The Accidental Encore

by Hayes, Christy

  His words, spoken through ragged breaths, had alarm bells ringing in her head. She pulled his lips back to hers and tried to lose herself in his kiss, but the ringing in her ears wouldn't stop. She pushed him far enough away to catch her breath. “Do you remember me telling you I'm quitting teaching and going back to school?”

  His brows drew together and his unfocused eyes narrowed. “You never told me that.”

  It was all she needed to hear. She smiled, giddy with relief, and flipped around in his arms to spread her hands against the door as if he were going to do a pat down. “Zipper runs right down the middle.”

  ***

  He'd lost his mind. As he ordered his hands off and down, they went up, seeking her zipper, and down to expose a column of pale white skin, the contrast made all the more stark against the black of her bra. Before he could push the material off her shoulders, he ran his lips along the base of her neck and nipped at the nape. The dress slithered like a snake over her curves to land in a puddle at her feet. He could only marvel at the beauty of Allie in her underwear and three inch heels.

  He unfastened her bra before letting his hands feast on every inch of her milky skin. Everything. She was everything he feared, everything he desired. She leaned against him, a moan of pleasure on her lips. She covered his hands with her own as they cupped her breasts, pinching at her nipples, her bottom snug and swaying against his groin. A man could die from just the feel and taste of her skin.

  Who was this woman in his arms, coaxing, urging him to touch, to feel, to take? She turned, and if he'd thought her beautiful before, this Allie, aroused beyond good sense, was magnificent. She tugged urgently at his sweatshirt, yanking it up and over his head. She tossed it aside and made quick work of his jeans as he slipped his fingers inside her panties and found her more than willing, but ready. His jeans fell with a thud on the floor.

  “Allie,” he croaked as she wrapped her long fingers around him, guiding him toward her. “I'm not going to take you against the door.”

  “Just take me, Craig. I can't stand it,” she panted. “I can't wait. Don't make me wait.”

  He swallowed her moan as he lifted her leg and rammed inside her. When she cinched around him in a torturous vice, the animal inside of him broke free. Flesh pounded flesh as teeth nipped and fingers plundered. There were no tender words or gentle grazes, only man and woman mating in a fight for the finish. Every breath he took, every thought he had was of her. When she exploded around him, it was her name on his lips as the world narrowed to a pinpoint and he emptied his soul.

  ***

  Allie felt as exposed as a live wire. She had both feet on the ground, but it would be a while before she felt steady on her feet. She gulped air into her lungs and fought the urge to slide bonelessly to the floor. The sound of Craig's breathing echoed in her ear as his hair tickled the raw skin of her neck. They'd battered and battled and somehow remained vertical when the world crashed around them in an explosion of glorious smoke.

  He shifted and rested his forehead against hers. “Christ,” he said in a whisper. “Are we still alive?”

  She chuckled and let her hand drift along his nicely muscled back to rest on his butt. Everything about the last few...minutes, hours—God only knew how long they'd wrestled against the door—was a blur. She knew she'd need more from him even as he pulled back and left her shaking. “If we're dead, I'm doing pretty good in the afterlife.”

  “Blondie, you're more than good.”

  Was it possible to blush when she'd just begged for and been ravished to within an inch of her life? “I'm feeling just reckless enough to admit I want more, but since I can't stand up much longer, I'm going to have to insist on a bed.”

  He did the unthinkable. Just when she expected him to push her toward the couch, he scooped her into his arms and began carrying her up the stairs. Oh, yes, she thought. She was going to need to spend some serious time getting a good look at this body of his. So strong, he carried her as if she weighed nothing. He set his lips on hers in a kiss of devastating tenderness before dropping her like a sack of wheat on the bed. The room was lit only by a small lamp along the wall in the adjoining seating area.

  He climbed over her and slung onto his back, his breath coming out in pants. “I’m going to need a minute or two.”

  “Take your time,” she said. Too late to feel shy or awkward around him, she didn't want to waste a second on such worthless emotions. She leaned up and cupped her head in her palm as her other hand stroked along his abdomen. “Yeah,” she said. “I’d say you're more than average.”

  He chuckled and sucked in a breath when her hand reached lower to tease. “Ummm, much better than average.”

  It took more than a minute, but less than five to have him reversing their positions and working his way over her. Here was the man who'd fixed her porch, the man who read her moods and heard her words, the man who could read her mind if the direction of his mouth were any indication. Both of him, all of him, the Craig who'd taken her with abandon against his front door and the one who suckled tenderly at her breast and beyond were the man who'd won her heart. She gave herself to him in a way she'd never done with another, body, heart, and soul.

  Chapter 29

  He'd forgotten to shut the blinds. That was the first thought Craig had as the sun slanted across his face and his eyes fluttered open. When his arm wouldn't budge, the cloud lifted from his brain and he whipped his head around to find Allie, gloriously naked, sprawled along the edge of the bed, her hair like a riotous halo over his arm and the pillow.

  He rubbed his hand over his face even as other, more potent parts of his body sprang to life. What had he done? What in the name of God had possessed him to carry her upstairs to his bed and into his life? When she stirred, he shimmied his hand out from under her head and stared as she turned over and nestled on her back. She fisted the sheet in her hands on her stomach, leaving her breasts exposed and as tempting as a tallboy filled with bourbon at an AA meeting. He sprang up and dashed into the bathroom. It would be a cold shower for him this morning. A very cold shower indeed.

  ***

  Allie stretched as muscles, long unused, heated. Her conscience flared to life. She reached her hand across the bed and found it empty. Blinking against the sunlight that streamed through the up drawn blinds, she sat up and gasped as the bathroom door opened and Craig appeared, still dripping water from his shower, a towel hanging low on his hips.

  “Good morning,” she said. She couldn't read his expression. It teetered somewhere between annoyance and shock. She wasn't sure, on so little sleep, which she preferred.

  “Morning.” He averted his eyes and made a beeline for the closet.

  Okay, Allie thought. He's uncomfortable. Not exactly the reaction she expected after they'd spent half the night wrapped around one another. But this was Craig she was dealing with, which meant she needed to proceed with caution. “What time is it?” she asked.

  “After nine,” he called from the closet.

  “Nine?” She couldn't remember the last time she'd whiled the morning away in bed.

  “You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like, but I've got to get to the house. I'm meeting a contractor in half an hour.”

  “Oh.” It hurt. Unquestionably it hurt for him to rush out of his house with her naked and more than willing in his bed, but he did have a job to do. So did she, when it came right down to it, even though she'd chuck all responsibility out the window to feel his hands on her again. “Okay.”

  “There's not much in the way of breakfast. Couple boxes of cereal that Leah likes and maybe a box of frozen waffles.”

  “I'm not worried about breakfast, Craig.”

  “Good.” He emerged wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a worn red flannel shirt. He wouldn't look her in the eye. “I mean, have whatever.” He sat on the bench in the sitting area and laced up his work boots.

  This wasn't good. He was back to running scared. This wasn't about her, she told herself a
s the seconds slipped to minutes in absolute silence. She let the sheet fall where she'd held it clutched to cover her chest. It was weak and shallow, but she'd use any trick in the book to break him out of that infuriatingly distant mood.

  She should be pleased to see he wasn't immune after all. The swell in his crotch was unmistakable as he moved past the bed on his way to the door. When she pulled the sheet away from her body and slid to the side of the bed to stand up, he practically jumped for the door handle.

  “I'll buzz you later,” he called over his shoulder.

  Naked and more exposed than she'd ever felt in her life, Allie dropped to the side of the bed and cried.

  Chapter 30

  Melissa rushed into the restaurant as fast as she could maneuver the stroller through the throngs of holiday shoppers. She searched over the crowd until she spotted Allie in a corner booth by the window. She left the stroller by the entrance, snagged a booster seat on her way, and wrestled with Henry as he bucked and fought the enclosure. She hadn't gotten more than a glimpse of Allie's face, but she knew something was wrong.

  “He's really feisty today, huh?” Allie said.

  “Unusually so.” She fished a toy out of her bag and he thanked her by throwing it at her head. “Okay, how about nothing, then.”

  With an exasperated sigh, she eased into the booth. “Oh no. What's going on?”

  “What do you mean, oh no?”

  “I mean I can tell something's wrong. So spill. I might not have much time.”

  The waitress showed up and deposited silverware and took their drink order. Allie had that glazed over look like she had in the weeks after Nick had dumped her. “So?” Melissa asked as soon as the waitress turned her back on the table.

  “I slept with Craig.”

  “Okay. Why do you look like you've lost your best friend?”

  “I haven't heard from him since.”

  “When did it happen?”

  “Two weeks ago.”

  Melissa tried, but failed to keep the surprise from her face. “Two weeks. Yikes. Have you called him?”

  “Yes.”

  “And? Come on, Allie. Don't make me pry this out of you detail by detail.”

  “We made love, repeatedly, and in the morning, he bolted from his own house like his pants were on fire. He said, 'I'll buzz you later,' and I haven't heard from him since.”

  “How many times have you called?”

  “I waited three agonizing days before calling him. I left a message on his cell, which is always with him. No answer, no return call. I waited until the following week, a week ago Tuesday, and left another message on his cell. Nothing. I called him once at home, but didn't leave a message.”

  “So you have no idea what happened to scare him off? Was the sex bad?”

  She let out a mirthless laugh. “No. It was not bad, for either of us.”

  “Okay, tell me what happened in the morning.”

  “I woke up and he was in the bathroom. He came out, freshly showered, and wouldn't even look at me. He hid in the closet and emerged fully dressed while regaling me with the various breakfast items I could help myself to after he left for a work appointment.”

  Melissa pulled a container of Goldfish out of her purse and dumped a few on the table when Henry began his Houdini routine. “Let's back up, since it sounds like you didn't have time to say or do something the morning after. How did you end up together?”

  “I went out with Jamie. You remember Jamie Morgan? Beth's brother?”

  “Yeah, big guy, dark hair?”

  “Yes. I told you we went out and had a good time. We went out four times in one week. I was getting stars in my eyes the way I always do when someone I like is interested. On Saturday night, he took me to Bones.”

  “Very nice.”

  “Yes, it was. But...I had this feeling that something wasn't right. I mean, we'd been on four dates and I knew he expected to take me home. I was okay with that—I thought I was, but something didn't feel quite right. So I tested him.”

  “Tested him?”

  “Craig said men wouldn't listen to me because of the way I look. He said they'd pretend to listen, but not really listen. So I asked Jamie if he remembered me telling him something, something kind of important, and he said yes. Only I'd never said what I reminded him I'd said, so I knew he wasn't listening.”

  “Okay...”

  The waitress set down their waters and said their food would be out in a jiffy.

  “I got mad at Craig. I was furious at him for making me understand men so clearly and causing an abrupt end to a promising new relationship. I know, my rationale was twisted, but I was upset. I went to his house and confronted him, basically yelled at him because he did listen. He did pay attention. He always has.”

  Her face got all soft and Melissa could tell she was fighting the lump in her throat. Poor Allie, she thought. The girl was sunk. “So what did he do?”

  “He tried to get me to leave. He said...what did he say, exactly?” She rubbed her temple and closed her eyes, thinking back to the night she was trying to describe. “He said I needed to go before we both did something we'd regret.”

  “But you didn't go?”

  “I told him to kick me to the curb or take me to bed.”

  Melissa nearly choked on her water. “You said that?”

  “Yes.” Allie smirked. “I did.”

  “So he took you to bed.”

  She shook her head from side to side. “Right there against the door. It was incredible and it wasn't just me. I've lived with the afterglow of mediocre sex and this didn't come anywhere near that vicinity.”

  “Wow,” Melissa said. She flicked some condensation from her glass onto her face. “Is it hot in here, or is it just me?”

  “Then he carried me to bed—carried me up the stairs—and made love to me like I was the most precious, the most desirable woman in the world.”

  Melissa let out a breath and thought fleetingly of the last time she and Ben had had sex. The quickie in the closet didn't even count as far as she was concerned. “I can see why you're a little confused by his morning after routine.”

  “It wasn't just that he bolted. He's skittish with his situation and all, I get that. But this non-communication? I don't get this. He's not a coward, and it's not like I've been stalking him. And if he didn't want to see me again, he should at least have the decency to call and tell me. Even Nick, the stupid jerk, confessed to cheating on me to my face.”

  “I don't know what to tell you, Allie.” Their food arrived and they both stared at each other over their plates. “Don't get mad at me for asking this, but are you sure you're not just romanticizing the night?”

  “Believe me, Mel, I'm not. He was right there with me the entire time until the morning.” She picked up her fork and pushed the lettuce around the bowl.

  “What about the brother?”

  “What about him?”

  “Have you asked him about Craig?”

  “No. What am I supposed to say? Hey, Mark, did Craig happen to mention the night we spent together and that he's avoiding my calls?”

  Melissa gave Henry the breadstick that came with her salad. He dropped it on the floor. “How about asking if Craig is okay since you haven't heard from him in a couple of weeks?”

  Allie sighed. “I don't know. That seems too obvious.”

  “Do you want to know or not?”

  “At this point, I'm pretty sure I know. And it pisses me off.”

  “Good.” Melissa reached across the table and grasped Allie's hand. “As long as you don't start blaming yourself for his inadequacies. His immature behavior has nothing to do with you, Allie, and if you start blaming yourself, that's going to piss me off.”

  ***

  Craig honked his horn and screamed around the car in front of him as it let off a carload of people in a no stopping zone, but he had to slam on the brakes when he almost barreled into a pedestrian. He loosened his hold on the steering wheel and
took a deep breath. Get a grip, he told himself as he counted in his head to ten before exiting the home remodeling center.

  His cell phone slid from the passenger seat to the floor. When he reached over and picked it up at the red light, he scanned his calls. No more messages or missed calls from Allie. He wanted to feel relieved, but he didn't feel anything but foolish for avoiding her and for letting her get under his skin.

  He knew he couldn't hide from her forever. He'd made a mistake being with her. He knew he couldn't trust himself not to make it again if he talked to her or saw her before he had his emotions in check. She'd be pissed; he knew her well enough to know that he'd hurt her and she wouldn't make it easy. If she were anyone else, he'd have walked away and never looked back, but this was Allie.

  Leah had called and left a message. He banged his fist against the wheel after listening to her beg him to come to dinner that night. Tuesday. The night Allie would be there for her lesson. The night she stayed for dinner.

  His phone rang as he scowled at the display and he knew he couldn't avoid her forever. “Hey, squirt.”

  “Are you coming for dinner?” Leah asked.

  “I'd like to, but I'm juggling two jobs right now.”

  “You're too busy for your family?”

  He recognized that tone. It didn't bode well for his chances. “I'm too busy, period.”

  “I haven't seen you in forever, Uncle Craig. Please, I'm begging you. It's lasagna. You know you love Dad's lasagna.”

  “Leah...”

  “Please, Uncle Craig. Please?”

  His head was pounding; he had four loads to drop off before heading to the new house for measurements and an assload of paperwork waiting at home. “I can’t,” he said. “I’ll try and stop by another day after work.”

  “Don’t bother,” she said. “We’re obviously not that important.”

  “Leah…”

  “Whatever. I gotta go.”

  Craig sighed when the line went dead. It was time to face things head on, one angry woman at a time. Leah would have to get in line.