Stud Finders Incorporated Read online

  “As long as everything is okay.”

  There was a slight pause during which Madison held her breath.

  “Madison, what I rang to tell you is—”

  “Have you come up with a plan? I’m looking forward to this time with you.” She pulled her legs up under her and leaned back on the mound of pillows covering the head of the bed. Just the sound of his voice made her feel better. A man was interested enough to ring her.

  Jake bit off a groan. Why the heck hadn’t he told her about the mistake right from the word go? He wanted to tell her right now—he really did—but the desire to see her was far greater. If he admitted the truth, her embarrassment would be so immense, she wouldn’t even consider going out with him. A quandary. He’d feel like a rat if he didn’t, and a total fool for passing up the opportunity to get to know this fascinating woman if he did.

  Maybe he could… “How do you feel about taking this slow?” The words were out of his mouth before he’d thought about them. “I think we should just go out on some regular dates. Get to know each other a bit, have some fun. I get the impression there hasn’t been a lot of that in your life over the last few years.”

  “I think that’s a terrific idea. I’ll feel more comfortable when we get to the sex part then. We will get to the sex part, won’t we?”

  Oh, boy. His body responded to the innocent question, making Jake squirm. Innocent? Bloody hell, this woman was unbelievable.

  What did the book say? Build the tension. From the feel of his body, they were well on the way. Or rather, he was on the way. His cock was so damn hard it was a wonder it didn’t snap in two. What about Madison? What was the other point? That’s right…talk about it.

  He cleared his throat, struggling for control. “If we can build the tension up, sex will follow as a natural course of events.” He struggled for an even tone. “So tell me a bit about yourself. What are you doing at the moment?”

  “Besides talking to you?” She chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me.”

  “My mother is very…liberated, for want of a better word. She brought me a present. I was just trying it on when you rang.”

  “New dress?”

  “Ah, no, a lot less fabric than that.”

  “A bikini?” Jack felt his cock tighten even more. He fought to regulate his breathing.

  “No, but you’re getting warmer.”

  “Ah ha, underwear. Tell me about it.” Yeah right, talk about it. Encourage sexy thoughts.

  “Well, the bra is nothing but a few straps and lace and sheer material.”

  After seeing Madison in her blue swimsuit with its deep cleavage, Jake had no trouble mentally dressing her in her new bra. “See-through, eh?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Color?”

  “Slinky, sexy black,” she purred.

  His favorite. Oh, fuck, he was in trouble. “Full cups or half?”

  “Itty bitty ones.”

  “You still got it on?” Jake said, his voice a low burr. It was getting harder and harder to keep it together. The erotic pictures in his head almost had him on the verge of hyperventilating.

  “Not now. Took it off just before you rang.”

  “So what did it feel like when you were wearing it?” Hell, he had to end this conversation before he got into trouble. Bigger trouble than he was in right now.

  “Soft, silky.”

  Madison’s voice had dropped down a notch. The husky tones washed over him, made the blood rush through his veins. He dragged in a shaky gulp of air. Talking about it was good. He didn’t know about her, but it sure played havoc with his equilibrium.

  “And sexy, Madison? Did it make you feel sexy?” Struggling for control, he clenched his hand on the telephone, the other sliding down his body to grasp his aching cock. God help him, at this rate it would be cold showers tonight.

  Madison couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with a total stranger, but it was fun. This was flirting, a talent she’d thought she didn’t possess. She reached across the bed and grabbed the bra, rubbing the sensual fabric between her fingertips.

  A shiver slithered down her spine, making her conscious of her near-naked state. She giggled. Lord, she hadn’t giggled since she was a kid. Her nipples hardened, the breath catching in her throat. The mere sound of Jake’s voice did crazy thing to her system. She couldn’t believe it. Not bad for a frigid woman. Turned on by the sound of a man’s voice.

  “You got the bra there?” he whispered. “Why don’t you rub it across those lovely breasts of yours and tell me how it feels? Slowly now. Slowly.”

  She found herself doing just that. The friction of the soft fabric on her tender nipples made her gasp. Her pulse started to pound.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” He paused a moment as if to catch his breath. “Don’t be embarrassed. This is all part of sex. Foreplay, and we can play as long as you like. Talk to me, Madison.”

  “It feels… I’m all shivery. My breasts ache like…like…”

  “Like you want my hands and my mouth, there? Sucking. Tonguing your nipples. Until you feel the ache from your breasts down to your clit.”

  Madison’s hand shook so much she just about dropped the phone. Her heart beat so hard she thought it would jump clear out of her chest.

  “You got panties to match that bra?”

  The air rushed out of her lungs on a gasp. She ran her hand down her body and tweaked at the band of her panties. “Y-yep.” She had to stop and clear her throat. “A little thong with a see-through triangle in the front.”

  She arched her hips and trailed her fingers across the sheer material. An ache developed deep inside her. Her clit throbbed. She cupped her hand over herself, not surprised to feel her own dampness through the thin material.

  “Are you all hot and bothered, Madison?”

  She nodded her head, unable to say a word. It didn’t seem to bother Jake any.

  “This is what we’ll work toward. Building the sexual tension until we’re both so hot, we’ll burn if we don’t make love. So how about I pick you up tomorrow afternoon and we’ll go for a picnic at a secluded beach I know? Don’t worry about anything; I’ll bring the food. You just bring your sexy body and that blue swimsuit you had on yesterday.”

  Madison dragged herself out of the sexual haze that wreathed her body, and her mind, in a shimmer of heat. “That would be terrific, Jake,” she managed, despite the lump in her throat and the quiver in her voice.

  “I’ll see you at three thirty, sweet Madison,” he whispered in a husky voice before he rang off.

  Madison’s hand shook as she replaced the receiver. Her body still throbbed with unrelieved sexual frustration. Imagine, ten years of marriage and she’d never once felt like this. She sat up, hugged her arms about her body and giggled like a teenager.

  “Eat your heart out, Clifton. Ain’t nothing wrong with this little chicken.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Jake tugged the white tee shirt over his head and pulled it down to cover the top of his shorts. Slipping his feet into leather surf sandals, he grabbed for a comb. Knees bent, he half crouched in front of the mirror on the wardrobe door and smoothed his hair into his normal restrained style. Finally ready, he grabbed the little red book called The Pocket Guide to Dating Techniques lurking on the bedside table and flicked it open.

  “First Date Impressions,” he read out loud. “What reaches your date first? You or your smell?” Well, he’d never had anyone complain he had bad breath. Just in case, though…

  Hand cupped in front of his mouth, he exhaled. “No, no problem there.” To be on the safe side, he grabbed a peppermint from the packet he’d bought earlier in the day and popped it in his mouth. “Deodorant? Check. Aftershave? Light and easy on the nose. Check. Now what else?”

  He stood back from the mirror and gave himself a critical look. “Do I look confident? Casual? Hmmm…suppose so.” He leaned down and inspected his hair again. �
�Few grey ones there, but not too bad.”

  The book beckoned. “Don’t dominate the conversation with too much ‘I’ or ‘Me’. Basic, Watson, basic. Geez, even I knew that.” He felt ridiculous. Just the same, he couldn’t help but eyeball the next rule. Be on time. He cast a quick glance at his watch and groaned. “What a screw-up. I’ve taken so long to get ready I’ll be flat out making it on time.”

  Car keys in hand and a folded rug tucked under his arm, along with the tube of sun block, he started to head for the door. On an afterthought, he backtracked, snagged up the little red book and shoved it into his back pocket. He raced from the bedroom and skidded into the kitchen where his father was making a cup of coffee. He grabbed the picnic hamper he’d packed earlier and tracked a line straight for the front door. “Hi, Dad. Bye, Dad. Gotta go.”

  “Hey, son, if you’re going on a picnic, you might want to rethink. Forecast is for rain.”

  “Nah, it’ll never happen.” Jake cast a hurried glance at the sky overhead. He set the picnic basket on the back seat of the convertible and jumped into the front seat. He’d inserted the key in the ignition and kicked over the engine when he paused.

  Show her she’s special. Another gem from his little red book. He vaulted right back out of the car and raced over to the garden at the front of the house. He took a few precious minutes to inspect the flowers before he selected a deep purple petunia.

  As he drove out of his father’s driveway, he acknowledged how much he was looking forward to the picnic. This was the way to play it. Just a plain and simple date. Get to know each other and see where it led. He had to remind himself what this was all about—Madison’s education.

  “Okay, Madison Paxton, let the lessons begin.”

  Phone sex.” Madison chuckled. “I can’t believe it.”

  “So he talked dirty on the phone, eh? Not a bad start.”

  Madison juggled the telephone receiver, trying to pull her shorts on at the same time as carry on a conversation with her mother. “Well, I guess it was phone sex. Never having done it before, I’m taking a stab in the dark here. And it wasn’t what I’d class as dirty talk but—”

  “Listen up here, baby girl. Did he talk sexy? Make your toes curl? Most important, did you get all hot and bothered?”

  “Well, I only had on my new thong at the time and…” Her voice trailed off as her body responded to the memory of Jake’s words. Her stomach muscles clenched and dampness pooled between her thighs. She waved her free hand in front of her face to cool the burst of heat on her cheeks. “Oh, yeah, hot and bothered about describes it.”

  “Hah, told you so,” Rosa crowed. “No such thing as a frigid woman. Just men who don’t know the right buttons to push. Now my Bart, he has the sexiest voice on the phone. He knows how to tweak a phrase until I get—”

  Madison blessed the sound of knocking on the front door. There were some things a daughter shouldn’t know. “Gotta go, Mom. I think that’s my stud at the door. We’re off on a picnic to a secluded beach.”

  “Hey, Madison, before you go, remember one thing.”

  “What’s that?” She jiggled on the spot as she strained to hear any further sound from the front of the house, wishing her mother would hurry up.

  “Whoopty-do.”

  Her mother did like to have the last word. Madison grinned as she replaced the receiver and reached for the cotton shirt she’d placed on the bed to wear over her blue swimsuit. If she didn’t hurry, Jake would think she’d stood him up.

  Hand poked through the armhole of the shirt, she slipped her feet into her sandals, hopping on one foot as she tried to pull the strap up over her left heel. A slight noise at the open Fench doors leading out onto the pool area alerted her she wasn’t alone. Balanced on one leg like a stork, she raised her head, dropping her arm at the same time so the shirt slid down and onto the carpeted floor.

  Jake stood in the doorway, leaning against the timber frame. A cheeky grin pulled at his sensual mouth as he extended his hand toward her. Between thumb and forefinger, he clutched a wilted, deep purple petunia. Madison grimaced, exhaling noisily as she felt the flags of heat unfurl high on her cheeks.

  She lowered her leg and shuffled her feet like a kid in trouble. Her self-confidence, skin deep at best, dropped down a notch. Fancy being caught like this, not even fully dressed.

  “When you didn’t answer my knock, I decided to try around back,” he said. “Thought maybe you hadn’t heard me.”

  “I’m sorry, Jake, but I got caught up in a phone call with my mother.”

  “The one who rang Stud Finders, Incorporated?”

  Madison bent over to fix the strap of her sandal and grab her shirt. Jake watched, mesmerized, as the fabric of her swimsuit parted a fraction where the deep vee arrowed down to her waist. Okay, maybe not that far, but far enough. Enough he got a good look at the luscious swell of her breasts. Enough that his body reacted fast and furious. He stood up straight so the pull of his shorts across his bulging cock wouldn’t give him away. Shit, look at me, I’ve turned into a sex maniac.

  “The very one,” Madison said as she shrugged into her shirt, but left it open down the front so her swimsuit showed.

  Jake shook his head. It took him a few moments to realize Madison had just answered his last question. He’d gone way past that point in the conversation.

  “I won’t be a minute,” she said as she rushed around the room throwing hairbrush, sun cream and towel into a beach bag.

  “Take all the time you need.” Jake had plenty to keep him busy while he waited. He stared as Madison reached up into the top of the wardrobe and grabbed for a wide-brimmed straw hat. The position accentuated the long length of her legs. Then she bent over and extracted the bright blue sarong from the bottom, the very bottom, of a large set of drawers. Oh, boy, testosterone on alert.

  To take his mind off his raging hard-on, he cast a glance over the bedroom. Regency-stripe paper, soft grey and pink with tiny roses hovering between the vertical lines, covered the walls. The carpet, a muted grey, toned in with the wallpaper. The door on the far side opened onto a bathroom, but the one thing that grabbed his attention was the bed taking up most of the available floor space.

  A king size bed. Dark polished timber, the cover a soft pink. Masses of pillows and cushions in various shades of pink, some rose-patterned, some plain. Enough space to hold an army. Or maybe just two? Madison, her long legs curled about his hips and…

  Boy, oh, boy, more trouble. He struggled to get his mind back on track as she turned and approached him.

  She shoved the sarong into her beach bag and turned and grinned at him. “Okay, I’m ready.” She took the wilted flower from his hand. “How lovely. Thank you, kind sir.”

  “The heat got to it a bit.” Jake grimaced as he eyed the offering.

  “It’s still a lovely thought.” Madison breathed deep, dragging in the subtle woodsy scent of Jake’s aftershave. Hmm, light and enticing. “Come in and close the doors behind you. We’ll go out the front.”

  As Jake followed her to the front hallway, Madison couldn’t help but be conscious of the sway of her hips in the tight denim shorts. Never before had she been so aware of her own body. Incredible what a little bit of phone sex would do for a girl. She grabbed her keys off the hall table, opened the front door and stepped through. Jake followed, guiding her over to the little red car and opening the passenger door for her.

  “Top up or down?”

  “Oh, down, please, I’ve never been in a convertible.”

  “Another new experience for you.” He grinned, taking his place in the driver’s seat.

  Madison tried not to think about what else she might experience throughout the afternoon. If she were lucky.

  “There’s a little beach I know only about half an hour from here,” Jake said as he reversed the vehicle and took off down the unpaved road. “It’s not patrolled so not too many people use it. Should be perfect for a picnic and a swim this time of day.”
r />   She silently agreed with him as a trickle of sweat ran down between her breasts. Although… “There’s a few dark clouds forming up there. Hope it doesn’t rain, it’s humid enough for a storm.”

  Jake cast a quick glance at the sky as he maneuvered the sports car onto the main highway. “Nah, I had a word with the weatherman. It wouldn’t dare to rain. I ordered this day just for you.”

  It didn’t take long to reach the greenbelt that hid the beach from view. Jake pulled up in the parking area. “Looks like we might have the place to ourselves.”

  Rushing around to the passenger side, he opened the door for Madison before lifting the picnic hamper and rug from the back seat. Then he guided Madison down the four wooden steps and onto the beach.

  A line of Coast Banksia trees on the edge of the parking lot retained the sand dunes, their branches spreading out far enough to provide an oasis of dappled shade. Jake laid out the rug and placed the picnic hamper on one corner, gesturing for Madison to take a seat.

  “Sorry, I forgot the beach umbrella. This do for you?”

  “It’s perfect,” Madison said. “I normally go down to the main beach opposite the shopping centre. I didn’t know this existed. So much nicer when you don’t have to fight for towel space.” She glanced up and down the beach, glad to see they were the only occupants.

  Jake dragged off his tee shirt and sprawled out on the rug by her side. “Why don’t you get comfortable and tell me all about yourself, Madison Paxton.”

  Madison felt a bit self-conscious as she shrugged out of her blouse. She undid the snap of her shorts and shimmied out of them without standing up. Leaning back, she balanced on her elbows. Where she should have been nice and relaxed, enthralled by the beauty and power of the ocean as the tide rolled in, all she could see was her chest, the curve of her breasts exposed by the cut of her swimsuit. She didn’t dare look at Jake to see where his gaze was trained.

  She rolled to her side, propped up on one arm, now eye level with Jake. This wasn’t much better, the swell of her breasts more pronounced. So much for her new persona. She made a move to sit up again, but Jake reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder to prevent her.