THE LOVING TOUCH

by Stoni Alexander

  She stood on the balcony, salty air filling her lungs. The crescent moon cast little light on the ocean, but the rolling waves soothed her anxious soul. She closed her eyes and breathed. Seconds later, Jagger crashed into her thoughts, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. Her soft groan startled her and she opened her eyes. But she remained alone on the quiet balcony, the constant yearning her sole companion.

  Even if she hadn’t met him at the auction, she’d be crazy attracted to him. Beyond his striking looks, he carried himself with a worldly sophistication she could only dream about. He was confident without being cocky, and simmering with a sexy, unassuming charm.

  But she’d never slept with a client or a coworker, and she wasn’t about to start now, no matter how strong the pull. In the four years she’d worked at Mitus, she’d never dated anyone on Colton’s staff. No man had moved past the “friend” stage. But Jagger was different, and she struggled to reconcile her feelings.

  Ten o’clock West Coast time was no match for her tired eyes and aching muscles. Her East Coast brain screamed one in the morning. After a relaxing shower, she peeked into the shopping bags before lining them up on the floor next to the mirrored wall. Everything Robby had purchased was both stunning and elegant.

  She slipped under the linens, turned out the bedside lamp, and dropped her head on the fluffy pillow. Burrowing beneath the cozy sheets, she closed her eyes. She’d survived day one of Jagger Loving and his kink-free resort. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll have better results.

  Exhaustion set in. As she drifted to sleep, she imagined her absentee suitemate holding her tightly and loving her all night long.

  SHE WOKE WITH A START, confused. Who’s running the disposal? The bed vibrated and the room swayed. The alarm clock danced on the nightstand. Earthquake!

  On a screech, she bolted out of bed and charged into the living area. The table lamp flickered as the door to Jagger’s bedroom flew open and he strode out. Crashing into him, she threw her arms around him. Trembling, she eked out, “Er-er-er-earthquake?”

  “Yes. I’ve got you.” His steady voice calmed her as he whisked them into his room and positioned them in the doorway of his bathroom, quickly flipping on the light.

  Just as suddenly as the rumbling had started, it stopped. Silence, save for her erratic breathing, thundered in her ears.

  Taylor startled when Jagger’s cell phone and the cordless wall phone in the bathroom began ringing. With one arm anchored around her waist, he snatched the receiver with his other hand. “Loving.”

  And that’s when she realized they were both stark naked. Instead of pushing away, she clung tighter, his warm, hard body exciting her in a myriad of ways.

  “I’m fine, Robby. You okay?” A pause. “She’s with me,” he said, regarding Taylor. “Call the building inspector.” He hung up and, with her still nestled in his arms, answered his cell. “Loving.” He listened. “That’s good news. Keep me posted and thanks for the call.” He hung up and tossed his cell phone onto the king bed.

  “Are you okay?” His business tone had been replaced with a huskiness that weakened her defenses.

  Though still quivering, she needed to break away. But she couldn’t. Being in his arms felt safe and exciting and right. Which was so incredibly wrong.

  The atmosphere turned electric. His breath hitched, his bright eyes bled black with desire. She couldn’t steady her breathing or halt her trembling. The fear from the quake had morphed into a tsunami of desire.

  A hungry, raspy moan ripped from her throat.

  “Dammit, Taylor.” His mouth found hers. The deliciousness of his sexy sounds exploded through her, shattering her defenses.

  Again, the bathroom phone rang. He softened the ravenous kiss, dropping tender pecks on her mouth. When he plucked the receiver, he didn’t let her go.

  “What did you learn?” While listening, he pressed his lips to her forehead. She melted from the tenderness. Though Robby talked nonstop, her focus remained on Jagger.

  She loved how they clung to each other, though the immediate danger had passed. His strong, steady breathing and his deep, controlled voice soothed her. The earth had shifted, the building had swayed, but not Jagger. She wanted him, but the need went beyond the physical. He was everything she was not. Calm. Steady. In control. And that affected her in the best of ways. In his embrace, she had stopped shaking. Relieved, she inhaled a breath. And his delicious baseline scent reminded her of the most exciting night of her life.

  “Good work, Robby. Thanks for checking the exterior doors.” He listened. “Of course, I’ll assure her. See you in the morning.”

  He hung up, and wrapped her in his arms. Heat blossomed in her chest while she gazed into his eyes.

  “Robby suggested I keep you company in case there are aftershocks. And I have a feeling there will be plenty.”

  Adrenaline shot through her. “Jagger, I…I can’t. You’re my client.” She despised the words as they spilled from her.

  “Have you thought about me at all since our night together? Be honest with me, Taylor.”

  Spurred by her need to be truthful, she found her voice. “Yes, I have. What about you?”

  A shadow darkened his bright eyes. “The question is: When haven’t I thought about you?”

  “You want Raven,” she whispered, crestfallen.

  He kissed her gently. “I want the woman I met at the auction. Bold one moment, timid the next. Gorgeous, somewhat unsure, and totally hot.”

  She was fighting the desire to be with him…and losing. He kissed her shoulder, his lips lingering on her heated skin.

  “I want to feel you beneath me,” he murmured. “I want to touch every inch of you. But more than that, I want to make you scream my name from the pleasure I can bring you.”

  Make bold choices. She launched herself onto him. Her kiss was brutal. Hungry mouths and crushing tongues. She fisted his hair with one hand and raked his back with the fingernails of her other, her erratic breathing interrupted by her desperate grunts and moans.

  His kisses tormented her. Soft and tender one moment. Hard and unrelenting the next. She opened her eyes. He slowed the kiss, then ended it, but wouldn’t let her go.

  “Do you feel this?” he murmured.

  She smiled. “I feel something.”

  His low, deep chuckle rumbled through her chest to her heart. “Not that. Us. This is more than passion or sex. This is…” He stopped. “I want you to see how beautiful you are.”

  He turned her around so she faced the mirrored wall, and wrapped his arm across her chest, anchoring his hand on her shoulder. His gaze roamed with ease over her nude body.

  The weight of self-consciousness bore down on her. Her youth had been filled with taunting about her skinny legs and flat chest. She slammed her eyes shut against the whoosh of painful memories.

  “You’re so damned beautiful.” He leaned around, kissing her cheek.

  Shivering from vulnerability, she refused to look at her reflection. “I can’t watch me.”

  With a tender touch, he turned her toward him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that made you uncomfortable. Why didn’t you tell me the first time?”

  “Raven was fearless.”

  As he studied her, she flushed. “I see.”

  “If I’m being completely honest, I don’t like looking at myself in the mirror. All I see is everything that’s ugly or wrong. But I liked having mirror sex with you. A lot. I’d never done anything so sensual.”

  A brief smile relaxed the etched worry lines between his brows. “I like you honest, Taylor.” He kissed her. “My turn to be truthful. I want you. I want to make love to you. But I don’t want you skipping out on me again.”

  “You’re a playboy and—”

  “Not anymore,” he said, cutting her off. “I’ve had two dates in the past year. Slept with one of the women, once. I’m willing to break every damned rule with you. Because there are no rules when I’m around you. You hold all the power.”
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  “I want to try the mirror sex again.”

  “Not if it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “If I stay focused on you, I’m okay.” She shot him a tiny smile. “That worked great the first time.”

  His eyes flashed with excitement. “I have an idea. Did you bring your mask for the masquerade party?”

  “Uh-huh, but it’s in my lost suitcase.”

  “Wear mine.”

  Her chest tightened. “You want Raven.”

  “No, I don’t, but you seem to need her.”

  He’s right. After allowing him to tie his mask on her, she glimpsed herself in the mirror. Even masked, her insecurities came racing back and she fastened her gaze on him.

  He resumed his place behind her, snaked his arm around her waist, and pulled her flush against him. “I see beauty and strength.”

  His deep timbre, paired with the sincerity in his eyes, had the most calming effect on her. Was Jagger the right person to help her conquer her long-term insecurity? As they stared into each other’s eyes, the air sizzled with electricity. He regarded her with a hunger that made her breath hitch and her heart beat quicker. Though uncomfortable, she shifted her attention to her reflection. “This is really difficult for me.”

  “Close your eyes.”

  When she did, he kissed her shoulder, stroked her breast, teased her nipple with his fingertip. Each time he touched her, she needed more. The intensity with which she craved him scared her. She could get so lost in this man.

  When he ran his fingertips across her stomach, she giggled, and her eyes popped open.

  “You’re ticklish,” he said, smiling. “How are you doing?”

  “I love your touch.”

  “Can you watch me?” he murmured in her ear as he fondled her breasts. “Your nipples are so responsive. It’s very sexy.”

  With one arm draped over her chest, clutching her shoulder, his other hand played her like an instrument. It was as if he knew her better than she knew herself. He nuzzled her neck until he found the spot just before her shoulder that made her whimper. His raspy, needy growl rumbled through her, and she gripped his arm for support.

  She shifted her attention and, like always, wished for larger breasts.

  “Touch yourself.” He guided her hand to her breast, and she squeezed her swollen nipple. “Your breasts are beautiful, like you.”

  Then, he covered her other hand with his, and guided her over her abdomen and around to her bottom. “This is one hot ass.”

  Smiling, she leaned around to kiss him. His groan ripped through her as he continued exploring her body. With interlaced fingers, he guided them over her hip and down to her core. Arousal hijacked her thoughts when he slipped their fingers between her folds.

  “I love how wet you are for me.”

  She hadn’t realized she’d continued massaging her breast and pinching her nipple until he murmured, “You’re a very sexy woman, Taylor.”

  As she watched them in the mirror, his breathing quickened, his hard shaft pressing against her backside. Arousal coursed through her and she raised her arm over her head and sank her fingers into his hair. Now, completely open to him, she began to gyrate against him.

  And then, he penetrated her with his finger and she choked out a strangled cry. “You…oh, Jagger…mygod.” Her eyes fluttered closed.

  “Taylor, look at us.”

  She opened her eyes, captive in his embrace.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  “Everything that’s wrong. My limbs are too thin, my breasts are too small.” She stopped moving. “This won’t work.”

  “Do you know what I see?” he murmured before kissing her temple. “I see a goddess. Let Raven see what Taylor cannot.”

  Though she struggled with his words, she peeked at her reflection.

  He caressed her breast and squeezed her engorged nipple between his thumb and forefinger. She whimpered from the shock of pain mixed with a heady euphoria. His mouth lingered on her shoulder with a kiss that made her knees go weak. When he pressed his hand against her abdomen, he skewered her with a hungry gaze, and she trembled from his intensity.

  Slowly, he moved his hand to her swollen clit. A raspy groan shot from the back of her throat and she started moving against him. Everything about him made her want to push beyond her insecurity.

  “You are perfect exactly the way you are,” he rasped. “I could stare at you for hours and still want more.”

  No man had ever made her feel this way. Empowered by his encouraging words, she peered at herself in the mirror. His hands never stopped moving over her. His deep, sexy groans undid her, but when he pressed his mouth against the nape of her neck, she surrendered to the ecstasy. Unable to stop herself, she cried out. Hard, violent convulsions shredded her as she watched herself come in the mirror.

  Slowly, the spasms subsided and she relaxed against him. When she gazed into his eyes, love stared back. Assuming this outburst of emotion stemmed from the orgasm, she rejected the feeling outright. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” he replied.

  “Do you need me masked?”

  “No, that was for you.”

  She bowed her head. He untied and removed the mask. She turned to face him and he wrapped her in his arms, kissing her until she gasped for air and moaned for more.

  “I need you,” she said. “Inside me.”

  “I have one condom left from our three-pack.” His lazy grin slayed her.

  “I didn’t know ‘we’ had a three-pack.” She threaded her fingers through his and led him into his bathroom. After a quick search in his Dopp kit, she found the condom.

  An aftershock rumbled through the room and she flung her arms around him. He pulled her flush against him and kissed her. In seconds, the tremor subsided. “The upside to these quakes is you, in my arms.”

  Smiling, she kissed him. “Maybe your braveness will rub off on me.” Tugging him into the bedroom, she stopped next to the bed. “Where do you want me?” she asked. “Mirror?”

  “I want you beneath me,” he said. “And then I want you next to me, all night long.”

  She melted. Jagger had this way of making her feel like she was the only person in the world, and the only woman who mattered.

  He couldn’t stop kissing her face, her neck, and each breast. He couldn’t get enough of this amazing woman. But when she levered her hips, he drove himself inside her. And she came alive beneath him. Clawing his back and biting his lips. Her raspy coos sent a rush of heat straight to his throbbing cock.

  He tugged her nipples with his teeth and suckled the plumped nibs. “I love the way you do that,” she murmured. “That’s so sexy and ohmygod, that makes me crazy.”

  “I want to slow down, enjoy how good you feel beneath me. How beautiful you are.”

  “Faster, please.” She cemented her hands on his ass and forced him in deeper. She grunted out a series of throaty moans, her sexy sounds echoing in his ears.

  He didn’t want to come yet. But she raised her arms onto the pillow and commanded, “Hold me down.”

  When he clasped her wrists, she wrapped her legs around his back. And he was powerless to stop the onslaught of pleasure.

  “Taylor, I’m going to come.”

  “Look at me.” She arched toward him and he sunk in deeper, the orgasm at the very brink. “Yes, oh, yes.”

  Taylor’s sexy command sent him over the edge, but it was her ocean-blue eyes that seeped into his soul. Nothing timid about the woman writhing beneath him. Nothing timid at all.

  He waited until he could catch his breath. Then, he rolled her onto him. “Wow, you’re a wild thing.”

  Instead of resting her head on his chest, she kissed him. Deep, full of emotion, and sexy as hell. When she ended the embrace, she smiled. And he smiled in return.

  Leaning up on her elbow, she combed her fingers through his hair. He caressed her shoulder and tucked her hair behind her ear. And he kissed her, a
gain and again.

  “When I look in the mirror, I see everything I don’t like,” she said, her voice hushed. “You make me feel beautiful and sexy.”

  “You are beautiful.” He framed her face in his hands and dropped a soft kiss on her mouth. “Damned sexy with a killer body, too.” Her cute smile landed in his heart. “I need two minutes in the bathroom. If you’re not here when I come out, I’m going to break down the door to get to you.” He flipped her over, kissed the hell out of her, and pushed out of bed.

  He returned to find her sitting up in bed, dressed in a hotel robe. She’d propped up his pillows and had folded back the linens.

  “Hi.” She patted the mattress.

  “Hello, gorgeous,” he said as he relaxed onto the pillows.

  After covering his legs with the linens, she said, “I want to understand why there’s no kink at this resort.”

  “No shop talk.” Beneath the linens, he stroked her bare thigh.

  “This is important.”

  “My mistakes aren’t up for discussion.”

  “And I’m a total mess in front of a mirror while you encourage me to watch us. There are no words for how difficult that is for me.”

  “You’re comparing two completely different things.” Frustration tinged his words.

  “I’m so insecure about my body that I had to put on a mask and pretend to be someone else.” Pausing, she bowed her head. “And I’m not sexually experienced, either. It would be much easier if I continued booking fun events and never discussed the kink. But I’d be ignoring the real issue. Playing it safe isn’t working.”

  Silence.

  A throbbing in his temple replaced the lingering pleasure. He did not want to discuss his life and the choices he’d made.

  She turned toward him, pulled her knees to her chest, and caressed his chest. Her soft touch slowed his hammering heart. Then, she shot him a sweet smile of encouragement. “Please trust me,” she murmured.

  Trust did not come easily to Jagger. “If you want me to trust you, let’s start with the truth.”

  “Okay.”