Justin instructed his secretary to email his personal guest list to Shana for the invitation. Other than Trent Wellington, Leon Turnbull, Cate, the maid of honor, some members of the staff and Shana’s family, there were no other guests. Shana realized that Justin could have invited half of New York had she not been pregnant. He knew absolutely everyone from his Wall Street days. Then there was the fact that undoubtedly, half those people would have been the women he used to date.
Perhaps, Shana thought, a small wedding is the best for us all around.
***
Shana raced down the hotel staircase when Justin met her at the base. “What’s the hurry?” he asked taking her hand.
“My family’s plane will be here in less than an hour. I don’t want to miss it.”
“You won’t. I’m sending the hotel shuttle to pick them up.”
She shot him a stricken look. “And me not be there to greet them?”
“Why would you do that?”
She cocked her head and looked at him. “Didn’t your parents come to the airport or Grand Central Station to get you?”
“No. They sent a driver.”
She touched his cheek sweetly. “I’m sorry you were so deprived. That’s just not right.”
“I was okay with it.”
“Well, I’m not. I’m going to meet my family. Are you coming?”
Justin’s mouth gaped. “I have work…”
Shana grabbed his hand. “It can wait. You’ve never met my family and I don’t want it to be in the hotel. You’re coming with me.”
Shana tugged on his arm as she rushed toward the doors and waiting shuttle. “They’re going to love you,” she said, happiness glittering around her like raining sunbeams.
*****
Justin didn’t know what to expect, but this hugging, back slapping, giddy, laughing, shouting and constantly chattering clan of devilishly handsome tanned and blond young men and scorchingly beautiful blonde young women was nothing that Justin expected. Emily Jackson was as tall and slender as her eldest daughter and didn’t look a minute of her forty-seven years. She was dressed in a smart black linen suit with white piping, white shoes and white purse. She wore her blonde hair in a classic chignon and pearl earrings.
Justin waited patiently while Shana hugged her siblings and her mother.
Shana held her mother for a very long moment, breathing in the jasmine smell of her and the feeling the warmth of her arms and the beat of her steady heart. As always, she felt as if she’d come home. There would never be any place on earth like her mother’s arms.
Emily hugged her daughter tightly and kissed her cheek. “Darling. You look wonderful. Every inch the beautiful bride I always knew you would be.”
Emily turned to Justin. “And you are the man who thinks he is going to make my daughter happy.”
Justin stared at Emily’s strident crystal blue eyes and for the first time in his life, he felt his knees quake. “Yes. I am,” he answered with matching potent tones though he hadn’t actually given the notion any thought. Justin wanted Shana. Justin needed Shana to fulfill the proviso and he adamantly relished the idea of spending a great deal of time in bed with his bride. But making her happy? How was he going to do that? He hadn’t the slightest idea of where he would start.
Justin tore his eyes from Emily’s probing and steady gaze and picked up a suitcase. “Our driver is waiting just outside the doors. Let’s get the rest of the bags from the carrousel.”
Ethan and Evan grabbed all the bags, each one trying to show superior strength to the other, still horsing around as they waddled out to the shuttle.
Nancy, Elaine and Christy bombarded Shana with a hundred questions about the ceremony, their rooms, and the odd lack of groomsmen, of which there were none since Justin didn’t want his friends to feel any obligation other than that of being a guest.
Justin rode in the front seat of the shuttle with the driver while Shana sat with her mother and sisters in the back seat. Ethan and Evan rode in the far back seat, their faces glued to the windows as they took in all the sights of Manhattan.
By the time they reached the hotel, Justin had planned to go straight to his office for a Scotch and two aspirin for the headache he planned to acquire. Instead, as the last of the Jacksons were shown their rooms and he and Shana were finally alone, he was astounded to discover that he was energized by her siblings.
Shana put her arms around Justin’s neck and pulled him close for a kiss. “I should have warned you. They’re a lot to take all at once. It’s normally not like this. Even at home.”
Justin shook his head. “Don’t concern yourself. I liked them. I just have to get used to them.”
“Only for holidays and visits,” she said.
“Which holidays?” he asked with an impish grin. “And are they coming here or are we going there?”
Shana looked up at him. It was the first time she’d heard Justin refer to their future together other than to make a comment about the baby. Their “engagement” and wedding plans were moving at light speed and she realized they’d had little time alone. What time they had spent, was either working during the day or making love at night. Talking hadn’t been on their agenda.
“If they came here, there would be more for them to do. Sedona is pretty…slow,” she said smiling. “But who knows? You may like it.”
“Possibly,” he offered, but as he gazed down into Shana’s gleaming blue eyes, all he thought about was the sexy honeymoon he’d planned. Taking Shana to San Francisco would be enough surprise for her and would give him time to show her another of their properties that needed her magical touch. He’d reserved the Presidential Penthouse Suite for their weekend stay. Though right now, as she pressed her breasts into his chest and leaned into him for a kiss, he didn’t exactly know how much work he’d get done. All he wanted for the moment was to be inside her where he would completely lose his mind.
Unable to stop himself, he slanted his mouth over hers, taking his time to brush her lips with his and then slowly, torturing himself as much as her, slid his tongue into her interior. In seconds, arousal flickered, flamed and spiraled through him. He pulled her closer, feeling that if he continued this burn, his very skin would be singed.
He tore his mouth from hers and sank his lips into the cool long column of her throat. He loved it here where he could feel her heart beating, pulsing and then racing as he took her breast, pinched it and massaged it. The fact that Shana was so incredibly responsive to him, thrilled Justin. He felt her heat match his. He felt a power over her that made him simultaneously omnipotent and vulnerable because for each hammering heart beat Shana displayed, Justin matched her slam for slam. He was in sync with her like he’d never been with any woman. The fact confounded him. He didn’t understand what it was about Shana that so thoroughly enraptured him at times.
Luckily, he told himself as he skimmed his tongue down her throat and opened her blouse, he wasn’t obsessed with her, because he’d been able to conduct himself quite normally over the past two weeks. He’d attended to business as he always had…
He took her nipple between his teeth and tugged it until she squealed that excited high squeak that told him she was wet, pliable and ready for him. His erection throbbed. He unzipped his slacks.
Yes, he was quite proud of himself. He hadn’t missed a meeting. The construction was moving ahead as planned.
He lifted her skirt to her waist, pulled down her panties in one movement and placing his hands on her waist he lifted her onto his strong erection, filling her completely. Bracing her against the wall and balancing her thighs on top of his muscular thighs, he lifted her with his hands and brought her down on him again and again.
He’d moved out of the earth plane and entered another dimension that was only sound and tactile feeling. He heard his heart pounding at ramming speed. He heard Shana cry out his name. He didn’t know what there was about how she gushed his name in the way that she always did which was half breathl
ess and half scream. But each time she did, it made him want to sink even more deeply into her to a place where he would never have to leave. It was that place he’d sought all his life. A place of comfort and safety. A place of warmth and acceptance. A place some people called home.
He felt her hands clutching the sides of his face, her fingers tangled in his hair. She had nearly collapsed on top of him and there were pearls of perspiration on her forehead and sliding down the valley between her breasts.
He suckled her nipple for a long, luscious moment before he untangled himself from her.
She kissed his face with dozens of tiny, feather light kisses while he kept his eyes shut. He wasn’t quite ready to re-enter the world. He felt her hands on the nape of his neck as she pulled him toward her for another kiss. Her lips were moist and quite swollen from his kisses. He marveled that she wasn’t bruised sometimes from the assault he gave her at times. She was a marvel like that. No matter how often he wanted her, which, quite oddly, seemed to be increasing daily as they grew closer to their wedding day, she was very willing.
Now that he thought about it, he realized that making love to Shana only at night had increased to both night and in the morning. Yesterday and today, he’d found that making love to her in his office in the middle of the day had become quite necessary in order for him to go about his normal business routine.
There was only one explanation Justin could come up with. He was finally outgrowing Shana. That had to be it. He was at the level of satiation.
Relief filled him.
His plan would not go awry. Tomorrow they would be married. Producing an heir to the Yates hotel fortune would only solidify Justin’s inheritance should the courts question his marriage. Ironclad. Justin’s future was ironclad and he had Shana to thank for it. After the ceremony he would talk to Leon about some sort of formal compensation for Shana. He would want to do the right thing, of course. He would make certain she was always financially secure. And he would provide handsomely for his child. College. Yes. And graduate school money. He would make certain he covered all the facets of his responsibility.
Justin felt Shana ply his lips with her tongue, urging him to open to her. He complied and as he slaked his tongue against hers, he felt those devilish fingers of libido-pumping nerves shock him. Shana held his face in her hands and kissed him deeply with a hunger he thought should have been assuaged. This woman, his bride, wasn’t through with him.
The clanging sound of blood in his ears was so loud he couldn’t hear what she was asking him. All he knew was that he didn’t want her to stop. He thought he nodded his head to answer her, but he wasn’t sure. He felt her fingers flicking rapidly against the tip of his penis like tiny dancers, tapping, patting, forcing him to arousal again.
From some deep ancient place within him, he mustered the strength to enter her again. She was hot, moist and slick. He heard himself groan over and over. He rubbed her bud with his thumb as he plunged himself deeper inside. Then he heard her call his name again.
He was lost to her.
He covered her mouth with his and took her next screams within his chest where he would keep them forever. He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her breasts to his chest. Then he climaxed again. He flung his head back and groaned a sound he’d never heard a human make. He knew then he’d been altered, but he didn’t know in what way.
She captured his face and brought his lips to hers.
“We can’t make so much noise,” she said.
He couldn’t speak. He only nodded, still unable to open his eyes. The effort would probably kill him.
She lifted herself off of him and braced herself against the wall as she straightened her clothes. She helped him zip his pants and she straightened his tie.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Blessedly, he opened his eyes and looked at her. She’d just taken him to nirvana and she looked as cool and calm as a soft summer breeze. He didn’t know how she did it, unless he didn’t have the same impact upon her as she had on him.
How was that possible? He thought. She was under his spell, wasn’t she? She was the pawn in his plan. That had been his strategy.
“I’m meeting my mother and sister for a last fitting. I’ll see you for dinner. At seven,” she said and kissed his cheek like nothing had happened.
Justin watched her walk out of his office.
He took a deep breath. Smiled to himself and congratulated himself that everything was going exactly as he’d planned.
CHAPTER NINE
A summer fog drifted over San Francisco like gauzy linen obscuring the panoramic view from the hotel balcony and making the idea of spending the day in bed with Justin all the more appealing.
Shana rolled over to touch Justin and found the space in the king sized bed vacant. Pulling up the ivory colored sheets to cover her bare breasts, she looked across the room to find Justin fully dressed and putting on his shoes.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” he said tying his wing-tipped shoe.
“Where are you going?” Shana asked.
“I have a meeting with Kent Silver in ten. Do you think you could join us in about an hour? I want you to tour the rooms with me. Give me your take on what all will be necessary to turn this place around. Our vacancies are up ten percent since last summer. I want to know if it’s the hotel itself or if we need better marketing.”
Shana was stunned and wounded. Her only reaction was to gape at him.
Justin walked over to the bed where they’d spent hours making love only the night before after their exhausting cross country plane trip and kissed her on the top of her head. “I’ll meet you in the executive offices.”
“Sure,” was all she could manage to say.
Still groggy from sleep, Shana was unable to devise a protest before Justin was out the door.
Staring at the closed door, Shana realized that Justin had never intended for them to have a real honeymoon. This hurried trip after their very quick ceremony and their two hour reception and wedding dinner the night of their wedding, was about business.
Shana had barely had any private time with her mother, sisters and brothers at all. Justin had courteously provided Shana’s family with a private limousine tour of Manhattan the day after the wedding. He took care of their meals, their transportation to the airport and their plane trip back to Arizona but there was nothing “personal” about his contact with them at all. Now that she looked back on it all, he had done what had been “expected” that a groom would do for his new in-laws but that was all. Justin had shown no desire to get to know her mother other than their superficial exchanges at the dinner. Justin had been mannerly and respectful. Shana realized she’d expected too much to hope that he would be openly caring about her family.
Shana had hoped he would have fallen in love with her gregarious family, but that hadn’t happened.
“How could it, you blockhead?” she chided herself as she pounded her fist on the bed. “He’s not in love with you.”
Shana had only herself to blame. She purposefully had not demanded an answer from Justin as to why he wanted to marry her because she didn’t want to hear the truth from his lips. She knew the truth. He wanted to give his child his name. When he’d proposed, she had immediately accepted. There had been no discussion and as long as she kept it that way, she could still fan the glimmer of hope that somehow, someway, she could make Justin love her.
No doubt that through the ages, countless women had put their faith in just such a hope and lost. However, Shana’s intuition cried out to her to try. She believed deep in her heart that because she loved him so much, all that love would not be wasted. She would love him enough for both of them.
Contemporary psychology and numerous relationship studies had proved that such thinking was not healthy, Shana knew. It was impossible to make someone love a person. Love just happened. There was no logic about love. She could be steering herself toward heartbreak.
Still, Shana had ba
sed her entire life on believing that decaying properties could be fixed and brought to life. She trusted in her ability to re-structure management teams and re-train staff. Her vision had transformed hotels and villas. She made “temporary homes” out of hotel rooms. She put her love and light into every project she’d ever undertaken.
As Shana looked back on her private times with Justin she had seen a lonely little boy inside the man crying out for love. Justin was a good man. He was not abusive or dysfunctional. She believed with all her heart that she simply had to show him how to love. When that happened she knew she would have the marriage she’d always dreamed for herself. She deserved to be happy.
If she were patient, she believed that love would conquer all.
*****
The Fourth of July festivities in New York had booked every hotel room in the city. Despite the on-going construction, the Lux Hotel opened its rooms to the wave of vacationers. The new speakeasy opened on July third to a long queue line that snaked around the block and made the late night news cast.
The publicity brought more attention to the hotel, which prompted Justin to pay the tile layers and painters time and a half to work through the weekend to continue working on the lobby and the mezzanine area. At least the areas would be passable, though far from finished. It was Justin’s hope that they could move their target date up by a month or more. Shana agreed with Justin that if they could schedule their re-opening in early November for the entire Christmas season, their revenues should increase by thirty-five percent. Justin felt the gamble was worth it and hired double teams of painters and carpenters.
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