Chapter 11
11
“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 out of her.
“What the hell am I doing?” She’d tried her best to repair the damage in the bathroom but one glance at 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 actually 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 heated 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 tried, 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 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 expressions 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 gaze dropping to his chest, only to nearly choke when she spotted her panties peeking from his jacket pocket where he’d stashed them.
Grabbing the glass of water on the table, she tried to cover her fluster by taking a huge gulp.
“Everything okay on your end?” Zach batted the question across the table.
Sheena’s glance narrowed 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 gaze zeroing in on Zach with a keen interest 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 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 on 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 appraised 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 you, 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 triggered 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 in line 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, and 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 doors started to open 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 brooked 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 looks 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 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. “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. When Zach had mentioned it in Paris, she hadn’t given it much thought at the time, 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’d 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 for the brainstorm session Sheena had arranged for 5p.m. At first, she was thankful her phone stayed silent but as the hours crept on, a mixture of anxiety and anticipation twisted 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 was 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, ensuring that 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?
A slither of ice rushed down her spine. If it turned out that was Zach’s crime, could she live with it?
She shook her head and pushed the thought away. There was no use torturing herself when she had no facts to base her theory on. She stared at her computer screen for several minutes. Then she typed a variation of the info she’d entered into her search engine a week ago.
A touch of shame crawled over her, but she pushed that feeling away as well. If Zach wasn’t above playing dirty, she could too.
Zach Savage and Farrah marital connection .
She hit return but already knew there would be nothing there. She’d trawled through over three hundred pages of links before she’d given up in the first few days of her miserable spiral last week.
Besides, if there was some deep, dark reason why Zach couldn’t tell her, she was sure he’d have taken steps to have any information removed from public record. It’d taken her a while to grasp the full implications of just who she’d become involved with, but she now knew Zach Savage the billionaire wielded power and influence the same way lesser mortals breathed.
Her phone rang, startling her into gasping. She answered it and felt a heavy twinge of disappointment when the dark, sexy voice she expected didn’t respond.
“I thought we were going to make plans for dinner and drinks tonight?” Keely demanded.
“I need a rain check. Have to work late tonight.” She scrolled through the twentieth page of her search, hoping to catch something she’d missed.
“Fuck. Is Sheena getting back at you for taking all that time off? I can call her and drop a few mild threats…”
Bethany laughed. “Stand down, Xena Warrior Princess. I have to work late because I’ve been put in charge of a new event.”
“Oh. Okay, cool. Anything exciting?”
Bethany hesitated. Although there was an implicit confidentiality in the early stage of her work, she and Keely had shared info on their various projects before. She trusted her friend with her life. But she wasn’t sure how Keely would take the fact that Zach had inveigled his way into her work life too. Keely was still bent out of shape over the Shades incident, and Bethany wasn’t sure how much reserve she had left where the whole Zach situation was concerned.
“Potentially. We only got the commission today and it’s a fast turnaround, so it’s a bit hectic over here. I’ll fill you in when I can, ’kay?” she said breezily.
“Fine. Guess I’ll have to find a way to amuse myself,” Keely grumbled. Bethany smiled, confident in the knowledge that her best friend would have other plans before she hung up.
After ending the call, she stared at her computer screen, her mind screeching back to Zach and the enigma that surrounded his life.
Could she wait until he divulged his secrets to her? And could she work with him in the meantime and not delve deeper into the despair which threatened to swallow her whenever she thought about that last night in Marrakech?
There was a way she could get out of their professional relationship, but she’d discarded that line of thought earlier today before it’d even fully formed. There was no way she would do a bad job and lose Neon the commission.
Even if she wanted to, her pride in her work wouldn’t let her take that route.
Footsteps clicked along the corridor towards her desk. “You ready to get started?” Sheena quipped.
Bethany gathered the information she’d put together in the last hour. Glancing at the search page one last time, she clicked it shut and breathed out. “Yes.”