Bella shook her head. She simply couldn’t believe this. He was…more green than she was.
The house was designed to look like an old adobe Spanish-style home. It was surrounded by flowering bushes and dozens of trees. There were solar panels on the roof and wide windows overlooked the ocean, and even the front door looked…rustic.
“I don’t believe this,” she whispered.
He grinned even more widely. “Surprised? Maybe even…shocked?”
She snapped her head up and stared at him. He’d tricked her neatly because he had to know she never would have believed that he was so environmentally conscious. Why, he was the destroyer and pillager of historic districts. He was the man who was personally turning her beloved hometown into a cookie-cutter community.
And he had jute welcome mats.
Oh God.
She was really in trouble now.
“You set me up, didn’t you?”
“You set yourself up, Bella,” he said, laughing as he opened the door and ushered her inside. “You assumed you knew everything about me and you were willing to bet on it.”
“But you let me,” she countered, sweeping past him into the house. Just as she’d thought. It was even more perfect inside than out. Dammit.
“Hell, yes, I let you,” he said, chuckling low in his throat so that it sounded like a rumbling freight train.
“You cheated. You knew I’d never expect something like this,” she waved both hands out, encompassing the entire house. “I mean, I try to do things the ‘green’ way, but this is…”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“Are you kidding?” she demanded, glaring at him. “You’re the guy who ripped out the heart of the business district and gave it all the personality of a damp rock.”
He frowned at her. “That’s business. And, just so you know, the materials used were all ‘green.’”
“Why? Why do you care?”
“I’m a surfer, Bella. Of course I’m interested in the environment. I want clean oceans and air, I just don’t broadcast what I do.”
“No, you hide it.”
“No, I don’t. If you’d bothered to look a little deeper at me, you’d have found plenty of information. The ‘Save the Waves’ foundation? Mine. King Beach supports it.”
She needed to sit down. Bella stared at him, amazed and…impressed. How was she supposed to reconcile her image of the corporate raider with this very unexpected side of Jesse King? Was it possible she’d been wrong about him? And if she were, what else had she been mistaken about?
Her gaze swept the interior. Bamboo floors, shining under coats of polish. Skylights cut into the ceiling allowed moonlight to drift into the foyer, giving the whole house a magical look. And it was working on Bella. She was beyond shocked. She was pleased. And almost proud. How ridiculous was that?
He tucked her hand through his elbow and led her down a long, wide hallway. “Come on. I asked the housekeeper to serve dinner on the patio.”
On either side of them, the whitewashed walls were studded with family photos. Her heels tapped against the bamboo floor as she walked beside Jesse. She glanced at the photos as they passed, trying to take them all in. But there were just too many of them.
“Told you I had a lot more at home,” he said. “I’ll introduce you to all of them after dinner if you want.”
Dinner. And, she thought, since he’d managed to absolutely shock her, she would be dessert. Unless she backed out. Ran away. Told him she’d changed her mind. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but she had no doubt he’d let her leave. He might be arrogant and pushy, but he wasn’t a bully.
“You’re thinking too much,” he said.
“You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
“I knew you’d be shocked, but I still can’t help wondering why,” he said, leading her through a set of French doors onto a flagstone patio, Bella’s breath caught in her throat.
A full moon was up and shining down on the ocean, laying a wide, silver ribbon of a path that looked as though all you had to do was follow it to find something wonderful. Stars winked out of a black sky and a sea wind slid over her skin like a caress. A small, round table was set with white linen, fine china and crystal. A bottle of wine stood open and “breathing” in the center of the table, and candle flames flickered wildly in the protective circle of hurricane-glass globes.
“Wow,” she murmured.
“I agree.”
She looked at him, but he wasn’t looking at the view, or the setting. He was watching her. Was it part of his game? His routine for charming women? Or was this something else? Something just for her?
Oh, that thought was certainly a dangerous one.
“This is beautiful,” she said, impressed in spite of her own misgivings about being there.
“It really is,” he said, moving to the table, and pouring them each a glass of dark red wine. “I found this place the last time I was in Morgan. The setting was great, but I wanted a more organic kind of home. So I rehabbed it.” He sent her a quick wink.
“Rehabbing seems to be a hobby of yours.”
“Can’t help myself. I’m a hands-on kind of guy.”
Her stomach swirled and dipped again. Then she recalled what he’d just said. “You bought this house three years ago?”
“Yeah.” He walked toward her, holding out one of the glasses.
She accepted it, took a sip and said, “So you were always planning on moving here.”
“Not always,” he said. “Actually, it was meeting a certain woman on a pier one night that decided it for me.”
He was just too smooth for her. He knew all the right words. Knew all the right moves. And she was floundering. If she had the slightest shred of sense, Bella knew she’d be running from him just as fast as her feet could take her. But she really didn’t want to.
“Why do you do things like that?” she asked, her voice little more than a hush.
“Like what?” He sipped at his wine.
“Talk to me as if you’re trying to seduce me.”
“I am,” he said. “I haven’t exactly kept it a secret.”
“But why play the game?” she asked, walking past him to set her wineglass on the table. With her back to him, Bella said softly, “You don’t have to flatter me. Or flirt. Or any of the other things you do to get women. You already know I want you, too. So why bother pretending that you feel something for me that you don’t?”
His features went still and, in the moonlight, his blue eyes glittered like silver. His jaw was tight, his hair rippled in the wind. “Who says I don’t mean it?”
Eight
Bella turned to look at him and when her gaze locked with his, everything in her sizzled quietly. His eyes looked wild and flashed with heat and desire and something she couldn’t quite identify. But whatever it was, there was an answering emotion roiling through her.
“What do you want from me, Jesse?”
He walked toward her, set his glass down beside hers and laid both hands on her shoulders. “Tonight, I just want you. And I don’t want it to be because I won the stupid bet.” He slid his hands up her shoulders, her neck, to cup her face between his palms. “I want you to come to my bed because you want to be there. Because we both need to be there.”
Bella realized that he was giving her the chance to back out. But she wouldn’t. She’d known the minute Jesse had come back to Morgan Beach that they were headed down this road. That eventually, they would wind up together again. If only for one more night. And if it was going to be only one night, then she was determined to make the most of it.
She wasn’t going to hide from what she was feeling anymore. She wasn’t going to pretend to hate him. She wasn’t going to lie to herself any longer. The simple truth was that she’d fallen in love with him on that night three years ago, when they’d talked about their pasts, their futures, and shared an amazing blaze of passion in the moonlight.
She hadn’t wanted to love him. H
adn’t expected to. Had tried for three years to hide from the truth behind a curtain of venom because she’d known it couldn’t go anywhere. Men like Jesse King didn’t settle down. And if they did, they didn’t marry women like Bella. So it had been easier to tell herself that she hated him, rather than face the fact that she loved a man she would never have.
But she was done with that now. She did love him, though she’d never tell him that. And she was going to have another night with him—even if that was all she ever got.
She reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck and went up on her toes. “I want to be here, Jesse. With you.”
“Thank God,” he whispered as he bent his head to take her mouth with his.
Bella’s mind splintered as he parted her lips with his tongue and swept inside, stealing what little breath she had left and sharing his own. His tongue stroked hers, tangling them together in a prelude to a dance she’d spent three years hungering for. Her hands splayed against his broad back, holding him to her, as she gave him everything she had and took everything he offered.
His arms tightened around her body, pressing her to him, aligning her body along his with a need so fierce that it inflamed her own. Jesse lifted her easily, swung her up into his arms and Bella felt like a heroine in a romantic movie. Dazed, she lolled against him as he stalked across the patio, through the house and up a set of stairs. She paid no attention to where he was taking her and didn’t care, as long as he started kissing her again really soon.
When he finally stopped and set her on her feet again, Bella took a quick look around. They were in his bedroom, obviously. A huge, bamboo four-poster bed took up most of the space. A skylight directly over the bed fanned moonlight onto a black-and-white quilt that looked handmade and what had to be a dozen pillows piled against the intricately carved headboard. Windows provided a view of the moon-kissed ocean and allowed the soft, cool sea wind to glide into the room.
“Like it?” he asked, reading her expression correctly.
“Oh, yes,” she said, turning to look up at him.
“You’ll like this, too,” he told her, stepping past her to flip the quilt back, exposing clean white sheets. “Recycled cotton.”
She sighed. “I think I just had an orgasm.”
He laughed. “Not yet, baby. But soon. I promise.”
Bella looked up at him. “And Kings always keep their promises?”
“Damn straight.” He came to her then, hauling her up against him with a hard embrace that sent shivers of excitement scuttling down her spine.
She felt every hard inch of him and her body instantly went into eager mode. She forgot about everything else. Her business, her feud with him, everything. Bella didn’t want to think. She wanted to feel.
And Jesse more than obliged.
His kiss turned hot and hungry and frantic. It was as if he couldn’t taste her enough and she was right there with him. Her hands slid up and down his back, feeling the pull and flex of lean muscles honed by years of swimming in an ocean that he loved. His arms were like bands of steel, wrapped around her, holding her tightly to him. And when he cupped her bottom and pulled her in even closer, she felt the unmistakable hard length of him pushing into her.
Her body lit up inside and went hot and wet and ready for him. He seemed to sense what she was feeling because he took the hem of her shirt in his big hands and quickly peeled it up and over her head. In seconds, her skirt was gone, too, and she was standing in front of him in her white lace bra and panties.
His hands skimmed up and down her body, following her curves, cupping her breasts until she felt the heat of his touch through the fragile fabric. “Jesse…”
“Don’t rush me,” he said with a half smile. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this opportunity.”
“No rush,” she said and swayed a little unsteadily. “But I think my knees are melting.”
That smile kicked up an extra notch. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”
He led her to the bed, and gave her a gentle push that sent her tumbling onto the mattress. The sheets were cool and smooth beneath her, and Jesse’s hands were hard and hot as he continued to explore her. Bella’s eyes slid shut on the sensations rippling through her body—there was too much sensory input. Too many feelings. Too many things rushing through her mind, vying for recognition. She was here, in Jesse’s bed, with his big hands sliding over her skin, and she knew that no matter what else happened between them, nothing would take away the perfection of this night.
She opened her eyes when he stepped back from her and watched him as he quickly stripped out of his clothes. Through the skylight, a swath of moonlight fell across his naked body and Bella couldn’t help thinking how beautiful he was. She smiled and he answered it.
“I remember,” he said softly, “just how beautiful you are in moonlight.”
“Funny,” she answered, “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Men aren’t beautiful, Bella.”
“You are,” she assured him and watched new hunger flash in his eyes.
“Enough talk,” he told her and leaned over her on the bed. In a few short seconds, he had her bra undone and off and was sliding her silky panties down her legs to fall to the floor. She twisted beneath him, trying to press herself even more tightly to him, to feel every inch of his hard, warm body along hers.
His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, she thought wildly as passion spiked and desire boiled. Her breasts, her belly, and lower still to the heart of her. Talented fingers and thumb stroked her center, making her writhe beneath him as need built into a firestorm that threatened to engulf her.
Again and again, he pushed her close to the edge of oblivion, only to ease back and keep her from reaching the peak of satisfaction that he held just out of reach. Her hips lifted into his hand as he lowered his head and took first one nipple and then the next into the heat of his mouth. His lips and tongue and teeth scraped and suckled at already too sensitized flesh and Bella was moaning now, from deep in her throat.
Her short, neat fingernails scraped at his back as she twisted beneath him. She slid her hands up, into his thick, golden hair and held him to her as his mouth continued to work at her breasts. “Jesse…”
“Soon,” he promised, his words a whisper of a caress against her flesh.
It had to be soon, or she would die of the wanting. She felt her body coiling tighter and tighter and knew she couldn’t take much more of his. “I need you. Inside. Jesse, please.”
He lifted his head, stared down at her and she saw the same passion she was feeling mirrored in his eyes. Her heart turned over in her chest and something wild and wonderful spilled through her bloodstream. There was more here than want. More than just need. There was a soul-deep connection between them. She felt it. Knew it. Recognized it.
Then he kissed her, plunging his tongue deeply into her mouth and thoughts scattered like dead leaves in a cold wind. His fingers continued to stroke and tease her, even as he moved to settle himself between her thighs.
She lifted her hips in silent invitation and when he eased back from their kiss, sitting on his haunches to look down at her, Bella felt like the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet. He looked at her with such a craving, she felt powerful and strong and enticing.
He parted her thighs farther, sliding his hands up and down the inside of her legs until she hissed in a breath and whispered brokenly, “Jesse, now.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, pushing his body into hers in one long, heated slide, “now.”
She groaned as he filled her and her body stretched to accommodate him. He held perfectly still inside her for one long moment. Until she moved beneath him, showing him that she was ready for him. For all he could give her.
Jesse watched her eyes glaze and felt the thrumming of her heartbeat as he lowered his head to kiss her breasts, each in turn. His own heartbeat was galloping in his chest. He couldn’t seem to
catch his breath and he didn’t care. This was what he’d been searching for these last three years. This woman. This moment. This link.
But as she sinuously moved beneath him, his mind blanked and his body took over. There would be time for thinking later. Much later. For now, he had everything he could want, right here in his arms.
He moved within her—sure, long strokes designed to draw the pleasure out, to stoke it so high they might both burn in the aftermath. Again and again, he laid claim to her and with every stroke. She met him, lifting her hips into him, sliding into a smooth rhythm he’d found with no one else. It was as if their bodies recognized what their minds had been fighting. That they belonged together. They fit.
He braced his hands on either side of her head, looked down into chocolate-brown eyes that sparkled and shone in the moonlight and gave himself up to what was happening. He felt her body stiffen, knew the moment when her climax claimed her and watched the magic in her eyes. Only then did he allow himself to follow after, his body shattering.
When the last of the tremors finally ceased, he collapsed atop her and felt her arms come around him, cradling him to her chest.
The night passed too quickly and Jesse couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Again and again, they made love and each time was better than the one before. They came together, dozed briefly, then made love again. Finally, around 2:00 a.m., they threw on robes and raided the kitchen, at last getting around to eating the meal his housekeeper had left for them. It was cold, but they didn’t care. They drank wine, ate their meal and then he had her as dessert on the kitchen table.
He couldn’t keep his hands off her and even as he experienced it, Jesse knew how different this was for him. He’d never wanted a woman to stay the night with him before. And with Bella, he didn’t want her to leave. As long as he kept her there, at his house, nothing would change.
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