Hidden Desires (17 page)

“I’ve got to have you,” he insisted, expressing the thought that had plagued him all evening. He stepped up behind her and kissed the back of her neck, then lowered the zipper of her dress, his mouth following each tooth as it opened.

By the time he reached the zipper’s end, he was kneeling on the floor with the skinny strap of those panties right in front of him, urging him to tear the thing off. But he had just one night a year with her, and he wouldn’t end it within the first three minutes.

The dress and the lingerie hit the floor before he had a chance to contemplate his next move. He looked up, managing to catch the mischievous grin on his lady’s face before she turned and strode across the room, the silken curves of her ass draped in nothing but moonlight.

He stood, his fingers clenched with the need to touch her. “Where are you going?”

“You’ll see.”

She opened the French doors that led to a private terrace and disappeared around the corner. “Care to join me?” her voice called through the darkness.

He nearly ran to the balcony, stopping just long enough to pull protection from his pocket and take off his suit. When he found her, she was shoulder-deep in the hot tub, curling her index finger at him.

“Hurry,” she whispered. He could see her squirming beneath the bubbly surface.

“You sure know how to make a man crazy.”

He sank into the warm water and pulled her against him, relishing the reunion of their naked bodies.

The money and power that accompanied his position at Insomnia never left him without a date for long, but this woman was no ordinary piece of arm candy. She charged him like an electric current, and their annual rendezvous was just about the only time he felt like a flesh-and-blood man instead of a corporate puppet.

Without exception, when he took other women out, they immediately brought up his job. Each of them shared a mammoth interest in his money and his ability to discover the next pin-up girl.

But not this one. The woman in front of him was wet, naked, and beautiful—and completely uninterested in his paycheck. He didn’t think he’d find a more perfect woman if he could design one himself.

Her fingers entwined in his hair, tugging him from his thoughts. She kissed him with a desperation that seemed to match his and pushed him down until he sat on the tub’s ledge, the water swirling around his ribs. Then she straddled his lap.

“I need your touch.”

Her words energized him and brought his full attention back to the reason they were there. He dropped his hand under the bubbles, skimming her torso until he found the softness between her thighs and unraveled her desire.

“Here?”

“Alex…” She surged against his chest and her fingernails dug into his shoulder.

“That wasn’t a scream,” he objected.

“Not yet it wasn’t.”

He massaged her, increasing the pace of his stroke while she squirmed and begged and then came hard, bucking against him and crying out loud. Still trembling, she shifted in his lap, took his shaft in her hand and rubbed it against her flesh.

“Do it,” she urged.

Her pleas turned to moans when he complied, slipping inside her and reacquainting himself with her warmth, her kisses, her cries. When he was lost in the taste and scent and feel of her, once again sharing with her the deepest kind of intimacy, he realized there was one problem with his perfect woman.

He didn’t know her, not the way he should. At least she could list some of his basic information, like his position at the company and what his mother had been calling him since birth. He couldn’t do the same for her. He knew that if he leaned down and sucked on her nipple right now, she’d come again. And if he gently bit the tender spot on her neck, right behind her earlobe, she’d arch backward and push him further into her body.

It was incredible, but it wasn’t enough. Not when he held her so close that he couldn’t tell his breath from hers, and when he kept imagining waking up in his bed at home with her beside him.

He anchored one hand on her hip and brushed the other through her mass of platinum curls, the ends wet and clinging to her breasts. “Tell me your name.”

She blinked, uncertainty clouding her face. But he looked into her eyes and moved slowly within her, and she relaxed. “It’s Jacey.”

“That’s a lovely name.”

“Thank you. Alex.” She giggled, then gasped and held tightly to him as he began to thrust harder. Her hips matched his intense rhythm, and he broke into a sweat caused by more than the temperature of the water.

At last, he knew her name.

Rebuilding the fire—one kiss at a time.

All Lit Up

© 2010 Cathryn Fox

Pleasure Inn, Book 3

When interior designer Anna Deveau is hired to create a room made for romance at a Victorian inn, she is thrilled—and a little wistful. A fairy-tale ending will never be hers, but perhaps tapping into abandoned dreams will fan the flames for someone else.

Then she learns the only bricklayer available to build the room’s fireplace is Daniel Long. The sexy boy-next-door who filled her teen years with angst, broke her heart—and still colors her nights with red-hot fantasies.

Daniel never understood why Anna stopped talking to him a week before her sweet-sixteen party. Or why the wall between them remains a mile high. But now that he’s back in town, he intends to figure it out once and for all. Pushing the limits of her seductive design, he sets out to prove he didn’t burn her in the past.

Anna finds herself doing the one thing she swore she’d never do again: laying herself bare. Until the ghost of rumors past threatens to snuff out the fiery fantasy that, this time, Anna thought was real…

Warning: Years of sinful fantasies about the sexy boy-next-door lead to a night of wild indulgence. Be
sure to keep a bevy of toys on hand when reading this tale, or better yet, get a boy-next-door of your own.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
All Lit Up:

The wind picked up, and as she hugged herself to stave off a shiver, heavy footsteps heralded someone’s approach. She turned around and came face to face with Daniel. The second his body came into contact with hers and she caught a whiff of his warm, familiar scent, heat unfurled inside her, and she struggled to maintain a coherent thought.

“You cold?” He pulled her close and ran his hands up and down her arms, but the friction merely created heat in the needy spot between her legs.

“I’m okay.”

Daniel slipped off his jacket, draped it over her shoulders, and pulled her in tight. Feeling warm and wanting and in need of a distraction, she glanced at the towering maple tree. She momentarily wondered if his parents had redesigned his room after he’d left, or if they’d left it the way it was. Not that she knew how it was before his departure, since he’d never invited her in.

“Want to climb it?”

She chuckled as her body absorbed his warmth. “I don’t think so.” He gave her a boyish wink. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Fun?”

“Where’s your adventurous side, Anna?”

“I’m not dressed for climbing trees.” Her voice lacked conviction.

“It’s your only way out, you know.” He pulled a face, fear dancing in his eyes as he pointed to her parents’ living room. “Unless you want to go back in there with those sharks, you don’t have a choice.” He gave a mock shiver. “I’ve never seen such an interrogation. When I first arrived I thought I was in the middle of an intervention.”

Anna laughed and Daniel joined in, and in that instant, she felt like the world had been lifted from her shoulders. Honestly, she’d been strung so tight over the last few days it felt so good to laugh, to let go for a few minutes.

“It’s
was
an intervention,” she said. “A let’s-get-Anna-hitched sneak attack.” She paused to shake her head. “I didn’t see it coming.”

He touched her gold chain, and when his warm fingers grazed her skin, her hands curled in his shirt.

Eyes smoldering, he wet his mouth and in a low voice said, “I think they only have your best interests at heart.”

Needing to lighten things up before she went to mush in his arms and remembering how he’d toyed with her mother, she whacked him on the shoulder and he let loose a moan.

“Hey, what’s with all the abuse?” he questioned, faking exasperation. But that exasperation quickly gave way to passion. “You keep it up and you’re going to get a spanking of your own.” Anna’s breath grew shallow, and she gulped air, trying for normal. “What’s with teasing my mother like that and telling her you wanted me to go to a football game? She’ll be clinging to that for weeks. You know as well as I do that she wants us together.”

Without an ounce of humor in his voice, he said, “So do I, Anna.” Her insides twisted. Okay, she understood he wanted her physically, the last few days had proven that.

But what she wasn’t sure about was why. Because she was the one he couldn’t have? Or had he changed and matured over the years, and like her, knew how good they could have been together?

“Why, Daniel. Why do you want this?”

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. Despite the cold, her cheeks flushed hot and her legs felt a little shaky beneath her. The tender intimate way he looked at her took her breath away. Heaven help her, she was fighting a losing battle here. He was charming, seductive, persuasive—the attraction far too powerful for her to ignore any longer. “Daniel—”

Instead of answering her, he grabbed her hand and tugged. “Come on.”

“Where?”

He gestured toward the huge tree branch that hung over the fence. “We’re going up. I’ll show you the view.”

With unhurried movements, he dropped her hand and grabbed the branch to test it. As he pulled himself up, her glance moved to his perfect backside, enjoying the view from where she stood. Instantly, with her brain on overdrive, she couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe he was right and an adventure was in order. And she wasn’t necessarily talking about climbing the tree.

As she warmed to the idea, she slipped her arms through his coat, zippered it, then grabbed the branch to climb. Her tight jeans protested the movement. “These are my favorite jeans, so help me if I rip them—”

“I’ll buy you a new pair,” he offered and reached down a helping hand.

She scoffed, half-heartedly, aware that she found the situation a little exciting. Not to mention fun and spontaneous. “Couldn’t we be normal adults and use the front door? I’m not really a fan of heights.”

“Nope. The only way to my front door, is through your front door. And since you’re avoiding the sharks…”

He was right, the fence circled the yards, and she wasn’t quite ready to go inside and face another swarming.

“Plus this is a little exciting, don’t you think?” he teased with a wink. “Sneaking into my room late at night.”

In spite of herself she laughed. “I’ve had more excitement watching paint dry,” she lied, masking her enthusiasm. Heck, she didn’t want to make this too easy on him, letting him think he was finally going to get what he’d been after for years.

But deep inside her she was excited. Damn excited. Growing up, Anna had always been a rule follower and had never done anything quite like this before. Being here with Daniel and climbing this tree took her back to her teen years when she used to go to bed and dream about sneaking into his room with him, dream about being the one girl he wanted, really wanted.

She grabbed his hand and he hauled her higher. Once they reached the top, Daniel shimmied his window open, climbed inside, then helped her in.

When her flats hit the floor, she let out a breath. Feeling much more comfortable on solid footing, she shut the window behind her. Daniel flicked on his lamp, and as the warm light bathed the room, she took in the décor. A single bed was up against one wall, a navy blue comforter haphazardly thrown over it. On the other wall, there was an open laptop sitting on a small wooden student desk. Trophies and medals adorned the numerous shelves above the bed, and a football lamp sat on his nightstand.

“Nice room.”

He walked across the floor and locked his door. A fine tingle ran through her. Despite being all grown up, something about sneaking into his room felt so forbidden, and it shocked her how much that excited her.

“It’s a shrine,” he teased. “Mom left it the way it was, hoping I’d come back to it I guess.”

“Now her wish has come true. You’re staying here, aren’t you?”

He grinned. “Just temporarily.” Something strange passed over his eyes—it was the same look he’d given her earlier but one she didn’t recognize—when he went on to announce, “I bought the old Murphy house down by the lake. Now I’m just waiting for my goods to arrive. I never thought they’d sell it, but lucky for me, the Murphys recently retired and moved to Florida.”

“You bought the old Murphy place?” She widened her eyes in surprise. “I love that place.” Again, there was that odd look. “I know you do.”

She pulled a face. “You suddenly seem to know an awful lot.” He backed her up until her knees hit the bed, and something in his voice hitched. “I know a lot more about you than you think I do.”

Her heart raced, her body grew damp and needy, and her voice came out a little rough around the edges. “And I think you’re a sweet talker.”

He offered her a cocky grin, and she damn near wilted. “Is it working?”

“No.”

“Then why are your cheeks flushed?”

As his primal essence completely overwhelmed her, she responded, “Because it was cold out.”

“And your body, it’s trembling.”

“Like I said, it’s cold outside.”

In a move that took her by surprise, he pulled her close, anchoring her body to his and she could feel his arousal press against her midriff. His cock felt glorious, hard and primed to go, and it took all her willpower not to moan out loud and rub up against it. As her body burned with desire and pent-up passion, pleasure gathered between her legs. She placed her hands on his shoulders, and in a bold move that seemed to catch him off guard, she ran her fingers over his muscles and could feel strength radiating off him.

Daniel swallowed and his powerful hands shook like a juvenile on his first date as they slipped around her back. “And…what about…your nipples…?” His words came out a broken, choppy. “Are they hard because it’s cold out too?”