Treading Water (17 page)

Pushing his shirt aside, Andi rested her
hands on his hips and pressed her lips to his chest. Flicking her
tongue over his nipple, she was thrilled by the deep groan that
rumbled through him.

He surprised her when he filled his hands
with her bottom, lifted her off her feet, and devoured her
mouth.

Andi wrapped her arms and legs around him
and pushed her core tight against his erection.

Their tongues mated frantically.

“
Andi,” he gasped. “I want
you so badly.”

“
I’m yours, Jack. Take
me.”

He eased her down to the bed and fumbled
with the corset. “How do I get you out of this damned thing?”

Laughing at him, she rolled over so she was
facedown, showing him the clasp on the back.

He unhooked her, his lips worshiping each
new bit of soft skin as he uncovered it. When she would’ve turned
over, he held her still. “Wait.”

Her heart pounded with desire and
anticipation as he unzipped his pants and let them fall to the
floor.

He reached for the pins in her hair and
tugged at them to free her curls. Bringing a handful of her hair to
his face, he took a long deep breath. “You smell like heaven,
Andi.” He moved her hair to one side to leave hot, wet kisses on
her neck.

Under him, Andi squirmed with
impatience.

“
Relax, honey,” he
whispered. “We’ve got all night.”

“
I need you, Jack. I’ve
missed you so much.”

He kissed her cheek, her neck, her shoulder,
the middle of her back. “I missed you, too. So very much.” He ran
his hands over her bottom, and her breath got caught in her throat.
Lifting her to her hands and knees, he moved behind her.

He held her open with his fingers,
tormenting her with his tongue until her legs shook and her heart
raced.

As she teetered on the edge, he drove
himself into her and sent her flying.

Holding her hips still and pumping into her,
he rode wave after wave of her orgasm. “Do you like it this way?”
he asked, sounding breathless.

Out of her mind and unable
to form a single coherent thought, she said, “
Mmm
.”

Increasing the pace, he reached around to
stroke her to another shattering climax and then cried out with his
own.

Without losing their connection, they fell
into a heaving pile on the bed. For a long time, they were quiet as
they struggled to catch their breath.

“
Jack?”

His cheek pressed to her back, he muttered,
“Hmm?”

“
What made you decide to do
this? To come here?”

He withdrew from her and shifted onto his
back. “You’ll laugh if I tell you.”

She turned so she could see
him in the faint light. “Now you
have
to tell me.”

“
Well, first, my mother
gave me a not-so-subtle kick in the ass and told me I’d be an idiot
to let you go,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.

“
Remind me to thank her
someday.”

“
And I missed you so much
after you left. I never want to feel that way again.”

“
I was sick with missing
you.”

“
Why am I secretly glad to
hear that?” he asked with a smile.

“
Ha! So you’ve wined and
dined me and somehow managed to get me back in bed. What’s your
next move, Romeo?” She crooked her elbow and propped her head on
her hand.

Trailing a finger between her breasts, he
said, “I won’t divulge my plan, except to say it seems to be
working quite well so far.” He ducked when she swatted at him.

She scooted over so she was on top of him
and pinned him down. “I want some answers, mister. Tell me how you
knew my dress and shoe sizes.”

He flipped them so he was back on top. “I’ll
answer three questions and not one more.”

“
How did you know my shoe
and dress sizes?”

“
That’s two.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine! How did you know
my shoe size?” When he nibbled on her neck and ear, she pushed him
back. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

“
Okay, busybody, if you
must know, Quinn called Jen.”

“
Jen was in on this and
didn’t tell me?
I’ll kill her!”

“
She didn’t know why I
wanted to know.”

“
But she knew you were
coming?”

“
Is that your second
question?”

“
Jaaaaack!
”

He laughed. “Yes, she knew I was coming, but
Quinn swore her to secrecy.”

“
I’ll still kill
her.”

He kissed the end of her nose. “No, you
won’t. It was fun to surprise you, and you had a good time.”

“
That’s true, but I get one
more question,” she reminded him when he tried to kiss her more
seriously.

“
What’s that?” he asked
against her lips.

With her hands on his shoulders, she held
him off because this one mattered. “What happens now?”

“
I have a few ideas, but we
don’t need to talk about it right now, do we?” he asked as he
cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over her nipples.

She shuddered with pleasure. “I suppose it
can wait.”

Chapter 12

Andi dragged herself out of
a sound sleep to go home in the middle of the night, since she knew
her mother wouldn’t approve of an all-nighter.
I’m thirty-seven years old and still worried about my
mother’s approval
, she thought as they rode
the elevator to her top-floor apartment. Andi hadn’t mentioned her
mother’s disapproval to Jack and didn’t plan to.

She hugged him at her front door. “Thank you
for the most amazing evening.”

“
It was entirely my
pleasure. I’ll see you at your office later this morning after my
meeting with David. Will you be able to leave around noon for the
game?”

She stifled a yawn. “Mmm, but I’ll probably
fall asleep in the third inning.”

“
Go get some rest. I’ll see
you in few hours,” he said with one last kiss.

Jack let the car go so he could walk the
short distance to the hotel. Even though it was still dark, the sky
was shot with the first traces of sunrise. After the evening with
Andi, he was more convinced than ever that they had a future
together if they could figure out a way to make it happen.

Back at the hotel, he managed a few hours of
sleep before his meeting with David Johnson. Waiting in the
conference room, Jack stretched out the kinks of the nearly
sleepless night.

A burst of energy preceded David into the
room.

Jack stood to shake hands with the
youthful-looking man with the bright red hair who presided over
Infinity.

“
It’s such a pleasure to
finally meet you, Jack.”

“
Likewise,” Jack said,
withstanding the scrutiny of one of Andi’s closest friends. “I’m
sorry I’ve been unable to get out here to meet you before
now.”

“
We’ve enjoyed working with
your team. They’ve done an outstanding job of capturing just what
we were looking for in the Newport property.”

“
I’m glad you’re pleased
with it.”

“
I don’t know if Jamie told
you that I once had secret ambitions to be an architect myself, but
when the family business called…” David shrugged and
smiled.

“
Ah, that explains why the
CEO himself is involved with the building plans.”

“
I’ve overseen the design
of all the properties we’ve built since I took over the helm. It’s
my way of having my cake and eating it, too, if you
will.”

“
Maybe we could put you to
work on some of our projects.”

“
Don’t tempt me,” David
said with a chuckle as they rolled out the latest plans for the
hotel.

Jack pointed out the recent updates, most of
which had been made to appease the coastal resources council. “We
should be set now with the coastal requirements, but we’ll know for
sure next week. If everything goes according to plan and the
weather cooperates, we should be on schedule to open a year from
December.”

“
That’s good. I wanted a
winter opening, so we could work out any kinks before the high
season. I particularly like the new veranda on the south side. I
can’t wait to see it finished.” David rolled up the plans. “Andi
and her team were very impressed with Newport.”

Jack sat down across from him. “We enjoyed
having them.”

David leaned forward to rest his arms on the
table. “Jack, may I be frank?”

“
Of course.”

“
I know you didn’t come to
Chicago to show me these plans.”

“
Guilty as
charged.”

“
Andi hasn’t said much
about what’s going on, but I’ve heard a few rumors. Let me just say
this
—
Andi and
Eric mean a lot to me. They’re family.” He signed the word
“family,” to make it clear he spent a lot of time with the
boy.

“
I appreciate your concern,
and I’m aware of what she’s been through. I hope it makes you feel
better to know I love her.”

“
It does. She deserves some
happiness. That bastard she was married to left some serious
wreckage behind. I don’t want to see her hurt like that
again.”

“
I’ll never hurt her
intentionally, David. I can promise you that.”

“
I guess that’ll have to be
good enough.”

Jen was away from her desk when Jack arrived
at Andi’s office. Through the open door, he could see her working
at her desk, lost in concentration as she pored over fabric
swatches. He watched her smother a yawn and then cleared his throat
to let her know he was there.

“
Hey,” she said, welcoming
him with a warm smile.

“
Am I disturbing
you?”

“
Please come disturb me.”
She got up to close the door. “How do you manage to look so good
with no sleep? I’m a wreck.”

He sat and drew her onto his lap. “If that’s
what you look like when you’re a wreck, I can’t wait to get you
really tired.”

Today she wore a fashionable black pantsuit
with a fuchsia silk blouse. She’d left her hair down the way he
liked it. When he put his arms around her, she rested her head on
his shoulder.

“
I couldn’t wait to see you
this morning,” she whispered in his ear.

“
Me either.” He kissed her
forehead. “I just had an interesting conversation with your friend
David.”

She raised her head to look at him.
“Interesting how?”

“
He more or less asked my
intentions.”

Groaning, she said, “I’m sorry. He’s very
protective. We go back to college, and he and his wife Lauren were
so good to me after Alec left.”

“
I’m glad you have someone
like him looking out for you. I like him.”

“
I thought you would. You
two have a lot in common.” She paused, dropped her eyes, and added,
“So what
are
your
intentions?”

He raised her chin to compel her to look at
him. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. I love you, and I’ll
never hurt you on purpose.”

“
When will we see each
other?”

“
Weekends, holidays,
whenever we can. For now.”

“
For now?”

“
Let’s just take it a week
at a time and see how it goes, okay?”

“
I suppose that’ll work.
For now.” She pressed her lips to his. “When do you have to
leave?”

“
Tomorrow
afternoon.”

“
So
soon?
”

“
I want to stay longer, but
Jill’s playing in a big lacrosse tournament this week, and I need
be there. I missed too much last year.”

She stood up and went over to her desk to
check her calendar. “What about next weekend?”

They went back and forth and ended up at
Columbus Day—the weekend of Quinn’s wedding.

“
Why don’t you and Eric
come with us?”

“
Are you sure she won’t
mind?”

“
I’m positive.”

“
What about the
girls?”

“
I’ll talk to them before
you come. Don’t worry. We’ll take the boat, since I gave Quinn the
Block Island house for the wedding.”

“
You’re a good guy, Jack
Harrington.” Andi returned to his lap. “But now that you’ve come
and swept me off my feet, how am I supposed to live without you for
almost a month?”

“
I was just wondering the
same thing.” He checked his watch and found it was five after noon.
“We need to leave soon to see a boy about a ballgame.”

She got up, straightened her desk, and shut
off her computer.

He took her briefcase and put his arm around
her. “There’s a defect in my suite I wanted to bring to your
attention,” he said in a serious tone. “It’s something the chief
decorator should probably tend to personally.”

She laughed. “You’re shameless.”

“
I have no idea what you’re
talking about.” He held her close during the elevator ride to the
fifteenth floor. “Ever done it in an elevator?”

“
Shame
ful
.”

Flashing her a dirty grin, he pulled off his
tie and released his top button.