The Seductive Truth

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “Explain,” he commanded.

  In response, she tugged on his chest hair and he laughed, covering her hand once again. “Should I rephrase?” he offered. When she smiled sleepily, he laid his head back against the pillow. “Would you care to tell me why you laughed?”

  Another giggle, but she shifted and he felt her naked breast against his chest. A nice feeling, he thought.

  “You were better than I thought you might be,” she said.

  He rolled over so that he was once again on top of her, his knee pressing between her legs so that he could settle right where he wanted to be. “Better? What were you thinking?” he asked, curious and not sure if he should be offended.

  Her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair, amazed at the soft texture. “You were wonderful,” she admitted.

  “That’s not an answer to my question,” he said, lowering his head to nibble along her neck. “What did you think would happen when we finally got here?”

  She tilted her head. “You ask that as if being here like this was a foregone conclusion.”

  He nipped at her earlobe. “It was. I knew we’d eventually be here from the time that I wrapped my arms around you during those irritating pictures at Lillian’s mother’s house.”

  “So sure of yourself, huh?” she asked.

  “Absolutely,” he replied, sliding his hands down the side of her body, enjoying the way she shivered with his touch. And just that easily, the dance started again, a touch, a sigh…teasing, drifting fingers. It was a slower dance than the first time, but when he pressed into her heat, she held on, knowing that Stephen would take her for a spin that was mind-blowing!

  A long time later, she fell asleep in his arms thinking that she really loved dancing with this man!

  Chapter 6

  Would it be horrible of her to down the coffee and excuse herself?

  Breakfast was on its way and Tallia looked over at Lillian…then banished the thought. This week was for Lillian. The three of them were here to support their friend as she approached her wedding day. It was a special week and she couldn’t abandon her friend just because she wanted to spend time with Stephen.

  Over the past few days, they’d spent every available moment together and she’d slept in his arms, either in his suite or in hers. At night, they couldn’t seem to get enough of each other and she wanted to get a whole lifetime of loving out of him in just one short week.

  “Okay, today isn’t going to be nearly as fun since we need to get all of you to the final fitting for your dresses,” Lillian explained.

  Tallia stifled a groan of frustration. Fittings. Ugh! Who cared if her bridesmaid dress was pinched in perfectly at the waist or if the hemline was exact? She certainly couldn’t give a fig! She wanted to hurry through the day so she could be with Stephen.

  At that exact moment, she saw him walking through the lobby, their eyes met, time stood still, and she held her breath until he disappeared again. The message was clear, he wanted her.

  She missed him too and they’d only been apart for a half hour. Her alarm had gone off this morning and he’d rolled over, both of them groaning since he’d kept her up so late last night. But she didn’t blame him. Sex with Stephen was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. He loved the way she moved against him, as well as her amazement every time he showed her something new. With his encouragement, she’d become the sexually adventurous woman she’d always dreamed of becoming.

  Even now, after just a glimpse of the man walking through the lobby as she sat in the hotel restaurant sipping orange juice and coffee, she could feel her body coming alive, needing him again. Last night, he’d made love to her twice and then again in the shower this morning. So, why was she so desperate to have him again?

  Because she knew that their time was limited. She didn’t want to waste it doing silly things like dress fittings and salon days. The last part was Lillian’s way of thanking them for being here, but that was silly since her family was paying for their hotel stay and all of their expenses. Good grief, Lillian’s parents had even paid for their plane tickets! Who did that?! Normally, the bridesmaids cursed and fretted, trying to pay for all of the expenses the bride demanded. This was so out of the norm as to be crazy!

  Not that Tallia was complaining, she thought, as she half-heartedly listened to Lillian talk about…

  Tallia perked up again. Looking at Jane and Becca, they’d noticed the reference as well.

  Realizing that something was very off, she sat up straighter in the plush, cushioned chair. “Wait. Hold up, Lilly. What’s going on? This is the third time we’ve heard about this George guy. Who is he?”

  Lillian’s startled expression caught the attention of everyone. All three bridesmaids leaned forward, looking at the bride. “Lilly? What’s with George?”

  Lillian looked down at her coffee cup. “George is the man who helps me run the hedge fund I inherited.” Looking up, she leaned back, trying to be casual. “He’s brilliant, but no more so than Phillip.”

  Tallia wasn’t convinced. And as she looked at Jane and Becca, she knew that they were suspicious as well.

  Turning back to Lillian, she put her hand over Lilly’s. “Honey, what’s going on?”

  Lillian stared back at them and Tallia knew that her friend wanted to admit something horrible. But Lillian was nothing if not an old-style southern belle, always doing the right thing, and never rocking the boat. “Nothing,” she muttered, letting out the breath she’d been holding. “Just wedding jitters. Phillip and I got into a fight yesterday about…” she waved her hand in the air and shook her head. “Nothing. It was silly, actually.”

  Jane’s eyes watched her friend carefully. “You said last month that you and Phillip have never fought about anything.”

  She laughed, nervously twirling the delicate china cup in the matching saucer. “Exactly. We’ve never fought about anything. We agree on almost everything. Which is why I was so upset about our argument earlier. It just…” she sighed and rubbed her forehead. “It upset me. Especially since the wedding is so close.”

  “It’s good to fight,” Becca pointed out. “It gets out a lot of issues.”

  Tallia nodded. “I agree. It’s only bad if you don’t make up, talk about things. Don’t let this argument fester, Lil. Talk to him. Work things out. You don’t want your wedding day to be marred by angry words.”

  Lillian looked at her friends and nodded. “You’re right. You’re all right. I should talk to him but…” she sighed and looked at the chandelier over their heads. “Well, he’s just very busy lately, trying to finish up all the work that has to happen so that we can go on our honeymoon.”

  Tallia lifted her coffee cup to her lips and took a long sip, watching Lillian carefully. When the other woman’s eyes fluttered, Tallia knew that something else was wrong.

  “What else?” she asked.

  The three of them waited, Lillian opening and closing her mouth as she obviously tried to come up with an answer. “Nothing,” she finally said. “Nothing at all.”

  “You said that before and then you admitted to fighting with Phillip.”

  Becca leaned forward. “Lil, we’ve known each other for too long. We know when something is bothering you. What’s going on? Is something wrong with the wedding? Something you aren’t happy with? We can fix it. We still have several days to…”

  “Why does everyone think that my world revolves around this stupid wedding?” Lillian snapped. “I didn’t plan any of this! My mother and Phillip’s mother have organized everything! I had no say in any of it and I don’t want to! This is their show! Phillip and I are supposed to just show up and smile for the pictures! The stupid, ridiculous pictures that my mother will send out to everyone, including the newspapers. As if the rest of the world really cares how many pearls were sewn onto my wedding dress or the insane number of diamonds placed in my tiara!” She groaned, rolling her eyes. “A tiara! Can you believe it? No matter how much I a
rgued that a tiara was ridiculous, she was emphatic that I wear it! Like I’m some sort of princess, ready to be married off to Prince Charming!”

  The three of them stared at Lillian as if she’d just grown a second, third, and fourth head. Lillian never got angry. She never yelled and, as long as they’d known her, she’d never said anything negative about her mother. It was as if she’d just come out of her shell.

  Slowly, the three of them started clapping. Becca started and Tallia joined in, quickly followed by Jane. They laughed too, a giggle at first, then another and another, until the four of them were holding their stomachs as they let loose with their shock and laughter.

  When their laughter died down a bit, they each stared at Lillian, waiting for another outburst. There were a few snorts, but they finally got their laughter under control.

  “Should we head out to that dress fitting now?” she offered. That only started up the laughter again, but from the dirty looks they were receiving from the other diners, they all decide to head on out. They had to lean against each other as they laughed their way out of the restaurant and into the waiting limousine.

  “To Phillip and arguments!” Lillian announced, lifting up a bottle of champagne that had been chilling in the limousine. She poured the bubbly into the four champagne flutes and off they went, ready to take on the seamstresses and laugh about the ridiculous wedding that was to take place in only a few more days.

  Chapter 7

  Tallia sat down in the quiet sitting area of her beautiful hotel suite, staring at her computer. Should she do it? An idea had been playing around in her mind over the past several days. Every time she argued with Stephen about political or social issues, she came away from the conversation with this idea in her mind.

  So, instead of thinking about it, she sat down and started working. She’d left Lillian about thirty minutes ago to work things out with Phillip. Becca and Jane had vanished and she knew that Stephen was out with Jake and Phillip doing some sort of bachelor thing. It wasn’t really fair that both men already had tuxedos and didn’t need to do all the mundane fittings and such that the ladies were required to do. But because of this moment of peace, she had time to work on her idea.

  An hour later, she lifted her fingers from the keyboard and wiped the tears from her eyes. Yes, she knew that this affair would only last until after the wedding. She’d head back home to Santa Fe and he’d drive back to Austin, Texas. It was entirely possible that they could meet for weekends or vacations. But long distance relationships soon fizzled out.

  Tallia stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the glorious views of New Orleans. The weather was in the seventies now, warm enough for people to walk around without sweaters. It was still a bit more humid than she preferred, but she acknowledged that the weather here was beautiful for some people. Santa Fe was drier, more arid, and the temperatures rarely got hotter than the high eighties in the summertime, mostly hovering in the low eighties and high seventies. But without the humidity, the temperatures were more comfortable. Granted, she needed a bit more moisturizer, but that was a small price to pay for the lack of humidity, which she’d hated growing up in Virginia.

  She doubted that Stephen would want to move from Austin anyway, so her fantasy of building a life with him was just that, a fantasy. She could easily picture herself with him for years to come, children and the whole package. He was smart and sexy and loved sex. What’s better, he’d taught her in just a few days to enjoy sex as well. Until she’d met him, sex was one of those activities that she didn’t really need in her life. It had been such a disappointment. Now, she craved it. She wanted Stephen like a clawing hunger inside of her.

  She knew that he didn’t need her as much as she needed him. And it was going to be painful to get over him, but she didn’t regret meeting him. Yes, he’d been a horrible, obnoxious man in the beginning. A burst of laughter echoed in the quiet of the hotel suite and she wiped more tears from her eyes as she realized that he was still obnoxious. He loved to push her buttons. He was such a republican! On political and social issues, they would never agree.

  It would never work between them. They were too different and if they even tried to make a go of it, they would argue about everything.

  She looked over at her computer, her eyes blurred from the tears, but she knew what was on the screen. With a sigh, she put her computer to sleep, doused her face with cold water to try and hide her tears, and carried her computer downstairs to the lobby.

  “I’m looking for a printer. Is there a business center here?” she asked the desk clerk.

  “Just around the corner to the right,” the woman said, pointing in that direction.

  Tallia walked in the direction the desk clerk indicated and easily found the business center, complete with computer monitors, printer, and fax machine. Connecting her computer, it took her only a few keystrokes to print out the article she’d written.

  When she shut down her computer, it took her several more minutes to stop herself from crying again. Blinking rapidly, she forced air into her lungs and refused to fall back into that bout of self-pity. She was strong and competent.

  And maybe, if Stephen liked her idea, they could work together, even if they couldn’t be lovers.

  Chapter 8

  Stephen paced back and forth across the lobby, his finger touching the ring in his pocket. Was he crazy? He’d known Tallia for less than a week, but everything about her clicked with him. He loved her intelligence, her body, her sensuality that just seemed to grow the more they got to know one another. He hated her politics, but he respected her opinions. They disagreed on everything, but whenever they argued, his body reacted like she was some sort of stripper, taunting him.

  An intelligent woman was better than a naked stripper, he realized. He’d never met a woman who could go head to head with him on every subject. It turned him on every time they argued. And when he took her into his arms, the chemistry was explosive!

  He wanted her! Forever! He wanted to take her back to Austin and show her his ranch, show her his horses and be with her. He wanted to have a whole week, a month, of undisturbed time to make love with her, walk with her through the trees and ride across the prairies with her. Austin was a fabulous city.

  But so was Santa Fe. Would she leave Santa Fe to be with him?

  Would he move to Santa Fe to be with her?

  The answer was like a soothing caress, confirming his decision. “Yes!” he grumbled, startling an older couple that was walking through the hotel lobby. He knew that if she wanted to live in Santa Fe, he’d sell his home and his ranch, move his horses to that area just to be with her. He didn’t need to live in Austin to work. He could do his job anywhere.

  Would she travel with him? He certainly hoped so. He wanted her by his side always.

  But, did she feel the same way about him?

  He spun away from the front door, thinking that he was acting irrationally. He couldn’t propose to a woman he’d known for less than a week. It was nuts!

  And yet, he knew that he loved her. More than love, he connected with her on an intellectual and sexual level. He knew it was corny, but Tallia was his soul mate. He’d never thought much of that term, but it was true. He understood it now.

  Was he a wuss? Possibly. But at the thought of Tallia, he didn’t give a damn. He wanted her in his life forever.

  Somehow, he had to convince her that they were meant to be together.

  Turning around, he was startled to see her coming out of a hallway he knew led to the business center.

  “Tallia!” he called, walking over to her.

  She jerked, but came to a stop as she watched him walk over to her. “What are you doing? I thought you were still out doing the bridesmaid thing with Lillian.”

  She looked around and he knew that she was hiding something from him.

  “We…uh…finished early. Lillian needed to go talk to Phillip about some argument they had yesterday.”

  Step
hen watched her carefully, sensing that something was wrong. Especially since he’d been with Phillip earlier today and he’d mentioned that he hadn’t had time to see Lillian in a few days. They couldn’t have argued, so what was going on?

  “Are you okay?” he asked, looking into her eyes. They were a bit redder than he was used to. “Have you been crying?” he asked.

  “No!” she gasped, hugging her computer and the paper closer to her chest. “Not at all!”

  Yep. She was lying to him. And that irritated him. With a sigh, he pulled her closer, ignoring the computer that she continued to hold between them. “Tallia, what’s wrong? Are you…am I pressuring you into a relationship you’re not ready for?”

  She pulled back, but her hand clenching his arm told her that he hadn’t guessed correctly. “Not at all!” she told him emphatically.

  “Then tell me what’s wrong.”

  She sighed and leaned against him, her cheek resting against his chest.

  “I did something bad,” she told him. “Something you might not like.”

  Every muscle in his body tensed with that admission. Had she been with another man? Impossible! First of all, they’d been together all night and he’d only left her when she’d walked into the restaurant to be with her friends for the day. There hadn’t been time.

  Plus, Tallia just wasn’t that kind of a woman. She was honest and forthright, never fearing him or what he might think. In fact, she challenged him in ways he loved. He needed her!

  “What’s going on?” he asked, waiting for her to tell him instead of assuming. The women in his past might be the kind who would cheat, and it hadn’t ever bothered him. If a woman wanted to move on, that was it. But if Tallia…he couldn’t even think of her in another man’s arms!