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Jasper smiled broadly as he jumped out of the vehicle. A woman with attitude! He liked her already. “My, my,” he said as he crossed the road, “someone is sure testy.”
“You would be too if you’d been standing out in this blistering heat for an hour. I have delicate skin.”
“I bet.” Jasper chuckled. He was unprepared for the sight that greeted him once he got up close and personal. The woman was tall in what had to be four-inch heels, but that wasn’t all. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was breathtaking. She had creamy latte-colored skin that complemented her sleek, sophisticated bob with honey-blond highlights. And, well, her green eyes were nothing short of arresting! They stopped him dead in his tracks.
Courtney sighed wearily. She was used to men’s reactions toward her looks, but there was something about this one that was a little bit different from the other men she’d encountered. There was something strong about him and his dark chocolate skin that appealed to her on a physical level. She guessed he must be six foot two, maybe three, and despite his less-than-desirable attire of ripped jeans and a T-shirt, he smelled all man.
“Well, are you going to help me or not?” she asked. “Or do you always stare at ladies dumbfounded? I doubt that gets you very far.” The second the words were out of her mouth, Courtney realized she sounded a bit harsh.
“Listen, lady.” Jasper quickly snapped out of his daze at her tone. “It’s you who needs my help, not the other way around.” He glanced down at her attempt at changing a flat tire.
Courtney stood up straight. She’d never had someone give it back to her like that, and she had to begrudgingly admire it even if she didn’t like it. “You’re right, so if you would please be so kind as to help me out of a pinch, I would appreciate it.”
“That’s better!” Jasper walked around the entire length of her rental car and then stated, “Can’t do it.”
“Well, why the hell not! It’s just a flat tire,” she responded gruffly.
Jasper laughed at her indignation, which only infuriated Courtney further. She stomped toward him, giving him a great view of her pert bosom in the formfitting tank top. “Because, my dear, you have two flat tires.” He inclined his head in the direction of the passenger’s-side rear tire.
“How can that be?” Courtney shook her head. “Who gets two flat tires?”
“Apparently you do?” He grinned broadly. “You must have rolled over some nails.”
“For Christ’s sake!” She should have listened to the hotel manager instead of going off on her own. Now look where she was, stuck on a dirt road with a construction worker. “Well, if it’s money you’re after to help me, I’m sure I can accommodate you.”
Jasper’s eyes narrowed at her condescending tone. This high-class diva was probably used to getting what she wanted with a bat of her eyelashes. She probably thought he was some poor schmuck off the street whom she could speak to any kind of way. She was wrong. “I don’t have to do a damn thing. And if I were you, I wouldn’t be throwing around the fact that you have money in these parts. It might attract the wrong sort, if you get my drift.” And with that comment, he started walking back toward his truck.
Courtney stormed after him as best she could in four-inch heels on a rocky dirt road. “Wait, just a minute. Where do you think you’re going?”
Jasper turned around and Courtney caught a flash of anger in his eyes, but just as quickly it was gone. “I’m leaving. Or do you need me to get an interpreter for you?”
“Oh!” Courtney was flabbergasted. “You’re just going to leave me here?”
Jasper opened his truck door and hopped in the driver seat. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Perhaps you should be more kind to Good Samaritans.” He turned on the engine. It sputtered to life and seconds later, he shifted into gear, leaving her staring at his bumper. It was what she deserved considering the way she’d spoken to him. She had acted like a princess and as if she were entitled to a ride. He owed her nothing.
So why did he feel terrible? From his rearview mirror, he could see her standing in the middle of the road. She looked shell-shocked that he had left her stranded on the road in a bad area of town where beautiful, rich women like her disappeared in a nanosecond.
Seconds later, Jasper was reversing his truck to scoop her up. His mother had raised a gentleman, so he couldn’t very well leave her alone. When he reached her, her arms were folded across her chest and he could see she was pouting. He swung open the passenger door. “Get in!”
Courtney paused, debating whether she should get in the vehicle. It was dirty and looked as though he hauled debris of some sort in it. Not to mention the fact that he could be some crazy ax murderer. How would she know? She probably wouldn’t realize it until he’d taken her to some abandoned house in the woods never to be heard from again.
“I’m not going to ask you a second time, princess,” Jasper warned.
Courtney didn’t have a whole lot of options. If she stayed there, she could be stuck until nightfall and what would become of her? Throwing caution to the wind, she jumped inside the truck. Something in her gut told her she could trust him. Plus, she didn’t want to be left on the dirt road to fend for herself. She would just have the hotel manager send someone for the car.
“I am not a princess,” Courtney said, looking over to hazard a glance at the stranger.
“You sure act like one,” Jasper replied, shifting into gear and pulling back onto the highway.
“Wow, you sure know how to talk to a lady.”
“Is that what I’m doing? I thought I was giving you a ride back to your resort. Because trust me, if I was trying to talk to you, you would know it.”
Courtney turned around and stared at the stranger. She was surprised, but yet oddly turned on by his confidence. He didn’t seem to have the same social graces that some of her boy toys did, but perhaps that was why she tired of them so easily. “You sure are cocky.”
“I’ve been told that before.”
“But you don’t care?”
Jasper shrugged, which Courtney took to mean he couldn’t care less what others thought about him. She wished she could do the same. She always had to be conscious of how she was viewed by the public. It was up to her to sell the Adams Cosmetics brand, so her every movement was calculated. She supposed it was why when she was eighteen, she had done something completely reckless.
She’d gotten married to Chaise Anderson, whom she’d known only a few weeks. She’d met Chaise, the son of a wealthy Atlanta businessman, at a local party. He was good-looking, charming and sexy. The attraction between them had been instant. So when Chaise suggested they run away to Vegas to get married, Courtney had been on board. She’d been dying to get out of her parents’ grip, and marriage had seemed like the next best thing. The marriage hadn’t lasted longer than a few days because, as soon as her father, Byron, had found out, he’d flown to Vegas. She’d gotten quite the tongue-lashing about the image she was portraying and he’d insisted she have the marriage annulled. Courtney had never seen her father so furious and she had quickly agreed. But truth be told, she’d liked being free and reckless, if only for a little bit.
The remainder of the drive continued in silence with the exception of Courtney asking the stranger to roll up the window and turn on the air-conditioning. That’s when he’d promptly informed her there was no a/c and they hadn’t spoken a word since. Clearly, her handsome stranger was a man of few words.
He also looked like the type who knew how to handle a woman in the bedroom. Where had that thought come from? She didn’t mind a bad boy every now and then, but they were usually the clean-cut type, trust-fund babies who liked to have fun. But this guy, he was different from the men she usually encountered. There was something a little dangerous about him and it was kind of a rush. Courtney shook her head, trying to shake the thought out of her head, but she was having a hard time focusing. They were in such close quarters she could smell his woodsy earth scent, and it was making her horny.
She was happy when the resort finally came into view and the truck made an unceremonious stop in front of the entrance. She turned to the stranger at her side and said, “Thanks for the ride.” She reached inside her purse for her wallet, but the stranger placed his large dark hand over hers. Courtney felt a tingle shoot straight from her hand to her core.
“Think I told you about offering folks money,” he said. “Didn’t I?”
Courtney lowered her eyes and blushed. “You did. So perhaps I can buy you a drink as a thank-you?” She looked up at him and a smile spread across her lips.
When Jasper’s dark eyes stared into her green ones, Courtney swallowed hard. Her throat felt parched and she licked her lips. The stranger’s eyes followed her movement, and that made her nervous. Why was he so silent? Speak, for goodness’ sake!
* * *
Jasper thought about the princess’s offer. Despite her efforts to appear aloof, he could see she was attracted to him. Her body language was giving it away, and he noticed her breasts in the tank top perk up at his long gaze. And then wetting those full, sumptuous peach-stained lips told him everything he needed to know. Normally, he would accept and take what she was offering, but he had a feeling the princess was used to getting what she wanted, so he would decline right now. And then have fun making her work for it.
“I have a couple of errands to run,” Jasper replied. “But maybe later?”
She frowned. “Fine.” She threw her purse over her shoulder, opened the truck door and climbed out. “Thanks again for the ride,” she said over her shoulder without hazarding another glance at him.
“’Bye, princess.” Jasper waved.
She stomped inside the resort and didn’t see the hotel manager come out to greet Jasper.
“Would you like me to put the truck away for you, sir?” Miguel asked Jasper when he came around to the driver’s side.
“That’s not necessary. I’m heading to my villa.” Jasper watched as Courtney’s rear disappeared from his view. His villa was located on the outskirts of the Sea Breeze Resorts property. It was close enough for him to check on the resort, but far enough away for him to have his privacy.
“She’s breathtaking, isn’t she?”
“So you noticed, Miguel? I thought you didn’t look at patrons.”
“I usually don’t, sir, but she’s hard not to notice, yes?”
Jasper leaned out over the window and patted the man’s back. “I agree, wholeheartedly. So, what do you know about the lady? Who is she?”
“If you come into my office, sir,” Miguel said, “I can fill you in on the details.”
Chapter 2
Courtney couldn’t believe the man had turned her down. She’d hoped for a quick drink, or maybe even a long roll in the hay with her construction worker. He looked as though he had lots of stamina. Unfortunately, she was left to comb the resort for some fun on her own.
After a long, hot shower and a massage and facial at the resort spa, Courtney was ready for the evening. After a spritz of Bliss over her body, she slid on a long maxi dress in a bold Copacabana print and some ornament-encrusted thong sandals and headed to the bar.
As she entered, Courtney noticed that every male eye in the room turned to her. She wasn’t unaware that the halter maxi dress plunged at the neckline to show off her pert breasts or that the dress plunged to her waist to show her bare back.
The bar was pretty busy and the band had already started playing some merengue music. Courtney scanned the bar looking for an opening and got more than she bargained for when a pair of dark eyes focused solely on her. He was here. How many dark-chocolate, six-foot-three brothers, with a killer smile that could make your panties wet, were on the island? Courtney’s breath caught in her throat. He’d changed his mind, but why? He’d seemed determined to make her feel like a fool for asking him out, so she would give it back to him and act as if she didn’t recognize him.
Courtney sauntered to the bar and sat across the way from her stranger. He could come to her. She knew it was a dangerous cat-and-mouse game they were playing, but she was secretly thrilled at the prospect. She needed a spark of excitement in her life after watching her brother and sister fall in love.
She didn’t have time to order a drink because, shortly after being seated, one of the men who’d been openly staring at her approached.
* * *
From across the room, Jasper drank his Presidente and watched the beautiful seductress through dark lashes. She’d seen him and knew he was here, but she had been content to sweep past him and go to the opposite end of the bar. But from here he could watch her every move. And watch he did.
He watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. He watched the breeze as it blew through her short bob. And he was far from oblivious of the swarm of men who had encircled her. She was holding court like the Queen of England, smiling at one, lightly touching another’s arm as she spoke and batting her eyelashes at another. She was an incorrigible flirt!
Miguel had filled him in on all the details about Courtney Adams. She was the illustrious spokesmodel for Adams Cosmetics. Courtney came from money and was probably used to fame and the power it could bring. According to Miguel, she’d used it to keep her family’s company in the public eye. He’d bet she flirted with every man she came into contact with. She probably couldn’t help herself.
The company she worked for, Adams Cosmetics, sounded oddly familiar. He searched far back into his memory, digging for the name. Finally it hit him. Adams Cosmetics was the very same company that his father, Andrew Jackson, had always competed against. Jasper had gotten away from all the madness, but now he’d stumbled right into the lion’s den by meeting his father’s rivals’ daughter.
But that didn’t stop him from being annoyed at the prospect of other men surrounding a woman he felt he had already laid claim to. Of course, she didn’t know that. He’d been aloof when he’d declined her invitation to spend the evening together, but it was time he corrected the matter and got down to business.
“What do you have, pretty lady?” The bartender had finally come around to her side of the bar.
“She’ll have a Presidente,” a masculine voice said from behind her. “What I’m having.”
Courtney’s heart turned over in her chest. He had come over. She spun around on her barstool to face him. He was so close to her she could smell the strong woodsy scent of his cologne wafting to her nose. Jasper had used intimidation to push the other men away to get to her side. All her suitors had taken several steps back and were watching them wearily.
“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” Courtney finally found her voice and eyed him up and down. He looked casually fine in relaxed jeans and a black shirt open at the collar.
“Getting your attention,” Jasper responded. After a cold shower at his villa had been unable to alleviate the hard-on the honey blonde had caused him, he’d returned to his resort to see if she would deliver on the promise that had been in those dazzling green eyes of hers.
Courtney couldn’t help smiling—he was completely arrogant and she dug it. “Well, you have it,” she said, and motioned to the seat beside her.
Jasper slid onto the barstool next to hers.
“I thought you were too busy with errands to join me.”
“I finished up early.”
“And decided to grace me with your presence? How generous of you.”
“I figured I couldn’t allow a woman as beautiful and sexy as you to sit alone at a resort bar,” Jasper replied smoothly. “The vultures would be circling.” He eyed the rest of the men at the bar who were giving him the evil eye.
“So you think I’m sexy?”
Jasper eyed her up and down. “In that dress, hell yeah.” He laughed. “But then again, you were pretty hot in those skimpy shorts and top earlier.”
She gave him a sideways glance. “I thought you hadn’t noticed.”
“I’d be dead not to.” Jasper sipped on his beer.
“So we’ve established that you find me attractive,” Courtney replied, and spun around to face him. The chemistry between them was palpable. She was sure everyone else had to feel their sizzling connection. “So what now?”
There was a lot of innuendo behind Courtney’s remark, but Jasper opted to be good, for now. “How about we start with names? Mine’s Jasper. And yours?”
“Courtney.”
Jasper held up his drink. “To having a good time.”
“To a good time.” Courtney clinked her glass against his.
Courtney didn’t remember how many drinks she had because Jasper had been regaling her with tales of his life in construction and all the mishaps he’d had. Although he hadn’t said as much, she figured he was a construction worker. He appeared to love what he did for a living. Courtney didn’t say much about her job, only that she was in public relations for her family’s company. Jasper seemed happy with that. Neither one of them had offered much in the way of personal information. They were just having a good time.
They did shots of Patrón and then got up to dance. Jasper grasped her hand and they made their way into the throng that had congregated on the dance floor and danced to the merengue band. He was an excellent dancer and easily guided Courtney across the floor. And once his hands were on her body, there was no denying the attraction coursing between the two of them. At the touch of his hands caressing her bare back, a fire spread through Courtney’s loins. Does he feel it too?
When Courtney’s pert breasts grazed against his chest, she felt his lower half respond. And when she ground herself against his arousal to the beat of the music, he groaned and she thought he would lose it and take her right there on the dance floor. But he didn’t. He must have wanted the moment to last longer, because he slowed the pace, and it allowed her to feel the delicious friction of their bodies meeting.
They continued dancing and drinking until the wee hours of the morning when Jasper pulled her aside.
“Wanna get out of here?” he murmured against her ear as he flicked his tongue lightly across it.
Courtney shivered and said, “Yes.”
When they left the bar, the crowd had already thinned out and retired for the night. They walked barefoot toward the beach, since Courtney had abandoned her high heels earlier in the night. That’s when Jasper whisked Courtney into the nearby gazebo. It was dark and granted them plenty of coverage so Jasper could kiss her. His movements were slow and methodical. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her firmly to him. Courtney’s head fell back in response because she knew what was coming next. That deliciously sinful mouth of his on hers. He didn’t disappoint. He kissed her the way a soldier kissed the first woman he saw after coming home from a long war.
It was dangerous and passionate, thrilling and exhilarating, all at the same time. His tongue traced the outline of her lips, eager to be inside her warm, waiting mouth. Courtney allowed him entry. His tongue delved into the deep recesses of her mouth and he stroked her tongue with his before sucking hers. Courtney wound her arms around Jasper’s neck and kissed him back with equal fervor. His firm chest pressed against her, causing a tight ache to form in her breasts.
Jasper’s hands palmed her backside, pulling her closer to him. There was no mistaking it, Jasper was as turned on as she was. Courtney reveled in the fact that she could make her tall, dark stranger feel the way she did, because she’d been burning up since the moment she saw him.
“I want you now,” Jasper groaned as his tongue traced her ear with light flicks.
“Oh, yes.” Courtney shuddered. “I want you too.”
Jasper knew exactly how to tease her earlobe to send her mind swirling and make her dizzy and light-headed. She sighed, tingling with anticipation of what she knew was to come, but Jasper suddenly pulled away.
“Wait here. Be right back.” And he was gone in a flash.
After the heat of his skin left hers, Courtney felt bereft. She looked around her and it was dark, with only a faint glow from the stars overhead. Just when she thought he’d abandoned her, Jasper returned with a blanket and laid it across the floor of the gazebo.
Before she could think about what they were about to do out in the open, Jasper was pulling her down on the blanket. It was surprisingly thick and soft against her knees.
Jasper noticed that Courtney’s eyes lowered slightly and she pulled away. “Haven’t you ever done it outside before?”
Her pupils dilated and Courtney blushed, which thankfully he couldn’t see in the dark. She didn’t want him to think she was a prude. “Well, no, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.” She’d always been a little bit of an exhibitionist, but what if someone saw them? She glanced around the dark night.
“Are you afraid to?” he asked, stroking her cheek lightly. “Because we’re far away enough that no one can see us.”
“You sure do know a lot about this place,” Courtney said. “Do you do this often? You know, pick up American women and take them to bed?” How else could he have procured a chenille blanket in the middle of the night?
Jasper paused. “Actually I don’t, but since the moment I saw you—” he crawled toward her on his hands and knees “—I wanted to kiss you, to taste you.” He slid his hand around her neck, leaned his head to one side and laid claim to her lips.
He lifted his head slightly so Courtney could regain her breath and said, “Now’s your chance, princess, to back out, because once we get started I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop.”
“Who said I would want you to?”
They reached for each other at the same time and tumbled down onto the blanket. It was a long, drugging kiss that sapped Courtney of all rational thought. Warning bells were ringing that she shouldn’t be outside making love with a stranger underneath the stars, but she didn’t care. She gave in to the emotion and...it was sweet heaven.
Jasper’s well-defined mouth took full possession of hers. It started when his warm and moist tongue played with the outer corners of her mouth before darting inside for a taste. Then his tongue thrust deeper, penetrating the hollows of her mouth. He made love to her mouth and she shivered with desire.
He pulled back slightly to rain kisses across her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks and then back to pay tribute to her lips. He grappled with the halter at her nape until he was finally able to release the knot and free her breasts to his searing gaze.
Jasper found Courtney’s breasts to be high and round and ready for him. The tips of his fingers reached out to glide their way down her satin skin before his mouth came down on them, hot and rampant. He took one nipple between his teeth and lightly sucked on it, tormenting her. He drew circles around the bud with his tongue and drew her into his mouth. He loved the other breast with equal measure. She clasped his head to her breasts, never wanting him to stop, but Jasper was clearly eager for more.
“Now, Jasper.”
“Not yet.”
He ignored her pleas and continued his quest by caressing her shoulders, then her bare back, then lowered to the contours of her hips, one inch at a time. A ribbon of desire coiled through Courtney, so she didn’t object when he slid her maxi dress higher and higher until it was at her waist and he could slip his hand between her thighs and cup her intimately.
There were no second thoughts because she was warm and welcomed his hand. And when he rotated his palm across her mound and pushed the tiny fabric that was her thong aside, Courtney let out a whimper of consent.
He slid his fingers between her damp folds and began rubbing light circles around the nub. He watched Courtney’s eyes dilate as she struggled for control. His thumb continued stroking. She was flushed and he could feel the heat coming off her in droves. Oh, yes...she was oh so damp down there. He thrust his finger farther inside her until she began to tremble.