HIGHER (The Indigo Lounge Series) (9 page)

“Access? To me?”

He bit lightly on her earlobe and
delighted in her shudder. “Of course.”

“But like this? How could you?”
The raw hurt finally penetrated his fog of lust. He drew back and looked down
at her.

Confusion and a hint of despair
grappled with her desire, causing her eyes to darken. He hated seeing that.

“You told me you’d never lie to
me.” Her voice was dark with accusation.

He tensed. “How have I lied to
you?” he demanded.

“What the hell do you call this?
Barreling your way into my work life just to get what you want?”

He slid another finger in, felt
her stretch deliciously around him. Jesus, at this rate he would blow his load
as shamelessly as he’d blown it the other night on her bedroom floor. He fought
the tightening in his groin. No way was he losing control that quickly again.

“I call it the extra edge. With
perhaps a little manipulation thrown in. But no lies.”

He watched her toss that in her
mind for a few seconds. Then she shook her head, even as her thighs spread that
little bit wider and her hips slowly undulated against his hand.

“This isn’t okay, Zach. It’s
nowhere near okay. This is my
professional
life
you’re messing with.”

“On the contrary, I’m seeking to
enrich it. Besides, we discussed this, back in Paris, remember?”

“What?” Gratifyingly lust-glazed
blue eyes met his.

“I said I’d find a way to make it
work in the real world. This is me making it work.” He flexed his fingers and
her pouty lips dropped open on a gasp.

“If we discussed it then, why
couldn’t you discuss it with me now?”

“Because it’s partly business.
Believe it or not, if Neon hadn’t been a good fit, this meeting wouldn’t have
happened. Now the only thing that needs clarification is whether you feel you
can work with it or if you want to refuse Neon the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“Are you really saying that if I
don’t come with the package this doesn’t happen?”

He shrugged. “A little hardball
to get what I want, Bethany. That’s all this is. Now if you don’t want those
panties shredded, be a good girl and hold them to one side for me so I can see
to your needs.”

Alluring blue eyes met his and he
watched her struggle to take a breath. “Zach…”

“Do it, Bethany. You’re not
leaving this room until I make you come. I can bend you over the sofa or we can
do it this way. This way I can control your screams, but it’s totally your
choice.”

Her lips parted wider and a hot
little breath burst through them. He licked her lower lip and felt another
shaky sigh spill from between kiss-swollen lips.

Her fingers grasped her hemline
and slowly lifted the skirt up to her hips. He caught sight of her panties and
his breath stopped.

Indigo lace.

“Jesus. You fucking know what
this color on you does to me, Peaches.”

“I didn’t even know I was coming
here until an hour ago…”

His hand left her breast to tug
her chin upward. “But you were wearing it anyway. When you saw me it made you
wet, didn’t it? Knowing you were wearing my color against your sweet cunt?” He
hardened his tone, not prepared to accept anything less than total honesty.

“Yes,” she sighed.

He dropped his head until his
forehead touched hers. Withdrawing his fingers, he plunged them deep, deeper
until his middle finger grazed her sweet spot.

Her hips jerked against his
ruthless invasion. Liquid heat oozed between his fingers, sliding down into his
palm. “Fuck, baby.” He could barely breathe. She was so hot, so fucking
incredible.

How could he ever let her go?

They both watched, fascinated and
breathless as he finger-fucked her. Dirty, decadent sounds of suction filled
the room as he plunged in and out of her, pushed her to the brink of her
endurance. She bit back a cry as her orgasm drew closer. More than anything he
wanted to hear her scream her climax but he was mindful that there was an
audience next door.

“You like this, baby?” he growled
down at her. “Watching what I do to you?”

She didn’t look up, her attention
totally engrossed in the precisely timed pull and thrust of his fingers.

“Bethany?”

She gave a jerky nod, her fingers
tightening convulsively over her skirt.

“I want to hear it,” he demanded harshly.
He’d missed her vocal celebration of what he did to her; was as starved for it
as he was starved for her body. “Tell me!”

“Yes, I like it,” she whimpered.
Her back arched and her thighs widened, giving him better access.

He greedily took it. Catching her
nape to steady her, he angled his fingers and executed a series of fast, hard
thrusts that slammed her over the edge. He swallowed her throaty groan as she
came. Hot liquid gushed into his palm and dripped between his fingers. Her body
jerked against his as sensations buffeted her. He soothed her down with kisses
until she quietened, then slowly withdrew his fingers.

Her whimper of protest was joyful
to his ears.

She started to slide her panties
into place and lower her skirt. Before the thought was fully formed in his
mind, he’d hooked his fingers into the lace and ripped her panties off.

“Zach!”

He knew his grimace fell short of
contrite. “Sorry.” He wiped her slickness from his hands and stuffed the soaked
panties in his pocket. “I want nothing more than to taste you right now but if
I start eating you now, you won’t get out of here anytime soon. This will have
to serve as a peace offering.”

Biting her lip, she straightened
and pulled down her skirt. Her eyes met his and slid away. He caught a glimpse
of the hurt and his insides shredded.

God, he hated that look.

“Can you show me where the
bathroom is, please?” she asked in a low voice.

He wanted to kiss her again,
reassure her that things would get better but he knew she would see them as
just words. After all, he’d been saying that for the better part of a week and
half now.

The only thing he could do now
was to use the only weapon in his arsenal to keep her with him until the right
time came to share his sordid past with her.

Swallowing a growl of
frustration, he took her hand and led her down the hall. He saw her glance
around her for the first time, take in that décor around her. He wondered if
she liked it.

Wondered what she would think
about the room he’d created especially for her.

The toy room was much more
extensive than the one he’d introduced her to in Morocco. He wanted to tell her
about the room but he cautioned himself against it. They weren’t out of the
woods yet. Far from it. She may have allowed him to make her come but that didn’t
mean their issues were anywhere near resolved.

On top of everything else, she
was still hurt and confused by the stunt he’d pulled today. He had a long way
to go before Bethany opened up herself again the way she had on that last night
in Marrakech.

But no way was he giving up.

Chapter Eleven

“Oh, God!” Bethany muttered again
under her breath as the cool water gushed over her hands.

The enormity of what she’d just
done escalated in her mind until it was a huge, insurmountable obelisk. She
dried her hands, smoothed one hand over her skirt and the other over her hair.
But she couldn’t stop the shaking that raked through her insides every few
seconds. The languorous post-climactic feeling made her semi-drowsy even as her
heart hammered fast enough to scare the shit of her.

“What the hell am I doing?” She’d
tried her best to repair the damage in the bathroom but one look into her
feverish eyes and flushed face told her she was rocking the
I’ve-just-come-really-hard look. Which was why she was avoiding her reflection.
Although she didn’t really need a second look.

Her lipstick was chewed off and
her jawline was slightly grazed from Zach’s stubble when he’d growled those
heated demands in her ears.

Demands she’d granted like some
helpless, sex-starved chick…

Oh, who was she kidding? She was
helpless when it came to Zach. And his brand of sex always left her starving
for more.

Mortification rocked through her
at how fast she’d lost her panties along with her willpower. “God,” she groaned
again.

A hard knock rattled the bathroom
door. “Baby, are you okay?”

They were far enough away from
the meeting room on the other side of the apartment for them not to be
overheard but her heart lurched at the husky endearment anyway.

Springing for the door she opened
it. “Can you not call me that with my bosses within earshot, please?” she
whispered fiercely.

Zach ignored her, his eyes raking
her face and body with that insane intensity she was beginning to think would
never abate. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

She closed her eyes and sucked in
a will-sustaining breath. “Are you really this blind, or do you really not care
about anything except what you want?”

“We want the same thing so I fail
to see where this conversation is going.”

Lazily, he slid a strand of silky
hair through his fingers. She tried to bat his hand away. He caught her fingers
in his and started to bring them to his mouth.

She snatched them away as
mortification reddened her face. “God, my lipstick is in my bag. My bag is in
the conference room. They’ll take a look at me and know what I’ve…what we’ve
been doing?”

Satisfaction oozed through the
smile he sent down at her. “So?”

“The fact that you ask me that
just makes me want to throttle you.”

“Peaches, it’s only a matter of
time before the whole world knows I’m nuts about you. If I had my way, it would
be sooner. Much sooner.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock
and a full body shudder raked her from head to toe before she could catch
herself.

No matter how much she told
herself to get used to it, she would never get used to the way Zach spun her
senses with his words.

“What happened to protecting your
privacy?” she blurted.

“My privacy is no fucking use to
me without you in my life,” he replied through gritted teeth.

More words to render her
speechless.

“But if this bothers you that
much, I can find a way to excuse your absence. You can leave after your bosses
are gone. I’m sure I can come up with a satisfactory excuse.”

“So
now
you care about my professional reputation?”

Grey eyes locked on hers. “I care
about your happiness.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t have
dragged me out of that meeting room in full sight of my bosses. And you sure as
hell wouldn’t have manipulated me here in the first place.”

Again that careless shrug. Only
this time she knew just how much she’d underestimated him. And how so not
careless that shrug really was. “I had to get through to you once and for all.
I want you. I’ll do anything to have you.”

He turned and started heading for
the meeting room. With no choice but to follow or risk even more questions if
he returned without her, she followed. “So what was Monday night all about? I
thought we made progress.” She’d gone to bed believing they’d taken a small
step forward; that they’d made progress during the ride home. Being proven wrong
again made her wonder if she’d ever even come close to guessing how Zachary
Savage ticked.

“This was added insurance I put
in place before our conversation on Monday night.”

“Yeah, I kinda guessed that from
earlier. But you still didn’t see the need to call it off?” she asked, unable
to stop the tiny spurt of excitement from sprouting within her.

Zach paused with a hand on the
meeting room door. “You mentioned Sheena gave you a hard time after you failed
to come up with the goods last year. I looked into Neon and I liked what I saw.
I’m killing several birds with one stone.”

She licked her lips. “So this is
real? You want us to work on the IL project?” A tiny wave of excitement rushed
through her, escalating before she could stem it.

“As long as your ideas pass
muster, the deal is yours,” he murmured. “But don’t think that just because the
boss has a soft spot for you that you’ll be given an easy ride. I intend to
ride you very hard. And often.” He winked shamelessly and threw the door open.

She was still trying to catch her
breath when she took her seat. In total she guessed they’d been gone less than
twenty minutes but it felt like hours. When she looked up and encountered the
speculative faces around the table, Bethany’s mortification grew. Heat continued
to thrum through her pelvis, making her very much aware that she was without
panties.

“We all good?” Jeff asked as he
looked from Zach to her.

Zach sat back, a small smile
playing on his lips. “Miss Green survived the grilling so I’m satisfied our
working relationship will thrive.” He cast her a glance and she caught the
possessive heat in his eyes. She glanced away quickly, her eyes dropping to his
chest, only to nearly choke when she spotted her panties peeking from his
jacket pocket where he’d stashed it.

Grabbing the glass of water on
the table, she tried to cover her flustering by taking a huge gulp.

“Everything okay your end?” Zach
batted the question across the table.

She saw Sheena’s glance narrow
further before she smiled at Zach. “Yes. I’ve passed a preliminary list to
Jeff. Once we’ve whittled it down to the desired numbers, with your approval of
course, we’ll get started on the actual event coordination.”

“Good. Have Miss Green report to
me tomorrow with her ideas for the first two destinations, and we’ll take it
from there?” He stood, signaling an end to the meeting.

Sheena picked up her sleek
leather case and rose with Gary. She rounded the table, her eyes zeroing on
Zach with a keen intent that made Bethany’s nape tingle with apprehension and
acute irritation.

“I was thinking, a tour of the
actual plane would be beneficial. I believe that a hands on knowledge of the
product would help us profile it more effectively.”

Zach’s brow rose. “Really? You do
realize that the only way to truly experience the Indigo Lounge is to take a
trip and indulge in everything it has to offer? Are you saying that the best
way you can stage this event is to participate, Miss Malcolm?”

Sheena Malcolm, the renowned
ball-breaker known for reducing her interns to tears within minutes of their
first day, flushed a deep crimson.

For a brief moment, Bethany
actually felt sorry for her. Until she recalled the look in Sheena’s eyes as
she’d looked at Zach.

Her Zach.

“Umm, no…what I meant, of course,
was a private tour…of the plane…without the guests—”

Gary cleared his throat loudly
and Sheena subsided into silence.

“Since the plane is already here,
I can arrange a tour for tomorrow morning if that suits before I fly back to
California?” Jeff offered into the awkward silence.

“I would prefer it if Miss Green
starts on the event planning straight away. But by all means, arrange a tour
for any Neon staff you think need it. Would it be better for Miss Green to work
from here?”

Bethany shook her head
immediately. “No, my office is adequate for liaising purposes. I don’t need to
relocate here, Mr Savage. Thanks all the same.”

Zach’s jaw tightened for a second
but thankfully, he let the matter go.

When his gaze flicked to hers,
she caught the steely determination in his eyes. She raised her chin and
flashed back the same warning.

“If that’s all for now?” she
pressed, eager to be away from his electric presence. She needed to think. To
focus and regroup after what had happened in the last hour.

Further plans were made for a tour
of the IL plane. Goodbyes were said, and she made the appropriate responses.
But all she could think of was Zach’s scent in her nostrils, his dark promises
in her ears and the fact that she was now exposed to him in a way that saw no
outlet from the emotions he wrought inside her.

They were now linked
professionally unless she could come up with a hell of an explanation as to why
she would refuse to work on the IL event planning.

She had no doubt that Zach would
pull his offer from Neon should she in any way try to back out whether the
company was a fit or not. Neon were small fry in the PR and event organizing
world. He could have two dozen companies lining up to snap up the offer in a
heartbeat.

She entered the lift and held her
breath when he followed. The rest of the group crowded in. With no choice but
to squeeze up against him in the small space, she was once again bombarded by
the charged sphere surrounding him. His aftershave, spicy and alluring as hell,
wove around her as the elevator whisked them downward. Jeff made small talk,
which the others joined in. Zach remained silent, his nostrils slightly flared
and his face set in that aloof mask she’d come to recognize as his resting
expression when dealing with employees.

But when the lift started to part
on the ground floor, he turned his head toward her. Eyes, dark and stormy,
clashed with hers.

“Four o’clock tomorrow, Miss
Green. I’ll send a car for you.”

She gaped at him. “I didn’t think
I’d need to attend another meeting, Z…Mr Savage. I can email you my ideas or we
can video conference.”

“I prefer a face to face meeting.
Make yourself available, please.” His tone suffered no argument. With a curt
nod to Sheena and Gary, he walked away with Jeff.

Bethany watched, dumbfounded, as
the two men got into the back of his town car. Philip shut the door behind them
and slid behind the wheel. Within seconds, Zach was gone.

Sheena’s expression was a cross
between shock and affront as she walked on four-inch heels to the door. In the
back of the cab, she exchanged glances with Gary, then glanced at Bethany.

“I’ve heard Zach Savage
was…eccentric but I had no idea he was downright rude.”

Bethany attempted a shrug, her
whole concentration centered on keeping her mouth shut against the urge to
spring to Zach’s defense.

Bottom line was that in the need
to have his way he’d nearly blown their connection wide open.

“And why on earth would he insist
on having you as the front person on this project?”

Bethany jerked back into focus at
the clear insult in Sheena’s voice. “If you don’t think I’m up to the task,
feel free to allocate it to somebody else.”

Sheena’s mouth compressed. “We
both know that’s not an option. So you have no idea why he’s adamant to have
you on board?”

The way Zach was going it was
only a matter of time before the cat was out of the bag about their connection.
But there was no reason for her to reveal anything just yet.

The revelation that one of
America’s richest, sexiest, most dynamic men was super keen to get back into
her pants would be huge enough when the time came. She hadn’t given it much
thought at the time when Zach had mentioned it in Paris, but now she knew
without a shadow of a doubt that any revelation would be overwhelming.

“No. Absolutely none,” she lied
through her teeth.

Sheena’s light hazel eyes
narrowed. “I suppose, he does have a point. You played a lead role in the
research last year so I guess this ought to be your baby. I hope though that I
don’t need to point out how big this could be for us. And for you. That means,
whatever Zach Savage wants, he gets.”

Bethany barely stopped herself
from snorting. “Sure. Understood.” She’d been doing that willingly, and
sometimes unwillingly, since she walked into a certain VIP Lounge in Newark two
weeks ago.

For the rest of the afternoon,
Bethany cleared her desk of all other work in preparation of the brainstorm
session Sheena had arranged for five pm. At first she was thankful her phone
stayed silent but as the hours crept on, a mixture of anxiety and anticipation
mired through her belly.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed
the feeling aside and concentrated on her work.

Jeff had given them a much
meatier info file on the Indigo Lounge. Clients were chosen after a strict vetting
session done by an elite in-house investigation company under the Savage Inc.
umbrella.

With such a team at his disposal,
it came as no surprise that Zach knew her life inside and out.

His team could turn around
investigations within twenty-four hours. Which meant any guests chosen could be
vetted quickly and efficiently. When she re-read the IL policy for zero
tolerance on drugs, she paused.

Zach had mentioned a life of
drugs and partying in his younger days. She suspected that something had happened
with drugs that involved Farrah. Had she overdosed? Dear God, had he supplied
the drugs that killed her?