She’d intended to slip gracefully into the room, nonchalantly flaunting herself while pretending to be unaware of the impact she was making. And all the while, she’d be secretly enjoying Bob’s drooling…
But when she got into the room, Bob was on his cell phone and from the look on his face, sex was the last thing on his mind.
“Look, Trevor, that nine o’clock spot is really important. Our competitors have got a dynamite show on there, and we’re trailing miserably. I want you to get something a little more sensational…yeah, yeah, I know…maybe get Maureen to tart herself up a bit, a bit of cleavage to titillate the guys...yeah, yeah…Right, well, I’ll talk to her…but we’ve got to get this show up and with a bit of a sexy edge, or we’ll lose it.”
Curling up on the bed, Anna pretended for all she was worth that she was more interested in her book than she was in Bob’s conversation, but she listened voraciously. So, a show was in trouble, eh? The competitors were doing better, and Bob needed to put a sexy edge on things to get the audience going?
What was the man into? Cabaret? Surely not a gay bar where he did striptease to supplement his escort earnings? No, no – if it was a gay bar, Maureen wouldn’t need to get a little daring with her cleavage, would she? Oh, my goodness – was he producing porn films?
Oh, how she wished she dared ask him! But she’d decided that the less contact between them the better. That was probably the only way she’d make it through the night with her celibacy intact.
“It’s Jed, and you’re reading that book upside down.”
“Er, what?” She jumped at the sound of his voice. “Jed. My name is Jed, not Bob. If we’re going to spend the night together, I figure we should at least get properly acquainted. And your book is upside down.”
Dammit, he was right. Anna was helpless to staunch the flow of red over her cheeks. But if his name was Jed…why?
“Oh, I get it – the agency gives false names to protect your anonymity!” Anna said, glad she’d been able to solve that puzzle quickly. “Well, my real name is Anna, Anna Findlay, and I’m a…”
“Yeah, I know who you are. You write sexy books that hit the best seller list for an imagination-starved population.”
Anna was speechless. Not something that happened often. “How dare you,” she croaked when she got her voice back. “I’m a sociologist studying the behaviour of Generation X, the generation that has grown up with the threat of AIDS hanging over their…”
“That’s as may be, but judging from the reactions of your friends tonight, the book’s a red hot read. Not that I’ve read it, I must say. Not really my cup of tea, as you Brits say.”
“Oh, Mister, have you ever got me wrong.” Anna glared at him as he raised one dark eyebrow. “No, I mean it, really. I’m not a Brit, to start off with. I grew up right here in Knotting Grove, and my parents were as American as apple pie…I went to Knotting Grove High for junior and senior high, and then went off to study in universities….with good scholarships. I got a chance to do my masters in anthropology at Cambridge, England, and then my doctorate….”
“Well, you must have adopted the country – you sound as English as muffins and tea.”
“It’s just something that happens – a person can do worse things than talk like everyone she works with.” Anna was furious to find herself on the defensive.
* * *
Jed, on the other hand, was enjoying himself greatly. He wondered if Anna had any idea how gorgeously sexy she looked when she got mad. Sitting up like that pulled those flimsy pj’s tight against her, and…. whoa, wasn’t that nipple sticking out through the thin silk?
Oh, wow! Jed suddenly wondered if he shouldn’t go right out and bed down in the hotel lobby. He’d be safer taking his chances with the local riff-raff than in here with Anna Findlay.
There was no way he was going to give in and give her what she wanted…
He turned on his heel and headed for the shower.
But Anna had caught him looking and grinned maliciously. “Do you really think a cold shower will help?” She laughed aloud at the curse he muttered back at her as he slammed the bathroom door behind him.
The room was quiet when Jed turned off the bedroom light. In the glow from the streetlights outside he could see Anna lying on her side, breathing steadily, her face tranquil and peaceful as she dozed.
Oh, how he itched to brush the pale silky bangs back from her eyes, and run his fingers down the silken length of her pyjama clad body. To waken her to sleepy passion with a kiss that would lead to...
Forget it, son. The best you can hope for is that there’s a spare blanket in the closet and you can bed down on the hard, cold floor. Except there wasn’t a blanket – and even if there had been, there wasn’t enough hard cold floor for him to bed down on. This room must be one of the smallest in the hotel. The hotel management were lucky they weren’t sued for false representation, calling this a suite.
There was nothing else for it but to quietly and carefully pull back the blankets and then curl up in the bed, as far away from Anna’s glacial presence as he possibly could...
CHAPTER FIVE
Anna stretched languidly and snuggled into the warmth beside her. She reached out and rubbed the hard male chest, feeling a ripple of sensual warmth as her fingers encountered a pelt of wiry hair. She moved closer, wanting to press her breasts against that pelt and to feel strong arms go around her...
Uh, uh – Louis didn’t have a hairy chest…
And Louis was long gone from her life. So who was this in her bed, who was this man she was cuddling so invitingly? She could feel him against her, his breath on her neck and his heat warming her belly. And it wasn’t just his heat she could feel – he was definitely male and definitely responding to her.
Anna jumped back as memory of where she was and who she was with slammed into her. Obviously Jed aka Bob was a bit slower to catch on, because as she rolled away on her back, he followed, one muscular leg jammed between hers and the shameless evidence of his interest poking into her side as a large hand cupped her breast and her traitorous nipples instantly rose to attention through the silk of her pyjama top.
“Aw, c’mon, baby, don’t pull away. It’s early yet, we’ve time.” Then his mouth claimed hers with one of those spine-melting kisses and Anna felt herself responding far, far too much. His other hand captured one of hers and guided it down, down, to cup him and he groaned through the kiss.
Shocked, Anna held him, feeling the silken erection growing even larger as he thrust gently against her palm. And then his hand slipped under her pyjamas and went, without any undo fuss, straight between her legs to first play with her dark curls and then to rub slowly at that so-sensitive part of her.
Rubbing slowly backwards and forwards as he released her mouth and, lifting himself slightly, he grabbed the edge of her pyjama jacket and raised it to expose her now throbbing breasts. Anna gasped weakly as he lowered his dark head and licked her nipples, the divine torture making her writhe beneath him.
Then he pulled her nipple into his mouth, suckling her. Anna’s entire being screamed in joy. She gasped, beginning to protest even though she was aware of just how close she was to the edge of orgasm, like standing on the very edge of a cliff with her arms out and preparing to throw herself into a flightless dive through warm clouds…
Then his fingers slipped inside her and she went right over the edge, gasping as she clung to him, calling his name as if they’d known each other forever.
He captured her mouth again with his, swallowing her tiny glad cries as he carried on touching and rubbing her, the fingers of his other hand playing with her hardened nipple, until he was sure the orgasm was over. Then he pulled down her pyjama bottoms and mounted her, his erection hard and probing against her heated wetness.
“C’mon, baby, take me in, let me pleasure you again, pleasure us both…”
And then the phone rang, an old-fashioned ring so loud it sounded like a fog horn right next to thei
r ears. Jed jumped back in shock, and Anna looked at him wide-eyed and panting as she tried to bring her heartbeat back under control. She reached out and answered the telephone.
“Is that Anna Findlay? Honey, Mr Walker asked for an early wake up call, said he needs to get back to the city for a breakfast meeting. You’d better be making tracks if you want any breakfast at all.” Patsy Allen’s blonde bimbo voice floated through the phone. Anna winced – Patsy was making darned sure Anna knew that she knew that Jed or Bob or whatever his name was had spent the night with her...
Well, dammit, hadn’t that been what all this was about? Anna smiled slowly. Oh, yes, she’d paid back the cool girls in her year, that was for sure! She doubted they’d still think of Anna Findlay as The Mouse, not now.
“I’m hoping that smile is because you’re thinking how great the sex we’re gonna have is going to be,” Jed breathed in her ear, and Anna jumped.
“Not in your wildest dreams, cowboy,” she snapped, “I was thinking how great it’s going to be to get back to England and my real life. That was your early wake up call. You have a breakfast meeting with another client? My, they do work you hard.”
Jed groaned. “You can’t leave me like this!” he groaned, pulling back the covers and revealing to Anna exactly the extent of his plight – and what she’d be missing by hopping out of the bed right now. Anna’s eyes grew wide.
“You’re really happy to see me, aren’t you? Tough – we gotta go. And look at it this way, to use that corny phrase – you were saved by the bell from breaking your No Sex Clause contract.”
“Lady, I don’t have a No Sex Clause contract. I have all the sex I want, and right now, I want sex with you.”
“Forget it,” Anna said, heading for the bathroom with her overnight bag. She’d feel a whole lot safer when she was up, dressed and made-up. But she couldn’t suppress a grin as she heard Jed moan: “Oh, you owe me one, Anna Findlay – don’t pretend you didn’t have fun!”
Oh, she’d had fun, all right…Anna stopped scrubbing her teeth and looked at herself in the mirror, blue eyes bright with satiation. You’d only have to look at her to know she was a woman who’d just had good sex. Sort of, anyway. She grinned.
Tough luck, Jed Walker!
CHAPTER SIX:Three days passed. Alex, the publicity specialist at her publisher’s New York office, went on putting her through her paces, ensuring she did her gruelling workouts and beauty routines, and interviews with any media maven who would sit up and take notice.
Anna signed books until her fingers cramped, and smiled until her facial muscles froze in that position. And sleep eluded her at night as she was haunted by the memory of Jed aka Bob; his heated touch and roaming mouth, and his hard erection so close to her very core… and in her dreams she explored what it would be to take that rod into herself, to feel him thrusting and panting and flooding her with pleasure as he took his own..
And she’d wake up flushed and breathless and wishing for him.
“Girl, you are crazy to be pining after a man who almost made love to you,” she told herself sternly in the mirror. “He was a hired gun, and you’ll never see him again. Of course, if anything more had happened, you’d have Mrs. Rogers screaming foul on that No Sex Clause, Jed/Bob would lose his job and she’d probably extract a huge default payment from you. So be glad it never happened...or never quite happened…”
Then the phone rang. Alex was in the other room of the suite, checking some tour details, and she picked up. “Anna, it’s a Mrs Rogers for you.”
Lord, did this woman read minds? “Hello, Mrs Rogers. Anna Findlay here. I must say that I was very satisfied with the escort you assigned me.” She winced inwardly as she remembered just how satisfied Bob/Jed had made her feel. “Although, I have to say he did arrive late, but all’s well that ends well, yes?”
The frosty silence from the other end of the phone line made Anna jittery. Had Bob/Jed complained to Mrs Rogers? Had he told his boss what had happened in that king-sized bed, just for spite?
Pull yourself together, Annie girl. Take control. Be in charge. “However, I’m afraid I won’t be needing any escort services in the foreseeable future.”
“Well, I can assure you that you won’t get them from this service, or from any other reputable agency if you persist in this kind of inconsiderate behaviour! That young man was all ready to do his job, and you left him hanging there!”
“What!” Anna could feel the red creeping up from her neck. Surely that beast Bob/Jed hadn’t really told Mrs. Rogers what had happened in such detail?
“Your broke your agreement with us, Miss Findlay.”
Anna rubbed her temples. “I don’t think, technically, that I did break the agreement,” she began. After all, they’d not actually really had sex…had they?
“He arrived just a few minutes late because of the traffic, and your doorman told him you’d already left – with another escort!”
Relief flooded through Anna. Jed/Bob hadn’t told his employer what had happened. She apologised profusely, agreed that Bob Goulding should still receive the payment that would have been his due if she’d not been so rude as to leave him behind, and said a strained goodbye to Mrs Rogers.
Was she ever going to get used to this breath stealing tingle that whooshed through her body every time she thought of Jed/Bob? And that was an awful lot of times. She would probably wind up with a heart attack, with all this crazy erratic beating going on…
Then it hit her. If Jed actually was Jed and not Bob, not the escort sent by the agency, then who the hell was he?
And more to the point, what was he doing pretending to be the agency escort?
***
Fortunately, she was flying home in two days, so with a bit of kindness from the gods, she’d never actually know who that man had been. She told herself that the ache in her heart was simply a case of indigestion from too much rich food.
The phone rang as she was starting to pack, ready for her trip back to the safety of the dreaming towers of academia – Yorkshire, England, to be exact.
“Hey, Anna! Got some really good news for you. A television interview!”
Anna adored Alex, publicity guru extraordinaire. The woman was tough, focussed and relentless when it came to promoting and pushing her writing charges to conquer every hilltop they could.
She hated her for the same reason.
“Alex, Alex – you know I’m going home the day after tomorrow. I’ve got a magazine interview today, a book signing this afternoon, and I’d hoped to rest up, do a bit of sightseeing, tomorrow. I’m so tired, and this has been a long book tour – surely we’ve done enough?”
Alex was expert at the use of silence as an intimidatory technique. It usually worked. After a few moments, Anna asked anxiously: “Don’t tell me the sales figures are down, not after all the hard work and travel…”
Alex’s voice was triumphant. “No, dear, the sales are good. Very good. And if you do this interview, they’ll be even better. You can fit it in tomorrow and still do a tour of the city. You can shop before your flight – you’ve lots of time. You don’t embark until about 6 pm, do you? And you wouldn’t believe the amount of work and the grovelling I had to do to get you this interview.”
Anna was smart enough to know when she was beat. The silent treatment followed by an ‘…after all I’ve done for you’ speech was just too much. “Okay, okay – what, who, where and when?”
“You’ll be fine,” her agent told her. “Maureen Delgado is a great interviewer and very sympathetic to your book. Just look coy, avoid answering anything too academically, and you’ll rake in some more royalties.”
It was all Anna could do not to slam down the phone. She’d never wanted to get into this whole mess in the first place. Her book was supposed to be a serious study of the sexual habits of people in the 21st century – the Aids Aware Generation, as she called them. She’d sent it off to a raft of publishers without really considering who it went to – she needed to
get publication just to hold onto her job as a lecturer in sociology at an English college.
So, she’d been shocked when her book came back, accepted, with a series of revisions and a hearty assurance from an editor that they’d hire someone to ‘tighten up the tone a little’. The very large advance and generous royalties package had meant Anna didn’t have to worry about finding a new job, which she was sure she’d have to do once her staid professors got a look at ‘Having It All: Sex & Generation X’ in its new and raunchy, rewritten form.
And the book became so popular so quickly that when the college admin saw how enrollment increased for Anna’s sociology courses, she didn’t have to look for another job, after all.
They’d even given her time off for this promotional tour.
***
She was busy reviewing a list of questions Alexa had provided for her – with suggested answers – for the television interview when it hit her. Why on earth hadn’t she thought of this before?
If she hadn’t spent the night with the escort she’d hired from the agency – who had she spent the night with? What was Jed’s agenda?
The realisation of what she had done made her sick with shock.
She’d gone all the way to Knotting Grove with a man she didn’t know – she’d been hijacked! Kidnapped, by a stranger who’d made it plain to everyone that they had an intimate relationship – and had then managed to get her into bed! And Mrs. Rogers’ words came back to her. You’d already left with another escort.
Anna rubbed her temple where a headache was beginning to bloom.
What if that other ‘escort’ was actually a reporter? Her fingers trembled so much she could hardly hit the speed-dial number of her agent.
“Alex, I think we need to talk…”
Alex arrived in a whiff of expensive perfume, carrying donuts & coffee as ‘emergency food’. Anna carefully told her a cleaned-up version of what had happened, skating around the bedroom scene but being sure she explained about the mix-up and how this reporter person had hijacked her.
The No Sex Clause Page 4