by Opal Carew
She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “It was spectacular.”
“So, I’m just asking that you continue taking a chance. Maybe things will work out better than either of us has ever dreamed. What have you got to lose?”
She compressed her lips. “We could crash and burn.”
He shrugged. “We wouldn’t be any worse off than if we hadn’t tried. I think it’s worth the gamble.”
She studied him for a moment. His intense chocolate eyes stared into hers as he waited for her answer. He hoped they’d wind up as a couple. He wanted a long-term relationship. Happiness. Love.
“That first night we spent together . . . You asked me about love at first sight.” She hesitated. “Why did you ask that? Do you think you’re in love with me?”
He shrugged. “We both know it’s too soon to know if we’re in love, but I believe we are meant to fall in love.”
Alarm bells blared in her head and she wanted to turn him down flat, then flee to her room.
Damn, he’d pegged her as a runner. And maybe he was right.
But she wasn’t going to flee this time. She’d give it to him straight.
“I don’t believe in love.”
His dark eyes turned serious as he stared deeply into hers.
“Then what do you believe in, Kara?”
Nine
“I believe in hard work and perseverance. I don’t believe there’s a magic spell called love that will carry you through any difficulty that comes along. That’s why there are so many divorces. Couples blame their problems on a lack of love. I blame it on false expectations and a lack of responsibility. I don’t believe happiness is handed to you by some magical force we can’t see or touch. I believe we make our own happiness.”
“You know, what we believe in isn’t really all that different.” He smiled. “Come on, Kara. Give us a chance.”
She knew she should just say no. Walk away now. But Grace’s words returned to haunt her.
She hesitated. At Grace’s workshop, Kara had learned that she’d been sabotaging her relationships. She gravitated to men who left her feeling lukewarm because they couldn’t hurt her.
She might not believe in love, but that didn’t mean she didn’t believe in commitment and finding a happy, long-term relationship with a man. Marriage . . . children . . . growing old together . . . she wanted the whole package. And it made sense that when choosing a partner, she should look for someone with whom she felt a strong connection.
She had no guarantees that this thing with J.M. would last, despite the chemistry between them, but this week could give her an opportunity to do more than observe Tantra. It could also give her an opportunity to observe herself and pay attention to how she acted in a relationship—a relationship with someone who made her feel something for a change. Maybe that would give her some clue as to how she could grow past her issues and find a solid relationship in the future.
“I have serious doubts that this will lead anywhere, but I still need to do some research for my article. Spending time with you . . . dating you . . . would allow me to see how someone incorporates Tantra into their relationships. I just don’t want to get your hopes up by making you think this might actually lead to something long-term.”
“I’m a big boy. I can handle whatever happens.”
“Can you really promise me that at the end of the week if I say I don’t want to continue our relationship, that you’ll just walk away? No guilt? No trying to change my mind?”
“I promise.”
“Okay.” She smiled. “I think I’m in for an exciting week.”
Kara thought she heard a knock on the door, so she turned off the hair dryer. A knock sounded again. She laid the dryer on the vanity counter and walked to the door, then pulled it open.
Grace smiled at her. “Hi, Kara. Are you going to the party tonight? I thought we could go down together.”
“Sure. I just have to fix my makeup. Come on in.”
Ten minutes later, they stepped off the elevator on the second floor and headed to the large Orchid Ballroom. A redheaded woman, whose name was Connie according to her conference badge, sat at a table outside the room.
She smiled at them. “May I see your conference badges, please?”
Kara pulled hers out of her small purse and showed it to the woman. Grace flashed her badge, too. Connie found their names on her list, then crossed them off and handed them each two blue tickets and a red one.
“The red one’s for a door prize and the blue ones are for drinks from the bar. Have fun.”
Kara tucked two of her tickets into her purse, keeping a blue one in her hand.
“I’m going for a drink. Want one?” Kara asked. After her discussion with J.M. over dinner, she could really use a drink.
“Sure thing.”
They stood in line, then Kara ordered a Sex on the Beach because it just seemed so appropriate. Grace followed suit.
Kara took a sip of her cocktail as they walked past the people milling around the bar. The lights were low and a D.J. played music, but people could still hear each other talk.
Grace glanced around. “I was really hoping to see my friend Jeremy. I had hoped to catch him for dinner, but he didn’t answer his phone.”
So Grace had been the one who’d called while she and J.M. had been . . . busy.
“I’d really like you to meet him,” Grace continued.
Grace must have forgotten about Kara’s interview with him today.
Kara turned to her. “About that, Grace, I—”
“Hello there.”
That deep voice of velvet sent tingles down her spine. She turned around and there stood J.M.
“Jeremy. Great! This is my friend Kara and . . .” Grace glanced from Kara’s face to J.M.’s broad grin. “You two know each other?”
Kara wasn’t sure how Grace had figured it out. Maybe from Kara’s flushed cheeks or the way J.M.’s gaze lingered on her with a maddeningly satisfied expression.
“This is the woman from the airport.” J.M. sipped his drink.
“Really?” Grace sent a bemused glance Kara’s way.
That was odd, because from what Grace had told her at lunch today, she hadn’t connected with J.M. yet . . . and she certainly hadn’t had time since then because Kara had kept him pretty busy. How could J.M. have told Grace about her?
“There’s a free table over there,” J.M. said. “Why don’t you two sit and I’ll get us another round?”
Kara glanced at her half-empty glass. “I’m okay.”
“We’re having Sex on the Beach.”
He smiled. “Okay, then. I’ll be right back.”
Kara and Grace walked to the table and settled in.
“So what did he tell you about me?” Kara asked. “And when?”
“We were talking on the phone when he was at the airport, and he told me he thought you . . . would hit it off.”
There was something Grace wasn’t saying. Oh, God, did she know about their one-night stand?
J.M. returned and placed three drinks on the table. He sat down beside Kara and rested his arm on the back of her chair. Grace noticed but said nothing. As his fingers played along Kara’s shoulder, heat shimmered through her. Memories of the intensity of her arousal when he’d explained the energy of Tantra, his hands lingering over her, washed through her.
“When did you two meet?” J.M. asked.
“I’m just across the hall from Kara. We met on our way to registration. This is who I had dinner with the first night.”
He smiled at Kara. “So we almost ran into each other again last night.”
“Did Kara tell you what she does for a living?” Grace’s eyes met Kara’s and she gave her a wink. “She’s a sex columnist.”
“Has she happened to tell you her opinion of Tantra?” J.M. asked.
His hand stroked lightly across her shoulder, sending tremors through her.
“Well, I got the idea she’s not really into it. I told her at
dinner last night that I thought you could change her mind.”
He smiled. “I think I’m starting to make some headway on that.”
Kara’s shoulders slumped. She wasn’t sure what to say. She finished her drink and pushed away the empty glass. J.M. slid the full one in front of her.
“Kara, did you tell Jeremy your concerns about your column? He might have some ideas for you.”
J.M. turned to her. “What concerns?”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“She’s afraid her editor thinks her column is getting stale. She could use some fresh ideas.”
Kara shrugged and took a sip of her drink.
“A sex column.” J.M. swirled his drink, considering. “There are a lot of interesting topics, but you’re looking for something a little different. Something fresh.”
She took another drink. Her head felt a little fuzzy. She wasn’t used to drinking much. “I’ve done orgasms and dating techniques, how to know if a guy is into you—stuff like that. I’m doing an article on flirting.”
“Really?”
At his amused expression, she pursed her lips and took another sip.
“One of the workshops is about women’s sexual fantasies. Have you done anything like that?” Grace asked.
“You mean being rescued by a knight in shining armor—that sort of thing?” Kara asked.
“I was thinking more about bondage, sex in an elevator . . . threesomes,” Grace responded.
Kara felt her cheeks flush. “I . . . uh . . . wouldn’t really know about that kind of thing.”
“Now, I could definitely help you with that,” J.M. said.
“You want to have sex in an elevator?” she blurted before her brain censor could kick in.
“Well, of course. But I was thinking I could help you identify various types of fantasies. I’ve researched women’s fantasies as part of what I do. I had a friend who used hypnotism to discover what her deepest fantasies were, and to bring them to life. She’d always had a problem coming to orgasm and it helped her immensely. Doing a column about fantasies could be very helpful and informative for your readers.”
“So . . . you’re offering to hypnotize me?”
“I could do that. Or . . . maybe I could arrange something a little more interesting.”
After the party, J.M. walked Kara and Grace to their floor. Intense awareness of J.M. rippled through her as she’d stood beside him in the elevator and now as they walked down the hall. They stopped in front of Kara’s door.
“Well, I’m heading off to bed. Good night.” Grace unlocked her door and went inside.
Kara glanced at J.M., ready to tell him she needed to get some sleep, that she’d see him the next morning, but he rested his hands on her shoulders and gazed at her with simmering chocolate brown eyes. Heat emanated from his hands, washing through her, turning her insides to mush. An incredible yearning jolted through her. She stepped closer, rested her hand on his cheek, and kissed him. His arms came around her and he tugged her tight to his body. Their lips joined in a blaze of passion.
Their lips parted and she gazed into his eyes.
“Come in,” she murmured breathlessly.
She reached into her small purse and pulled out her key card. As soon as they were inside the room, he shoved the door closed and tugged her into his arms again, then plundered her mouth with sure strokes of his tongue. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, which tasted of rye.
She fumbled with her blouse and dropped it from her body, then unfastened her skirt. His shirt fell to the floor, then his pants. As she gazed at the huge erection stretching his charcoal briefs, she felt a raging need build inside her. Hormones spiraled through her in a chaotic dance and her insides ached with need. She shed her skirt and panty hose, then stroked her finger over his bulge.
“None of that Tantra stuff tonight,” she insisted. “I want hot and heavy.” She stripped off her bra and cupped her hands over her breasts. “I don’t want you to hold back.”
She tweaked her nipples, pinching them until they nearly burst with pleasure.
His eyes burned with lust as her hands stroked her breasts. When he still didn’t make a move toward her, she slid her fingers into her panties and slipped them inside.
“I’m wet. Really, really wet. Thinking of you.”
She slid her panties down her legs and kicked them away, her yearning for him gnawing at her.
“I want you to take me like a wild man. Show me how much you want me.”
As she continued to stroke herself, his eyes grew dark. She felt naughty and . . . intensely sexy. He stepped toward her, a powerful, almost dangerous aura about him. He wrapped his hands around her hips, then glided them over her butt. He pulled her tight to his body, then slid his hands under her thighs and lifted her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. His cock pressed against her wet slit, only the thin cotton of his briefs between them.
His mouth captured hers, his tongue delving deep inside. Overwhelmed by his intense masculinity, she barely noticed them moving across the room until her back thumped against the wall. He pressed his body tight against hers, then worked his hard cock free of its cotton prison. His thick cockhead stroked her slit.
His tongue thrust deep into her mouth and his body drove forward, thrusting his rock-hard cock deep inside her. She whimpered at the searing pleasure of his shaft filling her so completely . . . and so suddenly.
“Yes,” she breathed into his ear. “Take me!”
His gaze locked on hers and he drew back and thrust into her again. Her eyelids fluttered closed . . . briefly . . . then opened to his compelling dark gaze.
“Kara, look at me while I’m fucking you.”
Excitement raced through her at his coarse language. His body held her pressed hard to the wall, his cock impaling her like a stake holding her in place.
“That’s what you want me to do, right? Fuck you.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He pivoted his pelvis, pushing his cock deeper.
“Fast and hard.”
“Oh, yes.”
He drew back and thrust again. Pleasure catapulted through her. He rammed into her again and again.
“Yes. Oh, please . . .”
Joy vibrated through her as he thrust into her like a jack-hammer.
“Make me come,” she pleaded, clinging to his shoulders.
He grasped her knees and lifted them, opening her legs wider, driving his cock impossibly deep as he rammed her against the wall with every thrust. She moaned.
He leaned in and nipped her neck.
“Am I making you come?”
She nodded, whimpering as intoxicating bliss filled her . . . then white-hot sensation blazed through her, erupting in a fierce explosion of ecstasy.
She collapsed against him, gasping for air. The whole experience had been so . . . intense and . . . erotic.
He carried her to the bed, his cock still immersed in her, and laid her down. He kissed her tenderly, then began to glide his cock in and out. She moaned as the pleasure flared again.
“You are incredibly sexy, sweetheart.”
He stroked her clit with his finger and she cried out in pleasure. His cock stroked her with slow, deep thrusts, while he flicked her clit. She clutched him tight to her body as another orgasm swept through her.
“Oh, yes . . . yes . . .” She gasped.
Still he glided his cock into her, then did a little spiral. Her orgasm intensified, then hot, searing joy blazed through her.
Finally, she slumped back on the bed.
He smiled as he stroked her hair tenderly. “I see you’re really into this fantasy idea.”
“Fantasy?”
“You wanted me to be a bad-boy type and take you. That’s a fantasy of sorts. And a very effective one, it seems.”
“It was pretty great.”
He stood up and pulled her to her feet, then kissed her thoroughly.
“Do you want to . . . stay the night?”
She liked the idea of him in her bed. Snuggling all night long.
“Absolutely.”
She slid under the covers and he curled in behind her. His erection glided between her legs as he cupped her breast.
“You didn’t come,” she said.
“With you writhing in pleasure in my arms? Are you kidding? Of course I came. I just didn’t release.”
“Oh.”
She couldn’t really argue with him. And she liked his long, hard cock nestled between her legs. Pressing against her slit. She wiggled a little closer and tremors of pleasure rippled through her. Of course, she might never get to sleep.
But the warmth of his body pressed against hers, combined with the afterglow of their lovemaking, quickly lulled her into a contented sleepiness.
He nuzzled her ear. “What if tomorrow we fulfill another fantasy?”
“Mmm. That would be nice,” she said as she drifted closer to sleep.
“What about sex with a stranger?”
“Mm hmm. That’s a good idea.”
Ten
The sound of her alarm dragged Kara from sleep. She tapped the snooze button, then sank back against J.M.’s warm body.
“Do you have to get up right away?” He nuzzled her neck.
“I have a few minutes to spare.” She rolled around and faced him with a smile.
“Good.” He brushed her lips with his. She wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss. His hard cock pressed against her belly. His hand slid between them and . . . his cock slid inside her. Then he pulled her close and cuddled her.
And cuddled her.
After another few moments, she wiggled a little, enjoying the feel of his stiff shaft moving inside her
She stroked her hand across his broad chest, enjoying the ripples of muscle beneath her fingertips. “Aren’t you going anywhere with this?” she asked.
“Actually, I just wanted to enjoy the closeness and intimacy.” He kissed her temple. “In Tantra, the goal isn’t orgasm.”
“Screw that,” she said, tipping him onto his back and trapping him between her knees. She grinned impishly. “I want an orgasm.”
She lifted her body, then pushed herself down on him again. His hard cock stroked her inner walls, sending ripples of pleasure through her. She took his hands and placed them on her breasts, then pushed herself up and sank back down on him. When he twitched inside her, she smiled.