How many times he’d dreamed of doing this. Too many. Claire had been a steady source of dream fantasies for years, and now here she was in front of him.
He unclipped her bra, taking her breasts into his hands so he could kiss them. The only thing that would have made it more pleasurable was for him to have two mouths, but Claire seemed to be happy with his one-mouthed attempt.
She fisted her hand in his hair, dragging him closer. Not that he could get much closer, mind you, and they grappled, kissed and generally drove each other crazy until something had to be done.
Riley went after her skirt next.
He skimmed it off her, not intending to remove the panties just yet, but he did. And with a toss of her clothes, he had a naked Claire on the bed in front of him.
Oh, mercy.
He’d been working up an erection since the first touch of her mouth to his, but now he went rock hard. He was ready to take her and fulfill all those fantasies that’d been in his dreams, both the sleeping and the waking ones. But first he wanted more kissing. On her belly.
Her thighs.
The inside of her thighs.
Then the center.
That got a really good reaction from her. She bucked beneath him and fought to drag him back to her so she could start a war with his shirt. She wasn’t winning, mainly because she was trying to kiss him while she undid the buttons. Riley stopped his kisses to help her.
There was no longer a bandage on his shoulder, and for a moment he considered that Claire would freak when she saw the scar. She didn’t. She kissed it, too, a lot more gently than he’d kissed her thigh region.
That got him much hotter than he thought it would, but it was lukewarm compared with her going after his zipper. He had to help her again so she could remove his jeans, making sure he didn’t bang his shoulder in the process. No sense working themselves up to this point if he couldn’t finish it.
It was the thought of finishing this that had everything inside him freezing.
And Claire noticed. She levered herself up on her elbows, her attention on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Riley really hated to have to tell her this. “I don’t have a condom. Do you?”
No freezing for her. Claire groaned and dropped back down onto the mattress. “No. And I’m not on the pill, either.”
Riley wasn’t ready to give up just yet, and it was desperation that made him ask the next question. “You don’t think your grandmother left any condoms?”
All right, it was a horrible question and a way to kill the mood. Almost. The mood was definitely still there with him, pressing against the fabric of his boxers.
Riley decided to look at this as a different kind of mission. Things went wrong all the time, and he often had to improvise. He could go to the pharmacy and get some condoms. Except it was closed by now.
That left the gas station/convenience store on the edge of town. It’d be open, might even have condoms, but if he hurried in there, it would be all over town that Claire and he had done the dirty—especially when coupled with any gossip Summer would spill about Riley spending most of the day with Ethan. After the pub brawl/jail incident, Claire didn’t need that kind of talk going around.
Claire shook her head and moved as if to get off the bed. “Maybe this is fate—”
Riley didn’t let her finish that. He stopped her with a kiss. Stopped her from moving off the bed, too. No way was this fate. It was just bad preparations on his part. He should have stuck a condom in his wallet. Of course, when he’d decided to spend the day with Ethan, he hadn’t exactly had Claire and condoms on his mind.
And now he needed to improvise.
“We’re finishing this,” he insisted. Which was more or less the truth. He would finish Claire anyway.
Riley started a trail of kisses that went from her mouth to the exact spot where he could finish her. Not with his hard-on, which was begging to get in on this. Nope. He used his mouth, and he kissed her, kissed her and kissed her until Claire finished.
She wasn’t a screamer but rather a moaner. Good thing because the sound wouldn’t wake up Ethan, and her soft moans went with the ones Riley was making. Both pleasure and pain, as life so often was. His erection was throbbing, but the throbbing that Claire was doing was certainly pleasurable to watch.
As backup plans went, it wasn’t ideal, but at least one of them would sleep better tonight. And it wouldn’t be him. Claire pulled him down to her, the glow of the orgasm all over her face. She was happy, smiling, and he’d already noticed the glowing part.
All in all, it was amazing to see. Just as he’d thought it would be if he ever got to do anything remotely sexual with her.
But when the glow had run its course and the morning came, Riley didn’t have to guess what the percentage was for this complicating the hell out of both his and Claire’s lives.
This would fuck things up between them 100 percent.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
RILEY’S ALARM CLOCK—the one in his head—went off at 6:00 a.m. Not that he’d actually needed it to wake him. He hadn’t done much sleeping with a naked Claire beside him in bed. He was probably in pain, too, but it was hard to tell because his body was giving him some mixed signals.
On the one hand, he was feeling slack and sated after a couple of rounds of oral sex with Claire. Riley had been on both the receiving and giving ends, and he wasn’t sure which one he liked better. All right, he was sure, but both had been mind-blowing.
And terrifying.
Because with her in his arms like this, it only reminded him that he had crossed a bridge that he would soon have to leave behind. Yeah, it was a bad metaphor, but when the lust had been clouding his head and judgment, he hadn’t thought to see this to its possible conclusion.
Claire could get hurt.
That was the very thing Lucky had warned him about, and even though Riley never thought he would hear himself say this, for once Lucky had given him good relationship advice. Ironic since the advice had come from a man who’d never had a relationship last more than a week.
Riley eased out of the bed, trying not to wake Claire, but just the slight shift of the mattress caused her to open her eyes. She smiled at him, kissed him and then went back to sleep. Good. Conversation was best left for when they both had clearer heads. Of course, after her head cleared, she might be ready to throttle him.
Claire had been at a seriously low point after reading that asinine journal. Riley had known that. He’d seen the tears in her eyes, and he figured those tears had played into her decision to kiss him.
All over his body.
In a way, it was as if he’d taken advantage of a drunk woman. Something he never did. Well, not before last night anyway.
He made another attempt to get out of bed, and this time she didn’t wake up. Riley dressed. Not easily. There was pain now, and while he wouldn’t medicate it, he would need to start his exercises to get rid of some of the stiffness. Too bad the exercises wouldn’t take care of the stiffness of the brainless part of him in his boxers. No, the best cure for that was to quit looking at a naked Claire and get the heck out of her bedroom before Ethan woke up.
Riley tiptoed out of the room, checked on Ethan. The kid was still sacked out. He went to the living room to put on his boots. Claire’s note was still there, the one with the phone numbers, so Riley added his own note to it.
“I’ll call you later,” he wrote.
He considered adding something else, but anything he could come up with would only complicate things. Definitely no “love, Riley” at the end of it. And no hearts or some other doodling to trivialize what’d happened.
Besides, he wasn’t even sure what had happened.
Was this an oral fling? Or was Claire expecting a whole lot more?
With t
hose questions on his mind, Riley put on his boots and slipped out the front door. He locked it behind him and made his way to the car he’d parked on the side of her house. He rounded the corner and immediately had an ah-shit moment.
Because Daniel was there.
Leaning against Riley’s car.
Riley so didn’t want to deal with Daniel this morning, but since Daniel was right against the driver’s-side door, he was going to have to speak at least one word to him.
Move was the first word that came to mind.
“We have to talk,” Daniel insisted.
Daniel took a drag off a cigarette—Riley didn’t even know the man smoked—and he flicked the cigarette butt on the ground, crushing it with his shoe. That’s when Riley noticed there were multiple butts there. At least a dozen. Which meant Daniel had been out there most of the night.
Riley didn’t think Daniel was perverse enough to peek through Claire’s bedroom window, but he wouldn’t have actually needed to peek. Given the hour and after one look at Riley’s walk-of-shame wrinkled clothes, Daniel had likely guessed what had gone on.
Or rather what he thought had gone on.
“You broke your own man-rule,” Daniel tossed right out there.
Yeah, and it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been fully broken. Riley wasn’t going to mention anything about a condom holding him back because the intent of man-rule number three had indeed been violated.
Don’t take anything that wasn’t his.
While he didn’t believe that Claire was Daniel’s girl, not anymore, Riley also knew she wasn’t his for the taking.
“Are you happy with yourself now?” Daniel snarled, and there was no doubt about it—it was indeed a snarl.
Riley huffed. Certain parts of him were happy, but he wasn’t giving those parts a vote in this. “None of this was planned.”
Which, of course, was the worst excuse of all worst excuses.
“So, what happens now?” Daniel lit up another cigarette, his right eye squinting from the coil of smoke. “You leave town to go do your military thing, and Claire is stuck here to pick up the pieces.”
As much as he hated the way Daniel had put it, that pretty much summed it up. It wouldn’t do any good to repeat to him, or Claire, that this hadn’t been planned. Though it hadn’t been. Still, there were consequences, and Riley had to accept that things would never be the same.
He might even lose Claire’s friendship.
“I don’t want her hurt,” Riley said. Yet another stupid comment, but he meant it. It wasn’t nearly enough, though.
Daniel cursed. “You should have thought about that before you slept with her.” He cursed some more and used the cigarette to point at Riley. “I’m going to try to fix this. I’ll help her put the pieces back together. You do know that she still has my engagement ring, right?”
Riley did know that, and he hadn’t been worried about it until now. “She told you no, that she wouldn’t marry you.”
“She’s still thinking it over. Why else would she have kept the ring?”
Riley certainly couldn’t think of a reason. Not a good one anyway.
Well, hell. For Claire to have been with him like that while still mulling over Daniel’s proposal meant she hadn’t been thinking straight. As in not one tiny bit of thinking straight. That journal must have shaken Claire even more than Riley had realized—and it had shaken her a lot.
Of course, he was hearing this from Daniel, and it was possible, likely even, that Claire’s answer to the proposal was still going to be no.
But it should have been no before she ever got into bed with Riley.
“I love her,” Daniel went on. “I want to stay in Texas and marry her. That’s all Claire’s ever wanted—a man who would be here for her and not run off like her father did.”
It was indeed what she wanted. And it was something Riley had always known he couldn’t give her, not with those Texas-deep roots of hers. Heck, Riley didn’t even doubt that Daniel loved her.
“I don’t want you taking any of this out on her,” Riley insisted. “Everything that happened was my fault.”
Daniel made a face as if thoroughly insulted by that. “I wouldn’t take anything out on her, and I’ll forgive her. That’s what I’ll tell her, that I love and forgive her, and that I’ll be here as long as she needs me.”
As mission statements went, it was a powerful one. Daniel was like the Texas heat. He would always be around. And that’s exactly what Claire and Ethan needed. Even if it made Riley feel like shit.
“I’m sorry,” Riley said, and that encompassed a lot of things.
“I sure hope so.” Daniel ground out the cigarette he tossed. “Because now I’ve got to go in there and clean up this mess.”
Daniel didn’t exactly ask permission, and Riley wasn’t in a position to stop him. Heck, he didn’t know what his position was, but Claire certainly didn’t have an engagement ring from Riley in her house.
Riley got in his car and drove off. As he did, he made the mistake of checking the rearview mirror, and saw something that he was sorry he’d seen. Claire had opened the door to Daniel and was letting him inside her house.
* * *
CLAIRE KNEW THERE would be a price to pay for what she’d done with Riley, but she just hadn’t expected to start paying so soon. The only reason she’d opened her door when she heard the knock was because she thought it was Riley, that maybe he’d forgotten something.
Like a kiss goodbye.
But no Riley. It was Daniel. He was sporting a scowl, a scowl that deepened when he looked over his shoulder at Riley driving away.
Oh, no.
She was betting that hadn’t been a friendly conversation. Nor was the one she was about to have with Daniel. That’s why Claire had him come inside. Best to air her dirty laundry behind closed doors.
“What did you say to Riley?” she demanded.
Better yet, what had Riley said to him? Because Riley certainly hadn’t said much in the note he’d left her.
Since Daniel wasn’t battered and bruised, there probably hadn’t been any punches thrown. Daniel wasn’t the punch-throwing type anyway. But she was betting there had been a man-pissing contest with their war of words.
“Where’s Ethan?” Daniel asked, looking at the car and toy mess on the floor.
“Still asleep, but since he’ll be waking up any minute, let’s finish this conversation before he does. What did you say to Riley?” she repeated, expecting an answer this time.
Daniel eyed her the same way he’d eyed the toy clutter. She’d put on some clothes, but she probably still looked as if she’d just climbed out of bed with a man. Plus, she hadn’t showered yet and had Riley’s scent all over her.
“Riley and I talked,” Daniel finally said. “I made him understand that what he did with you was wrong.”
“What?” she practically shouted, probably waking Ethan. “You had no right to do that. None.” And Riley didn’t have to listen to any of it.
When Ethan called out for her, Claire went to him before he tried to climb out of his crib.
Daniel followed right behind her.
“Of course I had a right,” Daniel argued. “I love you. I want to marry you.”
Despite her suddenly surly mood, Claire managed to scrounge up a smile and a kiss for Ethan, but he was the grumpy boy this morning, and he gave her a scowl that matched Daniel’s. Or maybe Ethan was actually scowling at Daniel. It was hard to tell anything other than obviously her son didn’t want to be awake yet.
“For what it’s worth,” Daniel went on while she changed Ethan’s diaper, “Riley agreed with me. He’s not going to be in town much longer. We all know that. And you don’t need him playing with your heartstrings.”
Well, it hadn’t been he
r heartstrings that Riley had played with, but she wasn’t getting into that with Daniel. She finished the diapering, and while still smiling at Ethan and pretending nothing was wrong, she carried him into the kitchen.
Daniel followed her there, too.
“Also for what it’s worth,” he repeated, “it didn’t take much to convince Riley to leave this morning.”
She tried not to let that sting. But it did. Because it was likely the cold, hard truth. The night before she and Riley had been caught up in the heat of the moment, but now that the heat had been satiated, he might be seeing a lot clearer than she was.
Yes, Riley was leaving.
But Claire still wanted him.
That heat had satiated much for her, but it might be the only taste she ever got of Riley McCord. After all, they’d never gotten around to discussing how his meeting at the military base had gone. It was possible he’d spent that day with Ethan, and that night with her, as a way of saying goodbye.
She put Ethan in his high chair, poured some Cheerios right on the tray and fixed him a sippy cup of milk. All of that while her heart felt as if someone were stomping on it. If Ethan noticed the tension in the room, he didn’t react. He dove right into the cereal.
“I reminded Riley you still have my engagement ring,” Daniel added.
Claire had been about to put some fresh blueberries on Ethan’s tray, but Daniel’s words stopped her. “You told him that?”
“Of course. Because it’s true.”
“It’s only true because you wouldn’t take it back.” Claire certainly hadn’t meant to yell, but even a hard-of-hearing person would have labeled it as a shout.
Ethan stopped munching and started watching them. It was for her son and her son alone that she forced herself to calm down. If Ethan hadn’t been there, she would have let Daniel see, and hear, just how upset she really was.
Damn.
Now Riley probably thought she’d done all those things with him in the bedroom while she was still keeping Daniel on the hook. Well, Daniel was about to get dropped from that hook right now.
Texas on My Mind Page 18