Well, what do you know? Ms. Cooper wasn't as immune to pets as she pretended. "It takes a lot to wear Gigi out. Tex and Lolita, on the other hand, exhaust themselves just walking from the food bowl to the couch. Come on." Niall took her by the arm to lead her to the kitchen.
With that one touch, mirth gave way to something far more potent. Heat spiraled through him as he led her down the hallway.
Niall stopped short of the kitchen door and turned to face her. "Okay, close your eyes."
Tammy blinked but her eyes remained open. "What?"
"It's a surprise. Close your eyes. I promise I won't let you run into the wall or anything."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Wariness lurked beneath her banter.
"You don't. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith." He didn't think that was an easy task for her.
She lowered her lids, her lashes dark crescents fanning over her cheeks. She wrapped her hands around his forearms, her touch eliciting tingles against his bare skin. Grasping her elbows, he walked backward as he led her just inside the kitchen. He stepped and released her to close the door behind her.
"You can look now." Christ. He was as nervous as a schoolboy.
She opened her eyes and glanced around the room. Cautious delight and wonder washed her face. "You did this for me?"
He nodded. "This afternoon." He'd bought a dozen candles, a blanket and a Christmas cactus, and created a picnic in the center of his kitchen. Space hadn't been an issue since he didn't have a stick of kitchen furniture. "You said you liked this room."
She looked away from him. "This is probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Why would you do this?" she asked, her voice thick.
"Because I wanted to see you smile." He touched her shoulder with a tentative hand. She still wouldn't look at him. "And it's too cold to sit outside, even with the chimenea."
"It's…"
She sounded close to tears and the last thing he'd wanted was to make her cry.
He looked around at candles glowing on the countertops and the floor. "Were you going to say it's a fire hazard? That's why I had the door closed. To keep out the animals."
She drew a deep breath and turned to him. "Actually, I was going to say it's very thoughtful. Are you always so romantic?"
He heaved a silent sigh, relieved she didn't just think he was stupid. A man never knew how a woman would interpret things, or at least this man didn't. And Mia had sworn he didn't have a romantic bone in his body.
"Never. I'm glad you like it," he said.
"I do. Very much."
"I thought I'd make salmon steaks for dinner."
"That sounds good."
"I should get started," he said.
"Okay."
He fully intended to walk over to the fridge and pull out the salmon steaks and ask her what she'd done with her day. Instead, he stood rooted to the spot, close enough to inhale her scent and absorb her warmth. And somehow, instead, he said, "I thought about you all day."
"I thought about you, too." Her husky drawl drew him a step closer.
"You did?" He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. He trailed a finger along the soft down of her neck, eliciting a quiver.
"Yes. You should be going out to dinner with one of those women whose number you tossed in the chimenea last night instead of planning a picnic for me." Despite her words, she splayed her hands across his chest, her touch branding him through his shirt.
"I know. They don't have your baggage." He stroked along the line of her collarbone to the wildly beating pulse at the base of her throat.
"Or three ex-husbands." She dipped her head and pressed an openmouthed kiss to the back of his hand. God, he'd never known that was an erogenous zone before. Maybe it only was with her.
"Yeah. Them, too." He could barely breathe. The touch of her skin against his, her fragrance, the heat in her eyes damn near left him dizzy with want.
She feathered her fingers up his neck and cupped his jaw in her hands, brushing her thumb against the scar lining his upper lip. "I should be doing this with Lowell."
"I don't think so." He flicked his tongue against her thumb. On her indrawn breath, he slid his hands down her side and grasped her by her waist, hoisting her up to the countertop. Her eyes widened with a start of surprise and then darkened. "Who the hell is Lowell?"
She spread her legs and tugged him into the vee of her body. "Nobody important right now."
"Good answer." His erection nestled against her and he pulsed within the confines of his jeans. They both were still fully clothed, they hadn't even kissed and he was damn near ready to explode.
She moaned deep in her throat and rocked against him, wrapping her legs around the backs of his thighs, pulling his throbbing hardness against her.
"Niall." His name came out as a sigh. She tunneled her fingers through his hair, pulled him closer and latched her mouth onto his like a woman in desperate need, as if he alone supplied something she couldn't live without.
He explored the hot, sweet moistness of her mouth. Her moan reverberated against his tongue, fueling his hunger. When she arched into his hands with a desperation that matched his own, he ran his hands across the top of her breasts exposing her plunging, scooped neckline. The blouse's crushed velvet didn't compare to the warm satin of her breasts.
Niall rimmed the lace edge of her bra where it met her pillowy flesh, skimming her stiff nipples. He wrenched his mouth from hers and rained kisses along her neck, freeing her breasts from her bra, weighing their fullness, rimming her hardened tips with his fingers without actually touching them.
Above his head, her breath came in sharp, harsh pants, punctuated by low moans, the sounds of her pleasure notching his heat up to a flammable level.
She leaned back on the counter, bracing herself with her arms behind her. "Touch me."
He spread a series of tantalizing, taunting kisses across the top of her breasts, still not touching her dark crests. "Like that?"
"More." Half order, half plea. Total turn-on.
He laved first one pebbled tip with his tongue and then the other. She arched toward him. He looked up at her. "Is that what you wanted?"
"Take the whole thing in your mouth," she rasped, her eyes glittering with a heat he'd put there.
Slowly, deliberately, he drew her engorged tip into his mouth and suckled her. Tugging her deeper, harder.
"Yes. Oh, that's it." Her cry of satisfaction became a mewl in the back of her throat that nearly undid him. The sounds she made fed his passion.
"What about this side?" He turned his attention to her other puckered crest. He pulled back and looked at her, thoroughly aroused by the sight. Sitting on the counter, her bare flesh damp and glistening from his mouth, Tammy radiated sensuality.
Niall cupped both breasts in his hands and drew them together. Angling her nipples together, he circled each aureole with the tip of his tongue and then lapped at the hardened tips.
"Oh, Niall."
He blew gently on them, fascinated as they hardened into even tighter buds. He repeated his dance of licking and blowing, her cries as exciting as her taste. Her scent, hers alone, enveloped him.
Pressing her breasts closer together, he drew both her nipples into his mouth at once, abrading them lightly with his teeth, filling his mouth with her, tormenting her. Finally, he released her, consumed by a craving far beyond physical.
He drank in the sight of her. She appeared every inch the wanton, sitting atop the counter, legs sprawled, breasts bared, eyes glittering.
"I have never wanted a woman the way that I want you." His voice rang harsh in the candlelit room. God help him, but Mia had never driven him out of his mind the way Tammy did.
"Forbidden fruit?" With her full, ripe breasts and plum-hued nipples, she was dangerously close with her analogy. He almost missed the shadow in her eye and the faint cynical edge to her voice.
He cupped her cheek in his palm. Part of him wanted to deny it, par
t of him wanted that simple explanation for his overwhelming attraction to her. "I don't know. Maybe." He dropped his hand to his side.
She covered herself and slid to her feet.
He wasn't great at figuring out women, but he felt pretty damn sure he'd just given the wrong answer.
* * *
"I know this is bad timing but we both need to be clear on where we stand." They needed rules of engagement.
Niall's expression and his crossed arms said her timing left a lot to be desired. "Okay."
"I like you, Niall." She glanced at Niall from beneath her lashes. She appreciated his easy, dry humor, his thoughtful, romantic gestures, and the honesty in his soulful dark eyes.
He raised his brows. "I assumed that when we had mind-blowing sex last night. And by the way, I like you, too."
She glanced at his erection tenting the front of his trousers and she was terribly aware of the moisture pooled between her thighs. "I know you do."
She needed to say this. Maybe as much for herself as for him.
"I like you and I find you very sexy, but I don't want another relationship. I like living alone. I'm focused on my job and getting my life together. I don't need any emotional complications."
He just stood there, his dark eyes unreadable, arms crossed, and she shifted, suddenly a little less sure of herself. But the only way to go was forward. "I just wanted you to know you don't have to worry about me reading too much into this." She pointed at his picnic. "I know you're looking to settle down here in Colthersville and I want you to know I don't want to complicate that for you."
"It sounds like you've got this all figured out."
Actually, she was just sort of winging it as she went. "I've had too many relationships that die a slow death, where, in the end, you can hardly remember any of the good stuff because things have gotten so bad."
Recognition flashed across his face. He knew the death throes of a relationship. "Been there. Done that."
Tammy nodded. "That's why an affair is perfect. Short, brief, exciting. No strings attached. No pretense. No seeing what tomorrow will bring."
"But what if we aren't ready for it to end?"
"That's why we set the rules now and stick to them. Things get awkward, messy, when expectations change. This way we both get what we want and no one gets hurt because we both know what to expect up front."
"Intellectually it makes sense. I'm not so sure about emotionally." In part because he wasn't sure that he knew what he wanted.
"We like one another. We're definitely attracted to one another. And we can both get what we want without any games."
He traced a vein on the back of her hand. "So, let's discuss the rules of engagement."
She caught his hand in hers and brought it to her mouth. Her warm breath stirred against the back of his hand, and her lips lightly brushed his knuckles.
"Two weeks. That way you don't have to worry about what to get me for Christmas," she said, interjecting a little humor. "We can keep it quiet and private. I'll be your fling before you find your nice girl and settle down."
"If you're my bad-girl fling, what am I to you?"
Tammy slid her arms around his neck and leaned into him, rubbing her pelvis against the hard line of his penis. "You're my Mr. Right Now."
He closed the gap between them, a wicked smile curling his lips and lighting his eyes. Her heart somersaulted. "I was hoping you'd say that."
He cupped her shoulders with his hands and drew her to him. She wound her arms around his neck and threaded her fingers through the hair that brushed past his collar. The heat of his skin, the faint scent of deodorant and soap, the silky texture of his hair, sent shivers through her.
Her eyes drifted shut and she sighed as he leaned down and feathered butterfly kisses along her temple and eyelids with exquisite care. How could a man who aroused such a depth of passion in her feel so safe?
"You are so beautiful," he whispered, his breath warm against her closed lids. His words and his touch melted her like a piece of chocolate left too long in the sun's heat. She'd heard the empty phrase before, but when Niall uttered the words, they lost their emptiness.
Tammy leaned into him.
"Do you want to go upstairs?" he asked.
She opened her eyes. "Beds are highly overrated, especially when there's such a lovely picnic in this room."
She withdrew her hands from his neck and sank to the blanket. She leaned back, bracing herself on her arms. It had been dark on her patio last night. She'd felt every inch of him, but today she was ready for the full visual experience.
Niall tugged his shirt free of his jeans, slowly pulled it over his head, and tossed it to the floor.
Broad shoulders, thick chest and honest-to-God delineations of his abs. A sprinkle of dark brown hair across his chest narrowed to a line down his flat belly, and disappeared beneath the edge of his jeans. Well-muscled arms and sexy forearms. She wasn't sure what it was that made them so sexy, but they were. Dear God, she was glad she was already flat on her back.
"Absolutely awesome." She hadn't exactly meant to speak the words aloud.
Niall smiled. "I'm glad the Nautilus machine wasn't a waste of money."
"Oh, honey, you've put it to good use. Definitely no waste of money there." It was true. Why not tell him?
"Hold that thought." He stepped out of his shoes and shoved them aside.
Tammy stared. She had a bad case of lustitis when even his feet turned her on. "You have the sexiest feet. I thought so when you answered the door after your shower, the first time I dropped by."
"Do you have a thing for feet?"
"Not until now." She returned his grin and motioned for him to continue disrobing. "Please, don't let me stop what you were doing."
He undid his belt. Then his jeans button. He slid down his zipper. Tammy's heart pounded like a runaway train. Niall stepped out of the jeans. Muscular, hair-roughened legs and black boxer briefs with a bulge that portended good things to come.
"You can change your mind, you know." He stood at the edge of the blanket, big, aroused and hers for the next two weeks. Anticipation coiled inside her.
"You've got to be kidding. If I changed my mind, I would've lost my mind."
"I meant about the bed." Niall knelt at her feet. "I fully intend for you to lose your mind."
His dark promise unleashed a new torrent of longing. Wet need pooled between her thighs. "You do? Do you want to share this plan with me?"
"It's fairly simple. Not too complicated. Pretty straightforward."
"Are you going to show me or tell me?"
"I'm all up for both. First I'm going to take your clothes off. Then I'm going to kiss every delicious inch of you."
Ye gods. Tammy suffered an attack of insecurity. While she'd been so busy behaving, she'd gotten lazy in the exercise department. And fat. Even though Niall had seen her au natural, it wasn't the same as having him visit that particular site up close and personal. This was a really bad time to realize she shouldn't have slacked on the crunches.
She swallowed her insecurities. He looked fairly enthusiastic—she glanced at his bulging black briefs—make that extremely enthusiastic—at the prospect of getting her naked again, and, what the heck, she was what she was. She sucked in a deep breath and went for it. "That sounds like an efficient plan. How can I help implement it?"
"Lie back and enjoy." He tugged off her shoes and tossed them aside, his dark eyes intent, despite his sexy banter. "I want to make love to you all night long."
Anticipation coiled tight inside her. "Ah. That stamina issue."
"Yeah. It keeps corning up."
"So, I see. That's quite some issue you have there."
"Perhaps you could help me deal with it."
"It would be my pleasure."
Niall reached for the snap on her jeans, his hands big and broad with a masculine dusting of dark hair. Slowly, deliberately, he released the snap and drew down her zipper, the drag of his hands agains
t her bare skin and panties setting her afire.
"Before I take these off, I've got to do this. I've wanted to since the first time I saw you." Niall bent his dark head and swept his tongue across the ring piercing her belly button. The wet heat of his tongue against her stomach left her twice as hot and wet between her thighs.
"Oh, honey, you have the sexiest stomach. There's something about that navel ring that makes me hot."
"Your appreciation makes me pretty hot myself."
"I know."
"You do?"
With his chin, he nudged against her open jeans and the satin of her panties, a wicked grin on his face. "It's your scent, your own special perfume. It's intoxicating."
She'd never made love to a man who talked so much. It was surprisingly uninhibited and incredibly inspiring.
Niall inched her jeans down over her hips, killing her composure with his deliberateness.
Tammy lifted her hips so he could continue. "Umm, I bet you unwrap Christmas and birthday presents without tearing the paper, don't you?"
"I like to take my time. Savor the anticipation. It heightens the pleasure when you actually get to the present."
He tossed her jeans aside and drew her to her knees.
"Let me," she said, taking over. She grasped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head. His eyes darkened and his breathing took on a harsh tone. She wet her lips with her tongue and he clenched his jaw. Good. She unhooked the front clasp on her bra and slowly tugged it open, thrusting her breasts forward and her shoulders back as she took it off.
All teasing left his demeanor. Intensity glittered in his dark eyes and marked the rigid lines of his body. "This is the way you were meant to be. Naked in candlelight. I wish I were an artist so I could paint you like this. You are the most beautiful sight I've ever seen."
She'd had sex numerous times, most recently with him, last night. But now she felt like a virgin. Without even touching her, Niall was making love to her. With his eyes, his voice, his words. She'd known it would be different with him, but she hadn't known it would be like this.
His eyes stripped her of all pretense, all defense and looked inside her, to her core, her essence. It was both frightening and exhilarating to feel so exposed, so open to another person.
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