My billionaire Rockstar by jewel crotan (read a book .TXT) 📖

“What? Ricky, are you kidding me? You could’ve gotten seriously hurt!” yells Edward. He’s clearly agitated by his rash action. I raise an eyebrow at him freaking out. Shouldn’t that be me right now? Who was this guy anyway?

“Edward, calm down already. The point is, I’m not. I’m completely fine. Now, if you don’t mind, Belle and I were just leaving,” he dismisses him with a serious glare.

Then Edward looks over at me, assessing me for a few more seconds before looking puzzled and raising an eyebrow dismissively. I immediately feel uncomfortable. I was an average girl, but too curvy. I’m sure I didn’t measure up to the supermodels Ricky usually dates. In a brief moment, his judgmental and cruel look said it all.

“Fine, but call me if you have any problems next time, okay?” He narrows his eyes and storms off. As soon as he leaves, I turn to Ricky.

“Who’s your ‘friend’? He’s awfully protective of you, isn’t he? I’M the one who was about to start screaming at you for doing such a crazy thing!” I half question and half tease him.

“Oh, never mind him. He’s an old friend who I’ve worked with for a long time. Edward is my manager, I guess you could say. Yes, he knew my dad and he’s protective of me. Probably because we work together and he needs me to stay employed.” He crinkles his tan, Greek god-like nose. “Anyway, why don’t we get out of here. Can I walk you back to your quarters? I want to make sure you’re safe.”

A part of me leaps inside and screams in joy, just looking at him and listening to his sweet words. Before I knew what I was doing, I grin and throw my arms around him for a tight hug. Then I pull back, and feel self-consciously shy all over again.

“I still can’t believe you did that for me. I appreciate it, but I’d never want you to get hurt. It wouldn’t be worth it,” I scold softly with a smile.

“I’m fine, really, Belle. Come on, let’s get outta this hot sun,” he says as he pulls me closer. Inside to myself, I squeal and smile inside. Slowly, we walk off the beach towards my bungalow.

Within a few minutes, we’re at my door. It wasn’t me at all, but in that moment, I didn’t care if it sounded too bold. It only felt right to invite him inside after he’d risked his life for my purse. “Why don’t you come in? Just to have a seat and a drink, at least?”

“Sure, I’d love that. Thank you,” he says as he flashes a polite but irresistibly sexy smile at me. My insides involuntarily tingle every time he speaks and looks at me that way.

I offer him a seat on the couch as I check on drinks. “I hope some wine is okay. It’s all I had time to pick up after I got here.” As I saunter over towards him with our drinks, I feel increasingly flushed again. He’s so distractingly handsome and sexy. And I can’t believe he’s in my living room. After he “saved me,” it was almost starting to feel like a date.

I sit next to him on the couch, feeling acutely aware of how close we are, in a private space.

“Thank you again, Ricky. I’m sorry that happened, but I’m so glad you’re okay. And…besides all that, I’ve had a really nice time with you today.” I look down as my cheeks flush. From the moment we met through and after all the excitement, my feelings for him were spinning out of control, dangerously fast. I was not expecting that.

He looks right into me with his soulful, sexy dark brown eyes. “I had a wonderful time meeting you today, Belle. I’m so glad you did, too. I’d love to see you again. Soon.” His eyes search mine for an answer.

My lips curl into a smile. He wants to see me again? This beautiful, heroic, sexy man wants to see me again? But within an instant, a nagging doubt and sick feeling comes over me. Why? Why and how could a perfect man like him, be interested in an average woman like me? Maybe he was just like my ex and couldn’t be trusted. He must’ve detected my hesitation.

“Belle, what’s wrong? Didn’t you enjoy our time together?” he sounds wounded and tentative.

“No, that’s not it at all. I…I’m sorry. Of course, I’d love to see you again,” I drift off. 

“But? What’s the problem?” he seems genuinely concerned.

“Ricky, I’m not sure if I’m ready for much. Not now. I just came out of a long-term relationship and it didn’t end well,” I admit quietly. “But I do really enjoy you. And our time together,” I say softly, feeling emboldened again.

He leans towards me and takes my hands into his. My heart leaps as I feel his warm hands in mine and we looked deeply into each other’s eyes.

“Beautiful Belle, I understand. I won’t rush you and I don’t ask for much. All I know, is that I really enjoy being with you. We’re kind of on vacation and want to be happy, right? So why don’t we get rid of the pressure with no expectations? Why don’t we just forget about everything else in the world then, and just enjoy each other for now?”

His strong, warm hands burn in mine as he brings them up to his sexy, soft lips to gently kiss the tips of my hands. I feel my insides burning, on fire, as I fight the urge to wince. He has a crazy physical effect on my body and it’s overwhelming.

“No expectations?” I manage to eke out softly. “None,” he whispers as he leans in for a kiss.

For a moment, I feel like I was going to pass out in excitement, wanting and needing his kiss. Then my inner voice screams inside at me, “NO!” I jump back a little.

He seems a little startled or hurt when I jump back. “Oh, Belle, I’m sorry. I…Uh, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. I…I’m sorry, Ricky. Maybe we should talk more later about this. I’m not sure if I’m ready right now. But, I do love your ideas. About enjoying each other for now.”

“I don’t want to rush you. I respect you and what you want. Just know that, we can just get away together…this week only. Indulge ourselves, have fun, enjoy each other. Because we deserve it. And that’s it. Then we’ll go our separate ways, and you won’t even have to think about it again if you don’t want to. No pressure or expectations,” he says matter-of-factly and convincingly as he takes a sip of wine.

“Well, you make a strong case and you’re awfully convincing,” I teasingly whisper to him. He makes some good points. I do deserve some fun time, and it could be nice to forget about my cheating ex for a while. Then it’s back to the regular grind in a few days anyway.

“Mm, don’t tease me, you beautiful creature, you,” he growls at me in a sexy tone.

I can’t help but giggle. Me? A beautiful creature? I feign mock offense.

“You…you’re a beautiful creature, you are,” I stutter a little and get fake-annoyed at him as my voice lowers. Damn it! Real slick, my inner voice chides me. I’m not used to getting lavished with such high praise at all, let alone by someone as Greek-god like as him.

He laughs lightly and pulls me closer. “You are gorgeous. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you, the second you walked into my view.”

“Aw, Ricky, you’re sweet but you don’t have to say all that,” I whisper. “I’m sure you can get any girl you want.”

“Shh…what do you mean? You’re gorgeous, Belle. Look at those beautiful eyes. Soft lips. Perfect skin. Irresistible curves. You’re what I want.”

I’m vaguely aware that my cheeks flush crimson as I bite my lower lip and look at him longingly. Oh, I want him, too.

We lean in, even closer to each other slowly. My temperature rises as I start to feel faint.

Then his warm, soft lips are on mine. We wrap our arms around each other and kiss deeper. His lips feel so soft, his kiss so tender yet passionately hot. I gasp in his mouth, feeling so overwhelmed by his hot kiss. It happens so fast that it scares me a little. I reluctantly pull away.

He stares into my eyes, looking puzzled and searching for clues. After a moment of silence, he gently says, “I don’t want to rush you. It’s fine. I should probably go.”

I slowly smile at him and leap into his arms for a big, tight hug. He smells so divine and his body feels rock hard, smooth and toned underneath me.

“Ricky. Thank you so much for everything. For understanding. For today,” I whisper. “Yes, I’d absolutely love to see you again. I agree, we should make the most of our vacation time.”

“Well, let’s continue where we left off and go out tomorrow then,” he grins at me.

“Oh, I have an orientation and press trip tomorrow. But it’s only during the day. I’ll be back right after dinner. I know you’ve mentioned vacation for you, but some of us are here to actually work, you know,” I say teasingly.

“Oh, no problem. I’ll catch you tomorrow night then, my beautiful Belle,” he says with that incredible smile of his, making me melt instantly.

chapter three

 “I can’t wait,” I purr as I walk him to the door.

* * * *

Last night and this morning has my mind in a fog. I have to focus on work details but my mind keeps going back to my handsome mystery man. The way he made me feel was unmistakable.

In just a few hours, I went crazy for him. But yet, I didn’t even know what he does for a living. Every time personal matters came up, he seemed to distract and change the topic. So how well did I really know him anyway?

Yet I didn’t want to push it. I figure he has his reasons. I was intensely personal and private, so I understood. And we were on a getaway trip partly to leave those things behind.

I couldn't stop thinking about him. After getting ready for my day on the boat tour, I have a little extra time for coffee and a quick call to my friend. I pull out my iPad and Face Time Julia. She answers quickly.

"Hey, girl! I was starting to wonder where you've been," exclaims Julia. In my iPad, I can tell she was just getting up.

"Yeah, sorry. It's kind of been a crazy couple of days. But nothing's wrong. I only have a few minutes so thought I'd check in before taking the local boating tour."

"Ooh, fancy," Julia teases. "Well, I hope you're having fun at least. You know you deserve this, don't you? It's time that you take out some time for yourself. Any hot guys down there?"

"Oh my God," I giggle at her.