The Billionaire's Touch (BDSM Erotic Romance) (His Submissive, Part Two) (3 page)

Done waiting for my response,
Jacob pulled open the slider
and gave
me a long, hard look. “You can come in.”

I obeyed, stepping into the sleeping chamber and gulping as the divider shut with an ominous thud. The room had all the bells and whistles of something out of
Architectural Digest
with its sturdy furniture and statement pieces. It seemed impossible that so much luxury could be packed into such a small space.

He turned to a shelf lined
with bottles of alcohol and ic
e and picked up a half full brandy glass
. “You followed my instructions?”

My cheeks
went hot, but I raised my chin and gave him a nod.

“I’m sorry,” he said tightly. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Yes sir,” I replied with military precision.

He cocked his head, giving me a strange look. “Sir?”

“If this
is going to work, we should be as professional as possible.”

His eyes smoldered. “Is that right?”

“Yes sir.” Even I could feel the awkwardness of the word. This wasn’
t boot camp.
We were in a bedchamber and I was stark na
ked underneath my dress for criss
akes.

His lips dipped in an unaffected curve. “I suppose that would be for the best. Professionalism.” He put down his glass and cut his eyes at me. “Do you have an issue with me checking for your compliance myself?”

“You’re the boss,” I said, weakness creeping back into my voice. God, just the nearness of him chipped at the wall I’d put into place. He smelled
delicious;
a dark,
spicy aphrodisiac that broke
me down, brick by brick.

His hands slowly worked up
my body
,
starting at my hips. His fingertips dug into the fabric and clutched
me with a need that made my c
ore clench in anticipation
. I leaned into his touch like a cat, yearning to be stroked and cared for.

No. Not cared for. Jesus--I had to stop using that kind of language.
Need. Care. Different.
Next was the ‘L’ word and that was a recipe for disaster.

He continued his circuit up and over my waist, pausing
with his hands at the base
of my breasts. “Is this okay?”

I glanced up into his azure e
yes in shock.
“Is this okay?”

He let out a hiss of air through his clenched
teeth, like i
t was taking every ounce of control to not blaze right on through. “Yes.”

I managed a, “Yeah. If it’s what you want.”

“What do
you
want, Leila?” he asked firmly.

“Miss Montgomery.” I corrected. Professionalism. But my husky retort came out as anything but.

“Miss Montgomery,” Sex hung on every syllable. “What do you want?”

I want you to take me. Hard and rough. Right here. Right now.

I still couldn’t say the words aloud, even though my body was chanting it with every breath. “I want you.”

He rounded the curve of my breasts and my nipples pebbled against his tou
ch. As soon as I let out a moan,
his touch
deepened.

“Miss Montgomery.
” He let out a haggard breath, his put-together facade fraying at the edges. My nipples pulsed against his fingers, completely under his spell. “You’re gonna be the death of me, aren’t you?”

I answered him by finding my way to his crotch, running my hand along the defined erection probing at the fly of his slacks. He was solid and throbbing
, the blood
engorging him
matching the roar
in my ears. I’d never been so in tune, so matched with another lover. Nerves were barely on the radar. There was no room for anything except the consuming need to feel him inside me.

His mouth crashed into me
, tongue thrusting past
my lips
. We swirled and flicked; we moaned and grunted as our bodies collided.

“Jacob,” I chanted, breaking the kiss only to take the tender skin of his nec
k between my teeth. “Oh Jacob.”

He brought his hands to the hem of my skirt and hiked his hand under
the material, finding the
curve of my
bare
bottom and growling with approval.

“What?” I said playfully, kissing the bob of his Adam’s apple. “Surprised I followed your instructions?” I twisted my fingers in his hair, feeling my heart swell in my chest as my eyes bore into his. “I know I’m headstrong, Jacob. But isn’t that one of the things you like about me?” I traced his jawline with my pointer, the last bit coming out in a throaty whisper. “That I’m ‘different’?”

H
e went rigid as a plank.

I reared back, looking at him with surprise.
“Jacob?”

The sound of his name shook him from his stupor and the eyes that were glassy with lust hardened to obsidian as he separated him
self from me.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course.”

He turned away and w
hen my fingertips gra
zed his back,
he lurched forward, like my touch was toxic.

My mouth twisted in hurt and anger
. What was up with the mixed signals? One second he wanted me, teased me, and the next he wa
s recoiling like I was diseased?

He finally faced me, but he was completely closed off, l
ike he’d flipped some switch a
nd now there was a sign that rea
d, ‘Keep Out’.

“Did I do something? Say something?” I pressed.

“Everyt
hing is fine, Miss Montgomery.”

I rolled my eyes. “So we’re back to that.”

“You were the one that wanted to keep things professional.”

I let out a groan of frustration. “You can’t tell me that being in the room with me, touching me, makes you think about business and mergers.” I looked at him hard, wondering how I could get back in. Maybe he needed me to take the first step. To open up.

I swallowed.
Here goes
nothing
.

“I fought you at every tu
rn before because I’ve always been in control. I’ve never had to not work for
anything my whole life.” He was still as a marble statue, but he wasn’t bolting from the room, so I continued
. “Even if you never noticed
me and just kept walking in the lobby that day, I would have been the best damn research aide Whit
more and Creighton ever had. I would have kept my nose to the grindstone and eventually
snagged a position as an aide to a PR specialist, and climbed my way up the ladder. But you had other plans.”

He finally took a step in my direction. “Leila-”

“Let me finish,” I said gently.
“I don’t regret accepting your proposition
. It was the right move for my career. But agreeing to the other terms? It’s a huge thing to me. Giving myself to you is not something I take lightly.” I took a step, and then another, looking up at him and fighting the urge to kiss him. I had to get out the last bit. “I held back in the stairwell, and in the office. But I don’t want to hold back anymore.”

There it was. All my cards
o
ut o
n the table.

And he didn’t say a word.

I felt my eyes water and kicked myself. Of course I was gonna cry.
That
would show him. “Are you having second thoughts about this arrangement?” A traitorous tear unhinged and spilled down my cheek.
“Am I unsatisfying?”

Tears were like kryptonite to most men and I didn’t expect a hardened male l
ike Jacob to be any different, b
ut he brought his hand t
o my cheek, wiping it away.

“You’re far from unsatisfying, Leila. I-” His mouth hung open, whatever was to come next painfully unfinished.

He cleared his throat and broke contact. “I should check with the pilot and see if we’re ready to get in the air.” He turned his back to me again and I could have pummeled
it with my fists, trying to force
him to let me in.

He pulled the divider open and stepped back into the cab of the jet. He flashed me one last look. “Take as long as you need.”

I peered out the w
indow, the sight of the downtown skyline of Venice
taking my breath away.

"We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow prior to the start of the festival." His
tone was purely business.
"I suggest you get as much rest today as possible."

The
city on the water
was close enough
that
I cou
ld see
and smell the blue
.
I'd always wanted to study abroa
d in Europe and now I was here. I was here—and
everything tha
t hung between Jacob and I
kept me from playing tourist and bouncing with glee.

“A response, Miss Montgomery.”

I wrenched my eyes from
the window and turned to him.
"Fine
."

Satisfied
, he turned back to th
e tablet in his hand, his
fingers gliding across the screen. "My liaison here,
Allegra De Luca, will meet us
landside and from there, take you to your hotel to get settled."

His fingers stopped sweeping but
his attention was still on his screen
.
My attention was squarely on the roundabout way he’d let me know that we wouldn’t even be at the same hotel.

Questions rushed around in my head
.
My hotel? So we're not even staying in the sa
me place? We're separating?
I figured you'd need me. Don’t you need me, Jacob?

All of them were left unanswered as the plane came to a stop and the pilot announced that we were free to move about the cabin.

I stole a glance at Jacob
stuffing
folders
into his briefcase, slowly unbuckling my seatbelt
. "So
you’re not going to drop me off at my hotel
?"

"I have business to attend to. You'll not find a better companion
than
Ms
. De Luca." He stood up and paused,
allowing me to pass first. "After you."

I pushed my shades up
to the b
ridge of my nose and clutched my bag
, mumbling a thank you
to Maggie
as I
exited the jet. Once outside, I
turned in a slow circle,
scan
ning the landing strip for Allegra De Luca.
A name like that
screamed
jet black hair
and a sophistication to match the beauty of the Italian city sparkling in the distance.

I gasped when I felt a hand on the small of my back
then cheesed from ear to ear when I realized the
hand belonged to Jacob.

V
isible amusement color
ed
his eye
s
before he slid
his sunglasses into place.
"M
s. De Luca is waiting."

I walked in st
ep with him
, his hand on me a gesture that probably meant nothing;
but I couldn’t help but read into it
. Maybe we still had differing views about what was actually going on between us, but there was no mistaking the intimacy as he made a slow circle at the curve of my back
, right?

I tilted my head in his direction, wanting to bring
it up
while he was being touchy feely
, but my mouth hung
open
in surprise
as a deep, throaty laugh spilled from his lips.

No--it had to be jet lag,
because Jacob Whitmore barely smiled and he
definitely
didn’t laugh.
But another baritone volley
erupted beside me
and there was no mistaking the source
. I stared at him in shock, a smile cracking
through the stone. T
he hand was gone as he breezed toward an older woman
standing
beside a black sedan.

There was no time to be offended
, even though it was
obvious that this 'Allegra' person
was behind his complete 180.
I watched him
embrace the
older
woman and spin her in a circle.