Teach Me (Lessons in Seduction Book 1) (2 page)

Glass halfway to his lips, Jack froze, staring at her.

Who the hell was this sexy-as-sin woman, and what had she done with little Eva?

T
oo tight
. Too revealing. Too everything.

That’s what Eva had thought about the dress, too. At first, anyway. When she’d started planning this indecent proposal last week, she’d brought the dress into the Eva’s Organics offices to get second opinions.

Georgie, marketing director extraordinaire and best friend since birth, said it was hot, hot,
hot
, and Georgie knew fashion. Georgie was a bit flashier than Eva’s usual, but Eva
needed
that influence to shed the wholesome Puritan thing she’d had going on for the first twenty-five years of her life. Nelson, her cocktails-after-work friend from the design department, said the dress had nearly turned him straight. Then he’d touched her arm and made a “tsst” sound, told her she’d set five-alarm fires wherever she went, and encouraged her to get out there and get her some.

Without her friends’ encouragement, she would probably be at home watching reality TV in her yoga pants as per her usual Sunday routine.

But nothing about today would be comfortable. It couldn’t be. For this to work, she had to look the part of the vixen seductress.

An innocent, badly-in-need-of-sex-education, vixen seductress.

That probably wasn’t even a thing, but she wasn’t going to let that scare her away. She didn’t have to be perfect at seducing men yet, she just needed to be good enough to convince Jack to teach her how to be truly seductive.

Are you really going to do this? Really? For real?
A voice inside her kept insisting.
With Jack?

Jack, the man she’d lusted after since before she’d even known what lust was. Even when she’d first laid eyes on him, when he was seventeen and her brother’s best friend at Belmont Hill High School, he’d been
all
man
. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, stubble-lined jaw, and a deep, rough voice that sent shivers down her spine. He’d ignited all of her pre-teen fantasies then, and her adult ones now.

Still, he’d always seen her as an innocent little girl.

But today, that was going to change.

Yes. All-in. No backing out now,
she reminded herself as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and straightened her spine, knowing the dress showed off her curvy figure to prime advantage. Every man she’d passed on her way to the Plaza had stopped to stare, drool, or catcall her as she’d hurried down the sidewalk. But Jack Bennett?

He wanted her to cover up.

She wished, just once, that those hypnotizing blue eyes of his would drift down to her cleavage. But no, he wasn’t the slightest bit rattled. Not like she was. She was so nervous that when she lifted her water to her lips, the ice cubes clinked in the glass.

His voice was classic, cool Jack Bennett. “Oh, yeah? What do you need, Evie?”

“Eva,” she insisted. “Nobody’s called me Evie in years.”

“Sorry.
Eva
,” he said slowly, smiling benevolently, making it clear he was humoring her. “Better?”

“Don’t patronize me, Jack,” she said, frowning. “I’m serious.”

With a beleaguered sigh, he laced his hands in front of him. “All right. Go.”

She took a deep breath, and blurted out: “I need you to teach me some things. Personal things.”

He stared blankly, and for a moment Eva wasn’t sure he’d heard her. He brought his coffee cup to his lips and sipped before setting it down again. “Teach you what exactly?”

She kept her posture straight, even as her fingers began to twist the cloth napkin in her lap. “You know I loved Antonio and Daddy more than anything in the world, Jack, but they barely allowed me to have a life.”

“They sheltered you,” Jack supplied, proving he at least partly understood where she was coming from.

"They smothered me," she corrected. "It was a lovable, sweet smothering, but it left me unprepared in so many ways. Now, for the first time in my life, I’m alone, on my own, and hopelessly lost when it comes to…” She felt the blush creeping across her cheeks. Jesus, she couldn’t even bring herself to say the word.

Sex. Sex. Sex. Just say it, Eva!

Woodenly, she erupted with, “Certain things.”

He studied her for a moment, then nodded. “All right,” he said simply, to her surprise.

“You mean...”

“Well. You never expressed much of an interest in real estate. I’d assumed Eva’s Organics was doing well, so I didn’t think you would want to dip your toe into our business. But your father would be pleased and I’d be happy to—”

“No, no,” she cut him off, frustration spiking her pulse.

Boldly, she moved her leg forward so that her calf brushed against his under the table. Instantly, her skin began to tingle and her nipples pulled tighter, while the contact clearly had zilch, zero, no effect at all on Jack.

“No,” she repeated, summoning every last bit of
coraggio
she possessed. “I want you to teach me everything I need to know about…sex.”

He stared back at her—one beat, two. Three—while her heart crawled into her throat.

Oh, God, she’d ruined everything. He was going to tell her she was insane. Instead, he put his coffee cup down, missing the saucer entirely and sloshing coffee on his hand. He choked a little, pulled at the collar of his shirt like it was too tight. For once, unbelievably, she’d caught him off-guard.

But when he spoke, his voice was as calm as always. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“Jack. I’m twenty-six and I’ve done very little,” she said, blushing harder as embarrassing snippets from her pitiful sex life flickered through her mind. “I could barely keep a boyfriend. Antonio was always scaring them away. “

“I remember,” Jack murmured. “But you can’t seriously be saying you want me to...” His eyes dropped to her breasts, lingering on the place where her dress gave way to skin. He shifted his focus a second later, but she’d seen the flash of heat in his gaze.

It gave her the strength she needed to nod and murmur, “That’s exactly what I want.”

He straightened, looking over one shoulder and then the other, possibly to see if the ghost of Antonio was hovering nearby. Eva could imagine how her brother would be glaring at her if he were still among the living, but he wasn’t—God bless him and keep him—and his loss had only emphasized the need to seize the day.

She would always miss her adoring, wonderful, bully of a big brother but it was time for her to have her own life. On her own terms.

Jack leaned in, asking in a harsh whisper, “What the hell, Eva? You know Antonio would never forgive me if I fucked around with his little sister. Pardon my language.”

She sighed, her hopes falling as quickly as they’d risen. If he was reluctant to use the f-word around her, they were never going to end up naked together. She felt the hurt creeping into her features, so she clenched her sweaty hands under the linen table cloth and tossed her hair so that it fell sexily in her eyes, something that turned men to putty in a woman’s hands—at least according to Georgie.

This was her shot at getting what she needed from the only man left in the world she could trust, and she wasn’t going to give up so easily.

“Jack, I’m sick of walking into bars, restaurants, even my yoga studio—all the places where men talk to women in this stupid city—and feeling like an idiot. Like I don’t belong. Sure, men stare at my body, but as soon as they realize I have no idea how to flirt, let alone anything else, interest fades pretty quickly.” She swallowed, refusing to feel ashamed. “For once I want to feel sexy. Wanted. Desired. I thought you, especially, would understand that feeling. That feeling of being on the outside looking in and so desperately wanting to be included.”

Jack’s eyes softened slightly, and she knew he was thinking of his time as the scholarship kid at Belmont Hill, the one everyone but Antonio loved to treat like human trash. “Eva, you’re an intelligent, successful woman. And you’re gorgeous. You have to know that.”

He thinks I’m gorgeous?
He’d never said anything like that to her before. In fact, other than a mutual love of fast-paced fiction, he’d usually been too focused on whatever he and Antonio were doing to pay too much attention to his best friend’s little sister. But the thrill that compliment sent through her was short-lived.

When he spoke again his features were tight, closed-off. “You could have any man you want. Why would you even ask me for something like this?”

Shit. Code Red. Of course he’d say no. He might be a playboy, but he’d always had morals, and was loyal to a fault, one of the many things that added to his attractiveness
.

Time to play on his ego,
Eva thought, another one of Georgie’s lessons. She leaned in to meet him, so that their noses were only inches apart.

She whispered, the better not to be overhead by the rest of the restaurant, “Because I’ve heard the rumors about you. Your ex-girlfriends talk, Jack, quite a lot, and they have nothing but good things to say about your performance in the bedroom. Your skill. Your prowess. Your…” she paused to raise her eyebrows invitingly, “Your
everything
.”

There. Let him think she’d heard marvelous things about his cock.

If that gave her access to it, so be it.

Unfortunately her innuendo did little to improve his mood. A look of disbelief mixed with horror crossed his face. “I’m far from the only man in the city who has that kind of reputation.”

“Yes, Jack,” she said, desperation coloring her tone. “But the difference is, I trust you. Completely.”

He studied her for a long time, then exhaled. He dropped his head back, looked at the ceiling. “Antonio trusted me, too.”

“Antonio wanted you to look after me, right? As far as I’m concerned, you would be. I’m diving into the shark tank of New York City dating, with or without you. But with your help, I’m less likely to be ripped apart.”

He snorted with disbelief and shifted in his seat. When he next looked at her, Eva expected to hear the word “no.” Instead, he said, “What sort of things are we talking about? What do you want me to teach you?”

“Well, the exact lesson plan is up to you.” She shrugged one shoulder, struggling to play it cool. Truthfully, she hadn’t expected to get this far in the negotiations. “But I would like it to be thorough. Very thorough. I want to be well-versed in all areas of sexual education.”

He raised an eyebrow. “All areas?”

“Yes. Well, you know better than I do. But…oral. That’s a must.” She shivered, thinking of that mortifying time with her ex Rick. She shook off the memory and pressed on. “But I’d also like to branch out. Learn a little about what it means to be wild and adventurous. I thought we could try role playing, public sex, light bondage, that sort of thing.” She shrugged again, ignoring the nervous giggle threatening to spill from between her lips. She hadn’t said most of these things out loud before, let alone asked a man to help her do them. “I want to be able to drive a man crazy. So I’d like to know about your favorite toys, positions…I want it all. All that stuff you’re famous for.”

He straightened the napkin on his lap. Swallowed. Recrossed his arms at his chest. His blue eyes blazed at her, shining with disbelief and…desire? She didn’t know much about that kind of hunger, but something flared in his gaze, sending an answering flare of heat across her already too-warm skin.

“I can’t believe…” He shook his head. “How the hell do you even know about any of that, Eva?”

The answer to that was easy: Lots and lots of Googling. She’d become well-acquainted with tumblr too, and that was quite an intoxicating way to spend some time online. But even though none of her knowledge thus far had been hands-on, it was clearly having an effect. Jack Bennett was more than speechless. He was completely off his game.

Seeing that, her confidence rose. She touched his elbow innocently, and smiled. “So, the deal is, in exchange for one month—thirty days—of sexual education, I will do whatever you want me to do in that boardroom on Tuesday. All right?”

“Whatever I want…” he said slowly, testing it out.

“Yep. You want me to tap dance on the boardroom table, I’ll do it. If you agree to what I want, first, of course.”

He squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed his temples. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You understand Antonio would rise from his grave and tear my dick off for even contemplating it?”

Ah, but you are contemplating it
, she thought, a surge of exhilaration rushing through her when he opened his eyes and focused on her. She’d seen that look in a man’s eyes before, but never really known what to do with it.

It’s working. Holy shit. He’s going to say yes. Time to seal the deal.
“I want more than sex,” she said. “I want your passion, your enthusiasm. This is something only you can do right, Jack.”

“I’m sure I could,” he said, thoughtfully, rubbing the scruff of his chin. “That’s not the question.”

She understood.
Of course he can do it; this is Jack Bennett we’re talking about. The question is not can he, but does he want to?

“Think it over, and let me know,” she said, standing and picking up her clutch. They hadn’t eaten—hell they hadn’t even ordered—but there was no way she could force down food after a conversation like this one. It was time to make her exit and hope she left Jack wanting more.

As she walked away, she felt his eyes on her ass, and a shaky anticipation bubbled inside her. Part of it was fear. What if he never wanted to speak to her again? Who would she have left?

But the larger part was arousal.
What if he says yes?

C
entral Park
on this balmy spring Sunday was filled with joggers getting in their daily run, families enjoying picnics, and couples out for strolls with baby carriages. Jack sat on a bench, inhaling the scent of artisanal grilled cheese, fish tacos, and organic vegetarian kebabs in the shade of the food trucks. He normally came here during the work week to get a quick lunch, and squeeze in a visit with his friend Stella, who had turned her passion into her business with a small fleet of food trucks, before heading back to the office.

He didn’t normally swing by on Sundays, but today was anything but normal. After what happened at brunch, he wondered if he would ever feel normal again.

What. The. Hell.

What was supposed to have been a nice, casual Sunday meal had quickly turned
Through the Looking Glass
crazy, throwing his ordered world into chaos. He should have known from the provocative way Eva was dressed that something, other than his dick, was up. But even if he had, he never would have guessed that she wanted him to teach her how to please a man.

Not Eva. Pure, perfect Eva. She didn’t need the sexy outfit. She didn’t need to rub his leg or bat her eyelashes in his direction. She’d always been a mirage—beautiful, but completely, impossibly out of reach. He’d be lying if he said the idea of her hadn’t fluttered in the back of his brain—she was a gorgeous woman who was a pleasure to be around when she wasn’t giving him high blood pressure—but he’d never allowed it to take root.

Until now. Now that she was asking him—no, begging him—to fuck her.

His cock thickened, making him shift uncomfortably on the bench.

Even knowing the chokehold Antonio had put on his baby sister’s social life, it was hard to believe that she needed a sexual education—men had a way of getting to women as beautiful as Eva, come hell or high water. If she had been anyone but his best friend’s little sister, he certainly would have. He would have already taught her how good a man could make her feel and left no doubt in her mind that she was the stuff erotic dreams were made of.

Suddenly, Jack found himself imagining leading Eva somewhere private and stripping off her blouse, kissing those luscious tits of hers, making her moan. He wanted to taste her, to discover the flavor of her kiss, to make her gasp as his tongue swept across her golden skin for the first time. He would work his way up those shapely, toned legs, kissing her thighs, spreading her open, baring her to his mouth. He could almost hear the way she would cry out as he tasted her wetness.

Oh, she would taste delicious. He was sure of that. She’d be heaven on his tongue.

A movement to his right suddenly caught his eye. He turned to see a familiar blonde in a ponytail stepping through the doorway of the blue Stella’s Sweets truck on the other side of the roundabout. “Hey, there, stranger,” Stella said, waving at him. “What are you doing here on a Sunday? Let me guess, you couldn’t keep away from my whoopie pies.”

He held out his hands, guilty as charged, and grinned at her. “Something like that.”

Stella jogged over to meet him at the bench and laid a paper boat with a giant pie on his knee. “For you.” She paused, brows drawing together as she scanned his face. “Wow, you look like shit. What’s up?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe something.”

Stella studied him. She’d been the closest thing to a best friend he’d had since Antonio’s accident last fall, when they’d spent days keeping vigil in the hospital waiting room, praying for a miracle that didn’t happen. “Definitely something. I’ve never known one of my whoopie pies to last this long in your presence.”

Yes, her whoopie pies were legendary, as was everything she whipped up. Stella hadn’t graduated top of her class at Le Cordon Bleu and become the owner of a fleet of food trucks for nothing. He chuckled, then took a bite. He hadn’t had a thing to eat at brunch, unable to fathom forcing eggs benedict down his throat after Eva had dropped her sex bomb in his lap.

After the first bite, he realized how famished he was and polished off the whole thing. “You up for a walk?” he asked mere minutes later, licking the last chocolate crumbs from his fingertips.

“Sure.” She untied her apron, wadding it into a ball and tossing it to the teenager in the truck. “Hold the fort. I’ll be back.”

Despite the many roles she juggled—cook, businesswoman, customer service rep—Stella was an easy-going, agreeable person. She’d always been that way, especially in bed. She and Jack had been lovers for about six months in grad school, before she dropped out of the business program to pursue her dream of culinary world domination. They’d been good together, but there had never been any question that they wanted different things. Jack wasn’t up for emotional entanglements and Stella had been in love with Antonio—secretly, deeply, desperately. So after their initial fling, Stella and Jack had been friends, strictly friends.

He was grateful for that, now. Grateful that there was still someone in the world he could turn to on the rare occasions when life surprised him.

They headed through the trees, into the shade, Stella wiggling her hands into the pockets of her oversize sweater. “So what’s up?”

“Eva Fiorini,” he breathed. Fuck, even saying her name was enough to drive him crazy. He could imagine whispering it in her ear as he slipped his hand down the front of her panties, discovering if he made her as hot as she made him. “You know Antonio kept her sheltered.”

“His leash was a bit short, I guess, but that was only because he loved her so much.” Stella laughed and shook her head, obviously recalling some crazy thing Antonio had done to protect his little sister. Jack, too, could name at least a dozen instances, like the fortress of a security system Antonio’d had installed in Eva’s apartment, or the countless times he’d insisted on accompanying her places she could have easily traveled to alone—like Brooklyn.

But the man could do no wrong in Stella’s eyes.

“So what’s got you worried?” she asked. “Is Eva going hog-wild now? Dancing on bars? Letting her hair down?”

“Well, not exactly.” He stretched his neck to one side and then the other, wishing he’d opted for Sunday casual. His tie felt like it was choking him. “The thing is, she wants me to…teach her things. Intimate things.”

Stella stopped walking and turned to stare at him. “Intimate things? You mean…”

He nodded. “She wants me to teach her how to fuck.”

Stella’s mouth dropped open.

He waved an arm, gesturing down at himself. “I mean, it’s not that hard to believe she wants all this. She’s a Fiorini, after all, and they know quality when they see it.”

It was an attempt at a joke, but Stella didn’t laugh. Her mouth was still open. “I just can’t picture…” She blinked. “She actually came out and said that she wanted a sex tutor?”

“Pretty much. And the way she was dressed…” He sighed raggedly as he thought of Eva’s nipples, poking through the fabric of that wicked dress, begging for his attention. “Well, let’s just say she didn’t look like little orphan Annie.”

Stella snorted. “Oh, to be a fly on the wall. Wow. So what exactly does this mean? She can’t be a virgin, right? Not at her age.”

“No,” Jack said. “Of course not. It’s impossible for a woman who looks like Eva to be that inexperienced.”

“Well, Antonio was always,
my baby sister
this and
my baby sister
that.”

Her impersonation of Antonio was dead-on. Jack couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah, well. Eva’s not exactly homely.”

“Far from it.” Stella smirked. “She’s stunning.”

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “So I’m assuming she hasn’t made it this far in life untouched. She likely has the basics down. She just needs some fine-tuning, I suppose, and that’s where she wants me to come in.” He tugged at his damned tie, loosening it until he could breathe. “She had a rather graphic list of things she was curious to learn more about.”

Stella shrugged, then nodded as if it all made sense, surprising him. “Well, you do have that Lothario thing going on. Of all the people in the city, you’re probably the best man for the job. So what did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything,” he stammered. “But I’m going to tell her no. Antonio would have lost his fucking mind. I can’t do that to him.”

“Antonio was her brother, and an overprotective one at that. He wouldn’t have been happy to learn that you, or anyone else, had done more than hold Eva’s hand.” She pressed her lips together. “But what about you? Do
you
want to do it? To help her?”

He shook his head, but he couldn’t help thinking about Eva’s breasts cupped in his hands, her mouth responding to his kiss, her body pressing closer to his, desperate for everything he had to give her. At brunch, he’d wanted to bend her over the table, lift that whisper-thin dress up to her hips, and take her right there in the middle of the Palm Court. Slide inside, feel her heat, grip her hips, hear her breath hitch as he made her cry out with pleasure.

His cock swelled again, giving him the answer he was seeking. “I could think of worse things to do,” he muttered. “But that’s not the point. The point is, I have to convince her that this is batshit crazy. You know Eva. She’s innocent. She doesn’t know what something like this could do to her.”

Stella laughed. “You’re a dumbass, Jack,” she said bluntly. Only Stella dared to be so direct with him, which was of course why he’d come here in the first place. “Eva’s not a kid. Trust me, she knows exactly what this could do. For one thing, it could help her spread her wings and live a little, give her some happiness after all the misery and loss she’s been through.”

He sucked in a breath. “But—“

“Look behind you.” Stella waved a hand at the city skyline rising like jagged gray teeth above the green trees of the park. “You’ve left a trail of wreckage and wounded egos all over New York. You’ve plowed through half the single female population of the city, and where has that gotten you?”

He stiffened. “Where I wanted to go.”

“You’ve used a lot of women, Jack,” Stella said, meeting his hard stare. “And now you’re upset because one of them wants to use
you
?”

He furrowed his brow, stricken that she would think such a thing. “I didn’t use anyone. I was honest from the start. Those women knew what they were getting into.”

“And so does Eva.” Her expression gentled. “Eva needs help. And she trusts you. As far as I’m concerned, it’s past time you do something good with that dick of yours.”

Jack’s frown deepened, but her words struck a chord. “Okay, so maybe I have broken some hearts.” He hesitated before adding in a softer voice, “I’m sorry if one of them was yours.”

She waved him off. “Oh, please. We both know who had my heart.” A bittersweet smile curved her lips. “I always thought that if I waited long enough, one day he’d come around, you know. And now he’s gone and I’m staring down thirty-four alone.”

Jack dug his hands into his pockets. “I’m sorry, Stella. Antonio was an idiot.”

“He was married to The Fiorini Group, just like you.” She sighed. “Forget it. The point is, waiting is for suckers. Life is for the living. If you want this, then go for it.”

They’d looped around through the trees and found themselves with the food trucks in view again. A breeze whipped up, clearing Jack’s thoughts as it rustled through the spring leaves. Stella was right and he suddenly wasn’t confused anymore. He was excited in a way he hadn’t been in years, as if he’d been given an unexpected—and very precious—gift.

Stella reached up, enveloping him in a long hug that smelled of cocoa and sugar. “I think I’ll make gingerbread tomorrow. Your favorite,” she whispered in his ear.

He laughed. “That’s just so I’ll come back and tell you the gory details, isn’t it?”

“Well, I do love details. The gorier the better.” She batted her eyelashes innocently and bounded back to the Stella’s Sweets truck.

As he turned to make his way back home, exhilarated, Jack was aware of the sun on his face and the blood surging in his veins, reminding him that it was good to be alive. He pulled out his phone and typed a text to the nameless girl he’d arranged to meet after the board meeting.
Sorry. Have to cancel. Something came up.

The deal was done. Once Jack Bennett was in, he was all-in. No hesitation. No distractions.

He found Eva’s name and thumbed in a text to her.
Meet me at the Sky Deck tonight at 9. Don’t be late.

He wished he could see the look on her gorgeous face as she read the text. She had no idea what she was in for or the worlds of pleasure that awaited her.