Cover to Covers (10 page)

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he playfully said into the base of her neck.

“I can’t believe…Mat never made me…do that.”

He sat up
on his elbow. “Are you saying Mat never gave you an orgasm?”

“Not like that.” She bashfully covered her eyes with her hand. “I know that sounds really horrible, but when I married Mat and we…it was never very good.”

“Did you tell him that?”

She removed her hand from her face and frowned at him. “You never critique a man in bed. I’ve at least learned that much about sex.”

“But he was your husband.” He caressed her cheek. “You two should have talked about how you felt.”

“Mat never liked talking about sex. He said it made him uncomfortable.”

He kissed her shoulder. “I like talking about sex, and it never makes me uncomfortable. I want to please you in every way, Moe, so don’t be afraid to tell me when you don’t like something, or when I don’t satisfy you, all right?”

“But you’ve already
satisfied me, Ty.”  

“Just wait.” He
kneeled between her legs and lifted her hips to him. “There’s more to come.”

When h
is tip penetrated her, he groaned into her neck as her wet flesh closed around his shaft. Monique clasped her arms about him when he pulled out and drove into her again.

“God, yes,” she
gasped into his hair.

Monique raised her hips higher, and Tyler took the invitation to move deeper. He could feel his orgasm rushing forward, faster than he had experienced in the past. Tyler could usually control himself so well, but not with her. He wanted her, wanted to keep moving faster and harder into her, like an unrelenting conqueror, taking what he wanted without remorse.

She was writhing in his arms, panting into his chest, and when her hands clutched his butt, he thrust into her with wild abandon, not caring about her anymore, just needing to satiate his desire.

As
his muscles tensed right before his release, Monique’s breath caught in her throat and her body shuddered in his arms. Her reaction sent him hurtling over the precipice. He smacked his hips into her, grunting against her neck, until he felt the rush of his release.

Completely spent, he lay on top of her, catching his breath and taking a moment to luxuriate in the feeling of satisfaction
flowing through his veins.

“So that’s what everyone keeps raving about?” she giggled against his cheek.

Tyler lightly chuckled into her chest. “I guess that means you liked it.”

“Very much.” She
combed her fingers through his thick, black hair. “Was it worth the wait?”

“Hell of a wait, but worth it.”

“Yes, definitely worth it,” she agreed.

He
gauged the contentment shining in her eyes. “I take it that means I’ve lived up to your expectations.”

She traced the outline of his square jaw with her fingertips. “Like you said, I could never be disappointed with you.”

“Don’t go to your convention in South Carolina tomorrow,” he pleaded. “Stay in Dallas for a little while longer.”

“And do what?”

He sat up next to her. “Be with me. I’ll take you out and show you the town. Wine you, dine you, whatever you want.”

“Tempting offer
, but….”

“Stay, Moe. Let’s see where this goes.”

Her body stiffened against him. “I already know where this is going, Ty.” She edged away from him. “Perhaps we should just enjoy tonight and not plan on any more than that.”

He
tossed his arms about her. “Don’t push me away.”

She relaxed and patted her hand against his chest. “You were always the one pushing me away. I’m just being realistic.”

“To hell with being realistic.” He tumbled back with her onto the bed. “Let’s pretend we are in one of your books; perhaps
Blind and Delirious.
I could be Darryl finding you in his hotel room for the first time. Remember that scene?”

“You really did read my book, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. And I have to admit your steamy love scenes really did something for me.” His lips passed lightly over her neck.

“I was thinking of you when I wrote every one.”

He nibbled at her shoulder. “In that case, I can’t wait to act them out.”

“I’m sure you won’t remember all the details.”

His mouth hovered temptingly over hers. “Oh, I remember every single detail.” 

She
pressed against him. “Prove it.”

“If you insist.” Then his lips came down hard on hers.

Chapter 7

The sunshine was creeping in through the window of Monique’s hotel suite when Tyler stirred from his deep slumber. He yawned happily, feeling more relaxed than he had been in a long time. As his eyes adjusted, he realized where he was, and soon the memories of his night with Monique began to roll across his mind. He stretched out his hand to the spot next to him in the king-sized bed, and his heart plunged when he found that she was not there.

Sitting up, he gazed anxiously about the room, but
there was no sign of her. He leapt from the bed and ducked into the bathroom, but it was empty. Even the vanity had been cleared of her toiletries. Back in the bedroom, he found that the black suitcase he had moved from the bed to the floor was gone. He did a quick turn of the modest suite and discovered that all of her clothes had been removed from the closet, and her purse was no longer sitting on the wooden desk across from the bed.

“Son of a bitch,” he
shouted into the empty hotel room.

Barefoot, and
still wrestling his shirt around his shoulders, he walked out of the room and scrambled toward the elevators. When the elevator stopped on the twelfth floor, his cell phone began ringing in his jacket pocket. Ignoring the call, he searched for his key-card. Once in his room, he went straight to the hotel phone and hit the number for the front desk. He was relieved when a man’s voice answered, not wanting to have to deal with the perky Missy again.

“This is Tyler Moore in 1201
; can you tell me if Ms. Delome in 833 has checked out?” he blurted into the phone before the man could finish his well-rehearsed salutation.

“Just a moment, Mr. Moore.”

A few seconds passed and then the man returned to the phone. “Yes, sir, about an hour ago.”

“Did she say if she was heading to the airport?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know.”

“Thank you.” Tyler s
mashed the phone back on its cradle. “Shit!”

He sat on the edge of his bed, trying to figure out what to do. This was a new
experience for him. For years he had let women come after him, slept with the ones he wanted, and then in the morning had slipped away just like Monique. It felt odd to be on the receiving end of what he had been dishing out for so long.

“What in the hell is wrong with me?” He wiped his hands over his face and then looked down at his wrinkled pants and half-open shirt.
Lifting his shirt, Tyler inspected the broken buttons along the inner seam. He remembered Monique popping the buttons as she tried to rip the shirt from his body. His head filled with images of her from the night before: the softness of her skin, the aroma of her lilac perfume, the taste of her lips. He could feel himself growing hard as he thought of her, and he groaned out loud with frustration.

Standing from the bed, he angrily
wrenched the shirt from his shoulders and then fumbled with the fly on his trousers. It had been a long time since he had taken a cold shower to calm his ardor, but he desperately needed one this morning. Making his way to the bathroom, Tyler had a sneaking suspicion that he had better get used to this. Until he could get Monique Delome out from under his skin, he was going to be requiring a lot more cold showers.

***

After donning a sharply pressed black pinstripe suit, Tyler decided to go downstairs to have some coffee in a café that sat across the street from the hotel entrance. In the elevator, he scrolled through the messages on his iPhone, checking to see if his morning appointment with the client he had originally come to the hotel to meet was still set for ten. He was stepping from the elevator and staring down at his cell phone when he happened to bump shoulders with someone. Raising his head, Tyler was greeted by the patronizing blue eyes of Chris Donovan.

“I think it is time you and I had a little chat,” Chris
advised between his clenched teeth.

Tyler suppressed the urge to sock the man in the jaw
, and instead painted an irritated half-smirk on his face. “What do we have to talk about?”

“She left early this morning. We were supposed to
go to the airport together and head to South Carolina for another convention, but when I awoke I got a text that she had taken the first flight back to New Orleans.” Chris folded his arms over his chest. “I can only imagine what happened between the two of you last night, and if you hurt her, or upset her in anyway, then you and I are going to have a big problem.”

“What happened between us last night is none of you
r damned business. As for why she flew back to New Orleans, I haven’t got the slightest idea. I woke up and she was gone. No note, no explanation.”

Chris’s ramrod posture relaxed somewhat and he ran a hand over his deeply etched brow. “Perhaps we should go somewhere and talk about this. I think you and I need to come to some kind of understanding about Monique.”

“Why?” Tyler snapped.

Chris
sighed, sounding frustrated. “It’s obvious we both care for her, but I also have to manage her career, and I can’t have you interfering with that. You could threaten everything we have worked so hard to build.”

“I think you overestimate my influence on her. If I was such a threat, she wouldn’t have run back to New Orleans.”

“But that is exactly why she left.” Chris’s eyes searched Tyler’s face. “You really don’t know her, do you? Monique may be tough as nails on the outside, but inside she is just a vulnerable little girl in desperate need of being protected.”

“I think you and I see two different women. Moe is the same girl I knew over twenty years ago. She doesn’t want to be protected, she wants to be understood and respected.”

“If you thought she wanted to be respected, then why did you sleep with her?” Chris barked.

Tyler’s stomach rolled with
indignation, and he took a cautious step back. “I think this conversation has gone far enough.”

“Stay away from her,” Chris warned. “You will only hurt her in the end.”

“Don’t threaten me, Donovan. I never stay away from the things I want.”

“She’s not a thing, but you wouldn’t know that, would you? Women have always been objects to you, and I
’m sure Monique is no different. You know, she told me all about you. Your escapades when you two were together before, your drinking, your trip to Mexico, the other women, all of it. You hurt her then; what makes you so sure you’re not going to hurt her now?”

Tyler took another step back, wrestling with his anger.
“Things are different between us this time.”

“But you’re not any different
.” Chris moved closer, pursuing him. “You’re the same selfish son of a bitch who broke her heart all those years ago. Men like you don’t change.”

Tyler glared at Chris, wanting to forever wipe away th
e smug look on his face. Instead of lashing out with his fists, Tyler turned and promptly walked away. As he charged to the lobby exit, he gripped the cell phone in his hand, squeezing it as tight as he could. He wanted to hit someone, but he knew that was not an option. The one lesson his father had taught him before dropping out of his life for good was that violence never solved anything. It was the only advice he had ever heeded from any man, and he was not about to blow years of self-control on a worthless cretin like Chris Donovan, at least not yet.

***

The rest of the morning, Tyler was not able to concentrate on anything. Throughout his lunch meeting with his loquacious client from the Nagle Petroleum Engineering Firm, Tyler found gentle reminders of his previous night with Monique. The floral arrangement in the restaurant entrance reeked of lilacs. The pot-bellied client he had lunch with went into a long tangent about his recent trip to New Orleans. Even the milk he added to his foul-tasting coffee reminded him of the color of her creamy white skin. It seemed no matter what he did, or how hard he tried to focus, Tyler was drowning in memories of Monique.

Need
ing to end the pricey hotel lunch with the overzealous client, Tyler finally consented to entertain proposals from his small engineering firm. After returning to his room, Tyler packed up his clothes and proceeded to the lobby, anxious to check out. When he dropped his bags before the teak-stained front desk, Missy welcomed him with a bright smile.

“Checking out, Mr. Moore?”

“Afraid so, Missy. I’ve got a full schedule at the office in the morning and I need to get home.”