by Leanne Banks
Dylan watched a glint of surprise cross Grant’s face. “How?”
“Favors,” he said. “I’ve collected a few.”
Grant studied. “You’re smarter than I thought. I underestimated you.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re not the first. In fact, you might say it’s one of those things that has served me well my entire life,” Dylan said.
“So how do I know you’re not going to try to stage a takeover against me?”
“Because I don’t want to take over anything,” Dylan said. “I just want one little piece of Remington to grow on my own. You were born and bred to the job, and that’s okay with me. But by some little crazy twist of fate, I ended up with a seat on the board, and it’s not enough for me to just sit.”
Grant gave him a long, measuring glance, then seemed to make up his mind. He extended his hand. “Deal,” he said. “Next time we’ll have dinner at my house.”
Dylan felt a rush of triumph and surprise as he shook his half brother’s hand. He could almost believe Grant meant every word, but Dylan wouldn’t hold his breath. The most important thing was, he had what he wanted in sight.
Seven
From the staircase Alisa tentatively watched Dylan as he stared at the front door Grant had just closed behind him. This could be good or bad, she thought, and gave in to her curiosity. “How did it go?”
He turned around and grinned widely. “Great!” Rushing toward her, he grabbed her in his arms and swung her around. “Thanks to you.”
Delighted but confused Alisa clung to him for dear life. “What do you mean thanks to me? It was your idea to invite Grant and the others to dinner.”
He stopped, allowing her to slowly slide down the front of his body to stand on her feet. His chest was hard, his scent made her dizzy, and the look in his eyes dissolved her knees.
“But you gave me the idea by saying it might be to my benefit to spend some time with them in a different setting.” He lowered his head and kissed her. “Thanks.”
Alisa’s heart hammered in her chest. His arms held her loosely against him, but she was all too aware of his closeness. All too aware of his vitality and masculinity. “You’re welcome,” she managed. “Does this mean you’ve had some kind of meeting of the minds?”
Dylan nodded slowly as if he still didn’t quite believe it himself. “Yeah. He even said something about inviting me to dinner sometime, but I won’t hold my breath. What’s important is he has agreed to support my proposal for a research project for Remington Pharmaceutical.”
Dinner. Alisa’s heart and mind hung on the word. Maybe Grant was a little closer to accepting Dylan. “I’m so pleased,” she said. “I wish the others had come, but—”
Dylan waved aside her concern. “I don’t need the others. All I needed was Grant’s support to give me a little extra weight. Turns out he wants my support so he can be CEO. I don’t need the others.”
Her heart tightened at his words. She couldn’t help wondering if Dylan truly needed anyone. It seemed as if he’d built a world for himself where he was nearly self-sufficient. Could he ever need a woman for more than physical release? Could he ever need a woman so much he thought he’d die without her? A forbidden longing swept through her. What would it take, she wondered, to show Dylan that he didn’t have to be self-sufficient?
“We did it,” he said, his joy pulsing through him. Holding her with his gaze, he lowered his mouth to hers again, this time taking his time and her breath. He rubbed his lips from side to side, and like a gentle, sensual invasion he slid his tongue just inside her mouth.
Alisa felt a slow burn travel throughout her blood. She opened her mouth to him, willing him closer and deeper. Stretching her arms around his shoulders, she pressed against him, reveling in the sensation of his hard body. Distantly she felt him guiding her back against the wall. He slid his thigh between her legs, and she drew his tongue into her mouth. Gliding his hands down to her hips, he rolled his pelvis against hers, making her wet with the erotic promise of his movements.
A restless urgency caught in her chest and spread outward. She wanted more, so much more.
Dylan reluctantly pulled his mouth from hers and drew in a shallow breath. He swore softly. “All I did was kiss you and I’m so hard I could burst.”
Alisa swallowed. “Makes you wonder what might happen if we were doing more than kissing,” she murmured.
Dylan’s eyes lit with dangerous desire. “You’re making it damn hard for me to do the right thing.”
“Maybe you’re not doing the right thing,” she said, her heart pounding. “If I can drive a car, then I’ve recovered enough to—”
He covered her mouth with his hand, and something rebellious drove her to slide her tongue over his palm. He sucked in a quick breath and shook his head. “I gotta get out,” he said, pulling back. “You—” He swore again. “I gotta get out for a little bit. I’ll see you later.”
Alisa gripped the wall as she watched him leave. She was neither offended nor humiliated. The man had been so aroused he’d stuttered. While she didn’t want to attempt walking at the moment, it was gratifying to know she wasn’t the only hot-and-bothered one.
Her heart hammering in her chest, she felt a smile well up from her toes. She was getting to him. Inhaling deeply, she wondered if she had the guts to take the next step. She closed her eyes at the hot possibility. What if he rejected her again? What if he didn’t?
The possibility tempted and seduced.
Alisa smiled again. She was getting to him.
Dylan took a mind-clearing drive to Justin’s house to share his good news. Soon after he arrived, it became obvious that with the kids tucked in bed, Justin and Amy had a romantic evening planned. A sore reminder of what Dylan had left behind.
Dylan gave Justin a quick update, then took the long way home with the top down on his convertible. He kept hoping the wind would blow some sense into his brain. His mind kept gravitating back to Alisa and how she’d felt in his arms. She’d kissed him as though she wanted all of him. Everything about her seduced him. The look in her eyes, the texture of her skin, even the way she breathed.
He struggled with the never-ending urge to slide inside her and take her again and again. She had been more girl than woman when he’d known her all those years before. Now she was the woman who haunted him and taunted him day and night.
He was still hard with wanting her. He swore. Just three more days until she was gone, he told himself. He would have done his duty and helped her recuperate without taking advantage of her. All he had to do was last three more endless nights, then she would be out of reach. Soon enough she would remember and hate him again for what happened years ago; he didn’t want her hating him for anything he did now.
Thirty minutes later with his mind set, he pulled into his garage and walked into his house. Silence greeted him. He breathed a sigh of relief that Alisa hadn’t decided to confront him or wait up for him. He checked on Tonto and found the puppy sleeping. Thank goodness. Dylan just hoped the dog’s bladder would hold until morning. If ever he needed a full night’s sleep, it was tonight.
He slowly climbed the steps and turned down the hall, stopping outside Alisa’s room. He touched the wooden door and thought about the woman inside. His gut began to ache. Pushing his needs aside, he dropped his hand and walked to his room. He would feel its emptiness more than ever tonight.
He pushed open the door and didn’t bother with the light. Stripping off his clothes, he tossed them on the valet and turned back to his bed. But it wasn’t empty.
In the near pitch-black darkness, Alisa knew the second he saw her. The air turned electric. Her heart raced.
“What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” she whispered.
He exhaled, but she could still feel his tension. It pulsed between them. “Why?” he demanded.
Alisa refused to shrink under his unwelcoming tone. “Because I want you and you want me.”
&nb
sp; He swore under his breath. “Why do you have to make this so hard?”
Taking her courage in her hand, she slid from beneath the sheet and scooted to the edge of the bed. She rubbed her mouth against his and her bare breasts against his chest. “Why do I make it hard?” she asked, trying to keep her tone light and teasing even though she found it difficult to breathe. “Isn’t it my job to make it hard?”
“I don’t want you to regret this,” he muttered, sliding his fingers through her hair.
“A funny thing happens when you almost die, Dylan,” she said. “You don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want to miss you.”
His indecision shimmered between them for less than a minute, and Alisa waited to breathe.
“Oh, Alisa,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms. “So help me, I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time.”
In the corner of her mind she wondered how long he’d waited. Alisa had the sense that stones from his wall were falling down all around her. She clung to him as he took her mouth with pure passion. She felt the sizzle of it kick through her blood.
His was no easy, playful kiss. His mouth consumed her, demanded her response, and the wild force of his need made her head spin. He slid his hand down to boldly stroke her stiff nipple, then lower still to her bare rear end, undulating her intimately against his hardness. Everything he did told her he planned to take her in every possible way a man could take a woman. She shuddered in expectation.
“Touch me,” he told her, seducing her with sensual, openmouthed kisses that made the air around them feel heavy with sexual expectancy.
Her breasts grew swollen beneath his touch. Lower, between her legs, she felt slick with arousal. Sliding her hands down the warm, smooth skin of his shoulders and chest, she made a vow to herself to memorize every nuance of him and this night. Somewhere inside her she knew this night would always be important to her. With that instinct, she pushed aside her inhibitions and resolved to make this a memory he too would never forget.
Lowering her head, she skimmed her tongue across his chest, then swirled around his nipple. He stiffened in response and she pressed her cheek against his chest to listen to the fast, heavy thud of his heartbeat. She allowed her hand to meander down over his abdomen and belly button, lower to the soft hair surrounding his hardness.
Although her need and his seemed to race through her like an oncoming freight train, she was determined not to rush. She felt him holding his breath, waiting for her touch. She fought the urgency and skimmed her hand to the side, caressing his hard thigh.
Lifting her mouth to his, she caught his muttered oath with her lips and made love to his mouth while she drew her hand closer and closer.
“When are you going to put me out of my misery?” he asked against her mouth.
“It’s so good I want it to last,” she said, and lazily guided her thumb from the base of his hardness all the way to the top. Swirling her tongue around his, she echoed the movement with her thumb on his erection, dragging his honeyed arousal around the swollen tip.
Dylan’s groan vibrated inside her mouth. “Two can play,” he warned and gently pushed her back on the bed. His knee pushed apart her legs and he drew her nipple into his mouth. “I love the way you taste,” he said, and made her feel like the most desirable creature in the world.
He touched her waist and squeezed her hips, then lowered his fingers to her thighs and caressed her. He glanced the swollen bead of her sensitivity with one long stroke, then caressed her thigh again.
Alisa moved restlessly beneath him. He touched her again with one agonizingly slow and thorough stroke and again moved away. Alisa’s pulse hammered throughout her body. The combination of his mouth on her breasts and his teasing fingers made her sweat. She bit her lip.
When he took the long intimate stroke again, the promise of pleasure was too great. She couldn’t prevent her lower body from arching up to him. Her body was begging.
“You like that,” he said in a voice rough with approval and began to stroke her. He slid a finger inside her and she felt herself go to the brink.
Frantic, she covered his hand with hers. “Not this time. I don’t want to go that way,” she said.
“Oh, Alisa,” he said with a laughter that shimmied through every nerve ending. “You’re going every way.”
She touched his face, meeting his gaze. “Promise me,” she whispered. “Promise.”
Something deep, dark and timeless flickered in his eyes. “Promise,” he said and kissed her.
He toyed with her, seeming to know exactly how to touch her, and she felt herself clench with pleasure. As if from a distance, she heard him encouraging her in a low, velvet voice. Before she could breathe, he lowered his head down her belly and began to take her with his mouth. Alisa clutched the coverlet on his bed with her fingers as his wicked wonderful tongue drove her up and over again.
Weak with pleasure, she looked at him through a haze of wonder. She wondered why she had the sensation of familiar, yet new. Had she dreamed of this so often that she felt she knew him intimately?
He pulled a plastic packet from his nightstand and protected her, then entwined his fingers through hers. He lowered his head so that he was mere breaths from her face. “I promised I would go with you. Promise me you’ll never regret this.”
His low-voiced demand made her heart squeeze tight in her chest. How could she ever regret being with Dylan? She felt her eyes fill with tears. “That isn’t possible. Not—”
“Promise,” he said, and his eyes were full of a dozen emotions.
“I promise,” she said, and he thrust inside her.
Alisa’s breath stopped. His invasion was swift and sure. He filled her so completely that she felt overstretched.
“I hurt you,” he said, and began to pull away.
Alisa shook her head adamantly and slid her arms around his back to hold him tight. She took a careful breath. “It’s just been a while,” she finally managed. She licked her dry lips and willed herself to relax.
His dark gaze wrapped around her and held her. She heard him give a long sigh as if he were reining himself in. “So we’ll go slow,” he said, and moved inside her with an excruciating deliberate stroke.
Twining his fingers with hers again, he held her hands and every part of her inside and out. For those few precious moments she felt as if there was nothing between them. With each slow thrust he became more and more a part of her. Notch by notch he took her up the scale of arousal again. She could see by his clenched jaw that his restraint cost him.
The overwhelming sense of fulfillment echoed inside her heart, mind and soul. When he pushed her over the edge of pleasure again, she kept her eyes open and felt as if she were staring her destiny in the face.
He reached for her again in the middle of the night. A quick, hot coupling steeped in raw need that left her both breathless and sated. Then in the morning he made love to her slowly again, as if to savor her presence in his bed. He made love to her as if she were the most delightful surprise he’d ever found. His lovemaking made her want to be more to him, do more for him. Being this close to him made her want to heal all his wounds and make his wishes come true.
Afterward, with the sun shining through the curtains, she stared into his eyes and said, “I love you.”
His eyes widened slightly and he took a quick breath. “You don’t have to say that.”
“But I do,” she said, touching his face and wanting to touch his heart. “Why do you look so surprised?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t heard that from anybody for a while.”
“There’s something I don’t understand,” she said. “This thing that’s between us is so strong. I don’t understand why we haven’t been more involved with each other the last several years.”
He glanced away and narrowed his eyes. She could feel the distance between them grow immediately. “It’s complicated,” he said.
“How?” she asked. “Tell me how.”
/>
He covered her hand, but still didn’t meet her gaze. “I think you’ll remember what you need when you’re ready, and I think it would be better to remember things about us on your own.”
“But—”
A dog’s bark interrupted her.
Dylan chuckled. “My dream dog’s bladder is probably about to burst. I’ll take Tonto out,” he told her and dropped a kiss on her lips. “You can rest a little longer.”
Watching Dylan tug on his jeans and leave the room, she struggled with a sense of incompleteness. There was clearly a reason she and Dylan hadn’t been more involved just before her accident, and he knew what it was. Sitting up, she closed her eyes and searched her mind for answers, but all she saw was a black void. She felt as if she were pounding on a steel door. She needed to know. Whatever had come between them was still hovering like an unwelcome ghost.
Grimly she sensed that whatever was in the past would continue to come between them unless she remembered it and banished it. If Dylan wouldn’t tell her, then she would seek her information anywhere she could get it.
Eight
According to their agreement, Alisa should have left on Monday, but neither Dylan nor Alisa mentioned it. She wanted to stay, and although he hadn’t spoken the words, his actions told her he wanted her to stay, too.
Dylan made love to her every night, but he stopped short at verbal professions. It was strange. Even though they didn’t discuss it, Alisa felt a strong, underlying sense of commitment that flowed between them. She hoped she wasn’t fooling herself.
Driven to know more about her preaccident experiences with Dylan, she visited the hospital psychiatrist and expressed her frustration over the blanks in her memory. He told her any number of things could trigger her memories. Then again, some of her emotions could block some of her memories for a while. He reminded her that she was still recovering and to be patient.
Alisa didn’t appreciate being told to be patient, which indicated to her that she’d never been much for settling for the status quo, so she made arrangements to meet with Kate and Amy the following day. They met at a tearoom in downtown St. Albans, and Kate brought along her baby, Michelle. They ordered tea and cakes.
