The Billionaires’ Prize (The Heiress Merger #2)

7. Gabe

7

GABE

I open my messages and glance at the text I’ve been waiting for.

Wallace: According to the investigator, the designer has cancer and is in hospice care. He says she went downhill fast. That doesn’t explain the pictures and messages you’ve received, so we’ll keep digging.

I blow out a sigh. That’s awful.

“Everything okay?” Katherine asks, sincerity ringing in her voice.

It seems like the most natural thing in the world to hand her my phone. She scans the message and her eyes go wide, fingertips whispering over her lips. “That’s awful.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“They’re sure?” she asks, scanning the message again before looking up at me. “If she’s that bad off, she couldn’t have sent you pictures, right? Do you think she needed the money so badly she’d commit fraud?”

“I don’t know.” I take the phone from her and shake my head. “This wasn’t on my bingo card. I had all sorts of other theories, but nothing this dire.”

She shoots me a knowing smile. “Of course you did.”

“Now I just have to wait to hear back and try not to drive myself crazy with ‘what ifs.’”

Her nod of understanding settles me. I’m not totally off my rocker for being so bothered by this. Luckily, I’m not worried about the installments I’ve paid. It’s the delay. The letdown. Feeling like I was finally getting to a point where I could relax a bit and enjoy the results of my work and sacrifices.

I take a quick screenshot of Wallace’s text and forward it to Alex. I can already hear his hum of displeasure.

“It’s just. . .” I put my phone away, propping a hip on the back of the sofa, thinking back to when I first stepped foot in the house. “I wanted a place to get away, and I didn’t want to hand everything off to my assistant. I was going to be hands on and involved, pick out tile and all that stuff I’ve always been too busy to do. But you know how it is. Life gets busy. The occasional text kept me in the loop, and I thought it was coming together.”

She reaches over and covers my hand with hers.

“Feels silly,” I mumble. Being upset over a house. Some money. Especially given what my designer is going through. “Trivial. Frivolous.”

“You were excited to make a home. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Her soothing words and the earnest look in her eyes crack me wide open. For the first time since Friday night, I don’t feel the gaping disappointment and ensuing guilt over the state of the house and the fact that I had no idea what was and was not happening on my own property.

“That’s it exactly.”

“You’ll get it sorted out. The lawyer and investigator will do their thing, and then you’ll find a new designer. It won’t be the original timeline, but it’ll work out, and you’ll have the sanctuary you wanted.” She gives my hand a squeeze. “The best things are worth the wait.”

Boy, is she right.

My friendship with Alex. College. My company. Every milestone, achievement and experience. All the best things in my life were worth the wait.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so eager for the next steps. But then, I’ve always been driven, planning for the future. That energy pushes me to succeed. Maybe there were things I missed because I was pushing so hard?

Something to think about later.

I need to get up to my home office and check-in, but I can’t resist leaning over and lifting her chin.

“You’re right.”

“I know.” She smirks, but then her gaze drops to my lips, and she goes dreamy-eyed, relaxing against my touch.

“I’m starting to wonder if you’re always right.” I trace my thumb over her lower lip. “Are you always right, Princess?”

“Maybe.” The corner of her sultry mouth tugs up in an impish grin.

I bend down, hand braced behind her, and brush my lips across hers. The whisper of a kiss isn’t nearly enough. I immediately want more.

I sink my fingers into her hair and tug her head back. Her lips part with a sigh, and pleasure ricochets through me. I deepen the kiss, pouring all the emotions I’ve been feeling into it. My tongue traces the line of her lips, and I wonder if she can taste herself.

Her hands slide over my shoulders, down my chest, exploring, memorizing. When her cool fingertips slide beneath my shirt and trail across my skin, my gut tightens, and I lift my head.

She blinks up at me with so much lust in her eyes.

“Dazed is a good look on you.”

“Is it?”

“I’ll just have to keep you this way.”

“Oh?” Her hand skates up my side, accidentally tickling me, and I bite down on a laugh. “How do you plan on doing that?”

It’s an innocent question but full of promise. Suddenly, phone calls are the lowest priority on my to-do list.

I seal my lips to hers again, swallowing her moan. She strains toward me the same way my erection strains against my zipper. Needy. Unrelenting.

Fuck, she really is going to ruin me. If you had asked me what my downfall would be, I’d say my addiction to technology, making money, or the insatiable need to prove my father wrong.

I didn’t see Katherine coming.

I mean, I do now.

And I’m thrilled to no end.

The more she kisses me, the more my hesitancy melts away.

She tugs on my belt loop, and I fall over the back of the sectional, catching myself before I crush her. Fuck, oh fuck, does she feel good. Curvy and soft, those amazing tits tight against my chest as she wraps her arms around my neck. She spreads her thighs, welcoming me between them.

I thrust my cock against her heat, and she snatches her lips from mine, turning her face away, gasping.

“You feel amazing,” I breathe against her ear. She shudders as I nip her earlobe. “Tell me to go while I still have a drop of willpower.”

She shakes her head as she slides a foot up the back of my leg. Oh hell. She’s done it now. I reach back and hook my hand beneath her knee, pulling her thigh up over my hip and opening her to my thrusts.

I rock against her as I let my lips explore her neck. Her fingers rake through my hair, and she meets my hips with hers. There’s never been anything as amazing as feeling this woman losing herself to my touch. To feel all that ice melt beneath my hands.

It’ll never be enough.

I rear back and take off my shirt. Her hands fall to either side of her head, and my palms itch to hold them there while I fuck her. Use them to anchor myself as I drive into her over and over before finally giving her my cum.

Just the thought of it makes me lightheaded. I’ve never had sex without a condom. Even now, there’s a tiny warning blaring in the back of my mind. Danger. Danger.

But I ignore it because I want her to be my first. My hands fall to my pants, and I pop the button as she watches. She looks her fill, licking her lips. I groan and yank down the zipper.

“Tell me you want me.”

She holds my gaze. “I want you, Gabriel.”

Fuck, if that doesn’t make me tighten all over. I reach into my boxer briefs and pull out my aching cock. Her jaw drops, and those plump, freshly kissed lips part in a sexy little O that sends me spiraling back to last night.

I give my dick a hard pump, relishing the squeeze. She watches my hand like she’s studying for an exam. Like she’s learning exactly what I want and is making notes to practice.

Hell, yes, to all the practice.

I’m fucking feral for this girl, and I take several deep breaths to calm the need pulsing through my veins.

Standing, I toe out of my shoes and shove my pants and boxers down. Katherine lets out a breathy little sigh and squirms farther down on the sectional.

I take my time stripping her bare, kissing every inch I reveal. Her body’s even more incredible than I imagined in the light of day. . . let’s just say my cock is weeping. Her tits are amazing. Full and plump, with puffy pink discs and hard little nipples.

“Gabe—” My name is a delicious combination of whimper and whine.

“You want me to go faster?”

“Mmhmm.”

“But I’m enjoying myself, Princess.” I nip the outside of her hip, and she yelps. I grin up at her, letting her see my hunger. “You’re just so. . .” I press my palm against her belly and slide it north, between her breasts. “Edible.”

Her thighs clamp around me. “I should have known you were a tease.”

“Me?” I scoff, slipping my hand between her legs, tracing her slit with my middle finger. “Mmm. . . already so wet for me, Princess. What were you saying about teasing?”

I spread her lips and then drive my middle finger home. She clamps a hand over her mouth, pressing her head back into a cushion.

I growl and shake my head, having none of that.

“Don’t you dare stifle those pretty little moans. I earned them. I want to hear them.”

When she slowly removes her hand, her expression is full of wonder, like she can’t quite believe her ears.

I tease her clit with my thumb, watching her expression change from enchanted to needy in the blink of an eye.

“What are you thinking?”

She cups her breasts and flicks her nipples with her thumbnails. “You have nice hands.”

I hum. “Is that right?”

She nods, biting her lower lip. “I noticed them the first day I met you. You snagged an apple from the fruit basket.”

I thrust another finger home, priming her. “It was your lips,” I tell her. “The first thing I noticed.”

“Not my ass?”

I shake my head. “Not your ass, though it was amazing. You walked into the room and started introducing yourself, and I was hooked. You were wearing something glossy and peach-colored, and I stood there mesmerized. And fucking furious once my brain caught up with my body.”

“Are we ever going to talk about it?” she whispers.