The Contract: Sunshine Read online

  She quirked an eyebrow. “What do we do now?”

  He kept his voice calm and reasonable, even though his desire for her was gnawing at him. “Your grandmother probably will want you to come back home now that she believes you have gone out of your mind while I, of course, seduced you in order to get my hands on your wealth considering our business association and her confidence in how important you are to her--.” Yoon voiced his assumptions aloud.

  Sunshine’s mouth dropped wide as she looked at him with incredulous eyes. “Boy, do you have that wrong. I am not important to my grandmother. I am the docile mutt in the bloodline of strong Dupree women,” she mocked herself.

  “When she spoke of you, I heard a lot of pride, Sunshine,” Yoon countered, surprised by her reaction.

  “No,” she shook her head. “She tells me more times than I can count, I’m my mother’s daughter. If you knew my mother, you would know that is not a compliment.”

  “Sunshine...”

  “No, Yoon. I’m serious. For Nana Sophia, I’m the means to her getting the male heir she longs for since my father died.”

  “What good is that when the child you have will carry the father’s last name? Unless, of course, the father agrees.”

  “Trust me, my grandmother can afford to pay any man I marry enough to allow any son I may have to carry the Dupree name,” she fretted. “Next, she probably will want to also raise him herself and keep me out of the picture as much as possible, just like she did with me and my mother.”

  Yoon frowned at that bit of information. He knew in business Sophia Dupree could be ruthless and he admired her for it. However he didn’t want to believe she would take the high hand approach with the granddaughter she spoke so fondly of.

  “Admittedly, it isn’t uncommon in Korea for the son-in-law to take on the last name of the family he marries into that does not have a son of their own in order for their name to live on. However, for the most part, it is a second or third born son that agrees to such a thing.”

  “I don’t care about the Dupree name living on,” Sunshine’s eyes bore into his. “What I care about is being an active participant in my children’s lives. This is why it is so important for me to obtain my independence from my grandmother.”

  She drew in a shaky breath. He could see how painful this was for her.

  “Unbeknownst to my grandmother, my father set up a separate trust fund for me. When she found out after his condition worsened, she convinced him to add the stipulation that I couldn’t receive control of my inheritance until I had been married for one year in hopes that I would meet a man who wanted me, not my family name and money.”

  Her overly bright eyes tugged at his heart.

  “Why are you so upset about this?” Yoon asked.

  “Because, it just makes me so mad,” she replied. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Wouldn’t I?”

  She paused a moment as if she was mulling it over. “Without my grandmother, Yoon, I have nothing. No job. No place to live. No money. Nothing!”

  “Not anymore, Sunshine.” Yoon reached out and laced the hand that was worrying her jeans with his and held it palm side up on his knee. “You can do and be anything you want now.”

  “Oh really and what has changed? I still don’t have access to my trust fund.”

  “You got me now.”

  “What?”

  He lifted up his hand holding hers to show her the band on his finger that matched hers. “You have a husband now and your husband is quite capable of taking care of his wife without the help of his in-laws.”

  Her head turned to the side and her face softened. “Yoon, now that my grandmother knows, if you don’t agree to what she wants, there is no telling how far she will go to get her way.”

  “Sunshine, I still think you’re wrong about your grandmother,” he stated. He saw she was about to protest. “But...I still need your help with my situation and if that means standing up to your grandmother to keep me from giving in to my parents, I will do it.”

  “You want to go through with this?” She looked skeptical.

  “Hell, yeah. We haven’t even had sex yet,” he teased.

  “Then maybe I should leave you waiting a couple of months longer while we get to know more about each other.” She tugged her hand away and moved off the couch away from him. “It wouldn’t do for you to get the goods and leave me high and dry.”

  “I promise you dryness is something you will never have to worry about.” His cock hardened at the thought of her squirming under him hot and wet. He stood, totally prepared to put words into action. Making love to Sunshine was all he could think about since he was told to “kiss the bride.”

  “Hey, you just sit back down or go back to work,” she held up a hand. “I need to take my suitcases back to the guestroom and unpack them. I have steaks marinating and--.”

  He paused in his stalking at her words. “Guest room?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t want to be presumptuous by taking up your closet and drawer space.”

  “Your side of the closet is the right side. You have an entire wall of your own to hang up your things, place your shoes, a safe for your jewelry and drawer units for your garments,” he said.

  “You’ve had time to clear all that space for me?” She gushed.

  “I wish I could take the credit,” a chagrin look came over his face. “However, the truth is I don’t own enough clothes to fill up that entire closet. Apparently, the owners that had the place before me must have had enough clothing to fill a department store.”

  “I don’t have enough clothes with me to need that much space,” she reasoned. “Really, the guest room will be good enough for me. I just appreciate you wanting me to stay.”

  “You are now the wife of a very important man and I know you have the good breeding to know what that entails. You can consider it my investment towards your future independence from your family.” He reached out and took her hand again. “There is no way I will give Sophia Dupree the satisfaction of thinking the only son of the Young family can’t take care of his wife.”

  “She won’t believe this is real. Never have I’ve been in a relationship that she didn’t know about or that my mother didn’t manipulate.” She worried her bottom lip.

  The abject dismal look on her face tugged at his heart in a manner to which he didn’t want to think about right now. Even if it was for just one year, he wanted to make sure it was a year she could remember without regret. He never wanted her feeling as jaded about love and marriage as he did due to his bad experiences.

  “Then we just have to have your grandmother and my family believe we are deliriously in love and either they get with the program or lose us.”

  “It would be so nice to be completely independent,” Sunshine admitted aloud with deep longing.

  “I want your presence seen and felt in my life. For the next year, this is your home. My closet is your closet,” he grinned. “And starting tonight, my bed is your bed. Do you have a problem with that?” His mouth was so close to hers, he could feel the moist heat of her breath against his face. She smelled minty.

  “If you want the full Sunshine Dupree Heiress package that got her temporarily barred from two countries because she didn’t know it was illegal to do certain things in bed...” she nuzzled her nose against his. “It’s going to cost ya big.”

  “Two countries?” he squeaked like a fourteen year old. “Do tell...no! Do whatever it is to me. I deserve a test drive before I spend money on the car, don’t I?”

  “Didn’t you already test drive the car? I can’t help it if you drove your brand new car into a brick wall.”

  “I don’t invest in anything I can’t test more than once and for as long as I need to,” he countered. His voice grew deeper as his arousal became painful.

  “You remember that million dollars we discussed?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It won’t be enough.” She turned, withdrawing her hand from his
and tugged the barrette that held her hair in place at the nape of her neck. She shook her head and ran her hands though her hair to make it look as if he already played in it.

  Yoon’s mouth went dry. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Slowly his tongue moistened his lips when surprisingly she tugged her t-shirt off over her head and revealed a smoothed gracefully shaped expansion of creamy brown skin. It was like looking at the shape of a violin.

  He almost lost his heavy load in his pants when he saw her jeans riding low on her hips where she unfastened them. White lace was revealed and sexy dimples emerged for his view as she headed towards the hall leading to the bedrooms.

  Is she going to my bedroom? Was this it? Shit! Did he have condoms? Did they need them? He needed several boxes. He was usually prepared but it’s been awhile and the ones he had he didn’t trust anymore. The first time with a new person is always so damn awkward. He was thinking too much.

  She paused and looked over her shoulder at him with those lovely sleepy eyes. “Yoon?”

  “Heh?” He gulped as she slipped off her loafers and kicked them aside. The pants slipped more and he saw a dark dusky nipple briefly as her hands cupping her breasts quickly tugged up her jeans before returning to cover part of the package she was offering him.

  “Don’t forget to bring your checkbook,” she said in a husky sultry voice. “You will find me in your closet picking out neck-ties.”

  God, help him. There had to be nothing sexier than a woman that had a mind for business.

  He loosened the tie he wore, silently praying she wanted to do more with them than look.

  Chapter 10

  A happy woman marries the man she loves; a happier woman loves the man she marries...

  Sunshine found the power of being a woman an amazing heady feeling.

  Unlike her mother who only had to prettily pout to exert her will over others—including her own “unattractive” daughter who wanted to emulate her—Sunshine was told by her mother she would have to be able to seduce men with her abilities and not her looks. She had been surprised, for until the moment her mother told her this, she had seen in the mirror a face as beautiful as her mother’s and grandmother’s. Her father always called her “his beautiful Sunny girl” and she had believed him.

  After her mother awoke her to the truth and after the cruelty of her classmates confirmed it, Sunshine asked for ballet lessons. She asked for language lessons and she went to the kitchen where her grandmother’s five-star chef gave her cooking lessons.

  If she couldn’t be beautiful, she would be smart. So she excelled in her studies and her first lover was her college French physics professor who found her enthusiasm exhausting; at least that is what he said once he had to break it off with her because his wife grew suspicious of his waning libido.

  There had been plenty of men to take up where he left off, but after she found out her mother was the reason she was suddenly so desirable, she completely stopped dating and having sex because how could she trust anyone anymore.

  This would be her first time in awhile and she could feel herself going through the motions of being a seductress as she walked towards Yoon’s bedroom leaving articles of clothing for him to follow. Maybe that is why the butterflies were having a field day in her stomach and her heart felt like it was in her throat, choking off her air supply.

  What else could it be? Her sexual abilities were something she’d always been sure of and confident in. She was aware that no matter how unattractive you were men seemed to not notice in bed. In bed she heard words of adoration and time and again she was told she was the sexiest and most beautiful woman they’d ever been with.

  Sunshine knew that was a lie. They probably had plenty of more beautiful women than her, but they never had one that so earnestly wanted to please them in bed. They never had one that made the entire experience about them. That was Sunshine’s gift. She had a body she was very proud of. She sure it was God’s way of making up for the average features she possessed.

  Sex was something she could do without really feeling anything. When men thought they had you where they wanted you, they could be selfish lovers, assuming that their needs and pleasure automatically took care of yours without any effort on their part. She couldn’t count the times she had “oh’ed” and “ah’ed” her way through a marathon of sweaty sex just to feel this damn void that often threatened to consume her.

  She wanted the sex to be different with Yoon because the prelude foreplay had been out of this world. With him, not only had her body responded but she was into him mentally. He thoroughly teased and engaged her mind. He challenged her word for word and doing it practically anonymously had made it even hotter.

  During the piggy-back ride she felt something she never felt before. Her entire body was like molten blood running through her veins and the throbbing between her legs was amazing. Maybe it was the unexpectedness of his kindness towards her; a stranger that didn’t know who she was and he was still kind and considerate.

  She had wanted to cry from the sweetness of being sure someone was being nice to her because he was a genuinely nice person. Wow, was that what it felt like?

  Now as she felt him behind her, following, she was looking forward to being with Yoon and she wouldn’t for one moment think he wanted to make love to her because of her family because a man’s body couldn’t lie even if his mouth did. Yoon desired her and for some foolish reason it meant more to her than any other time she’d experienced.

  Sunshine cleared her mind of all things except this moment right now with Yoon. By the time she reached his bedside and turned to watch him standing still dressed, mesmerized and admiring her from a distance, she was completely naked and feeling proud and more self-assured this way than she’d ever be clothed. Boldly she returned his penetrating gaze.

  “Sunshine,” he called out her name. It was like a rough passionate affront to the silent stillness that lingered in the wake of their earlier teasing and exchange of words. “Do you have any idea how close to perfection you are? I can’t even breathe right now. I’ve don’t think I’ve ever experienced a surreal moment like this before.”

  She didn’t know why or where the tears were coming from but her eyes burned at that moment and she desperately wanted to cry. Her head dropped and she welcome the comforting shield of her hair as it fell forward. It was more of a mental shield of comfort than her actual hair hiding her face completely from Yoon’s disconcerting stare.

  Suddenly, she wasn’t feeling so confident anymore. She was feeling very exposed and vulnerable. She felt this one time before, when she thought she was in love for the first time in her life. The thought that she could be falling love with Yoon scared the hell out of her. Was it because they were married?

  She knew it wasn’t a real marriage so she couldn’t allow herself to let her feelings get the best of her. This is a business arrangement, she reminded herself. It’s sex just like all the other times. No big deal.

  “Do you really believe that?”

  She lifted her head at Yoon’s words and gawked. “What?”

  He came further into the room and stopped in front of her.

  Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she crossed her arms over her breasts.

  “Are you going to be able to remember that what we are doing here is purely slating our physical needs and nothing more?”

  Why did it sound so harsh when it was said aloud? She wondered.

  “Can you keep your feelings from confusing the matter,” Yoon asked her.

  Embarrassed, she hadn’t realized she had voiced her thoughts aloud. Instead of answering she said, “Can you?”

  “Of course,” he shrugged.

  The fact that he answered so easily and quickly without forethought pissed her off. Why the hell could he stand there so calm, cool and collected while she felt like screaming? Not sure about the answer, she chalked it up to the vulnerability of being naked while the other person in the room was not.

  “Forg
et it,” she frowned. “The mood is gone.” She moved to walk around him but didn’t get far.

  He came behind her, wrapping one arm possessively around her waist and the other under her chin drawing her back against his hardness. She could feel his body still wanted her even if his mind was determined to be analytical about the situation. Her eyes briefly closed as she swallowed and drew his sexual aroused scent through her nostrils when she took a deep breath. The nakedness against his clothed body was oddly erotic.

  “Don’t,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. She could feel the flushing warmth spreading along the walls of her vagina as moisture tickled at the opening, preparing his way in a ritual as old as time. “...lie to me,” he finished. “You know as well as I, our mood has been here between us hot and unappeased since the day I wanted to wet fuck you against that wall.”

  His words and the coarse manner in which he spoke them stoked a yearning and growing fire inside her.

  “I...I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she bit her bottom lip to stifle the moan that welled in the back of her throat as he nipped her shoulder.

  “Why not?”

  “Why what?” She couldn’t think straight as long as he continued to do that with his tongue.

  “Doing this isn’t a good idea,” he murmured and then nibbled the side of her neck. “And this...” he sucked and tugged on her earlobe. “Or this...” Yoon blew hotly in her ear and then his tongue swirled wet circles behind her ear.

  “Oh...Lord...” She panted, as her knees buckled, but his solid body cocooning her in such sweet warmth held her firmly in place at his mercy.

  “I’ve been called many things, but that is a new one,” he chuckled.

  Sunshine smiled as the vibration from his body traveled through her. “Ego much?”

  “In this room? Oh yeah, I’m in my element,” he teased.

  “Usually that is my line.”

  “Oh really?” he asked grasping her chin in his fingers to bring her face around enough to look at her. “Then why are you the one trying to escape my bedroom like a nun in a prison lockdown?”