Читать книгу Hired: A Bride for the Boss: The Playboy Boss's Chosen Bride / The Corporate Marriage Campaign / The Boss's Urgent Proposal - SUSAN MEIER, Emma Darcy - Страница 13

CHAPTER NINE

THE swell of caring Jake felt was completely new to him. None of the women he had ever been with had shown any inhibitions about having sex with him. The poignant vulnerability in Merlina’s eyes was so suggestive of innocence, he was certain her sexual experience had been very limited, and probably not pleasurable enough to seek repetition. She wasn’t even on the Pill. That alone spoke volumes.

It made him acutely conscious that this was not a casual tumble into bed. Not for her. Not for him, either. It was make or break time. If he didn’t get it right for her, didn’t make her feel good about giving herself to him, she might wipe him off as a big mistake. Might even go back to his grandfather.

Her lips quivered under his feather-light finger touch, parting slightly as she sucked in a deep breath. There were no sparks of fiery amber in her eyes. The brown had darkened into pools of dark chocolate—huge eyes swimming with unbridled emotion that tugged at his heart, asking silent questions which he knew he had to answer. Somehow.

Her hands had lifted to his chest, not to push him away, but resting there tentatively, not quite prepared to actively encourage more physical intimacy, yet he could feel the taut waiting in her body, the wanting for him to take the initiative, to make it happen.

The moment he kissed her he knew they would slide up around his neck, holding him tight as she had in his grandfather’s home. But there was no longer any need to prove the existence of the sexual chemistry between them and he didn’t want to move fast this time.

He wanted to explore every facet of Merlina Rossi, know all that she was, far beyond what she’d shown him at work. Her smooth olive skin had made him wonder how it would feel. His finger pads revelled in its satin softness as he slid them across her cheek and into her hair, so thick and glossy, like massed strands of silk, not the often dry texture of dyed blond hair.

What was it about blondes that had attracted him? Maybe it was a come-hither attitude embodied in their wish to be more attractive to men. Whereas Merlina… This is me, she had cried when he had accused her of adopting a different image to the one he had insisted upon for her job as his P.A. If he had not demanded the change, if her hair had remained long, how gloriously sensual it would be to lie on it, to have it brushing over his body!

‘I shouldn’t have told you to have it cut,’ he said regretfully.

Her head leaned into the cup of his hand, rubbing it like a cat that loved being stroked. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said huskily. ‘I can grow it again now.’

Be herself…away from him.

The intolerable thought spurred the need to draw her into a closeness she wouldn’t want to break. His mouth sought the response from hers she had given before, using all its erotic skill to excite her out of the passive stance she’d been holding. Her arms instantly flew up to wind around his neck. Her tongue danced a wild tango with his. The voluptuous swell of her breasts pressed against his chest, their hard peaks imprinting proof of her arousal.

He gathered her closer and her wonderfully soft and curvaceous femininity was an intoxicating pleasure. Skinny was great for wearing designer clothes. Feeling pelvic bones and ribs was not so sexy. Merlina’s body was sensually perfect and his hands revelled in moulding it to his.

He was on fire for her, desire roaring through him, tightening his muscles, making his erection shriek now, now, now! He barely leashed the urge to race her off to bed. Fast was wrong. She’d think he only cared about getting sexual relief, using her to do it. If she’d only had selfish lovers, adding himself to that list wouldn’t win him any stay of judgement on her leaving him to his own life. He had to ease back, slow down, stay in control.

Merlina was so caught up in the throes of passion, a guttural little moan of protest scraped from her throat when he withdrew his mouth from hers, bringing a halt to the intense flow of excitement.

‘It’s all right,’ he soothed, whispering the words in her ear, making it tingle as he tucked her head into the curve of his neck and shoulder, then rubbed his cheek softly over her hair. ‘You’ll have me exploding if I don’t take a breather.’

A gurgle of laughter bubbled out, erupting from the relief of having him dismiss the nervous fear that she was an inadequate kisser compared to the more experienced women he’d been with.

‘You think it’s funny?’ he queried in a wry tone.

‘No…no…’ She scooped in a quick breath and planted a happy kiss on his throat. ‘I think it’s great,’ she murmured with a rush of heartfelt pleasure at having him find her so desirable.

‘Oh, you like having that kind of power over me, do you?’ he said teasingly.

A wild recklessness seized her. Suddenly freed from the dreadful bank of inhibitions that had previously almost paralysed her, she lifted her head back and grinned at him. ‘Yes, I do.’

He laughed as though he loved the unexpected burst of honesty from her. His eyes sparkled with wicked mischief. ‘You’re challenging me to drive you into the same state of urgency.’

‘You’ve done a fair job so far,’ she said archly, entering into his playboy game. It was who Jake was, and nothing was going to change him, so why not let herself enjoy it for once?

‘Fair…’ he repeated assessingly, his eyes gathering dangerous glints of sexual intent. ‘An escalation is definitely needed here. I think I’ll start by getting rid of this belt which has been sticking into me.’

He swiftly dropped his embrace, his hands deftly undoing the plaited rosette which fastened the soft leather tie around her waist. Her stomach contracted as the belt loosened and dropped to the floor. This was the first stage of undressing. Don’t think ahead, she fiercely told herself. Just let it happen.

But as he disconnected the hook and eye which kept the wrap-around silk dress in place, she desperately wished she was wearing a sexy suspender belt and stockings instead of plain, comfortable pantihose. The creamy silk bra and knickers were okay, not exactly alluring but she liked them and if Jake was used to more exotic female underwear, well…tough luck! Surely getting down to basics was the aim, anyway, and she wasn’t ashamed of her body.

‘Mmm…silk hair, silk dress, silk bra,’ he purred approvingly, his hand shifting the dress aside enough to slide under the fabric and close around the fullness of one achingly sensitive breast. His mouth curved into a very sensual smile, his eyes simmering with sexy appreciation. ‘What does that tell me about you, Merlina?’

She wanted to close her own eyes and just feel him feeling her, focus inwardly on the gently kneading fingers, the tantalising sweep of his thumb over her extremely erect nipple, the intense pleasure flooding from his touch. Yet if she did so, wouldn’t it tell him how deeply he was affecting her? Better to keep the banter going, treat everything lightly.

‘That I’m a silk worm and you should feed me mulberry leaves?’ she tossed out.

He laughed, delight dancing over his face, dimples flashing, and the hand caressing her breast forgot its seductive intent and squeezed in avid possession as he sobered and said, ‘I’d rather feed you me.’

Her heart slammed around her chest at the suggestive imagery of those words. Somehow her mind was still alert enough to zap out a snappy reply. ‘Careful, Jake! I might chew you into little bits.’

‘Well, you’d only do that if you found me tasty.’

‘Or too difficult to swallow.’

‘Guess we have to test that out.’

A joyous confidence glowed from him. His hands started sliding around her back and Merlina knew her bra was about to be slipped from its moorings. Attacked by another panicky wave of vulnerability, she wildly seized on a bold move of her own.

‘You’re wearing too many clothes for tasting,’ she pointed out, hoping to put him on the naked spot first.

He grinned. ‘Did I ever tell you I love the way your mind works?’

Love? That one word rattled all the skeletons in Merlina’s emotional closet. She barely caught breath enough to say, ‘No, you never did.’

‘Always put me on my mettle. Thrust, parry, thrust…exciting stuff.’

Not exciting enough to want to be with me all the time, she thought rebelliously, telling herself not to get sucked into the love pit. That was too dangerous with Jake. Besides, her defensive tactic had worked. Instead of undoing her bra, his hands had whipped down to the bottom of his shirt, which he was gathering up for lift-off. She quickly removed her arm-lock on his head and stood looking on in awed fascination as he not only stripped off his shirt but all his other clothes, as well.

Her stomach felt weirdly hollow as her eyes skated down his magnificent, male physique and fastened on the sexual equipment which was certainly primed for action. With her this time. Forget the women he’d had in the past, she fiercely told herself. She had put him in this high state of arousal and despite common sense cautioning her to keep everything light, a primitive sense of possessiveness was clawing through her, wanting to take and hold and forge an inseparable connection with Jake Devila.

Her man.

For tonight, anyway.

Though maybe it would stretch into months.

And what then?

Stop thinking about that.

Just take what you can…what’s on offer right now… reach out and take it…

‘Merlina…?’

He was asking her to. She could hear it in his voice, asking why she wasn’t touching, wasn’t tasting. But she couldn’t make herself do it. Her hands were clenching and unclenching at her sides instead of moving forward. It wasn’t a game. Not for her, it wasn’t. She couldn’t play it as though it was.

‘Don’t be frightened of me.’

His voice was soft, serious, tapping at the truth. Before she could find wits enough to answer, to brush the idea of fear aside, he moved, sliding her dress from her shoulders. It slithered down her arms and dropped to the floor, pooling around her feet. Then his arms were around her again, drawing her into a terribly intimate embrace and she knew she’d gone past the point of no return, and everything within her quivered an acceptance of it.

He rested his forehead against hers and gruffly murmured, ‘It will be all right. I promise you.’

Then her bra was gone and her bare breasts were making contact with his naked chest—a smooth hairless chest that heaved with a swift intake of air, making her acutely aware of its muscled strength and the enticing heat of his taut flesh. He tilted her head back and kissed her slowly, sensuously, not so much seeking to excite but transmitting an assurance that he could and would go gently with her.

The caring implicit in the kiss sent a rush of soothing warmth to her torn heart. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing closer, revelling in the wildly erotic freedom of feeling of her skin against his, the exhilarating vibrancy that shot through her whole body in anticipation of feeling more and more.

His hands glided down the curve of her back and under her pantihose and knickers, his thumbs hooking over their waist-bands, smoothly drawing the flimsy garments past her hips, lower, lower, his fingers curling under her bottom, lifting her into a more flagrant, sexually charged fit with him.

Chaotic excitement broke loose. Her mouth sucked his tongue in hard, instinctively pursuing the blind need to have him deep inside her. He instantly reciprocated, propelling a driving urgency that he suddenly cut off, retreating to tantalising nibbles on her lips.

‘Not yet, not yet,’ he breathed raggedly. ‘Let’s get these off.’

He bent quickly, peeling the last of her clothes down her quivering thighs. His head dropped through the loop of her arms, leaving her hands grabbing onto his shoulders, needing the support as he lifted her feet, one after another, removing her shoes, stripping her completely naked like him. Her body shivered at the sudden loss of his heat. She was light-headed, dizzy.

It was sheer blissful relief when he simply picked her up, cradling her tightly against his chest as he straightened to his full height again, one arm hooked around her thighs, the other supporting her back. Her head nestled happily on his shoulder while he trailed soft kisses over her hair, his mouth moving down to her ear, blowing an erotic waft of warm air into it, making her heart leap and race with excitement.

‘Your bedroom, Merlina…where is it?’ he murmured.

‘Last door at the end of the hall,’ she answered without the slightest hesitation, wanting him to take her there, wanting everything to happen with this man.

Her hands glided over his strongly muscled back as he carried her down the hall. He was so gorgeously male—all of him—and somehow that made her feel more intensely female, stirring the primal instincts no amount of civilisation could retrain. They had broken loose and were zinging through her, exulting in the promise of what was to come.

He opened the door to her bedroom, switched on the light. Yes, she thought wildly, let there be light. She wanted the visual pleasure of seeing him, watching him—Jake Devila, pumped up with desire for her and acting on it, intent on sweeping her along with him.

He laid her on the scarlet silk doona she had brought back from China—a tourist trip she had taken after leaving her last job. Buying the doona had been total self-indulgence but she’d loved it on sight, the brilliant scarlet printed so exotically with graceful sprays of flowers and pagodas and Chinese ladies in traditional dress, carrying pretty shade umbrellas and walking over curved bridges which invariably featured in the Chinese gardens the tour group had visited. She’d bought the matching pillow slips, as well, unable to resist the complete set.

Having it—using it—had been a private pleasure, yet now as Jake stood back, his gaze travelling slowly over the vision she made with the scarlet silk spread underneath her, she was glad to have surprised him with something extraordinary, elated that he looked at her as though she was the perfect centrepiece for such sensuous splendour. But she didn’t want him standing apart from her.

Acting instinctively to draw him to her, she slithered her body over the silk, stretching out invitingly, seductively, taking a feline satisfaction in feeling it against her skin, though it was Jake’s skin she wanted to feel most, moving against hers. Her eyes passionately burned their own message at him—Come to me…me…

* * *

Jake was momentarily stunned. The sight of a woman on a bed had never before checked the need which was still rampaging through him, but Merlina…the glorious beauty of her had made him pause. The soft, voluptuous curves were all woman. As a woman was meant to be, he thought, the images of art masterpieces running through his mind, wonderful nudes posed in opulent settings. Her lovely smooth skin gleamed like satin. Satin against silk. Red silk. So incredibly sexy. Like a fantasy. Though the marvellous female mystique would have been heightened if only…

‘Mad…stupid…’ he muttered, shaking his head over the blind error in judgement he’d made. ‘Why didn’t I see?’

The compulsive yearning in Merlina’s heart skipped into panicky bewilderment. ‘See what?’ spilled straight off her tongue, the need to know how he was thinking jerking through her mind.

‘I was so wrong. Long hair was right for you. It should be cascading all over these pillows.’ He stretched out on the bed beside her, propping himself up on one elbow as he softly raked the shorter spill of her layered hair back behind her ear. ‘Forgive me for being an arrogant fool.’

A tidal wave of relief.

Plus the unexpected burst of humility from Jake shook the playboy wall she had built around him. It made him more human, more accessible as a person. ‘You didn’t know me, Jake,’ she said, hoping, fiercely willing him to take that step, making her different—uniquely different—to all the other women he’d taken to bed. She so desperately wanted to be the special one…the one he’d love…the one he’d marry…

His eyes searched hers with deeply probing intensity, feeding the hope, making it swell until it bubbled through her mind like champagne. ‘Who is this woman I see now?’ he murmured, his voice gruff with emotions he wasn’t expressing but they certainly suggested more than a passing lust for her. ‘What else have you kept hidden from me, Merlina?’

Happiness gushed through her like a fountain bursting into brilliant play. She lifted one arm up around his neck and ran her hand into his hair, revelling in touching him, feeling him, wanting to wind her fingers through the thick waves and into his mind, touch him there, as well, touch him deeply.

‘Nothing that wasn’t there for you to find if you’d been truly interested in looking,’ she said softly, her eyes—the windows to her soul—wide-open to him. ‘You put the image you wanted between us, Jake.’

‘I don’t want that image back,’ he declared emphatically. ‘I want the real you.’

Did he see the joy erupting in her soul—the joy she couldn’t contain? ‘I’m here,’ she said simply, offering herself up to be loved.

A smile of sheer devilment broke across his face and his eyes were suddenly steaming with plans he intended to execute with maximum impact in mind. ‘Yes,’ he said with relish. ‘Here with me. Let’s make that in every sense there is.’

Did he really mean every sense or was he only talking in the sexual sense? For a moment Merlina felt a little flicker of disappointment. She’d opened a door to him and it seemed he was side-stepping, but she had no time to think about it. He kissed her, instantly drawing her back into a world of vibrant sensation, bombarding her with such intense excitement it was impossible not to give herself up to it.

He kissed the pulse at the base of her throat, heating her entire bloodstream. He kissed her breasts, his tongue swirling around her nipples, lashing them into peaks of hard need, then sucking them into his mouth, making a wildly erotic feast of taste and titillation that drove her into offering them up for more of it, her own hands sliding under and lifting the soft flesh, wantonly aiding and abetting the exquisite ravishment, totally enthralled by it.

But he didn’t stay there. He moved lower, sweeping kisses over her stomach, teasing her navel with his tongue, grazing his mouth over the erogenous zones under her hip-bones, causing her skin to twitch with pleasure, his hands caressing her legs apart, long, shiver-inducing, purposeful caresses on her inner thighs, and the tension of becoming more and more intimately exposed to him had every nerve and muscle in her body poised on a very fine edge in anticipation of being touched there, and taken to even more extremes of feeling.

Her stomach was contracting. Her heart was drumming in her ears. Her breathing was reduced to quick panting, her mind seized with the waiting, the knowing it would come, focussed totally on how it would be, her eyes shut tight, instinctively closing out everything else so that her entire being was tuned to this inner world of Jake’s making.

She felt his fingers slide slowly between the folds of her sex, seeking the source of the moist heat that surely told him how wildly aroused she was. They circled the highly sensitive opening while his thumb laid bare her clitoris, caressing it into a stiff pulsing peak, which he then covered with his mouth, licking, sucking, making her body arch with almost torturous tension.

She couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t…

Her hands scrambled into his hair, tugging, begging an end to it. Her inner muscles were convulsing, her nerves screaming, yet she cried out at the loss of the strangely sweet torment as he released her from it, lifting himself up to position himself for the plunge into ultimate intimacy.

Her hands kneaded his back muscles in desperate wanting. Her legs curled around his taut buttocks, her feet urging him to a fast entry. The need was so compelling, nothing else existed for her. She hated the enforced pause for him to slide on a condom, savagely wished there’d been no need for it. But it was sheer bliss when he came into her, filling the aching void. The relief of it sent ripples of pleasure through her entire body. She felt herself pulsing around him, melting, and the glorious heavenliness of it put an ecstatic smile on her face.

‘Don’t hide from me, Merlina. Open your eyes.’

He was deep inside her, beautifully wonderfully deep. It was difficult to tear her concentration away from how it felt, yet Jake was giving her this pleasure. It wasn’t fair to keep it to herself. She opened her eyes, not even thinking of what she might see in his.

‘You’re smiling,’ he said, smiling right back at her, happy that she was happy with him.

‘Feels good,’ she said, only just stopping herself from blurting out that she loved the sense of having him like this.

‘Only good?’ he quizzed, his smile tilting into a teasing quirk.

‘Great?’ she offered, wishing he wasn’t asking for a rating of his performance. It smacked of playboy games and this was no game to her. She wanted to think this was more than just sex for him—an important connection that was being heightened, deepened by the physical union.

‘Great is good but—’ the joyous twinkles in his eyes fused into a look of burning purpose ‘—I aim to improve on that.’

His mouth claimed hers in a kiss of driving passion, his tongue invading strongly, then matching the plunging rhythm of his body, reinforcing his possession, doubling the intense intimacy. Merlina was swamped with wave after wave of incredible sensation, taking her to the crest of climax and spilling her into it, over and over again.

Her arms and legs were suffused with a weird weakness. She couldn’t hold on. Jake slid an arm under her to keep her with him, keep the momentum going. It was awesome, fantastic, the constant chaotic roll to pinnacles of creamy pleasure. If this was just sex she didn’t care. She’d take this blissful ride with Jake wherever it went.

She couldn’t imagine anything more exciting, but there was. His body tension seemed to explode into a much faster pumping, and she knew his control had been stretched to the limit. Somehow the sense that he was losing it—in her—was wildly exhilarating, and when she felt the spasms of his release, a huge swell of satisfaction triggered a very primal possessiveness. Jake…hers…and her own inner muscles suddenly leapt into squeezing tightly, holding him there.

He carried her with him as he rolled onto his side, still maintaining their union with a gentle rocking, one of her legs lying between his, the other loosely hooked over his thigh. Breath whooshed out of his lungs and he scooped in more before moving his mouth over hers in sensual little kisses.

‘Tell me it was right for you,’ he murmured against her lips.

Right? The question rolled around her dazed mind. It didn’t matter any more whether it was right or not. ‘Yes,’ she said on a contented sigh. It was the truth, no problem at all for her to say it and if Jake wanted to hear it…right at this moment she wanted whatever Jake wanted.

He moved his head back onto the pillow and smiled at her, his dimples deepening, warm pleasure dancing in his eyes. ‘You see? You had to be with me, Merlina.’

‘Yes,’ she said, not even caring if this was only about winning for Jake.

‘Stay right here!’ He dropped a kiss on her forehead as he slowly disentangled himself. ‘Got to go to the bathroom. Where is it?’

‘First door along the hall.’

‘Be back in a minute.’

Getting rid of the condom. He’d kept his promise about protection. Even so, she would feel safer taking a contraceptive pill if they were to have an ongoing relationship.

The back view of Jake as he strode away was just as awesome as the rest of him—a perfectly proportioned male physique. Surely every woman he’d ever been with had wanted to hold on to him. She was no different. She could only hope she was different in Jake’s mind—a woman he wanted to hold on to.

He moved into the hall, out of sight. She heard the bathroom door being opened. A few moments later the sound of another door being opened made her wonder why he was checking out the guest bedroom.

‘Merlina?’

She jack-knifed up from the pillows, shock pumping through her heart.

That was not Jake’s voice calling out her name.

It was her father’s!