She tossed a trio of square packs on the bedside table beside him and then, still standing, the moonlight glinting on her skin, she put her hands to the hem of her short, silk gown and slowly raised it.
He watched, not daring to blink in case he missed something, his eyes taking in every superb inch as she revealed herself.
Long, elegant legs, rounded hips with that glorious triangle beckoning, then the long, lean abdomen of a runner, and the small, perfect breasts.
She pulled the gown over her head and let it float to the ground.
Naked, she walked to the bed to join him.
* * *
LAUREN HAD NO IDEA what she was doing, but ever since she’d woken to find Jackson mysteriously in her bed, she’d followed her instincts.
For all she knew, she was dreaming, and this was nothing but a wet dream.
But what a wet dream.
When she kept his mouth busy doing other things besides insulting her, he was good company. Especially naked. And as she looked at that mouth, she knew she was going to keep it very busy for the next few hours.
She slid back into bed, settled herself against him once more and put all thoughts of tomorrow out of her mind.
This was a sex fantasy, she reminded herself.
Nothing but a wet dream. And dreams were always gone in the morning.
As he moved against her, she loved the feel of his hair-roughened skin against her smoother flesh, loved the muscles—and who cared how he’d come by them, really.
When he slipped a hand between her thighs and found that perfect spot, she forgot to think at all.
Sensation. That was all she had. The quiet lap of waves outside mingled with their soft sighs as their excitement increased.
The moonlight cast the night in the colors of a dream.
The tiniest taste of scotch when she kissed him, and the taste and smell of hot, horny male when she moved her mouth down to his chest.
He played at her wetness, taking her relentlessly up. Slipping a finger inside her to stroke deep. She felt herself growing slicker, felt her hips dance in time with his knowing fingers.
The first climax took her so sweetly it was on her almost before she knew it, so she felt tossed as surely as one of those waves out there lapping the beach.
She kissed him: part gratitude, part demand.
She wanted more, so much more, and based on the rock-hard cock pushing against her thigh, she wasn’t alone.
He fumbled for a condom from the night table and, with a lot more haste than finesse, sheathed himself.
When he rolled over her, she opened for him, finding, to her surprise, that she was trembling. Almost a year had passed since she’d last been intimate with a man. She’d been so busy working a second job to support her stained-glass business that she hadn’t missed the time commitments of a relationship, or the sex.
Or had she?
He kissed her deeply as his body entered hers. There was a moment, when they were fully connected and his hips rested against hers, that she felt as though she couldn’t breathe, that she’d fallen off a cliff without noticing it was there.
Then he kissed her once more and the strange feeling fled. He began to move, slowly at first, and then faster. When they moved together she felt stunned that their bodies had a perfect ease that their daily selves had no idea of.
She felt a kind of magic happening. His face was shadowed where he gazed down at her and she wanted to see him.
She nudged him, and they rolled together until she was on top of him, her knees anchoring her to the bed. She felt him deep inside her. As she began to move, finding the perfect angle, she felt the beginning tremors of another climax. She gripped his hands, stared into that rugged, way too gorgeous face, blue eyes that could suck a foolish woman into their depths, and rode him until her head fell back as she cried out. Even on the echo of her own cries, she heard his.
When she floated back to earth, she slumped down on top of him and he put an arm around her and stroked her back.
Hours later, her well-loved body finally fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Lauren wasn’t sure what woke her. Her eyes felt heavy, her body completely relaxed. When she opened her eyes it took her a split second to recognize where she was and another split second for memory to flood her.
She turned and discovered what had woken her. Jackson was dressing. A glance at the bedside clock told her it was 6:00 a.m.
In the dawn light he seemed like a shadow, this man who had shared her bed and brought her so much pleasure. They’d gone through all three condoms and each time she’d thought nothing could ever feel as good. And then the next time it had been even better.
She realized that, from the time she’d opened her eyes long after midnight to find him naked beside her, until now, they hadn’t exchanged one word.
As though feeling her gaze on him, he looked over at her, his Irish blue eyes questioning.
“What happened last night...?” he began in a husky voice that petered out as though he had no idea how to finish the sentence.
“Nothing happened last night,” she said. And as the words came out of her mouth she understood that was exactly the way they needed to play this.
Somehow he’d ended up in her room and she recalled the expression on his face when he’d realized he was in her bed. He’d looked as shocked as she’d felt. She strongly suspected their night together had been orchestrated by the frat boys.
The best way to spoil their juvenile fun was to let them think their schoolboy antics had failed.
Nothing about last night had been a prank, or a joke.
It had been a sexual fantasy come true. If the man who’d rocked her world answered to anything other than Jackson Monaghan, she could imagine hoping this was the beginning of something.
But the man was Jackson Monaghan.
“Nothing. Happened.” She repeated the words, knowing he understood exactly what she was saying.
To her relief, he nodded, and after opening the door carefully and glancing up and down the hallway, he sent her a wave, and was gone.
LAUREN SHOWERED, DID her hair and makeup with more care than usual and then dressed in the outfit she’d brought with her, knowing that she’d be seeing most of the wedding party and quite a few of the guests at breakfast.
There was no formal meal, but since checkout was at eleven, she imagined most of the guests would wander in and out before then.
She walked into the restaurant where the hotel served breakfast. She’d agreed to meet Amy’s parents here for breakfast and she had a feeling that Amy and Seth would make an appearance, too. Then they’d be heading off the island and driving to LA for their evening flight to Italy, where they were spending their honeymoon.
Amy’s parents were giving her a lift back to the mainland, where she’d left her car.
She quelled the cowardly impulse to hide in her room until ten fifty-five and then dash down to drop her key at the front desk and claim her ride with Amy’s folks. But, she told her reflection in the mirror as she swiped a confident berry shade on her lips, that might give Jackson the idea that he’d rocked her world or something and that she was too shy to face him this morning.
That thought was enough to get her out the door with her head held high.
When she got to the restaurant it was all very unexciting. No gales of laughter or crude jokes