But if they took that next step and their relationship shifted from friendship to intimacy, would that jeopardize everything they shared? And was he willing to take the chance that he might lose her as a friend because he was suddenly feeling a lot more than friendly?
But why did it have to be one or the other? Why couldn’t they be friends and lovers?
The logical part of his brain immediately jumped all over that question, warning that if he took Kenna to his bed, they might never be able to go back to being just friends again. And as much as he was having trouble focusing on anything but getting her naked, he had to wonder what they’d do if the actual event turned out to be awkward or uncomfortable.
Yeah, the kiss they’d shared had been off the charts, but he knew from experience that didn’t necessarily translate into compatibility in the bedroom.
Then she walked back into the room, and he felt something move inside him. It was more than just a stirring low in his belly—it was a tug on his heart.
“What’s up with Josh?” Kenna asked, when she joined him by the bar.
“He had a meeting with Ren this afternoon, and while no deal has been made, Ren wants to continue discussions.”
She knew that Ren was stock car driver Lorenzo D’Alesio. According to countless posts on his fan site, he was sexy and charismatic and incredibly talented. Daniel and Josh both believed he was also frustrated by the reality of being the third driver on a team that routinely entered only two cars in a race. Unfortunately, that team was owned by his father, so the odds of luring him away weren’t exactly favorable.
“That’s great news,” Kenna said. “He wouldn’t be talking to you if he wasn’t at least a little bit interested.”
Daniel nodded. “But he’s still a long shot.”
Kenna hoped it was one that would pay off. Daniel had poured his heart and soul—not to mention nearly every penny of the trust fund that had been the motivating factor of their marriage—into Garrett/Slater Racing, and she wanted it to be a success for him.
She knew that some people—even Daniel’s brothers—thought his desire to own a race team was a whim, but Kenna knew better. Her husband’s love affair with stock cars dated back to his early teens, when Josh invited him to Daytona to watch his uncle race, and this was a dream that they’d both been working toward for years.
She was proud that he had the courage and determination to pursue it, and just a little envious. While her own dreams were much simpler, she didn’t have the first clue about how to make them happen.
She lifted a hand, trying to stifle a yawn, but Daniel caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.
“It’s been a long week for you,” he noted.
She nodded. Exams had just finished and needed to be marked, then final grades had to be submitted. And the upcoming week would be nearly as busy, with numerous staff meetings to tie up loose ends and start planning for the next year. On top of all that, because it was difficult for Becca to get on and off the bus with her crutches, Kenna had been chauffeuring her sister around whenever Sue Ellen was working.
Daniel reached for her hand and twined their fingers together. “Ready to call it a night?”
She was tired enough to happily slip between the sheets of the big bed to sleep. Unfortunately, her body was still so revved from his kiss that she knew sleep would be impossible. But if he wanted to slide between those sheets with her—
She mentally severed the thought. Taking the next step with Daniel was...if not impossible, at least inadvisable.
“I’m ready,” she agreed. “But I don’t want to drag you away from the party.”
“Then I’ll drag you,” he said, leading her to the elevator.
The doors to the car opened immediately, and she stepped inside. When he punched the button for the tenth floor, she considered that she might have read too much into a simple question. Maybe he was just as tired as she was and had no expectation of anything except to fall into bed and sleep. Because he didn’t say anything to her when the doors closed. He didn’t try to kiss her. He didn’t even touch her.
But there was an undeniable sizzle in the air, an electricity that danced over her skin and made her body hum.
She forced herself to keep breathing, to focus on the display above the door that tracked the elevator’s progress toward their destination and ignore the heat pulsing through her veins.
...2...
Ignore the fact that there was only one bed in their room.
...3...
The desk clerk who checked them in had happily informed them that they’d been upgraded from a standard room with two double beds to a deluxe with a king-size and whirlpool tub.
...4...5...
Neither of them had given it much thought at the time, because they’d been focused on getting to the church.
...6...
Now, however, it was all Kenna could think about.
...7...
Two people.
...8...
One bed.
...9...
One king-size dilemma.
Ding.
The elevator chimed to signal its arrival. With a soft whoosh, the doors parted, and Daniel gestured for her to exit.
She stepped out into the hall and automatically headed toward Room 1064, still with no idea where she was going.
Chapter Seven
Kenna’s heart was pounding so loudly, she was amazed that Daniel couldn’t hear it. When they got to their door, he slipped his key card into the slot, and the light blinked green.
Was that some kind of subliminal message? Did green mean she was supposed to go for it? Or was she looking for signs where there were none to be found?
Daniel followed her into the room, and the door closed with a quiet click that made her jolt.
He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair, then loosened the knot of the tie at his throat. He was one of those guys who wore a suit as easily and comfortably as if he’d been born in it, and she hadn’t been oblivious to the covetous female glances sent in his direction.
It had always been that way. There was something about Daniel that set him apart, even in a room filled with handsome men. She didn’t know if it was the warmth of his eyes, the quickness of his smile or something less tangible, but women had always been drawn to him.
Even she hadn’t been immune, though she’d learned to fake it well enough to convince both of them otherwise. But she didn’t think she could fake it anymore. Not after that kiss.
And why should she pretend, when that had never really worked out for her before? She’d exaggerated the depth of her feelings for Harrison because she’d thought that if she told herself she loved him, she might actually fall in love with him. But while his kisses and his touches had continued to leave her cold, it seemed as though Daniel only had to look at her and she felt as if she was burning up inside.
“What are you thinking?”
She turned to find him looking at her now, and warmth immediately spread through her veins, pooled at her center.
“I’m having trouble forming any coherent thoughts at all,” she admitted.
“Thinking is highly overrated anyway,” he said, and lowered his head to kiss her again.
She wasn’t caught off guard this time. At least not completely. And still, she was unprepared for the effect his kiss had on her. It was a gentle brush of his lips against hers, more coaxing than demanding, and she was more than willing to be coaxed. Even while questions and concerns continued to swirl through her mind, her body was pressing against his, eager for more.
No one else’s kisses had ever made her feel so much—or want so much more. The array of emotions he managed to elicit from just the touch of his mouth to hers was almost overwhelming. His tongue
stroked hers—teasing and tempting—as his hands skimmed up her torso, brushing the sides of her breasts and causing goose bumps to dance over her skin. Then his thumbs grazed her nipples, and her knees actually trembled.
She let her hands move over him, absorbing the strength and heat of his muscles through the fabric of his shirt. He had a lot of muscles for a guy who spent so many hours behind a desk every day. And as her fingers roamed over various ridges and contours, she knew that she wanted every inch of that hard, strong body pressed against her.
She tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his pants as he lifted his mouth from hers to nip gently at her chin, nibble on her ear, then trail kisses down her throat. He pushed the skinny straps of her dress over her shoulders, then pressed his mouth to the skin he’d exposed. His tongue traced the ridge of her collarbone, then continued down the center of her breastbone, and finally dipped into the hollow between her breasts.
She’d always had issues with physical intimacy, so when Daniel tugged the bodice of her dress down, she held her breath, waiting for the chill to steal over her, for the rigidity to set into her bones.
He seemed to sense her tension, and although he didn’t deviate from his course, his mouth gentled. His lips feathered lightly over her skin, the barest hint of a caress that nevertheless reached into the deepest part of her, escalating her desire so there was no room for anything else. That quickly, the last of her tension drained away, leaving her weak and wanting.
And when he took the exposed nipple in his mouth, she felt nothing but heat and hunger. When his tongue swirled around the already taut peak, she gasped at the exquisite sensations that arrowed toward her core.
She longed to feel his bare skin against hers, to connect intimately with him without any barriers between them. The need was strong and real and unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Because being with Daniel made her forget all of her usual doubts and insecurities. In his arms, she felt safe, secure, cherished.
Despite his occasional and deliberately suggestive comments, he wasn’t just some guy looking to score with any willing woman. He was a friend—her best friend. The one person she’d always been able to count on; the only person who’d never let her down.
And she knew that he never would. If they made love, he would make sure that she enjoyed every minute of it, that she would have absolutely no regrets when it was over. In light of her own limited and disappointing experiences, she wasn’t half as confident that she could do the same for him.
He’d just located the zipper at the back of her dress when a knock sounded. He froze, the pull halfway down, and swore under his breath.
The knock sounded again, followed by a muffled announcement through the door. “Room Service.”
“Don’t move,” he said, and pressed a quick, hard kiss to Kenna’s lips before stepping closer to the door. “We didn’t order any room service.”
“Compliments of David and Jane Garrett.”
She tugged at the bodice of her dress to ensure everything was covered and he finally, reluctantly, opened the door.
The waiter wheeled in a cart. “Where would you like it set up, sir?”
“Just leave it right there.” Daniel pressed some bills into the man’s hand and nudged him out the door again.
Kenna tried to catch her breath as she surveyed the contents of the tray: a bottle of champagne in a silver bucket of ice, two long-stemmed crystal flutes, a handful of short-stemmed pink sweetheart roses in a bowl and a plate of plump, juicy strawberries elaborately decorated with white and dark chocolate so it looked as if they were wearing tuxedo jackets.
She picked up the card.
Daniel & Kenna,
Since you haven’t yet had a proper wedding or a honeymoon, we wanted to give you at least one night of romance.
Love Mom & Dad
xoxo
The signature line brought tears to her eyes and made her realize how dangerously close she’d come to making a very big mistake.
Because she already loved his family as much as she loved Daniel, and she knew that if they blurred the lines of their relationship—and mixing sex with their friendship was a surefire way to blur the lines—she might start to blur the lines of her relationship with his family, too. Then she might start thinking this marriage was real and dreaming of a future for them together, and that definitely wasn’t part of their plan.
Daniel, apparently oblivious to the emotional battle raging inside her, lifted the bottle from the ice bucket and examined the label. “Champagne?”
She shook her head.
His gaze narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you feel the least bit guilty about lying to your family?”
“I don’t feel good about it, but we both agreed it was the only solution,” he reminded her.
She nodded, because he was right. They’d both agreed to this twelve-month marriage, and they weren’t even through the first month of it yet. It was easy, when they were each busy with their own lives, to pretend that nothing had changed. But they were husband and wife now, their lives inextricably entwined.
Until recently, she’d been so focused on Becca’s surgery that she hadn’t let herself think very far beyond that. Now that the surgery was over and her sister was finally starting on the road to recovery, the next eleven and a half months loomed ominously and endlessly ahead, filled with holidays and events that she and Daniel would be expected to attend together, as husbands and wives were wont to do.
She didn’t think she could keep up the charade through the holidays, spending time with his family, feeling as if she was part of his family and desperately wishing that she really was. She knew she wouldn’t be able to do it unless she and Daniel each remained clear about their roles in, and the expiration date of, this pretend marriage.
“We can’t do this,” she told him now.
He dropped the bottle back into the ice. “I assume you’re not talking about the champagne.”
“I’m not talking about the champagne,” she confirmed. “You’re my best friend in the whole world, Daniel. I’m not going to risk that for the sake of a quick thrill between the sheets.”
He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “I promise you, it won’t be quick.”
His response, so typically and arrogantly male, made her smile. But she still took a step back, needing distance between them to ensure that she didn’t fall back into his arms. “I’m trying to be logical here.”
“Not everything is logical.”
She nodded, unable to deny it when her feelings for him were proof enough of the point. But she still wasn’t willing to jeopardize her heart for momentary physical satisfaction.
“Do you love me, Daniel?”
“Yes.”
His response was immediate and unequivocal, which was when she realized she’d asked the wrong question. “But are you in love with me?”
He eyed her warily. “No one means as much to me as you do.”
“I feel the same way,” she assured him. “And we both know this isn’t a till-death-do-us-part marriage—it’s a till-we-both-get-what-we-want marriage, and if we fall into bed together—”
“That would certainly be what I want,” he told her.
Right now, it was what she wanted, too. And this kind of wanting, the desperate, achy need that had everything inside her churned up, was as scary as it was unfamiliar.
“And after?” she prompted.
He sighed. “You’re determined to analyze this to death, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want either of us to have regrets.”
“There’s something between us, Kenna. Maybe it’s unexpected and inconvenient, but it’s not going to go away just because you want it to.”
“What’s between us is a decade of friendsh
ip and some unexpected sparks as a result of the fact that we’ve been living in close proximity for the past two weeks. And being a guy, you assumed that the ring on my finger was a shortcut to getting me into bed.”
He frowned at that. “I didn’t assume anything except that you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”
“You don’t want me, Daniel. You want sex.”
“I want sex with you.”
“Because we’re married and you’re too honorable to cheat, even on a temporary wife. The two weeks since our wedding is probably the longest you’ve gone without sex since high school.”
“Actually, it’s been more than six months.”
“Six months?”
“Why do you sound so surprised? You know I haven’t been seeing anyone.”
She shrugged. “I guess I just didn’t figure you had to be dating a woman to sleep with her.”
“There was a time when you would have been right,” he admitted. “But at some point over the past few years, I started wanting more than sex for the sake of sex.”
“I’m stunned...and impressed,” she told him.
“How long has it been since you’ve had sex?” he challenged.
She felt her cheeks flush. “Longer than you.”
“Maybe that’s part of the reason for the sparks. And maybe we’d both feel a lot better if—”
“No.”
His brows lifted. “You didn’t let me finish.”
“I could see where you were going with that completely self-serving argument.”
“I wasn’t being self-serving but offering my services.”
“No,” she said again.
“You really think we can just ignore the attraction?”
“Yes, I do,” she said.
A Wife for One Year Page 9