by Malone, Nana
A good guy would have let Jaya sleep and headed to the bathroom for a nice, icy shower or at least tried for an easy empty release. But that wasn’t him. He was a Westhorpe, after all. Men in his family were renowned for their low impulse control. He wanted her. Needed to feel her slick heat around him. Condoms were an unbreakable rule, but Jaya made him wish they didn’t need formality. Just the mere thought of her hot heat molding around him as she panted his name made his cock pulse.
Unable to control himself any longer, he reached for her. His arms only pulled in bedding. The sheets on her side of the bed were still warm. Cracking an eyelid open, he was surprised to find that it was already morning, with bright sunlight filtering through the drapery, bathing the suite in gold.
“Jaya? Are you still here?”
No one answered. There was no sound of the shower, no blow dryer, no running water. Just silence.
What the hell? She'd fucked him and then left? Sitting up, he couldn't believe what had happened. Sure, he had more than one one-night stand in his life. Hell, he’d had more than one in the last month. Then why did he feel empty? Throwing back the covers, he did a more thorough scan of the suite. She was definitely gone. Damn.
He hadn’t even gotten her number. Her real number. Not the bullshit one she gave him on her business card. Right. Because that's what you did with a one-night stand. Called them later. Dumbass. He knew better.
He told himself all kinds of lies to make himself feel better. Like if she wanted to use him and bounce, then good for him. The last thing he needed was any kind of entanglement. As soon as he brought back his prodigal brother, he was out of here. Back to Durban. On to the next adventure. Or maybe he needed to put that expedition together to finally make it from the tip of South Africa to the top of Tunisia. That was his ultimate goal.
Maybe it was time to speed up his plans and do something he wanted. With this quick errand for Adele, he didn't need to work for the next year if he didn't want to. That’s where his focus should be. Not on some woman he’d seen twice and used up his stash of condoms with. Letting her get under his skin was a mistake. She’d done them both a huge favor by ducking out.
Naked, he strolled into the kitchen following the smell of the delicious nutmeg coffee. He liked chick coffee, so sue him. Before he could pour the life-giving nectar down his gullet, he slid on something. Frowning, he stared at the two rectangles of plastic at his feet. Bending down to scoop them up, he grinned. She’d left her license and credit card. Gotcha.
Maybe it was a little premature to call it game over with Jaya Trudeaux. He tapped the cards against his palm while he waited for his coffee. After all, they owed it to themselves to see if last night was some kind of aberration.
And unlike most women he slept with who left behind souvenirs, he doubted she'd done it on purpose. Given her evasion technique with the business card and that he woke to an empty bed, she was one lady who didn't want to be found.
Well that was just too bad. It was his civic duty to get her belongings back to her. What was a guy to do? Besides, it didn’t sit well with him to be left behind. He was the one usually sneaking out of women’s apartments in the middle of the night. True, he also never brought anyone back to his place. It was too easy for someone to see part of him he wasn't willing to share.
He completely ignored the burn in his chest every time he thought her name. He wasn’t going to look for her because she’d gotten under his skin. Things like that didn’t happen to him. She was just a woman. The one woman he’d ever gone after. But it didn’t mean anything.
With a renewed zest for the day, he hurried to shower and throw on some clothes. He had a breakfast date to make.
***
If there was a contest for most stupid moments, Jaya counted herself a front runner. She had humiliated herself enough for one seventy-two hour period. Letting herself into her condo, the first thing she did was slip off her stilettos. So much for lucky charms. They were supposed to make her feel sexy and confident. To be fair, they’d done their job, but talk about overconfident. A brief flash of her wearing nothing but the heels as Alec kissed his way up her body warmed her from the inside.
Damn, she really had to get a control on her hormones. Hot sex? Yes. Great sex? Absolutely. Stupid sex? For sure. What the hell had she been thinking, sleeping with the bartender? So cliché. Her skin still tingled as she remembered the way his lips slid over hers and his tongue probed hers in question and response to hers. The way his hands had yanked her against his hard frame. She’d felt every inch of hard muscled and tasted—
As soon as she remembered the scotch she licked off his body, she felt damp moisture between her thighs—again. Had it been that long since she’d had sex? Yes. She hadn’t even had a rebound since Mr. I’m-an-asshole-who’s-going-to-sleep-with-your-sister. She hadn’t even been in the mood for any hank-panky. Then next thing she knew, she was doing the sexy bartender like she’d been trained at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada. Talk about breaking the seal.
Scooping up the gold sparkling shoes, she padded into her bedroom for a shower and change of wardrobe. “Deep breath, Jai. One teeny tiny derailment. You can still get back on course.” All she needed to do was find a viable date and come up with a game plan of getting to the client. Brett James mentioned he’d be on vacation for a couple of weeks after they made their decision. So all she needed to do was check to see if Trudeaux got the account. Then Operation Flay-Derrick-I’m-an-asshole-who-slept-with-your-sister was a go. Easy Peasy. Eyes on the prize.
Except as date prospects went, she came up snake eyes. She had no boyfriend, secret or otherwise, no date to the wedding, and no plan yet of what she would say to Brett James if she managed to get him alone. She slid a glance to the clock as she unzipped the Jersey dress. Six-thirty am. Damn, that meant only an hour of sleep before she needed to be up trolling through her contacts. She’d done a lot of favors in her life. Someone could return one. All she needed was someone bright enough to impress her father and drop dead hunky enough to make Tamara salivate. How hard could that be?
The knock at the door had her cursing. Damn Marco. She’d made friends with him in the hopes he’d provide extra security to her first floor condo, but instead, he used their friendship as a reason to stop by at all kinds of crazy hours for chats. Normally she didn’t mind as he was hot and Brazilian. But now, she was exhausted. She threw on her favorite pair of UCSD shorts and grabbed the nearest tank top she could find. Screw a bra. She was too tired to deal.
Swinging open the door, she said “Marco, as much as I’d love to chat, I—” Her throat went as dry as the Sahara when instead of Marco, Alec leaned against the doorjamb.
The smile across his lips managed to be sexy and sardonic all at once. “Do you always open the door like that? I could have been an axe murderer or something.”
For several moments, Jaya couldn’t find her voice. Leave it to her to find the one night stand with some serious detective chops. As far as she was concerned, the possibility of him being an axe murderer wasn’t out of the question. At the very least a stalker. When she found her voice, it squeaked. “Did you follow me here? How did you get into the building?” What was the bloody point of paying so much for a doorman building?
He put both hands up. “Relax. I come in peace. Reaching into the inner pocket of his leather jacket he pulled out two small plastic cards. “You left your license and credit card.” Tilting his head towards the front door he added, “And, as for Marco, well, turns out he’s a sucker for love.”
She rolled her eyes, pouring all her acting chops into annoyed nonchalance. Her body, though, traitor that it was, tightened in all sorts of delicious places at the sound of his voice.
“Perfect.” Feeling exposed in her tank top and shorts, Jaya wished she’d had the wherewithal to put on something a little less…see-through. But she resisted crossing her arms. If he was offended by her tits, tough. He was in her condo. “Um, thanks for saving me the hassle of chasing them down.�
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“Alec. You can use my name. Not like you haven’t used it before.” That annoyingly sexy smile remained. As If he knew just how freaked she was by her behavior last night and wanted to rub it in.
“Thank you, Alec.” She cursed the breathy quality of her voice. “But you didn’t have to come all the way over here.”
His gaze dipped to her chest. “What? You didn’t think you could get away with screwing and running, do you? If you hadn’t left these behind, I would have asked one of your friends for your number. I’ve been told I’m charmingly persistent.”
Jaya couldn’t hear for the blood rushing in her ears. “I—Um.” A slow blush crept up her chest to the column of her throat and eventually settled in her cheeks and ears. “Look. I figured I’d save us some awkward small talk and I have a lot of work to do so...” She prayed he’d take the cold-shouldered hint and leave.
So much for prayer.
“How about I take you out for breakfast? I was very disappointed you left without saying goodbye. I mean, no flowers, no jotted-down phone number…you’d think I was a leper:”
As he handed over her license, their fingertips brushed. Jaya felt a spark of electricity. Every nerve ending in her body stood at attention, begging, screaming to be touched, fondled, and caressed.
She snatched her hand back.
“We both know you’re no leper,” she mumbled, even though her brain admonished her mouth for taking the initiative. Shut up. Shut up. She really had to stop talking so much. She cleared her throat. What does someone say to a sex-god standing in her doorway? “Right. Anyway. Thank you for the offer of breakfast, but I don’t think so. I want to try and get some more sleep and get some work done. I’ll let you go enjoy the rest of your night, erm day.”
His brow furrowed as he stood erect, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No. I—” She took a breath. “I don’t do one-night stands. I’m not that girl. I’ve never fallen into bed with a perfect stranger. I’m not up on the etiquette, but I’m pretty sure awkward morning-after conversation isn’t something the guys look forward to in the a.m., so I blazed. I thought I was doing you a favor.”
He quirked a brow. “Oh, come on, Jaya. You ran for you. Not for me. You were a little freaked and you bolted. I get it. I’ve bolted before too. More than once, but we’re not going to get into that. The way I figure it, you can come to breakfast with me. Let me charm you a little. I’m only in town for a couple of weeks but—”
“Why me?” She didn’t need the whole charm-and-scheme routine. Straight talk worked better.
His face turned serious. “Hands down, you’re the sexiest woman I’ve come across in so long I can’t even remember. You’re the only woman to get under my skin, and in equal parts it scares the shit out of me and intrigues me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why should I believe you?”
He shrugged. “Because it’s the truth. Because I’m hoping you’ll say yes and we can go to breakfast and eventually end up back in bed. And finally, because something besides me is bugging you and I’d like to help if I can.”
Rattled by his honesty and sudden perception, Jaya stepped back from him. “Why do you think something’s bugging me?”
“For starters, you’ve crossed your arms over those delicious breasts of yours, which in my book constitutes a crime. Then, you try and give me the brush off even after that jolt of lust.
Yeah I felt it too. And finally, your voice wobbled just the tiniest bit. So either I said something wrong or….” His voice trailed.
Jaya didn’t like how well he read her. “You must be a hell of a bartender.”
His lips thinned a split second before he spoke. “Amongst other things. You want to tell me what the problem is? I’m told I’m an excellent problem-solver.” He shrugged and that easy smile was back to torment her dreams. “Besides, you helped me out tonight, last night, whatever, by getting me out of work. I owe you a flick of my magic wand.”
“Unless your magic wand is specifically designed to erase the memory of me losing my job three days ago, the fact that my old boyfriend—who, consequently, is the reason I lost my job—is about to marry my sister in two weeks, and also that my father believes I’m a perpetual failure, I doubt there’s much you can do.”
That sexy, lazy smile widened to a grin. “It turns out I might have just the wand for that.”
Chapter Seven
Alec watched with bemusement as Jaya’s delicately arched brows shot up. Her eyes darted to his crotch and he bit back a string of curses. “Maybe not the best choice of words.” He leaned forward, marveling at the way his body hummed when she swayed toward him.
Before he could talk himself out of being cautious, he cupped her face with his hand, and drew her to him. He knew there were a million reasons why he shouldn't kiss her, shouldn't take her to bed. Too bad he couldn't think of a single one.
His lips slid over hers and he breathed in her scent. The remnants of her perfume made his blood simmer. All he wanted to do was bury himself inside her and shut out the world. When her tongue met his, he felt the jolts of electricity straight to his cock. Groaning against her lips, he pulled her closer to him. She sighed and wound her arms around his neck. As her whole body relaxed, she molded her body against his. Moving his hands to her waist, his thumbs traced a path at the hem of her tank top. She hitched in a breath.
A niggling voice in his head said to wait. His body wanted to shoot that voice. Groaning against her lips, he tried to bring his libido under control. He felt her draw back and lifted his head to look down at her. What the hell was wrong with him? This was not part of the plan.
Jaya squeezed her eyes shut. When they opened again, fatigue had chased off the lust. The words tumbled out of her full lips in a steady flow. “Look, Alec, I’m sorry. I can’t. Why did you really come here? What do you want from me? You can’t just show up on my doorstep and kiss me and make me forget what I need to do.”
He shook his head as he forced his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s been a long night and neither one of us got any sleep. I need to start making some calls this morning if I’m going to find a date, and all I want are a couple of hours so I can be coherent. If your ego is bruised because I left this morning, then I’m sorry. It really was the best sex I have ever had in my life. And god-damn, you can kiss. But, it’s not you, it’s me. I just didn’t want to do the awkward thing. Thank you again for bringing back my card and license. I just can’t do this.”
He crossed his arms as he watched her begin to lose steam. “You all done now?”
She didn’t look pleased about the interruption but she closed her mouth.
“What I was saying was, I have a solution to your problems.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? Somehow I doubt another round of curl-my-toes sex is going to solve my current problems. Now if you’ll excuse—”
Alec stepped over the threshold before she could unceremoniously shut the door in his face. “Okay, relax. Maybe I did come here because my ego was a little bruised, but that’s not the only reason. I like you and I really do want to help.”
Almond-shaped hazel eyes narrowed at him. “You know anyone who wants to sit through the torture of wedding festivities with my family? I promise you it’ll resemble something like ancient torture tests.”
“Yeah. Me.”
She blinked up at him. Blinked again. The deep breath she choked in drew his attention to her pert breasts. He schooled his brain before the runaway train could go into the memory bank for how sweet they tasted and how her whole body melted every time he licked the dark tips. She opened her mouth to speak then shut it again.
“Wow, cat got your tongue? I’m impressed. Somehow I thought it would take more.”
Again, the narrowed eyes, but this time she accompanied them by tossing a tiny stuffed Batman figurine his way. Not bad aim, she almos
t got him in the head.
“Why would you agree to do something like that? Last night was a one-off. And I know I asked you to be my date, but that was just a sex game. I didn’t think you would actually say yes.”
Which is really a shame. “Yeah, you said that already. Bottom line is I need something from you too.”
She backed up a step. “Is this where you tell me you need a kidney or my beating heart for some whacked ritual?”
He snickered. “You really need to lay off the Law and order SVU. It’s simpler than that. I need an event planner.”
“What?”
“Event planner. That is what you do right? I called you the other day. At Trudeaux, they said you didn’t work there anymore, which I might mention is not cool, as that’s where you wanted me to bill the dry-cleaning. Anyway, I figure you had some time on your hands.”
He watched as her shoulders relaxed by degrees. “What kind of event? Something small? At the bar, maybe?”
He shook his head. “Try a thousand—person gala for Adele Westhorpe for the end of the year.”
He watched as her mouth did the open-closed guppy thing again, all the while taking in the detail of her place. Everything was hyper-neat and organized. The only thing incongruous was the figurine, and he had a feeling the mini Bruce Wayne didn’t spend much time out of place. It was the crack of dawn and her place looked like the maid had just been through it.
“Oh, right, like you know Adele Westhorpe. This sounds like a scam.”
That stung. But then, what was she supposed to think? He had been a bartender when he met her. “Yeah, well, my brother isn’t the only one who works for the Westhorpes, though my title is a little more ambiguous. I’m sort of the resident Mr. Fix-It. Anything needs dealing with, and I’m the one they call. Last night, they needed bar staff and a general manager for the opening of the club.” There. That was almost the truth.