Bliss (10 page)

But his cock remained full and hard. She tightened her arms around his shoulders, wanting to share this with him more than she already was.

“Come . . . with me . . .” she implored.

He kissed her and smiled, then nodded. He groaned and, when she felt him release inside her, her orgasm rocked into a higher gear. She clung to him as they climaxed together.

J.M. kissed Kara’s cheek, loving the feel of her in his arms, the contours of her soft body snuggled tightly against his. They had dozed off together after their lovemaking.

“Would you like to go out somewhere for dinner or have room service here?” He nuzzled her neck. “I prefer the latter, so we can stay just like this. Naked and in bed together.”

“Um . . . I should really get going.”

She pushed back the covers, but he took her in his arms and drew her against his body. His lips captured hers in a persuasive kiss.

“Don’t go yet.” He smiled and kissed her neck again, loving the soft sigh that escaped her lips. “You have to eat sometime.”

“I can . . . uh . . . grab something at the snack bar.”

“Do you want to get away from me so badly?”

She gazed up at him. “No, of course not.”

But he could see it in her eyes. She wanted to flee. Clearly, she had feelings for him, but she seemed determined to deny them. If he didn’t do something about it, she’d probably avoid him for the rest of the conference.

He couldn’t let that happen.

He stroked her long dark hair back from her face and tucked the strands behind her ear. Her skin, so soft under his fingertips, made him want to glide his hands along her shoulders, then over her satiny breasts. Even now, her nipples hardened to beads and pressed into his chest in a most enticing way.

“Kara, this is the second time we’ve wound up in bed together in three days. Don’t you think we should talk about it?”

“Talk?” Her brow furrowed and she shifted under him. “I don’t think that right now . . .”

His cock slipped between her thighs, gliding over her slick opening, and she sighed. His cock swelled harder, wanting to slide into her. The panic in her eyes turned to glazed desire. She wanted him again as much as he wanted her.

Oh, God, he could barely contain himself. Her soft body beneath him. Tempting him. She drew in a deep breath, pressing her hard nipples into his chest. He pivoted his hips forward and she matched his movement.

He pressed his lips to her temple, then nipped her earlobe.

“Okay, so now isn’t the time for talk.” He positioned his cockhead at her opening, then dragged it the length of her slit. “You have a little time, though, don’t you?”

She arched forward. “Yes. A little.” Her husky, needy voice sent his senses sizzling.

He swirled his cockhead around her opening, watching her suck in a deep breath, then he slowly glided inside, burying himself in her hot depths.

He nibbled her neck, feeling her quickened pulse against his lips.

“You are so hot. So sexy.”

He locked gazes with her as he drew back. Her wide sapphire eyes stared into his as he drove deep again. She moaned.

He hovered over her, propped up on his arms. “Oh, before we go too far.”

“Hmm?”

He drew back, just short of the point where his cock would pull free, then stopped. “I do want to have that conversation with you.” He shifted forward a little, embedding his cockhead inside her, but no more. She arched forward, but he shifted to deny her any more of his hard cock . . . then he smiled and glided forward, pressing deep into her. She moaned, and he pulled back again.

“Will you join me for dinner?” he asked.

She tightened her arms around his shoulders, pulling him forward. “Yes. Dinner.”

He grinned, then drove deep into her. He felt her tighten around him, grasping his cock tightly in her warmth. He thrust. Deeper. Faster. She moaned and clung to him.

He watched her face as an orgasm encompassed her. The sheer beauty of her rapture made his heart swell. Ecstatic energy erupted through him, filling him with bliss at the same time that he climaxed inside her.

“So, you said you wanted to talk,” Kara said.

J.M. pushed his drink aside and leaned toward her. “Ever since I first saw you, I’ve sensed something special between us, and I’d really like to explore that.”

She fidgeted with her fork. “I thought we had been . . . exploring.”

“I don’t just mean something sexual.” He took her hand. “Kara, I believe things happen for a reason. I also think we can influence what—and who—comes into our lives. I’ve been wanting someone special—a woman I could truly love—to come into my life. When I saw you . . .” He squeezed her hand. “I think there’s real potential for a long-term relationship between us.”

“A long-term relationship? But we hardly even know each other. And you’re basing this on something like . . . what? That book
The Secret,
where people make something happen just by thinking about it?” She stared at him, dumbfounded. “You don’t even know where I live. To decide right now to commit to a long-distance relationship, which is hard at the best of times, doesn’t make any sense.”

“You live in White Haven—I saw it on your luggage tag—and I’m only about fifty miles from there, in Spring Falls. That’s not too far away.”

She shook her head, but before she could utter a word, he jumped in again.

“Right now, I’m just asking that you give
us
a chance. That while we’re here at the conference, you allow us to continue what we’ve started, then see how we feel at the end of the week.” He took her hand. “I’m not asking you to make a long-term commitment right this second. Just to give us a chance to see where this goes.”

“Look, J.M., it’s true that there’s a strong attraction between us, but . . . you and I are so different. We believe in different things. You believe in Tantra and . . . other stuff like that. I’m not really into the whole”—she waved her hands—“making things happen from . . . I don’t know what you call it . . . a universal force?”

“We don’t have to believe in the same things.”

“But what about Tantra? That’s a big part of your life. How can you become seriously involved with someone who doesn’t believe in that?”

“Well, you still have a lot to learn for that article of yours. I might still win you over to Tantra yet.”

“Don’t bet on it.” She pursed her lips and leaned toward him. “Why are you even asking me this? Why not just play it by ear and see what happens?”

“Because so far in our short relationship, I’ve gotten the impression you’re a runner. You tried flirting with me, but as soon as you found we were together on the same plane, you panicked. Then when we had to land, you were afraid I’d ask you to spend the night with me.”

She shifted in her chair. She didn’t even bother to deny it. Damn, how could this man read her so well?

“As I recall,
I
asked
you,
” she said.

“True, but that wasn’t your first reaction. It does show, however, that when you decided to take a chance and go for it, things worked out very well.” He smiled and stroked her hand. “You did enjoy that night, right?”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “It was spectacular.”

“So, I’m just asking that you continue taking a chance. Maybe things will work out better than either of us has ever dreamed. What have you got to lose?”

She compressed her lips. “We could crash and burn.”

He shrugged. “We wouldn’t be any worse off than if we hadn’t tried. I think it’s worth the gamble.”

She studied him for a moment. His intense chocolate eyes stared into hers as he waited for her answer. He hoped they’d wind up as a couple. He wanted a long-term relationship. Happiness.
Love.

“That first night we spent together . . . You asked me about love at first sight.” She hesitated. “Why did you ask that? Do you think you’re in love with me?”

He shrugged. “We both know it’s too soon to know if we’re in love, but I believe we are meant to fall in love.”

Alarm bells blared in her head and she wanted to turn him down flat, then flee to her room.

Damn, he’d pegged her as a runner. And maybe he was right.

But she wasn’t going to flee this time. She’d give it to him straight.

“I don’t believe in love.”

His dark eyes turned serious as he stared deeply into hers.

“Then what do you believe in, Kara?”

Chapter Nine

“I believe in hard work and perseverance. I don’t believe there’s a magic spell called love that will carry you through any difficulty that comes along. That’s why there are so many divorces. Couples blame their problems on a lack of love. I blame it on false expectations and a lack of responsibility. I don’t believe happiness is handed to you by some magical force we can’t see or touch. I believe we make our own happiness.”

“You know, what we believe in isn’t really all that different.” He smiled. “Come on, Kara. Give us a chance.”

She knew she should just say no. Walk away now. But Grace’s words returned to haunt her.

She hesitated. At Grace’s workshop, Kara had learned that she’d been sabotaging her relationships. She gravitated to men who left her feeling lukewarm because they couldn’t hurt her.

She might not believe in love, but that didn’t mean she didn’t believe in commitment and finding a happy, long-term relationship with a man. Marriage . . . children . . . growing old together . . . she wanted the whole package. And it made sense that when choosing a partner, she should look for someone with whom she felt a strong connection.

She had no guarantees that this thing with J.M. would last, despite the chemistry between them, but this week could give her an opportunity to do more than observe Tantra. It could also give her an opportunity to observe herself and pay attention to how she acted in a relationship—a relationship with someone who made her feel something for a change. Maybe that would give her some clue as to how she could grow past her issues and find a solid relationship in the future.

“I have serious doubts that this will lead anywhere, but I still need to do some research for my article. Spending time with you . . . dating you . . . would allow me to see how someone incorporates Tantra into their relationships. I just don’t want to get your hopes up by making you think this might actually lead to something long-term.”

“I’m a big boy. I can handle whatever happens.”

“Can you really promise me that at the end of the week if I say I don’t want to continue our relationship, that you’ll just walk away? No guilt? No trying to change my mind?”

“I promise.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “I think I’m in for an exciting week.”

Kara thought she heard a knock on the door, so she turned off the hair dryer. A knock sounded again. She laid the dryer on the vanity counter and walked to the door, then pulled it open.

Grace smiled at her. “Hi, Kara. Are you going to the party tonight? I thought we could go down together.”

“Sure. I just have to fix my makeup. Come on in.”

Ten minutes later, they stepped off the elevator on the second floor and headed to the large Orchid Ballroom. A redheaded woman, whose name was Connie according to her conference badge, sat at a table outside the room.

She smiled at them. “May I see your conference badges, please?”

Kara pulled hers out of her small purse and showed it to the woman. Grace flashed her badge, too. Connie found their names on her list, then crossed them off and handed them each two blue tickets and a red one.

“The red one’s for a door prize and the blue ones are for drinks from the bar. Have fun.”

Kara tucked two of her tickets into her purse, keeping a blue one in her hand.

“I’m going for a drink. Want one?” Kara asked. After her discussion with J.M. over dinner, she could really use a drink.

“Sure thing.”

They stood in line, then Kara ordered a Sex on the Beach because it just seemed so appropriate. Grace followed suit.

Kara took a sip of her cocktail as they walked past the people milling around the bar. The lights were low and a D.J. played music, but people could still hear each other talk.

Grace glanced around. “I was really hoping to see my friend Jeremy. I had hoped to catch him for dinner, but he didn’t answer his phone.”

So Grace had been the one who’d called while she and J.M. had been . . . busy.

“I’d really like you to meet him,” Grace continued.

Grace must have forgotten about Kara’s interview with him today.

Kara turned to her. “About that, Grace, I—”

“Hello there.”

That deep voice of velvet sent tingles down her spine. She turned around and there stood J.M.

“Jeremy. Great! This is my friend Kara and . . .” Grace glanced from Kara’s face to J.M.’s broad grin. “You two know each other?”

Kara wasn’t sure how Grace had figured it out. Maybe from Kara’s flushed cheeks or the way J.M.’s gaze lingered on her with a maddeningly satisfied expression.

“This is the woman from the airport.” J.M. sipped his drink.

“Really?” Grace sent a bemused glance Kara’s way.

That was odd, because from what Grace had told her at lunch today, she hadn’t connected with J.M. yet . . . and she certainly hadn’t had time since then because Kara had kept him pretty busy. How could J.M. have told Grace about her?

“There’s a free table over there,” J.M. said. “Why don’t you two sit and I’ll get us another round?”

Kara glanced at her half-empty glass. “I’m okay.”

“We’re having Sex on the Beach.”

He smiled. “Okay, then. I’ll be right back.”

Kara and Grace walked to the table and settled in.

“So what did he tell you about me?” Kara asked. “And when?”

“We were talking on the phone when he was at the airport, and he told me he thought you . . . would hit it off.”

There was something Grace wasn’t saying. Oh, God, did she know about their one-night stand?

J.M. returned and placed three drinks on the table. He sat down beside Kara and rested his arm on the back of her chair. Grace noticed but said nothing. As his fingers played along Kara’s shoulder, heat shimmered through her. Memories of the intensity of her arousal when he’d explained the energy of Tantra, his hands lingering over her, washed through her.