Kate Hewitt - Modern Romance April 2016

His mouth curved upward in a sardonic smile. ‘My parents would be enormously proud of you. You’re doing a perfect jealous fiancée impersonation.’

She snatched a glass of champagne off a passing waiter for something to do with her hands. ‘Don’t screw this up for me, Jake,’ she said through tight lips in case anyone nearby could lip-read. ‘I need to secure the booking for next year’s expo. Once that’s in the bag, you can go back to your “single and loving it” life.’

He trailed a lazy fingertip down her arm from the top of her bare shoulder to her wrist. ‘Just wait until I get you alone.’

Jaz shivered as his eyes challenged hers in a sexy duel. His touch was like a match to her tinderbox senses. Every nerve was screaming for more. ‘Now who’s overplaying it?’

He slipped a hand to the nape of her neck and drew her closer, bending down to press a lingering kiss on her lips. Even though Jaz’s eyes were closed in bliss she could see the bright flashes of cameras going off around them. After a moment he eased back and winked at her devilishly. ‘Did I tell you how gorgeous you look tonight?’

Jaz knew he was probably only saying it for the benefit of others but a part of her wanted to believe it was true. She placed a hand on the lapel of his suit jacket, smoothing away an imaginary fleck of lint. ‘You’ve scrubbed up pretty well yourself,’ she said. ‘Even without a tie.’

He screwed up his face. ‘I hate the things. They always feel like they’re choking me.’

Typical Jake. Hating anything that confined or restrained him. ‘I suppose that’s why you got all those detentions for breaking the uniform code at that posh school you went to?’

He grinned. ‘I still hold the record for the most detentions in one term. Apparently I’m considered a bit of a legend.’

Jaz shook her head at him, following it up with a roll of her eyes. ‘Come on.’ She looped her arm through his. ‘I want to have a look at the displays.’

* * *

Oh, joy, Jake thought as Jaz led him to where the wedding finery was displayed in one of the staterooms. The sight of all those meringue-like wedding gowns and voluminous veils was enough to make him break out in hives. Or maybe it was the flowers. There were arrangements of every size and shape: centrepieces, towers of flowers, bouquets, bunches and buttonholes. There were displays of food, wine and French champagne, a honeymoon destination stand and a bespoke jeweller in situ. There were a few men there partnering their fiancées or girlfriends but they were pretty thin on the ground. Jake understood Jaz wanted to secure her signing for next year but he couldn’t help feeling she had insisted he accompany her as a punishment.

But that was one of the things he secretly admired in her. She was feisty and stood her ground with him. She was the only woman he knew who didn’t simper at him or adapt to suit him. He felt the electric buzz of her will tussling with his every time she locked gazes with him. For years they had done their little stand-off thing. What would they do once they parted company? Would they go back to their old ways or find a new way of relating? With two family weddings coming up, it would be tasteless to be at loggerheads. There was enough of that going around with his parents’ carry-on. The dignified thing would be to be mature and civil about it and be friends.

But would he ever be able to look at her as a friend without thinking of how she came apart in his arms? How it felt when he held her close? How her mouth tasted of heat, passion and sweetness mixed in a combustible cocktail that made his senses whirl out of control? Would he ever be able to stand beside her and not want to pull her into his arms?

He’d slept with a lot of women but none of them had had that effect on him. He barely gave his lovers another thought once he moved on to the next. Was it because Jaz was someone who had always been on the periphery of his life? Sometimes even at the centre, at the very heart, of his family?

Had that familiarity added something to their love-making?

It wasn’t just physical sex with her. There were feelings there...feelings he couldn’t describe. He cared about her. But then everyone in his family cared about her.

Every time he looked at her he felt the stirring in his groin. He couldn’t look at her mouth without thinking of how it felt fused to his own. How her tongue felt as it played with his, how her body felt as she pushed herself, as if she wanted to crawl into his skin and never leave. Even now with her arm looped through his he could feel the brush of her beautiful body against his side. He couldn’t wait to get her back to their suite and get her naked.

They walked past a photographer’s stand but then Jaz suddenly swivelled and, pulling Jake by the hand, led him back to where the photographer had set up a romantic set with love-hearts, red roses and a velvet-covered sofa in the shape of a pair of lips. ‘Can you take our picture?’ she asked the photographer.

‘Sure,’ the photographer said. ‘Just sit together on the sofa there for a sec while I frame the shot.’

Jake looked down at Jaz sitting snuggled up by his side as if butter wouldn’t melt in her hot little mouth. ‘I’m keeping a score,’ he said in an undertone. ‘Just thought I’d put that out there.’

She gave him a sly smile. ‘So am I.’

Jaz thought she might have overdone it with the champagne, or maybe it was being with Jake all evening. Being with him made her tipsy, giddy with excitement. He never left her side; his arm was either around her waist or he held hands with her as she worked the room. It was a torturously slow form of foreplay. Every look, every touch, every brush of his body against hers was a prelude to what was to come. She could see the intention in his dark-blue gaze. It was blatantly, spine-tinglingy sexual. It made every inch of her flesh shiver behind the shield of her clothes, every cell of her body contracting in feverish anticipation.

‘Time for bed?’ Jake said, his fingers warm and firm around hers.

Jaz felt something in her belly slip sideways. When he touched her like that she couldn’t stop thinking of where else he was going to touch her when he got her alone. Her entire body tingled in anticipation. Even the hairs on the nape of her neck shivered at the roots. ‘I wonder if we’ll win the “most loved-up couple” photo competition?’ she said. ‘Or the all-expenses-paid wedding and honeymoon package? That would be awesome.’

His eyes sent her a teasing warning. ‘Don’t push it, baby girl.’

She laughed as he led her to the lift. ‘I can’t remember a time when I’ve enjoyed myself more. You should have seen your face when that florist threw you that bouquet. You looked like you’d caught a detonated bomb.’

The lift doors sprang open and Jake pulled her in, barely waiting long enough for the doors to close to bring his mouth down to hers in a scorching kiss. Jaz linked her arms around his neck, pressing as close to him as she could to feel the hardened length of him against her tingling pelvis. He put a hand on one of her thighs and hooked it over his hip, bringing her into closer contact with the heat and potency of him. She could see out of the corner of her eye their reflection in the mirrored walls. It was shockingly arousing to see the way their bodies strained to be together, the flush on both of their faces as desire rode hard and fast in their blood.

Jake put his hand on the stop button and the lift came to a halt. Jaz looked at the erotic intent in his eyes and a wave of lust coursed through her so forcefully she thought she would come on the spot. He nudged her knickers to one side while she unzipped his trousers with fingers that shook with excitement. How he got a condom on so quickly was a testament to how adept he was at sex, she thought. He entered her with a slick, deep thrust that made her head bang against the wall of the elevator. He checked himself at her gasp, asking, ‘Are you okay?’