knowledge.
Muscles quivering, she fell back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling, trying to catch her breath and listening to Alex doing the same beside her. Wow.
The road to hell was paved with good intentions. And she had paved miles of it last night. She’d meant to send Alex packing the second he’d arrived. But the fresh, still warm donuts, along with the possibility of another party contract, had defeated her.
And then she’d meant to kick him out when he licked her fingers, igniting a blaze inside her. But she hadn’t been able to say the words no or go.
She’d planned to send him home after they made love the first time. And again after the second. But somehow they’d ended up sharing dinner while watching the second half of the Giants game naked before climbing back into bed, where he’d held her until she’d fallen asleep.
Third time the charm? Could she rally her willpower this time? And did she really want to?
Starting a Tuesday morning with multiple orgasms beat an alarm clock any day of the week. She smiled to herself and turned her head to find Alex’s dark eyes focused on her.
Her heart skipped a beat. Having him here felt too good. Too right. “You should go.”
“In a minute. Right now I don’t think I could stand.” He delivered the words with a rueful but naughty smile that practically turned her wrong-side-outward.
The scent of their lovemaking permeated her bedroom. The lingering fatigue of a busy night weighted her muscles. Amanda wasn’t sure she had the strength to crawl to the shower and prepare for her morning appointment. Alex had even farther to go.
“How will you make it to Connecticut and back in time for work?”
“I keep a spare suit at the office. I’ll shower here. With you.”
A thrill raced through her, but she choked out a laugh. “I don’t have to be psychic to know how that’ll end up. With both of us being late for work.”
He grinned and rolled onto his side. But then his smile faded. He gently brushed the hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “Come home with me this weekend.”
Her lungs refused to work.
“We never discussed Zack’s party. He’s a great kid. If you meet him you’ll get a feel for what he likes, and we’ll have a better chance of surprising him with something that’ll blow his mind.”
Work. He’s talking about work. Focus. “You want this to be a surprise party?”
“Yes. Spend the weekend at my place. You can meet Zack and my parents.”
She recoiled. The last thing she needed was for her mom and dad to get wind of her dating Alex. He would be the only man she’d ever hooked up with that they would consider suitable. And she was throwing him back just as soon as she came to her senses.
“Alex, we don’t have and will never have a meet-the-parents kind of relationship.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m implying. You need to visit my parents’ house. That’s probably the best place for the party if we want to keep it under wraps. If after you see the place you don’t like that idea, then I’d like to have the party somewhere else in Greenwich so Zack’s friends can come. You’ll have to help me choose an alternate location.”
Why did he keep making offers she couldn’t afford to refuse? She sighed. “If I say yes to spending the weekend with you, you’re not going to take it the wrong way and think this affair is more than temporary insanity, are you?”
He rolled over her, planting his knees between hers and propping his elbows on either side of her body. His eyes held hers and his breath teased her lips. Desire stirred anew. “This relationship will last only as long as it’s beneficial to both of us.”
And with his body intimately connected to hers it was hard not to appreciate the benefits of their association. But uncertainty nagged her, tensing muscles that had been completely lax just moments ago.
She forced herself to relax. She needed this job and any other that Alex could throw her way. She could handle whatever else came up. And he was hellaciously good in bed.
“Okay. I’ll come to Greenwich with you.”
Amanda had known Alex was loaded, but she hadn’t expected his home to be a large estate at the end of a winding, white-fenced, paddock-lined road in the Greenwich backcountry.
She followed him into the sprawling stone center hall colonial Friday evening and paused in the two-storied marbled and wainscoted foyer. To her left she could see a living room with a soaring stone fireplace, a wet bar and a suede sectional sofa.
“Alex, this is nice.”
“Were you expecting a bachelor pad?”
She wrinkled her nose. “You do have a reputation as a guy with a short attention span.”
“Is that why you kept playing hard to get?”
“I told you I wasn’t playing. I am hard to get. Not that you’d know it by this week’s performance.”
His lips tilted in that sexy, I’m-going-to-get-you-in-trouble-and-you’re-going-to-love-it smile that made her insides hum like a beehive. He set their bags at the foot of the stairs and strolled toward her, lazily, but with a predatory glint in his eyes that quickened her pulse. “I have no complaints with your performance.”
Her body flushed from her center to her fingertips, which she pressed to his chest to stop the embrace she saw coming. “Nor I yours, but we’ll never get the details of your party finalized if you don’t quit distracting me.”
Alex had come to her place two of the past three evenings after work under the guise of planning his party. He’d spent the nights, but not working on arrangements. She hadn’t started regretting the involvement yet. But she knew she would. Her relationships always came back to bite her.
He captured her hand with his, lacing their fingers. “I’ll give you a quick tour.”
“Don’t we have to be at your parents’ for dinner soon?”
Mischief glinted in his eyes. She’d seen that look often enough recently to know it meant he wanted her naked, and if she gave him about three seconds’ leeway she’d want it, too. Anticipation made her pulse stutter.
“That’s why you’re getting the abbreviated tour. Otherwise I’d be showing you my bedroom from beneath the sheets. You wouldn’t see much of the house that way.” The man oozed sexuality.
Desire pulsed through her. She tamped it down. “Lead on.”
Her heels tapped out a beat on the hardwood floors as he whisked her past a cherry-paneled study, formal living and dining rooms and through the gourmet eat-in kitchen with black-granite countertops. The place begged for a family to fill it and for a woman to soften the stark decor with a vase of flowers here and there or a few knickknacks or framed photographs.
Did Alex plan to marry and have children?
