The Favor

by Cara Summers

  “What do I do if trouble shows up?” the stranger asked.

  Ryder’s smile was grim. “Eliminate it.”

  “What about the woman?”

  “Keep her here.”

  “And if she objects?”

  “She’s reasonable.”

  “She’s a woman. Sometimes they’re not reasonable.”

  “You’re a Shakespeare nut. Think Taming of the Shrew. This one’s like the sweet sister, Bianca. Plus, she has a very logical mind. Someone tried to kill her last night. Just explain to her that this is the safest place for her until I figure out what’s going on.”

  Ryder was leaving her. The hurt arrowed through her, carrying echoes of past experiences. Everyone in her life had left her. Her sisters, every time they went off with Harry. And Harry had left her too. Twice.

  Now Ryder was about to do the same thing. Riding on top of the ache came anger. She’d jumped off a roof for him, she’d hidden behind bushes, they’d used her car to escape, and now he was going to leave her with a complete stranger on a houseboat? The idea made her so…so furious that she couldn’t think.

  She raced up the stairs and strode across the deck. “You are not leaving me on this boat.”

  SHIT. Ryder thought the word, but he didn’t say it out loud. When he’d taken the coffee into the bedroom, she hadn’t stirred, and he’d planned to sneak away before she woke up. And before he was tempted to wake her up.

  “She sure doesn’t come across like Bianca.”

  “Thanks, pal,” Ryder muttered under his breath. He didn’t appreciate the humor he heard in his old friend’s voice. Nor did he appreciate the fiery light in Sierra’s eyes as she stormed across the deck.

  “You were going to leave me here, weren’t you?”

  Ryder had handled his share of angry women before. Willing his muscles to relax, he managed a smile. “Sleep well?”

  “I slept fine. And wherever you’re going, I’m going with you.”

  Reason, Ryder reminded himself. And logic. That was the way to go. But it was hard to keep his mind on either one when she stood there only about a foot away with her eyes burning like fine sapphires and that long golden hair blowing in the wind. He wanted to touch her, taste her. Every time he saw her, he wanted her more.

  The tug-of-war between what he should do to keep her safe and what he wanted to do had kept him awake most of the night. But Ramsey had been right. Becoming her lover right now wasn’t the best idea. So he’d come up with a plan. Under most circumstances, plans weren’t his forte. Usually, he depended on spur-of-the-moment decisions. But on the drive to his houseboat, he’d decided that for her safety, he’d try to keep his hands off her until the threat to her safety had been eliminated. To do that, he needed some distance.

  It had been hard enough to walk out of the bedroom without waking her. Taking her. How in hell was he supposed to walk away when she looked like some warrior goddess ready to do battle?

  Sierra took a step closer and poked a finger into his chest. “Don’t even think of talking me out of it.”

  Jed rubbed his chin. “Could be I’ve got to brush up on my Shakespeare, but if it’s the play I’m thinking of she reminds me more of Kate.”

  Sierra whirled on him, fisting her hands on her hips. “We haven’t even been introduced and you’re calling me a shrew?”

  Jed managed to keep his expression sober as he raised his free hand, palm out. “Jed Calhoun, ma’am. Ryder and I worked together in the service. He’s doing me a favor by letting me stay here. And I…think I’ll just go fishing and let the two of you work this out.”

  “I could use a little moral support here,” Ryder muttered.

  Jed gave Ryder’s shoulder an encouraging pat. “Sorry about that. I try to stay out of domestic squabbles.” He included Sierra in his smile. “But you can go ahead and take your time settling things. I intend to walk up the shore a bit and find me a spot where I can fish the entire day away. I won’t be back until sundown.”

  “Hey,” Ryder said as Jed walked down the short gangplank, “you were supposed to play bodyguard here.”

  “I don’t need him as my bodyguard,” Sierra said. “I’ve got you.”

  Jed grinned at Ryder from the shore. “She’s definitely not Bianca. If you need some help, give me a ring. I’ve got my cell.”

  Ignoring Jed, Sierra tapped her foot and glared at Ryder. “Well?”

  He cleared his throat and tried to focus. But the lecture he’d given himself during the night, the plan he’d mapped out, seemed far less operational when she was standing close enough that he could smell her, close enough that he could recall each and every nuance of her taste. “Look, I can understand why you might be a little annoyed. But my priority is to—”

  She cut him off by poking a finger into his chest again. “Annoyed? Annoyed isn’t the half of it. I jumped off a roof because you asked me to. I thought…I hoped that I’d earned just a little bit of your respect.”

  “You have.” Ryder frowned. “This doesn’t have anything to do with how much I respect you. I made your sister a promise that I would keep you safe.”

  “Well, that figures.” The wind had whipped her hair into her face and when she shoved it back, he saw the mist of tears in her eyes. He reached out to her then, but she took a quick step back.

  “In one breath, Natalie tells me that I should reach out and grab what I want, and in the next she’s asking you to make me a boat prisoner until the whole thing has been wrapped up.”

  “She didn’t. I—”

  Sierra actually pushed him with the flat of her hand this time. “And don’t tell me this doesn’t have to do with respect.”

  Whirling away, she strode to the other side of the deck, then turned to face him. “You described me as Bianca, the sweet biddable younger sister. That’s what I’ve been all my life.” She started toward him. “I thought you were different, that you understood. But you’re just like everyone else. My sisters, my father—they were so good at grabbing life, but they left me behind because they wanted to keep me safe. They couldn’t trust me to keep up.”

  “Whoa, now wait just a moment.” He snagged her by the shoulders when she reached him. “I trust you.”

  “Not enough. Or you’d take me with you.”

  He gave her a little shake. “This isn’t about you. It’s about me. I don’t trust myself. I—” How was he going to explain it to her when he was still trying to understand it himself? “I’m not going to be able to be near you and keep my hands off of you. When you kissed me in those bushes last night, I couldn’t stop you. I couldn’t stop myself. I can’t seem to resist you.”

  Her eyes widened. It wasn’t merely surprise he saw. There was heat too. And that damn pulse at the base of her throat was hammering again. The combination was shredding his control.

  Sierra moistened her lips. “What if I told you that you didn’t have to? I want your hands on me.”

  Logic. Ryder dug deep to find some. “That would be a mistake.”

  “Then you didn’t mean what you said in our phone conversation?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.” He was hip-deep in quicksand now and sinking fast. It wasn’t helping at all that the details of what he’d said to her on the phone were pouring into his mind just as they had during the long night he’d spent sleeping on the deck. Just looking at her was making his hands itch and his mouth water.

  “Look, Doc, I want to do all those things I talked about and more. If the circumstances were different, I’d do them right now. We wouldn’t even make it to the bedroom.”

  Ryder watched the pulse skip at her throat, felt his own heart kick up its rhythm in response.

  So much for using logic and reason. Every word he spoke only served to arouse them both. And it wasn’t helping one bit that he was touching her.

  Dropping his hands from her arms, he took a careful step back, closed his fingers around the railing behind him and gripped it hard.

  “I wouldn’t object to
that scenario.” She stepped toward him and put her hands on his chest. “I was going to try and seduce you, but I didn’t have time to list the steps, and I’m not very good at seduction.”

  He grabbed her wrists and broke the contact. “Doc, you’re a natural when it comes to seduction.”

  He swallowed once. He’d just have to lay it on the line for her.

  “If we give into what we’re feeling, it could interfere with my ability to protect you. Let me give you a ‘for instance.’ Last night when I left you standing on the landing, I was supposed to be checking your apartment for intruders. But I got distracted the moment I stepped into your office. One glance told me that there was no one there, but I didn’t give you the all clear or come back and get you. Instead, I left you standing there on the landing, unprotected, while those thugs were jimmying the door. And do you know what I was doing? I was looking at those diagrams on your desk and fantasizing about taking you in every single one of those positions. Right there in your office. On your desk. Disgusting, huh?”

  SIERRA TOOK one careful breath, hoping it would do something to cool the heat that had just flared through her body.

  “You see the problem, Doc?”

  Had he hoped she’d be shocked? Well, she was. But she was shocked at her own response, not at him. She’d never wanted anything or anyone as much as she wanted him. It terrified her. It energized her.

  If she just had some time to plan…but she didn’t. Taking another breath, she said the first thing that came into her mind. “Some of those positions look pretty tricky. But you’d know how to manage all of them?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You’re not disgusted.”

  She shook her head. “I want to try those positions with you.”

  “You’re something else, Doc.”

  She recognized the look he was giving her. It was a variation of you-must-be-from-another-planet look. A mixture of panic and desperation sprinted through her. “Forget I said that. I’m not good at this. If I don’t have a list to follow, I just blurt things out.” He opened his mouth, but she raised a hand. “No. Let me finish.”

  Oh, how she needed a pencil and a note card. But even as she tried to organize her thoughts into a list, it came to her in a flash. If she was going to convince him, she had to tailor her argument to suit him. And he was a businessman. “Okay. You asked me for a favor yesterday—two, in fact. And I delivered on both. I let you speed date me over the phone, and I gave your message to Mark Anderson. So I’m making you a business proposition. I want two favors in return.”

  “A quid pro quo?” he asked.

  “Exactly. Number one, I want to have a sexual relationship with you, and number two, I want to help you find Mark Anderson.”

  In the silence that followed, the nerves in her stomach began to dance again.

  “How about a compromise?” Ryder finally said.

  “What?”

  “We’ll make love, but you’ll stay here on the boat with Jed until I figure this out.”

  “No. I want to help you find Mark,” she repeated. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see the look in his eyes when he asked me for help. Besides, the thugs who kidnapped him tried to shoot me and they came after me again last night. I’m not just going to sit here and wait for you to take care of everything. I’ve spent my life sitting on the sidelines, watching and dreaming. I’m twenty-six and the only adventures I’ve ever had are the ones I’ve experienced vicariously in movies and books. This is my chance to change that. Can you understand that?”

  The problem was that he could understand it too well. Wasn’t it his own love of adventure that had prompted him to create Favors for a Fee? “Sierra—”

  She raised a hand. “Let me finish. If it’s the distraction that worries you, I have a solution for that. It’s something I do all the time when I’m trying to juggle projects. It’s just a matter of compartmentalizing our activities. During the day, we can investigate why those people kidnapped Mark Anderson and why they tried to kill me. But that leaves our nights free to….”

  “Try those positions?”

  He was getting good at blurting things out himself, Ryder decided. He vowed that later he’d try to analyze just what it was that had destroyed his thin layer of resolve. Right now, he had to concentrate on not caving anymore.

  Sierra was blinking at him. “Yes. I mean…if you’d be interested in doing that. And there are other things from my research that I’m very curious about.”

  “The diagrams are part of your sex research?”

  “Yes. But I can’t help but wonder if all of those positions are possible.”

  He took her hand and raised it to his lips. There were so many women inside of her. The nervous Nellie he’d first glimpsed at the Blue Pepper. The cool, focused scientist who could talk so calmly about plans and compartmentalizing and sex research. The passionate woman who’d poked him in the chest a few moments ago and who came alive in his arms when he kissed her. And the innocent seductress who was standing in front of him right now. He wanted all of them. “Those positions are right up my alley, Doc. I’m good with diagrams.”

  “And you’ll let me help you find out why Mark Anderson was kidnapped and who tried to shoot me?”

  “One favor at a time, Doc.” He ran a finger over the pulse at her throat. “Your skin is very delicate here.”

  Her breath hitched, and her eyes grew smoky for a second before they cleared and focused. “Two heads are better than one. Besides I already found—”

  “How about this for step one?” He brushed his lips along the line of her jaw.

  She placed two hands against his chest. “You’re trying to distract me.”

  “You’ve already distracted me. Turnabout’s fair play.”

  “Please.” She increased the pressure against his chest. “This is important to me. I was angry before, but what I said was true. I’ve spent my whole life being left behind. Plus, I think I can help.”

  Ryder sighed. Today seemed to be his day for going against his better judgment. “Okay. Okay. We’ll work together. I’ll take you with me.”

  “Good. Well, then we should get started.”

  “Right.” There were some ground rules to be laid down. Later. Right now, he wanted a real taste of her.

  Lowering his mouth, he took what he’d been craving since he’d kissed her in the bushes. Her mouth was just as soft, just as warm as he’d remembered. Her flavor streamed into him, as surprising as it had been the first time. One look at the doc and a man expected sweet, and it was there. But there was a tartness beneath and as he took the kiss deeper, he discovered something darker and richer, like the kind of chocolate that was sold only in the most exclusive shops.

  He drew back a little to see that her eyes were open and on his.

  “I thought…I can’t think while you’re kissing me.”

  “That means I’m doing it right.”

  “But…shouldn’t we be doing something?”

  He brushed his mouth against hers, and then trailed a line of kisses to her throat. “We are.”

  “I thought…”

  He nipped her ear. “You think too much, Doc.”

  Her breath caught when he dipped his tongue into her ear.

  “Shouldn’t we…?”

  “Compartmentalize?” He drew her closer, felt her body fit against his. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.” When he gripped her hips, she scooted up and wrapped her legs around him. “You’ve got a logical mind, Doc. And if I recall correctly, the sexual relationship was the first favor on your list?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s check it off.”

  8

  ONCE INSIDE his bedroom, he kicked the door shut and turned to press her against it. Then he drew back and let her slide down him until her feet were on the floor. “Last chance, Doc. If you want to change your mind, say the word now.”

  The offer was so sweet and if she had any sense she’d take him up on it, but there was heat and
that hint of leashed violence in his eyes. Both pulled at her. “I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “Good.” He began to unfasten the buttons on her shirt. Just the barest brush of his fingers on her bare skin when he shoved her shirt down her arms made her tremble.

  He stopped and studied her for a moment. “You’re not afraid?”

  She shook her head. “Just a little nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  His lips curved a bit as he lowered his eyes to what he’d uncovered. “You’re not disappointing me. I already like the view.” Very slowly, he drew his finger along the lace of her bra. “You keep surprising me, Sierra. And women don’t, as a rule. I like that you’re all practical on the outside, and then there’s this little lacy fantasy beneath.”

  He traced one finger down her breast, and then circled her nipple until she trembled again.

  “I like it when you do that.”

  “You do?” She searched his face.

  “You certainly didn’t disappointment me during our phone conversation either.”

  “I didn’t?” She searched his face. It was hard to concentrate when the movement of his fingers down her stomach left a trail of fire.

  “Just listening to the way your breath hitched when I told you how I wanted to touch you inside made me so hard I nearly came. That’s never happened to me before.”

  “Me, too. I mean…” She was so aware of when his hands stopped moving and simply rested at her waist. She felt the heat and pressure of each one of his fingers on her skin. He was standing close, but she wanted him closer so that hard lean body would be pressed against her. She could anticipate that instant whirlwind reaction, and she wanted it with a desperation that was new to her.

  “I was thinking—probably your influence, Doc.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers. “But since we both found the phone sex pleasurable, how about if I begin by touching you just the way I told you I was going to?” He drew one finger down the front of her slacks to the V between her legs.

  Sierra’s breath hitched.