Page 39 of Beauty and the Billionaire

My left arm covered his lithe torso while my left leg rested between his legs. Lying on his back, Zain was still fast asleep, and I knew I needed to turn away from him, leave the bed, and put something on before he woke up. What seemed like a good choice at two in the morning had a much different look in the light of a new day. I didn’t plan on being here to witness the regrets in his eyes.

Yet my gaze traveled down his body. It moved slowly, savoring each inch of flesh it covered. Such soft and beautiful skin, light brown and hairless, taut over the hints of his muscles, and such tender physique that made me hungry for more of what he had given me last night.

I looked down to where his cock stirred slowly, the morning dreams waking it up before Zain’s eyes opened. Would he hate it if he knew I watched him? Would he turn around in shame? No matter how firmly I told myself to do it, I couldn’t peel myself away from him.

He was more hard than not by now. His dick swelled before my eyes slowly. It grew as his body radiated incredible heat, but the expression on Zain’s face was peaceful and still. He inhaled deeply, his chest rising and expanding as he filled his lungs with air, and the corners of his lips twitched.

“You’re watching me,” he said in a soft, sleepy tone, then rubbed the back of his head against the pillow and sank deeper into it. There was no complaint in his tone. If anything, he sounded amused.

My chest hurt. A dull ache spread through it as I gazed at his face. We had crossed such an important line that I was certain we would never go back to normal after this. And when I inhaled, anchoring myself in the moment and in his scent, I decided I would own it. “You’re nice to look at.”

Zain stretched his arms up, causing me to pull away the arm that had covered him. He lifted them high and arched his back, thrusting his flat stomach up and pushing his round butt harder against the mattress. His dick hardened, now shamelessly erect, and I realized that my mouth watered like I was in a cartoon, floating toward the hot pie on a windowsill.

I turned away from him. The sight, perfect as it was, fanned the glowing embers of desire in me, but I reminded myself that the morning brought a vastly different world to us with it.

If we had made mistakes last night—Zain in his eagerness to be with a man, and I in my weakness to resist such tender beauty that existed in stark contrast with my entire being—then I needed to own up to it. I needed to act my age and put a stop to this before he got hurt.

Unless it’s too late, I thought worriedly and got up. My dick leaped as I stood, irking me and filling me with devastating longing to return to the bed.

He’s willing, I argued with myself.

But he’s young and inexperienced. He’s willing because you are letting him get away with it. He’s willing because he doesn’t know the risks and consequences.And my arguments died a quick death because the voice of reason was right.

I walked into the bathroom and locked the door, then let cold water pour over me and cool me down. Icy needles pricked my skin, but the water washed away the desperate need to be with him again. It was better this way. He didn’t know what he wanted. How could he? He’d never had the freedom to make those choices. If he had, he wouldn’t have picked me.

Zain

Dominic suggested that I should visit my family, and my heart leaped. He’d done it over the incredibly arranged table of breakfast treats that came from several local bakeries under Orwell’s guidance. Even Dominic’s reserved appearance warmed at the sight of the hot pastries.

I could feel the weight of his gaze on me whenever I was looking away, but he was quick to look away when I reacted. It was odd, but not unlike Dominic. I wondered what was going on inside that beautiful head of his. I wondered why he couldn’t bring himself to share those thoughts with me.

Time, I decided.Give it time. The truth of the matter was that I was hardly myself this morning. Everything was so gently anddiscreetly different from how it had been my whole life that the awareness of the contrast never fully left me.

I stood taller. I inhaled deeper. My eyesight was sharper. Everything I touched seemed softer, and the chocolate-filled pastries tasted sweeter and more buttery than ever before. The scent of Dominic’s cologne put me in the mind of last night when his skin was under my lips and his hands on my body. It lifted my heart with such ridiculous ease that I had to hold myself still against the flutters that soared through me.

“Shall we leave the city this afternoon?” Dominic asked matter-of-factly after we had both eaten. Orwell was in the adjoining room with the door between us wide open, so I made sure to keep up Dominic’s pretenses.

“Of course,” I replied. “At what time do you want me to be here?”

“Let’s say noon,” Dominic said after considering it.

I nodded my agreement, catching Dominic’s gaze for a moment. His eyes softened when we looked into one another’s eyes, and my heart gave a silly little dance before I pushed my chair away from the table and started to leave.

There was a softness in him that he kept hidden from the world. And if his own father had treated him as badly as he said—frankly, I had no doubt about it—then it made sense that Dominic should hide that tenderness well.

I walked out of the apartment and into the elevator, passed through the spacious and elegant lobby, and walked into the cold November air and mist of the fall in Hudson Burrow. Every breath of this city I inhaled filled me with hope. The city of optimism, I always thought. And this morning, unlike any other morning of my life, I walked with my head held high and a sense of change fueling my stride.

Something monumental had shifted last night, and it wasn’t just my initiation into the club everyone had been a member offor ages. Something that almost felt more intimate than sex had happened last night.

Dominic and I had danced. We’d danced in a crowd of bodies and didn’t care who saw us. It had been the most liberating feeling of my quiet, solitary life. And Dominic had shined like the most expensive diamond. It hadn’t been just me who felt liberated.

My heart lurched with longing, but I walked on. Despite myself, I could see the days to come. I could see them filled with flirting, midnight visits, indulgences of the most delicious sort, and trips to the city to feel as free as I had felt last night.

It was odd to find such freedom in a certain kind of captivity. I had been his to do with whatever he pleased to pay off the debt, but he’d kept me at a distance until the burden of the debt was removed from the equation.

The shop on the corner was lit and working, although it was too cold to expose the fresh produce in front of it. So I walked elatedly to my home, opened the door, and sounded the bell above it.

My father walked into the shop from the hallway in the back. “Good mo…” He looked up. “Zain!” The delight was so unlike my father that it confused me for a moment. “What are you doing here?”

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