Page 22 of Unstoppable Billionaire (The Hardcore Novels: Special Editions #2)

I smile and wink at them. I got this, boys.

They smile, take the bottles and lean back in their chairs to watch the show. I hear Aurei chuckle behind me.

As I stand to face her again, she spits. "Look what the cat drug in."

I place my hands on my hips and out southern sass her. "Fucking hell, boys! Look what the dog dug up!"

Steve and Paul spit water while Aurei laughs out loud.

I tell her, "Take a hint, Baby Ruth! Scat!"

She makes a skank face at me, then looks at Aurei.

He tells her too. "Take a hike, Ruth."

She crosses her arms, gives me a go-to-hell look, fails to fling her hair, and stomps off back to her crew. They follow her off, fading away into the dancers on the floor as Bad Meets Evil, "Lighters" starts.

Aurei opens a water and hands it to me, then opens one for himself. We clink them then turn them up. When I lower mine, I ask him. "What did she want besides you?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Nothing has ever happened between us. Any claim of more than polite conversation is all in her mind."

"She's a stalker then?" I ask for clarification as he sits back down in the chair. I lean on the table, waiting for his answer.

"Yes!" Steve volunteers behind me.

"That's a strong.…." Aurei looks at Steve, then at me. "That's not a word I would have chosen." Then he clams up.

I cross my arms, raise an eyebrow at him, then turn on Steve. "Spill it."

Steve takes a breath, but Aurei answers behind me. "She made up a story graduation night when I found her passed out in the back of my truck…."

Paul finishes for him. "With her precious pussy pounded."

I turn and look at him now.

He shrugs. "It was consensual, and she was digging it. But she was really drunk and passed out right after I finished, so I left her there to sleep it off."

Steve adds. "Aurei and I decided not to move her, just to take her home, so we dropped her off in the gazebo in her front yard. Her dad's a religious, looney nut job, and her sister must have seen his truck leaving."

I look at Aurei. "So, she thinks you were the pounder?"

Paul answers again. "Yes, the next day, she told everyone she and Aurei were a couple. When I confessed, she played it off that I was covering for him."

"Didn't they believe you?" I ask Aurei.

He shakes his head. "I didn't know anything about it. I left the next morning for basic training."

"Nine months later," Paul says.

Stunned, I interrupt him. "Is there a kid?"

"No! I don't fuck without cover!"

Steve takes up the tale. "That would have been easy to disprove. As it is, it's her word against all of ours."

I look right at him and narrow my eyes. "That was six years ago. Why would she keep a lie going for six years?"

Steve hesitates and cuts his eyes at Aurei. I step between their eyesight and stare Steve down, knowing he's the weak link in the bunch. "Spill it."

"Aurei's still the top dawg of eligible bachelors around here. She knows if she plays the main bitch, no one else stands a chance, and she believes he will eventually come to her."

"So, she's delusional too." It's a statement, but Paul answers.

"Yes! And she and her crew are the epitome of Mean Girls."

Aurei's heard enough and says with finality. "Y'all make her sound likes she's deranged. It's been all harmless, schoolyard, bully intimidation. It's childish shit, Siri, like what she tried on you earlier. I try to ignore her and the rest of them."

"The rest of them? Aurei! I ran into another crew of girls upset at the bar that I was here with you tonight. How many stalkers are there?"

Steve answers. "I believe she's the only serious one."

Aurei smirks at Steve. "The psychologist over there has all the fucking answers."

Paul laughs and claps Steve on the back. "Yep. Dr. Phil's double."

The DJ spins Katy Perry, and she starts to sing "Dark Horse."

I stand up and firmly tell Aurei. "Come on."

He narrows his eyes, smelling trickery, and doesn't move. "Why?"

I walk past him a few steps toward the dance floor, then turn and face him.

"I want you to kiss me, right there, in front of everyone.

" I point to the middle of the dance floor.

"If there is anyone who hasn't heard I'm here with you, they'll hear.

If there is any doubt in anyone's mind that you brought me, it will be cleared up.

If there's another stalker or anyone else with delusions floating around here, they'll surface. Do you have a problem with that?"

He smirks and slides back in his seat. "A kiss? No, Wild Thang, I'm not bashful. I can kiss you right there." He stands up, and I hold my hand out for him to take. He cinches us tight, and we walk onto the dance floor.

As we make our way to the middle, Mike, the DJ, sees us and turns on the spotlights. They circle around the dancers, then stop on us, and I stop, letting it illuminate us.

I put my hand on Aurei's chest and mouth. "Stay!"

He rolls his eyes. "This is more than a kiss, isn't it?"

"We have to make sure we have everyone's attention," I smirk.

"You can't help yourself."

I grin. "No true dancer wastes a good song.

" And with that, I begin to dance to the last two minutes in full-on song interpretation.

Pulling Aurei's hand out, I poke it with the lyrics, then spin around.

Backing my ass up to him, I ask if he wants to play with me, Magic.

I twirl around and around as I revolve around his body.

He stands stoic.

I have no idea what he is thinking. Probably drama queen, but music and dance speak to everyone. This is the best way to make a statement—an open kiss.

I slink away from him and become Magic. I wag my finger that there ain't no going back. When Juicy J raps, I rap attitude with him, and Aurei shows a hint of a smirk. Then… I'm Magic again, and tightrope walk up to him as the song ends.

"Are you ready?" I ask as I poke his chest to the last words. Telling everyone that he is mine and I won't be giving him back.

Aurei's eyes rest softly on my face as silence falls on the dance floor. Mike has either forgotten to spin or forgotten to talk. Either way is perfect. Everyone is looking at the couple under the spotlight.

I balance on one leg and lift my Christian Louboutin heel and hook it around his waist to sit on his ass, then I lean forward onto him, dragging the back of my hand down his face as I arch away. I can feel my hair hanging down. I tease him with a command. "Now, Aurelius. Kiss me, BAE."

His hands encircle my waist, and he pulls me to him. As I roll up, I wonder what kind of kiss I will get. When I lift my eyes to his to tease him, I blink.

His thunderous intensity is back.

For just a moment, I feel a flash of fear. Not from the thunder, I understand that, but from the intensity in this public place. Then I realize exactly what it is, and my heart sings inside my chest.

He puts his hand under my knee and lifts. My hips surge forward and rest on him. He holds me captive as he runs his other hand down to my hand, then cinches our fingers tight, bonding us together more intimately than anything I could have done through dance.

"This Kiss" by Faith Hill breaks the silence, and he smirks at me.

Leaning down, he whispers in my ear; then he nibbles it.

"Listen, Sweet Thang." He says as he looks into my eyes.

"You turn me into a damn rocket, and I shoot the fucking sky!

" He steps up, pressing our bodies together, towering over me, holding me under his spell with his seductive magnetism. "No goodbyes."

I melt under his heat.

He moves his hand down to my ass and presses my body against his.

I grab his shoulder and hold myself there.

He slides it up my back, then buries it in the thick part of my hair, twisting his whole hand around my long strands. He yanks it hard, jerking my head back. He continues to pull it tight but with control until my face looks at the ceiling, fully exposing my neck to him.

Instantly I'm transported to the first time he made me surrender to his kiss.

He puts his mouth on the bone behind my ear, and he moans.

My knees go weak, and my heart melts to my pussy, soaking me.

He inhales deeply and blows a stream of air in my ear, then down my throat, making me shiver against his body. His primal throat moan escapes him as he lays his mouth on my neck and sucks hard, then he nips my juggler.

I quiver, not in fear, not in pain, but with pure passion.

Moving his hand to the nape of my neck, he gently tilts only my face back to his. His dark green gaze thunders into my light wild ones and caresses them as his open mouth advances and devours mine. He thrusts his tongue down my throat.

My knees buckle, so he holds me up by my hair, controlling me as his kiss fucks my face.

Then withdrawing to the edge of my mouth, he waits, knowing my tongue will search his out. When they touch, he rolls it around in a caress, and my throat moans. When he pulls away, his eyes devour mine, searching them, and I see that this wasn't a kiss for show. This was a kiss of commitment.

I whisper. "I'm yours, Aurei. Forever."

The world falls away as we lose ourselves in each other. He slowly but thoroughly thrusts in and out of my mouth while I suck him in and release him out, again and again.

When the crowd sings the last chorus, they get really loud, and he ends the kiss, grinning at me, holding my face, staring into my twinkling eyes.

Hoots and hollers, Hell Yeah's, Yee Haw's and Damn's, all fill the air.

He jerks my head back roughly again and examines my neck.

When he releases me, he winks. "Territory marked and claimed, My Thang.

That shouldn't leave any doubt to anyone! "

He sidesteps around me and walks quickly back to the table, pulling me trailing behind him as "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore plays, and the dance floor starts to thump.