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He watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. He watched the breeze as it blew through her short bob. And he was far from oblivious of the swarm of men who had encircled her. She was holding court like the Queen of England, smiling at one, lightly touching another’s arm as she spoke and batting her eyelashes at another. She was an incorrigible flirt!
Miguel had filled him in on all the details about Courtney Adams. She was the illustrious spokesmodel for Adams Cosmetics. Courtney came from money and was probably used to fame and the power it could bring. According to Miguel, she’d used it to keep her family’s company in the public eye. He’d bet she flirted with every man she came into contact with. She probably couldn’t help herself.
The company she worked for, Adams Cosmetics, sounded oddly familiar. He searched far back into his memory, digging for the name. Finally it hit him. Adams Cosmetics was the very same company that his father, Andrew Jackson, had always competed against. Jasper had gotten away from all the madness, but now he’d stumbled right into the lion’s den by meeting his father’s rivals’ daughter.
But that didn’t stop him from being annoyed at the prospect of other men surrounding a woman he felt he had already laid claim to. Of course, she didn’t know that. He’d been aloof when he’d declined her invitation to spend the evening together, but it was time he corrected the matter and got down to business.
“What do you have, pretty lady?” The bartender had finally come around to her side of the bar.
“She’ll have a Presidente,” a masculine voice said from behind her. “What I’m having.”
Courtney’s heart turned over in her chest. He had come over. She spun around on her barstool to face him. He was so close to her she could smell the strong woodsy scent of his cologne wafting to her nose. Jasper had used intimidation to push the other men away to get to her side. All her suitors had taken several steps back and were watching them wearily.
“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” Courtney finally found her voice and eyed him up and down. He looked casually fine in relaxed jeans and a black shirt open at the collar.
“Getting your attention,” Jasper responded. After a cold shower at his villa had been unable to alleviate the hard-on the honey blonde had caused him, he’d returned to his resort to see if she would deliver on the promise that had been in those dazzling green eyes of hers.
Courtney couldn’t help smiling—he was completely arrogant and she dug it. “Well, you have it,” she said, and motioned to the seat beside her.
Jasper slid onto the barstool next to hers.
“I thought you were too busy with errands to join me.”
“I finished up early.”
“And decided to grace me with your presence? How generous of you.”
“I figured I couldn’t allow a woman as beautiful and sexy as you to sit alone at a resort bar,” Jasper replied smoothly. “The vultures would be circling.” He eyed the rest of the men at the bar who were giving him the evil eye.
“So you think I’m sexy?”
Jasper eyed her up and down. “In that dress, hell yeah.” He laughed. “But then again, you were pretty hot in those skimpy shorts and top earlier.”
She gave him a sideways glance. “I thought you hadn’t noticed.”
“I’d be dead not to.” Jasper sipped on his beer.
“So we’ve established that you find me attractive,” Courtney replied, and spun around to face him. The chemistry between them was palpable. She was sure everyone else had to feel their sizzling connection. “So what now?”
There was a lot of innuendo behind Courtney’s remark, but Jasper opted to be good, for now. “How about we start with names? Mine’s Jasper. And yours?”
“Courtney.”
Jasper held up his drink. “To having a good time.”
“To a good time.” Courtney clinked her glass against his.
Courtney didn’t remember how many drinks she had because Jasper had been regaling her with tales of his life in construction and all the mishaps he’d had. Although he hadn’t said as much, she figured he was a construction worker. He appeared to love what he did for a living. Courtney didn’t say much about her job, only that she was in public relations for her family’s company. Jasper seemed happy with that. Neither one of them had offered much in the way of personal information. They were just having a good time.
They did shots of Patrón and then got up to dance. Jasper grasped her hand and they made their way into the throng that had congregated on the dance floor and danced to the merengue band. He was an excellent dancer and easily guided Courtney across the floor. And once his hands were on her body, there was no denying the attraction coursing between the two of them. At the touch of his hands caressing her bare back, a fire spread through Courtney’s loins. Does he feel it too?
When Courtney’s pert breasts grazed against his chest, she felt his lower half respond. And when she ground herself against his arousal to the beat of the music, he groaned and she thought he would lose it and take her right there on the dance floor. But he didn’t. He must have wanted the moment to last longer, because he slowed the pace, and it allowed her to feel the delicious friction of their bodies meeting.
They continued dancing and drinking until the wee hours of the morning when Jasper pulled her aside.
“Wanna get out of here?” he murmured against her ear as he flicked his tongue lightly across it.
Courtney shivered and said, “Yes.”
When they left the bar, the crowd had already thinned out and retired for the night. They walked barefoot toward the beach, since Courtney had abandoned her high heels earlier in the night. That’s when Jasper whisked Courtney into the nearby gazebo. It was dark and granted them plenty of coverage so Jasper could kiss her. His movements were slow and methodical. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her firmly to him. Courtney’s head fell back in response because she knew what was coming next. That deliciously sinful mouth of his on hers. He didn’t disappoint. He kissed her the way a soldier kissed the first woman he saw after coming home from a long war.
It was dangerous and passionate, thrilling and exhilarating, all at the same time. His tongue traced the outline of her lips, eager to be inside her warm, waiting mouth. Courtney allowed him entry. His tongue delved into the deep recesses of her mouth and he stroked her tongue with his before sucking hers. Courtney wound her arms around Jasper’s neck and kissed him back with equal fervor. His firm chest pressed against her, causing a tight ache to form in her breasts.
Jasper’s hands palmed her backside, pulling her closer to him. There was no mistaking it, Jasper was as turned on as she was. Courtney reveled in the fact that she could make her tall, dark stranger feel the way she did, because she’d been burning up since the moment she saw him.
“I want you now,” Jasper groaned as his tongue traced her ear with light flicks.
“Oh, yes.” Courtney shuddered. “I want you too.”
Jasper knew exactly how to tease her earlobe to send her mind swirling and make her dizzy and light-headed. She sighed, tingling with anticipation of what she knew was to come, but Jasper suddenly pulled away.
“Wait here. Be right back.” And he was gone in a flash.
After the heat of his skin left hers, Courtney felt bereft. She looked around her and it was dark, with only a faint glow from the stars overhead. Just when she thought he’d abandoned her, Jasper returned with a blanket and laid it across the floor of the gazebo.
Before she could think about what they were about to do out in the open, Jasper was pulling her down on the blanket. It was surprisingly thick and soft against her knees.
Jasper noticed that Courtney’s eyes lowered slightly and she pulled away. “Haven’t you ever done it outside before?”
Her pupils dilated and Courtney blushed, which thankfully he couldn’t see in the dark. She didn’t want him to think she was a prude. “Well, no, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.” She’d always been a little bit of an exhibitionist, but what if someone saw them? She glanced around the dark night.
“Are you afraid to?” he asked, stroking her cheek lightly. “Because we’re far away enough that no one can see us.”
“You sure do know a lot about this place,” Courtney said. “Do you do this often? You know, pick up American women and take them to bed?” How else could he have procured a chenille blanket in the middle of the night?
Jasper paused. “Actually I don’t, but since the moment I saw you—” he crawled toward her on his hands and knees “—I wanted to kiss you, to taste you.” He slid his hand around her neck, leaned his head to one side and laid claim to her lips.
He lifted his head slightly so Courtney could regain her breath and said, “Now’s your chance, princess, to back out, because once we get started I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop.”
“Who said I would want you to?”
They reached for each other at the same time and tumbled down onto the blanket. It was a long, drugging kiss that sapped Courtney of all rational thought. Warning bells were ringing that she shouldn’t be outside making love with a stranger underneath the stars, but she didn’t care. She gave in to the emotion and...it was sweet heaven.
Jasper’s well-defined mouth took full possession of hers. It started when his warm and moist tongue played with the outer corners of her mouth before darting inside for a taste. Then his tongue thrust deeper, penetrating the hollows of her mouth. He made love to her mouth and she shivered with desire.
He pulled back slightly to rain kisses across her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks and then back to pay tribute to her lips. He grappled with the halter at her nape until he was finally able to release the knot and free her breasts to his searing gaze.
Jasper found Courtney’s breasts to be high and round and ready for him. The tips of his fingers reached out to glide their way down her satin skin before his mouth came down on them, hot and rampant. He took one nipple between his teeth and lightly sucked on it, tormenting her. He drew circles around the bud with his tongue and drew her into his mouth. He loved the other breast with equal measure. She clasped his head to her breasts, never wanting him to stop, but Jasper was clearly eager for more.
“Now, Jasper.”
“Not yet.”
He ignored her pleas and continued his quest by caressing her shoulders, then her bare back, then lowered to the contours of her hips, one inch at a time. A ribbon of desire coiled through Courtney, so she didn’t object when he slid her maxi dress higher and higher until it was at her waist and he could slip his hand between her thighs and cup her intimately.
There were no second thoughts because she was warm and welcomed his hand. And when he rotated his palm across her mound and pushed the tiny fabric that was her thong aside, Courtney let out a whimper of consent.
He slid his fingers between her damp folds and began rubbing light circles around the nub. He watched Courtney’s eyes dilate as she struggled for control. His thumb continued stroking. She was flushed and he could feel the heat coming off her in droves. Oh, yes...she was oh so damp down there. He thrust his finger farther inside her until she began to tremble.
“Yes! Yes!” Oh, dear God. The man had a way with his hands.
“Yes, baby.” The urge to bury himself inside her was overwhelming, but he wanted her to come. He wanted to see the look on her face when she did, to know that she enjoyed his ministrations. He could only imagine how good it would feel once he was inside her. He thrust his tongue deep inside her mouth, kissing her feverishly, all the while his fingers delved deeper and deeper inside her. Only when her inner muscles clenched around him and she screamed out his name did he finally relent.
“Are you ready for me, baby?” Jasper nuzzled her neck and ear.
Courtney answered him by grappling with his belt buckle and zipper. “We need a condom.”
Jasper helped her by pulling his pants and briefs to his ankles and removing a condom from his pocket, while Courtney discarded her thong.
“Did you know this was going to happen?” she asked, looking up at him as he sheathed himself.
Jasper grinned mischievously. “I only hoped.”
One hard, muscular thigh moved between her legs to spread her wide, and the erection she’d felt all night as they danced was now pressed against the opening of her womanhood. She welcomed it. He worked his hardness back and forth over her aroused flesh, causing delicious sensations to whirl through Courtney from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.
“Now!” Courtney urged. She was teetering on the edge and she needed him inside her. He nudged the tip inside, slow at first, and then he sank into her in one slow, powerful glide. Courtney felt every hot, hard and powerful inch of him. When he was sure her inner muscles had stretched to receive him, Jasper began withdrawing and reentering at a steady rhythm, going deeper and deeper. And as he stroked he covered her body, breasts and lips with hot, desperate kisses. He muttered short phrases. “Courtney! You feel. So wet. And. So good.”
She urged him on by rocking her hips. The impact caused her to reach another shattering orgasm. “Jasper!” she cried, lifting the top half of her body and clutching him to her. A moment later, she shattered as tremors racked her body.
His tempo increased and she felt him reach his climax seconds after hers. He shuddered against her and fell atop her, then withdrew and rolled to his side.
They were both looking up at the ceiling of the gazebo. “Wow!” Jasper murmured as he pulled her closer in the darkness. “That was incredible. You’re amazing, Courtney.”
“You weren’t too bad yourself.” She was in awe of what they had just shared. Courtney stretched languidly, and her last thought was that Jasper might be dangerous to her well-being.
Chapter 3
The next morning, Courtney was startled to find herself naked in a king-size bed with a muscled arm across her naked body. Whose room was this?
The last thing she remembered was drinking shots of Patrón, dancing all night long and making love with Jasper in the gazebo outside. What had gotten into her? She’d thought she’d stopped being so reckless after her two-day marriage to Chaise. Sure, she liked her freedom and this had been wonderful, but it had also been utterly stupid. Anyone could have seen her out there and taken photos and sent them to the press! She was supposed to be the image of Adams Cosmetics. She’d come down here on business, so how would her family feel if she’d been caught in flagrante delicto?
Well, what was done was done, and she had to move forward. Somehow she had to extricate herself from the situation as gently as possible. Courtney tried to rise from the bed, but that only prompted Jasper to stir beside her.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Jasper said as Courtney turned over to face him.
“Morning,” she replied, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. “I assume you carried me back here?”
Jasper nodded. “I believe I wore you out last night,” he said as he stretched. When he moved, the sheets moved with him and revealed a long expanse of hairless, muscled chest. A vivid memory of running her hands across it came to mind.
“Likewise, it was a very enjoyable evening.” And she had the sore muscles to prove it. “But how can you afford this place?” She motioned around the room as she sat up, clutching the sheet to her bosom.
Jasper shrugged, watching her feeble attempt to cover herself up. He’d seen, tasted and touched everything she had. “I know a few people at the resort that owe me some favors.” He kind of liked the fact that Courtney thought him some poor slob who couldn’t afford an expensive room like this. Perhaps he would get a chance to see the real Courtney.
“Well, aren’t you the man?” Courtney said, smiling as she threw the covers back. “I have a busy day ahead, so I’m going to get going.” She made a move to leave, but Jasper pulled her down until she was flat on her back. He didn’t allow her to utter another word. Instead, his large hands took her face and held it gently. He stared at her for several long moments before he planted a tantalizing kiss on her, coaxing a response from her. She kissed him back, lingering and savoring each moment.
When he finally lifted his head, Courtney was out of breath. “Wow” was all she could mutter. Her memory of last night was somewhat fuzzy, thanks to the liquor, but she was fully awake and alert now, and Jasper was an excellent kisser.
“Did you think I would let you go that easily?” Jasper asked, moving from her lips to nibble and lick on her ear. He’d been immediately attracted to her spunk and her vitality and wasn’t ready for that to end. Courtney wiggled underneath him, trying to move away, but Jasper pulled her into his arms until she was above him. He circled one hand around her neck and pulled those rosy lips of hers back on his.
“That was not supposed to happen,” Courtney said afterward, falling back on the pillows. She couldn’t move because she was completely depleted. Jasper wasn’t just an excellent kisser; he was also a good lover. He was very giving and ensured that she was thoroughly satisfied before his own needs were fulfilled. He’d immediately squelched her feeble protests of leaving with one kiss. Then he’d made love to her until she had no thoughts of leaving his bed.
“You thought you’d make a quick exit and take the walk of shame back to your room, didn’t you?” he asked, turning around to face her with his head resting on his chin.
Courtney couldn’t resist laughing at Jasper’s bluntness. “Uh...something like that.”
“Well, I’m not going to make it that easy for you, Courtney,” Jasper said evenly. “I think you and I both know how combustible our union was just now and how hard that is to come by.”
Jasper was right. Courtney couldn’t recall her climaxes being quite that explosive before, and if the shout that Jasper gave as he came was any indication, it had been the same for him. But so what? What else did they have in common outside the bedroom?
“I can read what’s going on in your mind,” Jasper said, interrupting her thoughts.
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And what was I thinking?”
“You were thinking that we have nothing in common other than great sex. So I’m going to offer you a proposition. Stay with me on Punta Cana and find out. No strings attached. And at the end of your trip, we both go our separate ways.” It had been a long time since someone had intrigued him like Courtney, and he wasn’t ready for that to end just yet.
“You want me to stay here in a no-strings-attached fling?” Courtney asked. “Wow, you do think highly of yourself.”
“Don’t act like it’s just me,” Jasper said. “I know you felt it too. We have a connection of sorts, and I’m just saying we should enjoy it for as long as you’re here. Why should we deprive ourselves?” He dazzled her with his perfect white smile.
Courtney stared at Jasper. Here was her fantasy man live in the flesh. Should she go for it? Then her mind came back to Ethan’s comment that she was there for work. But then again, she had said she would have fun on this trip, and Jasper was offering her exactly what she said she wanted.
“I need to think about it.” Courtney slid off the bed and headed toward the bathroom but stopped in her tracks. “Of course, if you want to join me in the shower to try and convince me otherwise, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
“Absolutely!” Jasper hopped off the bed and followed her into the bathroom.
Hours later, once Courtney had returned to her hotel room, she decided to call her best friend, Tea. They’d met seven years ago when Adams Cosmetics had hired Tea’s public-relations firm for one of Courtney’s earlier campaigns for Adams Cosmetics. The two women had hit it off instantly and been friends ever since. Because Tea was a couple of years older than Courtney, she helped keep Courtney grounded whenever she got the itch to do something crazy.
Courtney had always wondered where she got her wanderlusting free spirit from. Her father and Kayla were hotheaded workaholics devoted to Adams Cosmetics, while Shane and her mother were more cerebral and creative. Shane had been developing products for AC since he was twenty-five, and their mother was a talented artist. Some of her artwork had been featured in AC campaigns.
Although Courtney loved her family and shared a bond with each of her siblings, she always considered herself somewhat of a rebel. She hated to conform, but that was exactly what had happened when she’d agreed to be AC’s spokesmodel ten years ago. Little did she know how much freedom she would be giving up, but now Jasper was offering her a taste of living on the edge. It secretly thrilled Courtney, but she needed some advice. What better person than her BFF, Tea?
Courtney glanced at her watch from her hotel-room terrace, and then used her iPhone to dial Tea’s work number in Atlanta.
“Tea Santiago.”
“Tea, it’s Courtney.” Courtney slid open the glass doors and sat on one of the terrace lounge chairs, facing the Atlantic. The day was warm, and Courtney was soaking in some of the fresh air and cool ocean breeze.
“Hey, girlfriend, how’s DR treating you?” Tea asked.
