Hot & Humid (12 page)

Chapter Eleven

There were six cars and a large, black cargo van in front of Thane’s house. She missed her ten o’clock arrival by almost an hour. Nerves had her fretting over what she should wear. She went for casual in jeans. Brine knocked on the front door but there wasn’t any answer. She looked through the front windows and saw the French doors open to the deck.
What the hell?

Brine opened the front door and walked around black cases through the living room. On the gallery, photography equipment was positioned around. A professional photographer was taking shots of Thane. Off to the side, a blonde woman had her ear plastered to a cell phone. She stopped midstride in her pacing to look Brine up and down.

Outside, the photographer positioned Thane around and had him cross his arms. Thane smile. He exuded charm and sex appeal. Brine scooted around to catch Thane’s attention. His gaze turned sexual when their eyes met.

“That’s perfect!” the photographer shouted. “I think we got it!”

The woman with the cell phone snapped it shut and came to stand next to Brine. “Please don’t tell me you’re his girlfriend.”

“I’m not his girlfriend.”

The woman laughed. “That’s a relief. I’m going to use Thane for the cover of our magazine. He’s one of the West Coast’s hottest and most eligible bachelors. He’s our number one on our online poll.”

“What magazine?” Brine asked.

“
The Environmental
.”

Brine knew all about the magazine. They were known for profiling businesses that were environmentally friendly. “Really?”

“Yeah. It took me weeks to convince him to do my interview. Thane doesn’t like to do interviews. He’s humble about what he does. He doesn’t see what the big deal is.”

Oh, ouch.
How did she know so much about him? Brine studied the woman more closely. It was obvious she was interested in Thane for more than professional reasons. Her blouse hung open, showing lacy lingerie.

Thane looked sexy in his dress pants and button-down shirt. The collar was open just enough to show a hint of his fabulous chest. Brine knew that if she unbuttoned one more she’d get to see his dark chest hair. He came toward her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m glad you made it,” he said.

Brine felt irrationally jealous for no reason at all.
Why didn’t Thane grant me an interview?
She smiled even though it felt forced. “Me, too.”

“Daphne James, I’d like you to meet Brine Torin.”

“Pleasure,” Daphne said. “You ready to do that interview?”

“Let’s get it done.”

Why does he want me here?
Brine felt out of place and like an outsider trying to pretend to fit in. Thane and Daphne went to sit down in the living room. A slit in her skirt went up to the middle of her thigh. She sat with her knees nearly brushing the side of his leg on the couch. She pressed a small recorder and started firing off questions. They were laughing and she was touching his knee by the third question. Brine rolled her eyes and moved out of the way as the photographer packed away equipment.

Brine watched Thane closely as Daphne continued to throw herself at him with every curve, flutter, and exotic part of her body.

“Tell me what is it you want in a woman? Or a man,” she added as an afterthought.

Brine felt her shoulders stiffen as Thane’s gaze moved over Miss Tits Perfect in that heavy-lidded, erotic way. She wanted to smack the charm right out of him.

“I think any man would say what he thinks is the right thing to get a woman.” Brine cringed as Daphne laughed. “What I like though isn’t what every other guy is going to like. I like a woman that’s a risk taker and intelligent. Sexy isn’t bad either.”

Brine wanted to stick her tongue out at him.

“What about marriage and kids?” Daphne asked.

“I want both…eventually.”

“Is there a special someone?”

“Yes. There is.”

Brine felt her heart start to hammer as their gazes locked. She was the first to look away.

He answered the rest of Daphne’s questions with that fall-in-love charm, wit, and intelligence but didn’t make any move to return her so blatant advances. The interview ended, but Daphne lingered like a virus. It took another twenty minutes for Thane to get her out the door with her crew.

“Now that is why I don’t do interviews.”

Brine shot him a look. “You looked like you handled yourself just fine, big guy.”

Thunder rumbled outside. The sun shining down upon the hardwood floors faded as clouds moved in. He stared at her a moment longer as though he was trying to figure something out. She drank in his hungry gaze as though she were starving for love. It was then that she realized that she was in a lot of ways. The last thing Thane would ever want in his life was a needy woman.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“I am.”

He headed for the kitchen and she followed. She leaned against the island as he opened the fridge. “So why did you grant Miss Tits Perfect an interview and not me?”

She shimmied her shoulders forward, making her breasts jiggle. Thane rolled a tomato, head of romaine lettuce, and carrots onto the counter.

“Her tits weren’t that great. I wouldn’t say they were perfect. Yours are better.”

She glowered and fumed inwardly. “I want to know. I chased you for weeks. You ignored all my calls. My e-mails. I want to know why?”

Thane came around the island and pulled her in close. He tilted up her chin with his palm. He gave her a light, brushing kiss. The tease was meant to diffuse her anger. To her chagrin, it was working. “I was busy. I meant to call you back, but I didn’t have time. I already made the interview with Miss Tits Perfect. It was business. Not personal. Then I met you.”

She believed him. Thane had honest eyes. Now things were personal between them, and she didn’t know where they were going. Where were they going? As of the moment, they were going back into the fridge. He took a bottle of white wine out and ran his gaze over the label. He screwed in a corkscrew, opening it with a quiet pop.

He put two wineglasses on the counter. “You pour the wine. I’ll start dinner.”

He put steak on the grill and then started chopping a salad. He added gluten-free vinaigrette salad dressing, after asking her approval. Fifteen minutes later, they sat down to dinner. Thane lit the two candles on the mahogany table. It was starting to feel more and more like a date.

Brine sipped her wine. Outside, the rain was hammering the patio furniture. Thunder and lightning crashed. She was never good at making dinner conversation. It always felt stilted and forced.

“How’s your filet?” he asked.

“Perfect.”

Thane drizzled olive oil over the appetizer plate and offered her the warm, soft bread. Brine stroked the bread through the oil and felt the heat of it melt over her tongue.

Everything was perfect. The man. The ambiance. The food. She wondered what would happen when it was time for her to go. Would he ask her to stay? Her heart hammered at the thought. Would she say yes?

No. She wouldn’t. She’d thank him for the dinner and head out into the pouring rain. Lightning snapped, shaking the windows. The lights flickered. On. Off.

“It’s wild out there tonight.”

“Mother Nature must not be too happy,” Thane said.

She sipped her wine and thought about sipping on the man.
Will he ask me to stay?
She had to stop thinking about it. “How so?”

“It’s like the butterfly effect,” Thane said.

“Ah, someone sneezed in Hawaii and we’re experiencing the weather pattern from it.” He laughed. She liked the sound of his deep chuckle and the way his eyes crinkled. “Or were you thinking more of the time-travel conundrum in fiction?”

“I was thinking atoms actually.” His gaze went to the floor to ceiling windows. A gray wash of rain was abusing the trees around the house. Wind whipped them, bending them at the tops. “Or fate.”

The lights flicked off. “Thane?”

“I’m here.” He scooted closer, brushing her hand with his in a soothing caress. “I keep thinking about the day we met.”

Brine licked her lips nervously. Candlelight flickered over the table, illuminating only so far. They were both in shadows. Thunderstorms always made her jumpy. She could sense the tension of his coiled, muscled body in the room. Brine could feel the thunderstorm brewing inside the house.

“Oh?”

“I wasn’t supposed to start work at that site for another week.”

She shivered. “I wasn’t alone. My friend Stephanie was with me until your guys showed that morning.”

He sighed, running the back of his fingers over her arm. “I hoped you had help.”

She tugged playfully on his hand. “You were really around the corner watching me for two hours?”

“Yep. I had my assistant bring our lunch over. For a while there, I expected you to get that bottle. I didn’t know the handcuff key was in the bottom.”

“I could’ve had it.”

“Such confidence.”

His thumb skimmed over the back of her hand, creating a friction of heat searing over her skin. He flipped over her palm and kissed it gently. Brine was too aware of what those hands could do to her most intimate parts of her body. Before she could stop him, he was pulling her onto his lap and she was falling into his arms.

“We shouldn’t. I should go.”

“Shut up, Brine, and let me kiss you. We both know you like it.”

She gasped at his hard tone as his lips connected passionately with hers. He was hot and hungry with his tongue, with his hands, with his domination of her body. Brine arched up into his touch as his hand caressed her breast. Thane’s thumb found her pebbled nipple that he tweaked and twisted through her shirt and bra. Brine felt his hard cock press up against her belly. He set her on her feet.

“Undress.”

Lightning spiraled across the sky illuminating the room for the briefest of seconds. Molten heat simmered between them. Brine longed to taste the salty-sweet texture of his skin on her tongue.

She undressed slowly, taking every inch of clothing off in a seductive dance that she timed flawlessly with each strike of lightning. Thane growled and groaned at each erotic note that she hit with staccato perfection. He sat in the chair with his legs spread wide. His right hand stroked himself through the fabric of his pants.

“Touch your breasts.”

Brine shivered as she cupped the heavy masses in her palms. She pinched her nipples with her thumb and fingers. “Like this?”

He pulled her hips so she stood between his legs, running his hands over her curves. “Oh, that’s good, baby.”

Thane pulled his shirt over his head in one jerk. Brine sensed and heard his pants being shucked off and tossed across the hardwood floors. Without being able to see his face, Brine had to trust her other senses. She heard the back of the chair hit the table with a crack. Thane grabbed her by the hips and spun her around, scooting her back to straddle his wide legs. The large head of his cock pressed between her wet pussy lips. He eased her down on to his sex, bolting her in place.

“Move.”

The command sent a ripple of desire through her needy pussy. She felt her hungry body milk his cock. “Make me.”

He rutted up, grabbing her ass and then her thighs, spreading her wide. She rocked in response. He filled her completely, in a way no man had ever. His fingers reached around and thrummed her clit. An orgasm shuddered through her body. She felt easy and out of control when she was with him. He made her forget the rational side of her brain. He made her lose all sense of balance. He pushed her up off his cock and spun her around to the table. He shoved the chair out of the way and it landed with a crack on the floor.

Brine heard the sound of the dishes hitting together as Thane shoved them back from the edge of the table. He lifted her bottom onto the edge of the table, his fingers caressing her sex. Brine’s legs instinctively went to hug his hips. His searing cock slipped on the honey coating her pussy. His thumb snapped over her clit sending erotic shudders down her pussy.

Thane reached over her shoulder. Apprehension spun through her belly as she thought of the candle he was probably reaching for. Instead, he had the little clear decanter of olive oil in his hand. He held it over the candle to heat it. He fisted his hand in her hair as he positioned his cock on the edge of her swollen vulva. He pushed in slowly and pulled her head back, exposing the long line of her neck. Brine’s pussy contracted on his swollen cock.

She dug her nails into his ass, trying to pull him deeper, but he resisted her urging with his muscled thighs braced on the edge of the table. Hot oil ran in a rivulet down her breast and over her nipple. The heat of the oil made her flesh sing in the most erotic way. Thane rocked his thick cock to the hilt as his tongue licked over her nipple. He tugged the slick nub into his mouth and sucked eagerly. Brine groaned and threaded her fingers into his hair.