Wicked Flower (15 page)

Her head tilted back. “What are
you thinking about?” she asked and touched his cheek. He hummed inside.

 
“How can you tell I’m thinking?” Most women
could care less what he was thinking about because admittedly, what he was
doing
to them was usually pretty damn
amazing.

“Your kiss
changes.
You stop nibbling,” she said.

“One would be crazy to stop
nibbling. I’ll try to stop thinking so much. You have me off my game.” He toyed
with her ear between his teeth as he said it. Stefan wanted to be on it like
he’d invented it.

“I like that you’re thoughtful.
Another nice surprise.”

Fuck. Did that mean she was not
going to like when he settled down and went real on her? Maybe it was one of
those signs Jaxon was always talking about with his fruity karma shit. But why
in the world would the universe want to put out his fire? Had he burned too
many people? Fuck, he shouted in his mind. No more thinking.
About
anything.

He bit her lip, she gasped, and he
held it between his teeth, pulled,
then
licked it,
slowly letting go. He then roamed his hands down the sides of her face, out and
over and back in following the curvy line of her shoulders, her ribcage, her
sweet small waist and those round flared hips. Fuck, he needed her naked and in
a bed, sprawled out so he could see every inch of her luscious body before he
took her. He let out a frustrated growl, cursed his new-found sensitivities,
and found the lever to jack the seat back up.

He gave her one more kiss and
waited for her to be the one to pull out of it because even though his
conscience was kicking his ass right now, he couldn’t be that good as to leave
the taste of those plump lips. She pulled back when she must have felt his jaw
stop working so feverishly against hers.

Her dark brown eyes pierced him.
“You stopped.”

“Earlier you asked me not to make
you any promises. Remember that?” he said.

She nodded yes.

“I decided I do want one from
you,” he said and touched her lips with his finger.

“Okay,” she said.

“Promise you’ll forgive me for
making you wait until we get back to the house to finish this. I need you in a
bed, Dani.
Stretched out under me.”
Thunder boomed
loudly. “And there’s that too.
Another storm’s about to break.”
Plus he’d seen a security car drive through the lot a couple of times now and
would be all kinds of pissed if he got arrested again for public indecency.
Shit, Mom would love that. Although moving to Nashville to escape that kind of
embarrassment might be her only choice.
Nah, not worth it.
Of course now the thought of having sex with Dani outdoors slayed his last
shreds of sanity. But it would have to be someplace private.

A loud breath came gusting out
from her mouth. “I guess there has to be an end to this crazy night.” She
blinked several times and zipped her top back up. “But you know I can’t go back
with you to do that. I’m sorry.”

No, no, no, no, no, he silently
muttered.
Stop saying no to me, woman,
was
all he could think although he loved it just the same. “It’s going to be a very
good ending you’ll be missing.” He thought of his abandoned house again. There
was no good reason he wasn’t buckling her up and driving her there right now.
No you idiot. There are a million good reasons.
He just couldn’t come up with one with his body and mind humming and zeroed
in on her right now.

All Dani did was look down.

She wasn’t playing with him. The
truth she couldn’t deny of wanting him sat on the warm tops of her cheeks. “I’m
sure it would be,” she said. “But I think if we’ve proven one thing today, it’s
that you and I can’t keep our hands off each other.”

At that, Stefan recognized regret
like he’d never known. He could push her, but he wasn’t going to do that. “That
is very true.
Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

Her hand went to his. “I love
your Mom, Stefan.” Dani’s simple, loyal statement made him as happy as it
frustrated him. It must have showed. “Her house,” she started.

“Her rules,” Stefan finished. It
was something he’d grown up hearing and a guarantee his mom would have a rule
against sexing up her helper.

“Am I still fired tomorrow?” she
asked. “We could go out for that dinner.” His body exploded with hope. But that
didn’t solve his most immediate problem. Stefan still wanted to get Dani back
to his mom’s house tonight where she’d be safe but his desire to fuck her was
just as strong. He also wouldn’t let her sit out here in her car which is what
he’d pegged as her stubborn ass brilliant plan if he didn’t back off. It
sucked, but he had to make her believe he’d keep things platonic between them.
Funny thing about that, companionable was exactly how sex had always been
between him and his partners. Somehow he didn’t think Dani would appreciate
hearing that right now.

He took her hand and prepared to
do something he’d never before done in his life as a man with a woman he
clearly wanted six ways to Sunday. Curling her smaller hand in his, he kissed
the tops of her knuckles and tried to ignore his dick. “You come back to my
mom’s, for good. I promise to respect you while we’re under her roof. And tomorrow
night, I’ll take you out for the best dinner you’ve ever had.”

He winked and loved the way she
got all fidgety whenever he did that.

Knowing the truth of his actions,
though, that sucked. He was no different than his dad. The man had pretended he
wasn’t leaving—told his mom everything was okay, just to string her along long
enough to get her to finish her degree—then, he’d disappeared.

Yeah, Dad had done it with
honorable intentions.

Could Stefan claim the same
thing?

Not really sure with the way his honest
desire to have Dani safe at Mom’s kept getting hijacked by a vision of their
two bodies connected, moving against each other, sharing. He blew out, hard and
long at the mental image of their give and take.
 

Once he had Dani back at his
mom’s, could he be good like he’d just promised?

The motivation was there, heavy
and real.

Stefan had to remind himself that
he needed her taking care of his mom more than he needed her satisfying his
hard-on.

Shit, anyone could do that. Someone,
somewhere would step up to the plate if Dani didn’t, and he’d let whoever it
was in for that moment. Sex had been one of the greatest joys of his
life,
it didn’t have to serve any other purpose just because
he was into this girl.
Right?
Man, just thinking like
that made him feel like shit. But she’d already proven she would bolt when she
felt the situation called for it. He had to take this seriously.

What would any of this matter in
two weeks when he left? Why did he care?

Why did he have to like this
woman so much?

What sucked worse than any of
this
was knowing
he had exactly what Dani wanted and
exactly how bad she needed it. Her curiosity at what he’d feel like as her
lover was written all over her pretty face. The eyes couldn’t hide that shit.
If I don’t take you here and now, you’re
gonna
get away from me. Aren’t you?
He watched her
throat move when she swallowed.

Should he try one last time? He
never tried this hard.

“Do we have a dinner deal?”

“Okay, deal.” Her eyes lit up. “I
want pizza.
The good stuff.
Mmmm
, Mario’s Hawaiian.
That
would be so good. I haven’t had pizza in forever.” This girl literally glowed
as she made her request and now all he could think about was feeding her this
damn pizza. He knew Mario’s well. The owners had been friends with his parents
back in the 80’s when they’d first opened. It was easily the best in town.

God,
you’re killing me, sweetheart.

Chapter Twelve

She had no idea how they did it,
but they’d managed to separate themselves and drive back to the house when
Stefan pointed out the nighttime security detail patrolling the store lot. The
second they pulled in to the driveway, Stefan hopped out of his car and came to
her Buick’s door, opening it and helping her out. And now he had her inside his
Mercedes, not the neutral zone they’d agreed on otherwise known as Gina’s house.
Secretly, not being in there yet was fine with Dani. The houselights were off
and she prayed Gina was asleep. She should be at this time of night, being the
early riser she was.

Her son would be Dani’s delicious
death.

She sat there in the absolute
luxury of his car, teetering on her metaphorical heels. Each time Dani pushed
her senses back to where they belonged—which was the real world—the tight spots
she and Stefan kept getting themselves into pushed back. First, Dani forced out
a long breath and then the words that had better make it into his beautiful
thick head followed.

“Inside that house, the best I
can give you is friends.
Nothing more than that can happen.
Cannot.
Happen, Stefan.”

She hated tossing the ultimatum
in his lap like that—what she wouldn’t give to be in his lap—but it wasn’t
something she could afford to budge on. Dani pictured Gina’s face and how it
would twist and fall when she confessed,
I
got myself pregnant by Thom and now I’m sleeping with your son.
No matter
that she felt something with Stefan that had been missing with Thom and every
other guy she’d dated.

“There are many kinds of friends,
sweetheart.” His voice was still sexy as ever, laced with that
I want to lick every inch of you
rawness. It hazed her fears, making them seem like everyday problems people
figured out all the time when it was for something so right. The deep, thick
sound vibrated through her every pore. Stefan Calderon wasn’t through with her.
Her heart and body cheered. He leaned closer to her and his long fingers easily
circled her wrist. He made her feel feminine in a way none of her
boyfriends
ever had.

Damn him for not just agreeing.
He was forcing her to spell out the rules, to be the bad guy. “As soon as we
walk in that door,
it’s
hello, how was your day, good
evening,” she said, her mind absent because of how his fingers traveled,
playing with the fine hairs on her arms. Was this how he played his beloved
bass?

He turned up his car’s music and
she guessed he must really like the classic Journey song because he quietly
sang the first few words about loving, touching and squeezing. Her tummy
squeezed double time but his singing voice left her dumbstruck and mesmerized.
First chance she got, she was downloading some Sin Pointe music.

“So formalities, as soon as we go
inside,” he said and dragged his hand still further up her arm to her shoulder
and then down her shirt to the top swell of her breast where his thumb rubbed over
the curve harder with each stroke. Unsure whether he avoided her nipple on
purpose or not, he hadn’t touched the tender spot yet and she leaned forward
into his touch. He stared at her and quirked his
brow, making
her insides sizzle
and excite. “I want you, you’re beautiful, let me see
your body.
Formalities.”
His hand fell to the whole of
her breast and he ran one finger around it in a circle then squeezed from the
underside. He leaned in and licked the bottom line of her jaw from her ear to
her chin. Dani’s sex trembled. She knew she should stop him. Her mind blanked
on why. “I can keep going.” His caress became doubly electrifying when the hand
kneading her breast was joined by the other riding the curve of her waist, up
and down. “Your taste drives me
crazy,
all I want is
to be inside you, I want you in my bed, you’re leaving me no choice but to take
you out here…”

“Formalities and only in passing,”
she panted, barely able to get that out. “Are, are there more?” she said, aware
he’d just made her stutter.

“My formalities
or yours?”
His eyes danced and shone like fiery hot black ice.

“Mine. As long as I’m working for
you, we have to keep it platonic.” Not a shred of backbone supported her
breathy words. “Yours,” she conceded.

Finally, his thumb found its way
to the hard tip of her breast and pressed and circled. She almost forgot she
was fully clothed because his touch stripped her bare. When cool air blew
against her hot skin and his even hotter fingers searched and pressed along her
hip, she knew he’d taken the liberty to venture under her clothes. Her head fell
to the very edge of his soft leather headrest and all she could think of was
yes.
 

“Look at me.” The darks of his
eyes killed her resistance the second she obeyed him. Stefan’s hungry look said
he’d gone into possessive mode and that he knew he had her.
The
night outside felt darker.
The car space inside felt deeper and warmer,
all based on that look on his face. “Platonic,” he said, never blinking and not
allowing her to either.