Christine Rimmer – A Bravo For Christmas (страница 7)

And in half an hour, Darius would arrive to have sex with her.

Seriously, what had she been smoking to decide they should meet here and now?

She swiped a sweaty curl of hair off her forehead and pictured herself trying to seduce Darius all sticky from a hard morning’s work as her stomach rumbled, demanding lunch. What was up with her? Usually, she thought of everything. But today, she couldn’t even remember to bring a sandwich.

Her inexperience with casual sex was definitely showing. She had no time to go grab a burger or to run home for a quick shower.

Then again, she had hung gorgeous, thick designer towels in each of the bathrooms. And if, say, she was to pop into the shower for a quick rinse and then to use one of those pretty towels to dry off, she could easily take that towel home, run it through the washer and bring it back tomorrow with no one the wiser.

Ava headed for the master bath fast, before she had a chance to rethink the appropriateness of any of this. By ten of twelve, she’d cleaned up a little, wiped down the shower, primped her hair and makeup and carried the soggy towel out to her Suburban so she wouldn’t forget to take it home with her.

At a minute before noon, the doorbell rang.

Utterly breathless with her heart in her throat, she opened the door to him. He had a big white Dairy Queen bag and a box with two large soft drinks propped up in it. His face was freshly shaved, and he wore a shearling jean jacket over a gray sweater and a plaid shirt, blue jeans and lace-up work boots.

She couldn’t decide which looked better—him or that white Dairy Queen bag, which gave off the incomparable aroma of burgers and fries. “You brought lunch,” she whispered in wonder.

One wide shoulder lifted in a half shrug. “You said I wasn’t allowed to take you out, and I thought you might be hungry.” His breath plumed in the cold air.

“I’m starving.”

“Well, good then. Cheeseburgers, fries and two Cokes.”

“I worship you.”

He grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

She peered past his shoulder. “Where’s your F-150?” She stepped back to let him in.

He followed her to the open-plan kitchen. “You said no one could know. I thought, what if some random family member showed up and saw my truck? So I left it around the corner.”

“You’re clearly quite the expert at sneaking around.”

“That, I don’t like the sound of much.” At the breakfast nook table, he set down the bag and the box of drinks, hung his jacket on the back of a chair and sat down.

She took the chair across from him. “About the sneaking around, I meant it in the best possible way.”

“Right.” He tore open the bag and distributed the burgers and fries. She grabbed one of the sodas and had a long, lovely sip. “So good. Thank you.”

“Eat.”

So she did. For several delicious minutes, neither of them spoke as they demolished the food.

Eventually he remarked on the Christmas music and all the decorations. “Nice house. And definitely holiday ready.”

“Nell and Garrett build them right.”

“Yeah, they do.”

As her stomach had filled up, her jitters returned. She hardly knew what to say next. “So... You finished? Let me have all that.” She gathered up the remains of the meal and carried it to the black plastic bag of trash she’d put at the end of the island to take out with her when she left.

Her hands smelled of grilled meat and grease, so she washed them at the sink and dried them with a paper towel from the roll she’d brought with her. He got up and came to wash his hands, too.

She passed him a paper towel. As he dried, she laughed nervously and said, “Now all we need is a breath mint.”

He dipped a hand in his pocket and came out with a matched pair of candy-cane mints. “They were giving them out at the DQ.”

She took one, twisted the wrapper off and popped it in her mouth. He did the same. For a moment, they sucked in unison.

And then he reached out and touched the tip of her chin, a feather-light caress that she felt to the bottom of her soul. “You’re not getting freaked on me, are you, Ava?”

She tucked the mint into the side of her mouth and confessed, “Yeah. I am, a little. I guess I didn’t really think it all through. I mean, maybe this isn’t the best setting for the start of this thing we’re doing.”

“Now it’s a thing?” His mouth quirked at one corner. She wanted to rise up on tiptoe and kiss that faint smile, to trace that tempting bottom lip with her tongue.

Instead, she eased the mint back to the center of her mouth for a moment and sucked it some more. She had to tuck it into her cheek again before she said, “There aren’t even sheets on the beds. And it just feels wrong. Kind of shoddy, you know?”

“Shoddy. Interesting word choice.” He touched her hair. Her heartbeat ceased—and then started up again, heavy and deep. He ran his hand down the length of a curl and then rubbed the strands between his fingers. “Silky. I knew it would be. I always loved the color. Like summer wheat. And sunshine.”

It was a beautiful thing to say, and she wanted to surge up, wrap her arms around him and kiss him hard and deep. But a second ticked by and then another, and she lost her nerve. She ended up blurting out, “I’m, um, on contraception. The shots.”

“Ah.”

“And I can’t believe I forgot to bring a sandwich, but I did remember to bring condoms.”

“Did you, now?” His eyes were a swirling combination of blues, like a whirlpool out in the middle of the ocean that could suck a girl down so very deep she might never find her way up to the surface again. He let go of her hair and then touched her left temple with his fingertips. Her skin heated. Burned. He pushed his fingers close to her scalp and then combed them downward, gently parting the long strands as he went.

A tiny gasp escaped her. “They’re in my purse. A whole box.” He cradled her chin, tipping it higher. Inside, everything was shivering and burning at once. She felt a definite heaviness down low, a longing so sharp, so immeasurably sweet. “Which is silly, right?”

He scanned her face as though memorizing her. “A whole box, you mean?”

“Mmm-hmm. Because there is no way we’re going to use a whole...” Words deserted her as his mouth covered hers.

Holy cannoli. His mouth was so soft, just as she’d always known it would be. Soft and pliant, that bottom lip like a pillow. She gave it a little bite, because she’d always wanted to bite him there and at last she could. He made a lovely, low groaning sound in response.

And seriously, now. Who knew a kiss could feel this good?

For the longest, loveliest time, they just stood there at the sink with their lips locked together.

Now, this was more like it. This was just what she needed. Dare Bravo for Christmas, delivering endless, candy-cane-flavored kisses, his big hands cradling her head, stroking her hair as “White Christmas” played from the dock in the living room. He sucked her mint into his mouth. She let it go without regret.

And then, still kissing her, he started moving. Dazed and delighted, she went where he guided her, backward, step by step, until she met the wall. He didn’t stop there. Oh, no. Not Darius.

He kept on kissing her, moving in even closer, so their bodies touched, front to front, his so wonderfully big and hot and hard as he pressed her to the wall. She could feel his erection against her belly.

Wow. Just...wow.

It was happening. Finally happening, after way too many years. And with Darius, of all people. He kissed her so long and intensely and well that she didn’t even care anymore that they were doing this in the perfectly staged home she would try to sell tomorrow.

And then those warm, knowing fingers of his strayed downward. He had the hem of her shirt in his hands, and he was sliding it upward. For the first time, the kiss broke.

But only long enough for him to take that shirt over her head and away. She felt the air of the room against her bare skin, and she almost got nervous.

“Shh,” he said, moving in good and tight again. “Kiss me.”

And she did, meeting his lips once more, drinking him in. She took his tongue into her mouth and wrapped hers around it as he went to work on her bra. Those knowing fingers skated lightly around between her back and the wall.

The clasp gave way.

She gasped in excitement and delight.

He went on kissing her as he slid the straps down her arms, so easily, smoothly, one and then the other, his fingers trailing along her skin, causing lovely little shivers to bloom wherever he touched her. He guided her hands down to her sides.

And then he eased a naughty finger between their bodies and unhooked the center gore of her bra, pulling it downward. The bra slid away, leaving her bare from the waist up.

He cupped her left breast. She moaned into his mouth as her nipple pressed into the hot center of his big palm. Had she ever been this turned on in all of her thirty-two years?

As her dazed, acutely aroused brain tried to ponder that question, a car door slammed outside.

The kiss broke. Her eyes popped open to meet his. They stared at each other. She wondered distantly if her mouth was as red and swollen as his.

Another door shut. Faintly, she heard voices. Feminine voices. She recognized Nell’s throaty laugh and put it together: his sisters must have come home early from Denver. Any second now, they would burst in the front door—and find her here in the model-home kitchen, half-naked with Darius.