Three Shifters for Sarah (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (16 page)

“You’re not going to feel comfortable wearing what you have on,” he explained. “So I called ahead and rented something for you. I had to guess at your size, but I think it should fit.”

An irresistible temptation to see what he had gotten her took control, and Sarah climbed over the seat and sat down in back behind him.

“Now I’m not an expert on ladies’ fashions,” he warned her as she began to open the first box. “But I do know what I like to see a woman wear, and I’ve got three sisters to keep me in touch with my softer side.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The soft fabric of the dress was the most graceful she had ever seen in her life. It was an understated pale chiffon that she estimated would fall to her knees and fit snuggly to her waist. Along with it was a delicate ladies’ handbag of matching color. He had said he had rented it, but Sarah knew enough about fashion to know if someone was going to buy a number from this particular designer it would have cost more than what she made in three months at her job. She was still mad at Ryan but couldn’t wait to try it on.

“What’s in this one?” she asked, picking up the smaller of the two.

“I brought that with me from home.” His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. “It belongs to my mother. A long time ago she told me to give it to my mate if I was ever lucky enough to find her.”

Sarah opened the black gloss jewelry case. Inside was a simple pearl necklace, the tiny white beads lining the dainty strand with precision spacing. It seemed old, perhaps passed down through generations and with a lot of love. The pearls were beautiful, and somehow Sarah felt like an imposter for even touching them.

“This is very lovely, Ryan,” she said and felt her anger toward him softening. “But I’m not sure your mother would want me to wear this. I’m not in your family, and I doubt a city girl like me was who she had in mind when she told you to give this away.”

“Put it on and let’s see.” He gave her a devilish smile in the mirror, wanting her to show off for him. When Sarah clasped it around her neck, his smile yielded to an expression that was hard to understand. “You are so beautiful. Please wear those for me today.”

“Okay.” Sarah didn’t want to argue with him anymore. He was a decent man with deep feelings. She just wanted to experience time with him and see how it felt, and it was a pleasant idea to attend a Park Avenue cocktail party with him as her escort.

“We’re almost there so you should hurry up and change.”

“Yes.” A warm flush enveloped her as she caught his eyes searching her out in the overhead mirror again. Their presence in crowded Manhattan at midday and the fishbowl appearance of the car windows caused her to hesitate.

“Don’t worry.” Ryan was quick to pick up on her worry. “The windows are tinted. No one can see you back there.”

Her eyes met his in the mirror. “Except for you,” she reminded him.

“Are you going to argue with me on everything?”

“No.”

Sarah took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then went about the process of stripping to her underwear. His dark, gorgeous brown eyes watched her in the mirror, and all she could think about was how much she wanted him again.

Raw hunger was in his beautiful eyes, and she recognized the same need in him that was now making her hot and unable to concentrate.

Pulling her eyes off his long enough to shrug the one piece over her head, she wiggled her hips until it fit her curves. The zipper was in back and after a few aborted attempts in the cramped confines, she was able to pull it all the way up. She had only been wearing an undershirt beneath her casual blouse and no bra, but thankfully the dress did not require one and so she was all set.

“Shoes?” she asked him.

“On the floor next to you. Again I had to guess at the size, but by the sexy fit of that dress back there I’d say I did a pretty good job.”

“So far so good.” The shoes were Italian design and again judging from the label embossed on the outside of the box were very expensive. “Did you rent these, too?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“No. I had to buy those, but if you don’t like them I’ll find a charity to give them away to.”

“They’re very nice,” she told him a little defensively, not sure if she could accept such a pricey gift from him.

After trying on the shoes to make sure of their fit, she took them off and held them in her hands. Now in the dress it was not as easy of a climb over the front seat as it had been the first time. But she managed to shimmy her butt over Ryan’s well-built shoulder and plop back down in the passenger seat next to him.

“You look very nice,” he told her in a gravelly voice, and his eyes lingered way too long on her legs.

“This is a very nice dress.” She hoped to make a truce between them. “Thank you, Ryan.”

“You’re welcome.”

He had made the turn onto Park Avenue and nodded toward a towering building on the left. “Just in time. We’re here.”

Sarah brought down the mirror on the sun visor and played with her hair in it, wishing she had known her journey this day would take her to a posh Park Avenue condo. If she had known she definitely would have taken more time in the mirror back at the hotel.

“I’ve lived in New York all my life and I’ve never been inside one of these buildings before,” she told them as her nerves started to get the better of her.

“Relax. You’re going to be the most beautiful woman here. I think you’ll have a good time.”

Sarah didn’t know if she would enjoy the event or not. It was the time with Ryan she wanted, and as hot as she was for his touch, at the moment she wasn’t sure she could even think straight during the party let alone concentrate on having a good time. Her rugged billionaire, shape-shifting cowboy had her totally distracted.

Ryan attempted to help adjust the shoulder fit of Sarah’s dress as they rode up on the elevator, but she swatted his hand away and let him know she could do it herself. Obviously she was still upset with him for the mating mark, for intruding into her dreams, and unceremoniously rushing her away from TJ and Lance.

For his part Ryan had gotten over his initial anger at her for having turned his life upside down. When he had gotten a look at her in his mother’s pearls, his heart skipped a beat. She could be the most frustrating woman he had ever met, but though she battled him on everything, she was all he ever hoped for in a mate.

Right now he had to concentrate on breaking down her defenses and using her temper to his advantage to make her truly his.

An erection bulged painfully in his pants, and his dignity was only saved because the loose-fitting suit coat hung down past his groin. It was a good thing this silly cocktail party didn’t have any real business riding on it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus. After he had gotten a look at Sarah in the backseat in only her white panties and the pearl necklace he had thought of nothing else but taking her again, and now the need to have her burned through his soul.

The elevator doors opened, and they had arrived. The CEO of the brokerage house and his wife stood in the foyer to greet their guests. The older gentleman was pleased and surprised to see Ryan in attendance, and both he and his wife were the picture of graciousness and he stuck out his hand and gave Ryan a firm shake, welcoming the two of them to the cocktail reception.

As they walked through the large condo, Ryan stopped to chat with a few of the guests, but he always kept an eye on Sarah, in fact couldn’t take his eyes off her. He marveled at the expression on her face as she looked with awe at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that showcased a perfect view of Manhattan. His gaze followed hers as she craned her neck up at the soaring and beautifully appointed twelve-foot-high vaulting.

Ryan was pleased with the fact that he could bring some joy to this woman. He knew he would have done anything, gone to any lengths, just to see her smile. She was looking around at each new sight the apartment had to offer with wide eyes of surprise and the heels of the Italian shoes he’d bought her clicked off the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors as she hurried in his wake through the other guests.

“I’m nervous,” she confided in him.

Ryan took a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter and handed it to her. “Take a sip of that and relax.”

She did as he told her, but still looked like she was a bundle of nerves.

The CEO of the brokerage house and his wife approached them in the crowd of guests. “What brings you to New York this weekend, Ryan?” he asked.

“I was up this way on some personal business, and thought I would take you up on your gracious offer to join you and your guests this afternoon.”

“Glad you could make it.”

His wife was starting to coo over Sarah. “And who is your charming companion today, Ryan?”

Ryan gave Sarah a smile and she blushed. “This is Sarah Winter, my girlfriend,” he announced.

The CEO and his wife stayed for another five minutes of chitchat. The CEO was trying to interest Ryan in a new investment, and Ryan listened with polite interest while promising to look over the prospectus.

Soon the CEO and his wife moved on to chat up other guests and left Ryan and Sarah alone.

Sarah turned a sharp look at him. She was mad again. “Your girlfriend?” she asked incredulously.

“Well technically you’re my mate.” Ryan braced himself for a fight and tried to explain. “But I find that normal everyday people have a hard time understanding what that really means. If I say the word
girlfriend
everybody knows what I mean.”

“I’m not your girlfriend,” she shot back at him.

“Then what did we do in Montana? Did you intend that to be a one-nighter to cap off your vacation?”

“No! Of course I didn’t. But…” He realized he had exasperated her again though that had not been his intention.

“But what?” he forced her to finish. It was rather fun to play this game with her.

“But I didn’t know you were what you were back then.”

“I thought you’d gotten past that.”

“I’ve still got this mark on me to remind me just how different we really are.”

Her dress had slipped just an inch, but the tracing of the mark could be seen. She let him finger it for a moment, then brushed his hand away.

She was flushed with anger and something else. Ryan suspected it was desire.

“I want you,” he whispered in her ear so only she could hear him.

To his surprise she had no angry comeback to this remark. Instead her face reddened, and she looked very uncomfortable.

“I need to use the restroom.” She shoved past him and down the hallway. Ryan watched the sway of her body beneath the dress as she disappeared and made up his mind he was going to take her before they left this party.

* * * *

The restroom was sumptuous, and to Sarah did not really look like a restroom at all but more a large room with facilities in it. The walls were a limestone, the countertop black granite and the vanity white lacquer.

She set her handbag down on the vanity, stepped up to the mirror, and looked at her face. Taking a deep breath she told herself to get it together. Running water, she splashed some on her face and saw the rosy-red color start to subside.

Two years without any sex and now this weekend she was having a smorgasbord. It had gotten to her and she was going to have to bring herself back down to earth. The only thing was the super sexy man waiting outside in the cocktail party was going to make it awfully hard to think about anything else.

Someone was outside the door trying to get in.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she called out to whoever it was to let them know it was occupied.

“We’ll be longer than that.” Ryan opened the door and stepped inside, closing and locking it behind him.

“It’s very rude to barge in like that,” she told him.

“I’ve done worse.” He came up to stand at her back.

She turned to the mirror and watched him watching her. Their eyes met in the glass. Sarah’s breath came hard.

“My mate is so beautiful,” he whispered.

“I’m not your mate.” But once again all the ability to resist had gone out of her.

His hands ran slowly up her arms, the touch of his fingers sending electrical sparks through her as they rose higher. He lingered on her shoulders and then moved her hair out of the way so he could give the back of her neck a fleeting kiss.

Sarah closed her eyes and exhaled, the utter luxury of his touch making her forget all that was wrong with their relationship.

“We shouldn’t be doing this here.” She gave him a weak protest. But she knew she couldn’t kid herself. The battle was over and she had already eagerly surrendered. “Someone could come in.”

“I don’t care if they do.”

Now his torturous hands were moving back down her body, his arms were cradling her and pulling her back into his rock-hard abs. His erection pushed at her lower back between their clothes.

“We can’t do anything in here, Ryan,” Sarah protested, the idea of having sex in a public place shocking, something she had never before tried or even imagined.