Billionaire's Love Suite by Catherine Lanigan

remarks he made about his mother and
she commented on the special relationship they’d had.
    When she remarked about the elegance of the hotel décor, Justin told
Shana that this hotel had been the only one his mother had designed. The
color choices and fabrics had been all her doing when the hotel had undergone
an enormous renovation in 1989 right before her death.
    They finished dinner with an expensive cognac. Justin took a moment to
speak with the chef and thanked the staff before holding her chair for her.
    She rose and though her back was to him, she could feel his body heat
radiating toward her as if she were being drawn to him by an ethereal
force. Her head reeled with the sensuous vibes she felt from him and she
stumbled.
    Justin caught her. “You okay?”
    “Must be the cognac.”
    “Or the chocolate martini,” he said putting his arm around her shoulder.
“Here. Just lean into me. The staff will never know you can’t hold your
liquor.”
    She started to protest but then thought better of it. What would she say?
It’s you, not the booze that’s got me unbalanced? The trouble was that she
all too easily melded into his side like she was part of him.
    They walked through the Art Deco embossed brass elevator doors.
Shana had started to move away from him now that she had a rail to hang
onto, but he only pulled her closer. “It’s okay,” he said as his fingers pressed
more deeply into her shoulder sending shooting flames of desire through
her. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my most valuable asset.”
    “You think I’m valuable?” Shana asked as she looked up at him in
surprise.
    His eyes captured her. His penetrating gaze was like some kind of mind-altering
drug. Suddenly, she didn’t know where she was or what was happening.
She felt light and dizzy as if her soul had just escaped her body,
rather like a balloon that had just deflated.
    “Verrry,” he said slowly while peering at her with his devilish blue
eyes.
    Shana knew now how he’d had so many women. He’d bewitched them
all just as she was right now. She stared at his luscious mouth willing it to
meet with hers. She had to taste him.
    “That’s why I’m going to fire you,” he said in low sensual tones.
    Shana missed the beat. She was so concentrated on her need to kiss
Justin that her mind didn’t compute what he was saying. “What? Why?”
    Using his forefinger, he lifted her chin and moved her face close to his,
and said, “Because I couldn’t do this if you were my employee.”
    His mouth shaped to hers in an eagerness that Shana had never known.
It was primordial and filled with an aching need so powerful, Shana lost all
thoughts of herself. All she knew now was that he wanted her and it was
enough.
    His tongue drove into her mouth and slid across her interior claiming
the territory. One moment he caressed her tongue, the next minute he was
stabbing her as if he were at war with himself. Shana flushed from head to
toe beneath her clothes. Desire flamed and then combusted. She raised her arms and put them around his neck to keep him close. She wanted to keep
him from leaving. She kissed him back with a passion she hadn’t known
existed. She invaded his mouth with her tongue, sliding over his full lips
and tasting cognac and Justin. As their tongues danced with each other,
Shana sank her fingers into Justin’s nape and that was when she discovered
he was covered in goose bumps.
    She was stunned to know that she had caused such a strong reaction in
him. He was the man who’d known dozens of women. He could have had
anyone he wanted, but at this moment, he was hers.
    His breath came hard as if he were rising too quickly from the deep sea
as he pulled away from Shana’s mouth. He toyed with her lower lip, capturing
it between his teeth. He’d meant for the ploy to break the plundering
mood he was in, but instead the honey taste of Shana drove him to recklessness.
He slanted