Page 56 of The Rebel Billionaire

Islept late,waking with the glare of sunlight in my eyes. Charlotte Winters was a bad influence. After our unexpectedly heavy conversation while I helped her strip paint, I planned to get something to eat, fuck her senseless, and leave her safely tucked into bed, protected by solid locks and a secure alarmsystem.

My plan had gone to hell the first time she came on mytongue.

I loved making that woman come, the way she fought it at first, embarrassed she got so hot for me so fast. The way she squirmed, then rocked up into me—my mouth, my cock, my fingers—it didn'tmatter.

As soon as she decided she wanted it, Charlie went after her pleasure with a hunger and a heat that turned me on like no woman ever had. And then after, the way she collapsed into me, defenseless and sated and so fuckinggorgeous.

Knowing that I did that to her, that I gave her that pleasure, that her beautifully relaxed face was mine, was a rush like nothing I'd everknown.

No fucking way I could leave that. I went back for more, again and again. We slept a little, here and there. Notenough.

I needed coffee. So did Charlie. And if the light streaming through the window was any indication, we both needed togetup.

She had a crew coming to rebuild the front porch and I had a job I needed to finish before afternoon. I caught a quick glimpse of her face, eyes closed in sleep, her dark lashes feathery half-moons against her creamycheeks.

I tried not to think about her naked body beneath thesheet.

Get up. Get up, you horny bastard, and get in the shower before the construction crew catches you balls deep in Charlie's sweetlittlebody.

Without looking at her again, I dragged my ass out of bed and jumped in the shower. I was going to smell like Charlie's flowery, fruity body wash all day, a constant reminder of a woman I didn't need to be thinking about when we weren'tfucking.

This whole thing with her was goingsideways.

I knew it and I didn't seem to be able tostopit.

It's safe to say Charlotte Winters was not what I expected. I knew from experience that the rich were different from the rest of us, but the truly, obscenely wealthy were a completely different breed ofhuman.

I worked with enough of them to know how set apart they were. I had money. Hell, after the jobs I'd been doing the last few years, I had the kind of cash in the bank I'd never dreamed of, growing up in a rundown trailer. In a few years, I'd be able to retire and never have to worry about money again. But the Winters family probably had that kind of cash rattling around in their couchcushions.

I'd expected Charlie to see my tattoos and my truck and dismiss me asbeneathher.

Instead, she was Charlie. Sexy, funny, adventurous, smart, sweet, and fucking gorgeousashell.

The second I laid eyes on her, weeks ago, as she strode up the cracked driveway of her house beside a pretty, curvy redhead, I'd known I wanted to see what was beneath her perfectly tailoredgraysuit.

Any man would. There was no denying the suit was professional, but it didn't hideherbody.

I'd never expected to like her, to look forward to seeing her. Toneedher.

I was going to have to get this shit under control. Charlie Winters was not for me. I was a rebound guy. An experiment. Anadventure.

She was not, and she never would be, a girlfriend. I needed torememberthat.

I didn't even want a girlfriend. Been there,donethat.

I needed to stay focused. My goals were to build my client list, finish my house, and maybe look for another one to rehabandflip.

That was it. I didn't have room for a relationship, especially not one destinedtofail.

I jumped out of the shower, drying off with a quick swipe of the towel, and steeled myself before I walked back into Charlie'sbedroom.

Steeling myselfdidn'twork.

Propped up on one elbow, the sheet barely covering her breasts, her mass of wavy auburn hair tangled in her blue eyes, still half-asleep, she was asiren.

Without saying a word, she called me back to bed. It took everything I had not to drop the towel andjoinher.

Focus, I reminded myself. Also, the construction crew. We wouldn't be alone for much longer. Pulling on my clothes, I snagged my phone and my keys before heading to the kitchen, saying over my shoulder, "I'll make coffee, but you'd better get up. Your guys are going to be here in tenminutes."