He's All That

She could have come home immediately after meeting with Jake. She’d had a half hour to kill before she had to show up at the center. But if she’d gone home for the thirty minutes, she would have had to face her mother’s annoying questions.

It was weird to be living at home after being away for seven years. Had she really been that subservient in her youth, or had her mother’s domineering gotten worse? Maybe she figured if she could tame Mallory, whipping Tori into shape would be a cinch.

Even Jake had thought Tori had run home to placate her mother. Of course Tori had also led him to that thinking. She didn’t know why she hadn’t been honest with him, except working at the center, and answering their hot line was something very personal for her. And the truth was, she didn’t know Jake.

She laughed to herself as she pulled the car into the garage. She didn’t know him…she just wanted to sleep with him. Oh, God…

The door had barely closed behind her when she heard her mother calling from the parlor. Tori thought briefly about running up the servants’ stairs but decided not to aggravate her mother any further.

“I’ll be right in, Mother,” she called and stopped to get a diet Coke out of the fridge. She grabbed an apple, too, since she hadn’t eaten dinner.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself to be patient as she entered the parlor.

Her mother purposefully looked at her watch, still on her wrist, even though she had already changed into a satiny peach robe. “Where have you been?”

“Why?”

Her mother’s brows arched. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you since you’ve been away, Victoria, but your attitude is most unattractive.”

Tori sighed. “It’s only eleven-fifteen.”

Her mother stared in silence for a moment, gave Tori’s jeans a disdainful look and then said, “You’ve been at the center again, haven’t you?”

“And that would be a problem?”

“For heaven’s sake, Victoria, we give them enough money. You don’t need to actually—” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

“Get my hands dirty?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Sighing, Tori popped open the can of cola. “I think I’ll take this upstairs with me.”

“Victoria.”

She stopped, turned around.

“Do not forget about dinner tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night? Where?”

“Oh, Victoria.” Her mother stood, and then turned to plump the pillow she’d been leaning on. “At the Club.”

“You didn’t tell me about that.”

“I most certainly did. We’re meeting the Kimballs at seven. They’re very important clients of your father’s.”

Tori’s heart sank. “I would have remembered…”

“Not with the way you’ve been preoccupied lately. Anyway, dress will be casual.” She cast a critical gaze over Tori. “Wear your cream linen dress.”

“Guess what? They taught me how to dress myself in college.”

“I’m not amused, Victoria,” her mother called as Tori took the stairs two at a time. “I expect you to be prompt tomorrow. This dinner is very important.”

She slipped inside her room, shut the door and sank against it and groaned. Jake would assume she’d chickened out. What the hell was she going to do?

4

JAKE IDLY FLIPPED through several more channels and then flung the remote aside. He should have known she wouldn’t show up. Yeah, he’d been surprised when he’d shown up early to check in and pay for the room only to find that she’d beat him to it. She’d left a note apologizing that she’d be late, which had bugged him, yet had also been encouraging.

But it was already nine. If he had a brain in his head he’d just leave. Not that he had anything else to do. Bad enough he’d barely been able to concentrate all day. He’d purposely stayed in the office to clear some paperwork off his desk. And what? All he’d managed to do was upset his secretary by screwing up her new filing system.

Muttering over his foolishness for hanging around, he went to the minibar and grabbed another beer out of the fridge. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t turned down sex before, although admittedly, that wasn’t a common occurrence. If he wanted to be totally honest with himself, he kind of got a charge out of a Whitford coming on to him.

He skipped the chair this time and stretched out on the bed, adjusting the pillow behind his neck before resuming his channel surfing. Great hotel but the channel selection sucked. She obviously wasn’t going to show. He ought to go home where he could at least catch the end of the Raiders’ game.

After taking another pull of beer, he set the bottle on the nightstand and yawned. Screw her. Better that she’d chumped him. She wouldn’t even have to know that he’d shown up. He wasn’t a toy poodle for her amusement. The sex would probably have been great but it still niggled at him that she wanted to keep him her guilty secret.

She thought he was a gardener…someone beneath her. Granted, he wasn’t in her social class, but little did she know that he’d actually…

A light knock at the door had him sitting up. And then he heard a key in the lock and the door opened.

Tori stepped inside the semidark room, her gaze darting first to the television and then to him. She smiled and closed the door behind her. “I’m glad you’re still here.”

“I was just about to leave.”

She quickly sobered. “I’m really sorry about being late. I tried looking for you in the garden today but obviously you weren’t there.” She laid her purse on the table and moved closer. “I’d totally forgotten about a business dinner I had tonight. I hope you got the note I left at the front desk.”

“I got it.” He picked up his beer and took another sip before getting to his feet.

“You’re angry.”

“I wasted two hours waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t know how else to get a hold of you.”

“Did you try my father?”

She blinked, and looked away. “I didn’t think of that.”

Bull shit. He knew damn well she wouldn’t have risked letting anyone know they had a date. If you could call their little sex tryst that.

For a moment he thought about calling her on the lie, but what would that solve? Nothing would change. Except it might mean he wouldn’t get anything tonight. If he still wanted it…

His gaze went to the hem of her cream dress, where it stopped about three inches above her knee. The style was conservative with a high neck and short sleeves and she shouldn’t have looked so damn sexy.

Yeah, he still wanted her, all right.

“Forget it. You’re here now,” he said, and pulled off his shirt.

Her eyes widened, excitement mixed with fear sparkling from their depths, and she drew a hand up her opposite arm.

The lady wanted a walk on the wild side. Jake smiled. He wouldn’t disappoint her.

TORI DREW AN UNSTEADY breath. He didn’t look as if he was about to waste any time on small talk or foreplay. She watched him unsnap his jeans, and wished she’d had that brandy her mother had ordered her after dinner. But by the time dessert had arrived, Tori had her purse in hand and excuse to leave the table on her lips.

After she’d fought the downtown traffic, she’d half expected not to find Jake waiting. But here he was, with the best-looking chest in the southern hemisphere.

He shoved the jeans down his thighs and then pulled them off, leaving him in navy-blue boxers. “If you don’t want me to mess up that pretty dress of yours, I’d suggest you take it off.”

At the deep, suggestive timbre of his voice, a shiver slithered down her spine and she automatically reached behind to find the zipper. His gaze went to her breasts where the linen fabric strained against them and revealed her protruding nipples.

“Need help?”

She looked up when she realized she’d been staring at his fly. Already he was semiaroused which sent her pulse into the danger zone. She fumbled with the zipper, her fingers going numb, so she slowly turned around to accept his help, briefly closing her eyes, anticipating that he might rip the tab off the track.

He didn’t, but simply pulled gently until the zipper parted and then he unhooked her bra before she could turn around and do it herself. He slipped the dress off her right shoulder along with the bra strap. She started to turn to face him, but he held her by the shoulders and ran his tongue down the side of her spine.

Her breath caught and she closed her eyes while he slid the dress off her other shoulder. The fabric dropped to her waist where she held it to her tingling skin. The creamy silk bra easily followed so that she was bare to the waist.

Gripping her by the shoulders, he turned her around until their eyes met, briefly, before his gaze lowered to her breasts. She swallowed when he took her wrists and pulled her hands away from the dress. She let go and the pale linen fell to her feet.

He still didn’t let go, but lifted his gaze to her face. “How do you like it, Victoria?” he whispered, and then kissed the side of her neck.

“What do you mean?” She barely recognized her own voice. Deep. Husky. Sexy.

He drew back and gave her a lazy smile. “You like it a little rough?” He gripped her wrist tighter and forced her backward until she was against the wall, and then he kissed her hard, pushing his tongue between her lips.

Just as quickly he withdrew, lightly nibbling the side of her mouth, sucking at her lower lip, releasing her wrist to cup her face in his hands and giving her a gentle but very satisfying kiss.

He pulled back, his darkly intense eyes even with hers. “Or slow and tender?”

It took her a moment to catch her breath. “I don’t know. I’ve never—” A glint of triumph in his eyes stopped her. Was he trying to intimidate her? “If you want to spend the night analyzing the situation…” She put a hand on his hip and dipped a couple of fingers into the elastic of his boxers. “Then we might as well put our clothes back on.”

His mouth curved in a crooked smile, and before she knew what he was doing, he’d hooked his thumbs in her bikini panties and drew them down her legs, lowering himself so that she felt his warm breath at the juncture of her thighs.

She clutched his shoulder to keep her balance, unsure what he’d do next, nervous that he might be jumping the gun a bit. But after he got her to step out of the panties, he cast them aside, and then raised himself to a standing position, casually, as if he hadn’t been tonguing distance from her heat.

The bastard knew what he’d done, what he’d made her wrongly believe he’d had planned, judging by the amusement in his eyes. Robbing him of time to gloat, she yanked his boxers down and then stood back, staring, as she waited for him to get rid of them.

He seemed in no hurry, and totally unselfconscious of his hard thick arousal aimed heavenward, and her heart pounded so loudly she thought he surely could hear it. When he lowered his gaze, he took his time there, too, leisurely surveying her breasts, her hips, her thighs.

“I’ve gotta admit, Ms. Whitford…” His gaze came up to rest briefly on her lips and then on her eyes. “You turned out mighty fine.”

His approval sent a thrill through her that took her by surprise. Made her chest tighten with odd and unexpected emotion. Threw her off balance.

She swallowed. “Well, Mr. Conners, I’d have to say the same about you.” She’d hoped for something wittier but it was the best she could do.

A hint of a smile danced at the corners of his mouth as he reached for her hand and drew her close. She tilted her head back to meet his kiss. It was gentle yet coaxing and she slid her arms around his waist, enjoying the feel of his erection pressed to her belly. Encouragingly, she wanted to believe that his heart pounded at least as hard as hers and she slid her hands down to mold the firm swell of his buttocks.

He groaned and moved his hips. She pressed harder against him as if he were a magnet and she was a piece of metal helplessly drawn to him.

“Come,” he said, his voice hoarse and raspy as he led her to the bed. He yanked the burgundy cover back, and then the matching blanket to expose the white sheets.

He hooked an arm around her waist and took her down with him. Sprawling out in the middle of the bed, he kept hold of her as she lay half on top of him, half off. Laughing, she tried to scramble into a more dignified position, but he flipped her onto her back and pressed her into the mattress with his body.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, using the tip of his tongue to trace her jaw.

She arched her neck and he continued his trek down her throat to her breasts. She sighed. “I’m staying right where I am.”

“You’re right,” he murmured, his warm breath coating her nipple right before he took it into his mouth.

Reflexively she squirmed and he suckled harder as his hand found her other breast. Lightly he pinched the tip between his thumb and forefinger. She moaned with pleasure, and he suckled harder still.

She kneaded the muscles across his back, ran her palms down his taut skin toward his backside but her reach was unsatisfactory. She struggled to gain better access but he wouldn’t let her move.

“Jake?”

“Hmm?”

“I have condoms in my purse.”

He looked up. “In a hurry, are we?”

“No, I just didn’t want to get carried away before we protected ourselves.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not that carried away.” He put his mouth back on her breast, but she couldn’t relax.

The remark stung. Of course he probably didn’t mean it the way she took it, but he must have sensed her mood change because he lifted his head again and smiled. Without a word, he got up and went to get his jeans. He withdrew a couple of foil packets from the pocket.

Watching the sleek, easy way he moved eased her tension. No question, he not only had the best chest but the best butt she’d ever seen. With or without clothes.

“I’ll leave these right here on the nightstand for later,” he said, holding up the packets, and then dropping them near the lamp. “Unless you’re in a hurry.”

She shook her head, unabashedly staring at the tautness and definition of his belly. Even with the interruption, his erection hadn’t subsided and it was difficult not to stare there, too. “Did you play sports in high school?”

He nodded, his appreciative gaze slipping down to her breasts. “Why?”

“Which one?”

“Football for three years.” He stretched out beside her, and cupped a hand over her breast. “And then hockey for a year in college.”

“You went to college?”

Annoyance flashed in his eyes. He released her and lay back with one hand behind his head.

“I’m only surprised because you didn’t mention it last night.” She curled into him and played with the hair around his navel.

“I dropped out after two years. I hated being in a classroom. Are we just going to talk?”

She ignored the irritation in his voice and tracked the stream of hair down his belly, pleased when he sucked in a breath. He stayed perfectly still while she ran her palm lower. She wrapped her hand around him, and closing his eyes, he groaned.

She continued to explore the length of him, a fascinating combination of smooth satin and the hardness of steel. When she used her finger to probe the tip, he shifted and captured her wrist.

A slow smile lifted his lips as he brought her palm to his mouth. He licked the center, and then kissed it.

She smiled. “Chicken.”

“Yeah?” He slid his hand between her thighs.

“Oh.” She tried to squeeze her legs together but it was too late. Already she was so wet, one slight graze of his finger was likely to send her rocketing to the ceiling.

“Look who’s chicken now.” He tongued her earlobe.

“Not chicken, just— Oh, my, God—” She closed her eyes as he drove a finger into her. And then another.

“Relax,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know. I—” She couldn’t think anymore. What was he doing with his fingers? She’d never felt anything like this before…

She threw her head back and he trailed his tongue over the curve of her neck, to her jaw and then nipped at her earlobe. A low whimper escaped her and he covered the sound with his mouth, his lips soft and coaxing, his fingers unrelenting as he probed deeper.

Afraid she’d come too fast, she tried to grasp his forearm, but he wouldn’t stop. Unexpectedly he moved to suckle her breasts and she arched off the bed, only intensifying his exploration.

“Jake, we’d better slow down,” she murmured.

She felt his smile against her skin, and then his tongue circled her nipple, slowly, leisurely, heightening her anticipation. He withdrew his fingers but before she could lament the loss, he plunged back inside her. He slid his other hand underneath her bottom and forced an angle to her hips that deepened the penetration.

She jerked when the first wave came, surprising the hell out of her. He used his thumb to rub her clitoris until another shock jerked her again. The spasms increased and she clutched the sheets, tearing them free of the mattress. It was as if her body had received an electrical charge and even as she tried to wiggle away, he stayed with her and the waves kept coming.

Everything got fuzzy. He reached behind and then she thought she heard him fumble with the foil packet. She was still convulsing when he entered her. Filled her with heat and pressure until she didn’t think she could take it.

But then he withdrew and used the tip of his silky hard penis to probe the sensitive nub between her folds of flesh. He never once used his hand for guidance, but moved over her, unerringly finding every spot that nearly sent her rocketing once more.

He moaned and she sensed his restraint had begun to slip as he slid in deeper, lowering his body so that his chest grazed her nipples. This time his withdrawal seemed reluctant and when he slid back in he started to pump harder. She tried to meet his thrusts but her body was so spent she couldn’t tell if she were moving or not.

He murmured something she didn’t understand, and then gave a final thrust before collapsing on her. She couldn’t breathe, but not because of his weight. The overwhelming sense of being truly sated was what robbed her of breath. Never had she experienced such physical release.

He rolled off her and, still dazed, she looked at him. He looked pretty wiped out himself. His lids drifted closed, briefly, and then he said, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

He smiled. “Wow!”

“Yeah.” She tried to get up on one elbow but the effort seemed too great.

“You’re not leaving yet.” It wasn’t a question but a simple statement of fact.

“Hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

“Good.” He wound an arm around her and pulled her up against him. She laid her cheek on his chest, his warm, musky skin sedating her, and she closed her eyes.

“Victoria?”

“Hmm?”

“Sleepy?”

She smiled, thinking about how she liked it when he called her Victoria. “Not really. What did you have in mind?”

He laughed, his chest vibrating against her cheek. “Give me at least five minutes.”

“That’s all? At your age? I’m impressed. Ouch!”

“What?”

She brought her head up to meet his hooded eyes. “You know darn well you pinched my butt.”

“Sorry. At my age it’s hard to remember one moment to the next.”

“Okay, we’re even.” Chuckling, she yawned, and then laid her head back down.

It was really weird being this comfortable with him. Seeing him from a distance for half her life didn’t constitute a relationship. Certainly nothing remotely substantial enough to allow for this feeling of familiarity.

Maybe it was just the afterglow from the best sex she’d ever had in her life that made her feel so warm and fuzzy. That idea was a little scary, but kind of nice, too. Maybe it wasn’t about familiarity but a simple matter of knowing he wasn’t an ax murderer or anything that comforted her.

He ran a hand up her back, and then stroked his way down to her fanny. “Are you snoring?”

“No.” She swatted him on the thigh and looked up to see the corners of his mouth twitch.

His humor faded. “You’re quiet. Having regrets?”

“No. You?”

“Nope.” He shifted his weight, and she pushed up on one elbow to give him room. “Are you going home or staying here tonight?” he asked, glancing at the digital bedside clock.

She got a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. As great as the sex was, she hoped he didn’t think this was going to be an all-night thing. Maybe she should have been more specific regarding her expectations.

“I’ll be leaving,” she said, taking a look at the clock herself. It was already ten-thirty. “Feel free to stay if you like, though. The room is already paid for.”

If she’d expected him to be disappointed, she needn’t have worried. He sat up, yawned and stretched, looking totally indifferent. He got to his feet, and mindless of his nudity, went and got his jeans. The sight of him tempted her to call him back to bed.

“I have an early appointment tomorrow.” He poked around until he found his boxers, and then looked over at her. “I assumed you didn’t want to leave the room together.”

She pulled the sheet up to cover herself, and gave a small nod.

He smiled. “Unless you need to go in there,” he said, inclining his head toward the bathroom, “I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”

“Help yourself.” She watched him disappear behind the bathroom door, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. He was behaving exactly like she wanted. So why was she the one who was disappointed? Just a little. But still…

Sighing, she started to get up and gather her clothes while she had some privacy. Unlike him, she wasn’t quite as comfortable with her body, especially since she’d gained seven pounds during the last two weeks of school and only managed to shed two of them. But what the hell, he’d be gone in the next few minutes and she’d have all the privacy she wanted.

She closed her eyes, thinking about what she’d write to her e-mail buddies. If she were smart, she’d wait a day to tell them about tonight. Wait till she wasn’t so tingly and giddy. She didn’t want to end up blabbing all the details.

The door opened and she looked up. He was dressed, still tucking in his shirt, the stirrings she felt just watching him alarmed her.

“Okay,” he said, meeting her eyes, his totally unreadable. “I’ll be shoving off.”

She nodded, an inexplicable panic tightening her chest so that she didn’t trust herself to speak.

He hesitated, and then headed for the door, and she realized what had her suddenly so tense. What next? Was this it? One night? She hadn’t thought things out this far. She hadn’t expected to want more. Which was silly. He was awesome. He was…

“Jake?”

He stopped, his hand on the knob, and turned with raised brows.

“Thanks.”

He laughed. “Sure.”

She wanted to pull the sheet over her face. “I mean, for waiting.”

“No problem.” He paused, a slight frown on his face. “You parked close, I hope.”

“I valet parked.”

“Good.” He turned the knob.

“Jake, wait.” She silently cleared her throat. “I was wondering—would you be interested in—doing this again?”

He smiled. “You call the shots.”

“Tomorrow night?” One more time wouldn’t hurt. That hardly constituted a relationship.

“Here?”

“Sure. I won’t be late.”

He smiled again, and let himself out.

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