No Regrets

“I hate to interrupt your toilette, but I need you to call the Magnolia Hotel and make reservations for me for tonight.”

She slowly twisted the lipstick back into its tube and tucked it in her purse. “The Wittier investigation certainly has you out of sorts, doesn’t it?”

If she wanted to think he was feeling this way because of Stan Wittier and his wife, let her. The case certainly was contributing to his frustration. He’d followed Ellen Wittier all over town for a week and come up with absolutely nothing. If she was meeting another man she was being incredibly discreet about it.

“Tell the hotel I’d like a room on the west side of the fourteenth floor. Preferably either 1422 or 1424.”

“Why those particular rooms?” she asked as she flipped through the yellow pages.

“Those rooms look directly onto the Wittiers’ loft. Stan Wittier told me he’s going to be out of town on business for a few days, so I figure his wife will use the opportunity to meet her lover. When she does, I’ll be watching.”

“What if she draws the curtains? You won’t see anything.”

“No curtains. I already checked. They apparently hired a decorator who’s into minimalism. Or they don’t want to block the view they paid big bucks for.”

She found the number for the hotel and put her finger on the page to mark the spot. “Who is this boyfriend of hers, do you know?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen a sign of him. So far, Ellen Wittier has lived a stupefyingly dull life that seems to consist mainly of shopping, having lunch with friends and attending various beauty appointments.”

“I don’t think she’s cheating at all,” Lexie said. “I think her husband’s paranoid because he married a pretty young thing and doesn’t spend enough time with her.”

“If she’s not cheating, it will be the first time in my experience that a client’s been wrong about something like this. By the time somebody hires me to get the evidence, they already have a good idea what’s going on.”

“There’s a first time for everything.” She picked up the phone. “Any preference as to what kind of room? Double-double? King?”

“I don’t care as long as it gives me a good view of that loft.”

She looked him up and down, her gaze traveling over him deliberately. He felt his temperature rise when her vision focused on his crotch and she smiled. “I think you’re more of a king-size man,” she said, and punched in the number.

He turned and retreated to his office. It was either that or snatch the phone out of her hand and do all the things to her he’d been dreaming about. Fantasies of Lexie were keeping him awake nights anyway.

Every day that passed, he was having more trouble remembering why those fantasies couldn’t come true. Logic was apparently the first thing to go when the sex drive started running the show.

LEXIE HUMMED ALONG with pseudo-pop hits and waited for the hotel reservations agent to come on the line. Nick’s gruffness didn’t fool her one bit. She knew she’d shaken him up with her suggestion they become lovers. Though he’d done his best to keep his distance from her this week, she sensed he was weakening.

Who wouldn’t melt a little in the heat of the attraction that crackled between them? Her senses stayed on hyper-alert whenever they were in the room together and when they accidentally brushed against each other it was all she could do not to moan. Ever since she’d conceived the idea of taking him as her lover she’d been able to think of little else, like a woman stranded on a desert island in need of a chocolate fix.

If Nick were chocolate, he’d be the most expensive, darkest kind, sinfully rich and sweet, with a hint of bitterness.

Now that she’d set her sights on him, no other man would do. She’d been patient so far, reminding him at every opportunity of what he was missing. But so far he hadn’t taken the bait. Maybe it was time for more drastic action.

“Hello, reservations. How may I help you?”

She started as a man’s voice replaced the music. “I’d like to reserve a room for tonight.” She explained Nick’s requirements and was assured that room 1422 was available, and that it had a king bed.

“Will there be anything else?”

She smiled, struck by a brilliant idea. If Nick wouldn’t come to her, she’d simply have to go to him. After all, it would be a shame to let that king-size bed go to waste. “Yes, could I go ahead and order dinner for two to be sent up? Say, about seven o’clock? Something simple—steak and baked potatoes, with a nice salad and a good bottle of merlot.”

“Very well. Is there anything else?”

“No. That’s all for now. Thank you.” She gave the rest of the reservation information and hung up. Good thing she’d bought that new lingerie earlier in the week. Tonight she’d put it to good use. She and Nick would enjoy a good steak dinner together and then…on to dessert.

NICK STOOD TO ONE SIDE of the window that took up most of a wall in his room at the Magnolia, binoculars trained on the loft apartment slightly below and to his right. In the three hours since Ellen Wittier had arrived home and he had checked into the hotel she’d changed into a sexy, expensive looking pair of lounging pajamas and had set the table with china and candles for what looked to be a romantic dinner.

When she’d leaned over and lit the candles, Nick’s heart had sped up. He knew it! Once again, his instincts had been right. With her husband safely away at a convention in Reno, Ellen was making her move.

But now, almost an hour later, he wondered at her lover’s tardiness. The candles were dripping wax on the tablecloth and Ellen was on her second glass of wine. Why was her Romeo keeping her waiting?

A knock on the door roused him from his musings. He glanced at the door, then at the clock—six forty-five. He wasn’t expecting anyone, so it was probably someone with the wrong room. He turned back to the window and raised the binoculars again.

“Nick, open up. It’s me, Lexie.”

Frowning, he laid aside the binoculars and went to check the door. Sure enough, Lexie was standing in the hall, looking up at the peephole, her face distorted by the fish-eye lens. He undid the locks and opened the door. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I came to see you.” She moved past him into the room, and set her purse on the bedside table. “Nice room,” she said, looking around.

“I don’t have time to visit,” he said. “I’m working.”

She walked to the window and looked out. “Which one is the Wittiers’ loft?”

“Top floor on the right.” He came to stand behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She was wearing a halter dress made of some clingy red material. Her shoulders were bare, her skin soft and warm. He ignored the tightening in his groin when he touched her. “Move back from the window a little. I don’t want her to see us.”

She did as he asked, colliding with him as she stepped back, sending shock waves of awareness through him. She leaned her head back and her hair brushed against his face, filling his nose with the scent of flowers.

He released her and quickly moved away. “Why are you here?” he asked again.

She walked to the bed and sat, crossing her legs. The skirt of her dress was slit at the side, revealing a long expanse of thigh. “I kept thinking of you up here, all alone, with this king-size bed.” She smoothed her hand along the bedspread.

He looked away, breathing heavy. Seeing her sitting on the bed this way was only a short leap from imagining her stretched out on it. Naked. “I’m working,” he said again. He was repeating himself, but his brain couldn’t manage more, considering most of his blood had flowed south.

“Has anything interesting happened yet?”

Other than you showing up here like this? He shook his head. “She came home, changed into a sexy outfit, set the stage for a romantic dinner and poured the wine, but so far her lover’s failed to show.”

She stood and went to the window again, careful this time to keep back. “Maybe she’s not waiting on anyone. Maybe she’s just entertaining herself.”

“Check again. There are two places set at the table.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Right.” She turned away from the window. “Any idea who she’s meeting?”

He shook his head. “Her husband didn’t know, either.”

Another knock on the door interrupted him. So much for laying low. “Who is it?” he called.

“Room service.”

“I didn’t order any—”

“I ordered it.” Lexie hurried to the door.

A waiter wheeled in a table topped with covered dishes, a vase of flowers, a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Would you like me to open the wine?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” Lexie said. While he did that, she checked under the metal covers. Steam rose from the plates and the aroma of grilled steaks made Nick’s mouth water.

She signed for the meal, then closed the door behind the waiter. When they were alone again, she turned to Nick. “I thought you might be hungry,” she said.

She flicked her tongue along her bottom lip, reminding him of all the things he was hungry for. He checked on Ellen Wittier again, trying to compose himself. She was pouring her third glass of wine, slumped at the table, watching the candles drip.

“Come sit down,” Lexie beckoned him. “Have some wine.”

He sat in the desk chair, but she perched on the edge of the bed, the light from the lamp mounted on the headboard spotlighting her. The neck of her dress was low, revealing the swell of her breasts. When she leaned forward to remove the covers from the plates, he had a tantalizing glimpse of one shadowed nipple. He immediately grew hard, and hurried to spread the napkin across his lap to hide his arousal.

The steak was tender and juicy, but he scarcely tasted it, too distracted by his dinner companion.

“Where is Mr. Wittier this weekend?” she asked halfway through the meal.

“Reno. At a convention. According to the schedule he gave me he was originally supposed to fly home tonight, but he sent word yesterday that his plans had changed and he intended to stay over.”

“And that’s when you decided to book this room?”

He nodded. “I knew his wife wouldn’t pass up the chance to spend a whole night with her lover.”

“As far as you know, she’s never spent any time with this phantom lover.”

“I haven’t seen him yet, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. Who else is she dressing up for tonight?”

She glanced toward the window. “He’s not a very considerate lover, standing her up this way.”

“Maybe he’s cheating on his wife and couldn’t get away.”

She frowned. “You think he’s married?”

“It happens. All the time.”

“I suppose this job gives you a pretty jaded view of relationships between men and women, doesn’t it?”

“I prefer to think of it as realistic.”

“Don’t you believe two people can be happy together without hurting each other?”

“I wouldn’t say I didn’t believe it. I just haven’t known it to happen often. ‘Happily-ever-after’ occurs in fiction a lot more than in real life.”

“What about ‘happy-for-right-now’?” She laid aside her fork and looked at him. “What about two people enjoying each other for the moment and not worrying about what might happen a few months or even a few weeks from now?”

He took a long drink of wine, weighing his answer. He knew what she was getting at. Here, in this intimate setting, with Lexie so warm and willing and only inches from him, and another woman in the building across the way, alone and crying without her husband or her lover to comfort her, all of his old arguments about working together or not working together didn’t seem to matter. Tonight, those objections were reduced to one question: Did he want to spend another night alone?

No, he didn’t. He wanted to welcome this woman, whom he’d been lusting after for weeks, into his arms and his bed.

He pushed the table away and stood, looming over her. She tilted her head back and met his gaze. “You know I want you,” he said.

“Then I’m yours,” she said, and opened her arms wide.

WHEN NICK TOOK LEXIE into his arms, she sighed with joy and relief. All these weeks she’d been waiting for this. All those months in physical therapy when she’d worked so hard to get well, this was what she’d been working for, though she hadn’t even known it at the time. She’d been waiting for strong arms to reach around her, for warm lips to find hers, for hands to caress her, and for the rush of blood and heat that was like a shout within her. She was alive and whole again. All that struggle and pain had been worth it to get to this moment.

She stood on tiptoe, arms reaching around him, pressing her body close to his. She felt his arousal against her belly and a thrill of anticipation surged through her, followed by a tremor of nervousness. It had been a long time since she’d had sex with a man.

He slid his hands up to cradle her head, his fingers buried in her hair, turning her face more fully to his. His lips claimed hers in a drugging kiss that she felt all the way to her toes. Long-dormant sensations came back to her, reminding her that sex was not something to be learned over and over again, but a pleasure to be enjoyed and continually perfected.

He fumbled with the fastening of her dress, and she reached back to help him. “I should probably be more patient and take it slower,” he said. “But I’ve been imagining you naked so long I can’t wait anymore to see the real thing.”

She laughed and undid the button at the neck of the dress, letting the two halves of the top fall forward to hang at her waist. “I could say the same thing about you,” she said.

She reached for the waistband of his pants, but he stepped back. “I want to look at you,” he said. “All of you.”

Feeling only a little self-conscious, she reached back and lowered the zipper of the dress, then slid it down over her hips. Clad only in pink silk bikini panties, red scarf and red stilettos, she faced him.

The reverent look in his eyes was almost her undoing. The mixture of raw lust and unabashed need send a rush of wet heat to her sex. Her breasts felt heavy and aching beneath his gaze, and her nipples rose in points anticipating his touch.

When she thought she couldn’t bear another second apart from him, he moved toward her. She let out a sigh of relief, which turned to a moan when he moved past her, to the window. He checked the loft again, then drew the heavy inner drapes, closing them off from the world.

“What is she doing?” she asked.

“The lights are off in the dining room. She’s in the bedroom, on the bed.” He turned to her, his face pinched with some undecipherable emotion. “I think she’s crying.”

She felt a pang of sympathy for the lonely woman across the way, but had little time to dwell on this. With remarkable swiftness, Nick shed his clothes and moved toward her again, his erection stiff and proud, swaying with each stride.

Then he was gathering in his arms, maneuvering her toward the bed. When the back of her legs came in contact with the spread she let herself fall back.

Nick followed, and stretched out beside her, his hand on her stomach, preserving the connection. “You’re more gorgeous than I imagined.” He grinned. “But not naked enough.”

She watched, amused, as he slipped to the floor and knelt to unfasten her shoes. She started to make a joke about him bowing before her, but all words fled as he pulled off one high heel and drew her toe into his mouth.

She moaned at the sensation of his tongue, hot and wet against her toes, touching some primitive part of her. Was it possible to come from having one’s toes sucked?

From her toes, he moved to her ankles, up her calves, her knees, to her thighs, his tongue and lips finding sensitive nerves she hadn’t known existed. She felt hot everywhere he touched; little flames of sensation lit the length of her body.

He hooked his thumbs underneath the sides of her panties and drew them down. She raised her hips to help him and then she was naked.

She waited, tensed, anticipating his lips on her. She could hear him breathing hard, sense his gaze on her. When she raised her head to look, he was staring at her, a half smile on his lips.

Why had he stopped? “Is—is something wrong?” she asked.

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just undressing you. Almost done.”

He reached for the scarf at her throat, but she caught his wrist and stopped him. She’d revealed enough tonight; she wasn’t ready for more. “Leave the scarf on,” she said.

He looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Just…leave it on.”

She waited for him to ask why, the heat of the moment already receding as she struggled to come up with a superficial explanation.

But he didn’t ask for one. He simply lowered his hand to her side and his mouth to her stomach, and began working his way up her body, one kiss at a time.

She fell back again, abandoning herself once more to sensation. It was as if her body were waking from the coma all over again, nerves she’d forgotten coming to life beneath his exploring lips and tongue.

When he reached her breasts, she could stay still no longer. She arched to him, hips thrusting, silently pleading for release from this incredible, exquisite tension. She felt him smile against her, then he sucked her nipple into his mouth and she gasped with pleasure.

Her pulse beat hard against her temple, and her vision clouded as he suckled and teased, first one breast, then the other. She put her arms around him, holding on as if to an anchor. Anything to keep her from flying off the bed and soaring to the ceiling. Or breaking into pieces. Any minute now she felt she could explode, nerves stretched beyond bearing.

“Niiiick.” His name was a low moan on her lips, both endearment and plea. She couldn’t wait anymore. She couldn’t.

He moved away from her momentarily and she lay still, eyes closed, breathing heavily. If she just had a moment to recover, she’d be ready to offer him as much pleasure as he was giving her. Just a moment…

His mouth closed around her sex, hot and wet and insistent. In that moment she shattered, light and heat rushing through her, a shout torn from her throat. Part of her really was up near the ceiling, separated from her physical body and flying on sheer pleasure. She’d forgotten how wonderful this felt. Or had it ever really felt this good before?

Nick held her as the aftermath of her climax shuddered through her, the awareness of his strong arms around her gradually bringing her back to earth. He was there when she opened her eyes, watching her with concern in his eyes. She grinned, and somehow found her voice. “Wow. If that was the opening act, I can’t wait to see the main attraction.”

“Coming right up.” He knelt between her legs, gently urging her thighs farther apart to accommodate him. “Pun intended.”

She laughed, giddy with happiness, aware that at any moment she might burst into giggles. Not very seductresslike but she couldn’t help herself. She imagined running down the halls, shouting I’m alive. I’m alive. And it’s wonderful!

“I can’t believe I was so stupid!”

His words, and the groan that followed pulled her back to the moment.

“What’s wrong?”

He made a face and looked at the bedside phone. “Do you think room service would send up a condom?”

4

THERE WAS A TIME when Nick would have considered protection just another tool in his cache of supplies, but he’d gotten out of the habit since his marriage. Perhaps he was pickier, but spontaneous seduction wasn’t part of his life these days.

“I have some in my purse,” Lexie said.

“Some?” He arched one eyebrow in his best man-about-town imitation. The idea of her deliberately setting out to seduce him was a huge turn-on. He was a man used to doing the pursuing. The chance to be on the receiving end for a change held a wicked fascination.

She flushed. “I wanted to be prepared.”

He started to get up, but she pushed him back down, and went to retrieve her purse from the table. He lay back and watched her, admiring the way her breasts swayed as she walked. She was gorgeous. Amazing.

Her boldness had taken him by surprise at first, but once they were both naked, he sensed this wasn’t an everyday thing with her. She’d been as eager and needy as him, and it had been all he could do to force himself to take it slow, to make this good for her. He wouldn’t let her think he was the kind of man to take his own pleasure first and leave her wanting more.

And then she’d come, her cries pushing him to the brink of his own desire. Just as well he had this moment to pull back, or else everything would be over before they’d really started.

She returned and crawled back into the bed, the ends of the scarf trailing over her breast, the cherry-red silk bright against her almond-colored skin. Why had she insisted on wearing the scarf? What was she hiding under there?

Did she really think anything he might see would make a difference to him? Later, he’d talk to her about it, but now was not the time to argue.

He reached out to take the condom, but she pushed aside his hand. “Allow me.”

She tore open the packet and leaned over him, the scarf brushing the sensitive head of his penis. He sucked his breath through his teeth, willing himself to stay in control.

Then her hands were around him, cool and soft, squeezing gently as she slowly rolled the condom on. He felt himself pulse against her palm, and closed his eyes, reveling in the sensation but fighting against it, too. She was torturing him. But what sweet torture.

She straddled him, her calves cool and sleek against his thighs. Then she slid over him, surrounding him with her heat and wetness. He clasped her hips as she began to ride him, matching her rhythm, every movement sending shock waves of feeling through him.

He opened his eyes and watched her, her breasts bouncing with each thrust, her eyes half-closed, her mouth slightly open, cheeks flushed. He moved his hands up to caress her breasts, and smiled as she gasped in obvious pleasure.

She planted her palms on his chest and adjusted the tilt of her hips to a more acute angle. He moaned and his vision clouded. He couldn’t hold back any longer.

His climax slammed into him, stealing breath and sense and leaving him weak as a baby. He put his arms around her and pulled her close, pressing his face against her breasts, dimly aware that she was coming again, tensing around him then releasing. She leaned into him, collapsing into his arms.

They lay like that for a long while, fused together by passion. She was all softness and heat, smelling of flowers, her breath a warm tickle against his ear.

It had been a long time since he’d held a woman like this. He’d forgotten how good it felt. How right.

The thought jolted out of his haze. Where had that idea come from? This wasn’t a matter of right and wrong, only a moment of physical pleasure.

Yet he was reluctant to let her go. In fact, she was the first to pull away. She gave him a sleepy-eyed smile, kissed the corner of his mouth, then got up and padded into the bathroom.

While she was gone, he disposed of the condom, then dragged himself over to the window to check on Ellen Wittier again. Her rooms were dark. She must have gone to bed. Alone, from the look of things; a night-light in the hallway cast a faint glow over the still untouched dinner for two laid out on the dining room table.

He let the curtains fall back into place and crawled under the covers, trying to sort out what had just happened between him and Lexie. It was as if he’d lost himself for a moment, become some other person. A person who needed Lexie in his life.

A dangerous thought.

She came out of the bathroom and slipped under the covers beside him. He opened his arms to her, welcoming her to his side even as part of his brain screamed that he ought to keep some distance. He didn’t have room in his life for the feelings she conjured in him, this tenderness and wanting.