Page 15 of Billionaire's Pursuit

Oh my God, could I feel like more of a complete ass right now?

As he spoke, my head drifted forward a bit in a gesture of shame. My hair slipped down in front of my eyes. Tugging it behind my ears, I looked back across the table at Grey. The soft ambient lighting in Chef Claude’s reflected in his normally dark brown eyes, lighting them with a cinnamon-like hue.

“Maddie?” he said, as I stared at him, wordless. “Are we okay? We understand each other?”

His words snapped me out of my trance and I nodded. “Yes. Thank you, Grey.”

He smiled and gestured for the waiter to bring the check. “Don’t mention it. It’s my pleasure. I need to get some rest. Come up to my suite with me and I'll give you some money for tonight, since I won’t be staying and paying you the full amount we agreed on.”

Feeling as if this might be as good a chance as any to show him some appreciation, I politely refused. “I couldn’t, Grey. Really. Not after what you’ve offered. I wouldn't feel right about it.”

As he signed the check, he shook his head. Without looking up at me, he replied, “Don’t be ridiculous Maddie. I insist and I won’t take ‘‘no’ for an answer.”

In desperate need of the cash, I decided to take Grey up on his offer and ten minutes later, I stood in the foyer of his suite while he disappeared into the bedroom to get his checkbook. As he walked away, the hard soles of his loafers clopped along the floor offering the only sound in an otherwise quiet moment.

I glanced around at the opulence and luxury of the suite as I waited for him to return. Rich, ivory marble flooring reflected the soft white lighting of the ornate brass sconces adorning the walls. Everywhere I looked, the finest in furnishings and fixtures captured my attention. Was this something you ever got used to?

Hell, even the air smelled expensive.

I turned my back on the hallway leading to the bedroom and realized what a far cry this was from my tiny accommodations at Katy’s place. And, unlike the pricey oxygen floating around my nostrils here, the dominant aroma at my room was the ever-present scent of hair spray and the remnants of an at-home sugar waxing experiment gone horribly wrong. Now, walking on my bathroom floor was like moving across a room full half-chewed bubble gum and to top it off, I still looked like Yeti when I was done.

Which, ugh, I still had to clean all that up.

Shaking my head, I looked up at the ceiling. What was I doing here? I had to leave. This is… I just don’t belong here. Feeling panicked all of a sudden, I squeezed my clutch and began to step as lightly as possible towards the door of the suite. I'd made not more than six feet of progress, when Grey’s voice boomed from behind.

“Maddie,” he said in a tone that sounded like a command.

I froze in place and fought the urge to turn back to look at him. If I did, I wasn’t sure if I’d walk to the entrance, or run. Just then, I felt Grey’s presence behind me.

“What’s wrong?” he said, as he walked around in front of me, barefoot.

I drew my eyes up to meet his. In his hand, he held what looked to be my check. I swallowed hard at the sight of it.

“Grey, I can’t,” I stammered. “I just can’t.”

Without hesitating, Grey nodded and tore the check to shreds. He tossed the bits in the air and I cursed my stupidity as I watched a large number of dollars fall to the ground.

“Have it your way, Maddie,” he replied with a flat tone. “Feel free to show yourself out.”

He glared at me for a moment and then started to walk past me back towards his bedroom. My head turned towards him a bit and he stopped in my peripheral vision.

“I’m not sure what you want from me, Maddie. I offer you an opportunity that most people, man or woman, would jump at. Instead of giving it fair consideration, you accuse me of wanting to sleep with you. Then when I offer you the check in spite of that, you refuse it.”

I looked away but didn’t offer a response. The reason? I had none.

“I am a busy man, Maddie,” he continued with a growing tone of indifference. “I don’t have time to play these fucking games with you.”

I exhaled and spun back to face him. “I’m not playing games, Grey. I just don’t want to live in fear that if things didn’t work out between us I’d lose everything. Can’t you understand?”

“Frankly, no, I can’t,” he stepped close to me, like the day we’d first met, leaving less than a foot between us as he continued. “There is no ‘us’, Maddie. I’m offering to invest in your business. Nothing more.”

I held his gaze for a moment or two but as his intensity and focus increased, I broke away and looked down at the ground. I wasn’t even sure where to look.

Just… away.

Grey continued, “Do I want to throw you down on that dining room table right now and take you? Hell yes. Am I willing to do that and risk throwing away a business deal with you and an investment in something I believe has real promise? No Maddie, I'm not.”

I swallowed at his unlikely confession. His words stoked my carnal urgings once again. Shit, no matter when I was around him, they were always there, tormenting me. I fought every instinct I had to just fall into him and let him do with me what he would. Yet somehow, I resisted, as Grey continued to speak.

“Despite what you may have heard or have to come to believe about me, I don’t say things I don’t mean. I’ve made my interest in you, as well as your business, clear. I can keep the two separate. But if you cannot, then that’s understandable. You might think that I’ve got the world by the tail, that there’s never a downside risk for me in anything I do. But, in fact, all I have in life are downsides, Maddie. If you can imagine waking up every day wondering who is going to lie to you to get ahead, then you’ll have some idea of that it’s like to be me.”

I turned my head back towards him and locked my eyes on his. “I am not lying to you, Grey.”

“Nor I to you.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I hung my head and tried to think of anything I could say to tell him how sorry I was, that I didn’t mean it and no, I didn’t understand what it meant to be him. I wanted to say all that and more, but I couldn't because all those words weren’t necessary when only the next three would suffice.

“Grey, I’m sorry.”

“I am too, Maddie. I am too. But it’s time for you to go now.”

I nodded and turned my back to walk towards the front door of the room. As I moved, Grey trailed behind me until at last I reached the entrance. I stopped and turned back to face him for what I supposed was the final time, but before I walked out on him forever, I had to know if it was true.

Tugging my hair behind my ear, I made a quick motion with my tongue and moistened my lips.

“Did you mean what you said? About, you know…”

As he listened to me, I looked into Grey’s eyes. His eyelids moved with slow, rhythmic blinks as if they kept time to a metronome in his head. I felt my torso fall back a couple of inches until the cool sensation of the huge oak door pressed against my backside.

Grey only looked at me, but didn’t speak, as he closed the gap between us. Once he’d moved to less than a few inches away, he lifted his hands up towards my face and with a single smooth motion, cradled my chin in them. I felt a terrible lump form in my throat and then press against his fingertips as I swallowed it down. My heart raced with erratic pulses and thumps as he held me, for the first time touching his flesh to mine. “There’s no turning back,” he whispered. “If I get so much as a taste of you, I won’t be able to stop. Not until I’ve taken what I want. You must understand this about me. This is your one and only warning.”

His pupils bore into me as he spoke. I hesitated for a moment before my mouth drifted open and with a silent nod, I invited Grey’s lips to mine. Without hesitation, Grey crashed his mouth on mine and as he did, my lips spread open in eagerness. He continued to cradle my head in his hands as our tongues flicked and licked at one another, at last able to taste each other for the first time.

My hands pressed against Grey’s midsection and I squeezed the fabric of his shirt, tugging him closer to me. Beneath it, just beyond my reach, I could feel the hard ridges of his defined midsection. His musk permeated my senses as he leaned into me. I moaned when I felt the evidence of his arousal press against the softness of my curves. My hands continued to travel down his midsection until I reached his belt. Once there, my fingers moved with precision as I scrambled to free him from the restraint of his clothing.

While I worked to loosen his belt, Grey’s hands dropped away from my face and snaked their way down to my waist. As he dragged his fingertips along my torso, goosebumps erupted on my arms. After I’d released his belt, I reached down to his pants and started to unfasten them. As I did, I felt his hands travel up and down the center of my back as he searched for the zipper to my jumpsuit.

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