Hightower Affairs 2: Bedding the Secret Heiress (11 page)

Orgasm snatched her up like the sudden breath-stealing jerk of a parachute opening. Her free fall stopped abruptly and wave after wave of pleasure buffeted her. The hammering of her heart sounded like wind whipping the canvas ’chute. She felt as if she floated, dangled, then touched down with a gentle bump as he laid her on the mattress.

Reality slowly returned. Left weak by the most violent orgasm of her life, she pried her heavy lids open as Gage ascended her body, entangling her in a series of kisses and caresses over her hip bones, her belly, her waist and breasts until his lips reached hers.

He stole the breath she’d barely caught with a ravenous kiss and then eased up to meet her gaze. “You taste delicious.”

A fresh gust of arousal blew through her. How had he decimated her that way? Why him? But she had no time to ponder her question. He reached for the condom, tore the packet and rolled it on, then he scooped her up like a limp rag doll and moved her to the middle of the bed, laying her parallel to the pillows.

She snapped out of her lethargy and pulled him closer with her arms, with her legs. The touch of his body at her entrance made her stiffen in anticipation of his first thrust, and he didn’t disappoint. With one long, slow glide he filled her deeply, completely.

“Mmm,” she sighed against his neck and stroked the bunched muscles of his back.

His whistled inhalation filled her ear. “Damn, you feel good.”

“So do you.” The weight of him, scent of him, feel of him surrounded her, impaled her. He withdrew. She pulled him back. Impatiently. Eagerly. Hungrily. He set a rhythm and she matched it, digging her heels into the mattress and countering each thrust. She kissed and nipped the cords of his neck, earning an encouraging growl. In return he grazed her ear with his teeth, with his tongue, steamed her neck with his breath and then stole hers with his voracious kisses.

The muscle-quaking tension returned, increasing with each thrust, as another orgasm built within her. She curled her nails into his tight butt and urged him faster, faster. She was close, so close. And then she was there, free-falling, crying out, clinging to him. His pace quickened, deepened, then his own groan of release echoed off the walls.

Heavy heartbeats later Gage eased down on her, bracing the majority of weight on the tripod of his arms and hips. She wound her arms around his waist and savored the feel of his cheek and chest pressed against hers and his breath bellowing near her ear.

Why did Gage have to be the one to destroy her girlish illusions? She’d always believed the kind of magical connection they’d shared would only come with love and trust and commitment. But she barely knew him and she certainly wasn’t in love with him. As for a future with him…well, it had never crossed her mind.

Evaporating sweat cooled her body and cleared her head, allowing doubts to edge in. What she had with Gage could never be more than temporary, and she hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt her.

She prayed she hadn’t made a mistake in lying with the man who until today had been her enemy.

Gage knew he’d crossed the line by sleeping with his best friend’s sister—
half
sister. His personal ethics made his friend’s relatives and exes off limits. But he’d broken that rule with Lauren. He hadn’t been able to stop himself.

He levered himself off her and lay on his back by her side with his chest still heaving. Their knuckles touched on the mattress, and he had the strange urge to wrap his fingers around hers and hold her hand. Weird.
Damned
weird. He resisted the urge. He wasn’t the hand-holding type.

Staring at the ceiling, he tried to work up a twinge of regret for his actions but failed. Maybe once his chest didn’t feel as though it was going to explode and his legs had regained a little strength, he’d find a little remorse.

Lauren lay beside him with her eyes closed, but he could tell she wasn’t asleep by her carefully modulated breathing and the tension radiating from her.

Her thick lashes slowly lifted and she turned her head. The satisfied expression in her eyes jump-started his slowing heart rate. “That was…”

“Amazing.” He finished her breathless sentence when she didn’t. He couldn’t remember ever having sex that satisfying or intense before.

A smile twitched her swollen lips. She quickly captured it between her teeth. “Yes, it was. But, Gage, I’m not sure it was a good idea.”

His thoughts exactly.

Her eyebrows dipped. “Maybe we should forget this ever happened.”

What?
He wasn’t used to women wishing they hadn’t slept with him. And he didn’t like it. “I dare you.”

“I beg your pardon?”

He rolled on his side, his weakened muscles protesting the call to action. She mirrored his move, displaying the curve of her hips and deep V of her waist. One long, slender leg bent, hiding the triangle of dark blond curls from him. But he didn’t need to see her. He remembered how she looked, smelled, tasted.

Regardless, he let his gaze travel slowly down her pale body. For a Florida girl she didn’t have much of a tan, but she had a nice shape. Slender, curved, delicious. He swept a hand from her shoulder, down her arm and across her waist, settling on her hip. Her shiver brought the blood rushing back to his groin.

“I dare you to try to forget what we just shared.” Rekindled arousal thickened his voice.

Her cheeks pinked and her pupils dilated. “Gage, it’s not going to be easy to hide an intimate relationship from Trent. He’s an ass, but he’s not stupid. And I can’t afford to get fired.”

Damn. He’d never lied to Trent before. He didn’t plan to start lying now. “How much longer will you work for HAMC? You said this was a temporary gig.”

He wasn’t thinking long-term relationship, but he wasn’t ready to let her go until he worked whatever it was she’d done to him out of his system.

She reached behind her to snag a corner of the sheet and drag it over her hip. Gripping the pink fabric between her breasts, she glanced away. “I don’t know. I don’t want to leave until I—”

“Until you…what?”

“My mother has something I need.”

That brought them back to the original reason Trent
had called him. Regret climbed into the bed between them. Trent was convinced Lauren was a shyster. What if he was right?

“Money?” Gage spat out the word.

She flinched and met his gaze. “I’ve told you before I don’t want the Hightowers’money. If you won’t believe that especially after this, I’ll quit wasting my breath.”

Her lack of hesitation and the sincerity in her eyes convinced him she was telling the truth. But he’d been wrong before, and it had nearly cost him his home and his company. What if, once again, he’d let his dick do the thinking and been taken in by a beautiful woman?

No. Not this time. Everything he’d learned about Lauren contradicted Trent’s summation of her personality.

“I believe you.”

If nothing else came of their affair, Gage intended to prove Lauren’s innocence to Trent even if that meant spending every possible moment with her and digging for the facts.

L
auren stared at Gage across the tiny window-side table at the Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant. She’d never been more physically in tune with anyone before. But Gage was rich. He was Trent’s friend. He lived in Knoxville.

Three strikes.

Four if you counted the fact that she’d only known him a week.

So why did she still want him when there was absolutely no way they could ever make this work?

Girl, you have it bad.

It’s just a crush. No big deal.

She hoped.

After an afternoon of playing tourist, riding cable cars and walking the wharf, he was smiling, windblown, a little sunburned and completely relaxed—the opposite of the way he’d been the day she’d met him.

And she was completely smitten.

He looked up from the dessert menu and caught her staring. “I’ve been to San Francisco a dozen times and eaten on the Wharf half of those, but always at restaurants chosen by my clients. I’ve probably walked right by this place a few times.”

“It’s easy to miss crammed between two flashy tourist traps.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “I never would have considered polling the locals to ask who served the best seafood.”

She swept a glance over the simple decor of the dining room. The plain wooden furniture and scarred hardwood floors weren’t much to look at, but the view of the docks was incredible, and the food had been the best she’d had in ages. This was the kind of place she, her father and uncle adored. Her mother would have been horrified to eat here, as evidenced by the stilted restaurants Lauren had been forced to endure whenever her mother had visited in the past.

She pushed aside the unpleasant memories. “It’s a habit I picked up when landing at unfamiliar airports. Locals know where to eat, and mom-and-pop cooks are usually more concerned with flavor than whether the food looks like artwork on the plate.”

“After this—” he gestured to his empty plate “—I believe you.” As he had after the motorcycle ride, he looked surprised that he’d enjoyed the day. What could make a man afraid to unwind?

They had barely been apart since they’d made love the first time last night. This morning they’d worked together before heading out to see the sights. But despite that, she barely knew him. Most of their conversation had centered around the attractions which he’d missed on previous visits.

“Gage, what do you do in your free time?”

“I don’t have a lot of free time,” he answered quickly.

“You can’t work 24/7.”

“I’ve been building Faulkner Consulting.”

No wonder he looked older than his age. “My father had a couple of signs hanging in his office. The first said, ‘Making a living is not the same as making a life.’ And the second, ‘Love what you do and do what you love.’ He always claimed that if died—” A knot in her throat squeezed off her voice. She took a sip of her lemonade and tried again. “He claimed if he died living by those simple rules, then he would have had a full life. And he did.”

Gage sat back in his chair, his face closing. “Idealism won’t keep a roof over your head or food on the table. Sometimes chasing dreams isn’t enough.”

“I disagree. We should all be lucky enough to pursue our dreams.” She had to believe that. Otherwise, her father’s life and death were pointless.

Damn her mother. What possible purpose did it serve for Jacqui to refuse to discuss that final conversation with Kirk? Lauren fisted her hands. Enough waiting already. As soon as she got home she was going to corner her mother and make her talk.

“I’d prefer not to have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.”

“Like you did when you were a child?”

“Yes. But I prefer not to dwell on the past. It’s over and can’t be changed.” He covered her hand on the table. “Let’s get out of here.”

The deep rumble of Gage’s voice and the sensual promise flickering to life in his eyes quickened her heartbeat and sent heat coursing through her. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that if they left now, they were
going back to the B and B and straight to bed. If she chose to delay and question him further, she’d kill the mood.

Not an option she wanted to take. For someone who’d easily gone without sex for more than a year, she seemed determined to make up for lost time. She was so eager to get back to the B and B and into Gage’s arms she could probably run the entire distance back to the Upper Haight neighborhood.

But stellar sex wasn’t everything. Watching Gage unwind today had made it very clear she had one more thing to do before she left Knoxville.

Someone needed to tackle the challenge of teaching him how to live before it was too late, and she was the perfect candidate. She’d been lucky enough to have a father to teach her that life was about the journey and not only the destination. There had to be more to life than just work—a concept Gage had missed if his experiences on the motorcycle and as a tourist were any indication.

The moment Gage left the boardroom late Monday morning Lauren reached for the backpack she’d tucked under the table.

They’d been hard at work for hours with Gage pushing her to test her abilities at every turn. While Gage had his wrap-up chat with the CEO she needed to get online and make her airplane payment before they packed up and headed for the airport. She hadn’t done it before today because she’d needed to wait for her HAMC paycheck to clear before transferring funds, and her intention of taking care of business first thing this morning…

A chuckle rumbled from deep inside her. Well, Gage had had other plans. In the end they’d had to rush not to be late.

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of her chair while the computer booted up. The memory of how he’d monopolized her time flowed through her body like warm oil, tightening her nipples and creating a pool of desire in her belly.

She was exhausted and exhilarated, and she almost hated that this trip was ending. Life and the Hightowers would intrude once she and Gage touched down in Knoxville. How long would their relationship last before Trent found out and fired her?

Grimacing, she straightened, logged on to her computer and pulled up her account to transfer funds from her checking to her loan account.

Balance Due: $0.00

She frowned at the screen. That wasn’t right. She still owed almost two hundred thousand dollars. She clicked on her account history. The page claimed her debt had been paid in full on Friday.

No way.

The finance company must have a software glitch or something. But she wasn’t going to risk her airplane or her credit rating by skipping a payment and waiting for them to discover their error. She dug her cell phone out of her bag and dialed customer service. A recording greeted her. She hated automated machines, but typed in her account number followed by her security password when prompted. A robotic voice told her to wait for the next available operator.

She checked her watch and tried to block out the annoying elevator music pouring into her ear. Gage would be back soon and he’d be ready to leave.

“This is Rena. How can I help you today, Ms. Lynch?” a pleasant voice said.

Lauren sat up. “Hi, Rena. I’m trying to make a
payment online, but there seems to be a problem with your Web page. It says my account balance is zero.”

The tap of computer keys carried through the phone. “That is correct.”

Lauren’s heart skipped into high gear. “It can’t be. I still owe your company money. A lot of money.”

“No, ma’am. Your account was paid in full on Friday by certified check. Our offices will mail you the pertinent paperwork within five business days, and you can follow up with the FAA to change the ownership registry. Can I assist you with anything else today, Ms. Lynch?”

“But…that’s impossible. I don’t have that kind of money. Nobody I know has that kind…of…money.” The words sputtered off.

Jacqui.

Her mother had to be behind this. Tension snarled in Lauren’s belly and anger stiffened her spine. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to be polite. It wasn’t the customer service rep’s fault that Jacqui was trying to absolve her guilt over years of ignoring her daughter with cash.

“Thank you for your help, Rena.”

Lauren disconnected then immediately dialed Jacqui’s cell phone. The phone rang enough times that she thought her mother was going to ignore her call again. Thanks to caller ID, Jacqui would know if the person calling was someone she wanted to talk to. And apparently, she didn’t want to talk to her daughter.

Lauren was debating whether to leave yet another voice mail message when she heard, “Hello, Lauren.”

How could Jacqui sound so calm? “Jacqui, did you pay off my loan?”

Silent seconds ticked past. “I wanted to help.”

Anger and frustration swelled inside Lauren. Her hand clenched the phone tighter. “We’ve had this dis
cussion before, and I made my feelings clear. I don’t want your charity.”

“But, darling—”

“I’m not your darling, Jacqui. I’m not even your daughter. Not in the way that counts. You gave me away. Save your money for your other children. Your
real
children.”

She hated the anger and pain in her voice. She’d thought she’d come to terms with the knowledge of her mother’s preference for her other children. Obviously not.

“Lauren, you are as much my child as they are, and they already have more than they need. You, on the other hand, are struggling to make ends meet. Your father would want me to help.”

The arrow hit its target. Her father had loved this woman enough to accept whatever crumbs of affection Jacqui threw his way. Lauren didn’t share that love. In fact, she realized, sometimes she almost hated Jacqui for causing her father so much pain.

“My father taught me to work for whatever I wanted and not to expect or accept handouts. I’ll get a new loan as soon as I get home and pay you back.”

“I won’t accept your money.”

Frustrated, Lauren stood and paced to the far side of the room. Why did all the Hightowers think people could be bought? Is that what being raised rich did to a person? If so, she was glad she’d missed out.

“Damn it, Jacqui, we’ve had this conversation too many times to count. You missed your chance to be my mother.”

“And I regret that every single day. I’m sorry I let you go, Lauren.”

Too little. Too late. “You know what I want from you, and I’m getting really tired of your stalling tactics. If
you won’t give me what I need, then I’m going back to Daytona and we’re done.”

A sound made her turn. Gage stood in the open doorway, his eyes narrowed. How much had he overheard? If he found out what Jacqui had done, he’d believe the worst of Lauren—the way her half siblings did. All of them would be convinced Lauren had weaseled the money out of their mother.

Lauren’s stomach churned. She had to repay the loan. But could she even qualify for new financing with Falcon’s current financial condition?

“We’ll continue this conversation when I get back from San Francisco. I expect you to be in town and available,” she told her mother and disconnected.

If you won’t give me what I need then I’m going back to Daytona and we’re done.

To Gage the angry words sounded like a threat. With whom had Lauren been arguing and why? And why did it bother him that she was already planning to walk away from what they had when a short-term affair had been the agenda all along? Just because they’d had two days of fantastic sex didn’t mean he’d break his firm rule against permanent relationships.

His ex-wife and his mother had both bailed when they hadn’t gotten their way, proving money was more important and more reliable than love. They’d cured him of ever wanting to try a permanent relationship again. But he had to thank them for the valuable lessons they’d taught him. Take what you want from a relationship and walk away.

He’d based his career on that rule. He took on a company’s problems, fixed them, then moved on without a long-term commitment or a stake in the outcome. That meant there were no expectations or dis
appointments if those involved failed to implement his strategies.

Lauren smiled at him as she crossed the room and closed her laptop, but the curve of her lips looked strained, and her eyes lacked their usual sparkle. “All done with the CEO?”

“Yes. Problem?” He inclined his head to indicate the cell phone she held in a white-knuckle grip.

She lowered her gaze and shoved her phone into her bag. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

The emotional wall she’d initially kept between them had returned. He didn’t like it. An unfamiliar urgency to fix whatever had upset her and get them back on a comfortable footing surged inside him like water pressure building behind a dam. “We need to eat before taking off.”

“I’ll order your lunch to be delivered to the plane. That’ll get us in the air faster.” Tension made her movements sharp and stiff as she packed away her computer.

“You’ll eat with me.”

She looked ready to argue then sighed. “All right.”

“In a hurry to get home?”

She slung her bag’s strap over her shoulder. “It’s a long flight, and we were up early. I’d rather not be too late getting back. Not to mention I’m eager to get my hands on Trent’s jet again. That baby’s a sweet ride. Can I help you pack your files?”

His hunger for her rekindled at the memory of waking before the alarm went off to make love to her, and then doing so again during their shared shower. Technicolor images of wet bodies, steamed glass shower doors and Lauren braced against the wall in the stall filled his brain. He blinked to clear his head, but neither the pictures nor the heat vanished.

Alarm sirens rang in his subconscious. He hadn’t wanted a woman this incessantly in a very, very long time.

“I have it.” He swiftly gathered his belongings, surreptitiously keeping an eye on Lauren. She shifted on her feet and stared off into space, her thoughts clearly elsewhere. “Let’s go.”

Lauren remained unusually silent as the CEO and his PA accompanied them to the lobby. Gage carried his end of the conversation, informing the client what to expect next in the process, but his attention was divided between the job at hand and Lauren. Women never came between him and his work, but he had to admit he’d been preoccupied with Lauren.