Secrets, Lies & Lullabies

by Heidi Betts

  And his lips were as delicious as she’d expected. Warm and soft but with a firmness that spoke of power and total self-confidence. He also tasted of the lush wine and food they’d shared earlier.

  The bad news was that his chest felt exactly as she’d imagined, his mouth tasted even better, and instead of allaying her curiosity, it only made her want more.

  With a groan she leaned farther into him, letting his heat and strong arms surround her, letting the passion sweep her away.

  It was just a kiss, just one night, and he had no idea who she really was. What could it hurt to surrender to whatever this was igniting between them and just let go?

  She didn’t let her mind wander past that, didn’t let her brain actually consider all the things that really could go wrong. She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to slow down—or worse, stop. For once she wanted to let go, be wild, be free and not worry about the consequences.

  Besides, it wasn’t as though anyone would ever find out. Erin would think she’d searched Alex’s suite and come up with nothing, and Alex would think he’d gotten lucky with a near-anonymous hotel maid. No strings, no ties, no awkward morning after.

  His mouth possessed her, but she certainly didn’t mind. If anything, her moan, the melt of her body, her meeting his tongue swipe for swipe and thrust for thrust told him exactly how much she liked it.

  Liked it? Loved it and was eager for more.

  Not bothering to breathe—who needed oxygen?—Jessica wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck, running her fingers through the hair at his nape and hanging on for dear life.

  It was Alex’s turn to groan. He hugged her tight and she felt his arousal standing proud, leaving no doubt that he was just as turned on as she was, just as carried away on this wave of uncontrollable lust.

  Thank goodness. She would hate to be coiled in a haze of desire, only to discover he’d been after nothing more than a quick kiss.

  But she needn’t have worried. He was all but sucking her tonsils down his throat. And then his hands went to her waist, her hips, her thighs a second before he scooped her into his arms.

  They broke apart, only because the change of position forced it, and it turned out people really did need oxygen eventually. They both gasped for breath as he carried her across the balcony and through the French doors, his long strides eating up the thickly carpeted floor all the way to the bedroom.

  Once there, he set her on the end of the wide, king-size bed with more gentleness than she would have managed if their roles had been reversed. Standing over her, he stared into her eyes, his own crystal-blue ones blazing like hot ice.

  With both hands, he cupped her face, tipping her head back a fraction of an inch. Then he leaned in and kissed her softly, almost reverently.

  Jessica’s eyes slid closed, letting the sensation of his lips on hers wash over her, carrying her away.

  A moment later, his mouth left her, but she felt his hands at her throat, his fingers trailing down the sides, over her collarbones and the slope of her chest. Goose bumps broke out on her skin as he grazed the insides of her breasts and started to unbutton her blouse.

  She held her breath while he worked. This wasn’t the first time a man had undressed her, but it was certainly the first time one had done it so slowly and had seemed to take such pleasure in the act. Either that or he was torturing her, but even the torture brought exquisite pleasure.

  When he reached the last of the buttons, she straightened enough for him to tug the blouse from the waistband of her skirt. He flicked it over her shoulders and arms, then tossed it away completely.

  Sitting there in her skirt and bra, Jessica suddenly realized she didn’t have to be so passive. As much as she was enjoying his seductive treatment, she wanted to be in on the action. And, yes—if she was soon going to be naked in front of him, then she wanted to see him out of his clothes, too.

  While he went for the zipper at the back of her skirt, she went for his belt buckle. He sucked air through his teeth, and she was delighted to see his nostrils flare, his jaw tic.

  After undoing his belt, she got to work on his fly. She slid the tab down so slowly, each individual snick of the zipper’s teeth echoed through the room. He was just as deliberate unzipping her skirt.

  He pulled her to her feet by the elbows, tugging her against his chest again while he slipped the skirt past her hips. At the same time, he kicked off his shoes, letting her push his pants down so that both items of clothing fell to the floor together.

  He set her back on the bed, then stepped out of the pants and kicked their clothes out of the way, unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging out of it all with urgent efficiency. Standing before her totally naked, Alex stared down at her with fire in his eyes and a set to his tall frame that told her without words that there was no turning back now. No escape.

  As though she’d even want to. If she hadn’t been sitting already, Jessica was pretty sure she would have melted into a steaming puddle on the floor. Her knees were jelly, her stomach doing somersaults worthy of an Olympic gold medal.

  Her mouth felt as if it was filled with sand, and she licked her lips, swallowing in an attempt to bring some moisture back before the dehydration went to her head and sent her into a dead faint.

  His gaze zeroed in on that tiny gesture, and she could have sworn she saw smoke spiraling out of his ears. He took a single, purposeful step toward her, bringing himself flush with the foot of the bed. Leaning in, he towered over her, fists flat on the mattress on either side of her hips.

  “Scoot up,” he told her in a low voice.

  Even though her bones felt like rubber, she put her hands under her and did as he’d ordered, slowing moving back across the mattress toward the head of the bed. He followed her every inch of the way. Hovering over her, crawling with her, plucking the heels off her feet and pitching them over his shoulder as they went. She stopped when she reached the pillows, letting her head sink into one of the feather-stuffed cushions, still covered by the spread she’d tucked around them that morning.

  “You’re overdressed,” Alex murmured a moment before he tucked his thumbs into the waistband of her barely there satin-and-lace panties and drew them down her legs. She helped him by kicking them off, then lifted up so he could unclasp and remove her bra.

  For several long seconds he drank her in, his gaze so intense, she could hardly breathe. Just when she was about to hide her breasts self-consciously with her arms, Alex reached around her, loosening the bed’s comforter and dragging it down, uncovering the pillows and sliding the slick fabric under her body until they were resting only on cool, freshly laundered sheets.

  Once he was happy with the state of the bed, he lowered himself down on top of her. From chest to ankle he covered her like a blanket, the heat of his skin warming her and the hairs on his legs and chest tickling in all the right places.

  He offered her a small, confident smile, and she couldn’t resist rubbing against him, loving every single seductive sensation. Then she looped her arms around his shoulders and met him for a long, deep, soul-rattling kiss.

  Alex ate at her mouth like he was enjoying their succulent dinner all over again. And she licked back as though she had moved on to the most decadent of desserts.

  Alex’s hands skimmed her body, up and down, all around, learning her shape and form and sweet spots. Her breasts swelled at his touch, and he rewarded them with added attention, squeezing, caressing, teasing until her nipples tightened into pebble-hard buds.

  Tracing his mouth over her brows, her closed eyelids, the line of her jaw, he made his way down to suckle those pert tips, making her moan and wriggle beneath him.

  She let her knees fall open, pulling him farther into the cradle of her thighs. He came more than willingly, settling against her, rubbing in all the right places.

  Soon they were panting, writhing, clawing each other like wild animals. With a strangled groan, Alex grasped her waist, sitting back as he tugged her up to straddle his
hips. Her arms tightened around him, her nails raking his skin.

  The flats of his hands swept up either side of her spine, sliding under her hair to cup the back of her skull. His fingers massaged, then dug in as he captured her mouth.

  Long minutes ticked by while the only sounds in the room were their mingled breaths, their bodies moving together and the staccato interruption of deep growls and desperate moans.

  Even though she was perched inches higher than Alex, he was definitely driving their passion. Which was fine, since he was really, really good at it. But she didn’t want to be just a passenger on this bus, passively riding along wherever he decided to take them.

  She wanted to drive, baby, and show him that a resort cleaning lady could blow his socks off just as easily as some silver-spoon socialite strumpet. Better, even, since she didn’t give a flip about messing up her hair.

  Bracing her legs on either side of him, she gripped his shoulders and pushed, toppling him backward and coming to rest over him with a satisfied smirk on her face. He returned her smile with a grin of his own, letting her know he was just as game for this position as any other.

  “A take charge kind of woman,” he said, running his hands along her torso until they cupped her breasts. His thumbs teased the undersides, coming just close enough to her nipples to make her bite her bottom lip in longing. “I like it.”

  Well, then, he should love her. She’d been taking charge of her life for as long as she could remember—to her parents’ continued consternation. Even before it had become a necessity, Jessica had been more headstrong than was probably wise. Lord knew, it had gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion. She only hoped tonight wouldn’t prove to be the biggest mistake of them all.

  “So you’re in charge,” Alex told her, breaking into her fractured thoughts. His thumbs were growing bolder, finally brushing the very tips of her oversensitized breasts, causing them to grow almost painfully tight. “What’s next?”

  That pesky act-before-you-think gene had backfired on her again. Because her liberal, uninhibited streak seemed to have abandoned her, along with all the strength in her limbs. She no longer wanted to tower over him, but thought she would be better off sinking into the bedclothes in a pile of boneless flesh and nerve endings. That’s what Alex’s touch did to her—turned her to mindless, quivering mush.

  But she needn’t have worried. Alex might say he liked a strong-willed, take-charge woman—at least in bed—but he had no problem taking the reins when necessary. Abandoning her breasts, he splayed his palms at her waist and down her hips. Raising her slightly, he centered her over his burgeoning erection, brushing lightly between her folds with just the tip.

  Jessica sucked in a breath, and Alex bared his teeth, nostrils flaring. Taking her hands, he wrapped them firmly around his hardened length. He was hot to the touch, soft velvet over tempered steel and throbbing beneath her fingers.

  “Take me,” he told her through gritted teeth. “Show me what you want, how you want it.”

  How could she resist? He was like a holiday buffet and she was a very hungry reveler.

  Angling her hips just so, she brought him flush with her center. Then slowly…slowly, slowly, slowly…she sank down. Inch by inch he filled her, and the feeling was exquisite. To him, too, she guessed, judging by his long, low moan of satisfaction. His eyes fluttered closed, his hands clutched at her hips and beneath her rear, his thighs were as tense as iron beams.

  She, however, was loose, almost liquid. Warmth spread through her veins, filled her belly, and surrounded him with moisture where they were connected. His body jerked, driving him higher inside of her, causing her internal muscles to spasm in response.

  Though he was still breathing heavily, still holding himself gallantly in check, he smiled up at her, blue eyes flashing with devilish intent.

  Oh, my. How had she resisted him for so long? Granted, their “relationship” had pretty much moved at the speed of light as it was. But gazing down at him now, knowing that he was not only movie-star handsome, but oozed sophistication and charm from every pore, she wondered how she hadn’t fallen at his feet the very first day—first moment—they’d met. How every woman he came in contact with didn’t simply drop to the nearest surface flat on her back like an upturned beetle.

  That was the power he possessed—at least over her. He had the power not only to seduce her with barely a whisper, but wipe every ounce of sense straight out of her head.

  What they were doing here tonight, in this room, in this bed, had nothing to do with good judgment and everything to do with pure, raw, primal instinct and desire.

  Tossing her head from side to side, she shook her hair back over her shoulders and wriggled atop him to find just the right position. Alex growled, fingers digging into her flesh, and tensed even more between her thighs.

  “Don’t do that unless you’re ready to relinquish control,” he warned in something akin to a hiss, “because I’m about two seconds from rolling you over and finishing this, whether you like it or not.”

  A shiver rolled down her spine at his deep-throated threat. Oh, she suspected she would like that very much, indeed. She was tempted to say yes, please and let him do just that.

  But staying in charge—at least for a while longer—was the only way she knew she’d be able to look herself in the mirror tomorrow. She wanted no doubts, no cracks in the story she might tell herself that would allow her to alter facts. She didn’t want to wake up with enough doubts to convince herself that he’d taken advantage of her.

  No, she wanted to be sure that if guilt was going to set in, it would rest squarely on her own shoulders. And that if anyone—especially anyone in her family, such as Erin—ever found out, she wouldn’t give them further reason to paint Alexander Bajoran as a bad guy.

  Running her tongue across her lip—slowly…from one side to the other…first the top…then the bottom—she watched his pupils dilate and his chest hitch with his ragged breathing.

  “Poor baby,” she murmured in her best sex kitten voice. “Am I being too rough on you?”

  On the word rough, she flexed the inner walls of her feminine channel, squeezing him like a vise.

  He moaned.

  “Making this too…hard?”

  She flexed again, this time coming up on her knees so that the friction, the rasping of their flesh drew sparks, sending currents of electricity outward to shock them both.

  He groaned, snarled, muttered a colorful oath. And Jessica grinned at the knowledge that if their social circumstances were reversed—if they’d been doing this five years ago while her family still had control of their company—she could probably have gotten him to sign his company over to her.

  That feeling of superiority, though, was short-lived. While he lifted off the bed and she continued to cant her hips back and forth in a slow, methodical motion, Alex reached for her breast again with one hand. To rub and squeeze and caress. He tweaked her nipples, making her shudder. Then, when it was her turn to let her eyes slide closed, he dropped his other hand between her legs and found the secret, swollen bud sure to send her spiraling out of control.

  She moaned, biting her tongue until she thought she might draw blood, as ecstasy built to an almost unbearable pressure inside of her.

  Alex stared at Jessica, fighting his own need to moan, possibly even whimper. Had he ever seen a woman so beautiful? Ever met anyone quite like Jessica Madison? He’d never gone to bed with one, of that he was certain.

  He couldn’t explain his overwhelming attraction to her, but he was sure as hell grateful for it—as well as her mutual enthusiasm. If she’d turned him down out there on the balcony, walked away after only a single too-brief kiss, he suspected he’d have spent the rest of the night taking out his frustrations by trying to punch a hole in one of the suite’s walls with his forehead.

  But she hadn’t turned him down. She’d turned him on, then stuck around to do something about it.

  Her skin was alabaste
r silk, running like water under his fingertips. Her mouth was equally soft: warm and inviting and sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted.

  And the rest of her… He didn’t think words had yet been invented to describe the rest of her. How she moved with him and around him. How she welcomed him and made him want to cherish her and ravish her both at the same time. How her hazel eyes turned dark and liquid when she looked at him. They were so wide and inviting, he thought he could drown in them without a single regret.

  Those weren’t exactly the thoughts he wanted to be thinking about a one-night stand, but they were there all the same.

  And then he couldn’t think at all because she was moving on him like sin itself. Long, sure strokes that drove him deeper. Made his jaw lock and his eyes roll back in his head.

  He clutched her hips tight enough to leave bruises and had to make a concerted effort to loosen his hold before he did. Not that Jessica seemed to notice. Her straight white teeth were locked on her lower lip…her lashes trembled like butterfly wings as she struggled to keep her eyes open while passion coaxed them closed…and her pace never faltered as she undulated above him.

  His own hips rose and fell with her movements, meeting her stroke for stroke, thrusting as deeply as possible and trying for more. Her hands flexed and curled on his chest until her nails dug into the muscles like claws and then released as she reached up to cup her breasts.

  The sight of those slender fingers with their neatly trimmed but unmanicured nails curving over her soft, cushiony flesh, touching herself, bringing herself added pleasure, nearly sent him over the edge. Then she tweaked her nipples, arched her spine, and threw her head back on a rich-as-hundred-year-old-scotch moan, and he knew he was a goner.

  In one sharp, fast motion, he flipped her to her back, drawing a yelp of surprise from those pink, swollen, delectable lips. Rising over her, he shifted her legs to his waist, encouraged when she linked them together at the base of his spine, heels digging in.

  “Hold on, sweetheart.” The endearment slipped past his lips before he could stop it, but he couldn’t say he regretted it, not when her grip tightened around him, both inside and out.