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  Wow, and she thought she had it bad with her folks.

  “Does it help if I say at least he acknowledges you exist?”

  He studied her with interest. “So your folks wouldn’t win any Parents of the Year awards either, huh?”

  “My folks are the most narcissistic people on the planet.” Allegra clasped his hand, hoping to convey how much she understood of his situation. “Beverly Hills socialites who assumed their positions rather than earning them. Dad serves on the boards of various companies, Mom does the charity circle. I was a mistake they shipped off to boarding school as soon as I could walk.”

  “Ouch.” He squeezed her hand in return. “In my case, boarding school was to teach me discipline, manners, and a well-rounded education leading into law.”

  “Ah…so that’s why your dad’s not keen on advertising.”

  He nodded. “That waste-of-space comment was his response the day I opened the agency.”

  “Harsh.”

  “Yep.”

  She glimpsed the depth of his pain before he deliberately blinked, eradicating it, as she wished she could hold him tight. “What do your folks think of your aborted wedding?”

  “They think I’m nuts for not marrying some pompous ass the Third and spending my days shopping on Rodeo and my nights at movie premieres.”

  He searched her face, before continuing. “You almost did have that life. Is that why you were getting hitched to that old fart?”

  “How do you know about Flint—”

  “Google.” He managed to look sheepish, apologetic and cute at the same time. “I wanted to see what kind of an idiot would let a woman like you slip away.”

  Secretly thrilled by his comment, she pretended to preen. “And what kind of woman is that?”

  “Intelligent. Witty. Beautiful.” His fingertip traced the curve of her cheek. “If I can see that in the space of twenty-four hours, the guy must be a total dickhead to dump you.”

  “It’s not his fault.”

  Jett stiffened at her instant defense of Flint.

  “Sometimes you tumble into a situation without having the guts to stop it. Momentum keeps it going and it builds into something monumental and then it’s too late to avoid it.” She scanned his face for any clue he understood her convoluted explanation, relieved to see a spark of acknowledgement in his jade eyes. “I actually admire Flint for pulling the pin on our wedding before it was too late, for acknowledging we were making a mistake.”

  “The bastard cheated on you,” he blurted, immediately clamping his lips into a thin, unimpressed line.

  Not many people knew the truth about her breakup with Flint—her folks and Zoe being the exceptions—yet she found herself wanting to tell Jett. Out of loyalty to Flint for taking the fall? Maybe. Or perhaps there was something about the way Jet had opened up to her about his dad, his upbringing, that strengthened their connection.

  “Flint didn’t cheat on me.” She shook her head. “Press he orchestrated to take the fall.” Her fingertips skated across his chest. “And I can’t believe we’re wasting time talking about your job and my ex when we could be…you know.”

  “I don’t know.” His lips eased into a wicked smile. “You’ll have to tell me.”

  “Fine.” She cupped her hand to his ear and pressed her lips close, whispering exactly what she’d like them to be doing right now rather than talking.

  Jett managed a terse, “Let’s go,” and she didn’t have to be asked twice.

  Time to see if the oxygen deprivation at thirty thousand feet had contributed to her mind-blowing orgasms with Jett, or if the guy was just as talented with both feet on the ground.

  As for the persistent guilt dogging her, she’d need to suck it up. Keeping the truth from Jett shouldn’t affect what they had. They were consenting adults indulging in a passionate fling. She desperately wanted to explore the sexual side he’d awakened. It would do her good, having something pleasurable to focus on while she slaved her ass off devising a killer pitch.

  Did she feel a tad heartless? Hell yeah. But Jett was a hot guy she’d known for a few days and AW Advertising was her life. She’d do anything to save her business. Hell, she’d almost married Flint because of what that would’ve brought to the table.

  She had no choice. Keep her pitch a secret. Win the campaign. And hope she didn’t lose the guy in the process.

  …

  “The honeymoon suite?” Jett propped in the doorway and glanced around with a wry twist to the mouth Allegra wanted on her, all over her, now. “Seriously?”

  “It was booked, and Zoe didn’t cancel like I asked her.” Allegra gave him a bump with her hip and closed the door behind them. “The space will come in handy once we start swinging from the chandeliers.”

  He laughed and tugged her close. “Is that after I go down on you like you asked out by the pool?”

  “Yeah, the chandelier-swinging can wait.” She slid a hand around his neck, reveling in her newfound confidence in her femininity.

  She’d been missing out all these years, thinking sex was nice. Sex with Jett wasn’t anything as bland as nice. Sex with Jett was freaking indescribable.

  “So what’s it to be, lovely?” He nibbled along her jawline. “Going down on you first, or taking you hard and fast up against the wall as you stated so emphatically?”

  “I want it all,” she said, swiveling her hips against his to prove it. “I want honeymoon sex without the ceremony drag.”

  He screwed up his nose. “Don’t mention the C-word. I’ll lose my hard-on.”

  Her hand insinuated its way between their bodies to cup his erection. “Nope, still hard. You afraid of commitment?”

  “Ceremonies, commitments…definitely hard-on-deflating material.”

  She gave him a gentle squeeze and he jumped. “Lucky for you, I’m only interested in F-words this trip.”

  His eyes sparked with mischief. “Like fuck?”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of fling and fun, but foreplay and fuck work for me, too.”

  “I love it when you talk dirty.” His hands splayed on her butt as he ground against her. “Say fuck again.”

  “Only when you’re doing it,” she said, her breath whooshing out when he backed her up against the nearest wall.

  “This better?” He hoisted her up, slipping a thumb under the elastic of her bikini bottoms and zeroing in on where she needed him most.

  “Uh-hmm…” was all she could manage as he thumbed her clit with finesse, grazing it with the barest of flicks before increasing the pressure for concentrated pleasure.

  Allegra clutched at Jett’s shoulders, her muscles involuntarily tightening, the tremors racking her body building quickly.

  So the altitude had nothing to do with her orgasms, as she peaked so fast her head spun, leaving her light-headed and hanging on to Jett for dear life as her knees buckled.

  “That was the fast bit—now for the hard.” He unzipped, sheathed, and tugged the strings holding her bikini bottoms together in three deft moves that had her admiring his dexterity. “How’s this?”

  He drove into her with a thrust that made her gasp.

  “Perfect,” she said, ending on a little moan as he withdrew before plunging into her again.

  “Say it.” He stopped moving, his lips teasing her as much as his words as he kissed his way from her ear to her mouth.

  “Fuck, that’s perfect,” she said, a moment before he murmured, “That’s what I like to hear,” before claiming her mouth in a searing kiss that left her breathless.

  He thrust into her again, picking up the pace until his pounding into her body and his lips devouring hers were all she could feel, all she could concentrate on, as sensations assaulted her from all angles.

  Her lips tingled, her uterus convulsed, and her skin burned from the inside out as Jett thrust into her until she thought she’d break. And she did, shattering on a scream that he swallowed.

  Wrenching his mouth from hers, he thrust
once more before coming, and muttered “fuck” through gritted teeth before ending on a guttural groan as his head fell forward to rest on the wall behind her.

  Allegra didn’t know how long they stood there like that, her legs clamped around his waist, his hands supporting her butt, her arms around his neck.

  And she didn’t care.

  Not only had Jett just proven they were sensational together regardless of location or altitude, he’d also reinforced what she already knew.

  It would be incredibly tough pitching against him when he’d just articulated how damn important landing the Kaluna campaign was on many levels. She liked this gorgeous, cocky Aussie, genuinely liked him. She wouldn’t have had sex otherwise. And Allegra didn’t screw people she cared about…emotionally, that is.

  Physically? She had every intention of screwing Jett at every possible convenience.

  …

  Jett was on a roll.

  Maybe he should have mind-blowing sex before a brainstorming session all the time.

  Once he’d returned to his room after an unforgettable two hours with Allegra, he’d had a quick shower, grabbed a pen and notebook, and let the ideas flow.

  And flow they did. He linked his fingers and stretched overhead, surveying the results in front of him. Page after page covered in ideas to convince Kai Kaluna he was the man for the resorts’ advertising gig.

  He’d never been so stimulated, the concepts translating from his head to the pen to the paper with an ease he wished he could replicate all the time.

  He could attribute it to the sex being a great tension release before work. But he suspected it had more to do with whom he was having sex with than the act itself.

  For a woman he barely knew, Allegra had managed to get under his skin pretty damn fast. She had a way of looking at him when he talked, as if she were really interested in what he had to say, that made a guy feel ten feet tall.

  He’d mentally chastised himself the whole time he was blurting the truth to her, wondering if she’d think he was a lesser man for being gullible with Reeve and not seeing the truth earlier. Not very masculine. Yet she hadn’t blinked, and had supported his bid to work on the island. Better, she hadn’t offered trite condolences like many of his old colleagues in LA had.

  “We’re real sorry, but there’s nothing we can do to help.”

  Interesting, how adversity showed who his true mates were. He’d learned the hard way it was better not to rely on people because even friends, good friends like Reeve, ultimately let you down.

  Jett wouldn’t have thought he had much in common with the Beverly Hills princess, but the fact that they both had narcissistic parents who’d shipped them off to boarding school went a long way to explaining their uncharacteristic bond.

  Jett had never bonded with any of the flings he’d had in the past. He didn’t feel anything beyond sexual attraction. Yet he felt closer to Allegra in two days than any other woman he’d ever been with.

  So what was it about Allegra, apart from their similar upbringings with shoddy parents, that had them so in sync?

  Whatever it was, he couldn’t afford to waste time getting distracted by mulling. The sooner he collated these early ideas into some semblance of a kick-ass presentation, the better.

  Chapter Five

  A weary eight hours later, Jett knocked on Allegra’s door around 11:00 p.m.

  She’d said to come by any time tonight when he’d finished, and he’d taken her at her word. With his head pounding following the amount of work he’d done since leaving her that afternoon, he’d been tempted to collapse into bed so he could get an early start tomorrow morning.

  But the moment he’d thought of bed, he’d thought of Allegra. Sprawled and sated in hers earlier, hair tousled, lips swollen, flushed from head to foot in an afterglow.

  He’d been halfway out the door before he’d remembered to grab a handful of condoms and stuff them in his pocket.

  Not a bad way to end a full-on day, having a luscious woman begging for more. And that’s what he intended on doing tonight, making Allegra so mad for him they could lose themselves in sex again. And make him forget the ax grazing the back of his neck if he didn’t land the Kaluna deal.

  Allegra opened the door, wearing a mid-thigh, peacock-blue silk kimono and a tremulous smile. It caught him off guard, her uncertainty.

  After what they’d done on the plane then earlier today, along with their disclosures about their pasts, he’d thought she’d know he wasn’t jerking her around. He’d assumed by opening up to her a tad she’d know he wasn’t some philandering, sleazy pickup artist who had sex with whichever female was handy.

  So why was she barely able to look him in the eye?

  “Come in.” She held the door open and he stepped in, pausing to brush a kiss across her lips.

  “Miss me?”

  He reverted to type, to the kind of guy he’d been when she met him. Slick and smooth, without a doubt he could capture the attention of a woman like her.

  She’d liked that guy. Looked like she wasn’t so keen on the guy who blurted what a loser he was for not recognizing the truth before it was too late and having his business and career stuffed because of it.

  “You have no idea how much.” She snuggled into him and he draped an arm across her shoulder.

  “Well, some of us have to work,” he joked, confused when she slipped out from under his arm to fling open the bedroom door so fast it almost slammed the wall. “And looks like some of us are in a giant hurry to play.”

  Her nervous titter confused him further. “I know how busy you are so I guess I don’t want to take up too much of your time and—”

  He silenced her nervous babbling with another kiss, waiting until her surprisingly stiff lips relaxed under his before his tongue swept into her mouth, staking a claim.

  She tasted of chocolate and mint and he smiled against her mouth at the thought of her scoffing the divine homemade brownie squares left on the pillow as part of turndown service.

  “What’s so funny?” She eased away to regard him with suspicion.

  “Someone’s been enjoying the brownies.”

  “How did you know—” Her hand flew to her lips. “But I brushed my teeth.”

  “You taste delicious.” He snagged her hand and kissed each individual knuckle. “I was just teasing. And imagining you sitting here pining for me, drowning your sorrows in copious amounts of chocolate, listening to soppy songs or watching some lame chick flick—”

  “Someone’s got a very high opinion of himself.” She whacked him playfully on the arm. “No pining here.”

  He slid his hand underneath her robe and touched her. One stroke and she whimpered.

  “Sure?” He wet his finger between her folds and dragged it across her clit.

  “Maybe just a little…ooh…” She bit down on her bottom lip as he rubbed her clit, teasing her with the light strokes he knew she liked.

  He loved her responsiveness and how ready she was for him. It made the blood pound through his head, drowning out every single coherent thought, bar being inside her. “Telling the truth wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  Her fingers dug into his arm, whether to increase the speed or ease off, he had no idea. The tip of her tongue moistened her bottom lip, drawing his attention to its lush fullness. He imagined her mouth wrapped around him…and his cock jerked.

  He slowed, skirting her clit, occasionally stroking, savoring the luxury of having this sexy woman so turned on by him. “God, I love how you feel.”

  She cupped him in response, her bold move surprising and titillating. “I wanted to pleasure you first this time,” she said, her eyes wide and shadowed.

  “How about we do it together?” He removed his hand from under her robe and heard her soft sigh of disappointment.

  Her shy nod made him wonder exactly how much experience she’d had. Allegra seemed so worldly, a poised, elegant woman who lived in one of the most exciting cities in the world.

>   Yet when it came to sex, it seemed like every time he touched her or made a suggestion she blushed like a virgin.

  Strangely, it turned him on even more if that were possible.

  She took him by the hand and led him into the bedroom. They passed an open wardrobe and something bright caught his attention. A vivid crimson box, long and flat, about twice the size of a pizza delivery, resided on the top shelf with Kink Kit etched in fancy black scroll along the side.

  “What the hell’s that?” He pointed to the box and not surprisingly, Allegra blushed.

  “That’s Zoe’s idea of a joke.” She tried to close the wardrobe door but he stopped her by hooking a finger into her robe’s sash. “She obviously thought if the lingerie didn’t do the trick, the kinky stuff would.”

  Fascinated by how she kept darting subtle glances at the box, he said, “Have you seen what’s inside?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve read enough popular fiction lately to know it probably contains anal beads, a mini vibrator, handcuffs, blindfold, whip or paddle, stuff like that.”

  Jett stared at Allegra in disbelief as she calmly recited a list of stuff he’d doubted a few moments ago she would’ve heard of.

  She shrugged. “Besides, I thought we could save some surprises for later.”

  This time his mouth dropped open. “Are you saying if I was open to doing a test run with any of that stuff you’d be up for it?”

  “Honestly?” She stared at the box, as fascinated with it as he was with her. “I think I’m a straight-up vanilla kind of girl.” She winked. “But never say never.”

  “Vanilla’s good.” For now. But the second she’d mentioned the kinky stuff, a vivid image of her tied up and spread-eagled before him raced into his head. Fuck. All in good time. He ducked his head to lick the dip between her collarbones. “Vanilla’s tempting and sweet and a little bit naughty.”

  Her head fell back, giving him full access to her neck, and he obliged, trailing kisses upward until he captured her mouth in a long, hot, openmouthed kiss that left them both gasping for air.