Temperatures Rising

by Brenda Jackson

  “Dinner is ready.”

  He glanced over in her direction and every nerve ending in his body vibrated. He meant to tell her earlier how much he liked her outfit and how good she looked in it. This was only the second time he’d seen her dressed in anything other than a business suit, and he couldn’t wait for later when he got to see her wearing nothing at all. Deciding the sooner they finished dinner the sooner they could move on to other things, he crossed the room to her.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” she said.

  He couldn’t help but smile at that. He was hungry, and once he got a taste of what he really wanted, he planned to gobble it up. “Yes, I’m hungry.”

  And then, taking her by surprise, he leaned forward and captured her mouth with his, causing heat to immediately flare within him. And her. He felt it when he used his tongue to tangle with hers, stroking pleasure she probably didn’t want to respond to. But she was doing so anyway.

  He broke the kiss and pulled in a deep breath. Just that first sensuous vibration made his stomach tremble and tempted him to lean over and capture her mouth again. But he didn’t.

  “What was that for?” she asked in a low, stunned voice, searching his face and at the same time licking her lips.

  He grinned. “I’d thought it was time to let you know that although you’re providing dinner, I intend to serve the dessert.”

  He intended to serve dessert.

  All Sherri could do was sit across from him at her dinner table and make an attempt to enjoy what was her favorite food—shrimp fried rice—while trying not to imagine what kind of dessert he would be serving. She had ideas, of course. And those ideas had heat settling between her legs.

  “You okay?”

  She quickly glanced over at Terrence. He was sipping his wine and looking at her. She wondered if he knew what she was thinking, and if so, if he was amused by it all. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

  He smiled. “No reason, other than you’ve barely touched your food.”

  She glanced down at her plate. She had eaten enough. “I had a huge lunch today.”

  She glanced over at his plate. It was clean. “I take it that you were hungry.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, evidently. Well, at least since it was takeout, there’re no dishes to wash. Saves time.”

  She met his gaze. Was getting her into bed all he could think about? From the look in his eyes, evidently so. She stood and began clearing off the table, and he automatically stood to assist. “You don’t have to help,” she said, hoping that he wouldn’t.

  “Why don’t you go on into the living room and get comfortable,” she suggested. “You might want to check out my selection of DVDs. There might be something you want to see.”

  “A movie?” he asked with the same surprise that he’d had when she’d mentioned dinner.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes. It won’t take me long to finish up in here.”

  He glanced at the table. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “Then I’ll be waiting for you in the living room.”

  I just bet you will. As soon as he was gone, she let out a long breath. Anyone could tell she was out of her element with Terrence and serious doubt began to cloud her mind. What if the reason Ben had left her was because she’d been a disappointment to him? That meant chances were she probably wouldn’t be able to satisfy Terrence, either. How would she handle seeing him around the station knowing she’d been a failure in bed?

  She leaned against the kitchen counter. Why hadn’t she thought this through before inviting him over? She knew the answer to that one. After that kiss in the elevator, she hadn’t been thinking clearly.

  By the time she’d finished wiping off the table, she was a nervous wreck and knew just what she had to do. Terrence was expecting a little hanky-panky tonight, and somehow she was going to get out of it. After placing the chairs back neatly under the table, she pulled in a deep breath before walking out of the kitchen.

  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to detect Sherri was nervous about tonight, and that was probably the reason she was stalling, Terrence thought while flipping through her collection of DVDs, none of which he cared to watch. None of them would be able to hold his attention. The only action he was interested in was the one that would take place in Sherri’s bedroom.

  If he thought he wanted her with a passion before, now his craving had doubled, possibly even tripled. It had been pure torture sitting across from her at the table while inhaling her scent, watching her eat and how, every so often, their gazes would meet in a heated clash. More than once he’d been tempted to push the food containers aside and have her then and there.

  He needed to have tonight with her. Hopefully when it was over she would be out of his system, and his mind and body would go back to a normal state. He and Sherri understood what sharing a bed meant. Neither of them had any expectations beyond tonight.

  “Terrence?”

  He turned at the sound of her voice and once again he felt a tightening in his gut as he watched her cross the room to him. And when she came to a stop, it took all he had not to reach out and pull her into his arms and kiss her crazy. “Yes?”

  “About tonight…” She was nervously twisting her fingers and her voice sounded unsteady.

  He had an idea what she was going to say and knew immediately that he couldn’t let her. They were too close to turn back now, and he needed to reassure her that things would be all right.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but he quickly placed a finger to her lips. “Don’t say it, Sherri. I feel your uncertainty about this, about us, but I want you to do something that you might find difficult to do.”

  He saw her throat tighten when she swallowed. “What?”

  “Trust me enough to believe that in this situation, I know what we both need.”

  He watched as she studied his features and figured she was wondering how he could be so sure of what she needed. Inwardly, he was asking himself that same thing. It was scary, but he actually cared how she was feeling and he wasn’t running a game on her just to get her in bed. He was being completely honest. For a reason he couldn’t explain, one-night stand or not, he couldn’t and wouldn’t treat this affair like all his others. Although tonight would be all they had, it still meant a lot to him that she wanted things to happen as much as he did.

  And he truly believed that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He’d discovered that she had the ability to say one thing while meaning another, and as a man who was used to picking up vibes from women, he’d been able to home in on it. That was the reason he had been so persistent, working like hell to break through her resolve, wear down her resistance, so the two of them could have a night together they would both enjoy.

  It was a gimme that he desired her more than any other woman, but there was something else between them, something he’d been trying to downplay, practically ignore. And it was something he wasn’t capable of walking away from until she was out of his system. He needed tonight.

  “Trust has to be earned, Terrence,” she said softly, breaking into his thoughts.

  “And I agree,” he said, holding her gaze. His stomach clenched when she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Earning trust would be the normal course of action for most people, but we aren’t most people, Sherri. I need you to trust me enough to believe this is the best course of action we can take to move on, to work each other out of our systems. This physical attraction has turned into a physical obsession, and there’s only one way to end it. But I need you to feel safe with me.”

  Her lips tightened. “I do feel safe with you, Terrence, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

  That’s what he needed to hear. “Good.” He reached out and took her hand. “Come here. Let’s sit down and talk awhile.”

  Now it was her turn to look surprised. “Talk?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, talk. And if we go beyond just talking, it w
ill be left up to you.”

  She allowed him to lead her to the sofa, and when she moved to sit down beside him he pulled her into his lap. She started to get up, but his firm arms kept her immobile. “Stay still. I won’t bite.”

  She parted her lips to say something, but then immediately closed them. Good thing. He would have been tempted to break his promise and make the first move by kissing her. He had such a weakness for her mouth, it was almost unnerving.

  He shifted positions on the sofa, and once he had her tucked in his lap the way he wanted, he glanced down at her to find her staring at him. “Comfortable?”

  “Yes.”

  “So,” he said, trying to ignore the furious pounding of his heart, “what do you think of Key West so far?”

  That question kicked off a series of others, sparking a lot of conversation between them, some of it serious, most not. His goal was to keep her talking so she could feel relaxed with him. And it was working. She sat up in his lap and shared with him how her cousins—Jackie, Reatha and Alyson—used to get into all kinds of trouble with their parents while growing up, and how Warrick was the one who would always come to their rescue. He could tell she was close to her uncle and sensed a special bond between them.

  He couldn’t help but study her while she talked. That she had loosened up was obvious in her face. No frowns. No scrunching up of her forehead. No glaring of the eyes. She had smooth skin, beautiful skin. And her eyes, ears and nose were perfect. Then there was her mouth. He quickly decided not to go there.

  In good time the conversation switched to him, placing him in the spotlight. And he did something with her that he typically didn’t do with other women. He shared a little about his pro career, his retirement from the game, his siblings, his father. He even went so far as to mention that his father was dating the woman who had been his secretary for over fifteen years. A woman everyone knew had been in love with him for years. He expressed just how happy he and his siblings were about the developing relationship and how they hoped to hear something of a planned wedding soon.

  It was only after sharing that bit of news that he noticed just how cozy he and Sherri had gotten together. Sometime during the past hour or so, they had eased into a more comfortable spot on the sofa. He was reclining sideways with his back against the armrest and she was sprawled all over him. Only when there was a lag in conversation did either of them realize it. Sherri quickly made a move to sit up.

  The hand he placed on her shoulder halted her. “Please stay.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment. Somewhere in her house he could actually hear the ticking of a clock, but for them it seemed time was standing still. That realization gaze him pause, and he continued to stare at her with the same intensity as she was staring at him. He became entranced, totally and irrevocably mesmerized, by the look in her eyes. In response, his body started getting hot; his desire was on the rise…as well as a certain part of his anatomy. The need to kiss her, touch her and play out his fantasies—the ones that invaded his nightly dreams—surged in him. But he fought back the temptation, determined to do what he’d promised and let her be in control. He had placed her in the driver’s seat, and he was willing to go wherever she transported them.

  “It’s your call,” he said in a deep, husky voice. “You can play or you can pass. Which do you want to do?”

  She continued to hold his gaze, and then she closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she reopened them, he immediately sensed a change in her and was well aware that she had made her decision. And by the look in her eyes, he had a gut feeling just what that decision would be. Yet his heart appeared to have stopped beating until she spoke aloud to confirm his assumption.

  “I want to play.”

  He simply nodded as intense heat fired up his blood. After inhaling deeply, he said, “Your serve.”

  She slowly raised her body to lean forward, and he could feel the beating of her heart against his chest. Her hardened nipples felt right pressing into him, and her body’s heat was combining with his, causing a frisson of electric energy. Never before had he wanted a woman more, and when she tilted her mouth upward toward his, he leaned in to meet her halfway.

  Her mouth closed over his, and in that moment the full impact of what they were doing blasted through his loins and he felt his arousal pressed solidly against her thigh. If she minded the hard contact, she didn’t show it. She was too busy tangling her tongue with his and stretching up as far as she could to take the kiss deeper and make it last longer.

  He grabbed her around her waist and gently pulled her body closer. With a compulsive need, he deepened the kiss like it was the greatest gift he could ever receive. Something he had been waiting his lifetime to have.

  What made it even more special was that she had been the one to initiate it. She was surrendering herself to him willingly, and he was taking her mouth greedily. He had been right all along: she was a very passionate woman. He could feel her passion, taste it. And more than anything, he wanted to bury himself in the very heat of that passion, right inside her.

  When breathing became necessary, she pulled away from his mouth and leaned against the back of the sofa to breathe in deeply while staring into his face. Their positions had shifted again and somehow she had him on his back beneath her.

  Her lips were swollen from their kiss, her eyes aflame with desire, her face flushed with sensual need. At that moment he realized that Sherri Griffin was no ordinary woman. No ordinary woman had the capability to do the things she was doing to him. She had his entire body throbbing, his blood rushing through his veins, his insides on fire.

  “It’s your turn,” she said, severing his thoughts.

  His breathing deepened to a feverish pitch. “Are you sure?”

  He knew what giving him a turn meant, but he wanted to make sure she knew, as well. Before she could respond to his question, he said, “I think it’s only fair to warn you that I’ve wanted you from that first day in Warrick’s office. Since then I’ve dreamed about you and me together this way countless times. Fantasized about it, as well. Once I take my turn, Sherri, I might not be able to stop. Chances are that I won’t.”

  To indicate that she fully understood, she nodded. And then she swallowed deep in her throat before asking in a breathless tone, “Do you intend to play or pass, Terrence?”

  He shifted both their bodies sideways and then leaned in closer and said in a deep, husky voice, “I intend to play.”

  “Then it’s your serve.”

  That was all he needed to hear.

  Chapter 7

  T errence had kissed her several times before, but nothing, Sherri thought, could have prepared her for this. He wasn’t just kissing her. He was staking a claim to her mouth that one would think went beyond a mere one-night stand. There was an urgent need within him. Demanding. And she felt it all the way through to her bones.

  He was kissing her like she was the core to his very existence, and she could do nothing more than respond while her insides quivered and sensations surged through her nerve endings.

  Then his hands seemed to roam everywhere, on her breasts, underneath her skirt, touching her as if she belonged to him, not just for tonight but for days to come, weeks, months, years. The absurdity of that thought stuck in her mind, but not for long. The moment he used his legs to nudge her thighs apart and then put his hand between them to touch her intimately through her panties, any and all thoughts dispersed from her mind on a breathless moan. He pulled his hand back then and broke off their kiss, but she had a feeling he was just beginning.

  And he proved her right.

  Their eyes caught just seconds before he pushed back enough to start removing her clothes. He pulled her blouse easily over her head. Tossing it aside, he undid the front clasp of her bra in one smooth flick of the wrist. Once he had taken that off her, his gaze feasted on the twin globes and the hardened buds of her nipples. He sat back on his haunches, examined them in detail with his eyes, and she felt
the heat of his gaze as it trailed all over her chest.

  After getting his visual fill, he stood to remove her skirt. Words were not spoken between them. None were needed. It was accepted. Understood. She knew they wanted the same thing, and tonight they would be getting it.

  With his fingers in the waistband of her skirt, he gently eased it down her legs, baring all of her to him in the process. She was wearing a pair of bikini panties, but from the way he was looking at her she might as well not have been wearing anything at all.

  The skirt went flying over the sofa, and she tilted her head back to look up at him. He smiled, and at that moment she was lost in a sea of desire so deep she felt herself drowning in it. But she knew there was no way he would let her go under. Tonight was far from over, and when he leaned down and picked her up in his arms, she knew it would be a long, hot night.

  Following Sherri’s direction, Terrence headed for her bedroom as a gigantic need roared to life inside him. It had been there all the time, increasing steadily in slow degrees, but now it seemed to have taken on a life of its own.

  He placed her on the bed and then followed her, easing back into the soft bedcovers with her, craving the taste of her mouth again. Tangling with her tongue sent erotic sensations rushing down his veins, and when he finally pulled back from the kiss, he knew he would take pleasure in removing the last garment from her body.

  Straddling her, he began easing her panties down her legs. As soon as he tossed them aside, his gaze latched on to the area between her thighs. That part of her held his gaze tightly, and he seemed unable to release it. He finally shifted his eyes to roam over her entire body, and the only word that came to his mind was beautiful. Every delectable inch of her.

  He stood and began removing his own clothes and couldn’t get out of them fast enough. Seeing her in that bed naked and waiting for him was almost more than he could handle. He’d had more than his share of sexual encounters before, but none had him quivering from the inside out like this one.