LOVE AND HATE (A Billionaire Romance) by Mia Carson Read Free Book Online

here. She leaned against me as we walked, which seemed like a good sign. I didn’t want to do it out on the strip, in the sea of tourists. I didn’t worry that we’d be seen, fret about PDA, anything like that. I just wanted the kiss to be more special than that. Something between us. Then I’d get the ball rolling on the annulment. Once I got back in New York, I’d look up Giuliana.
    I stopped her as we walked. She put her hands out dramatically, as though she were trying to keep her balance. She was funny.
    “I would really like to kiss you right now,” I told her quietly.
    The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, and her cheeks flushed pink. She looked away, and without thinking, wet her hips with her tongue, which did not lessen my desire.
    “Okay.”
    I leaned in. We had kissed last night—probably at a church in front of a… minister? Justice of the peace? Who knew? We’d done a whole lot more than kiss, but I couldn’t remember any of it. So kissing Mackenzie Taylor in the alley outside the Pearl was essentially our first kiss.
    She was stiff and nervous at first. Our lips met, and hers stayed closed. She kissed back, but I could tell she wasn’t into it. I pulled away.
    Annulment, ho!
    She reached out, caught the collar of my shirt, and pulled me back to her. Our lips met again, and I could feel warmth radiating from her. Her mouth stayed closed, but the kiss was like kindling with tiny flames of passion hungrily lapping at it. We broke apart, headed to the strip and back to the Bellagio. The fountain show was just starting as we arrived, so we lingered to watch the music, the lights, and the water.
    “I can’t get enough of these fountains,” she confessed. “I feel like I could watch them forever.” She stood in front of me and leaned back against me. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. I could feel the swell of her breasts and hoped I didn’t get a hard-on against her back. It wouldn’t fit my dignified image at all.
    Before the show ended, she took my hand and led me up the winding path towards the doors of the hotel. We cut through the swath of people. All kinds of people. Folks in my tax bracket stood shoulder to shoulder with people who probably couldn’t afford to be here. The fountains were beautiful, though, and it didn’t matter who you were or what your background was, you couldn’t help getting lost in them.
    Unless a beautiful woman in a bewitching yellow dress was pulling you towards a private, quiet room.
    We didn’t talk much on the elevator ride up to the thirty-sixth floor. The elevator opened directly into the room. I hadn’t closed the curtains, and the lights from the strip lit it in a flashing melody of bright colors. Pinks from the Flamingo, blues and purples from Bally’s, dignified golds from Paris.
    I kissed her again. Her hands found the back of my neck, and I ran my hands across her back, feeling the warmth of her skin through the thin material of the dress. I wanted it off and crumpled on my floor. But I wasn’t going to push.
    She parted her lips for me, and I almost died tasting her. She tasted like Corona and strawberry lip gloss with a little hint of tequila. Gently I teased her with my tongue. She pressed her body against mine and lowered her hands to my back. She pulled my shirts out of the way and ran her fingers across my skin. Her touch was like an electric torch.
    “God, I want you so badly,” I whispered into her neck. I kissed her from her ear down, but the neckline of the dress was frustratingly high.
    She nodded and made a sound of agreement. Outside the window, the lagoon was dormant, the crowds dispersed, and from here the fountain mechanisms lay clearly visible. I liked seeing them naked and quiet. Like I said, I love this city.
    She grabbed me, and I could feel her trembling with nervous energy. She pushed me onto the leather sofa, and it hit behind my knees, knocking me off my feet. I held onto her, so she fell on top of me.
    Her