Page 106 of Cinderella and the Billionaire Boss

She gives me a helpless look and nods, and I lift up and start moving, giving in to my body’s urge to take both of us to the edge. She moans and closes her eyes, moving with me, and it takes less than thirty seconds before she sucks her bottom lip and her brow furrows with a frown.

I thrust harder, plunging down into her and making sure I grind against her clit, and she inhales and holds her breath, then lets out a long, fierce series of moans as she comes. I kiss her to cover them, then, when it doesn’t work, cover her mouth with a hand, trying not to laugh while she shudders and clenches around me. When she’s done, I finally lift my hand, and she opens her eyes and gives me an apologetic look as she whispers, “Sorry, was I being noisy?”

“Loud enough to wake the dead.” I chuckle and kiss her again, continuing to thrust, feeling the first tremors of my climax approaching. “Ahhh… Heidi…” I plunge deep into her, and she’s warm and soft and wet, and it’s only seconds before it’s too much for me, and I come hard.

Her hand covers my mouth, and I realize I must be making too much noise as well, but I can’t control it. My breath warms her fingers as I gasp and groan, and it’s only when my body releases me from its tight grip and I sink down on top of her that she takes her hand away.

“Naughty boy,” she says, and she kisses my jaw and nips my earlobe.

“Ow.”

She giggles, then wraps her arms around me. “Now we’re official members.”

“Mm.” I take my time to kiss her, enjoying her soft mouth, and then eventually withdraw and shift to the side so I’m not squishing her. I pull her into my arms, and we cuddle up together.

We lie there quietly for a while, listening to the thrum of the engines, and I think about us flying high above the clouds, circling the Earth through the darkness to greet the sunrise on the other side.

I kiss the top of Heidi’s head, and she trails a finger down my chest, playing with the hairs there.

“I think it’s time,” I say.

She draws a heart. “I know.” She pushes herself up. “I could do with a drink.”

“Let’s ring for the attendant.”

“Hold on.” She pulls on her T-shirt and underwear, and I do the same, then unlock the door. We sit up in bed, and then we press the buzzer. Twenty seconds later, there’s a knock at the door, and the attendant appears. We order a couple of drinks—an Islay malt for me, G&T for her. The attendant brings our drinks, then withdraws and leaves us to it.

We sip from our glasses. I inhale, then blow out the breath slowly.

“I didn’t expect to fall in love with you,” I begin.

She looks up at me with her big blue eyes, and then her lips curve up in a beautiful smile. “That’ll teach you to touch the standing stone,” she says, and I chuckle. “I’m in love with you, too,” she whispers.

“I don’t know how much to trust what I’m feeling,” I admit. “We’ve only been together… what? Seven, eight days? I know most people would say it just feels more intense because it’s a holiday fling.”

“That could be true.”

“So maybe it would be wrong to make major decisions about our lives based on a crush.”

“Good point.”

I sigh. “I know you love England, and you’ve made a life there. I know you don’t want to move back to New Zealand. And you know that my life is there—my friends and family, my business.”

She gives a small nod.

“I don’t want to ask you to move,” I tell her. “Why should you give up your perfect life for me? It’s not fair to demand that of you when there’s no guarantee it would work between us. But I suppose we have to face the truth that one of us is going to have to make that sacrifice if we want to try to make it work.”

“I know,” she whispers.

I take her hand in mine and brush my thumb over her knuckles. “I’ll be honest with you, Heidi. I don’t know if I can make that sacrifice. I feel like a heel for saying it. I’m not saying that my job is more important than yours, or that I don’t have feelings for you, because I do, or we wouldn’t even need to discuss it. But I’m on the verge of this big breakthrough, and I need to be near my team, and near Mack’s supercomputer, and to be able to meet Saxon and visit Wellington, and I can’t do all that from the other side of the world.”

“I understand,” she says, and I can see her trying to be brave, even though I’m sure her heart is breaking.

I squeeze her hand. “I suppose what I’m saying is… is moving back something you’ll consider? Will you think about it? Or do we both need to accept right now that it’s just not going to happen? In which case, does it make sense to prolong our parting by seeing each other in New Zealand? Or is it just going to make it more painful?”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Heidi

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