Billionaire to One (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Chapter 2

  Ash Stone had been here all of ten minutes, and he already wanted to leave, but because of who he was, he was required to make an appearance. He had to make an appearance because he was one of the largest donors to this charity holding the event.

  He was leaning against a pillar looking as bored as he felt with his arms crossed. The lovely woman beside him kept asking him to dance, but he had no desire to dance, and she was getting on his last nerve. Had she always had that whiny voice? He pulled out his cell and sent a text to his head of security telling him what he needed.

  One of his men approached. Mason was one of Ash’s many tuxedo-clad bodyguards spread throughout the room.

  “Dance with her,” he told Mason when he stopped in front of Ash.

  Mason lifted an eyebrow but said nothing. Then he held out his hand. The woman pouted at Ash as she took Mason’s hand, but Ash couldn’t have cared less what the fuck she wanted. He was just tired of fucking listening to her. He knew he should have just come alone. Hell, he couldn’t even remember her name.

  Another hour here and then he would leave, take her whiny ass home, and escape to one of his clubs.

  With a bored expression on his face, he ignored the dancing couple as his dark eyes scanned the room until they lit on a familiar tall blonde coming his way. A slight smile appeared on his face. Tina Ryann was one of the sweetest and most beautiful women he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Nothing about Tina was fake, and she never threw herself at him. She was one of the few women he liked and respected.

  Three years ago he met the blonde beauty and some other models when they had done a photo shoot at one of his elite clubs. Afterward, he had taken them all out to dinner. While all the other models were practicality climbing him and flirting outrageously with him, Tina had been shy and standoffish, almost ignoring him.

  This, for some reason, had intrigued him. After they had eaten he had taken them to another one of his other clubs, and while the other girls danced Tina had stayed, and he had had a chance to talk to her.

  He would never forget the first thing she had ever said to him.

  “I sure do hope you took you vitamins, Mr. Stone, and you might want to purchase a whip to hold them off ’cause them girls are gonna eat you alive.”

  He had laughed. It wasn’t long before they were laughing together and she was telling him about her home and her family. He discovered he really liked her, and he loved her accent. That was how they became friends. When he had asked her out she had surprised him by refusing him in the politest way and told him that he would like her two friends much better than her. Those two said friends were all over him when Tina had winked at him and left, shocking the shit out of him.

  He had found her honesty refreshing. Of course, he found out everything he could about her after that. He ran into her a few times later at different social events and had enjoyed her company. He had made sure Tina had free rein at any of his clubs after that.

  Ash had never told her that he had made some phone calls to a friend who was in the fashion business to get her career on the ball. She would be pissed at him if she knew. He had just made the call she had done the rest all on her own.

  When her modeling career took off he was the one she turned to for advice on how to manage the large amount of money she was suddenly making. She had followed his advice on some investments and had made a ton of money in return.

  He had thought to take her for his own more than once but had decided against it not wanting to ruin their friendship with sex. He had his choice of women to share his bed, and he never kept them every long before he tired of them. Tina was the first real female friend he had ever had. She was by far one of the only women he could truly say he cared about, and that was saying a lot. He trusted few people in the world, but she was one he did.

  When she had hooked up with Marc Chambers he had gone and found him. He threatened the big guy with bodily harm if he ever hurt her.

  When he told Tina that he approved of her dating Marc she had just laughed and hugged him. Tina was like the little sister he had never had. She was the only woman who he ever allowed to give him shit and the woman could sure dish it out if she was on a roll. The women he dated hated her or had hated the relationship he had with her.

  Of course, he knew everything about Tina and her family. Every time they got together for lunch or dinner or ran into one another at a social event Tina always talked about her favorite cousin Tegan. She had even shown him pictures of her on her phone.

  Ash had been taken back the first time he had seen the dark-headed beauty with her large dark-blue eyes and her sinfully full lips. The picture he had in his home office was one where Tegan and Tina had gone to Padre Island, and they were both wearing bikinis.

  He refused to call what he felt for Tegan an obsession. It was more like an intense, deep attraction. He fully intended to be disappointed when she showed up here in a couple of weeks to visit Tina. He was seriously thinking of seducing Tegan. Then he could just forget about her like he had all the rest.

  “Ash, there you are. God, I didn’t think I was going to catch you before you snuck out.”

  “Tina, you are gorgeous as always, and I do not sneak,” he said and kissed her cheek.

  “Yeah, keep telling yourself that, big guy.”

  Fucking woman, always giving him shit, he thought.

  He grinned at her until his eyes landed on the much shorter, dark-headed beauty peeking out from behind Tina. His smile vanished, and his body tensed. A jolt of awareness ran through him. His dark eyes were riveted on her. His cock twitched in his pants. What the fuck? He knew who she is, and he couldn’t believe that she is really here. Tegan, she is really here, and from what he could see, she was even much more alluring than he had thought.

  Get a fucking grip, Stone, he told himself.

  He wondered why she was standing almost behind Tina, and then he realized that Tina had a grip on her arm and was holding her there. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and taste those full fuck-me lips. He fisted his hands at his sides to resist the urge to touch her. He didn’t even realize that he had taken a step toward her until Tina stepped in his way.

  He met her eyes, and she just grinned like Cheshire cat. He almost snarled at her for blocking his line of sight. Fuck.

  “Ash, do you remember me telling you about my cousin, Tegan?”

  Did he remember? Was she fucking joking? Hell yes, he remembered every little detail. Tina’s stories about her beloved cousin had captivated him. He would get pissed the fuck off so bad when Tina would tell him in great detail how their family treated her that he wanted to fly down and kick all their asses for a girl he had never even met before. Yeah, he had it fucking bad.

  Now that he has seen her in person looking good enough to eat, he wondered if her family was fucking insane because the young woman gazing up at him from behind Tina was a fucking knock out. Of course, he had already known that from seeing her pictures that Tina had shown him.

  “Yes, I remember,” he told Tina.

  “Well, I would like you to meet her. I finally just went and got her and brought her home to stay with me,” Tina said, stepping out of the way so he could see all of the lovely vision that was Tegan Ryann.

  Tegan had that deer-in-headlights look on her face when Tina stepped to the side, and she got a good look at the unbelievably gorgeous man before her. Talk about tall, dark, and handsome. Those were mild words compared to what she would use to describe Ash Stone. He looked like a model, so handsome in his tux. He exuded power. This man should have come with a warning label. He was immensely appealing with an overwhelming magnetism that she was sure drew women like flies.

  There was an instant attraction for her anyway. Just standing close to him was a shock to her system. She couldn’t still the butterflies in her stomach or the pounding of her heart.

  She, of course, had heard all about Ash Stone from Tina. Her lips parted, but nothing
came out. Her hand was shaking as she lifted it. She had a complete hot flash run through her whole body as Ash took her hand in both of his and raised it to his mouth, never taking his dark eyes off of her. The second his lips touched her skin, she gasped. A throbbing sensation started between her legs, her nipples hardened, and because of the Brazilian wax Tina made her get at the salon, she could feel the liquid heat pooling there. She bit her lip as a small whimper escaped her. She just knew he was going to think she was a complete idiot, and she hoped she wasn’t drooling.

  Ash’s already-dark eyes seemed to darken even more at the sound. He lowered her hand but had yet to release it and stepped even closer, which forced her to crane her neck back just to look at him.

  “Tegan, it is a pleasure,” he said.

  His voice made her weak in the knees. “Ash, I mean Mr. Stone, it is nice to meet you,” Tegan managed to get out when she remembered to breathe.

  Tina was grinning as she watched the two of them. It was just as she thought it would be—that instant chemistry. Hell, anyone within twenty feet of the two of them could feel it, and then, there was the way they were staring at each other. Tina was more than pleased. Getting Ash and Tegan together was a project she had been working on for a while now. If either one had bothered to notice they would have seen how pleased she was with herself.

  They were still staring at each other when Tina leaned over and whispered something in Ash’s ear.

  Tegan could not tear her eyes away so she saw the expression darken on Ash’s handsome face at whatever Tina had told him. His grip on her hand tightened. Then, dear God, the man stepped even closer. His incredible scent and his body heat engulfed her as she strained her neck to gaze up at him. Damn, the man was tall, but then again everyone was taller than her.

  He tore his eyes from her and glanced over at Tina.

  “I got this. He will not get near her,” Ash told Tina.

  Tina gave him a grateful smile before turning to Tegan. “I have to go get Marc away from Marsh. Stay here with Ash, Teg, until we get back,” Tina told her as she pushed a long wayward strand of hair back from Tegan’s flushed face.

  Tina glanced back at Ash with a slight frown that pissed him the fuck off.

  “She will be fine,” he assured her.

  Tina nodded and walked away, leaving Tegan with Ash. Ash knew how protective Tina was about Tegan, and he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.

  “Tegan, dance with me,” he told her when Tina left.

  He gave her no choice but to follow him as he pulled her to the dance floor. He searched the room for Marsh, the fuck. He should have killed the bastard a long time ago, but Marsh was powerful man with powerful friends, and it could come back on him. If nothing else, Ash was cautious. He had other ways to take care of Marsh that wouldn’t expose him.

  To the outside world Ash was a well-respected businessman, a playboy billionaire. The fact that his grandfather was Vincent Romailli, the head of Romailli family who had strong ties to the mafia, and his godfather was Franklin Motte who ran the Chicago underworld, was unknown to the outside world. That secret served Ash’s purpose well.

  When Tina had come to him when Marsh first started giving her shit and basically stalking her, Ash had had the man checked out. His people discovered Ethan Marsh was into some heavy, illegal shit, and because he had never been caught, he had grown bold and careless.

  When Tina had whispered to him that Marsh was interested in Tegan his first thought was to get her out of here. The need to protect her and the possessive feeling that rose up in him were almost overwhelming. There was no way he was going to let Marsh get his hands on Tegan. He would fucking gut Marsh if came anywhere close to Tegan.

  Ash ignored the woman he had come with as she turned startled eyes to him from where she was still dancing with Mason. He stared down at Tegan as he stopped and drew her against him. She was so tense in his arms.

  “Relax, Tegan,” he whispered close to her ear and grinned when he noticed the goosebumps on her skin.

  He liked knowing that she was not immune to him.

  He almost groaned when he slipped his hand around her waist and felt the silky bare skin of her back. He didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath from Tegan. He also noticed the looks the men around them were giving her as they began to move. He leaned forward so he could see the make of her dress and bit back a curse when he noticed the back opened up and dipped all the way down to the top of her spectacular ass, leaving her back completely bare. He breathed in her intoxicating scent as all the blood rushed to his throbbing cock.

  He knew that just above the top of her ass, she had a small tattoo in a tribal design, and damn if he didn’t want to see it. Hell, he wanted to see all of her and couldn’t wait to get her alone. He narrowed his gaze at the men who kept staring, making them look away. Then he decided to show these fucks who she belonged to. He boldly ran his hand down her spine as he drew her closer. He didn’t miss that Tegan was trembling slightly in his arms or the small sound she made at his touch as she relaxed a little more against him.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  When she looked up at him and smiled, something tightened in his chest. Fuck, she was more enticing than he expected—much more.

  “Yeah, I am just a little nervous is all. This is the first time I have ever been to something like this,” she told him softly.

  Her shy blush, the sound of her sweet southern drawl, and her light sweet scent made his dick twitch and harden even more. He wondered how she would sound screaming his name when he took her to his bed and impaled her on his cock.

  He held her closer knowing there was no way she could miss the fact that he had a massive hard-on that was now pressing against her belly. He heard the sharp intake of breath as he leaned down, smelled the sweet scent of her hair, and slowly ran his hand down her spine until it rested on her lower back. The move made her breasts press against him.

  A predatory smile spread across his face when he drew back enough to see her blush. He had a great view of her large, extraordinary breasts. He couldn’t wait to taste them. He wanted nothing more than to take her out of there and get her back to his place so he could strip her. He wanted to see all of her, taste every inch of her, and spend hours fucking her in every possible way. He hadn’t wanted a woman as much as he wanted Tegan in years.

  If what Tina had told him was true, he suspected his little Tegan was a virgin. He liked the idea of no one but him having her. She was his now, and he looked forward to introducing her to the pleasurers of the flesh. Something dark and primitive rose inside him, and he wanted to mark her so everyone would know she was his. She would never go back to that fucked-up family of hers if he had anything to say about it.

  The first time he had seen a picture of Tegan on Tina’s phone he had felt like someone had hit him over the head with a bat. He wasn’t sure if Tina had even noticed his reaction because she had never stopped talking. Tegan had become an infatuation for him, and it had driven him crazy. Here he was a grown successful man who could not get his mind off a beautiful young girl he had never even met. Now she was here in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go.

  At first he had thrown himself into his work, trying not to think about her, but it didn’t help. He had his guys look up her info and find out everything he could about her and her family. What he had learned had made his fixation worse.

  Tina had told him Tegan never dated because she was very shy and because her father had kept a tight rein on her, not to mention that they had lived way out in the country. This had pleased Ash, but then later Tina had dinner with him one night, and Tina was livid—not at him but at Tegan’s father. Apparently, he was pushing Tegan to go out with some fuck he knew. Ash, of course, said nothing to Tina, but after dinner he put his men on finding out who this fuckwad was.

  It hadn’t taken them long to find everything there was to know about Roland Carson, who was eighteen years older than Tegan and her daddy’s long
time buddy. Carson had land and money, and that was all her daddy had been interested in. Ash had been ready to step in until Tina had come back and told him Tegan had already taken care of it. Carson had tried some shit with her, and Tegan had punched him in the nose and kneed him in the balls. Then she had told her daddy that she was not going to marry the fuck.

  Ash wanted to take care of Tegan, to protect her, to possess her. He actually thought about calling for his plane so it would be ready and taking her to his island, and there would be no place for her to run. Stalker much, Ash? Her leaving New York was not an option. Ash had no idea where all this had come from. All he knew was that Tegan was his and that he would kill anyone who tried to take her from him.

  He had made his mind up to seduce his little Tegan but first he needed to get rid of the whiny bitch he had brought. He caught Mason’s eye. He signaled for him to keep dancing with her when the music ended and another began. He led Tegan back to his table and motioned for his men to move closer.

  He waited for her to sit down before he leaned down close and spoke softly in her ear.

  “Would you like something to drink, Tegan?”

  “Y…yes, that would be nice. Thank you,” she said a little breathlessly.

  He could not resist placing a kiss on her fluttering pulse on her throat. He gave her a wicked grin as he pulled back and noticed how flushed she was.

  Ash stepped away to get his bearings. No woman had ever had this effect on him before.

  He turned to speak to Dan who was one of his bodyguards and felt like knocking Dan’s teeth down his throat when he noticed he was staring at Tegan. Then, Ash noticed all of the men on his security detail were staring at her. He restrained himself when he realized Tegan was watching him. He quickly sent Dan to get them both drinks. He stepped close to another and told him to get the woman he had come with out of there and to take her to her own apartment, not his.

  Chapter 3

  Tegan was nervous as hell and fighting a panic attack but for totally different reason now, and that reason was Ash Stone. She knew her face was flushed, but she couldn’t help it. The man was bit overwhelming. She was still wondering if this was a dream and if she was going to wake up any second now. She didn’t miss that fact the man had had a raging hard-on when they were dancing because it had been pressed against her stomach. Instead of scaring her it had made her hot and achy. Hell, everything about him made her hot and achy.