Passions in the North Country (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

Today she wore it with a thrill, as if she was tasting the forbidden fruit, and she wanted to see Devon’s reaction, just to compare. She purposely walked by two middle-aged men with the confidence of an exotic dancer. Both men noticed, hypnotically watching her sweet ass. She looked back and caught them. They turned away as if they had not been looking. When Jenny reached her door, she turned to see Devon right behind her. She smiled and then started walking up the steps.

“Jenny,” Devon said.

She stopped and turned to face him. “Yes.”

“You look really nice today.” His eyes sparkled. “Very pretty.”

“Thank you,” she said warmly. “You look nice, too. You washed your clothes.”

He laughed. “The word came down.”

Jenny suddenly and unexpectedly bent over right in front of him to tie her sneaker lace. Her soft, round ass was presented to his eyes like a feast at a banquet. She was wearing thong panties because he could see no lines framing her gorgeous behind. He felt delirious looking at her that way, so beautiful, so soft, so sexy. His cock got hard and he imagined taking her from behind, sliding in until he was balls deep. He fantasized about her looking back at him, smiling, rocking, riding, taking. He tried to turn away, but could not. Yet looking at her was a torture—a sweet, succulent torture—and he thought she would be embarrassed to be presenting herself like that, but she wasn’t. She was bold and took her time, spreading her legs a little for support, and looking like a woman who was ready for the act of love.

“Do you think I’m attractive, Devon?” Jenny asked for some unknown reason, her ass moving slightly as she positioned herself to tie the lace.

“Yes,” he said, his eyes glued.

“If we were dating, you know, in a purely hypothetical way, or if you were dating anyone for that matter, would you mind if she wore a bikini in front of other men?”

“Not at all.”

“What if men looked at her in that way? You know what I mean.”

“I’d want her to feel sexy,” Devon said, “and what kind of man wants a wife or girlfriend that no one finds attractive? No, I’d like my girlfriend to feel sexy and not be afraid to show that she is a woman. It is woman’s nature to attract.”

“Oh,” Jenny asked, still with her ass in the air, presented to him not more than half an arm’s length from his groin. “And what is man’s nature?”

“To pursue. She attracts, he chases, she decides. That is the law of nature.”

Some strange spirit suddenly came over Jenny and she felt incredibly turned-on. It was as if a tsunami of sex hunger had flooded into her system. She tied her lace, but spread her legs and bent straight down in the most provocative pose Devon had ever seen. It was like a billboard advertising for him to plant his pole right here.

“Tell me true,” she said, finally straightening up. “If a man thinks your girlfriend is sexy, it wouldn’t bother you?”

“Honey, I hope men that see my girlfriend go home and jack off thinking about her in a bikini.”

Jenny was dumbfounded by his remark, but it hit the mark. Exactly what she wanted to hear.

“What’s the alternative, like I said?” Devon noted. “Who wants to be hooked up with Medusa? Not me. I’m hoping to find a woman who is pretty and sexy. I like the sound of that.”

She suddenly picked something up off the steps. “Look!” she said with an innocent smile. “I found a lucky penny!” Her eyes glowed and she seemed almost to beam, as if there was a warm light illuminating her countenance. “I’m giving this penny to you,” she said, putting it into his hand.

“My lucky day,” he replied, examining it.

“You have to give me something now,” Jenny said, as if she was stating a law.

He looked awkward. “I don’t have anything. I’m sorry.”

“Give me a hug then,” she said.

His eyes flashed. “A hug I can do.”

He put out his arms and leaned forward, but Jenny suddenly turned her back to him and he wrapped his arms around her from behind. For a moment he was going to pull away and ask her why she had turned, but she grabbed his arms and held them tightly around her. She looked back at him, a wild glow in her eyes, and started rubbing her ass against his equipment. His whole body stiffened and a look of incredible pleasure settled over his features. She kept doing it, grinding, pressing. Devon got a huge hard-on and Jenny could feel it through his pants. Suddenly there was an animal look in her eyes and he knew that she meant business.

“You’re warm,” she said, her small body pressed into his big, powerful body.

“So are you,” he stammered.

She suddenly unfolded his arms and pulled away from him, leaving him in a terrible state. Like a tornado that disappears as quickly as it appears, Tornado Jenny had moved off, leaving a wreck. Devon could hardly breathe. He could see only Jenny, smell only Jenny, think only of Jenny.

“Give me that penny, you silly man,” she said, taking it from him. “If you hold it, you’ll lose it. I’m putting it into your pocket.”

Looking him directly in the eyes, she slid the penny and her hand into his pocket. The back of her hand brushed his pulsating column. His cock twitched and an electric current shot through him. Without warning she pushed her hand to the left and squeezed Devon’s erection. He took a short, quick breath, every muscle in his body drawn taught. Jenny turned away, as if casually looking around, but she actually started stroking his prick, squeezing it deeply and massaging it to a state of total arousal. Then Tornado Jenny pulled out her hand and walked up the stairs, fading from view, with Devon, the victim of her storm, half-dead on the steps. Finally, able to recover himself, Devon slowly started the ascent to Maria’s room, his cock huge and hard as a rock.

When he entered Jenny’s room, she was sitting on the bed. To Devon she looked as pretty as a picture, a ripe fruit ready to explode with flavor. She patted the bed beside her and Devon sat down. He would have given anything to love her at that moment, but she seemed suddenly reserved.

“It’s the sign for the Riverview Hotel,” Jenny said, completely changing gears and shifting downward directly from fifth to first. Devon needed to be brought down slowly because his desire was on supercharge. She stood up and faced him. “I know there’s nothing wrong with the name ‘Riverview Hotel,’ and actually it’s quite appropriate considering that we’re overlooking the river, but I think you should consider changing the name.”

His visage drained of color. “This hotel has been known as the Riverview Hotel for decades.”

“Is that what the Captain called it?” Jenny asked, not the least put off by Devon’s objection.

He paused.

“Hmm?” Jenny persisted. “The reason I ask is because I was scanning the Captain’s diary and I thought—and I may be wrong about this, so don’t quote me—but I thought I saw a reference to a different name.”

“The Captain had a different name when he owned it,” Devon conceded.

“Oh,” Jenny said in her dumb-blonde voice, though Devon was perfectly aware she knew exactly what the Captain had called the hotel. “What did he call it, Devon?”

“He called it the Ship’s Lodge. That’s what it was known as on the day he died.”

“Did Maria change the name after he was gone?”

“Oh, no,” Devon said. “She drew her dying breath in the Captain’s House, behind the Ship’s Lodge.”

“Who changed the name?”

Devon looked at her with a naughty glint in his eyes. “That’s quite a sensitive matter.”

“I want to know,” Jenny said firmly, leaving no room for dispute.

“Well, if you must know,” he said, an animated expression on his handsome face, “there were rumors going around after the Captain and Maria died.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Rumors of sex between a married man and a nun.”

Jenny lifted an eyebrow.

“Rumors of wild sex,” Devon said, nodding meaningfully. “Apparently a fragment of Maria’s diary had been left behind, open to view in a drawer, and it contained some very bawdy descriptions of, how shall I say, meetings between the Captain and Maria. They were all fantasies, but were taken literally. A woman in the church apparently found the document and, unfortunately, she was a sanctimonious, dried-up prune. She threatened to expose the forbidden documents if the church did not denounce and excommunicate Maria.”

“How do you know all this?” Jenny said, looking hard into his eyes.

He smiled sexily. “There’s a master document for the hotel and only the owner is allowed to read it. It goes back to the very beginning. But it’s long and written in a flowery hand, quite difficult to read, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only one.” He smiled in a charming way. “I read the whole thing.”

“You’re a great reader, aren’t you?”

“Not bad,” he said with a laugh.

“So how did it turn out?”

“Well, the holier-than-thou bitch insisted she would go public if the local priest did not publically denounce ‘the harlot and the adulterer’—her words exactly, but she was nothing if not a God-fearing woman. The threats worked their way up the food chain and she got an unexpected visit from one of the top guns in the church. That shut her up in a big hurry.

“There was nothing to be gained by besmirching the sister, she was told, especially as if it would reflect badly on all the good work Maria had done, and, most importantly, going public would harm the church. The woman did not want to upset the church. There were negotiations, the wringing of hands, and in the end the church ended up buying the Ship’s Lodge. They renamed it the Riverview Hotel, then eventually sold it. The woman was appeased because all connection to the past was severed, and the church was happy because none of this would ever get out. What they didn’t realize was that the woman who chronicled the hotel’s history happened to be the one who found the diary. She recorded the whole sordid story in a blow-by-blow account, just for the sake of posterity.”

“Or to get a jab in at Maria and the Captain.”

“That’s more like it,” Devon said.

“It sounds to me like the name ‘Riverview Hotel’ was almost forced on this place. I can’t see you having any genuine affection for it.”

“What are you getting at?” he asked, studying her pretty face.

“The sign is old and the paint is almost totally faded. There’s even some graffiti carved on it.” She hesitated. “The sign looks terrible, Devon.”

“I can touch it up.”

“It’s more than that,” Jenny said, frustrated. “It’s time for a change.” She looked at him with the most serious expression imaginable. “Sometimes you just have to make a change.”

“Say what’s on your mind, Jennifer.”

Only her father had ever called her “Jennifer,” and she always loved it when he did that. The same sense of pleasure filled her when Devon, a stranger in many ways, yet somebody entering her life more and more by the minute, called her “Jennifer.” It created a sense of joy in her, as if they were climbing another wrung on the ladder that is a relationship.

“For years the owners of the Riverview Hotel let the business fall apart,” Jenny said nervously, hoping to make her pitch convincing. “People have that vision impressed in their minds. I think it’s time for a new name, to show people that there is a new owner with new energy and a new attitude. The sign is the first thing people see. It’s the first impression. I think we need to make a change.”

Devon eyed her like one of two pirates dividing the gold. “What do ‘we’ have in mind?”

“I think you should call it an inn.”

He shrugged. “So you want to call it the Riverview Inn? That’s not such a huge change.”

“No,” Jenny said firmly. “You want a complete break with what’s happened in the past.”

“What then?”

“Since we’re situated in Canada, a northern country, and since this place is a long way from the hustle and bustle of city life, I think you should go with a name that denotes peace and quiet. Something that gives people a vision of purity, a pristine world.”

“Yes,” he murmured, wondering what she was driving at. “And?”

She looked hopefully into his eyes. “I was thinking we could call it the North Country Inn.”

Devon smiled and looked pleased. “You used my name.”

“Yes,” she acknowledged. “Let’s face it, you’ve put your stamp on this place. Without you it may have been torn down or, if it was left standing, it wouldn’t look anything like it does now. It’s your hotel, Devon.”

“My inn,” he corrected. “The North Country Inn.”

“You like the name?”

He nodded. “I love the name.”

They looked at each other like giddy teenagers. It was as if they were mutually feeling a sense of belonging to a team, working together for the same goal, enjoying the camaraderie and support. There was also something subtle going on, something that happens only when the stars align. Devon was attracted to her as he had never been attracted to any woman, and she was just as attracted to him. They were silently proud to be seen together and they were at the amazing and exhilarating stage where they could imperceptibly start becoming a lifelong couple, or, just as easily, part on a moment’s notice and never see one another again. That’s where they were. Nothing was settled, no commitments made, but, on the other hand, neither wanted to leave or impede the momentum that was building.

“Good, we’ll change the sign as soon as possible.”

He held up a finger. “I have to insist on one thing, though.”

“What?”

“I’ll need the price up front and you need my permission. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Give me your word,” he insisted.

She furrowed her brows, but accepted his terms. “I give you my word.”

The phone rang. “Excuse me, Devon,” she said, turning her back to him.

Again he admired her lovely form, so lithe, so impossibly magnetic.

“Excellent!” she exclaimed, then said “yes” several times in a row.

Devon was taken with her enthusiasm, but then had the terrible notion that somebody had just offered her a good job. This fear started all of a sudden, then grew by degrees. Maybe she was on her way halfway across the country, or somewhere on the other side of the world. He would never see her again, never again hear her voice. The team was breaking up, disintegrating. How he wanted her to stay! But she was a beautiful butterfly and she had stopped here for a rest on her journey through life. He would not try to stop her. He would only admire her and be thankful for the brief moment in time that they had spent together.