The Billionaire's Runaway Bride (8 page)

“What’s the next step?” she asked, not willing to discuss his other comments.

He smiled slightly and pushed away from the wall. “We’ll discuss that when we get to it,” he said and took her hand to lead her into the box.

“I’m sorry to be late,” Jason said to the other couple already seated in the private box and sat down, pulling her chair closer to his only moments before she sat next to him.

If she’d thought the first half of the opera was difficult, the second half was almost a nightmare. Jason’s leg was plastered against hers and each time she moved to make more room for him, he simply adjusted so he was touching her again. If she moved her legs, he put his arm around the back of her chair. If she moved her shoulders, he took her hand, spread it on his lap. When she tried to pull her hand away, he turned it over and traced circles on the palm.

Sophie was slowly becoming a mindless wreck. The feelings Jason was stirring within her was melting her insides and distracting her. And he was relentless.

The opera finally ended and Sophie took a quick glance at Jason’s features, trying to determine if he was as affected by his movements as she was. But not by a single look did he reveal what he was thinking or feeling. Sophie felt flustered and angry that he could do this to her so easily and still remain passive. Was he just a machine?

Jason invited the other couple to ride to the restaurant in their limousine and Sophie sat tensely through the short ride, sitting far away from Jason. The other couple looked oddly at her but they smiled graciously and discussed their enjoyment of the opera. Throughout the whole conversation, Sophie was grateful that no one issued any questions to her. She wasn’t even sure what the name of the opera was, much less what her favorite part was.

“Oh, my goodness, I’m hungry,” Irene said as the car glided to a stop in front of the restaurant.

They were immediately led to a table in the back of the restaurant, away from the noisy section. Their table looked out onto the Thames River and Sophie sat next to the window, scooting her chair a few extra inches away.

Jason simply smiled and moved his chair an extra few inches closer to hers, putting his arm against the back of her chair. As soon as Irene and Gordon sat down opposite them, she felt Jason’s hands massaging her neck or his fingers would twine in her hair.

The three others said the food was delicious but Sophie only tasted a few small bites. She thought the night would never end and was a shivering mass of sexual frustration by the time the other couple hailed a cab to their own house.

Jason escorted her into the waiting limousine and she angrily sat down opposite him, determined to not fall victim to his roving hands again.

Jason sat down and the car immediately start moving. “It isn’t going to work, Sophie,” he said and with a quick movement, he pulled her into his lap, his lips covering hers. Sophie wished she could resist, but her body melted after so many hours of anticipation. She just wanted to be one with him and find the release only he could deliver for her. So when his lips touched hers, her mouth responded willingly, demanding more and more as his hands touched her, lifting the hem of her dress. With deft hands, he pulled her stockings off, then her underwear.

“Jason?” she asked, but then the question was lost as he unzipped her dress to reveal one lace covered breast. He immediately took the hard nubbin in his mouth and suckled. Sophie threw back her head and arched her back, fearing that she would go up in flames if he didn’t take her immediately.

“Jason…please…” she cried out, her hands reaching for him but only finding clothing. She tore at his clothes, the buttons coming off in her efforts to find and touch him.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, pulling her dress down her other shoulder, taking her left nipple in his mouth and sucking hard.

The car pulled to a stop and she vaguely heard Jason curse under his breath but she was too confused to understand. She felt him pull her dress into place and zip up her zipper but nothing else made sense until the car door opened suddenly.

“Oh!” Sophie said, carefully sliding off Jason’s lap and out the door, hoping her red face was not evident to Michael, Jason’s driver.

Jason came out a moment later and quickly ushered her up the steps. The door was immediately opened but Sophie couldn’t look at Higgins who only bowed slightly before closing the door behind them.

Jason didn’t stop until they were up the stairs and out of sight. Then he lifted her up into his arms and carried her down the hallway to their bedroom, kicking the door closed with his foot as he proceeded to carry her to the bed. Once there, he laid her down, his eyes on fire as he pulled his clothes off.

He didn’t even give Sophie a chance to get her own off. He simply pulled her legs gently towards him, then slid her dress up around her waist. Sophie was thrilled that he was in such a rush but couldn’t relish the fact as shudder after explosive shudder shook her body as Jason poured himself into her, reaching his own climax with a growl.

Long moments later, Jason lifted himself up to look down into her eyes. He looked horrified but very satisfied. “Sophie, are you okay?” he asked, one hand coming to push the flurry of reddish, gold curls from her face.

Sophie reached up and touched his face, a smile forming slowly. “Yes. I’m fine.” She giggled at his concerned expression. “I’m more than fine,” she said, thrilled that she wasn’t the only one that had been affected all night. She loved the fact that he’d wanted her just as much, if not more, than she’d wanted him.

He straightened up and pulled her dress down. “Don’t smile at me like that. I don’t like treating you in that manner.”

She looked away but the smile stayed on her face.

“I should be treating you with more respect and I promise that something like this won’t happen again,” he said, pulling her into his arms.

She pulled away slightly and shook her head. Unable to meet his eyes, she looked only at his magnificent chest. “Don’t hold back on my account,” she said and pulled quickly out of his arms to head into the bathroom.

She was about to step into the shower when he came up behind her. His deep, velvety voice stopped her as he said close to her ear, “Are you saying you liked what just happened?” he asked, his hands gentle but firm on her shoulders as he held her still.

Sophie was too embarrassed to answer so she just shrugged her shoulders.

His laughter took her by surprise and she looked quickly into the mirror to catch his expression when he said, “Well then let’s just test another way and you can let me know which way you prefer to make love,” he said and pulled her back flush against his chest before lifting her up and into the shower. He turned on the water and warm water instantly gushed from the showerhead. He proceeded to make love to her in the shower with Sophie crying out, desperate for the release only he could give her.

But in the end, it was just as satisfying. He finished washing both of them since Sophie was too languorous to do the job herself. Afterwards, he wrapped her up into a large, fluffy, yellow towel and carried her to bed.

Sophie woke up the following morning with late morning sunshine warming her face. She blinked carefully and then looked around.

Everything seemed just as it had the previous night, but then nothing was the same. She looked to the right of her but Jason was already gone. Sighing, she pulled the covers off and climbed out of bed, her limbs sore from the previous night’s activities.

She smiled as she remembered his uncontrollable passion. And it had all been for her. She relished the fact that he hadn’t been able to stop, or even slow down. She pulled a brush through her hair, secretly thinking back to the events and wondering how she could make it happen again.

This day was more relaxed than the previous one since she wasn’t furious with Jason today. She still worked in the garden, digging in the roses and mulching whatever struck her fancy. She knew she was horrifying Fred, the full-time gardener Jason employed but she didn’t care. She kept well out of his way though. He didn’t blatantly glare at her but his anger was palpable whenever he saw her.

She considered leaving well enough alone and letting him do his own work. But then what would she do? She had no job and no possibility for a job. She wished she had something she could do on her own but until she figured out what she was going to do about her marriage, her only option, the only thing she knew how to do and loved doing, was gardening.

By lunchtime, she received another note from Jason informing her that they would be having guests for dinner that night. The note almost put her into another bad mood but she was too relaxed to work up any real anger.

That was before she came downstairs that night. She saw Jocelyn and Evelyn immediately. It wasn’t hard since they were standing in the entry way to the living room. She saw Jason talking with several other people and felt bad that she hadn’t come down sooner. She had taken her time in the shower but hadn’t heard Jason come in so had thought she’d had more time.

“Good evening, Sophie,” Jocelyn said, a smirk on her face as she took in Sophie’s brown dress with a demure collar. Sophie wished she didn’t have to walk into the living room now. It was always difficult to face new people but now Sophie had to enter while being framed on either side by Evelyn, who was dressed in a beautifully tailored ice blue, silk evening suit and Jocelyn, who was equally fashionable in a flirty, pink chiffon dress with a sequined, halter bodice. Surveying the two, she knew that she would look like a sack of potatoes in her drab, brown dress that hid her body with fabric.

“Your hair!” Jocelyn said, the look of horror on the woman’s face made Sophie reach up self-consciously to try uselessly to tame the curls. “Sophie, dear, why don’t you let me do something with your hair? It looks a little….wild,” she finished politely.

Sophie’s eyes flew into the room and searched for Jason. Would he think her hair was wild? She saw him over in the corner talking with another man she’d never met. “Do you really think it is odd?” she asked, worried that she was looking silly.

She saw the look that passed between Evelyn and Jocelyn and shook her head. “No need to say anything,” she said, stopping whatever Evelyn was about to say. She looked again at their fashionable outfits and turned around. “Tell Jason I’ll be down in a few more minutes.”

She hurried up the staircase, hoping no one else had seen her. She wished she had some small amount of fashion sense. But she supposed that some people had it and others didn’t.

Once in her room, she quickly braided the curls into a thick plait, then pinned the mass up on the back of her head. She looked horrible again, but at least she didn’t look silly. Just plain.

“Well, this is it,” she said to her reflection.

“What is it?” Jason said from behind her.

“My hair,” she said, putting her hair brush down on the table.

He walked up behind her and started pulling out the pins. “I thought you were going to leave it down? I saw you downstairs a moment ago and it was down around your shoulders. Why did you change your mind?”

“No, Jason, stop!” she said but it was too late. His hands were too fast and he already had all the pins out. He was now working on pulling the braid apart. “Jocelyn and Evelyn said it looked too wild.”

Jason shook his head. “Jocelyn and Evelyn are just jealous because they don’t have hair as beautiful as you do. So they make you feel awful about yours. Is that why you hide it so much? Because they said something to you?”

She stared up into his eyes, trying to gauge his sincerity. “You think they are jealous? Of my hair?” she squeaked.

“Yes. What were you thinking?”

Her heart swelled with love for this man and she smiled brightly. “No one has ever been jealous of anything I’ve had or done before,” she said.

He only stared at her as if waiting for her to continue or laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” Jason replied when she stopped speaking.

Shaking her head, she smiled at the freedom she felt with her hair down and not pinned painfully against her head. “No. I never kid,” she said, staring at him with big, soulful eyes.

“Ignore Jocelyn and Evelyn,” was all he said and, grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of the bedroom and down the hallway. She entered the living room with her hand tucked in Jason’s arm, feeling much more confident. She didn’t even look in Jocelyn or Evelyn’s direction, afraid of seeing the smirk on their faces when she came back into the room with her hair down.

The dinner was to introduce the owners of the latest acquisition company to Jason and the board of directors. In total, there were twenty people for dinner and it was a very tense affair. But by the end of the evening, Jason had the whole group laughing with his charm and humor. He appeared to be relaxed and attentive, but Sophie knew that he was acting cautiously and making sure that everyone was on board with the new plan. She remembered from previous acquisitions that the owners of companies were a fickle lot. There had been times when enough money had been expended by Jason’s company that, when the potential sellers wanted to back out, he went after them by means of a hostile takeover.

No one liked those kinds of situations. They were more expensive and the transition after the fact was longer because the employees resented the acquiring company.

Sophie tried to help. She engaged the wives in conversations about anything she could think of. It was by chance that the current owner’s wife, Elizabeth, mentioned having trouble with her roses last summer and other pests.