Alpha Billionaire Series
Valentine’s Day Proposal Chapter 18

WILLOW

Iwas hurt to say the least. Not that the media had dug into my past, but how Charles hadn't even attempted to defend my honor. This damn contract had just struck a blow to my career, my firm, maybe even my friendships. I was furious, but I wasn't allowed to say anything. We had promised each other that we would stay on neutral ground where we wouldn't get into tiffs over our past. I paced the living room angrily until he cornered me. "What the hell is wrong!"

My chest rose and fell quickly as the anger boiled over. I was trying to make this arrangement work, but he was pushing me closer to the edge of the cliff. And although I wanted to slap him, the desire for him that had accumulated far outweighed my urge to end this and leave. We had something. It was powerful, and it connected us, and it was the reason why we were together now, after all these years. If he couldn't see what even the f*****g talk show host saw, I would have to force him to see it.

I narrowed my eyes and moved toward him, pushing him hard into the wall. He parted his lips to speak, but I silenced him with mine. Seizing any opportunity for him to ruin this moment. We twirled our tongues around each other's feverishly. I dug my nails into his chest as our kiss deepened.

He moaned inside of my mouth and tried to push me off him, but I resisted, taking his hands inside of mine, pushing them up against the wall. I felt him stiffen beneath me. I pressed my pelvic region into his to nurture the flames our argument had ignited beneath the surface. He regained control, pushing me away.

"No!" he yelled, "I'm not doing this with you."

I scowled. Tears forming. He had to see it, to feel it. I knew he had, or else he wouldn't have fucked me twice already. I wanted him to feel the connection, the power it held when we were together. I was sick of running from the past. He did not get to dump me then come back and use me. He had to feel something.

I noticed the way his pants bulged out. His feeble attempt to resist the urge his body had already begun to give in to was admirable. To entice him, I gradually slid my dress up over my hips to give him a preview of what he was about to get. I eased the sheer panties that felt like silk against my skin down. Inching them lower until they hit the floor. My eyes were locked on his as I stepped out of my panties, kicking them to the side. My nakedness was on full display. I walked over to him and yanked his sweater out to pull it over his head. He continued his resistance, and I continued to ignore it.

"Stop, Willow," he protested.

I licked my lips.

We tussled some more until he had my back against the cold window. The glass chilled my skin as he glared at me with a mixture of contempt and lust. He gripped my wrists tightly. I returned his glare. He pushed two fingers inside of me aggressively. "Ahh," I moaned as I gritted my teeth together.

His strokes were quickened. Forceful. He was trying to punish me. Establish his dominance over me. I pursed my lips to let the bated breaths escape. The farther his finger went inside of me, the tighter his grip became around my wrists.

"Is this what you want," he asked, pressed against my ear. Pleasure had paralyzed my tongue leaving me unable to speak. I nodded with the little motion I had. He nibbled on my earlobe. I rolled my eyes to the back of my head. My knees were close to buckling, and I was doing everything in my power not to slide down the window. "Are you sure?" he tightened his grip again. His velvety baritone voice was an aphrodisiac to my lower region. I tightened my lips around his fingers.

I swallowed and said, "Yes."

"Hmm...how bad do you want it?"

I captured my lower lip with my teeth. He wanted me to beg for it. I rolled my tongue across my upper lip. "Not that much."

He pushed his body into mine, pressing his full weight against me as his finger inched farther inside of me. The way his fingers explored my p***y freely indicated how wet I was.

"You're lying," he said as the warm breath from his mouth breezed past my lips. "You've been lying since you came back into my life." He pulled his fingers from inside of me and up to my lips, smearing the wetness they were soaked in across my lips. Then he sucked it off of them. Gently biting them before he thrusted his tongue back inside of my mouth. He released my hands and I clawed at his sides.

He was right. I had been lying to both of us. I wanted him. I wanted what I was supposed to have had seven years ago. I wanted that ring, the house, the 2.5 kids, a dog, a white picket fence. I wanted it all. And I hated myself for wanting it.

I tugged at the string on his jogging pants then slid them over his hips, freeing his cock. I wrapped my hand around him as I stroked him to his full hardness. He grew inside of my hand as I teased the tip with my thumb. "Mmmm," he groaned against my lips.

He lifted me up then slid me down onto him. I arched my head against the window as I bounced on top of him. Charles freed one of my buttocks and pushed harder into me. I gasped for air as he plunged deeper, pushing into my back wall. A tear formed in the corner of my eye as I struggled to moan. It hurt so good. The way he could make me hate and love him at the same time.

My eyes bored into his. The salacious scowl on his face stimulated my body in ways that left me vexed. "Is this what you wanted?" he asked, pounding inside of me.

I could barely breathe. And my body was shaking beneath the surface. I tightened my legs around him and pushed myself farther down onto him. I wanted to feel him in the deepest parts of me.

"Fuck me," I commanded. "F**k me like you used to. Like when you loved me."

His muscular hand squeezed tighter on my ass. His cock went as far as it could. I dug my fingernails into his back, clawing him like a wild cat. The battle between cold and hot were competing as the condensation forming on the window did its best to simmer the raging flames inside of me. My back screeched against the glass. I held onto him for dear life. We were dueling-silently but we both understood despite nothing being said.

He thrusted. I grinded. He tightened his grip. I did the same. I felt him throbbing inside of me and I knew we were nearing the end of this round. I felt the pressure rise as I boiled over. Closing my eyes, I opened my mouth to release the caged moan his kisses had suppressed.

"I'm coming...I'm coming." My nails formed a trail across his back. "Ahhhhhh," I released. I shuddered against him as my body climaxed. His c**k penetrated my p***y so deep and so hard it honestly hurt. And when my scream of pleasure met the flesh of his shoulder and I bit down, I felt him release, spilling into me.

His thrusts slowed, the rage I felt abated-replaced with a desperate need for air. He pinned me against the window long after he pulled out. Our foreheads remained pressed together, both of us out of breath. I cried, the tears dripping down onto my sweater. I couldn't let him go. The day had been too intense, the moment too overwhelming.

"Willow, we can't keep fighting like this. And if we're going to honor the contract, we can't keep having s*x either."

His words didn't sound hollow and stale. They weren't rhetoric. This wasn't the man who fucked me and threw a credit card at me. This was my Charles, the one I missed. The one I longed for day and night for years. The one who turned me to drinking and drove me to work long hours every night at work just to forget his existence. I hated him. I loved him. I didn't want him anywhere near me, and I wanted him inside me again and again, all at once.

"Hold me," I whispered.

I watched his lips turn downward at the corner. But when I staggered like a drunkard toward the bedroom, unable to walk because the o****m had left me legless, he followed me. I peeled my clothing off and lay down. He climbed in beside me, wearing only his boxers. He curled around me, his chest pressing against my back. I cried.

"We have spent enough time hurting each other." His soft words soothed an ache inside my heart.

"I know." I held his hand to my chest tightly. "We have, and there is nothing we can do to undo the past." I kissed his knuckles one at a time.

"We were so in love, Willow. What happened?"

"I'm still in love, Charles." I sighed, scooting back into his chest harder. I had come to terms with my emotions long ago. Contract or not, being around him again had ruined my heart. I needed him as much now as I ever had. "I'm still in love."

I waited for him to reply. Prayed that he would respond and tell me he, too, was in love. But I lay there so long the only response I got was light snoring. Either I had pissed him off again by breaking the "no love" portion of the contract, or he was afraid to admit he loved me too. He was still in bed with me, so that was a good sign, but I suddenly felt cold, like the way he held me was because I had ordered him to do it, and not because he wanted to.

Had everything he'd done since February been just to keep me happy, so I'd stay here? The tears came faster. I wasn't a pawn. I wanted to scream it at him, but if tonight proved anything, it proved he was a great actor. The Charles I knew would have broke; he would have expressed his love once for all.

No, this wasn't my Charles. He just looked like him. And I was just a pawn. I needed Mel. I needed my best friend to slap some sense into me before I turned into yet another tragedy of politics. I couldn't let my heart betray my better judgment. This was an agreement. Nothing more.