Second Chance Proposal: A Man Without Mercy / Bring It On / Rancher to the Rescue

скачать книгу бесплатно


He looked hard at her, then nodded.

‘Fine,’ he said, and waved the waiter over.

Five minutes later they were out in the very cool night air, Vivienne shivering as Jack took her elbow and steered her towards the small car park behind the restaurant. His Porsche was parked over in a dimly lit corner, next to a red Mercedes.

‘You must be cold,’ he said, walking quickly.

Vivienne wouldn’t have been as cold if she hadn’t felt so hot. She frowned when he steered her round to the driver’s side into the small gap between the car and a solid wooden fence.

‘This’ll have to do,’ he said gruffly, and pushed her back up against the car door. ‘I can’t wait till we get back to my place, Vivienne. You must know that. Drop that bag and kick off your shoes,’ he ordered her in a low, gravelly voice.

She did so, then stood there, still shivering, with her back against the car whilst his hands scooped up under her skirt and yanked both her panties and tights down in one rough movement. They joined her bag on the ground.

‘Hold your skirt up to your waist,’ he commanded.

She did so, shocked by her blind obedience to him. She heard voices nearby, but she knew she wouldn’t drop her skirt. Not unless he told her to. Which he didn’t. He just stared at her, then touched her between her quivering thighs, pushing them aside, then delving into the hot, wet core of her sex. She moaned softly, then not so softly. Thank God the voices had gone, because the whole world could have come to watch her and she would not have stopped.

She was perilously close to coming when he stopped and dropped to his knees before her. With a strangled cry she spread her legs wider, her knees bending slightly to give his mouth better access to her by then desperate body. The feel of his tongue stabbing mercilessly against her throbbing clitoris was more than she could bear, and she was unable to smother the tortured cry of release which immediately erupted from her panting mouth.

The next few seconds were a blur. Vivienne was thankful for the car’s support or she might have sunk to the ground. She wasn’t aware of Jack’s actions, having squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the shattering storm of her climax. Just when she thought she might live, she felt Jack enter her, then surge upwards. Her eyes shot open and she stared into his flushed face. His eyes were wild, his mouth twisted, the urgency of his own need very obvious.

When he lifted her up she automatically wrapped her legs around his hips, her hands letting go of her skirt so that she could wind her arms around his neck. Her dress fell down over them like a curtain. Not that what they were doing was subtle. Anyone walking by would have known instantly what was happening.

He groaned as he ground slowly into her, his hands kneading her buttocks at the same time.

But she didn’t want him slow. She wanted him hard. And fast.

‘Faster, Jack,’ she urged, squeezing him tightly with her insides.

‘Bloody hell, Vivienne,’ he muttered, taking a bruising grip of her hips before grinding into her with a power which took her breath away. He came almost as quickly as she had, shuddering into her, groaning his satisfaction. Vivienne didn’t mind that she was left still wanting. Jack’s pleasure was enough for her at the moment.

She began to shiver when he lowered her to the ground, the heat of the moment giving way to the chill of the night.

He shook his head at her. ‘We’re mad. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she agreed shakily. ‘Quite mad.’

‘Anyone could have come.’

‘I didn’t care.’

‘I know. Neither did I. Come on, let’s get you into the warmth of the car. You’ll catch your death if we stay out here.’

‘Well, there’s one consolation,’ he added wryly, once they were under way with the heater going full blast.

‘What’s that?’ she asked somewhat dazedly. She was, quite frankly, still a little off the planet.

‘I had enough of a brain left to use a condom.’

‘Yes. Yes, I noticed that,’ she said. But only after he withdrew. She hadn’t during the act. She’d been off in another world. It was just as well she was on the pill. Being with Jack had made her uncharacteristically reckless. He wasn’t much better. They were mad, all right. Mad for each other. She almost told him then that she was on the pill because of course it would be better, not having to worry about protection all the time, especially if they were going to have spontaneous sex at any given moment. Which seemed on the cards. His desire for her was as strong as hers for him. But being on the pill only protected you against pregnancy, nothing else. She couldn’t see Jack as a man who took silly risks, but who knew?

‘What are you thinking about?’ he asked her when they stopped at a set of lights.

‘Nothing.’

‘Come now, Vivienne, I know you too well. Your mind is never empty.’

She stared down at the bag in her lap which was bulging from where she’d stuffed in her cotton panties. The tights, she’d left behind since they’d been ruined when Jack had ripped them off her. Finally, she looked up and over at him.

‘I was thinking I’m going to go out tomorrow and buy myself some seriously sexy underwear,’ she invented. ‘As long as you promise not to destroy it, that is.’

He smiled a wicked little smile. ‘Sorry. Can’t give you any guarantees on that. You bring out the beast in me.’

‘I do?’

‘You know you do.’

‘You bring out the same in me,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not usually like this, you know.’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked straight away.

Vivienne wished she hadn’t said that. For how could she tell him that she’d never before done a tenth of the things that she’d done with him? He probably wouldn’t believe her. Either that or he’d start asking her questions, questions she didn’t have answers for. She didn’t want to think about why she was so different with him. She just wanted to live in the moment. To say and do whatever she wanted with him. To be wild and wanton and, yes, even downright wicked.

She smiled a saucy smile. ‘I mean, I don’t usually have sex in car parks. But it was fun, wasn’t it?’

His smile was wry. ‘It wouldn’t have been fun if we’d been arrested.’

‘Can you get arrested for that?’

‘I would imagine so.’

‘Have you ever been arrested?’ she asked, happy to change the subject from herself onto him.

‘Not as yet.’ The lights went green and he drove on towards the bridge. ‘You’re coming back to my place for the night, aren’t you?’

‘What...the whole night?’ She hadn’t been expecting that. But instantly, it was what she wanted to do. To sleep with him naked, all night, where she could touch him at will, kiss him all over, whenever and wherever it took her fancy.

‘You have a problem with that?’ he said when she remained silent. Little did he know the thoughts going on in her head, or the instant need gripping her flesh. ‘I could drop you home first thing in the morning on my way to work. You could sneak in like a naughty teenager before Marion wakes up and spots you.’

‘Marion never wakes up till around ten,’ she told him, her matter-of-fact tone hiding the escalating desire firing her blood once more. ‘Not when she’s doing the two-to-ten shift. She doesn’t get home till nearly eleven, and she’s always dog tired. She never knocks on my door till late morning.’

‘That settles it, then. You’re staying the night.’

‘If that’s what you want,’ she agreed, hugging her excitement to herself.

Jack glanced over at her and wondered what she’d been really thinking back at the lights. He wasn’t a mind reader—especially where women were concerned—but he doubted she’d been thinking about underwear shopping.

Vivienne was an enigma all right. Always cool on the surface, but underneath, very hot to trot, a classic case of fire and ice. His stomach lurched when he thought of how she’d urged him on back in that car park.

‘Faster, Jack,’ she’d said in a voice unlike the one she used when working. Or even just now, here, in the car. There’d been nothing cool, calm and collected about that voice. It had been wild!

He felt the sex between them now would be even better, knowing he had all night. He could take his time with her. Make her wait more. Make her see the rapture in elongated foreplay. There was something infinitely satisfying about long, slow lovemaking where the emphasis was not so much on coming but on sensual experiences. He would stroke her back with gentle hands, massage her bottom with oil and caress her beautiful breasts. He would make her sigh with pleasure. He wanted to satisfy her more completely than she’d ever been satisfied before.

‘Now what are you thinking?’ she asked.

Jack turned to smile at her. ‘I was thinking that you don’t need to buy any new underwear. Because, from now on, you won’t be wearing any.’

Her blush startled Jack. Why on earth, he wondered, would the girl who’d just done what she’d just done blush at the idea of going without her underwear? It didn’t compute. She was an enigma all right. A woman of contradictions and contrary behaviour.

Take her apartment, for instance. Why was it furnished in such a stark way when her professional designs were never like that? Vivienne had a reputation for creating warm, comfy interiors which appealed to people. It was why he always hired her to do his show units and villas, because her décor made them sell. There had to be reasons for why she’d chosen to decorate her own place in such a soulless fashion; deep, personal reasons. Jack suspected it had something to do with her family background, which obviously hadn’t been very happy. She’d sounded stressed when she’d talked about her parents. She hadn’t been all that forthcoming, either. Most of the women he’d dated in the past were eager to talk about themselves, launching into detailed life stories without too much encouragement.

Of course, he wasn’t dating Vivienne, was he? He was just sleeping with her. For now, that was. Jack hadn’t abandoned his idea of her becoming his girlfriend for real. He’d just put it on the back-burner for a while.

One day, in the hopefully not-too-distant future, she would see that it would be good for her to date a guy like him: an honest, straightforward, straight-down-the-line type of guy who didn’t lie or cheat and who could show her a good time, in bed and out, without any false declarations of love and till-death-do-us-part commitment. Just the thing she needed after getting tangled up with El Creepo. And, when she finally realised that having an easygoing boyfriend would be good for her—and once she got her trust back in men—he would find out all that she’d been hiding from him.

Meanwhile, he would give her exactly what she wanted. Which was fine by him, because quite frankly, right at this moment, it was just what he wanted as well.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#ud8887f14-a148-5fbf-8088-29c9a3d45c2b)

‘IT’S AMAZING HE could find a door to match your old one,’ Marion said as she looked at Vivienne’s new bathroom door. ‘Amazing that the man came on time to do it as well,’ she added.

‘Jack said all his contractors come on time,’ Vivienne said, very happy with the door. It had even been painted the same colour, Bert explaining that he’d taken a scraping of the paint when he’d come to look at it the first time. It had only taken him half an hour to remove the old door and put in the new one. Marion had dropped in once she’d seen Bert drive off.

‘In that case I’ll certainly be giving Jack a ring if ever I want something fixed. Tradies give me the willies, the way they’re never reliable.’

‘I know what you mean. Jack won’t tolerate workers who are late, or unreliable, or don’t do things up to his high standards.’

‘Hmm. A difficult man to work for, then,’ Marion said.

‘Difficult. And demanding,’ Vivienne agreed. ‘But fair.’

‘Still, make sure you get a proper contract with him. You can’t be too trusting, even if Jack is normally a fair man. He might try to get you to do this job under the table, so to speak. You know, cash in hand. There’s no security in that. Where money is concerned, even the fairest man might be tempted to take advantage. And you’re vulnerable at the moment, Vivienne, even more vulnerable in the coming weeks without me around to warn you to be careful. Jack didn’t get to be as successful as he is without being a bit ruthless on occasion.’

‘Don’t worry. I won’t let him take advantage of me. But, might I remind you that you never warned me about Daryl?’

Marion sighed. ‘I have to confess that Daryl took me in as well, the handsome devil. He was an accomplished charmer all right. Though, looking back, I suppose he was always too good to be true. Too ready with the compliments, if you know what I mean.’

‘Yes. Yes, I certainly do know what you mean,’ Vivienne said, recalling how over the top he’d been in his praise of her. Not just her looks but other things, things which she knew weren’t true. But she’d lapped it up all the same, thinking he was praising her out of love, imagining that he’d been blinded by loved, whereas in fact she’d been the one who’d been blinded.

Jack, on other hand, was thankfully light on the compliments. Yes, he’d called her beautiful and gorgeous at times, but that was par for the course with men who wanted to have sex with you. And, yes, when in bed he did say nice things about her body. Especially her breasts and her bottom. But he didn’t rave on at length, for which she was grateful.

What he did at length—last night especially—was make love to her. Impossible to call it anything else this time, Vivienne conceded Jack had showed her that sex with him didn’t have to be kinky or quick or in unusual places and positions to be stunningly pleasurable. He’d surprised her with how long he could spend on foreplay, caressing, admiring and gently exploring every inch of her body before finally entering her, where he rocked gently back and forth, kissing her every so often, bringing her ever so slowly to climax in the most satisfying way.

Then, after a short rest during which they’d lain in each other’s arms and talked about what plans they had for Francesco’s Folly, he’d made love to her again. Once again he’d been in no hurry, remaining still inside her for ages whilst he’d played with her breasts and told her how lovely they were, and that he could stay doing what he was doing for ever. Which was what it seemed like he did, in hindsight.

Vivienne knew she should have been exhausted today. Instead, she felt more alive than she ever had before. She could hardly wait to see Jack again tonight.

‘I have to go get ready for work,’ Marion said, breaking into Vivienne’s thoughts. ‘Now, forget all about dastardly Daryl. He’s not worth thinking about. See you tomorrow, love.’

Marion’s advice reminded Vivienne of her decision to go to Daryl’s engagement party. Once again, she no longer felt as strongly about doing so. If truth be told, Daryl was fading from her mind. Yes, it still stung, what he’d done. And yes, he didn’t deserve to get away with it scot free. But would she really have the gall to confront him at his engagement party? It would take courage; she could see that now. Jack hadn’t wanted her to go at first, then he’d said he did. Something about closure—he was probably right. She supposed she could do it, with him by her side. He wouldn’t let anything horrible happen to her. Of that Vivienne felt confident. He was a man who could be relied upon.