Stroke of Midnight Read Free Page A

athlete. The scent of her perfume, sultry and sexy, rose to him. “I saw you yesterday,” he confessed. “You walked in through security, dropped your backpacks, put your hands on your hips and looked the crowd over. You were…splendid.”
    “That’s an odd word.” The smile in her eyes asked for more.
    “Wild hair, wild beauty, wild eyes.” He drank in the sight of her glowing skin, kissable lips, high brow.
    Red crept from her neck to her ear lobes. “Tangled hair, pale skin, bloodshot eyes.”
    “Eyes that soaked up everything, darted everywhere, dismissed people, cars, men, women. I wanted you to look at me. To see me. To know I was looking at you. Wanting you.” The skin of her neck looked soft, so inviting he wanted to nip it. Lick it. Suck it. He settled for whispering against her ear. “You don’t know how happy I am that it was your brother, not a husband, you were looking for.”
    She shuddered in his arms. “I can’t think straight.”
    “Don’t think, just answer. Is there a man?”
    “No. Is there a woman?”
    “I don’t cheat. Never have.”
    She nodded. “Good. Then I guess we need to get this out of the way.”
    She raised up to her tiptoes and kissed him. Startled, he took a second to process the taste and feel of her. She tasted of passion and hot welcome. Delicious. Her lips felt so fucking good, so his , his heart stuttered.
    Then he took over.
    He skimmed the crease of her mouth lightly, in a coax that took a heartbeat to work. She opened enough to let him slide the tip of his tongue into the moistness of her mouth, swept his way along the tender flesh of her lower lip from side to side then moved in to taste her. Her stance shifted against him and he burned against the softness at the juncture he wanted most to explore.
    Every molecule of blood he possessed raced to pool in his loins. His tongue felt hers reach toward him, dart and dance along the length, making him groan into her mouth at the images she put into his mind. And then he couldn’t think anymore. He ground his hips against hers and she ground back. There was a moan from one of them but the sound was soon swallowed.
    Electric heat burned up his spine, sparklers exploded between his shoulder blades where her palms kneaded. He kissed her soft lips hard and took all he could. He didn’t mean to be greedy, but damn, this was some woman.
    She pulled back, covered her lips with two fingers. “Dear God,” she said, looking stunned.
    “Still think it’s wrong?”
    She nodded. “It’s probably the wrongest thing I’ve ever done.”
    “But you’re going to do it anyway.”
    “I believe I am.” Her voice held the same kind of wonder he felt. A wonder he wanted to hold on to.
    “Come with me to Paris,” he said. “We’ll have lunch in a café I know. We’ll have dinner in London, stay at my townhouse. Do whatever you want.”
    Her gaze sharpened. “So you can do whatever you want.”
    “Don’t think it won’t be mutual. You’ll get as much out of this as I will.” He twined a curl of auburn around his finger, coaxed her close for another kiss. She gave him what he wanted and more. Her tongue danced with his, her hips eased against him, her fingers slid from his back to his belly and clutched at him. Oh God, she’s hot.
    He was on fire.
    “How long?” she asked.
    “A week?” It was more time than he hoped for, but not enough.
    “You said lunch and dinner.”
    “I want more.”
    “So do I. I have two weeks. My vacation time. My first vacation ever.”
    “Starting when?”
    “Right now.”
    “Thank you.” The words were lost in the fire of another kiss.
    The familiar rumble of the flat deck cart caught him and they pulled apart. “Get a room, buddy.”
    She laughed and the sound of it lightened the pulse that pounded through his brain. He could think again. And thank the fates for giving him two weeks of heaven with Jaye Sinns.

Chapter Two
    Thirty minutes later Jaye was in her brother’s suite with