by Heidi Betts
“For the record, I wasn’t. You can say no, even though I sincerely hope you’ll say yes.”
Yes. Yes, yes, yes! She didn’t even know what the question was yet, but the word raced through her mind, anyway, rapidly multiplying like furry little bunnies. She almost didn’t care what he asked— Will you marry me? Will you sneak into the ladies’ room and let me take you against the vanity? Would you like brown sugar on your oatmeal?—she wanted to say yes.
Her voice cracked as she made herself say, “All right. What is it?”
So many words. And she sounded so reasonable, when inside she was flailing around like a passenger on a tilt-a-whirl.
“Will you come home with me?”
Some fragment of her brain thought that was a silly question.
“I have to,” she told him. “You’re making me stay with you until the paternity results come back.”
His lips curved in a patient smile. “No,” he said softly. “You know what I mean. Let me take you home, to my bed. Spend the night with me the way I’ve been wanting you to since you came.”
She nearly wept. Inside she actually whimpered. If he only knew how hard it had been to lie in bed all those nights, alone, knowing he was only two doors away. She’d thought about him, fantasized about him, even cursed him. And then, once she’d fallen asleep, she’d dreamed about him.
“What about your fundraiser?” she asked, needing to buy a little time for her heart to slow its frantic gallop and her mind to be sure—really, really sure—she could deal with the consequences of her answer.
“There are others here who can see it through to the end. And if we don’t get out of here soon, it’s possible they’ll be in for more of an evening than they bargained for. We’re talking full-out, triple-X public displays of affection right here in the middle of the ballroom.”
He emphasized his point by pressing against her, letting her feel the full state of his arousal through his tuxedo slacks and the fall of her gown. She leaned into him, reveling in his palpable desire for her. Though her response wasn’t nearly as noticeable, it was just as intense, just as overwhelming.
She also wasn’t sure she’d mind if he threw her down on the nearest banquet table and had his wicked way with her, but it might turn into a public relations nightmare for his people.
“Then maybe it would be best if we left,” she murmured.
She felt his chest hitch as he sucked in a breath.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, his voice sounding like sandpaper on stone.
“Yes,” she answered easily. “It’s definitely a yes.”
She wanted to laugh at the endearing, lopsided grin he beamed at her. And then they were moving. He spun her around, keeping her in front of him as he steered her across the room, making excuses and lining up others to oversee the rest of the fundraiser in his place. Depending on who he spoke to, he blamed their premature exit either on his early meeting schedule the next morning or her phantom headache.
Finally they were in his limo, pulling away from the hotel portico and racing toward his estate.
As soon as the chauffeur had closed the door behind them, Alex was on her, devouring her mouth, running his hand up and down her leg through the slit in her gown, anchoring her to him with an arm around her back.
Her fingers were in his hair, loving the silky texture and holding him in place while her tongue tangled with his. The plush leather of the wide seat cushioned them and brushed against the bare skin of her shoulders and back, making her realize they’d left the benefit without a thought for the coats they’d checked at the beginning of the evening or the chill in the late-night air.
Breaking the kiss, Alex panted for breath, his hands never pausing in their rabid exploration of her body through the sleek material of her gown.
“I want to take you right here,” he grated, “so I’ll never again be able to ride in this car without thinking of you.”
Her heart did a little flip. “Then what are you waiting for?” she asked in a soft voice. Thankfully the privacy window was up—and she hoped soundproof.
His teeth clicked together, a muscle throbbing in his jaw. “Not enough time,” he bit out. “But soon. Believe me—very soon.”
With that, he pulled away, tugging her down to lie almost flat along the wide seat.
“What are you—?” she started to ask, but his hands were beneath her skirt, finding the elastic waistband of her panties.
In one swift, flawless motion, he had them down her legs and off. Then he was pushing aside the folds of the dress, leaving her naked from the belly button down except for the diamond-studded heels strapped to her feet.
Sliding to the limousine floor, he knelt there, a wolfish grin slashing his face and flashing straight white teeth. His hands at her hips tugged her forward, then gently parted her knees.
A quiver of anticipation rushed over her, pooling low in her belly. “Alex—” she whispered in a halfhearted protest, but it was already too late.
Lowering his head, he brushed kisses along the insides of both thighs, leading upward until he reached her mound and pressed one there, as well. His lips moved over her, nuzzling the sensitive flesh and burrowing between her damp folds swollen with arousal.
He tortured her with long, slow strokes of his tongue that made her back arch and her nails dig into the leather seat cushions. She whimpered, writhed, panted for breath. Alex merely hummed his approval and redoubled his efforts to drive her out of her mind.
He licked and nibbled, flicked and suckled until Jessica wanted to scream. She was pretty sure that sound wouldn’t remain on this side of the privacy window, however, so she squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lips until she tasted blood.
A second later, the limousine started uphill, rolling them together even tighter and pressing Alex more fully between her legs. His lips and tongue and fingers hit just the right spot with just the right amount of pressure to make her shatter, her insides coming apart in sharp, mind-blowing spasms of pleasure.
When she regained consciousness—because she truly believed she might have fainted from pure physical delight—Alex was hovering over her, smiling like a cat who’d just figured out how to unlock the birdcage. Her legs were demurely draped across his lap, her dress rearranged to cover them.
“We’re home,” he said quietly, leaning in to brush his fingers through her hair, which she was pretty sure was a tangled mess by now, no longer pinned in the lovely swept-up twist she’d fought so hard to get right only hours before.
With his help, she sat up, struggling to get her bearings and stop her cheeks from flushing bright red with awkwardness. It didn’t help that the front of Alex’s pants were noticeably tented by the bulge of his erection.
Spotting the direction of her gaze, he chuckled, shifting slightly to alleviate the pressure behind his zipper. Then he reached down and plucked a scrap of sheer blue fabric from the car floor.
She held out her hand, expecting him to return the lost article of clothing. Instead, he dangled it from one finger, continuing to grin.
“Alex, those are my underwear,” she said on a harsh whisper. Not that anyone else was around to hear. “Give them back.”
“Nope.”
She made a grab for them, but he slipped them into the pocket of his tuxedo jacket before she even got close. Sliding across the seat, he opened the door and stepped out, reaching a hand back to help her out.
“Come on. Let’s go inside before Javier asks what all that screaming was about.”
Fifteen
“Oh, no,” Jessica groaned in utter mortification.
Taking his hand, she followed him to the house as fast as she could, making a concerted effort not to look around for fear she’d make eye contact with Alex’s driver and die of humiliation right there on the front drive.
Once inside, he slammed the door shut, then spun her around to press her back flat to the thick wooden panel. His body boxed her in, arms braced on either side of her head, chest and
hips and upper thighs pressing against her like a big, warm, heavy blanket.
His mouth crashed down on hers, stealing her breath and reviving every sensual, red-blooded nerve ending in her body, even the ones she’d thought had gotten their fair dose of pleasure for the night. She gripped the lapels of his jacket, hanging on for dear life while their tongues mated and their lips clashed hard enough to bruise.
One minute she was standing upright, pressed to the front door. The next she was biting off a yelp of surprise as he swept an arm behind her knees, placed another at her back and yanked her off her feet.
Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth from hers and turned to march up the stairs. He carried her as though she weighed no more than Henry, but still she could feel his heart pounding beneath the layers of tuxedo jacket and dress shirt.
She kept one hand flattened there on his chest, the other toying with the short strands of hair at his nape. All the while she pressed light butterfly kisses to his cheek, his jawline, his ear, the corner of his eye, the pulse at his neck.
He growled low in his throat. She gave a long purr in response.
Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he gave a sigh that had her lifting her head. They were standing only a few feet away from the nursery door, which was slightly ajar.
“As much as it pains me,” he said, “I don’t want you to blame me later for not letting you see Henry before we go to bed. Especially since I intend to keep you there for a very long time. Do you want to run in and check on him?”
Her body might be humming, her blood so hot it was close to boiling her alive, but she was still a mother, and she really did want to see the baby one last time before Alex made her forget her own name.
“Would you mind?” she asked, lips twisted in apology.
He made a face. One that told her he didn’t want to waste even a second on anything but getting her naked and between the sheets. But just as she’d always known, he was a good man. A kind, generous, sometimes selfless man.
Without a word, he slowly lowered her to the floor until she was standing none too steadily on her own two, three-inch-heeled feet. Keeping a hand at the small of her back, he walked with her to the nursery door.
Pushing it open, she tiptoed inside. Wendy was sitting in the rocking chair in one corner, reading beneath the low wattage of the only lamp in the room. She lifted her head and smiled when she saw them.
“How was he tonight?” Jessica whispered, continuing over to the crib. Henry was on his back on the zoo animal sheets, covered almost to his chin by a lightweight baby blanket.
“He was an absolute angel,” the nanny said, moving to Jessica’s side. “We played most of the evening. I read him a story and gave him a bottle around eight. He’s been sleeping ever since.”
“That’s great,” Jessica replied, even though she was a little disappointed he wasn’t still awake so she could wish him good-night. Doing the next best thing, she kissed the tips of two fingers then touched them to his tiny cheek. His mouth moved as though starting to smile—or more likely to give an extra suck of his pacifier—and warmth washed through her.
Straightening away from the side of the crib, Jessica thanked Wendy. “You can go to bed now,” she told her. “I’m sure he’ll be fine for a few more hours, at least.”
The nanny nodded and moved back to the rocker to gather her things.
Standing close, having looked into the crib at Henry himself, Alex said, “Keep the monitor with you, if you would, please. We’ll be available if you need us for anything, of course, but we’d prefer not to be disturbed tonight, if at all possible.”
Jessica was sure that his hand at her waist and the high color riding her cheekbones left nothing to the nanny’s imagination.
But she nodded without blinking an eye. “Of course. Not a problem, sir.”
“Thank you,” Alex murmured, applying pressure to Jessica’s waist to get her moving toward the door.
“Thank you,” Jessica said again, casting one last glance over her shoulder at both the nanny and what she could see of the baby through the slats of the crib. “Good night.”
And then she was back in the hall, being hustled next door to Alex’s bedroom. She laughed at his speed and single-minded determination as he shoved her inside, catching a quick glimpse of dark wood, a masculine color palette and sprawling space before he closed the door, shutting out the light from the hall and locking them in near darkness.
As soon as they were alone, he was on her like a bird of prey, holding her face in both of his hands while he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her, turning her round and round and round as he walked her in circles farther into the room.
“Wait,” she breathed between tiny nips and full-bodied thrusts of his tongue. “Turn on the lights. I want to see your room.”
“Later.”
“But…”
“Later,” he growled.
She started to smile in amusement, but then his hands skimmed up the length of her spine, found the miniscule tab of the gown’s zipper and slid it all the way down. The billowy, strapless blue material fell away from her breasts and dropped to the floor in a soft whoosh.
Since the dress didn’t allow for a bra, and her panties were currently tucked in the pocket of Alex’s jacket, the action left her completely naked but for her strappy stilettos and all four pieces of priceless Bajoran jewelry. Cool air washed over her, cooling the diamonds against her skin, raising gooseflesh and pebbling her nipples.
Or maybe it was the anticipation of making love with Alex again after what seemed like forever.
He stepped back, his eagle eyes roaming over her nude-but-bejeweled form from head to toe. Though how he could see much of anything in the dark, she didn’t know. Only the faint glow of moonlight shone through the sheer curtains at the windows.
Not that the lack of illumination seemed to bother him. Not letting it slow him down one tiny bit, he shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket and started to undo his tie, collar and cuff links.
One by one, items were discarded, the buttons at the front of his starched white shirt slipped through their holes. Slowly, the hard planes of his chest came into view. Shadows of them, at any rate.
Heart rapping, she closed the scrap of distance between them, covering his hands at the waist of his slacks. His movements stilled and she pushed his hands away entirely.
He let them fall to his sides, giving up so easily. Yet she could feel the tension emanating from his body, in the steel-cable rigidness of his stance and every tightly held muscle.
His chest rose and fell in sharp cadence as she tugged the tails of his shirt out of the waistband of his pants. Pushing the fabric open and off over his shoulders, she let her palms run the full expanse of his wide masculine chest.
Just as she remembered from so long ago, it was broad and smooth, throwing off heat like a furnace. A light sprinkling of hair tickled her fingertips while she explored his flat abdomen; the rise of his pectorals with their rough, peaked centers; the hard jut of his collarbones and the curve of his strong shoulders.
The white material floated to the floor, and she returned her hands to the front of his pants. Sliding them open, she lowered the zipper past his straining erection while he sucked in a harsh breath and held it. She let her knuckles brush along his length through his black silk boxers.
Muttering a curse, he kicked out of his shoes, stripped the slacks and underwear down his muscular legs, and dragged her away from the entire pile of their shed clothing. He walked them over to the large four-poster bed, lifting her onto the end of the high mattress.
He moved in for a kiss, tipping her chin up and cupping her face in both hands. His thumbs gently brushed the line of her jaw while he drank from her mouth. She parted her knees, making room for him in the cradle of her thighs, and he pressed close, brushing every part of her with every part of him.
Her nails dug into the meat at the sides of his waist, then she brought her legs up to hitch her knees over his h
ips. He groaned, the sound filling her mouth as he leaned into her even more.
A second later she found herself lifted by her buttocks and tossed several inches closer to the center of the bed. Alex came with her, landing on top of her even as she bounced lightly, the glossy satin coverlet cool at her back.
While she wrapped her legs more firmly around him, he buried his face in her neck and began trailing kisses down her throat, tracing the lines of the necklace until it gave way to the bare flesh of her chest and one plump breast. He pressed his mouth dead center, then started to lick and nip all around.
Beneath him, Jessica arched, moaned, writhed. And Alex reveled in every ripple, every soft whimper of sound.
He’d wanted to drape her in his jewels, and now he had. And she was just as glorious as he’d known she would be in nothing but what he’d borrowed from the company safe.
He could hardly believe he actually had her in his bed again.
Different bed. Different city and state. Different year. Maybe even two different people…different than they’d been the first time around, anyway.
But so much was the same. The instant spark between them that quickly turned into a five-alarm fire. The uncontrollable desire he felt for her almost every minute of every day. Her hot, liquid response to his touch.
She humbled him and made him feel like a superhero all at once. And it was quite possible she’d given him a son. An heir. Another Bajoran to someday take over the family business.
That thought made him want to put her up on a pedestal and treat her like a queen. Surround her in swaths of cotton and bubble wrap, and keep her safe for the rest of their lives.
But for now, with her warm and willing beneath him, he most wanted to drive her to the brink and then straight over the edge into mind-bending bliss.
If only he could hold back his own climax long enough to get her there. And the way her legs were wrapped around his hips, her damp heat brushing him in all the right places, was making that more and more impossible.
Her stiff nipple abraded his tongue as he swiped at it over and over again. Around it, her dusky rose flesh puckered and tightened.
