Her Sexiest Fantasy (The Sexiest Series Book 2)

by Janelle Denison

  “I think you’re sitting on a potential gold mine.” She swirled her straw in her glass and glanced around, seeing a piece of coal that had the ability to shine like a diamond. “The bar area is a little rustic, but once we put our ideas and suggestions together and find the right blend that keeps the casual, comfortable atmosphere you want with a more polished image, you’ll appeal to a broader range of people.”

  He looked pleased by her quick evaluation, and excited at the prospect of implementing new changes. “That’s exactly what I want. Come on, I’ll give you the ten-cent tour so you can see the rest of the bar and the new restaurant.”

  “Okay.” She slid from her stool, drink in hand. When she picked up her attaché and purse, he took them from her and with her permission, he stashed them in a cupboard behind the bar. He made sure Bruce had things under control before he led the way into the adjoining restaurant, which for the time being, was separated by a doorway draped in thick plastic. He held it aside and let her pass, then followed her through.

  He flipped an electrical switch, lighting up the structure, which was in its rawest, most basic form of construction. They walked through the entire restaurant, and Jade took mental notes as she slowly sipped her drink and Kyle told her what he envisioned. On a professional level, his stylish and tasteful ideas impressed her. He wanted hunter green as the primary color, and when she suggested beige as a contrast, he agreed. When she mentioned a ballpark figure on the improvements, he didn’t cringe, but instead asked if the cost covered a night out with the owner.

  She’d laughed and almost said yes—that’s how comfortable and relaxed she was feeling after one of his specialty drinks.

  Nearly an hour later, brimming with ideas for tile samples, draperies, and upholstery selections, she followed him down a corridor just off the far end of the lounge to his office, where he had an extra set of plans to give her.

  Kyle shut the door behind him and turned to find Jade taking in his sparse office furnishings, an old wooden desk, a credenza, a four-drawer file cabinet and an old worn couch he’d crashed on a time or two.

  She turned, her finger absently caressing the stem of her glass, empty except for the peach wedge still on the rim. “Are you planning on redecorating your office, too?”

  “We might as well.” He retrieved the tube and set it at the end of his desk, between his stapler and a framed picture of Christy. “What’s another grand or two when I already owe the bank my life?”

  +She grinned in understanding. “Give it a good year or two and you’ll see a big turnaround.”

  He smiled ruefully. “I’m counting on it.”

  Her expression was bright and dazzling. “From what I’ve seen and what we’ve discussed, you’ll be counting your way right to a fat savings account.”

  He stared at her for a long minute, something deep within him shifting. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had believed in him, supported him in a decision he’d made. To the outside world he was confident and sure of himself almost to the point of being cocky, but that was a facade he’d developed after years of being compared to an older brother who could do no wrong. There was always an ingrained sense of failure just beneath the surface, a feeling of inadequacy he constantly had to battle against. Unknowingly, Jade had offered him something no other person ever had: her unconditional faith in him.

  Their gazes held, and gradually the tension in the room changed, drawing tight with a heady sensuality. He breathed deeply, drawing in the scent of peaches clinging to her skin. Knowing those soft, kissable lips would taste just as delicious, and hungering for a sample, he started toward her, his advance slow and easy.

  Awareness filled her eyes and she stepped back, her bottom coming into contact with the edge of his desk. “You know, it’s getting late and I ought to be going.”

  He moved closer, trapping her between him and his desk. “Not yet,” he murmured, unable to let her go until he touched her, kissed her, made her see how good they could be together.

  Not until he fulfilled the fantasy he’d slowly cultivated all evening.

  Relieving her of the death grip she had on her glass, he set it on his desk, then placed his hands on the silky brocade outlining the flare of her hips. She sucked in a sharp breath. He’d expected more of a physical resistance, if not a verbal one, but she wasn’t denying her body’s response to his touch.

  Desire flared in her bright gaze, and a deep, shuddering breath escaped her. “Kyle…” Her voice was husky and damned sexy. As a protest, it wasn’t much.

  “Relax, Jade, and let it happen,” he urged in a low, soothing voice.

  She gave her head a short, frantic shake. “I…can’t. We shouldn’t.”

  Subtle fear threaded her voice, but having knowledge of its source from her fantasies—the fear of intimacy—he felt better equipped to handle her apprehension. He was taking a slow, easy, nonthreatening approach. Let her feel in control, even if he was the one leading.

  “Yes, we should.” Lifting her, he scooted her bottom back onto the edge of his desk until she was sitting on the flat surface. The movement caused her short skirt to bunch higher, giving him a glimpse of the lace band of her stockings and her firm thighs.

  He swallowed a groan. Oh, man. His heart hammered in his chest and his skin warmed and tightened. His arousal throbbed almost painfully. Slow and easy was going to kill him.

  Knowing this moment would shape any chance he might have at a relationship with Jade, he furrowed his fingers into her soft, fragrant hair and used his thumbs to tilt her head up and force her to meet his gaze. “Kissing you is all I’ve thought about tonight. I want to know if you taste as good as you smell, like peaches. It’s gonna happen, and if you let it, it can be real good.”

  To his surprise and pleasure, her lashes drifted shut and her lips parted. He felt her surrender, her desire. Gently he touched his mouth to her neck, skimmed his lips along her jaw. She issued a soft, surrendering moan and turned her head toward his. Feeling a spurt of triumph, he brushed his lips across hers, tenderly nuzzled them in a soft, fleeting kiss…then hovered there, a breath away from her lips.

  He didn’t have to wait long for her to seek his mouth. Whimpering in frustration, she dragged her hands up his arms, twined her fingers around his neck and pulled him the last inch to her satiny soft lips.

  With a low, masculine groan, he gave her what she sought and what he craved. A deep, rapacious kiss. A greedy, giving, shockingly intimate kiss as lush and sweet as peach nectar.

  Her fingers plowed through his hair, then slid toward his face until her palms pressed against his jaw. Not to push him away, but to pull him closer. She opened her mouth wider beneath his; he filled it with the thrusting heat of his tongue and coaxed her to give him the same.

  Blindly he reached for the wedge of peach on her glass and found it. Touching the cool, damp piece of fruit just below her earlobe, he slid it to the base of her throat. She jerked back with a gasp, breaking their kiss to stare at him in shock.

  A seductive grin tipped his mouth. “I want to taste you.” Before she could do or say anything he lowered his head and followed the path of the peach with his tongue, swirling, gliding downward, lapping the sticky sweetness in long, slow provocative strokes.

  His free hand worked the buttons of her jacket, and once it fell open he eased it down her arms, leaving her clad in the laciest, sexiest bra he’d ever seen. In less than a heartbeat he’d unsnapped the front closure and her breasts spilled forward, her nipples tight and hard. The erotic sight of her half-naked on his desk, her breasts growing full as he watched, and her skirt shoved high around her thighs, was enough to make him weak in the knees. He groaned deep in his throat, a low male sound that combined masculine appreciation and a deeper, more elemental need no other woman had ever evoked in him.

  He glanced up. Jade’s eyes were shut. He supposed that was the best way for her to experience her fantasy, but he wanted her to look at him, know exactly who was satisfying her
deepest desires.

  “Jade, open your eyes,” he whispered. “I want you to watch the way your body responds to me.”

  Her lashes fluttered open, and his heart caught at the hint of vulnerability he saw in the depth of her eyes. Determined to replace her apprehension with pleasure, he glided the peach down the slope of one breast and leisurely circled her nipple until it was stiff and wet with nectar. She trembled, and he continued to the other breast, giving the tip equal attention while waiting patiently for her to grant him the liberty to appease his appetite for her, and to experience the sweet flavor of peaches on warmed skin.

  A deep, internal shudder rippled through Jade at the hot, lustful look in Kyle’s eyes as he painted her breasts with the fragrant wedge of fruit. Her head swam from the intoxicating scent filling her every breath, and she could feel herself growing warm and damp…and shamefully aroused. Almost as if they had a will of their own, her thighs tightened around his hips, drawing him closer…

  This was wicked. Decadent. But she couldn’t bring herself to stop. She thought again of the fantasy he’d tapped into, and knew she wanted to feel his mouth on her. Just this once…

  Very tentatively her hands touched his shoulders and eased around his neck. Sinking her fingers into his hair, she drew his mouth to her breasts. The first touch of his tongue electrified her, and then she got lost in the thrilling, frenzied riot of sensations. His lips and tongue were at once tender and greedy with his exploration. He bathed her skin with infinite care, licked the sensitive curve of her breasts, and curled his tongue around her nipple. Then finally—oh, God, finally—he suckled the aching crest deep into his mouth.

  She felt out of control, frightened by how fast and easy it was to lose herself with Kyle. It only took a gentle tug on his hair for him to lift his head, making her realize how in tune he was to her, and not the demands of his own body. The restraint she saw in his dark eyes was admirable.

  He smiled, his lashes falling half-mast. “You taste just as sweet as you smell.” Slipping the rest of the peach into his mouth, he brought his sticky fingers to her parted lips, then slid one long finger into her mouth. Automatically, brazenly, she swirled her tongue around the tip.

  He groaned and withdrew his finger, lingering for a moment on her soft, kiss-swollen lips. “You do that well,” he said huskily.

  Her face flushed at his meaning. In gradual increments, cognizance returned and finally hit her like a dose of cold water. “Oh, Lord,” she groaned in embarrassment, pressing her hands to her flaming cheeks. “I can’t believe that you, that we…that I…” I can’t believe that a fantasy could be even better in reality.

  He chuckled, the sound strained. “Yeah, that was pretty damned incredible.”

  What have I done? She shook her head in dismay and fumbled with her bra, trying her best to snap the front closure while her hands shook. “This is definitely not a good idea.” She managed to button her jacket though it hung on her in a haphazard way, and tried to wriggle around him.

  He backed away, just enough so he wasn’t crowded between her slim thighs, but kept her pinned to his desk by bracing his hands on the edge on either side of her. “After the way you nearly came apart for me, there’s no way I’m going to let you dismiss me or what just happened with a quick, easy exit. Give me one good reason why you think we aren’t a good idea and I’ll consider it.”

  “I don’t mix business and pleasure,” she said primly.

  His mouth lifted in a lazy smile. “If you expect me to choose between the two, it’s pleasure all the way.”

  Jade shivered at the thought of the endless pleasure this man was capable of giving her. “Kyle, I’m not looking to get involved with anyone.”

  “Sweetheart,” he said, his tone patient, “what we just shared is enough to tell me you’re more involved than you think.”

  She frowned at him for being so rude as to point out the obvious. “I don’t have time in my life for emotional entanglements.”

  “Then how about a no-strings-attached affair?” he offered, but there was something else in his gaze that gave his words a deeper meaning and contradicted his flippant offer.

  “I don’t go for casual sex.” Heck, she hadn’t had sex, casual or otherwise, in three years!

  “Neither do I,” he reassured her. “There’s a chemistry between us, we both feel it, so why not go with it and see where it leads?”

  Because she was afraid of where it might lead, afraid of getting so lost in emotions that she forgot all the things that were important to her. Her identity, her independence, being in control…

  Unexpectedly he swooped down and captured her lips in a hot, thorough, needy kiss she automatically returned with maddening fervor. Finally he lifted his mouth from hers, leaving her feeling antsy and eager and restless.

  Masculine satisfaction glittered in his eyes. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering there, making her go all shivery inside. “I want to be lovers, in every sense of the word,” he told her.

  “So, you want sex,” she said flatly.

  “Yes, eventually, when you’re ready to take that next step,” he said, putting the emphasis on her calling the shots. “An affair isn’t just about sex. It’s a seduction of the mind, senses and ultimately the body. We’ll take things slow and easy or fast and wild. You set the pace.”

  She stared into his eyes, drawn like never before. For the first time in a long time she physically wanted a man, slow and easy and fast and wild. A no-holds-barred wanting, no caution, no restraints. A satisfaction of mutual wants, needs and desires. What he was offering her was exciting and thrilling. And she wanted this fling. With him. For as long as the attraction and fascination lasted. Without the complication of any emotional entanglements.

  Especially that.

  She grew giddy with anticipation. Isn’t that what her independence was all about? The freedom to make her own choices, control any situation to her liking? To give only as much as she wanted and walk away when it was over, emotions intact?

  Absolutely.

  And for the first time in three years she wanted to test that feminine power, and Kyle was giving her the perfect opportunity.

  Taking a deep breath, she plunged headlong into the forbidden before she lost the nerve. “All right,” she agreed. “We’ll have an affair.”

  Chapter Five

  “You’re daydreaming again.”

  Jade started at the sound of Mariah’s amused voice and jerked her head in the direction of her office door, where her sister stood. Daydreaming didn’t even begin to describe the scrumptious fantasy she’d been weaving in her mind. She shuffled paperwork on her desk in an attempt to look busy, but couldn’t remember what she’d been doing before Kyle had invaded her thoughts and she’d drifted off to a forbidden dimension. Damn, she had to get a grip before she became completely obsessed with Kyle and the affair she’d agreed to. Or maybe it was the anticipation of their tryst that had her so preoccupied.

  “I was, uh, just, um…thinking.” Good Lord, when had she become such a scatterbrain that she couldn’t even talk without tripping all over her tongue?

  Mariah sauntered into Jade’s office, a piece of paper crinkling in her hand. “You seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Thinking, that is,” she clarified, a Cheshire-cat grin curling the corners of her mouth. “Would Kyle Stephens be the reason?”

  Was she that transparent? Jade’s face warmed and she shifted in her high-back leather chair. “What makes you say that?”

  “This.” Standing across from her, Mariah released the paper in her hand, and the document fluttered to Jade’s messy desktop.

  Stalling the inevitable, Jade gave the familiar name and business typed on the contract a nonchalant glance. “Oh, that.”

  “Yes, that.” Exasperation tinged Mariah’s voice. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d acquired Kyle Stephens as a client?”

  She shrugged. “I knew you’d see a copy of the contract.” As partners
, they each received a copy of all contracts, no matter who acquired them, so they both knew their client base should either of them need to take over an account.

  “You could have told me personally,” Mariah said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Jade flashed a sugary sweet smile. “Why, so you could interrogate me?”

  Mariah pursed her lips at Jade’s direct hit. “How can I not? Last I remember you didn’t want to have anything to do with Kyle Stephens. Then a few weeks later I find a contract for you to refurbish his bar and decorate his restaurant, which is quite an impressive account for Casual Elegance. You can’t blame me for being a little curious.”

  “It’s just another business deal, Riah.” And so was their affair—a transaction based on their mutual attraction and desire. Once the passion and thrill fizzled, they’d go their separate ways, which she estimated should be right around the time she finished decorating his bar and restaurant.

  “Sure it is,” Mariah murmured, her shrewd look not buying into the simple premise. She settled into the chair in front of Jade’s desk, and just as Jade dreaded, the cross-examination began. “The Black Sheep might be a business deal, but I want to know what’s going on between you and Kyle on a personal level. Hopefully more than business.”

  Jade leaned back in her chair and considered her sister’s comment. She didn’t think Mariah would understand her decision to have a capricious affair with Kyle, not after what her sister had been through with Grey. Mariah believed solidly in commitment, love and the sanctity of marriage. There was no in-between with Mariah, and she’d never settle for an impetuous fling for the sake of mutual pleasure. Luckily Mariah had swayed Grey to her way of thinking.

  An unexpected pang of sadness ribboned through her. Once, a long time ago, she’d had faith in a committed relationship, too. But her own lesson in what she’d thought was love had made her cynical.

  Damn you, Adam Beckman, she thought, hating that his past influence could still affect certain aspects of her life in the present. Like her trust in men and their motives.