He matched her racing breath one on one as they built this symphony to a crescendo.
She arched her back and tilted her hips for him to gain even deeper access. Shana thought she could never have enough of him. No matter how much he gave her, she was insatiable. She wanted more.
She clasped his buttocks with her hands and pressed and pushed, demanding more. Justin responded.
Driving deeper, he thought he had touched her very core. Every cell in his body was aflame. Every muscle was wound to its max.
Shana cried out in a reverberating orgasm that shattered within her like comets colliding. At that moment she was only light and energy. She felt as if she had ceased to exist.
Justin exploded into Shana with an astounding force. He felt as if he were ascending and falling at the same time. When he finally came to rest he was encircled in Shana’s arms. Rather than roll to his side as was his practice, he remained pillowed by her womanly softness. He kissed the shell of her ear. “I’ve never met anyone as insatiable as you,” he whispered into her ear.
Their bodies were drenched in slick sweat as they held each other carefully, the way acquaintances do, Shana thought.
Reality hit Shana like a rock slide. What had she done? She barely knew Justin Yates at all. He was her boss for one thing. Or was until an hour ago. She had impulsively, recklessly indulged herself in a fantasy that should have remained deep in the darkest recesses of her imagination. Temporary insanity. That was it. No. She’d been drunk. She’d blame it on the cognac. She would tell him she didn’t remember a thing.
Slamming her eyes shut, she pretended to sleep as he rolled to her side and instantly began lightly snoring.
How could he sleep at a time like this?
Shana was shocked and embarrassed about her behavior. She’d never slept with a stranger in her life. One night stands were something she read about in her novels or saw in the movies. They didn’t happen in real life. Well, they didn’t happen to her.
She had to figure a way out of this. Morning would come and she had to get on with her career. She had to get back to being Shana Jackson, Director of Operations.
She would lie about the whole thing. She would tell herself any lie she could conjure and in time, actual denial would set in and her conscious would believe what she told it to believe. She’d read in a self-help book once that the brain could be tricked by these methods.
Shana’s anxiety slowly faded. Tomorrow her world would be normal again.
Justin’s hand crept across her belly and down to the triangle between her legs. Slowly, he moved his fingers to her heat.
“You didn’t think I was finished, did you?” he asked in that raspy, velvet voice she knew now she would never forget.
He moved over her once again and kissed her passionately. With his lips pressing against her mouth and entering her wetness again, Shana knew she had been wrong. She would never forget a single milli-second of being with Justin and her life would never be normal again.
CHAPTER SIX
Shana sat with Cate at the juice bar at the New York City Health Club where they had just finished a wicked game of racquetball.
“Okay, so you blistered me,” Cate said. “That’s never happened before.”
Shana drained her carrot juice. “It’s part of the new me, I guess.”
Cate eyed her best friend suspiciously. “So, what could change in a few days?”
Shana expelled a huge breath hoping to find courage to say aloud what she’d been feeling since she returned from Toronto. “I think I’m in love with Justin.”
Cate spurted papaya juice out through her nostrils. She grabbed a napkin and slammed it against her nose and mouth as she choked. “You? Justin Yates?”
“Yeah.”
“This is a death wish thing. Like smoking cigarettes. Both will kill you. I know this.”
“I think I’ve really got it bad. I can’t go two minutes without thinking about him.”
Cate frowned and then folded her arms over her chest as she always did when she felt she was dispensing good advice like an oracle. “Here’s what you do. Guys like Justin,” she paused, “actually, billionaires are hard to come by. Especially young ones. So, we’ll just make some assumptions here.”
Shana sighed and twirled her palm in the air like a spinning wheel. “Get on with it.”
“Ever since you saw this guy in the shower you’ve been hooked. So, like any addiction, you have to go cold turkey. In order to do that you need to binge. Then quit. So, my advice is, sleep with the guy and then wash your hands of him. Once you know what it’s like, it will be a disappointment and you’ll be cured.”
Shana’s eyes fell to the floor and her shoulders slumped. She looked back at Cate sheepishly. “I already did that.”
Cate’s eyes flew open and she choked on her intake of breath. “And we did this when?”
“In Toronto.”
“Two days ago? You slept with him while you were working? You could lose your job over something like that.”
“He fired me. Just for the night,” Shana nodded. “Then he re-hired me on the flight home.”
“Swell,” Cate assessed.
“At first I thought it was the cognac. But it’s more than that. And it’s not that I can’t stop thinking about him. It’s that I’m concerned about him and everything he’s trying to do to make the hotels right. His goals have become my goals. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want him to be happy.”
Cate leaned forward and peered at Shana. “This isn’t like how it was with Karl? It could be infatuation, you know.”
“It’s different. I’ve never felt like this before. And the thing is, this is Justin Yates I’m talking about. He can have any woman he wants. Why would he want me?”
Cate threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “Only because you’re the best damn thing that ever happened in his sorry life is all.”
A tenuous smile settled on Shana’s lips. “Oh, yeah. That.”
****
Shana climbed the monstrously large staircase to the mezzanine floor knowing full well she hadn’t told Cate about her real misgivings about Justin. She hadn’t told Cate that on the flight back to New York, Justin had barely said a word. He’d pretended to work, but Shana had noticed that he never turned a page of the report he was reading. She’d asked him about her recommendations for renovating the Toronto Hotel’s guest rooms and the fabrics for the lobby furniture, but his reply was that he would take them under consideration. He stared out the window for long periods of time in deep thought whereas on the trip to Toronto, he’d acted as if the windows didn’t exist.
Something was not right and it was her guess that he thought their night of unending sex was a mistake. There was even the chance that he might fear she would sue him for harassment.
“And that is the last thing from my mind,” she said to herself as she entered Justin’s office.
Oddly, Justin’s assistant, Helen Mavery, was not at her desk. Shana realized the door to Justin’s office was ajar. Thinking that Helen and Justin were most likely inside, she went to the door to knock and let her presence be known.
She heard two men’s voices. One was Justin and the other she didn’t recognize. Never one to eavesdrop, Shana started to turn away when she heard her name.
“Shana needs these reports, Trent,” Justin said. “Thanks for staying on top of our Chinese investors for me. I’ve had my hands full both here and now Toronto.”
“No problem, Jus,” Trent said. “It looks to me like you’re handling everything quite well. My kudos.”
“I wish I could take credit. If it weren’t for Shana, we wouldn’t be anywhere near this far along and frankly, some of my ideas were half-baked. This idea of hers for the speakeasy is genius,” Justin said with pride ringing through his voice. “Fate smiled on us the day I hired her.”
“Sure did. Well, buddy. I gotta run,” Trent said and made a move toward the door.
Shana r
ushed across the reception area and pretended to be just walking in.
Justin opened his office door and saw her instantly. “Shana! We were just talking about you. Have you met Trent Wellington?”
Shana shook Trent’s hand. “I haven’t had the pleasure,” she said smiling at the handsome man in his early thirties.
“I’ve heard a great deal about you Miss Jackson. You’ve certainly made the investors happy,” he said.
Justin rocked back on his heels and beamed at them both. “Made me happy, too,” he said searing her with a carnal look.
Shana felt the blush from the tips of her toes upward to regions she had thought were sexually spent. Guess not.
“Thanks,” she said feeling her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. She glanced away from Justin’s continued provocative gaze to Trent’s pleased smile.
Trent looked at Justin whose eyes were still locked on Shana. “I gotta be downtown for a meeting at one. See you kids later,” he said and left.
Justin walked over to Shana and put his hand on her shoulder. “How are you?” he asked with sincere concern.
“Fine. Why?”
Shrugging his shoulders he said, “Because I think you look like you need a ride.”
“A ride?”
“Yeah. Take a break. Get-out-of-the-office-for-a-few- minutes kind of ride.”
“But I have the report on the Toronto property ready for you. We should go over this first.”
Justin’s face was stern and his voice even more obdurate. She knew this mood of his. He wanted things his way and that’s all there was to it. “Bring it,” he said and put his hand on the small of her back, leading her toward the door.
****
The ride was in a horse drawn carriage that took them around Central Park as if they were tourists. Summer was coming in fast leaving spring blossoms behind and promising an explosion of cooling tree canopies. This was Shana’s favorite time of year when the world was green and full of life. To her, the world was suddenly filled with hope.
Justin was clearly at ease as he leaned back and stretched his arm out along the back of the carriage, though he was careful not to touch her shoulders. “Just look at that sky, would you. Crystal blue. Not a cloud in sight.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said gazing heavenward.
“This is the way to do business. Outside in the sunshine,” he said with a broad smile and pleasure cracking around his eyes. “If I had my way, I’d have my office on the roof top terrace.”
Shana’s spine straightened as she jerked away from the back of the seat. “What a great idea.”
“What?” his eyes scanned hers.
“We could do that. We could expand your penthouse apartment to the terrace and put in a glass and screened-in area that would serve as your office. There’s a utility entrance on the side of the apartment that leads directly to the terrace so that all your visitors and business associates wouldn’t have to come through the main entrance at all.”
Justin was astonished. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Take a simple thought and transform it into a major project.”
She put her hands on her hips as she defended herself. “That’s not what I’m doing. I like to think I turn dreams into reality. You clearly like the outdoors. I saw that stack of sailing yacht magazines you’ve got stowed under your desk where you think no one sees them. And yet, you don’t sail. All you do is work. If you’re going to be a workaholic, at least do it in an environment that is in tune with your nature. You’ll live longer, believe me.”
He stared at her and then closed his gaping mouth. “You think I’m a workaholic?”
Both her eyebrows hitched up. “And you don’t know this?”
He shoved his palms in the air as if to ward off any more accusations. “Okay. Okay. I work hard. And you’re wrong. I do have a sailboat.”
Casting him a wary glare she asked, “And when was the last time you took her out?”
Justin harrumphed. “I haven’t yet.”
”Oh, so you just bought her.”
“In June.”
Shana stared at him. “Justin, it’s only the first of June now.”
“Last June.”
Shana lifted her chin arrogantly. “Then my idea for the garden office makes more sense for you than I’d thought. I’ll work up some numbers.”
She opened her shoulder strapped briefcase and withdrew a yellow pad. She had only jotted half a sentence to herself when his hand clamped down on top of hers.
“The only thing I want you to work up is me,” he said and slanted his mouth over hers.
It had only been forty-eight hours since she’d kissed Justin and for Shana it had felt like an eternity. For two days she’d told herself that once they were back in New York, Justin would forget about her. He would replace her and they would go back to a working relationship. Toronto had been a glitch. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t something she could count on.
Blessedly, he was kissing her and all of the passion and fervor she’d received from him before, she found once again.
His tongue assailed her lips and she parted them allowing him entry. She wanted him with every cell of her body. Even though she’d tried to convince herself not to succumb to him, she was responding with an ardor that nearly frightened her.
Her arms flew around his shoulders and perched on the back of his neck. Gently, she held his nape letting her fingertips test the pulse of his heart. She could feel the surge of heat through his veins. He was already on fire just as she was.
She kissed him back, demanding entry for herself. She refused to hold anything back. The memories of their night in Toronto had robbed her of sleep and of most conscious thought. She was clearly obsessed with the man. Shana could only conclude that the way to freedom for her was to burn herself out at his stake. She needed to combust and he knew just how to set her on fire.
Sliding her hands to either side of his face, she felt the slight stubble of beard beneath her sensitive fingertips. Holding him captive, she skimmed the interior of his mouth thinking that he tasted even better than her memories. Her breath came in short rasps of air that threatened to leave her oxygen-deprived. There was a serious concern if she would be brain dead after this, which, of course, was a moot point because she’d obviously lost all sense of judgment when it came to Justin.
Justin’s hands skimmed Shana’s firm back and settled on her small waist. He held her there for a moment, considering whether to push her away or press her closer.
He groaned, “Oh, hell,” and pulled her into his chest, crushing her ample breasts to him. He plundered her mouth and covered her breast with his hand. He squeezed the flesh beneath him and toyed with the nipple through her lace bra. Shana muttered that soft, low moan he’d heard before and which drove him absolutely out of his mind.
Shana placed her hand over Justin’s and moved it downward as she reluctantly wrenched her lips from his. “Are you going to fire me again?”
Justin’s eyes were smoky with sex as he opened them and gazed down at her. “How many times did we do it in Toronto?”
“Four.”
“Then yes. At least half a dozen times before the day is out,” he whispered in her ear.
Shaking her head, Shana said worriedly, “But we can’t. Not in broad daylight.”
Justin looked up and they had pulled up to the New York City Zoo. “Okay. I’ll restrain myself. I think. C’mon.” He jumped from the carriage and held out his hand to her.
“What are we doing?” she said taking his strong hand and then placing her hands on his shoulders as she alighted the carriage. He held her up by her waist before letting her slid down his body and all the while Justin kept his eyes locked on hers. When her feet touched the earth again, he leaned his head down and placed his lips next to her ear.
“No work. Not this afternoon. Indulge me, Shana.”
It was one of the most erotic sensations she’d ever felt. A s
imple whisper of his breath in her ear had ignited a torrid spiral of heat that threatened to consume her in seconds. She knew she had to be blushing. If he saw how easily he could manipulate her, would he take advantage of that knowledge? She had not a single indication of how Justin felt about her aside from the fact that he liked having sex with her…at the current moment. She felt as if he were holding her suspended between heaven and earth. His hands were strong as they clasped her waist. She was still pressed to his chest and she could feel his heat through his clothes. She kept her eyes closed, imagining that he was blushing just as she was. She wanted one moment when all that they were experiencing was innocent and new. She didn’t want to think of the hundreds of women who had come before her. She wanted to live for a brief moment in this glorious illusion that Justin wanted more from her than simply to satiate his sexual needs.
Sadly, she realized she wanted to be special to him.
Shana knew that would never happen. She had to take the good with the bad. If she wanted any of him, she would have to take what little he offered.
Or did she?
She could take what she wanted from him, just as he was taking from her. Perhaps it was her turn to go for what she wanted. And right now, Shana wanted Justin.
She pulled away from him ever so slightly until her own mouth had brushed past his ear. “It will be my pleasure,” she said, nipping the lobe of his ear between her teeth.
Justin shook. He didn’t shiver. He didn’t squirm, he shook as if an earthquake had coursed through the earth beneath his feet. He grabbed both her hands and held them to his chest as he looked down at her. “Don’t do that.”
Shana smiled slowly, feeling the rising power she was exerting over him. “Don’t like it?” she cooed.
He exhaled deeply, then kissed both her hands. “Like it too much,” he replied.
Billionaire's Love Suite Page 8
