Jason felt Elizabeth's mouth on his own and, for one momentary lapse
of reason, let himself succumb to the passions that surrounded him. The
instant her lips had touched his all thoughts of a set up had disappeared.
Jason pulled Elizabeth's body closer to his as they fell back against the
mountain of pillows below them. Fingers entwined in her hair, Jason's
tongue probed her open mouth as he let himself get lost in her. Just as
their craving for one another deepened, it was as if a bolt of lighting
struck and forced them to separate too soon.
"I...I'm sorry." Elizabeth pulled back suddenly well aware that she had ventured into uncharted territory.
"No – I'm the one who should be sorry. You're a married woman....."
"As you just so aptly pointed out," Elizabeth cut him off mid sentence, "there is certainly no love lost between my husband and I." Elizabeth looked away in an attempt to gather her racing thoughts as she toyed with the notion of kissing Jason again.
"That makes no difference to me. You are married and I need to respect that." Jason heard the words falling from his lips yet didn't believe a word of them. They were merely nothing more than a well- rehearsed speech that his father had taught him.
"You know what Jason? I'm not sorry....."
"Huh?"
"I'm not sorry I kissed you. I have wanted to kiss you since that night in your penthouse," Elizabeth blurted out. She knew that if she was to make Jason understand that her being there with him wasn't some elaborate plan on Anthony's part she needed to lay her cards on the table.
Jason did his best to hide the elation he was certain must have filled his features when he heard her words. Elizabeth's admission that she had even the slightest feelings for him that first night was a pure high for Jason, yet he still needed a great deal of answers. "How do I know this isn't your way of sticking it to Anthony?" Jason asked directly. "You know getting it on with his arch rival would be a hell of thing to throw in his face."
Elizabeth cringed at that statement. She knew full well that had been her original intention, but the minute that Jason had put her and her safety before his family obligations all that had changed for her. She swallowed hard before speaking gathering the courage she needed to speak the truth. "To be honest Jason," she paused, "I did have those thoughts when I first met you. I knew how much Anthony despised you. Yes, I did think wouldn't it be nice to stick it to my husband as you put it, but that idea didn't last longer than but a minute."
"Why is that?" Jason was shocked at her honest admission and curious at the same time.
"You," she said simply.
"Me? What the hell are you talking about?" Jason questioned knowing that he couldn't let his guard down just yet.
"All the things you did for me that night and the following day. My own husband has never been that thoughtful," Elizabeth offered point blank.
"So? I already told you I was only doing what your father in law instructed." With that being said, a light bulb clicked off in Jason's head. He hadn't really put two and two together before he had exploded moments ago. It had been Rocco Malucci who had placed he and Elizabeth together in the first place. Rocco was so much like Joseph, men who still lived by the codes and honor of a long ago life, that there was no way that he would have been party to any set up by his son. Rocco had too much respect for Jason's father to go after Joseph's son.
"Jason?" Elizabeth waved her hand in front of his face hoping to snap him out of the trance that glazed his brilliant azure eyes.
"Huh?" he said snapping back to reality.
"Where were you a minute ago?"
"This isn't a set up is it?" Jason was still lost in his earlier thought.
"NO!" she stressed.
"Then what is it?"
"It's this." Again Elizabeth leaned closer and kissed Jason softly. "It's that I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. It's that I......"
Jason drew her body into his without letting her finish her remarks. He had been again able to reign in his father's image and enjoy the rapture of being in the moment with Elizabeth. "Why are you really married to Anthony?" he asked once he had gained control of his raging emotions.
"I told you."
"I know what you said but that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense." Jason had heard many a rumor at the time of Anthony's marriage. None of them had been confirmed or denied, and until now Jason hadn't really given a damn.
"No it doesn't," Elizabeth concurred.
"Then why would you marry a man you don't love?" Jason asked. "Better yet a man that doesn't love you?"
"Oh but you see," Elizabeth began, "that wasn't the case in the beginning. I did love Anthony. He was my Prince Charming." Jason physically cringed at those words and resisted the urge to move away from her. "He played his role so well. He truly had me believing that I was the love of his life. Anthony was quite the showman in the beginning. It was all candy, flowers – romance in its purest form," Elizabeth sighed. "He completely swept me off my feet and before I had a chance to question it I was married to him." It was easy for Jason to hear the despair in her voice.
"Then what happened?" Jason gently reached for her hand as if to comfort her.
"Well it turns out that I was the prize show pony. Anthony thought that by marrying me it would somehow make him respectable and it kept my father's drunk ass out of jail!" Elizabeth spat.
"What?"
"There was a little hit and run accident a few years back. Turns out my father was the driver and the lady he hit when he ran the red light died. I don't really know all the details, nor do I want to, but Anthony fixed it for him in return for my hand in marriage."
"You didn't know?" Jason questioned unable to comprehend what she had just told him. He knew his own life had been orchestrated for him but as he looked at the lonely young woman before him Jason couldn't help thinking her situation was much worse than his own.
"Not until it was too late to do a damn thing about it. I was duped Jason. I was young and still reeling from my mother's death. It was so easy for my father and Anthony to pull all the strings."
Jason eyed her cautiously. "You certainly don't appear to be a woman whose strings are easily pulled, especially not after your obvious show of defiance at my sister's engagement party."
"You don't get it do you? I had just lost my mother for God sakes. I was devastated, not to mention vulnerable. It was so simple for my father and Anthony to play on all those things."
"Rocco too?" Jason asked silently wondering again if maybe he had been wrong in assuming Rocco was above involvement in his son's shady dealings.
"NO!" Elizabeth gasped. "NEVER! Rocco is a wonderful man. He knows from personal experience what a loveless, arranged marriage can do to someone. He told me about his own sister and how she was doomed to the same fate as me. Rocco's the one ally I have in that house. That's why I don't know what I will do when he dies....." Elizabeth's voice trailed off.
"That's why you came to me? For protection?"
"In the beginning maybe...." she paused, "but now I don't know anymore."
Elizabeth leaned back against Jason's chest as he brought his arms to encircle her. He rested his chin again on the top of her head, his eyes trained on the dancing flames of the fire before them. Immediately his heart went out to her. He couldn't imagine the hell her life must have been married to a man that never had any intention of ever loving her. Elizabeth deserved better than that, just as he deserved better than a life devoid of any true sense of love. Jason stroked her bare arms as he continued to think. He knew very well what Joseph's ideas on the sanctity of marriage were, but from what Jason had just been told, Elizabeth and Anthony's marriage had been a farce from its onset. That thought left Jason with just the opening he wanted, even if that opening wasn't one his father would acknowledge. "I understand what it's like to live a life that's not of your own making," Jason spoke softly his eyes still focused on the dancing fire. While the set up had been very different, both he and Elizabeth were trapped in existences that neither of them had asked for or wanted.
"What?" she asked turning to face him. For the first time, Elizabeth noticed the sadness that hung behind Jason's ice colored eyes.
"Nothing." He brushed the question aside.
"I don't think so," Elizabeth countered. "What did you mean by that?" she pushed unable to imagine that Jason had anything but the life he wanted. From what little she had been able to see he had a great family, he ran one of the biggest companies in the Chicago area and to top it off he had the underworld power that Anthony would have died for. "What do you have to be unhappy about? I mean you aren't married to a monster!"
"I'm not married at all!" Jason shot back.
"It's not like you couldn't be," Elizabeth offered. "Jason, you are one of the most eligible bachelors in this city. You could have anyone you wanted....."
"Not necessarily." He looked away again knowing that his eyes would reveal feelings he could not hide. He was certain he was headed for trouble.
"Jason," Elizabeth brought her hand to his face. "You're wrong." She felt the urges for him swell inside her again.
Before she was able to finish her thought, Jason drew her closer. She could feel his hot breath on her bare neck, which in turn fanned her inner desires. "What if it's you I want?" he questioned in a hoarse whisper his lips but mere inches from hers. "Can I have you?" Without waiting for an answer Jason took her mouth with his own. Elizabeth's willingness to respond was all the answer he needed. Jason probed her mouth once more with his tongue as he felt his manhood grow rock hard beneath the fabric of his jeans. Bringing himself to his knees, Jason pulled her body against his in an effort to show just how much he wanted her. In that instant, it was so easy for him to get lost in all the things he had wanted for so long now. It wasn't so much that he hated the life that his father had made him a part of, but it was the fact that Jason thought that life made it impossible for him to have the fulfillment that he so desired. Now holding Elizabeth in his arms, Jason was beginning to believe that anything was possible. "You are so beautiful," he whispered in a breathless tone as he pushed her massive curls away from her face.
Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to speak fearing that if she were to open her mouth the wrong words would fall from it. She couldn't remember ever feeling this alive before. Not even in the beginning of her courtship with Anthony had she felt electrified by his touch in the way she did by Jason's hand. Elizabeth felt his hardness beneath her. The idea of partaking of him had her wet with anticipation. It was as though everything around them was swirling in a fast forward motion. It wasn't until a loud crash from just beyond the heavy velvet curtains startled them that Jason and Elizabeth caught their breath and realized exactly where they were still.
Jason eyed those in the room cautiously. Each group of various people were embroiled in their own goings on, yet he still couldn't take the off handed chance that either of them would be recognized. No matter how off the beaten path this place may have been, he had known of it so there stood a possibility that some of the others might have as well. Jason knew one thing for certain in his business – never take anything for granted. "We should get out of here," he said as he pulled Elizabeth to her feet.
"Huh?" She did little to hide her confusion or her disappointment.
"I think we need to move this little party of ours elsewhere," Jason smiled.
"Where?"
"I don't know yet," he answered honestly. This was all new to him. As exciting as it was, Jason had to be careful too. For this to work, he couldn't leave anything to chance. He had to control it all. Without question, Elizabeth followed Jason down the stairs to the main floor of Excalibur. With the feelings coursing through her at the moment, Elizabeth would have followed Jason into the belly of the beast if he had asked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that's exactly where they were going.
The street in front of the club was teeming with partiers. As they waited on the corner for the light to change enabling them to cross the traffic laden street, Elizabeth lulled herself into believing they were just part of the crowd – that they were just a man and a woman out on the town. Jason's silence as they walked past The Hard Rock Café unnerved her. In the confines of the third floor of Excalibur, Elizabeth had known where the two of them were headed. Now in the open night air she was less than sure and beginning to doubt what she had gotten herself into.
"Where are we going?" she finally had the courage to ask. Jason pointed to a hotel that stood in the distance. "Huh?" The Best Western River North is what the large sign on the side of the brick building read. Elizabeth was again completely confused. She had fully expected to head back to the Drake Hotel. "Why there?" she questioned.
"Because," Jason just said. Elizabeth obediently followed Jason up the stairs into the lobby. At this hour of the night, all was quiet.
"May I help you sir?" the man behind the counter asked.
"Yes, my wife and I need a room." On one hand the word "wife" took Elizabeth by surprise but on the other it filled her with an indescribable feelings.
"Certainly sir. Your name for our register."
"Roth, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Roth," Jason answered. He was thankful that this time Elizabeth hadn't made an attempt to question him.
"Sign right here, Mr. Roth," the man said pushing the guest registry before Jason. Once he signed the fictitious name, the man handed over a key card to their room. "You are in room 319 sir. You will need to go out those doors and over to the second set of glass doors. You can take that elevator up to the third floor. Your room should be the first set of doors you come to once you step off the elevator. Enjoy your stay."
"Thank you." Jason placed a thick wad of cash on the counter. "We will be staying two nights. I am sure that will be enough to cover it." Without waiting for a reply, Jason took Elizabeth by the hand and led her out the door.
"Two nights?" she questioned as they waited for the elevator that the man at the desk said would be taking them to room 319.
"Yes."
"We're staying here two nights? Jason, I can't do that." He noted the panic in her voice.
"I know."
"Then why on earth did you pay for two nights?" the allure of the evening suddenly was no longer as tempting.
"Elizabeth," Jason sighed again frustrated by her seeming lack of understanding. "I did it to make it appear that this, you and me, is something that it isn't. Or would you have rather preferred that I tell the man I wanted the room by the hour?"
"NO!" she gasped taken aback by how crass he could be at times.
Jason slid the key card into its designated slot and waited for the green light to signal. The room was modest nothing like the penthouse he had taken her to on the first night Elizabeth thought but it would serve the purpose just the same. Suddenly she was more than a little self- conscious. The heat and passion that had erupted between them earlier was now just smoldering and Elizabeth had had time to think about what it was that she was actually doing.
Jason senses her apprehension and crossed the room to where she stood gazing out the window. Gently he rested his hands on her shoulders. "Elizabeth," he whispered in her ear. His hot breath against her skin stoked the slow burn deep within her. "We don't have to do this."
Continually he amazed her. He had the ability to flip directions like turning on and off a switch. Minutes before he was being completely crude about what they were about to embark on and now he was worried if it was truly what she wanted to do. The unbalance of it all left Elizabeth totally confused but not willing to leave either. She turned to face him. Her hands instinctively coming to rest on his again budding manhood. "I want to," she whispered entirely consumed by her desire to be one with him.
Before Jason could question her again, Elizabeth easily slipped off his belt and undid the button that held his jeans closed. As the tips of her fingers came into contact with his skin, Jason let out an uncontrollable moan. Elizabeth pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she guided his snug jeans over his hips and let them drop to the floor in a heap. Next her fingers made their way to each tiny button that held his shirt closed. As the crisp denim shirt opened, Elizabeth's hands found the hardness of Jason's chest. She toyed with his thick hair until she caressed his erect nipples. Elizabeth again heard Jason's soft moans as her tongue teased them over and over again.
Jason was suddenly out of control. Every part of his being was at Elizabeth's mercy and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it – not that he even wanted to try. It had been so long since he had felt such ripples of desire.
Without warning Elizabeth slipped out of her own clothes. Jason stood in awe of the creature before him. She was a vision to him. Gently she came forward rubbing her feverish skin against his own. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Elizabeth lifted her legs and let her most feminine spot come to rest on him. She was warm and wet against his manhood. Jason felt his body shudder as she methodically positioned herself again and again until he felt the tremors overtake him.
Crashing his mouth hard against hers, he attempted to swallow her whole. This wave of passion was stronger than anything he had ever felt before. He wanted Elizabeth so badly at that very moment that it mattered nothing to him what this action might cost. Jason turned and lowered their entangled bodies to the awaiting bed never once breaking their connection. It was now his turn to toy with her – to bring her to the height of satisfaction before either could partake of the other. For a brief moment, Jason stared intently at her and wondered why. Why her? Why out of all the people he could desire it had to be Anthony Malucci's wife? Yet watching her lick her lips in anticipation, he didn't even care. All he wanted was to get lost in her.
Jason straddled her as he brought his mouth to her arched neck. The quick action of his tongue had Elizabeth arching her hips – had her needing to feel him dance inside of her. He moved down to her breasts taking them one at a time in his mouth. Jason teased her until she thought she might explode.
"Please – take me," she whispered hoarsely.
"Not yet," Jason smiled back enjoying the rapture he saw in her eyes and knowing that he was the cause of such pleasure within her. Jason's fingertips found the tuft of dark hair shielding entry to her womanhood. He entwined his fingers in her curls. She shuddered and shook as he parted her to gain entry. Elizabeth took a deep breath never expecting to feel such things. Sex had never been like this before. It had never been such a pleasure. She had been a virgin when she married Anthony and he had always been more concerned about pleasing him than pleasing her. This was a true experience for Elizabeth. Finally when neither of them could hold out any longer, Jason and Elizabeth became one. Their movements took but a fraction of a second to meld into one. They rocked back and forth until everything but the delight that befell them over took them leaving them breathless in each other's arms.
"I...I'm sorry." Elizabeth pulled back suddenly well aware that she had ventured into uncharted territory.
"No – I'm the one who should be sorry. You're a married woman....."
"As you just so aptly pointed out," Elizabeth cut him off mid sentence, "there is certainly no love lost between my husband and I." Elizabeth looked away in an attempt to gather her racing thoughts as she toyed with the notion of kissing Jason again.
"That makes no difference to me. You are married and I need to respect that." Jason heard the words falling from his lips yet didn't believe a word of them. They were merely nothing more than a well- rehearsed speech that his father had taught him.
"You know what Jason? I'm not sorry....."
"Huh?"
"I'm not sorry I kissed you. I have wanted to kiss you since that night in your penthouse," Elizabeth blurted out. She knew that if she was to make Jason understand that her being there with him wasn't some elaborate plan on Anthony's part she needed to lay her cards on the table.
Jason did his best to hide the elation he was certain must have filled his features when he heard her words. Elizabeth's admission that she had even the slightest feelings for him that first night was a pure high for Jason, yet he still needed a great deal of answers. "How do I know this isn't your way of sticking it to Anthony?" Jason asked directly. "You know getting it on with his arch rival would be a hell of thing to throw in his face."
Elizabeth cringed at that statement. She knew full well that had been her original intention, but the minute that Jason had put her and her safety before his family obligations all that had changed for her. She swallowed hard before speaking gathering the courage she needed to speak the truth. "To be honest Jason," she paused, "I did have those thoughts when I first met you. I knew how much Anthony despised you. Yes, I did think wouldn't it be nice to stick it to my husband as you put it, but that idea didn't last longer than but a minute."
"Why is that?" Jason was shocked at her honest admission and curious at the same time.
"You," she said simply.
"Me? What the hell are you talking about?" Jason questioned knowing that he couldn't let his guard down just yet.
"All the things you did for me that night and the following day. My own husband has never been that thoughtful," Elizabeth offered point blank.
"So? I already told you I was only doing what your father in law instructed." With that being said, a light bulb clicked off in Jason's head. He hadn't really put two and two together before he had exploded moments ago. It had been Rocco Malucci who had placed he and Elizabeth together in the first place. Rocco was so much like Joseph, men who still lived by the codes and honor of a long ago life, that there was no way that he would have been party to any set up by his son. Rocco had too much respect for Jason's father to go after Joseph's son.
"Jason?" Elizabeth waved her hand in front of his face hoping to snap him out of the trance that glazed his brilliant azure eyes.
"Huh?" he said snapping back to reality.
"Where were you a minute ago?"
"This isn't a set up is it?" Jason was still lost in his earlier thought.
"NO!" she stressed.
"Then what is it?"
"It's this." Again Elizabeth leaned closer and kissed Jason softly. "It's that I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. It's that I......"
Jason drew her body into his without letting her finish her remarks. He had been again able to reign in his father's image and enjoy the rapture of being in the moment with Elizabeth. "Why are you really married to Anthony?" he asked once he had gained control of his raging emotions.
"I told you."
"I know what you said but that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense." Jason had heard many a rumor at the time of Anthony's marriage. None of them had been confirmed or denied, and until now Jason hadn't really given a damn.
"No it doesn't," Elizabeth concurred.
"Then why would you marry a man you don't love?" Jason asked. "Better yet a man that doesn't love you?"
"Oh but you see," Elizabeth began, "that wasn't the case in the beginning. I did love Anthony. He was my Prince Charming." Jason physically cringed at those words and resisted the urge to move away from her. "He played his role so well. He truly had me believing that I was the love of his life. Anthony was quite the showman in the beginning. It was all candy, flowers – romance in its purest form," Elizabeth sighed. "He completely swept me off my feet and before I had a chance to question it I was married to him." It was easy for Jason to hear the despair in her voice.
"Then what happened?" Jason gently reached for her hand as if to comfort her.
"Well it turns out that I was the prize show pony. Anthony thought that by marrying me it would somehow make him respectable and it kept my father's drunk ass out of jail!" Elizabeth spat.
"What?"
"There was a little hit and run accident a few years back. Turns out my father was the driver and the lady he hit when he ran the red light died. I don't really know all the details, nor do I want to, but Anthony fixed it for him in return for my hand in marriage."
"You didn't know?" Jason questioned unable to comprehend what she had just told him. He knew his own life had been orchestrated for him but as he looked at the lonely young woman before him Jason couldn't help thinking her situation was much worse than his own.
"Not until it was too late to do a damn thing about it. I was duped Jason. I was young and still reeling from my mother's death. It was so easy for my father and Anthony to pull all the strings."
Jason eyed her cautiously. "You certainly don't appear to be a woman whose strings are easily pulled, especially not after your obvious show of defiance at my sister's engagement party."
"You don't get it do you? I had just lost my mother for God sakes. I was devastated, not to mention vulnerable. It was so simple for my father and Anthony to play on all those things."
"Rocco too?" Jason asked silently wondering again if maybe he had been wrong in assuming Rocco was above involvement in his son's shady dealings.
"NO!" Elizabeth gasped. "NEVER! Rocco is a wonderful man. He knows from personal experience what a loveless, arranged marriage can do to someone. He told me about his own sister and how she was doomed to the same fate as me. Rocco's the one ally I have in that house. That's why I don't know what I will do when he dies....." Elizabeth's voice trailed off.
"That's why you came to me? For protection?"
"In the beginning maybe...." she paused, "but now I don't know anymore."
Elizabeth leaned back against Jason's chest as he brought his arms to encircle her. He rested his chin again on the top of her head, his eyes trained on the dancing flames of the fire before them. Immediately his heart went out to her. He couldn't imagine the hell her life must have been married to a man that never had any intention of ever loving her. Elizabeth deserved better than that, just as he deserved better than a life devoid of any true sense of love. Jason stroked her bare arms as he continued to think. He knew very well what Joseph's ideas on the sanctity of marriage were, but from what Jason had just been told, Elizabeth and Anthony's marriage had been a farce from its onset. That thought left Jason with just the opening he wanted, even if that opening wasn't one his father would acknowledge. "I understand what it's like to live a life that's not of your own making," Jason spoke softly his eyes still focused on the dancing fire. While the set up had been very different, both he and Elizabeth were trapped in existences that neither of them had asked for or wanted.
"What?" she asked turning to face him. For the first time, Elizabeth noticed the sadness that hung behind Jason's ice colored eyes.
"Nothing." He brushed the question aside.
"I don't think so," Elizabeth countered. "What did you mean by that?" she pushed unable to imagine that Jason had anything but the life he wanted. From what little she had been able to see he had a great family, he ran one of the biggest companies in the Chicago area and to top it off he had the underworld power that Anthony would have died for. "What do you have to be unhappy about? I mean you aren't married to a monster!"
"I'm not married at all!" Jason shot back.
"It's not like you couldn't be," Elizabeth offered. "Jason, you are one of the most eligible bachelors in this city. You could have anyone you wanted....."
"Not necessarily." He looked away again knowing that his eyes would reveal feelings he could not hide. He was certain he was headed for trouble.
"Jason," Elizabeth brought her hand to his face. "You're wrong." She felt the urges for him swell inside her again.
Before she was able to finish her thought, Jason drew her closer. She could feel his hot breath on her bare neck, which in turn fanned her inner desires. "What if it's you I want?" he questioned in a hoarse whisper his lips but mere inches from hers. "Can I have you?" Without waiting for an answer Jason took her mouth with his own. Elizabeth's willingness to respond was all the answer he needed. Jason probed her mouth once more with his tongue as he felt his manhood grow rock hard beneath the fabric of his jeans. Bringing himself to his knees, Jason pulled her body against his in an effort to show just how much he wanted her. In that instant, it was so easy for him to get lost in all the things he had wanted for so long now. It wasn't so much that he hated the life that his father had made him a part of, but it was the fact that Jason thought that life made it impossible for him to have the fulfillment that he so desired. Now holding Elizabeth in his arms, Jason was beginning to believe that anything was possible. "You are so beautiful," he whispered in a breathless tone as he pushed her massive curls away from her face.
Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to speak fearing that if she were to open her mouth the wrong words would fall from it. She couldn't remember ever feeling this alive before. Not even in the beginning of her courtship with Anthony had she felt electrified by his touch in the way she did by Jason's hand. Elizabeth felt his hardness beneath her. The idea of partaking of him had her wet with anticipation. It was as though everything around them was swirling in a fast forward motion. It wasn't until a loud crash from just beyond the heavy velvet curtains startled them that Jason and Elizabeth caught their breath and realized exactly where they were still.
Jason eyed those in the room cautiously. Each group of various people were embroiled in their own goings on, yet he still couldn't take the off handed chance that either of them would be recognized. No matter how off the beaten path this place may have been, he had known of it so there stood a possibility that some of the others might have as well. Jason knew one thing for certain in his business – never take anything for granted. "We should get out of here," he said as he pulled Elizabeth to her feet.
"Huh?" She did little to hide her confusion or her disappointment.
"I think we need to move this little party of ours elsewhere," Jason smiled.
"Where?"
"I don't know yet," he answered honestly. This was all new to him. As exciting as it was, Jason had to be careful too. For this to work, he couldn't leave anything to chance. He had to control it all. Without question, Elizabeth followed Jason down the stairs to the main floor of Excalibur. With the feelings coursing through her at the moment, Elizabeth would have followed Jason into the belly of the beast if he had asked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that's exactly where they were going.
The street in front of the club was teeming with partiers. As they waited on the corner for the light to change enabling them to cross the traffic laden street, Elizabeth lulled herself into believing they were just part of the crowd – that they were just a man and a woman out on the town. Jason's silence as they walked past The Hard Rock Café unnerved her. In the confines of the third floor of Excalibur, Elizabeth had known where the two of them were headed. Now in the open night air she was less than sure and beginning to doubt what she had gotten herself into.
"Where are we going?" she finally had the courage to ask. Jason pointed to a hotel that stood in the distance. "Huh?" The Best Western River North is what the large sign on the side of the brick building read. Elizabeth was again completely confused. She had fully expected to head back to the Drake Hotel. "Why there?" she questioned.
"Because," Jason just said. Elizabeth obediently followed Jason up the stairs into the lobby. At this hour of the night, all was quiet.
"May I help you sir?" the man behind the counter asked.
"Yes, my wife and I need a room." On one hand the word "wife" took Elizabeth by surprise but on the other it filled her with an indescribable feelings.
"Certainly sir. Your name for our register."
"Roth, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Roth," Jason answered. He was thankful that this time Elizabeth hadn't made an attempt to question him.
"Sign right here, Mr. Roth," the man said pushing the guest registry before Jason. Once he signed the fictitious name, the man handed over a key card to their room. "You are in room 319 sir. You will need to go out those doors and over to the second set of glass doors. You can take that elevator up to the third floor. Your room should be the first set of doors you come to once you step off the elevator. Enjoy your stay."
"Thank you." Jason placed a thick wad of cash on the counter. "We will be staying two nights. I am sure that will be enough to cover it." Without waiting for a reply, Jason took Elizabeth by the hand and led her out the door.
"Two nights?" she questioned as they waited for the elevator that the man at the desk said would be taking them to room 319.
"Yes."
"We're staying here two nights? Jason, I can't do that." He noted the panic in her voice.
"I know."
"Then why on earth did you pay for two nights?" the allure of the evening suddenly was no longer as tempting.
"Elizabeth," Jason sighed again frustrated by her seeming lack of understanding. "I did it to make it appear that this, you and me, is something that it isn't. Or would you have rather preferred that I tell the man I wanted the room by the hour?"
"NO!" she gasped taken aback by how crass he could be at times.
Jason slid the key card into its designated slot and waited for the green light to signal. The room was modest nothing like the penthouse he had taken her to on the first night Elizabeth thought but it would serve the purpose just the same. Suddenly she was more than a little self- conscious. The heat and passion that had erupted between them earlier was now just smoldering and Elizabeth had had time to think about what it was that she was actually doing.
Jason senses her apprehension and crossed the room to where she stood gazing out the window. Gently he rested his hands on her shoulders. "Elizabeth," he whispered in her ear. His hot breath against her skin stoked the slow burn deep within her. "We don't have to do this."
Continually he amazed her. He had the ability to flip directions like turning on and off a switch. Minutes before he was being completely crude about what they were about to embark on and now he was worried if it was truly what she wanted to do. The unbalance of it all left Elizabeth totally confused but not willing to leave either. She turned to face him. Her hands instinctively coming to rest on his again budding manhood. "I want to," she whispered entirely consumed by her desire to be one with him.
Before Jason could question her again, Elizabeth easily slipped off his belt and undid the button that held his jeans closed. As the tips of her fingers came into contact with his skin, Jason let out an uncontrollable moan. Elizabeth pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she guided his snug jeans over his hips and let them drop to the floor in a heap. Next her fingers made their way to each tiny button that held his shirt closed. As the crisp denim shirt opened, Elizabeth's hands found the hardness of Jason's chest. She toyed with his thick hair until she caressed his erect nipples. Elizabeth again heard Jason's soft moans as her tongue teased them over and over again.
Jason was suddenly out of control. Every part of his being was at Elizabeth's mercy and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it – not that he even wanted to try. It had been so long since he had felt such ripples of desire.
Without warning Elizabeth slipped out of her own clothes. Jason stood in awe of the creature before him. She was a vision to him. Gently she came forward rubbing her feverish skin against his own. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Elizabeth lifted her legs and let her most feminine spot come to rest on him. She was warm and wet against his manhood. Jason felt his body shudder as she methodically positioned herself again and again until he felt the tremors overtake him.
Crashing his mouth hard against hers, he attempted to swallow her whole. This wave of passion was stronger than anything he had ever felt before. He wanted Elizabeth so badly at that very moment that it mattered nothing to him what this action might cost. Jason turned and lowered their entangled bodies to the awaiting bed never once breaking their connection. It was now his turn to toy with her – to bring her to the height of satisfaction before either could partake of the other. For a brief moment, Jason stared intently at her and wondered why. Why her? Why out of all the people he could desire it had to be Anthony Malucci's wife? Yet watching her lick her lips in anticipation, he didn't even care. All he wanted was to get lost in her.
Jason straddled her as he brought his mouth to her arched neck. The quick action of his tongue had Elizabeth arching her hips – had her needing to feel him dance inside of her. He moved down to her breasts taking them one at a time in his mouth. Jason teased her until she thought she might explode.
"Please – take me," she whispered hoarsely.
"Not yet," Jason smiled back enjoying the rapture he saw in her eyes and knowing that he was the cause of such pleasure within her. Jason's fingertips found the tuft of dark hair shielding entry to her womanhood. He entwined his fingers in her curls. She shuddered and shook as he parted her to gain entry. Elizabeth took a deep breath never expecting to feel such things. Sex had never been like this before. It had never been such a pleasure. She had been a virgin when she married Anthony and he had always been more concerned about pleasing him than pleasing her. This was a true experience for Elizabeth. Finally when neither of them could hold out any longer, Jason and Elizabeth became one. Their movements took but a fraction of a second to meld into one. They rocked back and forth until everything but the delight that befell them over took them leaving them breathless in each other's arms.