Reasons for Revenge: Scorned by the Boss. Maureen Child

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ setting a rhythm she strived to match. Her hips rocked with him, into him. She opened her thighs and hooked her legs around his middle, giving him deeper access. His thumb brushed at one sensitive spot, and he felt her shiver, heard her whispered intake of breath.

      “So hot.” He breathed the words against her skin, moving his mouth up the length of her neck. Kissing her jaw, her cheek, her mouth again, loving the taste of her. “So right.”

      She held on tightly now, her hands sliding over his water-slick back, her nails scraping his skin. She leaned back, arching into him, riding his hand with an abandon he wouldn’t have expected from the woman he had always considered the ultimate in tidy efficiency. He gave her what she needed, what they both needed. His fingers stroked and caressed and delved deep within until he felt the first ripple of her climax begin to overtake her. And then he took her mouth with his again, his tongue claiming hers as she whimpered with the staggering force of the orgasm he gave her.

      When she was spent, he swept her into his arms and carried her from the ocean. She speared her fingers into his hair and kissed him, secure in the circle of his arms. She leaned into him, pressing her breasts to his chest, kissing him, giving him everything she had.

      Quickly he laid her down on the towels spread on the still-warm sand and just as quickly pulled her bikini off and tossed it aside. Moonlight was all she wore now and it graced her curves, her skin, like an ivory cloak. She lifted her arms to him and said, “Now, Jefferson, I want it all now.”

      He stripped off his own bathing trunks, stretched out beside her and allowed himself the sheer pleasure of touching her all over. He dipped his head to her breasts and one after the other he took her dark, hardened nipples into his mouth. She groaned again as he suckled her and he felt the magic of her pouring into him.

      Her every sigh inflamed him. Her every breath urged him on. She moved beneath him, and his body tightened until he felt as though he were going to explode, shatter. He shifted over her, needing completion, needing to feel himself held within her.

      She parted her legs for him and met his first thrust with a lift of her hips that took him deep inside her heat. He felt her acceptance, felt her welcome and lost himself in the fire building between them.

      Again and again they came together in the pale shadows. With whispered words and half-muttered sighs, they became the rhythm that pulsed between them. With the stars overhead and the faint sound of music drifting to them from far away, Jefferson stared down into her wide brown eyes and felt himself drowning in their depths.

      Eight

      Caitlyn told herself it was a victory. She hadn’t been used. She had been the one doing the using.

      But the victory was an empty one and she knew it. She’d expected to have sex with him, enjoy herself and move on. Put him firmly and completely behind her. But since her body was still humming and her heart was racing frantically in her chest, she knew now that had been a big mistake.

      She stared up into his eyes and felt her heart turn over. Strange, she’d heard that expression most of her life and until now she’d always thought it was just that: an expression. Now she knew there was more to it than that.

      She was in love with Jefferson Lyon.

      A man who couldn’t be less interested in her.

      Just perfect.

      “Aah,” he said, easing himself to one side of her, gently disentangling their bodies. “That was …”

      “Amazing?” she offered in a chipper voice despite the cold emptiness she felt at his absence. “Wonderful? The earth moved?”

      He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. His eyes were filled with shadows, making them all but impossible to read. And maybe, Caitlyn thought, that was for the best.

      “All of the above,” he said, then paused and added with a wince, “plus … unprotected.”

      That gave her a quick jolt. Stupid to have not thought of that. No excuse, really.

      He shoved one hand through his wet hair as he shook his head in self-disgust. “That’s never happened to me before,” he admitted. “I’ve never lost control like that. Look, Caitlyn, I wasn’t thinking. I can apologize, but that won’t do either of us any good.”

      “It’s all right.” The words forced themselves past the knot in her throat. Sitting up, she reached for the dress she’d torn off only a few minutes ago. “I mean, it was stupid. Of both of us. But as long as you’re healthy, you don’t have to worry about pregnancy or anything. I’m on the pill.”

      “I am,” he said. “Healthy, I mean.”

      “Then, there’s no problem, is there?” Except, of course, for the gaping open wound on her heart. But that wasn’t his problem; it was hers.

      Standing up, she stepped into her dress, pulled it up and struggled with the back zipper. In a flash, he was standing behind her. His fingers brushed against her skin, sending tingles of sensation rippling through her as he zipped up the dress.

      “Thanks.” She heard him getting dressed but didn’t turn around. Didn’t watch him. Damn it, what was she supposed to do now? It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she knew all about his childish plan to trick her back into working for him. She wanted to face him, see his eyes when he realized that she had known how he’d planned to use her.

      But something stopped her.

      Call it foolish. Hell, call it stupid. But it was there. The urge to keep quiet. To just go along with his plan, let him think it was working. Let him think he’d lulled her into believing he wanted her. There was time enough to disabuse him of the idea. She could face him down later with the stinging truth.

      And then maybe it wouldn’t feel so raw to her. Maybe then she’d be feeling less hurt and more righteously indignant.

      He turned her around and pulled her into his arms. Silently, she went into his embrace, laid her head on his chest and listened to the steady thump of his heart. His arms cradled her, his chin rested on top of her head. When he released a long breath, it almost felt to her like a sigh.

      Which just went to prove that her heart was too easily led at the moment.

      “I don’t know what to say to you,” he whispered, still holding her, standing there quietly as if he could hold that position all night and not want anything else.

      He was good, Caitlyn thought with a pang. She’d never really given him the credit he deserved. No wonder he always had women draped all over him. His touch, his words, the heavy sighs. The man was a consummate actor. He almost had her fooled, despite knowing the truth.

      “Don’t say anything,” Caitlyn said, and meant every word. She didn’t want to hear any more lies. Not now. Not when everything she was feeling for him was so tender. So easily bruised.

      “I want to, though.”

      No, don’t, she thought but knew he wouldn’t keep silent. Knew that if he was going to play his role well, now he had to tell how much he cared for her. To set the stage, so to speak. To keep her soft and gooey for him—and, oh, how it infuriated her to know that if she hadn’t heard that phone call of his, she would have been just what he was expecting.

СКАЧАТЬ