The Costarella Conquest (7 page)

‘So do I,' he answered, tenderly cupping her cheek as though she was something very precious, his dark eyes shining with pleasure in her. ‘It's not far to the hotel now.'

‘Okay. Give me your arm.'

He tucked her close to him. The shakiness in Laura's legs gradually lessened as they walked the rest of the way to the Intercontinental. Neither of them spoke. They moved in a haze of mutual de
sire, impatient for the fulfilment of it, everything else irrelevant.

The hotel had been built around the old treasury building, making spectacular use of its special features. Laura had shared an afternoon tea with her mother there after a shopping day in the city. The main gathering place was The Cortile, a marvellous two-storeyed area covered by a huge glass dome, with colonnaded walkways surrounding it. Tonight, as Laura and Jake headed around it to the reception area, elegantly dressed people were indulging in a late supper, enjoying the ambience and the music being played on a grand piano.

It was a classy hotel and Laura couldn't help feeling pleased that Jake had chosen it. Somehow it made tonight with him more special. He collected their door-key from the receptionist and as they moved to the bank of elevators, he murmured, ‘I took a Bayview room. It overlooks the Botanical Gardens. I thought you'd enjoy the view over breakfast.'

Laura's heart swelled with happiness. He'd been thinking of her, planning to give her pleasure. This wasn't just about sex with him. They were going to share more. Much more. She had made the right decision. A journey with Jake Freedman was well worth having. She no longer cared about how far it might go or where it might end. He was the man she wanted to be with.

J
AKE
quickly slid the door-key into the slot just inside the room and the lights came on. Everything looked fine—classy, welcoming, and most important of all, providing a private oasis, not touching on Laura's home environment nor his, completely separate to the lives they normally lived.

It had to be this way.

Bad enough that he was in the grip of uncontrollable desire for Alex Costarella's daughter. Boundaries to this affair had to be set and kept. He couldn't allow it to take over too much of his life. But right here and now he could satisfy his hunger for her, and to his immense relief she was up for it, no further delay to what they both wanted.

She walked ahead of him, moving towards the window seat with the view on the far side of the room. He watched the provocative sway of her hips, felt the tightening in his groin, started unbuttoning his shirt, impatient for action. She set her handbag on the desk as she passed it. Jake tossed his shirt on the chair in front of it, took off his shoes, his
gaze fastening on her turquoise high heels with their seductive ankle straps. She had great legs and the thought of having them wound around him brought his erection to full tilt.

‘Lots of city lights but it's too dark to see the botanical gardens,' she remarked.

‘Won't be dark in the morning,' he muttered, unzipping his trousers.

She glanced back over her shoulder. ‘I think I like this view better,' she said with sparkling interest, her eyes feasting on his bare chest and shoulders. ‘I've been wondering how you'd look naked.'

He laughed, exhilarated by the honesty of her lust for him. He whipped off the rest of his clothes, dumping them on the chair with his shirt. ‘Hope you're not disappointed,' he said, grinning with confidence, knowing his physique invariably drew attention from women at the gym.

‘Not one bit,' she answered emphatically, examining all his
bits
, which raised the already high level of Jake's excitement.

She lifted an arm and hooked the long tumbling fall of her black curls away from her neck, her other hand reaching for the top of the zipper at the back of her dress, obviously intent on removing her own clothes.

‘Let me,' Jake said hastily, finding the bared nape of her neck incredibly erotic and wanting the pleasure of slowly uncovering the rest of her, visually feasting on her lush femininity.

A few quick strides and he was taking over the task, opening up the snugly fitting bodice, exposing the satin-smooth, elegant slope of her back, which, delightfully, was uninterrupted by a bra. The line of her spine created an intriguing little valley that compelled his finger to stroke the lovely length of it. His touch raised a convulsive shiver of pleasure and he smiled, knowing her body was as taut with excitement as his own, every nerve alive with sensitivity.

Eager to see more of her, he unzipped the top of the skirt and peeled it from her hips, letting it fall to the floor. The sight of a sexy black G-string encircling her small waist and bisecting a totally luscious bottom sucked the air from his lungs and blistered his mind with urgent desire. He barely stopped himself from moving forward and fitting himself to the tantalising cleft.

Better to remove the last scrap of clothing first. He hooked his thumbs under the waistband and glided it over the soft mounds, down the long, lissom thighs and the taut curves of her calves, every millimetre raising the raging heat in his blood. The flimsy fabric caught on the straps of the erotic shoes. Couldn't leave them on. The stiletto heels could do him a damage in the throes of passion and Jake was already envisaging a huge amount of fantastic activity in bed.

‘Sit down, Laura. Makes it easier to take your shoes off.'

He was still crouched, ready to free her feet when she swivelled around and sat on the window seat.
The eye-level view of her beautiful full breasts was a mind-blowing distraction. She leaned back so they tilted up at him, large rosy aureoles with peaked nipples shooting temptation. He stared, captivated for several moments before gaining his wits to lift his gaze to see if she was deliberately teasing him.

Her thickly lashed blue eyes looked darker than before, simmering with an inviting sultriness. She wanted him enthralled by her fabulous femininity, wanted to drive him wild for her. Whether it was a deliberate exertion of her woman-power or not, it reminded Jake of who she was and how careful he had to be not to become ensnared by this woman.

He fixed his attention on the shoes, forced his fingers to undo the ankle straps. In a few moments he could take all he wanted of her, revel in having it, and he would, all night long, but come the morning he had to be sane enough to walk away from her and keep her at a mental distance until the next time they were together.

Shoes off.

They were both completely naked now.

He stood up, and the act of towering over her triggered his sense of man-power. He was in charge of this encounter. He'd brought her to this cave and he would control everything that happened between them. With a surge of adrenalin-pumped confidence he leaned over, gripped her waist and lifted her off the window-seat, whirling her straight over to the bed, laying her down, positioning himself beside her
with one leg flung over hers, holding her captive so he could touch the rest of her at will.

‘Kiss me again,' she commanded, her voice huskily inviting, her eyes glittering with the need for passion to blow them both away.

‘I will,' he promised, but not her mouth, not yet.

The rose-red nipples were pointed up at him, hard evidence of her arousal and he wanted her more aroused than he was. He closed his mouth around them, drawing on the distended flesh, sucking, his tongue swirling, lashing. She wrapped her hands around his head, fingers thrusting through his hair, dragging on his scalp, her body arching, aching for a more consuming possession.

Not yet… Not yet…

He swept a trail of hot kisses down over her stomach to the arrow of dark springy curls leading to the most intimate cleft between her thighs. He could smell the wonderfully heady scent of her desire for him as he dipped his mouth into the soft folds of her sex, intent on driving this centre of excitement to fever pitch. He exulted in tasting her hot wetness, exulted even more as she writhed to the rhythm of his stroking, crying out at the frantic tension building up inside her, jack knifing up to grab his shoulders and tug his body over hers.

He was ready to oblige now, knowing her entire being was screaming for him and he was still in control, though bursting to unleash his own knife-edge desire. As he lifted himself up, her legs locked
around him, her hips already rocking, and there was no more waiting. He surged into the slick passage to the edge of her womb and dropped his head to ravish her mouth, wanting total invasion, absolute domination of this intimate togetherness.

Yet she met the attack of his kiss with an assault of her own, a fusion of heat that turned aggression into a melting pot of exploding sensations and he lost every vestige of control. Her legs goaded him into a series of fast thrusts, clamping around him at the point of deepest penetration as she moaned at the intense satisfaction of it, then rolling her hips around the hard heated fullness of him as he withdrew to plunge again, driven to hear and feel her pleasure in him over and over, wildly intoxicated by the sense of being drawn from peak to peak, each one raising the stakes to a higher level of fierce feeling.

It was like riding a storm, hurtling towards the eye of it at breakneck velocity, their lives hanging on holding on to each other until they reached beyond the violent shattering that threatened every escalating moment and landed in a place where they could peacefully return to themselves again. Jake didn't care how long that took…minutes, hours.

It was a fantastic journey—her response to him, what he felt himself, a host of primal elements whipping them towards a final crescendo. The breakthrough was a totally cataclysmic moment, both of them crying out as the storm released them into a free fall of exquisite delight and they floated down
on a sweet cloud of ecstasy, still clamped together as they shifted into a more relaxed embrace, prolonging what they had shared as long as they could.

Even just cuddling her close to him was sweet, smelling the scent of her hair, winding strands of it around his fingers, rubbing his cheek over its silkiness, feeling the rhythm of her breathing in the rise and fall of her breasts against his chest, the sensual stroking of one of her legs between his, knowing she was still revelling in feeling him.

Eventually thoughts drifted through Jake's mind, carrying a need to make sense of why this sexual experience with Laura had been so incredibly intense. Never before had he been completely locked into having a woman like this, driven to take, driven beyond what he'd previously known. His liaisons with other women had been more casual pleasures, enjoyable, relaxing—what he'd considered normal. Why did the animal chemistry go deeper with Laura Costarella?

She was definitely the most beautiful woman he'd ever taken to bed. Had that heightened his excitement? Somehow he couldn't quite believe that would affect him so much. His mind kept niggling at her family connection to Alex Costarella. Was it because of
who
she was, linking her to the passion for retribution, which had consumed most of his life for the past ten years? Or did the fact that she should have remained forbidden to him cause the difference?

Impossible to pin it down. All he absolutely knew
was he couldn't allow this affair to escalate into a serious relationship. If he kept to that, surely he could simply enjoy what she gave him—her companionship over the dinners he would arrange, and the intense physical pleasure they would share in bed together afterwards.

Settling on this determination, Jake shut down on the questions, intent on making the most of this night together. ‘Feeling good?' he asked, wondering what she was thinking, if she was happily satisfied with her decision to set aside her reservations about him.

‘Mmmh…very good.'

There was a smile in her voice.

He didn't need to know any more. He smiled his own contentment with the situation.

She began an idle stroking of his body—slow, erotic caresses, which instantly stimulated him into touching more of her, lingering over every voluptuous curve, loving the wonderfully sensual feel of her womanliness. Touching moved into kissing as they explored each other in intimate detail, arousing the need to merge again, to feel all that could be felt between them.

It was marvellous, less frenzied this time but still incredibly exciting with the mutual abandonment of all inhibitions. It left Jake feeling flooded with pleasure, and the gradually ebbing waves of it lulled him into a deep untroubled sleep.

 

Laura woke to morning light. They'd forgotten to draw the curtains last night, too consumed with each other to think of anything beyond the sensational intimacy they'd shared. She rolled over to look at the man who had taken her to heights of pleasure she had never even imagined, let alone known.

He was still asleep. Despite the brilliant dark eyes being shut, his face was still strongly handsome and his body… She sighed over how perfectly manly it was, just the right amount of muscularity and everything ideally proportioned. Absolutely gorgeous. Sex appeal in spades. What a fantastic night she'd had with him! No regrets, that was for sure! Whatever happened next between them, this was one experience she would never forget.

Careful not to wake him, she slid off the bed and padded quietly to the bathroom, wanting to freshen up and look good when he did open his eyes. She grabbed her handbag off the desk in passing, glad that it contained a small hairbrush and lipstick. With no change of clothes to wear, it was a relief to find bathrobes provided for guests. She could lounge around in one of them until it was near time to leave the hotel.

Having showered and groomed herself as best she could, Laura returned to the bedroom to find Jake still asleep. Quite happy for a little time on her own, she settled on the window-seat, her back against the side wall, feet up on the cushion, arms hugging her
knees, instinctively wanting to hug in all the lovely feelings generated by last night with Jake.

It wasn't just the sex, although that had been unbelievably awesome. Even now her heart swelled with the sheer joy of learning how marvellous it could be with the right man. Nothing could have felt more
right
to her, which made her wonder if it was wrong to stand back from a serious relationship with Jake. So far she liked everything he had shown of himself, and definitely wanted to know a lot more. Maybe they could have something great together.

The view of the botanical gardens caught her eye. A stroll through them would be a pleasant way of continuing the day—time to chat about their interests and look for more common ground between them. She would like to see the house he was renovating, too, the kind of home he was making for himself. The environment people chose to live in could speak volumes about them. Sharing the private life of Jake Freedman was an exciting prospect and Laura was hugging that to herself, too, when his voice broke into her hopeful reverie.

‘Happy with the view this morning?'

She laughed, bubbling over with high spirits and looking at him with sparkling pleasure. ‘It's lovely! The sun is shining and it's going to be a beautiful day.'

He grinned at her as he rolled out of bed, saying cheerfully, ‘So let's make a start on it. Call room
service and order breakfast for both of us while I freshen up in the bathroom.'

‘What would you like?'

‘You choose. I have great faith in your food judgement.'

He left her grinning, enjoying the back view of him as he headed off to the bathroom. Only when this vision was cut off did she swing her legs off the window-seat and set about ordering their breakfast, choosing what she wanted herself and hoping Jake would be pleased with everything.