by Zara Cox
A single shake of his head and a long black curl fell between his eyes. With a casual hand, he raked it back.
“No, we’ll shelve this discussion for later. I promised you a tour. I think you’ll find this upper deck even more interesting than the lower deck.” He smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He fell into step beside her and went through a wide arch.
Her eyes widened as she took in the vista before her. On the far side, a stage had been set up clearly for music entertainment.
“We have a rock band, Friday’s Child, on board. They’ll be providing the music for the Shanghai and Aleutian Mountains trips. But there are other forms of entertainment on board, too. We pick up a new crew every two cities to give the guests a fresh experience and to allow the crew a break.”
She looked over to the opposite side of the area. Intimate seating provided private entertainment areas and even across the vast space, she saw a pole that only had one purpose. “Are the pole dancers specially invited or can anyone join in and have a turn?”
“All entertainment is provided by The Indigo Lounge, but guests are at liberty to participate as much or as little as they want. The objective is to have a great time away from unwanted scrutiny.”
“Right, I see.”
Within another space, she saw a private screening area, although the booths were unlike anything she’d seen in a regular cinema. They were high and extremely private with indigo-colored velvet screens to ensure utmost privacy. Each seating area could accommodate a group of ten. A tallboy drawer was carved into the end of each row of seat. She pulled open the first of the five drawers and her eyes widened.
Sex toys in all shapes and sizes, including an exact replica of what she carried in her own luggage, graced the top drawer. The second contained bull whips and handcuffs in varying sizes.
Slowly, she slid the drawers shut and glanced up to find Zach’s eyes on her.
“I take it you don’t show just cartoons here?” A blush rushed to her face as their eyes clashed.
Again, that smile that barely touched his lips. “No, but if you crave cartoons, I’m sure I can find you something from our extensive selection.”
He led her through another coded door. Delicate Oriental music chimed through discreet speakers. When her eyes acclimatized to the low lighting, she saw massage beds grouped in intimate pairs and surrounded by fat, unlit candles. A hostess, dressed in a short indigo tank dress with gold piping, appeared from behind a discreet curtain and bowed.
“Our masseuses offer a whole range of therapies,” Zachary explained in a low voice. “All you need to do is ask and it’ll be done. Travelling, even in the lap of luxury, can be quite exhausting,” he murmured. “What better way to relax than with a massage, either individually or with someone special?” His voice reeked pure sex.
On the one hand, Bethany was relieved that his frosty anger had receded, but he was back to his sexily lethal self, and as she glanced at him and saw his narrow-eyed gaze on her, she knew relief was the last thing she should be feeling.
The last space he showed her blew her clean away. They stood at the nearest point to the nose of the plane. Before her, she had a clear one hundred and eighty degree view of the sky. Since they were only an hour into their trip and clear of the clouds below, all Bethany could see was pure blue sky. She leaned against the railing in front of her and stretched up on her toes to get a better view.
“Wow,” she breathed.
He leaned in behind her, his hands on either side of hers on the railing. He caged her in just as he’d done in his office and her breath stalled in her throat as he came in close.
“I’ll bring you up here in a few hours just before the sun goes down,” he said in a low voice, which pulsed with dark, sultry promise even when he wasn’t saying anything sexual. “It’s incredible to see the sky just before the stars come out.”
She’d heard Keely go ape-shit over some actor’s voice, but Bethany had never experienced sexual arousal over a man’s voice. Until now. She felt a low drag in her stomach and wished he would keep speaking just so she could melt in that voice.
“I’d…I’d really like that.”
“Good.” They stayed like that for several minutes, watching the view in warm silence as the jet raced east. With her every breath, she got more and more caught up in his scent, in the essence of Zach Savage and the incredible things his aura did to her.
“I didn’t mean to pry into your life earlier.” He stopped and she felt him shake his head. “No, scratch that. I meant to do exactly that.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to know every single detail about you, Bethany. I won’t apologize if that seems excessive or forward; it’s the truth.”
Her breath caught and her grip on the railing tightened. She felt as if she were swaying even though she didn’t move. “You really don’t believe in sugar-coating your words, do you?”
“There’s no room for ambivalence in my life. I’m required to make huge decisions every day. I can’t afford to mince my words.”
“But surely that applies in your business life, not your private one?” she asked, still unable to move from where he’d imprisoned her.
He moved closer still, until his pelvis brushed against her ass. Heat flushed through her. She looked down at their hands, her delicate ones next to his strong and powerful grip. So close and yet not touching.
“When it comes right down to it, the same principles apply in all areas of my life. I won’t mislead you into thinking this is something more or less than it is or will ever be. I want you. I intend to have you and I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that goal, including finding out everything I can about you. You can help by answering my questions.”
“You know, you could simply state that you’d like to get to know me, and let this thing evolve more naturally.”
His small exhalation of breath told her he was smiling. She kept her gaze focused forward. They might have met only a short time ago, but she already knew a smiling Zachary Savage was lethal to her senses.
“Indeed. And it was what I intended to do at the end of the tour. But then the subject of sex came up. I haven’t been able to think of anything else since.”
“I guess I understand how that could derail the best intentions.”
He laughed, a low, rich, gorgeous sound that shot heat straight to her core. His fingers gripped the railing tighter, then he eased his hands closer to hers.
But still he didn’t touch her. There was something about the delayed gratification of that move that made her insides clench.
“So, have dinner with me tonight.”
Before she could respond, she heard voices as a group entered the sky-viewing area.
Zachary stiffened and she heard his low growl just before he stepped away.
Sucking in a long-denied full breath, she turned, careful to keep her hold on the railing because of her decidedly shaky legs.
The first group contained a sultan or sheikh of some sort if the attire he wore was a guess. He was accompanied by four women ranging from early to mid-twenties. Each woman was dressed in stunning designer gear with priceless jewelry and impeccable make up. And they all pandered to him as if they worshipped the ground he walked on.
“He’s the son of a sultan. Those are his wives,” Zach murmured as the women caught their first glimpse of the sky and giggled excitedly.
Bethany barely stopped her face from contorting into a grimace. “Right, because why have one wife when four will do?”
Striking grey eyes latched onto hers, deadly serious in their intensity. “Rest assured, I’m a one-woman man, Bethany. As long as I have your word that you’re a one-man woman, we won’t have a problem. Because I will devote my every waking moment to ensuring your pleasure so you don’t have to look elsewhere for it. Do I have your word?”
“I—”
Sultan Junior saw Zachary and threw his arms out with a loud and effusive greeting. Zach
ary emitted another frustrated growl. He threw her an apologetic glance.
“Excuse me. I was hoping to stay under the radar, but I guess that’s blown out of the water now.”
She made an unintelligible sound and waved him off, unable to keep from watching his sexy swagger as he walked away.
Dear God. On the one hand, she knew what was happening. The calm before the storm; the foreplay before the fucking. But if anyone had warned Bethany she would be this turned on by it, she’d have laughed herself hoarse.
At twenty-four, she’d had far fewer sex partners than the average woman her age, her longest relationship being with her fourth boyfriend, Chris—until his bombshell announcement six months ago.
She’d moved to New York because of him, had moved in with him at his request and for the best part of a year, she’d fooled herself into thinking they were in the final stages of courtship before the big proposal. At first, the weekend business trips hadn’t tweaked her radar. But after eight weekends in a row and the disconcerting knowledge that she was having more sex with Dildo Pete than with Chris, she’d known something was seriously wrong.
But not even in her wildest raging nightmares had she dreamed the man she’d thought she’d spend the rest of her life with would confess he now preferred men.
“Hey, there.”
She dragged herself from Fucked Up Memory Lane to find the guy she’d seen at the check-out desk in front of her. The rest of his group had also arrived on the deck with their hostess and were checking out the view.
“Uh…hi.” She hoped her smile didn’t reveal her inner thoughts.
He held out a hand. “I’m Jackson Blaine. Friends call me Jax.”
“Bethany,” she replied, and shook his hand. His face was open and friendly, with sparkling brown eyes and a dimpled smile that set her at ease. All in all, he was very easy on the eyes.
“I’m a drummer with Friday’s Child. We’re gigging in a couple of hours on the lower deck. Stop by if you want.”
She was about to nod when she glanced past him and felt the force of Zachary Savage’s narrow-eyed stare. A shiver coursed through her and her heart skipped several beats before it attempted to right itself.
“I…I’ll think about it.”
“Great.” Jax smiled. “That’s some view, huh?” He indicated the sky beyond the deck.
With monumental effort, she tore her gaze from Zach, but not before she saw his attention swing to Jax.
“Yes, it’s incredible.” She turned and stared unseeingly at the view, another shiver coursing through her. She didn’t need to turn to know she was still the subject of Zachary Savage’s focus.
Beside her, Jax talked a bit. She made appropriate answers until his group joined him. Introductions were made that she barely remembered.
She managed to nod when he smiled.
“So, see you in a couple of hours?”
“Why will you be seeing him a couple of hours?”
Zach had materialized beside her. Again he stood close, so very close, but didn’t touch her. She wondered whether he’d practiced that particular move or whether it came naturally to him, an inherent part of his sexual aura. Whatever it was, it turned her on so damned fiercely that she wanted to growl. She, who’d never once growled in her life.
“Friday’s Child just invited me to a gig.”
His brows clamped with displeasure. “I changed my plans because of you. Mingling with the other guests doesn’t interest me.”
Again the arrogance in his words irritated her. But the knowledge that he’d changed his plans because of her turned her on—much more than she could rationally cope with.
Jesus, she needed to claw back some reason here, before she lost her damned mind.
“But it interests me. I promised Keely I’d at least try and leave my suite at least once a day.”
He stiffened and leaned closer. “Who’s Keely?”
“Someone I care about.”
“And why is having fun important to you on this trip?”
“Because…” She stopped and wondered again why she felt the need to bare all to this man. The easiest thing would’ve been to tell him to mind his own business. To leave her alone.
But she didn’t want Zachary Savage to leave her alone. In fact, it was the very last thing she wanted him to do. “Because I need to put some ghosts to rest.”
His eyes gleamed, went a little hard, then settled back into their usual intense focus. He nodded and again his gaze dropped to her mouth. “I know a little bit about ghosts, sweetheart. Let me help.”
“I hardly know you.”
“I can help with that too. Leave your suite. Move into mine.”
Chapter Five
He was serious. Of course he was. One thing she was learning very quickly about Zachary Savage was that he didn’t say things he didn’t mean. The shiver that went through her shook her to the depths of her soul.
“My suite is perfectly adequate, but thank you for the offer.”
“I’m not inviting you to my bed, Bethany. Not yet.”
Disappointment shot through her, but Keely had taught her a passable poker face, which she prayed would stick now. “Pray tell, why not?”
“The time isn’t right.”
“Hypothetically speaking, if I won’t be sharing your bed, then why invite me at all—right, it’s a possessive thing.”
The group had started to leave the sky-viewing area. When she started to follow, he restrained her. “I don’t think I need to keep an eye on you—” he ignored her shocked snort and continued—“I just want to reassure myself that your needs are met until the appropriate time when we can take this to the next level. Besides, this is technically my place of work, and I don’t fuck where I work, although I'm seriously tempted to make an exception for you.”
“You seriously expect me to believe you’ve never had sex on your plane before?”
His eyes darkened, became inscrutable. “Not on my Indigo planes, no.”
“But you’re a member of the mile high club?”
He paused for several seconds. “A tacky term, I find, but yes, I’ve had sex on a plane. If you desire a similar experience, I’ll provide you with one, but it won’t be on this plane.”
She grew hot and bothered. The look in his eyes promised all sort of filthy sin. Her nipples puckered, strained against her dress. His gaze dropped to her breasts, witnessed the evidence of his words on her and a slow smile curved his lips.
“Does that turn you on, Bethany? The thought of being fucked on a plane as we race toward the stars?”
“I plead the fifth.”
His smile widened. “I get the feeling you won’t be a walk in the park.”
“I told you, it’s a long cake walk between—”
“Feelings and fucking, yes, I remember. Which is why I want you to have dinner with me. I want to work on shortening the walk.”
“If dinner is a euphemism for talking me into moving into your suite, the answer is no.”
“It involves a lot more, but I accept your answer to this particular question.”
Surprise rocked her. “You do?”
He nodded. “It was a desperate Hail Mary, which, I admit, would’ve been more problematic in the long run. No need to torture us both until we get off this plane.” His gaze dropped to her lips and stayed there. Then he breathed in slowly as if reinforcing his willpower.
Bethany licked her lips as several chaotic emotions rushed through her.
“Say yes, Bethany. It’s just dinner and conversation.”
They both knew it was a lot more, but she went along with the ruse.
“Jeez, I don’t know—a boring dinner or an evening with a rock band.”
His smile was self-assurance personified. “Dinner with me won’t be boring. I guarantee you that.”
She believed him, although she didn’t give him the satisfaction of putting forward that knowledge. A man with his charisma could read the dictionary backwards and make it
sound sexy. “Be that as it may, I make my own decisions. And I didn’t quite hear you ask me to dinner. I don’t respond well to demands.”
“Come anyway, I have a proposition for you.”
“We only just met. How could you possibly have a proposition for me?”
He sobered, and regarded her with a look that held a hint of reproach. “We can do a merry dance around this if you want, Peaches. But all we’re doing is wasting time.” His gaze hardened. “Unless you’re not free to be with me?”
“If I wasn’t, do you think I’d come on a trip like this on my own?”
He swallowed, a look of sheer relief on his face that sent a pulse of emotion through her. Why had she thought him enigmatic when she’d first seen him and read about him? Zach Savage wore his emotions on his sleeve.
No, that wasn’t quite correct. There were some emotions he wasn’t afraid to exhibit. She’d seen the way he behaved with his employees and with the guests on the plane. To them, he wore a smile that said ‘friendly but keep away.’ And yet with her, so far he’d displayed displeasure, annoyance, pride and an ever-present, all-compassing hunger.
“Then there’s nothing to stop you.”
“No, there’s nothing. Except me.”
“You’d stop yourself from enjoying my company just for the sake of proving to me that you can?”
She shrugged. “I may not want to. Don’t think you know me just because our bodies react a certain way to one another, Zachary.”
His eyes darkened. “I love the way you say my name. I might let you call me Zachary after all.”
“Why, thank you for the honor.”
Her snarky tone caught his attention. He sighed. “Bethany, what’s this about? All I want is your company.”
“No, I seriously doubt that.”
“You’re right, I want a whole lot more. But for now I just want dinner.”