by Lyric James
Jade gasped when he flipped her onto her back, her eyes wide, cheeks flushed. It was amazing. She had skin so soft and smooth. A curvy body, so exquisite it made his mouth water. Everything about her was full and lush and he couldn’t help but explore, each digit of his hand memorizing every detail. This full-figured, caramel skinned she-devil with golden lips and chocolate eyes made him want to beg for mercy.
“Jade,” he whispered, running his hands up her legs over the swell of her hips to her rosy erect nipples. “You are so beautiful. What are you doing to me?”
A seductive smile crossed her lips as she scooted to the head of the bed. “Making you want me.”
“And I do.” Her scent drifted over him. Rhys caught her by the leg, halting her movements, rose up and buried his face between her breasts. “Damn, I do.” He kneaded her thighs, her hips, until she moaned and arched upward into his caress.
“Taste me, Rhys.”
And he did, pulling one nipple into his mouth as he tweaked and massaged the other. He savored the long sweet nipple against his tongue.
“Yes,” she whimpered and spread her legs in invitation.
His hands traveled down her belly, through her mass of dark curls, until he reached the soft folds of her pussy. She moaned softly as he dipped his middle finger inside. She was hot and wet and his cock pulsed with the need to plunge deep inside her.
But the desire to taste more of her, pleasure her, moved something in him. Rhys kissed a trail down her stomach. He scooped his hands under her ass and lifted her. When he lowered his mouth and licked, she shuddered.
“God help me,” she said and sighed. “Don’t stop.”
He alternated between drawing circles around her folds with the tip of his tongue and tugging her clit between his lips and sucking her.
Sexy cries of joy emanated from her throat. A desire to please her spiraled through him as he worked her swollen flesh. Her movements became jerky and frantic and her hips lifted off the bed, but he didn’t stop. He gave her everything her body needed and asked for.
“Shit. Oh shit.” Her body trembled. “That’s it…damn… Oh…oh yes. Shit.” She stiffened and cried out as the orgasm overtook her. She shuddered and moaned.
He drank his fill of her sensual nectar until it subsided. Rhys moved up her body, kissed the dent in her hip, licked her navel, and twirled his tongue around a nipple.
“More,” she begged.
He chuckled. “Oh, I’ve got more,” he replied and kissed her. Their tongues danced and mated until she gripped his cock.
“This. I want this.” she demanded. “Right now.”
“Are you sure you’re ready for it?” he asked as he fumbled for a condom and sheathed himself.
She yanked him forward and brought her knees up, wrapping her legs around his hips. “What do you think?”
The pleasure was almost unbearable as she moved the head of his dick around her clit and down her folds. Rhys slipped inside her. She was hot, wet and tight and melded around him. He thrust deep, over and over, and she moved with him.
The ecstasy…the bliss…spun around him like a coil, unending, unbreakable. His gaze never left hers. He had to see it. He had to know if what was happening between them affected only him. All thought left his head except the way her body connected to his. It was if Jade sensed every push, every thrust, every movement and matched it with one of her own. The give and take between them, the rhythm was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
Time and space shifted. His breath came in short, sharp gasps. Rapture claimed him as he sheathed himself with her essence over and over again. Shattering waves rolled over him and he plunged deeper, faster. She groaned and shivered beneath him and her knees gripped his hips as the walls of her pussy convulsed around him. She came wildly, explosively, her body determined to milk a torment of molten sensation out of him.
Unable to hold back any longer, Rhys joined her in a blood-rushing climax. His body bucked and jerked as he exploded inside her. After he collapsed, long moments elapsed as he lay dazed, his head resting between her shoulder blade and head.
She slid her arm over his back then down onto the bed. He took her hand, entwined it with his, then brought her palm up to his lips where he kissed it. Still fighting for air in his lungs, he rolled over until she lay on top of him.
She trailed a hand up his thigh, cupped him and began to pump up and down. His cock stirred. Damn. He couldn’t believe he wanted her again. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to have you on your back.”
Jade reared up and straddled him. “What if I want you on your back?”
She closed her eyes as heat surged in her like a flame. Her clit ached as she rubbed herself against him. Every nerve ending in her body thrummed with delight. It was too good to stop especially when her body still ached for him.
Then, an idea rose. She scooted off the bed, found the bedside clock radio and turned it on, moving the dial until she found the station she wanted. It was after ten o’clock, so The Quiet Storm was on, playing slow, soulful music. After she got back on the bed, she stood up, her feet on either side of his waist. When she palmed her breasts and began to swivel her hips, she heard his sharp intake of breath, then watched as a smile etched across his mouth.
Rhys linked his fingers and placed them behind his head. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.” She was Jade the enchantress, a seductress. This man brought out a side in her she’d never indulged. She rotated her hips and turned around. She slowly slid her hands all the way down to her ankles and looked at him between her legs. He had a huge grin on his face. What thrilled her more, his dick appeared larger than it had a few minutes ago. She lowered her ass until it grazed over his cock, wiggled, then lifted it again gazing at him between her legs again.
“Damn.”
She turned back around, licked her fingers, and twirled them around her nipples.
“Fuck, that’s hot.”
Then she lowered her hand to tease her clit, slipped her digits between her folds and drew out the wetness between. She danced some more, wiggled her hips, and stood on one foot, sliding her toes down his chest, then lower until she teased his groin hair, allowing it to tickle her toes.
Rhys sat up, grabbed her leg, and gently bit the inside of one thigh, then the other, making her moan.
Jade guided him back down with her foot then lowered herself on top of him. He took her around the waist, tilted his hips, and slid her down until she enveloped him. She moved her body in a frenzied fever as he delved deeper into her with each rhythmic push. He bit gently inside one thigh, then the other. Pleasure and desire spun out of control inside her, building deep with each surge of his hips.
Her sex throbbed with erotic sensations as he pulled her forward to take her nipple in his mouth. A delicious sensation rolled through her as his hot mouth sucked the hard bud between his teeth while she rode him. It was almost too much.
She grabbed the headboard. “Rhys…Oh, Rhys…so good.”
He took his time, savoring one breast, then the other, whisking his lips over each one slowly, reverently. Jade groaned as spasms of pleasure licked through her. With both his mouth and his cock tantalizing her, she rocked against him over and over and pressed downward to meet every upward thrust.
Each flick and lash of his tongue made her tremble on the very edge of sexual insanity. Wetness spilled from her pussy as she moaned and met each powerful thrust, each measured, insistent thrash of his dick.
The first tremors of her release began to ripple; it slithered up her legs, tingled inside her belly, crashed through her chest, until she opened her mouth in a wordless cry as her climax hit her in a blinding, pulsing moment of release.
Rhys fell back against the pillows, grabbed her hips and pumped into her. He bucked and let out a harsh groan of masculine satisfaction as she tightened her muscles around him. Jade rolled to her side and collapsed on the bed. He reared up, pressed a kiss to her cheek, then, lay his head atop her breast and fell a
sleep.
Early the next morning as he slept, she slipped out of the bed and fumbled around in the dark for her clothes. Never in her life had she experienced anything like being with Rhys. From the moment she met him, she knew it would be that way. The connection between them palpable from the time their gazes collided. Had she ever been more sated and complete? Or so alone? On a quiet sob she leaned against the closed bathroom door.
She’d agreed to this. He made it perfectly clear he couldn’t offer her anything more than one night. She straightened, stood in front of the mirror, and tucked her hair into a haphazard bun. Well, at least she had tonight. Nothing and no one could take that from her, and she’d treasure it always and continue to admire him from afar.
Jade picked up her shoes, turned out the light and opened the door. After one long look at Rhys, allowing her gaze to travel the length of his body and back up again, she grabbed her purse and walked toward the door. But she stopped, her hand hovering over the knob. She went to the desk, took a pen and paper, scratched out a small note, then placed it beside his head on her now empty pillow. With her head held high, she stepped out and quietly shut the door.
Chapter Three
October
Jade opened the door to her office and was taken aback. “Just what the hell are you doing here?”
The lady who sat in the lobby behind the receptionist desk replied, “I do work here, don’t I?”
She smiled, adjusted the bag on her shoulder, and kicked the door closed. “Yes, but aren’t you supposed to be on your second honeymoon?”
“Yeah, well. I needed to give you and Nicole the heads up about these cases before I leave on vacation. She just left, and I was waiting for you.”
French Vanilla coffee, Karyn’s favorite, brewed in a coffee pot in the corner. Jade poured herself a cup. “I could have read through your notes.”
“Well, you know me,” she said and smiled.
She sniffed the contents before taking a sip. “Always the mother hen.” They walked into her office where she flicked on the light and tossed her coat and purse on the small sofa. She sat in the tan colored chair behind her desk and crossed her legs. “What’s up?”
Karyn held the folder out for Jade to take. “Lieutenant Governor Rhys Cunningham.”
Air froze in her chest and she cleared her throat. “What about him?”
“You know he and Zechariah are really good friends.”
“I should hope so. He was best man in your wedding.” Jade definitely couldn’t help but think back to her friend’s nuptials and picture his handsome face. Actually, handsome wasn’t quite the word to describe him. Fine. Good-looking. Irresistible. A sweet red ripe strawberry dipped in devastatingly rich chocolate. Mercy. And his body. Let’s not forget his body, the way it melded with hers, the ecstasy.
“Well, he’s receiving death threats.”
Jade sat up and put her coffee cup down. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. And it’s our job to find out who it is and why. Well, yours actually.”
Jade flipped the file open and began to read the background information sheet Karyn completed. Her heart thundered in her chest. “Why hasn’t he gone to the police?”
“It’s an election year. He’s trying to keep it low profile for now. He doesn’t want to get law enforcement involved unless he really has to. Plus, he doesn’t want to give his competitors fuel for their campaign.”
A newspaper clipping from the previous weekend with a picture of the lieutenant governor fell out of the folder and landed face up on her desk. In it he was dressed in a black tuxedo, almost identical to what he’d worn the night their worlds collided in passion, his face etched in a smile. And of course, he had an attractive, scantily clad debutante on his arm. An ugly red haze clouded Jade’s eyes before disappearing. She had no right to be upset.
He was a player. Of that, there was never any doubt. If his picture didn’t show up in the society pages at least once a week, she’d bite something. She didn’t expect to have this type of reaction anymore. Hell, it’d been two months ago.
Get over it, Jade.
“So, you’re going to go under cover and pose as his executive assistant.”
Jade sputtered over the coffee she sipped. “Excuse me?”
Karyn reached for her mug and stood, leaning her hip against the desk. “He’s sure it’s an inside job, or at least the person is getting help from someone inside. The letters are always left in places no stranger would have access to.”
“But why his secretary?”
Hell, why me?
“Executive Assistant,” she reiterated. “Being an employee is the best way to get inside. You can get to know the people behind the scenes. Besides, his regular assistant had a baby and is off on maternity leave for twelve weeks. It’s the perfect solution.”
Jade’s palms began to sweat. She resisted the urge to wipe them on her jeans. She was used to stakeouts, taking pictures of cheating husbands, and doing background searches on suspicious employees. She liked working behind the scenes, completing the paperwork, calling in favors at the police department and the telephone company.
This assignment was going to be very hands-on. And working so close to Rhys Cunningham, who probably flirted with every woman who came within a ten-foot radius of him, was going to be difficult. Especially after what happened between them. Her experience with men… Well, there hadn’t been that many. Other than the night of Karyn’s wedding, men that gorgeous always made her tongue-tied, got her all flustered and nervous. With Rhys, it would be even worse.
But this would be different. This was her job, and her chance to be an integral part of the team. He wouldn’t be interested in her again, anyway. He’d made that clear enough.
It was a one-night stand, Jade. Remember. One night. One chance. That’s it.
Besides, taking the assignment proved she was over him. It would show him that what happened between them hadn’t affected her at all.
But it did.
Shit.
When Karyn started Private Jane, Inc. a year and a half ago and hired her, Jade had just received her P.I. certification and was determined to prove herself. Her father and both her brothers were cops, and very good ones. She’d shied away from a career in law enforcement but loved the intricacies of it. Being a P.I. gave her some of that.
“Why don’t you give this assignment to Nicole?”
Karyn set her empty cup down and returned to her seat. “Because the other case is something for the African American Historical Museum.”
Understanding dawned.
“Nicole has a degree in art history, so I gave her that one instead. Besides, you file like a demon, type one hundred twenty words a minute, and you’re more organized than she and I put together. This is perfect for you. You’ll blend right in.”
Sighing dejectedly, she replied, “Okay. Okay. I gotcha. When do I start?”
“Today.”
“Today?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, you go for an interview today. You’re going to supposedly interview through a temporary agency. He’s going to hire you, and you’ll officially start work in the office tomorrow.”
Jade looked down. She had on her favorite pair of blue jeans, a red t-shirt and tennis shoes. They were perfect clothes for a P.I., but not an executive assistant. She was going to have to go back home and change.
Karyn grabbed her purse and keys and stood. “Well, that’s it. I think you can handle the rest and get all the other information you need from the file, and of course, ask Rhys more questions. You’re supposed to be at your interview at nine-thirty.” She strolled toward the door. She wiggled her fingers at her. “Bye. See you in two weeks.”
Jade slumped in her chair and waved goodbye. She scowled and reached for the folder on the desk. The fact that he was drop-dead sinfully gorgeous would not stop her from doing the job. The fact that she had hot…no… scorching butt-naked sex with him would not stop her from doing her job eithe
r. She glanced at her watch. Eight twenty-four. She had just enough time to go home, change and get to the lieutenant governor’s offices on time.
She grabbed her coffee and her bag and turned out the lights. Why me? She wondered as she locked the door behind her.
The air outside was still warm, even for October. Last night the local meteorologist said it was going to be a twenty percent chance of rain. When she lifted her nose to the sky, she knew it was coming, probably in the next hour or so.
Jade reached inside her backpack and pulled out her keys. At her car, her reflection beamed back.
She had to do something with her hair.
She couldn’t go to her interview with Rhys looking the way she did. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been properly permed and coiffed, and she’d had on a dress and heels.
Why do you care so much, Jade?
“I don’t, damn it,” she muttered and slid inside the car.
She wanted to look professional. That was it. It had nothing to do with the fact she wanted to look gorgeous for Rhys.
She rolled her eyes at her own lie.
Once at home, Jade ticked off the suits in her closet and crossed them off one by one. The black one would do. It was plain and simple. There was no need to go in there and give him any reason to think she dressed up just to look good for him. She wanted to assure him she would do her job as a professional private investigator. She’d wear her glasses and appear as the staid skilled expert she was.
In the bathroom she pulled the scrunchy out of her hair and shook out her ponytail. She brushed her hair, twisted it and wrapped it up into a bun at the nape of her neck. She applied minimal make-up, put on her specs, nodded to her image and walked out the door on wobbly legs.
When she reached her destination, she hesitated before going in. Why was she so nervous? She wanted to tell herself it was because this was her first real life and death assignment. That if she completed this task and found out who was threatening him, she would’ve finally proven herself.
