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As if sensing his agitation, her gaze
locked on his then dropped to his crotch. She couldn’t miss her effect on him
and he didn’t bother to hide it. He wanted her to see how much hot he was for her.
How much he desired her.

Slowly, she licked her lips. Her breath
came out in soft, hot pants. Then her lids lifted and she murmured the word he
wanted to hear.

“Yes.”

Chapter Six

Shanghai was hot, and humid and
glorious.

Her emperor suite at the Indigo
Mandarin Shanghai—she’d discovered that all the Indigo Lounge
destinations were linked to businesses owned by Zachary Savage—had made
her want to weep with joy, but it was the thought of being escorted round the
amazing Chinese city that made Bethany’s blood thrum with excitement.

Of course, her escort also had a lot to
do with it.

A full twelve hours after the fact, she
found it hard to believe she’d readily agreed to abandon the trip of a lifetime
and said yes to Zach. A part of her remained suspended in disbelief at what she
was contemplating. The rest of her felt compelled to seize the moment, give in
to the incredible chemistry that sizzled between them every time he looked at
her with those intense grey eyes.

She felt him behind her and turned from
examining the enormous jade Buddha and ancient carvings on the walls of the Jing’an
Temple, their fourth and final tour stop.

“Are you ready to leave?” he asked in
that low, growly voice that made her heart race that little bit faster.

His hands were once again shoved into
the back of his jeans, a familiar stance she was beginning to recognize every
time he came within touching distance.

The blue shirt he’d worn with his jeans
stretched over his wide chest and from the open collar she glimpsed vibrant, golden-brown
skin that made her whole body tingle.

“Yes.” Her voice emerged strained and
she shoved down the spurt of irritation that rose out of nowhere.

For some reason, Zachary Savage, having
made it very plain that he wanted to get into her panties in the very near
future, was now going out of his way not to touch her. She knew it wasn’t
because he wanted to maintain a sense of propriety in front of his employees.
For parts of their tour, he’d instructed Tracy, her personal guide, and Philip,
her bodyguard, to give them privacy as he’d shown her around the exquisite
Yuyuan Gardens.

But even when they were alone, although
he stayed close, he was very careful not to touch her. The urge to ask him why
hovered on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it down and curbed her own
desire to step closer, slide her hands over that ripped, mouthwatering chest.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up and found him staring at
her, eyes narrowed and probing in a way that made her fear he could read her
thoughts.

Quickly, she nodded. “I’m fine, just a
little worn out from trekking all over the city.”

The boots she’d won with her own jeans
and white lacy top were beginning to pinch hard and her feet ached from the
pace he’d set since they left the hotel at nine that morning, but her senses
were on fire with the whole experience.

“You should’ve told me to slow down.”

“What, and miss all the amazing places
you’ve taken me today?”

He merely smiled, a devastating smile
that sent heat through her stomach and made her clit pulsate.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He stepped
back and indicated the limo idling on the curb outside the steps to the temple.

They drove through Pudong District and
entered the heartland of cosmopolitan Shanghai, with skyscrapers and iconic
towers that stretched into the sky.

“Thank you for showing me around,” she
said as the car drove them back to the hotel.

Bethany tried not to devour him with
her eyes as he lounged next to her in the back seat. Of course, he had no such
compunction. Every time she moved, his gaze followed. He tracked her with the
focus of a jungle predator, and even though his stance remained graceful and
relaxed, there remained a coiled energy about him that her hyperaware senses
couldn’t ignore.

“My pleasure,” he said simply. One arm
lifted to slide over the back of the seat, within a whisper of where the messy
bun of her hair touched the headrest. Perhaps he even caught a strand between
his fingers. She was much too overwhelmed with what his proximity did to her to
find out.

Silence thrummed between them. One he
didn’t feel inclined to break. No, Zachary was content to just lounge like a
predator in the sun and watch her. And she…she was getting worked up over the
whole staring-but-not-touching crap going on. She turned her head as the Nanpu
River came into view, but it didn’t alleviate the awareness crawling over her
skin.

She turned back to him. “So how many
languages do you speak, besides Mandarin and English?”

“Five. Seven if you count slightly less
salubrious words in two other languages,” he replied.

“You mean swear words?”

His mouth curved in one of those wicked
smiles. Her sex clenched hard and her nipples tightened into needy points.

“No, I mean fuck words, Bethany. I’m
fluent in Greek and Armenian. If you like, I can describe your every move, your
every sound and how your sweet cunt feels around my cock when we fuck. Do you
like dirty talk during sex, Bethany?”

Fire engulfed her. Her hands clenched
in her lap as she watched him lean closer, his gaze running feverishly over her
face.

“Why is that important?” she managed to
squeeze out.

“I want you to educate me in what
pleases you; what turns you on. Just as I intend to teach you how to satisfy
me.” He leaned even closer, brought that heady smell of potent masculinity and
expensive, exclusive aftershave with him.

Her senses reeled, as they’d been
reeling since she walked into the private hangar yesterday.

“You want to know what pleases me?”

He nodded once.

“Finding out a little bit about the man
I’m intending to abandon my trip for would be nice.”

His gaze cooled and he relaxed back in
his seat. Turning that mesmerizing gaze from her, he glanced out the window.

“You know who I am in all the ways that
count.”

“I beg to differ. I know your name and
some of the businesses you’re involved in. How do I know underneath those
expensive clothes you’re not really a seventy-year-old man addicted to plastic
surgery and steroids?”

He laughed, a warm, rough sound that
curled her toes.

“The plastic surgery is easy to prove.
As is the steroid allegation.”

More heat flooded her. She’d seen him
aroused last night in his suite. His hard-on had been unmistakable beneath the
soft material of his slacks. The size of it had made her throat dry and her sex
tighten hungrily. No long-term steroid use there.

“Be that as it may. I need a little bit
more. If it helps, I’ll go first. I’m twenty-four, I turn twenty-five in two
weeks. I moved to New York two years ago. Before that I lived at home in
Westchester with my parents—both university professors—and I
graduated
summa cum laude
from
Cornell.”

The smile he gave her was cryptic. “I
know all of that.”

Bethany felt a jolt of shock. “You do?”

He nodded. “Half of the information was
in the forms you filled out.”

“And the other half?”

His lips pursed for split second.
“Every Indigo Lounge guest is vetted thoroughly before they’re approved for the
experience. I was reading your papers when you arrived.”

Her shock faded and she nodded. “That
makes sense. So you know everything about me—”

“Not quite everything, but I intend to
find out.” The dark promise sent a mingled pulse of alarm and excitement
through her.

“Will you afford me the same courtesy,
then?”

He shrugged. “You know my name. I’m
thirty-one. I’m heterosexual and I own several businesses across the globe. I
like airplanes and baseball but don’t get to watch or attend many games.” His
gaze re-fixed on her, that intensity claiming her with its forcefulness then
dropped to linger on her breasts before coming back to her face. “And right now
I can’t think beyond the moment I get to fuck you.”

He was giving her the glossy exterior,
the fluff piece that anyone with internet access could find, then burying his
reluctance to reveal anything himself with talk of sex. She fought against the
desire that dragged through her belly and tried to focus.

“What about family? Do you have any?”

An icy chill froze his face and
darkened his eyes. She watched, stunned as his jaw clenched tight and the man
who’d been gazing hungrily at her a moment before completely disappeared.

“None that I want to talk about.”

***

As definitive answers went, it was as
stark and as blunt as it could get.

His arm dropped from the back of the
bench seat, his hands curling into fists on his thighs as he turned to stare
out the window.

Bethany watched his profile, struck
anew by the sheer gorgeousness of Zachary Savage. Even with an icy scowl
stamped across his face, the man was beyond-description-hot.

It was clear she’d broached a sensitive
subject. She wanted to take back the question, but she bit her tongue.

Getting to know the man you intended to
sleep with wasn’t a crime. Hell, in this day and age of creeps at every corner,
it was mandatory.

All the same, she held her breath when
he sighed and turned to her.

“You probably have a few boxes you’re
dying to tick before you’re reassured that what’s going to happen between us is
okay. Trust me, Bethany, it couldn’t be more right. Would you be more reassured
if I told you I’ve never done anything like this before?”

“You mean pick up a woman from one of
your planes and make plans to sleep with her?”

One corner of his mouth lifted, but his
face remained deadly serious. “I haven’t flown on an Indigo Lounge flight since
the maiden flight six years ago. And I’ve certainly never acted on the spur-of-the-moment
to go on one.”

Again, she experienced a bolt of shock,
then
she remembered his instructions at the airport.
“Your crew were surprised you were changing your plans,” she murmured.

“That’s because I only stopped in
Newark to refuel my jet. They were nearly done when you arrived. Another half
hour and I would’ve been gone.”

He let that last piece of information
linger, let them both absorb the serendipity of their meeting. When his eyes
met hers again, the cold was gone. And the desire was back full force and
pounding into her, relentless and unyielding.

And yet, dammit, he made no move to
touch her.
Or to come any closer.

It was almost as if Zachary Savage was
intent on seducing her with his words alone.

And what a bang up job he was doing.
Bethany shifted as she felt her panties dampen from the hungry look in his
eyes. The tingle between her legs had taken on full throbbing status and her
breasts felt so heavy and full that she wanted to clamp her palms over them,
squeeze them to alleviate their aching.

“So you see, everything else is
superfluous. What’s important
is
you and me and our
desire to explore what’s between us.”

She was saved from answering when the
car rolled to a stop beneath the exquisite portico of Zachary’s hotel. When the
porter saw who was in the car, he jumped to attention and rushed to open her
door.

By the time he emerged on the walkway beside
her, Zach had assumed the casually distant persona he’d displayed in company
all day long. He responded to several greetings as he led her through the
marble-floored, mouth-droppingly designed foyer to the bank of private
elevators that serviced her suite and his.

The hotel was decorated like the rest
of Zach’s businesses she’d seen online and in person so far, touches of exquisite
style with the barest hint of indigo that announced its master’s personal
touch.

They entered the elevator and he
immediately turned to her.

“Remember we leave for the airport in
four hours,” he said as the doors shut, cocooning them in its intimate space as
they were rushed up to the eighteenth floor.

It’d just turned six. She’d taken
Tracy’s advice and stayed acclimatized to the crazy time zone when they landed.

Zachary’s private jet was picking them
up in Paris but they were flying commercial from Shanghai. “That gives me
enough time for a massage before dinner.”

He sucked in a quick breath then jammed
his hands into his pockets. A quick glance showed his eyes had darkened to
slate. She didn’t know whether the idea of her getting a massage turned him on
or displeased him because his face remained as neutral as it had been since the
exited the limo.

“The Indigo Flame serves the best
lobster in Shanghai. I’ve reserved a table for eight.”

“Great. Friday’s Child are performing
at the club next door at nine, so that’ll be perfect.” Jax had sent her another
message when she’d failed to attend their rehearsal on the plane. To refuse
twice would be rude.

Again she saw Zachary’s lips purse and
this time she knew he was displeased.