Jaime picked up her phone and let them enjoy the show. She had enough dick in her life.
Good dick, too.
She took a few selfies and posted them to Instagram just as her notification for a new email sounded off. Hoping it wasn’t one of her staff at her interior design firm interrupting her vacation, she opened it.
A new Google alert.
“Let me see if this cougar can catch some tender meat,” Renee said.
“I know that’s right,” Aria cheered her on. “Walk to the water and I’ll see if he’s looking.”
“Jezebel,” Jaime muttered, feeling her entire body tense as she opened and read the news story.
“What’s wrong?” Aria asked her.
Jaime forced her body to relax as she rotated her shoulders and glanced over at Renee pausing in her walk to stretch her Amazon-like figure. “Jessa,” she muttered, trying not to clench her teeth at the very thought of the woman they’d foolishly thought was a friend.
“Oh, that Jezebel,” Aria sighed. “What that bitch up to these days?”
“Falling on her feet once again,” Jaime said. “She just married Horatio Montgomery.”
“The businessman?” Aria asked.
“The millionaire businessman,” Jaime amended. “That evil cat has nine lives. Maybe ninety-nine.”
“And how, may I ask, do you know about this?” Aria asked, reaching to take Jaime’s phone from her hand to read through the news story. “I thought you deleted the google alert on her name.”
Jaime released a heavy breath. “It hasn’t gone off in five or six years,” she said, by way of avoiding answering the question.
“And now we have info that offers absolutely nothing to our lives,” Aria said handing the device back. “Delete it, Jaime. Let’s move on from Jessa. Let’s never speak her name again. Let’s pretend she doesn’t even exist.”
“For so long my life has been entwined with hers,” Jaime explained. “And in the past every time I thought we were done with her, the bitch would pop back up out of the blue. I wanted to stay ready.”
“Fuck her,” Aria stressed. “Fuck her life. Fuck her soul. Fuck every bit of that bitch from her red bottoms to the tips of her red fingernails. Fuuuuuck her.”
Jaime smiled. It was hard not to. Aria’s funny was constant.
“Fuck her,” Jaime agreed as she deleted the Google alert. “No more Jessa.”
Aria raised her glass of rum punch. “Absolutely no more,” she said.
Jaime lifted her glass as well to toast to that.
They fell silent and looked on as Renee entered the water and then swam to emerge in the direct line of vision of the chocolate angel. She had his attention as she glanced at him before walking over to them with water dripping down her body.
“Got ’em?” Renee asked them as she stretched some more for good measure.
“Got ’em,” Aria confirmed.
Renee glanced back over her shoulder and gave him a smile at finding his eyes on her. Smooth as hell, she picked up a towel and began to slowly dry the wetness from her body, keeping his attention.
“A brother that fine has to have a woman,” Aria said.
Behind the cover of her shades, Jaime shifted her gaze to Renee whose hunger for him—or maybe any man—was clear. “Other people’s dick is off the menu,” she reminded her, thinking of the mess her friend got herself into years ago when she cheated on her husband with her ex-husband who was newly married to his pregnant side chick. Some Maury and Jerry Springer blended kind of a mess.
“Excuse me, Ms. Pine.”
All three women looked up at the uniformed woman now standing beside Jaime’s lounger. She was the concierge assigned to their suite and her smile was bright with her white teeth against her caramel complexion and crimson red lips. “I knocked on the door but when I didn’t get an answer, I decided to try the beach,” she said with her island accent. “I figured you might be limin’ on the beach.”
“Liming?” Jaime asked.
“Relaxin’,” the woman explained of the island lingo.
Jaime eyed the wooden name tag pinned to the white polo shirt she wore with white shorts. “How can I help you, Charmaine?” she asked.
“I have a message for you,” she said before extending her arm and handing over a thick manila envelope.
“Thank you,” Jaime said, already knowing that it could only be from one person.
The woman gave them one last charming smile before she left them.
“Open the door,” she read to herself.
Wait? What?
She sat up and swiveled on the chair to look past the serene patio shrouded by tropical flowers and potted plants to the inside of the spacious suite at the intricately carved wooden front doors. Was he on the other side?
Her heart raced as she rose and pressed her bare feet into the depths of the hot sand as she quickly ate up the distance.
“Jaime, what’s wrong?” Renee called behind her.
She ran across the beach with ease to grab both of the bronzed handles to turn and fling the doors wide open. “Oh,” she said in a breath, moving quickly from disappointment to surprise at the four strangers standing there.
Another note was pressed into her hand. She opened it quickly. “Friends to cherish you. A chef to nourish you. A mixologist to relax you. A musician to serenade you. A massage to spoil you,” she read in a whisper. “My love? All for you.”
This man. This man. This man.
Jaime’s heart continued to pound as she clutched the note, pressing her thumb against his bold and slashing initial while she watched them all unpack their supplies. The chef and bartender claimed the kitchen. The masseuse and guitarist set up on the patio.
Jaime walked back to the beach, finding only Aria. “We have a pampering suite set up inside,” she said, proud of yet another treat from her man. “Where’s Renee?”
Aria began gathering her things. “Clearing out the cobwebs,” she said, looking past Jaime’s shoulder.
She glanced back and then her mouth dropped to see Renee and her chocolate angel frolicking in the water together. Her eyes widened when he pulled her body close to pick up against his as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “That happened quickly,” she drawled, walking back to the villa.
“Horny is as horny does, girl,” Aria said.
Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.
Jaime smiled as she picked up her phone and the screen was filled with the face of the man she loved. She answered the FaceTime call as she moved away from Aria for privacy. “Hey you,” she said.
“I had a break in between meetings and thought I’d check on you,” he said, his voice deep and delicious.
She held the phone up away from her face and then panned it up and down her body as she posed for him, pausing at the spots he loved the best. “Just getting some sun,” she said.
“Damn. That’s one hell of a bathing suit, Jaime,” he said.
“When browning, the more skin exposed the better,” she advised him.
“And making me wish I was there,” he said, his voice swelling with his desire as his brown eyes seemed to darken in color.
“To do what?” she asked, turning as she eyed a couple walking up behind her hand in hand.
“Make us cum,” he countered.
As she flooded with warmth, Jaime gave him a look that was more playful than scolding. “Don’t let being horny get you in trouble while I’m away,” she said, tapping a coffin-shaped glossy nail against the screen.
“You never have to worry about that,” he assured with a serious expression.
And she knew his words were real.
Since she met Luc Sinclair a little over a year ago, he had been nothing but a man of his word...
His eyes were on Jaime as she moved about the condo. She could feel it even when her eyes weren’t on him. It made her nervous. All of her cool and polished demeanor was shattering under his gaze. With a steadying breath, Jaime turned to face him.
“It’s a beautiful space, but I believe with my help it will be stunning. A real showcase,” she said. Luc leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest in a navy V-neck sweater and denims with his feet bare. “I entertain a lot,” he said. “In this world, the show of success breeds more success.”
“True,” Jaime agreed. “And I am the woman for the job.”
“I believe you are the woman for any and every job, Jaime Pine,” he said, with the hint of a smile. “Have dinner with me. Tonight. Hell, right now. I’ll cook. Let me feed you.”
She swallowed over a sudden lump in her throat because the look in his eyes said it wasn’t only food he was offering. As she licked at her dry lips she wondered if he could tell that her body was hungry. She hadn’t dared to risk her heart or her body since Graham. For years, work had been her focus and her vibrator her sexual release.
Luc was tall and slender with keen features and a fair complexion. Where his skin peeked from his clothing, she could see his body was mostly covered with tattoos. She noticed that about the record executive as soon as he opened the front door to let her in to their appointment.
“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” she explained as she clutched her briefcase and looked down at the tips of her high-heeled shoes.
“Good, then this will be the first time,” Luc said, as he pushed off the wall and came toward her. “And I promise you I will never make you regret it.”
It took weeks of working together for him to wear her down and he had been right. He had never made her regret it. Not once.
Not like Graham . . .
Jaime took a breath as the elevator slowed to a stop and she stepped onto the Jersey City, New Jersey rooftop. Briefly, she allowed herself a moment to take in the view of Manhattan in the distance. The day winds blew, causing the flowing one-shoulder pantsuit she wore to press against her body as she made her way around the pool to reach Graham standing with his back to her. He was just as dazzling in clothes as he was naked with his muscled, six-foot-nine frame and waist-length dreadlocks that framed a face that was both masculine and beautiful.
She first met him when he went by the name Pleasure and performed at a friend’s bachelorette party when she was in college. In the first four years of their dealings, they went from a stripper and loyal customer to her paying him for a sizzling session of sex in one of the private rooms at the strip club to help her forget her joyless marriage. Six months later she turned to him as she fought hard to reclaim independence in the months following her divorce. His body had been her playground. Every inch of the length and width of his dick had been her salvation. Until it ended with a few reminders that the only bond between them was hot sex and money. Two years later, after he left his scandalous work—and many disappointed clients behind—he’d sought her out and professed to want more from her than sex. For six months, he curled her toes with sex and dug his way into her heart with his attention and care.
Graham turned on the rooftop and smiled at her. Her heart swelled with love for him. At that moment she could almost forget that just two weeks ago a crazed woman from his past broke into his penthouse apartment, drugged him, and threatened his life at knifepoint. Almost. Happening upon the crime scene and having rage and a knife hurled at her ensured Jaime would never forget.
“Hello, Graham,” she said, holding out her hands to him as she neared.
“Hello to you,” he said, taking her hands in his and pulling them around his back as he bent his head to taste her lips.
A greeting that was leading to a goodbye. A reluctant one but a goodbye none the less. Not even that familiar chemistry humming around them, and creating an ache within her, would stop it. No man had ever created such hunger in her. So much that she set it all aside. His past. Hers. Theirs together. All of the drama. For the most exquisite heat and passion.
Just the whisper of his breath against her body could make her almost cum. His kisses? Easy climaxes that were explosive. His strokes? White-hot bliss that left her dazed.
Jaime leaned back first and reached to wipe her gloss from his supple lips. “You’re not making this easy, Graham,” she said, trying hard to smile but failing as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back to shake it as if to clear it. “Why are you so damn fine?”
“There’s more to me than that,” he said.
“You’re right. You are smart and funny and deep, and you are the most amazing lover. You are strong and good and . . . and . . . you are leaving me,” she finished sadly, reaching to stroke the neat edges of his locs and then the side of his handsome face.
“I need some time alone to get my shit together and—”
“And I need to decide if I can ever get past your past,” she finished for him, knowing her jealousy of his former career and the attention he drew from women had become a major issue for them.
He nodded as he rubbed her wrist with his thumb. “I love you, Jaime. I swear I love the fuck out of you,” he told her fiercely.
“I believe that,” she said confidently. “And I love you too.”
“I know that,” he said.
He pulled her close and lifted her body against his to hold her close as he pressed a dozen kisses to her face . . . and then her lips before he set her back down.
“Until we meet again?” she asked softly, forcing a smile even as a tear raced down her face.
Graham nodded and stepped back from her. With one final kiss blown to him, Jaime turned and walked away.
One year later, without hearing from him, Jaime had still held out hope they would both heal the wounds of their pasts and reconnect, until Jessa, in a drunken rage, cruelly revealed that Graham and she had slept together that very day. That had been five years ago.
No, he’s not Graham to me. Not anymore. He’s Pleasure. Always been Pleasure. And always will be Pleasure ’til the day his treacherous heart stops. I was a fool to ever think he loved me.
“Jaime, what’s wrong?” Luc asked.
She focused on his face on her phone and offered him a smile. “Not a thing. I’m headed in to enjoy my surprise,” she said, walking back over to Aria.
He chuckled and smiled. “Perfect. Call me when you’re done?” he asked.
With a soft wink, she ended the call.
“Was that Luc?” Aria asked as they made their way toward the private terrace.
Jaime gave her a look that said: “Who else?”
There was no one else for her.
Not anymore.
Chapter 2
“Jaime.”
“Huh?” she asked in a whisper as she was lightly shaken from sleep.
“Ja-mie!” the voice urgently whispered to her again.
“What?” she snapped, lifting her head from the plush pillows to open her eyes. Aria was barely visible in the darkness. “What time is it?”
“If you would wake up and listen, it’s clearly dicking down time,” Aria whispered.
“What!” Jaime exclaimed with a frown.
“Ssssshhhh!”
What little she could see of Aria faded into the darkness. Jaime sat up and reached for the lamp.
“No, don’t turn the light on!” Aria exclaimed in a whisper. “Come over here.”
She rolled her eyes and flung back the covers. “Over where, you nut? It’s pitch dark,” she snapped in annoyance.
“Ssssshhhh!”
Jaime pressed her feet against the warm wood floor as she just made out Aria’s figure by the door to the left of the bed. Her queen-sized bed faced glass doors leading to the beach, but the curtains were drawn. She reached out and patted her nightstand for her phone to turn on the flashlight. She had barely taken a few steps when muffled cries sounded off.
“Yessssss. Yes! Yes! Yessssssssssssssssss!”
Jaime’s mouth fell open in surprise. “What in the entire hell was that?” she asked in a harsh whisper as she swung the beam of light onto her friend’s face.
Aria’s eyes were wide with shock and glee. “That
is somebody—some man—fucking the hell out of Renee,” she said, before widening her eyes even more and cringing comically.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
“Well damn,” Jaime exclaimed at what had to be the headboard—or maybe just somebody’s head—banging against the wall.
A deep guttural moan and a high-pitched squeal echoed together.
They both covered their mouth with one of their hands in shock.
“Well, now she is fucking the hell out of him,” Aria said. “Go, Renee.”
“What time is it?” Jaime asked as she shone the light on her face before switching it back to Aria.
“I already told you,” she said. “It’s—”
“Dicking down time,” they said in unison.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thudthudthudthudthudthudthud.
“Uh oh,” Aria said as the pace of the pounding sped up.
“Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!” Renee screamed.
“If they keep that shit up, I’m going home to my damn husband and get me some thud-thud-thud,” Aria said with a deadpan serious expression.
Jaime took the light off Aria’s face as she bit back a laugh. “How long have they been at it?” she asked.
“Long enough where Renee will be walking with a wide leg spread,” Aria said. “That’s a promise.”
They both tensed as the roars of Renee and her lover filled the air. Rough. Animalistic. And seeming to outlast the Energizer Bunny.
Jaime was relieved when it finally came to an end and silence reigned from Renee’s room down the hall.
“Can I have my room and my privacy back now?” Jaime asked, feeling the need for a shower... and maybe a cigarette?
He really did fuck the hell out of her.
“I’m going to call Kingston and get my happy ending via FaceTime,” Aria said, opening the door and peeking out before leaving with a funny face.
Jaime turned the flashlight off and tossed her phone onto the middle of the bed as she moved over to press the button to open the automated curtains and sliding glass doors revealing the beach and ocean. She stepped out onto the terrace. The moon and the surrounding darkness were being replaced by the break of day as the sun rose. It was beautiful. Streaks of rich oranges, reds, and yellows dominated the retreating darkness, creating deep lavenders and blues where they merged. She eyed the digital clock on the dresser. It was just close to half-past five, but she was done with sleep.
Her Pleasure Page 2
