Playing With Seduction (3 page)

Jase didn’t miss the extra sway in her hips or the way she glanced over her shoulder with an
it’s your loss
kind of look. He was certain any other guy would be chasing right after her, but over the past year or so, he’d grown more discriminating when it came to women.

After eight years in the Air Force, and a string of flighty one-night stands because anything more didn’t mesh with his on-the-go lifestyle, he now wanted something more than just easy, casual sex. He wanted a mature woman he could actually have an intelligent conversation with. Someone confident and settled, in her life and career. And one who was experienced enough sexually to not only accept his preference for control in the bedroom but enjoy it as well. For him, that type of elevated sexual play took trust, along with an explicit intimacy that didn’t exist in the quick, scratch-my-itch kind of sex that Nicole was offering.

He put his T-shirt back on, along with his socks and shoes. Finished dressing, he strolled out to the front area of the studio, where Kendall was standing at a counter downloading the photos she’d just taken onto her laptop. He’d met her about a month ago at a wedding reception where he’d been working security. He’d taken one look at her in the sexy black gown she’d been wearing, and for him it had been
I want you
at first sight. For her, it had been
I want you as a cover model
at first sight.

Yeah, their personal agendas had conflicted slightly, and since she’d flat-out turned him down for a date, his only option to continue seeing her was to agree to the modeling gig. Unfortunately, she remained steadfast in her resolve to keep things strictly professional between them.

He came up beside her to get a better look at the pictures, and his arm brushed along hers. He heard a tiny intake of breath as she subtly shifted away from him. There was no denying the spark of awareness between them, though she definitely did her best to
not
acknowledge the sexual tension in any way. Which only made him more determined to shake up her too prim and proper composure.

“You two photograph well together,” she said in a light, breezy tone as she scrolled through the shots, attempting to keep things casual between them. “You’re stunning as a couple, and Nicole is totally into you.”

He got the impression that Kendall was actually
encouraging
him to date Nicole—which made his gut burn with frustration. “It’s all one-sided.”

“Didn’t look that way to me,” she teased, just as a very erotic and suggestive photograph filled her screen that made a mockery of his words.

He opened his mouth to tell her exactly what carnal thoughts had filled his head while Nicole had been squirming beneath him with her legs wrapped around his waist, but didn’t get the chance as the other woman walked out of the bedroom studio to join them. She was dressed in an indecently high miniskirt and a tight, low-cut blouse that exposed nearly half of her breasts.

“Here’s your fee for today’s session,” Kendall said with a smile and handed Nicole a check.

“Thanks. It’s been fun.” Nicole slipped the check into her purse, then gave Jase a blatant once-over while licking her bottom lip. “You sure I can’t convince you to come over to my place for a few hours?”

Annoyance swept through him, that Nicole would be so brazen in front of Kendall when he’d already, very nicely, turned her down. He shook his head. “No. My plans haven’t changed.”

“All right, then. I guess I’m on my own,” she said meaningfully and gave them both a little finger wave before walking out of the studio.

Once she was gone, Kendall glanced at him with a half smile. “You do realize, don’t you, that you just turned down a sure thing?”

What the hell was up with her pushing him toward another woman? “That was way too easy,” he said about Nicole. He leaned a hip against the high countertop while pinning her with his direct gaze. “I like a bit of a challenge when it comes to the woman I’m interested in.” Kendall had certainly provided that.

She laughed lightly. “You’re a glutton for rejection, aren’t you?”

“It’s a good thing I don’t have a big ego,” he said with a shrug. “Have dinner with me tonight. Any night. You choose the day and time.”

Her lips flattened, and her green eyes turned serious. “Jase, you’re a really nice guy, but I think we’d be better off as friends.”

God, he
hated
being shoved into the friend zone. Especially with her. “Why just friends?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m attracted to you. You’re attracted to me. We’re both single. I’m just asking you out on a date, not to marry me,” he joked.

She tensed at the comment, clearly uptight about something he’d said.

He softened his tone and tried a different approach. “Give me a legitimate reason you won’t give me chance, and I’ll back off.”

She exhaled a deep breath. “First of all, I’m divorced.”

He feigned a shocked look. “Oooh, the scandal,” he teased.

She didn’t so much as crack a smile. “And I’m thirty-five, and you’re twenty-seven. That’s an eight-year age difference between us.”

Jase already knew how old she was, thanks to Sawyer’s girlfriend, Paige, who was also one of Kendall’s closest friends. Since her age had never been an issue for him, it hadn’t even occurred to Jase that it would be a deal breaker for her. He was actually surprised she’d used the age difference as an excuse, but before his mind could come up with a practical counterargument, she picked up a check from the counter and handed it to him.

“I appreciate you agreeing to model for the cover of my client’s book, and here’s your final payment for your time.”

Was she fucking serious? He glanced from the check to her dignified expression, and yeah, she was fucking serious. “I don’t need the money,” he said, the low, frustrated growl of his voice vibrating in his chest. “The only reason I’m here is because of
you
. I’m taking major shit from the guys at work because I’m going to be on the cover of some romance novel, when all I want is for you to give me, and this attraction between us, a chance.”

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

It wasn’t an apology he wanted, not when he knew she was fighting the heat and desire they’d both been feeling since the day they’d met. He took a slow step forward, then another, deliberately crowding her against the countertop and bracing his hands on the edge on either side of her body.

Her lips parted, and one word from her—
wait, stop, no
—and he would have respected her request and backed off immediately. But instead, he saw a flicker of anticipation in her gaze that contradicted everything she’d said up to this point. She wanted him just as much as he craved her, and that undeniable knowledge was all he needed to make a split-second decision he hoped he didn’t come to regret.

Lifting a hand, he slid his palm around to the nape of her neck and used his thumb to tip her chin up higher, so that her mouth was more accessible and right beneath his. She stared up at him with wide eyes that had darkened from a light green to a richer shade of moss. Again, no verbal protest from her, and the telltale rise and fall of her chest spurred him on.

“Let’s see what I can do to convince you to change your mind,” he murmured and gave in to the overwhelming need to kiss her.

The moment his mouth covered hers, she stiffened and her hands flattened against his chest, but she didn’t push him away like he expected. Instead, her fingers curled into his T-shirt and she moaned softly, as if resisting him was futile. Her lips were soft, pliant, and another tiny sound caught in her throat when he swept his tongue inside and stroked along hers. One taste of Kendall and he was desperate for more. The primitive urge to claim this woman surged through him like a wild current, and he deepened the kiss, pulling her into the hot, dark wanting right along with him.

As if he’d awakened something dormant inside her, she came along willingly. Even when his mouth turned aggressive and demanding, she let him sate his hunger. The flavor of her was so damn addicting, her acquiescence so instinctive, that he knew no other woman would satisfy him the same way. He fisted the hair at the nape of her neck in his fingers to keep her mouth secured beneath his as he pushed his hips against hers, making sure she felt just how fucking hard she made him. And how much he wanted her.

Certain he’d given her plenty of irrefutable evidence to prove their mutual attraction, he lifted his mouth from hers and took in her damp, parted lips and dazed expression. Her lashes fluttered open, her dark eyes revealing a combination of lust and desire that pleased him immensely.

He smiled confidently and skimmed his thumb along her jaw. “Convinced yet?”

She blinked a few times, and that sweet, sensual haze in her eyes cleared, which was quickly replaced with a stubborn resolution. “No,” she replied as the hands still splayed on his chest gave a firm push.

He instantly released her and stepped back, not because he was deterred or giving up, not when that seductive kiss had just told him everything he needed to know. For the moment, he was granting her the necessary space to process what had just happened, but he wasn’t done with her. Not even close. That kiss was just the beginning.

“If that hot, mutually satisfying kiss didn’t persuade you to change your mind, then I guess I need to step up my game,” he teased, though he was one hundred percent serious about pursuing her. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

He headed for the front of the studio and walked out the door without looking back.

Game on.

*     *     *

“I can see
why you come so highly recommended. You captured the exact tone I wanted for these erotic pictures, all without revealing our faces.”

The awe in her client’s voice made Kendall smile. She was incredibly relieved that she’d managed to give Stacie the kind of seductive images she’d requested, especially considering the strict guidelines the other woman had given her for the photo shoot. “I’m glad you’re happy with the final photos.”

“Oh, I am. Very much so. And Richard is going to love them, too.” Stacie glanced from the portfolio on Kendall’s laptop showcasing all the edited photos she’d taken a week ago, and met Kendall’s gaze. “He was nervous about doing the couple’s session and would only agree if the poses didn’t show our facial features. I have to confess that I wasn’t sure I’d like the end results, but these shots are just phenomenal and have exceeded my expectations.”

Their couple’s session had been definitely unique and different from any other boudoir session Kendall had ever done before, but she’d embraced the challenge and enjoyed working with them as a couple, which was a side of her business she was trying to grow. The day of the photo shoot, Stacie had introduced the gentleman she’d brought with her as just “Richard.” No last name, not that it was necessary. He was clearly older than Stacie but still classically handsome, with short dark hair and chiseled features. He’d been dressed in an expensive-looking charcoal-gray business suit.

Kendall had had no idea what their relationship was, but within a half hour into their session, it had become evident that the two were intimate and that Stacie liked having the upper hand in sexual situations. As the layers of clothes were shed down to briefs and barely there lingerie, so were their inhibitions—with the only requirement that Kendall not reveal their faces in any way. In nearly nude shots, she’d posed them strategically, using Stacie’s long, wavy, strawberry-blonde hair to cover their faces. A tip of their heads removed their features from the shot, and the placement of their bodies and limbs also helped to conceal their identities.

Kendall spent another forty minutes with Stacie, noting the selection of photos the other woman wanted, which was nearly all of them. Without batting an eye at the price, Stacie chose the Pure Bliss Platinum Package that also included a red leather-bound photo book of all the provocative photographs, to use as an intimate keepsake.

Once the appointment was over and it was quiet in the studio, Kendall pulled up the collection of photographs she’d taken of Jase and Nicole. The author had selected five of the shots for her book cover and other promotional items, and now all Kendall had to do was edit the pictures to the client’s liking. She managed to get through the first four photos in a semi-detached manner, but it was the last image of Jase at his most dominant that ignited a liquid kind of heat in her veins.

Jase did aggressive and domineering extremely well, in a way that looked instinctive and natural. The effortless way he restrained Nicole’s hands over her head, the strain of muscle bisecting his back as he kept her pinned beneath him, and the strong flex of his hips against hers were so erotic it made Kendall feel breathless. Everything about him exuded power and control, along with the promise of hot sex, and she found herself clenching her thighs in response to the pulsing need settling between.

She groaned and bit her bottom lip. This was the photo that had elicited a dozen naughty, depraved fantasies over the course of the past two nights since she’d last seen Jase. The searing kiss he’d stolen before walking out of her studio had fueled the fire deep inside her belly, made her simmer and burn and ache for more than just the impersonal hum of a silicone vibrator to take the edge off her growing desire. The sensual memory of his mouth consuming hers kept reminding Kendall how much time had passed since she’d felt the touch of a real man. Jase had started the craving, and now she was at a loss as to how to make it go away, damn him.

The buzz of her phone on the desk startled her back to the present. She unlocked the screen and read the text message from Stephanie:
Found those black sheer drapes you wanted for the studio bedroom. I’ll bring them with me to our get-together tonight at Paige’s. See you in about an hour!

“Crap,” Kendall muttered. She’d forgotten all about their girls’ night out.

Getting back to work, she finished editing the last photo, then sent them all off to the author. After backing up her files, she put the external drive in her small office safe, then shut down her computer to take home with her, as she did every night. She cleaned off her desk, flipped quickly through her stack of mail to make sure there wasn’t anything important she needed to take care of, and came to a stop when she saw a pristine white envelope addressed to her.