by Lexy Timms
“Tell me something, Jamie,” he said, low and hot, leaning close to breathe the words against her ear so that she arched against him and let her breath out on a sigh. “How long have you been down in the kitchen wearing nothing but my shirt, with nothing underneath it?”
“Mmm. An hour?”
Alex growled, and one of his hands slipped out to tangle in her hair, gently tipping her head back so that he could kiss along the line of her jaw. He could feel the hard peaks of her nipples through the thin fabric of the shirt, and he wanted her. Wanted his mouth on them.
“Damn, woman. You drive me completely mad.”
“I try,” she answered, words breaking off on a gasp when his hand tightened in her hair and his mouth found hers again, his hips bucking up against the curve of her ass.
Her fingers curled against his neck, nails scraping the skin, and Alex finally dragged himself away from the kiss, sitting up enough that he could get his hand between them to start working the buttons open so that the sides of the shirt fell loose around her, baring her breasts and the not-quite-flat line of her belly. She was self-conscious about it, had been since the kids were born, but Alex had made sure to tell her as often as possible that she was beautiful. Hot. Everything he fucking wanted. He hadn’t told her that enough since things had started going bad at work. That would have to be remedied. He’d show her right now.
Jamie squirmed, looking up at him through her eyelashes, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips. If she didn’t stop that they weren’t going to make it very far.
Her hips rolled down against his, her body shifting so that the rock of them together rubbed his cock against the place where she was already wet. She must have been thinking about it the whole time she was down in the kitchen, bare under the inadequate cover of the shirt, waiting for him to come down and find her like that.
Fuck.
His thumb rubbed circles against her thigh, and then he let the hand slide upward, fingers tracing up her belly to the underside of her breast. She moaned softly. The roll of her hips grew faster, needier.
“Alex,” she gasped. “Stop. Damn it.”
He knew what she meant. But she hadn’t said it and so his hands stopped, stilling against her skin.
Her eyes, dropped half-lidded, snapped open, and she whined in the back of her throat. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“I was just doing what you said, baby,” Alex answered, grinning at her. “Was that not what you wanted?”
“I wanted you to stop teasing,” she bit back.
His fingers dragged against her inner thigh. “You mean that?”
“Damn it, Alex.”
He laughed then, and finally gave in, leaning in again to bite gently at her collarbone, mouth moving slowly downward until he could catch one of her nipples between his teeth, his tongue quick to follow suit. His other hand dipped between her legs, the back of his index finger pressed against her folds.
She moaned, and he echoed it. Fuck, she was so wet for him. So ready, and he wanted her. He thought about pushing the shirt off her shoulders and letting it fall, but he liked the way it framed her. Liked the brush of the fabric against his skin and the fact that it was his shirt, holding her close the same way he was.
“Fuck,” Jamie said. “Come on, Alex. Please.”
Obligingly, Alex stroked his fingers up to her clit, whispering an ‘I love you’ against the valley between her breasts. She said it back, the words mixed up in another soft moan.
His fingers pressed into her, filling her, and she writhed down against them.
“Tell me what you want,” he said. “How do you want me, baby?”
“More,” Jamie answered. “Fuck. Anything. Just more.”
Alex stroked his fingers against her inner walls.
“More, like that?” It was meant to be teasing, but he didn’t quite hit the right note. He wanted her, too, was so hard that it hurt. But he didn’t want to rush it. His thumb rubbed over her clit, and he slid another finger inside.
“Alex…” She didn’t get the rest out, whatever she wanted to say. Her thighs trembled against his, and her body bucked.
“Yes,” Alex growled. “Give it to me. Come on. I want to watch you. Feel you come.”
A surprised little gasp and she was coming, fingers clutching at his shoulders, and he leaned in to swallow the sounds she made so that they didn’t wake the twins.
When he pulled back, he gave her a moment, let her catch her breath while her heartbeat slowed. But she wasn’t done and he knew it. Once was never enough for them. He looked down at her, with her kiss-swollen lips parted and her hair falling loose around her face, and wherever this was going it had better go quickly because he wanted his cock in her. Needed to feel her around him.
Apparently she felt the same way, because she was writhing again, rocking down on his fingers like they weren’t enough.
“Alex. Come on. Fuck me. I need you filling me up.”
“No please?” Alex teased, despite how much he ached to give her just what she wanted.
She didn’t give him one, and so he kissed slowly down her body to her thighs, letting her feel his breath across her skin, and she squirmed under him. Her hands tangled in his hair and pulled just enough to give him very blatant direction.
He grinned up at his impatient wife, and then his mouth was on her, his tongue sliding between her folds, slow as though he had all the time he could possibly desire, as though he was simply enjoying himself. He flicked the tip of it over her clit, and Jamie tossed her head against the couch, whimpering. He licked circles around her clit and then rubbed it with the flat of his tongue. Jamie moaned, clutching at his shoulders, his hair.
He loved that she had such a strong reaction to him. Couldn’t get enough of him. Alex mouthed at her outer lips, feeling the smooth skin and dipping his tongue to trace between them, tasting her wetness and going up, grazing her clit just barely. Jamie whimpered against her biceps, her fingers tugging again at his hair. Alex didn’t mind. He wanted to feel how much she wanted it.
His hand shifted down to spread her open and he pressed in with his tongue pointed, tracing her opening, all his senses overwhelmed with the taste and sound of her. Of Jamie. The woman he loved more than life itself. He would never stop loving the way he could make her feel. His tongue moved briefly over her entrance before moving up to circle her clit, lightly, teasingly, not touching, making her needy, desperate, begging, waiting till he could give it all to her. Another stroke of his tongue over and around the sensitive little bundle of nerves and then he flicked lightly over it, and if it weren’t for his hand on her hip holding her in place she would have bucked up against him, chasing his mouth with the low sound of pleasure in her throat.
“Alex, please.”
He didn’t pay attention to that, though, his tongue ignoring her clit and going down to taste her again, his hand squeezing rhythmically at her hip. It was all he could do not to take her right there, but he wanted her to ask for it. She gasped his name again, and he slid two fingers inside her. It was an easy glide; she was so wet for him. He licked slow and firmly at the place she wanted it most. Then he closed his mouth on her clit, sucking and flicking it with his tongue
His hands curled around her thighs, holding her open, holding her still as he teased again, tracing lines over her clit, down along her folds to where she was wet and wanting and empty. He drew circles around her opening with the tip of his tongue until she was begging in words that stumbled over each other.
“Alex, please fuck me. Please. Damn it.” Her voice grew loader. “Now!”
And fuck. That was it. He could help but groan, lifting up enough that he could yank his boxers down, Jamie’s hands aiding him, as eager as his own. Alex tipped her back onto the couch, her legs spread wide, and leaned down over her with his fingers under her knees to hold them there as he pressed inside.
Her arms wrapped around him, dragging him close, and he groaned.
Sh
e gasped. “Fuck. Yes. Alex.”
He moved inside her with long, slow thrusts, and she met them with the roll of her own hips, taking him as deep as he could go. Like this, he could look down into her eyes, read the pleasure moving across her face, and he wasn’t going to last. He let himself move faster, harder. Hungry for her the way he had been since he’d walked into the kitchen.
She felt so good around him. The whole world narrowed down to just the two of them, Jamie in his arms and her hands in his hair, dragging him down into another kiss while her body arched tight against his own. Her cry was muffled against his mouth as she fell over the edge into orgasm once more. This time Alex followed, pleasure exploding through him, leaving him panting and boneless in its wake.
“I’d suggest we do that again often,” he said when he remember how to speak, his head resting against Jamie’s chest, “but I’m not sure that I would survive it.”
Jamie laughed, her body shaking under his with the motion of it, and Alex tightened his arms around her, wanting to just lie there and hold her close for as long as he could. He didn’t want to think about work, or Nicholas, or anything but her. How she fit against him. How much his life meant with her in it. He’d never realized what he was missing before he met her. Now, he knew he couldn’t live without it.
“I have to admit I wasn’t sure the response would be quite that enthusiastic.”
Alex tipped his head back to look at her. “Really? You were wandering around the kitchen naked under my shirt and you didn’t think I’d be enthusiastic about that?” He laughed. “I think maybe you’ve failed to understand my priorities.”
The shift was sudden. One minute she was pliant and happy against him, and the next she was lifting up on her elbows, forcing him to move so that he could meet her eyes. She’d been smiling before, but now it was gone.
“Have I?” she asked quietly.
“Are we really going to do this right now?” Alex asked. “Just let it be, Jamie. We’ll work it out later.”
“Later when? Next time that you come home from work an hour late? Next time you take a phone call while we’re on a family outing and I have to watch the twins by myself and one of them almost drowns?” She pulled away from him, sitting up with her knees drawn to her chest and the shirt still loose against her sides.
Alex straightened up to a sitting position, looking across the space that had suddenly become a gulf between them. “Lilli didn’t almost drown,” he said gently. “She didn’t get anywhere near the water, because you caught her. Because you’re a good mother, Jamie.”
Jamie shook her head. “I let her walk away in the first place. I knew that just a second was all that it took, but I still forgot to watch her, because I was looking for you. Trying to see if you were done with the phone call and on your way back.”
“Jamie,” Alex said gently.
She shook her head. “No. Listen, Alex. I know that things have been difficult at work lately. But, honestly, I feel like I’m doing this on my own. And I can't do that. We can take care of Nicholas, but not if you spend all your time at the office. You're shutting me out.”
“So what do you want me to do then, Jamie? I'm supposed to just stand by and let Nicholas ruin my company?”
“Of course you aren't. I know how much Reid Enterprises means to you, Alex. but that's what you have people like Zander for. So that you don't have to handle it all on your own. That's what you have me for. I'm your wife, Alex. I'm here to support you.”
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of the baby monitor crackling to life in the kitchen interrupted him.
Jamie sighed. Shaking her head, she stood and buttoned the shirt. “I've got to go take care of the kids,” she said, looking down at him. “You do whatever it is you need to do.”
When she was gone, Alex sat for a long minute on the couch, his elbows against his knees and his face resting in his hands. He had never meant for it to come to this. Before the trouble with Nicholas had started, he had been prepared to start giving his business over to his advisors and spend more time at home with his wife and his newborn twins, but then everything had gone to hell, and now his family was paying the price.
It was obvious that he couldn’t keep doing this to them. But he didn’t know what he was going to do. Letting Reid Enterprises fall into Nicholas’ clutches so that he could tear it apart out of petty revenge for some slight that Alex didn’t even remember causing—or because he’d married Jamie and Nicholas had wanted her—wasn’t something that he could do either. Not after how long he’d spent creating his company. After he’d raised it up from nothing. He’d done it. On his own. Without a lick of support from anyone. Couldn’t Jamie see that he couldn’t just let it fall? It was a successful, thriving enterprise. Damn Nicholas or anyone else who thought they had the right to try to stop him!
He ran a hand through his hair and wondered what he’d done to deserve these kinds of complications. He’d always had a problem with family, and he was beginning to think that maybe it had been his fault all along.
Like he’d warned Jamie before they ever got married, he wasn’t very good at love.
In the time since then he’d thought that maybe he was learning to do better, but lately it had been obvious that he’d overestimated his abilities. Maybe she was better off without him.
What the hell was he going to do?
Chapter 8
The problem with running a country club was that Mark didn't get weekends off. Actually, so far he hadn't had any days off at all, which was probably why he was starting to feel like if he didn't get an actual break soon he was going to lose it.
It was always one thing after another. If it wasn't the golf course, it was the kitchen. And if it wasn't that then the wait staff had something they needed help with, or the instructors needed time off, or were having issues with a golfer, the golf carts were ripping up the lawn, or the grass wasn’t cut to the correct height. The list went on and on. He may have had a dream of wanting to run a country club, but that didn’t make the reality any easier.
It also didn't help that he and Erica were fighting. She tried to help, but she thought he was doing too much. Mark disagreed. He couldn't give up any of it. How was he supposed to keep up with Alex’s legacy if he couldn't even deal with a little overtime? He wasn’t going to be the lesser brother, not now that he had his dream at his fingertips and people were flocking to his business.
So he just tried to grin and bear it.
Mark didn't hate Mondays. What was there to hate when he didn't have a weekend that he wasn’t giving up? He did, however, kind of hate Wednesdays. For some reason, they always seemed to take the longest. Maybe it was the fact that they were in the middle of the week and by then he felt like time took forever. It probably didn't make sense, considering that work had dragged on endlessly for weeks by then, but it was the way he felt. Wednesdays sucked. Royally.
This particular Wednesday had more than its share of trouble, but as afternoon came things began to kind of wind down, and Mark felt like he could finally take a moment to breathe.
That was, of course, when one of the female golfers decided to approach him.
She looked like the kind of woman who spent a lot of time at golf courses. Her clothes were impeccable, the sort of thing that you might see in a catalog geared at women whose husbands worked in the upper echelons of Fortune 500 companies. And there was no denying she was beautiful. Maybe not quite Erica's equal, but then, who was?
As the woman approached, she smiled at him. Mark took that as a good sign. Most people who were about to make a complaint didn't smile at him.
“Can I help you?” he asked as she stopped in front of him.
“Honestly,” she answered her voice pitched a little low, “I hope you can. I'm looking for the owner.”
“That would be me,” Mark answered. “What can I do for you?”
“Well,” she said slowly. “I actually just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed my experi
ence here. You’ve a really beautiful place. Lovely golf course. Perfect pars. The staff is wonderful.”
“That's very kind of you to say.” Mark smiled warmly at her. Maybe he could talk her into leaving a review on the website.
She laughed, dipping her head to look up through her lashes. “I'm sure that you hear things like that all the time.”
“I do hear good things, if I’m being honest,” Mark admitted, but grinned, playing the game to a T. “But not always from such lovely sources.”
The smile she gave him was obviously meant to be flirtatious, and Mark wondered if he should back off a little before he gave her the wrong idea. However, she was a paying customer, and it was his duty to make sure that she was having a good time. He didn't see any danger in a little harmless flirting. That’s why they called it harmless, right?
“Now who’s being kind?” she teased. “But I can't say that I object to flattery.”
“Just making sure you enjoy your experience to the fullest,” Mark said. “By the way, in case you don’t know, my name is Mark Reid. You can call me Mark.”
“Nice to meet you, Mark. I’m Anna Blake.”
“So, Ms. Blake, aside from accepting your compliments on my country club, what can I do for you?”
“Oh, please, call me Anna.”
“Anna, then,” Mark said, smiling at her and wondering oddly if she was a Miss or a Mrs. “Is there anything else that I can offer you?” A few hundred yards away, he could see Erica teaching another guest a golf swing. She didn't look up at them, but Mark suddenly felt as though he had done something wrong. Hadn't he just been annoyed at her the other day because men were flirting with her? How would she feel about the fact that he was obviously flirting with one of the female patrons?
“Mark?” Anna's voice was a little concerned. Her hand brushed against his arm and Mark started turning to look at her.
