She sensed he also secretly despised Derrick and his success. “I’m surprised you’re here.”
Jeff’s phony smile faltered a bit. “Derrick and I are business acquaintances.”
“Not friends.”
He made an annoying tsk-tsk sound. “What does that word even mean?”
No surprise he wouldn’t be familiar with the definition. She decided to cut through the garbage and get straight to the only issue between them. “Despite the covert agent thing you did with the note—and I will be talking with Rylan about that, by the way—I won’t be showing up to the meeting as ordered.”
“Of course you will.” Jeff took another swallow as he watched the activity on the grass below. “And do you know why, Abby? Because you are a very smart woman. You also have a lot to lose.”
The anxiety churning in her stomach took off now. She’d gone from wanting to see Spence and hating how much she wanted to see him, to dreading this conversation. Life kept whizzing by her and she could not grab on and slow it down.
But she wasn’t about to buy into whatever nonsense Jeff had planned. “Threats?”
“Think of this more as a conversation. One that will benefit you, if you play the game right.” He leaned down with his elbows on the banister and surveyed the property as if he owned it. “After all, you wouldn’t want Derrick or Spence to think you betrayed them.”
The word twisted in her head. Now that he’d planted it, she doubted she’d think of anything else. “I didn’t.”
Jeff stood up straight again and stared down at her, letting his gaze wander all over her. “You will.”
The look wasn’t predatory. This was a power play. Another one she’d walked into the middle of thanks to her work. “Don’t even try it, Jeff.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Word is Spence is sniffing around you again. You wouldn’t want to mess that up.”
“Go to hell.”
He winked at her. “We’ll talk soon.”
* * *
Spence started up the carved staircase running up the middle of the house. It rose then stopped at a landing and split with separate staircases going off to the right and left. As kids, he and his brothers would race cars down the steps, but only when his parents weren’t home to yell about the game.
This time when he looked up at the landing, he saw strappy high-heel shoes and long legs. Amazing legs. Like, killer those-things-should-be-insured legs. The edge of a purple cocktail dress. A little higher as his gaze slipped over her hips then on up.
Abby.
His heart revved. He could feel his blood pressure spike. All that talk about her and love, and there she was.
She walked down the stairs, taking her time. Enticing with a slight sway of her hips. Mentally slicing his control to shreds as she took each step. She stopped on the one above him but didn’t say anything.
“There you are.” His gaze met hers and the picture in his head—the one of them together, him stripping that dress off her shoulders—screeched to a halt in his head.
She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. She scanned the downstairs as if looking for someone and not wanting to see them. His dad, maybe? Whatever was happening inside her had her looking uncharacteristically shaky and unsure.
He reached out for her hand and was surprised when she grabbed on. “Hey, are you okay?”
He guided her down to the floor, hearing the click of her heels against the polished hardwood. He slipped her hand under his arm and touched her fingers. Ice-cold.
With the fake smile in place, she cleared her voice before answering. “Fine.”
“That’s not really believable.”
She shook her head. “Spence, I can’t discuss this right now.”
“Okay, wait. You’re obviously upset.” He guided her around the banister and into a hall. It ran the length of the right side of the house.
Leaning against the wall, he tried to block their view from the people walking in and out of the house. Many stopped and stared at the artwork trailing up the staircase and the massive chandelier hanging in the center hall. Others smiled on the way to one of the house’s nine bathrooms a few doors down.
A thousand thoughts streamed through his head. He blamed his father for putting her in this state. He also played a part. So did too much work. There was a lot of responsibility to go around, but he wanted to lessen the burden. “Talk to me.”
“I’m on edge and...” She shook her hands in front of her, like she was trying to get the feeling back in them.
He had no idea what was going on in her head but the aching need he had for her turned into something else. “What is it? Tell me so I can help.”
She looked at him then. Met his gaze straight on. “I have all of this energy bouncing around inside me. Add in alcohol and, well, it’s a combination for bad decisions.”
“Am I a bad decision?” He knew the answer but asked anyway.
Her gaze traveled over him. Hesitated on his mouth, then dipped lower. To the base of his throat. “The absolute worst.”
That look. It was almost as if... What the hell was happening? He grabbed on to the last of his common sense. Something was wrong. She didn’t seem like herself and there was no way he was going to take advantage of that. “Maybe you should go upstairs and rest and then we can—”
“Kiss me.”
That fast the world flipped on him. Tension ratcheted up. Not the I’m-worried kind but the let’s-get-naked type. “Excuse me?”
“Where does that door lead?” She pointed at the one over his shoulder and when he didn’t answer, she reached across him and turned the knob. A quick flick of the wall switch and the oversize pantry was bathed in light. “This will work.”
He was pretty sure he was having a stroke. His muscles refused to work. He couldn’t form a sentence. It was a struggle just to get out her name. “Abby...”
She backed him up against the packed shelves lining the wall. Their bodies barely touched as they brushed over each other. It was enough to set off an explosion in his head. The good kind. The kind where he wanted to touch her and taste her and do everything he’d dreamed of doing with her but figured he would never get the chance.
“I’m tired of wanting you and fighting it.” She grabbed the post behind his head with one hand. The other went to the top of his shirt to play with the buttons there. “I’m tired of trying to do the right thing.”
Wanting you? He was half-sure he made that part up in his head. “Abby, what’s going on?”
“I’m here in this beautiful place. Watching you. Seeing all these people. Thinking about my choices.” She dropped her head down to rest on his chest.
Her scent wound around him. Soft hair slid over his skin. He was pretty certain she could hear his heartbeat because it hammered loud enough to fill his ears.
Knowing he could pull back if she asked him to, because that would always be the answer for him, he slipped his fingers through her soft hair. “Is this the alcohol talking?”
“I’ve only had one half-filled glass of Champagne.”
Her voice vibrated against his chest. Warm breath skipped over his bare skin.
There was no way he was going to survive this.
His fingers continued to gently massage the back of her neck. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
Her head shot up. “You’re not your father.”
“What?”
“Kiss me.”
Her eyes were clear and he didn’t smell alcohol. But the stench of regret would be sickening and strong if he got this moment wrong. “I’m trying not to be a jerk here.”
She undid his top shirt button. Then the next. “I’ll sign a release if you want or go tell a witness I asked for this or—”
“Stop talking.”
He left her for a second. Didn’t go far. Wit
h his hands shaking, he turned the lock on the door, grateful there was one. The mumble of voices rose and fell outside the door as people walked down the hall. No one tried to come in, but there really wasn’t a reason to. At least he hoped that was true.
He looked at her, studied that stunning face and saw the heat move into her eyes. Still, they had to be clear because this could go so wrong. “Be sure.”
“Spence, you are never going to get a greener light.”
She stood there in that sexy dress with her hands crossed over her chest. She wasn’t hiding from him. No, he got the sense she was ready. Very ready.
“You’ll tell me if—”
She reached out and hooked her finger through his belt loop. Pulled him close. “Green light.”
Seven
Spence’s mouth covered hers and the last of her doubts blinked out. Thoughts and unwanted feelings had been whirling in her head since he stepped back into town. They came together in one blinding certainty when his hands slid up her sides—she wanted this.
Those palms cupped her breasts through her dress and her skin caught fire. She waited for the material to melt away, for her knees to give out, but somehow she stayed upright and dressed.
Those amazing fingers massaged and caressed. It took all of her control not to reach behind herself for the zipper and strip the top down. Feel him skin to skin.
“Spence...” She didn’t know exactly what she wanted, so she let the whispered plea sit there.
Backing her against the shelves, he trapped her between his arms. He grabbed on to the bars on either side of her head and leaned in. Rubbed his body against hers as his mouth treated her to a heart-stopping kiss. The kind that knocked common sense far into next month.
“You are so sexy.” That hot mouth traveled down her neck.
A shiver raced through her. And when those lips slipped to her ear and his tongue licked along the top edge, the shiver turned to a full-body tremble. She held on to his waist to keep from falling down.
His muscles tensed under her fingers and his breathing came harder. It thudded under her fingertips as need flashed in his eyes. He didn’t do anything to hide her effect on him...and she loved that.
They broke into a wild frenzy of touching and she was knocked harder into a shelf behind her. A can crashed to the floor. Then another. She kicked them out of the way and blocked every sound, including the whooshing of her heartbeat in her ears. Her focus centered on his mouth and the energy spinning around them.
Expert hands traveled over her and around to her back. The screech of her zipper rose above the other sounds a second before his palm brushed over her bare skin. Fingers slid under her bra. The cool air hit her as the front of her dress fell down. It heated again when he lifted his head and stared at her.
Fingertips skimmed over the rounded tops of her breasts. The touch was so reverent, so loving, her breath hiccupped in her throat.
“Touch me.” She breathed the order against his neck. He already was but that didn’t matter to her. She wanted the imprint of his fingers all over her.
That amazing mouth kissed a trail along the top lacy edge of her bra. Her head fell back as his lips went to work. His tongue licked over her nipple as one hand slipped down the front of her in a slow slide that ignited every cell.
Needing to get closer, to bring him in, she opened her legs as wide as her dress allowed. When that didn’t bring her relief, she shimmied, tugging the material up to the top of her thighs.
It was all the invitation he needed. His hand tunneled under her dress to skim along the elastic band of her underwear. The tiny bikini briefs were no defense against his fingers. They pressed up and under. Then he was touching her. Swirling his finger over her.
Need walloped her. It pressed in on her from every direction. She lifted her leg and wrapped it around his thigh. The position gave him free access and he didn’t hesitate. His finger slipped inside her. Pumped back and forth until her lower body matched its rhythm.
Relief at being touched gave way to a new tension. A pounding need to feel him everywhere. “Spence, now.”
A warning flashed in her mind. She was on the Pill but they should take more precautions. But the minute the thought entered her mind it left again. All of those weeks of fighting amounted to foreplay. The talking, the kissing...she was wound up and burning for him.
Her throat felt scratchy and her skin hot. She couldn’t move fast enough, rip the buttons on his shirt open with enough force. Once her fingers touched the firm muscles of his chest, she dragged them down.
The shelves rattled behind her as he picked her up and wrapped both legs around him, low on his hips. Her dress bunched around her waist. He tugged on her underwear. Pulled and yanked.
“Rip it.” She almost yelled the order.
“I’ll buy you ten pairs,” he said through harsh breaths.
His hands shook as the material tore, shredded in his hand. She didn’t know if he dropped it or stripped it away. Didn’t really care. She was too busy craving the weight of his body. It anchored him but she wanted more.
She fumbled with his belt as tension thumped around her. She got the zipper down and shoved the material out of the way. When she wrapped her fingers around his length, he swore then took in a big gulping breath. His control seemed to snap. With jerky movements, he put a hand over hers and squeezed and the resulting groan vibrated through him.
Between his finger inside her and his mouth on her neck, her body flipped to ready. She arched her hips, trying to drag him inside her. When that failed, she slipped her thumb over his tip. His body actually fell forward. The shelves clanked behind her as they moved, but she didn’t care.
They could have been screaming, drawing the attention of everyone at the party, but none of that mattered. Just the man wrapped around her and the feel of his mouth on her skin.
“Now, Spence.” She was two seconds from begging.
She opened her mouth to do it when she felt him. Just the tip, rubbing over her. Back and forth, moving deeper with each pass. Then he pushed inside her. Slow, in a seduction that had her hips bucking. As he shifted, her internal muscles adjusted and clamped down on him, clinging to him.
“Damn, Abby.” He was panting now as his arms supported her and his mouth traveled to that sensitive space right behind her ear.
When a noise rumbled up her chest, she put the back of her hand over her mouth and bit it. But her control faltered with each delicious thrust. The steady in and out had her body tightening. Every cell pulsed. After one last push inside her, she came apart. The orgasm screamed through her as her hips continued to move back and forth.
He kept plunging as the sweat broke out at the base of his neck. When her body started to wind down, she concentrated on him. Kissed that sexy collarbone and dragged her teeth along his neck.
That’s all it took. He moaned as his hips tipped forward one last time. His fingers tightened on the back of her thighs. She held on as the orgasm hit him. His body rocked against her and she felt it all. Finally, his head dipped until his forehead rested against her chest. The pulses continued for a few more seconds before his body relaxed and his weight pressed heavier against her.
His labored breathing blew across her chest. The sleek muscles of his back tensed as she traced her fingers over them. She tried to soothe him with gentle kisses on the top of his head.
After a few seconds, he turned his head to the side and rested his cheek against her chest. “Well, that was amazing.”
She had no idea where he found the energy to speak. She couldn’t even manage to use that breathy voice like he did. Her muscles refused to listen as her body curled into his.
“Yeah.” That took all she had but at least she managed to whisper something into his hair.
He lifted his head and stared down at her. Those sexy eyes, all intense and unreadable, watched
her. “Any regrets?”
His voice sounded scratchy and oh-so-sexy. She knew she could be coy or play games, but she couldn’t muster up the energy for that, either. “None.”
A second later, the doorknob rattled and they both jumped. Their bodies hadn’t separated or cooled. They both held their breaths. After a second shake of the knob, the voices in the hall died down and whoever was out there seemed to move away.
“That was close,” she said, even though she didn’t care.
She knew she should slide down, enjoy the friction until their bodies separated. She rested her head against his instead.
“Abby?”
With all the stress and worry gone, exhaustion hit her. But her eyes popped open again just as they were beginning to close. “Yeah?”
“Next time, we use a bed.”
* * *
It took another fifteen minutes for them to break apart. Spence couldn’t stop kissing her while they straightened their clothes and cleaned up a bit. He didn’t even try to hold back. The last one came as he pulled up the zipper to her dress. Before finishing the last inch, he leaned down and pressed a kiss on the bare skin of her shoulder. Tried to remember every scent and feeling so he could relive this moment later.
When she turned around to face him, he expected regret and maybe a little shyness. Instead, she smiled up at him. “Does my hair look like we just had sex?”
Every part of her did, but he figured that had more to do with his needs and his perception than with the state of her clothes and makeup. “You look amazing.”
“We need to leave this room.” She sighed. “I’m sure someone has been looking for us.”
Knowing his family, many someones were. Maneuvering through the next twenty minutes might not be that easy. It would help if he could forget that he carried her ripped panties in his pocket. “I envy you being an only child at the moment.”
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