Chapter 10
10
She woke alone in bed the next morning. Disoriented for a moment, she slowly relaxed against the pillows as recollection dawned and replayed in vivid Technicolor.
Less than twelve hours ago, she’d become Zachary Savage’s lover.
In that time, she’d had more sex than she’d had the past year. He’d been relentless with his demands, fucking her in more positions than she knew existed.
But more than that, an excitement burned inside her that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the prospect of having a dynamic man like Zach in her life. The stomach-knotting anxiety, which she had felt all through the trip to Shanghai and on the way to Paris, had subsided a little.
Things were moving a little too fast for her, but the knowledge that Zach was just as caught up in this fever of need they’d discovered for each other helped to ease that anxiety.
She stretched on the bed, her breath catching when inner and outer muscles protested at the workout they’d received at her lover’s hand.
Slate-colored sheets warmed beneath her hands as she drifted them over the space Zach had slept in. Turning her head, she closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. Her pulse ramped up immediately. The plan had been to join The Indigo Lounge trip to blow away the pain and misery of the last six months and to have fun, but this…
“This is insane,” she muttered.
“Talking to yourself, Peaches?”
She jerked upright.
He stood at the foot of the bed, shirtless and dressed in sweatpants. The sight of his broad shoulders, sculpted, hairless chest and tight six-pack made her mouth water.
It was obvious Zachary Savage looked after himself. Suddenly she felt pleased about her own regimen of running ten miles three times a week.
His gaze dropped to her naked breasts, and he licked his lips. “Come and eat your breakfast before I give in to the urge to eat you instead.” Despite the growing erection, he started to turn away.
Disappointment cut deeper than it should have. “Am I that easy to resist all of a sudden?”
His gaze drifted over her, and she caught the slight flare of his nostrils as he exhaled. “Don’t tempt me or we’ll never leave this room. There’s been a development. I prefer you to know about it sooner rather than later.”
With that cryptic remark, he exited as quietly as he’d entered.
And just like that, the anxiety was back.
Jumping out of bed, she quickly shrugged on the silk robe supplied by the hotel. A brush through her hair provided a little composure.
Barefooted, she entered the sunlit dining room to find him reading a paper.
On the table, delicate croissants and pain au chocolate , coffee, fruit and condiments were spread on crystal tableware and sterling silver china.
He lowered his paper, rose and came around to where she sat. The casual kiss he dropped on her head made her breath catch. Without speaking, he spread a linen napkin over her lap and poured her a coffee. Once he’d added the prerequisite spoon of sugar and a drop of cream, he set it down in front of her and returned to his seat.
His lips firmed as he picked up the spare newspaper and pushed it across the table. “Page seven.”
Her heart lurched and she curled her fists in her lap. “What’s on page seven?” she asked.
He remained silent but his eyes stayed on her as she slowly reached for the paper and opened it with trembling fingers.
A picture of Zach with a stunning, statuesque blonde, who had a hand on his shoulder and her face raised to his. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears.
Bethany recognized the heartbreak in her face. It was the same way she’d felt when Chris had dropped his bombshell and shattered dreams she’d nurtured for years.
She cast her gaze over the words. A few familiar words jumped out at her. Names too—Cindy, Isabelle, Farrah. But joined together, they meant nothing. She was cursing herself for not taking high school French seriously when he leaned closer.
“Zachary Savage Dumps Latest Flame.”
He murmured the translation, but Zach may as well have shouted it. Because she was looking closer at the picture and seeing the clothes he wore yesterday when he’d left her for hours and hours. Just to confirm, she glanced at the date of the newspaper. The vice tightened harder around her chest.
She raised her gaze to his. “This was what you were doing yesterday?” Her voice shook almost as hard as her fingers. Irritated with herself for that humiliating show of emotion, she slammed the newspaper down. Unable to sit still any longer, she pushed her chair back and hurried away from the table. “Fuck you, Savage!” she threw over her shoulder.
“Bethany, wait!”
She heard his chair scrape across the terrace floor and broke into a run. It was insane how much she hurt. Insane and frightening.
He caught up with her just as she entered the hallway that led to their suite.
A hand on her arm stopped her. When she struggled against his hold, he pinned her to the wall, his hard thighs bracketing hers. “Baby, listen to me.”
“Why should I? You left me here, cooling my heels so you could go dump your old girlfriend and come back and fuck your new one. It’s not exactly axe murder territory but it ranks up there next to sleazebag. Jesus, do you know how that makes me feel?”
She tried to pull away. He held her tighter.
“That wasn’t all I did yesterday?—”
“God, please tell me you didn’t fuck her goodbye.” The very idea of it made her stomach flip over.
His jaw tightened. “Of course I didn’t! Until last night, I hadn’t fucked another woman in months.”
The answer appeased her a little, but the knowledge of what he’d been doing was still wedged like stone beneath her breast, terrifying the living daylights out of her. How had this man come to mean so much to her in so short a time?
“Why did you show that picture to me? You could’ve kept it to yourself.”
“Last night you told me you didn’t like secrets. I can’t share all of my life with you, but what I can I will make as transparent to you as possible.”
“So you intend to tell me about every woman you’ve slept with since your balls dropped?”
His gaze hardened. “Don’t get snippy, Peaches. Or I’ll have to spank your gorgeous ass. I only told you about Sadie because you were already in my life before I’d made it clear she was out of mine. But I assure you it wasn’t news to her.”
A sudden thought struck her. “That’s what you meant by ‘when the time is right’!”
He nodded.
“It was also why you didn’t touch me after that time in your office.” His iron-strong restraint, his desperately hungry looks. It all made sense now.
“I didn’t think it was right to lay a full claim on you when another woman felt she had the right to claim me. I wanted to finish things properly with her first.”
She shook her head. “It still doesn’t feel right…”
“Bethany, I’ve belonged to you since the moment I saw you. I had to make sure someone else knew that. That’s all.”
That floored her. In these days of dumping-by-text where guys felt perfectly absolved of any responsibility once they’d pressed send, Zach had flown thousands of miles to put things right with one girlfriend before starting with another. She’d seen the strain and naked hunger in his eyes from the moment they’d met. He’d stopped himself from acting on it until he was truly free.
But would the same thing happen to her when he met someone else? Would she also receive a visit from Zachary, informing her he now belonged to another woman? There was integrity in his action but also a cold bloodedness that struck a vein of terror in her heart.
“Don’t overthink this, Bethany. My confrontation with Sadie was a long overdue thing. I’m sorry I had to do it after I met you rather than before, but once you came into my life, there was no question that it had to be done. Do you get that?”
“I’m trying to… but…” Her brain whirled with a flood of thoughts, but the most disturbing idea was that he’d been with another woman, one who’d known him intimately. That reality made her gut knot with acrid jealousy.
“What are you thinking, Peaches?” he murmured, drawing his hot body closer as if sensing her weakening. The hands that had been clamped on her waist now braced the wall on either side of her head, making her feel truly caged in, surrounded by him.
When his ripped torso leaned in closer, she fought to remember what her answer was.
“I’m thinking she didn’t look like she was expecting the news you delivered yesterday…”
Beautifully sexy lips firmed. “I can’t help that. Once I saw you, there was no prolonging this. The two days I had to wait to have you were the longest of my life,” he growled in that sexy baritone that shivered all the way to her toes.
“I’m also thinking I’m not sure whether I want you more for displaying such nobility, or whether to claw your eyes out for leaving me here while you went to dump your old girlfriend.”
He caught a swathe of hair in his fingers and brought it to his lips. Watching the mouth she was dying to devour work its way over her hair was so curiously erotic, she could only stare.
“I would much prefer it if you wanted me more.” His mouth dropped to graze along her jaw, sending a thousand sparks of desire racing across her nerve endings.
“I think that’s near impossible right now.” Not with that mouth moving so close to hers. Not when she could sense the barely leashed sexual predator prowling close, intent on consuming her.
His soft laugh tickled her earlobe. “But you can try harder.”
“Maybe. Wait.” She pushed at his shoulders until he leaned back from her. “You said that wasn’t all you did. So where were you for the rest of the time?”
“I attended a three-hour meeting and finalized the deal I’d been working on.”
“Oh, right.” She made a quick calculation. “But that still doesn’t make up for how long you were away.”
He let loose that hot smile again. “You were counting the hours?”
“Answer the question, Zach.” She didn’t want to be that girlfriend who needed to know where her man was at every moment, but Zach had thrown the door wide open on this one. Besides, after being blindsided by Chris, her trust had taken a deep-sea diving excursion for the foreseeable future.
“No, I wasn’t just at the meeting.”
She looked into his eyes, saw the expectancy. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Clever girl. I was hoping you’d ask me that.”
“Really? Why?”
She held her breath as he reached into his back pocket and withdrew a sheet of paper.
“Because I also stopped at my doctor’s.”
She jerked back so fast her head slammed against the wall.
He frowned. “Hey, watch it.” He cradled the back of her head and rubbed gently where she’d banged it.
“Your doctor’s? Why? Are you sick?” She couldn’t disguise the slight panic in her voice. God, what was wrong with her? Three days ago, this man had been an enigma on a piece of paper, as far out of her reach as the stars were to humanity. Now all of a sudden, the thought that he could be suffering made her heart lurch alarmingly.
“No, I’m not sick. I can confirm that with one hundred percent certainty because I went to get some blood work done.” His grey eyes held an extreme intensity, much more than usual, that made her heart skip several beats.
“Why would you need blood work done?”
“Because, while I don’t mind using condoms and will continue to do so if you wish, I wanted to prove to you that I was healthy. Even before we touched, I knew you had the power to shred my control with the minimum of effort, Peaches.”
She sucked in a breath. “I… do?”
“Yes. And that message has been confirmed a hundred-fold since we fucked. Are you on birth control?” he asked.
She nodded. “Quarterly shots to regulate my period. My latest dose was three weeks ago.”
His gaze darkened and his mouth curved in a wicked smile. “Good.” He thrust the paper into her hand. “This is for you.”
With him this close, it took several minutes for her to read the health report. Zach was clean, a healthy, rampantly sexy male.
“You did this for me?”
“For us. I needed you to know that if I ever slip up and don’t use protection, you’ll never have to fear for your health. And also that we can indulge whenever we want without fearing any repercussions.”
The paper fluttered from her hand and landed on the floor, unheeded. “So you mean… we can… I can…” She licked her lips, unable to convey the depth of emotions coursing through her at the images, which bombarded her brain.
He caught her to him with a jerky, needy movement, as if having her so far away physically hurt him. His hands curved over her ass, pulled her into sharp contact with his body. His cock was hard. Dear Lord, when wasn’t his cock hard for her?
The knowledge sent yet another potent rush of powerful arousal through her. The idea that she, the woman whose boyfriend had dumped her for another man, could affect a guy as hot and sexually on top of his game as Zach, thrilled her and infused her with much needed confidence.
Leaning down, he bit on her earlobe. “It means you can have me whenever and wherever you want. Instant satisfaction. We don’t have to wait. All you have to do when the mood takes you is to hop on and ride.”
He laughed at the full-bodied shudder that went through her, and bit harder.
“Zach!”
He soothed the bite with his tongue. “Does that notion please you? Does it turn you on? Because that’s what I want. You, turned on for me, twenty-four seven. The idea of that blows my mind, baby. Does it blow yours?”
“You know it does.”
“Good. I’m glad.” He pulled back slightly and glanced down at her, his eyelids heavy with a dangerously erotic look. “Hey, I believe we’ve just had our first fight.”
“Hmm… I believe we have.”
“So can we now progress to the making up sex?” He grinned.
Her breath hitched. “Right here?”
He caught her hand from around his waist and placed it on his cock. Her fingers curled around him. His groan was immediate and so heartfelt, she grew even wetter.
“This is as good a time as any, Peaches. I’m dying for you. I crave you the moment I walk out of your presence. Imagining your tight little cunt wrapped around my dick can only keep me going up to a point. Then things start to unravel for me.”
Even as her insides melted at the thought of having him, hot and thick inside her, a part of her still dwelled on their conversation.
“Was she… Sadie… was she devastated that you ended things with her?”
Zach hesitated for a moment. “Yes, but it was the right thing to do. It was the only way I’d allow myself to be with you.”
As someone who’d been dumped in favor of another, she felt a twinge of pain for the other woman. Getting dumped was most definitely not fun.
Impatient, his mouth started to descend again. She stopped him with a hand on his chest. “One more thing.”
He growled. “Jesus, my fucking balls are on fire and you want to keep talking. Fine. One last question. That’s all you get.”
“Do you do this with all your girlfriends? The medical report thing?” she blurted before she could chicken out.
He froze, then blinked slowly. “No. You’re the first one I’ve wanted to do it with. It never even occurred to me to do it with anyone else.”
Her shocked exhalation made him smile. “Really?”
“Really. Do I get brownie points for that, baby?”
“Like you have no idea.”
“Oh, one more thing you need to know, Peaches.”
She loved that nickname, more than she would ever admit to him. “Yes?”
“From here on in, panties are banned. I want nothing to come between me and that fine, sexy ass of yours.”
“Is that an order or a request?”
“It’s whatever you need to convince yourself it is to make that reality happen. Disobey me and there will be consequences.”
She knew he was being playful, but she couldn’t stop the shiver of delight that went through her at his masterful tone.
“What do I get in return?”
“You can name when and where next time.”
“That’s it? I get to choose the place where you have your way with me?”
“Yes. It’s a great deal. You should take it.”
With deft hands, he pulled the robe free of her body and stared down at her for so long and so hard, her nipples ached and her sex clenched and unclenched with needy pulls.
Strong, blunt-tipped fingers cupped her breasts and squeezed. “You’re so beautiful, Peaches.” Lowering his head, he feasted on her breasts until her fingers clawed desperately through his hair.
He took a condom out of his back pocket and tore it open with his teeth.
Surprise made her eyes widen. “But… I thought…”
Taking a step back, he yanked his joggers off and stepped out of them. Gloriously naked, heavily aroused, he hesitated, his eyes hopeful and eager in a way that made her sway towards him.
“Nothing would please me more, Bethany. But you get to say when that happens, okay?” he rasped.
She nodded. She’d never taken such a risk before, never even contemplated it with Chris. And yet here she was, almost on the verge of… of…
He reached out and cupped one cheek in his large palm. “It’s okay to say no if you’re not ready.”
“I’m not ready.”
His eyes dimmed a touch, but he nodded and held out the condom.
She took it from him and slid it on with sure, sexy strokes.
He stepped forward, and his cock nudged her entrance. “Take as long as you need, I can wait. As long as you’re not fighting me or holding me back from this, I can wait. Jesus, I’m just grateful I get to have you any way I can get you. Are you ready for me?” One finger brushed past her clit and speared her tight sheath. Then it was swiftly joined by another. He fucked her with his fingers until stars danced behind her lids.
Desperate for more, she clawed at his shoulders. “Now, Zach. I’m ready. Please…”
With a hungry grunt, he kicked her legs wider apart and positioned the thick head of his cock at her entrance.
At the first thrust, she screamed.
Rough hands bit into her hips as he held her still for his penetration. She didn’t last long.
Within a minute, she was unraveling. “Oh God! Oh?—”
“Shit! Oh baby, I love the way you squeeze me when you come. Fuck, yeah. Just like that. Just like… ah!”
He buried his face in her throat and let out a loud keen as he pumped inside her.
Bethany held on as his release prolonged hers.
When the thought danced in her head, she let it sink in. Just how would it feel to take Zach Savage skin to skin?