by Susan Napier;Kathryn Ross;Kelly Hunter;Sandra Marton;Katherine Garbera;Margaret Mayo
But for some reason, her code of morality shone around her, and many people had a difficult time lying to her. She also knew that she’d made things as difficult as possible between herself and Adam earlier. She’d wanted him to feel a little of the pain and indecision that was swamping her.
It looked as if she’d succeeded. He tilted back his head and drained his whiskey glass in one swallow. She knew he was drinking single malt. It was his favorite.
She knew so many superficial things about him that she’d been able to convince herself she loved him. But only now did she realize how much she still had to learn.
“How do you like my island, amica?”
Jayne turned to face Ray Angelini. He wore a welltailored suit and held a cigar loosely in one hand. He appeared much more at ease here than he had on the plane.
His island was turning into her own personal proving grounds, Jayne realized. She had to face herself and make some tough decisions.
“It’s very nice. Adam has already started making notes on the resort. He’s so excited that you’re talking to him about selling it.”
“I know he is, but I don’t want your business opinion. How do you like the romance of the island? Didi thinks some couples need to be pushed along, but I think each relationship has its own timetable.”
Jayne felt as if she was under a spotlight. She knew that if she said the wrong thing she might ruin this deal for Adam. And Perla Negra was important to him. “Adam and I have found that. We worked together for a while before we started our relationship.”
“I can see you two are very close. Let’s go join your man.”
Adam wasn’t her man. Not really, but that didn’t stop her pulse from racing as they approached him. Everything solidified in her mind and she wished he would be her man. Nothing would thrill her more. Love was the grand adventure she’d been searching for for a long time. And Adam was just the man to give it to her.
Adam watched Jayne like a man with an addiction. He took another swallow of his wine and knew he’d had too much to drink. He’d had three glasses of whiskey before she’d joined him.
And once they’d sat down at dinner he’d continued to drink more than eat. God, she was lovely tonight. She had a red flower tucked behind her ear, and she seemed to glow from within. He wasn’t sure where that had come from because when he’d left her she’d seemed shattered and angry.
He felt the weight of that on his shoulders and reached again for his wineglass before realizing that getting drunk wasn’t the solution. He picked up his water glass instead and drained it, signaling the waiter for a refill.
Ray had ordered for them all and they were dining on some of the best seafood Adam had ever tasted. And he’d grown up on the Gulf, so it was hard to impress him. But the resort’s chef was first-class and the food was impeccable.
For all that, Adam barely tasted it. His concentration was solely on Jayne. Something had changed in her tonight and he wasn’t going to rest until he’d figured out exactly what.
“I looked at the treasure map this afternoon. It’s pretty easy to follow,” she told him when silence fell between them.
Jayne had kept the conversation going all evening. Adam wondered bitterly if he should give her some sort of bonus. He felt as if she was showing him what he’d be losing if he didn’t stop trying to seduce her. And his guts felt raw and exposed by the lesson.
She’s just a woman, he reminded himself. There’s an entire sea of them out there. But his soul rebelled. There wasn’t another person in the world like Jayne, and something deep inside him knew it.
“There are a few surprises along the way, but for the most part, we want our guests to find it,” Didi said.
There had been a little tension between Didi and Ray at the beginning of the meal, but Jayne had managed to put them both at ease. She had real talent for making everyone comfortable and happy.
Except him. The brighter she shone at the dinner table, the worse Adam felt. He knew he’d acted like a bastard earlier and he knew that a better man would have apologized. But he wasn’t going to.
“So, compare, what is it you want more than anything else?” Ray asked him.
Jayne, he thought. But instead he smiled like the salesperson he’d been when he first started out in this business. “Perla Negra.”
Ray laughed. “Nice. Truly, what is it you desire most? We had a couple here last month who wanted nothing but wealth.”
That pissed him off. People always wished for money, as if it was the answer to the world’s problems. But the truth Adam had learned as a young man was that unless you worked for the money it was empty, and left a man feeling like a hollow shell.
“Adam?”
He shook his head to clear it and reached again for his water glass. “I’m already a wealthy man. I don’t need a ‘treasure’ to bring me what I want. I know how to go out and work for it.”
He felt Jayne’s hand on his thigh under the table—a small warning pinch—and then she started to pull away. He clasped her hand in his and held it in place. It was the first time she’d even acknowledged he was at the table. Despite the way she’d sparkled, she’d left him alone in the shadows.
“Allowing that, then Perla Negra will be yours by effort and not treasure hunting. What’s the one thing you want but can’t have?” Didi asked.
Adam rubbed Jayne’s hand against his thigh and glanced over at her. She stared up at him, her wide blue eyes, darker than midnight, watching him with a kind of expectation that made his heart beat faster. “I want Jayne.”
Her sexy mouth parted and her pink tongue darted out to wet her lips. She tilted her head to the side and said nothing, but he could see her pulse wildly beating at the base of her neck. Unable to resist, he touched that pulse with his free hand. Caressed the spot where her life pounded through her body.
Her skin was soft, and gooseflesh spread out from his fingertips, letting him know she was exquisitely sensitive. He made a decision he wasn’t aware he’d been mulling over: he was going to have Jayne as his mistress.
“Presumably she’s already yours,” Ray said.
The spell was broken and Adam turned his gaze to their other dinner companions. “She’s the only unpredictable thing in my life.”
Ray nodded and Didi pursed her lips. “What about you, Jayne? What do you want?”
She shrugged. And Adam realized that while she seemed to be frank and up-front, letting the world see her as she was, there were a lot of layers to this woman. “I’m not wealthy like you are, honeybun. So money would be nice. That way I could sleep in every morning and get up when I wanted to, but…”
He turned away from Didi and Ray, looking down at Jayne, watching her as she bit her lip and closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them he wasn’t sure whether she was going to tell them what she really wanted, or what she thought they would like to hear.
“I’ve always wanted a real family.”
“Kids?” Adam asked.
She nodded. “I want the whole shebang. Kids, husband, in-laws. I want to be part of a big family.”
“I’m an only child,” Adam said.
Her smile turned so sad that for a minute he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. But that didn’t make sense. Jayne was his assistant, and if he played his cards right, maybe his mistress. Why should he ache because he knew he could never give her the one thing she craved?
“Then you better get busy with the babies,” Ray said.
Didi punched him in the arm and gave him a warning look. “Babe…”
“Never mind. We have a jazz band playing in the lounge later. Will you two join us for dancing?”
“Not tonight. I promised Jayne a walk on the beach. She likes to be outdoors, since we spend so much time in the office usually.”
Didi nodded and Ray looked pleased with himself. Jayne’s hand turned under his and he wrapped his fingers around hers and held them with a desperation he wasn’t sure he liked.
The ni
ght breeze was warm and steady as they walked down the tiki-lit path toward the beach. “It probably would have made more sense to go with the Angelinis to the bar. You could have made more notes.”
“I know what I’m doing, chère. I’ve been running the company for a long time.”
“Sorry. I guess I’m too used to being your assistant. And Ray and Didi both seemed to be buying us as a couple. I was worried about that for a while.” "I wasn’t.”
“Why not? How could you be so confident?”
“You’ve never let me down.”
She wanted to smile but knew he was being evasive again. “You go from being this dream man to being a cold robot quicker than I can snap my fingers.”
“I’m not cold, not around you.”
“But I am,” she said.
He didn’t respond to that. Jayne felt a little of her determination waver. They arrived at the beach. “Still want to go for a walk?”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Adam sat on a bench to remove his shoes and socks and roll up the bottom of his pants. She slid off her sandals and set them next to his on the bench. The sand under her bare feet felt wonderful, grainy and textured and a little cold.
Then Adam grasped her hand loosely and they started walking down the beach. The only sounds were the roar of the surf and the call of a night bird. It was a Hollywood moment—a couple under a full moon walking along the surf. But in her head Jayne realized that nothing was picture-perfect. Not her, not Adam and not the dreams she’d had as a girl alone in her room.
There was a reason why she had a million to-do lists in her life. And that reason was she had to be in control of everything. Too much of her childhood had been unpredictable.
“Do I really leave you cold?” Adam asked.
“Sometimes. I guess that wasn’t very fair. But I’m not feeling myself.”
He tilted his head and looked up at the stars. “I can’t give you more.”
“Why not? Powell’s fraternization policy?”
“Partly.”
She waited.
“I’ve seen lives destroyed because of lack of control, chère. And I don’t want that to happen to you.”
“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned destruction. But you don’t destroy anything. In fact, you build some of the most luxurious resorts in the world.”
He stopped, dropping her hand and facing the ocean. “I’m careful in my personal life. You know that. I pick women who don’t…”
“Want more than you give them?”
“Yes.”
“Why? I can’t imagine you grew up thinking you’d just have a string of mistresses—they’re easier than wives.”
“But I did.”
Suddenly she felt chilled and stepped a little closer to Adam. He sensed her shiver and slipped his dinner jacket off, draping over her shoulders. Then he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side.
“Why would you choose that? It’s such a cold life.”
“You sound like you know something about it.”
She shrugged. She wasn’t going to tell him her feelings on mistresses.
He tugged her into his arms. “This is a night for romance and I don’t want to waste it talking.”
He lowered his head, but she pulled back. “I’m not going to be blinded by sex.”
“Blinded by sex,” Adam said with a chuckle. “Jesus, Jayne, you kill me.”
She smiled to herself. But she wanted some answers. “You were trying to distract me. Why?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. He slipped his hand into hers again and tugged her toward the water. “Let’s play.”
“Okay, but I still want to know more about your relationships.”
“That’s not a very nice topic to bring up with a new lover.”
“But we’re not really lovers.”
“I think we will be.”
“Me, too,” she said softly.
The waves ran over their feet, cool but not too cold, and they stood there staring at each other. Finally, Adam leaned down and brushed his lips against her cheek. “I saw what cheating and infidelity can do to a family. I vowed to never put anyone in that position.”
“You’re so strong. I don’t think you’d ever do that.”
“I’m my father’s son, Jayne. We haven’t been out of New Orleans an entire day and already I’m contemplating breaking one of the company’s rules and my own vow to never get involved with a woman who works for me.”
He removed his hands from her body and stepped back. She watched him for a long moment and realized that shadows of the past were once again reaching out to darken the future. She’d felt it every day of her life, but never thought about Adam that way. Until now.
“I think you’re better than that.”
“Sure you do.”
“I do.”
“Prove it,” he said.
“How?”
“Kiss me and make me believe it.”
“Okay,” she said. Leaning up on tiptoe, she pulled his head down to hers and whispered his name against his lips. “Honeybun, prepare to be wowed.”
Chapter Six
Jayne’s mouth seduced him with light brushes of her lips and then tentative touches of her tongue. A shudder ripped through him. God, he needed her with a desperation that compared to nothing else he’d ever experienced.
He hardened in a rush and slipped his hands under his jacket, which was draped over her curvy body. He ran his palms up and down her back, cupping the lush shape of her hips and pulling her closer.
The game that he’d started back at the airport in New Orleans now spun totally out of his control. There was little he could do but react to this woman who embodied everything he’d ever wanted but never dared take. Except here she was and tonight they’d sleep in the same bed. And steps would be taken that couldn’t be undone.
She felt small in his embrace. Without the sandals adding to her height he was reminded once again that Jayne, for all her damn-the-torpedoes attitude, was a rather slight woman.
A woman who brought springtime to his lonely soul. And though it might be his downfall, he knew he wasn’t going to turn away from her.
He returned her kiss with the passion that had been banked earlier when he’d made that phone call. He told her with his body all the things he’d never say with words. He thrust his tongue deep in her mouth and explored her secrets and let her do the same to him.
She caged his face with her hands, her fingers stroking against the stubble on his chin before slipping to the back of his head to hold him still for her kisses.
She pressed her bosom to his and he felt his chest swell. He put his hands around her waist and lifted her against him, holding her with desperation and need. He gentled the embrace, knowing that if he didn’t, he’d either take her standing up right here, or lying down on the sand. Which, despite the way movies portrayed it, would be damn uncomfortable.
“Wow,” he said, lifting his head.
She smiled at him and his heart melted. He felt too much and didn’t like it, so he hugged her close and tucked her head under his chin. He turned them so that they were looking out over the ocean.
“You know me, boss. When I put my mind to something there’s no stopping me.”
“Have you set your mind on me?” he asked lightly. But in his soul he felt hope, and it scared him. He was so defenseless where this woman was concerned.
She nodded. “I don’t think I have a choice in the matter.”
The surf continued to roll over their feet and Jayne looked down at it. “I’m not a big fan of the ocean. I always hated the water,” she said.
“I’m the exact opposite. When I was a boy I used to dream of sailing away,” he murmured. “Can you swim?”
“I can now. It wasn’t fear, it was a real loathing. My mom was always dropping me at school and sailing away to Mexico or the Keys. And to me it represented her leaving.”
He took Jay
ne’s hand and led her up the beach. Sinking to the sand, he pulled her between his legs and held her. “Tell me about your childhood.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know you inside out.”
Jayne sat there in the moonlight looking like an ethereal creature from another world. He knew that the only way to protect himself would be to learn all he could about this woman. And find a way of exorcising her from his system without forming a deeper attachment.
“This isn’t an act for the Angelinis, is it?” she asked, and there was a hint of vulnerability in her voice. Not an Amazon, he reminded himself.
He hugged her closer for a second. Leaning down, he nibbled on the lobe of her ear and dragged his teeth down the side of her neck. Sensual pleasure rippled through her and he pulled her hips tighter against him, arching his back to rub his cock against the curves of her butt.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“Too much is at stake for guessing.”
“You’re right. I want you, Jayne. I want you for my mistress. No more games or play-acting. I want the real thing.” Mentally he knew the impact of this moment was going to be felt for a long time. But one of the first business lessons he’d learned was that some actions were inevitable and the price would have to be paid.
“Me, too. But I want more than just your body.”
“Good.”
“Good?” she asked. “You know this will impact our working relationship.”
“I told you I want to know all your secrets.”
“That would leave me with nowhere to hide.”
He stroked her face. He’d give anything to be rid of the lust that was running rampant through his body. No, that wasn’t true. As much as he enjoyed Jayne in his office, he knew that he’d enjoy her as a lover even more. And he realized that all these long months when he’d thought he’d done a good job of ignoring her as a woman, he’d been fooling himself. He’d been waiting for her. Waiting for the right moment to do this.
“Don’t you think we’ve done enough hiding?”
Her fingers kneaded his thighs. “Is this an equality thing?”
Instead of answering he pulled her more firmly against him and swept his hands over her, lingering at the full curves of her breasts. Cupping them in his hands and rubbing his palms over their tips until he felt them bud and nestle against him.