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“Seriously, Danny?” The Lexington family owned a Gulfstream 650, powerful and luxurious and one of the best private jets money could buy, but Danny had his own jet, which was just as coveted but far, far edgier. He’d had it custom made with a huge flat-screen TV, a bar, WiFi, a bedroom in the back, a large sitting area up front, and speakers that would make you feel like Lady Gaga was right there flying with you while she sang her heart out. Danny’s jet was like a bar/disco on air and always ready to party.
“Yep, I’m dead serious, sis. Fly anywhere, invite your friends, have a blast, and put your hotel bills up on my black card.” He kissed her forehead, his green eyes—just like hers—twinkling in mischief. “Just be sure to call the pilots at least an hour in advance so they can have the flight plan ready.”
Chloe worried her lower lip. “Danny…I was going to spend the day here.”
He flashed his drop-dead grin that he was famous for and rumpled her hair. “Well, now you don’t have to stay here. Go to Vegas, Chlo. Hell, go to Monaco. Spend a week there.”
“But I’d rather stay here…today. If that’s okay.”
Thankfully, he didn’t read too much into her reluctance to go out and have a blast and enjoy her twenty-fifth birthday, for he shrugged easily. “Do it any day you’d like, then.” He nodded from the door, that heart-stopping, white smile still in place. “But have a happy birthday, all right?”
“I will,” Chloe promised as he
left. She stole a look at the lone red rose in a simple crystal vase on her nightstand, and the butterflies burst to life in her stomach as she thought of Graves—and what they would be doing together today.
It was all she could think of, fantasize about, and dream of as she started her day, answering a thousand texts, Facebook messages, e-mails, and messages on her iPhone.
Then the presents came…
Her friends had donated a thousand dollars in her name to Global Giving. Her parents? A cool million and an unlimited shopping spree at Saks. Chloe spent a couple thousand on a pair of crystal Jimmy Choo stilettos, a kick-ass emerald-green Herve Leger bandage minidress, a sexy Agent Provocateur black lace bra and panties, and a Brazilian wax.
She had lunch with seven of her friends, including her best friend Whitney Donahue, and afterward told them she couldn’t hang out anymore. Whitney, who was no fool by anyone’s standard, pulled her aside at the valet. “Hey, Vicky Secret, why so mysterious today?” she laughingly said.
Of course Whitney knew how Chloe felt about Graves, just as Chloe knew that under the gold bangles Whitney always wore, she had a man’s name written on her wrists.
Chloe was desperate to shout to the top of her lungs and tell her dearest friend that the world was probably going to stop turning and she might end up in a pile of ashes tomorrow because she was sleeping with Graves tonight! But she was so afraid anything—anything—ruining her evening, she quickly brushed Whitney’s concern aside with an easy, “Just have a crazy day today.” And then she drove home to soak in the tub with lavender.
To anyone else who called, she said she was busy tonight. Busy prettying herself for Graves while lusting and waiting for him and caressing her skin with the bright red rose he’d given her two days before. Busy getting wet and excited just thinking about it. Thinking about him. Remembering his kiss, his eyes.
Busy getting ready, because tonight, she was giving her virginity to Graves Buchanan.
And then at around 3 p.m., she got the best present of them all.
A mysterious-looking present. When the maid let her know something had arrived for her, Chloe brought the package simply addressed to CHLOE to her room, still in her bathrobe. The package contained two gift-wrapped items: one small box and one flat envelope. The envelope contained a gemstone certificate, while the box contained a blue velvet ring box with a sparkling, dazzling white diamond nestled at the center. Also inside the box, a letter I on simple white paper had been tucked into the small dome at the top.
An earthquake that would rate about a ten on the Richter scale went all through Chloe, because suddenly she knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that it was from him.
Every ten minutes for hours, an identical present arrived, and each contained a gemstone certificate, an identical diamond, but each with a different letter.
Chloe had never had such a splendid admirer and her womb clenched in frantic excitement every time she opened a box and stared at her new diamond. Two carats each, D color, internally flawless; Graves sent a total of twenty-five of them, each for a year of her life.
Chloe knew that they were the cleanest, whitest stones, and with a GIA certificate and ideal cut for brilliance, they were the best his money could buy her. She also knew that it was difficult to find one D, internally flawless diamond, but twenty-five? She could only imagine how much time he’d spent having all of these located and then delivered for today.
But the letters, she just couldn’t decipher them. One diamond had contained merely a period, but the rest just didn’t make sense to her.
IIMLLICYUWUPTIDNAKOIGPHT.
She scrutinized them for hours and tried to decipher what the letters meant, but she could not sort them out and ended up tucking each letter back into a diamond box. Then she waited and waited…fantasizing about him…becoming more and more aroused…
Being a virgin somehow made you feel like you were missing out on something, like you were being left out of a special club only people who had sex were allowed into. Like any girl, she’d fantasized about her first time for years, always wondering how having a man inside you would feel, if your orgasms were different than when you had one by yourself, and more importantly, who her first time would be with. But Chloe had always known, in her gut, that last part. Many guys had tried, but she just couldn’t get into any of them; she just didn’t want them the way she wanted Graves.
She was picky about her bed sheets, and her underwear, and her shoes. Always demanding the best. Her first time? You bet she wanted the best. And she wanted Graves Buchanan.
She waited and waited into the evening, when she became so anxious she began answering some e-mails just to keep from pulling out her hair. Then she got a call from Lisa, one of the caretakers at the orphan home.
“Chloe! You won’t believe what just happened, but please, please don’t tell anyone I called. It’s supposed to be under the radar, but there’s been an anonymous donation from a big corporation for fifty million dollars to the home. Fifty. Plus new computers from that top intelligence corporation that builds the robots like the one we saw. Oh, my God!”
She rambled on about how the check had mysteriously arrived, but Chloe was barely hearing anymore, she was trembling with excitement and a rush of desire so great, she hardly knew what to do with it.
