Shana couldn’t believe it. She’d only nipped his ear lobe. She hadn’t put any big move on him. This was grade school stuff and he was reacting to her like it meant something. Was that possible?
“I want to show you the penguins. I always loved the penguins when I was a kid,” he said happily grabbing her hand and pulling her forward as they walked down the sidewalk and through the main gates.
Justin held Shana’s hand as they breezed past the monkey cages with the rare tamarin monkeys. Shana was taken with the notion that Justin apparently was quite excited about being at the zoo. He pointed out the open area where he’d seen a fox on his last visit. “Can you imagine that all this is right here in the middle of Central Park?” he asked though she thought the question was rhetorical.
“They entered the cave-like entrance to the penguin abode. There was a huge water-filled tank much like the tanks outside where the sea lions swam, except that this one allowed a full view of the penguins as they dove off the fake “glacier” edge into the water. Justin went immediately to the glass and talked to the pair of swimming penguins as if they were old friends.
Shana stood back a few steps watching Justin as he placed his splayed hand against the glass as if wishing to pet the penguins as they swooped past his hand.
Justin pressed his face nearly onto the glass, still talking to the groups of penguins that swam past him.
“This one is Charlie,” he said to Shana turning his beaming face to her. “He’s got a fine white streak down his forehead. See?”
Shana looked at the penguin who darted up to the glass and then away. Oddly, Charlie did remind her of a dolphin at play with a friend. “He knows you.”
“Of course, he does,” Justin gushed.
“How often do you come here, Justin?” she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders and splayed his other hand against the glass. “I don’t know. Two. Three times a week. When I’m in town.”
Shana’s eyes rounded in surprise. This was the man whom she expected to be at all-night clubs rubbing shoulders with socialites and celebrities and having his photograph snapped for gossip magazines. Obviously, such was not the case. Justin was becoming more of a enigma than she’d ever thought.
Justin motioned with his arm for Shana to join him. She stood next to him and let him take her hand. He placed her palm next to his. “I want them to know you,” he said and quickly kissed her cheek before moving his eyes back to the swimming penguins.
It struck Shana that Justin was totally uninhibited here. He wasn’t measuring his thoughts or words. He probably didn’t realize what his last statement could mean to her. The only reason he would want his penguin friends to know her, trust her, was because he expected to bring her back here again in the future. That random, free-flowing thought revealed a great deal to Shana. She couldn’t help wondering if he knew what he’d just said.
A pair of penguins shot by their hands, then dipped, turned and swooshed past them again. They raced to the end of the tank and then swam slowly back to Shana and Justin. When they reached their hands, the two penguins stopped and stared at the humans who were watching them. They then went back to the rock and climbed out of the water.
“Penguins mate for life,” Justin said watching the pair as they waddled off.
Shana looked at Justin and realized that he was off in a world of his own. She doubted he remembered she was standing next to him. It would have been easy to make quips about the penguins or his boyish affection for them. Instead, she didn’t respond, and gave him the reverence she felt the moment demanded. She watched as his demeanor remained wistful and yet she could tell that a thousand thoughts were going through his mind. She had no idea what those thoughts were, but they apparently brought him pleasure because when he turned to look at her, his eyes were filled with bubbling hope.
“It’s almost too much to imagine,” he said, his eyes skimming her face and resting on her mouth.
“What is?”
“That there’s one single person that we’re meant to be with…forever.”
His reply was so far a field from what she’d been prepared to hear, that she paused a fraction too long.
He threw back his head and laughed. “You’re right. It’s fantasy pure and simple. Like Santa Claus. You come into this world believing in magic because other people tell you that it’s true and then…” he took a raspy breath, “you realize that you’ve been lied to.”
Shana was aware of the tension in his voice as he delivered his last words. She knew instinctively that his emotions had nothing to do with her and a lot to do with his past. It had occurred to her that he might be going through a grieving period over his father’s death. From his comments about his mother while they were in Toronto, she guessed that they had a close relationship. But what about his tyrannical father? Had Peter Yates loved his son?
“You’ve had some disappointments,” Shana offered tentatively. She didn’t want to break the spell he was in but at the same time, she was more than a little curious about what made Justin tick.
He looked at her and blinked. Gone was the misty-eyed look that told her that his guard was down. “No more than anyone else, I’d guess. Probably less than a lot of people. I’ve been lucky.”
“Didn’t sound like it a minute ago. I would guess there’s something back there that really hurt you.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Well, it’s nothing that I can’t deal with. And it’s nothing for you to be troubled about.”
His blue eyes probed hers with a momentary intensity that gave Shana the courage to push forward. “I don’t want you to have to fire me again, Justin, every time we get personal, but I want you to know that if you ever wanted to share things, problems, with me, I’m here to listen.”
Placing both his hands on her shoulders now, he let his fingers skim down her arms and to her hands. He looked down as his fingers entwined hers, then bent his arms up so that he could kiss her fingers one by one. Slowly, he imbibed in the taste of her skin. The pleasure Shana felt was agonizingly delicious.
“Thanks,” he said. “But if that’s really true, that you want to listen to me…”
“It is!”
“Then,” he said taking her index finger fully into his mouth and deliberately skimming his tongue up one side and down the other, “…I want to confess something to you.”
Shana swallowed hard. “Confess?” Her first thoughts were that he was involved with someone else. Maybe he was secretly engaged and their tryst in Toronto had been nothing more than a lark. Here she was losing her heart to this man with every waking minute and he had brought her to the zoo so that he could drop the bombshell. She braced for the bad news.
“I brought you here on false pretenses,” he said sternly.
She’d seen this steely look in his eyes when he was about to fire an employee or close down one of the hotel restaurants. It was as if he didn’t care about the employees who would be laid off or any of the trickle down jobs that would be lost due to his decision. At this moment, Justin was every bit the stereotypical hotel mogul. He was iron.
“I brought you here because I wanted you…” he glanced at the group of six year olds who had just entered the penguin house. Scowling, he took her arm and led her to the outside.
“You wanted me to do what?” Shana asked as soon as they were in the sunshine. She was terrified of what he would say to her. All she wanted was to be with him. Spend time with him.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to his long, hard body so quickly, she lost her breath. His mouth skimmed hers and caused such delight in Shana she didn’t care if she ever took a breath again. He deepened the kiss and plunged his tongue into her mouth causing Shana to writhe against his body.
Justin thought he would lose his mind. The touch, the feel, the smell of her was like an aphrodisiac. Of all the women he’d ever had and enjoyed, he’d never been mesmerized like he’d been with Shana. Like a temptress out of an Olympian myth,
she’d seduced him with her body and her mind. She was the quest that an adventurer risked his all for. After their night in Toronto he’d thought that if he lived through the rapture, he would have been satiated and he’d be more in control of his desires when he was around her. But that hadn’t happened. If anything, his sexual need had been fanned like a firestorm. He came to the office thinking only of how soon he would see Shana. Discussing business with her drove him insane. All he could think about was how soon he could talk her into bed again.
Dragging his mouth from hers, Justin said, “I don’t want you to do anything. I just want you.” Then he seared her lips with a kiss so impassioned Shana felt her legs go limp. She leaned into Justin for support.
She felt as if she were being swept out to sea. Riptides of sexual need created a juggernaught inside Shana that obliterated her composure and control. She flung her arms around his neck and shoved her fingers into his hair at the back of his head. She held him captive there, letting her mouth consume him. She tasted him and reveled in the perfection of his mouth. Her hands slid down his shoulders and to his chest. She could feel his heat rising right through the fabric. She didn’t realize she was tugging on his jacket lapels as if trying to force him to shed his coat.
“Shana,” Justin breathed as he tore his mouth from hers. “We really need to get a room,” he joked.
“But we can’t go to the hotel. The employees.”
“You’re right,” he said taking her hand and pulling her alongside him. “We have to be careful.”
They practically ran out of the zoo and down the sidewalk. Justin tried to hail a cab, but as luck would have it, nearly every one was occupied. They fast-walked down the street, stopping at the stoplights to kiss quickly and then move on.
They did not enter the hotel by the front doors, but rather went around the back to the service elevator to which Justin had the key.
“No one will find us in here,” he said taking Shana into his arms again and kissing her. Depressing the up button, Justin backed Shana up against the elevator’s padded wall. He pinned her arms to the wall and ravaged her mouth repeatedly. The attack was forceful, proprietary and meant to assail. He was like a conqueror taking his plunder. He felt as if this moment were a suspension of time and dimension. He couldn’t hope that there would ever be another time with Shana, not like this one. He had to take everything she had and leave no space for regrets.
He wanted all of her. More than he’d had before. More than he’d ever had from anyone before. He wanted to drown in her. He wanted to die in her.
He pulled her leg up to the level of his hip and shoved her skirt nearly to her waist. He ran his hand up her leg and found the thinnest wisp of lace panties as a barrier to his treasure. He ripped them from her and plunged his fingers into her moist warmness. He could hardly breathe as he kissed her again and again, nipping her lower lip with his teeth and plowing her demanding mouth with his tongue.
Shana abandoned herself to Justin. His touch wasn’t enough. His kisses weren’t enough. She had to have more. She wanted to feel his skin beneath her fingertips, but try as she could, her fingers went numb each time he plied her bud with his thumb. Rivers of sensations sped through her body. She was hot and cold. She was torrid heat and quivering ice.
He pulled his mouth from hers, opened her blouse and exposed her breast. Dragging his tongue from her slender neck and the pulse point at the base of her throat, he traveled to her breast where he enclosed her erect nipple with his lips.
Rubbing her bud while simultaneously pumping his fingers in and out of her, Shana felt the firestorm explode. She cried out with her climax. She was breathless, weak and utterly spent.
“Justin,” she breathed his name softly.
“I’m not through with you yet,” he said and slowly lowered her leg. Splaying his fingers over her breast, he said, “We’re here.”
He opened the service elevator door, which had reached the penthouse suite he owned. Entering from the side of the apartment as they did, they were sure to avoid detection by any of the staff.
Shana never had a moment to observe the elegant furniture, the costly original art or the spectacular view. Justin had scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom.
With his mouth devouring hers, or was it the other way around?, all she felt was the velvet bedspread beneath her and the silky pillowcase on the goose down pillow under her head. Shana slowly unbuttoned her blouse and wiggled out of her skirt. She playfully raised a naked leg in the air allowing him a tantalizing view of her bottom and used her right foot to kick off her left foot shoe. Then she grabbed the remaining shoe and dropped it off the side of the bed.
Justin was enthralled as he watched her and then stripped his clothes in seconds and with daylight filling the room, she filled her eyes with the majestic sight of his perfect body. No matter what happened to them in the future, Shana knew she’d never see another man as perfectly chiseled as Justin.
Holding her arms out to him, he came to her, and covered her with his body. With his knee he spread her legs apart and with ease and skill, he slid his thick erection against her wet center until she gasped.
His mouth was everywhere at once, Shana would have vowed. He kissed her mouth, her eyes, her hair, her ears, her throat and blessedly, her breasts, which ached for his touch more than she wanted to admit.
Licking her nipples and slicking himself against her, the sound that escaped Justin’s throat was animalistic and very impatient.
He leaned over her momentarily, opened the nightstand drawer, withdrew a condom and put it on.
Shana wrapped her long silky legs around him and clamped her hands on his haunches, driving him into her. Justin groaned again. Plunging, pushing, pressing, he entered her repeatedly and each time he knew he needed more. More sensation. More heat. More wet. More of Shana.
He pushed himself up on his hands until he was kneeling on the bed. He pulled Shana up from the bed so that she was sitting on his erection. He clamped a hand around one of her luscious breasts and feasted as if he were a starving man. Pricking, nipping, he played her nipple until it was hard and Shana’s breast engorged with sexual delight.
She sank herself onto him and then pulled up. Sinking onto him again, Justin could no longer dam up his explosion.
He came into her with a shudder that rocked the both of them. “Holy Mother in heaven,” he rasped into her ear as he pulled them both down onto the bed. “I’ll never be the same,” he said.
Shana was still on fire, but knew he was spent. She lifted her thigh and crossed it over Justin’s flank. She looked into his eyes as she touched his sweat soaked hair. “I think you’ll recover.”
Mischief danced in his eyes. He reached his hand down to her center and tugged on the curls between her legs. “You think?”
Shana took a deep breath. “I know.”
He took her to the moon and then farther beyond the stars. She left the earth far behind and knew nothing except the sultry heat he was creating inside her. A magnificent explosion of energy erupted inside Shana and she screamed so loudly that Justin covered her mouth with his. She was part of a cosmic oblivion and had no desire to return to reality. She would stay here with Justin forever.
They curled in the bed together for an nearly an hour. Justin had drifted off to sleep, making “puff, puff” snoring sounds as Shana lay next to him, just watching. In slumber, his face had lost all tension. This was the second time she’d noticed this softness about him. The first was just that afternoon when he was telling her about his childhood visits to the zoo. The mask of the powerful billionaire he constantly wore had evaporated and it was replaced by what she believed was his true essence. Shana realized that whether Justin knew it or not, he was looking to be loved.
Gingerly, she moved a lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead. Touching his temple, she could feel the steady, sure rhythm of his heartbeat.
“You are so easy to love, Justin. If you’d only let m
e…”
Shana hadn’t finished her whispered thought, when the sound of the telephone startled both herself and Justin.
His eyes flew open. “What the…”
He looked up at Shana and smiled. “Sorry,” he said and then slowly moved across Shana, making certain his forearm brushed her naked breast as he grabbed the receiver.
Shana heard only a sentence that the female caller said.
Justin sat up instantly. “Not now.”
Two words. Two tiny seemingly non-threatening words brought Shana back to earth with a crash.
She knew. It was as if every cell in her body was on alert. He was talking to one of his lovers, and it was some woman who knew Justin well enough to have his private home number. Some woman he most probably would be seeing tonight or tomorrow or the next day. Some woman who had been sent by Shana’s guardian angel to warn her that Justin Yates was and would always be…a player.
Shana felt her heart slam shut. She felt her blood turn to ice and her mind cloud with gloom. She’d had her time in the Elysian Fields. Now it was over. Time to be realistic. Time to think of Shana and her future. Time to stop playing with fire.
She had to get dressed and extricate herself from Justin and his fabulous love suite with all the cool ease she could muster. She had to be an actress and a good one at that. She had to pretend that their lovemaking meant nothing to her. That it was a lark. Fun. But non-committal. She had to think with her brain and not her emotions.
She had to be supergirl.
Justin glanced at Shana with just enough guilt in his eyes to confirm what Shana suspected.
She nodded politely to him, allowed a faint smile to curve her lips and she began to ease herself out of the bed.
Shana’s heart battled with her mind. Her heart wanted to believe that he just might have feelings for her, but her brain told her the opposite. Justin had other lovers. Possessive ones, evidently.
The worst thing she could do at this moment was give him the tiniest inkling that her heart was breaking. She had to let him think that today, Toronto, was all in fun. It didn’t mean anything to her.
Billionaire's Love Suite Page 9
