knocked but I didn’t hear anything so I decided to check if you
were in.”

That must have been a really soft knock because Melanie hadn’t heard
a thing.  Or maybe she’d been so caught up in her heated memories that the
sound had simply not registered.

“Are you okay?” Tamara asked, a look of concern on her face.  “You
look flushed.  Are you coming down with something?”

“No, I’m fine.”  Quickly, she turned away and walked back to her
desk.  “Did you need something, Tamara?”

“I just wanted to bring you this FEDEX package that just arrived. 
It’s probably the storyboards from the ad agency.  I know you wanted to get them
as soon as possible.”

“Great.  Please leave it on top of the credenza.  I’ll open it in a
minute.”  Then, adopting a very businesslike air, she reached for a folder in
her desk and pretended to be engrossed in its contents.  “Is there anything
else?`` she asked, without looking up.

“N…no, that’s all,” Tamara replied, sounding nonplussed by her
boss’s unusually cold reception.  “I’ll go now.”

Melanie breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind
her.  She glanced at the time at the bottom of her computer screen.  Three
thirty-six.  Was that all? No matter that she had tons of work to do, she was
ready to leave office for the day.