Kimberly laughed at Gabrielle’s bluntness. “Yes, I’m going to see him again.”
“Just be careful,” Robyn advised. “I don’t want you to get hurt or too attached when he inevitably leaves.”
Robyn was right on that front, thought Kimberly. She had no idea just how long Jaxon was going to stay at the Belleza, but she didn’t want to think about that. For now, his stay was open-ended. And as long as he was here, Kimberly intended to take advantage of every minute.
But first she had business to tend to.
When she got to her office and checked her messages, one in particular stood out. From her mother. She was hoping the ice had thawed between her parents. She called her immediately and made a lunch date for that afternoon at The Pearl.
When she walked in, her mother was already seated at a table by the windows that overlooked the main lawn, but rose when she saw Kimberly.
Kimberly had to admit Ilene Parker looked phenomenal. Her reddish-brown hair had been stylishly curled so that it fell in soft layers down her shoulders. The cream suit she wore and matching heels suited her.
“Mom.” Kimberly came forward and kissed her mother’s cheek.
“Kimberly.” Her mother returned her embrace. “It’s so good to be back here.” She glanced around the dining room. “But it’s strange at the same time, knowing I’m no longer running the Belleza with your father.”
“I bet. I’m sure I would feel the same.” Kimberly took a seat at the table and accepted the menu from the hostess. “How are you, otherwise?” She eyed her mother’s smooth brown skin, which barely had a wrinkle.
“I could be better.”
“So I take it you and Daddy haven’t kissed and made up?” Kimberly inquired.
“Far from it,” her mother responded. “He’s been sleeping in the guest bedroom the last two nights.”
“Mom...” Kimberly sighed as she perused the menu. “You have to end this. You can’t let the Belleza come between the two of you.”
Her mother placed the menu on the table and stared at Kimberly. “Then your father shouldn’t have accused your brother. Sean would never have done what your father accused him of.”
“I agree, but isn’t there enough strife in our family without adding more fuel to the fire?” Kimberly asked.
When the waitress came, they each placed similar orders of passion-fruit iced tea and salad before returning to the conversation.
“Yes, but I don’t know how to make things right,” her mother admitted.
“Neither do I.” Kimberly reached for her mother’s hand across the table. She gave it a gentle squeeze. “Matter of fact, I called Sean.”
“You did?”
Kimberly nodded. “But he didn’t pick up.”
“Oh, Kimmy,” her mother started, but she interrupted her.
“It gets worse. Last night, while out on a date, I ran into Sean.”
“A date? Sean?” Her mother shook her head. “I want to hear about each.”
“I’ll start with Sean. We spoke and he was cordial, but when I reached out to him to heal the rift, I was shot down cold.”
“Oh, honey.”
Kimberly shrugged. “Trust me, Mom, it hurt. I’ve never seen Sean look at me like that before. We’ve always been so close, but last night I couldn’t reach him.”
“Neither can I.” Her mother’s eyes welled with tears. “He won’t return my calls. He’s closed himself off from the entire family except Ryan. At least he returns my calls.”
“As much as I hate to say it, we have to let him come around in his own time.”
“I suppose you’re right,” her mother responded. “Who would have thought that the daughter would teach the mother?”
“Oh, I haven’t learned everything from you yet.”
The waitress came back with their drinks and salad in record time. Given their status, Kimberly wasn’t surprised their order had been rushed through, but she hoped not to the detriment of other guests.
“What can I offer you?”
“Hmm...” Kimberly smiled. “Perhaps some words of wisdom on how to deal with my new beau.”
“A new beau? Would that be the one you’ve been ‘dating’?”
Kimberly nodded. “Although there’s an air of mystery about him, it feels like I’ve known him for years. And, well, the chemistry between us is spot-on. Have you ever felt that way before, Mama?”
“I have, with your father. The night we first met and to this day I still get a little giddy every time he comes into a room.”
“Even when you’re upset with him?”
“Even then.”
“Aww...” Kimberly felt that way about Jaxon. Every time she saw him she felt butterflies in her stomach and her heart would nearly leap out of her chest. Could her feelings for Jaxon be stronger than she’d imagined?
“I guess I should let your father out of the doghouse, huh?” her mother inquired, breaking into her thoughts.
“I think it’s time,” Kimberly said with a smile.
Chapter 13
Jaxon was excited to spend another day with Kimberly. It was the weekend and she’d taken the day off so they could spend it together, and he’d planned something romantic.
They’d spent the past few nights together and it had been a slice of heaven. He thought that if he made love to her all week that somehow he would exorcise her out of his system, but it was having the opposite effect. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to be with her. She had a body that was made for loving. She was slim and trim with just enough curves for him to grab hold of.
“Mr. Scott,” the valet interrupted his thoughts while he stood in the lobby. “I’ve brought the Jaguar around for you.”
“Thanks.” Jaxon handed him a twenty-dollar bill and walked toward the car. He drove over to Kimberly’s condo and she was waiting for him outside by the curb wearing cutoff jean shorts and a skimpy tank top.
He quickly jumped out of the car and came around to open her door. “You ready for a day of fun?”
She held up an oversize knapsack. “Yep.”
He helped her inside and minutes later they were headed off-site. Jaxon had a special day planned. First they would hike up the canyon after a short tram ride midway to the top and then have some dinner later. He’d told Kimberly to bring a change of clothes and from the looks of the bag, she’d complied.
“I think I know where we’re going,” Kimberly said as they began to make their way to the tram station.
Jaxon shrugged. “I thought it might be nice to have some fresh, clean air and do a little hiking. How does that sound?”
“I’m not much of a hiker or outdoorsy person,” Kimberly admitted. “So you’ll have to bear with me. I prefer to get my workout indoors.”
“Be happy to.” Jaxon appreciated that she was up to the challenge even though it was out of her comfort zone.
They parked the Jaguar and walked the pebbled path to the station, where they purchased their tickets for the ten-minute aerial tram ride. On board he learned something about her that he wouldn’t have guessed.
Once the tram began soaring through the air, Kimberly reached for his hand and clenched it between her damp palms.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head.
“Why? What is it?” He looked at her in alarm when he saw a bead of sweat forming on her forehead and felt her hold on his hand turning into a death grip.
“I—I’m afraid of heights,” she said and immediately turned into his chest and away from the beautiful, serene sight of the mountaintops.
“Baby.” He grabbed both sides of her face and peered into her brown eyes. “Why didn’t you say something? We could have done something else.”
“B-because I
didn’t want to ruin this for you. You seemed so excited to come up here.”
“You don’t ever have to hold anything back from me, Kimberly. Do you hear me? Just be honest and straight with me, always. Promise me that.”
She glanced up at him. “I promise.” And then she wrapped her arms around his middle, rested her cheek against his chest and gave him a tight squeeze that she maintained until the tram came to a stop.
* * *
Once on solid land, Kimberly let out a deep sigh as Jaxon went to the small store to get some cold bottled water. She hadn’t realized she’d nearly been holding her breath the last few minutes of the ride. She knew her fear of heights was irrational, but ever since a turbulent flight coming back from her boarding school when she was thirteen, she couldn’t shake her paranoia. She’d been too embarrassed to tell Jaxon about it before the tram ride. He thought she was so put together and she hadn’t wanted him to see her fear, but he seemed to be okay with it. In fact, he’d helped her through it. She was finding him to be a compassionate, kind man—a man she could easily fall for.
Jaxon returned with the bottled water and put them in their knapsacks. “You ready to head out?”
“Let’s do this.” Kimberly put on a good front even though the idea of spending the day becoming one with nature was not her idea of a good time.
Fours hours later, it turned out she was wrong. Hiking wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. They’d walked slowly through the trails while munching on Gabrielle’s homemade trail mix until they reached one of the National Monuments in the park, where they’d read about its history. Then they’d shared a picnic in a small cave set back from the trail.
“How did you find this?” Kimberly asked as Jaxon lent her a hand and helped her up the rocks to the cave.
“Eagle eye,” Jaxon said, smiling. He looked around the small cave for any signs of snakes or other creatures as he spread out the blanket he’d brought in his knapsack.
“The view is breathtaking from up here,” Kimberly said, surprising herself when she mustered the courage to look out over the canyon. It was as if the mountains went on for miles.
“I know.” Jaxon came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Aren’t you glad you came?”
She turned to glance behind her. “Yes, I am.”
He rewarded her with a scorching kiss that nearly took her breath away. When he released her, he said, “Ready for some lunch?”
“Famished.” And she’d come prepared. She’d had Gabrielle pack them some sandwiches, which were bountiful with meat and cheese, along with baked chips and oatmeal-raisin cookies for dessert. It was a simple lunch, but Jaxon hadn’t seemed to mind because it filled their bellies while they talked politics and, to Kimberly’s surprise, sports. She wasn’t much on football or basketball, but she knew her way around a tennis court and she found they shared a love of Venus and Serena Williams.
They even showed each other some war wounds. Jaxon had had a rotator cuff injury and showed her the scar on his shoulder, and Kimberly pointed to some faint scars on her knee from crashing onto the court as she’d lunged for a ball when she’d played junior varsity tennis.
She followed Jaxon’s gaze from the scars to the hem of her shorts and higher. She blushed and her heart began beating faster.
“Slide over this way,” he whispered.
The atmosphere between them suddenly became charged with tension. Sexual tension. “Why?”
“Because you’re too far away.” The hungry look in his eyes told her that when she did, they wouldn’t be talking anymore.
She complied and he reached out and pulled her into his lap. That was when she felt his erection protruding through his shorts. He’d gotten aroused just by talking to her? Did she really have that kind of power over him?
He laid his head against her chest and his tongue flicked out to lick her nipples through her tank top. “Mmm...” she moaned as she felt his hands at her back.
“Does this thing have a combination lock?” Jaxon asked, trying to unlatch her bra.
“Jaxon!” Kimberly grabbed his head to stop him even though the place between her legs had begun to throb. “What are you doing? What if someone sees us?”
“No one will.” Jaxon smiled when the latch on her bra finally gave way and he could caress her nipples freely without interference. “The cave is away from the trail.”
“But—but what if they do?” She stuttered her words as he massaged her breasts under her tank top.
“Then they’ll get a quite a show.” He shocked her when he swiftly lifted the tank top over her head. She was powerless to stop him because she could feel her breasts literally ache for his mouth. So when his mouth closed over one pebble and sucked hard, Kimberly could only sigh. He seemed to know exactly what she needed, what she wanted at any given moment.
She moaned even louder, but did manage to ask, “What about protection?”
Jaxon reached into his pocket and pulled out a three-pack of condoms.
“And you just happen to have those handy?”
“I always carry them now,” he admitted with a sly grin. “Never know when the time to be spontaneous might arise.”
“I don’t know...” Kimberly was already naked from the waist up, but she was leery of getting caught completely naked and arrested for indecent exposure by some park ranger.
“C’mon, live dangerously.” Jaxon moved upward from her breasts. He placed tiny kisses along her neck before going higher to tease her earlobe with his hot, wet tongue. He knew that was her weak spot. “You know you want to,” he whispered as his hands began roaming to her shorts. She could feel him unbuttoning the top button, could feel him unzipping them, could feel the gentle caress of his hands as they pushed past her panties and made their way to her moistness.
His finger parted her slick folds so he could tease her feminine core. He used his skillful fingers to make her entire body tremble with need. He stroked her with expert precision and had her writhing with passion in his lap.
“Do you know just how much your scent is arousing me?” Jaxon murmured, flicking his tongue faster and faster inside her ear. “How much it turns me on?”
Kimberly could only shake her head as he assaulted her with relentless strokes of his tongue and fingers. Unconsciously her hips began to undulate against him. “Jaxon, please.”
“Please what?”
Kimberly was embarrassed that he could make her want him so blatantly and publicly, but the need to have him was so strong. “I need you inside me!”
“Gladly.” Jaxon quickly pulled his hands out of her shorts.
Before she could react, he had her flat on her back on the blanket as he pulled her shorts and thong down her legs. She looked up at him and watched his quick movement as he unzipped his shorts and pushed them down to his ankles. He didn’t even bother to take them off; he just slid on a condom, spread her legs wide and entered her.
“Jaxon!” Kimberly rose slightly off the blanket from the impact of having him inside her. The pleasure was so intense she thought she might die from it, but Jaxon wouldn’t let her. Each time he surged forward, her body expanded to take all of him, and when he retreated, she couldn’t wait for him to return.
“You are so damn sexy that I’m addicted to you,” Jaxon said as he pumped inside her with deliberate precision.
“And I you.”
* * *
She was milking him, thought Jaxon as she squeezed her pelvis against him. Milking him of everything that he had. Making him delirious with a need for her he couldn’t explain. She was stirring things inside him and becoming his weakness.
He could feel her breath quickening as he thrust in and out, in and out. He knew convincing her to make love in the cave was completely out of character, but he didn’t care. He ha
d to have her now. Yet, he wanted to make it special for her, so he yielded control, bringing her up astride him in her favorite position.
“Ride me, baby. Ride me.”
Kimberly did as she was told and grabbed ahold of his shoulders and took charge. “I like riding.” She kissed him greedily and he released a sharp intake of breath.
He gripped her hips and said, “Go for it!”
She pressed her knees into his thighs and bounced atop of him. She kept going, vigorously, never letting up. “Kimberly, baby, you have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
“I do know. C-cause you’re doing the same to me.” She looked at him and he looked at her. The knowledge that they were out in the open only added to the allure and the excitement. Then she changed course and slowly began rocking against him, undulating her hips and turning him on even more. He could feel her inner muscles tightening and the rapturous look on her face told him her orgasm was coming.
The next time she came down on him, Jaxon couldn’t take any more. He raised his lower body to meet hers and this time they both exploded simultaneously. He gripped her hips and pulled her head down to meet his waiting mouth and got lost in her kiss.
Chapter 14
Kimberly couldn’t believe what had just happened between her and Jaxon. She’d made love to him in public, where anyone walking by could have seen them going at it like rabbits! She’d never done anything like that in her entire life. How did he make her do things she’d never done before?
She’d lost all rational thought and had given in to her base desires. But that wasn’t all. Something had changed when they’d made love in that cave, or at least it had for Kimberly. She’d really looked at him as they’d made love and she’d gotten swept away in emotion. She was developing strong feelings for him when she was supposed to remain unemotional.
Jaxon wasn’t offering her a commitment of any kind. He was only offering her right now while he was estranged from his family. What happened to them afterward when his family kissed and made up? Kimberly had no idea. She was trying her best not to think about it, but it was impossible not to. Jaxon was beginning to mean more to her than she ever could have imagined.
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