Bachelor Unleashed (6 page)

She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I’d love to go see
Hair
with you. What time does the show begin?”

“Eight. I’ll be there to pick you up around seven if that’s okay with you.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby.”

She hung up the phone knowing she needed to build up her resolve that no matter what, she would not be sharing a bed with Xavier while she was in New York.

Chapter 6

“C
ircle around the block a few times, Jules. I should be back out in a few minutes.”

“Yes, Mr. Kane.”

Xavier tightened the coat around him as he made his way toward the hotel’s entrance. He was early, intentionally so, and that meant Farrah would not be in the lobby waiting on him, ready to go. He would let her know he’d arrived and ask if he could come up to her hotel room.

He was a man who usually didn’t like playing games; however, under these circumstances, he wasn’t averse to having a game plan. He couldn’t help but smile when he thought of all the things Cameron had done to win Vanessa over. For Xavier, it wasn’t that kind of party, definitely not one that serious. All he wanted was his bed partner back, not a woman to make his wife. So he wouldn’t go to the extremes as Cam had done.

However, he knew the key to winning a woman over was to discover her weakness and use it against her. He had no problem doing that if it meant getting his libido back on track. He needed to use the same tactic Farrah had mentioned she’d used on the two women with whom she was holding mediation sessions. He would force Farrah to remember what they once had and why it was way too good to give up.

He glanced around the lobby before pulling out his cell phone. He swiped his finger across Farrah’s name that was already programmed in his iPhone. She picked up immediately. “Yes?”

“I arrived a little early. If you’re not ready I can come up and wait.”

“No need. I’m ready.”

He was surprised. “You are?”

“Yes,” she said, and he could swear he heard a smile in her voice. “For some reason I figured you might be early.”

He lifted a brow. “Did you?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. Was she on to him and his game plan? Hell, he hoped not. “Well, I’m here.”

“And I’ll be right down, Xavier.”

She clicked off the phone, and Xavier was about to return the phone to his pocket when it rang. He hoped it was Farrah saying she’d changed her mind, and he could come up to her room anyway. Instead, it was York.

“Yes, Y?”

“What are you doing tonight? How about coming over for a beer and to shoot some pool?”

York, a former officer for the NYPD who now owned his own security firm in Queens, loved to play pool and was pretty damn good at it. There was a time he used to participate in tournaments around the country.

“Sorry, I have a date.”

He could hear York’s chuckle. “Hell, you don’t go out on dates, X. All you do is make booty calls. That’s been your M.O. for years.”

Xavier frowned. Had it? Come to think of it, yes, it had been. After Dionne, he’d made sure no other woman got close to his heart, although they’d been more than welcome to share a bed with him, preferably theirs. What he would do was select a woman, get to know her well enough to suit him and then begin showing up at her place with a bottle of wine determined to get just one thing. He’d operated that way with every woman he’d slept with.

Including Farrah.

Why did the thought of grouping Farrah with all his other bed partners leave a bad taste in his mouth? Probably for the same reason he’d stayed with her longer than the others. For him, eleven months was a long time to sleep with the same woman. Hell, normally something like that could get downright boring. But there hadn’t been a damn boring thing about Farrah. She had made her bed one of the most exciting places to be. But, like the others, he’d never invited her over to his place to share his bed. Umm, he would have to remedy that one day.

“So, who is she, X?”

He couldn’t very well say she wasn’t someone York knew since Xavier had introduced Farrah to all five of his godbrothers at Donovan and Natalie’s wedding in June. But what he could do was be evasive as hell, which wouldn’t be the first time. “Why do you want to know? And aren’t you supposed to be checking out Ellie’s friend Darcy?”

He smiled as he could actually hear York growling through the cell phone. “Hell, don’t mess with me like that, X. The woman and I don’t get along. I’m convinced she hates my guts.”

Xavier laughed. Bad blood had developed between the two when, during Darcy’s first week of moving to New York, she’d encountered a burglar who’d broken into her home while she slept. By the time the police had arrived, Darcy Owens had already administered her own brand of punishment to the unsuspecting criminal, who hadn’t known she had a black belt in karate.

Ellie had gotten York out of bed to go across town to check on her friend. When he’d gotten there and discovered what had happened, he’d raked Darcy over the coals for placing her life in danger instead of letting the NYPD handle it. Darcy evidently hadn’t appreciated York’s attitude, and the two hadn’t been exactly bosom buddies since. Frankly, Xavier had a feeling York liked Darcy more than he was letting on.

“You still haven’t told me who’s your date, X.”

At that moment the bell over the elevator sounded, the door opened and Farrah waked out. Xavier smiled.
Saved by the bell.
“And I won’t. Goodbye, Y.”

He quickly disconnected the call and stuffed the phone in his coat pocket. His smile widened when Farrah came to a stop in front of him. She was wearing her full-length coat again, but he couldn’t wait to see the outfit she had on underneath it. “Ready?”

She smiled up at him. “Yes, I’m ready.”

Xavier doubted very seriously that Farrah Langley was ready for what he had in store for her tonight.

“The play was wonderful, Xavier. Thanks for taking me,” Farrah said, glancing across the length of the rear car seat. She really hadn’t been surprised when he’d swept her off her feet again to put her in the car at the hotel, and again when they’d arrived and left the theater. But she was surprised he had kept distance between them in the car now.

Although he’d ordered the privacy shield drawn and the lights dimmed, things were a lot different tonight than they had been last night when she’d practically sat in his lap during the car ride back to the hotel, and he’d kissed her so fervently her panties got wet.

“I thought so, too,” he agreed. “And I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

She glanced out the window and saw they were headed in the opposite direction from her hotel. “Where are we going?”

“I thought I’d take you for a ride across the river on a ferry boat.”

“A ferry boat? In this weather?”

He chuckled. “It’s a private barge and we won’t have to get out of the car. I thought you’d like seeing the Statue of Liberty up close.”

“You were able to arrange something like that tonight? At this hour?”

“Yes, as much as security would allow, which is understandable.”

She nodded, knowing it was. She looked out the window and saw they were at the New York harbor. Several huge cruise ships were docked, and glass lanterns that were hanging from light fixtures brightened up the entire area.

“Everything is ready, Mr. Kane. Should we proceed?” the driver asked over the intercom.

“Yes, Jules, and you can darken the lights back here.”

On cue, the lights in the panel of both doors went out, drenching the rear of the car in total blackness. The only illumination came from the light reflecting off the tall buildings of the Manhattan skyline.

Farrah knew the exact moment the car drove onto the huge barge, and moments later she heard the sound of the car door opening and closing. She glanced questioningly over at Xavier.

“Jules is leaving,” he said. “He’s joining the captain of the barge in the wheelhouse. They’re old friends.”

“Oh.” She knew that meant that she and Xavier would be in the car alone.

Moments later she could actually feel the swish and sway of the water beneath them when the barge began moving. She had ridden a ferry once before while visiting a friend in Florida. It had been a passenger ferry, and it had been during daylight hours. However, this ferry ride provided a beautiful view of New York City at night.

She glanced over at Xavier. He was still sitting across from her and was looking at her. Although the lights reflected off his features, she couldn’t see his entire face. However, knowing his eyes were on her was enough to send a luscious shiver up her spine.

Why did he have to be so mind-bogglingly handsome? Why did being here with him and sharing this space with him remind her of other times she’d shared more than space with him? She couldn’t help but recall when she had shared her body, given it to him whenever and however he’d wanted it.

She decided the best thing to do was strike up a conversation to ease the heated tension flowing between them, although she doubted it would do a single thing to douse the hot-blooded desire flowing through her veins.

“We won’t be running into the passenger ferry that runs twenty-four hours a day, will we?” she asked.

“No, we’re taking a different route so we’re safe.”

She wondered just how safe she was alone with him in the darkened backseat of a car while rolling down the Hudson. There was the scent of a predatory male circulating in the air, but she was determined to stay in her corner. If anyone made the first move it would be him…although he didn’t seem in a rush to do so.

Silence hovered between them for a few moments, and then he asked, “Would you like some wine, Farrah?”

She lifted a brow. “You have wine in here?”

“Yes.”

He proceeded to press a button, and a compartment opened that transformed into a minibar.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” she said.

He chuckled. “Are you?”

“Yes.”

He uncorked the wine bottle and poured two glasses. He then leaned over and handed one to her. “Umm, you smell good,” he said in a deep, throaty voice.

They were passing beneath a brightly lit building that illuminated his features. Heated lust was definitely shining in the dark depths of his eyes.

“Thanks. I think.”

He smiled. “You aren’t sure?”

She took a sip of her wine, liking how it tasted on her tongue. She looked at her wine in the glass and then at him. “Yes, I’m sure. I think you smell good, too. I guess our noses are in rare form tonight.”

“That’s not the only thing. Slide over here for a moment.”

Farrah met his gaze and decided she was either a glutton for punishment or eager for pleasure. Ignoring the voice inside her head advising her to stay put, she slid over the warm leather seat toward him. What she’d told him earlier was the truth. He smelled good. Good enough to lick all over.

When she was basically plastered to his side, he stretched his arm across the back of the seat. “Now,” he said when she was snuggled close to him, “this is where you belong.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

She would have thought such a statement—a bold proclamation made by him or any man about where she belonged—was out of order and deserved a blistering retort, but she didn’t have time to do so when he eased the glass from her hand and placed it in the holder next to his seat.

Then he turned toward her. “You have on too many clothes,” he whispered in a deep, husky voice.

“Mainly to stay warm. I get cold easily,” was her response.

“I promised to keep you warm, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but that was last night.”

He began unbuttoning her coat. “That promise stands whenever we’re together.”

Farrah drew in a deep breath as she studied his face. His gaze was focused on every button he was opening as if what he was doing was a very important task. She knew she should probably tell him that when it came to promises from men, she found they didn’t hold water, so he didn’t have to waste his time making one that he expected her to believe. But for some reason she couldn’t say it. Not when he had kept her warm last night. And not when he was taking his time now, handling her like she was a piece of fine china. He was opening each button slowly, with painstaking deliberateness, as if he was about to expose something beneath her coat other than the short blue dress she was wearing.

The dress might be short, true enough, but her black leather boots were long, stopping at her knees. Did he intend to remove them as well? Would she let him? Before she could think further on that question, he whispered, “Now scoot up a bit so I can work your arms out of the sleeves.”

Like a dutiful child, she did what she was told. When she leaned forward, she placed her hand on his thigh and almost snatched it back when she felt his hard erection. Her eyes flew to his face and there was nothing apologetic about the look staring back at her. Instead it was a look that almost made her regret they were no longer bed partners.

And she didn’t want to have any regrets. Although she’d found it extremely difficult to forget him and get beyond everything they’d shared, she was convinced she had done the right thing when she’d made up in her mind not to fall back in bed with him.

Fate, it seemed, was working against her now. It was as if some fragment of her brain was trying to convince her that getting back with him would be a fantasy come true and that her sex-deprived body would thank her for the chance to get laid again. But a part of her, the part that had endured pain of the worst kind at the hands of a man she’d once loved, was holding back, keeping that guardrail around her heart firmly in place. She doubted that even Xavier could knock it down.

She knew she should remove her hand from his thigh, but the feel of his erection beneath her palm was doing something to her, reminding her how it had been a vital part of her life at one time. And how it had given her so much pleasure.

She felt his erection begin to throb beneath her fingertips, a slow, steady pulsating thump that was causing her hand to tremble while causing certain parts of her body to vibrate. She was so in tune to this part of him and remembered well how once it was inside of her, it could stroke her into a frenzy of the sweetest kind. She felt the inner muscles of her feminine core clench just thinking about it.

Farrah glanced up and met his gaze when he pushed the coat off her shoulders. There was a look in his eyes that sent a delicious warmth through her body. She couldn’t help wondering how she had endured a half year without this. Without him.