No Way to Treat a Lady Read online

  He walked off towards the Gents’. She went to the window, conscious of the reception staff behind the counter casting her glances. She’d checked in on her own, and now she was going upstairs with a man. Had they guessed what she was up to?

  She bit her lip to stop herself giggling. She’d never been so daring, so adventurous—not since she was young, anyway. She felt more alive than she had in a long time.

  It was only moments before Jed reappeared. He took her hand and led her along the corridor to the elevators, his eyes alight with humor. “Sorry about that.” He punched the button for the lift, then patted the pocket of his trousers. “Haven’t bought those for a long time.”

  He was talking about condoms. Hayley’s cheeks grew warm. “Me neither, and I would never have thought to bring any.”

  “I’m glad.” He smiled, leading her into the elevator, and hit the button for their floor.

  When they got to his room, Jed inserted his keycard in the slot, opened the door, and gestured for her to precede him.

  Hayley walked in, heart racing. Jed went over to the windows and opened the sliding doors onto the balcony, letting in the sounds of the summer night—the singing of cicadas, the mournful hoot of a morepork, and far off in the distance, the cry of a kiwi bird, looking for its mate. The smell of jasmine from the gardens filtered in, along with music from the restaurant, a sexy blues song that matched the hot and sultry night.

  Lifting the strap of her bag over her head, she took out her phone. Her finger hovered over the button at the top. The last thing she wanted was to be interrupted, but turning the phone off seemed…final. She would be cutting herself off from her family, the last tie to her real life.

  Nerves fluttered in her stomach. Was she doing the right thing? Nobody knew where she was right now. She didn’t know much about Jed save what he’d shared with her that evening. It might all be lies. Maybe he wasn’t one of the good guys, as she’d thought.

  In the end, though, she had to trust her instincts. If she never took a chance, she doubted she’d ever have sex again. She needed this—needed to prove she was still Hayley deep inside, before she lost herself completely.

  She held down the button and turned off the phone.

  When she turned around, Jed was watching her. “Okay?” he said softly.

  She nodded and placed the phone and bag on the table.

  He walked toward her. “Are you sure? If you’ve changed your mind, just say…”

  Moving closer, she placed her hands on his chest. “I haven’t changed my mind.” Lifting up onto her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his.

  His arms came around her, and she melted against him. At five feet nine, she was fairly tall for a woman, but Jed was at least six two and towered over her, all height and breadth and mouthwatering masculinity. Her fingers glided over the defined muscles she’d seen in the pool. Wanting to touch him, she dropped her hands to the base of his shirt as she had on the beach and slid them beneath the material. His skin was warm and smooth with a scattering of hair on his ribs and pecs, and when she brushed across his flat nipples, he inhaled with a hiss.

  Hayley opened her mouth to him, any reservations fading away with the last of the light. Desire, hot and hard, rose inside her. She wanted this man—wanted to feel his body against hers, moving inside her. Nothing mattered but right here, right now, and when he groaned and pushed her back against the table, she felt a thrill that he was experiencing the same passion, that he wanted her too.

  His tongue plunged into her mouth, and she welcomed the slick slide of it, murmuring her pleasure and lifting a hand to slip into his hair. His hands cupped her butt, and he lifted her just a little so he could nestle his erection into her mound. Hayley rotated her hips, grinding against him, and he gave a sexy growl.

  “I want to see you,” he said huskily. “Can I take off your dress?”

  Chest heaving, she nodded, and he grasped the bottom of the dress and lifted it. She raised her arms, and he pulled the dress up her torso and then over her head.

  After dropping it to the floor, he smoothed his hands down her back to her waist, his gaze raking her and leaving her breathless. It had been a long time since a man had seen her in her underwear, but all her nerves fled as his eyes widened, his pupils growing large.

  “Fuck,” he said, “you look amazing.”

  “Thank you.” She glowed, relieved she’d been sensible enough to bring her best matching blue lace bra and panties.

  He rested a finger in the hollow of her throat, traced it down over her breastbone to her cleavage, and then drew it across the swell of her breast. “Can I take off your bra?”

  “Yes.” She liked that he’d asked. He wasn’t making assumptions, wasn’t ripping off her clothes and going too fast, which might have made her panic. Quite the opposite, in fact—he seemed determined to go slow, to make it last, which surprised her. She’d come here for sex. She hadn’t expected him to make love to her.

  He slid his hands around to her back and popped the catch of her bra, drew the straps down her arms, and tossed the item onto the chair, on top of her dress. Her breasts—larger than they’d been before she’d had kids and topped with large pinky-brown nipples—dropped a little. Jed cupped them in his palms, feeling the weight of them in his hands.

  “God, you’re beautiful.” He cocked his head, studying them, and she dropped her gaze to watch his hands. It was warm in the room and at that moment her nipples were relaxed and swollen, but as he stroked his thumbs across them, they puckered.

  A delicious shiver went through her, and Jed crushed his mouth to hers again. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Hayley moaned. She’d forgotten what it felt like to be wanted, to be desired. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

  Jed’s mouth tore away from hers and he kissed down her neck. Pushing her back onto the table, he tucked a hand behind her right knee and parted her thighs, and as his mouth trailed down to her breasts, he settled between her legs and gave short thrusts of his hips, arousing her right where she wanted him.

  He covered a nipple with his hot mouth, and Hayley thought she’d died and gone to—well, maybe not heaven, probably somewhere a bit less holy than that. He sucked and licked there before taking the tip between his lips and pulling gently, then flicking it with the end of his tongue.

  Hayley raised her arms above her head, only partly conscious of hotel leaflets and boxes of tissues going flying onto the floor, but at that moment she didn’t care. Jed’s mouth was insistent, insatiable, and he swapped to the other nipple, then back again, sucking, nibbling and licking until she squirmed beneath him, a deep ache growing inside her.

  Standing for a moment, he caught the sides of her panties in his fingers and paused. “Okay?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, and he drew them down her legs and threw them onto the floor.

  Before she could say anything else, he was leaning over her again, and then his mouth was travelling, between her breasts, over her abdomen, and farther down.

  Hayley’s eyes flew open and she looked up at the ceiling, her lips parting in a gasp. She held her breath as his lips skated across her stomach, then down again. Dropping to his knees, he placed kisses on her inner thighs, pushing them wide apart and exposing her to his hot gaze. Her cheeks flamed, and she lifted her arms to cover her face, squeezing her eyes tight shut.

  Jed’s brushed his thumb down her core, and she felt him slide it into her and gather some of the moisture she knew must be there before he drew it back up through her inner lips, parting them, exploring every inch of her. Then, without saying anything more, he lowered his mouth.

  Hayley gave a long, low moan at the feel of his tongue sliding through her folds. Holy fuck, she’d forgotten how wonderful this was too—the sensation of a man’s mouth tasting her, teasing her toward fulfilment. His tongue stroked down to her entrance and then slid right inside her, deep as he could reach, and she surrendered the last ounce of her reserve and opened her thighs wide, rel
axing into his touch.

  Murmuring something about how much he loved the taste of her, he replaced his tongue with his fingers, sliding them inside her, then brought them up to part her inner lips before lowering his tongue to her clit. She groaned, feeling the inexorable approach of her orgasm like the surreptitious advance of a big cat through long grass, ready to pounce. Jed swirled his tongue around, flicking and teasing, then gave several long, slow licks all the way up before returning to swirling again.

  “Oh…” Hayley slipped a hand into his hair, clutching her fingers in the short strands, while her other hand crept to her breast to tease the nipple. She was close…so close. And Jed seemed to sense it, because he slowed his tongue, drawing out the moment, until she was a second away from begging him to finish her.

  Apparently sensing this, he slid two fingers inside her, closed his mouth over her clit, and sucked. Hayley cried out as she climaxed, the powerful pulses making her tighten around his fingers, and she could only let it sweep over her and claim her, riding the waves until they finally subsided.

  Chapter Eight

  Jed stood. In only a few moments, before Hayley was even aware he’d gone, he stripped the bed of the covers, leaving only the sheet beneath them. He fetched the box from his trousers and left it on the bedside table, then returned to pull her up to a sitting position and lift her in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, still panting, and he crammed his mouth onto hers as he carried her to the bed and deposited her carefully on her back.

  “Thank you,” she murmured when he eventually lifted his head. Her fingers began pushing the buttons of his shirt through the holes.

  “You’re very welcome. You taste divine.” He’d wondered if she’d complain when he kissed her—not every woman like the taste of her own arousal—but when he did it again, she just opened her mouth to him and let him plunge his tongue deep inside. Fuck, that was hot.

  When she reached the bottom of his shirt, he let her push it off his shoulders, then rolled to his feet and let it drop to the floor. After unzipping his trousers, he let them slip down his legs, and his boxers soon joined them too.

  He climbed back onto the bed and stretched out next to her. She rolled to face him so they were both lying on their sides, moving so she was pressed against him. Outside, through the window, he saw a flash of lightning—there was going to be a storm. The weather was incredibly hot and humid, and their skin stuck together wherever they touched. He thought about turning on the aircon, but he didn’t want her to get cold, and besides, there was something sexy and erotic about being hot and sticky together.

  Trailing a hand down, she traced light fingers across his ribs, down over his stomach, and then closed them around his erection.

  “Wow,” she said.

  He gave a short laugh, dropping his gaze to watch as she gave him several long, slow strokes. The skin slid smoothly over the head, then back to reveal the bulbous tip. She squeezed him gently, and he groaned when a drop of pre-come formed on the tip.

  Hayley rubbed her thumb over it and brought it up to her mouth. Closing her lips over it, she sucked, keeping her eyes fixed on his.

  As if she’d struck a match to a fuse at the base of his spine, heat roared through him. Cupping her head in a hand, he pulled her toward him and delved his tongue into the warm cavern of her mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d been so lucky. Maria had enjoyed sex, but as the years had gone by, especially after his accident, making love had become a once-a-week mundane event, the playfulness and exploration of their youth a thing of the past. She’d lost all interest in trying new positions or in doing anything except satisfying the occasional need, and he’d been unable to explain to her that even though he was a guy, for him it wasn’t all about achieving orgasm.

  He’d not really known what to expect when he asked Hayley to come back to his room. She’d seemed shy and a little reserved, so he’d thought she might leave him to do all the work, and he was okay with that—after two years without sex, anything would have been an improvement.

  But he hadn’t expected this. Even the way she’d touched her breast while he went down on her had turned him on. And now, as he kissed her and molded her body to his, her hands were travelling also, as if she wanted to touch every inch of his skin. Her fingers explored the muscles in his shoulders and arms, traced up his spine and then scored lightly down his back, and when he groaned in response, she dug her nails into his butt, pulling him tight against her.

  “I want you inside me,” she whispered. “Please.”

  He didn’t need telling twice. Grabbing a condom from the bedside table, he ripped off the wrapper and rolled it on. Hayley shifted a little on the bed, still lying on her side, lifted a leg over him, and moved her hips until the tip of his erection parted her inner lips.

  Jed held his breath. Hayley sank her hand into his hair, holding his head so he looked into her eyes. Unable to tear his gaze away from her, he tightened his grasp on her hips and pushed up, sliding a few inches into her.

  She gasped, her eyelids fluttering. He moved back then pushed forward again, and this time, coated with her moisture, he slid all the way in.

  “Fuck.” She tipped back her head. “That feels amazing.”

  She wasn’t wrong. The sensation of being sheathed in hot, wet velvet was almost too much. He calmed himself, waiting until he’d regained control before he began moving again.

  Hayley rocked her hips against his, starting with a slow pace, and for a while they continued like that, exchanging long, deep kisses that gradually began to turn hungry and demanding as passion rose inside them. Jed stroked her breasts and plucked her nipples, loving the way she arched her back and pushed them into his hands. He lowered his head and sucked them, wanting to drive her crazy, wanting to make her come again. Her fingers clawed at his back, then clutched his hair, more moisture coating the slide of him inside her.

  But it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t thrust the way he desired—he wanted to plunge into her, to lose himself in her. Lifting up, still inside her, he rolled her onto her back and pushed up her knees. She wrenched the pillow from beneath her head and tossed it on the floor, knocking over the lamp on the bedside table in the process, but she didn’t even turn her head to look, and he adored her for that.

  Outside, lightning flashed, lighting up her eyes, and she gasped, then laughed. Loving her sheer enjoyment of the moment, Jed took her hands in his and pinned them above her head. “Ready?” he whispered.

  She nodded, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue.

  He pulled his hips back until he was almost out of her, then thrust forward, sliding home. Hayley gasped, her hands flexing in his, and arched beneath him, crying out his name. It was so hot in the room that their skin was slick with sweat and he peeled from her as he moved back, but she just moaned and let her thighs drop open, and Jed took that as encouragement to carry on.

  He set up a steady pace, plunging deep into her, gradually speeding up as his body took over from his brain’s instructions to slow down. He couldn’t help it—she was too sexy, too delicious for words, and the sensation of her moist walls closing about him was driving him insane. He dropped his head to her breast and sucked her nipple, and was rewarded with a fresh flood of moisture, easing his thrusts even more.

  Lifting his head, he saw her teeth tug at her bottom lip, and then she screwed up her eyes and came, tightening around his erection in a blissful series of tight pulses. He watched her, wishing he could tell her how much he was enjoying this, and how grateful he was that she’d shared herself with him tonight.

  But there was no time for words. She was still pulsing around him when his own climax hit, and he gave a fierce cry, pushing his hips forward and burying himself deep inside her. Again and again his hips jerked, the orgasm going on forever. And all the while, Hayley’s brown eyes watched him, filled with a warmth that spread through him, right to his heart.

  *

  After they’d made love, they stretched out
beside each other covered only in a sheet. Jed traced patterns over her damp skin. Hayley looked sated and sleepy, her eyes lit with a peculiar mixture of admiration and something else he couldn’t quite fathom.

  He could have stayed like that forever, but eventually his eyelids drooped, his body exhausted from a combination of the exercise and the wine.

  “I should go,” she murmured.

  “In a minute.” He indicated for her to roll over and face the window, which she did. The lightning flashed every few minutes, and in the distance came an accompanying roll of thunder.

  Propping his head on a hand, he lifted her damp hair off her skin and curled it up on the pillow. Then he traced his fingers down her back, drawing small circles and shapes down her spine and over her hip, light as feathers, until she fell asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Thunder woke her.

  Hayley’s eyes snapped open, and for a moment she couldn’t remember where she was. The crack of thunder was still echoing in the distance, and as she raised her head, she saw the rain beginning to fall.

  It all came flooding back to her. Her body felt warm and sticky, from her hot skin to her damp thighs. She glanced over her shoulder. Jed was asleep, his face turned away from her. A corner of the sheet covered his midriff, but his chest and legs were bare. Her gaze perused them briefly before she turned away.

  She arose quietly and padded over to her handbag. She felt a flash of guilt at the thought that hours had passed with her phone turned off. Opening her bag, she turned the phone back on. Relief swept through her when she saw she hadn’t missed any calls.

  After replacing it in her bag, she padded over to the window. She should close them or the rain would come in and soak the carpet. For a moment she paused, though, entranced by the view. A few hours must have passed—it was completely dark outside, the glow from the restaurant now extinguished. Lightning split the sky, illuminating the scene and turning it into a black-and-white photograph, with dark trees and bushes circling a brilliant white lawn.