“You’ll look hot in those and this thong.”
“Oh God…I don’t have anything to wear at all. I can’t walk to Kansas in a pair of running shoes and a thong.”
“You have stockings, too.” He shook his head at her and kissed the tip of her nose. “Try not to worry. You just walked away from a wedding yesterday. Things will even out. And you can stay here while they do.”
“I won’t stay long, I promise. Just give me a day or so to gather my courage and something will come to me.”
“I have no doubt that’s true. Any woman who can fly across the San Francisco Bay in the fog and all the way to Cedar Valley is resourceful to say the least.”
“Cedar Valley. Where is that exactly?”
“About an hour outside of Sacramento. It’s a little town, but friendly.”
Shoving aside her doubts, she twined an arm around his neck and smiled at him. “Well, so far it seems very friendly.”
Jim kissed her then, firm lips parting hers in a decisive move. She sat on his lap, all but naked, while he still wore the jeans and Polo he’d worn to rescue her earlier. It was incredibly hot. Her life was in shreds, but his kiss reached into her soul, and she responded with every bit of her being.
She wasn’t sure why she was so willing to sleep with a man she’d just met, but no man, Trey included, had ever made her burn like this. She wanted to cleanse herself of the mistake she’d come so close to making with her ex and move on into a future where the men in her life were down to Earth. Where the shirts they wore to a casual dinner out did not cost as much as a flight to France. And where a flight to France did not involve a private jet. Those were all nice things she’d enjoyed, but she’d never felt she fit in, and his friends made sure of that.
Jim was the type of man who had always appealed to her. But ten times sexier than those in her past. And, from the first time he’d spoken, she’d hung on his every word. He had the kind of voice one of her foster mothers had claimed could garner an audience by reading the phone book. And as he kissed her again, stroking her tongue with his, she knew he could also get all the women he wanted. This would be one night so no need to get all wound up and involved. She could do a one-night stand easy. People did them all the time, right?
If they were like this was starting out to be, she was glad to make this her first experience. Jim finished with her lips and trailed his down the side of her neck, tickling a little, before he laid her on the bed beside where he sat. His gaze burned her near nudity. Her breasts peaked under his regard, and she arched her back, offering them to him. Offering her body and all of her, even if only for the moment.
“There is nothing ordinary about you, Sarabeth,” he said, bending close. “Your breasts are like mounds of snow topped with raspberries. Nothing ordinary about that.” She breathed slowly, trying not to pant or gasp and hyperventilate while he sucked on her nipple and gently bit down. Lifting his head, he smiled at her, his deep-blue bedroom eyes hazy. “Mmm. Sweet as pie, too.” Pinching the damp peak between his finger and thumb, he closed his mouth around the other one and worked it with his tongue and teeth until she writhed under him. Then he stopped and gave her a very serious look. “Before this gets out of hand…”
She blinked at him. “I’m almost naked. What do you consider out of hand?”
“Once my clothes come off, we’ve crossed the line. Are you sure you want to continue? I pride myself on my control, but if the make-out session under the wedding dress was any indication, you test my limits.”
“You make me feel like a siren, tempting you. I’m just ord—”
He laid a finger on her lips, silencing her. “Don’t say that again. I hate repeating myself, but I will do it just this once. There is nothing ordinary about you. Now you say it.”
“Jim, I—”
“Say it.”
How could a farmer be more dominant than a billionaire? “There is nothing ordinary about you.”
He flipped her onto her belly and delivered a swift swat to her bare bottom cheek. “Don’t try to be cute. You’re cute enough without the sass.”
She was stunned. Nobody had ever spanked her. Not any of her fosters as far as she remembered and certainly not a man. But the most stunning part was she liked it. It lit up the last few cells not already burning with desire for him. Would he do it again? She shook her head. What was wrong with her to wonder if he’d swat her bottom again? Sweet, nice girl next door that she was, she had a sultry side. And it took a stranger to bring it out!
She cleared her throat. “There is nothing ordinary about me.”
“Very good.” His approval drew a smile even as she rubbed the stinging spot on her bottom.
Somehow, it felt as if her wedding night was happening, despite the change of cast. This was real and amazing. Her thong was damp between her legs, and if he didn’t undress and take her soon, she would come anyway, just from light foreplay. She flopped onto her back.
“Jim, if you need my okay to take off your pants, you’ve got it. Please. I can’t wait any longer.”
His chuckle rolled over her, deep and sensual and penetrating to her core. “I’m going to take my time and make you feel so good.”
“Torture me, you mean.”
“Call it what you like. We’re going to have fun together. But, give me a second.” He stood up and straightened his jeans over an alarming sized bulge. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
And he stepped out of the room, leaving her a damp, horny mess. Where did he go? And why? Don’t move, he said…stay. Good girl. Sarabeth Harvest might be a felonious escaped bride, but she was nobody’s dog! If only her knees weren’t so wobbly when she stood to follow him.
And then, before she could even get to the door, he returned. “Sorry, just had to take care of something before I forgot.” His twinkling eyes held humor and sensuality. “Now I can give you all my attention.”
If what he’d been doing before had been distracted, what was his idea of “full attention”? She backed slowly toward the bed as he approached her, stalking her like a tiger after its prey. And she wanted to be caught, heaven help her. The backs of her knees came up against the mattress, and she sat down, unable to break free from his stare. Then Jim paused a few feet away from her and grasped the hem of his shirt. As he drew it over his head, she hungrily took in each inch of perfectly toned male revealed. He wasn’t body builder muscled, which worked for her, but what he revealed was perfection. Not an ounce of fat to mar his trim waist, six-pack abs, and broad chest. Flat male nipples nestled in just enough dark curly hair for her taste. And his arms…no wonder he had no trouble flipping her around.
Unlike the city guys with their gym-made bodies, her farmer’s muscled gorgeousness was the result of hard work out of doors, and she so respected that. Sarabeth could imagine him tossing hay bales into the back of a truck or climbing a ladder to pick apples from the amazing old orchard. He sat on a ladder-back chair to untie a pair of ancient work boots. Could he be more different from Trey?
Sure, they both had dark hair and blue eyes, although Jim’s were deeper blue. And they were both good-looking guys, although Trey was darker, with his Hispanic dad’s skin tone. And, of course, the black eye and scuffed cheek set Jim apart. And they were about the same height. Maybe she had a “type.” Physically. In every other way, they were night and day. Chalk and cheese.
Trey was obsessed with business and only set it aside rarely. She’d felt like his plus one more than his partner in life, and, now that she’d stepped back, she believed she’d have remained in that position in his life. Jim already focused more deeply on her, even if she was only a one-night stand. He’d never let his farm—nursery—come before the woman he made his for real. For life. Sarabeth envied her, whoever she would be.
Setting the boots aside, Jim peeled off his socks and stuffed them in the shoes then stood and unbuckled his belt. She watched, rapt. Women at a strip club would knock each other down to stuff dollar bills in this man�
�s pockets. Belt open, he unbuttoned his 501s. Old, faded, and, thanks to her method of arrival, full of fashionable rips and tears. As he let them fall, past a pair of fitted gray boxer briefs, she saw what rescuing her had done to his legs.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, standing up and going over to him. Sarabeth dropped on her knees and ran her fingertips gently over a bruise on the front of his solid thigh. “Does it hurt?” Lifting her face, she met eyes no longer holding humor or sensuality but blazing at her, drying her mouth and freezing her hand on his leg. Dropping her gaze, she understood why and slid her palm higher.
“Sarabeth…” he warned, and she didn’t need to ask what he meant as she worked her fingers into the leg of his underwear and higher. To her amazement, when her fingertips touched home, this strong, dominant male’s legs trembled. Just a little, but in her current position, she couldn’t miss it. He rested his hand on her head and, encouraged, she withdrew from his garment and grasped the waistband of his boxer briefs. She’d never been so bold in her life. Easing the elastic down, she revealed him an inch at a time. He stepped out of them and, at least one of them, was finally naked. His erection jutted long and straight, ready for her. Her position spoke to only one action, and she closed her fist around him and drew him close to her parted lips. She’d never particularly liked oral sex, either giving or receiving, but it seemed all her walls were down and she wanted intimacy with this man.
Closeness of any and all kinds.
She’d barely touched it with the tip of her tongue, his hard long masculinity when he let out a roar and caught her up in his arms.
She bounced onto the bed, and Jim shook his head. “Not this time, sweetheart. I don’t want things to be over before I have my wicked ways with you. I’ll take a rain check, though.”
A rain check? “I’m all for wicked ways,” she said. “I think.” Her bravado faded as he lifted his jeans and dug out a foil square. Of course, that’s why he’d left the room before. He went to get a condom. He placed it on the bed and reached in again to pull out three more. It really would be wicked ways by the time they used all of those. “I think I’ve gotten in over my head.”
James froze in the act of tearing open the condom package. Was she saying no? No matter what he’d claimed about not being able to stop once he was naked, he would, if she wanted him to. It might half kill him, though.
“Sweetheart, if you want to end this, I can give you that T-shirt, and we can go in the kitchen to make some dinner.” How civilized he sounded. “I realize this is all very sudden, and you’ve been under emotional pressure.” But for God’s sake do not stop this.
Sarabeth took the package from his hand and tore it open with her teeth. As he watched with glazed eyes, she unrolled the condom over his erection, smoothing it so slowly and carefully she almost sent him right over the edge. He stilled her touch and finished the job himself.
“I’ll accept that as your consent to proceed.”
“Yes, please do.” She grinned at him, but her eyes, more gold than brown now, gleamed at him. “And hurry.”
“Wicked ways, sweetheart.” He knelt between her legs, admiring the way the sheer stockings outlined their smooth curves. He’d leave those on but the thong had to go. It tied on the sides with two tiny white bows he forced himself to untie instead of just tearing them away to save time. With the scrap of lace gone, he took in her beauty. Ordinary, never.
Sarabeth Harvest was an extraordinary woman. She’d bravely flown all the way from her wedding in San Francisco to Cedar Valley and jumped out of that tree without a second thought. She’d also left what had to have been a very expensive wedding at the last moment when she realized it would be a mistake to proceed. She’d taken the honest road even though it left her virtually homeless. What had made her see the light at the very last moment?
He sank back onto his heels and took in the full view. Lifting one of her feet, he grinned at the stocking ending partway down her foot—so her red polished toenails would show in the “peep toe” shoe he guessed. Everything about her had been white and bridal. Ready for a white wedding night. Gliding his hands up her calves and onto her thighs, he noticed the stockings were really held up with a wide band of white lace ending a few inches below her feminine places. Somehow the placement, revealing the creamy bit of thigh, was sexier than anything he’d ever seen, especially when he realized she’d visited a salon before her wedding for an intimate wax. It provided the final straw; he wanted to take hours just petting her and kissing her before taking her for the first time, but no man could resist the delightful image before him.
“Sweetheart, I’m afraid this first time is not going to be as slow as I promised. You’re too irresistable.”
Extending her arms, she welcomed him into them and into her core, and he forgot to think anymore. She enclosed him in a tight fist of warmth. His mind and body focused there, where they connected, where her heat and his force combined to create an explosion the likes of which he’d never experienced.
And when she shouted his name, and clenched around him, he bent to take her lips and crossed over into spinning darkness, holding her in his arms, a perfect fit for the first time in his life. Sexually but also emotionally. After a long moment, he slipped from her and padded into the bathroom, returning to lift her and tug down the covers. Although still midafternoon, they could both use a nap, and he wanted nothing more than to feel her sweet warmth cuddled in his arms. Her scent in his nose. He had a flash of a thought of taking her into his bedroom, but if he did, when she left, he might have a hard time sleeping there alone.
She murmured, “I’m so glad you’re a farmer and not a billionaire. I never want to get involved with a mega-rich man again.” She never even saw him cringe.
What about this woman, who fell instantly to sleep in his embrace, changed everything? He drifted, spooning her, more at peace, despite all the scrapes and bruises, than he’d been in a long time.
Maybe never. Growing up as the success/business-oriented son in a family like his had been a challenge. Every one of his brothers loved the nursery and had gone to UC Davis to study agriculture in some form or other with an additional science minor to contribute to their dad’s interest in feeding the hungry. James had recently been honored as one of the youngest philanthropists in the Bay area. But it wasn’t the same as putting your body and mind to work, problem solving the basic issues of providing food to people in drought-stricken areas. Or in countries where wartime conditions nearly destroyed the food-producing regions.
He’d made billions, given away millions, and never felt like enough. Even Autumn, his stepmom, baked and cooked and preserved foodstuffs for local people who fell on hard times.
But, just for once, he pushed aside his self-doubts, his inability to make his father proud, and accepted the warmth and security of another person. For a few hours. She might go right back to her groom, although it seemed unlikely. But, if she didn’t, maybe he could take things further.
As he floated in a sea of peace, listening to Sarabeth’s even breaths, his phone rang, breaking the quiet. He set her aside and scrambled for his pants, dragging the device out before the ringtone ended. Glancing back, he saw her curl up and sigh, rolling onto her other side. What an exhausting night and day she’d had. No wonder she could sleep through a little Wagnerian Valkyries.
He stepped out in to the hallway and closed the door. “MacKay here.”
“Hey, Jim, it’s me again.”
“Aiden, what do you need? I was taking a nap.” He moved down the hall toward his office, speaking low, just in case she woke.
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” His laughter aroused more ire than it probably should have, but James bit his lip. “Listen, if you can tear yourself away from your ‘nap,’ and come out into the orchard, I have to show you something.”
“Can’t you just tell me? Did the tree fall over or something?”
“No joking. Get in the Mule and get out here. And come alo
ne.”
Chapter Five
The sun slanted low in the sky as James arrived in the orchard. When Aiden got serious, it set off all kinds of red flags. Unlike him, his cousin had stayed in a branch of the family business and now taught at the fire academy in Sacramento. Their grandfather, Evan, had been the first firefighter in the family, followed by a number of others, but David, James’s dad, had chosen to take over Autumn’s family nursery, adding his own ideas and acreage as his four boys grew into manhood.
Steering through the lengthening shadows of the ancient trees, he spotted the dot of bright red and headed for the balloon. At least, he assumed that was where Aiden wanted him. Another warm late summer day ending in a warm evening, but a light breeze moved the balloon a little. Was that his concern? Did he think it would work its way free?
He pulled up and turned off the vehicle. “Aiden! Where are you?”
“Over here, Jim. Opposite side of the tree from you.”
“Is it a problem with the branches? Do I need to get one of the arborists out to deal?” He paced around the big old trunk and found his cousin standing with three of his students from the academy. “Well, hello.”
“I wanted to help out, thought maybe we could deflate the balloon and haul it elsewhere, you know, in case someone came looking for Sarabeth. If it’s not on the property, she could buy some time.”
“Thanks, but what made you call me out so urgently?” His spine prickled with warning. He’d learn something he didn’t want to right about now. He could feel it.
“Look at the balloon. The logo.”
Cursing inwardly, he lifted his head to see Felix Flights inside a curlicue that looked a lot like an olive wreath. No. It couldn’t be worse. “I see.” He hadn’t approached the thing from this side before or he’d have known earlier. Would it have changed things? He’d like to say yes, but wasn’t sure he could.
Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe: Floating Hearts (Kindle Worlds Novella) (MacKay Destiny Book 1) Page 5