The Power Billionaire: The Complete Series (BBW Erotic Romance Trilogy) (3 page)

I grinned at the shenanigans that had overtaken my grandmother’s senior residential complex while I went to the door. I opened it and my smile vanished. Standing in front of me was Grayson Holmes.

“Good evening, Merrin.”

“Who is it?” Grandma called from the living room. “Is it Bernie Renihan? Hold on, I’ll get my good teeth.”

I barely heard her scurry to her bedroom. My eyes were riveted to the billionaire before me. The cheating, lying, perverted billionaire.

“What do you want? And how did you even find me?”

“I got you a limo, didn’t I? The driver was kind enough to tell me the address. This is where your grandmother lives?”

“What do you want?” I repeated.

“Are you still frustrated you didn’t get to climax?”

Without a word, I slammed the door shut. I hated to admit it but the fact that I didn’t get to cum like he did weighed on me. I had told myself I would find a private place to finish what I started but it was difficult with Grandma around. And when I thought of Grayson I couldn’t keep his deception out of my mind. That just killed the mood.

I thought I was home free but the door wasn’t actually slammed shut. His foot was in the way. He gently pushed the door open again.

“I’m sorry, Merrin. Can you give me a moment, please?”

“You lied to me.”

“How did I do that? By not telling you my last name? That’s not lying, that omission.”

“You said you never travel first class.”

“I don’t, that’s the truth.”

“Bullshit. You’re Grayson Holmes, you’re a billionaire. You only travel first class.”

“False. I never take commercial flights, I have a private jet. Therefore, I wasn’t lying to you. I never fly first class.”

“So you’re gonna play with words now? Are you a lawyer?”

That made him smile. “They found a technical problem with my plane at the last minute so we had to go commercial.”

“We, as in you and your girlfriend?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw her at the airport, that tall, beautiful skinny redhead with her hand on your arm. You weren’t exactly pushing her way.”

He was puzzled for an instant and then burst into laughter. “I’ll have to tell my mom you called her tall, skinny, and beautiful, she’ll fall in love with you for sure.”

“Your mom?” I asked, the voice catching in my throat.

Was I making a fool out of myself? Again?

“Yes, Merrin. My mom. I flew down from New York with my parents. There’s a political thing tonight at the family retreat. They said I had to be there so I came like a good son.”

“Your mom? I... But... What... How come you were with me? You said you had an argument.”

“Okay, so I lied a little.” He leaned forward and got his head closer to mine. It wasn’t too overt, just friendly. “I noticed you when we boarded. It took me an hour to find a way to talk to you. I had to pay the stewardess to allow me to sit next to you.”

“Oh.” It was all I could say.

“I’m sorry I gave you the wrong impression and I’m sorry I couldn’t walk with you out of the airport. The truth is, I can’t get you out of my head, Merrin. I want you to come to the party with me tonight. It’ll be full of stuffy rich and boring people. I promise you’ll have a lousy time but at least we’ll be having a lousy time together.”

For the first time I noticed he was wearing a finely cut tuxedo. He didn’t look like the bowtie type of person but it was uncanny how attractive he was dressed like this.
Batman, eat your heart out!

“What do you say?” he whispered.

His explanation made me forget about my frustration. I had been a fool to peg him as a lying bastard. Why did I always react like my life was at the center of a bad sitcom? Then again, how couldn’t I? It was impossible that a wealthy handsome man could ever be interested in me.

“I can’t go to anything fancy, I have nothing to wear.”

“That can be arranged. Just say yes.”

He reached for my hand and I let him take it. He caressed my fingers slowly and gazed into my eyes. I had flashbacks of grasping his hardness, of feeling him pulsating in pleasure. Could that happen again? Could that happen inside of me?

“So,” my grandmother said. “Is it for me?”

I turned and found her standing behind a corner, peeking at us. She had indeed put on her good teeth. They were overly straight and overly white.

“No, Grandma. This one’s for me.”

Chapter 4

We drove more than 20 miles north and it felt like nothing. Part of it was having him near me, his hulking presence a subtle reminder of what we had gone through on the plane. Another part of it was the vehicle. It was a dark Maybach, a car that made Rolls-Royce look like a run-of-the-mill junker. The passenger area was roomy and luxuriously appointed. I kept looking around like a teenage girl going to the prom.

We crossed the bridge and headed into Palm Beach which was built on a narrow barrier island. We zoomed through traffic and every car seemed to be a Ferrari or a Maserati. Anyone in a BMW or Lexus was slumming. We drove down to Worth Avenue.

“They call this the Rodeo Drive of Florida.”

The street was lined with palm trees. Beyond them were elegant two-story buildings housing shops. I saw names like Ralph Lauren, Valentino, Lana Marks, Lacoste, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers, and Salvatore Ferragamo. I could practically smell the money.

“Maybe we could stop by a mall somewhere,” I said. “There’s always something at Macy’s that looks good and isn’t liable to bankrupt a small country.”

Grayson grinned. He didn’t answer. The driver had his instructions and soon the car came to a halt in front of Gucci.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious. I know you’ll already be the most beautiful woman at the party. With the dress you pick out in there? You’ll be the most beautiful woman in history.”

He brought his head close to mine and our lips brushed. I was about to kiss him firmly when he moved aside and pecked my cheek tenderly. The chauffeur opened my door and I had no choice but to climb out.

“Good evening Mr. Holmes,” a woman said opening the store door for us. She looked like a supermodel.

We went in and quickly two other salespersons came to us. Grayson mentioned we were going to a glamorous affair, as if his tuxedo didn’t give it away, and the staff members went about showing me what they thought was suitable. They didn’t even do a double take at my size. I was used to dismissing everything for fear it wouldn’t fit me but they didn’t bat an eye.

In the end, I chose a silk georgette halter dress. It was black with double velvet ribbon detail and a subtle ruffle neckline. I tried it on and it made the impossible of making me appear svelte.

“You look ravishing, Merrin.”

After it was decided that we were settling on this one, a saleswoman cut off the price tag and I couldn’t help myself from glancing at it. My heart nearly gave out.

“Grayson, it’s $5,000.”

“That’s strange because it makes you look like $1,000,000. It must be you then.”

He paid and we left the store. I was certain we were going to the party now but instead we went to Jimmy Choo so I could get some shoes even though mine were perfectly adequate. He made me choose black round-toe pumps that were actually quite comfortable. Next, he led me elsewhere. He kept the best for last. We went next door to Cartier, and then further back into a private room.

“Absolutely not,” I told him when he showed me a piece of jewelry that had no price tag.

The pendulous earrings were white gold paved with diamonds. They had to be worth several times what the dress had cost.

“You will not argue with me on this. I’ve never bought this type of jewelry before for someone who wasn’t my mother. Do me the courtesy of not saying no.”

I was flabbergasted as he inserted them in my ears. I wanted to run away screaming, this was too much. I was too shocked to react.

“All right, now can you show us a matching pendant?”

*   *   *

The house reeked of old money. It was a sprawling affair with a Mediterranean feel that had been built in the 1920s and renovated every decade. A large circular driveway was already filled with scores of luxury cars. Grayson told me about the gardens and the Olympic size swimming pool and the private beach but all I could see was the sheer size of it.

“Looks like we’re late,” I said.

“Never heard of the term fashionably late?”

“Yeah but not when it’s your own party.”

“It’s not my party,” he said as we got out of the car. “It’s my father’s party. I’m here because I help attract sycophants.”

In the car, he’d told me how he had become one of the world’s wealthiest men. The family had come to America two boats after the Mayflower and had made a fortune during the Industrial Revolution. A series of heirs had done their very best to squander it all over the years until Grayson’s great-grandfather had put everything into trusts.

Barely into his teens, Grayson discovered his fondness for following the stock market. He impressed everyone in the family by quadrupling his allowance on a weekly basis. By the time he got to college, his family had given him control over a sizable amount of the fortune. He invested in a wide array of businesses and treated his portfolio like a hedge fund. He sheepishly admitted he was one of the few people who’d  made out like a bandit with those toxic mortgage-backed securities.

Now he owned sizable chunks of some of the world’s biggest companies. His own corporation was privately held despite the numerous appeals for him to go public. He said he liked to be in control. Somehow, I didn’t doubt that for a minute.

The party was in full swing. There must have been 200 people and they all seemed to be dressed for the Oscars. A small orchestra provided lively music while waiters patrolled with trays filled with champagne glasses. This was a cut above the gatherings I was usually invited to at Ruby Tuesday.

“Come on, let me introduce you.”

The next half-hour was dizzying. People all looked the same – middle-aged white folks with bling to spare – and they all had fancy WASP names like Harris Dundersfield Worthington IV and Elizabeth Longworth Donahough. I felt like Cinderella being taken to the country club.

He then took me to a specific couple which was obviously the center of attention. I promptly recognized them from the airport. They were his parents. My heart started to beat double its usual rate. Somehow, I didn’t think giving a public hand job was exactly the appropriate prelude to meeting one’s parents.

“Mom, dad, this is Merrin.”

“Good evening,” the parents said one after the other, shaking my hand.

“A pleasure to meet you, Senator and Mrs. Holmes.”

“How exactly do you know my son, dear?” his mother asked.

“Well, it’s one of those…”

I made your son cum in row 23 and then he bought me $50,000 worth of jewelry
. I smiled politely but was starting to panic. Suddenly, I felt Grayson’s hand rubbing my shoulder in comfort.

“I crossed Merrin’s path recently and we hit it off. Mom, when she saw you earlier she didn’t know who you were and she said to me you were beautiful.”

“Oh, what a nice thing to say!”

“She was evidently made for politics,” the Senator pitched in and everyone laughed. “What line of work are you in?”

I was pretty sure that being a secretary wasn’t something highly regarded in these circles so I fudged the truth a little.

“I’m in the engineering business.”

No one called me on it and I had a feeling that question was only asked out of politeness. Grayson soon took over the conversation and talked about the party. It was being held to raise money for the family foundation’s poverty initiative but it was essentially a way to sway voters and eventual campaign supporters. Within moments, other people wanted a word with the Senator and Grayson led me away.

“The people who truly rule the country are in this room,” he said into my ear. “You could start a war across the globe just by shaking the right hands.”

“That’s… disconcerting.”

“Does that turn you on, Merrin?”

I looked up sharply at him. I knew some women got aroused from such power. Was I one of them? As we continued shaking guests’ hands, I realized people were more deferential to Grayson than to his father. He wasn’t the one in politics but he was the most powerful man in the room.

Without warning, I felt his hand travel from the small of my back down to my butt. He caressed it gently and I was positively shocked that he would do this in public. At least in the airplane we had been covered by a blanket.

Chapter 5

 “Grayson, what are you doing?”

“I’m giving you what you want.”

“You think I want to be fondled in the middle of your reception?”

“I know you do. Tell me,” he whispered with his mouth close enough to my ear so that his breath made me shiver. “Can you feel the heat growing between your legs?”

His deep voice, the warmth of his breath, that’s what was getting to me. His stroking hand was the cherry on the proverbial sundae. I looked at him with my lips parted. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him to stop or continuing. How could he have this effect on me? He grinned at my awkwardness.

“Come with me.”

His hand returned to the small of my back and he led me away. We went around the grand staircase and stopped behind a row of potted ficus and cordyline plants. We were somewhat shielded from the party but anyone staring directly would be able to see us.

“What are you doing?” I asked again, certain that people would run out screaming if we were discovered.

“Can’t you tell yet that I like you a lot?”

With a wicked smirk, he brought his face next to mine. I thought he was going to kiss me – at last! His lips brushed against my skin and he inhaled deeply. Instead of meeting my lips, he kissed my neck. I basked in the incredibly intimate feeling when I noticed he was doing this to divert my attention.