The Billionaire’s Bride by L. Steele

10

Baron

I walk into the bar, and she watches me approach. "You shouldn’t be here," she scolds.

"Says who?"

"The deal was that I’d set up a schedule to date you guys."

"Doesn’t mean I can’t stumble across you in a bar, does it?"

"And is that what this is?" She frowns. "Did you walk into this bar by accident?"

I hesitate, look away. "No," I mumble, "I walked in knowing you’d be here."

"Baron," she scowls, "this is not right."

"What’s not right is that you are going home to him, and you’ll be spending the night in the same bed as him." I belatedly notice Isla and smile at her to disguise my discomfort. “Hi, Isla. How are you doing?”

"Umm—" Isla rises to her feet, "I need to get going."

She bends, kissing Ava’s cheek. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

She nods in my direction, an acknowledgement. Meanwhile, Ava kisses her back and waves as she walks away, leaving us alone.

"She’s a good friend." I slip onto the bar stool she vacated. "How did you two meet?"

"She was a good friend of my older sister’s, actually. Then we met and got along really well."

"You have a sister?" I frown. "You never told me that."

"Guess I didn’t have a chance."

"What does she do?"

"She’s a marketing director. Has a well-paying job with a media company. She travels a lot for work, is very ambitious, and... She’s my exact opposite." She laughs.

The bartender approaches me, but I shake my head at him.

"You’re not drinking?" She frowns.

"I’m driving."

"Right."

I turn to her. "What makes you think that you are so different from your sister?"

She takes a sip from her drink, hunches her shoulders. "Because she’s so focused, you know? She knows what she wants, and goes after it."

"And you don’t?"

"I’m a med school drop-out."

"And now you run your own studio."

"Which barely breaks even—"

"Where you create art, and do what you enjoy."

"And I still struggle to get students."

"It’s what you love," I insist.

"If only passion were enough to put food on the table."

"You’re only getting started." I lean forward, "If you persevere… As long as you are doing what fires you up, you are bound to be successful."

She blinks. "Wow, that’s some speech, Baron."

My neck heats. "It’s true, though," I insist. "You’re such an incredible dancer, Ava. Don’t give up."

She smiles and her green eyes light up. "Thank you," she murmers, "I needed to hear that. Maybe one of these days, I'll even have the courage to sign up for the World Belly Dancing championships."

"Oh, you definitely should. Bet you'd win the first prize too."

"I'd settle for simply not falling flat on my face." She laughs.

"You could never do that. You have too much talent to do anything but excel at anything that you put your mind too."

"Wow," she blinks, "you have no idea how much it means to me, to hear you say that."

Don’t lose faith in yourself." I gaze at her earnestly. "Promise me that."

She licks her lips and my eyes drop to her mouth. "Say you promise," I coax her.

"I promise," she whispers.

Her words are soft, her lips slightly parted. I move in closer, close enough to smell that jasmine and raspberry scent of hers. The blood instantly drains to my groin. My dick thickens. My thighs harden. I lower my head to hers, and she swallows. I push the hair away from her forehead and she trembles. I place my mouth in front of hers, close enough to share breath and a moan bleeds from her lips.

"Ava," I whisper, "fuck, you’re beautiful."

She stares into my eyes, her pupils dilated. Her chest rises and falls and color smears her cheeks. I brush my lips across hers—once, twice—and she sways. I slide my hand behind her neck, hold her in place as I deepen the kiss. I lick across her mouth and she gasps. I slide my tongue in between her lips and she moans. I press down on her chin and she opens her mouth. I suck on her tongue, sweep my tongue across her teeth, pull her close enough for her hair to brush my face. The scent of her sinks into my skin; the taste of her goes straight to my head. I slide off my stool, push her legs apart and step between them.

A groan rips out of me and she shudders. She slides her arms under my jacket, digs her fingers into my back, and my dick lengthens. I pull her to the edge of her stool, thrust my hardness into her center. She gasps, straining against me, thrusting her breasts into my chest. Something crashes to the floor and I tear my mouth from hers, stare at her flushed features, those dilated eyes that indicate just how aroused she already is.

"Ava," I whisper and she shakes her head.

"We shouldn’t."

"Why not?" I growl. "You want me, I want you."

"It’s not right, to Edward."

"Don’t talk about him," I snap.

She frowns up at me. "I thought we were all going to get along."

I snort, "I agreed to tolerate him."

"You agreed to give this arrangement a chance."

"Doesn’t mean I can’t kiss you."

"You can." She tilts her head, "Just know that I won’t sleep with you."

"Wait, what?" I scowl. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I’m not sleeping with either of you, until I figure out where this is going."

"You mean until you figure out who you’re going to choose?"

She scowls up at me. "I’m trying to do what’s right."

"I’m right for you, Ava." I massage her neck and her chest heaves. "See how you respond to me? How you yearn for my touch, how your body reacts to my nearness?" I lower my head to hers again and her lips part. "You want me, Ava. Admit it. You need me. You can’t live without me in your life. Without my telling you what to do. You want the strength of my dominance to subsume you, you want me to throw you down and rip into your pussy. You want me to bend you over this table and fuck you in the arse in front of everyone."

"Baron," she breathes, "what are you saying?"

"You want me to take you in front of this bar, so you can cry out and show them just what a good little slut you are. You love being an exhibitionist, Ava. It turns you on, thinking of all the forbidden things I can do to you. You want me to claim you, to tell the world that you belong to me."

"No," she whispers, "that’s not true."

"It is."

"No, it isn’t." I sense her move. The next second pain explodes behind my eyes; my groin screams in protest.

"What the fuck—?" She kneed me in the balls. Why that little— I turn around, find her running out of the bar. Shit. "Ava, hold on." I spring forward and my body protests. I grit my teeth through the pain, force myself to move forward. I race toward the door, up the sidewalk in her wake. "Ava, stop."

She turns around, scowls. "Why should I, after you pulled that underhanded stunt on me?"

I increase my pace, closing the distance between us. She yelps, faces forward, trying to run faster. I catch up to her, grab her arm and she screams, "Let go of me."

"Ava, stop." I haul her to me and she struggles in my grasp.

"Release me, you asshole.’

"No."

"Why did you kiss me like that?"

"Because you like it?"

"How dare you say those filthy things to me?"

I yank her up to her tiptoes, clamp my hand around the nape of her neck. "Because it turns you on, Eve."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Why should I?" I haul her against me and her breasts flatten against my chest. "You make me crazy, Ava. You know that?"

"Good," she huffs, "because you do the same to me."

"So, choose me."

"I," she blinks, "I can’t, Baron."

I stare into her face, and my heart begins to race. "Fuck," I swear. "F-u-c-k." I release her so suddenly that she stumbles. I grasp her shoulder to make sure that she finds her balance, then step away from her. "I’ll drop you home."

Half an hour later, we pull up at her house. I grasp the wheel of the car, stare straight ahead.

"Baron, I…"

"Get out of the car, Ava."

She turns to me. "You’re angry with me and it’s not fair. You knew Edward would return, that this entire situation would turn out to be messy."

"No shit," I growl.

"Baron, be reasonable. I—"

"Reasonable?" I turn on her, "Why should I be reasonable, when you go home every night to sleep in the same bed as him?"

"I’ll be on the couch."

"What?" I frown. "Don’t do that. You won’t be able to sleep well there."

"I’ll be fine," she assures me.

"Why can’t he move to another place?"

She blows out a breath, "We’ve had this conversation. As soon as he’s able to fend for himself, he’ll move out."

"Bet he can right now. Bet he’s only playing the sympathy card so he can stay with you."

"Baron," she snaps, "that’s beneath even you."

I snort, "Seriously? You have no idea what Edward is capable of. Just because he was a priest, doesn’t mean he still tells the truth."

She flips her hair over her shoulder. "Do I detect the green-headed monster making an appearance?"

"You think I’m jealous?" I growl.

"Aren’t you?"

"If I were jealous, would I be driving you back to deliver you into his arms?" I squeeze my fingers around the wheel of the car so tightly that pain screeches up my arms.

"Yes, you would," she mutters, "because despite how much you don’t agree with the situation, you’d honor your word."

"What-fucking-ever."

"Oh, I know you, Baron Masters, better than you realize. Which is why you’ll never pull the stunt that you pulled today again."

I arch an eyebrow. "Don’t get your hopes too high, Sugar. I’ll kiss you where I want, when I want."

"No, you won’t."

"The fuck, Ava?" I slam my fist into the wheel and the horn blares. "The fuck are you putting these restrictions on me? It’s fucking unnatural. I want to be able to kiss you when I want, to lick your cunt when I am hungry, to slam into your pussy when I feel like it, to fuck you like you belong to me, to own you like you are mine."

Her breath hitches.

"And I know you want it too."

"Maybe," she finally concedes, "maybe I do."

"Bull-fucking-shit," I snap. "You know you do."

"Doesn’t mean I am going to let myself have it."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because I am determined to give both of you a fair chance."

"Fuck fairness."

"Oh?" She tilts her head, "How would you feel if I walked in there and asked Edward to shag me—"

"Don’t you fucking dare do that," I roar.

"My point exactly."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I rake my fingers through my hair. "This entire arrangement is bullshit, and you know it."

"No, it isn’t." She straightens her shoulders. "I need to give both of you an equal chance, and right now, this is the only way."

"What-bloody-ever."

I shove open my door, stalk around the car to her door, but she’s already stepping out. She walks up the garden path and I follow her to the door. She steps onto the patio, and I follow her onto it.

She reaches for the door and I don’t move. She huffs out a breath, "I am not going to ask you to come in."

"I didn’t expect you to."

"Sure, you did," she mutters, "but it wouldn’t be fair to Edward if I did."

"You going to tell him about how you kissed me back?" I allow my lips to twist. "You going to tell him how my filthy words turn you on, how you like it rough? How you want to be dominated and not given a choice, how you like your every hole filled at the same time, how you like to be spanked and treated like a fuck toy, how—"

She turns on me, "Shut up," she hisses. "Just shut up."

"Yeah," I widen my legs, "thought not. He can’t give you what you want; only I can."

"How do you know he didn't give it to me rough?" She tilts her head, "How do you know that’s not how he fucked me already?"

Blood thuds at my temples. My pulse rate ratchets up. I step into her space, then bend my knees and peer into her features, "Is that right, Eve? Is that how he gave it to you? Is that how he shagged you, Eve?"

She pales, opens her mouth, when the door to the house flies open.

"What’s happening here?"