The Hotel 3 (The Billionaire Seduction) (3 page)

A
week later, and I still don’t
feel like I belong here on the executive floor. Lillian found me an
office and even gave me use of an assistant, but I can’t
help feeling like an interloper when all the other secretaries and
interns look at me like I’m
way above my station.

I
try to keep my head down and focus on work. Lillian put me in charge
of pulling together a team for the redesign: PR people, designers,
and more. I still have the details of everyone who worked the big
gala event, so I hit the ground running. I even found an amazing
interior designer who’s
restored some of the best old buildings in the country. She couldn’t
wait to get her hands on the famous Rexford, and couriered over a
portfolio of ideas almost the next day. Now a draft of the grand
lobby is spread across my desk, along with fabric and paint swatches.
I can’t
stop running my fingers over the colorful rendering of what the
Rexford could be. It’s
stunning.

“It’s
elegant, modern,
and kissed with history,” I
say excitedly, out
loud
to myself in my empty office. I don’t
care. I want to kiss the drawing, but that might be crossing a line.

“How
inviting.”

My
head snaps up. Xander is leaning against the door frame with a
charming look on his face.

I
laugh. “I
know it sounds weird, but this design is sexy.”

“This
I’ve
got to see.” Xander
strolls around to my side of the desk and surveys the plans.

I
wait, nervous. “Well?”

“Well,
what?” He
gives me a sly grin. “Oh,
were you waiting for my opinion?”

“Yes!”

“Sorry.
I’m
not used to people caring what I think.”

I’m
tempted to roll my eyes. Xander’s
whole nobody-loves-me routine is half sincere and half
attention-seeking,
but I’m not falling for it today.
“Boo-hoo,”
I smile.
“Talk.”

Finally,
he puts me out of my misery. “I
like it. With a few tweaks, it would be the perfect new look for this
place.”

“Tweaks?
Like what?”

“Well…”
Xander
surveys the plans. ‘This
braid trim is too heavy for the lobby furniture. And this shade of
blue is a touch too dark for the ceiling.”
He flips
through the swatches. “The
Rexford’s
elegance is subtle. Here.” He
hands me new samples, and I hold them to the drawing. He’s
right.

“You’ve
got a really good eye for this sort of thing,”
I say,
impressed.

“I’ve
seen almost every luxury hotel in the world.”
He winks.
“Mostly
on my back.” I
can’t
help laughing..

“Seriously,
Juliet, this design is amazing. Well done. Now, you just need to run
it past Dom for the go-ahead.”

He
says it casually, as if there isn’t
a blood feud going on between Dominic and me. I’ve
done a great job of avoiding him since the planning meeting last
week. In fact, avoiding Dom is ninety-nine percent of the reason I
hide in my office.

Cowardly.
But I’ve
always been good at self-preservation, especially when it comes to my
heart.

My
stomach knots. I really don’t
want to see him today.

“You
have to face him sometime.” Xander
says.

“I
was planning like a year from now,”
I say grimly.
“Maybe
a decade or two.”

He
laughs. “Welcome
to my world. Just remember, he’s
all bark and no bite.”

Bite
.

I
flash back to Dom biting down gently on my shoulder, locking me
tightly in his arms as he moved deep inside.

Oh
God.

I
roll up the drafts and gather the swatches. “Wish
me luck.”

Dom’s
office door is shut and his secretary is nowhere to be seen. I
tentatively knock. My heart is racing and the knock goes over too
lightly. I can barely hear it.

Crap.

I
knock again. Harder. And think about all the natural disasters that
could conveniently occur right now. Earthquake. Tornado. Zombie
apocalypse.

“Come
in.”

I
turn the handle and step into the room.

Dom
is at his desk with a ton of paperwork in front of him. When he sees
me, his expression goes hard. It’s
like an invisible door closing between us, and I know I can’t
get through it.

“Get
out.”

I
find my voice. “I
need to show you something.”

“Then
send someone else.”

Don’t
let him crush you.

I
force myself not to wilt under his angry glare. Instead, I pull
myself up to my full height and stare straight back. “I’m
doing my job here. You may not agree, but at least you can be
professional.”

Dom
blinks, almost like he’s surprised. Then he gives me a curt
nod. “Very well.”

I
walk over to his desk and lay out the new plans. His cologne hits me,
familiar and sexy as hell, but I fight to keep my head. This is no
time for hormones to get the better of me.

I
lay out the new plans. “There,” I tell him. “I know
you didn’t want a redesign, so I’ve done my best to keep
a sense of the Rexford’s original look.”

Silence.

When
I look up, he’s studying me with an unreadable look. “Was
this your plan all along?”

“This?”
I motion to
the drawing. “It’s
close to what I had in—”

“No.”
Dom
interrupts, taking a step closer to me. “Conspiring
with Lillian to steal hotel away from me. That first night, you dug
your claws into me and I fell for it.”

I
tense. “You keep acting like this was a big conspiracy, but I’m
telling you, I didn’t
know who you were that night. You didn’t
say your real name.”

“Bullshit!”

I
snap. I’m
sick of him treating me like I’m
the enemy. I never meant for any of this to happen, and no matter how
angry and betrayed he’s
feeling, he doesn’t
get to push me around. “You
want to know the real story?” I
demand. “Or
would you prefer to just keep hating me? You haven’t
given me a chance to explain. You just jumped to conclusions and
never backed down.”

“I
saw the explanation. Those photos were clear enough.”

“For
God’s
sake, Dom, listen to me! My friend is a decoy for a private
investigator. I was a stand-in for her that night, that’s
all. I had no idea who you were, or why someone wanted pictures of us
together. I was just supposed to flirt, maybe kiss you a little.
That’s
it!”

Dom
hesitates, just for a moment. “I
don’t
believe you.”

“I
left, remember?” I
exclaim angrily. “
You
came after
me
.
You were the one who wanted to go upstairs
.
You
wouldn’t
let me go.”

Dominic
takes another step closer, and my skin lights up with awareness. I
should step away, but I’m
not going to back down.

“Why
did you go upstairs with me?” Dom
demands, just inches away. I can feel the heat from his body, that
overwhelming physicality taking hold of me like a drug. “If
fucking me wasn’t
the job, then why didn’t
you get in the cab and leave?”

“Because
that part wasn’t
on the books.” I
tell him. “I wanted you.”

“Me
or my money?”

“Fuck
you, Dominic.” I start to turn away. “Not every girl you
meet is a gold-digger. Some of us don’t
need six figures to screw you.”

He
catches my wrist before I can leave, and pulls me back against his
body. For a moment I’m
crushed there, feeling the heat, his powerful muscles tightly coiled
and ready for release.

Lust
slams through me, clenching between my thighs as his lips graze my
earlobe. “You’re
right,” he
murmurs, sexy and raw. “If
I recall, you needed much, much less.”

He
trails his fingertips down my collarbone, to the first button on my
silk blouse. I freeze, paralyzed with a sudden need that burns every
inch of me.

He
still hates me. I know, he doesn’t believe a word I say, but
somehow, that doesn’t matter. All I want is to feel his hand on
me, and his body taking me, hard and fast.

His
fingers close around my breast. A moan slips from my lips, and it’s
like the signal he’s been waiting for. In
one swift move, Dom spins me around and shoves me over his desk. My
hands go down on the surface to brace myself, my ass pressing into
him automatically. I grind back against the hardness in his pants
until Dom yanks my skirt up over my hips and my panties down around
my thighs.

Cool
air hits my naked skin, and a moment later, a stinging slap rains
down on my ass. I yelp in surprise and pain.

“That’s
right,” Dom
growls. He wraps one hand in my French braid, using it to arch my
body back as he spanks me again. “You deserve to be punished
for what you’ve done.”

Another
slap rains down on my naked ass. The sting slams through me, but it’s
oh so sweet. I grip on to the edge of the desk, feeling a wild heat
like nothing before. Fuck, I’ve missed him so much, this
dominant power that makes me lose all control.

Dom
presses me back down onto the desk, then slowly circles it, watching
me from all angles. “This
is where I pictured fucking you, that first night we met.” He
casually unbuckles his belt and opens his pants. “Did you know?
I wanted to bring you back here, and make you beg, naked and spread
for me. Screaming my name.”

“Dom…”
I whisper, already needing his dick buried deep inside.

He
smirks. “Not loud enough. Not even close. But I promise, once
you’ve got every last inch of my cock grinding that G-spot til you
break, you’ll be screaming the whole fucking hotel down.”

Yes
!

I
know better than to break position, but I thrust my ass back, wanting
his touch again. He moves behind me again, and suddenly forces my
legs wider apart. Then his hands are on me: grabbing, stroking,
kneading my ass. His fingers zero in on my clit and rub in a
punishingly pleasurable burst of friction. Fuck! I moan into the
desk, grinding back. He thrusts two fingers into my wetness and my
moans get louder. It’s the middle of the day, there could be
people right outside the door, but I don’t care. My whole body
is wound so fucking tight, I need him, and I need him hard.

“Please,
Dominic!” The
words tear from my mouth as he finger-fucks me from behind. I ride
him hard, chasing the climax, but two fingers are nothing compared to
the goods I know he’s got waiting for me.

“Fuck
me,” I demand through gritted teeth. I don’t want to beg.
I’m going to make it an order. “Fuck me hard, right now.”

Dom
growls, pulling his hand away. I collapse, panting and needy on the
desk. No! For a moment, I wonder if he’s going to leave me
here, so close, but then I hear the yank of his zipper.

He
enters me hard, thrusting deep, all the way to the hilt.

“Yes!”
I scream, slammed into the desk with the impact of his thrust. Dom
grabs my hair, and pistons into me again.

“You
feel that?” He demands, his cock filling me all the way up.
“You belong to me. This sweet cunt is all mine. And I’ll
take it whenever I damn please.”

He
grips my hips, his fingernails digging into my flesh as he fucks me
hard and fast, just the way I need it.

“You
can lie to me all you want, but your body can’t pretend.”
Dom reaches to grab my breast, squeezing at my stiff nipples until I
want to sob with the pleasure. “It knows who the boss is. And
I’m not going to stop until I’ve claimed every inch of
you from the inside out.”

He
thrusts so deep, so goddamn deep I could lose my mind. I want it to
last, to feel him inside me all day, but I’m
close again, my climax rising up in an unstoppable surge of heat. I
grind back against him, meeting every stroke, loving how deep his
cock drives, how the friction sets me on fire. He spanks my ass
again, just the right side of pain, grinding up inside me in a harsh,
angry rhythm. Our grunts fill the room, animal and raw.

“Say
it,” he demands. “Say you belong to me!”

I
clench my jaw. I won’t give in. But then Dom slows his pace. Oh
God. Now he’s thrusting slow and deep, gripping me against his
body so I can’t escape, can’t push back, can’t do
anything but take his cock one mind-blowing, meaty inch at a time.

“Dom…”
I moan, struggling in his arms. But his cock is unstoppable, and I’m
close. So close!

“Say.
It.” Dom growls. I can hear the tension in his voice, feel the
rigid drive of his body. I want to disobey but fuck, I can’t
resist him, not like this.

I
break.

“Yes,”
I scream, feeling my body constrict with pleasure. “I’m
yours, I belong to you!”

Dom
lets out a roar. With a final epic slam he thrusts up inside me, so
deep and so good I come hard enough to lose my mind. I feel him
shudder, hear the groan echo through him as he collapses against me,
spent.

I
lay against the desk. My heartbeat measures the seconds until Dominic
moves away from me. I hear him pull up his pants, but I’m
too wiped out to move.

Jesus
H Christ. That was the most epic fuck of my life.

“Clean
yourself up.”

Dom’s
voice comes, cool and measured. What?

I
struggle upright and turn – then
wish I hadn’t.
He’s buckling his belt a few feet away. His expression is
unreadable, distanced and aloof.

Is
he serious?

“No.” I struggle
upright, pleasure still coursing through my system. “No way do
you pull that bullshit on me now. Not after that.”

“What else am I
supposed to do?”

“Act
like an adult and talk about it.” I demand. “This, what
we have between us, it’s real OK? And you can’t just fuck
it away.”

For
a moment I see it on his face: pain. The kind of agony I’ve
been feeling, hurt and betrayal. Heartbreak, too.