Slow Burn: Seducing Mr. RightTake Me

by Cherry Adair

  She was asleep in moments, her fragrant hair tickling his face as it blew about in the warm breeze through the open window. Well, hell, Joshua thought, wanting to laugh out loud. She believed him. No fuss. No muss. He leaned his head against the plush leather upholstery, closing his burning eyes. How the hell could such an uncomplicated woman be so damned difficult to understand?

  When she’d said earlier, oh, so casually, that she was taken until December, he’d checked a surge of anger. She didn’t have to be so damn complacent about the temporariness of their arrangement. Joshua scrubbed his face with his hand. She turned him inside out, then left him swinging. And somehow she made him think he liked it!

  As the gates to the estate skimmed open, Joshua recalled a conversation he’d had with his lawyer just before he’d left for New York last week. Apparently his wife wanted more money. The only time Joshua ever heard from her was when she contacted Felix to up the ante. A small price to pay for a trouble-free invisible wife.

  “Jesus, Felix,” Joshua had griped. “What’s she trying to do, squeeze me dry?”

  Felix had looked serious as he’d handed the paperwork over for Joshua to sign. “Hardly. You’d give an employee an annual raise. Why not your wife?”

  “I’m giving her enough to support a small country now, for God’s sake!”

  He might not remember anything about the girl, but she had served her purpose. He’d made her a promise. “All right, Felix. Give her what the hell she wants.”

  He was a man of his word, as many people had learned to their regret.

  Joshua carried Jessie into the house and upstairs without disturbing her sleep. She would be awake soon enough.

  * * *

  JOSHUA HADN’T MENTIONED Megan Howell all week. He’d been more intense than usual, more serious. Jessie thought he watched her as if he were trying to read her mind.

  He called her in the middle of the day several days after the party and told her to pack a bag. They were going to Tahoe for a long weekend.

  Jessie nibbled the cap of her pen, wrapping the telephone cord around her hand. “How many bedrooms does your cabin have?” she asked innocently.

  “One.” Joshua sounded amused. “How many do we need?”

  “That depends on if I have to haul my butt out of bed at 3:00 a.m.,” she said carefully. The cord left red marks on her fingers and she unwound herself, listening carefully to his tone.

  There was a slight pause, so slight that if she hadn’t been listening for something, she wouldn’t have heard it. “I’ll throw away the alarm for the weekend.”

  Jessie laughed. “How soon can you pick me up?”

  They flew to Tahoe in Joshua’s Lear. He didn’t want to waste time driving. A shiny black Range Rover waited for them at the airfield when they arrived.

  The cabin was far from a log shack in the hills. It was built of cedar with a wall of glass facing the north shore of Lake Tahoe. It was luxurious, with an enormous bedroom cantilevered over a naturally terraced lawn. The living room and kitchen overlooked towering pine trees and the shimmering blue lake.

  Despite the corporate colors, the cabin was less decorated than his other residences, more casual and conducive to relaxing. And there was only one phone. Jessie was thrilled.

  Joshua carried their suitcases into the bedroom and came into the kitchen for a snack. “You know what the best thing about you is?” He nuzzled her neck.

  “What?” Jessie ran short nails through his silky, dark hair as he pressed her lower body against the stainless steel sink behind her. She nibbled at his chin.

  “You never ask me for anything.”

  The one thing I want, you haven’t been able to give me, Jessie thought, turning her face up for his kiss while her heart squeezed hard. There was no use dwelling on it. When it happened it happened.

  His open-neck blue shirt was the exact color of his eyes and she had ogled him the whole time she fixed the cheese-and-tomato sandwiches. “Actually, there is something I want,” she teased, her finger trailing to the top button of his shirt.

  “Lord, woman, you’re insatiable.”

  “I can’t help myself.” Jessie pretended to pout. “I just love it.” She fluttered her lashes, trying not to giggle. “I think...yep, I think it might be one of my most favorite things in the world.”

  “Take me, I’m your...” He started dramatically then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Just what is it you love, you little tease?”

  Jessie laughed. “Gambling.” She stood on her tiptoes and twined her arms around his neck. He smelled of pine and clean air, the stiffness had eased from his shoulders while they were in flight, and the lines of strain had left his face by the time they landed. He smiled down at her indulgently, obviously amused and perfectly relaxed. Her eyes sparkled as she lured him closer, still laughing as she avoided his tickling fingers. She danced backward. “Can we go gambling? Can we, huh, huh?”

  Joshua laughingly agreed. It was only after they were in the car and halfway around the lake that Jessie said mildly, “I think it’s time you bought a pair of jeans. You look as if you’re ready to play polo.”

  “One does not wear summer-weight wool slacks to play polo, Jess. One wears breeches to play polo,” he pointed out drolly as he pulled into a frighteningly large shopping mall at Jessie’s urging. He couldn’t remember when last he’d shopped for clothing for himself. Years. Normally his secretary called a clothier in London or Milan, and they’d send him what he needed.

  Clothes shopping with Jessie was a surprisingly pleasant experience. She didn’t dawdle about making selections. She knew exactly what she was looking for and didn’t linger if the shop they were in didn’t have it. Two hours later, Joshua was the recipient of three pairs of jeans and several shirts he wouldn’t have looked at twice if he’d been on his own. He’d tried to tell her he only wore blue or white.

  Jessie had coerced several mall-walking senior citizens to come into the store to give him their opinions. How could he win against Jessie Adams at her best, and several blue-haired little old ladies?

  After depositing his new purchases in the hands of the owner of the local laundromat they went to lunch.

  “I hate to ask—” Joshua toyed with her fingers on the bare oak table as they waited for their spaghetti to arrive “—but why did we just purchase clothing that needs to be laundered before I wear it?”

  “The jeans have to be prewashed a couple of times before they feel slouchy,” Jessie said absently as she watched a toddler across the room trying to get into his baby brother’s high chair. She smiled at the ensuing drama.

  Joshua glanced over his shoulder to see what Jessie was smiling about. He’d never seen quite that look on her face before.

  She gave the waiter a soft smile as he set her plate down. The guy almost tripped on his own feet as he became the recipient of the smile Joshua should have gotten. He shot the hovering kid a pointed glare and almost had a plate of pasta and marinara deposited in his lap as the guy gulped and scurried to make himself scarce.

  “I love kids, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. Probably not.” Joshua unwrapped his silverware from the paper napkin. “The only ones I’ve been around seem...disorganized.”

  He looked up as Jessie burst into peals of laughter. “Disorganized?” She choked. “Of course they’re disorganized!” Her eyes were sparkly with mirth. “They’re just learning everything. Even you were disorganized when you were a little kid.”

  Joshua thought if he could bottle and sell that laugh he would quadruple his money. “Actually, I wasn’t.” He pushed the limp spaghetti around his plate. A pool of watery sauce made a moat surrounding the unappetizing lump of his pasta. “I was a well-disciplined, clean, respectful and organized child from as far back as I can remember.”

  Her eyes got more liquid
as that sweet, soft smile quivered then died.

  “Good Lord. Don’t start crying, for God’s sake.” He leaned over and wiped away the mascara under her right eye.

  Jessie blotted her eyes with her own napkin. “You had a shitty life,” she said fiercely. “I wish I could make it all up to you, Joshua.”

  “My childhood was perfectly acceptable, Jessie. Don’t overdramatize it.”

  “Your mother was a real bitch.”

  He smiled. “No arguments there. Are you done poking that revolting mess? I’d like to go somewhere and get some real lunch. Then I’ll take you to some den of iniquity so you can throw away my money.”

  Somehow the glow seemed to have gone from Jessie’s face. After playing a few hands of blackjack, with the money she had brought for the purpose, thank you very much, she wanted to go home. Joshua liked the sound of that.

  “How about going for a walk?” he asked after parking the car in the carport beside the house. He held out his hand for her and she handed him the laundry and an arch look instead.

  “Go put on your new jeans and shirt first.” She followed him into the house, immediately throwing open all the windows to let in the warm, scented air before she followed him into the bedroom.

  “I just love this house.” Jessie flopped down on the king-size bed, watching him with hot-chocolate eyes as he changed. “If I ever have a summer house, this is what it would be like. Far enough away from city noises. Nice, clean air.” She fell onto her back as he struggled with the unfamiliar closure of the jeans. “That fabulous smell of pine and lake water. Fishing. Boating. Gambling—”

  “Jessie?”

  “Hmmm?

  “Do you think you could help me with this?” He walked toward her sprawled legs.

  Without moving and not bothering to hide the smile tugging at her lips, Jessie asked seriously, “Which do you need help with, sir? The buttons or the erection?”

  She was bonelessly relaxed against the burgundy spread. Her left knee rose to bracket his leg as Joshua leaned down so his braced arms framed her head. “Which do you think?” he asked huskily.

  Jessie reached up and gave him a quick peck on the lips before she pushed at his shoulders, her eyes devilish. “I think you need help with those pesky darn buttons so we can go for that walk.”

  “Touch these buttons and I won’t be able to walk, woman.”

  Jessie lectured him on self-control, all the while her nimble fingers enclosing him tighter than a straitjacket behind the row of metal buttons.

  “I don’t think I like jeans, Jessie,” Joshua confessed pitifully as she dragged him outdoors.

  Jessie grinned. “They look ma-a-avelous on you, dahling.” She hung back then patted his behind. “Great butt.” She linked arms with him and gave him a sultry look. “We’ll keep them at my house. I don’t want you wearing these when I’m not there to beat the women off with a stick.”

  “That good, huh?” he asked, highly amused. She gave him a sultry look, and he wondered fleetingly what he had ever done to deserve her and how he had managed for thirty-three years without her.

  They walked hand in hand on the lakeshore. The smoldering fire of the sun melted into the water, leaving a dancing, shimmering reminder as dusk stole slowly over the lake. Purple and royal-blue faded into black ridges and ranges, spiked with the suggestion of forest. There was an anticipation of things to come as stars started shining more brightly and the velvety sky darkened to reveal a wisp of a moon.

  He took her hands, pulling her against him. She’d changed into black leggings and a thick, white cotton sweater with a wide neckline that kept slipping off her shoulder. Her skin felt cool as he caressed the back of her neck, his thumb finding the vulnerable hollow at her nape. He felt her deep shudder through his bones. God, she was responsive. He touched his lips to her temple.

  Jessie turned in his arms, rising up on her toes as she gathered handfuls of his hair in her fists. With a little pressure she brought his face down to hers. “Don’t play with me, mister,” she warned in a tough voice, and she kissed him, her lips insistent and ravenous.

  They eventually had to come up for air. Jessie’s dark gaze stayed riveted to his face. “I can hear your mind whirring,” he said, amused at her intense scrutiny. “What are you thinking about?” Her lips looked soft and slightly swollen from the kiss. The moonlight loved her face, sculpting it with silver.

  She opened her mouth as if to say something; Joshua held his breath for a painful heartbeat. Then she shook her head. “Nothing.” She touched his face with a small, cool hand as her eyes seemed to memorize his features. “You make me very happy, Joshua.”

  He couldn’t explain his disappointment. Didn’t even try. He dipped his head and feathered a kiss on her closed mouth. She tasted of the rich coffee ice cream they’d bought on the way home. Jessie had eaten more than half the carton in the car and then claimed that the bites she had spoon-fed him had been way bigger than the teeny ones she’d had.

  A banner of geese flew across the moon. He turned her and braced her back against his chest. Wrapping his arms about her, he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “I had no idea,” he said into the deep pool of silence, “that I could feel this...content.” Jessie stroked her head against his chin, resting more fully against him as he leaned against the trunk of a ponderosa pine, looking at the shimmering lake through a veil of her frothy hair. He added softly, “You make me happy, too, Jessie.”

  Around them the gentle silence of night drifted as soft as a breeze. The air was warm and fragrant with her floral perfume and the scent of woods and water.

  There was nowhere on earth he would rather be than right here, with Jessie in his arms. There was no need for conversation. Even his sexual desire seemed tamed and manageable. He felt...calm. For the first time in memory, he felt strangely at peace with himself.

  He had learned his lessons of self-preservation as a child, but with Jessie he found his emotions blatantly out there. Sometimes he felt so raw and exposed with her, he wanted to flee back into that same protective, rocky shell he was almost ready to cast aside. And other times, like now, she brought him more joy and contentment than he had ever known.

  He didn’t want her to know just how vulnerable he was to her vibrant spirit, her gentle eyes and soft mouth. He felt raw enough as it was.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING Jessie went swimming in the lake. Her suit was perfectly decent. Red. Plain. Skintight. Joshua watched her from the window in the kitchen as she played in the shallows like a child. She wasn’t a child. As the three kids in a speedboat noticed, making ever smaller circles closer to shore.

  The waves were lapping at Jessie’s calves when he came out to join her. “Hi.” Her smile was brilliant, white and directed solely at him. “I thought you had calls to make.”

  “Made.” He dragged his eyes from her sun-kissed face to the three teenagers who were a little less cocky now.

  “You look good enough to eat,” he told her as the boys took off, the wake making her sway against him. The tight Lycra of her suit flattened her breasts, but he could clearly see her hard nipples.

  “Finished swimming?”

  Jessie looked at him under her lashes. “Got a better idea?”

  “How does grabbing a blanket and taking a walk deep into the woods sound?” He wiped away a droplet of water from her temple with his thumb, her skin was sun-warmed and damp.

  “Why do we need a blanket when we’re going for a walk?” His lady had very expressive eyebrows.

  * * *

  JESSIE ROLLED HIM OFF the blanket. A pinecone or something jabbed him in the back as she straddled him, her eyes determined, her hands firmly planted on his chest.

  “I don’t know why we brought the blanket,” Joshua said mildly, as he shifted his hips and Jessie’s off whatever was
under his bare back.

  “’Cause you thought I’d be on the bottom.” Jessie pointed out reasonably, her knees nudging his sides.

  He reached up to gather her loosened hair back into the scrunchie and out of her face. “Why aren’t I on top?”

  “You were being too darn fussy.” She leaned forward to nibble a damp path up his chest as she spoke. “Everybody knows...one...never...bothers to fold their...clothes in the woods.”

  She reached his jaw, while behind her she slapped at the hand he was using to try to get her hips and other body parts aligned where he wanted them. “I don’t want you rushing me,” she groused against his throat. “In fact,” she took a sharp nip and every nerve in his body stood at attention, “don’t touch me at...all.”

  She gave some attention to his lower lip. “At all?” His hands itched to caress her smooth, damp skin.

  “At all,” Jessie whispered when they were nose to nose.

  “You don’t like me to touch you?” he asked. In answer Jessie slid her sweet breasts sensuously across his chest. “Because, darling, I sure as hell love to touch you.”

  “You will lose control.”

  Joshua huffed. “Are you telling me or hypnotizing me?” It was damn hard to be amusing when he felt like taking off like a rocket.

  “I want to see you lose control. Don’t touch.” When she paused, he could feel the rush of her blood through her veins as she pressed him down. He closed his eyes, letting his arms fall over his head. “You have too much control,” she added.

  “There’s no such thing as too much control, Jessie,” he murmured, using every scrap he had. “Although I must admit, with you I seem to have less control than ever before....”

  She looked down into his eyes. “Let me see you lose control, Joshua. Don’t think. Just close your eyes and feel.” Her small white teeth closed in to give a sharp love bite on his neck before she dragged her body up his and took his mouth in a kiss so sensual, so erotic Joshua had to give himself up. He wanted to howl with the pleasure of it.