Hearts Aflame Collection: 4-Book Bundle (12 page)

Chapter Two

Lisa watched as Jeff Masterson flirted with
the blonde Venus beside him and a mad plan began to formulate in
her mind. Her desirability as a woman had taken a direct hit when
she’d seen Harry with Shawn. It would have been bad enough if he’d
left her for a woman but she couldn’t help thinking if she was so
bad in the sack that she’d scared him off women for life. She knew
it was silly to think that way, but the pain gnawed at her and she
decided that she needed to lay that fear to rest. And who better to
aid her than Jeff Masterson, the serial one-night-stand man.

She had seen the way he’d looked at her with
such heat that she’d immediately felt goose bumps raise on her
forearms. There was no doubt she felt a pull towards the man; has
felt it the first time she’d seen him close to a year ago when
she’d first started working at the Clover Leaf. But she’d been with
Harry then and had felt guilty for the way her nipples had hardened
whenever Jeff’s hot gaze had glanced over her; and so she’d been
nasty to him when he had tried asking her out. Not like she
regretted that in anyway, the man was a chronic one-night-stander
and his reputation definitely preceded him.

According to Sandra who had worked at the
Clover Leaf for several years, Jeff Masterson never repeated walked
into a bar, picked up a woman for the night and never repeated a
night with the same woman. In fact, she was beginning to think that
Jeff Masterson was exactly who she needed right now. One night of
mindless passion and her belief in her desirability restored, and
then she could move on with her life.

She walked up to the bar to fill in an order
for one of her customers but this time, instead of going to the
opposite end from where Jeff was sitting, she walked right beside
him and called out the order to Brad.

“Hey Snookums,” He teased using the nickname
he’d heard from her sister.

Lisa rolled her eyes and directed a mock
frown at Brad. Secretly though she was glad his usual good humor
had been restored. He’d been hopping mad when he’d discovered both
Harry and Shawn missing. “Two martinis on the rocks”

“Coming up” Brad said smiling at her.

After he turned to fix the drinks Lisa could
not help thinking that with his huge linebacker body and light
green eyes framed by curly blonde hair, Brad was truly a gorgeous
looking man. But for some reason, she had never been attracted to
him, which was a good thing, considering her sister was crazy about
the man. She thought with wry humor. She much preferred the tall,
dark and ruggedly handsome looks like those of the man sitting
beside her. She cast a side glance at him beneath her eyelashes and
found him staring at her mouth.

A slight shiver shook her as she felt white
hot desire course through her body. What was it about this man that
affected her so completely? She wondered. Well, whatever it was,
she was determined to explore it, at least for a night. The only
problem was she did not know how to seduce a man, which was
laughable really. Looking at her with her too short skirt and too
tight top and the multiple piercings on her ears and tongue; it was
hard to believe she was anything other than a sexual siren. The
thought almost made her weep, what a sexual siren. She had only
been with three men her entire life and one of those had been a
quick affair in the backseat of an old Ford Cortina when she was
sixteen.

She shivered again and realized that she was
staring straight into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. For some
reason, she had never taken the time to notice the color of Jeff’s
eyes, but they were, she supposed cornflower blue would be the best
description for that shade of blue. He immediately hooded his eyes
and raised an eyebrow at her. Lisa felt her face flood with color.
There was no way she could seduce this man; he was way beyond what
she could handle.

She turned to look away but a hand on her arm
drew her attention back to him. “Snookums?”

Lisa felt her face heat up again and she
shrugged carelessly, “It’s what my sister calls me sometimes.” She
explained, not knowing why she was explaining.

“Your sister?”

Lisa scanned the bar and found her sister in
one end having a heated argument with Brad. Odd, her sister was the
most even tempered person she knew. She nodded towards her and
watched Jeff’s eyes open wide before they turned back to her. She
read the surprise in them and smiled. Diane was not her twin
sister, but they could pass for twins. The resemblance was that
marked. She didn’t always see it though, but when enough people had
remarked on the same thing she had to believe they were telling the
truth.

“I didn’t know you had your sister working
here.” He stated.

“There are a lot of things you don’t know
about me.”

“I’d like to remedy that.”

Lisa stared at him; his hands had slid from
her arms and he was now holding her hands and moving his thumb
around her palm in circles. She could feel lightning bolts of lust
shooting through her and she shifted on her feet, trying to ease
the aching fullness between her legs. She looked at the blonde
Venus sitting on the other side of him looking decidedly miffed.
“What about her?”

“Forget about her, I don’t know her.” Jeff
said shortly without flicking an eyelid.

Lisa knew this was decision time. It looked
like her plans for seduction had been taken right out of her hands
and even though she did not like the loss of control, she could
always devise means to take it back. She turned and saw Brad coming
towards her with the drinks and tugged at her hand. Jeff
immediately let go. She turned back to him. “I get off in five.
I’ll see you outside.” She turned to Brad with a smile, picked up
the drinks and walked away.

Chapter Three

Jeff was stunned though he thought he hid it
well. His brow creased in confusion, what had just happened? He’d
come in to have a drink and take a willing woman home but he had a
feeling he’d just been picked up. And why was he here overanalyzing
things? He shook his head and brought out a wad of bills to pay for
his drinks.

“Are you leaving already?”

He turned to the sultry voice, so close to
his ears. “Yes.” He said shortly.

“Need some company?” she batted her eyelashes
at him.

Jeff tamped down the irritation he felt and
dropped the wad of bills on the counter, “I’ve got company.” He
said standing up.

Brad appeared out of nowhere, “Leaving
already?” He asked unknowingly parroting the woman with the heavy
eyelashes.

Jeff didn’t even try to remember her name as
he smiled at Brad, “I got lucky.” He ignored Brad’s questioning
stare, strangely reluctant to reveal that he was leaving with Lisa,
even though he was sure Brad probably knew. He threw a quick wave
and made his way out to the street. The Clover Leaf was on a busy
street and had no parking lot so there were cars lining the street;
he had parked his BMW further along the street but he stood outside
in the shadows, waiting for Lisa to show up.

He was beginning to wonder if she had changed
her mind when the doors swung open and she stepped out. He watched
her standing out there for a moment before stepping out of the
shadows, “I thought you’d changed your mind.” He said stopping a
few steps from where she was standing.

She wrapped her arms around her body, even
though it was late September and the weather was just slightly
chilly. She raised her chin and looked him in the eye, “I will not
be changing my mind.”

He stared at her quietly, wanting to ask why
she’d suddenly changed her mind after turning him down so many
times; instead he put snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her
towards him. Raising a hand to her nape, he brought her face closer
to his slowly, waiting for her to pull away. Her eyes flared with
desire and Jeff felt himself grow hard. He bent down and covered
her mouth with his. His intention was to taste her, a simple kiss
on her lips. But when she opened her mouth and kissed him back, the
kiss became intense and there was nothing simple about it.

She flicked her tongue into his mouth and
sucked on his lower lips, her hands sliding up to his neck and
nestling in his hair. Jeff felt desire slam into him as he slid a
leg between hers so he could deepen the kiss. He slid his tongue
over the corners of her mouth and moved back to her lower lip,
nibbling at it. He ran his hands over her body and pressed her
closer to him as she darted his tongue into her mouth. When she
gently sucked on his tongue he let out a groan and they broke
apart.

Jeff rested his head on Lisa’s and stared
into her eyes. They were both gasping for breath and he was feeling
like his world has just been rocked off its axis. How could a
single kiss do that? He saw that she was equally affected.

“My car is over there.” He gestured towards
where he was parked without taking his eyes off hers.

“Mine is parked out behind.” She
murmured.

Her voice sent another jolt of desire through
his body and he took a deep breath. “We can go in mine and I’ll
drive you back.” Which was more than he usually did, he thought.
Most times he just called a taxi for the woman he was with.

Lisa shook her head, “I’ll drive behind you.”
She stated firmly, stepping out of his arms.

Jeff frowned slightly but seeing the mutinous
set of her chin decided to let it go. He nodded and pointed to the
silver BMW convertible parked a few cars down the street, “I’ll
wait for you by the car. What do you drive?”

She hesitated for a brief second then, “A red
Toyota Corona. It’s a hatchback.” With that she turned and went
back into the Café.

Jeff stood there for a second and wondered if
he was making a mistake. He had never had such an intense and
instantaneous reaction to a woman before. But he shook off his
misgivings. This was just another one night stand and it promised
to be a memorable night. With a light step, he walked towards his
car.

***

Driving after Jeff, Lisa wondered briefly if
she’d taken leave of her senses. She adjusted her rear mirror as
she pulled out into Pearl Street and felt nerves hit her then. Her
lips suddenly felt dry and she ran her tongue over them. She
immediately remembered the kiss she’d shared with Jeff and had to
shift on her seat to ease the sudden discomfort in her secret
place. She was not going to think about anything this night except
having a good time, she decided, switching on her indicator and
making a right to Nineteenth Avenue in the Uptown area of
Denver.

Before long Jeff’s silver BMW disappeared
into the garage parking of one of the new apartment buildings in
Uptown. She hesitated and thought briefly of parking outside but
since she didn’t see any other cars parked outside, she followed
him and slid her car in neatly beside his. He was already standing
beside the car, waiting for her.

“It’s okay to park here, I own both slots.”
He said as she slid out of the car. She just nodded and followed
him inside, grateful that there was an elevator from the car park
into the building.

Inside the elevator, she leaned against a
wall and took a deep breath. She could feel her heart pounding in
her ribcage. She watched as Jeff punched in the number for his
floor and imagined those hands running all over her body. Her
breath began to come in short gasps and she felt the tips of her
breast push against the fabric of her jacket. In her entire twenty
something years, she’d never felt so horny and it was messing with
her mind.

“Hey,”

She looked up and saw that Jeff had moved
closer to her. Even in her heels he was still a head taller than
she was. “Hi.”

“Are you okay?”

She shrugged then nodded. “I just feel
weird.”

He cocked his head to one side and raised an
eyebrow, “Weird, how?”

Lisa quickly moistened her dry lips with her
tongue and moved closer to him. Slowly, she ran her hands over the
front of his slacks and felt his bulging erection, “The thought of
that is making me really hot and bothered.” She whispered, feeling
incredibly wanton.

Jeff’s breath whooshed out but he quickly
recovered and dragged her close for a slow and heart melting kiss.
Lisa felt her knees grow weak and leaned against the wall as she
wrapped her arms around Jeff, partly for support and partly to get
as much of him as she could. He pressed her back and lifted her
leg, placing it around his waist so that his erection was nestled
between her legs. Lisa began to tremble at this onslaught of her
sense. She moaned at the back of her throat just as the elevator
dinged.

“Shit.” Jeff muttered against her mouth and
carefully peeled her leg off him as he helped her stand. They had
arrived at his floor.

Chapter Four

Inside the apartment, Jeff had barely shut
the door before he’d pulled Lisa back into his arms. He kissed her
with deep passion and she returned the intensity of the kiss. Their
hands were all over each other as they struggled to get out of
their clothes. He trailed kissed from her mouth to her neck and
pushed aside her light jacket as he nibbled on her shoulder. She
moaned in response and he felt himself harden further.

“Jeff, where’s your bedroom?” she asked
urgently

Jeff chuckled at how eager she was, he knew
exactly how she felt though; he was burning up simply from touching
her. He kissed her ear and nipped her earlobe before whispering
seductively, “We have all night babe, there’s no hurry.”

He quickly changed his mind however when she
undid his belt and snapped open his slacks before dipping her hands
inside and cupping his erection. “Ah, maybe we should head for the
bedroom.” He groaned.