The Billionaire’s Big Bold Wonder: An Age Gap BBW Romance (The Billionaires’ Club)

‘This isn’t slow,’ I protest, glaring at Cortez when he pulls me down onto his lap on the couch after lunch. It’s only been a couple hours, and I already know he’s terrible at slow. He can’t seem to keep his hands off me. They’re on me at every available opportunity. His lips usually follow. Which is a problem because I can’t seem to resist either.

‘I just want to hold you,’ he says, giving me an innocent look that I’m not buying for a second. There’s nothing innocent about this man. He’s all wolf, no sheep. And god, he’s beautiful. I think he grew even more handsome in the last two months.

I snort in response, but don’t argue further. Truth is…I love having his arms around me. Maybe I’ll regret it later, but for this moment at least, I want to curl up against his chest and just be. Is that so bad? I don’t think so. My head and my heart are still at war over him, but my heart is winning.

The man I met two months ago wouldn’t have just checked out and left me there. Maybe things did happen exactly like he said. I don’t know. But I want to believe him. The biggest part of me does believe him. The rest of me though…well, the rest of me still remembers the crushing weight of humiliation I felt doing the walk of shame out of there that morning.

The rest of me is still terrified he’ll disappear again, leaving me and our baby behind this time. He broke my heart once. I’m not sure I’ll survive if he breaks it a second time. What if I tell him about the baby and he decides this isn’t what he wants at all? There are a million worries battling for attention, and I’m not even sure where to begin trying to unravel and sort them.

‘Why are you in Chattanooga?’ I ask, listening to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

‘Work thing,’ he mutters.

‘Oh.’

‘You’re a Blake,’ I say.

‘I am.’ He sighs. ‘Dorian Blake is my uncle. He raised me and my brother and sister after our parents died when we were kids. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. It’s just not something I bring up often. People tend to treat me differently once they find out I’m a Blake. I can’t fucking stand it.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I murmur. I can’t really relate, but we get enough celebrity guests at the hotel for me to have a general understanding of just how different life is for the ultra-rich and famous. People throw themselves at them, trying to curry favor. Kasen Alexander, Bentley Reynolds, and Clayton Devine, popular country musicians, played a big benefit at the hotel not long ago and women came pouring out of the woodworks just to be close to them. It was…eye-opening to see how far some of them were willing to go. We had to hire extra security because they kept trying to sneak up to their rooms, never mind the fact that their wives were here.

‘I always thought my cousin, Callan, was going to take over the company when Uncle Dorian retired,’ he says, blowing out a breath. ‘But that’s not the case.’

‘He doesn’t want it?’

‘Apparently not,’ he mutters, blowing out a breath. ‘I’ve always been the CFO, but that changes tomorrow.’

I crane my head back to look at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Come tomorrow, I’ll be the majority stakeholder in the company.’

‘You’ll own the company.’

‘Dorian and Callan will still own a stake, but yeah,’ he agrees. ‘Most of the company will belong to me.’

‘Wow,’ I say after a minute. ‘That’s…impressive.’ It’s more than impressive. It’s honestly a little intimidating. He’s going to own one of the biggest companies in the United States. ‘You really weren’t kidding when you said you were one of the best businessmen in the state, were you?’

‘Does it bother you?’ he asks.

‘No,’ I lie.

He narrows his eyes on me, not believing me.

‘Maybe a little,’ I amend. ‘Your world and mine are two vastly different things, Cortez. I’ve always wanted to start my own company, but I never wanted to own a Fortune 500 or rub elbows with celebrities and sheiks and whoever else you spend your time with. That’s not me.’

‘That’s not me either,’ he says, running a soothing hand down my back. ‘I don’t give a fuck about celebrities or sheiks or anyone but you and my family. I enjoy what I do, but I never expected to inherit the company. If Callan wanted Blake Industries, I’d hand it over to him in a heartbeat. But he doesn’t want it. Dorian kept my siblings together after our parents died. I owe it to him to keep his company together.’

‘That’s really sweet,’ I whisper, my expression softening. A little of my fear ebbs out, replaced by something softer, quieter. The more time I spend around him, the harder it is to keep my guard up. That worries me and doesn’t worry me enough at the same time. I’m a struggling college student. He’s the new owner of a massive company with the Blake name behind him. If he changes his mind about me, would he try to take our baby from me?

The possibility makes my stomach roil with uncertainty. I want to throw caution to the wind and dive headfirst into whatever this is between us. I want to believe that he found me again because we were meant to find one another. But believing in the fairytale didn’t get me very far the first time. And I didn’t have nearly as much to lose then. What happens if I’m wrong this time?

God help me, I don’t want to be wrong. I tossed and turned all night, thinking about everything, trying to untangle my thoughts. All I came up with was the fact that I’m not ready to lose him again. He asked me for a chance, and I want to give it to him, not because I’m carrying his baby, but because I’ll always regret it if I don’t. I want this man as my own. If that makes me selfish, then I guess I’m selfish because it’s true. I want him. Not his company or his name or anything but him.

I fell that very first night, and not even two months apart changed anything for me. The connection between us is just as real and powerful now as it was then. No matter how hard I try to fight it and deny it, I can’t. I’m in love with this man. Hopelessly, helplessly, completely.

But his whole life is changing. What if there isn’t room in it for me and a baby?

‘You’re thinking awful hard,’ he says, tucking my head against his shoulder again. ‘Trying to figure out a way to get rid of me once and for all?’

‘No,’ I whisper, swallowing hard. ‘Just wondering what happens if you decide this isn’t what you want.’

He growls quietly. ‘This is exactly what I want, Piper. You are exactly who I want.’

‘You don’t even know me.’

‘I know more than you think I do.’

‘You don’t know everything.’

‘Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere, isn’t it?’ he murmurs, brushing his lips across my crown. ‘We have all the time in the world to learn everything there is to know about one another. But nothing I learn about you will change the fact that you’re it for me, Piper. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you. I felt you in my fucking soul in that bar. I still feel you in there. That’s all I need to know.’

‘Okay,’ I whisper, praying he means it.

‘I’m keeping you,’ he whispers in my ear. ‘You might as well get used to it.’

‘Stop wiggling, pretty baby,’ Cortez groans, wrapping one arm around me and pulling me deeper into him. ‘My cock can’t take much more.’

‘Cortez?’ I blink my eyes open, confused. Soft light filters in through my bedroom windows, alerting me to the fact that it’s morning. I vaguely remember dozing off on the couch last night…and that’s it. I have no idea how I got to my room. Or why Cortez is in bed with me. ‘Why are you in my bed?’

‘Didn’t want you to wake up without me again,’ he murmurs, pressing his lips to the back of my neck. His scruff tickles my skin, sending tingles of desire through me. Warmth shoots through me at the same time. ‘I learned my lesson last time, sweet little Piper.’

‘Oh,’ I whisper, melting into him. His body cradles mine, spooning me from chest to calf. ‘You got me undressed.’

‘You were out of it. How long has it been since you had a full night’s sleep?’

‘A while.’ Between dreaming about him and morning sickness, I’m constantly exhausted. Closing my eyes, I take stock, surprised to realize I don’t feel that way right now. If I dreamed last night, I don’t remember them. For the first time in months, I feel rested. ‘I haven’t been sleeping well.’

‘Me neither.’ He runs his lips up the back of my neck. ‘You’ve been haunting me.’

‘M-me too,’ I whisper.

‘Yeah?’ His voice is gritty with sleep, low and sexy. I feel it between my thighs. ‘You been dreaming about me, Piper?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Were they good dreams?’

‘Maybe,’ I whisper.

He nips me right where my shoulder and neck meet. ‘Keep fucking with me, and I’ll be fucking a confession out of you, little girl,’ he growls.

‘They were good dreams,’ I gasp, squeezing my thighs together at his threat. ‘W-we were together again. Like that f-first night. Except you weren’t gone when I woke up. You were still in the bed with me.’

‘Did I wake you with my face between your thighs, Piper?’

‘Cortez,’ I whimper.

‘Did I?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you make a mess of my face when you came on my tongue?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘Goddamn,’ he growls, nipping at my shoulder again. His hand slips down my abdomen, splaying across my stomach and then creeping lower. His fingers brush against the top of my panties. ‘How many times did you make yourself come thinking about me, pretty baby?’

I shake my head, groaning.

‘How many, Piper?’

‘None!’ I cry, lifting my hips, trying to get his hand where I want it. ‘I c-couldn’t. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get myself there without you.’

‘Fuck,’ he breathes, flipping me onto my back. His blue eyes search out mine, hot and wild. ‘Last night was the first time you came since the last time I touched you?’

‘Yes,’ I whisper.

‘Are you feeling better today, pretty baby?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good.’ Heat blazes in his eyes, flaring brighter than the sun rising outside the windows. ‘Tell me I can eat you, Piper,’ he growls.

‘I…’

‘We’ll take it as slow as you want to take it after I give you this,’ he says. ‘But if you don’t let me lick that little cunt until you’re creaming all over my face, I’m going to lose my goddamn mind. I fucking hated losing your taste.’

‘Yes,’ I say, wanting it as badly as he does. Needing it as badly as he does. I can’t resist him. God help me, but I can’t. All he has to do is touch me, and I’m lost to him. Lost in him. I don’t want to come up for air or think or go slow or be rational or do any of the things I know I should do. I just want to glut myself on him and damn the consequences.

He presses a hard kiss to my lips and then prowls down my body, stopping to lavish attention on my breasts. I groan and arch toward his wicked mouth, stunned at how much more sensitive my breasts are now. As soon as his teeth close around my hard nipple, my clit throbs.

I cry out his name, my hand flying into his hair.

He tears my shirt right down the center, too impatient and greedy to pull it off over my head. I cry out again, my stomach clenching. There’s something so damn sexy about his impatience, about his strength. He could easily hurt me, but when he touches me, he touches me with complete reverence, as if I’m a priceless work of art. His big hands are worshipful on my body. The dichotomy is addictive.

He stares at me for a long moment as if memorizing my body again. My heart pounds against my ribcage, beating a dizzying, frenetic rhythm. Can he tell that my body is changing? That my breasts are fuller? My stomach subtly rounding?

‘Fuck, I missed these tits,’ he finally groans, burying his face between them. He presses a sweet kiss to my sternum, and then turns his head, marking the right side of my breast. His fingers close over my left nipple, pinching and pulling.

I claw his shoulders, sobbing his name.

‘I can’t wait until you let me in again,’ he says, lifting his head to look at me. ‘I’m going to tie you to the bed and keep you there for days. You’ll tell me every single fantasy you’ve ever had.’

I’m pretty sure he’s already fulfilled every fantasy I’ve ever had. But I’ll make up new ones if it means getting to explore them with him. I don’t feel shy or awkward in his arms. I feel like a queen. When he touches me, I come alive. I don’t ever want it to end.

‘Cortez, please,’ I moan, pushing against his shoulders.

‘Horny little thing,’ he chuckles, pinching my nipple again. ‘You’re lucky I’m fucking desperate to make you come again, or I’d keep you on the edge just to see how much you can take before you break for me.’ He prowls down my body again, nipping at my stomach.

He lingers there for a moment, nuzzling me. Seeing his dark head bent over my belly is emotional in ways I didn’t expect. A lump forms in my throat, tears pricking at my eyes.

I have to tell him. I don’t want to be the kind of person who keeps the truth from him, not for any length of time. It doesn’t matter if I’m scared. It doesn’t matter if he breaks my heart in the end. Regardless of what happens between the two of us, he deserves to know now that he’s going to be a father.

He’s been nothing but good to me since the beginning. My heart is screaming at me to let go of the fear and trust him. I’ve never let fear rule me before. I can’t start now either. That’s not the kind of person I want to be. It’s not what I want to teach our baby. I’m in love with this man, and I’m pretty sure he loves me too. If I don’t leap now, I’ll regret it forever.

‘Cortez, I—’

‘You’re so goddamn perfect, Piper,’ he breathes at the same time, lifting his head. The intensity in his gaze steals my breath, sapping the moisture from my mouth. He doesn’t look at me like a man capable of disappearing at the drop of the hat. No. He looks at me like a man staring into the face of forever. ‘So goddamn perfect.’

‘Cortez,’ I mouth, trembling.

‘I’m going to make you fall in love with me again, sweet Piper,’ he vows quietly, hooking his fingers into the waistband of my panties. ‘When you give me your heart this time, I’ll guard it with my fucking life.’

I can’t give him my heart again. He’s had it all along. But I don’t get a chance to tell him that. He tugs my panties down my thighs, pulling them off my legs, and then his eyes land on my center. His possessive growl is loud enough to shake the heavens.

‘Fucking hell,’ he swears, shouldering my legs apart. ‘You’re soaked.’

‘You made me that way!’

‘Good. That means it’s my mess to clean up,’ he growls, crawling between my legs. He hits me with a wicked smirk that only makes me wetter. ‘You better hang onto something, sweet little Piper. I haven’t had you to eat in months and I’m starving for this cunt.’

‘Cortez,’ I groan. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way he speaks to me. He’s shameless and filthy and forthright. He holds nothing back, letting me know exactly what he thinks and how he feels. I don’t have to guess if he likes something. He tells me, in the filthiest language possible. It’s sexy as hell.

‘Next time you say my name, it better be when you’re screaming it, pretty baby,’ he says. ‘I want to hear it ringing in my ears while you’re grinding that cunt against my mouth and giving me exactly what I want.’

‘Oh my god.’

‘That’s right,’ he growls, blowing across my clit. His hot breath sends lava into my veins. I clutch the sheets, nearly crawling out of my skin because it feels so damn good. My head thrashes against the pillow, a sob pouring from my lips. ‘I am your god, Piper. Now, grind that cunt against my mouth and give me my offering.’

The first swipe of his tongue through my folds is heaven and hell. Heaven because I’ve missed it so damn much…and hell because I’ve missed it so damn much. I forgot just how good he is with his mouth. And oh my god, he’s good with his mouth. How did I forget? How could I forget?

I sob in ecstasy and regret, wishing I’d made a different choice that morning. That I hadn’t let doubt win. That I’d believed in him a little bit harder. He deserved for me to believe in him. But I didn’t. I couldn’t imagine what a man like him could possibly see in a girl like me, so I ran at the first sign of trouble. I doubted him. I doubted us.

He didn’t leave me there. I left. I ran. I’m the one who broke us.

‘Wrap those legs around my head, Piper,’ he growls against my pussy, turning his head to nip my thigh. ‘I want to drown in you before I leave this bed.’

I hurry to obey, willing to give him anything he wants if he keeps making me feel like this. I wrap my thighs around his head, holding him in place. He grunts his approval, attacking my center with renewed fervor. His lips and tongue touch me everywhere, his sounds loud and messy as he eats me.

I grind against his face, bucking my hips into his mouth. Sobs of pleasure ring out around us, so loud I’m sure my neighbors hear them. I can’t seem to find the will to care if the whole damn planet hears what this man is doing to me. Part of me hopes they do.

‘Mine,’ Cortez growls before sucking my clit into his mouth. ‘Mine. This pussy is mine.’

It is his. God help me, I’m his.

I shatter like finely blown glass exploding apart at the seams. Little pieces of me fly in every direction, scattering to the winds. Cortez roars like a lion staking a claim on his territory and then goes back to his meal, not letting up until a second orgasm and then a third fires through me in rapid succession.

‘Mine,’ he says again, laying me gently back on the bed. He presses a hot kiss to my clit and then my mound. Another to my belly and then my sternum. His blue eyes meet mine, burning with sincerity. ‘You’re mine, sweet little Piper. I don’t fucking care how long it takes me to convince you, I won’t give up until you see it too.’

I don’t have the strength left to tell him that I already see it. He doesn’t give me a chance anyway. He leans down over me, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

‘I’m mad as hell I didn’t wake you up that way two months ago,’ he mutters, brushing sweaty tendrils of hair back from my face. ‘There’s no way the café breakfast beat that.’

‘Mm,’ I moan.

He lays down beside me, pulling me over so my head rests on his chest. His hands drift through my hair. I close my eyes, reveling in the peace between us. I missed this…the quiet moments after when he’s holding me, touching me. He’s so damn sweet.

Morning sickness catches up with me out of the blue. My stomach turns, bile crawling up my throat. I gasp and scramble up, nearly elbowing Cortez in the face in the process.

‘Piper? Pretty baby?’

I clamp a hand over my mouth and take off for the bathroom, not even stopping to explain. If I try, I’m going to throw up all over him and the bed. Somehow, I make it to the bathroom in time, landing on my knees beside the toilet just as the dry heaves start.

‘Piper?’ Cortez says from the door, concern in his voice. ‘Jesus, pretty baby.’ He rushes toward me, sinking to his knees on the rug behind me.

‘Go away,’ I groan, trying to bat him away as he picks me up and places me in his lap. It’s a useless attempt, of course. He’s too damn big to move and I’m still dry heaving. I don’t want him to see me like this, though. Especially not right after we just did that. There’s nothing sexy about throwing up.

‘I’m not leaving you like this,’ he says, gathering my hair up to hold it back for me.

I whimper miserably and then dry heave again.

Cortez holds my hair, rubbing my back until the spell passes and I slump weakly against his chest. We stay just like that for several long moments. I hold my breath, waiting for him to demand answers. I owe him answers. But God, I’ve never been so freaking scared in my life.

‘You should have told me you still weren’t feeling well,’ he says, kissing my temple. ‘You should have been resting instead of letting me wring you out.’

‘I’m fine,’ I whisper.

‘You’re not fine,’ he argues, his voice firm. ‘This is more than simple exhaustion. You’re obviously sick, Piper. Who is your doctor? I’ll call and get you an appointment.’

‘I’m not sick, Cortez.’

‘I hate to break it to you, but you are, pretty baby.’ He tucks me up against his chest and rises to his feet in one fluid, graceful move. Once he flushes the toilet, he settles me on the vanity and then starts poking through my stuff in search of mouthwash and my toothbrush and toothpaste.

I watch him, surprised he hasn’t already figured out what the issue is. I kind of expected him to immediately realize and flip out. A tiny part of me wants to run with the I’m sick story, but the rest of me knows I can’t do that. My stomach twists itself into knots, my heart pounding like a drum.

‘Cortez, I’m not sick,’ I say as he runs water over my toothbrush for me.

‘I hate to break it to you, but you’re definitely sick, Piper.’

‘No, I’m not. I’m pregnant, Cortez.’