Lang turned to lean one hip on the railing, looking directly at Heddy’s profile when he said, “I’m having some trouble being proud of him, that’s for sure.”
Lang turned the rest of the way around, leaning back on the railing and staring into the banquet room. And there was silence again, longer this time.
“On the other hand,” he finally said in a lighter tone as he nudged her shoulder with his. “Maybe it sounds selfish but if it all hadn’t happened, you might not be here.”
Heddy laughed. “My mom would probably agree that I was a good that came out of it. But my being here? I didn’t even tell her about tonight because I knew she wouldn’t like it.”
Lang bent over and kissed her shoulder. “You, out here in the moonlight? There’s nothing bad about that.”
His soft words and kiss set off goose bumps, and Heddy leaned in his direction even when she knew she should be leaning away from him.
But before anything else could be done or said, someone took the auctioneer’s podium inside to thank everyone for coming, signaling the end of the event.
Lang pushed off the railing to stand tall and straight in that suit that made him look better than any man had a right to look. “Guess we better go in and say some good-nights,” he suggested.
Heddy agreed and stepped away from the view of the golf course. But as she did, she reminded herself that this was it. The evening ended here. That she had every intention of saying her goodbyes, then riding back to Lang’s house and saying good-night to him the minute she got out of his car.
Before the feelings that had been churning inside her since last night had any chance of having their way.
Because tonight she was going to be smart.
Even if the dancing, the kiss on her shoulder, just being with him, were already weakening her resolve.
* * *
“Not a single taster left. Every cheesecake sold for top price. Believe me when I tell you that Maude Clark will be on the phone to GiGi by tomorrow morning trying to get her to convince you to cater the dessert for that party of hers. I think you were a hit.”
Lang’s voice broke into Heddy’s thoughts as they drove away from the country club. He’d kept his hand at the small of her back as they’d exited the club, put his arm across her shoulders as they’d waited for the valet to bring his SUV, then helped her into the passenger seat. She wished she didn’t like all the contact as much as she did but it was really all she could think about.
And now that she was alone with him in his car, the scent of his clean, citrusy cologne was going to her head, too....
Cheesecakes. Think cheesecakes.
“I’m glad it went so well,” she said.
“Your future looks bright!”
A small, marveling laugh was her answer.
“What?” Lang asked.
“My future,” she mused. “It just hit me that for the past five years I haven’t thought about a future. I guess I’ve just sort of existed. Even the shop was just a way of paying the bills, of getting by. Maybe that’s why it failed. I didn’t look at any kind of long-range projections because I haven’t really seen beyond the here and now. I’ve buried myself in baking and sold what I baked to pay whatever bills came in when they came in, and that’s been it for me.”
“Living totally in the present. I know what you’re talking about,” he said, surprising her because he didn’t seem to live that way, at least in terms of business.
“I’ve spent the past three and a half years not looking at the future, either,” he said. “Just...well, I’ve called it ‘living for the moment’ because that sounds good, but the truth is, I’ve just done whatever I needed to do to get through each day.”
“But now there’s Carter.”
“And not only do I have to think ahead to arrange nap times and meal times and bedtimes and bath times, but yeah, there’s the bigger picture, too.... It’s kind of opened things up for me, now that I think about it.”
“And you’ve opened things up for me,” Heddy said, realizing that she wasn’t only referring to her business. The simple fact that she wanted him so much right now meant something was opening up for her that had been closed tight since she’d lost Daniel. Something she’d actually thought had died with Daniel.
But it was difficult to shut those feelings down now that they were back.
Maybe she could if she satisfied them....
What if she had just one time, with this one man? she asked herself. After all, he was the only one who had broken through her defenses. And he wouldn’t be around forever.
Then she could go back to just being Daniel’s widow.
No, that was all dumb, the voice of reason told her. They had arrived at his house and he was parking in his driveway. Her car was right there beside his, just waiting for her to get into it and go home, and that was what she was going to do!
It was the right thing to do....
Lang turned off the engine and got out, coming around to her side as she fumbled for the seat belt button and released it.
But when he held out a hand to her to help her out, she took it before she’d thought better of it. Despite the fact that she didn’t need help getting out of the SUV.
“It’s not too late—barely eleven. It’s Saturday night and Carter is with his aunt. How about coming in for a glass of wine?”
“I shouldn’t,” she said, to punish herself for having taken his hand—even though it felt so nice to have him holding hers still. “I know eleven isn’t late but it isn’t early, either, and I have to drive home.”
It wasn’t a firm refusal but he accepted it nonetheless, taking her around to the driver’s side of her car.
She needed her two hands free to get her car keys out of her clutch. But she couldn’t make herself take her hand out of his.
“Thanks for everything tonight,” she said, gazing up into that exquisitely masculine face.
“Hey, I was the family delegate to this event, and you made it a whole lot more bearable than it would have been. Plus I think we stirred up some business for us both.”
Business wasn’t the only thing stirred up, Heddy thought as it occurred to her that Lang was the most handsome man she’d ever been that close to.
Sorry, Daniel.
But it was true. As much as she’d loved her late husband’s boy-next-door good looks, they were nothing compared to the chiseled, ruggedly refined beauty of this guy.
Lang was staring down into her eyes so intently that Heddy couldn’t recall what they’d been talking about mere seconds earlier. She was lost in that face, in those eyes that were so blue she could even see the color in the dim porch light. And again she wondered how whatever he’d stirred up in her was ever going to calm down again if she didn’t find some kind of closure.
“I like your hair down,” he said out of nowhere, sweeping the mass of waves over her right shoulder with his free hand. “I started imagining what it would look like the first day I met you—that’s why I had to take it down last night. And tonight, when I first saw you and it was down...” He laughed at himself. “You’d think it was the first time I’d seen hair.”
“It’s usually just easier to put up, especially when I’m working.”
“But it’s so much sexier down,” he whispered.
Sexy? She never thought of herself that way. But at that moment, under the heat of those blue eyes, she did feel a little sexy.
Enough to cock her chin up at him and smile a smile that didn’t feel familiar.
A smile that brought a deliciously devilish one from him in return.
He pulled her toward him and leaned forward to kiss her.
And there she was, just like that, doing what she’d sworn she wasn’t going to do again tonight.
But it was so good. A
nd she liked kissing him so much. And she just couldn’t make herself do anything but kiss him back, playfully, gladly, sexily....
His other arm went around her to hold her against him as their kiss took a turn and his tongue came to tickle the tip of hers before he paused only long enough to say, “Come in” and went back to kissing her.
She knew what was going to happen if she agreed. It was all there, in that kiss. And in what she wanted and in what she could tell he wanted, too.
If she went into his house, there would be no turning back.
But through the haze of what she wanted, of what her body was shouting for, she recalled why she hadn’t let this take its course the night before. She’d worried about following in her mother’s footsteps and falling for a man she had no future with.
But she wasn’t falling for Lang, she told herself. She just wanted him. Tonight. Just this once. Knowing there was no future in it. Not banking on anything. Merely taking it for what it was. One night....
It wasn’t something she’d ever done before—a one-night stand. But if she’d lived the past five years only taking one day at a time, why did she have to start worrying about the long term right now? Why couldn’t she have one more night of thinking only about the here and now? It wasn’t dangerous if she knew there wasn’t anything more to it than that....
Just the thought of what was on the verge of happening sent a shiver through her that Lang must have felt and interpreted as a chill because he held her closer, kissed her harder and again whispered, “Come in.”
Only this time Heddy heard herself say, “Okay.”
He laughed a little. “Really?”
“Just this once... Without it having anything to do with—”
“Anything but you and me,” he finished, grinning down at her as if she’d just given him the best Christmas gift ever.
Then he took her to his front door, unlocking it in record time and letting them both into the dark house.
Once they were inside, he swung her around and into his arms to kiss her again as he kicked the door closed behind them.
And Heddy had one split second of doubt.
This wasn’t Daniel....
But it was Lang.
Something about them being together just worked.
Effortlessly. Naturally. The way things between two people should work.
And somehow that overcame her moment of doubt.
Heddy raised her hand to the nape of Lang’s neck and really did give herself to him as her mind emptied of everything else.
They went on kissing for a while before she realized she was still holding her clutch and let it drop to the floor.
As if that served as some kind of signal, Lang slid his hands under her open coat and the glittery shrug at once, finessing them off her shoulders, letting them drop to the floor, too.
Heddy kicked off her high heels, dropping down a few inches in height, forcing Lang to adjust his stance to maintain the kiss that was wide-open and hungry now.
He looked so fantastic in the suit he had on that Heddy almost hated to get him out of it. Almost. But the thought of what treasures might await her beneath it was good incentive, so she followed his lead, removing his overcoat and suit coat at the same time, slinging them over the stair railing that was just to his left.
His hands were in her hair, cradling her head as he kissed her even more feverishly. She answered with a fever of her own every bit as intense. Their tongues played wantonly, and somehow the kiss went on that way even when Lang scooped her into his arms and carried her up the stairs.
Carter had shown her this part of the house when he’d given her the tour on Friday night. So Heddy knew when they reached the master suite even though the only light coming from outside was through the curtains at the three windows.
The room was huge, with a king-size bed bundled in a thick, downy quilt. Lang took her to the foot of the bed and set her on her feet again.
He yanked on his tie to pull it free, still craning forward to kiss her all the while. She also sensed that he was discarding his shoes and socks, though she was far more focused on letting her hands run the length and breadth of his broad back and wide shoulders while she answered his kiss and felt the cravings in her own body growing by leaps and bounds.
Her dress felt tight and confining, especially around breasts ready to explode out of the half-cup bra. She was only too happy when Lang—once he’d removed his tie and unbuttoned his collar—reached around to the back of her dress to unzip it.
Unzipping him was on her mind, too, but she was afraid that might be a little premature. So instead she tugged his shirttails from his waistband and then went to work on the rest of his shirt buttons—kissing, kissing, kissing him the whole time, their mouths magnetically attached and tongues hungry for each other.
He brought a hand to one of her breasts and she shuddered, recalling that first touch from the previous night, reliving and yearning to feel it again.
Oh, he had great hands! Big and strong and so, so adept.
She got rid of his shirt without ceremony, letting it fall to the floor because she couldn’t wait any longer to press her hands to his naked skin.
Sleek, satiny skin over steely muscles that rippled under her flattened palms.
Her dress drifted down around her feet and she was left in bra and panties as he pulled her closer to him with one arm. Then his other hand found the breast that had been neglected so far.
To Heddy the bra might as well have been armor between them.
She laid her hands on his hard and honed pectorals. His own nipples were taut kernels, and she gave them some of the unbridled attention she was yearning for him to show her.
Then he unhooked her bra, slipped the straps down her arms and she got what she wanted as he filled one massive hand with her naked breast.
It felt so fantastic that she went slightly limp, losing track of the dance their tongues were doing and getting lost for a bit in the feel of that hand kneading, squeezing, massaging her bare breast.
And when he found her nipple with his fingertips, his gentle pinches and tugs and twirls turned that already tight little nib to a pebble of sublime sensation.
Now the zipper...
Her hands drifted down to his slacks. He was burgeoning behind that zipper, which she slowly lowered after figuring out how to release the hidden button at his waistband. A moan rose from deep inside Lang’s throat as she finally set him free.
He helped her rid him of the slacks and whatever he had on under them, then swept her up into his arms to set her on that downy quilt that felt as if she were lying on a cloud.
He went to the nightstand drawer before joining her on the bed. While Heddy was grateful for the lack of light for herself, she was glad when he walked through a beam of moonlight that gave her a more illuminated view of him.
Incredible. That’s what he was naked. Tall and lean, angular and cut and carved and more magnificent than she’d imagined him to be. She feasted on the sight even as she itched to touch him again.
Lying down beside her, he kissed her once more with a surprising chasteness for a moment before his lips and tongue trailed down the column of her neck, along her collarbone, then went lower, until he reached her breasts.
That first kiss, that first time that he took her into his mouth, brought Heddy’s spine into an arch she couldn’t suppress. Regardless of how adept he was with his hands, his mouth was even better.
Sweet suction and tender tugs of his teeth. Talented flicks of the tip of his tongue to the tip of her nipple. Warm, wet, feathery strokes. It all nearly set Heddy on fire, searing away any remnant of inhibition. And with that gone, she did what she was dying to do—she sent her own hand to press a path down his rock-solid abs to his long, thick, hard shaft.
A rumble
of appreciation sounded from his throat and he took her breast even farther into his mouth. One of his arms was curved above her head, his fingers in her hair. And as he went on driving her mad with that mouth, spending equal time on each breast, his other hand went on a slow, slow course down her stomach, down the outside of her thigh.
He paused at her knee, teasing her a little, somehow managing to send quick shots of lightning through her with just that touch. Then he went from her knee to her inner thigh where he traveled up again.
Heddy’s breath caught in her throat in a tiny, high-pitched chirp when that hand traced the curve of her body, found entrance and slipped one finger, then two inside her.
Her grip on him tightened in response, as she slid her hand forward to the tip of his erection, then back to the base to drive him a little crazy, too.
Unfortunately it also drove him to abandon her breast, to abandon her completely while he made quick work of applying the condom. When he was done, he came back over to her and rediscovered her mouth with a kiss that was purely and completely erotic, that took her another step nearer to wanting him in every way she could possibly have him.
But he was suddenly gone once more. Down. His fabulous mouth finding that spot between her legs where his hand had been, his tongue flicking there, making Heddy writhe and moan in ways she never had in her life.
Then he came up again to kiss her on the lips, as he braced his weight, his hands flat on the mattress on either side of her head, arms straight.
Somehow he lured her tongue out with his, the tips touching and teasing each other even as he found his way between thighs that opened and welcomed him all on their own.
He entered her, smoothly, slickly, and so, so divinely that she raised her hips to his to have all of him.
He began to move more deeply into her, pressing in so firmly that he reached a place she’d never felt before, then pulling out in slow motion. Then in so, so deeply again, angling his hips and hitting yet another spot that forced that chirp from her throat once more and made her hips push back at him.
It's a Boy! Page 15