3 Seductions and a Wedding

by Julie Leto

  He loved her so deeply. So completely. She could see the emotion in his eyes as clearly as she could see the ocean floor in a crystal-blue Caribbean sea. But she could not base her decision on his eyes. His every action over the past ten years, his every word and joke and traded barb had declared how his feelings for her had not changed, despite his one transgression—a transgression she still did not understand.

  “Leo, what did you do to make you want to get drunk that night?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut, then rolled away from her. She started to protest, but he flipped on a reading light, opened a drawer beside the bed and took out a long wooden box, like the kind her father used to have to hold spare change and shirt stays and the tie clips he never wore.

  But there was none of that detritus inside Leo’s box. There was nothing but a second box, battered and dented in a corner, but unmistakably covered in cheap, red velvet.

  Her breath froze. She stared at him, disbelieving, but he inhaled deeply and pressed on. The box opened with a squeak and inside was a diamond solitaire ring with barely a chip of the precious stone in the center.

  “I bought this,” he confessed. “I was going to ask you to marry me.”

  Jessie covered her mouth with her hand, willing her emotions in check. She’d been proposed to twice before, but never like this—never with a ring chosen by a man who loved her so completely.

  “How did you afford it?”

  “Well, it wasn’t worth much,” he confessed.

  She laughed, but only for a second. “But back then—”

  “My dad gave me some cash for a new car, since mine was always conking out when I needed to get to work. But do you remember that weekend before? When you got a job house-sitting for that professor your mother knew.”

  God, how could Jessie have forgotten? She and Leo had played house for three days straight, cooking meals together, reading magazines by the pool and making love in just about every private space available indoors and out. They’d been wild, reckless and insane.

  But crazy enough to propose marriage when they were both barely in their twenties and still in school?

  “You used the money to buy a ring? For me?”

  He nodded, but his nostalgic smile offset the look in his eyes that confirmed how out of his mind he’d been.

  “I just wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. I went to that pawn shop on 56th Street and found this, but my car broke down a block away from campus and I realized I hadn’t thought the decision through. I wanted to be married to you, but I was supposed to be young and free and a twenty-year-old college guy who went to parties and—”

  “Drank too much,” she filled in.

  He nodded. “Jess, I love you. That never changed, not for an instant. I was a stupid idiot. It’s my fault everything fell apart and I—”

  She silenced him with three fingers over his amazing, sexy lips. “You don’t need to apologize anymore.”

  Her emotions attempted to choke her, but she held them back. All except forgiveness. And acceptance. And, because it snuck in at the last minute—regret.

  “But I am sorry, Jess,” he insisted. “I can never make up for how I hurt you.”

  She forced a smile in an attempt to waylay the tears stinging her eyes. “You could try.”

  He didn’t laugh, but instead ran his hand through her hair, curving the strands away from her cheeks and forehead, as if he needed to see absolutely every part of her face to gauge if she was telling the truth. “You’re sure?”

  “No ropes necessary this time,” she whispered. “Just make love with me, Leo. Real love.”

  “Okay,” he said, faking reluctance until she smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “But first, you have to wear this.”

  The years had filled out her fingers so that the tiny gold band with the sparkly chip in the center only fit around her pinky, but tears still spilled from her eyes as he slid the ring onto her hand. He asked no questions; she gave no answers. There was nothing left to say.

  He curved his fingers around her chin and lifted her mouth to his. He barely touched her lips the first time, but in slow degrees, with a succession of nips and tastes, turned the kiss into something wonderful and intimate and new, as if they hadn’t just had sex a few hours ago, as if they’d somehow gone back in time to the moment so long ago on that private Key West island when they’d frolicked in the ocean, splashing and teasing and taunting until the sexual tension erupted into a passion that had burned so hot, it had scarred them both.

  But while this kiss evoked the past, it was also nervous, awkward and untried. Jessie learned his mouth all over again. They bumped noses twice. But after concentrating and exploring and practicing for what seemed like hours but was likely only a few minutes, they discovered a rhythm that drew them together like the waves and the sand.

  Not the rhythm from the past, but a new song, a new beat, a new experience.

  A new love.

  Jessie found her hands not wanting to leave his chest, where she could feel his heartbeat thudding through his warm muscles. She kissed her way across his torso, loving the taste of his skin, reveling in the way her mouth and tongue made him weak with wanting. Soon, he was beneath her, surrendered and compliant, allowing her full access to every part of him, which she took with outright greed.

  His nipples were short and tight in her mouth. His hot skin scorched her tongue as she descended his body. The musky scent of his sex made her dizzy. She lazily licked the full length of him, emboldened by his groans of pleasure and frustration. She flicked her tongue across the tip of his head, tasting a salty pearl and knowing he was utterly under her control.

  When she took him completely into her mouth, it broke the last of their reserve. She sucked him hard, caressing his balls and stroking his length until he grumbled her name in a tone that reminded her of thunder. Seconds later, his hands were on her, caressing her breasts, plucking her nipples and tearing through her hair with such abandon, she knew he was close to the edge. But she didn’t want him to come anywhere but inside her. She slowed her tempo to slow, languorous licks.

  “Jessie,” he beckoned.

  She kissed her way up his body, landing last on his lips, which she nipped with as much gentle adoration as he had given her. He fumbled beneath her to reach the bedside drawer again. This time he withdrew protection, which she took from him.

  Once sheathed, he grasped her hips and moved to twist her beneath him. She stopped him with a hand to his chest.

  “Oh, no,” she said, her voice brimming with promise. “This is my show this time.” She leaned forward and undulated her hips until her natural moistness met the lubricated tip of his erection. “Now, tell me you love me.”

  “You know I do,” he said, his words sharp and staccato as he drew in unsteady breaths.

  “I want to hear the words, Leo. More than I ever wanted to hear your apology, I want to hear how you—”

  “God, Jess,” he interrupted, his hands adoring her body while his eyes made mad, passionate love to her soul. “I love you. I love you more than any words could ever express. I love you more than…”

  She tilted her hips so that she slid onto him and the rest of his sentiment was lost in a maelstrom of sensations that silenced them both.

  10

  “YOU LOSE,” Leo said shortly after his cell phone rang before dawn on Thursday morning and his caller ID identified the person on the other end as Drew Brighton.

  Okay, so it was bad form to brag, and probably even a worse transgression to kiss and tell, but he figured that Jessie wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like the whole world wasn’t going to know of their reunion in less than twenty-four hours once they returned to Tampa and broke the news to Cooper and Bianca that not only had their best friends planned a surprise wedding for them, they’d also kissed and made up.

  And then some.

  They’d woken early to share the sunrise, having finished prepping the house for the honeymoon in record time—whi
ch wasn’t unexpected, since Leo had hired a team to come in the week before and do all the heavy lifting. All he and Jessie had to do was stock the fridge with delicacies such as champagne and caviar, replace the dusty cotton sheets in the master suite with silk ones (which they also did in the guest room, much to their own enjoyment) and transfer a few of the unused sexual aids they’d brought on the boat into the master suite.

  Not that much was left. Some massage oil. A few ticklish feathers. A pair of cushioned handcuffs. Child’s play compared to the games he and Jessie had been enjoying in between sailing and preparing for the wedding, making up for lost time.

  “I don’t believe you,” Drew said.

  “Here.” Leo handed the phone to Jessie, who’d been standing behind him, her arms wrapped around his waist impatiently, since Drew’s call had interrupted what was going to be a very leisurely dinner of freshly caught lobster, followed by a second round of Truth or Dare, after the first had been interrupted last night when the dares became much more interesting than any truths.

  “Hey, Drew,” she answered. “You should know better than to bet against a guy like Leo. I learned that lesson the hard way. Well, not so hard. Unless you consider his—”

  She laughed when Drew’s objection to the direction of her sentence echoed loudly over the phone.

  Leo chuckled along with her, never imagining that he could be this happy. Yeah, he’d come into this venture to win Jessie back with a boatload of confidence, but even winners took a tick in the L column every so often. Luckily for him, Jessie had proved not so much an opponent as a teammate. Working with her, whether it was on adjusting the sails to lean them more heavily into the wind or deciding which scented candles their best friends would enjoy the most in the large master bath with the whirlpool tub, they’d bickered without malice, compromised with ease and made love until they could barely stand.

  After only a few days, their decade apart had seemed like minutes. Or perhaps, like a horrible dream. Even now, as Jess chatted with Bianca’s brother on the cell phone, he had trouble keeping his hands off her. His palms itched to touch her. His ears ached to hear those tiny moans of pleasure and satisfaction that let him know she was seconds away from an orgasm. His heartbeat intensified at the sound of her laughter or the gentle sniffles that accompanied her tears.

  “Yes, I know all about your little bet,” Jessie said, sliding her free hand over Leo’s cheek while he tried to decide if nibbling on her neck while she was on the phone was a punishable offense. And if so, which was the best punishment for him to choose? “Leo told me everything. Including how you plan to seduce Annie Rush. You do realize that she’s—”

  Apparently, Drew cut her off. Leo knew the kid didn’t care how much older Annie was or that she had two children or that she was the sister of the man who was about to marry into his family. Leo appreciated Drew’s determination to not only beat the odds, but everyone’s expectations that he’d fail. Leo had been there, done that and come home with the cup.

  “Yeah, I was thinking about a trip to Las Vegas, actually,” Jessie crooned. “Who better to go with than Leo, a man who has an incredible capacity for sin?”

  Her voice fairly purred and Leo grabbed for the phone. He was rewarded for taking the conversation out of her hands by her unbuttoning his shirt and smoothing her now free fingers over his chest.

  Leo cleared his throat and attempted to end his call to Drew as quickly as possible.

  “This wasn’t a fair competition,” Drew complained.

  “All’s fair in love and war,” Leo quoted.

  “Yeah, but Annie and I haven’t even left for New York yet.”

  “Well, Jessie says she wants to go to Vegas and right now, I’m not in the mood to deny her anything.”

  He didn’t know if Drew could hear her wicked giggle, but as her fingers deftly worked the top of his jeans, Leo didn’t much care.

  “Okay, then let’s amend the bet,” Drew proposed. “Give me a chance to get back in the game. If I’ve got Annie on my arm once we arrive back in Tampa, you get your flight to Vegas and I get my trip to Turks and Caicos.”

  Jessie tugged down Leo’s jeans and was toying wickedly with the top of his boxers.

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you want,” Leo said, his voice cracking before he added, “Good luck,” and ended the call.

  Jessie splayed her hands on his chest, running them down his abdomen, then back up to his shoulders. “You didn’t just agree to extend your bet with Drew, did you? You shouldn’t bet against Annie.”

  Leo tossed his phone aside and divested Jessie of the top of her bikini. Once he had her breasts buoyed in his hands and the curve of her neck at the mercy of his mouth, he couldn’t have cared less about anyone else’s romantic relationship. But at the same time, he was on the top of the world. Why shouldn’t Annie and Drew find the same ecstasy if that was what was in the cards?

  “I’m not betting against Annie,” he murmured against her skin. “I’m betting on love.”

  She speared her hands through his hair. “I’d forgotten how romantic you are.”

  “Then why don’t we find a comfortable spot somewhere in this huge house and I’ll spend the rest of the day reminding you?”

  Take This Man

  1

  ANNIE SWALLOWED HARD, trying not to salivate as Drew Brighton strode toward her from across the parking lot. Suddenly, the private airfield where they’d arranged to meet seemed tightly enclosed rather than wide-open to the sky. Dawn was at least a half an hour away but the light standing sentinel above her van illuminated him just enough to make her insides flutter. Long, sandy-brown hair. Perfect shoulders. Cocky stride. And his face—if she’d known him back when she was taking pictures for a living, she could have switched to fashion photography and made a mint off his cheekbones alone.

  Hell, with his lips and fawn-colored eyes, she could have bought a Cessna aircraft like the one sitting on the other side of the hangar. Sleek and modern and powered by twin jet engines, she’d spied their ride on her way into the airport and she couldn’t help but compare the man to the machine. Both were powerful and more than likely, both were fast. But where the aircraft wore its skin taut to its frame, Drew preferred a leisurely mode of dress. His shirt, a loose-fitting cotton button-down with dark green alligators on off-white fabric, only hinted at the musculature underneath—pecs, abs, delts and obliques that she’d memorized just over a year ago when the company he owned, the appropriately named Hunks With A Truck, had transported all her worldly possessions from Jacksonville to Tampa.

  At the time, watching him tote one end of her peanut-butter-and-jelly-stained couch, shirtless and sweaty, had made her feel like one of those desperate “cougars” she’d read about in women’s magazines.

  Now, with the next forty-eight hours free of all encumbrances and responsibilities except to make sure that her future sister-in-law looked gorgeous on her wedding day and irresistible on her wedding night, the memory made Annie want to growl. And possibly pounce.

  But those instincts weren’t going to hasten them to New York City and Annie, who hadn’t been north of the Mason-Dixon Line in eight years, couldn’t wait to get into the air. She tamped down her suddenly reignited libido and gave Drew her sweetest smile.

  Unfortunately, he only had eyes for her luggage.

  “You know,” he said, pushing his long hair out of his eyes with the kind of casual grace only a man in his twenties could master, “I might make a living as a mover, but I was kinda hoping to get this week off.”

  She looked at her baggage and tried to remember the days when she could survive weeks in Thailand on a single pair of jeans, two T-shirts and a thong.

  “I didn’t know what I’d need,” she said. “So I guess I just brought everything.”

  He gave the largest bag an exploratory lift.

  “Got your driver’s license in this thing?” he asked.

  “No, it’s in my purse,” she said, indicating the massive leather tote tha
t, a long time ago, had been her favorite camera bag. And after that, a diaper bag. Now, it was an all-purpose carrier of everything from water bottles to chewing gum to a confiscated slingshot and a half-eaten bag of Doritos.

  “And your favorite lip gloss?” he continued.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I have a sister, which means I know that no self-respecting woman goes anywhere without her favorite lip gloss,” he explained with a full-on, melt-your-insides smile that must have been lethal to girls his age. It was doing amazing things to her and she was old enough to be…well, his older sister. Maybe even his cool aunt.

  She tried to quell a chuckle, but failed. She did indeed have a favorite gloss. It was a boring shade of taupe, but had just enough gold sparkle mixed in to make her feel pretty when she most needed it and a faint chocolate flavor that made it worth the trouble of application.

  “Also in the purse,” she replied.

  “I sense a pattern.”

  He picked up her smallest suitcase.

  “Personal items,” she said before he asked.

  He nodded, slung the overnight bag onto his shoulder, then tossed her big bag filled with jeans, sweaters, a couple of pairs of pants and one nice blouse, in addition to pajamas, a selection of snacks and extra antibacterial wipes into her minivan and slammed the door shut.

  “Hey!” she protested.

  He fished her keys out of her purse and pressed the lock function. “Did you really need all that stuff, or are you just so accustomed to not going anywhere without the entire contents of Walmart that you did it on reflex?”

  She opened her mouth to deny his accusation, but shut it promptly. He was right. The motto of the Boy Scouts might be Be Prepared, but she was fairly certain it had been coined by the first Boy Scout’s mother.

  “What about my clothes?”