by Conn, Claudy
Damn, she swayed and with that sexier-than-hell reaction his libido went from idling to revved up and ready. He better get his hands off her and some distance between them or he might be tempted to touch her in places he had no business touching…yet.
“Do you want me to do the backs of your legs?” He straightened and stepped away. Ready to snap the lid on the bottle, as he was positive she’d decline because—
“Yes, please.”
He did a double take. Yes? Yes. She let down her hair and it swung back and forth, almost hypnotizing him. Between the coconut scent from the cream and the crisp citrus scent riding the tiny breeze created by the movement of those silky tresses, he was left paralyzed and unsure about what to do next. If he put his hands on those long, naked and toned legs of hers he’d be a goner.
“Calves.” He stopped and cleared his throat. His voice sounded gritty like he’d been chewing on sand. “Do you want me to do your calves too?”
She stretched her shoulders back and when she spoke her tone was strong, clear and decisive. “Yes.”
There were two ways he could do this. The hard way, where he’d get down on his haunches and watch the sunblock sink into every pore. Drench every crease, the one at her knees and the indents at her ankles. Or, the easy way where he could simply load up heavy on the shit and do one swipe. A palm brush from the top of her thigh to the bottom of her ankle in quick motion, like yanking off the proverbial Band-Aid. He was leaning toward the latter until he checked out the bottom half of her and realized he had no choice in the matter.
“Okay.” He dropped down on a knee and began the masochism.
He started by rubbing the stuff into one silken thigh, easing it into the spot behind her knee, massaging it over the bow of her calf, pressing and spreading it right down to her ankle. When he reached the tiny line at the back of her heel he nearly fell over with relief to be done with half of her. Now he had to do the other half. Taking slow inventory up that limb, the blood thundered through him until his eyes latched onto her thigh. He could make it if he stuck to using one hand. Only one hand.
Fuck.
He squirted the cream, dropped the bottle and the next thing he knew he had fallen forward onto his other knee and put both his hands on her. Sliding and slipping his palms this way and that. Spreading and pressing. Praying he didn’t do what he wanted to do. What he was dying to do and…
He did another double take. Had she shifted like that on purpose? Now her stance was open and there was a gap large enough for him to slide his hand between her legs and go upward. Jesus God he wanted to, but it couldn’t be that easy, could it?
He went a little closer to her inner thigh. A little more. Up and up some more. She was letting him do it. He slid his hand in small circles, banding them out. Making the arcs larger. Until his full palm was right between her legs and traveling north. Getting so close to the apex of her thighs he could feel her heat. He could—
Buzz
He snatched his hand away and rolled up onto his haunches. For a second he didn’t know what had startled him and then it came to him. His phone. It rang once and then shut off, but before he could get his hands back on her she stepped away.
“Thanks,” she whispered. The soft, husky tone of her voice assured him she’d been feeling it too. “I think I’m good.”
Good? She was perfect. And whoever made that call was a dead person. He nearly growled, and stood.
“Anyone important?”
He stared at the number. It looked kind of familiar. Probably a past client. “I don’t know.” He pressed call return and kept an eye on her. She was at the deep end of the pool with her side facing the water. She dipped her foot in and tested the temperature with a graceful sweep of her toes.
“Ooh, it’s tepid,” she playfully gasped.
Had he not been all tied up in sexual knots he would have grinned. Given the ultra-warm stretch they’d had this month there’d only be two possible temperatures. Warm or warmer.
The ringing stopped and then there was garble before he heard the raspy voice.
“Whatcha calling me for? The ceremony’s about to start and everyone is staring at me.”
“Ms. Malloy?”
“Who else you did you think you were calling?”
“You called me first,” Riker explained. “Only you hung up after one ring.”
“I didn’t call you, son. It musta been my ass that dialed. I sat on the phone by mistake when they left me to freeze in this pew.”
“Oh. I’ll let you go then.”
“What?” she shouted into the phone. “I can’t hear you. They’re playing the wedding march too loud.”
Riker figured it was best to hang up on her so he did.
“Is everything all right with Martha?”
“Yeah,” he tossed his phone onto the table. “So, are you going in?”
“Yes. What about you?”
He nodded but before he spoke she dove. Her dive was perfectly executed. And when she surfaced there was no hesitation as she moved cleanly through the water, in a smooth crawl. With two full laps completed, he whistled. She was an athlete all right.
She did two more lengths and then three by the time he got to the edge of the pool. He sat down where he figured the halfway mark was and waited. Four laps and then five. Was she ever going to stop?
Shaking his head, he slipped into the water and dunked underneath the surface to get completely wet. Coming up, he held onto the edge of the pool and floated while he waited for her to finish.
By his count she’d done ten before she stopped in the shallow end and stood, stretching her arms wide. He stopped floating, opting to stand while he watched her do what he now realized was a ritual. No. A routine. She’d been a swimmer at some point, that was for sure.
She stretched one last time and then dipped right back until her head reached the water. Breaking the surface she plunged and when her hair was completely slicked back she righted herself.
“Sid?”
He’d surprised her because she jerked before she collapsed in the water and turned around. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. You swim beautifully.”
“Thanks.” She did the breast stroke to him and then treaded water, unable to touch bottom. Normally he would have walked the few feet into the shallow end, but right now he wanted her stranded until he could get a hold of her.
“I go into autopilot when I dive into a pool.”
“Why is that?” He reached out and fished her in, glad when she didn’t protest. Her shapely legs brushed against his in a couple of slippery slides. “What’s your story, Sid?”
He’d been expecting her to balk at sharing anything. Wholly prepared to spend an hour soaking until their skin was wrinkled, to pull a few truths out of her, so when she wrapped her legs around his middle and caged him in against the edge of the pool, asking, “What do you wanna know?” he was a little surprised.
Recovering quickly, he cupped his hands under her bottom and grinned. He loved how her lashes were stuck together in a series of sooty black triangles. “I want to know everything.”
She tilted her head and looked skyward for a moment and then pinned him with a stare that took his breath away. Worse, she shifted herself against him in such a way as to create better contact. “How about I give you the short version?”
He nodded, hoping he didn’t swallow his tongue. That better contact was a killer.
“I was one of those girls in school that other girls hated. I was moderately smart. I excelled at sports and I always had the latest fashions. If there was a new kind of anything that came on the market, I had it.”
He blinked not sure what to make of all that.
“Only child. Rich parents.” She looked away. “What can I say? I was lucky.”
It was just a small thing really, her little shrug, but it was enough for him to know that her statement about being lucky was bullshit. Gripping her tighter he pulled her in closer until she
turned back to look at him. “Tell me,” he whispered. “What don’t you have? That’s what I want to know.”
“What do you mean?”
He tilted his head and searched her face. Unwilling to let her escape. “I mean, if you were a spoiled rich kid you’d have everything you want and yet, I don’t think you do. What is it that you don’t have, but you know that you want? Right now. Today.”
She stared at his shoulder. “I...ah…”
“You can tell me.” He kept his head angled and waited for her to look at him. When she did his pulse picked up speed. He’d thought she’d say something, like she’d been denied owning a dog or her parents wouldn’t let her ride on a motorcycle, but judging by the solemn gleam in her eyes, this was serious. Maybe he shouldn’t press her. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“I-I don’t—” she took a deep breath in and let it out in a rush, “—have a guy like you.”
Now his heart hammered in time with his pulse. She couldn’t be for real. When he saw how mortified she was his heart went out to her. But, hot damn, knowing he was her choice when she could have said a Maserati or a trip to the moon even, made him want to beat his chest in animalistic victory. “You don’t?” He intimately squeezed her ass, so she knew he was definitely interested in helping her out with that problem. “How is that even possible?”
“You don’t meet the criteria.”
Huh. Here he’d thrown that question out to get some more ego stroking and look at what happened?
She let go of the pool edge with one hand and was now twirling her fingers in the hair at his nape. Tilting her head to one side as she watched the curl twist over and over. Damn, for a woman who’d just said he was unsuitable she certainly wasn’t acting like it.
“I don’t?”
Her hand stilled and she leaned back. “No, you have a strong chin and a weak one is required.” Her eyes roved over his shoulders, devouring them. “And you’ve got muscles. Big, big muscles.”
He almost laughed. She was so transparent. It was as if a huge thought bubble popped up over her head that said, “And I want a piece of them.”
She blinked and he doubted she even knew she was now stroking his pec. “And, if you don’t have a fancy last name, belong to the local country club or possess a ridiculously large bank account, then you’re off the list.”
His heart sank. “Those are things that are important to you?”
“To me?” She stopped mid-stroke and shook her head. “God, no.” Letting go of the edge with her other hand, she placed both her palms on his shoulders. “To my parents. I almost made them happy with Ken, but after he came back from his trip of self-discovery,” she leaned in and whispered loudly, “backpacking in Belize by himself and he was weaker than he went?” She leaned back. “I had to put my foot down. I don’t mind a guy who cries once and a while, but over a sunset? I can’t say I’m a fan of that since, as you know, we have a lot of beautiful sunsets in Florida. He’d be crying every night.”
“He cried?” She had to be joking. “Over that?”
Her head dropped back and she laughed. Damn, it was good seeing her laugh. It made him feel as if he’d accomplished something big. Maybe he had because he was beginning to suspect that Sidney Capp wasn’t a woman who’d had much laughter in her life. Kind of odd given her quirky angels.
“Okay, so Ken is out of the picture. Are you in a relationship now?”
“No.”
He found it interesting that she didn’t ask him the same thing.
“Oh, and what you did before? That’s another thing that gets you axed off their list.”
“What?”
“Cussing.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been spending a lot of time with guys up at the house and well, they speak a different English up there.”
“Don’t be sorry.” She was back to twirling that piece of his hair. Staring into his eyes. Stripping him with her look. “I love to hear you speak like that. It’s natural and—”
He didn’t let her finish because he needed a taste of her now.
Sidney’s heart beat so hard she was sure he’d hear it. Butterflies took off in her stomach and she wanted to melt all over him. The way he kissed her was like they’d done this a thousand times before. There was no hesitancy on his part. No pausing or gauging while he stopped to think about what to do next. He didn’t ask for permission. That’s what got her bell ringing. Finally she was in the arms of a take-charge man.
“Hey, open your eyes.”
Her heart still raced and the butterflies hadn’t let up any. The combination was intoxicating. “I don’t want to,” she whispered.
“Why?”
Slowly her lids opened and she met his steady gaze before answering, “I don’t want you to disappear. Not before…ah…”
He quirked a brow and grinned. “Sounds like you have plans for me. Care to share?”
Care to share? Why did he have to go and say that? That was what her dad always asked when she stared off thinking about doing something she probably shouldn’t be doing.
That hit her like a bucket of ice on a sunbather.
Had she really thought she could hook up with the best looking guy on the planet for no other reason than to have sex with him?
Of course she had. One look at Riker and she realized Mother Teresa would have been tempted. But Mother Teresa only had God to answer to for her transgressions. Sidney had her parents.
“I had plans, but I don’t think I can go through with them now.” She tried to slide off him.
“Oh no. You don’t get to leave me that easily,” he said and held on tight. “What kind of plans did you have?”
As disappointed as she was, she wanted to get this over with quick. Man, there better be some more Twizzlers in the snack drawer. She was going to need them tonight. “I shouldn’t say.”
“Come on.”
“They were bad.”
“Bad is right up my alley.”
How could she resist. When he was relaxed like he was now and holding her hostage, which was better than anything in the whole world, it was as if she weren’t herself. Regular old Sidney Capp would never have the nerve to say, “I was going to take you up to my place and seduce you.”
His eyes darkened and his expression went from teasing to totally serious. The transformation made her gulp.
“You don’t have to take me upstairs to do that.”
“No?”
He shook his head. That answer combined with his killer smile put her at ease and made her want to smile back. Throw in the fact that he was naked except for the shorts? And suddenly she knew she’d traverse the burning embers of hell crawling on hands and knees for one chance with a guy like him. But in order for that to happen she’d have to put the guilt aside so she could take her shot. “I know we’re alone in the complex, but I can’t seduce you out here.” She turned away, looking for a plausible avenue to drag him out of the pool without seeming too desperate.
“Darlin’,” his voice skated over her like silk over glass and when she turned back his heated look stopped her cold, “you already have.”
“Wh—?”
She didn’t get to finish that thought because he kissed her again. Only this time it was raw and consuming. Epic. The kind of kiss between people in the movies. She tasted his need. It coursed through her like sun-warmed honey. Sweet, smooth and enveloping. Simple and yet so complex.
With one hand speared in his hair she used that anchor to shimmy up higher against him, yanking and pressing, wanting more. When he gave it to her, her body came alive, reacting to his and soon she was afraid if she moved she’d ruin this rarity. This had never happened to her before. Tingles lit in her center and spread, creating a warm and sensual pulse-beat between her legs.
Before she knew it, he’d walked them out of the pool as water fell off them. The sound of his feet slapping against the cool deck got her attention. She tore her mouth away and breath
ed, “Where are we going?”
He jostled her around his slick torso until she was in piggy back position. “To my place so we can discuss your plans.”
She tried not to look. She didn’t want any reminders. But like the proverbial car wreck, she stared and when he bypassed the second floor and she spied the welcome mat her mother had given her she squeezed her eyes shut. “I shouldn’t be doing this.”
“No?” He paused in the middle of the staircase. “Do you want me to take you home?”
Say yes. Be a good girl and say yes so you can return to your lonely apartment and watch other people doing all the things you want to do.
“No.”
Chapter Five
Riker kicked the door shut with his foot and put her down. “Stay right here.”
“No worries. I won’t get any water on your ceramic.”
“My ceramic?” He grinned. Noticing a piece of her wet hair sticking up, he reached out to adjust it. Then he couldn’t help following the length down to the point where it came to rest just above her breast. Only an inch away from her hardened nipple that poked firmly against the sheen of spandex. One look and he itched to run his knuckles over it so badly he had to step back. “I don’t care about the tile, darlin’, I just don’t want you to slip. I’ll go get us something to dry ourselves with. Then we can talk.”
He grabbed two fluffy terry beach towels. Throwing one over his shoulder, he shook the other out with two sharp snaps. “Here.”
She let him wrap the thirsty cloth around her without a fuss so he took full advantage. He brought her in close, rubbing the sides of her arms first and then the length of her back from shoulder to butt. Making sure to keep the front of her plastered against him.
“Better?”
She nodded and smiled up at him. “Yeah, it’s freezing in here.” She gave a mock shiver and added, “Thanks.”
That overwhelming urge to drag her to him and kiss her senseless was back. He ached to see if she’d go all soft and pliant again like she had in the pool, but her earlier words as they came up the stairs bothered him. “I like it frosty. Are you warm enough?”
