The Billionaire Secret 2 (Billionaire, BWWM, Interracial, Romance) (2 page)

Julia sat with her eyes searching his, her hands on his desk and her mouth slightly open. He’d never seen her speechless, and he realized he never wanted to see her look that way again. “Well, say something,” he prompted with anger in his voice. It was a common reflex of his, to produce anger when he was afraid.

“I just,” she paused and realized her mouth was open, so she shut it and let her hands slide off the desk. “I don’t know what to say, Blake. I mean, your mother always seems like a really nice woman, so I’m just shocked by her, well, conservative attitude.” And it was obvious she was. She was still widening and narrowing her eyes as if she thought Blake might be playing a trick on her.

“What should I do? I’m-” he hated to admit it and tried to swallow the words, but they tumbled out anyway. “I’m at a loss, Julia. I love Aiyana. I’ve started
ring
shopping. Don’t you dare breathe a word about this!”

“Mum’s the word,” Julia said as she smiled and ran her fingers over her lips like she was sealing a zipper. “But don’t you think you should clear up this bad vibe with your mother first?”

“I just don’t know how to breach the subject with either one of them. I don’t want to tell Aiyana because I love my mother, and I want Aiyana to love her, too. But I don’t want my mother to hate the woman I marry, and I don’t want the woman I marry to have to live with a monster for a mother in law. She deserves better.” His hand snaked up and gripped the nape of his neck as he sighed, massaging to rub away the ache that had been building there for the first twenty-four hours.

There were very few people in the building and business was slow the day after Christmas. Most executives took the week off to spend time with their families, but he had Aiyana, and she didn’t have time off. So he didn’t either.

“Don’t you dare think about it,” she said as anger flashed in her eyes.

“Think about what?” he asked innocently.

“Breaking it off with a woman like Aiyana, who loves you, despite your cold, gray eyes and apparent affinity for plain suits. You’re not going to find another one like her for a long time, if ever. This spat between you and your mother is not going to diminish how you feel about one another.”

As Julia stood and stomped out of his office, he realized he had been thinking exactly what she had mentioned. He’d been thinking if he should release Aiyana back to the world of singles and see if she’d be happier with someone else. But Julia was right, and he was selfish.

~

“I don’t know if I should say something, or if I should just let it go. Besides, it’s not like we’re engaged or anything.” Aiyana twisted her hands in her lap as she stared at the blueberry muffin in front of her. Briana reached a hand across the table and plucked a piece off, unapologetically chowing down on it while she watched her friend squirm.

“Honey, if you don’t tell him you know his mother doesn’t like you, you’re never going to get to hear him say he doesn’t care.” She seemed so certain that Aiyana almost believed her.

“What makes you think he’d stay with me in the first place?” Aiyana asked skeptically as she blocked Briana’s hand from darting across the table to steal more of her muffin.

“Because he’s got that
look
,” Briana said as she tried to duck and weave around the blocking hand, but ended up frowning as she tried to blot a few crumbs off her own plate with the pad of her thumb.

“The look?” Aiyana picked off a tiny piece of muffin and slipped it between her lips. She didn’t want to be too fat for the upcoming New Year’s Eve party.

“You know the look. The one where a man looks like he’d might jump in front of a bus for a woman? Wait, not
might
, would.” She corrected as she looked around at the display case holding all manner of goodies she shouldn’t really be gorging down on.

“You know you don’t want to,” Aiyana said, but she was too late. Briana was already walking up to the counter. She sighed as she finished her blueberry muffin and stared out the café window. There were plenty of biracial couples in New York City, and she wondered if they had to put up with some of the same judgments from their parents.

Briana plopped back down with a slice of lemon meringue pie and dug in happily. “So, when do I get to meet him?” she asked as she happily wiped a crumb from her dark lip.

“If you eat like that in front of him, probably when Hell freezes over,” Aiyana said with a chuckle. “Maybe you should come over next weekend and help me redecorate my closet.”

“Sounds like a blast. Will there be cake involved?”

“Always,” Aiyana said with a grin. It was a ritual they had gone through since they’d known each other. Every time she moved into another home, she invited Briana over to help rearrange the closet and snoop around the place a bit.

~

“Do you really have to go?” Aiyana lie with her back on the bed, her legs spread apart gently. She’d already shimmied into her underwear, but he could still see that her lips were swollen from his attention.

“What do you suggest we do if we don’t?” He made sure to include the ‘we’ to let her know she was going, too. He wouldn’t dare walk into the New Year’s Eve party without a date on his arm, not this year.

“Well, I have a few things in mind,” she told him as her tongue flicked up to gently lick her swollen, top lip. He’d suckled a little too hard there, but he liked the look. He liked knowing that every man in the place was going to stare at the woman at his side,
his
woman, and they’d know he’d been all over her just half an hour before they’d arrived.

“And if you don’t stop teasing me, you might be doing them all,
tonight
.” He lifted one corner of his lip in a playful grin and she laughed, throwing her head back while her elbows rested on the bed. He could see the way her hair shimmered in the light and felt his cock stir in his pants. “Get dressed, or I’m going to do more than lick your sweet pussy.”

Aiyana was smiling when she looked back up at him and he could see her nipples tighten into little nubs. She was still riding the high he’d given her, paying special attention to the rough spot inside of her with his fingers. He’d enjoyed it, but they had things to do and places to be. He promised himself he’d make up for it later.

“Fine, but after midnight, we’re coming home.” He liked the sound of that, straightened, and gave her one last, longing look before he straightened his tie and buttoned the jacket of his suit.

“I’m dressed, and I like what you’ll be wearing,” he told her as she stood and flipped her hair back over her shoulder.

“Don’t be silly. You’d be too jealous.”

“Jealous? That’s for little boys.” But he was jealous at the thought of someone else seeing her as she was just then, perfect. He knew others had seen her as she was just then, but that was before he’d met her. Now, he wanted her for himself.

Aiyana slipped past him, brushing a kiss on his neck where his pulse was thudding hard, and closed the bathroom door behind her. He didn’t understand why she didn’t just leave it open, but he figured it had something to do with women wanting to be mysterious. He’d seen plenty of them primp and preen in front of the mirror in their own apartments, but he’d never had the opportunity to see one in
his
bathroom. He had to admit he might have been a little jealous of the mirror she was undoubtedly standing in front of, naked except for those blasted panties, with her nipples rock hard just from the thought of him taking her.

He knew he shouldn’t. They’d be late, after all, but he slipped through the door and closed it behind him. He got a whiff of her tantalizing perfume, saw her leaning over the sink counter as she applied a little mascara to her already dark eyelashes, and when their eyes met, he felt electricity shoot through him. He knew he was in love, but he didn’t know it could feel like a tidal wave crashing over him.

“We’ll be late,” she whispered, but he was already stepping out of his suit pants, then his boxers, and finally unbuttoning his white shirt. It slipped to the floor with the rest of his clothes as he maintained eye contact with her in the mirror. He caught the tiniest catch of her breath as she continued to apply her mascara.

He waited patiently, his hand caressing his hard length as he throbbed for her. By the time she was finished, he had it all planned out. He rolled on a condom, one of the ones he kept in his wallet lying on the counter, and gently slid down the black, silky material that hid her want for him. Blake watched her put away the mascara, saw her pop her lips as she evened out her lipstick, and stalked up behind her in a true predatory fashion.

“No, don’t bend over,” he told her as she proceeded to rest lazily on the counter with her elbows, watching him stalk her like a lion hunting the gazelle.

“Why not,” she asked him lazily, breathily as she stood back up.

“Because I want to see every inch of you while I fuck you,” he whispered as he came up behind her, letting his hard member rest against the small of her back. “Put on your heels,” he demanded as he stepped away.

Aiyana did as she was told, walking daintily over to pick up her black, strappy heels with the glitter on the sole. She bent over, giving him a tantalizing view of her behind, the perfect curve of her womanly ass, and her glistening, swollen lips. Her feet slipped into them and she allowed him to pull her back in front of him again. This time, he knew he was right where he needed to be. He bent down at the knees, positioned himself, and slid into her.

She throbbed around him and gasped and he spread her legs a little further, gaining him more access. “Oh,” she strung out the word in a whisper as his hands reached forward. He placed them on her flat stomach and felt her muscles clench when he drew back and thrust in.

“Don’t move,” he told her when she tried to bend over to support herself. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and used his free hand to massage her right breast until the nipple turned rock solid beneath his palm.

Aiyana could feel the way his hand shake when he moved it to her other breast, teasing the nipple into a hard peak. Her lips parted when he reached between her legs, still not moving inside her other than the way his cock pulsed and throbbed. “I want you to come for me,” he whispered, his hot breath sliding across her earlobe and making her shiver.

“I already did, remember?” she asked him teasingly as she looked up to find his gaze in the mirror. His eyes had gone from the steely color they usually were to a much darker color. His pupils were going to eclipse his irises soon and his whole being was concentrating on her.

“Again,” he demanded of her, finding her swollen clit and touching the sensitive flesh just above it. Her breasts swelled and her jaw slackened gently as she sucked in a deep breath. He knew he wasn’t playing fair, demanding that she come while he was inside of her, not moving, but he enjoyed the way she submitted to him.

Her breath caught in her throat and he knew the moment he was about to feel her pulsing around him. It felt like a lifetime before he pinched her clit and rode the wave of her climax with her, thrusting in and out of her at the pace of her orgasm. “Oh, oh,” she repeated and he allowed his arm to slacken as she leaned forward, her hands grasping the counter for support.

Blake positioned his warm hands on her hips as she pulled her back to him, driving into her as hard as he could. When he was sure she was on the brink of her second orgasm, he pulled out of her fully and slid back into her, leaning his chest into her back as he held onto her.

“Please, yes, please-” she screamed and he watched her face contort as she came around him hard. He reached between her legs from the front and felt the slick wetness of her on his fingers. He ran them down her labia, teasing the swollen, wet flesh and keeping her aroused while he waited for her to be ready again.

When she thought he was finished and he’d finally come inside of her, they were already half an hour late.

The two of them didn’t walk into the party until well past ten in the evening, and Blake couldn’t seem to keep his hands from finding innocent ways to brush against her back or her thighs throughout the night.

“If you reach that hand up any higher, there’s going to be a scandalous event at your party tonight,” Aiyana whispered in his ear while she lifted her champagne glass with her right hand. They hadn’t had a drink since Christmas, either one of them, but it was New Year’s and she’d needed something to help her cool down.

“I’m hoping there might be,” he whispered back to her as his pinky brushed against the inside, upper part of her left thigh.

“Blake, you were supposed to be here an hour and a half-” Julia stopped as soon as she realized she’d interrupted something and for the first time in his life, Blake saw her blush crimson just on her cheekbones. She swallowed and got herself back under control.

“Aiyana, this is Julia, my business partner.” He told her politely as he stood, waiting for Julia to take a seat. She did, rather unladylike as she plopped into a chair and reached her hand across the table.

“We’ve met, it’s nice to see you again,” Aiyana said as she reached across and took it. Both women seemed to eye each other up a bit before they released their handshake and smiled politely.

“And you,” Julia said before she snagged a glass of wine proffered to her by a waiter. “Anyway, you’re late, but I think I can guess why.” Her lip curled up into her infamous, Cheshire cat grin. Blake frowned as he wondered if Aiyana would be offended, but she seemed to take it all in good cheer.

“Blake had a wardrobe malfunction,” Aiyana offered warmly before she took a sip of her champagne. It was her first glass and they’d been there for a while.

“Hah, that’s a good one,” Julia complimented before she turned her gaze on Blake. “I like her, you should keep her. I suppose she’ll stay unless she finds out about that weird hobby of using a day planner.” He supposed that was the best he was going to get from his partner and stifled an inward sigh. “Or the glass you installed that goes from clear to not so clear. Did you ask about that yet?”

“No, I haven’t heard about it.”

“Well, this is a really funny story-”

“Julia.” Blake stated serenely as he raised one eyebrow.

“Blake.” She responded as the grin came back.

“I think Aiyana can be spared the gory details of my work life.” He said after two heartbeats.

“Oh, no, darling. I’m afraid I’m terribly interested about the magic glass.” He felt his resolve weaken as she leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand.

Blake sat back and listened to the women chat about his nonexistent, scandalous love life at the office. Aiyana laughed at some parts, seemed defensively angry on his behalf at others, and seemed to honestly enjoy talking with the woman across the table from her. At least he could cross that one off the list. He wouldn’t leave the woman he loved because of Julia’s disapproval, but it was a relief to know she did.

“Let’s dance,” Aiyana said as she stood up and finished off her first, and most likely only, glass of alcohol for the evening. He understood her reserve considering it was more than just them, and he appreciated that she didn’t want to get sloppy drunk in front of his employees.

“It’d be my pleasure,” Blake told her as he stood and held out his hand to her. Julia had turned towards her left to chat with one of the men in accounting who had sat down next to her. She seemed to be having a candid discussion with him about paper clips, and Blake wasn’t about to intervene.

He swept her onto the dance floor with more grace than he thought he had, and tried to remember the simple dance lessons he’d learned when he was a child. When he saw his dance partner smiling when he looked up, he realized he wasn’t doing that fine of a job at it. “Don’t tell me you can’t dance, Blake Hanley.”

“I’d be telling you a lie, then” he told her as he swung her around and tried to dip her. There were too many people in the way, so she was only a few inches away from him. The lights were dim, but he could see the twinkle in her eyes as if it were a bright, sunny day. She was inwardly laughing at him, and he felt embarrassment well welling up. There were things even a billionaire wasn’t good at, and not enough money on the planet could turn him into a man who could sweep a woman off her feet just by dancing.

“It’s okay. I love you anyway.” He felt warmth spread through him when he realized she meant it, and a shiver began from the base of his spine to the nape of his neck. He hoped he’d never stop feeling that when she told him she loved him.

“And I love you,” he whispered to her as he brought her up out of the tiny dip. He pulled her close and put his hands on her hips, felt warmth when she wrapped her arms around his neck, and rested his forehead against hers. They breathed each other in as they swayed back and forth to the slow beat of a blues song. It had been one a song Julia had convinced Blake to allow to be played at the party.

The overhead lights turned from a pale white glow to blue and then back to white. The theme was classic New Year’s Eve with sparkling decorations and champagne flutes with the year making up the stem. He’d thought it was cheesy, but Aiyana had liked it when they’d walked in, so he’d decorate every year like this as long as she was with him.

“Excuse me, but would you mind if I cut in for the next dance?” It was a deep male voice and as soon as the words sunk in, Blake felt a flash of jealousy.

“I’d love to,” Aiyana told the man as she stepped away from Blake with a shy smile. When he turned to face the man who had interrupted the last bit of the dance, he realized it was Richard Updike, one of the department presidents.

“Richard, it’s good to see your enjoying the party.” He held out his hand amicably and shook with the older gentlemen. While he wasn’t afraid Aiyana would leave him anytime soon, he’d just thought he’d have her all to himself that night. Not wanting to seem overly jealous or overbearing, Blake stepped back and wished them well before he returned to his seat.

Julia had chased away the man she’d been talking to and was nursing a glass of red wine. Before she realized he’d returned, she almost looked disappointed, but the look changed to a teasing interest when she caught sight of him. “You’re back so soon? You didn’t step on her toe, did you?”

“Nothing like that, but I might step on Richard’s.” He knew he could be candid around her and smiled to let her know he was joking. “Why so sad?”

“Why ever would you say that?” She smiled harder, yet he saw the waver on the one corner and knew it to be false. He waited; she persisted, and finally caved as she took another sip of her wine. “I couldn’t find a date for the party, and I think I’m one of the only one here without one. Am I really that repulsive? Tell me, do my teeth look bad? Do I stink?”

She made a show of lifting up her lip with one finger and simultaneously sniffing in the direction of her armpit, making her look like a demented monkey. He couldn’t help himself smiling and shaking his head.

“It could be the resemblance to a chimpanzee in your mannerisms,” he joked, but he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes and instantly regretted it. Before he could think about it, he reached across the table and took hers in his. There was warmth, but never a spark between the two of them. It was just a friendly gesture of comfort. “You’re perfect, Julia. Don’t let a bunch of stuck up chimps in suits make you ever think you’re not.”

There was a moment before she withdrew her hand and put it in her lap as she rolled her eyes. “You’re such a sap sometimes,” she told him. “But thank you.”

“So what did what’s-his-name have to say?” He’d fire the bastard if he’d said something even remotely upsetting to her, even if he didn’t have any grounds to really do so.

“Oh, he said some pretty nice things. It’s just that he’s, you know,
married
.”

“Ah…I see.” He cleared his throat as he tapped his foot on the floor, inaudible and gone unnoticed in the dimly lit, loud banquet hall. He’d rented one of the nicest places in the area, and he usually didn’t enjoy these parties, but he felt as if somehow he’d changed over the past few weeks. The Blake Hanley that tried to maintain remoteness a certain about him was starting to soften, and he suspected the woman on the dance floor, discretely trying to move Richard’s hand from the small of her back to the middle, was the cause of it.

“So you love her. Where’s the ring, Hanley?” Julia kept her voice pitched low, but he still jumped when she mentioned it.

“Tucked safely away,” he told her as he put his finger to his lips. “Now keep that big trap of yours shut about it and I might not make you do the next meeting.”

She seemed to think about it before nodding. He knew she hated them, and he knew his employees hated her everlasting pep during them, so he figured he was doing it for both her and them.

Aiyana dropped down in her chair beside him and took a sip of a glass of water she’d found somewhere. The ice clinked in it and she sighed contentedly when she set it down on the table.

“Having fun?” Blake inquired innocently.

“Oh, I’m sure you saw just how much fun I was having.” Her smile warmed him and the thought that she
didn’t
enjoy another man’s hand where he wanted to rest his forever warmed him more. She careened her neck around to look for a clock, but found none. “How are we supposed to know when it’s midnight?”

“When the announce …-” he was about to tell her when the announcement went off, blaring into existence as the music faded away.

“Ladies and gentlemen, a toast to the New Year!” The announcer brayed into the microphone. He’d obviously had one too many. “May all your troubles during the coming year be as short as your New Year's resolutions!” he shouted into the microphone. There were cheers and drinks sloshed back as the announcer counted down from ten.

When he was at three, Blake felt a warm hand slip into his. And as he turned when the announcer whooped to signify the New Year had come, Aiyana’s warm lips were pressed against his. He parted them deftly with his tongue and slipped his free hand to the nape of her neck, tilting her head back to open further her mouth for him. She moaned and shivered beneath his touch. He pulled away just before it could get R-rated and smiled as he looked down at her.

“Happy New Year,” he whispered to her.

“Happy New Year,” she whispered back.