by Lori Foster
She clasped his penis in her hand and thankfully guided him into her body.
Jordan watched as she slowly slid down to envelop him, and he groaned deeply. With only that initial stroke he felt his body drawing tight in prerelease. “Georgia.”
She seated herself completely. He held her hips and pressed her down farther; he was so deep inside her, her inner muscles gripped him and she caught her breath on a gasp. When Jordan started to lift her away, unwilling to hurt her, she shook her head and braced her hands on his chest. Her gaze was cloudy with a mix of discomfort and incredible pleasure. “I want all of you.”
Jordan locked his jaw and concentrated on not coming. Georgia didn’t make it easy on him. At first, she held perfectly still and Jordan, teeth clenched and thighs tensed, did all he could to keep from rushing her.
Her thumbs found his nipples beneath his chest hair. “You are, without a doubt,” she murmured, “the most gorgeous, sexy man I’ve ever seen.”
His heels pressed into the mattress and his hands fisted in the sheets.
Her small palms, cool against his burning flesh, coasted over his shoulders, down his biceps then to his abdomen. “You’re all hard muscles and lean strength and I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you in the audience.”
Jordan felt himself jerking, knew the end was near for him. “Move, damn it. Move.”
With a feminine laugh of sheer power, she did as he asked, lifting with torturous slowness, then dropping hard. It took a mere three strokes, three times of watching her beautiful body slide up and then down again on his rigid shaft for Jordan to go mindless.
He cupped her breasts, arched his back, and exploded like a savage. To his immense surprise and pleasure, just as he began to regain sanity he heard Georgia sob and opened his eyes to watch her take her own pleasure. He was still hard, still buried deep inside her. She rocked her hips, her breasts bouncing, until she threw her head back and groaned out her second orgasm.
When she collapsed on his chest, Jordan put his arms around her and held her tight. He loved her so much it hurt, but when he decided to tell her, he heard her breathing even into the deep rhythm of sleep.
Pushing her hair from her face he studied her features. Her temples were damp from her exertions, her lips swollen and rosy, her cheeks still flushed. He kissed her forehead and the bridge of her nose. “I love you,” he whispered, and though she didn’t reply she did snuggle closer.
Smiling, Jordan eased her to his side so he could remove the used condom and find the blankets. It took him scant minutes and then he was back, pulling her onto his chest again, determined to keep her as close as possible. Forever.
Her heartbeat echoed in his chest, and with his mind at peace, Jordan dozed off.
GEORGIA WOKE the next morning to an empty bed. She automatically reached for Jordan, but he was gone. Then she heard him singing in his low, sexy voice, and with a smile, she climbed out of bed and wrapped the sheet around her.
His apartment was fabulous. Located over the three-car garage for the main house, it was open and spacious. The bedroom and private bath were the only doorways. The kitchen, breakfast nook and wide living room all flowed into each other. Since the bedroom door was open she could see Jordan at the kitchen sink, measuring out coffee. His broad naked back made her body feel liquid and warm. He wore only a pair of faded jeans riding low on his narrow hips, and even his bare feet looked sexy. Of course he was making coffee, and she smiled.
She’d told him she loved him.
Georgia remembered her declaration with a touch of embarrassment, but decided it didn’t matter. So what that he hadn’t responded in kind? She knew he cared for her, and he and his family were so wonderful….
The phone rang and as Jordan turned to answer it he caught sight of her. Immediately, he forgot about the phone and started toward her with a male determination that had her blushing. “Morning,” he murmured in a suggestive way.
Oh, that sexy just-up voice! Her heart picked up speed and a wave of warmth shook her. “Good morning.”
His smile was so gentle. Combined with a mostly naked superior male body, Jordan Sommerville was very potent! Georgia cleared her throat. “Aren’t you going to get the phone?”
“The answering machine will pick up.”
No sooner did he say it than it happened. Georgia missed the beginning of the message because Jordan kissed her while slowly unwinding the sheet from her body. He held it out to her sides and looked at her in the bright morning sunlight cascading through the kitchen windows.
“You’re so beautiful.”
She thought to tease him about needing glasses, since she knew her hair was tangled and her makeup smudged, but then the person on the phone said, “So as of a few hours ago, the bar is officially shut down. Who knows how long it’ll last, but I knew you’d be happy to hear it. Serving minors is a serious offense, and about the quickest way around to lose your licence. I think we can probably keep him shut down. Anyway, give me a call when you can and I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details.”
They were both frozen, Jordan in what appeared to be satisfaction, Georgia with dawning horror.
She was unemployed.
She yanked the sheet away from Jordan and held it to her chin to cover her nudity. She felt lost and vulnerable and scared. What would she do now? Good God, she couldn’t make the bills without that job! In a daze, Georgia swallowed hard and turned away from Jordan.
He caught her shoulder, and his voice sounded a bit harsh. “Where are you going?”
Blankly, her mind in a muddle, she stared at him. “I have to go find a job. I have to…I don’t know. I have to do something.” Then, before she could stop herself, she whispered, “Jordan, what am I going to do?”
His expression softened, and she wondered if what she saw in his eyes was pity. Details whipped through her mind with the speed of light. Scheduled dental checkups for the kids. The premium on her mother’s health insurance. The gas and electric, the mortgage…. She hadn’t had a chance to save up much money yet. She’d been too busy making repairs. And now…
The sheet fell to the floor, forgotten as she covered her face with her hands, knowing she’d failed yet again. “I have to find a job.” She said it once more, hoping to make herself understand. But she’d already looked everywhere before accepting the work at the bar. Nowhere else had paid enough. For a high school dropout who could only work certain hours because of being a mother, she wasn’t exactly prime employment material.
Jordan’s hands curved around her shoulders, caressing, comforting. “It’s too early to do anything right now. I’ll call the sheriff back in a bit and get all the details, okay?”
The sheriff? Not his brother, so it must have been the one who’d wanted them arrested. She’d known he was watching the bar, that he was fed up with the nightly problems that seemed to erupt….
Jordan interrupted her thoughts. “I have a few solutions, sweetheart. Will you listen to me?”
Georgia realized she’d put her worries onto him; she’d come to depend on him whether she wanted to admit it or not. How had she let that happen?
He’d once offered to let her work for him, but that would be no more than charity and she didn’t think she could stand it. She shook her head as she tried to pull away.
“You will listen,” Jordan stated, and urged her toward his sofa.
“What is there to say? I won’t work for you—”
“You don’t have to.” Jordan gently pushed her into the seat, then plucked up the sheet and handed it to her. Georgia wrapped it around herself; she had all but forgotten she was nude.
“Now just listen.” He caught both her hands and held tight. “You said you wanted options, well here’re two.” He drew a deep breath. “You can marry me.” He waited, watching her closely, and when she only stared at him in shock, his expression hardened. “Or you can teach dance at your own studio.”
That was every bit as confusing as his proposal. Onl
y…he hadn’t really proposed. Not once had he ever said he loved her, only that he wanted her. And last night he’d admitted to respecting her, admiring her…
“Georgia, are you listening to me?”
She blinked. “Yes, but…I don’t have a studio.”
Jordan seemed to be getting angrier by the moment. “I found you one. It’s in the center of town. It used to be a novelty shop, but the owner is retiring and the place is wide and airy and with a little renovation it’d be perfect.”
She sat there, naked but for a sheet, confusion weighing her down. “A novelty shop?”
Jordan grabbed her chin and kissed her hard. He actually trembled he was so furious. “I already agreed to buy the building so you might as well agree.” When she still hesitated, he barked, “You said you enjoy teaching dance, and Misty and Honey assure me there’ll be—”
Incredulous, Georgia shot off the sofa to stare down at him. “You bought me a building?”
He didn’t stand, but instead sprawled back in his seat and put his arms along the sofa back. Every single muscle in his arms and chest and shoulders was defined. “Yes.”
“Ohmigod.” She paced away, but had taken no more than ten steps when she whirled back around to face him. “How can you buy me a building? Nobody buys someone else a building!”
His eyes narrowed. “I also asked you to marry me.”
“No.” Wildly, she shook her head. “You told me I could marry you. It’s not at all the same thing.”
“You want all the fanfare? You want me to go down on one knee?”
“No!” Her head had started to pound and she felt queasy. It would be so easy to marry him, to let him fix everything, but she’d sworn she wouldn’t do that again. She felt wetness on her cheeks and realized she was crying. Her heart ached and she said on a near wail, “I can’t marry you, Jordan. Why would you even suggest such a thing?”
His eyes closed briefly; he rubbed a hand over his face. “You said you loved me.”
“I do, but…you have everything. You have a wonderful supportive family and a great job, an education and respectability, a home and money and—”
He came to his feet so quickly, she yelped and nearly tripped over the trailing sheet. Jordan gripped her arms.
“So that’s what you love about me?” he roared, scaring her half silly. “What I can give you?”
She’d never seen Jordan like this. She’d watched him easily subdue a man twice his size. She’d watched him face off with his brothers. She’d seen Jordan angry and frustrated and deliberately provoking, but she’d never seen him in this type of rage. Oddly enough, though he’d startled her, she wasn’t afraid of him.
“No.” She emphasized that with a tiny shake of her head. “I love you,” she said very quietly, choking on her tears, “because of who you are.”
He stepped up to her until she had to tip her head back to see his face, until his bare chest brushed her knuckles clutching the sheet and his feet were braced on either side of hers. He surrounded her and overwhelmed her and then he whispered, “That’s why I love you, too.”
More tears blurred her vision and she rubbed them away, sniffing and gulping and sounding horribly like a frog. “But I—”
“You’re going to really piss me off,” he informed her, “if you put yourself down again.” She hiccuped on a laugh. Jordan raised one hand to gently smooth her cheek. “Weren’t you listening last night, baby? I love you. I’m crazy nuts about you. My whole family knows it, even my mother. Yes I have all the things you mentioned, but I don’t have you. And without you, I’m not going to be happy.”
“Oh Jordan.” She swallowed hard. “You really love me?”
He shook his head. “What did you think? That I just enjoy giving foot rubs?”
She lost what little control she had on her emotions and dropped the sheet again to throw herself into his arms. “I love you so much.”
“I do, you know,” he whispered. “Enjoy rubbing on you, I mean.” She laughed as he cradled her close. He slid his hands down to her backside and lifted her. “Marry me, Georgia. Let me have you. Let me make your family my own and give you mine and we can both be happy.”
“It…it doesn’t feel right to take that much from you.”
He rocked her into his erection. “Does this feel right?” When she nodded, he kissed her gently. “And this?”
“Jordan…”
“And this?”
Georgia had known from the start that he could seduce with just a few whispered words. Now she had firsthand proof.
EPILOGUE
HEY DAD!”
Jordan looked up from making salad as Lisa came barreling through the front door, followed closely by Adam and two dogs, one a mixed-breed puppy and the other an ancient dachshund. They’d all been outside playing and smelled of sunshine and fresh crisp air. Between the children laughing and the dogs barking, the house was always filled with excitement.
Jordan knelt down and caught the children to him, hugging them fiercely. Life, he thought, was pretty damn good. “Mommy’s home,” Lisa told him, after a loud wet kiss to his cheek.
Seconds later Georgia strolled in. Under her coat, she wore her workout clothes of leotard and tights, guaranteed to make his blood boil. Seeing the skintight outfits affected him more strongly than her stage costumes had.
Of course, nothing affected him as much as her bare, beautiful skin.
He stood, and with the kids still close to his side and the dogs jumping between them, he gave her a long, thorough kiss. “Hi,” he whispered and she smiled back.
Her smiles, he decided, were downright lethal.
“What time is everyone due to arrive?”
Jordan took her coat from her and hung it on the back of an oak chair. Thanks to Gabe’s handyman skills, the remodelled kitchen had become a favorite hangout for everyone. “You have time to shower, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Can I do anything to help you first?”
Jordan went back to preparing his salad. “The sauce you made yesterday is already heating, and the spaghetti will go on as soon as the water starts to boil.” He glanced at the kids. “My assistant chefs can wash their hands and start to work on the garlic bread.”
Lisa grinned up at him. She’d lost another tooth and her words now whistled when she spoke. “Grandma said she’s bringin’ dessert.”
Jordan shook his head. Grandma, he knew darn good and well, was smitten with Mr. Malone, who would also be in attendance. Ruth had moved into his vacated apartments over the garage. Neither he nor Georgia had wanted her to, but she’d insisted on giving them time to be alone. When Misty and Honey had begged her to stay close since the babies loved her so much, she’d agreed. She was now a paid housekeeper/sitter with her own measure of independence, which she loved.
She also loved the way Mr. Malone hung around on the pretense of visiting his daughters, though Sawyer and Morgan were both quite disgruntled by that situation. Jordan sympathized with them. He didn’t understand the attraction at all. Ruth was so sweet and open and loving, but Mr. Malone—they’d known the man for ages and still called him mister—was so detached. Ruth claimed he was softening and that he wasn’t at all detached when they were alone. He wasn’t detached with any of the kids, either, and he was openly impressed with Casey.
Georgia touched his cheek. “You’ve got that protective look about you again.”
Jordan grinned at her. “Do you know how many people will be here tonight?” When she shook her head, sidetracked just as he’d hoped, he said, “Fourteen, if we include all the kids. When you add the four of us, that’s a lot of confusion. Are you sure you’re up to this after working all day?”
Adam crossed his arms in the same pose Jordan used. “We’ll need lots of garlic bread!”
Georgia laughed. “Yes, I’m up to it, and yes, we’ll need lots of bread.” Then to Jordan, “You know dancing doesn’t tire me. Just the opposite, I always feel energized after a class.”
In the two months since their small, quiet marriage, Georgia had gotten her studio set up and filled to the maximum with students. She taught not only dance classes for the fun of it, but also aerobics. She had people of all ages coming throughout the day. And true to her word, she was always bursting with energy.
Especially in the bedroom.
Jordan had to pull his thoughts away from that direction or he’d never survive the massive family gathering. Georgia left to shower and dress and a few minutes later all the relatives started to arrive.
He wasn’t surprised to see Casey with yet another beautiful young lady. He seldom saw the same girl twice these days, and other than a few surprise meetings, Emma hadn’t been around.
At her first bite of dinner, Georgia smiled at Jordan and said, “Delicious. You really are perfect at everything, aren’t you?”
Jordan grinned. He was used to her saying that, but obviously his family wasn’t.
Morgan choked on his spaghetti, then doubled over laughing. “Maybe perfect for you,” he laughed, “but I think old Jordan is plenty flawed. Now Malone, she prefers men with a little more steel, don’t ya, sweetheart?”
Misty pretended she hadn’t heard him, though everyone could see her trying not to smile. Amber said, “Daddy’s nasty.”
Sawyer shook his head. “Can’t you control him, Misty? He gets more outrageous by the day.”
“Look who’s talking!” Morgan said.
Sawyer was trying to eat and love on his wife and son at the same time. His mother took Shohn so she and Brett could spoil him just a bit, and Honey found her chair bumping up against her husband’s.
Gabe tipped Elizabeth’s chair toward him and kissed her hard. She didn’t even try to fight him off. Adam mimicked their smooching sounds until everyone laughed. Lisa announced to the table at large that her grandma and Mr. Malone were playing footsie beneath the table.
Casey sat back in his seat and watched them all with an indulgent smile. Things sure had changed over the past few years, and he loved it. He missed having Jordan so close, but they visited often, and it was obvious Jordan was as happy as a man could be. His father and uncles had all found the perfect women for them.