Pleasured in the Billionaire's Bed

by Miranda Lee

  ‘We’re…we’re not alone,’ she pointed out, her voice shaking.

  His eyes cleared abruptly as he smiled over at his by now blushing female fans.

  ‘Forgive me,’ he said, and nonchalantly dropped her hand. ‘But it’s not really my fault. She does dreadful things to me.’

  They forgave him, of course. But could she, for acting that well? For a moment there…

  ‘Could you take me home, please, Jack,’ she said once they were gone.

  ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘I’m tired.’ Tired of you kissing me and calling me darling. Tired of being your pretend girlfriend.

  ‘Very well,’ he said sharply, standing up and sweeping up his award in one motion.

  She picked up her bag and stood up too, swaying till Jack clamped a firm hand around her elbow for support. She hadn’t realised till that moment just how much champagne she’d consumed. She’d have a colossal hangover in the morning, her first in years.

  Thinking about her alcohol consumption brought his to her mind.

  ‘Are you fit to drive?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m always fit to drive.’

  ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘You and Helene drank most of the champagne, Lisa. Not me.’

  ‘Oh. I didn’t notice. Shouldn’t we go and say goodbye to Helene?’ she said shakily when Jack urged her forward.

  ‘She’ll know where we’ve gone.’

  He steered her from the restaurant with impolite speed, brushing off people who tried to congratulate him.

  Lisa cringed with embarrassment.

  ‘Do you know you can be very rude?’ she informed him heatedly once they reached his car.

  ‘Yes,’ he threw back at her as he wrenched open the passenger door. ‘It’s one of my many flaws. As is arrogance and presumption. Get in, please.’

  She scrambled into the passenger seat, and was still sitting there, wide-eyed with confusion, when he climbed in behind the wheel and tossed his award over into the back.

  ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he commanded after yanking his door shut and stabbing his car key into the ignition.

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like a hurt animal. If I’ve offended you tonight, then I’m sorry. I genuinely thought you might enjoy a night out, along with some male company. Clearly, I was wrong.’

  ‘You weren’t wrong. I did enjoy myself.’

  He shook his head frustratedly at her. ‘More mixed messages, Lisa? Is that a game you like to play with men? Turn them on, then turn on them?’

  ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. You were the one kissing my shoulder and sucking on my finger. I didn’t do a thing!’

  ‘You wereliking it,’ he muttered, leaning over and putting his face so close to hers she could feel his hot breath on her skin.

  ‘Don’t,’ she cried when he snaked a hand around her throat, his thumb pad tipping her chin up so that her mouth was breathtakingly close to his.

  ‘Don’t what? Don’t call your bluff?’

  ‘No, I—’

  His kiss cut off any further protest, blanking her mind to everything but the feel of his mouth on hers.

  It had been some years since Lisa had been kissed. She vaguely recalled liking Greg’s kisses at first, till she knew where they invariably led. After that, she hadn’t enjoyed them at all, her lips always remaining still and unresponsive under her husband’s mouth.

  Not so under Jack’s.

  Her lips moved restlessly against his, then parted, inviting him in. She moaned when he accepted that invitation, his tongue sliding between her teeth. She moaned again when his tongue-tip touched hers. Moaned a third time when his mouth abruptly abandoned her.

  ‘Is this what you’re afraid of?’ he growled as he stared down at her flushed face. ‘And why you don’t date? Because you might lose some of that precious control you seem to value above everything?’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ she cried.

  ‘Don’t understand what?’

  ‘Anything.’

  ‘Then explain it to me. Tell me what it is I don’t understand.’

  ‘I don’t like sex,’ she blurted out. ‘That’s why I don’t date. Because men always want sex and I…I hate it.’

  His eyebrows shot up. ‘Hateit. That wasn’t hate, honey, which I felt and heard just now. You didn’t want me to stop. I could have you tonight, if I wanted to.’

  ‘You couldnot !’ she exploded, pushing him back into his own seat. ‘You certainly are an arrogant and presumptuous man, Jack Cassidy. Now take me home. And don’t you dare touch me again, do you hear?’

  ‘I hear you, but I don’t believe you. Think about your attitude on the drive home, Lisa, and we’ll talk when we get there. Because for a girl who doesn’t like sex, you sure as hell liked me kissing you just now.’

  ‘Kissing is just kissing,’ she pronounced self-righteously. ‘Intercourse is something else.’

  Intercourse?

  Jack stared over at Lisa. Was this girl for real? Did she live in the twenty-first century?

  There were lots of words used to describe the sex act these days. But intercourse was rarely one of them. It was as outdated as beautiful young blondes not liking sex.

  ‘How many men have you been to bed with?’ he demanded to know before he drove anywhere.

  ‘I don’t have to tell you that.’

  ‘You were a virgin when you got married, weren’t you?’

  ‘No,’ she replied defensively. ‘I was not.’

  ‘So how many cretin lovers have you had?’

  ‘None. One. I mean…Greg wasnot a cretin!’

  ‘You’ve only ever been with your husband? I thought you said you weren’t a virgin when you got married.’

  ‘We slept with each other before we were married.’

  ‘I see. And you never enjoyed sleeping with him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then why in heaven’s name did you marry him?’

  ‘You don’t understand! I…I needed to get married. To have my own home. My own family. Greg was a good man. And I loved him.’

  ‘But you weren’tin love with him. If you were, you’d have liked anything he did to you. Even if you didn’t come, you’d have liked the lovemaking. And the intimacy.’

  Lisa’s old nemesis, guilt, consumed her again. She should not have married Greg. She could see that now.

  But this man—this playboy!—had no right to judge her.

  Jack sighed. ‘What on earth am I going to do with you?’

  ‘You’re going to take me home,’ she snapped, fighting back tears.

  ‘I don’t think so. You’re coming home with me.’

  ‘I am not!’

  ‘Think, Lisa,’ he said, his eyes turning strangely tender. ‘You’re thirty years old, and you’ve never enjoyed sex. If you keep going the way you’ve been going, you’ll go to your death never knowing what you’ve missed. I’m a good lover. A skilled lover. I know what a woman likes. Let me show you what you’ve been missing.’

  She just stared at him, not knowing what to say. Or what to do.

  She was tempted. Of course she was tempted.

  But she was also terrified.

  ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he whispered, leaning over to kiss her again. Very lightly this time, sipping at her lips till they fell wantonly apart once more.

  His head slowly lifted, his eyes locking with hers as his hands gently cupped her cheeks.

  ‘You need to come home with me, Lisa. You’re not a coward. You have great courage. More courage than any woman I’ve ever known. Take this leap of faith and trust me. I won’t hurt you, I promise. I’ll be good to you.’

  ‘But you don’t really fancy me!’ she blurted out.

  His laughter was soft and wry. ‘Not fancy you? Oh, Lisa, how little you comprehend the true nature of men. Of course I fancy you. I’ve fancied you since the first moment I set eyes on you.’

  ‘But you…you…’

 
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding, ‘I let you think otherwise. I confess. I’m a ruthless bastard when I want something. And I wanted you, my lovely. Now lean back and fasten your seat belt.’

  ‘I didn’t agree to come home with you!’

  ‘Yes, you did. The last time I kissed you. Of course, you do have the right to change your mind at any stage. And to say no. Are you saying no now?’

  She shook her head in the negative, her whole being suddenly consumed by a breathless excitement.

  ‘Good,’ Jack said as he gunned the engine. ‘Now close your eyes and rest. You could be in for a rather long night.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SHEdidn’t close her eyes, Jack noted as he drove. She sat there with her hands clasped nervously around that infernal bag, her body language betraying an increasingly uptight state.

  He put on some music in an attempt to relax her but to no avail. All she did was grip that bag tighter and stare out of the passenger window.

  On Jack’s part, he found his initial sense of triumph at her agreeing to come home with him soon fading to frustration. He half expected her to tell him to take her straight home as he drove down the hill from Kariong. His own knuckles were white on the steering wheel by the time he made it through West Gosford.

  It took all of his will-power not to sigh with relief once he was safely on the road which led out to the beaches, and Terrigal.

  But he sensed she was still worried. Or afraid. Or both.

  An understandable state of mind, he supposed, given her sexual history.

  She must have had a miserable marriage, poor darling.

  Jack hoped she would let him show her that she didn’t have to shun men and sex forever just because she’d been incompatible with one partner.

  People were not machines, especially women. The chemistry had to be right on both sides for a sensitive female like Lisa to find satisfaction. She needed to desire as well as be desired.

  Jack knew the chemistry between them was right. But she had to give him the chance to show her that.

  By the time Jack reefed the Porsche into his driveway and shot down the side-ramp which led to the underground car-park, he had resolved to be patient, but persistent. He would not let her change her mind. Or give in to her doubts and fears.

  ‘I can see your main problem,’ he remarked as he released his seat belt. ‘You think too much. What star sign are you?’

  ‘Virgo,’ she said, and he nodded.

  ‘How come I’m not surprised? The sign of the worrier. So what have you been worrying about during the drive here?’

  She turned to him, still clutching that bag as if it were a lifeline. ‘I’ve been thinking it could have been the champagne, Jack,’ she said, her tone anxious. ‘That’s why I liked you kissing me.’

  ‘What are you saying exactly? You only liked me kissing you because you were drunk?’

  ‘Yes. That’s what I’m saying.’

  ‘Do you feel drunk now?’

  ‘No,’ she said with surprise in her voice. ‘Actually, my head feels quite clear.’

  ‘I can believe that,’ he pointed out drily. ‘Because you’re back to being all uptight again.’

  Her lovely face screwed up in an expression of sheer frustration. ‘I know I am. I hate it when I get like this. I really do.’

  ‘In that case, I have a bottle of excellent white wine chilling in the fridge door. Let’s go open it and get you right back to being nicely relaxed again.’

  Her blue eyes widened. ‘You want to get me drunk again?’

  ‘I want you not thinking. Or worrying. If that means you have to be on the tipsy side, then yes, I do.’

  Again, he could see temptation in her eyes. And that irritating fear as well.

  ‘Come on, beautiful,’ he said softly. ‘I dare you to do something out of your comfort zone for once. Put the ice princess away for tonight and let me bring out the woman you’ve always wanted to be.’

  Lisa winced at the term ‘ice princess’. Was that how he saw her?

  It made her angry. Because it was true. That was how lots of people saw her. Her employees. Her mother. And now Jack.

  She supposed she couldn’t blame them. She was the girl who turned off movies once the sex scenes started. And skipped the really raunchy parts in books.

  Though never in Jack’s books, Lisa suddenly realised. She always read the pages where Hal made love to a woman.

  No, not made love. Hal never made love. He had sex with women. All kinds of sex.

  Lisa swallowed. She hoped Jack wouldn’t be expecting the sort of foreplay Hal always demanded. She would die rather than do that.

  Thinking about it made her feel sick.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jack,’ she choked out, her eyes dropping to her lap. ‘I can’t do this.’

  ‘Yes, you can. Look at me, Lisa!’ he commanded.

  She looked up at him.

  ‘You’re not drunk now, are you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good.’

  He leant over and kissed her again, a hot, hungry kiss which was as demanding as it was irresistible. She moaned softly when his tongue dipped deep into her mouth, her nipples tightening once more, her heart pounding within her chest. Soon, she wanted more than his mouth on her. She wanted his hands as well.

  ‘No,’ she cried out in confusion when his head lifted.

  ‘I don’t want to hear that word again tonight,’ he replied thickly. ‘It’s going to be yes. To everything. Come on. Time I got you upstairs.’

  She’s like a virgin, Jack reminded himself as he helped her out of the car. Just look at her eyes. So wide. And innocent.

  He would have to be gentle, and patient. Have to contain his own desire and think of nothing the first time but givingher pleasure.

  He’d never done that before. Not really. Yes, he was an accomplished lover. And yes, he knew how to satisfy a woman. But his intentions in doing so in the past had always been totally selfish. A well-satisfied woman always came back for more.

  Lisa, however, inspired him to be less selfish and more gallant. Yes, of course he still wanted her to come back for more. But that wasn’t as important, suddenly, as seeing the rapture in her eyes when she came for the first time.

  ‘Now, don’t start thinking,’ he whispered, holding her close as he steered her over to the lift well.

  ‘It’s hard not to.’

  ‘Every time I see you thinking I’m going to kiss you,’ he promised.

  And he did. In the lift. At his front door. In the middle of the living room. Even whilst he carried her down to his bedroom.

  By the time he lowered her down onto her feet by his bed, her breathing was quick and her eyes dilated, two sure signs that she was seriously turned on.

  His job now was to undress her,without turning her off again.

  Earrings first, Jack decided, blowing softly into her ear after he unhooked each one and dropped it on the nearest bedside table. Her shivers were reassuring. But he still kissed her again after the second earring had been disposed of.

  By the time his head lifted, her breathing was very fast.

  ‘Now, how do I get you out of this dress?’ he asked softly.

  Her hands were visibly shaking when they reached up to slide down the zip which was hidden in the side-seam.

  ‘Aah,’ he said, and slowly pushed the strap off her shoulder and down her arm. The dress went too, as it had in his mental fantasy, slithering down her body before pooling on the floor at her feet.

  The sudden sight of her near-naked body jolted his resolve to stay cool. Lord, but she was beautiful. Beautiful shape, beautiful skin, beautiful breasts. They were small, but quite exquisite.

  Shewas exquisite.

  No one would have believed she’d had a child. Only her nipples gave her away. They were comparatively large, and dusky coloured. And very erect, calling out to him to touch them…

  ‘Jack,’ she choked out, snapping his eyes back up to her face.

  The
fear was back, he saw, widening her eyes again and stiffening her shoulders.