The Hotel Magnate's Demand

by Jennifer Rae

  Check-in took no time. Luke was handed a key, and he finally took Amy’s arm as he led her to the elevator.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked when they stepped into the cool mirrored lift.

  She shook her hair out, confused. ‘About...?’

  ‘The hotel. Do you like it?’

  Did she like the hotel? That was what he wanted to talk about after an eight-hour silent flight?

  ‘Sure. It’s amazing.’

  It was. From the garden in the foyer to the busy, efficient service of the staff. But she hadn’t expected anything less of any hotel Luke owned.

  ‘Good.’

  More silence. The lift stopped on the very top floor. Of course. The doors opened to reveal a private penthouse. Of course. Amy should have felt better about it than she did. They were here in one of the most exciting cities in the world in possibly the most beautiful hotel room she’d ever seen and she wasn’t happy. She was furious.

  ‘I have some work to do. I’ll have to go into the office. There’s food and drinks in the fridge—help yourself and call the concierge if you need anything at all.’

  That was it. That was the very limit.

  ‘What I need, Luke, is for you to stop acting like the King of Jerks and talk to me.’

  He looked at her blankly and her anger spread.

  ‘Or is this how it’s going to be? You avoiding me and neglecting me and treating me like some mistress? Because that’s not good enough, Luke. I’m not your mistress. I’m not here for a sordid little affair. I want to be with you and spend time with you and that’s exactly what’s going to happen!’

  Amy didn’t expect what happened next. She didn’t expect him to come at her with force and grab her around the waist and kiss her with a passion she hadn’t felt before—even from him.

  ‘Luke?’ She tried to speak between kisses.

  ‘I thought you were regretting your decision to come here,’ he said, coming up for air before putting her face in his hands and kissing her again.

  ‘I thought you were.’

  ‘No. Not at all. I want you here. I want you with me. I couldn’t stand you not talking to me on the plane.’

  Amy clawed at his shirt. She needed him naked. His desperation for her was turning her on.

  ‘You were the one not talking to me.’

  ‘No, that was you.’

  He tugged at her top until it came off over her head and she desperately unbuttoned his shirt. He pulled it free and she moved to his belt as he pulled her pants off easily. She stepped out of them and gasped when his hand drifted down her stomach and into her underwear, his fingers gently coaxing her to come to life. It didn’t take much. She was already hot and wet for him as she fumbled with the remainder of his clothes.

  ‘Why are you so difficult?’ she demanded as his fingers expertly drove inside her.

  She clung to his shoulders, then let her teeth clamp on his lips as they kissed. His moan echoed in her ear and spun her brain out of control. His skin was hot and he was naked now. She could feel him hard and ready against her belly. She couldn’t wait for a bed. She wanted him now. Eight hours on the plane—not touching him, not talking to him, not having him close to her—and she was mad with anger and desire and want. Apparently he felt the same way.

  ‘Not difficult. Maybe a little challenging. But you seem like the type of woman who likes a challenge,’ he answered, lifting her up with one arm and pulling her underwear down with the other.

  She hoisted her legs around his waist before sliding her hand down his taut torso and letting her fingers grip his silky shaft. She knew what it felt like, what it tasted like, and she wanted it inside her right now.

  ‘There’s challenging, and then there’s downright rude. You didn’t talk to me for eight hours, Luke. You made me feel rejected and unwanted.’

  She squeezed and his arms held her tighter, his eyes meeting hers. Hot. Direct.

  ‘I’m sorry. Sometimes when I don’t know what to say I say nothing.’ He kissed her shoulders, then lifted her up a little to kiss her breasts.

  Amy used both her hands to cup his face—she needed him to hear what she had to say. ‘You can say anything to me, Luke. Anything. Even if you think I don’t want to hear it. The worst thing you can do is leave me in the dark. Then I jump to conclusions and I get scared—and I hate being scared.’

  He stilled and she felt his big arms pull her in closer. His forehead was close to hers...their lips were almost touching.

  ‘Don’t be scared, Amy. I have you.’

  Amy couldn’t hold back any more. The tight knot in her heart was taking up all the space and her heart was beating hard and heavy. She kissed him desperately, wanting him to know exactly how she felt right then.

  ‘I know you do,’ she murmured as his kisses became deeper and even more frantic.

  ‘Say you want me, Amy.’ His demand was growled in her ear.

  ‘No, you say it first.’ She was throbbing for him. She wanted his length where his fingers had moved and were now eagerly exploring.

  He leaned down, let his tongue slide on her earlobe and growled in a deep, gritty voice, ‘I want you.’

  Every thought left Amy’s head.

  ‘Now,’ she demanded. ‘Now!’

  Luke lifted her at the waist and let her slide onto him. He was big and hard and he filled her, and she wanted more. She moved up and down and around until the heat inside her body coiled in her core. This was what she’d missed. Him being close. Him needing her and wanting her and depending on her.

  She massaged his big shoulders and whispered in his ear, using the dirtiest words she knew. That seemed to fuel him even more and he drove himself into her almost angrily, definitely greedily, and Amy took his anger and his greed and paid it back just as violently.

  Luke brought out something in her she’d never felt before—a desire to please and be pleased. A need to protect and take care of someone. As selfishly as she enjoyed sex with him, the desire to give herself selflessly to him was almost impossible to control. She was doing things with Luke she’d never done with Laurie. She’d never whispered dirty words to him. She’d never wanted Laurie so much she couldn’t wait even to lie down.

  Luke was different. He made her feel as if nothing was taboo. As if sex was a normal—no, a vital part of their relationship and was the way they communicated sometimes. Sex was like breathing and eating and talking. It kept them close and together and sane and made her feel that they needed each other the way they needed food.

  Luke was moving slowly now and she knew what was happening. It was his calm before the storm. His way of preparing himself before using all his strength. And she knew this was her time to let go and feel him rubbing so close, making her clit come alive, making her orgasm bubble to the surface. She rode him and he rode her right back.

  ‘I’m coming,’ he growled, and she responded with more dirty words. More reasons for him to use all the strength he had to take her to the place only he could.

  This time the orgasm lasted longer, and the aftershocks kept her clinging to him for minutes. She couldn’t let go. Their bodies were almost fused together. It took a while for their breathing to calm and for a laugh to escape from both of them.

  ‘That was an orgasm,’ he said, his voice deep and sleepy.

  Slowly, carefully, he let her off and she found the chaise longue that sat nearby and collapsed onto it. He collapsed next to her and kissed her mouth before shifting to one side and running the backs of his knuckles up and down her arm.

  ‘Don’t ever do that again,’ she said, still breathless and panting.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Leave it that long before making love to me. I’m pretty sure I lost some brain cells then.’

  He laughed, and the sound warmed her from the in
side out. She loved it that she could make him laugh.

  ‘Me too. It was pretty intense.’

  ‘It was—because you ignored me for so long.’

  ‘No, you ignored me. I was trying everything I could to feel your leg under that blanket.’

  Amy furrowed her brow. ‘That’s what you were doing? I thought you were pushing my leg away.’

  ‘No, you ratbag.’ He turned to face her and his arms came around her as her body sank into comfortable relief. ‘I was trying it on. Trust me, if you feel my hands anywhere near you I’m trying it on. Never pushing you away.’

  ‘Then you should say that and not let me jump to conclusions.’

  ‘You should ask and not let me think you don’t want to talk.’

  Touché.

  They lay like that for a long time, drifting in and out of sleep. Exhausted from lovemaking and being wound up and from the flight.

  After a while, they got hungry, and Luke insisted on ordering food from Din Tai Fung. He wanted her to have the dumplings, insisting they were the best. And they were. And they ate and talked and laughed and watched as the sun set over Singapore’s skyline.

  As they sat together, their legs entwined, full of dumplings and content from hot sex, Amy’s shoulders relaxed. Luke was asking her about why she’d left Melbourne and what she’d left behind.

  ‘His name was Laurie...’ she explained. She hadn’t talked about him to Luke yet. She hadn’t wanted him to know. She was worried he’d judge her as everyone else had. ‘His parents were good friends with my parents, which was why my leaving became so messy.’

  ‘Messy how?’

  Amy remembered the sadness and the anger and the guilt she’d felt. It hadn’t happened overnight with Laurie—it had taken a while. It had started with little things. Things that had annoyed her about him. Mostly the way he had become so dependent on her. She’d started to feel suffocated and as if she couldn’t make a move without it affecting him. She’d thought that sex with Laurie had been great at the time. It wasn’t until now, when she’d had sex with Luke, that she realised how safe and staid it had been.

  Amy snuggled in closer. ‘Our break-up wasn’t just about the two of us. Our families got involved...everyone had an opinion. It was actually my brother who helped me make my mind up. He said that if I wanted to leave he would be there for me. That he was on my side and it was better for everyone if I listened to myself and what I wanted. He said they’d get over it eventually.’

  ‘And have they?’

  ‘My mother was angry about it for a long time, but she loves me. I know that, and I know she wants me to be happy. So she doesn’t even talk about it now—except to occasionally mention that she runs into Laurie from time to time.’

  ‘And how did he take it? Laurie?’

  ‘Badly. He begged me to come back. Cried. Wrote me letters. Posted sad quotes on social media. I almost caved so many times, but Antony told me to stay strong. He said that life is yours to live—not anybody else’s. He said I wouldn’t ever be happy if I didn’t do what my heart wanted and that eventually my unhappiness would start to affect everyone else. He told me that it was just the change—the prospect of everything being turned upside down—that was making everyone so upset, not the fact that I wanted to leave.’

  ‘And did it make you happy? Leaving?’ Luke asked quietly.

  Amy felt his hands start to stroke her hair and she felt almost like a cat, curled up and comfortable and not wanting to move an inch.

  Yes. She was happy right now. She’d been so happy since she’d met Luke again. For the first time in a long time she didn’t feel the need to go anywhere, see anyone or do anything. She didn’t need anything to make her feel high, to make her forget. She just wanted to be here with him. Still.

  ‘I will be,’ she said quietly. ‘What about you? I don’t know anything about your significant relationships.’

  Luke breathed in heavily and stopped stroking her head. She didn’t move an inch. She wanted him to keep going. After a few seconds he did and she breathed out, curling up even closer to him.

  ‘There was one of significance. Well, our relationship wasn’t significant. We didn’t know each other long. I was in Malaysia for business and we met at a business dinner. She was English—divorced. She’d been living in Malaysia for six years. She needed company. I needed...well...I needed company too. It lasted three weeks. I liked her a lot but there was no real connection there. We were just friends.’

  ‘Why was it significant, then?’

  ‘She got pregnant.’

  Amy froze. Luke had a child? How had she not known this?

  ‘She lost the baby, though. At fourteen weeks. I wasn’t there when it happened.’

  Amy sat up and looked at him. His eyes were red and he looked tired. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. It made him look younger. Unsure of himself.

  ‘It was a pretty bad time,’ was all he said.

  Amy didn’t know what to say but she knew what to do. She kissed him. Lightly, gently. And he kissed her back. ‘I’m sorry, Luke.’

  Luke’s smile was small, but it was there. He pulled her back to where she’d been lying and started stroking her hair again.

  ‘It happens all the time, apparently,’ he murmured, in a tone that plainly said even if it did, it still wasn’t fair.

  ‘Do you still talk to her?’

  ‘Koko? No. Not any more. It happened over a year ago. She’s married again now—or so I heard.’

  Amy suspected he hadn’t ‘heard’ at all. She suspected he kept a close eye on Koko. Because that was what Luke did.

  ‘It’s hard to lose someone. Especially a child.’

  ‘No one should have to lose a child,’ Luke said quietly, his hands steady in her hair.

  ‘It must have brought back memories for you.’

  His hand stopped. ‘Memories?’

  ‘About your mother...’

  His silence made her fear she’d said the wrong thing.

  She stayed still. ‘I’m sorry, Luke, I didn’t mean to...’

  ‘No, no, it’s okay. I just...I haven’t talked about...Mum...in a long time.’

  ‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’

  ‘No.’ He began stroking her again but adjusted his legs and she moved, giving him more room. ‘It’s okay. It was a long time ago. I was an adult when it happened. Willa felt it more than me.’

  ‘Nineteen must have been a hard age to lose your mother. Isn’t that when you were away at college?’

  ‘Yeah, I was at university and getting involved in hotel management. I’d been working in hotels throughout school. Mum got sick while I was away. I wasn’t there when...when it happened. Afterwards, Dad suggested I stay away. He said it would take my mind off things.’

  ‘That’s an odd thing for him to suggest, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d stayed with your family?’

  ‘I should have been there for them before. I suppose Dad thought I may as well make something of myself, seeing as I’d already missed my last opportunity to see Mum. It didn’t really affect me the way it did Willa. I didn’t miss her like she did.’

  Amy turned again to look at him and he looked down at her. The sadness in his eyes didn’t match his words. He’d missed her. And by the look on his face he still did.

  ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, Luke. You were young and you were living the life you needed to live. Your mother would have been proud of you.’

  ‘You don’t know that.’ His words were abrupt. He shifted.

  ‘You don’t still feel guilty about anything that happened do you?’

  This time he shifted again—hard. He lifted his arm and checked his watch. ‘This has been nice, Amy...too nice. I really do have to work while
I’m here.’

  The change of subject took her by surprise. Amy moved so he could free his legs. ‘Now?’

  ‘Now. Sorry. I really do.’

  He stopped to kiss her. Long and hard and sincere. It soothed her a little. But only a little. She wrapped her arms around herself as he jumped off the chaise longue and padded into the shower. It didn’t take him long and he emerged fresh and clean as if it were the morning. But it wasn’t—it was almost six o’clock in the evening.

  ‘There’s a rooftop bar in the hotel. Get dressed and go up there. I should only be a couple of hours and I’ll meet you, okay?’

  He pushed his tie up to his throat and kissed her cheek and in seconds he was gone. Just like that. As if the past few hours hadn’t happened.

  He left Amy feeling a little cold and very confused.

  * * *

  The lights that had seemed so pretty—almost magical a few hours ago—were now burning holes in her retinas. He still wasn’t back.

  Amy flung back the remains of the fruity cocktail she was drinking. She’d lost count at four. He was silent and absent and neglecting her again. He hadn’t been like this in Sydney. In Sydney he’d been attentive and sweet and...present. They’d been in Singapore no more than a few hours and already he was gone—neglecting her again as he had on the plane. She’d made it clear that she hated silence. He knew she’d start to get scared if he didn’t let her know what was going on in his head.

  Amy checked her phone again. No messages. No Snapchats. Nothing. He’d said he would meet her in a couple of hours. It was now almost ten o’clock.

  Amy held her hand up to gain the attention of the waiter. She needed another drink. She shifted and smoothed down the cool jersey fabric of her dress. He had no idea how good she looked right now. Because if he did he’d be here—buying her drinks and paying her attention. Not neglecting her. Making her feel as he had on the plane—as if she was invisible and unimportant.

  The waiter appeared with another cocktail and she stared into it. What was she doing here? Getting angry...jumping to conclusions.

  This had started as an innocent fling with someone from her past. She hadn’t wanted to hope that it could go anywhere, but now...After spending so much time with him, and after their conversation earlier, she knew that hope had burrowed itself deep into her heart. She wanted him and she wanted this, and if she didn’t sort out what was going on she knew she’d end up with a broken heart. And after the whole disastrous Laurie business she wasn’t sure she could handle that.