Catching Fire: Perfect Places (Billionaire Romance Series Book 3) Read online

  He headed out of the parking garage. Today, he was driving the blue charger. Coincidence? He wondered. The day he first heard of the merger with the Yearwood’s, mainly with Daphne, was the day he’d found that toy car and yes, here he was driving one today. As he’d already driven all the others, he’d vowed to own and drive. Still, none of it meant as much as it used to. In fact, none of this meant as much. What happened? He was pissed about his deal going awry but he wasn’t obsessed with it. Pursuing it like a goddamn bloodhound. No. What was he doing? Heading home to his Ellie.

  He felt light and less bogged down, the closer he got to their home. Their home. The two words repeated in his head. He finally had her with him one hundred percent. He turned the player on ad listened to old rock as he drove the back road to Mockingbird lane.

  He saw a car parked in the drive as he pulled in and got out. Must be the decorator.

  A woman strolled to the little Bentley and got in.

  Ellie must have already taken care of the initial plans. He waved at the woman as she drove away.

  She scowled at him and he dropped his hand. What was that about? He looked up at the door.

  Ellie stood there with her arms crossed over her beautiful, ample chest.

  Morgan raised a brow as the first inkling of something bad stroked along his spine. Striding to the steps, he took them two at a time. Then when he got close, he saw the bandage on Ellie’s hand. “What happened?” he asked in concern.

  “I don’t know. You tell me.” Spots of pink lit upon her cheeks and those baby blues were glittering at him.

  Shit. He hadn’t seen her look like this in a while. “Okay, what happened?” he asked again. “And why did the decorator sneer at me just now?”

  Ellie shrugged. “Cause I changed my mind.”

  “About?”

  “Doing anything with this house,” she stated and turned around to march inside.

  Crap. What the hell is going on today? His gut clenched. No… Daphne wouldn’t!

  He came in and looked around. Where the hell did she go? He turned and headed for the living room. He then spotted her by the mantle. At her feet was glass and wood pieces. He slowly looked up at her angry expression. “I ask again, what the hell happened?”

  “We had a visitor,” she answered in a tight voice.

  “Yes? The deco—”

  “Fuck the decorator!” she shouted.

  His eyes rounded.

  “Besides, when that bitch Yearwood moves in she is going to…How did she put it?” Ellie waved her hand around, “Knock out walls and throw away the trash.” Her eyes were blazing a cobalt fire at him now. “And the first piece of trash she said would go. WOULD BE ME!” Her voice rose to a shriek.

  Morgan flinched at her words. Yes, Daphne had been here. “I can explain.”

  Ellie gaped at him. “Why are you always having to say that line to me?” Her voice shook as tears filled her eyes.

  Morgan sighed. “I told you before she isn’t—”

  “Isn’t what? YOUR fiancé?”

  His head rose up as he stared at her.

  “Well?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “Yes, she is…”

  Ellie’s mouth popped open.

  “But she isn’t.”

  Clearly stunned and angry, her body trembled. “It is a yes or no answer, Morgan.”

  “Then no. No she is not.”

  “But…she was?”

  He nodded.

  “And you neglected to tell me.” It wasn’t a question.

  “It was a past thing and not important anymore.”

  Ellie dropped her arms and stared at him for a full minute. “I was gonna stay and tough this out. But it was because I thought she was crazy and a liar. Now I realize I’m the one who is crazy and you are the LIAR!” She turned and headed for the foyer.

  Morgan took off after her, grabbing her up.

  “Put me down!” she shouted.

  “You need to listen!”

  “I was here to listen all these months but you weren’t talking, were you?”

  Morgan knew he was closer to losing her than ever before. He just found out today that he could lose 300 million dollars and get over it. But he knew he would not get over losing this little female who wanted to kill him at the present moment. He backed her up against the wall. “Calm down, so I can tell you the truth,” he whispered to her ear in a low voice.

  Ellie’s chest was heaving and her whole body trembled in his arms.

  Dammit, he was hard as hell. He loved it when she was mad, even when she aimed her anger at him. He could smell her sweet scent and he wanted to kiss her mouth then look at her just kissed lips as they puffed out just a bit from his mouth punishing them. He wanted her right now. But he’d better tread carefully here.

  “I’m leaving. You can keep your ugly world of money if that woman is an example of it!”

  He sighed and pressed his lips to her ear. “My father and her father made a deal when I was 9 years old.”

  Her body stilled, as she seemed to hold her breath

  “It was a merger they said. Between our families. To combine our fortunes.”

  Ellie sucked in a breath. “So, you never agreed to this?”

  He let out a sigh. Truth Morgan, all truth. She deserves nothing else. “Yes, I agreed to it. 5 years ago, before college. My father had put it like… if I did not, I would not go to school. I would not be in the family and I would not inherit.”

  “So you have been engaged for FIVE years?” Her voice rose.

  Shit, this wasn’t going well. He knew he needed to make her understand. “I refused it a month ago. Told my father no.”

  Ellie seemed to lose her stiff posture. “Why?”

  He pulled his head back, so he could look at her and grasped her face in his hands. “Because I don’t want anyone but you.”

  Sucking in a breath, Ellie’s eyes filled with tears. “S-she said I was just your plaything. That I was a dime a dozen and you had—had hundreds like me.”

  Morgan felt rage—pure unadulterated rage. He knew he needed to get this back on track and he pushed that anger down. He gazed deep into her eyes. “There is only one you, Ellie. You are one in a goddamn million. You are what makes my life worth it. You’re the light for me My redemption, and my salvation. Without you…” His voice trailed away as he remembered that destroyed hotel suite when he’d been convinced he’d lost her. That monster he saw in the mirror that dark day. He lowered his hand to her legs and drew her up so her thighs were around him as he wedged her to the wall. “Feel how hard I am?” he asked in a low voice.

  Ellie lowered her hand to his tented dress pants.

  “I only get that way for you now. No other woman. I want and need only you.” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her hard.

  Her arms wound their way around his neck as she kissed him back.

  He finally and breathlessly broke the kiss. He lowered her legs and tore her shirt open. Then he pulled her breasts free of her lacey bra. He licked and sucked one nipple then the other. “I want only your tits in my mouth. To be inside only your pussy.” He lowered his fingers to her skirt and slipped them in past her panties pressing them against her mound. “This is mine.” He slipped his fingers in. “Tell me…” he demanded.

  Ellie was panting as she replied; “My pussy is yours.”

  He gave her a smile as he plunged his fingers into her wetness. “Unzip me Ellie.”

  Ellie’s shaking fingers lowered his zipper as she grabbed a hold of his hard cock.

  “Stroke my cock, babe,” he whispered to her lips as he pumped her with his fingers.

  She did and shook from her toes to her head. When he spoke to her like this it always turned her on. “Morgan…” she moaned.

  He raised her up. “Spread wide for me, baby.”

  Ellie opened her thighs.

  He lined himself up. “Pull me in, Ellie. Let me fuck my pussy.”

  Ellie was breathing hard now
as she tugged him close.

  He thrust up and into her.

  Gasping, her nails scratched him through his shirt. “Ohhh…”

  “That’s it, take my cock, use it. You want it deeper?” he asked.

  Her head fell back. “Y-yes!”

  He then fucked her up against the wall without mercy. Her body pounded up against the wood as he filled her. “Feel my hot cum, sweet Ellie, only you make me come this hard.” He thrust up high as he shot her full.

  “Ahhh!” Her body convulsed as she came hard.

  “Yes, come on my dick, baby. That’s it.”

  Her pussy gripped him tight as she climaxed and yelled his name.

  He rested his forehead against hers as he fought to get his breath even. “No one makes me feel the way you do. No one ever has,” he whispered.

  Ellie looked into his eyes a mere inch from hers.

  Morgan waited for her to say something, anything. If he lost her now, he may have to murder someone.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ellie hadn’t spoken. Not a word in the last hour and a half. She was still reeling from the events of today and the pounding she took against the foyer wall. So hot. Done up against the wall…trapped by that warm body of his, that hot mouth, that hard cock. God, could the man mess her up both emotionally and physically.

  Now, she sat out on the balcony after a hot shower toweling her hair dry in the sun.

  “Here sweetness,” Morgan said as he brought her a cup of tea.

  Ellie looked up. Again, she was stunned at how hot this man was. All muscle and toned. Those mesmerizing eyes, that mouth that could possess hers so easily. Why? Why did he have to be so…

  “Ellie?” he asked.

  Her eyes rose to meet his.

  “Are you going to keep giving me the silent treatment?”

  Ellie let out a sigh and took a sip of the tea. Chamomile. He had the shelves stocked with it, despite the fact he did not drink tea at all. He had all her favorite snacks. There were flowers in every room as he had either brought them everyday when he came home or he had them delivered. He continuously bought her things, despite her attempts to stop him. What would he do without money? What would happen to him? Oh, god. I never knew. I didn’t know I could be the one to cost him everything!

  Morgan sat beside her. “Please talk to me?”

  Ellie shook her head.

  “God! Please forgive me? Ellie…”

  Ellie gazed into his eyes. This was somehow really important, but not like anyone would think. She could live like a poor person. She never had much in the first place. She was fine with it actually. Working in the diner and all. She knew she meant a lot to him. But a whole fortune? His inheritance… His billions? All gone because he wanted her? Yes, that was what had been niggling at her. He would lose it all if he kept this up. If he didn’t do what his father wanted.

  Morgan grasped her hand.

  Ellie set her cup down onto the saucer. “What did your father say?”

  Morgan blinked his eyes at her, entirely lost as to her point. “What?”

  “When you told him that you would not go through with marrying bitch-face.”

  Morgan looked confused. “Nothing really. I left before he could reply.”

  “So, what he said to you before college. About disen—disinheriting, that’s the word right?”

  Nodding, Morgan stared at her. “This is what’s bothering you?”

  She nodded her head now. “Yes. What else would it be?”

  Morgan stared at her for a second then laughed with relief. “So, you aren’t moving out?”

  Ellie shook her head. “Not unless…”

  Morgan sat forward. Worry all over his handsome face. “Unless?”

  “If you lose all your money because of me. I won’t be able to live with that. I can’t be the reason you hit the skids!” She stood up and her hand knocked her cup off the table.

  It crashed to the balcony and shattered. She stared down at it. The second time today that’s happened. I wonder if I’ll be the reason Morgan gets shattered. Loses everything. Becomes destitute?

  Morgan stood with her. “Ellie!”

  She started to cry. “I can’t be responsible for that!” She moved away from him. She needed to convince him that this would not work. “I mean to have you stripped of your wealth? NO!”

  Morgan grabbed her arms. “Stop. Stop,”

  Ellie was flustered, yes she was. She remembered her dad and what a broken man he’d been. Not able to afford the chemo he needed, he maybe would be alive today if he hadn’t been poor? He’d always had jobs where people demeaned him. He lived in that shabby apartment. Drove a beat up car. Never got the respect he should have had. “No! I won’t let it happen to you, Morgan!”

  His eyes widened. “Sweetness. Please calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me.”

  Ellie shook him off. “You can’t give up your money. You just can’t!”

  He stared at her. “This is why you’re upset?”

  Ellie sighed. “Of course it is.”

  He stepped close again. “Babe…it will be okay.”

  Gazing into his eyes, she stated, “You won’t be okay without your money, Morgan.”

  He tilted his head at her. “You think that’s what I’m all about? Money?”

  Ellie laughed but it didn’t sound amused “Most of what you are about, Morgan. I mean you are a billionaire! You can’t survive without—”

  Morgan pulled her close. “I have my own money too.”

  Ellie stilled as she gazed up at him.

  He nodded. “Chance and I have amassed quite a fortune. Or we have almost done that.”

  “But it’s not the billions of Hunt Industries, though is it?”

  Morgan hugged her tight. “I’m telling you it will be okay.”

  Ellie wanted to believe him. But she did note that he hadn’t fully answered her question. She so badly wanted to believe it. But he had a way of keeping things in. It never bothered her that he didn’t come home and talk about work, or his latest deal. She really never cared much about it. She only cared that he did well, and felt good about what he did.

  Then finally, Morgan started to talk to her. He finally shared with her.

  Morgan talked about how he was a third generation Hunt. His grandfather had built the company out of nothing, and he wanted it to stay something. He had arranged a wife for his father, Hunt Senior, Edwin. Melanie, Morgan’s mother was the heiress to another huge company, and his idea was to keep the company growing. His father Edwin, when he grew up, did the same. He wanted to arrange a wife for Morgan because he didn’t want an outsider to come into the family business. His father setting up a marriage contract between him and Daphne. It was arranged when Morgan was nine. He didn’t have much of a choice. He admitted that he and Daphne were lovers at one point.

  Ellie already knew this part as he’d admitted this back when she claimed she was pregnant with his kid.

  Morgan went on to tell her that he and Daphne thought they would rule the world. She was the heiress to the Yearwood fortune and he was the heir to the Hunt throne. However, things changed. Daphne had a diva complex. She wanted everything her way. She grew up being a spoiled brat. Despite their relationship, he didn’t want someone like that. He talked about how it grew stale. She just wanted to inherit her fortune and take what was of the Hunts. After the trip to Rio, he cut ties with her. This was when he met Ellie.

  Ellie felt surprised at this part, as she remained quiet, this was so rare for Morgan to share his past, she didn’t want to fuck it up by asking too many questions.

  Morgan went on about how after his trip to Rio, he was headed back to New York but the Helix Corp acquisition had come up and he decided to head to Philadelphia first. When he saw the diner burning, he then saw her come out but then rush back in. He couldn’t help but to save her. He didn’t know why. He thought she was crazy but he couldn’t just drive on by when someone might die. He talked about how when she mention
ed it was her father, a picture of him she wanted to save, he’d felt envious. He had no love for his father anymore. His father and mother had to end their romantic ties. They were still married, only because the divorce settlement would just be too big of a blow for their companies.

  Morgan grew quiet. Wow. He’d never shared so much with anyone. Let alone a woman.

  Ellie had been quiet for some time after he bared his soul so to speak, then she asked, “Why me?”

  Morgan blinked his eyes at her. “What?”

  “Why did you choose me? I mean there are so many women out there—”

  He grabbed her jaw in his hand. “There are many women and I have been with many. But there is only one Ellie White.” Morgan then chuckled. She was still so innocent. Her naivety was what drew him to her in the first place. “I couldn’t help but fall for you. You are the angel to my devil, sweet Ellie.”

  She looked stunned.

  “Now if you promise you won’t leave. I need to make a trip to New York,” he whispered to her hair.

  Ellie nodded.

  “Promise?” he asked.

  She refused to answer.

  He pulled back. “Maybe you should go with me.”

  Her eyes widened. “I have never gone on a business trip with you Morgan.”

  He smiled gently. “There’s always a first time.”

  Ellie shook her head.

  “Look. I don’t like leaving you alone. I mean something could…” His voice faded away. Yes, like Hillborn. Something or someone could hurt her and he wouldn’t be here. He hadn’t really left her in the last month or so. Dammit, he should hire a bodyguard. Then she would ask questions and he swore he would not lie to her anymore. He never really had about this as it was her secret to keep but keeping the truth from her was the same type of thing.

  “Something could what?” she asked staring at him closely.

  “I haven’t felt good about leaving you at all,” he admitted. She couldn’t know that he was aware of what had happened to her. He may never tell her. He especially couldn’t now. Not after Daphne came and dropped that bomb. Fucking woman. Someone needed to stop her.