HIGHER (The Indigo Lounge Series) (10 page)

A slither of ice eased down her
spine. If it turned out that that was what Zach was guilty of, could she live
with it?

She shook her head and pushed the
thought away. There was no use torturing herself when she had no facts to base
her theory on. She stared at her computer screen for several minutes before she
started typing the variation of the info she’d first typed into her search
engine a week ago.

A touch of shame crawled over her
but she pushed that feeling too away. If Zach wasn’t above playing dirty, she
could too.

Zach Savage and Farrah marital connection.

She hit return but already knew
there would be nothing there. She’d trawled through over three hundred pages of
links before she’d given up in the first few days of her miserable spiral last
week.

Besides, if there was some deep,
dark reason why Zach couldn’t tell her, she was sure he’d have taken steps to
have any information removed from public record. It’d taken her a while to
grasp the full implications of just who she’d become involved with but she now
knew Zach Savage the billionaire wielded power and influence the same way
lesser mortals breathed.

Her phone rang, startling her
into gasping. She answered it, and felt a heavy twinge of disappointment when
the dark, sexy voice she expected didn’t respond.

“I thought we were going to make
plans for dinner and drinks tonight?” Keely demanded.

“I need a rain check. Have to
work late tonight.” She scrolled through the twentieth page of her search,
hoping to catch something she’d missed.

“Fuck. Is Sheena getting back at
you for taking all that time off? I can call her and drop a few mild threats…”

Bethany laughed. “Stand down,
Xena Warrior Princess. I have to work late because I’ve been put in charge of a
new event.”

“Oh. Okay, cool. Anything
exciting?”

Bethany hesitated. Although there
was an implicit confidentiality in the early stage of her work, she and Keely
had shared info on their various projects before. She trusted her friend with
her life. But she wasn’t sure how Keely would take the fact that Zach had
inveigled his way into her work life too. Keely was still bent out of shape
over the
Shades
incident and Bethany
wasn’t sure how much reserves she had left where the whole Zach situation was
concerned.

“Potentially. We only got the
commission today and it’s a fast turnaround so it’s a bit hectic over here.
I’ll fill you in when I can, ‘kay?” she said breezily.

“Fine. Guess, I’ll have to find a
way to amuse myself,” Keely grumbled. Bethany smiled, confident in the
knowledge that her best friend would have other plans before she hung up.

After ending the call she stared
at her computer screen, her mind screeching back to Zach and the enigma that
surrounded his life.

Could she wait until he divulged
his secrets to her? And could she work with him in the meantime and not delve
deeper into the despair she could feel swallowing her whenever she thought back
to that last night in Marrakech?

There was a way she could get out
of their professional relationship but she’d discarded that line of thought
before it’d even fully formed earlier today. There was no way she would do a
bad job and lose Neon the commission.

Even if she wanted to, her pride
in her work wouldn’t let her take that route.

Footsteps clicked along the
corridor towards her desk. “You ready to get started?” Sheena quipped.

Bethany gathered the information
she’d put together in the last hour. Glancing at the search page one last time,
she clicked it shut and breathed out. “Yes.”

Chapter Twelve

Philip arrived at four o’clock on
the button the next afternoon. Again Bethany felt a sharp twinge when she
noticed the back seat was empty. All day, she’d nervously dangled on
tenterhooks as the hours crept by and her phone remained silent.

The pendulous swing from fielding
his calls several times an hour to nothing in almost thirty-six hours played
havoc with her nerves.

Those nerves escalated as she
slid into the backseat and secured her seatbelt. With a small nod, Philip
steered the car into traffic and headed for the Upper East Side.

Yesterday when she’d arrived with
Sheena and Gary for the mysterious interview she’d been too curious as to the
details of the meeting to pay much attention to her surroundings.

Today, knowing this was Zach’s
place for however long he chose to remain in New York, her interest heightened
as she walked into the plush lobby of the condo whose address constantly
appeared on glossy property magazines.

White oak hardwood floors and
Venetian papered walls dominated the entry hallway and the discreet concierge
service tucked into a neat corner was staffed by a uniformed couple who looked
like they’d just stepped off a photo shoot.

Philip rode up the elevator with
her and accessed Zach’s condo with his own key card. Expecting him to step in
beside her for the ride up, she looked up in surprise when he nodded and
withdrew.

“Mr Savage will be waiting for
you. Good evening, ma’am.” With that, the burly man silently retreated.

Steel butterflies battered her
insides as the elevator whisked her upward. Turning her head, she stared at her
reflection in the mirrored interior of the gilt framed elevator and groaned
silently when she caught sight of the feverish excitement in her eyes.

She looked away quickly, her hand
closing convulsively over her leather document case as her pulse spiked
frantically and her breathing altered.

He was waiting for her when the
elevator opened.

Fierce grey eyes bore into her,
the narrow eyed look focused on her in that unnerving way that caused
nervousness and excitement to war within her.

“Bethany.”

God, the way he said her name.
Like a prayer. Like a decadent invitation to sin. All wrapped in a wicked,
husky rasp that had the power to stop her breath.

She forced herself to move, to
not stand there like a gaping idiot, intent on devouring him with her eyes. But
despite cautioning herself against it, she couldn’t help but notice how
delicious he looked. His white sleeves were rolled up, exposing strong, muscled
arms and his dark grey trousers streamlined lean hips and strong thighs in a
way that would’ve made most male models drool.

He didn’t move when she reached
him. He seemed content to stare at her, one hand braced on the elevator door to
keep it from sliding shut.

“I wasn’t sure whether you would
come,” he said finally. His voice held a hint of uncertainty even as his gaze
roved possessively over her.

“I work for you now. I don’t have
a choice.”

A dark forbidding look gleamed in
his eyes before it disappeared a second later. Reaching out, he caught her hand
and pulled her forward. “Whatever the circumstances, I’m glad you’re here.” He
kissed the back of her hand and tugged her along the wide, exquisitely designed
hallway.

She glanced up into his gorgeous
face as she walked beside him. “Even if I’m not totally happy with the
circumstances?”

His jaw tightened. “What would it
take, besides the obvious, to make you happy?”

She looked away and bit her
tongue against the urge to ask why he hadn’t called her in the last day and
half. She wasn’t that pathetic…yet.

“There’s nothing you can do,
Zach.”

He sucked in a harsh breath as he
steered her into the living room. “I refuse to accept that. Take your jacket
off.”

Setting her case down, she
shrugged out of her lightweight jacket that matched her knee-length business
dress and she forced herself to look round; to at least pretend that there was
something else in the room that held her interest besides Zach.

The décor in his New York condo
was a world removed from his Marrakech palace but no less decadent or jaw-dropping.
Pieces of art that would make her mother gape in awe and envy graced the walls,
including a painting she was willing to bet was an original Klimt.

Four large cream sofas were
spread out over the vast floor, each large enough to almost double up as a day
bed. Rugs warmed highly polished parquet floors and a coffee table made of a
solid slab of roughly carved white stone sat in the middle of the large,
sun-filled space.

She took it all in in seconds.
Then her attention veered back to the man who’d stalked closer to stand behind
her. His warm, masculine scent enveloped her, making her remember just how much
she’d loved to breathe him in. She stood, frozen and completely captivated as
light fingers brushed aside the hair she’d left loose and trailed down her
nape. She could no more stop the full body electric shudder cascading over her
body than she could stop her heart from beating.

Swallowing hard, she forced her
brain to function.

What did he just say?

I refuse to accept that…

“You manipulated yourself back
into my life when we agreed that I needed time. Don’t act surprised that I’m
not playing ball, Zach.”

His sigh pushed a warm breath
over her nape. “What would it take for you to play ball?”

“Nothing.”

His low growl was bitten off
abruptly and a hard kiss landed on her first vertebrae. She gasped and jerked
around, but he was moving toward the drinks cabinet at the far side of the
room.

“Wine spritzer?” he asked with a
raised brow.

Her nod was clumsy and her
fingers unsteady as she clawed them through her hair. She watched him fix her
drink, his shoulders tense and unyielding.

Drink in hand, he walked back to
her, those eyes fixed once more on her in a way that made her throat dry.
Silently, he held out her glass.

“Thank you.”

He stood watching as she took a
sip. She licked her lips and his eyes darkened, a raw hunger tightening his
features.

“Shall we get down to business?”
she suggested into the strained atmosphere.

“Not yet. I’ll show you around
first,” he replied. Tension still raked through his frame and this watchfulness
had ramped up another thousand degrees.

Bethany had last seen that look
the first time they met, in his office at the Newark Airport. He’d proceeded to
annihilate her senses in a way that she was still reeling from.

She wanted to refuse him. Wanted
to set the glass down, grab her case and run out of there as fast as her shaky
legs would carry her.

But she stayed put. Because Zach
continued to captivate her. Because her feelings for him were as chaotic and as
beautifully complicated as ever. And no matter what had happened since that
momentous night in Marrakech, she had a feeling she and Zach were far from
over.

She also had a feeling she
wouldn’t get more than a step before he nuked any plans she had to flee.

He slid an arm around her waist
and propelled her toward the door. In the hallway, his hand tightened.

“You’ve seen the meeting room.
Next to that is my office.” He opened the door and she caught a glimpse of an
imposing desk, bare except for the large laptop, Tiffany lamp and silver phone
gracing its glossy surface. A large screen faced the desk and another immense
leather sofa faced floor to ceiling windows overlooking the spectacular view.

He tugged her down the hallway to
the dining room, another breath-taking room decorated with top of the line
pieces which blended comfort with unspeakable luxury. The tour of the kitchen
was cursory as was the extensive library.

Exiting the library, he led her
to a door with a keypad fixed next to the handle. He keyed in a code and it
swung open to reveal stairs leading upstairs.

“After you,” he murmured in a
husky rasp.

Again memories of Newark assailed
her. Her legs were shaved this time but her tight dress did nothing to hide her
ass from his avid stare. The heat of it branded her skin as she went ahead of
him and the constricting skirt of her dress reduced her steps to tiny,
ridiculously faltering moves.

Over the hammering of her heart,
Bethany wondered whether she’d imagined the same hiss of arousal she’d heard
that first time too.

Drowning in déjà vu she quickly
hurried up the stairs and turned to face him.

Molten eyes stared down at her as
he raked a hand through his hair. “You’ve lost weight, sweetheart. I don’t like
it.”

Not what she’d been expecting.
“Drowning in angst will do that to a girl,” she quipped.

His mouth tightened but he said
nothing as he led her down another, smaller hallway. A bathroom and smaller
office veered off the eastern corner of the condo. Double doors opened onto an
entryway beyond which a large pool stretched the length under stylish, gleaming
lights. Residual sensations of her phobia and memories from Marrakech clashed
as she watched the shimmering water.

Gently, Zach slid his hand around
her waist. “We have more work to do with your water issues but not today.
Come.”

He steered her back into the main
hallway.

Off the west, three doors led to
stylishly decorated bedrooms, two of which were clearly guest bedrooms.

By the time he brought her to a
stop in front of the last door, Bethany’s pulse was beating so rapidly, her
head swam.

His eyes pinned to her face, he
threw the door open and pushed her inside.

She stumbled in and drew to a
halt. All Bethany saw was the bed. Huge, imposing and built for sex, the bed
was made of solid oak with an intricate headboard that rose almost halfway up
the bedroom wall. Decadent white cotton sheets and countless pillows brought
into stunning relief the thick indigo and black spread gracing the lower half
of the bed.

Once again, he stalked closer and
stopped behind her. “Bathroom’s through there. Double dressing room is next to
it.”

She tore her gaze from the bed.
“And that last room?” she asked, although a part of her suspected the answer.
The way heat shot through her body, there could only be one answer.

“It’s your new toy room, Bethany.
I had it made especially for you,” he whispered in her ear. “Do you want to see
it?”

Adrenaline and excitement surged
through her body, jerking her around to face him. “No thanks. I have all the
toys I need.”

His face darkened and he shook
his head. Dark hair flopped onto his forehead, giving him a rakish look that
was far too sinful for words.

“No, Peaches. From now on I’m in
charge of your orgasms. You got a free pass the other night in the
self-pleasuring department because you needed to get your head straight. No
more. Until my heart stops beating, you won’t come again without me because I
intend to take an active role in all your orgasms. Are we clear?”

She detested the electric shiver
that amped through her at his powerful words. “For fuck’s sake. How exactly do
you intend to police my orgasms? And how will you even know?”

His sensual mouth twitched in a
semblance of a smile. “You forget I know how you look when you come. I know how
soft and languid you feel after a climax. You use any gadget on that sweet
pussy without me and I will take a paddle to your gorgeous ass.”

“God, Zach.” She closed her eyes
and shook her head to get some semblance of clarity. When she opened them
again, her eyes widened. “What are you doing?” she croaked.

Eyes fixed on her, he continued
to pull his shirt from his trousers and began to unbutton it. Slowly. Button
after button popped through its hole as he kicked the door shut with an ominous
thud behind him.

“We’re going to fuck, baby. Right
now. Because I’m at the end of my fucking tether.”