Off it came, thrown onto the growing discard pile. She wanted to look just right. Tonight she and Ames were going to have dinner at his place—she was buying—and then, oh, baby, they were going to get to know each other.
Only he didn’t have a clue about any of that yet.
She’d given him several days to miss her terribly and wrestle with himself over what he felt and what he should do about her, while she got used to NYEspresso. Good strategy, but enough was enough. She missed him, missed his smiles and frowns and alternating exasperation and joy in their time together, and how hard he fought against letting himself relax and have fun. And how hard he fought the inevitability of their crazed passion.
“Did he tell you about that dinner?”
Eva extracted a glittering orange knit hat. “What dinner? When?”
“This big black-tie client dinner at one of the city’s best restaurants. He asked me to go with him right before I left.”
“Well, if he hasn’t found another date yet, he can take me.” She scowled at the orange hat.
“Are you kidding me? Stuffy in the extreme. You’d hate it. That’s my point, Eva. I can’t see you and Ames together. You’re not his type, either.”
“Yes, I am.” She was back at the gym bag, pulling out a green brimmed cap. “I totally am. He just hasn’t figured it out yet.”
Silence, except for some by now familiar and increasingly loud noises of incredulity.
“Chris?” Eva paused, one leg up on the stool. “Do you need a Heimlich?”
“Eva...” Chris blew out a long breath. “You don’t know the guy. You can’t trust early infatuation. You should know that after all the relationship train wrecks you’ve had.”
“Don’t worry. It will take him a while to understand that he feels the same way about me. I just have to make sure it’s less than a month before he proposes.”
“Before he—” Another sigh. “Eva, my darling sister, you sound like a crazy person.”
Eva laughed and gave the hat a thumbs-up in the mirror, pulling her hair so it cascaded out of the material and over one shoulder. “Yes, I know. But I don’t feel crazy, I feel fabulous. And if I get my heart smashed again, okay, at least I’ll have fun trying, and someday I’ll rise to try again. This is just how I roll. Now tell me what’s going on in California. How’s business? How are you settling in?”
“Well...now that you ask.” Her sister’s voice turned low and suggestive. “Zac—”
“Zac?” Eva nearly fell off the stool in her excitement. Chris and Zac? Why hadn’t she thought of it before? How perfect! She’d found Ames, now Zac could fall in love with her sister, and vice versa. “You’re dating him?”
“Who, Zac?” Chris sounded as if she’d just stepped in something disgusting.
“Oh. Guess not.”
“God, no. He’s so... I don’t know, overbearing or something.”
Eva rolled her eyes. Chris could be so judgmental. “No, he’s not, he’s a total sweetheart!”
Chris chuckled. “Wait, didn’t we just have this same conversation about Ames?”
“Yes, yes. But then we shouldn’t be surprised.” She pawed through the gym bag, pulled out a green-and-white fringed poncho. “We figured out we have different tastes in men around age ten.”
“You were Jesse McCartney, I was Daniel Radcliffe.”
“Beautiful Soul vs. Harry Potter.” She dropped the poncho over her head, careful of her phone. “So who’d you meet?”
“An incredible guy. Sweet, sensitive, sexy as hell. His name is Gus.”
Eva’s eyes shot open and stayed there. “Gus Banyon?”
“Yes! That’s him! You know him?”
“Uh...yeah.” She tried not to sound dismayed. Gus Banyon was a narcissistic moron child. “How many times have you gone out?”
“We just met once, then he had to go to some surf thing, but there’s magic happening, I’ll tell you.”
Uh-oh. “Like bed magic or heart magic?”
“We’ll start with one then see about the other. Unlike someone I know, I just think the guy’s hot. I’m not planning to bear his children.”
“Humph. I know what I’m doing.” She hopped down from the stool again. Getting dressed in this tiny office was like a step aerobics class. From the gym bag, an outer pocket this time, she pulled out a pair of jade-and-silver earrings that looked like tiered fans and reached nearly to her shoulders. “But I also know Gus, and he’s—”
“How well do you know him?”
“Well enough.”
“About as well as I know Ames?”
“But... That’s not... But...” Eva threw up her hands in surrender. “Okay, I get it. We both make our own mistakes and live with them.”
“As if it’s ever been any other way.”
“I know, I know.” She secured the second earring and lifted the phone from her shoulder, tipping her head the other way to ease the cramp in her neck. “So, I have finished making myself irresistible, I gotta go.”
“Go where?”
“Not telling!”
“You’re going out with Ames again, aren’t you,”
“Maybe. What are you doing today?”
“Not telling!”
“Say hi to Gus.”
“Say hi to Ames!”
Eva hung up the phone, giggling. Chris was a smart woman. She’d figure out sooner or later that Gus might be insanely hot, but he was also a member of a less evolved species. That was inevitable. In the meantime, Chris had some man fun to think about in her new surroundings, though why Zac had rubbed her the wrong way Eva couldn’t imagine. If Eva could have fallen passionately in love with Zac sometime over the past three years since she’d opened Slow Pour and he’d become a regular, she would have. In fact, she wished she could call him right now, but he was crazy busy with applications and she was having adventures here, and they’d agreed before she left that it would be easier, especially if they met other people, to stay away from each other. Maybe he’d already fallen in love with Chris. Most guys did.
Having settled on her outfit, she left the shop and ran to Happy Family restaurant to pick up her order, then hurried around to Ames’s building on Forty-Third Street, where she greeted the doorman, Frank, a friendly soul in an NFL player’s body.
“Hi, Eva. I’m well, thanks. How are you this evening?”
“I’m in a great mood. Is Ames in? He’s not expecting me.” She held up the bag of takeout. “I’ve got his favorites.”
She had no idea if Ames even liked chicken with black-bean sauce or shrimp with cashews, let alone loved them enough to label favorites, but she wanted in on Frank’s good side.
“He’s a lucky guy.” Frank picked up the phone and dialed. “Hello, Mr. Cooke, this is Frank downstairs. Eva Meyer is here to see you.”
She held up the bag and pointed insistently.
“With dinner,” Frank added.
She gave him a thumbs-up.
“Ah.” Frank’s smile faded.
Eva faked a cough to cover her nervous giggle. Poor Frank. Poor Ames! All flustered and probably pissed off. He was perfectly welcome to tell her to go away if he wanted to.
She just hoped he wouldn’t want to.
Frank hung up the phone and cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes. “You can go up. Six B.”
Yes! She nearly keeled over with relief, already on her way to the elevator. “Thanks, Frank!”
Tick, tick, tick...the elevator could not have gone slower. At least she was alone, so no one would bear witness to her very entertaining dance of joy with takeout.
At the sixth floor, she tumbled out and raced for his door, then stopped and adopted a casual oh-so-cool attitude before she rang the bell.
Poor grouchy Ames was in for the night of his life.
5
AMES OPENED THE door looking like a very sexy, disheveled, unshowered thundercloud. “Eva.”
“Hello, Ames.”
“What are you doing here?”
She held up the bag. “Bringing you dinner. What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
“So you say. May I come in?”
“Aw, jeez, Eva...” Ames shoved his hand through his bedhead, scowling. “It’s not really a good time.”
She gasped, pretending horror. “You have another woman over?”
“No.” He spoke immediately and then looked as if he wished he could take the word back.
“You’re in the middle of something really important?”
Ames glanced at the bag, then at her. The pungent, salty smell was enticing. “Uh...sort of.”
“Work?”
He looked exasperated. “No, not really.”
“Goofing off having a lazy, sloppy, smelly Saturday by yourself watching TV and planning cheese, crackers and beer for dinner and you don’t want to admit it?”
He stared at her, then broke into a chuckle. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” Eva blinked innocently. She hadn’t done anything. She was just in good touch with her instincts. “Can I come in?”
“All right.” He backed away from the door and gestured her in. “Welcome to my sloth.”
Success! She walked in, trying to hide her delight, and looked around appraisingly. Shoes and socks on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink. “This isn’t bad. You should have seen my room as a kid.”
“You were a slob?”
“Unbelievable.” She put the takeout bag on the granite kitchen counter and began unpacking cardboard containers. “Chris’s room? She put everything away every night. I wallowed in mess. My mom would come in and yell, ‘Until you pick this room up, I am not vacuuming.’ Like that was a threat?”
“Ah, the rebel child.”
“I’m guessing you weren’t.”
“Nah, that was my brother’s job.” He went to the refrigerator. “Want a beer?”
“Sure, thanks.”
He put two bottles on the counter. Sierra Nevada pale ale. California beer. A good omen. “Are you still a slob?”
“Well...you can see some floor in my bedroom now. I need at least a few square feet to meditate every day.” She folded the empty paper bag. “So have you been thinking about me as much as I’ve been thinking about you for the last four days?”
Ames got that frozen look on his face he did when she surprised him. “Uh...”
“Recycling?” She smiled blandly as if she hadn’t just asked an incredibly personal question and held up the bag.
“There.” He pointed to a blue can between the refrigerator and wall.
“I got the food spicy. Hope you don’t mind.” She turned from tossing the bag and held his gaze. “I really like it hot.”
His eyes were amazing, large and dark and so expressive. Like now, it was obvious she’d freaked him out again. What fun.
Ames blew out a breath. “Um, I’d like to shower before we eat so I can feel human again. If that’s okay with you.”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
More than fine. It was perfect! Eva watched until he’d disappeared though a door into what must be his bedroom, then put the unopened beer back in the refrigerator. Crossing the living room, she waited until the shower started. Waited until the water had been running two minutes. Then she slipped into the large and attractively laid out but rather bland master bedroom, and headed for what must be the bathroom. Praying the door didn’t squeak or creak loudly, she pushed it open a crack and peeked.
Ooh. Glass shower stall.
So nice.
This would work fine.
She pulled her head back, undressed down to what nature gave her, and tiptoed into the bathroom, where Ames was shampooing his hair, suds streaming down his face and chest.
Mmm.
So, so nice.
Ready or not, Ames, here you come.
“Hello.”
“Eva!” His eyes shot open into the stream of suds. He jammed them shut immediately and swore. “What are you doing?”
“Joining you.” She opened the glass door and stepped carefully into the shower.
“You are not—”
“Too late. Sorry.”
Ames opened his eyes cautiously but didn’t bother covering himself. Which, given that his earring was all he was wearing besides soap, and that he had a perfectly proportioned body in fabulous shape, was a wonderful thing.
Even more fun, while Eva enjoyed the view, Ames was giving her the same once-over, face to breasts, breasts to belly, belly to loins, loin to toes.
She didn’t bother covering herself, either.
“Eva...”
“I thought you might like a little company.” She glanced again at his really nicely shaped penis—not too big, not too small—which had already recovered from its shock and was rising to honor her occasion. “Apparently I thought right?”
He let his head drop into his hands.
Eva decided that would be a really good opportunity to see if his body felt as good pressed against hers as she imagined it would.
It did.
Ames groaned. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Doing what?” She kissed his chin, kissed his chest, kissed one broad biceps, the other, then his chest again. “Making you feel wonderful? Letting you know I like you? And that I want you?”
She kissed one nipple, grazing it lightly with her teeth, heard him suck in a breath, which she took as permission to do the same on the other side. Then she thought it would be a really good idea to slide down his body to her knees and take his absolutely fabulous erection into her mouth.
His groan of pleasure told her she was right again.
“Eva.”
“Mmm?”
“I should tell you to stop...”
“No, you shouldn’t. Why would you?”
“Dunno.” Ames sucked in a quick breath. “That...that feels very, very good.”
She was glad. He tasted clean and male, slid smoothly in and out between her lips. She explored his balls, manipulating them, squeezing gently, feeling the textured skin tightening under her fingers as his arousal grew.
He widened his stance, put his hand to her head, stroking her hair, clearing it from her face, moving his body to redirect the shower spray when it hit her face and made it harder to breathe. Thoughtful. Almost tender.
She peeked up at him. His eyes were closed now, jaw jutted slightly, head tipped back, arm supporting him on the shower wall, stomach flat and muscled, pelvis moving back and forth, one of the sexiest sights she’d seen in a long, long time.
She increased her rhythm, fisted the base of his cock, swirling her tongue around its tip, reaching underneath with her other hand to stroke the hidden base of his penis.
Ames’s eyes shot open, his lips parted.
Arousal jolted through Eva as if she was being pleasured herself. She felt extraordinarily in tune with him, not as if she were feeling her way with a new lover, but confident that she knew what would feel best to him, what he wanted, where, when, how fast and how hard. It almost seemed she’d become part of him.
This was supposed to be her seduction. Now he was seducing her, as well.
“Eva.” His voice betrayed a touch of desperation, his breath coming faster. He was close; she knew it as if she was about to come herself, and renewed the pressure of her lips. Ames threaded his fingers into her hair, controlling her for one, two thrusts, then his hand tightened nearly painfully and he moaned and emptied into her mouth in bursts she let run out and mingle with the warm jets of water.
After another minute, the shower turned off. Silence except for Ames’s slowing breaths.
Eva stood, not sure what to expect. Would he be angry at himself for losing control? For letting her continue? Would he be angry at her for intruding into his shower and seducing him into something he hadn’t wanted to happen, except on an irresistible physical level?
He was so handsome, hair and skin glistening with water droplets, face flushed, eyes still darken
ed, grooves deepening around his sexy mouth. She was crazy about him. He was the one.
You know, probably. For a while, anyway.
“Whoa.” Ames drew his hands down his face. “That was a surprise, Eva. Another one.”
She stood still, arms at her sides, peeking up at him, still unsure of his mood. “A nice one?”
“A really nice one.” He took her shoulders, watching her intently, as if he was trying to make up his mind about something. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t been able to peg his mood; he couldn’t figure it out, either. “I guess I better get used to the unexpected around you.”
Get used to it! That meant he wanted her around. That meant there would be more fun times. She’d done her job! They were off and running into the near future.
Oddly, she didn’t feel the giddy rush of victory she expected. She felt rather solemn and slightly shaken. She was even trembling, strangely out of her element in a situation she’d instigated.
“I guess you better.” Her voice was too high, a bit thin.
“You’re cold.” He opened the shower door and grabbed a thick navy bath sheet, about the size of two of her towels. “Mind sharing?”
“Not at all.” She forced herself to look perky and cheerful. “Looks like there’s plenty to go around.”
“Literally.” He captured her in the thick, soft material, bringing her an inch from his face. She caught her breath, gazing into his eyes. “Hello, Eva.”
Keep it light. Keep it fun. Keep it under control. “Why, hello, Ames. Fancy meeting you here in your shower! It’s almost as if—”
He bent forward unexpectedly. His mouth was soft and warm; he kissed her lingeringly, leisurely, over and over, making her whole body tingle and her heartbeat all thumpy and strange.
When he finally drew back, she stared up as if he’d sucked out her brain, unable to think of a thing to say.
That had to be a first.
Her silence continued as he dried her with the king-size towel. Her back, her shoulders, her face and hair, gentle and thorough. Her breasts, her stomach, then he knelt to dry the backs of her legs, which meant his face was—
Ohh, my.
His tongue circled her clitoris, warm and slippery, pulled back, circled again, making her gasp. He knelt and parted her with his fingers, tasted the length of her, then settled in, licking and suckling her clitoris until her knees threatened to give way from the pleasure. She braced herself on the glass-and-tile walls of the shower and spread her legs farther, moaning when his finger slid boldly inside her, back, out and in again.
Some Like It Hotter Page 6
