Billionaire's Love Suite (12 page)

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 simple 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.

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.