by Diane Saxon
The gentle brush of his breath across her skin, the flutter of it against her lips made her sigh. She closed her eyes, surrendered to the smooth seduction of his mouth as it touched hers.
Her knees weakened, leaving her no option but to lean in to his strong, muscular body. She smoothed her chilled fingers up the inside of his shirt, sliding them around his waist and up his back, reveling in the feel of his warm, firm flesh as she drew him in closer to deepen their kiss.
She slid her tongue between his lips, tasting him as a groan of longing vibrated through his body.
“Bailey.”
Bright light flooded the room, accompanied by the sharp jangling of the hotel telephone. She leaped away from him with a guilty jerk, but he snaked his hand around her wrist to bring her to a halt.
“Leave it.”
A whirlpool of emotions, it took her a moment to respond. “I can’t…it might be…”
Her heart ached as he tucked his hands into his jeans pockets and gave her a tight smile and a small shrug.
She dashed for the telephone, held it to her ear.
“Bailey. Is that you?”
Cautious, she cast a puzzled look at Sebastian and shrugged her shoulders. She certainly didn’t recognize the voice.
“This is Senator Patricia Horton.” The superior tone should have been a dead giveaway. Bailey pushed her shoulders back and straightened her spine.
“Yes, Senator.”
“Explain to me why this disaster has befallen us.”
“Umm…”
“Phillip is devastated. He feels you have humiliated him.”
“It’s snowing.”
“He’s been trying to contact you.”
“The electricity went out.”
“He’s been ringing your cell phone.”
Bailey picked her phone up from the bedside table, glanced at the grayed out display.
“The battery died.”
“Well. It really is not good enough, Bailey. I am sure you could have charged the battery.”
“The electricity went out.” Now she didn’t know whether to bite her own tongue for sounding rude and stupid, but it was the truth and the woman was scaring her spitless. How was she supposed to respond? She took a deep breath.
“Senator, I assure you, I will be in Houston tomorrow. Nothing will stop me from being there. Please let Phillip know…” She glanced over her shoulder. The cowboy gave a regretful shake of his head and let himself silently out of her bedroom.
She felt the sharp prick of tears behind her eyes and a desperate need to hang up the telephone and run after him. Guilt held her routed to the spot.
“… let Phillip know I won’t let him down.”
“I’m not going to allow you to. He’s the best…” The lights flickered, the line crackled. “…man…any woman…could find.”
“I’m sure he is. Thank you, Senator.”
“One more thing…” crackle “As you…” zap “…let him down and humiliated us…” buzz “…the wedding…” zzzzt “…off.” CRACK!
The lights blew again and the line went dead.
In the silence of the room, Bailey lowered herself to the side of the bed. She couldn’t believe Phillip had gotten his mother to call the wedding off. The woman had been ruthless, Phillip had been cowardly, and Bailey was alone.
»»•««
He needed another tactic. Her immediate compliance to the phone call had taken him aback. She was already in peril of being bullied by Phillip’s entire family. He hated to see Bailey so subservient, and she hadn’t even met the asshole’s parents yet. His wild and free woman was going to get crushed under the weight of their superior attitude and dominating characters. She was going to be strapped in tight to their un-yielding lifestyles and she’d be suffocated.
Bailey’s future in-laws might both be senators, but the respect Bailey’s ancient family name carried had probably been an influencing factor in allowing their son to marry her. That and the fact her father was as rich as Croesus.
He could wait. Let her get officially engaged, wait for her to come back to New York and try again before the wedding arrangements were finalized, if he had to.
But he was damned if he was going to let Phillip get his hands on her again. Or let Phillip’s parents crush her vibrant personality beneath their well-heeled feet. Bailey needed rescuing, and Sebastian was going to be her knight in shining armor, whether she believed she wanted one or not.
As the electricity came back on, Sebastian let himself out of his bedroom and wandered down the hallway to the stairs. It was a long way down to reception, but he needed something to persuade her into his bedroom and what better way to Bailey’s heart than through her stomach?
Chapter Four
Bailey stepped out of the steamy shower cubicle and wrapped herself in the soft white hotel towel. Her skin glowed pink and healthy, but as she bound her hair in a smaller towel her stomach growled, low and demanding.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten.
She patted her skin dry, pulled on the matching bra and panties and admired herself in the full length mirror for a moment. A small smile curved her lips. The set was a perfect fit. Although, the bra had little gel boosters in the bottom curve of the cups and gave her a cleavage she’d never noticed she had. She peered closer.
“Wow.”
Her warmed skin glowed, the ivory color of the lingerie bringing out the peachy tone of her flesh. Her hair curled madly after being scrubbed with the towel.
It had been over an hour since the electricity had come back on and hot water had become available, but the cowboy hadn’t returned. She should go and apologize, let him know she had been dumped.
She glanced at the ring on the side of the sink, contemplated putting it on, and then thought better of it. What was the point? She was no longer getting engaged. She picked it up and took it into the bedroom where she placed it carefully in the box on the bedside table.
She’d tried to call her daddy, but the connection had been impossible. She wondered how he would react when he met Phillip’s parents and they told him the engagement was off. He was going to be so pissed she hadn’t managed to tell him before they turned up at the senators’ house. There was nothing she could do about it. She hadn’t even gotten a strong enough signal to leave a message.
Trepidation skittered across her rapidly cooling flesh as she imagined what Sebastian would say when she let him know she was a free agent. It opened the floodgates for him to step in and continue his deliberate seduction of her, but she needed to make her mind up if it was going to be enough. Would one night with Sebastian cure her of her youthful memories of lust and love, or would it ruin her chances forever of finding someone else?
She was under no illusion that Sebastian wasn’t a keeper. She’d never known him have a long-term relationship with any woman. Why would he start with her, just because they’d had a chance meeting and they’d both reeled with desire for each other? It didn’t mean he had any other feelings for her.
Mind made up, she wrapped Sebastian’s warm, comforting coat around her, discretely covering her pretty underwear, and padded barefoot out of her room across the hall to give a gentle tap on his door.
He’d barely swung it open before she started to blurt out her rehearsed speech, knowing what would happen once she let him know she was a free woman.
“Hi, I came to…” She stuttered to a halt, sniffed. “Is that food I can smell?”
A delicious, warm aroma drifted from his room making her stomach rumble and her mouth water. Curious, she stepped forward, only to have him block her way. His eyes narrowed.
“You were saying?”
“Umm, yeah. Sorry.” Distracted by the overwhelming scent, she stood on tiptoe and tried to peer over his shoulder, but without heels, she didn’t stand a chance. “Food?”
His mouth was tipped up at the edges.
“Yeah. Food. Was that an apology?”
Her stomach gav
e a loud rumbling protest. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a solid push, but he never budged.
“Yes. I apologize. Phillip’s mother broke off our engagement. Are you going to let me in?”
“You were engaged to Phillip’s mother?”
“No. I was nearly engaged to Phillip. His mother informed me on his behalf the relationship is over.”
He stepped back, raised one eyebrow and blew out a breath, but before he could say anything the aromatic smell grabbed her attention.
“What have you got?”
“Wait up…” His hand engulfed her elbow and pulled her up short as she attempted to scoot past him. “…I want my coat back first.”
“What? You can’t have it back, I have barely anything on underneath.”
“Then you can’t have any food. It’s mine.” He guided her toward the open door, turned her around and gave her a gentle shove, making sure the door slapped shut so it bumped her in the ass.
Openmouthed, she swung around to face the door. Filled with disbelief that he wouldn’t share his food with her, despite the fact she was almost naked and offering herself up for his delectation.
“Sebastian. For crying out loud. Open this door right now.”
Silence.
“Sebastian.”
Silence.
“I know you’re watching me.” She stared at the peep hole in the door, gave one her best come hither looks. The door remained closed. She cast a surreptitious glance up and down the hallway to check no one was there.
“Oh, Sebastian…” She gave him a full, seductive smile, fluttered her eyelashes, sure he couldn’t resist. “Se…bas…tion,” she sang.
Feeling supremely naughty, she flicked a glance up and down the hall again.
In her head she could hear the start of “Santa Baby” playing. She puffed the tune out through her lips, dipped her chin and rolled her shoulders. She elegantly dropped Sebastian’s coat off one shoulder, then the other. She turned her back on the door, allowed the coat to drape down, almost to her butt, gave a seductive look over her shoulder, pouted her lips into a kiss and shimmied.
Still the door remained shut.
Not yet defeated, Bailey twirled to face the door again, pointed her toes, and flexed her calf muscles as she stood on the spot and gave delicate kicks. She opened one side of the coat in a sexy little tease to show off her new underwear and her boosted breasts. She closed it again and flicked open the other side. The door swung wide, the cowboy leaned against the frame, crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his blazing blue eyes.
She had his full attention, and wondered what she had to do to keep it.
She bet Sebastian thought she wouldn’t be brave enough to do any more, but Bailey had Marilyn Monroe singing inside her head, her deep sultry tones urging her on. Bailey opened both sides of the coat did a full body ripple, followed by an undulation which had him sucking his breath in through his teeth and letting it out in a hungry groan.
As she reached the climax of the song in her head, she flicked the coat off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor at the same time as the old lady two rooms down opened her door, and stared with wide owl-like eyes, and what could have been mistaken as admiration.
Sebastian stepped into the hallway, bent to retrieve his coat and the old lady stepped back into her room and slammed the door.
Bailey took full advantage and shot past Sebastian, through the doorway to leap onto the bed. Leaning over she reached out to grab the food from the piled high tray balanced on the bedside table before he could catch up with her.
She stopped mid-stretch as it suddenly registered with her how much food there actually was.
“Were you going to eat all of this yourself?”
“Nope. I was going to share.” He clicked the door shut and leaned against it to watch her.
She sat up straight, slow and cautious and glanced at the closed bathroom door.
“Did I interrupt something?”
He followed the direction of her eyes and then rolled his own.
“No, Bailey. I ordered enough to share…with you.”
“Oh.” A cozy warmth stole through her at his consideration and to distract herself and him, she pushed her wild, damp hair away from her face and turned back to the food.
“What have we got?”
“The hotel’s running on a generator, I could only get steak on ciabatta.”
“Only…it smells divine.” She stole a look at him from under her eyelashes. “If I hadn’t turned up, were you going to eat it all yourself?”
He shrugged.
“I was coming to get you.”
“I came to you. You wouldn’t let me in.”
“I wanted my coat. Now I have it, you can share my food.”
He hung his coat on the hook behind the door and wandered over to the food tray, picked up a sandwich and bit into it.
She picked up a sandwich herself, sank her teeth in, and then watched him. The ecstasy she was feeling at the warm savory taste was not reflected in his own features. The desperation for nourishment was obviously missing, but he had a curious stillness as his gaze stayed on her mouth for a moment and made her pause mid-chew.
“So what do you think about Phillip’s mother calling the wedding off?” She blurted out around her mouthful of steak and ciabatta. She wasn’t sure the impact of what had happened had even registered with him.
“What did Phillip have to say about it?”
“Nothing. His mother made the call. She said as I hadn’t caught the flight, I had humiliated them all and the wedding was off. And besides he was too good for me. I think that’s what she said. It was a pretty bad line.”
She shrugged so he couldn’t see how hurt she was, took another huge bite of the sandwich and chewed.
He snagged a small tub chair from the side of the bed with his ugly cowboy boot, pulled it in front of her and folded his long limbed frame into it. He watched with the same intensity, but he wasn’t watching the food. He did a long slow appraisal of her near nakedness, starting with her pearly pink varnished toenails, he tracked up her legs, and stopped chewing when he reached the ivory panties.
His stillness sent a warm liquid rush from her center to the tip of those very toes he had been inspecting, and she glanced down at the flushed skin of her chest and back up to watch as he trailed his gaze up to her breasts. As he became aware of her wildly blushing skin he gave a constricted swallow, took another bite and continued a slow chew.
The food hit her stomach, enticing her to relax and the heat of his observation melted her bones. She leaned sideways and reclined against the pillows, crossing one leg casually over the other and resting her head on her hand.
Bailey finished her sandwich at the same time Sebastian did, without either of them taking their eyes off each other, and she gave a tantalizing lick of her fingers…one…at…a… time, all the while watching the cowboy watching her.
She cast an idle glance over the food tray and suddenly sat upright.
“You have strawberries?”
“Hmmm…and dipping chocolate. That’s all they had left.”
“Oh.” That’s all she needed.
She leaned over, plucked a lush strawberry from the bowl and scooped it through the thick chocolate, delighted with the feel of the glutinous mixture as it coated the strawberry.
She raised it to her mouth and a thin line of chocolate drizzled from the strawberry across the top of her knee. Sebastian’s eyes darted between her lips and her knee, and then he slid to the floor in front of her, leaned in, and trailed the tip of his tongue in a long, slow seduction along the line of chocolate.
Her muscles liquefied instantly, but her hormones were revving. Wicked excitement coursed through her as she gave a deliberate flick of the strawberry while his head was still bent over her knee, and a gloop of chocolate hit the top of her thigh.
His head came up and he stared at her with a concentration that sent goose bumps racing over her fl
esh and told her he knew exactly what she had done and why.
She lifted her forefinger to the corner of her mouth, Marilyn still whispering inside her head, and tugged on her lower lip with her teeth.
“Whoops.”
Electric current buzzed through her system as he lowered his head and lapped her thigh with his hot tongue. He placed his lips over the area and sucked her flesh into his warm, moist mouth, making her crave more.
He inched his way up over her belly, sweet nibbles sending frissons of heat coursing through her. Her breath caught in her throat and escaped as a sigh.
A chocolate tear-drop formed on the strawberry still poised at her lips, then fell in a heavy droplet onto the top of her left breast. He raised his head, paid close attention and obligingly cleaned the goo off.
She offered him the strawberry, almost writhed with need as he sucked it into his mouth and slowly chewed. She reclined on the bed, a further invitation as his lithe body glided over hers.
His mouth hovered above hers, the sweet smell of strawberry drifted over her, and as he grazed her lips with his, the bittersweet aroma of dark chocolate assailed her senses. She slid her tongue into his mouth and sampled the seductive flavor of strawberry, chocolate, and Sebastian. Delighting in the weight of him pressing her into the mattress, Bailey slipped her arms around his neck, ran her fingers through his hair and pressed his head closer to hers so she could revel in his taste and scent.
His rough palms skimmed over the yielding flesh of her sides, further up to cup her new ivory bra. His thumb persuaded the material down to expose her tautened nipple, ready and begging for his kiss. As he obliged, she could barely control herself. Sebastian drew her nipple deep into his hot, wet mouth and suckled. Her head fell back, she bowed up from the bed, her breath came in short, sharp pants and small shuddering vibrations quivered through her, spreading like the ripples from a pebble thrown into a lake, until her entire body pulsed with the force of her orgasm while his tongue lapped reassuringly at her breast.