by Lori Wilde
That decision had been a no-brainer.
And she didn’t expect gratitude. She really didn’t. But someday, dammit, her mom would actually plant something in the ground instead of those clay pots.
“Gypsy days, huh?” Said in that deep, sexy tone, Alex made the idea sound intriguing. Almost sexy and adventurous instead of pathetic and lonely. “That sounds like an interesting childhood.”
“It does sound that way, hmm.”
He gave her a long look. The kind that said he could see through her skin and into her heart. “And what about you? What was your preference?”
His tone, soft with just a hint of concern, told her she’d given too much away. This was supposed to be a sexy adventure, not some quick trip through her battered psyche. So she just smiled and forced her shoulders to relax.
“I have to admit, I’m partial to fresh tomatoes, too.”
“Ah, a daddy’s girl?”
A familiar pain stabbed through her, making Dru wince. Daddy’s girl. She’d heard that phrase so often growing up. From her father, it was in a tone of pride that his little girl was so good at the science he loved and could make a career of which he’d only dreamed. From her mother, it was usually preceded by, “Did you have to be just like him?”
No. She wasn’t letting it be an issue. Not here. Not now. Instead, Dru shook her head and sipped her wine before saying, “I’m hardly a girl.”
“No,” he conceded, lifting his hand. Dru held her breath as he reached for her. Her heart raced as she wondered where he’d touch her. It settled into a fast gallop as he rubbed the ends of her hair between his fingers. The back of his hand was inches away from her breast, the warmth of him heating her nipple into an aware kind of craving. She wanted to breathe deeply, to push herself against his hand. At the same time, she wanted him to make the move. To want her enough to push past the first-date etiquette and get right to the hot sex.
As if he read her mind, Alex grinned. That wicked, naughty tilt of his lips that said he knew every sexy thought in her head and planned to make each one a reality. In his own good time.
Right now, he wanted to get to know her better.
Still playing with her hair, he said, “You’re definitely all woman. The kind of woman who calls her own shots, who knows what she wants and goes for it. Like tomatoes.” He grinned and raised a brow as his fingers left her hair to trace a gentle design over her bare shoulder. “Do you grow your own tomatoes, too? Or does your mom keep you supplied?”
“I’ve got a black thumb,” she admitted, barely focusing on the discussion. Most of her attention was on his finger and the ever-widening pattern he was searing into her sensitive flesh. “My mom gives me a basket each week when I stop by to take care of things for her. You know, some yard work, some errands, some chores around the house. I’ll have half a bushel waiting when I get home.”
“Is your mom older?”
“No,” she said with a shrug that brought his hand even closer to the edge of her bodice. Excitement spun tighter through her system, and her entire being was focused on that hand, her nipple, all the possibilities. “She’s in her fifties.”
“Is she disabled?” he asked, his tone as distracted as her thoughts.
His hand was now tracing the silky strap of her halter. Up her throat. Down her chest. Up along her shoulder. Down toward her breast. Dru breathed more shallowly, not wanting to do anything to impede his movements.
“Hardly,” she murmured, barely tracking their conversation. “She’s healthy as a horse. She just sort of lives in her own little world and forgets things. You know, like paying bills, mowing the lawn, picking up the cleaning.”
“So you do it for her?” The smile he gave her was like a spark that lit the fuse of passion in her belly. Deep, intense desire warmed and spread, causing a damp heat to pool between her legs.
“Someone has to. I—” She stopped and frowned, realizing what he’d said. And what she’d admitted.
How did he do that? Dru shifted just a little on the settee, trying to hide her discomfort. She didn’t like talking about her family. Hadn’t she changed the subject? Weren’t they supposed to be focused on sexy stuff instead?
As if sensing her withdrawal, he dropped his hand to the seat between them and gave her an inquiring look.
“How about you?” she countered desperately. “Is your family local?”
She winced as soon as the words left her lips. Dumb question. Alex himself was obviously not local, even if he did work here.
“We, well, my mom has an apartment in Cabo,” Alex said, surprising her. She scanned his face, seeing an amused sort of resignation in his dark eyes. “Like your parents, she’s into the gypsy lifestyle. One way or another, though, we always ended up here at least once a year. So she keeps a place in town, mostly for show. I think having a home base makes her feel a little more settled.”
“Is that where you’re staying?” she asked, trying to be subtle about prying into his private life. Was a guy who lived at his mother’s—even if his mother was rarely there—considered a momma’s boy? It doesn’t matter, she reminded herself. Alex is playmate material, he doesn’t need hang-on-to-for-life potential.
“Nah, she sublet it to a couple from Montana for the month. I’m never sure when I’m going to be here, and she’s never sure where she wants to be, so it’s easier if I stay at the hotel.”
Definitely not a momma’s boy.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” Dru asked, knowing such a nebulous relationship would drive her crazy. As crazy as her frustratingly codependent relationship with her own mother? Was that possible? She wished she could ask him how he dealt with it. Whether he blamed himself.
It was hard to think, though. He was so close. For the first time in her life, her brain wasn’t functioning.
Who knew that could be so sexy?
“Bother me? Nah,” he said absently. His eyes traced a path over her face, down her throat and across the swell of her breasts. Like a warm caress, she felt their touch deep in her belly.
“So what do you do for a living?” he asked, clearly trying to steer the conversation back to safe ground.
Well, there ya go, he’d found her one surefire passion douser. Dru stared wide-eyed at this sexy, gorgeous man looking at her as if she was a wet dream, and imagined telling him she had a Ph.D. in astrophysics.
Oh, no, not going there, she promised herself. For this vacation, for this man, she was going to be just a woman. Not a scientist, not a shy geek and definitely not a sexual failure. This was all about the fantasy.
“You know, it’s vacation time,” she said quietly, taking a chance and running her finger along his thigh. “I’d rather not talk work, do you mind?”
He smiled slowly, then his gaze dropped to her bodice again. Her skin heated under his appraisal. He lifted his hand off the seat between them, rubbing the fabric of her skirt between his fingers in tactile appreciation.
“Nobody’s ever looked at me like you do,” she blurted. As soon as the words escaped, Dru wanted to grab them back. Eyes huge, she pressed her lips together and winced, waiting for his reaction.
Alex laughed. A deep, husky laugh that made her think of moonlit nights and silk sheets.
“I like looking at you. You remind me of a fairy princess. Not the cartoon kind. The kind with ancient magic. A very sexy, very intriguing magical fairy princess,” he said, that seductive smile of his still playing over his lips.
Dru couldn’t tell what heated faster, her heart or her body. Suddenly everything was a molten puddle of gooey lust. Who knew a man could seduce her with the simplest touch, the sweetest words?
Unable to stop herself, barely hearing the warning in her head to let him make the first move, Dru leaned forward. Desire flamed in his dark eyes, the sparks warning her she was so far out of her element that she might not find her way back.
But she couldn’t stop. As if in slow motion, she rubbed her lips over his. Soft. Oh, so soft.
; She started to pull back, but his gaze held hers captive.
She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe. Her heart, pounding louder than the sea itself, lodged in her throat.
Then he shifted. The tiniest fraction was all it took for him to seize control. Sure he could do a better job than her, she gladly let him take charge.
Smooth and tender, his lips danced over hers. Sliding in a sweet caress, the kiss was straight out of one of those fairy tales he’d spoken of. Oh, yeah, he was so much better at this than she was. Reveling in the sensations flashing through her system like a meteor shower, Dru hummed low in her throat.
He growled in return, shifting again. The kiss went from sweetly seductive to intensely erotic. One hand slid from her shoulders to her waist, gripping her tighter. The other plunged through the heavy curtain of her hair to curve over the back of her neck and pull her closer.
His tongue slipped, hot and wet, over the seam of her lips. He didn’t ask for entry, he demanded it. Dru’s mind spun out of orbit as he claimed her. As the shimmering heat poured through her veins, she swore she felt her brain cells actually explode in lust.
His kiss was an erotic invitation, tongue and lips seducing her. Her pulse raced and her stomach zinged. When he scraped his teeth over her sensitive lower lip, a shudder went through her, and her nipples contracted to tight, hard buds. She wished he’d touch her, stroke the aching flesh.
Dru leaned closer in unspoken invitation.
Alex slowly pulled his lips from hers. She would have moaned in protest, but she’d lost her voice.
He took a deep breath, his face as calm as ever.
Disappointment crashed over her, slapping at her confidence, mocking her desire. She was so easily set aside without her brainy persona. Albert Einstein’s face flashed through her mind, taunting that even her brainy self was easily set aside. The feminine assurance that’d urged her to pursue Alex, always a shaky thing for her, crashed.
So much for having herself a fling.
If the man could kiss her into a wet, crazy puddle of passionate longing, then set her aside with a calm smile, she was obviously out of her league. She’d be better off with the gasper. Or even the wheezer.
Then she saw the wild racing pulse in his throat. Her eyes dropped to look at their fingers, twined together on the seat, but before she did more than note how tanned he was compared to her, her gaze locked on the huge tented bulge in his slacks.
Well, well. She definitely wasn’t the only one affected, it seemed. Her shaky confidence solidified, shooting sky high.
“We should go,” Alex said as he raised their entwined fingers, brushing his knuckles along her jawline. “Our reservations are in a few minutes.”
Drucilla met his eyes, noting the sexual heat still lurking in their dark depths. She licked her lips. His eyes narrowed. She moved, just a smidge, closer. He swallowed.
She drew in a shaky breath. And she decided.
“Why don’t we skip dinner,” she said as she slipped her fingers from his and wrapped her arms around his neck. She gave him a tiny, hopefully seductive smile and pulled his head down to hers. Millimeters away from the delicious delight of his lips, she whispered, “We can start with dessert instead.”
AS HER LIPS MOVED over his, shock rocked his system. Not only because of her invitation, although that was making his mind spin. But at her kiss. This definitely wasn’t a bashful kiss.
God, he couldn’t wait to get her naked. The world would tilt off its axis. Did she like it gentle and slow? Or would she let herself go? He’d seen her in a bikini, knew her body was long and slender. But he wanted—needed—to see her naked. To test the weight of her breasts. To see the color of her nipples, pressing so delicately against the silken fabric of her dress.
Torturing himself, he pulled his lips away to trace kisses along her cheek, over her jaw. He leaned closer to breathe in her fragrance. Soft and light, it reminded him of warm spring nights in a garden. It was all he could do not to bury his face in her soft silvery curtain of hair and see if her scent was stronger there.
His body ached. His fingers tingled. He needed to touch her. To taste her. To feel her body as she exploded for him. He wanted to strip her naked so he could taste that smooth skin, kissed pale gold by a day in the sun.
His dick, straining for attention, was a throbbing reminder of just how exciting she was. But taking her to bed before he’d even taken her to dinner just seemed…hot. Sexy. Wildly tempting.
And pushy.
Only a jerk got pushy with a fairy princess.
He leaned back and gave her a shaky smile.
“Don’t you know it’s bad to have dessert first?” he forced himself to offer, his voice as tight as his body.
When the hell he’d turned into such a gentleman, he had no idea. But he couldn’t yank the words back, so he forced a patient smile onto his face and prepared to talk his dick down.
Her eyes, so expressive, flashed. First confusion, then irritation, then determination. Alex realized that for all her ethereal looks, Drucilla wasn’t a woman to be condescended to.
Nor was she a quick fling, someone to do on the first date. Regardless about his feelings toward commitment, he’d never been a one-night kind of guy. And after just one day, he had the feeling he was going to want to see a lot more of Drucilla. Quite a lot more.
He’d called her a fairy princess. Pure sexual fantasy was more like it. He was completely and totally rock hard. From just a kiss. A fully clothed, no groping, simple kiss.
And now he was putting a halt to things.
God, he was an idiot.
“You’re right. Dessert first is bad,” Drucilla agreed, scattering his thoughts all to hell and back when she slid her hand up his chest so that he felt each and every finger’s caress through the thin fabric of his shirt.
She leaned closer and brushed her lips over his again, leaving fiery tingles as she pulled back and gave him a seductive look through her lashes.
“But for once,” she told him quietly, “I’d love to see how bad I can be.”
5
ALEX’S MIND WENT NUMB while his dick went hard. Harder? Even harder than before, if that was possible.
“Bad?” he asked, even as he ran his hands over the warm curve of her shoulders and down her spine. In a quick, easy move he had her sitting across his lap. She gave a breathless giggle and linked her own hands behind his neck again to steady herself.
“Bad,” she repeated. Tilting her chin to meet his kiss, she whispered against his mouth, “As bad as I could possibly be.”
Breath hitching a little at her words, he thought of all the ways he’d like to be bad with her. A couple involved toys, one included hot oil and a rubber mat and, for a second, his mouth watered at the idea of leather restraints.
Then he blinked, focusing on Drucilla again. Sweet, ethereal and hardly up for his kinkier fantasies. But the rest of his fantasies? His finger traced the pale, gentle curve of her cheekbone, skimming over the sharp edge of her jaw to trace a path down her swanlike throat.
Her soft sigh verged on a purr.
Oh, yeah, she was pure fantasy material. Of the sweetest kind, actually. And from the look on her face, he was starring front and center in a few of her fantasies, too.
Despite the waves of passion pounding over him, Alex had to smile at the earnest lust shining in her eyes. Two emotions he’d never have put together. It made him feel like a super-hero, a sexual guru whose knowledge she was desperately eager to partake of.
And, hey, if she was willing to climb the mountain, who was he to deny her his pearls of wisdom. In moderation, of course. He didn’t want to scare her.
Eager to fulfill both of their cravings, he swept his lips over hers. She tasted like wine. But beneath the essence of grapes was something darker, something intensely delicious. Something he couldn’t resist.
Alex slid into the kiss with pleasure. Tracing his tongue over the fullness of her bottom lip, he reveled in the texture of
her mouth, in the softness of her tongue as it danced lightly against his.
She was delicious. He could feel just the hint of hesitation in her, as if she didn’t have a lot of experience. Warning himself again not to rush her, he became lost in her flavor.
It wasn’t until he felt the tight bud of her nipple nudging his palm that he realized he’d curved his hand over her breast. That’s how entranced he was by the magic of her mouth. But now that his hand had kicked a signal to his brain, he widened his focus.
Small enough to do justice to going braless, but generous enough to fill his cupped palm perfectly, her breast pressed against the flowery silk.
Before he could do more than wish he could see what was beneath the fabric, her hand slid under her curtain of hair and with a couple flicks of her fingers, the material sagged beneath his palm.
“One of your bad-girl moves?” he teased, pleased to see his words chase away the shadowy nerves from her eyes.
“Care to counter it with a bad-boy response?” she teased right back, a tiny smile playing at the edges of that sexy mouth.
A hundred responses, only a few verbal, crowded Alex’s mind. Enjoying the anticipation, he held her gaze with his as, with one hand still cupping her breast through the silk, he reached up to trail the other along the loosened, gaping fabric. He saw the expectation in her eyes, felt her chest rise as she sucked in a quick breath.
But he was going slow here. So instead of pulling her dress free, he leaned forward to press a wet, openmouthed kiss against the silk.
She gasped, her hand lifting to his head to keep him from moving back. He liked that. Liked that she was willing to let him know what she wanted.
It boded well for the rest of their little adventure.
He wet the fabric with damp heat while softly kneading her other breast through the silk. Using his teeth, he scraped the fabric. She gasped in approval and curled her fingers into his hair.
