Under His Cover-nook (9 page)

When the pad of his thumb grazed her nipple, her back arched.

“Baby, you present an irresistible temptation I cannot ignore. You taste…heavenly.”

His words made her blood surge, her pussy pulsate. She’d never been irresistible to anyone before. Rhys tugged her blouse from the waist of the skirt. She groaned when he licked a trail from her breasts to her neck.

The unmistakable wisp of her zipper coming undone inflamed her senses. Her skirt hit the floor. He grabbed the underside of her legs, lifted her up and set her onto the counter. Moving between her legs, he caressed her from ankle to thigh and grazed higher and higher until his fingers reached the rim of her panties.

Rhys couldn’t stop himself. He’d thought of this moment no less than a thousand times since that first night. Her luscious thighs, her curvy hips, all that creamy caramel skin. “Beautiful. Simply…beautiful.”

There was nothing left but a pair of black silky underwear and a matching lace bra. He slid the tip of his thumb between her legs, seeking for and finding the soft lips of her pussy.

 She gasped and tossed her head back when he also fastened his mouth over her nipple through the lace of her bra and suckled. Her parted legs spread even farther apart as he skimmed his finger over her throbbing wet clit, proof that her need for him consumed her in equal measure.

Jade was sinuous everywhere a lady was supposed to be, and yielding everywhere he wanted. Her breasts were perfect mounds, his hands barely covering them but her nipples fit nicely into his mouth. And her ass…
heaven help him
. He slid the palms of his hands over the swell of flesh, dipping the tips of his fingers under the elastic, lowering them until his hands filled with the succulent skin, kneading her firmness.

If he didn’t have her now he’d explode inside his own pants. Rhys stripped off his shirt and trousers, palming a condom in his right hand. Desire sliced into him when her fingers dove inside the slit of his boxers. Bending low, he licked her nipples and slipped his left hand between her thighs. He groaned in tandem with her as she slid her palm over the bulb of his penis, and his fingers dipped into the wetness between her thighs.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” he groaned.

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

He dropped to his knees, wanting to taste her again if only for a moment, because he longed to be inside her. It was a risk, yes, but he didn’t care.

From the moment he saw her at the wedding.

The moment she walked into his office.

And it wasn’t just physical desire.

The rush of pleasure every time he thought of her, every time she walked into a room, couldn’t be explained. Even months after their first and only rendezvous, he thought of nothing but her. So much so that he hadn’t dated anyone, choosing instead to call on Jackie to attend society functions with him. Many times he wanted to pick up the phone to call Karyn and ask for Jade’s number. But he didn’t. He thought he’d eventually get over her.  But he hadn’t.

He didn’t have a clue what Jade wanted beyond investigating the threat to him, but when it was all over, when she found out who it was, he wanted her beside him. Then he’d tell her the truth about everything.

He stroked his tongue along the sensitive folds of her labia, and she writhed. Dipping his tongue inside, he tasted her sweetness before sliding it up to the rigid bud of her clit. He sucked and sucked until her nails scraped down his scalp through his hair, over his shoulders and she pulled him upward.

“Now,” she begged.

He obliged, rising and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to the edge of the counter.

“You’re awfully bossy.” He chuckled and sheathed himself.

The sweet spiciness of her on his lips pacified him for the moment, but he had more important tasks at hand. He jutted his hips upward, forcing a connection between his dick and the apex of pleasure between her thighs. Jade moved, jerked, and rubbed her wet, silky pussy over him, the wetness coating the head of his dick.

He kissed her hungrily and poured himself inside her.

She broke from the kiss on a groan. “Yes,” she whispered.

Gazing at her again, her beauty electrified him, stirred him. The curls on her pussy were neat and springy, the pink flesh of her clit puckered forward. Rhys guided the tip of his erection between her wet folds, again and again, reveling in the hot sensation of her surrounding him. He was rewarded with her deep shudder as he drove home inside her. She lifted herself off the counter and rocked against him. Her moans nearly did him in.

Because of the position they were in, Rhys could look directly into her eyes. There were a lot of things he found enjoyable, but nothing was more pleasurable than having this beautiful woman riding his dick. Jade Conner represented everything unique and special about a woman. Her complete surrender to him, what it symbolized, was nothing short of breathtaking, magical. He was whole. Complete.

Love
.

The thought shook him, as if he’d been transported to that place he’d always sought. The place he never thought he’d ever find.

He watched her expressive face, the sweat shimmering above her top lip, the sheer bliss on her pretty face. The moans coming from her throat wrapped him in a cloud of contentment he’d never experienced in his life with another woman.

Grasping her hips, he bucked, over and over, fast and deep, her slick pussy squeezing him. He hissed when her orgasm overtook her. Her pussy clutched him in a sensuous grip and just like that, wave upon wave of ecstasy sent him over the edge with her. They cried out simultaneously then collapsed, spent, against each other, his breath coming in rapid gasps, hers in shallow heaves.

What the hell have I just done?

Again!

Jade asked herself this question over and over as the dizzying cacophony of pleasure began to subside. Her fingers still clutched his shoulders. His head still lay on her breasts. She was helpless. No…that wasn’t it. The tingles of satisfaction that came again and again were so unfamiliar she couldn’t describe any of it. 

She’d let herself go. For the first time… No, it was the second time in her life she’d succumbed to the pleasure a man could offer. But it wasn’t just any man. It was Rhys. Had she found the
right
man? Was that it? Is that why she couldn’t say no? Why she couldn’t walk away?

Aftershocks still jolted her body at intervals. Rhys finally looked at her, a crooked smile on his face as he slipped out of her body. He drew her mouth into a delicate kiss.

As real life began to gather at the edges of her mind, she heard voices in the hallway outside her door.

“Um…I think we need to…um…”

He shifted away to reach down and pick up his clothes. When Jade slid off the counter, he gently tossed her clothes at her. Turning around, she stumbled awkwardly back into her skirt and shirt, having to redo the buttons on her shirt twice before getting it right. Her throat constricted. “I don’t think… I mean we shouldn’t… That was…”

She heard the rustle of his pants behind her before he touched her shoulders, spun her around, and tucked his finger under her chin. “That was wonderful.”

Her gaze shifted back and forth between his eyes, looking for doubt, any telltale sign that he was lying, but she couldn’t find one.

“I…”

“Please, don’t spoil it. It was wonderful.”

Warmth radiated throughout her body. The phone on her desk rang before she could say anything else, not that she’d been able to form a single complete sentence in the last twenty minutes. Her thoughts were too scattered to think straight. 

“Lieutenant Governor Cunningham’s Office,” she answered.

The voice on the other end of the line sent an immediate dose of ice down her back and snapped her back into reality. She placed the call on hold, sat at her desk, and turned to her computer. “It’s Jackie.”

He took the call at her desk.

He didn’t even have the decency to go into his own office and talk to his girlfriend.

You fool.

You fool!

Tears prickled the back of her eyelids as her computer screen shimmered in front of her. She would not cry. She would
not
cry. As soon as he left, she’d run to the bathroom and get herself back together. Ignoring the conversation, she took several deep breaths, opened a new document, and placed the earphones from the transcriber on her desk in her ears. She was about to push play when she heard him call her name.

Leave.
Just leave, damn you
, she wanted to yell at him. Spare her further humiliation.

Please
.

Rhys swung her chair around. Disappointment flickered over his face. “It’s not what you think, Jade.”

“Whatever.” She tried to move her chair but he wouldn’t let her.

“She’s my—”

“I don’t care what she is.” There was a tremble in her voice that infuriated her.

Damn it. Damn it.

Jade stood, unable to meet his gaze. She refused to let him see her cry. She sidestepped him and made for the door, but he grabbed her.

“Let me go,” she cried, struggling against him.

“Jade, she’s my
sister
.”

Her gaze swung up to meet his, and she stopped fighting him. “What?”

Rhys shrugged his shoulders. “Well, my God-sister. But she’s my
sister
.” He let her go. “Jackie and I were raised as sister and brother ever since, shit, before we were little kids. Our parents were—are—best friends. We have never,
ever
, been romantically involved.”

“But…” Disbelief thundered in her chest. “All those pictures…”

“Just for show.” Rhys took her hand and pulled her over to the couch and sat her down. “We help each other out. Whenever I need a date for a function and I don’t want any entanglements, Jackie helps me out. And it’s for her parents benefit as well. They don’t know that she’s… Jackie’s a lesbian.”

“Are you
serious
?” Jackie’s face lingered in her mind. She’d never gotten that vibe from her.

“Yes. I’ve told her a million times to tell her parents, but every time I think she’s about to do it, she changes her mind, and it’s not my secret to tell. She’s afraid her parents will be so disappointed they’ll disown her.”

“Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “But you told me.”

“Because I didn’t want you to think I was a complete ass. Making love to you one minute and then talking to my girlfriend the next like nothing ever happened. I wouldn’t do that to you. To us.”

Jade gulped, stood up, folded one arm across her belly as her fingers found and fiddled with the butterfly pendant around her neck. “What do you mean?
Us?
”

He rose and cradled her elbows in his hands, her forearms resting atop his. “I mean
us
. You and me.”

She shook her head. Jade refused to fall into that trap. “There is no you and me, Rhys.” She didn’t for one minute believe there was a future for the two of them. And she didn’t plan to be one of the many pictures she’d collected from some discarded society column.

“Are you trying to tell me that,” he said, nodding toward the small kitchenette where they’d made love, “didn’t mean anything to you.”

Shit
.

“Not what I’m saying.” Jade pulled away from him “You don’t have to give me false promises. It was what it was. Just like last time. Yes, it was wonderful, but you don’t have to turn it into something else.” Before her shaky legs could give her away, she sat, looking at him. A chill settled over his eyes, and it startled her. But it was gone just as quickly.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked.

No. No. No. Hell no
. “Are you ready to tell me the truth about the letters you’ve been receiving?”

His stony silence answered her question. He could tell her someone else’s secret, but he wouldn’t tell her his own.

“Then yes. Yes, that’s all I want.”

He nodded his head. “I have a meeting at two with the Tennessee Children’s Community Council. Would you please get the file for me?”

The fact that he switched roles so quickly dropped lead in the center of her stomach. She’d expected… No, secretly she’d
wanted
Rhys to try to persuade her they were something,
could
be something…different. Different from the rest. That she wouldn’t only be a picture in a column. That what they shared transcended everything he or she could ever hope for.

But he didn’t.

Which proved she was right. He was only saying those things so he could turn her into one of his friendly exes who said he was a great guy. It wasn’t going to happen. She didn’t need false platitudes or words to make her believe they were anything other than what they were. They slipped up. After fantasizing about the man and hearing those women tell her how wonderful he was and how good he was in bed, she had to experience it again for herself. It was the only reason she succumbed. And he, well, he was a man after all. Didn’t she tell herself many times before she started this assignment that he probably flirted with every woman that came within ten feet of him? She’d let herself become another willing woman on the Rhys Cunningham bedpost.

“Here you go,” she said, handing him the file after she found it.

“Thank you.”

And just like that, their conversation was over and it was back to business. He turned, walked to his office, and gently closed the door.

Isn’t this what you wanted?
she thought as a tear trickled down her cheek.

It took everything in Rhys not to slam the door behind him. The grip he had on the doorknob left an imprint in the palm of his hand. He paced between the door and his desk, and each time he got across the room, he reached out to grab the knob again, but something stopped him.

Words wouldn’t help him. Jade wasn’t the type of woman who believed words. She was a private investigator after all.
Action
. She witnessed people’s actions all the time. It was all she would believe. She’d spent half the morning interviewing a couple of the woman he’d been involved with the last few years. She wasn’t interested in hearing his words unless it was the truth about Maya and he couldn’t tell her that. God he wanted to. She’d understand then, he was sure of it, would know why keeping her identity a secret was important to him. He’d have to show her she meant more to him than a sexual interlude another way.