The Ultimate Seduction

by Janelle Denison

  "Make me your love slave," she whispered huskily, tempting and teasing him with a reminder about their bet at the bar.

  His breathing deepened, his nostrils flared, and she watched in pure female fascination as his discipline snapped, unleashing a dark, dangerous kind of passion she welcomed.

  The next thing she knew he had her pressed up against the wall in the foyer. With her trapped against his hard, unmistakably aroused body, his mouth came down on hers, swift and demanding. The kiss was rough, wild and unrestrained, and it excited her all the more to know that Noah wasn't going to hold back with her tonight.

  Adrenaline spiked in her blood, rushing through her veins like a heated aphrodisiac, spurring her to a higher level of arousal. This time when she attempted to remove his shirt he let her, and with a little help from him, hers wasn't far behind. Her bra followed as his lips and teeth grazed her neck, and as soon as her breasts were freed, his mouth was there, drawing a nipple into his hot, wet mouth. He flicked the aching tip with his tongue, then suckling her strong and deep, instigating a slow burn in her belly, between her thighs.

  She shifted restlessly, her entire body pulsing, demanding more. The air around them crackled with intensity, and she smoothed her hands over his taut arms, dug her fingers into the muscle and sinew along his shoulders. Releasing her nipple, he knelt before her. She sucked in a quick breath as his teeth scraped along her ribs and then his tongue found her navel and dipped inside, probing in an erotic, sexual way that made her squirm and groan and grow impossibly wetter.

  Deftly, he unsnapped and unzipped her jeans. Curling his fingers around the waistband of her pants and underwear, he dragged both down to her knees, exposing her to his gaze. Without hesitating and instinctively knowing what she craved, he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her mound and unfurled his tongue along her cleft with a long, heated stroke that made her gasp and tremble.

  The pleasure of his intimate kiss was immediate and electric, and she tangled her fingers in his hair, unconsciously drawing him closer still. She tried to spread her legs wider, but couldn't because of the constricting jeans. Desperate, she tilted her hips, angling toward his sinful mouth for better contact. His breath was hot on her sensitive flesh, and his tongue slid deeper into her sex, finding her clitoris with unerring accuracy and stroking rhythmically.

  She twisted mindlessly against him, seeking an end to his sensual torment. Then it happened, and her head rolled back, his name escaping her throat on a low, ragged moan as her orgasm ripped through her. A rush of liquid desire swamped her system and scorched her nerve endings, leaving her dazed.

  Noah abruptly stood and braced his hands on either side of her head, and she caught a glimpse of his disheveled hair, the flushed color slashing across his cheekbones, the molten heat in his gaze. He looked savagely male, and as he leaned into her with the press of his hard, lean body, she could feel the length of him vibrating with sexual tension.

  Without preamble, he captured her mouth once again, his tongue finding and tangling with hers. The mingled flavor of Noah's aggressive need and her own dewy essence was heady and darkly seductive, and she reached between the crush of their bodies and cupped her palm against the thick erection confined within his jeans. She rubbed the length of him, slow and firm, and felt him pulse and grow impossibly harder.

  "I want you inside me," she panted as her fingers fumbled with the button and zipper on his jeans. "Right here, right now."

  A low, primitive growl rumbled up from his chest, and he clamped his fingers around her wrist to stop her illicit caress. His damp mouth skimmed across her cheek to her ear. "Let's finish this in the bedroom."

  His bedroom seemed a mile away, and her body was on fire for him. "I can't wait that long, and I don't think my legs are steady enough to climb those stairs."

  He chuckled against her neck. "We need a condom," he rasped, obviously thinking more rationally than she was. "And the only way to get one is to head upstairs."

  She groaned her disappointment, then gasped when he bent low and hefted her over his shoulder, caveman-style, with her jeans and panties still bunched around her knees. He bounded up the stairs with an agility that amazed her when she felt so limp and boneless. Once inside the room, he flipped her onto the middle of his bed, turned on the lamp on the nightstand and quickly pulled off her shoes, socks, jeans and underwear. In the next instant he shucked his own clothes, then retrieved a condom from the drawer beside the bed and sheathed himself.

  She expected him to come up and over her and take her hard and fast, but instead a slow, sinful smile made an appearance and she knew that Noah intended to take his sweet time with her this time around.

  "Turn over onto your stomach, slave," he murmured.

  She rolled onto her belly, and when he told her to lift up her hips so he could shove a pillow beneath her, she submitted to his request, unbearably excited by the thought of engaging in such an erotic position with him.

  She shivered as his fingers brushed across the sensitive crease at the back of her knees, then feathered up her legs. His warm lips joined in on the provocative journey, following the path of his splayed hands with damp, openmouthed kisses and gentle nips of his teeth. She arched her hips higher as his thumbs dipped into the crease between her thighs and grazed the soft, swollen folds of her sex. Then she moaned when he increased the pleasure with a slow, leisurely lap of his tongue.

  Renewed desire took hold, making her tingle from head to toes. Anticipation coiled low and tight, throbbing for release. Yet he merely continued stroking her flesh, his palms gliding over her buttocks, along her waist, then up the center of her spine. His hands were pure magic, his firm caresses as erotic as they were tender, making her grow restless with a longing to feel him deep inside of her.

  She attempted to spread her legs to make room for him in between, but he straddled her thighs instead, keeping her legs together. He aligned his hips to hers so that his erection probed between her legs and slid along her slick flesh, teasing her until she clutched the bedspread in her fists and begged him to satisfy the aching need he'd incited. The head of his shaft found her core, and he slipped inside her an agonizing inch as he settled his weight over her from behind, keeping her pinned to the mattress with the length of his body.

  He swept her hair to the side, exposing her nape, along with the vulnerable curve where neck met shoulder. Then he opened her hands so she released the bedspread and intertwined his fingers through hers so that she felt physically bound to him. His hot breath grazed her cheek and his mouth touched her jaw and glided down to a vein throbbing in her neck. His teeth nibbled, and she closed her eyes and shivered, her stomach constricting with excitement as she wondered if he intended to mark her again in such a possessive, carnal way. It seemed appropriate, considering how inherently primitive their position was.

  She was on edge, frustrated that he was completely in control while she was a bundle of restless energy just waiting to come apart. For him, with him. "Noah, please. Don't make me wait any longer."

  "You feel so damn tight, so hot and wet," he murmured into her ear, then flexed his hips against her bottom, lifting her pelvis higher. The dampness of her own desire eased his way deeper, making them both groan at the exquisite friction he created. Then he withdrew almost all the way out and pushed slowly back inside her, until he was buried to the hilt and she felt impaled by the hard length of him. He pulsed within her, breathing raggedly against her neck as his mouth sought a tender place to brand her.

  She quivered, waiting, and when he finally sank his teeth into the tendon of muscle at the curve of her shoulder, she moaned long and loud. Her eyes rolled back, and she felt the erotic pull all the way down to her sex, making her inner muscles contract around him.

  Finally, he drove into her, hard and deep, wringing another cry from her. He thrust again, his hips working like a piston, too quickly for her to catch her breath. He groaned her name. A demand. A plea.

  And she answered him with a
whispered,"Yes."

  He gave one last violent thrust, spiraling them both into a vortex of all-consuming pleasure that seemed more vital than each rapid heartbeat, more essential than each labored breath she drew. She shattered right along with him, blinded by delirious sensation and intoxicated by his wild need for her.

  For a brief time as they made love he made her forget the threat surrounding her. But in the back of her mind the fact remained that someone was after her.

  Chapter Nine

  It was nine-thirty the following morning before Noah heard the upstairs shower turn on, and assumed that Natalie had finally gotten out of bed. As for him, he'd been awake since before his alarm clock had gone off at six. He'd taken his own shower, had quietly gotten dressed for the day, then left Natalie burrowed deep in the covers while he headed downstairs. He wanted to get some work done in his office before she woke up and he finally explained her past relationship with Chad Freeman.

  Last night, the woman in his bed had been completely and utterly insatiable to the point of exhausting them both, he recalled with a smile. They'd made love three times, and once their passions had cooled, peace and calm had settled over her. When she'd snuggled up to him and asked him to just hold her, he hadn't been able to shatter the cocoon of intimacy with a serious discussion. He knew there would be plenty of time for that later.

  Like this morning, just as soon as she came downstairs.

  With a resigned sigh, he put away the paperwork he was researching on the Internet, grabbed Natalie's case file and headed into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee for her, and himself. He could use another dose of caffeine to get him through the next hour or so.

  By the time the coffee was done percolating, Natalie walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of cotton drawstring pants and a blouse she hadn't bothered to button up all the way. Her hair was still damp and combed away from her freshly scrubbed face, and she greeted him with a soft "good morning," an affectionate kiss on the cheek and a sweet smile he knew he could get used to seeing every day for the rest of his life.

  His heart thumped hard in his chest, the knowledge that he'd fallen in love with this woman undeniable. She fit so perfectly in his life, in a way he'd never imagined any woman could. For years he'd embraced his playboy, bachelor image, enjoying brief relationships that made no demands on his carefree lifestyle and emotions. No attachment beyond sexual pleasure meant no potential heartache to deal with, and that motto had worked just fine for him.

  Until Natalie. He'd taken her in, made her a part of his life, and now he was in so deep every fiber of his being tensed at the thought of losing her, which was a distinct possibility. Their relationship, their affair, had been instigated under false pretenses, and it was only a matter of time before everything came to a head and she realized the truth. He could only hope and pray his feelings for her would be enough to repair any damage he'd done to her emotions.

  She withdrew two mugs from the cupboard, finding everything in the kitchen, in his home, with ease after nearly a week in his care. "I can't believe you let me sleep in so late," she chastised lightly.

  He poured the coffee into their cups, and she added the creamer. "You obviously needed it."

  She grinned impishly, her eyes dancing with a mischievous light he knew he was eventually going to douse as the morning turned to more somber matters. "I guess I did need the rest," she admitted.

  And not just because of their night of intense, sizzling lovemaking. The distressing situation she'd endured at work had obviously contributed to the stress and tension, heightening her need to work off the restless apprehension that had settled over her. She'd chosen to lose herself in sensual sensations, and once she'd slaked her lust, she'd been physically and emotionally wasted. After their intense encounter, deep, uninterrupted slumber had consumed her, which had been for the best, he knew.

  She picked up her mug and took a sip of the steaming brew, and the opening in her blouse gave him a glimpse of the faint, crescent-shaped red mark on the swell of her breast.

  He reached out and touched the blemish his teeth had left on her smooth skin, and winced in contrition. "I'm sorry about doing this to you."

  "No, you're not," she refuted, her tone playful. "And neither am I, though I'm glad you're not leaving your love bites in plain sight for everyone to see."

  Leaning close, he nuzzled her neck, inhaling the fresh, clean scent of shampoo and mint toothpaste. "I'd like to," he said throatily.

  God, he'd never been so wild and untamed with a woman as he'd been with Natalie last night. But it had turned him on to claim her in such a brazen, primitive way, and obviously it had aroused her, too. Just thinking about her eager, shameless response to the way he'd taken her the first time last night sent a rush of heat to his groin.

  Before he gave in to the desire to take her up against the table for a morning quickie, he inhaled a deep, steadying breath and switched mental gears. "Want me to make you breakfast?"

  "I'm not overly hungry." She set her coffee on the table, then pulled a box of Raisin Bran from the pantry and a bowl from the cupboard. "I'll just have a small bowl of cereal. By the way, I was thinking we could go shopping today to buy a gift for Cole and Melodie's wedding tomorrow."

  He nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He leaned his hip against the counter as she added milk to her flakes. He let her enjoy a few mouthfuls of her breakfast before deciding to get business done and over with. "Natalie, we have to talk."

  She carried her bowl to the table and sat down, a small, hesitant smile on her lips. "I figured as much, since you said that last night before I distracted you," she said, and took another bite of her cereal.

  He felt a perceptible change in her, a reserve that was nearly tangible. "Not that I'm complaining about your persuasive methods," he assured her, wanting to be certain she knew and understood that he'd been a willing participant in their sexual encounter from the moment she'd kissed him in the foyer. "But there's something I have to tell you."

  She met his gaze head-on, and he couldn't miss the uncertainties and fear that had found their way back into her expressive eyes. "You know who's after me, don't you?"

  He felt as though he'd been suckerpunched in the belly. He didn't know how she knew, but he suspected it was mostly intuition on her part. She might have lost her memory, but she was a sharp, insightful woman, and it didn't take a master's degree to figure out that someone was following her, considering how bold Chad had been in his pursuit so far.

  There was no way to soften his answer, so he gave it to her straight. "Yeah, I do. And it's someone you know. Someone from your past that you don't remember because of your amnesia. And you need to know who this person is so you can protect yourself."

  She shook her head, her confusion and apprehension plain. "I don't understand."

  As her lover and the man who'd taken it upon himself to be her guardian, it was his job to make her understand. No matter how painful the process, no matter that his revelations might trigger a flood of memories that would be the beginning of the end for them. He had to level with her, at least about her relationship with Chad so she knew what kind of danger she was up against.

  He sat in the chair next to hers at the table, and took a long drink of his coffee for fortitude. "Before you moved to Oakland, you lived in Reno. Do you remember that?"

  Her brow furrowed into a frown, as if she were trying to recall that time in her life. "Parts of it," she said vaguely.

  He waited a little longer for her to mull over the information he'd given her, but nothing seemed to click into place for her. Not yet, anyway.

  He continued to feed her more facts, a little at a time so he didn't overwhelm her. "You went to college at University of Nevada, Reno, and you were dating a man by the name of Chad Freeman."

  She set her spoon in her half-eaten cereal and pushed the bowl aside, her appetite obviously gone. "The name-it's familiar somehow."

  But she wasn't placing the man's name with a face-yet. No
ah knew he had no choice but to connect the link for her. Reaching for the file folder he'd brought into the kitchen with him, he withdrew the photo her old landlady had given him. He was all too aware of the personal risk he was taking by showing her the picture, bringing Chad Freeman between them.

  But his choices were limited, and he wasn't about to sacrifice her safety for his own selfish desire to completely erase her past with a man who'd abused her. "This is Chad Freeman," he stated, and forced himself to turn the picture around for her to see.

  Her eyes widened, and her face turned chalk white. "Oh, God," she croaked, visibly shaken. "He's the man who cornered me in the restaurant." She raised her gaze to Noah, panic and confusion etched across her expression. "And what am I doing in that picture with him?"

  Seeing how traumatized she was by the photo, he tucked it back into the folder. "Like I said, you were dating him for a few years. He's the man I believe is after you, Natalie."

  She shook her head in denial, her shock rendering her momentarily speechless.

  He hated putting her through such emotional turmoil, but her life and future were at stake. "Natalie, honey, I need to know if you remember if this is the man you were running from before you were hit by the car."

  She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers to her temple, as if trying to conjure images in her mind. When she looked at him again, her distress was prominently stamped on her features. "I-I don't remember!" Her breathing had grown labored. "Are you saying that an old boyfriend is stalking me?"

  "All the evidence that I've been able to come up with leads to Chad." He placed a comforting hand over hers, not surprised to find her skin cool and clammy. "He's getting bolder in his attempts, and you need to know who and what is threatening you."

  "But why would he want to hurt me?"