The Billionaire's Gamble (6 page)

 

“Touché,” he countered with a smile. “So is your sister any good?”

 

Sabrina laughed. “Of course she is.”

 

“Are you two close?”

 

“Yes. Aren’t you close with your family?”

 

“I have a brother,” he said without elaborating. “How do you like Vegas?” he quickly changed the subject.

She ignored his change of subject and continued with her own curiosity. “Just a brother? No mother or father?” Surely the man had more than just a brother. What about the rest of his family?

“Everyone has parents,” was his only response.

Sabrina noted the closed expression on his face and reacted to it, her mind attuned to the pain he was feeling but not sure why something so basic as parents would engender pain in a man so confident.

“Did Adam and Eve?” she asked, trying to inject a note of humor into the conversation.

 

He glanced up from his plate, not sure where the conversation had gone. “Excuse me?”

She put down her wine glass and sat forward. “Think about it. Adam and Eve were formed by God, I’ll go with that. But how were the other people formed? Did Adam and Eve basically populate the rest of the world? Or did God create other people? And if he did, why don’t we read about them in the Bible?”

“Ah!” he said, smiling at her conversation. “I see your point. Are we all related somehow? Sounds awfully incestuous, doesn’t it?”

 

“My point exactly,” she said. “A little odd, wouldn’t you say?”

 

“Very odd.”

They continued to talk about non-threatening subjects for the next two hours and Sabrina started to relax. The meal was absolutely wonderful and Sabrina knew that her plan to find something wrong with him had failed. In fact, she knew very little more about him than what she knew before. The information that he had a brother was the only knew point of knowledge she’d gained of the man during the entire evening. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t entertaining and wonderfully intelligent. She liked arguing with him. He definitely kept her on her toes. Each time she brought up a subject, he had arguments against her opinion. She suspected he chose the opposite viewpoint only to challenge her, but she was fine with that since he made her laugh at most of his arguments and many of her own.

He was also the perfect gentleman throughout the night. The dinner was scrumptious and the dessert, consisting of a heavenly light raspberry mouse and white chocolate syrup, was absolutely sinful. Sabrina ate every morsel, sipping a different wine with each course that only enhanced the flavors of each dish, although she drank very little, knowing she had to keep her wits about her with this man.

It was almost midnight when she glanced down at her watch and realized what time it was. “Good grief,’ she gasped, immediately standing up and placing her glass of brandy on the low coffee table. “I had no idea how late it had become,” she said, smoothing her suit jacket down over her hips. They had moved from the table to a set of sofas and chairs near the rooftop pool and Sabrina had been enjoying the conversation with him too much to notice the hours pass. “I’d better get home,’ she said and glanced up shyly to him, suddenly nervous even though they had been laughing and arguing for almost five hours.

“Thank you very much for dinner,” she said, sticking out her hand for him to shake.

 

He took her hand and slipped it through his arm. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

 

She started to pull her hand out but he wouldn’t release her. “Really, there’s no need,” she started to say but he shook his head.

 

“There’s every need. It’s the middle of the night and it’s not safe in Vegas at night.”

Sid walked her out to her car and stood there while she unlocked the door. When it was open, she put the door between herself and Sid. “Well, thank you so much for dinner,” she said. “I really need to go.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not ready for this, are you?” he asked.

Sabrina was instantly relieved. “No,” she said gratefully, looking down at the ground instead of his handsome face. “No, I’m really not. Like I said last night, I’m not in your league and I don’t understand what you expect.”

He was quiet for a long moment before he spoke. “Okay. I can understand that. How long will it take for you to understand?” he asked.

 

Sabrina was confused. “I’m not sure.” What did she need to understand? Was he going to elaborate?

“Well, I’m a patient man,” he started, not giving her any more details. “But don’t make me wait too long,” he said and bent down, kissing her gently on the lips. “The car show starts in two days. Be in my office tomorrow to go over the last minute details. Have your staff there as well. I want to make sure everyone is prepared. We’re going to be inundated with car enthusiasts.”

He walked away before she could even form a reaction to his words. Sabrina got into her car and drove home on autopilot. What could he possibly mean about her understanding what he expected? He wanted an affair, that was obvious. But other than that, she was clueless. And goodness! Why on earth would he want an affair with her? When he had all those lovely ladies dressed in barely anything, what could she offer him? That stumped her and she pulled into her garage in complete confusion.

She tossed and turned in bed, trying to work through his words in her mind but nothing really made sense. She resolved that she would just have to keep her distance. He would eventually get bored and would find someone else who sparked his interest and where would that leave her? She only had a silly infatuation with the man but once she had an affair, Sabrina was honest enough with herself to know that she couldn’t just enter into that kind of a relationship without her feelings becoming involved.
Chapter 4

Sabrina stormed into her office and tossed the file onto her desk. She then threw her body into her chair and groaned as she looked at the number of e-mails that were awaiting some sort of response from her.

“Is it a full moon or something?” she grumbled to what she thought was an empty office.

 

“Possibly. What’s wrong?” Sid asked as he leaned against the frame to her office door.

Sabrina startled and looked up at the sexy man. “Nothing,” she pasted a smile on her face and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She hadn’t seen him in three days and boy, did he look wonderful. It didn’t matter that she’d been losing sleep over his comment that night. It didn’t matter that her heart started leaping about as if it were a puppy after a delicious treat. All that mattered was feasting her eyes on his handsome features, like a horse to water after traveling across a desert.

Melissa entered the room and put a file in Sabrina’s in-box, the disbelief written all over her face. “Don’t believe her, sir. She’s been a grump all week.” Her ever efficient assistance was respectful but wouldn’t let Sabrina get away with her comment.

Sabrina wanted to yell at her assistant but bit her tongue. It was true. She was a grump. She’d been snapping at everyone and everything lately and the more she tried to be calm and patient, the more she started to lose it. She looked up at Sid to see what his reaction to Melissa’s comment was. He didn’t seem angry, but she didn’t know him well enough to be able to gauge his reactions yet.

Sid raised one eyebrow and came in to sit down in the empty chair in front of her desk. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Sabrina covered her face with her hands, wishing she were anywhere else but here. “Nothing I can’t fix with a good run,” she said and sighed. She dropped her hands and looked across the small office at him. “I’m sorry. I’ve been snapping at everyone but the guests and I guess my staff is starting to snap back.”

“Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it for you,” he repeated. He wanted to take her into his arms and feel her body against his but he forced his mind to concentrate on what was bothering her. It had been three days since she’d had dinner with him and he wanted to touch her, to feel her against him once again. But he knew he needed to go slowly. His future wife was cautious and concerned but eventually she would understand and would agree with his plans. It would just take time, he told himself. Patience and strategy had been how he’d built his empire. It would also be how he won this incredible beauty sitting in front of him trying desperately hard not to blush.

Sabrina leaned back in her chair and shook her head, wishing she could get rid of some of this frustration. The tension had been building up over the past several days and she felt as if she were at a breaking point. Sid wasn’t helping either. Three days ago when she’d been finalizing the details of the car show, he’d been respectful, but always there. He wasn’t pushy about seeing her but turned up in various places, touching her arm, her shoulder, leaning too closely when she discussed a file. All of the touches were innocent, she knew. It was just her own imagination and body that she couldn’t get under control.

Watching him now, looking smooth and debonair while she felt as if her hair were standing out in all directions, she felt her frustration build even more. How could he be so casual and in control of all situations when she wanted to scream? She contemplated him curiously. “Is there anything you can’t fix?” she asked.

“Nope,” he said without hesitation.

 

She had to smile at that answer. No one could possibly be that sure of themselves, could they? “How do you know?”

He shrugged, the epitome of confidence. “So far, I haven’t encountered anything that wasn’t fixable. Which brings me back to my original question which you seem intent on trying to avoid. Tell me the problem and let me fix it for you.”

Sabrina laughed. “I need to run.”

He blinked quickly, then waited for her to continue. When she only smiled at him, he gave in to the confusion. “I’m sorry?” he replied, hiding the surprise on his face. “Are you saying you need to run away from me? Or the resort? Life in general?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Nothing that dramatic actually. I need to go for a run. I’ve been trying to get in here early each day to make sure everything is going as planned. So I haven’t been able to get out and run.”

“So why don’t you go run?” he asked.

“Because we live in a desert and right now its about one hundred degrees outside. it’s way too hot to do anything that strenuous in the middle of the day. I’d die of heat exhaustion.”

“Do you have your gym clothes here?”

She sighed and looked longingly at the bag sitting in the corner, unused. “Yes, I was hoping to get out a little earlier, before the real heat of the day started. But now it’s too late.”

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out something, then tossed a keycard onto her desk. “Go upstairs and use my gym. There’s a treadmill, stair stepper, weights and a private shower – everything you might need to get in a good workout.”

Sabrina looked at the keycard, then back up at his face. Work out in his gym? Alone in his penthouse where he lived? A shiver of excitement raced up her spine and she trembled. Sure, he probably had a treadmill, and everything else any exclusive gym might have but she couldn’t possibly work out in his penthouse. “No thanks,” she said and slid the card back across the desk toward him.

“Why not?” he asked, ignoring the card as he watched her intently.

Sabrina shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Because it was where he lived and slept and was way too intimate for her peace of mind, she thought. Instead of admitting something like that to him, she said, “Because there are too many security cameras inside this place. I don’t like people seeing me without me being able to see who is staring.”

Sid smiled and nodded his head. “You’re right. I see you on the monitors all the time,” he winked at her. “But as for my private quarters, I promise no one will watch you on the security cameras except me,” he said.

Sabrina laughed, enthralled with his smile. “That’s not very comforting,” she said.

 

“Well, then let me come up and watch you in person,” he teased, his eyes gleaming and showing her that he wasn’t completely joking.

 

“No way,” she chuckled.

 

“Why not?”

She looked at him and saw the desire hidden in his dark blue eyes. Danger bells immediately went off and she said the first thing that came to mind. “Because I know you and you’d try to entice me to stop so you can kiss me.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that! Who was this daring, sassy woman who could flirt with a gorgeous man? Surely it wasn’t the shy woman who hadn’t dated since coming to this desert.

“Among other things,” he said softly.

“Well, that settles it,” she said emphatically but still laughed, encouraged that he was still interested in her despite no encouragement from her end. “I’ll just make sure to get out tomorrow morning and run with my normal group of friends.”

“There are other ways to get rid of stress,” he said, standing up and coming around her desk.

 

Her eyes widened. “Sid, you stay on the other side of this desk,” she whispered.

 

“Why?” he asked, not paying her any attention. He came around, pushing the door closed behind him with one hand.

The door closing was a sure sign of danger. She didn’t need to look at his face now. “No! People will talk,” she said and slipped around him, well out of his arms reach. But it was no good. He caught her deftly and pulled her up against his muscular body. “Just one kiss,” he said and dipped his head toward hers.

Sabrina was unable to resist him and easily fell into his arms. She even lifted her face to his, eager for the kiss and the way his body made her feel.

And she wasn’t disappointed. When his mouth covered hers, she opened for him willingly. And all the times she’d relived his kiss hadn’t been exaggerated. He was an expert. His lips were gentle but coaxing, insistent and persuasive and she melted into his arms, her own creeping slowly up his shoulders to rest lightly on his suit jacket.

After kissing her senseless, he lifted his head and stared down at her. “Tell you what, why don’t you grab your running clothes, use my gym then shower and meet me for dinner. I’ll take you to some place that will take your breath away.”

After that kind of kiss, she’d do just about anything he asked of her. Sabrina’s mind still wasn’t functioning on all cylinders even though he wasn’t kissing her anymore. “That sounds interesting.”