The Case For Temptation

He came closer. “Are you sure about that?”

She felt a rush of heat. The need to groan. Arching toward him was pure reflex, one that didn’t seem to surprise him at all. When he didn’t move, she told him again as she bent her knee and brushed her leg against his.

“Yes, Jacob,” she said.

Yes, yes, yes.

He eased back, slipped off one heel, then the other, and dropped both her shoes to the floor. When he flicked on a bedside light, the glow was warm and teasing—perfect for taking in his cut torso. But he was still wearing pants while she was pretty much naked. Not a whole lot to hide, including the scar she’d seen reflected in bathroom mirrors half her life. The jagged line was too long and high for an appendix op, and too prominent to go unnoticed for long, particularly given the way Jacob’s lidded gaze was devouring her now.

If he frowned and asked—What the hell happened there?—she would tell him straight up. Fell off my bicycle when I was a kid. Moving on. But he didn’t seem to notice, even when he knelt over her again and his head gradually went lower.

While the tip of his tongue slid along her panty line, one big hand skimmed up her side until his thumb came to rest under her breast. When his mouth slid even lower and he nuzzled her through the patch of white silk, that thumb brushed higher, grazing and flicking and teasing her nipple.

Teagan gripped the sheet, closed her eyes and arched up again.

Sparks were flying, the majority of them having a party under his lips. Then—dear God!—he used his teeth. Every pulse point in her body instantly contracted and hummed.

His next words were matter-of-fact.

“This has to go.”

Her underwear?

She was ready to rip her panties off herself when he lifted her behind with one hand and eased down the silk with the other. He kissed that part of her before the tip of his tongue delved deeper, tickling and twirling until she was wound up so tight, she could barely think. When he raised her hips higher and slid a finger inside, she gripped his hair as a warning.

Don’t stop.

She imagined she felt him smile against her before he eased away, taking that final scrap of clothing with him—down her thighs, past her calves, off her feet. After finding his wallet, he set a foil packet on the bedside table then ditched his shoes and pants while she pressed back into the sheet and took in the show.

He braced his long, rock-solid legs so they were slightly apart. His hips were lean and mean, but it was where the lines converged that drew her gaze like a magnet. As he came forward again, setting one knee on the mattress, one hand on the sheet, she pushed up and met him halfway. Their mouths came together as his free hand curved around her back and she held on for all she was worth.

When his mouth finally left hers, he hummed out a breath then looked into her eyes, smiling.

“You said something earlier.”

She grazed her toes up the back of his calf. “You mean about not needing to ask?”

“About needing to be alone for an hour or two.” He tasted her lips again and stayed close. “Not long enough.”

She traced a fingertip around the shell of his ear. “Are you watching the clock?”

He grinned. “I’m watching you.” He dropped another lingering kiss at the side of her mouth. “Stay till morning?”

Was he kidding?

Of course she would stay.

He rolled on their protection and positioned himself above her. When he pushed inside, she quivered and lost every bit of her breath. In the shadows, he studied her for a long moment before he started moving and slow-kissing her lips.

As he caught her thigh and wrapped her leg around the back of his, she gripped his neck and surrendered it all. And when his thrusts grew faster—when the friction turned white-hot—she squeezed him tighter, bit her lip harder, and came apart like she’d known she would.

Like she never had before.

Three

The smell of fresh coffee woke her.

Blinking open sleepy eyes, Teagan remembered she wasn’t in her own room. The bed looked like a tornado had torn through. Shoes and clothes were strewn all over the place. Jacob Stone was gone from the bed, but his musky scent, and the memories, were everywhere.

Burrowing back into the bedclothes, she circled her head with her arms. What an amazing night! The most intense, and beautiful, of her life. From the instant they’d met, those dark, dreamy looks had grabbed her. Accompanying him from the wedding reception to this suite...

Well, it was always going to end this way—with them twined up together, naked in bed. The decision might have been impulsive, but the reality of making love with Jacob Stone had proved to be more than spur of the moment. It was breathtaking, liberating, and she would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Grinning, Teagan caught her lower lip between her teeth.

Exactly how long was it before her flight?

Getting to her feet, she picked up on the aroma of pancakes and was suddenly so hungry, needing to refuel. But if Jacob walked through those bedroom doors this minute, she would happily snack on him instead. This was—he was—the wake-up call she’d needed.

She’d always prided herself on being strong. Resilient. Then a few months ago she’d suffered a miscarriage, and a relationship she had valued died, too. Now, heading for the attached bath, she felt relief. She could finally look back on that time as a hard lesson learned.

Years after the childhood accident that had left that scar, she’d been told she would likely never conceive. Following her recent loss, however, that prognosis had been modified. Should she become pregnant again, the probability of an early first-trimester spontaneous abortion was high, which had made her feel even worse.

But this time spent with Jacob had helped her turn a corner. She would always remember the pain—physical, mental and emotional—but she had grieved long enough. She could still live a meaningful and happy life.

Just not the one she would have chosen if she’d had any say.

Jacob heard the shower shut off and waited for Teagan to stroll into the main room. When she did, she was wrapped in an oversize hotel robe, long, damp hair free of salon curls and her beautiful face scrubbed squeaky clean. She took him in, too, in his gray T-shirt and weekend drawstring pants, before studying the room service feast he’d ordered up.

She laughed. “Well, someone’s hungry.”

His gaze lowered to her mouth. “Always.”

They each moved forward until he was close enough to repeat the scene that had gotten things started last night. After sliding a hand around the back of her neck, with great purpose and pleasure, he tasted those sweet lips again.

But this kiss was different. Because it would be one of their last? Or the start of something more? Something new?

He gradually broke the kiss but didn’t step away. Being this close again, he felt recharged. Ready for anything, including finding more time to please this woman in every conceivable way.

But first...

“We need coffee.” He reached for the silver service pot. “At least I do.”

As he poured two cups, she held up a hand. “No sugar for me.”

He handed Teagan’s cup over then dropped two lumps into his own, as well as an inch of cream. Chugging back a mouthful, he pulled out a seat for her before grabbing a strip of crispy bacon.

Let the feast begin!

After pulling in her chair, Teagan inspected a glass-covered dish. “Is that steak?”

“Filet mignon. Goes great with hollandaise.”

There was grilled tomato, smashed avocado, sautéed mushrooms, a pile of golden hash browns and more. It smelled so darn good. But she only reached for the muesli container and shook a modest helping into a bowl. Tacking his smile back on, Jacob helped himself to the smorgasbord. This morning, he could eat enough for two.

Earlier, he’d laid her gown over the back of a couch. She caught sight of it now before eyeing the door to the suite.

“This’ll be interesting.” She set down the container. “My first walk of shame.”

“If anyone can get away with wearing that evening gown this time of day, it’s you.”

She was busy searching the room-service spread again. Really looking this time, like she couldn’t find what she wanted. Impossible.

He put his fork down. “Are we missing something?”

“Plant-based milk?”

“Like soy?”

“Or almond.”

He got to his feet. “I’ll order some up.”

Waving him off, she reached for the pancakes. “This is even better.”

No trouble, but he wouldn’t push. If she was happy, so was he. And after breakfast, before they thought about jetting back to ordinary life, there might be time enough to revisit what they had discovered in each other the night before. Frankly, he wanted to slip the robe off her shoulders, taste every inch of that incredible body, and then do it all over again.

She was looking at his plate. He looked down, too. Ha. He’d forgotten all about the food.

As he pushed a loaded fork into his mouth and Teagan poured syrup over a pancake, she said, “I suppose you need to check out soon and get back.”

He chewed and swallowed while pouring them juice. “My flight’s not till one.”

“Mine’s around that time, too.”

“You need a lift to the airport?”

“No, no. I just don’t want to hold you up.”

“I’m in no hurry.” Watching how she was downing that juice, he asked, “Are you?”

She set down her empty glass. “It’s Sunday.”

Right. “The weekend. Time to relax. Forget about work.”

Although tomorrow would be a day and a half. He had depositions to sort, background notes, too. There was an afternoon meeting scheduled with that defamation client—former Londoner, Grant Howcroft. Hunter Publications was in for a very public kick in the corporate pants. Making up tales might sell magazines but—moral of the story, boys—dishonesty does not pay.

“It must be full-on being a big-name lawyer,” Teagan said as she cut into her syrup-soaked pancake.

Was he looking preoccupied?

“It can get busy,” he said, loading his fork again.

“Even on weekends?”

Remembering how her legs had dug into the back of his thighs as she’d bucked up against him, Jacob gave her his word. “Not this weekend.”

“Are you sure?”

He wanted to laugh. “Absolutely.”

“It’s just... I’ve seen that expression before. The gotta get back to the grind look.”

Sure. “There’s an element of that. You’d know, with a business of your own.”

“A small business. That’s more than enough.” She hastened to add, “Of course, people should make their own choices. Ambition isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Ambition was a very good thing, particularly when someone had a past like his: a legacy of poverty, despair and why the hell bother.

“I had a weird upbringing. Guess that’s where I get my drive.” He put a little more sugar in his cup and listened to the tinkle of the spoon as he stirred. “How about you?”

“As far as drive goes? I want my business to do well.”

“It’s important to you?”

“Of course.”

He looped back to the heart of the question. “And your upbringing?” Her childhood?

“I wouldn’t say it was weird. More filled with challenges, I suppose.”

The previous night, they had learned so much about each other, and not all of it purely physical. And yet now, in the morning light, Teagan still seemed largely a mystery.

They both had flights to catch. Nevertheless, he wanted to know more—feel more, which was a big step for him. It was the right time, right place.

Certainly right girl.

After she’d finished two pancakes and Jacob had put a decent dent in his generous helping, he dabbed the corners of his mouth with a linen napkin then tapped back into that question.

“So, where did you grow up again?” When they’d met, he’d asked about the accent, which wasn’t always noticeable but definitely cute.

“Australia. Sydney.” She chose a fat strawberry from the fruit platter. “My family’s still there. Well, my father and his wife and their kids. My oldest brother and his wife, too.”

“And the rest of the clan?”

“My other brothers are in the States now. Actually, the middle one lives here in LA. He’s engaged to someone who grew up in Oklahoma so he spends a lot of downtime there. The other brother’s in New York.”

“Hey. Small world.”

“Wynn’s a dyed-in-the-wool workaholic. Although, now that he has Grace in his life, I’m sure that’ll change. Or I hope that it does.”

In the middle of topping up coffee cups, Jacob hesitated as a chill rippled over his scalp. He shook it off. Found a smile.

“Wynn? That’s an unusual name. I’m putting a case together at the moment. The defendant, if it gets that far—” which it would “—his name is Wynn.”

“Wow. How about that.”

He nodded. Smiled again. Yeah. “How about that.”

Seeming to read his mind, Teagan laughed. “Don’t worry. It couldn’t be my Wynn. He keeps his cards close to his chest, but a libel suit? He’d have said something about that. Social media would be all over it.”

“We haven’t submitted yet. No one knows.”

Teagan reached for another berry while Jacob finished his second cup of coffee. She hadn’t spoken about her family the previous night and hadn’t gone into much detail now, not that he’d been particularly forthcoming in that area, either. Admitting that his background was weird was the tip of a Titanic-size iceberg. His childhood had been beyond toxic.

But right now he was more interested in Teagan. And Wynn.

“So what does your brother in New York do? We might know each other.”

“How many Wynns have you met again?”

He grinned and conceded. “Only one, and that’s on paper.”

“So you couldn’t know my brother.”

Ha. Right.

Still...

“What did you say he does for a living?”

Teagan gave him an odd look, like, “maybe drop this.” And he would, as soon as this was squared away, because the back of his neck was prickling now. Could be nothing, but he’d learned the hard way to always pay attention to that.

“Wynn works for my father’s company,” she said. “Or an arm of it. All the boys do.”

The prickling grew.

One arm of a family company? “Sounds as if your father runs a big enterprise.”

“It’s big, all right. Out of college, I decided to do my own thing. I didn’t want any part of the drama.”

“You’re not estranged from your family, though.”

Her eyebrows snapped together. “God, no.”

“Everyone went to that wedding?”

“Everyone was there.”

“So you’re all close.”

“We’ve had our differences, between my brothers and father particularly. Too much alike. Although, as they get older, it’s not as intense. And, yes. We are close. Protective.” She pulled the lapels of her robe together, up around her throat. “That’s the way it is with our family. We can say what we want about each other, but anyone throwing shade from the outside needs to brace himself for a smackdown.” She set her napkin on the table. “What about you?”

Jacob was still thinking about Wynn and family companies with arms in Sydney, LA and New York.

He tried to focus. “Sorry? What was that?”

“Your family, Jacob. Do you have any siblings? Nieces or nephews?”

“No siblings.” As far as blood went, anyway.

“So, it’s just your parents and you?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s complicated.”

Her laugh was forced. “More complicated than mine?”

Shrugging, he got to his feet. Teagan got to hers, too.

There were questions in her eyes. Doubts about where he’d come from, who he really was. Okay. Let’s see.

His A-hole father had jumped ship before Jacob was in school, right before Mom had screwed up monufreakingmentally. As a teenager, he’d gone off the rails and literally crashed before lucking out and finding a buoy at just the right moment.

But that was a lifetime ago. So forget about the past and concentrate on this. On now.

Jacob took her hands and stated the glaringly obvious.

“I had a great time last night.”

Her expression softened. “Me, too. Really nice.”

When he lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her palm, every fiber in his body sat up and took notice.

“You smell so good,” he said. Like vanilla.

“It’s called soap.”

“I skipped the shower. Didn’t want to wake you up.”

She tilted her head and gave him a teasing look. “I’m awake now.”

His gaze roamed her face...the thousand different curves and dips he’d adored and kissed long into the night. Then he considered their backgrounds again, and that yet to be filed libel suit. He thought about his Wynn, and he thought about hers.

It didn’t matter. At least, it didn’t matter right now.

Leaning in, he circled the tip of her nose with his and murmured, “That robe needs to go.”

Her beautiful eyes smiled before she unraveled the bulky tie at her waist. A second later, the robe lay pooled on the floor and they were headed for the bedroom again.

Four

All six shower nozzles were well placed and set to warm and ready. Add two large, soapy hands indulging every part of her body, and Teagan was riding the fast track to Take Me Now. Or was that Take Me Again? Evidently, Jacob Stone’s sole purpose in life was to leave her feeling completely satisfied. Totally adored.

Who was she to complain?

But there were things she wanted for him, too, and precious minutes were flying by. There was no time to lose. So she slid a palm down over that ripped six-pack and curled her fingers around the part of him that so badly wanted to play.

His jaw grazed her temple as he groaned.

“Please say we’re not leaving today.”

“We have maybe an hour.”

When she tightened her hold and slid her hand all the way down his shaft, he groaned again—deeper this time.

“An hour’s not enough.”

She grinned. “We’re not doing that again.”

But when he backed her up to the marble wall and slapped his palms against it high on either side of her head, Teagan seriously wanted to reconsider.

As she continued to work his erection, he lowered his head and tasted a line from the slope of one wet shoulder to her neck. By the time he reached her earlobe, he’d begun to move along with her, falling into the rhythm, his pelvis slowly rocking in time with her stroke. When she’d built up the tempo enough, he gripped her hand and buried his face in her hair.

“Tea... Christ...you’re killing me.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Not.

“You know I’ll get you back.”

She whispered in his ear, “You’d better.”

Being naked with Jacob Stone set her on fire. As long as their bodies were touching, she felt completely consumed. It was helping to elbow out some of those memories from breakfast.

She didn’t care that she was a vegetarian and Jacob loved his meat, or that he wanted to save her from walking out this morning wearing an evening gown. What hadn’t sat well was their conversation about family.

He’d asked questions, which she’d answered. But he wouldn’t let up about Wynn. Yes, it was an unusual name, and she was certain Hunter Enterprises’ lawyers had dealt with libel suits before. Sometimes reporters needed to dig around in the dirt to uncover the truth.

Of course, the media should be responsible when sharing information, but Wynn was the poster boy for ethics—thorough and principled to the point of driving people nuts. Nothing anyone might say, or try to bring against him in a court of law, could ever change her opinion on that.

But now, as Jacob’s mouth began working its magic again in a feverous kiss, Teagan pushed all that other stuff from her mind. This slice of time was about filling the well. About being human and truly feeling again.

When his lips left hers, he took his time searching her eyes while she pledged to memory the chiseled angle of his jaw and how water dripped off the tip of his nose. She wanted to remember the way he was looking at her now, like he would do anything to never let her go.

“We wasted too much time sleeping last night.” Droplets fell from his black lashes as his gaze burned into hers. “I need to be inside you.”

It was a statement of fact. A heartfelt plea.

Yes, I want that, too.

Just one problem.

As compelling as this moment was, safety came first.

Obviously, Jacob agreed. “Condoms are in the bedroom,” he said.

“So we should turn off the faucets.”

“Or we could go with something else.”

She grinned. “Something new?”

“There is nothing new. There’s only better.”

He edged them both around, swapping places while coaxing her to about-face. With his shoulders propped against the wall and that rock-hard body cradling her back and behind, he began nuzzling her neck, caressing her breasts, while one hot palm slid down her front. But when he reached her scar and stopped, she pressed back against him and stiffened.

He kissed the crown of her head. “That’s been there a while. Must have hurt.”

“I fell off my bike in middle school.”

“We should compare battle scars sometime. I’ve got a couple of whoppers.”

As he talked, his hand slipped lower and a finger curved between the apex of her thighs.

Jacob was back to his old tricks, concentrating solely on her. And as he began to tease and gently rub, she forgot about childhood accidents, the fact that time was running out, or anything else that might interfere. She only wanted to concentrate on the outgoing tide and look forward to being carried away.

All too soon, she was trembling and contracting inside. There was a sense of friction building...of everything else blurring and fading away.

His words were warm at the shell of her ear.

“This was a good idea.”

“Don’t...” She swallowed, caught her breath. “Don’t talk.”

Pinpricks of heat were flying together, joining and compressing until finally her hips bucked forward, her head rocked back. And before all that intensity came close to burning out, she climaxed again, higher and brighter and, yes, just that bit better. Still touching her, loving her, he wrung out the last spasm until she couldn’t stand. Couldn’t think. She was officially mindless.

Unreservedly his.

But as he scooped her up and carried her to their bed—curled up in his arms, dripping wet—Teagan knew this wasn’t over yet. Jacob Stone wasn’t done with her. Not even close.

Nothing was ever perfect, but if Jacob had to come up with something darn close, these hours spent with Teagan would be it. And as much as he had enjoyed the previous night—the talking, the dancing, the mind-blowing sex—this morning’s installment in the shower had blown that all clean away.

Now, after making love again, they were lying together, face-to-face, nose to nose. As she looked into his eyes and he looked back, he could only think of the slice of time they had left. Bottom line: he wanted to see her again. But, unless his guess was wrong—and that wasn’t likely—this liaison was about to wind up, not for now, but for good.

The finality of that goodbye hinged on something he needed to say. Something she wouldn’t be able to look past. And, frankly, neither would he.