by Miranda Lee
‘Here,’ he said.
Taking the glass and tablets from him forced Lisa to drop the sheet which she’d been holding over her breasts. Their sudden exposure—along with Jack’s staring down at them—made her squirm inside.
‘I…I need to go to the bathroom,’ she said after gulping down the tablets.
He shrugged. ‘Be my guest.’
‘I…I haven’t got a robe.’
‘You don’t need one. The bathroom’s just over there.’
There was a note of challenge in his voice. A kind of dare in his eyes.
Steeling herself, Lisa threw back the sheet and swung her feet over the side of the bed. Really, it was ridiculous for her to feel so embarrassed. He’d seen more of her, after all.
But this was different somehow. Yet still strangely exciting, she had to admit. To have him watch her walk, naked, across the room. To feel his eyes following her every move.
And her knowing all the while how much he wanted her.
Was that what was making her skin flush and her heart race like mad? Her awareness ofhis desire?
Or was it her own?
Lisa shook her head as she washed her hands afterwards. What to do? Demand that he take her home? Or let him do whatever he wanted to do to her?
When she glanced up into the vanity mirror, her brilliant blue eyes showed her that there really wasn’t any contest. She could not leave just yet. She had to know what more there was.
Returning to the bedroom took more courage than leaving it.
Finding it empty came as a shock. Where had Jack gone to?
When he didn’t come back after a couple of minutes, Lisa had no option but to go in search of him. But not in the nude, she decided. She wasn’t that brave. Or that bold.
Her clothes, however, were not on the floor where he’d dropped them before. And there was no sign of a robe anywhere. Clearly, Jack didn’t wear one.
In the end she wrapped a bath-sheet around herself and padded in her bare feet down the hallway, popping her head into his study on the way. Not there. But brother, he was right. That room was seriously messy.
He wasn’t in the living room, either. She found him in the kitchen, brewing coffee and making toasted sandwiches.
His having donned some black satin boxer shorts was a huge relief.
‘Feeling better?’ he asked with a quick smile her way.
‘A bit. What happened to my dress and underwear?’
‘Your dress is hanging up in my walk-in closet and your panties are currently in the washing machine. I’ll pop them in the dryer shortly.’
‘Oh. Thank you, but you didn’t have to.’
‘I thought you might enjoy someone looking after you for a change.’
Lisa didn’t know what to say to that. No one had ever looked after her. She’d pretty well looked after herself when she was growing up. Plus all the time during her marriage to Greg. She’d worn the trousers in the family, right from the start. Which was the way she’d liked it. But she’d worked hard for the privilege of being the boss, doing all of the housework, controlling the money, paying all the bills.
Then, after Greg died, and she’d really been on her own, she’d had to do absolutely everything herself, even the garden. Nowadays, she paid a man to mow her lawns, but she hadn’t been able to afford that at first. She’d bogged in and done it all herself, even learning how to change light bulbs and washers, jobs she’d used to delegate to Greg.
Jack smiled over at her again. ‘Why don’t you let your hair down?’
‘What?’
‘Your hair. It’s come loose at the back. Here, let me do it for you.’
His moving behind her was unnerving, so were his hands in her hair. She held herself stiffly whilst he removed the hidden pins then stroked her hair down to her shoulders.
When he bent to kiss her on the shoulder, she froze some more.
‘Relax,’ he murmured. ‘I won’t bite.’
‘Then stop acting like the big bad wolf,’ she shot back at him.
He laughed, but moved back to what he’d been doing at the kitchen counter, leaving her annoyed with herself for being silly. She’d decided to stay, hadn’t she? Why start snapping at him?
‘I’m sorry, Jack,’ she said, climbing up onto one of the leather-topped stools which faced the huge breakfast bar. ‘That was uncalled-for.’
‘No, no,’ he said, grinning over at her. ‘You were quite right. Iwas acting like the big bad wolf. In truth, I’d like to gobble you up right here and now. But I can wait. Hope you like melted cheese on your toast.’
‘I’m not fussy,’ she said, and he laughed.
‘Now, that’s a big fib, Prissy. But I’ll forgive you if you take that towel off while we eat.’
Lisa gaped at him. ‘You want me to sit and eat in the nude?’
‘I’m game if you’re game,’ he said and, pushing the black boxer shorts down to the floor, he stepped out of them and kicked them away.
Lisa’s mouth dropped further open before snapping shut. ‘Why do I suspect you’ve done things like this before?’
‘Never! Not here, anyway. I haven’t brought a single woman back to this place since I bought it. I’ve been celibate for weeks and weeks, finishing that infernal book.’
Lisa thrilled to the thought he hadn’t slept with any other woman recently. Though perhaps that was why he was pursuing her so avidly. He was seriously frustrated.
‘Well?’ Jack prompted, walking over to the breakfast bar with two plates of toasted sandwiches in his hands. ‘I’m waiting.’
‘I can’t, Jack.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I won’t even be able to see all of you from here. Just your top half. You’re not shy about showing off your very pretty breasts, are you?’
She was suddenly shy about showing anything!
Yet she wanted to. That was the weirdest thing with Jack. He could make her want to do things that she found embarrassing.
‘But you’llknow I’m totally naked,’ she protested.
‘That’s the point, Lisa. Myknowing . It’s a turn-on.’
‘But you don’t need turning on.’
‘I wasn’t talking about me, beautiful.’
‘Oh…’
‘Just do it,’ he said. ‘And see for yourself.’
Her heart started hammering behind her ribs even before her hand moved to do his bidding. By the time she’d removed the towel and draped it over the stool next to her, Lisa was feeling light-headed. And hot. When Jack placed her plate and mug in front of her, she just stared blankly down at them, then up at him.
‘I…I don’t think I’m hungry,’ she said quietly.
‘You should eat something. And drink the coffee. I don’t want you fainting on me.’
‘I never faint.’
‘There’s a first time for everything.’
Yes, Lisa thought shakily. And tonight she’d experienced a lot of firsts.
If only her mother could see her now…
Thinking of her mother brought Lisa up with a jolt.
Jill Chapman had had quite a few lovers after her husband had left her, Lisa hating the times she’d come home from school to find the evidence of her mother’s affairs. The extra-wet towel in the bathroom. The smell of sex in the house. Her mother’s smudged lipstick and lack of underwear.
Lisa had always prided herself on being nothing like her mother in that regard.
Yet here she was, sitting naked in Jack Cassidy’s kitchen, totally breathless and shockingly aroused.
The whole scenario seemed unbelievable.
‘You’re doing it again,’ Jack growled, moving his coffee away from his lips.
‘Doing what?’
‘Thinking.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with thinking.’
‘There is whenyou do it.’
‘I think I should go home,’ she suddenly blurted out.
His eyes darkened as he slowly lowered his coffee back down to the marble counter.
‘Is that what you really want to do?’
‘Yes…No…I don’t know! And I don’tlike not knowing, Jack,’ she cried in dismay. ‘I don’t like being out of control.’
He grimaced, then shook his head. ‘Maybe I’ve gone too fast. Maybe we should leave things as they are till another day.’
Lisa blinked. ‘Another day?’
His eyes were as uncompromising as the set of his mouth. ‘You don’t honestly think tonight is the end of us, do you?’
‘Well, I…I know I promised to clean your study on Tuesday.’
‘That’s not what I mean and you know it.’
‘But you’re not into relationships,’ she argued. ‘I mean…you said as much up front.’
‘I said I didn’t want to get married. But that doesn’t stop me having a girlfriend. I want you to be my girlfriend, Lisa. I want to take you places. Buy you things. Spoil you rotten.’
She just stared at him. Oh, but he was wicked.
‘Ican’t be your girlfriend,’ she threw at him. ‘I mean…I don’twant to be your girlfriend.’
His head jerked back as if she’d slapped him in the face. ‘Might I ask why not?’
‘Because I don’t have the time!’
‘That’s bulldust. You have lots of time. You’re your own boss. Tell me the truth.’
‘All right. It will complicate things.’
‘In what way?’
‘Cory is my first priority in life. I refuse to do anything which will jeopardise his happiness.’
‘How will your being my girlfriend jeopardise your son’s happiness? I won’t interfere in his upbringing and I’ll be good to him. I’ll take him places too, and buy him things. Things all boys like.’
Now he was being even more wicked. Trying to seduce her through her son. But he’d made a mistake, thinking his materialistic offer would sway her.
‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Cory will start thinking how wonderful you are. You’re his kind of man, Jack. Then one day, you’ll say,Sorry, Lisa, but I’m getting bored playing father . And that will be that. And Cory will be broken-hearted all over again. It was tough enough for him losing his dad. And he wasn’t all that old then. He’s nine now. He can be really hurt this time.’
‘In that case, we’ll keep Cory out of our relationship.’
Lisa shook her head. ‘How? I have no intention of leaving Cory alone, or shipping him round to neighbours to mind. I’d have to tell my mother about us and…’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Jack broke in, his face becoming more frustrated with each second.
‘You don’t understand!’ she cried.
‘No, I don’t.’ His hands lifted to rake agitatedly through his hair. ‘We’re having our first fight and we’re not even going together yet. Look, why don’t we just stop this and go back to bed? We get along in bed. Very nicely.’
She just stared at him, her head whirling. He wasn’t going to let her say no to him again. She could see that.
‘If that doesn’t appeal,’ he went on with a very sexy smile, ‘we could go skinny-dipping in the pool and make leisurely love in the water.’
Lisa swallowed at this last thought. She’d never made love in water. Or anywhere other than in a bed.
The idea was both tantalising and tempting, exactly as Jack knew it would be. He was the devil in disguise, she decided. An accomplished seducer of women, especially silly, inexperienced women like herself.
‘You choose,’ Jack said, any talk of taking her home apparently overridden and forgotten.
The pool room, Lisa knew from having cleaned it, was like a decadent Roman bath-house. The walls of the room were covered in black marble tiles, the surrounds of the pool and spa in white, and the pool itself in a deep blue.
When she didn’t say anything, he strode round and scooped her up off the stool.
‘Don’t you ever know what’s good for you?’ he growled as he carried her, not back to the bedroom but in the direction of the pool.
Yes, she thought with despairing insight. And it’s not you, Jack Cassidy. You’re a dangerous man to be with. A ruthless, charming, cold-blooded womaniser. I know you. I’ve read all your books. You’re not the devil in disguise. You’re Hal Hunter in disguise.
That man eats women for breakfast and spits them out.
But at the same time, you’re the first man to make me feel like this. I can’t turn my back on what you have to offer. I just can’t.
But I’m going to do my level best to keep my head. I amnot going to fall in love with you, Jack Cassidy. Absolutely and positively not!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘INEVER thought I’d see you without make-up,’ was her mother’s first comment when Lisa arrived at her place the following day. ‘Or without blow-drying your hair.’
Lisa’s hands lifted to run through her hair, still damp from the second shower she’d had after Jack drove her home, and after she’d made a hurried call to her mother, saying she’d be right out. Lisa hadn’t had the time—or the inclination—for hair and make-up. Her head was too full of other things.
‘I was too tired to bother,’ she said distractedly. ‘I guess I look a mess.’
‘Not at all. You look lovely. Still, you must have had a really good time to stay out so late. Come on, come inside. I want to hear every single detail.’
Lisa rolled her eyes as she followed her mother into the house. She had no intention of telling her mother any such thing.
Not because her mother would be scandalised. But because she would ask Lisa awkward questions which she had no answers for.
Never had Lisa felt so confused, or so rattled. Her life had suddenly spun out of control—as had she—and she didn’t know where it would all end.
The only surety in her mind was that her affair with Jack was a long way from being over. Overnight, she’d turned into a sex maniac, totally obsessed by the man and what she felt when she was with him.
It had taken every bit of will-power she had not to agree to race over to Jack’s place after dropping Cory off at school tomorrow morning. He’d certainly pressed her to do just that when he drove her home today.
She’d sounded surprisingly cool and matter-of-fact as she’d pointed out that she had a business to run and Monday was her busiest day in her office.
At the time, Lisa had felt quite proud of her resolve not to be at Jack’s total beck and call. Because she knew she could have made time to meet him on the Monday afternoon. But the moment he drove away, she’d been consumed with instant regret, plus an awful, empty feeling.
It swamped her again, bringing a sigh to her lips.
Her mother threw her a questioning glance over her shoulder. ‘You sound like you could do with a strong cup of coffee.’
‘I’d love one,’ Lisa replied with a grateful smile. She’d refused Jack’s offer of brunch this morning, anxious to get home after sleeping in terribly late.
When she pulled out a chair to sit down at her mother’s large kitchen table, Lisa’s mind suddenly shot back to when she’d sat at Jack’s breakfast bar last night, in the nude.
She’d never felt so shamed—yet so excited—in her life.
Her mother turned from where she was making the coffee at the nearby bench. ‘By the way, Cory’s over at the neighbours’ place, if you were wondering. They have their grandkids up for the weekend. One of them’s a boy of twelve and very responsible, so you don’t have to worry.’
Guilt consumed Lisa when she realised she hadn’t been wondering. Or worrying. Cory seemed to have taken a back-seat in her thoughts all of a sudden. Now, that was truly shameful! And not to be tolerated. Her son was the most important person in her life. She would not let a playboy like Jack Cassidy supplant him in either her thoughts, or her heart.
‘Has he been a good boy?’ she asked, trying desperately to revert to the caring, over-protective mother she usually was.
‘He’s been a typical boy, Lisa. Boys are rarely good all the time. B
ut who would want that? Nothing worse than a goody-two-shoes boy. They grow up into wimpy, wishy-washy men. By the way, he says he wants to be a soldier when he grows up.’
‘A soldier! I thought he wanted to become a doctor!’
‘Not since he saw a movie on TV last night about commandos.’