Seductive Moments

by Altonya Washington

  * * *

  She woke, finding herself once again in the midst of toasty warmth. She was back inside the loft bedroom and smothered beneath the many soothing layers of linens to protect her against the ever-present chill that the exuberant hearth flames hadn’t been able to stave off. The skylight was an unintended conductor for the coldest air, as well as a masterpiece.

  Slowly, she attempted to push herself up beneath the covers. She managed to prop on her elbows and look down at the pillow she was strongly considering putting her face back into. A short glass filled with a fuzzy amber liquid moved into view, followed by Barker’s voice.

  “Drink it.”

  He kept a strong grip on the glass even as Ray cradled it with a shaky hand and sipped. Ginger ale. She accepted the drink gratefully and was sitting up by the time it was done.

  “Thanks.” She wrapped herself loosely in the linens and tried to think.

  “How long before you tell me I’m going to be a father?”

  There was no need to speak once the question hit the air, but Ray tried anyway. Sputtering was all she could manage. The words what and no tried to make themselves known, but any truly cohesive sentence was a foolish hope.

  Barker had no trouble speaking. “Were you going to tell me?”

  “Barker, you—that’s not—not.” Ray shook her head violently until a wave of dizziness tried to creep in. “That’s not possible...”

  “How do you figure?” Amusement underscored his question. “I mean, I know your head’s a little fuzzy but I don’t mean this happened overnight. For some women the symptoms start right away—within a matter of days, in some cases.”

  She sent him a sour sideways look. “Thanks, Dr. Grant. I’m sure you remember all the condoms we used?”

  “I remember. We used everything I had.”

  “See?” The question wasn’t asked as confidently as she would have liked.

  “You understand that condoms aren’t one hundred percent effective, and we had lots of occasions to test those odds.”

  Ray felt her cheeks burn even as a chill kissed her skin. She knew it had nothing to do with the drafty space. “I wouldn’t let that happen.” She gave another belligerent head shake. “I’d never let myself get caught out there like that. I wouldn’t do that to myself or you.”

  “Ray.” Barker moved closer to the bed. “Do you believe I think you’re trying to trap me?”

  “Most men would.” She winced. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I—I know you wouldn’t, but saddling you with something like this wouldn’t be fair—not to you and definitely not to an innocent kid.”

  Barker studied her closely and with a look of innate awareness. “You really don’t know for sure, do you?”

  “There’s nothing to know.” She made a push to leave the bed but quickly reconsidered, not at all certain her legs would carry her.

  “Do you always sleep as much as I’ve seen you do lately?”

  “Barker!” she cried, feeling close to laughter of the hysterical variety. “We’ve been under the same roof all of a day—”

  “Seen and heard—” he bulldozed her argument, “E says Clarissa hopes you’ll use the trip to get caught up on your rest and stop sleeping all over the place.”

  Ray rolled her eyes. “Haven’t any of you ever heard of jet lag?”

  “Cute.” Barker’s glare said he really didn’t think it was. “You’re fortunate to have friends who consider all explanations.”

  “Well, this is one you and them can set aside.” She raised her hands and let them fall to the covers soundlessly. “How could you possibly want to be saddled with something like this?”

  “By ‘this,’ you mean our child?”

  “Stop saying that.”

  “Hell, Ray, it’s not the end of the world.”

  “Some women would think so.” She scooted toward Barker’s shirt, which lay crumpled a few inches away. “I won’t take that back,” she grumbled. “I know women who’d totally think that way.”

  Barker kept to his quadrant of the massive bed and idly studied the remnants of the ginger ale in the glass. “Do you think that way?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” She jerked on the shirt. “It’s not happening.”

  “Fair enough, but will you do something for me anyway?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll take a pregnancy test as soon as we’re back.”

  “And you’d tell me? Whatever happens?”

  At first, Ray felt a little miffed that he would ask such a thing. Yet considering what she’d just said, she couldn’t blame him. “Of course, Barker. Of course I would.”

  He reached across the bed and pulled her close to put a kiss to her temple.

  “I’ll get a bath going in your room downstairs. It seems to help.”

  She laughed. “How is it you know so much about women and babies? Are you a closet ob-gyn or something?”

  “Not at all.” He took her hand, studying it while lacing his fingers through hers. “When I was about eight, I didn’t like losing my best kickball partner. I needed to understand why.”

  “Kickball.” Curiosity furrowed Ray’s brow.

  “My aunt Patricia. She could and still can play kickball better than anyone I’ve ever met. We used to play it almost every Saturday—her, me and my cousin Dale. Aunt Pat is his mother. She got pregnant with my cousin Debra, and soon her doctors were having her take it easy. They nixed our kickball games.”

  “Too bad.” Ray sat riveted by the quiet nostalgia softening his features.

  “Dale wasn’t all that interested but I was, and so my education on the subject began. Anyway...” He got up from the bed, but stopped at the room door.

  “Just to be clear, Ray. I’d want this. I’d want this all the way.”

  Ray didn’t realize she was holding her breath until the room filled with the sound of a burning log splitting in the fireplace.

  Chapter 13

  Ray decided that a hot soak in a deep, sumptuous tub was definitely not the way to get her to stop entertaining thoughts about napping all over the place. Yet she guessed since she was supposed to be pregnant, napping all over the place was expected.

  Pregnant! She shivered amid the steamy fragrant bath Barker had been sweet enough to run for her. There was no way she could be...and yet...

  Reluctantly, she recapped the state of her well-being over the last several weeks. It had only been a matter of weeks! The silent rant echoed inside her head. Ray sighed and kicked out at the foam topping the bathwater.

  Weeks, even days, were all it took for such symptoms to show. She knew that well enough. Barker Grant wasn’t the only one who had been schooled in the ways of what to expect when you were expecting. Hadn’t her own mother made a habit of sharing—complaining about, rather—all her “delightful” moments during the nine months she’d been carrying her?

  Barker hadn’t complained though. He wanted this! He wanted her to have the child—if there was one. He wanted to be a father. She’d never known anyone who wanted such a responsibility. Nearly everyone she’d ever met or spoken to on the subject had viewed the possibility of having a kid as a chore they didn’t want to be bothered with.

  Ray thought of her mentor, Jazmina Beaumont. The woman had cared for Ray better than her own mother when she’d taken her under her wing at the tender age of eighteen. Jazmina Beaumont had come closest to being one who would welcome the responsibility of a child. Still... Ray felt her eyelids going weighty against the steam...perhaps Jaz Beaumont only felt that way because she didn’t actually have a child. Despite her active social life, she’d made sure motherhood had never crossed her doorstep. Though she’d practically raised her niece, Clarissa didn’t live with her. Clarissa had only spent the summers or the occasional holiday with her aunt, and then it was back to her dad in California.

  No...no o
ne she knew wanted the responsibility of a child in their lives. So why was the idea stirring a happy anticipation in the pit of her stomach, instead of the anxious, woeful one she’d expected?

  * * *

  Ray stubbornly refused to return to bed after the delicious bath. She could sleep at home. Her present digs were too incredible to be slept through. Besides, there were spots she was still a little curious about and wanted to further explore.

  She found one of the heavy floor-length robes she’d packed waiting across the bed when she left the bath suite. She smiled. She’d purchased a few such items on a whim. There had been little chance she’d wear them during the recent trip to the tropics. There was even less of an opportunity around her own home, but here...

  Ray smoothed a hand over the thick material. The robe hadn’t been the only thing taken from her case. Barker had obviously unpacked for her. She guessed he intended for them to make the most of the trip, as well. She donned the garment, figuring it’d do well enough for house attire that day.

  From the stunning window wall overlooking the surrounding mountains and village below, the day seemed to be enveloped by snow and clouds. It was a day made for staying indoors and exploring. She found her way to the kitchen, half-expecting to find Barker there awaiting her with orders for her to eat. The kitchen was empty, but he’d made his wishes known anyway.

  She found a legal-sized sheet of copy paper and the word EAT! written in block letters in the middle and underlined for emphasis. At least he was giving her the chance to decide what to eat, she mused. Ray circled the island to the fridge, but didn’t trust her stomach to hold a full meal. She selected a bowl of grapes and slice of cantaloupe instead.

  Her appetite appeared and she gobbled down the fruit, chasing it with a tall bottle of water. Satisfied, she continued to test her legs by strolling the magnificent chateau. The walk was a pleasant one. Every corridor carried a beautiful painting, sculpture or amazing rug that brought an otherwise sterile space to life.

  Ray wasn’t at all ashamed to take the route back to the floor of the erotic suites. The rooms had secured a space in her memory that was sure to hold for a long time. They were a tempting sight with all the suggestive art and the mirrors above the beds. The corridor was almost as dim as it’d been the first time she’d taken it with Barker. The electric sconces cast muted, welcoming light across the space, which greatly ushered—instead of powerfully thrusting—one into the breathtakingly seductive chambers.

  Ray peeked into several of the rooms. She wanted to indulge in a closer and lengthier inspection that she hadn’t felt completely at ease doing before in Barker’s presence. As she was on her own now, Ray planned to take a look at each of the spots before returning to her own room. She’d inspected three, when she noticed a mysterious flickering coming from a chamber farther down the hall. Only a second of hesitation, and then she was heading onward to ease her curiosity.

  Ray was sure her gasp must’ve echoed down the hall when she pushed past the heavy open door. This was one of the rooms they’d skipped on the last tour. Since all the chambers were alike in their sensual design, she would’ve certainly remembered touring the one before her eyes then.

  It was only similar to the others in size. The fireplace blazed with a fierce flame, which was what Ray guessed had accounted for the flickering she’d seen. Finding a fireplace of similar size to the one in the loft bedroom was indeed a shock, given the small size of this room. The hearth appeared even more gigantic, its flames even more dynamic. Somehow the room wasn’t stifling, but comfortably toasty.

  Alas, that wasn’t what prompted her gasp. The other rooms boasted mirrors adorning the space directly above the bed. This room claimed an entirely mirrored ceiling.

  One look at the artwork gave Ray a fine idea of what the space must have been used for. The mural covering the wall opposite the bed depicted an orgy circa early 1970s, given the afros and furnishings featured in the piece.

  Ray didn’t know whether to call the place tacky or inspiring. She wagered that it’d put the room’s occupants in quite a mood.

  “I didn’t think you’d know what to make of this one, so I skipped it before.”

  She didn’t turn at the sound of Barker’s voice, nor did she flinch in surprise. She continued to stare in awe of the picture and the room’s ceiling.

  “They say the rich are different.”

  Barker grimaced, leaving the doorframe where he’d been watching her for almost ten minutes. “Not so different, just with enough money to act on the fantasies most of us have.”

  “Uh-huh.” Ray sounded supremely unconvinced. “So, your dad and his brothers brought their wives here?”

  “My dad’s got four brothers,” he said. “Only two of them—my uncles Dale and Darius—are married, leaving the other two to...sow royal oats.”

  Ray’s laugher was short, but highly amused. “The rich may be different, but they sure aren’t boring.” She turned to him then. “Did you want me to see this for a reason?”

  “Well, you’re here to check the place out, right? You don’t want to have to tell E you missed a spot, do you?”

  Ray took a short staircase up to a chaise lounge that was almost as wide as a twin bed. It was covered with a mass of silks and small round throws.

  “You’re right, I guess.” Her response was wrapped in a teasing sigh. “I should be as thorough as possible.” That said, she walked the length of the chaise. When she turned, she’d undone the robe’s belt and waited.

  Barker was already shaving off the distance between them. She didn’t make the pursuit an easy one. When he came at her from one direction, she smoothly shifted to the other. Barker tired quickly of the play and simply reached across the lounge to snag a corner of the robe.

  Ray merely shrugged off the garment and enjoyed the second or two she had to gloat before Barker cuffed her wrist in his palm. Any lingering traces of play failed. In an effortless move, Barker straddled the lounge and positioned Ray to straddle him. Her lashes flitted like hummingbird wings when her bare sex nudged his, still concealed beneath the gauzy powder-gray fabric of his sleep pants. In an instant, she was rocking in an attempt to absorb her fair share of sensation.

  Barker took Ray’s hips and mastered the determined sway of her body. The sensual rise and fall of her breasts before his face was a treat too tempting to resist. Her cry was a mix between gasp and shriek when he captured only the pouting tip of one breast into his mouth.

  Ray bit her lip and, with both hands braced on the back of the chaise, took in the sight of them in the mirrored ceiling. Barker’s dark head moved eagerly against her chest; his feasting there threatened to send her into orgasm. Hands supporting her back, he kept her secure as he sucked her nipples until they glistened and hardened on his tongue.

  Ray heard him moan then, and her heart made a steady climb to her throat. When Barker flipped the tables and put her beneath him, she didn’t dream of complaining—not when the view from that locale was so satisfying. She was in a state of complete captivation as she studied the erotic flex of his heavily muscled back. She was barely visible beneath his frame until he began his descent to the part of her that ached for him. Her hips left the tangle of vibrantly colored silks when he used his index fingers to gently part the petal-soft folds guarding her sex. His tongue filled her with a deep and steady thrust moments later.

  Greedily, she gripped and clutched the wondrous source of stimulation. Her hands weakened by pleasure and just managed to cradle the back of Barker’s head as he delighted in her body. Between the vigorous tonguing and gentle nibbles to the moist folds at her core, Ray tumbled fast and happily into the orgasmic oblivion she anticipated.

  Orgasm was not to be hers just then, though, and she swatted at nothing but air when Barker withdrew to leave her neglected on a cliff of stormy need. She opened her eyes in time to see him reach into a deep pocket of his p
ajamas and retrieve several condoms. He tossed them to her stomach, the amusement in her laughter taking a back seat to anticipation. Her mouth went desert-dry when he freed the pants to send them gliding to the floor. He didn’t return to the lounge, but stood behind its curved back.

  Ray was sure to take one of the condoms when Barker tugged her down to meet him. She had it unpackaged by the time he had her calves over the back of the chaise. He set their protection in place, and Ray felt her heart in her ears then. She swore they’d popped when he clutched the bend of her knees and claimed her with a branding stroke. The thrust stretched, excited and satisfied to what Ray hoped would be no end.

  The earlier voracity he’d used when taking her orally had adopted a leisured but no less arousing pace. Ray gripped the edges of the lounge and forbid herself to come no matter how fiercely her body raged for her to do exactly that. She didn’t believe she’d ever see a more stunning sight than their mirrored images in the throes of vigorous sex. Still, her eyelids felt weighted, drugged, yet she remained lucid.

  Her hips elevated and were in a superb position to experience each surge of every climactic wave. To be claimed in such a manner...there was no comparison for such stimuli. She pleaded when he spread her wide to increase penetration and pleasure at once. She couldn’t hold off the inevitable for much longer. Barker seemed to sense that.

  “Don’t try it,” he warned.

  Again, Ray’s breathless and anticipation-laced laughter filled the room.

  * * *

  There was a great deal to do over the next several days of their stay. The skies didn’t clear much, but they did brighten enough during the day. Barker decided they probably wouldn’t have a better time to be out and about.

  Ray was all for it. Her exhaustion and queasiness even eased off some so that she could enjoy the sights and activity of the famous skiing oasis. There was a lot to be said for traveling with one’s very own tour guide.