Love’s Bounty (4 page)

He set his wine glass on the coffee table and took the glass out of her hands, placing it next to his. His mouth tangled with Deirdre’s as her lips grew pliant against his. Their breathing came out in ragged hitches, and he laid her back on the couch. She tasted of wine and salt and something totally all her own, and Ayden’s head swam with the heady mixture. His tongue danced with hers as he teased it in and out of her mouth. He dipped in to taste, then retreated to feel the silky heat of hers sampling him.

He wound his fingers in her hair, enjoying the silky strands tumbling down his arms. He wanted her. Not just any woman, not Jameson’s bimbo, but this woman. Jameson. Damn. Ayden pulled back abruptly.

“Deirdre, I’m sorry.” He sat up and swiped the taste of her away with the back of his hand. “I don’t know what came over me.” Actually, he knew exactly what had taken over. The tented fly of his pants was evidence of exactly where he’d expected to go.

His intentions hadn’t been honorable when he’d driven her here. Before she’d gotten out of her little Jeep, she’d been an informant, albeit an unknowing one, but an informant nonetheless. The woman panting next to him, with lips swollen from his kisses, had suddenly become a person. She had a family and sorrow, and who cared if she could give him a complete dossier on Jameson. He couldn’t use her that way. She seemed so emotionally raw at the moment, it would be insensitive of him to take advantage of her. Sometimes he hated the moral high ground.

“
Austin?”

“Deirdre, I want you to know…”

Her lips crushed his, and he nearly fell over from the force of the impact of her body against his.

“I don’t care what your motivation is.” She moved her lips over his face. Kissing his eyes, his cheeks and nibbling at his lip. “You know, right now, I don’t care about much.” Her hand slid down his torso, cupping his swollen erection. “All I want is this, filling me, making me forget everything but the two of us here and now.” She nibbled her way to his ear, her breath heating his blood. “I won’t ask you to call me tomorrow or the next day. I don’t want anything but now, and what we can do for each other.”

He had her dress partially unzipped before she finished the last sentence. Ayden pushed her back as he pulled the tiny straps of material off her shoulders and slipped the black fabric to her waist. Her breasts stood high and firm. The nipples were tight little points straining against the strapless bra. He unclasped the front hooks, releasing the fleshy mounds, curling his tongue around the pearls, tasting and nipping. Her fingers dug into his back as she arched into him, filling his mouth with the flushed skin of her tits.

He held one in each hand, molding and pressing them together, his tongue laving first one pebbled nipple, then the other.

Ayden inhaled deeply; she’d dotted her cleavage with perfume, and his nostrils flared as the scent of gardenias mixed with her arousal. The moans of her pleasure assaulted his ears, driving him into a frenzy. He wanted to slow his need, but she bucked and pressed her thigh against his throbbing cock, her pulsing hips driving her pubic bone into his belly.

The rumble of desire vibrated through his chest. Ayden reached around her back, searching desperately for the zipper that would allow him unfettered access to her beautiful body. He could feel her well-muscled torso beneath him, her other leg wrapped tightly around his, rubbing restlessly up and down his thigh. Damn, it had been too long since he’d had a writhing woman beneath him. All he wanted was to drive himself into her and relieve the ache in his balls. But Ayden was too much of a gentleman not to satisfy the lady first.

* * * *

All Deirdre kept thinking as her body arched against him was
This is a man
. At least there was no guilt about betraying Bri, only the need to satisfy her own frantic cravings. She didn’t want to feel this desperate for the touch of another human being. But here it was, making her hot and wet and her breaths pull in hiccups of hunger.

The damp heat of
Austin’s silken tongue was such a wonderful contrast to the stubble of his beard grazing her breasts. She dug her fingers into his hair, pulling him impossibly closer. All she wanted was his fingers to bring her to the climax her body had refused to surrender for weeks. The way his mouth and hands were teasing her nipples, Deirdre was sure one touch to her clit and he would plunge her into the release she so desperately sought.

“I can’t…”
Austin’s hand struggled behind her back. “Oh, baby, frig the zipper!”

He laughed into her mouth just before his tongue plundered in and swallowed her gasp. In one swift motion, he pushed the dress up to her waist and cupped her mound. His fingers pushed the thong aside and dipped into her hot channel. He dragged her slippery heat to the throbbing bundle of nerves begging for attention.

“Wet. You are so damn wet.”
Austin breathed the words into her ear before sliding down her torso.

“No … I…” Deirdre knew what he intended to do and wasn’t at all sure she wanted his mouth on her. “Austin … I…” She couldn’t seem to string a coherent thought together as his teeth grazed her nipple. “Oh, God…”

“Tell me what you want, baby.”

No one had ever asked that of her. Even in all the months with Brianna, their lovemaking was monosyllabic moans, at best. But here, with
Austin, just for this night, she wanted to tell him—no, plead with him—to satisfy her.

“Make me come. With your…” The air gushed out of her lungs on a moan as the rough pad of his middle finger circled her clit. “Yes, there, like … oh, yes, Austin … I…” The shocks of pleasure rolled through her, igniting little sparks that flashed up her core straight to her fingers gripping the leather armrest behind her head.

His body slid down her torso, his fingers never loosing contact with her body. He laved at her belly, then her hip bone, rubbing his face in the tuft of curls at the apex of her thighs. All the while, he stroked her, bringing her closer and closer to the brink of ecstasy before widening the circle, massaging her lips, dipping into her pussy and traveling back to zero in on the nub which throbbed almost painfully. Each time he stopped and moved back, he drove her into a higher pitch of need.

“Deirdre, you’re beautiful, so beautiful. Open for me, baby.”
Austin settled one leg over his shoulder, the other on the floor. He slid her thong up and down her slit before pushing it aside. “Gorgeous. Like a flower blossoming in the sun. Sweet nectar, no man can resist.”

And with that he brought his mouth to her. She watched his tongue lap her, then plunge in. Deirdre shut her eyes, focusing on the myriad sensations his lips, tongue and fingers were creating. Feeling the incredible ecstasy building to a crescendo, Deirdre brought her hands to his shoulders, digging her nails deep into taut muscles. Her body lifted to meet the wonderful heat of his mouth.

“Look at me, Deirdre. Watch me make you come. Don’t close your eyes.”

She forced herself to obey. Deirdre stared over her clenched stomach muscles at
Austin’s eyes, dark with desire. He was a handsome man. She had to give him that.

And damn, did he know how to please a woman or what?

She gasped each time his tongue flicked up her slit, two of his thick fingers buried deep in her slick heat. She watched her breasts heave as she tried desperately to fill lungs that couldn’t seem to expand enough to sate her need for air.

With his gaze locked on hers, his lips sucked in her clit, his tongue causing lightning bolts of electricity to shoot through her. Her moans of pleasure were like answering claps of thunder as wave after wave of bliss rolled through her body.

She rocked her hips as the storm of her climax washed over her.
Austin stayed with her, his tongue matching the pulsing motions of her body. Her hands flailed restlessly from his shoulders, to his hair, to the cushions of the couch. All the while her internal muscles clenched, the joy of release shuddering through her core. As it ebbed,
Austin’s talented tongue and fingers brought her to the edge and once again plunged her into another wave of ecstasy.

How long he drove her, she couldn’t be sure. Her head reeled from the wine, from the lack of oxygen and the mind-blowing orgasms tilting her world.

Chapter 4

“So, tell me again where you went Saturday? Emilio and I looked all over that damn mansion for you. You stormed off in quite a huff.” Rachel blew at the steam rising from the coffee cup in her hand.

“I was not in a huff. And for the millionth time, I went
home
.” Deirdre pounded her fist on the steering wheel, trying to emphasize the last word. She hoped her action would add credibility and finality to her statement.

“Yeah, right, whatever.” Rachel slumped against the battered seat of the one-ton pickup. Deirdre looked over at her friend who gazed out the window. The eastern sky was just beginning to show the crimson hues of sunrise. It was Monday morning, and they were headed to Shawn’s mansion to start the fall cleanup.

Deirdre stole a look in the side mirror to check on the wood chipper she was hauling.

“Now, don’t go getting all pissy, Rach. I know you wanted to hook me up, but it just didn’t happen. It was a good party. Got us this job, didn’t it?”

Without turning, Rachel lifted a shoulder. Her friend knew a lie when it fell from Deidre’s mouth.

But Deirdre wasn’t ready to tell Rachel she had a one-night stand with a
man
, of all people. She was still working out what the whole thing meant to her.

She’d been nervous about having sex with
Austin, the whole plunging-in thing. But after the way he’d made her body sing, she thought she owed him. Then he’d surprised her by taking her upstairs and slowly stripping the dress from her. She couldn’t bring herself to return the favor, and without a word he laid her on his bed, lit candles and undressed himself.

All the while she stared at his huge cock standing at the ready. Poor guy’s balls were packed so tight against his body, she was sure they’d turn blue from lack of circulation. Still, he didn’t rush her.

Even before he’d loved her with a tenderness she’d never experience, she’d known theirs would be a brief affair. Love? Shit, where was she going with this? The memories continued to roll as the miles ticked away on the odometer. It was all she’d done for the past two days, daydream of
Austin.

She thought of how he’d worked her into another frenzied pitch before sheathing himself with a condom from the generous supply in his nightstand. That fact still stuck in her craw. He was definitely a smooth operator. It shouldn’t surprise her that he did this sort of thing often. But for some reason, the knowledge he had lots of bedmates bothered her.

Despite that detail, Deirdre’s muscles quivered, and the wet heat of want dampened her panties. She shifted on the vinyl seat, trying to soothe the itch growing deep inside her.

His cock was oh, so hot and stretched her in a way no latex imitation ever had. He glided into her slowly, drawing out gasps of need until she was pleading with him to fill her completely. His body was hard and comfortably heavy on hers as he pushed deeper with each thrust of his hips. He kissed her face and breasts, whispering words of endearment until they climaxed together. She’d liked that. Hell, she’d loved it.

They’d … she couldn’t say
made love
—that implied something more than what happened between them. She couldn’t call it screwing, because she’d felt something for the man. Whatever it was, they’d done it two more times quite satisfactorily before
Austin had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

The man was an insatiable beast, but even the mightiest warriors rested. It took all her willpower not to snuggle against those broad shoulders with her fingers burrowed into the soft tufts of hair on his chest and lose herself in a dreamless slumber.

Instead, she’d snuck out of his bed, slipped into her dress and turned tail to run like a friggin’ coward. No note to thank him for the evening, or a phone number. She left only the lacy black thong she hadn’t taken time to locate before jumping in the Jeep and all but squealing her tires all the way back to Delmont.

Austin deserved better. He was a good man. She’d treated him like crap.

He’d lulled her into a comfort she hadn’t felt with another human being in a long time. It had been foolish of her to unload her family’s burdens, but he’d been so understanding. With his head pillowed on her shoulder, his finger drawing lazy circles up and down her torso, he shared the grief of his own parents’ deaths.

Later, when she talked in generalities about the breakup with Brianna, she watched the concern furrow his brow and purse his lips. One couldn’t fake that kind of compassion. She experienced a twinge of guilt over not telling
Austin her ex-lover was female. As empathetic as
Austin was, Deirdre sensed she wasn’t the only one with secrets.

Despite their pledge to keep their liaison noncommittal,
Austin had thought only of her needs all night. Even Brianna hadn’t been that unselfish a lover. In the end, his words and actions had bonded them with something much stronger than their physical desires.

Deirdre was a complete ass. Both for thinking their fling had a deeper meaning than it did and for treating another person with such callousness.

She guessed it probably didn’t matter now, anyway. It was what it was—a single night of uninhibited sex. It’s what she’d wanted.

Then why did her stomach continue to flip at the thought of the man with the curls as black as a midnight sky and eyes that raged like the ocean when he was in the throes of an orgasm?

Deirdre shook the question away. She definitely didn’t want to go there today. She forced her mind to focus on the road and the day ahead.

Twenty-five minutes later, they pulled up to the Jameson estate. Her work crew of three young men dragged out of the van that followed the pickup from
Delmont
High School
. The boys wore their surly attitudes as obviously as the
gangsta
clothing hanging off their bodies. Deirdre smiled.

She’d automatically liked these kids. She’d been one of them herself, a decade ago—tough, streetwise and ready to fight with the world. Only the concern of the vocational teacher climbing out from behind the steering wheel of the van had saved her from herself.

Much to her parents’ relief, Mark Pearson had taken her under his tutelage her senior year in high school and shown her the error of her ways. She’d traded in her shoplifting habit for studies and relegated her pot smoking and beer drinking to occasional weekends. She hadn’t become a complete angel, but she’d graduated with honors and found a vocation in landscaping.

She repaid the favor to her mentor by taking on some of the tougher kids for work-study jobs like this.

“Hey, Mark.”

“Rachel. Deirdre.” The smiling man reaching out his beefy hand stood barely five and a half feet tall in his work boots. His hair had turned from salt-and-pepper to snow white in the last decade. The power of his grip as he shook Deirdre’s hand contradicted his diminutive stature. The kids behind him knew, as she did, you didn’t mess with Mark Pearson.

“Gentlemen, this is Miss Sawyer and Miss Tilling. These are Steve, Cody and Blake.” He pointed to the boys in turn, and each removed his sideways ballcap before shaking hands with the women.

Mark’s head swiveled, taking in the mansion and the grounds. “Deirdre, how’d you ever get a job like this?”

“Got an invitation to a party.”

“You? Here?” He nearly shouted the questions. “I mean…”

Deirdre cut him off. She didn’t want to hear him stammering over the differences of her social status compared to the owner.

“Some of us are moving up in the world, Mark.” She bumped his shoulder with her elbow as she walked around him. “Okay, gentlemen, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.”

* * * *

Deirdre shut off the chain saw and clipped it to the belt slung low on her hips. Her arms ached from wielding the tool all morning. The leather gloves and the chaps covering the front of her legs were hot. She could feel the sweat running in rivulets down her back. A sheen of moisture covered every inch of her skin. They’d managed to prune three trees before lunch, another after and were just beginning the fifth. If she could stay at this pace, they’d finish trimming all the trees lining the driveway in just about four days.

“Lower away,” she yelled down at Rachel who was standing in the driveway thirty feet below.

Sidestepping to another limb, Deirdre maneuvered the severed branch away from the tree. Rachel’s calm voice wafted up through the tree as she patiently helped Cody with the guide rope. Rachel’s chainsaw kicked to life, and she supervised as Cody cut the branch into manageable pieces.

Deirdre rolled her neck, hugging herself tight, trying to work out some of the kinks in her shoulders. Pruning large trees was hard work, but she loved this part of her job. Suspended by only the lanyard, she felt as if she were flying. She shielded her eyes, looking through the pumpkin-colored leaves at the sun perched high in the cloudless sky. Life just didn’t get any better than this.

Deftly climbing through the tree, she set herself to cut another branch. She hesitated a moment before starting the saw. Listening to the wood chipper eating up the branches, spitting the detritus into the back of the one-ton, she heard the motor sputter. This was the last big job of the season. She said a silent prayer the machine kept going until they finished Jameson’s estate. With the extra money she got from this job, she could afford to buy a new chipper. Until then, this one would have to be coddled.

The ear protection she wore couldn’t muffle the high pitch of a car horn. Deirdre watched a car swerve around Rachel and the boys, and speed up the drive. She wanted to climb down from the tree to give Jameson’s high and mighty guest a piece of her mind. Why did some people think they were better than the hired help?

But as the car sped up the driveway, she recognized the taillights of the black Jag disappearing around the corner and lost all the fight in her. What the hell?

* * * *

Leaning against the frame of the sliding-glass doors, Ayden stared at Ryan pacing the Oriental rug. Dave sat on the leather sofa, nervously pulling at his bottom lip. Ayden checked the watch on his wrist for the hundredth time. Two-fifteen. Even Rob was wiping sweating palms on the thighs of his jeans.

After the butler had offered them drinks nearly a half hour ago, no one had said a word. He wasn’t surprised Jameson was making them wait, but hell, it was getting his guys worked up. The ticking of the clock on the wall was like a gong in the silence of the mansion. Even he was getting a little jumpy. Hopefully Jameson would believe they were only anxious about cutting a deal, not setting him up.

The two thugs from Saturday night were standing by the open double doors. They hadn’t bothered to take their weapons. Everyone in the room was armed; it was expected. No one was wired because Ayden had bugged several of the rooms on Saturday, including this one.

He knew from experience, if Jameson was their man, he would likely sweep the mansion several times a day for transmission equipment. Ayden only hoped the new gadgets he’d planted were one step above the detection equipment Jameson owned. As of yesterday, they were still working. But he wouldn’t know for sure if their meeting was being recorded until he met with his team this afternoon at the command post two towns over.

He listened to the high-pitched whine of the chainsaws and tried to focus on anything but his jangled nerves. He’d beeped a greeting at the work crew as he maneuvered the Jag around the equipment. From the scowl on the woman’s face, she thought it was a reprimand. Pretty little thing in that clingy tank top. But since Saturday, he had eyes only for redheads, not brunettes.

The unhurried click of shoes echoed in the hall. The twin bookends guarding the door jumped to attention.

“Gentlemen, sorry to keep you waiting.” Shawn Jameson breezed into the sunroom. He wore a high-end suit and expensive leather loafers. One notch above the dress pants and sports jacket Ayden was wearing. Ayden hoped that would be the case. Never outclass the potential boss.

“Thank you for being so patient. I had some other business to finish.”

More likely he’d been watching them on closed-circuit television.

They settled themselves around the coffee table, Jameson and Rob in the leather chairs, Ayden and his men across from them on the couch. Jameson threw the manila folder he’d been carrying on the glass tabletop.

The man had already checked him out.

Ayden met Jameson’s gaze with a level stare. He knew his alias checked out, but it took everything in him not to swallow the heart that had leapt into his throat. Body language communicated more than words in a meeting like this.

Leaning back, Ayden settled his foot on his leg and wrapped his hands around his knee. He would not be the first to break the silence. He forced his mouth into a smile, pleased when it didn’t waver.

“So, let’s not play games here, Shaeffer.” Jameson sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “We’re both businessmen.”

Ayden waved at him to continue.

“I’ve had my people do thorough research on you. Very impressive.” He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. “Seems you have the market share of
Portland and
Boston. Why have you come to me?”

“We’ve been working those cities for years. I’m looking to expand my holdings in Philly, perhaps further out, maybe not.” Lifting his shoulder, Ayden worked to keep his tone noncommittal. “As you know from your research, one of my suppliers has gone under.” What he meant was the DEA had pulled down a big cartel in the
Boston area six months ago. It had been quite a sting, but Ayden hadn’t been part of that operation.

He was here and playing the game. No one ever mentioned specific drugs during the negotiations.

“I’m interested in expanding not only my customer base in those cities, but my product line as well.”

“I see. And you think I can help you in both those areas?”