PART 1
Islid onto the bar stool, smoothing the very short skirt over my thighs and hooking my ankles together.
I didn’t need the mirror behind the bar to know I looked like very expensive sex.
I’d sleeked my hair into a smooth bob and concentrated my makeup on my lashes and fuck-me red lipstick.
The silk of my blouse was cut low enough to promise but never deliver a glimpse of my breasts.
The bartender appeared in front of me like a genie eager to make my dreams come true. I smiled and caught a picture of myself reflected back, looking like a woman who’d already had all her wishes come true. Almost all of them.
“What can I get you?”
“The lady will have a Knob Creek Manhattan, and I’ll have a Glenfiddich on the rocks.”
The man slid a black Amex across the polished wood surface of the bar, revealing an exceptional watch and even more exceptional cufflinks in what had to be a bespoke cotton French cuff shirt.
I knew the hand, strong and tender, without having to glance back at the owner.
That hand had touched every inch of me and brought me to orgasm more times than I could count.
I nodded my approval to the bartender, who reached for the top shelf bottles and began to prepare the drinks.
“You seem very sure of yourself.” I spun just enough to meet Jake’s gaze and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning up at him like I’d just been given a bowl of my favorite ice cream.
“You look like the kind of woman who drinks bourbon.” He slid onto the stool next to me, and I ignored that he ordered my drink exactly the way I liked it in order to pay attention to the suit he wore.
I’d never seen him in it or anything like it before, and for a moment, I wondered if Jake called Jackson. If he did, I hadn’t had anything to do with it. He looked like sex and power and matched my businessman in a bar fantasy perfectly.
“Lucky guess.” I twisted to face him and tipped my head, letting the sleek curtain of my hair fall to the side. The position allowed me to look up at him and gave him a spectacular view of my breasts and the jeweled clips adorning them.
Or it would have if he’d taken his gaze off mine.
Instead he kept me pinned in place, the command in just his look enough to send heat spiraling through me.
His hazel eyes held so much confidence, so much surety that he’d get exactly what he wanted and enough heat to make it clear what he wanted now was me.
“I don’t guess. I know.”
My body’s instinctive response to Jake hadn’t dimmed at all, even after the declarations of love and the time we’d spent together doing perfectly ordinary things.
I still wanted him with a fierceness that might have scared me if it had been anyone else.
But I’d known from the beginning, I could trust this man with my body. And now with my heart as well.
The bartender set a perfectly made Manhattan on the bar in front of me, saving me at least momentarily from the urge to crawl onto Jake’s lap and purr like a kitten.
I took a sip of the amber liquid, not bothering to hide the small sound of pleasure and had the satisfaction of watching Jake’s gaze grow darker, his focus more intense.
He reached out to run his thumb across my lip, catching the ghost of liquid. My breath caught in my throat at his touch, and I held it as he slid the digit against his own mouth.
“Delicious.” He murmured a sound of approval, and the heat that warmed my body ramped up a few thousand degrees. “Now you try mine.”
He took a sip of his Scotch, setting the glass back down out of my reach. I raised my hand, intending to mimic his actions but he stopped me, grabbing my wrist before I could touch him.
“Not like that.”
I had just enough time to register the delicious tug of his hand holding me in place before he leaned in, sliding his other hand to the back of my head, pulling me in close enough to feel his breath on my face.
“Like this.” He tightened his grip on my hair and the one on my wrist, anchoring me in place, caging me with his body before his lips covered mine.
I gave myself to the kiss—to him—relishing the smokey taste of Scotch on his lips. He kept his mouth gentle against mine even as his hands made it clear he held the power in this exchange.
Heat pooled low in my core, turning my body molten. My nipples tightened in anticipation and the clips amplified every sensation. If I’d been a smarter woman, we’d have played this game at home and I could have straddled him where he sat, taking him inside me exactly the way I needed.
But if we’d done that, everything would have been different.
Sex with Jake was spectacular even under ordinary circumstances.
Playing together, however, made things that much more delicious.
He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to mine.
The ragged edge to his breath turned the volume up on my desire.
“Finish your drink so I can take you upstairs to my suite before I lose control and fuck you on this bar.” His words came out on a growl, and I hurried to reach for my glass, eager to comply.
I took a healthy swallow, relishing the burn of the bourbon. I already felt loose. I didn’t need the alcohol to lower my inhibitions. I didn’t have any where Jake was concerned.
“Done,” I said, tipping my chin up in challenge.
Twining his fingers with mine, he tugged me off my stool and led me to the door. The dim light of the bar gave way to the brightly lit lobby. Jake led me toward the elevators, stopping short when he saw the group of tourists queued up to get on.
“This way.” He pulled me away from the crowd and toward the stairway.
He held the door open and followed me into the stairwell. The door clicked closed behind us, blocking out the noise, the other people, everything but us. Guiding me to the space under the stairs hidden from immediate view, he pulled me in for a kiss.
“I can’t wait a minute longer to have you.” His gaze searched mine, and I knew if I told him to stop he would.
I didn’t want him to. I reached between us, gripping his hard cock through the fabric of his slacks. Feeling how much he wanted this, how much he wanted me answered any questions I had.
“You first.” He manacled my wrists with his hand and nudged me back against the wall. “Arms up, beautiful, and stay there.”
I raised my hands above my head, sucking in a breath when the clips tugged at my straining nipples. Jake’s hands slid down my arms, across my collarbones, and made quick work of the buttons on my blouse.
I knew the exact moment he noticed the jeweled clips because his breath went out on a rasp.
“Fuck,” he said, part word, part groan.
“Please.”
Cupping my breasts, he ran his thumbs back and forth over my captured nipples, each touch reinforcing a path to my clit and making it almost impossible to keep my hands in place.
When I thought I couldn’t stand it a second longer, he bent, drawing my nipple into his mouth, working the jewelry free with his tongue.
Sensation rushed to the tip, a combination of prickles and delicious pleasure.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out and calling attention to us.
He took the jeweled clip from between his lips and dropped it in his jacket pocket before repeating the process with my other breast. By the time he pocketed the second clip, I felt my arousal slick my thighs, and I arched into him, desperate to get him inside me.
To have him take me and claim me the way I needed.
I watched, mesmerized, as he freed his cock from his pants.
He rucked up my skirt and gripped the back of my thigh, opening me to him.
Not bothering with panties had proved to be one of my best decisions yet.
He groaned as the back of his knuckles brushed my aching clit and he found me bare for him.
I arched my hips closer, needing him to touch me more. Touch me harder.
“Hold onto me and don’t let go.”
It was all the instruction I needed. I wrapped my arms around Jake’s neck as he fitted himself against my opening and slid inside. My body clenched around the intrusion, and I bucked, grinding against him. I felt his arms strain as he held me up, palming my ass as he drove himself inside.
“Touch yourself, baby. You’re so fucking wet. I won’t last.”
He murmured filthy things in my ear as he fucked me, and I did what he said, wedging a hand between us so I could touch my clit the way I needed.
It took seconds for the explosion to start.
The coil of pleasure had been building inside me since he walked into the bar, wound tighter with every thrust, every touch, until it broke.
I broke. Falling apart in Jake’s arms.
He followed me, his thrusts growing desperate. Erratic. Until he tensed and pulsed inside me.
“I love you,” he said, his breathing still heavy. “Always and forever.”
“I love you too.” I pressed my lips to his damp forehead and felt the certainty of being in Jake’s arms. I would never be too much for him, and he would always be ready to catch me when I fell. “Always and forever.”