Take Me. Cherry Adair

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СКАЧАТЬ failure as he came up beside her and circled his arms around her waist. She hadn’t noticed his approach. He kissed her cheek. “You look like a Christmas angel in that red dress, honey. What are you staring at so intently— Oh, Joshua’s here.”

      “Stay, Simon.” Jessie held on to his arm like a life-line. “Just long enough to introduce us, okay?”

      “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Jessie?”

      She’d fibbed to Joshua’s uncle, only telling him half her plan. Her laugh sounded strained even to her own ears. “No.”

      For seven years she’d imagined making love with Joshua. She’d dreamed about it. Longed for it. Ached for it. Every time she read about him, either in the business section of the newspaper or a sleazy tabloid, Jessie had wished she were the woman on Joshua’s arm. In his bed.

      She’d tried unsuccessfully to banish her husband from her mind and heart while putting her nose to the grindstone in the intervening years. She’d finished high school, gone to college, all the while carefully managing to avoid him. Until tonight.

      Now there was method to her madness.

      The physical attraction she was experiencing was as powerful, as terrifying now as it had been all those years ago in the diner. Lust made her mission easier. And if the feelings were reciprocated…

      It had taken forever, yet, in a second, he was right there within touching distance. His cologne was more subtle, more sophisticated, than she remembered, but the base scent, the essence of the man, remained. She’d never felt more female in her life as Joshua’s hot gaze burned through the thin silk of her dress to the pulsing skin beneath.

      “Simon.” Joshua greeted his uncle, his voice low and husky, his eyes on Jessie.

      “Joshua.” Simon sounded atypically jovial as he clasped his nephew’s hand. “How’re you doing, son?”

      “Introduce me to the lady.” Joshua watched the sunrise of a blush paint her cheeks as he allowed the heat of his gaze to travel slowly from her lush mouth to her eyes and back to her mouth. A cloud of dark, Raphaelite curls framed her face and drifted about her shoulders as she looked up at him. Her brows, dark and silky, formed a gentle arch above eyes of sparkling chocolate brown.

      Joshua had reluctantly accepted Simon’s heavy-handed invitation to the Christmas party. He didn’t do Christmas. For a second when he’d spotted the dark-haired beauty beside his uncle, he’d imagined she was Simon’s surprise. Considering every surprise he’d ever had at this time of year was a bad one, and familiar with his uncle’s wily manipulations, he’d almost turned around and driven up to his cabin in Tahoe as he did every year during the holidays.

      He felt sufficiently mellow to wait his uncle out. With her supple, slender body, she was enough of an inducement to make him stay. For now. Her subtle fragrance teased him. A holly wreath nestled in her dark hair. Her skin looked smooth and pale against the flame-red floor-length gown. The matte fabric covered her from throat to ankle in a sensuous sweep, without showing so much as a panty line.

      He felt a rush of heat as her small breasts shifted with her breathing. She was doing her damnedest to appear unaffected, but the lady was as aware of him as he was of her.

      Joshua felt the familiar adrenaline rush for the start of the chase and wondered if she, too, was thinking of tangled sheets and sweat-dampened skin.

      “Jessica Adams, my nephew, Joshua Falcon.”

      Her name was familiar. “You’re the interior decorator my uncle’s always talking about. You do good work.”

      A grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Thanks. Simon and Patti are always a pleasure to work with.”

      And she’d be a pleasure to have in his bed. “Go away, Simon,” he told his uncle without looking at him. Jessie’s mouth curved slightly as she observed him maneuvering his uncle. Joshua couldn’t remember reacting so explosively to a woman in his life. The shiny strings of the tiny Christmas balls in her ears tangled in the darkness of her hair. She rubbed her wineglass against the pulse pounding at her throat.

      He used every vestige of control to keep from tossing her over his shoulder caveman style and dragging her to his lair.

      The very thought startled him. He was not an impulsive man, nor was he given to flights of fancy. He stuffed his hand in his pocket. He was almost tempted to cut his losses and walk away. Sex was one thing, an excess of emotion another.

      Hell. Christmas always brought out the worst in him.

      He knew he was looking at Jessie with unabashed hunger. His blood pressure shot up another ten points as he heard her stifle a moan. “Are you here alone?” he asked.

      She either was or wasn’t available. He’d never competed for a woman in his life. Although, Joshua thought, surprised by his reaction, he might be tempted in her case.

      She smiled. “Just me and 299 party guests.” She had an extraordinary mouth, generous, her lips pouty without being petulant. Joshua needed a taste. Just one. He almost leaned over to take it but managed to remain fixed in place, his libido jumping. She was available, he wanted her and she appeared interested. It was turning out to be a good party, after all.

      He smiled. “Can I take you home?”

      “Actually, I just got here,” she drawled, eyes bright. “But thanks for offering. Simon,” she turned to his uncle with a smile that made Joshua’s skin tingle, “I’d love another glass of this excellent Chateau Whatever.”

      Simon gave them both a pointed glance before he snatched her glass and went off to the kitchen.

      Jessie tilted her head a little to look up at him. Brown eyes twinkled as bronze lights of laughter danced in the sparkling depth. She was all sass and flirty eyes. And damn well irresistible. Joshua wanted to bury his hands up to his elbows in her hair, assure himself that it was as soft as it looked. He wanted to run his fingers along her slender curves. He wanted to lay her on cool sheets in a candlelit room and make love to her until she melted like warm honey.

      But first things first.

      “Before we leave,” he said flatly. “I need to make something perfectly clear. I’m married.”

      Obviously taken aback she gave him a startled look. “Goodness, a philanderer with integrity. How refreshing.”

      He realized he’d tensed for her response. There was something about her that led him to believe she was nothing like his female companions to date. He hadn’t paused to wonder why he’d told her the truth when he’d never bothered to tell anyone else before. She’d be just as capable as any other woman to run directly to the tabloids with the news flash.

      His marriage wasn’t a marriage at all. It was a piece of paper, nothing more. He knew it, the girl knew it. But this woman, with her glowing eyes and ripe mouth, might not understand.

      For the first time since he was a boy, Joshua felt a flush ride his cheekbones. “It’s purely a business arrangement. She doesn’t give a damn what I do. We’ve been separated for seven years.”

      “Poor her.”

      “The arrangement was mutually agreed on,” he said flatly.

      “Why СКАЧАТЬ