by Betina Krahn
She sat before him in a purple thong and purple tank top, her breath coming so fast she felt like she’d run ten miles. Her skin hummed with anticipation. The bedsheet tickled her thigh as it blew restlessly in the breeze.
She thought maybe he would join her on the hammock, but his eyes never left her as he shrugged his way out of his shirt. She’d seen him without it a few times. But the sight had never made her pulse spike the way it did now. Her hands trembled with the need to touch him.
She reached for him, her fingers skimming the flat, planked muscles of his abdomen. Tanned and smooth except for the dark sprinkling of hair down the center, the muscles clenched at her touch. He started to sink to her level, but she stopped him, her hands working the clasp of the belt buckle.
He hissed a breath between his teeth as her fingernails grazed the flesh she exposed. Deliberately unhurried, she eased down the zipper of his cargo shorts, freeing the straining length of his erection. As he stepped out of the shorts, she felt him through his boxers, the heat of his heavy flesh sending an answering jolt of fire through her.
When he sank to his knees this time, she didn’t protest. He anchored the swing with his body, preventing it from rocking forward as he pulled her into his arms. Kisses rained over her neck and shoulders, his hands sliding beneath her tank top and bra to free hooks and ease the garments over her head. They landed on the honeysuckle bush, she realized hazily. Right now, she was most concerned with the way his touch ignited her skin as he claimed every square inch of it.
“It’s only been a few days since I got here, but I feel like I’ve waited so damn long,” Luke whispered, his breath a steamy caress over the damp skin where he’d kissed the swell of her breast.
The crests tightened and ached. All of the sexy photographs she’d ever taken combined couldn’t stir half the heat this man’s kiss could. Her back arched toward him.
“I’m not letting you wait another second.” Her soft curves grazed the stubble of his jaw, spurring him to action.
He pulled one taut peak into his mouth, rolling the tip between his teeth with exquisite care before drawing deeply on the swollen tip. She cried out, her thighs restless and her panties moist with want.
She spread her legs, inviting the hard bulk of his body between her thighs. He growled deep in his throat at the contact, the vibration sending a pleasurable thrill through her.
He reached between them to play his fingers over her womanly heat. The thin layer of cotton separating her from his touch was a negligible barrier and with one swift yank, he tore the skinny straps of the thong.
A soft moan filled the air, a lush, needy sound she realized came from her. She’d never been so overwrought, so ready for sex.
He broke away from her for a moment and she reached blindly for him, her nails scratching his shoulders to bring him back. In a moment, she realized he must have undressed and found a condom, because the thick base of his cock pressed against her, already sheathed.
The contact sent a sweet, convulsive shudder through her. Not a full-blown “O,” but a precursor that told her tonight was going to eclipse every sexual experience she’d ever had.
“You like that, Tor?” The raw, masculine edge in his voice raked her senses. Arrogance and hunger were a compelling combination.
She squeezed her thighs tighter against his waist.
“I’d like more,” she demanded, ready to remind him he wasn’t the only one who could provide pleasure.
In an instant, he was on his feet, poised above her. She kissed, licked and nipped his chest while he positioned her where he wanted, spreading her thighs with warm, strong hands. Until at last, the tip of his erection nudged the slick center of her. Pushing, gliding, filling.
Pleasure converged from every direction, congregating deep inside her. Her nails sank into his hips while her ankles locked behind him. Keeping him close.
The sound of his ragged breathing filled her ears as he bent over her. Holding her. The hammock swung beneath her just a little, molding to her the way she molded to him. Pleasure coiled all over again until it exploded in a starburst behind her eyes.
She shouted with the bliss of it. Waves of pleasure dragged her down like an undertow, keeping her captive to the lush, exotic spasms that shuddered through her. She didn’t know how long that sensual spell lasted, but by the time she could breathe normally again, Luke had lain down on the hammock beside her. His big, gorgeous body followed the lines of hers, his chest to her spine. The fronts of his thighs cradling the backs of hers.
Never had she known such completeness. Her emotions swelled as they lay there, the breeze cooling their fevered skin even as the reality of what she’d just experienced began to sink in. Luke had told her all along he wasn’t interested in some temporary affair. And sure enough, lovemaking had touched something much, much deeper inside her.
She could hardly contain the sweet secret her Valentine’s Day manhunt had revealed. She just needed to figure how to tell him he’d been right all along. Their relationship deserved more than an affair.
But oddly, while it had been easy enough to chase Luke using Barbara’s sexy strategy for manhunting, Tori wasn’t as confident she could convince him one night together had made her realize she wanted more. Shyness tied her tongue until she decided simply to enjoy the moment. Nestling contentedly in the safety of his arms, Tori let the happiness of her discovery comfort her as surely as Luke’s strong muscles enveloped the rest of her. She just hoped one night together hadn’t changed Luke’s mind about what he wanted out of this, the way it had changed hers.
As the moments ticked by without a word, without him offering any sense that their encounter had been as monumental and life-changing for him as it had been for her, doubt crept in along with the tide. She’d been so focused on being with him, so caught up in the sensual spell of fulfilling a longtime fantasy, she hadn’t thought about ironing out what to expect from one another. Had he come here tonight on her terms?
Or his?
Because as much as she wanted to explore the heat between them—and the sweet new tenderness that followed—she wouldn’t let him stick around if he wasn’t interested following this attraction wherever it led.
6
SHORTLY BEFORE DAWN, Luke forced himself from the hammock. His time with Tori had exceeded his imagination—and he’d worked up some amazing dreams about her over the years.
But he refused to make her feel cornered. She’d been very clear about wanting to keep things simple and straightforward between them, so he wouldn’t be the one to break that truce. Even if it was killing him not to tie her to her bed and keep her there until she promised never to take another risk on any guy she didn’t know really, really well. The idea to hook up had been hers from the start and he planned to play by her rules until he could make her see….
What?
His pulse kicked up a notch as he tried to focus in on what he wanted. What last night meant. Being with Tori had been more than just a way to keep her out of trouble. He never would have slept with her if he didn’t care about her. Because, damn it, he wasn’t impulsive. He’d come here last night because he wanted her. Pure and simple. Not just for a night. Not just for a weekend.
Could he really want Tori Halsey for keeps? The thought blew his mind. Had this feeling been there all along? Lurking in his heart way back when? The realization floored him.
It also made him understand he needed to figure out what was happening before he drifted so far under her spell he’d never shake free. He needed to get out of here before the full import of what happened between them smacked him between the eyes. It wasn’t only that he’d slept with his best friend’s sister. It was his fear that he’d fallen for someone who lived a thousand miles away and hadn’t expressed the slightest desire for anything more than a fling.
“Luke?” Her voice was throaty with sleep as she shifted in the hammock.
He couldn’t deny a surge of longing at just the sound of his name on her lips.
Still, he went through the motions of buttoning his shorts, a mild panic hastening his fingers.
“Hmm?” He searched for his shirt in the bushes and found it draped over a potted gardenia.
“You’re leaving?” She dragged the bedsheet with her. At some point during the night he’d tugged it down from where it had draped over the porch rafters to cover her while she slept.
He’d never smell honeysuckle again without thinking of her and how she’d given herself to him so completely. If he hadn’t known about the manhunt ahead of time, he would have never guessed she’d only been looking for a hook-up.
“I didn’t think trophy men were supposed to stick around for breakfast.” Wrenching the shirt over his head, he couldn’t find it in his heart to regret the bite in his words. Still, he wiped it away with a kiss on her forehead. “You want me to carry you into bed before I leave? Are you cold?”
His light words didn’t come close to capturing what he was feeling about her right now. Possessiveness surged through his blood like a virus. When had he developed feelings for her?
“I—” She shook her head. “I’m fine here. But I don’t understand why you’re racing out after all the times you told me I should take a relationship more seriously.”
Ah, damn. If he knew the answer to that, maybe he wouldn’t be running. Still, he thought through his response as thoroughly as if he had a key witness on the stand.
“After all the times you suggested I take a relationship less seriously, I thought it wise to play by your rules.” He slid on his shoes, staying on the move lest he roll right back into the hammock alongside her.
She said nothing, surprising him. For the past week, she’d teased and tempted him, calling forth a response from him with suggestive conversation as much as the provocative pictures and clothes. So he didn’t know what to make of her silence.
He had his shoes on, but couldn’t make himself step off the porch. The torches still burned low, their flames dancing wildly in the breeze off the water.
“Right, Tori? I thought you were only looking for recreational sex.”
“I thought so, too, but…” She bit off the words and shook her head.
“What?” His whole body tensed. Had being with him changed things for her? Hope sparked, even though he knew better than to have expectations of a woman who wasn’t looking for anything serious.
“But last night felt like more than just sex. And I can’t help but wondering if that’s why you’re jetting out at sunrise.” Eyes narrowed, she stared at him like she was seeing him for the first time.
“I don’t understand.”
She pulled the sheet closer to her shoulders and drew near the edge of the hammock, her back straight.
“Back when you first kissed me, you said you knew there would be chemistry. You knew it from the very start, yet in all the years we’ve known each other, you never made a move. Maybe you avoided the attraction on purpose because you knew you’d never—” Shaking her head, she seemed to struggle for words. “You wouldn’t have chosen someone like me.”
“That’s ridiculous.” He wasn’t sure he followed what she was trying to say. He also had no idea why she sounded so cool toward him just because he was trying to keep things uncomplicated—like she’d wanted.
“You have to admit, I wouldn’t have exactly been the ideal girl for a guy intent on making partner before he turned thirty at a stuffy law firm. I’ve made a name for myself in the greeting card world as the woman with the sexy, over-the-top photos. But sexy and over-the-top hasn’t ever described the kind of women you’ve dated. I’ll bet your geologist girlfriend wasn’t the impulsive type either.”
Luke’s brain finally began to follow. Sort of.
“You have to admit we’re sort of polar opposites. But, yeah, I knew about the attraction. I even hit on you at my graduation party, but maybe you’d had too much to drink to remember—”
“Has it ever occurred to you maybe that’s why you hit on me in the first place?” She bolted upright so fast the hammock swung behind her when she stood. “Maybe I’m just safer to have as a friend. I’m sure it was easier to make partner without a racy photographer showing up at the corporate Christmas party in a costume from the cavegirl photo shoot.”
He blinked at the harshness of her words, knowing she was pulling this out of left field. Then again, hadn’t he avoided stopping by Tori’s place more than once when he was in town because he knew his attraction to her was unwise?
Suddenly, he was the one needing the hammock. He didn’t like this view of himself one bit. From somewhere nearby, he heard something banging, reminding him dawn was approaching and people might be waking up soon. For that matter, their raised voices were probably being carried on the water.
“Tori, maybe you’re right.” He made a point of speaking softly. “But if I avoided acting on the chemistry between us, it was only to protect you from—”
Her chin trembled as her sheet blew around her. Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.
Luke reached for her, but she shook him off.
“I don’t need to be protected by you, okay? Not now, not ever.” He’d never seen her so distressed, never would have anticipated touching such a nerve. “Just because I didn’t choose a traditional path doesn’t mean I don’t know where I’m going. My family never understood that and if you can’t see how damn well I’ve managed to protect myself—”
Behind them another loud bang caught them by surprise.
Instinctively, Luke pushed Tori behind him as he whirled toward the source of the sound.
And found one very pissed-off looking big brother glaring at them. Tim Halsey stood on the back porch, apparently welcomed by Daisy the black Lab, who wagged her tail next to him, oblivious to the guy’s furious glare.
“Luke?” His longtime friend’s voice broke through the soft sound of Tori’s stifled sob. “I ask you to check up on my sister for me and I find her half naked and crying?”
He charged toward them, but before Luke could talk sense into him, Tori leaped out behind him to confront them both.
“You were only here to check up on me.” She glared at Luke while keeping her brother away with a stiff arm.
Tim didn’t seem to be pushing forward though. In fact, he eased back as the fierceness in Tori’s tone became apparent.
“That’s not the—”
“I asked you that on the first night when you showed up with dinner.” She swiped away any lingering hint of tears that might have been shed over him. “And you danced around the question, never admitting you were here because he sent you.”
She shot Tim a scathing glance, too, and Luke sensed the end of any future with her unless he could talk his way out of it. Words failed him. No amount of law school had prepared him to fight for the woman he loved.
Yeah, loved.
He could see it now as plainly as the hurt and anger on Tori’s face. He felt all that hurt and anger inside him, multiplied a few hundred times. The fact that he’d put that hurt there in the first place made it all the more devastating.
“There’s more to it than that,” Luke began, but she was already scooping up her clothes and running over the damp grass toward her small motorboat.
“What the hell is she doing?” Tim muttered, taking off after her, his boots making enough racket to wake the dead on the wooden porch planks.
“No.” Luke held him back, knowing Tori would be furious if her brother interfered. “She can take care of herself.”
“She’s wearing a sheet and no shoes,” Tim yelled, staring at him like he’d lost his mind.
But Luke knew he’d only just recovered it. He wouldn’t stifle this woman ever again, even if that meant stepping back when all his impulses told him to take charge.
It took a hell of a lot of willpower to watch her yank the cord on the outboard motor of her ancient fishing boat and rev the engine to life. She sat straight in the craft like an old-time figurehead, taking on the world on her own
terms.
“That’s okay.” Luke reassured himself even as he reassured his old friend. “Look at this place, will you?” He gestured to all the torches and flowers, the hand-laid stone path running up the lawn from the water and the paper lanterns. “She’s not exactly living in poverty here. She’s built a good life for herself since she left the farm, Tim. She’s a smart lady who knows her way around the bay. She knows what she’s doing.”
Still, the realization burned his insides. Sure, he was glad to have recognized the inner strength Tori had cultivated against her family’s overprotectiveness. But in admitting that she knew what she was doing, he had to face the fact that—just like she told him—she didn’t need him.
Not now. Not ever.
SITTING ON A BEACH by the Pier near St. Pete’s downtown, Tori texted her status for her friends, knowing they’d be curious about her plans for tomorrow.
Valentine’s Day.
No luck yet.
Snapping a photo of herself seated on the sand next to a troop of squawky gulls, she uploaded the picture to her social networking page, figuring the upbeat visual would help prevent anyone from feeling sorry for her. She’d twisted the bedsheet into a toga after she’d roared away from Luke and her brother. She kept a life preserver and radio equipment in a locked box in the boat, so she hadn’t been totally off her rocker when she’d taken off.
Although, she had to admit, perhaps her actions had counted as “flakey.” She’d been at her house, after all. She could have just stormed inside and locked the door on both of them. But she’d been upset and not thinking straight. However, being on the boat always soothed her. She’d slid on her clothes once she’d gotten out on the water, a simple trick using her sheet to cover herself. Then she’d wrapped the sheet around her toga-style for an extra layer.
And for fun.
She’d e-mailed Tim from the beach shortly after sunrise to let him know she’d call him later. Vaguely, she recalled him warning her that he would be down this month for a visit. But since the family visits—security checks, really—got under her skin, she’d put it out of her mind. Then, she’d been so absorbed with work and Luke, she’d forgotten all about it.