“With the right shade of blue-green, I can still use cobalt accents. Give me back that swatch.” Amy leaned across him, reaching for his jacket pocket.
Zack grabbed her waist and nibbled on her ear until she thought she’d have to slide under the table. She retaliated by blowing on the strong, brown neck rising from the open collar of his shirt. He laughed and returned her to her seat. She waved the confiscated swatch in his face.
Away from work, away from the duties of parenthood, away from any responsibility at all, she felt as if the weight of the world was off her shoulders and she could open up to the fun she’d denied herself for so long. She adored playing with colors and fabrics, and Zack had swirled her through acres of them in a few short hours. No man she knew could endure that much nesting.
“Shiny cobalt tile,” he said sternly. “Now, finish your wine or I will not show you my next surprise.”
“Next surprise?” She sipped the extravagant chardonnay he’d ordered with their dinner. She’d never learned to be much of a wine drinker, but she could come to appreciate it in surroundings like these. Jo had told her about the restaurant with the fish murals on the ceiling and the leather booths, with real linen and real silver on the tables, but she hadn’t thought she’d ever have the opportunity to eat here. Evan had always preferred to entertain at home, where she did the cooking.
She swirled the wine in the glass, relaxed on the comfortable bench seat, and absorbed the giddy ambience of fine food and an attentive, attractive man. For the first time since the divorce, it felt exciting to be single and carefree. “I don’t need any surprises,” she decided. “I just want to sit here and pretend this will last forever.”
“No, you will miss tucking in little Louisa and teasing Josh and the patter of little footsteps in the morning,” he corrected. “But it is necessary to take these breaks to appreciate what you have.”
Amy looked at him in amazement. He was not only right, but dead serious, and she knew he was speaking from experience. He still missed his daughter. Her eyes misted in sympathy, and she reached over to pat his hand.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “I needed this. You’re a very wise man.”
“No,” he stoutly denied, “I’m a loose cannon, but that’s neither here nor there. Would you like dessert, or shall we go on?”
She had thought he would take advantage of her sentimentality to make practiced love to her. She’d almost been hoping for it. After that explosive kiss and his revelations last weekend, she knew she was asking for trouble by being anywhere near him.
But tonight.… Tonight she was having second thoughts. Unfortunately, apparently, so was he.
“I can’t eat another bite,” she admitted, smothering her disappointment. Give her an inch, and she wanted it all. She knew better. She would try to just enjoy whatever else he proposed for the evening without setting her future-planning meter into operation.
Smash that planner. Relax, she reminded herself.
Leaving cash on the table, Zack stood and held out his hand. “Come along, you will enjoy this.”
She could play a little while longer, but if he meant to take her to one of those noisy bars Jo used to frequent, she wouldn’t do much relaxing. She had two left feet and no interest in country music. But he’d been so patient with her, she could easily agree to follow him anywhere.
“Jo and Mama don’t mind putting the kids to bed?” she asked, wishing she still had a cell phone to check on them.
As if reading her mind, Zack handed her his. “They assured me everyone will be fine, but call and see, just in case.”
With his hand heating the small of her back, Amy punched in Jo’s number and slid into the Bentley.
By the time she had said good night to Josh and was reassured her small world was well, Zack had pulled the car up to a valet stand. She hadn’t been paying attention to their route, but the stones of the elegant old lodge were unmistakable.
“The Grove Park?” she asked dubiously. She’d set up Evan’s VIP guests at the inn, but she’d never even seen the spa. She’d always found better things to do with her time and money — most of them involving her family.
“A surprise party for two,” he said firmly, steering her toward the spa entrance. “It is time you remember that you are a person, too, and you deserve occasional pampering.”
Passing by the salon, a hundred thoughts raced frantically through her head, but she didn’t have the presence of mind to utter one of them. The elegance overwhelmed her. As if he expected her to protest, Zack had an attendant waiting at the entrance.
“She is already beautiful,” he told the smiling hostess. “You will make her feel that way.”
“Of course, Mr. Saint-Etienne. All is as you requested.”
He’d requested the spa? When?
In a state of shock, Amy watched Zack stroll away in the company of a male attendant. Obediently, she followed her hostess, unable to think of a diplomatic manner of extricating herself, especially when her curiosity about the spa screamed to be satisfied.
“That is so romantic,” the tall, blond, and gorgeous attendant murmured. “No one has ever said anything like that to me.”
Amy tried to remember the last time anyone had called her beautiful. Evan had occasionally nodded approvingly when she frosted her hair and wore a designer suit, but she hadn’t looked like herself then.
Zack liked her natural looks, unstyled hair and all? The possibility made her feel more feminine than she had in ages, and she looked eagerly around her. Everyone should experience everything at least once, right?
Knowing how many beautiful women must come through these doors, Amy was self-conscious as she undressed and donned robe and slippers. Her hair looked as if she’d barbered it herself. Which she had. She’d snipped the ragged ends when she didn’t have time to make an appointment. And her fingernails! She clenched her fingers into fists to hide them. Evan was right. She really had let herself go this past year.
The gracious attendant didn’t seem to notice as she led Amy past inviting rooms sparsely occupied at this hour to a private room with an enormous whirlpool bath and a massage table.
“Helga will take you from here. Enjoy!”
By the time Helga had questioned her enough to design the perfect regimen for her obviously mistreated body, Amy figured the masseuse knew more about her than she did herself.
Soaked in rose-scented waters, pounded with aromatic oils, detoxified, and relaxed with soothing lighting and the gentle hush of a waterfall, Amy fell asleep on the comfortable cot.
Hot towels laid over her back woke her gently. Eyes drifting open, her gaze fell on a basket containing a bottle of champagne and chocolates and a vase of roses that scented the air with a hint of cinnamon.
“Surprise,” a male voice murmured from the direction of the whirlpool.
She jerked her head up, and for a moment, she had an out-of-body experience, jolted out of her old self into some giddy new stratosphere she’d never imagined.
Zack lay relaxed against the walls of the bath, his muscular arms resting on the rim, his eyes half-closed, his overlong hair wet and clinging in slight curls to his sun-darkened throat. His naked chest, covered in wet whorls of hair, filled the space above the water.
Amy wasn’t fooled for a minute by his sleepy-eyed look. His gaze was directed at her bare breasts, and he was smiling. She grabbed a towel from her back and tried to wind it around in front of her. She frantically looked around to see who was watching.
“Come in. The water is delightful,” he murmured. “The attendants are paid to leave us alone, and the champagne is well chilled.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him what he could do with his tools of seduction — when her driving need for new experiences kicked in. This was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? Seduction, raw sex, no-strings-attached lovemaking…. Right?
Absolutely! The new Amy was a woman of the world who wouldn’t fall in love just because she shared physica
l pleasure with a man. She was a grown-up now.
She didn’t think she could release the towel.
“I will close my eyes,” he suggested immediately, reading her mind for the second time that night. “The water is beautiful.”
She didn’t think his closed eyes would help, but the promise got her off the table and to the pool’s edge, where she stepped in with the towel still around her. He was right. The warm, jetting, bubbling water was heavenly. She slipped into the far end of the tub and nearly melted, remembering to throw the towel to the tiles only at the last minute.
His toes slid along her legs, and she nearly shot right back out of the water again.
“Relax,” he murmured again.
“That’s easy for you to say,” she muttered, taking the glass of champagne he nudged in her direction. She closed her eyes to the sight of Zack’s lightly furred chest and was grateful for the cover of bubbles on the water’s surface as she sipped the chilled wine. Champagne went up her nose, and she coughed.
“Sip, don’t slurp,” he said with a chuckle. “It is heady stuff, this vintage. I ordered it just for this occasion. If you will come here, I will feed you strawberries. I have been assured this is the very best chocolate coating.”
Amy’s cheeks heated, and the delicate bubbles she’d been drinking raced straight to her head. But parts of her that hadn’t been alive in a long, long time were stirring with interest, and she couldn’t sit here with her eyes closed forever.
When she opened them, she discovered Zack had slid around the circular tub to sit beside her. A chocolate-covered strawberry dangled temptingly near her lips.
“Open wide,” he whispered.
And she did. With just his wicked suggestion, her legs parted to the excitement of jetting bubbles on vulnerable parts while she opened her mouth to accept his offering. In doing so, she leaned back against Zack’s arm. He shifted her to his shoulder, and they were side to side, naked as the day they were born.
And she didn’t flee.
Far from fleeing, she wanted to climb into his lap and have her way with him. She was so hot she thought she might internally combust if he didn’t touch her in a vital spot soon.
He was all male muscle scented with some exotic spice the masseuse must have applied, and that Amy wanted to lick right off of him. The leg pressed along hers was all hard sinew and strength. His shoulder and arm cradled her as if she were no more than a small doll. She loved being held by this man, loved feeling alive and desirable like a woman instead of a machine.
She sucked the rest of the chocolate strawberry from its stem and let the flavors melt in her mouth, mixing with the champagne. She moaned a little with the pleasure of it, and he chuckled softly.
“You were meant for sensual pleasures, my Amy.” His long finger reached to caress the tip of her breast where his arm cradled her. “You should not deny what you are.”
His mouth closed over hers, soft and more intoxicating than the champagne. His tongue tasted of decadently delicious chocolate. His hand caressing her breast completed the task of arousing her from the stupor she’d lived in for so many years. Every nerve ending awakened and sizzled with spikes of electricity.
Amy ignored the flashing alarm signs and warning bells in her head. She was beyond being careful any longer. Tonight was hers. This fascinating man wanted her, and she wasn’t losing the opportunity.
She tilted her champagne glass over Zack’s chest and licked the spilled wine from his nipple.
Twenty-five
Had he not been sitting down, the tentative touch of Amy’s tongue on his chest would have brought Zack to his knees.
He’d had champagne licked off him before. He’d had Jacuzzi baths and chocolate-covered strawberries and more.
He’d never had any woman like Amy to share them with.
It wasn’t just that she was lush instead of willowy, wholesome instead of jaded, or shy instead of bold, although all these elements excited him with their newness and elicited conflicting needs to cuddle and ravish her at the same time. No, it was the inner strength of the woman emerging from her shell that fascinated and aroused him.
He tried to concentrate on the physical awareness of her ripe breasts brushing the hairs on his chest as she leaned over him. But it was the daring dart of her tongue across his skin that made him so hard he could barely restrain his urge to pull her over him right then. She was doing her best to seduce him. He’d stake his fortune and his reputation that she’d never seduced another man in her life — and the knowledge both humbled and excited him.
He caught her face between his hands and lifted her chin so he could kiss soft chocolate-coated lips. She sent his head spinning when she licked the juice from his mouth first.
Her tongue tasted sweeter than berries. He tried to reclaim control of this seduction, but her kisses were as hungry as his, and they nearly slid under the water trying to gulp each other down.
Coming up for air, he could no longer resist the soft press of her breasts against his side. He slid his hands to cup their generous fullness, lifting them to his lips so he could taste even more luscious berries. He thrilled at her cry of pleasure and crushed her closer when she grabbed his hair and held him there to taste as freely as he wished.
She was all women in one, lush goddess, nurturing mother, intelligent partner, and he was about to explode with his need to claim her. But he wanted this first time to be perfect.
Pleasuring her breast, he slid his arm beneath her rounded buttocks, lifting her so his fingers could slide along her sex. Amy’s quick inhalation and widened eyes said all he needed to know. Her fingers bit into his shoulders as he tugged her across his lap. She didn’t resist repositioning but kneeled over him, tentatively surrounding his sex with her palms so he thought he might expire of need right then.
“I have waited too long for this, my Amy,” he murmured, stroking her until she closed her eyes and hummed with pleasure. “We have all night, but I need this now.”
She spread her legs and came down on him without question or quarrel, smothering him in ecstasy, leaving him gasping for air. His senses reeled with the touch, taste, and scent of warm woman in his arms, pressed into his chest. His erection had grown so large, he feared he’d stretch her to breaking.
He lifted her from his lap to suckle at her breasts again, then lowered her more slowly this time, so slowly he thought he’d lose control before she closed over him completely. He fought for restraint so he could move within her, producing excited gasps. She moaned louder as his lips teased her breasts and his hands guided her hips in a slow circle.
He wanted to do this all night, yet his body countered with building urgency.
She pushed upward, almost relinquishing him, and before he could protest, she caught his head between her hands, closed her mouth over his, and plunged down again — while stunning him with a kiss full of passion…and demand.
“Now, Zack,” she whispered, wrapping her legs around him in a way he could not refuse.
Relieved of all restraint by her request, he cupped her buttocks and pushed into her until she cried out with delight. Then he guided her into the driving rhythm he wanted, needed, and couldn’t live without.
Once she grasped his needs and took charge of the passion incinerating them, he hungrily leaned over to suckle her breasts. His hands cupped her rounded hips, and he delighted in their supple movement as they moved together farther, faster. When he knew he couldn’t restrain himself much longer, he slid his hand between them, found the nub of her sex, and pushed her over the edge.
Rather than cry out, she bit his shoulder. Triggered by that erotic charge, with her climax pulsing around him, Zack simply let go, giving himself up to the moment as if he were still a teenager in the first throes of blind love. He thrust hard and exploded in spasm after spasm, finally attaining the release he craved, while she clung to his neck and the warm water bubbled around them.
“I think I’ll just slide under and drown happy,�
�� he managed to murmur as he wrapped her in his arms. After weeks of deprivation, he knew all her soft curves pressed into his hardness would have him aroused and aching again within minutes, if not seconds, but he couldn’t let her go if his life depended on it.
“Take me with you,” she replied sleepily, brushing her mouth against his before resting her head on his shoulder.
It wasn’t until he’d nestled her tenderly against his chest that he realized what he’d done. By throwing away all his practiced maneuvers, he’d forgotten protection. He never did that.
The memory lapse was too Freudian to consider. He couldn’t marry and have children with a woman like Amy. The match would be worse than the one between his mother and father. They would have to live on different continents and kill each other by phone.
He didn’t want to argue with Amy. He wanted to play the role of gallant protector while enjoying her laughter, admiring her creativity, and exploring all the facets she hid from the world. And the only way he could do that was if they had no ties. He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“We have two choices,” he said into her ear, cupping his hands around her breasts and playing with her aroused nipples. “We can put on the bathing suits waiting for us and enjoy the romantic grotto, or we can slip on our robes and go up to my suite.” He nibbled on her ear to encourage the latter choice.
“We can’t just stay here?” she replied, scorching his chest with soft kisses. “We haven’t finished the strawberries or champagne.”
“I’ll have them sent up to us.” Not waiting for her decision, he rose from the water with Amy wrapped around him. If he didn’t get out right then, he wouldn’t be able to walk.
Walking didn’t matter after all. She fastened her mouth to his, wrapped her legs around his hips, and within minutes, he had her beneath him on the cot.
With the cinnamon scent of roses filling their heads and the steam from the bath enveloping them, they sated the frustrations of the past weeks, oblivious to all but sensation.
Sweet Home Carolina Page 23