Seduction on the Cards (17 page)

“I’ve only ever come with you.”  

She admitted this with such sweet candor that Alex’s subsiding shaft started to harden again. 

He kissed the back of her neck.

“What a bad girl you are,” he murmured. “Taking advantage of an innocent Frenchman. Seducing him in his own office, and on his friend’s boat, and now right out in the open countryside where anyone could see.”  

Kerri giggled under him, and the vibrations were so enticing he began to move again, slower and more deliberately, rooting out pleasure for both of them.

“Only with me?” he asked, kissing her shoulder, and then brushing his lips a little way down her spine.

“Only with you. Don’t you remember, I said in your office that my orgasms didn’t seem to happen?”

Alex grinned to himself. So she had. 

He thrust deeper, harder, prolonging the pleasure for both of them now that first savage taking was done.

“You’re not worried about getting pregnant because you’re close to your period, but we should worry about...other things.”

He felt her tense around him, and he stilled.

“Don’t spoil it,” she muttered. 

“I’m not spoiling it. I’m looking after you.”

“You don’t have to. It’s been a long time, and I haven’t wanted to do it since then. Way back before last Christmas, if you must know. Stop embarrassing me.”

Alex closed his eyes. At least a year.

“How can such a sexy woman stay celibate so long?”

Kerri snorted at that. “I’m not sexy,” she said.

Alex slipped his hands around her waist and drew her tightly back against him so he was in possession of every possible millimeter of her. “To me you’re totally sexy. From the first moment I saw you, something drew me towards you.”

“Hiccups?”

“Your eyes. Your body. Your scent.” He slid his hands upwards and cradled her breasts. “Totally sexy everywhere,” he repeated, beginning to move again and dropping one hand to her groin to stroke her clitoris and drive her up again to another sensational peak. “We’ve got two nice days to make up for your neglected past, Kerri, and a wonderful bed to play in. Let’s make the most of it, hmmm?”

Kerri huffed out a big breath once he’d rejoined the main road.

“That feels better,” she declared, shaking her hair from side to side so it flowed out in the wind. “I was so up-tight I was ready to kill.”

“What’s made you up-tight?” 

“Hormones. Rotten female hormones. Men are so lucky, they don’t know they’re born...”

“Except when they have to cope with what the rotten hormones do to their females,” Alex said, thinking of his mother. By the time he was twelve he’d been well-acquainted with her monthly mood-swings. No matter how often she’d promised that her last gamble was
truly
her last, another bad month would follow and she’d lose her resolve again, and her temper, and the food money.

The final time, broke and desperate, she’d overdosed and killed herself. Almost eighteen years later Alex still had no idea if it had been deliberate or a tragic accident.

“You’re certain you’re safe?” he asked Kerri again, worried their unprotected sex might have consequences. The last thing he needed was another irresponsible gambler pregnant with an unwelcome child.

“Safe as can be,” Kerri said blithely. “No doubt about it, Alex. My period’s on its way. My boobs are huge, I’ve got a nasty little pot tummy, and my temper is so foul you won’t want to know me.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, Ms Lush. Without a condom you felt amazing.”

She smiled across at him and nodded. “It felt amazing for me as well. I didn’t have to wait for you to cover up, and you were so smooth inside me. I hope it holds off for a while longer though.”

The countryside sped past in a blur of sunshine and greenery; soon they were close to Noumea.

“
Baie De Citrons
,” Alex said, as he slowed to drive past beaches, boutiques and waterfront cafes, some strung with Christmas lights. “And
Anse Vata
. Our hotel is right there.”

Kerri peered up at the impressive white building silhouetted against pure blue sky. Palm fronds tossed in the tropical gardens.  

He ushered her into his suite. Their suite now. He pushed the door closed and set her bag down beside the vast mirror-fronted wardrobe. Kerri placed her briefcase beside it and glanced around at the luxurious surroundings. “It’s lovely, Alex. Is there something I could drink? That was a long wait at the airport.”

“Of course,
cherie
. Forgive me for not thinking of it earlier. We could have stopped somewhere.”

“We did,” she teased.

He laughed at that, crossed to a concealed fridge, rummaged about, and held up bottles of juice and mineral water.  

“Water’s fine,” she said.

He twisted the cap off and handed it to her, watching as she swallowed thirstily. She set the half-full bottle on the cabinet beside the bed.

“Heaps better, thank-you. Now I won’t die of dehydration.”

“Just from pleasure.”

“With any luck.”

“Enough to drink?”

She nodded, so he reached for the remainder and finished it in a few deep gulps.

“It should be champagne,” he said, stepping closer to embrace her.

Kerri shook her head. “I’m fizzy enough without it.”

He caged her breasts in gentle hands, then bent to brush his mouth over hers. 

She pushed up on tiptoe to deepen the kiss, parting her lips in invitation. Her arms wrapped around his waist and her hands slid up the supple muscles of his back.

Just today and tomorrow. Two lovely days that I never expected. 

His thumbs brushed over her super-sensitive nipples and she knew her aroused state was as obvious to him as his was to her.

“I want to bite these,” he growled, pinching gently. His kiss became ever more incendiary, his fingers pushed under the hem of her T-shirt and he pulled it up over her head.

Kerri grabbed and dragged at him in return, and laid his long golden torso bare.

“Are we going to be slow and civilized this time?” 

“Not a hope,
cherie,
” he said, making quick work of the rest of their clothing.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

He drew her across to the bed.

“You on top,” he said, dropping backward onto the sun-striped white cover and tumbling her down with him.  

Kerri straddled him and settled her bottom high on his thighs. He was now toasted a deeper bronze after several days in the tropics, and her eyes showed their appreciation.

His gaze roamed over her in return, and she sat up straighter and patted her tummy.

“Look!” she said indignantly. “Fat as. It happens every time.”

Alex didn’t so much as glance. Her breasts had his whole attention. He reached up to cradle them, and stroked their dark velvety tips.

“And
they’re
bigger too. My bra’s too tight,” she complained.

He laughed at her no doubt aggrieved expression and petulant manner. “Don’t wear it then—I won’t object. My hands are just the right size, hmm?”

He cupped a warm firm mound in each hand so her nipples pushed out sexily. She looked down and saw his lips had parted, and his eyes had glazed over. His whole attention was riveted right there.

“Yes, I think maybe a little bigger,” he said. “A little heavier.”  

“Twice the size!”

“Liar. Twice as beautiful. Bend closer so I can enjoy you. I read somewhere that where pretty breasts are concerned, all men are big babies.”

She bent, but not all the way, obliging Alex to lift his head off the pillow so he could suckle. He pulled her down until his nose pressed against her skin and her nipple slid between his lips.

She sighed with pleasure as he ran his tongue over her, sucked her deeper into his hot mouth, and then bit down.  

Is this what it would feel like with a baby?  

The thought hit her like lightning. She’d never felt the least bit maternal, but now, as his fingers played with her other breast, rolling her nipple between and his thumb and forefinger, a fierce yearning concentrated itself more and more strongly, deep in her belly.  

Damned hormones, messing me around like this.  

“Naughty big baby,” she whispered. “You’re getting me all worked up. There’s only one cure for it...”  

She reached down and positioned him. A small push, and he glided in where she needed him. She pushed down, raised up, pushed down, raised up, and groaned as he contacted magic places and followed her rhythm.

“Suck harder,” she begged, already feeling the bliss.

They lay together in a tangled heap. Finally Alex stirred and pressed a kiss onto her brow.

“Kerri—I’m so sorry, but I have one last appointment before I’m all yours. Could you order yourself room service lunch? Get unpacked, sunbathe on the balcony, or wander around the boutiques on the ground floor for a while? I’ll be back soon after two, for sure.”

“I might have a little nap,” she said, trailing her fingernails through the soft hair on his chest. “Seeing that you’ve worn me out. I feel so sleepy...”

After he departed, Kerri unzipped her bag and stowed her clothes away. She prowled the beautiful suite, peering out of the floor-to-ceiling sliders to the balcony with its spectacular view of sunlit ocean. Several floors below, a group of elderly men played
petanque
on the ocean-front promenade. Their gruff voices and laughter floated up in the warm air.

She turned away and riffled through the stationery compendium, thinking she might send Sarah a note on the classy paper.

And then she found it. Among the leaflets from restaurants and other local attractions, a voucher from one of the local casinos stood out as though spotlit.

It could be swapped for twenty French Pacific Francs—free money to gamble with! Kerri’s resistance was nil.

Of course Alex wouldn’t approve, but Alex wasn’t here. She showered and dressed at top speed and was out of the hotel minutes later.

She knew from the accompanying brochure only the slot machines would be operating at this time of day. Well, they were better than nothing. There was no chance Alex would take her to a casino that evening in her beautiful new red-and-black tiger dress to enjoy the baccarat, roulette and blackjack tables. She’d have to make the most of things as they were.

The map guided her on a short walk through sun-baked streets. The casino was close, and she arrived soon after one o’clock, voucher and wallet at the ready.

By one-fifteen she’d cashed up and chosen her machine. She fed her first money in, and the lights issued their seductive invitation to play. She pushed the buttons, and it felt so good. Just right. The flashes...the colors…the noise...the brain-numbing attraction. No way could she get up and leave because the very next person might turn up all the aces and claim the cash that should have been hers.

She fed more money in, loving the perky beep as the machine swallowed it.

“Come on, come on,”
she whispered.
“Make me rich.”

By one-twenty she’d lost her ‘free’ twenty French Pacific Francs. But that was nothing, she assured herself. She hadn’t even touched her own money yet.

She pushed another handful in, silently encouraging the dealer to be kind. Surely, on a fantastic day like this, her luck would be in? The lights flashed, the machine swallowed, the tinny music pounded in her ears. She fed it and fed it, sure her luck would change

Soon she’d lost all of Sarah’s perfume money. Well, that was okay—she’d pay Sarah back out of the spending money she’d allowed herself for the boutiques. Bummer though...what a shame to go home with very little that was new and French and gorgeous. 

At one thirty-five the machine went wild—lights blinking as though a maniac had jiggled the switch. The total beeped, and coins rattled and clanked into the tray until Kerri had a whole beautiful hundred and sixty-two dollars more than when she’d started. She relaxed, and fizzed with righteous triumph. She
so
deserved that money!

At one-fifty, buoyed up by her huge ‘profit’, she moved on to machines with bigger payouts. In minutes she’d lost not only Sarah’s perfume money all over again, but the whole remaining four hundred dollars she’d drawn against the balance of her credit card.

Kerri gnawed on her thumb-nail, not feeling it shred between her teeth because her heart pounded with fury and her gut churned with sick resentment. Her eyes narrowed, and if she could have shot bullets from them, they would have pulverized the stupid cheating machine into a pulpy heap of worthless scraps. 

Much like her optimistic mood had been shot to pieces. 

This wasn’t fair! Why did it always happen to her? Why wouldn’t her luck turn around when she was willing to bet more money? She’d needed only one good streak and things would have been so different.

She scuttled down the casino steps, burning with shame and disappointment. Now she had no chance to buy Sarah the perfume she’d promised. Nothing available on her credit card again. No cash left to treat herself to anything from the chic French boutiques. Not even enough to buy a thank-you gift for Alex.

Alex! Oh God—she couldn’t let him know how stupid and undisciplined she’d been. She flopped down onto one of the beach-side benches and glared at the people having fun in the clear turquoise water.

Bet you can’t get out of this one, Kerri Lush.

Alex spotted her from the balcony, and focused intently. He’d hurried through his obligatory business lunch, and sped back to enjoy her bubbly company.

Kerri looked the picture of dejection, slowly rising from the seat, dragging her feet across the road, shoulders slumped, head down, not apparently giving a damn about the busy traffic. What the hell had happened to her?  

He shot into the corridor just as someone stepped out of one of the elevators. He rode it down, and strode across the luxurious lobby as she came skulking in though the big automatic doors.