by Sara Orwig
They circled a glistening pond in the center of the drive and sped away from the mansion. When he had to stop to turn onto the highway, he glanced at her.
“You drive as if you have a destination in mind,” she said.
“I always have a destination in mind,” he replied. “There’s a bar overlooking the Napa River where we can have a drink and talk. Later, we can have dinner together.” He touched her hand. “You don’t have a wedding ring, so you’re single. Is there a particular man in your life right now?”
“No, there’s not. And you don’t have a ring, either.”
“And there’s no particular woman in my life. At least not until the past half hour.”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t say I’m ‘in your life.’”
“Yes, you are,” he insisted in his deep masculine voice. “And I intend to keep you there,” he declared. She inhaled, knowing his words were ridiculous and yet unable to resist them. He was temptation, excitement, a sexy male.
“Do you always go after what you want with this much determination?”
One of his dark eyebrows arched. “You have no idea.”
“So, Eli, let me guess what you do. You’re too well-fixed to have a laborer’s job. You have that look of money. At the same time you look as if you’re accustomed to doing rough, physical activities.”
“What’s the look of money?”
“Your elegant sports car. Your fine suit.”
“What makes you think I do physical work?”
She wondered if she was far off the mark, yet that was the way he appeared to her. He kept a barrier up and didn’t reveal much of himself. She couldn’t tell whether her analysis amused or annoyed him.
“I’ll have to admit that when you linked my arm in yours, I felt your muscles. You didn’t get them sitting behind a desk.”
“I could sit behind a desk and work out at a gym and get muscles,” he replied.
“No. You’re deeply tanned. I’m betting that you do something physical,” she said. He had revealed a rough edge on the veranda at the Ashton Estate that ruled out a myriad of professions. “Whatever you do, you’re successful at it,” she said.
“Where did you get that idea? My car and my suit?”
“Not at all. Your self-assurance.”
He gave her a sardonic glance. “Enough about me. I’m a winemaker,” he said. “Now, speaking of walking—” he reached over and drew his fingers along her arm, sending tingles spiraling in the wake of his touch “—you have a walk that is sexy enough to set a man ablaze.”
“I don’t set men on fire,” she replied, feeling her cheeks flush.
“We can argue that one when I’m not driving.”
Could she possibly send this man into flames? She couldn’t imagine it. Her gaze roamed down his long legs and then back up to find him watching her, before he returned his attention to the road.
When they sped into Napa, anticipation fizzed in her veins. As they drove down Main Street, passing Victorian-style houses, she looked at the town she had known most of her life, yet now she saw it as if for the first time. They passed the Jarvis Conservatory that had been so pretty when the wisteria vines had been in bloom earlier. She looked at the plain Vintners’ Collective Building, and in minutes they drove past the renovated opera house with its cheerful red awning. Crossing the winding Napa River, she saw a red and green Napa trolley as it rumbled along the street.
Because of the man beside her, the sky seemed bluer, the air fresher. Colors were more vivid, impressions carving into her memory in a day she would never forget. Gone was the emotional, depressing day with the funeral and all it involved. Now she felt full of life, anticipation bubbling in her.
In minutes they were seated on a terrace that overlooked a bend in the glistening Napa River. Tables were covered in white linen cloths, centered with vases of fresh daisies and roses. Orange and yellow nasturtiums filled pots along the terrace, while multicolored flowers spilled from hanging baskets and a musician played softly from somewhere inside the restaurant.
Eli ordered a bottle of Chardonnay and appetizers. Their white-coated waiter uncorked the wine and waited for Eli’s approval. After pouring their glasses, the waiter left to return with the appetizers Eli had ordered.
Eli raised his glass. “Here’s to us, Lara,” he said quietly.
He leaned across the table and drew his fingers over her knuckles. “I want to take you to dinner Saturday night,” he said. “We can go dancing.”
“I need to know you better,” she replied, a smile curving her full lips.
He touched the corner of her mouth.
“I like your smile, Lara. And we will know each other a lot better by Saturday. We can start right now. Tell me what you like to do and what you don’t like.”
“I like the usual things that everyone likes—dancing, swimming, reading. There’s nothing unusual about me.”
“That’s not so,” he said firmly. “Your brown eyes are unusually beautiful.”
“Oh, please!” she exclaimed. Lara smiled at him, yet his compliment pleased her. He leaned closer while the fingers of his right hand lightly stroked back and forth across her knuckles. If anyone had unusually beautiful eyes, he did. Thickly lashed, filled with emerald fire, they were bedroom eyes, spellbinding eyes.
“Don’t deny it. I’ve never seen eyes that shade of milk chocolate with golden flecks in their depths. Everything about you has been unusual, which is why I’m intrigued and intend to know you better.”
She smiled at him, shaking her head. “I think you are having a reaction to the gloomy day we’ve had.”
He traced his fingers along the corner of her mouth while he shook his head in denial. “Not at all. I will get to know you. I promise you that.”
As his declarations sent her pulse racing, she wondered if anything in his adult life had ever stopped him or been unattainable for him.
“Try this dip,” he said, spooning some on a cracker and holding it out. “Take a bite.” She reached up to take the cracker from him, but he caught her hand with his free one. “Take a bite,” he repeated in a low voice, still holding the tidbit.
She leaned forward to let him feed it to her. This brought her only inches from him, heightening her desire. His finger barely brushed her lip, and all the time, his gaze held hers. He was sexy, commanding.
“Maybe I’d better feed myself,” she said in a breathless voice, looking at his sensual, well-sculpted mouth.
As the shadows lengthened, the sun became a fireball on the western horizon, splintering golden reflections across the swiftly running river. Tables around them filled and the noise level rose, although she barely noticed anyone else. Lara’s world held only Eli and her.
“Lara,” he said, turning her hand in his and leaning closer across the table. “Let’s have dinner alone. Let me get a suite and we’ll have dinner sent up and we can be together without all this,” Eli said, waving his hand at those around them.
While the question, and all it implied, hung in the air, she looked into his green eyes and found them full of unspoken promises of passion.
Two
L ara inhaled deeply. She had to make a choice. Common sense told her to refuse, yet when she gazed into his seductive bedroom eyes, she knew she wanted the same thing he did. Why did it seem so right to be with him? She didn’t want the evening to end, and the thought of getting a suite had her heart pounding.
He raised her hand and brushed a feathery kiss across her palm and then looked at her for an answer.
“Yes, Eli,” she said softly. “A suite would be exciting.”
He paid the bill, left a generous tip and then held her chair. She preceded him across the terrace until they reached the sidewalk. Eli took her hand and they walked a few doors down to a red brick five-story hotel that overlooked the river.
In the lobby he turned to her. “Wait here while I register us,” he said.
She nodded, her pulse racing as she watched him walk
away. His features were rugged, yet softened by his thick eyelashes and emerald eyes. He had a purposeful walk, but then, he’d told her over drinks that he always had a destination. He was a man who knew where he was going and wasted no time getting there. And yet, for the past few hours he had given her his whole, undivided attention, hanging on every word she said as if she were rare and special. And she had done the same with him.
She shifted her weight and wondered about the attraction that had exploded between them the first time they looked at each other. Impossible. Only, it had happened and was still occurring. Right now her pulse was racing, and she didn’t want to stop looking at him and she longed to run her fingers through his thick, brown hair. She wanted to kiss him.
Her heart thudded on that one. She wondered if she knew herself.
Then he was walking back to her and all thoughts fled as he took her arm.
Along with the bellman they rode the elevator to the top floor. The bellman opened the suite door and switched on lights for them.
While Eli tipped the man, she strolled into the sitting room of their spacious suite. A large bouquet of fresh flowers was centered on a fruitwood table in front of a grouping of chairs covered in off-white damask. One end of the room to her right held a small kitchen and between the kitchen and the sitting room was a dining area. To her left, she glimpsed a bedroom.
On thick, white carpet she crossed the room to the floor-to-ceiling windows to look at the view of the river and the mountains beyond it. The sun was sliding lower, and dark would soon descend.
Eli turned to her and she saw the white-hot desire in his eyes.
“Now, isn’t this better?” he asked, shedding his coat and dropping it on a chair. Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door and a male voice announced, “Room service.”
The bellman set a tray on the table. It held an iced bottle of champagne, glasses and a fruit tray with bright red strawberries, yellow chunks of pineapple, slices of green kiwi and purple grapes. As pretty as the fruit looked, her appetite had vanished earlier in the day and had not yet returned.
When he was gone, Eli poured them both glasses of champagne.
Lara thought she might as well be in a dream, only this was real, but like nothing she had ever done before. She had fallen into a fairy-tale afternoon, taken out of her ordinary life like Cinderella by her prince. And for the next few hours, Lara decided she was going to continue to enjoy every minute and the sexy man who’d conjured it.
“I’ve never done anything so impulsive in my life,” she said.
“Neither have I, Lara,” he replied solemnly. “But this is different.”
She wondered how it was different for him and if he were telling her the truth. She couldn’t imagine a man like Eli hadn’t had all kinds of experiences with women. Women far more sophisticated, beautiful and with the same lifestyle as his.
He raised the flute of champagne. “Here’s to a fantastic evening,” he said.
She touched her glass to his, hearing the faint clink and then she sipped the bubbling, golden liquid.
“Now, isn’t this a lot better,” he said, unfastening his conservative charcoal tie and tossing it on a nearby chair.
“Yes, it’s better, but probably not the wisest thing I’ve done,” she replied. As he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his white shirt, her throat went dry.
“I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done,” he said, his enigmatic eyes darkening. He reached out to pull a pin from her hair and let a lock tumble to her shoulder. With deliberation he removed another pin. His fingers tugging gently on pins fueled the fires building in her. “This is what I wanted to see,” he whispered while his gaze roamed over her. “Your hair is magnificent.”
She had never been told that before. In minutes her hair was free of pins, framing her face in a silky cascade that poured over her shoulders.
He took her glass from her hand and set it on the table next to his. Then, as he reached for her, she walked eagerly into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her heart drummed. Caution had gone out the window when she left the estate with him, and now she wanted to kiss him, wanted to explore and discover and be kissed.
Lean and hard, he was solid muscle. He smelled of a tantalizing aftershave that she could not recognize. His strong arms banded her waist as he looked down at her. “I’ve been wanting to hold you since I first looked into your eyes.”
Before today, she would have thought a line like that would be pure fabrication, but with this man, she believed him. There was no mistaking the blatant need in his eyes. He gazed at her with a hunger that made her breathless.
She reached up with her forefinger and traced his lower lip. He inhaled deeply, and she was amazed at the effect she had on him. He reacted to her slightest touch.
“Lara,” he said, his voice gravelly, “I want you.”
She pulled him closer, and his eyelids became hooded. As his gaze lowered to her mouth, he leaned the last few inches to touch the corner of her mouth lightly with the tip of his tongue. The contact sizzled. Her lips felt swollen, aching to discover his. She wound her fingers in his thick hair.
“I’ve wanted to do this all day,” he whispered. He lowered his head and his mouth brushed hers. Seconds later, his tongue parted her lips, sliding into her mouth.
She returned his kiss, her tongue stroking his slowly. He was equally deliberate, launching a searing exploration of her mouth.
She’d never been kissed like this. She shook with fiery longing. Her fingers dug into his back and held on tightly.
One of his arms circled her waist while he shifted enough to be able to let one of his hands cruise across her breasts. Through the cotton dress and the wispy bra beneath, his caress was a lightning bolt streaking over her raw nerves. Her nipples were already tight, but his touch made them tingle, even through two layers of clothes—and made her ache to be free of the constriction.
Her fingers went to the buttons on his shirt to twist them loose until she could run her hand across his chest. She tangled her fingers in the thick brown hair on his chest, then brushed her hands across his flat nipples.
At her touch, he gasped and dipped his head to claim her mouth in another scalding kiss.
His free hand roamed over her bottom.
She tugged his shirt out of his pants, unbuttoned it and then pushed it off his broad shoulders. She paused, opening her eyes with an effort to meet his hooded gaze.
She leaned back to let her eyes feast on him. He was thick through the shoulders and chest, his body tapering down to narrow hips. The mat of brown curls narrowed down to a fine line that disappeared below his belt.
His belt. She wanted to unfasten it and free him of the constraint of his trousers. She glanced up to meet his scorching gaze again. He took her shoulders and turned her, leaning forward to let his warm breath play over her nape. Then his tongue followed as he brushed kisses on her nape. His fingers tugged her zipper down, his tongue following the opening to her waist.
Turning her to face him again, Eli pushed her black dress off her shoulders.
It floated to the floor in a puddle around her ankles, but her attention was on him as his gaze lowered to her breasts.
“Oh, yes,” he whispered. “You’re perfection.” He reached out to brush her nipples.
She gasped with pleasure and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him. He placed a light hand on her midriff, stopping her.
“I want to look at you, Lara.” He ground out the words when she looked at him questioningly. “I want to savor you, to explore you, to kiss you. I want to know you as I know myself, to know your softness, your body, your reactions. I intend to learn what pleases you and what excites you,” he drawled, his stated intentions heightening her fervor. “This night I want to drive you wild.”
His words aroused her almost as much as his caresses inflamed her. This handsome, dashing man was sinfully tempting. She could barely think or talk, but she wanted the same
thing he did. She wanted to discover all of him, to know him tonight as she had never known a man before. Then his kisses tracing her throat took her attention.
All she wore now was her pink bra and cotton panties that were cut low across her stomach. She wore thigh-high hose, and he reached out to roll them down. His fingers caressed her leg as he slid first one stocking and then the other off.
He stood and brushed her nipples with his fingers. The taut buds pushed against the fabric, and she shook with need.
Reaching out to touch his belt, she slid her hands to the buckle to unfasten it and then unzipped his trousers to free him from constraints. She reached out to tug down his briefs, inhaling deeply at the sight of his manhood. Thick and hard, he was ready for her. “Eli,” she whispered, stroking him.
With a groan he turned to her again, leaning down to trail warm kisses on her throat, nibbling on her earlobe while he unsnapped the clasp to her bra and pushed it away. As he cupped each full globe, she moaned.
Then his head went lower, seeking her pink, pouty nipples and letting his tongue circle first one and then the other. He pulled her partially against him, his tanned arm dark against her pale skin where he circled her waist. While he continued to kiss her breast, his hand drifted down over her stomach to push down her panties and reveal the thick auburn curls at the juncture of her thighs.
She trembled, nipping at his neck, kissing his shoulder, running her hands across his chest again.
He knelt in front of her, his fingers feathering along the inside of her thighs while he spread kisses across her stomach.
His tongue made burning paths on the inside of first one thigh and then the other. Closing her eyes, she clutched his shoulders tightly. Sensations rocked her. His fingers moved to her most intimate places, sliding through her thick auburn curls, to caress her.
She cried out when he increased the pressure of his fingers, finding the bud that was supremely sensitive. She moved her hips, lost now in mounting desire. While he kissed and rubbed her, his other hand glided down. His forefinger slid inside her, and her cry was muffled by his mouth. She hadn’t known she could want a man to the extent she wanted him—or respond to one with the abandon he was driving her to.
