He kissed her again, devouring her soft lips and thinking he could definitely get used to this.
Jayla awoke when she heard the ringing of the telephone. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand indicated it was the wake-up call she had ordered. She watched as Storm reached over, picked up the receiver and, without answering, hung it back up. He then met her gaze and for a moment she thought she saw a quick instant of regret in his eyes when he said, “I guess it’s time.”
“Yeah, it seems that way,” she said softly, not wanting to get out of bed and get dressed, although she knew that she should. She needed to go to her room and pack. Her flight was scheduled to leave in a few hours and she had to make sure that she arrived at the airport on time.
Heat spread low in her belly when Storm continued to look at her. Whenever he looked at her, it did things to her. She would remember every moment of last night. She had entered his hotel room and he had closed the door behind them. She had walked into his embrace and the kiss they’d shared had been blazing and within seconds he had removed her dress and panty hose, leaving her wearing only a thong.
She would never forget the way he had looked at her, how he had swept her up into his arms and carried her over to the bed and made love to her as if pleasing her were the most important thing in his life. The lovemaking that they had shared had been simply amazing.
“Do you need help packing?” he asked, looking breath-takingly handsome, sleep-rumpled and delicious. He smiled as he braced himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. He reached out and gently touched the nipples of her breasts. They hardened with his touch and she felt a warmth begin to build between her legs.
She returned his smile, knowing if she were to take him up on his offer she would never finish packing. “Thanks for the offer, but I believe I can manage.”
She felt her smile slowly fade away as reality set in. Although she did not regret any of the time she had spent with him, she knew it was about to end. There was no other way, and it would be for the best. She had to shift her focus away from Storm and back to the baby she wanted more than anything. As soon as she got home, she would schedule an appointment with the fertility clinic to get things started. A continuation of Storm in her life would only complicate things and she didn’t do well with complications. Besides, she knew there was no Mr. Right for her, especially one by the name of Storm Westmoreland.
So why was it so hard for her to get out of his bed? And why did she want to make love to him again, one last time before she finally walked out the door?
“I enjoyed our time together, Jayla.”
His words interrupted her thoughts and she met his gaze, studied his eyes. “I did, too, and still no regrets, right?”
He reached out and threaded his fingers through her hair. “No regrets. We’re adults and we did what we wanted to do.”
A smile curved her mouth. “Thank you Storm for showing me how great lovemaking can be.”
He looked at her, countered her smile. “You’re welcome.”
“But life goes on,” she decided to say when more than anything she wanted to kiss him.
He nodded. “Yes, life goes on, but it won’t be easy. If I were to run into you anytime soon,” he said, gently smoothing his fingertips across her cheek, “there’s no way I’ll see you and not think about that red dress and those killer high heels, not to mention the only thing you were wearing under that dress.”
She chuckled. “Shocked you, huh?”
A huge smiled tipped one corner of his mouth. “Yeah, you shocked me. You also pleased me.”
Storm decided that what he couldn’t tell her was that she was unlike any woman he had ever known. She was someone who could laugh with him, tease him and talk to him just about anything. And the sex had been amazing and there was no way he could let her go without making love to her again. He needed this one last time to seal the memory of their time together into his mind forever.
Forever.
That was a word he had never included in his vocabulary, one he had never associated with a woman. He didn’t do forever, and never thought about it. But he had to admit that with Jayla Cole, he thought of things he had never thought of before. And he was glad for the time they had spent together. He had learned things about her that he otherwise might not have known, such as her passion for strawberry cheesecake and how she volunteered her spare time at Emory University Hospital’s Cancer Center.
“Storm, I need to get up, get dressed and leave.”
He stared at her, feeling a sense of finality and a part of him felt a sense of loss he’d never experienced before and one he couldn’t explain. And then, suddenly, he wanted her with an urgency he had never wanted her or any woman before. Blood rushed through his veins and he breathed in deeply.
“Storm…”
He looked at her and his breath stopped. He had to have her again, this one last time. He eased her beneath him the same moment that he lowered his head and captured her lips, tasting her, mating his tongue over and over with hers. She had stamped her mark on him and now he was going to make sure he stamped his on her.
For just a little while, he would make her his, and if he lived a hundred years, there would be no regrets. What he would have were memories to last a lifetime.
And from the way she was returning his kiss he could tell she wanted those memories, too.
Six
“So, how was your trip to New Orleans?” Lisa Palmer asked as she sat back in her chair at Jayla’s kitchen table.
Jayla looked up and met her best friend’s curious stare. “It was fine. Why do you ask?”
“Because I’ve noticed that since you’ve been back, you haven’t said much about it.”
Jayla drew in a deep breath and wished she could ignore Lisa’s curious scrutiny. It was just like Lisa to pick up on her reference about the trip. She knew that sooner or later she would have to come clean and tell her friend everything, including her planned trip to the fertility clinic.
“Umm, why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling me something?”
Cupping her chin in her palm, Jayla forced a smile. “You’re imagining things.”
Lisa shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.” She gazed at her thoughtfully, then said, “There’s something different about you. You look more relaxed and well-rested which can only mean one thing.”
Jayla swallowed, wondering if she really had a different look about her. “What?” she asked softly.
Lisa’s lips tilted into a deep smile. “That you got plenty of rest this trip, which is a good thing that I didn’t go with you. Had I gone I would have worn you out with endless shopping and—”
“I ran into someone.”
Lisa lifted a brow. When seconds ticked off and Jayla didn’t say anything else, Lisa scooted closer in her chair. “Okay, are you going to keep me in suspense or are you going to tell me?”
Jayla took a sip of her lemonade before responding. “I ran into Storm Westmoreland.”
Lisa placed her glass of lemonade down on the table. “Storm Westmoreland? The Perfect Storm?”
Jayla chuckled. “Yes, that Storm.”
Lisa stared at her for a moment as she recalled Jayla once telling her about the crush she’d had on Storm Westmoreland at sixteen. And, like most women in the Atlanta area, she also knew about his reputation as a womanizer, and that’s what bothered her the most. “What was Storm Westmoreland doing in New Orleans?” she asked, having a feeling there was a lot more to the