Page 37 of Guarding the Billionaire

I spent the rest of the morning in a daze. Reading those horrible things Jake said about me was a shock. I had no idea how I was going to talk to Henry about it. For now, Teresa and Boris didn’t want me to say anything, not when he was their prime suspect in the attacks against me.

I didn’t believe Jake was trying to kill me though. He had no reason to. Although I was surprised by what he’d written, Jake was raised in a good family with parents who loved him. He had everything he could ever need, including a generous trust fund. His mother died of breast cancer when I was in high school and Jake was still young. As the only child, he was undoubtedly due a nice inheritance when his father died.

Even if he hated me for some reason, there was no reason for him to want me dead. Then again, I couldn’t think of any reason why he’d write all those hateful comments about me online either. I’d never been anything but polite to him.

The news made me restless and out of sorts. It was an unseasonably warm spring day, so I finally put on my swimsuit and ventured outside. It was only seventy-five degrees, but our in-ground pool was heated year round, making it convenient to take a swim whenever the mood struck us. I hadn’t been in the pool since last summer, uneasy about swimming alone with noone else in the house, but since I had a pair of bodyguards here, I figured I was safe.

As I swam laps, I tried to put Jake out of my mind and just focus on the feeling of my body gliding through the warm water. By the time I was done swimming, my body was tired, and my mind was much more relaxed.

Boris had been replaced with Angie while I was outside in the pool. While I swam, she and Teresa worked out with their swords on the grass nearby, having a vicious looking mock fight that lasted until they were both covered in sweat.

I wondered how Teresa felt about what happened last night. This whole fated mate thing was wild, yet it seemed to be true. I couldn’t say why, but I just felt it in my bones. Having sex with Teresa last night had only solidified my feelings for her. Well, at least one of us had sex. I really needed to return the favor.

As I dried off from the pool, I realized that I had fallen in love with Teresa. I wasn’t sure how she felt about me. She’d told me that I was her fated mate, but that was some primal biology thing, right? When she’d first come here – my God, was that only a week ago? – she’d seemed to dislike me. We were very different people, that was certain. But was the mate bond just some kind of chemistry? Or could we make it work long term?

For some reason, I’d never really imagined having a partner. Even as a little girl, I’d known that I’d grow up to run Meyer Beauty. I’d expected that to happen years later than it actuallydid, but it was the job I’d been born to do, groomed my entire life for.

I remembered the day I’d come out to my parents. I’d dated several boys in high school and my first two years of college, but it hadn’t been until I went on a date with a woman that I truly embraced my sexuality. My parents had been very accepting of my coming out, but my mother expressed sadness that I’d never be able to get married and have kids. I told Mom I wasn’t interested in any of that.

Of course that was long before gay marriage was legalized here. My options were different now, but when I tried to picture Teresa and I getting married and having kids, it was difficult to imagine. Would she even want kids? And would they be vampires or human or both?

Then again, we’d known each other for eight days. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself. Teresa hadn’t claimed me yet, and we still had a mystery to solve. I just hoped that they were wrong about Jake, because if he was the person who’d been trying to hurt me it was going to kill my godfather. I just knew it.

Teresa

Since it was Sunday, I encouraged Flora to stick to her Sunday routine of ordering Thai food and watchingBuffy the Vampire Slayer. I did it to keep her calm though, not because I wanted to know more about the mysterious Angel who kept showing up to warn Buffy about danger.

We sat on the couch while we watched the show, but unlike last weekend we sat side by side instead of having a cushion between us. After a while, Flora scooted a little closer, laying her head on my shoulder. My vampire sighed happily.

“Is this okay?” she asked.

“Yes.”

I really wanted to tell her that I would gladly sit in this exact spot for the rest of my life with her cuddled up against me, but I didn’t want to put more pressure on either of us. The news about Jacob Shapiro’s animosity for her had thrown Flora for a loop even more than the attempts on her life.

Something about this didn’t make sense. With their age difference and lack of contact over the years, it wasn’t immediately obvious why he would have so much animosity towards my mate. It was a puzzle, but I loved a puzzle. And so did my team.

Flora shifted, her small hand coming to my thigh, and I stifled a groan. I knew we shouldn’t have sex again, but I was dying to. My vampire had been pushing me about it nonstop, demanding that I throw caution to the winds and take what was mine, and for once the human side of me was in complete agreement.

When that hand slid between my thighs, I didn’t protest, I just opened my legs enough to allow Flora to run her fingers upward. When her pinkie pressed against my mound, she looked up at me, her eyes wide in question. I nodded in assent, and she twisted her wrist and began to stroke me over the fabric of my pants.

“Flora,” I groaned out her name as I scooted down on the couch enough to widen my legs.

“You know what I’d really like right now?” she asked.

I just looked at her, unable to form words knowing that she was stroking my pussy. Even through the fabric of my clothing her fingers singed me with heat.

“I’d like to get you out of these clothes, then I want to suck on your tits while I fuck you with my fingers until you come all over my hand.”

My mouth dropped open and arousal flooded my core at her words.

“I had no idea you were a dirty talker, mate.”

“Just wait,” she promised.

Her hands went to my waistband, unzipping my pants. I lifted my hips, allowing her to remove my pants and underwear, taking my socks with them.

“Lose the shirt,” she ordered.

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