Read His Desire (Billionaire Blind Date Book 5) for Free Online Page B

his pocket. “I can see what you’re thinking, Sophie. The doubt shows in your eyes. And I don’t blame you for it.”
    He dialed and turned on the speakerphone. The ring seemed too loud, too harsh, even though we were outside. “Grant?”
    “It’s okay. I want you to be sure.” He smiled at me. “I want you to really know.”
    “Hello, Grant,” Aten Hollis’ voice came through the phone.
    He was going to tell Hollis. No, he wouldn’t do that, would he? Blow everything, now that he had it within his grasp?
    “Aten. You’re on speakerphone. Sophie’s here with me.”
    “Hello, Sophie!” The smile came through in his voice. When Grant told Hollis what we’d done, he probably wouldn’t smile on hearing my name again.
    “Aten, you don’t want to sell me your business.” Grant’s gaze held mine, steady and sure, the entire time he spoke.
    “What?”
    “Sophie and I were never engaged. I coerced her to play along with me—it’s completely my doing, not hers, so don’t blame her. I pretended so you’d think I was a respectable, engaged man when I wasn’t, and you’d sell to me. I just wanted you to know that.”
    Hollis didn’t speak for several seconds, and then he simply said, “I don’t know what to say.”
    “I know it’s a shock, and I apologize. I also want you to know that while I was pretending to be engaged to Sophie, I fell in love with her, and I’m proposing to her as we speak.”
    “That’s . . . I—”
    “Sorry, Aten. I’ve got to go.” Grant touched the screen and hung up the phone.
    I gasped and felt like Hollis—I didn’t know what to say. I shook my head, blinking back tears that threatened to fall.
    Grant held the ring out again. “I don’t care about his company anymore. Hell, I don’t care about mine half as much as I care about this moment.” He licked his lips and leaned forward intently. “The La Costa dress? Wear it to your wedding, Sophie. Marry me.”
    Grant took my hand and looked into my eyes, and the moment I took a breath to say yes he slipped the ring onto my finger.
    “Yes,” I said with a laugh, since he’d already done it, as if I couldn’t say no now that the ring was on. Grant took my hands and urged me to stand, then a strong arm around my waist pulled me against him. It was like putting on a glove on the first cold day of winter. Comforting and familiar and warm.
    Grant kissed me, a deep, breath-stealing kiss that sent heat between my legs and turned my knees to jelly. It was almost embarrassing how quickly it affected me.
    His hands slid down to cup my bottom. “Any kind of wedding you want, it’s yours. Anything.” His fingers curled underneath the hem of the short dress and hoisted it up to my waist. I looked toward the opening to the terrace, worried that a server might come barreling in at any moment.
    He gasped. “No underwear. A woman after my heart.”
    “You’ve paid them to stay out for a while, haven’t you?”
    “Have I?” Grant slapped my ass. “Does it matter?” A slap to the other side. “Right now, I think we should talk about our vows.”
    I pressed against him, arching my back and jutting out my bottom for more of his attention. “Don’t you think we have time to talk about wedding vows later?”
    He shook his head, one eyebrow raised a touch. “I want to talk about punishments for bad girls who don’t obey. Love and obey, isn’t it? And when you don’t obey . . .”
    Grant spun me, pushed me forward, and swiped the table settings and unlit candles off the table next to ours. Glass shattered on the tile and the table legs creaked against the floor as he pressed me against it, pushing until I was bent over it, my cheek against the tablecloth.
    “Look how wet you are. That’s because you know you’re mine, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.” I licked my lips. God, this is what I’d craved. I missed Grant—I had fallen in love with him, too early on, in fact—but my body loved the way he owned it, the way he