The Billionaire's Virgin Read online

  He certainly acted like it, a massive figure even in his seventies. Still hawk-eyed and craggily handsome with salt-and-pepper hair and an unsmiling mouth. There was a power to him, a charisma that his sons had all inherited, though Xavier never used his for anything much beyond charming women into bed.

  He started to smile, then realized his father wasn’t alone.

  Sitting in a chair in front of the desk was his middle brother, Rafael. He was their father’s PR guy and no fan of Xavier’s, though to be fair, he had reason to be pissed since he was the one constantly cleaning up after Xavier’s various escapades.

  Still. What the hell was he doing here?

  Rafael gazed blandly at him, his blue-gray eyes expressionless, giving absolutely nothing away.

  And of course no meeting of his brothers would ever be complete without Lorenzo, the oldest douchebag, looking like he still had that stick directly up his butt. He was standing next to the desk, arms folded, gray eyes utterly cold. “Glad you could take some time out of your busy party schedule to join us,” he said icily. “Don’t worry, though. You should be back to your regular drinking and fucking routine shortly.”

  “Ouch.” Xavier bared his teeth at his oldest brother. “That nearly hurt.”

  “Be quiet, Lorenzo,” Cesare growled. “I didn’t get you and Rafael in here to listen to your opinions on your brother’s lifestyle choices.”

  Lorenzo glanced at his father. “Why did you get us in here then?”

  Cesare paused, giving them each a cold, level look. “Because I’m sick of listening to the three of you endlessly harping on about your mother’s fucking ranch. Just about the only person who isn’t giving me a pain in the butt about it is your sister.”

  “My concern is for the ranch,” Lorenzo said, in no way cowed by Cesare’s tone. “It’s in debt up to its eyeballs. Any more and it’s—”

  “Hey, funnily enough, I know what debt is,” Xavier interrupted, before his brother could really get on his high horse. “Something to do with money, right?” Probably a mistake to wind the asshole up, but too bad. He shouldn’t have come into Xavier’s apartment earlier without announcing himself and scaring Mia like that. And yes, he was still mad about it.

  Lorenzo didn’t deign to reply, but the glitter in his eyes suddenly got about ten thousand degrees colder.

  “Xavier,” Rafael warned quietly. “Not a good idea right now.”

  “And you can go to hell too.” Xavier gave his middle brother a hostile look. “I don’t give a crap whether it’s a good idea or not. What I do give a crap about is the ranch.” He lifted his gaze to Lorenzo’s, so he’d get the picture as well. “It’s mine. Dad signed it over to me, and I’m keeping it. You guys can keep all this New York–business shit, I don’t want it. But Wyoming? That’s all mine, understand?”

  There was a silence.

  Lorenzo opened his mouth.

  “Hold your tongue,” Cesare ordered flatly.

  Lorenzo closed it again, giving their father a look that would have frozen fire.

  He was a difficult bastard, Lorenzo, but at least he knew which side his bread was buttered on.

  Cesare ignored his oldest son, pulling open a drawer in his desk, getting something out, and placing it on the desktop. A piece of paper. The title deed to Blue Skies.

  “This here’s Xavier’s,” Cesare said, his accent suddenly showing through despite the years of hard-earned New York polish. “I promised it to him if he secured that damn government contract, and he did. So it’s his.” He gave his two older sons a penetrating look. “Any questions?”

  “I have one,” Rafael said mildly.

  “Too goddamn bad.” Cesare sat back in his chair. “Xavier gave up his stake in De Santis Corp for the sake of the ranch, so if it’s your inheritance you’re worried about, think again.”

  “It’s not the inheritance.” Lorenzo began. “It’s about the right person to be handling—”

  Cesare cut him off. “I don’t give a shit whether he’s the right person or not. Rest assured, Lorenzo, you’re going to have your own problems to worry about pretty soon, especially if you want what I know you want. You too, Rafael. I’ve got plans for the pair of you.” He pushed the piece of paper across the desk toward Xavier. “In the meantime, here. Take it. And good riddance to it.”

  Interesting. So his father had plans for his brothers did he?

  Idly, Xavier wondered what they were, then realized he didn’t much care. The only thing he cared about was right there on his father’s desktop.

  The only thing? Really?

  But he ignored that thought, just like he ignored his brothers’ hostile gazes, moving over to the desk and picking up the title deed. There it was, his name across the top.

  The first thing he had that was finally his.

  “How’s the homeless shelter these days, Xavier?” Rafael asked quietly from behind him. “Heard you really put your time in. Got lots of good exposure. Was that part of the deal too?”

  Xavier paid no attention. Folding up the deed, he put it carefully in his pocket.

  He’d always liked his job at De Santis. There was nothing better than testing new products and then getting to demo them for prospective buyers. Guns were his thing after all. But it was a job that had been given to him, not one that he’d wanted for himself. A job where he’d cause the least amount of destruction, or so his father had always said.

  Yes, because destruction was his thing, wasn’t it?

  Well, there was one thing he wasn’t going to destroy. The ranch. Lorenzo was right, it was up to its eyeballs in debt, but he was going to fix that. Because it had been his mother’s.

  And you can’t fix her or what you did. Not any more.

  Xavier set his jaw. No, his mother was dead. Pills by the bedside and half a bottle of scotch gone. He couldn’t fix that any more than he could fix himself.

  But he would fix this.

  He’d make her proud if it was the last thing he did.

  Xavier straightened. Looked his father in the eye. “I quit,” he said.

  Then he turned on his heel and walked out.

  No one called after him, but then he didn’t expect anyone to. His father had always known what Xavier wanted, and Xavier knew what his father wanted: his troublemaking youngest son out of De Santis for good.

  Which was fine with Xavier. He had no plans to come back, not if he could help it. His mother hadn’t ever adjusted to life here, and when it came down to it, neither had he. Parties and booze and playing with guns were merely ways of passing the time until he could get on a horse and get out in the hills, ride out over the land that was his and his alone.

  His alone. He liked that. And now, the first thing he was going to do was go down to his office, speak to his staff members, and start the process of tying up his life in New York. Because really, the quicker he got out of here the better it was for all concerned.

  As the elevator took him down, he let the euphoria grip him. Finally—fucking finally—he was out. He was his own man. He was no longer beholden to anyone.

  What a good feeling, one he hadn’t had in far too long.

  By the time he approached his office, he’d forgotten all about his picnic for Mia. All he could think about now was getting home and telling her about his plans. Hell, he’d bring her out to Wyoming with him too. She’d love it. Lots of open spaces and mountains and sky. She’d never been anywhere like that, never been on a ranch. Man, he’d love to show her all of that, watch those pretty black eyes of hers get all wide and amazed. See her light up.

  His chest got tight and he couldn’t help grinning like a lunatic as he went out the front of the building. Yeah, she was going to love it and he was going to love showing her.

  The day turned into a long one, however. There was more to do than he thought, and quite a few problems to sort out. Problems that ended with him taking some clients out to a bar for what was supposed to be a few drinks and ended up being a good deal more.


  He didn’t take much notice of the time, only realizing after he’d stumbled into the elevator on the way up to his penthouse that it was after midnight.

  The lights came up automatically as he stepped out of the elevator and looked around, vaguely expecting Mia to be there before realizing once again the time and that she’d probably be in bed by now.

  Vaguely disappointed, he went into the kitchen and fixed himself the strongest coffee he could, shaking his head to get rid of the vodka fumes. Standing at the counter, sipping his coffee, he made plans in his head about what he was going to do first.

  He was tempted to simply leave everything here and take the De Santis jet out to Wyoming first thing. Which would of course be reckless and stupid, and would leave his father in the shit. Then again, the old man would be glad to see the back of him, so why the hell not? It wasn’t a final move, just a reconnaissance mission to get the lay of the land and see what he had to work with.

  A list of things to do began to assemble itself in his head, and he was still thinking it through as he finished up his coffee and made his way back to his bedroom. By the time he’d headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower then moved naked over to the bed, he had a good idea about his plans for the next few days.

  There was a woman-shaped lump under the comforter, and when he drew it back he discovered Mia, naked and curled up, fast asleep in the middle of the bed.

  Instantly the remaining liquor fumes vanished and his cock hardened.

  She looked so small curled up there in his bed. Pale and slender and vulnerable. Her hair was tangled all over the pillows, her lashes lying in thick, black fans on her cheeks. Her breathing was slow and even and deep.

  Small and beautiful and perfect.

  His heart thumped, a heavy, painful beat, and the weirdest sense of . . . need swept through him.

  He’d been thinking of taking her to Wyoming, to show her something different. To give her a new experience, broaden her horizons a bit. But this need went deeper than that. It felt like . . . more somehow.

  She sighed then, rolling over onto her back, her hands moving up and above her head, abandoned in sleep.

  His chest constricted.

  She wanted a home and he’d told her she could be here as long as she liked, but what if . . . she stayed? What if that home was with him?

  You can’t do that. You break those you care about, remember?

  Yeah, but he’d been so careful this past week, so good. He could do this. He could keep her safe. Sure, Wyoming wasn’t New York and maybe she wouldn’t like it, but shit, maybe she would. Maybe she’d want to stay there with him.

  Permanently.

  Chapter 10

  A cold shock hit Mia, because it hadn’t been too long ago that waking up to find a man standing over her could only mean bad things. But there was only one man she knew who had blue eyes like that. Xavier.

  Everything readjusted itself, and she remembered where she was and what she was supposed to be doing.

  She was in Xavier’s bedroom, in his bed, waiting for him to get home. He’d told her he’d had to go into the office this morning, so she’d spent the day surfing around on Netflix and totally indulging herself by watching a whole bunch of crap movies.

  She’d gotten a little worried as the hours had ticked by and night had fallen, but then he’d sent her a text telling her he’d be late, so she’d decided not to wait up and just go to bed instead.

  Along with the clothes from that department store, Xavier had also gotten her some silky pajamas. But although she liked the fabric, she preferred to sleep in his bed naked. It was still a novelty to sleep with nothing between her and the expensive cotton sheets and she liked it, especially when the sheets smelled of him. She found that comforting.

  She thought she might try to stay awake until he’d gotten home, but despite her best intentions, as soon as she’d snuggled up, she’d fallen asleep.

  But she wasn’t so sleepy now, because it wasn’t Xavier in one of his expensive custom-made suits standing by the bed right now. It was Xavier completely and utterly naked.

  Even after five days of sleeping every night with him, the sight of him bare still made her blink.

  Naked men had been few and far between in her life—in fact she could quite safely say she’d never seen one, never wanted to see one. But Xavier . . .

  Her mind went blank every time. Because he was so beautiful.

  Wide shoulders, smooth, tanned skin stretched over the kind of body she thought a god might have had. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. He was all hard, chiseled muscle, lean-hipped and sleek as a tiger. She couldn’t help herself, her gaze wandering down to where his cock rose up against his stomach, just as big and hard and demanding as the rest of him.

  Her mouth went dry. No wonder it had hurt earlier. He wasn’t a small man.

  “You’re really late,” she said thickly, sitting up. “I was starting to worry.”

  He smiled as something tightened in her chest. He was beautiful when he smiled too. “Don’t. It was only work shit.” His gaze drifted down her body. “Glad I’m home now, though. Very glad.”

  A ripple of heat moved over her skin and her breath caught. Wanting someone wasn’t something she was used to, but she was getting used to wanting him.

  Only him.

  The thought hit her hard in the chest, like a blow. She hadn’t even thought about being with someone else since just being with him was so new, but . . . no. Of course it was only him. She couldn’t even imagine being like this with someone else. Because how would she ever come to trust anyone else the way she trusted Xavier? She wouldn’t, and that was that.

  She leaned back against the pillows. “What work shit?”

  His gaze moved back to hers again, his smile turning almost tender. It made the tightness in her chest constrict even further.

  With one of his fluid movements, Xavier got into bed with her, sliding his arms underneath her and gathering her in close. Seconds later she was on her back, with him hard, hot, and heavy on top of her.

  She struggled to get a breath, the heat of his bare skin against hers canceling out every thought in her head.

  He bent, nuzzling her throat, the brush of his mouth light and teasing. “Dad finally gave me the deed to the ranch and I . . .” He stopped. Raised his head and met her gaze, his blue eyes brilliant. “I quit my job.”

  Mia drew in a breath, trying to resist the urge to lift her hips against the distracting hard ridge that was pressing between her thighs. “You quit?” she echoed stupidly.

  “Yeah.” The look on his face was bright with excitement and anticipation, like a boy on his birthday morning. Except there was a heat underneath it all that was very much not boyish. “I mean, I like my job, but it’s never been what I really wanted to do. The ranch is where I’ve always wanted to be. I needed to get it put in my name first, though, and now it is. Now I don’t need to be in New York anymore.”

  Something lurched in her gut and instinctively she pulled her hands from where they were crushed between them and put them on his shoulders, as if she was hanging onto him. As if she didn’t want to let him go. “Oh?” The word was husky and a bit shaky, and she hoped he didn’t notice.

  But of course he did.

  His smile deepened. “Don’t look so tragic, sweet thing. How do you feel about a vacation in Wyoming?”

  The lurching thing in her gut lurched the other way, like the deck of a ship in a storm. He wanted her to go with him? He wasn’t going to just leave her here? Desperately, she tried to school her face, to not let anything of the little glow that began to flicker into life where only tightness had been before.

  She didn’t like the thought of being here alone, not one bit.

  “You want me to come with you?”

  “Of course.” He lowered his head so his mouth brushed hers, the lightest kiss. “So what do you think? It’s very different there. Think blue sky and mountains and horses.”

 
She could hardly imagine it. New York was all she knew.

  It doesn’t matter where you go. Especially not if it’s with him.

  No, hang on. She couldn’t get ahead of herself. She had her own plans and they didn’t include a ranch in Wyoming. They were much more practical, much more basic. She needed those documents, then a place of her own.

  Mia found herself stroking his shoulders unconsciously, loving the feel of his powerful muscles beneath the hot velvet of his skin. She paused her movements, trying to get more air in her lungs, the breathless feeling increasing. “I’m not sure, Xavier,” she said slowly. “What about my birth certificate? My social security number? You were going to help me get those. And then . . . my home.”

  His smile was like the sun coming out on a cold winter’s day. “We can get them in Wyoming. I mean, people there generally seem to get theirs.”

  He was teasing of course, but she didn’t feel like smiling. This wasn’t a joke to her. “And what about a home of my own? Not that I need you to get that for me but—”

  “We’ll get you that too. Wherever you want to live. New York, Wyoming . . .” A curiously intent expression burned suddenly in his eyes. “As long as your home is with me, I don’t care where it is.”

  With him? He wanted her home to be with him?

  A feeling rose suddenly inside her like a bubble about to burst, pressing against the inside of her ribs, displacing her lungs, her heart . . . everything. She didn’t know what that feeling was. It hurt and yet at the same time it made her feel as if he’d handed her the entire universe on a plate.

  “You want. . . . me?” Her voice sounded hoarse and shaky. “To live with you? Seriously?”

  Xavier shifted, his hands moving to cup her face gently between her palms, his thumbs gently stroking along her cheekbones. The expression on his face made her throat tight and her eyes feel all prickly. “Yes, sweet thing. I want you. I want you to come with me. We can try it out in Wyoming and if you don’t like it, we’ll figure something else out.”

  Once you do this, there’s no going back. You can’t just run out of the building and back to your alleyway.