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Louise Jensen, despite her dirty laugh, didn’t seem to fit that mold. But he still wanted her. Enough to check his watch again and see that nineteen minutes had passed.
Damn it.
He was surprised, he realized, at how disappointed he felt. Sex was simple, and a woman’s company was easily found. All he needed to do was go down to the bar and chat up one of the women he’d already seen there on his way in. Fifteen minutes tops, and he could be back here with a warm and willing body in his bed.
But he didn’t want just any warm and willing body. He wanted Louise. She felt like a challenge, even an enigma; she seemed confident and shy at the same time. He wondered which she would be when it came to sex. Maybe she’d take what she wanted, after all. And maybe he’d let her.
Or maybe not.
A knock sounded at the door. Instinctively Jaiven checked his watch. Twenty minutes exactly. And he had a feeling that was on purpose. A smile curving his lips, he went to open the door.
She stood there tall, straight and proud, her chin lifted, her gray-green gaze clashing with his.
“Exactly twenty minutes,” he said and she shook her head, her mouth curving in a knowing smile that he liked.
“Twenty-one from the moment you left me.”
He laughed, realizing she was right. He hadn’t checked his watch until he’d stopped at a traffic light.
“So, was there traffic?” he asked as he took her by the hand and drew her inside. Her skin was soft and cool; her fingers felt slender and fragile in his.
“No, none.”
“So what took you so long?”
“I wanted to see if you’d wait.” She spoke airily enough, but as Jaiven gazed at her he thought he saw something in her eyes, something hidden and shadowy that both intrigued and alarmed him. He was not going to be soft about a woman. And he couldn’t have her turn needy.
“I was just about to leave.”
She eyed his half-drunk whiskey on the side table, the tuxedo jacket he’d shed on a chair, and arched an eyebrow. “Is that right?”
He laughed again, liking her attitude, and because he didn’t want to wait anymore he drew her to him, sliding his hands up to cradle her face. Her cheeks were as cold as her hands. “Good thing I’m a patient man,” he murmured, and then he kissed her.
* * *
That first kiss felt like an electric shock, or maybe being doused in ice water. Everything in her jolted with sensation; it had been so long since she’d been kissed she’d forgotten she had lips, and how good it felt to have someone else’s on them.
She opened her mouth, wrapped her hands around his lapels as she pulled him closer. She needed this. Needed to be reminded she was alive and desirable.
As she kissed him she pushed off his jacket, fumbled with the studs of his tuxedo shirt. Damn those fiddly things. Why couldn’t tuxedo shirts have regular buttons?
“Whoa.” Jaiven eased back, wrapping his hands around her own so they remained trapped and stilled against his chest. She could feel the steady thud of his heart, beating at a far slower rate than her own. “No need to rush.”
Yes, there was every need. Because if she didn’t rush she’d start to think and then she’d start to fear and regret. He’d told her no cold feet and no regrets when she walked through that door, and so here she was holding up her end of the bargain. He needed to hold up his and get his game on. “No need to wait, either,” she said. She leaned forward to kiss him—and missed.
His mouth quirked slightly as he leaned back out of range. “Forgive me if I like to take my time.”
And then he kissed her again, his hands still wrapped around hers, forcing her to be still. To be slow.
And God help her, but the man could kiss. His tongue traced the seam of her lips before delving inside, sweeping the contours of her mouth, teasing a response from her even as he held on to her hands, kept her still.
Louise whimpered. She heard the sound she made and couldn’t even care. It had been so long since anyone had kissed her like this.
Had anyone ever kissed her like this? Jack certainly hadn’t. Jack had—her brain screeched to a halt, but it was too late. Now she was thinking about Jack and panic was taking the place of desire.
Jaiven must have felt the change in her, because even as he deepened the kiss he released her hands. Freed her, and the panic receded as desire washed over her again.
She was not going to let her history ruin this.
She kissed him back, eager again, and yes, rushing, because she really didn’t want to let her brain take over. Jaiven laughed softly against her mouth as he slid one hand down her body, palming her breast before he tugged at the tie of her wrap dress and it fell open, revealing her in all her control-topped glory.
Instinctively Louise broke the kiss, pulling her dress together as humiliation scorched her. So she clearly hadn’t thought this through and considered that Jaiven would see her decidedly unsexy underwear.
“Some low lighting might be good right about now,” she muttered, trying for a laugh, and Jaiven chuckled and shook his head.
“Not a chance. I like a woman with curves.”
Curves she had. Jaiven slipped his hands under her dress, his palms warm against her skin as he pulled her to him. He smoothed a hand down her hip, shaking his head in mock wonder. “They should sell these to the US Army. They must be bulletproof.”
Louise let out a surprised laugh. “Just about.” Still she tried to pull away again. “Let me just go to the bathroom—” And take off her underwear, find something sexy to put on instead. Like a bathrobe, or a towel. Anything but granny pants and a matching bra. She so had not been planning to get lucky tonight.
“I can never resist a challenge,” Jaiven answered, his voice a lazy murmur as he pulled her forward and unhooked her bra with a single twist of his fingers. The pants proved slightly more of a challenge, but with a couple of quick tugs he’d got rid of them and she kicked them off in relief. Realized she was completely naked in front of this man and felt a blush rise over her entire body. The underwear served a purpose, after all.
“Beautiful,” he said softly and cupped her breast in his hand. “Naked except for your glasses. Just about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Astounded, her jaw dropped. ‘My glasses?”
“The whole package, but yes, I find your glasses a huge turn-on. However—” he slid them from her nose and put them on a side table “—for strenuous activity, they have to go.”
“If you say so,” she muttered, and then her breath hitched as he ran a thumb over the tautened peak of her breast. She gestured to his clothes. She’d abandoned trying to get his shirt off after one difficult stud but she still wanted him naked. “What about you?”
Jaiven smiled wickedly. “What about me?”
“Your clothes.”
“Aren’t you going to do the honors?”
Was she? Louise hesitated, frozen in sudden, unspeakable shyness even as she reminded herself she needed to be bold. She wanted to be bold. Wasn’t that what this evening was about? Taking what she wanted, enjoying herself for the first time in ten years? Finding the sexual confidence she’d lost so long ago, if she’d ever had it at all?
“All right, then.” She stepped closer to him, her breasts brushing against the starched crispness of his tuxedo shirt. She gave him a small smile as she attempted to undo the studs, but one of them snagged on the buttonhole. Again.
“Damn but these things are tricky,” she said, and Jaiven laughed softly and with his hand warm and strong over hers, he undid it and all the others.
With his shirt undone Louise had the intense pleasure of pulling it back over his shoulders, letting her fingers trail down the length of his chest. His skin was as warm and smooth and perfect as she’d imagined; his chest hair was crisp and dark. The muscles of his lower belly contracted as she dipped her fingers lower and undid his cummerbund, tossed it aside.
Trousers next and those went easily, whispering down his legs before he kicked them off. The only thing he wore now was black silk boxers and a pair of socks. She went for the boxers first, her hand brushing against the very impressive length of his erection as she got rid of the underwear.
Her body blazed at the sight of him; it had been a long time since she’d seen a man like this. Wanted a man like this.
And suddenly she felt a bubble of near-hysterical laughter rise up in her, because really, what on earth was she doing? She didn’t do one-night stands or casual sex and certainly not with superstuds like Jaiven Rodriguez. He’d seen her control-top underwear, for heaven’s sake.
And yet he was still here, and judging by the size of his arousal, he wanted to be. He wanted her.
Desire crashed over her at the thought.
“You’re not getting cold feet, are you,” Jaiven murmured as he drew her naked body to his, points and curves colliding in exquisite agony. “Because you know what I said about that.”
“Nope,” Louise assured him. “Just kind of amazed this is happening, actually.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
“I bet you do.” She could feel the rough hair of Jaiven’s legs against her own; his arousal pressing insistently between her legs. She stifled a moan of pure longing. Jaiven nipped at her earlobe, sending sizzling arrows of sensation shooting throughout her body, before he scooped her easily in his arms and brought her to the bedroom of the hotel suite. He deposited her on the silky, slippery duvet before joining her there, his mouth finding her breast, his hand seeking between her thighs.
Louise arched off the bed, her body short-circuiting with sensory overload. It had been a really long time since she’d felt anything like this.
Her hands clawed at the sheets as Jaiven moved his mouth down her body, tongue licking and teasing as he found her navel, her hip, and then—
“Oh dear heaven.”
She bucked under his knowing mouth, her body ablaze as he hooked her legs over his shoulders, her climax coming so fast and hard she barely had time to catch a breath. She let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a shout, and gently Jaiven lowered her legs.
“That was easy,” he murmured, but Louise was too overwhelmed by the aftershocks of her orgasm to be embarrassed.
“It’s been a while,” she said with a shaky laugh, and Jaiven pressed a kiss against her middle.
“I gathered that.”
And even though she was still recovering from that last wave of pleasure, she could feel a pressure building up inside her once more, and as Jaiven touched her with such knowing expertise, she felt that restless ache again.
It seemed an age before he finally gave her what her body had been clamoring for; he rolled on a condom and then slid inside her so she gasped at the sudden sense of completion she felt. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into him, meeting him thrust for thrust, clumsily at first because it had been so long and then remembering the rhythm.
And then exploding into fragments, the pieces of her tightly held self scattering under the force of their shared climax.
Afterward she lay underneath him, his heart thundering against hers, her face tucked into his shoulder. She’d forgotten how intimate sex was. It seemed crazy that people could have dozens or hundreds of lovers, that they would share this experience with anyone they didn’t truly care about.
And yet she just had. She didn’t care about Jaiven; she didn’t even know him. And what notch was she on his bedpost? About seven thousand?
Squirming a little, she rolled out from under him. He let her go, falling onto his back as he watched with an amused, knowing little smile.
“Thanks for that,” Louise said, inwardly cringing at the ridiculousness of her words. But what did you say to someone who had essentially just serviced you? Of course, he’d had his share of pleasure. But when she’d agreed to go back to this hotel with Jaiven she hadn’t quite taken into consideration the awkwardness of the afterward.
She needed to get out of there fast.
* * *
Thanks for that?
Amused, Jaiven watched as Louise hunted around for her clothes, having obviously forgotten that they were in the living room. He quickly took care of the condom before rising onto one elbow as he watched her search through the scattered bedclothes.
“If you’re looking for those impressive underpants, they’re in the other room.”
“Ah, right.” She averted her face, her hair coming down to swing against her cheek in a soft, dark waterfall. Then she hurried from the room, presumably in search of her clothes.
Jaiven gave her about thirty seconds before he followed, lounging in the doorway as he watched her hunt for her underthings. There was something inherently sexy, he mused, about a naked woman looking for clothes. She grabbed her dress, held it to her body as she went in search of her bra and pants.
“You don’t have to go quite so soon, you know,” Jaiven offered lazily. “I was just getting started.”
She shot him one quick, surprised look. “I’m good. And I’ve got essays to mark.”
Essays to mark? She was leaving his bed so she could grade a bunch of college papers? He would be offended if he didn’t think that Louise leaving like this was for the best.
It had been fairly obvious from the moment she’d walked into the hotel room that she didn’t play by his rules. One-night stands were the aberration rather than the norm. And since he didn’t do any messy emotion or serious sentiment, it was better all around if Louise beat a hasty retreat.
Except he didn’t want her to go.
He watched as she found the last of her clothes and clutched the whole bundle to her as she searched rather wildly for the bathroom.
“Through the bedroom,” he offered.
She muttered her thanks as she headed for the bathroom, only to come to an abrupt and awkward halt in front of him.
Slowly she tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “I think you need to move.”
“You’re not going to run away now, are you?”
“I’m not running away,” she snapped, her clothes still pressed to her chest. “I told you, I have stuff to do.” Her cheeks reddened again, rather adorably. And Jaiven wasn’t used to thinking of women as adorable. But then everything about Louise had confounded him; even the sex had been surprising.
He’d always viewed sex as a tit-for-tat type of exchange; he gave pleasure in order to receive it. But the giving of pleasure had never been more than a necessary part of the bargain…until tonight.
Until Louise Jensen had come alive under his mouth and hands, and her response had made his own pleasure all the sweeter. Deeper.
“You have stuff to do at eleven o’clock on a Saturday night?” He arched an eyebrow, challenging her to keep his gaze. She did, and he admired her for it. She might be shy, uncertain, embarrassed, but Louise Jensen possessed a strength and confidence all of her own. He found he liked it.
“Look, both you and I know what this is,” she said, lifting her chin a notch. “A one-night stand. And as you’ve probably guessed, I’m not well versed in the protocol.”
“I guessed,” Jaiven agreed in a murmur. She’d caught her lower lip between her teeth and just that thoughtless little gesture had desire rushing through him again. No way was she ducking out of here now.
“So I think it’s easier all around if I just leave.”
“How is it easier, Louise?” He braced his arm against the doorjamb, blocking any exit she might have been hoping to have. “You’ve come this far, and I mean that in all sorts of ways.”
“Your double entrendres are so charming.”
“Secretly I think you like them.” He took a step closer to her, so her breasts brushed his bare chest. He felt her shudder, or maybe it was his response he felt, because that was strong, too. Overwhelming.
“I’ll say please,” he answered in a low voice. Gooseflesh rippled across her skin and she shivered. “Please stay. Please let me make love to you again.”
“There’s no love about this,” she retorted, and Jaiven stilled, his eyes narrowing.
