After the Christmas Party (12 page)

She was his girl.

Indisputably.

Hand in hand, Riley and Trinity walked along the beach. Ignoring how much he wanted Trinity was getting more and more difficult. He didn’t want to rush her, didn’t want to make wild assumptions, but from the moment she’d arrived all he’d wanted to do was pull her into his arms.

Her mind stimulated him.

Her quick wit stimulated him.

Her curvy little body stimulated him.

It was the latter that was currently tearing his resolve into bits. He felt as if he was in a constant state of stimulation.

He couldn’t recall ever feeling this way. Not even when he’d been a randy teenager.

Letting go of his hand, she’d ran ahead of him, laughing as the waves lapped at her bare feet. She turned to beckon him to join her. Wind whipped at her hair.

Temptation whipped at his soul.

What he wanted was to push her down in the surf, rip her clothes off and make love to her right then and there, with the waves crashing around their naked bodies.

He swallowed, watched her dance around in the white foam.

“Riley, hurry,” she called. The water crashed around
her ankles and she laughed, looking and sounding freer than he recalled ever seeing her.

Like a child set loose to play.

Like the most tantalizing woman to ever tempt man.

“I ate too much to hurry,” he called, enjoying watching her play too much to rush.

“Right.” She laughed then plopped down just beyond the water’s reach, her toes stretched out towards the sea, tempting the water to move closer and closer.

“You know you’re going to get wet, right? Then you’ll be cold.”

She shrugged. “At the moment I don’t care. This is wonderful.”

He glanced out to sea then back at the smiling woman leaning back as if offering herself to the moon shining above them.

If so, he was jealous of the moon.

Because he wanted her to offer herself to him that way.

Every way.

He wanted her to come to him, for her to initiate their lovemaking, for her to have no regrets and for him to have no worries that he’d talked her into something she hadn’t really wanted.

He’d thought himself a patient man, but looking at her body stretched out under the bright moonlight, the surf nipping at her toes, he had none.

“Besides, if I get cold, you’ll warm me up, right?”

He hadn’t realized she was watching him. He gulped back the knot her words caused to form in his throat and willed the one forming in his pants to go away.

“Riley?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you afraid to join me?”

Terrified. Because getting close to her might mean losing control and seducing her right out of her panties. What would his neighbors think? Although, honestly, he wasn’t sure how many were even home at this time of year. A lot of the houses along this stretch were owned by wealthy snowbirds looking for an escape.

“Scared you’ll get wet?” she teased, digging her fingers into the sand beside her.

“Nope.” To prove his point, he sat down next to her on the sand. “But I should warn you that I’m very turned on and perhaps you should get up and run while you can because what I really want to do would get me arrested.”

Arrested? Trinity blinked, wondering if she’d misheard him over the waves. “Do what?”

“You heard me. Just what I said. You’re beautiful and totally do it for me. I look at you and I want you. I have wanted you from the first moment I set eyes on you propped up against that hotel ballroom wall. Tonight, here on the beach, I want you so badly I may explode from it. I feel weak. If I did with you what I want to do with you, I’d be arrested.”

He wanted her. Really wanted her. A heady sensation, but the other thing he’d said played in her mind.

“I make you weak?” She didn’t want to make him or any man weak. Especially not when he made her feel strong, stronger than she recalled ever feeling.

He picked up her hand, pressed it to where his heart beat. “Does that feel as if you make me weak?”

His heart pounded beneath her fingertips. She shook her head.

“My resolve is what’s weak. You make me feel alive,”
he clarified. “As if everything I do is bigger, brighter, more than anything I’ve ever done.”

That she understood because it’s how he made her feel. It amazed her that he could possibly feel the same. How could he when that seemed so unlikely? “I do?”

He nodded.

“I want you, Trinity, but I didn’t mean to tell you like this.”

She glanced around at the beach. Although there were other houses along the stretch of beach, they were essentially alone. The moon shone bright above them. The sea crashed foamy white waves that played a perfect love song. He’d just cooked her a delicious dinner and he’d lit candles. She couldn’t imagine anything more romantic, more seductive.

“What’s wrong with this? With this very moment?”

“Earlier I thought…” he shook his head. “It’s too soon.”

He was probably right. Less than two weeks was too soon. Still, they’d been together every night and if you put that on regular dating terms of weekend dates, they’d been seeing each other for months. Or was she just reaching?

Probably.

Because her hand had moved from his chest to his face. The grit of sand still lingered on her fingers but his skin was smooth, perfect.

“It’s not too soon,” she whispered, knowing it was true, especially when she heard his intake of breath above the crash of the waves. “But I should warn you that if we did, you’d be disappointed.”

“Never.”

She laughed ironically at his faith. If only. “I wish that was true, but I’m not very good at…well, you know.”

“Sex?”

Staring at where her hand caressed his jaw, she nodded. “I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t want me any more once we do.”

This time it was he who laughed. “You’d be wrong.”

“Again, I wish that was true.”

“Why?”

Could she write him a thesis on all the reasons why? Things like that he made her feel good about herself? That he made her believe in things that she shouldn’t believe in? That he’d taken away the loneliness that had iced her insides for so long that she’d believed the coldness was a permanent part of who she was?

“Because I like you,” she said instead, using his usual response to sum up all the emotions bubbling inside her. “A lot.”

In the moonlight, she saw his mouth curve upwards.

“Good to know,” he admitted, taking her hand. “I was beginning to wonder if this relationship was onesided.”

“Is that what we’re doing? Having a relationship?” Not that it didn’t feel like a relationship. It did. Plus he carried on at the hospital as if they were. But, still, there was no one around but the two of them and she wanted a straight answer from him.

“If you have to ask me that, I’m doing something very wrong,” he teased, scratching his head as if trying to figure out what that something might be.

“I…I just wasn’t sure.” Which sounded quite lame at the moment, with how his eyes searched hers. Even
in the moonlight she could see desire flickering in the blue depths.

“After the past two weeks you aren’t sure that I’m totally fascinated by you and want to spend every second of my time with you?”

Wow. That’s all that her brain could register. Just wow. Wow. Wow. Riley’s words seemed so foreign, so far-fetched, yet she heard his sincerity, saw the truth in the way he looked at her. He looked at her as she’d never been looked at, as if she was the most precious being on earth.

“I’m scared,” she heard herself say, knowing her words were as true as his, shocked, though, that she was admitting her fear to him. Wasn’t that exposing just how vulnerable she really was?

“Don’t be scared of me, Trinity. I’d never intentionally hurt you.”

Intentionally. Which meant she likely would be hurt at some point down the line. Her life had taught her to expect no less. But she wasn’t going to hold back, wasn’t going to let the past or fear dictate who she was. Not when it came to Riley. Was she?

At this moment she was a woman sitting on a romantic beach, touching a fantasy man who was quickly encompassing her whole world.

He wanted to be here, with her. He thought she was beautiful, he wanted her, and he didn’t mind telling her, showing her.

When he was with her she didn’t get the impression that he wanted to be anywhere except right with her. When he looked at her she didn’t get the impression that he wished she were someone else.

He wanted
her
.

He lifted her hand to his lips, kissed her fingertips.

“I have sand on my fingers.” And tears in her eyes. Why was she crying?

“Doesn’t matter.” He kissed the top of her hand, gently turned her arm to press his lips to her wrist, then he kissed her there. Gentle kisses where his lips lightly brushed across the tender skin, heating her blood. Brilliant kisses that made her mind go in thousands of directions, all of which involved him.

She shivered and scooted closer to him, grazed her knuckles across his clean-shaven jaw. “Smooth.”

He chuckled. “The better to kiss you without worrying about scratching you.”

“I’m not a dainty flower that easily wilts.”

“You want scratched?”

“I want kissed.”

“I’m a man who aims to please.”

When his lips covered hers, he didn’t kiss her with the gentle pressure he’d kissed her goodnight with each night. No, he kissed her with the mouth of a man who was hungry. Hungry and wanting to devour her.

As if he wanted her so much he couldn’t not kiss her that way.

The sensation was heady.

Trinity’s head spun she felt so light, so good, so unreal.

Riley was unreal.

Because no way was such a beautiful man kissing her as if he couldn’t get enough, as if he wanted, no, needed, everything she could give him.

She wanted to give him everything.

But if she did, would it be the beginning of the end, the way it had been with Chase?

Would Riley find her so lacking between the sheets that he wouldn’t want her any more and would wonder why he’d ever thought he had thought her something special?

Or did sex even matter that much to him?

His mouth moved lower, to her neck, trailing hot kisses, making love to her skin.

Um, yeah, this was a man who cared about sex. No doubt about it.

Which meant she was in big trouble.

CHAPTER NINE

R
ILEY FELT THE
difference in Trinity’s response and pulled back. “You okay? Am I coming on too strong? I didn’t mean to move too fast.”

He’d known better than to rush things, but he’d thought…No matter what he’d thought. The reality was they’d only known each other for two weeks and he had moved too fast. She was scooting away from him, standing, brushing the sand off her clothes, and was a million miles away from him.

“You’re fine.”

Fine? Not the adjective he wanted to be called when he was on fire for her and had just been kissing her with a great amount of gusto.

Mindless kisses that had been all about feeling and emotion and had had little to do with thought or intentions.

“The wind just felt a little chilly. That’s all. I want to finish our walk now.”

Just what every man wanted to hear when he was on the verge of making love to a woman he was crazy about. When he’d been overcome with passion and she’d…she’d decided she wanted to finish their walk. Oh, yeah, he’d pushed too soon. Only had he really?
She’d wanted him, too. Had he done something wrong? Or was she playing games with him?

“Okay, we’ll walk.” He stood, brushed his clothes off, and took her hand.

He wasn’t sure she wanted him holding her hand either, but he wasn’t going to let her shut him out after the kiss they’d just shared.

She’d told him she was scared. Was that why she’d pulled away?

She’d also told him that she wasn’t very good at sex.

Based on how she kissed him, he’d say she couldn’t be more wrong.

But maybe she really believed otherwise. He was reaching, but there had to be some reason why she was now lost in thought instead of in his arms, and he sure didn’t want to believe it was that she was a tease. The vulnerability he sensed within her assured him that wasn’t the case.

“You’re a very good kisser.”

Her head jerked toward him.

“An amazing kisser,” he added, seeing the doubt in her eyes. Hell, someone had really done a number on her.

“You’re the one who’s a great kisser.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal, but he could see that his praise pleased her. “I just follow your lead.”

“Thanks for saying so, but you don’t give yourself enough credit. You drive me wild, Trinity.”

She gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” As much as his body urged him to pick up where they’d left off, to take her in his arms and kiss her until she was breathless and begging for
the release he craved, he just clasped her hand in his and walked.

Patience might not be his virtue, but some things were worth the wait. He had no doubt that when he and Trinity made love, and they
would
make love, the wait would be worth having the patience of Job.

How could her schedule have been changed? No one ever wanted to work on Christmas, so surely she wouldn’t have been randomly taken off the schedule?

She stared at the holiday work schedule. Her name was not on the twenty-fifth anywhere. Christmas Eve, yes, but not the big awful day itself.

She had been on that list. How had her name been taken off?

“What are you looking at?” Karen asked, stepping up behind Trinity and looking over her shoulder to see what had her so captivated.

“There was a message in my inbox about last-minute holiday schedule changes and for everyone to recheck the hours they’d be working.”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“I’m no longer scheduled for Christmas Day.”

“Lucky girl.”

“Not lucky girl.” Because if she wasn’t working, she had to go with Riley to his family dinner. Not that there wasn’t a teeny tiny part of her that wanted to go, to meet the people he spoke of with such love, but the thought of a Christmas Day dinner was too much. Plus she’d have to buy them presents. Not that she was such a tightwad that she minded spending the money, but what the heck would she buy people she’d never met and who were from such a different social background from her own?