Enraptured Read online

  My eyes fluttered shut as his mouth descended onto mine. It was a tender, probing kiss, which took its time to coax my mouth open and mingle my tongue with his. He savored every detail of the kiss as he slid his hand up to cup my face. He groaned deep in his throat as he dragged his mouth away. “I could kiss you forever,” he whispered. “I still dream about you, even when you sleep right in my arms. I wake up and there you are. Right at the tips of these fingers,” he said as he ran his hand up under my shirt. His eyes swallowed me as he stared down at me. “Right at the tip of my tongue.” Another kiss, deeper, hungrier. I moaned as his mouth traveled from my lips toward my ear and along the sensitive curve of my neck.

  “Drew,” I gasped and he shuddered against me, unable to contain his own uncontrolled moan. He peeled off my top before kissing his way to my full breasts. His tongue went right to work on the painfully hardened peak until I couldn’t help but cry out.

  He eased me over to straddle his lap. I was immediately self-conscious as I looked down at him, naked from the waist up. I kept hearing those things I learned in that courtroom, the things Drew had said about purposefully finding someone undesirable, and how that ultimately led him to me. Elise’s earlier admonitions also rang in my ear. Had he only wanted me because Alex did?

  He read my insecurities immediately. “Feel me, Rachel,” he invited as he reaches his hips toward me. “Feel how hard I am for you. Just you,” he whispered as he pulled me closer for another raw kiss. His hand captured my swaying breast. I whimpered a bit in his mouth as his thumb brushed over it. He teased me for long, agonizing minutes. He remained fully dressed as he tortured me with his fingers and with his tongue. He never let me come. Instead he savored his new official role as my lover by making me ache with pleasure. I was alive with need as he scooted me off of his lap and gently put my bra and my shirt back on. The pilot turned on the light for us to fasten our seatbelts, and Drew’s jet landed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.

  By the time Bethany re-emerged, my mouth was swollen from his kiss, a blush crept around my neck and my nipples were hard enough to cut glass. She sent a knowing smirk his way. “Enjoy your flight, Mr. Fullerton?”

  He brought my hand to his lips. “Indeed.”

  A limousine was ready to transport us to our luxury hotel right on the Las Vegas strip. “Mr. Fullerton,” greeted another lovely young woman as we approached. “So good to see you.” She kissed him on his cheek before turning to me. “And you must be Mrs. Fullerton. It is so lovely to meet you,” she gushed with a picture-perfect smile.

  There was more champagne chilling in the limo, and the lovely young woman named Aja handed Drew his glass before offering me a ginger ale. As we sped toward our hotel, she went over our trip itinerary, which included tickets to one of the hottest new shows in town.

  As the limo pulled up to private entrance of the hotel, more staffers were waiting to attend to us. We were surrounded by the casino manager and several bellboys, who took care of our luggage so we didn’t have to. We were ushered to our lavish private villa with marble flooring in the foyer, a fireplace and manicured gardens in our private courtyard, a private salon and 24-hour butler service.

  “Welcome, sir,” the handsome, swarthy man greeted as we entered the large living area. “My name is Demetri. May I take your jacket?”

  “Yes, Demetri,” Drew said as he shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to the younger man.

  A stunning brunette emerged from the other room to tend to me. “Mrs. Fullerton,” she greeted with a shake of my hand. “My name is Annabelle. Please, follow me.”

  I turned to Drew who nodded his head. I followed her to the private spa, where a masseuse was waiting. Annabelle offered me a thick robe so that I could change out of my clothes. I felt entirely out of place I lay on top of the table and allowed these women to pamper me with a full spa treatment. I emerged an hour later in a silk robe.

  I walked into the bedroom of our villa, where gorgeous floral arrangements filled the room. A silver tray of petits fours and candies beckoned me, and I nibbled on one of the sweet treats. Annabelle knocked on the door before peeking her head inside. “Mr. Fullerton left you a package,” she announced as she walked toward the closet. There hung a white designer dress with a gold Egyptian print. The sleeves were long and the shape was curve-hugging, tapering off at the knee. It had an off-the-shoulder neckline, which would show off the gold onyx necklace and earrings she revealed from a crushed velvet box.

  Another box contained a gold ring that featured a diamond-crusted horseshoe. “For luck” the tag read. As I slipped it on my right hand, I was reminded of Alex’s ranch and our horses. That life had been much simpler than this, which was no doubt the reason Drew opted to give me this particular gift.

  He wanted to make sure I knew I had “traded up” for a life of luxury and riches beyond my wildest dreams.

  A young girl named Hailey styled my hair and applied my tasteful makeup befitting the wife of one of the most powerful men on the planet. I grinned as I thought of Jorge Navarro and his magical kingdom on the Fierce studio back lot. There was no incense or disco, and especially no fairy godmother dressed in black leather, but I thought with an impish chuckle that there definitely should have been.

  I stepped into gold pumps and followed Annabelle toward the casino. Exciting bells and noises came from banks of slot machines as we made our way to the high limits area, which was a set apart like a private club. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and dramatic glass flowers spun up amidst lounge seating. I kept waiting for someone to tell me to leave, as I surely didn’t belong there. Annabelle spared me a sparkling smile as we headed toward the table games. We approached where Drew sat alone at a blackjack table.

  A tumbler of aged whiskey sat to the side of his stacks of chips in black, purple, yellow and brown.

  I never even learned what denominations came in those colors.

  “Mr. Fullerton,” Annabelle said.

  He turned to face me and his eyes warmed with appreciation. “You take my breath away,” he murmured as he pulled me close to plant a teasing kiss on my lips. “Sit,” he commanded softly. “Let’s play.”

  I perched on the chair next to his and he scooted half of his stack toward me. “Do you know how to play?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Though sitting at a high rollers table in Vegas is considerably more daunting than casino night at the Gilberts.”

  He chuckled. “It’s a single deck, so you follow strict etiquette to play.” He selected five yellow chips to bet. The handsome dealer named Ryan turned to me and waited.

  “How much should I bet?” I asked.

  Drew shrugged. “Bet whatever you like. It’s your money.”

  I matched his stack of yellow chips, which panicked me to learn were worth a thousand dollars per chip. Ryan dealt the cards face-down. I watched as Drew used his right hand only to lift up his two hold cards. He used the edges of the card to scratch the table slightly, to indicate he wanted another card. Ryan dealt a three of clubs. This satisfied Drew, who slid his cards, face-down, under his stack of chips.

  I glanced at my two cards, which were an eight of diamonds and a two of spades. Nervously I glanced at the dealer’s card, which was a seven of spades.

  “Double down,” Drew instructed.

  “That’s five thousand more dollars,” I said under my breath.

  His eyebrow arched. “So?”

  I turned over my cards before I slid an identical stack of yellow chips beside the original bet. The dealer delivered my next card face down before he turned to his own deck. He turned over both cards, revealing an ace underneath the seven, given him a soft eighteen. He turned over Drew’s cards, which totaled seventeen. Ryan took those five yellow chips away from Drew before turning to me. He turned over my original ten, and then the extra card, which was a ten of spades, giving me twenty.

  I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding as Ryan slid ten thousand dol
lars in chips toward me.

  “Let it ride,” Drew suggested as he placed another bet. I opened my mouth to protest but he took my hand in his and laid it on his solid thigh. “Big risk, bigger reward,” he murmured with a cloudy look in his eyes.

  The next hand was an easy twenty, with the dealer busting and doubling my bet.

  “Let it ride,” he commanded as he drew my hand further up his thigh.

  My next two cards were eights, which Drew told me to split, making eleven on one hand and eighteen on the other. “Double down,” he said quietly as the backs of my fingers brushed up against the hardening bulge in his slacks.

  There was so much money on the table I felt literally sick, especially as the dealer made a twenty-one and practically all my chips went right back to the house. I turned to Drew, who shrugged with a smile. “You win some, you lose some.”

  “That was more than a hundred thousand dollars, Drew.” Two years ago, that had been a life-changing amount of money beyond my wildest dreams.

  Now it was reduced to tiny little chips that felt more like game pieces than actual money.

  He chuckled. “You are my jackpot, darling,” he murmured as he brought my hand to his lips for another kiss. “We’re not here to win. We’re here to play.”

  Yet as hard as he tried to bet away the stack of chips in front of him, he invariably walked away from the table two hours later with money in his pocket. By then it was late, and most of the restaurants were closing.

  At least for the general public.

  We were ushered in to the posh eatery with a lake view while most other patrons were leaving. We got the run of the joint as we sat next to the window looking out over dancing fountains. “This is how you experience Asian cuisine,” Drew winked as he put his napkin into his lap. “This side of Asia, anyway.”

  It dawned on me in that moment that it was very likely I would someday eat said cuisine on said continent. The world had no limitations now; this was the lesson our jaunt to Vegas was supposed to teach me.

  In fact, we didn’t speak about Alex, the business or Jonathan during dinner. He regaled me with tales from his worldwide travels, from the busy streets of Tokyo to the hiking along the Great Wall.

  “I didn’t realize your busy schedule allowed for such things,” I commented casually.

  He chuckled. “Not much anymore,” he confessed. “Most of my travels that didn’t involve an office or business meetings happened prior to my taking over as president of the company. I had to grow out of such hobbies once Father got sick. The family needed me here.”

  “Sounds as though you had to grow out of a lot of things at an early age,” I mused as I took a sip of water.

  “Haven’t we all?” he challenged softly.

  “Touche,” I grinned. I studied his face. “What was your father like, Drew?”

  “You should know,” he clipped tersely. “I’m sure Alex read you chapter and verse of our sordid family history.”

  “I want to hear it from you.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “My father was a powerful man, Rachel. And all that implies. He came from a long line of powerful men, and all that implies.”

  “Did you find him cruel?” I asked softly.

  “I found him ruthless,” Drew admitted. “But that was why he was so successful. It is the nature of the business. He had enormous expectations of everyone, and woe to anyone when they were not met.”

  “Like Alex.”

  Drew’s jaw clenched. “Alex was the exception to the rule, mostly because Mother was there to protect him.”

  “As were you,” I pointed out.

  He stared at me for a long moment before he wrenched his eyes away. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. It made him soft.”

  “It made him compassionate,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”

  Again he chuckled. “It will not serve him in this world. To truly be successful, one must have a certain level of selfishness. In order to win, someone else must lose. And you have to be okay with that.”

  “And that’s the legacy you wish to leave to your children, is it?”

  His featured softened. “Excellence is a journey, Rachel. It builds upon the lessons and mistakes of the past and hopefully strengthens the future. That is my hope for my children.”

  I reached across the table to place my hand on his. “Mine too.”

  His eyes never left my face as he pulled my hand to his lips.

  While Drew was ready to take on Sin City with relish, I was jonesing for a nice soft bed. I was on my third yawn as we were leaving the restaurant, so Drew turned us toward the villa. “I thought you wanted to play poker,” I teased.

  “I’d rather play with you,” he teased in return.

  He lifted me up and carried me over the threshold of our villa, carrying me all the way to our room. He laid me down onto the bed and I watched through sleepy eyes as he took great care to remove each accessory, and finally strip me from my brand new dress. He was still fully dressed as he stretched out next to my bare form. I closed my eyes as he trailed one delicate fingertip along my skin. I reached for a kiss, but he kept his passion in check as he complied.

  This night was about tender exploration. He warmed me with chaste caresses and strategically placed kisses, until I drifted off to sleep on a sensual wave of pleasure that felt exactly like a dream.

  Drew was already dressed and gone by the time I woke the next morning. Breakfast waited for me, which I ate in my robe, since there were no clothes to change into.

  My new husband was about to change that, too.

  There was a knock on the door by ten o’clock, and Annabelle ushered in a virtual team of people who were there for the sole purpose of dressing me. A petite brunette named Jocelyn announced that she was my own personal buyer, and she had two racks of clothes for me to try on. There was a sampling of everything, from casual to dressy. Slacks, jeans, skirts, tops or dresses, there was a complete ensemble for every occasion. There was also an entire trunk full of lingerie, all in my size.

  Jocelyn worked with me closely, to figure out what I liked and I didn’t like. By early afternoon there were two more racks and another trunk. I had enough clothes to spend a month in Vegas and not wear the same thing twice. It filled the luxurious villa’s cedar closets to overflowing.

  I changed into a silk maxi dress with a colorful floral print and curled up on the crushed velvet sofa in the living room of our villa as I waited for Drew to return. When he arrived, it was closer to four in the afternoon. He looked enormously pleased with the result of his spending spree. “You look lovely,” he praised as he walked toward the sofa. “I’m so glad you found something to your taste.”

  “If I didn’t, I’d have to walk around Vegas naked,” I quipped.

  “That would be to my taste,” he teased with an evil smile that made my stomach drop.

  “I didn’t know what you had planned tonight so I didn’t know what to wear,” I confided as I stood. “You make it hard for a girl to prepare.”

  He chuckled as he took me into his arms. “There is no way you could prepare for the life I want to give to you, darling.” He dragged his warm mouth across mine. “But as a matter of fact, you look perfect. We’re just spending a casual evening with friends.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Friends?”

  As it turned out, the friends in question were none other than Troy and Sloane De Havilland, who had vacation property in Las Vegas. Their modern colonial estate faced a country club golf range, and in fact that was where both Troy and Drew spent their day while I experienced my very own fashion show.

  Sloane greeted me with a happy kiss on both cheeks. “Darling,” she said as she pulled me into the house. “You look absolutely breathtaking. Doesn’t she, Troy?”

  His eyes glittered as he looked me over. “Our Drew is a lucky man.”

  Drew beamed under his praise. “You are right as usual, Troy.” He offered a bottle of wine to our hosts, who led us through the f
oyer with smooth marble flooring and an enormous crystal chandelier.

  The ceilings of the magnificent home were vaulted with impressive crown molding and a dramatic fireplace that nearly took up an entire wall. A uniformed maid was ready to take my light jacket and offer me ginger ale in a crystal flute. “Thank you,” I muttered as I followed everyone else toward the living room. I sat close to Drew as we faced our hosts.

  “You have a lovely home,” I managed when I recovered from this unexpected surprise enough to find some manners.

  Sloane curled on her expensive sofa with a contented smile. “Thank you,” she said. “I told Drew you didn’t have to stay in that tacky hotel, that you were more than welcome to stay with us, but he insisted that you were still on your honeymoon,” she ended with a wink.

  I figured only a woman with her own private island could refer to a five-star luxury hotel as ‘tacky.’ “I didn’t realize you had a home in Las Vegas.”

  Troy chuckled. “Some people collect stamps. My wife collects property.”

  She gave him a playful nudge. “My father was a real estate developer in Virginia,” she explained. “So that is where my true passion lies.”

  “Instead of diamonds, I buy her houses,” Troy winked.

  “There’s nothing quite like buying a new house and decorating it in a way that is completely different and fresh and exciting. I figure, why choose when you can have it all?”

  I smiled but said nothing. Drew placed his hand on my knee as he confided, “Our Rachel is still getting used to her new world. I’m not sure she’s figured out she can have it all yet, but that’s what I’m committed to showing her.”

  I glanced at him, wondering when exactly I became “our” Rachel to people I wasn’t even sure I liked.

  “Get used to it, sweet Rachel,” Troy advised over the rim of his glass. “Your husband is a determined man who can and will get whatever he wants.”