Penthouse Prince (9 page)

Chapter Sixteen

A girl could get used to this kind of treatment.
Which, Jeanie reminded herself, would be why she needed to keep remembering the illusion, the fantasy he’d built to get them both what they needed even if it offered nothing she’d always wanted in a marriage. His arms around her on the dance floor, the heady scent of him while he expertly teased and tempted her with his lips and words…

Ice shivered down her spine. The feeling of being watched on a dance floor crowded with people shouldn’t bother her—the goal was to be watched, after all—but her gaze darted around, searching for the source.

And there she is…

Seated at the bar, swirling a drink with an olive on a stick, long legs crossed and a smile on her familiar face, the woman toasted her with the glass before standing.

“Can we leave? Like, now?” Pulling back from the enchanting feel of his body so close to hers, she tried not to sound frantic.

“Sure, we’ve been here a couple hours.” Dropping a kiss to her forehead, he used a hand at her waist to maneuver her out of the crowd.

A panicked glance back showed she didn’t follow them. Once on the sidewalk, Jeanie sucked in bracing breaths of the cooler air, goose bumps rising on her arms.

“Are you cold?” Camden signaled to the valet before focusing his cobalt gaze her way.

“No, I’m—”

“Let me warm you up while we wait for the car. Photographer, one o’ clock.” The last bit was added in an undertone meant for only her ears.

Resisting the urge to look, since she had a bad habit of looking at the photographers and thereby blowing any sense of organic reaction, she slid into his arms. “More kissing? My lips are going to get chapped from tonight.”

He smiled, a little half-smile, but his face revealed the tenderness she’d come to revel in. Pretend or not, the expression did wonderful things to the butterflies dancing in her stomach. “Yes, more kissing. Much more kissing.”

He slanted his mouth across hers and amped up the passion he’d dabbled with all evening. Her legs went weak with the force of his desire. The wall behind her didn’t snap her out of the moment, instead allowed her to brace her arms around his neck and feel him, hard and reacting, against her.

“God, Jeanie,” he whispered, and his hands slid from her waist to her ass and shifted her higher so he could better plunder her mouth, rub his tongue against hers, and set fire to her bloodstream.

She fell deeper down the rabbit hole, longing to feel his hot skin against her own. “More,” she whispered.

“Dammit.” He pulled back, staring down at her. “Car is here. Come on.”

The heat in his gaze froze any words in her throat, and she skipped after him, not breaking eye contact. “Camden?”

“Get in.” He opened the door, closed her in, and raced to his side of the car.

“C—”

He held up one hand, silencing her, and focused on the road. Speeding, he made it back to the building in record time and, before she knew it, he had her out of the car and in the elevator.

He didn’t speak a word, not the whole time, his body almost vibrating with tension.

Did I make him mad, somehow? Maybe I went too far when I pulled his lip between my teeth, but it felt like the right thing at the time…

Reaching their floor, he stayed silent, and she got out, not sure what to say to fix whatever had gone wrong.

She headed toward her room, not daring to look back at him, embarrassed.
It’s not like there’s a rulebook to tell me the proper way to pretend to make out with someone…

He spun her around with a quick snap of his hand at her wrist and brought them into full contact. His hot gaze seared her. Her heart raced in response, but she didn’t move.

“Fuck control.” He lifted her up, high enough her head was above his, and buried his face in her chest in a tight hug. She could hear his breath, harsh as her own, and the thrill of this man—this powerful and practiced seducer—turned on by her went to her head like an illicit drug.

She twined her arms around his neck, hands buried in the softness of his hair. “Camden?”

His hands slid up her legs, lifting her skirt on the way, and she moved with him until her thighs braced on his hips. He stopped, breathing hard, when the hot, aching part of her encountered the hard ridge hidden by his slacks.

She closed her eyes. Even through his clothes, it was obvious he reacted to her, and the knowledge caused a rush of wet heat to throb between her legs.

Aching with need only he seemed to waken, she waited. Finally, she opened her eyes. His jaw, clenched tight, and his hungry eyes made her heart flip in her chest.

“Tell me to put you down. Tell me not to touch you. Something. But do it fast. I might change my mind.”

She opened her mouth, questions fighting to erupt. “I—”

“Tell me.
Fast
.” One of his hands slid up her back, capturing the nape of her neck.

“Don’t put me down.” She whispered the words, lost in his gaze.

He clicked his tongue. “Wrong answer. My leash? It was short. And it just ran out.”

He found her mouth again and drowned her in his kiss. Since his arm held her weight, her hands were free, and she tugged at the buttons of his shirt. The rasp of her zipper sounded, loud over the sound of their breathing and the throbbing of her heart. His hands grazed the curve of her back, and she sighed.

“Jeanie? I thought I heard you come in—oh!” Lori’s voice interrupted the fire engulfing her, and she longed to tell her friend to leave, to go back to bed…anything to extend this moment with him.

But he released her, and the sad-eyed man vanished behind the smiling mask. “Hey, Lori. Sorry we’re a bit late tonight. See you in the morning, Jeanie.” He turned on his heel, strode from the hall, and disappeared around the corner.

Quite simply, she’d been dismissed. If he really burned from the inside out like she did, surely he wouldn’t just walk away like it was nothing? The seamless shift back to business suggested his control wasn’t nearly as frayed as he’d suggested…

Rubbing her face, she turned to Lori, still standing a bit shell-shocked behind her. “That wasn’t for a camera.” The knowing tone in the older woman’s voice caused Jeanie to shake her head.

“Don’t build castles in the air, Lori. They’ll only fall apart. There’s still nothing—”

Lori snorted. “If that was nothing, I’d be fascinated to see what your idea of something is.”

Not up to debating it, Jeanie passed her. “I’m going to bed.”

“As you wish. I just checked in on Kaycee. Sleeping the sleep of the good, the child is fine.”

“Thank you. Good night, Lori.”

Never one to let her have the last word, Lori added, “Don’t be afraid to take something for yourself, Jeanie. You’re a good woman. You’ve sacrificed years for your sister. No one would blame you if you gained some pleasure now and again. Don’t sacrifice something that doesn’t need sacrificed. Sometimes, for little moments, we get a chance to have it all. Are you going to let your moment go?”

Sighing, she held onto the door, leaning on it for strength. Her dress gaped, unzipped, and her lips felt swollen. “You’re forgetting one thing. He’s not mine. We’re from different worlds.”

“Are you? Are you really? I think you might have more in common than you think.”

Shaking her head, she closed the door quietly behind her. She knew better, but it was a pretty thought, wasn’t it?

Chapter Seventeen

He tried to contain his excitement, but it was hard. The planning that went into this particular venture compared to taking over a company. Delicacy, negotiations, secret plots…

All for a few hours.

It would be worth it. Her face… It would be worth it.

She looked relaxed, her feet resting on his dashboard—which annoyed him the first time she placed shoes on the hand-stitched tangerine leather interior of his baby, a Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir, as if it were a footrest. Since he’d advised her today could be a jeans day, he couldn’t help but smile at the sundress and sandals. “It’s comfortable!” she’d grumbled. “This luxury crap…it’s easier than it should be to get used to it. Plus, I’d hate for the stylist to have cardiac arrest if someone snapped a picture of me in anything less than matched.”

He couldn’t tell her pictures wouldn’t be an issue, not today. Humming, he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.
Better than Christmas morning, this surprise.

“Why are you doing the evil genius grinning? Where are we going?” She sipped a coffee and considered him carefully.

“Can’t tell you. You’ll see in a minute, anyway.”

“Hmm, mysterious. Why does it make me nervous when you get all shifty?”

“No clue.” He whipped the car in a fast spin, then slid through the gates and zoomed through empty parking lots.

“Is the zoo closed today?” She dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward. “Hey, isn’t that my car?”

“Yup.”
Good
. Lori had beat him here, as planned.

“Why is my car at the zoo?”

Ignoring her question, he put the car in park and headed over to her side to open the door. She’d beat him to it, a nasty habit of hers, and already got out to shade her face against the sun with a hand.

“Put on your sunglasses,” he advised. When she obeyed, still looking curious, he reached for her hand.

He led her through the entrance, and he nodded to the zoo employee grinning at him. Then she saw what he hoped would bring a smile to her face.

“Lori?
Kaycee?”
Her voice rose on the last, and she screeched to a halt. “I thought I told you I wanted her kept out of—”

“I bought the zoo.”

She didn’t move. “You can’t just
buy
a zoo.”

“For the day. I closed it for the day. No photographers, no other people. It’s ours for the day.” She still didn’t move or show any sign of response. He suddenly wished he hadn’t advised the sunglasses. “You told Kaycee she was on vacation, and she wanted to see a zoo. So I made it happen.” Still nothing. “You’re welcome.”

“You can’t just…” She waved a hand.

Kaycee chose that moment to come running out of the souvenir shop, followed by a zookeeper. Waving a stuffed snake and wearing a cute little zoo hat, the little girl bounced up and down. “Mommy, I got a snake! Can we go see the elephants now?”

Jeanie’s head dropped, chin low, and he reached for her. “Give us a minute.” Lori nodded, and he led Jeanie a few feet away. “Jeanie? Are you seriously mad?”

He pulled off her sunglasses to reveal tears shimmering in the green depths of her beautiful eyes.

“You’ve got to stop being sweet. How am I supposed to keep up this charade if you’re being so sweet?” The watery words were followed by a slight hiccup.

“Well, it should make it even easier. Look, maybe I should have told you, but I wanted to surprise—”

In a sudden move, she went up on tiptoes and caught his face. The kiss she bestowed on him devastated his senses like none of the hundreds they’d shared in the past weeks. Too soon, she broke the kiss, dropped back to flat feet, and whispered, “Thank you.”

He stayed frozen as she went to her child, scooped her up, and turned to the zookeeper.

She’d kissed him.

He realized, with a little shock, she’d never initiated a contact between them. Not once. The free joy in the simple move left him pressing his fingertips to his mouth as if to hold the kiss in place.

With a sniff, he collected himself. He wasn’t the kind of man knocked on his ass by a quick thank you peck.

Except…now he was.

Before she’d dropped the glasses back in place, he read the happiness, free and unfettered, on her lovely face, and his chest warmed.
I care about her.

The realization caused him to stumble.
I want to marry her, and I actually care about her.

The sun suddenly seemed too bright as his world shifted and tried to realign itself to the knowledge. He actually wouldn’t mind their relationship lasting longer—much longer—and the only thing standing in the way of him getting what he wanted would be convincing her their agreement shouldn’t be temporary.

Quick on the heels of the first revelation, another epiphany struck.

But she’s not in love with me. She’s doing a job, being paid to be with me. I don’t want her that way. I want her to love me. If she thinks she loves me, she’ll never leave me.

All the money in the world couldn’t buy love, not that he believed in the manufactured emotion. It could buy a fiancée. It could even buy a wife. But not love.

So he needed to figure out another way to make her want to stay. Not just be willing to, but
want
to. Maybe, if he worked hard enough at it, with time he could earn her love…then she’d stay.

He suddenly regretted the wager, the lies…since they meant she might actually go through with it and marry him, but only for money. Like the other women who’d tried to snag him. Gold diggers, just in it for his fortune. None of them actually cared about him. None of them had any true loyalty to give.

The idea of marrying Jeanie for anything approaching the same reasons seemed hollow and painfully empty, and he couldn’t ensure she’d stay unless she signed on for the whole deal. She wasn’t the kind of woman to go through with it, to agree to a loveless marriage for business alone, and she probably deserved to find the kind of man she wanted—one who could love her, but unfortunately he didn’t have that kind of emotion to offer her.

Whether or not she deserved better, he didn’t want her to leave. His pulse raced, palms going sweaty, as he allowed himself to really consider her just walking away since he couldn’t offer her what she sought, couldn’t buy what she’d give someone else for free.

Pushing all of it down, to be contemplated later in the darkness, he shoved a smile into place and followed his ladies into the park. Kaycee would have her vacation, just like her mama promised. What five-year-old wouldn’t want a zoo to herself, with the ability to touch the animals and her very own zookeeper to guide her?

And maybe, if the day was good enough, Jeanie would kiss him again.

Maybe.

It should have terrified him when he also realized the idea of another kiss, freely given from her, held more appeal than destroying his father.

Which meant he’d need to work harder on this than his other life plans. Glancing at the sky, he whispered, “Mama, I think you’d understand.” No answer came back, but the snapping sound from his chest… He thought that might be the ice he shielded himself with since she’d died cracking just a little. Maybe he wasn’t dead inside.

Love.

Funny, the one thing he didn’t believe in was what he needed to convince Jeanie she’d found in him. More, he’d need to convince her she loved him enough that she’d never leave…