“Oh, I’m surprised. Believe that.” Ray steeled herself against telling him how good of a surprise it was when she faced him. He was an unarguable example of rugged sex appeal, she thought, taking time to regard him. The black bomber jacket was open over a gun-metal gray V-neck. The open collar of the black shirt beneath emphasized the powerful chords lining his neck.
“Do I pass inspection enough to stay?” he almost whispered.
Ray cleared her throat and tried to look nonchalant while Barker pushed to his full height. He eased his hands into the front pockets of the jeans he wore with hiking boots the same color as his sweater.
“What gave me away? Why aren’t you as surprised to see me as I expected?”
“Something in Eli’s voice,” she said, grateful for the line of conversation. “He kept expecting something to be wrong or off-balance. At first I thought it was just concern over having me come all this way. Then there were the two place settings.” She glanced toward the alcove. “And your cologne,” she finished.
“Ouch.” Barker made a pained yet adorable face.
Ray laughed. “It’s a compliment. I only meant that I recognized it.”
Barker studied the floor. “Does that mean I should keep it in stock?”
“Definitely.” She felt him endear himself more to her with the dimpled smile he shared in return.
Barker masked his smile then as though he were a little self-conscious of his reaction. “The people who visit this place hardly ever visit alone—two place settings is standard.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“This is an escape—a haven. A getaway for people to, um...” He wasn’t quite sure how to continue.
“A place where people come to do things they can’t do at home?”
“Thanks.” Barker gave a quick thumbs-up. “But it’s not the doing them at home part that’s the trouble, but who they want to do them with.”
“I see.”
“Mmm-hmm, and have you also seen the bedrooms here?” His clear baritone had captured a softer chord.
Ray’s gaze lifted toward the ceiling. “Only mine.”
“Right.” He nodded, remembering. “You were asleep when I got here.” Once he’d made the discovery, he’d left her room knowing it wouldn’t be long before he joined her if he stayed.
“Anyway, about the bedrooms,” he went on. “A man with stockholders to please might not want them to know he likes to be tied down and ravaged by at least three women at a time.”
“At least three.” Ray lifted a brow, her expression obviously playful. “Impressive.”
“Mmm,” Barker confirmed. “Men in my family are known for their appetites.”
“Your family?” Ray’s playful expression began to sharpen.
Barker was beginning to look a bit miserable. “I own the place, Ray.”
Chapter 11
“Will you kick me out now?” he asked.
Ray didn’t trust that she could speak, much less order him out. “Just...um...” she managed, “just give me a second to...to process that you own...”
“I don’t exactly own it—it’s a family holding.”
“A family holding that could be yours one day?”
“That’ll never happen.” His appealing grin reappeared. “Cousins can be worse rivals than brothers and sisters.” He was serious then. “So, will you kick me out? I’d understand if you did. My plan,” he said, grimacing, and leaned on the island again, “it sounded less...deceitful in my head when I was coming up with it.”
“Why’d you feel like you needed a plan?” Ray asked. “It’s not like you needed to woo me into bed. I’ve already been there with you—several times, willingly and quickly.” Too quickly, she added to herself.
“You regret it.” Barker sounded as though he were reading her mind.
“I don’t regret it.”
“Liar.”
“Why would I regret it?” When he only stared at her in reply, she laughed nervously. “Barker, we’ve known each other a year, remember?”
“And you still regret it.”
“I don’t regret it, I just...” She gave another look to the place setting. The glance carried more disdain then. “Do you know how many men have tried to...buy me in my lifetime? And this was a long time before I ever made my living on a stage.”
“I know, babe.” Barker couldn’t help but clench a fist. It didn’t take much to deduce that her foster-care upbringing had been far less than idyllic. “That’s why I’m standing here now and feeling like scum. I never stopped to think what this would make you feel like. If it helps to know, I didn’t bring you here because I thought you could be bought. I brought you here because I want more time with you—to show you I didn’t only want you in bed and nowhere else.”
“And now?” she prompted.
His dark gaze betrayed disdain then, too, as he looked around the kitchen. “Now it looks like I only want more time with you in bed, and then that’d be all.”
“I know you didn’t mean it that way,” Ray said and watched relief waft into his expression. “What I mean is, I, um... I know when a man’s trying to buy me—what it feels like to be nothing but a thing for him to wear on his arm or a toy for his bed. I know the difference between that behavior and when a man’s trying to be nice.” She frowned then, seeing coldness set into his fierce features. In a moment, he was leaving the island to block everything from her sight behind his impressive build.
“Nice, huh?” Barker gave a disappointed smile. “Wrong again, Ms. Keats. I sure as hell want you in my bed, and plan to have you in every one of them that’s here before we’re done. I’ve never had a toy like you there before, and I’d like to enjoy that a little longer.” He spoke with matter-of-fact precision and no regret.
“As for you being on my arm,” he continued, “I plan to keep on enjoying that, too. I’m no more evolved than the next guy, Rayelle. Maybe I’m worse. At least they were willing to let you go—to share you with the rest. I’ve never been good with sharing. I enjoy what I get and I keep what I want.” He scanned the alcove before looking down at her again.
“I keep it in bed. I keep it out of bed. I brought you here to tell you that and with no distractions.”
“Bar—”
“I’d like to convince you of that before we leave, but I’ll take what I can get.”
His intent was unmistakable when his fathomless stare roamed her scant attire. Ray felt the chill that had nothing to do with her bare legs and midriff. She managed a curiously amused smile then. “Do you mind if we eat first?” she asked.
* * *
“Once my dad and his brothers started getting married and having kids, it turned into something of a family place,” Barker explained later as he and Ray took a winding back stairway toward the floor where she had been sleeping.
Dinner had been a filling experience, with a meal of tender sirloin tips smothered in a rich mushroom and red-wine sauce. The recipe was just the right accompaniment for the spinach-and-scallion-laced rice dish it had been heaped upon. Sourdough rolls marbled with pumpernickel accompanied the meal, which was rounded out by a comforting apple-and-peach cobbler.
“So, should I be offended that I was placed on the kids’ floor?”
Barker laughed. “You should feel relieved. You’ll see when we tour the other floors.”
“Should I be nervous?”
“No reason for that—” he shrugged “—but people do tend to have an...um...a reaction when they see the suites up there.”
“Now I think I’m more curious than nervous.” Ray shrugged then, too. “Which way?”
Barker waved to indicate farther down the hall. Ray moved with confidence until she arrived at the short stairwell off to the right at the end of the corridor. She braced her hand against the wall, head bowed.
“Ray?” Concerned, Barker p
ut a hand to her waist.
“This whole thing...you being here...my being here,” she said. “Eli, he...um...he’s really going to propose to Clari, isn’t he? I mean, was—was that for real or just part of a set-up—”
“Honey, no...” Barker spoke in a soothing voice and shook his head with reverent regret. “No, babe, I swear it wasn’t. Eli’s probably been thinking of proposing to Clarissa since he met her. The idiot doesn’t know if he’s coming or going when she’s around. When she’s not around, she’s in his head—and good luck getting him to make any sense then.”
“Yeah.” Ray had to laugh. “I think Clari suffers from those same side effects, too.”
“I think I understand what they’re going through.” Barker’s rich tone maintained its soothing quality. He inclined his head toward the stairway, smiling when Ray moved on.
The chandelier hanging dead-center in the wide hallway was the first thing that caught her eye when she stepped from the landing. The crystals reflected a mauve glow that cast a rosy tint to the white walls and sumptuous white carpeting that lined the space.
Barker’s face held a subtle amusement that only made him more incredible to look at. “My dad and uncles never wanted to change it from the original design, so it’s still got a sixties or seventies vibe to it.”
Ray’s quick laugh was flooded with curiosity. She kept walking, but matched her pace to Barker’s as they ventured on. He took her elbow and squeezed to draw her focus to the door she was about to pass. He gave the powder-gray door a nudge open with a soft whoosh.
“Oh—” Ray had taken less than two steps inside when her sharp gasp mingled with more quick laughter. “Oh, boy...”
“Mmm-hmm.” Barker leaned on the doorframe to watch and enjoy his guest’s reaction. “The rooms on this level are actually called dens.” He gave a slight shake of his head when Ray sent him a dubious look.
Ray’s doubt soon shifted into a more dazed state the deeper she moved into the “den.” The farther she trekked, the more fitting the name seemed. She found the walls adorned with oil paintings depicting coital-themed scenes against the backdrops of various periods in time.
She stared, mouth open, at the image of a pirate taking a woman against the wheel of his ship. Ray would’ve found the woman’s attire more regal, were her luminous skirts not hoisted above her waist—not to mention her ripped bodice baring breasts crushed into the pirate’s wide, sooty palms.
“Wow.” She swallowed and turned from the painting, only to be newly stunned by the heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub upon an electric, candlelit platform. She wasn’t sure what kept her in a greater state of awe—the tub or the immense bed set atop its own candlelit platform. It was equipped with an equally immense overhead mirror.
“Unbelievable...are all the rooms like this?”
“Pretty much.” Barker loved the sight of her honey-toned skin darkening when she blushed. “The art gets a little more suggestive depending on which room you’re in.”
“I see, and are the whips and chains on the top floor?”
Barker grinned while levering himself off the door to head out. “Not quite.” He scanned the area and smiled when she didn’t follow. “It’s fine if you want to choose a room here to sleep.”
“I’ll pass.” Ray’s tone was rather absent as she couldn’t resist taking a moment to fantasize about her gorgeous host—his dark body sleek with cut muscles reflected in the gaudy overhead mirror. Eventually, she joined Barker at the door. In silence, they ascended another short flight of steps. The landing didn’t carry them to another spectacular corridor, but directly into another room.
Ray wouldn’t have dared to categorize the space as a den. This was an oasis for pure romance, more like a castle bedchamber with its stone columns and massive hearth waiting to glow from a fierce blaze.
Instead of the ostentatious white carpeting of the previous room, lovely yet understated woven rugs were strewn across the stone floors of this one. The room was dim and chilly, but seemed stamped with an undeniable warmth. This was a place where love was made, she decided. Once again, she was lost in the fantasy of her and Barker together before a fire in the cold hearth. Before she was wholly swept away by the erotic images, her eyes settled on the room’s most breathtaking amenity. Her neck craning upward, Ray moved steadily forward until she stood almost directly beneath a skylight that was wider than the bed it sheltered. As the bed was a lake-sized creation, it seemed to set the skylight on an even grander scale. The construction appeared to take up more than half the ceiling and presented a flawless view of sky and mountains.
Barker had been moving closer to Ray for fear that her dazed movements while looking upward could result in her taking a bad fall on the stones. With that concern in mind, he went quickly to her, lightly guided her up the long steps and onto the bed’s quilted burgundy comforter.
Still in her dazed state, Ray lay back and let herself be consumed by the unmatched beauty she witnessed. “Whoever built this had a fascinating mind,” she said.
Barker was more intent on the woman atop the bed. Idly, he toyed with Ray’s hair, which was fanned out on the comforter. “The dome only seems fascinating. I guess the sky’s the real draw,” he said.
“Mmm...” Ray agreed and wiggled herself deeper into the bedding.
Barker had never been a big fan of the room. In that moment, however, he found it beyond beckoning. He knew that was because of the woman sharing the space with him.
“I bet your dad and uncles fought a lot about who got to use this room.”
“Only a little.” Barker turned his focus to the furnishings. “Once they started to marry, it went to the newest-wed couple of the group, and when that got old it just went to the folks who seemed the most in love.”
Ray looked from the ceiling then. “I guess that’d be your parents,” she said. “You mom seems like a great lady. I figure your dad must’ve been quite a man to land someone like her.”
“He was.” Barker’s dark eyes filled with an unmistakable nostalgia. “Larger than life, my dad, but then he had to be to keep his little brothers in line.” He shifted to a more comfortable position on the bed and smiled as he thought of his father. “My dad always envied what I had with Eli, Tig, Linus and Rook. He told me I got to choose my brothers. He said he’d always hated all the high-brow elitist crap the family liked to perpetrate. As I got older, so did I.”
“So they didn’t approve of your dad choosing your mom?”
“Not many of them—not at first.” Barker grunted laughter. “And it wasn’t because she didn’t come from money. It was because she didn’t come from money and still outclassed them in every way.”
“Well, Mr. Barker Grant of the Delano Grants,” Ray drawled, her mood light. “I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong girl if you think I could outclass anyone.”
Barker clutched Ray’s hand then, squeezing a little tighter than he’d intended. “I have exactly the right girl.”
Ray rolled her eyes toward the skylight. “You mean the right one to aggravate your family?”
“I mean the one I’d like to add to it.”
Ray’s gaze flew from the skylight to Barker’s face. “You’ve really lost your mind,” she accused despite a suddenly slack jaw.
Barker squeezed her hand harder. “Then I’m sure you know it’s best not to argue with a crazy person.”
Ray doubted she would have argued with anyone—doubted her voice would or could do her the honor of showing up when she needed it to. His hold on her hand firmed again, and she scarcely registered it when he tugged her out of place to settle over him where he lay. Looking down into his striking face, she could detect the serious set to his features in the moon’s vivid glow as it poured through the skylight. It was all she had time to consider before Barker took her mouth in one deep stroke.
Her reaction was instant, with triumph radiating thr
oughout when she heard Barker’s surprised and affected moan as he delighted in their kiss. The act intensified when his head lifted off the pillows to ensure his gifted tongue left no part of her mouth untested. He kept his grip on her hand as they kissed, while his free hand skimmed the length of her lithe body.
She was dressed in pitifully little next to him. As much as he wanted to come out of his travel clothes, he wasn’t ready to release her yet. He continued his downward exploration until he was sliding beneath the waistband of her pajama shorts.
Ray was heatedly involved in the kiss but took time to delight in the soft squeezes he gave her bottom. She gasped in the midst of the kiss when he teased the intimate flesh there. She jerked suddenly against him when the teasing touch turned bolder and his finger entered her moistening core from behind.
Again, Ray gasped and arched to allow him more room to explore. Sensation pooled with fierce, unapologetic waves of pleasure. For a time, she could only rest her face against Barker’s shoulder and absorb the waves thrumming her body. Selfish need plumbed her as completely as his fingers, and she gave into it.
She wasn’t surprised that he seemed to sense when she was on the verge of peaking. He withdrew his fingers and took her mouth again before she could utter a word of protest. Faintly, she could detect traces of moisture on her skin and knew it was his fingers, damp with her need.
“Bar—” His name was muffled as their tongues tangled.
She barely registered when he put her on her back—never breaking the kiss or the liberties his hands took with the rest of her body. When he broke the kiss that time, it was to nibble his way from her earlobe to clavicle.
Barker’s chest heaved as excitement and arousal had their way. Ray fought to keep her lashes steady and to keep her eyes open against the radiant skylight. The window was steadily becoming dusted with the snow that had intensified since they’d arrived in the loft room. The appearance of snow drifts amid moonlight left her almost as breathless as his touch across her skin. Barker’s skilled, wondrously crafted mouth moved at a sleek, steady pace, closer to the energetic rise and fall of her bosom. For a moment, he debated against moving beneath the hem of her shirt or simply ripping it down the middle.
Seductive Moments Page 12