Ivory Tower (11 page)

And Jenna thanked the good Lord he’d landed at the next
table instead of theirs. They were way too close to the stage and there was no
way she wanted some guy hanging all over her like that. She turned to Sharon
and found her staring at Jenna with a smile on her face before her gaze quickly
returned to the show.

Jenna’s stomach rolled over.
Oh, no. What had Sharon done?

And what was Jenna about to be subjected to? She had to get
out of there. Before she became the main act. She stood to leave. Sharon’s hand
on her arm stopped her.

“Wait,” her new friend said. “It will be worth it.”

“What have you done?” Jenna asked. “I don’t want to become
some circus act.”

“Don’t worry. I promise, you’ll like this.”

Jenna wasn’t convinced, but lost any ability to choose when
the cowboy slithered over and nudged her with his hip until she sat back down,
to the hoots and hollers of the entire place.

He leaned close to her ear. “She’s right. You’re going to
love this,” he whispered before he moved away and disappeared backstage.

Feeling like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Jenna gave
in to the pressure around her and slumped in her chair. The music changed to a
song she knew well. It was one that she and Josh had danced to so many times,
hip to hip and heart to heart.

The curtains parted and a second stripper stepped out on
the stage. Jenna watched, unable to look away, as the masked man began to move
in slow, undulating motions. Moves designed to heat up every woman in the room,
yet they all faded as Jenna fell, hypnotized, under the spell of the dancer.

He wore black slacks and a business-suit vest, but no shirt
underneath. And it looked sexy as hell. Shoulders defined by subtle muscles led
to arms lightly haired and hands tipped in long fingers. Fingers she could
almost imagine caressing her, touching her in places where she all of a sudden
wanted to be touched.

The heat in Jenna’s face wouldn’t ease. The dancer’s gaze
zeroed in on her and never wavered as he danced slowly across the stage until
he was right in front of her.

He peeled the vest off slowly and Jenna’s mouth dropped
open. Golden, lightly oiled skin showcased a body that had her wet with the
need to touch. She wanted to rub herself all over that chest. To suck those
tiny, taut nubs into her mouth.

When he jumped off the stage and landed in front of her,
Jenna sighed in satisfaction. The echo of catcalls and screams reached her
ears, but her body shut them out. There was only her, and this dancer, in this
moment.

Without taking his eyes from hers, he undid the button at
the top of his slacks. Jenna watched, unable to look away. Not wanting to look
away.

He cupped himself, thrusting toward her, before backing off
and sliding the zipper down. The slacks dropped without his assistance and
Jenna gasped at the slender hips and large sac held in by nothing but a G-string.

The fire in her face filled her body, reaching a scorching
level as the man stepped fluidly out of the slacks and moved closer to her.

Jenna swallowed, trying to wet a parched throat. The man
knelt in front of her and picked up her foot. His hands, warm and gentle,
caressed her calf before lifting her foot to his lips and kissing her
red-painted toes.

Jenna couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything
but let desire wind from that kiss up her leg, until it settled like molten
lava inside soaked panties.

What was it about this guy? He had the same build as Josh.
Maybe that was it. She missed her man. That’s why this guy affected her. He
reminded her of Josh.

Thought fled when his hand stroked up her calf and settled
briefly on her knee as he stood and turned around. And then, oh God, he backed
into her, swaying in perfect rhythm to the music and oh, so close. His ass was
damn near in her face. Close enough to touch. Delectable enough to lick.

And, God help her, she wanted to do just that.

Jenna wiped her brow, careful to not come in contact with
the sweet ass cheeks swaying back and forth, staring her down. After what
seemed like hours, he stood and turned toward her.

Relief was short-lived, though, as the dancer-with-the-great-ass-and-rhythm
gyrated his way onto Jenna’s lap. He didn’t put all his weight on her, but it
was enough to effectively trap her. There were a lot of hoots and hollers going
on around her. Jenna swore she heard one woman yell, “Give him a good screw.” She
and this dancer were making a spectacle of themselves. And she didn’t care one
single bit.

She wanted to run her hands over that shiny, sculpted
chest. To let the stubble on his chin graze against her skin. But she held her
hands away, tried to convince herself it was her need for Josh that fed the
desire raging through her.

He leaned in and brushed against her. Jenna’s nipples
strained for more, became tight, painful nubs. When he leaned back, she followed
him. And the crowd noise rose to a crescendo.

He leaned into her again, his breath blowing sweet cravings
in her ear. She reached up and tangled her hands in his hair just before he
whispered.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Her body wanted to more than she’d thought possible. But
her heart knew she wouldn’t. Couldn’t. It belonged to someone else and she
wouldn’t give in to a momentary need for some physical satisfaction.

Jenna shook her head with a lingering regret. “I won’t.”
She breathed the words back to him. “Engaged. In love. Not going to screw with
that.”

“Right answer,” he said, grinning.

The dancer stood and she missed him. Missed his touch.
Missed his body. Missed that musky scent that seemed so...familiar?

He pulled off his mask and Jenna’s smile widened.

It was Josh.

Chapter Thirteen

Shock rooted Jenna to her chair. Josh? Here? And...like
this? What the hell was going on?

A smile spread across Josh’s face. A sexy, slow-spreading
smile. He held out his hand and Jenna didn’t hesitate to take hold. He pulled
her into his arms and tickled her ear with his whisper. “Now can we get out of
here?”

“Oh, yeah.”

He turned to an audience Jenna had forgotten completely
about and bowed. The cheers were cacophonous and the added heat in Jenna’s face
bespoke her embarrassment, not her desire.

Sharon clapped louder than anyone and tipped her head to
Jenna.

Deciding she could be a good sport, Jenna winked at Sharon,
and then dipped into her own bow. The women blew the roof off with their
cheering.

It took him only moments backstage to throw his clothes on
and grab his luggage.

“Where are you staying?”

“Two hotels over.”

Jenna and Josh were out of there fast, but not fast enough.
He tugged her along and she kept his pace willingly. She wasn’t only horny as
hell, she’d also missed Josh. He was her best friend as well as her soon-to-be
husband. She had so much to tell him.

While they waited for the elevator, Josh hugged her,
caressed her, and touched her everywhere he could in public. He heated her
beyond reason as his fingers ran up and down her arm in slow, feathered
movements designed to tantalize. She felt like a puppet and the strings he
pulled led straight to a wet core.

Maybe the talking could wait.

Inside the elevator, Josh dropped his bags to the floor and
he and Jenna quickly devolved into a clinging mess of heat that the security
people would probably hold in their “best of” file for some time. Josh kissed
her with a hunger she matched. His lips branded her, his tongue devoured her
mouth, inside and out.

And his hands. Oh, his hands. They were doing the most
delicious things to her breasts. Squeezing and tweaking her to a fever pitch.

When the doors opened, they stumbled out into the hall,
breaking apart long enough to find her room.

“No roommate, I hope?” Josh asked as he inserted her key
card.

“Thank God, no.” Jenna hugged him from behind, staying with
him as he entered her room. As soon as the door closed behind them, they
separated. Jenna felt the absence of his body against hers like a chill that
cooled her ardor some.

When Josh turned to grin at her with a very lecherous look
on his face, Jenna chewed her lower lip. She missed him. She wanted him. But...

“Josh?”

He advanced on her and pulled her into his arms. “Hmmm?” he
asked as he nuzzled her throat. Shards of sensual power spread outward from
where his lips made contact, filling her with a smoldering heat that needed
more than anything to explode. Instinct overrode thought as missing Josh amped
the desire coursing through her, sending her to a whole new sensual level.

Jenna wanted nothing more than to have Josh inside her, to
feel that ultimate climax. She’d waited so long and he was doing such amazing
things to her.

She stretched her hands out on the bed, fisting the
bedspread as Josh sucked her nipple through her dress.

Bed? How had they gotten to the bed? Jenna tried to clear
her head, difficult to do with the way her body was reacting. His hand shifted
down between them and stroked her wet pussy through the slick material of her dress.

“Josh?” She tried to pull his hand away, but he was too
focused, too in the moment.

“Josh, please. Stop.” She gasped as he bit her clothed
nipple, feeling his teeth like a sharp dagger of desire that made her shudder
with pleasure.

If she didn’t stop this now, she wouldn’t stop until it was
too late. “Damn it, Josh.” She pushed at him. “Stop for a minute.”

“Hmm?” He pulled his head up and she could see the dark,
heavy lidded eyes of her lover in the throes of sexual need.

“We need to stop.”

“Stop?” It took a moment for the fog to clear, but she saw
when the word filtered through to his conscious brain. His expression went from
horny, to a fleeting anger, to grudging acceptance, all in a few short seconds
of time.

“You still want to wait, don’t you?” He didn’t tip the end
of the sentence like it was a question. He already knew.

“I’m sorry, Josh, but we’re so close. Only one week left.”

“One week
is
close enough, don’t you think? Can’t you let this whole ‘waiting for our
wedding night’ thing go?”

Jenna bit her lip and shook her head, knowing she was
disappointing him. “It’s what I want.”

Josh jumped off the bed and, after resettling his pants
with a groan, ran both hands through hair she’d only moments ago been running
her own hands through. When he spoke, it was tight-lipped. “Jenna, I’ve never
felt this waiting thing was your idea. You respond to me.”

She nodded emphatically.

“Then why do I feel your mother’s still influencing you?”

Jenna rose and joined him. “You feel that way because she’s
run my life for so long. I understand that.”

“But I don’t understand,” he waved at the bed, “this. Why,
Jenna?”

She kissed his chin. “Because. It’s the one thing I never
gave in on. The one thing that I never wavered on. Well...” Jenna grinned. “Except
for almost giving in to your very amorous attempts to convince me. You’re very
good at that, you know. But I’ve held my ground. Isn’t that what you wanted me
to do? Stick up for myself?”

“Not this damn much.”

Jenna winced at the irritation in his words. When Josh
stepped away from the bed, she felt the cold space between them. Would this be
the straw that broke their relationship? Couldn’t he wait just one more week?
Maybe she should... No. Jenna sliced through the thought, cut it off before it
could take hold. No matter how the possibility of losing Josh hurt, she would
remain true to herself. She had to.

She watched in silent agony as he stared out the window.
When he turned around, Jenna was shocked at the look on his face. Where she
expected haggard, she saw energy. Where he should be feeling as torn in two as
she was, he looked whole.

Josh smiled. That slow,
I’ve-got-a-plan-and-you’re-going-to-love-it smile that meant Jenna would never
be bored. As long as they survived this night.

“Then let’s get married.”

Of all the phrases she’d expected to hear, that wasn’t it.
The words rumbled through her mind, past the ones she had feared.
I don’t think this will work anymore
...
I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t
love me enough to...I’m sorry, but...
It drove her straight into a brick
wall of confusion. “We are getting married. In one week. Aren’t we?”

“No. That’s not what I mean. Let’s get married now.”

At his “no”, Jenna gulped. Once. Twice. On the third gulp,
the flutter in her stomach settled down and the rest of his words filtered in. “Now?
You mean...tonight?”

Josh laughed. “Yes. Tonight. We’re in Vegas. Marriage
capitol of the world.”