She sighed into his mouth and melted against his chest. Her fingers clutched at his chest hair, causing him pinpricks of pain, adding accelerant to his flame.
He angled his head to taste her deeper, his tongue sliding around hers, drawing her closer to him. His other hand rose and cradled the back of her head, buried in her hair, gently angling her head between kisses so he could taste every inch of her mouth. She was hot and lithe in his hands, slippery and nimble, like sweet clay to mold.
He pulled back to gaze into her eyes, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
Her chest heaved as she stared at him, her eyes wide. “I don’t— I didn’t know—”
He caressed his thumbs across her cheeks, his gaze moving from her eyes to her mouth and back. “Didn’t know what?”
She didn’t answer but tried to pull away.
“Whoa sweetheart.” He slid his hands to her back, holding her close.
Tara pressed her palms into his chest. “Please let me go.”
Justin stilled, concern crashing into his hazy thoughts. “Wait, Tara honey, just stop for a second.”
She stilled and her gaze dropped to her hands on his chest. Her fingers flexed then closed into fists. Her eyes rose and he was shocked to see them shimmering with tears. He released his hold, moving his hands to her upper arms, and pushed her down to sit on the end of the bed. He settled next to her, taking her hands in his. “Just breathe in and out for a minute, then we’ll talk.” He laced his fingers through hers, struggling to comprehend her response. “Tara, that was amazing. Why are you upset?”
She shook her head, misery evident in her sloping shoulders and streaming tears.
“Did I hurt you? Did I do something wrong?”
Her head snapped up. “No – no, you were— It’s me. I’m not good at…” Her gaze fell back to her lap.
“You’re not good at what?” His fingers lifted her chin, forcing her face up to meet his eyes.
Her eyes reflected embarrassment, fear, and other emotions he couldn’t fathom. She sighed, swiping at a tear. “At, you know…”
His face registered shock. “You mean kissing? Sex? You’re not good at what?”
Her eyes glued to her hands in her lap and a sob shook her shoulders. Her head bobbed up and down, her hair falling between them.
Justin was at a complete loss. Below the waist, he was a fire truck; lights and sirens blaring. Willing blood to pump up to his brain so he could think, he grasped for something to say.
“I don’t do this.” she whispered.
“Well, you are definitely the first business partner I’ve kissed.”
Her head jerked up. “I don’t mean that. You kissed me and it—I—I don’t understand.”
“You don’t understand why I kissed you?”
Her forehead wrinkled. “No, I don’t know, this is all surreal. I don’t kiss men.”
Justin jumped off the bed, his hand clutching the loose towel. “Oh my God, Tara, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were—I thought you wanted me to kiss you. I feel like an idiot!” He paced to the door and back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked confused. “I—tell you what?”
“That you’re a lesbian!” Justin tossed his hands in the air. No wonder he couldn’t read this woman! She didn’t want him. She didn’t want any man. He’d done some stupid things, but this was just blatantly obtuse!
Tara’s mouth fell open then snapped shut. Her shoulders shook and tears popped back into her eyes.
“Don’t cry any more, I got the message!” He scraped both hands back and forth across his scalp.
She fell back onto the bed, giggles bursting from her mouth. Then laughter, loud and long, caused her to grab at her stomach.
He froze, his fists balled at his sides, watching her twist in hilarity at his misunderstanding. Lust flashed to embarrassment and then to anger. He leapt at her, one knee on the bed, the other landing between her legs, and his hands planted on either side of her head. “Stop laughing at me! This isn’t funny!”
Tara paused, took in his rage, and erupted in laughter again. “I’m not a lesbian!” she gasped, slapping at his chest. “I don’t kiss anybody, you idiot!”
His body relaxed but his mind spun.
She stilled and wiped at the corner of her eyes. “Gawd Justin, I’m a prude, not …” She couldn’t decide if she should be offended or laugh more. Her face scrunched, misery battling to return.
Lost and completely confused, he flopped limply on top of her. She grunted and he rose to his elbows, his face inches from hers. Merriment and sadness warred in her eyes. He’d had no idea that was even possible.
Tara squirmed. “You’re squishing me.”
His thoughts may have been confused but when she wiggled under him, the lower part of Justin’s body knew exactly what he wanted. He caressed the back of his finger across her cheek. She stopped squirming. He waited until her eyes met his, his expression serious. “I am going to kiss you and you are not going to cry or laugh, do you understand?”
“But I …”
He placed a finger to her lips to shush her. “If you are a prude, then so be it, but I want to kiss you, so shut up.”
Tara stiffened slightly under him as his lips lowered to hers, but when his tongue slid past her lips, she raised her head, her fingers sliding through his hair to pull him closer.
Chapter Twelve
When Tara deepened Justin’s kiss and her fingers slid across his scalp, he lost all control. He hadn’t been with a woman for far too long, and this one tangled him beyond comprehension. She was intelligence and passion, contradiction and defiance, all in one sweet-smelling bundle. His towel slipped to one side, and her sundress offered little barrier between their bodies.
He reveled in the heated skin of her thighs between his. Leaning on his elbows, sliding his hands to her shoulders, and levering himself over her; forming his body to fit hers, he pressed his hips into her warmth. Her hips rose in response.
His mind could grasp nothing but the movement of Tara against his skin. He caressed her neck with both hands, his lips following his fingers. Her pulse pounding, he kissed one side of her jaw then the other. He kissed her cheeks and her chin, then teased her lower lip between his teeth, wanting to eat her whole.
She moaned and he raised up on his elbows to watch her face. Her eyes were closed, and her head was tossed to one side, her neck arched back for him to nibble and tease. Her skirt hiked up as she allowed him closer. He could feel the thin silk of her panties against his thigh.
Her eyes flew open, and her pupils dilated to pin points. A groan rumbled from his throat as he slid one hand down her chest and slipped under her sundress to find her breast. Her lips parted, emitting a breathy gasp.
She squirmed, something in her rhythm breaking his trance. With her in his hand, Justin struggled to comprehend the shift in her demeanor. Forcing himself to focus, he watched an expression of distress cross her face, replacing the passion from moments before. Her body stiffened under his and a steel trap in his mind slammed, cruelly crushing his desire.
Snatching at the towel, he rolled off her to lie gasping on his back. She made a desperate squeaking sound and flailed to get off the bed.
Quick as a snake, he threw his body back across hers. “Stop Tara, I won’t hurt you, please just stop.” His fingers holding her jaw, he caressed his thumbs across her cheeks, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Shhhhh…”
She went limp, all the fight deserting her, leaving her empty and withdrawn.
“Baby, look at me. Come on, just open your eyes.” He waited.
She tried to turn her head but his hands on her face wouldn’t allow it. Finally, her eyelashes fluttered, and she stared blankly at his face, like a stranger.
“We’re just going to lie here for a minute and calm down, okay?”
She didn’t respond.
Justin kept perfectly still, wondering what had happened. She obviously wanted to bolt. But he knew she’d
felt the passion between them – what would make her want to run?
An insidious, dark thought scuttled through the back of his mind. Had someone forced her? Hurt her? Anger and bile rose in his stomach. He could only imagine the unseen scars such treatment would leave on a woman.
Pushing away the horror, he returned his full attention to Tara, waiting for the spark of anger he knew would surface in her. Sure enough, within less than a minute, she stiffened, her eyes filling with fire. “Tara, listen to me for a few minutes then I’ll get up and you can leave if you want to, okay?”
She glared at him but finally nodded.
“First of all, you’re one hot prude, because baby, nothing about you is cold, do you hear me?”
Her expression clearly stated disbelief, but she remained silent.
“You can’t deny that you were hot as hell. Girl, you set my hair on fire.”
She tried to shake her head and her back arched.
“Stop, we’re going to talk. Look at me.”
Her belligerent gaze returned to his.
“The jig is up, Tara. I know beyond a doubt that you enjoyed kissing me.” The dark thoughts returned, and he paused. “I know you felt it, and I know you got scared. That’s okay. It’s okay to feel things and be freaked.”
Her eyes softened, then glittered with unshed tears.
“I know you’re not ready for what is happening between us. I can wait. I think you are a beautiful and fascinating woman, and I understand that you are upset. I will never force you, Tara. Never. Do you hear me?”
Tears ran into her ears, and her teeth clamped her bottom lip.
“I want you, but more than anything I want to see you smile. I’m not going to run, and neither are you. We have a resort to build, right?”
She hesitated, then nodded.
He wiped her tears with his thumbs, then kissed her forehead. “I’m going to get dressed in the bathroom. You take however long you need, then come to the living room. We have to talk about the resort. Just two designers talking business, okay?”
She sniffed, then offered a curt nod.
Carefully, slowly, Justin came to his hands and knees, tugging his towel with him. He backed off the bed, his eyes never leaving hers as he tucked the towel back around his waist. Slowly, he bent to retrieve his clothing, then moved toward the dresser. He opened a drawer and grabbed a T-shirt, then backed toward the door. “I need a smile before I go.”
She pushed herself up to lean on one elbow and untangled her hair from beneath her. She tossed the mass of curls behind her and licked her lips.
Justin struggled to remain standing, hoping she didn’t see how badly he still wanted her.
Finally, she gazed at him through her lashes, a shy smile tilting her mouth. She shrugged one shoulder and raised her hand to shoo him from the room.
He had to force his feet to back out of the bedroom. He pulled the door closed then fell against the wall in the hall where he banged the back of his head into the wall softly, over and over.
* * *
Tara stared at the ceiling. Her head swam and confusion rang in her ears. What just happened?
She sat up and wound her hair over one shoulder, running her fingers through it as she thought. Finally, she stood and straightened her skirt. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she worked to gain control. All she wanted to do was get away from the confusing feelings still coursing through her mind and body.
She glanced back at the bed. She had lost herself for a minute, been swallowed completely by something she couldn’t comprehend. Her senses tingled, just thinking about Justin on top of her, kissing her. She remembered her hips arching to meet his. A blush crept up her chest onto her face.
What had happened to her? She could only assume that she had finally experienced passion. The revelation astounded her. She plopped limply back onto the end of the bed. She, Tara Thornberry, had felt the fervor of sexual desire, and she’d liked it.
So why had she frozen up? Was something in her broken? She’d finally managed to experience the excitement and allure of sex, like other women, but she still messed it up. What had made her pull away? Why hadn’t she been able to drown in the desire she’d felt for Justin? Women on TV and in the movies didn’t freak out and want to run just as things were getting good.
The sound of the bathroom door opening and closing interrupted her thoughts. Resolutely, she collected her calm face and firmly situated it over her sadness. She had to face Justin. “He must think I’m insane,” she mumbled as she reached for the doorknob.
* * *
Justin looked up as Tara peeked around the corner, then he stepped hesitantly into the living room. “I’ve got some prints here for you to see, if you’re interested,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Of course, now things will be different, but you can see what I’d been thinking anyway.”
She strolled to the table, feigning normalcy, to peer down at Justin’s blue prints.
He turned and pulled another roll of drawings from the corner of the room, pushing the rubber band down the roll as he spoke. “I’ve only got a bid set so far, you know, to figure the numbers. I was planning on Denny signing off on them yesterday. My architect is just waiting for the go-ahead for the full set. Do you have an architect?”
She tossed him an irritated glare. “Of course, I do. Geez. What you must think of me.”
He straightened, one hand holding the drawings to keep them from curling. “Sorry, I forget you’re a professional. My bad.”
Tara leaned over the drawings, her hair falling between them. “I studied interior design, but I got my masters in textile arts. How about you?”
Justin’s gaze jerked to her face. Once again, he had underestimated her. “I have a degree in finance,” he answered.
She pointed to an elevation view on the plans. “How many buildings did you plan to construct? Is this the main house, or…What is this?”
“As you see here, I was going to have three structures connected with covered walkways to deal with rain and snowfall. I went with a ranch-style design, long windows and bi-fold glass doors all along the south-facing walls, to take in the view. This is an extended patio.”
The style was aggressive and sleek, not to Tara’s liking, but impressive nonetheless. “I brought some drawings too.” She reached for her bag and pulled out a set of folded drawings. “Just a bid set of course, not complete.” She unfolded the pages and pressed the creases with her fingers, then handed them to Justin.
Taking Justin’s drawings to the sofa, Tara sat down and smoothed them across her lap.
She could see he had designed the spa as one building, the main house in the center, with a convention center and meeting rooms to the far side. Shifting to the next page, she smoothed out the pages. He had planned formal gardens and landscaping for the grounds. Sadness pricked her heart at the thought of the old barn and buildings being torn out to plant shrubs and lay sod.
The last page contained schematics for the smart-system wiring, which included heating/cooling, security, and all the communications systems. Not really her thing.
She aligned the drawings and allowed them to curl back into a roll. Laying them in her lap she gazed at Justin, who was absorbed in her drawings, shuffling pages and scratching his head. Her toes curled in her sandals. She stood and ambled back to the table, giving him time to finish.
Without looking up, he pointed to the drawing of the barn and amphitheater. He tapped the drawing with his index finger. “I’m not much for barns but this is ingenious. I hadn’t noticed that the barn sat on the hill on a perfect angle for a theater.” He glanced up at Tara. “Guess I was stuck on the pigpen that’s there now.”
She smiled. “And the fact that the barn would block the view from the house?”
He smiled, then stood, his eyes searching hers. “You okay?”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I’m good.” She bent to her bag, avoiding his gaze.” I brought some other stuff for you to see, magazines mostly.” She h
auled out a stack of dog-eared magazines.
“I looked at some magazines at the library yesterday.”
Her head came up. “You did?”
He shrugged, his hands going to his pockets.
“Which ones did you see?”
He yanked out his hands and shook them, finally stuffing them into his back pockets. “Well…Country Romance…and…”
She snorted. “I can only imagine what you thought of that!”
He weighed his words carefully. “It was – it seemed over the top, to be honest.”
Tara smiled and turned back to the pile of magazines. Justin pulled out two chairs and they sat down. She flipped to a page marked with a sticky note and handed it to Justin. “I had been planning to go with the whole ‘flea market find’ look until the meeting yesterday. I guess I hadn’t really considered Denny and his buddies. I’d only talked to Muffy. Now I figure we’ll need to go with more of a Nantucket, Long Island, ‘old money’ feel for the project.”
Justin’s eyes were glued on Tara’s face, but he took the magazine from her hand and tore his gaze from her to look down at the picture. His expression brightened and a small smile tilted up one corner of his mouth. “This isn’t so bad.”
She chuckled. “I’m not stupid, just— I don’t know what I am.”
He dropped the magazine and stood, pulling her into his arms. She was stiff but complied, not meeting his eye.
He waited until she glanced at him though her lashes. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, sliding his hand up her back between her shoulder blades to press her closer, and kissed her forehead.
She struggled then relaxed marginally, laying her head on his shoulder.
Justin stifled a groan. Her breath on his neck brought back vivid flashes of her writhing under him.
“Thanks, but you’re not going to tear down that barn.” she whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, Becky huffed into the shop juggling her coffee cup, a ring of keys, a stack of file folders, and a bag of jewelry supplies. Winding her way through the shop humming under her breath, she rounded the counter and Tara looked up from her desk.
Hometown Series Box Set Page 10
