Seductive Reasoning (12 page)

Something seemed to snap, for Seth
slid across the seat, wrapped her in his arms, and clamped his mouth to hers.
He gripped her thigh and pulled her into his lap without lifting his head. He
kissed her with deep thrusts of his tongue until her head spun and her heart
felt as though it would leap from her chest. Heat plunged between her legs,
making her grow wet and heavy. A moan slipped up her throat.

Seth let her go, shoved her from
his arms, and climbed from the truck. He rounded the front of the vehicle,
yanked her door open, and waited for her to climb out. As soon as she cleared
the truck, he slammed the door and marched to the front porch of her house.

Arousal shimmered over her body,
and her blood pounded through her veins. She walked to the porch, slipped the
key into the lock, and turned to him. “What was that all about? Why did you
kiss me like that? And don’t tell me you’re sorry, because you’re not.”

“Just thought we needed to clear
the air.”

“Clear the air? We nearly cleared
the decks in front of God and everybody.”

A smile quirked the corners of his
mouth. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Seth gently pushed Kate’s hand from the knob and
opened the door. He held it open until she entered, then closed the panel with
a soft click. He handed her the keys, then made a beeline for the stairs.

“Wait. It’s time we addressed the
issue of when we knew each other before.”

Seth started up the stairs. “I
don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do.”

Seth continued up the stairs,
ignoring her comment.

“You can’t keep walking away,
Professor. Sooner or later you’re going to have to face what’s between us.”

Chapter
Six

Kate laid out ingredients for soft
shell tacos on the kitchen island while Seth sat working on his computer. The
kitchen window over the sink stood open, and the sound of kids playing, the
distant hum of a lawn mower, and the chirp of birds filled the air. Her scent,
the sound of her dress swishing against her legs as she moved about the room,
and the silent pad of her bare feet on the kitchen tile nearly drove him to
distraction.

Seth had avoided Kate’s request to
discuss their relationship when they were in college. He didn’t want to talk
about it. He didn’t want to tell her how much he had wanted her back then or
how much he wanted her now.

Here he was again with the woman
who made him want to let go of his inhibitions, to free himself from constraint
and just go for it. He watched her fanny move beneath her dress as she walked
from the stove to the island. Her toes were painted bright red. Her breasts, he
knew from feeling them against his chest, were soft, round and female.

She’d gathered her hair up in a
clip and exposed the back of her long, pale neck. He wanted to put his lips
just there. In fact, he wanted his mouth on her for hours. He couldn’t see a
panty or a bra line, and he wondered if she was wearing anything under her
dress.

God help him if she was naked.

He allowed himself a good, long
look before she turned and caught him staring at her. He jerked his gaze back
to his computer. He was fully erect from just watching her. Her dress wasn’t
provocative or sexy, just feminine and simply made. It drove him wild.

Dammit! In order to win, he had to
keep his mind off Kate’s delectable body.

Kate set out placemats, plates, and
silverware. “Are you hungry?”

Seth’s head shot up and he met her
gaze. Hungry. Oh, yeah. “Sure. Let’s eat.”

Kate and Seth spent some time in
silence while they put together their tacos. Seth couldn’t keep his eyes off
her as she raised a taco to her mouth and took the first bite. She licked her
lips and savored the flavor. He heard a low hum of satisfaction deep in her throat.
Would she make the same sound when she climaxed?

Stop it. If he could make it
through the week without letting go and hold on to his control, then afterward
he could make love to her to his heart’s content. A new goal formed in his
mind. He would make love to Kate until they were both sated and satisfied, but
not before he held the money in his hand.

If she would still have him.

She might not want to come near him
once he won the bet, and her dreams of national lingerie sales dissolved.

“What are you thinking about?”

Seth busied himself making a taco.
“Just thinking about what I plan to do with the money when I win.”

“You’re so sure you will win?
You’re going to be very disappointed, Dr. Fallon.”

Suddenly, he couldn’t stand her
calling him Dr. Fallon. “Call me Seth. After all we’ve
slept
together.”

Kate raised her brows, lowered her
cute chin, and looked at him with those wide, cat green eyes. She blinked her
thick black lashes like soot against her skin. “We’ve slept in the same bed,
but we haven’t exactly
slept
together.”

He shrugged. “Still it was really
intimate.”

“I admit a heated kiss and some out
of control groping can be damned intimate, but not as intimate as it could have
been. If you hadn’t stopped, we would have made love. Wouldn’t we?”

He thought about the night before
with her in his arms, her body snug against his, her mouth on his, and that
he’d nearly made love to her. As far as he was concerned, the intimacy between
him and Kate reached critical mass with that little nothing of a nightgown she
wore to tempt him. Kate should give all men who came near her a warning that
touching her once wouldn’t be enough. She presented a danger to any man’s self
control.

He shifted on the stool with his
napkin over his lap. He didn’t want her to see his aching erection. He became
hard every moment he spent with Kate. Once the week was over his libido should
go back to normal.

Maybe.

Kate patted her mouth with her
napkin and sipped her iced tea. She set down her glass, scooted her stool
closer to him, and laid a hand on his thigh. He tensed at her touch. Heat shot
straight to his groin. Geezus. He tried to brush her hand aside, but she
clutched his fingers instead.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What question was that?

“If you hadn’t stopped, we would have
made love. Wouldn’t we?”

Damn right. But he’d never admit
it. “Maybe.”

She smiled and propped her chin on
her fist with her right elbow resting on the counter surface. “No maybe about
it. We were both hot and ready. If I had pushed a little harder, you know what
would have happened.”

“What?”

“We’d have been making love inside
of two minutes.”

Gulp. “Why do you say that?”

She licked her lips and dropped her
gaze to his mouth. “Because of what happened between us during college--or
rather what didn’t happen.”

Oh, back to that again. He
straightened and tried to concentrate on his food. “I don’t know what you
mean.”

She laughed. “Yes, you do, and it’s
time we talked about it. I have an idea that will make revealing how we felt
about each other then a little easier for both of us.”

“What kind of idea?”

“Strip poker.”

He was so shocked he laughed. Seth
threw down his napkin, slid off the stool, and walked over to the window. He
looked outside and tried to concentrate on the beautiful spring day, rather
than on the image of Kate bare-ass naked holding cards in her hands. “How do
you figure playing strip poker will help us reveal our feelings?

“Because when you’re naked
physically, the emotional walls tend to crumble. By the time we finish the
game, we will have talked about our insecurities and our lust for each other,
so the last wall to be breached will be making love.”

Deep inside, Seth wanted nothing
more than to get good and naked with Kate, but navigating emotional waters
wasn’t something he enjoyed or was at all familiar with. He spent his time
studying facts not feelings. He couldn’t deny that he wanted to know more about
her. Besides, once he got her naked, there was no way he would walk away.
Resisting her would be impossible. “How about truth or dare instead?”

Kate was relieved and disappointed
that Seth had agreed to play truth or dare with her. She was relieved because
she wanted to know more about him, how he felt deep inside, how he felt about
her in college, and why he chose to ignore her. She was disappointed because
she wanted to know what it felt like to make love with him. On the other hand,
he wanted to know more about her, and if they made love now, their time
together would be over. She would win the bet but lose Seth in the process. Why
did losing him make her feel empty inside? She was doing this only to further
her designs, to make more money, so her family and Aunt Pandora would be proud
of her. Wasn’t she?

After the dinner dishes were washed
and put away, Kate suggested they go out into the back yard. In one corner of
the yard, she’d had an arbor built. The morning glory and clematis vines had
gotten an early start with the mild April weather Denver had been blessed with.
The slats of wood were nearly covered with green leaves and early flower buds.
They would have plenty of privacy.

Kate was glad of that. He’d nearly
swallowed her whole sitting out in broad daylight in front of her house. There
was a comfortable swing hung beneath the arbor big enough for two people.

As usual, Seth moved to one end of
the swing away from her, but she simply shifted closer to him until her thigh
touched his thigh, her hip caressed his hip, her breast brushed the side of his
chest, and their arms touched from shoulder to wrist. As if it were the most
normal thing in the world, Kate entwined her fingers with his. Heat shot up her
arm and her nipples stood at attention.

She wanted him to touch her. She
needed him to touch her, to hold her. Kate had used her sexuality as a shield
against the world for years, a way to keep from revealing too much of herself.
She didn’t want to admit to anyone that she was unsure of her sexuality. Kate
remembered how Seth’s hands had felt on her skin the night before, how they had
soothed and aroused at the same time. But did Seth’s touch help strengthen the
shield she held up to the world or weaken it?

She pushed her foot against the
grass-covered ground and set the swing in motion. “I’ll go first. If you don’t
tell me the truth--and we’re talking strictly about our relationship both now
and in the past--then I will issue you a dare. You absolutely have to accept
the dare if you don’t tell the truth.” She inhaled a deep breath. “Did you feel
anything for me when we were in college?”

“Well, I thought you were a lovely,
intelligent young woman.”

“That’s not what I mean. Were you
attracted to me physically or emotionally?”

Seth leaned forward and propped his
arms on his legs. He turned his head and stared at her. The setting sun made
him look unbearably handsome. A breath of wind ruffled his hair and a few dark
strands fell endearingly over his forehead. He nudged his glasses up on his
nose and she nearly lost it. How could she be so attracted to a man in glasses?

His eyes appeared intensely blue,
clear, and endless behind the lenses. “Kate you need to understand that I want
to win. The bet and the money are everything. I can’t lose and I won’t give up.
Now, I think we should come to some sort of agreement. Remember I mentioned
ground rules and limitations? Well, I think this should be one of those
limitations. I don’t intend to let emotions past or present sway me from
winning. We can talk emotions all you want, Kate, but it isn’t going to change
a thing.”

“You’re worried about getting into
trouble. Seth, if we set rules and limitations on our experiments, we’ll be
tainting the results. The best we can do is put the criteria together, set the
experiment into motion, and see what happens. Besides, emotions can’t be given
rules and limitations.”

“I thought this was about seduction
and sex. You know, human instincts and drives. We need to stay focused.”

The man wasn’t comfortable with
emotions. He wanted everything laid out in pristine order, cut and dried. Just
the facts, ma’am. Well, Kate had other ideas. She needed emotions from the man,
feelings, and she knew just how to get them.

“My turn.” He looked intently at
her. “I’ve seen you look sad a few times, and I want to know why.”

Kate licked her lips and swallowed.
How could she admit her inadequacies to him? She was the one who was supposed to
be the expert--or
sexpert
--in this bet. Everyone came to her shop
seeking advice. How could she tell him her own advice didn’t work for her, that
her own designs did nothing for her? “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Yes, you do, but you won’t tell
me. So here’s a dare. I dare you to stay on your side of the bed tonight.”

Kate jerked her head toward him.
Darn him, he was playing her own game against her. Well, she would see about
that. Before this evening was done, Seth Fallon wouldn’t be able to keep his hands
off her. “Okay, I can do that. But I bet you can’t.”

She gave the swing another push.
“Truth or dare. Why didn’t you ever take our friendship to the next level in
college?”

Seth blushed to the roots of his
hair. “Because you were a sophomore and I was an older graduate student. It
wouldn’t have been fair to get involved with you.”

Finally, he lied to her. She made a
sound like a buzzer. “Wrong answer. I dare you to kiss me on my neck.” She
pointed to a spot below her right ear. “Right here. Open-mouthed.”

The man looked positively stunned.
She wanted to hug him. Seth leaned forward. Slowly. His scent surrounded her,
tempting her. The allure of his body curled like loving hands around her body.
His mint-scented breath caressed her skin.