by Sandra Brown
Loosely clasping her hands at her sides, he nuzzled the spot where the lapels of her robe overlapped. "You smell good."
Her insides began to hum. After two weeks without so much as a mild flirtation, his touch was as shocking as an electric current. Still, she didn't want him to believe he could have her easily. Did he think all he had to do was crook his finger and she would come running?
"Harlan, what are you doing?"
"If you'd shut up long enough, I'd like to seduce you."
"That's not a good idea. You agreed to keep our relationship strictly business. And about what happened before, Harlan, I don't want you to think—"
"'Bout the only thing wrong with you is that you talk too damn much."
He didn't stop her mouth with a kiss, but with a signal from his eyes that was just as potent. When she stared down into that smoldering gaze, the protests died on her lips, her insides turned to marshmallow, and her carefully arranged resolves scattered. He continued holding the stare as he untied the knot at her waist and parted the robe.
"Damn, Sage," he said when his hands slipped inside, "if I'd've known you were naked underneath this, I wouldn't have dawdled over my supper."
With his hands at her waist, he drew her forward and planted his open mouth in the very center of her torso. Her flesh jumped beneath the damp contact with his tongue. Reflexively, she rested her hands on his shoulders for support. She gripped them hard when he kissed first one nipple, then the other, idly flicking them with the tip of his tongue.
Sage moaned and almost lost her balance. He came to his feet and caught her, holding her against his chest. "Unfasten my jeans."
His whispered urgency didn't induce her to hurry. Rather, she hesitated before timidly reaching for his fly. The top snap was easy. The buttons gave her some difficulty, especially since he was kneading her breasts and making love to her mouth with his chocolate-flavored tongue. He grunted with pleasure whenever her knuckles bumped against the rigid flesh behind the soft denim. Finally the last button was undone. She withdrew her hands.
"Thanks," he said, sighing his relief. "Will you take my shirt off, too, please?"
He had showered before she claimed the bathroom for her bubble bath. He had emerged dressed in the worn jeans that his lean body seemed made for and a white cotton T-shirt, stretched tight across his broad chest and shoulders.
Now, through the cloth, she could see that his nipples were distended. The sight of his bare chest never failed to elicit a response from deep inside her. She took hold of the bottom of his T-shirt and worked it up over the firm muscles, over the pelt of tawny hair, and pulled it over his head. His hair fell back into place, looking sexily mussed. Several strands dipped low over his brows.
"That's much better," he whispered as he drew her into an embrace that brought their bare torsos together.
The kiss lasted an eternity and gave Sage a mighty appetite for more of him. She moved against his chest, delighting in the tickling sensation of his body hair against her smooth skin. The contact aroused her nipples. He noticed it immediately and caressed them lightly, first with his fingertips, then with his lips, which continued to wander down her body.
He sat down in the chair again and kissed her belly, her navel, each prominent hipbone. Pulling back, he studied the patch of down between her thighs for several moments before letting his fingers play with it.
Sage's breathing and heart rate escalated. Everything grew dark around her, as though her peripheral vision were shrinking in scope until all that was highlighted were Harlan and her and the glow of the single candle.
When his lips touched that springy nest, she uttered a low groan and dug her fingers into his hair. The pleasure she derived from his sweet kisses was so exquisite it was almost unbearable.
Harlan dropped to his knees. Gently he separated the soft flesh with the pads of his thumbs, then did something wonderful to her with his mouth.
Her soft cry was one of desire mixed with doubt. Sensations, unlike any she'd felt before, skyrocketed up through her body into her head. And while they made her wildly ecstatic, the magnitude of the ecstasy frightened her.
She backed away from him and threw herself facedown across one of the double beds, burying her face in the pillow. Her fingers gripped the bedding because the sensations wouldn't stop. One by one, the aftershocks rippled through her. She couldn't stop making that breathy, choppy sound.
The mattress sank beneath Harlan's weight as he lay down beside her. He laid his hand on the back of her head. "What's wrong, Sage? What are you afraid of?"
She rolled to her back, still breathless, still flushed, still overwhelmed. But her pride was at stake. "I'm not afraid of anything."
"Then why didn't you let yourself climax?"
Embarrassed, she turned her head away. He caught her beneath the chin and brought it back around. "You were shimmering. You were on the brink. I could feel it. Why didn't you go with it?" His eyes demanded an answer.
"It startled me," she replied huskily.
"Didn't you and Travis ever make love like that?"
The thought was as appalling as it was unappealing. Vehemently, she shook her head no.
"That man's either an idiot or a fairy," he mumbled. "Why didn't you ever make love with Travis, Sage? With any man? I'm sure plenty have tried."
"Yes, plenty have tried."
"Then why?"
"I don't know, Harlan. Don't badger me about it."
He cupped her head between his hands. "Listen to me. I've been struggling to keep myself decent around you for two weeks. It hasn't been easy. Just about everything you do, everything you say, each toss of your head and smile and expression makes me hard as all get out. Now, dammit, I think that entitles me to the answer to one simple question."
Sage was still very aroused herself. His erotic words didn't help her arousal subside. "It's not a simple question, Harlan. It's complex. I don't even know the answer myself."
"I've got a good guess. You didn't give a guy a chance to make love to you because you were afraid of being disappointing to your partner and disappointed yourself."
She gaped at him incredulously. "Where do you come up with this stuff?"
"You'd heard all the tales about your brothers' successes with women. You knew you couldn't compete in the romance department unless you turned into a bonafide slut."
"Talk about a double standard!"
"You're right. It stinks. But that's the way it is. So you decided that sex was one arena in which you wouldn't even try and be as good as they are."
"I have never even thought such drivel."
"I'm sure you haven't. It's all subconscious, but it's there. Well, listen to me." His hands increased their pressure around her head. He leaned over her, sliding one leg between hers, the denim feeling—impossibly—rough and soft at the same time.
"There's no one here but you and me, Sage. I haven't got a score card. You don't have to prove one damn thing to me. I already know you're sexy. I already know you make me hot and hard. I already know you'd burn, too, if you'd only let yourself.
"But if you say no, that's okay, too. I won't make any judgments one way or the other. You know I want you in the worst way, but it's up to you. What's it going to be? What do you want?"
"I want—" She faltered, unable to continue.
"What? Say what you were thinking. For once just be Sage, the woman, without worrying about what is expected of Sage Tyler, daughter to Bud and Laurie, and younger sister to Chase and Lucky."
She took several hard breaths, then said in a rush, "I want you to touch me."
"Where?"
"Everywhere."
"Be specific."
"You mean say the words?"
"I mean say the words."
She did. His eyes turned dark with sexual intensity.
"And?" he rasped.
"When you kiss me…"
"Yeah?"
"Be thorough with my mouth. Eat it up like it was your last meal."
"Sounds good so far," he whispered thickly. "Go on."
Sensuality pumped through her veins like a powerful narcotic. Her nerves were exposed and tingling deliciously. She felt high, exuberant, and marvelously alive.
"I want to run my hands all over your beautiful body. I want to hold you against me and squeeze the breath out of you. I want you to be inside me again, Harlan."
He whistled softly. "For a beginner, you talk damn good sex, Miss Sage."
Their first fiery kiss prompted her to put her brave words into action. She slid her hands into the seat of his jeans and cupped his buttocks.
Making a low, hungry sound, Harlan rolled to his side and shoved down his jeans, then kicked them off. His chest was rapidly rising and falling with each breath, but he left the next move to her.
Her eyes detailed his body. Curiously she touched his nipple with her fingernail. Harlan sucked in a sharp breath and held it but still didn't rush her.
She lowered her head to his chest and pressed her mouth over the projected bud, then pushed her tongue against it. He murmured her name and buried his fingers in her hair. She surrendered to every whim and brought to life the fantasies that she had been secretly entertaining for weeks. Her mouth danced across his chest, kissing randomly, nipping playfully, licking lightly, sucking softly.
The more she tasted, the greedier she became. Kneeling beside him, she rested her hands on the tops of his thighs and kissed her way over his ribs. She dipped her tongue into the fuzzy mystery of his navel.
He gasped her name repeatedly and knotted her hair around his fingers.
She nuzzled her face in the musky warmth surrounding his sex and glanced the smooth tip with her lips, then returned several times.
"I'm dying, baby," he moaned, dragging her up and sealing their mouths together around a wild, ravenous kiss. She ground her hips against his hardness. He lifted his head and hung it low over hers. "We've got to slow it down. We don't have to go this fast unless the hotel catches on fire. I don't want to hurt you again."
"You won't. Please, Harlan. Now."
For all her urgency, his entry was slow and gentle, yet firm. "You're so wet." He sighed, sinking into her. "Lord, you feel good."
"So do you."
They smiled at each other as he pressed even deeper. "Can you feel that?"
"Hmm, yes."
"And that?"
Closing her eyes, she murmured an incoherent yes.
"Good. Good. Now, draw your knees back. That's it. Ah, Sage."
In moments, he forgot to take his own advice against unnecessary haste. Sage didn't remind him, but eagerly met each of his thrusts. Emptying her mind of all else, she reveled in the thrilling sensations, returned them, relished each new one.
She drew him into her with her body and mind and soul until she couldn't tell that they were separate individuals.
When her extremities began to tingle in a way she now recognized, she didn't fight it, but clasped Harlan tighter. All her concentration centered on their joined bodies, on the friction and the heat and his pulsing, giving motions, until she dissolved in the sweetness and light of their mutual release.
Several minutes later, he would have slipped away from her. She whispered, "Don't go."
Without compromising their intimacy, he rolled to his side, bringing her with him until they lay face-to-face. "You talked me into staying."
Their smiling lips came together in a chaste, soft kiss before she nestled her face in his neck.
"Harlan?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks."
"My pleasure."
She smiled against his warm skin. "Harlan?"
"Hmm?"
"Nothing. I was just saying your name out loud."
Drawing a deep, contented sigh, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
* * *
The following morning when she came bustling through the door, he was lying on his back in bed with his hands stacked beneath his head.
"Well, you're finally awake," she said with a happy smile.
"Where'd you go? I was getting worried."
"I woke up early, simply bursting with energy. I waited for you to wake up, but when you didn't, I went out for donuts and scalding, black coffee just the way you like it."
She set the two white paper sacks on the table that was still littered with their dinner dishes and the candle which had burned down sometime during their night of lovemaking. They had napped and reawakened to make love so many times, Sage had lost count.
Moving to the bed now, she bent over him and kissed his forehead, where strands of pale hair lay, then his lips. Taking a corner of the sheet between her thumb and fingertip, she raised it and took a peek underneath. "Why, Harlan, you're naked! How uncouth."
"Is that a fifty-cent word for horny?"
"You went to college. You know what uncouth means."
"And you know what horny means. Come here." Snarling playfully, he grabbed her wrists and pulled her down over him. She put up only token resistance before melting on top of him, letting her body's softness conform to the hard strength of his.
"Again?" she whispered seductively. "I thought doing it too much could make you go blind."
"You only go blind if you don't do it enough."
"Oh, my. Well, we can't let that happen, can we?" she said, meshing her mouth with his.
Between fervent kisses, she wrestled out of her clothing until she lay stretched atop him, touching skin to skin, hairy to smooth, male to female. She registered momentary surprise when he slid his hands over her derriere onto the backs of her thighs and parted them, lifting her up slightly to straddle his lap.
"I don't know what to do," she told him with genuine anxiety.
"Yes, you do."
"Like this?" She executed a movement that made his eyes glaze.
"Yeah," he struggled to say, "exactly like that."
When it was over, she lay upon his chest, panting like the victim of a shipwreck washed ashore.
He folded his arms across the small of her back. His expression was soft and full of affection. "Who needs fantasies with you around, Sage?"
"You've fulfilled all of mine, too."
"All?"
"Well, there is one…"
He grabbed a double handful of her hair and lifted her head off his chest. "Well?"
"Can I wash your back in the shower?"
A slow grin spread across his sexy face. "Miss Sage, you can wash whatever your little heart desires."
* * *
Sage emerged from the bathroom first, leaving him to shave. Humming to herself, she collected her discarded clothes from around the bed and dressed again. She was removing the lids from Styrofoam cups of coffee when Harlan came out of the bathroom, hiking his jeans up over his hips.
"I'm afraid the coffee got cold," she apologized, handing him a cup.
"It was worth it. I'd rather have hot sex than hot coffee anytime."
She purred coyly. "I do believe you would."
He kissed her before taking a sip of the lukewarm coffee.
"The donuts are still fresh," she told him. "Have one."
She poked one into his mouth. He took a bite, then used the donut to gesture toward a pile of papers scattered across the table. "What's all that?"
"Before I went out, I skimmed the local business magazine we picked up in the lobby when we checked in. There were some impressive success stories in it, so I started compiling a list of potential clients."
"Very good," he said with approval as his eyes ran down her handwritten list.
With something close to idolatry, Sage was dreamily assessing his face when she saw his eyes fix on one of the names. He stopped his vigorous chewing and held the bite of donut in his mouth for several seconds before swallowing it.
"Strike the next to the last name." Abruptly, he tossed down the sheet of paper.
Sage picked up the sheet and read the name. "What have you got against Hardtack and Associates?"
>
"What difference does one name make? You've got another dozen companies listed there."
She looked at him with perplexity. Having set aside his coffee and the remainder of the donut, he was moving around the room restlessly, snatching things up, then setting them down just as quickly. She had never seen him behave this way. He was acting as testy as a caged animal.
"Harlan? Why has that one name upset you so much?"
"I'm not upset."
"Don't lie to me," she cried. "I can see that you are. Do you know something about Grayson Hardtack that I should be aware of?"
"Drop it, okay? Scratch his name off your list and everything will be all right. Just omit his name."
"Without a full explanation of why I should? Not hardly. According to the article about him, he's got a finger in every juicy pie in this city. He's exactly the kind of client we need."
He spun around to face her, his hands on his hips, his features taut and belligerent. "Save yourself the trouble. Hardtack wouldn't give you the time of day if he knew I was working with you. Believe it."
"Why?"
"That's my business."
"Do you two have an ax to grind?"
"You could say that."
"What kind of ax? What was the quarrel over?"
"Drop it, Sage."
"What kind of quarrel did you have with Hardtack?" she repeated insistently.
He gnawed on his lower lip for a moment. When he made up his mind to answer her, he spoke tersely. "For a while, I had something that belonged to him."
She gave the words plenty of time to sink in, but their meaning remained unclear. "You mean you stole something from him?"
Supremely agitated over her persistence, he raked his fingers through his hair. "I asked you to drop it."
"Not until I get an answer from you, Harlan. What did you have that belonged to Hardtack?"
His blue eyes turned brittle and cold. "His wife."
* * *
Chapter 15
Sage nervously thumbed through the magazine without retaining a single word printed on any of the glossy pages. The suite of executive offices at Hardtack and Associates, Incorporated, was austere and ultramodern, decorated mostly in black and gray, with touches of maroon.
