Dazzle her: Laws of Seduction Book 3 (11 page)

“Say it,” he demands.

“He didn’t touch me here.” I say obediently, reaching up to touch my fingertips to my lips.

Running his hand further down along my throat, James parts the robe with his hand so that he can cup my breast. “Did he touch you here?”

I stare into his eyes, and place my hand over his on my breast. “No, he didn’t touch me here.” Relief surges through me when I see the belief in his eyes.

James nudges the robe off of my shoulders, and it falls in a heap on the floor. His hands seem to be everywhere touching my bare skin. I am on fire. Longing to feel his skin against mine, I reach up and start undoing the buttons on his shirt. When I am done, I push it back over his broad shoulders. Bending down, I inhale the scent of his warm skin and spread tiny little kisses across his chest. James groans in response. He leans over and scoops me up, carrying me off to the bedroom. James lays me across the bed before stripping out of the rest of his clothes. His cock stands boldly upright as he looks down at me. Extending my hand, I run it up and down his hard shaft. James closes his eyes and lets out a moan.

When his eyes pop open, my breath stutters in my throat at the raw possessiveness radiating from his gaze. “Are you ready, baby? Because I can’t wait.” Gripping the back of my thighs, he pulls me down the bed towards him. He moves one hand up and presses his thumb against my clit before moving it in a gentle circle. My hips buck up and I hear a strangled cry escape my lips. James clutches the back of my thighs, pulling me towards him as he thrusts into me in one hard stroke. I let out a cry that combines with James’s grunt of pleasure and echoes around the room. “Are you alright?” James asks.

“Yes,” I gasp, “don’t stop.”” James pounds into me over and over. His hands touch me everywhere. I feel myself right on the edge, but just as I am about to catapult into ecstasy, James slows his pace. He builds me up over and over again until I am about to scream out my frustration. “Please, James.”

“What do you want baby?”

“Please, James. Make… me… come.” I gasp between his pounding drives.

“You are fucking mine. Do you hear me? Mine.”

“Yes, yours.” Once again I am about to come when he slows his movements.

“James,” I sob, “please, make me feel good.”

“I am going to fuck you so hard that you will never, ever think of anyone else.”

“Yes, James. Only you.” James grips my hips tightly and builds me up once again with his hard thrusts. I scream his name, and then I am shattering into a million pieces, no longer capable of forming a coherent thought.

I return to reality with the feel of light little kisses traveling up my body. When they reach my neck, I turn and open my eyes to see a satisfied smile spread across James’s face. “Who would have thought that James McAllister would have such a possessive streak?””

James give an almost imperceptible shrug and eyes me cockily. “It’s news to me too, baby.”

“You mean you weren’t always this possessive?”

“Just with you.”

For some reason this admission makes me feel all warm inside. I put my arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss that makes me melt all over again. My stomach rumbles with hunger, and I feel James’s laughter against my lips. He raises up. “Let’’s get something to eat.” Since I am undeniably hungry, I enthusiastically agree.

James orders burgers that he swears are the best in the city from a Tribeca steakhouse. While we wait for them, he explains that the restaurant only makes a limited number of these burgers, and the owner tweets the number available for that day. When they arrive, I am famished. Just as James promised, they are juicy and bursting with flavor. “How did you find out about this place?”” I ask between bites.

After taking a swig of his beer, James shrugs one shoulder. “Don’t know. Word just gets around about these kind of things.”

I bite into my lone French fry. “Isn’t it kind of odd that they serve it with a single fry?”

“I guess they think of it as garnish.”

There isn’t much to clean up after we eat, and it is still fairly early. James asks, “Do you have to go back to your apartment tonight or can you stay here?”

“I can stay here. Maybe I’ll get up early and run back up to my apartment in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay. Is there anything you would like to do now?” James asks solicitously. I glance up at him shyly. “Now I’’m intrigued. What has you blushing like that?” he continues.

“I couldn’t help noticing earlier that your bathtub doesn’t look like it gets much use.”

“It doesn’t. I’m more of a shower man. Do you want to take a bath?”

“Only if you join me,” I say provocatively.

“Come on.” He leads me into the master bath, where a huge oval bathtub sits in the corner.

“Do you have any bubbles?”

“Let me see.” After rummaging around in a cabinet, James returns with a gift basket filled with bath salts, flowery soaps, and bubble bath.

I laugh. “Where did you get that?”

“I think it was a housewarming gift from my mother.” I raise my brow at him in disbelief. “I know. She’s a little out of touch,” he explains.

James turns on the water and adjusts the temperature. I choose the “Cherry Blossom Vanilla” scented bubbles out of the basket and pour a dollop into the tub. The swirling jets make the bubbles foam up nicely. I pull my hair up and fix it on top of my head with a hair tie before dropping my robe and slipping into the inviting warmth. James removes his clothes and steps in behind me. I close my eyes and lean back against his firm chest as the water laps around us. James nuzzles my ear and trails kisses down my neck to my shoulder. “This reminds me of skinny-dipping in the Hamptons.”

I smile at the memory. “That seems like ages ago, but it’s been just a few weeks.”

We sit in companionable silence for a few minutes. Then James asks, “How long were you and Mark together?”

“We were together for most of law school.”

“But you never lived together?”

“We had a sort of understanding that we would wait until after law school and see where our jobs took us. Besides, I liked living with Sam.”

“Huh,” James grunts in response.

Needing him to understand my relationship with Mark, I continue. “I should have broken up with him much sooner, but it was easier to let things keep drifting along. Every time I would work up the courage to break it off, he would convince me to give it another try. In the end I put my foot down and wouldn’t let him talk me into staying in the relationship.”

“When did you break it off with him?”

“The beginning of last March.”

“And before Mark? Was there anyone before that?”

My thoughts turn to my dismal undergraduate years. Most people were having the time of their lives, but I spent the entire time buried in books. The only highlight of those years had been my friendship with Nick. “No, at college I was very studious. I spent a lot of time in therapy and coming to grips with the accident.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t all bad. I did meet Nick, and we helped each other a lot. I just didn’t date. I couldn’t. For a long time, I felt like no one could
With
Seth.”

James’s hand makes comforting strokes down my side. “He was your first?”

Leaning my head back against his hard chest, I close my eyes and let the memories wash over me. “Yea, we were together all through high school. There was a lot of breaking up and getting back together though.”

“Why would anyone ever break up with you?”

I smile at the sincerity in James’s voice. He could be so sweet sometimes. “We were both pretty immature. He would cheat on me, or I would cheat on him. It was a kind of game, but I knew we would always get back together. Of course, it didn’’t feel like a game at the time.”

“You loved him.”

James says it as a statement not a question, but I answer anyway. “Yea, I did.” Memories of Seth play through my mind. “It’s funny. Seth, Chelsea, and I were so wild in high school. When I think back to the partying and some of the crazy things we did, I’m amazed we survived. I almost think it would have been easier to live with if they had died doing something stupid or crazy. It just makes no sense to me that they died because of something as commonplace as running off the road.”

Shaking off the melancholy mood that always follows my thoughts of Seth and Chelsea, I turn sideways so that I can see James’s face. “So who was your first?”

The lazy smile that passes over James’s face makes me curious. “That would have been Anastasia.”

I raise my brows at the exotic-sounding name. “And?” I prompt. “Details, please.”

“It was the summer after my freshman year of high school.”

“So you were fourteen?” I interrupt.

James gives me a look of reproach. “Do you want to hear this or not?”

I move my hand over my mouth in a zipping and locking motion and wait for him to continue.

“I was almost fifteen, and my grandfather, mother, and I spent the summer on my grandfather’s yacht. We sailed around the Greek Isles, Monaco, and the southern coast of France. There was a group of us about the same age that was spending the summer yachting around Europe. We all went to the same places and saw each other whenever we were at the same port. There were a lot of parties, and that’s where I met Anastasia. She was from Greece, a few years older than me, and had some experience. I think it turned her on that I was a virgin. She taught me a thing or two, and after Anastasia I went from one girl to the next. Thank God I was smart enough to wear condoms, or I probably would be dead from some venereal disease by now.”

“You make it sound like you were a real playboy.”

James laughs derisively, “Oh baby, was I ever. Girls throwing themselves at me left and right did not help in the character development department.”

“Was it Amanda’s death that changed you?”

“Not entirely. I won’t deny that I enjoyed the thrill of money and girls for a while, but by the time I was in college, it had lost some of its appeal. There was also the fact that I didn’t want to be like my parents. I also wanted to be independent from my grandfather and not have to answer to him for the rest of my life.”

“So you decided to go to law school?”

“Right. My grandfather actually thought it was a great idea until I told him I wasn’t going to work for him when I was finished. That was a real fight, but in the end I got my way. I did make a few concessions. My grandfather’’s company hires its own lawyers, but he has other interests. I agreed to represent him in those instances. In the end it is a good balance between doing work for my grandfather and pursuing the cases that interest me and play to my strengths.”

“You have something of a reputation as a good negotiator. I notice they bring you in on all the important cases where there will be serious negotiations.”

“Oh yea? I can think of some things I would like to negotiate with you right now.”

I feel something suspiciously hard at my hip. I move my hand down to grasp his hard shaft. The sensation of his rock-hard erection in my hand sends pleasure spiraling through me, and my nipples tighten in anticipation. “Such as?”

James shoves aside my hand and turns me around so that I am straddling him in the water. “Such as negotiating that hot pussy over my hard cock. I just can’t get enough of you. You taste so good.”” He licks at the water droplets on my neck and shoulders, moving his mouth down to my breasts to suck at my nipples. I groan with pleasure and lean back, providing him with better access. Reaching down into the water, I find his erection and guide him into my throbbing center.

We rock back and forth, and the water from the tub threatens to wash over the side. “We’re going to make a mess.”

“I don’t care.”

Forgetting about potential flooding of the bathroom, I lean back and let pleasure overwhelm me.

CHAPTER 14

Despite having to return to my apartment in the morning to get ready for work, I get to the office earlier than usual. Nora and Patti have not yet arrived, but Becca is sitting at my desk. When she sees me, she jumps up. “Oh hi, Lainey. I was just waiting for you.””

I wonder how long she was planning on waiting for me at my desk. I plaster on a friendly smile. “What can I do for you, Becca?”

Becca’s syrupy sweet smile seems a little forced. “Since there is a three-day weekend coming up, Bethany and I thought it might be fun to get some people together to go out tonight. I was just wondering if you and James would like to come.””

“I can’t speak for James, but I can stop by for a bit. Where are you meeting?”

“We haven’t decided yet, but I’ll let you know.”

“Sounds good. I guess I better get to work.”

“Right. Later, Lainey.”

Putting my strange encounter with Becca out of my mind, I get to work only to be interrupted a short while later by a call from Davis. Hoping that he has my pictures ready, I accept the call. I almost clap my hands in glee when he says he finished them. I can’t wait to see how they turned out. “I can pick them up from your studio after work if you will still be there.”