The Nice Guy: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Read online

  “I’ve got you.” He stops and steadies her with his free hand. “I can carry you if you want.”

  She looks disbelieving into his eyes. For years she’s wanted a date to offer to carry her over a puddle. But, they never offered. Even when she was drunk. One time, Arabella carried her back to college from downtown, because she had one-too-many tequilas and the ground kept coming up to meet her face. She remembers the heat of the tequila burning down her throat and the looseness of her limbs afterward. She hasn’t had tequila since college.

  “I’ve never been carried by a guy before.” She leaves out the story about Arabella.

  “Another first.” He hands her the cake. “No nibbling.” She holds the cake in both hands. He places one arm around her back and the other swoops down her bottom and literally sweeps her feet off the ground.

  “Whoa!” She giggles. She feels like a little girl again.

  The memory of her dad picking her up and throwing her up into the air when she was three—or four—comes back to her. One of the rare occasions that her dad wasn’t away working. They were in California—or Florida—on vacation at an amusement park. She remembers the hot sun, the sound of her dad’s laughter, and the swoosh of the wind as she went up into the air. She misses her dad. Suddenly, she’s sad. She clears her throat to stop the tightness from threatening to bring on tears.

  “Are you scared?” Pierce misreads her fear of crying for fear of falling.

  “Not at all. I feel safe with you.” She adjusts her arms, careful not to drop the cake.

  “That’s the nicest thing a date has ever said to me.”

  “Is this a date?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “We just met at the reception.” She shakes her head.

  “We met in college.”

  “Which I only remember in bits and pieces.” She looks down at the cake and avoids his gaze.

  “It’s probably better that way.” He begins walking across the lawn to the front of the hotel where the valet stood waiting. “Number seven,” he tells the valet: a tall, slender Asian guy who grabs key #7 and runs off into the parking lot.

  “Why?”

  “Because, from your propensity for shyness, you may get embarrassed. And I like you unabashed.”

  “You think I’m shy?” She tilts her head up and looks into his eyes.

  “No, I think you become shy when you’re afraid that your authentic self will be misjudged.”

  Audrey feels the floor drop out from under her. He’s not only a gentleman; he’s perceptive. Smart. She isn’t sure if she’s more surprised by his directness or his keen perception. She isn’t used to guys being so observant of her; nor is she used to guys commenting on her emotions. She both likes and dislikes the attention.

  She feels her heart swell with hope and passion and desire for the night to never end. She feels like the moment isn’t quite real: a large bright moon hanging in the sky, a large white tent in the distance standing before the vast navy blue Pacific Ocean crashing into the black beach sands, and an intermittent breeze blowing the salty scent of the sea across the grassy lawn. She wants to remain in his arms forever. But, the valet pulls up in a black Tesla Model X SUV. He runs around to open the passenger door for Audrey.

  Gently, Pierce carries her to the passenger door and places her into the passenger seat. The leather seats are warm and comfortable. While she was never a car enthusiast like some of her friends, Audrey can appreciate a luxury vehicle, and this one is all luxury.

  “Nice car.”

  “Thanks,” Pierce grins and gently closes the door. Deftly, he tips the valet.

  Through the front windshield, she watches his athletic build jog around to the driver’s side. Smoothly, he unbuttons his cuffs and rolls his sleeves up as he walks to his door. He hops in. She notices his watch for the first time. Moonlight shines off the gold and jewels in his watch.

  “What kind of watch is that?” She usually doesn’t ask a man about his watch, because she knows that they’re a symbol of their personality. Some wealthy men wear gold Rolexes or platinum Pateks or titanium Bulgaris. But Pierce’s watch has a purple jewel and intricate mechanisms in layers inside.

  “This old thing?” He clicks in his seatbelt and nods in approval as she clicks in hers. “It was a gift from my dad.”

  At the mention of his dad, Audrey feels her grief swelling inside. She says quickly:

  “I’ve never seen one like it before.” She stares at the black leather band and precious stones.

  “Actually, there are only four like it in the world. It’s from the Louis Moinet Meteoris Collection. The purple dot is a piece of meteorite from Mars.” He shifts the car gears into drive and pulls off out of the curving driveway.

  “Mars! Wow. Do you have dreams of going there one day?”

  “When I was a kid, I wanted to go.” He slows down at a stop sign and puts on his turning signal.

  “But now that you’re older?” She watches his hands expertly handle the car. She can’t wait for him to handle her. He’s in control. He’s confident. She wonders how is she going to tell him that she wants to make love to him? Have sex with him? She doesn’t want to sound crass.

  “When I became a man, I put away childish things… Dreams.” Outside the window the dark sky is full of a million points of light from stars in galaxies far away. The stars twinkle around the big, bright full moon. She loves the view. She feels fortunate to be back in Hawaii.

  “What are your dreams?” She holds her breath. She’s not used to asking such personal questions on dates. She usually asks about their schools or jobs or families. But, he’s already been up her skirt, she figures that she has nothing to hide.

  “Oh, the usual.” He slows down on a curve.

  “Tell me. I want to know.” She reaches over and tentatively rests her hand on his bicep. He flexes it.

  “I want to make the world a better place. You know my family is in oil. They have ruined a lot of natural resources digging for oil. Polluted waters. Killed natural habitats. I used to dream about finding a new world, a new planet, untouched, pristine, and setting up shop there. Like in that Andy Weir book, The Martian. But, now that I’m older, I see that we have one world and we have to make it a better place.”

  “That’s noble.”

  “Teaching is noble. What made you get into it?” He turns onto a path and stops at a gate. He opens his window and punches a code into a keypad. Then the black iron gate slowly swings open. Round reflectors lining both sides of the driveway reflect back the SUV’s headlights as they cruise along the long and winding private entryway. Palm trees line the path.

  “Ever since I was a little girl, I liked to play school with my dolls. I used to line them all up and teach them their ABCs and 1-2-3s. I had about fifty dolls. I named them all. I must’ve had the biggest classroom in Greenwich.” She laughs at the memory of scolding her dolls for falling out their seats and misbehaving.

  “How did your parents feel about your career choice?” He slows down at a four-car garage. He presses a square button on a flat pad on the ceiling near the rearview mirror. One garage door opens up slowly.

  Audrey counts down from ten. She remembers that Nora used to count down from ten when she was really upset about something insensitive Arabella said. Arabella has the thickest skin of all of her friends. She grew up with divorced parents cohabitating with their partners in their large Beverly Hills mansion. Her dad had a male partner, and her mom had a female partner. She grew up defending herself against bullies at school who called her a freak and a weirdo. She always tells it like it is. Nora could never take Arabella’s undiluted realness. So, Nora was always counting to ten before responding to something Arabella said. Audrey finds herself missing her best friends. Just thinking about them takes her mind off her parents and away from the grief that she ran away from when she flew to China. But now, being so close to Pierce and hearing about his family makes her want to open up about hers. Except she’s afraid the sa
dness will consume her. So, instead, she looks at his strong hands gripping the steering wheel, guiding the car into the garage, turning off the ignition, and undoing his seatbelt.

  “Let’s just say they were less than thrilled about it.” Quickly, Audrey undoes her seatbelt.

  “Hey.” Gently, Pierce reaches over and takes her hands. Careful not to disturb the cake that she has managed to hold steady in her lap, he runs his fingers along her knuckles. “May I have this hand?”

  Reluctantly, Audrey releases the cake. She allows Pierce to take her left hand, bring it to his lips, and kiss her knuckles. The softness of his lips on her skin awakens her desire for him. The warmth of his mouth makes her want him to kiss her all over her body. He lands butterfly kisses up the back of her hand, along her wrist, and up to the crook in her arm. She inhales sharply. His lips light a fire beneath her skin that runs through her blood. She wants him to make love to her. If she weren’t a virgin she’d ask him to take her right there in the car, but she doesn’t know the logistics of sex in an SUV, and she wants to avoid as much awkwardness as she can her first time.

  “Pierce.” She exhales and cups his face. Her hand caresses the beginning of a six-o-clock shadow. She loves the roughness of his hair. She wonders what he looks like with a beard. Probably even sexier than he is now.

  “Come inside. I want to show you something.”

  “What?” She peers into his eyes trying to gauge what he could mean.

  “It’s a surprise.” He swings open his door, jogs around the car, and opens her door. “Hold onto your cake.” He scoops her out of the car and carries her to the door past a black Mercedes Benz SLS, a black Rolls-Royce 12 EX, and a black Tesla Roadster.

  “You only drive electric cars?” Audrey takes in the charge ports for each of the luxury cars.

  “Yup. I’m serious about making the world a better place.” When he reaches the garage door, he pauses, “Would you mind opening the door for me?”

  Audrey turns the knob on the glass door. When they step inside, Pierce says, “Casa, lights on. Dim to 50%.” Lights come on throughout the house.

  “Nice.” She takes in the minimalistic decor: black leather couches, glass end tables, glass coffee table, wooden bookcases covering one wall, floor-to-ceiling windows covering the wall opposite the bookcases, and several rectangular and square picture frames decorating the space above the couch.

  “I have a surprise for you.” He carries her across the vast living room that feels more like a banquet hall than someone’s home and stops at the wall of windows. “Ready?” Carefully, he places her feet on the floor.

  She smells the sea and hears the gurgling of water before her. What she thought was a window looking out onto the night is really a glass wall.

  “What’s in there?” She thinks she hears the faint sound of gurgling water.

  “Casa, dim lights 25%. Casa, tank lights on.”

  As the lights in the living room dim, the lights before her fade on. Before her eyes, brightly colored coral reefs appear. Fish big and small swim back and forth. Schools of yellow fish, blue fish, and pink fish dash by. Larger gray and blue fish wade through the water. Seaweed waves in the current.

  “Wow.” Audrey is mesmerized by the hypnotic motion of the moving fish and the sound of the bubbling tank.

  “When I was a kid, I wanted a fish tank. My parents got me a small one. My dream was to build the biggest aquarium in the world in my house when I grew up. This is the third largest tank in the world. My very own reef.”

  Audrey can’t stop staring at the yellow fish and striped fish and blue fish scurrying by.

  “Do you want to go in?”

  “Can we?” She turns wide-eyed at Pierce. He looks like a boy in a bike shop, presenting his prize possession to a girl.

  “Of course. That’s how I clean it. And feed my fish. Come on!” He takes her hand and leads her down the long hallway to a closed door. He pushes it open. It swings open slowly.

  “What’s in here?” She squeezes his hand.

  “The wetsuits.”

  “We’re putting on wetsuits?”

  “Yeah. The rock can scrape the skin. The wetsuits protect us from abrasion and provide thermal insulation.” He reaches over to take the cake from her. He grins when she reluctantly releases it. “Don’t worry. We won’t feed your cake to the fish. It’ll be right here when we get out.”

  She becomes nervous at the thought of undressing. She doesn’t want him to see her in her underwear. She’s not ready for that level of intimacy. Even though moments ago she felt she was ready to make love to him, now she’s not ready to be partially nude before him.

  “There’s a changing room over there.” As if reading her mind, he nods at a door across the room. “There’s a wetsuit inside. Just leave your underwear on.” He grins as she turns red.

  “You have extras?” Jealousy flares up at the thought of Pierce bringing other women to his home to go diving in his fish tank with him.

  “Yeah.” He watches her face. He waits for her to ask the question that he knows she’s wondering: who else does he bring here? She doesn’t ask. “You’re not going to ask?”

  “I’ve learned not to ask questions if I don’t want to know the answer.” She stiffens her back.

  He reaches for her, gently uncrosses her arms, and holds her hands.

  “My sisters come here sometimes to go diving with me. I’ve never brought a girl back here to dive before.”

  Relief floods Audrey’s system. She wasn’t aware that her jaw was clenched until she relaxed it. She wraps her arms around Pierce’s shoulders and pulls him towards her for a kiss. Willingly, she opens her mouth. Their tongues dance together slowly then quickly. She wants him inside of her. But, she’s too shy to say anything. She feels too inexperienced to initiate sex. She hopes that the kiss will get things started. He moans into her mouth. Wrapping his arms around her, she feels the full length of his body pressed against hers. She feels him harden. She hopes he’ll lie her down and rip her dress off.

  “Audrey,” he breathes, “go get dressed.”

  “But—” The words I-want-to-make-love-to-you, get caught in her throat.

  “I want this night to be special.” He says into her ear. He kisses her neck, sending shivers down her back. His hands run down her back and squeeze her bottom. Then he releases her. “Go, before I take you right here.”

  “Pierce—”

  “Go.” He turns around and rushes into another room, leaving her standing with her mouth open in mid-sentence.

  She always thought that when she decided to have sex, then it would be so easy. She envisioned passionate making out, followed by oral sex—received and then given—and then an easing into sexual intercourse. She didn’t envision a guy actively trying not to have sex with her. It’s all a misunderstanding. He thinks that she just wants to have oral sex because of her stupid speech. But, she didn’t give him the speech. She just told him about it. She curses herself for being so honest.

  She sulks over to her changing room, where she takes off his tuxedo jacket. She holds the collar to her nose and inhales the scent of Pierce. His cologne is woodsy. She imagines him chopping firewood in his tuxedo and laughs at the ridiculous romanticism. She slips out of her dress and hangs it up on a satin hanger. Then she tries to put on the wetsuit. But, she’s never put one on before. She breaks a nail and yells.

  “You okay in there?” Pierce’s voice is clear and right outside her door.

  “I broke a nail.” She whimpers at the sight of the broken nail on her index finger. Her wetsuit smells like rubber and is slick to the touch.

  “Need some help?” His voice sounds like he’s smiling. She imagines his dark brown eyes twinkling. She loves how he finds everything she does amusing. She hopes that will continue all night.

  “Um—yeah?” She looks around the small changing room. She sits on the wooden bench beside a floor to ceiling mirror. Her dress hangs in front of her with the tuxedo jacket on the h
anger.

  “Can I come in?” He’s definitely laughing at her. She can hear the amusement in his voice.

  “Sure.” She looks down at her lace bra and her hard nipples and wishes she could control her body’s reaction to his voice. Well, he’s been such a gentleman up until now, she can’t imagine how the sight of her half-dressed body will persuade him to make love to her.

  The door opens slowly. Pierce stands in a black wetsuit grinning. Then his eyes travel down her body, and the grin fades away. His eyes dance from her breasts down to her panties. He swallows. His eyes darken. She sees the lust growing in his eyes.

  “You, uh, have to, uh, turn the body of the wetsuit inside-out.” He doesn’t move from the doorway. “Can I come in?” He stands frozen at the door.

  “I said, yeah.” A smile threatens to cross her face. She enjoys his discomfort.

  “Then we turn the arms and legs only halfway inside-out.” Tentatively, he reaches for the wetsuit and peels it off the one foot she managed to get it on. When his fingers touch her skin, her entire body tenses. She knows her nipples are hard. She seems him trying not to stare. She marvels at his self-restraint.

  “It’s important to be extra careful when putting on a wetsuit. You don’t want to damage it...or break a nail.” He looks up at her and smiles at his joke. She smiles back. Then his eyes travel down her body, and she wants him to reach out and touch her. But, he doesn’t.

  “Then, you pull on the inside jersey material and work the wetsuit up your body.” His thumbs and fingers graze her skin as he pulls the wetsuit up her body. She fights reaching out and grabbing his face and kissing him. “Stand up.” His voice is gruff. She can hear the restraint in it.

  She places her hands on his shoulders to balance herself as she stands up. With his face before her pelvis, he pulls the wetsuit up over her thong. His fingers dance along her skin. He doesn’t linger. But his touch lights little fires of desire beneath her skin as he pulls it up to her butt.

  “Now, we just have to adjust the fit up your legs.” He clears his throat as he begins pulling the suit up from her ankles and her calves and her thighs to her crotch where there’s a gap between her body and the suit. “Avoid using your fingernails.” His breath catches as he adjusts the inseam. “You don’t want any free space in between the legs.”