by Zara Cox
Luckily, they were nearing two lounges that opened on either side of the hallway.
One door was painted black door marked with silver studs that spelt out DECADENCE. Four members of staff were carrying a large, covered object onto a platform set in the middle of four large divan beds.
Noah pulled her into side and whispered in her ear. “They’re setting up for Fantasia Night.”
“Fantasia Night?”
His nod caressed her ear and his hand dropped hers to slide around her waist in a firm hold. One thing she was noticing about Noah King was that he didn’t go for light and whispery. His every move was bold and authoritative in a way that made no bones about what he wanted. What he intended to take.
“You can just watch. Or you can join and indulge in your fantasies.” He pointed to the screens currently rolled up on the ceiling. “Or you can have your own party within the party, so to speak. There are several ways to enjoy the high of your choice. The fantastic thing about the Indigo Lounge is you can find ways to tailor it to your purpose.”
“So you’ve been on one of these trips before?”
She was surprised to see him shake his head. “No, this is my first time.”
“Then how do you know what goes on here?”
“I have persistent friends who make it their duty to tell me about each trip they take. Plus I met the owner, Zach Savage, once when he was trying to get the venture off the ground. He gave me the low-down on his vision for this business. I thought it was a unique and fantastic idea.”
She watched the staff carefully place the large object on the floor. One whipped away the shrouding. Leia gasped at the exquisite, intricately designed golden cage. It was oval-shaped and big enough to hold four or five people.
“Sex in a cage while flying high above the clouds. I guess not a lot of people even have that on their bucket list, huh?”
His fingers gripped her waist tighter. When she looked up at him, his mouth was curved in a mysterious smile. “You’d be surprised just what pops up on bucket lists.”
To the right, the DJ was setting up on an elevated platform at the back of the room. From the ceiling, large strobe lights slowly twirled, casting psychedelic lights over the furniture and the floor.
A delicate shiver floated down Leia’s spine. On paper, the Indigo Lounge had seemed like a truly unique experience. Reality offered so much more. And she knew the reality with Noah King would be even more transcendental.
She rubbed her tongue on the roof of her mouth - a childhood habit she’d never managed to break - and peered deeper into the room.
Around another grouping of sofas, a studded leather rack table stood, complete with restraints.
In the middle of the third grouping, a four-poster king-size bed had been set up, complete with black and indigo satin sheets and countless pillows. One member of staff was winding white silk ropes almost innocently around the posts. She looked up and smiled as she laid the end of one rope in the middle of the bed. Leia swallowed against another alien sensation skittering beneath her skin.
“Your pulse is racing again.” Again, his lips were so close she felt his breath on her ear. “Time to have that drink, I think.”
They passed another door marked VICE. It was completely blacked out but Leia noticed several oddly shaped goggles hanging by the door. “Are those night-vision goggles?” She brushed her fingers over one.
“Close. These are specially adapted to show heat as well as cold. Want to try them later?”
The temptation to seek safety welled up but she pushed it away. “Yes, I would.”
“We will make that your first high, then.” Again that imperious tone that told her this man was used to taking charge. She wanted to protest but knowing it would be purely for the sake of voicing a protest, she kept her mouth shut and followed him into the bar at the farthest end of the plane.
It’d been designed into the tail and appeared triangularly shaped. Aptly named Tail Bar, it was the most ordinary space on the whole plane. If pure luxury at every turn could be classed as ordinary.
Noah led her to the bar and ordered a glass of champagne for her and a shot of Glen Fiddich on ice for himself.
Like most of the seats on the plane, the ones in the bar were large enough to recline fully and were made for two at the very least.
Choosing a gold velvet one farthest from the bar and the couples gathered around it, Noah sat and patted the space next to him.
“What shall we drink to?”
Several thoughts jumped through her mind, all too gauche to say aloud. In the end she just pressed her lips together and shrugged.
“Should I be hurt that you can’t find a single positive thing to drink to?”
“I don’t...I’m not...”
He stopped her words with a finger on her mouth. “Let me.” He raised his glass. “To the next seven days, and to however many highs we manage to cram in.”
She paused before touching her glass tentatively to his. “You think it’s going to be more than seven?”
He completed the cheers with a loud clink of his glass against hers. “Baby, seven is the barest minimum number I intend to reach when it comes to the number of things I intend to do to you.”
Chapter Seven
Noah watched her cheeks burn and wondered again if he was doing the right thing setting his sights on such an innocent. Then he remembered the bite that still made his mouth tingle, the sass that had followed and his pulse pounded all over again. Every nerve inside his body screamed at him to grab her and rush them to the nearest private area, preferably his suite. But he cautioned himself to take it slow.
It was important he arm himself with everything he needed to know about her before he made another mistake. Another mistake would be unthinkable.
And even though he’d known her for a short time, he couldn’t imagine causing the woman in front of him any upset.
He watched her take a sip of her drink and waited for those fascinating grey eyes to meet his. “I’ve only seen hairstyles like that on rock stars. Are you an undercover rock star, Leia Michaels?”
She laughed. “What’s the point of being a rock star if you choose to be undercover?”
“Ok, let’s cross that off the list. You’re a sleepwalker with a penchant for alternative hairdressing?”
Her even white teeth that could cause him serious harm...or serious pleasure...glistened in the low light as her smile widened. “Nope.”
“Then why?”
He followed her slim fingers as they lifted to the side of her head. She caressed the shaven track slowly, the movement so intimate he held his breath. He watched the smile slowly leave her face, replaced by a pensive, almost haunted look.
Walls.
“It just felt...right.”
Noah wanted to push for more but he held his tongue. He knew all about wanting to keep one’s innermost self under lock and key. In a little over six days he would walk away from her and from whatever the week held for them, to return to the life that he showed to the world. He didn’t need to pry into hers beyond finding out what brought them the most pleasure in the time they spent together.
He tried for a smile even though it felt a little skewed. “It’s more than right. It’s incredibly sexy.” Against that rich tumble of hair, that sexy swathe just begged to be caressed.
He took a sip of whiskey and unable to stop himself, drew closer, crowding her, invading her space. She inhaled sharply but didn’t pull away. He liked that. Hell, it turned him on even harder.
Stormy grey eyes darted to him and stayed. Another huge turn-on, her eyes. The expressions flitting through them made him want to keep gazing into the mesmerizing depths, decipher her every thought.
“Thank you,” she responded politely to his compliment.
He caught a glimpse of that stud again, saw it glint on her tongue.
“Open,” he rasped the command.
Her eyes narrowed a fraction but she complied a second later.
“What stone is that?” he asked before he could stop himself, although he was almost certain of the answer.
“A pink diamond.”
Jesus. A diamond-studded blowjob. He was sure he incinerated a few million brain cells just processing that information.
“Did it hurt? The piercing, I mean.”
“Yes. Very much.”
His nostrils flared. “Was it worth it?”
A small smile and a sip of champagne before she answered. “At the time I wondered what the hell I was thinking. But then the pain became secondary. I was already in love with it. And it achieved the results I wanted.”
Intriguing. “Which was what?”
“Independence. I was sixteen and hated being ordinary.”
“At the risk of sounding clichéd, baby, anything who thinks you’re anywhere near ordinary is a damn fool.”
Another blush that spiked another flame straight to his cock. Hell, at this rate, he’d lose his load long before he got anywhere close to what he had in mind for them.
“My mother was horrified. I got an earful of how I’d ruined my body.”
“But you didn’t give in and take it out?”
Her mouth curved higher. “I was a budding rebel. We came to an agreement. I wouldn’t get the lobe full of ear studs I was threatening if I got to keep this.”
“She agreed?”
She nodded. “I guess she figured the stud was less...visible than the ear studs would ever be.”
“Where was your dad in all of this?”
The cloud of pain that blanketed her face made him curse silently. “He wasn’t around. He died when I was twelve.”
He cupped her cheek and relaxed when she turned her face into his touch. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She looked up at him. “Your turn. What was the most rebellious thing you did as a kid? I bet there were plenty.”
“You wound me, baby.”
“But I’m right.” It wasn’t a question.
Noah shrugged, enjoying the banter despite the growing urgency of the need bubbling beneath the surface. “I learned to play poker when I was fourteen. I wanted a set of wheels badly and sweet-talked my best friend’s older sister into teaching me how to drive before I was legally allowed to. On my sixteenth birthday I organized a poker tournament in my friend’s basement. I made thirteen thousand dollars that night and went out a bought a hot rod the next day. I knew I would be in deep shit when my dad found out but I also knew he couldn’t ground me forever. Plus the car I got - a Chevy ’63 Impala - was his personal weakness. He halved my punishment a week later and drove me down to the DMV to get my license after I passed the exam.”
One beautifully shaped brow arched. “So what you’re saying is that tend to get your way more often than not?”
He drained the remaining drink and set the glass down. Reaching forward, he slid a hand around her nape, his thumb caressing her smooth-as-silk skin beneath her jaw. “Wrong, baby. If it’s something I really want, I never let it get away.”
He tasted her the way he’d been dying to for the last ten minutes. Her soft mouth opened beneath his and Noah groaned at the intoxicating taste of her. She tasted of champagne and hot, sexy possibilities.
This time he dove deeper, flicked his tongue against hers and pushed past until he got what he wanted. The first taste of that diamond against his tongue made his blood surge hotter.
“Fuck, baby. You’re intoxicating,” he murmured against her mouth.
She made a small, impatient sound and opened her mouth wider. Her fingers curled into his hair, her nails scraping into his scalp to drag him even closer. That greedy little move set him on fire.
Reluctantly, he pulled away. “Slow down, baby.”
“Why?” she breathed against his mouth.
“Because I don’t want the first time I fuck you to be a rushed job. You deserve better than that.”
She pulled away and stared at him, wide eyed. “What makes you think you know what I deserve?” The question was a rough, confused demand. One that ripped across his senses.
He frowned. “You wanna clue me in on what’s going on, sweetheart?”
She continued to stare at him for several seconds before she shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing’s going on. I just...I’m not very savvy as to what...” She stopped and pulled in a long breath.
He caressed her nape until her shoulders lost a little of the tension that had ceased her. “I guessed as much, which is why I want to take this slow.”
She flicked him another glance, her eyelashes quivering as she lowered them. “You must think I’m a complete nut job.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her shocked laugh eased a little more of her tension just as he’d intended. “I guessed right, then. You’re no gentleman.”
“And you’re no lady. You bit me within half an hour of meeting me.”
Her eyes dropped to his mouth, the tiny cut raw again from their fevered kiss. “You’re going to make sure I never forget it, aren’t you?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On where else on my body you intend to use those perfect, sharp little teeth.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t!”
“Well, that’s...disappointing.”
“Noah...”
“You whisper my name as if you’re about to divulge a dark, dirty secret.” He let his hand drift down over her collarbone to rest on the pulse hammering at her throat. “Are you?”
“I—”
“Miss Michaels, sorry to interrupt.”
Noah fought the irritation spreading rapidly through him. Teeth set to grit, he looked up at the blond beefcake but the other guy’s gaze was riveted on Leia. “The ground crew in Switzerland would like to know if you’d be interested in the heli-skiing or the glacier climbing.”
“What’s the rush?” Noah interjected when Leia bit her lip in indecision.
“There’s a snowstorm moving in where we’d originally planned to stage the heli-skiing event so we need to confirm final numbers before we move it to another venue.” The guy took a small step back when Noah continued to glare at him. “I can come back later, if you’re not decided yet?”
Noah hid a small smile, satisfied his hands off message had gotten across to the other man and glanced at Leia.
“Do you ski?”
“Yes, since I was a kid.”
Noah turned to the valet. “Put us down for heli-skiing for two.” His tight smile left the other man in no doubt that he wouldn’t tolerate any further interruptions and to his credit he received a small nod before they were left alone.
“What makes you think I didn’t want to climb a glacier?”
“There are some new experiences you want to enjoy on this trip. This isn’t one of them.”
The brow that had arched with her previous question rose higher. He wanted to trace the beautiful curve with his fingers, see if her skin was as soft and delicate as it looked.
“You sound very sure about that.”
“I am,” he answered.
“Do you feel like expanding on that at all or should I just take your word that you know my every feeling?”
“Did I tell you what I do for a living, Leia?”
“We hadn’t quite reached there yet. And at this rate I’m not sure we will.”
He smiled at her curt response. “I’m a venture capitalist. Which means I gamble astonishing amounts of money on knowing what people will desire, sometimes even before they know it themselves. You’re irritated that I made the decision for you. But I’m willing to bet you’ve never climbed a glacier, correct?”
Her mouth compressed but she didn’t answer.
He leaned in closer, drawn to her like a magnet to iron filings. “I have. The preparation alone can take up to four hours. We have seven days, six and half if you think it’s now evening back in Miami. Do you really want to spend another half a day exploring how to climb a glacier
? Or would you rather spend that time exploring me?”
Wide eyes met his. Her lips slowly parted and a breath oozed out.
“Don’t be afraid, Leia. Say it out loud. Tell me what I want to hear.”
“I’d much rather spend the time exploring you.”
Chapter Eight
She thought he’d let loose another of those devastating smiles once she confessed the yearning beating underneath her skin. Instead he gave a solemn nod and inhaled a long, stead breath.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Leia tried and failed not to shiver at the look in Noah’s eyes when they collided with hers. She searched frantically for something else to cover the fact that she had taken to staring at him like a dopey teenage groupie every time he so much as breathed.
“You don’t like my valet.”
His mouth compressed. “I don’t like the hard-on in his eyes when he looks at you.”
“He’s been a complete gentleman so far.”
“For his own sake I hope to hell he stays that way.”
“Or you’ll stare laser beams into him every time he comes close to me?”
He shrugged. “I have a lot of weapons in my arsenal should the staring not work.”
She laughed. His eyes darkened as his gaze swept over her face.
“Fuck, you’re beyond stunning when you laugh.” Again he said it in that intense low tone that vibrated over her senses like the most beautiful musical instrument. Unable to speak around the volatile emotions swinging through her, she started to lower her gaze. He caught her chin in a firm hold.
“No. Don’t look away. You’re going to hear me say that a lot. So you might as well get used to it. You. Are. Fucking. Exquisite.”
“Noah...”
“Do you know what I think of when you say my name like that?”
She shook her head.
“I think of all the bad, fucking filthy things I want you to do to me with that tongue stud. The things I know you want to do to me.”
Fire stormed through her cheeks, the heat rushing through her body an all-consuming thing. It embarrassed the hell out of her that he could elicit such feelings in her with the barest effort. It also made her a little angry.
