Riding the Waves

by Tawny Weber

  Sex. Semipublic sex, in her car. She was just asking to get caught. As if it wasn’t enough to risk her heart, her hopes. She had to risk her reputation, too.

  She swore. Alex was like some kind of sexual addiction she couldn’t get over.

  11

  DRU WHIPPED the pudding so hard, chocolate splatters covered the counter. Three nights ago she’d had a mind-numbing orgasm in the front seat of her car. And what was she doing for wild Saturday-night fun? Making dinner for her mom, who’d gotten sick from an apparent mold issue created by the leaking washing machine. Argh, could this week suck any harder?

  Three days. Three long, frustration-filled days.

  One minute she’d been wet, panting and having an orgasm in her car. The next, he’d disappeared like a cheap hooker in a vice bust.

  Oh, it wasn’t as if Dru didn’t know exactly what he was up to. He’d gotten her all hot and bothered and left her panting for more. He had her freaking out that he’d tell someone about them. About their relationship, such as it was. Then he’d disappeared without a word. No goodbye, no forwarding information. No response when she’d finally swallowed her pride and called his hotel room yesterday.

  It was punishment. He was paying her back for leaving him in Los Cabos. She knew it.

  Dru tossed the whisk into her mother’s sink, sending another spray of chocolate over the stainless steel.

  What a jerk. When she’d left, she’d been ending a vacation fling. And she’d left after they’d had mind-blowing all-night-long sex. He might not have been happy with the goodbye, but at least he’d been satisfied.

  Dru ripped a brownie into pieces, throwing it into the bottom of a parfait bowl. She tossed spoonfuls of the pudding over the cakey chocolate, growling as she remembered how hard it had been to make that phone call.

  She’d spent Wednesday acting like a nervous jack-in-the-box. She’d jumped every time a door had opened, a phone had rung. Sure, Glenn had explained that Alex had been called away. That while they were still waiting on the funding decisions she should have the team get started on the calculations.

  But she’d still expected to hear from him. After all, what kind of guy played tag under a colleague’s skirt and didn’t call her the next day?

  Apparently on-call rock-star physicists who had bogus emergencies at NASA.

  By Thursday her nerves were long gone and she’d just been pissed. What was he playing at? That, she reminded herself as she shook spoonfuls of Cool Whip over the layer of pudding, was why she’d warned herself to stay away from him.

  She’d actually lain awake plotting ways around Trifecta’s no-fraternization mandate. Really, she and Alex weren’t coworkers since he wasn’t employed by the lab. He was a visiting scientist, wasn’t he? So she shouldn’t have to worry about job security if she had a…fling.

  Another fling. She was so addicted to the guy, she was actually standing in her mother’s sterile white kitchen—a room the woman refused to paint in case they lost the house—considering ways to have another fling with him. With the man who, for all intents and purposes, held the current success of her career in the palm of his hand. Could you still call it a fling if you’d just had one with the same person?

  She licked the chocolate pudding off her knuckle and sighed. That image brought her to her senses. Getting involved with a coworker, even a loosely connected one, was bad enough. Getting involved with a coworker where the balance of power was so unevenly skewed?

  All bad. So, so, bad.

  She smacked the spoon so hard on the side of the bowl, it almost cracked the glass. Bad. Geeks and wheezers might suck in bed, but at least they were somewhat grateful to actually be there. They had the good manners to say thank-you the next morning, even if in some cases the thanks had been for the scientific breakthrough and not the mediocre sex.

  She’d just started shredding the second brownie layer when the doorbell rang. With a frown, she glanced at the clock. Her mother rarely had guests. A neighbor had stopped in an hour ago to drop off a casserole, though. Maybe word was out. If this kept up, she might only get stuck cooking one meal here this week.

  Brownie still in hand, she opened the door. And almost squished the chocolate treat when her fist automatically clenched. Alex was leaning against the door frame in a dark blue T-shirt and worn denim jeans that lovingly hugged thighs she’d spent hours dreaming of riding.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” she asked when she’d found her voice through the shock. “Miss me?”

  Considering he looked sweeter than the dessert she’d been making, she was forced to privately admit that yes, she’d missed him like crazy.

  But a lethal cocktail of anger, humiliation and rejection snuffed out the sentiment more effectively than if it’d been sucked into a black hole.

  “How’d you find me here?”

  “I bribed someone at County Records.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “You didn’t.”

  He shrugged, then whipped a bouquet of Peruvian lilies out from behind his back with a grin. “I did. They gave me two addresses, but nobody was home at the other one so I tried here.”

  Her fingers itched to take the blooms and hold them to her nose and see if they smelled as sweet as they looked. But she could still taste the rejection. “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to see you.” He didn’t lose his smile, but she could see a hint of impatience in his eyes.

  “Really?” She drew out the word to ring every drop of sarcasm from it possible.

  “Really,” he said, studying her mouth.

  She clenched her fingers and chocolate crumbled between the knuckles. She winced and looked at the mess. He followed her eyes, then, smile still in place, lifted the brownie, hand and all, and nibbled at the treat.

  She had to work at staying aloof, raising a brow and giving him a questioning look as if her insides weren’t melting. After all, how pathetic would it be if she oozed all over him so easily after he’d not only ignored, but practically abandoned, her for three days.

  “Mmm,” he murmured as he licked the chocolate. “Delicious.”

  “I bought them from the grocery store,” she said in breathless dismissal.

  She didn’t know what was better, the way he licked her hand, sending wet spirals down deep into her belly. Or the look of frustrated irritation growing stronger in his eyes when she didn’t cave to his charms.

  Now, wasn’t this a nice change after three days of helpless wanting, of being unable to contact him, of feeling like a horny loser with the sex appeal of a pile of dirty laundry.

  “How hard are you going to make this?” he asked, letting go of her hand.

  Smart-ass comment or scathing reply? Disinterest or disingenuous? So many directions she could go, so many ways she could salve her ego.

  Then she caught the look in his eyes. There was definitely raw passion. But underneath it was a needy sort of hope. Like yes, he wanted to strip her naked and smear that chocolate all over her body so he could nibble it off in tiny wet bites. But that maybe, like her, he was just a little afraid. Afraid of being rejected. Afraid of not measuring up. Or maybe—unless she was projecting, big-time—afraid that he was the only one feeling these fears.

  All those emotions that’d seeped through her defenses back in Cabo, the same ones she’d been fighting all week long, washed over her again. Teetering so close to love it hurt, Dru knew she should pull back to regain control.

  She looked into the face of the sexiest man she’d ever wished to spend forever with and sighed. He was here, despite the fears she was probably imagining him to have. Was she going to use her own fears, her own feelings of inferiority, as an excuse to chicken out on this relationship?

  A possibility that both terrified her and held unspeakable allure. With Alex, Dru knew, she had a chance to explore what a real relationship was. To open her heart, to take emotional chances. And to prove to herself, once and for all, that while she was her father’s daughter when it came to scienc
e, she was nothing like him when it came to being able to make the right choices and be there for someone else.

  She was smart enough to realize she was talking herself into giving this a chance. She was also smart enough to know that not only was it unlikely to go anywhere, but that she’d probably end up hurt one way or another if she gave in to her desire to be with Alex.

  What was she going to do? Before she could figure it out, there was a call from above.

  “Drucilla?”

  Oh, shit.

  “Just a minute, Mom,” she yelled up the stairs.

  “Is there someone here?” And then she heard the only thing that could have made the situation any worse. Her mother’s footsteps heading downstairs.

  Dru closed her eyes against the amused query on Alex’s face and bit her lip. Well, at least now she wouldn’t have to worry about how she’d keep from giving in to Alex’s overtures. After this, she’d have to chase him down and beg for him to acknowledge her.

  Her mom had that kind of personality.

  “Who is it?” Olympia asked, holding her robe closed tight as she peered over the banister.

  “It’s a coworker, Mom. He stopped by with a question.”

  Alex arched a brow, then tried to look past her. Dru shifted to block his view.

  “Is he staying for dinner?”

  Horrified, Dru started to yell “No!” But as usual, Alex was quicker. A triumphant sort of glee filled his voice as he said loudly, “I’d love to stay for dinner.”

  HE KNEW she was irritated, but Alex couldn’t help grinning at Drucilla. This was just so perfect.

  “What’s for eats?” he asked quietly as Drucilla’s mother yelled down something about showering before the meal.

  “Pig entrails laced with hemlock,” Dru deadpanned, still standing in the center of the doorway.

  “Yum.”

  Despite her glare, her lips twitched.

  “Drucilla,” her mother called again. “Be sure to use the good plates.”

  Her glare turned into a sigh of defeat.

  “You really, really don’t have to stay,” she muttered, finally moving aside. Crossing the threshold, Alex made sure to step close enough that he could breathe in her scent, deliciously layered with rich chocolate.

  “Of course I do,” he insisted. “I can’t disappoint your mother. And besides, the stubborn look on your face gives me the feeling you’re going to be hard to pin down again anytime soon.”

  He loved the way her chin lifted and she gave him a look of frustration.

  “Okay, fine. Whatever,” she said with a jerky shrug. She eyed the staircase her mother had disappeared up before Alex could see her, then headed toward the back of the house. “It’s not like you’re going to stick around for long, anyway.”

  Alex winced. He hadn’t thought she’d care if he left for a few days. Despite their encounter in the car, he’d have thought she’d be just as glad to see him gone. The way she’d acted when she’d seen him in the doorway had made him think he was right.

  But her eyes told him different. He saw the pain she was trying to hide. That he’d hurt her made him feel about a half an inch tall and a little slimy.

  “I had to step in and help an old colleague,” he explained, his words rushed and tumbling over themselves. “He called that night, you know, after you dropped me off? He had the swine flu and a huge presentation due Wednesday that related back to a black hole project we’d worked on together.”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself.” Her words came out like a statement with a sigh tacked on the end. Alex frowned, not sure if that meant she was impressed, irritated or resigned.

  “My hypothesis was key to his breakthrough and subsequent funding for this project,” he said, as if he was making an excuse. He wanted to smack himself in the head. He should have called her. Sure, he might have a Y chromosome, but that didn’t mean he was clueless about how women thought.

  Hell, he wasn’t stupid.

  He was just surprisingly slow when it came to thinking of anything other than his own needs.

  That realization didn’t make him feel any less tiny or slimy.

  Nor did the slightly hurt, considering look Drucilla gave him.

  “What?” he asked, his tone more defensive than he’d intended.

  “Nothing. Just wondering if you’ll drop everything, or everyone, to hurry back and help me with some future aspect of the string project someday.”

  “Of course,” he started to say. Then he sighed and grabbed her arm before she could leave the foyer. “Drucilla, I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For being inconsiderate and hurting your feelings.”

  “Did I say my feelings were hurt?”

  He arched his brow.

  Giving him a frustrated look, she finally rolled her eyes and shrugged, then led him into the kitchen.

  Alex didn’t know what he’d done that had pushed the magic button. But whatever it was, he thought as he settled into a white ladder-back chair to watch her wash the chocolate off her hands, he was grateful.

  For a second, he fixated on the way the water sluiced over her skin, watching her fingers rub sensually against one another.

  That simple act turned him on. Lecturing himself not to come across as a sex-crazed jerk, he vowed then and there that tonight, no sex. This visit was all about getting to know Drucilla, not getting to do her.

  He finally tore his eyes off her and looked around the house curiously.

  “Does your mom live with you?” he asked, eyeing the lush display of potted plants and greenery through the window over her shoulder.

  “This is my mom’s house,” she told him. “I’m not usually here, but she didn’t feel well so I came by to make her dinner and stock her freezer.”

  His heart warmed and he smiled so big, she turned pink.

  “Aren’t you the good daughter,” he teased softly. From her shocked look, that wasn’t something she heard too often.

  Alex wondered about her relationship with her mother. Close, if she’d drop her Saturday plans so easily. But then he remembered Drucilla’s discomfort when she’d mentioned her mother before.

  “So you and your mom are tight?” he asked.

  She gave him a long, silent look as if she was trying to decipher the answer to that question in his eyes. Then she shrugged.

  “I need to finish this,” she said, gesturing to the bowls of chocolate and whipped cream and chunks of brownie, clearly wanting to change the subject. “Would you like some coffee while we wait for dinner?”

  He eyed the chocolate concoction and remembered the taste of the brownie on her fingers. “Can I have a bite of that instead?”

  She glanced at the dessert, then gave him one of those looks. He recognized that look. It was usually preceded by naked moaning and tongues dancing over heated flesh.

  He liked that look.

  He liked even more when she scooped up a fingerful of the pudding, then dabbed on a bit of whipped cream. He eyed the finger she held out, then the bare skin of her shoulders, highlighted by her sleeveless purple blouse.

  She stepped over, stopping between his legs, and lifted her finger. Holding her wrist, Alex brought the finger to his mouth and first licked, then sucked the entire chocolate-covered digit between his lips.

  “Delicious,” he said.

  “Is it?” Her smile was the sweetest thing, a little giddy and nervous, but so sexy.

  “You should taste it, too.”

  She raised a brow, then ran her tongue over her bottom lip. He almost groaned. She lifted her still-chocolate-covered finger and smoothed it over his mouth. This time, he did groan.

  She giggled, then planted a hand on either side of him on the table. She leaned over, her blouse gaping. Then her laughing eyes still locked on his, she ran her tongue over the chocolate, sipping it gently before nipping erotically.

  He felt that tiny bite as if she’d nipped her way through his jeans. Desire mingled with
that delicious sensation of just-this-side-of-pain passion.

  To hell with gentlemanly vows and getting to know each other and all that crap. He stood so fast, she almost fell backward. Grabbing her hips, Alex dived into the wild kiss, pouring all his pent-up sexual frustration into that erotic dance between their mouths.

  Alex groaned when Drucilla pulled her lips away from his. She sucked in a deep breath that pressed the soft cushion of her breasts against his chest, making him want to groan again.

  “We can’t do this,” she said breathlessly.

  “Sure we can.”

  “No. We can’t,” she insisted, sounding more like herself as she slid out of his arms. “The shower’s off. My mother will be down in a few minutes.”

  Having to respect that, Alex started reciting the weight of Jupiter’s moons to regain control.

  “This isn’t quite the way I’d hoped to have dinner with you,” he confessed with a half laugh.

  She bit her lip, then offered a small smile and said, “Maybe tomorrow instead?”

  His relief was so huge, it overwhelmed him. Alex’s smile damn near split his face and he nodded quickly. A date. They had a date.

  Then he heard his own thoughts and shook his head. What the hell was going on? He never got this worked up over a woman. His upbringing had pounded home the fact that all things in life were transient, including relationships.

  Especially relationships. Maybe it was his job, that he was never in one place longer than a few months. Or his obsession with science, falling one hundred percent into projects. Probably it was genetic, since no Maddow male had ever had a lasting, healthy relationship. But Alex had learned young that he’d better count on going solo.

  Sure, he’d forgotten, temporarily, on the beach with Drucilla when he’d thought he was falling for her. But he’d learned his lesson, hadn’t he? This was just about sex. About wanting to taste her a few more times before he moved on.