Page 29 of The Proposition (The Billionaires Club)

Every muscle in my body tightens. Even if I could reach out, there’s no room in me for forgiveness. Not for what he did to my mother, or for how he tried to control me from the grave with his beloved money.

‘Have you told yours?’ I say, the venom in my voice shocking us both.

She looks down and I swear under my breath, tilting her chin back up so she can see the sincerity of my apology. ‘I’m sorry. Look... I... I never really cared that he wasn’t around for myself. If my mother had been happy, I doubt I’d have given him a second thought.’

Ah, the lies we tell ourselves...

I focus my anger. ‘He treated my mother worse. And anyway, it’s all in the past. He’s dead too. Six months after her—ironic, right?’ I take a deep breath, too close to every feeling I’ve battled to contain these past six months—my entire adult life, if I’m being honest. And, despite her relationship with her own emotionally distant father, we’re different enough without my tales of woe, my sad little poor-boy-turned-billionaire sob-story.

Her intelligent eyes latch on to mine. ‘Is the inheritance from—’

I cover her mouth with my fingers. ‘Enough.’ Of course she would make the leap. She’s smart. But I don’t want to talk about my father?

??s legacy. The legacy I’m working day and night to forget because of what it represents.

‘I thought we were keeping the details out of this—just sex...?’ The words taste jagged because I’m a hypocrite. I care about her—why else would I take her to see rescue dogs, worry about her burning herself out with work and lavish her with gifts? Because I like the way she looks in green? Because I enjoy seeing her sensational figure clothed in everything from a simple T-shirt to the sexiest lingerie?

But caring isn’t allowed. More than sex is a fool’s game. She knows that and so do I.

My own reminder of our boundaries helps me back to safety. This is sex. No matter how she makes me feel, or how much I enjoy her company outside of the bedroom. No matter how her stare seems to penetrate, her intelligent eyes stripping me bare. I’m here for one reason only—enjoyment. Well, two if you count my own personal goal to spend as much money as I can, a goal on which I should refocus my attention and forget about crazy ideas like testing Orla’s suitability as a potential partner. Because she’s not mine. She’s not interested in anything beyond the good time we have together.

It’s a dream scenario for any guy...

‘Ready to get out?’ I ask, because she wants this to be about sex—on-tap sex—and right now that’s the only thing that will chase away my demons.

At her nod, I tug her hand and she rises from the water, rivulets of foam sliding over her perfect skin. She meets my eyes and I see empathy in the depths of her stare. She knows I’m hiding something bigger than me. She knows I’m a coward, but she sticks to our nothing-personal rule and offers me an out clause.

My hand still holds the sponge. She guides me to wash her breasts and her stomach, only releasing my hand when she’s pressed it between her legs so she can grip both my shoulders while she rides my hand and the sponge with undulations of her hips.

‘Cam,’ she whispers, her eyes on mine. ‘Let’s get lost together.’

I don’t need a second invitation. I toss the sponge and lift her from the bath, snagging a towel on my way out of the bathroom. In the bedroom I deposit her on her feet and slide the towel over every inch of her skin until she’s dry, by which time my erection is painfully hard and straining behind my fly. But I don’t touch her, nor do I give her my mouth, which is what she wants, her head lifting to mine every time I move close, her lips seeking the kisses that make her moan.

I hold my own body taut to prevent me from swaying her way. I’ve got this. I’m here for the sex. I can control the sex. She likes being nudged to explore her sexual boundaries, but beyond that...

There is no beyond.

‘Go to the wardrobe and get the M Club box,’ I say, my voice tight with longing. Yes, the urge to be close to her, to be buried inside, to kiss her into silence, is as strong as ever, but there’s a new driving force in me tonight. A dangerous force—to be more to her than her sex toy. To gain her trust, to hear her acknowledgement that I’m not like the men of her past, men who’ve betrayed her, underestimated her, overlooked her. That I’m different.

I swallow hard. It’s just sex. That’s all she wants from me.

Her eyes flare with excitement and she sashays to the wardrobe, loosening her hair from its messy bun as she goes. I’m momentarily lost in the sight of the sway of her heart-shaped ass, but then she’s back before me, a sexy smile of challenge on her face. ‘Now what?’

I take the box. ‘Lie on the bed.’

She obeys, her movements slow and sensual as if she wants to put on a show for my eyes only. As if she knows she’s driving me mad, pushing me every inch as far as I push her. Because she’s right. Maybe we do both need to get lost, and this is the best way.

With hands that could tremble from the adrenaline surging in me, if I wasn’t wound so tightly, I deposit the box beside her feet and strip my shirt overhead, tossing it onto a nearby chair. Her teeth scrape over her bottom lip and her eyes follow my every move. I retrieve a bottle of lube, watching every subtle nuance of her reaction when she sees what it is.

She’s excited, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and like the impatient, self-sufficient woman she is, not content to wait, she slips her hand between her thighs to touch herself.

I place the lube next to the box and take off my dress trousers and boxers, my eyes glued to her hand working her clit. ‘Don’t come. Not yet.’ I stand over her, scooping her head up from the bed by the back of her neck so I can angle her mouth up to mine. I kiss her until we’re both panting and then I break free.

‘Fuck, you’re so sexy. I want to take you to a place no one else has. I want you to remember me, just like, when this is over, I’ll never forget you.’

I have no idea where that comes from, but I accept its truth. It’s too late to take it back anyway.

‘Yes. Cam, yes.’

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