How You Remind Me (5 page)

“Do you remember where you were?”

She took a wild guess. “Daddy Pigs?”

“Dive bar extraordinaire,” he cracked. “Do you remember who
you went with?”

“I was alone,” she said, not needing a specific memory to
answer his question. Kate had had friends at the office and friends on the club
scene, but no one she dared meet in the middle. As far as she knew, the only
person who’d bridged the gap between her old existence and her new one was
standing inches away from her, tightening the pressure on her hand.

“What were you wearing?”

“No idea.”

“Here, I can help. You were wearing a short black skirt.” His
speaking voice was deep and throaty against the contrasting rock-n-roll wailing
from the song. “A silver jacket.” He cleared his throat, but his next words
still came out as rough as gravel. “A lace, turquoise bra.”

His grin—and the lusty glaze of his dark blue stare—shook
the foundation of her trust.

But only a little…and in a very good way.

She snagged her bottom lip with her teeth. “I’m wearing the
same bra tonight,” she confessed. “What are the chances?”

His gaze dropped. “Where we’re concerned, I’d say they’re
pretty good. I don’t believe in coincidences. The longer I know you, the more I
believe that’s true.”

Kate closed her eyes again, took a deep breath and arched
her back, unable to stop the incremental drop in her inhibitions. In the moment
in between the song ending and starting again, Shaw exhaled. The sound was loud
and ragged and ripe with hunger.

His breath on her neck and the heat of his palm on her wrist
jerked her heartbeat until it matched the bass-thrum of the song. Slowly, the
pounding in her ears subsided enough for her to make sense of the lyrics.

“Why don’t I know this song?”

“I haven’t played it since that night. I didn’t want my
music to remind you of something you’d rather forget.”

Surprised, Kate opened her eyes, but he’d closed his. She watched
him lip-synch to his own voice. His shoulders rocked up and down, his rhythm natural,
intrinsic, mesmerizing. She leaned in closer and breathed in the scent of him—a
heady combination of soap and spice. The aroma was intoxicating, but she didn’t
step away. Instead, she surrendered to the sensual assault. She wanted to be
here, with Shaw. She needed to be.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t thank me. I wasn’t a total saint. A guy can only work
up so much resistance when a gorgeous woman is stripping off her clothes.”

“Please tell me
stripping
is just an expression.”

“Well,” he said, his blue eyes glossy with need. “There were
no poles involved.”

The corners of her mouth betrayed her with a smile. “How
much did I take off?”

“First, you let your hair down.”

He slid his fingers through the chignon she often wore on
the job. The pins surrendered, sending a shiver sparked by the gentle tugs on
her scalp through her body.

“And then?” she asked.

His hand dropped, blazing a path from her throat to the
sensitive flesh between her breasts. “You opened your blouse.”

One by one, she released the buttons. His breath hitched
with each revelation of skin. “You’ve gone too far,” he warned.

“I’m sober this time,” she reassured him. “I know what I’m
doing.”

“Do you?” He led her to the door, then flattened himself against
the wood before pulling her close.

With her nearly bared breasts against his chest, she felt
his heartbeat as strongly as she felt her own. His body was hot and hard and
glorious. He entwined his hands in hers, then slid them to either side of his
head, as if she’d trapped him.

He shifted his hips. Her belly pressed tight against his
erection. Nothing separated them but denim, silk and the last vestiges of her
reluctance.

“You trapped me,” he told her, “like this, the minute the
door was closed.”

She smiled, unable to squelch a saucy shot of pride. “Did you
try to escape?”

“Not even a little.”

“Did I kiss you?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She might not remember the night in question, but from the
rasp and scrape of Shaw’s voice, his unfulfilled desire was still raw. Still
needful.

“Do you want me to kiss you now?” she asked.

When his eyes darkened to the color of a midnight sky, Kate
no longer cared about the night she couldn’t remember. She just wanted a night
that she’d never forget.

“So much, Katie-gate, I couldn’t…can’t…breathe.”

She smashed her mouth against his, releasing the last of her
fear. In one flood of sensation, she ground her pelvis against his. He
countered by hooking his leg around hers and pulling her even closer.

“God, Kate,” he said, in between the breathless kisses. “I’ve
waited a whole year to relive this moment.”

She swiped her tongue across his mouth and smiled. “It’s
only fair, because I think I’ve been waiting my entire life.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Shaw remembered there was
something he was supposed to be doing. Blind-sided and bursting with need, he
could only focus on kissing Kate, feeling Kate, pleasuring Kate.

Her mouth was lush with heat. She tore aside her dress,
leaving her body nearly naked except for her insanity-inducing turquoise bra
and matching panties. Rhythmically, she danced against him as if her libido
drove the music—his music. Grabbing her ass, he lifted her high, wanting more
than ever to bury himself deep inside her, the way he’d fantasized about since
that night.

That night.

Right. They were supposed to be re-enacting it all. But he
no longer wanted to dwell in the past. He wanted to live and breathe and kiss
and make love in the here and now.

With Kate. His Kate.

“God, do you know how hard it was,” he said, his words
choppy as he explored the flesh on her neck and shoulders, “to restrain myself?
You were so hot. You told me, in intricate detail, exactly what you wanted me
to do to you. What you wanted to do to me.”

She tore at his shirt, forcing it away from his body. The
lace of her bra chafed gloriously against his chest.

“No reason to resist this time.”

He pulled back just enough to shake off a layer of lusty
haze. “No reason?”

Her smile was radiant. He lifted her higher. She wrapped her
legs around his waist, giving him the leverage he needed to carry her to the bed.

He laid her down on the comforter and took a long moment to
drink in the sight of her, all pale flesh, bright blue lingerie, dark red hair
and flashing green eyes. Against the gunmetal gray, she was a burst of color
and texture and light.

“You take my breath away.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she countered.

Shaw kicked off his shoes, removed his jeans and climbed on
the bed. “I probably have,” he admitted, drawing a finger along the curve of
her cheek and then into the thick silk of her hair. “But you’re like human Rohypnol.
One look at you knocks every other woman in existence from my brain. I haven’t thought
about anyone else since I listened to you tell me everywhere you wanted to be
touched. Kissed. Tasted.”

She snagged her bottom lip in her teeth and worried the skin
until he ran his thumb over the moistened flesh to stop the unfair and unworthy
assault. If anyone was going to chew on her lips, it was going to be him.

So he did. He gorged himself on every part of her body,
lingering at her sweet center and milking an orgasm as he had last night. Only
this time, he lost himself entirely in the flavors and textures and sounds. This
time, he had no secret to keep. No bad news to break. Only pleasure to share.

He stopped long enough to put on a condom, but once sheathed,
he stretched out beside her and coaxed her on top.

She squealed in delight. She loved to be in control and he
loved when her fantasies intersected perfectly with his.

“I’m too tight,” she said, swiveling her hips, her sensitive
flesh slow to stretch. “It’s been too long.”

He slid his hands over her hips.

“No, no. You’re just right. Just move. To the left. That’s
it. See? Slick and snug. God, you’re killing me, Katie-gate. Killing me dead.”

The song that had played that night continued to loop. That
same phrase, embedded in the chorus, was the second reason Shaw hadn’t played
the tune since that night. The story, about a man wanting a woman he couldn’t
have, would have tortured him.

But now, the words took on new meaning. Once he got her, he
couldn’t let her go. He’d never really believed in life imitating art, but now?

He believed.

“If this is dying,” she said, finding a rhythm that defied
the confines of lyric and song, “it’s not so bad.”

“It’s amazing.”

Her grin, sinful and sexual, notched his pleasure to what
he’d once thought an unattainable height. Just as he’d imagined, just as he’d
dreamed, he and Kate were perfect for each other. And like the poor bastard in
the song, now that he had her, he was never letting her get away.

He slid his hands around her ass, cupping her and sensually,
slowly, adjusting her position until he found just the right angle to bury himself
into her until she was full, needy and entirely at his mercy. He tipped up,
pleasuring her breasts with his mouth while she rode him to the brink. Once
there, she nearly collapsed, but Shaw took over, bucking until they both flew
over the edge into blissful, sweaty orgasmic release.

This was good. This was right. This was a night neither one
of them would ever forget—he’d make sure of it.

At some point in the aftermath, they ended up underneath the
comforter, his condom discarded, the music turned off, entwined in each other’s
arms. Shaw had no idea how much time had elapsed before he finally corralled
his thoughts and said, “Wow.”

She moaned in contented agreement.

Tucked safely in his arms, she snuggled closer and twisted
her fingers into his chest hair.

“How did you know I wanted to be on top?” she asked.

“You told me,” he replied. “You still don’t remember?”

She shook her head. “We can make new memories.”

“I like the way you think.”

Shaw leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. In no rush,
he measured his pressure, teasing her with nips and flicks of his tongue until
she finally grasped his face and tugged him into position for one, long, drawn-out,
mind-blowing kiss.

Their second round of lovemaking was slower, more sensual
and after only a little coaxing from her, Shaw revealed a few of his sexual
fantasies to even the playing field. He couldn’t remember a woman ever showing
so much interest in seduction of the mind and body, but he wasn’t surprised
that it was Kate who blazed the path. Nothing about her was ordinary, expected
or predictable. It was why she fascinated him so completely—why he was certain
they could make this relationship—so new and untested—work for the long haul.

“I can’t believe I finally have you in my bed,” Shaw
confessed. “If ever there was a girl less likely to…”

She pressed her fingers over his lips, silencing him. “Less
likely? You’ve got it all wrong, Shaw, because I had it all wrong. I thought I
had to put everything about my past behind me, including my fantasies and
passions. But now, I know what I want. You’ve reminded me.”

“Reminded you to take a chance on a stranger every once in a
while?”

Kate pressed her cheek to his chest. He squeezed her
tighter, creating a safe haven that he hoped to give her for a long time.

“Not a stranger. Granted, we have a lot to learn about each
other, but that’s the fun part, right?

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “And that’s a lesson I’m going to
make sure you never, ever forget.”

Thank you so much for buying
and reading this GIRL MOST LIKELY TO… novella! The story is a sequel to my
novella, “A Moment Like This,” which appeared in the Harlequin Blaze
collection, THE GUY MOST LIKELY TO… which is still available through Amazon.

One of my co-authors, the
amazing Janelle Denison, also wrote a sequel to her story, which is called
Hard to Resist (A Girl Most Likely
novella)
.
It’s a fabulous read! There’s phone sex and real sex and
second chances of the most delicious kind. You really should check it out by
clicking
here
.

Since word of mouth is so critical to readers and authors
alike, I would really appreciate it if you’d pop back to Amazon and leave an
honest review of this story. It just takes a minute or two, but your opinion is
priceless!

REVIEW
HOW YOU REMIND ME

(Sexy Suspense)

Given the choice between great sex and saving the world…why
not do both?

Praise for
DARE
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