The Hot Corner (13 page)

I was confused and angry and he was touching me and his words echoed in my head. He had to be lying. “How in the hell is it my fault? I’ve only been here for a week.” The longest week of my life.

“Physically. But you’ve been in here for a lot longer than that.” He released one of my arms and pointed at his head. “Ever since I turned on that TV in fucking Philly and saw you talking about your book, I’ve been unable to get you off my mind. And I tried, let me tell you. I went out and found a girl and went back to her place, and you know what happened?”

I shook my head, trying to process what he was saying. Nobody? There’d been nobody since he’d seen me on television?

“I kissed her, and I saw you. I tried to touch her, but she wasn’t you. And I had to leave.” He touched my face then, so lightly it almost felt like a feather. “I tried again, and again, and the same thing happened, so I stopped bothering and decided I had to see you again.”

I closed my eyes. He was entirely too close and too tempting. “So that’s why you wanted to do the book.” It wasn’t a question. I knew now.

“One of the reasons.” I opened my eyes and he was closer, his head bent and his lips only inches from mine. “Tell me you don’t feel it, every time we’re together. Tell me you don’t want me.”

I shook my head and he smirked. “Is that a no, you don’t want me, or a no, you can’t tell me you don’t want me?”

Bastard. He knew the answer. I was breathing so loudly they could probably hear me next door.

“I don’t want to want you.”

He laughed, a harsh sound. “On that we can both agree, Red. But the fact remains.”

I should tell him to go. I should shove all the need building inside me aside and tell him to get out before we both did something stupid. Things were complicated enough without us giving in to what we both wanted, what I had to finally admit I’d wanted from the moment I first saw him again. He touched me and I was lost.

“We shouldn’t,” I said as his lips brushed over mine. I slid my arms around his neck and stepped into the warmth of his body.

“No,” he agreed, skimming his mouth across my jaw.

“It’s going to complicate things.” I wound my fingers into his hair and sighed as he kissed my neck.

“Definitely.” He rubbed his strong hands up and down my back as his teeth scraped over my throat. God, he was good.

“I don’t trust you.” But I didn’t care, at least not right now.

He pulled back and smiled down at me. “Same goes, sweetheart. What do you want to do about it?”

This was my last chance. He was giving me the out, but there was no way in hell I was going to take it.

“I’m going to be really stupid.” I caught the flash of his grin before I yanked him back to me and his hard, hot lips met mine. Heat blasted through my body, and I couldn’t get close enough to him.

“Finally,” he groaned as his hands moved down my back and cupped my behind. I reached into his jacket and tried to pull it off. He had to release his hold on me, but he helped me by shrugging out of it and tossing it across the room before grabbing me again. He went to work on my zipper while I flicked open the buttons of his shirt, bringing his gorgeous bare chest into view. This time it was mine to touch and kiss, and I did, pulling his shirt open and pressing my lips to his tan, taut muscles, feeling them jerk underneath my hands.

He was pulling at my dress so I lowered my arms and let him guide it down over my shoulders. The contrasting feel of the silky material and his rough, calloused hands was unspeakably erotic. So was the pleasure on his face as he took me in. He used to look at me just like that. The look hadn’t changed, and I felt a little jolt of happiness. I stood there in nothing more than little bits of black lace and let him look his fill.

“You grew up good, Red.” Those rough fingers traced along my stomach and I felt my muscles clench. “Real good.”

I held onto his shoulders because I was afraid if he kept touching me so softly my legs were going to buckle. “You did, too.”

He chuckled and nipped at my ear. I shivered. The man still knew all my weaknesses. “You looked like you wanted to punch me when you saw me shirtless the other day. Well, that or throw me down and have your way with me.”

“A little bit of both,” I admitted, sighing as his hands slipped inside my underwear and cupped my cheeks.

“I hope you’ll choose the second option,” he said, nipping my ear again.

There wasn’t any choice. “What do you think?”

I shoved him, and this time he fell onto the bed, grinning up at me as I bent over him. I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans while he kicked off his shoes. He arched his hips so I could move the denim down his legs, which were just as muscular and impressive as the rest of him. He wasn’t huge—just so very defined.

“Wait.” He grabbed the jeans before I could toss them away, got out his wallet, and pulled a condom from it. Jesus. I hadn’t even thought of protection. Then again, I hadn’t been thinking at all since he’d started touching me. We hadn’t used condoms since we’d first gotten together. I’d been on the pill and still was, but this was a different time.

“Don’t, Dani.”

I tore my gaze away from the foil package. “What?”

He sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “Don’t pull away from me.”

Something in his voice got to me and I took his face in my hands. “I’m not. It’s just . . . we haven’t used one of those—”

“I know, but I thought it was better to be safe. I didn’t want to assume anything.”

He was being smart. It shouldn’t bother me, but all the girls he’d been pictured with flashed through my mind. “Always prepared, aren’t you?”

His arms tightened around me. “I started carrying this with me the day after you got to town.” I widened my eyes. “I told you it had been months. Do you think I’m lying?”

I studied his face. I shouldn’t have believed him, but I did. “No.”

He smiled. “Good.” His lips were on mine again, and my mind got fuzzy. We had more to talk about, and I knew that, but his hands were exploring my body and his tongue was doing wicked things with mine, and I just couldn’t deal with all of that then. I wanted him. It was dumb and I’d probably regret it the next day, but right then I just couldn’t make myself care.

He shifted and pushed me down on the bed, lowering his body on top of mine, and this, this was familiar and easy. It felt right. His fingers moved through my hair as he kissed me, and his kisses were the same. My heart was pounding as I pulled him to me.

“Nothing feels this good,” he murmured as he kissed down my neck. His hands cupped my breasts, stroking them through the material. I felt my nipples harden against the lace as his thumbs brushed over them so lightly. He reached underneath me, flicked open the clasp of my bra, and grinned when I raised an eyebrow. “No comment,” he said as he pulled off my bra. That was probably for the best.

I wasn’t able to comment, anyway, because his mouth was on my breast then, sucking and tugging gently at my nipple. I gasped and held on to his head, getting lost in the sensation as he used his tongue and teeth to bring me pleasure. The same.

“You taste exactly the way I remember,” he said. He kissed between my breasts as he made his way from one to the other. “You haven’t changed.”

No. Nothing had changed, and maybe later, when he wasn’t sending my hormones racing, I’d take the time to be pissed off about that. It shouldn’t feel so familiar and right, not after everything and all this time, but it did.

“So soft. So pale,” he murmured against my skin.

“I still don’t tan,” I said, and he laughed and kissed my stomach.

“I’m glad. I still do.” No joke. As always, our skin contrasted. I was lily white and he was bronze. That looked right, too. I watched as his fingers hooked on to my panties and dragged them down my legs. He stared at me like he was starving and I was his next meal. Maybe I was.

He pushed my legs apart and lifted one, kissing my ankle and making me shiver. He smirked. “That hasn’t changed either, I see. Let’s see what else is the same.” Fuck. I was a goner. My head fell back on the pillow as he kissed his way up my leg, nibbling at my skin. I jumped when his tongue tickled the back of my knee, and he laughed. “Yes, exactly the way it used to be.”

I dug my fingers into the comforter when his lips moved higher and held on for dear life as he whispered, “Red,” before his tongue moved against me. Colors danced beneath my eyelids and the wave hit almost too soon. He held tight and continued to taste and tease me as I came apart. “Again,” was all he said as his tongue, teeth, and fingers went back to work on my sensitive flesh.

It was his name I sobbed as I came again. When the aftershocks stopped and I opened my eyes, I saw him staring down at me, his eyes locked on my face. “What?” I asked.

He shook his head and lowered himself on top of me. Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten naked, and I could feel him hard and hot against me. I moaned and shifted and he was right there. His gaze held mine as he filled me. God. Yes. I wrapped my legs around him and held him there, almost afraid he’d move away from me.

He caressed my face. “Never. Not with anyone else.”

I didn’t need to ask what he meant because I felt the same way. We fit, perfectly. It had never been like this with Jason or anyone but the man who was with me now. I should hate him for that. But he began to move and all I could do was feel as his lips touched mine and our bodies moved together. Our rhythm matched, like we’d done this a thousand times since the last time, instead of all those empty years in between.

One hand was in his, and the other was tangled in his thick, dark hair. His hand was underneath me, squeezing my ass as we sped up our movements. I felt the pressure start to build inside me again and I clenched him with my thighs. He remembered, of course he did, and he reached between us and brushed his fingers against me, sending me reeling.

I called his name as I tightened around him, and he grunted and thrust against me, his motions more erratic. It would be soon, I knew. I held on tight as he pushed deep and let himself go, watching his handsome face in his moment of release. My traitorous heart continued to race as his eyes opened and he smiled down at me.

Countless memories of that satisfied smile took me back. Late nights and early mornings in bed at school. Sunny days as he jogged onto the field and found me sitting in my seat in the stands. Flashes of our history played through my mind like a movie until, inevitably, I saw him in the hallway in that hotel in Omaha. With Bailey . . . no. I needed to take control again. He’d gotten under my skin and now we’d had sex but that didn’t mean anything. It didn’t have to mean anything.

His smile changed to a smirk and he shook his head. “Don’t even try it.”

“What?” I asked. I should push him off me. It felt entirely too good to have him so close.

“You can’t take it back. There’s no going back from this. We’re both going to have to deal with it.”

Damn him for reading me so well. “I am dealing with it.” Or I will be, once you leave.

“Oh yeah? Well, deal with this. We’ve only just begun. And this time, I’m not letting you get away. Got it?” His eyes were dark and his voice was commanding, and it was hot. And annoying.

“You don’t control me.” Why was my voice so damn breathless? He was being an ass. I shouldn’t find it attractive.

He shifted and I moaned as he started to move inside me again. “Don’t I? And don’t you do the same to me?” His mouth was on mine and any response I might have had to that nonsense was lost as we started to move. I was a fool, but I couldn’t help myself. I was playing with fire again. Hopefully this time, the burn wouldn’t be so bad.

Chapter 12

Well, it happened. I couldn’t begin to deny it since he was still in my bed. His arms were locked around me as he slept, as if he was afraid I was going to disappear if he let go. His subconscious wasn’t all that wrong. My head was yelling at me to run even though my heart was telling me I was exactly where I belonged, where I had always belonged.

But where could we possibly go from here? Couldn’t we call this a lapse in judgment and go on as if nothing had happened? As if nothing had happened three times? We hadn’t even used the condom, so I had that to worry about as well. I was clean, but was he? Still, it was foolish, but I believed him when he told me he’d been celibate for months. Because of me. It wasn’t like I couldn’t relate. My libido went into the toilet every baseball season.

He mumbled something, and I smiled. Brad had always made nonsensical noises in his sleep. Even without his saying actual words I could always tell when he was having a good or bad dream. This was a good one, as his grip on me tightened and I felt evidence of his arousal against my thigh. I shivered. I shouldn’t want him again. He should be out of my system now, and we should go back to the reason I was here in the first place.

Although, what was that reason, really? Brad had got me here because he’d needed to see me again. And I came because . . . because I’d had to prove to myself I was over him. Yet here I was, under him. This was unacceptable. A week in his presence and I was the same stupid girl I’d been years ago.

No. No, I was not. I was different now and I knew better than to fall for him. Yes, he was sexy and wonderful in bed, and I’d succumbed, as countless had before me and countless would after me. There was nothing wrong with a brief tumble down memory lane with an ex-lover, so long as I didn’t let him have anything other than my body. It was just a little fun. He’d leave soon for Atlanta while I’d stay behind and work and get things back to normal.