The Magnate's Manifesto(37)
His soft laughter flickered across the sensitive skin of her thighs. The smooth slide of his finger as he eased it inside her tore a moan from her throat. Then he brought his tongue back into play and the world went a hazy gray. This, she realized instinctively, was what she needed.
“Bailey,” he murmured, “baby. Give it up.”
She arched her hips and clutched the fabric of the sofa as he increased his rhythm. She begged and he gave no quarter, adding another finger, increasing the intensity until she went over the edge, her palm against her mouth the only thing preventing her scream from tearing into the night.
When her body had stopped shaking like a leaf, her brain started to function again.
So that was what all the fuss was about.
Jared leaned forward and smoothed her hair back from her face. “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” OMG had she just said that out loud?
He gave her a curious look, then a slow smile curved his lips as he rose to his feet, worked his palms beneath her and swung her up in his arms. “That was one.”
Bailey’s heart pounded with every step he took toward the gorgeous turquoise-blue bedroom. She had to tell him. Now.
“Jared.” She poked a finger into his shoulder. “Stop for a second. I need to tell you something.”
He halted midstride, his gaze flicking to her face. “What?”
Color rushed to her cheeks, rendering them a red-hot mess. “I’ve never—I mean you should know that I am a—”
The words died in her throat as he went as gray as she was red.
“You are goddamn joking.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE LOOK ON Bailey’s face sent a cold rush through Jared, like the mistral gone awry right up the center of him. He dropped her to the floor so fast she didn’t have time to brace herself, and his hands at her waist were the only thing that held her up.
“Tell me you’re joking,” he repeated harshly.
She pushed a hand against his chest and stood back, her chin lifting to a defiant angle. “What’s the big deal?”
His eyes rounded. “You’re a twenty-nine-year-old, former stripper, virgin?”
Her face went even hotter. “Are you going to tag that description on every time you talk about me now? Because I’m afraid that doesn’t work for me.”
He closed his eyes and raked his hair back from his face. “I don’t understand how this could happen.”
Her mouth flattened. “Simple. I haven’t gotten into bed with a man. Not that you’d understand anything about that. Half the women in the Valley are walking around with your cute little diamond charm bracelets on as if they were the Medal of Honor.”
He let out a harsh breath and opened his eyes. “It was the combination of your age and background, Bailey. You haven’t exactly been living in a nunnery.”
She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “What were you hoping? That I’d have all sorts of tricks up my sleeve, living the life?”
His gaze narrowed. “I wasn’t actually thinking, Bailey. As you can imagine after what just happened.”
Taking her to bed and having her until sunrise had been the only thing in his head…no thinking involved there.
His mouth twisted in a scowl. Not happening now, that was for sure. Virgins wanted rings on their fingers. Assurances of undying love. That part of his manifesto hadn’t been wrong.
“Why?” His frustrated, sexually aroused body wanted to know. “Why would you be twenty-nine and a virgin?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I dunno, Jared. I’d have to be a psychologist to say.” His scowl grew as she tossed his words back at him. “I didn’t date in Vegas. The men who asked me out were only after one thing, given my profession. They didn’t exactly want to court me. Then when I came to the Valley I was just too busy working.”
“And your father,” he pointed out. “He can’t have given you a very good picture of men to work with.”
No. He’d broken her heart. Her mother’s heart. All of their hearts again and again to match his own broken one. Twenty years of wanting to be the hero you once were.
She brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m sure that had something to do with it.”
He frowned. “I don’t buy that you were too busy to date in the Valley. I’ve seen the men pursue you.”
“Because I’m a challenge,” she pointed out. “You think I don’t know what they say about me? The wagers they make? The minute I go to bed with one of them it’s going to be all over the airwaves faster than your manifesto.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’d rather not bother.”