"And who is this lovely creature?" Mr. Sorrenson said, his voice low and rough.
Shane pulled me forward and presented me to his father. "Dad, this is Leona Larkin. Leo, this is my father, Henry James Sorrenson."
I shook his hand, squeezing firmly. "It's wonderful to meet you, sir."
"The pleasure is mine, Miss Larkin. I wish the circumstances were more pleasant. I fear you aren't seeing me at my best." He scooted up on the bed, restless. "These doctors should let me go. I hate lying around when there's work to be done."
I could see the strain in his face, in the lines around his eyes and the dark circles underneath. He was still a weak man, sick and in need of rest. But then, I was nurse, and trained to look for such things. I couldn't stop my instinct from taking over, checking his vitals in the monitor. I had to forcibly prevent myself from fussing with his lead contacts, which were coming loose.
"Nonsense. You need your rest," the word came out automatically, the habit of a nurse accustomed to arguing with recalcitrant patients. "A heart attack is no small thing. You'll be up and around faster if you listen to the doctors."
Mr. Sorrenson lifted his eyebrow at Shane.
"She's an ER nurse," Shane said, with an embarrassed shrug. I got the feeling no one talked to his father like I just had, not even the nurses.
"Sorry, sir," I said. "Habit."
"Call me Henry. And you're right, but it's hard. I haven't spent so long lying down since Vietnam." He looked from me to Shane and back. "So, you two are..."
"Still figuring things out," Shane answered, a bit roughly.
"But you brought her here, and you're here."
"Dad, not now."
"Then when? The press is clamoring for news. My heart attack was public, son. They're expecting a statement from me about who is replacing me, if I'm stepping down as acting CEO. We can't put this off any longer, son."
He shifted in the bed, scooting up higher. "Listen, son. I know this is hard for you. I've put it off as long as I could, but...I simply can't any longer. I'll work with you as much as I can and help you transition, and get the board used to your presence. I'm not going to dump everything on you and go golfing."
"It's not that I'm worried about, so much," Shane said. "It's everything else. I'm not afraid of the work, you know that. It's being a public figure, everybody watching me, watching everything I do."
"It's not as bad as you think. Just be responsible in what you do in public, and be careful of who's watching, even when you think you're alone."
"That's exactly what I don't want to have to do," Shane said. "But I guess it is what it is."
The nurse came in then and shooed us out. The limo ride back to the estate was long and silent.
* * *
When we got back to the estate, Shane and I ended up in his suite of rooms rather than mine. A cut crystal decanter filled with amber liquid, a pair of glasses arranged upside down around it, sat on a table between two leather chairs. Shane filled one with an inch of the liquid, drained it, and filled it again. I flipped a glass upright and held it out to him to fill.
Sitting in the chairs, we toasted in silence, and drank. I waited for Shane to speak.
Eventually he did. "Are you sure you want to be here, Leo?" He watched me over the top of the glass. "We're getting to the point of no return."
"Yes," I said. "No. I don't know. I mean, am I one hundred percent sure this is the right decision? No. It's crazy and impulsive. But I like spending time with you. It's more than the sex, which is mind-blowing. It's you. You have this way of making me feel both safe and excited at the same time. I like that. I like not knowing what's coming, what's going to happen next. That's why I went to Sudan with you. I want to do this with you."
Shane sighed and set his glass down. "Leo, listen. This is serious. If you're with me when we announce my assumption of Dad's role as CEO of Sorrenson Enterprises, then it's as good as declaring us as married. Appearing with me in public is a big deal. You'll be the subject of a lot of attention, a lot of scrutiny. They'll look into your background, and they'll want interviews. Dad's company is involved in the media, backing film and TV studios and such, and as the CEO, especially a young one like myself, we'll be invited to grand openings of shows, opening nights of blockbuster films, red carpet events...the whole high society nine yards. If you decide you want out, at some point, you'll still be watched, and tagged forever as Shane Sorrenson's ex.
"On top of all that, there's familial expectations. I can date whomever I want, as far as the public's concerned. I could be a playboy, a womanizer, or whatever. The business will go on. The expectations of my family are different. My dad has never stepped out on my mom, in over thirty years. My uncles and aunts, the same. My brothers and sister are all single, never married, like me. And when they do, it's expected that they'll be faithful. Our family goes back a long, long way, and we have a reputation to uphold. In my family, you don't just get married to whoever you want. It doesn't work that way."
"So it's like aristocracy, basically?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So do I fit the expectations?" I asked. "I mean, I can't imagine I do. I'm not from your socioeconomic class, Shane. I'm middle class, blue collar. You all are...high society. I'm not."
"You have my mother's approval. That'll be good enough for everyone else. They won't be able to help liking you, once they meet you." He smiled ruefully. "Besides. I'm not exactly high society either, am I? I mean, look at me. I've got tattoos and piercings and I ride a Harley. I'm more comfortable with a gun or a wrench or a scalpel than I am with a pen or a computer. I'm a Marine and a medic, not a CEO."
I moved to sit on his lap. "The real question is, Shane Sorrenson, do you want me here with you?"
"Of course I do. I wouldn't have brought you if I didn't. You fit in with us, Leo. You may not come from money or whatever, but we're not the kind of people that care about that stuff. My brothers like you, my mom likes you, and I'm pretty sure you impressed the hell out of my dad, which isn't easy to do." He reached up and smoothed a lock of hair behind my ear.
I bent down and nibbled his ear, then planted a kiss on his jaw. "So...what's next, then?"
He leaned back in the chair and rubbed my thighs with his palms. "Well, the press conference will be on Monday, most likely. We'll announce that Dad is stepping down and I'm taking over. You'll be sitting next to me, with Mom on the other side of Dad. The press will want to know who you are, and we'll give them a statement. Something innocuous that doesn't really say much other than we're together."
"And then?" I kissed his throat, then down between the collar of his button-down shirt, popping buttons as I went.
"And then...I guess we figure things out, one step at a time. I'll probably sell my condo in Royal Oak and get one in New York, near the headquarters. You can stay here, in the meantime."
"When you say you'll get a condo..."
"I mean we, if that's what you want. Isn't this all a little fast, though?"
I had his shirt open, now, and slipped off his lap to the floor, unbuttoning his pants to free his burgeoning erection. I pulled his pants and boxers off and tossed them aside. His cock filled my hands, huge and hard and leaking from the tip as I caressed his length.
"I suppose it is. I'm trying not to think about that. It's really fast, but it doesn't scare me. Maybe it should, but it doesn't."
I wrapped my lips around him and drew his cock to the back of my throat, moving my fist near his root. Before I could repeat the action, he lifted me up and carried me to the bed. Shane peeled my shirt over my head, tugged off my pants, and then pressed his lips to my belly as he unhooked my bra. My hands threaded into his hair as he suckled one of my nipples, his fingers nimbly stripping me of my panties. I arched my back as he slipped two fingers inside me, moaned when he moved down between my legs to lap at my heat-soaked folds. He had me writhing on the bed with a few strokes of his tongue, pushed me to the edge of climax with a few more, and then I wa
s tugging him up to me as I came, gripping his cock in my hands to guide him in, pulling on his buttocks to get him deeper, wrapping my legs around his waist to keep him deep.
He pushed into me a few times, then rolled so I was on top of him and sat up with me, impaled deep, facing him, our eyes locked, arms tangled around each other, bodies moving in harmony. He rocked his hips up into mine, and I lifted up, using my arms around his neck for leverage, and sank down onto him. Sweat began to bead on our flesh and our breathing came in ever more ragged panting gasps, and then desperation set in. We clung to each other and moved with impassioned frenzy, mouths biting shoulders.
"Oh god, Leo, I love this so much, don't ever stop," Shane whispered in my ear.
"Never, never," I said.
My breasts bounced against his chest, scraping against the light dusting of hair. His thighs bunched beneath my ass as he moved, the cords in his back and arms flexing with every thrust into me.
He lay on his back again, taking me with him so I was collapsed on his chest, only our hips moving now, his cock barely pulling back before plunging in, filling me, stretching me, sending spasms of electric pleasure through me. I rested my head on his chest and arched my back up, sank down, pawed at his shoulders and face and hair, searching for purchase as my second orgasm rose within me, a lightning wash of intensity. His shaft grew harder and thicker within me as he neared release, but I wasn't ready for that yet, leaned back on him until he was stretched taut, as far as he could go, tightened so he couldn't release. I braced myself with my palms flat on his hipbones and rolled my pussy in small gyrations. I drew him higher, past climax without release, the chemical rush of orgasm blasting through him and I both but he couldn't spend his seed until I let him, until I let myself fall forward.
Shane dug his fingers into my thighs, his thumbs in the crease of my hips, tugging me forward in a silent plea, his breathing labored, every muscle straining and tense. Still I fluttered, drawing him further into desperation.
I was coming still, a slow wave of muscular contraction throughout my body. I held myself rigid through it, riding it out, whimpering past clenched teeth and squeezed-shut eyes.
"Leo, please..." Shane whispered. His hands ran up my belly to my breasts, took their weight in his trembling hands, cupping them gently, then pinched my stiffened nipples in his fingers and pulled them, drawing me downward. I resisted his pull, tried to ignore the thrilling pulse of pleasure shooting through me from my nipples through the rest of my body, driving the slow roll of orgasm to new heights. He pulled, I resisted, and my nipples stretched, and then I couldn't hold back any longer. I fell forward, rode upward to slide his shaft almost out of me, waiting, waiting...
"Oh god," Shane said, gasping and clutching me against himself, "I'm coming, right now, so hard!"
I sank down on him and he growled, thrashing into me, suddenly frenzied and furious, and I was coming with him, hard, hot, a wildfire spreading through my body, every muscle quivering, my breath shrill whimpers in his ear, nails clawing at his shoulders.
We moved together, then, unable to even breathe as our climax merged into a single rush of united ecstasy, clinging to each other, breathing matched, heartbeats matched, eyes locked.
When the shudders faded and we were limp in each other's arms, Shane gazed at me with emotion wavering in his eyes. He seemed on the verge of speaking, but then he clutched me tighter and we both drifted to sleep.
* * *
"Ready?" Shane asked me.
I took a breath, then nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
He twined our fingers together and pushed through the door, leading me out in front of dozens of reporters with flashing cameras and blinding lights from shoulder-held video cameras. As soon as Shane appeared with me next to him, questions came at us in a barrage, too many to comprehend. Henry and Virginia came in behind us, and the wave of flashing photographs and the inundation of questions redoubled.
It was odd seeing Shane in a formal business suit. This one had obviously been tailored specifically for him, emphasizing the breadth of his shoulders and the width of his arms. It was conservative, solid charcoal gray, with a crisp, spotless white shirt with a lilac tie and matching handkerchief. I couldn't get over the business Shane, the no rings or earrings or leather cuffs, clean-shaven, tats-covered Shane. He was sexy as ever, but this Shane was intimidating in a whole different way than the hard-ass biker, or the cool-under-fire combat medic. This was a man capable of running a multi-billion-dollar media empire.
I wondered yet again what I'd gotten into. Was I really ready be this woman? The wife of a business tycoon? Wife? I wasn't even sure I was officially his girlfriend yet.
My head spun as we sat down at the long table facing the sea of eager reporters.
I squeezed Shane's hand as hard as I could and ordered myself to breathe. This was a far different thing than I'd expected. Seeing a press conference like this on TV didn't prepare you for the experience of being the one photographed and interrogated. Every eye was on me. Virginia, Shane and Henry were known, their roles understood. Me? Not so much.
"Shane! Who is she? Are you married?"
"Shane! Are you taking over for your father?"
"Shane! What will happen to Rescue Medic if you take over for Mr. Sorrenson? Will you merge your company and his?"
Shane held up his hand for silence, and eventually got it. "Before we answer any questions, my father has a statement."
"As many of you may know," Henry began, "I recently suffered a minor heart attack. It was minor, contrary to many of the rumors out there. I'm back on my feet, obviously, and feeling fine, but it was a serious wake up call. I've been running this company for over thirty years. I started in a little rented office space only a few blocks from here, and my wife was my first and only employee. Since then, we've built up a bit, and become fairly successful," there were polite titters of laughter at the gross understatement, "but the cost has been high. I've worked twelve- and sixteen-hour days every single day since then, and my health has suffered. Ginny has been after me to scale back my involvement for years now, but I've resisted. Sorrenson Enterprises is my company, after all, and it's hard to let others run what you started. But...with this heart attack, I've realized it's time."
Henry turned to Shane and clapped a hand to his shoulder.
"And there's no one better to take over for me than my son Shane. So, yes, to answer the biggest question, Shane will be assuming my role as CEO and President of Sorrenson Enterprises."
Shane spoke up right on the end of his father's speech, cutting off the imminent deluge of questions. "My company and his will remain separate for the time being. I'm looking forward to immersing myself completely in the task of taking over where my father is leaving off. Sorrenson Enterprises is a family company, and it always will be. As for Rescue Medic, my brothers will carry on without me for the time being."
"Who's the lovely lady to your left, Shane?" The question was shouted into a brief pause for breath by an older reporter with salt and pepper hair near the front of the crowd.
"This is Leona Larkin," Shane answered.
"Leona, how long have you known Shane?"
"What's your relationship like? Have you been dating long?"
"Do you have a prenuptial agreement?"
I didn't know whether to answer the questions, or which one to start with, or whether I should stay quiet, or try to answer neutrally...I realized how much composure it really took to answer a direct, intensely personal question in such a way as to pacify the reporters without giving away too much information. All I could do was look to Shane and hope he'd rescue me. I didn't know what to say.
"That's all for now, thank you," Shane said, standing up and nudging my elbow to move me off-stage. "No further questions. No comment. Thank you."
The reporters continued to shout questions at us as we left, and then when we made our way to the limo outside the downtown Manhattan building, we were assaulted yet again with machine-gun-
fire questions, flash-bulbs, walls of people closing in on me, begging me to answer, to "look this way, Miss Larkin, look this way!"
Gerald and a couple other men in dark suits and sunglasses and earpieces kept them at bay while we entered the car and slid across the bench. Even as the car door closed in their faces, reporters knelt down to try to get one last shot of us together, Shane Sorrenson, the mysterious, reclusive billionaire heir to Henry James Sorrenson's media empire, and his new arm-candy girlfriend.
"Since you didn't tell them anything about me, or us, what will they say?" I asked.
Shane pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "They'll do some research about you and then mix that with conjecture. And by conjecture, I mean they'll fabricate a bunch of bullshit. Those magazines and papers have come out with stories saying I'm getting married, or cheating with someone on someone else. I think the last one said I was engaged to Katy Perry. The funny thing about that one is, I met her once, at a party about two years ago. We hugged and she kissed me on the cheek, and a photographer got a picture of us just as she was leaning in to kiss me, and they spun it into us getting married. I'd never seen her before, nor since. They even did a follow-up, cropped pics of me with some of her so it looked like we were yelling at each other, and then did an 'exclusive' about our 'tragic break-up'." Shane waved a hand in dismissal. "It's a bunch of bullshit. I have no intention of telling them anything, since they'll they'll make up their own fuckin' bullshit any-damn-how."
Virginia glared at Shane's cursing, but held her silence.
"They're going to research me? What does that mean?" I asked.
"They'll dig into your past for sordid bits of gossip to spin." Shane shrugged. "Who knows. They'll try to talk to your parents, or find an ex, or something."
The thought of some gossip reporter or blogger getting a hold of John scared me. If he was mad enough, he might talk to them, and god only knows what he'd tell them. I didn't have anything to hide, per se, but the idea of people reading lies about me had my stomach roiling. I still hadn't spoken to my parents since returning from Sudan. They didn't have any idea what was going on. If they watched the news, and saw me with Shane...
Biker Billionaire Boxed Set Page 12