The Sweetest Temptation

by Rochelle Alers

  She turned up the collar on her jacket to ward off the frigid air coming off the Hudson River. The above-average temperatures plummeted to below freezing, reminding everyone in the northeast that winter wasn’t willing to release its hold on the region.

  Faith made it home, retrieved her mail from the boxes in the building’s vestibule, then slowly climbed the staircase to her apartment. Moving as if she were an automaton, she managed to brush her teeth and take a quick shower, but not before turning off her cell and house phones and setting the alarm clock. She climbed into bed and was asleep within seconds of her head touching the firm pillow.

  CHAPTER 17

  Ethan walked into the solarium in his cousin’s penthouse and met his mother’s startled gaze. He’d changed out of his suit and into a pair of lightweight tan slacks with a coffee-brown silk, short-sleeved shirt. A pair of sandals had replaced his imported slip-ons.

  His cousin’s wedding was spectacular. The bride was radiant in a satin organza gown that flattered her full, shapely figure, and the groom was staid and handsome in a tailored tuxedo; the parents of the bride and groom were elegant and smiled while exchanging high-fives once their son and daughter were announced as husband and wife.

  Despite her father’s celebrity status, Savanna and Roland had invited only fifty guests, and one-third of the fifty were family members. William Raymond III, who’d come to New York with the elder McMillans, managed to keep a low profile. Ethan noticed immediately that his godson had changed. He was more reserved and had seemingly matured during the short time since he’d gone to live in Pennsylvania. Savanna and Roland were spending their wedding night at the Waldorf-Astoria before flying to Maui the following morning for a two-week honeymoon in the Pacific.

  Cora McMillan covered her son’s hand with her own when he rested his lightly on her shoulder. “Where are you going dressed like that?” she asked softly.

  Leaning closer, Ethan pressed a kiss to her short silver hair. The only thing he’d inherited from his father was his height and slender body. Everything else, including his coloring, eyes and dimples were Cora’s.

  “I’m taking off a few days to hang out in the Dominican Republic.”

  “Good for you.” Cora squeezed his fingers. “WJ says that you work too hard.”

  Ethan shot his cousin a withering glare. “He’s a fine one to talk.” He kissed his mother again. “I’ll call you after I get back.”

  “Will we see you for Easter?”

  “Sure. Tell Dad I’ll call him sometime next week. I’d like to discuss something with him.”

  Norman McMillan was behind closed doors with WJ in the latter’s office, no doubt discussing Billy’s adjustment to a new college. Cora and Norman planned to spend the rest of the weekend in New York City before driving back to Cresson, Pennsylvania. His sisters and brothers-in-law had come in for the wedding and reception, but elected not to stay over because they’d left their young children with babysitters.

  Ethan left the solarium and took the elevator to the underground parking garage to pick up the Town Car he’d driven to and from Florida. He would leave it at the airport where one of his drivers would pick it up to have it serviced by the Mac Elite Travel mechanics.

  Starting up the car, he adjusted the heat. The outside temperature read a chilly sixteen degrees when the week before the mercury was seventy-six. Right now, all Ethan wanted was to soak up the tropical heat with Faith. He didn’t want to think about anything to do with his employees or his business. He activated the Bluetooth feature on his cell phone and dialed the number to Faith’s apartment. She answered on the first ring.

  “If you’re calling to cancel, then I’m going to hurt you, Ethan McMillan.”

  He laughed. “Why would I cancel, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t know. You’ve been rather moody lately.”

  “If I’m moody, then it’s your fault.”

  “What did I do?”

  “It’s what you haven’t done.” Faith had become an itch, one that lay so deep beneath his skin he was unable to scratch it. Ethan wanted her at the most inopportune times, and that annoyed him because he’d never permitted a woman to get to him to the point where all of his waking hours were spent thinking of her.

  “Do you care to explain yourself?”

  “I don’t think I can. I’ll have to show you.”

  “Where are you, Ethan?”

  He paused, peering through the window at the street signs. “I’m about half a mile from your place.”

  “I’ll be downstairs waiting for you.”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll come up and get you.”

  “Don’t come up, because New York’s finest are blitzing the neighborhood with parking tickets. Hang up, darling. I’ll be downstairs when you get here.”

  He ended the call, and when he maneuvered onto Patchin Place he saw Faith standing at the curb in front of her building holding on to a single piece of luggage. He pulled up alongside a parked car, released the trunk and got out.

  Eyes wide, Faith stared at Ethan as he rounded the car. “Where’s your coat?”

  He closed his mouth over hers briefly, took her bag, helped her into the vehicle and shut the door. After storing her bag in the trunk with his, he slipped behind the wheel. “It’s at home. The jet will be waiting for us by the time we get to the airfield, and a car will be waiting for us whenever we get back.”

  “Okay, Superman,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “I heard that, Faith Whitfield.”

  I meant for you to hear it, Faith thought.

  Ethan gave Faith a quick glance. “What’s the matter, sweets? No comeback?”

  Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. “Sorry, handsome. I intend to enjoy the next two days, and that means no fighting.”

  “We don’t fight, Faith.”

  “What do we do, Ethan?”

  “Disagree.”

  Shifting on her seat, she rested her head on Ethan’s shoulder. “For the next forty-eight hours I don’t even want us to disagree about anything. What I do want is to go to sleep with you beside me, wake up with you beside me and get to know more about you in the most intimate way conceivable.”

  Laughter rumbled in Ethan’s chest. “Why does your agenda match my agenda?”

  Faith’s soft laugh joined his rich chuckle. “It’s because officially we’re a couple.”

  “You’re right. We are a couple.”

  It’s because officially we’re a couple. Faith’s pronouncement played over and over in Ethan’s head as he stared through the windshield. Commitment-shy Faith Whitfield had agreed to date him exclusively, yet he wanted more.

  He wanted more than weekend sleepovers and nightly telephone calls, wanted to go to sleep beside Faith and wake up with her not for two days but forever, and he wanted to give her all of Ethan James McMillan, whatever he had, with her as his wife and the mother of their children.

  * * *

  Faith’s second experience as a passenger in a private jet was vastly different from her first. This aircraft was newer, sleek and state-of-the-art. The seats were configured to recline into queen-size beds, showers were installed in the bathrooms and flat-screen televisions were mounted throughout the cabin. She was greeted warmly by the same flight crew from her Florida trip; however, with a passenger manifest of twelve, an additional flight attendant was added.

  Seated and buckled in, she shared a smile with Ethan. “You’re spoiling me.”

  His eyebrows lifted as an overhead light fired the gold in his eyes. “Why would you say that?”

  “I can’t even imagine taking a commercial flight now after taking off from private airstrips, not standing in line to go through security checkpoints, eating gourmet meals prepared by an onboard chef and having access to bathrooms with showers.”

  “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

  “Come again?”

  “The people I drive for also own the corporate jets, so the perks include a seat
or two if the aircraft isn’t filled to capacity.”

  “I like those perks. By the way, you never told me where we’re going.”

  “I didn’t?” Ethan’s expression was one of shocked innocence. “I thought I told you we were going to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.”

  Faith rolled her eyes at Ethan, then clamped her jaw tightly. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t argue or disagree with him for the next two days, and she wouldn’t. He knew right well he hadn’t told her but that was all right. She was going to spend the weekend away from the cold in tropical magnificence with a man who’d changed her and her life forever.

  * * *

  The flight to the Caribbean island was just short of a bacchanal. Latin-infused beats flowed from speakers like in a Miami nightclub, champagne flowed like water to wash down smoked oysters, caviar on tiny crackers, sushi, countless varieties of deviled eggs along with steak tartar. Once the seat-belt light was extinguished a few of the passengers danced in the aisle. The Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation G550 had become a flying club. The only thing missing was a glittering disco ball.

  Faith didn’t remember much after the jet landed at the airport in Punta Cana around two in the morning; they were required to fill out a form and pay a nominal fee to enter the country. A driver drove her and Ethan to a house in the mountain region while the other passengers boarded a small bus to take them to Natura Park, an eco-friendly resort frequented by European tourists.

  Ethan shook Faith gently when the driver parked under an overgrowth of mango trees. “Wake up, darling. We’re here.”

  She came awake with a start, looking around her in the blackness of the night. Ethan had opened the door on her side of the Land Rover. “Where are we?”

  Reaching over, he unbuckled her seat belt. “Let’s go.”

  Before she could react he swept her off the seat and carried her up a slight incline to what looked like a house constructed entirely of bamboo, with a sloping roof covered with palm leaves. Dim light filtered through the shuttered windows. Ethan opened the door to an open space where an enormous four-poster mahogany bed draped in mosquito netting was the single room’s focal point.

  Carrying Faith as if she were a child, he crossed the room and placed her gently on the bed. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  She managed to affect a lopsided grin. “I can’t move.” And she couldn’t even if her very life depended upon it. Her head was spinning from one too many glasses of champagne mixing with the rich food and now the heat. Faith knew she had to get out of her jeans and sweater before she fainted.

  Pushing herself into a sitting position, she unsnapped her jeans and eased them down her hips. She kicked off her running shoes and socks, took off her jeans and then the sweater, leaving her clad in a lacy brown and ecru-trimmed bra and matching bikini panty. A layer of moisture covered her body, settling between her breasts. Intoxicated or not, she had to get out of bed and shower.

  Ethan returned, closing and locking the door behind him as she slipped off the bed. “I need to get my toiletries so I can shower.” Her voice appeared unnaturally loud, the place being so quiet that sound carried easily in the open space.

  A table lamp, dimmed to its lowest setting, cast shadows over a towering mahogany armoire, a round table with two pull-up chairs in the same material and a rattan love seat and chair covered with plump cushions in a tropical motif.

  “We’ll shower together. That way we’ll save water.”

  Reaching down, Ethan grasped the handles to Faith’s carry-on and walked toward her. It was if he were seeing the perfection of her slender body for the first time. His gaze moved slowly from her narrow feet, long, shapely legs, slender, toned thighs and hips, slender waist he could span with both hands, and up to a pair of small, firm breasts rising and falling above the delicate lace of a push-up bra.

  He set down her bag next to her feet, then ran the back of his hand over her cheek. His free arm went around her waist, pulling her against his chest. Slowly, deliberately he lowered his head and breathed a kiss over her slightly parted lips. When a soft moan escaped her he took full possession of her mouth, tasting the lingering essence of champagne on her lips and tongue.

  Both had overindulged, but that was the reason they’d come to the island that was to become their private Garden of Eden to gorge on nature, tropical food and drink. Ethan had openly confessed to Faith that he loved her, and for the next forty-eight hours he would communicate without words that although officially they were a couple, he wanted them to become one in the legal sense. His fingers deftly undid the clasp on the back of her bra and he slipped the straps off her shoulders. It fell silently to the cool stone floor.

  Faith felt hot, then cold and then hot again. She gasped when Ethan’s hand moved over her belly and under the elastic band of her panties. Within seconds he’d become a sculptor, touching, caressing a priceless piece he’d fashioned for his eyes only.

  Anchoring her arms under his shoulders, she held on to him because she didn’t trust her trembling legs to support her quaking body. His fingers were gentle as he parted the folds concealing her sex and moved his thumb up and down, around and around over the swollen bud of flesh that never failed to bring her maximum pleasure.

  “Oh…oh…” Her moans trailed off as a spasm gripped her so violently that she was rendered speechless.

  Ethan withdrew his hand. Wrapping his arms around Faith’s waist, he lifted her and made his way to the bed. She was burning up and he was on fire!

  Parting the netting, he placed Faith on the mattress and moved over, his gaze never leaving her face as he undressed, tearing the buttons on his shirt from their fastenings in his haste to lie with her. Once naked, he placed a hand under her hips and eased her panties down her legs. Faith raised her arms to welcome him into her embrace, but Ethan didn’t want to make love to her in the conventional missionary position. Tonight he would take from her what he’d wanted to do the first time they’d shared a bed.

  Smiling, he moved closer, his hands caressing her thighs. Then, without warning, he grasped the backs of her knees and anchored her legs over his shoulders as he moved lower and pushed his face against her mound.

  “No, Ethan!” she screamed.

  Yes, Faith! He couldn’t tell her that he intended to make her his possession in the most intimate way imaginable because his tongue was busy tasting the essence of her femininity, the taste and smell of her etched in his brain for an eternity.

  Never had Faith felt so helpless, powerless. Not only was her lover assaulting her body but also her mind with his uninhibited lovemaking. She couldn’t move, couldn’t extract his rapacious tongue as it moved in varying rhythms that alternated from a deep, exploratory plundering to a gentle flicking. Unable to take the sensual assault, she arched and gave in to the erotic pleasure that carried her to heights she’d never known. Her breath came in long, surrendering moans as her body shuddered uncontrollably until it stilled, as a lingering ecstasy continued to eddy through her middle like ripples across a pond.

  Ethan’s smile was that of supreme male triumph as he lowered Faith’s legs and moved up to kiss her. “Now we can take that shower.”

  Her lips still quivering from unspoken passion, Faith closed her eyes and pulled his lower lip between her teeth. “You’re going to pay for that,” she gasped.

  Nuzzling her neck, he pressed a kiss under her ear. “How, baby?”

  “What if I go down on you without giving you fair warning?”

  He kissed her again. “What you won’t get is a complaint from me.” Sitting up, he pulled her up with him. “Let’s take a shower, then try to get some sleep.”

  Faith didn’t have to wait long to make good on her promise to pay Ethan back for his unexpected and unorthodox lovemaking. The shower was an enclosed outdoor structure made of closely packed stalks of bamboo rising six feet above the stone floor with a thatched roof of palm leaves. After brushing their teeth at a sink in an alcove equipped w
ith a commode and indoor-type plumbing, they stepped into the shower and turned on the lukewarm water.

  The nocturnal sounds coming from the nearby jungle, the heat, humidity and the ribbons of light filtering through the slats on the shutters from the lamps on the bedside tables had become so ethereal that Faith hadn’t wanted to believe she was a part of the primordial setting.

  She and Ethan became children again, splashing soap and water until she slid down the length of his lean, hard body and took his sex into her mouth. The motion was so quick and unexpected that Ethan cried aloud, the sound floating up and startling birds nesting in the many trees above them.

  Faith was relentless, not letting him go until he forcibly pushed her back and entered her with a swiftness that left both screaming. Miraculously, sanity returned in time for Ethan to pull out before he spilled his release inside her. They stood together, shaking from the aftermath of what could’ve happened if he ejaculated inside her. They washed again, this time without the former child play, dried their bodies and went to bed.

  Ethan fell asleep right away, but Morpheus wasn’t as kind to Faith. She lay in the darkness, listening to the soft snores of the man pressed to her back while berating herself for what could’ve happened if Ethan hadn’t pulled out in time. They’d picked her most fertile time of the month to engage in risky sex.

  Faith had said that she wanted children, but she wanted to be married first. The decision to have a child would not only be hers but also her husband’s. Once she returned to the States she would see about going back on the Pill. Her gynecologist had suggested she come off the contraceptive if she wasn’t having sex. Well, now she was having sex and she wanted to protect herself from an unplanned pregnancy.

  CHAPTER 18

  Ethan woke to the distinctive smell of brewing coffee. Cradling his head on folded arms, he stared through the sheer netting, watching Faith set the table. It was apparent she’d discovered the utility kitchen concealed behind a wall of louvered doors.