Otherwise Engaged (14 page)

“Hi,” she said
between kisses.

He mumbled a
hello into her cleavage, inhaling the scent of her body wash.

“I thought you
were going to cook for us,” she said before sighing with pleasure as he bit and
licked at her nipples through the fabric of the shirt.

“I was. You
distracted me,” he accused.

She laughed.
“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he
said. “Please don’t be.” He unzipped his pants and pulled out the erection he’d
wanted to drive into her since leaving the bed that afternoon. “Shit,” he
muttered, incoherent with impatience and desire. “Condom.”

She reached
over to an end table for something and held a square packet up in front of his
face.

“Thank
goodness.” He tore the top off the packet, shoved on the condom as quickly as
he could without breaking it, and rammed into her. She gave a gasp of surprise.
He slowed down, coming back to his senses. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she
hissed, pulling at the front of his shirt until she’d tugged it off. He sat
back against the sofa and pulled her onto his hips. Locking her legs around
him, she rode him hard. She bounced up and down so fiercely, he wondered briefly
if she’d leave bruises on both of them. Digging his fingers into her thighs, he
groaned as she pushed him closer and closer to the edge. It was every bit as
good as he’d fantasized about it being while away from her for the past couple
of hours.

He buried his
hands in her hair and kissed her roughly. She cried out for him, alternately
screaming and whimpering his name as he fondled her breasts and played with her
ass. After she came, he went down on her. She whimpered.

“Sensitive,”
she said.

“You want me to stop?” he asked, peeking up from between her thighs.

“No,” she
moaned, and he pushed his mouth against her hot, wet skin. Her thighs quivered
and she moaned and squirmed a few more times, but mostly with pleasure. She
grabbed the back of his head and cried out his name over and over as he made
her come once again. She flopped back on the sofa, looking completely useless
and sated. He stood and zipped his pants.

“Now I’m going
to cook,” he said. “Before we starve to death.”

“Mm hm,” she
murmured without opening her eyes.

He cooked, and
she napped through the entire thing. He woke her when he was done. He’d made
pan fried noodles and chicken as best as he could with limited supplies. He
hadn’t been able to find the wide rice noodles he wanted, but he made do with
what he had. He’d wanted to make Phanaeng curry, but he hadn’t been able to
find the coconut milk he wanted for the sauce. And he refused to make it
without that specific kind of milk. It really did make a difference.

“This is so
good,” Daphne said, wearing an expression similar to the one she wore right
before she climaxed. Then she smiled a happy, relaxed smile. She was glowing.
So radiant.
Something about her had changed. Maybe she
seemed less tense. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but she wasn’t the
same Daphne he’d come to Puerto Rico with or even the same one he’d gone to the
wedding with yesterday.

Well, maybe he
had put his finger on it.
Twelve year old
Rain was
ba-ack.

“Thank you,” he
said when he realized he’d let an awkward silence grow and she was staring at
him.

“You’re going
to spoil me. And you don’t want that,” Daphne said.

“Why don’t I?”

“I’m like a
stray. I’m hard to get rid of. Especially if you feed me.” She swallowed a
forkful of chicken and noodles.

“Who says I
want to get rid of you?”

She sipped the
white wine he’d bought and smiled at him so shyly, demurely that he wanted to
jump across the table and kiss the dimples in her cheeks. He just barely
restrained himself, managing to convince himself that wouldn’t be a good idea.
He shoveled down more food in an attempt to push aside thoughts he shouldn’t
have been having.
So many thoughts for so many different
reasons.

After dinner,
they curled up together on the couch. He flipped on ESPN and put Sports Center
on low volume.

“I guess we
have to leave in a couple of days,” Daphne said in a low voice.

“Yeah,” came
his heavy reply. He didn’t want to go back to the life that waited for him.
Work.
Living life at a mile a minute pace.
No Daphne
beside him every night. Wait, was that what it meant? No Daphne? He looked down
at her, tempted to kiss the top of her head, but he restrained himself. He
didn’t know what would happen between them when they got back to D.C. He didn’t
have one clue.

She looked up
at him. “So what should we do until then?”
“I vote for have a lot of sex.”

She laughed.

“Is that a yes
or a no?”

She rubbed a
hand over his crotch. “Does that answer your question?”

He threw her
down on the couch, and she half-squealed, half-laughed. “I think it does,” he said
before kissing her.

Chapter Nineteen

Daphne had more
sex in those few days than she’d had in the last few years. And every moment of
it was amazing. They only stopped for sleep, food, and when she was so sore she
had to take a break. She’d gotten good at not thinking about anything but how
good it felt to be in Rain’s arms. By the time the last day came, she’d never
been sadder to see a vacation end. San Juan seemed to agree with her. It was
dreary and gray out as they packed up their things.

Once they were
all packed, they took one look at each other and were at it again. He set her
on the kitchenette counter, pulled down her panties, pushed up her skirt, and banged
her one last time while she watched the rain hit the window panes of the glass
patio door. Well, she watched it whenever her eyes weren’t rolled back or her
lips weren’t pressed to Rain’s or her face wasn’t buried in his hair. He didn’t
seem to want it to end any more than she did.

They finally
had to pull themselves away from each other and scramble to make it to the
airport in time to catch their plane. It was a good thing their first class
tickets included priority screening at the security checkpoint. They ran all
the way to the gate once they cleared security.

“Déjà vu,” Rain
murmured as they stepped onto the plane.

She laughed and
squeezed his hand. Her laughter died as she looked down at their hands. Pulling
away as if he’d burned her, she said, “Sorry.” With a small grimace, she looked
away. What was she thinking? Whatever this was, she had a feeling it wasn’t
allowed to leave Puerto Rico.

“No, it’s
okay,” he said softly.

She turned away
from him before she could read things into those few words that he hadn’t meant
for her to read.

The flight
attendant gently urged them to take their seats so that they could get prepared
for takeoff. After they were in the black leather seats, Daphne turned to him.
“Look, you don’t have to…it’s okay.”

“What are you
talking about, Daph?” Rain asked, questions alive in his hazel eyes. She wanted
to know what he was thinking, but she didn’t dare ask.

“I know how you
are. I mean, we. We’re friends.” Wow, she was really butchering this. “It’s not
like I expect anything to…change. When we get back to D.C.” There. She’d said
it. In some sort of way that was probably at least minimally coherent.

“Okay,” he
said, his expression unreadable.

“I mean, I enjoyed it.
Really. A lot.” She lowered her voice
just in case their neighbors were the eavesdropping kind. “But I don’t want you
to think I think it was more than it was.”

“Sure. Fine,”
he said. He must have been one hell of a poker player.

“Things aren’t
going to be weird between us now, are they?”

“Nope.” He
pulled his laptop out of its case and held it on his lap still closed,
presumably so he’d have it ready to use once they were in the air.

“‘Cause I don’t
want to lose you,” she said. “As a friend,” she added quickly. “A good friend.
A really, really good friend.” With an incredible body whose perfection she’d
only ever imagined until a few days ago and bedroom tactics that could drive
her out of her mind and bring her to her knees. She wanted his hard, golden
body pressed against her at that moment. She wanted to sit on those powerful
thighs and ride him until she was raw. Again.
And again.
But no.
She wasn’t supposed to want those things. She
had to accept that the fling had been phenomenal, but it was over. Starting
now.

“You won’t lose
me,” Rain said. He smiled and gave her shoulder a brotherly pat.

Their
conversation was strained after that. Daphne kept getting distracted. Her mind
kept wandering to the incredibly hot past few days. She couldn’t even look at
Rain without thinking about him naked. After a while, she gave up and pretended
to sleep. When she stole glances at him out of the corner of her eye, he was
working on his laptop. Even his stern, slightly frowning, business-like,
working hard expression was sexy to her. There was nothing he could do that
wasn’t sexy. How had she managed to trick herself into believing a fling with
him wouldn’t be a big deal?

Whether Rain
believed she was asleep or not, he didn’t bother her except for to nudge her
whenever the flight attendant came around for food or to bring them something
or to see if they needed anything else. Every time he touched her, even when it
was a simple, incidental touch, she felt a spark. She had it bad. She’d known
that. The functioning part of her brain had also had a pretty good idea
sleeping with him would make it worse. So the question was, why the hell had
she done it?

Well. She
couldn’t say it hadn’t been worth it. She’d had the most amazing nights—and
days—of her life on that island. And if the friendship disintegrated, it
wasn’t like she hadn’t known there was a chance of that happening. They’d grown
apart since college anyway. Why was she trying to rationalize this to herself? They’d
both wanted it, they’d both had a good time, end of story.

She peeked at
him again, watched him staring at his laptop screen, the short sleeves of that
black polo shirt hugging his biceps. Biceps she’d felt free to run her hands
over just a few hours earlier. She wouldn’t dare do it now. If he wanted to
turn this into a friends-with-benefits thing when they got home, would she go
for it? Who was she kidding? How could she not?

#

The plane
landed, and they walked into the terminal and down to baggage claim next to
each other but in complete silence. Rain kept glancing at her from the corner
of his eye, wondering what was up with her, if he should say anything. He’d
probably done and said enough. He didn’t think it wise to open his big mouth
yet again. Especially when he didn’t have a clear idea of what he wanted to
say.

After they both
retrieved their bags, he turned to her and asked, “You want to split a cab back
to D.C.?”

“Bettina’s
coming to pick me up. We can give you a ride if you want,” she said in that subdued
voice she’d been using ever since they arrived at the airport in San Juan.

He didn’t see
any point in prolonging the awkwardness. Some sort of wall had formed between
them over the past few hours. It was probably best to say goodbye now. “I think
I’ll just cab it. I’m out of you guys’ way,” he said. “I could wait with you,
though, until Bettina gets here,” he added.

She shook her
head. “No, that’s okay. Thanks, though.”

“Okay,” he
said. “It was really good seeing you. I had a great time.” He wondered if she knew
how much he meant those words.

She smiled,
showing off those dimples he’d come to appreciate so much over the past week.
The smile seemed genuine. It was a beautiful, welcome sight. His shoulders
relaxed a little, releasing tension he hadn’t realized had been in them. “You,
too,” was all she said.

He draped his
garment bag over his suitcase and gave her a hug. It was awkward because she
was still holding her garment bag, and because, well, it was just awkward. What
had happened in that suite and changed their relationship forever. He wasn’t
sure just how much yet. He just knew it was a huge ass change. He wouldn’t take
back a moment of it, though. It was great sex after all. Yeah, that was the
reason.
The only reason.
It had nothing to do with
other—things. There weren’t other reasons he’d enjoyed that time. There
couldn’t be. Other reasons would mean complications. Complications he didn’t
need.

“Bye, Rain,”
she said, looking at him with big, sad eyes. Why did she look like that all of a
sudden? And what was this weird feeling coming over him? What, he was going to
miss her? Of course he was going to miss her. They were friends. And they’d
just spent more time together than they’d spent together since college. He
tried to shut off thoughts of what they’d done during that time. Thoughts that
seemed to be stuck on auto repeat in his brain.

“I’ll call
you,” he said.

She nodded.

He ran a hand
through his hair and scratched the back of his head. Walking outside in a daze,
he headed for the cab queue. He was barely aware of the ride home. He had no
idea how much he tipped the cabbie, but it must have been a lot because the man
kept thanking Rain while he got out of the cab, while he helped Rain get his
things from the trunk, and until he drove off.

He looked up at
his building and sighed. When he went into that penthouse, it would be empty.
He shrank farther into his coat as a chilled wind whipped his face. Yeah, he
was back in D.C. in January. Where everything was dead and gray. And now he would
wander through the rooms of his giant apartment alone.

Wait, that was
the way he liked it. Why was he getting
all glum
about
this? He liked not being tethered to anyone. Doing what he wanted when he
wanted. Why would he want the life sucked out of him by having someone to
answer to? Maybe he’d call Skylar and see if he wanted to go out that night.
Maybe to that club Skylar was always asking him to go to.

Nah, it was no
big deal. He was just in a bad mood because the weather was no longer sunny and
tropical. After first Thailand and then Puerto Rico, he’d gotten used to good
weather and colors. Of course being thrust back into the black and gray of
Mid-Atlantic winter weather was going to make him feel a little crappy at first.

He was finally
going to have his own space again. Good thing, too. He’d been smothered. Daphne
was—what?
A cover hog.
No, she’s not
. She snored.
Liar.
She looked really bad in the mornings.
She’s
beautiful all the time.
Well, she wouldn’t let him watch what he wanted on
television.
False.
Okay, so she…she…
damn
. He’d enjoyed every minute of their
time together.
Shit.

Another brutal
wind
blew,
reminding him he was still on the street
staring up at his building. Grabbing the handle to his suitcase and making sure
his garment bag was draped securely over it, he walked up to the building, tapped
his code into the keypad, and went inside.

He grabbed
whatever mail Skylar hadn’t gotten and headed for the elevator bank. He
couldn’t stop pictures of Daphne from flashing through his mind. She had an
incredible ass. The tight, warm way it’d felt inside of her.
The
richness of her moan.
The way she rode him like she could never get
enough. The breathless way she said his name right before she came.
Those soft full lips.
Perfectly round breasts. Soft, brown
skin like silk. The way her hair tickled his skin.
Her hips
against his.
The curve of her back.
Her smell.
There wasn’t one thing about her he could get out of his mind.

The ding of the
elevator surprised him. He kept losing track of where he was that day. What the
hell was wrong with him?

“I don’t have
time to think like this,” he said. Rain had ambition.
Ambition
that wasn’t going to get waylaid by some infatuation.

Work. He had a
lot of work to do. He threw his bags down, tossed the last of his mail onto the
stack Skylar had put on his dining room table, and paced back and forth as he
made a mental list. He had to call his uncle, see how things were going in
Thailand. He also needed to get in touch with his partners. He’d kept in touch
with them over email and over the phone for the past few weeks, but an
in-person meeting
needed to be set
up. He hadn’t seen
them since he’d left for Thailand several weeks ago. They had a lot to discuss.
He also had to call Skylar to catch up with him. See how things were going with
Bevyx.
And his parents.
His mom was going to kill him
if he didn’t call and especially visit soon.
So much to do.
So very much to do.
He’d better get started.

Every time the
wrong kind of thought—the sexy, steamy kind—popped up, he ran away
from it, focusing on other things. He couldn’t keep picturing Daphne naked. If
he did, he’d go insane. Or worse, he’d call her or show up at her door in a
misguided attempt to reenact those memories that refused to be banished
completely.

#

Bettina
wouldn’t stop harassing her about Rain. It was Wednesday night, and Bettina had
been harassing her since Sunday when Bettina had picked her up from the
airport. She’d made the mistake of telling Bettina everything.

“So you mean to
tell me you finally got some, ended the longest dry streak ever, and you’re
going to let it end?” Bettina asked.

Daphne groaned.
“For the millionth time, yes.”

“But I don’t
get it. He’s hot. He’s obviously hot for you. Why not keep it going?”

“Because I know
him too, too well.” Daphne folded her hands inside the sleeves of her sweater.
Rain didn’t date women. He discarded them. Daphne had ended things on her own
terms. She hadn’t given him the chance to throw her away. She wasn’t going to
give him that chance now just because her nosy cousin thought it’d be a good
idea.

Bettina shifted
on the couch and crossed her legs. “The way I see it, your friendship is
wrecked. It’s not coming back from this.”

“Thanks.”

“So you might
as well get some. Keep this friends with benefits thing going as long as you
can.”

“I don’t want
this to turn into a messy, complicated thing,” Daphne said, sinking deeper into
her favorite armchair.

“Why would it?”
Bettina uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

“Because…because…”

“Oh. Oh,
Daphne. You’ve caught feelings for him, haven’t you?”