Lauren (Silicon Valley Billionaires 1)

“This.” He notched the top of his cock into me, and I exhaled in release. “This.” He thrust into me deeper. “This.” He entered me to his hilt, his thickness filling me completely. My eyes rolled back in my head.

I clenched around him. “Oh yeah—that’s what I want.”

Then, he pulled out.

“Gabe!”

He kissed me deeply then pulled back. “You think you can do what you want just because you have that tight little body that drives me wild?” He ruthlessly sucked on my nipples and I bucked beneath him, wild for him to get back inside me. He palmed my pussy then circled my clit, finally rolling it between his fingers.

I cried out, arching against him in desperation, and he stopped.

“You’re mine. I’m the only one who can give this to you…” He lazily entered his cock into me again and rolled my nipple between his fingers, causing shockwaves of pleasure to course through me. Then, he pulled back out.

There was so much pent-up frustration in me, I could burst. “Please, Gabe.”

He put the tip of his cock back inside of me tantalizingly, promising so much more. Then, he withdrew again, leaving me bereft. “Promise me—and this time, you better mean it.”

I cursed him. “Promise you what?” I asked. It sounded as if I were begging, and I was. I would have promised him anything at that point, I would have traded anything just to have him take me.

He took my face in his hands and looked me in the eye, all pretenses of teasing gone. “Promise me you’ll never put yourself in harm’s way again. I can’t take it, Lauren.”

“I promise.” I meant it. I knew in that moment what I’d suspected all along: I would do anything for Gabe.

“Good girl.” He finally penetrated me and started driving deeply, filling me, making my vision blur around the edges. I moaned, relaxing against the bed even as I writhed beneath him. Finally. My body stretched to accommodate him as he buried himself in me.

“When you’re good, you get rewarded.” His voice was husky as his hips bucked against me and he worked his fingers over my breasts, my hips, and finally down between my legs again. He rose up and continued to fuck me as he fingered my swollen clit, pinching it and driving me wild.

The combination of sensations pushed me over the edge. I came apart beneath him, grinding myself against the base of his cock and his hand.

Just as he’d said I would, I screamed his name.

His orgasm chased mine, and he exploded into me. He cursed as a powerful spasm shook his body; he was still shaking after he stilled and pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his chest.

I closed my eyes and pressed myself tightly against him, never wanting to be anywhere else. He held me as we both drifted off toward sleep. “You see?” he asked after a while.

“What?” I mumbled.

“You like me. You should stop fighting me so we can do that a lot more often. Like every night. Like in an hour, after I let you rest for a while.”

“Okay,” I murmured, pressing my naked and finally sated body against his. I felt a smile on my face as I drifted off to sleep.

“Okay,” Gabe said. For the first time that day, he sounded as though he meant it.

Chapter 17

I realized three somewhat unfortunate things the next morning. The first was that for the first time in six years, I’d overslept. It was eight a.m., and I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. Having a personal life was seriously messing with my obsessive work habits.

The second thing was that I’d run out of road with Clive. He couldn’t be reasoned with, and he hadn’t been of any real use to me when I’d seen him. On top of that, he’d seemed afraid and possibly crazy. Possibly crazy meant possibly dangerous. He was too much of a loose cannon to leave out in the wild. It might be time to turn him in to the police, after all. Maybe that would offer him some protection or peace of mind, or at least put an end to his ill-fated pursuit of whatever it was he was chasing. Money. Power. Influence.

None of that seemed to be working out too well for him.

That third thing I realized? I’m in love with Gabe, and have been for some time.

Maybe it was hormones, I mused. I’d waited so long, maybe my pent-up hormones were finally going wild, making me feel some sort of romantic attachment to him that wasn’t real.

Except that it was real. I could feel it, the truth of it, as if it were a weight on me. It was as real as his warm body next to mine.

I rolled over, away from him, and regarded the ceiling. My FDA compliance protocol was almost complete. We still had major work to do in order to make that happen, but I knew my team was capable. Part of me wanted to ignore Clive and the ominous feeling he’d given me the day before, while continuing to race to get the patch to market. Part of me wanted to just take that risk, but I knew I couldn’t.