“I’m glad.”
“Why,” she asked boldly, curiosity
about him eating her alive. “Why are you glad?”
“Because I want your trip to be
memorable. Unforgettable. I will not achieve that if you’re unhappy with your
surroundings. If there’s anything you need, just say the word and it’ll be
yours.”
“Well, you needn’t worry on that score.
This is unbelievable.”
His smile showed genuine pleasure. An
undefinable feeling shot through her as she gaped at the transformation from
gorgeous to incredible.
“Thank you.” He took a sip of his
mimosa, his eyes fixed on her. “I’ll give you a tour after take off.”
“Don’t I have a personal guide for
that?”
“Why make do with an employee when you
can have the boss man?”
“Maybe I don’t want the boss man. Maybe
I find the boss man a little overwhelming,” she countered.
He grinned, his face once more
transforming from intensely breathtaking to stop-your-heart charming.
Bethany realized in that moment she
wanted to see more of that smile. Not that the intense didn’t have its
benefits. It was just that she feared for her cardiac functionality if he kept
up with that electrifying intensity.
“I’ll go slow, I promise.”
Somehow the husky entreaty didn’t allay
her fears. But she found herself nodding all the same.
“Soooo? Have you had the tour yet?”
She refocused as Keely’s question
pierced her thoughts.
“No. He’s coming to get me in five
minutes.” A small shiver went through her. A quick glance in the bathroom
mirror showed the excitement in her eyes. Whirling, she made her way back into
her small living room, all the while willing her pulse to slow.
It was just a tour of the plane; part
of the normal Indigo Lounge service. Nothing else.
Yeah,
right.
“Remember I need photographic
evidence.”
“I don’t think I’m allowed to take
pictures of the plane’s interior.”
“Not of the plane, dummy. Of Mr.
Sexy-And-Reclusive.”
“Oh.” Bethany frowned. “I can’t just
take a picture of him, Keel.”
“Of course you can. You just have to
wait until he’s passed out from you fucking his brains out.”
Bethany laughed then jumped when she
heard the knock on her door.
“He’s here. I have to go,” she
whispered then cringed at the breathlessness in her voice.
“Go. Have fun. Don’t spend one second
thinking of your sex-deprived friend.”
Bethany stopped with her hand on the
door. “Right. Remind me again which of us has had more sex in the last month
than the other’s had in the last year?”
Keely’s smug laugh rang in her ears.
“Guilty!”
“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d want
to kill you.” She blew a kiss down the line, hung up and opened her door.
Zach Savage leaned against the
doorjamb, looking dangerously gorgeous. His angled body made the material of
his T-shirt stretch sensuously over a sculpted chest and ripped stomach.
Following the grooves and landscape of his body made her mouth dry.
She forced her gaze upward before she could
move from merely observing to downright ogling then bit back a gasp when she
met his stunning eyes again.
He quirked a brow at her, grey eyes
scrutinizing her from head to toe before trapping her gaze. With that one
single look, he made her whole body tingle wildly.
“Ready?” he asked.
Bethany was certain he was asking about
more than just the tour.
Was she ready for whatever was in store
for her?
You
need to move on. Forget Chris-A-Hole and his newfound love of anal of the male
variety.
She sucked in a breath, both to sooth
the pain in her heart and to gird her loins.
When she nodded, Zach straightened and
held out a hand. A feeling of inevitability washed over her as she stepped next
to him and placed her hand in his.
“So, who’s had more sex in the last
month than you’ve had in the last year?”
He dropped the question so casually
that she stumbled halfway up the stairs to the upper deck.
Zachary caught her arm just below the
elbow and steadied her. As if she didn’t have enough to contend with, now she
looked like a klutz. Which in turn annoyed her.
She faced him on the stairs, another
shock exploding in her belly when her eyes clashed with his. “You were
eavesdropping?”
“I was waiting for you to answer your
door. You chose to say that within my earshot,” he answered without a hint of
remorse, as his eyes did that raking over her face thing she found hot and
unnerving.
“Even if that’s what happened, don’t
you think it’s a bit inappropriate to repeat a private conversation?”
His lips firmed as he rested a hand on
the railing a single inch from hers. “Maybe, but I can’t un-hear what I heard,
Bethany. And I told you, I’m not good at pretending and so I can’t pretend I’m
uninterested in who you were talking to. Especially not when you were
discussing a subject matter that holds a certain importance to me.”
Her heart hammered at the strangely
hypnotizing effect of his words. She fought very hard to think rationally. This
was the real world, albeit a rarefied one right now—but the real world
nevertheless. People didn’t say things like that to each other. “How can it
hold importance to you? We met a little over two hours ago.”
He just regarded her as if he could see
right through her, to the heart of her every need.
Her every desire.
“Answer the question, Bethany,” he said
simply.
“I was talking to a friend.” She moved
away from him then whirled back to face him, irritated by that compulsion to
answer and also by his demand to know intimate details about her. “Let’s get
something straight right now. What happened in your office doesn’t give you the
right to probe into my private conversations.”
His hands fisted at his sides, and she
once again got the impression that he was stopping himself from reaching for
her. “I beg to differ, but if you prefer we can take this slower—”
“Or we can stop whatever this is dead
in its tracks,” she said. Bethany wasn’t afraid to admit the direction of the
conversation disturbed her. There was a look in his eyes, one that implied a possessiveness
that thrilled and bothered her at the same time. No man had ever looked at her
with the focus and intensity with which Zachary Savage was looking at her right
now. It made her palms damp and her heart race as if she’d ran a marathon. She
passed her tongue over her lower lip and sucked in a breath when he zeroed in
on that telling movement. “Umm, maybe this tour was a bad idea. I can get my
personal guide to—”
A single shake of his head and a long
black curl fell between his eyes. With a casual hand, he raked it back.
“No, we’ll shelve this discussion for
later. I promised you a tour. I think you’ll find this upper deck even more
interesting than the lower deck.” He smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach
his eyes. He fell into step beside her and went through a wide arch.
Her eyes widened as she took in the
vista before her. On the far side, a stage had been set up clearly for music
entertainment.
“We have a rock band, Friday’s Child, on
board. They’ll be providing the music for the Shanghai and Aleutian Mountains
trips. But there are other forms of entertainment on board, too. We pick up a
new crew every two cities to give the guests a fresh experience and to allow
the crew a break.”
She looked over to the opposite side of
the area. Intimate seating provided private entertainment areas and even across
the vast space, she saw a pole that only had one purpose. “Are the pole dancers
specially invited or can anyone join in and have a turn?”
“All entertainment is provided by The
Indigo Lounge, but guests are at liberty to participate as much or as little as
they want. The objective is to have a great time away from unwanted scrutiny.”
“Right, I see.”
Within another space, she saw a private
screening area, although the booths were unlike anything she’d seen in a regular
cinema. They were high and extremely private with indigo-colored velvet screens
to ensure utmost privacy. Each seating area could accommodate a group of ten. A
tallboy drawer was carved into the end of each row of seat. She pulled open the
first of the five drawers and her eyes widened.
Sex toys in all shapes and sizes,
including an exact replica of what she carried in her own luggage, graced the top
drawer. The second contained bull whips and handcuffs in varying sizes.
Slowly, she slid the drawers shut and
glanced up to find Zach’s eyes on her.
“I take it you don’t show just cartoons
here?” A blush rushed to her face as their eyes clashed.
Again, that smile that barely touched
his lips.
“No, but if you crave cartoons, I’m
sure I can find you something from our extensive selection.”
He led her through another coded door. Delicate
Oriental music chimed through discreet speakers. When her eyes acclimatized to
the low lighting, she saw massage beds grouped in intimate pairs and surrounded
by fat, unlit candles. A hostess, dressed in a short indigo tank dress with
gold piping, appeared from behind a discreet curtain and bowed.
“Our masseuses offer a whole range of
therapies,” Zachary explained in a low voice. “All you need to do is ask and
it’ll be done. Travelling, even in the lap of luxury, can be quite exhausting,”
he murmured. “What better way to relax than with a massage, either individually
or with someone special?” His voice reeked pure sex.
On the one hand, Bethany was relieved that
his frosty anger had receded, but he was back to his sexily lethal self, and as
she glanced at him and saw his narrow-eyed gaze on her, she knew relief was the
last thing she should be feeling.
The last space he showed her blew her
clean away. They stood at the nearest point to the nose of the plane. Before
her, she had a clear one hundred and eighty degree view of the sky. Since they
were only an hour into their trip and clear of the clouds below, all Bethany
could see was pure blue sky. She leaned against the railing in front of her and
stretched up on her toes to get a better view.
“Wow,” she breathed.
He leaned in behind her, his hands on
either side of hers on the railing. He caged her in just as he’d done in his
office and her breath stalled in her throat as he came in close.
“I’ll bring you up here in a few hours
just before the sun goes down,” he said in a low voice, which pulsed with dark,
sultry promise even when he wasn’t saying anything sexual. “It’s incredible to
see the sky just before the stars come out.”
She’d heard Keely go ape-shit over some
actor’s voice, but Bethany had never experienced sexual arousal over a man’s
voice.
Until now.
She felt a low drag in her stomach
and wished he would keep speaking just so she could melt in that voice.
“I’d…I’d really like that.”
“Good.” They stayed like that for
several minutes, watching the view in warm silence as the jet raced east. With
her every breath, she got more and more caught up in his scent, in the essence
of Zach Savage and the incredible things his aura did to her.
“I didn’t mean to pry into your life
earlier.” He stopped and she felt him shake his head. “No, scratch that. I
meant to do exactly that.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to know every single
detail about you, Bethany. I won’t apologize if that seems excessive or forward;
it’s the truth.”
Her breath caught and her grip on the
railing tightened. She felt as if she were swaying even though she didn’t move.
“You really don’t believe in sugar-coating your words, do you?”
“There’s no room for ambivalence in my
life. I’m required to make huge decisions every day. I can’t afford to mince my
words.”
“But surely that applies in your
business life, not your private one?” she asked, still unable to move from
where he’d imprisoned her.
He moved closer still, until his pelvis
brushed against her ass. Heat flushed through her. She looked down at their
hands, her delicate ones next to his strong and powerful grip. So close and yet
not touching.
“When it comes right down to it, the
same principles apply in all areas of my life. I won’t mislead you into
thinking this is something more or less than it is or will ever be. I want you.
I intend to have you and I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that goal,
including finding out everything I can about you. You can help by answering my
questions.”
“You know, you could simply state that
you’d like to get to know me, and let this thing evolve more naturally.”
His small exhalation of breath told her
he was smiling. She kept her gaze focused forward. They might have met only a
short time ago, but she already knew a smiling Zachary Savage was lethal to her
senses.
“Indeed. And it was what I intended to
do at the end of the tour. But then the subject of sex came up. I haven’t been
able to think of anything else since.”
“I guess I understand how that could
derail the best intentions.”
He laughed, a low, rich, gorgeous sound
that shot heat straight to her core. His fingers gripped the railing tighter,
then
he eased his hands closer to hers.
But still he didn’t touch her. There
was something about the delayed gratification of that move that made her
insides clench.
“So, have dinner with me tonight.”
Before she could respond, she heard
voices as a group entered the sky-viewing area.
Zachary stiffened and she heard his low
growl just before he stepped away.
Sucking in a long-denied full breath,
she turned, careful to keep her hold on the railing because of her decidedly
shaky legs.
The first group contained a sultan or
sheikh of some sort if the attire he wore was a guess. He was accompanied by
four women ranging from early to mid-twenties. Each woman was dressed in
stunning designer gear with priceless jewelry and impeccable make up. And they
all pandered to him as if they worshipped the ground he walked on.
“He’s the son of a sultan. Those are
his wives,” Zach murmured as the women caught their first glimpse of the sky
and giggled excitedly.
Bethany barely stopped her face from
contorting into a grimace. “Right, because why have one wife when four will
do?”
Striking grey eyes latched onto hers,
deadly serious in their intensity. “Rest assured, I’m a one-woman man, Bethany.
As long as I have your word that you’re a one-man woman, we won’t have a
problem. Because I will devote my every waking moment to ensuring your pleasure
so you don’t have to look elsewhere for it. Do I have your word?”
“I—”
Sultan Junior saw Zachary and threw his
arms out with a loud and effusive greeting. Zachary emitted another frustrated
growl. He threw her an apologetic glance.
“Excuse me. I was hoping to stay under
the radar, but I guess that’s blown out of the water now.”
She made an unintelligible sound and
waved him off, unable to keep from watching his sexy swagger as he walked away.
Dear God. On the one hand, she knew
what was happening.
The calm before the storm; the foreplay
before the fucking.
But if anyone had warned Bethany she would be this
turned on by it, she’d have laughed herself hoarse.
At twenty-four, she’d had far fewer sex
partners than the average woman her age, her longest relationship being with her
fourth boyfriend, Chris—until his bombshell announcement six months ago.
She’d moved to New York because of him,
had moved in with him at his request and for the best part of a year, she’d
fooled herself into thinking they were in the final stages of courtship before
the big proposal. At first, the weekend business trips hadn’t tweaked her
radar. But after eight weekends in a row and the disconcerting knowledge that
she was having more sex with Dildo Pete than with Chris, she’d known something
was seriously wrong.
But not even in her wildest raging
nightmares had she dreamed the man she’d thought she’d spend the rest of her
life with would confess he now preferred men.
“Hey, there.”
She dragged herself from Fucked Up
Memory Lane to find the guy she’d seen at the check-out desk in front of her.
The rest of his group had also arrived on the deck with their hostess and were
checking out the view.
“Uh…hi.” She hoped her smile didn’t reveal
her inner thoughts.
He held out a hand. “I’m Jackson
Blaine. Friends call me Jax.”
“Bethany,” she replied, and shook his
hand. His face was open and friendly, with sparkling brown eyes and a dimpled
smile that set her at ease. All in all, he was very easy on the eyes.
“I’m a drummer with Friday’s Child.
We’re gigging in a couple of hours on the lower deck. Stop by if you want.”