by Teri Fowler
A dark shadow fell across the table, and she looked up to find Seth standing over her with a puzzled frown marring his handsome face. "What just happened?"
"Just let it go, Mr. Coulter."
Seth gave her a half grin, casting a fresh dimple into one of his cheeks. "Again with the Mister?"
"Look, you didn't get into the show, okay? I'm sorry if my staff neglected to tell you, but it's true. So you can just give up on the seduction routine because it's not going to get you anywhere."
Maya looked down at her glass, afraid he would see the mist of tears in her eyes. She had no idea why she was crying, but the thought Seth had simply being trying to use her for his own gain upset her more than was feasibly possible considering how long she'd known him. Maybe she was tired? This weekend, she planned on doing nothing at all and catching up on some sorely needed sleep.
The huge shape blocking out the light didn't move, and Maya was forced to look up at him again. When she did, he placed his beer on the table and spread his large hands across the surface as he leaned forward to stare into her eyes. "My God, lady. What kind of world do you live in?"
Maya fought the urge to shrink under his angry glare. "The kind of world where people are always looking out for number one."
"Yeah? Well that's not my world. In mine, we check our facts before we throw accusations around."
His eyes turned a dark blue, and at such close range, Maya could see a nerve ticking in his jaw. Seth was fighting to hold on to his anger, and she realized she'd offended him once more.
"Is it so hard to believe that I might simply want to spend some time with a beautiful woman?" His voice had dropped to a husky whisper, and Maya found her brain reacting to his words as her body reacted to this tone.
Seth's gaze held her pinned to her seat as it roamed over her face. Maya felt the heat crawling up her cheeks, and she sucked her lip between her teeth to suppress a gasp. His eyes followed the movement, and she saw them narrow a little as he stared at her mouth for a second, until he twisted his own into a mocking grin and he straightened up. He turned to walk away but stopped when Maya lunged forward without thinking and wrapped her hand around his wrist. Seth glanced down at his arm then up at her, a look of surprise on his handsome face.
"I'm sorry, Seth. I've lost count of the number of times some guy has thought he could seduce or bully me into giving him what he wants, and I forget not everyone has an ulterior motive. Please accept my apology."
Maya tried to take back her hand, but as it slid over his forearm, he turned his palm upwards and caught her fingers. She held her breath and didn't try to resist his pull as he tugged gently on her arm and helped her to her feet. Just as she wondered why he would want them to go back to the bar—and Larry's waiting ears—Seth grabbed her by the waist and dragged her against his body.
"Seth!"
"Maya?" he replied, a slight smile making his dimples threaten to pop as he stared down at her but didn't move. She put her hands on his chest, meaning to push him away … until her palms found warm, rock hard muscle and she just couldn't make herself let go. Seth leaned closer, and Maya had to tilt her head to stare into his eyes, her lips parting involuntarily as his chest brushed hers and his breath wafted over her hair.
Seth is going to kiss me!
"This isn't a good idea..." Maya hoped her voice sounded more convincing to him than it did to her. She got her answer when his grip tightened on her waist, and his mouth came closer still.
"Probably not, but I'm heading home first thing tomorrow, and of all the things I regret about coming to this damn crazy town, I don't want to have to add not kissing you when I had the chance."
"And what if I don't want to kiss you, Mr. Coulter?" she whispered.
He chuckled under his breath and ducked his head, stopping when his lips were mere inches from hers, so close she could almost feel them. Maya swayed, her body aching to close the gap between them. Seth's fingers pressed into the small of her back and she groaned aloud at the question in his touch. She closed her eyes and drew in a shaky breath, unsure until the very last moment if she would tell him to back off ... or press her lips against his waiting mouth.
Chapter Three
"It's not much, but at least it's clean."
Seth stood back and let Maya enter the hotel room ahead of him. He held his breath as she hesitated again. Up until the second she took a tentative step forward and crossed the threshold, he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t gonna bolt.
She stopped in the center of the room, threw her bag on the bed and turned to face him. "I can only apologize, Seth. I know I told production to keep the costs tight, but the studio can afford to provide better accommodations than this."
Seth stepped through the door and closed it behind him, happy to let her, if she needed to, distract herself from what they both knew was about to happen. "If you saw some of the places I've had to sleep, you wouldn’t be so worried. This is more than good enough for me."
Some of the tension eased out of her shoulders, and she sent him a small smile, holding his gaze only for a second before her eyes began to drift over him again. His groin tightened at the almost certain knowledge that she was as hot for him as he was for her. He doubted very much that Maya did this kind of thing frequently. In fact, he'd bet his ranch on the fact that she'd never before felt the kind of insane chemistry that had been sizzling between them since they'd laid eyes on each other earlier. Seth both thanked and cursed the fact that he was only in town for one more night. Part of him sensed it was the only reason she hadn't rejected is advances outright. No matter what happened, she knew there could be no strings, no complications. Just the way Seth sensed she liked it. But as he watched her waiting for him to close the distance between them, he was plagued by an unnerving sensation that one night of this woman would never be enough.
He'd lost his virginity a very long time ago, but Seth suddenly felt nervous and inexperienced. Being around Maya was doing strange things to his head, and if she didn't kiss him soon, he might have to beg her to put him out of his misery.
He took a step forward, then another, until there were only inches separating them. She would have to meet him halfway this time. He couldn’t take another rejection like the one she'd served him in the bar. Just when he thought she'd melt into him and press those sinful lips of hers against his, she’d pulled away. Maya had taken one more sip of her drink and then hid her gaze and whispered to him that maybe they should continue their conversation somewhere a little less public.
Coming to his hotel room had been her suggestion, but Seth hadn't taken it as a compliment once he realized she obviously didn’t want him invading her territory. The idea that she might still think of him as than no more than a slab of beefcake pissed him off for a moment, but then he grinned and let it go. She could think of him however the hell she wanted to as long as she let him get his hands on her hot little body. He'd be able to live with himself in the morning.
But Maya didn't move. She sucked her lip between her teeth and stared at him with those bottomless chocolate eyes of hers. Any thoughts of protecting his ego fled as Seth watched her squirm under his gaze. He made her nervous, and he was sure it had nothing to do with the fact his size dwarfed her. Seth knew he'd do anything to re-ignite the sultry heat he'd seen in her eyes earlier, and he reached up to pull off his hat so he could drag her to him and kiss her until she couldn’t think straight enough to be nervous, but then she moved.
"Leave it on," she whispered, grabbing his wrist with her hand to stop him removing his Stetson, her voice the kind of husky groan he'd only ever heard before in his dirtiest fantasies.
"Whatever you say, Ma'am." Seth grinned when she rolled her gaze heavenward and gave a little laugh. He wasn’t too proud to play on the fact he was a cowboy, especially when it made Maya look at him the way she was right that very second.
Now he had her within reach, he had no intention of giving her nerves time to get a hold of her again, and he clasped he
r hands in his and yanked her hard against him. Maya gasped as her head fell back, and Seth stared down at her open, moist mouth for only a second, until the need to claim her lips had him bringing his head down to hers.
If he'd been in any doubt about the chemistry between them, it disappeared the second his mouth found hers. Maya gave a soft sigh as her lips parted a little more, and Seth swallowed it greedily, groaning deep in the back of his throat as she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him closer. The tip of her tongue grazed over his, and a hard pulse of arousal surged through his cock at the promise in her hot caress.
His hands drifted up her back, finding the curtain of dark hair that had been simply pretty earlier when it was straight, but was now the sexiest mass of glossy black waves. The scent of orchids assaulted him again, and he knew that any time he smelled them in the years to come, he would think of this night with her.
Jesus! Man up, Coulter!
Seth damped down a surge of male pride. The gorgeous woman in his arms was, at that very moment, slipping her soft hands inside the waistband of his jeans, and he doubted very much that she was getting swept away by such romantic thoughts. Maya's nails raked over the skin of his ass as her teeth nibbled on his bottom lip, dragging his focus back to what she was doing. Her hands slipped out of his clothes, and she began to fumble with the buckle of his belt.
"Get these off," she groaned against his mouth, tugging at the belt she was having trouble with.
The confidence in her touch both turned him on and taunted him. So, Maya thought she was gonna be the boss in the bedroom the same way she was at the studio? Well, it was time he disabused her of that idea. Seth chuckled against her mouth and pulled away.
"So the thought of me standing here in nothing but my hat and a smile makes you hot, is that it?"
Maya looked stunned at his question, but then she smiled and cocked a suggestive eyebrow. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"There's not a damned thing wrong with that idea. And I'm happy to oblige, but—", Seth grinned at Maya's puzzled look, and he hooked his finger into the waistband of her slacks to flip open the button. "You gotta get naked first."
A flash of irritation, a glimmer of nerves, and then a spark of heat passed through her gaze in the following seconds, and Seth knew which one she'd settled for when she took another step back and tore down her zipper. His cock throbbed in response to the sight of her taut abdomen and a scrap of black lace peeking through her fly. Maya slid her hands over her outer thighs, pushing the linen pants down her endless, toned legs and kicking them off. Seth sent up a prayer of silent thanks when she picked up her discarded slacks and turned to place them on the bed. The urge to get his hands on her peach shaped ass almost drove him crazy as she kept her back to him and wriggled out of her T-shirt. Finally she turned, and Seth was pretty sure he groaned aloud.
"Your turn," she said, hands on hips, dragging his attention away from her body.
Seth laughed. Or at least he tried to. He was having trouble forcing the sound through his constricted throat. "Uh-uh … you ain't naked yet."
"This is as far as I'm going on my own, Cowboy." She walked towards him, but, just when he expected her to wrap her arms around his neck, she placed her palms against his chest and shoved him up against the wall. His hat fell off, but neither of them seemed to care about it anymore. Seth held his hands at his sides, his palms itching with the urge to touch her but his brain telling him to hold still until she got his pants open. This time, she tugged on the belt so hard, his body jerked away from the wall. Maya groaned as the belt gave way, and her gaze flew up to meet his as she thrust her hands into his jeans and grabbed his cock without hesitation. Her nails scratched his torso as she dragged his T-shirt up to his neck, and her hot mouth latched on to his nipple, sending another searing pulse of arousal through him.
She'd turned the tables on him again. Once more, Maya was setting the pace, and Seth was at her mercy. He should protest, and, after a little bit more of what she was doing right now, he would. But damned if he could find the motivation to move while she was pulling on his dick and pressing her hot little body into his.
Her thumb circled the head of his penis, swirling around the engorged tip and near sending him into heart stopping spasms. His head smacked into the wall as he jerked under her touch, and he had to grab at her wrist to stop her torture before he came in her hand like some inexperienced kid. Maya chuckled against his torso, and another surge of male pride broke the last of Seth's patience.
"My turn," he said, his words the only warning Maya got before he picked her up, wrapped her legs around his waist and turned to press her into the wall. Holding her arms above her head with one hand, he used the other to tug her bra up over her breasts to finally, finally, expose her body to him. Her shiny dark nipples quivered in anticipation of his touch, and he didn't wait to suck one into his mouth and gently graze it with his teeth. Maya strained against the hand holding hers against the wall, but he wouldn't let her go. He couldn't, not if he wanted to ensure she came before he did.
Seth pulled away to look down at the place where Maya's thighs were clamped around his waist. She writhed under his gaze, a tremble racing over her flesh as she waited for him to touch her. Seth ran a fingertip across the top of her panties and hesitated only long enough to wonder if she'd be pissed if he tore them off, before he did just that. Hooking a finger through the thin scrap of elastic at her hip, he twisted the fabric once, twice … then gave it a yank. The lace tore like paper and was no match for his desire to see what it was hiding from his eyes. He threw the torn panties to the ground, his attention already fixed on the moist, gleaming flesh of Maya's pussy. She gasped and writhed again, and he looked up to find her staring down at her own body through slit eyelids, her teeth biting into her bottom lip and her breath coming in frustrated bursts.
The urge to watch his finger slide into her moist heat warred with the need to see her reaction to it. Seth's gaze lingered on her face, and he studied her intently as he put the tip of his finger at the entrance of her pussy and grazed his thumb over her clit. Maya jerked forward, taking more of his finger than he'd intended to give her and grinding down on his palm.
"Fuck, Seth!" She shuddered around his hand, and this time, it was her head that banged into the wall as she slumped against it when he withdrew his finger then surged into her again.
Her moist heat closed around him, her pussy clenching at his finger as her juices oozed into his palm. The urge to taste her became almost overwhelming, but he didn't want to stop what he was doing until he'd made her come, maybe more than once. He told her so.
A sudden burst of electronic music coming from the bed behind him made Seth jump. He half-turned towards it before realizing that it was just her phone and it could wait. But Maya had other ideas.
"Got … got to answer it," she said, her voice a hoarse whisper, her body still trembling around his hand. "It's my boss."
Seth stopped moving. "How in the hell do you know that?"
"I gave him his own ringtone so I'd know whether the call was important or not."
"You sure you want me to stop?" Seth gave her another gentle thrust. Maya's shuddering reaction to his touch told him she didn't want him to stop at all, but she nodded anyway.
He watched her expression again as he slipped his finger out of her, and they both groaned. Seth put Maya on the ground and turned away, too hot to be able to tolerate watching her sexy little ass sway across the room as she moved away from him.
"Hello?"
Seth turned at the sound of her voice, slumping against the wall as the sight of her bending over the bed while she answered her cell phone hit him like a punch in the gut. She straightened up and looked in his direction but didn't appear to be looking at him, obviously more intent on the voice on the end of the phone than she was on him. Seth decided to tip the tables in his favor. He got a surge of male pride when her gaze focused on him like a cat watching her prey as he pulled his T-shirt
over his head, then shrugged off his jeans, boots and underpants. Her hand went to her mouth in a motion she didn't seem totally conscious of, and she sucked the tip of her finger between her lips as her gaze roamed over him greedily. Seth bent down, grabbed his hat off the floor and plopped it on his head, the brim so low it almost covered his eyes, then folded his arms and leaned back against the wall with a grin.
The searing heat in her eyes told him without a doubt that he knew where she lived sexually. She didn't want to be in charge; she just hadn't met many men who would stand up to her. Well, she'd met her match in him, and the second she put down that phone, he was gonna show her why.
Chapter Four
Maya snapped the phone shut and turned around to face Seth, but groaned and turned away again when she got an eyeful of naked cowboy. The call from her boss had thrown her so off balance, she'd actually forgotten for a moment that there was a gorgeous man with a hard-on waiting for her.
"I have to go."
"Now? Why?"
She grabbed her slacks off the bed and shoved them on, staring resolutely at the floor rather than at Seth. Maya held her breath, too aware of him watching her and the sexual tension still crackling in the air between them.
"I've just been reminded what a very bad idea this was. Sorry."
Maya's heart lurched when she saw him move out of the corner of her eye, but he did no more than reach down and pick up his jeans from the floor. If he touched her again, she wasn't entirely sure she'd have the will to push him away.
"You didn't seem to think it was such a bad idea two minutes ago. In fact, you didn't seem capable of thinking about much else but what I was doing to you."
Maya felt her face grow hot. She wanted to deny it, but that would be stupid. Her groin was still throbbing from his touch, and the scent of her arousal still hung heavy in the air.
"You've got one hell of an ego, Mr. Coulter, but I guess everything's bigger in Texas."
