I’ll have to seduce him, Hadley realized. It frightened her and excited her. She had never seduced anyone before… she had never even had sex with someone before! She wasn’t sure if she could do it. But Jackson couldn’t step outside his cabin.
Hadley wasn’t sure what came over her, but the feeling of Jackson Ward holding her steady reminded her of the people outside her family and how much she had participated in hurting them. True, Jackson Ward, billionaire oil tycoon, wouldn’t miss a few million dollars, but what if something went wrong?
She thought of the vineyard man in Northern California. She had been unable to stop the bleeding. Now she knew a little, but she didn’t want it to get to that point.
I’m not shooting you, Hadley told herself. I’m seducing you!
“I could use a quick rest,” she pretended to admit reluctantly. “But… just a minute.”
Hadley felt Jackson lead her away, his hand a comforting reassurance on her shoulder down the long corridor to the best suite on the ship. She could feel her phone vibrating in her pocket, and swore she heard her parents chattering behind the next corner.
Together Hadley and Jackson stepped into his cabin suite, and she slyly locked the door behind her. She hoped that the thick, cabin doors would deter her clever family long into the morning.
And then what will I do? she wondered. They would figure it out soon enough. A family of criminals didn’t stay out of prison on luck alone. But she could only hope for the best, and that they wouldn’t challenge Jackson’s bodyguards during the night.
Hadley had work to do. She started to reach towards him, unsure of what seduction really entailed, but pulled away. What if he didn’t like her that way? What if she was making a fool of herself?
That thought was lost as Jackson helped her to the bed, letting her fall gently on the covers.
Hadley felt strangely empty as Jackson let go and stepped away. She let herself sink into the heavy covers, closing her eyes, breathing in the musk scent of his aftershave on the sheets. She had never been so close to a man before, nor in a man’s bed. Images from her fantasy came back to her.
This is where Hadley wanted to be the most in the world. Even if she didn’t know anything about seduction, she didn’t think she would have to feign interest in Jackson. She had it in spades.
Hadley peered at Jackson through lidded eyes. He was walking around the suite, looking down at his phone and sending text after text. Something about that felt wrong, Hadley knew, but all she could focus on was his strong jawline, his broad shoulders, and the back of his…
He didn’t appear to be looking for anything, Hadley realized. Why did he come back to his cabin?
Jackson, seeing her looking at him from the bed, turned fully toward her. He looked down at the phone, and his expression almost looked pained. Hadley didn’t know why, and she felt herself reaching for him. She rose from the bed and her hand tentatively rested on his elbow, the material of his suit jacket soft and luxurious. It probably cost more than her entire wardrobe back at college. But what she really wanted to feel was him.
“Are you okay?” Hadley asked.
“I’m fine,” he responded in his drawl, stronger than normal, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he hid a thicker accent around others. His frown was serious, but when he looked at her it softened. “Do you feel better?”
Hadley nodded weakly, but she didn’t let go. There was something else, something he wasn’t telling her. Normally Hadley was a good judge of character, but she felt as if there was an entire facet of Jackson Ward she didn’t even understand. It was intoxicating, but also suffocating.
She could feel him slipping away from her, and she feared that at any moment he would offer to escort her back to her cabin, or to med bay.
Hadley couldn’t let that happen, so she did the first thing she knew to do, wanted to do, and stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips.
She had no idea what she was doing. She had never kissed anyone, being the outcast she was always drifting from one place to another, and was certain he would push her away. But instead she felt Jackson’s thumb rest on her chin, pushing it up so their lips could better meet. He kissed her back with the passion of a man more experienced than she.
It wasn’t just the feeling of his soft lips on hers that had Hadley curling her toes in sneakers. It was the warmth of his body when it pressed in to hers. Feeling the rough lines of his frame against her soft curves. It was the fact that Hadley felt she was truly together with someone for the first time in her life.
Is this really happening? Hadley thought, but she realized that she liked it. Really liked how Jackson slowly pushed her back into the bed and covered her body with his own. Hadley was short and small, and he felt monstrously large compared to her. She couldn’t even see over him when he leaned away to look at her body.
At first Hadley felt self-conscious. She wasn’t wearing a tight, sexy dress like her sister. Her hair was a short and frizzy red blunt bob. And she had never worn makeup.
But there was something else too.
And it was far, far worse than shyness.
Hadley felt dread at the bottom of her stomach. She could still feel the hard press of her gun and its holster around her waist. Though it could not be seen through her flowy blouse, she knew that if this moment progressed any further her identity would be compromised.
All she wanted was to let Jackson have his way with her, but as his hand started to travel down her arms and smooth her sleeves, she almost lost herself to his touch.
I have to think clearly right now. She reminded herself.
Hadley had to get rid of her gun before he saw it, so she slipped out of his reach, feeling at a great loss when doing so, and started to walk to the bathroom. Jackson, looking a little alarmed, started to reach for her, but she batted his hands away as playfully as she could.
“I just need to freshen up,” Hadley said, disappearing into the bathroom. She sighed in relief when she shut the door behind her.
The bathroom was bigger and more luxurious than her family’s entire cabin. Even if they had splurged with their own small fortune, they could never have afforded an entire luxury suite.
Hadley turned on the sink and looked around for a place to hide her gun. With a whisper of joy she found a small cabinet of fresh towels, took one out, and swaddled her gun and holster. It took her a moment to consider, but she decided to hide her weapon in an empty drawer in the vanity that would normally only be used by women for makeup. He kept his few skin and shaving products on the sink in a tidy row. He wouldn’t even open the drawer this late into the trip, even when he started packing.
Hadley smiled and turned off the sink. The worst was over. She was free from her past, at least for the night. But she also no longer had anything to protect herself from Jackson. She felt a conflict in her heart and in her mind, with her two fantasies fighting for control.
But Hadley also knew that there was no longer anything to give her away either. She looked down at her phone and sent a message to her family.
“Seasick. Down at med bay.”
She hoped that it would buy her the entire night.
Hadley pocketed her phone and stepped out into the cabin suite where Jackson stood on the opposite side overlooking the window. She hoped she hadn’t destroyed the mood.
“I’m a little nervous,” Hadley said. “I didn’t expect us to go that far. I was just going to lay down…”
It wasn’t difficult for Hadley to sound honest and unsure, because Hadley had no experience with men. She had always wanted experience, especially with Jackson the first time she saw him board the ship with his attractive confidence. However, Hadley had always floundered at every opportunity to get closer to the men in her life that could have been something more.
“I didn’t even think you would like a woman like me…” she said finally.
Jackson turned around, a quiet smile on his face.
“I’ve seen you around the ship
for days,” he said. “Women in short dresses approach me all the time. I’d rather have a woman like you any day.”
Hadley felt the hair on the back of her neck standup at the words have a woman like you because all the right connotations were there. Jackson did want it to go as far as Hadley did. Was he looking for her after all? Maybe he wasn’t suspicious of her family. Maybe he just wanted to meet her!
She took a deep breath.
“I’ve never met a man like you before. I never expected to. You make me feel so… so different.”
Hadley struggled to find the appropriate words. Hot and bothered? She couldn’t dare say that. He’d think she was so weird.
But what Jackson said instead set her cheeks aflame.
“Do you mean aroused?” he asked, stepping toward her. Hadley felt her entire body go numb even as her cheeks tingled with heat. Then something in the bottom of her stomach changed from dread to… something else entirely. Something tense and wonderful, but it also made her want to get release in what before were only fantasies.
If Piper were in Hadley’s position right now, she would consider herself compromised. That she was feeling too much because of Jackson. But Piper was Piper, and Hadley was a different woman, and she found that she didn’t mind that she was emotionally compromised.
She wanted to be compromised. She wanted to be aroused. Not just now, but in the future.
“Y-yes,” Hadley stuttered. She gulped when she realized he had unbuttoned his suit, and she could see his white dress shirt missing the top few buttons, exposing his chest. The shirt contrasted well with his smooth, tan skin from his time on the Texas oil rigs. She realized he had probably spent most of his recent life at sea, and the fluid walk he made toward her only confirmed that fact.
She felt his hand reaching behind her, resting just above her rear, and he pulled her closer. She could smell his aftershave. She wanted to bury her face into his neck and breathe him in deeply.
Hadley felt him pick up her phone and she felt the world she made for herself inside her head shatter.
“You don’t plan on going anywhere soon?” he asked, setting it on a nearby nightstand, face down. Hadley was relieved.
I can keep him here, she thought. And then, he can keep me in bed!
“I just want to stay with you tonight,” she replied.
Jackson half smiled, half smirked, and then pushed Hadley back toward the bed. The back of her knees met the edge, and then her legs bucked, causing her to fall back onto the cover. His body was flush against hers, and she didn’t worry about him finding her weapon. All she could think about was getting even closer. Of him finding every part of her, and she every part of him.
“I’ve never done this before,” Hadley said, afraid that he might not like hearing that she was a virgin, or that he had been her first kiss. Could he tell? It was all ridiculous, she knew, but she somehow felt it was significant that a series of firsts would be now.
“You never what?” Jackson asked, dipping his head closer to hers. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips. She never answered him, because he pressed his own lips tenderly on hers and Hadley forgot that she was at sea, that she was supposed to be seducing him, or even who she was.
His hands smoothed along her sides, hooking the hem of her blouse and pulling it over her shoulders.
“You’ve got scars,” Jackson said, his blue eyes piercing Hadley’s entire past. He couldn’t have seen what they were for, but there was no hiding that fact she had them. His thumb traced the trail from a knife fight a few years back, the one that had caused her to question her entire future with her family. She frowned, and then fell into a kiss to forget. But he pressed for an answer.
“I don’t even remember right now,” she replied. It was weak, but it seemed to assuage Jackson’s inquiry because she felt his thumb dip into the curve of her bra. It circled her nipples, teasing them into peaks, and Hadley moaned.
She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted this to go on forever, for the boat to never dock, to never see her family again. She wanted to fall in love with him, and for him to fall in love with her. That, she reasoned, would be freedom.
Hadley reached behind her and unhooked her bra. Jackson pulled it away from her, and her breasts were open to him. She had never felt so exposed. It usually meant danger, but this was the kind of danger, the kind of thrill, Hadley had waited her entire life for.
He dropped his head and she felt his lips on her right breast. They found her nipple, and he began to kiss and suckle her. Hadley felt that part of her in the bottom of her stomach clench, she felt her cunt getting wet. Her breathing was ragged.
Her phone began vibrating on the nightstand, pulling Hadley and Jackson from the moment. She saw his face sour and he reached over and hit it off so it fell to the floor, the carpeting muffling the vibration.
My family will just think I got sidetracked or scared, Hadley reasoned, relaxing into Jackson’s trail of kisses down her chest. Her toes began to curl up in her sneakers. Her thoughts changed to worry over how much clothes she was wearing.
Hadley raked her hands through Jackson’s hair, pulling his face closer to her body. He blew air into her belly button, and she screamed a little, unaware of how sensitive she was.
She needed him. Now. She was impatient by his slow, steady movements. She started to reach for his suit coat when he pushed her hand away.
“I’m not finished with you,” Jackson said, pushing her further up onto the bed and then placing his legs on both sides of her body, straddling her. She felt captured. As if she were a hostage. The intensity of his stare seemed almost animalistic.
But that’s silly, right? Hadley thought. She was the one seducing him.
She felt Jackson pull of her sneakers and throw them away from the bed. Then his hands rested on the waist of her denim shorts, hooking his fingers in the hem and tugging them down. Hadley had never felt more vulnerable in her life. She was wearing a patterned pair of panties with a childish strawberry print.
Hadley hid her face into the pillow, and moved her hands to pull her panties down, hoping to get them out of sight as soon as possible. But as soon as Jackson threw her shorts aside he grasped her wrists and held them above her head.
“Not finished,” he said again.
Hadley had never been so out of control before, but she let that control slip away from her, enjoying the commanding Texas accent from Jackson. At the back of her mind she wondered what her family would think – not just sleeping with Jackson Ward, their target, but of letting go. It could get you killed.
She watched, entranced, as Jackson started unbuckling his belt from the waistband of his pants and then looped it wrapped her wrists. He tugged it, securing her wrists tightly, and looped it around a bed post.
Now Hadley really felt exposed.
She blushed when Jackson looked down at her body. He was still fully clothed, though there was still some slack in his pants. She could see his erection straining the material, but he did not free himself. Not yet.
He wasn’t finished with her.
Jackson leaned back into Hadley, and then she felt his thumb trail along her thighs. He was gentle, but demanding. She had never been touched this intimately by a man. It unsettled her in the best way.
She felt two fingers push into her folds under her panties, teasing the nub inside her core. She called out his name. She felt him startle beneath her, but the pleasure in her body was so intense that every part of her kept aching for him. He was flushed against her, warm, and she felt his lips on her again as his fingers kept rubbing and teasing her.
Hadley felt something building inside of her.
“How did you know my name?” Jackson asked between Hadley’s stifled moans.
And then, just as quickly, she felt him leave her. He continued to loom over her, his delectable frown staring down at her.
Predatory.
Something isn’t right, Hadley thought. But she didn’t know what it was.
>
“Everyone knows you,” she said quietly. “I’m Hadley…”
It was almost preposterous that Hadley found herself in this position: underneath a man, all but naked, and they hadn’t even exchanged names. She would have never thought to find herself in such a position before, but here she was.
She heard her phone’s muffled vibrations on the floor below them. Her family never tried to reach her so adamantly before.
But Hadley looked away. She had work to do, or well, the opposite of the kind of work she normally did.
And she enjoyed it!
“Hadley isn’t what I expected,” Jackson said, seemingly calm. As if he had been anxious over who she was. He leaned over her. “But you’re not either.”
His whisper tickled her eat and sent a shiver down the length of her body. His thumb rested on the hem of her panties, and then pulled it away from her body. With a thought quickly dimming into the shadows, Hadley realized she wasn’t quite sure where it landed, but she couldn’t be bothered to think about it too clearly when she felt his finger dive into her.
“Oh!” she moaned, taken by surprise. Slowly in, slowly out, but building speed. Her wet walls clenching him. If Hadley’s hands were free she knew she would be digging her fingernails into his back in pleasure. She pulled at her restraints, now upset she couldn’t hold him to her.
The pressure inside of Hadley again. She wanted it, but at the same time she wanted to break free and pull off all of Jackson’s clothes. She bucked her hips upward, trying to have more of him inside of her.
“I thought you’d be in more control than this,” Jackson purred, pulling out just as she felt herself on the verge of an orgasm. He began to fumble with his pants, and she watched through glazed eyes as he pulled out his hard cock. He started to work himself, the cum on his fingers from her cunt making him slick.
He reached into the nightstand and pulled out a condom, slipping it onto him before positioning himself over her, lining his cock with her pussy. He rubbed her clit with the head, causing Hadley to pull at her tied hands.
“Please…” she begged. Had she ever wanted something as much as she wanted Jackson at that moment?
Criminal Love: A Billionaire Romance Page 2
