“Do you like that?” he whispered seductively in her ear, blowing his warm breath on her neck.
“I like everything you do to me.” Harlee wiggled her butt under his hands trying to loosen his hold on her underwear.
“You want me to do something more?”
She gazed at him, her mouth about an inch from his. “Yes. Please.” The sexual intensity in her eyes electrified him.
He placed his hands under her thighs and pulled her legs up so she straddled him. Harlee wrapped him up like a Christmas present with her arms and legs. With one arm balancing her, he placed a towel on the counter and sat her gently on it. Her eyes glittered with need and want. Her mouth was moist. Her full red lips parted slightly, waiting for him to take her any way he pleased. And boy, did he please. Jake kissed her again, his mouth branding hers as his tongue explored with enthusiastic abandon. Her hand pressed against his throbbing erection, teasing him through the thick material of his slacks.
His dark eyes sauntered down her body. He hooked an index finger on each side of her waistband and slowly removed her panties. Harlee lifted her hips to help him. Her panties fell to the floor.
Jake’s rampaging emotions threatened to overpower him. He rested his head on her shoulder and drew in deep, ragged breaths. He smelled roses and something spicy. How appropriate. Her honey-blonde hair tickled his nose. Harlee tilted her head back and allowed his mouth easy access to her neck, begging him to kiss her. He gladly complied. She shivered with desire as he worked his magic.
Jake clung to his last vestige of sanity. He was at a huge charity dinner hosted by his mother, and he was about to screw his assistant in the ladies’ powder room. He should stop. They could go back to her suite and finish this. What was it about the two of them and their penchant for doing it in odd places? He’d fondled her in a restaurant, made love to her in the pickup and on the kitchen counter, and now this. She kept bringing out his inner bad boy, the one with the predilection for on-the-counter sex.
Tonight, he couldn’t silence that bad boy. Jake kicked off his shoes, removed his pants and underwear. All the while the little vixen observed him with intent blue eyes.
With a groan, he bent over her. He pushed her backward on the counter, and nestled his hips between her legs. He teased her nipple with his tongue and drew it into his mouth. He was gentle at first, but she buried her fingers in the back of his head and pulled him closer. Her sexy little moans and whimpers drove him closer to the edge. His mouth lost its gentle touch, but she didn’t seem to care.
Jake thrust a long finger into her wet sex. She cried out for him and pleaded with him to release her from this erotic torture. She whimpered when his fingers were suddenly removed. He slipped on a condom and parted her, and Harlee gasped when he slid into her tight, wet sex with one slow, leisurely stroke. Jake withdrew and slid inside again. God, she felt like heaven on earth, syrup on pancakes, hot fudge on ice cream. Every good thing in his life reminded him of her.
Harlee moved against him, and he picked up his pace. He was completely lost in his hunger. Heat rampaged through his veins and stampeded his senses. He buried himself deep inside and…
A sharp rap sounded on the bathroom door. Jake ignored it, but the knocking was insistent and louder each time.
Jake covered Harlee’s mouth. “Shhh,” he panted as he attempted to catch his breath. Harlee’s breasts rose and fell against his chest. Sweat dripped from Jake’s forehead and drenched his overheated body.
Had someone overheard them? Did the whole place suspect what was going on behind these doors? He could hear his family now. “That’s Jake, the family wild boy up to his usual ways.”
At this point with her body impaled by his, Jake was beyond caring. Let them talk. He pushed deeper. He tightened his hand over her mouth to muffle her moans of pleasure.
Surely, the jerk at the door would take the hint and go away.
“Hey, are you guys all right in there?” It was Brad, and he sounded concerned.
“Oh, damn,” Jake muttered in disgust. “We’re just fine. Harlee has a sliver.”
“A sliver?” Brad sounded skeptical.
“Bullshit.” That voice wasn’t Brad’s.
“Damn, Carson’s with him.”
Harlee attempted to say something, but he didn’t dare remove his hand.
Someone rattled the door. Thank God it was locked. “Harlee, do you need any help?” Brad asked.
Jake removed his hand from her mouth. Harlee gulped for air. She alternated between giggling and moaning. Jake shifted his position, and she whimpered. “Oh God.” She pressed her face into his shoulder. Her nails dug into his back. “Jake, please…I want it. Please.”
“You want it with them listening at the door?” Jake growled in her ear.
“Harlee?” Brad sounded impatient.
She leaned up to pull on Jake’s earlobe with her teeth. It was Jake’s turn to moan.
“Go away,” Jake growled.
For a long time, there was silence on the other side of the door. Jake pictured Brad’s confusion and Carson’s indignation.
Finally, Brad spoke, sounding a little sheepish. “Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
If he could’ve concentrated long enough for a coherent thought, Jake would have found the situation amusing, but his wicked Goldilocks was nibbling and sucking on his neck.
“Are they gone?” Harlee asked without detaching her lips.
“I think so.” Jake’s hips resumed their movement. His thrusts became powerful and deep, picking up where he’d left off. All thoughts of Brad vanished from his mind.
Her body demanded his hot passion, fierce and unyielding. He gave her all she asked for and then some.
Their mouths met hungrily. Her passion escalated and kept pace with his. Plump breasts pressed against his hard chest. Her legs embraced his hips like a Christmas bow surrounding the best gift a man could ever ask for.
Jake lapsed into nonsense words of love and lust and endearment, pledging there would never be another. She was all he’d ever desire in his life. Buried somewhere in the chaos of emotions, he swore he heard her say “I love you.”
Jake clamped his hand over her mouth again as her body rallied for an earth-shattering scream. Together, they shuddered to a climax. He collapsed on top of her, spent and satisfied, as they held each other.
It ended too soon. Jake watched as Harlee put herself back together. It was a futile attempt, and she knew it. She cleaned herself as best she could and tried to smooth her crumpled dress.
“We’re bad.”
“Oh, yeah, we’re bad.”
“Jake, your hair is a mess.” She attempted to fix it with the brush from her handbag. “Do I look okay? Is my hair okay?”
Jake smiled at her. She looked incredible to him, but not in a way that she’d appreciate. So much for living down his reputation as the family bad boy. Anyone who saw the two of them exiting the women’s powder room would know exactly what they’d been doing.
* * * *
Harlee squinted at the light coming through the open curtains in hotel suite. She turned to the warm body next to her. True to form, Jake lay in his usual position, on his stomach being a sprawling bed hogger. She squeezed his fine butt, and he muttered something unintelligible. Harlee moved closer to him and rubbed the back of his neck. She slid her hands through his short dark hair and admired how shiny it was. He turned his head on the pillow, opened one eye and squinted at her. Then he buried his head in the pillow.
Not satisfied with his reaction, she slid her hand down to his shoulders and kneaded the hard muscles and smooth flesh. She placed a kiss on his shoulder blade and filled her nostrils with his masculine scent.
Grunting, he rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. She happily snuggled next to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist.
“Are you awake?” Harlee leaned close to his ear and stuck her tongue in it, lapping at it.
“Hmmm?”
&
nbsp; “Are you awake?”
“No.”
“You sound like you are.”
“Pretend I’m not.”
“Jake. Maybe I wanna play.” Harlee wrapped one leg over his thigh.
“Maybe I wanna sleep. We played most of the night.”
“Don’t tell me I’ve worn out the family bad boy.”
“Okay, then I won’t tell you. Besides, I keep telling you I resigned from that position.”
“You weren’t telling me that last night. I don’t think your parents have accepted your resignation either, especially when they caught us walking out of the bathroom.”
“No, they haven’t. I could be elected president of the United States or win the Nobel Peace Prize, and they’d still see me as a failure.”
Harlee decided not to go there. “So are you awake now?”
“Yeah.” He yawned. His brow furrowed as if trying to remember something then he met her gaze. “Did you say you loved me last night?”
Everything inside Harlee went still. He’d heard her. “Me? Surely you’re joking. What makes you think that?”
“Nothing. I just thought I heard it.” He grew quiet and shut his eyes. She saw him swallow. She kissed his eyelids and snuggled closer.
“No, you misunderstood. I wouldn’t fall in love with you, any more than you’d fall in love with me.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Why did the man sound so disappointed? Because he wasn’t, it was just wishful thinking on her part. Maybe the possibility of being trapped by her made him nervous. She did love him, but now was neither the time nor the place for such foolishness. She’d get over it. It’d pass. Those things always did. This man distracted her from her true goal. She’d maintain her focus and banish such stupid ideas from her befuddled brain.
“Jake?” Harlee drew lazy circles on his chest and let her fingers occasionally brush his brown nipples.
“Huh?” His hand snaked under the sheet and rubbed the small of her back.
Harlee gathered her courage and spit it out. “Help me save the camp. Be my partner in this, not my adversary.”
His entire body stiffened. His hand on her back froze. “Harlee…”
“Listen to me, please. Don’t you understand how important this is?”
“Yeah, I do. To me.”
“You’re just one person. You have the power to do so much good for so many kids if you’d only…”
“Harlee.” His voice turned as cold as an Alaskan blizzard. “The success of that camp is overrated. I don’t want to hear another thing about it.”
“But it saved me.”
“You would have saved yourself with or without it because those things that make you who you are were there long before you attended that camp.”
“Since when did you become an expert on psychology?”
“You’ve heard my sister. It runs in the family.” He forced a hollow laugh. “The subject is closed. I mean it. I won’t discuss this with you again.” His brown eyes grew as cold as the tundra.
“At least meet some of the people, the kids that—”
He sat up and moved away from her. “No.”
“This all boils down to your family, especially your father, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s not get my father involved in this.”
“He is involved in this. He’s the reason you won’t listen or even consider any other options. You’re so certain you have to do this to impress him or earn his respect or whatever the heck it is you’re attempting to do.”
“I’ve really had enough.” Jake rolled off the side of the bed and reached for his dress pants.
“Please, just hear me out.” Harlee crawled to the edge of the bed and posed in one of her most pin-up queen poses.
“Don’t start that.”
“Start what?”
“That!” He jabbed a finger at her naked breasts as he pulled on his pants but didn’t bother to fasten them.
“This?” She kneeled on the bed and arched her shoulders making her ample breasts even more ample.
“Yeah, that. Forget it. It’s not going to work this time.” He snatched his dress shirt from the floor and shrugged into it, but she had his attention.
“It isn’t?” Harlee slithered off the bed and crawled toward him on all fours in her best imitation of a feline stalker. He stared down at her. His hands stopped buttoning his shirt. “Jake, I’m wet for you. Don’t you want a little T-and-A?” She kept her voice low and sultry.
She wrapped her fingers around his ankle and slid them up his calf to the inside of his thigh. They slid higher. His hands hovered on the next shirt button. She reached the waistband of his unzipped pants and tugged. He hadn’t bothered with underwear.
“You’re a mule-headed wench.” His insult didn’t deter her. After all, it was the strangled accusation of a man about to surrender.
“You’re a stubborn bastard.” She milked him with her hands, then bent her neck, and took him in her mouth and worked her magic. He tasted of sweat, sex, and sin after their night of debauchery.
“You’re killing me.”
She pulled away and looked up at him. His pupils were dilated, his nostrils flared. One large hand dropped to stroke her hair.
“I’ll see that you get a nice funeral.” Her mouth resumed its wanton ways. Groaning, he sank to his knees, and she had her way with him.
Several minutes later, they lay entwined on the thick carpet. His lips brushed her cheek. “The things you do to me, woman.”
“They’re the same things you do to me.”
He turned to face her. The sadness in his dark eyes reflected her own emotional state. “It’s not going to work, is it, Harlee?”
She held him closer. Maybe the tighter she held him, the more chance she’d have of keeping him. “I want it to,” she said in a small voice.
“Then give up your crusade to save Rosehill. Put your energy into a retirement home for senior citizen horses.”
Harlee pulled away from him and wrapped his discarded shirt around her body. “I can’t.”
“Why?” Jake rose to his feet and started to dress again.
“I promised Rose.”
“Rose isn’t here anymore. Everything has an end, Harlee. Perhaps, that camp’s time has come.”
“Easy for you to say, rich boy. Perhaps, our time has come.” She couldn’t take back the words that tumbled so carelessly from her mouth.
“Is that how you feel about it?” The steel in his gaze called her bluff.
“I don’t see an option. We never had a future together, you and I.”
“No, we didn’t.” He leaned over and planted a soft kiss on her lips. He touched the tip of her nose with his index finger. Her eyes clouded with tears and filtered the strong features of his face.
“Jake. Please.”
“No. I’m not changing my mind. Forget about the camp and let’s have a life together.”
“I can’t.” A guttural sob suffocated her vocal cords.
“Then that’s all there is to say.”
Jake snagged his coat from the chair and walked to the door. He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. She waited. He opened the door.
“Jake.”
“Yes?” He kept his back to her.
“Does this mean I’m fired?”
“No, I’ll see you at work on Monday.”
He walked out the door. It closed with click behind him.
Chapter 19—Downhill and Hitting Rock Bottom
“Was he receptive?” Bridget asked.
“About as receptive as an atheist at a revival meeting. I pissed him off.”
“That would explain why you’re in your cottage and not at his house, wouldn’t it?”
“I guess it would.”
Bridget steepled her fingers. “Eva insists that both of you still have karma to resolve in this lifetime.”
“What does that mean?”
“You must discover the truth of your relationship
.” Smiling a superior smile, Bridget opened a notebook and consulted her notes. “I talked to the camp coordinator today. She gave me a list of former campers that she’s kept in touch with over the years. Some have become quite successful and donate money to the camp every year. There’s one bonus, and Mariah’s following up on that.”
“What’s the bonus?”
“You’ve heard of Monica Pearson?”
“The sitcom actress? Of course, who hasn’t?” Harlee tried to look interested.
“She attended the camp. We’re going to see if we can enlist her help. Rosehill’s alumni also includes a couple pro athletes, a doctor, several software executives, and a former King County prosecutor. Mariah’s going to contact them.”
“She’s a master at persuasion. Most people can’t resist her. Obviously, Rico couldn’t.” Too bad she hadn’t had that effect on Jake.
“She’s banking on that. We’re going to inundate Jake and Reynolds Corp, as the prime investor, with e-mails, snail mails, phone calls, you name it.”
“What about contacts at the party last night? I talked to your dad, but he didn’t seem interested.”
“Dad’s not behaving like his normal, ruthless self. I’m not sure what the deal is there.” Bridget consulted her notebook. “I made several contacts. The most important ones were a couple local TV station execs. We might be able to get some coverage. You, on the other hand, spent too much time in the bathroom. Which by the way, the two of you entertained the entire party once we figured out we didn’t need to call nine-one-one to save some screaming banshee.”
Harlee put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no. You’re kidding?”
Bridget’s mouth didn’t even twitch. “Of course.”
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Page 23