Mistress Minded (6 page)

“Want more than you give them?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I can't imagine you grew up thinking you'd just have a string of mistresses—they're easier than wives.”

“But I did.”

Suddenly she felt chilled and stepped a little closer to Adam. He sensed her shiver and slipped his dinner jacket off, draping over her shoulders. Then he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side.

“Why would you choose that? It's such a cold life.”

“You sound like you know something about it.”

She shrugged. She wasn't going to tell him her feelings on mistresses.

He tugged her into his arms. “This is a night for romance and I don't want to waste it talking.”

He lowered his head, but she pulled back. “I'm not going to be blinded by sex.”

“Blinded by sex,” Adam said with a chuckle. “Jesus, Jayne, you kill me.”

She smiled to herself. But she wanted some answers. “You were trying to distract me. Why?”

“I'm not sure,” he said. He slipped his hand into hers again and tugged her toward the water. “Let's play.”

“Okay, but I still want to know more about your relationships.”

“That's not a very nice topic to bring up with a new lover.”

“But we're not really lovers.”

“I think we will be.”

“Me, too,” she said softly.

The waves ran over their feet, cool but not too cold, and they stood there staring at each other. Finally, Adam leaned down and brushed his lips against her cheek. “I saw what cheating and infidelity can do to a family. I vowed to never put anyone in that position.”

“You're so strong. I don't think you'd ever do that.”

“I'm my father's son, Jayne. We haven't been out of New Orleans an entire day and already I'm contemplating breaking one of the company's rules and my own vow to never get involved with a woman who works for me.”

He removed his hands from her body and stepped back. She watched him for a long moment and realized that shadows of the past were once again reaching out to darken the future. She'd felt it every day
of her life, but never thought about Adam that way. Until now.

“I think you're better than that.”

“Sure you do.”

“I do.”

“Prove it,” he said.

“How?”

“Kiss me and make me believe it.”

“Okay,” she said. Leaning up on tiptoe, she pulled his head down to hers and whispered his name against his lips. “Honeybun, prepare to be wowed.”

J
ayne's mouth seduced him with light brushes of her lips and then tentative touches of her tongue. A shudder ripped through him. God, he needed her with a desperation that compared to nothing else he'd ever experienced.

He hardened in a rush and slipped his hands under his jacket, which was draped over her curvy body. He ran his palms up and down her back, cupping the lush shape of her hips and pulling her closer.

The game that he'd started back at the airport in New Orleans now spun totally out of his control. There was little he could do but react to this woman who embodied everything he'd ever wanted but never
dared take. Except here she was and tonight they'd sleep in the same bed. And steps would be taken that couldn't be undone.

She felt small in his embrace. Without the sandals adding to her height he was reminded once again that Jayne, for all her damn-the-torpedoes attitude, was a rather slight woman.

A woman who brought springtime to his lonely soul. And though it might be his downfall, he knew he wasn't going to turn away from her.

He returned her kiss with the passion that had been banked earlier when he'd made that phone call. He told her with his body all the things he'd never say with words. He thrust his tongue deep in her mouth and explored her secrets and let her do the same to him.

She caged his face with her hands, her fingers stroking against the stubble on his chin before slipping to the back of his head to hold him still for her kisses.

She pressed her bosom to his and he felt his chest swell. He put his hands around her waist and lifted her against him, holding her with desperation and need. He gentled the embrace, knowing that if he didn't, he'd either take her standing up right here, or lying down on the sand. Which, despite the way movies portrayed it, would be damn uncomfortable.

“Wow,” he said, lifting his head.

She smiled at him and his heart melted. He felt too
much and didn't like it, so he hugged her close and tucked her head under his chin. He turned them so that they were looking out over the ocean.

“You know me, boss. When I put my mind to something there's no stopping me.”

“Have you set your mind on me?” he asked lightly. But in his soul he felt hope, and it scared him. He was so defenseless where this woman was concerned.

She nodded. “I don't think I have a choice in the matter.”

The surf continued to roll over their feet and Jayne looked down at it. “I'm not a big fan of the ocean. I always hated the water,” she said.

“I'm the exact opposite. When I was a boy I used to dream of sailing away,” he murmured. “Can you swim?”

“I can now. It wasn't fear, it was a real loathing. My mom was always dropping me at school and sailing away to Mexico or the Keys. And to me it represented her leaving.”

He took Jayne's hand and led her up the beach. Sinking to the sand, he pulled her between his legs and held her. “Tell me about your childhood.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know you inside out.”

Jayne sat there in the moonlight looking like an ethereal creature from another world. He knew that the only way to protect himself would be to learn all
he could about this woman. And find a way of exorcising her from his system without forming a deeper attachment.

“This isn't an act for the Angelinis, is it?” she asked, and there was a hint of vulnerability in her voice. Not an Amazon, he reminded himself.

He hugged her closer for a second. Leaning down, he nibbled on the lobe of her ear and dragged his teeth down the side of her neck. Sensual pleasure rippled through her and he pulled her hips tighter against him, arching his back to rub his cock against the curves of her butt.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Too much is at stake for guessing.”

“You're right. I want you, Jayne. I want you for my mistress. No more games or play-acting. I want the real thing.” Mentally he knew the impact of this moment was going to be felt for a long time. But one of the first business lessons he'd learned was that some actions were inevitable and the price would have to be paid.

“Me, too. But I want more than just your body.”

“Good.”

“Good?” she asked. “You know this will impact our working relationship.”

“I told you I want to know all your secrets.”

“That would leave me with nowhere to hide.”

He stroked her face. He'd give anything to be rid of the lust that was running rampant through his body.
No, that wasn't true. As much as he enjoyed Jayne in his office, he knew that he'd enjoy her as a lover even more. And he realized that all these long months when he'd thought he'd done a good job of ignoring her as a woman, he'd been fooling himself. He'd been waiting for her. Waiting for the right moment to do this.

“Don't you think we've done enough hiding?”

Her fingers kneaded his thighs. “Is this an equality thing?”

Instead of answering he pulled her more firmly against him and swept his hands over her, lingering at the full curves of her breasts. Cupping them in his hands and rubbing his palms over their tips until he felt them bud and nestle against him.

Her breath caught in her throat and she shifted against him. He plucked at her nipples and lowered his head, suckling the side of her neck. Her fingers clenched against his thighs and he grew painfully hard. He knew that if he didn't have Jayne soon, he was going to self-combust.

“Let's go back to the room,” he said.

“Yes.”

 

Jayne stopped analyzing and just enjoyed being with Adam. She fairly pulsed with need and couldn't wait until they got to their room to make love. She'd seen a very exquisite negligee in her new wardrobe
and wanted to see Adam's reaction to her in her gown.

“On a night like this I can easily imagine that pirate Antonio sailing into port here with his beautiful maiden.”

Adam's stride was loose and relaxed. It was the first time she'd walked anywhere with him that wasn't at a clipped paced. This was a side to him that she hadn't seen before, and she wanted to explore it more. She wanted to make sure this time on the beach and the magic it wove around her included him, as well.

“I'm sure she wasn't a maiden when they arrived here,” he said in a wry tone.

“Unless she was in love with him, I bet she was,” Jayne said.

“Don't put too much stock in love,
chère.
Passion would have made her change her mind.”

She remembered what he'd said about his father earlier. But she couldn't believe that Adam didn't believe love existed.

All of his relationships were designed to insulate him from feeling anything. The part of her mind that loved puzzles wondered if there were other variables that his mistresses of the past had in common. Physically, she'd noticed they all tended to have long legs and full breasts.

“Passion's overrated. A few pheromones and some scanty clothing are all it takes to evoke passion.”

“That's lust,” he said.

“Made a study of it, have you?”

He lifted one eyebrow in a very wry expression that made her feel as if she were a naive schoolgirl. She didn't like the feeling, but knew in this instance she was. She didn't have any of his sophistication. To her, sex was more than pheromones, which was why she'd had so few lovers.

“Are you asking me about my love life?” he inquired.

“No. I know you have a revolving door on your bedroom.”

He said nothing, but dropped her hand. She stopped and cast her gaze toward him. With one glance she knew he was angry.

“Do you really think so little of me?” he demanded.

Yes and no. Mostly, she was angry at herself for not really understanding what he wanted. “No, I was being flip. I'm sorry. I don't understand why you've chosen only brief affairs.”

He tipped his head back and a warm breeze blew around them. The smell of the sea and the night-blooming jasmine surrounded them both, and she wondered how something she'd meant as a nice romantic conversation had gone so wrong.

“Because they are safer,” he said softly, his deep voice a whisper on the wind.

“Safer than one-night stands?” she asked, really wanting to understand this complex man.

“No. I can live without sex for a few nights.”

“Couldn't prove it by me.”

He drew one finger across her collarbone and she shivered at the touch. “That's because you've been a fire in my soul for a long time.”

A fire in his soul.
The words echoed through her head and her heart. And she threw her arms around him and kissed him. He held her gently and let her control their embrace.

“Thank you for making this sound special.”

“It is, Jayne. Don't ever doubt that.”

He held her hand loosely and led her toward the path to the hotel. For a moment it felt as if all of her dreams, past and present, melded together. She forgot that she'd been hurt by her father and Ben, and really believed that this time, with Adam, love might stay. Love might blossom. Love might be right.

Anticipation burned through her, making her tremble with desire and a crazy belief that something wrong was being righted. Adam drew her to a halt under a tiki lamp and pulled her close to him. She stretched up on tiptoe to meet his mouth as it descended toward her.

This time it was a sweet embrace with no rushing. It was as if by agreeing that they'd make love in their suite she'd given him permission to linger over her as if she were a gourmet feast.

And he did linger, rubbing his lips sensually against hers until they were so sensitized she couldn't
imagine her mouth without his pressed to it. He tilted his head and forced her mouth open, but only filled it with his warm breath.

Pulling back, he glanced down at her with a slight smile, then took her mouth again. He thrust his tongue past her teeth and tasted her deeply. She returned the embrace.

His hands swept up and down her back. Then his left hand slipped around the curve of her waist and caressed her stomach and midriff, working its way slowly up to her breasts. They felt heavy, and she didn't know if she could stand another caress there right now.

But as he cupped her and rubbed his finger around the edge of her nipple, never touching the engorged flesh, she realized that she needed his touch. She whimpered in the back of her throat, wishing for more, needing him to take her nipple between his fingers or even in his mouth.

His lips left hers to slide down her cheek to her neck. He nibbled the column of her throat, then bit gently at the spot where her neck and shoulder met. She arched against him and dug her fingernails into his shoulders through the cloth of his dress shirt.

“
Chère,
I can't wait.”

“You don't have to.”

He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her toward the hotel. His pace was definitely quicker now.

“There you two are,” Ray said as they reentered the main building. He'd shed his dinner jacket and had the stub of a cigar clamped between his teeth. He took a quick puff on it and then removed the cigar from his mouth.

“Here we are,” Adam said.

Angelini must have been standing on the large veranda at the back of the hotel for some time. Jayne tried to determine if Adam had noticed Ray standing there before or after he'd kissed her.

One glance at Adam's face revealed nothing. It was the second time she'd realized that he had an innate ability to hide what he was feeling. She tried not to let the knowledge get to her, like some kind of warning.

“Our jazz band is going to be starting their second set in a minute. I was hoping to catch you on your way back from the walk and change your mind. Want come see them,
compare?
”

“Sure. I want to make some notes on the entertainment. And Jayne likes to dance.”

I do? “Not tonight. I've got a headache.”

“Are you okay?” Adam asked.

“Yes. I think it was the traveling and the long day at work.”

“Well, starting tomorrow you won't have anything to do but relax,” Ray said.

“Go ahead, Adam. I'll see you later.”

The band started playing and Angelini stood in the
doorway of the hotel. Adam was at a crossroads, one path leading toward the man who held the keys to a deal he wanted to close, and the other leading to Jayne. She tried not to place too much importance on that fact. She also told herself it didn't hurt when he walked away.

 

Adam was uncomfortable the moment Jayne left. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the evening in a bar with Angelini. The lobby decor hadn't changed in the last twenty years. There was that sixties-style furniture and large paddle fans that kept the air circulating.

Was Jayne okay? She'd seemed fine on the beach a few minutes ago. He would stay for one drink and then make an excuse and leave. The ceiling fan teased his memory and he knew he'd seen it or one like it before.

Ray seemed annoyed when they entered the smoke-filled lounge. The act on the stage was a jazz trio and their music was good, but all Adam saw was Jayne's wide blue eyes filled with a kind of hurt that he hadn't realized he could inflict on another person.

Angelini signaled the waitress when Didi joined them. His wife didn't have much fashion sense. She wore a long skirt in some shade of olive-green. Adam was pained to see a woman dressed so…shabbily. He made a mental note to have the boutique send Didi some new clothes.

“Where's Jayne?”

“Hey, babe. She couldn't join us. Something about a headache.”

Didi didn't say anything, but glared at Ray. Those two had the strangest relationship. Adam didn't sense true love between them at all. So he wasn't sure why they were insisting on it from their potential buyers.

“I'll leave you two to discuss business,” Didi said with a pointed look at Ray.