And yet he was trouble. Big, deadly, emotionally-stunted trouble.
Damn this situation to hell.
As he held me, I felt his hardness start to push against my stomach. It took a whole lot of self-control not to gasp out loud.
“I want you,” he whispered. “Only you.”
A quick glance round told me the only person left in the room was Lucas. He was tapping away on a tablet with a furious expression, not looking up.
After a few moments, he tucked the tablet under his arm and stomped out of the room. He hadn’t noticed our embrace on the far side of the room, I was sure of it.
We were alone. For now.
“This is all kinds of wrong,” I whispered.
Sebastian’s hands caressed lower and lower down my back. Then he cupped my ass in both hands. He pulled me even closer to him, breathing in my ear.
“It feels right to me.”
My own breath was fast now and my cheeks felt hot. Sebastian took a good long look at my breasts, pushed up against him, rising and falling. Then he drew his eyes back to my face. I felt my nipples harden beneath my bra, longing for his touch.
He let out a low animalistic growl and flicked the edge of his mouth with the very tip of his tongue, keeping his eyes on me the whole time.
For a moment there, I really thought he might slam me against the wall, rip my pants off and take me, hard and raw, right there. Without a single care for anyone walking in.
Every fiber of my being screamed at him to do it.
Every sensible impulse in my brain yelled ‘Don’t let him get away with this! He hasn’t been fully honest with you, and he’s the reason you’re running for your life!’
Damn this man. Damn his charisma, and his stupid beautiful face, and his… everything.
Then it got worse.
He kissed my neck, ever so softly, before I could stop him. Then I couldn’t bear to stop him. My eyes lulled half-shut and my lips fell open slightly.
“You know as well as I do,” he said, between gossamer kisses, “that we belong together. Nobody can come between us.”
His tongue traced the outline of my ear. His hot breath sent tingles of desire through me. I couldn’t suppress a low moan.
“I want you,” he whispered again. “You. Always you.”
My treacherous brain kept replaying memories of the previous night, in the bedroom. Sebastian’s roaming hands and mouth and… Oh god, if only we could just slip away now and do that again.
Could we? No, we absolutely couldn’t. He was married, for crying out loud. And yet…
His hand slipped up the inside my shirt and he kissed me full on the mouth. White heat rushed through me from the bones outward.
Honestly, I think Piers Lavery himself could have stood in front of us then with a machine gun and I wouldn’t have been able to tear myself away from Sebastian.
He was addictive. Being in his arms was the best thing in the world. I just shook for the lack of him whenever we were apart.
Before we could get into any more trouble, Dennis reappeared in the doorway. We sprang apart at supersonic speed.
“Everything is ready, sir.”
“Excellent. Thank you, uh… “ Sebastian was clearly scrabbling for a name. “Uh… Mark.”
“It’s Dennis,” I said, wiping the corner of my lip with my thumb. “His name is Dennis.”
Sebastian looked sharply at me, then back to him. “Thank you, Dennis.”
The poor guy’s face was scarlet.
“Very good, sir.”
Then he fled.
Before either of us could say another word, Isabel sauntered back into the room.
“There you are. Seb, can we discuss plans on the ride over? I have a few ideas I’d like to run past you.”
She stood with one hand on her angular hip, like she was being photographed at a fashion shoot. And she’d called him ‘Seb’. I hated her, just for a second.
“I need to sit with Rufus up front,” he said. “We’ve got it all in hand, thanks.”
“No problem. Then we’ll speak later,” she said, and left again.
I was glad he was terse with her. Then I felt guilty for feeling that way.
“To be continued,” he said to me.
Then he leaned in so his lips were almost touching my cheek again. I closed my eyes, inhaling his subtle herbs-and-spice scent as deeply as I could. His chin felt slightly rough as it skimmed my face. A few strands of my hair got all caught up on his late-night stubble.
“This is not over,” he growled in my ear. “Not unless you want it to be.” He kissed my cheek long and slow.
As usual, his voice seemed to be on a direct hotline to my panties. I quivered at the rush of wetness, suddenly aware how all my senses seemed on high alert.
He always did this to me.
What I wouldn’t give to have him reap what he’d sown. Upstairs. Right now.
He stole one last ravenous look and bounded off, like the arrogant man-tiger he was.
Emotions stomped all over me. Those few minutes with Sebastian had left me simultaneously confused, elated and miserable. And, inconveniently, mightily turned on.
I had absolutely no idea what to do about him.
All I knew was that the thought of traveling with Sebastian and his wife was hideous. And I was stuck with the arrangement. It was the only way to keep everyone safe.
Imagine if he was affectionate to her in front of me? Imagine if he put his arm round her, right there in the helicopter? Or if they laughed together over some private joke?
Holy shit. Maybe I’d actually prefer to open the hatch and leap to my doom.
My last few minutes in Cornwall were spent torturing myself about Sebastian and Isabel. It didn’t help at all.
The life I thought we’d have together had just shattered into a million pieces.
But I was going to see my Mum and Dad again. I held on to that thought. And I tried my very best to ignore the whirlpool of torment at the center of my heart.
21
The helicopter seemed a lot smaller inside than I remembered, now all five of us were in it. Sebastian sat in the cockpit, surveying his empire through the windshield.
He’d told us Rufus hated flying helicopters, but there Rufus was at the controls anyway. Apparently nobody could say no to Sebastian.
Isabel and Lucas sat in back with me. Awkwardness swirled around us like fog.
We were airborne before Lucas broke the silence.
“So, Izzy. You and Finola have met before, right?”
Oh God. The awkwardness just kicked up a notch. I pretended to be really interested in a magazine I’d just found.
“No, we hadn’t. I’d heard about her though.”
My ears burned and I peeped at them over the glossy pages.
It was too late. They’d seen me take an interest. I’d have to join the conversation.
“You’d heard about me, huh?” I set down the magazine and braced myself.
“Why, of course. It’s a great thing, meeting one’s fated mate. People like to pass on the good news.”
I stared at her. “Sebastian told you about me?”
“Of course. He texted me last night to say he’d met his match. We always agreed we’d annul the marriage if that happened. That’s why I’m here. I hadn’t realized the Piers Lavery problem was so… acute.”
Words failed me. I stared at her, turning those words over in my head.
“Sebastian told you about me?” I said at last.
“He’s hardly going to keep you a secret, is he? You’re The One! It’s a huge thing for him.”
“Marriage is pretty huge too. He kept you secret.”
Now I just sounded like a petulant kid again. I knew it wasn’t her fault he hadn’t told me about her. She even looked sort of embarrassed.
I dialed back the argumentative attitude.
“So you guys talk a lot?”
She shrugged. “We talk every few weeks, I guess. Only
when I’m somewhere with a reliable phone signal. Which isn’t often.”
Lucas stretched his long legs out to the side of his seat, yawning dramatically.
“Sorry to be rude, kids. I’m just going to grab some rest here,” he said. “I was at a late party last night and it’s all catching up with me.”
“Sure, Lucas,” grinned Isabel. “You get some sleep.”
The seats didn’t recline very far, but Lucas managed to slide his far enough to doze.
Nice exit strategy, I thought. If only I could get away with curling up for a nap. Not making small talk with my ex-lover’s wife.
So now it was just the two of us: Isabel and me.
My head pounded. I hoped the pain wouldn’t linger. We had a couple of hours’ flight to get through yet. It was stressful enough without the headache from hell having taken up residence in my brain. That’d be just my luck right now, though.
Isabel unclipped her safety belt and moved to sit in the seat next to me. I bristled automatically.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I understand you probably feel a little funny about my being here. I’m so sorry, Finola. I had no idea you didn’t know about me.”
“Right,” I said, stiffly. “I didn’t know anything. Not until the moment you arrived.”
Isabel shook her head. “That’s terrible. I don’t know what the hell Sebastian was thinking. Presumably he was just worried you’d react badly. I don’t blame you for that, by the way. You had every right to be angry that he didn’t tell you.”
I stared at the floor, lips clamped shut.
“But really, you’ve got to know we’re not married in any true sense. Not at all.”
“He said you’d slept together, though,” I snapped. “Is that right?”
Isabel laughed. “That’s overstating it. We fooled around when we were seventeen. That’s it.”
I must have pulled a face without meaning to, because she said “Sorry,” and scrunched up her face like she was embarrassed.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Go on.”
“Well… We were at an eighteenth birthday party with my sister, playing some stupid Truth or Dare game. One of us lost and we had to take a dare. It was fifteen minutes of going through the motions in a spare bedroom. We went along with it because we were too stupid to say no to the cool older kids.”
It was impossible to imagine teenage Sebastian being intimidated by older kids.
“But he said… He told me you slept together!”
My voice was beginning to sound as whiny and unreasonable as the teenagers we were discussing.
“I’m sure he was just trying to be thorough with the honesty from now on. I’d never call that sleeping together, but there was… well, of course there was sexual contact. Not because we wanted to, I must add. Social pressure is a killer when you’re a teenager. We’ve never done anything else like that, and we won’t either.”
I frowned, thinking about this. The detail had helped, but I sure as hell didn’t want any more of it. Time to move the conversation on.
“So you’ve been friends since you were kids?”
“Since birth, almost. I’m a white tiger shifter too. Our parents are close friends.”
I stared at her.
“You’re kidding me? You’re a shifter?”
Isabel laughed. “Sure. Actually we’re distantly related, Seb and me. Very distantly, before you worry about the freakiness of us being married. We’re like thirtieth cousins twelve times removed, or something.”
She wasn’t at all how I’d imagined when she first walked in. Isabel seemed… I hated to admit it, but she seemed kind of nice.
“Tell me more about this marriage thing,” I said, rubbing my temples. My headache crashed cymbals behind my eyes.
“Sure. You want to know how and why and all that?”
I nodded. May as well hear the whole story now. After this helicopter ride, I may not even see either of them again.
“Okay.” Isabel tucked her fair hair behind one ear. “Well, Sebastian’s grandfather was very sick. It didn’t look good for him. The whole family bent over backwards to try to make the old guy more comfortable and cheerful for his last days.” She raised one eyebrow. “Our grandparents’ generation are really into the idea of maintaining the white tiger family line. Our generation cares less about it, but the elders are really hot on tradition. You know what grandparents are like.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t have any grandparents.
“So one day Seb’s grandfather called him in to his room and gave him a rocket about not being married yet. Seb was twenty-seven and single. Let’s just say he was enjoying his bachelorhood.” Isabel rolled her eyes at this. “You know how young men are. So his grandfather said his playboy ways were bringing disgrace on the family. Especially with Seb running the British arm of the bank and being the family figurehead there. He gave him a lot of trouble about it.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Four years ago. We’re both thirty-one now. Anyway, so his grandfather basically gave him an ultimatum: find yourself a tiger wife soon and settle down, or bring shame on us all. Seb loved the old man and he didn’t want him to worry about the family. So he decided he’d better marry some white tiger or other, to get his grandfather off his back.”
“And so he chose you.”
“Well, he didn’t have to look far. I would’ve offered if he hadn’t suggested it first. I was under the worst pressure from my parents too. They wanted me to find a nice man and have babies instead of a career. I wasn’t interested. My work meant everything to me. Still does.”
“Oh yeah? What do you do?” I tried to guess what she’d say. Model? Actress? Interior designer?
“I’m a doctor. I work with the sick and injured in war zones. Mostly Sierra Leone in West Africa right now, although I go wherever I’m needed. I work for a medical charity and they ship me out to whichever international clinic needs me most that month.”
My jaw just about hit the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
“You thought I was a bimbo who divides her days between the Pilates studio and the nail bar, right?” She was smiling as she said it.
“Well, no. Yeah…. maybe. Look, I’m sorry I judged you. That was wrong.”
“Not at all. I get the dumb blonde thing a lot. The best part is when some official guy patronizes me with ‘Is that Miss or Mrs Prowse?’ The look on their face when I say ‘That’s Doctor Prowse’… Priceless.”
We laughed together. I was actually starting to like her, damn it. Why couldn’t she be horrible so I could hate her?
My headache let off grenades all around my skull. I ignored it.
It took that long for me to realize she just told me something significant.
“Wait, you don’t use Sebastian’s last name? But Dennis called you Mrs Chase.”
“Yeah, well Dennis can’t operate outside the official social rules, God bless him. He’d malfunction. No, I use my maiden name. I’m Isabel Prowse. It’d be ridiculous to use Chase.”
She passed me an small bottle of mineral water from the table at the front of the plane. I took it gratefully, wondering if the onboard medical box had any Tylenol. Or preferably something stronger.
“But what did you guys plan to do when you met a life partner?” I said, sipping the water. “One you actually did want to be with?”
“We thought we’d get a quickie annulment and move on with our real lives. Easy.”
I rubbed my temples thoughtfully.
“Look, it’s as simple as this,” she said. “The marriage solved both our problems. His grandfather relaxed and enjoyed his last days with the family. And being married convinced my parents to turn down the heat while I traveled overseas. It didn’t hurt anybody. So it was a win-win situation.” She took a sip of her own water. “Until my folks started up with the grandkids pressure, that is. Now that emotional blackmail is somethin
g to behold.”
We both laughed.
“You’ll be glad to know that I made a call to a judge this morning, to arrange to have the marriage annulled. As soon as I heard Sebastian had met his fated mate, I knew it was about time. We always agreed we’d dissolve it as soon as necessary. I’m delighted for you both.”
She actually looked as though she might be sincere. I smiled back at her, trying to ignore the searing head pain that had me in its grasp.
My back began to ache too and I shifted awkwardly in my seat. Maybe I should get up and stretch my limbs. I hadn’t moved an inch since Isabel had sat next to me. Pins and needles stabbed at my legs.
I unclipped my safety belt and stood on tiptoe, then down again, trying to circulate the blood.
“You okay?” came Isabel’s voice, sounding much further away than it should.
All of a sudden, the interior of the helicopter darkened. What looked like a scene from a movie started playing before my eyes. Only I was right in the middle of the movie. It was like some kind of virtual reality game.
Oh god, no. Not this.
I gripped my head and my knees buckled.
“Finola?”
I was dimly aware of people a long way away shouting my name. As I sank to the floor, I found myself inside a deep underground cavern. It smelled musty and damp.
From somewhere up ahead, there came the sound of repetitive chanting and a man shouting. The ground beneath my knees was rocky and dusty.
As I tried to stand, I slipped on loose stones and tumbled down the cave floor a few feet. I knocked my head on a jutting slab.
The chanting got louder. I could smell perfume or herbs or something, so strong it made me cough.
Sheer terror overwhelmed me and I screamed at the top of my voice.
Then, just as quickly, the movie scene was gone.
I was on the floor of a helicopter and a tall blonde was monitoring the pulse in my wrist with two fingertips.
“She’s back,” Isabel called.
The people leaning over me peeled away and I was scooped up into strong arms. Sebastian carried me to the nearest seat and cradled me on his lap. He kissed my forehead.
“Goddamn it, Finola,” he whispered. “What the hell was that? Are you okay?”
Tiger Billionaire: The Whole Story (BBW Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 14