Billionaires Dollar Series

“Good.” A hand moves down to where I’m sensitive, at the clear evidence of his lack of condom. “I prefer this,” he says. “Maybe it makes me a caveman.”

I chuckle. “Just a man, I think.”

He stretches out next to me, his face relaxed, the usual lines of determination or amusement gone. “Well, this man feels ten feet tall.” His hand skates across my hip, up to my waist, curving softly over my skin. “You came.”

There’s no point in denying it, and no chance of hiding it, either. It had been pretty obvious. “Yes. About to gloat?”

Cole’s warm laughter washes over my skin. “No. But I do want to hear you talk about it.”

“My orgasm?”

“Your story with them. You told me in the hotel room that it was unusual for you to come with a partner.”

Oh, God. I want to bury my face in the pillow and hide from the things past me had clearly had no problem spilling. At the time, I’d had no intention of ever seeing him again-and I’d surrendered completely to the skills of his hands and mouth.

Cole laughs again, pulling my body into the hard contours of his. “Don’t be shy around me. Not anymore.”

“I’m not. And for the record, at the hotel that night, you pretty much fucked all the sense out of me. I can’t be held responsible for anything I said.”

“Up,” he instructs, and I lift my head so he can slide a muscular arm underneath my neck. He’s warm, like a space heater. “You thought it was that good?”

“Yes. Why? It wasn’t for you?”

He chuckles. “That night was unreal, Skye. But I’m vain enough to enjoy hearing you say it.”

“I didn’t know that was in question.”

“Well, you did leave without saying goodbye.” He laughs at my groan, his hand closing warmly around my breast. Absentmindedly, his thumb toys with my nipple. “I won’t start that discussion again. You’re deflecting, by the way. It won’t stand.”

I groan again. “Do you really want to know?”

I release a breath. “Fine. Well, I’ve had one long-term relationship, in college. Aside from that, my only sexual encounters have been… well, short-term.”

“One-night stands,” he says.

I purse my lips. “No. Not exactly. I’ve dated two guys that I’ve also slept with. Not at the same time, I mean. But things progressed far enough that we slept together, but weren’t in a relationship? And then it ended. So three. I’ve slept with three guys.”

Cole’s lips are curved in a genuine smile. “You’re doing an excellent job at explaining this.”

“Yes, well, I wasn’t prepared for this grueling pop quiz about my past sex life.”

“Only about your orgasms,” he says lazily, kissing me. “But I welcome all the information you’re sharing.”

I shove him lightly and he laughs, arms tightening around me. “How can you blame me? You’ve already told me I’m the best you’ve ever had.”

“I have not said that!”

“Yes you have. Several times.” He flips me over, lips trailing down my neck. His shoulders block out the dim lighting from my bedside lamp. “You say a lot of things when you’re in the throes of passion. Or feverish.”

I groan, but it quickly becomes one of pleasure when his lips close around my nipple. My embarrassment evaporates, fading away in a rush of sensation and dizzying feeling. “None of them made me come,” I say softly. “Not regularly. And I wasn’t comfortable enough to show them how I wanted to be touched.”

He bites my nipple softly before releasing it, looking up at me with eyes that blaze. “What a shame,” he says darkly. “And yet… I’m more than happy to pick up their slack.”

Cole kisses down my body slowly, like we have all the time in the world, and I lose myself in his touch. When we’re like this, it’s easy to pretend that we do.

Karli bursts through the door to the bookstore twenty minutes before her shift starts. “Skye, you won’t believe this.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I hold up the tote bag I’ve been admiring for the past half hour. “You won’t believe this either. Look. What do you think? I sketched the logo design on it last night.”

She pauses in front of the register, a newspaper in hand. “Yeah, that’s nice.”

“Nice? If-sorry, when-we get the green flag to stay in business, we could produce and sell these. It’s cute. It’s quirky. It’s eco-friendly. It’s your neighborhood book bag. This is just a prototype, but-”

Karli slams the newspaper on the register. “Look.”

I do.

Cole is on the front page.

They’ve captured him walking out from a Porter Development building, the skyscraper rising imposing and tall behind him. He’s on his phone, and for once, he’s not smiling.

The headline screams the accusing words at me. “Billionaire’s dirty backstory revealed,” I read, murmuring the words.

“You need to read this article,” Karli says. “Apparently he cut out his old business partner. He was stone cold about the whole thing.”

I flip through the newspaper in search for the story. His business partner, his business partner… the one who’d commissioned an expensive logo?

The article is a full spread. Karli is practically seething beside me, pointing out things before I reach them. “He made Ben sign a non-disclosure agreement,” she says. “That’s why it’s his wife who’s doing the talking.”

“Ben?”

“Ben Simmons. Cole Porter’s former business partner.” She points to the picture in the spread of Ben and his wife. It’s a beautiful image. They’re sitting close together on a couch, her hands clasped around his, the picture of support.

I shake my head. “Wait, wait, I have to read.” My eyes skim the questions and the answers, each more damning than the last. Elena, Ben’s wife, is the one who does most of the talking. They were school friends, she answers. And then to be cut off like that…

The reporter interjects here-asking about the exact details. Ben’s the one who responds to that. I couldn’t tell you. I wish I could, but I was forced to sign an NDA. I would have been left with nothing if I hadn’t.

I scan the rest, every sentence, every question worse than the one before. Something sinks inside me. Could Cole have done this? Cole, who invited my nephew along to a baseball game?

“It’s a story. Stories can be twisted,” I say faintly.

Karli snorts. “Yeah, but not that much. God, can you imagine that we might have to see him again? He’s even more of a snake than we thought.”

“Apparently Ben was the one who actually built the business. He says so, at the end.”

I scan the final lines. The reporter asks if it’s fair to say that Ben had been the brains behind the operation. Simmons looks down, a faint smile on his face. “Cole was my best friend, once,” he says. “But no, he was never the smartest of men. He had the trust fund and I had the ideas. It was a good combo until it wasn’t.”

Anger and fear chase each other inside me, running in aggravated circles. Cole is one of the smartest men I’ve ever met-so Ben’s wrong on that account. But is he wrong regarding the rest?