Chapter Five
Not exactly according to plan. As Alec towed Jaya through the back exit of the bar to the VIP elevator, he wondered how he’d gotten here. He’d meant to ask her out. Flirt his way to dinner. Find out who or what had made her cry the other day. But screw his best-laid plans—he wanted her. The ridiculous instinct to protect and possess were driving his actions now.
Tugging her into the elevator, he marveled at how soft her hand was. The charge of electricity zinging up his arm every time he stroked her thumb could be a potential problem. Not like he cared though. As soon as she’d laid those perfect lips on his, rational thought hadn’t been part of the plan. Reckless and impulsive—that was his MO. Just like your father. Just like your brother.
“Hey, aren’t I supposed to be the one frowning?” Jaya met his gaze. A laugh in her eyes, she added, “Strange man drags me to secret hotel entrance. Hot, strange man, but strange man none the less. I should be the one having second thoughts.”
He couldn’t help it. Her impish grin made him smile. From the moment he saw her in the elevator three days ago, he had had some outrageous fantasies about her lips. How they would feel under his, how they’d look around his—
She moistened her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue and he bit back a strangled moan.
“I’m going to kiss you again now if that’s okay.”
She greeted him with a smile so wide her eyes danced. “Oh, I think it might be okay.”
She did that tip-of-the tongue thing again and his cock jerked. Cupping her face in his hands, he pressed his mouth to hers, meaning to be gentle. Instead, he felt like he had electrodes molded to his lips, sending electric currents of need through his body. Shit. He heard her moan and dragged her closer to him, unable, unwilling to break their contact.
His tongue coaxed a response, demanding more. When her tongue answered and met his, need slammed into his body with such force, he thought he might come. Holy shit, it’s just a kiss. But his body didn’t believe that. He wanted her so badly his blood boiled. As their tongues danced, he lifted her so her legs wrapped around him. He fisted his hands in her hair and could feel the heat from her core. Her soft moans urged him on—to take, plunder. Quick, hard. Fast.
The elevator dinged and she drew back. Her tone was light, curious. “You going to tell me where you’re taking me, or are you going to ravage, then slaughter me in the elevator?”
He eased her down his body. The moment they broke contact, he missed her. “I like the sound of this ravaging business. But if you really must see your surroundings first, then let me show you around.”
Once he led her into Max’s suite, she used his arm to steady herself as she slipped off her shoes. The mental image of her wearing nothing but the stilettoes would give him wet dreams for a month.
“Where are we, anyway?”
“One of the presidential suites.” Alec kept his voice neutral. Jaya wouldn’t be the first girl to be impressed with the Westhorpe trappings. It was the reason he never brought women home, why he never told anyone he was a Westhorpe.
She stared up at the ornate painted ceiling done in the fashion of Botticelli paintings. “It’s beautiful. This paint color is gorgeous.”
“If you like that sort of thing.” To his own ears, his voice was rueful and a little bitter.
“It reminds me of my parent's house. Gorgeous, but stifling. Like the room wasn’t really meant to be enjoyed.”
The relief that washed through him was so potent he thought he’d collapse from it. His first impressions of her were right. She went her own way. She wasn’t up here with him because she knew who he was. She didn’t care about the money. Or she didn’t know. Either way, she’d come up with Alec Danthers not Alec Westhorpe.
Jaya turned a slow circle in the middle of the room. The soft skirt of her dress lifted and teased him with hints of her upper thighs. “Are we supposed to be up here, Alec?”
He shrugged. “Define ‘supposed to be.’”
A smile threatened but she restrained it. “I’ve always wondered if hotel employees used the unoccupied rooms for their own dirty deeds. I guess now I know. I don’t want you to get into any trouble, though.” She took in the furnishings again. “At least you picked a good one. I’m getting all kinds of ideas in here.”
He nearly swallowed his tongue. Shit. Clearing his throat, he said, “It’s my brother’s place. I stay here with him when I’m in town.”
“Fancy,” she muttered. Jaya stalked toward him and he wondered how the tables had turned. He started out seducing her, but somehow she was in control here. She was in the driver’s seat. The thought made him itchy.
“So,” she said as she approached, “I guess the only thing I need to know is if he’s coming back tonight and how much time we have.”
Alec’s smile spread into an all-out grin. An unseen fist tightened in his belly. “I gotta tell you. I love a woman who goes after what she wants.” His voice was rough as he ground the words out.
Backing her against the wall of the sitting area, he braced himself for the shot of electricity bolting through his veins. But when he dipped his head and their lips met, her return kiss was so tender it had him on slow melt. While his lips glided over hers in curious exploration, her tongue teased and coaxed his.
Hard and fast was what he wanted—or thought he wanted. He’d gone looking for a flash of heat. His body hadn’t bargained for this kind of slow and easy kissing as if they had all the time in the world and he was a fine wine to be savored.
Heat spread from the center of his body, rising to the epidermis and scorching his skin from the inside. Breath trapped in his throat, he tried to speed up the pace. The slow torture was telling him everything he needed to know about her. She was thorough. Took her time. Didn’t rush things. She liked to be in control. It also meant she was confident and strong.
Sexy didn’t even begin to cover it. Good thing he was leaving soon. A woman like Jaya would shred his soul. He could see himself giving her anything she asked for. Including his freedom.
If she kept the slow burn up any longer, he would become a believer in spontaneous combustion. Alec heard a low rumbling in the quiet of the room. It wasn’t until he felt her smile against his lips did he realize he was the source.
Without breaking their kiss, he slid his hands down her arms and brought them up to wrap around the back of his neck. He mumbled nonsense words more focused on getting her as close to him as physically possible. One kiss had reduced him to a horny teenager and his brain couldn’t compute.
Looking down at her, feeling her warmth around him, the soft curves of her body gently molded against him, he couldn’t remember his own name. Couldn’t think beyond what he wanted. Couldn’t think beyond the need slamming through his chest.
Jaya arched her body into him and smiled. He couldn’t remember why he’d ever thought it was a good idea to stay away from her. As he kissed her again, he thought he was branding her as his, but really it was the other way around. Jaya Trudeaux stripped him bare. She made him feel. “You are so beautiful.”
In the tiniest corner of his mind, a voice called to him to be careful. It tried to warn him that she was dangerous to him. That he wouldn’t be able to leave her easily as he did with so many others before. That she wasn’t his. But he didn’t listen. All he could hear were her ragged pants. All he could think about were those full lips and where he wanted them. How much he wanted her to be his.
He didn’t realize he’d pulled back and was staring at her until big honey-brown eyes blinked up at him as if waiting for some sort of command. The sweet and spicy scent of perfume mingled with her scent. He leaned his body into hers. He knew something inside him would change forever if he did this. He had a choice—listen to the voice, or fall into those brown depths. Voice or depths. Voice or depths. Tilting his head, sliding his lips over hers, he chose depths.
She tasted like autumn. The flavor of apple mojito mingled with her unique
brown sugar flavor. Hands tightening on her waist, Alec nipped at her bottom lip and she responded to him with a shiver. Her response made his cock jump up and threaten war with the fly of his jeans.
With every breath, shift and wiggle from her, he could feel the heat of her through his fly. He traced a path to her neck, inhaling deeply. She arched into him, pressing those full breasts into his chest. Needing to feel more of her, he slid a hand up to the V of her dress. Tracing the material as it clung to the rise of one perfect mound, he heard her sharp intake of breath and watched with fascination as her nipple puckered under the stretchy jersey fabric. No bra. Shit.
Continuing to trace his finger at the edge of the fabric, he used the other hand to restrain both of hers above his head. She didn’t struggle, only rocked her heat against him. Taking advantage of her arched form, he hovered his mouth for a moment over the puckered bud. He blew a warm breath and she shivered again as her body arched even more.
Not one to disappoint a lady, he pressed his lips over the raised peak and suckled her through the soft material. Her breath came out as a drawn out moan and he tugged harder trying to taste every rich flavor of her skin through the fabric.
Letting go of her hands, his fingers trembled as they peeled back the shoulders of the dress. One simple tug and it skimmed off her shoulders to her waist, baring the blackberry tinted tips of her breasts. Another tug and the dress slid to the polished travertine of the floor. Shit. Perfection.
Alec’s brain stuttered. She was more perfect than the goddess Nefertiti herself. It had been a long time since anyone affected him. Since any woman had touched more than just his flesh. Jaya had managed it the moment he saw her. And now. Now she stood before him in all her naked perfection and his mind completely fuzzed out on what to do.
Lucky for him, she knew what she wanted. “Alec, I need this.” She gazed up at him through thick lashes. “I need you.”
Alec couldn’t move. He’d had sex—lots of sex. Shit, he’d had all sorts of sex on six different continents. Never once had he felt truly connected. Not like he did now. Jaya reached for him and he could only watch as delicate fingers tugged his cotton polo out of his pants. She leaned in close comingling her scent with his.
Her hands, delicate, but sure, moved inside the shirt, skimming his shoulders as she slipped it off over his head. At the contact of skin on skin, his cock pressed against his pants, urging, begging him to love her. To slide into her soft warm depths and never come back up for air.
Heat flared in Jaya’s eyes as his cock nudged her belly. As he felt the now-familiar shock of electricity, he eased her hands away from his belt. He grabbed a foil packet from his wallet before violently kicking off his pants. Alec left the boxer briefs on, tucking the condom in the waistband at his back.
For a moment, he saw the look of confusion in her eyes. His body finally surging into motion, he shifted her onto the antique end desk, slanting over her lips again like a starving man.
His hands took their cue from the roaring, pulsing blood in his veins and slid over her hips to her rounded ass. Cupping her flesh, he levered her against him. “Put your legs around my waist.”
When she complied, he cursed as her wet heat met the cloth covering the head of his straining penis. He braced her against the corner and slowed the kiss. Taking his time, he teased her tongue into dancing with his.
He traversed a path from her full ass to her waist to her breasts, never quite reaching the sensitive tips. Jaya moaned and rocked against him trying to get closer, urging him to take her breasts in his hands. When he gave her what she wanted, she moaned and arched her back, giving him better access.
Those breasts were a thing of beauty. He’d always been an ass man and Lord knew Jaya had one that could win awards, but her breasts were quickly making him a breast man. They weren’t much bigger than a B-cup, but they were high and firm—and real. For some reason most of the women he slept with these days sported fakes.
Jaya arched her back as much as the confined space would allow. He took the hint. Dipping his head, he grazed first one nipple, then the other with his five o’clock shadow. He followed up with his tongue and with playful tugs with his teeth.
“Alec.”
He wanted to hear her moan again.
He growled against her breast. “I like it when you say my name.”
She said it again on a whisper and he sucked in a delicate tip. One arm wrapped around her for support, he slid his hand down the flat expanse of her belly. Only pausing to trace a circle around her belly button, his hand slid farther down, searching for her center.
When he found it, he hissed in a breath. She was wet. Slick. Teasing the entrance, he slid one finger into her moist core and she bucked. He buried his lips in her neck, inhaling the scent of her. She smelled like home. Gently, he withdrew then entered, withdrew, then entered in a slow, lazy rhythm that said they had all the time in the world. When in truth, they only had a minute before he spontaneously combusted.
Her hands fisted in his hair and she rocked her hips against his finger, trying to force him to increase the pace. He didn’t. Instead, he inserted another finger and kept up the rhythm. Nice and easy. They had all the time in the world.
Jaya raked her nails up his back and he chuckled through a hiss. “You’re making it really hard for me to take my time.”
Doing it again, she asked, “Who said I wanted you to take your time?”
Hell. If that didn’t wreak havoc with his self-control. Easing his fingers out of her, he reached around his back for the condom. With a series of wiggles, his briefs went the way of her dress. Getting the condom on in their current position took more effort than he thought, but when he was sheathed and his cock nudged her slick folds, he didn’t care. All he could think about was how she felt against him.
“Alec, now.”
Her rocking motions caused her sex to rub against his tip.
He shuddered from the need. “I’ll go easy.”
She smiled. “There you go, trying to make decisions for me again. When I want easy, I’ll ask for it.”
With slow, tilting motions of his hips, he slid in to the hilt. They both hissed in breaths. Hers was an “Ahhhhh.” His “Ohhhhh.”
Bliss. He rocked his hips back, slowly pulling out, and rocked forward again. As his cock stocked the sensitive walls of her flesh, she dug her nails deep, scoring marks a part of him hoped would become permanent.
She tossed her head back, baring her neck to him. Taking advantage, he nipped at the column of her neck even as he drew forward and the sensitive flesh of her core milked his cock. Pulsing and releasing in its tight sheath.
“Alec.” His name on her breath was both a balm to the part of him that was always searching, always moving, and an accelerant to the driving urge for self-destruction. Even as their bodies moved together, mixing sweat and her perfume, Alec knew once wouldn’t be enough. She was already under his skin. As he drove her higher and higher and felt the tingling at the base of his spine, he knew walking away from Jaya Trudeaux would be torture.
“Alec. Please.” Her delicate fingers twined in his hair, pulling him close.
“Come on, sweetheart.” He drove into her with a demanding pace. No longer coaxing, but demanding she be his for a night. For a millennium. “I want to feel you around my cock as you come. Let go, Jaya. You’re safe with me.”
“I—” Her breath hitched.
He ground his teeth together. The tingle in his spine had turned into fire. He couldn’t hold back. “Jaya.”
Her body trembled in his arms and he felt the quiver of her slick flesh against his cock. “Oh. Fuck. Me.”
As she came, her body flooded his and clamped tight around him, unwilling to let him go. The last thought he had before his body jerked in heated relief was home.