Wine, Tarts & Sex

“Just a word of warning,” Elena said, sulky and peremptory. “Stay away from Jake.”

Liv didn’t take orders well; she spun around. “Listen, bitch. It’s not up to me who he screws. Okay?”

“Maybe it is,” a deep, familiar voice asserted.

Liv turned back, and there was Jake leaning against the corridor wall-male centerfold material in jeans and a black T-shirt-looking even hotter and sexier than she remembered. Drawing in a sharp breath, she struggled to withstand her body’s instant response to his sexually explicit gaze: the tiny flutter in her vagina, the warmth flushing her cheeks, the libidinous craving streaking through her senses.

With supreme effort, she managed to speak calmly, even as her heart was pumping wildly. “Don’t involve me in this.”

“There, you see?” Elena interposed, her smile assured. “You’re wasting your time.”

“Get the fuck out, Elena,” Jake softly said.

The explosive cursing was in Spanish, but Liv got the general idea. “If you two will excuse me,” she murmured, “I have friends waiting.” She’d worked at forgetting Jake too long to even think about returning to square one. And bottom line, with her vagina pulsing at warp speed, escape was essential.

“About those friends of yours,” Jake growled, pushing away from the wall.

Liv jerked her hand up to stop him. “Don’t you dare,” she said, heated and low, then turned and walked away as fast as spiky heels would allow.

“Can’t you see she doesn’t want you?” A high-pitched staccato rush of words, half-English, half-Spanish-and had she known, wholly in error.

“This doesn’t concern you.” Jake’s voice was so cold, Elena took a step backward. “I want you on a plane to L.A. in the morning.” Spinning away, he strode toward the music and bright lights, not entirely sure what he was going to do. Correction. He knew what he was going to do, but he wasn’t certain he could accomplish it without the bouncers getting involved.

Catching up with Liv just short of the bar, he grabbed her hand and pulled her around. “I have something serious to say, and I’d rather say it outside.”

“Jesus, Jake, stop. I’m not up to it.” Mostly because she didn’t want her too-susceptible emotions all shook up again. “Go get it on with Elena. She wants you, and she’s hot. What are you waiting for?”

“Maybe she’s not as hot as you.” He could be rude, too.

“Is that a compliment? I can’t tell.” Snide, arch words.

“Give me a minute, and I’ll make it real clear,” he brusquely replied.

“No, no, no, no! I don’t know how much plainer I can be!”

“Is this dude bothering you?”

A guy who looked like he could lift a Mack truck was in Jake’s face.

“Fuck off,” Jake snarled.

Liv glanced at the towering man, then at Jake, who was clearly out of his weight class, and her survival instincts kicked in. “Are you crazy?” she said, jerking on Jake’s hand. Turning to her world wrestling knight errant, she said with a supercordial smile, “I’m really fine. We were just having a little disagreement.”

Jake could have ignored Liv’s conciliatory overture and said, Bring it on, to the guy on steroids. He could break a cement block with his hand and any number of other black-belt maneuvers. But given this incredible opportunity, he said instead, “It was entirely my fault we were arguing. Sometimes I just can’t keep it together.” Turning back to Liv, he murmured, “I’m sorry, babe. What d’you say we kiss and make up?”

He knew better than to wait for an answer.

He also knew what that flush on her cheeks meant, and it had nothing to do with anger. Bending low, he kissed her-no hands and gently, gently, until she swayed forward the merest distance. As the warm softness of her breasts brushed his chest, he drew her into his arms, understanding what her tacit acquiescence implied.

She hadn’t meant what she’d said.

She wanted what he wanted as badly as he.

Oblivious to their audience, they gave in to their long-deprived desires, to weeks of privation, to necessitous appetites, their kiss prolonged, protracted, and in due time sweetly conciliatory. When they finally came up for air, the crowd around them broke into applause and cries of “Get a room!” rang out.

“Can we leave now?” Jake murmured.

“Will your girlfriend let you?” She couldn’t resist.

“Smart-ass. I might ask the same of you.” He nodded toward the bar. “There’s a helluva lot of guys over there.”

“I was going to draw straws tonight.”

“You wouldn’t have made it to the door.”

She smiled up at him. “I love it when you go all cave man on me.”

He grinned. “I know what you love, babe. Believe me, I’ve been thinking about it nonstop for three weeks. Want me to drag you outta here?”

“Tempting, but under the circumstances”-she glanced around-“we should probably be discreet.”

He laughed. “I didn’t know you did discreet.”

Her brows flickered. “I have my moments. Let me say good-bye to Shelly, and then we’ll go.”

“Your place or mine?”

“You’re not alone-right?”

“I’ll kick them out.”

She just loved how he casually offered her the world. He didn’t equivocate; he did as he pleased. Or in this case, how she pleased. “If you don’t mind the drive, let’s go to my place.”

“I’m not the one who usually can’t wait. You sure you can make it? We could check into a hotel.”

“I like waking up in my own bed.”

“Done deal, babe. You talk to Shelly, I’ll give Eduardo a heads-up.”

“She might put a hex on you.”

“She would have already if she could. Don’t sweat it. I can handle Elena.”

Liv almost said, I’ll go over there with you, but restrained herself. It was a rare totally adult moment apropos her out-of-control passions for Jake Chambers. She’d been pretty much in the grip of demon desire since she’d met him, and now, look, she was acting all grown-up. “See you in five,” she said with a smile.

He gave her a quick, assessing look as though trying to gauge her bland expression. “You sure? Come with me if you want.”

“I really don’t want to.” She liked that she meant it. No jealousy, no paranoia, no doubt he’d be back.

“Gotcha.” Bending low, he dropped a light kiss on her cheek and walked away.

Forty-two

“Was she mad?”

The valet was bringing up the car. Jake looked at Liv blankly for a moment before the identity of she registered. “I didn’t notice,” he casually said. “Elena’s going back to L.A. in the morning anyway. Eduardo’s taking over for me for a while.”

Sweet, sweet, sweet, Liv thought, trying not to openly gloat. “For a while, how nice,” she said, politely, when she was really thinking she finally understood the true meaning of the phrases, on top of the world, on cloud nine, happy as a lark, et al.

He smiled at her bland reply. “You bet your ass, it’s nice. The way I’m feeling right now, I may not let you out of bed for a month.”

She blushed, his look so scorching it sent shock waves through her body. “Except for work; I have to work,” she murmured, trying to keep some perspective on her life, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I don’t have time for a holiday right now unless you help me out.”