Twisting sideways, she reached to turn off the lamp and prayed he wouldn’t argue. She truly didn’t want to have this discussion right now. Click. The room went dark then shadowy as her eyes adjusted to the moonlight streaming through the sheers on the window, the thicker brocade curtains pulled back.
She waited and thank God, Seth stayed silent. Brows pinching together, his head tilting to the side offered the only signs he’d registered her turning off the light.
Swallowing the patter of nerves, she sat up and swept her loose shirt upward and over her head. As she shook her hair free, he kicked aside his pants and leaned over her, angling her back to recline against the piled pillows. His hand fell to the top button on her capris. Up close, she could see the question in his eyes as he waited for her consent.
Arching upward, she slid her fingers into his hair and tugged his mouth toward hers. The feel of him was becoming familiar as they deepened contact, her lips parting, opening, welcoming him. Losing herself in the kiss, she barely registered his deft work pushing aside her pants and freeing the front clasp of her bra.
The cool air contrasted with the warmth of his hard muscled body. Tension built inside her, a need to take this farther, faster. She tugged at Seth’s shoulders, whispering her need, her desires, but he wouldn’t be rushed.
He nipped, licked, laved his way down her neck and to her breasts, drawing on her tightening nipples with the perfect mixture of tongue and tug. Her fingernails grazed down his back, tendons and muscles flexing under her stroke in response.
The glide of his hand between them sent her stomach muscles tensing. He slowed, pausing to flick her belly button ring. “This drove me insane when I saw it earlier, exposed by that sexy deep V of your bathing suit. Ever since, all I could think of was touching it. Touching you.”
“Then I like the way you think,” she whispered, then gasped.
His tender torment continued until her head thrashed along the deep downy pillow. She hooked her leg around his, bringing his stony thigh to rest against her aching core. Rocking against him only made her more frustrated, liquid longing pulsing through her veins and flushing her skin.
The air conditioner swirled the scents of his aftershave, her shampoo and their desire into a perfume of lust, intoxicating her with each gasping breath. He angled off her, and she moaned her frustration.
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to her mouth. “Only for a second.”
His hand dipped into a drawer in the bedside table. He came back with a box of condoms. Thank heaven, someone had the foresight to plan ahead. She couldn’t even bring herself to condemn him for assuming this could happen…because here they were, the only place she wanted to be at the moment.
Then the thick pressure of him between her thighs scattered any other thoughts as he pushed inside her. Large and stretching and more than she’d expected. She hooked her legs around his waist, opening for him, welcoming him and the sensation of having him fully inside her.
Smoothly, he rolled to his back while their bodies stayed connected. She lay sprawled on top of him. Bowing upward, she straddled him, taking him impossibly deeper. His eyes flamed as he watched her with the same intensity she knew she’d lavished on him when he’d undressed for her. He gripped her waist, and she rolled her hips against him.
Her head flung back at the pure sensation, the perfect angle as he nudged against the circle of sensitivity hidden inside her. And again, he moved, thrusting, pumping, taking her need to a whole new level of frenzy until she raked her nails down his chest, desperate for completion. She didn’t know herself, this out of control woman all but screaming for release. She’d thought she knew her body and the pleasures to be found in bed. But nothing came close to this…this fiery tingle along her every nerve.
Then they were flipping position again and he was on top of her, pumping faster, the head of his arousal tormenting that special spot inside her again and again until…
Sensation imploded, sparks of white light dotting behind her eyes. His mouth covered hers, taking her gasps and moans and, yes, even her cries of pleasure into him the way she still welcomed him into her body.
The bliss rippled through her in tingling aftershocks even as he rolled to his side, tucking her against his chest. He drew the covers over them and kissed the top of her head tenderly, stroking her back. His heart thumped hard and loud against her ear in time with her own racing pulse.
What the hell had just happened?
The best sex of her life.
And as the wash of desire cooled inside her that thought scared her more than a little. Already she wanted him again. Far too much. She needed distance to shore up her own defenses. Establishing her independence after her divorce had been damn difficult. She couldn’t allow herself to turn clingy or needy again—no matter how amazing the orgasm.
Once his breathing evened out into a low snore, she eased herself from his arms, needing to think through what had just happened between them. She inched off the bed, slowly, carefully, her feet finally touching the carpet.
She tugged on her shirt and panties, the fabric gliding across her well-loved body still oversensitized from the explosiveness of her release. She pulled open the door to the sitting area with more than a little regret.
“You’re leaving?” His voice rumbled softly from the bed.
She turned toward him, keeping her head high. “Just returning to my room for the night.”
Gauzy white curtains and his large lounging body gave off the air of a blond sheikh…. Good Lord, her mind was taking fanciful routes and fantasies.
“Uh-uh.” He shook his head, sliding his hands behind his neck, broad chest all but calling to her to curl right back up again. “You’re not ready to sleep together.”
“I want to.” God, did she ever want to.
“Glad to hear it. Hold on to that thought for our weekend together.” He swung his feet to the floor and was beside her in a heartbeat. He kissed her just once, firmly but without moving, as if simply sealing his imprint on her.
As if she didn’t already carry the feel of him in her every thought right now.
He stepped back into his room. “Sleep well, Alexa. We leave early for the island. Good night.”
The door closing after him, he left her standing in the middle of the sitting room ready to burst into flames all over again.
From inside the chartered jet, Alexa felt the blazing sun flame its way up the morning sky on her way to a king’s getaway. The Atlantic Ocean stretched out below, a small dot of an island waiting ahead.
Their destination.
Waking up late, she and Seth had been too rushed for conversation. They’d dressed the kids and raced to the lobby just as the limousine arrived to pick them up along with Javier and his wife. The luxury ride to the small airport had given her the opportunity to double-check with Bethany and clear the schedule change. Bethany seemed so excited at the prospect of new contacts, she gave two thumbs-up. So there were no obstacles to Alexa’s leaving. The ride had been so smooth and speedy she’d been whisked onto the jet before she’d even fully wiped the sleep from her eyes.
Breakfast had been waiting for them on the flight, although she’d been told they would land within a half hour. She had monitored the babies plucking up Cheerios, while nibbling on a churro—a Spanish doughnut. It had all seemed so normal, as if her insides weren’t still churning from what had happened between her and Seth the night before.
And wondering what would happen when they landed on the isolated island for the weekend.
Her eyes gravitated to the open door leading to the cockpit where Seth flew the jet, Javier sitting in the copilot’s seat. Their night together scrolled through her mind in lush, sensual detail. He’d touched her, aroused her, fulfilled her in ways she’d never experienced before. And while she was scared as hell of where this intense connection might lead her, she couldn’t bring herself to walk away. Not yet.
Victoria touched her arm lightly. “They’re both loner
s, but I think they’re going to work well together.”
“I’m sure they will.” Loner? She hadn’t thought of Seth quite that way, more brusque and businesslike. Except when he was around his kids, then he really opened up. Like he had when talking to her during their carriage ride.
And while making love, he’d held nothing back.
“Are you all right?” Victoria asked.
Alexa forced a smile. “Sorry to be so quiet.” She searched for something to explain her preoccupation with a certain hot pilot only a few feet away. “It’s just surreal that we would go to a king’s home with babies in tow.”
“Deposed king—and indulgent grandfather. If it makes you worry less, he’s not in residence at the moment. He’s visiting his doctors on the mainland, follow-ups on some surgery he had. We’ll have the island all to ourselves, other than the staff and security, of course.” She replenished the pile of Cheerios on Olivia’s tray. The company that had stocked and cleaned the jet had done their job well. “The twins will find anything they need already there. He even keeps a sitter on staff.”
“So none of the king’s family is in residence at the moment? No other children?”
“None. The other family members have their own homes elsewhere. Since the family has reconciled, they’re all visiting more often.”
“More air travel.” That explained why they were courting Jansen Jets.
“And more need for security with all these extra trips.”
That also explained how Seth fit the bill all the better with his background in search and rescue, and security devices for airports. “How scary to have to worry so much about a regular family vacation.”
Victoria huffed her blond bangs from her forehead. “The press may have eased up from the initial frenzy, but they haven’t backed off altogether. Even relatives have to be on guard—and stay silent at all times.”
Alexa struggled not to squirm. She was used to the background checks that accompanied working at an airport. “I hear you. No speaking to the press.”
“Their cousin Alys is still persona non grata after speaking to the press. She moved back to another family compound in South America. I guess you could say she’s even in exile from the exiled.”
“That’s so sad, but understandable.” Alexa had grown up in a privileged world, but these people took privileged to a whole new level.
When the silence stretched, she followed Victoria’s puzzled stare and realized…Alexa closed her fist around her napkin. She’d been scrubbing a smudge on the silver tray obsessively. Her flatware was lined up precisely and she’d even brushed some powdered sugar into a tiny pile.
Smiling sheepishly, she forced her fists to unfurl and still. “When I’m nervous, I clean.”
Victoria covered Alexa’s hand with her own. “There’s nothing to sweat, really.”
Easier said than done when she’d barely survived her home life growing up. It was one thing to stand on the periphery of that privileged world, restoring order to the messes made by others. It was another thing entirely to step into the lushness of overindulgence that had once threatened to swallow her whole. But she was committed to this weekend. Literally. There was no escape.
She stared out the window at the island nestled in miles and miles of sparkling ocean. Palm trees spiked from the lush landscape. A dozen or so small outbuildings dotted a semicircle around a larger structure.
The white mansion faced the ocean in a U shape, constructed around a large courtyard with a pool. Details were spotty but she would get an up close view soon enough. Even from a distance she couldn’t miss the grand scale of the sprawling estate, the unmistakable sort that housed royalty.
The plane banked as Seth lined up the craft with a thin islet alongside the larger island. A single strip of pristine concrete marked the private runway. As they neared, a ferry boat came into focus. To ride from the airport to the main island? They truly were serious about security.
She thought she’d left behind this kind of life when she’d cut ties with her parents. She’d been happy with her peripheral role, knowing what the rich needed but free of the complications of that life for herself.
Yet here she was.
Did she really want to even dip her toe in this sort of affluent world again? What choice did she have at the moment? Her gaze slid back to Seth. No choice really given how deeply she ached to be with him again.
Or maybe she had a choice after all: the option to take control on their next encounter rather than simply following his lead.
And she would make damn sure he was every bit as knocked off balance by the experience as she’d been.
The night unfolded for Seth, full of opportunities.
He’d concluded his deal with Javier and would spend tomorrow formulating plans for the future. He was ready to celebrate. With Alexa. Hopefully she would be in the same mindset.
He closed the door to the nursery where the twins would spend the night under the watchful eye of one of the resident nannies.
Just before their bedtime, he’d tried Pippa again, on the off chance she would pick up and could wish the kids good-night. She’d actually answered, sounding overly chipper, but cut the call short once he’d attempted to put Owen and Olivia on the line. Something about the whole conversation had been “off” but he couldn’t put his finger on the exact problem.
Most likely because all he could think about right now was getting Alexa naked again.
He entered their quarters. More like a luxurious condominium within the mansion. He and Alexa had been given separate rooms in the second floor corner suite, but he hoped he could keep her distracted through the night until she fell asleep in his arms, exhausted by good sex.
Great sex.
Searching the peach and gray room, he didn’t see signs of her other than her suitcase open on her bed. His shoes padded softly against the thick Persian rug past a sitting area with an eating space stocked more fully than most kitchens.
The quiet echoed around him, leaving him hyperaware of other sounds…a ticking grandfather clock in the hall…the crashing ocean outside… Through the double doors, the balcony was as large as some yards.
And Alexa leaned on the railing.
A breeze gusted from the ocean plastering her long tiered sundress to her body, draping her curves in deep purple.
He stopped beside her. “Penny for them?”
She glanced at him sideways, the hem of her dress brushing his leg like phantom fingers. “No money for no work, remember? I’ve done nothing here to earn even a cent. The nanny takes over the kids, and I have to admit, she’s good at charming them.”
“You would rather they cried for you?”
“Of course not! I just…I like to feel useful. In control.”
“Most women I know would be thrilled by an afternoon with a manicurist and masseuse.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being pampered as much as anyone. In fact, I think you deserve a bit of relaxation yourself.” She tapped a pager resting on the balcony wall. “The nanny can call if she needs us. What do you say we head down to the beach? I found the most wonderful cabana where we can talk.”
Talk?
Not what he’d been fantasizing about for their evening together. But Alexa apparently had something on her mind, given the determined tilt of her chin. He took her hand in his. Her short nails were shiny with clear polish. The calluses on her fingers from cleaning had been softened and he felt the urge to make sure she never had to pick up a scrub brush ever again.
Keeping his hand linked with hers, he followed her down the winding cement steps toward the beach. She kicked off her sandals and waited for him to ditch his shoes and socks.
Hand in hand, they walked along the shore, feet sinking into the sand as they made their way toward a white cabana. With each step closer he could feel the tension ramping up in her body.
“I’d hoped today would offer you breaks, be a sort of vacation.”
She glanced up, a smil
e flickering. “This is paradise. I’ve been in some impressive mansions over the years, but even I’m a floored by this place. No kidding royalty. Your business is going to a whole new level with this deal.”
“That’s the plan.” So why did he still feel so…unsettled? He gestured inside the cabana where she’d ordered two low lounge chairs with a small table of refreshments between them.
Her eyes flickered wide for a second before she plunged inside, choosing a chair and eyeing the wine, cheese and grapes. She’d obviously planned this chance to…talk?
She wriggled her toes in the sand and plucked a grape. A wave curled up closer and she stretched her legs out until the water touched the tips of her feet. “This truly is paradise.”
He dropped into the chair beside her. “Then why are you so tense?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Why do you think?” He poured deep red wine into two crystal glasses and let his eyes speak as fully as his words.
She took one of the drinks by the stem and sipped. “Victoria called you a loner.”
“Interesting.” And he wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything.
“You have so much family in Charleston, I hadn’t thought of you that way.” The wind rippled and flapped the three canvas walls of the cabana. “You do have family there, right? You called them when you found the babies, to ask for help.”
“I have two cousins—Vic and Paige. I grew up with them in North Dakota when my parents died in a car accident.” He reached for his wine. “Their SUV slid off the road in a storm when I was eleven.” He downed half of the fine vintage as if it was water.
“I’m so sorry.” She touched his wrist lightly as he replaced his drink.
“No need to feel sorry for me. I was lucky to have family willing to take me in.” He hesitated. “My parents didn’t have any assets when they died. My aunt and uncle never said anything about the extra mouth to feed, but I vowed I would pay them back.”
Billionaire's Jet Set Babies Page 9
