by Julie Cohen
People were walking past, they were in the centre of Chelsea, but she didn’t care, because she had never felt this free before. Jane closed her eyes and shut out London. She concentrated on this man, who knew just how to touch her and what she wanted, who seemed more full of passion than any man she had ever met.
Strength and sinew. Her body was pressed full-length against him; his leg between her thighs, his arm wrapped round her. The rigid length of his erection against her belly told her he wanted her as much as she did him.
But beneath his ardent kisses, the clasp of his hands and the rapid pace of his breathing she could sense a tenderness in his embrace. His hands were careful. His lips were gentle even when devouring her. Quite unexpectedly, she thought of the words he had used to describe how his father had treated his mother: he adored her.
She felt sexy, and adored.
Jane opened her eyes, suddenly desperate to look at Jay and see the expression on his face as he kissed her. She straightened her head, and blinked as she realised she was looking straight into the lens of a camera.
Click.
‘Um—we’re being watched,’ she said, her voice unsteady. Jay stopped kissing her and straightened, still holding her tight.
The camera clicked again. It was held by a man dressed in an anorak and shorts, wearing a floppy hat and carrying an orange backpack. Jane took in the street for the first time and noticed a group of people just past them, all carrying identical backpacks and cameras.
Tourists. And it seemed that she and Jay were suddenly a major attraction.
‘Excuse me, mate,’ Jay said, ‘but do you mind?’
The man lowered his camera. ‘You don’t see that in Oklahoma City,’ he said, apparently by way of explanation, and walked off after the rest of his group.
Jane tilted back her head to look at Jay’s face. He was watching the man retreat, incredulity in his features. He glanced down at Jane and then both of them were laughing, holding onto each other, sharing breath again.
‘I’d have thought you were used to cameras by now.’ Jane giggled.
‘I’m a model, not a porn star,’ Jay said, and then he smiled down into her face. ‘You’re incredible, Jane. What next?’
She tucked his shirt back in and smoothed her other hand over the wrinkles she had made in the front of it. ‘I think we need to go somewhere more private,’ she said. ‘Let’s get a cab.’
‘How private?’ His expression became less playful, more serious. ‘It turns out I’m only staying a few streets from here, but if you’d rather go somewhere else—’
‘We don’t need a cab, then.’ Swiftly Jane bent down and removed her high heels. She took his hand, dangling her shoes from the other. ‘Come on, let’s run to your hotel.’
Jay didn’t hesitate. He took off down the pavement, with Jane running beside him as fast as she could. Her bare feet slapped on the asphalt and her hair flew out behind her and she wondered, When was the last time I ran like this?
With Jay’s hand in hers, she flew over the kerbs, ducked between pedestrians, rounded corners like a Formula One racer and heard her breath coming out in sure, rapid pants of laughter.
They were at the door of the hotel almost before she was ready and they spilled through it laughing and gasping for breath. It was a boutique hotel, newly renovated, modern and airy. Jay brought her straight to the lift.
‘I assume you want to go to my room,’ he said, stroking her hair back from her flushed face and combing through its tangled waves with his fingers.
She stood on her toes and whispered into his ear. ‘I can think of some things we can get up to in the lift.’
He raised his eyebrows at her and seemed to be opening his mouth to say something when they were joined by a man in tweed. The door dinged and the man came into the lift with them.
Jane held Jay’s hand and nestled close into his side. Curses, she mouthed at him while the other passenger was pressing his floor button, and she was rewarded with Jay’s sexy smile.
First floor. Second floor. Jane watched the numbers on top of the lift door, felt Jay’s thumb circling the inside of her wrist, and tried not to go insane with anticipation. At the third floor the doors slid open and Jay led her out into the hallway.
‘Not far, I hope,’ she said.
‘Just here.’ He removed a card key from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and opened the door. Without a single iota of hesitation Jane walked into this near-stranger’s hotel room and felt as free and young as she had ten minutes before when she’d been sprinting full-tilt with him down the King’s Road.
The room was high-ceilinged and painted in light colours, furnished in sleek modern pieces. She spotted a pair of jeans over a chair, a laptop on the desk, and a big, smooth bed.
Jay closed the door behind her and she faced him.
Aside from his breathing, the rustle of his suit, and her heartbeat in her ears, the room was absolutely silent. Jane realised, with a twist of her heart, that for the first time she and this man were alone together. Actually acting out the intimacy they’d adopted from the start.
Jay reached out with a hand and pushed a lock of her hair back with his finger. Then, slowly, he dropped his arm to his own side.
‘So, Jane,’ he said quietly, ‘what do you want to do?’
CHAPTER FOUR
THIS was it. Jane’s chance to say no, to go back to her normal life, back to thinking about nothing but work, back to playing it safe.
She didn’t hesitate. ‘I want you,’ she said and stepped back into Jay’s arms.
Their kiss was, if anything, more passionate, although Jane wouldn’t have believed that was possible. But this time they were alone and there was an inevitability about what was going to happen that fuelled her desire. They kissed in hungry bites. Jane’s hands clutched Jay’s clothing, pulling his lithe, muscular body as tight as she could. He held her with one broad hand spread across the small of her back, and his erection pressed into her, even more insistent than before.
She had to break her mouth from his for a moment to catch her breath. When she did he stepped back, just a little bit, his hands still on her, and looked her up and down. His dark blue gaze felt like hands on her body.
‘Jane, you are beautiful,’ he said.
Silly as it was, honesty compelled her to shake her head. ‘You’re the beautiful one.’
He had a face that looked both sensual and intelligent, and a body made to wear clothes, tall and lean and hard. Although she was sure he would look even better out of his clothes. She licked her lips in anticipation and tasted him on them.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he insisted. ‘More than I could have imagined you. Look.’
He turned her so she could see their reflection in the full-length mirror that covered the bathroom door. Her dress was plain, but slim and black and flattering; one of the straps was slipping off her shoulder. Her brown hair looked as if she’d just got out of bed—or run a quarter of a mile. Her cheeks were flushed with desire and excitement, her eyes were smoky and heavy-lidded, and her lips were pink and slightly swollen with Jay’s kisses.
She wasn’t sure about beautiful, especially when she compared herself to the perfection standing beside her. But she did look wanton, impulsive, sexy. Not really herself, but someone better.
The thought made her even more determined. She caught Jay’s gaze in the mirror and held it. Slowly, deliberately, watching Jay’s eyes the entire time, Jane reached beneath the hem of her dress. She hooked her fingers into the waist of her G-string and slid it down her legs. Then she stepped out of it, leaving the scrap of black lace on the carpeted floor.
Jay actually growled.
In a split second he had turned her again to face him, had grabbed her and pressed her back against the wall near the entrance door and was kissing her with even more urgency than before. He stood between her legs and with one hand lifted one of her thighs so it wrapped around his hip. The pose pushed her dress upwards and she felt
the soft cloth of his suit and his hard muscles rubbing against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.
She’d been thinking about it too long, and she was desperate to touch his naked skin after the teasing sample between the buttons of his shirt. She pushed his jacket from his shoulders, and as he shrugged it off to fall behind them she tore at his shirt. Smiling a little at their impatience, Jay helped her to remove it and she dropped it, too, on the floor.
She couldn’t breathe for a minute.
He was even more perfect than she’d imagined.
All lean muscle and taut, tanned skin. His chest was smooth, and a thin line of dark hair ran from his navel down under the waistband of his trousers. Jane tore her gaze away from him to look in the mirror to her right, and saw the strong line of his shoulder and back, the way his ribs made a gentle ripple down his side.
She saw herself reach out and touch him. And then she had to look away from the mirror, back to real life, and watch her hands travel eagerly over his naked chest. His skin was hot. She rested her right palm on him and felt the point of his nipple under her hand, and his heart beating rapidly. The fingers of her other hand explored his right nipple; it was flat against his chest, but hard in the middle where it stuck out.
She wondered if his nipples were as sensitive as hers were; she rolled the tip experimentally between her finger and thumb and was rewarded by his sharp intake of breath.
‘I need to touch you, Jane,’ he muttered roughly and ran his hands up the inside of her thighs, pushing her dress up even further towards her hips. His fingers brushed the curls between her legs. Jane shuddered and gripped his bare shoulders. She was held up only by his body and the wall; her own legs were suddenly boneless.
Slowly, much more slowly and gently than she would have expected after the hunger in his voice and his kiss, Jay’s fingers stroked her, parting her. She could feel that she was slippery against him, and she squirmed a little in embarrassment. He had to know she was turned on, but maybe not quite how turned on, how aroused she’d been all evening.
‘You’re so wet, darling,’ he whispered, ‘it’s wonderful. Let me please you.’
‘You’re pleasing m—’ she started, but then one of his fingers stroked across her clitoris, and the pleasure was so sudden and so great that she yelped.
She saw Jay smile at that, wide and dazzling and, oh, so sexy, and then he was caressing her again, gentle circles around her clitoris, sending wave after wave of delight through her. Then his finger slid inside her, doing all sorts of wonderful things to her nerve endings.
Jane closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the wall. She’d never felt like this before. Jay’s hand kept up its work, making swirls against her, pushing inside her and then coming out again to stroke her where she was most sensitive.
This man was not only beautiful, he was the best lover she had ever had in her life, and they weren’t even naked yet.
Jay leaned forward and, with his free hand, pushed one strap of her dress from her shoulder. He began kissing and nibbling the slope of her naked breast, finally nudging the fabric of her dress down and taking her nipple into his mouth.
Jane cried out. Her eyes snapped open in surprise at the sound of her own voice. Jay lifted his head from her breast and looked into her face. He stilled his hand on her, cupping her sex. She was exposed to him, her legs open for him, her breast free of her dress, shiny with moisture from his mouth, reflected by the mirror beside them.
Suddenly the full impact of what she was doing slammed into her. She was in a hotel room with a stranger with his hands and mouth all over her, and how many women had he done this with?
And then he smiled at her, digging those creases in his cheeks, making his eyes sparkle. A big grin, a wonderful grin of complicity.
‘I never thought we’d be doing this,’ he said to her.
‘It wasn’t exactly in my diary for the week,’ she replied, and her voice was breathless and shaking. But she couldn’t help smiling back at him.
He kissed her cheek. ‘It’s an adventure, Jane. Will you trust me?’
She felt herself throbbing against his fingers, every fibre of her body clamouring for release.
She nodded.
His grin widened, and she could have sworn that it had turned just a little bit devilish. ‘I know this wasn’t part of the plan. But I really want to.’
What plan? she opened her mouth to ask, but suddenly he was kneeling before her, and his head was between her legs, and his mouth was on her.
Jane gasped in surprise. Then Jay moved his lips and tongue and she was lost. His gentleness was gone; he licked at her urgently, hot liquid strokes that sent ecstasy flowing through her.
She tangled the fingers of both hands in his short hair and brought him even closer, needing more, needing everything.
It can’t get any better than this, she thought, her head spinning, her entire body focused on Jay and his mouth, so when her orgasm came it astonished her even more.
One moment she was leaning back on the wall, drowning in sensation, feeling Jay’s soft hair and his hot mouth; the next she was bracing herself with both hands on the wall, her hips bucking, her head tossing from side to side, every muscle convulsing and her head ringing with the sound of her own cries.
When she could breathe again he had stood and was looking at her with his blue eyes. His smile was no longer devilish; instead he looked as if he were full of wonder.
‘I love the way you give yourself to how you feel,’ he said to her and kissed her. She could taste herself on his lips, unbelievably arousing.
‘I want you now,’ she gasped. Her hands moved, without her needing to think of it, to his trousers. She unbuckled his belt with shaking fingers and he pushed down his trousers, his boxers, every movement now frantic with need.
Jane let her fingers curl around his erection. He was hot and hard and big against her palm. She heard him groan loudly in her ear.
‘This is much better than my fantasy,’ he said, pressing a kiss and another onto the side of her face. ‘Let me get some protection, darling.’
He stooped swiftly and pulled a packet out of his trousers. Jane, breathing heavily, quirked up the side of her mouth in a wry smile.
‘Expecting this to happen?’
‘I must admit I was hoping it would.’ She watched him take the condom out of its wrapper and roll it down over his length. He was perfect. Every inch of him. And she wanted to possess him so badly.
She reached out to him and he stepped back into her arms and kissed her. She expected it to be wild but it wasn’t, it was tender. But her breast pressed against his bare chest, and she could feel the weight of his erection on her belly, and she couldn’t help but wrap her leg around him, arch her hips and pull him towards her.
He made a soft moan of pleasure against her lips and then he pulled his mouth a fraction from hers. ‘Jane,’ he said, his voice low and husky with desire, ‘before we do this, you need to be sure that it’s right. We can stop now, if you want to.’
‘I don’t want to stop,’ she said, and kissed him, hard.
He might do this all the time. He probably could if he wanted to. He was certainly good at it. But she didn’t care because right now he was with her, nobody else, and she felt more desirable and full of desire than she ever had in her life.
Jay moaned again, and lifted her with his strong hands on her hips. By instinct, she wrapped her legs around his waist and before she could even draw a breath he thrust deep inside her.
‘Ah, Jane, you feel amazing,’ he whispered and began to move in and out of her, building the ecstasy all over again.
Jane curved her arms around his neck and held on tight, barely able to breathe, barely able to believe this incredible thing was happening to her, to her and him together. In the mirror beside them she could see his body, lean and strong, his skin dark against her white legs and her dress. She saw his muscles clench with every push into her. The skin of his buttocks was
paler where his tan ended; somehow it made him look less purely godlike, more human.
Jane turned her face back to him and saw how pleasure had softened his features, dilated his blue eyes. She caught his breath in her mouth and kissed him.
Another orgasm began to tremble inside her. She rocked her hips against Jay and let the sensation possess her again. She felt herself squeezing him inside, contracting around him, and with a final, urgent, shuddering thrust he exploded within her.
‘Jane,’ he murmured, still holding her tight. ‘Oh, Jane. Oh, wow.’ He kissed her mouth, her cheek, her forehead. She felt their hearts pounding together. Underneath her hands his neck and shoulders were damp with sweat. For a couple of minutes they both just breathed.
A little bit of sense began to swim its way into her bliss-clouded mind. She had to be heavy. But Jay just held her to him, pressing soft kisses onto her face, as if he were never going to let her go.
He was strong and he held her steady and little aftershocks of satisfaction coursed through her body. But her good sense was growing. And now that her brain had got rid of the massive amounts of hormones pumping through it she remembered that she, Jane Miller, did not do things like this. She was not a wild sexual creature. She was … quite a bit less than that.
And up until five days ago, she’d been engaged to another man.
She shifted a little bit in Jay’s embrace and he gently set her down on the floor. He kissed her once more before she felt him slipping out of her, and he stepped back to take care of the condom.
And who was he, anyway? He was beautiful, and she liked him. Jane pulled up the strap of her dress and watched as a slight wry grimace crossed his face as he removed the condom.