Reckless Seduction, page 10
She stopped him. “Don’t tell me about you and any other women. I don’t care who or what they were. They didn’t want you as much as I do, and not one of them loved you like I love you. I want all of you, all of you, Jon Ecklund. I’m your woman, and I’m going to give you what you need, what you’ve missed all of your life.” She raised her hips to him and placed her hands on his buttocks. He felt himself sinking into her. Frightened that he might hurt her, he tried to stop the movement, but he was so overcome with emotion at her words and at what was happening to him that his control was weak. He hugged her fiercely to him, loving her as he had loved no human being before.
“Haley, love, I don’t know if you can take this. I know now that you want to, and it is enough.”
Realizing how much of him she had accepted, he raised his head and looked at her. “Sweetheart, don’t press any more. If I hurt you, I won’t be able to live with myself.” For the answer, she raised her hips, and catching him unaware, she grasped his buttocks in her hands and pressed him into her until he had no more to give. Then she wrapped both legs around his hips and began to move beneath him. He struggled for control. Unable to believe what he was experiencing, he stopped her and asked, “Are you hurt? Are you all right? Tell me.”
Her smile was the smile of love goddesses through the ages. “Darling, I’m in heaven.” He kissed her tenderly and lovingly. But soon the love exploded into passion, and placing his hands beneath her hips, he began to thrust gently until in frustration she begged him for more.
“Please don’t treat me like a doll. I’m a flesh and blood woman, and you can’t hurt me. I want to feel your passion. I want to know your strength, your power. I want everything you have to give, everything.”
It was his undoing. His control nearly shattered, he thrust into her as she had asked, giving what she was demanding, giving all of him. Then he heard her soft pleas, her soft cries.
“Darling, what’s happening to me? I feel as if I want to burst. I’ll die if I don’t. Jon, Jon…” She was telling him something, and he got the message.
“Let go, love. Forget the past. It’s you and me, baby. Trust yourself to me, and let yourself feel what I’m doing to you. Give in to me, and give up your fear of being exposed. Haley. Give yourself to me. Now, baby, now!”
And then as he felt her stiffen, her soft rhythmic pulsations began to grip him.
He encouraged her. “Yes. That’s it. Relax and let it go. Yeah, that’s it, love.”
She flung her body up to him, and as he accelerated his movements, spasms exploded within her and rocked her from head to toe. Her thighs quivered and electric-like currents of sensation shot through her as he thrust into her. He had lighted a fire in her, and it threatened to consume her. She was sinking, dying.
“Honey, I’ll die if this keeps up. I need to explode.”
“And you will. Just let it go.”
“Oh, my,” she screamed, flung her arms wide and sank into the quicksand of his lovemaking.
The power of her response to him sent him out of control. “Haley. Haley, my love. My life.” Giving her the essence of himself, he took her flying with him into sweet paradise.
As their passion slowly subsided and the sweet aftermath of love enveloped them, he held her to him. “If I could only tell you what you’ve given me. New life. New hope. If it never happens again, I’ve known complete fulfillment. Oh, Haley, I love you.”
He didn’t withdraw from her immediately but instead buried his face in the curve of her neck.
At that moment, they were one, and they both knew it. He raised himself upon his elbows and attempted to separate from her, but she held him tighter. “Stay. Please stay.”
“But, honey, I’m too heavy for you.”
“No, you’re not. You’re not too anything for me. You’re perfect for me.” He looked into her eyes and saw in their sated warmth that he had satisfied her completely and something else, too, but he was afraid to name it. He brushed her lips with his, trying to communicate the love that swelled within him.
“You can’t know what has happened to me tonight. You can’t imagine what I experienced with you, what you’ve given me. For the first time in my life, I’ve known the feel of a woman’s breasts against my chest and felt her legs wrapped around me as I made love to her. For the first time in my life, a woman took all of me and I felt the convulsive tremors of her passion over the whole length of me. Haley, no woman has ever urged me to stay in as you did. Karen couldn’t wait for me to leave her. Why? Tell me why. I’ve got to know.” He kissed her gently, soft butterfly kisses, declarations of love, not of passion.
“I went with my instincts. I don’t even remember what I did or what I said. I just knew that you needed me, and I wanted to be everything to you. I confess that it was difficult at first, but I made myself relax, and I could feel myself easing until after a while I wasn’t a bit uncomfortable. Then, when you started to move, that powerful urge hit me. I hardly remember anything else.
“Let me tell you something, Jon. I’m jealous as hell of every woman you’ve ever touched, so please don’t talk to me about any of them.” She buried her face in his shoulder.
“My sweet, sweet Haley, you know that isn’t necessary. But you haven’t answered my question. Why? Tell me what you feel for me, I need to know.”
“I love you. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be here.”
Jon thought his heart would burst.
He tired of resting on his elbows. “Would you mind if I move out now?”
“Why? You’re right where you belong.” Grinning, he nudged her nose with his.
“Yes, but if you’ve forgotten that you were practically a virgin, I haven’t, and I don’t want to make you sore.”
“Do you mean that’s all for now?” she asked, slowly closing her left eyelid.
“Are you saying you want more?” For an answer, she wiggled suggestively under him. He held her still, knowing that he was already becoming aroused again.
“Sweetheart, I could love you all night and tomorrow, but it wouldn’t be wise. Hold still while I move.”
A grin surfaced around her lips. “Getting out ought to take you a while.”
He noted that she said it with pure womanly pride. He separated them, moved over, lying on his back and tucked her to his side. She threw an arm across his chest, rested her head on his shoulder and was soon asleep.
But Jon lay awake, going over what had happened. For many years, he’d dreamed of, longed for and prayed for the experience that he had shared with Haley. If he couldn’t have her for his own, he wasn’t sure that he could make it. After what he had learned from DuPree earlier in the day, he wasn’t optimistic about living in New York and running EIS from its North American regional bureau. Afraid that being a modern woman, she would sacrifice their relationship for her well-ordered life, he stared into the dark. Desperate.
Dawn found Jon wide awake after a sleepless night. He looked down at Haley’s soft features, at the curtain of her silky black hair flowing over the pillow, over his arm and over his shoulder. Unable to resist, he bent to kiss her cheek, and his movement woke her. She snuggled closer to him, throwing her left leg across his hips. In response to her movement, he groaned, and she awakened.
“How long have you been like this?” she asked him, a full five minutes after having become aware of his aroused state.
“Good morning, love.” It was a mild reprimand for not having greeted him as a lover should. She caressed his chest gently.
“You didn’t answer my question. The truth, please.”
“Well, if you insist on the truth, I’d have to say most of the night.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?” She moved away from him. “Why didn’t you?”
“I wouldn’t want to wear out my welcome,” he said.
“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” She moved farther away. “After last night, you’d have to be dense not to know that I want you, and you are not dense. We both know that the real reason you’re suffering in silence is because you don’t think it’s worth going through all that again.”
“Woman, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? I lay here all night reliving the wonder of what I experienced with you. For the first time in my life, I feel like a whole man. And you pull out of my arms, turn your back to me and tell me that you didn’t please me. Didn’t I tell you how affected I am by what we shared? Haley, look at me. Look at me, and tell me you believe I’m lying here hard because you didn’t please me. I thought I was being considerate. I thought you needed some time to recover from taking me the way you did. Baby, come here,” he commanded, gruffly. “We’re not enemies. We love each other.”
She turned toward him, and he saw the single tear at the tip of her left eyelash stubbornly refusing to fall. “What is this?”
“I’m foolish. Oh, I don’t even know how to tell you what I’m feeling. I’m not really sore. A little warm, maybe, so you needn’t hold back on my account.”
“That’s impossible. You were as tight as a virgin. One of us has to be sensible. Come over here and let me hold you.” She scooted into his arms and hugged him to her. But when her left hand wandered below his waist, he grabbed her wrist and held it.
“Do you know what time it is? It’s six o’clock in the morning. Let’s go to sleep.” His last thought before succumbing to sleep was that he wanted to get his hands on the man who had done such a hell of a job on her, completely undermining her self-confidence.
Haley sat on the edge of the bed that she shared with Jon the night before, holding a tray of coffee, toasted English muffins, brioche, fresh raspberries, sausages, butter and jam. She had barely touched the bed when he rolled over and looked at her. She smiled at his surprised expression. “The way to a man’s heart is to give him coffee in bed.” He laughed at her joke.
They spoke about inconsequential things as they ate the light breakfast. After a time, Jon looked at Haley, his face bearing a serious expression.
“We’ve talked about everything on earth but us. What about us, Haley?”
“What about us?”
“Are you serious? We love each other. We’ve spent the night in each other’s arms, as close as two people can get, and you ask that question? If I never see another woman, I’m satisfied right now. You’ve given me more in one night that I have had in a lifetime. I’m a whole man. I love, and I am loved. I want a commitment.”
He could see that she was stunned, and he felt a chill inside as terror gripped him.
“Why can’t you answer me? I’m not interested in a one-night stand, Haley, and I hadn’t thought that you were. You know how it is with me, how it has been with me. Did you think that you could give me the love and fulfillment that I have longed for all of my adult life, give me joy such as I had with you and just walk away? All I’m asking is that you and I agree to see if what we’ve found can be the basis for a life together. What about it?”
Haley opened her mouth, but the lips that could charm a miser out of his money would not utter a word. The sight of the pain etched on his face unsealed those lips.
“All right, but if I’m not free to see anyone else, neither are you.” She nearly laughed at his look of surprise. “Well, that’s right, and I’m serious, too.”
“Yeah. I guess you are,” he said with a half laugh. “I’ll need a little time to get used to that sharp, bossy tone, but I’m sure that as time moves along, it will disappear.”
She hugged him. “Not to worry. I’m as meek as a lamb.”
Both of his eyebrows shot up. “Are we still talking about you? Look, baby, let’s make the best of the morning. I’d like to get the eight o’clock SAS flight to Copenhagen tonight.”
“I had hoped that you would stay longer. If you’re leaving this evening, let’s just fool around.” She glanced at the bed. “No point in making that up. I mean—”
He rocked with laughter. “I think I’ve created a monster.”
“Do you blame me if I want to make up for lost time? I’m almost twenty-nine. Look at the time I’ve lost.”
He picked her up. Swung her around and hugged her. “You’re precious. I’m beside myself with happiness.”
“Me, too,” she said.
“I’d better go first to my condo, get my things and close the place properly. I should be back here in an hour and a half. Okay?”
“Just don’t make me wait too long,” Haley said with a sassy grin.
An hour and a half alone gave her plenty of time to think. Was he planning to live in New York? And if he wasn’t, what about her institute and the obligations she’d made to her financial backers? And would she marry a man who was for all practical purposes white, even though his mother was of African descent?
She decided to call a restaurant on Broadway, four blocks away, for their lunch, rather than use time cooking that would be better spent with Jon. He returned in a little less than an hour and a half, dressed for the flight.
“Until we picnicked in the park, I couldn’t have imagined you in jeans,” she said as they walked arm in arm to her living room.
“At home in Oslo, I wear them everywhere except to work.” He sat down and lifted her into his lap. “You’ve had time to do some thinking. Any reservations about us?”
She stared at him. “Are you a mind reader? Well, I’m not sure that all my fears have receded, and I don’t want to give up the institute.”
“What are you afraid of? Certainly not me. Are you telling me that you can’t trust me?” He ran his long, lean fingers nervously through his hair, and she could feel his tension.
“I know it’s not rational, but it seems impossible that you could feel for me what you say you feel and that you won’t tire of our, well, you know, of what we have.”
He stared at her, unable to believe that she had actually said it. “I am not Josh or whatever his name is. You had me in your arms last night. Don’t you know what went on between us? How can you let the words and callous act of a self-centered, incompetent man interfere with our relationship? And what was that about your career?”
“Nothing, I guess, since you’ll be coming back here in a few months. If I have children, I still intend to work.”
“Of course I don’t expect a woman with your education and competence to give up working. The question is what and where. I learned yesterday that my father wants to retire altogether. I’ll know for certain when I speak to him, but there’s little chance that Jason DuPree would misinform me. My guess is that I’ll have to take over as CEO, and that means working out of the home office. And while I’m at it, I may as well tell you the rest. Dad wasn’t able to put out the fire completely in the Southeast Asia office, because there’s something shady going on there. I’ll be headed back out to Bangkok at the end of next week.”
She bristled. “You’re telling me this as if you’re putting me on notice that I have to make adjustments to your moves. I said I love you, but I didn’t say that I was your hired servant.”
Jon looked at her, silently and for a long time; his eyes flashed a warning if she’d bothered to see it. But she didn’t.
“If you want us to be together, we’re both going to have to make some compromises.” Evidently, realizing that anger was serving as a protective cover for her, Jon opted for self-control.
“Haley, I’d best tell you a few things about my business affairs. EIS is only one division of a conglomerate owned by my family and managed by my father and me. Svend, my brother, is a dentist. His only concern with the business is the medical instruments manufacturing company that we own. He manages the technical, but Dad takes care of the business end of it. We have a few oil wells, some woolen mills and we make blank CDs and DVDs. EIS is the only division of the company, Ecklund, Ltd., that requires daily hands-on management in the Oslo office by my father or me.”
He got up and began pacing the floor. “If we’d had more time together, maybe our decisions would be easier. God knows I want you with me. You alone can decide what to do. Don’t give me an answer now. Take some quiet time and consider the possibilities, your options and mine. I can’t give you up, Haley. I’ve waited too long for you.” He stopped in front of her, reached out and caressed her hair. “You’re my life, woman, and don’t forget it.”
Her options! She gave him a list of reasons why she couldn’t leave IISP and follow him to Norway. He stopped in front of her, leaned over, grasped her by the shoulders, pulled her up to her full five feet ten inches and towered over her. “I told you that I’m not giving you up and I mean it.”
“Then do something!”
“Oh yes, I’ll do something, all right.” He clasped her head firmly but gently, held her and then crushed her lips with his, putting all of his frustration into the kiss. He opened his mouth and ran his tongue around her lips. She opened to him like a flower to the sun, and he plunged his tongue into her mouth, and with its movement, he told her what he wanted to do.
All she could think of was the power of his lovemaking, the way he’d moved inside her and the thrill of bursting wide open in his arms. She wanted it again. She wanted him. She slid her arms up to his shoulders, sank her fingers into his thick blond hair and took some for herself. When she heard him groan, she had a moment of uncertainty and tried to pull in the reins. She didn’t want to be at the mercy of his passion. She wanted some control. But he clasped her buttocks tightly to him, letting her feel the fullness of his powerful arousal, and she was lost. Moaning and sucking on his tongue, she moved against him, undulating her body, telling him what she wanted. He picked her up and carried her to her bedroom.
