The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (47 page)

When they heard Suzy say his name, his
first
name, silent speculation was instantly rife; jaws
dropped, eyes widened and hearts fluttered.

"She knows him!" girls hissed to each
other.

"Are they together?"

"Oh. My. Freaking. God."

"Is there somewhere private we can talk?"
Zachary said quietly, but the tone in his commanding voice made
several woman jump to attention.

"This way Mr. Demovic."

"It's okay, I've got this." Suzy stopped the
young woman from taking Zachary's arm. "Follow me." She said.

There were more murmurs from the office
floor.

"She's got him under control."

"Take me somewhere private? Isn't it a little
early for that already?"

"Not too early for me."

Zachary and Suzy left the sniggers and the
tittering behind to find the small office space reserved for
private meetings.

Once they were alone Suzy realized just how
hard her heart was beating. Last night she had been filled with
angry confusion, passion, lust, fear and a burning desire to
uncover the truth. Now she felt afraid even to breathe.

Zachary sat down behind the small desk.

"That's my seat." Suzy forced out of her
throat.

Zachary's dark, hooded eyes glanced around
the small office as though to say, 'what the hell difference does
it make?', but then he stood up.

"Of course. Excuse me." He said. The meeting
room was far too small but the charity didn't have the money to
move to a bigger space just at the moment. Zachary had to brush
closely past her as they changed places. He came so close to her
and smelled so good, so intoxicatingly familiar. Nothing else could
have brought the memories of that night as intensely close as being
this near to him. She let him sit down and then took her place on
the other side of the desk. Zachary was watching her with the same
maddening intensity that had kicked her hormones into high gear all
those months ago.

What the hell does he want?
She asked
herself, forgetting that she had spent half the previous evening
trying to track him down and speak to him.

"Why did try to contact me last night?" He
said, as unreadable as ever.

It's the damn promotion of course.
She
thought. He probably thought it was about the promotion. She
drummed her fingers on the desk.

Promotion. Sure, a promotion straight into
his bed.
Anger and excitement ran through her everywhere at the
idea.

"I thought I had until noon today." She
said.

"That's right. You do. But you tried to call
me at least twelve times last night. I assumed you had something
urgent to talk to me about."

"Don’t you ever call people back?"

"Of course I do, but your calls were all
after ten pm and I was otherwise engaged."

Otherwise engaged? With that slut you call
a PA?
Suzy pulled herself up. The new PA was probably a very
nice, ordinary and professional woman.

As long as the bitch isn't in his bed.

"Zachary, could you use some coffee?" She
needed to rein herself in. Only Zachary could make her this crazy
so fast. No wonder she had failed as his PA. Working side by side
with him had to be the absolute worst job in the world for her, and
now he was surrounding her again, forcing her into his world.

"I don’t need coffee." He said, but the
intensity of his gaze suggested he needed something else, and
badly.

"Well I do. And I need some air too." Suzy
stood up and walked around the desk, Zachary's darkened eyes
followed her. He was at about the same level as he had been when he
was on his knees looking up at her in the hotel room in Hong Kong.
Suzy felt unsteady on her feet. The image of him naked and ready
for action was seared into her consciousness and her body was
preparing itself for action regardless of what she told it to
do.

They had never made love but the things that
had happened between them were hotter than any sex she could
imagine with another man.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked him.

He let her stand a moment longer and then
pushed himself slowly from the chair. He was way too muscular for
that business suit, Suzy thought. He should be out on a yacht or a
surf board or squeezing some dirty little slut hard in his
arms…

Her thoughts froze as she realized how close
he was to her, his overwhelming presence enveloping her again.

Damn it, she just couldn't seem to think
straight when he was this close to her.

"Okay Suzy, I'd love to come with you.
Where's it going to be?"

Right here. Right now.
Her body and
raging female hormones silently screamed at him.
I want to be
your dirty little slut.

She took an unsteady step backwards, rocked
by her own thoughts, and felt the wall behind her.

"There's a small place--"

His lips pressed against hers, his hands were
on her arms, she felt like a rag doll in his strong embrace, her
body melted from the inside out and she felt the twitch of her
needy bud crying out for him.

She floated in his arms until her set her
back down on the ground.

"Okay." He said huskily. "Let's go. Anywhere
you want to."

Suzy shook her head to clear her thoughts and
at least try to get control of her feelings.

"You have no right to do that." She said.

He watched her, without saying a word, his
thoughts entirely hidden from her.

"I'm sorry." He said. As always, there was no
trace of contrition in his deep voice. After all, why should he
apologize for taking something that he considered to already belong
to him?

"Let's go--"

Before he finished the words Suzy had molded
herself to him, reached up to take his head in her hands and
pressed her lips to his. The full length of her body squeezed
against the wall of hard muscle in front of her and she could feel
every chiseled contour of his body. He was already hard for her.
There was no mistaking it. The thought set her on fire even more
but with an effort she pushed herself away from him, freeing
herself from the arms he tried to enclose around her.

"Two can play at that game." She said
defiantly, coquettishly.

"I'd love to play at that game." He said.
"All night long."

"Well we're not here for games, we're here to
work and I'm here to… to… " Something held her back, an uneasy
feeling that the truth was not all it was cracked up to be.

"To accept our offer I presume. Why else
would you have been so insistent in contacting me last night?"

"It's not that. Forget coffee. Just sit down.
We have some talking to do."

"I like this new assertiveness." He said,
pausing for a moment before finally resuming his place. Suzy sat
down as well, happy to have the desk between them again.

"If you like this assertiveness then how
about you tell me about that scar on your side? How about some
truth for a change? Or does being a billionaire put you above such
mundane concerns as honesty?"

Zachary held her gaze. Was he considering his
response? Or maybe considering leaving? Suzy couldn't tell. She was
ready to explode in more ways than one if he didn't say something
soon and God damn but didn't he look even sexier, hotter than she
remembered him to be. Seeing him occasionally on TV or in a
magazine just couldn't compare to having him here in the flesh in
front of her. It would take all her new found maturity and
experience not to melt once again into a mess of putty in his
hands.

"That scar is none of your business." He
said. "If that's what you wanted to talk to me about last night
then I believe our conversation is over."

"How dare you." Suzy was infuriated. "I know
what that scar is. You gave me something without even asking my
permission and then like a coward you never said a word about it in
all that time we spent together."

His gaze was steely now and Suzy couldn't
help but feel on the defensive as he stared into her soul.

"How do you know about the scar? If someone
has breached the terms of the confidentiality agreement then there
are legal implications."

"No-one has broken anything you stupid
baboon."

Just a hint of a smile broke the impassive
line of Zachary's lips. Her offbeat use of the word baboon to
describe him had always tickled him and made his cock twitch at the
same time. It was familiar feeling he hadn't had since their wild
time in Hong Kong together. No other girl could do that for
him.

"You're the only person in the whole world
who ever calls me a baboon, Suzy. Do you know that?"

"That surprises me." She said dryly and
watched his lip curl a little higher.

He's laughing at me.
The thought fired
through her and her desire to punish him reared itself again. She
had outwitted him before, she would do it again. He still had no
idea what she had on him, what she could do to him if she wanted
to. The thought thrilled and excited her.

"You think you have me right where you want
me, don't you?" She said.

"It's really nothing like that Suzy. We've
offered you a job, an opportunity that you thoroughly deserve,
based on merit. This is a cause that has always been very special
to me, you can ask Melissa or Jason. I know how you trust them,
even if you don't trust me. There's nothing else going on
here."

"Is that why you kissed me just now? Because
there's nothing going on here?"

"Is that why you kissed me back?"

They were into their old familiar sexual
stand-off mode again.

"It seems we can't be near each other for
more than a half an hour without it turning into a war Zach. Is
that really what you want to do? Promote me so that we'll have more
time together and end up driving each other crazy?"

"What's crazy about wanting someone Suzy?
We're consenting adults--"

"I don't consent to anything. You're the one
doing all the consenting for both of us. Now I have your kidney
inside my body and…"

And what?

"It was nothing personal Suzy. It has nothing
to do with anything. I donated it because I was a compatible donor
and because I had a reason to want to do it. It had nothing to do
with you as a person. You signed the consent form to take an
anonymous donor kidney, nobody forced you."

She sat back and sighed a long exasperated
breath.

"You think you're unbeatable, don't you?" She
said.

"It's not about that. Believe me. Suzy…" he
looked as strong and impassive as ever, but the words that came out
belied his rugged exterior. "Suzy you're driving me crazy.
Again."

She still couldn't believe it. She was
nobody, Janet ordinary and he was master of his universe, with his
thousands of employees, his servants and assistants. He was a man
absolutely at the top of his game and on top of everybody
else's.

"How can I make
you
crazy? That
doesn't make any sense at all."

"Who else could be angry about being given a
kidney that had changed their whole life? I understand pride Suzy,
but this, I have to confess, is beyond me. Did you know that our
mother had heart disease?"

"No I didn’t Zachary and I'm sorry to hear
that but what has that got to do with anything?"

"She's alive because she received a heart
transplant from someone who volunteered their body to save another
person's life. Our mother was able to raise us largely without any
help from our father, because of the generosity of a complete
stranger. A person who we will never know anything about. All we
know is that she died in a car accident and had the same blood type
as our mother. Nothing else. Because of that stranger I am the
person I am today. Our family is what it is today because of that
person."

Suzy wanted to stay angry but the emotions
were draining away.

"I swore when I was a little boy that I
would do the same for someone else one day, but I didn't want to
have to die in order to do it. When I met you and Melissa through
Jason I knew I had a chance to make this dream come true, to
fulfill the most important covenant of my life. You made it
possible and for that I will be eternally grateful."

How could she have foreseen an answer like
this? This damn billionaire had a comeback for everything. No
wonder he was such a hero to the whole world.

But what about Hong Kong? Her anger and
confusion rose again.

"So that's why you treated me like crap when
I tried my level best to be your PA?"

"Why are you so angry all the time
Suzy?"

"I'm not angry damn it. Not all the time.
You make me angry with your damn, with your damned…"

She left the sentence hanging. She had no
idea why.

"Maybe you're afraid." He said.

"I'm not afraid of
you
."

He smiled again, just fractionally.

"No one is less afraid of me than you Suzy.
I'm the one who should be afraid here."

Well that's not true.
She thought.
You're the only thing in the whole god damn world I am afraid of
and I don’t even know why.

Zachary watched her, his eyes never wavering
from hers for a second. Suzy was sure he could read her thoughts
like an open book and the idea both frightened and exhilarated
her.

"So now that you know my story, let's get
back to you." He looked at his watch, his tanned, strong forearm
sliding out from under the pristine white shirt. "You have just
under two hours. Have you made your decision about the promotion
yet?"

"That's not important. Not now. That's not
why you're here and you know it. You are literally a part of me
now, whether I like it or not. There's a part of you inside me and
likely to be there for the rest of my life. I have to learn how to
live with that and how to deal with it."