Courting Justice Read online

  Chapter 17

  “And you’re sure you don’t want any dessert, Angelo? How about more wine?” Peyton couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips when she mentioned wine and saw the way his eyes gleamed.

  “I’m positive. Thanks for asking.”

  They had been playing a game of cat-and-mouse most of the night, with her dropping hints and sexual innuendos to get him aroused. It made her more daring just knowing she had the ability to stimulate his sexual ego in ways she didn’t think possible.

  “Then I guess we should call it a night. Dinner was great, by the way,” she said, rising to her feet.

  Tonight she was wearing a dress she’d bought in one of her shopping trips with Mac and Sam. She could tell by the way Angelo had looked at her when he’d seen her that he liked her in it. She licked her bottom lip, deciding that she was going to make sure he liked her out of it as well.

  He walked beside her, and the feel of his hand on her back sent shivers up and down her spine. He must have felt them as he glanced over at her, smiled but said nothing. When they reached the elevator she saw he was annoyed that others had gotten on behind them. Evidently he had hoped that they would be alone.

  To torment him further, she intentionally stood in front of him, eased back a little and drew in a deep breath when her bottom came in contact with his hard erection. He reached out and placed his arms around her waist, leaned closer and whispered, “Behave now or pay later.”

  She didn’t have a problem telling him she wouldn’t mind paying later when she glanced over at the two other women in the elevator who were trying to keep their eyes off Angelo. She understood their dilemma. The man was eye candy of the sweetest kind.

  The elevator arrived at the other guests’ floor first. Peyton moved to step out of the way, revealing Angelo’s full-frontal arousal, making one of the women’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. Peyton wanted to laugh out loud. There was nothing like seeing an aroused man.

  “You did that on purpose,” Angelo growled, grabbing her around the waist and bringing her next to him as they walked down the long corridor to his room.

  “Of course not,” she said, unable to keep the smile from curving her lips or hide the glint in her eyes. “Why would I do something like that?”

  Instead of answering, he stopped in front of the door to his suite and pulled out the passkey. He kept his eyes on her while he opened the door, and when he pushed it opened, she breezed inside.

  She stood in the middle of the room and glanced around, and chuckled when she saw the bottle of wine and two glasses. Lord, the man was prepared. “Nice room, Angelo.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s a lot bigger than mine, but then I’m finding out you have a knack for doing things in a big way. But then I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  Angelo was leaning against the doorway doing what he usually did when they were alone—staring at Peyton. His eyes raked over her face and body and she felt the heat of his scrutiny of her in the most intimate places—her lips, the nipples of her breasts and the juncture between her thighs, especially there.

  She stared back, taking him in as well, appreciating his muscular physique, his dark and sexy eyes, and especially his lips. She decided it was time to make her move. She crossed the room to be closer to him.

  “You are one fine specimen of a man, Angelo.” She tiptoed and leaned into his body and then pressed her lips to his.

  * * *

  Angelo kissed her with all the desire, need and longing that he felt. His passion went deep, all the way to his groin. He reached out and slid his hands over her bottom and down her hips, feeling possessive in ways he’d never felt before. He knew she didn’t understand, didn’t have a clue about what he felt for her.

  He began walking her backward while cupping her bottom until they were in the middle of the suite. He slowly pulled his mouth from hers and studied her face for a minute. Her lips looked swollen, and he liked the look. Hell, he liked every single thing about her—even the little mole just above her lip.

  “Tell me what you want.” He leaned down and whispered against those same moist lips.

  She smiled saucily. “It’s not about what I want. Tonight is about you.” She reached out and cupped his arousal in her hands as she felt him grow larger at her touch. “Tonight, this is mine.”

  He bit back the impulse to tell her that what she was cupping was always hers, anytime. Instead he whispered, “What are you going to do with it?”

  She lifted a brow and took a step back. And then she reached up to begin undressing him, beginning with his shirt. His heart began beating loudly in his chest when her fingertips brushed against him. He drew in a deep breath when she removed the shirt from his shoulders and then licked his collarbone. Feeling bold, her mouth traced a path down his chest. She glanced up at him and smiled. “Mmm, nice.”

  She took a step back. “Take off your shoes and socks for me, please.”

  He wasted no time doing as she requested, placing his socks in his shoes and kicking them aside. She moved closer to him and slowly removed the belt from his slacks and tossed it aside as well. Unable to resist his lips, she stood on her tiptoes again and glided her tongue over them.

  “Anticipation is killing me,” he growled when he reached to slide his hands under her dress. It was shorter than she usually wore, but Sam had pushed her into being daring.

  “You mean patience is not one of your virtues?” she asked, moving back to unzip his pants. Because of the size of his erection, it wasn’t an easy task.

  “Not when it comes to this, and to you.”

  “Do you tell all your ladies that?” she asked, tugging his pants down his legs.

  “No, just you. You’re the only one who has ever mattered.”

  She jerked her head up to look at him. It wasn’t what he’d said, but how he’d said it that had given her pause.

  “Anything wrong, Peyton?”

  She drew in a slow breath, not really sure why her heart had begun beating so crazily in her chest and why every nerve ending in her body was in a frenzy. “No, nothing’s wrong.” She knew there was, but she didn’t want to dwell on it. The only thing she wanted to do was finish taking off his clothes.

  She eased down to her knees and slowly pushed down his pant legs and smiled when his shaft all but popped out at her. She laughed. “Down, boy.”

  “Trust me, he can’t go down.”

  She glanced up at him as she brought her mouth closer to his arousal and used her tongue to lick the massive head of it. “You sure about that?”

  “Trust me, I would know.”

  Peyton leaned back on her haunches as he stepped out of his pants. She couldn’t resist reaching out and touching him. His manhood was standing, fully erect, like a real work of art. And she had a thing for the thatch of dark hair surrounding it. A hunger, the likes of which she’d never experienced before, consumed her just from looking at it.

  Rising to her feet, she took a few steps back. “Now your turn.”

  Before she could get the words out of her mouth, he had reached out to pull the dress over her head. He then proceeded to unsnap her bra and her breasts tumbled free. And when he leaned down and captured a nipple in his mouth, between his teeth, and began licking it with his tongue, the sensations that began swirling around in her stomach almost made her forget that tonight was his night of pleasure and not hers.

  She reached down and pulled his head away from her body. “Behave, Angelo. You need to finish what you started.”

  He smiled. “My pleasure.”

  * * *

  It was his pleasure, he thought, easing the last stitch of clothing from her body. He stood back and looked at her, and let his gaze take in every inch of her. He liked the smoothness of her skin and the silkiness of the curls cov
ering her womanhood. He felt his tongue thicken in his throat just looking at that part of her.

  “You’re ready for a glass of wine, Angelo?”

  His eyes slowly moved up to her face. He saw the smile that curved her lips and couldn’t help but return it. “Yes, I’m ready.” If he got any readier it would kill him.

  He watched as she sashayed across the room, naked. She had the best-looking backside of any woman he knew—plump yet firm cheeks and a gorgeous pair of legs. He stood there and watched as she poured two glasses of wine. His arousal grew just watching her.

  She looked over at him. “Would you like a cherry in your wine?”

  He smiled. “I’ve never had one in my wine before but tonight anything is possible. Right?”

  “Tonight, everything is possible.” She offered him a glass of wine.

  Crossing the room he took it from her hand. “Thanks. You looked great in that dress tonight,” he whispered. “And you look pretty good out of it, too.”

  “Glad you approve.” She took a sip of wine. Leaning closer to him, she whispered against his lips, “Mmm, good. Now I want to see how it tastes on your skin. She tipped her glass, and wine spilled onto his skin, trickling its way down his chest to settle in the curls around his groin. “Oops. Don’t worry. My tongue will take care of it.”

  He sucked in a deep breath when the tip of her tongue swirled around the nipples of his chest. Would he be able to survive her brand of torture? He wasn’t sure. The only thing he was sure about was that the degree of desire he had for her was infinite.

  He began concentrating on what she was doing as she nipped, licked and tasted her way down his chest, lowering her body and grabbing hold of his waist to devour the area around his naval. He glanced down to watch as the tip of her tongue swirled around his belly button. The feel of her hot, wet tongue gliding across his skin sent sensations escalating through his entire body. And when she moved her hand toward his middle and cupped his shaft, he felt every cell in his body become consumed with a need that he felt in every pore.

  He groaned her name on a tortured breath the moment she dipped her head and, with her tongue, captured some of the wine that had landed on the head of his manhood. She took him into her mouth in a way that started a throbbing at the base of his testicles and coursed its way upward to the head of his arousal. She went at him, working her mouth and tongue in a way that had him jerking his head back as if he were having a seizure from the intensity of the pleasure she was giving him. Unable to stop, he grabbed hold of her head and his fingers tightened around her hair. The wet, sucking sounds she was making were enough to send him over the edge…and it did.

  His thighs tightened, and he parted his lips, emitting a desperate groan that started every nerve ending—especially at the base of his shaft—firing its way up his shaft into an uncontrollable explosion. He tried to pull back, but she wouldn’t let him. So he stayed firmly locked between her lips in the warmth of her mouth.

  There was no way he could suppress the sigh of satisfaction that flowed from his lips or the shudders of erotic pleasure that continued to make him quake even when she released him from her mouth. He watched as she leaned back and stared up at him as the corners of her lips curved into a smile of unbridled pleasure. It was the look of a woman who had satisfied her man and damn well knew it.

  Her man.

  More than anything he wanted to be that to her. The man she thought of upon waking every morning and the man she thought about when she went to sleep at night. He intended that he, and he alone, would be the one who’d invade her dreams. When she thought of pleasure, he wanted her to think of him. Whenever she was filled with a sensuous need, he wanted her to think of him.

  With a heart filled with need and a devotion she didn’t even know existed, he pulled her naked body up into his arms. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him as he moved toward the bedroom. By the time her stay on Dunwoody Cove ended, she would know that he was a man on a mission.

  Operation Peyton.

  Chapter 18

  Peyton’s next week at the resort seemed to fly by. There were times when she wished that she could capture each and every minute in a bottle and keep it with her always. Although she didn’t want to dissect what was going on between her and Angelo, she knew it was safe to say they were fully involved in a relationship. Since returning from the lighthouse, there hadn’t been a single night or day that they had spent apart.

  He had planned a picnic at the lagoon for them one day, and on another they had rented a car and left the resort to go into town to shop at some of the boutiques. Every day she would tell herself not to get caught up in the time they were spending together, especially since it would be coming to an end soon. But she couldn’t help it. Angelo was always so attentive that at times she had to pinch herself to remember this was only temporary. What was happening between them didn’t mean anything.

  The more they were together the harder it became for Peyton to convince herself that that was true. She was beginning to fall for Angelo, and that wasn’t good. She’d always been a loner for a reason. Heartbreak was a bitch. She’d found out the hard way not to put too much stock in relationships, especially when the man had more money than he knew what to do with. Okay, she knew that was a big hang-up of hers, but it was still a problem nonetheless. There were the haves and the have-nots, and she was comfortable in the world where she belonged and not in the one she didn’t.

  “Ready for breakfast?”

  She glanced across the room where Angelo stood holding a breakfast tray. She hadn’t heard him return. She sat up in bed and smiled. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  She knew when it came to him she would always be ready. She had made that pretty darn clear when she thought of the places they’d made love over the past week. Her favorite place had been at the lagoon. It had been absolutely perfect.

  Angelo crossed the room and placed the tray across her lap. It was loaded with everything she liked. In the short time they’d been together, he had gotten to know her well. He knew her likes and dislikes…and he knew her tastes. Yes, he definitely knew her tastes.

  She glanced up at him. She’d also gotten to know him well enough to figure out when something was on his mind. This was one of those times. He stood leaning against the dresser, watching her eat, and said nothing.

  “You aren’t going to join me, Angelo?”

  He shook his head and smiled. “No, you’re the one who needs it for now.”

  She couldn’t help but grin. During the night she had definitely worked up an appetite, but then so had he. But she knew his appetite wasn’t always as healthy as hers. At least when it came to food it wasn’t.

  “We’ll be leaving here soon.”

  She took a sip of coffee. Why did he have to remind her? A part of her had tried to ignore the fact that tomorrow was their last day. At least it was hers. He could come and go whenever he pleased, but her two weeks were officially up. “Yes, I loved it here.”

  “Would you come back, Peyton?”

  She stopped in the middle of biting into a croissant when the answer to his question struck her and struck her hard. No, she wouldn’t come back. There were too many memories. There was no way she could come back here and spend time with another man after all the things the two of them had shared here. She knew it was ridiculous, but she thought of this as “their” place. It was the place she had become sexually liberated in his arms. The place she had been able to relax, unwind and enjoy life. And him.

  Things hadn’t just been sexual. Every morning they would take a walk on the beach together, where they would talk. She knew he didn’t have any desire to practice law after his fortieth birthday and was working hard to make that happen, independent of his family’s law firm. She knew all about the hotel he and Lee Madaris were building in Dubai, and the other business ventures he had i
nvested in.

  “I enjoyed myself these past two weeks, Peyton.”

  His words reclaimed her attention, and she smiled over at him before taking another sip of her coffee. “So did I, Angelo.”

  “I don’t want our time together to end.”

  She chuckled. “Well, unfortunately some of us have to return to work eventually and—”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  She held his gaze. “Then what do you mean?”

  He moved away from the dresser to come to sit on the edge of the bed. “We started something pretty darn good here. You. Me. And I think it’s too special to let go of. I claimed you, remember?”

  She rolled her eyes. He would remind her of that on occasion, and she would ignore him. “In your mind, what does claiming me mean to you?” she asked.

  “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes.”

  “Honestly?”

  She didn’t say anything for a minute and then, “Yes, I really do.”

  There were times when they’d made love that he’d made her feel as if she was the only woman in the world, the only woman that mattered. The only woman he wanted. The only woman that he…

  She drew in a sharp breath, refusing to let her mind go there. He didn’t love her. He lusted after her and that was the only L-word involved in their relationship. But what woman didn’t want to feel that way at times, especially with a man like Angelo.

  “So what’s the real deal, Counselor?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

  He gave her a look that at that moment almost took her breath away. She put her coffee cup down when her hands became shaky. It was then that he grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.

  “The real deal, Counselor, is that I intend to marry you.”

  * * *

  Peyton narrowed her gaze at Angelo, wondering where that had come from. She remembered that he’d told her that day down at the lagoon about his premonition. She pulled her hand from his. “Be serious, Angelo. Don’t play games.”