The Nice Guy: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Read online

  Audrey feels her muscles deep inside clench. She feels the delicious desire pooling inside of her. She sees Pierce’s sweat gathering at his brow and she knows it from his effort at self-restraint. The pain of wanting him and not having him sears through her body. She closes her eyes and counts to ten.

  “Now, I’ll work the wetsuit up your torso to your shoulders. Put your hand in this partially turned back sleeve.” He guides her left hand into the close-fitting rubbery suit.

  Audrey is hypnotized by Pierce’s concentration. Once he gets the sleeve up her left arm and over her shoulder, he adjusts the front, which covers one of her lace-covered hard nipples. Smoothly, he takes her right hand and puts it into the partially turned back sleeve. The smell of sweat and rubber permeates the small changing room. Standing up before Audrey, Pierce fills the space between her dress and her body. He bites his bottom lip when he pulls her sleeve up and covers her other breast. Then he exhales.

  “Turn around.” His voice is husky with desire.

  She turns around and places her hands against the wall for balance.

  “I’m not going to frisk you.” He pulls the torso up from behind.

  “You can if you want to.” Facing away from him, she gets the courage to flirt with him. His hands paused on the zipper at the base of her back.

  “What are you saying, Audrey?”

  “I want you to…”

  “To what?”

  “Do I have to say it?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She stands with her palms sweating and against the wall, unable to say what she wants. She knows that he can feel her desire. Her skin is hot to the touch. Her nipples are dark pink and hard. He can see her body tense when his fingers graze her skin. She wants him to kiss her everywhere. She just can’t find the courage to say it out loud.

  “Were you bullied in school?” He holds the zipper at the base of her spine taught.

  “No. Why?” She presses her hands into the wall.

  “Because, children who are teased learn to be shy. Who hurt you?”

  Her mind travels back to her last date with the heir to a baby food company. He was in Shanghai for the month. They met on the Chinese version of Facebook: WeChat. He asked her out to dinner at a five-star restaurant. They had a four-course meal. He invited her back to his place. She gave him her speech. He laughed. He told her that she was too old to be doing everything-but. He said that oral sex was just foreplay and he didn’t want to get blue balls. She told him that she was waiting for a relationship to have sexual intercourse. So he got her a taxi and told her to grow up. His parting words to her were: “No guy is ever going to seriously date a virgin.” After that, she swore off dating and left Shanghai.

  Audrey tells Pierce about her last date in China. She’s less embarrassed telling him the story while facing the wall. Gently he turns her around and says:

  “That guy was a jerk. I’m sorry you experienced that.” His voice is deep and kind and safe.

  She tears up. She looks up into his warm dark brown eyes. She wraps her arms around his powerful torso and pulls him close to her. She buries her face in his chest. Then she releases all of the tears she’s been holding back since she left China.

  “Pierce,” she says through tears. “I’m sorry. I haven’t cried, since, since…”

  “I heard.”

  She’s grateful for his muscular arms and chest and back to make her feel safe. She feels anchored to the present. She feels a thousand miles away from the past. She's feeling a storm of excitement and hope and despair welling within her, threatening to burst through her. She hopes that the tears don’t give her a headache. She’s resisted crying for so long.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” He strokes her hair with one hand and presses her back into his torso with the other.

  “Who told you?” She hiccups as the tears subside. She feels lighter. Relieved. Embarrassed that she cried so unladylike into his chest.

  “Chris.” He tilts her head up to his, wipes the tears from her face with his thumbs, and kisses her forehead.

  “I left our family home in Shanghai, hoping to leave behind the sadness. But, wherever you go…”

  “There you are.” His thumbs wipe more tears from her cheeks. Then he lands butterfly kisses on her temples, her cheekbones, and her nose.

  “Pierce, I want...to make love...to you.” She sniffles. Her heart beats a hundred beats per minute.

  “I was waiting to hear you say it.” He smiles at her. “I want to make love to you too.” He cups her cheeks in his hands. He lands more butterfly kisses on her forehead and her eyebrows.

  “When?” She stands up straight and looks around the room.

  “Not in here!” He throws his head back and laughs. “You’re so funny, babe.”

  “Babe?”

  “I’m about to share my most intimate possession with you. Is it okay if I call you babe?”

  “Yes!” She laughs. “Then afterward?”

  “Yes, then afterward, we’ll make love.” He laughs. “You’re the first eager virgin I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m almost twenty-five! I’m more than ready.” She giggles.

  “Why did you wait so long?” He caresses her cheekbones with his thumbs while still holding her face.

  “I was waiting until I was sure.”

  “Are you sure now?” He tilts his head to the right and stares innocently into her eyes.

  Audrey feels her heart swell. She feels the anticipation of new love. She feels the excitement of the possibility of happily-ever-after. She feels nervous, anxious, and giddy. She wants to welcome Pierce into her heart with wide open arms. She is happy that Pierce is the man to whom she will give her virginity. Her technical virginity. She wonders if she should explain this to him? Whitney and Arabella would advise her not to say too much. Nora would tell her that she must disclose everything. Sasha would tell her that a lady never tells her real age, nor how many men she’s slept with; so, her technical virginity is nobody’s business. Or is it?

  “I’m sure. I’m just nervous.”

  “Come, let’s swim it off.” He kisses her firmly on the mouth. “Turn around.” She spins around and places her hands flat on the wall. Pierce zips up the wetsuit. Then closes the Velcro neck closure to fit snugly against her neck.

  “This smells like rubber tires.” She looks to her right at her reflection in the floor to ceiling mirror. Then she admires Pierce’s physique in his black wetsuit. She can make out the muscles in his legs, buttocks, and back. She smiles when he catches her staring.

  “Come on, babe!” He swats her butt, and she laughs. A shadow of lust fleets across his face. “Let’s get out of here before I lose all of my willpower.” He takes her hand and leads her out of the fitting room.

  “You have a lot of self-control.” She squeezes his hand. She hopes he doesn’t notice how much her hands are sweating.

  “Put these goggles on.” He hands her clear goggles. “Put this into your mouth. You’ll breathe through this mouthpiece. Have you ever gone snorkeling?”

  She nods her head.

  “I can’t hear your head nodding.”

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks. I need verbal answers. In this age of consent, I need to hear your words.”

  “That’s hot.” Audrey touches Pierce’s cheek with her open palm.

  “Thanks.” He puts on his clear goggles. Then he shows her how to breathe through the mouthpiece. Then he climbs up the steps built into the wall at the end of the ten-foot-high aquarium and climbs down the ladder into the tank. He reaches up and helps Audrey into the aquarium. She holds onto the ladder.

  Once inside, she feels light and weightless and free. She feels like she’s floating in space. The bright pinks and blues and yellows of the fish and the coral reefs mesmerize. Fish swim up to her and dart around her. She extends her hands to allow the fish to swim through her fingers. It reminds her of when she went snorkeling in Honolulu with her friends on a spring break in coll
ege. She admires Pierce who brought her to this wonderland. She loves the happy memories the aquarium brings back to her. Her heart swells at her love for the moment with Pierce.

  He hands her some seaweed. Immediately, some large black and yellow fish with specks of blue swim up to her and nibble at the seaweed. Her heart swells as the fish trust her enough to eat food out of her hand.

  She looks over at Pierce feeding fish seaweed out his hand, and her heart expands. She wants to cook dinner for him and do his laundry and listen to him talk about fish. She wants to spend hours with him walking along the beach or driving along the island or swimming in the sea. She wants to smell his salty scent and feel his smooth hands in her hair and hear his deep laugh every day. She wonders if it’s too soon to feel like she wants to spend forever with Pierce. But, when you’re sure, you’re sure. Right?

  Seconds, minutes, or hours pass by. Audrey is not sure how long she’s been in the aquarium feeding the fish, feeling them swim through her fingers, and floating beside the coral reefs. The salt water soothes her grief. The salt water calms her nerves. Seeing Pierce swimming with the fish and feeding them feels so natural and comfortable and right. Her heart swells until she thinks that he can see the growing love in her eyes or feel the love pouring out of her heart.

  When Pierce signals for them to go up, he takes her hand and leads her to the ladder. He helps her climb up first. Then he follows close behind. Then they get out of the tank, climb down the steps, and take off their masks and airlines.

  “That was amazing!” Audrey gushes once she catches her breath.

  “Right!” Pierce high-fives her. They stand facing each other, looking into each other’s eyes.

  Audrey’s desire and love for Pierce grows as she stands before him, dripping wet. His boyish enthusiasm warms her heart. She wants to hold his hand while walking down the crowded streets of Hong Kong. She wants to kiss him on the Eiffel Tower. She wants to bike the busy streets of Paris with him. She wants to do all of the touristy things that she and her friends are too cool to do when they travel together.

  In his eyes, she sees adoration and growing desire. Breathing deeply, she smells sea salt. She licks her lips, which feel dry from being closed around the mouthpiece. She hears her breath growing shallow.

  “Do you want some help...taking that off?” Pierce’s eyes sweep down the length of her body and back up to her eyes.

  “Yes.” She swallows.

  “After you.”

  She takes his hand and leads him to the changing room.

  “My hair is a mess.” She reaches up to her dirty-blonde hair that she has pulled back into a ponytail.

  “You’re beautiful.” Slowly he turns Audrey around to face him.

  “You’re hot.” She says softly.

  This makes him laugh loudly. “You’re so funny.”

  “Has no one ever told you that before?”

  “No. Guys rarely get compliments.” He runs his knuckles along her cheek. “Turn around. Let’s get you out of this.”

  She spins around and leans her hands against the wall again.

  “You like assuming that position.” He laughs as he undoes the Velcro at her neck and then pulls down the zipper. He runs his fingers down her exposed spine, causing her to inhale sharply and stand at attention.

  “Do you want some help with your suit?” She bites her bottom lip. She’s nervous. She’s excited. She wants to see his body and touch him everywhere.

  “I’d love that.” He takes the wetsuit by the collar and peels it off one arm and then the other. Then he folds the front in half without turning her around. He pulls the suit down over her torso, hips, and buttocks. “Right foot.” He taps her right foot. She raises it off the floor. Now kneeling, Pierce pulls the wetsuit off her foot. “Left foot.” She lifts her left foot off the floor and rests her weight in her palms against the wall. “There.”

  He stands up behind and rests his hands lightly on her shoulders.

  “My turn.” He turns around before she turns around.

  She spins around. Eagerly, reaches up and pulls back the Velcro at his neck. Then she yanks on the zipper.

  “Easy!” Pierce laughs.

  “Oops.” She blushes. Her stomach flutters. She pulls gently on the zipper. It reveals his muscular back. When her hands reach the base of his spine, they begin to tremble. She feels overwhelmed. When she reaches up to pull the torso down, she finds that she’s too short to leverage the wetsuit.

  “Do you want me to sit down?” Pierce turns to look at her over his shoulder. His eyes dart down to her breasts in her lace bra. He swallows.

  “Yes.” He sits down on the bench. He is now eye level with her. His eyes dance back and forth between her breasts and her eyes. “Audrey.” Her name comes out as a plea.

  She rolls the wetsuit down over his torso and pulls his arms out one at a time.

  “Stand up.” She commands.

  He smiles at her and stands up. She pulls down the suit from his waist. Then she kneels before him. Her face is level with his black briefs.

  “I would’ve thought you were a boxer-briefs kind of guy.” She notices the movement in his underwear. Her stomach does somersaults at the anticipation of seeing what’s inside.

  “Usually, I am. But with a wetsuit, it’s more comfortable to wear Speedos.”

  She laughs so hard that she stops pulling the wetsuit down off his legs. She grips his calves to steady herself. Her face is right before his pelvis. She sees a tent growing in his briefs.

  “Audrey, you’re killing me.” Pierce bends down and pulls the wetsuit off one foot and then the other. “Let’s go take a shower.” He extends his hands to her and helps her up. They stand before each other in their underwear. Her nipples ache for his mouth. His body aches for warmth. But he waits. He leads her out of the changing room and out of the aquarium room. Before he opens the heavy door leading back into the hallway, he says:

  “Casa, lights off.”

  In the dark, he pulls open the heavy door that moves silently and slowly.

  “Why’s the door so heavy?” Audrey sees the dimmer light from the hallways.

  “It’s an acoustic door. It keeps the sounds of the machines out of the house.” The door swings shut behind them. “I feel like I should pick you up.”

  “I’d love that.” Audrey stops and lets Pierce sweep her off her feet.

  With one arm underneath her legs and one around her back, he walks down the white-tiled hallway to a clear glass door.

  “Would you do the honors?” He stops in front of the door. She turns the doorknob. He steps over the threshold.

  “Why do I feel like I’m on my honeymoon?” Audrey instantly regrets the words after she says them.

  She wants to blame it on the alcohol, but four drinks do not make her drunk. She wants to blame it on the oxygen from diving, but she feels fine. She has no one to blame but herself. Her own romanticism. Her need to fit every scene into some pre-packaged idea. Why does this have to feel like a honeymoon? Why can’t it just feel good?

  “Because I just carried you over the threshold?” Pierce’s voice is light. Distant. “Audrey?” He sits her down on the end of the soft grey bedspread. She puts her hands down. Cashmere. She runs her fingers along it. Everything feels so good in this house.

  “Are you sure you’re ready?” He sits beside her and takes her hands.

  She sees all of his muscles. She wants to run her hands along her pecs and down his washboard abs. He’s the most beautiful man she’s ever seen. He looks like a Greek statue come to life. With his long, wavy black hair and chiseled good-looks, he looks like he stepped out of the pages of a perfume ad in a women’s magazine. His body calls to her hands, her fingers, her lips. She can smell the sea salt on him. She wants to taste his salty skin.

  “Yes,” she pants.

  “How do you know you’re ready?”

  She’s surprised by his line of questions.

  Aren’t his hands supposed to be all o
ver her? Isn’t he supposed to be kissing her, holding her, asking her to have sex with him?

  She’s so surprised that she just stares at him.

  “What? You look really surprised.” He runs his fingers along her knuckles.

  “Well, yes.”

  “You expected me to be all over you?” He grins.

  “Yes.”

  “Audrey, what is it that you want?”

  “I want to make love.” She feels light-headed from his fingers caressing her hands.

  “And what do you want from me?”

  Does she dare say it?

  She hesitates.

  She wants to tell him what she wants.

  She wants to be brave and honest and open.

  She wants to open her heart and tell him that she wants love.

  She wants to tell him that she wants I-choose-you-and-only-you love.

  She takes a deep breath and gushes:

  “I want Maui to be our Paris. I want you to be my Humphrey. And I’ll be your Ingrid Bergman. Except this time, we’ll stay together in the end. And I don’t know if I should say this—”

  “Say it.” He clasps her hands

  “Because I don’t want to scare you—” She squeezes his hands

  “Just say it.” He squeezes back and leans towards her in earnest.

  “One day, I want to go to city hall and get married before the Justice of Peace. I don’t want a big wedding. One day, I want to have a reception at the New York Botanical Garden in the spring when the orchids are in bloom. I want to walk hand-in-hand inhaling the floral scent of blooming tulips in the Netherlands. I want love.” She rushes on before she loses her nerve. Looking him straight in his attentive brown eyes, she says, “I want I-choose-you-every-day-kind-of-love.” She’s run out of breath from nervousness when she stops.

  She notices his hair fall from behind his ears. His head is tilted forward in complete attention. She knows that she’s fallen for him. She didn’t think love-at-first-sight was possible, but this is kind of close. This is love on-a-first-date. Although, technically, it’s not a first date. Thinking of technicalities, Audrey feels the need to come clean. Even though she can hear Arabella telling her not to say anything, she can’t help herself.