Sweet Seduction Surrender (11 page)

I got the impression he couldn't say no, even though he wanted to. He obviously wanted to give me this moment in the shower, for my enjoyment alone. But the offer to help him find his own release was too great for him to ignore. With a pained look on his face, which had nothing to do with his urgent need for relief, he watched as I licked the last residue of soap off his erection and palmed his sac beneath.

Then in typical Jason Cain style, he demanded, "Lace your hands behind your back."

My eyes lifted to him and he must have seen the question on my face,
he didn't want me to touch him with my fingers?

"Don't think," he added. "Just do."

I followed his instruction, unsure how I would keep my balance, let alone how I would be able to stop myself from reaching for him. I couldn't imagine that this was going to be comfortable, but if this is what he wanted, then I'd give it to him. He'd just blown my world, it was the least I could do.

Once my hands were secured behind my back I got back to work, using just my lips, teeth and tongue on his arousal. Within seconds his fingers were entangled in my hair, guiding me, controlling my movements, where without my hands on his body, I could not.

"That's it," he breathed, throwing his head back against the tiles behind him, eyes closed in bliss. He kept hold of my head and slowly rocked his hips back and forward. The sight of him thrusting himself toward my mouth was so incredibly sexy. Losing himself in between my lips. Taking what he needed to find his own release.

But it didn't take me long to realise I was equally lost to the experience. Not being able to touch him, I was forced to concentrate on the sensations I felt on my lips. The taste of him, mixed with soap, on my tongue. The fine line he made me walk with the depth in which he entered me. It was a slow sensual slide down a seductive slope, and before too long I was moaning and shifting on my knees trying to find some form of relief to the urgent pressure that had accumulated deep down inside.

"Oh, Kate," he groaned above me, making my eyes, which had closed, flick open to look up at his face. "You have no idea how sexy you are kneeling there. How much I like the idea that me getting off in you, gets you off too."

Oh my Lord. I pleaded with my eyes for him to ease the build up of tension in my body.

"You want to come, baby?" he asked, huskily.

I nodded against him, making him suck in a breath at the movement it created in my mouth; teeth grazing.

"You need me to make you feel good?" he asked, breathless and eyes a little wild. "Or do you want to do it yourself?"

He was giving me options. How is that a dominant? I think Jason played by his own rules. He was still very much in charge, because I hadn't just sought my own release, I'd waited for him to offer a solution. But he still gave me a form of control. How did I want to come? With him inside me, or him thrusting into my mouth while I played with myself?

I pulled back, at the same time he pulled back, allowing me to reply.

"I want you inside me." I breathed the words out like they were as essential as air.

He cupped my cheek, holding my gaze as I looked up at him from where I still knelt.

"You please me, Kate," he said softly. Then turned the taps off, opened up the sliding door to the shower and reached down to lift me to my feet.

Within seconds he'd towelled us both off, then he grasped my hand and led me back into the bedroom. The sheets were still in disarray, having not been made since we got up. His cellphone was beeping on the bedside table, obviously we'd missed a call, maybe more than one. He ignored it all, helped me to lie back on the bed and then crawled on top of me.

"I'm close to the edge, baby," he murmured, wasting no time guiding himself inside. "As much as I want to fuck you every way possible, missionary has its benefits."

I smiled up at his serious face, I had no problems with missionary style. It
had
always been the quickest way for me to get off.

He started slowly, even though I could see the strain in his muscles as he held himself above my chest. Even though I could see a vein pulsing erratically on the side of his neck. Even though he panted with each slow glide inside, and sucked in air like he was drowning with every smooth retreat.

His eyes closed, his head dipped down, as he breathed my name,
"Kate".

Not surprisingly, it didn't take long at all for me to come. His pace picked up as I moaned and writhed beneath him. His cellphone rang, but we were both too far gone to even care that someone somewhere was trying to enter our world. And as soon as my orgasm waned he roared his triumphant release, collapsing onto my body, his lips finding mine as he continued to pound into me, lengthening his moment as long as he could.

Finally we stopped all motion, sweaty again despite having just exited the shower. Jason stayed draped over my body like a welcoming blanket, still inside me, still connected. He lifted his head, brushed my hair back to reveal my eyes, and just... stared.

"This is only the beginning, Kate," he finally murmured.

It was a promise.

The world was waiting for us, evidenced by yet another call on his phone, no doubt Eric wanting to know why the GPS on Jason's car hadn't moved from my driveway yet. But the world was irrelevant right now.

I took hold of his words and clasped them tight.

I'd taken the risk...

And Jason Cain had caught me with open arms.

But, reality can be a shifting type of sand. Fleeting. Changing. Never what you think it actually is...

Jason failed to appear at Dominic's and Genevieve's barbecue that afternoon.

He never phoned, nor did he return my half dozen calls.

He dropped off the face of the earth. Or at least he did for me.

I have no words to describe the feeling his sudden absence created. The gaping hole he carved out by not being there.

I had given all of me. And he had seemed to accept it wholeheartedly.

But now he was gone. As though he'd never stepped foot in my life so intimately, so irrevocably, before. As though he hadn't changed the very make-up of
me
.

I am speechless. There are no words.

I am... 

Speechless.

It wasn't meant to have hurt this much. I had let him into my heart for just one day.

One day.

And now I was shattered,
destroyed
, broken into a million different sharp edged pieces. Because of Jason Cain.

I hated him. I truly did. And there's not many people Katie Anscombe hates. Ask my brothers. I'm a love and let live kind of girl. But Jason had asked me to live life by letting him in. Now I was desperately in love with the man, but conversely broken hearted by his careless and cruel actions, as well.

How could he have been so callous? How could I have fallen for the game, for his player ways?

I shook my head in disgust at myself. Thankfully, I am not a pushover, otherwise the past two weeks would have been a complete disaster. As it is, my passion for decorating was severely challenged. It's just a good thing that my proposal - a proposal that I have refused to further acknowledge as coming about because of any so called muse - covered all the basics. All I had do was purchase the necessary items, implement the design and fluff the final sitting room for the Montgomery-Smiths. It was a success, but I'd be happy if I never laid eyes on the wretched place again.

Unfortunately, Mrs Montgomery-Smith had other ideas.

I sighed as I pushed the doors open to Sweet Seduction. I hadn't been inside Gen's coffee/chocolatier/music store all week. It became too hard. I kept expecting to see
him
there. I kept wondering if he was watching the security camera footage at ASI. I kept having to remind myself that Jason had simply used me and moved on, and wasn't in the slightest bit interested in what I was doing now. So, that's why I was forcing myself to drop in and touch base with my future sister-in-law.

Jason's sister.

And
that
was not the best thought to have when I was trying to act normal around everyone.

The sounds of coffee beans grinding competed with the almost too loud voice of Pink coming out of the speakers.
Lets Get This Party Started
seeming incongruous with the late afternoon shopping crowd on a Friday in High Street. But then, Genevieve and her best friend Kelly were always up for a party, no matter the time of day.

I walked with purpose, head held high, smile on my face, towards the counter. Intending to get my sisterly duties over with, before I had to schmooze with clients at the Montgomery-Smith's sitting room extravaganza. It was going to be a very long day indeed.

Dom and Gen were holding another barbecue on Sunday, and I needed to make my excuses now, before she roped me into providing a salad or something essential to the feast in Gen's mind. I always found it difficult to say no to Genevieve's enthusiasm, so it was best I got in my apologies before she got in her request.

Kelly was the one to notice me first. Her blonde curly locks bobbing up and down as she greeted me with a huge smile and happy blue eyes. I must have shown some of the discomfort I felt at being around genuinely happy people on my face, because her smile fell slightly and she cocked her head to the side. Then before I could correct myself, she said something out of the corner of her mouth to Gen, whose gaze lifted to me as I came to rest at the counter.

"Hello, darlings," I said in my best Katie Anscombe Prior To Jason Cain Ruining My World impersonation.

"What's wrong?" Genevieve asked without missing a beat.

Oh fudge. I was so mucking this up.

"Why nothing’s wrong, silly," I replied. "Unless you call the boring event I have to attend tonight and the fact I can't make your barbecue on Sunday something to be worried about."

Ah, that was smooth, Katie. Very well done.

"Oh," Gen said, not believing my distraction for a minute.

Then she must have registered my actual words, as a frown passed over her porcelain cream face creating shadows. She took an abrupt step away from the coffee machine, to come closer to me. I forced myself not to take a step back. That would have looked suspicious.

"You have to come on Sunday," she said, in a voice that meant all business.

"I wish I could, darling, but something's come up." I was prepared for this, so I already had a false emergency made up. "One of my clients has had a disastrous event with a room I designed for them, and Sunday afternoon is the only time I can straighten things out before the shop in question has to open on Monday.

"You can't do it tomorrow?" she asked, frown still in place.

"No," I said with a shake of my head to send the message home. "Can't gain access until Sunday afternoon." I too added a frown to let her know I was disappointed.

"But, Katie," she pleaded, really putting the Genevieve Cain convincing, yet still somehow sweet, whine into the words. "Dom and I have an announcement." The last was said on a whisper, as she leaned across the counter towards me.

My heart flopped. Dominic was already marrying Gen. They'd set a date. Everything was planned and under way. Any announcement they had wouldn't be around their impending nuptials. I had an idea of what it could be, and it would be something important to Genevieve and Dom. Something I
should
be present for. But if her sister-in-law should be there, then her brother definitely should. And it was a risk - Ha! - my heart just couldn't take.

The sadness I felt at turning her down was evident on my face. She looked shocked. But it was more for the fact that I would pass up an important moment in their lives for work, than the notion that I was sad over it.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, feeling entirely rotten about the deception and about letting Genevieve, someone I loved, down.

"Oh, OK then," she said with a small voice. "I guess we can just tell you on Monday maybe. After everyone else knows."

Oh, boy. Did she sound so woeful at that idea.

"Darling," I said, cajolingly. "I'm sure you won't even miss me. You'll be too excited with whatever reaction you receive to your good news."

It was obvious I'd guessed what the announcement was about, and Genevieve's beaming smile confirmed I was right and she knew it. She didn't say the words, clearly she and Dom had decided they wouldn't mention their surprise until Sunday. But I think she was pleased I'd cottoned on.

"Congratulations," I whispered, reaching over and squeezing her hand.

"When is it going to be your turn, Katie?" she asked innocently, as her carefree words sliced like a knife through my heart. "Even Jason has been talking about settling down and having... Well, you know."

Oh, and now the knife was twisting. I couldn't find my voice.

"I don't know who he's got in his life," Gen continued, oblivious to the blood pouring out of my chest and pooling on the ground, "but for the past two weeks he's been acting really weird, secretive even. Dom and I think he'll be bringing her on Sunday to the barbecue. I just hope she's not his usual blonde bimbo with big tits." She giggled at her apt description of Jason's
usual
type.

I needed to sit down. My legs were shaking, and not in a good way. I could feel that the colour had drained from my face. It hurt.

Everything hurt.

I dug deep. I needed to get out of here and clear my head. "Well, I'm sure whoever she is, you'll love her. As much as he does."

Those last words were said on a croak. Even Genevieve couldn't miss that. I cleared my throat, winced at the dryness there and asked, "Can I get a skinny cappuccino to go?"

Gen looked at me strangely for a second and then offered a small smile and set to work grinding the beans and tamping them into the portafilter. I pretended to be interested in the chocolates on display in the glass front case. When she handed me the black with hot pink writing cup, I pointed at a particularly cute packaged selection of chocolates, in an effort to get her attention off my pale and washed out face.

"I think my client would love that gift box, darling. Can I get that as well, please?" I was sure Mrs Montgomery-Smith wouldn't care less, but my mother had always taught me to come bearing gifts.

When she handed me my change back, she asked, concern lacing every word, "Katie, is everything all right?"

"Of course, darling," I replied instantly. "Just been a busy few weeks, that's all."

I placed the change in my purse, picked up the gift box of chocolates and finally lifted my gaze to Gen, offering a smile. It faltered at the worry that met me in her eyes.

"Katie," she said softly, leaning forward slightly to offer her next words. "You know you can talk to me about anything, don't you?"

My lips twitched in a parody of a smile. I was trying, I really was. But the idea of talking to Genevieve, about what had happened with Jason, was ludicrous.

"I'm OK, Gen," I said evenly. The use of her nickname, and not my signature moniker for everyone, making her pull back as though I'd hit her in the face.

"Oh, Katie," she whispered, her words getting lost in the noise of the busy café. I glanced around and noticed she had an ever growing queue, so took a relieved step back.

"I'll let you get back to work," I murmured. "Good luck for Sunday," was said over my shoulder, as I practically ran from the store.

I'd made it to my car parked on Chancery Street when my cellphone rang. A quick glance at the caller ID and I swore. Thankfully under my breath, as there were people nearby.

Dominic. Genevieve had ratted me out.

I beeped the locks on my car and opened the door, before I swiped the screen to answer. This conversation would require an element of privacy. I slipped into the driver's seat, placing the chocolates and my handbag on the one beside me and said into the phone, "Darling! I hear congratulations are in order."

The door swung shut just as Dom coughed down the line.

"She told you," he said in a deep and smooth voice. The one he used when he was trying to hide his reaction to something. Being a lawyer he was good at that. Maybe I should take lessons from him. I certainly needed some practice at hiding my emotions right now.

"I guessed, Dom. You must be thrilled." For the first time, in I don't know how long, I felt happy. Talking to my big brother about something so joyous as this.

"We were going to announce it together on Sunday, but Genevieve said you can't come. I guess it makes sense you're the first to know. You always did have a way of ferreting information out of us when we were kids."

"Ferreting! Pfft! I just know you two and I know how much you're in love. A baby is the next step."

"Well, usually the wedding comes first, but, well, you know how the best laid plans can go." He almost sounded tongue-tied, something Dominic never was.

I laughed softly. "I'm pleased for you, Dom. This is wonderful news."

"It is, isn't it?" he murmured. "And we would have loved to have had you with us when we told the world."

"Well, I promise not to breathe a word of it. Until you get a chance to make the official announcement, of course. Then I can't be held responsible for my enthusiasm at becoming an aunt."

He chuckled, practically a full blown laugh for him. "You sound good, Katie." It was said with a mixture of surprise and calculation. Dominic never said anything without having a valid reason to.

"I am," I lied with gusto. "Business is booming. I have an event tonight which I am sure will drum up more work. I'm really making a name for myself."

"And boyfriends?" Cutting to the chase. It wasn't the lawyer in him, it was all Anscombe male. Nick and my father had the same uncanny ability to see through a ruse and pick out the important thread that could unravel it.

"No one special." I lied again. In a way.

"Well," Dom said, clearly not wanting to get too far down the my-little-sister-is-actively-having-sexual-relations line of conversation. "If you have any problems, you know some dickhead causing you issues, just let us know."
Us
being him and Nick, of course. "We'll teach any imbecile who hurts our sister a lesson gladly."

"Gee," I said, letting mock sarcasm coat my voice. "Just what I always wanted, big brothers beating up my boyfriends when they tell me my butt's too big."

"Katie!" Dominic chastised. It was entirely too gentle to mean anything. "You don't have a butt." And he wasn't meaning that in the you-don't-have-a-big-enough-butt-to-mention way, he said it because to him, I was not an object to sexualise in
any
way. Brothers!

Of course, I wasn't letting him off that easily. "I don't have boobs either."

Silence. "Well, OK," he said slightly flustered. I stifled my giggle. At least I'd deflected the conversation off the real issue. "Take care and enjoy yourself tonight."

"You enjoy Sunday too, Dom. Thanks for calling." And that there was my mistake. Reminding him that he'd called me. For a reason.

"Are you sure you're OK, Katie? Genevieve said..." He paused, obviously not wanting to repeat exactly what Genevieve had said about my behaviour or performance in her store just now. "She said you looked out of sorts." I wondered what
out of sorts
was a euphemism for.