Page 17 of Take Me Tender

That sounded like a fine idea to Nikki. Shanna was another reason why her employer needed her, maybe even more than her meal preparation, and this would remind him of it. Sidling closer, Nikki slid her arm around his waist and gave the other woman an encouraging smile. “We’re in no hurry.”

Jay glanced down at her, his expression unreadable.

She pursed her lips, sending him an exaggerated yet silent smack for the other woman’s benefit.

His nostrils flared, and he placed his warm palm on her bare spine, two fingers insinuating themselves underneath the back of the dress. A little shiver wracked her body, and he gave her a secret caress with his fingertips as if he’d noticed.

“All right,” he said. “What’s going on, Shanna?”

“Well, I…I don’t want to hold you two up,” the other woman answered, shifting on her tippy-toe Barbie pumps so that the light from the tiki torches decorating the entrance caught in the sequins of her white minidress. Her gaze darted to Nikki again. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

It was hard not to feel sorry for the woman. What she had in the Hollywood looks department she obviously lacked in self-confidence. “It’s okay,” Nikki said. “We have all the time in the world.”

Jay’s hand pressed her back. “Not so much time, cookie. You know how anxious I am to get you alone.”

Get her alone so he could fire her. Rather than showing her alarm, Nikki pressed a kiss along his hard jaw. “Now, handsome, you know I’ll give you all the time you need later.” With her free hand she smoothed the placket of his shirt, slowing as she neared his waist. She hooked a forefinger in his belt loop and redirected her attention to the bleached blonde. “Why don’t you tell us what’s on your mind.”

Jay’s hand slid deeper beneath her dress, goose bumps bursting over her nakedness. “Tease,” he murmured, loud enough for the other woman to hear.

Shanna’s smile flickered again. “Maybe I should come over tomorrow. You two look as if you want to get on your way.”

Leaning toward the other woman, Nikki lowered her voice to a whisper. “I know, I think he’s fallen hard for me. And I have a feeling this might be the real thing, too. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t object to you spreading the rumor to everyone tonight that I’ve marked my man.”

Jay pulled her upright by moving his wandering hand from her spine to her hip and pressing her back against his front. He felt hot. And big.

“Cookie…” The word was definitely a threat.

A couple came onto the portico and headed for a waiting Mercedes. They greeted Jay and Shanna by name, and gave Nikki a curious look. She managed a jaunty two-fingered wave.

“I’m Nikki,” she called out. “And yes, it’s just what you’re thinking. Jay’s got himself another girl. But you heard it here first. This one’s sticking.”

“Sticking?” he scoffed as the couple drove off. “They’re going to think you’ve been drinking.”

“As long as they think of me when they think of you,” she said, sending him an upward glance. “Like a couple. Like an inseparable twosome.”

He bent his head to her ear and whispered, his breath hot against her neck. “Like a man who must be out of his mind saddled with a woman playing with fire.”

“Did you say saddled?” She shook her finger at him, ignoring the new set of sex chills that were rushing all over her body. “Be patient. I’ll get out my riding crop later.”

He rolled his eyes as Shanna let out a startled sound. “Don’t let cookie here fool you,” he started.

“I’m much stricter than I look,” Nikki finished. “But enough about our sexual practices. What is it you wanted, Shanna?”

The other woman looked as if she wanted to run away. “Um…well…”

“She’s teasing, Shanna,” he said, his voice tight. “Now, what’s up?”

She hugged her tiny purse so close it tucked into the valley between her silicone breasts. “It’s about the gardener.”

“My friend Jorge? I told you, he owns the landscaping business. It’s his employees who take care of your gardening.”

“Yes, well, I realize that. Are you sure he’s reliable?”

“I’m positive. You should know. He’s taken care of your house for several years.”

“But Daddy handled it. This time I’m sort of in charge. My father bought the place next door.”

Nikki tried to give herself a little breathing room, but Jay’s hand tightened on her hip when she tried to move away. “The Pearson place?” he asked.

Shanna nodded. “Daddy’s going to tear it down to enlarge our pool house.”

Jay groaned. “Good God. I know that old place is pretty beat up, but isn’t your property big enough as it is?”

Shanna didn’t answer that question. “My parents are going to Nice for a few months and I said I’d do what I could to ready it for Daddy’s plans. There’s a bunch of over-growth that needs to go.”

“Then by all means use Jorge,” Jay said. “But damn, I’ll hate to lose another of the older places. Remember when we were kids, Shanna? All the casual bungalows and the communal beach barbecues? Now everyone is locking themselves away behind thorny hedges and privacy walls.”

The blonde shrugged. “It will never be like it was when we were kids, Jay. But thanks.” She started toward the restaurant’s entrance, then paused. “Thank you, too, Nikki, for postponing your, um…evening.”

For postponing the inevitable, Nikki worried as she and Jay watched the woman walk away.

Before she disappeared, he turned her into his body. “Finally.” His head bent toward her mouth.

Nikki leaned back. “What are you doing?”

“Shanna’s watching,” he said. “Act accordingly.”

His hand speared through the hair at the back of her head to bring their lips close. Breath-minglingly close. She didn’t have to act at all as he swooped in to press another burning yet tender kiss upon her mouth. Instead, she did what came naturally, she leaned into him and let herself savor his flavor and the hot, hard sensation of his body against hers.

He murmured something against her mouth—witch?—and slid his hands down her back to the swell of her behind. He palmed the globes as he lifted his head. “That punishment can go both ways, cookie. You’ve asked for a spanking, but I don’t get into the kinky stuff until I’ve exhausted all the more traditional possibilities.”

She blinked, the sexual intent in his eyes and the impossible-to-ignore, powerful thrill of his arousal against her stomach blanking her mind so that no snappy comeback presented itself. A knot of people separated to stream around their conjoined bodies and a woman said, “Jay!” in a scolding tone. “What are you doing now?”

Nikki found her voice. “Proving he’s a one-woman man, and I’m that woman.”

Too late, Jay clamped a hand over her mouth.

At the touch, old terror rose up. Pain in her knee, fumbling at her thighs, a palm bruising her lips. She jerked away from him, nearly falling on her butt as she stumbled back. Jay lunged for her and caught her elbow, keeping her upright. She yanked from him again, her heart thumping like the feet of a fleeing rabbit.

His brows slammed together. “Nikki?”

His car was at the curb, one of the valets just clambering from the driver’s side. Without answering, she headed for it. Once inside, she tucked away the memories, careful to bury them six feet deep again. Jay got behind the wheel, then started off, only to pull into a dark corner of the lot.

“What’s going on?” she demanded, willing the last of her fear away.

“I think that’s my line,” he answered. He turned off the car and shifted toward her. “Nikki—”

“I’m sorry I called you Sonny,” she said, as quickly as she could. “And I promise I won’t ever let it slip that I have a yen for female twins in my bed.”

Even in the darkness, she could tell he was shaking his head. “Nikki…”

It couldn’t end like this. She didn’t want it to end like this.

He shook his head some more. “I told you this isn’t—”

Her mouth stopped the words coming out of his. It was the only thing she could think to do to halt the conversation. And it worked, because his mouth instantly opened under her assault and her tongue found its way inside him.

He tasted like Jay, like sophistication and experience and the sun, blazing against the sand. A dark sound came from his throat and his hands closed over her shoulders. She felt frantic…but whether it was to keep her job or for him to keep on with the decadent, hot, drugging kiss, she didn’t know.

But she was his lesbian chef!

…and then the thought drifted away as his hand covered her breast. Her skin rose in goose bumps and her nipples rose even higher. He had to notice.

He did. His tongue slid past hers to fill the cavern of her mouth as his thumb brushed across the tip of her breast.

Good Lord, he was good. He could move that lazy thumb over her peaked breast in the same rhythm that his tongue played in her mouth. It was the slow, lazy beat of an R&B song, and she went over as easily as if she had Marvin Gaye or Al Green humming in her ear. Her blood, her body, throbbed, caught in the sweet, exotic, erotic music.

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