Billionaire's Love Suite (22 page)

Shana leaned her face against the glass for support since her knees had
gone all rubbery just like they usually did when she was too close to Justin.
They were two stories apart and he was affecting her like this. What was it
going to be like in the future? She had to learn to stand up to him. From the
day they’d met he’d been manipulating her and he still was.

“No.”

“Shana, please,” he pleaded.

“Just go away, Justin. I don’t want to see you or talk to you again.
Believe me, I’ve heard it all.”

“You haven’t heard me at all!” He crossed his arms over his chest and
stared up at her.

He was amazed at how beautiful she was even when she was angry
with him. He would give anything the world to erase the pain he saw in her
face.

It was amazing. He could fly her to Europe for lunch or take her on a
cruise on a Chinese junk if her whim demanded it, but right now, he couldn’t
get her to punch a button that would buzz him up so that he could take her
in his arms and ease the pain in his heart.

Shana turned away from the window when tears flooded her eyes.
Tossing the handset down on the sofa she went to the bathroom and blew
her nose.

“You can just rot out there, Justin Yates!” she shouted shaking her fist
impotently in the air.

***

Justin greeted the passers-by on the street as they walked past Shana’s
building. He called a favorite deli and ordered sandwiches, a green salad,
a bottle of wine, pastries and hot coffee to be delivered to him on the front
steps. The delivery boy arrived and though he thought it strange that Justin
merely continued to sit on the steps rather than go inside, he made no comment
and gladly accepted the twenty-dollar tip.

Justin called Shana’s apartment number again. This time the phone rang
five times before she picked up.

“I’ve ordered dinner,” he chuckled. “You want some? It’s from
Angelo’s.”

“Stop it, Justin,” she said.

“You have to eat, Shana.”

“You forget. I’m a good cook. I made angel hair pasta and French bread.
Spinach salad with fresh mushrooms.”

Justin looked at his cold sandwich. “Yours sounds better.”

“It is. So, take the hint and scram,” she barked.

”I’m having Bloomingdale’s deliver bedding at eight. I got a great deal
on bedding in a sack. Down pillows, too,” he joked.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Did. I told you, I’m not budging till you see me.”

“Justin, this is embarrassing and ridiculous. Cate called and said she’s
seen two movies trying to stay away.”

“So, why don’t you end all this and just see me. Then I’ll be on my
way.”

Shana paused thoughtfully. “If I let you up, you’ll leave then?”

“After I’ve said what I came to say. Promise,” he said.

Shana carefully weighed her options. She was strong. She could do this.
“Okay. I’ll buzz you up.”

Justin didn’t hesitate. He leaped up from the step and left his deli dinner
on the stoop as the front door buzzed and he unlatched the door.

He rapped on her door once and Shana opened it.

Seeing Justin at her door impacted Shana like colliding comets. If she
hadn’t been holding onto the door, she would have teetered in her running
shoes. “Come in,” she said.

Justin’s presence seemed to fill the entire room, Shana thought. After
being away from him for nearly three days, she’d forgotten the nearly tangible
force of his power. She’d forgotten how handsome he was and how
laser sharp his eyes could be when he focused them on her. She wondered
if he could see the quiver in her thighs as she stood only a few feet away
from him.

He took a step closer to her and reached out his hand to touch her cheek.
“My God, you are so beautiful.”

Shana inhaled deeply steeling herself for his touch. It didn’t help. She
felt her eyes close halfway as she felt the pleasure of his warm fingers on
her skin.

Snap out of it, Shana, she told herself. “What is it that you couldn’t say
from down in the street?”

“I love you, Shana.” He took another small step toward her.

Shana’s eyes flew open. “Excuse me?”

“I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”

“When I was naked.”

“When you covered yourself so quickly. I knew I was lying to you, but
I couldn’t help it. I was afraid that if you knew who I was you might not think I was worth the effort to get to know. I was afraid you’d be like all the
others who only saw my name or my bank account. I was afraid it would
all turn out badly. I was afraid, Shana, because I knew it would be so easy
to love you.”

“You? Afraid?”

Lowering his eyes, he nodded. “So very afraid then. But terrified now.
I know what it’s like to be with you and make love with you and play with
you and talk with you and most of all laugh with you. I want to be with you,
Shana.”

“And…it’s not because of the baby?” she ventured.

“No. Yes. No. It’s you. Only you. The baby is like…well, the best
Christmas bonus in the world. Please don’t divorce me, Shana. I couldn’t
bear it. When you left and I walked around our home, I took stock of my
life. I can buy anything I want in this world. I can go wherever I like, whenever
I like, but since I’ve met you I don’t want to do anything without you. I
love you, Shana. It’s not about the hotels. In fact, if you told me you wanted
me to sell the hotels to prove my love for you, I’d do it. Please, Shana, you
must believe me.”

Stunned, Shana only stared into Justin’s eyes. “You’ve wanted those
hotels all your life. They were your dream.”

“You are my dream. I just was too arrogant and blind not to see it.”

He took another step closer, gingerly placing his hands on her shoulders,
aching to pull her close to him. “I’ll do anything for you, Shana. Please
forgive me.”

Shana didn’t know if she kissed him or if he kissed her. His lips were
filled with remorse and tenderness as they brushed her mouth seeking solace
from her. Slanting his mouth over hers his pain turned to joy and then to
passion that bordered on the sacred. Justin told her with his lips, tongue and
embrace that he cherished her. His kiss was sincere and filled with an emotion
Shana had never felt from him. He told her that he loved her.

It was true what the old song said; his love was in his kiss.

“I love you back,” Shana whispered as she wrapped her arms around his
neck and slid her hand to his nape. Shana’s heart burst open with a flood of
desire. The heat that erupted from her enveloped them both as she crushed
herself to Justin’s strong chest. They were at a place neither of them had ever ventured. They were soul to soul and stood on hallowed ground. Shana
knew this was paradise. She knew that of all the worlds she’d created inside
hotel walls where she’d promised guests they could find ecstasy, this was
her finest creation. She had created a place of heart where only love could
dwell. It was hers and it was Justin’s. This was enchantment. This was the
power of love.

****

J
ustin thought the world opened up and swallowed him as terror shot
through his solar plexus. “What in the name of all that is holy are you
doing, Shana?”

Shana stood barefooted on a six foot ladder, one hand braced against the
ceiling, a tool belt around her ever-growing “bump” and was drilling a hold
in the crown molding with an electric power drill. “Putting up the baby’s
curtain rod, silly. Don’t look so scared.”

“Scared? I’m petrified. Come and get down from there,” he said holding
out his hands to help Shana down from the ladder. “Don’t you have people
to do this kind of thing?”

“Not on a Saturday. Besides, I feel like I have energy enough to re-roof
the entire hotel single handedly. I think I’m liking this second trimester.”

“Great. But could you do it on solid ground? I think I just aged ten
years,” he groaned.

Shana placed her hand on his cheek. “Poor sweetie. If you can’t take this
how are you going to survive childbirth?”

“I was told they give painkillers.”

“For me, silly.”

“Oh,” he smiled with his joke and pulled her into his arms and kissed
her.

“I thought you were going to be gone all afternoon,” she said helping
him take his jacket off.

“Lunch with Leon went better than expected,” he said taking her hand
and leading her back to the bedroom where they sat on the bed.

“Oh, no you don’t. You touch me with those lethally sexy hands of yours
and it’ll be hours before I get the truth from you. What happened?”

“All I can say is that between Leon and the private detective, Felicity’s
blackmailing days are over.”

“As Cate would say, spill.”

“It turns out that Felicity knew about my father’s Will and the proviso
before I did. During her affair with my father, he told her numerous times
that he wanted me to get married and…”

“…stop fooling around,” Shana interjected with an impish smile.

“Precisely.” He kissed her on the nose. “Boy, he was right, too. Anyway,
Felicity had quite a few accomplices here in the hotel to keep tabs on me
after she and I broke up.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Do we know who?”

“Helen for one.”

“What?” Shana clamped her hands to the side of her cheeks in astonishment.
“But she was so loyal.”

“To Felicity apparently,” Justin continued. “It was Felicity who leaked
the story to the newspapers that we read.”

Feeling a searing jab of loss as she remembered that fateful day, she
clutched her abdomen.

Justin saw it and instantly gathered her into his arms. “Don’t. It hurts me
to know I hurt you. Please put it out of your memory. Nothing like that will
ever happen again. I promise.”

Feeling his arms around her, Shana let the pain recede and then vanish.
She would will the memory away and never let it return. “Go on.”

“Remember that log book you asked me about?”

“Log? The one that Felicity said she kept on you and your…amours?”

“Correct. Turns out the log was some bizarre calculations of Felicity’s
romps with Antonio, our bar tender. Felicity is carrying Antonio’s child.”

“Not your father’s?”

“No. In addition, Dad was on several heart medications which made sex
nearly impossible; a fact that Felicity complained to several staff members
about.”

“How on earth did you find all this out?”

“I told you. The private detective. He was billed as the best in the city
and he was.”

Shana shook her head. “I hope we never have to use him again.”

“Me, too. Anyway, Leon also told me that even if we hadn’t gotten the
real goods on Felicity it wouldn’t have mattered. Leon said that the Will was ironclad and absolutely unbreakable. Even if Dad had fathered Felicity’s
child, that child would never have inherited anything more than some cash.
The hotels were solidly mine.”

Justin placed his hand lovingly over Shana’s abdomen. He took a deep
breath and in low, reverent tones he said, “Mine and our children. They will
inherit all that we have.”

“Children?”

Justin looked at Shana with wide surprise. “We are going to have more
than one aren’t we?”

“Are we?”

“Well, well. I was, er, that is. I’ve been thinking. I don’t want any child
of mine to grow up as I did being alone all the time. I know you came from
a big family and maybe you’re tired of all that, but if it’s possible, I mean
you liking being pregnant so much, I was thinking…”

“Justin, I’ve never seen you so flustered.”

“I seem to do that a lot since I met you,” he said taking her hand and
kissing each one of her fingers. “How about six.”

“Kids?”

“Yeah. That worked out well in your family.”

“I can’t believe it. I thought you didn’t like them.”

“I loved them! I know it didn’t appear that way when they were here,
but I love your family. I saw how they all got along and helped each other
out. I want it to be like that for us and our children.”

Joy filled Shana’s face as she kissed Justin. “Oh, Justin. You’ve made
me so very happy!” She hesitated. “But what about my job?”

“Keep it. Don’t keep it. Do whatever you want. I would love for you
and I to continue to work together transforming every hotel. You’re so good
at it.”

“I would like that, too,” she replied kissing his cheek.

“I intend to make certain you have enough hotels to oversee for the rest
of your life. I also think that in every one of our hotels we will do just what
you’ve done here with our home.”

“What’s that?”

“I want a nursery in every penthouse. No matter where we go there will
be plenty of room for our babies.” He paused for a long moment and with sincerity gleaming in his eyes he said, “You are an amazing woman, Shana.
I am truly the luckiest man on earth to be with you.”

Gazing deeply into his eyes, she said, “We’re both lucky, Justin. To love
and be loved. It’s what life is all about.” Then she kissed him and knew in
her heart she was more than lucky. She was blessed.