That snagged his attention and he jerked his head up. His dark gaze, filled with stunned disbelief, met hers. She’d asked the shameless question purely for shock value, and she had to admit her ploy had worked in terms of snapping Ben out of his aloof attitude, but she couldn’t deny that the idea of being with him again held immense appeal.
His gaze bore into hers, clearly trying to gauge if she was serious, or not.
She exhaled an impatient sigh and opted for the direct approach. “Are we ever going to talk about what happened last night?”
“I would prefer not to.” Reaching for the box of Fruit Loops, he refilled his bowl with the colorful cereal and added more milk.
“That’s what I figured,” she said, and summoned the confidence and determination to get through this conversation with Ben—and hopefully come out the other end with exactly what she wanted. “So, I’m just going to put it all out there and get everything out in the open.”
Needing more food in her stomach, she ate another bite of her turkey sandwich, and washed it down with a drink of cold tea. “First of all, last night was not a fluke or something that happened in the heat of the moment. The attraction has been building between us for months, and I wanted to be with you because I knew it would be so good, and I was right.”
He didn’t argue or try to stop her, and that gave her an added boost of fortitude to continue.
“Last night, with you, was the first time a guy has ever given me an orgasm of any kind,” she admitted, finding it much easier to open up to Ben the more she talked to him, and the more he listened. “And it was much better than any orgasm I’ve given myself.”
“That’s the way it should be,” he replied gruffly.
“Yeah, well, tell that to my two ex’s,” she said wryly, and finished off the first half of her sandwich.
He lifted a brow, silently prompting her to tell him more. Last night she’d given him some insight to her relationship with Jason, but now she was about to reveal a part of her past that not even her best friend Madison knew about.
“Besides Jason, I only had one other boyfriend that I slept with. I think I told you that I attended an all-girls boarding school, and there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to date or interact with guys. So, by the time I was in college, having a guy interested in me was new and exciting, and especially the hot quarterback on the football team.”
She felt her face grow hot, because even now she could remember how infatuated she’d been with Brian, and how all his flirting and attention had made her feel special—only to realize much too late that it was all a ploy to get into her pants. Just like every other girl he’d dated before her.
Pushing her embarrassment aside, she forged ahead with her story. “The first time he took me out, we went to dinner and a movie, and afterward he walked me to my dorm and gave me my first French kiss. The second time we picked up fast food, ate it in the car, then he parked in a place that was dark and secluded and we made out. One thing led to another, and before long we were in the backseat of his Honda Accord doing the deed and it was over before I could get used to having a guy inside of me for the first time. He never called me again after that last night, so ultimately I’d given my virginity to a guy who didn’t care about anything but getting laid.”
“Jesus.” Ben shook his head, his expression irate on her behalf as he pushed his empty bowl aside. “The guy was a prick, Christine.”
She gave him a half-smile. “I can’t argue with that, but at the time I couldn’t help but wonder what I did wrong. That whole first experience, combined with Jason’s preference for trampy escorts over the woman he was engaged to marry, left me feeling sexually inadequate.” She drew a deep breath, and finished before she lost her nerve. “In fact, after Jason I couldn’t help but wonder if I was frigid like my mother.”
He stared at her incredulously. “What?”
She cringed, realizing the can of worms she’d unintentionally opened. “That’s a whole other story that we don’t have time for right now,” she said, dismissing her comment with a wave of her hand. “Suffice it to say, I had plenty of reason to believe that I just didn’t have what it took to be sexy and seductive and arouse a man’s interest sexually. Not to mention have an orgasm when I was with him.”
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, which was covered in a screen print t-shirt. “I think we dispelled that notion last night.”
“Twice,” she corrected him, and shivered when she thought about how hot and erotic their tryst had been, and how she’d love a repeat performance. “And it was great. Better than great. Even though I know it would have been even better if you’d been inside of me, the pretending was pretty damned exciting. Enough so to make me come that second time.”
He groaned and scrubbed a hand along his jaw. “I really don’t think we should be having this conversation.”
She knew he’d eventually start resisting, especially when the subject became more intimate and personal between the two of them, and she was prepared to see this through.
“Why not? I’m just being honest, and I think last night proved that we’d be great together.” Despite her outward bravado, inside her nerves were jumping. Never had she been so open and frank with a man before, but she had to admit it was a wonderful, liberating feeling. “With you, I feel desire and passion and lust. And that’s more than I’ve ever had with either Brian or Jason. And I’d like to think that I aroused you a little bit, too.”
“Yeah, a little bit,” he replied, a sarcastic edge to his voice. “That’s why I’m sitting across from you with a God damn hard-on straining the front of my jeans. Because just thinking of how responsive you are when I kiss you or touch you makes me want to pull you across this table and have my way with you right here and now.”
A potent thrill shot through her, searing a path straight down to her stomach. “If we weren’t on a time constraint, I’d let you,” she said, her voice taking on a low, husky quality.
He cursed heatedly and abruptly stood up. “You just don’t get it, do you, Christine?”
Calmly, she stared up at him. “No, I guess I don’t.”
“Then let me explain things in a way that you’ll better understand. Yeah, I’m attracted to you. I can’t deny that.” Placing his palms flat on the table, he leaned toward her, his eyes blazing with intimidation. “And yeah, I’d like to fuck you every way imaginable that would make your traditional missionary position look tame in comparison.
But your father hired me to protect you, not to have sex with you.”
He was trying to make her back off, but she was so done being the kind of good girl who would have in the past dropped the subject and retreated. Hell, a year ago she never would have been bold enough to discuss sex and orgasms with a guy. But most importantly, she was done doing what everyone else wanted or expected her to do.
“My father has nothing to do with my attraction to you,” she said easily. “I’m a big girl and if I want to indulge in an affair, that’s none of my father’s, or anybody else’s business.”
He didn’t look one bit convinced. “When the guy you want to have the affair with is me, your security agent, it complicates everything. And because of that, I don’t ever mix business and pleasure.”
“You did last night,” she pointed out oh-so-sweetly.
He didn’t seem to appreciate the reminder. He straightened from the table, but he didn’t say a word or move from where he was standing.
Pushing her own chair back, she picked up her plate and the empty glass of iced tea, and carried both to the sink. Then she turned around to face her bodyguard again.
“Look, Ben, I understand that you have a job to do, and I’m not asking you to compromise my safety in any way. Out in public, you can do what you need to do to ensure I’m protected, but here, in my house, there is no threat and I couldn’t be more secure with an alarm system on at all times.”
She strolled toward him, and he watched her a
pproach through narrowed eyes. “With that said, why can’t we enjoy each other like we did last night?”
Again, no reply, but that didn’t dissuade her in the least. He hadn’t flat out refused her, and if anything, his silence gave her hope that he was actually considering her proposal.
She came to a stop just a few feet away from him. “I’m not asking for any kind of commitment,” she said, just in case that fear was running through his head. “I’ve had enough of that for a while and I want to enjoy my freedom and independence before getting serious with anyone again.”
“So, all you want is sex,” he said, his bland tone belying the heat flickering in his gaze. “No strings attached.”
“Not just sex. Good sex. Great sex,” she clarified, but she already knew that wasn’t an issue when it came to Ben and her as a couple. “We have two more weeks together before the election is over, and I’m thinking that’s more than enough time to enjoy this mutual attraction between the two of us and get it out of our systems. And when your job is done, we part ways as friends.”
For all her daring, determination, and no-nonsense approach to an affair with Ben, she already knew it wouldn’t be so easy to let him go in the end. This was a man who didn’t try to be something he wasn’t, and accepted her for who she was, as well. That in itself was a novelty for her when it came to the men she dated. He was charming when he wanted to be, and he made her feel alive and sexy and desirable, too. And if a few weeks were all they had with one another, she wanted to make the most of their time together, to take everything he was willing to give.
The rules she’d just laid out between them had been all for Ben. To make it easy on him when the affair was over, so he could walk away without worrying about any expectations or pressures from her. She already knew by previous conversations they’d had, combined with the compact way he lived his life, that he wasn’t a man looking to settle down with any one woman anytime soon. She supposed losing the woman you loved and adored in a country torn apart by war had a way of making a person more adverse to emotional attachments—and more disposed to a single, solitary lifestyle.
“You’re awfully quiet.” She could only imagine what was going through that head of his, and knew there was nothing left to do but ask him one last question. The most important one of them all. “So, are you interested in a short term affair?”
His jaw worked back and forth, and just when she thought he was going to give her an unequivocal no, he instead shocked her with his answer.
“I’ll think about it,” he said.
She realized that he was attempting to placate her with an answer that wasn’t really an answer, but at least he hadn’t flat out refused her and that’s all she cared about right now. Sure, she’d give him time to think about it, and then she was going to take matters into her own hands.
Starting tonight after the charity ball.
Chapter Eight
Are you interested in a short term affair?
He’d told Christine he’d think about it, and he hadn’t lied. For the rest of the afternoon that question slipped through Ben’s mind like the greatest of temptations, seducing his body and senses with a dozen different erotic scenarios. At the most inappropriate times he thought about what it would be like to really make love to Christine, to be deep inside of her when she climaxed, to feel all those tight, rippling contractions around his cock as she came undone just for him.
On the drive over to the St. Claire Hotel to set up for the charity’s silent auction, she kept up a steady stream of conversation, but instead of hearing what she had to say all he could do was watch her mouth move and remember how soft and sweet her lips tasted beneath his—and how badly he wanted to kiss her again.
Deeply.
Hungrily.
Greedily.
They arrived at the hotel, and since he refused to let her out of his sight she cheerfully put him to work setting up tables for the auction items while she and Madison draped them elegantly in panels of beige silk fabric. Christine leaned across the table to smooth out wrinkles in the material before pinning it in place, and her blouse pulled tight across her chest, outlining her perfect breasts and teasing him with a glimpse of those hard nipples he’d plied with his thumb and sampled with his tongue.
She’d bend down to pick something up, and her heart-shaped ass had him fantasizing about one of his favorite sexual positions.
She’d purposely flirted and teased and sent him covert glances that kept him keenly aware of her all day long, and made him want her with each seductive smile and throaty laugh she sent his way. He’d spent their hours together in a stranglehold of desire, lust, and yearning for all the things Christine had offered him with one simple question:
Are you interested in a short term affair?
After their work in the ballroom was done and the auctions displayed, they came back to Christine’s place to take showers and get ready for the evening ahead. Standing beneath the hot spray of water and feeling the sleek caress of water and soap sluicing down his naked frame, it was Christine’s hands he imagined were stroking across his chest, down his abdomen, and along his straining erection.
All he could think about was having an affair with her, and it was close to driving him insane. She’d planted the seed and all day she’d nurtured the idea, until resisting her, and everything she was suggesting, was nearly impossible for him to do.
Now, as he finished getting dressed, he suspected that tonight wasn’t going to be any different than today—except this evening he needed all his instincts clear and on target, his attention sharp and unclouded by all Christine’s sultry attempts to seduce him. Being completely aware of their surroundings and keeping her safe during the charity event was his number one priority until he had her home again tonight.
But before they could leave, he had to wrangle a long strip of silk into something that resembled a bow-tie to go with the designer tuxedo he was wearing, and he wasn’t having much luck with the task. He scowled at his reflection in the mirror when he ended up with a tangle of knotted material around his neck, and with an impatient growl he gave it a hard tug to unravel the mess so he could start the frustrating process all over again.
“Well, well, well,” came a soft feminine drawl from behind him in the guest bedroom. “Don’t you look nice.”
“Except for this stupid bow-tie,” he grumbled irritably. “Who invented this contraption of material, anyway? And why couldn’t you have gotten me one of those easy, pre-tied bows?”
“Because that would be cheating,” she said, amusement in her voice. “You can’t wear a cheap clip-on bow with a Hugo Boss Tuxedo. It would ruin the whole entire look.”
He rolled his eyes in disbelief. “Who would even know the difference?” Certainly not him.
“Oh, you’d be surprised.”
He turned around to tell her that it was ridiculous that anyone would even care about a bow-tie, but as soon as he saw Christine and what she was wearing his mouth went as dry as dust.
The black evening gown she had on for tonight’s ball was an exquisite one shoulder design, accented all over in beads that sparkled like brilliant jewels with the slightest move she made. The silky, shimmering fabric molded to her breasts, but from there the material lightly skimmed along her curves all the way down to the floor, gently emphasizing her womanly figure, rather than clinging to it. Of course, peeking out from the hem of her dress was a pair of black, open-toed, strappy high heels.
She’d swept her blonde hair up into an elegant style of soft loose curls that left her shoulders completely bare, and her make-up had been applied in a way that made her blue eyes stand out and drew his gaze to her full, pink glossed lips. Since the gown itself was so intricate she’d kept her jewelry very simple—just a pair of diamond stud earrings that rivaled the lustrous shine of her eyes.
Somehow, he found his voice. “Wow. You look absolutely stunning.” And she was so out of his league socially he felt like a fraud wearing such a high
dollar, designer tuxedo.
“Thank you.” She smiled, her expression glowing from his compliment. “Now let’s see what we can do about your bow tie.”
“We can always throw it in the trash,” he suggested with a grin.
“Sorry, but that’s not an option.” She turned him around so that he was facing the dresser mirror again and she was standing behind him. “Even in my high heels, you’re too tall for what I need to do,” she said and moved away from him.
She returned a moment later, dragging the straight back chair that had been in the corner of the guest bedroom. She parked it behind him then told him to sit down. Curious as to what she intended, he did as she ordered and lowered himself to the chair. She positioned herself behind him, the back of his head now resting gently against the soft cushion of her breasts—which wasn’t a bad place to be, he decided.
She reached around him and took the two long ends of the strip of silk in her hands. “Tying a formal bow is just like tying your shoes,” she said as she wrapped one end of the material around the other and made a loose knot at the base of his throat.
Her cool fingers brushed beneath his chin as she made some kind of loop with the fabric. “And you learned this how?”
“I did it for my father when I was growing up.” She tilted her head ever-so-slightly as she continued manipulating the strips of silk. “Just yet another thing my mother insisted I learn for future reference. See, it did come in handy after all.” She met his gaze in the mirror and grinned as she made one last adjustment to the immaculate bow she’d created.
“I hardly think your mother planned for you to use your bow tying skills on your bodyguard,” he pointed out wryly.
Finished with the bow, she smoothed her hands along the shoulders of his tuxedo jacket and bent low so her lips were close to his ear. “Then we won’t tell her, now will we?”
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