Bossman’s Baby Scandal (Kings of the Boardroom #1)(29)
Author: Catherine Mann

Aftershocks from her own completion still shuddered through her, her mind full of images of how he’d loved her through the night with his hands, his mouth, his body. Even his words as he told her over and over how much he wanted her, how hot she made him feel, how he couldn’t wait to have her again. She’d been totally out of control.

And that scared her to her dripping-wet toes.

Her skin cooling in the aftermath, she still couldn’t bring herself to move off his lap.

She’d remembered sex between them being good, but this tangled, combustible passion they’d explored again and again was beyond good. It was reckless and messy and mind-numbing, so much so that she could lose reason altogether and forget the independent life she’d painstakingly built for herself. She’d worked so hard to break free of the smothering, constricting family life she’d grown up in. Would she have the strength to assert herself with Jason when he could so quickly reduce her to a puddle of pleasure?

When they’d stepped into the spa shower together, she’d been sure she couldn’t make love again so soon, but he’d vowed they could make their way through one more of her fantasies before morning. All too quickly the stroke of his hands over her lathered body had sent her spiraling again until their oh-so-vocal coming together had echoed around the tiled walls.

Slowly, intensely. This was different from their frantic coupling on her work sofa, where he’d left her too quickly. She’d ached for more.

Now? He wrung every last orgasm from her, taking her to new heights after an already sensual night of lovemaking. She was so damn scared. She shivered against him.

Jason kissed her ear. “You’re cold. Let me take care of that for you.”

He lifted her off his lap gently, settling her on the other seat across from him before turning off the shower, brass fixtures steamed over. He stepped out onto the plush bath mat, opened the warmer drawer and passed her an oversize towel.

“Thank you.” She didn’t bother explaining that her shiver had come from another source altogether.

Lauren wrapped the heated folds around her and moved closer to the small fireplace in the bathroom. While this one had gas logs, instead of real wood, still it crackled with warm decadence. She’d been blessed to grow up in an affluent home, but even so, this remodeled bathroom impressed her.

That poor couple who’d broken up while decorating this home sure had put a lot of time and care into their renovations. Had they gotten a chance to enjoy the place at all before their marriage fell apart?

Toweling his back dry, Jason leaned to kiss her, firmly, but briefly. “Would love to linger, but I’m late for work.”

“Just blame me and my darn fantasies.” She forced herself to smile and go along with his lighthearted mood.

The faster she could get him out the door, the sooner she could restore order to her jumbled emotions. She could barely think now, much less trust herself to be reasonable.

All but impossible to do while watching his lean, muscled body saunter away into the walk-in closet. She recalled him explaining there had been a fifth bedroom on this floor, but a wall had been knocked out to create the spacious master bath and walk-in. How much daring it must have taken to boldly whack out walls, making such an irrevocable change in the hope that all would turn out the way you’d envisioned—a reckless daring she was pretty damn sure she didn’t possess.

Towel wrapped around her body, she combed through her hair as he rushed to dress.

He slipped into his loafers and snagged his briefcase on his way across the room toward her. “Sorry I have to work on Saturday, but I’ll be home by six. I have plans for the evening, so don’t bother with supper. I’ll be thinking about you.”

He kissed her again, longer this time, lingeringly—lovingly?—his tongue bold and possessive. The fresh taste of his mouthwash, the tangy scent of his aftershave, all sent her senses into overload. The man did know how to kiss and kiss well. And somehow the kiss meant all the more right now, because it obviously wasn’t going to lead to sex. They were both wrung out and he had to leave for work. The tender attention he gave to her lips, the time to just connect, spoke of something somehow as intimate as when he’d been buried deep inside her.

Her eyelashes were just fluttering open as the door closed behind him on his way out.

She sank onto the edge of the whirlpool tub. Even if she found the resolve to return to New York, she would come back here for visits with the baby. He would have to travel East, too.

How could she be in the same room with him in the future and not want him? Want this. Want more and more. For how long? Surely a fire this hot had to burn out.

And if it didn’t?

She’d had a front-row seat to the way her parents’ high-intensity emotions had consumed each other. She would be damned if she would relive it in her own marriage.

Ten

H e was making headway. He could feel it as surely as the sting of salt spray off the Bay.

Jason slid his arm around Lauren’s shoulders as they walked along the pier outside the yacht club where they’d consumed one helluva big dinner. He winced with guilt over making a pregnant woman wait an extra hour for supper.Damn, he hated running late, but this afternoon he hadn’t been able to avoid it. Prentice suddenly changed his mind about signing a teen pop star to endorse a line of beachwear. Not to mention Jason was juggling four other new accounts that needed settling in. At least they’d gotten to go out together on a Saturday night for an official date. And he intended to make the most of every minute to show her the many ways San Francisco living rocked.

How better to show her a number of sights at once than from…

“You have a boat?” Lauren exclaimed, her feet slowing along the dock. Waterfowl flapped overhead, local marshes rich and teeming with migrating birdlife during the winter months.

“Did I forget to mention that?”

“Uh, yeah, you did overlook it, because I’m sure I wouldn’t have zoned out this.” She swept her hand toward his Beneteau fifty-foot, performance/racing sailboat.

“I got a good deal on it from a guy whose business went belly-up. The custom-made boat had only just been delivered and in the water for a couple of months before he realized he would have to consolidate to avoid bankruptcy court.”

“It’s new, then?”

“Less than six months off the truck.” Zipping up his windbreaker, Jason could already feel the lulling give-and-take of the deck beneath his feet. He hoped she wasn’t the type to get seasick. It wasn’t a deal breaker, but it sure would suck, given this was his only real form of recreation. “Would you like to go out for a spin?”