He put his index finger over her lips. “No quippity-quips. Not now, Lil. Let’s just dance, okay?”
Her lips burned under his finger, but she nodded and slid into his arms as the DJ switched from bass-thumping fun to guitar-sensitive slow.
Nate slid his hands beneath her coat and reached under the camisole to play with the sensitive skin at the small of her back. And she melted into him. Lily rested her head below his shoulder and twined her fingers with his. She sighed at the rightness of being in his arms, even in the middle of a crowd and fully clothed.
He played his fingers along her sides like a piano and then worked his way around to the small of her back again, burning her from the outside in. Lily swallowed. She might want Nate, but she wasn’t ready for him.
Wasn’t ready for whatever this was building between them.
A small part of her still wanted the Nate she remembered—the boy who stood up to school-yard bullies for her, who smiled at her and only her while he performed before the rest of the student body in talent shows. The boy she shared her lunch with, the boy who took her to the senior prom when Bailey Yeardley stood her up at the last minute. She had so many memories with Nate, and almost all of them also involved her brother. What if whatever this was messed up not only her friendship with Nate, but also Chase’s?
Her waking up a year ago and realizing the boy she’d grown up with had become a heart-stoppingly attractive man didn’t mean a thing. He was still her brother’s best friend. He might be the guy who would give the reporter’s something to talk about besides her show being cancelled, but that wasn’t a good enough reason to act. Not if they couldn’t salvage their friendship when this lust train arrived at the next station.
Her parents’ relationship survived the Hollywood meat grinder for one reason: one was famous and the other had no interest in headlines. Every power-couple relationship she had ever seen imploded sooner or later. No one she knew divorced and remained friends. Maybe they were cordial, but never friends. Nate was one of three people in the world she knew she could count on – her brother, Kat, Nate. How could she jeopardize friendship for a few fun weeks in bed?
How could she survive the next few weeks of filming with this constant burn in her stomach?
Maybe if they had rules, it could all work. They could let lust run its course and then go back to being the friends they’d always been.
Definitely a workable solution.
Now if he’d just stop making his fingers play her that way, she could focus on the regulations.
Chapter Two
“Can you stop thinking for a single minute?” Nate’s voice broke through her thoughts. There was a smile hidden in the words, and Lily grinned in reply.
“What can I say? The creative half I inherited from my father is sometimes overrun by the tax lawyer half I inherited from my mother.”
“And here I’ve always wished I could have inherited something good from my parents. I see now it’s better to be self-made.”
Lily chuckled. “I was thinking we need some rules.”
“For a dance?” He tilted his head to one side.
Lily took a ministep away from him, running her hands slowly over his chest and down his abs only to stop at the waistband of his board shorts. His muscles quivered beneath her fingers and it was a heady feeling knowing her hands could bring the big, bad rock star to a tremble.
“Rules for what is going to happen once the DJ turns off this infernally long song and we leave the dance floor.” His pupils darkened and his nostrils flared as she spoke. “You know as well as I do that this dance wasn’t about another ten-second kiss in the back of your limo. But you can’t run away this time—”
“I didn’t run away.”
“You say tomato.” Lily waved her hand. “We have to work together. So, rules.”
They were barely moving now. The dance was more of a rock from one foot to the other, but the dance floor was so crowded that it didn’t matter. No one was moving much. Nate’s arms stole around her waist—this time over the long, brown coat—to pull her more snugly against his body.
“You really think we need rules?”
She nodded. “We’re friends. The friends-to-lovers leap can be fraught with danger—”
“Fraught?”
“Filled with? Does that meet your rock star sensibilities a little better?”
Nate laughed, throwing his head back and letting go. “I may not have graduated from UCLA with a marketing degree like you, but that doesn’t mean I need a vocabulary lesson. Fraught, an adjective, from the Middle Dutch. It was another word for ‘freight’ at one point—”
It was Lily’s turn to put her finger over his lips. “You’re rambling.”
He offered a shrug. “I didn’t want you to think I was completely uneducated.”
“I know exactly how intelligent you are beneath the board shorts and old T-shirts, thanks. And it doesn’t change the fact that we need some ground rules so that our friendship is still standing at the end of this, and so that we don’t spontaneously combust in the middle of a live show in a few weeks.”
“I don’t think we’ve actually talked about what this might be.”
“Nathan, we’re both twenty-seven years old. I’m not the last virgin from the class of 2003. I know how this works. It’s called sexual tension, and it’s been building since before the kiss that sent…whatever else this is besides the chemistry into orbit.”
He watched her for a long moment and she couldn’t read his expression in the alternating green and red lights from the DJ booth. For the first time since she realized that it was Nate waiting to take her in his arms, Lily was scared. What if he walked away again?
She didn’t think their friendship could take months of working together without doing anything about their attraction. By the end of the season, there might not be a friendly feeling left between them. Sleeping together might not be the best solution, but it had to be a better option than never talking to Nate again. Especially when he was bound to show at family events, being part of her brother’s company.
“I think the typical friends-with-benefits rules would work. You’re not my type, I’m not yours, so we have that base covered.”
Lily didn’t like the sound of that. Because while she mentally knew Nate wasn’t the kind of guy to build a life with, she also knew he was every girl’s type from the reckless air he cultivated to the sultry songs he sang. Plus, she loved him. In a friend way. But he didn’t need to know that.
“Definitely. I like my guys clean shaven and financially solvent.”
“I’m not exactly a pauper, Lil.”
“You know what I mean. Normal job. Normal life.”
“Says the actress.”
“We’re getting off track. Rule number one: We aren’t one another’s type. Easy enough to remember. Rule number two: we don’t complicate things with regular dates or phone calls or texts. This is about saving our friendship by working out the sex component.”
“Your clinical mind is becoming sexier by the second.”
She slapped his shoulder. “Stop it. You’re just trying to get into my pants.”
He nuzzled his chin against her neck, his stubble grating, making her want more than a chaste touch on the dance floor.
“Rule one: No types. Rule two: No complications.” He paused. “Two is a nice round number.”
Lily swallowed the lump in her throat because this last rule might shine a light on just how serious this was for her. Nate was already a big part of her life. He was her brother’s best friend, her friend. Her memories with him were already deep and keeping this light was going to be a challenge no matter how many rules they created.
“Three: Sleepovers, optional.” She refused to look him in the eye, pretending fascination with the couple practically having sex on the floor behind them. God bless Hollywood. “We’ve both got busy schedules. I don’t need explanations when you have to go home and you don’t need explanations when I fe
el like having some alone time.”
The bridge of the song began to fade, but they continued to sway along with the music.
Finally, Nate nodded. “I can live with those rules.”
“Good.” Lily stepped back and held out her hand. Shaking his head, Nate took her hand and squeezed.
“So we’re engaging in a little lust-driven monkey sex to save our friendship. This sounds like a really bad episode of primetime television.”
“You know what they say, sometimes life is stranger than fiction.”
The DJ changed over, but rather than joining the next bump-and-grind showcase, Nate led Lily from the dance floor.
* * *
He led her down the long hall toward the small rental cottages on the back of the hotel property. One night, blow off a little steam and then focus on getting the friendship train back on the tracks…or they were screwed. He couldn’t work with her for the next six months feeling this itchy.
Sweaty.
Like a stray look from her might bring him across the panel table and into a white-hot lovemaking session in the middle of a nationally televised, family show.
The doorman held open the heavy glass door and nodded as they exited to the pool side of the property.
“You live in the hotel?”
He shook his head. “Luxury rental, back side of the property. I figured you knew that. You know, that Chase told you.”
“He didn’t. I always imagined you had some kind of love shack down on Melrose or maybe back in the Hollywood Hills.”
Nate chuckled. He’d had one of those places, for about ten minutes after their first album went gold. He’d hated the enclosed feeling of living behind walls, wondering when the neighbors would call the cops because of the crazy rock-and-rollers next door.
Besides, he’d been no saint back then. The trail of women he’d led up those marble steps was long. And a few had come back after he’d firmly told them no. That was when he gave up actually owning a place in L.A. and had gone the hotel route instead. Hotels had doormen. Gatekeepers who made it much easier to keep a sensible distance between himself and the rest of the world.
They followed the curvy path past the pool and down the lantern-lit, bricked walkway leading to a scattered grouping of rentals. Two or three rooms, balcony. Private access to the hotel amenities. She seemed to relax as the cottages came into view.
To stop his brain from working overtime, and talking him out of whatever was happening between them, Nate kissed Lily. He pushed her up against the outside wall of his cottage, hiding in the shadows cast by the lanterns, and she melted against him.
Lily tasted sweet, like the drink she’d had at the party. He pushed his hands into her updo, loosening the mass to tangle at her neck. Pressing her against the wall, Nate pushed his left leg between hers, deepening the kiss. She gasped against his mouth, her fingers a tight ball against his chest.
“We should go inside.”
“Mmm,” was her only response.
He unlocked the front door and led Lily inside. Their footsteps echoed on the hardwood floors. The cottage was renovated when he moved in the year before, right down to the honey-colored hardwood floors, but that didn’t change what this place was: a place for the rich and famous to hide away from prying eyes.
Nate wasn’t sure he liked the idea of this place becoming his own love den. He slammed the door on those thoughts. This was not the time to bring up old, useless memories. This was the time to blow off some steam.
He picked up the picture of him with Chase after the last show of their last tour. ?See? Home. Pictures and everything.”
She turned to him, a careful smile plastered on her face. Blood thrummed through his veins and his skin felt itchy.
“I want to do this, Nate, I just—”
“I know. This has kind of creeped up on us, hasn’t it? I want you to know, I don’t bring women here.” At least not in a long time. He stepped closer to her, pulled her body against his and tipped his head forward until their lips met. Hers were soft, gentle, and for a millisecond he thought he should push her out the door and forget this crazy plan. But then the kiss ignited and his only desire was to keep kissing her for as long as she would allow.
He raised his hands to cup her face, walking her backward and into the heavy mahogany door. She mewled softly and a quick breath sighed from her mouth. Then her hands were clawing at his arms, his chest. This wasn’t going to last long if he didn’t get a grip on himself.
Nate raised his head, breathing heavily. Lily shrugged out of the long coat, baring her shoulders. The sequins on the camisole danced in the dim light. His hands flexed, wanting to touch, to feel the pulse he could see beating at her throat. Explore. She reached up, pulled on his tee shirt until he took one step and then another. Until he was inches from her. Then, raising up on her toes, she kissed him.
Her hands, unsure just two seconds before, raked through his hair to tangle in the slightly too-long strands. He would cut his hair tomorrow, the better to forget this crazy night. His left hand cupped her neck, pulled back so he had better access to that mouth, and his right brushed the underside of her breast through the thin material.
“I don’t want you against this door.”
“You’re the one who put me here,” she panted.
Lascivious thoughts of what he could do to her pinned against his front door beckoned, but Nate slapped them down. It was bad enough she was in his home. He wouldn’t want her memory affixed to his brain every time he came home or left for work. Not when he would then see her at the studio. The bedroom was a much better place to have forgettable sex.
Only he couldn’t imagine stepping away from her body long enough to walk the fifty or so feet between the front and bedroom doors. Before he could think twice, Nate grabbed her buttocks and lifted her to his waist. “Wrap your legs around me,” he said. She followed his direction, holding on to his shoulders with those amazing hands as she positioned herself around his hips. Lily moaned as her hot center came in contact with the hard ridge of his erection, barely cloaked in shorts and a pair of boxer briefs.
The combination of her moan and their intimate position caused Nate to lose his balance. He pressed her back into the door, kissing her hard this time, needing more than the gentle brush of her lips against his own. His tongue battled with hers, her nails sank into his shoulders as his squeezed the supple skin of her bottom.
Damn, this was so not going to be forgettable sex.
Somehow Nate managed to walk into the master suite. He set her on her feet long enough to find the side zip of her pants and drag it down. Brown leather clung to her tanned skin, compelling him forward. He knelt before her, first unzipped one boot and then the other, and pulling them from her pretty feet. Nate rose, pushed the leather from her hips and down her legs. She stepped out of the pants, leaving her clad in angelic, white lace undies and the camisole. Barefoot in his bedroom.
Damn, he was in trouble. He pulled the cami over her head and whistled low. “Wow.”
Her cheeks turned pink again. How could he be so attracted to a girl who blushed so easily?
His hands seemed to have a mind of their own. His fingers caressed her ribs. The tightening of her abs sent another rush of blood to his groin. Her stomach was soft, the indentation in her lower back, just above her buttocks begged for a kiss or twelve.
“You’ve seen me a million times, I’m not that beautiful.” Her voice teased, as if she were trying to keep this light, but it wasn’t light. No chance of that. Maybe they could get back to light, teasing fun. But not yet.
“Lil, you passed beautiful and left it in the dust on your way to…whatever is better than beautiful.”
She swallowed. “Better than beautiful?”
“So much better.” Shut up, Nate, just shut up.
So he did. Nate shucked his shirt and board shorts, socks and shoes. Lily reached for the back clasp of her bra, but he stopped her. “I’ll get to that in a minute.”
Nate backed Lily up to the bed with another scorching kiss and they tumbled to the sheets together.
Chapter Three
Ohgodohgodohgod. She was doing this. Kissing Nate. Making love with Nate.
Her childhood ally.
Her coworker.
Her friend.
Lily was powerless to stop kissing, stop touching him. Stop lusting over the very long length of erection she spied before he pushed her into the overly large pillows and Egyptian cotton sheets. His skin was slick with sweat, the heat coming off his body burning her until she wanted to scream. But they were in a hotel, despite his description of a luxury rental. Hotels meant thin walls, even if the next set of walls was a hundred yards away. Thin walls.…Oh, stop thinking already, Lily, and enjoy the first and only moment you’ll have with Nate. Tomorrow you turn into Cinderella’s pumpkin, along for the ride to the ball and trampled by horsemen at midnight.
Doing a good job was imperative, starting tomorrow. This job would cement her standing in Hollywood, would prove she was more than Chase MacIntyre’s younger sister or Jonas MacIntyre’s daughter. Starting tomorrow this crazy burn in her belly would be lessened. She could start to control her attraction to Nate. Tomorrow the distraction would be easily boxed with the rest of her favorite memories. A memory to take out and relive, sure, but a memory that was not intense, constant wondering about what his hands would feel like against her skin.
No, tonight she would take what she’d always wanted: a little taste of the freedom Nate had always enjoyed.
Nate lightly bit at the pulse in her neck and then soothed the burn with his tongue. And then his mouth was against hers again.
She could still taste the beer on his lips, along with a hint of fruit and the light sting of hard liquor. Lily raked one finger up his arm, tracing the vein in his left biceps until she met the hardness of his shoulder. No wonder he’d been featured in that magazine piece a few weeks back. Obviously he did a little more than strut around a coliseum stage.
He nipped at her lower lip as his hands reached around her back to release the clasp of her bra. The lacy cups created a delicious friction between their bodies as he dragged it down, and then her breasts were pressed against his naked chest and she arched her back to get even closer.
Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire Page 45
