Sparring Partners (12 page)

"You're right. I did lie to you before, but
not about the shirt." She took off her hat and took a step forward.
Still, he didn't move or speak. This was her play. He wanted to
push her, he wanted to know why she was here and what she lied
about, but he didn't want to scare her away, so he wiped all the
emotion from his face and calmly waited.

Then she took his hand. "Walk with me. I'll
show you my favorite spot. It's where I go when I need to be alone
with my thoughts."

Jordon's hand closed around hers and he let
her lead him out of the woods toward the pond. They walked in
silence. Jordon, because he wanted to see her secret place almost
as badly as he wanted to keep touching her, even if all he was
touching was her hand. He wasn't sure why Reed was suddenly silent,
but as long as she kept touching him he wasn't about to question
her motives.

She led him around the pond to the narrow
strip of land behind that was lined on each side with weeping
willow trees. They had been left to grow wild, their branches
nearly touching the ground. There were other small trees and shrubs
along the bank that Jordon couldn't name that provided shelter for
animals, and, combined with the willows, obscured the view from the
house up the hill.

No wonder Reed liked this place, it was
completely secluded. Her own little elf kingdom. Jordon felt some
of the tension he'd been carrying between his shoulders ease. He
closed his eyes and let the scents of freshly cut grass and wild
flowers envelope him. He could smell the water too, fresh and clear
except for the light tinge of algae floating at the perimeter. He
found the scents and the sounds of the water and the creatures who
lived here relaxing. It had been a long time since he held hands
with a woman and simply enjoyed the sights and scents of a sunny
summer day.

Reed seemed to sense his mood and let him
soak it all in for a long moment before leading him to the largest
of the willows directly in the center of her grove. Releasing his
hand, Reed went on tip-toe to pull down a small bundle she kept
squirreled away amid the branches. He could have helped her with
her task, but he didn't want to seem too eager or too hopeful after
this morning's encounter. This was her plan and she needed to be
the one to determine the course of events.

Jordon turned away to watch a pair of
dragonflies as they danced above the water. He lifted his face to
the sky and let the warmth of the day wash over him. When he turned
back to Reed, she was sitting on a checkered blanket held down on
each corner by a plastic bottle of water and some small rocks.
She'd taken off her shoes and socks and tossed them to the side
with her hat, the thick plastic bag, and two more bottles of
water.

She patted the blanket beside her. "Sit with
me."

He sat, feeling awkward and at a loss as to
where to put his feet. She looked like an exotic butterfly,
delicate and perfect. He felt like a giant bull frog, all warts and
feet. He settled on crossing his feet straight out in front of
him.

"I'm trying to keep up here, Reed, but I
can't help feeling like I missed something."

She bent her bare legs back around her,
holding herself toward him, perched on one well muscled arm. He
cleared his throat as her skirt rose higher and forced his gaze
from her thigh to her face. Big mistake. Her lips were slightly
parted and all dewy with pink gloss. Her freshly scrubbed face
shone with good health. And her eyes. Damn, she had incredible
eyes. Gray and blue and light green all mixed up with a rim of deep
charcoal. No one should have eyes that beautiful.

Jordon leaned back on his elbows and looked
away, pretending to study the water. Every internal warning bell he
had was sounding loud and clear, but he couldn't walk away. Not
yet. Not before he found out what this was all about.

He steeled his voice. "So, you said before
we took this little stroll, that you lied to me earlier. What did
you lie about?" He asked, not really caring.

Reed wasn't the kind of woman who had
anything deep and dark to actually lie about. He was more
interested in what she was up to now.

"I like you." She said, surprising him. "I
like you, a lot."

Not exactly a big lie, but it got his
attention. His gaze snapped back to her while he silently willed
her to continue. He always learned more by shutting up and letting
his opponent talk than he did through outright interrogation, no
matter how gentle the interrogation. Unfortunately, the wait now
was killing him. She didn't seem to have any of the usual motives
people had when they wanted something from him: money, an
introduction to the world's elite, free investment advice, selling
their company, the list went on but nothing on it started with a
walk in the woods and a sun dress as light as air.

"I like you too. Now, spit it out Reed. Tell
me why we're here. I can't read your mind." He said, sounding
harsher than he intended.

She moved to the bottom of the blanket
instead of answering him and began taking off his shoes. His socks
followed. He didn't stop her, but he didn't help either. She
stuffed his socks in his shoes and put them behind her, smiling
like a naughty three year old caught stealing candy from grandma's
jar. He'd worn that smile often enough as a kid to recognize it
when he saw it. It always indicated to the recipient that trouble
was just beginning.

When she finished with his shoes Reed began
to rub his feet. Any attempt to analyze that smile further left as
her warm hands began to work magic on his instep. Jordon closed his
eyes, enjoying the sensations as her hands ran the length of his
foot. When she leaned down and blew on his toes, Jordon tried to
pull away. She held on. His eyes shot to hers. The banked heat in
her gaze stopped his struggles, keeping him rooted to the blanket.
There was an openness and frank sensuality in the small smile she
gave him that hadn't been there when she threw her shirt at him or
when she pushed his shoes behind her on the blanket.

Her hand ran up his arch, to his calf
sending electricity surging through him. He ignored it and focused
on her eyes. She could lie to him, but her eyes weren't capable of
deception. They held every emotion she was feeling for anyone
capable of reading them, like a computer screen directly to her
soul.

"Why did you bring me here?" Jordon asked
again, wanting her to say what she wanted from him out loud.
Wanting to read the truth of her desire in her eyes.

"I wasn't honest with you earlier today. You
made me so mad I couldn't see straight. So I lied. I don't want
there to be any lies between us so I brought you out here to tell
you the truth." She stopped playing with his feet and grinned
impishly at him. "Then I stole your shoes so you can't run away
before I tell you."

Jordon glanced around. Sure enough, she'd
managed to toss his shoes under the brush far enough that he
couldn't get to them without leaving the blanket. Right now
securing his shoes was the least of his worries.

"I'm not running. Tell me your truth, elf. I
don't care about the lie." His voice sounded raspy, even to
him.

Jordon was beyond caring whether she knew
just how much he wanted her naked, in his arms, those glorious eyes
bleeding to black as he sank into her an inch at a time. Subtlety
hadn't gotten him anywhere, neither had coercion. Honesty, at least
in this, was worth a shot. It wasn't like he had all the time in
the world to woo her. If she kept looking at him like he was
chocolate pie, maybe he wouldn't need to.

"I liked you that day at the museum. I liked
the way you controlled your irritation and didn't take it out on
Jesse," she looked down and back up again, a sheepish smile on her
face, "Or me."

She leaned into him, working her magic hands
farther up his calf. "I liked the way you smiled when you asked me
to dinner. I liked Las Vegas. The way you sank into me and made me
come twice before you did. I like the way you're looking at me
now."

Jordon sat straighter on the blanket, trying
to control his rapidly beating heart and the blood it was forcing
to his groin. He wondered just how much truth she was capable of
admitting.

"And just how am I looking at you?" He
asked.

"Like you want to eat me."

"If you don't want exactly that, you'd
better leave. Right now." He said, nodding toward his discarded
shoes. "And take those with you in case I change my mind and come
after you."

He hoped like hell she'd stand her ground
and not make him run after her. He felt too raw at the moment to
chase her. Worse than that, he couldn't trust himself to be gentle
if he caught her.

Reed got to her feet and stepped away from
him. Jordon couldn't decipher the look on her face before she
glanced back toward the house. It was at least a quarter mile away.
If she ran right now, he could give her a good ten second head
start before he chased her down. Damn it. He'd opened up and let
her see his vulnerability, no matter how little of it he'd shown,
at least that much of how he felt was honest, and now she was going
to throw it in his face and run away. Jordon closed his eyes and
sat perfectly still. He wasn't about to give her the satisfaction
of watching while she left him.

"I'm still here."

"I know. I can smell you."

"Look at me Jordon. Please." Her voice soft,
fragile even, with an under current of strength that buzzed in his
ears.

He opened his eyes. She wasn't running,
although her breathing suggested she could have just run a mile.
She was standing just out of reach. He didn't move, afraid she'd
flutter away if he startled her.

Jordon swallowed past the lump in his throat
when her hands moved to the tiny row of buttons holding the front
of her flimsy dress together. She took her time undoing each one.
He didn't think she was teasing him, her hands were shaking too
noticeably for that, she simply couldn't get the job done any
faster.

He wasn't about to help her. Not this time.
This time he needed her to come to him. Open, willing, ready to
accept who and what he was to her now. He couldn't risk telling her
everything yet, the bond she was weaving between them was too
fragile, too new.

When she unbuttoned about half way, she
shimmied out of her dress, letting it fall over her surprisingly
full hips. She wasn't wearing any underwear. Suddenly he wanted
that dress far more than he wanted her tank-top, but he wasn't
about to ask for it. He'd been scary enough for one day. He'd just
have to order a dozen more like it in every color and pattern he
could find, so he could watch her take off each and every one.

She stood before him naked, dappled in
light, willow branches swaying around her to the beat of the frogs
and the crickets and the water-bugs. She was more faerie princess
now than elf. All she lacked was a diamond tiara and wings, he
could order the tiara.

He held out his hand to her. "Come here. Let
me taste you."

She walked to him slowly. He didn't get up.
When she was close enough to touch, he pushed back fully against
the willow trunk, pulling her with him, hands spanning her waist.
Jordon let his hands measure her there, then flow over her hips to
her thighs. Lifting one leg from behind her knee he turned her,
exposing the soft inner skin of her thigh. He kissed her warm skin,
surrounded by the fragrance of her desire. He lingered a moment
before trailing her leg over his shoulder, exposing all of her.
When she didn't pull away he pulled her closer, spanning her bottom
with his hands.

Inhaling deeply, Jordon savored the scent of
her, honey and heat, salt and earth. He let it flow over him,
through him, like river water over bare feet, surrounding him with
the promise of a cool sanctuary in the blinding heat of the
day.

When he couldn't wait any longer, Jordon
groaned and brought his mouth to her heat. The first flick of his
tongue found her clit with an accuracy that had Reed fisting her
hands in his hair. He relished the small pain and licked deeper
down her cleft then back to her hard center of sensation which he
laved gently, teasingly, and then sucked it into his mouth, causing
her to make low animal sounds that seemed to come from her
toes.

Jordon's shoulders absorbed most of her
weight as she took over, riding him, forcing his mouth and tongue
to her speed, to her tempo, easing away only to push back into him.
Her breathing was labored now, her moves more forceful as she
pulled him more deeply into her. When he felt her coming close to
orgasm, he trailed his fingers through the cleft of her buttocks to
the wetness of her vagina, penetrating her with one finger as his
other hand found one erect nipple and rolled it between his thumb
and forefinger, not too hard, not to gentle.

She came apart around him, vaginal walls
trying to absorb his finger, bringing it deeper with each
convulsion, screaming as she came.

Collapsing into a spent heap in his lap,
Reed threw her arms around him and held him, slight shakes still
rippling their way through her tiny body. Jordon could feel her
heart trying to beat its way through her chest, reveling in the
feeling of power her complete surrender to him made him feel.

At least in this way she loved him fully.
For now, it was enough.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Let go of me." Finn said, ripping her arm
away from Henry's grasp. She didn't like the way her heart
accelerated its beat every time she was near him or the way her
insides sank to her knees every time he touched her.

"I don't have any intention of interrupting
Reed when she's preparing to skewer a man for lunch so there's no
need to usher me away like a child."

"I thought you were a family of vegetarians?
I've never gotten so much crap for frying bacon in my life."