John Billionaire Ch. 03

The question made me pause, and I stuttered for just a second. The rest of the family seemed to circle around me and for a moment I knew what a dying animal felt like with a pack of vultures overhead. "Uh, well..."

"Aren't you the guy who paid for mom's surgery?" the girl fixed me with a look better suited for the Spanish Inquisition. "Why else would you do that?"

Nicole gathered herself and came to the rescue. "No, he's not my boyfriend." And then she noticed her entire family similarly appraising me. "Well, we'd sort of been dating," she addressed to the gathered crowd.

Then Nicole turned and punched her sister on the shoulder. "YOU would know. You watch Celebrity Sightings more than I do."

Then she returned to me. "My little sister, Natalie."

An Aunt stepped in, eyeing me slowly. Then she turned to Nicole. "Dear, you'd said an old friend had helped with the hospital bill and everything. But you didn't say it was Jonathan Kwong!"

"Really, it was nothing," I interrupted.

Nicole just waved her hand back and forth between me and her family. "Everyone, this is John. John, this is everyone."

"Pleased to meet you." I looked over the assembled family. "I'm only sorry it had to be under these circumstances." And then my attention was back on Nicole.

I stepped up and held her arm as she clutched herself and turned away from everyone, looking to escape the pressing attention for just a moment. She looked like a stiff breeze would blow her over. "You alright?" I queried.

"Yeah," she whispered, not sounding entirely convincing. But then her eyes swiveled up to me and there was nothing but warm gratitude in her gaze. "Thank you... for everything."

"It's really no problem. You know I'd have done anything for you." I put as much sincere affection as I could into that statement. And for a moment we just looked into each other's eyes as if we were still happily together in her apartment.

A motion caught my attention, though, and I glanced left. Natalie was watching us and obviously looking me up and down. Nicole looked over and gave her sister a clear 'get lost' face.

Natalie just smirked and turned away, muttering, "He is cuter in real life..."

Nicole smiled as I rubbed her shoulder. But then I said, "She's pretty cute, too."

Nicole pulled away and her expression changed to a scolding one. "She's also seventeen. She's off limits."

The natural guy impulse in me thought 'only for another year', but I bit my tongue. This wasn't the appropriate forum for that comment. I suppose Cassandra had been right about the baser animal in me coming out. Instead I replied, "So Nicole, really, how have you been?"

We chatted for a few minutes while two young men split off and tried to chat up Cassandra. But then an Uncle got everyone's attention.

"They're starting."

***

Seven hours later, everyone was exhausted. It's amazing how tired you can get without even doing anything. But with each passing hour you could feel the tension and worry pulling at your muscles.

But in the end, Nicole's mother was asleep in bed, resting comfortably. And everyone was able to breath a long sigh of relief.

It would be days before we knew whether the surgery was a success. But so far at least, she was still alive and that was something we could be happy about. And it was time to head home.

It took a while for the Gellar clan to split up. Nicole's family was one of those for whom saying goodbye took twenty minutes.

Ten minutes into that, Cassandra touched her earpiece and nodded to me. My ride was ready for liftoff. I was about to say my own goodbye to Nicole when I suddenly realized exactly where I was headed.

"You going back to Manhattan?" I asked her.

"Uh, yeah. I have to get back to work tomorrow." She brushed a lock of hair out of her face and gave me a quizzical look.

"Want a lift? My ride will take you to my place, and then I can get a car to take you home from there."

"Your ride?"

"Well... We flew here. Helicopter."

"Cool!" Natalie's voice floated over.

"A helicopter, huh?" Nicole was humored, but she believed me. "I thought you were trying to convince me you were just an ordinary guy."

I smirked. "Yeah... gave up on that a few weeks ago. There was this girl from Connecticut I really liked. She managed to convince me that being ordinary was impossible."

Nicole giggled. And at the beautiful sound all was right in my world.

I proffered my elbow. "Shall we?"

She looped her arm through mine. "Lead the way."

***

Nicole sat on the right side and spent the entire flight with her nose almost to the glass as she watched the world fly by as we cruised just off the Atlantic coastline. And as I watched the delight passing over her face, I directed the pilot to cruise past the Statue of Liberty before circling back to the apartment building.

And when we finally touched down, Nicole breathlessly admitted. "My first helicopter ride!"

"You enjoy it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Ohmigod. It was incredible. I mean, I'd seen so much of the Connecticut coastline, but never from the air. I spent the first ten minutes just going 'Ooh, I know that!' And it was so, so incredible seeing Manhattan and the Empire State Building from the air! And like, I'm not a geography major or anything but I'm pretty sure that the Statue of Liberty is not between Hartford and Central Park but still it was so incredible and wow, I wish we could do that again!" And then she caught my expression, laughter in my eyes. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"So, I take it you found the trip... incredible?"

She giggled and then punched me in the shoulder. If I spent any more time around Nicole I was going to have to invest in shoulder pads. And when I batted her hands away she tried to punch me again, giggling the whole time. I fondly remembered how infectiously cheery I felt when Nicole giggled.

I headed straight to the doors leading back down to my apartment with Nicole in tow. Cassandra hung back and finished the last paperwork for the chopper. Once inside, I simply strode into my home and tossed my keys. Edward greeted me and Dorothy asked if I was hungry, which I was. And then I realized that Nicole wasn't by my side anymore.

Belatedly, I realized she'd never seen my new place before. And now she stood rigidly still in the doorway, eyes wide as she took in the teak furniture and expensive red oak floors and two uniformed servants. Edward almost intimidated her as he reached to take her coat and welcome her further inside.

And as I stepped back to bring her in, I saw the same nervous fear in her eyes that I'd last seen when she was pushing me out of her life. I could almost hear her already saying 'I can't handle this'. And just when it looked like she was going to back out the door and run away, I grabbed onto both her hands with mine and held them tightly.

"Nicole, it's okay. Come on..."

Her hands were cold to the touch, but she stared down at our intertwined fingers as if remembering what had once been between us. I looked down and realized myself how I'd made this gesture a trademark of our relationship. With no one else did I tenderly hold both their hands and reassure them that everything would be alright.

And when I tugged her back she came with me, unresisting. I kept pulling until we came to my private quarters, Nicole still glancing left and right as she took everything in as rapidly as she'd been staring out the helicopter windows just a few minutes earlier.

But then I brought her inside and sat her down on my comfy sofa. And enclosed in this room, with the beautiful view of Central Park before us, she seemed to calm down a bit.

I thumbed the intercom. "Dorothy? How about something simple, like sandwiches and coffee."

"Right away, sir."

I turned back to Nicole. When dressed for work she could appear mature and composed. But right now she looked every bit the young, slightly frightened girl. "Well," I began softly, "I'll bet you're hungry. That hospital food was terrible, wasn't it?"

"Uh, huh..." She was still looking around the room a bit, including my oversized TV, but eventually her gaze returned to me. "John?"

"Yeah?"

"No matter what you do from now on, you'll never be able to convince me you're just an ordinary guy."

I chuckled at that. "Oh, that. Well, to be honest, I wasn't planning on staying 'ordinary' much longer anyways. I had a brilliant date planned out for us the day the story broke." A wistful smile crossed my face, regret plain over what could have been.

She reached out and touched a hand to my leg. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I treated you so badly."

"Well, I can't say I was happy with the way things turned out. But your reaction was understandable. Even people who secretly dream about being famous, like me, find that desire a curse when fame actually finds them. It's certainly caused me quite a bit of grief over the past few weeks."

"Really? I've been following the reports. Jetting off to Paris with Taylor? I could see how miserable that made you." Now there was just a trace of accusation in her voice.

"Yeah, about that. Well first, the trip to Paris was just an attempt to escape everything for a little while. But fame even managed to ruin that. It turns out that Taylor was the one leaking my whereabouts to the media. It got her a lot of exposure and really boosted her career. But I'm pretty sure it also led them to follow us on our date."

Nicole's face dropped. "How horrible!"

"Even a long-term friend can be blinded by greed and ambition. And while I can't say that this inheritance hasn't brought me a lot of good things, it's also brought a host of other problems. All my old 'friends' started hitting me up for money within a day of the newsbreak. And I haven't even left this apartment since I got back from Paris, except for this one trip to the hospital. I'm a prisoner in my own home."

"I guess you can see why I didn't want to get involved with you."

I felt my heart sink just a little more at her statement. "The reasons, yes I understand. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt." Unconsciously, I was now putting on the perfect puppy dog face.

The face affected Nicole immediately and she scooted across the couch, touching a hand to my face. "Aww. I'm so sorry, John." Her eyebrows softened and I could see the sadness in her eyes as well. "I know how much it hurt you because it was hurting me too. I was thinking about you every day and how I wished I were with you. It's not easy to forget the man who took your virginity."

She had a soft smile at that pleasant thought, which quickly vanished as the pain of our breakup came back. "I was just so... scared. I couldn't handle it. So I ran away. And when I found out you'd gone off to Paris with Taylor I was half really angry at you for leaving with her and half glad that you might still find happiness. I was trying to move on with my life and then this thing with my mom and the hospital bills and the stupid insurance company that just wanted to be greedy and line their own pockets on the backs of good, working people-"

"Nicole..." I soothed, interrupting her current ramble.

She smiled, catching herself and shyly covered her mouth with one hand. And then she looked back at me. "I hate to say it because it just sounds so wrong, but there's a part of me that's glad my mom needed this surgery. It gave me a chance to talk to you again."

"There's never anything wrong with finding the silver lining in a bad situation." I leaned towards her. "And I'm really glad I got to see you again, too."

I glanced over her pretty features, the sweet girl-next-door look that caught my attention so long ago. And my mind conjured up the memories of making love to her like we had been perfectly molded to fit each other. Her face was just inches from mine as we looked into each other's eyes. It was so tempting to close that gap and press my lips to hers. She caught my expression and for a moment, her lips parted in anticipation of our kiss.

A hard knock sounded at the door. And like a light-switch had been thrown we jerked away from each other. It took a second to calm my nerves before I called out. "Come in!"

Dorothy entered in with a tray of delicately cut sandwiches and a pot of coffee. She set down the two mugs and an array of creamers and sugar. A minute later, she slipped out.

I looked over at Nicole, still feeling the heat of her skin as we'd been so close to kissing. I chuckled in mild embarrassment and she giggled, covering her mouth shyly again. A part of me wanted to reach out and shove my tongue down her throat. But the opportune moment was past.

And besides, my stomach gurgled loudly at the smell of the sandwiches, causing Nicole to laugh even harder. "Come on. Let's eat."

***

Fifteen minutes later, with full bellies and a slight caffeine high, Nicole was sitting right by my side and leaning against my shoulder. It had been the perfect time to watch the sun setting on the opposite side of Central Park, and we both inched closer and closer to one another without speaking as the golden disk slowly disappeared over the horizon.

And the moment the last ray of sunshine vanished from view, Nicole turned her head to me. I looked over at her as well and after a brief moment, she dipped her head towards me and softly pressed her lips to mine.

I half moaned into her mouth as she began to massage my face with hers and our kiss slowly built up and built up for long minutes until it was boiling with passion. The sound of sharp inhalations through our nostrils was mixed with the wet slapping of our tongues and lips mashing together. Her arms reached around the back of my head as she pulled me close.

When we finally broke for air, Nicole panted at me with a wild look in her eyes. "Before anything else, I want to thank you for what you did for my mother."

I just nodded and breathed deeply to catch my breath.

"Now, which way is your bedroom?"

Her sudden thanks and this question stopped me cold for a moment. "Wait. Nicole, I don't want you doing anything just because you think you owe me."

She laughed and pecked me on the lips. "No, silly." Then she kissed me again. "That's why I got the 'thank you' out of the way first." And then her hand was in my crotch, feeling out the hardening length of my penis quickly expanding in my pants. "This, this is because I haven't had a great orgasm since the last time I had you in my bed."

Grinning into our next kiss, I held her head and then turned it while pointing to the double-doors leading to the master suite. Nicole just grabbed both my hands with hers and stood up, tugging me quickly.

Once we got into my bedroom and slammed the door shut, Nicole became a runway model, strutting in a beeline away from me and towards the bed, her hips swaying from side to side. Her blouse was the first thing to go, followed by her heels and then the knee-length skirt. She was leaving the stereotypical trail of discarded clothing leading up to the bed, and I was only too happy to follow.

The whole time she was walking her head was darting left and right, observing my room. But when she turned around and sat at the edge of the bed, her eyes were only on me. She wore a matching flesh-toned bra and thong panty set. And as she set her hands behind her on top of the bedspread and leaned back, I let my eyes drink in the view.

Her position thrust her chest out, and I wracked my brain trying to remember exactly what her breasts looked like. They were plenty big and filled out her bra cups nicely, the fabric pushing her titflesh together in enticing cleavage. Clearly not as big as Cassandra's massive mammaries, but a full handful at least.

Her body was well-toned and firm. Not as firm as Kaitlyn's, but still tight in the flower of her youth. Her light-brown hair cascaded off her shoulders. She wasn't a flirtatious blonde or even an edgy short-haired dark brunette like Taylor.

In fact, nothing about her was singularly extraordinary and yet the whole package added up to far more than the sum of their parts. Nicole was beautiful and her warm personality radiated through every movement.

I stepped up to her and she sat up to start unbuttoning my shirt. Our lips found each other once again while her fingers fumbled lower and lower. I couldn't help it, I was intoxicated with the notion of kissing her. It wasn't as purely a physical attraction as I might have felt towards the other beauties I'd bedded recently. There was something in Nicole's soul that called out to me.

"You are beautiful," I breathed.

She blushed. "I love it when you say that."

"You are beautiful." And I meant it in more ways than one. And despite my fame and fortune, I wondered if I was worthy of HER.

She got me topless and then I reached around her back to return the favor. She smiled shyly at the floor as the cups fell away and her amazingly firm yet soft breasts tumbled out into my palms.

She grinned as I played with the orbs like a kid with his favorite toys, but then a sudden thought seized my mind. "Hang on just one second," I said quickly. And then I darted over to my closet.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh, just making sure we aren't disturbed." And leaning down I slid the lock across the trap door. I'd told Kaitlyn I would be putting it in. She wasn't happy about it but understood my desire for privacy, as long as I used it only sparingly. And then when I emerged I found Nicole leaning against the bedpost, still topless with her bare breasts calling out to me. "Where were we?" I asked.

"Mm, right here." She grabbed me and planted me on the edge of the bed, sitting down. Nicole got my pant clasps undone, and once the offending garment dropped to my ankles, she got to her knees before me.

After dragging my boxers off my feet, she leaned forward and gingerly grasped my erection in her small hand. Her left hand was around the base and her right circled further up towards the crown. And then her tongue extended out to take a tentative swipe across the head.

My cock trembled in her grasp, and she giggled as the delight spread across her face. And then she was humming as she lowered around me, her small mouth stretching around the mushroom head.

I smiled as she took me in without the pain of any teeth, but her tentative motions belied her lack of experience with this. That somehow came as a relief, knowing her technique had not miraculously improved in the time we were apart. And so I leaned back on my elbows and enjoyed her tender ministrations of worshipping my cock.

She sucked and licked happily, but in truth her focus was not on my dick, but on the expressions I was giving her. Nicole's eyes never left mine as she watched the effect she was having on me spread across my face.

I was feeling good. I felt even better with the mental knowledge that it was Nicole sucking me. Still, I wasn't in any danger of popping off anytime soon and I wanted to get us moving. And so gently pulling on Nicole's shoulders, I stood her up.

And in a sudden movement, I dipped and hoisted her light body into my arms, causing Nicole to shriek as I adopted the perfect husband-carrying-bride-over- the-threshold pose. And then while she was still giggling I leaned in and kissed her.

My lips did not leave hers until after I'd lain her down comfortably on my bed, her head cradled in the plush pillows. And then my hands went down, dragging her thong panties down her legs so that we were both completely naked.

I crawled up next to Nicole, molding my body beside hers. And then I purred happily like Scrat caressing his precious acorn. Even if we didn't have sex, cuddling once again with Nicole was like finding heaven. My heart had been sent into a tailspin when she left. It had been further bruised and battered by Cassandra and Taylor. And I'd locked it away so Kaitlyn couldn't even touch it.