She drifted into the kitchen and just stood and stared for a moment. If there was such a thing as being too neat and tidy, Scott had it down to a science. She decided he must have a maid service because the place was simply too big for one person to keep this clean. The dining room was predominantly taken up with by a huge oakwood table and chairs and she couldn’t help running her hand over the smooth wood. There was also a nice sized full bathroom and a study.
Mina could have spent hours in the study and been perfectly content to do so. One whole wall was made up of a built-in bookshelf. It even had one of those rolling ladders she’d seen in the library. Scott’s desk was a massive piece of furniture, complete with a leather chair big enough to accommodate his large frame. She thought he must spend a lot of time in the room because it carried his scent. That alone would have been reason enough for her to want to spend hours in it. Mina left the study winding her way back to the foyer just as Scott was coming back down from his room.
“Would you like to see upstairs?”
“I’d love to,” she said, taking the hand he held out for her.
He took her down a hallway to the right then took another right down another hall. Three good sized bedrooms and a full bathroom faced the ocean. Back the way they’d come, another three rooms and full bath took up the space just past the stairway. To the left of the staircase was a room just slightly smaller than the bedrooms.
“I thought this would make a good study for my wife,” he told her.
The room was bare, but Mina could picture just how she would furnish it if she lived there. Then they moved onto a much larger room filled with workout benches, a universal gym, and weights. Scott told her he liked having it close to his room so he could work out before he went to bed, hop in the shower, then go right to his room. She followed him around the corner past one door to the middle of the hallway and stepped into the master bedroom.
Mina felt as if she’d walked into a small apartment rather than a bedroom. To the right of the room, a small sofa was positioned in front of a massive big screen television. There were more bookshelves lined with books and even another fireplace. To the left was the bed itself along with a huge walk-in closet and a cozy sitting area with two lazy boys. Mina touched the rich wood of the massive poster on Scott’s bed. It was larger than a regular king sized bed and she imagined he’d had it specially made.
“Well? What do you think?”
She turned to find him standing right behind her. “It’s amazing. The whole house is just beautiful, but this bed is the most beautiful piece of furniture I’ve ever seen.”
Scott watched her admire the woodwork. He tried to keep his mind from straying, but when she sat down on the edge of the bed to test the springs, he nearly came unglued. God, how he wanted to ease her back onto the mattress and make love to her. He could almost picture her unruly curls spread across his pillow and the way the morning sun would look falling across her face.
“We’d better go,” he said thickly. “It’s getting late and Buster’s still in the truck.” When Mina jumped off the bed and slipped her hand into his, Scott gritted his teeth and had to force himself to lead her out of his room and back down the stairs.
****
He let Mina drive the short distance from his house to hers. “I really should let you start driving when we’re not going to get up on the highway. You need the practice since our time will be consumed with fixing up the house for a while.”
Mina helped Scott carrying in all the paint and supplies. She stood in the middle of the living room, hands on her hips and looked around. “Should we start in here?”
“It’s as good a place as any. Why don’t you start on the far wall while I spackle the holes over on this side. They’re small enough, they’ll probably be dried by the time we get ready to paint.”
Mina had chosen an eggshell white for the living room because she liked the clean freshness of the color. It would also enable her to choose any color scheme for the furniture. She spread out the plastic covering on the floor and pried open the first can of paint. It didn’t occur to her until she’d started stirring it that she would need something to stand on to reach the top of the wall.
She glanced over at Scott to ask what she should do, but the words died on her lips. He’d worn a pair of old jeans, which had obviously been used to paint in before, and a black t-shirt. One arm was stretched just a little above his head and Mina was totally mesmerized by the way his muscles rippled as he worked the spackle into the hole and smoothed it over. Her eyes moved over his broad shoulders to his incredibly sexy behind. His hips moved slowly back and forth as he worked and her throat became painfully dry when the thought flitted through her head; what would it feel like to be lying beneath him with his hips moving like that?
“Mina, is something wrong?”
Mina’s eyes lifted to find Scott looking at her with an amused smile. Oh God, he had to have noticed exactly what she’d been staring at. “I…um…I won’t be able to reach the top of the wall.”
“I had some ladders brought over when they delivered the appliances. I’ll go find one for you.”
She nodded mutely, mortified that she’d been caught staring at his rear end. She was still standing in the same position when Scott brought the ladder back and set it in place for her.
“All set,” he said with a wink.
She tore her eyes away from him and forced herself to get back to the task at hand. Once she’d poured the paint and climbed the ladder to work on the top half of the wall first, Scott started asking her questions about her family. Glad to have something to think about besides his magnificent body, Mina told him about the farm and her life there. She was the oldest of the five Harmon children and was four when Chris was born.
“The boys are all two years apart. George is nineteen, Will is seventeen, and Waylon is fifteen.”
Scott turned around. “Wait, you have brothers named Will and Waylon?”
She smiled. “Yes. Actually all my brothers were named after country singers, but Will refuses to go by Willie.”
“I guess you should be grateful your parents weren’t into sports stars at the time or you might have brothers named Pele or Kareem.”
Mina giggled and shook her head. “No, my parents weren’t into soccer or basketball. They probably wouldn’t have been into sports at all if my brothers hadn’t all played football.” She climbed down from the ladder and pulled it back then started to pour more paint for the bottom half of the wall.
Scott crossed the room and stood before her. “Wait a minute. You know who Pele and Kareem are?”
Mina straightened up. “Well sure. Pele is the all-time top scorer in the history of the Brazil national soccer team, and everybody knows who Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is.”
“Is that because you actually like sports or because of your recall thing?”
“I told you I devour every book I can get my hands on, but I do try to read things I’m interested in. I like sports in general, but football is my favorite. As for my recall thing, I could probably go to a sports bar and rake up if you played a game of sports facts for money.”
He eyed her skeptically. “Okay, tell me what team Kareem was playing for in 1967.”
Mina smiled up at him. “You still don’t quite believe me do you? Okay, Mr. Travis, here goes. Kareem played center for UCLA from 1965 to 1969 then for the Milwaukee Bucks from 1969 to 1975. From 1975 to 1989, he played for the Los Angeles Lakers. He accumulated 38,387 points, the NBA’s highest career total to date. Kareem is seven foot two and was famous for his Skyhook shot, plus he won the Most Valuable Player Award six times. Do you want me to go on?”
He whistled between his teeth. “I’m definitely taking you to a sports bar. We’ll be rich in no time.”
“We? Who says I’ll cut you in?”
“You’ll need someone with a little muscle to collect the winnings for you.”
“Ha! You think I couldn’t get my money if someone tried to wh
eedle out of a bet?”
Scott gave her a cocky grin. “Honey, a strong wind could blow you half a block away.”
“You forget I managed to get out of your choke hold. Having big muscles doesn’t count for everything.”
“You still think you could free yourself if I decided otherwise?”
Before she could answer, Scott was on her. He grabbed her wrists and maneuvered them behind her back then pulled her into his chest, pinning her there with the strength of his arms. She tipped her head back, her heart hammering in her chest from the nearness of him. Scott’s head was bent over her, his lips so close she could feel the warmth of them on hers.
“So? Tell me how you’d get out of this one,” he said huskily.
Mina’s eyes met his and felt the air leave her lungs. She had very little experience with men, but there was no mistaking the look of heated desire Scott gave her. Her knees went weak and her whole body started trembling. She said his name in a hoarse whisper, not quite sure what she was more afraid of; that he would kiss her or that he wouldn’t.
“I want you, Mina,” he finally said in a deep, throaty voice.
Chapter 6
Mina’s heart fluttered. “You…you want me?”
“I want…”
Scott stopped himself and looked into her trusting eyes. Mina wasn’t like any of the other women he’d been with. She wouldn’t give him her body without giving him her heart too. He couldn’t do that to her, not without making a commitment beyond casual sex. And there would be nothing casual about taking Mina to bed.
“I want you to try and get loose.”
Mina blinked, confused by the abrupt change in the way he was looking at her. “Oh,” was all she could think of to say.
Then she went completely limp in his arms. For just a fraction of a second, Scott’s grip loosened, but it was all she needed. She bowed her back and when her body was separated from his, she brought her knee up between his thighs and held it firmly against his crotch.
“That could have been very painful if I’d wanted it to be,” she said when he instinctively doubled over to protect himself.
Mina’s heart was still pumping at a furious pace and she could barely draw in a steady breath. She felt incredibly stupid for thinking Scott meant he actually wanted her in a way a man wants a woman and now all she wanted to do was get back to painting so he couldn’t see how embarrassed she was for having such thoughts. She gave him a weak smile, picked her brush up and went back to painting.
Scott stood there for a moment and watched her. He’d seen the hurt look in her eyes just before she turned away from him and felt even more remorseful than before. He finished filling the holes in the wall and started painting the wall opposite Mina, attempting to make light conversation a few times, but her answers had been short and forced. Damn, he hadn’t meant to hurt her, but what could he do now? He could still feel the way she’d trembled in his arms and how wonderful her body felt pressed so close to his. He wanted her more than ever.
Scott picked up his paint and moved to the wall he’d spackled earlier then went back for his ladder. Mina had already started on the left side, so he positioned his ladder on the right. He worked faster than she did, having had more experience with painting, but also because his reach was longer and his strokes broader. She was just past the halfway point on the wall when he moved his ladder next to hers. Scott climbed up so they were nearly eye to eye and chuckled when he saw the perfect round dot of paint on the tip of her nose.
“What?” She said with a smile.
“You’re wearing some of the paint,” he told her, pulling out the cloth he’d stuffed in his pocket. “Let me get it for you.”
Mina leaned over the top of her ladder towards him and Scott cupped her chin with one hand then gently wiped away the paint. She tried not to think about how warm his calloused hand felt on her skin or how close his mouth was to hers, but his touch still sent a light shiver up her spine and her heart was once again thumping wildly in her chest. Then her eyes lifted to his when he took the cloth away but continued to cup her chin. Her breath caught in her throat as his hand moved around to the back of her neck, his fingers entwining themselves in her hair. Scott pulled her to him until his lips were brushing hers.
“My sweet Mina,” he whispered, “give me a reason not to kiss you.”
There were a million reasons he shouldn’t do it, but Mina’s mind couldn’t grasp a single one. She didn’t want to give him a reason; she wanted her mind to remain blissfully blank until it was too late to think of anything. She felt her eyes closing and the warmth of his lips on hers when she leaned into him. His kiss sent off a powerful chemical reaction and her whole body exploded with sensations that were so alien to her she wasn’t sure what was happening.
His lips moved against hers in a gentle massage that made her stomach flutter as if a thousand butterflies had taken flight. Then his tongue pressed against her teeth, coaxing her mouth open to allow him greater access and Mina thought she had never tasted anything so wonderful in her life. Her body was assaulted with emotions and sensations she wasn’t even aware it was capable of. An aching throb began to build between her thighs and a helpless whimper sounded deep in her throat. When Scott finally lifted his mouth from hers, she let out a small cry of protest. Then her eyelids fluttered open to find him smiling contentedly at her.
“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he said huskily.
She smiled back at him. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted you to do that.”
His hand caressed the side of her face. “Your skin’s so soft,” he said barely above a whisper. Scott glanced at the wall. “I suppose we should finish up here.”
“I suppose we should,” she replied, but neither one of them moved.
“Maybe just one more.” He pulled her mouth back to his.
The kiss seemed to go on forever, but it wasn’t nearly long enough as far as Mina was concerned. Then they both smiled at each other conspiratorially as if they shared some great secret before returning to the job of painting. Scott finished the top of the wall while Mina descended the ladder and started on the bottom half. When they met again in the middle and Mina applied the last stroke, Scott took the paint brush from her hand and set it aside.
He pulled her into his arms. “Now I’m going to kiss you like I really wanted to the first time.”
****
He crushed her to his chest, his strong arms pulling her so close a breath of air couldn’t have passed between them. His kiss was hard and hungry and she found herself winding her arms around his neck and pulling him down, wanting more, needing more. He tasted divine and the feel of his corded chest pressing into her was driving her half mad with desire. Then Mina felt something else and with a start she realized what the hard firmness against the soft flesh of her belly was. Scott was aroused by her, he wanted her. She moved her hips slowly from side to side, trying desperately to ease the heated rush that had settled deep in her abdomen. She wanted to feel the length of him and nestled her hips even more firmly between his thighs.
Scott drew his mouth from hers abruptly. “Mina, baby, you’ve got to stop doing that,” he said in a tight, strained voice.
Fearful she’d done something wrong, that she’d upset him for some reason, Mina apologized. “I’m sorry, Scott. I’ve never done this before so I didn’t know…” She looked at him timidly, helplessly. “Was it wrong, what I did?”
He laughed softly. “No, honey, it wasn’t wrong. I just didn’t think I could take much more without losing control.” He rested his forehead on hers. “I want to make love to you, Mina. But not here, not like this.” He lifted his head and looked into her hypnotizing eyes. “I want our first time to be special. I want to be able to make love to you all night and wake up in the morning still holding you in my arms.”
There was nothing Mina wanted more than to feel his heated flesh against hers, but she’d never given herself to a man before and didn’t wan
t it to be a one-time thing. She dropped her arms from around his neck.
“I can’t,” she said despondently. Mina looked at him, her heart so heavy she felt like crying. “I’m not sophisticated like the women you’re used to dating, Scott. I can’t just go to bed with you and pretend it doesn’t mean anything.”
He tightened his arms around her. “That’s not what I’m asking for.” He gave her a soft kiss. “I tried not to feel anything for you, Mina, but I can’t fight it. Hell,” he laughed, “I don’t want to fight it. I know you’re different, sweetheart, and I knew when I kissed you what I was getting myself in for. I don’t want a one night stand or a short lived affair.”
INNOCENCE AND ARROGANCE Page 9