by Susanna Carr
Laura made a face at Sydney’s statement. “You’re only saying that because that’s how you and Matthew hooked up and now you are practically engaged. That doesn’t count.”
“You can’t apply these seduction techniques in real life,” Isabel said. “It will only make you look like a fool.”
“Have you tried?” Sean asked.
There was a beat of silence. He felt Sydney’s curious gaze on him and he wondered if he had revealed something in his tone.
“I don’t have to,” Isabel announced as she folded her hands in her lap. “Men are simple creatures. It doesn’t take much to seduce them. They already have sex on the brain. Most of them, anyway.”
As Laura launched into an explanation on why all men think about sex all the time, Sean pondered what Isabel had said. He hadn’t realized she was so cynical about men. Or had her comment been strictly for his benefit? Was she trying to shut him out of the discussion? She had allowed him into her apartment earlier tonight, and while she had been a gracious hostess, she had tried not to directly discuss the book with him.
Tonight had been the first time he’d been to her home, and he had to admit that he had been curious to see her apartment. He wasn’t sure why, but he’d expected to see an explosion of pink, lace and ruffles. Instead her apartment was refined and comfortable, from the muted blue and green walls to the well-loved furniture.
“Sean, back me up,” Isabel said. “Men don’t care about the lingerie or the perfume. They just want sex without the frills.”
All three women turned and waited for his response.
“You’re on your own with that argument,” Sean said. “Men want the fantasy, as well. Engage all the senses and celebrate the differences between a man and a woman. Also, it’s a turn-on to know that a woman is wearing lingerie for your pleasure. That she made an effort for you.”
He wondered what Isabel would choose to wear for him. His body hardened at the image of her in something simple and feminine like a white satin-and-lace slip. He would be so aroused that the straps would snap under his shaky hands.
“So lingerie is a turn-on for you?” Isabel asked.
Sean paused as he recognized his mistake. He struggled to rein in his thoughts. This was supposed to be a fact-finding mission for him. He needed to find out if her book club and her friends were influencing Isabel in any way. Instead, Isabel had made the provocative comment to gauge his reaction.
He should have anticipated that. Isabel was smart and a fighter. He had always been impressed with her quick mind and he looked forward to their Sunday night debates.
“My turn-ons depend on the woman,” he said, refusing to look away from Isabel. He heard Sydney groan and imagined Laura was rolling her eyes.
“Typical nonresponse,” Isabel murmured.
Sean smiled at their reactions. “But I disagree with the primary thesis of the book.”
“No kidding,” Sydney said as she finished off her wine. “You’ve disagreed with almost everything about this book.”
“The author ignores one important detail. If a man isn’t interested in a woman, none of these tricks will work.”
Isabel bristled. “They aren’t tricks.”
“Manipulation, then?” Sean asked coolly as he locked his gaze on her dark blue eyes. “You’re trying to get a guy to do something he wouldn’t normally do.”
“These are tips designed to enhance the experience,” Isabel replied, thrusting out her chin. “These suggestions help uncover what is already there.”
Sean leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “At the expense of turning the woman into something she isn’t. Not all women are aggressive or on the hunt. Nor should they be.”
Isabel’s eyes flashed with annoyance. She was receiving his message loud and clear. He knew she’d been acting out of character just because of something she had read.
“Maybe the woman is a healthy sexual being who wants to express herself more fully.”
“Or maybe this book,” Sean countered, “like many books, is trying to make women become more aggressive. The message is that acting like a seductress is the only way to be rewarded. That you have to act this way or you will miss out. And that is not true.”
“Or maybe this book, like many books,” Isabel retorted, “reminds women to stop waiting for something to happen. Because men want to group women into two categories—bad girls or good girls. They don’t think a good girl is capable of bad-girl sex.”
The room fell into a tense silence. Isabel’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He knew exactly how she felt as his own blood was pumping hard through his veins. He looked away from her just in time to see Laura and Sydney exchange glances. Sydney cleared her throat, grabbed her wineglass and realized it was empty.
“I told you Sean would be a good addition to the book club,” Laura said.
“Well, it’s getting late,” Sydney said as she slowly stood up. “I should start heading home.”
“Right, yeah,” Laura said as she reluctantly uncurled from the sofa. “We should go.”
“What’s the next book?” Sean asked as Isabel protested the idea of her friends leaving.
“It’s Sydney’s choice,” Laura said and wrinkled her nose. “A cookbook on aphrodisiacs. Going to be around for that one?”
Sean turned and looked at Isabel. “Just try to stop me.”
* * *
ISABEL WAVED GOODBYE to Laura and Sydney before she closed the front door. She laid her forehead against the smooth wood and squeezed her eyes shut. She could tell by Sydney’s big smile and the way Laura had waggled her eyebrows that they knew the truth.
Nothing she said now would convince them otherwise. They had figured out that Sean had been her one-night stand. She hadn’t been able to hide the tension that shimmered between her and Sean. And despite how they’d held back during the book discussion, the undercurrents pulsed with each word they’d said—and didn’t say. It was clear that he was the one who had her shedding her cardigans and testing her boundaries.
She had revealed too much. That wasn’t like her. Isabel rubbed her arms as if she could slough off the idea of being exposed.
Where had she gone wrong? Her plan had been to bore Sean into leaving early. It hadn’t quite worked out that way. He had been engaging and thoughtful. Interested in what everyone had to say. At times she thought he was even having fun.
“No wonder you guys got kicked out of the reading circle,” Sean said as he gathered the empty wineglasses and walked to the kitchen. “Are all your book club discussions like that?”
She turned around. “Sometimes.” Never. They had never made her feel vulnerable. The discussions didn’t usually leave her with a sense of regret and an expectation that her words would come back to haunt her.
Sean stepped out of the kitchen and leaned his shoulder against the wall as she slowly walked toward him. Isabel couldn’t help but notice the way his blue button-down shirt clung to his muscular arms and skimmed down his flat stomach. She had tried to ignore the perfect fit of his faded jeans. She hadn’t seen him dress this casually before and it should have diminished his powerful aura. Instead, it made him more dangerous to her senses.
“Bad-girl sex?” he murmured.
Isabel’s muscles locked and she curled her toes against the carpet. She knew he was teasing her but it was not something she wanted to discuss. It struck too close to a nerve.
“Book club is over,” she announced brightly and gestured to the door. “No need to help clean up. I’m sure you have somewhere else you should be.”
“What exactly is bad-girl sex?” he asked as he crossed his arms. “Let me rephrase the question. What do you think bad-girl sex is?”
She had to divert him from this subject and the best defense was a good offense. She forced herself to meet his ey
es. “Would you like a demonstration?”
He arched an eyebrow as his gaze leisurely traveled down the length of her body. “From you?”
She gritted her teeth. He didn’t have to sound so disbelieving. “You already had a taste of it.”
“That wasn’t bad-girl sex,” he said softly.
She felt her skin flush. If he didn’t think their one-night stand had been wild and dirty, then she really wasn’t in his league.
He leaned closer. “That was raw need,” he explained in a rough voice. “Untamed sex. That was not bad-girl sex.”
“Well, you would know,” she said hoarsely.
His expression changed abruptly. The corners of his mouth dipped and a wariness darkened his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“I’m sure you’re familiar with bad girls,” she said as she rested her spine on the wall and looked away. “An expert, really.”
“Why would you assume that?”
“Because you don’t kiss like a gentleman,” she said with a smile. “You didn’t treat me like a princess. You treated me like a woman, demanding pleasure and giving it in return.”
She felt him withdraw. “If I hurt—”
She turned and looked at Sean. “You didn’t,” she assured him. “You did everything right. But apparently I’m not right for you. Not your type.”
“You have no idea what my type is,” he said as he moved closer.
“You couldn’t have made it any plainer. None of the tactics in the book have tempted you.” She sighed and stared straight ahead. “So why did you have sex with me? Were you curious or were you just being polite and didn’t want to hurt my feelings?”
She’d asked the question, but Isabel wasn’t sure she was ready for the truth. What if the best lovemaking she’d ever had, with the one man whom she had fallen hard for, was just pity sex for him? She wasn’t sure she could recover from that.
Sean was suddenly standing in front of her, his arms on either side of her head, his hands flattened against the wall. “Why did you choose me to practice on?”
Her eyes widened. “Practice?”
“Your book club is all about applying what you’ve learned. So you chose me to try things out on,” he said with a ferocious frown. “Why? Did you think I was a challenge?”
She silently shook her head. Challenge wasn’t the right word, she decided.
“Or that I would be a safe choice? Did you believe I wouldn’t let it go that far because I work for your father?”
She scoffed at the idea. Safe? Sean Hawkins was never the safe choice. He had triggered a cascade of emotions inside her that she would normally have kept her distance from. But she didn’t want to play it safe anymore. She knew that being with him would change her life, change her. She was ready for that. She wanted that.
“I have always been attracted to you,” she admitted.
“Your ex-boyfriends are nothing like me.”
She was surprised that he had noticed the guys she had dated. What he said was true. Those men were the opposite of Sean. She’d felt comfortable with them. Quiet and contained. She didn’t want to be contained anymore. “You don’t think I could be attracted to you?”
He stared at her mouth. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
“I don’t always feel comfortable expressing what I think or feel.” She often urged herself to be cautious, especially because of her mother’s scandalous legacy. “I’m working on that.”
“You express it just fine every Sunday night.”
“So I’ve mastered the cool blonde image. It’s the only shield I have. Much like the way your three-piece suit is your armor,” she said as she motioned at him. “Everyone sees the suit, not the real you underneath it.”
“You’re wrong,” he said as he moved closer. “With me, what you see is what you get.”
Isabel shook her head. “I don’t understand why you want to be the suit. There’s no fun in that.”
“I don’t understand why you want to change,” he said quietly. “You’re perfect the way you are.”
She blushed under his compliment. “I don’t want to be perfect. Or a lady. Or a good girl.” She wanted to be hot, wild and sexy. With Sean. Only him. “I’m tired of hiding what I really feel. What I really want. Aren’t you?”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“You’re a mystery in a town where there are no secrets,” Isabel said. “There are no rumors swirling around about you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
He really did seem satisfied by the news. Pleased. “You don’t date anyone in town but I highly doubt you could go without sex.”
“That could explain why it was so explosive when we got together,” he muttered as he rested his forehead against hers.
Isabel closed her eyes. “Do you have a woman in another town?” she whispered. She was sure he didn’t. Sean was honorable and wouldn’t have had sex with her if he was in a committed relationship.
“I was in a long-distance relationship,” he said, his warm breath tickling her skin. “We broke it off a few months ago.”
“Why hide it? Do you have a kinky side that you don’t want anyone to know about? A fetish you don’t think anyone would understand?”
He lifted his head. “Is this your way of asking what I look for in a woman?”
She smiled and opened her eyes. “Maybe.”
“I prefer my women soft and feminine.”
“That’s it?” It couldn’t be. Sean was too sophisticated, too experienced, to want something he could get anywhere.
“And when I take her to bed, I want it to be just the two of us. No games, no distractions.” She was mesmerized by his low voice. “I want to take it slow and explore her all night.”
His fantasy sounded nothing like their one-night stand. She swallowed hard. “Is that right?”
“But,” he said as his gaze sharpened, “and this is the most important part, I need to be in charge. I make the first move. I am in total control.”
“Liar.” The word had spilled from her lips before she thought it through. “You liked it just fine when I took over. When I took you on the floor in my father’s study.” She rubbed her thighs together as she remembered how he’d writhed beneath her.
“It was a nice change of pace.”
Her mouth twisted. “Nice? You begged me to—”
“I prefer it when my lover isn’t overtly sexual outside of the bedroom. I want someone as controlled as I am. Someone who reveals her sensual nature only to me.”
He was describing a proper lady. She didn’t believe him. He wouldn’t find satisfaction with someone ladylike. A thought occurred to her and she watched him intently. Maybe that was what he wished he wanted.
“If you were into good girls, you would have asked me out years ago.”
The corner of his mouth hitched into a lopsided smile. “But I’ve always known deep down you weren’t a good girl.”
That was one of the nicest things he’d ever said to her. “A lady wouldn’t drive you wild like I did,” she argued.
“Exactly.”
She paused. “Wait...you don’t want to go wild?”
“There was a time when I was led by my emotions and my base needs.” He shook his head as if he was trying to rid himself of those memories. “That part of my life is over.”
“What are you, a hundred years old?”
He ignored her. “And that is why no amount of bookish advice will work on me. I’m all about calm and tranquility.”
“What a waste,” she murmured. She remembered how he had responded to her touch and the fire in his eyes. She didn’t believe a word he was saying. Oh, Sean might think that was what he wanted, but now she was sure their one-night stand had shaken his world, too.
That was why he wouldn’t discuss it. That was why he tried to act as though it had never happened.
She slowly smiled. Was that why he was trying to warn her off now? Did he find her dangerous—not only to his self-control but to some long-standing beliefs?
Sean’s eyes narrowed as he watched her with caution. “Why are you smiling?”
Because she had never been considered a dangerous woman before. She had always been the good influence. At times, invisible. She enjoyed having this power.
“Isabel?”
“You want a woman who won’t share her true nature with anyone but you. I can be that,” she declared.
She saw sexual heat flare in his eyes as his face grew taut. Sean gave a chuckle that sounded more like a nervous huff of breath. “No, you can’t. Not judging by how you’ve been the past month. You are going through some sort of sexual transformation and you want everyone to know it.”
“I can be anything I want to be.” She had been gentle and sweet in bed with her past boyfriends. It had been expected of her and any hint of wildness had scared them off. But Sean was offering her a chance to explore her sexual fantasies. She could break free and just indulge. No demands on the relationship and no expectations on either side. No consequences.
“Isabel, this is a bad idea,” he said as his chest rubbed against her breasts.
“You’re right,” she said as she wrapped her arms over his broad shoulders.
“Why are you suddenly agreeable?”
“Because I’m giving you the power.” She softened against him. “The control.”
“You shouldn’t,” he said in a groan as her hip bumped against his.
“Why?” she whispered as she tilted her face up for a kiss. “I trust you more than anyone.”
His expression changed. Her words affected him and she wasn’t sure why. He was in a trusted position at work and he had earned the respect of many people in Seedling. Why should her words matter?
But somehow they were the deciding factor. She knew it the moment he yielded to the inevitable. She shivered with anticipation as he swooped down for a hard, hungry kiss.
