(Indigo Lounge #3) Spiral

by Zara Cox

  “You think you what I want just because we kissed once?”

  He regarded her with shrewd, knowing eyes that made her want to run and hide. She forced herself to keep her gaze square on his. “I know you’re here for a specific reason but you unsure as to how to get what you really want. But you want to find and conquer it immediately.”

  “You reminded me just now that we only have a few short days. What’s wrong with going after what I want immediately?”

  The look in his eyes told her she’d asked the wrong question. Hell. She didn’t want him thinking she was some sort of sophisticated bed partner but neither did she want to put him off with how utterly green she was. Perhaps shutting up was her best option.

  “What’s your favorite food, Leia?”

  “Umm, Italian.”

  He nodded. “Think of it this way. Great sex is like waiting in your favorite restaurant for your favorite dish but with all the time in the world to eat it. The bread basket is yours to devour the moment it arrives. But the first course takes a little bit of time to happen. Then when you have it, you breathe it in, savor every mouthful. When you’re done eating you should feel happy and sated, with each nerve ending alive with drowning in the experience, rather than discomfort from indigestion.”

  “A food-sex analogy? Really?”

  He shrugged. “I like food. I love sex. It tend not to do both at the same time but I can make an exception for you if you beg.”

  “So you’re not the whipped cream, eating-sushi-off-naked-bodies type?”

  Intense blue eyes scoured her face. “No. I prefer that nothing come between my mouth and your body. I want your taste pure and undiluted.”

  “What if you don’t like what you taste?” Leia couldn’t believe she’d said the words. But she refused to blush again. Or look away.

  “I will.” Succinct and confident.

  She envied that trait very badly. And he also intrigued her by the second. “You seem very sure. What if you’re wrong?”

  “I’m not. I can smell you, sweetheart. That need clamoring through you right now. That insatiable craving that no amount of reasoning or ignoring or fucking other people can assuage? It rides me too.”

  Her senses jumped at the hard, rough note in his voice. “And you think you can make it go away?”

  He took a sip of his drink before he answered, a look crossing his features that set her hackles rising in alarm.

  “Hell no. But I can make it a whole lot better. I can make it so you can have a decent night’s sleep and not wonder whether you’re going to die from it.”

  The intrigue escalated. Made her wonder what kept him awake at night. Whether he had nightmares like she did. Whether he slept with the light on like she’d done since she was seventeen.

  “There’s just one thing wrong with your assessment of me, Noah King.”

  He drew closer as if he couldn’t control the pull of their magnetism or want to even fight it overpowering strength. “Which part did I get wrong?”

  “The part about me...fucking other people.” She whispered the words, as if she was afraid to say them out loud.

  ***

  Every atom in Noah’s body froze as the impact of her words slammed into him. “Elaborate.”

  “I don’t...I haven’t fucked other people for a very long time.”

  “Say that again.” He leaned closer, his breath non-existent.

  “I haven’t been involved with anyone in a very, very long time.” Her voice broke and a tremble coursed through her.

  His instinct blared a loud warning. But he was too hung up the idea of her, virtually untouched, needy and ripe for him to heed it too much.

  He threw back the rest of his drink and set down the glass. Turning so he faced her fully, he caught her chin in his hand inhaled sharply when she raised her face to his. “How long is a long time, Leia?”

  Gray eyes, wide and stormy clashed with his. He had a feeling she wanted to look away, to hide her expression but she kept his gaze. Somehow she’d trained herself not to back down, not to look away. And that turned him on more than he knew was reasonable.

  His cock hardened, nudged desperately against his zipper. He needed to calm the fuck down before he did something rash, like slam her against the wall and fuck her like his life depended on it.

  Her tongue slid across her lower lip. It may have been due to her nerves but it still made his blood fire to volcanic levels.

  “Does it matter?” she asked.

  “Only insofar as it would dictate the pace at which we take things.”

  “Would you care whether you hurt me or not?” Again there was that curious note that sent bad tingles down his spine.

  This time he heeded them. “Of course I would.”

  “That’s...that’s good to know.”

  He frowned as another tremble raked through her. “Hey, are you okay?”

  She gave a shaky laugh jerked her head away, dislodging his hand. “No.”

  He clenched his fists and braced his arms on his knees, fighting the need to touch her. Deep down he sensed she wouldn’t welcome his touch. She was far too skittish. Which made a part of him wonder what the hell she was doing here. “What’s going on, Leia?”

  Her breath shuddered out. “The way you say my name...”

  She was deflecting, changing the subject. He decided to allow her a little wriggle room. But he was determined to get to the bottom of his mercurial creature who turned him on more than he’d been turned on in a very long time.

  “What about it?”

  “You say it like you like it.”

  He smiled. “That’s because I do. More than I think is wise, in fact.”

  “You don’t have a Star Wars fetish, do you?”

  He laughed. “No, at least not a Star Wars one.”

  Her eyes darkened in a stormy grey that told him he’d sparked her interest. He was beginning to read her. The thought excited him more than he cared to admit.

  “But you do have fetishes?” She moistened her lips and heat throbbed in his groin.

  “Don’t we all?” he replied.

  “Tell me one.”

  “No.”

  Surprise lightened her eyes. “And here I thought we were getting to know one another.”

  “We are. But you’re not ready for that kind of information yet.”

  One corner of her mouth tilted. He desperately wanted to taste her smile. “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who sticks to safe and predictable subjects, Noah King.”

  “I’m not. Which is why I don’t want to scare you off, Leia Michaels. You intrigue me. I intend to take this very carefully because the last thing I want is for you to bolt.”

  The seductive tilt arched higher. “Bolt? I’m made of stronger stuff than you imagine me to be.”

  “No. You’re not. Despite what you want to make me believe, you’re very fragile.” He gave in to the urge and smoothed his hand over the shaved swathe at her temple. “Someone broke you, Leia. Some vile, faceless motherfucker that I intend to hunt down and wipe off the face of the earth. And before this week is through, you’re going to tell me who that person is.”

  Chapter Nine

  She was running on a plane. For a hysterical moment Leia wondered if she was screwing up her body’s chemistry by running toward the back of a plane that was racing forward at hundreds of miles per hour.

  The sound of heavy footsteps behind her refocused her mind and propelled her even faster away from the overwhelming force that was Noah King.

  “Leia.”

  She’d been crazy to think she could handle him. Beyond nuts to think the first time she attempted to break out of the fear-lined box she’d allowed herself to be placed in, would be with someone like him. But something in his eyes had answered a need in her, had called to the broken part of her that was too damaged to be fixed but needed acknowledging nevertheless. What she hadn’t anticipated was that he’d see right through to the core of her so fast. So precisely
.

  “Leia!”

  She turned blindly down a hallway that looked vaguely familiar. Desperately hoping her radar wasn’t completely skewed, she headed for the stairs she hoped would lead her to her suite.

  “Dammit. Stop.”

  No. Way.

  He saw too much. Way more than she was and would ever be comfortable with.

  Avoiding confrontation is not a sign of weakness. Know when to walk away from a fight.

  She shook her head, for the first time uncomfortable with Warren’s well-mannered voice in her head.

  Seeing her door ahead, she sprinted to it and keyed in the security code. Firm hands seized arms before the light turned from red to green.

  “Stop,” his voice had softened from the harsh command. But the panic escalating within her didn’t abate.

  “No. Let me go.”

  He loosened his hold and turned her to face him but he didn’t free her. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I think I made a mistake.”

  Sizzling blue eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

  “I made a mistake in thinking you were what I wanted. I was wrong. I want to go to bed now. If I’m in the mood, I’ll find someone else to hang out with tomorrow. Or I’ll catch a flight back home when we get to Switzerland. Frankly I think this whole trip was a mistake.”

  “No, you don’t think you made a mistake. What you’d hoped for was to find someone to fuck you into oblivion, no questions asked.”

  The stark condemnation made her gasp. “Well, you’ve just proved you’re not the right candidate. So what the hell are you doing here?”

  A hard smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “You think now that I’ve found you, I’m going to stand with my dick in my hands and watch you fuck someone else? Think again, baby. And think hard. I get to fuck you. Or no one will. And if I think that digging a little deeper into who you are will make the fucking all the better, then I’m sure as hell going to dig.”

  “You can dig all you want. You’ll get nothing more from me than you already have.”

  He tilted his head slightly, that infuriatingly sexy smile playing over his delicious mouth once again. “Are you sure you want to issue that challenge?”

  “I’m pretty sure I want you to take your hands off me and leave me the hell alone.”

  Cobalt blue eyes lit up with sizzling fire. The hand nearest the door dropped from her arm and pushed door open before taking hold of her again.

  “That’s not going to happen. Invite me in, Leia,” he murmured softly against her lips.

  It took all her strength and willpower but she managed to overcome her screaming senses. “No.”

  “You want a mindless fuck. I’ll give you one. But it’ll be nowhere near as satisfactory as it can be if you let me in a little.” He leaned in closer, making her feel the hard evidence of the gift he could offer her. A gift she could accept at a cost she wasn’t sure she wanted to pay.

  “Do you take the time to get to know every woman you sleep with? That woman who was eye-fucking you at the bar. Would you have taken the time to get to know her before you...you...”

  “She ceased to matter the moment I saw you. And she mattered way less before I saw you. Trust me, baby, what I have in mind is dirty, filthy fucking that will make you scream your throat hoarse. But to get it you need to invite me in.”

  Evocative images bombarded her senses but she managed to shake her head. “I’m not inviting you in, Noah.”

  Her stomach churned at the calculating intensity that narrowed his eyes. His hands smoothed up and down her arms, eliciting tiny shivers that made him smile with pure male satisfaction.

  He dropped his head until their lips were a whisper apart.

  “I’m not fucking you out here in the hallway, baby. Your clothes stay on in public. That’s non-negotiable. Another non-negotiable issue is the fact that you’re not fucking anyone else on this trip. Everything else I’m willing to negotiate.”

  “Negotiate your hands off me. Right now. Before my knee negotiates itself between your legs.”

  Something in her voice must have finally got through to him. Eyes narrowing further, he dropped his hands and took a step back.

  “Are you afraid of me, Leia?” he asked, a tension seizing him that made a twinge of shame suffuse her.

  He overwhelmed her. He made her stomach cave in on itself with a hunger that defied reason. He made her clit throb and her pussy clench with desperate greed. But he didn’t induce fear in her.

  She should know. She knew what real fear looked and felt like.

  Compelled to be truthful, she shook her head. “No.”

  He exhaled, his shoulders relaxing a touch. But the tension didn’t completely leave his face or his body. He stared down at her for another handful of seconds before he speared a hand through his hair.

  “We seem to be tripping over the right way to do this. What can I say to convince you that I want what you want?” Frustration bit through his voice.

  “We can agree to keep this...light.”

  He stared at her for several minutes. Then his eyes dropped to the pulse beating in her neck, then lower to the agitated rise and fall of her breasts. Even lower still until even her soles tingled with the look in his eyes.

  By the time he raised his gaze to hers, she was ready to abandon all reason and throw herself at him.

  “I don’t do light, baby. Not when it comes to kissing and not when it comes to sex. It’s the deep end or not at all. But I don’t want to walk away, so I’ll make you a promise.”

  “Wh-what?”

  “Invite me in and I promise to keep my clothes on until we land.”

  “What happens after we land?” she asked, noting shamefully that her voice had grown husky and breathless.

  He shrugged. “We go skiing.”

  Acute disappointment scythed through her but she managed to stop herself from blurting out a sharp refusal to his proposal.

  Leia found herself moving from the wall into the doorway, walking backward as he stalked her into the room. Her heart rate tripled when he nudged the door shut with his foot.

  For several seconds they just regarded each other with that insane electricity arcing between them.

  Noah breathed in deep, drawing her attention to his massive chest. She’d felt that chest up close, briefly explored the hard pecs and solid muscle beneath his shirt. The knowledge that she’d passed the chance to explore him again cut like a knife through her.

  She couldn’t change her mind again without sounding like the nut job he no doubt believed her to be.

  Whirling around, she entered the small living room adjoining her bedroom suite. An extensive drinks cabinet stood next to the entertainment center. “Would you like a drink?” She turned to find he’d followed her, stood mere feet away.

  “I don’t think another drink is a good idea.”

  She floundered. “Okay...”

  He took pity on her, grabbed the remote on the coffee table and pressed a button. A large screen slid forward from behind a recessed panel.

  He strolled to the wide gold and cream stripped sofa and lowered his lithe body into it. Like all the seats on the plane, it was large and extremely comfortable enough to double up as a bed. Looking over at her, he patted the space next to him. “Sit down, baby. I won’t bite just yet.”

  Walking on slightly unsteady feet, she sank down next to him.

  Immediately, he curved his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.

  The unexpected move made her lose her balance. She fell against him and he sucked in a breath when her left breast pressed into his side. He nuzzled her cheek lightly before he turned his face back to the screen.

  “What are we doing?”

  “We’re choosing our location highs for the next seven days. I suggest we go for three on the ground and four on board. Assuming, of course, you want to spend them with me?”

  Swallowing she nodded. He shook his head. “Vocaliz
e, baby. I need to hear the words so there’s no room for misinterpretation later.” The hard, low demand gave no quarter.

  “Yes, I want to spend the next seven days with you.” The moment she said the words the last of the doubt fled her mind.

  She was here. She was doing this. With a man who might well create a whole new set of problems for her. But she was banking on the risks far outweighing the benefit and the pleasure to come.

  She’d done extensive research on the Indigo Lounge before she’d decided to take the trip. It’s owner, Zachary Savage was single-mindedly scrupulous about safety on his planes. And her own instincts, fine-tuned through a brutal test of fire and grit, wasn’t screaming the kind of danger she’d learned to stay away from.

  She relaxed a little more. He felt it and those intense blue eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

  “Good.” He flicked on the screen and the distinct Indigo Lounge logo appeared. He forwarded through the corporate spiel until the list of activities came up. “We’ve got skiing in Zermatt in the bag. A half hour session with a band during a live Jazz concert or meeting the conductor after the opera in Vienna?”

  “What bands are playing?”

  He pressed another button and the names flashed onto the screen.

  “Omigod. Definitely the live Jazz concert.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Something I should know about?”

  “Fused Realms is one of my favorite bands, that’s all.”

  His eyes narrowed. “As long as you don’t throw your panties at anyone, I’ll try not to lose my shit.”

  Leia wasn’t sure whether he was joking or not.

  “The masked ball in Prague or the private zero gravity chamber in Cannes?” He looked at her, his eyes predatory and all-consuming. “Do you like the idea of getting fucked in zero gravity, baby?”

  Laughter bubbled up beneath all the heat and hyperawareness. “I can honestly say it’s never occurred to me. Is that even possible?”

  “We can certainly give it our very best shot.” He clicked the button to add it to their itinerary and moved to the next one.