Heat Waves

by Janelle Denison

  "Not just yet," he murmured, and brushed his fingers along the slope of her shoulder where the strap of her silk tank top gave way to smooth, tanned flesh. Much to his pleasure, he discovered her skin was just as soft as it looked.

  He felt a shiver course through her and raise goose bumps on her arm. "John might—"

  "John isn't going to bother us again," he assured her. "And he can't see us, Erica. The back and side windows are tinted, and we have a few minutes before you need to be inside."

  She gave him a sidelong glance, her gaze cautious. "Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

  She was nervous, and he understood that. For as much as he wanted her, he wanted to do this right even more. "As a matter of fact, yeah, there is."

  Reaching down to her hip, he unbuckled her seat belt, knowing he was making it easy for her to flee, if that's what she chose to do. She remained seated, but judging by the rapid rise and fall of her breasts and the taut nipples grazing the silk of her top, she was just as affected by their close proximity. The heat gathering inside the car had little to do with the outside weather.

  He let his hand linger at her hip, and his thumb lightly caressed the slender indentation of her waist. "So, would you say that this constitutes the end of our date?"

  She nodded, and touched her tongue to her upper lip – a nervous gesture, he realized. "Yes."

  Her voice was low and husky. Arousing him. Making him want her more than he already did. "How would you like the date to end, Erica?"

  A kiss or sex? The unspoken question swirled in the air, heightening the sexual tension arching between them.

  An unexpected impish grin made an appearance. "Sex in this small car might be kind of difficult," she teased.

  "I can think of a dozen different things I could do to you in this small car," he countered easily. "So don't discount the possibility if that's what you want."

  Her eyes widened in startled shock. "I was joking, Ian."

  He'd known that, but he'd been very serious, willing and able to give her anything she desired. "How about a kiss, then?"

  She considered that for a few seconds. "Depends. Are we talking about the same kind of kiss you gave me when we met earlier?"

  A chaste brush of his lips across the cheek. It had suited the purpose of a first meeting, but after craving her for a month, he wanted much, much more than that now. "No. That was a 'hello' kiss."

  "And this would be…?" she prompted curiously.

  "'I had a great time' kiss," he said, lifting his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, an excuse to keep touching her. "An 'I like you' kiss." His finger traced the shell of her ear and found the soft, sensitive hollow beneath her lobe. "An 'I want you' kiss."

  Her eyes grew dark with velvet sensuality and a wanting that matched his own. "Wow, you can say all that with a kiss?" She sounded suitably impressed as well as doubtful.

  He rose to the challenge. "Sure can." He leaned forward until his side pressed against the center console. The rest was up to her. "C'mere and I'll show you."

  Slowly, she shifted and obeyed his command, meeting him halfway, until their lips were mere inches apart. He caught the scent of mint on her breath and saw the anticipation etching her feminine features.

  He threaded his fingers through her loose hair and slipped them around to the back of her head, wondering if she'd left her hair down for him because of his provocative comment from a few nights ago. There's something incredibly erotic about having a woman's hair wrapped around my hands and being able to hold her where I want her. Whether she had or not, he savored the silken feel of each strand wrapped around his fingers, caressing his hands.

  He lowered his head for their first kiss, and watched her lashes flutter closed. "I had a great time," he whispered, just before his mouth touched hers, downy-soft and fleeting. A kiss as sweet as the cotton-candy flavor slicked across her tips and filling his senses.

  His fingers tightened in her hair as he tipped her chin up and angled her head to the side for better access. She sighed, relaxed and followed his lead.

  "I like you…" he murmured. Advancing to the next level of intimacy, he increased the pressure of his mouth until her lips parted for him on their own accord, inviting him inside. As much as he ached to delve deeper, he kept a tight rein on his control, taking this one luxurious step at a time. She had a soft, sensuous mouth made expressly for kissing. He nibbled, suckled and flirted, leisurely exploring tastes and textures for the first time.

  A frustrated sound rolled up in her throat, and she scooted closer and placed trembling, tentative fingers against his cheek. Her touch made him burn all the way down to the burgeoning erection straining the fly of his jeans. Giving her a little of what she wanted, he swept his tongue across her lush bottom lip, gradually escalating to the kind of kiss that would be as passionate and intense as their attraction. When she repeated the erotic gesture to him, undeniable need ripped through him.

  "I want you," he groaned, and unable to hold back any longer he finally unleashed his restraint. His lips covered hers in a kiss that was as passionate as it was possessive. His tongue stroked deeply, voluptuously, coaxing her to share in the wet heat they generated, revel in the soft flare of fire burning between them. She responded in a way he never could have anticipated, with a rapacious hunger beyond his wildest dreams. She clung to him, greedily returning the kiss and drawing his tongue into her mouth with shameless abandon.

  Her enthusiasm thrilled him, and stole his sanity. Heart pumping furiously, he slid a hand downward to cup her rounded breast in his hand, then finessed the ripe, hardened tip through her bra with his thumb and finger. Her supple flesh swelled against his palm, the full, feminine weight a perfect, voluptuous fit. The velvet heat of his tongue stroked hers, deep and explicit, making him ache to taste and lave her elsewhere.

  The guttural growl that erupted from him was an instinctive response, primitive and purely male. A warning for him to stop before they went further than either of them intended. Knowing they were damn close to doing those dozen different things in the car that he'd warned her about, he reluctantly dropped his hand from her breast and pulled back and ended the kiss.

  She stared at him in utter astonishment, as if she couldn't believe she'd let him take such liberties. As if she couldn't believe she'd been so brazen in return. Her cheeks were flushed with the high color of excitement, and she seemed to struggle for each labored breath she took. But she gave no indication that she regretted the kiss, which gave him hope that there would be many more to enjoy.

  He untangled his fingers from her hair and let his thumb skim along her silken jaw before falling away. Her skin was damp, from the humidity that found its way inside the car, and arousal, no doubt. "I take it by the way you kissed me back that you want me just as much?"

  "Yeah, I guess I do," she replied huskily, still seemingly dazed by what had just transpired between them. Slowly, she moved back to her side of the car. Her fingers fluttered to her wet lips, and she shook her head in amazement. "Wow, you're a great kisser."

  She made it sound as though she'd kissed too many toads in her lifetime and had finally found a prince. Could that really be possible?

  He couldn't stop the pleased smile that tugged at his lips. "It's not just me, Erica, it's us. We're great together."

  She grinned wryly. "There's no disputing that there's plenty of sexual chemistry between us.

  "Oh, yeah," he agreed. Explosive, erotic chemistry. His blood still rushed in hot rivulets through his veins, and his lower body was rock hard and clamoring for the kind of release he'd fantasized about since the first time he'd heard her voice on the radio.

  And now that he knew what she looked like, now that he'd caressed her soft skin and tasted the incredible sweetness of her mouth, he had no desire to revert back to being just on-the-air acquaintances. She awakened feelings in him that had been buried for years and made him forget about those haunting aspects of his past that had consumed him for too long.r />
  "I want to see you again," he said abruptly.

  Her eyes flashed uncertainties in the shadowed interior of the car, and she seemed to withdraw into herself. "Ian, I'm not looking for anything serious or complicated." She glanced down at the flowers in her lap, studying them with too much interest before meeting his gaze again. Her chin rose a notch. "I've been there before, in a serious relationship, that is, and I'm just not ready to go there again. Right now, my career is my first and foremost priority."

  He appreciated her honesty, and was curious about that previous relationship she'd mentioned and how it had influenced her decision to remain single. Personal questions tumbled through his mind, but he knew now wasn't the time or place to embark on a serious conversation. Nor was he especially keen on spilling his own past secrets. And how could he ask something of her when he wasn't ready to reciprocate?

  He needed more time with her. He wanted to give the undeniable attraction between them a chance to develop into something that went beyond their on-the-air association. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to appease the restless longing in his soul. In order to gain more time, he decided to cater to the doubts and the glimmer of vulnerability he detected in the depths of her eyes.

  "You know," he began easily, his deep voice reverberating in the interior of the car, "I don't remember asking for anything serious or complicated."

  Amusement flitted across her beautiful, classic features, chased by a fair amount of interest. "What are you suggesting? An affair?"

  She didn't sound opposed to the idea, and his mind conjured images of the two of them together, their naked bodies tangled amid cool cotton sheets. Her arching beneath him, moaning in pleasure, her slender legs wrapped around his waist. Her sliding above him, straddling his hips and moving rhythmically as she coaxed him to the brink. Them soaring over the edge together in a powerful, shuddering climax.

  That wild, seductive vision he dreamed of every night was the culmination of the mental fantasies they'd both participated in during their sizzling, on-air debates.

  "If you think about it, we've been having an affair from the first call I made to the station. Maybe not physically," he quickly clarified when her raised brows expressed her disbelief. "But most definitely here, in our minds, which is sometimes the best foreplay there is." He brushed the tips of his fingers against her damp temple for emphasis.

  A wicked, teasing smile made an appearance. "So, you want mind sex?"

  "I want you, Erica. Mind sex and all." He'd established his desire for her with that scintillating embrace they'd just shared. However, he'd like to think that intimate kiss was just a prelude to satiating more provocative and erotic needs. "But for right now, I'd settle for another date. Without chaperones this time." He deliberately posed his request as a comment rather than a direct, intimidating question.

  She seemed to consider the idea for a moment, then cast a quick glance at her gold-toned wristwatch. "You know, we really ought to head upstairs before Carly and Dan start to worry about me."

  He accepted her diversion without argument. Considering her sudden reserve regarding them as a couple, he hadn't been expecting an answer. Not yet, anyway. But he would.

  He wasn't done with Erica McCree.

  *

  INSTEAD OF HER NORMAL quick jaunt up the flights of stairs leading to the radio station, Erica rode the old, slow, creaky elevator with Ian up to the fifth floor. They stepped out of the stuffy lift, and he followed her down the hall to WTLK's offices.

  "Is it me after that steamy kiss in the car, or is it hot in here?" he asked from beside her, his mellow voice infused with a light, teasing quality.

  Awareness quivered through Erica, and her pulse quickened at Ian's not-so-subtle reminder of their breathtaking kiss. The man was an irresistible rogue, which was part of his appeal, she had to admit. He was sexy, confident and altogether too tempting. And the combination was a lethal one that hit her dead-center in her sorely neglected libido, which had tingled to life at the first touch of his lips on hers.

  She was still tingling, and she had no idea how she was going to survive tonight's topic – orgasms – without having one of her own from all the sexual tension building within her. She supposed that would certainly make for scintillating talk radio.

  "I'm thinking it's probably a combination of both," she returned just as sassily. She stopped at the vending machine to purchase herself a bottle of cold water to hopefully douse the burning sensation lingering in her belly.

  He had a dollar bill out of his wallet and into the machine before she could dig money out of her purse. "Feeling a little overheated yourself?" he murmured seductively.

  "Maybe," she said, unwilling to admit just how turned on she still was and give him that bit of leverage over her. Not when they were minutes away from being on the air together. She feared he'd latch onto that awareness and turn the tables on her in front of her listeners. And she was determined to remain in control of tonight's discussion about their date.

  She pushed the button for her water, and the plastic bottle dropped to the bottom slot. She picked it up, turned around and found herself surrounded by two hundred solid pounds of pure male testosterone. Ian casually lifted a broad hand and braced his palm on the vending machine behind her, holding her hostage between firm muscle that was just as strong and unyielding as the metal behind her. And damned if she didn't have the unbridled urge to rip his shirt off and test the resilience of his taut flesh with her fingers, taste the salt on his skin with her tongue, and experience the heady sensation of his bare chest rubbing against her breasts.

  He leaned close, his warm breath wafting across her cheek. "You know, if you're as hot as I am, there's more than one way to extinguish the fire." His voice was a husky purr, and as intimate as a lover's caress.

  She felt that amorous stroke all the way down her spine and whispering across her thighs – or was that the brush of his legs against hers causing all that wild static electricity? Whatever the cause, the arousing sensation elicited a very female response deep within her.

  She shored her sensual defenses against this man, which wasn't an easy task. "Water will do for now."

  He grinned wickedly, and her stomach dipped again. "Let me know if you change your mind."

  The hint of accepting another date with him was evident in his tone, but just like in the car, he didn't pressure her for a reply and she was grateful. Her hormones were clamoring inside her, screaming at her to tell him yes. But despite her body's restless response to Ian, deeper insecurities kept her firmly grounded.

  Before she took that giant step with Ian, before she turned one date into two and allowed things between them to become any more intimate than they already had, she had to be certain that she could handle a fun, sexy, uncommitted affair with him. Mind sex. Carnal sex. Any way she looked at it, it would no doubt be great sex.

  She swallowed hard at the tantalizing thought. In all honesty, she wasn't certain she had the ability to separate physical pleasure from emotional need with Ian, and that's what worried her. He only had to look at her and she melted inside. Her heart rate increased at the sound of his seductive voice. And she ached for him like she'd never ached for another man.

  All warning signals she knew she'd be smart to heed. She'd moved to Chicago to escape a dominating relationship and to start out fresh and new. To make better choices than her mother and sister had. To build her career as a DJ without her goals being sidetracked by a man – especially a gorgeous, virile man like Ian.

  She was feeling torn, her desire for Ian clashing with the insecurities she thought she'd left behind in California. The weakness of wanting a man. The fear of getting so caught up in a relationship that it led to dependency and personal destruction.

  The big question remained: could she enjoy the time with Ian and walk away in the end still independent and successful with her woman's heart unscathed? She had no reassuring answer.

  Inhaling a deep breath and ready to get down to t
he business end of their date, she slipped around Ian and opened the door that led into the radio station. He followed, and they were greeted with more humid warmth, which brought her mind back to Ian's initial remark about the oppressive temperature in the building.

  "I'm really sorry about the heat in here, but there's not a lot we can do about it other than putting extra fans in the outer offices," she said, thinking if she was lucky the heat would cut Ian's visit to the station short and he'd be on his way before she launched into tonight's actual topic of discussion. "The air-conditioning unit is old and temperamental, and after running all day it's usually out of oomph by early evening."

  He glanced around at his surroundings as she led him to the back studios. "Is there a reason why it hasn't been fixed or replaced?"

  "Money, mostly. And approval from the owner. Can't do it without either."

  He frowned, taking in the outdated office furnishings, the gray, dingy walls, and the linoleum floors that were cracked and peeling in places. "Why doesn't the owner make sure his employees have a comfortable working environment?"

  "Because she doesn't want to have anything to do with the radio station and refuses to spend a penny on renovations." Stopping at a small closet, she put her personal belongings on a shelf. "Marvin, the owner, passed away a few months ago and his widow inherited the station. Suffice to say that the employees' comfort isn't a high priority for Virginia."

  His dark brows furrowed in confusion. "Then why is she holding on to the station?"

  "She isn't. Not by choice, anyway. She's eager to unload the business and recently put the station on the market," she told him, and took a drink of her water. "Virginia would love to make a mint from the sale, so most of us are wondering if anyone will pay the inflated price she's asking, or if WTLK is facing eventual bankruptcy from her sucking the business dry because no one's interested in purchasing a run-down station."

  He braced his hands on his hips as his critical gaze scoured the area. "I don't know, I see lots of potential."