An inquisitive look entered Evan, Sr.’s, gaze. “I don’t believe you’ve said what you do for a living.”
“He’s an investment broker,” Teddy announced eagerly, the same moment that Austin said, “I own my own landscaping business.”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that Teddy had feared he’d reveal his Fantasy for Hire gig.
Dead silence followed, and everybody seemed to go perfectly still as eight pair of eyes scrutinized him like an insect under a microscope. Even Teddy seemed to stop breathing, and he couldn’t help wondering if she’d approve of what he really did for a living—digging ditches.
“You’re a busy man, Mr. McBride,” Brent said with some degree of amusement, breaking up the stagnant silence that had settled in the dining room.
“Certainly very enterprising,” Evan, Sr., agreed, sounding begrudgingly impressed.
“Actually, I’m no longer an investment broker,” he said, certain he saw Teddy’s shoulders slump at that announcement. “I’m concentrating on the landscaping business.”
“Oh,” Gloria said, and the sound wasn’t a complimentary one.
Austin knew if he intended to see Teddy again, he wanted the truth out on the table now. “I know landscaping doesn’t sound as glamorous as an investment broker. It’s a lot of hard work, and some days long hours, but overall I find it very satisfying.”
Evan, Sr., glanced from Teddy, then back to the man she’d brought to meet their family. Austin was certain he wasn’t what the elder Spencer and his wife had in mind for their daughter, but Austin was exactly what he said he was. What they saw was what they got.
“And your parents,” Evan, Sr., went on, as if striving to find some redeeming quality. “What do they do?”
“Both of my parents are dead.” Knowing he had nothing left to lose, he added, “It’s just me and my brother, Jordan, who is currently an unemployed architect.”
Dismay filled Gloria’s eyes as she looked at Teddy, as if she couldn’t believe her daughter had settled for less than one of the prominent businessmen in their league.
Teddy’s five-year-old niece, Katie, came out of the playroom at that moment, anticipation wreathing her pretty face. “Grandma, we all ate our dinner. When do we get to open our presents?”
An adoring smile softened Gloria’s features as she looked at her granddaughter, and Austin had the thought that this woman was a marshmallow beneath her haughty exterior. “I suppose now would be a good time, since you all have to get to bed soon so Santa can come visit. Why don’t you get everyone to wash up and meet us in the parlor?”
Katie raced from the room, her little-girl voice announcing to her cousins, “We get to open our presents!”
The adults laughed at the responding squeals of delight and “yipees” that drifted from the playroom, and they all moved back into the parlor. Austin made himself comfortable on the sofa while Teddy helped pass out the gaily wrapped Christmas presents under the tree, obviously having fun with the task. For as much as she’d claimed that kids weren’t her forte, Austin couldn’t help noticing how much she enjoyed playing the role of aunt, and how loving she was with each child. A smile played at the corner of his mouth as he watched Teddy divide her attention between helping Drew, her three-year-old nephew, put together a chunky wooden puzzle, and her six-year-old niece, Molly, diaper her new “Baby-wets-a-lot.” Her maternal instincts weren’t as suppressed as she might want to believe.
Susan settled herself next to Austin, and he smiled amicably at her. There was mischief in the other woman’s gaze, and a glint of determination. Leaning close, taking advantage of Gloria and Evan, Sr.’s, distraction, she said in a low voice, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, Austin. The Spencers are a different breed. Everyone goes through the initial interrogation process. What ultimately matters is how Teddy feels about you.”
Austin appreciated Susan’s encouragement, but after that enlightening dinner conversation, he wasn’t so sure fitting into Teddy’s life would be as easy as surviving the Spencer’s third-degree. Not only did he feel as though he’d never measure up, he honestly had no idea where he stood with Teddy—if what he did for a living mattered to her, or how she truly felt about him—beyond their “agreements.”
Maybe it was time he found out.
9
TEDDY LEANED her head against the passenger seat’s headrest and released a long pent-up breath—in relief, exhaustion and a good part frustration. Beside her, Austin was quiet as he pulled out of her parents’ driveway, the moonlight reflected through the windshield illuminating his pensive features.
“That was a disaster,” she said, shaking her head in disappointment.
“Not the entire evening,” he graciously conceded with a smile that wasn’t quite as sexy and breathtaking as usual. “I enjoyed watching the kids open their presents, and talking to your brothers and their wives.”
Her siblings seemed to like him, too, which pleased her. However, Teddy didn’t miss the fact that he had no compliments for her parents—not that they’d deserved any accolades after the way they’d grilled him. “I never would have thought my parents would behave so atrociously,” she said, her tone contrite.
He brought the car to a halt at a stop sign and glanced over at her, his gaze expressing an odd combination of understanding and regret. Reaching across the console, he gently brushed his fingers along her cheek. “I suppose they’re just concerned about who their little girl is getting involved with.”
Her skin tingled where he touched her, eliciting a sensual warmth that spread through her entire body. “As if they have any say in the matter,” she said, forcing an indignant note over the quiver of awareness infusing her voice. “If my parents had their choice, they’d have me married off to some stuffy blue blood, being a proper wife.”
“I can’t imagine it,” he murmured, a sly smile curving his mouth.
She exaggerated a shudder, adding to the humor of the situation. “Neither can I.”
They both laughed, his low, husky chuckles mingling with her lighter ones, the sound pleasant and very intimate in the close confines of the car. The lighthearted moment released some of the tension she’d sensed in him a half hour after arriving at her parents’. The evening had only gotten worse, and certainly more complicated than she’d expected.
Austin drove on, maneuvering the car through the streets of Pacific Heights. He wasn’t taking the normal way back to her condo, but she didn’t mind if he wanted to take a longer route, which would give her more time with him. It was Christmas Eve, and for the first time since she could remember, she dreaded being alone.
“Austin…” She fiddled with the strap of her purse. “I’m really sorry for my parents’ behavior tonight, and that you had to lie about owning your own landscaping business. I’ll be the first to admit that my parents can be judgmental, but they’ll come around.”
He glanced her way. “You planning on bringing me to another family get-together?”
Her heart thumped in her chest, and a flood of emotions shook her to her soul. There was no denying she enjoyed everything about Austin, from his humor and honesty, to the feminine way he made her feel. But he made her yearn for things that conflicted with everything she’d worked so hard to attain, and the strength of those feelings frightened her.
She gave a noncommittal shrug, which was the best she could offer him. “You never know.”
He stared at her for a long, intense moment, then switched his gaze back to the road. “Does it matter to you what I do for a living?” he asked quietly.
She glanced out her window to the darkness beyond, giving his question serious consideration. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit that on some level Austin owning Fantasy for Hire bothered her, because she disliked the thought that other women fantasized about him and lusted over that gorgeous body while he performed a sexy striptease for them. She was beginning to think of Austin as her fantasy, and she didn’t want to share. Jealousy was a fo
reign emotion to her, one she’d never experienced in a relationship with a man, but she quickly realized she wasn’t immune to the green-eyed monster.
So how did she answer his question without sounding like a possessive shrew? “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter to me what you did for a living. But I suppose I can learn to get used to you stripping for other women.”
“And what if I really did own my own landscaping business?” he asked, his voice slightly anxious. “Would that line of work make a difference to you?”
She studied his face, seeing the taut line of his jaw, the tense set of his shoulders beneath his cable-knit sweater, and the truth finally dawned on her. “You really are in that line of work, aren’t you? Along with Fantasy for Hire.”
He nodded, and turned onto another darkened street that climbed upward and overlooked Pacific Heights. “Yep. McBride Commercial Landscaping is a real, solid business. I’m not rich, but I’m successful enough to support myself, and I love my job.”
She tilted her head, fascinated with this facet of Austin’s life. “And Fantasy for Hire?”
“It’s been a lucrative business, and it helped to support me when I needed the money, but I’ve definitely outgrown it. I’m going to sell the business so I can devote my time to McBride Landscaping.”
The car rolled to a stop. Austin cut the engine and turned to look at her with searching eyes, as if gauging her reaction to his newest revelation. It struck her then, that as confident as Austin appeared, he harbored a few insecurities of his own.
“Why does what I think matter so much to you?” she whispered, breaking through the quiet that had settled in the car.
“Because this is who I am, Teddy,” he said, his warm gaze falling from her eyes, to her mouth, then back up again. “What you see is what you get, and I want to be sure you’re okay with that.”
Liquid heat pooled in her belly. “Yeah, I am.”
“I’m not some blue blood with a fancy investment-broker image, Teddy—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips to stop his words, and the jolt of electrical heat that passed between them made her shiver. “That’s probably why I’m so attracted to you.”
Gently, he grasped her wrist, lowering her hand so her palm pressed against his chest, so she could feel the steady beating of his heart. “And your parents?”
She understood the reassurances he was searching for. Her mother and father hadn’t issued full approval of Austin, and he wanted to make sure it made no difference to her. “Do you honestly think it matters to me what my parents think?”
His eyes burned into hers, hot and filled with an honest, primitive need that tapped into every responding nerve in her body. “I just want to be sure before we go any further.”
Knowing where the next step in their relationship would lead, an equal measure of excitement and apprehension swirled within her. “I’m…sure.”
The lazy, sexy grin that settled on his mouth was sheer male, and the dark look in his green eyes was very, very pleased.
Needing a moment to absorb what she’d just agreed to, she glanced around at their surroundings. Wherever he’d parked was pitch-black and deserted. They were alone, except for the breathless view of the bay below them and the star-studded sky above. A renewed rush of warmth seeped into her midsection.
“Where are we?” she asked, peering out the window.
His long fingers trailed along her shoulder and toyed with her silky hair. “It’s a secluded place that not many people know about.”
She cast him a teasing look. “And how do you know about it?”
He grinned, a wicked light brightening his gaze. “When I was in high school, I’d bring girls up here to make out with them.” He looked off in the distance, amusement in his expression. “One time, when I was sixteen and had just gotten my driver’s license, I brought a girl up here on a Saturday night. Not fifteen minutes later, another car pulled up, and it was Jordan and his date.” Austin chuckled, shaking his head. “He didn’t so much as get the chance to kiss his girl, because he was so furious at finding me up here, making out with my date.”
Teddy laughed at the fond memory he shared, reminded too much of how her own brothers had been with the guys she’d dated. Protective and ruthless. “It must be an older-brother thing.”
His thumb rubbed along her sensitive earlobe, then found the spot that made her shiver with pleasure. “You got caught necking, too?”
“No, never. I missed out on that particular fun.” She sighed with a small measure of regret, because she’d been too busy with debutante balls and country-club dances. And though she’d been rebellious enough to go along with the suggestion, no boy had issued the invitation. “I just meant that my brothers were overly protective of me, too. Who I went out with, where my dates took me, and all that stuff. Not that they had anything to worry about. The boys I was allowed to date came from prestigious families that were friends of my parents, and they wouldn’t have dared touched me the wrong way. I was deemed a ‘good girl,’ and my brothers made sure I kept that reputation.”
“Well, you’re all grown up, your brothers aren’t anywhere around, and I’m not one of those saps who come from a highfalutin family.” He leaned close, and her senses spun at the hot, hungry look in his eyes. “Wanna neck?”
Being a bad girl suddenly held enormous appeal. Feeling reckless, she met him halfway to the console. “Yeah, I think I do.”
The hand caressing her throat moved up and slid into her hair, threading through the warm strands. The last thing she saw was the sinful grin curving his mouth, then his lips covered hers and he was kissing her—long, deeply intimate kisses that brought her to a fever pitch of need in no time flat. Her body swelled with arousal, her breasts grew heavy, and an achy emptiness settled in the pit of her belly.
They made out like two lust-filled teenagers, both attempting to find a comfortable position that would allow them more freedom to use their hands without putting a crick in their necks. Austin managed to cup her breast in his hand, and when she shifted to move closer, his arm twisted awkwardly and fell away. She touched his thigh, but the other hand supporting her slipped off the console and she nearly bit his lip as the impact jarred her entire body.
A giggle escaped her. “This is crazy.”
He nuzzled her neck, his breath hot and damp against her skin. “But fun and kinda sexy, don’t you think?”
Delicious and thrilling, she agreed, if only her back didn’t ache from her awkward position. “I can’t get close enough,” she complained.
“Yeah, you can.” Moving back to his side of the car, he slid the leather seat back, making more room between him and the steering wheel. “C’mere, Teddy,” he murmured huskily, his eyes ablaze with a sweet, sexual promise that dared her to be just as bold. “I want you to sit on my lap so I can touch you the way I’ve been wanting to since the night of the Christmas party.”
His words made her shiver, made her melt, made her eager for what they both wanted. Judging the distance between them and deeming it as too far, she climbed over the console with his help, but not without whacking her leg on the steering wheel, losing a shoe on the trek and elbowing him in the ribs. They laughed at their bumbling, but all amusement ceased once she was straddling his thighs…their embrace so snug and intimate there was no mistaking how much he wanted her.
He skimmed her hips with his hands and smiled a roguish grin that told her he’d had way too much experience as a young teen at this sort of thing. “Close enough for you?”
“Yeah.” Her fingers found their way beneath the hem of his sweater. His flat abdomen clenched as she stroked his belly, luxuriating in his vibrant, muscular body. “Can I take off your sweater?”
“Honey, you can do anything to me that you’d like to,” he urged. “Be as bad as you want to be. I won’t tell a soul.”
Licking her dry lips, and enjoying the thrill of being naughty, she lifted the cable-knit over his head and spent a minute explorin
g his magnificent chest and the hot, tight feel of his skin all the way down to the waistband of his slacks. His hips rolled enthusiastically beneath her, but instead of giving him the attention he sought, she touched her knees, which bracketed his hips. Slowly, she skimmed her palms upward, dragging the hem of her knit dress up her thighs, tempting him with the lacy band holding up her silk stockings and a glimpse of smooth, pale skin.
His breathing deepened as he watched her brazen, shameless display on his lap, and she gently tipped his chin up with a finger so his eyes met hers. Not quite done seducing him, she grasped one of the hands cinching her waist and flattened his palm at the base of her throat, then guided his hot, callused fingers inside the low-cut collar of her dress.
Stopping just above where the upper slope of her breast swelled from her bra, she whispered invitingly in the shadowed interior of the vehicle, “Touch me the way you’ve been wanting to since the Christmas party.”
With a low-throated growl, he slipped the shoulders of her dress down, until the stretchy material tightened around her arms, and the front bunched around her waist. He didn’t bother with the back clasp to her sheer, lacy bra, and instead lowered the cups so that her breasts sprang free from the binding—firm, full and eager for attention. His hands shaped her, his thumbs rasped across her sensitive nipples, and then he dipped his head and took one puckered tip into his hot, wet mouth.
Moaning in pure, unadulterated pleasure, Teddy let her head drop back, arched her spine and clenched her fingers in his thick, soft hair. He teased the crest with his teeth, then soothed the gentle bites with the damp swirl of his tongue until her breasts grew swollen and heavy.
Her flesh thrummed. Her blood pounded. A sultry heat swirled within the car, making her skin slick, and his just as damp. Idly, she noticed that the windows were completely fogged, cocooning them in their own private world. The arousing, male scent of him filled every panting breath she gulped, and suddenly she wasn’t near close enough for what she needed. Gripping his bare shoulders, she rocked into him, so that the hard ridge beneath the fly of his pants pressed against the apex of her thighs, rubbing enticingly. She gasped at the erotic friction of wet silk against pulsing, aroused flesh. He groaned and grew impossibly thicker.
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