“That’s all right. No harm done.”
She heard it in his voice. He may have verbally dismissed her comments as inconsequential, but he had not eliminated them from his mind. “I’m sorry…really. I had no right to say that.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t even know why I said it.” Were her words and actions nothing more than a defensive reaction to a desire to be with him? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
“Don’t worry about it.”
The soft light played across his handsome features, sending a wave of desire coursing through her veins. She didn’t know how to respond to his words or what to do about the sensual pull he exerted on her, so she concentrated her thoughts and conversation on an area where she did have some control.
“This is an excellent wine, and the steak is delicious.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“And you were right about having dinner out here. The view is beautiful.” Inane words…mindless chitchat. The awkwardness of the situation permeated the air. And she knew she was responsible for creating that awkwardness. Yet underneath that was a tingling layer of sensual desire that was drawing her closer and closer to him. She was growing more uncomfortable as the sexual tension increased.
Again she wondered what it would be like to make love with Jared Stevens. She had never been in the inner sanctum of a true playboy’s lair. Her thoughts turned to their bodies entwined on what she imagined were the silk sheets adorning his king-size bed. Her bare skin touching his along the length of his nude torso. Her fingers caressing his broad shoulders. She became aware of her breathing. If the thrill of his kiss was a sample of his skills, it would be an experience of a lifetime.
“Tell me what you know about this feud that our families have been engaged in for several decades now.”
His words interrupted her thoughts, sending a wave of relief through her body. She didn’t like where those thoughts had been headed, thoughts bordering on the erotic, and hadn’t been able to control them. But the subject he had chosen caused her body to stiffen and her jaw to tighten.
“I’d rather not discuss it. All my life I’ve heard about this feud. It ruined my grandfather’s life. It ruined by father’s life. It made my childhood miserable. I want to bury it.” She leveled a serious look at him, took a steadying breath, then asked him what was on her mind. “Why do you insist on pursuing it?”
He reached out and took her hand again and offered her a soft, sincere smile. “I think we may have found something to agree on. I want to put it behind me, too. Whatever happened is over and done and can’t be changed. It’s in the past, and the sins of past generations should be left there.”
He felt it in the air, the sizzle and crackle of sexual energy that filled the space between them. He could still taste her on his lips. He wanted more of her, yet every time he made an advance he ended up backing off rather than pursuing what he wanted. What was there about this woman that made her so different from all the others?
There was one thing he had been able to discern about Kim Donaldson. She would never be receptive to a casual affair based on nothing more than physical desire, and there certainly was no way he would ever be interested in anything that hinted at a commitment. He would never allow his emotions to be involved, at least not any emotions beyond lust. She was just the type who could trap a less resourceful and savvy man into some sort of commitment that would end up ruining the rest of his life. That was not for him. The example of his father’s many marriages and affairs had shown him that a committed relationship wasn’t worth the trouble to try and make it work. So why did he still want to pursue her? He gave her hand a little squeeze, then brought it to his lips and kissed the inside of her wrist.
The uncomfortable tension based on an adversarial conflict had been broken. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders when she heard his simple and heartfelt statement about wanting to put the feud behind them.
He held up his wineglass and looked questioningly at her. “To the end of the feud?”
She clinked the rim of her glass against his. “To the end of the feud.” They each took a drink to seal the pledge.
For the rest of the evening they settled into conversation about personal likes and dislikes…travel, movies, books, television. Jared turned on the stereo so the music would filter to the deck from the house. He stood, took her hand in his and coaxed her out of her chair. Then he pulled her into his arms and moved to the soft strains of the music. The previous tension and stress melted away as they became more comfortable with each other—except for the sexual tension that jumped into high gear, sizzling through the air and crackling like electrical lines on a foggy night.
It was Kim who reluctantly made the move to put an end to the evening. “It’s getting late. I should be going home. Thank you for dinner. It was very nice.”
Jared took her hand as they walked into the house and continued to the front door. “It was my pleasure. Thank you for sharing it with me. I enjoyed the opportunity to be able to talk without guarding every word.”
They lingered at the front door, a soft feeling of sensual warmth permeating the air. He pulled her into his arms and brushed a soft kiss against her lips, then fully claimed her mouth. He may have intended it to be a simple kiss, but a second later the full force of his passion took control of his actions. Everything about her excited him. He wanted more of her…he wanted all of her.
His kiss deepened. He brushed his tongue against hers, the texture and sensation adding to his already heated desires. He held her tighter, her body pressing against his. The rise and fall of her breasts matched his labored breathing. She was everything a man could want.
His breath tickled her ear as he whispered the soft words, “Stay the night with me.”
Myriad thoughts and feelings swept through her mind, not the least of which was her repeated fantasy of making love with Jared Stevens. Did she dare surrender to his invitation? Was there any way she could be anything more to him than just another sexual conquest? Somewhere in the back of her mind she latched on to the conscious realization that her concerns told her how much she had already allowed herself to become emotionally involved with him. She had to put a stop to it before she started falling in love with him…if it wasn’t already too late.
“No…I don’t think that’s a good idea. I should…I need to go home. I’ll see you in the morning.” A somewhat shaken Kim Donaldson hurried out the front door.
Jared watched as she drove down the driveway. It was the second night in a row he had stood at his front door watching her drive away. This time, however, they had parted without anger. Far from it. His breathing might have slowed to normal, but his body still surged with unfulfilled desires.
He closed and locked the front door, then slowly walked down the hall to his bedroom. Confusion ran rampant through his mind. There was no doubt he wanted her more than he had ever wanted another woman, but he was very unsettled about exactly why and for what. Was he looking for a casual liaison? A summer affair? Some sort of arrangement that would be for a longer term? Or was it more…much more? The question frightened him almost as much as the possible answer that he refused to acknowledge.
Kim paused at the curb across the street from the entrance gates to Jared’s house. She had spent another long and troublesome night with her emotions in turmoil. Dinner with Jared had been enchanting, and once the animosities had been set aside she found there was much more to him than a killer smile, devastatingly good looks and an easy charm. She had been given a peek into the inner workings of this man, a depth of character she had not known was there. He had turned out to be someone she truly wanted to be with, but was wanting anything more than what they had already shared merely asking for trouble? She didn’t know what to think. With a sigh, she drove around to the office entrance. The confusion continued to swirl in her head.
As soon as she entered the office Jared pulled
a startled Kim into his arms. His voice was soft, warm and inviting.
“Good morning.”
A moment later his mouth found hers. It was a brief kiss, but hot enough to sizzle her senses and curl her toes. It ignited all the embers of passion that still smoldered from the previous night.
She managed to force out some words. “This isn’t getting any work done.”
“But it’s much more fun.” He stole one more quick kiss before relinquishing her tempting presence from his arms.
Jared had several things for her to do, most of them keeping her in the office rather than out running simple little errands. Kim was pleased to find that her work assignments included more serious tasks, some of them involving his clients and current business functions. She took it as a gesture of trust that touched her on the deepest levels.
Things between them grew more comfortable with each passing day. Jared surprised her one noon with a picnic lunch in the backyard. As the week went by they settled into getting to know each other as friends rather than adversaries—something beyond the underlying sexual tension that continued to pull at each of them with passion-filled kisses whenever they were together and sensual fantasies when they were apart.
Even though Jared continued to ask her to spend the night and she yearned to have him make love to her, she had steadfastly maintained her need to go home. She knew she was afraid, but wasn’t sure exactly why. Was it the thought of all the other women Jared had wooed and bedded? Was it her concern that he would think she considered making love just a game without taking the implications seriously? Was it her fear that he would think of it as nothing more than a game? Or was it that she suspected she was falling in love with him and didn’t want to be? It had turned into an ongoing battle between her desires and her fears.
One week turned into two and two became four. By the end of the month she was so confused in her feelings for Jared she hardly knew which way to turn. Every time he touched her, waves of sensual desire swept through her body. And each night as she went to bed alone at her father’s house she wondered how much longer she could hold out against Jared’s subtle seduction and her own not-so-subtle desires.
Friday evening finally arrived. Kim finished her work for the week and put her desk in order, preparing to leave for the weekend. Jared had asked her to wait until he returned from a business meeting with his bankers in San Francisco. She glanced at her watch but didn’t know what time to expect him. She decided to feed Lurch while she waited. She assumed Jared had asked her to wait so they could do something together that night, maybe dinner out. She had dressed in teal blue silk pants and blouse with her favorite gold necklace anticipating they would go somewhere nice since he had dressed in suit and tie for his meeting.
She returned to the office just as Jared arrived. There was no doubt about how handsome and dynamic he was. Her heart beat a little faster, and her blood coursed hot through her veins. The added dimension of the custom-tailored charcoal gray suit, silk shirt with French cuffs and gold cuff links and the charcoal gray Gucci loafers said the man standing in front of her was powerful, wealthy and a force to be reckoned with.
“Kim…I’ve been thinking about something and I want to discuss it with you.”
“What is it?”
He knew he hadn’t been fair in giving her so many menial little tasks and errands the first few days, even though the month had settled into a smooth running working relationship with her spending most of her time in the office. He needed to do something about the charity fund-raiser his client wanted him to organize. He had been putting it off, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a perfect project to give to Kim. It would be a great help to him. It would be something they could work on together. It would also keep her at his house for long days, perhaps long hours that would extend late into the night.
“How are you at planning fund-raising events?”
“Fund-raising events?” His question caught her by surprise. “What kind of fund-raising events?”
“You know…food, drinks, dancing and entertainment followed by the solicitation of large checks payable to the charity. Just your typical run-of-the-mill type of fund-raiser attended by the socially prominent and business elite.”
“Which charity are you talking about?”
“Well…” He ran his hand across the back of his neck. “I don’t recall the name of the organization, but it has to do with shelters for battered women and abused children. It’s the favorite charity of the wife of one of our biggest clients. I’m sort of on the hook to put on a fund-raising event for them and I was considering just hiring a service to handle it, but if that’s something you know about, perhaps you could help me with it. If I didn’t have to hire a service it would cut down on the expenses of putting on the event and leave more of the money for the charity.” He paused long enough to pull her hair aside and place a tender kiss behind her ear. “We could work on it together.”
A shiver of delight darted across her skin. “I do have a little bit of experience in event planning. I’ve been in charge of a couple of fund-raisers at the high school where I teach, but that’s pretty far removed from the socially prominent and business elite.”
His smile lit up his face, that devilishly sexy smile that never failed to set her heart a-flutter. “That sounds good enough to me. I think we can consider that your primary assignment for the rest of the summer. I’d like to hold the function in San Francisco in September or early October at one of the major hotel ballrooms.”
She couldn’t hide her elation. “You want me to work on this with you? To plan and organize a function of this size and importance?”
“Yes, I have confidence in your ability to handle it.” He held her eye contact for a long moment, his smile fading and a new depth of intensity filling his eyes.
His request was totally unexpected. The change from menial little errands the first few days to helping plan a major charity fund-raising event just a month later was a huge leap in responsibility. His words settled a soft glow of pleasure over her. He had said he had confidence in her and they would be working on the project together.
This was certainly different from the passionate kisses and lingering touches they had shared over the past few weeks. It was much more than his attempts to get her to stay the night at his house. She experienced a shortness of breath caused as much by the excitement of the charity project and his obvious trust and confidence in her abilities as by the sensual warmth spreading through her veins.
She tried to force calm into her voice. “When do you want me to start on the charity project?”
“If you don’t mind, maybe we could start work on it in the morning? I know you aren’t supposed to work on Saturday, but it will give us an opportunity to work without interruptions. We can at least get a feel for what needs to be done.”
“That’s fine. I don’t mind working Saturday morning.” Her excitement over the new project continued to tingle through her body.
“I have a few pamphlets about the charity. I think they’re on the coffee table in the living room. Come on, you can look them over before we start work on it.”
Kim followed Jared to the living room. She looked around, her gaze moving from one beautiful object to another. She recalled when she had glimpsed this room from the entryway upon her arrival for her first day of work. A full week had gone by before she could actually take in the magnificent surroundings.
He crossed the room to the coffee table and picked up the brochures. “Here—” he held them out to her “—this should give you information about the background and current organization of the charity.”
She took the material, but before she could say or do anything else he grasped her other hand and brought it to his lips. He captured her gaze and held it as he kissed her palm.
“My offer for you to stay the night is still open.”
She shook her head. She finally forced out a breathless word. “Please…” Her resistance to hi
s charms weakened with each breath she took, aided by her desire. “I really can’t. The real estate agent is holding an open house on Sunday. I need to make sure everything is in order. I need to sell my father’s house.” Did he have any idea how tempting his offer was? How much she wanted to stay the night with him? And not just because he had dangled a challenging project under her nose, either.
“I think you should stay.” Jared gave her hand a squeeze. It was precisely the intimate gesture of reassurance she needed. A moment later his mouth was on hers, and the last of her resistance evaporated. The desires she had been fighting for the past month, ever since she met him, had finally won. She circled her arms around his neck, allowing the brochures to fall to the floor, and returned his passion with an equal amount of her own. Whatever objection she might have had no longer mattered. Her resolve melted in his arms.
The moment she put her arms around his neck a hard jolt of something unexpected hit Jared like a bolt of lightning. His libido had been in overdrive from their first meeting, but now she touched far more than his sensual desires. She touched a place so deep inside him he wasn’t even sure exactly where it was.
And he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
He cupped her face in his hands. His words came out in a husky whisper. “Do you have any idea how beautiful and desirable you are?”
Before she could answer, he brought his mouth down on hers as he wrapped her in his embrace. He pulled her body tightly to him. His lips nibbled at the corners of her mouth, then he twined his tongue with hers. With one hand he ran his fingers through the silky strands of her hair before caressing her shoulders. The other hand slid across her hip and cupped the roundness of her bottom. He snuggled her hips against his.
His fingers made their way to the top button of her blouse. He paused to kiss the bare skin exposed each time a button slipped through a buttonhole until her blouse was completely unfastened. He ran his hands inside her blouse, caressing the smooth skin of her back, then unhooking her bra. He removed both garments, dropping them to the floor.
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