Private Party (22 page)

“A reminder of what’s waiting for you.” Julie laughed and trailed her fingers down his forearm in a mockery of Kara’s earlier caress. But instead of repulsing him like the other woman’s had, Julie’s light touch sent splinters of heat along his nerve endings. His hand slid down her back, to her hip, giving the ripe curve a squeeze as he pulled her more firmly against him.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Julie whispered, slipping out of his arms. Another soft kiss on his neck, and she was gone.

Leaving him alone, aching, as he willed his erection to subside. He turned his body toward the bar, hoping that no one noticed that his shorts were unnaturally tight around his butt.

Julie slid into the booth next to Greg with a self-satisfied smirk. Mission accomplished, and with such finesse if she did say so herself. Julie had always been a good negotiator. She never lost her cool or allowed the situation to grow antagonistic. Who would have thought her skills would come in so handy in the dating world?

Kara was glaring daggers at her, but Julie smiled serenely in return. The expression on Chris’s face when she’d handed him her panties…If nothing else, it was nice to know his attention wasn’t waning.

And it gave her an unreasonable thrill to know that she, who up until very recently had had a decidedly vanilla sex life, was now capable of bringing a sexual athlete like Chris to his knees.

She excused herself to go to the bathroom while they were waiting for their appetizers.

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She had just finished and was opening the door when it flew open, sending her stumbling, startled, into the corridor. Before she could recover, she was being shoved back into the bathroom by a pair of large, tan hands.

“What are you—”

Chris looked down at her with a grin that was decidedly feral. “You think you can just hand me your panties and go off on your merry little way?” He backed her up so that she was sitting on the counter next to the sink. “You need to learn not to play dangerous games, Buttercup.”

“What if someone comes in? Don’t you have guests to take care of?” she sputtered. But then she fell silent as the look in his eyes made her instantly wet.

“You’re right, we better block the door.”

Moving so fast it made her head spin, Chris lifted her off the counter and braced her against the door.

His hands shoved her skirt to her waist while she eagerly unfastened his shorts and shoved them down his hips.

“You make me so crazy,” he groaned against her neck, shuddering in bliss as she circled her fingers around his erection. “The thought of you, naked and wet,” he slid two fingers against her cleft as though to prove his point, “and I forget everything.”

Abruptly he let her go and grabbed her purse, grunting in satisfaction when he found a condom. Within seconds he had sheathed himself. Bending his knees, he forced Julie up against the bathroom door as he drove inside her. “You’re such a dirty little girl, giving me your panties like that.” He bit at her bare shoulder.

Julie muffled her moans against his shoulder, wrapping her legs around his waist. A bead of sweat rolled down his flushed cheek.

“All I can think of is you, making you come,” he growled. “You make me forget about everything except getting inside of you, as deep and hard as I can.” His words, combined with the feel of him so hard and heavy inside of her, were enough to send her shooting over the edge. His hands gripped her butt in a hold that should have hurt. Julie clung helplessly as he continued to piston his hips against her. He sucked her tongue into his mouth, muffling his groan as he came with such intensity his knees buckled.

“I think if we’re not careful we’re going to kill each other,” Chris grumbled as he did his best to regain his composure.

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Right then, voices sounded outside the door. Julie grunted as the door opened a couple of inches, only to be blocked by the back of her head.

“Just a second,” Chris growled.

Julie giggled helplessly as she caught their reflection in the mirror. Forget the fact that her skirt was up under her armpits and Chris’s shorts were around his ankles. Disheveled clothing aside, there was no mistaking exactly what had gone on in here.

Julie’s face was flushed deep pink, and her hair stuck to her cheeks in sweaty tendrils. The skin around her mouth was abraded by his five o’clock shadow. She looked up at Chris, who braced himself with both hands against the wall. Sweat streaked his face and he was panting like he’d just run a fast mile.

“This is going to look really bad,” he murmured with a reluctant chuckle.

Julie looped her arms around his neck and gave his chin a quick kiss. “Nonsense. Holley Cay has a reputation for being sexy. What’s wrong with the owner taking advantage?”

“Sexy is one thing. Trashy is another.”

Julie slapped his shoulder in mock offense. “Just because I have sex in public bathrooms doesn’t mean I’m trashy.” At least, she didn’t like to think it did.

“You could never be trashy,” Chris said, pushing away from her so that he could pull up his shorts.

“You’re too classy.”

“But sexy-classy, right? Not classy-uptight?” Julie’s tone was light, but she was mildly concerned. She’d done her best to show Chris there was more to her than a spoiled good girl princess this past week, and she thought she’d made some progress.

“Definitely sexy-classy,” he reassured her as he helped her straighten her dress. “So sexy that if we don’t get out of here soon, whoever’s waiting outside will end up in the men’s room.” By the time they joined the group for dinner, Chris was feeling the kind of relaxation that only came with immense sexual satisfaction. But amazingly, one touch of her hand on his thigh and his cock twitched hopefully to life. Fortunately the tablecloth hid any action going on below his waist. He took full advantage, sliding his hand up Julie’s smoothly muscled leg, under the silky fabric of her skirt so he could feel the slick, smooth heat of her pussy, completely bare to his touch.

Kara slanted them a dirty look, as though she knew exactly what had gone on in the time between Julie’s PrivateParty

trip to the bathroom and her return with Chris on her arm. Chris shot her a smug grin. A real woman, Kara had called herself. She had no idea that a sex goddess hid beneath the prim and proper image Julie was so careful to cultivate. He couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to figure it out.

And he couldn’t believe he had so little time left to enjoy it.

His stomach clenched, and the exquisitely grilled mahimahi he was chewing suddenly tasted like dirt.

He moved his hand back down to rest on Julie’s knee.

As though reading his thoughts, Jen asked, “So Julie, when will you be back home?”

“Next Saturday,” Julie said. Chris was heartened that she at least sounded a little bummed out about it.

“You’ll have to call me as soon as you get home,” Amy said. “You can come visit me at the winery.

And, of course, you
have
to come to my wedding next month.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Julie said.

“Chris, maybe you could join her?”

The smile fled from Julie’s face, and Chris found himself waiting tensely for her response.

“I’m sure Chris has too much to do here,” Julie said breezily, making it sound like a ridiculous idea.

“Unfortunately, we’re booked solid. I couldn’t leave Carla high and dry like that,” Chris replied, acting as though he wasn’t tempted to follow her home to San Francisco like some pitiful damn puppy.

“Besides,” Kara said snidely, “it’s not like she can parade her new lover around the country club without sending the society mavens running for their OxyContin.” Though her comment was meant to be derisive, Chris couldn’t deny Kara’s dead on assessment of the situation. Newfound sexual prowess or no, Julie still wasn’t the type to openly flaunt an affair with her husband’s brother.

Julie sat back from the table, pinning Kara with a frosty stare. “It must be so sad,” Julie said, “to know that the only way you get attention is by being known as the world’s biggest bitch, and that you’ve taken that attention-getting act so far that even your real friends don’t like you anymore.” A loud laugh burst from Jen’s mouth, followed swiftly by a muffled giggle from Chrissy. Kara gasped in outrage and looked to Amy for support. Amy avoided her gaze, shaking her head slowly as her cheeks flushed.

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“You push too far, Kara. It’s not fun anymore,” Jen said.

Kara stood and glared at each person in turn. But through the haughty disgust, Chris could see the last vestiges of vulnerability. For a moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of a little girl, screaming for someone, anyone, to pay her some attention, and in that split second he felt a little sorry for her. But the little girl was quickly hidden by a superior smirk.

“I may be a bitch, but no one ever forgets my name.” She stalked off with a toss of her thick brown hair.

“Well done,” Jen said, raising her glass in a toast to Julie. “It’s nice to see the sweet little kitten baring her claws.”

Everyone else followed suit, toasting Julie for standing up to one of the biggest bitches in the known universe. In the few weeks since they’d reconnected, this funny, sexy, surprisingly tough woman had surprised him at every turn. Not for the first time, he wondered how the hell he was going to find it in him to let her go.

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13

T
he next morning, Jane Bowden, the uncontested queen of prime-time television, arrived with her wedding party in tow. The chaos that ensued would forever be remembered on Holley Cay as

“Hurricane Jane.”

“Typical Hollywood nouveau riche,” Carla muttered several hours later as she and Julie rearranged the table arrangement for the fifth time.

“Now, Carla, let’s not be snobby,” Julie chided, although she herself was more than a little annoyed. The rehearsal for the ceremony was in less than an hour, but instead of making sure the catering was in order for tonight’s dinner, Julie and Carla were stuck, with the rest of the staff, sweating and laboring under the tropical sun.

Jane had taken one look under the gauzy tent at the table configuration for tomorrow’s reception and had declared it immediately unacceptable. No amount of cajoling from Julie, Jane’s mother, or even the groom could convince Jane that there were other, more important things to focus on.

“Mom, you don’t know anything, so just be quiet, okay?” Jane snapped. “We have to arrange it so that everyone has a view.” Jane insisted that the entire table setup be reconfigured to face the beach. Until she realized that when arranged like that, the late afternoon sun would blind each and every guest before the cake was served. Then she had them change it back.

“I have to go,” Jane snapped. “I have a manicure and pedicure appointment. With the way things are going so far, I’ll probably end up with a fungus.”

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Jane’s mother, a sweet-faced woman in her forties who was as softly plump as her daughter was aggressively bony, offered Julie and Carla an apologetic smile before jogging off after her daughter.

“Look on the bright side,” Julie said as she heaved two folding chairs over her shoulder. “She could have done this tomorrow, right before the ceremony. And at least she won’t have time to change the menu.”

“Not for tonight,” Carla agreed, “but I’ll bet you five bucks she tries to change the menu for the reception.” Carla’s head snapped as Dan, Jane’s head bodyguard, called her name. “Please, spare me,” Carla muttered as she gathered up her clipboard and notes. “If he asks to go over ‘possible infiltration points’ one more time, I’m going to slit my wrists.”

“Come on, Carla,” Julie teased, “he’s kinda cute.”

“Yeah,” Carla snorted, “if you like the beefy, linebacker, muscle-bound meathead type.” Which, if the shimmy of her hips as she walked over to Dan was any indication, Carla most certainly did. Despite their acrimonious phone relationship, even the most casual observer couldn’t miss the sexual tension that shimmered between those two like heat lightning. She predicted that by the time the wedding party left the island, he and Carla would hook up. That is if they didn’t kill each other first.

Right now though, she had bigger problems to deal with than Carla’s potential sex life. Namely, a bride who seemed to have gone off her meds and was headed for manic land.

Julie was anything but surprised later that evening when Chris pulled her aside. “We have a problem,” he said.

Julie did her best to concentrate on what he was saying, although it was difficult with the way he was casually rubbing his thumb over the soft skin of her inner elbow.

“Jane has decided that we can’t possibly serve snapper, because that’s what Sarah Michelle Gellar had at her wedding.”

Julie rolled her eyes, bracing herself.

“So she wants Chilean sea bass instead.”

“But that’s twice as expensive, not to mention totally politically incorrect.” Chris plowed his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I know, I tried to tell her that. You’d think after all the trouble she gave us over the budget…” His jaw flexed and a vein appeared in his left temple.

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Rising up on tiptoes, Julie planted a soft kiss on his mouth, hoping to dispel a little of his tension. It worked a little, judging by the way his mouth opened eagerly over hers. Tearing herself away, she whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

She turned, but before she could leave he caught her hand and pulled her back into his arms.

“It’s really great having you here, helping me,” his words were punctuated by the way he pulled her flush against his body in a warm squeeze. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”

“I can’t wait for you to show me how grateful you are,” she said teasingly, relishing the sensation of his powerful back muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt. She breathed in the salty, soapy fragrance emanating from the skin of his chest. It was all she could do not to blow off Jane and her menu concerns and drag Chris off somewhere private. “But I guess we better wait until later for you to thank me,” she said, reluctantly pulling out of his arms.