John Billionaire Ch. 02

"Are you having fun?"

"Mm, hmm..." She murmured. And without another thought she leaned up and kissed my cheek.

I smiled at the affectionate touch and pulled her closer to me. "We're half a world away from our daily lives. I think we should just permanently go on vacation. Maybe just go straight from here to Rome. What do you think?"

"Sounds lovely."

"And then maybe to Cairo. Flit all the way across to Tokyo. We can spend the entire year vacationing without going back to New York."

"Mm, I want to see Hong Kong before you get out of Asia."

"Of course!" I didn't even realize I was already teetering too close to the edge of a topic I didn't want to address. Cassandra had been so much more to me than a personal assistant while we were on this trip. And I'd been so careful throughout the day to avoid reference to her job.

But in this moment, I had let my guard down and asked, "Isn't this better than barking orders into your phone all day? Dealing with some other guy's finances can't be that exciting."

"True..." she breathed, before thinking. And then all of a sudden, Cassandra stopped in her tracks, her grip on my arm anchoring me back and throwing me off balance for a moment before I stopped with her.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Instinctively, I could tell she was bothered by something and I reached a hand up to her face to caress her gently.

Cassandra's irises were a fiery blue that was rapidly dimming towards grey. And her eyes were darting left and right, searching into the back of my face and yet seeing nothing at the same time.

I asked again, "What's wrong?" My palm was warm against her cheek and I leaned in to brush my lips against hers.

And as if a light switch had been thrown down, Cassandra blinked and back away from me. She brushed my hand away and stepped back. "Nothing's wrong... sir." And there was nothing huskily seductive about her tone. Just like that, the professional assistant was back.

"Cassandra..." I pleaded, my heart sinking already. I could actually feel the wall she was bringing up between us.

She took a deep breath, and while staring at a point somewhere behind my left ear, she stated flatly, "I think it's time we returned to the hotel, Mr. Kwong."

It was as if she'd slapped me in the face. She hadn't referred to me as Mr. Kwong in a LONG time. Still in shock, I actually stumbled back a step.

Instinctively, she came after me, a chink forming in her armor as I saw her eyes jump. But as I regained my balance on my own her jaw set once again. Perhaps I should have let myself fall.

Feeling helpless to understand what was going through the mind of a woman I'd been falling in love with, all I could do was try and retain what composure I had. And after a very long, pregnant pause, I finally exhaled and said, "I guess our time is up... Miss Cooper."

I thought I actually saw a tear forming in her eye when I called her 'Miss Cooper'. But then she was walking past me and I had to turn and hurry just to catch up.

***

Back at the hotel, Cassandra went to her room alone, leaving me with nothing but my French-language TV. On two different occasions, I tried to work up the courage to knock on her door, but I wasn't sure whether she'd invite me in and fuck my brains out, or stonewall me and slam the door in my face.

Either way, when Taylor returned in the afternoon, Cassandra's happy face was back and she quickly welcomed my friend. But she had already dressed down for the evening with jeans and a sweater. Her hair was in a ponytail and her wire- rimmed glasses perched on her nose. And then three minutes later she actually sent the two of us out to dinner alone, citing a backlog of work she had to check up on.

When I protested, Cassandra's eyes melted darkly into a steely grey. The wall she'd erected was back between us. I bit my tongue and offered Taylor my arm on the way out.

Dinner tonight was a superbly romantic restaurant, still very eclectic and expensive of course. Cassandra had made the arrangements for us ahead of time, and as usual her taste was impeccable.

La Tour d'Argent was set up so that we each had personal waiters who literally stood behind our chairs for the entire meal. Drop your fork? Another one was there before you noticed. Finish a plate? It was gone in a moment. Every whim was attended to and Taylor and I were eating it up.

But despite the great ambiance and wonderfully aromatic smells, I found myself slipping into a foul mood with Cassandra gone. Previously, Nicole had retreated away and shut me out of her life because of the very public nature of my new circumstances. And now the same financial positioning had caused Cassandra to bury her emotions and regard me as just her employer. I'd tried to share my heart with two women in a very short time span, and both times I'd been rejected.

It hurt. And Taylor immediately recognized I wasn't my usual affable self. In the past, she would sometimes just ignore me as if my emotional instability would only waste her time. But other times she would go into full-on affectionate mode in an effort to cheer me up.

This, apparently, was a night to cheer me up. She would continually kiss and rub against me as if raw affectionate power would overwhelm my melancholy.

And it was working. By the time the food itself was served, Taylor had put a smile back on my face. She and I sat side-by-side with a second-floor window view of the busy sidewalk outside, and as we immersed ourselves in the evening I felt my worldly cares melting away. Taylor was always an excellent companion for being out on the town.

Our "date" was almost lazy in that we were able to take our time and just enjoy everything. The wine was plentiful and delicious. The food excellent. And the company was perfectly comfortable. Taylor and I behaved as if it were commonplace for us to be dining together in a beautiful European city. There was no need for fakeness or stress over trying to impress one another. Even though we had never been in a steady romantic relationship with each other, I felt like I already knew her inside and out.

"Come on baby," Taylor teased me. She held up a grape for me to reach out and pluck away with my mouth. But the moment I tried she pulled it back leaving me to snap my teeth around empty air.

"No. I changed my mind." And with a laugh she put the grape between her lips and beckoned me to come fetch it.

Our mouths met together, and then Taylor was still giggling as I slurped the grape away and yet kept my lips pressed against hers in an affectionate kiss. When she finally pulled back, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes and fixed me with a model-pretty gaze of seduction. "Having fun now?"

"Yeah..." I breathed.

After many, many glasses of wine to end our dinner, we retired to the limousine fully expecting to return to Cassandra and the hotel. Taylor already had her arms looped through mine as she cuddled up close to me in the limo, giggling the whole time. But to our surprise, we pulled up outside the Palais Garnier.

"Oh, wow," Taylor gushed as we saw the splendor of architecture before us. "Isn't this the opera house of the Phantom of the Opera?"

I nodded at the little bit of trivia. At this time, the door opened up and the driver first helped Taylor out of the car and then I followed soon after. Several other well dressed couples were slowly meandering into the building.

Like I said, Cassandra had made all the arrangements, and the driver handed us our tickets for the evening's entertainment. Taylor turned to me, her bangs fluttering before her eyes in the breeze. The electric blue of her irises glinted in the lamplight. "Let's go have a romantic evening. Just the two of us."

It sounded like a great plan to me.

***

Hours later, we returned to the hotel to find that Cassandra had already gone to sleep in the second bedroom. And so Taylor and I retired to my master bedroom, coming together for a slow and satisfying session of making love.

I don't remember the details of our sexual acts that night. What I do remember is the way it made me feel. There was a tenderness to Taylor's touch that I hadn't felt from her before. Usually we were all about aggression and athletic fucking. But with the warm buzz of red wine still in us and the measured pace of our evening, being gentle just came naturally.

In my pursuit of Nicole, I had constantly been fighting to convince her I was just an ordinary guy.

In the past few days with Cassandra, we had been hiding behind the mirage of 'being on vacation', and I'd realized any hope of relationship would evaporate as soon as we returned to the real world.

But Taylor was just Taylor. She knew exactly who I was. She had slid comfortably into my new circumstances. And if she were open to falling in love with me, how could I possibly reject her? After all, this was a woman I'd first fallen for many years ago in college. I wasn't ready for someone like her back then. She was the beautiful bird that just couldn't be caged, and I'd had to accept that. But no matter how much I'd accepted our friendship, in the back of my head I always wanted more. The sex had been great for the past few years. But it was a poor solution to filling the void in my heart. I wanted to love her. And I wanted her to love me.

Perhaps her timing initially had been spurred by an opportunity for fame and wealth. But right now she was a sensuous creature in my arms, making love to me and totally accepting me for who I was. She was exploring a possible relationship with me without any barriers.

Perhaps my heart was still just trying to latch onto someone... anyone. Perhaps the third time's the charm. Perhaps Taylor really does love me in her own slightly self-absorbed but playful way.

I wanted to find out.

And that night, our bodies moved together as one, stirring each other to heights of pleasure we'd only rarely touched. And after we finally climaxed together, we surrendered to the peaceful world of sleep.

***

***FRIDAY***

In the morning I awoke with Taylor in my arms. So often, the few times we slept overnight together, she would wind up three feet away from me on the bed, unable to get comfortable with another body so close to her in her sleep. But this morning her head was pillowed on my chest, her legs thrown over mine as she cuddled close to me.

Ah, Taylor. Even when my head was spinning three different ways and my brain was telling me never to trust the love of a woman ever again, Taylor was by my side.

I simply enjoyed her presence for about twenty minutes before she stirred awake. And then with a sleepy grin she awoke and kissed me firmly, ignoring what had to be pretty bad breath on both our parts. Eventually she swung her hips over me and settled in for a short bout of morning lovemaking. I could never get tired of her fantastic body.

Despite the obvious noise we were making, Cassandra did not join us. My magical week of ménage à trois pleasure was apparently already over.

After we'd both cum and Taylor went into the bathroom to clean up, Cassandra knocked and then entered the room with a tray of coffee and croissants. Her entrance was perfectly timed at the conclusion of my morning romp.

"Do you require anything else, sir?" she asked.

I just glared at her and waited for the inevitable correction to 'Jonathan'.

It never came.

Cassandra just avoided my eyes and stared at the floor. And when it became clear no other direction would be forthcoming, she excused herself and went outside.

This could turn out to be quite awkward in the long run. I guess this was why personal assistants weren't supposed to fall for their employers, or vice versa. But either way, it was our last full day in Paris. And I wasn't going to let uncomfortable tension ruin the vacation.

Cassandra made arrangements for Taylor and me to visit the countryside while she attended to work in the hotel. Taylor was done with her photo shoots, and extended her trip a day to hang out and enjoy things with me.

Rather oddly, it was just yesterday that I was out on a romantic day with Cassandra. But a flare of annoyed anger quickly pushed her out of my head as I concentrated on my romantic day with Taylor. I wondered how those TV bachelors handled dating a different girl every day.

Fortunately, Taylor quickly smothered me with so much attention I had no choice but to fill my mind with her. She was a whirlwind of energy: flirtatious, sexual, conversational, and compassionate all at the same time.

It was actually while we were knee deep in buckets of grapes, stomping out the juice to make wine that Taylor leaned in and kissed me, then said her fateful words. Her eyes were the sharpest blue I'd ever seen in her, and out of nowhere I suddenly saw the moisture there, reflecting the sunlight and threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"Johnny... I might," she hesitated, blinking away and looking more confused than I'd ever seen her before. "I might be falling in love with you."

I'd already stopped my stomping when she grabbed me to plant her lips on mine. But now I felt myself about to collapse down into the sea of grapes in shock at what she'd just said. But I couldn't fall with Taylor's grip on my shirt.

I our entire time together, way back to college, Taylor had never even APPROACHED the L-word to me before. I couldn't help but be in complete shock. "Wow... I... I don't know what to say."

"But you're not weirded out?" she actually looked afraid. Whether of me or of her own feelings, I wasn't sure.

"No, no. Not at all. It's just unexpected. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," she half-laughed as the happy tears started coming down her cheeks. And she kissed me again, a passionate liplock that I fully returned. Semi-actress or not, there was no way of faking the happiness radiating from Taylor.

And when we broke for air her nose rubbed against mine. "Look, I know you were falling pretty hard for Nicole. I don't want to make you move any faster than you feel comfortable with. But I think it's only fair you know my intentions. For years there's never been anyone else I could depend on more. Through all my bad boyfriends and self-centered promotion, you were always there for me. And now I want to show you how much I've appreciated all those years of being a great friend. Now I want to win your heart."

***

***SATURDAY***

Time to go home. Time to return to the real world and face my day to day existence once again. Could I have prolonged the vacation? Sure. What, like I couldn't afford it? But somehow, going back to New York felt like the right thing to do.

After all, I finally had someone by my side to face reality with.

She wasn't the girl I thought would be my girlfriend a week ago. She wasn't even the girl I thought would be my girlfriend two days ago. But she WANTED to be MY girlfriend. That mattered quite a bit. And after two consecutive heartbreaks, I was ready to be loved.

Ever since Taylor's profession of love, the two of us had been inseparable. We spent the rest of day in a whirlwind of passion and barely ever NOT touching each other. I swore my lips would be bruised by the next day. We didn't even return to the Paris hotel last night, instead finding a quaint cottage of a bed and breakfast in the countryside to hole up in and make love for hours on end.

I'd called and informed Cassandra, of course, less she freak out. She accepted the news without emotion and asked when we'd return, more for convenience of planning than anything else.

And when Taylor and I finally returned in the morning, she had dutifully gotten everything organized and everything packed up, including Taylor's gear. The car was waiting and all that was left was for us to change into our travel clothes and head for Charles de Gaulle Airport.

From the whole time at the hotel until we got on the plane, Cassandra's earpiece stayed in place with the lone exception of airport security. It was as if that little piece of electronics represented her professional detachment, and she clung to it desperately, even when there was no reason to make a phone call.

In a private moment, Taylor even whispered in my ear, "I miss the old Cassandra. What happened between you two?"

"I'll tell you about it later," I offered, not wishing to dwell on the subject.

On the plane itself, this time Taylor and I were side-by-side together in first class, while Cassandra was one row back by herself. I held hands with Taylor for almost the entire 8 hour flight, even when we went to sleep. And somewhere over the Virgin Islands we snuck away to a lavatory so that I could join the Mile High Club.

We arrived at JFK early in the afternoon. At least, it was early afternoon for New York. It felt like late evening for the three of us by the time we got to my apartment on 5th Avenue. Taylor hadn't slept very well on the plane. Despite the luxurious recliner, she'd never been very good at sleeping in moving vehicles. And the helicopter ride just made Taylor feel motion sick instead of being a pleasant shortcut home. Ultimately, none of us were feeling too great after a long travel day.

But rather than send Taylor home immediately, we decided to just chill out for the day and get over our jet lag. After a lovingly passionate kiss, I sent Taylor into my bedroom to sleep off her exhaustion. I promised I'd join her soon.

Meanwhile, I spoke with Cassandra in the living room about making arrangements to drive Taylor and her luggage back to her place later in the evening while Dorothy got us fresh coffee and a quick bite to eat to settle our stomachs.

Cassandra was professional and polite, some of the warmth even coming back into her voice. Her attitude at the moment reminded me of the way she'd been for the first few days in my employ, before we'd gotten to know each other. Perhaps with a little time things would get back to normal between us. Here, in New York, the personal assistant-employer roles just felt natural.

Cassandra had gone into her room to dock her laptop and catch up on everything she'd missed for the past week while I settled into my private TV lounge when Edward came to my door.

"Sir, there is a young lady at the door to see you. A Miss Kaitlyn Reynolds."

I blinked for a few moments in surprise. It had only been Monday when I'd played tennis with the vivacious blonde teenager. And yet it seemed a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then and I barely remembered her. As I turned over the name in my head, I found I wasn't even completely certain what she looked like. But after another second I looked up at my butler and nodded. "I'll, uh, see her in the living room."

"Quite right, sir." He turned and strode out.

I stepped to a mirror for the moment, making sure I didn't look too bad. After all, Kaitlyn Reynolds was still an attractive young woman and it just wouldn't do to look unkempt in front of an attractive young woman. My outfit was on the casual side, but after all, I'd been traveling all day.

So after running my hands through my hair, I stepped out and went to the living room where Edward was offering the perky girl a soft drink. She was just as cute as I remembered, with a form-fitting tracksuit, the jacket unzipped low enough to show off her sizeable cleavage. Her hair was in a pair of braids that ran straight back and over her shoulders. And her green eyes sparkled when she saw me. I put on my polite smile and prepared to say something inane when Kaitlyn suddenly stood up and glared at me.

"Where the hell have you been all week?" She barked. Those eyes narrowed accusingly.

"Uh, excuse me?" I stopped ten feet away, momentarily hesitant to approach any closer to this firecracker.

"Where'd you go? One minute I'm on my knees in the shower sucking your dick and then next minute you're gone!"