She smiled and took the glass, the dim uplighting making shadows in her chiseled features.
“Thank you,” she responded, holding the wineglass toward him. “Here’s to…”
“Thunderstorms,” he said.
“And to getting power,” she countered.
He started to take a sip and paused. “Power? Yeah, I bet you like to have that in a relationship.”
She regarded him over the rim of her glass. “I meant electricity.”
“Oh, sweetheart, we’ve got plenty of that.” He touched his rim to hers and let the ring of crystal hum in their ears. He waited until the glass reached her mouth, just until the wine neared her lips. Then he said, “You can stop the charade now, Lily. We both know exactly why you’re here.”
She choked before a drop of wine could have touched her lips. “We do?”
He sipped his wine, locked on her stunned expression. Then he set the wineglass on the counter and gently took hers out of her hand, putting it next to his. “And would you like to know what I think about it?”
She swallowed, but he could tell it was an effort. “I can only imagine what you think about it.”
He reached up and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently rubbing his thumbs over the thin fabric of her T-shirt. “I don’t know why you didn’t level with me from the minute you arrived.”
She narrowed skeptical navy blue eyes at him. “I think Reggie wants to be the one to level with you, Jack. He wasn’t sure you’d like the idea.”
He tunneled his fingers into the still-damp hair at the nape of her neck, watching her eyes widen as he eased her closer to him.
“I like the idea because I like you.” He inched his face closer to hers. “In fact, tomorrow morning, when we wake up together, right after we have a few hours of wall-shaking, earth-quaking, brain-rattling sex, let’s give Reggie a call and tell him how brilliant he is.”
Just as her jaw slackened and her mouth opened, he captured her lips with his, sharing the vanilla-and-oak flavor of the wine and closing his eyes to enjoy the sweetest taste he could ever remember.
When he opened his eyes, the flashlight had gone dark.
Time stopped. Breathing stopped. Her heart stopped.
But nothing—and no one—stopped that kiss.
Lily was too far from the counter to reach back for support, so she slid her hands over Jack’s amazing shoulders, leaned into his mouth and held on for the ride.
Her stomach dipped, her legs trembled and a slow burn heated her from the inside out.
His fingers threaded into her hair, angling her head as he launched a second roller coaster of a kiss, this time taking her tongue along as a passenger.
Instinct took over as she rose on her toes, urging her stomach right into the hard ridge of his erection. He tightened his fingers in her hair and invaded her mouth, a soft moan rumbling in his chest as he pressed himself against her.
“Lily.” Her name was no more than a breath of air as his hands glided down her back and settled hot and warm on the bare skin of her waist.
She finally opened her eyes. It was pitch-dark again.
“Oh,” she muttered, still unable to separate from the sheer pleasure of full body contact. “We lost our battery.”
He dropped his hands a little lower, resting on the rise of her backside as he eased her bottom against him. “But we still have all this electricity, sweetheart.” He feathered her cheek and ear with airy kisses. “We don’t need no stinkin’ flashlight.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “How can you make jokes at a time like this?” she whispered, still incapable of extricating herself from his hands and body. “We’re completely in the dark. At the mercy of the elements. All we can do is feel our way around.”
“Yep.” He slid his hands up her waist, lingering on her rib cage, inches from her breasts. “And it feels good.” He eased her back against the counter and tormented her with some more direct contact with his rock-hard arousal.
“Jack…” She tilted her head and let him nibble at her neck, the ability to slow him down slipping from her grasp with each sizzling touch of his lips and tongue and hips. “This might not be such a good idea….”
“I told you, baby, this is a great idea.” His kisses burned a trail over her throat, down her breastbone and over the cotton of her T-shirt. She could feel the heat of his lips through the fabric, making her breasts tingle and ache.
She forced her brain into gear. This wasn’t the idea he liked. Was it? Wasn’t he talking about her assignment to…renovate him into an ad-agency president?
She placed her hands on his chest and nudged him back, the room still so dark that she could see only the whites of his eyes and gleam of his flawless smile. “Jack,” she whispered. “Listen to me.”
A soft moan of disappointment caught in his throat, but he stilled his hands and eased up the pressure against her body.
“Do you really know why Reggie sent me here?”
He released a soft, knowing laugh. “How long did you think it would take me to figure it out, Lily? No one else is here, no creative client problems are on the agenda. Hell, there is no agenda. Just you.” He skimmed his hands along her ribs again. “And me.” He grazed the sides of her breasts, torturing her with the possibilities.
“And you don’t hate the whole idea?” she asked. “I mean, Reggie wasn’t sure you’d go for it, and now that I’ve met you, I can tell why he thought you’d be…difficult to convince.”
A rumble of laughter in his chest vibrated hers. “You should have more confidence, sweetheart. I think you’re fantastic.”
“But…what about…the whole concept of…changing you? You’ll go for that?”
He stiffened just enough for her to know it wouldn’t be an easy battle. Then he relaxed against her, easing his hips into hers.
“Let’s worry about all that tomorrow, okay? There’s plenty of time to discuss…the future. I’m more interested in tonight. In this.” He settled his mighty erection against her stomach and sent a line of fire up and down her spine. “In now.”
Her night vision had improved enough for her to see into his eyes. Was he sincere? Did he really not care about her mission? But then he helped himself to another slow, hot, wet kiss, and everything came to a screeching halt again, except her ability to do anything other than…kiss back.
“Nature’s playing games with us, Lily,” he whispered. “First she turned out the lights.” Slowly, leisurely, his hands rounded her breasts until his palms covered her aching nipples. “Then she gave us the music of the rain.” He grazed the points with his fingertips and more fire shot through her. “And all we need to do…” He rolled his hips from side to side, slow and easy, nice and hard. “Is dance in the dark.”
She shuddered. This was seduction. The most elemental, obvious and relentless seduction she’d ever experienced…and the effect was dizzying. As fast and deadly as a lightning bolt, he’d short-circuited her brain, fried her common sense and left her absolutely no ability to see beyond the next few hours.
“You like this, Lily?” he asked, sliding one hand under her T-shirt to caress the fabric of her bra. “You like when I touch you?”
She managed a pitiful “Uh-huh” as he dropped one hot finger along the waistband of her yoga pants, gliding from front to back, where his whole palm settled in to cover her backside.
“You wanna dance in the dark with me, Lily?” His voice was so low and so sure and so sexy that she simply trembled. “I promise you’ll like it.”
“This wasn’t…exactly the first night I had in mind,” she said, her argument sounding as weak as her knees felt.
“Sometimes, when it’s right, things happen fast.” He fluttered his fingertips over her nipple. “Or slow.” He rubbed her breast in his palm. “Tonight it’s your choice.”
Tomorrow, business would take front and center again. But…“Tonight,” she murmured into his kiss and felt him smile in response.
“Now,” he
added, giving her the thrill of weightlessness as he lifted her feet off the ground and slowly whirled her in a half circle. “Pick your dance floor, baby,” he said with a soft, seductive kiss. “Here in the kitchen? Out in the living room? On the billiard table? In the steam room?”
She nearly swooned. “I guess a bedroom’s just too damn conventional for a guy like you.”
“I can do conventional. On special occasions. There’s a guest room in the wing behind the kitchen,” he said, gathering her closer in his arms. “I’ve stayed in it. We can find it in the dark. It’ll be an adventure.”
“It certainly gives new meaning to the term blind date,” she added wryly.
That earned her a quick and hearty laugh and an affectionate squeeze. “I totally get why Reggie thinks we’d work together.”
She let out a sigh of relief, grateful that he’d be mature enough to recognize that her role in his business had nothing to do with her role in his bedroom.
And they would talk about it tomorrow. But tonight she simply wrapped her arm around his waist, tucked herself into the rock-hard muscles of his body and matched his slow steps toward the inevitable.
“I know there’s a guest suite down this hallway.” As they turned a corner he paused, one hand outstretched in anticipation of obstacles. He patted his hand along the wall and then stopped. “Ah. Here we go.” Slowly he turned the knob and the door creaked open. “Let’s dance.”
A shiver of anticipation vibrated through her body. As soon as they were in the room, he folded her into his arms and pressed her against the granite of his chest, his heart hammering at exactly the same accelerated rate as hers.
“There might be a candle in here,” he said. “Do you want me to look for it?”
“No.”
That was all Jack needed to hear. Without waiting for her to take even another breath, he backed her into the room, fairly certain that there was a bed under the one large window. One flash of faraway lightning lit the sheer curtains and proved his memory right.
It was just enough to see the hunger and arousal in her eyes. When her knees hit the bed, he dropped her down on the mattress.
Finesse be damned. He was so hard it hurt and she was so hot it hurt even more. In an instant he had the flimsy T-shirt over her head and he dropped down to taste the rose-tipped breasts that had burned in his memory since the first lightning flash. In one move, he unclipped her bra in the back and flipped the satiny thing out of his way, palming one breast with a firm hand and kissing the other.
She tasted like sea-salted soap and that one drop of wine he’d had. Her nipple swelled in his mouth and kicked his aching erection into higher gear. He licked around the darkened circle and sucked again. From deep inside her chest she mewed in ecstasy, burrowing her fingers into his hair, twisting the locks and pressing his face against her flesh.
She said his name and rocked her hips, then gave his shoulders enough of a firm push that he knew exactly what she wanted.
He nibbled his way down her tight little belly, and curled his tongue into her navel. Her hips rose in response. The workout pants went down in one smooth yank and something tiny and white and lacy was gone in one more.
He crooned softly at the sight of her moist tuft, his mouth already watering, his tongue ready to sample a taste of Lily.
“Jack.” She sat up and started to pull at his shirt. “I want to see you. I want to touch you.”
He knelt in front of her, stripping off his polo shirt and unsnapping his jeans. She took over and deftly finished the zipper, pushing at the denim. “Let me. Let me.”
He held up both hands in surrender. “I’m yours, baby. Just let me grab something from my wallet.”
From his jeans pocket he retrieved a condom and dropped it onto the bed next to them, then she got him down to his boxers. As he put his hands on the waistband, she grabbed his wrists.
“I want to undress you.”
He chuckled again. “You’re the boss, sweetheart.” Again he knelt on the bed and sucked in a breath as she took one of his nipples in her mouth. Her fingers splayed over his chest, working the hair, kneading the muscles and groaning with a subtle feminine appreciation. Her nails trailed down his stomach and finally reached the place he wanted her to touch.
Slowly she eased the shorts over the tent of his erection, and as she revealed him, his hard-on intensified under the heat of her gaze.
She closed her eyes, dipped her head and swiped her tongue right over him.
He almost swore at the shock of the pleasure, and somewhere in the distant recesses of his mind he remembered he’d have to find out exactly how Reggie knew this woman was made for him.
She stroked him and kissed him and guided him into her mouth. Hungry for her, he eased himself in the opposite direction, kissed her belly, then found the tiny dark triangle between her legs. He licked her once. She bucked and gasped sharply.
The intensity of the exchange was almost too much. Her mouth and her body were so sweet and hot and wet, all he could do was moan and move into her and against her, smelling the tangy essence of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it. Then took it.
He almost came at the thought of it.
He kissed her thighs, her hips and finally righted himself on top of her.
She picked up the condom, tore the foil with her teeth and handed the latex to him with a sly smile. “Hurry.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He laughed softly, and in two seconds he was sheathed and seeking the heated moisture of her womanhood, his arms bracing above her, the scent and taste of her sex still invading every pore.
He gave her a quick smile. “Don’t tell me. You want the top.”
She half laughed, but shook her head, lifting her hips in invitation. “I just want you inside me.”
At the declaration, he closed his eyes and entered her with a long, slow, agonizing groan, the insane tightness of her body almost killing him. He thrust once, giving in to the wicked hot pleasure of letting go, and then again, another ragged breath tearing his throat.
He had to slow down. Had to find a way to make this last.
“There,” he whispered as they reached a perfect rhythm and he dropped to his elbows. He burrowed deeper, pulled back and slid farther into her sweet body again. “Just like that.”
Her eyelids fluttered and her fingers dug into his biceps, but she never lost the rhythm. Just. Like. That.
Sweat trickled down his temple and she reached up and wiped it away, snagging his gaze as he plunged into her again.
Her eyes were so beautiful, so wide with wonder and desire and pleasure. He couldn’t look away. His chest squeezed, his throat ached and his whole lower half clutched at the sight of her.
“We’re gonna be good together, Jack,” she whispered, brushing a lock of his hair back, then tucking it behind his ear. “We are. You’ll see.”
His heart dipped a little at the long-term implication. But considering where they were and what they were doing, even he wasn’t arrogant enough to make a joke about Reggie’s setup.
“We are good together, Lily,” he insisted, upping the tempo of their union as though he could prove it. “I already see.”
She met him with every stroke, her body slick with moisture and heat, sliding against him like wet satin. He had to bite his lip to keep from totally pounding himself into her.
She closed her eyes and arched her back, still increasing their rhythm.
He clenched his jaw and thrust again. And again. And again. And again.
She turned her head and gripped his hips with her thighs.
Gratification overtook her, as their breathing echoed through the room and he gave in, thrusting himself as far and fast as he could. She shuddered once, then again, then rolled against him without any control, murmuring his name and begging him to join her.
His own control disappeared with hers, as a wild, hot release built up until he spilled himself deep inside her. All the way inside a smart, sexy, sweet-
faced woman he still hadn’t seen completely dry.
Three
A mechanical stutter. The hum of an air conditioner. The ping of a hallway light.
Power.
From behind Lily, a long, hard body stirred. A large hand closed over her breast. A very masculine muscle prodded her backside. A wholly different kind of power.
Lily closed her eyes and sighed with a bone-deep contentment. The hazy light of dawn danced through sheer curtains, pale enough for her to know it couldn’t even be six o’clock yet.
“Did you have sweet dreams, Lily?” His question, accompanied by a soft kiss on her shoulder, sent the hairs on the back of her head prancing up and down.
She moaned with satisfaction and nestled her rear end against his stomach. “I dreamed about food.”
He leaned up on one elbow and brushed some hair off her face, then kissed her cheek. “I told you I’d bring us a picnic in the middle of the night. I like shrimp in bed.”
She wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, I forgot,” he said. “It’s not a meal without a napkin and place mat.”
“A table helps, too. I’ll teach you about all that good stuff.”
He eased his hand off her body and moved imperceptibly away. But she was fluent in body language and recognized the signs of discomfort. No, she’d never expected the makeover of Jackson Locke to be easy.
“You know what?” He scooted up. “I’m going to take a quick run.”
“A run?” She flipped around to look at him, her breath catching at the sight of all that disheveled burnished-gold hair and the dark shadow of beard on his cheeks. Good God in heaven, how could she even think about turning him into a corporate executive?
Because Reggie Wilding was paying her, for one thing. And if she succeeded, there could be more business like this. Lots more. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about rent, but a mortgage. But right now it was hard to think about dreams of security when she was looking at a man who made her think about…sex.
His Style of Seduction Page 3
