All That He Loves (Volume 2 The Billionaires Seduction) (32 page)

He was tall and good-looking as ever. He was wearing a tuxedo, a simple black affair that was beautifully tailored to show off his broad shoulders, muscular arms, and powerful chest. He wore it better than Daniel Craig or even Sean Connery at his peak – and both of those Bonds can
rock
a tuxedo.

But he looked drained. Tired. Even though he was still stunningly handsome, there were circles under his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept well in quite a while. What remained of his tan might have fooled others, but I could see his skin lacked its usual vibrancy and color. The slight crinkles around his mouth and eyes were still there, but they were devoid of the laughter and mischief that usually animated them. His eyes were flat and listless, and his smile seemed forced. In fact, he would smile at someone and then almost immediately drop it, as though it took too much effort for him to sustain. He looked like a man who was trying valiantly, but who wanted to be anywhere other than here.

He was talking to an older man, someone famous I couldn’t quite place. British or Australian accent. There was a line of people behind the old guy – faces I knew from the Oscars, faces I didn’t who were probably each worth the GDP of a small country.

Burly men in suits stood in the background, all of them watching the crowd, relentlessly scanning, occasionally putting a finger up to an earpiece or speaking into a hidden microphone.

Right beside Connor was Johnny. As soon as he saw me he winked, then went back to scanning the crowd.

I wanted to run away… but I forced one foot in front of the other and made my way across the ballroom.

Connor saw me out of the corner of his eye. Rather, he probably saw
movement
out of the corner of his eye – a flash of red – and turned to it as a distraction from the conversation. His eyes glanced over my body first, then traveled up to my face –

But they were blank.

There was no sign he knew who I was.

At least, any sign was hidden beneath his poker face.

Shit – shit, Shit, SHIT –

I wanted to stop, turn around, and run off into the crowd, to disappear.

But I forced myself to keep walking. Forced myself to smile at him. Forced myself to keep going.

And then something happened.

I had mistaken the blankness of his eyes for cool detachment, for feigned indifference.

It wasn’t. He just literally didn’t recognize me at first.

Because as I got closer to him, his eyebrows raised, and for the first time, I saw a light spark in his eyes.

The closer I got, the more that spark turned into a flame.

Color surged back into his face, and his lips parted in shock.

He looked like a man dying of thirst in a desert who had just seen a cold mountain stream.

“…Lily?!” he said, his voice hoarse and amazed.

That was all I needed to hear.

Joy filled every inch of me.

“Hello, Connor,” I beamed.

The Australian billionaire looked back and forth between us in amazement. Connor was acting like the old guy wasn’t even there.

“I… my God… you look amazing…” Connor said, and a smile trembled at the corners of his mouth.

There was no poker mask; he wasn’t even trying to conceal how he felt.

“And you look incredibly handsome, as always,” I smiled, my eyes misting up a little.

We just stood there, our eyes locked, and everything around us ceased to exist. All the noise faded away, all the laughter and whispers and chatter. We were connected in that one golden moment, just the two of us in a spotlight, and the rest of the stage was dark.

And then he spoke, and everything faded back up – the noise, the people, the world.

“I… how have you… how have you been?” he asked, his voice faltering – but his eyes never strayed from mine.

“Busy. I wanted to thank you for everything you did, that call to Scott Shaw.”

A part of me stood off to the side and marveled how smoothly I was handling this, and how less-than-slick Connor was – as though he was overwhelmed. I had never, ever heard him be as tentative as he was now, like an overcome teenage boy. I silently thanked Javier and Abby for weaving their magic.

“I… yeah… Sebastian’s kept me updated… it was nothing, it was the least…”

“It wasn’t nothing,” I said sincerely. “It was a lot. It meant a lot to me.”

He paused, then smiled. “I’m proud of you, Lily. He says you’re doing amazingly well.”

“I am. Thanks to you.”

Connor just stood there, staring at me, as though he were afraid to take his eyes off me for fear I might disappear in a puff of smoke.

And then the damn old man ruined it.

“Is this a bad time?” he asked in his gruff Australian accent, as though he were offended.

Connor glanced over at him as though broken out of a spell – then looked back at me. “Uh… no… it’s just…”

The Connor I knew would have told the old guy to shove it. But apparently there was something going on I wasn’t aware of.

Like maybe I was just an ex he’d seen unexpectedly… and nothing more.

“I should let you get back to business,” I said with a sad smile. “Maybe we can talk later – ”

“NO, don’t go,” he said forcefully, in the old commanding voice I knew so well – and with a hint of desperation, too, that warmed my heart.

He looked back at the old guy, indecision in his face, and then looked back at me. “It’s just… all these people came here to see me… I’d leave if I could – ”

“So leave!” a sprightly,
very
gay voice erupted.

We all turned to see Sebastian bounding over, all six foot five and platinum blond mop of hair atop his crisp white shirt and exquisitely tailored tux. He horned his way in between Connor and the old guy. “Go on, I’ll hold down the fort.”

Connor looked at him in disbelief. “But you said last night that – ”

“I know what I said, but what’s the good of being a billionaire if you can’t be eccentric once in awhile?” Sebastian said, and shooed him away with his hands. “Go on, go on, I’ll keep Rupert company. Hellooooo, Rupert!” he said to the now supremely shocked old guy. “Now, about Fox News – ”

Connor looked like a man on death row who had just been given a reprieve. He put his arm around my bare shoulders – his touch filled me with a rush of knee-weakening warmth, affection, and desire – and pulled me away from the receiving line as quickly as he could.

Connor guided me over to an isolated corner and turned his back to the crowd. I had his complete and uninterrupted attention.

I lowered my eyes demurely as he stared at me. His gaze was overpowering: longing, tender, absolutely ravenous – but he wasn’t saying anything. Just staring at me, drinking me in.

“I – ” he finally started, just as I spoke, too.

“I didn’t mean – ”

We both stopped, then smiled awkwardly.

“You look… astounding.” He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning seeing his presents for the first time.

He was also having a hard time keeping his eyes off my chest, I noticed. My bra – and Abby’s makeup – were having the desired effect.

That alone gave me the boldness to say what came next.

“Thank you. You remember the dress?” I asked, my eyebrow lifting as I smiled seductively. “I wore it for you.”

His mouth dropped open. His lips tried to form words, but never quite got there.

I just stared deeply into his eyes.

His gaze actually grew a little disconcerting – it was so overpowering, so
longing
– that I eventually had to look away. I thought about saying something, anything to break the sexual tension. I considered bringing up his parents’ presence in the hotel, but I knew that would kill the mood. Plus, I would have to bring up Miranda, too, and, well – fuck
that.

“Lily,” he finally said, his voice husky.

I looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

“…I’m sorry,” he finally finished, his voice in pain.

I felt about a dozen different emotions.

You should be!
part of me wanted to shout.

Why couldn’t you call?!
another part wanted to wail.

I’m sorry, too,
the sympathetic part of me thought, about a half-step away from crumpling into his arms.

But then the voice of my Fairy Godmother echoed in my head:

Be seductive about it… and classy. Don’t throw yourself at him until he throws himself at you first.

Connor wasn’t exactly throwing himself at me yet.

So instead, I reached up my hand and every so lightly caressed his smooth, freshly shaved cheek.

“I’m just so happy to see you,” I whispered – and it was true.

The effect on him was astounding. As soon as I touched him, his eyes closed and a look of relief and rapture spread across his face, like a man with a scorching fever touching his forehead against cool metal. He reached up, took my hand, and pressed my skin against his cheek, then his lips. He kissed my palm, then my fingers, never once opening his eyes.

It was so fervent, so erotic, so intimate, so longing, that it made me dizzy with desire – and peace. For the first time in two months, I felt like the ragged wound across my heart had closed, and a healing balm had soothed the pain.

“Oh Connor,” I whispered.

He opened his eyes. They were completely feverish – possessed, almost. He stared at me – mesmerizing, powerful – and then he moved in, pressing his body against mine. His right hand cupped the side of my face, and he lifted my head to his as he leaned over and kissed me.

His lips barely touched mine at first, but an electric current of desire flowed between us. The caress was enough to send shivers through my entire body – but then his lips pressed more firmly against mine. His hand brushed against my jaw, then down my neck and shoulders, and finally he put both hands around my waist as he pulled me against him and kissed me sweetly, passionately, longingly.

My knees were reduced to jelly. I grasped him with my hands and opened my lips to him, letting him inside me.

His tongue met mine, and he kissed me so deeply that it took my breath away. Only his strong arms around me kept me from falling. Warmth and wetness and desire rushed through me. I had never wanted him more than before that moment.

His tongue pulled away from mine, but he kissed my lips over and over, the gentlest of touches, as his hands roved against my bare back and down to my ass, cupping me, pulling me hard against his hips.

I moaned into his mouth, and he pressed me even tighter against him, letting me feel him getting thicker and harder against my body.

I was so wet.

God, I wanted him so badly.

But at that moment he chose to break away.

I gasped, my breasts heaving under my dress. His gaze took me in greedily, and then he stared deep into my eyes.

I was afraid he was going to say something about having to leave, so I spoke first.

“Is there someplace… more private we can go?” I whispered.

The flames in his eyes became a bonfire.

“Yes,” he said with a smile, then draped an arm around me and pulled me out of the ballroom through a hidden exit in the back.

We entered a service hallway of some sort, long and white and lit by fluorescent lights. Waiters and waitresses in black vests and crisp white shirts shuttled back and forth to the ballroom carrying silver platters of drinks and hors-d’oeuvres. They watched in shock as we walked by them, their heads turning as we passed.

Not every day you see a walking sex scandal, I guess.

There was a loud
clack
behind us and the
tap tap
of running shoes. We turned back to see Johnny entering the hallway through the same door we’d used. At first he looked panicked – until he spotted us thirty feet away. He gave Connor an admonishing schoolmarm look, then followed along discretely at a distance.

“I can’t
ever
get rid of that guy,” Connor joked.

“And you shouldn’t,” I scolded him.

“I was afraid he was going to pull me back to the party.”

My step faltered the tiniest bit. “Do you… want to go back?”

“Oh
hell
no,” he grinned, and let his hand trace down to the curve of my ass.

Then his expression froze and slowly faded. The hand moved a couple of inches up to my waist.

“Unless… that’s not what you had in mind,” he said, his voice neutral.

“No, that’s
exactly
what I had in mind.”

The relief on his face was immense and immediate. “Thank God.”

I had to stifle a laugh.

He grinned and gave me a tiny, fleeting kiss, then guided me to another doorway.

We exited into a recessed alcove, and suddenly we were back in the lobby of the hotel. But this time we were far away from the crowd and closer to another part I remembered: the private elevator for the penthouse.

The nearest people in the lobby were over a hundred feet away, and hadn’t noticed us at all.

“It’s like a spy movie with all your secret passageways,” I whispered.

“That’s me: international master of catering halls,” he said drily, and hit the button for the penthouse elevator.

The door in the alcove opened, and Johnny strode into the hallway just as the elevator door opened.

Connor saluted his bodyguard jauntily and pulled me inside the elevator, then immediately hit the ‘Close Door’ button.

“You don’t want him coming with us?” I teased as the doors slid closed.

“No, I don’t,” Connor said, and leaned down and kissed me again.

He was even more passionate this time, his hands roving over my body, caressing my skin, pulling my hair to force my head back and expose my neck, which he kissed up and down in a frenzy. I just closed my eyes and let him do whatever he wanted – though my hand found its way down below his belt, where my fingers softly traced the thick, straining outline of his cock.

He grunted as my fingers cupped him through the cloth. “Lily,” he whispered in my ear, and I felt myself grow even wetter when I felt the desire in his voice and the tickle of air across my skin.