A Tangled Engagement

by Tessa Radley

  Jay steeled himself not to react. Zeus pressed up against Jay’s thigh. Absently, he scratched the dog behind his ears.

  “I need you here running JJB Boots! Jennifer will get married someday—”

  Jay’s hand stilled as he cut his father off. “I’ll be married first.”

  “It’s not the same, Jay.”

  If Georgia had been here, she would’ve have accused him of being deliberately provocative. She would have probably been right. But his father’s stance would have infuriated her, too. J.J. was almost as bad as Kingston.

  Dinosaurs, both of them.

  Zeus’s nose nudged at his hand. Jay recommenced rubbing the soft feathery ears and the dog settled his muzzle onto his paws.

  “The world has changed, Dad. There is life after marriage. Jennifer and Suzie will make fine business partners in JJB Boots—even if both of them decide to get married someday.”

  “Don’t be flippant, boy! You’re my son. My successor. Your place is at the head of JJB Boots.”

  Jay didn’t allow his rising annoyance to show. “I’m not coming back. It’s not what I want.”

  They lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

  He’d promised Georgia that he would be gentle, so he searched for words to soften the blow. “Dad, I’m a man, not a boy anymore. I will visit you and Mom. And I hope you take time out to come to New York next time Mom visits.” But Jay wasn’t holding his breath. It hadn’t happened in two years.

  With a violent kick of his foot, his father swung his chair away to stare out the window into the darkness that had settled over the jagged peaks. “I will cut off your allowance.”

  At his father’s raised voice, Zeus whimpered. Stroking the dog’s head in reassurance, Jay almost smiled. J.J. was using the same tactics Kingston had used so successfully on Georgia. But it was an impotent threat—and J.J. was enough of a realist to know it.

  “You will find I haven’t touched that for years.” It had been longer than five years since Jay had spent a cent of the quarterly allowance he received from the trust fund set up by his grandfather. Nor had he touched the parcel of stocks his grandfather had left to him—as the sole grandson. “I’m quite capable of fending for myself.”

  “And what of your fiancée?” The chair spun back. His father’s mouth was clenched as tight as a trap.

  His fiancée...

  A vision leaped into his mind. Of Georgia grabbing his shirtfront, pressing up against him, careless of his clothes or hers. Of the wild kiss that had followed. Of her hot little gasps against his mouth...

  Whoa! He had to crawl into bed beside Georgia tonight...and sleep. He’d be awake all night if he started to think about the wild little sounds she’d made in the back of her throat.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure that little lady agrees with your high moral stance, my boy. She’s accustomed to the best in life. Luxury labels. High heels and charity balls. Not hiking boots and wading in mountain streams. That high society lifestyle, it doesn’t come cheap. Will you be able to fend for her and keep her happy?”

  His father had no idea what would make Georgia happy. But Jay rather suspected he might. If only she gave him the chance.

  “I think I’ll be able to keep my fiancée happy.”

  “Don’t be so sure. Her father will expect—”

  “Now that brings me to what I came in here to talk to you about.” Jay’s voice lowered as he lifted his foot from where it rested across his other ankle and set it firmly down on the rug. He sat forward on the chesterfield. “Why don’t you tell me about the mission you’ve been on to buy up stocks in Kingdom?”

  Twelve

  With the heady scent of gardenia soap clinging to her, Georgia stepped out from beneath the shower and quickly wrapped herself in one of the soft luxurious bath towels that Jay’s mom had left. The last thing she wanted was for Jay to walk in and catch her naked.

  It was absurd to feel so nerve-rackingly aware of him.

  They’d worked together in adjacent offices for years. But that was before that sizzling kiss. And now, the treacherous tingle that prickled along her skin refused to be doused by the rough rub of the towel.

  Clothes, she needed clothes.

  Back in the bedroom, she shimmied into her pajamas, covering up her shower-dampened body. Catching sight of her reflection in the armoire mirror, Georgia quivered. Pale aqua satin clung revealingly to her hips and bottom. The V-neckline of the flagrantly feminine cami top gaped wide, while lace side panels revealed still more skin. It looked like she was doing her best to stage a deliberate seduction.

  What she needed was body armor, Georgia decided grimly. The corporate kind. A smart no-nonsense big-name jet-black designer pantsuit would work just fine. But she was stuck with what she’d packed.

  She rolled her eyes. Of course, there was an alternative!

  Ever conscious that Jay might stroll in at any instant, she sped to the armoire and emerged—triumphant—with a long-sleeved white T-shirt. She whipped it over the cami, and then scrutinized her image critically.

  Not quite boardroom armor, but an enormous improvement.

  Deciding that the chairs grouped by the glass door presented a better option than waiting in the bed, she made her way across the room. The damned satin pajama bottoms whispered against her sensitized skin with every step. Perching on one of the straight-backed slipper chairs, Georgia picked a fashion magazine off the coffee table. Her fingers trembled as she flicked through the glossy pages. Not even an interview by one of her favorite fashion feature writers could hold her attention as her stomach twisted into convoluted knots.

  So much had happened today. The ring. Jay’s confession that they’d met before he’d come to Kingdom—and she didn’t remember. Meeting Jay’s parents—and finding out that they owned the iconic JJB Boots brand. Then there’d been the discovery that his family expected Jay to marry another woman.

  And the cherry on top: the shock that Jay actually desired her.

  Restlessly, Georgia shut the magazine with a snap and shoved it aside. Once on her feet, she started to pace.

  Jay wasn’t engaged to Suzie; he was free to kiss whomever he pleased.

  Georgia chewed her lip. Did it matter that he hadn’t told her about his family’s business? The JJB Boots brand held no threat to Kingdom. Did it even matter that Jay had never mentioned the first time they’d met? He’d done her a favor. It was a day she never talked about—she didn’t even remember most of it. The little she did remember, she’d worked hard to forget.

  If there was one thing her experience with Ridley had proved conclusively, it was that she was useless at relationships. She certainly wasn’t expecting love and commitment from Jay. But she wouldn’t mind another one of those knee-weakening kisses.

  Shock caused her to stop in her tracks. She wanted—

  Even more than kisses, she wanted to sleep with Jay.

  She closed her eyes.

  What was she thinking?

  God, it was hard to admit. She wanted pleasure. The kind of mind-blowing pleasure that kiss earlier had promised. Opening her eyes, she stared blindly at the carpet. They were two consenting adults with no reason not to indulge in a no-strings fantasy for a night.

  Maybe even two nights...

  She could change her flight—and fly back early Monday morning. Excitement and nerves churned in her stomach.

  Even as she considered the possibility, footfalls sounded on the wooden stairs and the door handle rattled. Her heart jolted, and the tension inside ratcheted up another notch. Georgia hesitated for only for a fraction of a second before diving into the big bed, sinking into the indulgently soft linen as the door swung open.

  Jay had arrived.

  The wooden door shut behind him with a heavy clang, causing the drapes that framed the glass doors leading to the terrace to flutter. Georgia�
�s pulse rocketed from zero to a hundred when Jay strode in. Determined not to let the sudden intimacy rattle her nerves, she drew a deep breath to ask him how the talk with J.J. had gone.

  But as he strolled forward and began to unbutton the tiny buttons at the cuffs of his shirt, the unspoken words dried up.

  After shaking the cuffs loose, Jay started on the buttons down the front. Georgia could only stare as the shirt’s edges parted to reveal an impressively muscled chest and a washboard stomach, both of which confirmed he was no stranger to a sweaty workout.

  Georgia’s fingers played frantically with the corner of the sheet as she watched him shrug off his shirt. With his hair mussed and his shirt billowing, he looked deliciously disheveled.

  She tingled as acres of male skin were laid bare.

  How had she missed that he was simply gorgeous for so long? Was she completely blind?

  “You were right that I needed to talk to J.J.” Jay fished into his pocket and dropped his wallet on the nightstand.

  Then, to her relief, he walked across the room, giving her plenty of opportunity to admire the surprisingly well-developed laterals sloping to a narrow waist. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the shirt over one of the chairs beside the glass doors.

  He headed for the armoire. “Plenty of positives came out of it.”

  Jay lifted an arm, and Georgia couldn’t help noticing the rounded peak of the bicep and, below, the bulge of his triceps as he rubbed his hand back and forth over the back of his neck. Somehow, he’d found time in his awful work schedule to do a fair amount of serious curls. A flush of warmth came with the discovery that the man who walked in and out of her office every day had a body worth lusting after—had she been given to lusting.

  The sound of a zipper severed the sudden silence. Then he kicked off his boots and shucked off his jeans, and her brain stopped working.

  Georgia tried—unsuccessfully—not to gawk at the muscled ridges on his chest. The taut, tight abs. Was she the only one who had never noticed? He’d certainly aroused enough feminine interest at the benefit auction. She discovered she didn’t care for the memory. She didn’t like the idea of Jay being pursued by every Dom, Nic and Carrie. She didn’t like the idea of his being engaged to another woman—any woman!

  Except her.

  She was jealous.

  Even as the realization dawned, her stomach clenched. After a final wide-eyed gawk, she forced her gaze away from his lean, taut body and bare muscled thighs, his snug-fitting black briefs—all that kept him decent—and fought to concentrate.

  But she had to ask. “Your family clearly regard Suzie as much more than an ex-girlfriend.”

  He shot her a quizzical look. “Suzie and I had an understanding.”

  “Understanding?”

  The word was jarring. It reminded her of her father, and that terrible, distasteful confrontation with Adam which, in truth, she hadn’t understood at all. Dread weighed down her stomach.

  “Exactly what kind of understanding?” she prodded.

  “Suzie wanted children—and so did I. One day.” He shrugged one beautiful bared shoulder. “Neither of us had found anyone better. We’d been friends—and work colleagues for years—she was Jen’s best friend. There was no good reason why marriage between us shouldn’t work,” he said, his voice growing muffled as he bent down to pull off his socks. “It was convenient.”

  Jay disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door with a click.

  As she stared at the closed door, Georgia wrestled with the uncomfortable emotions coursing through her. Jay wasn’t in love with Suzie. He wasn’t in love with anyone. He’d told her himself he had no dream woman. She slowly let out her breath and felt her tension ease. Her jealousy was unfounded...and simply silly.

  By the time Jay reappeared a few minutes later, his hair damp and his jaw smooth, with a thick white towel slung low across his hips, Georgia had recovered her composure.

  Raking a hand through his hair, he came toward the bed.

  He sat down on her side of the bed, and the towel slipped a little lower.

  Georgia sneakily side-eyed Jay’s mouth to see if he was grinning. Only to discover that his lips were firmly pressed together, the bottom one full and surprisingly sensual.

  “What Suzie and I shared...wasn’t enough. Something was missing.” He planted one hand one either side of her shoulders and leaned toward her, the fresh tang of soap mixed with the woodsy smell of him surrounding her. “There wasn’t any chemistry,” he murmured.

  Excitement started to spiral in the pit of her stomach. She ached to touch the rough dark stubble on his jawline, to run a finger over that unexpected bump on his otherwise straight nose.

  “I wanted more,” he whispered, his eyes smoldering like molten embers. “I wanted this.”

  He cupped her cheek, his fingers gentle, and her heart contracted. And then he kissed her.

  The hunger of it seared her.

  This was hot and burning. This was a flame igniting potassium. She saw flashes of lilac. White. Silver. Burning.

  A frightening emotion shifted deep in her chest. A new shivery, painfully raw pleasure. If this was chemistry, well, she couldn’t get enough of it.

  Drawn by the unnamed need, she confessed, “I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

  Summoning all her courage, she wound her arms around his neck and tugged him close, closing the gap between them. Maybe Jay was right. Maybe chemistry was worth everything.

  “Do you want to do this?” he asked against her lips.

  “Oh, yes!”

  He moved his hips. “Are you sure?”

  Georgia moaned and arched against him. “Very.”

  She wanted to see if she could lose all sense of time and place like that again or whether she’d imagined it. She wanted to experience the excitement, the rightness of his mouth against hers. For a moment, she thought about where they were, in his parents’ home, then discovered she didn’t give a damn.

  Her breath caught, freezing in her throat.

  She’d always worried about doing the right thing, about what people thought, about the consequences. But she wanted this more. Much more. She wanted Jay.

  All of him.

  Body. Heart. And soul.

  She reached up and stroked her index finger along the blade of his nose, curiously exploring the jagged ridge where he must’ve have broken it at some stage. He’d gone very still, watching her.

  His pupils flared. In retaliation, he trailed a fingertip along the sensitive skin of her neck, along her jawline. Her head fell back, her lips parting.

  Then he touched her mouth.

  “You have a beautiful mouth. Made for kisses.” His voice held a dark deep edge, as one finger outlined her lips.

  They felt full and swollen. His face was at an angle, throwing his cheekbones into sharp relief. No vestige of humor remained in his intent eyes. Only heat.

  “So kiss me,” she invited.

  With a hoarse groan, Jay hauled her closer and licked her open mouth. His mouth sealed hers shut and their legs tangled, the satin of her pants slippery between them.

  “How have I managed to resist you?” he murmured.

  She didn’t think she’d ever get enough of touching him. Her arms crept up around his broad shoulders. She reveled in his skin, sleek and supple, beneath her fingertips.

  His hand smoothed over her shoulder and traveled down until it rested, strong and steady, on the curve of her breast. His fingers stroked, and she gasped.

  He kissed with fierce intensity, and Georgia responded kiss for kiss. When his hand edged under the T-shirt, she aided him, lifting, twisting, breaking the kiss, impatient to get the garment off, craving the caress of his hands on her bare skin.

  When he touched her, she transformed into someone else.

  Someon
e more than Georgia Kinnear, daughter of Kingston Kinnear, gifted student and hotshot executive. Jay made her feel like the most amazing, tempting woman in the world. Sexy. Desirable. Special.

  He was nothing like any other man she’d ever known. Her father. Ridley. Adam.

  He made them all look like greedy, controlling jerks.

  No wonder she loved him.

  She loved Jay?

  Georgia’s breath caught, freezing in her throat.

  But he allowed her no time to ponder the discovery. He ran two fingertips along the lacy neckline of her camisole, his lips following the invisible tracks he’d traced. Then the camisole, too, was stripped away.

  He tasted her. The soft hollow at the base of her neck. The valley that lay between her breasts. And finally, when she thought she might go mad, he tasted her taut nipples.

  Then he returned to her lips and kissed her with a passionate intensity born of desperation.

  They only had tonight. Or maybe, if she got very lucky, two nights...

  When he shifted again, and his hands sought the waistband of her pajama bottoms, she was quick to help him, dying to feel her bare body against his.

  His fingers stroked. Heat scorched her. Her breath hooked in the back of her throat, then hissed slowly out as his fingers retreated. A heartbeat later, they slid forward again, teasing her nub with sure purpose. Her hips twisted. She bit her lip to stop the squeak that threatened to erupt.

  She’d never considered herself vocal. Jay had discovered a side of her she hadn’t even known existed.

  Two—God, she thought it was two—fingers slid into her. Deep. She arched off the bed and her breath caught on a sob.

  “Jay!” It wasn’t a protest.

  “What do you want?”

  She cast around for words. Polite words. Words that wouldn’t make her blush. “I want you. There. In me.”

  Jay seemed to know exactly what her jumbled words meant. He shifted to rummage on the nightstand. Then he was back. He moved over her, above her, resting his weight on his elbows as he nuzzled her neck. Then his hardness found her.