A Billionaire Affair Read online

  But it wasn’t until that moment, as Alek looked down at her with hunger in his eyes, that she felt beautiful. Her nipples hardened against the dress as she fought so hard to continue fighting the tension that swelled between them, sometimes under the pretense of anger. But it was pure attraction. Heat. Desire. Want.

  It pulsed with a life all its own whenever they were near each other.

  In that moment, Alessandra couldn’t think of one reason to fight it any longer.

  “Alek,” she breathed, reaching up to grip the lapels of his tuxedo in her greedy little hands as she stepped closer to him.

  His grasp on her arms tightened as he lowered his head to hers.

  Yes. Let me see if your mouth feels as soft as it looks, Alek.

  Rapid footsteps echoed and they jumped apart just before Cindy came across the stage to reach them.

  The moment was gone.

  Their regret was palpable.

  * * *

  “Okay, if you both can move center stage,” Cindy said as a waiter approached with a tray with two flutes of champagne. “As soon as this last song stops playing, Mr. Brent will come up onstage, introduce you both, and the curtains will open.”

  Alek barely heard the woman as he accepted the flute and moved to the spot she indicated. He glanced back at Alessandra as she did the same and was as mesmerized by the sight of her in that dress as he was when she first turned around to face him. He took a sip of the champagne to steady himself.

  “Okay, good luck,” Cindy said, before disappearing and leaving them alone again.

  Alessandra came to stand beside him, glancing up at him.

  Their eyes locked.

  There it was again. That shift in the space-time continuum. Everything seemed to go still around them as they were in tune with each other.

  Alek turned to face her. His heart pounded with such force. Little Alessandra the shy girl had grown into a woman who had the power to weaken his knees with a touch. His eyes searched hers, and the desire he felt for her was mirrored. “Alessandra,” he said, low in his throat, as he dropped his head to hers again.

  She brought her free hand up to stroke his beard as she raised up on her toes to meet his mouth with her own.

  Alek’s entire body felt alive with awareness as they kissed. Her mouth was just as sweet and soft as he imagined. His face tingled where she stroked his cheek. With a moan in the back of his throat, he slowly deepened the kiss and brought his free hand up to her back to press her body forward against his.

  He felt her tremble from his touch. It made him heady. He sucked the tip of her tongue, and her moan of pleasure pushed him over the edge. He lowered his hand to grip one fleshy cheek of her buttocks.

  He had never felt so alive.

  “Good evening, ADG family!” Aldrich Brent roared into the microphone.

  Alek placed soft kisses around her gaping mouth, leaning down to kiss and tease her neck, caring nothing about the acrid taste of her sultry perfume.

  “Oh, Alek,” she sighed, tilting her head back in abandon. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  “I know Frances and Kwame are here in spirit celebrating this momentous occasion. It was clearly their wish for their children to run this business together just as they did starting thirty years ago this week,” Aldrich continued, his voice echoing around them.

  Alek offered her his tongue.

  She looked up at him as she sucked it.

  Never had he wanted to be inside a woman so badly.

  “Without further delay it is time to introduce the leaders of the Ansah Dalmount Group as they lead our corporation into an even brighter and more successful future with the same vision, drive and ambition passed on to them by their respective fathers,” Aldrich said. “Rise and let us welcome the owners and chief executive officers of the Ansah Dalmount Group... Alessandra Dalmount and Alek Ansah!”

  Someone cleared their throat. And then cleared it again. And again.

  Alessandra and Alek were lost in each other.

  “The curtain!”

  They broke apart at the shriek, finding Cindy standing in the wings waving at them frantically as the curtain quickly opened from the left of the stage.

  Alek and Alessandra shared a look as the energy they created dissipated like a mist.

  “Wipe your mouth,” she told him as she straightened her dress.

  He did so with his thumb, feeling the sticky gloss on his lips.

  The curtain swept past them and they both stepped forward with a smile, their champagne-filled flutes raised high in the air as the thunderous applause surrounded them.

  * * *

  From her spot at the front of the applauding crowd, LuLu Ansah squinted her eyes as she spotted the hint of sheer pink gloss on the corner of her son’s mouth and cheek as he finished giving a speech promising a bright future for ADG. She shifted her attention to Alessandra standing a respectful distance from him and looking on with poise and respect.

  But her hair was slightly disheveled and her mouth was free of any lipstick or gloss.

  Well, well...

  That amused her, and she couldn’t help but smile as she rushed forward to wrap her arms around them both and pulled their heads in close as she hugged them. “Alessandra, your gloss is missing, sweet one, and somehow, it’s on my son’s mouth,” she teased for their ears alone with a chuckle.

  Alessandra stiffened. LuLu warmly rubbed her shoulder like only a mother could.

  Alek immediately turned and removed his black linen handkerchief to wipe his mouth. LuLu chuckled again.

  She stepped back from them and allowed their dates, family, colleagues and employees swell forward to congratulate them. Alek and Alessandra? She wasn’t surprised. She’d seen it coming a mile away. Their level of animosity for each other was unnatural, and the root cause for that level of annoyance was always passion denied.

  She knew quite a bit about that.

  LuLu stopped a waiter for a new flute of champagne from his tray. “Thank you so much,” she said with a bow of her head, before she continued out of the dining room and onto the wood terrace surrounding the entire building. She inhaled deeply of the fresh air before taking a deep sip of her drink, leaving her bright red lipstick on the rim as she did.

  “You have never looked more beautiful, LuLu.”

  Roje.

  Surprise and pleasure filled her.

  She turned. “Same to you,” she said, taking in the navy suit he wore with a matching open button-up beneath it.

  “LuLu—”

  She smiled sadly and shook her head. “Roje, I can’t,” she said softly. “That one night helped me heal. Even a year after Kwame’s death I was so lost. What we shared helped me forget for a little while, but I can’t. And you know that. So, please, Roje. Please.”

  His eyes were filled with his regret, but he nodded.

  She walked past him, but he stepped in her path. “That night I left a piece of my heart with you that I will never get back, LuLu,” he said. “I just want you to know that.”

  For a moment, they went back in time to that long passionate night they shared in his bed.

  LuLu pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. “So did I, Roje,” she admitted in a whisper, before moving past him and walking away with regrets.

  Chapter 6

  Alessandra could not sleep.

  Memories of the passion she shared with Alek haunted her. Passion that had been stoked for weeks. Passion that may very well be hard to douse. It felt like dropping a lit match to a trail of gasoline and then trying to avoid the explosion that was to follow.

  What happens now?

  For the rest of the night they watched each other from across the room, unable to deny the intense attraction.

  What now?

  She flung back the sheets and rose from the king
-size bed to cross the spacious suite and step out the wood-trimmed doors lining the room to her balcony. A warm summer breeze blew against the black lace nightgown she wore. She looked out at the moon reflected against the mountain lake. Not even the picturesque view could calm her raging emotions. At first there was pleasure that Alek couldn’t seem to resist her any more than she was able to deny her attraction to him. And then there was remorse for so desperately wanting a man who didn’t respect her presence in the business world simply because she was a woman.

  As she remembered their fiery kiss, she touched her lips with a trembling hand. “What’s wrong with me?” she said out loud, truly puzzled.

  “The same thing that’s wrong with me.”

  Alessandra was startled. She looked over to find Alek on the balcony directly to her left. She hadn’t known his suite was next to hers, but it made sense they would be given the best accommodations at the resort. Her eyes took in the sight of him in nothing but navy silk pajama bottoms that hung low on his narrow hips and clung to the lengthy curve of him as he came to the end of his balcony nearly connecting with hers.

  His eyes, those dark, intense eyes, were locked on her as he began to climb over the very short divide between their balconies.

  “Alek,” she said, her heart pounding and pulse racing as she backed away as if the distance would ease her desire for him.

  He shook his head as if to say “Hell, no,” as he strode over to pull her into his arms and without a bit of hesitation captured her mouth with his own.

  She pressed her hands against the smooth brown skin of his chest and shoulder, but her resistance was weak and soon she kissed him back as she eased her hands up to press to the back of his head. His body, the strength and the heat, felt so good against her softness. His chest to her breasts. The length of his hardness against her belly.

  He used his strength to pick her up into his arms.

  Alessandra stroked his arms, loving the feel of his muscles flexing. Her core warmed more and she moaned as the pulsing bud snuggled inside her lips ached for release.

  He walked them into the coolness of her suite and pressed their bodies to one of the large club chairs before the balcony doors, with no patience to reach the bed as they gave in to their craving for each other. Alek shifted her body to one side to caress and stroke her thighs as he pressed his face to her neck, feeling her racing pulse against his lips.

  Alessandra was no innocent—she had experienced passion before—but nothing prepared her for the chemistry she created with Alek. Nothing. She arched her back up off the chair, gasping for breath and seeking relief from her body feeling so electrified. “Alek,” she sighed, spreading her legs wide and lifting one over his hip when he hitched the hem of her delicate nightgown up to her thighs.

  He looked down into her face framed by the moonlight as he palmed her core, his fingertips resting in the soft divide of her buttocks, as he massaged her deeply, pressing the fleshy part of his palm against her moist clit. “Feels good?” he asked her, his voice thick with his yearning.

  “Yes,” she admitted in a heated rush, pressing one foot against the arm of the chair to rotate her hips against his hand.

  She lifted her head from the back of the chair to lick hotly at his mouth before she bit his bottom lip.

  He grunted in pleasure.

  Alessandra smiled a little as she ran her tongue inside the softness of his mouth before he tangled his own with hers. She reached for his hardness, caressing him from midway to the smooth tip as he lowered his head to suck deeply at her hard nipple through the Venetian lace. Down she stroked and then up, using the side of her thumb to softly stroke the tip.

  He swore, freeing himself from her grasp just long enough to snatch off his pajama bottoms and then stand before her.

  Alessandra grabbed him with both hands as she looked up at him. “It’s so big,” she whispered up to him in awe, before she leaned in to lick the tip.

  His legs stiffened and he cried out as he flung his head back.

  Knock-knock.

  She froze, looking back over her shoulder at the door to her suite.

  “It’s Hill. Are you awake, Alessandra?” her date called through the closed door before knocking again.

  “Damn,” Alek swore in frustration, his long and curving length bobbing a bit as she released it. “This fool.”

  Alessandra shook her head as if to clear it as she rose to press past Alek’s nude frame. “Just go, Alek,” she pleaded in a whisper, her eyes dropping to take in the sight of his rock-hard body with his erection hanging from his body with a curve that looked dangerous.

  Did I really lick it?

  She thought of Alek’s cry of pleasure.

  Yes, I did, and I liked it.

  “Am I interrupting something?” he asked, his voice hard and accusing.

  “No,” she emphasized. “I don’t even know what he wants.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he insisted, massaging the length of his erection with one hand as he reached for her with the other. “Ignore him.”

  “No,” she insisted, moving quickly even as her body reacted to him. “You just have to realize how inappropriate this all looks. Remember, Millicent?”

  His face said that he hadn’t. “She’s in her own room and I have no intention of seeing her until morning.”

  “Alek! A tryst with me tonight and breakfast with your date in the morning? What the hell kind of woman do you think I am?” Alessandra snapped angrily, bending down to scoop up his discarded pajama bottoms before pushing against his chest until he backed out onto the balcony. She flung them into his face. “Just go away, Alek. Good night.”

  She slammed the balcony door and locked it.

  Relief flooded her when he casually draped the pajamas over one broad shoulder and strolled away to climb back over to his own balcony.

  * * *

  Alek rushed across his spacious suite, stubbing his toe against an antique coffee table. He hollered as he reached the door, pausing just long enough to pull on his pajamas before he eased the door open and looked down the long hall.

  Hill, dressed in his pants and shirt, was still at Alessandra’s door knocking with a bottle of brown liquor and two snifters in his free hand. A nightcap? Yeah, right.

  Alek’s frown changed into a big and broad smile; he leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. “Everything okay?” he called.

  Hill turned and smiled. “Yes, everything is fine,” he said, turning back to the door.

  Alek remained.

  Hill glanced back at him. “Everything okay with you, Alek?” he asked, his annoyance with him clear.

  He shrugged. “Your knocking kinda woke me,” he said with a little wince. “I’m pretty sure if I hear it way down here she has to hear from right there. Right, kid?”

  Hill forced a smile, giving Alessandra’s door one last glance before he walked away.

  Alek was gleeful. When the other man reached him he quickly reached out to grab one of the snifters. “Nightcap? I surely could use one,” he hinted, holding the glass out.

  Hill released a heavy breath as he opened the small round decanter to fill Alek’s snifter.

  “Thanks. Good night, Hill,” Alek said with way too much glee.

  Hill gave him a stiff nod before continuing down the hall to the elevator, eventually climbing on it and disappearing behind the closed doors.

  Alek drank all the brandy in one gulp and entered his suite with a chuckle.

  * * *

  “Everything okay, Alessandra?”

  She looked at Roje’s concerned expression in the rearview mirror of the Jaguar MK VII sedan. She smiled at him reassuringly. “It is now that I’m home,” she said, turning to look out the window at the large bronze sign welcoming them to Passion Grove, New Jersey.

  The po
pulation of the town, home of many wealthy young millennials, was under two thousand with fewer than three hundred homes, each on an average of five or more acres. Its name was derived from the township being centered on a heart-shaped lake that the residents lounged around in the summer and skated on in the winter.

  There were no apartment buildings or office buildings. Not even public transportation through the town. The township had tight restrictions on commercial activity to maintain the small-town feel. Each of the tree-lined, brick-paved streets was named after a flower. Care was given to its beautification, with large pots on each street corner filled with plants or colorful perennial florae.

  Alessandra had grown up there and couldn’t imagine moving. Now that the majority of her life was sucked into the fast pace of Manhattan, Passion Grove had truly become her respite.

  As Roje drove her through the downtown area, she smiled at its comparison to Manhattan and other metropolitan cities. Most of the businesses were in small converted homes that were relics from its incorporation in the early 1900s. The police station, a gourmet grocery store that delivered, a few high-end boutiques, a dog groomer, and a concierge service that supplied luxuries not available in town.

  The streets lacked the constant movement of people, and traffic was minimal at best. No highways or traffic lights. The stop sign sufficed.

  A few neighbors enjoying coffee and pastries on the sidewalk outside the bakery waved at her as they passed. In the city people waved, too, but usually their hand displayed only one finger at the time.

  Passion Grove was home, and when she awakened that morning with memories of her lack of inhibitions with Alek, she had wanted nothing more than to be back in a place where she felt the most like herself. The most comfortable. The most familiar.

  When she asked Alek to leave it had nothing to do with Hill’s ridiculous appearance at her door. She used that intrusion to gain some clarity and give herself the distance needed from Alek...and his touch, his kisses and his hardness.

  Hill’s late-night intentions at her door were clear but she spared him a tongue-lashing and just ignored his knocks because she was thankful for his intrusion. He had unknowingly saved her from losing every last bit of her sense and control by having sex with her nemesis. She poured herself a stiff shot of some brown liquor from her bar in the suite and went back to bed, trying hard not to wish Alek was there with her. And in her. Deeply.