Bought by the Billionaire (2 page)

By the next afternoon, Keela didn’t work for the maid service. Feeling slightly irresponsible, but deciding it was no worse to quit a job without notice than to file for bankruptcy, she called to resign and scheduled a free consultation with the bankruptcy attorney.

When she came back to the tiny apartment she shared with her sister, she dropped the packet of paperwork from the lawyer on the table and kicked off her shoes. Midway through making a snack to appease the rumbling of her stomach that reminded her she hadn’t eaten since eggs and toast on her morning shift, the doorbell rang.

She blotted her hands on the dish towel, set aside the tomato she’d been slicing, and approached the door with trepidation. Chase had promised her a lawsuit was next, and she had been bracing herself to open the door to find a process server with a suit for her. She’d seen it happen to her parents before, but had hoped to avoid that fate for herself.

Casting a reassuring glance at the paperwork waiting to be filled out that would legally, if not morally, free her from her debts, she checked to make sure the security chain was in place before opening the door. It wasn’t a process server. Worse than that, Simon Magnus himself stood on her doorstep. “What do you want?”

“I came to apologize.” He held out a bouquet of red roses.

She eyed them with a sneer. Those things must have cost a fortune. They were beautiful, but such a waste. “I’m allergic.” That was a lie, but she gained a nice amount of satisfaction from the hasty way he tossed the flowers out into the apartment complex’s shared front yard.

“May I come in?”

“No.”

He sighed, sounding frustrated. “Why won’t you just talk to me, Keela?”

“There is nothing to say. I’ll find a way to pay you back.” She almost glanced at the bankruptcy papers again, but kept her gaze steady on his face. “That’s the end of it.” As she started to close the door, he put his palm against the door to keep it from shutting.

“That’s not the end. You aren’t going to try to pretend you felt nothing when I kissed you, are you?”

She glared at him, thankful her little sister wasn’t home. “That was a crazy moment, Mr. Magnus, but it meant nothing.” It was absolutely nothing, and she had reminded herself of that firmly several times when the memory had popped into her mind to knock her socks off anew.

He cursed. “Don’t dismiss this thing between us.”

She scowled at him through the thin sliver of the opened door. “There is no
thing
or
us
. We had an accident, but that’s it. We live about a billion miles apart.” Pointing her finger toward the street, where a long limousine waited for its owner, she said, “I bet you’ve never even been to Harlem before, and I sure as heck haven’t been to Park Avenue.”

He frowned. “How do you know where I live?”

She was not revealing the sick curiosity that had led her to Google him last night. “A lucky guess. It’s where all the rich people live.” Renewing her efforts to close the door, she pressed hard against the wood. “Now will you please let go and move back? You aren’t wanted here.”

Simon scowled. “You’re lying, Keela. When I held you in my arms yesterday, you were trembling with need, just the same as me. This isn’t over, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Go away, you mad stalker.” The door slammed with a gratifying thud, though she couldn’t take as much joy in it as she would wish, since he had yielded at the last moment to allow her the hollow victory. “Crazy bastard,” she muttered under her breath, refusing to admit she found his persistence a bit flattering.

That was dumb. He wanted one thing from her, and if she gave it to him, that would be the last she’d see of Simon Magnus. Men like him didn’t date women like her. They screwed them on the side while marrying perfect women with shining hair and blinding white teeth.

It was just the challenge of her refusal that kept him going. He’d soon grow tired and go away—or sue her for the damage to the car. That prospect wasn’t as scary as it had been yesterday. The attorney had assured her she would be released from financial obligation for the collision if she filed bankruptcy, since she hadn’t been drunk at the time of the accident.

“Do your worst, Simon Magnus,” she said to her reflection in the tiny mirror on the short wall of the area passing for a foyer before opening to the living room and kitchen.

***

Two days after her meeting with the attorney, Keela was able to focus on the paperwork. She’d been tense yesterday, expecting Simon to approach her again, but the worst he’d done was have a dozen roses delivered to her door that she had refused to accept. Either he hadn’t believed her allergy claim, or he was trying to punish her for her rejection. Either way, she’d tried to pretend like she wasn’t thinking about it all day, even when it had consumed her thoughts.

Today, she forced herself to pay attention. The paperwork took several hours, and she was disgruntled to realize she was missing the information for a creditor. Plucking up her courage to call, she dialed the collections department and asked for the pertinent account information.

“Ah, yes, here it is, Ms. Goodwin. Your balance is zero.”

She arched a brow. “That isn’t right. It should be…” As she trailed off to calculate what she thought she owed them, the agent spoke again.

“There’s no mistake. Your payment posted, and your debt is cleared.”

Knowing it was a mistake, she asked for a supervisor and got the same information. Feeling stymied, she finally hung up and added a guesstimate for balance on the paperwork. There was no way that debt was paid, and she wasn’t going to risk leaving it off the paperwork, leaving her open to renewed collections when Halford Bank figured out they had messed up.

***

The next morning brought another delivery of flowers, this time orchids. They were beautiful, and she was so tempted to keep them. Instead, she firmed her lips and shook her head at the deliveryman. “Send them back.”

He sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”

After dropping off the paperwork, she went in for an extra shift at the diner, which put her home a little after eleven p.m. Exhausted, she barely had the energy to strip, step into the shower, and pull on ratty pajamas before collapsing on her bed. She dragged her laptop closer to check her email.

One from the company administering her student loans made her groan. Payment wasn’t due for another week, and she was still scrambling to get it all together.
Please don’t let there be any more surprises in store
, she thought to herself as she clicked the message.

“Thank you for your recent payment of $64,918.42. Your next payment amount is $0, due in one week.”

She blinked and reread the message. Three more read-throughs didn’t change the words. Completely mystified, she logged on to the online system and discovered identical information. According to the company’s website, she had made a payment yesterday. No, not a payment, but
the
payment—the final one to clear the debt.

Dark fear gripped her, and she logged into her online bank with trembling fingers, terrified there had been some kind of financial error that had led to a payment for the full balance drafting from her account a week early. Even as she reassured herself the bank wouldn’t cover it, since her overdraft protection was only three hundred dollars, it was still reassuring to see the balance wasn’t overdrawn by sixty-four-thousand dollars.

Relief blinded her, so it took a moment to realize there were some extra zeroes in her balance that shouldn’t be there. Through narrowed eyes, she pulled up her banking history and was shocked to see thousands of dollars in transactions already processed from her account. A quick mental tally had her guessing every last debt she owed had been paid.

How that could be was a mystery solved by going to the next page. Someone had deposited an obscene amount of money into her account. SiMag was the identifier attached to it, and she gasped. “He wouldn’t?”

But he would, and he had. That slimy bastard had paid off all her debts. He’d hacked her bank account to put in money and pay off everyone appearing on her credit report. It was disgusting and vile.

It was also oddly sweet, in a twisted, stalker-ish sort of way. Keela fought that reaction, concentrating on the sense of violation sweeping through her. He had invaded her privacy and tried to buy her just like he had his damned sports car. Her eyes fell on the deposit amount again, and she had to concede at least he thought she was worth more than a fancy automobile.

It was far too late to confront him, and she had no idea of his exact home address, so Keela tried to settle down to sleep. She was going to need all her wits and full rest about her when she confronted Magnus in the morning. He could just undo whatever he’d done.

As she lay there, it occurred to her he couldn’t un-pay her bills, especially since they had originated from her own account. Instead, it was another debt she would owe him.

A claustrophobic feeling swept over her, and she struggled to breathe through it. No, she couldn’t panic. Whether she owed him a few thousand or hundreds of thousands, she would either pay him off or file bankruptcy. That seemed like a silly idea in light of having her other debts cleared, but she refused to let Magnus stake his ownership.

The perfect blonde receptionist she had expected the first night she’d come to his office was waiting for her that morning. The woman was practically an Amazon and should have been aloof and disdainful to match expectations, but she greeted Keela with a wide smile. “Mr. Magnus is so pleased you could make the meeting, Ms. Goodwin.”

She almost asked what meeting that could be, since she had shown up without notice and had expected to have to figuratively fight her way through security to get to the head honcho. Instead, everyone had rolled out the red carpet for her. While making her task easier, it was still unnerving. She muttered something she hoped sounded polite to the Amazon receptionist and followed her to his office.

The door was open, and he was smiling when he greeted her. “Good morning, Keela.”

Cheerful bastard. With a barely contained glare, she closed the door behind her with more force than necessary and strode across the carpet. He was behind his desk, and she slammed her palm onto the smooth wood. “What the heck do you think you’re doing, Simon Magnus?”

His eyes widened, and he looked confused. “Is there a problem?”

“A problem?” Her mouth gaped open, and she had to resist the urge to scream like a banshee. “It’s a huge problem when you hack into my bank account. That’s illegal, mister.” For emphasis, she poked him in the chest when he came within range. “Even for billionaire tech gods, it’s against the law. I could have you arrested.”

“Ouch.” He rubbed his chest. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” He grinned. “Besides, who’s going to put me in jail for putting money into your account?”

She glared at him. “You’re such an arrogant ass. It’s everything I despise about people like you.”

His eyes narrowed. “People like me?”

“Yeah—entitled white guys born with a platinum spoon up their ass. You can’t buy me, Magnus.”

He held up his hand, either as a gesture of surrender or an aborted attempt to touch her. “I’m trying to make your life easier, Keela. I want you to see what I can offer you.”

She glared at him. “Offer me for what? A quick fuck?”

He shook his head. “No. There will be nothing quick about it, Keela, and it won’t be a one-time thing.”

She shook her head. “It won’t be an
ever
thing, Simon. Whatever you’re looking for isn’t happening. You’re imagining it all.”

“Liar.” He said it like an endearment. “Kiss me, Keela. Do that to convince me you feel nothing, and I’ll leave you alone.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s it? No spark, no attraction, and we’re done? You’ll take back your money?”

“I can’t do that,” he said gently. “Too much of it has been spent.”

She sighed. “Fine, then you’ll accept payments?” For the rest of her life? It would take that long to clear the debt, which was a discouraging thought.

He paused, and then nodded. “Sure, if you can convince me you don’t want me, I’ll let you pay me back. I’ll even tack on the twelve thousand dollars it cost to repair my Ferrari if that will make you happy?”

“Frigging ecstatic.” Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for his touch. She absolutely could not react in any fashion if she wanted him to stop interfering with her life. The last thing she wanted was a bossing, domineering lover trying to control everything.

As though he did it to confound her expectations of forceful and demanding, his lips were tender against hers when he pulled her closer for the kiss. She stood impassively as he shaped his lips to hers, reminding herself she couldn’t react. She was still repeating that mantra as her fisted hands slowly relaxed before plastering themselves to his back.

Keela pulled him closer as he dipped his head to run his lips down her cheek. His tongue traced her jaw line up to her ear, where he drew the lobe between his lips to bite delicately. She trembled at the onslaught, and her entire body responded. “Oh, Simon,” she whispered, feeling like a weak ninny. Giving in was letting him buy her.

Abruptly, she turned her head to put space between them. “I’m not for sale, Simon.”

His hand under her chin forced her to turn her head to meet his earnest blue eyes. “I know that. I’m not trying to buy you, Keela. I want you on any terms, but only if it’s what you want too. Let me make love to you because your panties are soaking wet, and your nipples are hard enough to poke out my eyes.” A faint rasp underlay his words, and his cheeks had flushed red. “Don’t do it for money or any other reason, except you want to.”

She closed her eyes for a second, so torn and so tempted. “Look, Simon…” She moistened her lips. “I’m a virgin. I know it’s silly and old-fashioned to be without experience at the age of twenty-three, but I haven’t met the right one.”

He looked devastated. “You’re waiting for marriage?”

She shook her head. “No. Just someone who makes me feel
it
. I can’t describe it. I’ll just know.”

He slumped forward, resting his forehead against hers. “And I don’t make you feel
it
?”

She wanted to deny it, to pretend he didn’t. Still irked with the way he’d summoned her here, assuming she would screw him because he’d put a huge sum of money into her account and settled her debts, she wanted to shove him away and walk out with her head held high.

Unfortunately for her pride, she wanted him between her thighs even more. With a soft sigh of surrender, she stretched to brush her mouth against his jaw. His hand loosened on her face, and his fingers stroked down her neck. “You do. I feel
it
everywhere.”

Simon groaned and pulled her into his arms. She gasped with surprise that turned to a giggle when he swung her into his arms to take her to the nearest couch. Her back hit the plush upholstery hard enough to make her wince when he dropped her, but she had no time to recover.

In seconds, his nimble fingers were stripping her bare. The days he’d been forced to wait must have sent his desire to a fever pitch, because he stripped her with ruthless precision. She imagined it was the same way he approached his business endeavors.

Keela didn’t resist, and didn’t want to, when he tugged off her jeans and peeled off her T-shirt. A plain white bra went next, revealing her breasts. She moaned with delight when he bent down to run his tongue across one nut-brown nipple.

“You’re so lovely, Keela.” He grasped both her breasts before burying his face in her cleavage. Simon sucked and licked the skin there until she was squirming. When he lifted his head, his gaze was smoky with desire. “Lay back and spread your legs.”

Heat scorched her face as she followed his command. It was embarrassing to be laid bare before a virtual stranger, especially since she’d never let a date get below the waist. She slipped her fingers into the elastic waistband.

“Stop.”

The forcefulness of his demand made her shiver, and her folds grew slicker. She licked her lips. “Don’t you want to see me?”

Simon nodded as he stepped between her legs. Grasping her thighs, he changed her angle, adjusting her so her feet rested on the glass coffee table. “I want to see, smell, and taste you, baby.” He knelt between her legs, his knees padded by the thick carpet.

She whimpered when he stroked her through the cotton panties.

“Damn, you’re wet. This white cotton is translucent.” Simon bent his head, his nose brushing her slit a second later as he inhaled deeply. “Sweet too. I can’t wait to make love to you. I’ve been dreaming about it since the day you slammed into my car.”

This was not how she had pictured her first time making love. In her fantasies, her unseen lover had been sweet and gentle, almost worshipful in his gratitude that she had yielded to him. For years, that was what she thought she’d wanted, but Keela realized she was wrong about that by the time he stripped her panties to mid-thigh and took her heat into his mouth.

She cried out as Simon greedily guzzled her nectar, his tongue stroking her insides until she produced even more fluid. Her fingers grasped his hair, and she pulled him closer as she arched against his face. “Oh, Simon.” This was a hundred times better than she’d imagined. A thousand even. His rough, confident way of tasting her had her hovering on the edge of orgasm in just a few minutes.

He pulled away just as she started to come, and she couldn’t help whining a bit. “I was almost there.”

He nodded, looking like an arrogant prick. “I know, but it’s better if we go together.”

She scowled at him. “You’re nowhere near that point.”

Simon laughed. “I’m so close to coming that it’s embarrassing.” He stripped off his shirt as he spoke, revealing a muscled chest with a light dusting of hair a shade darker than his head. His hungry gaze roamed over her. “Touch yourself for me, honey. Pet that pretty pussy.”

She was surely blushing brightly enough by now to guide Santa’s sleigh. “I…that’s pointless.”

He slowed his pace, working his zipper down a millimeter at a time. “Come on. I promise if you get yourself off before I get undressed, I won’t make you wait for me.” Looking wicked, he added, “And I’ll make sure you get another one before I come.”

Feeling shy, she tentatively stroked herself. It wasn’t foreign territory. She’d spent lots of nights touching herself and learning what pleased her. Despite her familiarity with herself, it was strange and awkward to masturbate in front of a stranger.

And arousing, she admitted, as her fingers slid easily inside her slick folds. She started stroking her clit, closing her eyes as she focused all her attention on the pleasure she stirred. Keela arched against her hand and held her breath as the rising tide of climax approached.

Simon wrenching her hand from her folds had her voicing a small scream of frustration. “You sadistic jerk.”

“You knew my terms.” He licked her fingers before lifting her thighs to bring her ass to the edge of the couch. Simon sat on the table as he pulled her forward. His cock was solid and imposing as it nudged her entrance. “Now you have to wait until I’m ready.”

“Are you always such a demanding…?” Unable to come up with the right word, she let the question hang unfinished.

“Yes, but you like it.”

His tone was full of amusement, but also rich with knowledge she couldn’t refute. So far, she loved this bossy, dominant man’s take-charge manner in the bedroom. Well, the office. As long as he kept it confined to this area only, she could handle it. “Please take me, Simon.”

“Gladly, Keela.” He didn’t make it gentle or slow. Instead, Simon surged inside her to the hilt, making her clench around him as she cried out from the pain. “Trust me, babe, it’s better to get it over with fast.”

She glared at him. “I doubt you have a basis of comparison, Magnus.”

His teeth were straight and perfectly white when he tossed back his head to laugh. “Touché, but from personal experience, it’s better to get difficult things out of the way as quickly as possible.”

“Remind me of that when it’s my turn to take your virginity,” she spat through gritted teeth. At least the first fearsome throb of pain had lessened, and when he withdrew before thrusting inside again, it didn’t hurt much at all.

“Sorry, baby, but that happened about twenty years ago, when I was fifteen.”

“God, you’re old.” She moaned when he adjusted his angle to rub the head of his cock against her g-spot with each thrust in and out.

“And you’re so tight. It took every ounce of will power not to bend you over the hood of my fucked up car and wreck you, baby.” He increased his pace, pulling out almost completely before slamming into her.

“You have such a dirty mouth for a suave businessman, Simon,” she teased. It amazed her she could manage to form syllables as a barrage of delicious sensations assailed her. They should have been too much. Too rough and too painful for her first time, but everything was just right. He knew what he was doing.

“Pull on your nipples, Keela.”

Drugged by his punishing pace and the liquid languor seeping through her, she didn’t argue. Cupping her breasts, she tugged her nipples, hesitating at the point where it would hurt. Meeting his gaze, she saw the command there and surrendered, tautening her nipples further, until they burned.

“That is a beautiful sight. Your thighs splayed wide, and your nipples puffy and pouty.” He gripped her hips tighter as he plunged into her hard enough to make her whimper. “Harder, baby.”

“It hurts.”

“I know, but it will feel so good in a minute. Trust me.”

Oddly enough, she did, at least sexually. Keela forced herself to pull harder, and the burn increased. Just when she couldn’t stand it another moment, a second sensation joined the pain. This was the tingle of pleasure, and it jolted through her body, centering on her clitoris.

Simon put a hand between them to stroke her little bud. He didn’t have to urge her to apply more pressure to her breasts. Her hands acted of their own accord, twisting her nipples almost viciously in a way that ratcheted up her pleasure.

Simon’s erection hardened inside her before it started convulsing. “Come for me, Keela. Leave your sweet release all over my cock.”

She didn’t know if it was his filthy talk, the stimulation to her clit, her hands on her nipples, or the way he surged within her that sent her flying. Maybe it was the perfect combination of all the elements that triggered a mind-shattering, body-rocking orgasm that made her issue a keening cry as she grinded against him. The first spurt of his satisfaction shot deep inside her. She lost track after that, too consumed with her own release to pay much attention to his for a few minutes.