Stroke of Midnight (8 page)

Happy? Yes. Happy. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Last night in the tub, you asked me to do some things I shouldn’t have, but in the heat of the moment you were quivering and bucking and—”

“You went bare back.”

He nodded. Oddly free of guilt now that he was talking about it. “How would you feel, about—”

“I’ve been down this road before,” she said with a wry grin, “and the last time I wasn’t as prepared as I am now.” She tilted her face to look up at him. “There won’t be a baby, Alex, but not because I’d do anything to get rid of it, but because the timing’s off. As for safer sex, well, you’re pretty cautious and I’m very particular, so for that one time, I think we’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I see.” His heart rate kicked up a notch and he wanted her not to be fine. He wanted her to be pregnant, he wanted to know that he’d reached so far up inside her that he’d planted himself in a way that could never be forgotten.

He ran his hand down to her crotch and tussled her to her back on the seat. He tugged and pulled at her jeans until they were around her ankles.

She unzipped his slacks, brought forth his aching cock and swirled her tongue around the head.

Before he knew what she was doing, she straddled him and slid her pussy down onto his jutting shaft and rode him until her deep throated grunts and sighs signaled her release. Fast, hard, and demanding, Jaye took him and he marveled at her greedy need.

He arched and bucked up into her melting pussy and rubbed his nose deep into her neck. He wanted his cock up this high, wanted to be so deep inside her he’d never come out again, wanted to soak her right up to her womb.

She shuddered through her orgasm, taking him over the edge at the same time.

When she quieted, she tilted her forehead to his and tipped her lips to his chin. “I think we did it again.” Her eyes lighted with mischief.

“It just feels so damn good skin to skin.”

“Your cock’s so hot inside me, and I can feel each vein as it pulses.”

Just what he’d wanted to do. Pleased, he kept her fully seated on him, enjoyed the sensation of being joined without moving, without the raw need. Contentment filled him as he searched her gaze.

She wriggled on his lap and kissed his mouth gently, taking his lips as if in worship, each one slowly, reverently got sucked into her mouth. Her tongue traced the line of his teeth, danced along the walls of his cheeks. Sipped and loved and laved him.

“I want you to stay longer,” he said. “You don’t have to go back.”

“I have a son. You know—one of those dependent little people who need guidance, love and money?”

“But, I want you.” It slipped out and even to him it sounded lame. Of course her son should be uppermost. He was temporary. And that was how he liked it. Until now. Until Jaye.

“I want you too. Like this.” She wriggled again and his cock slid out of her, breaking their connection. She climbed off his lap. “But be serious, Alex. I need to work. All you need to do is go back to managing your money.”

“Is that what’s on your mind? My money?” She’d used a dismissive tone and he wasn’t quite sure how to take it.

She straightened her clothes. “You can’t compare my life to yours. People need me, depend on me. I can’t just pick up and desert them.”

“And I have no one depending on me, is that it?” He shifted her off his lap as the Bentley purred onto the tarmac. It was true. There was no one in the world that he mattered to but his uncle. No one else was left. Was that why he’d grown so attached to her? Was her commitment to her life and the people in it some kind of lure?

They climbed out of the car while Carl pretended not to notice the tail of Alex’s shirt sticking out of his fly.

Jaye sailed up the stairs to the jet like a movie queen, deliberately oblivious to the state of agitation and satiation that swirled around them both.

Alex watched Jaye’s delectable ass sway as she climbed the stairs, then grinned and shook his head as Carl pretended not to notice her.

The helicopter set down on the helipad with all the finesse of a butterfly and Jaye’s heart lurched. She’d expected a heavy landing, but Carl’s ability to drive and fly anything known to man impressed the hell out of her.

“What would he do with a dog team?” she muttered. She’d slept on the jet, while Alex spelled Carl off at the controls. In between, she’d been aware of Alex climbing into bed. He’d urged her into the curve of his body as he settled beside her. Once, she stirred and turned to him, but he’d only chuckled and tucked her head under his chin so she could fall back to sleep feeling safe and secure in his arms.

A limo, a private jet, a Bentley and now a helicopter, all within forty-eight hours. She thought of her bicycle and yearned to feel the security of her own pedals on her feet. These small aircraft were hard on a girl’s nerves.

Eventually, over time, she’d put this jet setting lifestyle, the fun, the mind blowing, body twisting sex with Alex behind her. Real life would take over her thoughts as she pedaled from her mother’s beauty shop to her brother’s brand new garage to work on their books.

How long would it take before the loss eased, before her gnawing need for Alex died?

He watched her face all the time now, waiting to see her reaction to every new experience. He never laughed at her, never made her feel unworldly, unsophisticated or awkward.

Like now, while he waited, looking like the most elegant man on earth, hand extended to her while she gathered her wits and struggled to undo her harness with shaking hands.

Alex leaned in and with brisk efficient motions freed her. He looked at her with a gaze that seemed like love, but she blinked the mirage away.

Alex didn’t love her. He couldn’t. He wanted her the way she wanted him. Every waking moment, with an ache between her legs only he could ease. This time together was about sex, steamy, raunchy, horny man hot woman gettin’ it on sex.

She couldn’t let it be about anything more. There had been hard times in her life. Times where she thought she needed a man to make her whole. She’d been frightened of life on her own with a new baby, afraid of Child Protective Services when he broke his leg and she took him to the emergency room. The doctor had sized her up as a single mother on a tight budget, had asked if he’d been injured before. When Hayden had skipped school at twelve, she’d been afraid it was the start of big trouble, but her brother had helped with that. Still, for most of her single motherhood, she’d been afraid. Just afraid.

She’d dreamed early on that a man would come rescue her, save her from her own mistakes. That dream had died gradually, leaving her strong enough to handle anything her son, or life could throw at her.

She chuckled at the frightened girl she used to be, and reached for Alex’s hand. “You’re not my hero,” she said out loud to reinforce the thought. She held his gaze.
And I will not love you.

“I don’t want to be your hero if the idea makes you look that fierce,” he said, as a confused frown darkened his features.

She climbed out of the helicopter, and felt the whup-whup of wind from the slowing rotors. Alex placed his hand at the back of her head and kept her crouched low while they made a dash for it.

When they had enough room to stand erect, she turned to look back at the helicopter and laughed. “We could have waited for the whole thing to stop whirring.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure? Besides, I’m anxious to show you the place.” He turned her toward the sprawling hacienda-style home.

“How big do your homes have to be?” The dry Arizona landscape was far different from the quiet English countryside

“This wasn’t my choice. It’s the family home. I’ve never been able to part with it, in spite of the isolation and stupidly huge size.”

“I’m meeting your family?” She wondered how his parents would react to her, to this, this ‘thing’ they’d embarked on. What would they think of a woman who would agree to a two week sex binge?

As they walked toward the front door, his face closed and went dark at her question. “My immediate family’s gone. There’s only Carl left.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry.” Shock stopped her cold. Alex’s face was still dark and his thoughts had gone inward. She clasped his hand and squeezed lightly. “I’m so very sorry.”

Alex heard Jaye’s attempt to comfort him and drew her close to his side. He turned her toward the mountains in the distance. “This is where I really live,” he said and waved to indicate the expansive landscape. “Out there where my ghosts can’t find me.”

The concern he read in her eyes warmed him. He took a breath and dived in. It had been years since he’d had to tell anyone. Most people in his circle knew. “My parents and two sisters were killed nine years and four months ago in a car accident. A foggy highway, rush hour. It was quick for all of them.

Jaye’s hand covered his, turned his palm up so they could interlace their fingers. She lay her head over his heart in silence. Three beats later she raised her head again. Tears glistened. “I’m so sorry, Alex. You’ve been alone a long time. Such a long time.”

She got it. The alone thing. He’d been twenty. Old enough to be an adult, too young to have everyone who loved him leave him. The loss had left a scar, one he hadn’t faced before.

“My father was determined to get to the office that morning. My mother’s car was in the shop so Dad insisted on driving her and the girls into the city. One fatal decision took three lives.”

She murmured words of comfort and condolence, but he barely heard her because the thing, the feeling next to his heart that had awakened, stretched and rolled, came completely alert and roared through him.

Oh, shit.

He wanted her. Jaye. In his life. He looked down into her green eyes and knew he wanted to see them every day for the rest of his life. He nearly blurted it, but she’d been so adamant about leaving that he knew he’d have to bide his time.

He didn’t know how to keep a woman. He’d trained himself to let them go. He never got attached, never wanted to. Not until Jaye.

“We have twelve more days,” he said, his mind racing with possible outcomes. She’d think he was lying if he told her what he really wanted from her.
Just your life, Jaye, that’s all. You don’t have enough needy people clinging to you. You clearly need another.

He still had time. He could seduce her in stages. He kissed her gently on the lips. He would make her want him just as much as he wanted her. “What would you like to do first?”

“See your bedroom,” she replied, and the bottom dropped out of his belly at the look in her eyes. Complete communion, warmth, understanding and a depth of soul he’d never encountered. And all of it was directed at him.

Alex couldn’t speak, just closed his eyes and held her to him, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, tight.

His bedroom was as good a place to woo her as any.

Two days after arriving at the hacienda, Jaye watched Alex slice through the water beside her in the pool. He swam as if a great white shark was on his tail. That or those ghosts he’d mentioned. His whole family, wiped out in one heart-wrenching moment. It was too much to take in and she could barely wrap her mind around it. An event like that could easily send a person into a complete downhill slide. Emotionally, physically and mentally overwhelming tragedy—she forced herself to stop. It was no wonder Alex hadn’t truly engaged in life since the accident. Managing his investments was a fine thing, but was that what he’d have chosen if his life had been like every other young man’s?

Maybe he’d have continued college, met a nice girl with great career prospects, been a lawyer or doctor who saved lives. Maybe he’d have been engaged or married by now. Even been a father.

She’d worked hard to keep sympathy out of her gaze. He’d hate that. But when he wasn’t looking she let his personal pain and deep sadness wash through her. If she could absorb it into herself and take it from his soul, she would.

No matter how warmly he smiled at her, or how much delight he took in showing her his world, underneath it Alex had given up on life and maybe even on love. If she could give him one thing during her remaining ten days, it would be a lighter heart.

She watched as he executed a perfect turn at the pool wall and pushed off, coming fast. She moved to the side and treaded water.

She waited until he slowed and flipped to his back to spew a spray of water into the air. He stood when the water was chest high and walked toward her, wiping droplets from his face. “That felt great.”

She smiled back. “You look great. The pool must keep you fit.”

He pulled her close so that her breasts slid across his chest. Her nipples peaked. He rolled one between his thumb and forefinger and the sensation raced to her womb. She hooked her legs around his waist and let him support her in the water while he played with each breast in turn.

“It’s so easy with you,” she murmured. He slid the cups of her top aside and then suckled at her. Rhythmic strikes of his tongue on her wet nipple brought desire to life. He moved his hands to her bottom and jiggled her up and down in the water. “Speaking of keeping fit, you’ve got the ass of an athlete. So taut and firm.” He scraped his teeth lightly along her collar bone sending sparks across her chest.

“It’s my bike. I ride it everywhere.” The sun beamed across her breasts, heating her flesh. Or was that his breath as he nibbled his way back to her nipples? “Alex, I want you. Please.”

He scooped cooling water across her breasts, then released her to stand hear the pool’s edge. “I want you too. Stay for longer, Jaye. Another few days can’t hurt.”

“Don’t tempt me.” She framed his face with her hands. “I’d love to do nothing but hang out for the next month, but I can’t.” She couldn’t tell him that she was already halfway in love with him and was hanging onto her good sense by a thread. A frayed one at that.

She dunked his head under the water in a laughing challenge. The change of subject worked until she lost her bikini and he lost his swim trunks. By then his request was long forgotten as they got out of the pool and stretched out naked on a pair of teak deck chairs.

“I’d love it if you stayed for that month you mentioned.” He said with an intensity she’d only seen during sex.

She shifted on the chair and reached for the wide-brimmed hat he’d provided, like everything else. “I can’t. We agreed to two weeks. It’s best if we stick to our agreement.”

“Best for you?”

“For both of us.” He was not emotionally available. She needed to keep that in the forefront of her mind. If she got too attached, he’d find the situation uncomfortable. In her limited experience, men who got uncomfortable got gone. Fast.

Thankfully, he allowed the matter to drop while he slathered her all over with sunblock. The care he took served a dual purpose to both protect and arouse her. “Are you certain you can’t stay longer?”

“That’s a cheat.” She sighed and dragged his face to hers for a deep kiss. He climbed onto the lounger with her and slid between her legs.

“I get what I want, Jaye.”

“You can have this,” she said as she welcomed him inside. Her heart rate quickened with each slide until he urged her over the edge into a sharp, sudden release. He followed her with urgent thrusts that claimed even more of her heart.

Afterward, a silent Alex fished their swimsuits out of the pool. They dressed quickly and this time she was the one who applied their sunblock. Carl strode out to the pool deck with a courier package in his hands. “For you, Jaye,” he said. “From,” he looked at the bill of lading, “a post office box in Seattle. This is why you asked me for this address?”

“What is it?” Alex asked, leaning forward to see the label.

Jaye reached for it before Alex could claim the padded envelope from Carl. “We’ll open this later,” she said quickly, not looking at Carl or Alex. “Much later and only if you’re good,” she said with a prim toss of her head.

“Oh, I’ll be good,” Alex said with a deep-throated, very curious chuckle.

Carl slipped quietly away with a shake of his head.

“Let’s go see,” she said, and rose from her chair. “I called Samantha while I was in England. She owns the Hot Spurts Adult Store down the block from my mom’s hair salon. I’ve no idea what she sent.”

“You do the books for this store?” At her nod, he got to his feet immediately. “I’m right behind you.”

She tossed him a look she knew he’d respond to. “I hope so.”

She laughed and took off at a run through the glass doors into the living room. She slowed as she hit the staircase because the tile floors were slippery, but in truth, she wanted him to catch up and swing her into his arms.

He did and carried her up the double staircase as if she weighed nothing. The package from Samantha tantalized her imagination and her insides heated and melted.

Alex tossed her lightly onto the bed and followed her down in a tangle of arms and legs and kisses and sighs. The package was flattened between their bellies and he laughed as he pulled it free.

“What did you ask her to send?” He waggled his eyebrows. “I can’t wait to see what’s in here.” He shook the padded envelope.

“I usually walk straight through the store to the back office and get to work. I don’t gawk at the inventory.”

“Right,” he drawled, “of course you don’t. Not a fine upstanding young woman like yourself.”

She rolled her eyes. “I asked her to send a variety pack of fun things. I have no idea what she sent.”

“Even better, we can try everything for the first time together.”

They tore open the envelope and let the products slide out onto the bed. A kaleidoscope of colors and plastics and enticing scents spilled out across the bed.

He picked up a pair of red crotchless panties. “These are fun.”

She tore out of her bikini and slipped on the panties.

“Even better,” he said, brushing a fingertip across the curls peeking out through the open center.

She felt saucy and enticing and sexy. But then, just looking at Alex brought on the same reaction so she couldn’t judge if it was the panties or the man who brought her to such wanton expectation.