Fyre & Revenge (7 page)

It was a joke
but, from the back of the room, Zette had to admit he did it well,
his easy charm drawing the crowd in. She could understand why he
dominated business meetings and the like; he had a presence and an
ability to work a group of people she’d only ever seen before on
stage. It wasn’t unlike the way a singer or other entertainer had
to work a crowd, sensitive to their moods, their reactions.

“…now, moving
on from business, I have an announcement I’d like to make.”

Zette’s ears
picked up, a frown settling between her brows. What would JJ want
to announce to these people? Her support crews and admin staff
didn’t move in the same circles as his business associates or even
the social circle he moved in. Racking her brains, she moved a
little closer, interested to see what he had to say.

“Since Zette
has now managed to join us, that woman is a tower of strength I
tell you… I’ve been amazed during the run up to this concert. I’d
swear if I hadn’t made her, she wouldn’t have slept in the last
couple of weeks.” He smiled, looking through the crowd directly at
her. So much for thinking he hadn’t noticed her.

“Anyway, enough
of that. I’d like to announce something very important to me. Zette
Matthews has made me the happiest man in the world and done me the
honour of agreeing to become my wife.”

Seeing her face
at his announcement, JJ thought it best to get her out of there as
soon as possible, preferably before the eruption he could see
coming. His hand under her elbow, he hustled her out of the party
amidst the cheering and congratulations. The crowd parted easily,
recognising a man who wanted to get his beautiful fiancée to
himself for a while. He breathed a small sigh of relief as they
made the doors to the terrace and stepped out into the cool night
air. It wasn’t a moment too soon, Zette rounding on him with
fury.

“Okay, what the
fuck
do you think you’re playing at?” she hissed, her eyes
blazing. She was gorgeous when she was angry, one reason JJ
couldn’t resist winding her up at times. She rose to the bait
spectacularly, her tail fanning out in an instant when he stepped
over the line.

He played
innocent. “Announcing our engagement, what else?”

She speared him
with a direct look. “
What
engagement? We’re not engaged.
We’ve never been engaged.”

Okay, this was
going to be a little harder than he expected, JJ admitted to
himself. Usually you mentioned the ‘M’ word and women went a little
gaga, easily manipulated. Or at least, that’s what he’d observed in
his colleagues who had married. Of course, there was the flipside
of the coin as well. Those self-same colleagues, usually
hard-bitten, ruthless men, soon found themselves tied to the apron
strings and led around by the balls. But that was because they’d
made one fatal mistake.

They’d fallen
in love with their wives.

JJ didn’t
intend to make that mistake. He never intended to make that
mistake. No way was he giving a woman that sort of power over him.
But he could play the game, whilst it suited him. He dropped his
voice a little, moved in closer and crowded her against a wall
between two windows, out of sight of the main function room. She
didn’t give an inch, looking up at him with that look. The one he
knew meant she was pissed off.

“Where did you
think this was going Zette?” He tucked a stray strand of hair
behind her ear, nothing more than an excuse to touch her. Create a
connection. His fingertip trailed down her cheekbone. He could feel
the tension in her slender body, wanted to divert that anger into
something more…productive.

“Where did I
think it was going? What do you mean?” Her voice was hard, giving
no quarter. “If this had been a
real
relationship then
yeah, maybe I’d think this was going someplace. But you conned me
into bed JJ. Blackmailed me.”

JJ had the
grace to wince a little.

“That was badly
done,” he admitted, leaning one hand on the wall behind her and
bracketing her with his larger body. He
did
feel a little
bad about that, but not too much. He’d wanted her too much…he
stopped; he
had
wanted her, not just because of this will
thing. He just plain and simply wanted her. Even without that, even
without their past history or without the concert to use as
leverage, he’d have gone all out to get her into his bed.

“I wanted you
too much, I couldn’t wait. I saw a way to get you and I used it.”
His smile was sheepish, hiding a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Can you blame
me for that? For wanting you? Wanting you naked in my bed, naked
under me… Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” His voice
was soft and beguiling. He could play this game. Seduction 101;
tell them what they wanted to hear.

So why did he
feel his life depended on getting this right? His chest tightened
as she continued to look at him with that hard look, her arms
crossed over her chest. She wasn’t buying it. He had to up the
stakes. So be it. He knew just how to do that. Pushing off the wall
he smiled at her, going down on one knee and reaching into his
pocket for a small velvet box. He snapped it open and held it out
to her.

“Zette,
regardless of the way our relationship started off, I can’t think
of anyone else I would ask this question of. Marry me.”

She blinked,
silence stretching between them as she looked from the box to him
and back again. Ruthlessly he quashed the unease trying to settle
in his chest. She would go for it, she had to go for it. He’d laid
his plans too carefully for her not too. And she was a woman wasn’t
she? They all loved a bit of romance, and the glitter of a diamond
solitaire. Then he pulled his trump card, emotion.

“It belonged to
my grandmother, on my mother’s side. She was a sweet woman, I just
remember her as a kid. She’d have liked you, wanted you to have
it.”

That did it.
His hawk-like attention on her face picked up the slight change in
her expression, the softening in her eyes as she reached a finger
out to touch the antique ring. She didn’t speak, the tell-tale
shine of tears in her dark eyes as she nodded.

Triumph gripped
him hard, so hard he felt like punching the air and doing a lap of
honour around the terrace. Not something he’d do in a million
years, so he had no idea where the impulse had come from. He hadn’t
felt that way since he was a teenager and his team had hit a home
run.

He didn’t give
her a chance to change her mind, taking her hand and pulling the
ring from the box. He’d measured her one night as she’d slept and
had it altered specially, so he knew it would be a perfect fit even
before he slipped it on her finger. And it did, sliding onto her
finger as though it had been made for her.

“Thank you,” he
breathed, gathering her into his arms with a possessive tenderness
that was new. Must be something to do with the moment, he decided.
After all it wasn’t every day a guy got engaged, had to get
engaged. Regardless of the reasons she was his now, his woman and
soon to be his wife. That waiter who’d been making calf eyes at her
earlier would be getting the sharp side of his tongue if he tried
his luck again!

She spread her
fingers out, admiring the rock that sat on her wedding finger.

“It’s
beautiful, thank you…” Her voice was clogged with emotion, a low
husky sound that set his body on fire just hearing it. “I can’t
believe you’d give me this. Not something of your grandmother’s.
That’s so personal—”

He didn’t let
her carry on, pulling her up against him to kiss her. He needed to
kiss her, more than he needed his next breath. Of course, she would
be expecting him to, after having proposed and all. His lips
descended, claimed hers. She was like honey and silk, the faint
aftertaste of champagne lingering on her lips as he teased them
apart. She opened easily for him, naturally, moving closer as he
deepened the kiss. His hands moved over her back, one sliding down
the curve of her spine to settle in the small of her back as the
other settled at her nape, holding her in place as he ravaged her
mouth.

She was
delicious, addictive. Drugging. The kiss got out of control
quickly. Her tongue moving against his, flicking and teasing
softly, drove him to distraction. A subtle rebellion that set his
soul on fire. A low growl of warning rumbled in his big chest as he
turned her, backing up to the wall. He left her lips for a moment,
only to pull her down into his lap, chuckling as she squeaked in
surprise.

Then his hands
were on her again, winding into her hair and scattering the pins so
he could feel the dark locks spilling through his fingers. He
murmured in satisfaction as he bent his head again to kiss her. He
loved her hair, it fascinated him, the texture, the smell,
everything.

She shifted
against him, getting more comfortable in his lap, her curvy body
pressing against him and her ass pressing into his groin. He
groaned, a shudder going through his entire body as she reached
down and rubbed his hardened cock through his pants.

“God, Zette—”
He broke away, pressing his lips to her temple as he tried to
control his reaction. All he wanted to do was lay her down on the
lounger, strip her clothes from her and bury himself in her over
and over again. It was a need bordering on desperation, the
strength of it scaring the life out of him for a moment. He pressed
his eyes closed, shaking the feeling off and getting control of
himself. Sex, it was just sex and he hadn’t seen her for a week. Of
course he was going to be desperate to get her in the sack. He drew
a shuddering breath as she continued to stroke him through the
fabric, a teasing touch just firm enough to drive him to
distraction.

“Careful, or
you’ll end up flat on your back, skirt up round your waist.” His
voice was a low growl of warning. His hands ran through her hair,
smoothing it back and holding it in a rope at the nape of her neck.
Controlling as the movement was, he knew he wasn’t the one in
control here. Especially when her next movement was to straddle
him, her hips rolling, rocking against his, against the erection
that strained to be free. His breath left him in a rush at the sexy
look on her face and the knowledge that but for a few layers of
fabric, he’d be buried in her to the hilt. She rearranged her
skirts, pooling them around her as she sat in his lap.

“Skirts don’t
always have to be pushed out of the way you know…” she whispered as
she leaned down to kiss him. A hot sexy kiss that told him all he
needed to know as his arms came up around her.

* * *

Zette came to
slowly, a comfortable slide out of sleep and a gradual awakening.
As consciousness returned she was aware of JJ moving in the room
around her. The brisk swish of curtains opening and the bright stab
of early morning sun spilling onto the bed had her moaning in
protest. She grabbed a pillow and buried her head under it, lifting
the edge to glare at JJ.

“Morning
sleeping beauty, how are you feeling?” The bed dipped under his
weight as he sat down next to her. His large hand reached out to
pull the pillow away from her. She grumbled a little, wrinkling her
nose at him. She still couldn’t believe what had happened, that
within two weeks they’d be married. It was a fairy tale come true,
at least for her battered heart.

She’d stopped
believing in love a long time ago. Right at the point her mother
had abandoned her when Zette got a bit too old, a hint that Ariadne
wasn’t as young as she liked to make out. The presence of an adult
daughter damaged her chances of snagging another rich husband she
could fleece and cheat on, then strip in the divorce settlement. So
Zette had gone the way of last year’s fashions, cast off when she’d
served her purpose. Add to that the fact the man she’d thought she
was in love with hadn’t even bothered to return her calls. Each
time she’d tried, she’d gotten the stonewall of various
receptionists and PA’s. Finally she’d given up. Fed up with being
rejected, abandoned, she’d grown a thick callus over her heart and
never let anyone in again. Until now.

“Tired,” she
pretended to grouch, but a smile started to curve her lips as she
took in the sight of him. He was already getting ready for work,
crisp shirt unbuttoned over his chest, giving her a tantalising
glimpse of the hardened muscles there. She reached out to trail a
hand along the satin smooth skin, flicking his nipple gently,
careful not to move from her prone position on the bed. She’d been
ill with a stomach bug the last couple of days and the mornings had
been the worst, nausea hitting her as soon as she lifted her head.
Luckily it seemed to have worn off a little now but she didn’t want
to take chances.

“Well, you’d be
fine if you’d get some sleep instead of keeping me up all night
woman!” He grinned down at her, capturing her hand and holding it
away from his chest. “And cut that out, or I won’t be going
anywhere!” he warned, his eyes alight with promise.

“
Me?
Keep
you
awake? Yeah right, as I recall you were
the one that woke me up!” She squeaked in protest at his blatant
lie. He was insatiable. That she’d been worried he’d lost interest
in her the night of the party seemed preposterous now. In fact
since they’d gotten engaged, his sex drive seemed to have
increased. She shivered at the memories. Some of the things he’d
had her doing…

“Well if you
weren’t so sexy I wouldn’t have needed to, ergo, your fault,” he
told her firmly, ending the argument with a swift, hard kiss before
he pushed away and stood up. “Now I really need to go, and stop
looking at me like than unless you want a repeat performance right
now.”

She chuckled,
closing her eyes, as he left the bedroom in haste. “Coward!” He
didn’t answer, just chuckled, and shortly afterwards she heard the
front door close as he left.