Chapter 9
He would have found the situation funny, especially Ambra’s look of surprised horror, if he wasn’t so pissed that she kept trying to run from him and their situation.
“How?” she asked, her eyes growing big. “What?” she sputtered out.
He shrugged and then moved towards the white couch in the room, sitting down and patting the place next to him.
“Get out of here Michael,” she spat, and then he saw her go still.
“How did you get keys to Coco’s place?”
“I have to give you kudos for this one. I would still be searching for you if Zahara hadn’t let it slip where you were,” he said, ignoring her question.
He admired the merry chase she had sent him on—from booking plane rides from different destinations to keeping her phone off so he couldn’t get Ben to ping her location. He knew her parents were out of town. Diamond didn’t know where she was and wouldn’t crack even if she did. Besides, right now she was busy dealing with another situation that had cropped up while they were in Switzerland, and he was not looking forward to having to tell Ambra about it.
He was just going to keep that to himself for a little while because they still needed a little more time away together, and being here in a tropical paradise was the perfect place to continue where they had left off.
“Shit, Coco must have told Zahara where I was,” she muttered to herself before letting out an exasperated sigh.
He could see the wheels turning in that magnificent brain of hers, and he knew that she was now pondering how he had gotten the keys to this place. Especially since Coco had been helping Ambra stay hidden from him. He hadn’t liked that too much and had done some digging on her before he reached out and was surprised to learn about someone from her past, and now she had a certain matter/person on her hands that would keep her occupied and prevent her from joining Ambra on her vacation.
She strode up to him, looking down at him in like an angry goddess. “What did you do to Coco to get her to give you the keys Michael?”
He shrugged again and then spread his arms on the back of the couch. He wasn’t going to sugarcoat what he had done because he was sure Coco would be calling soon to spill what had happened anyway, especially after what he did.
“Coco took out a loan for her new line of products she wanted to launch, and the bank she took the loan out with does business with us as well. They were all too happy when I paid it off in full, so she now owes me the money. I wanted it all back in less than twenty-four hours, or she would owe me shares in her company in exchange and have to give me the keys to where you were hiding.”
He shrugged. “Well, she could not liquidate enough cash, so she signed over the shares and gave me the keys to her place here in Barbados.”
Ambra stood stock-still, disbelief and horror written all over her face.
He groaned internally because this didn’t exactly make him look good, but he might as well tell her the rest.
“I promised her that she would get the keys back when she came up with the cash upon my return. But she took too long and I decided to sell my the shares to her ex, and now he owns a good portion of her business.” He smiled before Ambra launched herself at him.
“You cold bastard. She didn’t deserve that.” She tried to drop her knee into his crotch, and he maneuvered out of the way while grabbing her and pulling her down on top of him.
“She helped you and kept you from me,” he bit out, containing his emotions. He had been worried and had missed her because he didn’t know where she was. The feelings that he had gone through had also hurt his pride. He had thought he would find her the next day, but it took him almost two weeks. If he hadn’t overhead a conversation between Zahara and his brother Carter, he would still be looking for her, or she eventually would have come out of hiding on her own, putting distance between them.
“She is lucky that is all I did. Besides, just look at this as me also playing cupid,” he groused as they struggled again.
She paused in her grappling and gave him a sour look with a side of disdain.
“No really, you wouldn’t believe what a small world we live in. Remember Colin the chef?” he continued when she just stared at him, blinking.
“Well apparently, they used to date in high school, but it didn’t end well. His family came between them, and Colin was a bit of a player of course. But I thought, why don’t I just reach out and see if I can’t get these two love birds back together? It would— hmmph... ”
She landed a hard elbow into his stomach and tried to climb off him.
“Where do you think you are going?”
“Leaving. I have to try and fix this. She didn’t deserve that.”
“Don’t worry; she is fine. Colin is just going to mess with her a little and will then give her back her shares. It was part of the agreement we made when I let him have them. He will soon be too busy to continue messing with her and her company, as he will need to step up to begin taking over the reins of his grandfather’s business with his siblings.”
She gave him a look that said, Are you serious?
He sighed. He had been trying to keep his guilt at bay, and seeing how hurt and disgusted she was with him now, he knew he had crossed the line. “Okay, I did cross the line. I saw red for a minute. I will straighten everything out tomorrow. Besides I have to fix this anyways, if Zahara finds out, she will come for me, as will my brother.”
She stilled. “You are going to apologize to her and fix this, immediately.”
“Tomorrow. Now let’s focus on you.”
She stared at him in stunned silence for a minute, realizing that she was now trapped in his embrace. She raised her chin.
“Michael, there is nothing to discuss. We had the time away at your chalet in Switzerland as you promised—with a side of revenge, and now, we should just try being amicable to each other. I am partners with your brother Ben, after all.”
“Not even going back to being friends, hmm?”
Her brown orbs regarded him like he had lost his head. “No.”
“Good. Because we are now more than just friends.”
“Michael, we are not anything to each other. You are with Summer, and—”
He moved fast and had her pinned under him in mere seconds, his hand unsnapping her pants and delving inside to find the treasure he was looking for. Ambra was hot and wet for him, just the way he liked it.
“Do you really believe that after I have had a taste of your sweet pussy that I would want to go to Summer or anyone else? This is mine. You made it mine, and look how wet and needy it is.” He emphasized his point by entering two fingers into her wet cavern, and it sucked his digits in like a thirsty man finding water in the Sahara Desert.
Her hands were clamped on his shoulders and had been trying to push him away, but then he felt the sting of her nails as she gripped him when he removed his fingers to push them back in.
He leaned down and began to nibble on her neck, in the spot he knew she loved so much. “You see how much you missed me; can you feel how much I want and missed you and this?” he whispered.
He flexed his hips, and his hard cock hit the wet patch forming on her underwear and pants from him stimulating her with his fingers.
“Michael, don’t do this to me. I—” She moaned when he curled his fingers.
“Ambra, we have been dancing around this since we were teenagers, both not giving in because of our friendship.” She stared up at him in surprise.
“Yes, the night of the dance I would have kissed you, but you pulled away, and then the moment was lost. And then the next day, you acted like we were just buddies again. I buried my feelings so deep and moved on. It took being at the chalet for me to face what has been between us for a very long time.”
“But you were so angry.”
“Yes, I had buried me feelings for good and was moving on with someone I thought I wanted and would marry.” He felt her stiffen. “Yes marry, after seeing the love between Carter and Zahara and my beautiful nieces. I wanted to settle down and have children and thought that Summer was the prize to finally win over.” He watched as Ambra’s lip quivered and a look of shame, guilt, and hurt took over her delicate features.
“But I was wrong, and I am so glad you took the paddle and did what you did, because the weekend at the chalet was more than I had bargained for. It opened my eyes to what you really mean to me and that you were not just my best friend, but the woman who I craved like no other.”
He bent over and kissed her lips before whispering over them, “Her touch, her smell, her sighs, her sexy voice, her mind and how smart she is, her ability to keep up with me and challenge me at every turn, and the feeling of her lips against mine.” He nibbled on her lips. “Our bodies moving in sync together. And I would move heaven and earth to continue exploring what we have started at the cottage. Make no mistake, now that I’ve got the taste of us, I want more and will do everything in my power to have you by my side.”
She looked at him in wonder, but he could still see hesitancy on her face. He understood why. Going from friends to something more was something they would have to get used to.
“No Summer?” she asked.
“No. She is in my past now, and I want to explore the possibility of us having a future together. Will you give us that chance and stop running away from me? As you can see, I don’t react very well to you denying us.”
She scowled. “Don’t blame that on me. You Brooks brothers just love your power trips, blackmail, and trying to crush anyone in your path.”
“True, but that’s why you need to be around me all the time to bring me down a peg or two and to make sure I behave.” He grinned.
She grinned back and then nodded. “You know you loved going all alpha. And how excited did you get when you found me, hmm?”
Ambra reached between them and cupped his hard cock in her hands.
“Very excited. And I am about to show you.”
He began to strip off both their clothes, and then he sank himself deep into her. They both sighed. They fitted together perfectly, just like he had said.
Michael was fighting the urge to just fuck her quickly, but something in him wanted this moment to be soft and for her to know that he was sorry. He wanted to show her how much she meant to him. He took his time, enjoying watching every emotion crossing her face as he made sweet love to her. When she finally cried out, he also came, raining kisses down on her face and holding her close in his arms.