Page 376 of The Morally Grey Billionaires Boxset

Gio

I draw in a sharp breath. Fire embraces my cheeks. "I can’t believe you’d throw that at me," I say in a low voice.

His fingers tighten around the steering wheel, then his shoulders bunch.

"I’m not sorry I made you come, but I am sorry I threw it at you like it didn't mean anything.

" He glances in my direction before looking back at the road.

"You have to understand, I couldn't have stood by and allowed that man to talk to you like that. "

"I still think you shouldn’t have been so impolite.” I tip up my chin. “He’s the captain of the rival team. He can make things very difficult for you and the team.”

He makes a growling noise at the back of his throat, and my nerve endings spark. He doesn’t even have to speak. All he has to do is make his grumpy, growly, beast-like noises and, apparently, I turn to putty.

When he doesn’t say anything, I search his features. "I’m serious. You shouldn’t have pushed him like that. You shouldn’t have told him to—"

"Fuck off? I should have punched his throat, then followed it up with a few to his face, then kicked his legs out from under him, before jumping on his chest and—" He shakes his head.

"Fucking hell, you should have seen your face when he was speaking to you.

You should have seen how hurt you were, how you were drawing into yourself, and Goldie…

any man who makes you feel like that deserves a lot worse. "

"There you go, threatening to kill him again.”

"If necessary."

I narrow my gaze. "Don’t do anything stupid, you hear me?"

"Who, me?” He points at himself. “I’m the epitome of playing by the rules."

I make a rude noise, and one side of his mouth twitches.

"For someone who’s so straitlaced, you always surprise me when you do something so irreverent.”

I toss my head. "I only seem to do that with you."

He draws in a breath. “If anyone hurts you, in any form—emotionally, mentally or physically—I won’t hesitate to take them out."

My heart stutters. My belly flip-flops. I should be upset.

I should be alarmed by how this man can deliver that ultimatum in such a matter-of-fact tone.

I should not be aroused by that hint of menace in his words, how his jaw is set, how his cheekbones cut through the air.

How the nerve pops at his temple, hinting at the violence that rolls under his skin.

I thought Rick was grumpy—and he is. But, underneath that facade of hating the world, he’s so much more intense.

He might pretend not to care about anything much, but he sees everything, takes in everything, doesn’t miss a nuance.

He has to be that way, given his past. It’s probably ingrained into him to spot everything that happens around him.

It’s what would have saved his life in the past. This…

intensity about him is also the most arousing thing for me.

He won’t do anything by half measures. He won’t say one thing and do another.

He wouldn’t cheat on me with another; that’s the kind of person he is.

It took me a while to realize that. Maybe subconsciously I did, which is why I agreed to move into his room and then went along with his plan of pretending to be engaged. I wouldn’t have done that if I had any concerns about his character or about the kind of man he is at heart.

Sure, he’s not an easy man to understand, but that’s also part of his appeal.

The guarded face he puts on against the world makes me want to find out what he’s hiding.

That fury that flashes in his eyes when he forgets to hide his emotions.

That look of hurt that accompanies it sometimes, which is so slight that half the time I’m sure I’m imagining it.

That gentleness I sense under that tough exterior of his.

The way he planted himself between me and my ex as if he wanted to shield me from his gaze.

All of it points to a man who’s intense and complex and has a heart so passionate, I can’t wait to get to know him better.

"Pull over," I burst out.

"Eh?" He shoots me a sideways glance.

"Pull over, Rick, right now."

He must see something on my face, for he flicks on his indicator and turns onto a side street before guiding the car to a stop on the side. "What are you—?"

The next second, I’ve unsnapped my seatbelt and straddled him.

"Goldie, you—"

I throw my arms about his neck and press my lips to his. He stays still, his lips unmoving. That is, until I bite his mouth.

A growl rumbles up his chest. He grabs my hips and fits me over the tent at his crotch, and his thickness stabs between my legs.

A sharp lash of lust zings up my spine. I push my breasts into his chest and plaster myself to him, as close as his seatbelt will allow.

I dig my fingers into the short hair at the base of his neck and tug. A shudder runs up his back.

He keeps one hand on my hip; with the other, he clamps his fingers around the nape of my neck, and it’s so primal, so possessive, that the fires under my skin that always seem to dance to his tune are igniting like sizzling fireworks.

My belly clenches; my pussy begins to throb.

That yawning emptiness gapes between my legs, and I grind down on him.

His chest rises and falls, and he hauls me even closer.

Our teeth clash. Our tongues tangle. He angles my head, then sucks on my tongue and I feel it all the way to my core.

I moan, and he answers with that deep throated growl that spikes my pulse and sends adrenaline racing through my blood stream.

My heart is hammering so hard in my ribcage, all I can hear is the drumbeats emanating from my chest. I grind down on that thick ridge that’s grown even bigger in the last few seconds, and his thigh muscles shift under mine.

I begin to rub myself up-down-up on that tented portion of his jeans, that’s when he tears his mouth from mine.

"Get yourself off." He glares into my eyes, and a shiver of anticipation, of such overwhelming lust, of so much want, spirals over me and threatens to engulf me.

I manage to keep my eyes on his, manage to hold onto his shoulder as I begin to rub that most sensitive part of myself against his thick ridge.

My breasts swell, my nipples are so hard I wish he’d bite on them to alleviate the pain.

He commands me with his gaze, and I’m enthralled.

It’s so intimate, so raw, the orgasm bursts out from behind my pelvic bone and up my spine.

I curve my back, open my mouth, and cry out as I shatter.

That’s when a flashbulb goes off outside the window.