Stephanie Julian - By Private Invitation

“And I want you to let go, Jared.”

She felt him freeze, as if the very notion of what she’d said was something he’d never contemplated.

But his next retreat and re-entry was even slower. “No, you don’t. Just feel, Belle. Let yourself get lost in the pleasure.”

She was. But she sensed the same wasn’t true for him. Still she couldn’t seem to wrap her brain around that when the friction created by each controlled thrust made her nerves flicker and snap with electricity, causing her sex to clamp around him.

His hand switched breasts, beginning another series of ripples straight to her womb.

“Jared. Please.”

“I want to, Belle. Tell me what you want.”

“Fuck me. Now.”

She didn’t know what it was that finally flicked his switch, whether her language or the command. His entire body tightened around her and he began to thrust hard and fast and with no mercy.

She didn’t require any. Her body accepted everything he gave her and still craved more. Faster, harder.

Pleasure burst like fireworks in her blood, and her fingers clenched into the cushions as her pussy clenched around Jared’s jerking shaft, milking him as he came with a shout.

“Good morning, Belle. I hope you slept well.”

Jared walked through the door of the shop just before noon Tuesday morning, dressed in jeans and a cream-colored fisherman knit sweater over a blue chamois shirt. He held two cups of coffee from the café down the street and she didn’t know which to reach for first. Him or the coffee.

His blue eyes shone and his smile brightened an otherwise dreary January morning.

The man was just too good to be true. Handsome, smart, successful, and freaking awesome in bed.

What the hell was he doing here? With her?

“Morning, Jared.”

She damn well was not going to tell him she’d slept like the dead, sated and exhausted, after he left. Or that she’d woken up reaching for him. Disappointed that he hadn’t been there.

“I stopped at the café down the street for coffee.” He held out a paper cup.

Because she needed the caffeine, she reached for it and felt the tingle of anticipation shoot through her as their fingers grazed. Trying not to show how much he affected her.

“I see you found the best coffee in town.” And why didn’t that surprise her? The man would never settle for less than the best.

She breathed in the rich aroma of Jamaican Me Crazy with a shot of cream. The coffee smelled great but Jared…Well, Jared held an appeal that was on another plane of existence.

Images from last night bombarded her, remembered sensations making her pussy go wet and soak her underwear.

“The woman behind the counter very kindly told me how you take yours.”

In the dry tone of his voice, she heard exactly what he hadn’t said.

Tracy Tate owned the coffee shop and made a mean pot of coffee and a wicked bear claw. She also dispensed gossip as fast as she could whip up two mocha lattes and an espresso to go.

Teddy had been busy yesterday. He’d probably hit every shop along the avenue. Hell, maybe he’d stood outside the chip factory with flyers so he didn’t miss anyone.

She forced herself to hold his gaze. “And I’m sure Tracy attempted to pump you for information.”

Unless Tracy fell under the Jared Golden charm and simply stood there with her mouth hanging open. Tracy’s husband was a very adorable but overweight sweetheart of a guy who thought his wife walked on water. They loved each other but no woman in her right mind would not have drooled over Jared.

“Actually, we talked mostly about you.”

She caught herself before she rolled her eyes. Terrific. Jared had gotten an earful about how weird Annabelle was, with her addiction to antique porn. How eccentric and strange. How much time she put into her business and how little time she spent with men, like her ex Gary, who’d had to go searching for comfort between another woman’s legs.

She took a sip of her coffee and turned to walk to the counter, deciding she needed to recount the cash drawer.

“I’m sure that was enlightening.” She didn’t bother to look up to see if he’d followed her. She knew he had.

“It was more like a warning.”

Her fingers froze for a second as a whip of pain licked through her. “Oh, really? Was she warning you away from me?”

“Actually, she seemed more concerned about you.”

Her head shot up. “What do you mean?”

Jared leaned on the counter, coming close. “I got the distinct feeling I was being warned not to hurt you.”

She snorted before she could stop herself. But since she didn’t have a snappy comeback to that one, she simply ignored it and went back to counting the money.

“I like your little town,” Jared said, filling the silence of the store. “It’s…compact. So, you ready to get to work?”

Work, yes. But the look in his eyes didn’t exactly say work. At least not the kind of work she needed to get done.

She did have a business to run, a business that took a lot of time. She did her own books and currently she had twenty-three searches for customer merchandise she needed to check on. The shop was open today and although she didn’t get a lot of traffic during the week, she typically had at least one or two customers Tuesday through Thursday in the winter. Weekends were another story.

With a sigh, she closed the cash drawer, knowing the money total was correct because she’d counted it twice before he got here.

She leaned back against the opposite counter, farther away from him. “And where do you want to start?”

He barely hid his grin of triumph. “Here.” He let his gaze roam the store before coming back to her. “Since you’re going to be helping me, I thought maybe you’d like some professional advice on the layout of the shop.”

“Excuse me.” She plunked the coffee on the counter and put her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong with my shop?”

Holding up his hands in mock surrender, he shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong with it. I just noticed a few things that might set your shop apart from the others in the area.”

Picking apart her business hadn’t been part of the bargain. Her first instinct was to tell him where to stuff his opinion and she opened her mouth to do just that. But at the last second, she snapped her lips shut before the words could escape.

With a critical eye, she let her gaze roam.

It had been years since she or her grandfather had done anything more than move and replace furniture. She kept the place as clean as she could, which was pretty damn clean, if she did say so herself. But the paint had begun to show some wear, the wood floors needed to be refinished, and—maybe she didn’t want to look at the ceiling.

Still, it was an antiques shop in Adamstown, not a trendy boutique in downtown Philadelphia.

She narrowed her gaze at him. “What kind of sprucing up are you talking about?”

“Why don’t you show me around and we can talk as we go.”

His smile nearly undid her and she clenched her thighs to try to ease the ache between them. She’d have to watch that. She refused to be one of his easy society women who fell at his feet. She’d seen them at the party on New Year’s Eve, fawning all over him whenever he hadn’t been with her.

Not that they’d had much opportunity. He had spent pretty much all of his time at her side.

Still, she’d traveled the world, knew four languages, and owned and operated her own business. People who knew her described her as steady, solid, and insightful. And boy, didn’t that sound boring as all hell. No wonder she didn’t have a man in her life. Not that she was looking for one…

Oh, for heaven’s sake, she was only twenty-eight. Still plenty of time for her to find the man of her dreams and live happily ever after. And Jared was not happily-ever-after material. He was happily-right-now material. A playboy.

And she refused to fall for another playboy, even one as gorgeous as Jared.

She plopped onto the stool behind her and picked up her coffee. “Who made you king of the world this morning?”

The man must be made to stop smiling, she decided.

“Just in a good mood, I guess. What about you? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

Yeah, the one without you in it. She took a sip. “No, just trying to figure you out.”

He shook his head. “Nothing to figure out. We’ll be spending a lot of time together for the next month. Since you’re helping me with the spa, I just thought I’d give you a few observations. You want to hear what I have to say or not?”

Of course, she wanted to hear what he had to say. Jared and his brother owned and operated a successful hotel in a major metropolitan city. The man had brains as well as good looks and didn’t that just make him too yummy for words?

However, Gary had seemed like a decent guy at first and look how that turned out.

But Gary was on a whole different plane of existence from Jared. Gary lived on the plane for assholes.

Jared, on the other hand…

“Hey, Belle. You still with me?”

Oh, yeah. She was still here. Held in place by blue eyes that reminded her of sunny days.

This man was nothing like Gary. He was so far from being like Gary they should have come from different planets.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, let me have it straight.”

* * *

After he’d left her bed last night, Jared had spent the rest of the night lying in the surprisingly comfortable bed at the inn, staring at the ceiling.