James: A College Girl Romance (23 page)

“What do you mean?”

I smiled crookedly.

“Well, how did you end up not being a complete psychopath?”

“Some would argue that I am.”

“Then they don’t know you very well.”

He took my hand as I started climbing the airstairs. When I got to the top and stepped inside the empty plane, I turned and gave James a quizzical look.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“It’s a surprise, lovely. Go ahead and get settled. I’ll be right there.”

I nodded and began walking. Then I stopped. The cabin of this “plane” looked like a hotel room—an incredibly fancy hotel room. There were two cream-colored leather couches facing one another and enough plush leather seats to fit another six people.

I continued walking until I reached a closed door. Feeling a bit like Alice in Wonderland, I turned the handle and walked into a full-sized bathroom with a shower and a vanity.

Quickly I took my phone from the clutch and typed
James McDevitt
and
Christopher Hanover
into the search bar. I clicked on the first search result—an article from a financial newspaper from two years ago. At the top, there was a picture of Chris Hanover wearing jeans and a T-shirt and grinning at the camera. In a suit and tie, James stood several steps behind his business partner with a serious expression on his face.

Hanover Tech, Dark Horse of Silicon Valley, IPOs for $40 Billion

“Oh my god.”

I locked my phone and backed out of the bathroom in a daze.

“Good. You found the bathroom,” James said from behind me, causing me to jump.

When he slipped his arm around my waist and kissed my bare shoulder, I turned my head and looked up at him.

“You’re in a good mood for just having your life threatened by your own father,” I said, trying to recover from my revelation that the man standing behind me was a
billionaire
I had met in a strip club off I-80.

“I have more reason than I’ve ever had to be in a good mood. I’m on a plane, about to head into the sunset with a beautiful woman.”

I looked down. I was so raw right now that I couldn’t help hearing a demoralizing subtext behind his words. A beautiful woman. And next month another “beautiful” woman would take my place. All I had was right now. I twisted in his arms and reached up to touch his face. When I rose up on my toes to touch my lips to his, he bent down.

My cheeks heated, and when James grasped my hips and pulled me closer, I nipped his lower lip with my teeth. He growled and pulled me tighter when I tried to draw back. I moaned against mouth as I felt the length of him pressed against my stomach. When I tugged harder, he finally released me, his hands still resting on my hips as I stared up at him.

“You’ve just gone and made the next hour and six minutes incredibly painful. Would you mind telling me what that was for?”

I smiled miserably and shrugged.

“Nothing. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“It’s a surprise, remember?”

I smirked and started walking back to the seats as a voice came over the intercom, telling us to fasten our seatbelts. James took the seat across from me and pointed across the way.

“Your bag is right over there. You can change as soon as we’re in the air.”

I nodded and sat back as the plane began to taxi. I had been serious about wanting to burn the dress. It didn’t matter how beautiful it was. The fact that James’s monster of a father had given it to me made my skin crawl. I sat back and tried to think of destinations an hour away from San Francisco by plane.

There was L.A. to the south. Portland, Oregon, to the north. I was pretty sure it took longer than an hour to get to Phoenix. Oh …
shit
.

“You’re not—I mean, we’re not going to Vegas, are we?”

“What’s wrong with Vegas?” James asked cheerfully.

“Everything!”

James laughed. Unfortunately, Vegas happened to be the one memory I had of my father. I had been five, and for whatever reason, he had shown up out of the blue—and taken me to one of his business meetings. In Vegas. All I remembered was being left in front of the slot machines by a strange man who kept telling me to call him “Dad.” Then security had shown up. Within a few hours, my mom had come to pick me up. And that was the first and last memory I ever had of dear old
Dad
.

“Don’t worry. We’re only stopping off for a drink.”

I threw my hands in the air.

“What was wrong with a drink in San Francisco?” I laughed.

“I thought it best not to stay in the same state as my father, at least for the time being.”

My stomach sank, and I nodded.

“Vegas it is then.”

When the plane stopped climbing, the copilot announced over the intercom that we had
reached cruising altitude and could now move about the cabin
. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood. Then I turned away from James.

“Do you mind?” I asked, gesturing toward the back of the dress.

I felt his fingers skim along my bare skin.

“Absolutely not.”

When he undid the back of the dress, I let it fall, leaving me in black-lace boy shorts and a matching strapless bra. I stepped out of the dress but left the heels on as I walked over to the black overnight bag sitting across the aisle.

“If the copilot steps out of the cabin, he’s going to have a heart attack,” James said darkly.

“What about you, McDevitt?”

I looked over my shoulder at him and froze when I saw his expression as his eyes traveled over my body. I straightened up and swung the bag over my shoulder, trying to seem relaxed even though my heart was slamming in my chest. I started to walk by him.

“I am being exceptionally well-behaved by my standards.”

“Your loss, then,” I smiled.

Before I stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind me, I heard his last words.

“
But not for much longer
.”

I looked in the mirror, disappointed that he hadn’t followed me. Then I shook my head. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted him, but I knew it would wreck me when it ended. An image of the blonde woman from earlier cut into me. Who was she? Another one of the many no-strings-attached companions of James McDevitt?

When I unzipped the bag, I found a toiletry case and a beautiful cream-colored embroidered sheath dress with a low back. There was also a matching silk purse. And shimmering satin high heels. Finally, I pulled out a small box containing a white silk thong with a little bow and a seamless front-close demi bra with adhesive cups.

“He thinks of everything, doesn’t he?” I muttered.

I checked the bag for anything resembling jeans and a T-shirt. Of course not. By the time I got dressed and touched up my makeup, the flight crew was announcing our descent. I walked out of the bathroom to where James was sitting. He turned and stared at me.

“You are absolutely beautiful.”

I blushed.

“It helps when someone supplies couture for every waking moment.”

James shook his head.

“It’s all you.”

I sat across from him and fastened my seatbelt.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I was wondering …”

When I stopped, James raised an eyebrow.

“You can ask me anything, lovely.”

I nodded and looked down, twisting my hands in my lap.

“Who was the woman you were with tonight?”

“An acquaintance whose presence I had hoped would cause my father to lower his guard.”

I frowned.

“I don’t understand.”

“My father’s entire purpose in life is to outmaneuver his competitors and enemies. I needed to distract him—to make him feel confident that he had the upper hand.”

“How did you do that?”

“By sending you alone and showing up with another female guest. I wanted him to believe that I was trying to deflect his attention away from you.”

I looked down.

“Oh.”

James touched my knee.

“You don’t understand, Cass. By convincing him that I was trying to protect you, I allowed him to think I had played my hand—that Madison was my decoy, end of story.”

“I’m still not following.”

James smiled.

“Lean forward.”

When I bent toward him, he reached around and unclasped the enormous necklace I was still wearing.

“Thank you.”

Shuddering at the thought of what James’s father had said to me, I reached up to take off the earrings as well.

“What do you suppose we should do with my father’s generous gift?” James asked.

I didn’t hesitate, even though the jewelry was probably worth enough money for me to buy a small island.

“Donate it to charity.”

James set the necklace on the table in front of him and turned it over. Then he removed a small pocketknife from his jacket and pulled out a pair of needle-nose tweezers. I watched as he lowered the tweezers to the back of one of the enormous jewels. He pulled it away and held it up to me. There was a tiny piece of metal clipped between the pincers.

“What is that?”

“A bug and a transponder.”

“That thing is the size of a pinhead.”

He smiled.

“Smaller. Witness the genius that is Chris Hanover.”

“He designed it?”

“Yes. Well, technically Hanover Technologies’ research and development team did—but Chris is the genius behind the operation. Thanks to him, I have a recording of every word my father said to you. Evidence that would destroy my father is now sitting on a secure server in Tucson.”

“So, you bugged me without telling me?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about this new piece of information.

“Again, I needed my father to drop his guard—and you were the perfect bait. It was better if you didn’t know. Madison was only there to help sell the point that I had overplayed my hand.”

I blinked and looked down when my eyes started to sting.

“She’s like me, then? No strings attached?”

“Cass?”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second before looking up at him.

“She’s nothing like you,” James said seriously.

“But you’ve slept with her.”

“Yes.”

I nodded. It wasn’t like I could hold it against him. No matter what I felt for him now, it didn’t change the reality that I had only known this man for a week. What did I expect—that he had never slept with anyone before meeting me?

“You looked good with her,” I said.

James unclipped his seatbelt and sat forward so fast that I barely saw him move. His hand slipped around the back of my neck, and his eyes burned into mine.

“Don’t do that.”

I held his gaze.

“I was being honest. She was very beautiful; you looked good with her.”

His other hand came up and brushed my cheek. Suddenly the plane lurched as the wheels touched down on the runway. James let go of me and sat back in his seat as we taxied to the terminal.

When the plane came to a stop, the copilot came out of the cockpit and began preparing the doors. James stood, and I unclipped my seatbelt as he held out his hand. By the time we reached the tarmac, there was a limo waiting. The driver opened the door, and James held out his hand for me to step in. He slid in after me, and within thirty seconds, we were moving.

“What about the bags?” I asked.

“We don’t need them.”

“We’re not staying?”

“Only long enough for a drink.”

I frowned and nodded.
A stopover in Vegas for a drink. Of course! Because that makes perfect sense—in his world
, I thought. The drive to wherever we were going was less than ten minutes. James stepped out when the driver opened the door, and I took his hand. I looked around. Judging by appearances, we were standing in front of a fancy hotel—but there was no one else around.

“Um … Where are we?”

“Private entrance.”

I bit my lip when I remembered the part about the forty-million-dollar IPO. James definitely lived on a different planet than the rest of us mortals. Instead of walking into a lobby teeming with crowds and slot machines, we were met by man in a suit who escorted us to an open elevator. I stood silently as we rode up to the thirtieth floor. When the doors slid open, we were greeted by another man. James had a brief conversation with him before we were left alone in an enormous multi-level Vegas suite with marble floors.

From where I was standing, I could see a dining table with eight chairs, multiple flat-screen TVs, a bedroom in a loft above the dining room … and that was just what I could see so far. This place was ridiculously large. I watched as James walked over to the bar and popped the cork on a waiting champagne bottle. Of course. He poured two flutes before returning and handing one to me.