by Cat Schield
The smooth line of her shoulder captivated him. Could her skin be as soft as it looked? “Niagara Falls.”
She stared at him in stunned silence for a few moments and then began to laugh. “Niagara Falls? Even I’ve been there.”
Her deep, throaty laugh made him want to kiss her. The mischief dancing in her eyes captivated him. Strong. Soft. Smart. Sexy. Was she as oblivious to her appeal as she appeared or was it all a ruse to catch him off guard?
“Then you’d be a good tour guide.”
“I don’t know about that. I was seven at the time.” Her good mood faded. “My father took me.” She blinked rapidly and pushed off the couch. “Damn it. I swore I wasn’t going to cry.”
Curiosity induced him to follow her. At least that’s what he told himself until she was wrapped in his arms, her face pressed against his chest. Her body shuddered as she gulped in air and released an unsteady sigh.
“What’s wrong?” He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin while a part of his mind wondered where this urge to comfort had come from. Selfish. Self-involved. Those were the words that described him. It balanced out the fifteen years of selflessness his parents had shoved down his throat.
“Why Niagara Falls?”
“I have a thing for waterfalls.” He paused a beat. “What do you have a thing for?”
“You...” she shifted as far away from him as his arms snaked around her waist would allow “...r show.”
“Nice save.”
“Okay, I’ll admit I’m a fan.”
He leaned back and peered down at her. “That explains why you’ve been so nice to me.”
“I’ve been nothing but professional to you.”
“Your lips say civilized things,” he taunted. “But your eyes tell me how much you’d like to lock me in the walk-in freezer.”
“Be honest. Have you been easy to work with?”
“Of course not, but I’m a genius and everyone knows that geniuses are notoriously difficult to get along with.”
His candor gave her pause. Head cocked, she regarded him. “Even your arrogance is charming.”
“I don’t get you.”
She avoided his gaze. “What’s there to get?”
“You have money and family connections. Anything you want could be yours.”
“Is that how you see me?” She asked the question calmly enough, but below the surface he sensed tension.
“That’s who you are.”
“And if I lacked money and family connections, what am I then?”
The intensity with which she awaited his answer kept Ashton from spouting some flippant remark. “A beautiful, intelligent woman who is ambitious and focused enough to do anything she sets her mind to.”
“What if I don’t know what I want to do?”
“I don’t understand. I thought you were going to take over as CEO of Fontaine Hotels and Resorts.”
“I’m no longer sure that’s where I belong.” She pushed out of his arms and headed toward the door to the hallway. “Thanks for the wine and the shoulder to cry on. I should turn in for the night. I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”
Ashton followed her to the door and caught her arm as she reached for the handle, stopping her from leaving. She turned at his touch and swayed into him. Pushing onto her toes, she kissed his cheek.
The warmth of her lips against his skin set his blood alight. His fingers slid into the small of her back and held her against him as he cupped her cheek in his palm and angled her face so he could reach her mouth.
Pliant and slightly salty from her earlier tears, her lips moved beneath his, responding to his searching kiss. It wasn’t passion that consumed him. Her somber mood connected him to an emotion he believed he’d lost long ago: compassion. Something radical had happened to her today. Something related to the visit from her mother. The encounter had knocked her off her game.
Just like this kiss was throwing him.
He lifted his lips from hers, shocked by his light-headedness. One simple kiss shouldn’t have affected him so strongly. But then again, he couldn’t remember wanting to kiss away someone’s unhappiness, either.
“Stay,” he urged, brushing his lips across her cheek.
Her muscles tensed. A flight response?
“That’s not a good idea.”
“You’re wrong,” he assured her. “It’s a great idea.”
“I’ve never jumped into bed with a man I scarcely know.”
He’d divulged the truth about his parents with her. That was a huge secret from his past he hadn’t shared with anyone else in his present. “Consider it an adventure into the unfamiliar territory.”
“I guess I’m not ready to leave behind everything I know.”
Yet another enigmatic statement. Ashton was starting to think that Harper had more weighing on her mind than she wanted to confront.
“Why would you think you have to?”
“I don’t need to ask you what you’d do if you couldn’t be a chef. You’ve already made a name for yourself as a TV personality and a restaurateur.”
This would have been an excellent moment to tell her his project was taking him to New York for a few days, but he was reluctant to shatter the rapport between them.
“Have you been considering a career change?”
A faint smile found its way to her lips. “I was thinking of a television series that featured exotic hotels around the world.”
“Want me to talk to my manager about pitching your idea to the network?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re serious.”
“You seem as if you’re grappling with the status quo. Maybe you need to take some risks, challenge yourself. Do something that terrifies you.”
“I’ve already done that.” Her expression grew wry. “I came here, didn’t I?”
“I terrify you?”
“Not you. Just what you represent.”
“And that is?”
“Everything that I grew up avoiding.”
He didn’t respond to her jab. Better to give her space to assemble her thoughts, let the silence expand to an uncomfortable level until she gave up more than she intended. It was an interview technique he’d often used with great results.
“I didn’t mean that as an insult,” she said at last. “It’s just that I like everything organized and predictable. You thrive on the unexpected.”
“It’s what makes life interesting. Some of my best recipes have come from putting together flavors that I’ve never tried before.” Hell, his entire career had been framed by a combination of happenstance and his ability to capitalize on all things unconventional. “And I never would’ve made a career out of cooking if I hadn’t run away from home at fifteen and needed to survive.”
She didn’t look at all surprised by what he’d told her. “I’ve never wanted to be in a desperate situation, so I never have been.” The rest of her admission remained unspoken, but her expression was easy to read.
“And now you’re wondering what you’ve missed?”
“I’m fully aware of what I’ve missed. I’ve made sacrifices to keep on track with my goal.”
“To run the company someday.”
“It was my job to win or lose.”
“Has that changed?”
“You must have guessed that it has or I wouldn’t have come here tonight and cried all over you.” She stepped back and gathered her soft sweater tight about her slim body. “I found out something today that I’m not ready to talk about.”
“Use me as a sounding board or keep everything bottled up. It’s no matter to me.”
“I guess I should say thank you.”
“There’s no need. As you probably already figured out, I’m a selfish bastard. If a beaut
iful woman comes to me for comfort, I’m going to enjoy every second of the time she spends in my arms.”
“And if she decides to let you comfort her through the night?”
“All the better.”
“How do women manage to resist you?”
“Usually they don’t.”
“So I’m an anomaly?”
“In a class all of your own.”
She put her hand on the door handle once again, and this time Ashton didn’t stop her. He’d learned to coax the flavor out of food. Forcing something to happen often led to an inferior outcome and above all else, he wanted the first time he made love to Harper to be a moment she’d never forget.
* * *
Harper couldn’t make herself open the door. Her body ached for his touch. Last night when they’d kissed she’d been able to resist him—just barely. But she’d been nervous about being discovered and had no intention of being seen accompanying Ashton to his suite.
Would it be any better if she was seen exiting his suite in the morning? No, but she was on the verge of not caring.
He must have picked up on her ambivalence because he gently pried her fingers from the handle and dropped a sizzling kiss in her palm. She melted beneath the heat of his gaze and didn’t protest when his fingers sought the small of her back. Nor did she resist when with a soft groan he pulled her torso up and firmly into his body.
“Ask me again to stay,” she whispered, exhilarated by the leashed passion vibrating in Ashton’s muscles.
She dug her fingers into his biceps as he set his open mouth on her neck. The sweep of his tongue against her skin made her moan. Her breasts felt heavy as his arm tightened around her, his chest pushing into her as his breath deepened. The burn beneath her skin made the touch of her clothes unbearable. She needed them gone. Needed to feel his naked flesh against her.
She was half out of her mind with hunger by the time he murmured, “Stay.”
“Okay.”
He swept her off her feet before the word faded. The air around her cooled as his long, rapid strides brought them to the bedroom. With gentleness she never imagined he possessed, he laid her on the mattress and braced his hands on either side of her head. Wondering what he was up to, she peered at his looming form from beneath her lashes. The intensity of his stare ramped up her desire to be utterly devoured by him.
Raising one hand, she traced the faint hollow of his dimple with her fingertips. The corner of his mouth lifted in response to her touch, deepening the sexy indent. He leaned over her to rub his lips over hers in a tantalizing caress. With an encouraging murmur, she slid her fingers into his hair and brought him closer, deepening the kiss.
Tongues dancing, mouths fused as the heat between them increased, Harper decided the reality of Ashton Croft’s kisses was so much better than any fantasy. She wanted to savor the feel of his lips on hers forever, but already her body needed more. Working blindly, she slipped all his shirt buttons free and stroked the fabric off his shoulders. A purr of satisfaction rumbled from her as her palms coasted over the hills and valleys of muscle from his collarbone to his belt.
He seized her lip between his teeth and bit lightly before licking the tender spot. Standing up, he stripped off his shirt, shed his pants and shoes. She scrambled to her knees and peeled off her sweater, but in her haste got her arms caught. Turning the soft knit inside out, she freed herself in time to meet the rush of Ashton’s lips as he rejoined her on the bed.
In a jumble of limbs, they rolled across the mattress. Somehow Harper ended up on top. Breathless and laughing, she pressed her lips against Ashton’s throat. His hands coasted over her butt and down the backs of her thighs, urging her against the erection straining his boxer briefs. Her head spun as she waited to see where his fingers would explore next.
When they dipped below the waistband of her yoga pants and followed the seam between her butt cheeks to the molten core of her, she gasped. As fleeting as his touch was, it seared her through. She whimpered a protest as he retreated, palms gliding back over the same path. This time he caressed upward, riding the hem of her camisole up over her rib cage.
Almost too shaken to move, but dying to feel his hands on her breasts, Harper placed her palms on the mattress and shoved herself upward. As she’d hoped, he claimed her breasts in his large hands, sending wave after wave of acute pleasure surging through her with his firm touch. She ducked her head as he finished removing her top and emerged from the folds of fabric with a jubilant cry. The sound was cut short as Ashton rolled her beneath him and pulled her nipple into his mouth.
First he sucked, and then swirled his tongue around her nipple, the sensation heightening the lust rampaging through her. She combed her fingers into his hair and held him close. From her throat, mindless, encouraging sounds erupted. She was beyond words. Completely at his command. Whatever he wanted from her she’d give him.
Why had she denied herself this amazing experience for so long? She should have slept with him the first day they met and every time after that. Obviously she wasn’t thinking straight because she’d completely forgiven him for all those months of frustration.
Ashton shifted his attention to her second breast and devoted a considerable amount of time driving her desire to alarming heights. His fingers were as busy as his mouth, tracing the skin across her belly, making her stomach muscles pitch and roll. At last he hooked her waistband and applied pressure downward. Harper lifted her hips off the bed to make his job easier. He peeled her pants down her legs, and she finished removing them with three frantic kicks.
His tongue dipped into her navel. Sensation lanced downward. He shifted his broad shoulders between her thighs and used his thumbs to part her folds. Harper clutched the sheets just as his mouth settled over her. Her body jolted, the movement wringing a murmur from her. That’s all she had strength for. The rest of her energy was focused on the amazing thing he was doing with his tongue.
Sex wasn’t usually on her weekly agenda. She found it difficult to make time to indulge in a decadent spa treatment or take an afternoon and go shopping. Finding a man she was attracted to seemed far too challenging a prospect, so she went long periods of time without being intimate with anyone.
When first Scarlett and then Violet had fallen in love, Harper might never admit it out loud, but she had envied their glow, the satisfied glint in their eye. Nor had it helped that she’d just begun working with the roguishly handsome Ashton Croft. Hormones long asleep had begun to stir with ever-increasing agitation.
She’d put his ability to exasperate her down to their differing approaches, but with Ashton’s mouth sending her into orbit she realized it had just been sexual chemistry and she’d been too long absorbed in her work to recognize the signs.
As pleasure rose, she planted her feet against the mattress and hung on for dear life. His fingers flexed into the soft flesh of her butt, his firm grasp the perfect catalyst to send her spinning out of control. She cried his name as her body exploded. For a second there was a burst of light behind her eyes, and then it slowly faded and she drifted in darkness.
Dimly she felt Ashton shift away from her, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t protest his leaving. Dimly, she heard the rustle of a condom wrapper and was glad that he’d thought to protect them both. Very few seconds passed before the mattress dipped again. Her lashes fluttered upward as he moved over her once more. His mouth stroked across her lips, tongue dipping between them to tease and arouse all over. Harper put her arms around his shoulders as he shifted his hips between her thighs.
She felt him nudge against her entrance and raised up to meet his thrust as he pushed inside her in one fluid movement. Her inner muscles shuddered in delight, and Ashton buried his face in her neck with a ragged sigh. He was not a small man, and she was a little shocked that her body was able to take him fully. But the rightness of their joinin
g was not to be denied.
Slowly, he started to move. Finding his rhythm took her barely any time at all. Soon it was as if they’d made love a hundred times. She ran her hands over him, finding spots that excited him. He adjusted the angle of her hips and drove into her a little more forcefully. The evocative twist he gave as he plunged into her over and over quickly brought Harper back to the brink of release. As it swept up to claim her once again, she clutched Ashton’s forearms and welcomed the frenzied pounding of his body into her as he, too, closed in on his orgasm.
They didn’t quite climax together, but it was awfully close. Harper felt the first spasm hit her and dug her nails into Ashton’s skin. He kissed her long and hard and with two deep thrusts emptied himself into her with a powerful shudder.
Stunned by the power of what had just happened between them, Harper buried her nose in Ashton’s neck and held on while his body trembled. Her sparse personal life hadn’t given her a lot of experience in these sorts of matters, but Harper was pretty sure Ashton was as moved as she was.
So what came next?
As if in answer to her question, Ashton shifted his lax muscles and collapsed onto the mattress beside her. They lay side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Harper listened as his breath returned to normal. Her skin was cooling fast. She needed to decide whether to put on her clothes and get out of here or to snuggle against Ashton. Before she’d made up her mind, his fingers closed over hers.
“Don’t run off just yet.”
Harper turned her head and realized he was watching her. “You don’t know that’s what I was thinking.”
“Don’t I?” He rolled onto his side and caught her around the waist, pulling her beneath him. “Tell me you weren’t going to make the excuse that you had to get back to work.”
With his warm skin pressing against hers, she knew her opportunity to make a clean getaway had just vanished. Surrendering to the pleasure of his large body overwhelming her, she slid her hands along his muscular arms and marveled at the beauty of his broad shoulders. Already her body craved to be possessed by his once more. He was going to be a hard man to get over.
