Reckless Seduction. Gwynne Forster

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      Chapter 2

      Haley dressed in a strapless antique-gold silk dress that revealed just enough cleavage to make a man’s mouth water. She carried the matching jacket on her arm. Jon arrived precisely at seven-thirty, and when she opened the door, they stared at each other. He recovered first.

       “Hello, Haley. You seem more beautiful tonight than ever.” He was not sure how she would react to his comment or what she wanted of him. But she had certainly dressed in a way that pleased him.

       “Welcome to my home, Jon. You look wonderful,” she said, mostly because she was nervous. And so he did. He wore a tan summer suit, beige silk shirt, a burnt-orange-and-brown-striped tie and brown Gucci loafers. She’d never found blond men attractive, but this one was something special. He was the quintessential male—strong, sensual and controlled. Jon personified virility. And his mouth, with the full bottom lip, was his best feature.

       “May I come in?”

       She realized she’d been staring again.

       “Oh, I’m sorry.” She stepped aside, and he walked in a few paces. Then without knowing that he would, he stopped in front of her, a breath away. She looked up at him, wide eyed and a little frightened.

       Jon told himself to use some judgment and move away. But he hadn’t realized how badly he’d wanted to see her, to be with her, to hold her. He touched her cheek with his thumb. She didn’t move. He ran his thumb back and forth over her lower lip. She didn’t move. He pulled her into his arms, lowered his head and took her mouth. Was he dreaming or what? She had her arms around his neck, her fingers were in his hair and her lips were moving beneath his. He wanted more and asked for it, offering her his tongue. She parted her lips, pulled it into her mouth and gently sucked it.

       Sensing that he was about to lose control altogether, abruptly he sought to break the kiss, not wanting to expose his need for her. He didn’t want her to feel the indisputable evidence of it. But she wouldn’t let him go, holding him to her until the shocking force of his physical desire against her belly restored her presence of mind. They broke apart. He braced both hands against the wall above her head, needing the support and simultaneously trapping her between him and the wall. From hooded eyes, he looked at a spot just over her shoulder. She drew a deep breath, preparing to speak, but he stopped her.

       “Haley, don’t tell me that you don’t want to see me, that you don’t want to spend time with me. I don’t want to hear it.”

       “Jon, I… I don’t know—”

       He interrupted. “What don’t you know? Woman, you damned near devoured me just now. At least acknowledge that you want me just as much as I want you.”

       “Yes,” she whispered.

       “All right.” He touched her nose lightly with one finger and then smiled down at her. “Let’s go. We need to get out of here.” She stood there, observing him intently, as if seeing him for the first time.

       “What is it?” he demanded softly.

       “That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile. You grinned once, and I think you laughed once, too. But you’ve never just smiled.” He was devastating when he let that smile light his face. His mouth softened, became even more sensuous and inviting. The sparkles in his fern-green eyes warmed her all over.

       She let him see her sweetness then, her softness, and the primal female in her. And she didn’t bother to hide the fact that when she looked at him she liked what she saw.

       Jon had chosen an Italian restaurant with a quiet, attractive ambience. Their dinner was pleasant but uneventful. They hardly spoke to each other, and they barely ate. Both were overwhelmed by their unexpected feelings, and both were wary. They left the restaurant in silence. When they reached his car, he put an arm around her shoulder.

       “When will I see you again?” he softly whispered against her ear.

       She hesitated.

       “Is there a man to whom you are in any way obligated or committed?”

       “There is no one else.”

       His heartbeat accelerated. Her answer suggested that he was a man in her life. “Haley, I have been divorced for five years. It was a painful marriage. I still don’t know whether I can face loving and the intimacy it implies ever again.” He paused for a long while. She waited patiently for him to continue, but in her eyes, he saw fear.

       “Until tonight, I had thought that you and I were probably incompatible. Now, I’m not so sure. Do you want to know whether what we experienced back there at your front door means anything? Whether we really could have something magical? Would you try to learn who and what I am and teach me who and what you are? If you don’t want that, then just say so. We’ll have spent a pleasant evening, and we’ll say goodbye.”

       She measured her words carefully. “If you’re willing to go slowly, if you will be patient…I want to try. It won’t be easy for me.”

       “Nor for me.”

       He brushed her cheek lightly with his knuckle. “Whatever happens between us, Haley, please be honest with me. That’s all I’m asking right now.” She hugged him quickly and released him.

       He raised one eyebrow quizzically in response.

       “You asked for honesty. That was some honesty,” she said.

       Laughing, he tucked her into the car, took her home and left her at her front door.

       Had she really hugged him spontaneously like that? Jon lay in his bed, the room lit only by the stars. He was ordinarily a man who went to sleep when sleep was what he wanted. But on this night, sleep was elusive, waylaid by his visions of her. He wanted to believe that he could find true union with her. He knew that she was strongly attracted to him, but she had given him no reason to think that she possessed the compassion that would bring him the sweet communion that he had yearned for all of his adult life. Could he risk it? Hadn’t he promised himself that he would never again allow himself to need another woman? Hadn’t he had enough experience СКАЧАТЬ