by Jill Shalvis
But at the feel of her soft skin, the strangest thing happened. Something close to an electric current jolted him, only it wasn’t painful. No, it was much worse than that, it was...nice. Warm.
Which made it very dangerous.
He wasn’t looking for nice and warm. He wasn’t looking for a woman to stare up at him as Hannah was, with wonder and awareness.
Hell, all he’d been looking for was a bed. Okay, and maybe a woman, but someone else, someone...temporary. Hannah wasn’t a temporary woman, she was his sister’s friend, a woman who would always be around in some form or another because of that. That didn’t equal temporary, not in his book.
But his fingers had a mind of their own, and they liked the feel of her so much they didn’t let go, but stroked their way to her jaw and cheek.
Her mouth opened, as if she had to do that just to breathe. His own breathing was suddenly just as challenged. “Tell me to leave,” he murmured.
“Stay.”
“Hannah—” She didn’t, couldn’t, understand. He was exhausted, dizzy with it. Add to that the fact that he couldn’t get the picture out of his head, the one of her half-naked in his arms, which meant he was still aroused. It was wrong.
Eyes lit with something he didn’t understand, she moved across the room and hit the power button on her portable stereo.
Soft jazz filled the room.
Then she stared at him, as if waiting for some reaction.
“What about my sister’s room?” he asked desperately. He couldn’t do this, not with her. “I could—”
“She doesn’t have a couch. You know how she is, her room is so spartan.”
“Bad timing.” The music and candles combined with her expressive, almost hopeful eyes were going to prove too much for him any second now. “Really bad timing.”
“Oh, Zach. This is all so wrong. I’m trying to...I wanted to...darn it!” She covered her eyes in misery. “I can’t imagine what you must have thought of me when I got into bed with you like that.”
“There wasn’t much thinking involved,” he told her honestly. “At first I thought you were just a dream.” A really hot dream.
“Really?” She dropped her hands from her face and actually looked intrigued!
Letting out a low laugh that released exactly none of his tension, he nodded. “Really. And then when I came all the way awake, and you were beneath me like that, I...”
She licked her lips, probably a nervous habit, but damn if that didn’t put the immediacy right back between them.
“I didn’t crawl beneath you,” she said, her voice husky. Her lips moist from her tongue.
She was close enough to...kiss. Kiss. He couldn’t get kissing her out of his mind.
“You sorta...put me there,” she said softly. “You were confused. My fault.” Her voice trembled.
“I scared you. I’m sorry.”
“No. No, you don’t understand.”
He was fascinated by the play of candlelight over her hair. Lightly, he stroked a hand down her back, over her hair, feeling the soft, long strands catch on his work-roughened skin.
“I wasn’t afraid of you.” It seemed very important to her that he believe her. “I would never be afraid of you.”
He was thinking if she could read his thoughts, she might not feel so confident of that. “Because I’m a cop?”
“Because I know you. Knew you,” she corrected.
“Ten years.” He was riveted by the look in her eyes, by the feeling she was waiting for...something, but he didn’t know what. “I can’t believe it’s been so long. You were so young when I last saw you, and now... Look at you, you’re beautiful.”
“Zach—”
“We never got a chance to say a proper hello, did we?”
“Not a proper one,” she said, her lips curving. “No, we didn’t.”
Slowly, he drew her close. For a brotherly hug.
A nice-to-see-you-again hug.
Big mistake.
His body knew it instantly, at the first shock of holding her against him. Again. His mind knew it, too, it was just slower to respond because the feel of her warm, soft curves pretty much blocked out anything else.
“Your side—”
“It’s fine,” he assured her, and she nodded, tipping her head up, closing her eyes. His body responded automatically, leaning toward her for the kiss—
Wait. No. No kiss. What was he doing? With an oath, he pulled away.
She let out a soft sound of disappointment.
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be wanting her like this. She was his baby sister’s best friend. She was his own best friend’s baby sister!
And yet the feel of her against him...
“Sleep,” he said, far less firmly than he meant, but dammit, he wasn’t just a little turned on here.
He was dying.
“Yes, sleep.” She cleared her throat and backed away. She glanced at the candles with a sort of...hurt?
He had no idea what that was about.
“I’m going to go downstairs,” she said a bit breathlessly. “To get an extra supply of bedding for the couch. Make yourself...at home.”
That would be difficult in his current condition. Sleep would be impossible. “Is it all right if I take a shower?” A cold one, a very cold one.
“Help yourself.” As if she was late for a wildfire, she hightailed it to the door.
He showered quickly, then toweled off, thinking if he didn’t lie down soon, he was going to fall down. Eyes gritty, muscles quivering faintly with exhaustion, he hung up the towel and swore.
So used to sleeping in the buff, he hadn’t thought to grab clean clothes.
He’d left his bag...where? By the front door. With a huge yawn, he grabbed the towel again, slung it around his hips and tiptoed out, hoping that Hannah had come back and had already fallen asleep.
The lights were off, which he took as a good sign. She’d gone to sleep then. Making his way in the dark, he tried to be quiet. He tried so hard that he tripped over his own shoes, nearly killing himself in the dark. Pain arched through his side at the sharp movement.
Biting back his oath, he stood again...without his towel, which had fallen. Though the movement was torture, he reached down, searching, but couldn’t find the thing anywhere. Finally, he went on without it because he was not only standing there naked as a jaybird, but he was freezing. Feeling for the door, he once again bent down, groping for the bag he’d so thoughtlessly tossed when he’d thought he was in his own room.
As he slung it over his shoulder and carefully straightened, the light came on, blinding him. Lifting a hand up to cover the glare, he heard a gasp.
Hannah’s gasp.
She stood by the light switch, still fully dressed. “Okay, this time you scared me,” she whispered.
He stood there, stark naked, with Hannah staring at him, eyes huge and dilated, mouth open. “Uh...Hannah?”
“Yes?”
He held his duffel bag in front of him. “Could you cut the light?”
Her gaze was glued to the bag. “You’re naked.”
No kidding. “I lost my towel in the dark, I forgot my clothes, and...and dammit, why aren’t you in bed asleep?”
“I’m not taking the bed, you’re the guest.”
Her eyes hadn’t moved from their target, and they were once again filled with that heated awareness. It wouldn’t take but a second more of this to completely void out the effects of his cold shower. “Hannah?”
“Hmm?”
“The lights?”
“Oh!” She reached out, then stopped. “If I turn them off, how will you find your way?”
“I’ll manage,” he assured her through his teeth as he forced a reassuring smile.
“You’ll hurt yourself. I’ll just close my eyes.” Which she promptly did.
“Fine.” He hunkered down for his dropped towel, which he could see now thanks to the light, but before he could secure it, her eyes flew open
again.
“Hannah!”
She bit her lip and looked only slightly remorseful as her gaze once again ate him up. “I just wanted to tell you, the couch is far too small. You’ll bump your side or your head all night, or even fall off, or—”
“Okay!” At this point, he was willing to agree to anything if she’d either flip off the light or keep her eyes closed. “The bed then, fine. Just close your eyes!”
“Yes! Right!”
Grabbing his towel, he covered himself as best he could, took his duffel and headed toward her bedroom.
The damn woman followed.
“I can find the bed all by myself,” he told her.
“I just want to make sure...”
He peered over his shoulder and found her studying his butt. “What are you doing!”
Her gaze jerked up to meet his. Her cheeks reddened. “Nothing!” Guiltily, she scooted back, but remained in the doorway.
He sat on the bed. “You know, I really think I can take it from here.”
Nodding, she proceeded to...stay right where she was.
He might have just ignored her, rolling over and falling back into oblivion, but since he’d never in his life taken the easy way, and since she was looking at him with a whole host of things in her eyes, the least of which was a yearning and loneliness that stoked his own, he sighed. “I’ve got to tell you, the way you’re looking at me is going to make sleep impossible.”
She swallowed, hard. “You’re looking back at me in the same way.”
Yeah, he probably was. “Well, how about we both stop. Because if you keep looking at me like that...”
“What?” she whispered. “What will happen?”
“Just stop, okay?” When she only blinked, he rubbed his tired eyes. “It’s been a long time since I felt I was in the real world. Back with friends. Back with a woman,” he clarified when she just stared at him blankly.
It was a moment before she spoke. “How long is a long time?”
“I can’t even remember.”
“Well, it couldn’t have been longer than it’s been for me,” she said.
Dangerous conversation. He’d been celibate too long, and now she was admitting the same. After this week, he probably wouldn’t get back up here for another couple of years at least, and Hannah meant far too much to him to take advantage of her like that. “Good night,” he said softly.
He was both relieved and oddly disappointed when she turned off the light and left him alone.
* * *
“CANDLES AND MUSIC didn’t work! I need something else, quick!”
Michael let out a long, slow, suffering sigh and yawned loudly in the face of Hannah’s hushed panic. “Hannah—”
“Give me just one more tip. Please? I came close,” she said quickly before he could hang up. “So close that it should be easier this next time.”
“Do I want to know this? No!”
“Please.”
“Dammit. Okay.” He sighed again. “The music and candles failed? Did you combine it with the skin flash and a kiss?”
“Um...not quite. Isn’t there some other way?”
“Hannah, this is really awkward—”
“No, it isn’t. Pretend I’m...one of the guys. Tell me about your latest conquest. Just do it quick.” She didn’t have much time, she was close to losing both her nerve and perspective on this whole thing.
Glaring at her closed bathroom door, she huddled on the edge of the tub and sighed. Honestly, she thought she’d had a good shot there for a moment, especially when Zach’s eyes had unmistakably glazed over at the sight of her panties.
But she’d lost momentum. Probably when she’d become stupid with lust. Well, no more. She needed to stop wanting to eat him up on the spot and get down to business.
“First of all, it’s the middle of the damn night,” her bother told her.
As if she didn’t know!
“And second of all,” he continued. “It’s not like I...get a ‘conquest’ every night of the week.”
“So it’s difficult for you, too. Maybe it runs in the family?”
He swore again, more colorfully now. “Listen, just tell him. Say, ‘I want you’. Have you tried that?”
Well...no, actually. She hadn’t.
But she would.
* * *
ZACH SUDDENLY CAME AWAKE. He lay there, unsure how much time had passed or what had awakened him. Then came a rustling, the sound of a drawer opening. Blinking his still bleary eyes open into the moonlit room, he saw the slight shadow of Hannah rifling through a drawer.
It was two in the morning.
“Hannah?”
“Oh!” She nearly jerked right out of her skin. Whirling, she put a hand to her chest. “I’m sorry! Did I wake you?”
“What’s the matter?”
“L-looking for sweats,” she said, her teeth chattering. “I’m frozen.”
She wore only a white T-shirt that fell to mid-thigh. Her feet were bare, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle. She looked small and vulnerable. Defenseless. All of which had every protective urge in him out in force.
Damn.
“Come here,” he said, and lifted the edge of his covers.
She came, but then hesitated, looking down at him.
“I’m warm,” he said gently, thankful she couldn’t see how “warm”.
“But you told me not to look at you in...that way, and if I come in there, I’m going to do exactly that.”
Thank God for the dark. “I’ll try not to notice. Come on, it’s okay.”
She slipped into the bed, then lay on her back a bit stiffly. Her teeth rattled, and so did something deep inside him. “Closer. Come on,” he coaxed softly, reaching out, touching her hips, urging her on her side facing away from him. Then he scooted her back to his chest so that he could share his body heat. His own exhaustion momentarily forgotten, he stroked a hand down her quivering body, trying to rub some warmth into her.
Gradually, she started to relax, even sighing deeply, snuggling back against him for more heat. “Nice,” she murmured.
Until that moment he’d managed to keep his thoughts along the lines of comfort only.
Mostly.
But with her unwittingly seductive voice, and her bottom rubbing over the part of him that had a mind of its own, comfort flew out the window.
It became difficult, if not impossible, to keep his hands on platonic areas of her body. There weren’t any! Every part of her drew him, all her long, toned limbs, her sweet, soft lush curves. His fingers stroked down her slim spine, down, down, down... He groaned at the feel of her, unable to keep his hands from exploring.
Another deep sigh escaped her at his touch, and her breath came slow and even.
So he kept on caressing her, trying to keep still, struggling to hold back another groan because she was heaven in his hands.
“Want you, Zach,” she sighed.
He froze. She wanted him. Reality reared up and bit him, because while he wanted her back, she couldn’t want him. She couldn’t, this was his own private torture.
Then she sighed his name and whispered it again.
“What?” he asked, praying he’d heard wrong.
Nothing.
“Hannah?”
“Mmm?”
She couldn’t just say that and fall asleep...could she? “Um...Hannah?”
This time he got a soft snore for an answer.
Great. Her hair tickled his nose, her head was heavy on his arm, making it go numb. Her feet, which felt like icicles, rested on his. Her shirt had ridden up so that the only thing that separated them were silky panties and his own briefs, which were now far too tight for comfort.
He was as hard as a rock, practically shaking with it, and there she lay, peaceful as a baby, getting the sleep that should be his!
It was a long, long time before he followed her into dreamland.
CHAPTER 5
HANNAH WOKE UP warm and toasty and—locked
in Zach’s arms!
It all came back to her in a flood. The music, the candles...her failure.
Darn it, she’d fallen asleep on him!
Incredible as it seemed, they hadn’t done anything.
Hannah would have groaned, loudly, but she was afraid to wake him, afraid to look in his eyes and face her pathetic seduction attempt.
She needed to get up. Needed to regroup. Needed a new plan. But breaking away from the blissfully slumbering Zach was actually harder than she anticipated...mostly because she didn’t really want to go. Not when he looked so right in her bed, not when he was wrapped around her making her feel safe and secure.
Wanted.
Whoa. He hadn’t wanted her; if he had they would’ve made love. She needed to remember that when these alien warm and fuzzy feelings came over her.
Zach was here only temporarily.
Very temporarily.
Which was yet another thing to remember. No falling for him, no matter how wonderful he felt in her bed.
She made herself get up. Despite her jumbling emotions, her body felt alive, really truly alive, in a way she hadn’t imagined possible. Alive and...yearning. She ached with it. Ignoring that, she dressed.
When she went down the hall, there was the sweet old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. They were holding hands and talking, and she thought if she could guarantee a relationship like that, then maybe someday she’d give it a shot.
“Get lucky last night, dear?” asked the sweet old lady.
“Ex—excuse me?”
“I saw your young man on his way to bed last night.” She winked. “He’s something, all tall, dark and attitude-ridden, isn’t he?” Then she laughed lustily. “You go, girl.”
Hannah managed a weak smile and went downstairs.
Alexi was already in the kitchen, digging through the refrigerator. At the sight of Hannah, a known un-morning person, she lifted a curious brow. “Wow. You’re even dressed.”
