His Dirty Bargain (Dirty Billionaires 3)

“Sounds like your mom was miserable and didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Her head tilts. “Things were hard for her, for a long time. Three weeks after my father left we were in a shelter. It was supposed to be for a night, but we were there for three months.

“My mom never had a job before, she was the daughter of a rich man. She went through a dozen different jobs until she could keep one in a coffee shop. We were good for almost two whole years until she met a guy. I never liked him. My mom and he thought I was jealous of them. Almost a year goes by, and she marries him and we move in with him. Within a week he was slapping both of us around. She didn’t tell me until much later he raped her the night they were married. It was hell for the next three years until the night he tried to touch me. It shook her out of her stupor; she grabbed me and her purse and we ran. She took his car and we slept in it for a few nights. Later she went back and got some of our things and some money he had in the house.” Chloe puts down her burger, she appears to have lost her appetite.

“Within a week we were back in the shelter, this time for almost a year. Then my aunt died, my mom’s younger sister. When we went to the funeral my grandmother saw us. Nonna was supposed to be dead. That was the story from my grandfather, but really my grandfather was emotionally abusive and forced his wife to endure eight miscarriages in his desire for a boy before she fled the hospital after she had my aunt rather than go home to him.

“We were on a plane and heading to Milan before I understood what was happening.” She shrugs. “Mom was trying to help me be better. If I was fat, then I would have fewer options because the world doesn’t like fat people.”

Damn, I understand her resentment, her introductions to men were awful. “You get it’s bullshit, though? You’re a beautiful woman.”

She blushes. “Yes, I gave up on the single digit dress size a while ago. I don’t care if the world doesn’t like fat people; I like me, and that’s all that matters. This is who I am, take it or leave it.” Her eyes roll. “Eat your food. Aren’t you hungry?”

I nod. “Starving, but not for food.”

“Enzo.” She sighs. The sigh is a warning. For the first time it’s sad, not exasperated.

I don’t want to hear what she’s going to say; she doesn’t want me to hear it either, or she’d look me in the eye. I’ve played fair so far, as fair as I’m willing to anyway. I’m done. I grab her wrist and yank her into my lap, and she melts into me with a breathy little moan. Fuck, no one, nothing has ever felt as amazing as Chloe against me.

Swallowing her sigh, I feast on her mouth. Damn, this afternoon went too quick, not nearly enough of her and what she does to me. As far as I’m concerned, I deserve a medal for not taking her against the piano the way we both wanted. Ah, hell, her pussy is dripping for me; the scent is fucking with my head, teasing my cock. Shit, these leggings are a pain in the ass.

No, I’m too old to make out on the couch. Picking Chloe up, I make it to her bedroom in seconds. Carefully, I lay her down on the bed. I come back with her leggings and panties. God damn, my cock jumps at the sight of her, her long silky hair spread out beneath her, those eyes quicksilver bright, that bottom plump lip being ripped to shreds by her teeth. Haltingly, she opens her legs to me. It means more than any practiced movement ever could. I’m not proud of the way I fall on her, desperate to taste her.

Sweet, fuck, the taste of her hits my senses like an explosion rocking me to my very foundation. All the practice, all the skills I took pride in are gone; only this moment matters, only the taste of Chloe, the need to learn her, to please her matters. Deeper and deeper I delve into her. Drunk, I could get drunk off the taste of her. I swear to god I have never seen such a pretty pussy in my life, pink like cotton candy and just as sweet. Her whimpers urge me on, fuel my hunger for her. I slide a finger into her, damn, she’s tighter than I thought she would be, even as wet as she is. She whispers my name, oh no, that’s not nearly enough. I add another finger as I suck deep on her outer lips as my tongue teases her swollen clit. God, fuck, her pussy clenches around my fingers even as her hips rock up in demand. Greedy little girl, I like that.

Slick, so damn slick, her pussy is running like a river yet my fingers are caught tight inside her. Time to make her lose control. I tease her clit stronger and stronger as I fuck her deeper with my fingers, even though my cock is jealous it’s not inside her. Ah, yes, Chloe is sobbing, begging for her climax. Not just yet. I nip at her clit with my teeth, sending her screaming, then move my fingers to that perfect spot. She screams my name; now she can come. I suck her clit deep and hard as I swirl on that spot and taste her come all over my tongue. Shit, did I come?

Lungs quivering, desperate for air, I give my head a moment to clear. Thank god I didn’t come. But I need to, now. I yank my shirt off, wiping my face. Grinning like an idiot at how wet my face is from Chloe’s sweet pussy.

Chloe shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I—you...we aren’t the same, we don’t want the same things. I want to be alone. I don’t want to be with anyone. I’m not okay with a one-night stand, which is all we could ever be.”

The words come out of her clear, concise, yet it’s there in her eyes: a longing she can’t hide. “What did he do? What did he make you do?”

Those beautiful eyes turn dark as storm clouds. She blinks and there are tears; another blink and they are gone. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Yeah, you do. I need to know what the hell I’m fighting.”

“This isn’t—”

“Did he hurt you? Rape you?” My gut churns at the idea of her hurt.

“No, it wasn’t that. I just—” Shaking her head. “I had an abortion, okay? I was eighteen, only a few months out of school. I was young and dumb. Even though he used a condom.” She shrugs as if lost for words. Then closes her eyes. “The bastard wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence. It was exactly what my mother and grandmother had been telling me for years: men get what they want, then when they don’t want you anymore, once they’ve gotten everything they can take from you, they leave. There was no way I could go to either one of them; I couldn’t have taken the I-told-you-so’s. I had no one to take me to the clinic, no one to tell me I was doing the right thing even when I knew it was for me. All because I didn’t listen to my mother and Nonna when they told me over and over.”

Relief pours through me until I take in everything she said. The abortion doesn’t bother me; the idea of her going through it alone does. I tug her close, and she struggles but I don’t give up. Finally, with a deep sigh she sags into me. Fuck, her body against mine is heaven. “That’s bullshit. You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone. I’m sorry you did.” Frustration fills me

; I don’t know what the hell to say.

“I’m not sorry. As much as I tried not to believe everything my mother and Nonna said, he showed me in one painful move I was wrong not to listen to them. After that, I made sure I was never in a position where I wasn’t a hundred percent in control.”

Shit. “So from then on you were the one who walked away.”

When she pulls away, I let her. Her nod is sullen. “Only when it was clear I had to. Once it got to be too much, it was a constant barrage of resentment and belittling comments about my looks, how I dared to put my career before them, that I dared to put myself before them. The last time I swore I was done. In the last five years since I made that decision, I have loved my life. I like the way things are, and I don’t want them to change. I want to live my life alone. Except,” Her cheeks go pink. “Before this year is out...I have plans to be a mom, a single mom.”

I’m waiting for her to start laughing. It has to be a joke, only she’s not laughing. “What the hell are you talking about? How exactly are you making plans to be a single mother?”

“I’m looking into in vitro fertilization. I found a profile from a sperm bank. The cost is high, but I’ll have the two flat paid off in a few months and my renters downstairs are moving out in November.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?”