by Joanne Rock
Her creamy skin called to him. He wanted to press her to the bed and forget everything else.
“You have perfect perspective. You’re with me and that’s a great idea.” He sensed her pulling away and didn’t understand why. The last two nights they shared had been incredible. He was already thinking about how they could be together through the rest of the play-offs. How he could come home to her in his hotel room more often. “Is this about me asking you to help me with the matchmakers? Because we’re in the clear now. I didn’t see any media vultures or matchmaking types outside the hotel.”
“It’s not about that.” She let go of the sheet and the towel knotted between her breasts shifted with the movement. “I’m grateful for the chance to help you out of a mess I created, and you were more than generous to offer payment for my assistance. I wrote your check out to the drug company to start my mother’s treatments, but I plan on paying you back.”
“Don’t even think about it. The matchmaking debacle wasn’t your fault. Although by now, I’m dying to know whose fault it was so I can inform Ms. Entitled that not everything can be bought for a price.” He resented the way a high-pressure client had put Marissa in such an awkward position professionally. And it doubly pissed him off that her client had upped the ante by hiring competing matchmakers to try to land him.
“She doesn’t feel entitled,” Marissa confided. Tucking some of her fallen hair behind her ear, she seemed tense. Nervous? “Hiring competing matchmakers was her wealthy father’s idea. I think it was a turning point in an uneasy relationship for her because she’s ventured out on her own since then.”
“Meaning she’s not taking daddy’s money to buy her dates anymore?” He found it difficult to be sympathetic when the woman’s manhunt had caused both him and Marissa a lot of grief.
“Meaning she moved out of a house her family owned, only taking her clothes and her dogs. I think she really wants to…find herself.”
Kyle frowned, trying to interpret her tone of voice.
“You admire her.”
She shrugged, the movement shifting the towel and reminding him how much he’d rather be touching her right now. But this was important. She was important. And something told him he needed to pay attention to whatever they were circling around. He studied her more intently.
“I’m proud of her. I’ve known her for a long time and I’ve known a lot of people like her for a long time. Sons and daughters of wealthy, entitled parents. It can be tough to forge your own identity in the shadow of so much success.”
“For you, too?” He remembered how professional she’d been at the Phantoms’ fundraiser, refusing to flirt with him no matter how hard he’d tried to corner her for a kiss.
She’d been cool, controlled. And, he’d guessed, very sure of herself. Had he read her all wrong?
“Maybe. I took the job as my mother’s manager because, quite honestly, she couldn’t do it alone. She’s a handful for any manager, but she always listened to me. Matchmaking was always the job I loved best, at least until I needed the income and it became more stressful.” She toyed with the hem of the towel, her fingers traveling everywhere but on him. “But sometimes I wonder what path I might have chosen if I hadn’t fallen into being her manager. In a lot of ways, I was the caretaker even before her accident.”
“So you’d like to start over, professionally.” He wanted to cover her hand where she played with the hem of the towel, cup her knee and smooth his way up her thigh. But he knew she needed to talk about this. That he needed to listen.
“Someday. When she’s better. I’ve managed someone else’s career for too long. It’s time to start figuring out my own.”
“You should come on the road with me for a while,” he offered. “You’ve been working so hard—”
“And I need to keep working hard if I want to be there for my mother. She has a long road to recovery.” Her expression warned him this was a tread-lightly zone.
But damn it, he wasn’t just suggesting it for selfish reasons.
“Have you considered other options for her? Getting some more help taking care of your mother?”
She straightened.
“I will not move her into assisted living. She’s going to recover. She’s so young—”
“I’m not suggesting assisted living. I wouldn’t presume to know the right time for a move like that.” Although he certainly understood the desire to keep loved ones close. He shared a tight bond with his whole family. “But sometimes we’re so close to the people we love it’s hard to see—”
“I know.” She nodded, her shoulders sagging. “But how can I make changes now when her doctors say that maintaining routine might be helpful for her recovery? This isn’t an exact science, and I get a lot of conflicting advice about how to handle her therapy, but I’ve seen firsthand that she’s more relaxed at home than when I have to take her in for appointments. How can I ignore what’s best for her to indulge a personal whim?”
“I wouldn’t call the decision to go on the road with me a whim. I just told the press we were together, so that’s got to count for something.” Now he was the one with his back up. “Come to Tampa Bay for the next game. See how it feels.”
“Just because we tell the press we’re a couple doesn’t make it so. We both said we didn’t want a relationship, right?” She kept her voice gentle. “So if what we have together now isn’t a relationship, then I think it’s just…self-indulgent.”
Sex was self-indulgent?
Not until that moment did he fully appreciate that she had very traditional values. Yet the signs had been there from the start. The skirt to the knee and the vintage sixties clothes that had been sexy in a buttoned-up way. Moving into her mother’s guest house to care for her when so many people would have let professionals handle her care. Wearing a wedding ring to ensure single men didn’t hit on her during her work. Hell, even her job screamed conservative, family-oriented ideals. She worked to bring people together into meaningful relationships.
Happily-freaking-after.
The light bulb that flicked on in his brain over all that was so bright he blinked stupidly, trying to reassess what this meant for them.
“Self-indulgent,” he finally repeated. No doubt she’d only made this trip to soothe her guilt over her role in making him a target for matchmakers.
While she was attracted to him, she apparently viewed sex as a hedonistic pleasure until she found the real thing.
Love.
“It would be nice to have the freedom to make the choice to do things just for me.” She tipped her forehead to his chest. “I’ve had more fun with you these last few days than I’ve had in a long time.”
His arms went around her on instinct. And because he really, really wanted to hold her. He’d had a great time being with her, too. Would she feel differently about going on the road with him if they defined the relationship somehow? But this wasn’t high school and he couldn’t risk complicating things any more.
He’d never intended to make these kinds of decisions while his career was in high gear. He was crazy about her. Might even…yeah. He might have bigger feelings for her, too.
But for right now, he needed to focus on his game. With a win tonight, the Phantoms would clinch their division. A surefire play-off berth.
And not even the hottest woman on earth was going to distract him from achieving everything he’d worked for.
“Stay for tonight’s game, okay?” His chest burned when he thought about letting her go. “But if you still want to leave in the morning, I’ll call around and book a flight home for you tomorrow.”
* * *
ISAAC HAD PLANNED HIS approach with Stacy carefully. He’d drawn up a mental blueprint and considered various executions to increase his chances for success.
Yet he’d never envisioned the level of enthusiasm of her response.
She was in his arms in a flash, her freshly washed hair still damp from a morning shower. With her arms wrapped around
his neck, the silk robe and the jacket he’d given her had parted, allowing him to feel her curves through nothing more than thin cotton pajamas.
Her lush breasts pressed against his chest and her mouth fitted to his in a kiss that started out sweet and slowly turned…wow. Too erotic for a street corner. A whistle from the driver of a passing car told him as much even if he’d been too overwhelmed to string the thought together himself.
“We should…wait,” he urged, breaking away from the kiss while still holding her close. He couldn’t pry himself much farther from her. “This probably isn’t the best place for—”
“Making out?” she suggested, her blue eyes full of mischief as she rolled her hips against his.
Without question, she could feel how much he wanted more than a make-out session.
“That, either.” He dragged in a deep breath to try to will away his reaction, but Stacy didn’t help matters when she smoothed a palm down his chest and dragged her fingers lower.
“Why don’t you come inside and warm up first?” she suggested. “You only just arrived.”
A gray-haired woman walked by wheeling a small cart with a grocery sack strapped to it, her appearance reminding him to back off the public display of affection. But as Isaac tugged Stacy toward the side of the street, the woman winked at him.
“I don’t want to misinterpret this,” he began, not trusting his instincts when they were operating on a primal level. “Are you seducing me?”
Her eyebrows lifted. A small smile twitched the corner of her lush lips.
“I’d prefer you seduce me—”
A roar of satisfaction surged through him and it took all his willpower not to pin her to the brick wall of the building and kiss her until they forgot their names. Instead, he spun her in his arms and steered her toward the entrance to the inn. Staying close behind her, he wrapped an arm around her waist to hold the jacket closed over her delectable body.
Ask and you shall receive, Stacy thought to herself, realizing now why she hadn’t ever truly voiced her thoughts and her heart to a man before.
She’d been waiting for Isaac. Someone who listened. Someone who looked into her eyes even if he was thinking about her body. And oh, my, she could tell he was thinking about her that way now.
His body brushed hers as they walked into the bed-and-breakfast and up the stairs to her room, dogs leading the way. While she opened the door, the hard, muscular strength of him pressed behind her. Something had shifted between them—something besides the obvious—when she had playfully suggested she wanted to be seduced. Judging by the way Isaac marched her into the bedroom and closed the door behind them, leaving Tink and Belle out in the living area by their food and water, Stacy could tell he’d taken her very seriously.
She should have known there was no such thing as a playful suggestion with this intense, quiet man.
“I hope I didn’t rush things,” she blurted, suddenly self-conscious about her flirtation. “Sometimes I say the first thing that pops into my mind and—”
His dark gaze met hers. He crossed the floor in a heartbeat, lean muscle and long legs eating up the space between them.
“I like the way you think.”
She breathed in his words, the notion appealing to her on every level.
“You’re going to make me a very happy woman.” She knew it on a soul-deep level, trusting her instincts with a gut sureness she’d never felt about anything except her decision to leave home.
Isaac’s hands molded to her waist, then slid around to span the small of her back.
“Very happy,” he agreed, fingers climbing up her spine in a smooth dance that sent shivers down her spine. “Also, very excited.”
Reaching the collar of her pajamas, he slid one hand beneath to caress the bare skin of her shoulder. The warmth of his palm rasped over her flesh with tender care. His touch was thorough. Thoughtful. It stole her breath to think about what it would be like to have all that Isaac intensity focused on her body.
A fire leaped in her belly. Ribbons of pleasure unfurled from the place where he stroked her.
“I’ve been fantasizing about you,” she confessed, splaying her fingers over the soft cotton button-down he wore. Through the fabric, his heart slugged hard.
“I hope you describe those fantasies in painstaking detail for me one day.” He eased open the top two buttons on her top. Parted the fabric. “But if this moment gets any better for me right now, I might not survive it.”
Cool air hit her breasts, the tips tingling and sensitive. She wanted to rip off the rest of her clothes and his, too, but then again, she didn’t want to miss seeing what he did next.
Shrugging off her robe, she wiggled out of her pajama top at the same time. The loose fabric pooled at her feet and she stepped out of it, her toes almost on top of his as they stood chest to chest.
She was so ready for this. For him. Desire simmered beneath her skin, a warm current flowing to every pore of her body. But he didn’t crush her to him. Didn’t fall with her to the bed. He bracketed her face with his hands, smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks as if he would memorize the shape. Then, spearing his fingers into her hair, he pulled her mouth to his to brush a kiss over her lips.
Liquid fire danced in her veins. He kissed like a god, sure and knowing, claiming her mouth like an erotic explorer, leaving no place untouched. All the while, his hands skimmed her body, arousing erogenous zones she never knew she had. The back of her neck. The side of one shoulder. When he circled the soft indent of her elbow, her knees went weak.
Her whole body burned. Isaac captured her lower lip and tugged it between his teeth, the act so overtly sexual she felt a little preliminary spasm deep between her thighs.
Hungry for more, she fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, wrestling the discs through the stitched cotton. Her progress slowed as she peeked at what she’d unveiled. For a glorified techno-dude, he had the body of an Adonis. Smooth, sculpted muscle. No fat. No overinflated he-man bulk.
“I want to feel you against me.” Her fingers were hung up on the cotton, a cocktail ring twisting in a buttonhole. Why hadn’t she taken the silly thing off when she’d dressed for bed?
“Let me.” He freed her finger and then slid the jewelry off, settling the fat green agate on the nightstand. “You don’t need any decorations, Stacy. You’re perfect.”
In no time, he had his shirt off and his belt was gone. His hands went to his trousers but she stopped him.
“I’ll be careful,” she promised, palming the length of his fly and feeling the breadth of what lay beneath. “In fact, I could do this with no hands.”
She lifted her palms in the air and licked her lips to prove the point.
His mouth covered hers instantly, capturing her tongue and circling it with his own. His hips strained against hers now and she loved the urgent feel of his movements as he dragged her pajama pants down her thighs. She backed toward the bed.
He followed, lips still sealed to hers. And despite her offer to undress him the rest of the way, he shed his pants and tossed his wallet on the mattress, no doubt putting a condom within easy reach.
“Thank you for finding me,” she murmured, eyeing his boxers with anticipation. “I’m so glad you came for me.”
His grin was wicked. Feral.
“Now it’s your turn.” He cupped her bottom and guided her down to the bed. “Are you going to come for me?”
He had no idea how much she wanted him. She felt the tremor of her first orgasm swirling already. They’d kissed for so long and she’d fantasized about him since the moment they’d met.
And oh, it felt like heaven when he lowered his head to her breasts and drew the tip lightly between his teeth. Rolled the nipple along his tongue. A moan bubbled up her throat, her thighs shifting restlessly beneath him.
When he touched her there, one finger dipping into her sex while he cupped her mound, she flew apart. Sensation rocked her, her release rolling over her while Isaac coaxed mo
re and more from her.
She wanted him inside her, feeling the storm along with her. But her breath dragged in and out of her lungs so hard she could barely speak. By the time he rolled the condom into place, the last orgasm had finally slowed down, leaving her blissfully sated and somehow hungry for him at the same time.
His erection jutted toward her, exactly what she craved and more. She reached for him, wanting to stroke the length of him, but he caught her wrist and stopped her. Instead, he guided himself closer to where she wanted him. He entered her slowly, hands bracketing her shoulders on the bed. The feel of him inside was indescribable completion.
Locking her legs around his waist, she held him there, arching her hips to his to bring him the same pleasure she’d just felt. Only now, the sensation built for her again, too. He sucked in a breath and held it as he held himself back. But the slick friction drove her wild, her fingers seeking purchase on his back as she drew closer and closer to that point of no return.
“Wait.” Isaac stilled her with a hand on her shoulder, the heel of his palm resting on the swell of her breast. “I need to touch you.”
“I’m close, though,” she admitted, knowing one stroke of his finger could send her over the edge again.
“That’s okay. So am I.” He brushed a kiss over her lips, assuring her he was right there with her.
When he reached between them to touch the taut nub of her sex, she let herself go, her back arching as pleasure dragged her under again. Only this time, Isaac’s control broke, his hips sinking all the way into her and pinning her against the bed. His shout put the dogs in a frenzy on the other side of the door, his voice mingling with hers. A chorus of absolute perfection.
His smile mirrored hers when she was able to move again. Locked together, she could have sworn they shared the same emotion. The same thoughts.
“This is going to be the best first date of my life.” He rolled her to her side so they could lie together.
“I’m really looking forward to it, too. But before that, I want to know everything about you. Your job. Your family. Why a smart guy like you would ever fall for a girl like me… . I want to know it all.”