"Don't think so. Oh, there was this one chick in Sydney once...a Carwashian or something? Dunno. American chick with fake tits, anyway. They just didn't bounce properly. Nah, she can't have been. Billionaires are kinky. It says so in all the books."
Books about billionaires? Had Jay read that unauthorised biography penned by some old flame of her mother's? Gaia had thought it was all lies, until she'd seen the evidence with her own eyes in her mother's bedside cabinet. Peanut butter, hazelnut spread and a jar of something that looked like whipped marshmallow, and when she'd opened them...every one bore the marks of thick fingers that had dug deep into the gloopy mess. She'd always thought her mother had eaten them while reading in bed as some sort of guilty pleasure, but that trashy book had insisted she liked her lovers to smear the spreads all over her –
"I said, what's your brand of kink?" Jay said loudly, looking annoyed.
Not peanut butter, that's for sure. Gaia moistened her dry mouth. "Why don't you try me and find out?" She downed the last of her champagne, reaching for the bottle to pour more. Huh. Empty. The other bottle was, too. Where was the waiter? She needed another drink. Jay must have drunk all hers while she wasn't looking.
"I'm not drunk enough for that," he said.
A shadow appeared at Gaia's side, tilting a bottle over her glass. She nodded and greedily watched the bubbles rising as her glass filled. She rose unsteadily to her feet, glass in hand. "To getting drunk," she declared.
Jay laughed. "I can drink to that."
Good, Gaia thought, watching him empty the bourbon bottle. Her night wasn't ending without some sort of satisfaction and she knew who she wanted to give it to her.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Gaia stretched, savouring the pleasurable ache between her thighs. She'd waited for too long to scratch that particular itch, but it had been worth the wait. A light slap stung her bare bottom, sending a zing of pleasure straight to her core that melted her insides. "Again," she ordered.
"Nah, baby, I'm going to bed."
Gaia heard the shuffle of footsteps and lay back in drowsy anticipation of Jay joining her again. But the bed didn't move and the sounds died away. "Jay?"
No answer.
She jumped out of bed, only to find her legs didn't want to carry her any more. They seemed to have turned into tentacles or something equally wobbly. "Damn." She collapsed on the mattress again, dreamily remembering all the things Jay had done to her body since they'd finished dinner. No wonder she could barely walk. She'd find him tomorrow, when they could do it all over again.
TWENTY-NINE
Xan answered her phone without looking at the caller. "Xan Lane."
Jay sounded surprisingly alert for such an early hour of the morning. Maybe he hadn't made it to bed yet. "I got the contracts. I only took a quick look, but even I can see it looks like a pretty shit deal for the resort. And there's a bit I really don't like, either. Something about how if the resort isn't making a certain profit margin in any year during the first decade they own it, they can insist on a refund of their purchase price, plus maintenance costs. She wants to stick her mining staff here, so the place won't make a cent in profit. It's basically an agreement to give it to her rent-free for next to nothing for a decade, then get her money back. Or she could sell the place to someone else and make her money back and more." Jay sounded worried. "Look, I don't understand all if it. Lots of legal shit. I've scanned it and I'm sending it through now. She doesn't know I have it, so I'll probably have to get Jackie to sneak it back into her house before she wakes up."
He'd piqued Xan's curiosity. "Don't tell me you slept with her to distract her so you could swipe the paperwork."
"All right, I won't, then."
Silence reigned as Xan digested his words.
"You seduced her? What about Flavia? I thought you and her – "
"We're through. Somehow, the press found out about her. They hounded her at work and home. Someone broke into the place where she works and sprayed stuff on the walls about her. Calling her a whore. She blames me, though I never told anyone, so she said we're over." Jay sounded almost as down as he had after he'd found out about Phuong. Twice unlucky in love. Poor Jay.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Xan said, and meant it. "I liked Flavia."
A heavy sigh. "Yeah, so did I. She doesn't feel the same way any more, though, so I should just get over her and move on. Plenty more fish in the sea."
Not ones who auctioned off their virginity, and they'd be an even rarer breed if Flavia was publicly crucified for doing it.
"Perhaps try a different bait next time," Xan said softly.
"Yeah, well, right now I have this rich chick sniffing around, scaring anyone else off. Have you got everything you need, or do I need to be hospitable to her again?"
Hospitable. Jay sure had a strange definition of hospitality.
"I'll call you if I need anything else, but this contract should be a good starting point. I'll call their managing director, James Stewart, later on today, to set up a meeting with me and Jo. Maybe we can arrange a reduced rate for rooms in the wet season. Don't worry. We'll take it from here."
Jay seemed satisfied to end the conversation there, so after some hastily-said goodbyes, Xan dialled Vasse Prospecting. James Stewart already owed the resort a favour for helping with their evacuation. This might be a good time to call it in.
THIRTY
Oh God. Make it stop.
But the bright sunlight lanced her scrunched-shut eyelids as some pesky miner hammered incessantly at the inside of Gaia's head. A high-pitched chime stabbed through her eardrums and into her brain.
"Go to hell," she groaned, rolling out of bed. Ow, that only made her head hurt worse.
She staggered to the bathroom for her robe before she dragged her aching body to the door. Who could it possibly be at this ungodly hour?
"Room service," the recorded voice informed her, before the irritating chime sounded again.
She swiped open the door. "I ordered breakfast for ten."
"Yes, ma'am. Romantic breakfast for two at 10 am, as requested. Shall I set the table for you?"
Breakfast for two. Gaia couldn't remember arranging a breakfast meeting. Wait. Romantic? Was someone else supposed to be here?
Distracted, she waved the waiter in. He wheeled the trolley in and transferred the trays to the table. Flowers. Waffles. Strawberries. Poached eggs. Even the damn bacon. All of it meticulously heart-shaped.
Romantic, all right. And then she remembered. Jay.
Gaia strode to the bedroom, but there was no sign of the man, or that he'd been there at all. Oh, sure, she'd dreamed about him, but that wasn't new. She'd had erotic dreams every night since she arrived at the resort. Only her body didn't usually ache so much after a dream. After a gym workout, maybe. Unless last night she and Jay...
Swallowing, she peered into the bedside bin. On top of the tissues was a collection of used condoms and their brightly coloured wrappers. She counted them both – five and four. No, that couldn't be right. She hooked her foot around the bin and pulled it closer. A ripped red wrapper crackled as the basket moved off it. Five. Five wrappers, five condoms...did she honestly have sex with Jay Felix five times last night? No. No man could manage that. The longest any man lasted in her experience had been twenty minutes, and even that had been a stretch. Certainly not a second time in the same night. It had to be some sort of prank.
Yet she'd confidently ordered breakfast for him, expecting him to join her.
Was it because of the contracts? Hadn't he signed them last night?
Try as she might, Gaia's memories of the previous night were hazy. She knew she'd drunk champagne, matching Jay drink for drink as he downed his bottle of bourbon, but she had no idea how much. More than her hurting head wanted, that was for certain. She hoped she had some headache tablets in here somewhere. She hadn't had a hangover this brutal since...since she could remember, to be honest. She'd always been so careful not to drink too much because dr
unkenness led to bad judgement and bad judgement was unforgivable in a Vasse.
She pawed through her beauty case until she found a box of pills, then swallowed two with a glass of water. There. That should help her feel better. Now she had to find the contracts, to see whether she was signing or celebrating with Jay this morning.
She ambled back to the dining room, where the waiter still stood.
"Would you like me to open the champagne for you?" he asked.
Champagne? With breakfast? Gaia's stomach issued a gurgled protest. "No."
She scanned the table for the papers she'd left there last night before meeting Jay for dinner. There was no sign of them.
The waiter was almost out the door with his trolley.
"Wait!" she commanded. "Where are the papers that were here?"
"What papers, ma'am?"
Gaia marched him back to the dining room and tapped the table. "Here. I left them right here and now they're gone."
He shrugged. "There was nothing on the table, ma'am. You must have moved them when you heard your breakfast had arrived. Thank you, ma'am."
Of course she hadn't moved them. She'd walked straight from bed to the door. Either he was lying or they'd moved the papers last night.
Gaia scrutinised the shelves of the man's room service trolley, but there was nothing on it but a stack of dish covers. He didn't have her papers. That meant they must be somewhere in the house. Signed, most likely, and placed in a folder with her things, ready to scan when the business centre opened in the morning. Her breath hissed out in relief. "Fine. Go."
The man hurried out, taking his trolley with him.
THIRTY-ONE
Gaia poured herself a cup of tea as black as her mood. She couldn't possibly have forgotten the contracts in order to satisfy her sexual desires, had she? Her mother would be appalled. Stewart would wear that triumphant smile that told her without words that she wasn't fit to run the family firm.
But he was wrong. Stewart could go suck eggs for all she cared. Gaia always put business before pleasure. Always. Her family fortune was far more important than some fling, even with that well-muscled Felix man.
She must have tucked them away somewhere safe.
Gaia managed to swallow exactly two sips of tea before she gave in and started searching. The papers weren't anywhere in the dining room or kitchen. She hadn't tucked them away in a cupboard or drawer. The lounge room wasn't hiding them, and the spare bedroom was as untouched as the day she'd arrived. That left her bedroom and the bathrooms.
A cursory glance told her it wasn't in the main bathroom. Not even in the huge spa tub. Her ensuite, covered in mess from her search for a hangover remedy, didn't have any papers. That left the bedroom.
The bedside tables were empty, and she already knew the bin only held rubbish. The leather portfolio she kept in her carry-on bag, then. Gaia unzipped the soft, fawn-coloured leather and flipped through the pages, but found no contracts. She threw it down on the unmade bed and rifled through her carry-on bag, even opening her laptop to see if it she had mistaken one zip case for another in her tipsiness last night. No, not there, either.
Gaia dumped out the contents of her suitcase and felt every item, including the lining of the bag itself. Nothing. Not a single sheet of paper, let alone a whole contract.
Snarling, she jumped to her feet, her head pounding a warning. To hell with her hangover. She needed that contract.
An hour later, she'd turned the house upside down, moved every stick of furniture and stitch of fabric, only to turn up empty-handed.
Had she taken the papers to Jay's place for him to sign?
No, of course not. If she'd done that, she'd have woken up at his house instead of her own. Unless she'd insisted on having sex in her bed...
Of course. Even after a drink or two, Gaia would never spend the night in a strange man's bed. She'd never stoop so low. Instead, she would have invited him back to her house to provide her with the company she craved. She must have left the signed contract at his house.
She sank onto a dining chair with a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling hungry. Once she'd finished breakfast and freshened up with a shower, she'd take a stroll to Jay's place to pick up her papers.
And then perhaps they could have another private celebration just like last night. Only this time, she intended to remember every moment, instead of just the vague feeling that it had been incredible enough to rival her wildest dreams.
Gaia smiled around her tea cup, her contented sigh sending a waft of steam up toward the ceiling.
THIRTY-TWO
Gaia felt almost human again as she all but skipped along the path to Jay's villa. He hadn't joined her for breakfast, true, but his hangover had to be worse than hers. After all, he'd been drinking straight spirits, not champagne. In a fit of charitableness, she decided to only knock once. If he didn't answer, she'd go for a swim and come back later.
She hadn't even rounded the corner fully before she heard his voice say, "You again."
She found Jay sitting on his veranda, wearing nothing but his wet, clinging board shorts as he crunched into an apple. The man even had perfect teeth, she noticed with heart-swelling approval. She couldn't abide a crooked smile.
"Good morning," she said with a smile.
He shrugged. "What do you want?"
Gaia faltered. He was back to his usual, surly self, as if none of last night had happened. Had he forgotten that they'd spent the night together, enfolded in bliss in her bed? Surely not. She'd make him remember. "I came to thank you for last night," she said.
Another shrug. "It was nothing special."
She tried to hide how much his casual dismissal stung. "And I wanted to ask you whether I left some paperwork here last night. Some contract documents, perhaps?"
He picked up a stack of pages she hadn't noticed sitting on the glass-topped table until now. "You mean these?" He fanned them toward her, his eyes narrowing. "Quite an interesting read."
Now it was her turn to be dismissive. "Hardly. Legal contracts are about as boring as they come. What does it matter? Now they're all signed, we can leave everything for other people to sort out."
Jay flipped through the pages, pulled one out and held it up. "Oh, you mean you actually thought I was going to sign this?"
Gaia peered at the sheet, her heart sinking. There was no signature on it at all. She'd been so distracted by his body and the alcohol in her blood that she'd forgotten to do her job. "It's a standard contract. The legal department drew it up. I haven't really looked at it," she lied.
"That makes two of us," he muttered, flinging the pages back on the table. "I leave this sort of shit to my lawyers."
Gaia breathed a sigh of relief. If he hadn't read it, he couldn't be angry at her. It must be his hangover headache making him so grumpy.
"So why are you still here?" Jay asked, folding his arms across his mesmerising chest.
It took Gaia a moment to drag her eyes up to his face. "Mmm?"
"I asked you why you're still here."
Nerves fluttered in her tummy. "I was wondering...I was hoping you'd like to join me today. Do something together." Like have incredible sex so she could remember every detail this time.
"Why, so you can try to seduce me into signing shit like this again?" He waved the contract.
Yes. Gaia flushed. Was her desire that obvious?
She summoned her best professional smile, hoping it would give her the confidence to see this through. "After last night, I thought you...I thought you and I..."
"Might want to fuck each other's brains out?" Jay finished for her. "Nah, baby. Once was enough."
No it wasn't, she wanted to cry. Wait – it had been more than once last night. Nobody used up a whole box of condoms for just once.
"But...I'm a billionaire. You said you'd never been to bed with a billionaire before. Once I go home, you might never get another chance. Being with a billionaire is – "
"Boring, baby. You were borin
g. No better than any other girl and worse than some." Jay didn't even do her the courtesy of looking her in the eye as he trampled on her post-coital bliss. "Maybe it's only billionaire blokes who know what they want, and make things interesting with their particular tastes. Dunno. I don't bang blokes."
Gaia saw red. "How would you know what they're like in bed, then?"
"I read, baby. Maybe you should, too. Read a fucking sex manual, at least. Because sex with you last night...fuck, I have more fun with my own hand."
Gaia turned and fled before he could see her tears. He was lying. He had to be. Five times. They'd done it five times last night and it had been the best night of her life. If only she could remember it better. How dare he call it boring!
She slowed as she reached her own front door, and her scattered thoughts caught up with her. What if he was telling the truth? If he wasn't lying, then five rounds of incredible sex in one night was ordinary for him. How much better would it be if they spent a night together that was so good, even he thought it was extraordinary?
Her core clenched, flooding her lower regions with heat so searing that if she didn't know her knickers were made of silk, she could've sworn they'd melted.
THIRTY-THREE
It took Gaia three days of squirming discomfort before she admitted to herself that she wanted to see Jay again. She'd spent hours watching the resort's adult movie channels, but she was still no wiser about what Jay really wanted. It's not like she could ask him. What if he said he wanted oral sex? She'd watched a dozen different women pleasuring the men in the movies with their mouths, and if she wasn't put off by the idea before that, she was thoroughly disgusted now. All that flesh and fluid and...how did they fit all that in their mouths without choking? What if it tasted awful? Or he hadn't washed? And the hair... Jay wasn't the sort of man to wax it all off, that she already knew. What if she got pubic hair in her teeth? She almost retched at the thought.
The Rock Star and the Billionaire Page 8
