Bedding The Billionaire (Bedding the Bachelors Book 3) (9 page)

He knew, just like he always seemed to know what went on inside her head.

When she said nothing, he continued, “I respect you more than you’ll ever know. And despite your attempt to push me away, Lucy, I still want you. But I got your message loud and clear last night. We will never have a future together. I accept that. But if you’re thinking of using that room key because you need something, you don’t have to go to a stranger. I can give it to you. And it would be my pleasure to do so. One night. No strings attached.”

Wait—
what
had he just said? Was he seriously offering a one-night stand? Offering to give her his entire body—complete with penetration—for a night, and one night only? But he’d held off before, so why now? Had her actions on stage finally convinced him that she’d never fit into his life? Could it have been that easy?

She stared at him in shock but before she could respond, the house lights went out, plunging the theater into complete darkness, and it was too late. Way too late.

The music started and strobe lights started flashing around the space above the seats. Even with Jamie’s shocking words bouncing around in her head, Lucy gasped at the spectacle happening around her. Smoke and mirrors, she reminded herself. Magic was about illusion…misdirection…mystery. The answers were there, just shrouded in optical illusions and brilliant tricks. But she didn’t care about the logic of the moment. No…the magic was in the mystery. Every time a strobe light went off, it illuminated a different woman, suspended directly over the audience. Each woman was writhing, dancing, seemingly flying without ropes or hoops or any other means of holding them in the air.

And their bodies… The women appeared to be wearing nothing but glimmering, shimmering paint in various sensual colors. Lucy gasped when a strobe light illuminated a woman suspended directly in front of her and Jamie. The light flashed again, and the woman maneuvered her body in a way that brought her close enough that either Lucy or Jamie could have reached out and touched her.

For several minutes, the female bodies above them twisted and swayed in mind-boggling, breathtaking positions. At some point, Lucy realized she was breathing hard and that she’d somehow put her hand on Jamie’s knee.

She automatically tried to jerk her hand away.

But before she could, Jamie covered her hand with his.

One night. No strings attached.

His offer was a temptation she couldn’t put from her mind.

It felt so good to be touching him again. He was warm and strong and God she was getting goose bumps all over just thinking about his hand touching other parts of her body…

He rubbed small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, sending jolts of electricity all the way up her arm and down her spine. The show was enthralling, but doubly so when combined with Jamie’s touch.

He turned his hand over, so his palm was facing up, and before she knew what was happening, she was caressing it with feather light touches of her thumb and fingers. She had the overwhelming urge to pick up his hand and kiss it, to run her tongue along his lifeline…

Instead, she caressed his hand the way she wanted to caress the rest of him. His entire body tensed when she traced between his fingers and she could tell by the way he shifted in his seat that he was as turned on as she was.

She couldn’t stop her mind from replacing the acrobatics of the dancers in the show with those of hers and Jamie’s bodies, bending and twisting and writhing as they kissed and touched one another.

Her breaths quickened and she felt so hot she knew her whole face had to be fire engine red. The more he stroked her palm, and the more forcefully he did it, the hotter she got.

Lucy’s world became focused on Jamie. They were in public but also very much alone.

In the dark.

Surrounded by eroticism. Artistry. Poetry.

Magic.

* * *

By the time the opening acrobatic act was over, Lucy was shaking. Desperate, she grabbed Jamie’s wandering hand and held it tightly in both of hers. At first, he resisted being restrained, but then Max came on stage. Jamie stopped fighting her, but entwined his fingers with hers.

Max did several tricks that Lucy had seen him do before. Then he introduced a new one. The only thing on stage with Max was a huge metal box resting on a stand so the audience had a clear view of the space from the bottom of the box to the floor beneath it. Max lifted the lid of the box and helped out two scantily clad, very sexy young women, who he introduced as Amanda and Tina. After Max closed the lid again, Amanda lay on her back across the top of the box. Then he handed a satin rope to Tina who tied Amanda up while swaying her hips seductively to the sound of the music. In the meantime, Amanda arched her back and her hips would rise up off the box just slightly, and Tina paused every so often to look back at Max. The air sizzled with sexual tension.

Once Amanda was completely restrained, Max lifted her and gently deposited her into the box before closing it and locking it. He then lifted Tina so she could stand on the box in her high heels and skimpy outfit with the lights shining behind her.

After a few moments, she reached down and picked up a velvet curtain that encircled the top of the box. She pulled it up over her head and completely disappearing from view. Max said a few words, there was a puff of smoke and when the curtain dropped, Amanda, the woman who he’d originally put inside the box, was standing on top of it. He unlocked the box and opened it, and then he reached inside and lifted out Tina with her extremities tied in the same way that Amanda’s had been just moments ago.

The audience clapped loudly. Once the catcalls and whistles had died down, Amanda and Tina left the stage, and Max was joined by another assistant, who he introduced as Gina. Max motioned for Gina to climb into the same box he’d used in the previous trick. She melodramatically shook her head and said, “No.” Max once again asked her to climb in, and again she said “No.” She then told
him
to get into the box. Max looked at the laughing audience, who encouraged him to get in. He stepped inside and laid down so Gina could close the lid. Then she proceeded to fold the sides of the box down until it was flat, and continue folding until the box was reduced to the size of a pocket book. The audience yelled at her to bring Max back. Lucy knew it was only a trick, but she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Finally, Max’s assistant put the tiny box back down and unfolded it. When it was back to its actual size she lifted the lid. Max climbed out of the box…followed by Grace. Max kissed her passionately, like they were the only two people in the room. Then he suddenly dropped to one knee on the stage and held out a red velvet box.

Lucy sucked in a breath, and the silence in the audience was palpable.

“Dixie,” he said, calling Grace by the nickname he’d given her. “Every night I thank God I have you in my life. Will you do me this honor, Grace? Will you marry me?”

Grace covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her sob of joy but it escaped anyway. She nodded over and over, obviously too overcome to speak. Finally, she managed to say, “Yes, Max! Yes. There’s nothing I’d love more than to be your wife.”

Max slipped the ring on her finger, and Lucy suspected that no matter where people were sitting in the crowded theater, they could see the large diamond gleaming beneath the overhead lights. Max swept Grace up in his arms, kissed her again, then carried her off stage.

The audience was on their feet, clapping and cheering. Lucy could hardly breathe as she leapt to her feet, as well, and wiped away her tears.

She glanced to the side and saw Jamie looking at her with a deep, smoldering look.

“That was so beautiful,” she murmured.

“
You’re
beautiful, Lucy.”

Bending down, he brushed his lips against her ear, and his hot breath sent goose bumps shooting down her spine as he said, “You going to use that hotel key?”

She knew she should say yes. Knew she should find Damien and fuck him and make sure Jamie knew she was doing it. Obviously, stripping hadn’t driven him away, but instinctively she knew if she actually slept with Damien, she’d never have to worry about Jamie pursuing her again.

But she wasn’t going to say yes. She wasn’t going to sleep with Damien.

There was only one man she wanted right now.

She turned to him, brushing her lips against
his
ear. “You said one night. What will that entail?”

“A private suite. Champagne. And me.”

“I’ll need more than foreplay,” she whispered back.

“Good,” he said, “Because if you come with me, I promise to fuck you until you forget your own name even as you scream out mine.”

God, if she hadn’t been wet before, she was wet now.

Creamy.

Smooth.

Slick.

Ready to take Jamie inside her.

One night. No strings attached.

“Let’s go.”

After dispensing congratulatory hugs to their friends, Lucy and Jamie stepped outside. The crowd from the show had dispersed and they were alone. Taking her hand, Jamie led her around the side of the building where he stopped, grabbed her shoulders, then bent and brushed his lips against hers several times, his kiss restrained even as he grabbed her hips, backed her against the wall, and wedged his thigh between her legs.

The contrast of his gentle touch against her mouth and the aggressive pressure of his body against her core threw her off guard and divided her attention. She wanted him to deepen the kiss. Use his tongue. Teeth. And she wanted him to move his thigh. Rub it against her. Drive her to the brink of orgasm in seconds flat. She whimpered with need and he pulled back to stare into her eyes.

“What do you want, sweet thing? This?”

He pushed his thigh tighter against her, just long enough for her head to fall back in pleasure. Involuntarily, her hips arched into his touch.

“Or this?” he asked before his mouth took hers. His tongue dipped between her lips, savoring and slow. As always, whether it was wild and claiming, or like now, more gentle, Jamie’s kiss made her feel cherished. Complete. As if he was giving her back a piece of herself she’d lost long ago but at the same time making her feel desperate for even more. For something to ease the hollow ache between her legs.

Abruptly, he ripped his mouth away from hers. “I’ve got to get you to a place with a bed. I can’t wait to get inside you, Luce.”

She reached down and cupped his straining erection. “Then call your driver and let’s get there.”

The ride back to the Bellagio, where Jamie and his friends were sharing several suites, was so fast they barely had time to do more than kiss before they arrived. Quickly, Jamie registered for a room, not blinking an eye when he was told the only suite available was the penthouse. They weren’t even touching or holding hands when they got on the elevator, but when the doors slid closed, Jamie grabbed her, crushed his mouth down on hers, and pushed her against the back wall. With one hand on her waist, he slid the other down to the hem of her miniskirt and slowly slipped his hand underneath until he was massaging her ass with his palm.

When the elevator doors dinged, he cursed and dropped his hand but kept her plastered to his side. Two women who looked like they were on their way to a party stepped inside. Jamie only had eyes for her. When they reached the thirtieth floor, the women got out.

No one else got on the elevator as it took them to the top floor. Once there, Jamie practically dragged her into the penthouse suite.

No sooner had the door closed behind them than they began tugging at each other’s clothes. As his mouth slanted against hers, this time hard and forceful, Jamie slid the zipper down her dress then took a step back and watched as she stepped out of it. The dress had a bra built into it so she was now almost nude but for her tiny panties. She saw him shudder as he stared at her.

Reaching out, he cupped one breast and gave her another hard kiss.

She loved the way he smelled: sexy and manly but also with a hint of sweetness, which always made her hungry to taste him. He leaned down and moved his nose across her nipples, making her quiver. Her quiver turned into an internal explosion as he sucked one into his mouth. He nipped and licked at it wildly, and it felt so good that she wanted to scream. Her panties were rapidly becoming saturated and she was already anticipating having him inside of her.

Gathering her hair into his fist, he tipped her head back rather roughly so he could look into her eyes. “I need you, Lucy.”

She was thrilled and excited by his energy, his insistence and his direct, blunt need. He nudged her towards the bed and when the backs of her legs were against it, he twisted her panties in his fist and ripped them from her. Her arousal spiked so strongly she felt dizzy. He was breathing hard as he looked down at her and finished pulling off the rest of his clothes, but not before removing a condom from his wallet.

He looked dark and dangerous, like he’d left the nice guy at the door. He was a man, she was a woman, he wanted her and he was taking her. Lucy fucking loved it.

He pulled off his boxers and his rock hard cock stood straight up, straining and throbbing. With a hand to her chest, he lightly pushed her until she lay sprawled out on the bed. Then he was on her, his hips cradled between her thighs. He never broke eye contact with her as he rolled the condom on. Then, without further delay, he grabbed her hips, positioned her, and slowly thrust inside.