by Laina Kenney
If her happiness was important to him even then, he would have made adjustments, however small, to accommodate her needs.
He spent too much of his life at the office. Maybe he needed her in his life as much as she desired and needed him. If that was the case, it would even out the imbalance between them.
“Hard thoughts?” Jack asked.
He was rubbing her back in long strokes, and Corinne arched like a cat asking for more.
“I think too much, sometimes. I just want to enjoy our time,” she said and laid her head on his chest. His heart beat a lulling rhythm she could feel as much as hear.
Her stomach rumbled in the silence and she squirmed. His hold tightened.
“Time for food,” he said. “Let’s find out if the kitchen is still open at this hour.”
She looked at the clock on the back wall.
“Probably not.”
Jack winked and slapped her bottom gently.
“I’ll call down. I might be able to persuade them. If not, it’s a fast food run.”
“What? You don’t eat fast food. When I wanted to stop on the highway that time you said fast food is poison in a paper wrapper. You went on and on about it.”
Jack laughed. “And most of it is, but I’ll make an exception this once, if I have to. We need sustenance, and it only has to keep us alive until morning.”
He called down to the kitchen and Corinne listened in amazement as he politely cajoled the staff into making them a full breakfast in the middle of the night.
In half an hour at most, they were sitting on the bed, still wrapped in towels and dining on cheese omelets, crispy bacon, home fries and toast. The kitchen had offered coffee or tea, but considering the hour, they had skipped the caffeine and opted for plain, cold apple juice.
Corinne finished her toast and leaned back against the headboard. Jack was eating the remainder of her omelet.
“What next?” she asked.
She wanted the night to go on for them, but her energy was fading fast. It was after midnight, and she wasn’t a nighthawk. If she stayed up all night, there would be bags under her eyes and she would grumble at every suggestion even if it was something she would normally like.
Jack, on the other hand, could and often did stay up most of the night, grab a couple hours of sleep and a coffee and head for the office as fresh as if he had slept her required eight hours. The man had incredible stamina. Or perhaps it was just determination. Either way, Corinne was jealous.
Jack set the plate aside.
“I should be asking you that. You’re in the driver’s seat tonight. What would you like us to do next?”
A hundred lurid and lazy ideas ran through her mind, but in the next moment she yawned. She tried to stifle it at first, but the jaw-popping yawn got the better of her.
Jack smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled.
“If this humble male may make a suggestion, my lady?”
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
“Perhaps we should have a brief nap first before our next interlude. Later we could try for a second breakfast at a more reasonable time. We can always change that plan on the fly if it doesn’t suit.”
Corinne clicked off the light and snuggled down into his arms. She was sure she would feel excited if she wasn’t so exhausted. She really needed some sleep.
“I like the plan,” she said on another yawn. “We’ll punch it up a little, though. I have more toys in the bag that we haven’t tried on you yet.”
Jack took a quick breath and his shoulders tensed under her head, but all he said was, “Goodnight.”
Chapter 11
Jack and Corinne left the hotel midmorning, holding hands.
“There’s no reason why you can’t come out to the house for a quick lunch and an afternoon by the pool. It’s a gorgeous day, and I know how you love to swim.”
She did like to be in the water, but what she loved to do was float on a lounger and watch Jack swim. That activity held an endless fascination for her. His broad shoulders and strong legs made him a superb swimmer, and she could watch his body move and admire him for hours at a time.
She just didn’t know if she wanted to see the house again if she couldn’t stay there. She had come to love that house.
She felt good after last night, great in fact, and Jack certainly seemed pleased, but she still had doubts. They had reconnected on a physical level, but they hadn’t spent any time just talking. As a consequence, nothing was resolved in her mind.
“Corinne, it’s just for the afternoon,” he coaxed.
That was her fear exactly. She didn’t want it to be just for the afternoon. She wanted the whole fantasy. She wanted a lifetime with Jack as his partner, his wife. She knew it was a big leap, but she couldn’t just go back to the way things were before and pretend that nothing had changed for her. She wanted it all.
Still, she knew how it felt to be on the receiving end of some of the tricks she had used on Jack last night, knew the time it took to come down fully after such a night. She owed it to Jack to help ease him through it as he had done for her so many times.
And if it coincided with her persistent desire to be with him and fed her girlish fantasies of a knight in shining armor who would sweep her away to his castle and profess his undying love, it couldn’t be helped.
“Yes,” she said with what she hoped was a convincing smile. “I’ll come for the afternoon.”
Jack scowled, and the hand holding hers tightened to the point of pain. When she wiggled her hand, he loosened his grip, but really, what did he have to be upset about? He was getting exactly what he wanted, wasn’t he?
The car ride to the manor house was silent for the most part. As they traveled the familiar shore road, Corinne’s tension built. She kept thinking back to the night she had left him and wondered philosophically if going back was ever a good idea.
She watched Jack’s hands, so competent on the wheel, and remembered the excesses of their time last night. She trembled and her pussy tightened. She could still feel on her body where his fingers had pinched her nipples over and over, where his vigorous cock had surged in and out in relentless rhythm.
She had always loved that feeling the morning after a night with Jack. The aftermath of his possession always made her body purr with happiness.
She sighed. She loved Jack, and there was no denying they had great physical chemistry together. Now if they could just figure out how to balance the rest of it, they would have a great starting point on which to build a real relationship.
* * * *
Jack led Corinne into the house. She looked a bit uncertain, and her smile had disappeared, but he was determined to do whatever he needed to do to win her back.
And when he had her, he would keep her. Last night was the beginning of a campaign more important to his future than anything that had ever happened in a boardroom. He didn’t think Corinne understood it yet, but she would. He needed her like he needed air, but just telling her wouldn’t get the job done. He would make it his life’s work to show her how vital she was to him. He wouldn’t leave room for a single doubt in her mind.
“Come into the kitchen. I’ll make us some lunch.”
She followed him back to the large, bright kitchen. Corinne leaned against the counter as he pulled sandwich fixings out of the fridge and assembled two first-class ham sandwiches.
“Pickles?”
“Thanks.”
Jack forced a smile when he wanted to shout with frustration. They were as polite as two complete strangers, even after their spectacular night together.
He was uncomfortable, and when he felt that way he tended to become even more dominant, his need for control coming to the foreground. He was afraid that he would blurt out a series of orders and ruin all his progress so far. He wanted to have her back more than he wanted to dominate her sweet sexuality, but he wanted that, too. He was fighting his nature all the way.
What the hell else did he need to
do? If she would just tell him what she needed, what the problem was, he would fix it immediately, but her expression was calm, and he was left to flounder.
They ate together in silence and cleaned up the same way. It helped that Corinne was familiar with the kitchen setup.
“Your bathing suit is still here in the pool house,” he said.
She smiled at him, but in the mood he was in he was second-guessing everything. Did that smile mean she was happy? And he meant happy in that deep down, I-love-this-place-so-much-I’ll-just-move-back-in-today-and-why-did-I-ever-leave-at-all sort of way. He studied her eyes and her expressive face, but he couldn’t tell how she was feeling. It made him want to swear.
“Thanks. I’ll just go change.”
“I’ll meet you out there in a minute or two.”
“Okay.”
He watched her as she walked down the hall and disappeared outside without a backward glance.
He had an inexplicable sinking feeling in his gut, that instinct that told him when a deal was balanced on a knife’s edge and one wrong move would nix it. He had always paid attention to that simple intuition and parlayed his uncanny awareness into a business empire with never a hint of nervousness.
He took million-dollar risks on a regular basis and never broke a sweat. If the current opportunity didn’t work out, there would always be another business going under somewhere and another deal in the making.
Now his stomach was churning and his palms were sweating. The situation was different. Everything about Corinne was different from every other experience in his life. Maybe that was why he couldn’t seem to put a foot right. She mattered more than anything, but his emotions kept tripping him up.
He headed off to change clothes.
He was a successful businessman by all accounts. Now if only he could manage to have the same success with his love life and get Corinne to agree to marry him, he would have accomplished something worth bragging about.
Chapter 12
Corinne dangled her fingers in the cool water and swished her feet back and forth. The lounger rocked her, and she was feeling relaxed, even lazy after an hour or so in the pool.
Jack was still doing laps, cutting through the water aggressively. Where he got his energy she would never know. Just watching him was making her feel tired.
She smiled. Or maybe it was that she hadn’t slept much last night. Her body felt heavy from an excess of satisfaction, but her mind was light and floating. A peaceful day was always the perfect follow-up to a passionate night.
She was enjoying the warm sun, but she needed something to drink. She waited for Jack to pass again, sculled over to the side ladder, and climbed out. After drying off she headed for the kitchen to see if Jack had any fruit juice in the refrigerator.
As soon as she opened the door she could hear Jack’s cell phone ringing from its place on the counter. She shut the door behind her and stood there listening until it stopped. Her heart was pounding, and she felt dizzy with dread.
What should she do? It was bound to be someone from the office. She didn’t want to tell Jack because she knew it would end their time together, but what if there was a true emergency and she had prevented him from knowing? All she wanted was a clear boundary between office time and time at home that he would observe at least most of the time. She didn’t want his business to suffer because of her.
She sighed and turned to call him, but he was already out of the pool and coming toward the door. He was so gorgeous. She couldn’t pull her eyes away as he toweled off, every muscle delineated under acres of bronzed skin. He tossed the towel aside, and their eyes met through the glass.
“Jack,” she began when he opened the door, but the phone started to ring again.
He looked at her and she looked at the phone. Her heart plummeted when he reached for it.
Not again.
Jack answered the call and pinned her with a hard look when she stepped away from him. She went to the cupboard and the fridge and poured a glass of juice.
“Reschedule it,” he said into the phone. He listened for a moment but his eyes never left her.
“I know all about his policies. That’s why his business was in trouble in the first place.”
Jack waited for the other person to speak.
“I don’t care how many times he’s paged you. Tell Narimura he can reschedule or look for another job. He sold the company to me. He’s only working in an advisory capacity. If he doesn’t like that answer he can kiss my ass.”
Corinne heard the startled “Sir!” on the other end of the line and thought it must be Andrew. She set her untouched drink on the counter.
“Handle it,” Jack said curtly. He disconnected the call.
Corinne watched him, but he didn’t make a move, didn’t take his eyes off her. His focused concentration raised goose bumps on her bare arms and tightened her nipples under the cool, wet nylon of her bikini.
The phone rang again, the sound jarring in the intense silence.
Corinne turned away from him and looked out the window. She loved him, but she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t stay and take second place all over again. Allowing herself to be passed over again and again would eventually kill her spirit.
“I’m sorry, Corinne,” he said.
The rings cut off abruptly. Did he answer the call?
“Don’t go anywhere,” Jack said, and she knew he was talking to her this time.
The phone rang again, and Corinne started for the door. She could feel the prickle at the back of her eyes, and she didn’t want to cry in front of him.
The phone hurtled through the air and smashed against the side wall with an electronic chirp as Jack hauled Corinne back against his hot body. He gripped a handful of her hair and pulled her head back to take his savage kiss. His tongue thrust into her mouth over and over again. She moaned helplessly as heat surged inside her.
He turned her in his arms and backed her against the wall. His hand cupped the back of her head, or she would have been smacked into the wall with the force of his hard body.
“What about Andrew?” she gasped.
“Andrew can go to hell and take Narimura with him. No fucking way are you getting away from me again,” he muttered against her mouth.
Her heart leaped, but not with fear.
Where was the finesse that characterized all his big boardroom deals? The man in front of her wasn’t the cool businessman any longer. The look in his eyes was raw and hot, burning into her with laser-like power.
Her knees quivered, and she felt a rush of moisture sliding down her thigh. Her body knew exactly what that look meant.
He kissed his way down her throat, found a tender spot and sucked hard. She moaned. Her knees buckled as the strong sensation blazed through her and he caught her waist with one powerful arm. He was leaving a mark, she knew he was. It would be the first time ever. Jack had more control than that.
“I have to be inside you. I want you right here,” he groaned, and his breath was hot against her throat.
Her body responded, undulating against the hardness of his. Her arms slid up and around his neck.
“Say yes,” he said. “Say yes, Corinne.”
“Yes.”
The word ended on a squeak as he hoisted her up and tore off her bikini bottoms. The heavy penetration of his thick cock caused shock waves through her entire body.
He set up a powerful thrusting rhythm, the hair at his groin abrading her tender clit. The fat crown of his penis bumped the mouth of her womb with every deep plunge. The solid slap of their bodies and his harsh groans in her ear threw her into a screaming climax. He continued to surge against her and inside, and the burning friction sent her up and over again until the world went black around her from the force of it.
When Corinne finally opened her eyes, they were on the floor, her head half on his shoulder, her body still pulsing gently around his. His arm was heavy across her back, and the rise and fall of his chest rocked her.<
br />
She said the first thing that came into her mind.
“You’ll need a new phone.”
“What?” His voice was a deep bass rumble she could feel in her bones.
“Your phone is in pieces. It will never be the same.”
He shifted their positions until Corinne was on her back and he was leaning up on one elbow over her. He stroked her tangled hair back from her face.
“I’ll never be the same if you leave me again.”
His voice was hoarse with feeling.
“Jack?”
She searched his eyes, afraid to hope too much.
“I love you.” His voice shook.
“When did—”
“From the beginning.”
Corinne was silent for a moment, digesting that amazing statement.
“You never said it.”
“I thought you knew.”
She blinked.
“How could I know if you never said it?”
He groaned and buried his face in her long hair. She could feel his sigh against her throat.
“I know I was an idiot before, but I won’t be again,” he said. “I’m not leaving anything to chance.”
He raised his head again to look into her eyes.
“I love you, Corinne. Marry me.”
Her body jerked in shock.
“Jack!”
“Marry me. It’s what people in love do.”
He pressed tiny kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, and her trembling mouth.
“This is the part where you say ‘yes.’ And you might want to hurry up before I lose my nerve.”
Corinne’s heart pounded. She loved the wry grin on his face, the way his twinkling eyes held hers. She dared to tease him. “Jack Carder, terror of the boardroom, loses his nerve proposing?”
He nipped her chin, and she squealed.
“I have never had to work this hard in the boardroom,” he said honestly, and she giggled. “No business acquisition has ever given me your kind of trouble. Come on, Corinne, take a chance on me. I might not get it right every time, but I’ll sure as hell try.”
In a funny way, she was proud that she was making him work. She looped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to gaze into his dark eyes.
