by Maggie Cox
What a question!
He rubbed a hand round his beard-roughened jaw. Rocks on the desert floor couldn’t have been more uncomfortable. He’d tossed and turned so much that he felt every single day of his thirty-six years this morning. And little Miss Hole-in-her-Stocking wasn’t helping, with her cheery wide-awake tone that conveyed she’d slept like a baby…
‘No, I didn’t,’ he growled.
There was no response.
For a few moments Jake thought his guest had returned to the kitchen. Then, to his surprise, the door opened and she walked into the bedroom. Wearing tight faded jeans, and a loose-fitting white T-shirt with clearly no bra underneath it, Caitlin fixed him with a tentative gaze. A soft flush suffused her cheeks when the corners of his mouth crooked upwards in a smile.
‘Something wrong?’ he asked huskily.
‘You said that you didn’t sleep?’
The way she said it let him know she was concerned, guilty, or both. It was too good an opportunity to waste and Jake wasn’t a man who ever let a good opportunity sail by without grabbing onto it.
‘Yeah…I might just stay put for a while longer and catch up a little.’
Caitlin couldn’t take her eyes off Jake’s heavenly chest. He was all lean, rippling muscle, rock-hard stomach and tanned flesh. With his sexy tousled hair and sleepy-eyed expression, the man was as handsome and seductive as a mythical warrior. And what did she think she was doing, daring to come into his room and stare at him as if she’d come to pay homage to one of the gods?
It was perhaps inevitable that he should pat the space next to him in the luxurious bed and suggest, ‘Why don’t you come and join me?’
‘I slept well. I don’t need any more rest.’
‘Did I mention rest?’
Caitlin swallowed hard. ‘No, but…it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of room,’ she said nervously.
Suddenly she was so aroused that it was impossible to pretend indifference. Jake was one sexy, charismatic specimen and she was only human. Could she help it if her neglected libido was nearing boiling point and needing resolution? Heat was already seeping up her thighs, between her legs, making her moist, while the sensitive tips of her nipples tingled painfully against her shirt.
‘You underneath, me on top…how much room do we need?’ Jake parried seductively, his blue eyes drowsy with desire. ‘We can make it work.’
It was an outrageous suggestion and Caitlin didn’t dare take him up on it…did she?
Glancing up at the faint morning light filtering through the slats of the rolled-down blinds, she was suddenly consumed by an avalanche of doubt. And not just doubt at her ability to get herself out of trouble when the situation demanded it, but at putting her common sense versus a desire so red-hot it was already burning her.
The sheer, unmitigated sensual tug of Jake sitting up in bed, with his chest bared and his eyes goading her towards something so deliciously sinful that it made her weak just thinking about it, was in the end too hard to resist.
With her heart thudding, she replied, ‘I’ve never…I’ve never gone in for casual sex. I just wanted you to know that. Do you have some protection?’
He stared. ‘I’ve got everything we need right here.’
Jake had known he’d finally lost his battle against temptation as soon as Caitlin had walked into the room. The longing to hold her in his arms and to know her intimately had finally overridden all sense of right and wrong.
He wasn’t aiming to hurt either her or the band. He had too much respect for all of them for that. He was merely following an irresistible impulse that wouldn’t be denied. That said, there would be nothing casual about sex between him and Caitlin. Even though she was gorgeous—the ultimate male fantasy come to life—Jake admired her for the courageous woman she was.
He sighed with pleasure. Beneath the thin protection of her virginal white shirt her aroused nipples were practically drilling a hole through the material, and he knew that if he touched her at the apex between her delectable thighs she would be hot and ready for him straight away. The thought slowed and thickened the blood coursing through his veins. It was like being drip-fed with unadulterated honey. And he was so desperate for her, so hungry, that if she didn’t soon join him he seriously thought he might explode.
Her hands were shaking as Caitlin undid the zipper on her jeans and stepped out of them. Then she nervously moved towards the edge of the bed, dressed in nothing but the T-shirt and white cotton panties. The scalding, hungry gaze that Jake pinned her with was so blatantly carnal she thought she would melt. No man had ever looked at her with such unfettered desire in his eyes before, with such wild, primitive heat.
Low-voiced, he murmured, ‘Why don’t you take off your shirt’
What’s a girl to do? Caitlin thought wildly. Then simply did as he asked.
A carnal whirlpool had rolled over her, snatching her up in its maelstrom so completely that there was nothing she could do but give up struggling and let it carry her where it would.
Her movements were unknowingly sensual and provocative as she pulled her shirt over her head to remove it. Her full, perfectly rounded breasts with their dusky dark nipples jutted towards him and every delectable line and curve of her sexy body was revealed in all its glory. Her small, slender waist, the voluptuous swell of her hips and her smooth, shapely thighs all came under his hungry scrutiny as he gazed his fill.
When she finally removed the shirt and let it fall to the floor her flowing dark hair drifted silkily across her breasts and partially hid them from view.
‘Shall I take these off too?’ she asked shyly, indicating the white panties.
‘No.’ Jake reached towards her and pulled her firmly down onto the bed. ‘That particular pleasure is going to be mine.’
With her hair spilling wildly across her face, Caitlin gulped down a shocked breath as he slid expert hands down over her hips and practically ripped off the flimsy underwear.
‘Jake, I—’ But whatever she’d intended saying next was cut off by the hot press of his mouth and the skilful invasion of his tongue seeking hers as his heavily aroused manhood pressed deeply into her soft belly.
Her senses were all but overwhelmed by his intoxicating heat and the erotic masculine scents of his body. One of his hands slid across her breast, rubbing and kneading the already inflamed nipple, nipping and squeezing until she gasped her pleasure into his mouth and bucked her hips against his. It was clear they were singing from the same song-sheet. His mouth closing over her nipple, Jake suckled hard and Caitlin whimpered her delight.
Lifting his head, he breathed, ‘I’ve got to take care of something…’
Reaching across to a nearby chair, where he’d left his jeans, he delved into a pocket and withdrew a foil packet. He wasted no time in expertly tearing it open. Sheathed in the protection, Jake turned his attention back to Caitlin, kneeing her slim thighs apart to insert an explorative finger into her moist heat.
Even as she gasped, she knew she was more than ready for him, and was gratified when he positioned his sex and thrust assuredly inside her. Her thoughts utterly deserted her as she drowned in an ecstatic pleasure like no other she’d ever experienced. The sheer emotion she felt at the wonder of it caused her eyes to fill with tears. Then she cried out as Jake’s mouth found the hollow between her neck and shoulder and bit her there.
His lips sought hers again and his kiss was deep and hard as he thrust into her mouth with his tongue even as his sex filled her and he felt her scalding satin heat engulf him. If he died right now he’d die happy. He’d never experienced pleasure or desire like it. Beneath him, Caitlin writhed and moaned, her breath released in hot little gasps that seared his skin, and when she raised her hips to welcome him even more deeply, and suddenly convulsed round him, she cried out for a second time and he saw that her beautiful emerald eyes were moist with tears. Her expression was stunned. She looked like a woman who had never experienced the full orgasmic impact of climax
before.
The mere thought undid Jake. Within seconds he was thrusting even deeper, whispering against her ear how beautiful she was, how perfect. Then his own desire and need reached its crescendo and he was swept away on a cascade of a joy so fierce and so perfect that he had no words to describe it. In fact it stunned him to silence.
His blue eyes glittering with feeling, he manoeuvred himself carefully to lie down beside her and with his fingers gently traced the exquisite line of her jaw. ‘Caitlin?’
‘What?’
Jake was stroking her ear, securing a silken strand of long ebony hair behind it. Gazing back into the incandescent eyes that looked like bewitching green fire, he silently acknowledged that he’d never experienced such depth and strength of emotion lying with a woman before. He only knew that he had the sense of feeling strangely privileged.
‘I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.’
Even as his words lifted her spirits higher than they’d ever been lifted before, Caitlin was already missing the warm heavy press of his body. She wanted to tell him to come back, to love her again and never stop… Only the icy fronds of harsh reality swept through her like winter just then.
She thought, But he doesn’t love me, does he? All we enjoyed together just now was great sex.
The fact that she’d never even got close to orgasm with Sean, and that more often than not she’d seen to her own needs after the event, would hardly register with Jake. Besides, a properly committed relationship wasn’t what he was looking for, was it? They both knew that. When he stopped desiring her body Caitlin would just have to learn to concentrate all her energies on her singing and view him solely as Blue Sky’s manager.
Could she do that? Could she cut off her emotions so easily when what had just taken place between her and Jake had been nothing less than earth-shattering? Her whole world had been utterly changed forever. Did he realise that just the merest touch from him was enough to set her on fire, to make her need him as much as she needed to breathe?
Glancing back into his steady blue gaze, she wondered how it was possible for a man to have such luxuriant long lashes and still be so incredibly masculine. Perhaps it was the hard, lean jaw, with that slight indentation in the chin, or was it the exquisitely shaped mouth with the slightly fuller lower lip? A mouth made for passion…for the erotic pleasures only shared by lovers.
Of course it went without saying that Jake must have had a few of those…perhaps more than Caitlin cared to know about. Right now the thought of even one was enough to make her heart jolt sickeningly.
‘That’s high praise, coming from a man like you,’ she answered, affecting a light, breezy tone to shield her true feelings from him.
He frowned. ‘What do you mean, a man like me?’
‘I just mean you must have known many beautiful women. I won’t kid myself that I’m particularly special.’
Now his handsome visage looked perturbed. ‘Hey. Why say that? Don’t you know how much pleasure you’ve just given me? You mesmerise and intoxicate me, Caitlin. Sharing what we just shared was beyond wonderful.’
Caitlin couldn’t help but smile—even as she came to a distressing conclusion about what she had to do for both their sakes.
‘Thank you. I’m glad you think that. I thought so too. But now I think we should both come back down to earth, don’t you?’
Lightly removing Jake’s hand from where it lay across her stomach, she rolled over and leant down to pick up the clothes she’d discarded on the floor.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
He sounded surprised, upset. Not immediately answering, Caitlin stepped into her panties, then got to her feet. She hurriedly pulled on her T-shirt and quickly got into her jeans, sensing him watching her broodingly.
‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Why the sudden urgency to get up when we can take our time? We can stay here all day if we want. There’s no hurry.’
Combing back her hair with trembling fingers, she turned to face him.
‘I suddenly came to my senses, that’s all. Hopefully, now that we’ve got this out of our system, we can get back to normal and concentrate on work. I think we should both ensure that what happened between us won’t happen again, Jake. From now on our relationship should be strictly about the band. Now that I’m clear about our priorities I’ll go and get a quick shower and then make some coffee.’ She started to move towards the door.
‘Forget the damn coffee, woman!’ Jake threw back the covers on the bed, to all intents and purposes coming after her. ‘Come back here and get into bed.’
‘Why?’ Despite her resolution not to let herself down by crying, Caitlin knew her eyes were already filling with tears. ‘So that I can be even more reckless and stupid than I’ve been already?’
When he didn’t answer but instead shook his head, as if her outburst was totally incomprehensible, she flew out through the door without another word and headed determinedly for the bathroom.
CHAPTER NINE
I’M SORRY I DIDN’T talk to you a bit more about how I felt. Silently rehearsing the words, Caitlin wished she’d said them out loud to Jake before he’d abruptly left the flat that morning to go God only knew where.
He’d barely acknowledged her when he got up, and when he’d emerged from the bathroom he’d simply told her he was going out for a while and slammed the door. His cold manner had made her want to curl up into a little ball and disappear. Even as he’d moved towards the door Caitlin had wanted to plead with him to stay.
It was evident that she’d soured things by getting out of bed and declaring that they should come back down to earth and concentrate on the band. Even though it was the sensible thing to do, the right thing, she knew it wouldn’t make either of them happy. How could it, when the intensity of their lovemaking had clearly demonstrated how strong their attraction was? Would doing the right thing help them to deny it?
Weary with going over the same ground over and over again without resolution, she diverted her restless energy with undertaking a little light cleaning round the flat. Although it was obvious that the fashionably minimalist living quarters barely needed it, to Caitlin’s mind it was better to do something rather than sit there twiddling her thumbs and worrying herself sick about what had happened.
She would never regret their lovemaking. How could she ever regret revelling in the joy of being a woman, in the power of her body to give and receive such mind-blowing pleasure as she had done with Jake? Their brief union had stirred feelings and emotions long buried, and she couldn’t be angry about that. Not when her body still glowed and throbbed with the attention he’d given her.
And even if he hadn’t been motivated by love, the truth was…Caitlin had. There was no longer any point in denying it.
Locating a vacuum cleaner and duster, she cleaned the flat to within an inch of its life. When all the surfaces gleamed to her satisfaction, and the living room sang with the scent of beeswax, she opened the windows to allow fresh air to circulate. Then she went into the kitchen to make herself some toast and coffee.
Her appetite taken care of, she retreated to the living room to browse a lone copy of a glossy music magazine. Her attention was immediately caught by an interesting little snippet ringed in red. It was all about Jake.
What’s former music promoter and artist supremo Jake Sorenson up to these days? Rumour has it he’s gone back to his roots and is managing a tight little foursome called Blue Sky. After the lead songstress Marcie Wallace recently walked out, a little bird told yours truly that the search is on for a dazzling new diva to replace her.
All we know is that she’ll have to be pretty exceptional to meet Jake’s well-known exacting standards. Remember that this is the man who made his fortune bringing world-class bands Soft Rain and The Butterfly Net to prominence, then dropped out into self-imposed obscurity for five years after a vindictive exposé by his ex, Jodie Parks.
Knowing Mr Sorenson’s fam
ed proclivity for discovering matchless talent, we’d seriously advise watching this space…
‘“Dazzling diva”? Are they serious?’
Chewing anxiously on the inside of her cheek, Caitlin dropped the magazine onto the small mahogany table as though she’d suddenly been burnt. Because the idea of her being a diva in any shape or form was preposterous.
She leant back into the cream-coloured futon and gathered a cushion close to try and absorb the shock and disbelief that rolled through her. Yes, she’d made a good start with the band—she’d dipped her toe in the water and got her feet wet, and the enthusiastic reception from the audience last night had been more, much more than she’d hoped for. But could she come up with the goods night after night for the next three weeks without letting herself and the others down?
Her fingers tentatively stroked down the sensitive skin of her throat. She’d have to seriously think about taking better care of her voice, for one thing. That aside, her most pressing thought right now was Jake. Where on earth had he got to? Was he still mad at her for deserting him so abruptly this morning?
It stunned her to realise that she was in love with him. She hadn’t been in the market for a relationship and hadn’t intended to be for a very long time. But then she’d never dreamed fate would bring a man like Jake into her life. A man who one minute wanted her as much as he wanted to take his next breath and the next…
Her insides knotted anxiously, and because the feeling so unsettled her she jumped up and went in search of some window cleaner and a cloth and started to clean the windows.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Caitlin nearly fell off the chair she was precariously balanced on. Even with its aid, the glass corners of the window frame were particularly tricky to get to. But it was hard to believe she’d been so absorbed that she’d somehow blotted out the sound of Jake’s key in the door and had therefore been unprepared for his appearance.