Chapter Five
Jaak closed his eyes as he listened to the familiar sounds of Ilse getting ready to take a shower. Four weeks, the billionaire thought to himself broodingly. They had been seeing each other for four weeks now, and it was the craziest four weeks of his adult life.
Four minutes were usually all it took for him to have a woman naked and willing under him, but in the past four weeks, Jaak hadn’t even managed to have a taste of Ilse’s succulent lips.
The crazy woman had demanded he did not make a single attempt to kiss or physically seduce her in any way until she told him it was “okay” to do so.
And he had agreed because it was also the only way he could likewise secure her promise to never refuse his calls, messages, or invitations to go out.
Through the phone, which Ilse had set to loudspeaker, Jaak heard the telltale whoosh of the shower curtains being swept open, and he stiffened.
A second later, and he heard the sound of water blasting out of the shower. His cock stiffened under his pants.
This is going to kill me one day, Jaak thought grimly as his cock turned harder by the second.
Another crazy promise Ilse had managed to wring out of him was to never look her up on Facebook or do anything that involved digging up facts about her. If he wanted to know something about her, he had to ask and he had to wait until she was ready to tell him so.
It was a condition the billionaire had trouble accepting at the start...until Ilse had desperately told him she was willing to do almost anything in exchange.
‘Almost anything’ proved to be irresistible magic words to his ears, and the unlimited possibilities it represented had the billionaire swiftly making up his mind and saying yes.
Only now his request seemed to be backfiring, the billionaire thought with a grimace. Among other things, he had asked Ilse to let him listen to her shower, and the experience was as much a sensual pleasure as it was an excruciating torture.
What the fuck had he gotten himself into?
IT WAS A FEW MINUTES past five when Ilse sleepily pressed the button to switch the call to loudspeaker and left her phone on the sink before stepping into the shower.
As water cascaded down Ilse’s naked body, the knowledge that Jaak de Konigh was listening to her have her shower gradually aroused her into consciousness.
Running the soap over her body, she tried but failed not to imagine it was the billionaire washing her, caressing her. Her fingers accidentally grazed her nipples, and finding them sensitive and erect had her gasping, her eyes flying open.
How could she be so turned on with just the thought of the billionaire’s touch?
Furious and mortified, she quickly finished her shower and as she rubbed herself dry with a towel, her glance absently strayed to her phone.
Could he still be there? He had actually never hung up on her before, but who knew if he changed his mind?
“J-Jaak?”
Ilse’s breathless voice as she returned to the line made the billionaire thankful that he was already inside his limousine, effectively hiding his bulging erection from view.
“Still here, babe,” Ilse heard the billionaire answer in that lovely, cultured English of his, “and wondering when I can fuck you.”
The sexy sound of his voice, combined with the dirty talk, made Ilse lose her hold on the towel, and she cursed under her breath.
“Ilse?”
“It’s all your fault,” Ilse grumbled. “You have an exceptionally rude mouth, mijnheer.”
Her dire tone didn’t fool the billionaire at all, and he laughed, saying, “Only because I know you like knowing that I can’t stop imagining you taking a shower.”
“I’m hanging up before you start jerking off.”
“If I ever pleasure myself, you’re welcome to listen.”
She said very clearly, “Pervert,” and his chuckle reached her just as she hung up, the sound, however brief, still succeeding in making her body tremble.
He was still the Devil Incarnate, Ilse thought gloomily, and she was the world’s greatest fool, to be still hanging out with a man such as him.
Her phone started ringing when she reached her workplace, right on cue as usual. For one full minute, she debated whether to answer it, but in the end, she still ended up succumbing to the temptation of hearing the billionaire’s voice.
“Hallo?” Her voice came out a grumble, Ilse hating the way she was so weak. It was just his voice! It wasn’t like the sound of it was vitamins!
The billionaire sighed, followed by his now-familiar tone of gentle reproof as he said, “If not hearing my voice puts you in such a mood, then stop punishing yourself and answer my call right away.”
Ilse’s lips slowly compressed.
“There you go again, babe. I can feel you punishing yourself again. You’re trying not to smile, aren’t you?”
Shit. How had he come to know her so easily even while he remained such an enigma to her?
After taking a silent deep breath, she managed to ask evenly, “Why did you call?”
“I’ll need to leave Amsterdam late tonight.”
Oh.
He was leaving.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, and she supposed it didn’t. She had started researching about him, and one of the things she had found out was how his work took him everywhere in the world.
So no, that he would have to fly out of Amsterdam from time to time wasn’t a surprise. What did shock and disturb her was that him leaving actually mattered...when it shouldn’t have.
“Ilse?” When she didn’t speak, the billionaire asked tautly, “Can you cancel your tours or get someone to sub for you?” Knowing how much her work meant to Ilse, it was the first time for him to ask such a thing, and the billionaire couldn’t help tensing as he waited for Ilse to answer.
Four weeks. The billionaire’s mind once again dwelled on that fact. It was the longest he had been with any woman, and yet even now he still didn’t know where he fucking stood with Ilse.
The knowledge was as maddening as it was exhilarating, but right now, he would probably prefer that she at least gave him the tiniest inkling he was more important to her than her precious bike.
The continued silence was frustrating, and the billionaire said fiercely, “Say yes.” And as if introducing new emotions weren’t enough, Ilse now became responsible for adding a new word to his vocabulary as Jaak heard himself say tautly, “Please.”
“Oh, Jaak.” The words came out very, very softly, Ilse knowing that saying ‘please’ couldn’t have come easy for the billionaire. She knew he was probably thinking that she had him where she wanted him, wrapped around her tiny finger—-
“Say yes,” he urged her thickly.
She squeezed her eyes shut in a futile attempt to block the effect of his voice, but it was pointless, her surrender inevitable.
“Yes.”
And this was what the billionaire didn’t realize and she hoped he never would.
He had her wrapped around his finger, too.