Room 1208 (10 page)

“Have I?”

Her gaze sharpened on his. There’d been a
serious, almost troubled undertone in his voice. Her breath faltered. “Yes.”

His forehead furrowed. “You’ve never dated
anyone, Maggie. Never been in a relationship. Would that bother you down the
road? Not having tested the waters before finally settling down?”

“Do you
want
me to, uh, test the waters,
Jason?”

His grip tightened. “Hell, no.”

Her heart soared. Was he saying what she thought
he might be saying? She fought to keep her features and tone even-keeled. “I’ve
met several guys over the last six months, you know. I wouldn’t call them
dates. I’d posted my profile on an online matching site. I chose a few men who
looked like they had potential, exchanged emails. But nothing ever went beyond
meeting for a cup of coffee. I didn’t consider those dates.”

His voice was just as even, but his body felt
like it was on a taut leash. “None of them asked you out after the coffee meet
up?”

“Well, yes, they all did.” She couldn’t hide how
flattered this had made her feel. “But the problem was…none of them were you.”

“Oh, Maggie,” he said softly. “I don’t deserve
such devotion.”

Her eyebrows knotted. “Why do you say that?”

“It isn’t always going to be sunshine and roses,
sugar. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have my moments, my
bad days. And the sex might not always be as amazing as it has been.” He
sounded almost awkward as he continued. “I, uh, just want to make sure you
don’t have any, uh, high expectations about that. Remember, I hadn’t had sex in
over four years. I haven’t gone three for three in one night since I was in my
early twenties.”

She toyed with his collar button. She found his
discomfort utterly endearing. “Hmm. Isn’t there a little blue pill to help with
that?”

She gave a shout of laughter as he tilted her off
of his lap, tossing her onto her back on the sofa. He followed her down,
pushing his hips in between hers. He growled into her ear. “Feel that, Maggie
Rose? You’re the only pill I need.”

“Oh, my,” she breathed, still teasing. “Clearly
you don’t have anything to worry about in that department. Silly man.”

His laughter puffed against her cheek. As quickly
as he’d thrown her down he hauled her back up again, returning her to her perch
on his lap. “Let’s not get sidetracked just yet.” His expression turned serious
again. “Do you get what I’m worried about, Maggie?”

“I have no comparisons to make, Jason. And I
don’t care that there hasn’t been anyone else but you. Like you said in the
diner, it’s more than just sex with us.” She traced her fingers across his
furrowed brow. “Please don’t worry that I’m living in some kind of dream. I
don’t expect perfection. There’s been so much pain in both of our lives. Don’t
we deserve some happiness?”

He hugged her tightly. He kissed her forehead.
“You are so damn beautiful,” he whispered.

They sat quietly for a few moments, his hands
rubbing up and down her back. “I didn’t use a condom this morning,” he murmured.
“Are you still on birth control?”

She nodded.

“Any chance…?”

“No. It’s not the right time.”

He brought one hand around to the soft swell of
her lower belly. “You’ll look stunning pregnant. Do you, uh, have a timetable
on having children?”

She tilted backwards against his bracing arm, her
lips twitching with suppressed laughter as she studied his face. The
uncertainties he’d revealed over the last few minutes were a stark contrast to
the smooth executive demeanor he’d displayed in the conference room earlier.
She was charmed. “I’d want to start a family as soon as I marry,” she assured
him. “I’m not a career girl.”

He looked surprised. “Don’t you like your job?”

“Oh, I love it. I love doing anything that allows
me to use my creative side. And I have a blast with my co-workers. Well, most
of them. But these last six months have shown me that slaving around the clock
in order to land a client isn’t my cup of tea. It’s gratifying when a client
likes my work, but it’s a momentary gratification. I’ve had this nagging
feeling that I need to do something more.”

“Like?”

She played with one of his shirt buttons,
suddenly feeling shy. She’d never voiced this dream out loud before. “I want to
help other women, girls who are dealing with struggles similar to what mine
were, Jason. Girls are drowning in a deluge of what Hollywood and media tells
them is the ideal woman. All the focus is on outward appearance. I want to help
to empower girls, to build up their self-esteem, to help them discover the
beauty that’s inside of them. There are some amazing nonprofit organizations
out there with similar initiatives. I’ve been putting together an advertising
campaign I think one of them could use. I want to volunteer with one or two of
them, then maybe start a nonprofit of my own.”

 “Maggie, I think that’s wonderful.”

She glanced up at him. “Do you?”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, rubbed
his thumb across her cheek. “Absolutely. Who better than you to teach girls
what it truly means to be beautiful on the inside and out?”

She blushed.

“Do you know,” he mused, “I can’t think of any
other woman of my acquaintance who blushes. When you blushed for the first time
that night, that’s when I just knew you were someone special.”

“I never thought my blushes were attractive until
you said so.”

“Mmm. I’m thinking of the million different ways
I can make you blush. I think I can pull a lifetime of blushes out of you, Maggie
mine.”

“You think?”

“Do you doubt me? I’ve been fantasizing about one
of those million ways for the last six months. You. In this office. Bent over
my desk.”

She tingled everywhere. She clenched her thighs
together, feeling dampness spread between her legs. “For a guy who’s so spit
and polished on the outside, you sure have a dirty mind.”

“All guys do. Some of us are better than others
at hiding our true animal nature. I want to mark you. I want to pound my chest
and shout to the world that you belong to me and only me.”

Maggie giggled. She reached for her scarf, undid
the knot and slid the silk material from around her neck. “You already have.”

Jason’s blue eyes sparkled with pure male satisfaction.
“Damn. Does it hurt?”

She smacked him on the chest. “No. And you don’t
need to sound so proud. I’m going to have to wear scarves for the next week at
least. I hope they don’t make me take this off at airport security.”

His face darkened. “What time is your flight?”

“Four o’clock.”

He appeared on the verge of saying more but,
after a slight hesitation, he just shook his head. “We don’t have much time
then.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve been in here for twenty minutes. Do you
think we can stall them for another twenty?”

“Rob will be climbing the walls.”

“Too damn bad. I like to keep my vendors on their
toes.”

“Oh! So you’re going to sign up with us?”

He pressed a finger to her gaping mouth. “Twenty
minutes, Maggie. Do you really want to spend it talking about that campaign?”

She slowly shook her head. Giving him an impish
smile, she sucked the tip of his finger into her mouth, laved it with her
tongue.

“Holy fuck. The things you make me dream of when
you suck me like that.”

She squirmed in his lap, feeling his erection,
hard as a sledgehammer. “I love it when you say that word.”

“Fuck?”

“Yes. It gets me all hot and bothered.”

His eyes sparked. “So, I’m not the only one with
a dirty mind. A match made in heaven.”

Her giggle held an edge of nervousness. “There’s
something I’ve wanted to do since that first night.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve been, um, practicing.”

His mouth kicked up on one side in a devilish
expression. “Yeah? What kind of practice?”

“Let’s just say that it involved bananas, maybe
the occasional cucumber.”

His fingers tightened against her back. The skin
over his cheekbones was stretched taut. His nostrils flared. “So many firsts
I’ve given you, sugar,” he murmured. “Are you sure you’re ready for that one?”

“I believe I’m game.” And before he could say
another word, before she could second-guess her actions, she slid off of his
lap, dropping to her knees in front of him. She placed her hands on his inner
thighs, pushing his legs apart so she could sidle in between them. Her face
felt like it was on fire as she brought one hand to the bulge in his pants and
gently massaged the rigid evidence of his desire.

Jason arched his head back, his eyes rolling up
to the ceiling. “Christ almighty.”

Guessing that she was on the right track, she
slid a finger along the edge of his fly, toying with the zipper before slowly
and carefully pulling it down. She had to remind herself to breathe as she slid
her hand under the flap. She felt the head of his penis just below the band of
his underwear. She rubbed her thumb across it, smiling as she felt him twitch
under her inquisitive touch.

Jason hissed through his clenched teeth. He
muttered something indecipherable as he raised his hips off the sofa and pulled
his pants and underwear down to mid-thigh in one firm tug. He unbuttoned his
shirt with shaking hands, moving the material out of the way. His penis arched
up proudly towards his navel. It was fully engorged, slightly darker than the
rest of his skin, the head a dark, rosy color. As she watched in fascination, a
drop of white liquid emerged from the slit. She was scarcely aware of reaching
out to touch it until she felt the liquid between her thumb and forefinger. She
brought her finger to her mouth, tasting it, tasting him, salty, tangy, all
man.

“Oh, fuck,” Jason growled. “That is just about
the hottest thing I’ve seen in my life.” He put one hand behind her neck,
gently bringing her head down. “I need your mouth on me, Maggie. That sweet,
gorgeous, sexy mouth. Suck me.”

She wrapped one hand around him, delighting in
the deceivingly soft cushion over the steel core. Her fingers traced the vein
that ran down one side. Another drop of moisture glistened at the tip. She slid
her palm over it, using it as a lubricant as she moved her hand up and down his
glorious length. With one hand still at her neck, he brought the other around
to cover hers. “Like this,” he whispered, showing her how hard to squeeze,
setting the pace.

Tentatively at first, she flicked her tongue
against his slit, took timid forays around the head. But when he groaned with
pleasure and his fingers tunneled restlessly through her hair, she grew more
assertive. She’d read about this, about how powerful this could make a woman
feel, knowing that she literally held her man’s pleasure in the palm of her
hand.

Her man.
Her
man. No other woman was going
to experience the joy of touching him and tasting him like this. That
certainty, that conviction thrilled her to her core, giving impetus to her gestures
as she squeezed him tighter and took him into her mouth.

Jason’s groans escalated as she widened her
mouth, flattening her tongue and opening her throat to take him as deep as she
could. She gagged a little but quickly surrendered to the instinct to breathe
through her nose. She wrapped her lips around his hard heat, drawing him in.

“Fuck…Holy…That feels so good.”

She released him from her mouth with a popping
sound. Her eyes smiled coyly up at him as she traced her tongue just below the
head of his shaft. His hips arched off the sofa, revealing just how much he
liked that particular touch. She did it again, then replaced her tongue with
the pad of her thumb, rubbing that spot while she continued to explore.

“Can you…uh…squeeze my balls? Yeah, just like
that. Oh, God.”

She squeezed and licked and tasted, lost in the
delight she was bringing him and herself. When her fingers found the
ultra-sensitive patch of skin just below his testicles, Jason practically
leaped off of the sofa. “I’m about to come, sugar,” he moaned.

Hearing the half warning, half plea in his voice,
she drew him into her mouth again, eager to take this brand new experience to
its full fruition. He fisted his hand around hers, quickening the tempo, his
breathing growing more harsh and rapid. Maggie kept her eyes slanted up to his
face as he suddenly went rigid; his eyes squeezed tight, his mouth opened in a
soundless shout of pleasure as he pumped his release over her tongue and down
her throat.

She swallowed his essence, savoring the evidence
of his bliss. Her blood pounded in her veins. Knowing that she’d brought him to
such a state of rapture made her feel more womanly—more powerfully
feminine—than anything else they’d shared together until that moment. That he
would trust her to take him in hand, that he would surrender himself so
completely to her was profoundly gratifying.

She continued to lick at him until he softened.
She gave one final kiss to the tip before tucking him back into place. She
rested her chin on his thigh and gazed up at him. His eyes were two pinpoints
of light under drooping eyelids. He looked so hedonistic at that moment—so like
a debauched sultan just pleasured by his harem girl—that she shook with quiet
laughter.

Jason tangled his fingers in her hair, tugging
slightly. “Come here, you.”

She knelt upright then gave a tiny shriek of laughter
when he hauled her up and over his lap. Holding her in his fiercely burning
gaze, he shoved his hand under her dress, finding his way inside of her panties
with relentless ease. “You’re so wet,” he muttered. “Did you enjoy sucking my
cock, sugar? Did it excite you?”

“Yes.
Yes
. Oh, Jason…”

He buried two fingers into her soaking channel at
the same time as he covered her mouth with his, his tongue lunging inside,
matching the depth and pace of his fingers as he brought her to a swift and
devastating orgasm.