Restless Billionaire (14 page)

 
          
But eclipsing all that was the raging burning desire for Aneesa.
Every bone in his body ached for her—for her touch, her scent.
To have her surround him like she had that night, with such sweet
openness, such innate sensuality.
He sought it now on an instinctive
level almost as if he knew that she might have the power to calm the demons in
his head.
Even while she was the cause of some of them.

 
          
He’d
told himself she was danger with a capital
D
,
and that, she undoubtedly was. He’d had to struggle to maintain control of his
animal impulses around her, and to rebuff her natural gregariousness and desire
to know everything about everything, and everything about
him
.

 
          
At
that moment, something inside him
broke,
some control
he’d been clinging onto. She was here, in his life, pregnant with his child,
and she wasn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and he needed release
because he would explode if he tried to keep this wall up any longer….

 
          
With
a rising sense of urgency and resolve firing his blood he stood and went
straight to Aneesa’s room. When he opened the door he saw that the bed was
empty and immediately felt an uncomfortable lurch in his chest, but then he
registered a movement near the window and saw her there, sitting on the wide
window seat, legs tucked up under her chin, looking out at the view exactly as
he had just been.

 
          
Except
now she was looking at him and he could see those huge eyes widen. She wore a
long T-shirt and her legs were bare and his body hardened in an instant. He
walked over to her and she swung her legs down and stood.

 
          
‘Sebastian?
Was there something you wanted?’ Her voice was husky and reached down inside
him where he couldn’t escape from this desire anymore.

 
          
He
came right up to her and pulled her into his arms and already he could feel his
mind settle, even as his heart thundered and his body ached. ‘You, Aneesa … I
want you.’

 
          
Aneesa
barely had time to register what was happening before she felt Sebastian’s
mouth settle over hers and she groaned in supplication. He’d walked right out
of her fantasy and into her room and for a second she’d thought she was
dreaming. But it wasn’t a dream when she could feel his tall lean length
against hers, and his arms were wrapped around her so tight she could barely
breathe. The sizzling, simmering tension she’d felt
hadn’t
been one-sided—the relief made her feel faint.

 
          
With
impatient hands he tugged at her T-shirt until she had to lift her arms and let
him pull it off. He stood back for a moment, his eyes raking over her almost
feverishly, and Aneesa felt a dart of trepidation at the heated fervour in his
eyes, almost as if he’d consume her with just a look.

 
          
He
started to take off his own clothes, practically ripping his shirt, yanking
down his trousers, until he stood before her, naked. Not another word had been
exchanged; they were both breathing heavily, desire saturating the air between
them. The world could have stopped outside and they wouldn’t have
noticed,
both greedily taking in the other’s body as if
relearning it.

 
          
With
a shaking hand Aneesa reached out to touch Sebastian’s chest before leaning forward
to press a kiss against the hot silky skin. His hands tunnelled through her
hair and caught her head, before he pulled her back up and looked down.

 
          
‘You’re
so beautiful.’ He shook his head as if in awe and something inside Aneesa was
incredibly moved. His hands skated over her shoulders and moved down to cup her
breasts which had grown bigger, and she sucked in a breath.

 
          
He
stopped and asked, ‘Are they sore?’

 
          
Aneesa
tried to smile but felt too hot and desperate. ‘They’re a little oversensitive,
but it’s OK….’

 
          
With
a touch so gentle it nearly made her cry, Sebastian cupped and felt the
generous curves and then he bent his head and licked around one pebbled aureole
before gently tugging the hard nipple into his mouth. The sensation was
exquisite and on the knife edge of both pleasure and pain. Aneesa’s head fell
back, her hands holding Sebastian’s head as he ministered lavishly to one
breast and then the other.

 
          
And
at that moment while the fire was raging inside her, she had a sudden memory of
watching him leave the other night for his date, as well as all those pictures
she had seen on the Internet of him with beautiful blonde women.

 
          
She
pulled at his hair and yanked his head up. ‘I won’t sleep with you when you’ve
been in another woman’s bed so recently.’

 
          
Sebastian
stood tall. His eyes glittered; his face was flushed, and he frowned. ‘What are
you talking about?’

 
          
Aneesa
dropped her hands from his head and with every bone in her body protesting she
bent down and picked up her T-shirt, slipping it on, back to front and inside
out. She felt suddenly cold and wrapped her arms around herself.

 
          
‘You
were in another woman’s bed the other night …’
And
then she blurted out because she couldn’t stop herself, ‘And I know you’ve got
a reputation. So I won’t sleep with you just because you’re bored or to tide
you over between lovers. Because clearly that’s what happened in Mumbai that
night.’

 
          
She
looked down and then turned around when all she could see was Sebastian’s
gloriously naked and aroused body. She heard him drag his trousers on.

 
          
‘Aneesa
…’

 
          
She
wouldn’t turn around and she heard him sigh. She felt a hand on her shoulder
turning her gently and then a finger under her chin tipping her face up. She
averted her gaze stubbornly. He said,

 
          
‘Boredom
played no part in what happened that night, nor did it have anything to do with
filling a convenient gap between lovers, nor does it now. Do you remember what
I said to you? That I didn’t normally do that?’

 
          
Aneesa
half shrugged, still valiantly avoiding Sebastian’s eye.

 
          
‘It
was the truth. I hadn’t slept with anyone for weeks before that night. And then
you came along and I’ve never felt desire so intense before.’

 
          
She
still said nothing, wouldn’t look at him. He sighed again.

 
          
‘I
didn’t sleep with that woman the other night, and to be honest, even if you
hadn’t turned up on that day, I know I wouldn’t have been able to sleep with
her.’ His mouth twisted. ‘The only reason I arranged the date in the first
place was because I couldn’t get the memory of
you
out of my head. And then the only reason I kept the date was
because it was a pathetic attempt on my part to deny how seeing you again made
me feel.’

 
          
Aneesa’s
eyes darted to Sebastian now and she couldn’t look away again. He held her chin
firm.

 
          
‘I
haven’t slept with anyone since that night in Mumbai. And the thought of
sleeping with any other woman apart from you quite frankly turns my stomach.’

 
          
Aneesa
blurted out, ‘Why didn’t you want to see me again?’ She stopped and faltered,
hating the insecurity that prompted the question. ‘I mean, it seems as if you
have no problem taking lovers, so why didn’t you want to contact me?’

 
          
Every
self-protecting instinct within Sebastian locked into place and he gave her the
only answer he could right now, knowing it was only the half of it.

 
          
‘Because
I knew you were different. You deserved more than I could offer. But now you’re
here … and I’ve wanted you every day since that night. I’m not strong enough to
resist you …
this
.’

 
          
Aneesa
looked into Sebastian’s eyes and treacherously all of her fight drained away.
She trusted that what he said was true, and while she suspected there was more
to it, for now it was enough.
Even though she had the leaden
feeling that he was still warning her not to expect anything beyond transitory
pleasures, baby or no baby.
She needed him too badly. She’d hungered for
him, and
ached
for him, and suspected
that he’d just offered her more assurance than he’d probably given any woman.
And she carried his baby, his seed
.

 
          
She
knew he was waiting for her move, so she reached down and pulled her T-shirt up
and off again, dropping it to the floor. And stepping right up to him, she
wound her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the pent-up fervour she’d
been pushing down for weeks.

 
          
Within
minutes they were naked and on the bed, limbs entangled, hot and sweaty, an
urgency driving them both to seek that heady blissful union again. And it was
only when Sebastian thrust deep inside Aneesa and her body welcomed him back
with a glorious spontaneous wave of pleasure that she realised how deeply in
danger she was of falling for this man.

 
          
If
Aneesa had assumed that sleeping with Sebastian would mark a progression in
their relationship, then she’d been very naïve. While for her it had precipitated
the most cataclysmic realisation of her life—she was falling for him—for
Sebastian it seemed to be fulfilling the sole purpose of sating a physical
need.

 
          
For
nearly two weeks now they’d been sleeping together every night, invariably in
her bed. And without fail, Sebastian would get up and go back to his room. The
one night when they’d ended up in his bed, he’d carried Aneesa, exhausted and
sated, back to her own. When she’d protested he’d just bent down and pressed a
searing kiss to her mouth and said, ‘I’ll only keep you awake …’

 
          
And
if anything, Sebastian had become even cooler, more distant. It was as if their
physical relationship was having a directly negative effect on any kind of
emotional closeness. And yet, Aneesa knew instinctively that if she attempted
to stop the physical side of things, Sebastian would retreat even more.

 
          
He
was the father of her child and she knew it was dangerously idealistic but she
couldn’t help but dream of a future for them. And if she was ever going to reach
him, and discover the secrets he kept hidden, then she would just have to bide
her time. But right now, she bit back a feeling of futility as she headed to a
doctor’s appointment on her own.

 
          
When
it came to anything to do with the baby, Sebastian clammed up even more. He
never asked her how she was feeling and, apart from discussing arrangements,
showed no interest in his child, or her pregnancy. Even though when they made
love she could tell he was aware of her small but growing bump.

 
          
He’d
shown no interest in joining her at the doctor’s today where she was due to
have her first scan. When she came out of the appointment, the spring sunshine
was strong. Relief was her predominant emotion—she was healthy and everything
looked fine and normal with the baby.

 
          
She
held the small printout of a picture of her baby in her bag, but she had no one
to share the news with. People hurried past her on the street and a wave of
loneliness and homesickness washed over her. She had a sudden feeling of
empathy for all the Indian women who travelled to England each year to make a
new life, quite usually with a new husband they might have not have even met
before.

 
          
A
moment of inspiration struck her and she called the apartment from a payphone
to let Daniel know what she was doing, in case he worried when she didn’t
arrive home. And then feeling chirpier than she had in days, she joined the
throng of humanity and disappeared into a nearby underground station, armed
with a tube map and instructions from Daniel.

 
          
Sebastian
stood at the window of his office, hands deep in his pockets. His insides
roiled and he felt in turmoil. And whenever he felt like this, he retreated
inwards.
Which is what he’d been doing ever since he’d
started sleeping with Aneesa again.