The Tycoon (47 page)

She spotted a louvered door in one end of the room. “What’s that, a closet?”

“Take a look,” he said, opening the door and urging her to peek inside.

Giving no thought to her nakedness, she stepped in front of him, her body touching his warm skin. His hand rested on her shoulder as she perused a dressing room with drawers and shelves as well as multiple cubicles holding neatly hung shirts. And pants. A boot cupboard and many pairs of cowboy boots. “All this storage.” she said.

He cupped her neck, turned her and kissed her. When their lips parted, he said, “Let’s shower. You must be hungry.”

He led her across the room to the shower. Besides the dressing room that was as large as a bedroom in many houses, the only other blatant extravagance was his shower. The glass and marble enclosure was only slightly smaller than her whole bathroom. A rain shower fixture hung from overhead and massage fixtures protruded from the wall. Also outlets for steam. She saw what she thought was a radio. “Holy cow,” she said in awe. “Is this where you bathe your harem?”

“Harem?” He frowned and urged her inside, at the same time punching buttons. Water at a perfect temperature began to pour over them and steam began to fill the space around them. “I designed it myself,” he said, grinning, obviously proud. “Well, I didn’t actually
design
it. I had the idea and a real designer put it together. Cool, huh?”

A veil of steam began to enshroud them. “This is a first for me,” she sputtered, slashing water from her eyes with her fingers. “I can’t say that I’ve ever been steam-cleaned.”

“You sell high-dollar homes. I know you’ve seen steam showers.” He poured eucalyptus-scented bath gel into his palm, then handed the bottle to her. They began to wash each other.

“Well, yes,” she said, “But I’ve never seen them work. And I’ve never been in one.”

“This the latest in luxury bathrooms. All Lockhart Tower homes have the latest amenities.”

“Now you sound like a salesman.”

“Darlin’, I
am
a salesman. First and foremost. Smart as you are, I thought you would’ve figured that out. Marketing is what I’m best at.”

She smiled up at him and crossed her wrists behind his neck. “Oh, yeah? After last night, I might argue that point. But if you have a bridge you want to tell me about, I’m listening.”

Sliding her front against him, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him deeply. After they parted, she lathered soap between her hands, then began to soap his front. “I love touching you,” she said softly, smoothing her hands over his furry chest, his shoulders, his hairy belly. She gently soaped his genitals.

On a hum, he pulled her close and soaped between her legs. “Sore?”

He was athletic and strong and no matter how gentle he was, a whole night of unbridled sex with him had been physically demanding. “A little. Are you?”

He moved up and began to soap her breasts, paying extra attention to her nipples. To her astonishment, the nerves inside her sex quickened.

“I haven’t been good for three times in a night in a long time,” he murmured.

“Hmm. And all three were notable.”

“I thought so. Fact is, I’m damn proud of myself.”

“Did we overdo it?”

“With you, I could never overdo it.”

“Hmm. You’re dangerous. You’re too good with flattering words.”

She looped her arms around his neck again and pressed her slick breasts against the hard wall of his chest. “How come you’re in such good shape? You must not sit at a desk all day. You must work out.”

He caressed her bottom, began nibbling at her lips. “Sometimes. There’s a gym downstairs. And a pool.” He covered her mouth with his for another luscious kiss. “You didn’t say what you thought of the shower.”

“Fantabulous. Especially with you in it.”

“Yes, you are.”

She tilted back her head and began to shampooed her hair. His tongue traveled along the underside of her arms, ended up at her nipples. “You’re distracting me,” she mumbled through shampoo suds and moved her head under the water stream to rinse out the shampoo.

He closed his mouth over one nipple and that tingle inside her sex became a zing. He slowly sank to his knees, his lips moving down her wet belly. When his mouth reached her pubic hair, her pulse rate picked up and she could no longer concentrate on her hair. “Drake,” she mumbled.

“Hmm?” He parted her labia with his thumbs and the tip of his tongue slid into the top of her sex.

Sensation shot through her. Helpless and needy anew, a little keening sound blurted from her throat. He flicked and laved until she shattered in orgasm and went weak-kneed. He caught her in his arms, got to his feet and smothered her mouth with a devastating kiss. Their lips parted and he said, “Happy New Year.”

“You’re such a devil,” she replied.

They left the shower, with her feeling sated, shampooed, scrubbed and cleaner than she had ever felt in her life.

On their way to the kitchen, she stopped and looked outside. The sidewalks and streets were empty. The sky was gray and looked tumultuous. A norther had been forecast and apparently it had arrived overnight. No doubt it had dropped the temperature even more. No wind could be heard from inside the condo, but it could be seen in a fully unfurled flag in the distance and in the Christmas decorations lashing the light poles down on the sidewalks. She imagined it whistling and howling up and down the brick streets that ran between the multistory buildings.

“Looks like we’re going to be housebound today,” she said. “We’ll have to watch the movies I brought. Or football.” She looked at him and grinned. “Or I can get even with you for what you did to me in the shower.

“Hold that thought for later. I’ve got a plan.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll show you after we eat.”

Shannon straightened the kitchen from the night before as he pulled eggs and bacon from the refrigerator. “I had to go shopping so we’d have something to eat,” he said.

“No way,” she said.

“I took your advice and carried all of the food down to the Double-Barrel. Since I gave my housekeeper the day after Christmas off, I had no food”

Shannon couldn’t imagine him in a grocery store, but then, he could probably handle anything, even a trip to a supermarket.

While they cooked, the Rose Parade showed on the small kitchen TV that hid behind a door in one of the cabinets. Calls began to come, all from his family members, wishing him a happy new year. She hadn’t heard him say for sure how large his family was. She hadn’t given it much thought before, but it dawned on her that she had never received a happy new year call from her sister. If it weren’t for Grammy Evelyn, she and her sister probably wouldn’t even spend Christmas together.

“How was Christmas with your family?” she asked him as she manned skillets of sizzling bacon and scrambled eggs.

He waited for toast to pop up. “Interesting.”

That wasn’t the answer she expected and she glanced at him across her shoulder, saw him

focused on buttering the toast. “Interesting?”

“I started to say entertaining, but that would be the wrong word for sure. How was yours?”

He laid the butter knife beside a stack of several slices of toast and reached inside the cupboard. Apparently he didn’t want to discuss how he spent Christmas.

She scraped the scrambled eggs out of the skillet into a bowl. “Well I couldn’t say it was interesting. Dinner at my sister and brother-in-law’s house. Some cousins came from out of town. ”

“The Houston side of the family, huh?”

Oh, hell.
She looked up from lifting the bacon from the hot skillet, feeling her cheeks heat up. He was grinning. He winked.

She laughed then, feeling guilty as she turned off the heat under the skillet. “Okay, I fibbed a little that night. I don’t have any relatives in Houston.”

He came to her and placed his hands on her waist. “Someday you’re going to have to tell me why you did that.”

“You don’t have to wait until someday. I was confused and conflicted. I wanted to be with you, but I couldn’t stand for you to think I was bad.”

He was still grinning. “But you
are
bad. In a good way.” He pulled her close and nipped her bottom lip with his teeth. “You’re so bad, you turn me into a wild man. Make me feel like I’m eighteen again.”

They kissed again, a long languid joining, all minty-tooth-pasty and sweet, with her arms around his wide shoulders. She could feel his erection through his sweats. She playfully wriggled against him. He caught her hand, placed it over him and she felt his firm shape through the soft knit.

“We should go back to bed,” he said huskily. “Let me set a record.”

“If we spend so much time in bed, don’t you think we’ll get tired of each other?”

“Not a chance.”

They kissed again until she pulled away and smiled up at him. “We should eat, cowboy. Breakfast is getting cold. And I didn’t slave over this hot stove to end up with cold breakfast.”

After breakfast, they tidied the kitchen, then they bundled up. He produced a skullcap and pulled it onto her head, wrapped a knitted muffler around her neck and they strolled the city streets, something Shannon had never done in spite of living in Fort Worth for years.

Most of the retail stores were closed, but all of the eateries and bars were open and festive, with big-screen TVs showing the day’s events. Drake knew the business people and they knew him. Everyone greeted him enthusiastically. At one place, they had beer and deli sandwiches and talked football with a group who had come to spend New Year’s Day downtown. Before leaving, he told her he owned the building and his offices were on the upper floors.

As the day waned, they returned to his condo. Cuddling under a blanket on the oversize sofa in the living room, they attempted to watch the Rose Bowl game, but soon became so absorbed by pleasing each other, they missed most of it.

They slept in each other’s arms again Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, she prepared to say good-bye. As she shrugged into her coat just inside the front door, he said, “I’m taking some time off in January. Kicking back a little. Can you get free this week?”

“For a whole week?”

“I know you can’t get away at night. Maybe we could do some day dates.”

“Maybe,” she said. “You can call and let me know, I guess, and I’ll see if I can do it.”

“Good enough.”

They kissed good-bye before opening the front door. He walked her up the hallway, rode with her on the elevator and walked her to the parking garage. “Be careful driving,” he said.

She slid behind the wheel, closed her door and buzzed down the window. “Thanks for the weekend” she said, as she fitted her bluetooth against her ear.

He bent to the car window’s level and pointed to it. “Don’t let that thing distract you.”

She was still grinning like an idiot. “I won’t, Dad.”

He gave her his little-boy grin. “Okay, okay. I told you I’m possessive.” He straightened, still looking down at her, then bent again and kissed her. “Good weekend.”

Oh, it was more than good
, she thought. It had been glorious. And it had completely destroyed her idea of classifying their meetings as
just sex
. “The best,” she said softly.

She buzzed up the window and backed out of the parking slot. He was still watching when she pulled out onto the street into the traffic.