by Karen Booth
He lifted his sweater over his head. The soft, evening light showed off the incredible contours and definition of his chest and abs—perfectly smooth, no hair except for a narrow trail below his belly button. His shoulders were far better than any item of clothing had ever suggested. Not even the motorcycle jacket did them justice—square and broad, begging for her touch.
She sat up and flattened her hands against his firm chest, his skin warming her palms. With her arms raised, he cupped her breasts with his hands. She would’ve dropped her head back in pure ecstasy if she wasn’t so anxious to have his mouth on hers again. As if she’d spoken her wish, he bestowed a long, reckless kiss...hot and wet and magnificent.
She was dying of curiosity to know what the rest of him looked like. She unzipped his pants and pushed them to the floor. She dipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his gray boxer briefs, shimmying them down his trim hips. He kissed her again, and she wrapped her hand around his length, relishing the forceful groan that he made into her mouth.
He urged her to lie back, kissing her bare stomach. She watched as he unbuttoned her jeans and wiggled them south. His eyes were on her body as if he were entranced. Everything between her legs was eager for attention. Her entire body tensed with anticipation. “Touch me, Jacob. Please.” The words had wandered out of her mouth, the thoughts in her head trickling out.
He tugged her panties down, casting his dark eyes up toward hers as his fingers met her apex. She couldn’t let go of her grip on his head as he rocked his hand back and forth. It felt impossibly good to be at his mercy—wanted, desired. The pain of the past washed away like the tide erases writing in the sand. Their gazes locked, and it was as if she could see more of him, parts that he obscured, the vulnerable things he had hidden from her.
The pressure was building, the peak within her grasp too soon. “Make love to me,” she said. How many times had she imagined this? Hundreds, and it hadn’t come close to matching the real thing.
He dotted her stomach with soft, open-mouth kisses, firmly gripping her waist. When he rose to his feet, he opened the top drawer of a tall, dark-wood bureau. He ripped open the foil packet and handed her the condom. She wasn’t about to ruin the moment with mention of the reasons they might not need one. Plus, she liked the idea of focusing on him, just as he had on her.
He stretched out next to her, the most magnificent creature she’d ever seen—strong and muscled, but graceful and lean. He dropped his head back when she wrapped her fingers around him and rolled on the condom. When he returned his sights to her, he looked as if he wanted to consume her, heart and soul.
She arched her back, welcoming him as he sank into her, slowly, carefully, with a reverence she’d never expected or experienced. Her mind was a swirling vortex of thoughts and sensations, the most powerful of which was that she’d suspected he would feel wonderful, but not like this. She couldn’t have prepared herself for it feeling this good.
He rolled his hips when his body met hers. It built the pressure in her belly quickly, her breaths coming faster now. Her hands roved over the muscled contours of his back, trailing down to his glorious backside. His kisses were deep and long, matching the steady and satisfying rock of their bodies. She wrapped her ankles around his waist, wanting him closer. Deeper.
She placed her hands on the side of his face, keeping his lips to hers. She wanted to be connected with him like this when she unraveled. Her mind shuffled images—the motorcycle ride, the first real kiss, the moment when he looked at her in the front hall and she knew, with complete certainty, that he wanted her. Everything inside her began to uncoil. She was ready to let go of it all, even the past, and succumb to the bliss she’d waited so long for.
* * *
Anna was so close. Jacob could feel it, sense it in every fitful movement of her body. He was fighting to stem the tide, but it wasn’t easy. Concentrating on her face was the only way to do it, a beautiful distraction from the energy doubling in his belly.
Her breaths came in frantic bursts. Every sound she made was sweet and sexy, but she nearly blew his mind when she called his name, clutching his back and digging her fingers into his skin. She tensed around him, her body grabbing on to his as if she might never let go.
Deliberate thought was gone. Tension clenched his legs and stomach, pure instinct took over. A blissful smile spread across her face. Breaths shallow, strokes longer and harder. Now faster. The pressure threatened to burst. Anna bucked against him. She fought for it just as eagerly, until finally his body gave in to the pleasure. It barreled through him like a freight train.
“Oh, no,” he blurted, stilling himself on top of Anna as the swells ebbed in his body. He’d never had this happen before, but it wasn’t hard to guess what it was. He’d felt it. “The condom broke. Don’t move.”
Anna wrapped her legs around him even tighter. “No. Keep moving. You feel so good.” Her voice was catlike, a purr, a fitting match for her reaction. She didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned about what he was now panicked about.
“Anna. The condom. It broke. And I just came. Did you not notice?” He pressed one hand into the mattress and slowly began to lift his hips away from hers. What now?
“Oh.” She shook her head as he got up from the bed. “I guess I didn’t notice.”
“Yeah, this is a problem.” He rushed off to the bathroom to clean up. “This is a huge problem,” he muttered to himself, discarding it and washing his hands. It was one thing to exact revenge on Adam by taking his sister to bed. It was quite another to go and get her pregnant. Plus, a baby? No way. He was the last guy on the planet who had any business becoming a dad.
He stepped into his boxers and rushed back to the bedroom. He could make out Anna’s gorgeous curves even in the dark. She’d climbed under the covers, partially covered, lying on her stomach and patting the spot on the bed next to her.
“I missed you,” she murmured.
He blinked several times in complete confusion. “I was gone for two minutes. And aren’t you worried? There’s a very good chance you and I just made a baby.”
She shook her head as he eased back into bed next to her. “I’m almost entirely certain that we did not make a baby. Don’t worry about it.”
Even with the way things had just gone wrong, being that close to her completely naked form had everything in his body stirring again. “Care to fill me in? Maybe I missed that day in health class.”
“Can’t you just take my word for it?”
“What? You’re on the pill? Then why did you let me use a condom?”
She took a breath and buried her face in the pillow.
He rolled to his side, placed his hand in the center of her back. Why did she not understand what a big deal this was? “Anna. What is going on? Will you talk to me, please?”
She finally turned to look at him. “I can’t get pregnant.”
“What?”
“Or at least not until I get some of my plumbing fixed.”
“I’m sorry. You’ve lost me.”
She rolled over, pulled the sheet up over her chest and sat up in bed. He hated the fact that something he’d said made her want to cover up, but he did need to know what in the world she was talking about.
“A fertility doctor told me I can’t conceive. I’d gone to talk to him about artificial insemination.”
“You’re twenty-eight years old. Why would you think about doing something like that?” He watched a wave of embarrassment cross her face. It nearly took his breath away. He eased closer to her, craving her touch, her smell.
“Losing my dad really made me think about having a baby. About how much I want that in my life at some point.”
“Oh.” It was hard to imagine ever feeling that way, but lots of people did. Most people, in fact. Or so it seemed.
“All I could think was what i
f I never find the right guy? Being a female executive is tough. Most men let their ego get in the way.”
He had to wonder what sorts of men she’d dated, but he wasn’t about to ask. There was no point worrying about that particular obstacle. He’d never get past the barrier of Adam. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“I’ve never been serious enough about anyone to want to have a child. And losing my dad underscored how important my family is to me. My whole life revolves around them. Adam and Melanie are building a future together and...” Her voice wavered and she looked up at the ceiling. “This is the world’s worst pillow talk. I’m sorry.”
He hated seeing her upset. He tried to imagine a scenario in which he could share something like this, something so deeply personal, the sort of thing that left a human hopelessly vulnerable. He gave her a lot of credit for having the courage to be so open. “It’s okay. You should tell me about it, if you want to.”
“Really? Why?”
He took her hand in his. It wasn’t meant as romance, but his inclination to comfort her was strong. “Because I care.”
Anna explained everything her doctor had told her about scar tissue and surgery and how that affected her ability to get pregnant. He listened intently, saddened that she’d had to go through that. She clearly cared a lot about having a child. Why else would she have gone to a specialist about it?
“What did your mom say?” he asked.
“I never told her. I never told anyone.” The wobble in her voice was back, the one he hated hearing.
If she’d never told anyone, that meant he was the first. The weight of that wasn’t easy to bear. Here she was, in his bed, after giving him the most precious thing she could give to him, and now she was baring her soul. He never harbored guilt over a business decision, but his secret weighed on him. He was trying to engineer the takeover of her family’s corporation, and she had no idea. What if that came to light? She would never, ever forgive him. And why should she? “Why didn’t you tell anyone about what the doctor had said?”
“I wasn’t sure I could talk about it without crying.”
He was glad she’d been able to hold back tears. He didn’t do well when a woman cried. He never knew what to do or say other than give a hug, which he knew didn’t fix a damn thing. “But the doctor said it could be fixed, right? With surgery?”
“Yes, but the point was that I just wanted something to be right, to be easy. Everything over the last year has been a nightmare. This was supposed to be my way of looking to the future. I guess I felt a little defeated.”
“So we didn’t just make a baby.”
“We didn’t just make a baby.”
Relief washed over him again. No baby. Good. Things were tangled enough. Now he just had to deal with his own internal conflict over the LangTel takeover plan, and that might require action on his part. He was excellent at keeping the business and personal separate, and in this case, he’d clearly allowed the two to commingle far too much.
“Are you feeling better now?” she asked. “You were pretty panicked there for a minute.”
He laughed quietly. He had indeed let it get the better of him. “I’m fine. Although I wish you would’ve told me about this earlier. We could’ve skipped the condom all together. I’m clean. I get tested every year for my physical. Plus, I’ve never not used one, so it would be virtually impossible.”
“You’ve never felt what it’s like without one?”
He shook his head. “Never worked out that way. It can’t really be that different, can it?”
A mischievous smile crossed Anna’s face. It was so sexy. She scooted closer, until their thighs were touching. She kissed him, sending vibrations through this entire body, especially the parts they’d just been discussing. She took his hand, twined her fingers with his. “I’ve heard that it’s very different.”
“Very?” he asked between kisses. His body was ready to discern this for himself.
She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. “Why don’t we test the theory?”
Seven
Jacob finished off his third cup of coffee. Two was his limit, but he hadn’t slept at all. It was difficult with a woman in his bed. It was partly sexual distraction, but there was another side to it. Something wouldn’t allow him to relax enough to give in to real sleep.
He placed his mug in the sink and strode down the hall to the foyer, where Anna was waiting. “I’ll be ready to go in a minute. I need to take care of something in the garage.”
“Okay.” Anna nodded, smiling thinly. Things were definitely awkward between them now that it was the morning after. How could they not be strained? They’d crossed a line that might’ve been better left uncrossed, however much they’d both wanted to do it.
He hurried out the door and around back to the garage. He’d deliberated about waiting and making his phone call after they returned to Manhattan, but he had to do it now. He couldn’t sit in the car with her for five hours feeling even worse about his secret. He needed absolute privacy, and he wasn’t about to kick Anna out of the house. That meant the garage.
He had to take steps to clear his conscience. Could he go through with a LangTel takeover at this point? Even if he and Anna never ended up taking this any further? The answer was a surprising, but decided “no.” The guy with the killer instinct for business rarely changed his mind and he never undid his own work, but he was sure. He couldn’t hurt Anna. Not after what they’d shared. Even if this weekend had to be the logical end, it wouldn’t erase their most intimate moments, and he didn’t want to forget them anyway. He wanted to keep them in his head for as long as possible.
He entered the garage and closed the door behind him. He wasted no time pulling out his cell to call Andre, his closest ally in the War Chest. He had to end the campaign against LangTel, even if it might be a tall order. His fellow investors were astute, shrewd, and skeptical to a fault. They would want to know why he was backing off, and he couldn’t tell them the real reason. He couldn’t tell them that he’d seduced a woman who’d gone and seduced him right back.
“Jacob. What’s up?” Andre answered. “Not like you to call me on a Sunday.”
“I know. I wanted to talk to you about the LangTel deal. I’m out.” He held his breath, not offering any reasons. With his investment record, he could sometimes get away with only a mention that he was making a move and others would follow suit. The why wasn’t always necessary.
“You’re what? Are you insane? Why would you do that?”
Crap. So he would have to offer an explanation. The cult of personality would only get him so far today. “I don’t think the upside is there like we thought it was. And it’s such a huge undertaking. We could be knee-deep in this for a year. Or longer. Do we really want that? Do you want that much money tied up like that?”
“With that kind of payday? Yes. Don’t forget, you aren’t the only person Adam Langford has pissed off over the years. A few guys are eager to knock him down a peg or two.”
Everything that had seemed so perfect a few months ago was now quite the opposite. “Isn’t the notion of revenge a little outdated? Don’t you have better things to do?”
“You seemed pretty damn motivated by revenge that night in Madrid when we first talked about this.”
Jacob was skating very thin ice right now. Andre was absolutely right. Jacob had pushed them all. Hell, he’d not only rallied the troops, he’d riled them up. “I can’t spend my life worrying about Langford. I’d rather wash my hands of it. And him.” That much was the absolute truth, however much he was unsure of his feelings for Anna.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Andre said. “You want out. I’m still in. I can’t imagine the other members bailing.”
Jacob pursed his lips. How could he have thought for even a second that he might get out of this ea
sily? He’d put a nearly flawless master plan in place. All he could do now was control his own holdings, make a few more phone calls and try to convince some others. Otherwise, what could he do? This train he’d put on the tracks had momentum of its own. “Well, obviously I can’t tell you guys what to do. All I can do is tell you that I’m out. I’m moving on to greener pastures. Greener pastures with less of a headache.”
“Suit yourself, Lin. I don’t see any way any of these guys are going to back down any time soon. Plus, there’s talk of a new investor in the mix. A big hitter with very deep pockets.”
His mind raced. This was news to him. “A new member? Nobody spoke to me about this. I have say over who joins the group.”
“This guy apparently has no interest in joining the group. But he already has extensive holdings in the company and is keenly interested in a takeover. Probably just one more person who hates Adam Langford.”
Jacob threaded his hand through his hair, the most colossal headache he’d ever had making his eyes burn. “And no idea who this guy is?”
“None. Right now, it’s just talk. I have to ask why you would even care? Even if you pull your money out of the deal, you’ll still get the fun of seeing LangTel and Adam Langford taken down. That’s gotta be worth something.”
Funny how the appeal of seeing Adam destroyed had taken on a pall, all because he’d given in to his desire for Anna. How could he even think about moving forward with Anna when this was all going on? He couldn’t. It would be reckless and stupid and worst of all, unconscionable. Forget that her brother despised him—he couldn’t begin things with an enormous secret hanging over his head. It would never work. That left him only one option. He had to back off with her. If she wanted to pursue things, she’d have to let him know, and then he’d make a decision. For now, he’d have to play it cool.