The Billionaire's Bride (Complete Collection) (17 page)

“
L
ucas
,” I heard over me again.

Oh, what in the hell did I do now? Please, tell me I wasn’t screaming my head off again? I thought that was over with.

“What’d I do?”

Tia smiled above me. She rolled back over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Sunlight streaked in from the balcony and burned my eyes at first. I rubbed them and then sat up quickly. There were no clocks around, so I reached for my pants, trying to get to my cell phone.

“Oh shit, I hope we didn’t sleep through the whole day.”

“How are you feeling now?”

“Guilty,” I told her. I dragged my phone out of my pocket. It was already eleven.

She crossed her arms and kicked out her feet. “I feel kind of guilty too. I can’t tell you the last time I slept past ten.”

“Same.”

“We’ll become total slobs if we keep fucking.” She tangled herself up in the crook of my arm. “I can’t wait,” she purred.

“You could make a rich man go bankrupt with that hot pussy, you know that?”

“Please, I was only kidding. Why do you think I woke you up? This beach is nice, but I plan on swimming at some point, not just looking at it.”

I got up, stretched, and then lowered again, on the downswing, noticing Tia checking out my package. I’d woken up with a hard on.

She licked her lips when she spotted it. “You know...about what you said yesterday.”

About Brice?

She corrected me. “About what you said about the condom, and coming inside someone for the first time.”

Tia began to get dressed. She put on her panties, giving me a shot of her beautiful, big ass, and then strapped those heavenly tits into her bra. She slipped her dress on. “That was the first time anyone’s come in me.”

I blinked twice. Hard. I should’ve known at some point we would need to talk about it.

“And?” I asked her.

She groaned a little under her breath. Maybe she thought I didn’t hear it. Maybe she wanted me to hear it. I couldn’t be sure.

Tia turned around, tossed her hair into place, and said, “Forget it.”

She wanted to know my plans. But my plans couldn’t be divulged.

Snapping my belt buckle in place, I walked over to the balcony and took in a deep inhale of the plentiful, fresh oxygen of the rainforest. “Why don’t you just say what you want to say?”

“I said forget it. You don’t want to talk about it right now, which is fine.”

“No, I’m just not going to do some mind reading bullshit. If you want me to answer a question, you’ll need to ask me.”

“You’re grumpy this morning.”

I snuck up behind her, took her by the waist, and cradled her in my arms, sealing it with a kiss to her neck. “I’ll give you a hint, there’s nothing to be worried about. Are you ready to see what I have planned?”

“Yes. Hell yes. Your plan could not come soon enough.”

I brushed her hair back and kissed her neck.

She looked back at me in fear. “You’re confident. Scarily confident. That worries me.”

“There’s nothing to be worried about.”

We headed downstairs to have our breakfast, which would now be brunch.

“Brunch first, then we’ll have our plans. Nothing to be worried about,” I repeated.

I don’t think she believed me.

Two hours into Lucas’s plans, and I still had no idea what he had up his sleeve, only that we were going to be going scuba diving, which was fine with me. I liked adventuring. I liked animals, and the ocean, so why not?

But something told me there was something more. It might’ve been Lucas’s smug grin during our diving instructions.

Yep, something was up. This couldn’t be it. Not like it’d be disappointing if this was all it was. We were taken on a private boat off the coast. They’d shown us some pictures of what we could possibly see, and it all looked incredible—multicolored coral reefs and fish of all shapes and sizes, along with whales and dolphins that might make an appearance.

Jackpot.
This was going to be a vacation that I would remember for the rest of my life. I was raring to go, and during our trip into deeper water, I kept asking Lucas when we would get to put on our suits.

“I’m ready to gear up,” I said. Lucas couldn’t stop chuckling at my impatience.

“Just wait. We’ve only been on the boat for a minute.”

“I’ve waited long enough.”

The instructor eventually came to us and started asking us questions. Lucas didn’t seem concerned at all. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention. I figured he left it all up to me, knowing how much I would want to pick where we would dive.

One of the locations featured bull sharks. I clapped wildly when I heard that. Lucas almost sprang from his seat and bolted me down.

“Want to dive with the bull sharks?” I asked him.

“Hell no.” His eyes almost bulged out of his skull.

“Why not? It might be fun.”

He shook his head and smiled again. Why did he find me so funny? Swimming with sharks might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but I’d always found them interesting.

“Let me guess, you have an affinity for sharks as well?”

I shrugged. “They’re kind of cute. Why not?”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t think that up close.”

“You don’t know.”

“Let’s stick to the normal diving spot, please.”

I jabbed his side with my super pointy elbow. “Sounds like someone is scared.”

“I would like to get through this trip with you in one piece.”

“Fine,” I told the instructor. “We’ll just have to settle for the normal dive and hope some sharks wander in.”

Lucas kicked back. “I’m serious. I need to keep you alive. We’re finally out here, together, and nothing is stopping us, unless you decide to go roam the jungle by yourself in search of a sloth baby.”

“Don’t say sloth. I’ll get too excited.”

Lucas groaned, shook his head one more time, and then we went back to waiting. We eventually moved in closer toward the coast, drifting to a spot where I could peer down and see coral, wavering hues of bright violet and orange underneath the surface.

“This is it,” I stated. Adrenaline rushed in me as a few fish zoomed past, and I pointed at them as they tried to flee, but the water was so clear that I could see underneath as far as my eye allowed.

Lucas held me steady as I peered over the edge. He didn’t want me going in just yet. “Tia, we’ve got to get our suits on.”

Suits. Oh right,
scuba suits—
tight fitting, impossible to fit into scuba suits.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“What?” He cocked an eyebrow on me.

“It’s nothing.”

“Come on, what is it?”

“I hope you have a suit that fits me.”

Lucas caught my hips, thrust me ahead, and then gave me a smack on my ass. The slap echoed ahead with my tiny yelp, and I hoped no one heard it, but I knew they did.

“I’ve got your size. Camilla reminded me that I would need your measurements, and because you went shopping with her yesterday, I was able to arrange it.”

“I should thank her then.”

“And me. I thought about seeing you slip into a tight suit, but seeing those curves busting out of a skin-tight suit...hell no, I’m not interested in giving this crew an eyeful like that. That’s all for me.”

“Thank you, Lucas. I'm excited once again.” And thank you, Camilla, for having my back.

The crew handed us our gear and we strapped in. It fit me snugly, but Lucas had picked the right fit. While he might’ve picked something tamer than last time, he still paid close attention to every move I made as his eyes feasted on my curves.

“I want to fuck you right now,” he breathed as he wrapped his arms around me, pressed his fat cock against my back, and then let me slip away.

“We can’t right now.”

“Too bad I can’t fuck you while we’re under water.”

“You’ve got a thing for me in tight fitting clothing, don’t you?”

“Fuck, you’ve got that right. We’re taking that back to our room later.”

Our room.
I liked the way that sounded.

Before we could continue flirting, the head instructor returned and began to go over the rules again. They were a little scary, but since this would be potentially dangerous, they were necessary. We listened closely. Then we were taken to our positions, strapped into our oxygen tanks and our masks, and awkwardly using fins for feet, waddled over to the edge of the ship.

Usually, someone from the crew would come along to monitor the dive. For us, they would do their monitoring onboard. Lucas had enough diving experience so they weren’t worried.

“Ready?” he asked me.

I gave him a nod. My heart thud against my chest. Why was I so nervous?

“Go,” he shouted.

We took the plunge and toppled backward into the water. Because we were wearing the heavy tanks, it was easier than I expected, and the next moment I was underwater and trying to orient myself.

I took a careful inhale. The oxygen was still working.
Good.

Lucas swam beside me, like a freakin’ sexy merman through the water. The edges of my lips started to curl, but it was hard to smile with the mouth piece. He took off downward and dived toward the bottom of the ocean, leaving me behind.

“Wait up,” I wanted to scream, but the mouth piece.
Gotta remember the mouth piece.

I caught up to him. Then I waved for him to stay with me. Lucas splashed around with a nod, then took off again, this time slower, allowing me to swim by his side. I could already feel my heart hammering and my chest tighten as I marveled and wanted to see more.

Schools of yellow fish floated past our eyes. We hung back and watched them swirl in streaks of color, then move away from us, done with their show. As we began to continue past a moss colored anemone, the sea floor dipped to flat sand and Lucas shot his arm out to brace me from going forward.

I stopped and looked ahead.

Four stingrays skimmed the bottom of the ocean. He turned around, and I could make out the lines around his eyes, he was staring me down hard so that I wouldn’t go pet one. Once they carried on, at least far enough where they weren’t in our direct path, we continued.

When we broke through that vacant clearing, we came to an area teeming with all sorts of marine life. I looked up to see different patterns of fish covering my view. The ocean was filled with life, dancing around us, and as I focused above, a striped golden black fish with plenty of fins chugged along while smacking its lips. It bobbed across my eye line, as if to say, “Hey, keep it moving.”

Lucas cut to the left. I tried to keep up with him as he swam much quicker than I was used to. We came to a halt again, at a spire of violet and venetian red coral. It was beautiful. Tears started to well in my eyes as I looked upon it, knowing that soon we would be exploring it.

He waved again, and I followed closely this time, then overtook him. I dipped lower to be flat with the coral as hiding fish scattered. I reached out, running my fingers over it, surprised by the roughness, since it looked so beautiful.

Lucas took my hand. I was unsure where he would take me. Why did it seem like he knew this place already? He swam with such confidence.

We crossed over the top of the coral and then rounded the spire. On its opposite side, there was a small resting place in the shape of a heart. I squeezed his hand tightly as I peered down at it, unsure if my eyes were screwing with me, because I could’ve sworn that there was something resting in the indentation.

Violet anemones swayed around us as I unlatched myself from him. I reached down and took that shining object out from the heart shaped hole in the coral. The box was covered with shining black and silver paint, and it looked highly out of place. My suspicion was that Lucas had planted it.

I didn’t want to rush to conclusions. I held it out in my palms for Lucas to see. Was this a present for me? I saw his chest rock with laughter.

So...he
did
plant the box.

I started to fuss with it, turning it over, trying to discover how to open it, but then I noticed the lock, and when I picked my head up, Lucas was shaking his head. There was no way I would open it without a key.

I poked at his chest, the only place where I could where I wasn’t afraid of messing up all the important tubes. He swam back, avoiding my jabs, then shrugged and threw up his arms. There was no way I was going to keep swimming around with this mystery box in my hands.

We needed to head up. Right away.

When I pointed to the surface, I expected Lucas to stop me. Except he took off, launching himself up with a well-placed kick, not before taking my hand. I kept the box pressed to my chest and allowed him to do most of the work, my feet paddling steadily to help us break the surface.

The crew helped us on board the ship. With my mask off, I didn’t wait long to scream at Lucas, asking him what on Earth he’d done.

He stood over me holding a brass key. He must’ve had it sitting nearby, or maybe one of the crew members hid it for him.

I stood up on unsteady legs. I clutched the box, tears blurring my vision. I had hopes, but I didn’t want to run wild with them, otherwise my disappointment might destroy me.

“Go on, open it,” he said, flashing me his wide, white grin. I didn’t like the look of that.

“Lucas, what did you do?” I asked him, almost sternly. I fiddled with the box. My fingers were shaking as I popped the key in.

“Just open it. Then you can scream at me.”

And I did. I
screamed.

“What is this?” I asked him, over and over. I held up a ring. An engagement ring? I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to believe. It was giant, a big block of diamonds that must’ve cost a fortune.

I rushed him and tackled him in an embrace. Lucas remained firm as he tilted my chin up to look at him, with tears streaming down my eyes, I could hardly trace my thoughts or my movements or anything going on around me, it was all a whirlwind.

When I came back from my stupor, I remembered my lips blabbering. And then I heard my words. I’d been asking the same thing, over and over, “What is this? Lucas, what is this?”