‘What the hell are you doing back here? I thought you weren’t coming back until Monday … what happened to the luxurious sex weekend with your billionaire?’
Jess switched on the kettle, and then reached for a mug for Cathy. Small, mundane tasks kept her focused. Made everything normal. Kept a lid on things.
‘He’s not my billionaire and it wasn’t a fixed thing, staying until Monday,’ she said, forcing her voice to sound normal, with a lid on that too.
Cathy strode across the room, and put her hand on Jess’s arm, forcing her to turn. ‘If he’s dumped you, I’ll bloody well hunt him down and kill him, millions notwithstanding. The shit! The absolute shit!’
Jess let out a tight little laugh. It was funny, really. She’d been the one to finish it herself, not Ellis. His style would probably have been to complete the weekend and make it as lavish and hedonistic for her as possible. A parting gift laden with gorgeous food, more champagne and orgasm after orgasm after orgasm. He would have taken her wherever she wanted to go by day, and held her in his arms at night. Which would only have made it harder to part. A clean break was far better for both of them.
Keep telling yourself that …
‘No! He hasn’t dumped me. Not in the slightest. He’s been perfect and wonderful and kind … and the ideal lover …’ She gave Cathy a very firm look. ‘But that’s just the problem. He’s too fabulous. So I’m going cold turkey now, rather than carry on enjoying all the fabulousness and then find that I’ve gone and got addicted to him.’
Cathy pursed her lips and shrugged. ‘If you say so. I guess that makes good sense, really. It’s just that I was hoping this was Cinderella and you and he would stay together. Like a movie, you know?’
The kettle whistled and Jess brewed the tea before speaking.
‘Nope, not a movie. Just a wonderful, magical interlude type thing. A lot of people don’t even get that.’ She fussed with the milk bottle and sugar bowl. ‘He can’t get over his wife, and in a way, I sort of admire that, even though he’d be a much happier person if he could move on.’ She turned and rested her hip against the counter top. ‘And it’s much better for me to just have these three … um … encounters with him … so I can move on.’
‘But who to?’
‘I don’t know. But I’ve got to try …’ Jess looked at the sugar bowl, and somehow couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’ve had a taste of sweetness now, and I’m not going to give it up again, even if the finest and rarest honey to end all honey is unavailable.’
‘Bloody good for you!’ Cathy said, taking charge of the teapot, giving it a stir, then pouring the tea.
‘But don’t worry, I’m not going to turn into some kind of slag, sleeping with every man who crosses my path. I’ll be very selective. Only ones that have clear potential to be something more.’
Cathy nodded. ‘Very wise … and I think you should probably start with Josh Redding. He sounds as if he has potential. He’s an artist like you, and he sounds really nice from what you’ve said about him.’
‘He’s a prospect, certainly.’ Jess took her mug of tea.
‘Well, if you really do want to move on, you should go out with him. Didn’t you say he’d asked you to go and see some arty movie with him?’
Was it too soon? Was all her bravado about sugar and moving on a façade? ‘I’m thinking about it, Cathy. Really thinking … But what I do really need to do now is get some sleep. I think I’ll take this up. Sorry to have disturbed you … and don’t worry about me, will you?’ Cathy’s forehead crimped in a frown. ‘I don’t have any regrets, Cath, really I don’t. Ellis McKenna is something I wouldn’t have missed for all the world, even if he wasn’t Mr Right, you know?’
‘If you say so.’
‘I do. Now, let’s get some sleep, eh? I think I might have a day out tomorrow. Go to the City Art Gallery, and have a snoop round the shops. Get some Starbucks … Are you available?’
Yes, much better to get out, get fresh and act normal. Anything other than mooching about home, letting yourself get maudlin, and pining for the perfect love that could never be.
The week that followed passed in an odd sort of cotton wool state. Jess got on with life during the day, living in the moment, not allowing herself to think too much about anything.
It was only at night, lying in bed alone, that she allowed herself to think about Ellis, and replay all the precious memories of being with him. Not just the sex. In fact, memorable as it had been, she didn’t revisit it all that much. It was the other things that were so drilled in that she just couldn’t quit them.
Talking. Laughing. Swimming in his pool. Sharing views on art. Eating that enormous and fabulous tea at The Ritz. The Courtauld. Little moments of pure, perfect gold.
It’s going to take a long time is this getting over him, she told herself in the darkness. So, I’m really going to have to try hard, and try soon.
Ellis had asked her if she’d mind if he called her, or whether she’d prefer him not to. Jess had said that not was probably best, at least until they’d put some distance between each other.
‘But if you need anything. Anything at all. Contact me immediately. Promise me that,’ he’d said as she was about to board the jet. He’d also asked if she wanted him to accompany her back home, but she’d declined, and he’d acceded to her wishes.
The only thing I really want from you is what I can’t have.
So it was best to get on with life.
At life class, she was glad that Josh came to chat at break-time and didn’t ask any probing questions about her weekend. She almost wondered if he sensed something, especially when he repeated his invitation to the Munch film.
‘Yes, I’d love to,’ she’d answered, feeling vaguely mean when his face lit up.
I hope I don’t turn into his ‘Ellis’.
But still she knew she had to give him a chance.
This is crazy. I need to get a grip. I can’t go on like this.
Again and again in the week after Jess’s London visit, Ellis found his spirits lifting, and experienced an almost boyish sense of anticipation that made him smile.
But then he’d remember …
He and Jess had parted. He would not be seeing her at the weekend. There was nothing to look forward to.
What was wrong with him? He’d never felt like this before. With his previous girlfriends and lovers, he’d always enjoyed the sex, and also the temporary companionship. But no matter how much he’d liked them, he’d never missed them when he’d not been with them.
The only person he’d ever missed was Julie. And his daughters.
Now it was Saturday night, and he was at Windermere Hall. Alone and missing … someone.
Julie? Yes, insomuch as he would always remember her. Always love her. But she was gone, and somehow now, that simple fact didn’t produce the sharp lance of pain that it always had done. He could accept it now. Live with it.
What’s the matter with me? Julie, what’s the matter with me?
He prowled the house. In the sitting room, he paused in front of each of his new Hunter pictures, pleased with the way they looked, but unsettled. In the bedroom, he admired the vibrant Cadell. In the pool room, he trailed his fingers in the water, wondering whether to swim, but too restless.
Julie had never been here, nor had the girls, but he was still looking for someone, missing someone who had been here. Someone who’d talked and laughed and swum with him, who’d helped him choose the pictures. Someone who’d given her beautiful body to him, shared pleasure and experimentation, always smiling. Someone who’d created amazing art here, especially the two drawings she’d left in his London flat as a gift, to stir not only his libido but other deeper, finer emotions that left him shaking.
Jess, oh Jess!
She was the one he was missing. The one he ached for now. He wanted her, but he wanted more. Oh hell, he wanted what she’d admitted, in her honesty, that she wanted herself. It was what he wanted and needed too. And now he’d let her go. Almost sent her away. Encouraged her towards a new life, with some notional new man she’d probably marry. Possibly even this Josh character she’d talked about and whom he’d as good as pushed her towards.
God damn it to hell, what if this Josh is Mr Right?
No! No! No!
I’m your Mr Right, Jess Lockhart. I’m the one who loves you.
And yet … still … he had to make his peace with Julie first. Purposeful now, he strode to the small library he used as an office, pulling open a drawer in the sideboard that he rarely opened, because of the pain it contained.
Drawing out the album from within, he took it to the desk and sat down in his leather wing chair. Julie had been an aficionado of what she’d staunchly declared to be ‘real’ photography: vintage cameras, film, prints lovingly developed and preserved. He was glad of it now, as he turned the pages, not saying goodbye, but allowing them to leave him peacefully, and let spirits both lost and still alive grow tranquil.
His wife had been beautiful, and their children adorable. But now there was no guilt in longing for a different beauty … and musing perhaps … examining the possibility that one day there might be other children to adore.
He studied the smiles in the prints, still wondering … Had they thought of him in those last moments? Had there even been time? Onlookers had reported that all the gunman’s victims had dropped like stones, gone in the blink of an eye. So Ellis could only go on what he felt, on what he believed without knowing how.
He wasn’t a superstitious man, and his faith was nebulous at best, but looking at the smiling images of his wife and daughters … his late wife and daughters … he knew. He just knew.
He understood what he’d not allowed himself to truly accept until now, not completely. Which was that generous, huge-hearted Julie would never want him to lead a sterile, loveless life if she wasn’t there, and that his sweet daughters would always want their daddy to be happy, whatever happened.
And the only way for me to be happy is with you, Jess.
He smiled, echoing the expressions of his lost family, knowing he had their permission to be happy again too. And permission to release the guilt he’d felt over their deaths … and the new guilt over falling in love again.
I haven’t known you long, Jess, but I know I can be happy with you. Because I do love you. I’m a love at first sight guy. I was with Julie and I am with you too.
Pressing a last kiss against each cherished face in the album, he closed it and slid it onto the sideboard. No need to hide it any more.
There was just one last thing to do. A big step, but he could do it now. Touching the gold of his wedding ring, he slid it off his finger, kissed it, and then placed it in the ring box that had been tucked away in the drawer along with the album.
His heart suddenly pounding, he reached for his phone and started dialling.
What do you think you are, you fool? Some kind of spook or private detective? Sitting here in the dark, watching her front door. You’re pathetic!
Why was he lurking here, slumped down behind the wheel of his Mercedes SUV, across the road from Jess’s place, waiting for her to come home?
Ellis had tried to ring Jess repeatedly, but her phone was turned off. He’d tried to compose texts, but the limitations of the medium had caused him to end up swearing and nearly stomping his mobile into tiny pieces before abandoning the effort. Business messages he could compose with consummate ease, but this, God, this was so much more important.
Finally, he’d rung the house, and spoken to Cathy.
‘She’s out. She’s gone to the pictures with a bloke from the art class. She’s probably turned her phone off so they don’t disturb people in the cinema. The last time we went, there was some inconsiderate git who was calling and texting his mates all the way through the movie.’
Logical, but Ellis still wondered. What if she’d turned the damn thing off so she didn’t have to speak to him? Because she didn’t want there to be a possibility of him interrupting her while she was trying to forge a bond with a new male friend, this nice Josh she’d spoken of, who was suitable and who could be Mr Right.
Jess’s house-mate had been going out herself, but she had asked if she could pass on a message. Ellis had said, Yes, yes please, just tell her that I called.
But now he was here, sitting in the darkness, because he was a lovelorn idiot and he had to make Jess his, and prevent her forging that bond with another man.
Tapping his fingers on the wheel of his Mercedes, he was almost glad the Citroën was in the garage, undergoing an expensive refurbishment. If she came back now, she wouldn’t recognise this chunky SUV, and he could watch, surreptitiously, weaving his strategy, if she should happen to bring her art-loving friend home with her.
But what if it was already too late? What if courageous Jess had decided that a man still married to his own dead wife was a hopeless cause, and she’d plunged forward, impulsive and passionate, into her future?
After all, she plunged in with you, didn’t she? Like a lioness … It was one of the greatest, bravest leaps a woman can make.
Ellis was bemused by his own thoughts. This was the antithesis of his usual modus operandi. He was decisive, determined, almost ruthless sometimes. He had to be. And sometimes he was arrogant and overpowering with women too.
But he couldn’t be that way with Jess. He respected all women, but he respected her more. He respected her as much as he had done Julie, the first woman he’d respected and loved.
Driving here, he’d compared the two loves, finally able to do so. He loved Jess just as much as Julie. Not more, but differently, and it felt just as wonderful. He wasn’t a conventionally religious man, but again he felt that somewhere, somehow, Julie had watched his deliberations over the photographs and said, Go for it, you silly bugger! Go on! Be happy!
A taxi hove into view, interrupting his metaphysical musings. His heart went thud, thud, thud, like that of a callow youth sighting his first date. Was it her? Was she back? Was the goddamned nice Josh from life class with her?
Atavistic possessiveness surged in Ellis’s gut like acid. No woman could belong to one man, but try telling his caveman brain that.
In every rational way, he’s probably a better man for you than I am … but he can’t have you!
But her expression as she paid off the taxi – yes, it was his gorgeous Jess – stopped him in his tracks, and kept him slouched low in his seat in the dark SUV that she wouldn’t recognise.
Jess was smiling to herself. She was glowing. She looked almost triumphant.
Fuck! Hell! Damn!
It had worked out. She’d had a successful date. She really liked nice Josh and, disaster of disasters, she was going to see him again … and more.
Ellis realised he was now clutching at the steering wheel so tightly that his fingers were hurting. He relaxed them, but he couldn’t relax his whirling mind. He almost moaned when his beautiful, smiling Jess disappeared into the house.
What was going on? If the date had been so fabulous and made her so happy, where was Nice Man? Thank God, at least it seemed as if they weren’t going to sleep together this first time. Was there still a chance for Mr Wrong? For Mr Sex, the man so deeply in love that he hadn’t even realised it until it was almost too late?
Ellis still couldn’t understand his own hesitancy. He had to move now. Speak to her. Declare himself. And yet he remembered how, sometimes, with Julie, he had been more cautious and measured, holding back to think through what was best for her, rather than charging like the proverbial bull at a gate and ruining everything by grabbing for what he wanted rather than what she needed.
For ten minutes, Ellis sat there, working out how best to lay his heart before Jess and reveal his feelings to her. How most effectively to state the case for himself rather than that other man. Most of those ten minutes involved more cursing and blinding at himself for being a hesitating fool.
Just bloody well go and knock on the door, you clown!
But just as he was reaching for the handle, another taxi drew up outside Jess’s house, with a toot of its horn.
No! She’s going to him!
And yes, here came Jess from the door, still looking bright-faced and happy and determined. She had her overnight bag with her too.
No! No! No!
It seemed a slightly odd way to go about things, but she was going to wherever her new man was, and they were going to sleep together. And it would be the start of ‘something wonderful’ for them, and a new lifetime of loss and agony for Ellis McKenna.
She would be happy. He had to face that. It was what he wanted for her. Her happiness was a priority that over-rode every single one of his own feelings, and maybe someday, he’d find a kind of peace in knowing she was leading a happy life with another man.
Someday …
No! Fuck it! Bloody hell!
Ellis hurled himself out of the SUV, almost stumbling, but not caring if he fell or twisted his ankle or worse. Like a sprinter, he hurtled towards the taxi. Jess was already inside, and the brake lights went off. Summoning a turn of speed he hadn’t achieved since he was a teenaged runner, trying to prove to himself that his damaged foot would never hold him back, Ellis raced along the pavement, then jumped out into the road, in front of the black cab, waving his arms, knowing he looked like a raving lunatic, but still not caring at all what anyone thought except Jess, and she already knew he was a crazy man anyway.
The cabbie looked shocked, but pulled up just inches from Ellis’s shins. He looked angry then, instead, and rolled down the window.
‘What the hell are you doing, you stupid bastard?’
Ellis ignored him, and ran to the rear passenger window, banging on it. ‘Jess! Jess! Please wait … don’t go!’ Her face looked pale inside the cab, but thank God, she was still smiling. She had her phone in her hand, as if about to turn it on.
‘Shall I drive on, miss?’ the cabbie asked.
‘No, it’s okay,’ Jess said, and Ellis saw her stuff the mobile in her bag and rummage about, presumably for money. Digging in his own pocket, he pulled out his wallet, almost tore a wad of notes in half getting them out, and thrust them at the driver.
‘Are you sure you’ll be all right, miss?’ Ellis couldn’t fault the cabbie’s concern for his passenger, even in the face of being massively overpaid, but he just wished the man would shut up, and let Jess get out.
‘Everything’s fine … now.’
When the passenger door was released, Ellis half climbed in and almost hauled Jess and her bag out bodily, his arms encircling her as if that were their default position. Holding her …
With a last nod in Jess’s direction, the cabbie put his vehicle in gear, and then sped away. Ellis held on to Jess for dear life, tightening his embrace, breathing in her scent and feeling the sweet strength of her seep into him and restore his sanity.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said, kissing her hair and rubbing his face against hers, ‘I just couldn’t let you go to him. I know he’s probably a much better man for you. He’s everything you need … and he’ll make you happy.’ A lump formed in his throat, and he found himself blinking, his eyes tearing up. ‘But give me a chance, Jess, and I’ll do everything in my power to make you just as happy. I’ll really try … I’ll do anything you want!’
Her body shook in his hold. Damn, was it shock? Had he frightened her with his deranged antics? He held her closer, running his hands over her hair, her back.
But it wasn’t a reaction. And, realising that, Ellis found himself smiling, then laughing … because Jess was laughing too.
‘Fuck, yes, I know I’m a raving lunatic. But it’s you that makes me crazy, Jess. The thought of losing you, that’s what’s made me behave like this.’
She looked up at him, her lovely eyes glowing, warm with … with beautiful emotion. A positive emotion. The emotion she’d expressed with such dignity before, back in London.
‘You are a lunatic, Ellis McKenna, you really are.’ She leant in and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was the sweetest they’d ever shared, and possibly the most chaste. ‘Where on earth do you think I was going just now, you crazy man?’
‘To your artist guy, to Josh’s house, to spend the night together.’
‘Oh, you are a plonker, Ellis, really!’ She shook her head, her shiny hair rippling. ‘I was on my way to Windermere Hall, to you, you fool!’
‘But I saw you come in about fifteen minutes ago, and you were smiling. You looked really happy.’ Despite his words, he was beginning to believe in miracles, and his heart was pounding faster than ever. If it hadn’t meant letting go of Jess, he would have leapt up in the air and punched the sky in triumph.
‘I was happy. I am happy,’ said Jess gently, her face glowing more than ever if that were possible. ‘I had a very pleasant evening with Josh, but it made me realise something crucially important.’ She paused to kiss him again. ‘It made me realise who I really had to be with. The man I really want and love. I was looking happy because I’d made a decision and I’d found the strength to follow up on it. I was coming to you, Ellis, to tell you that I love you. I rang Windermere Hall, and I got transferred to one of your PA people, who said you were in residence there, but out at the moment.’ She gave a little shrug. ‘I was just about to phone your mobile from the cab, but then I thought, to hell with it, I’d be better off telling you how I feel in person. Face to face. I might have chickened out otherwise …’ She hesitated again, as if reaching a tipping point. ‘I know you had a perfect marriage with Julie, but I think you and I can be happy together too. If we give it a chance. So, that’s why I’d rung for a taxi … to take me to Windermere Hall, so I could wait for you there, and then state my case.’
For once in his life, Ellis was lost for words. He just muttered, ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’ and tightened his arms around Jess, lifting her up off her feet and whirling her around in his hold, for pure joy. His heart nearly burst with happiness when she grabbed onto him, just as tight.
‘Are you all right, Ellis?’ she enquired when he set her down, reaching to stroke his face. ‘You look totally thunderstruck.’
‘I am,’ he said, laughing again. ‘I’m thunderstruck by the things that have dawned on me tonight, and I’m just about as all right as it’s possible to be.’
Jess stared into his eyes. He knew she saw all, saw his nonsense, understood it, and accepted it. ‘So, do you want to go inside, or do you want to whisk me away in what seems to be an alternative chariot, to your local sex lair?’ She nodded to the black SUV. ‘Where is the Blue Whale, by the way?’
‘In the garage, for a bit of an overhaul …’ Cars seemed so unimportant at the moment, other than a means of getting him and the woman he loved to privacy and a bed. ‘Let’s go to Windermere, eh? It’s not that far and the drive will give me a chance to get my head together.’ He released her, and picked up the small overnight bag she’d dropped in all the kerfuffle. ‘And I’ll bet you haven’t got any champagne in the fridge in there, have you?’
‘No, I haven’t, although I was thinking about getting some …’ Her smile became creamy, knowing … supremely female, but at the same time with a jittery, excited quality. ‘Why do we need champagne, Ellis?’
‘To celebrate the fact that I’ve fallen in love with you, and that I love you, and I don’t think I can go on living without you!’ With his free hand, he grabbed hers, and led her towards the SUV. ‘Now, are you coming, or do I have to pick you up and carry you?’
Her answer was a grin as she broke into a run, leading him.
Another bed. Another glass of champagne. But how different were the circumstances this time.
Jess hitched herself up, to sit up straight against the pillows for the toast. Ellis’s beautiful eyes sparkled like the famous wine in the glasses that they clinked.
‘To you, Jess.’ He paused, and his naked chest lifted as he took a deep breath. ‘Thank you for saving me. Thank you for giving me a chance and loving me.’
Now it was Jess’s turn to feel breathless. It was real. All real. Not one of her pre-Ellis daydreams. This was actually happening.
‘To you … Mr Right. After all.’
The champagne was the best stuff this time, but even flat lemonade would have tasted like nectar to Jess under these circumstances. Fresh from tender, passionate lovemaking and with Ellis’s many heartfelt iterations of I love you still singing in her ears.
He’d loved another woman deeply, and probably still did and always would, but now Jess knew it was possible for Ellis to love again, to love her, the one love not taking anything away from the other. Okay, she was human and there might be times when she was jealous, and when she wished she’d been the first, but loving Julie had made Ellis the man he was today … the man she loved.
‘I hope so,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘I’m sure I won’t be an easy ride, but you’re a smart woman. If anybody can cope with me, you’re the one.’
‘I know … it’s going to be such a trial for me, isn’t it? Living with a breathtakingly handsome billionaire who’s amazing in bed? How will I survive?’ She clinked her glass to his again.
‘Seriously though … I’ll do whatever I can to give you the life you want.’ Their glasses were empty now, so he set them aside on the bedside cabinet. ‘Your terms, Jess. If you want to live together, we live together. If you want us to just see each other to start with, that’s our pace.’ He paused and, for a moment, he snagged his lower lip. ‘If you want marriage, that’s what I want. As soon as you want, or after whatever “getting to know you” period you feel comfortable with.’
‘Crikey …’
‘I know that in real terms, we’ve not been together long. Barely a few weeks.’ He took her hands in his, and smothered them in kisses. ‘But I’m sure. This is how it is for me. I know myself again, the way I once did … and that’s all down to you.’
Jess found herself shaking and, an instant later, she was wrapped in Ellis’s arms. She was sure. This was her first relationship, but still she knew herself, and she was sure.
‘Marriage, yes,’ she said, snuggling in close, loving the warmth of Ellis’s body. Sex with him was amazing, but simple proximity had its own sweet charm. ‘Maybe not quite next week or anything … Let’s give it a month or two, to give your family and my sister and my friends a chance to get used to the idea. But in the meantime, well, maybe I could start to move in here?’
Ellis’s arms tightened. ‘Good! I know it’ll be a big adjustment for both of us … I spend the week in London. I travel a lot. But I can travel less. It’s not impossible to run large business empires nowadays barely travelling at all. Unless you want to travel, to see the world with me?’
‘I’m not sure yet. It’s all a bit crazy. I think I should sort of ease into things.’
Ellis laughed softly, and she had a feeling he was thinking something naughty, but at the same time, trying to remain rational. ‘One thing … please tell me you don’t want to continue working at Windsor Insurance. Now that would be just too weird.’
It was Jess’s turn to laugh. ‘Oh, I think I can quite safely say that working as a drone in one of your lesser companies is far from my life’s ambition.’ She paused, trying to make sense of her happy overload. ‘But I will have to have something in my life … something of my own. I’ve been thinking about what you said, about making a career of my art. And I’ve decided I want it … just as I want you. I’ve been given a talent, and I shouldn’t waste it. I should celebrate it.’
She pulled away, and looked closely at his face. He was smiling. ‘I most heartily concur. I want you to fulfil your potential and make the most of your gifts.’ Then he looked more serious. ‘You should pursue an art career. Pursue it seriously. I’ll help in any way I can, and support any path you choose. Study. A degree. Whatever you want, you can have it now.’
With Ellis at her side, Jess felt as if she could achieve anything. She’d always had a quiet self-belief, but now it was as if any goal she chose to reach for was attainable.
‘Not entirely sure about a full-on art degree, but there are short courses and lectures and summer schools at the Courtauld I’d like to attend, definitely. The London sex lair would make a great base for all that.’ She gave him a wink. ‘And we could do all the galleries and all the exhibitions … that is, in between shagging each other senseless and you jazzing about making your billions.’
‘You make the most rational and appealing plans, Ms Lockhart.’ He hesitated, taking the moment to kiss her. ‘That makes perfect sense … but right now, do you think we might make a start on the senseless shagging. Lying in bed next to you always seems to have a rather marked effect on me.’
Jess followed his eye-line to the very marked bump beneath the sheet in his general groin area. And that had a marked effect upon her too.
I’ll wake up soon, she thought. This is just a delicious figment of my imagination. A Dream Lover scenario gone wild.
But as she subsided onto her back and pulled him towards her, she was far too horny and too happy to even consider that possibility.
‘Come on, Mr Right, show me what you’re made of …’ She grinned up at him, letting her thighs open wide, inviting him to pleasure her. ‘I need some more of your billion dollar lovemaking!’
‘I’ll have you know that the McKennas are sterling billionaires, Ms Lockhart,’ Ellis shot back, laughing as he paused to roll on a condom.
‘Even better. Now service me!’ she commanded, drawing his lips down onto hers as he pushed his cock inside her.
The next morning Jess woke up, rolled onto her side, and there was Ellis McKenna, the most beautiful man she had ever seen, sleeping peacefully with a serene, contented smile on his glorious face.
Dream Lover.
Mr Right.
The man who loved her just as much as she loved him.