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Angelina Mastroianni was going to be his wife, no matter what she thought she wanted. Because Jake knew what she really wanted. He’d seen it just now. And felt it. What he needed to do was make her feel it again. And again. And again. He had one weekend to cement his position in her life, and in her heart. Given that was a pretty short time span, Jake decided that the best way he could achieve that was through her body; her warm, luscious, possibly neglected body.
That pathetic boyfriend of hers hadn’t been doing the right thing by Angelina. Jake was sure of it. Which was fine by him. It gave him an advantage.
Just thinking about making love to her again turned him on. Retrieving a condom from where he’d shoved a few under the pillows, he slipped it on, amazed but pleased to see that he was as hard as he’d been earlier, confirming his belief that this was a once-in-a-lifetime relationship.
Scooping her naked body back against him in the spoon position, he gently stroked her breasts till she stirred in his arms, then his hand slid slowly further down her body.
‘Oh,’ she gasped when his fingers started softly teasing the centre of her pleasure.
But there was nothing soft, or gentle, in Jake’s mind. It was full of hard resolve, as hard as his desire-filled flesh.
As soon as she moaned, and began wriggling her bottom against him, he eased himself inside her from behind.
Angelina stiffened for a second, only to melt as soon as he started rocking back and forth inside her. She would never have conceived of making love like this, on their sides, with him pressed up against her back and his hands on her front, playing with her.
It was nothing like last time; that tender and romantic position where Jake had kissed her all the while and held her like a true lover. This was entirely different. This felt…decadent. Yet oh, so exciting.
Her head whirled as a wanton wildness overtook her.
‘Harder, Jake,’ she bit out in a voice she didn’t recognise. ‘Harder.’
He groaned, then increased his tempo.
‘Yes,’ she groaned, her body immediately rushing towards the abyss. ‘Oh, yes. Yeesss!’
CHAPTER TEN
ANGELINA knew she was in trouble the next morning. Deep, deep trouble.
It was not long after sunrise, Jake was still fast asleep in the bedroom and she was curled up on the red leather sofa, her naked body wrapped in Jake’s bathrobe, her hands cradling a not-too-hot mug of coffee, her eyes taking in the sun-drenched terrace, and the bridge beyond. The traffic on it was only light at this early hour, she noted.
But not for long. The day promised to be as bright and warm as yesterday.
Yesterday…
She took the mug away from her lips and sighed. Dear heaven, what had she done?
A small, dry laugh escaped her lips. What hadn’t she done? more like it. Her behaviour in bed was bad enough, but it hadn’t been confined to Jake’s bed, had it? She’d been bad in the spa bath as well, and in the kitchen whilst he’d been microwaving them a meal. And here in this very room, on the rug, in front of the television.
It was as though Jake’s making love to her that second time had released something in her, and suddenly she was hungry for it all. Every experience possible with Jake.
He hadn’t minded, of course. Though she’d had the impression he was a bit surprised at one stage. Not with what she did. Perhaps he was just surprised that she would what she did, and with such avidness.
But as much as Angelina was worried sick by where this would all end, she could find no real regrets in her heart for the actual events of last night. How could you regret something that made you feel the way she felt this morning? Like a real woman for a change. A desired and desirable woman who had been made love to very, very well.
At least now she knew what Wilomena meant by having fun. It had been fun. At least, it had been with Jake. The man was the very devil with women all right. If she’d shocked him once, he’d shocked her a dozen times. Thrillingly, though.
The memories made her quiver with remembered pleasure.
‘What are you doing up this early?’
Angelina almost spilt her coffee again, her whole body jumping at Jake’s sudden appearance behind her.
As she glanced up over the back of the sofa at him, he bent to kiss her, one of his hands sliding down the front opening of the robe at the same time.
Angelina didn’t know how she didn’t spill the coffee this time.
‘Mmm,’ he murmured by the time he’d straightened. ‘I know what I’m going to have for breakfast. Fancy a shower together?’
‘Not till I’ve finished my coffee,’ she replied with creditable control, considering. Angelina had already decided that, whilst yesterday had been marvellous, today was another day entirely. Today, she had to start getting some control back over herself.
Watching Jake walk over to the nearby open-plan kitchen didn’t exactly help that resolve, given that he was stark naked. She told herself not to look, but look she did. By the time he’d made his coffee and returned to sprawl in an adjacent chair, sipping his coffee with apparent nonchalance, her control was definitely at risk.
Gulping down the rest of her coffee, she uncurled her legs and made some excuse about seeing to her clothes, which Jake had actually popped into the washer and dryer at some stage last night. She was just hanging her fortunately crush-free dress on a coat hanger in the beautifully appointed laundry when Jake’s arms went round her waist from behind.
‘Methinks the lady is suffering morning-after syndrome,’ he whispered as he started unsashing her robe.
‘Not at all,’ she lied coolly. ‘I’m just a bit concerned about today, that’s all. I really need to go over to the hotel this morning, change into some casual clothes and check out. Then I have to drop in at the expo and see how we’re doing.’ She really couldn’t go home without knowing if this venture had been a success. Arnold would ask, and so would Alex.
‘When’s check-out time?’ Jake asked, those busy hands of his not missing a beat as they drew erotic circles around her stiffening nipples.
Angelina swallowed. She really couldn’t allow him to seduce her again so easily. But of course that was his talent, wasn’t it? Seduction. And sex. Tender sex. Rough sex. Imaginative sex. Whatever was required. But still just sex. She had to remember she wasn’t anything so special. Just more of a challenge than his usual chicky babe.
Or she had been.
‘Ten-thirty,’ she told him, swallowing again. Why didn’t he stop that? On the other hand, why didn’t she stop him? She was just so weak where he was concerned.
Was it love making her weak? Or could she take some comfort in hoping this was just sex for her as well? In a way, this made some sense. She’d lived a celibate life for so long that surely it was only natural that she’d go mad for sex, now that she’d discovered it. Maybe she wasn’t madly in love with him, after all.
‘We have plenty of time yet,’ Jake said throatily, cupping her breasts and pulling her back hard against him.
She could feel his hardness through his bathrobe.
‘I’ll drive you over to the hotel around ten,’ he murmured as he pulled the robe further open and nuzzled at her neck. ‘And take you personally to the expo. Then we can go have lunch and do some shopping.’
‘Shopping?’ she echoed somewhat blankly, having reached that point when intelligent thought was nigh-on impossible.
‘Didn’t you say you wanted to go shopping?’
‘Did I?’ The robe slipped off one shoulder, then the other, before dropping to the floor. Suddenly, she felt more naked than she ever had been with him. And more vulnerable.
He was smiling when he turned her round in his arms.
‘I dare say you’ve changed your mind, like a typical woman. But I have a fancy to buy you something really sexy to wear. Something…naughty.” She stared up into his eyes, which were gleaming hotly down at her.
‘You’re still a very bad boy, aren’t you, Jake?’ she choked out.
‘I haven’t noticed you objecting,’ he replied with a devilishly charming grin. ‘Now, come have that shower with me, gorgeous.’
She went.
‘Sydney really is a beautiful city,’ Angelina said as they walked, hand in hand, through Hyde Park.
Jake glanced across at her, thinking how beautiful she looked today. Beautiful and sexy. Those jeans hugged her curvy body like a second skin. Too bad about that loose white shirt she was wearing over them. Though perhaps it was as well she wasn’t wearing anything too revealing on top. Jake’s possessiveness of her had increased overnight, along with his desire. He only had to touch her and he wanted to make love to her again.
Jake thought of what was in the plastic shopping bag he was holding. The sexiest black corset he’d ever seen. Angelina had refused to try it on in the shop, but he knew there would be no such objections once he got her home.
‘Sydney always looks great in the summer,’ he agreed, very pleased with the way things were going.
‘I guess the good weather is one of the reasons the expo has gone so well,’ she remarked.
‘Perhaps. But it always pays to have a good product. Your wines are going to be a big hit down here in Sydney, by the sound of things. Wayne was over the moon with the orders they’d already taken and the interest shown.’
‘Men like Wayne are exaggerators,’ Angelina said drily. ‘But it does look promising.’
Jake had to admire the way Angelina’s feet were firmly on the ground when it came to her business. She was no pushover, in lots of ways.
Sexually, however, she was putty in his hands. Jake couldn’t wait to get her alone again.
‘I work not far from here,’ he pointed out. ‘My office is in that tall bluish building over there. If the sun’s out, I come over to the park and eat my lunch here. Right here, in fact.’ And he pulled her down onto a seat under a huge tree that provided almost an acre of shade.
His arm wound round her shoulders and his lips pressed into her hair. ‘Want to make out?’ he whispered.
‘Jake Winters, behave yourself. I don’t think we need to make out in public, do you? We’ve been at it like rabbits. A breather is definitely called for.’
‘Not rabbits,’ he said. ‘Lovers. Once is never enough for lovers.’
‘Once! How about one times twenty? I didn’t know it was possible to have so much sex in one weekend.’
‘Amazing, isn’t it?’
Angelina glanced up into Jake’s grinning face and took a mental photo of it for her memory bank. He looked so handsome today. And so happy.
She doubted he’d look quite so happy once he found out about Alex.
‘What?’ he said, his grin fading.
It constantly surprised Angelina, the way he seemed to pick up on her inner feelings, without her having to say a word. It was almost as though he could read her mind sometimes. He certainly knew whenever she wanted him again.
Unfortunately, this was almost continuously. She simply could not get enough of him. Even now, she wanted him to take her home. She wanted him to strip her off and lace her into that decadent-looking corset and do whatever it was he had in mind to do to her whilst she was wearing it.
Hopefully, he couldn’t read her thoughts. She seriously needed this breather so she could think.
‘What is it?’ he repeated. ‘Tell me true.’
‘Nothing much. I was thinking how handsome you were. And how much I like you with short hair.’
‘And I like you with long.’
She flushed as she thought of what he had done with her hair on one occasion last night. He really was a wicked man.
No, not truly wicked, Angelina conceded. But seriously naughty. A very good lover, though. Very knowledgeable about women’s bodies, and totally uninhibited when it came to using that knowledge. How on earth was she going to find the strength to tell Jake about Alex, when it meant she would have to give up his lovemaking?
Because it was all going to end once the truth came out. If there was one thing the last twenty-four hours had proved to Angelina, it was that Jake only had one need for a woman, and that was as his sexual partner. His plaything. Even his calling her his lover just now was telling. Why not girlfriend? Lover had that for-sex-only connotation about it.
No, Jake hadn’t changed in that regard. His aim had been to sleep with her. And now that he had, any complications would have him running a mile.
And Alex, let’s face it, she thought, was one big complication.
‘What a shame today has to end,’ she said with a sigh.
‘Does it have to?’
‘Time marches on. Nothing can change that.’
‘You could always stay the night with me, go home tomorrow.’
She was seriously tempted. If she’d been in bed with him at this moment, with his hands on her naked body, she probably would have said yes.
‘Sorry,’ she said crisply. ‘No can do. I have to get back home tonight. Work tomorrow.’
‘Yeah. Same here. I’m due in court first thing in the morning.’
‘On that case you told me about?’ Angelina asked, grateful for the opportunity to get her mind off sex. ‘The lady who’s dying of lung cancer?’
‘That’s the one. I have to deliver my closing address.’
‘Are you ready?’
‘I should hope so. I’ve been living and breathing that case for months.’
‘Do you memorise your speeches?’
‘Not really. I do write my ideas down. But I never try to remember them word for word. That’s the sure way to go blank and stuff it up. No, I prepare well and then I talk from the heart. You do make the occasional stumble over words that way, but the jury never minds that, if they know you’re being sincere.’
‘I hope you win,’ she said with feeling.
‘Don’t worry,’ Jake returned with a little squeeze of her shoulders. ‘We will.’
Angelina abruptly jumped to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s walk some more. I want to go see St Mary’s Cathedral.’ And she yanked a groaning Jake to his feet.
‘More walking? Can’t we just sit here and cuddle?’
‘You’ve had more than enough cuddling for one weekend. Up!’
‘Wow. I like it when you’re bossy. Would you like to be on top when we get back to my place?’
‘Get that bag and come on!’ She was already off, walking in the direction of the cathedral, not giving him the opportunity to take her hand again.
