They pulled up in front of the hotel, and the valet hurried over to take the car.
“Nightcap? I’m sure the hotel bar is still open, or I can have them send something up,” Craig said while he helped Jewel from the car.
Now that she was here, the reality that she would spend the night with him in his hotel room hit home. “A nightcap sounds good...and your room is fine.”
He led her inside and across the wide reception area to the bank of elevators. He took out his card key from his inside jacket pocket.
The doors swished open and they stepped into his penthouse suite—a setup straight out of a movie, from the pale plush carpeting, conversation seating, low-slung tables and enormous television mounted on the wall to a full bar and working kitchen.
“Make yourself comfortable, and I’ll order room service,” he said. He slipped out of his jacket and tossed it on a vacant chair.
Jewel set down her purse on the glass table and rested her shawl across the thickly padded couch. She crossed the wide expanse of space to the floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto the terrace. She opened the doors and stepped out into the warm night. The lights of the city spread out before her.
Oh, how she remembered nights like this, living like this, whatever she wanted only a phone call away, traveling, seeing the world. She sighed heavily. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Warm hands cradled her shoulders. A soft kiss dotted the back of her neck. “I almost forgot how beautiful this city can be,” Craig said into her hair.
Jewel drew in a breath and slowly turned around, finding herself surrounded by him. Her gaze rose. “It’s had its share of problems. Still struggling and rebuilding, but the history will always remain.”
He angled his head to the side. “Sounds like my life.”
“Mine, too,” she admitted with an uneasy smile.
The pad of his thumb brushed across her cheek. “What parts—the struggle, the rebuilding, the history?”
“All of it. The choices that I made...”
“Do you regret them?”
She lowered her head. A frown knitted her brow. She looked right at him. “Sometimes. And when I do, I feel so...guilty.” She spat out the last word.
“But once the decision is made, we have to find a way to live with the aftermath.”
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
She shook her head. “Never mind. It’s not my business.” She started to move away.
The doorbell chimed. “Room service,” the voice called out.
“Be right back.”
* * *
Jewel wandered back into the main living space as the waiter set up the cart.
“Will there be anything else, Mr. Lawson?”
“No. Thanks.” He walked over to where he’d tossed his jacket, took out his wallet and handed over a sizable tip.
“Thank you, Mr. Lawson. Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. Ma’am.” He nodded at Jewel then quietly let himself out.
Craig lifted the covers on the plates. Fresh fruit was on one platter and an assortment of exotic cheeses and dips and paper-thin crackers on the other.
“Wow, I’m hungry all over again, if that’s possible,” she said eyeing the fare.
He took the bottle of white wine from the bucket, poured two flutes and handed one to Jewel.
“To making choices we can live with,” he said, raising his glass to hers.
Jewel lightly tapped his glass. “To choices.” She took a sip. “Hmm,” she hummed. “Good stuff.”
Craig walked over to the couch and sat down. He extended a hand to Jewel. She came and sat close beside him.
“You asked me how I do it,” he said.
“You don’t have to—”
“I want to.” He looked in her eyes. “I want you to know.” He took a swallow of wine, paused reflectively and said, “It’s never gotten easier. I thought it would. I thought I’d get to a point where I really didn’t give a damn, instead of acting like I didn’t.” The corner of his mouth flickered. He looked away. “I miss my sister and brother, my cousins. I haven’t been to a family gathering in years, simply because I don’t want to be in the same room with my father. So I’ve stayed away. I’ve kept busy. I’ve done everything that I can to show him how wrong he was about me and the choices that I made by being successful in everything I’ve undertaken.” He snorted a laugh. “None of that matters. Not once even after receiving a Golden Globe, or being on the front page of the papers, even getting my first Oscar, have I heard a word of congratulations from my father. Never.”
She reached out and covered her hand with his. Jewel saw the sadness in his eyes and the pain that threaded through his words. Her heart ached for him. She could never imagine her father not being a part of her life and rejoicing in her success. “Have you ever tried to reach out to him?” she asked tentatively.
He looked away, pushed up from the couch and stood. He went to retrieve the bottle of wine and refilled his glass. “I’d been gone and out of touch with him for about three years,” he began slowly, reeling in the memories. “I was in Paris when I got the call that I’d been nominated for my first Golden Globe. I just knew that if I told him, he would finally see that I’d made it, ya know.”
He heaved a sigh. “So, stupid me, I called. The housekeeper answered the phone, and I told her who I was. She came back to the phone a couple of minutes later only to tell me, ‘Mr. Lawson is busy. Do you care to leave a message?’ I told her to tell him he could go straight to hell.” He snorted a nasty laugh. “That was the last time I called.”
“I’m...so sorry.”
He waved off her condolence. “Don’t be. I’m used to it.”
“Are you?”
“More wine?” he replied instead.
She extended her glass. “Sure.”
Craig pushed the cart closer to them, loaded a cracker with two kinds of cheeses and popped it in his mouth. He refilled her glass.
Jewel reached for the seedless grapes. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you used to it?”
“I’m used to the life I’ve chosen. I stopped asking myself if I should have done something different or stayed here and followed my father’s dream for me. I know that if I’d listened to my father, I would have grown to resent him. I would’ve been miserable. So...our relationship or lack of one is the price I chose to pay for my decision.”
“It’s so ironic that both of us made life-altering decisions with our fathers at the center of it,” Jewel said.
“But we’re on opposite sides of the equation. You’ve never told me in so many words, but I put the pieces together. You gave up a career for your father, didn’t you?”
She hesitated then nodded.
“Maybe you’ll tell me the full story...when you’re ready.” He squeezed her hand. “Me on the other hand, I pursued a career in spite of my father.”
She lowered her gaze. “What a pair, huh?”
“Yeah, what a pair...that for all of the crazy seem to fit very well together,” Craig said.
Jewel’s lashes lowered over her eyes. “I think you’re right...about the fit,” she said coyly.
Craig chuckled deep in his throat. “Why don’t I show you the rest of the suite.” It wasn’t a question. He stood, pulled her to feet, took their glasses and the rest of the wine, and walked toward his bedroom.
Jewel followed him down a short hallway into the master bedroom. Her heart beat double time with every footfall. The lights were already dimmed, but it was clear that the massive king-size bed was the centerpiece of the space. Even though it was a hotel room, it didn’t have that utilitarian feel to it. It was cozy in a way, and it held the sexy scent of him. She stepped out of her shoes. There was a love seat by the window with a white shirt draped across the arm. The closet bared its holdings: an array of shirts, suits, slacks and sweaters. Several pairs of dress shoes, sneakers and work boots lined the bottom.
“The bathroom is through there,” he said, lifting his glass in the direction of the partially closed door.
Jewel nodded, suddenly nervous and she didn’t know why. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it?
“You okay?”
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Yes. Fine.” She forced a smile. Her eyes jumped around the room.
Craig walked over to her. He lowered his head to look directly into her eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He held her shoulders.
“It’s silly, really.”
“Most of the things that bug us are silly, but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. So...what’s up?”
She tugged in a breath and took his hands in hers. “Let’s not talk about or worry about the silly stuff...not tonight. I don’t want to think about it.”
“Whatever you want.” He cupped her face in his palms. His eyes roamed over her features. “What is it about you?” he murmured in wonder. His eyes narrowed. “I’ve told you things I’ve never told anyone,” he confessed.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“I hope not. I don’t want it to be.”
She studied him for a moment. “It’s not only your father that did damage, is it?”
Craig took a step back. “That’s definitely a conversation for another time.” He turned away and walked toward the lounge chair. He slung a hand into his pocket. Jewel came up beside him and slid her arm around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Another time, then,” she whispered.
Craig turned. He threaded his fingers through her hair, loosening the curls to flow around her face and neck. He palmed the back of her head and pulled her toward him. No more words, no more hesitation. His mouth covered her lips, and he sucked in the sigh that floated up from her center and ignited his.
His arousal from her nearness kept him on simmer all night, but now that he had her in his arms, had tasted her again, felt the curves of her body melt into him, his response was swift, hard and throbbing.
He pressed against her, wanted her to feel what she had done to him, how crazy she’d made him. He reached behind her and unzipped her dress, peeled it away from her shoulders and down her frame until it fell to her feet. Her black bra was next. He tossed it onto the chair and took a half step back to look at her. Lowering his head he nuzzled the swell of her breasts. Her body shook, and a soft whimper escaped her lips.
Craig eased down her body, planting light kisses along her exposed skin until he was on his knees. He slid his fingers around the band of her panties and pulled them down to her ankles and then tasted her.
“Ooh!” Jewel gripped his shoulders. Her thighs trembled with each flick and stroke of his tongue.
Craig gripped her hips and held her fast, feasting until her trembling and soft cries were more than he could take. He rose, tugged off his shirt. Jewel unbuckled his belt and slid down his zipper. Craig stepped out of his slacks, toed out of his shoes. Jewel stepped over her dress and panties and backed up toward the bed, pulling Craig along with her.
Jewel scooted up to the top, Craig following until he hovered above her.
He pushed her hair away from her face, kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and her mouth. His hands were everywhere. Jewel writhed beneath him, wanting him, letting him know the depth of her desire with each rotation of her hips.
Craig snatched up the thick pillow and shoved it under her hips. He rose up on his knees and reached over into the nightstand for a condom.
Jewel took it from him, tore it open with her teeth then slowly, erotically rolled the sheath down his length, much to Craig’s delight.
He clasped her hips tightly in his hands. Jewel bent her knees. He lowered his head and tenderly kissed her, holding them both in a moment of unbridled anticipation. And then he was inside her.
Air rushed out of her lungs in a gasp. Her eyes slammed shut. He filled her, and in that moment, their initial coupling was more intense than the first, if that were possible.
In unison they moaned and sighed as pleasure whipped through them and they found their beat, slow and steady, hard and soft, meeting each other stroke for stroke.
Jewel clung to him, gave herself up and over to him. Her body came fully alive, vibrated from the inside out. She could barely think; her breath hitched, her heart pounded. She wanted him, all of him. She wanted him so deep inside her that he touched her heart. So when he lifted her legs and draped them across his shoulders, leaving her wide-open and vulnerable to his every move, tears of yes, yes, yes, sprang from her eyes. She buried her face in his neck and held on as the first wave of her climax began at the soles of her feet, shimmied up the backs of her legs, vibrated in her thighs, pooled in her pelvis and exploded with such power that the room spun. Her breathing ceased, and a scream clung in her throat until the next wave hit her with such force that her body stiffened as if electrocuted, and the sound that burst from the center of her being sent Craig up and over the edge of this world and into the next.
His head dropped onto the pillow of her breasts. He muttered a curse of disbelief as the final throes of release pumped through him.
* * *
Jewel lay curled against Craig’s side with one leg draped across him while he gently caressed her, intermittently kissing her hair. So many thoughts scrambled in her head. She didn’t want to get used to this, to need this. But it would be so easy. For as much as Craig Lawson wore the armor of the uncommitted, she sensed that there was a part of him that wanted more, that wanted to be connected. He claimed that he had no desire to forge a relationship with his father, yet everything that he did smacked of his need to have that void in his life filled. Even if he was only temporarily with her. She felt the longing in him every time he pushed into her, moaned her name. It was not only physical. He wanted a connection, to belong to someone.
Or...maybe it was all wishful thinking on her part. Projecting her own wants onto him. She closed her eyes. But even if she could make it true, what could she offer a man like Craig Lawson when she had her own empty places to fill?
* * *
They had breakfast in bed and watched the morning news like any other couple before enjoying a joint shower and one more romp for the road under the pulsing water.
Jewel sat on the side of the bed and put on her shoes.
“I really don’t want you to go,” Craig said and sat down next to her. He caressed her cheek.
Her eyes roamed over his face, wishing that it were true.
“I would drive you back, but duty calls and I’m already late. I have a full day today. I called a car service for you. It should be downstairs in a few.” He grabbed a shirt from his closet and slid it on. “If you’re not busy...maybe later tonight?” he asked with a note of hesitation as if bracing himself for her to say no.
“Call me.” She could not allow herself to fall into the trap of being so readily available, something for him to do while he was in town, even if she wanted to leap into his arms and say yes.
He leaned down and kissed her. “Will do.”
She picked up her purse and shawl and met him at the door. “Now for the walk of shame,” she joked.
“Baby, you could put the walk of shame to shame any day.” He swung her in for a long kiss before inserting his card key into the elevator.
They parted at the taxi with Craig promising to call later. As the car pulled off, Jewel looked behind her, hoping like in the movies that he would be standing there...watching, waving. But he was already gone.