The Deputies: 3 Novella Box Set (28 page)

Tori must have left the party before any of this happened. Seeing him with Carlene had been more than Tori could bear and she’d gone home depressed. “When you say making out…?”

He flashed her a smile. “Yeah, we did the deed. I wasn’t all that discriminating in those days, I guess.”

“From what I’ve heard you aren’t any more choosy now.”

Now why the fuck did she say that? It was going to start a conversation she wasn’t sure she wanted to have. Dammit.

Drake reached up and flipped on a small light in the cab so she could see his expression more clearly. “If you think that’s the case, why did you accept my invitation?”

His eyes were narrowed in question but he didn’t seem upset. More curious than anything.

Tori shrugged and tried to keep her tone casual. “How selective you are regarding sex partners isn’t any of my business. It’s just pizza and a movie. Nothing more.”

He looked at her, not saying anything and making her squirm under his gaze. Finally he broke the silence. “I believe in being honest and up front.” He leaned forward so she could smell the citrus tang of his aftershave and feel the warmth of his body. “I want it to be more. I want to have sex with you, Tori. I’m attracted to you. Are you attracted to me?”

His direct statement short-circuited her brain and she had trouble sending signals to her vocal cords. She couldn’t stop her head from nodding in the affirmative and his blue eyes lit up with triumph at her easy capitulation. If she’d been a deer, it was the equivalent of shooting and strapping herself to the top of his truck. He hadn’t even had to break a sweat to get her.

It was a complete surrender.

His muscular arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into his hard body. Her palms were flat on his chest, at first to keep him at a distance. But after feeling the heat under her hands, her fingers instead slid up and over his shoulders to wind around his neck.

Drake bent his head and captured her lips with his own. The air seemed to be sucked out of her, everything spinning and the blood roaring in her ears. Her entire body was instantly on alert as flames licked her flesh. This was more than their few precious minutes in the closet. Drake was no longer a fumbling teenager but a man that knew exactly how to seduce a response from the woman in his arms.

He bent her back further, his mouth staking a claim to hers. Their tongues played and rubbed while his large hand cupped her breast, torturing a hard nipple through the thin cotton with his thumb. When he pulled his lips from hers and began to kiss a wet trail down her neck she gasped at the sensations running riot inside of her. Her fantasies seemed pale compared to the reality of the here and now.

Somehow the tie of her halter had come undone and Drake was pulling the two triangles down, baring her to his hungry gaze. Her nipples tightened under the scrutiny, his blue eyes almost black with passion. He pinched the dusky peaks with his fingers sending a shaft of pleasure straight to her pussy.

She pressed her thighs together to control the ache as his mouth closed over a tight bud. She heard herself saying his name over and over as he worried the nipples with his lips and teeth until she thought she might scream with the pleasure.

His hand had slid under her skirt and up her thigh, his deft fingers finding her soaked panties. Thick fingers strummed her clit and her entire body tightened in preparation for what would surely be the biggest explosion of her life. Not sure she could survive it, her entire body quivered with excitement and trepidation.

Drake’s tongue was sliding down in the valley between her breasts, his face buried in her cleavage. A flicker from the large movie screen illuminated his features briefly and his eyes were closed as he nipped at the sensitive flesh just above her belly button.

I could be anybody.

The thought made her stiffen and a shred of sanity took hold in a corner of her passion-addled brain. He wasn’t seeing her. He could be pretending she was Carlene, or Lucy, or any of the long line of females in his life. Her hands went to his shoulders and she pushed at them, trying to twist away from his seductive charms.

“What the—” Drake’s hold loosened and he lifted his head to look down at her with an incredulous expression. “What’s wrong?”

To his credit, he wasn’t angry but he wasn’t happy either. His jaw was tight and his lips flat as if he was trying to keep from saying something.

How could she express the feeling of being interchangeable? He’d think she was insane. Instead she nodded weakly toward the windshield of the truck and everything that lay beyond it.

“This is a little more…public than I’m used to.”

To her shock he had the grace to blush slightly. Looking slightly abashed, he sat up straight and reached for the dangling strings of her halter dress. “Shit, I’m sorry. I guess I got carried away.”

His fingers fumbled with the ties and she reached up with shaking hands to tighten her fallen bodice. Luckily it looked like no one had passed by but she could have easily flashed a few hundred people.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she dragged air into her lungs to help her calm down. She wasn’t going to fuck Drake James in the cab of his truck at the drive in. She might be in love with him but she did, apparently, still have some common sense. Not much, but some. She’d practically climbed him like a tree right here on their first date. Kasi had been right when she’d said he was looking for easy.

It sure hadn’t been easy pushing him away. Her body was telling her to go for it, but at least one functioning brain cell had gotten through.

Tori smoothed the skirt of her dress down over her trembling thighs and Drake shifted in the seat with a groan. The material of his jeans was stretched taut over what appeared to be an extremely impressive erection, causing her mouth to go dry. She’d been very close to seeing that monster mere moments ago.

“Are you okay?” Her voice was shaky and she wanted to hop out of the truck in embarrassment. Of course he wasn’t okay. She’d inadvertently given him a nasty case of blue balls.

“I’ll live.” Drake gave her a grin and ran his hand up the bare skin of her thigh. “Why don’t we get out of here? I can think of a far more comfortable place to take this party.”

Holy shit, he was persistent.

How was she supposed to keep him at arms length for an entire night at this rate? Did she even want to? They were both adults, their teen years long gone. He wanted her, she wanted him. Would it be such a terrible thing to make love with Drake? He’d certainly shown a certain expertise at it. She’d been thinking about this moment since she was a girl. The moment of truth had arrived and pretending it hadn’t wasn’t something she was prepared to do.

Tori relaxed back on the cool leather of the seat, feigning a sophistication she didn’t quite feel at the moment, no matter how many years she’d lived in the Big Apple. “That sounds good. Let’s go.”

Drake fired up the engine and pulled out, heading for the exit. Tori’s stomach did somersaults and her heart beat so hard and fast she thought it might jump out of her chest. She was going to make love with the man of her dreams.

Chapter Four

T
ori’s body under Drake’s hands felt amazing. He’d been so overtaken with lust he’d jumped on her at the drive-in, for fuck’s sake. She probably thought he was a real horn dog. She’d be right too. At this moment, he would sell his soul to the very devil to get her naked between the sheets.

She wasn’t his usual type but there was something earthy and sensual about her that made his blood boil in a completely good way. She smelled like vanilla and rain, and her skin felt like the smoothest satin. How could the sex be anything but hot?

He held her hand as they walked up the stairs to her apartment, their fingers entwined. Her gaze was darting everywhere as if she was nervous and her tongue snaked out to wet her lips. His cock tightened in his jeans at the unconsciously alluring gesture. He took a deep breath and tried to slow his racing heart. Rushing her wasn’t the plan. He needed to take it easy and let nature take its course. There was a powerful attraction between them and their final destination for the evening was a given.

“Thank you for a lovely evening.” Tori’s voice sounded breathless and prim at the same time. Was she blowing him off now that they were here?

“The evening doesn’t have to be over yet.” Drake leaned closer so his lips were only inches from hers. “You could invite me in for some coffee.”

Her golden brown eyes framed by long, dark lashes were open wide, the indecision clearly on display. Sometime during the drive home she’d let doubts crowd her mind. She was probably worried about whether he would respect her in the morning or some stupid female shit like that. Women were always complicating things with worries and emotions that had no bearing on the situation at hand.

“I could make some coffee,” she said softly before turning to unlock the door.

Drake followed her into the small apartment, noticing all the details he hadn’t seen earlier when he’d picked her up. The sofa and matching chair were a nondescript beige against the standard white walls of the rental unit. The dullness stopped there. Everywhere he looked were splashes of bright color, down to the colorful throw pillows and rug. It was a room that reflected Tori’s basic personality, at least what he had seen so far. Happy, sunny, and even a little bold.

“Make yourself at home while I start the coffee.” Tori dropped her purse on the table by the front door and headed into the small kitchen right off the living room. The two rooms were really one large one separated by a counter where she’d placed a couple of bar stools. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the bedroom door partially open.

He really wasn’t in the mood for coffee.

Before she could move away, Drake wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. At first she resisted but then she seemed to melt into him, her curves pressed snuggly to his body. The blood pounded in his veins and he had to keep up a running internal dialogue not to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to bed immediately.

“I’m not really thirsty.” Drake grinned at her, hoping she was getting the message loud and clear. He wanted her something fierce and it looked like she felt the same way. Hopefully she wouldn’t play hard to get. Her lashes swept down covering her expression and her lips parted as if to refuse him but then she lifted her chin almost in defiance.

“I’m not either. What did you have in mind?”

Drake wasn’t a man for words at a time like this. Action was called for and he didn’t hesitate. He kissed her, delving his tongue into the warm cavern of her sweet mouth while his hands traced every inch of her that he could reach. She felt all woman in his arms, not like those stick figures that were all too common these days.

He lifted his head and her lids were heavy with passion and her lips swollen from his kisses. Arousal looked mighty fine on Victoria Saunders.

“Bedroom, sweetheart.” His voice sounded gravelly to his own ears. “I need you, baby.”

Tori didn’t say a word but simply took his hand and led him to the small bedroom at the back of the apartment. The brass queen sized bed was covered with a jewel-toned amethyst comforter and a riot of throw pillows and stuffed animals. The incongruity of the womanly form in front of him owning cuddly teddy bears threw him for a moment, but he gamely ignored them and perched on the edge of the bed.

To his surprise, Tori knelt down at his feet and began to tug on his cowboy boot, sliding first one and then the other off his foot before tossing them aside. Her hands slid up his thighs and tangled with his belt buckle and he placed his own hands on top of hers. The situation was getting out of control. He wasn’t used to a woman being the aggressor.

“Easy there, babe. Let’s not rush into anything. We’ve got all night.”

Despite his calmly worded statement his cock was pounding at the buttons of his fly and making dents in the flesh. The heat of her palms scorched his skin even through the thick denim and made thinking straight extremely difficult. Tori was sexy and gorgeous and it was all he could do not to tangle his fingers in those curls and pull her mouth to his ready cock.