Billionaire BWWM Romance 1: The Billionaire's Arranged Marriage (16 page)

Jillian could not hold the back the tears. She wept and he put both of his hands on her cheeks and pulled her face close to his, looking into her eyes awash with tears.

“I have to admit this to you, Jillian, I have to tell you the truth. I can’t hold it back from you any longer. My feelings for you are so strong. You’re all I think about, you are all I want. I can’t keep you off of my mind… out of my dreams… and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, but you have stolen my heart.

“I stand back and watch my brother hurt you time and time again, and he has, by screwing other women behind your back and lying to you, by working with your mother to buy off your ex-fiancé and force you into a marriage for business, but my love, I can no longer stand back and watch him do this. I just can’t stand to see you hurt and used like they are using you. You don’t deserve it. You deserve love. Real love. You deserve my love. You deserve someone who will always be there for you, to hold you and love you.”

Jillian’s emotions were  raging. How had Reed managed to trick her so fully? How had she ever believed that he was developing feelings for her? She had given herself to him! She had let him be the first and only man to make love with her. She had believed that he wanted to be with her because he was beginning to love who she was, not because he was in it for the money! He had lied to her again! She was blown apart.

As she wept, Anderson’s words found their way through to her and she looked up at him in surprise. He didn’t speak again, instead, he leaned toward her and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her softly. He was tentative at first, careful, kissing her gently, and at first she didn’t respond, but then he began to press his mouth to hers more fervently, and in all her anguish, she let him, and as his mouth opened hers and his tongue touched hers, she kissed him back. He pulled her tight against him.

His kiss deepened and his hands moved from her face to the back of her neck and her shoulder. She felt confusion, pain and sadness crashing through her like a torrent and his kiss seemed like some kind of strange anchor holding her in place in the middle of all of it.

Anderson kissed her lips and tasted her tongue, and then his mouth traveled over her cheek to her ear. “I want you, Jillian, I want you to be my wife. I’ve asked you before and I’m going to ask you again. You should be with me always. You would be loved. You would never need for anything. I can give you the world, my dear, I can give you everything.

“Both our parents would be pleased and you would have everything your heart could want. You’ll fall in love with me in no time. You’ll see. I can love you like no one ever has, and it won’t ever go away.” He whispered against her ear and her neck as he left little kisses on her skin.

His  mouth found hers again, kissing her deeply as he carefully laid her back into the pillows and moved himself above her. She looked up at him in surprise and worry and he kissed her slowly and gently as he whispered to her, sliding his hands along her arms.

“Let me love you, my girl, let me take all the pain away. I can make it disappear in just a few minutes, and with every kiss I will drive it away. Let me take all your pain and sorrow away, beautiful girl, let me give you love, let me show you how strong it will be between us.” 

She was still crying from the news he had told her about Reed. He kissed her tears away and warmed her with his embrace, his arms close around her and his lips covering hers as his kisses grew hungrier. He opened her mouth with his and tasted her, and at first, she kissed him back, his tongue tracing hers, but then she stopped.

“I can’t… I’m not sure what I want to do,” she replied sadly.

He kissed her again. “I can help you. Let me take away your pain. Let me love you.” His mouth was warm and wet on hers, insistent and demanding as his tongue explored hers and after a few long moments, she kissed him back. His mouth tasted like her salt tears and he was tender and careful with her. His erection pressed against her made it clear that he wanted her and that he wanted her to want him. She felt like everything in her was clouded and confused, found and lost all at once.

His hand moved to her blouse and he began to unbutton it, fingers moving swiftly over the buttons and uncovering her flesh. His mouth trailed down her neck to the generous curve of her breasts and his hand cupped one of her breasts. He moaned in need as he gently pushed her legs apart with his and pressed his solid erection against her body, rubbing it back and forth over her thin skirt. She gasped at the hard feel of him on her and her body warmed slightly.

Moving his hand from her breast to her knee, he slid his fingers up underneath the material of her dress and along her skin until she reached down and stopped his hand just as he reached the middle of her thigh. He pressed his erection firmly against her again, rubbing the hardness of his desire against her body and kissing her mouth to stoke the flames of need within her. She kissed him in return, but she felt uncertain about what they were doing.

He tried to move his hand further up her thigh and she held him fast where he was. “What is it, my girl?” he whispered, looking down at her through eyes drunk with desire.

The problem was that what he was doing did not give her the same fire and need that Reed’s hands and body and lips had given her. Anderson did not make her breathless and make her heart pound. Her body was warm, but it was nothing compared to what she had discovered in Reed’s arms, and she knew that Reed’s touch was what she really wanted.

“I’m not ready for this with you,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

He pulled his hand from beneath her skirt and gently touched her cheek. “It’s because you hurt,” he said softly. “It’s because you are confused and in pain. Let me help you, let me show you love. Let me make it better for you.” He lowered his mouth to hers and moved his hand slowly from her cheek to her breast as his tongue twisted with hers in a determined kiss.

His fingers slid beneath her blouse and her bra and he felt her warm full breast with his hand, rubbing his fingers over her hard nipple and pressing his erection against her body again, rubbing it slowly on her, in an attempt to arouse and stimulate her. His mouth left hers and moved to her nipple, his tongue tracing it and moving strongly over it before he sucked it into his mouth and nibbled at it.

She let him for a moment, wondering if he could make the cold darkness in her disappear, but his amorous touches and kisses could not warm her and she knew it should not continue.

“No, Anderson. I’m really not ready. You might be right, and maybe someday I might be able to feel for you what you feel for me, but this is not that day,” she said with sadness.

He paused in his kissing and looked at her. She saw a wall go up between his hunger for her and his face and he suddenly looked very business-like. He sat up and buttoned her blouse back up and then pulled her up into a sitting position and held her face, looking into her eyes.

“I’ll wait for you to love me. I don’t mind waiting at all. I’m going to keep trying; I can’t let you go, though, so let’s not give up on each other. Marry me. Say that you’ll marry me, and then you and I will find a way to love each other over time. I will wait for you. Just say that you’ll marry me now.

“Let me take you away from your mother and give you a new home at least. We’ll work toward the love. I’ll wait until you are ready. I’ll give you anything you need, however you need it,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes.

“I need a friend. I need an honest, good, loyal, loving friend,” she said, her heart hopeful that she might have found one.

“I can do that,” he replied,  kissing her mouth, then looking at her with a smile. “I can be the best friend you ever had. And you should marry your best friend.” He laughed a little and she laughed lightly with him.

She smiled finally and looked back at him. “I’ll take it into serious consideration. Honestly, you are probably the best option I have right now for marriage.” She laughed a little, but not much.

“I hope so. I’ll be waiting.” Then he kissed her again, long and slow, and she kissed him back. He stood up and held out his hand. “Would you like to come with me today and spend some time with me?”

She took his hand and stood up. “Actually, I really need some time alone today. Could you let me have a little time please?”

Anderson stood up and pulled her into a close embrace. “Of course. I will always give you anything you need.” He smiled at her and let her go. “I’ll see you soon. Please call me if you need anything at all, even if it is just to talk. Okay?” He widened his eyes at her to make his point.

“I will,” she said with a smile back and then she closed the screen behind him and tried to still the chaos in her mind. She was meditating alone for no more than an hour when there was another knock on the door. She opened her eyes and sighed, then rose to open the screen and was shocked to see Wilson standing there.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in amazement.

He placed his hands on the frame of the screen door and looked at her desperately. “I need to talk with you! Please, just listen to me for a few minutes, that’s all I ask!” he begged.

She scowled at him. “I told you I didn’t want to hear from you ever again! I meant it!” She moved to close the door and he stopped her, holding it open with his hands and one of his feet.

“Please, Jillian, I have to talk with you. Just listen to me for a minute!” he almost pushed his way in and she finally stepped back and let him come into the dojo. He let go a deep breath and looked at her with wide, anxious eyes.

“I would never, ever do anything to hurt you. You have to know that. Your mother called me the morning we broke up and she used your phone when she did it, so at first I thought it was you, but then she started talking and she told me that you had this great opportunity to be with that guy, Reed.

“She said you were going to marry him, that you wanted to be with him and that I was being selfish and holding you back. She said she would give me a hundred grand if I just broke up with you that day and told you that I found someone else so that you wouldn’t try to get me back.”

He took a few steps closer to her. “Jillian, she said I didn’t have anything to offer you, you know, that I come from the wrong side of the tracks and that you would have no future with me. I thought she was right, because… well, I don’t really have anything to give you except my love.”

Jillian felt nothing but anger rising in her. “Wilson, you had me. We had a future together, or so I thought, and I knew you didn’t have much, but that never bothered me. I thought you loved me and that was enough for me!”

He reached for her, his dark hand closing around her arm. “I do love you! That’s why I’m here! Don’t you see? I just can’t live without you. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you! I told your mother she could keep the money and I will give every cent of it back to her. I was so miserable after I did that… after I made that mistake. I’m so sorry, baby.”

She yanked her arm from his grasp. “You don’t love me, Wilson. If you did, you never would have taken the money. You would have kept me no matter what. You wouldn’t have lied to me, you wouldn’t have hurt me, and you wouldn’t have let me go right into the arms of another man. You knew that’s where I was headed and you practically pushed me there.

“Don’t you dare say you loved me. That money was worth more to you than our love. I hope you enjoy spending it, because it’s the price of our love and our future. Now, I don’t know how you got into this house, but I want you out. Now.” She fumed at him.

He wouldn’t budge. “I’m not leaving until you give me a chance, Jillian. I’m here, I love you, and I want you back. Please, for the sake of what we had, please give me a chance. I want you to remember all that we had,” he said, reaching for her again and pulling her into his arms.

He planted his lips on hers and kissed her hard for a long moment, and in that moment, all the pain that she had felt when he told her he had found another love turned to anger, and the anger seemed to catch fire. She felt it begin to burn through her and as it did, the pain vanished. She shoved him away from her and he looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Jillian!” he called out desperately.

“You said you wanted another woman; that you loved someone else. Well now, you have the freedom to go make that lie a truth. Get out of here and don’t ever come back. I never want to see you again.” Her voice was almost cold and her eyes steely as she looked at him. He stared back at her, speechless, and she walked to the screen and opened it, looking at him meaningfully.