Don’t let it go to your head.
He closed his eyes, tried to rein in the driving urge to go to her. It had to be said, Pete Boulder knew how to capture all the emotion in a moment. And that image was all emotion. And it pulled an ocean of emotion out of Rocco in response.
No wonder the photographer wanted to take tit-pics of her. One look at her bared like this and any man would be creaming over his computer screen or magazine or where ever the fuck Pete’s pictures were published.
This was the picture Pete’d shown Dani at the party, Rocco was sure of it. This was why she’d left the event early, she’d known the photographer had seen her secret.
Fury whistled through him like a category five tornado. The urge to race to Pete’s studio and smash up his cameras gripped him—what a prize fucker for sending him this. Taunting like the sleazy shit he was. How the hell was Rocco going to contain these? He didn’t care how much he was going to have to pay or what he was going to have to promise, but he was protecting her from these circulating. He’d sort it out with Pete as soon as he’d calmed down. Because no one else was seeing these pictures.
No other man was seeing her like this and getting off on it. She was looking at him. Wanted him. This was for him only. And he wanted her so bad he could scream.
But he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t right for him to take advantage of her loneliness. She’d latched onto him only because she’d seen commonalities between them.
It was only a crush.
But he gazed at that picture a long, long time. He wanted her to look at him like that again. Like for always.
Only Rocco knew too well, nothing was for always.
Danielle lay curled in a ball, stalling for time before opening her eyes. She already knew he’d left her. There was a cold, emptiness beside her.
Inside her.
She shouldn’t be surprised. Or disappointed. But she was both. Her one night was over. Time to grab her bag and go.
She made herself get off the bed and go into the bathroom. She’d freshen-up and ship out. Ten minutes later she was back in the bedroom, hunting for her boots.
“Dani?”
She turned. He stood in the doorway.
She shut her eyes for a second but his image was burned on her brain. Had he no mercy? Why had he taken off his shirt—to deliberately torture her?
Sucking up some courage, she opened her eyes and made herself smile.
But he didn’t smile back. He gazed at her with those intense eyes.
“Have you got a headache?” She’d play this light and easy. And get out of there as soon as possible.
“Two whiskies don’t make me drunk.” He grimaced. “No headache.”
She folded her arms across her chest, pressing them in close as if she could contain the emotion simmering within her. “You left me.”
“I had to.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m too old for you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Even though you insist on acting over-protective and over-anxious, you’re not actually old enough to be my father.”
He grunted, a half-laugh. “Danielle.”
She waited.
He said nothing. Just stared at her like he was imprinting the image of her on his brain. She stared back. Couldn’t find the strength to turn away, not now it was almost over.
“We have to get out of here.” His lips barely moved.
“Why?” She barely breathed.
“Because if we stay, it’s inevitable.” His gaze fell to the floor. “I could never look Logan in the eye again.”
Inevitable?
Excitement, need, hummed in her veins. Warmth chased the chill that had been slowly invading her body since she’d woken. She wanted it to be inevitable. She wanted him.
“Logan has slept with most of the women in this city,” she said. “I don’t think he’d be that bothered.”
“He’d be bothered.” Rocco said. “I promised him I’d look after you.”
Or was it Rocco himself, who’d be bothered? Dani inched a step closer. “I know you don’t want to hurt me,” she said. “But it’s inevitable either way, right? You say no to me now, it hurts a little. We get it on, it hurts a little when we walk away. Hurt is hurt. It’s going happen. But so what, that’s life, right?”
There was no avoiding it for her where Rocco was concerned. Because he would walk away. The guy was all work and only occasional play. She’d never known him to have a long-term girlfriend, she figured he didn’t want a serious relationship yet. Maybe not ever.
But she could live with short-term. It would be better than no time with him at all.
“You’re really that brave?” he asked.
“I guess I have to be,” she said with a small shrug. “But just so you know, I’m not some pure thing never to be tainted by the touch of a man’s hand,” she teased, but she meant it. “I’m human. Flesh and blood. A woman with needs. A woman who feels hurt along with happiness.” A woman who wanted. And it was perfectly okay to want. She wasn’t going to apologize for it.
“And there’s one thing you haven’t considered...” She cocked her head, readying to fire her last shot.
“What’s that?” he asked.
She leaned closer to whisper. “No one ever needs to know.”
Color washed into his face, but his jaw tightened. His eyebrows pulled together. He looked so solemn.
“I’ve never kept a secret from either of your brothers. They’re the only family I have. It’s not just a line I’m spinning. I owe them everything.” He drew a breath. “And I know I shouldn’t do this.”
Dani looked right into his eyes. She heard that honesty. She knew he was speaking from the heart.
I shouldn’t do this.
She drew in a breath as she stepped back, trying to steady herself from the blow. He really didn’t want to.
“Then I’ll go,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.” She licked lips that had dried from disappointment. “I shouldn’t have tried to tempt you.”
“You didn’t have to try. You just have to be.”
She turned away from him quickly. Time to move. She shoved her feet into her boots. No socks. Her toes would freeze. Too bad.
Maybe he did want her the way a guy wants a woman. Finally he saw her as an adult. But he didn’t want her enough.
Because surely it wasn’t that he was afraid of her brothers—not really. He just didn’t want her enough to have to bother with any kind of ribbing. And that was okay. She could stay mature about it. Take that rejection and walk with her head high. He’d never have to see her silly tears.
Because she’d been honest before. It was going to hurt no matter what.
It fucking hurt. It hurt so much she no longer cared about anything but the need to get away.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting my bag.” She bent and grabbed it. “I’ll go do what they want. Go back to school and do law.”
“But that’s not what you want.”
“Right now what I want doesn’t matter.”
No one was interested in what she wanted. And this second, she was done with trying. She hurt too much. She’d go back to varsity and hide with her head in the books a while longer. Break out again later when she’d recovered from this humiliation.
“You’re running away.” He frowned.
“No. I’m doing what’s necessary.” She was a fool trying to think she could work it any other way.
“You’re running away from what you want.”
Oh that so wasn’t fair. She pushed past him.
“Stop.” He got to the door ahead of her again. Blocking it with his all-but-bare body.
“What are you doing?” She was so mad with him. Mad with him for being so bloody beautiful. For being so right.
“I hadn’t finished.”
“I’d heard enough.” She didn’t need him to lecture her on what she should or shouldn’t do. She didn’t want his ‘support’.
“Running
away isn’t going to work.”
“It works for me.”
“No, it doesn’t. You can do better than this,” he said. “Sometime you’re going to have to stop and make a stand. Fight for what you want.”
She threw her bag to the floor, her fingers curling into fists. “I have been fighting for what I want,” she shouted into his face. “I’ve been fighting for you. And I’ve lost.”
Stupid tears pricked her eyes. Damn it, she didn’t need this. Didn’t need him making everything five hundred times worse.
“Dani.”
He actually dared to try and reach out. Was he going to hug her? She pushed at him, trying to knock his arms down. She so didn’t want him patronising her like that. But he grabbed her upper arms in a tight hold, clamping them to her sides.
“Let me go,” she snapped.
“Look at me.” His voice was strained.
“Let me go.”
“No,” he shouted back. “Not ‘til you look at me.”
“Well, now what?” She flung her chin up and stared at him. The guy she’d wanted in so long. So handsome. So strong. So smart and kind and funny and sexy.
So not hers. So damn loyal to some stupid promise to his friend to take brotherly care of her, so ‘honorable’ as to think he couldn’t possibly sleep with a virgin.
She stared into his intense, troubled eyes until her own watered and her vision blurred. “Let me—”
He suddenly switched grip. One hand smacked on her butt, the other cupped the back of her head. With both he jerked her that fraction closer and pressed his mouth to hers.
Hard. Deliciously, devastatingly hard.
But a split second later his lips softened. Teased. Her half-second of stunned immobility was swallowed as her long-simmering hunger flared. She arched closer. Opened. Offered.
His tongue swept into her. His other arm clamped more firmly around her waist, pulling her body flush with his.
Bare skin. Hot silk over steel. She ran her hands over his chest, exploring the slight trail of hair that arrowed down to his jeans. Desire unfurled like a white flag of surrender. She fell against him, too stunned, too needy, to stand for more of this torment.
But he caught her, lifting her closer, turning her so the wall was at her back, supporting her as he pressed in against her. She was caught between a rock and a hard place—and she never wanted to leave it.
“Have me,” he muttered, trailing hot kisses down her throat as he pushed her against the wall with his hot, muscle—packed body. “Anything. Whatever you want.”
“Why... changed your mind?” She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t think let alone try to process it.
Dazed, but not so dumb she couldn’t act, she raked her fingers down his chest and twisted them into the belt loop of his jeans. She wasn’t letting him step away.
“This is one secret I can keep. Want to keep.” He kissed her again.
He was giving himself to her? Letting her have her fantasy? Molten heat gushed like a geyser. She went thermonuclear in a heartbeat. “Why?”
He lifted his head and looked down at her. His face was flushed. “I want you to have what you want. For once.”
“You’re throwing over your principles for me?” she couldn’t help teasing, because inside she was touched. “You’re the sacrifice for the virgin?”
He shook his head. “It’s as much for me as it is for you. I want you.”
Relief. Disbelief. Desire.
“Then kiss me.” Urgency gripped her, compelling her to act. To take. She wanted everything now, in case he changed his mind again.
“You have to be sure,” he said, caressing from her ribs to her waist with firm hands. “Sex is different for women, the whole hormone thing kicks in—”
“I don’t need a biology lesson,” she swept her hands up the breadth of his warm, bare back. “I know what to expect. I understand all this is. I promise I won’t go psycho and start stalking you.”
He smothered a laugh before leaning in to brush his lips against her neck. “Say no anytime. I’ll stop.” He slid his hands across her stomach so they met in the middle. Then he caressed upwards, towards her breasts.
“Don’t want you to stop.” Dani held her breath, so excited. She turned her head to meet his mouth. Kissing him quickly, hungry for more. But he only touched her lips in quick, light kisses. No tongue, just tiny teasing tastes.
He stroked his thumbs over her nipples. She shuddered. He did it again, more firmly. Cupped both her breasts in his big hands and let his thumbs circle her.
“If it isn’t... good...” he said, between those maddeningly divine kisses. “If you realize it’s not what you wanted... you change your mind—”
“Just shut up and kiss me properly.”
He did. So well. She was so glad of the wall at her back, so glad he had no shirt on. So, so glad.
She leaned back, lifted her arms around his neck, revelling in the sensation as he ground full length against her. In the second since they’d ceased speaking, her need had exploded. And he knew—he kissed, caressed, rubbed. Hands, lips everywhere.
This was what she wanted. Furious, fast, frantic. His kisses roughened, his body worked—pushing against her. She wasn’t far off coming. All night she’d slept—restlessly with him so close. So out of bounds.
But he was here now. Rocking his hips into hers. Voraciously sucking at her skin, sweeping his hands over her curves, touching where he wanted.
She wanted more. She touched him, rubbing the heel of her hand down his length, hating the denim constraining his hard cock.
He jerked, then sighed, pushing into her hand for a glorious second before pulling back. “You’ve waited...long time... you need to be sure.”
“I’m sure.” She wanted to come. She wanted to be naked and beneath him. She wanted him to take her apart. Take everything. “I need you naked.” She grappled with his jeans fastening. Failed.
His hands tightened on her for a painful second. “Not here.”
“Bed?” Good. She couldn’t stand any more. Literally.
He shook his head and stepped back, keeping a hand on her waist to support her. To keep them connected. “I need a shower first.”
Her jaw slackened. “I’m watching. Can I watch?”
The thought of seeing him naked?
He laughed and stepped back, bending to offer a flourishing bow. “What the lady wants...”
“Quite right,” she answered with rising ecstasy at his easy acquiescence. “I plan to make the most of this.”
He paused, turning to stare at her in a way that made her thighs tremble. “So do I.”
In the bathroom he flicked the shower faucet on. In seconds steam rose as hot water gushed from the multiple shower heads.
He turned to her with a wicked grin. “Who’s gonna get naked first?”
Total no-brainer.
“You are.”
Immediately he undid the dome of his jeans, keeping his gaze on her. Watching her enjoyment as she watched him.
Finally she believed that he was willing to do whatever she wanted. That he wanted this to be the best for her. Quite why he’d changed his mind, she hadn’t yet figured. But she wasn’t going to waste time now wondering.
She leaned against the door and avidly feasted her eyes as he pushed the denim down with an uncomfortable shudder. He wore those knit-style, stretchy boxers that clung. Currently they were extremely stretched. He hooked his thumbs into the waistband and pulled it out to get it past his straining cock. And down.
Dani’s leg muscles weakened. She clenched her inner muscles. Body humming.
“You like?”
She couldn’t answer. Could only stare.
She heard his chuckle.
Yeah she liked. She was also very slightly alarmed, but the ‘like’ bit was the dominant response this second. Because she could handle him, right?
“You going to join me or just watch?”
“I’m really enjoying watching.”
He stepped back into wet area, under the strong spray. Droplets of water bounced off his muscles with small smacking sounds. He reached out, pumping the shower gel dispenser, and rubbing his hands together to make the bubbles froth.
He swept the soapy mix across his chest, his big hands moving in twin actions across his nipples, then south.
Her fingers fluttered at her sides. She wanted to be the one rubbing.
But she was mesmerized. Her breathing shallowed when he slid one wide-spread hand south over his abs. He fisted his hand around his shaft. His skyward straining erection was huge. Slowly he pumped his fist up the length of his cock and back down again.
Somehow she was there, in the shower, reaching for him. She didn’t recall walking across the room at all.
“You need a hand getting your clothes off?”
She didn’t give a damn about her clothes getting wetter than they were already. She just wanted to touch him. She just wanted him to touch her with those big hands.
He peeled the tank top from her. “I love how you don’t wear a bra.”
“I usually do,” she muttered. “It’s just I was in a hurry.”
Her breasts spilled into his hands. She gasped at the feel of skin on skin. So damn needy it was almost a pain.
“I’m here to help, sweetheart,” he muttered and bent to her.
He teased first, circling her tight nipples with this thumbs again, but then he licked.
Oh.
She arched, thrusting her hips towards him. More. She needed that tongue in other places. Those fingers too. He cupped her breasts and pushed them together so he could lick both nipples with one long swipe of his tongue.
Through half-closed eyes, she gazed at the magnificence of him. Naked, water cascading over his ripped muscles, the sight made her incoherent.
Made her animal instincts dominate.
She ran her hands over him, lathering up the remnants of the soap on his chest. She couldn’t get close enough.
But he stopped her, suddenly cupping her jaw with his hand, holding her so he could see into her eyes.
She paused, drinking in his intense expression.
“I dreamed about kissing you,” he whispered.
“I’ve been dreaming of that for years. You’ve only suffered for the one night.”
Bared for Me Page 8
