Breathless In Love

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.”