“What about Benny? The man is tense under his fashion collar. Could he be acting on Roger’s behalf?”
“Benny?” Alexi shook her head. “I’ve known him since the diaper stage. He’s just worried about me, about my father, and about Roger. We’re like family to Benny.”
Jesse walked over to the Adam and Eve pictures. “Someone could have shipped something for the auction that someone else wants.”
“Yes, but what? That might explain the attempted break in here but doesn’t relate to the hotel last night.”
Jesse turned from the pictures. “You need to be careful until we figure this out. Don’t go anywhere that will put you at risk and always have someone else with you. Even here. I don’t like the looks of Andy and you shouldn’t be alone with him.”
“You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill. If he doesn’t think his new work of art is looking right, he will often walk around until he finds the answer.”
“Any of his work here?”
“No. It’s not our style. He is into modern sculptures using old hubcaps and scrap metal. Why?”
He shrugged. “Just thought that seeing what he produced might give me a clue into his psyche. I don’t like it. I don’t like any of this. The pictures of Roger, the trashed hotel room, or the attempted break in here.”
“When you string them all together like that, I don’t like it either.”
Jesse walked over and pulled her up against him, up against his warm body and kissed her then pressed his lips to her forehead. Rather than sexual, his embrace comforted, felt so secure from the uncertainty whirling around her.
“Why don’t you come stay with me for a day or two? The security system at the beach house is top of the line. We could enjoy each other’s company and figure out what’s going on.”
“I couldn’t. I mean it wouldn’t be—” She’d been about to say respectable. A very grandmotherish word.
“It makes sense if you think about it. You’d keep from exposing Nan to any danger. You’d have top security and a top man to protect you.” He grinned, cupping her bottom and pressing himself against her.
Alexi’s heart skipped a beat. She saw through his reasons. He just wanted to be with her. Sex with Jesse with the added plus of being safe? But who was going to protect her from him? Her life was quickly whipping into a vortex of disaster.
CHAPTER TEN
Jesse slid out of bed early the next morning, taking care not to awaken Alexi. Getting out of bed without getting into her once more went sorely against his grain, but he had something to do that he didn’t want to have to explain. He really had no choice but to bring her home with him. In his business, no matter how minor the threat, it couldn’t be taken lightly. If he hadn’t offered to help and shelter her and something had happened, he’d never be able to forgive himself.
During the night he pinpointed what was bothering him the most about her situation. If Roger was so heartbroken over her, why wasn’t the man pounding down any doors to find her?
Was Benny hanging around Alexi to feed reports back to Roger? He also wondered if Benny wasn’t half infatuated with her. But given who Alexi was, it was understandable. Hell, she’d gotten her hooks into him twelve years ago and he’d yet to get loose. It was a damn good thing his interest in her was just physical and he had a handle on it.
Slipping on just his jockeys, he grabbed his cell phone and moved outside to the deck, leaving the French doors open so he could hear Alexi when she woke. The sun washed the early summer morning with warmth, and the salty breeze blowing in from the Atlantic was as invigorating as a whole pot of Colombia’s best. Smiling, he called his partner in D.C.
Wes’s image, suited and seated at his desk, popped up on the monitor of Jesse’s cell phone.
Wes frowned. “You got some nerve, Weldon. When you call, you could at least pretend you’re working. You look like you’re bare-assed naked on the beach after a night of shagging.”
If Wes only knew. Jesse moved the cell phone, giving Wes a panorama of the beach. “You’ll have to come for some R and R.”
Wes laughed. “We’ll see. I don’t think my heart knows how to beat unless I’ve got a load of work egging it on.”
“You keep saying that, but I don’t believe you. I meant what I said before I left. We both need to slow down a bit, take on fewer jobs. And now that I’ve preached my sermon, I’ve a couple of jobs for us. I need a man down here to ask some questions. I want him to check out a Roger Holstead. And I need Reese to hunt down a man named Kevin Taylor. The only info I have on him is that his daughter Lucy was born at Memorial Hospital here in Savannah seven years ago.”
Wes groaned. “We’re security experts not PI’s. Aren’t you supposed to be looking for real estate?”
“I found a peach of a piece yesterday. The agent is putting a portfolio of pictures together to overnight your way today.”
“Uh, Jess. Is it anything like what’s behind you?”
Jesse whipped his head around so fast that he pulled a muscle in his neck. Alexi stood naked in the doorway. The bright sunlight kissed her hair gold and made her body gleam like polished, alabaster marble. Jesse pointed his cell phone at the ocean. “You didn’t see what you thought you just saw. I’ll talk to you later, Wes.” He snapped the cell phone shut.
Alexi, apparently having realized that she’d just been broadcast across his cell line in all of her nude glory, had disappeared. He found her in the mussed bed with the covers over her head. Sunlight streamed in through the wall of windows and centered on the bed, as if bestowing a warm blessing on her.
“Lexi,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Go away. There’s nothing that you can say that’s going to make it all right. Ever since I ran into you yesterday I keep ending up in completely mortifying situations. My God, a total stranger just saw me naked! Then there’s my underwear in my desk drawer, my bra hanging on an easel! I’ve done things with you in ways I’ve never done them in my whole life and…and—”
He cupped her breasts through the covers. “And it’s the best sex ever,” Jesse finished the sentence for her, ignoring the part of him that she brushed the wrong way by blaming him.
She peeked out from the blanket. “What good is great sex going to do me when I’m reduced to a Playboy centerfold?”
He pulled the covers down and sucked on the nipple closest to him. “Let me show you,” he said moving to her other nipple. “Every man alive is going to wish he were me because I’m looking at you, touching you, tasting you, and I’m the one taking you for a ride on the wild side.”
Alexi moaned.
He could hardly wait to get inside of her. “Grab the headboard, sunshine. You’re going to need something to hold on to.” She didn’t and he urged her until she did. The position lifted her breasts and made her so appealingly vulnerable.
“Jesse, I don’t think that—”
“Think later. There’s plenty of time for that later.” He took three pillows and slid them under her bottom, making her sex the most prominent part of her body. Sunlight made her pubic hairs like golden fire and he cupped her sex, feeling the heat of her as he bent to suckle her breast. She released the headboard and tried to touch him, but he gently pushed her hands back. “Don’t let go, Lexi.” He slid a hand between her legs and caressed the petal soft folds of her sex until she turned dewy moist and her breaths came in soft pants. Giving her breasts a final tongue-lashing, he moved away from her.
Her languid gaze followed him, watching him shed his jockeys. “Stay just like that, all ready for me while I get ready for you.” He took out a condom and slid it on. “See how ready I am for you? How hard I am? Let me see your breasts shiver as you breathe, Lex. Let me see your legs spread wide and inviting, just aching to share heaven with me.”
Her legs fell open and he couldn’t play the game any longer. Kneeling between her legs, he slid into her, shuddering. She gasped, her hands gripped the headboard harder and she thrust her hips
against his. The pace was immediately frenzied. He held onto her hips and drove himself inside her. She arched back, holding onto the headboard as if it were her only anchor in a wild storm. Her breasts bounced and he thought about sucking her hardened nipples. Her made for sin mouth lay open in her abandon, and he thought about kissing her, running his tongue over her soft lips. He felt her body tensing, her back arching like a string of a bow pulled nearly to the breaking point, and knew that she was ready to come.
“Jesse! Help me I need—oh I need—”
“This, Sunshine.” Jesse thrust into her one more time and moved his hand to rub her hot spot. She came apart then, shuddering with the force of her orgasm. Impaling her, his own release ripped through him and he fell on top of her then rolled until she lay on him. They stayed there, naked with the sun shining warmth over them for a long time, dozing off and on.
It wasn’t until much later and Alexi was in the shower that other things intruded. For him sex had never been better, even his hormone-crazed teens didn’t match the mind-blowing Alexi-orgasms to which he was fast becoming addicted. Instead of his desire for Alexi decreasing as he’d predicted, the more sex he had with her, the better it got.
Hell, get a grip, Weldon. It’s only been three days; you’ll get her out of your system yet. Sure it’d only been three days, but he’d never had three days like this. And three more days like this just might kill him. He needed to do something about it. He had a plan by the time she came out of the shower.
“Let’s go fishing.”
She looked at him as if he’d grown horns. “What?”
“You know, fishing. The thing you do when you take a boat out onto the water and toss a nylon line to catch a fish.”
“Funny. There’s no way that me and squiggly worms are going to make contact, much less a scaly fish. I only like to see fish one way, cooked and on my dinner plate.”
“Nonsense. I’ll have you bringing in a whopper by the end of the day and I promise that you’ll love it. Get your bathing suit and we’ll pick up everything we need at the marina.”
“Fishing?” Alexi shook her head, clearly doubting his promise but went to pack her clothes. Good, Jesse thought, feeling a little more in control of the situation. Maybe they’d even have a lousy time and she’d complain all day, and he’d get his objectivity back. It was a perfect plan. He wouldn’t even bring any condoms along. They were going to fish.
Three hours later, he looked at Alexi wearing a black bikini. He watched her slather coconut smelling sun block on her glistening body until he thought he’d lose his mind. What idiot trapped himself on a boat with a woman he had the hots for and didn’t even bring a condom? Even the damn fish were conspiring against him. Not one bite in two hours and it was all Alexi’s fault. In deference to her sensibilities, he didn’t buy live bait and was fishing with lures. Any fisherman worth his salt never left the shore without both. The woman was already messing up his life.
This was turning into one hell of a day. At least he knew that she was in no danger of running into any little surprises like someone breaking into her hotel room or art gallery. By the time they finished fishing, a man from the DC office should be in Savannah, and Jesse would start him digging for answers.
Then later he…oh, hell, his brother’s birthday party was tonight. Looks like he’d be bringing Alexi after all.
Alexi watched Jesse under her lashes as she pretended to luxuriate in the sun’s warmth. From the curve of his bronzed shoulders to the taper of his long legs, the man was a one hundred percent to die for hunk. And sitting out here on a balmy blue ocean, watching the play of his smooth muscles with his every move should have made her about the most contented woman on earth. But ever since this morning, she’d felt a rising sense of disquiet. Would she go back to not having embarrassing incidents, if she had to give up having the exciting sex? No. So what was bothering her? It wasn’t the pre-wedding panic she’d felt before. It was more like a sense that control of her life was still beyond her grasp.
The hotel and art gallery incidents couldn’t be coincidences, but she didn’t feel that they were a serious threat to her safety. So she wasn’t with Jesse because her life was in danger, she was with him because something about him drew her, compelled her to be. Yeah, the sex was great, but she felt it was more than that. She also felt as if he was always the seducer and she’d never really been the aggressor. She’d kissed him, but he was the one who’d generated all of the sexual energy. What would he do if she seduced him? What would it feel like to take the sexual initiative into her own hands right now? Right in this little cove, hidden away from the world?
Are you crazy? Somebody could motor by. It’s too risky. Wait until tonight and seduce him in the privacy of four walls. Sighing, she rolled so that she couldn’t see him and reached into her bag for a book. Her fingers hit a box and she groaned. Her Godivas! She’d meant to take them out before leaving and forgot. Sliding the box out, she lifted the lid. All of the truffles had pooled into a mass of lumpy liquid chocolate. She dipped her finger into the box and slipped it in her mouth, sucking the warm sweet confection off her finger. The act of doing so sent a naughty image into her mind, an image that could keep her from wasting a whole box of Godivas and drive Jesse sexually mad. An image that would put him at her mercy for a little while. Before she could talk herself out of it, she stood and picked up the box, her heart skipping a beat as she moved his way.
You can do this, she told herself. She took the lid off the Godivas and turned to Jesse. He still sat slumped in the boat chair, staring disgruntled at the fishing pole.
“Uh, Jesse,” she said, walking over to him.
“Hmm.” He fiddled with the pole, not looking her way.
She smiled, realizing that he was deliberately trying to ignore her. In fact, this whole fishing trip had a fishy smell to it. She caught onto his game plan. He was trying to put a little distance between him and their frenzied encounter this morning. “Uh, Jesse, I’ve got a little problem.”
“What is it?” he said, finally swiveling his chair her way. She immediately stepped between his legs and reached for the drawstring of his suit.
“Actually two problems. I’ve yet to have the opportunity to seduce you and my Godivas are all melted.”
He frowned. “I don’t see how those…” His voice trailed off as she pulled the front of his suit down and dripped warm melted chocolate all over his penis. Then she took a clump of chocolate and fed it to him before she got down on her knees and licked. His erection surged and a thrill shivered through her as he grabbed the seat cushions. Sucking on the chocolate as she sucked on him was the one of the biggest turn ons he’d ever encountered. “Holy Hell, Alexi.”
Alexi decided was the best box of Godivas she’d ever tasted. Somewhere between the raspberry cream and the gooey caramel, Jesse went crazy. “I can’t take any more.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and pushed her head back to make her look at him. “If you don’t stop, it’s going to be too late.”
She swirled her tongue around the tip of his erection and smiled. “I want it to be too late.”
The more she licked the louder he groaned until he came. The force of his orgasm was so palpable that she felt it inside of herself, and she almost came, too. He fixed his sea-blue gaze on her, and that I’m-going-to-have-you-right now edge was back in them. He also looked vulnerable, as if his defenses were down. His chest visibly shook where his heart pounded and his lungs sucked for air. She felt a tingling of awe run through her that she’d made him feel wild.
“Well, Jesse. You were right about one thing.”
“What?” he said, meeting her gaze, looking as if he couldn’t quite figure out if she was someone he knew. And maybe she was evolving right before his eyes. The person she was seventy-two hours ago never would have done what she just did.
She smiled softly. “You said that I’d catch a whopper by the end of the day and love it. You were right.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
>
Jesse glanced at his watch, something he’d done just about every five minutes since he’d dropped Alexi off at the hospital to see Lucy while he met with his man from the DC office. The sooner he had someone checking into the odd things that were happening around Alexi, the better he’d feel. Though it was pretty hard to top how good she’d made him feel out on the boat today. She’d blown him away with her tongue and a box of damn chocolates. Before long he’d be quoting Forrest Gump about how life was a box of chocolates and you never knew what you’d get.
Well, he amended, life wasn’t like a box of chocolates, Alexi was. She’d—
He quickly doused the image his thoughts conjured before it was too late and he’d have to walk around with a tent in his pants. He needed to put this whole situation with Alexi exactly where it was supposed to be—a passing fancy to enjoy while he helped her straighten out a few kinks. This wild sex thing would pass soon, he thought, as he pulled into a parking space at a pub not too far from Memorial Hospital. Inside, he found Paul Hanson pacing in the foyer.
“Boss,” Paul stuck out his hand.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Jesse gripped his employee’s hand, glad to see Wes had sent the man they dubbed the Drake, after Perry Mason’s relentless man Friday, Paul Drake.
“Wes said you needed some help down here, but he didn’t mention there was trouble. I see someone gave you a shiner.”
“I ran into a door.” Jesse grinned. He’d almost forgotten about his eye. The bluish tones had faded to yellow.
The tension in Paul’s face relaxed. “And might the door have a name?”
“Yeah, but you aren’t getting it.”
“Oh. One of those doors. I guess opportunity knocked and you ran into the door opening it.”
Jesse laughed. “You might say that. How bout I buy you a drink and tell you what’s up.”
Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Brothers Series) Page 13