Seducing the old flame, p.1
Seducing the Old Flame, page 1
Seducing the Old Flame
JANA MERCY
Seducing the Old Flame Copyright 2012 JANA MERCY
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the author’s imagination, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown by the author, and all the incidences are pure invention.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by the law.
Other books by Jana Mercy:
Touched by a Thief
Ellora’s Cave Romances by Jana Mercy:
Strip or Treat
Underground Pleasure
Her Last Fling
Seducing the Old Flame
This was a bad idea, Tabitha Sterling thought for the hundredth time while fighting the downtown Knoxville traffic. Over two years since she’d seen Jason Kelly and she planned to cure her supposed sex addiction by seducing him. Insane.
It was all that crazy John’s fault. Him and his sexual psycho babble. How had he convinced her that she needed to make peace with Jason or she’d never be a happy, content person?
She was a happy, content person.
Just ask anybody and they’d tell you Tabitha Sterling was the life of the party and happy, happy, happy. But somehow a Thursday night spent in conversation with her sister and John, her sister’s new beau and a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee, convinced her otherwise. Convinced her that she needed to spend the entire weekend hot and sweaty with Jason Kelly.
She slid her fingers over the buttery leather cover on her car’s steering wheel and grimaced at the thick Friday evening traffic. Five more minutes and she should be at his apartment.
How would he react to seeing her after all this time?
Knoxville wasn’t so big that she’d had any problems finding him once she looked. While sitting at her desk at Stewart and Steinman Financing, she’d called Jason’s little sister fishing for information. Lori Kelly enthusiastically gave out his address, all his various phone numbers, his lack of a steady girlfriend, and the fact he’d be home about six that evening.
Despite the fluttery feel in her veins, Tabitha grinned. She liked Lori and the feeling had been mutual. Apparently still was as Lori gave all Jason’s personal goods.
Butterflies danced in Tabitha’s stomach.
Or maybe it was acid.
Whichever, her stomach roiled and had an unaccustomed burning sensation that gurgled up to her throat.
Jason. He always had affected her in odd ways.
Odd, intensely physical and emotional ways that scared as much as thrilled her.
She’d never forgotten him. Not in the two years since they broke things off after an argument that would make hockey look like a toddler sport.
Not that Jason or she ever physically abused each other.
They hadn’t. At least not with hits.
Instead, they’d used sex to manipulate and control one another. Wild, out of this world sex that stole her breath just from remembering the passion.
As with everything else about their relationship, the sex rocked. No man with a blow torch could elicit the heat one look from Jason sparked.
She planned to seduce him. Tonight.
To cure her supposed addiction to sex so that she could find ‘true happiness’. Or some such crock that John and Jenny filled her head with. Sexual excess with the one man who’d meant the most to her so she’d get over the addiction she wasn’t even sure she had. Unfortunately too much of what the couple said resonated with the truth to ignore their educated advice.
She was bored with men, with sex. Had been for months, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying to ease her boredom. Restlessness haunted her sleep, haunted her relationships. The wannabe shrink who’d set her out on this crazy mission blamed it on unresolved feeling for a man in her past. A man who had hurt her. A man she hadn’t forgiven and who hadn’t forgiven her.
Jason.
The cure according to all the psycho babble mumbo jumbo: a weekend of sexual healing with Jason.
Unless he’d changed a great deal over the past few years, what she planned should appeal to him just fine.
Sex. Sex. And more sex.
What hot-blooded man wouldn’t be thrilled at the prospect?
Jason was hot-blooded everything. Biggie-sized even.
If she was lucky, she’d spend the whole weekend in bed with him, get over this so called problem she still wasn’t admitting to, and put Jason Kelly back out of her life.
That was the plan.
And exactly what she kept telling herself right up to the moment Jason’s apartment door opened and she looked into his startled brown eyes.
Mesmerizing brown eyes that once loved to look at her.
Shocked brown eyes that didn’t look happy to see her. Definitely no love shined in his gaze these days.
Emotions long buried bubbled to the surface.
Emotions that made her wonder if her motives for being here had more to do with Jason than curing some supposed sexual addiction.
Was that why she’d been so receptive to John’s insane theories? Had she subconsciously searched for a reason to bury her pride and see Jason?
See she did.
He looked good.
Time only added to his masculine appeal. Jet-black hair that screamed for a woman’s hands, her hands, to cut through the silky locks. Chocolaty eyes she’d always lost herself in. Strong facial features bespeaking of a heritage that probably laid claim to royalty, or sure should. Broad, strong shoulders and arms that a woman could lean on. Washboard abs his black T-shirt with its Kelly Construction logo couldn’t hide. Narrow waist and hips that a woman’s legs could easily wrap around. What a man.
Tabitha licked her lips.
Oh, yeah. Jason Kelly was the perfect choice for a weekend of sexual excess. For so many reasons.
She ignored the niggling thoughts that Jason was the closest thing to perfect she’d encountered and she’d been a fool to ever let him out of her life.
Tabitha didn’t like to think she’d been foolish, or wrong, in her relationships with men. Particularly not with Jason.
She was here for sexual healing, not a relationship.
Still, one couldn’t argue with the facts and her heart leapt with joy at his nearness.
“Hi Jason.” She took a deep breath, flashed him a gregarious smile, and ate him up with her eyes. “I’m free for the weekend and thought I’d stop by for a visit. Maybe for the night if you’re smart and play your cards right.”
Of all the people in the world Jason Kelly expected to see on the other side of his apartment door, Tabitha Sterling ranked dead last--especially of her arriving there of her own free will.
He glanced around the empty hallway, half-anticipating to see a gunman with a 357 Magnum pointed at her head.
No one there but the sassy redhead who’d already done more than her share to create havoc in his life. The fiery-tempered vixen who had sworn she’d see him in hell before she’d willingly set eyes on him again. He certainly burned hellish hot under her heated green gaze.
Tabitha Sterling was God’s way of torturing Jason for every sin he’d ever committed.
No one had ever accused him of being a saint.
“Tabbycat.” He grimaced the moment the nickname left his mouth.
She smiled and the expression on her face resembled that of a big fat feline who’d just slurped down a bowl of cream. His cream.
“Think you remember how to make me purr, Jason?”
He blinked, knowing he was hallucinating and Tabitha would be gone when he opened his eyes.
His sister must be right. He was working too hard, spending too many hours baking in the sun on one of his construction projects.
That had to be the explanation for Tabitha, in full sex kitten mode, standing in his doorway flirting with him as if they’d never parted ways and she planned to jump his bones any minute.
But when his eyes opened she still stood there watching him with amusement, a cat toying with a mouse before devouring it whole.
Tabitha in all her voluptuous glory. Beautiful as always with her long red-gold ringlets hanging about her shoulders, the tips dancing enticingly over her chest, tempting and teasing a man’s gaze to linger.
Just looking at her hardened him to monstrous proportions.
But then from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her, she’d had this effect on him.
This burning-alive-from-the-inside-out sensation.
This so-hard-his-skin-threatened-to-burst sensation.
He continued his perusal, taking in big green eyes that announced to the world that she took what she wanted and anyone who tried to stand in her way be damned and prepared for battle. He perused her tiny waist that a man could fit his hands around, a waist made to look even tinier by her big breasts and full hips that flared temptingly above legs, long and luscious.
The total effect created that of the proverbial hourglass, a sexy siren, and she’d dressed to enhance the effect.
Black always looked extra seductive when wrapped around Tabitha. Her tight pants molded her like a second skin and were no exception. Her leopard print top hugged her generous breasts. She was hot and wanted the world to know.
&nb
Holy crap.
“Cat got your tongue?” Her tone teased and she shifted on her four-inch heels.
If he’d ever seen a pair of shoes that belonged on a porn flick, those slinky ones did. Images of he and Tabitha tangled in lurid, erotic positions electrified his nerve endings.
Trying to pull his mind back from those heels high on his shoulders, he demanded, “What the hell are you doing here?”
Possibly not the best way to greet a long lost lover, but then he hadn’t been looking to find this particular one. Just the opposite.
He’d worked damned hard to put Tabitha behind him.
Her smile faltered only for a second, lowered to his mid-section, and returned full force. “Are you saying you aren’t glad to see me? Because your body says otherwise.”
“Good thing I’ve learned to think with more than my body, isn’t it?” He leaned against the doorjamb and watched as she absorbed his comment. Obviously, not what she expected him to say.
“I find that hard to believe.”
He shrugged as if what she thought didn’t matter in the slightest. It shouldn’t. He hadn’t seen hide or hair of her for over two years.
What possessed her to show up on his doorsteps now? Tonight of all nights?
Brash as all get out, she leaned forward and stroked her fingers down his stomach until she hovered above his zipper. He stiffened, caught his breath, and fought the urge to strain into her touch. A touch that took him from zero to a hundred in one lazy caress.
“Seems that’s not all I find hard.” She flashed her pearly whites in a Cheshire smile. “Invite me in, Jason.”
Like hell he would.
“I recall hearing that creatures of the night can’t enter one’s home unless they have an invitation. You should leave.”
She tapped her high heel, glanced at the ceiling, huffed out a long breath, and latched her fingers onto his jeans belt loops.
Before he had time to so much as inhale she jerked him to her and planted her mouth over his. Her strength never ceased to amaze him. Apparently, Tabitha still worked out.
Soft, warm lips caressed his, tasting, challenging, demanding he kiss her back.
Whether it was an innate ability or came from more practice than he cared to consider, Tabitha knew how to kiss a man.
Jason was a goner from the moment her tongue slid between his lips, prying its way into his mouth, just as she seemed intent upon prying her way back into his life. If just for the night.
Her tongue dueled with his, teasing, tormenting him to respond to her dare. A pleased sound that could only be called a purr trilled from deep in her throat.
Damn. What could one little kiss hurt?
Besides he was tired of giving her control. He wanted control. Of his mouth, but more importantly of her mouth.
Jason plunged his tongue between her talented lips and met her parry for parry.
“Invite me in,” she breathed.
Her long, curvy body melted against his, practically singeing the material trapped between them.
Heat, hot and liquid, surged through his veins, boiling his blood to a raging pitch.
He had forgotten how sweet she tasted. How sassy. How her unique flavor intoxicated a man’s senses beyond reason.
No, he hadn’t forgotten. He’d crammed the memories down deep in his psyche so he could move on with his life without memories of a volatile wildcat repeatedly tearing him inside out.
Greedy fingers curled into his hair, twisting somewhere between pleasure and pain as she tugged him closer. Explosive starbursts erupted, tightening his muscles, hardening him to the point he expected his zipper to give way.
Maybe her pelvis molded against his groin was what kept the straining zipper teeth in place? Although he suspected that’s what had him so damned hard to begin with.
His hands brushed down her waist, pressed into the curve of her back, and pinned her to him from mouth to where her leg curled around his in a possessive hold.
“Invite me in,” she demanded. “And I’ll remind you what you’ve been missing out on.”
“My memory’s just fine.” But his mouth covered hers, conquering the sugary recesses of her mouth once again. His memory obviously retained only the Cliff Note version of Tabitha’s kisses, though. She took his breath away. Literally.
She wiggled against him, her heavy breasts smashed against his chest.
Longing to rip off her clothes and take her right here, right now, he lowered his hands to her hips. Instinctively she sensed what he wanted and wrapped her legs around his waist. Or perhaps she just wanted the same thing.
The spikes of her ‘do me’ high-heels dug into his back, her fingers tugged on his hair, and her mouth marauded his. All he could think about was that it had been too damned long since he’d been inside this woman. A problem he intended to rectify.
“Uhm, Jason, if this is a bad time I can come back later,” a feminine voice said from a few feet away.
His neck snapped around. A petite blond with innocent, but curious blue eyes stared back. Guilt slammed him.
Damn. How had he forgotten about inviting Annie over to review the construction progress for her daycare facility?
Long nails raking the back of his neck told him exactly how.
Chapter Two
Reluctantly, Tabitha looked at the unwelcome interruption.
A sweet young thang wearing cheery, if shapeless, clothes stared back with avid interest, and more than a touch of admiration.
If not for her untimely appearance, Tabitha would have liked the woman instantly. As it was, Miss Wide Eyed Innocence interfered with the cure to all her ailments.
Not relinquishing her leg’s hold around Jason’s waist, she extended her hand. “Tabitha Sterling.”
The woman smiled. “Annie Oswald.”
Annie? Even her name rang with innocence.
Innocent, something Tabitha hadn’t been in eons.
Jason’s muscles stiffened beneath the arm she draped around his neck, warning he preferred her not to have met Annie. Tough cookies.
“Annie, I’m sorry. If you’ll step inside, I’ll be right in.” Jason found his voice, but Tabitha wished he’d lose it again if he planned to invite the other woman where he’d refused to invite her.
Jealousy, green and vivid, streaked down Tabitha’s spine.
Totally irrational. All she needed Jason for was what pressed enticingly against her womanhood. He was welcome to whoever he wanted once he cured Tabitha’s affliction.
Annie hesitated. “Maybe I should come back later.”
“Monday morning would be nice,” Tabitha offered helpfully. She should be finished with Jason sometime Sunday evening. Annie could have him after then.
But she was lying to herself if she believed that because the thought of Jason with another woman sparked flames of possessive envy.
Envy she had no right to feel.
For two years, she’d avoided thoughts of what he might be doing, who he might be with. She wouldn’t start thinking about it now.
Even if confronted with Miss Goody-Two-Shoes great wife material in the flesh.
Unbidden her fingers slipped back into Jason’s inky hair and tightened possessively.
Just for this weekend.
That’s all she wanted him for.
So why the acidy feeling burning her throat?
Jason was the bossiest, he-man neat freak she’d ever dated and the only one who ever stole a piece of her heart.
She didn’t want him back.
Not really.
Did she?
She swallowed. She couldn’t want him back.
“Annie.” Jason looked from one woman to the other. “Despite what you may think, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“Yes it is,” Tabitha interrupted before he could go further. Perhaps she was going too far, but she’d already come too far to accept defeat and slink away. That wasn’t her style. “If you’d shown up five minutes later, Jason never would have heard your knock. Not over the purring in his ears as he—”
“That’s quite enough, Tabby.”
“Tabby?” The blond woman blinked.
Tabitha refused to give in to any semblance of guilt. One weekend, that’s all she was asking for. Whatever it took to make that happen, then so be it. It wasn’t as if Jason was over her either. Not with the way he’d been kissing her. Maybe the weekend would set them both free. She pursed her lips and shrugged. “What can I say? He likes to stroke my fur.”
