Illusion (Billionaire in Disguise Series, #2) Read online

  I knew she was looking at me and taking in every word I was saying.

  “I know you’re scared, and I know you can’t stand this. I know you’ve been groomed to not give into things like this and to not be manipulated by people around you. But I’m not manipulating you, Sam. I have no greater plot. No end game. I only have a desperate want to understand you, a deep-seated need to know you, and a passionate craving to feel you. That’s it. I have nothing else. And I know you know that. I know if you listen to me, and you really take in what I’m saying, you’ll believe it. If you analyze our interactions over the past six weeks and think back on all the times you did allow yourself to indulge in me, you would see it. Plain as day. Just like I do.”

  I stood there in silence, letting her digest what I was telling her. I watched her shift on her feet, transferring her beautiful weight as water continued to pour all over her body. I pushed myself off the bathroom counter and held my hand out, pressing it against the frosted glass.

  Then I watched her hand come into view, her imprint pressed up against mine.

  “I love you, Sam. And nothing you do, or say, or try to convince yourself of will ever change that.”

  Her hand fell quickly from the shower, and I saw her move. The door of the shower was flung open, and Sam stood there naked, dripping in hot water with her reddened eyes and her swollen breasts. My eyes danced along her, taking in her curves and her scars and her arm that was still healing. I took in the way the water trickled down the valley of her breasts, caressed down her belly button, and found its end between her legs.

  She was a vision, an enigma wrapped in a tantalizing package I would never be able to resist.

  She reached out for my shirt and tugged me into the shower. I stumbled in, the hot water beating against my back as she shut the shower door. Our lips collided as I backed her into the wall, pinning her hands above her head as she winced.

  “I’m sorry,” I said breathlessly. “Are you okay?”

  She slammed her lips against mine again, her hips rolling into mine. I slid my hands down her arms, being careful of her healing wound as my lips dragged down her neck. She lobbed her head off to the side, opening up to me as my hands fell to her waist.

  She fit perfectly in the palms of my hands like no other woman ever had before her.

  I ripped my soaking wet clothes off my body before my lips attached to her breasts. I sucked them and licked at them, marking them as my own. Her arms slipped around my neck, her lips peppering kisses on any part of me she could access. My cock was jumping for her, leaking from its tip and begging to be inside.

  I grabbed onto her thigh and hiked her leg around my waist. I grabbed my cock and slid it between her folds, teasing her body while she shook. Our lips collided as I slid into her, my throat swallowing her moans and her fingertips tangling in my hair.

  Then I pressed her to the shower wall and set a relentless pace.

  I pounded into her, jumping her tits against my skin. Her nails were clawing at my back, her body looking for any leverage she could gain. I could feel her trembling. I could feel her pussy fluttering. I could feel her arousal slicking my girth as I slammed into her time and time again.

  Our tongues battled for dominance, sending electrical jolts through my veins as I planted my hands on the shower wall.

  I rolled deeply into her, feeling her pussy lips parting for me. Her clit began to rake against my curls, forcing her body to shake for me. The water was dripping off our bodies and beating down onto our backs. The steam was swirling around us, making our skin flush with more than desire alone. I sucked on her lower lip, pulling groans from her throat as she jumped and wrapped her legs around me.

  My hands dropped to her ass, holding her in midair as I fucked her.

  Her gasps grew desperate, and her whimpers spiraled into incoherent syllables. I held her against my body, feeling her curves drape over my muscles. I worked for her pleasure, wanting to bring her to heights only I could give her. I wanted her babbling from the ecstasy of it all, heaving for air as the room spun around her head.

  I wanted her vulnerable, so I could show her she was safe with me.

  I felt my balls pulling into my body, and I dropped to the shower floor. I held her close to me, her hips bucking into mine as my cock stilled within her body. Her teeth bit down on my shoulder as her pussy clamped down around me. Her body milked me for all I had, sucking the come from my girth as we quaked against one another.

  I held her close to me. I held her as tightly as she could stand. She curled her fingernails into my back, leaving marks I knew I would see in the morning. She fell into me, our bodies exhausted from the emotions coursing through our veins.

  I only had one last thing to say to her. Then my argument would be done.

  “No matter what, I want to make things work between us.”

  Sam lifted her eyes to mine as our foreheads connected.

  “No matter where all this shit takes us, and no matter what we have to battle from the past, I want to make this work,” I said.

  I closed my eyes, waiting for the rejection I knew was coming. I slid my cock from between her legs, feeling our arousal dripping from her body. I braced myself for it. I braced for the walls that would come shooting up between us again. I formulated yet another plan of attack, not allowing myself to succumb to her stubbornness.

  But instead of rejection, what I got was hope.

  “I can’t promise you anything,” Sam said. “But, I’ll try.”

  “You’ll try?”

  I cupped her face in my hands and held her gaze steadily with mine.

  “I’ll try,” she said in a whisper.

  “That’s all I’m asking,” I said, smiling. “That’s all I could ever ask of you.”

  Chapter 12

  Sam

  A DAY ON THE BEACH was just what the two of us needed. But the bathing suits I had to choose from were skimpy, to say the least. They were essentially pieces of fabric strung together with string. The bikinis Derek had stuffed in my closet were beautiful, but they were revealing. There was nothing to them, and no matter which one I tried on, I could not get myself covered as much as I wanted to be.

  “Seriously?” I asked. “This is all I’ve got to try on?”

  “What’s wrong with them?” Derek asked.

  “Because some of the tops barely cover my nipples. My ass hangs out of all of them.”

  “Not my fault you’re hot.”

  “And people can see my scars.”

  “You mean that badass skin that proves you’re stronger than anyone on this damn island? Why would you want to cover those up? Plus, this little stretch of the beach is private. Just for us, so no one will see you in that but me.”

  “I still don’t like it,” I said.

  “You could always swim naked,” he said with a grin.

  “You’d like that a little too much.”

  “I’d love you in anything.”

  I blushed underneath his words before I grabbed a towel. I wrapped the towel around my body, slipped into some flip-flops, and then took Derek's hand so he could lead me to the beach. He was right. The beach was private. Only for us to enjoy. No one could see us, no one could get to us, and I felt the stress of our day yesterday beginning to leave my body. All of the walls I had thrown up during our argument on the porch had come crashing down, and the beautiful words he had spoken to me in the bathroom came flooding back to my mind.

  And all because I was simply in his presence.

  We dropped our towels to the sand and slipped out of our shoes before we went running into the ocean. My hand was tightly held in Derek's, and we laughed as the waves crashed against our bodies. I could see the whole bottom of the ocean, all the sand and the life and the fish that swam around our ankles. The water was crystal clear and unlike anything I had ever seen before. How in the world could I have come to such a beautiful place and missed out on things like this? How in the world could I have denied myself these simpli
stic pleasures after some of the darkest nights I’d ever experienced?

  I had no idea why I had done that to myself, but I was glad Derek was opening my eyes to it.

  We bobbed around in the water, his arms tightly wrapped around me. I slid my legs around his hips and held him around his neck. I ignored the dull ache still throbbing my arm, favoring the feel of him over the feeling of pain shooting into my shoulder. Our foreheads connected as the wave started to pick up a bit, carrying us farther and farther out into the ocean.

  Everything about this was beautiful and serene. There wasn't one threat I could perceive nor were there any walls between Derek and me. My grip held tightly onto him as I closed my eyes, allowing the waves to rock us along their natural rhythm. The movement was soothing and simple. I felt myself becoming one with the very earth I’d cursed throughout the duration of my career.

  Then I unhooked my body from his and started splashing him.

  “Oh, you won’t win that fight,” Derek said.

  “Try me,” I said. “Just try to win something like this.”

  I splashed him with water, and he splashed back. We laughed and tried to one-up one another, with him eventually diving under the water and pulling me under with him. I came up for air, flipping my hair back and splashing him repeatedly.

  He drenched me in water as I continued to flail with my eyes closed.

  “You’re such a dick! Pulling me under is cheating,” I said.

  But when I didn’t hear his voice, I wiped the water from my face and opened my eyes.

  “Derek?” I asked.

  I turned around, trying to see where he went as panic rose in my chest.

  “Derek? Where are you? This isn’t funny anymore.”

  He was nowhere to be found. I turned back toward the bungalow, hoping he was walking up the steps that led straight into his room. Shit. There were steps that led straight into the bungalow from the ocean? I didn’t have those on my deck. How the hell could I have not known that?

  I turned toward the rocks on the other side of us. I swam toward them, trying to see if he had gotten caught up in the current. I scrambled onto one of them, my eyes scanning the ocean as I tried to spot him.

  And still, there was nothing.

  “Derek!”

  My heart was slamming against my chest. My blood was rushing through my veins. My ears were ringing, my hands were trembling, and I felt myself slipping. This was what happened when I put my guard down. This was what happened when I didn’t do my job. Someone had gotten to him. Someone had dragged him off somewhere the moment I grew weak.

  “Derek!” I said with a shriek. “Derek, where the fuck are you?”

  I dove back into the water, opening my eyes as they burned. The salt was searing my face, bringing about a pounding headache as I dove around in the water. I tried looking around for anything that could conceal him. A rock underwater or a person lying in wait. I searched for his body, thinking maybe he had gotten trapped and couldn’t come back up for air.

  But I had to come back up for air.

  I had to resurface so I could keep looking for him.

  I pushed off from the ocean floor and flung my hair back. I kept my head on a swivel as I paddled back toward the shore. I felt sick to my stomach. I felt the earth crumbling beneath my feet. I was going to kill them. Whoever had taken Derek was going to pay with their—

  “Sam! Over here!”

  I looked up from the ocean water and saw Derek standing on the shoreline. He was flagging me down, a giant smile on his lips. Tears of relief filled my eyes and streamed down my face as I stood there, taking him in as I walked toward the shore. He wasn’t bleeding or bruised. He didn’t seem to be in pain or limping. I looked around to see if anyone was threatening him from the low-lying land. I looked for the glint of a gun or the shuffling of a body and listened for the ticking of a bomb.

  But there was nothing.

  Only Derek, his beautiful body, and the crashing of the ocean waves.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked.

  I ran up to him, sniffling as I slammed my fists into his chest.

  “What the—? Sam? What the hell’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong? Seriously? You’ve got a psychopath who hasn’t been caught yet, and you disappear fuck-knows-where and just pop up at the shoreline?”

  I took a step back from him as I furiously wiped at my face. I was crying over him. Crying over the fact that he could've been hurt. Taken. Beaten and tortured. I was crying over someone.

  I hadn’t done that since I’d lost my parents.

  “Sam? What’s wrong? What happened?” Derek asked.

  “You scared the hell out of me, that’s what happened.”

  “I’m sorry. I was trying to get away from you after pulling you under.”

  “I came up for air and kept splashing, then opened my eyes, and you were gone. Did you seriously not think that through?” I asked.

  “I didn’t think. I used to do it all the time in college. I could go out as far as I could in the ocean and then see how far I could swim back without coming up for air. My buddies and I always made it a competition, and the winner bought dinner.”

  “Well, don’t fucking do it again,” I said as I kept my back to him. “Because that wasn’t funny.”

  I felt his arms drape around my waist as he pulled me back to his chest. I sighed, my eyes fluttering closed as I melded into his body. I felt the beating of his heart, signaling the life he still possessed. I felt the swelling of his chest, signaling the breaths he was still taking. I felt the way his fingertips traced circles along my hips, signaling the touch he was still enjoying because he was still alive.

  “I really didn’t mean to scare you,” Derek said.

  “Well, you did and not simply because you’re a client whose life I have to protect.”

  “Not simply because?” he asked.

  “No. You’re a client, but I also ...”

  I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes as he pulled me deeper into the warmth of his body.

  “I also feel strongly about you,” I said. “And if something happened to you because I was negligent or because I dropped my guard, it wouldn’t be because I failed you as an employer. It would be because I failed you as a lover.”

  I felt his lips descend to my neck, peppering my skin with kisses. I tilted my head off to the side, turning my lips into his skin so I could kiss him back. I didn’t try to fight the goosebumps that puckered my skin. I didn’t try to fight the fluttering feeling I had in the pit of my gut. I didn’t even try to fight the hammering of my heart against my chest.

  I stood there and accepted it and accepted the decision I made to give myself over to this man.

  At least for now.

  “I won’t do anything to freak you out like that again. I promise,” Derek said.

  “That’s all I ask.”

  Chapter 13

  Derek

  I FELT BAD ABOUT THE beach scare, but it brought about a revelation that was music to my ears. Sam had said it out loud. She said she cared about me and had strong feelings for me. The way my heart leaped in my chest as she said those words was unlike anything I’d felt for any other woman. I was overjoyed that she admitted it. Sam was finally able to drop her guard after all these weeks together at each other’s side.

  I kept replaying those words in my head as we went through our day.

  “There’s a jazz trio playing at the restaurant tonight. Figured we could have some drinks, listen to some good music. Help us wind down from today,” I said.

  “You mean from that scare you gave me at the beach?” Sam asked.

  “I’m sorry. Looking back on it, it really was a boneheaded move.”

  “It was,” she said. “I was terrified when I came up and didn’t see you anywhere. I swam to the rocks and everything.”

  “Man. My lung capacity must be awesome. It didn’t feel like I was under that long.”

  “Don’t flat
ter yourself. I’m an expert swimmer,” she said.

  “You do everything, don’t you?”

  I turned around and saw her emerge from the room, my eyes cascading over her body. She’d found the one full-length dress I’d slipped into her closet. It was a navy blue dress with layered fabrics that brushed along all of her delicious curves. Her tousled hair was pouring around her shoulders, setting her eyes aflame as she donned the matching blue flip-flops. The fabric was flimsy enough for me to rip off her body and leave it tatters but strong enough to deal with the wind whipping off the ocean.

  She gave me a little twirl, her body beckoning to me as her hips swayed.

  “How do I look?” she asked.

  “Like I’ve got good taste,” I said with a grin.

  “I’ll take that answer for now.”

  “Oh, was there another one you were looking for?”

  “Beautiful. Wonderful. Perfect. Illuminating. Any of those will do next time.”

  I chuckled, offering my arm to her as she linked hers within mine.

  “A jazz trio sounds nice. Along with a drink, a heavy one. My heart’s still pounding a bit from the ocean,” Sam said.

  “A drink and some music for the lady, coming up.”

  We made our way to the restaurant, and my eyes were automatically looking out for Valerie. The last thing I needed was her walking up on us because I knew Sam would punch her in her nose. Well, not in her nose. But Sam would get defensive in that passive way she gets like she had with Gretchen in the hotel room back in Vegas.

  It was fun to remember, but I didn’t want it happening again. I didn’t want the rest of our time here spoiled by the likes of her.

  I pulled out her chair and set her in it before I motioned for the waiter. I put in an order for a bottle of wine for the table, and then I sat down across the table from her. Our bodies were turned toward the music, but my sights were trained on her. The way her leg delicately crossed over her knee. The way her hands sat poised in her lap. The way she seemed comfortable as the wind grazed by the tresses of her hair.