TheBurnList (3 page)

“God, this is embarrassing.”
She shook her head.
“But yes.”

Determined to push on, he increased her embarrassment and
asked, “What kind of fantasies are we talking about here?”

She blinked as twin scarlet splotches of color stained her
cheeks.
“Um…well, I can’t say them out loud.”

Surprised, laughter burst from his chest before he could
stop it.
She frowned, and he held up a hand.
“I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at
you, it’s just that you’re so…” he searched for the right words, “cute and
sexy.”

Her whole face lit up like the Fourth of July.
“You think
I’m sexy?”

“Yes, very.”
Jesus, the way her voice filled with wonder, as
though no one had ever complimented her before, made his chest give a hard
thump.

“Thank you.”
Her tone filled with so much appreciation and
gratitude, he clenched his hand into a fist.
He should be thanking her, not the
other way around.

After he got through this strange turn of events and he
worked her out of her mortification, he’d sit her down and have a long talk
about being more guarded.
This kind of innocent sexual curiosity would land her
in the wrong hands for sure.
Especially if she started going out in tight tanks
and jeans instead of her normal burlap sack.
He gritted his teeth at the
thought of her out there, all alone, some sleazy guy with his hands all over
her.

Not if you get there first
.

He squashed the thought like a bug.
She wasn’t for him.
He
was supposed to be getting rid of her, not contemplating taking her up on her
offer.
All this hot eagerness would be for some other guy, not him.

He needed to get back on plan.
“What kind of fantasies,
Abby?”

“Um…” She waved her hand in the air.
“Can’t you just take
care of the details?”

So, it was like that, was it?
He’d always been more on the
dominant side when it came to sex, and he was more—
stop
—keep to the
plan.
Prepared to burst her bubble, he put his drink down, sat forward and
rested his elbows on his knees.
“The thing is, how do you expect to fuck dirty
if you can’t even talk it?”

He waited for her to bolt.
She didn’t.

Instead she got a thoughtful, faraway look on her face.
“I
hadn’t thought of it like that.”

To his horror, she stood up and sauntered over, working her
hips in a seductive albeit wobbly sway that made her so innocently sexy he
wanted to drag her to the floor and fuck her brains out.
God help him, he
needed every ounce of restraint he possessed to do the right thing.

She stopped in front of him.
“You can see I need a teacher.
And who better to ask than a trustworthy neighbor.
I promise I’m a fast
learner.”

He’d just bet.
He cleared his throat.
“You’d be better off
starting with someone a little more low-key.”

“I don’t want low-key, that’s why I came here.”

At eye level, he had a clear view of her unbelievable
breasts, and he had to tear his gaze away.
Things were slipping out of his
control and he need get back on track.
“The thing is, Abby, I like things hard
and rough, while you are sweet and soft.”

“I’ve never had hard and rough.”
She dropped to her knees.
Shit, she was seducing him.
He was supposed to be better than this.
But damned
if she wasn’t surprisingly hard to resist.
“I want it.”

He needed her gone.
Now!
In real danger of losing control
and doing something stupid, he said the first thing that popped into his mind.
“I’ll tell you what.
You go home and think this through.
Tomorrow, after the
margaritas have worn off, if you still feel the same way, you let me know.”
He’d never hear about this again.
He was sure of it.
Hell, after this debacle,
he’d be lucky if he she ever spoke to him again.

“And then what?”
she asked with breathless anticipation.

Unable to hold back any longer, he leaned in close so their
mouths were barely touching.
“I’ll fuck you as hard and as rough as you can
take it.”

Chapter Three

After his workout and a shower, Lukas sat down at his kitchen
table with his first cup of coffee.
His mind wandered to the Abby situation
before he could even raise the cup to his mouth.

The question was—what to do about it?

So far, his best idea was to camp out on her doorstep around
the time she got from work so she couldn’t avoid him.
He’d good-naturally talk
her out of any awkwardness and promise he hadn’t taken her seriously to ease
her mind.
In his experience, letting a woman stew with embarrassment never led
anywhere good, so he had to force the issue.
While she may be uncomfortable,
he’d treat her as he always had and eventually they’d go back to being friendly
neighbors.

No harm, no foul.

And eventually, after months of seeing her in mousy clothes,
no makeup and pulled-back hair, he’d forget what she looked like in those jeans
and skimpy tank top.
Forget those lush, pink lips and tumble of brown waves.
He
was sure, after time, he’d see her as his sweet little neighbor.

Eventually, last night would seem like a dream and he’d stop
wondering what it’d be like to experience that kind of innocence.
Or what it
would be like to teach her about all that pent-up sexuality she’d been carrying
around.

He shook his head, clearing it from his lingering lust.
It
didn’t matter.
She wasn’t an option.
A girl like Abby deserved to be taken home
to the family, and he didn’t do involved.

It wasn’t as if he had anything against commitment.
Strings
were great for some guys, just not him.
While he’d grown up in a great home
with parents who’d adored each other, he’d spent too many nights watching his
mom worry and fret about his father, and Lukas couldn’t do that to a woman.

Unattached was best.

Some other guy would get to explore Abby and all her
curiosity, and he’d stick to his endless parade of pretty, vapid party girls.

He thought of Rachel, the to-die-for redhead from last
weekend he was supposed to see on Friday night.
She was wild and loved sex.
Any
and all kinds of sex, and while he should be enthusiastic, his plans now seemed
boring and trite.
Maybe he’d give her to Trevor, he liked redheads, and Rachel
had made it clear she was interested in— What had she called it?
He cringed.
“Having herself a fireman sandwich.”

Yikes, what the hell had he been thinking?
Now that Lukas
thought about it, he had no desire to go out with Rachel again.
He’d send her
an email to cancel and pass her off to Trevor.

He popped open his laptop and powered up, taking a sip of
coffee and flipping through the morning paper as the machine churned through
the startup.

He clicked on the email icon and waited while his mail
loaded.
He froze, mid-sip.
Abby had sent him an email entitled
About Last
Night
.

How did she even have his address?
In the back of his mind,
he vaguely recalled them exchanging information about a month after he’d moved
in.
He checked out the time, she’d sent it at eight thirty this morning, well
after the alcohol had worn off.

It must be to explain.
He clicked it open and skimmed while
taking another sip of coffee—and started to choke, coughing and sputtering as
hot liquid clogged his windpipe.
When he’d finally calmed down, he started to
read.

Lukas,

Yes, this morning I woke up with the appropriate
mortification, and I’m sure you can imagine my embarrassment.
Of course I’d
determined that the only logical course of action was to put my house up for
sale and move as far away as possible.
But, see, in the shower it hit me…the
margaritas just gave me the courage to face what I wanted and take action.
Turning thirty has made me realize, if I’m not careful, I’ll go my whole life
playing it safe.
I don’t want that.
So, I’m taking a deep breath and crossing
my fingers you’re a man of your word and that you weren’t making the offer in
vain.

While I’m terrified to write it, I’m not going to let
that stop me.
I’d like to take you up on your offer.

I thought about what you said last night, and while I’m
not advanced enough to talk dirty, I figured I could start with email and work
up from there.
As soon as I can figure out how to say the words without
sounding stupid, I promise I can try.

So, being a helpful sort, I thought I’d make you a list
of the kinds of things I want to try.
I’m sure some of this sounds kind of lame
to you, but hey, a girl’s got to start somewhere.
If you have questions let me
know.

Here goes nothing:

1.
Have an orgasm.
(Yes, I know it’s sad.)

2.
Have really great sex.
(Another pathetic commentary on
my life.)

3.
Oral sex, both kinds.
(I’m sure you can see why I need
you.)

4.
Public sex.
(Ugh, I’m going to stop making comments
now.)

5.
Go to a sex club.

6.
Be tied up.

7.
Get spanked.

8.
I’m not sure what this one is called, so I’ll go with
“Be handled”.

9.
Role playing.

10.
Capture fantasy (I lied, one more comment.
Tacky, I
know, but I read a lot of Harlequins when I was younger.)

Oh my god, this is so embarrassing and this list is
getting kind of long, so I’m going to stop.
I hope this isn’t too tame for you.
I’m sure you can think of other more imaginative things.
If you aren’t too
bored after this stuff, I’ll leave the rest up to your discretion.
Maybe you’ll
have some ideas about what I’d like.

So that’s about it.
I guess I’ll wait to hear from you.
Oh, and one more thing, just to reassure you, I’m not looking at this as a
long-term thing, I’m well aware you’re not into commitment.
So no worries on
your part.

Thanks for being so neighborly,

Abby

Too tame?

She thought this list was too tame?
What kind of things did
she think he did?
Not that he hadn’t done every single thing on her list—but
tame?
And he suspected this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Who knew the
conservative woman who’d been his neighbor for the last year harbored these
kinds of fantasies?
Of course, he’d seen the theme right off the bat after he’d
read through the basic stuff no woman of thirty should still have on a sex
to-do list.
His nice, sweet, innocent little neighbor had a taste for
domination.

And that was right up his alley.
While he’d never been a
hardcore BDSM guy like his friend Charlie, Lukas tended to like things on the
rough, dominant side.
He just didn’t see the point in getting all ritualistic
about it.

He re-read the email again.
Definitely serious.
And Abby
didn’t understand it yet, but she had some definite submissive tendencies.

If Lukas didn’t take care of her list, she’d find someone
else.
Someone who may not treat her the way she deserved.
Or worse, someone who
didn’t know what they were doing and would turn her off sex forever.

He raked a hand through his hair.
Hell, he could justify all
he wanted, but the plain truth was he wanted to be the one to give her every
damn thing on this list.
Decision made, he got up and rummaged through his junk
drawer until he found her business card.

If Abby Simmons wanted to experiment, she’d picked the right
guy.

* * * * *

The second Abby had clicked the send button she wanted to
snatch the email right out of cyber space.
All morning she’d bounced back and
forth like a ping-pong ball, vacillating between humiliation and being proud of
herself.
On one hand, Lukas probably thought she was a sexually repressed
psycho, but on the other, at least she was taking action instead of sitting
around moping and feeling sorry for herself.

And she was taking action, no more waiting.
If Lukas wasn’t
interested, she’d find someone who was, damn it!

The phone rang and her heart leapt into her throat.
She
shook her head and raised her gaze to the ceiling.

Get a grip
.
He’s not going to call.
Guys like Lukas
weren’t interested in girls like her.
In exasperation, she picked up the phone.
“Abby Simmons.”

“I’ll pick you up at eight.”

The blood rushed to her ears and a wave of dizziness flooded
through her.

Oh my god, it worked.
She opened and closed her mouth
like a fish, but no words came out.

“Still there?”
His deep voice traveled over the phone line,
sounding mildly amused.

Her whole body broke out in goose bumps while she squeaked,
“Yes.”

“If you want to back out, this is your last chance, because
once I ring the doorbell, you’re mine.”

“No.”
Her cheeks felt as though they were on fire and her
blood pressure had skyrocketed.
She frowned.
Lukas Marlow agreed to go out with
her and she was thinking about blood pressure?

“No, you want to back out, or no you don’t?”
The cocky
assuredness of his tone told her he already knew her answer.

She cleared her throat.
“W-where are we going?”
There, she
got out a whole, complete sentence.

“That’s my job to worry about.
I have other jobs in mind for
you…” He let the sentence trail off.

A million ideas ran through her mind like a runaway freight
train.
Unable to bear the suspense any longer she breathed out, “Yes?”

“Hmmm…let me think.”
His voice was a hypnotic low rumble
that made her shiver.
“Are you paying attention, Abby?”

Fine beads of perspiration broke out at her temples as she
gulped.
She never thought he’d go for it.
She’d figured it was as good a place
as any to start, and since she’d already humiliated herself in front of him,
she might as well go all the way.
She’d never dreamed…

“Abby,” he said her name with a bit of an edge that had her
spine snapping ruler straight.

“Yes, I’m paying attention.”

“Good girl.”

Those two little words had her thighs clenching together.
All the sudden she looked around her, sure her coworkers in the neighboring
cubes would know what she was talking about.
Not that any of them would believe
it.
They’d probably think someone had gotten her a phone sex card for her
birthday.

“So where was I…oh yeah, your jobs.”
His chuckle was like
sex and sin.
“I want your hair down like last night.
I liked it all wild—you
looked like you’d just been fucked.”

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!
She gasped, putting
her hand over her chest to calm her heart pounding out of her rib cage.

He responded with a low, wicked laugh.
“I’m not done yet.”

“Oh,” came her tentative reply.
Since she’d never believed
he’d agree, she’d never thought about the reality…which now made her nervous.

“You, little Abby, have a killer body.”

She glanced down at the plain white button-down blouse she
wore.
Killer body?
Had he gone insane?
She laughed, and some of her nerves
melted away.
“Oh, come on.”

“You think I’m joking?”
He didn’t sound amused.

“Of course,” she said, fanning her burning cheeks the best
she could with her hand.

“I’m not joking.”
There was a long, silent pause.
“But it
doesn’t matter if you believe me, you handed over your list to me and now your
only job is to please me.
And do you know what will please me, Abby?”