Lori Foster

by Get Your Guy; Messing Around withMax Tempted - Little Miss Innocent; Annie

  Staring at him in what appeared to be humble exasperation, she muttered, “Unfortunately, I believe I do.”

  He drew a long breath. “Annie, honey, let me explain something to you about sex.”

  Her brows lifted, her expression intense and fixed.

  Guy faltered, then forced himself to go on. “Sex isn’t all romantic.”

  “It isn’t?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s hot and sweaty and sometimes crude and…”

  Her eyes darkened, her lips parted, her cheeks flushed. “You make it sound wonderful,” she breathed.

  Guy had absolutely no idea how to reply to that.

  The doorbell rang.

  Annie took a deep, shuddering breath, then started toward it.

  Guy grabbed her arm. “Don’t even think it.” He knew he sounded panicked, but there was no way in the world he’d let her go to the door in that dress.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked, and damn if she didn’t sound amused.

  Guy pulled her toward the hallway and out of sight. “The poor pizza kid would likely have a heart attack. He’s young and vulnerable, and probably horny enough as it is without you flaunting yourself in front of him. Here, stay out of sight while I get rid of him.”

  Annie grinned, but thankfully, she didn’t fight him.

  After he’d accepted and paid for the pizza, then closed the door, Annie came up to stand very close to him. “So you think my dress looks good enough to turn on the pizza deliverer?”

  “He’s nineteen. A strong wind would turn him on.”

  Surprise replaced her expression of anticipation. “Really?”

  Guy moved away from her, needing the distance from her barely veiled body. “I think your body looks good. The dress isn’t even noticeable.”

  “You mean it?” Annie skipped next to him to keep up with his long-legged, agitated stride. She stared up at him anxiously with those big blue eyes. “You honestly think I have an adequate body?”

  Adequate? Guy thunked the pizza onto the counter in the kitchen and turned to glare down at her. Was she yanking his chain, or did she really have no notion of how sexy she was? Right now, in her bare feet, she probably stood five-two. Her hair, a rich shiny shade very close to black, but softer in color, fell past the middle of her back and made a man wonder what it would feel like drifting over his chest, his abdomen.

  Other places.

  Her blue eyes were huge, thickly lashed, staring up at him while she awaited his reply.

  He didn’t want to, but his gaze dropped down her body again. Everything suddenly seemed warmer, slower, closer. He could hear her small unsteady breaths, smell her soft, clean scent—a fragrance unique to Annie and guaranteed to drive him crazy.

  His stomach muscles clenched when he saw that her nipples were tight against the soft fabric of the dress. She had her hands laced together over her middle, her knees pressed close together, her toes curled.

  Evidently he was no stronger than the pizza kid.

  He gave up with a groan, leaning down in slow motion, giving her plenty of time to move away, even hoping she would because he felt beyond control.

  Instead, she moved into him, lifting her face, her lips parted, her breath now coming faster. He was a fool, an idiot… Oh damn, she tasted good.

  His mouth ate at hers, carefully, thoroughly. Every time he kissed her, it was better than the time before. He gave a small suction and captured her soft tongue, then gave her his own. He heard her weak moan. Her lips were damp and clinging and tasted incredibly hot and sweet.

  But he didn’t touch her otherwise. He kept his hands resolutely at his sides, though it almost killed him, especially with her pressing so close, letting him feel her rounded breasts against his rib cage, her stiff little nipples burning him. He wanted to lift her to the counter, to part her slim thighs, to…

  Her small hot hand opened on the left side of his butt, and she copped a feel.

  Guy jerked back, panting, disillusioned, turned on.

  Eyes dreamy, Annie sighed. Her smile was content—her hand squeezing. The world shifted a little, then righted itself and everything became clear.

  She was practicing on him!

  The first curse word out of his mouth made her jump. The second had her scowling darkly and removing her hand from his backside. The third…well, he didn’t know what the third did because he didn’t wait around to see.

  It was time to leave. Past time to leave. Damned if he’d let her hone her skills on him while planning to seduce some other fool.

  Halfway out of the room, he realized he couldn’t leave things this way, not with the plans she had in mind. He’d never get to sleep wondering if and when she was following through on those damned idiotic plans.

  He turned back—and Annie, rapidly dogging his heels, slammed into him. He clutched her shoulders to keep her from falling, then gave her a slight shake. “Don’t seduce anyone! Do you hear me?”

  “Everyone on the block likely heard you!”

  He gave her another small shake. “If the man needs to be persuaded, then there’s something wrong with him. Trust me on this, Annie.”

  “No.” She still looked a bit dreamy, her eyes softened and her mouth swollen. The hand that had clutched his bum was now cradled protectively to her chest. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s perfect.”

  Guy roared in frustration. “You,” he said, lifting her to her tiptoes, “obviously don’t know a thing about men. I’m telling you, the guy’s dense.”

  With a placating tone, she said, “Okay, okay. He’s dense.” She struggled to catch her breath, staring up at him with round, hopeful eyes. “So…what you’re saying is that I’m enticement enough? He’ll actually want me without this planned seduction?”

  Guy’s eyes widened; he didn’t know what he was saying, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be an admission like that!

  He gently shook her again—it seemed his safest course. “You told me to think about proposing. All right. I’ll make you a deal. You think about this seduction business, and I’ll think about proposing. We’ll both give it a lot of thought. All right?”

  To his surprise, she immediately agreed. She stuck out the hand she’d used to grope him and said, “Done.”

  Cautiously, Guy enclosed her slender fingers in his own. “Annie…?”

  “You can’t back out now, Guy.” She pumped his hand hard twice, then released it. With her fists on her hips and her chin tilted up so she could stare at him eye to eye, she said, “Before either of us makes a move on our new intentions, we’ll discuss it. We’ll hash it out completely. We’ll make totally certain we know exactly what we’re doing, what we’re letting ourselves in for. We’ll have no doubts before we—”

  Guy put a finger over her lips. “Enough, Annie.” He moved his hand quickly enough when he felt how damp and swollen her mouth still felt from his kiss. He had to leave. “I’ll call you tomorrow. And in the meantime, try to think about why you’d even want to sleep with this jerk.”

  She smiled at him and then sighed. “I already know why.”

  Her voice was so soft, so heated, he felt it lick right down to his abdomen. And it hurt, a kind of hurt he didn’t even want to acknowledge, much less think about. Stepping back, he cleared his throat and tried to come up with a logical reason for leaving so soon.

  Annie didn’t give him a chance. She flapped her hand in the air. “I know, I know. You’re leaving.” Then she grinned. “Do you know, you do that every time you kiss me.”

  He carefully inched his way toward the couch where he’d thrown his coat. “What?”

  “Kiss me and run. Why is that?”

  How could she stand there in that lethal dress and question him so innocently? It was a mystery set for greater minds than his own. Especially when he could barely concentrate on what she was saying. “I, ah, didn’t mean to kiss you.”

  She sighed again, more dramatically this time. “Oh, Guy. It sure felt like you mean
t it.”

  “Annie,” he said, feeling desperate, “you know I think of you as—”

  “I am not your little sister, Guy!”

  Didn’t he know it. He cleared his throat. “Maybe not, not literally anyway. But I’ve watched you grow up, seen you turn independent. And you are Daniel’s little sister. He trusts me. Dan trusts me. Hell, even Max trusts me, and that’s saying a lot because from what I can tell, Max doesn’t trust anyone.”

  She looked confused. “What does trust have to do with this?”

  Everything, he wanted to shout. Her family depended on him to look after her just as they did. They depended on him to view her in the same light.

  Her father had said plenty of times that Annie needed someone special, someone who was just right for her. And Daniel often worried that she’d get taken in by a man playing on her sensitivity, her vulnerability. Max wanted to wrap her in cotton and tuck her away someplace safe. He’d gladly pound anyone who hurt his sister—they all would. Annie was so sweet, she just didn’t have what it took to shield herself from the many users of the world.

  Because he was male, Guy knew exactly how base men could be. He knew what they had uppermost on their minds. From a pizza delivery boy to a corporate wheeler-dealer—they all wanted the same things. Annie just hadn’t realized it yet.

  He owed the Sawyers family, more than Daniel or Annie or Max knew. Hell, even he hadn’t known the extent of Dan Sawyers’s generosity until a few years ago. It had been more than enough that Dan had let him move in, that he’d forced himself out of his self-imposed isolation to attend some of Guy’s high school awards ceremonies, that he’d attended his college graduation. He’d treated Guy like a son, and taken great pride in his educational accomplishments.

  But Dan had gone one further. He’d paid for that damn education while letting everyone think a scholarship had been provided. He’d known there was no way Guy’s own parents could foot the bill, and rather than make it difficult on Guy, he’d silently, and very privately, taken care of everything.

  Somehow, someway, Guy vowed he’d manage to pay the man back, not only the money, but all the support. The Sawyers clan had accepted him, made him one of their own. They believed in him even when he didn’t believe in himself. He owed them all a lot, whether they knew it or not.

  He couldn’t very well repay them by getting involved with Annie. Not when all the men in her family were so overprotective. They wanted the best for her, and as a hanger-on, an outsider, a damn charity case, Guy was far from the best.

  His chest hurt with the reality of that, but he refused to dwell on it too long.

  When he didn’t reply, Annie gave him a challenging look. “I’m not wearing any underwear, Guy Donovan. None at all.”

  All the breath in his lungs wheezed out of him in a loud gasp, as if he’d just taken a sucker punch. At the same time, his body tightened in acute arousal. “What?”

  She dared to laugh, the little witch, shaking her head and sending her hair drifting over her shoulders so that one long curl fell forward to frame a tight nipple. She smacked his shoulder, gave him a brief distracted caress, then said, “I was just making certain you were still with me. You took so long to answer my question.”

  What question? It was difficult to remember after her little bombshell.

  He sternly instructed his eyes to stay on her face, not to go wandering down that luscious little body again, trying to see things that he’d be better off not seeing. His eyes nearly crossed with the effort.

  “Guy, I was only teasing. I have my panties on.”

  Even hearing her say the word “panties,” making a reference to her intimate apparel, had him in a frenzy of lust. He was pathetic, beyond the ragged edge. He considered gagging her before she killed him.

  Annie laughed again at his blank-brained expression. “Relax, Guy. I only said that because Lace told me it was a big turn-on for men. You know, telling them you were naked beneath your dress.” She waited two heartbeats, then asked, “Is it?”

  “Is it what?” He felt like an idiot, but he wanted very much to see if she was telling the truth. For some reason, every male hormone in his body screamed that she really was naked beneath that not-quite-there dress. He had to curl his hand into a fist to keep it from sliding up her thigh, seeking warm feminine parts, discovering the truth on his own. If she wasn’t wearing panties, he’d feel her soft, silky skin, her damp flesh, her…

  His body reacted accordingly to the mental provocation. He closed his eyes and said a quick prayer she wouldn’t notice his blatant erection.

  “Is it a turn-on,” she patiently repeated, “for men to think a lady is naked beneath her clothes?”

  He snatched up his coat and pulled it on with more force than grace. Within seconds, he was on his way out the door, his pace determined, his head down in concentration.

  “Guy?” She hung half out the door, watching his hurried and desperate retreat.

  “Yes,” he shouted back, “it is. And stop listening to Lace.”

  “Why?”

  Now that there were a few feet separating them, he slowed and walked backward, watching her watch him, and he said, “Because young ladies shouldn’t do or say things like that. And,” he added when she started to take umbrage, “it’s very bad for my general health.”

  Annie laughed in undiluted delight. “Too much stress?”

  Too much temptation. “Get back inside your apartment before someone sees you.” After that frowning order, he gave a quick wave of his hand, then raced down the steps and headed outside.

  Thank God it was still raining. He could use the freezing shower to cool off his mind and his body. He had to get a grip. Annie was not for him and she never would be, despite the fact she seemed to want to experiment with him—probably because she did trust him so much, which was all the more reason to resist. She was a friend, a valuable friend that he didn’t want to lose.

  And if he lost Annie, he’d lose Daniel and Dan and Max, too. They were family to him. Very close family. He loved his mom and dad, but he’d been an only child, born late in life, and they were so far away now. He saw them three or four times a year at best, and spoke to them only monthly.

  Dan had been able to do all the things with him that his own father couldn’t do. He’d taught Guy things, took him under his wing and showed him how to run the family business. And Guy and Daniel were every bit as close as brothers could be. They were his family.

  So what the hell was wrong with him?

  His hair was soaked by the time he got into his car, and his hands were shaking, as much from his turbulent thoughts as from the cold. He was still slightly unsure about marrying Melissa, but he was dead certain he had to do something. He couldn’t screw everything up by doing things with Annie he had no business doing.

  And oh, the things he wanted to do.

  Erotic things. Carnal things. Hot, wonderfully debauched things. Her brothers would kill him if they could read his thoughts right now.

  He’d noticed the small, black pearl necklace he gave her years ago, nestling between her breasts still. The necklace had been a gift of friendship then; tonight it had turned him on painfully to see it against her skin, to know she wore it always.

  Even when she slept, or showered. When she was naked.

  He didn’t want to lose her. He didn’t want to lose her family. He felt nearly overwhelmed with conflicting emotions when he pulled out into the early evening traffic. His mind churned over several possible ways to solve his dilemma, but his thoughts kept coming back to her damned seduction, and how he’d like to teach her anything and everything she ever wanted to know.

  He was busy cursing the fates that had thrown two female problems in his lap at once, when a traffic light turned green and he started forward. Unfortunately, the oncoming semi tried to stop for the light, but when he put on his brakes, the icy rain made the task impossible.

  Guy watched, seeing it all in slow motion as the truck skidded and slid
sideways, and then, with a horrifying crunch, rammed into the side of his car.

  He barely had time to think, much less react. And then it didn’t matter. His car crumpled in around him, and his head hit something solid. Everything went black.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  WHEN THE PHONE rang, Annie jumped a good foot. She’d been lying in the bed for hours, perusing one of the many magazine articles Lace had given her and daydreaming about seduction techniques and how to apply them to Guy Donovan. He’d been on the ragged edge tonight, of that she was certain. He wanted her.

  At least in that dress, he did.

  She felt guilty for the wicked thoughts she’d been conjuring, almost as if the caller could read her mind. She actually blushed as she answered the phone on the third ring. She tried to sound sleepy, rather than excited. After all, it was past midnight.

  “Hello?”

  “Are you awake, Annie?”

  Daniel. Something must be wrong for him to call so late. “What is it? What’s happened?” At first, she feared Guy had done something stupid like elope, and her stomach knotted in dread.

  But it was even worse.

  “He’s okay now. Really. But Guy had an accident after he left your place. He’s here at the hospital.”

  The words barely registered before she was out of the bed, the phone caught between her shoulder and ear, and she was scurrying to find jeans to pull on. “What happened? What’s wrong with him?”

  She could hear the panic in her own tone, but didn’t think Daniel noticed. “He damaged his knee a bit, enough to keep him from jogging for a while. And he’s got some pretty ugly contusions, especially around his ribs.”

  Her vision blurred. “Oh God. Contusions.”

  “Bruises, Annie. Just very colorful bruises. He also hurt his head.”

  His beautiful head! She began shaking, feeling as if she might split apart. “How…” She had to gulp. “How bad?”

  “He’s awake, and he’s going to be okay. But he’s a bit antsy and unmanageable.” There was a pause, then, “Honey, can you come to the hospital?”