Maid for the Billionaire(23)

As Dominic stood before her like a conquering hero waiting to be serviced, Abby couldn't help but turn the tables one last time on him.

She was a modern woman. She'd perused articles on how to make these moments more memorable, she'd just never been with a man before who made her want to try out those techniques.

She took the foil package and crawled over to the side of the bed deliberately taking her time, fully aware of the effect waiting was having on him. His entire body jerked when she slid the condom on his tip and finished by applying it with her mouth. He groaned and rolled onto the bed with her, pinning him beneath her. His expert hands were everywhere, removing the last of her clothing, seeking out her wet nub. His large hands teased the inside and outside of her, rubbing with a rhythm that had her clinging and gasping.

In this merger, there was no leader, no follower. They both gave as much as they received, demanded as much as they offered. Each sought out the exact caresses to send the other beyond control and then found rapture in the pleasure of matched enthusiasm.

"Come," he said and this time she didn't argue. Wave after wave of heat engulfed her. Just when she didn't think she could take anymore, he slid inside her and the waves of pleasure started again.

They rolled so she was on top. He guided her up and down until they shared a mutual release. She collapsed on him, unashamed and completely sated.

With a slight adjustment, she was tucked against his side beneath a blanket. His strong arms allowed little chance of escape and that was perfectly fine with Abby.

She kissed his chest impulsively and said, "I suppose a little cavorting between meetings would be fine."

He chuckled and hugged her tighter even as his breathing deepened and he relaxed into sleep. Abby would have been offended by his quick slumber, but Mrs. Duhamel had shared her concern that Dominic hadn't been sleeping this week. Apparently that was no longer a problem.

She snuggled closer and remembered what he'd said about her. She calmed him. With her own heart still racing wildly in her chest every time she thought about the next few days they'd spend together, she wondered if he knew that he had the exact opposite effect on her. She‘d never felt so alive.



Chapter Eleven

Two black SUVs and two limousines met them the next morning at the private airport they landed at just outside of Beijing. Abby stepped out of the plane into the hot summer air and was glad that Mrs. Duhamel had thought of everything. She was showered and dressed comfortably in a pair of light blue cotton slacks and a cream blouse.

Four large men, two Chinese and two American, came to greet Dominic as he stepped off the plane. Dominic introduced them to Abby. It was a strangely informal introduction to men who neither seemed like business associates nor friends. Each hand that engulfed hers seemed larger than the next. They were all simply dressed in black pants with white, cotton dress shirts, and dark jackets.

Abby heard Dominic instruct, "I've given you a list of places she can go, but she never leaves your sight. If she wants to chat, you chat. If she wants you invisible, disappear, but at no time should you be further than ten feet from her."

"In the suite, sir?"

"When I'm not there, I want at least one man inside and the others prowling. When I'm there, disappear."

"Understood, sir."

Abby felt as awkward as a new tourist asking if she should tip the porter or not. "Dominic?

Are you sure this is necessary?"

He looked down at her, as confident here as he'd been in Boston, reminding her once again of how very little she knew about him or his world. "They are as much for your protection as for my sanity. There are those who would use you to try to influence the negotiations."

She clasped her hands together in front of her. "Use me?" she repeated weakly.

Her lover from the night before was indistinguishable in the stone-faced man who explained,

"There is no going home now, Abby. You've been seen with me. You and your sister will be under my protection until the dust from this has settled."

With the body guards looking on, Abby knew this was not the time to protest that she didn't even know what his purpose for this trip was. She wanted to say that her personal safety had not been mentioned when he'd asked her to join him and that perhaps constant surveillance and the equivalent to home arrest would have swayed her to reconsider this particular adventure. There was so much that she would have said had they been alone and if his expression had not clearly indicated that the topic was not up for discussion.

For now at least.

"I see," she said and looked the guards over again. They probably liked the idea of babysitting her as little as she liked the idea of four hulking shadows. She decided to make the best of it. "I hope you guys can at least play a decent game of poker."

A general chuckle spread through the men and set the tone for their relationship. She wasn't going to cause them any grief nor act the part of the spoiled brat that she had no doubt they'd encountered in the past.

Dominic lost some of his sternness as his eyes lit with renewed interest. "You play poker?"

She hadn't in years, but she remembered the game well enough. One of her uncles had taught her and for a while there, in her younger years, she'd been known as quite a shark. "Yes,"

she said, adding impishly, "but only with your money."