A wave of pleasure washed over her so that for a moment, all she could do was relax back against the pillow. “Mmm.”
“Oh yeah.” His hand slid slower, over her ribs, along her waist, over her hip. “Yep, I think I can get you going.”
Thea struggled to keep from being engulfed by that mindless tide of pleasure. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I did,” he said, switching his mouth to her other breast. The overnight stubble on his chin scraped lightly over her skin, bringing every nerve to attention. “It’s Saturday morning. You’re supposed to relax.” His hand crept lower.
“I have a class at one.”
“Oh, we’ve got a lot of time until then.” He shifted to begin licking his way down her belly.
There was something about the heat and the warmth, the light strokes of his fingers over her thighs counter pointed by those determined lips moving ever farther south that was making it impossible to protest. He shifted, shrugging the sheet out of the way, and moved between her thighs. She caught her breath. “Look—”
“Oh, I’m looking,” he assured her.
“I really need to—”
And then his mouth found her and the words turned into an incoherent noise. “I know what you need to do.”
This wasn’t how one-night stands were supposed to go, she thought feverishly. They were supposed to be hot and fast and furious.
And over.
She was supposed to wake up full of regrets, he was supposed to want her gone and they were both supposed to go their separate ways as soon as possible.
Clear idea in principle. But his mouth was determined and persuasive and she found herself losing her focus under the seductive assault of his tongue. Anyway, what did it really matter? What would sex in the morning do that it hadn’t the night before, except give her more of that mind-blowing pleasure? After all, it had been almost too many years to count since she’d had an orgasm in the presence of anyone besides herself. Who knew how long it would be before she did it again? She might as well get it while the getting was good.
And oh, it was good. She caught her breath as he slid two fingers inside her and then she stopped thinking at all. The only thing that mattered was the motion and the gathering tension, that divinely torturous sensation that made her equally desperate to reach the climax and desperate to stretch it out as long as possible.
The phone rang and she jolted, eyes flying open.
Brady raised his head. “Oops, sorry, forgot to unplug.”
“Shouldn’t you get that?”
“That’s why I’ve got the machine.” He bent to her again.
“Someone’s calling,” she protested but not all that strongly. She couldn’t really make herself care, not when she could feel her own heat forming under his mouth, feel the incipient orgasm like a swelling bubble within her that was just about to—
The machine beeped. “Brady, Michael. Pick up the damned phone. I need you here, now. We’ve got an emergency.”
CURSING, BRADY VAULTED for the phone. “Michael? What’s going on?”
For once, Michael didn’t sound calm and controlled. He sounded rushed and agitated and—getting Brady’s immediate attention—frightened. “It’s Lindsay. She’s bleeding.”
Lindsay, Michael’s wife. Lindsay, who was four months pregnant with twins. “What’s going on?”
“We don’t know. We’re taking her to the ER but I need someone to watch the kids. How fast can you get here?”
“Ten minutes,” he promised, watching Thea dress. Regret warred with concern.
“I’m leaving the kids with our neighbor, Paula. You remember where the spare key is, right?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Brady said, buttoning his jeans. “Go take care of Lindsay. I’m on it.”
“I’ll call when I know what’s going on.” In the background, a dispatch radio crackled.
“Where are you?”
“Out by the ambulance.”
This was getting spooky. “Okay, go. And Michael—”
“What?”
“I hope everything’s okay.”
THEA STOOD on Robyn’s porch, fumbling for her key. She was sure there were more ridiculous things to be wearing at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning than her flashy tango dress, but she wasn’t sure she could think of one offhand. With a sigh of relief, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Definitely relief, no sneaking regrets about the interruption in there. She didn’t think. Okay, maybe a tiny regret, but really, what would one more round of sex have meant?
Another two or three orgasms?
Impatiently, she quashed the voice in her head. The last thing she needed was another guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, however fun his persuasion was. She should be relieved that he’d gotten that phone call.
Robyn shuffled out of the back in her bathrobe, hair still wet from her shower. Darlene jostled her way past to jump around Thea.
“How’s my girl? How’s my girl?” Thea asked, bending down to rub the sturdy little body. Darlene wriggled in doggie ecstasy, making a low moaning noise as Thea began rubbing her ears.
“Come on, Darlene, time to go out,” Robyn said, but the dog ignored her. Robyn sniffed. “Some loyalty.”
“Dogs are like guys,” Thea said wryly. “Rub them in the right place and they’re yours.”
Robyn laughed. “So, what happened to you at the milonga? One minute I saw you dancing and the next you were walking away.”
She’d never called. Thea closed her eyes. “Oh Robyn, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think. I just got distracted.”
“Yeah, I know.” Robyn yawned. “I saw you guys kissing on the river walk. When you didn’t come back, I sort of figured what was going on.” She tightened the sash of her robe. “Besides, I was kind of busy myself.”
“Oh really?” Thea said. “And just who were you busy with?”
“Raoul.”
“The Latin lover? This I’ve got to hear.”
“You first.”
Now it was Thea’s turn to yawn. “Priorities. Caffeine first or I won’t be able to stay awake long enough to talk. Do you want to make it or shall I?”
Robyn shook her head. “I have a better idea. Let’s go get breakfast and compare notes. We need coffee and Darlene needs a walk. Make sense?”
“Love it. Ten minutes,” Thea promised.
It took more like fifteen, but Robyn wasn’t a stickler for technicalities. They walked down to a café called Stella’s to sit under the spreading shade of the maples and order Belgian waffles, plus a corn muffin for Darlene.
“It’s her favorite kind,” Robyn said.
“Really.”
“Really. We’ve done a thorough study of it. Date nut was a contender for a while, but corn eventually swung the day.”
Beside them, Darlene sat up alertly, swinging her blunt head back and forth at the scents wafting through the air.
Thea took a happy gulp of coffee. “Okay, you first. So what happened?”
Robyn poured water into Darlene’s bowl and settled back. “Ah, Raoul, the last of the red-hot lovers.”
“That bad, huh?”
“That bad. You know, I’ve always watched those hips and that mouth and figured he’d be pretty tasty when he let loose. You know what a flirt he is and he has that Bambi-eyes thing going.”
Thea raised her brows. “I’m hearing a ‘but’ here. Bad sex?”
“You know how he dances like he’s more focused on himself than on his partner? Well, that’s kind of how he has sex, too. Not on whether he was feeling good, but how he looked doing it. He wanted to do it in front of the mirror, which was cool—until I realized he was watching himself.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, well, never make the mistake of bringing the guy home. When you’re at their place, you can always leave. Then again, you have to deal with their bathrooms,” she added thoughtfully.
“There’s that,” Thea agreed, lips twitching.
The waitress set their plates before them. Darlene began quivering but didn’t move from her seat. Robyn winked at Thea. “Corn muffin,” she said, stripping off the wrapper and setting it down for Darlene to devour.
In the time it took Thea to blink, the muffin was gone. “Wait a minute. Where did…?” Before her, the pavement was clean and Darlene was sniffing the ground for crumbs.
“Light speed, that girl.” Robyn pulled her plate toward her. “So anyway, you know my story. What happened with you? Last I saw, you were walking off with the mystery man. Who was he?”
“Oh, just some guy who stopped at the dance.”
Robyn gave her a delighted grin. “After how many years of being sidelined, you went off and slept with some guy who walked by the milonga?”
“Don’t rub it in, you’ll take away my appetite,” Thea groaned.
“You should get double Belgian waffles for this. Honey, I’m proud of you. So how was it?”
“Fabulous. Of course, probably all sex is fabulous when you’ve done without for as long as I have,” Thea added dryly. “But I don’t care. It was great. He was great. Funny and sweet and…inventive,” she decided. “And he has these really great hands, really big and strong hands, and—”
“And does this guy have a name? Besides Love God?”
“Brady, but it doesn’t matter. It was a one-night stand.” She frowned and began slicing into her waffle.
“Ah. One of those,” Robyn said wisely. “Did he turn into a jerk this morning?”
“No.”
“But he kicked you out.”
He hadn’t kicked her out. He definitely hadn’t kicked her out, Thea thought, shivering at the memory of him licking her thighs.
“Earth to Thea.”
She glanced up to find Robyn watching her. “What? Oh, yeah. Um, no, he wasn’t rude or trying to get rid of me or anything.”
“Then why’d you run away so fast? I don’t get it. I mean, you got back here at like eight o’clock. The only reason I was alone was because I shoved Raoul out the door last night when we were through.”
Thea toyed with the berries on her waffle. “I thought it would be better if we left a one-night stand a one-night stand.”
“Meaning?”
“D is for done.”
“And what did he think?”
“He was sort of lobbying for the bed and, ahem, breakfast angle.” She cleared her throat. “If you know what I mean.”
Robyn stared. “And you left why?”
“He got a phone call. Family emergency. It seemed like a good time to go.”
Seeming to accept that, Robyn took a bite of waffle and chewed. “So where’d you leave it? Are you guys going to get together again?”
“I doubt it.” Thea made little crosshatch patterns in her whipped cream with her fork.
“Why? Didn’t he ask for your number?”
“Well…”
“Well what?”
Thea coughed. “I kind of left while he was in the bathroom.”
“What the hell did you do that for?”
“I didn’t want to be hanging around,” she blurted. “You know what I mean, like a room service guy waiting for a tip? I hate that.”
“So you bolted.”
“Robyn, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like it was going to turn into anything anyway. It was a quickie. I don’t know what got into me.”
“Don’t hand me straight lines like that, sugar.”
Thea rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “It’s like meeting a guy in a bar. Real life relationships don’t start that way.”
“Not if you run off, they don’t.”
“You know what I mean.”
Robyn’s gaze was intent. “This guy made you laugh. You had a good time. I don’t see what’s so wrong with exploring the minutest ghost of a chance that you might go out.”
“I don’t even live here.”
“So? That didn’t stop you last night.”
“Last night was…”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” Thea’s voice was aggrieved. “I just know if I wind up dating again—”
“If?”
“If,” she repeated. “If I do, this time I’m going to do it right. I’m not going to dive into something before I know who the guy is. I’m going to find out what he’s all about. Make sure the charming quirks aren’t the first hints that he’s a psycho. And then maybe, if everything seems okay, I’ll…”
“Yes?”
“Have coffee with him.” She forked up a berry.
“What a wild woman. You know, this smart, deliberate thing is all well and good, but it doesn’t account for chemistry.”
“And chemistry’s done what for me?”
Robyn waggled her eyebrows.
“Besides that. Have you forgotten my track record? I have a genius for picking guys who are either bums or psychos, thank you very much, Dad.”
“You’re mellowing. Two years ago, you’d have told me that guys were all bums and whack jobs, period.”
“I’ve watched my girlfriends.” She reached down to rub Darlene’s ears. “I’m willing to admit that there might, just might be some good ones out there. But I don’t think I’m going to find one by jumping in the deep end. You’re supposed to get to know them first, decide you care about them, then sleep with them.”
“Jeez, Thea, it’s not like if you see him again it means you’re bonded for life. It’s like shopping—you try things on, you don’t necessarily buy them. Sometimes it’s for fun, you know? Get back in practice. Get used to having orgasms again.”
“I suppose.”
“I suppose? We’re talking about orgasms, here.”
“Okay, maybe you’re right. Next time.”
“I don’t suppose you’re willing to take another run at Love God, there.”
“Next time,” Thea said firmly.
The waitress stopped at their table with a tray. “Here we are, ladies, two mimosas.”
Thea blinked. “We didn’t order these.”
“I know. They’re compliments of the gentlemen over there.”
Thea glanced over to see a pair of guys at another table nod at them.
“Well, how about that,” Robyn said. “What a nice thing to do. Isn’t that nice, Thea?”
Looking at her suspiciously, Thea nodded.
Robyn raised her glass and touched it to Thea’s. “Well, I’d call that a sign.” She held up her glass in a toast to their admirers, who were already rising. “Welcome back to the fray.”
THE WHOLE UNCLE THING had taken Brady by surprise. He liked it. He hadn’t expected to but he did, a lot. Little kids were fun. Well, except for the diaper part. He could pass on the diaper part. Mostly, though, being an uncle was cool.
At least until the whole horsey rides thing got started. It was one thing for Drew, who wasn’t even two, but Cory had turned three the month before, and then he got the bright idea of both of them riding at the same time, and after two hours of horsey rides with little heels drumming his sides and little hands pulling at his hair, Brady was starting to feel like he’d been hiking all day with a seventy pound pack. Which, in a way, he supposed he had.
“Okay, podners, time for Trigger to go back to the stable.”
“Who Trigger?” Cory wanted to know as Brady paced around to the couch so they could scramble off.
“Sounds like your Daddy’s neglecting your education.” He didn’t stand up, just stayed down on the carpet and leaned against the front of the couch with a sigh.
Cory and Drew, meanwhile, were jumping up and down on the couch like it was a trampoline. At least it was soft, Brady figured wearily.
“Wanna play!” Cory demanded.
After almost two hours, Brady had regrettably exhausted his repertoire. They’d already played Lego, blocks, elevator, shadow puppets—and horsey. Brady was fresh out of inspiration.
“Wanna play,” Cory said again.
&nbs
p; Brady racked his brain. In a normal house, he could put in a video but Lindsay didn’t let them watch much TV. He spied his backpack and thought fast. “Cards?” he asked, rising to get it. Cards could be educational, he thought wildly. Numbers, shapes, colors, memory games. He pulled out his deck. There had to be something they could do.
“So how about a little Texas hold’em, huh?” He shuffled the cards. “You got any money?”
“Got any money?” Cory echoed.
He kept them entertained for a good half hour, though his “pick a card, any card” trick was underappreciated in his estimation.
“Wanna play.” Cory repeated the refrain that had begun to give Brady the twitches. He set the deck down.
“Tell you what, buddy. We’ll play, but first, why don’t you go into the kitchen and tell me what time it is?”
Cory scrambled off the couch and raced across the room. Drew, following his big brother as always, tripped and fell. A wail rose from him. Resignedly, Brady levered himself up and walked over. “Hey, come on dude, you’re okay. Here, let’s get up.” He raised Drew to his feet and inspected him. Outside of a bright red face screwed up into tears, all his parts appeared to be in the same place as usual.
“The big hand’s on the eight and the little hand’s on the eleven,” Cory reported breathlessly.
Eleven-forty, almost three hours after he’d gotten the call.
“I want Mommy,” Drew wailed, weeping afresh.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Brady said lamely, boosting his nephew up. In reality, he hadn’t a clue. So far, no call from Michael, anyway, which left him wondering uneasily what was going on. Women didn’t die from pregnancy complications, did they? He just didn’t know. There was one whole heck of a lot of stuff he didn’t know. Then again, he suspected that a guy couldn’t live long enough to learn the full handbook on women, especially since they each had their own. Not only how they ticked but how their minds worked. Especially how their minds worked.
Like Thea.
Beautiful and able to move like no woman he’d ever met. Acerbic enough to make him laugh. They’d had a good time, he’d thought. Shoot, they’d had a great time. So why had she been in the big rush to leave? More to the point, why had she left while his back was turned, without even a note or a number? It bugged him, and Brady wasn’t usually a guy to get bugged by much. Live and let live was his motto.
Hot Moves Page 5