by Sabrina York
And God, did he release. The explosion rocked him, took him, ate him alive. It seemed to last forever, but all the while she moved on him, slower and slower, gently drawing him back to himself.
In the wake of that bliss something new descended, wrapping him in warmth even as she lowered her slick body down on his.
That something…it felt like peace.
The next time he awoke, it was morning and he was untied, for which he was very grateful. Until he rose from the bed to find her—and maybe fuck her again—and realized she’d gone. He sat on the chair by the sofa and stared at her glass on the table, smeared with red lipstick as it was.
He wasn’t sure why her absence devastated him.
She was just a woman. It had been just a fuck.
And she was a hooker.
Oh, sure, it had been, without exception, the best fuck of his life. And yes, he had planned to take her again. At least once more.
But the feeling in his gut was more than just a rampage of regret.
Too bad he had no idea what it was.
He showered and dressed and headed downstairs for the buffet breakfast. There was a litany of things scheduled for the day, including the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. As the best man, Dane was locked into each and every one.
On top of all that, the families would be arriving—his and Cody’s—which meant more dinners and parties and small talk and a flurry of catching up.
While he was looking forward to seeing everyone again, Dane wasn’t in the mood for all that.
She kept intruding on his thoughts.
He needed to forget her. Just wipe her from his mind so he could focus. So he could think. But she clung to him somehow. She clung to his soul.
Truly, he was an idiot.
He ran into Cody in the elevator. His friend studied him through narrowed eyes as they shushed toward the ground floor. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“Well, you look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
“Did you get any sleep last night?”
Dane flinched and then reminded himself, Cody was just making conversation. He didn’t know how Dane had spent the night. Not that he would have cared. With a shrug, he scrubbed his head with a palm. “A little.” Memories engulfed him and he bit back a shit-eating grin. Yeah, he’d slept a little, but not much. Thanks to a smokin’ hot cowgirl who liked a wild ride… “Did, um, did the party heat up, after I left?”
Cody snorted as the elevator opened. “Yeah. The hooker showed up.”
Dane tripped over his feet. “The…what?”
“I kicked them all out. Shit, if Ang got wind of that she’d flay me alive.”
“What do you mean the hooker showed up?” She’d been with Dane. On him. Fucking riding him.
Cody chuckled and led the way through a foyer that had been made up to look like a rainforest—complete with thunderstorms—and past the clinking slot machines, toward the buffet. “Yeah. With her bodyguard and everything. I sent them to Ennis’ room. I guess he had a good time. But you know Ennis… Loves his hookers.”
Dane shook his head, his mind spinning.
“Look out, buddy,” Cody grabbed his arm to keep him from walking into a planter holding an enormous potted palm. He led him up a ramp into the buffet and then raised his hand and waved at the knot of people in the corner. His bride-to-be, the lovely Angie, lit up when she saw him. She waved madly and turned to say something to her companion, a vaguely familiar woman with long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail.
She glanced up and waved as well, a wicked grin on her beautiful face.
Dane’s lungs seized as he realized…it was her.
His cowgirl hooker.
For some inexplicable reason, a bone-deep relief washed through him. I’ve found her again, something deep inside whispered. But with that sense of relief came utter befuddlement. What the hell was Angie doing chatting, over croissants and coffee, with a hooker?
Granted, she didn’t look like a hooker today. Today her face was scrubbed clean but for a dash of ruby lipstick and mascara thickening her lashes. She wore a cute dress with little cherries spattered all over it that looked like something out of the 40s. And there was a patently innocent expression on her face. Oh, but those eyes… Those eyes, when they met his, told a different story.
As they drew near, Angie leapt from her seat and pulled Cody into a hug. They kissed effusively for a long, long while. Finally Cody pulled back and frowned. “I have to tell you something honey,” he said, stroking her hair.
Her eyes glimmered with laugher. “What? Did you have a good time last night? We had a blast. Wait ’til I tell you about the photo shoot—”
“Ang. Honey.” Cody cleared his throat. “There was…a hooker.”
Dane winced and flicked a look at his cowgirl. She winked.
“A hooker?” Angie’s brow wrinkled.
“But listen, baby. I sent her away. I promise. I just wanted to tell you right up front, in case you hear something from one of the guys.”
She whirled on Dane. “Did you hire the hooker?”
Try as he might, no words would come out of his mouth. His lips flapped. The cowgirl, evil wench that she was, chuckled. He glared at her.
“No, baby. It wasn’t Dane. It was Billy. And probably Ennis. And maybe Kaye…”
“But not you?”
Cody kissed her. “Not me. Never me.”
“Well, I appreciate you being honest.”
“I love you baby,” Cody burbled. He leaned in and kissed her again. And again.
Dane tried, very hard, not to roll his eyes.
Cody had it bad. Poor sod.
“Oh hey, Dane,” he said, when he’d pulled himself away from Angie’s apparently irresistible lips. “Do you know everyone?” He swept an arm around the table. “This is Angie’s sister Holli.” A cute blonde waved at him from the far side of the table. “Her brother Chad.” He clapped a young man on the shoulder. “And of course you remember my baby sister Tina Marie.” He pulled the hooker up and swept her into a half hug.
Tina waggled her fingers in a saucy greeting.
Tina?
Tina Marie?
The earth shifted.
Dane gaped.
“Yeah. I know. All grown up.” Cody chuckled. “What was it you used to call her? What did he used to call you?”
Tina popped her gum. Her lips—those beautiful, sinful red lips—quirked. Something slightly acidic fizzled and spat in Dane’s gut.
“Bambi.” She smirked.
“Oh right! Bambi!” Cody laughed and laughed.
Dane wanted to deck him.
They’d been living at Ft. Carson. It had been a cold winter. She’d been about eight and just learning to skate but, all gangly and coltish, she couldn’t find her feet. She’d looked like Bambi scrabbling around on the ice.
She didn’t look gangly now. But she did look coltish and limber and too goddamn sexy for breakfast. At least, breakfast in public.
She gazed up at him with those doe-like eyes and fluttered her lashes. “Hello Dane.” The way she said his name sent a shiver through him. Or maybe that was her hand, nested in his as they pretended to shake. Her perfume, perhaps. Or that naughty pout on her face.
He wanted to kiss her.
He wanted to yank her into his arms and kiss her.
But he couldn’t.
Fuck. He couldn’t. She was his best friend’s baby sister.
Fuck. He couldn’t touch her ever again.
He yanked his hand free.
And hellfire, he could never, ever tell Cody what happened last night.
“It’s been a long time,” she said, easing closer. “How have you been, Dane?” Horror gripped him as he realized she intended to hug him. Hug him. Like, with bodies smashed together and everything. He nearly leapt back, but didn’t, because it would seem rude and, hell, he really did want bodies smashed together. If only for a minute. If onl
y like this.
It was fricking bliss, the way she pressed into him and all. The way she rubbed slightly against his crotch in a rocking motion.
It was all he could do not to cling.
She stepped away first and patted him on the chest, shooting a look at him over her shoulder as she sashayed back to her seat. And yeah. She sashayed.
Minx.
He wanted to turn her over his knee and—
But no.
He glanced at Cody.
Just. No.
Instead, he yanked out a chair and sat down. Then grabbed a pitcher and poured himself a steaming cup of coffee. That was what he needed. That was what—
A foot nudged his under the table and his hand jerked. His coffee sloshed. His gaze snapped to Tina but no, she was too far away to reach. He glanced across the table and stilled. Angie’s sister, Holli, was staring at him like a lovelorn swan. She smiled. Widely.
“So Dane,” she said. “I understand you and Cody are Rangers.” She said the word Rangers as though she really meant Superman.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
She shuddered. “Ooh. I like when a man calls me ma’am.”
He took a sip of his coffee and his gaze stalled on Tina. On Tina’s glare. It flicked from him to Holli and back again.
Well, good. Fine.
She had to know. Had to realize. There was no way last night was happening again. Ever.
He ignored the vat of lava spitting in his belly and focused on…whatever her name was. Holli. She was talking. About something.
If he had known, hell if he’d had so much as a hint of clue she was Cody’s sister, there was no way in hell, no way he would have—Heat crept up his neck as he remembered what he had done. What they had done.
Shit.
Cody would kill him.
He had to make sure she didn’t say anything. He had to make sure she realized this could never happen again. He had to make her understand. Guys had a code. Oh, sure, it was an unwritten code, but it was a code all the same. Guys didn’t fuck their buddy’s sisters. Guys certainly didn’t tie them to a bed and smack their bottoms and sink into their bodies all soft and sweet and ready—
Shit. He was hard again.
No. No. No. He had to wrangle some kind of control. And he needed to talk to her. To tell her the score. She needed to understand the deal.
He waited until he caught her eye and then notched his head meaningfully toward the door. Wide-eyed, she sent him a moue, making it clear she might, or might not, accede to his unspoken command. He narrowed his eyes and growled a little in his throat. She fluttered her lashes in response. And damn, that sexy, sultry smile on her lips made him want to—
“Dane? Are you all right?” Angie touched his arm in concern.
Quickly, he corralled his wayward thoughts as mortification flooded him. “Beg your pardon, ma’am?”
“You just…” She glanced at Cody. “He just made a noise.”
Dane pinched the bridge of his nose. Holy God. He had. He’d growled. At the breakfast table.
“He’s been having headaches,” Cody explained. “Dane? Dane? Do you have a headache?”
It seemed like a good idea to agree.
It seemed like a good idea to escape.
He glared at Tina.
It seemed like a good idea if she followed him.
Chapter Five
Holy Hanna, he was grumpy this morning. One would think after last night he’d be in a better mood. She was certainly in a good mood. Her body still hummed with pleasure.
She would have stayed, would have loved to taste him again, but she’d left and left for one reason only.
When she woke up, just before dawn, and visited the facilities and glanced at her face in the mirror…it had frightened her. The makeup that had made her so alluring last night resembled something from a bad horror flick the morning after. One eyelash slightly skewed, lipstick smeared in a bloody path across her cheek, and her sultry smoky eyes had morphed into a look a raccoon would be proud of.
So she’d collected her things and snuck out.
She knew he wasn’t going anywhere. At least not for the next couple days. She knew she’d see him again.
It had been priceless witnessing the shock on his face when he noticed her at the table chatting casually with Angie. It had been even more amusing when he finally realized who she was. A snarl of vindication had whipped through her.
But then he’d turned his attention to Holli. That had annoyed her. And the sharp jut of his head as he commanded her—commanded her—to meet him outside…that had annoyed her more. So she lingered, sipping her coffee and listening to the conversation flow around her, smiling to herself…
Until his head poked around the corner and he glared at her.
Oh, all right.
She tossed her napkin on the table and nudged Angie. “I’ll be right back. Gonna run to the ladies’ room.” Angie, enraptured by something Cody was saying, nodded blankly and Tina scooted out of her chair.
A trill of excitement lashed her. Surely not because she was going to see him again, in private, face to face? Lip to lip, maybe? Oh, he probably wouldn’t kiss her. Not judging from the look on his face as he’d glared at her across the table. It was silly to even imagine it.
If he did kiss her, it would he an angry kiss. He was definitely angry about something.
Angry she wasn’t really a hooker?
Angry she’d known who he was and hadn’t said anything?
Angry she’d left without saying goodbye?
She tried not to shudder at the thought, but failed. An angry kiss from Dane? What would that taste like?
Exhilaration rose as she left the restaurant and made her way down the ramp, scanning for him. Maybe not a kiss, but perhaps something—
A hard hand grabbed her arm and yanked her behind a potted palm. She looked up, way up, into Dane’s steamy brown eyes. “Oh,” she said, struggling for a blasé tone. “It’s you.”
“Of course it’s me,” he hissed. His face wrinkled up. His brows locked. “Who the hell else would it be yanking you back here?”
She shrugged. “Some pervert? This is Vegas.”
He winced. “I’m not a pervert.”
“Or some studly man aching for the taste of my kiss.” She blinked at him, a flutter of lashes. “It does happen, you know.”
His mouth worked. A muscle bunched in his cheek. “Do you often kiss random men behind a potted palm?”
“Studly men.” She sidled closer, close enough to feel the heat coming off him in waves. Close enough to feel his humming tension. Damn, he smelled good. She walked her fingers up his chest. “Do you want to kiss me?”
He stared at her lips. “Yes. No. I mean, damn it Tina—” He grabbed her hands as she fondled a nipple. “Stop that. We need to talk.”
She stepped closer and nudged his crotch. He flinched. “We are…talking.”
“Quit it.” He set his hands to her hips and forcibly thrust her away. “I need to focus.”
“So…focus.” Holding his tortured gaze, she drew her tongue slowly over her lips.
He stilled. His face went slack. His lips parted. He made a noise in the back of his throat and yanked her into his arms. His mouth covered hers with a suffocating need. The kiss was wild, wanton, swift.
And over far too soon.
Gasping, he pulled back and held her at a distance, harsh fingers pinching into her shoulders.
She shot him a sly smile. Because he wanted her. He still wanted her. And lord almighty in heaven above, she wanted him.
“We can’t do that again,” he croaked. “We can’t ever do that again.”
“What?” Her heart sank. Not the words she’d expected from his lips. “Why?” It had been magnificent.
“Because of Cody.”
Cody? She gaped at him. “Cody has nothing to do with this. With us.”
His mouth curled in a snarl. “There is no us. There can be no us.
Don’t you understand?”
“No.” None of this made sense at all.
He scrubbed his face with his palm, which was awesome, because she easily overcame the other arm holding her off and snuggled in again. To her delight, he seemed to soften. At least, he didn’t push her away. She wrapped her arms around his waist and cradled him, nuzzling his neck. His breath caught. His hands dropped, skating over her shoulders, her back and down to her ass. His fingers flexed, as though he couldn’t resist a squeeze.
“Last night was awesome,” she whispered.
His Adam’s apple worked. “Yeah,” he murmured, pressing a kiss on her forehead. She shuddered, because it didn’t feel like a welcoming kiss. It felt like a kiss goodbye. He eased her back and stared into her eyes and said, “It was incredible. But it can’t happen again.” His frown darkened. “And you can’t ever tell Cody. He would fucking kill me.”
“For what?”
“For what?” His laugh held no humor. “For fucking his baby sister, that’s what.”
Annoyance swirled through her. “I’m not his baby sister. I’m a grown woman.” She deliberately nudged his cock again. It was hard. “A woman with needs.” She undulated, just a little.
His eyes crossed. His pupils dilated. “Jesus, Tina…”
“Call me Bambi…” This she cooed into his ear, just before sucking on his lobe.
He shuddered and released a sigh that sounded a little like a wheeze. “You’re killing me, baby. Killing me.”
“You want it. I know you do. You want to tie me up and spank my bottom, don’t you, Dane?”
He threw his head back as her teeth grazed his neck, nibbled on his chin. She molded his hard pec, scraped a nail over his nipple. Another shudder. “No.”
“No?” She reached between them, found his cock, squeezed gently. “Imagine how I would squirm as you paddled my behind. Imagine how helpless I would be, tied to the bed.” A stroke. A tease. “Imagine how good it would feel sinking into my hot, wet—
“Well, hey there.” A deep voice intruded into their secluded bower. Well, perhaps not so secluded. Someone pushed through the palm fronds in a rustle and practically plowed into them.
Dane flinched and quickly detangled himself from her and then crossed his arms as though, somehow, that could protect him from her wiles. “Oh, hey Billy,” he said, his voice catching on the words.