Authors: Faye Avalon
The breath left his lungs as she shot up to sitting and pushed him onto
his back. The remaining champagne in his glass spilled over and flowed onto his
chest.
“Steady,” he said on a low laugh as she straddled him.
“Don’t tell me to be steady,” she said, grabbing his empty glass. “It’s
your turn to do what I say.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, but since he was harder than
steel and feeling hornier by the minute, he decided to play along. Only fair,
seeing as she’d played along with what he’d wanted. “What do I have to do?” he
asked, mimicking her earlier response to his demands.
She reached across and replaced his empty glass for her full one and
held it over his chest. “You have to be a good boy and let me pour champagne
all over your muscular chest.”
Tilting the glass as he had, she let the champagne fall.
Fuck
.
Her hot tongue stroked over his nipples, down the center of his chest,
around and into his navel. When she raised her head to look down at him, the
sight of her full, wet mouth made his blood burn and race harder in his veins.
“Now you have to lie still and let me pour it over your hard, throbbing
prick.” She smiled wickedly and tilted her glass until the champagne hovered
dangerously at the lip of the glass. “Then you have to let me lick it off.
Slowly.”
Fuck and double fuck
.
As the chilled champagne hit his hot cock he sucked in a breath, losing
his capacity to breathe entirely when her tongue began to torture him with
long, slow slides along his hard length.
He squeezed his eyes shut as she took him fully into her mouth and began
pumping him. In seconds he was on the edge. He made to grab for her hair, but
she only tightened her mouth around him.
“Lissa…baby. You don’t have to—”
He felt the first pump of release into her hot mouth, the movement of
her lips the sweetest suction urging him on. He came hard, clenching his jaw
and tightening his hands into fists.
Her hair curtained his erection, the movement of her head slow and easy.
As the last pulse of his orgasm subsided, he fell back against the mattress,
his chest heaving, his ribcage aching from the effort to suck in air.
Slowly, she released him, the slide of her lips against his prick
bringing forth one final jerk of his grateful cock.
She climbed up his body and lay beside him, her hand on his abdomen as
her head lowered to his chest.
He wasn’t sure what to say. When a woman went down on him he always felt
the moment called for an appreciative response. Yet with Lissa a simple
thank you
didn’t quite cut it. The woman
had virtually blown his head off, made his body tremble and shake so hard that
it still vibrated deep within his core.
“You haven’t said anything.” Lissa stroked across his abdomen, her voice
soft, her tone unsure.
He wrapped his arm around her. “I’m still coming down from it.”
She looked up at him and he caressed the hair back from her forehead.
For a strong woman she could appear vulnerable as hell at the oddest moments.
Maybe that was why she could wrench stuff from him that no other woman had been
able to do.
“You’re not angry?”
He raised his head and frowned down at her. “Why the hell would I be
angry?”
“You never seemed to want me to do that before. You always pulled me
away.”
Because with her it was too fucking intimate, he wanted to say. It was
too easy to let her get too close. Sure, he’d had other women swallow him, but
it had seemed an extension of what else they did in bed. With Lissa? It felt
too damn easy, too natural. Too
perfect
.
The realization hit him with a jolt. Maybe that was why he hadn’t wanted
her to go down on him all the way. Because it made things between them too
intimate, going beyond the physical and into something else entirely. He’d been
afraid of letting her get too close. Afraid of it mattering too much. Of
her
mattering too much.
Well, that was easily remedied. Didn’t they say that forewarned was
forearmed?
“I didn’t pull you away that time, princess.” His grin was deliberately
predatory, but his tone was casual, bordering on indifferent. “So, thanks.”
She flickered him a smile, but her eyes dulled. “You’re welcome.”
As she rested her head on his chest again, he congratulated himself for
his change of tactic. It wouldn’t do for her to get the wrong idea. Things had
gotten too intense. They both had to stop stressing out about the whole deal.
He had to lighten things up.
Shifting her gently, he sat and retrieved their glasses. As he had
before, he held them out to her and topped up their champagne. She took her
glass and settled back against the pillows as Reed retrieved the chocolates.
Selecting a dark round piece, he turned to her. “Open.”
When she did, he popped it into her mouth. As she chewed, she watched
him.
Yeah, he thought as he selected another, the whole thing was getting way
too serious. “Tomorrow, I need to take a look at your accounts,” he said as he
fed her the chocolate. “Did you sort the receipts I asked you for?”
She swallowed the chocolate, held his gaze with a questioning look, and then
nodded.
“Great. We’ll get started right away. The sooner we get that out of the
way, the sooner we can get Jack to finalize the divorce papers.” He leaned down
and kissed her. “Thanks again for doing this. You’ve really gotten me out of a
hole.”
“Happy to help.” Her tone had turned as dull as her eyes. Then she
raised her chin, selected a chocolate for herself, and sipped her champagne.
He felt like a bastard, but it had to be done. He wasn’t about to let
her think this meant more than it did. She’d come into this to get her life
back on track, which was his end of the bargain to fulfill. The least he could
do was stick to it.
In the morning, he’d call Jack.
Chapter Ten
Lissa walked into the lobby of what would soon become one of the south
coast’s most prestigious five star hotels. It was a project of Reed’s and since
he’d told her about it at length, she wanted to see it for herself.
Ten days after their wedding night and she still couldn’t shake the
realization that something fundamental had changed between them. She’d racked
her brain trying to remember if she’d said anything to make him put up that
barricade, or if he’d said anything that might have alerted her to the shift in
his attitude. But she couldn’t.
Not that he wasn’t still attentive, generous, and caring toward her. He
was all of those things. It was that she felt he kept her at a distance, if not
physically then emotionally. Of course, she shouldn’t expect anything else,
seeing as the nature of their relationship didn’t demand an emotional link
between them. But she’d felt a growing closeness and now that it was no longer
there, she missed it.
She already knew, and had admitted to herself, that she was falling for
him. Perhaps it hadn’t been apparent until she’d sensed his withdrawal, but it
was there now and she cursed herself for allowing it to happen.
“Can I help you, miss?”
A middle aged man with a shock of grey hair and kind brown eyes walked
up to her. He wore torn and dusty jeans and an oversized t-shirt. Lissa smiled
back at him.
“I was wondering if Reed’s around. He said he’d be here most of the
day.” She lifted the folder she carried containing the most recent statements
from her accountant and several supporting documents. “I’ve got some paperwork
he wanted and thought I’d drop it off.”
Although she hadn’t intended to call at the hotel, she’d thought that as
Reed had a business function that night and she wouldn’t be seeing him, she’d
take the opportunity to get the papers to him. It made sense, seeing as he
needed the information sooner rather than later.
Liar
. That wasn’t the reason at all. She wanted to
see him. Hadn’t wanted to wait until the next evening when they’d arranged to
go over the remaining paperwork, so that Reed could finalize payment of her
debts and put the finishing touches to the business plan they’d worked on
together.
“He was here a while back,” the man said. “I think he had an on-site
meeting. Let me go see if I can find him for you.”
She felt a flutter of nerves and thought perhaps this hadn’t been such a
good idea. He wouldn’t be pleased if she interrupted his business meetings.
Maybe she should just leave. Stick to their arranged meeting the following
evening.
It wasn’t as if she had nothing to do herself. She wanted to check out
new photographic equipment online, design some new business cards, and then
drive over to the nursing home to visit her aunt.
She was about to call after the man not to bother when she heard Reed’s
voice coming from behind her. Turning, she saw him emerge from a corridor.
Their eyes met and for long moments they stared at each other.
Without diverting his gaze from her, Reed addressed the man walking
beside him. Whether because of the intensity in Reed’s eyes or because some
sixth sense alerted her to trouble, Lissa glanced at the other man.
The breath froze in her lungs and a chill ran through the entire length
of her body.
Ethan
.
He looked at her with the same striking blue eyes as Reed’s. In them,
she could see the glimmer of recognition and the moment it fully sprang to life
as he slipped his hands in the pockets of stone-colored cargo pants.
“Lissa?” Reed stepped to her. “Something wrong?”
Only my nightmare come to life
.
She forced herself to meet his steady gaze as her hands went clammy.
“Nothing wrong. I was working out this way,” she improvised. “Thought I’d just
pop in and see how the hotel was coming along.”
She clutched the file to her chest. This was so not the right moment to
discuss anything pertaining to their arrangement.
“I’ll give you the tour.” He angled his head to his left. “My cousin,
Ethan. We’re working out the intricacies of the elevators he’s installing for
me. Ethan, Lissa.”
Ethan smiled at her, with a warmth in his eyes that surprised her. “Hi
Lissa. How’s it going?”
He didn’t look half as uncomfortable as she felt, which made her wonder
if Marco had already alerted him to the fact she’d been present at his wedding
as part of the photographer’s crew.
She felt compelled to offer him a nervous smile in return, but was
unable to meet his gaze as her face burned and her hands shook. “Fine. Thanks.”
Aware that Reed was watching her closely, Lissa knew she had to make her
exit before her legs gave way. She badly needed some fresh air in the hope she
could breathe again. “I don’t really have time for a tour,” she said, still
avoiding Ethan’s eyes. “Maybe another time.”
Reed’s eyebrows drew together. “Okay. I’ll walk you out.” He nodded at
Ethan who smiled at her again.
Oh God. Would he say something to Reed after she’d gone? Reed hadn’t
introduced her as his girlfriend, lover, and certainly not wife, so maybe he
wouldn’t. But she wasn’t convinced. He might nudge Reed and say, “
You’re onto a good thing there, buddy. I’ve
had her and know it for a fact, so has Marco come to that. As it happens, we
fucked her at the same time.”
As unlikely as such a bold statement might
be, she couldn’t help but envision the worst. It would be just her poor fortune
for Ethan to openly admit his dalliances with her.
Her knees went wobbly and her head swam a little. Thankfully, Reed took
her arm, told Ethan he’d be back in a moment, and steered her out into the
cold, bright day.
Lissa grabbed in oxygen through a chest that felt so tight she could
barely get her breath.
“What’s in the folder?”
“What?” Her face burned so hot she could barely look at Reed for fear
he’d glimpse something in her eyes that would alert him to her distress.
“The folder,” Reed repeated, his tone dark.
“Oh. I brought the papers you wanted. I thought it might be easier for
you to have them now rather than wait until tomorrow night.”
“And you thought you’d take the tour while you were here?”
“Yes. You’ve told me so much about it, I thought I could see it
firsthand.”
“Yet you couldn’t get out fast enough.” His jaw set into a tight line,
his spine ramrod straight as his flinty eyes bored into hers. “Something change
your mind?”
Lissa swallowed. She had the distinct impression things were about to
get very awkward. “I remembered I had to get back.”
He gave a slow nod. Lissa swallowed.
“If I didn’t already know it was Zutini, I’d be putting my money on it
being Ethan you were trying to avoid at the wedding.” When his fingers
tightened around her arm, she looked up into narrowed eyes. “Don’t lie to me,
Lissa.”