Forged of Steele Bundle

by Jackson, Brenda

  “No problem. Just put your head back and relax. I’ll have you in Memphis before you know it.”

  She smiled and tilted her seat back. “Just stay within the speed limit. I’m not sharing the cost of a ticket with you.”

  Bas chuckled. “You are the last person to give someone advice about speeding.”

  A small giggle slipped from Jocelyn’s lips as she closed her eyes.

  The hotel Jocelyn had chosen was right in the thick of things and as soon as they dropped their overnight bags off at their respective rooms, they met downstairs in the lobby, ready to explore, enjoy and have fun.

  Memphis was known for its food, entertainment and hot spots. But this particular weekend it was all about jazz. What had begun a few years ago as an outdoor concert was now a full weekend of numerous blues and jazz events.

  As if it was the most natural thing to do, Bas and Jocelyn wandered the streets holding hands as they shared meals and listened to music from jazz greats as well as students from the University of Memphis music department. One concert displayed a variety of cultures with the native music of the Caribbean, the Middle East and the rich musical heritage of the African-American culture blended together in a way that was soul-stirring at its best.

  With vendors on each side the streets were narrow, and more than once Bas had to pull Jocelyn closer to his side to let others pass. Each time his hand touched her waist she would gaze up into the depths of his chocolate eyes and could only smile as an unnerving degree of heat slithered down her spine. Whenever she looked at him her thoughts wandered into forbidden territory and her mind was actually whirling with possibilities of how their night would end.

  She clutched the bag filled with the purchases they had made, determined not to go there. Tonight she would go to her room and Bas would go to his; it was that simple. But a warm blush crept into her cheeks when she admitted that that likely wouldn’t be the outcome at all. Something was happening to her. With very little effort Bas was doing something no other man had done—awakening her deepest desires. He was connecting to a part of her she had long denied existed. She inhaled deeply. Where was all that poise, self-control and composure she’d always prided herself on?

  It was past midnight when they called it a day and began walking back toward their hotel, still holding hands. She recalled they’d even held hands throughout all the concerts they had attended.

  “Did you have fun today?” she asked as they walked lazily through the streets. The crowd on the sidewalks had thinned out a lot. It was evident the people passing them by were party animals, still in a festive mood on their way to some nightclub or other.

  Bas smiled at her. “Yes. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

  She grinned and leaned in closer to him. “Even more fun than the fishing trip last weekend?”

  He chuckled. “This was a different sort of fun. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed by not going to a jazz concert. CDs are nice but there’s nothing like being right there in the audience, having the strings of a guitar and the melodic tune of a piano slowly hum through you. The vitality of it was awesome. Thanks for suggesting that we come.”

  She smiled, pleased. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

  When they reached the entrance to the hotel he suddenly stopped, turned toward her and slid his arms loosely around her neck. He leaned in closer, his mouth barely an inch from hers. “In fact, I may have had too much fun. I’m not ready for the night to end. Feel it?”

  “Feel what?” The only thing she felt at that moment was the slow sizzle in her blood from the way he was looking at her. He was so close she could see the dark rings around his pupils, and that look made a deep-rooted longing uncurl inside her.

  “Night heat.”

  She swallowed against the thickness that suddenly settled in her throat. “Night heat?”

  “Yes. Maybe it’s the sound of all that jazz, being surrounded by it while it works inexplicable sensations all through you. But I honestly think it’s something else.”

  “What?”

  “You. Me. Here. The night. The heat. The connection,” he breathed against her lips. “Close your eyes and feel it.”

  Jocelyn closed her eyes and she began to feel it. She mentally savored the sounds around her, the conversations in the distance, the jazzy music that wasn’t ready to end and the breathy sigh that escaped from between her own lips.

  A sultry breeze made her sniff the air and she took in the smell of Cajun food, spicy barbecue ribs, the steamy aroma of blue crabs. Then there was the scent of man, at least of the man standing in front of her. Of all the things she had taken in, he was the one thing that made the night steamy. Hot. He was everything she imagined night heat was about—a male rich in sensuality, masculinity and irresistible charm. A man who could make her heart pound from just one heated look. A man who gazed at you as though he was a predator and you were the object of his intent. “Yes, I can feel it,” she murmured truthfully, before opening her eyes.

  Her senses were jolted with the sudden feel of his mouth on hers. Hot and quick. His tongue captured hers before she could take her next breath and then just as quickly, he pulled away.

  “There’s a nightclub in the hotel. Do you want to go dancing?”

  Jocelyn suddenly felt light-headed, dazed. The air surrounding them flickered softly across her skin, adding to the odd feeling she was experiencing. And at that moment she knew she too wasn’t ready for the night to end. Trembling with a mixture of sensuality and excitement, she met his gaze, smiled and whispered, “Yes, I want to go dancing.”

  A deep tremor passed through Bas the moment he took Jocelyn into his arms on the dance floor. The air surrounding them was thick. The jazzy music encircling them was rich and smooth, and she was soft.

  If she had been any other woman he would have suggested that they go up to his room instead of going dancing. Holding her against him, moving his body with hers to the sway of the music only intensified the temptation he was trying like hell to fight. He had been feeling something practically all day, but it had become more prevalent when night had set in. He wanted her to feel it, as well. He wanted her to acknowledge its existence as he had. From the first, this heat between them had been there. That was the reason he couldn’t forget her kisses and the reason he wanted to hold her here now, sliding his body intimately against hers, wanting her to feel his desire, his longing, his want. He wanted to touch her all over and had to steady his hands, force them to remain at her back, stroking, caressing, although they were desperate to do more.

  But he couldn’t stop his lips from wanting to taste her, so he brushed them against hers, lightly, building passion one degree at a time. He doubted that he would ever get tired of kissing her, whether the kisses were light and breezy or deep and demanding. As he continued to delight her mouth with slow, easy kisses, he felt her body become almost weightless in his arms. He wanted to sweep her off her feet, into his embrace and take her to his room or hers to give her pleasure so intense she would remember this night for the rest of her life.

  Damn. Something was happening to him. Emotions he was known to keep bottled up inside of him were fighting to seep out. In the past he’d been too busy plowing himself with work, but lately he’d had a lot of undemanding time to think and appreciate, to begin to enjoy life. And he was beginning to like having free time on his hands. He was enjoying having fun, leaving work on time and going to the gym and going fishing with Reese and his brothers. He couldn’t recall the last time he had allowed himself the time to indulge in such simple pleasures.

  After that summer with Jim, when he had returned home to finish college and work in the family business, he had placed himself on a rigid schedule that he’d gotten addicted to over the years. But now it seemed that Jocelyn Mason intended him to incorporate some fun into his life, and he was actually looking forward to it. He was even eager to settle down and start working on that paint-by-number kit she had talked hi
m into purchasing today from one of the sidewalk vendors. It was a picture of a woodland chalet with snowcapped mountains in the background, a scene that reminded him of Newton Grove. He was excited to get started on it. More than anything, he’d enjoyed taking the time off this weekend to spend with Jocelyn.

  The breath rushed out of him when he realized he was beginning to feel something for the woman he held so close to him. She had the ability to fire a need within him that he hadn’t felt in years, if ever. And it wasn’t all sexual, although he did have this vivid mental image in his mind of how wonderful it would be to have her in his bed to play out all those fantasies and dreams he’d had of her lately. Thinking about them only made him want her more. Being here with her, dancing with her, holding her in his arms while her cheek rested on his chest, seemed as natural as breathing, and a satisfying sensation skittered all the way down his belly.

  “Bas?”

  He barely heard her whisper his name. “Yes?”

  “Can we go somewhere else?”

  Her request heated the desire he felt through his entire body. “Where do you want to go?”

  “You decide.”

  And with a low growl, he did. He took her hand in his and led her off the dance floor and out of the nightclub to a place where they could finish what they had started.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  Bas whispered the words the moment he stepped into Jocelyn’s hotel room and swept her into his arms. The heat that had been simmering within her all day had escalated during the ride in the elevator and what seemed like a long, endless walk down the hall to her room.

  “If I’m beautiful, then you are, too,” she said truthfully. There was just something about him that stirred her blood, awakened desires within her and sent rushes of heat thrumming all through her.

  Jocelyn had stopped fighting the feeling and was willing to surrender to the inevitable. Since that day in Jason’s office the attraction had been great, bigger, it seemed, than both of them. She hadn’t planned for anything to happen between them this weekend; it was to be fun on her terms. She had gone through life without intimacy with a man, and she assumed she could certainly go on in the same way a while longer. But hadn’t Bas warned her about assuming anything?

  “Let’s dispense with all the compliments,” he said, moving toward the sofa instead of the bed. He saw her confused look and gave her a sexy smile that touched her all the way to her toes. After he’d sat down with her cuddled in his arms he said, “I won’t go that far until I’m certain our definitions are the same, Jocelyn.”

  She frowned. “They are,” she said, her voice raw and thick.

  “I’ve got to be sure it’s not just the night.”

  Her frown deepened. It was the night but that wasn’t all it was. “I don’t understand.”

  “When you wake up in the morning I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

  “And you think I will?”

  “Not sure. All I know is that when you left Newton Grove this morning you had no intentions of sleeping with me.”

  “Can’t a girl change her mind?”

  “Yes, but I have to know it’s for the right reason. I won’t assume anything.”

  He saw the flicker of disappointment in her eyes and his lips curved into a seductive smile. “If only you knew how much I want you, how much I want to be inside you, take you with every breath in my body, while replaying every dream I’ve had of you since the first day I laid eyes on you, you’d know how much not making love to you is killing me.”

  “It doesn’t look like you’re dying to me,” she said with a bit of sting in her voice as she broke eye contact with him. She just couldn’t figure men out. They wanted you when you weren’t willing and didn’t want you when you were.

  As if he read her thoughts he reached out and placed a finger at her chin to lift her gaze back to his. “This is not a game I’m playing, Jocelyn. I want you so much I hurt, and to show you just how much, I’m going to leave you with something to remember me by tonight.”

  And then he kissed her with a demand that had her body shuddering all at once. He entered her mouth with a force that claimed it as his, totally, irrevocably. She felt him shift her body in his lap and ease the jacket from her shoulders while not breaking contact with her lips. And then his hands were on her, caressing her through her blouse, and then slipping his fingers beneath it to cup her breasts. He slowly stroked his thumb in the center, across her bra-clad nipple and captured in his mouth the ragged sigh that escaped from deep within her throat.

  He eased his mouth from hers. “I want to taste you all over,” he murmured. “I’ve been fantasizing about doing it since the first time I kissed you. You have a unique taste that drives me wild. It makes me want to savor every single inch of you.”

  Before Jocelyn could pull in her next breath Bas brought her to her feet to face him and in seconds he was pulling her blouse over her head, then tossing it aside to join her jacket. He released her long enough to slide the jacket off his shoulders and throw it aside, as well.

  He took one look at her, standing in front of him in her black lace bra, before leaning over and covering his mouth with hers once again. Sexual sparks crackled, tore into her when she felt his fingers release the clasp of her bra, and then he broke the kiss long enough to strip it off her.

  “I’ve got to taste you here,” he whispered, seconds before capturing her around the waist and lowering his face to her chest. His mouth immediately latched on her breasts, kissed them until her nipples ached. He knew exactly how to flicker the tip of his tongue across them, lave them in a circle motion that drove her wild, made her panties wet. She was grateful for the strong, solid arms holding her upright or else she would have crumpled to the floor from the shockwaves that were tearing through her.

  He slowly pulled back, got down on his knees and began working at the snap of her jeans. He glanced up, held her gaze while he eased the denim down her hips, pausing to help her step out of her shoes before taking the jeans completely off her and tossing them aside, leaving her standing in front of him in just a pair of black lacy boxer-style undies.

  He leaned back on his haunches, and she wondered if he had changed his mind after all. Seconds later she knew he hadn’t when he reached out and slowly eased her panties down her hips, inhaling deeply while doing so.

  “You smell good,” he said in a tone filled with so much desire it made her body tremble. He leaned forward, held her gaze and whispered, “I need to taste you. Now.”

  He trailed hot, wet kisses across her belly before moving lower, and with the palms of his hands he gently eased her legs apart. Jocelyn stopped breathing, anticipating his next move. He didn’t disappoint her. He leaned closer and gripped her hips, then buried his face in her. When he slipped that same hot, wet tongue inside her, she released a moan that came from so deep in her throat she actually felt her knees buckle beneath her.

  But his solid grip held her in place while his mouth made love to her, tasting, devouring, feasting. He was unashamedly greedy, intent on getting his fill, making her dig her nails into his shoulders. Unable to control the shudders racking her, she threw her head back and forced air through her lungs before screaming out his name.

  “Bas!”

  Her entire body shook, came apart with the force of the climax. Never had she encountered such a fierce, powerful reaction, an earth-shattering explosion. She held his shoulders tight and writhed helplessly against him, while his tongue did things to her no other man had ever done.

  And as she continued to soar to a place she had never been before, she knew that Sebastian Steele was more than a troubleshooter and a problem solver. He was the epitome of what female fantasies were made of. He was temptation at its finest, a man who delivered with action, a man with one incredible mouth, a man who knew just how to pleasure a woman.

  And at that moment, while aftershocks slithered down her spine, she was blinded by the staggering realization that if she didn’t st
op herself, she could fall deliriously and passionately in love with him.

  “Umm.” With a deep, satisfying moan Jocelyn shifted her body in bed as delicious dreams continued to filter through her sleep-induced mind. Strong, firm hands parted her thighs, and the urgency that filled her with profound emotions made her body brace for a joining she needed, one she craved and one that had every inch of her braced in anticipation for—

  The sharp ringing of the phone had her bolting upright. She rubbed her hand across her face and snatched up the phone then hung it back up. It had merely been the hotel’s wake-up call.

  She settled back in bed and remembered her dream. Some of it had been a dream and some of it reality. She closed her eyes, remembering the part that had been real, and the memory wrenched a serious moan through her lips. Bas had kissed her all over, devoured her, made her come, then he’d picked her up, carried her over to the bed and tucked her in. Before leaving, he had kissed her, sending shudders through her body long after he’d left. And then she had drifted off to sleep, only to finalize in her dreams what he had refused to do during her wakeful moments.

  Still, she felt wonderful.

  Sighing deeply, she forced herself up in bed again and ran her fingers through her hair. They were supposed to meet downstairs for an early breakfast before heading back to Newton Grove. How was she supposed to face him knowing what he had done to her last night? What she had let him do? But she had no regrets. The pleasure she still felt was too intense for her to be repentant. He had wanted her and she had wanted him; yet he had maintained his control, assumed nothing and had given her pleasure while withholding his own.

  As she slipped out of bed she released a long-drawn-out sigh. Aftershocks of passion surged through every part of her body. Her blood felt hot, her body hotter and more than anything she wanted him to finish what he’d started. But she’d get her chance this coming weekend to prove that although neither of them should assume anything, some things were a gimme. What Leah had said a couple of weeks ago was right: when Bas finished what he came to do he would be gone. There was nothing to hold him in Newton Grove, and she had to remember that.