Space in His Heart (24 page)

She wound her
way back through the crush of tables and partiers to find the
reporter and tell him they were finished with interviews. She
wanted to go home.

“I don’t think
it’s going to happen,” she told him.

He looked
disappointed, but suddenly his face brightened. “Here he
comes!”

Jessica turned
and saw Deke making his way to her, loosening his bow tie. His
direct gaze burned a hole in her as every cell came back to life at
the fire in his eyes.

“Hey,” he said
as he approached. “Where’ve you been?”

Her pulse
ratcheted higher as she tried to steady her breathing. “Working,
Stockard.”

Ignoring the
reporter, he leaned down close to her ear. For a moment, she
thought he was going to kiss her, but he just whispered, “She’s
boring.”

“
Oh, I
can tell.” She smiled and held his gaze far longer than necessary.
“Will you do one more interview
? T
hen I promise I’ll leave you alone for the rest of
the night.”

“Don’t make
promises you can’t keep.” His sexy voice nearly did her in.

“One more
interview.” She tried to stay professional. “Then I’m going home
with Stuart and Wendy.”

“What?
Why?”

“I’m done,
Deke. You’re not.”

He put his arm
around her shoulder and glanced across the room. “Come with me,” he
whispered.

As he guided
her away, he turned to the reporter. “I need to speak with my
publicist for a moment, then I’ll do your interview. Excuse
us.”

He led her into
the direction of a darkened hallway off the kitchen. In an alcove
full of cartons and supplies and the overpowering scents of the
kitchen, he stopped and put both arms around her.

“Deke? What’s
the—”

He kissed her
hard on the mouth, crushing her lips and pulling her tightly
against him. She had no thoughts except the raw response that shook
her. Opening her mouth to him, she kissed him with the same fury.
Their tongues connected, wet and warm and delicious.

When they
finally parted, all she could do was attempt to regain her balance.
And nearly fail
ed
.

“Don’t go to
sleep, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”

Chapter
Eighteen

This time,
Jessica lit the candles and drew her bath expecting Deke’s
late-night visit. She mulled over the implications of his parting
comment, certain that she understood what he was telling her.
Although it killed her to take off the incredible gown she had
found in Bloomingdale’s last week in Boston, she wanted to bathe
and relax and relive the extraordinary moments of the night. She
wanted to prepare for him.

Tonight,
she was breaking the rules. Good girl Jessica Marlowe,
straight
-
A student and
star employee would be smashing propriety and agency rules to bits.
She’d go back to being an overachiever tomorrow and hide her sin
from whomever she had to. But, tonight, she wanted to give her body
and soul to the man she loved.

After
luxuriating in a long and fragrant bubble bath, Jessica fluffed her
hair and slipped on a thin cotton tank undershirt and a silky pair
of men’s boxers.

She
waited on the patio
deck
, leaning
against
the wood railing. The half-moon illuminated the calm water
of the Banana River while Jessica remembered the kiss and his
secret smile. Lost in her daydream, she mustn’t have heard his car,
because the first sound to steal her attention was his voice from
the side yard, steps away from the entrance to her
patio.

“You didn’t
take that dress off, did you?”

She didn’t
turn, but kept her attention toward the moon. “I wanted to take a
bath.”

He hopped the
railing and approached her from behind, leaning against her,
trapping her with a hand on either side. “Too bad. I’m devastated.”
The breath of his whisper touched her cheek.

“Why?”

She felt him
lift her hair and place a hot kiss on her neck, sending goose bumps
dancing down her back.

“
Because
you’ve denied me the singular pleasure of figuring out how to take
it off you.” He moved his kisses down to her shoulders. “Now you’ve
left me with nothing but…” He caressed the other shoulder. “…this
ordinary little tee shirt
,
which poses no challenge at all.”

His hands
circled her waist, his fingertips almost touching each other.
Slowly, he grazed her stomach and moved lazily up to her breasts.
She heard his intake of breath as he realized she had nothing on
underneath. His fingers brushed her nipples, hardening them, his
teeth and mouth pressuring her neck.

Easily,
leisurely, he turned her around. His hands slid up to her neck and
he pulled her face even closer to him. Her gaze traveled down to
his beautiful mouth and lower to the open collar of the shirt, long
relieved of the bow tie he obviously hated.

She inhaled the
musky scents of Dante Cardinelli’s fusion cooking, mingled with a
hint of Sydney Lynn’s perfume. She liked taking him from another
woman. She liked that he came to her. She loved it, in fact.

“I want you,
Jessie.” He closed in on her to take a gentle, languishing kiss,
wetting her mouth and teeth and lips. “Tell me yes, baby.”

Tingling
and sparking in her deepest center, Jessica responded by pressing
herself against him and tightening her lock around his neck as he
kissed her. He lifted her easily off the ground and brought her up
to sit on the railing, the crotch of her thin, silky shorts rubbing
slowly over his
erection
. He ran his hands along her thighs, down to her calves,
wrapping her legs around his waist. With her seated on the rail,
they were the same height, face-to-face and eye-to-eye.

H
e
looked right into her eyes.
“Are you sure? You have about ten seconds to change your
mind.”

A
geless
words of love rose in her, but she only nodded, biting her lip to
keep from saying something she shouldn’t.

That’s all it
took for him. Like a dam had broken, his mouth seized hers,
preventing her from thinking of anything but the anxious force of
his demanding tongue. Cuddling her bottom, he effortlessly lifted
her and turned toward the house, keeping her wrapped around
him.

“Where are you
taking me?”

“One
guess.”

She laughed and
kissed his neck. “You’re carrying me there?”

“I like to go
fast… until it’s time to go slow.”

Kissing her all
the way into her dimly lit bedroom, he finally let her fall softly
on the bed and climbed on top of her without ever ending total body
contact. With slow, deliberate ease, he pulled her tank top over
her head. He dropped it on the floor as his hands roamed over her
bare breasts.

“I can’t
believe how long I’ve wanted to do this.” He lowered his head to
place his mouth over one breast, then the other, sucking gently,
sending an achy, torturous longing snaking through her. Her legs
clung to his hips as his tongue flicked slowly around each of her
nipples, making her want to scream and moan and hold his head
tightly to the perfect spot that he’d found.

She started to
unbutton his tuxedo shirt but fumbled with the French studs that
replaced ordinary buttons.

“I’ll do it,”
he said huskily.

He sat up,
straddling her, and began to unfix each clip. With every move, his
shirt opened more, offering her an unimpeded view of his chest, but
he fumbled, too, with the tiny buttons.

“
You’ve
invaded my head, Jessie,” he whispered as he popped off one stud in
frustration. “I’ve wanted
you
for so long, I can’t think straight anymore.”

“Let me.” She
easily pulled him down to her side, then slid on top of him. Her
silky boxers slid over his tuxedo pants, tormenting them both as
she straddled him and leaned over to finish the buttons.

Her hair
fell around his face while his fingers played with every forbidden
thing he could finally touch. Sucking her nipples to hardened nubs,
he tugged at the waistband of her boxer shorts and inched them over
her backside. She took the buttons of his tuxedo pants
between her fingers
, a ragged
breath of anticipation escaping her lips.

“Wait,” he
whispered and reached into the pocket. He pulled out a couple of
foil packets and dropped them next to them on the bed.

“Always
concerned about safety, my astronaut.” She kissed his chin, then
opened her mouth to bite it. “Thanks.”

He didn’t
respond but
placed
her
hands back
on
the button
of his pants and helped her undress him. Then they tumbled again to
find the place that felt just right for their aching
bodies.

She touched him
everywhere, inhaling the musky scent of masculine sex emanating
from every pore, licking the salty skin of his neck, his shoulders
and his nipples. He responded to her fingertips like they were lit
matches.

“I want to
touch you,” she rasped, her hands finally circling him. He squeezed
his eyes shut and choked her name, gently lifting her hips toward
him.

With
quivering hands, she put the condom on him, loving the feel of him.
Firm and completely male. She kissed his stomach and tasted his
muscles and
skin
.

He gently
tugged her up to him, reaching to touch the soft folds of her.
“Now, Jessie. Now.” He inched himself into her body and then
plunged all the way inside, making her gasp.

They moved in
instant, easy, ancient rhythm, kissing in celebration of their
union and reveling in each sensation that drove them further and
faster.

She lost every
ounce of control. Dizzy, she clung to him, squeezed him further
inside her.

“Take your
time, baby,” he whispered to her. “We have all night.”

“
I can’t,
Deke. I… can’t.”
I have no power over this.

She heard
her own breath with each aching push, and she felt his body taking
her up and over a cliff that she couldn’t stop racing toward. She
looked at his face, dark with passion and lust and
that just
moved her further, to the point
of being completely lost in him as her entire focus centered on the
place where he penetrated her. She kissed him and bit his lip so
hard she thought she tasted blood.

The shockingly
intimate connection threw her over the brink and the pulsing ache
exploded, shattering her body into a million pieces as she fell
spiraling down the edge in a long, agonizingly wonderful
release.

As her
electrifying climax throbbed around him, he shuddered and grew
harder and fuller inside her. He whispered her name, plunging
inside her. Over and over.

Jessie. Jessie.
With each syllable he arched into her with raw urgency. As she rode
the crest with him, he joined her climax, and holding her entire
body as close and tightly as he possibly could, he spilled, just as
uncontrolled, into her.

Neither
one could possibly breathe a word,
finally
spent and satisfied.

* * *

The red digital
numbers of Jessica’s alarm clock read 3:35 a.m. by the time Deke
guided her up to the pillows, and they climbed under the sheet,
wrapping their bodies together and drifting in and out of sleep. He
quietly got up to extinguish the candles throughout the house and
close the sliding doors. Then he slipped back in her bed, loving
the length of her taut, bare legs as they curled around his. Her
hair fell on his shoulder, tickling him, as he tucked her
comfortably under his arm.

“
All
right,” she sighed. “You
are
good at everything.”

He laughed
softly and kissed her head, drinking in the clean smell of her
shampoo. “Nah. But I get great PR.”

Deke
closed his eyes and enjoyed the images of her he’d captured during
the evening
.
He pictured
her moving like liquid mercury in that luminous dress through the
crowds, in the bleachers, at the restaurant. She looked like an
angel in his memory. And, now, this. Amazing. Just
amazing.

He wanted to
tell her but didn’t know the right words. He wanted to reassure her
and admire her and consume her again.

“Jess?” He ran
his hands over her smooth, soft skin of her stomach.

“Yeah?”

“How old are
you?”

She looked up
suspiciously. “Twenty-nine.”

“
What’s
your middle name?” He inched one hand up to
trail his finger
over
the
sweet slope
of her breast.

“Lynn. Like
Sydney.” Even half asleep, she made him smile.

“Where’d you go
to college?”

“Boston
College.” She leaned up on one elbow. “Is this twenty questions,
Stockard?”

He
stroked her perfectly
smooth
flesh, the nipple hardening like magic under his thumb. He
could do that to her. He could take her right to the edge of
control and beyond. “I just want to know you. Completely. Don’t you
want to know that stuff about me?”

She kissed him
on the closest piece of skin, which happened to be his shoulder. “I
know it all, honey. I wrote your bio, remember? Although I didn’t
know your real name was Deacon.”

He wanted to
tell her every thought he had about her and far more about himself
than what was written in his bio. He suddenly had a powerful desire
to uncover the mystery of the woman he had just watched experience
a rare loss of self-restraint.