STORY EXCERPT

It was none of his business now where she worked or what she did, and she would have no qualms about telling him. And considering their former relationship, wouldn’t that just shock his socks off.

Jack wasn’t a snob exactly, but his office was designed by an award-winning team of an architect and an artist, and his home was an immaculate masterpiece. His house even had a name. Money was never a consideration.

For Corinne, who had grown up in a kind but shabby foster home, it had been like walking into another world.

Corinne had almost been afraid to sit on the furniture at first, not because of anything Jack had said, but because of her own consciousness of the vast financial difference between them. At the time, Jack had assured her that the disparity didn’t matter at all to him, but in the back of her mind she still wondered.

“Whoever you left me for, he doesn’t take very good care of you if you have to work in this place.” His observation was unexpected. “Who was it, that baby-faced boy you almost pushed out the door earlier? What is he, twenty? He wouldn’t know what to do with a woman, particularly a woman like you. He could never begin to give you what you need.”

Corinne couldn’t hide her shock. She shook her head. Was that what Jack thought of her?

“I didn’t leave you because some other man came along. I just left,” she said in a clipped tone, ignoring the obvious reference to Rob, her manager. “I’m single.”

His head swung around, and his dark eyes pinned her in place.

“You expect me to believe you left me so that you could be alone?”

His tone was disbelieving, and she could hardly blame him. Her body still ached for his touch. The chemistry had been so hot, so good between them she could hardly believe it herself some days.

She felt tears welling up, but she blinked them back.

“I was alone when I was with you, Jack. You were so busy with work. We spent a day together maybe twice in the last few weeks we were together, and it was only for—” She stopped, feeling the flush rise in her cheeks. “Never mind.”

She really didn’t want to start a conversation about sex with him. He pushed her buttons so effortlessly he would have her right back in his bed in no time if she gave him even the slightest opening. This conversation was a minefield, and she needed to be careful.

“What is the real problem, Corinne?”

“Jack, it ended between us months ago. It’s practically ancient history. I don’t see any point in talking about it now.”

“I do. I intend to get some answers.”

His tone and the determined look on his face worried her. Jack could be a difficult man, tough and tenacious. He dressed with a devastating masculine style, but the well-cut clothing couldn’t disguise the sharp instincts of a street fighter underneath. If Jack truly wanted something, the rest of the world had better step aside or prepare for the fight of a lifetime.

“It’s been months,” she repeated. “Whatever the problem was, it doesn’t matter now. I solved it the best way I could. The only way I could. My reasons are my own.”

“It matters.”

She shrugged again.

He dragged a hand through his perfectly cut hair. It was clear that he was frustrated, but why would he be frustrated? He hadn’t even cared enough to let her know his plans before he left on a business trip. His frustration now was not her problem.

“Corinne, you know I had a multinational deal going on at that time. I was working with a broken business plan, a failing management team, and analysts arguing in three time zones. Every moment I was with you was stolen from work. That deal was important, damn it.”

She smiled and felt like crying.

“Yes, I know it was important.”

And didn’t that just say it all.

ADULT EXCERPT

Jack’s hand fell heavily on her knee and she couldn’t conceal her shudder of delight. He stroked up the inside of her thigh, and her legs parted naturally to make room for him.

“You’re in need, Corinne. I can see the signs. I can almost taste your sweetness in the air.”

She tried to find words to deny it, but there was nothing she could say. He knew her body too well. Her reckless response to him had already betrayed her.

When he pulled the car into the parking lot of a mall and found a partially shaded spot in an empty corner of the lot, a thrill shot up her spine.

“It’s time for dessert,” he said in a firm tone.

A shiver chased across her skin.

He released the clip on her seatbelt with one quick movement and pulled her out of her seat and into his lap. One click and his seat reclined until she was lying on his muscular chest.

The sun beat down on one side of the car, increasing the ambient heat as Jack looked into her eyes. The intensity of his gaze raised gooseflesh on her body and held her in place for his physical exploration.

His hands roved over her yearning flesh with devastating familiarity, lighting fires in her blood. When he reached her soft breasts and squeezed gently, she gasped at the thrilling sensation. The memories that she had pulled out nightly during the months she had spent alone didn’t come close to the real thing.

“Jack,” she said, and even she didn’t know if she intended to protest or beg that he continue.

His hands moved around and down to her upturned buttocks, squeezing and releasing the full globes. Corinne squirmed. It had been so long since she was spanked. She waited in an agony of anticipation, wondering if he would.

When his hand landed in a firm smack on her rounded bottom, she jolted as the familiar streak of fire shot through her veins. She could feel the reverberations in her hips and thighs. Her pussy was melting in the heat he created. He alternately slapped and caressed, warming the flesh while he stoked the blaze he was skillfully building in her treacherous flesh.

She couldn’t fight it, could do nothing but pant against his hot chest and take what he gave her. She remembered her safe word from their time together, but she didn’t really want to use it. The thick flow of delight was too tempting after such a long dry spell, and her defenses were down and out. All she cared about now was the pleasure and the connection between them.

His mouth came down on hers, and his hand moved up to cup her between her thighs, sliding under cloth to find skin. The calloused edge of his palm rubbed and pressed against her tender clit, and she shrieked into his mouth as her climax hit her with shocking speed and force.

Through her tremors, she felt his start of surprise.

“You haven’t been with a man in a long time. How long has it been?” he asked, and she could hear the surprise in his tone. He usually had plenty of time to tell her when to come. Not today.

Her voice was hoarse, but she managed to get the words out. “Since the last time we—” She couldn’t bring herself to say any more.

“In the study,” he said, and Corinne was surprised. She didn’t think he would even recall their last encounter. It had been simple vanilla, and for a man of Jack’s experience, that wouldn’t stand out at all.

“Didn’t you ever touch yourself? Even if you didn’t find a man you wanted, you know what to do. You could give yourself some ease.”

His fingers still rubbed gently over her sensitive flesh. She couldn’t think while he was doing that. She could feel the warmth from her spanked bottom and her own slippery wetness coating his fingers. She was still aroused. One tiny little climax was not going to fix three months of abstinence.

“It’s not the same,” she said, too hot to be cautious. She lifted her hips and pressed against his hand. “It’s not the same as having you inside me. Nothing else on earth is ever that good.”

He grimaced. “No, it sure as hell isn’t,” he said. “But I would like to bring it to your attention that we’re in a public place surrounded by cars and busy people. I want you until my cock throbs like a fucking toothache, but I don’t want to be arrested. My face is in the newspaper too much lately.”

Corinne moaned and writhed against him. She heard his words, but the message was beyond her. Her body moved ceaselessly against him, finding a kind of pleasure in the hard planes of muscle against her sensitive softness. He had taken her too high with the spanking, and she couldn’t make herself settle down.

“All right,” he said, “but you’re going to pay for this lack of discipline.” He fastened his mouth over hers, and her body rippled in response.