Loving the CEO (bundle of five romance novels)

by Noelle Adams

  “He isn’t sleeping here anyway. Steven is driving him back to Hotel Andreas.”

  “What you need to do is plan a grand seduction. I have some books and videos I can loan you.” Michelle’s eyes twinkled mysteriously.

  “Books and videos?” Kaya’s voice rose an octave.

  “They’ll teach you how to seduce a man, how to make him beg. They want us to be ladies in the ballroom but nymphs in their beds. I didn’t have a lot of experience when I met Erik but I quickly learned what he needed, expected from me—and believe me, I crave him every second of the day and night. I know you and Bryce will get there. And once you start, don’t limit it to the bedroom. Erik and I make love in the most unusual places. You have to keep them guessing or they’ll get bored.”

  “Steven and I joined the mile-high club on our way from the Caribbean,” Libby said with a demure smile. “It was amazing. Mmmm!”

  Kaya blushed. She didn’t know sweet Libby who sang in the church choir was so wanton. Seemed as if everybody in Granite Falls was having wild sex—except her and Bryce.

  “I think we’re overloading her.” Libby waved a hand in front of Kaya’s face.

  “It’s a bit overwhelming, but honestly, I’m just tired.” She’d been cooking all day.

  Michelle glanced at the clock on fridge. “It is late, and I do have that book signing in Manchester tomorrow.” She hugged Kaya. “Tonight was awesome, Kaya, and I look forward to the next time when I can sample another delicious meal from your kitchen. Where did you learn to cook like that, anyway?”

  “One of my…” Kaya let her voice trail off. Nobody in Granite Falls knew anything about her. If she told Michelle and Libby that one of her foster mothers had taught her to cook, they would start asking a lot of questions she wasn’t ready to answer. “A family friend taught me. She was a caterer. Mrs. Hayes reminded me of her,” she said with an affectionate smile.

  “Well, we thank her,” Libby said. “I think I put on ten pounds tonight.” She patted her flat belly. “Five from that chocolate cake alone.”

  “I’m eating for two. So bring it on.” Michelle rubbed her protruding stomach. “We have to get together more often without the men. Plan some play dates for the kids and some for us to take off in the company jets for a day. Have you been to the country club yet?” she asked as they walked toward the front door.

  “No. I’ve been too busy with the kids.”

  “There’s a masseuse there who gives the best massages in the world. I’ll call you tomorrow and try to set up an appointment. You could probably use one after today.”

  “I like that idea.” Kaya hugged and kissed her friends goodbye.

  After their limos whisked them away, she realized that she was more scared now than she was before they came. She had no idea how to begin planning a seduction, but if what Michelle and Libby said were true, she would have to make the next move. She wanted her marriage to work, but what if she messed it up even more?

  Disappointing Bryce in the bedroom posed a far greater threat to their marriage than not making love with him at all.

  Maybe she should just let sleeping dogs lie.

  ***

  Some time during the night, Kaya awakened to the sound of a deep-throated moan. Thinking it was Alyssa having a bad dream again, she turned to wake her up, but her hand landed on a ball of warm fur, instead.

  Webster. Like Alyssa, he had the habit of crawling into her bed at nights. Everybody but Bryce seemed to want to share her bed. Well, to be fair, she’d told him he wasn’t welcome in it.

  It took a few moments to gather her thoughts. The children were at the LaCrosse’s. She was alone in the house. Or was she? she wondered as she heard the moan again. She wasn’t alarmed since L’etoile du Nord was equipped with a state-of-the-art security system that fed into one of Fontaine Enterprises security companies. Innumerable cameras and motion detectors lined the perimeter of the estate. An intruder would have better luck breaking into the White House than this house, Kaya thought, springing off the bed and across the floor to the open door.

  If a man was groaning in her house tonight, she knew it had to be her husband. A tender smile spread her lips at the thought that Bryce cared enough about her not to leave her alone in this big house—drunk as he was.

  “No…” The cry came from the third-floor master suite.

  Half in anticipation, half in dread, Kaya raced down the corridor, bypassed the glass elevator, dashed through the family room, and flew up the flight of stairs to the third floor. She stood in the unfurnished living area of the master suite, and cocked her ears.

  She heard it again—louder and more intense. It broke her heart. Kaya dashed off into the direction of the bedroom, and opened the door. There was no need to turn on the light. The glow from the fireplace illuminated the massive form of a man thrashing about wildly on an air mattress on the floor.

  Kaya rushed to his side. “Bryce.” His flannel shirt was soaked through with sweat and his body was trembling violently. “Bryce,” she called again. She leaned over to tap him on his shoulder when he turned and knocked her off balance.

  She landed on a massive wall of hard muscles. Steel arms wrapped about her, pressing her cheeks into the damp mat of hair exposed by the unfastened buttons of his shirt. Too stunned to move, Kaya willed her thumping heart to settle down, even as his drummed loudly beneath her ears.

  He stopped thrashing, and the groans turned into an inaudible mutter. Realizing he was still somewhere on the threshold of sleep and wake, Kaya tried to ease out of his grasp. But he shifted on his side, bringing her with him.

  She wriggled her nose and frowned. He didn’t smell like a man who’d spent the night drinking with his friends. He smelled fresh and clean, and his breath held a hint of mint. Kaya smiled. He must have borrowed her toothpaste. The children’s was strawberry flavored, and she knew Bryce would not have gone into Haley’s room.

  She was his wife and even though they had not consummated their marriage, he still had certain spousal privileges. Having the right to enter her bedroom while she was asleep was one of them. She wondered if he’d stood by her bed and watched her sleep.

  Kaya held her breath as Bryce exhaled deeply and burrowed into the duvet, his arms possessively locked around her upper body and one leg around her lower half as if it was the most natural way for them to fall asleep together. The feel of his steel arms and leg holding her prisoner sent Kaya’s pulses pounding and her heart jolting. Her nightgown had ridden up just past her thighs and Kaya tried not to think about the weight of his semi-erection under his silk boxers lurking near the junction of her thighs. All she had to do was thrust her hips forward a few inches and their sexes would be connected. Her insides quivered at the thought.

  You have to make the next move. Libby’s warning rang in Kaya’s ears. She swallowed as her fears began to mount. What if Bryce rejected her this time? And just in case he didn’t, what if she couldn’t please him?

  The only two things Kaya knew how to do well were cook and decorate a home. She’d been complimented over and over again for demonstrating those skills. She’d excelled in those areas because someone had taken the time to teach them to her. She’d had no one to teach her about sex—most significantly how to please a man.

  Your husband can teach you, an encouraging voice inside her head said. Michelle claimed she didn’t have a lot of experience when she met Erik. Now it seemed they couldn’t get enough of each other.

  What if Bryce didn’t have as much patience as Erik? Bryce was a busy man who ran a billion-dollar enterprise. He carried a huge weight on his shoulders, and he held the lives of millions of people in his hands. Every decision he made could either make or break his companies.

  On several occasions, Kaya had listened to her former female clients talk about keeping their busy husbands and lovers interested in them. It seemed that sex was an outlet for those kinds of men. They expected their women to satisfy their needs, not the other way around.

&
nbsp; What if she couldn’t perform to Bryce’s satisfaction and he grew bored with her inexperience? She couldn’t risk that. She wanted Bryce to desire her.

  Kaya sighed as she felt her skin begin to tingle and the ache between her legs increase. She wanted to be with Bryce so badly, to be crushed beneath him as he thrust deeply inside her. She wanted her husband incapable of keeping his hands off her. She wanted to fall asleep every night, and wake up in his arms every morning, just as she was now. Kaya wanted Bryce to remember every single moment of their first time together. The only way to ensure a memorable first time experience was to plan it. She was calling Michelle about those videos and books tomorrow.

  In the meantime, there was nothing to do but wait for Bryce’s grasp to relax after he drifted back to sleep. Then maybe she could sneak back to her room without him even knowing she was in his bed, in his arms. If he remembered anything at all, he’d think she was a dream.

  There was no such luck, Kaya realized in a panic when his eyelids fluttered, then opened completely, giving her full view into his dark, stormy eyes. He stared at her in dazed confusion. Unspoken pain, mixed with some other indefinable emotion was alive and glowing in his questioning stare.

  Twelve

  He was fully awake. She could feel the change in the tensing of his body. Uncertain of what to do, Kaya held her breath and merely stared back at him as the air around them became so charged, it crackled. She had trespassed into his private world. A world he allowed no one into. There would be consequences.

  His gaze slid lazily to her mouth. He raised one hand and brushed his knuckles across her cheek, so lightly it sent shivers down her spine. The gold wedding band on his finger flashed in the firelight, reminding Kaya that she had the right to trespass. He rubbed the pad of his thumb across her lips as if testing their subtlety. The act was erotically simple.

  Kaya swallowed, making a loud gulping sound. “You—you were hav— having a night—”

  “Shh.”

  One hand at her neck and shoulders eased her closer. He took her face in the other and held it gently. While his fingers tangled in her messy curls, his thumb caressed her cheeks, her chin, the perimeter of her mouth. His eyes held hers captive as he hesitated, waiting for a sign of resistance.

  He always gave her time to back out, except on their wedding night. She’d rejected him then. Was he waiting to spare himself another rejection? She wouldn’t put him through that again, not after what Michelle and Libby had told her. She had to start taking care of her man like he was taking care of her.

  Kaya touched his cheek, liking the feel of his early morning stubble and remembering how the tingling sensation had brought her to an orgasm before. She remembered thinking how awesomely tantalizing morning sex with him would be. She just didn’t know that it would be their first time together.

  Yes, Kaya realized with infinite clarity, she would make love with her husband. The time was right. No man had ever treated her as kindly and respectfully as Bryce. She trusted him, and she hoped that by giving herself completely to him, she would free his soul from the nightmares that plagued it.

  Michelle had said that her love had healed Erik. Kaya hoped she could do the same for Bryce. For the first time since she’d learned of the second will that gave Bryce custody of the children, Kaya felt a measure of peace at the way Michael and Lauren had handled the situation.

  Their tragedy had brought her into Bryce’s life, and his nightmare had transported her to his bed. His generosity and patience proved that he was committed to this marriage and to her. He needed her to save him, just as much as she needed him to save her. Kaya didn’t need videos and books to teach her how to love her husband. All she had to do was follow her heart.

  With tears burning her eyes, Kaya held his gaze. “I’m ready, Bryce,” she said, the very words creating a pressing need in the deepest recess of her womb. “I’m not reluctant anymore. I’m sorry for making you wait. I’m yours if you want—”

  Her apology was absolved in the tender warmth of his kiss. A kiss filled with heartaches, regrets, and unfulfilled promises that were made long, long ago, and a definite yearning to be rescued from the pain.

  He wrapped his arms about her lithe body and cradled her to his chest as if she were a delicate porcelain rose, and he were afraid she would slip from his grasp and be lost forever. His lips moved slowly over hers, testing her softness. His tongue gently probed hers, tasting her sweetness. He made no effort for deep penetration, but instead seemed to be absolutely content with exploring the outer regions and fleshy entrance of her mouth.

  When Bryce had kissed her like this with Haley lurking nearby, she’d had to curtail her response to him. They were alone in the house tonight. No Haley. No kids. She could scream as loudly as she wanted, and no one would hear her.

  The unhurried exploratory rumba of his mouth and tongue sent shockwave after shockwave rumbling through Kaya. As his mouth lavished hers, his hands began a steady path down the unexplored slopes of her body. He caressed her shoulders, the gentle curve of her back, the swell of her hips, the flat surface of her belly, and finally came to rest on the firm rise of her buttocks where he shaped and molded her like a potter shapes clay. The area between her thighs pulsed with a life of its own, and her swollen breasts and pebbled nipples, crushed against his chest, cried out for release.

  She wanted something, but had no idea what it was. This man she’d married was taking his time to explore all her pleasure points with his hands and mouth, bringing her into full awareness and acceptance of her own sexuality.

  She thrust her hips forward, connecting their groins together. He kept her there with a sure hand plastered on her buttocks. She began to move against him, the sound of their erratic breathing and symphony of erotic moans, heavy in the air.

  The thrill of his erection grazing the sensitive button at the head of her womanhood and the exquisite sensation of Bryce’s tongue gliding across the inner region of her upper lips sent Kaya into a dizzying tailspin. She had no idea that area was so sensitive, so erogenous.

  The familiar shivers of surrender began in the lower region of her belly and spread outward, growing hotter and wilder with their simulated mating act.

  Kaya dug her nails into Bryce’s chest and screamed his name down his throat when the powerful wave of surrender crashed over her.

  He groaned deep in his throat and lifted her, turned on his back, and settled her on top of him. “Sweet baby,” he whispered, and held her until she stopped shivering.

  His chest rose and fell beneath her cheeks as they both struggled for air.

  He hadn’t even come. That was just foreplay.

  Fire crackled in the air, illuminating the giant rock and wedding band on her finger.

  Kaya’s old fears, along with some new ones, raised their ugly heads again. She had to tell Bryce. She lifted her head from his chest and stared down into his face. The only emotion she saw in his eyes was passion. Gone were the fear and the pain she’d stumbled upon when she’d awaken him from his nightmare. She was happy she could do that for him. “Bryce. I have to tell you some—”

  “I know, Kaya. I don’t care. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about anything. I just want to make love to my wife.”

  Before Kaya could analyze exactly what he meant by “I don’t care”, he sat up with her straddled across his waist and pulled off his shirt, tossing it across the empty room. Kaya whimpered when his fingers grazed her thighs before curling around the hem of her nightgown. Without being told, she raised her hands. He pulled it over her head and tossed it next to his shirt.

  He expelled a loud breath when his eyes landed on her breasts, standing proud and high as if waiting for inspection. The glow from the fire danced over their naked torsos, and Kaya knew she made an erotic picture for him. It made her toes curl.

  “Beautiful,” he said, reaching for her.

  Kaya sighed and arched her back when his hands closed over her breasts, and he began
to massage and mold them—again in the most tender manner as if they would crumble if he pressed too hard. His gentleness, and the thought that he was taking his time to show her how much he cherished her, melted Kaya’s heart. She need not fear his size and his strength. He would never hurt her.

  Kaya clutched his shoulders as he bent his head to her chest. His lips feather-touched her with tantalizing persuasion as he lavished attention on one nipple—kissing, licking, kissing, licking—for a few heart-stopping moments before opening his wide mouth and taking all he could of her swollen breast into it.

  Kaya threw her head back and moaned as her body responded to the demands of his rapacious mouth. Her breasts had never been treated this way, and they were just as captivatingly shocked as she was.

  Seated on Bryce’s groin, Kaya was acutely aware of the ridge of his sex tucked tightly between the cheeks of her buttocks and the cleft of her love nest. His heat burned through their underwear, soaked with the juices that had poured from her body.

  Delirious with desire Kaya dug her fingers into Bryce’s shoulders and began riding his erection. She fantasized even a deeper ecstasy as pleasure ripped through her body. When she thought she would explode, he stopped his suckling and kissed his way across the valley of her mounts to the other breast. He gave her time to come down with him, but before she hit bottom, he repeated the erotic cycle by treating this breast with the same devotion he’d treated the other, and when he’d licked and kissed her nipple into confusion, he sucked her into his mouth again.

  Kaya found herself walking the same tightrope of desire as a few moments before. This time the intensity increased as Bryce continued to suckle at her tender breast. An intangible cord of electricity ran from her breasts to the vibrating spot between her thighs.

  She bucked harder, as Bryce sucked harder. She felt his hand in the hollow of her back as he began to thrust up against her, causing the pleasure to mount inside her. His hands spanned her waist and he moved her up and down, around and around the ridge of his sex as his mouth swooped from one breast to the next like a butterfly that couldn’t decide which petal housed the sweetest nectar.