The Cinderella Arrangement Read online

  "I don't think I’ll every get bored around you.”

  “Why do you want me, Natalie?” he asked suddenly.

  Are you kidding me? “I want you for your money, that’s all.”

  “I would believe that, except that you haven’t asked me to buy you anything this whole trip.”

  “Maybe I’m just waiting until we’re married.” I laughed at his widened eyes. “Relax, I’m just teasing.”

  He shook his head and scowled at me with a don’t-joke-about-things-like-that expression. I brushed his hair from his face and fingered the back of his neck and ear. He closed his eyes.

  “You’re a great guy and you’re fun to be around. Maybe I want you because you make me feel special. You realize you could get any girl you wanted, right?”

  “Yes, but when you’re surrounded by people tripping over themselves to impress you, you look for something different. Someone like you. You treat me like you would anyone else. I’ve never met a girl who made me feel—normal.”

  “Well—thanks.”

  His hand tightened around my waist and he kissed my forehead. I hugged him, inhaling his scent and wanting more. He lifted my chin with his index finger and gave me a kiss that made me want to collapse in his arms. It was hard and biting, filled with all his pent-up sexual tension. He backed me against the fence separating the path from the vineyards and his hands groped my ass, squeezing hard. His tongue shoved into my mouth and mingled with mine, and then he retreated, giving my lips a small bite before he finally pulled back to breathe.

  That fiery blaze was back in his eyes that said: I will fuck your brains out when we get back.

  My palm slid down from his waist and anchored over the hard bump bulging in his shorts. He gasped as I squeezed him and I felt a little shock of excitement of my own. I kissed him and let go because there were people walking up the path.

  William straightened himself before they caught up to us. He turned toward the fence as if he was tired. I stood beside him and laughed.

  “Groping me in public,” he muttered, shooting me a hot glare.

  When we reached the wind-swept Corniglia after a winding series of stairs that led down, we took the small train back to our bed-and-breakfast. Will kept his arm draped around me during the trip and I nestled in his embrace. It was almost as if we were a real couple. By the time we climbed Monterosso, the sun burned like orange glitter over the darkening water.

  We held hands and walked along the beach, William’s flyaway hair flattened against his head. We kissed again, and the knowledge that we were so close to our hotel room made my heart throb with anxiety.

  “We should eat somewhere.”

  “Eat?” I said, as if I had never heard something so ridiculous.

  “Yes,” he smirked, laying his hot lips over me again and again. “We’ve been hiking all day, I’m hungry.”

  A series of camera flashes from the corner of my eyes distracted me. Tourists, probably. No, it couldn’t be. William curled his arm around me and roared at man clicking away, screaming something in Italian.

  “Vaffanculo!”

  The man scuttled away like a roach.

  “Fucking paparazzi,” he roared.

  I shuddered at the thought that our pictures would be blasted over social media websites. “Aren’t you used to it by now?”

  “Never.”

  While Will steamed about the run-in with the pap, I looked around for restaurants. Having no idea what was good, I suggested things at random. Will said he knew a great place, so I took his hand and followed his lead. We entered a dingy looking restaurant with a very humble interior and a surly waiter, however, Will assured me that the food was great.

  I watched him in fascination as he conversed with the waiter in rapid-fire Italian, picking out only a few words from my mediocre Spanish. “Si prego” was a phrase I heard repeated often, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.

  “Where did you learn it?” I asked when the waiter left.

  “Italian school on Saturdays until I was about sixteen.” He rolled his eyes. “Never used it except with my parents and grandparents, when they were still alive.”

  The waiter returned with a small carafe of wine. He poured me a glass but Will waved him off when he tried to fill his glass. I knew that Will didn’t drink, but I didn’t know why.

  “I thought you might like their house wine,” Will explained.

  It was dry, like Chianti. “It’s great. Do you want to try it?”

  He licked his lips as if he really wanted it, but he shook his head. “I can’t.”

  I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. This fell under the category of things Will didn’t like to talk about.

  “So much for getting any work done today,” I sighed as I took another sip of wine. Its warmth washed over me like a sleeping spell. My eyelids were heavy.

  “Tell me about your family. Your life. You know a lot about me but I know almost nothing about you.”

  My face burned under Will’s flattering interest. “Not much to tell. No siblings. My parents are both dentists. They wanted me to become one, but I had no interest.”

  “I don’t see you cleaning people’s teeth.”

  “Neither did I. Parents were disappointed that I became a graphic designer.”

  “They’ll get over it,” he paused for a moment and thought about it. “Actually, they might not.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, feeling suddenly heavy. “I don’t think they will—even if everything else in my life was perfect.”

  “Hey,” he said in a soft voice I never heard before. “Don’t be upset. I’m the only person whose opinion matters in your life.” He winked.

  We ended up ordering seafood dishes with handmade pasta and ate slowly, talking little. It was enough to sit comfortably in each other’s presence. When we left the restaurant, night had fallen, and the streets were empty. Laughter echoed from the few bars in the tiny village, but we held hands and walked toward our hotel. It was a balmy night, with the smells of lemon trees and the mixed aromas of the restaurants surrounding us.

  He’d glance at me and smile and I felt the beginning of something stirring in my chest. I knew that it would be hell when we were separated. I opened my mouth several times to ask him, but I couldn’t summon up the courage.

  “Will, thanks for bringing me here. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

  We stopped in front of the hotel room and Will used the keycard to let me in. I kept wiping my hands on my jeans.

  “How grateful are you?”

  The door closed and Will’s commanding presence overfilled the small room. The air thinned and his laser-like eyes rooted me to the spot, frightening and exciting me at the same time. The hint of something suggestive in his voice made me shudder all over. I clawed at my necklace and twisted the pendant in my fingers.

  “I—I’m really—” I broke off with a nervous chuckle as Will stood in front of me, smiling with so much confidence that it ought to have been fined. “I’m nervous.”

  “Yes, I can see that. You’re a scared little bird. I’m afraid that if I move too fast you’ll fly away.”

  But I wanted him, so I took a small step and leaned into his chest, sighing with relief when he wrapped his arms around me. I felt the reassuring thump of his heart against mine and relaxed.

  His hands moved to the back of my head. “Natalie, kiss me.”

  I launched myself upwards and felt the roughness of his cheek, the bump of his hips, his hands suddenly possessing me. His lips roughly claimed mine, and he pushed me backward, toward the small bed. I fell onto the mattress and Will’s heavy weight followed me, his lips and tongue refusing to let go of my mouth.

  I moaned into his mouth as his fingers slid my tank top and bra down so that my breasts bulged.

  “Fuck.”

  I gasped when he bit my lip hard and sent a trail of heat blazing down my neck, kissing and sucking my flesh. I knew where his lips were headed and I wrapped my hands around
his head, so impatient that I wanted to jerk him by his hair. He stopped to give a wet kiss on the crest and then teased his tongue over the center of my breast, my whole body shuddering when he touched my nipple.

  I cried out when he went in for the kill, his mouth opening to devour my tits and sucking hard on my firm nipple, groping the other breast with his hand. I pressed down hard on his head, flattening my chest against his face, but I didn’t care.

  My breast popped out of his mouth, red and shining.

  He smiled at me wickedly. “You liked that, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” I gasped. “Don’t stop.”

  The bulge digging into my hip told me that William liked it too. My stomach shivered as he attacked the other breast, kneading the swollen one with his hot hand as he sucked the other one. Jesus. He tongued my nipple, sending electrical shocks of pleasure all the way down, making me buck against his waist.

  I wanted to see his body again. I tugged the hem of his shirt until Will finally sat up and ripped it off his body. He sat on me, straddling my waist as I gazed at his olive-skinned, athletic body in all its glory. I sat up and he let my hands explore his body, traveling up his flat, hard stomach to the slight dent between his pecs. I smoothed my hands over his flat chest and he reached around me to pull the tank top and bra over my head.

  He pulled me against him and I sighed with the thrill of having our naked bodies touching. I reached down and stroked the bulge in his pants as we kissed. I unzipped his pants and gripped his length, still trapped in his boxers. The head of his cock was damp and it had seeped through the fabric. I slipped my hand between the boxers and his skin, curling my fingers around his hard rod.

  Then suddenly, he flipped me around and tore my jeans and panties down to my knees and forced me on all fours. I heard a quick, plastic sound and suddenly his hardness slipped up and down my wetness, massaging my clit.

  “Yes, Will!”

  He lunged forward, his thickness spearing me open, ramming deep inside and setting off every pleasurable nerve that existed. The pain at being swiftly penetrated was punctuated by a rush of pleasure that made me moan and buck my hips against him. Suddenly, I yelped in pain. William spanked my ass hard, the imprint of his hand burning against my cheek.

  No one had ever taken me like this. It felt so good. I fell against the wall and used my hands to brace Will’s hard thrusts, groaning when his hips slapped against my ass, his cock buried as deep as he could go.

  And his hands were anchored on my hips, holding me against him so that he could pull backward hard when he hammered forward, intensifying that amazing feeling driving me high, turning me mad with desire. He had the stamina of a bull, and even though I felt his hands slipping with sweat, he drilled me nonstop. The force of his thrusts never let up, all of his crazed energy was focused into fucking me as hard as possible.

  He wrenched me backward and spun me around so I was straddling his waist. His black hair stuck to the back of his neck and his face was rosy with color. He gripped my hair and forced my head forward, plunging his tongue down my mouth as I tried to kiss him.

  William was in complete control. He lifted my waist and set me down over his lap. I grabbed his cock and sighed as I sank down, feeling my walls expand as he filled me up.

  “Up and down,” he said, breathing deeply.

  I grabbed his shoulders and lifted my hips, my thighs slapping his flesh as I sank down. My nipples brushed his lips as I bounced up and plummeted down; he gathered them in his mouth, moaning as he felt me squeeze him with my powerful walls.

  “Jesus, Natalie.”

  He took my hips and thrust upwards, impatient with my slow rhythm. I held his face against my breasts and moved up and down, grinding hard when I felt him impale me. Will kissed me as we joined our bodies over and over. Then he fell forward, and I fell on my back with my legs still wrapped around him. I groaned as he dug into me, wrapping my legs tighter around his ass.

  The smell of sticky, warm sex engulfed my senses. William’s damp body hovered over mine and then lowered, sending a swift feeling up my body. I was crying out his name as he plowed into me. Our foreheads touched and his hot breath billowed over my face, his groans like music to my ears, the sound of his damp flesh smacking against my wet core, and the feeling of him thrusting inside me—all of it combined into an epic, shuddering orgasm.

  I clutched Will’s damp back for dear life as he released a huge groan and hammered forward. My contractions clenched around him and the wave slowly rolled up my body, making my stomach shudder. Will pulsed in and out a few more times and then he rolled off me.

  His face was smooth; I never saw him so exhausted. His arm slid under my back and pulled me against him. My head lay over his shoulder and I listened to his deep breaths, his chest rising and falling like the ocean.

  “Natalie, that was—”

  “—Amazing.”

  It was the best sex I ever had. How many times had I laid under Ben, bored as he pumped for a few minutes then collapsed to the side, without a thought of my pleasure? My body ached from being pounded so hard, but I felt myself twitch in anticipation of going again.

  I kissed his neck. “When can we go again?”

  His chest shook with laughter. “Might be a little bit.”

  And my heart fluttered as he gathered me in his arms and kissed me.

  “A little bit” turned out to be fifteen minutes of foreplay and fondling, then William took me again—almost as roughly as he had the first time, and at last we collapsed in each other’s arms and resigned ourselves to sleep. During the night I heard a jump and then a small, warm lump settled behind my legs. The lump began to purr. I smiled.

  Screaming. I jerked awake, naked and confused. It was still dark and I couldn’t see anything. Tom’s nails raked me as he sped from the bed, startled by the noise. A dark shape thrashed beside me—Will—in the throes of another nightmare. I groped for the switch on the lamp and it flared on.

  “Will, wake up!”

  I ripped the covers off him and he seemed to shudder awake. He turned away from me and sat on the edge of the bed, his shoulders shaking.

  I rejoined him in the bed as a low moan shook from his throat. I curled up behind him, watched him bury his face in hands, and did not know what to do.

  He flinched when I touched his back. “Hey, what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

  “Nothing. It was nothing.”

  I tried to ignore the horror rising up my throat. “Maybe you should tell me what happened.”

  He lifted his head and turned around, his eyes bloodshot. “You don’t want to hear about it. Believe me.”

  “I can handle it,” I said in a firm voice.

  Will’s black eyes hardened. They were reflective, like a dark mirror. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You don’t want to talk about it, but I deserve to know. If this will go anywhere, I need to know.” I grabbed his wrist when his eyes unfocused, staring into some point beyond my shoulder. “Either you tell me or I’ll leave and you’ll never hear from me again. I mean it, Will.”

  His arm slipped out of my grasp. “Then go.”

  I wasn’t prepared for the chill in his voice, the dead eyes, closing in front of me like shutters on windows. I dove off the bed and picked up my clothes, pulling them on.

  He'll be like that? Fine.

  “Natalie.” Will’s voice cracked.

  “I can let a lot of things slide, but not this.”

  Will half-rose from the bed. “I’m not ready to share every dark secret of mine with you.”

  “What do you expect me to do? You scream and have panic attacks, and I don’t have a right to know what’s causing them? You must be joking.”

  I seized my tank top and pulled it on. He sat on the bed, glowering at me under a curtain of dark hair.

  “Where the hell are you going to go? It’s the middle of the night.”

  “I don’t care,” I muttered, heading toward the bathroom to stuff everyth
ing into my suitcase. A part of me hoped like hell he would change his mind.

  “Stop,” he said in a tremulous voice, which was suddenly a lot closer. His hand fell on my shoulder and I looked up into the bathroom mirror. His eyes were wide and terrified and I felt myself weaken.

  I revolved slowly on the spot and William held me against him, refusing to let me go. My eyes stung, and I blinked furiously.

  “Please, don’t go. I’ll tell you what happened.”

  8

  “It happened a few years ago when I was still in college at Stanford. My friends and I partied a lot. Typical dumb jocks. None of us took school seriously. My best friend Dan and I were at a party away from campus. We got shit-faced and then Dan wanted to go to another party, but I was too drunk. So he drove instead. I thought he was okay to get behind the wheel.

  “Everything was fine until we got off the highway and—and sped down the ramp. There was a sharp turn and it happened so quickly. We plowed into a group of people standing around a car.

  “I remember coming to and smelling the burnt rubber, smoke, and something metallic saturating the air. Dan was hunched over in his seat, but outside there was screaming—just the worst sound I’d ever heard. I climbed out of the window and saw we’d crashed into a parked car. The ground was slippery. There was so much blood. A woman lay on the street with this gaping wound; her chest was torn open—I could see everything: her organs, her ribs. And then I tried to close her up—these huge flaps of her flesh I pinned together, but she was already—she was already dead.

  “There was screaming and I looked behind me. A little girl pinned under our car, as white as a sheet of paper. Her mother was crouching underneath—trying to lift it. Another person was smashed against the fence—he was gone. I tried to save her. I lifted the car and her mother dragged her out, but she was so pale and there was so much blood. Her lips kept moving and I held her hand. I still remember how tiny it was in mine. Her eyes never closed. She kept looking from her mom and back to me and then they froze inside her head and what little warmth was in her hand faded away.