by Lucy Monroe
"You ready to keep our deal, sweetheart?" he asked in that voice of sin she knew she'd never be able to turn down.
She glared at him, unrealized passion making her cranky, "I can't. I told you."
"And I told you that with me, you would." He grabbed her hips and started thrusting upward, taking over the pace and the angle, pushing more pleasure into her body than she knew she was capable of feeling.
The sound of skin slapping skin mixed with his earthy words of encouragement. "Come on, sweetheart, ride me like you mean it."
Their bodies moved together in a harsh, wild rhythm that sent shockwaves through her. And unbelievably she felt that imminent cataclysm of pleasure, not beyond her reach. Right there.
And then she went over, the feelings so intense she couldn't hold back the scream that tore out of her throat. His shout of completion mingled with hers and suddenly he was holding her body so close their chests expanded and retracted together with each breath.
She let her head fall forward onto his shoulder, her mouth pressed against his skin, her hands gripping his shoulders hard.
"Now that's sex worth compromising for."
She huffed out a laugh against him. "Jerk."
This wasn't about some deal. No way was what they'd just done about the movie or anything else. It might be casual. It might have no possible future, but it wasn't a deal.
"Be quiet about your deals while you're still inside me," she said, no edge to her tone but no give either.
She felt too good to even pretend annoyance.
His arms locked around her, steel bands holding her tight. "Watch out, or I'm going to think you want something real."
"Our bodies are connected in the most intimate way possible." And shouldn't he be shrinking and sliding out? "That is reality."
He laughed softly and rocked his hips. "Connected like this."
Aftershocks rocked her and she gasped. "Don't tell me you're ready for another round already." That wasn't possible for a man, was it?
But then Rock had proven that he was capable of decimating her concept of the impossible.
"Not without changing the condom." He sighed, but his arms spasmed around her, like he didn't want to let go.
Was he saying, he could go again, though?
She found out seconds later, when he laid her back on the bed, and took time to change to a fresh prophylactic. He could and he could do it for hours. Hours in which he shattered her belief that she couldn't have multiple orgasms. Hours during which he showed her the kind of sex she thought only existed in the imagination of people with more creative thoughts than her own.
They skipped lunch and napped after, but her phone ringing roused Deborah enough to realize Rock was working on his laptop as he lay beside her in the bed sometime later. She thought it was still afternoon.
"You didn't sleep?" she asked on a yawn as she reached for her phone.
"I'm an Alaskan man. I've got more stamina than those boys you play with back in LA."
"I don't play a lot." She wasn't a virgin, but she wasn't a player either.
It was safer for her that way, both for her heart and her equilibrium. She tended to get too emotionally involved when sex entered the equation. Which should have stood as warning to her in this situation.
But none of her usual cautions even registered right now. And she had no trouble dismissing the ones that did.
For that kind of sex?
She could dismiss a lot.
"That's not the first time your phone has rung. You were sleeping hard." He sounded proud of himself, like he took credit for that fact.
And well he could.
"Darn it. It's probably Ms. Morganstein, or Art." Deborah changed her mind and didn't answer her phone, but let it go to voicemail as she checked the call history.
One from Art. Two from a number she was pretty sure was Carey's and the last one had been Ms. Morganstein.
"Do you want me to call Ms. Morganstein and tell her you're willing to honor Carey's contract?" Maybe Rock would rather make that call himself, or tell Carey first.
"No way in hell am I honoring that contract."
She stared at him, still muzzy from sleep. "But you said..."
"I'll renegotiate a contract with terms I find acceptable."
"Of course." She knew that. "I didn't mean the actual contract."
He cocked his head in acknowledgement, but his expression remained serious. "Be careful of exactly what you say when it comes to business."
"I know that." Only maybe in her cutthroat business she had never been quite as cutthroat as the businessman in bed with her.
"Maybe I'll just go take a shower while you make that call then."
He nodded, his expression saying he saw it has his job, not hers. "Good idea."
She liked that unlike everyone else, Rock clearly didn't think she belonged in the middle of this fiasco, regardless of his teasing her about their deal.
Rock didn't bother to dress before picking up his phone to make the call. He had every intention of keeping the conversation short and joining Deborah in the shower.
He called Carey.
"Hey, Rock," Carey answered in a cautious tone.
Rock appreciated that his brother seemed to finally realize he'd screwed up. "Hey, kid. How did the tour go?"
"It was kind of flat, to tell the truth. I guess I wasn't cut out to be a tour guide."
"Why didn't you book with Tack or Egan?"
"It was a last-minute thing." Carey paused like he knew that admission made it clear he'd expected to start filming today. "Anyway, Cailkirn is the size of a postage stamp. It shouldn't have been that hard."
"This movie is important to you, isn't it?" Rock knew the answer, but he wanted to hear about it from his brother.
He should have heard about it before Carey had ever left LA.
"I need it," Carey said baldly and without any of his usual artifice.
That, more than anything, told Rock that he was talking to the boy he'd raised, not the Carey James, star in the making. "You're going to explain to me how you ran through the damn inheritance I worked so hard to build for you and a lot of the money from me purchasing your interest in Jepsom Acres, all without any significant credits to your name."
Carey made a wounded sound. "How did you know?"
"I'm still on most of your accounts, Carey."
"I...just...it's complicated." The pain in his brother's voice said it was worse than complicated.
"I love you, kid. You know that."
"People say that."
"I'm not people. I'm your brother and I've been taking care of you since Mom brought you home from the hospital."
"People don't get that, you know."
"I know."
"They think no way could a ten-year-old boy take care of twin babies, but they don't know you."
"They don't know our past."
"Even when you tell them, they think you're dramatizing." Carey kept saying they, but Rock got the feeling his brother was talking about someone specific.
Rock didn't know who had made Carey feel like talking about the pain of their childhood was being dramatic instead of real, but whoever it was had a new enemy. Carey was his baby brother, Rock's to protect and he wasn't letting anyone get away with messing with Carey.
"I'm never going to abandon you, Carey." Rock had proven himself time and again to his siblings. He wasn't going to take off for a business deal, or die on them, or anything else. Damn it. Not like their parents.
"I forget." Carey's voice caught on tears he was clearly trying not to let out.
"Well, don't."
"So, the contract?"
"I've drawn up a new one."
Carey gave a choked laugh. "Ms. Morganstein isn't going to like that."
"Not my problem."
"No, it's not. I messed up, Rock. I'm sorry."
That's all he'd needed to hear. From his brother. Not the actor. "I forgive you."
"Thanks." Carey
took an audible breath. "I guess I better go break the news to Art and Ms. Morganstein."
"Bring them to dinner. I'll have the new paperwork for them to sign."
"I will. Thank you, Rock." Carey was sounding more like his clueless, enthusiastic self when he hung up a few seconds later.
And damned if that didn't make Rock happy. Now, to join his temporary lover in the shower.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Rock stopped in the doorway of the bathroom, arrested by the visual feast in front of him.
Deborah stood under the shower, her eyes closed, her head thrown back as water cascaded over her head and ran in rivulets down her beautiful body.
Her dark brown hair looked like a mass of black silk slicked to her head and rippling over her shoulders. Rosy nipples, still blood swollen from his earlier attentions tipped her breasts, tempting him to taste again. Her feminine hands ran over her stomach, dipping down to the neat patch of dark hair covering her mound.
A primal growl rose in his throat.
That was his to touch, but damn. Watching her bathe herself was erotic torture.
He pulled the glass door on the shower open and stepped inside the oversized enclosure, blocking some of the multiple jets from Deborah's body.
Her eyes fluttered open, sultry sensuality glowing in the dark chocolate depths. She didn't tense with embarrassment at being caught washing herself intimately, like some women would, and he found that an amazing turn on.
Her eyelids dropped to half-mast and she smiled. "Done with your phone calls?"
"I only made one. Carey is bringing Gamble and Morganstein for dinner later."
"Am I staying for it?" she asked, not sounding particularly interested in the conversation as she reached for him.
He wrapped her in his arms, surprised by the desire to hold her. Because it wasn't entirely motivated by sexual need. "We'll get your things and bring them back beforehand."
"So, I'm really moving in."
"You agreed." Was she trying to back out now that he'd agreed to location shoot?
"I did. I guess I still find it a little incredible you're inviting a total stranger to live in your home for the next two months." She rubbed her hands down his back and over his buttocks.
"After this afternoon, I wouldn't call you a total stranger."
She laughed, the soft feminine sound going straight to his dick. "No, I suppose not."
He pulled her closer, so their wet, naked bodies touched from chest to thighs. "I ran a background check on you."
Would that piss her off?
She nuzzled into his chest, licking a trail of water up his pectoral. "You said you didn't know how old I was."
"The file came in while you were sleeping." Fire erupted along the trail of her tongue against his skin.
He did nothing to stifle his groan of appreciation at the sensation.
"Are you going to let me read it?" she asked between gentle bites of the flesh she'd just licked.
Was he supposed to keep thinking while she did that?
"If you want." His voice broke on the last word as her teeth closed over his nipple, pressing down just until it began to sting.
She laved his nipple before pulling away to move across his chest with more biting kisses. "It only seems fair."
He didn't reply as her mouth found his other nipple, sending unexpected pleasure stabbing through him.
Her uninhibited enjoyment of his body excited the hell out him.
She would be the perfect lover if she wasn't in the acting business.
Shoving that disturbing thought away, Rock cupped her delectable ass and lifted.
She didn't hesitate to lift her face for a wild kiss. Her lips were soft and swollen from earlier, her mouth just as sweet and hot.
Her legs came up around his hips as he adjusted their position so the apex of her thighs pressed against his swiftly growing erection. She undulated against him, rubbing her clit against his cock, their kiss going incendiary.
As often as they'd already had sex today, this time should be slow and leisurely.
He wasn't feeling it though.
He wanted to be inside her body. Right now.
Rock helped Deborah get better friction between them with his hold on her fleshy curves as they moved together.
It felt so damn good, but he wanted more.
She broke her mouth from his. "Want you inside me."
"No condom." He'd had every intention of getting sexy in the shower, but hadn't thought they'd end up doing the Full Monty.
Not just because he'd already been inside her more times than even he had expected to happen, but they were under time constraints.
If they were going to get her things before dinner, they didn't have a lot of time for their shower antics.
That didn't stop his body from demanding full penetration though.
"Get one," she demanded even as her legs tightened around him and she increased the tempo.
"You'll be too tender." It was the one consideration he could not ignore.
Something shifted in her expression, approval mixed with awe sliding over her beautiful features. "I'm not."
"Are you sure?" Did he still have that extra box of condoms under the sink?
"Yes." Her undulations grew more frantic. "I want."
He felt that particular tight sensation in his balls and at the base of his cock that told him even if he didn't get inside her, he was going to come.
"You have to let go, if you want me to get the condoms."
"No." She wasn't letting go.
"Fine."
He shoved the shower door open and stepped dripping onto the tile, her body latched around his like an octopus. He bent down and flipped open the door on the under-sink cabinet.
She giggled, the sound going high and breaking as his movements shifted the position of their bodies.
Score. The condoms were there. Unopened. Damn.
It took precious seconds to rip through the packaging and get to a condom. Then he had to open that without destroying the damn thing in the process.
Not an easy task with her mouth burning another pleasure trail along his neck and collarbone.
He sat her on the edge of the vanity, stepping back far enough to get the condom into place. His damn hands shook as he rolled the latex over his aching dick.
Without preamble, he hooked his arms under her knees, spreading her wide for his penetration. She leaned back, her hands supporting her on the countertop, breasts offered up in tempting relief.
He groaned. "That picture right there is enough to make me come."
"You better not!" But her expression said she was pleased to have this effect on him.
He pressed the head of his cock against her entrance.
It was her turn to moan, her head falling back, her body flushed with desire. "Yesss..."
The word drew out into a long, pleasure filled moan as he pushed inside her.
It should be easy. She shouldn't be so tight. Not after their hours in bed.
But wet, silken flesh pressed around him in a snug grasp that stole his breath. "You're so tight."
"You're big."
Maybe he was, but he didn't remember another woman holding him so closely.
"Perfect fit," he groaned out as he pulled back until only his head remained inside her.
She gasped. "Don't tease."
He didn't answer. Couldn't answer. He wasn't drawing it out on purpose. Rock was running purely on instinct right now.
Doing what his body required.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
She made a needy sound and he plunged forward, barely bottoming out before he was pulling back in one long glide. Deborah cried out and tilted her pelvis up to meet him, to draw him in? He didn't know, couldn't stop to figure it out.
Swiveling his hips on each downward thrust, he pistoned in and out of her, driving them both deeper into the maelstrom of pleasure.
It consumed him.
Her crie
s and demands for more said she was drowning just like him.
And then he couldn't even think that much anymore as he pounded into her with uncontrolled, primitive rhythm. Pleasure roared through him, exploding out of his cock into the condom. His muscles locked as he shouted his approval.
Deborah tightened around him, her own scream rending the air as her vaginal walls convulsed and squeezed him to maximized pleasure.
She was so beautiful in her satisfaction, it hurt him somewhere deep inside to see Deborah abandoned so completely.
One thing he was sure of. In this moment, she wasn't playing a part.
No matter how good an actor she was, the flush of her body, the involuntary tightening of her muscles, the glazed looked in her eyes, they all told a story he wanted to read again and again and again.
Deborah waited nervously for Art, Carey and Ms. Morganstein to arrive for dinner.
She was less concerned about how they were going to react to Rock's new contract as the news she'd moved in with him for the duration of their filming in Alaska.
She could barely believe she'd agreed to it herself.
But there was something about Rock. He wasn't like any other man she'd known and the sex was mind blowing, just like he'd promised. She'd pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but she'd never imagined sex could be this good.
Even in her dreams.
"Deep thoughts?" Rock asked, coming into the living room.
Deborah shrugged. "I'm just not sure what everyone is going to think of me moving in here for the shoot."
"Carey is staying too."
"He is?" Did that make it worse or better?
Rock poured himself a whiskey from the drinks cabinet. "I want to spend more time with my brother."
That wasn't surprising, considering how Rock felt about his family. She'd been surprised Carey's initial plans hadn't included staying at Jepsom Acres.
Well, until she'd realized he'd signed the land use contract without his brother's knowledge or approval.
She had a thought. "Does Carey know he's staying?"
