In Forbidden Territory

by Shawna Delacorte

  Making love in the middle of the day—she had never done anything that daring before. And on top of that, they were on a sailboat. It made her feel wildly uninhibited, earthy and almost decadent. Sex with her ex-fiancé had always been as structured and controlled as everything else about him. She loved the spontaneity and excitement that surrounded Ty. She loved the way it made her feel.

  And she loved Ty.

  He slowly pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. The delight danced through his eyes as he cupped her bare breasts in his hands. His touch elicited a soft moan from her. She wanted her bare skin next to his, their bodies twined together. She kicked off her shoes, then unfastened her jeans, shoved them down her hips and stepped out of them.

  He pulled her into his embrace, then lowered her to the bed. His mouth was on hers again, tempting her with the type of pleasure she knew would soon be coursing through her body in a heated flow of ecstasy. His hardened arousal pressed against her thigh, his fingers teasing her nipples into tautly puckered peaks.

  She caressed his shoulders, then ran her hands across his muscled back. His mouth left a fiery trail of kisses across her cheek, down the side of her neck, at the base of her throat and finally at the valley nestled between her breasts. Every place he touched her produced a ripple of excitement. She gasped for air, her ragged breathing matching his. Only her bikini panties prevented the heat of his manhood from penetrating her moist core.

  She jerked her head back into the pillow when his mouth closed over her nipple. She arched her back, pressing her body against his. The feel of his bare skin, his tightly drawn muscles, the heat of his passion…everything melted together leaving her wanting more and more. The gentle rocking of the boat added to the sensual cocoon that enveloped her.

  He quickly shifted his attention to her other breast, teasing that nipple with the tip of his tongue before taking it into his mouth. A shiver of delight washed through her body. Layers of excitement built in intensity. She needed to touch him, to feel his hardened arousal. She reached for his manhood, stroking the rigid length until he shifted away from her grasp.

  “Not yet—” His words came out as a barely discernable raspy whisper. “No need to rush things. I want to give you pleasure…again and again.”

  He ran his tongue along the underside of each breast, then trailed it down her stomach until he reached the elastic of her bikini panties. He tugged at them with his teeth, slowly inching them down her hips until he had exposed her most private recess. His breath tickled across the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, sending a convulsive wave coursing through her body. She wanted to touch him. She had to touch him. She reached down and ran her fingers across his shoulders, reveling in the sensation of his bare skin.

  He slowly placed a series of kisses, each moving closer and closer to the heated core of her womanhood. Her senses teetered on the brink. Then he placed the most intimate kiss of all. She felt the gasp leave her throat as much as she heard it, followed by the exquisite rapture that exploded inside her.

  Ty felt the shudder rush through her body accompanied by a throaty moan of delight. He pulled her panties down her legs and tossed them on top of his clothes on the floor. He reached his hands up to her breasts as she thrust herself more fully against his mouth. He had never known anyone so honestly responsive and delightfully sensual. Everything about her excited him more than any woman he had ever known. And it was far more than sexual fun and games. The entire package of personality, brains, compassion and beauty went with that sensuality to create the most complete woman he could ever hope to know and spend time with.

  And plan a future with? It was a thought that invaded his mind more and more with each passing hour.

  He reached for the drawer in the headboard of the bed and withdrew the condom packet. He rolled over on his back and a minute later he grasped her hips in his hands. He straddled her body across his with her knees on each side of his hips, then lifted and settled her onto his erection. Her femininity snuggly encased his hardness, sending a rush of heated intensity crashing through him. She was everything he had ever wanted, everything he had hoped for—and so much more.

  They moved together in perfect unison, their lovemaking again propelling each of them to the heights of ecstasy. Their tempo increased as each neared the ultimate climax. Angie fell forward, her upper torso pressed against his body. Ty quickly rolled her over onto her back while maintaining the physical connection binding them together. He wanted the final release, yet he wanted the euphoria of their coupling to last forever.

  His mouth claimed hers—devouring, demanding and giving as much as he took. His driving passions produced deeper and quicker strokes, each one met and equaled by the upward thrust of her hips.

  She tightened her arms and legs around him as wave after wave of exquisite ecstasy convulsed through her body.

  A moment later the hard spasms shuddered through him. He held her close as he forced his breathing to a normal pattern. He continued to hold her body tightly against his. He didn’t want to ever let go. He stroked his fingers through the silky tresses of her hair, then cradled her head against his shoulder. He didn’t want to take a chance on losing her. It was a sobering thought that filled him with the type of contentment he had never before known…a contentment that left him as fearful of the implications as it did fulfilled.

  Ty and Angie returned from their sailing day shortly after dark. They secured the boat at his private dock.

  “I have a fairly busy schedule at work for the rest of this week, but the first day I can clear my calendar we’ll take out the sloop and I’ll give you your first sailing lesson. It will be work and you’ll probably end up using muscles you didn’t even know you had. So…” he shot her a teasing grin “…be prepared to be sore the next day. It’s not everyone’s idea of fun.”

  “I enjoy being on the water and if today is any example, I know I’m going to love it.”

  He pulled her into his arms. His voice took on a softness that spoke of the emotion coursing through him. “And I’m going to love teaching you, too.”

  “I read a couple of books about sailing so that I could at least be familiar with the terminology and have a better understanding of what the company does…you know, how things work and why something needs to be there. That sort of thing. I wanted to be conversant on the subject. I was going to ask Mac to teach me when he had some free time, but judging from what I’ve seen so far I could be a little old lady before that time arrives.”

  His easy laugh filled the air. “You are so right.”

  He brushed a kiss across her lips, then took her hand as they walked toward his house. It had been an ideal day filled with a perfect combination of carefree fun and heated passion. She was everything he wanted, everything he could hope for.

  So why were his insides knotted into a hard lump and his nerves dancing on edge? If only he had some insight into what she expected from him. Or, more accurately, what she assumed the future held.

  He tried to convince himself that things were very good just the way they were. They had an unspoken bond between them. There was no need to talk about commitment to a relationship—no need to make those promises that other people seemed to believe were necessary. That’s what he wanted to believe, but the thought left him as unsettled as he had been before. He didn’t want to lose her, but it seemed to him that they had managed to establish a relationship without having discussed it. There was no reason to talk about commitment now, to verbalize what was already happening.

  He knew from experience that making promises and even signing the paperwork to make it legal didn’t guarantee that a relationship would work out, that it would be lasting. It wasn’t the words or the piece of paper that made a relationship. It was how two people felt and how they behaved toward each other.

  He stopped walking for a moment, then pulled her into his embrace. He continued to hold her. In spite of his attempt to dismiss his concerns, the question continued to circ
ulate through his mind. What had been a remote concern began to loom larger and larger in his reality.

  What exactly were his feelings toward her, his concept for the future? Just how involved had he become? He tried to force the fragmented thoughts and feelings to crystallize into a single thought that would clarify things, but each time he came near the word love, the one word that would define everything, he panicked and shoved it away. All he knew for certain was that it truly frightened him.

  He gathered his determination and reinforced his long-held belief. Commitment was nothing but a word and didn’t have anything to do with how two people felt about each other. His inner turmoil began to subside. Things between them were great, so why mess it up with a bunch of unnecessary conversation and useless words about commitment and relationships?

  He forced a false sense of confidence. Things were perfect just as they were. The two of them were already sharing their time, their passion and their emotions. That was everything. That was all they needed. They continued on to the house, walking hand in hand.

  Once inside, he built a fire in the fireplace and opened a bottle of wine. They sat in front of the fire and watched the flames dance across the logs. Warmth surrounded them, enfolding them in a soft cloak of delight, caring and contentment.

  As perfect as the day had been, Angie found herself wrestling with the underlying uncertainties of what path she needed to follow. Her once single-minded objective to procure a career position with Mac’s company had been wrenched sharply off-track by her unexpected involvement—she didn’t know what else to call it, she didn’t feel comfortable using the word relationship—with Ty. If only she knew where things stood between them.

  It was a theme that continued to play over and over in her mind, something she realized she was beginning to obsess about. Each time she started to dwell on it, she tried to shove it away. It seemed to occupy more and more of her thoughts and had become a towering obstacle for her.

  Could she count on his help in approaching Mac with her desired goal? Would he be a part of her future or would working in the same environment end up being awkward for each of them? It had all been so clear in her mind the day she arrived at Mac’s house from Portland. Then she was swept into a whirling vortex of passion and emotion by the name of Tyler Farrell. Now nothing was clear. If only she could ease her mind and stop dwelling on it.

  A moment later a tingle of excitement rippled through her as Ty’s lips brushed across her nape, nibbled at her earlobe, then captured her mouth with an intense kiss that left her reeling and her concerns scattered to the far corners of the wind. Yes…she loved him. She loved this playboy who lived in the fast lane and seemed to already have everything he wanted.

  And what she wanted more than anything was him.

  Their lovemaking on the sailboat had been even more spine-tingling and all-consuming than the previous night in Ty’s bedroom. It was as if they couldn’t get enough of each other. Only the late-afternoon hour and the need to return home brought a temporary calm to the desires that continued to sizzle just below the surface—to the sensual heat she suspected would never be completely cooled.

  He ran his hand beneath her shirt and up her rib cage, his fingers tickling along her skin until he reached her bare breast. The moment he brushed his fingertips against her nipple her desires exploded into a world of need and want just as they had that afternoon. He teased her nipples with his tongue until they formed taut peaks.

  She had never felt so free, uninhibited or sexy as she did when she was with him. She reached for the snap on his cutoff jeans. She didn’t hesitate as she unfastened them. She marveled at her own aggressiveness and blatant audacity as she lowered his zipper. She bent forward and kissed his growing hardness through the fabric as it pressed against the front of his briefs.

  The doorbell rudely interrupted the rapidly escalating need that enfolded them in a cocoon of heated desires and rekindled passions. The same disappointment that swept through her body was mirrored in his eyes. His husky words told of his level of arousal. “Do you suppose whoever it is will go away if we ignore the doorbell?”

  The incessant ringing continued. She emitted a soft sigh of resignation. “Apparently not.”

  Ty reluctantly turned loose of her. They each adjusted their clothes and made a valiant attempt at regaining their composure. He placed a tender kiss on her lips, then turned his attention toward the front door. His annoyance came out in his voice and surrounded every word as he spoke. “Someone is much too persistent for their own good and I believe that’s exactly what I’m going to tell them.”

  A combination of surprise and anxiety shot through Ty when he yanked open the door and found Mac standing on his porch—certainly the last person he expected or wanted to see at that moment. He maintained his stance, neither stepping aside nor asking Mac to come in. He forced a calm to his voice, but couldn’t keep the coolness out of it. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  Mac nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “May I come in?”

  Ty paused for a moment as he decided what to do. His first inclination was to protect Angie from embarrassment. He finally stepped aside and motioned for Mac to come in. “Sure.”

  Ty remained in the foyer, not volunteering to move any farther into the house. “So, what brings you here? Did I miss a meeting? Forget to do a report?” He made no attempt to keep the sarcasm and irritation out of his voice. “I didn’t check with you before I left the offices? What?”

  “I’ve been trying to reach you all day, both on your cell phone and here at your house.”

  “It was a beautiful day so I decided to go sailing. I had my cell phone turned off because I didn’t want to be bothered.”

  “I…uh…I thought we might talk.”

  Ty leveled a steady look at Mac. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he did know it made him uncomfortable. “Okay…what do you want to talk about?”

  Mac’s exasperation covered his features. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

  “Make what easy? You haven’t told me why you’re here and I certainly wouldn’t want to make any assumptions about what might be on your mind.”

  Ty inwardly winced at the harshness of the words he had just spoken. He and Mac had never been at odds before and he didn’t like the feeling, but he still hurt from Mac’s attitude that morning—from the thinly veiled assertions that he wasn’t good enough for Angie. The brief confrontation with Mac had done more than upset him. It had also opened the door on his concerns and fears about his own future on a personal level, something that left him decidedly confused and troubled about what to do.

  Mac’s words became louder and took on a level of irritation. “Look, Ty, I don’t know what you imagined that I said—”

  “Imagined?” Ty’s volume increased to match that of his business partner. The anger he had been trying to control refused to stay tucked away. “I heard you very clearly. There was no doubt you were telling me to stay away from Angie—that I wasn’t good enough to go out with your sister.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I was merely trying to point out that she’s too young and inexperienced to handle your lifestyle. I don’t think you should—”

  “Stop it!” Angie’s shouted command broke into the rapidly escalating disagreement between the two men. They turned toward the sound. She stood framed in the doorway leading to the den. She looked from one man to the other as she walked toward them.

  Ty moved quickly to intercept her. His voice softened as it filled with emotion. “Angie—”

  Mac started to speak. “I came here straight from the office, Angie. I didn’t know you were—”

  “The two of you…just stop it!” A combination of anger and emotional upheaval filled her voice, but she didn’t care. “I can’t stand seeing this happen.” She glared at both men. She felt as if her entire life was being torn apart. On one side was the brother she idolized and on the other side was the man she
loved. She had never experienced such a helpless feeling as the sinking realization about what was happening settled over her.

  “You two have never argued about anything and here you are suddenly yelling at each other.” Her voice cracked as she fought to keep a sob from escaping her throat. “I don’t know what started it or why, but I do know that I’m to blame.”

  Mac immediately tried to smooth over the situation. “Don’t be silly, Angie. It’s just a little misunderstanding—”

  She made no attempt to curb her growing anger. “Don’t do that to me again. Stop patronizing me, Mac. Stop telling me not to be silly as if I had no concept of what was going on around me. I’m a grown woman, but you’re always treating me like a child. I’m twenty-four years old. Think back to the time you were twenty-four. Did you need to be protected from everything and everyone? Were you incapable of making intelligent and mature decisions? Did you need someone to constantly pat you on the head in a condescending manner while telling you to stop being silly and not worry your cute little head about things?”

  A look of shock spread across Mac’s face. “I don’t do that.”

  “The hell you don’t!” All of Angie’s pent-up frustration with the situation finally overruled her feelings of intimidation and awe where her brother was concerned. For the first time she gave free rein to her anger. “I wanted only one thing when I arrived here. I wanted to work for your company.”

  Mac was at an obvious loss about how to respond to this very uncharacteristic outburst. “But all you had to do was—”

  “I don’t want an entry-level position like the one you mentioned in the note you left me on the refrigerator door—I’m not interested in a receptionist position that has nothing to do with my education or my work experience. I don’t want the type of job you’d hand to me just because I asked, something that would be yet another instance of you taking care of me. I want a career position where I can prove to you that I’m good at what I do. Something where I can make a viable contribution to the company. You’ve never noticed anything about me beyond that little girl.”