Reckless Seduction, page 9
As she went toward the kitchen for the vase, he followed her. “I’ve brought some wine and a bottle of champagne,” he said, putting three bottles into the refrigerator. “Where’s the food? Didn’t you cook? I don’t smell a thing, and I don’t see anything. Woman, you’re dealing with a hungry man, here.”
Haley laughed. She had felt so much at ease with him this morning, but now he seemed to be in a more playful mood. She gloried in the intimacy and found it fun to tease him.
“Go back into the living room where you belong. My wonderful music is going to waste.”
How he treasured the togetherness that he felt with her! “Yeah. That piece is one of my favorites. What else have you got in store for me?” He’d been jesting, carried away by the wonderful, lighthearted fun they were sharing, something that he’d rarely enjoyed. But the minute he’d said it, he wanted to eat the words. He didn’t want her to be nervous with him or to feel any pressure from him. He was content to wait. To his surprise, however, she didn’t take exception to the remark.
“I know I gambled in not asking what you like and dislike, but I hope you’ll be pleased.”
He was so grateful for the reprieve that he disowned having any dislikes where food was concerned. He winced. If she had prepared calves brains, he was in serious trouble. She placed the drinks on a serving cart in the living room and asked him to mix them. As they sat quietly, he sipped a vodka tonic and she a Cotton Picker cocktail. Aware only of the wonder of being together, they listened to the last movement of the concerto.
When he draped his arm lightly around her shoulder, she shifted a little closer to him. “Can you stay put while I get our dinner going? By staying put, I mean staying in here.”
“I suppose I could.”
She wrinkled her nose at him and left the room. He tried to assess her mood and to anticipate the evening, but he was afraid to believe what he sensed. Well, he’d take it as it came. How had she picked so many of his favorite music pieces for their time together? Not many people were likely to have a recording of Dittersdorf’s bass concerto. And those Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Mozart numbers had been his favorites since he was in college.
“Come to dinner.” He loved her soft, sultry voice. God, he could listen to it forever. She met him at the door of the dining room and walked in with him. The courtesy wasn’t wasted on him; he was accustomed to fine manners. It pleased her to see that her efforts impressed him. Now if only he liked the meal. He seated her and then took his own chair.
She had placed bowls of wild mushroom soup before them. “Haley, this is wonderful. How many courses are we having? It’s one of my favorite soups. If you didn’t cook too big a meal, I could have some more of this.”
“You may have some more tomorrow. I made a big dinner.” The soup was followed by a crabmeat salad with mayonnaise Mexicaine garnished with avocado, a homemade raspberry sorbet, scalloped veal with asparagus and potatoes soufflé, Blue Stilton cheese with French bread and brandy Alexander pie. Jon had long since stopped saying anything of importance. He just let his senses take over and enjoyed a fine meal.
Finally, he could no longer resist. “When did you cook all of this?”
“I cooked this afternoon, of course. It’s always difficult to make an interesting menu that allows me to be with my guests before the meal and not in the kitchen. Don’t look so skeptical. I’ve entertained as many as twelve guests with dinners like this and done all of the cooking.”
He grinned, and it occurred to him that he had been doing that almost constantly since he’d come for dinner. “I’m pretty damned sure that I’m a smart man. What other kind of man could find a woman who can run a big international institute, cook like this, dress a table like this, stage a scene like this, look like you look and kiss like you kiss? I’m clever as hell.”
She gaped at him and then gave that full-throated, sultry laugh that he loved so much. If it made her happy, he’d do his best to keep her entertained with clever remarks. Suddenly, she sobered.
“Honey, what is it?” Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, she had undergone a complete personality transformation in less than a second. But as if determined not to backtrack, she took his hand.
“Let’s move into the living room, have an espresso and some brandy, if you’d like some. Then we’ll talk.”
He didn’t care much for that tone, but he couldn’t let it dilute the joy that he felt. He walked into the living room, his heart racing, took a seat on the sofa and waited for her. She extinguished the candles and cleared the table. When she put the coffee and brandy on the coffee table and sat beside him, he sensed her tension and attempted to put her at ease.
“Sweetheart, you’ve made me feel something special tonight,” he said softly.
She knew what he was trying to do. So she stroked his hand gently. There was no way to say it but to say it. “Do you remember when you called me from Oslo and I was in Washington visiting my mother?”
“Of course, I remember.”
“Well, I was so miserable and so confused, mainly because of what was happening between us and because I hadn’t heard from you that I unburdened my soul to my mother. She helped me to understand a problem that I’ve been groping with since I was twenty-one. I told you that there had been someone. I was no match for him. I was innocent and without experience, and I believed him when he said a thousand times that he loved me. I thought I loved him.”
“You don’t have to tell me this.”
“But I do. I suffered a lot because of it. My mother told me that if I can’t share this with you that you won’t be able to repair the damage.” She shoved back the threatening tears.
He pulled her into his arms, laid her head against his chest and rocked her gently. “She was right. Trust me, Haley, as you asked me to trust you. Tell me what you’re feeling.” When she couldn’t continue, he made an easy guess and asked her softly, “How did he hurt you?”
She trembled from the memory of it. “He made love to me, or that is what he was supposed to have been doing. But I…it was my first time. He hurt me terribly, and when I cried, he wouldn’t stop. He…oh, Jon, it was awful.”
“Did he prepare you for it?”
“What do you mean?” When he explained, she told him that nothing of the sort took place and that when she couldn’t respond to Josh he’d abused her verbally. If she hadn’t been so upset, she would have been shocked at the language with which Jon responded.
After a few minutes during which he stroked her back but didn’t speak, he spoke with almost frightening calm. “Darling, the kind of man who would take what you gave him and treat it as that man did is not a man at all. He is sexually incompetent, and he hides it by blaming the woman who is honest enough to let him know that he didn’t satisfy her. What he did was a crime. I want you to try and forget about it, because it had nothing to do with love.”
“I know that now. In fact, the first time you kissed me, I knew that I had never been in love with anyone. Are you telling me that it doesn’t have to be that way? I don’t know, because there hasn’t been anyone else.”
“I’m telling you that it isn’t that way, and it won’t be that way with us.”
She snuggled closer to him. How could she feel so at ease with this man? Until he’d caressed her the night before leaving for Oslo, it had been seven years since she’d let any man touch her bare flesh. As usual, her mother was right, and she was glad that she told him. The music changed, and she searched his eyes to see if he remembered the song.
A smile lit his green eyes. Then they darkened to nearly black, and he swallowed with increasing difficulty as his breathing quickened. She knew he was in the grip of desire, and she did nothing to diffuse it.
Chapter 5
The music changed again and, still looking into his eyes, she sang along with Joe Cocker’s recording of “When a Man Loves a Woman.” As the song ended, he reached for another brandy to hide the quivering of his body. He ached from head to foot. The liquor would quiet the wild throbbing in his loins. At least, he hoped it would. But before he could down the drink she took the glass of brandy from his hand. He held his breath as she placed the glass on the table.
“Dance with me.” She stood and held out her arms to him.
“Haley, be careful. This entire evening has set me back on my heels.” In truth, it had been like a two-fisted blow to the gut. He took a deep breath, preparing for the battle that he had fought with himself for too long.
“I’m in love with you. I can’t… Listen, if I don’t leave here right now, you may never to speak to me again.”
“Why? You’re not likely to say or do anything here tonight that will make me unhappy.”
It wasn’t in him to pretend either to himself or to her.
“I want you. I want to make love with you.”
“I told you. You’re not likely to say or do anything here tonight that will make me unhappy.” He turned to stare at her. Then, seeing that her eyes were downcast, he stood and spoke softly, very softly.
“Baby, do you know what you just said to me?”
“I know, Jon. I…I know.” Determined to show him that she merited his trust, she forced herself to give him a level look. “I want you to teach me what…whatever you think I need to know, and I’ll try to be what you need.”
He stared at her, speechless. She looked quickly away, and he knew that she was misinterpreting his silence. Yet he couldn’t force a word out of his mouth. She stammered. “Well, I mean… You know…after what I told you just now, I thought we…I thought…I mean…you said you loved me…and…”
He found his voice. “Honey, you can’t know how moved I am. I’ve been under this shadow my whole life, and you’ve just told me that you want to bring sunshine into my life, that you want to make me whole. Do you wonder that I can’t find words?”
“Maybe that’s all it is, a wish. I don’t have any experience. I just know that I want to be with you.”
“Are you sure? This may not be easy for us.”
“Yes. I’m sure. I know it won’t be easy, but it will be wonderful,” she told him. “I know that I haven’t conquered all of my fears, but I know you’ll help me, and I want to be with you. Show me how.”
This was what he’d dreamed of with her. She’d softened since he’d left New York. Maybe it was that she loved him. She hadn’t said so, but he felt it. He reached for her, no longer able to control his longing, his aching need to have her. But he had to go slowly. He couldn’t risk getting out of control, and he had to remember that she was practically a virgin.
He took her face between his hands and looked into her soft doe eyes. What he saw in them humbled him. There was trust, an absolute certainty that what she felt and what she was about to do was right, was meant for her and for them. It warmed his heart, but it sobered him, too. Slowly, he lowered his head and his mouth found her parted lips. If he was hesitant and striving for control, she was not.
Haley opened her mouth the moment his heated lips touched hers and, as if driven by the winds that had cradled her ancestors, she moved into him with no thought for consequences. She thought only of loving him. His lips adored her, sweetly and tenderly, the kiss of a man deeply in love. But without knowing what drove her, she was impatient to feel the power of him, the force of his desire. She clasped her arms behind his neck, ran her fingers through his curly, golden hair. “Please, Jon, don’t hold back on me. You know what I want.”
“Tell me. Tell me what you want.”
She ran her tongue around his full, sensuous bottom lip and sought entrance. She could feel the tremors that went through him, and for the first time in her life, she knew her power as a woman. Emboldened by the knowledge, she found his tongue and sucked it into her mouth, holding his head still while she took her pleasure.
He groaned, tightened his arms around her and, finally, she felt the full surge of his erection against her belly. She didn’t try to suppress the shudders of desire that rocked her. His hands roamed over her body, caressing her everywhere. His lips adored the pulse of her neck, her eyes and her bare shoulder, and when she was nearly desperate for the feel of his mouth on hers, he ravaged her parted lips, his tongue setting her afire. His thumb had found its home on the nub of her nipple, caressing, rubbing and teasing. Weakened, she sagged against him. He broke the kiss.
“Haley, in my life, I’ve never wanted a woman as I want you right now. But I’ll leave here this minute if you aren’t sure that you want us to make love.” When she raised her eyes to his, he saw that they were no longer that soft doe-like brown but obsidian pools of smoldering desire. She parted her lips and wordlessly beckoned him to her.
“I’ve been trying all evening to seduce you. I know I’m not experienced at this, so please don’t make me beg. I intend for you to stay here with me tonight,” she whispered.
“And will my accommodations be the same as last night?”
Clearly exasperated, she moved closer. With her left hand, she urged his head down until her lips found his mouth. Then she pressed her right hand firmly to his erect penis and stroked him, swallowing his groan until his body shook at the mercy of her loving hands.
Aggressively, she stroked him until he cried out. “Baby, what are you doing to me?” He knocked her hand away. Another second of that and he’d be out of control. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, his bedroom, the one in which he’d tossed and turned all of the previous night.
He set her on her feet and reached for the zipper of her dress. As the garment fell, he feasted his hungry eyes on the little mauve-pink silk things that served as underwear. She started to cover her nearly bare breasts with her hands, but he would not have it.
“Let me look at you. You’re so lovely, so beautiful.” He ran his palms over her full breasts and perfectly rounded hips, gazed at her olive skin against the lacy silk, and his mouth watered. He pulled her to him as gently as he could, but he kissed her ravenously, plunging his tongue into her mouth and simulating the age old dance of love. When she gasped for breath, he slowed down to see if he’d frightened her.
She showed her impatience by pulling at his tie and trying to unbutton his shirt. He pulled down her scant bra, spilled her generous breasts into his hand, opened his mouth and sucked the nipple of one. When she cried out in passion, he sucked more greedily, his hand moving over her belly. After she managed to open his shirt, she kissed his chest, her hand playing in the golden curls that she found there. When she accidentally stroked his nipple and he gave an almost savage response, she leaned up, licked it and nibbled on it. She couldn’t know that his reaction to it shocked him, that it was a new experience for him.
“Do that again. Yeah, like that. Yes, yes, just like that. Hell, woman.” He had to stop her. He pulled back the covers, laid her on the bed and stripped her of her bra and bikini panties.
She lay there looking up at him, her breathing reduced to short pants, while he watched her intently as he slowly and deliberately undressed himself. Her gaze was glued to him, and he mesmerized her with his hypnotic movements as he peeled off his clothes. The sight of his fully erect penis amazed her, but she felt no disquiet. All she could think of was getting him inside of her.
“I never thought of men as being beautiful,” she said, in barely audible tones.
He said nothing, leaned over her and, as if she were a lyre, began to play a tune on her body with his hands, fingers, lips and tongue.
Then, he lay beside her, painfully aware that their moment of truth had come. He teased one breast, then took it into his mouth and pulled on it in the way that he had learned was sure to tantalize her. Aware of her growing impatience, he caressed her inner thigh and, for the first time, claimed her—masterfully stroking her clitoris and massaging the lips of her vagina.
“Jon. Please! I’m going crazy. Why don’t you get in me? Now!”
He rose above her and waited. In spite of his seeming reticence, she tried to capture him with her leg, but he resisted her. Then she realized that he was seeking permission to continue.
“Please, Jon, let me feel you inside of me.”
“I want your word that if I hurt you even the slightest bit, you’ll tell me immediately.”
“You won’t hurt me. Please, oh, Jon!” She stopped talking and leaned up to kiss him. When he didn’t move, she took her hand and tried to force his entrance. She had the satisfaction of feeling his massive shudder.
“All right, love. I’ll give you what you want, what we both want.”
As they caressed each other with their eyes, he touched her warm, moist vulva with the crown of his penis. They both trembled from the shock of it. Seeing his hesitancy, she hugged him tighter. “I’m fine, honey. Don’t worry. It will be all right,” she whispered.
As he entered slowly, he watched her face, his heart nearly bursting with joy as a smile lit her face. But then she reacted as if in pain, and he attempted to pull away. She wouldn’t permit it. Her willful, headstrong personality surfaced, and she brought her legs around his hips and held him prisoner in her embrace.
“But I hurt you. I saw it on your face, felt it in your movement.”
“Please, Jon, give me a chance. Don’t move away from me. I want you to make love with me so badly that I think I’ll die if you don’t. I like feeling you in me like this. Please give me more.” He thrust slightly. “More, please, darling, give me more.”
“Baby, I love you. You are the world to me. Please, don’t be noble.”
“I am not being noble. I know what I can take and what I want. Love me, please love me.”
“I do. I do love you. But, baby, I’ve never been able to—”
