By Private Invitation (9 page)

When she moaned, so softly she barely heard herself, the finger he had at her jaw
took a leisurely path down her neck, coaxing shivers from her overheating body. He
traced the hollow of her throat and the line of her collarbone. From there, it was
only inches to her breast. He stroked the upper slope of her breast, tantalizing her
already over-stimulated nerves with more pleasure.

“Jared.” She barely whispered his name, but she knew he heard her when his hand obeyed
her unspoken command and slipped into her bodice to cup her breast.

She moaned again when his fingers lifted her out of the material, baring her to the
air, and tweaked her pebble-hard nipple. Her sex clenched, needed something to fill
it as she nearly came from his touch.

And just as she had the thought, he slipped two fingers between her slick lips and
thrust.

Caught against his hard body, held in place by his hands in her pussy and around her
breasts, Annabelle came again, her body shuddering, her cry of completion lost in
the music of the piano and the sounds of the other couples and threesomes enjoying
themselves.

Jared drew out the sensation, his fingers thrusting inside, rubbing that spot that
made her mindless, and rolling her nipple almost to the point of pain.

And when finally he removed his fingers from her body, she thought she might just
fall in a puddle of satiation at his feet.

But Jared had other ideas.

“I think you need to get off your feet, Belle.” In the next second, she was in his
arms. She barely had time to realize they were moving before he set her on her feet
and turned her away from him again. The next thing she knew, he’d bent her over the
rolled arm of the nearest couch.

“Stay right here, sweetheart,” Jared crooned as he shifted behind her. “Don’t move.”

Moaning, she heard the metallic slide of his zipper, the slight crinkle of a condom
wrapper, then his hands flipped her skirt up to her hips.

“You have the most beautiful ass, Belle. I’ve been dying to smack it all night.”

She couldn’t produce a sound at how hot that made her. She wanted to feel his hand
spank her, make her skin heat and tingle. It was something she’d never experienced,
had never felt comfortable enough with another lover to even express this particular
fantasy.

And then Jared’s hand came down.

She bit her lip to stop from crying out as the sting traveled straight to her pussy,
making it clench and moisten. Her breath hitched as the air behind her stirred and
she tensed in pleasure, waiting for the next blow.

When it came, she moaned, her eyes closing to fully enjoy the sensation.

A few more gentle slaps followed, each one tightening her sex until she thought she
might come.

But he must have sensed her nearing orgasm and instead brushed his hand over her hot
skin.

“Oh, no, you’re not getting off that easy. I want to feel you come around my cock
again, baby. Right now.”

He grabbed her hips and sank home in one fluid motion. Her
sheath clenched around him, grabbing hold of his cock and milking him.

“Shit, you’re tight.” Jared was practically panting. “And I’m not gonna last.”

“Don’t. Do me. Now. Hard.”

His groan sounded tortured as he began to thrust with slow, deliberate movements.

She felt the head of his cock rub against that spot high in her channel, which was
exactly what she needed.

Crying out, she began to come.

“Oh, God. Faster.” She could barely force the whisper from her mouth as Jared pumped
in and out, no more finesse. Just a wicked, wild ride that had her clutching the back
of the sofa.

“Come on, baby,” Jared chanted. “Come on. Come on.”

Pleasure burst and streaked through her body, tightening her muscles and speeding
like acid through her veins. The sensation stole her breath, nearly stole her consciousness.

Until Jared gave one final thrust and released inside her. Then she went boneless,
slumping over the arm of the couch like a very limp rag doll, thinking,
Now, I know.

“What’s up, Tyler?”

“We have a situation with one of the guests. I need you to come downstairs.”

Rubbing sleep out of her eyes, Annabelle took a few seconds to orient herself as she
listened to the brothers in the living room of Jared’s apartment on the top floor
of the hotel.

After Jared had carried her out of the Salon last night, he’d brought her back to
his apartment and proceeded to strip her
naked. She’d returned the favor, and the last time she’d noticed the clock on the
bedside table, it had read something like 5:18.

It was now…8:09.
Ugh.

“Fine. Give me a minute.”

She heard a pause, then Tyler said, “She’s in your room, the redhead from last night.
Jesus, Jed, did you take her to the Salon?”

“She signed the waiver. What the hell are you pissed off about?”

“Christ, Jed, she’s not one of your reprobate friends. Why the hell did you drag her
into your sick games?”

“She’s not a child. She’s a grown woman who had a hell of a good time last night.
What the fuck is your problem?”

“My problem is Kate and Belle aren’t the kind of women who get into your sort of fun.”

Tyler was absolutely right about Kate but he didn’t know Belle at all. Heat flooded
her cheeks as images from last night crowded her brain. What she’d seen. What she’d
done. What had been done to her.

She’d enjoyed every damn minute it of. Maybe a little too much if the ache between
her legs was any indication. She refused to regret any of it.

But Tyler made her sound like a child. Or, worse, a rube.

She was no innocent. And last night…

Last night had been amazing.

“Okay, that’s it,” she heard Jared whisper. “What the hell is going on with you? Christ—”

“Damn it. God
damn
it. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with me.” Tyler sighed so loud, she actually
heard the sound through the slim crack of the open door. “You’re right. I shouldn’t
have jumped you. This situation downstairs has me pissed off. You need to deal with
the guy before I say something I shouldn’t.”

“Hey, no problem, Tyler. I’ll handle it. Did something happen last night, bro? You
okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You know, it used to be your sort of fun, too. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s going on. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. We gotta take care
of this other thing.”

“Wait. I…need some advice.”

“About what?”

Jared paused and Annabelle stilled, not wanting to miss what he had to say. “What
if I told you my interest in Belle wasn’t entirely sexual?”

Her breath caught in her throat. Was he saying he had feelings for her?

“Jed, what—”

“Did you notice the pin on her costume last night?”

Annabelle felt her face screw up in a frown. Her pin? Her gaze automatically fell
to her fairy costume, lying on the floor by the bed. She’d been too busy to care what
had happened to it after Jared had taken if off her last night.

“No, I didn’t notice any pin. What does that have to do—”

“I think it’s Nana’s pin, Ty. I think it’s one of Aphrodite’s Tears.”

“What? The set was stolen decades ago.”

Annabelle swallowed a gasp at the last second. Her pin had been stolen? From Jared’s
grandmother?

“I know it sounds crazy,” Jared said, “but I’m pretty damn sure that’s what it is.”

“Did you ask her where she got it?”

“She said her grandfather found it years ago at a flea market in a box of costume
jewelry.”

“So…what? You wanted her so you figured you’d have her and tell her in the morning,
‘Oh, by the way, your jewelry’s hot?’ You don’t even know if her pin’s real. Christ,
Jed, you’re an idiot.”

“Of course I’m not gonna say that. I’m not stupid. But the pin fits Nana’s description
perfectly and you know how much she wants it back. I’ll pay Belle for it, of course.
Anyway, last night was a one-off. It was fun but you said it yourself. She’s not part
of our crowd. I doubt I’ll ever see her again. She doesn’t exactly run in the same
circles.”

Indignation, hot as lava, flooded through her. Did Jared think she was some hick who
just fell off the hay wagon? A laughable diversion?

Bastard
.

She heard the brothers continue to talk but she shut out their voices. As quickly
and quietly as she could, she jumped out of bed and pulled on her dress. With a pen
and pad from the bedside table, she jotted down the address of the post office box
she used for her lawyer.

Then she removed the pin from her dress.

Did he want the pin so badly, he felt he had to sleep with her to get it?

Just another asshole
. She took a deep breath and pulled open the door.

Jared didn’t notice her right away, standing with his back to the door. “That’s not—”

“Jed.” Tyler nodded toward her, his expression solemn, and Jared turned to face her.

Even with too little sleep, his hair mussed, and his eight o’clock shadow, the man
was beautiful. Even if he had been exposed as a prick.

Jesus, did guys like this have some kind of radar that pointed her out to them?

“Belle—”

“All you had to do was tell me about the pin, Jared.” She held the piece out in front
of her, ignoring Tyler. “If I’d known it was stolen, I would’ve returned it to its
rightful owner years ago. I do have scruples. If the pin actually
isn’t
your grandmother’s, I’ve included the address to my lawyer. You can return it to
him.”

Jared didn’t take the pin, his eyes staring straight into hers. “I don’t know what
you think you heard, but—”

“Basically I heard everything.” She forced ice into her tone, feeling it run through
her veins as well. “The night’s over, Jared. It was fun. Thanks so much for inviting
me to your party.” She made sure he understood exactly what she now thought of that
party. “And please don’t worry. I have no desire to be sued. Your secrets are safe
with me. As I hope mine will be with you.”

Then, instead of throwing it at him like she wanted to do, she flipped the pin to
him like she was flipping a quarter. As if it didn’t matter. As if she wasn’t losing
a piece of her grandfather. But she couldn’t keep it. Every time she looked at it,
she’d be reminded of tonight. And her gullibility.

Jared caught the pin, his mouth opening as if to speak, but she walked by the brothers,
stepped through the door into the hallway, and headed for the elevator. Luckily, she
saw no one in the halls. At this point, she didn’t think she’d even care. Forcing
herself not to think, she went straight to Kate’s room and knocked. After a half minute
or so, Kate cracked open the door. Her sleepy eyes widened, probably at the sight
of the tears forming in Annabelle’s eyes. Kate waved her through and Annabelle let
the tears flow.

“Jared, oh my goodness. The pin! What…How did you find it?”

A few hours later, Jared smiled at his grandmother’s stunned delight when he placed
Belle’s pin in her hands.

“So it is yours?”

Her eyes wide, she flipped the pin in her hand, staring at the back before flipping
it over again. “It’s been so many years since I’ve seen it but yes, it is. Where did
you get it?”

Fuck
. He’d almost been hoping the damn thing wasn’t the right pin after all.

“One of the women at the party last night was wearing it. When I recognized it and
told her its history, she insisted I return it to you.”

Beatrice’s pale blue gaze lifted and pinned his. “She just gave it to? Did you offer
to pay her for it?”

“I don’t think she would have taken any money.” Belle
would’ve rather had his head. He could still see the betrayal in her eyes before she’d
closed the door in his face. She thought he was a snake.

God damn it, he wasn’t. He’d planned to tell her about the pin that morning. He hadn’t
invited her to the party with the intention of seducing the pin away from her, though
it was pretty obvious that’s what she thought.