Secret Words (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 1) (11 page)

"I think you'll enjoy this even more," she said as she reached for his belt, popped his button and unzipped his fly. She pushed down his pants and briefs to free his hard and heavy erection.

Kane groaned as she ran her hand on his velvety rod.

She pumped him a few times before licking his length and twirling her tongue on the engorged head.

"Ahh, Jasmine," he cried through gritted teeth.

"Do you like this?" she asked softly as she put him in her mouth.

"You know damn well I do," he panted.

She bobbed her head up and down as her mouth worked on him, thrilled as his hips gently pushed in time with her actions.

"Enough," he rasped after a while and quickly stepped back from her. He grabbed the towel he dumped at the coffee table and laid it on the couch. He smoothly pushed her back and the next thing she knew, she was again spread-eagled before him.

"Now, what was I about to do before you distracted me with towels and touching yourself and sucking me? That's right, I was about to lick you," he said lasciviously.

Her giggles turned into a long moan as Kane's tongue worked its magic on her swollen nub. When he pushed a finger in her and stroked inside as his mouth pleasured her clit, she thrashed on the couch, calling his name out loud as an intense orgasm surprised her with its swift onset.

When her body started to relax, Kane moved up to cover her. Eagerly, yet slowly, he filled her with his delicious cock.

"Oh, baby," he breathed. He ran a caressing hand on her hair, staring in her eyes with tenderness that touched her heart powerfully.

Her eyes moistened and her heart swelled so that it became hard to breathe. She touched his face as her body moved in cadence with his.

"I love you, Jaz," Kane whispered, looking at her intently.

She smiled at him, tears escaping through the sides of her eyes. "I love you too, Kane."

He groaned softly and captured her mouth, his thrusting increasing in speed. They rocked together as their bodies and heartbeats shared the same rhythm.

Higher and higher they climbed, their pleasure sounds mingling, until they reached the crest and exploded together, gasping for air and breathing in each other's love.

*******

Jasmine smiled as Kane kissed her cheek loudly.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his lips against her ear as he leaned to peer at her laptop screen.

"I'm just responding to Facebook messages from some of my readers."

"Ah, fan mail."

She laughed. "I guess you could say that."

"Anything interesting?"

"They're mainly short messages about how they enjoyed my books."

"Do you get any weird, super fanatical ones?"

"No," she snorted. "My readers are mainly very nice. A couple of them have even become my pen friends."

"Really? Why?"

She shrugged. "Something just connected I guess."

Kane kissed her hair before straightening up. "I almost forgot to tell you I'll be coming home late tomorrow night. I'm having dinner with my fellow directors for some serious pow-wow. Two of the properties I designed have just been nominated for international awards and we want to maximise whatever exposure we can get out of that."

She jumped up and threw her arms around him. "Really? Wow? Congratulations, honey! Which ones?"

"An executive retreat in Singapore and a country estate in Kangaroo Valley."

"I'm so proud of you, baby."

"Thank you," Kane beamed at her.

"What do you think your chances are of winning?"

"Don't know," he answered with a shrug. "The other properties nominated have their own strengths. The main thing would be managing the press this would generate. There was a firm that won a prestigious award a couple of years ago but instead of getting good publicity, some nosy tabloid journalist aired the architect's dirty laundry instead."

"What kind of dirty laundry?"

"Something about his predilection to call girls. I think that shouldn't have been anyone else's business. But somehow, these things do get out and get magnified at inopportune times. Anyway, their firm lost out on a couple of big contracts because of that. The clients preferred not to get attached to any negative publicity so they chose not to go with them even though they were originally the front runners. I know this because we picked up those clients."

"Wow. That was tough for your competitor. Why were the clients so strict? Why should the exposé on the architect affect them?" she asked.

"The clients were big multi-nationals. When those types of corporations build new developments they themselves seek, even drive, good PR for themselves. They don't want any news about their big projects muddled with undesirable associations."

"I see."

"So I'm sorry I can't have dinner with you tomorrow night, but I should be home before eleven."

She sighed, a bittersweet feeling engulfing her.

"I'm really sorry, sweetheart," Kane murmured as he pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I wasn't sighing because you have to work tomorrow night."

"Then what's the sigh for?" he asked, tilting her chin with a finger.

"I was just thinking how very soon, we'll be spending more time apart than together for two whole months. The past month has got me used to having you around every night."

"I know. Me too," he said, sighing deeply himself. "And unfortunately I will have to do some travelling for work in the near future. Do you think you could take some time off to travel with me?"

She played with his shirt collar as she thought about his question. She didn't think her boss would allow her to take more time off so soon after being away for five weeks. Oh, but his offer was so tempting. And she could already see herself missing him like crazy.

"I'll see what I can do," she said eventually.

"Please try hard."

"I will," she promised, although she didn't really know how she'd manage it.

"In the meantime, let's make the most of the next few days," Kane said, hoisting her up and tossing her on the bed.

She giggled, resolutely pushing away a deep sense of foreboding that arose out of the blue.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"I'm back!" Jasmine cried as she hugged Kristen McCann, who opened the door for her.

"I missed you!" Kris responded, hugging her back tightly. "Sam's trying out a new recipe," Kris whispered, shaking her head in mock exasperation.

Jasmine laughed, already thinking of the cleaning up they would have to do after dinner as she walked into the large open plan living room/dining room/kitchen of the apartment shared by the cousins Samantha and Kristen. After dropping her bag on a chair, she went up to Sam, who was frowning as she tasted the food she was whipping up.

Sam loved being adventurous with her cooking and judging from the number of used bowls and cups on the counter top and her friend's scowl, this was another one of those times when she pushed her creativity too far.

"What are we having tonight?" she asked as she gave Sam a quick peck on the cheek. She knew not to distract her too much when she had that intense look on her face.

"Hi Jaz. Just give me a minute to fix the flavour in this dish. I think I might have added too much of something."

"Okay. You want us to leave you alone?"

"Yes, please. We should be ready in a few minutes, once I'm happy with it."

Jasmine smiled and followed Kris to the sofa. As she looked around, melancholy hit her. This had been her second home for so long. She and her two best friends had shared some of their innermost secrets and biggest dreams in the very room she was standing in. But soon, she'd be too far away from them to simply get in her car and drive the ten minutes it took to get from her current apartment to this place.

"What's wrong, Jaz?" Kris asked, hands on hips. "Don't tell me that Kane guy has hurt you already?"

She chuckled at her friend's stance. Kristen was a highly emotive person who would defend the people she loved with everything she had. Sometimes she went overboard with her expressiveness and rubbed people the wrong way, but those who understood her knew she had a massive heart of gold.

"No. I was just thinking how there's not long to go until I'll only see you guys occasionally instead of a couple of times a week."

"Oh, I know, hon," Kris cried, her arms dropping to her side. "We hate the thought too, but we know you have to take bigger opportunities for yourself."

"Yeah," she said as she slumped down on the sofa.

"So, have you told your boss you're taking the Sydney role?"

"No. I have until Monday to tell him my final decision. I'm still moving to Sydney, but there's another option that's been playing in my mind. I want to talk to you and Sam about it."

"Okay. We can discuss it over dinner. But first, I have something to show you." Kris picked up an open laptop and placed it on her lap. "What do you think of this?"

She gasped in delight. It was the book cover for her fourth novel and she loved it. Kris had done another marvellous job with her cover design.

"Thank you so much," she gushed, placing an arm around her friend's shoulders and squeezing her tightly. "This is perfect, Kris. You really should start marketing yourself for this. You're so good at it."

Kris snorted. "You know I do it when I'm in bed and can't sleep. I'm happy to do it for you, Jaz, but if I make it a business, that would eat up my dancing time."

She laughed out loud. Dancing was Kris's passion. If she could find a way to make a reasonable living out of dancing, Kris would give up her job as the executive assistant of a big shot CEO in a flash.

"Eating time," Sam called, carrying her unnamed dish to the dining table.

"It looks delish, Sam," Jasmine said sincerely as she inspected the concoction.

"I hope you guys like it," Sam responded. "It's not as bad as the casserole I cooked before you left for Sydney."

Jasmine shook her head at her friend, who absolutely loved cooking but had a bad habit of minimising her skills in the kitchen. "Sam, that casserole was good. It wasn't your best but it was darn good."

"Okay, thanks," Sam said, sounding unconvinced. "Anyway, I heard you say you wanted to discuss something with me and Kris."

"Yes," she responded as she tried her first mouthful of Sam's new creation. "Hmm, this is really yummy, Sammy!"

"Hmm! Really good, Sam," Kris agreed.

Sam beamed at them. "Thanks, girls. I know I can always count on you to praise me. Now, Jaz, you were saying —?"

Jasmine nodded her head. "Well, I'm moving to Sydney."

"Yes, we know that. It seems that having a new boyfriend there was the push you needed to make a definitive decision."

A hankering for Kane hit Jasmine. It had only been three days since they were last together but she was already missing him so. He said he'd visit again in two weeks, but that just seemed so far away.

"Gosh," Kris said. "You've really fallen hard for this guy, haven't you, Jaz? Look at your face—all wistful and horny."

She blushed. "He's really hot," she responded honestly.

The cousins spluttered in laughter. "Finally, someone has captured Jasmine Allen's heart," Sam declared. "I can't wait to meet him. I can't believe you didn't introduce him to us last weekend when he was in town."

"Come on, Sam," Kris said, "if the guy is as hot as Jaz says he is, I'd lock him in the room for the whole weekend, too."

Jasmine pouted dramatically. "I won't see him again for another two weeks."

"Oh my God! You have got it bad, girl."

"Well, you'll be working in Sydney in a couple of months, anyway. You won't have to suffer the distance for too long."

"Oh, that's what I've been wanting to talk to you about," Jasmine said. "I'm thinking of not taking the Sydney role my boss offered."

"What?!"

"That doesn't make sense!"

"Okay, hear me out," she said to her shocked friends. "Kane's firm has clients all over the world. He has to travel overseas often, sometimes for months at a time when he works on big projects. Even if I take a week off work here and there, it would still mean a lot of time apart. So I've been thinking, what if I leave my job and concentrate on my writing? Then I could travel with Kane wherever he goes. That also means I could produce books at a faster rate and have more time with marketing activities."

She stopped speaking to catch her breath.

"I think that's a brilliant plan, Jaz. It would be a dream come true for you," Kris said.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Besides, Kane sounds like he could afford to support you if finances become dire."

Jasmine scrunched her face, knowing her royalties could dry up at any time. "That's what I want to avoid. I don't want Kane to think he has to support me just so I can indulge myself with my writing 'hobby'. Ugh, this is a bad idea; forget I even brought it up. It was just a fantasy I had."

"Hey, before you discard it altogether, why don't you see how he would feel about it? If the two of you are serious about each other—and from what you've told us, you are—then maybe he'd love this idea."

She chewed her lip. The vision of being with Kane as he travelled and her writing books from different corners of the globe excited her. "You're right, Sam. I should talk to him about this."

"Great. So what does this have to do with you not taking the job in Sydney? Surely you'd still want financial security while you talk things through with Kane?"

"If I accept, the company will pay for my move. I don't want them to invest more money in me when I'm likely to resign within a few months of getting to Sydney."

"I see your point. So what are you going to do?"

"I have until Monday to decide. I will have spoken to Kane by then."

*******

Jasmine felt the room spin as her heart beat erratically. She gripped the edge of her study table, squeezing her eyes shut and taking deep breaths to ward away the panic attack that threatened to overcome her.

This couldn't be happening.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, hoping that the email she just read was but a figment of her tired, overactive mind.