If You Dare (14 page)

And now the weekend was truly coming to an end.

She settled her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes.

“You know, you didn’t have to dance when the dealer at the last casino asked if you were a black jack virgin.”

“Hey, you liked it.” She opened her eyes and smiled over at him. “Besides, when they started blowing whistles after I said black jack I figured I had to do something.”

“Well, that was certainly something.”

There he went again. Talking in that voice that shot straight past her eardrums on to the spot between her legs he’d learned made her come in the least amount of time.

Oh man.

She settled back again and smiled an extremely self-satisfied smile.

“I hate that I have to work tonight.”

She shrugged. “You took off to pick me up at the airport Friday. I understand.”

“If I’d known…” His words trailed off and she just nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. No sense pretending she didn’t.

“It’s okay. Besides, your sister’s sitting around alone at your place.”

“Hmm.” He didn’t have much to say about that.

“Besides, you never know. You might get a chance to stop by later tonight.”

“You can bet on it.”

Oh good. As much as she told herself she’d be happy if it all ended now, she knew that wasn’t the case at all. She wanted every day of this vacation. Every minute he wasn’t working.

After the limo dropped them off and drove away, Joe carried Cordelia’s bag as they took the elevator back up.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed since she’d told him she wasn’t wearing any panties under her dress. She felt like a completely different person.

When Joe kissed her goodbye with a promise to be back later tonight, she closed the door and leaned against it with her eyes closed just remembering, letting his lingering scent fill her mind, trying to recall the exact feel of his hands as they’d embraced her knee, her elbow, her breast.

Oh man, oh man, oh man.

This weekend had certainly dethroned kissing Jimmy Douglas at senior prom as the single best moment on her top moments list.

Jimmy might have been prom king, but Joe Sterling was a living fantasy. Her living fantasy. She could probably split the night into parts and give each one a place on her list.

The ringing of the telephone interrupted her thoughts and she pried herself away from the door to answer it.

When she heard Irene’s voice she almost laughed out loud. “Cordelia, thank God. I was starting to get worried.”

She could imagine her sister walking around in circles as she talked. In the background she could hear what sounded like a salsa band.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

“So what’d you think of Joe? Sexy as hell, hmm?”

Cordelia sat down and spun in the breakfast barstool as she talked. Irene would be so proud of her. “Oh yeah. He’s definitely sexy.”

She thought she heard her sister say yes!, but she couldn’t quite make it out.
 

“So you spent last night out on the town with the big stud, hmm?”

Cordelia laughed at her sister’s terminology. “You could say that.”

“Well, good. I knew y’all would hit it off.”

Leave it to Irene.

“He’s pretty incredible.”

Irene paused on the other end of the phone and Cordelia scrunched up her face. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Irene knew her too well. She tried to throw in a block. “For a fantasy.”

It didn’t work.

“Well hell, Del, you weren’t supposed to go and fall in love with him. This is about sex.”

Love? Well, not exactly. “Sex and love are generally synonymous for me. But I’m not in love. I don’t even know him.”

“Well, crap!”
 

Cordelia could imagine Irene walking back and forth running her hands through her red hair, trying to figure out a way to fix this one. As if it needed fixing.

“Seriously. It’s okay.”

“Right.” Cordelia could hear Irene’s disbelief. “But just in case, you can’t love a guy like Joe, Del. He’s like me. Sex is fun. Almost a past time. I’m going to kill him.”

Cordelia heard her sister’s words with dawning horror. “You told him. Oh my God, I knew it couldn’t be true. That explains everything. Dammit, Irene. You told him why I was coming out here?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It all makes sense. Why he seemed attracted to me from the second he saw me in the airport. Why he used your key to get in here the first night. Dammit Irene!” She was so going to kill her sister. After she died of embarrassment.

“Whoa. Slow down, Del. Told him what? I just told him you were coming out for a week, and, okay, I asked him to show you around town. If he was attracted to you, it’s because you’re gorgeous, you big goofball.”

Cordelia felt her heart beat slow back to normal at her sister’s words. Surely she wouldn’t lie about that.

“I’m taking that damn key from him the minute I get home.”

What in the world was she talking about now?

“If I’d known he was going to break your heart, I’d never left it with him a few months ago any way.”

“He’s not going to break my heart. And what do you mean you left your key with him a few months ago?”

Irene didn’t answer this time, but Cordelia could just imagine the look on her face. It was the same one she’d worn in kindergarten when Mrs. Johnson asked who’d poured water in all the sand.

Her sister was such a schemer.

“Seriously, Sis. He’s not going to break my heart. I know it’s just a fantasy. In a week, I’ll go home and be fine.”

“Right.”

Cordelia didn’t know what to say in answer to that. Irene knew her better than anyone, but she didn’t see how much this weekend had changed her.

“So how’s the beach?”

“Humid. You spent all night with him, hmm? That’s a change for him.”

Cordelia liked the idea that Joe didn’t usually spend so much time with the women he dated. “His sister’s here now, so it’ll be interesting to….”

“His sister is there? Oh my God! I hope she’s still there when I get back.”

“She’s planning on moving here.”

Irene’s shriek of laughter sounded through the phone, and Cordelia held the receiver away from her ear. When she brought it back Irene was talking again. “This is too good. He’s got to be dying at the thought of his sister in Vegas. As much as we’re the same, we view our baby sister’s in a very different light. Joe is completely 1900 where his sister’s concerned.”

Cordelia couldn’t imagine Joe being that way about anything. Especially after the thing he’d done in the foyer. Oh man.

Irene’s voice brought her back to the present again.

“Look sis. I’ll be there before you leave. Whatever you do, don’t let Joe know you’ve fallen for him. Okay?”

Ugh! Did she have stupid written across her forehead? “I haven’t fallen for him, Irene. I’m a little in love with the idea of him. But I completely understand this isn’t real. And I know all about guys like him.”

“”Okay. Okay.” Cordelia heard a quick kiss through the phone and then Irene told her she loved her, would see her soon and good-bye.

When Cordelia hung up the phone, she felt a lot less sure of herself and a little bit depressed. Not to mention a whole lot tired.

What she wanted was sleep.

What she needed was Joe.

What she got was a quick knock on the door.

Cordelia didn’t know who to expect when she went to the door. She prayed her gran hadn’t decided to stop by, although it wouldn’t really surprise her if she did.

It couldn’t be her mother. She was in the middle of the summer volunteer season. And Joe had a key.

That left missionaries—did they even go door to door in condos—or…

She looked through the peephole and opened the door. “Taylor?” Cordelia hoped the question in her voice didn’t sound too rude.

Joe’s sister walked in as if she belonged there. “I hope you don’t mind me stopping by, but Joe’s getting ready to work and I really want to talk to you.”

Hmm. This was probably a really bad idea.

“I need your help.”

Definitely a bad idea.

“I need a makeover, and you’re just the person to help me out.”

Bad. Bad. Double bad. Cordelia couldn’t believe it. She was the person Taylor wanted to ask for makeover help? She couldn’t help but feel a little flattered.

“Look Taylor…”

Joe’s sister interrupted. “I know Joe’s probably told you I’m not staying, but he’s wrong. I am staying, and I want to be like you.”

“Well, about that…”

“And I don’t know anyone else. Shoot, I don’t even really know you, but you look nice, and Joe likes you, so, please. Say you’ll do this.”

Like her brother, Taylor phrased her questions as statements. A tricky lawyer move, Cordelia was sure.

Cordelia closed the door and followed Taylor into the living room all the while trying to fight the feeling that she’d stepped into some surrealistic dream.

“Look, Taylor, I’d be glad to shop with you, but you should probably find your own style. Or keep the one you’ve got now. It’s not bad.”

Joe’s sister shook her tawny blond hair as she sat down in one of Irene’s black leather chairs before she looked down at her conservative clothes. “I’ve tried to find my own style. When I saw you night before last, I knew I wanted to look like that.”

Cordelia tried to keep the blush from her cheeks as she remembered exactly how little she’d been wearing when she’d first seen Taylor.

Good grief. No wonder Taylor wanted to look like her.
 

“I really don’t know if I can help. I don’t know anything about places to shop…”

Taylor held out her hand. “I know where to go. Just say you’ll go with. Besides, we need to get to know one another.”

Cordelia knew this was a bad idea. She knew it could lead to nothing but trouble. She knew Irene would be yelling no way in hell if she were privy to this conversation.

But something about the girl sitting across from her reminded her so much of herself a few years before. And she was Joe’s little sister. And Joe was going to be at work the next few days, so she’d need something to do.

She ignored the niggling voice in the back of her mind screaming that Joe would absolutely hate the idea of his sister undergoing a Vegas style makeover. Justified it to herself by saying he needed to get in the right century where Taylor was concerned anyway.

What the heck? She was already a complete fraud.
 

Cordelia hoped she didn’t regret this moment. “Well then, I guess we need to make a date.”

Joe thought about staying away, figured he ought to. His sister’s visit. His busy schedule. The fact that he and Cordelia’d already spent all day together.

The reasons to stay away piled one on top of the other. And still here he was. Opening the door with the key, walking toward the bedroom as if drawn by some invisible magnet, envisioning what she’d look like when he saw her.

Nothing new about that. He’d thought about her all damn evening long. Even though he’d spent all day with her. Even though he should be bored, or tired, or just plain wanted his space.
 

But none of that was the case. And all the reasons in the world weren’t keeping him away now.

He sat down on the side of the bed and took his time just looking at her. Almost as if he were drinking her in for future reference. He’d never wanted to just look at a lover before. The realization that he wanted to now left him a little befuddled, but the instant hard-on he felt upon walking in the apartment helped put it all in perspective.

He understood sex just fine, thank you.

And tonight they were going to slow things down a bit. Try for slow and easy instead of the incredible firework inducing sexual games they’d been playing.

Tonight was about turning each other on. Drawing things out. Bringing her to the brink of coming and backing away five, six, ten times.

He watched her smile in her sleep and imagined her response to that kind of lovemaking.
 

Tonight he wanted to worship that incredibly sexy body of hers. And it wouldn’t be difficult. At least he hoped not.

He prided himself on being a good lover. Part of that was the control he exercised. So far with Cordelia, he hadn’t had much of a chance at control. But tonight things were going to be different.

She’d changed the sheets since yesterday. Purple silk now covered the bed and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d tried to capture a memory from the hotel bedroom. He wanted to help her relive those memories in ways silk sheets couldn’t begin to match.

He ran a hand down the soft material and watched her, and there it was again, that smile that seemed to go on non-stop.
 

God, he was some kind of crazy, watching her sleep like this.
 

She moved her arm and he held his breath as the sheet moved with her. Waiting to catch a glimpse…

Well, damn, Taylor was right.

Sure enough she was wearing pajamas. With sleeping cats on them. Just like the ones he’d bought his momma for Christmas.

And damn if they didn’t look sexier than if she was wearing nothing.
 

As if she’d read his thoughts, her eyes opened and a real Cordelia smile, the all-knowing-I-am-woman-let’s-get-naked smile blossomed on her face. Her sleep-filled, husky voice shot right through him. “Hello there, stranger.”

He pushed a strand of hair off her cheek. “Hello yourself.”

He liked that she didn’t even ask why he was there. That she just expected him.
 

“You going to sit there on the bed all night or get in here with me, hmm?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I thought you might want me to spend the night at my place. Those sexy jamas don’t exactly say come and get me.”

That woke her up. He smiled at the shocked look on her face before hurrying to assure her he didn’t mind her choice of bedclothes at all. Shoot they just helped him in his cause.

“Hey, I gotta tell you, seeing you like this is a big turn on. It’s like you’re playing dress up just for me.”

Her first answer was a blink. Followed by a sketchy laugh. “Well, if that’s the way you want to look at it, I’m all in.”