The Billionaire's Obsession

Jack

Ifind myself looking for excuses to prolong lunch. Even when I have to hear about how well Max is doing, at least Charlotte’s on my side. She shares compliments and backs me up all while rubbing my shoulder, holding my hand, or making it clear I have her full attention. It’s addictive. The third time she strokes my thigh, my cock gets hard. As Serena launches into another story about another vacation, I look over at Charlotte, ready to lavish her with attention.

I catch her looking past Max and Serena and out the window, daydreaming. So, I slide my hand over her knee and up her thigh, under the skirt of her dress. She jumps and blushes as she looks at me, then bites her lip and returns to the conversation with a light apology about being distracted.

“Charlotte, I do have a big question for you.” Serena changes the topic out of the blue.

Charlotte perks up, ready to listen. I try to stow away the fantasy of fingering her right here and now to avoid us getting into trouble. I keep rubbing her inner thigh, wanting to keep her attention.

“Why did you say yes to him? Or how did you know you wanted to say yes?” Serena asks, gently stroking the lip of her glass.

Charlotte looks me over slowly, then smiles. “It’ll seem silly.”

“Please, I’m curious.”

She sighs and bites her lip. “So, after we’d seen each other a bit, I got caught in a storm…”

I stare at her as she quickly describes last night. Instead of going into details, she glances at me. “The fact that Jack was willing to welcome me in and put my comfort before his just… No one had ever done that before and expected nothing in return. When he proposed, I barely let him get the question out before saying yes.”

Serena leans back in her chair slightly. I turn Charlotte’s chin to face me and kiss her gently. A real kiss, because she seemed pretty fucking honest.

“Let’s go out on the yacht.” Max invites suddenly. Obviously breaking the spell she has over me. “Tonight. We can all watch the sunset together and have some drinks.”

“I thought you’d be heading out after lunch?” I asked.

“It would be silly to waste the opportunity. We can spare a day with friends,” Max insists.

“As much as we appreciate the offer, Jack and I have plans of our own tonight, don’t we?” Charlotte licks her bottom lip as she meets my eyes.

I was so mesmerized I forgot to speak. Hell, I forgot to breathe. Then Charlotte elbows me. “Uh, yeah, we’re busy,” I finally manage to get out.

“Shame.” He sighs.

“Another time. I think we’re gonna head out now, if you’ll excuse us,” I say.

“One more round!” Serena tries.

Charlotte’s already standing, and I’m right next to her, eager to get the hell out of here. “Feel free to enjoy another round, or two. On me.”

“Very generous. You haven’t changed.” Max chuckles.

I follow Charlotte out of the restaurant. She exhales sharply. “Sorry about that. I don’t want to be in open water with them. Serena might push me off.”

Chuckling, I slide my arm around her waist. “Thank you.”

“I know you didn’t mean it, but I appreciate that you defended me.” She leans into my arm. “I’m sure they can still see us, so you better not get the wrong idea.”

Of course. She’s just pretending. I nod once and beat it into my own head. We’re not together, she’s been playing the part I basically begged her to play, just to save my worthless ego.

I savor the few minutes we share walking back to the condos, then pull her to a service hallway. She stares up at me with wide eyes. I swallow as I press her back to the wall. “You’re my fake fiancée until you take off that ring, right?”

She nods.

I slowly drag it off her finger, then put my hands on either side of her head, palms against the rough cement of the wall. Charlotte doesn’t run to escape, she doesn’t fight, doesn’t ask me what I’m doing as I lean forward.

“If you kiss me now, it’s not because you’re pretending,” I whisper.

Her eyes flick to my lips, then to my eyes. “So I’m doing the kissing now?”

“I don’t want to assume that I know how you feel anymore. Last night was either a mistake or it was real, and I need to know.”

Swallowing, she runs her hand over my chest and down my abdomen. “Last night was real for me, Jack.”

She presses her lips to mine softly. I kiss her harder, but she takes control. Her tongue explores as her fingers pull me closer. I give in, picking her up and pinning her between the wall and my body as we kiss each other.

Charlotte’s kisses are long and lazy, drawn out. It only makes me impatient to rile her up, get her naked under me again. I lick across her bottom lip and press my forehead to hers. She bites her lip and drops her legs from around me.

“You’ve got me acting like a teenager.” She giggles.

“I’m not going to apologize for it.” I kiss her again. “But I should probably take you on a real date before I ask you to come back to my place.”

“Weren’t you an asshole once?” she teases, shoving me.

“Hey, I took back my bitch comment,” I remind her.

“You can take me out this weekend. I know it’s a bit of a wait, but I have some things to take care of.”

I want to ask, but I want her to know I trust her, that I’m trying to trust her. So instead, I offer to walk her to her place. I stop at the door as she fumbles with her keys. She sets them to the side and meets my eyes.

“I know you’re curious. Go ahead.”

“I am, but it’s your choice to tell me,” I murmur.

“It’s all work engagements. I have two videos to edit, a photoshoot to set up, and of course, I need to plan for the future.”

Nodding, I pull her back to me so I can kiss her again and slide the ring back on her finger. “Let me know if you need anything.” I say with a wink.

“You promised the A/C wouldn’t break down on me again.” She points at me with her keys as she narrows her eyes.

“I mean if you need an outside perspective or a distraction from work.” I correct. “I like to think I’m more than just your landlord now.”

She looks me over and shrugs until I drag her against me and kiss her until she’s leaning forward for more. I want to lose myself in her. I could just join her inside and disrupt all her plans for the evening.

I smile and release her. “I’ll see you soon, Charlotte.”

“You’re hard to avoid.” She rolls her eyes.

“Good. The sooner I get more time with you, the better.”

She hesitates at her door, then meets my eyes, as if unsure if I’m being serious. I take her hand and lower my voice. “I mean it. You may annoy me, but apparently I like being annoyed.”

Charlotte laughs and nods. “At least that feeling’s mutual.”

“Have a good night,” I say, even though I don’t want to let go of her yet.

“You too.” She finally slipped her hand out of mine and went inside.

I head to my own condo with a smile on my face. I unlocked the door and let myself in only to find the fireplace on, candles lit, and Serena waiting for me. She has a catlike smile and approaches in heels and a robe.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come on.” She pouts, then closes the space between us, putting a tumbler of bourbon in my hand. “You practically invited me.”

“I didn’t.”

“And where’s your fiancée? Don’t you live together?”

“Serena,” I warn.

“Just admit it. You’re not actually with her. You only brought her along to make me jealous.” She giggles. “As if you’d want some twenty-nine-year-old influencer on your arm.”

“You don’t know anything about Charlotte. You don’t belong here. Leave.”

“Why should I? You’re hard and I’m ready.” She takes off her robe, revealing white lingerie. I look her over, then shake my head.

“Get out, Serena. I’m not going to ask you again.”

She snorts and picks her robe back up. Hamlet streaks past her and to my room. Serena shakes her head at me. “I can’t believe you’re telling me no. Especially when you so clearly want to.”

Serena’s gorgeous and confident, but this just feels sleazy and wrong. She’s engaged and yet she’s here, wearing next to nothing.

“That makes me think you don’t actually want me to leave.” She sits on the arm of my couch. “Clearly you don’t have plans with your date. Why don’t you and I have some fun instead?”

“You’re engaged.”

“And?” She shrugs. “Engaged isn’t married. Aren’t you engaged too?”

“I’m happy. I don’t need you to complicate things,” I insist. She leans toward me and reaches for my belt. I take a step back. I grab her wrist and walk her to the door. “I’m serious. Get out.”

“So you and your Tinder match can fuck?”

“Charlotte’s twice the woman you are.” I shove her against the door. “Get back on your dingy and get the hell out of my marina.”

“What happened to your Southern hospitality?” She pouts mockingly. “Or are you worried you won’t measure up to Max…again?”

I open the door to shove her out and find Charlotte there. She looks at Serena, how little she’s wearing, then at me. The expression on her face changes from excited to murderous.

Serena giggles and kisses my cheek. “Come back to bed, baby.”

“Get off me.” I shove her to the side as Charlotte shakes her head.

She turned around and furiously walked away, refusing to look back. Serena tries to drag me back into the condo, but I push her to the side.

“Charlotte!” I go after her. “Wait!”

She turns and glowers at me. Her lip is quivering slightly. I don’t know if she’ll slap me, shove me, or what. Instead, she shakes her head and ignores my touch.

“At least I know now before we had a chance to get serious.”

“Charlotte, nothing happened,” I beg her to listen, to believe me.

“Your ex is in your locked apartment and nothing happened? Is that because I interrupted you or you were still working up to it?”

“Neither! I was kicking her out.”

She refuses to meet my eyes, just stares at the floor nodding. Then she shrugs and turns again. I drag her back to me. “Talk to me.”

“I feel stupid, Jack. I can deal with an asshole. But I can’t deal with someone who lies to me, and I definitely can’t deal with someone who cheats.”

“I’m not lying or cheating!”

“And I’ve heard every excuse there is. If I listen to you, then I’m the fool. I won’t do that to myself.” She pulls out of my grasp. “I need to think.”

“Charlotte.”

“Alone!” she yells before taking the stairs back down to her place.

Serena stands in my doorway, grinning as she plays with the sash of her robe. “She seems like a lot of work for you, Jack. And I know how you don’t like to work for it. Why don’t you let me pamper you?”

“Go back to Max,” I order.

“You can just sit back, relax, and let me make you feel good, baby,” she continues anyway, reaching for me with greedy fingers. “Think of how much better you’ll feel after you come.”

I take the bourbon from her, take a sip, then turn to go into my condo. I stop short, meet Serena’s smiling face, then slam the door on her.