Luckily there was no hold up in the delivery of her email and Jeff was getting them almost right away. She forgot that she was twelve hours behind him so that while it was about nine at night for her, it was nine in the morning for him.
“In a meeting right now,” he wrote. “You’re killing me. You’re beautiful.”
“I just wanted you to see I got my present,” she wrote back.
“I have another present for you,” he wrote. “I’ll deliver that one in person.”
So he was talking to her, she thought. Maybe she had not done any damage after all with that impulsive email. She was very glad he liked the shots of her but she was very insecure.
She realized she only felt secure when he was right there in front of her. The reality of internet dating -- in fact the only reality of it -- was that it all happened so fast. She had feelings for him that should have taken a long time to nurture.
This was her first experience in all of this. What if Jeff was so jaded that he got past the experience of quick, strong emotions and just took the interaction for what it was? Fun hooks ups?
“I’ll be home in a few days,” he wrote. “By the time I’m off work and through with the business development dinners, you’re going to be at work. Talk to you soon.”
She was happy to get a response from him but some part of her was expecting a stronger reaction. Talk to you soon, she read again. Dana was officially lovesick, neither happy if she broke up with him nor at ease if she was in it with him. She was not going to feel better until she saw Jeff again.
Chapter Nine
That was the last time that Dana and Jeff communicated until the following weekend. She had came to peace with the fact that she would accept however the relationship resolved. She was even willing to accept she might never see him again.
Friday night had fallen on her little rental. She decided she would spend it in the dark. She sat in the living room with the lights out, gazing out the bay window, out to the street. She heard the unmistakable sound of someone coming up the walk. She didn’t know a soul in the neighborhood.
She had no idea who it might be. Jeff was the only person she knew in town besides Cheryl and neither of them knew where she lived.
“Who is it?” she asked as the person knocked.
She didn’t want to answer the door.
“It’s me, Jeff,” said Jeff. “Open up.”
She was seized suddenly with fear. She didn’t want to have to face him.
“Uh,” she made a noise.
“Come on you have to. This stuff is melting all over my hand, I need help,” he said.
She opened the door and he quickly handed her an ice cream sundae in a cup. He had fibbed.
“That wouldn’t melt all over your hands,” she said.
“No but you will I hope. What happened?” he asked, a stern look in his eyes.
She turned her head.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “I thought we had a deal.”
“I freaked out,” she sighed. “I hadn’t heard from you. I saw you in the news with another woman,” she said.
“What?” he asked with his brows raised.
“I checked the news. You were in China with another woman. There was some press about a gala.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I was in Taiwan with another woman, not China. But on business. We had separate hotels. Did you read the article?” he asked.
“No,” she said timidly.
‘“That picture was a stock photo. It was old. My companies release press all the time when business is hot. That’s all that was. Yes, she does work close with me sometimes during business but we are not a thing. We were kind of involved but we aren’t at all now. I am not interested in her.”
There wasn’t a hint of the guy with a great sense of humor that she met at the Woodmont Grill.
“When you dropped me off after lunch I started getting weird feelings,” she said.
“So you could have talked to me about it,” he said. “Wait before we finish that thought, do you mind if we sit down? Are you going to at some point invite me in?”
She was reluctant.
“I am not a rich,” she replied softly.
“Well that’s a random declaration,” he said sharply. “Is that the real problem here?”
“I am not in your league,” she said. “I am not the woman you went to China with.”
“Taiwan,” he corrected. “I was kind of hoping you would be the woman I was having a lot of fun with.”
“I apologize,” she said. “That actually isn’t the issue. I got into this thing with you because I let myself get hurt in my marriage. I needed attention. I didn’t have a partner. I thought that getting together this way would be the way to avoid getting hurt. In some ways, it’s left me feeling lonelier than when I was married.”
“Open your mouth,” he said.
She did. He spooned ice cream into her mouth.
“You work on that and listen. So back when I asked you what you wanted out of this and you told me, do you remember anything?”
She thought about it and she took a guess.
“That you got really hot?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said playfully.
“You fed me fries,” she answered.
“All lovely answers,” he said. “Think harder.”
Dana had no clue.
“You never asked me what I wanted,” he said seriously.
She was stunned at his reply. Had she really been so self-centered? He was right. She had never asked him what he was there for.
She replied, “You said you were experienced at this. I just assumed you were you know.”
“A playah?” he asked. “If I were that, why would I go to the trouble of telling you about myself so that it wouldn’t get in the way of us? I mean if I was in it just to fuck you would I tell you who I was? I wouldn’t take you to lunch and stuff. ”
Dana’s head spun.
“Are you saying I’ve been negligent of you?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“Okay I have,” she admitted. “And I haven’t paid attention. I freaked out I am sorry. I am new to this and this has happened fast. I am not rich.”
“So you keep saying,” he replied. “I’ll make sure not to come to you if I am low on cash.”
“I get what you’re saying Jeff but you dated the woman in the picture because you had something in common with her. I can’t have those conversations with you about business that she can.”
“What did I say when we first met? I just want what everyone else wants,” he said exhausted. “I thought you got that.”
“I did. I got scared because I thought maybe you didn’t mean it,” she said.
He slipped another spoonful of sundae into her mouth.
She regarded him. He was really adorable. And he was so much more than the press releases she read on the internet. He was a person. Flesh and bone in an amazing package, with personality on top of that. She could not have done better than if they had met a different way.
He looked over at the bay window and smiled.
“Is that the famous window?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied softly.
“And you never did send me that fantasy,” he said quietly.
She knew he was being funny but her question was real.
“Do you really want to still do that stuff?” she asked him seriously.
His eyebrows nearly flew off of his face.
“Are you kidding me? I want to know all of it,” he said. “Go get the dress. Put it on and come out here.”
Dana dashed into her room, grabbed the dress and then zipped into the bathroom to freshen up and change. She bent over at the waist and flicked her hair a couple of times so that it would be nice and full when she went back into the living room.
The lights, which she had turned on to answer the door, were back down to dim. He had found the matches and lit candles so the room glowed. Dana g
lided through the room to him, walking coolly in her ultra high heels.
Jeff cupped her head, his fingers threading her hair, while he kissed her sensually. His lips were cold from the ice cream but warm soon enough. They were sweet and tasted of Carmel. He danced her back in the flickering light to the window’s edge.
He encouraged her to sit in the window and to run through the poses of the pictures she sent him, while he sat with a front row seat in her living room. Though the room was darkish, she could see he liked to watch.
Dana felt intensely beautiful and sure of herself as performed for him. She let creativity and passion be her guide. After all, he had come home to her. He could be anywhere in the world he wanted, taken any chance at all, and he was there, taking it with her.
Dana became bolder with her poses. She laid it on acting like she had done this sort of thing for a living, saving the most graphic reveal for the last. She parted her thighs and bared herself for him. Jeff ditched the ice cream and rushed her.
As the light from the moon spilled through the window (which had no curtains, so there was a clear shot from the street if anyone had a mind to look), she braced him with her thighs, peeling off his shirt from his intensely fit body. His sparkling eyes never left hers as he got just naked enough.
She pushed his jeans from his waist to reveal an intense hardness. He lifted her hips up so that the skirt of her dress was up around her waist. He tilted her backwards and he made love to her while she sat in the window, wearing her silk dress. Dana was in the center of the window, in the center of her house, in the center of Jeff’s attention, finally where she wanted to be.
The End
The Seduction
A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance
Introduction:
Lilah Jones has always been in love with her childhood friend, James Brody – and at adulthood, she finally decided to take love by the reins and seduce the socks off the gorgeous man. With no training in hand and only a handy book to help her out, Lilah starts off with seduction – only instead of seducing her childhood love, she ends up seducing the bane of her childhood existence! If only he didn’t kiss that good, things would be easier.
Finn Brody is your typical bad boy – restless, reckless and a magnet to womankind. With his irresistible charm and his dangerous looks, he can just about get any woman he wants – except the one who seduced him in darkness, aka his almost-sister. To spare her the humiliation of her weird seduction moves, he enlists to help her out instead – with cooking, clothes, flirting…and perhaps a kiss here and there.
After all, what harm could a few hot, smoldering kisses do?
CHAPTER ONE
The first step to seducing the person you were in love with: make your presence known.
Lilah Jones supposed this was common sense, and she had to roll her eyes at the creativity of the book she’d read. Nobody was dumb enough to seduce someone without their name all over it, otherwise the person seduced would assume it was someone else and end up falling in love with the wrong person. That was just a disaster altogether. Of course, it was apparently all about subtlety – a look here, some light flirting there, your scent in places he least expected until you were all he could smell. There were lots of “subtle” ideas the book had suggested, and she was willing to try each and every one of them.
Sneaking into his room was the most subtle she could get – not that she had any choice on the matter, because his secretaries treated him like some kind of king and would probably announce her presence before she could even say a word. Not sexy. After all, surprise was the key.
The off-white door of James Brody’s office finally came into view, making Lilah grin like a maniac before she darted her eyes left and right. Assured that no one was in the vicinity, she dashed for the door in her wedges, trying not to stumble and make any commotion. The door closed with a soft click, and once inside, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and took a look around.
Immaculate was the first word to use when describing James’ work space. From the leather couches to the books and magazines stacked beside his desk – it was all arranged so carefully and very pristine, almost as if it wasn’t for touching. The second word to use was masculine – so very masculine, from the oak wood to the navy blue wall linings. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw how it depicted her childhood crush – no, love – perfectly. He was masculine, and strong, and so very handsome. It didn’t even matter to her that he was rich, rich beyond anyone’s expectations. What mattered was he was also kind and patient – a trait she didn’t doubt carried over to how he would probably seduce her back.
They’ve been friends and neighbors for years, and she was sick of waiting for him to take it to the next level. She was a modern woman, wasn’t she? It was time to assert herself and do it herself. By the time she was done, she had no doubt he’d be struck at how she’d grown up and realize what he was missing. Then it would be courting time – flowers and chocolates, some delicious kisses here and there…
Shaking her head at her thoughts, Lilah tried to stop herself from daydreaming.
James was still in a conference meeting, last she’d (sneakily) checked his schedule. That gave her only a few more minutes to get her plan going and make sure she pulled it off perfectly. Pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket, Lilah began to spray her precious perfume here and there – light enough to toe the line of subtle, but not that light to ignore.
Then she dimmed the lights and hid in a corner.
Patiently, Lilah waited.
---
His brother’s room smelled like lilies.
Finn Brody stopped for a second at the front door, puzzled and amazed at the scent lingering all over the space. He would never have pegged James to go for that type of office scent, what’s with his all-too-dull furniture – black couch, black tables, black everything. Normally the office smelled like your typical industrial aroma, professional and no-nonsense.
Perhaps James got tired of it all, and asked his secretaries to get his environment a new feel – but then again, that was so unlike his brother, because James was all about predictability and structure. Any loss of control and his brother basically went nuts – a testament to his sheer will and absolute grasp at the top, perfect for your everyday powerhouse tycoon.
It was a trait that sometimes drove Finn nuts, too. But being away from family for quite long was even nuttier, and he supposed he missed the nuttiness.
Putting his black traveling bag on the floor, he looked around.
The lights were dimmed, adding a weird effect in the space that puzzled him again. James hated dark lights, because apparently brightness showed your ruthlessness to better effect, especially in the face of business adversaries. The fact that these thoughts flowed through his mind like water on a stream sparked a trace of annoyance in Finn. Apparently his brother’s persistent training was working.
With a sigh, Finn made a move to adjust the lighting.
And was stopped by a voice to his right.
“Don’t.”
It was soft and quiet, the sound barely a whisper and as throaty as they came. It was definitely female, and unrecognizable enough to have Finn freezing with his hand halfway in the air. Slowly, he turned his head in the direction of the voice.
He was stopped when a small shadow glided near, pausing in front of him. Then she stood on tiptoe and put her mouth just slightly below his ear, a whisper away.
“I was waiting for you,” she intoned silkily, her breath warm on his skin.
There was one proper response for that, even while he was trying to figure out what was going on.
“You were?”
“Oh, yes,” she breathed. Small, feminine hands settled eagerly on his chest, making warmth seep into his skin as she moved closer.
His mind worked in overdrive, as several points made itself known. One – there was a woman in front of him, trying to seduce him. Two – he was in James’ office, where the lights were intentionally dimmed to
only see shadows. Three – this seduction was for James.
And he’d walked in on it by mistake.
Normally Finn would have seized the day and went ahead with her come on, but what if this was James’ secret girlfriend or something like that? Single ladies, widows and any other non-committed girls, he went for – except the ones with boyfriends or his cousins.
Suppose this was James’ secret girlfriend – lover – whatever. Why would James not be here to receive said lover’s seduction?
A lightbulb lit up in Finn’s brain.
Because either James didn’t know, or he wanted to avoid her.
Finn had to ask.
“Am I…expecting you?”
Her hands trembled, then trailed down, playing with the buttons of his dress shirt.
“No. But you will find yourself very, very…expectant.”
Expectant?
“Expectant?” he echoed.
“Patently so.”
The statement was very odd, and Finn almost opened his mouth to question – but those hands were already moving towards the ends of his shirt to untuck hurriedly. Alarmed, but not necessarily protesting, he took hold of her wrists and silently stopped her movements.
Finn heard her gulp. Then the shadows of those shoulders straightened determinedly as she tiptoed again, and her lips touched his ear.
“I’m not wearing a bra.”
Finn’s brain shut off at her mouth and her words, his body tightening immediately at her sex-kitten purr. This shadow-woman was such a contrast – eager and nervous, sly and seductive. Warm hands, warm breath, but hesitant at points.
She was already licking his ear enthusiastically, a very odd spot that had an electric zing running through his brain - not to mention the blood rushing down as he hardened in response. His nose registered the scent of lilies on her skin.
Then all thought stopped altogether as he gathered her close.
MC Romance: Gravel A Motorcycle Bad Boy Obsession (Untamed Rider Forbidden Temptation Book 1) Page 21