He placed the food on her desk. “No, I’m not. I would have used any excuse to keep our date tonight.”
She lifted her head to stare at him. The thought that he had wanted to spend the evening with her touched her. “You’re sharing dinner with me?”
He grinned. “Yes, and don’t worry, I brought enough if you’re feeling somewhat greedy and concerned with sharing.”
She chuckled as she pulled the containers from the bag. “No, that’s not it. In fact I’d like the company.”
“Good. And afterwards while you read whatever it is you have to read, I have some papers I need to read as well.”
She lifted a brow. “You’re sticking around after we eat?”
“Yes. I don’t like the idea of you going to your car late at night alone, so I plan to stay here, then walk you out.”
Dominique smiled, once again touched by his concern. “I’ve worked late at night several times. The parking lot is well lit and there’s security on duty. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m making sure of it, Dominique.”
“Thanks.” She tried to remember if Kenneth had ever bothered to show up at the courthouse late at night, concerned for her safety, and couldn’t think of a single time he had done so.
While they ate they talked about everything other than work. He had listened while she had told him about her parents and grandparents and how her grandfather’s family had once owned most of the land surrounding International Drive.
“It’s amazing when I hear people talk about what a small town Orlando used to be before Disney World came to town. It doesn’t sound like the same place.”
Jordan nodded. “London is still pretty much a small town. Hell, it’s so small there’s a man who delivers milk each day, and the doctor still makes house calls on occasion. It’s country but pleasant. More and more of the young people are moving back home to escape the rat race of the big cities.”
Later, after disposing of their garbage, Jordan took a seat on the sofa that rested on the other side of the room and pulled out the papers he’d brought along from his briefcase. Dominique resumed reading the legal papers about the Fairchild case.
She thought it was nice having him share her space and wasn’t at all bothered by it. After reading for what seemed like hours, she lifted her head to rotate her stiff neck. She glanced across the room at Jordan and smiled. As if he’d known she was looking at him, he lifted his head from the papers he was reading and smiled back. Her heart began beating so fast for a moment she thought she had forgotten how to breathe. Finally, when she remembered, she broke eye contact and lowered her gaze to begin reading again.
***
An hour or so later Dominique read the last sentence on the page. Her eyes felt tired and strained. Glancing at the crystal clock on her desk, a gift from her parents, she noted that the hour was past eleven. It was much later than she had intended to stay.
“All finished?”
She glanced over in Jordan’s direction. “Yes, what about you?”
“Yes, I’m done.”
She stood. “It won’t take me long to get everything together to leave.”
“Take your time.”
She was putting the last of the papers in her briefcase when she felt his presence directly behind her.
“I meant to tell you the other day, before I got kind of side tracked, that you have nice chambers.”
“Thanks.” She sighed as she slowly turned around, and couldn’t help it when she automatically leaned forward, parting her lips.
He couldn’t help it either when he leaned down and captured her mouth, taking hold of her waist and pulling her closer. He couldn’t think of a better way to end the evening than to take his fill of her like this, especially since she wasn’t quite ready for the next level yet.
Deciding it was time to end the kiss before he was tempted to spread her out on her desk, Jordan pulled back and smiled when he saw that her lips were still damp from the taste of him. “Dominique,” he whispered.
She lifted her gaze up to his. “Yes?”
“Are you going jogging with me in the morning?” he asked in a voice filled with the same lust she felt.
“Yes.”
He was watching her intently. “And on Saturday morning, will you join me at my place for a workout and breakfast?”
Her eyes were glazed with seductive heat. “Are you sure you want to feed me again?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“And during the workout, are you going to teach me all the essentials I need to know?”
Jordan inhaled deeply, thinking about all the things he wanted to teach her, to show her, and to experience with her. “Yes,” he whispered, bringing her back close to him and liking the way she felt in his arms. “I’m teaching you everything you need to know, and first we’ll start off by getting you familiar with the bare essentials.”
Ten
Dominique knew she was in trouble the minute Jordan opened the door Saturday morning. She quickly dragged in a deep, calming breath. He was standing before her dressed in an outlandishly sexy pair of gym shorts and a short tank top. It was the same top he had worn once before that stopped just above his navel. Her gaze automatically went to the small, sexy indention in his masculine ultra tight belly. Her gaze was further drawn to the line of curly hair that grew from his navel and became lost in the waistband of his shorts.
“You’re ready, Dominique?”
She swallowed and lifted her gaze to his and stupidly asked, “For what?”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb, completely at ease and acting as if a dense woman appearing on his doorstep at eight in the morning was a norm.
“For a workout and breakfast – in that order,” he said, grinning at her.
“Yes, I’m ready,” she said, wishing his mouth didn’t look so darn enticing. She had gotten a dose of him three times that week when they had gone jogging together, and when he had unexpectedly shown up in her chambers Tuesday night. And all three times when they had kissed, his taste had consumed her senses. When he moved aside she walked in.
“Good. We can go ahead and get started,” he said, leading her down the hallway.
When they entered the workout room she glanced around, again admiring all the equipment Jordan owned. The treadmill was stationed in one corner of the room and a heavy-duty stair climber was sitting in the other. He also had a multi-purpose weight bench, a magnetic exercise bike, as well as a bi-level dumb-bell rack.
She walked over to the exercise bike, to take a closer look. When she turned around she swallowed when she saw him checking out what she was wearing, a pair of nylon shorts and midriff top.
Dominique looked down at herself before meeting his gaze again. The length of the shorts was more revealing than she usually wore, and she wondered if she made a mistake in putting them on. “Is what I’m wearing okay?” she asked quietly, when he continued to stare at her.
Jordan shook his head thinking that she looked incredibly sexy. Her thighs were even better looking than he had originally imagined. After that first day when they had gone jogging, she had started wearing sweats like him. Now, up close, he was seeing her bare legs and thighs. They were smooth and sleek, stacked and thick – just the way he liked.
“This is what I want you to try out today,” he finally recovered enough to say. “The key to the whole process is to not overdo it.”
“Are you saying that too much of anything isn’t good for you?”
Jordan smiled, thinking that couldn’t be all true because he couldn’t imagine too much sex from her being anything but good. “Too much exercising is. You don’t want to tear any muscle tissue.”
She nodded. She definitely didn’t want to do that.
“Come over here for a second. I want you to see what you’re going to start with first. It’s what I call the Bare Essential.”
She crossed the room and saw the hug piece of equipment that reminded her of the Total Gym that C
huck Norris advertised on television. “The Bare Essential?”
“Yes. I consider it the ultimate necessity. This baby alone can give your body the complete workout it needs,” he said, smiling.
She raised an arched brow. “If that’s true, then why do you need this other stuff?”
He smiled. “Because it’s always good to have variety, and each one of them serves a purpose. After a while your body gets used to the same muscles getting worked, so you should switch up equipment every so often. But for now this is the one we’ll concentrate on.”
She lifted a brow. “We?”
Chuckling, he said, “Yes. I’ve appointed myself your personal trainer.”
Her personal trainer? Dominique didn’t know quite what to think of that. She had assumed he would show her the best equipment to use, then leave her on her own. “Do you think I really need a personal trainer?” she asked, saying the words on a sigh.
His eyes got a devilish glint in them. “Yes, for a while you do, and I’m putting myself at your disposal.”
She didn’t want to think about what all that entailed.
“Today, I want us to concentrate on your heart rate.”
She blinked when Jordan’s voice intruded into her thoughts. She nodded, thinking there was nothing wrong with her heart rate except for whenever he was around. Then it always managed to race out of control. “Why are you concerned about my heart?”
“Because monitoring a person’s heart rate while they’re exercising takes the guesswork out of how much of a workout they can endure. Some people can’t take the intensity of a vigorous workout.” He lifted a brow. “You don’t have heart problems, do you?”
Not before I met you, she thought. Instead she answered. “No, as far as I know, I’m fit as a horse.”
“Good. Before we get started, I want us to do a series of warm-up exercises.”
Dominique nodded. She knew the importance of warming up before starting any strenuous workout.
“Let’s do a few jumping jacks.”
Minutes later, barely able to catch her breath, Dominique discovered Jordan’s definition of “a few” was slightly different from hers. She usually did about twenty-five and called it a day; however he was still going strong at 125. He had left her behind when they had reached sixty. The rest of the time she had watched him. There was definitely something stimulating about a nicely built man jumping up and down while throwing his hands together over his head. It emphasized his strong legs and just how tight and firm his thighs and butt were. Then there was the sweat that had begun forming on his body, slowly drenching the skin under his tank top and traveling down toward the wispy curly hair under his navel, then trickling lower into the waistband of his shorts. Watching the path the sweat was flowing fascinated her.
“Dominique?”
He had called her name twice before she’d realized he had been speaking to her. She quickly glanced up to his face. “Huh, yes?”
His gaze suddenly became glued to her mouth, and her lips automatically parted under his close scrutiny. “Yes Jordan?” she repeated.
He shook his head as if to clear his mind. “Let’s do some leg lifts,” he said, getting down on the floor. “It’s important in a general warm-up to concentrate on those specific muscles you intend to work.”
She nodded and joined him on a huge mat. He had told her that the carpeting installed in this particular room had a thicker padding than the rest of the house for added cushion.
“I thought you might find it more fun to do this type of warm-up with music. That way it will feel like you’re dancing more than exercising. And I think Flashdance will do the trick.” He reached over and pushed the button on a nearby CD player. “Now, then, let’s get started.”
Dominique placed her body in position, following Jordan’s lead. Moments later the music kicked into gear. The melody started off slow and easy, allowing them to do a few body stretches. Then gradually Irene Cara’s voice brought the song into a rousing tempo. Jordan coaxed her to move with the music, in tune with the beat.
She began lifting her legs to the sound of the invigorating music. And when the song reached a throbbing, galvanized pitch, she became energized along with it and kicked her legs higher and faster, maintaining the fast-paced rhythm the music projected. Jordan was right: It felt more like dancing than exercising. She was so into what she was doing that she failed to notice Jordan had stopped and was watching her.
Jordan sat back, mesmerized, spellbound. With his breath caught in his throat he watched the way Dominique moved, fluid, graceful and seductive. Her legs, big and strong, lifted and kicked to the vigorous heat of Flashdance. The only thing he could think of while watching her was having those big, strong legs wrapped tight around him while he was buried deep inside of her.
She must have finally felt him watching her, because as the music begin winding down, so did she. Their gazes met and held and he was hard-pressed to keep his hands from reaching out and touching her all over.
“What’s next?” she asked softly, clearing her throat and breaking the silence when the music ended. She glanced away and looked across the room at the piece of equipment he had shown her earlier. “Should I try that out now?”
Jordan nodded as he tried to gain control. He grabbed a towel off a nearby rack and tossed it to her, then watched as she wiped the perspiration from her face, hands and chest. When she handed the towel back, without thinking he brought the towel to his face and he breathed deeply, inhaling her scent.
Dominique watched as the image of what he had just done filled her brain, making her hot all over. In that instant she knew, without a doubt, that there was no way she would leave today without having been made love to by him.
Slowly, struggling with her breath from that realization, she stood and walked over to the piece of equipment he called Bare Essential. Easing her body onto the vinyl-padded glide board, she placed her hips at a comfortable angle. Leaning back in a reclining position, she grabbed hold of the hand cables. It was then that she noticed Jordan had come to stand by her side.
“We’ll take it slowly,” he said huskily. “I want you to breathe in deeply while I count.”
“How many times?” she asked, trying not to look at him. The sexual chemistry between them was beginning to ignite in a way it had never done before. She felt it and knew he felt it too. Her skin began to get warm and tingly, and every part of her was on the edge of anticipation. Even the air surrounding them crackled, seemed to have thickened, and was thrumming with sensuous heat.
“Let’s try fifty for starters. I want you to slowly lift your hips up and then back down into position. The strain will tone your thighs and buttocks.” Not that they need much more toning, he thought. As far as he was concerned, they were already perfect.
Dominique sucked in quick breath when he reached out and touched her, merely adjusting the cables to make sure they fit securely within her hand.
He looked down at her, and the darkness of his eyes made heat stain her cheeks. Her breasts began to tingle and the area between her legs began to throb. His gaze transmitted passion that actually made her insides tremble. “You ready?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He began counting. “One…two…three…”
As he counted she closed her eyes and used her body weight to lift up her hips – as far as they could go – and then back down, while keeping her knees slightly bent and her legs at an angle. At first the movement was difficult, strenuous. But she was determined to endure. She felt her muscles tighten, her pelvis clench, and her knee joints strengthen. And the area between her legs felt synergized.
“Seven . . . eight . . . nine . . .”
As he continued counting Jordan watched her breasts stretch and tighten with each movement she made. Her nipples began puckering against the resistance. His gaze moved lower. Her shorts strained against the continuous aerobic motion, forcing the garment to ride high on her hips, exposing more of her smooth flesh.
“Seventeen. . .eighteen . . . nineteen . . .”
Without missing a beat with counting and without giving much thought to what he was doing, Jordan pulled the tank top over his head and tossed it to the floor.
“Twenty-four . . . twenty-five . . . twenty-six . . .”
He then pushed his shorts down his legs, taking a condom out of the pocket before tossing them aside.
“Thirty . . . thirty-one . . . thirty-two . . .”
He eased the condom slowly and deliberately over his erection, and then glanced over at Dominique. Her eyes were still closed. She didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing.
“Thirty-eight . . . thirty-nine . . . forty . . .”
His body hardened when he noticed the hair that had escaped the single braid on her head begin getting damp with perspiration. It didn’t surprise him that something as basic as sweat was fueling his sexual appetite. He had an urge to know the taste of her damp skin on his tongue.
“Forty-five . . . forty-six . . . forty-seven . . .”
He inhaled a deep breath, wanting to know how the movements of her hips felt under him while he was planted deep inside of her.
“Fifty.”
In that instant she released the cable, relaxed her body, and slowly opened her eyes. She looked over at him and her gaze locked on his naked body. He watched as she sucked in a deep breath at the same time that her eyes became hot with surprise, then awareness.
Without saying a word, he walked over to her and lifted his leg to straddle both her and the equipment. “Take a deep breath, baby,” he said softly. “Inhale and then exhale.”
Slowly, with her gaze still glued to his naked body, she did as he instructed. Eyes simmering in lust looked down at her, and for a space of a heartbeat, neither of them said anything. Words were the last thing on their mind.
ALL HE DESIRES (Voluptuous Woman Series) Page 7
