He just hoped she wasn’t afraid and clinging to the past. He hoped she wasn’t using their father, and as soon as she was well would cast him aside yet again. He hoped, but given her behavior since…well, as long as Jordan could recall, the odds weren’t very good.
Though she felt more than a little devious for taking advantage of the situation, Jordan’s absence had given Jane unlimited access to his office for two days. She had to keep reminding herself that it was her job, and really, she was doing him a favor. If she wasn’t able to prove he was guilty, that could only mean that he was innocent. His career would be safe, and he would be none the wiser.
That was what she hoped anyway.
She searched through his files but there was nothing incriminating, so, using the jump drive, she downloaded his emails—which weren’t password protected—and spend most of the afternoon at her computer reading them. She also uploaded a spyware program that would make it possible for the tech guys at Edwin Associates to monitor any future emails.
Most of his current emails were of a professional nature, and the handful that were personal had nothing to do with the sabotage, nor were they the least bit suspicious. What she needed to see were his personal financial files, but he obviously didn’t keep those at work, meaning she needed to get on to his personal computer at home. When she reported her findings, or lack thereof, to her superiors, they reached the same conclusion. She was to continue to monitor his phone calls and take the steps necessary to infiltrate his home. She also wanted to get a look at his incoming and outgoing calls on his cell phone. Until there were grounds for a warrant, they couldn’t get a hold of the call records from his provider.
Her bosses seemed pleased, and maybe a little surprised, to learn that Mr. Everette was actually pursuing her, and if they were concerned about her crossing any lines, they didn’t mention it. If it meant getting the information they needed, maybe they would forgive a few minor transgressions. The question was, could she? Could she sell herself out that way?
Between the investigation and her regular duties, Jane was swamped, so she stayed late Thursday to keep on top of things. She didn’t get home until after ten. She grabbed her mail on her way into the building and rifled through it as she walked up the stairs to the second floor—her Visa bill, a few pieces of junk and something that looked like a wedding invitation. Curious, she started to rip it open as she walked down the hall to her apartment.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming home,” someone said. She squeaked with surprise, stumbling to a stop and dropping the mail.
Jordan grinned up at her from where he sat on the floor outside her apartment door. “Late night at work?”
Her heart lifted at the sight of him, then took a sharp dive. “Did something happen? Is your mom okay?”
“She’s fine,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet. He was dressed in black slacks and a black leather jacket. “In fact, they’re cutting her loose tomorrow.”
She crouched down to collect her mail. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, looking physically and emotionally drained. “All I know is, I was on my way home from the hospital to get some sleep, and somehow I ended up here. I guess I just wanted to see you.”
She didn’t even know what to say. Of all the people he could have gone to, he chose her?
“I know I shouldn’t keep dropping in on you unannounced.”
“No, it’s okay.” She walked past him to unlock the door.
“I can leave if it’s a bad time.”
She pushed the door open and switched on the light. “It’s not a bad time. Come in.”
He walked inside, and she stepped in behind him, closing and locking the door. She turned to tell him to take off his jacket, but before she could get the words out his arms were around her, pulling her close, hugging her fiercely. She dropped her purse and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him just as hard.
He buried his face against the side of her neck, his breath warm on her skin. “You cannot even imagine how long and stressful the past two days have been.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Right now, I think I’d just like to hold you.”
That was okay too.
Since it was what he seemed to need, she held him close, rubbing his back, until she could feel the tension begin to leak out of him. Seeing this vulnerable side of him, knowing that he even had one, changed her perception of him somehow. Yes, he was rich and powerful and gorgeous, but underneath it all, he was just a man. An extraordinary one, unquestionably, but nothing to feel threatened or intimidated by. In fact, it was a kind of a turn-on.
“Have I ever told you how good you smell?” he asked.
Something in his voice, in the way he nuzzled her neck, made her heart beat a little faster.
He lifted his head and pressed his forehead to hers, eyelids heavy as he looked down at her. “Okay, I lied.”
“About what?”
“I want to kiss you. I’ve been thinking about it almost constantly for the past two days.”
The thrill she felt knowing he wanted her seemed to cancel out any shred of her common sense. “So, kiss me.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. And, oh, could he kiss. If she never kissed another man as long as she lived, she would go to her grave knowing she could never find anyone who did it better. And something told her that this time it wouldn’t end there.
She didn’t want it to.
He let go of her to take his jacket off, then he pushed her coat off her shoulders to the floor. When he started to unfasten the buttons on her jacket, she knew in the back of her mind there was a reason this was wrong, why she should tell him to stop, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember why. She didn’t want to remember.
He pulled her jacket open but he didn’t take it off. Instead he gazed down at her, tracing a finger along her skin just above the silk shell she was wearing. “You are so beautiful, Jane.”
He made her feel beautiful. As if she deserved this.
He dipped his finger below the shell to caress the uppermost swell of her breasts. First the left, then the right, and her breath started coming faster.
“If you’re going to tell me to stop, do it now,” he said, his voice rough. “Because I’m about two minutes from taking you into your bedroom and making love to you.”
She fisted his shirt and tugged it from the waist of his pants. “It’s the second door on the right.”
With a look that could melt snow, he scooped her off her feet and carried her—actually carried her—down the hall to her bedroom. A little voice asked her what the heck she thought she was doing. She wasn’t actually going to sleep with him, was she? Because that was against the rules. But for the first time in her entire life she didn’t care about the rules. She wanted to do something totally illogical and completely spontaneous. She didn’t care if it was bad for her, as long as it felt good.
Jordan set her on her feet beside the bed and she kicked off her shoes. “We need light,” he said.
She switched the lamp on, hoping, as she tugged her jacket off, then pulled her top over her head, he wasn’t disappointed by what he saw. Did she look as good as he made her feel?
“Don’t stop there,” he said, unbuttoning his shirt as he watched her. “Keep going.”
She had never done a striptease for anyone, but he filled her with a confidence she’d never felt before. And maybe it was wrong, but she would do just about anything right now to make him happy.
She reached back to unzip her skirt, thankful, as she wiggled out of it, that she’d worn her matching black lace bra and panties. His low growl as his gaze slipped down to her legs said he was a man who appreciated thigh-high stockings.
“The bra too,” he said, watching her intently. If she didn’t know any better, she might think he was challenging her, seeing just how far he could push. Maybe he was.
She undid the clasp and slipped it off, then hooke
d her thumbs in the waist of her panties and eased them down, but when she reached for the elastic edge of the thigh-high he shook his head. “Those can stay. My turn now.”
She waited for him to start undressing, and when he didn’t, when he grinned and said, “What are you waiting for?” she realized that he wanted her to undress him.
He’d probably been with dozens of women, most more experienced or well-versed in making love than she was, but she didn’t care. She was here now. And she knew somewhere deep down that this was special. He had picked her.
His shirt was already unbuttoned, so she pushed it off his shoulders. He was so beautiful, so perfect.
He fished his wallet from his back pocket and tossed it on the bedside table. Probably because that was where he kept the condoms, and they were going to be needing one. The thought made her knees go weak. She was really going to do it, she was going to sleep with him.
“Keep going,” he said.
She unhooked his belt then unfastened his pants, pushing them down. He kicked them, and his shoes out of the way, then bent over to pull his socks off. All that was left was his boxers, and if the tent in the front was any indiction, she was going to like what she found underneath.
“On or off,” he said. “Your call.”
Why did she get the feeling he thought she wouldn’t do it? The old Jane would probably be afraid. She would be worried that she would do something wrong and disappoint him. But this was the new Jane, and she was no longer afraid of anything.
She grasped the elastic waistband and pulled them down, then she circled his erection in her hand and squeezed. He groaned and heat pulsed against her palm. She smiled up at him and said, “Off.”
She felt like she would go crazy if he didn’t touch her soon, and he didn’t make her wait. He sat back on the bed and pulled her down with him, rolling her over so that she was on her back and he was looking down at her. Then he kissed her, and she felt so hot with lust, if not for her skin holding her together, she would have melted into the sheets.
He didn’t hedge or fumble. He knew exactly what to do to drive her crazy without her ever having to utter a word. His solitary goal, as far as she could tell, was to give her as much pleasure as possible, as many times as possible, before he would even think about himself.
She’d heard that men like him existed, but she honestly believed it was a myth, that those women who bragged about their generous lovers were all lying through their teeth and really had the same boring and pathetically unsatisfying sex lives as she did.
Boy, had she been wrong.
It seemed like forever before he finally grabbed his wallet and pulled out a condom. He pushed her thighs apart and knelt between them, dangling the package in front of her. “Care to do the honors?”
She’d never actually “done the honors” before but if that was what he wanted she would try. She didn’t even care if she fumbled a bit. And somehow she didn’t think he would either.
She took the packet from him and tore it open with her teeth. As she rolled it down the length of him he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, digging his fingers into the meat of her calves. She probably took a little longer than necessary, but he wasn’t complaining.
When she was finished she asked, “Is that right?”
He opened his eyes and gazed down at her handiwork. “Looks good to me.” He grinned and added, “Felt good too.”
He lowered himself over her. “Are you ready?”
She was ready the minute he walked through the door.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer, and with his eyes locked on hers, he slowly thrust inside of her. She had some random, fleeting thought about how this wasn’t supposed to be happening, but as he groaned and thrust again, the last remnants of doubt fizzled away. And as he rolled over on to his back, pulling her on top of him, all that she cared about was making him feel good.
It was no-holds-barred, pulse-pounding, headboard-banging, twisted-in-the-sheets, rolling-all-over-the-bed sex. And it was fun. She had no idea that sex was supposed to be fun.
Afterward, they both lay flat on their backs, side by side, limp and satisfied. And only then did the possible repercussions of her lack of good sense hit her square between the eyes.
What had his brother Nathan told her? Jordan had a short attention span when it came to women. He liked the chase, but once he got what he was after, he lost interest. So of course, genius that she was, she’d gone and given him exactly what he wanted with practically no effort on his part whatsoever.
Brilliant.
In one act of pure idiocy she had compromised her principles, crossed the lines of morality and put the investigation in the toilet.
Way to go, Jane.
There had to be a way to begin repairing the damage she’d done. A good start would be to get him the heck out of her bed, back into his clothes and out the door. That was when she realized how quiet he’d become. She pushed herself up on her elbows to look at him. His eyes were closed.
“Jordan?”
He didn’t answer. She gave his arm a gentle nudge, and when that got no response, she gave it a shake. Nothing. He was out cold. He had actually rolled over and gone to sleep.
How was that for a cliché?
Of course, considering he’d barely slept for two days, and then had a vigorous workout, she could hardly fault him; besides, that was the least of her worries. The sad fact was, she wouldn’t be sleeping with him again.
She shook him again. “Jordan, wake up.”
He mumbled something incoherent and rolled onto his side.
It looked as though she had no choice but to let him stay the night, since nothing short of a dousing with ice water was going to wake him. And though she doubted he would rouse anytime soon, just in case, she would have to leave her makeup on, so he didn’t see how she actually looked. Then he would really lose interest.
He didn’t budge when she untangled his feet from the blankets and covered them both, nor when she leaned over him to switch off the light. She lay there wide awake beside him, listening to his slow, deep breaths, plotting her next move.
She sighed. It was going to be a really long night.
Ten
The smell of coffee woke Jordan from a dead sleep. He opened his eyes, confused for a second by the unfamiliar room, then he remembered last night and smiled. He rolled over and reached for Jane, but her side of the bed was empty and cold.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and some moisture into his contacts, he grabbed his watch from the bedside table and squinted to read it. Seven-thirty. He should have been up over an hour ago. But he was having a tough time caring, considering how freaking incredible last night had been.
He’d come here with the expectation of some harmless necking, and thought—or hoped—that if he played his cards right he might cop a feel or two. Well, so much for her so-called lack of confidence with men. He’d been with supermodels who were nowhere close to as comfortable in their own skin as Jane had seemed to be last night. She had completely blown him away, surpassing by leaps and bounds every preconceived notion he had drawn since she stumbled into his life Monday morning.
The idea of the timid and apprehensive Jane had intrigued him, but the real Jane fascinated and bewitched him.
He shoved himself up out of bed, grabbed his clothes from the floor and got dressed, then followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen.
Jane was sitting at the table, already primped and dressed for work, drinking coffee and working on her laptop.
“Good morning.”
She looked up and smiled. “Good morning. There’s coffee. Can I get you a cup?”
“I’ll get it,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he walked past. There was already a cup and the creamer waiting on the counter beside the coffee press. “Sorry I conked out like that last night. I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
“I figured you were pretty tired.”
“So tired I didn’t even take my contacts out,” he said as he fixed his coffee.
“You wear contacts?”
“Since college when I finally ditched the glasses. Without them I’m blind as a bat.” He carried his coffee to the table and sat across from her. Maybe it was his imagination, but there was a weird vibe. Not the typical “morning after” glow. At least not what he would expect after an evening of sex that was, if he was being totally honest, about as good as it ever got.
Jane closed her laptop and pushed it aside. “I wear the kind you can leave in, so I don’t have to take them out.”
“Me too, but it feels good to take them out every few days. Especially when I haven’t gotten much sleep.” He sipped his coffee, then set the cup down and asked, “So, is there a reason we’re discussing contact lenses and not what happened last night?”
She cradled her cup in her palms, running her thumbs along the brim. “Last night was…wow.”
“Yes it was.”
“It meant more to me than you could possibly imagine.”
Oh boy. If she was about to tell him that she loved him he would have a serious problem.
He must have looked uneasy, because she smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not picking out china patterns or anything. It’s completely the opposite. I feel as if I’ve been walking around with my eyes closed, and being with you has finally opened them.”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“This is a little embarrassing, but, Drake was my first serious boyfriend.”
“Serious, as in…”
“He’s the only man I ever slept with. And it was never… Well, let’s just say it was nothing like last night. I had no idea it could be so…so…”
“Remarkable?”
“Yes! All this time I had no idea what I was missing. And if I had married Drake, I never would have known.” She reached across the table and put her hand over his. “For a long time I’ve just been drifting. I didn’t know that there was more to life, so I didn’t even bother trying to find something better. Now I feel as if I’m actually ready to move on. Meet new people and take chances. I feel like there’s someone out there who can actually make me happy.”
Much More Than a Mistress Page 9