He stood immovable as stone. "Katie, what if it's a mistake? What if I don't love Courtney?"
Alarms went off inside her head. "You're just nervous about getting married." And a jerk for acting like this less than forty-eight hours before the wedding, but that was a conversation for later. "That's all this is."
He reached for her. "Remember how it was with us? How great?"
"No. I don't."
He gave her a lopsided, sloppy smile. "You miss me. You know you do."
Hadn't she just been mature-girl, not two minutes ago with Jackson? Hadn't she done the right thing? And what? This was her reward? On what planet was that fair?
"Okay," she said, giving him a smile. "I need to take care of a couple of things." She pointed to the bathroom. "Just stay right there."
"I could take my clothes off."
She held in a shriek, but instead tried to look seductive. "Oh, Alex. Leave that for me."
He plopped down on the bed. "Okay. I will."
She ducked into the bathroom and pulled her cell phone out of her evening bag. Grateful her mother had given her Jackson's number and she'd put it in her phone, she dialed it and waited.
"Katie?"
"Alex is here. He's drunk and thinks he wants to have sex with me."
"There's a lot of that going around."
"Very funny. I need help."
"Be right there."
He was as good as his word, arriving before she'd walked out of the bathroom. Jackson looked at Alex, then shook his head.
"I don't think so," he said. "You had your chance and you walked away. Now, she's mine."
Confusion clouded Alex's eyes. "You're Katie's new boyfriend?"
"That's me."
"Damn."
Alex stood, leaned a little too far to the right, then straightened himself. He managed to make it to the still-open door and paused.
"Sorry, man."
"Don't let it happen again," Jackson said.
Alex waved and carefully closed the door behind him.
"Impressive," she told Jackson. "Thanks for saving me. If he'd tried anything, it would have been a disaster."
"A scandal, at the very least."
He wanted her. She felt it in his gaze, saw it in the set of his body. But being the kind of guy he was, he would respect her refusal and not even make a second attempt. As she'd thought before...nice.
The smart thing would be to let him walk away. They barely knew each other. This was an overly emotional situation and she wasn't thinking straight. Giving in to sex with a stranger was a big mistake. Huge. She would hate herself in the morning.
All very reasonable arguments, Katie thought as she walked over to Jackson and touched his glasses.
"How well do you see without those?" she asked.
"I see great close up."
"Good."
Sometime between their goodbye and his return to her room, he'd taken off his suit jacket and tie. Her work was nearly done for her. It would be a shame to let that effort go to waste.
"You want to take off your glasses?" she asked.
"What will you give me if I do?"
She laughed. "Whatever you want."
Six
Jackson put his glasses on the table by the door and turned to her. Katie saw the deep green of his eyes, the thick lashes, the perfect lines of his face.
"You're really a very--"
She didn't get any further. Instead of letting her speak, he pulled her against him, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply.
There was no easing into position, no slight brush of mouth on mouth. Instead he pressed his lips to hers as if he meant to have her, and nothing was going to stop him.
The power of his mouth, the heat, nearly had her swooning. Even as she parted for him and met him stroke for stroke, she felt a tightness in her chest. As if she couldn't catch her breath.
His hands were everywhere--up and down her back, along her hips, cupping her rear, then squeezing. She arched against him, bringing her midsection in contact with his arousal. He was hard and thick, she thought desperately. Deep inside, she felt a liquid warmth easing through her.
She hung on, as much to feel his strength as to stay standing. Wanting grew to desperation. Hunger burned like fire, licking through her body, making her whimper.
With an ease that was impressive, he found and lowered the zipper on the back of her dress. He broke the kiss long enough to slip the fabric down her arms, before returning his mouth to hers. He slid his hands from her back to her waist, then up to the black bra covering her br**sts.
"God, you feel good," he breathed as he cupped the curves in his hands.
His fingers found her tight ni**les and brushed them. Erotic delight wove through her, settling between her legs and making her squirm. He made quick work of her bra, tossed it aside, then bent his head to her br**sts.