JustOneTaste Read online

  As she began to remove the foil from the Cristal, David approached and took the bottle from her. “Allow me.”

  His nearness caused her body to react as it had in the elevator. Her pulse rate increased, her heart thumping rapidly against her ribs. She didn’t think he wore cologne. He smelled faintly of rain and earth, the musky undertone something Sarah could only describe as man.

  She closed her eyes, turning away so he wouldn’t see the acute yearning that must surely have flashed across her face. How long had passed since she’d been close enough to a man to notice his innate scent? Much, much too long if she’d been reduced to hiring company. To paying for sex.

  What on earth was she doing? Was she really this deprived? This lonely?

  Yes, Sarah, you are both those things—desperately so.

  The champagne cork made a muted pop as David worked it from the neck of the bottle with quiet skill. She was glad he hadn’t made a show of the task, spilling half the quality wine in the process. He wasn’t the boastful or flashy type, and Sarah was glad. He was so…nice. Certainly not the kind of male predator Sarah usually met in her social circle.

  “Here you are.”

  Sarah turned and accepted the half-filled crystal flute he proffered.

  He lifted one dark brow. “A toast?”

  Sarah gently touched the rim of her glass to his, showing him an ironic smile. “To taking risks.”

  David understood the significance. He smiled with much the same ruefulness. “Hear, hear.”

  They both took a sip of the champagne, the synchronized act conveying a sense of intimacy. Sarah wanted to do intimate things with David, was beginning to want it so badly the taste of it overtook that of the Cristal. Thank God he’s so attractive.

  Her blood gave another rushing pulse through her veins. She lowered the glass and licked a droplet of champagne from the corner of her mouth. David’s regard focused on the action, his eyelids easing down halfway over those beautiful espresso eyes. He let out a breath that stuttered past his lips. There was no mistaking it.

  He wanted her. And it wasn’t all an act.

  Sarah’s nipples peaked, protruding against the lace of her bra. David’s perusal slid from her face to her chest. His breath stuttered again as he looked his fill, his attention increasing her awareness of her own body, flaring her response to rampant life. Her breasts tingled and grew heavy, their crests turning to solid, distended pebbles that David must be able to see against the fine black wool of her dress.

  David’s attention snapped back to her face. He stood taller, appeared to shake himself. His voice was brusque. “Perhaps we should get down to business.”

  Sarah whirled away as if he’d slapped her. Of course, they weren’t here on a date. She ought to stop gawking at him as if she were Lois Lane and he Superman. Pathetic, Sarah. She’d paid him. He was in effect working for her. She really ought to start acting like what she was—the one in charge.

  The dampness at her center increased at the thought, causing the coolness in her blood to warm once again. Yes, she ought to take control of this situation, demand what she wanted. That was a role she was used to, at least professionally. In sexual terms, she’d always allowed men to take the lead but tonight could be different. She’d ordered a service. It was up to her to ensure she got exactly what she’d paid for.

  “I’m sorry,” David said, the hint of impatience gone. “That was rude of me. I’m not handling this well.”

  “It’s all right. I appreciate that you’re not the type to play games.”

  It was true. This would be so much easier if she approached the situation as she should have from the very beginning—like a business transaction. She took another sip of her champagne, studying him over the rim of her flute. The crystal caught the ambient lighting in the room and turned it to bursts of color.

  He was genuinely appealing. She didn’t even care that he hadn’t shaved before meeting her. The fine shadow of stubble gracing his jaw and upper lip was raw and sexy, another reminder that this man wasn’t like the impeccably groomed men of wealth and influence she usually encountered. The way he met her appraisal without shying away made liquid excitement infuse her.

  At length, he asked, “What’s going through your mind about me, Sarah?”

  Sarah held her breath and plunged in. “I suppose I’m wondering how long it’s going to take for you to kiss me.”

  To say that was the last thing David had expected to hear would have understated his shock dramatically.

  Kiss Sarah? He’d been thinking of little else since he first slipped into the lift. Had his interest been that obvious? How bloody embarrassing. Heat flushed his face. It intensified when Sarah laughed. “You’re a very intriguing man, David.”

  “The sentiment is mutual, Miss Harr—”

  She held up a hand to halt the formality. “Don’t you dare start calling me that now.”

  That was a fair request, considering she’d already worked out he’d been undressing her in his mind since the second he laid eyes on her. David considered apologizing again but he was beginning to sound ridiculous. The adage his mother taught him had served him well throughout his life. Honesty is the best policy. “I’d be lying if I said I don’t find you extremely attractive, Sarah.”

  She smiled. “I’d hate for you to tell a lie.”

  David responded to the curve of her lips in kind. “You won’t hold the fact I’m acting like a tongue-tied adolescent against me, will you?”

  “Why would I? It’s very cute.”

  David’s heart gave a solid thump because she’d labeled him cute. Get a grip, Genero. “And you must be used to men falling all over you. You’re handling me so well.”

  Interest flared in her eyes and David wondered if “handling me” was the right term to use. The images it conjured made the already significant issue he was dealing with in his trousers worse. Sarah’s fingers were long and tapered as they held the champagne flute, her fingernails French tipped and shiny white. David couldn’t help but imagine those pretty hands stroking up and down his cock, fondling his balls.

  “What I’m not used to,” she said, “is reticent men.”

  “Meaning?” David choked the query out, still distracted by the thought of her toying with his dick.

  “When I said I wondered when you were going to kiss me, I never said I didn’t want you to.”

  For the second time in as many minutes, Sarah had managed to shock David dumb. She didn’t shy away but let him see the desire, the amusement, behind her bold stare. Then she took a single step forward and turned her face, proffering her cheek.

  The wild pounding of David’s heart slowed—a little. Was this some American custom he’d never heard of? People in France kissed each other on the cheek all the time, even the blokes. So maybe filthy-rich heiresses from New York did it too.

  Well, he didn’t want to be culturally insensitive. Yeah, that’s why you’re going to kiss her. Poor excuse or not, David was willing to latch on to it. Anything to get closer to her, even for the briefest time.

  He took a step forward and bent his head. Reacting on instinct, he placed a hand on her elbow. Through the wool dress her flesh warmed his palm. The fragrant waft of designer perfume teased his senses as he leaned into her. David couldn’t distinguish one perfume from another but he did know Sarah’s chosen fragrance was intoxicating.

  As his cheek brushed hers, he heard the scrape of his stubble abrading her smooth skin and cursed that he hadn’t had a chance to shave. Sarah didn’t draw away from the roughness, instead pressing her cheek closer. Her hand rose to lie across his chest and David’s heartbeat accelerated in response. She must have felt it knocking fiercely against her palm because her hand flexed, those long fingers curling against his flesh and fisting his shirt in the process.

  This was supposed to be a perfunctory brush of cheeks but it was fast becoming so much more and David was within inches of making a complete fool of himself. If she leaned any closer
to him she’d soon discover what should have been a polite, businesslike gesture had given him the hard-on from Hades. And he hadn’t even pressed his lips to her skin.

  So do it. Kiss her cheek like she’s your grandmother and let her go as quickly as you can.

  David tilted his head, brushing his lips over her cheek. He got a tantalizing sense of how good she’d taste if he had the freedom to sample more of her, and he couldn’t prevent a groan from rumbling deep down in his throat.

  Sarah answered it with a silken purr before sinking closer to him, like a vine wilting in the sun. Her body bowed and melted, her breasts pressing to his chest. Her nipples poked through her underwear and thick wool dress, which only made him aware of how stiff and distended they must be. As stiff and distended as his dick was. Almost.

  David struggled to maintain his sense of decency as the soft crush of her body made everything inside him respond with animalistic enthusiasm. He started to draw away but she turned her face so their lips met before he could avoid the contact.

  She parted her lips against him, brushing her mouth from side to side until David groaned and pulled her closer, lost. Suddenly he was kissing her, full and robust on the mouth, tasting the champagne on her tongue and the forbidden nature of what he was doing. All of it made his head spin and thoughts of his uncle’s beloved vineyard spiral away like readily discarded flotsam.

  What am I doing? He was quite possibly ruining everything. Would Sarah Harrington do business with him after he kissed her like this?

  Would she do business with him if he rejected her?

  The thought cooled some of David’s ardor enough that he managed to wrench his mouth from hers. Was that what this was? Was he having the hard word put on him here? I’ll scratch your back if you scratch my itch?

  David drew back and stared into her face. All he saw there was dreamy desire. He couldn’t see the calculating woman it would take to make such a cold demand. “This is wrong.”

  “Morally? Perhaps.” Sarah teased the hair at his nape with her long fingernails as she pressed their lower bodies together. “But I know what I want and maybe that’s all that matters right now.”

  What a tempting, tempting concept. Live for the moment, forget about tomorrow, about right and wrong. David sucked in a harsh breath as she moved from side to side, teasing his erection. No way had she missed it thrusting like a stick of dynamite from his groin. “I want to be the voice of reason here but, Sarah, I’ve never kissed anyone as beautiful as you. It’s doing my head in.”

  She smiled. “You do know how to flatter a girl, David. You’re very sweet.”

  Sweet, ugh. David didn’t think himself the least bit sweet right now, not when he was struggling to holster some very primal urges. He gripped Sarah, stilling her sexy movements. “Please stop that.”

  Sarah stared at him, working something out in her mind. At last she said, “This really is the first time you’ve done anything like this, isn’t it?”

  “Hell yes.” What did she think? He’d slept his way into ownership of a barely breaking-even vineyard? It wouldn’t say much for his skills as a lover if that were the case. “Business and pleasure aren’t supposed to mix.”

  “How about for tonight we forget that it’s business. All I want is the pleasure.” Winding her arms around his torso, Sarah slipped her hands beneath his suit jacket and stroked those fingernails down his back through the thinner cotton of his shirt. “If I ask nicely, will you pleasure me, David?”

  Her request made a low, feral growl erupt from his throat. David reached down and grasped Sarah’s buttocks, squeezing the firm flesh. He could be forgiven for this, couldn’t he? He’d been honest and hardworking all his life. He paid his taxes, never mistreated women and hadn’t once raised his hand toward anyone for a reason other than self-defense. He was, he believed, a decent guy.

  Right now he needed that decent guy to go screw himself. Just bugger off for a bit while he took what Sarah was so blatantly offering.

  “Lady, you don’t even have to ask me nicely,” he said before swooping down once more to capture her mouth.

  Chapter Three

  For a first-time stud for hire, David was a truly terrific kisser.

  Sarah kept losing herself to the gentle demand of his lips, the hot sweep of his inquisitive tongue. Every time she told herself to move things along, get to the good stuff, she stopped herself with the realization that this was the good stuff. The swamping kisses that ratcheted the lust higher by degrees until she was panting and hot, ready for anything.

  She had no idea how much time passed but it seemed like ages before Sarah could bring herself to draw back and regain her breath. They were both still fully dressed. That was an irritant Sarah was no longer willing to endure.

  Reluctantly, she stepped out of David’s embrace and turned. Without issuing a verbal invitation, Sarah headed for the bedroom and its king bed covered in a magenta-and-gold quilt and a mess of throw pillows. She was aware of David’s intense focus on her as she parted the side zipper on her dress and let it slip from her shoulders. She was confident she looked good in the gauzy black lingerie and thigh-high stockings, complete with garter belt and heels. Her mother had taught her the importance of watching what she ate and Sarah enjoyed working out. At thirty-three she had the same body she’d had ten years ago.

  She rarely showed it off anymore. Two failed engagements, one that had ended only a year ago, had made her gun-shy when it came to men. But this wasn’t a potential relationship, this was a transaction. There was no chance she’d get hurt here, so Sarah enjoyed the appreciation in David’s assessment as she stripped, relished the haste she sensed in his strides as he followed her into the bedroom.

  From the doorway, he said, his voice husky, “I forgive myself.” Sarah glanced at him over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised. His perusal blazed a trail over her body that left gooseflesh. “This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, but you are bloody perfect. So I forgive myself.”

  Sarah delighted in the rough compliment, her curiosity about this man digging a little deeper. He really was wrestling with the whole sex-for-cash thing. Thank goodness the fiscal details had been handled by his agent—or madam, whatever she was called. Sarah couldn’t imagine David nonchalantly slipping a roll of fifties into his suit jacket.

  Speaking of which, she wanted his off. She needed to see if those broad shoulders of his were as solid and strong as they had felt through the layers of fabric. “Take off your coat.”

  His lips quirked as he pushed off the doorjamb with his shoulder and prowled into the room. He slipped off his suit jacket and laid it across a chair in the corner. He went automatically for his tie then stopped. He met her gaze. “This too?”

  Between Sarah’s thighs, damp heat flared. “Yes,” she rasped.

  Sarah watched, captivated, as David slowly undid his tie and slipped it off. The slide of silk made a faint whoosh in the silence that tantalized Sarah’s senses. When he made no move to release any of the buttons on his shirt, her nipples became pained peaks. He was going to make her push for all of it. She wouldn’t have thought that would make her so hot.

  “Unbutton your shirt and take it off.”

  The first glimpse of brown skin at his throat make her knees weaken. Sarah sat on the bed, hoping she appeared more nonchalant than she was as she watched him. There was a patch of dark hair in the center of his chest. As he released more of the buttons, Sarah followed its path downward with her eyes, until the tantalizing strip disappeared beneath his waistline.

  She saw the telltale bulge behind his fly and her mouth watered. Holding off on making the demand that leapt to her tongue, Sarah settled for drinking in the sight of him shirtless.

  He was incredible. Steely muscle overlaid by golden flesh and that fine peppering of masculine hair. He hadn’t built that body in a gym, the definition wasn’t orderly. But he was strong everywhere and so male in a way that was raw, not carefully sculpted. Sarah couldn’t believ
e her luck in being sent this man. He was hers for the night, and the realization made her pussy contract in anticipation.

  “Sarah.” The rough edge in his voice made her meet his eyes again. The passion she saw swirling there took her breath. “Keep staring at me like that and I can’t promise I’ll continue to be so polite.”

  His warning increased her arousal tenfold. He might be allowing her to lead but her mastery of the situation was tenuous. It made the idea of commanding his actions all the more exciting. “Come over here and kiss me again.”

  Pushing out an uneven sigh, David advanced. He leaned over her like a beautiful threat and twined strong fingers around her neck. When his lips were an inch from hers Sarah raised her hand and put her fingers against his mouth. If he kissed her like he had out in the living room she’d lose control of herself completely.

  Her heart thundered as she issued her next order. “Not on the mouth. Everywhere else.”

  His breath was hot on her fingertips as he groaned. The look he gave her singed her where she sat. He nipped lightly at the pads of her fingers before releasing them and lowering his face to her throat.

  The stubble was a delicious scrape against the sensitive skin there, the soft abrasion quickly soothed by the warmth of David’s tongue swirling over her thumping pulse point. He sucked her flesh into his mouth, as though he wanted to taste every layer of flavor she had to offer. Then he moved lower, working his way over her collarbone until he encountered the strap of her bra.

  He lifted his head, holding her gaze as he slipped the strap down her shoulder. Her breasts were so swollen that the slightest shift of that fine fabric made the taut crest pop out of its confines. His breath fanned over it, hot and tantalizing. “Would you like me to kiss you here?”

  “God, yes.”

  “Soft or hard?”

  She’d never been asked anything like it before. In her experience men simply saw what they wanted and took it. Sometimes she enjoyed the consequences, sometimes not. What do you want, Sarah? He’ll give you anything. The thought make her inner self pulse and flood. “Brush your lips against me, softly. Then use your tongue.”