Cherry Adair - T-flac 06 (22 page)

"God. I ache, I want you so badly." He tilted her chin up with his finger and brushed a kiss across her forehead. She waited for him to kiss her; wanted him to kiss her. Instead he tucked her head against his chest again.

"It's good to want things," Lily told him, feeling cheated and trying to be flip as her knees literally went weak at the unequivocal statement. "Doesn't mean you always get them."

He trailed cool fingers across her nape. "In this case we both want the same thing."

She looked up at him, hot and cold shivers dancing up and down her spine as he caressed her neck with gentle fingers. Flip was replaced with a shiver of premonition. For a moment they stared at each other, barely breathing. Lily felt a chaos of emotion fluttering inside her chest. "And do you always get what you want?"

His gaze dropped to her mouth briefly then rose to capture hers again. "Yes."

"Thanks for the warning." She needed to put a stop to this. Soon. She really did. Her breasts felt achy, her insides hot and liquid.

Derek swayed with her as the harmonica played a sweet, haunting melody that would've been more familiar coming from a fiddle. He wrapped a large hand around hers and held it against him so Lily felt his heartbeat echo in her own body. Her knees weakened further, and she wondered rather vaguely how long they'd hold her.

"I've always wanted you. Never stopped. This is going to be our turn." He and Sean had always been competitive. Derek had met her first, then she'd gone and married Sean. Was this his way of coming full circle?

She struggled to untangle emotion from physical awareness. It wasn't easy. "I'm not interested in having a casual affair with you, Derek. That's not my style." No, getting married was, she thought wryly. And look how well
that
had turned out. She should have had an affair with
Sean
. That would've worked out better, and been a whole lot less painful.

She felt the brush of his warm lips against her. "Maybe a casual affair isn't what I want."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. How long was a
serious
affair, according to Derek? A year instead of a couple of months? His women friends were legendary, but none of them seemed to last long. "Well then, maybe you'd better spit it out." She tilted her head so she could see his face, but it was all shadows and firelight and impossible to read. "Because I'm not sure just what it is you
do
want. Sex?"

His eyes darkened. "Hell, yes. I want you in my bed. In my arms. In my life." His voice was low, beguiling. He brushed her jaw with his fingertips and drew in a breath as he stared down at her, the
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sapphire earring winking in the firelight.

Her breath stuttered. Interpretation, she reminded herself. It was all in the interpretation. "You have to slow down."

"Maybe it's time you speeded it up and got with the program." Impatience throbbed in his voice. "You refuse to listen to what I'm telling you, you won't let me tell you how I feel—"

"This is neither the time nor the place." An ache spread in her chest. "Everything out here is magnified unrealistically.
Especially
with all this other stuff going on."

"This started long before the race and you know it."

"I don't trust it," she said flatly, finding it hard to draw a breath as she damned herself for a coward.

"Why not?"

Because I'm terrified that, like Sean, the illusion of you will be nothing like the reality
. "I just don't."

He caught her chin in his hand and pressed a kiss to her mouth. "A few more days won't kill me," he groaned into her mouth. "
Much
. God. I love the smell of you. Snow, wet wool and the lemon fragrance of your hair."

"You're nuts."

"I like dancing with you like this. Look how well we fit together," he murmured, his voice thick. He stroked her cheek with his thumb. Back and forth. Back and forth, until her skin became hot and her body ached. "We have to do it on a real dance floor sometime. I want to see you in a slinky dress, something thin and clingy and short enough to show off your truly spectacular legs."

Only their bodies moved now. Gently swaying from side to side. Lily felt breathless and giddy. High on cold air and hot Derek. "You've never seen my legs."

"Yeah, twice. Our movie date, and then that day I came over to see Sean and you'd just taken a shower, remember?"

"No." She'd walked out of the bathroom rubbing her hair dry, dressed only in her shirt and panties because she'd forgotten her jeans on the bed. Sean had kept her talking to him in the bedroom, almost intentionally delaying her while Derek sat beside the bed, his face impassive. His look had told her that he'd seen hundreds of pairs of bare leg and hers were no big whoop.

"He wanted me to want you, you know."

Lily stared up at him, trying to read his expression by the glow of the flickering fire. The dancing reflection in his eyes made him look slightly demonic. "What?"

"He enjoyed knowing how much I wanted you."

"You told him?"

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"No. But one of Sean's most remarkable traits was knowing how to read people."

Sean's remarkable trait had been noted and despised by his wife. Because he read people so that he could con them, and the people he'd conned never knew they'd been hit. Herself included.

"He was good at manipulation," Lily said flatly.

"He's the last person I want you thinking about right now," Derek said dryly, brushing his mouth across her forehead again. "Just close your eyes and rest against me for a few more minutes while Rob plays.

You need to rest tonight if you want to kick my ass tomorrow."

"I'm beat." She tried to move out of his arms, then flushed hot and embarrassed when she realized that he'd let her go immediately. It was
her
arm about his waist holding them together.

"Are you going to be an octopus in there?" Lily asked, jerking her chin toward the small tent.

"I've never been an octopus in my life. Doesn't mean I won't want to hold you."

Lily gave him a considering look for a fraction of second. "I'm really exhausted. Let's go to bed."

Derek gave her a brilliant smile. A smile that shot straight inside her chest like a bolt of sunshine warming her from head to toe. Oh, God, Lily thought, feeling panicky inside, I am in such big trouble here.

"Bless your heart, sweetheart," Derek said, still smiling. "I've been waiting for you to make that offer for years."

"Dream on," Lily whispered back. Not exactly brilliant, but the best she could manage right now.
Yep.

Big trouble
. She scrambled into the tent. It was going to be a tight fit. It did, however, give her pause that she was far gone enough to sleep beside the man who'd told her flat out that he
wanted
her.

"Take off your boots," he told her, crawling in beside her feet first.

"No way. My feet are already freezing."

The firelight bathed the top of his dark head in a red halo. How fitting, Lily thought with amusement as she closed her eyes. Angel and demon. Two for the price of one.

She listened to him zip up the entrance of the tent, enclosing them in a bubble of darkness. He settled down beside her, and pulled the sleeping bag more tightly around her head. "Warm enough?"

His breath fanned her face as he leaned over her; she smelled the coffee he'd drunk with dinner and the toothpaste he'd just used.

"Toasty."

His knuckles brushed her cheekbone. She felt the warmth of his fingers trailing along her cheek, leaving a path of heat to her mouth.

"I'm always amazed at how soft your skin is. Soft, and silky. The only time I've ever seen skin like this is on my nieces and nephews as babies. You glow as if you have a light on inside you."

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"Derek—"

"Your skin should be as tough as old leather, but instead it's as fine-grained as a baby's." His thumb brushed down to her mouth as his fingers cupped her cheeks.

He turned her face up to his, and Lily couldn't help the lazy drift of her lashes as she opened her eyes.

He was going to kiss her, and she wanted him to with every fiber of her being.

The fire lit only the very tips of his black lashes, leaving most of his face in darkness. Lily shivered as his thumb rasped over her lower lip.

He leaned over her. Their eyes met.
Kiss me
. Her heart trip-hammered in her chest. Plenty enough time for her to jerk her head away and be sensible.
Kiss me
. Lily watched him approaching until her eyes strained. She closed them as he lowered his mouth to hers. At first he merely brushed his lips back and forth over hers. His mouth was warm, and firm and smooth. She felt a hint of stubble as he grazed his mouth against hers in a languid sweep that made her breasts ache and her breath catch.

His tongue, hot and moist, teased the corners of her mouth. Lily was surprised to hear her own ragged breathing as his tongue stealthily pried her lips apart. The taste of him was intoxicating. Hot and sweet.

Oh, God. How could any woman resist this? How could she?

He raised his head and her mouth felt cold. "Sweet dreams," he told her softly. He dropped an avuncular kiss on the tip of her nose, then rolled over.

Lily stared at the back of his head and realized he'd cleverly never fully answered "What is it you want?"

when she'd asked earlier.

He needed sleep, goddamn it. These people moved at the drop of a fucking hat, but at least
they'd
gotten a few hours' shut-eye. More than he could do, he thought bitterly as he kept Lily in his sights as she trundled along in the valley below him. He had to stay awake to keep an eye on her until he could get close enough again. What the fuck had they been doing last night? Dancing? He'd like to have been a fly on the wall of that tent after they crawled in there together.

Imagining what they'd been doing to each other had kept him warm for the first hour. The next three had been fucking purgatory.

Fuckshitdamnittohell
. They'd barely stopped to rest the dogs before they were off again. Didn't they ever fucking get tired? And as for food—Ten grand burning a hole in his pocket didn't make up for smelling their food from a mile away when he'd had nothing to eat but jerky for hours. He wanted pizza.

Hot. Spicy. Dripping with gooey cheese. And a beer.

The next stop, he promised himself. The very next time they stopped, he'd do her.
Hell, fuck. Why not
them? He'd kill 'em both.

Then he'd go back home and take a nice long vacation. Somewhere tropical. Somewhere where the chicks wore string-bikini bottoms and went topless. Where their white teeth glowed against their tans.

Yeah. Somewhere nice and hot. Somewhere with hot babes and cold beer.

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He scratched the back of his neck. They'd been traveling for fourteen boring fucking hours. They'd have to take a decent break soon. And when they did, he'd be ready.

Sixteen grueling hours later and Derek felt as though he'd never slept. He had planned ahead and made a reservation for one of the four guest rooms at the lodge at the next checkpoint. Even though at the time he hadn't been sure if he'd even want to stop there. If nothing else, a hot shower and a meal he didn't have to defrost first held great appeal. Now he was glad he'd done it.

Lily's face was pale. She was running on empty, and desperately needed a few uninterrupted hours'

sleep. Naturally, she'd never admit it. Especially to him. And damned if a part of him didn't admire that stick up her ass, even if he did want to yank it out. A few hours in a warm bed would go a long way to revitalize her. Hell, revitalize both of them.

Especially if he could talk her into sharing a bed.

Not that he'd planned on that before. But now, with her here and the memory of the kiss still rattling through him, it was hard
not
to consider it. But first things first.

He wanted Lily rested. Safe.

Keep it casual and nonthreatening, he reminded himself as he fed his team. All he wanted to do was snatch her up in his arms, carry her upstairs and tuck her into his bed. He tamped down the clawing need.

After the dogs got clearance from the volunteer vets, Derek checked in while Lily went to the bathroom.

When she came out he handed her a key. She took it automatically, then frowned as she looked up at him. "I can't take your room."

"I'm not that altruistic," he told her dryly. "We're both exhausted. I'm willing to share. And before you get all bent out of shape, there are two beds. I promise to behave."

She looked suspicious, but the fatigue dragging at her was helping him make his point. One last temptation. "How does a nice hot shower sound?"

"Like heaven." She eyed him warily, but the glance didn't have any of her usual heat. "And that would be a
solitary
heaven."

"Hey," he said, giving her a grin that had been known to bring women to their knees, "no ego problem with you, is there? Did I
mention
showering with a friend? I don't think so."

"Okay then," she said with a slow, sweet smile that confused the hell out of him. "As long as we're clear on that, I'd love to take a shower."

"See?" He quirked an eyebrow, and felt that smile through his body like a warm caress. "Wasn't so hard to be nice to me, was it?"

"I can be nice," she said sweetly. "If you could be trusted."

He gave her a wide-eyed-innocent look that didn't fool either of them. "Me? I'm harmless."