The Billionaire's Unwanted Virgin (8 page)

"Really, boy, that might work on
other people, but not me. I will call you Lakota, and you will lump it."
She'd left him standing on her doorstep, staring at the shut door, and just as
he was about to leave, she'd cracked it open again. This time when she spoke,
the pain in her voice had taken another chink out of his armor.

"Thank you, Lakota, for your
help with Beth. I truly do appreciate it."

He now schooled his features into a
mask of indifference and pushed open the door to Beth's room. He found Alice
sat by the side of the bed, her hands clasped around the little girl's, a
silent tear rolling her cheek. She didn't look up when he stepped in, just
sighed, and swiped that tear away.

"Is my mother okay?" she
asked.

"She's fine. I delivered her
safely home."

"And you're still alive to tell
the tale. That has to be some sort of a miracle. I hope she didn’t give you too
much of a hard time." She finally looked up and glanced his way, and she
looked so incredibly sad, he stepped closer and cupped her chin in his hand.

"Beth will be okay, you know. I
had a long chat with Spencer only this morning. She will be able to start on
the treatment soon, and that should shrink what is left of the tumor. She's a
fighter, your niece, like someone else I know."

The ghost of a smile crossed her
tired features, and he pulled the box out his pocket. Her eyes widened when she
realized what he was now holding in his upturned hand.

"Is that what I think it
is?" she asked, her voice no more than a breathy whisper, which shot
straight to his groin. He suppressed a groan and shifted his weight to relieve
the discomfort he felt, to no avail. He got the distinct impression that he
would be in a permanent state of hardness around her until he could finally
bury himself balls deep inside her willing flesh. And that she would be
willing, of that he had no doubt.

Her body gave her away every time he
stepped into her personal space. Her pupils dilated, her breathing hitched, her
nipples poked through the fabric of her tee, and he would bet his last penny
that she would be wet for him.

He closed his eyes against the erotic
images that evoked in his mind, and pushed the box at her. He felt rather than
saw her take the item off his palm, and he opened his eyes when she gasped.
Every line of his body grew taut as he waited for her to say
something—anything. Did she like it? Hate it? Her expression gave nothing away,
as she ran a fingertip over the diamond engagement ring nestled inside the
velvet.

He'd spent hours poring over designs,
and had this one made just for her. Not that he would tell her that, or how the
color of the emerald reminded him of the exact shade of her eyes when she was
deep in thought like now.

He held his breath as she continued
to stare at the ring, inwardly cursing the tension coursing through him. It was
only a ring. It shouldn't matter to him whether she liked it or not. Theirs was
not a love match after all, if that thing called love even existed. Lust, now
that was a different matter, and he couldn't wait to finally be able to claim
her, but love—God no—never that.

He crunched his teeth together with
the effort to not let his emotions show, when she finally looked up at him.

"Lakota, I..."

****
                                                                                                    

Nestled in the velvet box was a
delicate diamond and emerald cluster ring, breathtaking in its simplicity. The
cross over design had diamonds set into the shoulders, and the beautiful
emerald was set in another cluster of stunning diamonds. It felt heavy and
expensive, and wasn't at all what she had been expecting. She blinked the
unexpected tears away, and jumped at Lakota's annoyed growl.

"You hate it, right? Never mind.
I’ll get another one made. This one not big enough for you?"

His large hand settled over hers as
if to take the box away, and she shook her head.

"No, no, don’t you dare. I love
it, and what do you mean you'll have another one made?" He released her
hand as though he'd been burned and pushed his fists into his trouser pockets.
He looked uncomfortable, and she could have sworn there was slight flush
spreading over his exquisitely sculpted cheek bones, but that had to be a trick
of the light. Her breath caught in her throat at his brooding presence.
 
Dressed in an immaculately tailored business
suit, Lakota towered over her, every inch the successful entrepreneur, and she
flinched at her own shabby appearance. Her mum had brought her some clothes,
but the simple jeans and t-shirt were a far cry from his unconscious elegance.

He screamed wealth and arrogance, and
she—well she screamed poor relation. No wonder the nurses had all given her
such strange looks. No one would believe she was his fiancée, and no doubt
folks wondered what on earth he saw in her. Selina's visit had further
unsettled her, but there was no way in hell she would ask him about the status
of his relationship with his late brother's fiancée.

She pushed the uncomfortable thought
away and asked him again.

"Did you have this one made, for
me?"

He shrugged his shoulders again as
though it wasn't a big deal, and perhaps in his world it wasn't, but it sure
meant a great deal to her. He had a habit of surprising her, this big,
mysterious man she was going to marry and she knew next to nothing about.

He had done so countless times over
the last week. She had even found him holding a silent vigil by Beth's side
when she'd been forced to leave her to take a quick shower, after she couldn't
stand her own smell anymore.
 
Beth had
woken up as she'd padded back into the room, and the tenderness with which he
had responded to her niece's whispered question had lodged a big permanent lump
in her throat.

He was far too dangerous to her
well-being when he showed this softer, much more human side of his, and he
seemed to be doing so more and more often.

"It's no big deal. I couldn't
find one that I liked, so, yes, I had this one made. It reminded me of you.
Like I said, if you don't like it, I'll get it changed."

"No, it's perfect, thank
you." She risked a glance up at him, and her throat went dry at the quiet
intensity with which he studied her. She cleared her throat, and still her next
words came out croaky. "Will you put it on me, please? That's something
one does, after all."

She held her breath as he stepped so
close to her his body heat warmed her frozen skin. He was so solid and warm and
just
alive
that it took her breath away. He cupped her hand and slid the
ring on her left ring finger in one fluid move. Once on he kept hold of her
hand and used his free one to tip her chin up. She had about a second's warning
before he bent and closed the distance to kiss her.

This was no gentle brush of lips on
lips; no, this was a determined assault on her senses, and she couldn't help
but open to the insistent pressure of his tongue, demanding entry. He pulled
her up and flush against him, until her breasts were squashed against his
chest, and she stood on tiptoes to get closer to him. Her hands curled around
his broad shoulders, and his roamed to her ass, molding her against the
impressive ridge of his cock.

She whimpered her need into his mouth,
and he took the kiss deeper. Ever more passionate and demanding, his tongue
dueled with hers, and he groaned when she kissed him back. The vibrations
travelled through her, and arousal pooled low in her belly and soaked her
underwear with a gush of her juices. She gave herself up to sensation, to the
sheer joy of the knowledge that he desired her as much as she did him, at this
moment in time anyway. All her worries fell away; the only thing that mattered
was his scent and heat surrounding her, and the hot throbbing between her legs,
that made her raise one leg and grind her pussy shamelessly into the erection
tenting his trousers.

By the time he finally broke the
kiss, she was ready to jump him there and then, regardless of her niece
sleeping in the bed, regardless of the fact that anyone could walk in at any
moment and disturb them. Fortunately, he had more sense than she, as he
disentangled himself from her slowly, and heat rose in her cheeks at her body's
wanton behavior.

He framed her face and studied her, a
small smile twisting round his full lips, and he ran his thumb over her mouth.
It felt swollen from his earlier attentions, and his eyes darkened to the
deepest black she'd ever seen.

"My sweet little Alice. We
should save something for our honeymoon, don't you think? At least, we know
we're compatible in this department."

He kissed her nose and stepped away
from her with another rueful smile that had her insides curl in excitement at
the heated promise in his onyx eyes.

"We're going on honeymoon?"
She grimaced at the squeaky quality of her voice, and clenched her thighs
together to relieve some of the delicious ache in her core.

He simply smiled and nodded, just as
Beth woke up and broke the moment.

Alice stared at her reflection in the
mirror, not really recognizing the person looking back at her. Today was her
wedding day. A day that should be the happiest day of her life, yet fear and
regret gnawed hole in her tummy. She wasn't frightened of Lakota as such. He had
given her no reason to be frightened of him, rather the opposite. Her heart
gave a suspicious little lurch every time he walked into a room, and when he
bestowed one of his rare smiles on her, the ones usually reserved for little
Beth, parts of her just melted. She was fiercely attracted to him, and by some
sheer fluke he seemed to find her attractive, too.

Alice was under no illusion that
there was anything more but basic lust involved on his part, at least. Her own
emotions were far too complicated to try to make any sense out of. If only
things were different, but that was just wishful thinking. As much as she might
hope for more this was a mere business transaction.
 
She had sold herself to the highest bidder,
and as Lakota needed to get married, this was the perfect solution to the
problem she'd presented.
 
Not for the
first time Alice wondered at the demons that drove him, at the need to do right
by his brother.

Family was important to Lakota. That much
was obvious. It showed in every smile he gave little Beth, in the myriad of
things he did to make the little girl's stay in hospital nicer for her, and in
the way he tensed and the shutters came down, whenever his late brother was
mentioned. It was almost as though he blamed himself for his brother's death,
and he was trying to atone. What for exactly, Alice couldn’t even begin to guess
at.

But as fond as he seemed to have
grown of her niece in the process, and as much as Beth pleaded to be bridesmaid
at their wedding, he had become an unmovable statue at the suggestion that they
postpone the wedding.

Beth had sulked, Elizabeth had frowned,
and Alice had forced herself to keep her lips curved into the semblance of a
smile.

Lakota had not met any of their
gazes. He had simply stood up, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but the date is
fixed. We're getting married on Friday." He'd exited the room, the thud of
the door too loud in the stillness his departure left them in.

"Well, he has his reasons I am
sure. We can see the video, Beth. It will be fine." Mum had fixed an
overly bright smile on her face for Beth, but when she looked at Alice the
shimmer of unshed tears in her eyes, had almost been Alice's undoing.

 
Alice closed her eyes and shook her head to
clear away the fog of emotion. She was a big girl. She could do this—she had to
do this—she was under contract after all. Lakota might be fond of Beth, but he
was a man of business, and one just did not cross him in business, and business
was all this was. As long as she remembered this, she would be just fine, so it
was probably just as well, that neither Mum, nor Beth, nor any of her friends
would be at this wedding. It would be easier to stick to her side of the
bargain, if she didn't have to act the doting bride, even if she did have the
horrible suspicion that she wouldn't have to act much.

She hadn't seen Lakota since that day
in the hospital. Percy had said he was busy with business, and had relayed
Lakota's instructions to her in minute detail. Not one moment of their wedding
was left to chance. From her underwear to her dress, the bouquet she carried,
and her hair and make-up, expertly applied by the stylist who had shown up at
her house this morning, everything had been taken care of.

She couldn't fault his taste. The
cream lace dress fitted her like a second skin and showed her curves off to
perfection. The off the shoulder design cinched her in at the waist, and the
skirt gently flared over her hips, and ended just above her knee. The slightly
off kilter hemline finished off a timelessly elegant look, and with her hair
arranged in a messy up-do, and her new smoky eye make-up making her look rather
mysterious, she at least looked the part of Lakota's bride.