JENNA CLUNG TO her purse as she watched the tall, dense trees pass by as Jake drove along the narrow private road.
What a mess. Although she and Ryan had been in a committed relationship for the past year and a half and she had accepted his proposal of marriage, she now had to deal with the fact that she was carrying Jake’s child. She was going to spend a month with Jake to consider the possibility of spending the rest of her life with him. A virtual stranger.
She had almost broken up with Ryan two months ago, and the event that had caused their relationship to turn around had turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Now, Jenna realized she had to reevaluate her whole relationship with Ryan. She hoped that this month would give her some perspective, rather than add to her confusion.
Jake pulled into a clearing and parked in front of a cozy-looking cedar home with a huge set of windows across the front. A lovely garden bright with pink and purple tulips and tall mauve and yellow irises curved around the front lawn.
This lovely, secluded hideaway would be her home for the next month.
The thought of spending an entire month alone with Jake made her a little uncomfortable. Sure they had chemistry, but did they have enough in common to make a life together?
Of course, that’s exactly what this month was supposed to help them figure out.
Jake opened the heavy oak door and waited for her to proceed inside. When they entered the house, they stepped right into the kitchen, a lovely, large room with maple cupboards and a long counter overlooking a spacious living area with a couple of couches and an easy chair. The whole place was filled with sunlight. Cozy.
A tortoiseshell cat with a white ring around the end of its tail trotted up to Jake and rubbed against his legs. He picked it up and scratched behind its ears. The cat showed its pleasure by purring loudly.
“This is Sam.”
Jenna smiled widely. “Well, hello, Sam.” She petted the cat. “What a good boy.”
The cat’s golden eyes drifted closed and its head rested on Jake’s shoulder.
“Actually, she’s a girl. Sam’s short for Samantha.”
“Samantha?”
“Well, when she showed up at my door, wet and alone, I didn’t know if she was a he or a she, so I figured Sam would work either way.”
He put Sam down and she trotted along behind them as they walked through the kitchen doorway to the living room.
“You live here all the time?”
“Actually, I have a penthouse in the city, but I spend a lot of time here in the summer, and several weekends in the winter. The cross-country skiing is spectacular.”
He led her into the living room and pointed toward patio doors on the right. “There’s a heated pool out back.”
Through the glass, she could see a lovely kidney-shaped pool glittering in the sunlight.
“Come on, I’ll show you your room.”
She followed him down a hall to a bedroom on the right.
“My room?” she asked. She’d been worried he’d try to convince her to stay in his room.
“Yes, your room. Don’t get me wrong. I’d love you to move right into my room, and my bed, but I didn’t think you’d be comfortable with that idea.” He pointed to the end of the hall. “That’s my room. Anytime you want to join me, come right on in. Or, if you want me to come to you, just say the word. You call the shots here, Jenna. Whatever you want or need, you’ve got it.”
She stepped into the room he’d indicated was hers. A queen-sized bed filled the center of the room, covered with a duvet in a teal and sapphire abstract print with fuchsia as an accent.
Ryan placed her suitcases beside the tall light maple armoire. She sat down on the bed, stroking the tightly woven cotton bed covering, amazed at the silky feel of it.
“You know, this is quite weird. I really don’t know you at all. You and I are strangers, yet we’ve essentially moved in together.”
He leaned against the edge of the dresser. “We’re not exactly strangers, Jenna. We’ve shared some very intimate hours together.”
“Yes, but I thought you were . . .”
Ryan.
She turned away, not wanting to think about Ryan and the pain she’d caused him. Her finger toyed with the piping along the edge of the tailored pillow sham.
“You know what I thought. The point is I only met you for real on Thursday. Now, it’s Sunday and . . . ” She gestured around her. “Here I am.”
“That’s why I don’t want you to feel pressure to do anything more than spend time with me, and I don’t want to overwhelm you with that, either, so I’ll still be going in to the office every weekday. That’ll give you time to yourself.” He smiled. “Now, if you find you want to spend more time with me, just say so and I’ll arrange to be here full-time.”
Jenna couldn’t believe the difference between the two brothers. Ryan could barely find the time to spend with her, and here Jake had only known her a short time and he was willing to take time off work, and on short notice, to be with her.
“Thank you,” she said.
He smiled. “My pleasure.” He stood up. “Would you like help unpacking?”
The thought of him helping her sift through her clothing, including her lingerie, made her uncomfortable.
“No, I’ll manage.”
He lifted her large suitcase onto a lovely big armchair by the window.
“I’ll let you get settled in then.” He started to leave but paused at the door. “Jenna, I just want to warn you.” He turned back to face her, his expression serious. “Although I don’t want to pressure you, I am a man, and I do want you.”
He stepped toward the bed and sat down beside her. His spicy, masculine scent surrounded her.
“Maybe we only met officially on Thursday, but I feel like I’ve known you a lifetime. And the reality is we have been intimate, more intimate than many couples who’ve been together for years.” He smiled. “After all, you shared your deepest sexual fantasies with me.”
She felt her cheeks flush.
He tipped up her chin and she gazed into his intense, deep blue eyes.
Heat flashed though her. Partly due to hormones, which she had in abundance with the pregnancy, but largely because of being so close to this strong, sexy man.
“Jenna, imagine acting out your stranger fantasy with me now.” He stroked his hands lightly up her arms, sending tingling awareness dancing along her nerve endings. “Imagine how much more real it would be since, as you say, I really am a stranger.”
Her eyes widened as she imagined his strong, masculine hands unzipping her dress, his fingers parting the fabric and stroking across her skin as he revealed her swelling breasts. Her nipples puckered as she imagined his lips encircling each one and dabbing it with the tip of his tongue. A real stranger touching her so intimately.
It would be incredibly sexy. Oh, God, she couldn’t believe how turned on she was at the thought of having sex with Jake. Of knowing he was Jake, a stranger, while he touched her, pleasured her, brought her to orgasm.
She wanted to stand up and tear off her clothes right now.
He kissed her hand, sending tingles up her arm, then he stood up.
“I’ll leave you with that thought.” He turned and left the room.
Heat continued to sear through her. Although he was a stranger, she knew from direct experience he would pleasure her beyond compare. He would be tender, adventurous, thorough in his lovemaking, and wildly passionate. Some part of her longed to feel his hands skimming over her. Actually, every part of her wanted that, except her head.
With her body thrumming the way it was right now, how would she resist her desire for a sexual encounter with him? She remembered the elevator and how his hands had grasped her hips, how he had thrust into her. The image of his face in the elevator’s mirrored wall, contorted in pleasure as he climaxed inside her, after catapulting her into her own powerful orgasm.
Just how long would she last?
CHAPTER
11
JENNA SPENT A night of exquisite torture dreaming of Jake. Yearning for Jake. The fact that she was constantly horny because of her blazing hormones didn’t help.
Jake prepared a great ham and cheese omelet for breakfast, and served it with herbal tea. All through the meal, she stole longing glances at him. Watching him raise his fork to his mouth, then close his full lips over the food and slide them along the metal prongs, sent her senses into a whirl. When he caught her looking at him, he smiled, his midnight blue eyes glittering.
“So, Jenna, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”
She glanced at him over her tea as she sipped, then placed the red stoneware mug on the table.
“Well, I’m self-employed . . . a computer consultant. I specialize in creating courses for software companies who have a product to sell and need to train their clients.”
She hesitated, not wanting to bore him with plain old Jenna. She was a far cry from the Aurora persona he knew.
He smiled. “And what do you like to do for fun? Other than dream up sexual fantasies, of course.”
She felt her cheeks stain crimson. “Well, I . . . like to read.” Boring. “And . . . I like to dance.”
Oops. That scared off a lot of guys. Most men hated to dance.
“Sometimes I knit and crochet.” Oh, yeah, like that’s more interesting. What the heck was she thinking?
“That’ll come in handy with the baby on the way.”
The insecurity she felt at revealing the everyday Jenna to Jake washed away as she remembered she was carrying a baby. Jake’s baby. His eyes glowed with warmth as he smiled at her, as though reading her thoughts.
“Maybe tomorrow I’ll take you out shopping so we can pick out some yarn together.”
“Really?”
She could never imagine walking through a quaint little knitting store with Ryan by her side, perusing the shelves of brightly colored yarns together. Yet she could imagine it with Jake for some reason, and it felt so . . . domestic.
“Then we could come back here and sit by the fire together. Maybe watch a movie.”
Very domestic. And she liked the feeling. But Jake was a virtual stranger.
She shifted in her chair. She should be having these feelings about Ryan, the man she’d been in love with for more than a year. The man she’d agreed to marry.
“Jake, why didn’t Ryan tell me about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“He never really talked about his family but . . . well, you’re twins. I would have thought he’d have said something about you. I thought twins were usually very close.”
Jake nodded. “Ryan and I do share a close bond, but my brother has a very competitive nature.”
She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.”
Jenna had certainly seen that in Ryan’s approach to business and in the way he drove himself to succeed, but she saw it in other aspects of his character, too. Like the time they played mini golf with Cindy and her date. Ryan kept coaching Jenna on every hole to ensure she played her best, determined they would win.
“He always competed with me when we were kids,” Jake continued. “For grades, in sports . . . for girls.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “He stole your girlfriends?”
“No, the other way around, actually.”
“You stole his girlfriends?” she asked in amazement. That would explain why Ryan had kept her and Jake apart.
“Not really. They just . . . gravitated to me. Not that Ryan isn’t a great guy. It’s just that his intensity put a lot of girls off. They just wanted to have fun.”
“And you’re the fun one,” she surmised.
Jake shrugged. “That made him a little insecure, I think. Later, when the popularity of my first computer game accelerated, making my company a great success, he threw himself into his business with a vengeance. I told him I was just lucky—coming up with the right idea at the right time—but he took it as a personal challenge. The way he drives himself, I’m surprised he ever found the time to ask you out.” He smiled. “But then, I’m sure he found you as irresistible as I do.”
She blushed at his compliment and toyed with her spoon.
“How did the two of you meet?” Jake asked.
“At a conference. Actually, on the plane—we were seated next to each other on the flight to San Diego. Later, we ran into each other picking up our baggage. When we realized we were going to the same hotel, we shared a cab.”
“Was that the conference on Web site development techniques?”
She nodded.
“Man, I almost went to that conference. If I had, maybe you and I would have met back then instead.”
“But you and I live in different cities. I probably still would have wound up with Ryan.”
He took her hand. “Jenna, I would never allow something as trivial as distance to keep us apart.”
She felt a tremor down her spine. If only Ryan felt that strongly about her. He lived in the same city as she did and yet she hardly ever saw him these days.
“What about you? I know you have a brother. Do you have any other siblings?” Jake asked.
“No, just Shane. I didn’t see him much while I was growing up, though. My parents divorced when I was very young and Shane went with Dad.”
Jake squeezed Jenna’s hand and she welcomed the warmth.
“I’m sorry. That must have been very hard on you.”
She nodded. “It was. I missed Shane a lot. And I missed Daddy.” She’d missed being a family. Her heart ached at the unwelcome emotions welling up inside her.
Jake leaned close to her. “And you want to make sure that your baby doesn’t suffer that same fate. Not having a father.”
She nodded, unable to speak.
Jake slid his arm around her shoulders. “Jenna, I will always be there for our child. Always. I promise.”
. . .
AFTER BREAKFAST, THEY carried their plates into the kitchen. Jake put the dishes in the dishwasher but Jenna insisted on washing up the skillet. Finally, he agreed and disappeared for a few minutes. He returned as she was wiping the counter.
“All finished, I see. Good. I have a surprise for you.”
She dried her hands on the towel that hung on the oven handle. “What kind of surprise?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
He took her hand, enclosing it in the warmth of his, and led her into the living room.
A package sat on the couch, wrapped in gold foil with a bright red ribbon, a bow, and a small card labeled jenna taped to the top.
She picked it up.
“Go ahead and open it.”
She pulled off the ribbon and unwrapped the shiny paper. Inside, she found a long, thin box with a cellophane window. Her gaze traveled the length of the translucent purple, vaguely cylindrical shape of the item inside. It had a bulge on one side.
“What is it?” she asked just as her gaze followed the short curve outward then sharp change in direction over the mushroom-shaped end. Like the head of a man’s penis.
“It’s a vibrator.”
It slipped from her fingers, then landed on the couch and bounced to the floor. Her face burned hotly.
He chuckled.
“It’s okay, Jenna. I’m not suggesting anything kinky. I just wanted to let you know I’m serious about not pressuring you to have sex with me. I don’t want you coming to me because you’re sexually frustrated. You should only come to me because you want to be with me.”
He leaned over and picked up the box from the floor. The vibrator.
She stared at it, not quite knowing whether to take it from his hand or wait until he put it down. Something about touching it at the same time as he was touching it felt a little too intimate, especially considering what she would do with it. What he knew she would do with it. What he probably imagined her doing with it.
Her face flamed hotter.
“I’ve . . . never actually used one.”
“Really? A woman with such lively sexual fantasies? Well, let me show you.”
“No!” she yelped, jerking back slightly.
“I don’t mean actually . . .” He laughed. “I’ll just show you what the buttons do.” He opened the package, then slid the thing out. He discarded the thin clear molded plastic packaging surrounding it and held up the purple device. “This part is obvious,” he said, indicating the penis shape that made up the bulk of the apparatus. He tapped the bulgy thing that curved out along one side. His finger moved along it, to where it narrowed to a small, delicate-looking tip. He tapped the end. “This is for clitoral stimulation. Here, give me your hand.”
She drew back a little as he reached for her right hand, then realized she was being silly and allowed him to take it and rest her finger on the tip. It was soft and pliant.
“Stay there for a second,” he said and pressed a button near the base. A whirring sound started and she felt a vibration against her finger. Light, delicate. She could imagine it brushing lightly against her clitoris. Heat washed through her womb and her nipples hardened, pushing against the confines of her lace bra.
He indicated the column of four buttons and pointed to the second button from the top. “This one changes the vibration.” He pushed it and the vibration increased, thrumming through her finger and up her arm. He shifted her finger to the tip of the penis. Oh, God, she’d started to think of the thing as a penis. Embarrassment encouraged her to pull away, but fascination kept her planted to the spot, allowing him to touch her finger to the long, purple penis, designed exclusively for a woman’s pleasure. Her damnable nipples thrust harder as though trying to escape their lace prison.
“You see, you can feel the vibration in the shaft, too.”
She sucked in a breath as she imagined that long pleasureshaft deep inside her, vibrating the length of her vagina.
His eyes glittered in amusement at her obvious enthrallment.
“Now, watch this.” He pushed the third button and the shaft started to spiral around in circles. She snatched her finger away, but her gaze stayed fixed on it, moving around and around. “It’s designed to hit the G-spot. The woman at the Secluded Hideaway said it gives quite an intense orgasm.”
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