Seductive Reasoning (15 page)

Oh boy. “For reading the book I
gave you.”

She gave her shoulders a small
shrug. One of the straps on her top slipped down her arm. She moved slowly
toward him, her gaze pinned to his face. She didn’t bother to push the strap
back into place. Seth felt his body heat, his nerves hum. He had to concentrate
on breathing and keeping his cool. He couldn’t lose control and do what he
really wanted, which was take her upstairs and make passionate love to her.

“You’re welcome. You sound
surprised.” She continued forward until she stood directly in front of him.
Until all he could see was the infinite green of her eyes.

“I am,” he said.

“Why?”

Why? There were a million reasons
why, but he could only think of one. “Because I didn’t think you had much
interest in my work. This whole week seems to be totally about winning.”

“I could say the same thing about
you.”

“You could. I admit I do want to
win. But I want you to know how much I appreciated you reading the book I gave
you. And you understood it as well.”

The look of hurt and sadness he’d
seen before flashed in her eyes, and then it was gone again. He wasn’t
comfortable with emotions; he didn’t like to get involved with them because
they complicated his life. Women came with a boatload of emotions attached to
them. Hell, if he really thought about it, they were an intrinsic part of a
woman. And with those emotions came demands. Demands they wanted or needed a
man to meet. His world was too structured, and women and their emotions only
tangled matters.

But he couldn’t resist at least
opening that doorway just a crack. What kind of man would he be if he ignored
the glimpse of pain he’d seen in Kate’s eyes? If he let go of a little bit of
his structured world, he knew that would make him painfully vulnerable. His
armor against getting involved emotionally with women would sustain damage. But
he had to question her. He couldn’t let the moment pass.

She lowered her chin and stared at
the ground. Against his better judgment, Seth lifted her chin until she was
forced to look at him. To his utter shock and surprise tears glistened in her
eyes. “What the hell’s the matter? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. I’ve seen that
look before. What’s going on?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try.”

She swallowed. “I always thought
that if I tried to be intellectual it would somehow suppress my creativity. My
parents are both lawyers. I have a brother and sister who became doctors. I’m
kind of an anomaly in my family.”

Mark had said the same thing about
him. “Believe it or not, I know how you feel.”

“What do you mean?”

He should put a stop to this
discussion now. Whatever she said to him might cause her to wheedle her way
deeper into the armor he used to shield his heart. His own words came back to
him
. We can talk emotions all you want, Kate, but it isn’t going to change a
thing
. “No, tonight is about you. Not me. What do you mean by an anomaly?”

Kate lowered herself to a rocker on
the porch, leaned back, and stretched her long, tanned legs out in front of
her. Seth had an unrestricted view of slender ankles, toned calves and thighs.
She wiggled her toes and the red polish on her toenails glinted in the light.
He had an unexpected urge to kiss those toes until she moaned in delight.

“I never seemed to fit in. If it
weren’t for Aunt Pandora, I would have probably conformed to what my parents
wanted for me.” She stopped for a moment, sipped some wine, and continued
staring out across the backyard. “My parents never understood me or my need to
explore my creative side. They’ve been waiting years for me to get a real job.

“When you said you were surprised
that I’d read the book, I figured you thought I didn’t have the brains to
really understand it.”

Her voice broke on those last
words. In the span of a couple of days, she had forced him to stop looking at
the world scientifically and see it more with his heart and his emotions.
Suddenly, he had the urge to give both her parents a piece of his mind. But he
also wanted to give Aunt Pandora a great big kiss for encouraging Kate’s
creative desires and channeling them into something positive. This was a
mistake. He knew it. A big mistake, but he couldn’t stop himself. He had to
touch her, to hold her. He walked over to her chair, reached out his hand.
“Come here.” His tone was soft and urgent.

She raised her chin and her lips
parted. Surprise shown in her eyes and on her face. Slowly, she rose from the
chair, and Seth moved closer until the heat from their bodies mingled. He
wrapped his arms around her, pulled her against him snugly, and held her as if
she were something precious.

Kate came willingly, her arms
curling around him, her head settling on his shoulder. The scent and feel of
her surrounded him and eased a few more of his inhibitions. She was beautiful,
sweet, and sexy.

He didn’t like seeing the sadness
in her eyes, or hearing it in her voice. His Kate was full of joy. The woman
was spontaneous. She didn’t think things through. She just did them. She
brought joy and unpredictability into his life, and he realized suddenly that
he didn’t want to go back to the way things were before he met her. He wanted
his life to remain this way. She snuggled in closer, and he grew hard. God, he
wanted this woman, but if he gave in to his need, the bet was lost. “I’m sorry
you felt I didn’t think you were smart enough to understand what you had read.
That was never my intention. I was just surprised that you took the time,
that’s all.” He lifted her head and held her face between his hands. “You’re a
beautiful, intelligent woman, Kate Summers, and never let anyone tell you any
different.”

Her lower lip trembled and a tear
spilled out. He wiped the wetness away with his tongue. Her skin felt
incredible under his mouth. He needed to see her smile. He wanted to see the
Kate he had come to enjoy smile and be herself. It would probably kill him, but
he knew a way. “Kate, we haven’t conducted an experiment today.”

“No, we haven’t.”

“I was thinking it’s your turn. You
came to my class, and as a result, your point of view was changed. Now it’s
your turn to try and change my point of view.”

A sly smile curved her pretty
mouth. “My turn?”

Her eyes lit with a mischievous
glint. Vixen. “Yes. I think it’s time you showed me more of your lingerie.”

Chapter
Eight

A few minutes later, Kate stood
before him in a glimmering confection of white. The woman looked like an angel,
a very naughty angel. She wore a gown of pure white that hugged her body. There
was a sprinkle of lace over the top part that hardly covered her breasts. The
panties were almost non-existent. On her feet were white, backless heels. Over
the whole thing, she wore a sheer robe with sparkles scattered over it. One
side dipped from her shoulder, leaving it bare except for the tiny strap that
held up the gown. She stepped onto the porch, and the robe fluttered behind
her. With a flick, she turned off the porch light and walked over to him.

Yep. She was killing him all right.
But at least he was seeing his old Kate again. His alluring, unrestrained Kate.

His. When had he begun to think of
Kate as his?

“This is something new.”

Something new. What she was doing
to him was as old as time. He was hard as iron. “It’s nice.”

“Nice? That’s the best you can do?”

“Okay, it’s very nice.”

She smiled and walked over to him.
Kate reached out and skimmed her fingers over his lips. “It’s time to start our
experiment.”

Oh God. “It hasn’t started yet?”

She shook her head. The ends of her
hair swung seductively against her shoulders. “For as long as you can, without
touching me, I want you to tell me explicitly what seeing me in this outfit
does to you. Ready. Get set. Go.”

Oh, he was ready to go all right.
Like a rocket. He skimmed his gaze over her from head to toe. He slowed as his
gaze ran over her small, perfect breasts, then down over her waist and toned
abdomen to the dark nest of curls at the apex of her thighs. Then down her legs
to her feet nestled inside the shoes. He repeated the process on the way up.
This was an experiment, nothing more. All he had to do was compile the data and
form a hypothesis.

“Due to the sheerness of the
material, I can see your breasts and your, shall I say, femininity quite
clearly. They tantalize and titillate. They were designed specifically for that
purpose, so I’d conclude that you succeeded.”

“Yes, but what do they make
you
feel?”

Everything. “They are an effective
catalyst, and they cause my desire to escalate to a dangerous level, to the
point that I want to touch you. I want to feel your breasts in my hands. I want
to put my mouth on your mouth, your neck, your abdomen.”

“Good. Anything else?”

Desire for her sat up and bit him
on the ass.

“Now it’s time for you to touch me.
If you don’t touch me, I don’t think I can be assured the lingerie really
works.”

Oh, it worked all right. It worked
like gangbusters.

God, she was delectable. He
desperately wanted to touch her, to reach out and take, but what would happen
if he did? Would he lose control and make love to her? There was only one way
to find out. Without further delay, Seth laid a hand on the side of her face,
angled her mouth, and fit his perfectly over hers. As soon as his mouth touched
hers, he drank from it like a dying man.

He didn’t wait to finesse her mouth
open, but plunged instead. She tasted like wine and sin. He took the kiss
deeper and deeper until he’d tasted every part of her mouth. Slow, hot and wet.
She kissed him back as good as he gave her. Her tongue tangled with his, her
teeth nipped his lips and drove him wild. Blindly, he pushed the gown aside and
down until she was bare before him.

Until she wore nothing but the
panties. He enjoyed the weight of her breasts in his hands. He rubbed the
nipple of one breast between his thumb and forefinger and listened with pure
male satisfaction to her moan.

Unable to stop himself, he slid his
hand down, down over her stomach, over her silky skin, and under the top edge
of her thong panties. He slid his hands around to her bottom and caressed bare
ass. Seth lifted her to the apex between his legs, desperate for Kate to feel
his need for her.

Seth tore his mouth from hers and
planted a series of wet, open-mouthed kisses on her neck before he moved down
to one of her breasts. He took the soft globe into his mouth and suckled. He
laved the underside with his tongue, rubbing his mouth over her smooth, silky
skin, allowing her scent to explode through his body. Inch by delectable inch,
he tasted until her flavor consumed him. Then he gave her other breast the same
treatment. Mindlessly, he pushed the panties down until they fell around her
ankles. She was there for him. Wanting him. Waiting for him.

Seth kissed his way over her body
until he settled to his knees. Without hesitation, he lifted her left leg and
draped it over his right shoulder. He moved into her closer, closer still.
Gently, he parted the nest of curls and massaged her with his fingers until she
was swollen, wet and needy.

He blew his breath over her and
smiled at the whimper she made. Seth opened his mouth and stroked his tongue
over her femininity from top to bottom in one long, slow lick. Her knees
buckled. He grabbed her fanny to hold her in place. He laved, he tasted, until
he felt the first pulse of release nudge his mouth.

The pulse built until her soft, wet
flesh convulsed against his lips and tongue. Those feminine throbs nearly made
him lose control and shove himself deeply inside her. Kate grasped his head to
hold him in place. The beat of her release grew stronger and harder. Her cry of
pleasure was the sexiest sound Seth had ever heard. When her orgasm faded, he
rose, picked her up in his arms, and carried her into the house.

Her panties dangled around her
ankles. Her shoes were still on her feet. The rest of her was naked. Kate lay
limp in Seth’s arms, her arms around his neck, her head resting on his
shoulder. Even though he had just given her the orgasm of her life, her body
still hummed with arousal.

She wanted him for real.

She wanted him inside of her.

Kate moved her head and nuzzled his
neck, then kissed his sexy, male skin. He didn’t nuzzle her back, but continued
walking down the hallway to the base of the stairs. She slid one hand inside
his shirt and ran her fingers through the hair on his chest. Still he kept
walking, steadily climbing the stairs with no reaction.

When he reached the top of the
stairs he walked straight to the guest bedroom. Kate felt a sharp tub of
disappointment deep in her gut. She thought that finally, he was giving in. He
was going to make love to her. Then she would at last know how it felt to have
him inside her. He walked over to the bed, and instead of laying her on top, he
set her on the floor. She kept her arms around his neck, not wanting to let go,
afraid to lose the connection between them. Gently, he removed her arms from
around his neck.

Seth leaned over, drew back the
covers, and then straightened. He took her by the shoulders and shifted her
body until her back faced the bed. As if nothing had happened between them, he
slowly drew her panties up her legs and over her butt. With a slight nudge, he
maneuvered her into a sitting position on the bed. Then he removed her shoes
and pushed her down to the bed, tucked her legs under the covers and pulled
them to her chin. As if she were a child, he kissed her softly on the forehead.
He smoothed back her hair and severed the link between them.