Chase You To The Sun (26 page)

With a little smirk, Lana established she
had
no personal belongings besides the slightly sweaty clothes on her back. Since it was only three o’clock Desidan time, maybe she should hit the malls of New Vegas and find herself a nice dress to buy with her flashy, borrowed credit card. Tori would understand – she hoped.

The spaceport was hustling and bustling with people looking for games, entertainment, sex or drugs. Or a combination of the lot, Lana thought to herself as she saw an intoxicated Japanese guy stumbling past with scantily-clad girls on either side of him. She’d never been to Rhea before, but it turned out to be a cesspit of depravity. Maybe she should have guessed this was a place for Bruce to hide. He had money to burn and a gorgeous body to flaunt. The unbidden thought deflated her enthusiasm a bit. Why was she even here? Did Bruce really care about her, or had his message been a trick?

“Don’t be absurd,” she muttered to herself, striding into a huge store with beautiful, expensive gowns. Lana gasped as she looked at the price tags on some of them. Fortunately, the basement contained a selection of discounted items. Tori would kill her if she bought herself a thousand-dollar gown just to meet up with a man who’d managed to cripple the entire Elite economy.

The crisis didn’t seem to have touched Rhea just yet. As Lana stepped outside with a plastic bag containing a simple, black dress and a rhinestone necklace, she couldn’t believe how many people were strolling up and down the avenue leading to the humongous casinos near the ancient Rhean volcano. So many people with too much time and money on their hands to find anything else to do than playing games all night long. It was a miracle she hadn’t turned into one of them – for some reason, she’d never liked this kind of environment. Sergei had tried to drag her along to Rhea and Adrastea, the entertainment hubs of Saturn and Jupiter, but she’d always declined.

Her heart sped up as she neared the cluster of fancy hotels on the left-hand side. The Astoria was a tall, fifty-story building with iridescent glass panes at the front. Taking a deep breath, Lana lifted her head high and strode in as if she belonged there, giving the doorman her most arrogant look. She might look tired and a little bit pale, but at least she was still dressed like an Elite employee. Once she had located the public restrooms inside the hotel, she went in to change into her new outfit. It was nearing six and she was jittery with nerves.

“Crap,” Lana muttered at herself in the mirror. Her make-up was all but gone, but she hadn’t bothered to buy new mascara or eyeliner. A tiny blush colored her cheeks when she thought of Bruce. Would he like her dress? Did she look beautiful enough?

And then it dawned on her that she was being ridiculous. He’d seen her without make-up the entire time she had been in his house. She’d walked around in old T-shirts and faded jeans, and he’d kissed her through the bruises on her face and the fear in her eyes. In a way, he had never really cared about her looks. He’d accepted her the way she was. And he’d wanted to be close to her against all odds and common sense.

“Okay, girl, here goes,” she mumbled, stuffing her dirty clothes and old phone in the plastic bag and stepping out of the toilet cubicle in her new dress. As she emerged from the restrooms and walked into the crowded lobby, the clock struck six.

A hand on her shoulder startled her. Lana swiveled around to take a look at whoever had popped up behind her. “Miss Petrova?” a tall, black man with an impeccable pin-stripe suit addressed her.

“Yes.” She swallowed. “That’s me.”

“I am here to show you the door,” he said cryptically.

“You mean you’re kicking me out?” she asked, blinking nervously.

The man smiled. “No. I need two things from you.”

“Well, what are they?”

“I need your second name.”

Lana bit her lip. She could be walking straight into a trap, but how and why would anyone follow her here? Back on the space liner, she’d just been flipping out. Nobody on that ship could have known who she was.

“Ivanova,” she whispered nervously.

He nodded. “I also need you to finish a sentence for me.” Leaning over, he mumbled into her ear: “I will go to the bank by the wood.”

A surge of panic welled up inside of her. What was this man talking about? She had no idea what to tell him. Bruce hadn’t given her a password of any kind.

And then, she recognized the words all of a sudden. It was from the first poem in the book – the one Bruce had said he knew by heart.

“And become undisguised and naked,” she replied, biting back a smile. How fitting.

The black man beckoned her. “Follow me,” he said, weaving through the crowd to duck into a hallway next to the reception, leading down to a set of double doors which in their turn automatically opened up to reveal a spiral staircase. “You go up there,” he said. “The doors will close after you go in. There’s no turning back.”

Lana nodded, edging forward to put her hand on the railing. When the doors thudded shut behind her, little lights above the staircase switched on, lighting the way as she ascended the stairs. A shiver ran through her when she realized she had no idea what to expect.

The stairs seemed to go on and on. When she finally reached a room that looked uncannily like the lobby downstairs, Lana couldn’t guess what floor she was on and how far she’d climbed.

There was no one at reception. With hesitant step, she crossed the duplicate Astoria lobby to an open door that seemed to lead to a fancy restaurant. Piano music drifted out into the reception area, the notes of the heartbreakingly beautiful melody stirring something infinitely sad in her soul. When Lana stuck her head around the door, she could see several couples sitting at tables, being waited on by servers in dark green suits. Their outfits looked Elite, but the color of the fabric was definitely not. What
was
this place?

Her gaze swerved to the grand piano in the corner, and Lana’s breath hitched when she saw who was playing. It was him – Bruce’s hands danced over the black-and-white keys of the instrument so gracefully that he looked like a different man. The music seemed to pour directly from the heart he’d claimed he lost a long time ago. A nearly imperceptible frown sat between his eyebrows as he looked down at his hands touching the keyboard. Despite his musical skills, he didn’t seem to be entirely absorbed in the music. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he was anxious or nervous about something.

Lana’s heart tripped when Bruce stopped playing and looked up, a sudden silence surging into the room. He blinked. As his eyes locked with hers, a faint smile brightened his countenance, immense relief flooding his face. Slowly, he got up from the piano bench. That’s when she realized he hadn’t had any way of knowing whether she’d show up or not. He could have sat there all night, forever wondering why she hadn’t wanted to see him if she hadn’t come.

Her feet seemed to move of their own accord. Before she knew how it had happened, Lana was standing in front of him, reaching out for his hand as she looked up at him.

“You’re here,” he breathed, ignoring her extended hand and pulling her into an embrace so warm and welcoming that it brought tears to her eyes. “Lana.”

“I missed you,” she said in a thick voice. “I’m so happy you texted me.”

They stood there, hugging and holding each other tight. In the background, someone had switched on some music to substitute for the melody Bruce had stopped playing. Lana closed her eyes and inhaled his scent, caressing the strong muscles of his back through the fabric of the expensive jacket he was wearing. He’d never looked more Elite, but the clothes suited him. For minutes, they just held each other and wouldn’t let go. When Bruce finally stepped back and looked at her again, she had tear-stained cheeks and she was happy she wasn’t wearing any mascara.

“I didn’t know you could play the piano,” Lana blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I hadn’t played in years. I couldn’t.” He gazed down at her. “Something changed after your father gave me those mines, though. I felt alive, somehow.”

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “When Prometheus exploded, Alen said they bombed the moon.”

Bruce smiled solemnly. “No, I have myself to thank for that.”

“I still can’t believe you did that. You blew up a potential fortune.” Her eyes searched his face. “Was that always your plan?”

His gray eyes closed for a second. “Oh, no. I was definitely tempted to keep Prometheus and become the mightiest man in the solar system. Hold the Elite in a death grip. Live like a god. Get anything I wanted.”

“So why didn’t you?” she stammered.

A faint smile flitted across his face. “I wanted to be decent. A decent man. Because you believed I was.”

His words left her speechless. Before she could say anything, Bruce slipped his arm around her shoulders and steered her away from the piano. “Would you like some wine?” he said. “You look beautiful, by the way. Very Elite, but it becomes you.”

Lana blushed. “I bought this dress with borrowed money. Something tells me you’re richer than I am now.”

“I bet I am.” Bruce chuckled. “I hoarded quite some money and resources before I decided to destroy Prometheus.”

“What is this place, anyway?” she wanted to know, her voice dropping.

“This is the other Astoria. It’s where the lawbreakers and rebels with money come to stay and have meetings. I booked myself a room here for a while.”

It was strange how Elite this underground world looked. Lana gazed around in awe as she followed Bruce to the bar, accepting a glass of cooled, sparkling white wine. “What happened to the others?” she asked curiously.

“They’re fine. Chester is staying in the Astoria too. Hikaru and Shou as well, but they are running some errands for me now because their faces haven’t been plastered all over the news yet.”

“And John?”

Bruce shrugged. “John has always been in it for the money. I told him to take a hike when he debated my decision to blow up the moon, so he moved on to greener pastures. That’s all right. I couldn’t have done what I did without him. He served his purpose.”

Lana sighed contentedly when he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her in again to kiss her forehead. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to kiss Bruce passionately in the middle of this restaurant. Wetting her lips, she moved in even closer, brushing her mouth against the warm skin of his neck. His breath turned harsher when he leaned into her.

“Not here,” he groaned.

Lana stopped reluctantly. “Why not?”

“Because I’ll turn into an indecent man very quickly if you keep that up.”

“Well...” She couldn’t believe she was bold enough to utter the next few words. “Can we go somewhere more private, then?”

“Sure we can.” His voice caught in his throat on the last word. “You want to freshen up before dinner?”

“We’re having dinner?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to turn me down.”

“Oh, God, no,” Lana exclaimed, evoking a wide grin on Bruce’s face. “I’d
love
to have dinner with you. But I wouldn’t mind taking a bath, if that’s okay. I rushed my ass off to get here in time. You gave me, like, five hours to arrange everything.”

As Bruce led her toward an elevator in the back of the restaurant, he gently rubbed her back, setting her bare skin on fire wherever his fingers brushed her. “I’m sorry, Sveta,” he mumbled. “It was a last-minute decision. And – I know I probably shouldn’t have.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” she softly replied, looking up at him with a hesitant smile as they got on the elevator. “So what happened after you sedated me with that evil orange juice?”

“I flew out to Sutton.” His voice turned rough. “So I could drop you off. Chester offered to take you, but I had to do it myself.” As the doors slid closed, he touched her face, trailing his fingers down her jaw line. “You looked so innocent and beautiful, lying in the grass and the wild flowers in that meadow. I kissed you goodbye, although I knew you wouldn’t feel it. And then I turned around and left you there.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You shouldn’t have sent me away,” she said resolutely. “We weren’t done yet.”

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll be done any time soon, you and I,” he rumbled, sounding so honest and vulnerable in that moment that it took Lana’s breath away. She shuffled forward, flinging her arms around his waist and pressing her body against his.

“That sounds all right,” she whispered. “That’s all right with me.”

When they reached the top floor and the doors opened again, Lana looked out into an enormous suite, complete with king size bed, a large sitting area, a bar in the left corner, and soft music playing in the background. The elevator had taken them straight to the penthouse, which looked marvelous. “Wow, Mr. Randall,” she teased him, stepping out into the room. “Reeling on me for being too Elite, huh? Take a minute to look at yourself.”

Bruce arched an eyebrow. “Always toeing the line between being funny and getting too cocky, aren’t you, Miss Petrova,” he shot back, his eyes boring into hers, sending a shiver down her spine. A mischievous glint sparkled in his gray irises as he dipped his head down and whispered in her ear: “You’re still a little bit afraid of me, aren’t you, little girl?”

She gulped down her nerves. “I guess. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said, drawing her close. “It’s instinct. Most people sense they should stay away from me.”

“Yes, but you don’t send those people sweet text messages,” Lana mumbled, trembling as Bruce slipped both hands under the hem of her dress, his thumbs tracing the outline of her panties. “I’m just a silly girl, because I’m falling for it.” And then, she couldn’t speak anymore, because he captured her mouth with his, sending a joyous thrill through her. Groaning softly, she opened her lips and welcomed his tongue as it softly stroked and teased her own. Bruce was still as sensual and gentle as she remembered. Hot blood rushed to her face when he tugged at her underwear, sliding it down her legs and dropping it to the floor around her ankles.

“Let me feel you,” he sighed, slipping one large hand between her legs, his middle finger briefly dipping into the warm wetness of her cunt. “Hmm. As willing as ever.” Lana whimpered helplessly when Bruce slowly circled her swollen clit with his finger. He made her so hot that she didn’t care about dinner anymore. She’d be satisfied devouring him all night long instead.