The Billionaire's Gamble (8 page)

Back at the hotel, Sabrina was ready to simply walk out and go home, knowing that Sid probably didn’t want anything else to do with her. He was used to females who knew how to play the game. She was just a silly virgin who didn’t want to get burned by a man who could easily set her body on fire but didn’t know how to react to the flames.

“Where are you going?” he demanded when she pressed the down button on the elevator.

Sabrina looked at him with a surprised look on her face. “I was going to go home,” she said softly, unable to maintain eye contact. She was ashamed and feeling vulnerable and only wanted to go home so she could start to recover from Sid’s amazing touch.

He pulled her back from the elevators, heading towards the door leading to the penthouse. “No. We need to talk. Come to my suite,” he said. It wasn’t a request, she knew.

Sabrina understood that he was determined to get some answers and she felt like he deserved them. It was time to be honest with him and help him to understand why she was so terrified of the feelings he was able to stir within her. He was a wonderful man and didn’t deserve the mixed messages she knew she was sending to him.

Once they were alone, he tossed his keys onto a marble table and turned to face her. “Okay, explain.”

Sabrina turned her back to him, unable to face the anger and confusion on his face. There was also concern but she pushed that aside as simple wishful thinking. “I’m not sure I understand,” she lied, wishing she could just sink into a hole somewhere.

Sid sighed heavily, letting his hands fall onto her shoulders. She tensed immediately and he started rubbing them, trying to get her to relax a little so she could explain her reactions to him. “Sabrina, you’re lying. You know exactly what I’m talking about. And I want to know what I’m doing wrong,” he said. “Because if I’m touching you in a way that you don’t like or offending you in some way, you need to be honest with me and let me know. So what is it? Do you not like being touched? Or do you want something different?”

“It isn’t that at all!” she gasped, turning to face him, her eyes pleading with him to understand that she wasn’t repulsed by his touch at all. The opposite in fact. She wanted his touch so badly, she couldn’t take the heat. But how could she explain that to him? He would think she was ridiculous.

“Then what is it?” he demanded, forcing her to look up at him. He looked down into her face, his eyes angry. “Explain to me why you turn so cold once things start to heat up. You’ve almost got me convinced that you’re not interested in me but I’ve seen the look in your eyes and felt the shivers in your body so I know it isn’t that you’re not interested.”

“No! It isn’t anything like that at all.” She bit her lip, placing her hands flat on his chest and looking at the buttons in the middle of his shirt, searching for the words. “In fact, it’s exactly the opposite,” she said softly, finally admitting the truth.

Sid moved his hands from her arms to her waist and pulled her closer. “I don’t understand,” he prompted when she stopped. “What’s the opposite?”

 

She closed her eyes before replying, “I feel too much,” she whispered.

 

Sid was quiet for a long moment and Sabrina could feel his fingers tighten and loosen on her waist. “I still don’t understand,” he said finally.

Pushing gently away from him, she stepped away, grateful when he allowed her the space she needed. Running her hands up and down her arms, she took a deep breath and tried to explain what she was thinking, what she felt. “I haven’t dated too many men but the ones that I have, well, they don’t make me feel on fire.”

She heard an impatient sound behind her but didn’t turn around, afraid to face him.

 

“Are you trying to tell me you’re frigid, Sabrina? Because I won’t believe it. I’ve kissed you and felt your reactions. I know you’re very sexual.”

Sabrina laughed self-consciously. “Actually, you’re half right. I’m sure the other men I’ve dated might think I’m frigid. I’ve never lost control, never been afraid of what they could make me feel.” Turning to face him, terrified of what she would see when she looked at him but determined to be honest with him. “You do all of that to me. I’ve never felt the way you make me feel. It scares me.”

Sid watched her large, blue eyes as they revealed a part of her he’d never suspected. “And you don’t like it?” he asked, bracing himself for the answer.

 

She smiled weakly and shook her head. “Actually, the opposite once again. I like it too much. I don’t know what I’m doing when you’re touching me or kissing me.”

In response, he bent down low and kissed her gently, his lips rubbing against her mouth, teasing her, nudging her. She felt him put her arms on his shoulders and shuddered. Moving closer, Sabrina imitated everything he did to her, knowing that if it felt good to her, it would probably feel good to him as well.

She found herself several minutes later curled up on his lap, his hands holding her close while she moved slowly, exploring his mouth, her hands touching him everywhere. She’d had no idea what she’d been doing but, looking at his tightly controlled expression, she knew what he was trying to do and was almost overwhelmed by gratitude. “You’re showing me that I can lose control with you and you won’t let it go too far, aren’t you?”

“That was my plan,” he said, his forehead leaning against hers. “You’re incredibly beautiful and I want desperately to take you into my bedroom and show you more. But,” he said when she started to pull out of his embrace, “I want you to go at your own pace. I won’t rush you.”

“You’re a very sweet man, Sid,” she said and brushed her swollen lips against his one more time.

Sid grimaced. “You’re the only one that’s ever said that to me,” he laughed. “I’m not a nice man, Sabrina. Remember that,” he cautioned. “And soon enough, you’ll understand that and what I want from you.”
Chapter 5

The next few days were awful.

She’d never worked so hard in all her life. The crowds were enormous and enthusiastic and Sabrina was proud of the success of the car event. But even as the event was underway, she was working on the final details of the New Years Eve bash.

To make matters worse, Sid was constantly calling her into his office, requesting meetings with her and her team and basically working her into a nervous frenzy. The meetings were generally about budgets and what to expect for the New Year’s Eve party. But in addition, she had to provide budgets herself on what she wanted to do for the next several months and he wanted more elaborate events, different speakers and he gave her the goal of coming up with bigger and more extravagant events for the beginning of the summer.

Throughout each meeting or encounter, she kept glancing at Sid, wondering what he had been talking about that last night together. What was she supposed to understand? She wished he would give her a clue but he was extremely professional at all times. Sabrina wished she could remain as aloof as he was but her mind kept remembering all the times she’d been in his arms and the desire pooled low in her stomach, making her ache and shiver and lose track of the conversation. And her mind would wander next to the one time he’d allowed her to kiss him, touch him, feel him to her heart’s content. He’d been so controlled that night and she’d reveled in the freedom to explore. But it had only been kisses, she reminded herself. He hadn’t touched her other than around her waist and back, his hands never straying to any other part of her body like they had out on the cliff.

To compound the increased work load, after each meeting, Sid asked to speak to her. Once everyone left, Sid pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless. Sabrina, who had been thinking about him doing just this thing since the start of the meeting, was stunned for the first few seconds. Once the shock had worn off, she fell into the kiss whole heartedly, dropping the papers from her hands so she could reach up and wrap her arms around his neck, let her fingers touch his hair and enjoy the mind-numbing kiss.

That day set the tone for the next four. She was frantically busy but somehow Sid found ways to see her alone. Each time, the kisses went slightly further. First, he would touch her waist and slide his hands up her rib cage. The next encounter, his hand covered her breast through the fabric of her shirt. Each time, he took it further, Sabrina was left shivering with need. By the end of the week, she was almost frantic for a conclusion to what he was doing to her.

On the late afternoon of New Year’s Eve, she felt as if she finally had herself under control. She’d avoided Sid the previous day and so far, she’d been successful at doing the same thing today. That had left her with a brain that was working, at least. She was walking through the lobby with her clip board in her hand, checking off the various tasks that had to be accomplished by the time the party started. So far, it seemed that everything was under control. She had just enough time to hurry back to her office and change into her evening gown before the ballroom doors were scheduled to open for the big gala.

Her cell phone rang and she answered it automatically, wondering what catastrophe had just happened. But it wasn’t someone from her staff. It was Sid’s deep voice asking, “What are you wearing to the New Year’s Eve party tonight?”

“Wearing?” she asked, dumbfounded as shivers of excitement raced along her body, ending in her stomach where butterflies instantly started dancing. She stopped where she was, right in the middle of the lobby, trying to concentrate on his words.

She heard his deep chuckle. “Yes. As much as I’d like to see you in nothing at all, I don’t want the rest of the world to see you that way at the party,” he said. “Did you have something special picked out?”

His comment made a blush form on her cheeks and she smiled, a hand coming to touch her overheated skin. “No, nothing special,” she said. “I was only going to wear my black dress.”

“Not good enough,” he said and she could hear him shuffling some papers on his desk. “Come up to my office in five minutes and make a new selection.” Without another word, he disconnected the line.

Sabrina looked at her clipboard and realized that she didn’t have any excuse not to go. She’d already checked on the food preparations, the band had arrived and they were setting up in the ballroom, the decorations were put up and the strolling entertainers were already in the dressing rooms putting on their costumes.

With a deep sigh and a determination to tamp down her excitement at the thought of seeing Sid again, she turned toward the bank of elevators that would take her to his office.

Within moments, she was standing outside his door, smiling to Liz who winked at her and announced her over the phone. “Go on in. He’s been expecting you,” Liz explained as she hung up the phone.

Sabrina walked tentatively into Sid’s office, not sure what to expect. She was both excited and terrified that Sid would take her into his arms again. Each time she left him, she’d be aching with unfulfilled need. She couldn’t stay away, nor could she ask him to stop his exquisite torment. She was now craving it, needing his touch as much as she needed food and water each day.

“Good afternoon,” he said but stayed behind his desk as she walked across the wide expanse of carpeting. “Take your pick,” he said, indicating something behind her. “Excuse me?” she asked, stopping in the middle of the office as she looked at him, a sweet smile of anticipation on her face.

 

Sid smiled. “Are you always so polite?” he asked softly, walking around his desk to the bar in the corner.

Sabrina blinked. That definitely wasn’t what she’d been expecting him to ask. “I suppose so,” she said and her smile returned, wider this time. “Is that a bad thing?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he chuckled, mixing several liquors into a shaker. “You’d look lovely in the green,” he said.

 

Sabrina grimaced. “I look awful in green,” she laughed. “It makes my hair look bright red.

 

Sid handed her a martini glass with a red liquid in it. “You’ll have to explain how that would be a bad thing,” he said, his dark, intense eyes looking down into hers.

Sabrina was instantly aware of his height and the muscles under his suit. She licked her suddenly dry lips as she looked up into his handsome face. “Well, it isn’t something I generally like to enhance,” she said.

“Why not? You have lovely hair,” he said, his eyes moving over the fiery locks that were tightly controlled in her bun. “You should wear it down more often,” he said, his voice deepening and making her body hum.

Sabrina’s hand instantly went up to smooth the sides of her hair nervously. “That wouldn’t be very professional,” she said a little breathlessly.

 

Sid’s eyes looked down at hers again. “Then you’ll just have to wear it down for me when we’re alone next time,” he said.

Sabrina’s head was spinning with the knowledge that he wanted to be alone with her. She wanted that so much she was in pain. Her stomach tensed and her nipples tightened and she was extremely glad that she was wearing the stiff jacket so he couldn’t see how easily he could excite her. The other women he dated were probably more sophisticated and would have a witty reply to his comment. But all she could do is stare up at him, a small smile on her face as the excitement tore through her slender body.

“Are you going to pick out a dress?” he asked, his voice husky.

 

“Dress?” she asked, unaware of anything besides Sid as he continued to look down at her.

He raised one eyebrow at her response. “You’re an interesting female, Sabrina. Most women would barely have known that I was in the room with a wardrobe full of designer dresses over there. I’m flattered.”

Sabrina snapped out of her trance and looked around. There was indeed a wrack of dresses in a rainbow of colors standing off to the side of the sofa. “Oh my!” she said. “What are all of those for?” she asked.

“They are for you to choose your evening dress from,” he said and put a hand to the small of her back as he led her over to the dresses. “What would you like to wear tonight?” he asked.

She shook her head in denial. She’d spied one of the labels and knew that just one of the dresses probably had cost more than her salary for several months. “Sid, I can’t wear any of these dresses,” she said, glad that her voice sounded assertive.