Breathless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #1)(22)

“He has?” She felt a kick in her pulse, as if he’d stepped on the accelerator. All afternoon, she’d been trying to figure out how to make her move. The problem was that she’d never made a move on anyone before, so she didn’t have the first clue how to do it. But now, thankfully, that problem might very well be solved for her.

Will and Jeremy both nodded. “We were thinking he could stay with Mrs. Taylor.” Will patted Jeremy’s shoulder. “And you’re excited about streaming any movie you like, aren’t you? Action. Comedy. Animated.”

“Will has everything.” Jeremy widened his arms to encompass the enormous expanse of Will’s streaming library. “And me and Mrs. Taylor can have pizza. Will says she makes the best one ever in his pizza oven.”

“As long as you don’t mind Jeremy having pizza and watching a movie,” Will added.

“Pizza’s fine,” Harper said with a smile she knew must be bordering on giddy. “And so is a movie. Or three.”

She didn’t care if Will had talked Jeremy into staying with Mrs. Taylor, or that he seemed to have it all mapped out as if she were an opponent whose every objection he had to overcome.

All she cared about was being alone with him tonight.

“So is that a yes?”

She was surprised to realize that the powerful billionaire standing in front of her actually seemed a little nervous as he waited for her answer. She had assumed she’d always be the nervous one, not he. And she’d certainly never thought that she could hold the power in a relationship with a man like him. But while she knew that might be a huge stretch, at the very least, it was lovely to be wanted. Beyond lovely, actually.

“Yes, I’d love to go out with you tonight, Will.”

For a moment, she thought he might kiss her right then and there in front of her brother. Instead, he simply stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and looked at her as if she were the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She knew that couldn’t possibly be true, but she didn’t care.

The three of them took the golf cart down the hill, both men still in their overalls. Once in the house, Will led them along a back hall past the kitchen, laundry room, and a bedroom, which she assumed was used by Mrs. Taylor.

“Make yourselves at home,” Will told them as he pushed through a swing door that led into the main house. “I won’t be long.” He disappeared up a wide staircase. It wasn’t a second floor, but another level sitting on the rise of the hill on which the house was built.

Harper took a few minutes to appreciate Will’s beautiful home. The open floor plan consisted of a dining area on one side of a long marble floor that ended at the double front doors, with a massive living room on the other side. Picture windows faced the driveway and rock garden, then flowed around into a huge wall of windows overlooking the infinity pool and a valley below it all. And what she’d thought was a putting green was actually a small golf course.

“Wow,” Jeremy said at her side.

The view was magnificent, but the living room itself took her breath away. Curved couches in black leather surrounded a sunken fire pit ringed in slate. A round, burnished metal flue hung over the center of the fire grates to draw up the smoke. On the wall beside the stairs, a long wet bar featured every kind of alcohol imaginable and every shape of glass, from tumblers to martini glasses to champagne flutes. A stocked wine refrigerator stood floor to ceiling.

With three different chair groupings, it was a room for entertaining. Double sliding glass doors opened to flagstone steps leading down to the pool deck. In the summer, with the doors wide, the party could flow easily from inside to outdoors.

She’d been thinking about wild sex with an incredibly hot guy. She’d thought she’d already come to terms with his wealth. But this was something more. Will was an incredibly hot super rich guy. Of course she already knew that he was a billionaire, but the fact kept hitting her over and over again.

Caviar worth thousands that he gave away to a friend.

A Maserati kit car he conjured up with a snap of his fingers.

A golf course in his backyard.

A fire pit in his sunken living room.

“He needs a Ping-Pong table,” Jeremy said matter-of-factly.

She slung her arm around his shoulders and laughed, glad that her brother could always pull her from her spinning thoughts. Thoughts about just how far out of her depth she was with Will. “He probably has a game room somewhere.”

Will’s voice carried across the immense room. “Indeed I do. And it’s right under here.” He tapped the floor with his foot.

His newly washed hair was so dark it gleamed with blue highlights in the late sun falling through the tall windows. He was delicious in black jeans and a dark blue shirt, its sleeves rolled up his forearms. So delicious that the sight of him sent another flush of heat rushing over her skin.

“There’s a pool table and some pinball machines down there as well,” he told Jeremy. “You can get to it from the pool patio. Or there’s a set of stairs from up here.” He pointed behind the first staircase leading to the second level. “The media room is down there, too.”

“A media room?” Harper echoed, even though at this point she shouldn’t be surprised by anything in this magnificent house.

“It’s got a projection TV. Like a small movie screen.”

“Cool,” Jeremy said, and then he kissed Harper on the cheek, yelled “’Bye!” and raced down the stairs to check it all out.

As soon as her brother was out of sight, Will moved close. He put his hand on Harper’s arm and skimmed his fingers down until he clasped her hand in his. His thumb stroked a slow rhythm against her skin.

“Feel like a drive to Pacifica for dinner? There’s a great place right on the ocean.”

God, yes. She’d go anywhere with him tonight. Absolutely anywhere.

Smiling up at him, she let her inner vixen shine through. “Sounds good, especially if you can get us there fast.”

As the word fast registered, his eyes dilated nearly to black as he understood that she was up for another wild ride—in every sense of the phrase. For one breathless moment, Harper wasn’t sure they’d even make it out of his house. Especially when he leaned in close and said, “I’ll take you as fast, and as wild, as you want.” His mouth was close enough that she could almost taste him as he added, “As many times as you want.”

But then, instead of kissing her, he drew out the tease by merely putting his hand on the small of her back. And as they headed for the door, Harper realized that a person really could go weak in the knees.

Because she just had.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN


Throughout dinner, Will barely tasted the food, though he assumed it was good. He didn’t care about what he ate or the view from the restaurant’s tall windows overlooking the ocean. He cared only about watching Harper. Touching Harper. He’d kept her close beside him in the booth, her thigh against his, the friction of their bodies like jolts of electricity.

She seemed excited tonight—which he understood, because he felt exactly the same way—and he was glad to see that she wasn’t trying to hide her innate sensuality anymore. But at the same time, she seemed a little nervous. As if she couldn’t quite believe she was wearing that super-sexy dress while out on a date with him.

Now, as they got back into his car, he asked her, “Do you want the top up or down?”

It was cool out, and her dress didn’t have sleeves. But she surprised him by saying, “Top down. Heater up.”

They flew down the coast road. The mesh deflector behind the seats reduced the noise and wind. Despite the stick shift between them, he kept her close with a hand over hers. She’d half-turned toward him, her head resting on the seat back, one knee bent, the hem of the dress rising higher. The night sky above was bright with stars and moonlight, everything reflected in her eyes. Her hair blew around her face in lazy tendrils. He didn’t want to scare her away, but he needed to touch her, so he moved his hand to her knee and stroked her bare skin in small circles.

Hell. It took serious effort to keep his focus on driving. He damn well might get them into an accident at this rate.

Will made the turn off the coast road onto Highway 92, which crossed over the mountains, back to the San Francisco Peninsula, then said, “How fast do you want to go tonight, Harper?” He wanted her—wanted her so badly that he needed to make absolutely sure he wasn’t the only one feeling this crazy. Or wanting this badly.

It was too dark to see the color of her skin clearly, but he could have sworn she blushed as she said, “Fast.” Her voice was husky and more than a little breathless as she put her hand over his on her knee and added, “I’m ready for you to go really fast. As fast as you’ve ever gone.”

He felt the hum of her words in his chest. Hell, he felt it everywhere. He could tell she wasn’t normally this bold with men, and he loved that she wanted to be bold with him. He was supposed to be the seducer, she the seduced. But she was reversing roles on him, and he liked it.

Liked it a hell of a lot.

He wanted his hands on her, his lips tasting hers. He wanted to feel her skin, hold her close, rub his body against hers. And fill her with everything he had.