Bound Temptations: Stories of Temptation and Submission (22 page)

He was still studying Tania
when she started to wake up twenty minutes later.

She did it slowly, in small,
sexy little increments that had his warm blood heated up to boiling
real fast. First, she brought a hand up, curled into a fist between
her breasts—breasts still encased in lace and satin since she’d
never removed her bra. A few minutes after that, she arched her
back and sighed, then curled in on herself like she was trying to
resist whatever was dragging her awake.

When that
didn’t work, she rolled onto her belly and shot out a hand,
grabbing a pillow and jerking it over head. It happened to
be
his
pillow and
he lifted up just in time to let her have it.

Smiling, he pushed up onto
his elbow and waited. She’d managed to kick the sheets and blankets
away, but he didn’t care. He’d fallen asleep wearing his
jeans—never a particular favorite way from him to sleep. It wasn’t
like he was going to get cold or anything.

Still, he wished he could
reach the sheets and draw them up over her, cover her without
disturbing her. The skirt had rucked up over that round, luscious
ass. She had one knee drawn up and he could see the pink folds of
her sex, the crevice of her ass.

If there wasn’t that
darkness behind her, that misery, he’d cover her body with his and
bury his dick in her, have her halfway to orgasm before she fully
woke up.

As it was, he lay there,
aching and hoped she remembered when she opened her
eyes.

Tania groaned, slowly
growing aware of cool air dancing over her exposed butt, the fact
that she’d fallen asleep in her bra, and that she had clothes
twisted around her waist.

The skin on the back of her
neck prickled, making her aware of something else—she held still,
catching her breath and forcing herself to wait as she took in her
body’s reaction. She wasn’t alone—

Her mind screamed out a
mental alarm, and she almost bolted out of bed.

That was what her mind
wanted.

But her body was content to
lie there. She felt safe…replete. Rested.

She made herself think
back.

And last night lit up in her
mind like a marquee sign.

Drake
—

Slowly, she tugged the
pillow away and turned her head. Through the tangle of her hair,
she could see him. She went to brush it out of the way, but he was
already doing it, smoothing the tangled strands back from her face,
behind her ear, smoothing it down her back.

“
Good morning,” he said, his
voice neutral.

Like he was waiting for her
to either freak out or fall apart.

Oddly enough, that was what
she would have expected.

But she found herself
smiling at him.

“
Morning.”

His hand rested on her
cheek, his thumb stroking her lower lip.

“
I’d like to kiss you,” he
said softly.

Tania blushed. Then she
lifted a brow at him. “You sure about that? I’ve got morning
breath.”

He shifted in the bed,
moving closer, but doing it slow, watching her, gauging her
reactions.

She just waited.

He rested a hand on her hip,
stroking it restlessly. “Yeah, I want to kiss you.”

“
Then go ahead and do it,”
she said, smiling at him, stroking a finger over his
tattoo.

He kept a careful distance
between them, touching her only with his mouth, teasing the seam of
her lips with the tip of his tongue until she opened for
him.

It was light, soft and slow,
nothing like the kisses from last night.

A perfect good-morning kiss,
she decided as he pulled away, smiling at her.

She smiled back, caught off
guard by the way her heart skittered and danced in her chest. This
was Drake—Kyle’s buddy. Her friend too.

Just a
friend?
That low, sly voice in her heart
taunted her.
He’s the one you automatically
thought of when you decided to you’d grab this proverbial bull by
the horns—and you’ve never done sex without emotional ties. Just a
friend…and he’s the one you’ve called every time you’ve been down
over the past few years. He’s the one you want to see on a bad day…
Just a friend?

But those thoughts were too
complicated for an early morning, especially one without
coffee.

She continued to trace the
tattoo on his arm, pushing up onto one elbow to study it
closer.

“
Witch,” Drake
muttered.

She
glanced at him and then grinned, realizing her shift in position
had put one breast square on level with his mouth. There was naked,
burning need in his eyes—
intense
need, she realized…

Very intense.

Abruptly, she asked, “Why
did you agree to this?”

A mask fell over his face.
He pulled away, giving her his back as he sat up. “Because you
asked me to,” he said flatly.

“
There’s more to it than
that,” she said slowly. She wasn’t certain how she knew, but she
did.

He tossed her a scowl over
his shoulder and shot up over the bed. “Hell. I get to have fantasy
sex with a beautiful woman. Why shouldn’t I agree?”

Tania blushed at the
compliment, but she wasn’t thrown off track. “You and I both know
there’s a good possibility I’m going to freak out at any given
moment. Hell, the few times I’ve gone out on dates, tried to even
kiss another guy—I’ve freaked. No reason to expect it not to happen
now and we’re planning on a lot more than kissing. If I do freak
out…well, I know you—that’s not going to settle easily on you.
You’re going to blame yourself—hate yourself for scaring me. So why
did you agree?”

“
Tania…”

He stood by the window, his
head bowed, the sun shining in around him, glinting over the
blue-black highlights there. Shifting his gaze to her, he blew out
a sigh. “Maybe I’ll give you an answer, if you answer me
first.”

“
I asked first,” she said,
scowling. She scooted around in the bed, sitting on the edge with
her legs crossed and the sheet wrapped around her like a toga. Then
she shrugged. “Okay. Shoot.”

He came
back to her, watching her with that weird, hungry look. “Why did
you ask
me
?”

He stopped in front of her
and sank to his knees, still staring, still watching.

She jumped as he reached up
and laid his hands on her thighs, rubbing them with small, slow
circles. Her heart skipped a beat, her breathing constricted in her
lungs and for about ten seconds, she couldn’t even remember the
question.

“
Why you?” Then she glanced
away, licking her lips. Taking a deep, slow breath, she looked back
at him and said, “Because I had a feeling you’d get it. You didn’t
look freaked out by what you saw five years ago.”

She squirmed a little
because this next part was embarrassing. “And…well. Hell, you’re
gorgeous, Drake. I know I can trust you. I like being around
you…and…um, well, there are times when I see you looking at me and
I see something—kind of like the way you’re looking at me
now.”

His hands flexed on her
thighs. “And how am I looking at you?” he asked roughly. Slowly, he
used his hands to lightly tug her thighs apart.

It never occurred to her not
to let him.

“
Like you
want to eat me alive. Like you want me—so much.” Her voice
shuddered out of her and she jerked her gaze from his face.
“Sometimes it scares me, when I’m out and I noticed a man
who
notices
me, you
know? But not with you. You’ve never scared me. And…well, like I
said—you’re gorgeous.”

She licked her lips and
shrugged, going for casual but failing. “I figured if you already
found me attractive, and I know I find you attractive. So if you
weren’t opposed to the kind of games I like, maybe you’d be okay
with this.” She met his gaze and held it. “Was I wrong?”

“
No.”

It was his turn to look
away. His turn to search for words.

She’d been honest, and he
felt laid bare—she’d noticed.

As much as he’d tried to
hide how he wanted her, she’d seen it.

“
Finding you attractive
barely touches it,” he said gruffly. As he spoke, he eased his
hands higher, higher, watching her face. “And yeah…your games don’t
bother me in the least.”

He gave her a strained
smile, watched as her lashes fluttered when his fingertips grazed
the naked flesh between her thighs. “You have no idea how many wet
dreams I’ve had about you over the years, Tania—dreams that involve
you, that pretty mouth of yours. Then after what I saw you with you
and Kyle…hell. After that…well. You can figure it out. But it’s not
just because I wanted to get you naked and on your back or your
knees.”

He pulled his hands out from
under her skirt, cupped her face. Truth time.

“
I’ve been crazy about you
for as long as I’ve known you…but you were taken,” he said
quietly.

“
You…ah…what?”

Drake laughed. “You heard
me. And you asked, there’s your answer. I’m doing this because you
asked me to, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. And more,
I’m doing this because I want you more than I want to
breathe.”

The look on her face vaguely
resembled the way she might have looked if she’d walked into a
wall—stunned confusion.

“
You…you
what
?”

She wasn’t jerking away, he
noticed. Maybe this was a good thing?

Lowering his head, he rubbed
his mouth over hers. “I’ve got a thing for you. Always have.” Then
he looked at her. “So here’s another question. And it’s one that
just occurred to me—is there any possibility this could ever go
further?”

Further?

Tania stirred the bacon in
the skillet and turned that question over in her mind.

She was still trying to
figure it out.

Part of
her wanted to snap,
No, it can’t go
further. I’m using you to figure out if I can ever have sex the way
I like it again.
The thought of giving her
heart away again, risking that pain if she lost it again, it
terrified her. She didn’t know if she wanted to even think about
that yet. Didn’t know if she
could
think about it, could consider it with Drake…of
all people. Kyle’s best friend.

But the rest of her… She
remembered how easy it had been to go to him.

How it felt to wake up next
to him.

How it had felt to fall
asleep in his arms.

There had only been one
other time she’d felt that at ease…and it had been with
Kyle.

Could this go further? Or
maybe it was already going further and she hadn’t even seen
it.

She was
also thinking about admitting to herself why she’d turned to him to
begin with. Yeah, she was attracted to him, and yeah, she trusted
him. Okay, so she’d be a fool not to acknowledge that maybe this
could go further…if she wanted it to. And yeah, she
did
want to know what
could happen.

She was curious. She was
scared.

One thing she did know?
Thinking about trying something with Drake didn’t terrify her. It
didn’t make her want to cringe away, or wince, or fill her with
dread…or boredom.

It made her wonder. It made
her nervous.

Hearing him behind her, she
turned around and stared at him. Without even realizing she’d been
planning it, she put the fork down and moved to meet him. “Maybe,”
she said softly.

His eyelid twitched—the only
reaction she saw. He held still, his blue eyes resting on her face
like he could patiently wait the rest of the day, regardless of his
job, regardless of the bacon sizzling behind her.

Licking her lips, she
twisted her hands and tried again. “I think maybe I wouldn’t mind
seeing if this could go further, and I think maybe it’s already
moving there. I don’t know. I don’t know much of anything. I don’t
really know where to go from here, but the thought of trying it
doesn’t freak me out or anything.”

“
High praise,” he said,
crooking a grin at her.

She blushed. “I didn’t mean
it like that.”

He stroked a hand down her
hair. “I know what you meant. And I know exactly where we go—to a
movie. Tonight. I’ll pick you up at six, if that’s okay. Then I’ll
bring you back here. In a few days, I’ll call you and we’ll try
another date, see what happens.”

“
Ah…okay.” She bit her lip,
then asked, “What about the rest…?”

He used his finger to lift
her chin. His mouth hovered just a breath away from hers. “Right
now, the rest, as you call it, is in your hands. You let me know
when you’re ready for more.”