“Jack owns and runs Valentini Brothers Farm in Lexington. That’s where I was earlier this month.”
Muffy reacted as if I’d said something absurd. “You were on a farm?”
“Yes. Doing some work for Shine. I told you that, Mother.”
She studied him again. “He doesn’t look like a farmer.”
“I thought the same thing when I met him.” I gave him a quick smile. “Would you excuse us? I think we’re going to head out.”
“Of course.” Muffy dismissed us with a nod.
“Nice to meet you,” offered Jack. “Wow,” he said when we’d left the room. “For a small woman, she looks like she’s got bones of steel.”
I laughed as we headed for the museum valet. “She might.”
“How’d I do?”
“Fantastic. Were you nervous?”
“I’m sweating bullets. I kept feeling like everyone was looking at me.”
“Aww.” Hooking my arm through his, I hugged it to me. “You have nothing to worry about. They were dazzled by your looks, and by the fact that there was a new face here. These things are always attended by the same people.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” After we handed our tickets to the valet, we went outside to wait for them to pull our cars around. I turned to Jack and smoothed his lapels. “Thank you for coming tonight. I know it wasn’t easy in there.”
“It’s a different world for me, that’s for sure.”
“Like me in the chicken coop.”
He laughed and dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “Right. And you know what this means, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Camping.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh yeah. But not tonight, right?”
He laughed again, and I knew I’d never get tired of that sound as long as I lived. “Not tonight. Tonight I have a Luxury King room at the MGM Grand,” he teased. “Would you like to stay with me?”
“Did you say luxury? That’s like my favorite word.” I fanned myself and whispered, “I’m so turned on right now.”
“Good.” He pulled me close. “Because I’ve got plans for you.”
I shivered. “What kind of plans?”
“The kind where I make you come all night long, scream my name and beg for more.”
I swooned.
This time he caught me.
The elevator at the MGM was crowded, and Jack pulled me back against him. “So many people,” he said low in my ear. I thought he meant that there were too many people for him to be comfortable, but then he said, “Do you think they know what I’m going to do to you?”
I froze, my face growing hot.
“Do they know how soon I’m going to have my tongue between your legs?”
My mouth fell open.
“Do they know how loud I want to make you scream?”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Do they know how deep you’re going to take me?”
My legs started to shake.
“Do they know I’m getting hard right now, thinking about all the ways I want to fuck you tonight?”
Sweet Jesus. I spun around and whispered in his ear, “If I was wearing panties, they’d be soaked.”
He inhaled sharply.
Ten seconds later, the doors opened and he grabbed my arm roughly, yanking me out behind him. He moved down the hall so fast I could barely keep up in my heels, and the moment the hotel room door shut behind us, he pushed me back against it. My evening bag hit the floor.
His mouth covered mine, his tongue driving between my lips as his fingers hitched my dress up to my hips. He groaned when he realized I’d told the truth, running his palms down over my bare ass and up the sides of my thighs. I pushed at his jacket, forgetting about taking my time to undress him and thinking only about what was beneath the layers of dress clothes. I needed to feel his bare skin on mine, needed those hard muscles flexing above me, needed his power and strength and size to overwhelm me.
He let his jacket fall to the ground and my fingers fumbled with the knot in his tie. But it was hard to concentrate because he moved one hand between my legs and his touch paralyzed me—he slid his fingers back and forth along the slick seam at my center and circled them gently over my clit. I finally got the damn knot to come loose just as he slipped two fingers inside me, and I clutched his shoulders, melting against him.
“I want to be right here.” His voice was low and raw and intense. He pushed his fingers deep.