CourtesanTales Masterfile (10 page)

Watching the play of
emotions chase each other around on her pretty face, I wondered what in the
hell had possessed Jason to strand her anywhere. She was the kind of woman most
men would gladly walk over hot coals for a chance to bed.

I suppressed my
natural instincts. If I held off admitting I wasn’t Jason, I might be lucky
enough to get another taste of her lips.

When I remained
silent, she stepped closer so she could poke at my chest. “Jason!”

I had a sensation of
falling as I looked down into her beautiful eyes. Noting no guile, I decided
pretending to be Jason would make me no better than he was. I put my hands on
her arms and pushed her gently away from me. “I’m guessing Jason didn’t mention
that the brother in question was his identical twin.”

“Identical twin?”

I reluctantly nodded.

She shook her head in
disbelief.

“His identical twin,”
I said.

I watched her long,
dark hair cascade around her face before settling against her neck and
shoulders. “Tell me another one, Jason.”

“It’s James. Not
Jason.”

She compressed her
lips. “Okay, Jason, you know I’m usually up for a joke, but I have just spent
over six hours on a plane and another two waiting for you at the airport. That
should alert you to the fact that I am not in the mood for any jokes.”

The sparkle had
disappeared from her eyes and she looked annoyed.

“I can see that, but—”
I began.

“You can explain
yourself later.” She turned to point at her bags. “Just get my bags and take me
someplace where I can sleep.”

The corridor outside my
office wasn’t an appropriate location for the discussion we needed to have. The
elevator doors slid open and several women who worked in the office next to
mine stepped off.

Each looked surprised
before winking at me with smiles curving their lips.

Great. Jason never
seemed to tire of enjoying a joke at my expense. He would pay for this latest
annoyance, I thought as I took my office keys from my pocket, and stepping over
her bags, opened the door.

As I reached inside to
turn on the reception area lights, she walked inside, leaving all her bags in
the corridor.

Clearly, she wasn’t
one of those progressive women who considered herself as capable of carrying
her own bags as a man was of carrying his. Her assumption that I would carry
her bags inside amused rather than annoyed me.

Knowing my
receptionist would arrive soon, I carried her bags into my private office.

She sank onto the sofa
along the wall and watched me in silence.

After placing her last
bag on the carpet, I gave her a quick glance. Although the cross-country flight
in no way negatively impacted on her looks, I knew she must be tired. I crossed
the room to the small refrigerator in one corner. “Would you like a—”

Her lips compressed
and her dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “Okay, mister. Forget waiting for
later for an explanation. I want one right now and it had better be a good
one.”

Anger only heightened
her beauty. Still, women. Couldn’t they ever make up their minds? “Do you want
the long or the short version?” I asked.

“I have just given up
a very profitable job to come across the country to be with you.”

Lucky Jason. Not so
intelligent her.

“Why weren’t you at
the airport to meet me? And why are you wearing that monkey suit?”

The “monkey suit” was
one of my best business suits. It was certainly more suitable than the faded
jeans and sweater she wore that had seen better days. But  she clearly
preferred Jason’s much more casual dress to my business attire. Okay so Jason
had a way with the women, but I had something he probably never would—enough
income to ensure my woman didn’t need to work unless she wanted to.

I took a deep breath
and reminded myself that she thought I was Jason. I kept my voice level when I
spoke. “I am not Jason. I’m James Jordan, his twin.”

“Not that again,
Jason!”

I narrowed my gaze.
“The name is James. Not Jason. Who are you?”

“Who am I?”

“Yes. You know who I
am now. James. Not Jason. What’s your name?”

“You…you’re really not
Jason?”

I touched my suit
jacket. “Can you picture Jason dressed this way?”

She shook her head
with obvious reluctance before frowning and touching her lips.

I stared at her mouth;
sure she was remembering the heated kisses we’d shared. I knew they weren’t far
from my thoughts or desires. “I’m his twin.” I pointed at my closed office
door. “You must have noticed that the name on the door is James. Not Jason.”

She rose and crossed
the floor to sink down on one of the two chairs in front of my desk. She stared
at me in silence as tears welled in her eyes before spilling down her cheeks.

I’ve always been a
pushover for a woman in tears. I rose and went to kneel by her feet. “Please
don’t cry.” I touched her arm to comfort her. At the contact, I felt a tingle
shoot up my arm and quickly drew my hand back.

She dropped her hands
and looked at me with tear-filled eyes that tugged at my heartstrings. “It’s
true. Isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said, my
voice husky.

“Where is Jason?”

“I don’t know.”

She bit her lip and
then sobbed.

I couldn’t help it. I
reached out a hand to caress her cheek.

She pressed her face
against my palm. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. I
haven’t seen him in over a year. He was in San Francisco the last I heard.”

Although she didn’t
sob again, tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her tears tugged at my
emotions in ways I didn’t like and couldn’t control. I got to my feet and
pulled her into my arms.

After a moment of
resistance, she wrapped her arms around my waist and burrowed against me.

Oh, hell, yeah!
Holding her felt so good and so natural that I wanted to go on doing it
forever. Of course I soon wanted to do more than just hold her. As I
contemplated casually slipping my hands down her back below her waist, there
was a tap on my office door.

Before I could react,
the door opened and May, my secretary stuck her head in.

“Good morning,
James—oh, sorry!” she said when she saw me holding Mila.

I blushed like a
teenage boy but didn’t release Mila until she pushed against my shoulders.
Annoyed at being interrupted, I found it difficult not to snap at May. I
swallowed hard and smiled at her instead. “Never mind. May, I’ll be taking the
day off,” I told her.

She arched a brow.
“You are?”

Her surprise was
understandable since I always scheduled my time off well in advance. I nodded.
“Yes. I think I deserve a day off.”

“You do…”

“But?” I prompted when
she allowed her voice to trail off.

She cast a quick look
at Mila before meeting my gaze again. “But?” She gave me a bright smile. “But
nothing. You deserve a day off.”

“I agree. I’ll be home
but please don’t call unless it’s a real emergency.”

She nodded, cast a quick,
but uneasy smile at Mila, and withdrew from my office, closing the door behind
her.

I turned to look at
Mila. “Do you have hotel reservations?”

“No. You said—Jason
said we’d stay with you.”

When he finally turned
up, Jason was going to have a lot to answer for. ”Fine. Then let’s get your
bags and I’ll take you home.”

She gave me a wary
look. “Does your home have a guest room?”

She was probably not
sure she could trust me after those heated kisses. And she was probably right.
I nodded. “Yes and one of them has your name on it.”

I watched her
shoulders relax with a touch of annoyance. Jason didn’t do quiet, shy virgins
so there was no need for her to pretend to be dismayed by a few passionate
kisses. I was sure she and Jason had shared far more. And before this was over,
she and I would share far more too.

“I’m ready whenever
you are,” I told her, hoping my annoyance didn’t show.

She gave me a shy but
sexy smile.

Damn. I practically
melted. How the hell did she do that sexy shyness so well?

“I’m practically
asleep on my feet,” she said.

“Then let’s go.”

She gave me another
smile.

I was hard pressed not
to sweep her into my arms and kiss her breathless. Of course I wanted to do
more than just kiss her.

We got her bags and
left my office. We didn’t speak again until we were in my car heading for home.

“Tell me how you and
Jason met,” I invited.

She sighed. “We met at
a party given by a mutual friend.”

“When?” I pressed,
eager to learn everything about her.

“Three months ago.”

Three months earlier?
I blinked in amazed silence. She’d given up a good job and moved across country
to be with a man she’d only known for three months? “How long?”

“Three months.”

Clearly she didn’t
realize how irresponsible Jason was. But then maybe his failure to meet her at
the airport would finally open her eyes.

“I know what you must
be thinking,” she said into the silence.

“But?”

“But, as I’m sure you
know Jason is handsome, charming, and great to be with. We fell for each other
instantly.”

“Love at first sight?”
I asked, casting a quick sideways glance at her.

She shrugged. “Love is
probably too strong a word to use for what we felt.”

Why should I be glad
that she wasn’t in love with Jason?

“But there was
certainly an undeniable connection between us the moment we met.”

“And?” I encouraged,
still not sure how she’d ended up outside my office after such a brief
relationship with Jason.

“We dated for six
weeks before Jason got an assignment on the East Coast. I’m still not quite
sure how it happened, but he convinced me to give up my job and come East to
continue our relationship.”

I bit back the urge to
criticize her irresponsibility and lack of foresight in coming East just
because Jason had asked her to. I saw no reason to add to the confusion and
uncertainty I heard in her voice. Besides, if she’d been more responsible, we’d
have never met.

And I wouldn’t now be
suffering from a powerful urge to pull onto the shoulder of the highway and
take her into my arms.

And just how well
do you think that will go over, Jimmy boy?

Secondhand Lover is available from
Marilyn Lee Unleashed

Marilyn Lee Unleashed
Presents

By

Marilyn Lee

“Don’t
despair. When you least expect it, the hurt from Sam will dissolve and you’ll
fall head over heels in love again. It could happen at any time in any place.
Just make sure you’re ready to accept and embrace it when it happens.”

Autumn
Walker’s mother’s words flashed into her mind the moment she walked into the
condo association meeting and saw him.

The
man who caught her attention was tall, with long legs, wide shoulders, a narrow
waist, and a taut ass. He might have stepped right off the cover of one of the
Native American capture romances she and her friends had devoured as teenagers.
She could easily imagine him bare-chested with long, very dark, silky hair
pulled back from his face and hanging down his back as he sat astride a horse
without a saddle.

Two
women, who she suspected were more interested in spending time in his bed than
they were in discussing proposed changes in condo fees, commanded his
attention.

She
stared at him, feeling herself going wet. What woman wouldn’t want to be up
close and personal with a man who was so sexy just the sight of him generated
capture fantasies?

What
she wouldn’t give for the courage to strut across the room and join the two
women clambering for his attention. She sighed. If only she were tall and
slender with mounds of flowing locks like the women vying to hold his interest.
But the handsome, sexy male who looked as if he’d just finished posing for the
cover of a romance novel wasn’t likely to be impressed with her five-foot,
five-inch plump body or her dark brown skin. He probably preferred the tall,
slender, blue-eyed blondes gazing so adoringly up at him.

Almost
as if he felt her eyes on him, he suddenly turned his head, glanced briefly in
Autumn’s direction, looked away, and then did a double take. He arched a brow
and locked his gaze with hers.

Embarrassed
at having been caught staring, Autumn still couldn’t look away from his dark,
sexy, probing gaze. Her heart raced and the erotic imagination she’d struggled
to control since her divorce quickly flooded her mind with visions of standing
naked before him while he ran his big hands all over her body. Her cheeks
burned at the delicious thought of feeling his smooth palms spanking her naked,
dark ass cheeks until they burned with heat.

Oh
to feel him lubing her up before he gripped her hips and fucked her ass, slow
and deep. She bit her lip, going wet as she mentally savored the thought of him
cupping his hands over her breasts as he thrust in and out of her rear.

She
wore a pretty pink dress with a skirt that ended just below her knees. He could
easily push it up to expose a hot pink thong. Once he pushed that skimpy piece
of fluff aside he’d have easy access to both her ass and her pussy.

He
arched a brow while the corners of his sensual lips slowly curved upward into
an appreciative smile. His gaze shifted down to her breasts for several long
moments before he looked into her eyes again.

Autumn
caught her breath. Was she imaging things or did she detect a hint of interest
in his gaze? He had definitely checked out her breasts.