High (5 page)

She was about to nod when she glanced
past him and felt the force of Zachary Savage’s narrow-eyed stare. A shiver
coursed through her and her heart skipped several beats before it attempted to
right itself.

“I…I’ll think about it.”

“Great.” Jax smiled. “That’s some view,
huh?” He indicated the sky beyond the deck.

With monumental effort, she tore her
gaze from Zach, but not before she saw his attention swing to Jax.

“Yes, it’s incredible.” She turned and
stared unseeingly at the view, another shiver coursing through her. She didn’t
need to turn to know she was still the subject of Zachary Savage’s focus.

Beside her, Jax talked a bit. She made
appropriate answers until his group joined him. Introductions were made that
she barely remembered.

She managed to nod when he smiled.

“So, see you in a couple of hours?”

“Why will you be seeing him a couple of
hours?”

Zach had materialized beside her. Again
he stood close, so very close, but didn’t touch her. She wondered whether he’d
practiced that particular move or whether it came naturally to him, an inherent
part of his sexual aura. Whatever it was, it turned her on so damned fiercely
that she wanted to growl. She, who’d never once growled in her life.

“Friday’s Child just invited me to a
gig.”

His brows clamped with displeasure. “I
changed my plans because of you. Mingling with the other guests doesn’t
interest me.”

Again the arrogance in his words
irritated her. But the knowledge that he’d changed his plans because of her
turned her on—much more than she could rationally cope with.

Jesus, she needed to claw back some
reason here, before she lost her damned mind.

“But it interests me. I promised Keely
I’d at least try and leave my suite at least once a day.”

He stiffened and leaned closer. “Who’s
Keely?”

“Someone I care about.”

“And why is having fun important to you
on this trip?”

“Because…” She stopped and wondered
again why she felt the need to bare all to this man. The easiest thing would’ve
been to tell him to mind his own business.
To leave her
alone.

But she didn’t want Zachary Savage to
leave her alone. In fact, it was the very last thing she wanted him to do.
“Because I need to put some ghosts to rest.”

His eyes gleamed, went a little hard,
then settled back into their usual intense focus. He nodded and again his gaze
dropped to her mouth. “I know a little bit about ghosts, sweetheart. Let me
help.”

“I hardly know you.”

“I can help with that too. Leave your
suite. Move into mine.”

Chapter Five

He was serious. Of course he was. One
thing she was learning very quickly about Zachary Savage was that he didn’t say
things he didn’t mean. The shiver that went through her shook her to the depths
of her soul.

“My suite is perfectly adequate, but
thank you for the offer.”

“I’m not inviting you to my bed,
Bethany. Not yet.”

Disappointment shot through her, but Keely
had taught her a passable poker face, which she prayed would stick now. “Pray
tell, why not?”

“The time isn’t right.”

“Hypothetically speaking, if I won’t be
sharing your bed, then why invite me at all—right, it’s a possessive
thing.”

The group had started to leave the
sky-viewing area. When she started to follow, he restrained her. “I don’t think
I need to keep an eye on you—” he ignored her shocked snort and continued—“I
just want to reassure myself that your needs are met until the appropriate time
when we can take this to the next level. Besides, this is technically my place
of work, and I don’t fuck where I work, although I'm seriously tempted to make
an exception for you.”

“You seriously expect me to believe
you’ve never had sex on your plane before?”

His eyes darkened, became inscrutable.
“Not on my Indigo planes, no.”

“But you’re a member of the mile high
club?”

He paused for several seconds. “A tacky
term, I find, but yes, I’ve had sex on a plane. If you desire a similar
experience, I’ll provide you with one, but it won’t be on this plane.”

She grew hot and bothered. The look in
his eyes promised all sort of filthy sin. Her nipples puckered, strained
against her dress. His gaze dropped to her breasts, witnessed the evidence of
his words on her and a slow smile curved his lips.

“Does that turn you on, Bethany? The
thought of being fucked on a plane as we race toward the stars?”

“I plead the fifth.”

His smile widened. “I get the feeling
you won’t be a walk in the park.”

“I told you, it’s a long cake walk
between—”

“Feelings and fucking, yes, I remember.
Which is why I want you to have dinner with me. I want to work on shortening
the walk.”

“If dinner is a euphemism for talking
me into moving into your suite, the answer is no.”

“It involves a lot more, but I accept
your answer to this particular question.”

Surprise rocked her. “You do?”

He nodded. “It was a desperate Hail
Mary, which, I admit, would’ve been more problematic in the long run. No need
to torture us both until we get off this plane.” His gaze dropped to her lips
and stayed there. Then he breathed in slowly as if reinforcing his willpower.

Bethany licked her lips as several
chaotic emotions rushed through her.

“Say yes, Bethany. It’s just dinner and
conversation.”

They both knew it was a lot more, but
she went along with the ruse.

“Jeez, I don’t know—a boring
dinner or an evening with a rock band.”

His smile was self-assurance
personified. “Dinner with me won’t be boring. I guarantee you that.”

She believed him, although she didn’t
give him the satisfaction of putting forward that knowledge. A man with his
charisma could read the dictionary backwards and make it sound sexy. “Be that
as it may, I make my own decisions. And I didn’t quite hear you
ask
me to dinner. I don’t respond well
to demands.”

“Come anyway, I have a proposition for
you.”

“We only just met. How could you
possibly have a proposition for me?”

He sobered, and regarded her with a
look that held a hint of reproach. “We can do a merry dance around this if you
want, Peaches. But all we’re doing is wasting time.” His gaze hardened. “Unless
you’re not free to be with me?”

“If I wasn’t, do you think I’d come on
a trip like this on my own?”

He swallowed, a look of sheer relief on
his face that sent a pulse of emotion through her. Why had she thought him
enigmatic when she’d first seen him and read about him? Zach Savage wore his
emotions on his sleeve.

No, that wasn’t quite correct. There
were some emotions he wasn’t afraid to exhibit. She’d seen the way he behaved
with his employees and with the guests on the plane. To them, he wore a smile
that said ‘friendly but keep away.’ And yet with her, so far he’d displayed
displeasure, annoyance, pride and an ever-present, all-compassing hunger.

“Then there’s nothing to stop you.”

“No, there’s nothing. Except me.”

“You’d stop yourself from enjoying my
company just for the sake of proving to me that you can?”

She shrugged. “I may not want to. Don’t
think you know me just because our bodies react a certain way to one another,
Zachary.”

His eyes darkened. “I love the way you
say my name. I might let you call me Zachary after all.”

“Why, thank you for the honor.”

Her snarky tone caught his attention.
He sighed. “Bethany, what’s this about? All I want is your company.”

“No, I seriously doubt that.”

“You’re right, I want a whole lot more.
But for now I just want dinner.”

She sighed. “Okay. Just dinner. Your
place at eight?”

He inclined his head in a way that made
him look almost regal. “I’ll come and collect you.”

“No, Philip, my very able bodyguard who
I met so very briefly before you commandeered my attention, will escort me.”

His eyes gleamed a hint of displeasure,
but he nodded. “I’m going to enjoy making you turn all these nos into yeses.”

She summoned a smile from somewhere,
despite the fact that looking into those eyes of his made her head spin. “Good
luck with that.”

He stepped closer, lowered his head as
if to kiss her.

Bethany’s lungs seized, her whole body
poised for the contact but at the last moment, he froze and stepped back.

In silence, he escorted her back to her
suite. She passed Tracy, her hostess, who smiled at them, but Bethany read the
questions in her wide-eyed look.

At her door, he leaned against the
doorjamb as she entered her code and opened her door. “Right, see you later.”

He straightened then slowly brushed his
fingers over her cheek, a caress that stroked every single nerve in her body.
Against her better judgment, she started to sway towards him. But again, he
froze and jammed his hands into his back pockets the way he had before. “See
you at eight. Don’t be late.”

“I’m never late,” she threw back.

His husky laugh as he walked away
resonated through her for a very long time.

***

She chose a mid-thigh, black leather China-doll
dress coupled with black patterned tights and platform pumps for dinner.

Catching her hair up in a loose knot,
she completed the look with silver chandelier earring and her favorite scarlet
lipstick.

Philip, a burly, towering giant of a
man from Papua New Guinea, knocked on her door at five to eight sharp.

He returned her smile with a bow. “Good
evening, Miss Green.” He stepped back and waited until she’d shut her door.

To her surprise, he led her toward the
back of the plane to a hitherto unseen private elevator.

“This will take you straight to Mr.
Savage’s suite. Enjoy your evening.”

She maintained her poker smile until
the elevator doors shut, then she breathed out and glanced around at the chrome
and jet-polished interior. Even the small space screamed unimaginable wealth.

When it opened several seconds later,
Zachary Savage stood in the doorway, dressed in a white shirt and black slacks
that hugged lean hips and powerful thighs and did unspeakable things to her
system.

To take her mind off it, she blurted.
“You have your own elevator?”

One brow quirked as did his smile. “I
have my own everything, Bethany. You’ll soon discover that I’m a man who
intensely dislikes sharing.”

He stood to one side and ushered her
in.

His suite was smaller than hers, which
surprised her. But the space was nevertheless as divine as the rest of the
plane.

He poured a glass of Chianti and passed
it to her. Then he settled his tall, mouth-watering frame next to her on the
sofa.

The moment he turned his attention on
her, her breath caught in her lungs.

Jesus, everything this guy did was
lethal, including just sitting and staring.

“Dinner will be served in a few
minutes. That gives me just enough time to put my proposition to you.”

Bethany sipped her wine to buy herself
more time. Because everything inside her was poised to scream yes to whatever
he said. Which scared the living shit out of her.

“I’m listening.”

“I want to be your guide in Shanghai. We’ll
condense the two days into one day, but I’ll make sure you see all the
important sights. Then I want you to ditch the Indigo Lounge experience and
come to Marrakech with me.”

***

Zach watched her stunning face go
through a myriad of expressions. He held his breath, forcing himself to remain
still as his question ricocheted through her mind.

Jesus, he’d never wanted a woman as
much as he wanted her. The fact that he couldn’t have her immediately, that his
integrity demanded he set things right elsewhere, ate at him like a damned
disease.

That dress she was wearing, the leather
that came up to mid-thigh—
Christ
,
it was a miracle he could remain conscious while all his blood was rushing
south. As for those ridiculous bow patterns on her tights, he would gladly have
torn them to shreds with his teeth to get to her soft, endlessly arousing
flesh.

Instead, he sipped his drink and waited
for her to answer.

“What’s in Marrakech?”

He exhaled in relief. It wasn’t a
definite yes…but she wasn’t saying no.
And damned if he was
prepared to give her the chance to say no.

“One of my homes. It’s at the foothills
of the Atlas Mountains with the desert oasis right at your fingertips.”

She jerked and her eyes went wide. “An oasis
as in, there’s a body of water there?” she whispered, her face growing a little
pale.

Zach frowned, hating the expression in
her eyes. “You don’t like the water?”

She pursed bee-stung lips—lips he
was dying to kiss—and shook her head. “I’m not a big fan of any body of
water.”

Shit.
That could be a problem
. But not one he intended to let stand
in the way of his goals. Because having Bethany Green had become his number one
mission. She drew him like a moth to a flame. He wanted to burn in her heat,
die in her fire.

He had no idea what was happening, what
had started happening when he’d first laid eyes on her, but hell if he was
going to slow down to find out. He was well and truly captivated. The episode
in his office had nearly blown his mind clean away. He’d never done anything
like that before. In some circumstances, it could be grounds for some serious
questions about his work practices, but at the time he hadn’t given a damn.
Hell, he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Seeing her and claiming her had been a
natural progression that he hadn’t questioned for a single moment. He intended
that progression to advance all the way to his bedroom.

“There will be other things to explore
besides the water. Many, many other things.”

Exquisite blue eyes set within an even
more exquisite face stared at him. A flush heated her cheeks at his blatant
answer. She took another sip of wine and licked a drop off her lower lip.

His low groan made her eyes widened
even further.

“How long do we have to stay in
Shanghai?”

“The I.L. stops there for two days. We
can do a twelve-hour abbreviated tour.”

“So Marrakech means I’ll miss the rest
of the tour?”

“Yes.”

Her plump lower lip pouted. “I was
quite looking forward to Bora Bora.”

“I will give you Bora Bora. I have a
place there too. But before we do that, I have business to take care of in
Paris, then in Morocco. Then I’m free to be with you. I don’t want to leave
you. Say yes, Bethany.”

She sucked in a breath. One that
pressed her generous breasts against the leather, displaying her tight, hard
nipples. When she uncrossed her long legs and re-crossed them, Zach felt the
pulse hammer at his temples. He wanted those legs splayed wide for him as he
tongued her plump clit and watched her come, over and over. Then he wanted them
high around his shoulders as he drove his cock into her.

His dick hardened so fast and so
painfully that he nearly dropped his hand to ease the intense discomfort.