Full Bloom (9 page)

E
mily stood in the bedroom doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, and stared in wonder at the big man sprawled across her bed. Jacob lay on his back, the white sheet and blanket in a tangle at his waist.

He appeared remarkably sexy, lying there against the pristine white pillows. Hard, powerful and dangerous. A half-tamed predator who had wandered into this pretty, feminine bedroom and claimed it and its owner for his own. His dark hair was tousled, and his broad shoulders looked tanned and strong against the snowy bedclothes.

Emily was half convinced she was still dreaming.

The night had been a time of magic and discovery for Emily. She was in love. Completely. Totally. Everything she had felt for Jacob in the past paled in comparison to the shining passion and love she felt now that she had finally lain in his arms.

She took a couple of hesitant steps into the room, her robe brushing the white carpet. She had run a brush quickly through her hair before going out into the kitchen to make coffee, but she knew it was still in some disarray.

Emily came to a halt at the foot of the white lacquer bed and studied her lover more intently. The gray morning light of a Seattle dawn was flowing in through the windows. Emily always slept with the blinds open. She liked light, even at night. Last night Jacob had made no objection. He seemed more than content to make love to her time and again in the reflected glow from the city outside the windows.

A small, thrilling shiver, an echo of last night's passionate excitement, rippled through Emily as she stood looking down at Jacob. She had never known what real passion was until last night. She had never known how hot love could burn until last night. If Jacob had taken her to bed two years ago before leaving her, she would have been far more devastated than she had been at the time.

Then again, she told herself, if he had made love to her that night two years ago, perhaps he would not have been able to leave her. Neither of them would ever know. It no longer mattered. What was past was past.

The sensual lessons of the night drifted once more through Emily's head. She had never before understood what it was to give herself completely to a man and have him respond with the same uninhibited generosity. In Jacob's arms Emily had learned what it was to feel both safe and free.

When Jacob had claimed her last night, Emily had been stunned at the wildness that had swept through her. She had not even suspected such a bold, reckless side to her own nature. She had gloried in Jacob's strength and in her own newfound feminine power. Jacob's eyes had gleamed with passionate satisfaction and delight when he succeeded in bringing Emily to the shattering climax of their union.

It came to Emily then that this relationship with Jacob was the most important thing in her life. And following on the heels of that thought came another very primitive realization.

She would do anything in the world to protect this man and the love that had burst into full flower within her last night.

Emily was still contemplating the power of her protective instincts and wondering how such a fierce, wild streak could have lain dormant within her all these years when Jacob stirred and opened his eyes.

"The perfect woman," he said with a lazy, wicked grin as he surveyed the cup in her hand. "All my life I've wanted to have my coffee served to me in bed."

Emily smiled a little shyly. "I had no idea your fantasy life was so exciting."

"Don't make fun of my fantasies. I've lived on them for a long time." Jacob sat up against the pillows, yawning hugely. He held out his hand, and Emily walked to the side of the bed and put the cup and saucer in his strong fingers. He took it from her and then looked up at her expectantly. When she just stood there looking back at him, he scowled with mock impatience. "You're supposed to accompany the coffee with a kiss."

"Oh. How would you know if you've never had coffee served to you in bed before?"

"Emily, my sweet, some things a man just knows by instinct."

"I see." Emily bent her head and brushed her mouth lightly against his. He tasted warm and wonderfully familiar. "How's that?" she demanded lightly as she lifted her head again.

"If I weren't holding this cup and saucer, I would show you where you have room for improvement."

"Is that right?" Emily retorted.

"Damned right." He took a long swallow of coffee. "Fortunately for you, I'm a patient teacher. And you're a fast learner. I figure we're going to get along fine."

"Who says I have to do all the learning in this relationship?" Emily paused as the word "relationship" slipped out. She was not at all sure Jacob would like the sound of that. She knew from what he had said two years ago that he would never marry again, but she was not certain how he felt about other types of commitments. It would break her heart if he wanted to stay fancy-free and relatively uninvolved while she was trying to conduct an affair with him.

Jacob was studying her face as if trying to read the thoughts that must have been flickering in her eyes. "Nobody says you have to do all the learning, sweetheart," he said gently. "I'm learning a few things myself."

"Such as?" she asked breathlessly.

He hesitated just a fraction of an instant, as if thinking better of whatever was on the tip of his tongue. He smiled instead. "Such as how good you feel in my arms." He set the cup and saucer on a white end table and reached out to pull Emily down across his lap. "So good." He nuzzled the sensitive area behind her ear.

Emily felt the hardness of his thighs and the unmistakable force of his arousal. Her arms twined around his neck and she snuggled closer. "I'm glad," she whispered. "Because you feel very good, too."

"Remember the first time I kissed you?" Jacob asked softly.

"You mean the first time I kissed you. How could I forget? I was shattered when you called a halt right in the middle of things and sent me home." Her voice was quietly accusing.

She remembered that night with aching clarity. She would always remember it. It had been the night Jacob had finally gotten word his divorce was final.

Leanna's growing discontent and restlessness had finally led her into infidelity. It was no secret when the marriage went on the rocks primarily because Leanna managed to blow the whole thing into a major scandal. She had taken a lover who was a local politician, and when the affair became public knowledge the newspapers had had a field day. Jacob had been the stoic victim.

Eventually Emily had learned from a casual remark her grandmother had made that the divorce was final. On the spur of the moment, she had bought a bottle of Scotch and driven over to Jacob's apartment.

She had found him alone, already a quarter way through his own bottle.

"I made a very embarrassing pass at you that night," Emily recalled with a sigh.

"I wasn't embarrassed," he said gently. "I wanted you so badly I nearly forgot all my good resolutions and took you to bed. You'll never know the full extent of the battle I fought with myself that night."

"I wish you hadn't fought so hard."

"Putting you in that cab that night was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life," Jacob said, watching the emotions shift in her amber eyes. "I told myself I had no right to take you then."

"And now?" she prompted gently.

He smiled. "Now everything is different." He slipped the robe off her shoulders, revealing her nude body underneath. She was warm and flushed, and her breasts seemed to swell under his palm. His hand moved lower and slid around her hip to cup one curved buttock. Jacob squeezed gently, and Emily turned her head so that she could kiss his throat.

They sat like that for a few minutes, enjoying the feel of each other and the sweet ache of early-morning desire. But Jacob's aroused state finally demanded release.

"Come here, sweetheart," he murmured thickly as he pushed back the covers and settled her astride his thighs. "Finish what you started with that cup of coffee."

"Was it the coffee that did this?" she asked in pretended amazement as she felt his hardness probing her feminine secrets.

"Must have been." His fingers sank into her flanks as he eased her gently down.

Emily gasped as he began to enter her slowly and deliberately, as if he were determined to savor every millimeter of the experience. It was an exquisite form of sensual torture for her. Her nails made small half circles in his shoulders, and her eyes closed in anticipation as her body adjusted to the slow, thorough invasion.

"That's it, honey." Jacob's voice was husky with desire as he carefully completed the union, filling her completely. "That's perfect. Absolutely perfect. You feel so good."

He moved one hand from her hip and reached down to stroke her intimately. Emily cried out and clung to him as she had so often during the night. Her whole body contracted with passion.

"Jacob, oh, Jacob…"

"I know." He stroked her again. "Open your eyes, sweetheart. Look at me. I want to see the way you look at me when you take what I can give you."

She did and found herself gazing into the cloudy depths of his own gaze. She wanted to tell him she loved him but knew it was much too soon for such a declaration. She kissed him instead, wrapping her arms around him as he guided her into the slow, compelling pattern.

For long moments Emily hovered on the brink. The slow, taut sensation created by Jacob's movements was driving her wild. And then he touched her one last time with unerring skill and she gasped. Her whole body went briefly rigid, and then the waves of release washed over her.

She was aware of Jacob surging deeply into her as his own body tautened, and then she heard her name in a hoarse shout of satisfaction.

The morning was golden.

For the next few days Emily hugged her newfound happiness to herself. Diane told her she positively glowed with it. Emily's world had never seemed so right. She and Jacob were together constantly. He had not yet moved out of the hotel and into her apartment, but she knew it was only a matter of time before the subject arose. She worried a little about that because if Jacob moved in with her it would be very difficult to keep her family in the dark about the relationship.

But she decided she would deal with that when the time came. For the moment she was contented to explore her own happiness.

The golden days came to an end within a week. Jacob had just finished making slow, lazy love to Emily one morning when the phone beside the bed rang shrilly.

Jacob sprawled back on the bed, carrying Emily with him. "Someone's timing is very bad," he muttered.

"Could have been worse," Emily pointed out cheerfully as she reached for the phone.

"True. But if it had been any worse I wouldn't have let you answer the phone." Jacob propped himself on one elbow, surveying her with naked possessiveness as she spoke into the receiver.

"Oh, hello, Mom." Emily drew a deep breath, very conscious of Jacob's nearness. All her earlier determination to protect him and their new relationship welled up within her. She sat up and pulled the covers around herself, trying to think clearly. It was difficult, given her pleasantly relaxed frame of mind.

"I just wanted to say hello," Catherine Ravenscroft said briskly. "And keep you posted on the plans for your father's birthday, of course. I've had some second thoughts about the caterer, but unfortunately it's too late to switch now. We'll just have to hope for the best. I had a serious talk with him yesterday and wanted him I do not want any foul-ups such as the one I witnessed at that reception last week."

"I'm sure he won't foul up at Dad's birthday party," Emily said reassuringly. "He wouldn't dare after your 'serious talk.' Who did you get for the flowers?"

As she spoke, Jacob drew a lazy finger down Emily's arm. Then he leaned forward and dropped a warm kiss into the hollow of her shoulder. Emily wanted to nestle against him, but instead she pulled away and shook her head in silent protest. She had her hands full at the moment. Jacob, of all people, should know that it took one's complete attention to deal with a Ravenscroft, even when the topic was something as innocuous as a birthday party.

But he ignored her small warning and touched the tip of his tongue to her shoulder, tasting her as if she were a scoop if ice cream. Emily shivered in instinctive response and again tried to ease away from him. Jacob's eyes narrowed, but Emily didn't notice.

"Emily? What's the matter? Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, of course I'm listening, Mom. I was just… just juggling a cup of coffee. Who did you say is doing the flowers?"

"I told you. That local florist you recommended. Weren't you listening? I trust we can count on her."

"She'll do a great job. Sally won't let you down. I use her all the time when I send flowers to Portland for my clients." Emily stifled a gasp as Jacob deliberately slid his hand under the blanket and found her inner thigh. He began drawing slow circles.

"Emily?" Her mother's voice was crisp and demanding.

"Yes, Mom?"

"I asked you when you planned to arrive on the day of the party. I think it would be best if you got here in the early afternoon at the latest. You can supervise the flowers and give me a hand with the final details. There will be nearly two hundred people here, you know."

"Uh, I was thinking of driving down later in the afternoon," Emily hedged.
She tightened her legs together to avoid Jacob's distracting touch. His fingers became more insistent.

"No, I think you had better arrange to be here around one," Catherine said decisively. As usual, having given the orders, she had no doubt but that they would be carried out. It was a typical Ravenscroft characteristic. "Are you bringing anyone with you to the party?"

Startled by the question, Emily paused. "Well, I hadn't thought much about it." She hadn't thought about it at all since she had been forced to dismiss
Damon Morrell from her life. Jacob's hand continued to make erotic little circles on her thigh. He lowered his head and dropped a lingering kiss into the valley between her breasts. Emily sucked in her breath and glared at him. He ignored her.