Her Forbidden Billionaire

Chapter 5

Something stung Raina’s closed eyes. The sun. The soft light of the winter sun fondled her eyelids, making her realize that the dawn had broken and it was time for the new day to step in on the calendar page. Groggily, she desperately tried to separate the lids from each other. Her pupils didn’t have time to focus, so she saw a blurred version of her bedroom. The white curtains, she observed, were slowly swaying in the chilling breeze. The grip on her blanket was tightened as she pulled it up to her nose.

It was going to be a day she would spend snuggled in a blanket with some French fries or popcorn, Coke and TV anyway. She might as well stay a little while longer in bed.

Her eyes opened again and then closed again while she was debating inside herself whether she should wake up or not. Suddenly, her ears detected something strange. Breathing. There was another creature breathing beside her, its body going up and down. It wasn’t her own slow, rhythmic one, but a stronger one. Manly.

She placed her palm on her forehead as the scenes from the previous day started to come to her all at once. She was clearly seeing Dean before her eyes. The dinner they had had. Veronica’s text. Their way to her home. His kisses. His passion. His seductive games. Him entering into her as she moaned for more.

“Oh my God,” she whispered under her breath. It was in that moment that she realized her head was splitting. She felt as if an ax was buried into her and all of her brains were spilled on the ground.

Dean was shifting beside her. His eyes sprang open instantaneously. They observed the woman staring at him and his surroundings before he stood up with his muscular back turned to her. Raina couldn’t help it but peek under the sheets. She was in her underwear. Oh boy, what did I do?

Suddenly, Dean stood up and looked into the windows. He was completely naked, his bare buttocks catching her attention.

“Dean?” She asked, her voice rusty and drunk with sleep. But it was too late. He picked up his clothes and headed for the shower, leaving her in the dark. What was he thinking? Did he despise her? Yes. Of course, he would despise her, Raina was thinking to herself. They had had a bit too much for drinking and one thing had led to another. Perhaps he felt as if she had used him to have great s*x on Christmas Eve. It was all a mistake. They were… Well, they were almost step brother and sister, for God’s sake. Where was Raina’s mind?

With each move she took, she felt her head killing her gently but surely. Officially the worst hangover ever!

As she sat on the edge of the bed, Dean appeared at the door, his hair and chest wet, with a white towel wrapped around his waist.

“Raina… This…” He began.

“I know this was a mistake. We shouldn’t have done this. This is horrible. I know. Please forgive me,” she uttered everything into a single breath.

“No, no. Don’t think that. It just feels awkward. That’s it,” he said, sitting next to her.

“It does, yeah.” A weird silence settled between them.

“I-I will prepare something for breakfast, okay?” Dean immediately stood up, obviously feeling odd and wanting to avoid the whole situation. Awkward was a mild word to describe all of it.

By the time Raina showered and changed into new clothes, the whole apartment smelled of eggs and bacon. She wondered if Veronica had thought to buy even that. She sat at the table which was already set. Two white plates were laid out with two glasses, forks, knives, spoons and napkins. Everything was in perfect order.

Dean put two eggs on her plate together with a pretty big piece of bacon and they both sat to have some breakfast. It wasn’t until then that she heard her stomach grumble for food.

He was dressed in the clothes from the previous day, which honestly looked a bit disheveled. That made warmth spring up in her cheeks. Eating in complete silence, the kitchen utensils were the only ones making some sounds as the metal clicked and clanked. Definitely awkward.

“You know…” They started in the same time and chuckled nervously.

“You first,” Raina said, pointing her fork to him.

“Well, it was weird, I’ll give you that. But you may say that we should forget about it. That we should leave it buried in the memories and in the past and move forward. You with your grocery and with dating some other guys, and me with the showbiz and dating other girls. I say otherwise.” He let that sink in, bewildering Raina utterly.

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you feel it?”

Raina thought that she was blushing and lowered her gaze to the sunny-side-up eggs.

“Tell me, did you feel it? Because I know you did. The chemistry. The passion. The desire. The lust. The love. Call it what you want, but it was there, wasn’t it?” He smiled at her.

“We cannot continue like this. We are practically related and plus I can already imagine the headlines in the media and the newspapers. The clean-cut billionaire in the entertainment industry dating a girl with a grocery store and with no pedigree at all. And to top it all, his stepsister. We put both of our careers into the bin. It will ruin us,” she said with a hint of vigor in her voice. She was telling the bitter truth and that seemed to pain the both of them.

Silence.

Then Dean apparently found his voice. “But you dodged the question. Did you feel it?”

“It doesn’t matter, you know.” She gave him a weak smile. “It doesn’t matter, because it is forbidden. And the forbidden fruit we leave on the branch of the tree. We don’t raise ourselves on our tiptoes to grab it.”

“Just tell me, please. Forbidden or not, tell me please. I want to hear it… I want to hear it coming out of your mouth,” he spoke slowly as if his sheer words were fondling and lulling her.

She hesitated for a moment. What she felt inside her was unbelievably solid and potent, there was no doubt about it. She had a crush on him. Screw that, she loved him. She loved him so much, her heart ached. But she knew that the second she would say the words she would make the matters way worse. Instead of distancing each other like society would want, her soul wanted to press further into their relationship. She wanted more of him. To be with him. To feel his love and compassion.

“I-I…” She began, her fingers playing with her nails.

“Yes?” He asked, his face lighting up with hope that she would tell him that she loved him.

“I-I-I felt it…” She said it finally, looking warmly at him. His grin simultaneously widened, revealing every single tooth. He was glad indeed.

“You did?”

“Yeah… I love you, Dean. It is as simple as that. I am in love with you, but this can’t happen…”