His Wild Attraction: A Billionaire Romance Novel (Wild Billionaire Romance Book 4)

Chapter Twenty-Five Andres

“Okay boys, I’m leaving,” Ellie said, entering the living room, which was liberally covered in building blocks, race cars, and kitten toys.

I was sitting on the floor, criss-cross applesauce, helping Sammy build a track, while simultaneously distracting Rocky from destroying the thing, when my wife walked in.

My heart squeezed.

My stomach flipped.

My pants grew tight.

I’d seen her outfit already. Knew what she had on. But for some reason, watching her enter the living room was something else entirely.

It was like watching a shooting star fall right out of the sky.

She stole my breath, dressed in black from head to toe.

Like a midnight goddess.

Mysterious. Ethereal. So fucking sexy.

Fuck.

My cock thumped in my pants, and I leaned forward to make it less noticeable.

My Lupina’s pants were so fucking tight, showing every glorious curve like she’d been dipped into them. The flowy top had a deep scoop neck that showed off her sexy-as-fuck cleavage.

When she moved, it moved with her, layers of soft-looking black fabric showing tantalizing glimpses of skin and the lacy black bra she wore beneath it.

She looked gorgeous. She looked like mine.

Whatever womanly magic she’d performed after I’d left the room—you know, those finishing touches females did that seemed to make them glitter and glow from head to toe, those womanly secrets that softened features and emphasized beauty, you get it—well, Ellie did some of that.

And the results left me breathless.

“Ellie,” I said, needing to touch her before she left. I jumped to my feet.

“Yeah?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Be careful tonight. Call me if you need anything,” I said, moving across the room to cup her face in my hands.

“I will,” she smiled, and leaned her head back, kissing me goodbye.

“Bye, Mommy!” Sammy shouted, scrambling to his feet so he could get a kiss too.

I didn’t blame him. He ran into our knees, hugging us both, and I grinned before scooping him up so he could snuggle his mom one more time before she went out for her girlfriend dinner.

“Be good, Sweetie,” she said, her eyes going round as she hugged him tight.

I knew she was having misgivings, but I wanted her to trust that he would be fine here with me.

“Michael is driving you, and Eduardo will be your bodyguard,” I told her, walking her to the door as Sammy chased Rocky around the room.

I grinned as he skipped back over to the racetrack we were building and started lining up his cars, having already forgotten about his block tower.

“Oh, I don’t need a bodyguard to go to a restaurant,” Ellie said, shaking her head.

“I know you’re fierce, Lupina. But you will always have a bodyguard with you when I’m not there, make no mistake.”

“But will he be noticeable? I mean, that’s kind of weird, no?”

Her frown was so cute. I smoothed the line between her eyes and kissed her again. She was so close, I couldn’t resist the chance to taste her. Even chastely.

“No. It’s not weird. He knows how to do his job. You just have fun with the others, okay? And don’t think for a minute they’ll be there without their own bodyguards.”

“Okay. You are probably right. Um, I’ll be back in a few hours. If you need anything or if Sammy does?—”

“Angel, Sammy is going to be fine. My mother is coming by with a brand new cartoon movie for him. She’s determined to spoil him rotten.”

“I’m missing Nancy? Oh no, I’m sorry,” she started.

I knew Ellie and my mother had texted a few times. My mom was trying to be unintrusive, but I was so happy they liked each other. I didn’t think it mattered, but having Mom approve of my choice to marry Ellie only solidified my resolve that this was the right thing to do.

Even though she was unaware of my little obsession with her. Or of the fact I’d stalked her from the house down the block when she was in Morristown. Or that I’d hacked her personal files—okay, fine. There was a lot she didn’t know.

But it didn’t matter. I’d do it all over again if it meant I ended up with her.

Ellie brought a level of satisfaction to me, to the depths of my soul, I never even thought was possible.

Marrying her was better than winning the lottery. But it was that same kind of extreme happiness.

Fuck. She makes me so damn happy.

“It’s okay. She’s not going anywhere. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to hang out with Mom, trust me,” I told her and kissed her nose, just because I could.

“Go have some fun, Angel. We’ll be here.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding.

“Text me when you get there, so I know you’re safe.”

“Okay, I will,” she promised, and my chest felt tight.

I walked her to the elevator and watched as she got in the car with her bodyguard. Then I texted Josef, and he confirmed what I already knew.

Adrik had reserved a private room for them in the back of the mid-sized Mediterranean bistro they were going to. The place was one of those New York hotspots that was impossible to get into.

Well, impossible if you weren’t a Volkov.

The place was said to serve excellent food and cocktails, and the waiting list was months long. It was all over social media as the place to be, and on some nights, like tonight, they had live music.

I imagined it would be packed. And it made me jumpy.

I couldn’t help my protective instincts. Whenever Ellie wasn’t with me, I worried. It was just who I was.

But considering my wife’s three best friends were some of the best-guarded women in the state, if not the whole damn country, I couldn’t think of anyplace safer.

Except by my side.

“Dad! Rocky is eating my cars,” Sammy shouted from the living room, and I jogged back inside the room to watch my boy giggling over his silly pet’s antics.

“Maybe Rocky needs treats,” I said, and Sammy ran to the little box of cat snacks we kept on a low shelf near the front door.

Ten minutes later, my mother arrived, bearing gifts. Sammy adored cartoons. Add that to the homemade double chocolate chip cookies my mother brought with her, and she had a fan for life.

“Can I have another cookie, Nana?” Sammy asked, completely smitten with his new grandmother.

“Of course you can. Don’t forget to drink your milk, then we’ll get into your jammies and put the movie on,” she replied gently.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, standing next to her.

“Oh, Andres, I should thank you. You gave me a new daughter and a built-in grandson.”

“Sammy is fantastic, isn’t he?” I replied with a smile.

“He is. And he loves you, anyone can see that.”

“Do you think so?” I asked, my vulnerability showing.

“Sweetie, I know so. And I am so happy for you. I wondered if you would ever find the right woman. But now I see it wasn’t a woman you were waiting for. It was a family. You did good, son.”

“It feels that way, Mom. Ellie and Sammy, they feel so right in here,” I whispered, placing a hand over my heart,

“You love her very much, don’t you?”

I nodded, the words choking me. It didn’t feel right to say it to my mother before I said it to Ellie. But I couldn’t lie to her either.

“Good. That woman needs you. And so does this boy. You were born to be a father,” Mom said.

“You know, I have to admit I was terrified of being a father. But I learned from good people.”

“You think I’m a good mom?” Mom asked me, tears filling her familiar eyes.

“I think you’re a damn good mom,” I told her, kissing her cheek.

“Thank you. You know, parenting is the easy part. You just love them. Like me and your dad did with you,” she said, grinning at Sammy.

My dad.

I smiled as memories of the warm, loving man who’d raised me filled my head. Oh, he wasn’t a pushover. There were times I’d needed discipline, and he doled it out with a firm, but loving hand.

No hitting. But he called me on my shit. Made me accountable. Made sure I knew how my actions had consequences.

He passed away far too soon, but I remembered everything about him. Technically, my mom’s husband was my stepfather, but he raised me.

Paolo Ramirez was my dad in every sense of the word, and I couldn’t have asked for a better man to do the job.

Together, my mom and I saw to it Sammy brushed his teeth and changed into his little superhero pajamas. We cozied up in the living room, and a half an hour into the flick, the poor little guy was snoozing on my mom’s lap.

“I think that’s all she wrote for this little champ,” my mother said, grinning as she kissed Sammy’s sweet head.

“Mm, we should get him in bed,” I said, my gaze flicking back to my phone.

I scrolled through the last two texts Ellie sent me. One was to say she’d arrived, and the other was a photo of her dinner.

It looked good. But not as good as her.

“I can put him to bed, son. Why don’t you go join that pretty wife of yours?”

My pulse raced, and I canted my head to the side. Leave it to Mom to know I was thinking about doing just that.

“I’m trying not to overwhelm her. Don’t want her to think I’m controlling her,” I confessed.

I only ever told my mom the truth.

I mean, anyone who had a mother worth a dime knew they were special people. Moms figured out all your secrets, anyway. No matter how hard you tried to hide.

I learned that pretty early in life. So, I didn’t bother with lies. Not to her.

“Could be she’s missing you, too,” Mom said.

And that was just the push I needed to go check on her.

“You sure you’re okay watching him?”

“You know I can still kick your ass, right? Get outta here,” she teased.

Twenty minutes later, I hopped out of the car, not waiting for the driver to come to a complete stop. I was so amped up, missing my wife, I almost ran right smack into a huge, somehow-familiar back.

“Motherfucker,” a teasing voice said from behind me.

“Ha! You too, huh?” I whispered, almost embarrassed, but not quite.

“Look at you three menaces to society. Couldn’t even leave your wives alone for a few hours,” Josef said at last, shaking his head.

I couldn’t stop grinning as I swung my head left and right, taking in the big bastards standing beside me.

“Uh, in case it skipped your notice, you’re here, too, fuckhead,” Marat said.

“Who you calling a fuckhead?” Josef grumbled, tugging on his collar.

“Knock it off. Let’s find our wives,” Adrik grumbled.

“Yeah. Let’s find our wives,” I seconded.

The air felt charged with masculinity, and I nodded my head, finally feeling like a real part of this quartet. If there was one thing we all had in common, it was the compulsion to be with our women.

It was like a magnetic pull. An unseen force that held us spellbound and unable to resist.

Who would even want to?

I felt more myself with Ellie than with anyone else. She made the bad parts go away.

The loneliness.

The doubt.

The noise.

Ellie was my safe harbor. She filled me with unrepentant joy, and a love so profound I could hardly voice it.

I hadn’t voiced it. And I was beginning to think I needed to rectify that.

Adrik led the way with Marat behind him, then me, then Josef. Once a bodyguard, always a bodyguard, I supposed.

Whatever.

I could handle myself. But it was something knowing those big bastards were with me.

Not that there were active threats around or inside the restaurant. If there were, one of the twenty guards we had on the place, keeping our wives safe, would have told us.

Heads swiveled in our direction and dozens of pairs of eyes watched us as we walked past the full tables. We must have looked like a fucking hit squad or something.

The four of us were uncommonly tall and built. I could imagine what regular folks thought. All four miens were serious, unsmiling. We wore dark suits with matching determined expressions as we traipsed through that posh-as-fuck restaurant.

But they could look all they wanted. I didn’t give a fuck. I didn’t spare them a glance.

I had a one track mind, and right now, it was on my wife. Ellie was close, and my fingers itched to touch her.

A shiver of awareness slithered through me. It was that pull, that magnetic force that always seemed stronger the closer I was to her.

My heart pounded.

My blood sizzled.

I clenched my jaw, working to keep my hands loose at my sides.

My eyes looked forward, my feet kept moving, and I shouldered my way past the throng of restaurant goers standing at the bar, waiting for their turn to eat at the exclusive restaurant.

Turning sideways, keeping pace, I slipped between tables, and followed Adrik’s broad motherfucking back as he ducked through a doorway that had a little plaque with the word private scrawled across it.

Finally, I saw her. A wide smile was spread across her face, and she looked so damn beautiful my heart ached. Then her gaze flicked to mine, and the whole world stilled.

It was like the air had been sucked out of the room. Everyone else faded to the background. Thunder roared in my ears and my lungs burned, desperate for salvation.

Ellie moved first. She blinked slowly and that smile she wore changed from simply pleasant to absolute joy. And just like that, I could breathe again.

Fuck.

I needed this woman so much.

Did she know? Could she tell?

Ellie was everything right with this fucked up world. And she was mine.

My Lupina.