Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Series) (16 page)

She laughed. “Both. I am a businesswoman and though all art tells a story, I only show art that appeals to my heart.”

“
Mind if I look around while you work?”

“
Help yourself.” Alexi turned on the lights and locked the door to the shop. “I’ll be in the office at the back.”

“
Okay.” His attention was only half on her retreating backside. He had the idea that he might learn a lot about her through the art she chose to exhibit. Accented by rich, wood tones, and sedate gray-blue carpet, the gallery displayed in an uncluttered, tasteful manner, a varied collection of art mediums. Sleek mahogany sculptures, modern acrylics in bold colors, shelled pottery, seascapes that breathed the wild spray of the ocean and the gentle ebb of the tide. But the one section that caught and held his interest was historic and traditional in tone. The paintings were oil, focused in the center, and misty towards the edges, as if each picture was but a dream, or a fading memory of the past.

Done in deep tones, dark greens and blues, jeweled reds and gold, they were of knights, and forests, and ladies in Medieval dress. Jesse wasn’t sure why, but he’d bet that these were Alexi’s favorites, because each picture told a very real story.

Smiling, he made his way back to her office to see if he was right. The door was open and he stepped inside. She was studying a series of enlarged, framed photographs set up on easels along one side of her office, which looked more like an English drawing room instead of just a functional office space.

The subject of the photos hit him with a punch. They were nudes, very sensual, very evocatively done in shades of black and white. Their faces were cast in shadows, but their body language said it all. Pure passion.

Alexi was so engrossed in the photo of a perfectly muscled man that she didn’t hear him enter. In the picture, a man reached for an apple, and subtly double exposed over him was the figure of a woman awaiting her lover. The photo told one hell of a story, but Jesse was more interested in the way Alexi’s rose colored dress clung provocatively to her ass.

His want of her ran like a fever in his blood--always there, ready to surge to the surface. He moved up behind her and spoke low into her ear. “If I were him and you were her, I’d definitely bite the apple.”

Alexi jumped and he snaked his arm out to catch her about the waist and pull her against him.

She didn’t look back at him, but kept her gaze on the photographs. "You don't think they're too much?"

"I think they're just right. Like you, sensual and beautiful." He pressed closer to her, molding his body to her back. Today she smelled of roses, soft, sweet, velvety roses. “Do these pictures turn you on, Lexi? Do you want a man to hold you like that?” He pointed to the entwined couple.

"You liked the mirror. That turned you on. What about a picture of yourself with a lover? Would it fascinate you to see us captured on film in a passionate embrace?”

CHAPTER NINE

Jesse heard Alexi’s breath catch. “No,’ she said, but there was no outrage in her voice. In fact, her slight breathless quality told him a little bit of a different story.

“
Let's play what if,” he said softly, running his fingertips from her stomach to lightly caress the sides of her breasts then up to her shoulders. “What if I were an artist, or a photographer, and you came to see me about exhibiting my work because of the story you saw within my art. Maybe I’m an artist who paints Medieval pictures, like the ones in your gallery.”

Alexi angled her head back to see him. Her eyes gleaming with interest and he knew he’d been right about those pictures being her favorite. “You walked through the door and captured my imagination and my desires. I wanted you and you wanted me. Would you succumb to the passion of the moment?”

“
Maybe,” she said, so low he could hardly hear her.

He unbuttoned the back of her dress, placing tiny kisses along her spine as he moved down. "Would you let me seduce you? Undress you?"

She didn’t tell him to stop, so he delved deeper into the fantasy.

“
Would you let me capture your beauty and grace in my art?” He slipped her dress off her shoulders and arms and kissed the nape of her neck.

“
I’d paint you on that Victorian couch. I’d put you naked against all that resplendent propriety. Do you want to see how I’d paint you, Lexi?”

For a long moment she didn’t answer and he wondered if this little fantasy pushed her limit. Reaching around, he cupped her breasts, rubbing her nipples through the white lace of her bra. She pressed her bottom back against him and pleasure raced along his nerves, kicking his heart to a faster pace. “Can I show you, Lexi? Can I pose you naked? Here. Now. Can I show you how I’d see you, if I were the one taking pictures like these of you?” He nodded towards the nudes splayed before them.

“
Yes,” she said, stirring his blood even more.

He unclipped her bra, draped it over the Adam and Eve picture, and pushed her dress from her hips so that she only wore white lace panties and black come-on shoes. “Come with me then.” Taking her hand, he led her to the green and gold brocade couch. He placed the pillows at one end and turned her to face him. Her pupils dilated and her lips parted in a soft invitation to kiss her. He did.

He kissed her over and over until she had the dazed look of a woman ready for anything a man had to give. Then he turned his attention to her breasts. “I see you as a woman waiting, on the verge of climaxing. I’d paint you, or photograph you that way, knowing that the edginess to your sensual beauty was there because of me. And anytime I looked upon the picture, I’d remember loving you, taking you in a red hot moment."

He moved her back to the couch, his blood thrumming with anticipation. "Sit here and lean back on the pillows. So far back that your breasts are lifted, wanting a lover’s touch. She leaned back, but not far enough. "More, Lexi, give me more."

He eased her shoulders back and pressed another pillow behind the middle of her back. Then when she was just right, he kissed and sucked her nipples to hard points. She moaned.

"Good. That's right, sunshine. Get hot for me, burn for me." He stepped back to look at her. Damn but he was ready to take her now, so ready to bury himself inside her heat. But not just yet, he wanted more first.

She watched him from beneath her lowered lashes. Sliding his hand down her chest and across the smooth expanse of her stomach, he cupped her damp sex through the lace. After a few pleasing strokes, he moved to her thighs and pressed them open. "Bend your knee, Lexi. Put your heel upon the sofa, so that your come-on black shoe is in front of your white lace underwear. Now put your other foot on the floor and let your leg fall to the side, so that you're open for me."

He stepped back to look at her and more blood surged to his erection. "One last thing, Lexi. One more thing before I come deep inside you. I want you to touch yourself right where you need me the most. Show me, sunshine, show me where you’re hot."

Her eyes widened and her breasts rose higher as she breathed deeper. He knew she'd never touch herself intimately before a lover. "Show me, Lexi. Show me where you want me. Let me watch you touch yourself."

He watched her intently, waiting for her. She moved slowly at first as she slid her hand down her stomach. "Here." She brushed the top of her lace panties. "I want you here."

"More," he said softly, deeply. "Let me see more."

She slid her fingers beneath the edge of her underwear. "That's right. That's what I want. Let me see you."

Little by little she pushed the lace down, her fingers sliding into the soft curls to rub herself. "There, Lex, I'm taking your picture in my mind."

"No," she said, still touching herself. "Take me. Let me feel you here." He watched as she exposed more of herself for him to see. He didn't need another invitation. He stripped, grabbed a condom from his wallet, and slid it on. Moving over to the couch, he grabbed her panties and pulled them off as she lifted her hips for him. Then pulling her bottom to the edge of the couch, he got on his knees and drove inside her. She cried out his name, but he was beyond hearing. With the fantasy whetting both their appetites, the pace of their need was fast and furious. The blood roared in his ears as he held onto her hips and drove himself into oblivion. He couldn't stop, couldn't even slow down to see if she was reaching a peak as high as his. All he could do was bury himself into her again and again until an orgasm greedily consumed him.

"Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!" Alexi cried out as wave after wave of pleasure gripped her body, jerking her hips upward and upward. It was as if her entire body and her consciousness coalesced to the juncture between legs. Jesse kept driving pleasure deeper and deeper into her soul. She came once the moment he entered her, she came a second time as he drove into her again and again, and then as his pace quickened, she rode on a crest of pleasure that she didn't ever want to let go of, even if it killed her. She wanted to keep writhing on that sharp edge of ecstasy forever, locked with him deep inside her.

She heard someone repeatedly crying out and it wasn't until Jesse collapsed on top of her, his breathing ragged, his body trembling, that she realized she was the one screaming with pleasure. She was dizzy, she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and her body was a mass of sweet aching. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and held him closely to her, lightly caressing his damp skin, feeling his heart hammer and his muscles quiver.

Was sex supposed to be this way? This mindless need to mate with one man? Yesterday wasn't just a fluke, a spur of the moment passion with a man she barely knew. Because just now, after all the doubts she'd harbored about him all day, making love with him now had surpassed yesterday. Her need for him had been greater and deeper, the connection between them more intense. He had a way of getting under her skin, making her want and do things she'd never consider doing.

The chimes to the front door of the gallery rang out. She'd locked the door hadn't she? "Jesse! Someone is here!" She pushed on his chest.

"What?" he asked lifting from her.

"Someone is here. I heard the front door chimes."

"Who? You locked the door. I saw you."

"Then it must be Karin Taylor, my assistant and Lucy’s mom." Underwear in hand, Alexi scrambled for her dress, but couldn't see straight. "She's the only one who has a key. I can't believe I did this." She lowered her voice to a whisper.

He shoved her dress at her. "Relax. I've got it covered." He walked naked to the office door. Closed it quietly and locked it. Then silent as a cat moved back and dressed. Alexi blinked. It was as simple as that and she'd been in a panic to be caught naked in her office. She was still wrestling with the buttons on her dress by the time he’d finished dressing. He brushed her fingers aside and fixed her dress.

“
Alexi?” Karin knocked on the door, calling out.

“
I’m here.” Shoving her underwear into her desk, she headed to the door, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Walking into the room, Karin smiled, shaking her head. Alexi was surprised to see Benny was with Karin. Alexi introduced Jesse to Karin and to Benny again.

“
So you’re the balloon bearing Prince Charming my daughter Lucy is raving about. I just left the hospital to get a few things and she is all but bursting at the seams over her dancing balloons. Thank you.” Karin gave Jesse a warm handshake.

“
I hope you understand when I say the pleasure was all mine,” Jesse replied. “She’s a special little girl.”

“
God truly blessed me with her. She was born at Memorial Hospital. I remember holding her and feeling as if I’d received the most precious gift I could ever receive.” Karin turned away and Alexi saw the hint of tears in Karen’s eyes. Reaching out, Alexi took hold of Karin’s hand, giving it a good squeeze before letting it go. As much as Alexi hurt about Lucy’s situation, she knew it couldn’t compare to what Karin must feel.

Karin steeled her shoulders and smiled. “I don’t have much time because I want to get back to stay with her, but when I saw the lights on inside the gallery, I had to check if everything was all right. Benny drove up about the same time as I did.”

“
Right-O,” Benny said, holding up a folder. “I saw the lights and wanted to give you the good news. The hotel had a cancellation for the big ballroom and offered to move the art auction into it for no additional cost. Now we can have the pre-auction viewing at the hotel, too. I’ve put together a layout for the displays.”

“
Uh, good.” Alexi said, only half hearing Benny’s news. She was too mortified over seeing her bra draped on one of the nude pictures across the room. She tried to catch Jesse eye, hoping he could make the bra disappear before anyone else noticed, but Jesse was looking at Benny rather intently, as if the man had his pants on upside-down.