Playing for Keeps (Texas Scoundrels) (17 page)

She couldn’t have spoken if her life depended on it. A sinking suspicion crept through her mind that her sanity was riding on the use of her vocal cords, but she couldn’t utter a sound. No man had ever looked at her as Jed was at this moment, with fierce determination and a desire that burned hot. He held her transfixed with those mesmerizing eyes. The tips of his boots brushed the edge of her fuzzy flip-flops.

“I promise,” he said as he slowly drew his hands up her arms to settle on her shoulders, “that I’m going to kiss you.”

Her vocal cords still refused to cooperate, so she shook her head.

“No? I’m a man of my word, Griffen. That
is
something you can always count on with me.”

With that, he dipped his head. His lips hovered near hers and he waited. Giving her a chance to object?
 

Not a chance. She held her breath, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, afraid he’d turn and walk away.
 

He brushed his mouth against hers, and she let out a sigh. Slow and gentle, he traced the outline of her bottom lip with his tongue. But it wasn’t enough so she parted her lips, inviting him inside. He took the hint and deepened the kiss, bathing her mouth with swift, penetrating strokes. She shivered in response. Whatever resolve she might have possessed, crumbled.

Jed slid his hands from her shoulders to her neck, then cupped her face in his palms. When she trembled beneath his touch, his temperature shot up ten degrees.
 

“Griffen,” he groaned, then slanted his mouth over hers again, unable to deny the fierce need she fired inside him. He tasted the salt of her earlier tears and something uniquely Griffen. When she slipped her arms around his neck and sighed, a sexy little sound deep in the back of her throat, male satisfaction ripped through him. He sensed a change in their relationship, a connection that went above and beyond their bond to Austin.
 

And it changed everything.

Using the wall to his advantage, he surrounded her, with his body and his heat. The feel of her soft, full breasts pressing intimately against his chest nearly drove him mad. She responded with an openness that had made him crazy. Good God, he wanted her, wanted her beneath him, hot and wet with need. He wanted to hear his name on her lips when he filled her, wanted to see her eyes darken with intense pleasure. Pleasure he would give her again and again.

She rubbed her sweet body against him and he nearly came out of his skin. His control was slipping, fast. He wanted to make love to her, ride her so hard that she'd cry out from the force of her orgasms. He wanted her exhausted and pliant, willing to do anything he asked.

Griffen couldn’t help herself, she kissed him back and loved every second of it. Jed overwhelmed her, turned her brain to mush, and she didn’t care. The man was pure masculine power, and if she wasn’t careful, she'd be lost forever. Right now, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t find the strength to fight it, or him for the simple reason she never wanted his drugging, bone-melting kisses to end.
 

All she could think about was the need building inside her and how much she wanted him. He shifted their bodies, then lifted her, using the wall to support her back. As if she’d done it a thousand times before, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Even through his khakis, the hard ridge of his desire pressed against her as if the thin fabric of her pajama bottoms didn’t exist. She moaned and rolled her hips.
 

He deepened the kiss as she moved against him. His hips rocked forward in an erotic dance that pushed her dangerously close to the edge. She wanted more. Needed more.

His kisses were breath-stealing and insistent. The man was lethal, but at the moment, all she could concentrate on were the sweeps of his tongue and the feel of his erection pressed against her heated center. He slipped his hand under the hem of her shirt to cup her breast. When he dragged his thumb over her nipple, she moaned and arched toward him, wanting, needing more. Running her own hands over his wide shoulders, she reveled in the feel of rock hard muscle beneath her fingertips. She told herself she had to stop, but returned his kisses instead.
 

It’d been so long since she’d been held like this. Kissed like this. Aroused like this. When he pushed his hands into her pj bottoms, his hands against her skin, she thought for sure she’d explode. He made her squirm with a fierce desire to seek completion. She wanted so much more, the intimate contact of flesh against flesh. She wanted everything he could give her.

When he found her hot, slick folds and teased her clit with the pad of his thumb, she flew apart. He swallowed her cries as powerful shockwaves of pleasure pulsed through her. She couldn’t breathe, she could only feel, and the incredible sensations turning her world upside down only made her hungry for more.
 

He dragged his mouth from hers and kissed her jaw, nuzzled her neck. She clung to him and tried to catch her breath.

“You’re amazing,” he said, his voice a harsh husky whisper tight with desire. He rested his forehead against hers and smiled.

That killer Maitland grin. A wicked smile designed to melt hearts and charm his way into the closest pair of damp panties. And that made her no better than some cheap gridiron groupie.
 

She went cold. What the hell was she doing? Inviting the enemy into her camp was one thing, screwing him in her bedroom was quite another. Yet, she couldn’t deny that right this very moment, she still wanted him so much she ached.

"We can't do this," she said and reached her feet to the floor.
 

"Griffen...” His voice sounded as ragged as her emotions.

“Let me go, Jed.”
 

Regret flashed through his eyes, but whether it was for what they’d just done or because she’d stopped him, she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t care to know. When he released her, she moved away from him because if she allowed herself to give into the emotions rippling through her, when he left, it would hurt. A lot.

He stood with his arms braced against the wall and kept his head down. She couldn’t help feeling a tad guilty for leaving him hanging.

Her desire dimmed, replaced by shame. She’d kissed him, let him pleasure her. Hell, she’d essentially made love to him. “God, why did you have to come back?” she muttered, more to herself than him.

He pushed off the wall and turned to face her. His eyes were a shade darker, hot with a fire that had nothing to do with passion. “I had every intention of leaving and wish to hell I had.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” she shot back.
 

A cocky grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Sweetheart, up until a few minutes ago, you
wouldn’t
have stopped me.”
 

Her eyes narrowed. What was she supposed to do? Thank him? God, she wanted to smack that smug expression off face. “Go to hell, Maitland.”

“I've already been there,” he said, then shoved his hand through his hair in agitation. “I was headed back to the PK and ended up at the cemetery outside of town.”

“You went to see Dani?”
 

“Why does that surprise you?” Irritation lined his words.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just...” Just that she’d never understand the attraction between Jed and her sister. Especially the Jed she’d just clung to like a sex-starved buckle bunny. Dani had been sweet, fragile and Jed was her polar opposite. He was strong, powerful, the kind to go skidding sideways into the grave at the end of his life shouting, “Great fucking ride.”

“Just that you don’t see me as a sentimental kind of guy?” he finished for her.

She regarded him for a moment before answering. Sentimental was hardly an adjective she’d use in conjunction with Jed. “Not really.”

“I’m damned sentimental.” Annoyance crossed his too handsome features. “Dani meant a lot to me, more than you’ll ever realize. If you had half the...”

“Half the what? Don’t stop while you’re on a roll.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm to hide the hurt. The callous comparison to her older sister stung. “If I was what? Half the woman my sister was? Well, I'm not. So don't expect me to let you walk all over me then quietly slip out of your life before the boredom sets in.”

“That’s not—”
 

“I’ve never been any man’s flavor of the month, and I’m not about to start now.”

“You are impossible,” he ground out in frustration. “I never meant...” He faltered, and regarded her quizzically. Then his eyebrows shot up as if he’d just been given a great revelation. “You’re not afraid of Austin getting hurt. You’re afraid
you’ll
get hurt.”

Smart bastard. “Like hell.” She aimed for nonchalance and failed.
 

He advanced, closing the distance between them until she either had to look up or stare at his wide chest, the same chest she’d been rubbing up against earlier. Not willing to slink down that road again, she opted for his eyes.
 

He leaned in, crowding her, making her acutely aware of every square inch of his rock hard body. “If I kissed you now, you’d kiss me back.” His voice dipped low and husky and filled with sex.

“Not a chance,” she lied.

“I bet you’re still wet.”

She bit her bottom lip. Well, she was now, thank-you-very-much. And he hadn’t so much as touched her.

“You know why?”

She opened her mouth to fire off a smart ass comment, but her vocal chords stopped working again.
 

 
“Because you want me. You want me to fuck you.”

Yeah, he kinda had her there. And if she didn’t get the hell away from him, that’s exactly what they’d be doing.

She scooted a safe distance away. “Wow, that’s some ego you’ve got there, Maitland.”

He chuckled, the sound scraping her awakened nerve endings. “This isn’t over yet.”

“Wanna bet?” she shot over her shoulder.

He came up behind her, slipping his warm hands over her shoulders, down her arms until he entwined their fingers together. Leaning close, his breath fanned her neck. It took every ounce of willpower for her not to lean back and just give in to whatever it was that was happening between them.

“Don’t you know better than to bet against a sure thing? Odds are you’ll lose.”
 

A shiver raced down her spine and she forced herself to move away from him and his over-blown ego. “The odds say when hell freezes over, Maitland. I think it’s time you leave.” She couldn’t think when he touched her. No, that wasn't exactly true. She couldn’t think of anything but
sex
when he touched her.

“I’m leaving, but I’ll be back tomorrow. For dinner.” He reached for the door and flashed her his lethal grin. “We’ll see what we can come up with for dessert.”

She stood staring at the closed door, waiting until she heard him backing out of her driveway before she collapsed on the bed. Somehow in the last hour, the battlefield had changed. They were no longer fighting about Austin. No, that issue had been somewhat resolved. She wasn’t exactly certain how, but it had.

This was a battle with higher stakes. One she knew she had no hope in winning, either. Jed was absolutely right. She wanted him. She wanted him with an intense need she hadn’t even known existed.
 

Her only salvation was knowing that need and desire did not equal love. And loving Jed Maitland wasn’t something she’d never have to worry about happening to her. Because not even she was
that
stupid.

Ten

THE COLD SHOWER did squat to alleviate the pain in Jed’s shoulder but it did manage to cool his out-of-control libido. He couldn’t remember when a woman had set him on fire as much as Griffen, so much that he couldn’t eradicate her from of his mind. With his luck, she’d probably haunt him until he had her, really had her. Once he made love to her, his fascination would wane. Soon she’d become a blur like all the rest. Griffen Somerfield would be no different.

And he was a liar.

Griffen
was
different, and that bothered him almost as how much he wanted her. She’d never agree to a casual fling. Not a chance. Griffen was a forever kind of woman, the romance and candlelight type. He’d be wise to steer clear of her regardless of how much he ached to have her. The thought did give him a little comfort emotionally. Physically, he was still in serious trouble.
 

Ignoring his discomfort, he reached across the bed to grab his cell phone off the bedside table. Now that he’d made his decision to be a part of Austin’s life, there were details to be worked out, or rather, his lawyer had details to work out on his behalf.

The glowing red numbers on the digital clock read quarter after one. When he’d arrived back at the Lakeside Motel an hour ago, the irritated clerk had frowned when he’d explained he’d left his key in the room, not bothering to enlighten her to the fact he’d originally left it behind because he hadn’t planned on coming back.
 

He called his attorney at home. For the hefty sum he paid to keep Steve Rafferty on retainer, Jed figured Steve owed him a few late night calls. A woman’s husky voice answered, probably Steve’s wife, and Jed gave his name.