The Billionaires Sub by MS Parker

what?” he asked.
    “Why are you doing this? Why do you want to take care of me?” Another part of me wanted to know why I should let him, but deep down, I knew I didn’t have to ask that. Once I knew his motives, I wouldn’t need to ask him what my answer should be.
    He cupped the side of my face, his thumb brushing the corner of my mouth. His forehead furrowed slightly, and I could tell he was considering my question.
    “I don’t know,” he answered. “But I’ve felt like I should be protecting you from the first moment I saw you at the party. It didn’t matter that you were standing there, looking completely confident in whatever you were doing. I felt like I should’ve been right at your side.”
    “You didn’t know who I was then,” I pointed out.
    “I know,” he said. “That’s what’s so strange. I’d gone to the party, fully intending to approach Juliette, wanting the challenge of her, but when I saw you...I don’t know.” He shook his head as he slid his hand down to the back of my neck, his thumb now pressed against my fluttering pulse. “Let me take care of you,” he repeated.
    “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” My brain sluggishly tried to apply logic while my body protested.
    He brushed his lips across mine, the gentlest of kisses. “If you leave, and I don’t know where you are or what’s happening to you...” His eyes darkened as he rested his forehead against mine. “Don’t do that to me.”
    I knew what I should do. What the smart thing would be. And I’d always done the smart thing.
    I closed the short distance between us, my lips embarrassingly eager against his. I felt his start of surprise, the briefest of pauses, and then he was kissing me back. There was nothing gentle or hesitant about this kiss. It was all-consuming, a hunger that I’d never felt before. His hands slid around my back, fingers playing at the bare skin revealed there. The dress wasn’t slinky or sexy, but it did expose enough skin that he could find places to touch without being too forward.
    I buried my fingers in his hair, holding him in place as his tongue explored my mouth, his teeth scraping my lip. I gasped when he bit down, sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. My body tightened, throbbed in response. I scratched my nails against his scalp, and his fingers dug into my back as he pulled me closer. My breasts pressed against his chest, nipples hardening against the fabric.
    I never wanted to stop. I wanted to feel his skin against mine, his lips on my body, his cock inside me.
    I pulled away and, for a moment, thought that he wouldn’t let me go, that Juliette had been right when she’d told me to stay away from him. Then he released me, moving back, his breathing as heavy as my own.
    “I don’t know if staying is such a good idea,” I finally managed to gasp.
    He turned toward me, but didn’t try to touch me. “Stay. I’ll keep my hands to myself. I promise.”
    As I gazed into his eyes, I agreed with a slight nod, even as I silently wondered if I’d be able to make the same promise. Even with everything going on…even with all my fears and uncertainties…I wanted him.
     

Chapter Eleven
    I had to admit, when I agreed to stay with Cross while the police and his PI did their work, I hadn’t really expected him to keep his promise not to touch me. But he did. We watched a movie together. Ate some expensive delivery for dinner and talked.
    He told me about how his family had always made him work hard even though he was the only one in line to inherit their fortunate. I told him about growing up in Ohio with middle class parents. He told me how his parents had been killed in a car crash just after he’d graduated from college, and how he didn’t have any other family. I told him about being the youngest of three siblings, and the youngest of over a dozen cousins.
    We had absolutely nothing in common aside from our degrees in business, though mine had come from OSU while