Objection Overruled (2 page)

Jackie blurted, “I’ll have a Plymouth martini, up, dry, extra olives, please.”

Brandon grinned at her. “Somebody knows what she wants.”

Heat rose in her cheeks, and she glanced away from him.

“I like that. Make it two.”

The waiter nodded.

Brandon ran his fingers back through his hair as he relaxed beside her in the booth. His hair wasn’t exactly blond, but a light brown with bleached-out streaks of gold. It fell tousled over his forehead into his eyes, despite his repeated attempts to push it back. Jackie’s hand twitched with temptation to run her fingers through his hair. Would it be silky or textured? She checked her desires to touch him. She wanted fun tonight without coming across as an eager slut.

“No fruit-flavored martinis for you, eh?” Brandon tucked a stray lock of hair behind Jackie’s ear. He stroked the back of her head. Either he didn’t have, or didn’t care as much about, self-restraint as she did. She rested her head into his hand, savoring the slight pressure of his palm massaging the nape of her neck. That electric shock ran up and down her spine again. She could melt into this guy.

He cleared his throat.

Hello! Conversation!

She sat up straighter and sharpened her focus. What was the question? Cocktails. “I’m a purist. A martini is gin, vermouth, and bitters. You can change the type of gin, the ratios, the preparation method, presentation, and garnish. Period. Anything else is a cocktail,
not
a martini.” Jackie raised her eyebrows and with a dead-on stare challenged him to disagree.

“I see. Does the rest of your life proceed in accordance with such rigid rules too?” Brandon dipped his chin and narrowed his eyes as if trying to read her mind.

“I enjoy cocktails. I just believe in precision in naming things.”

“That wasn’t my question.” His relentless gaze locked in on her eyes.

Jackie squirmed under the scrutiny. She preferred asking the questions and steering the direction of the conversation. She blamed her career for her interrogator tendencies—lawyers examined witnesses but rarely faced the same analysis. Plus, avoiding personal questions prevented her from revealing something she might later regret.

Turning the tables often deflected inquiring minds. “Do you always drink what your date drinks, or do you have a set of your own preferences and opinions?”

“Is this a date?” Brandon leaned in closer to her. Even in the balmy club, a charged heat from his body reached and enveloped her.

His warm amber eyes were unblinking, enticing, and incredibly sexy. This guy was good. He returned her volleys with grace and wit. Luckily, the waiter arrived with their drinks, since her comeback cogs were uncharacteristically jammed. She wasn’t sure if it frustrated or impressed her. Most men shrank from her directness. Brandon embraced it.

What a turn-on.

Brandon raised his glass. “
Salud
. To finding dates in unexpected places.”

“Cheers.” Jackie clinked her glass with his.

The martini was perfect. Microscopic beads of ice floated on top, creating a murky layer over a crystal-clear bottom. The three olives were green jumbos with what looked like a variety of stuffings. Jackie sucked the first olive off the pick.

Jalapeño. Yummy
.

She closed her eyes to savor the heat of the salty tang. Warm lips on her neck caused her to suck in a quick breath, almost choking on the olive. Jackie swallowed and allowed her mind to wander and her body to enjoy to his caresses. The velvety-soft kisses just behind her ear began as a tickle but soon turned her body into a volcano on the verge of eruption. Deep breaths calmed the fire enough to allow her to relax into his expert ministrations. The gentle pecks moved down her neck and increased in intensity. She felt his lips part, and the warm, playful flicks of his tongue on her skin aroused her, sending a flood of heat between her legs. Where else, and how else, would he use that tongue tonight? With a throaty purr, she tucked her chin next to Brandon’s nuzzling face. Tonight was
her
night.

* * * *

Although dancing always made his agenda, picking up a stranger hadn’t been on Brandon’s checklist. Exhausted after spending hours entertaining a dozen clients whose net worth ranged in the billions, he’d hoped to spend the rest of the evening alone except for a great bottle of wine. The statuesque brunette on the boat next to his reeled him in with those long, lean legs though. By the time he had her in his arms after that jerk motor boater had rocketed past, he’d abdicated any expectation for a solitary evening.

An unusual combination of intensity and naïveté surrounded her. Although she clearly had been trying to catch his eye with her sexy pose at the boat’s rail, from there, she fumbled like someone who hadn’t been on a bike in years. Compared to the sweet-talking socialites he usually dated, her innocence charmed him.

She wasn’t an airhead, though. The way she ordered that kick-ass martini and stood her ground under his scrutiny told him she would challenge him in all the right ways tonight.

Brandon gave in to his desires and leaned in to kiss her irresistibly elegant neck. He caught the scent of cinnamon. He traced her earlobe with his tongue. A small shudder ran through her body. She tasted as delicious as she smelled. Tonight, he was enjoying dessert first. He moved down her neck, inserting licks between light sucks on her delicious skin. Her moans encouraged him, but if he kept up at this rate, he’d be taking her in this booth before the end of the band’s first set.

He focused on quieting the beginning of a raging hard-on. Getting her onto the dance floor into his arms and pressed against his body seized his attention. He slipped his hand around Jackie’s slim waist to pull her close. “Are you ready to dance?” he whispered in her ear.

“Ready to dance,” Jackie replied. She slid out from the booth and headed straight for the floor without looking back. Leading was going to be a battle of wills.

The band cranked up a fast-paced samba. Dancers moved onto the floor in pairs. Brandon guided her in front of him, his hands resting naturally on the curve of her hips.

With his left hand, he took her right and held it like a delicate piece of antique china. He pressed his right hand flat against her back, firm and commanding, to lead her through the dance moves. His guess about her dancing abilities proved correct; she was a natural.

Her athletic physique was strong, yet supple. The muscles in her back were defined and taut. Her hips swayed easily with the driving beat of the band. Most dance partners took hours, if not weeks, to sync with each other’s rhythm. She anticipated his lead without rushing. Looking into her pale green eyes, Brandon telegraphed his next move to her.

He pulled Jackie closer to him. If she could so easily read his dance moves, what else was she able to see? He spun her out from him. She followed without hesitation, but at the end of the spin, with their arms outstretched, she paused and under hooded eyes gave him a sizzling look; then a slow, sexy smile appeared. With a short tug on her hand, he signaled her to spin back in. She resisted, and her smile grew wider.

What an unusual and delicious combination of energies this woman had. His heart raced, and blood rushed between his legs. He would relish her lead at some point later in the night. For now, it was his turn to set their pace. He pulled her in to him hard. She spun with a fury back into his arms, which he wrapped tightly around her.

“Careful,” he said as he pulled her even closer, pressing his body into hers. It was pointless at this point in the game to hide his engorged cock. Everything about her assertive style turned him on.

She gave him a wry smile. “It’s more fun when you have to earn your right to lead, don’t you think?”

Winning beat out being allowed to win every time. He raised his eyebrows and asked, “Have I?”

She ground her hips into his. “You know you have. You also know that I can take that away at any second. And”—she opened her mouth slightly and ran her tongue along her upper lip—“it turns you on, doesn’t it?”

He recognized the futility in denial. Even if his hard cock didn’t give him away, Brandon sensed Jackie knew exactly what he thought and what he wanted. Such transparency both disturbed and thrilled him. His entire body crackled with electricity, connecting her to him. He held her tighter and kissed her hard. She yielded immediately, opening her mouth fully to him. But as he slid his tongue in, she thrust her tongue into his mouth, exploring him with the same intensity and purpose. She pulled away, leaving him searching, hoping for more.

With a coy wink, she said, “It’s a shame to let a fabulous live band go to waste. Shall we dance, lover boy?”

He succumbed to her demands now, but later…

By the time the band finished its second number, Brandon’s shirt clung to his back. Moisture beaded on Jackie’s brow.

“Do you want to take a break?” Brandon asked over the pounding drums.

“Are you kidding? I could dance all night like this,” Jackie said.

A bead of sweat on her chest tracked a line down into her dress. Brandon’s head buzzed and crotch throbbed, as he thought of that droplet of moisture caressing her naked body. How long could he keep himself in check? His cock ached to be inside her. To be a part of her.

Their bodies continued to move as one, fluid yet powerful, to the pulsing beat of the band. With his hips, he turned her body around in circles before dipping her back to the blare of trumpets at the end of the song. Jackie arched her back, and her arms fell over her head to trail to the floor. Brandon leaned down to her. His lips met her chest just above the neckline of her dress.

The electric connection he had with her surged throughout his body again.

He rolled her back upright to press his mouth to her neck. With his tongue, he massaged her flesh in small circles. His body soaked hers in as she pushed into him. He pressed the bulge in his jeans against her. Her body quivered under his firm hold. Surely she wanted this as much as he.

With his palms cradling her warm cheeks, Brandon took Jackie’s head in his hands. “We need to go.”

The music had stopped. The undulating bodies surrounding them were gone.

“Right,” she agreed without hesitation. Had he sensed eagerness?

They exited the club. A cool breeze swept away the earlier humid soup of a Chesapeake summer. Her nipples puckered beneath her tight dress. Goose bumps rose in a wave up his arm. She looked like sex on a plate, and no man could deny himself that meal.

“Cold?” Brandon wrapped his arms around her.

“What you think?” Jackie traced his lips with her fingertip.

He bit at her finger and sucked it while he moved her up against the building’s brick wall.

The city’s sounds faded. Brandon nuzzled against her neck and chest, taking in her scent of cinnamon mingled with a musky sweat and the remnants of salty sea air. She nudged his head up with her chin and kissed him hard. His lips, weathered and chapped from the day’s sun, tingled where her teeth grazed and nibbled at him.

She was a stranger, yet his body responded to her as instinctively as if she were a missing part of him. He couldn’t wait any longer for her—all of her. “Come back to my boat.”

Chapter Two

Back on Brandon’s boat, Jackie stepped down the short ladder from the cockpit into the cabin. Polished wood glowed in the minimal lights. Two single bunks, one on top of the other, nested on the right side of the cabin.

Jackie ran her hand along the smooth teak side of the upper bunk. She turned around to Brandon, who hovered close behind her. “I’m happy to be on top, but the bed thing separating us might cause a little problem.”

Brandon shook his head before he spun her around at the waist and prodded her in the small of her back with his fingertips. “All the way up front.”

“Is this where I say, ‘Aye, aye’ and salute?” Jackie asked with a peek over her shoulder.

“Not yet, but I like the idea.” He nudged her forward, his strong hands firm against her back.

Jackie moved through a narrow opening to emerge into the front of the boat. The small portholes let in little light, leaving the space shadowy and dim except for the neat folds of white sails on the foot-high ledge.

Brandon reached to the ceiling and unlocked a hatch. He swung it open, letting in the light of the moon and stars, as well as the cool night breeze.

“That’s better,” he said with his head upturned. He shifted his gaze back down to her. His strokes on her cheek were as soft as the mere memory of a touch.

The recklessness of her decision to get on a boat with a total stranger hit her in the gut. She flinched at his touch.

He moved slightly away from her and said, “Are you okay? You don’t have to stay.”

Determined to remain cool, she took in a deep breath and wet her lips. She’d had hookups in college and law school without any disastrous outcomes. Brandon not only seemed perfectly safe, he connected with her. She would have fun tonight. “I’m just wondering why
you
get to be the skipper?”

Brandon reached up to the open hatch and held on while he leaned in close. “Because I own the boat.”

Jackie pressed her palms against his chest in an attempt to maintain some distance, cocked her head, and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t make her way in a male-dominated profession by ceding control easily. Besides, providing him a challenge turned him on, and she wanted that. “Have you no imagination?”

“I’m pretty sure I have more than enough imagination for the both of us,” Brandon said with a chuckle. “Seems to me that you’re used to being chief in charge. That means that
you
need to exercise some imagination on being the submissive one here.”

Was he a good guesser, or did this guy just get her? She wouldn’t give up so easily, at least not yet. Jackie slid close to Brandon and reached between his legs to cradle his balls. A few gentle squeezes got his attention.

“Who’s the skipper now?” Jackie asked applying pressure.

In a blink, Brandon seized her wrist, twirled her around, and captured her in a breathtaking grip. Soft kisses on her neck just below her ear weakened her knees, and she relaxed her body into his strong arms.