MacNamarasLady (13 page)

Thinking about her with another guy turned
his gut sour. She was with him. For now, his smarter self cautioned.

“T.S.?” Justin was watching him, hands on
his hips and a quizzical look on his face.

And he was standing here like an idiot,
mooning over a girl he already had. “Yeah, I’ll be there. I just have to get
cleaned up first.”

Lucas gave a quick knock on the open front
door and stepped into the room. “You can shower upstairs if you want. I can
loan you a clean shirt.” T.S. wondered how long his friend had been standing
there. He’d obviously heard the last part of his conversation with Justin.
Lucas circled the room, noting the finished kitchen, the hardwood floors, the
crown molding and baseboards. “It’s really looking great.”

T.S. sauntered over to stand beside his
friend. A bead of sweat rolled down his face and he used the hem of his shirt
to swipe it away. “Another week. Ten days tops and we’ll be done. The tiles we
were waiting on will be here in two days. Once we get those installed and the
sink and tub in, it’s all downhill from there.”

“The bedroom is almost done too,” Justin
added. “Needs to be primed and painted and the trim added, but it’s basically
done.”

“Thanks, man.”

T.S. waved off Lucas’ thanks. “No problem.
I’m glad this building is almost done.”

His friend snorted. “You mean you’re done
dipping into my wallet.” They both laughed and Lucas slapped him on the back.
“Come on up and have a beer. You can grab a shower and then enjoy Candy’s homemade
lasagna.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’m going to run home and get cleaned up.”
Justin only lived about ten minutes from here.

“You can shower upstairs too if you want,”
Lucas invited.

Justin shook his head. “I won’t be long.”
He was gone before Lucas could offer again.

“Now that’s a man with secrets.” T.S.
picked up his miter saw and set it by the other tools that sat on a tarp in the
center of the room.

“We’ve all got secrets.”

“Too true, my friend. Too true.” T.S. had
more than his fair share of secrets. But that was the past. He made it a point
never to live in the past. Thinking about it didn’t change it. Neither did
talking about it.

“Hey. I thought I heard voices.” Missy
stood in the doorway looking as classy and untouchable as ever. Only he knew
the real woman beneath the glossy façade. The woman who clawed at his back and
called his name as he fucked them both into oblivion.

“Hey, Missy.” Lucas dropped a kiss on her
cheek on his way out the door. “I’ll tell Candy you’re here.”

T.S. waited until Lucas’ footsteps faded in
the distance. “Not very subtle, is he?”

Missy chewed on her bottom lip and shook
her head. “Not really.”

He walked toward her, leaned down and
dropped a hard kiss on her lips. “I’d do more than that,” he told her, “if I
wasn’t so dirty.”

Her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared.
“Promises, promises.”

“You can bank on it, babe.”

Missy laughed and hooked her arm through
his. T.S. closed the door and locked up behind him. “I’m going to shower and
change before dinner.”

“You’re going back to your place?” Was that
hope he heard in her voice? He hated to disappoint her. Hell, he hated to
disappoint himself. His dick was as hard as any nail he’d driven today.

From the second he’d seen her standing in
the doorway he was hard. Hell, he spent most of his time around her semi-erect.
For a guy his age that was something else. Women had stopped being a mystery a
long time ago. But there was something about Missy that kept his body primed.

“Sorry, babe, but I already told Lucas I’d
use his shower and borrow a shirt.”

She shrugged. “That’s okay. There’s always
later.”

Later. He was still thinking about that as
he stood in his friend’s shower and let the cool water dampen some of his
ardor. Wasn’t easy. He’d swear he could still smell Missy’s perfume in the air
around him.

“Shit.” He leaned forward, dunking his head
under the spray. If he was home, he’d take matters into his own hands, so to
speak. But jerking off in his friend’s shower was just too weird. He’d have to
grin and bear it.

He flicked off the taps, stepped out and
quickly dried off. It didn’t take him long to pull on his jeans and a clean
shirt and head down the hallway. Voices reached him before he entered the great
room. Candy’s light laughter. Lucas’ deeper voice. But it was Missy’s husky tones
that made every cell in his body stand up and take note.

He stopped dead in his tracks. He was
happy. Honest to God, deep down to his bones happy. That wasn’t good.

He frowned and raked his fingers through
his hair. Giving a woman that kind of power over him wasn’t what he was about.
Depending on someone else always led to being let down. Lucas excluded. His
buddy had stood by him from the moment they’d met. But he’d never trusted a
woman before. Not like this.

He didn’t like it. But he couldn’t deny the
feelings welling up inside him. He tapped them down and shoved the lid back on
them. Like a volcano, emotions bubbled deep inside him. He’d keep them there
like he always had. That was safe. That was smart. If you didn’t expect things
then people couldn’t let you down.

Satisfied he had everything under control
once again, he walked into the room with a smile on his face. “Where’s that
beer you promised me?” he asked his friend.

Lucas handed him one and he took a swig,
letting the cold brew slide down his throat. Missy eyed him, a slight frown on
her face. He smiled and shook his head.

She gave him a questioning look before
turning back to Candy.

T.S. relaxed as the evening wore on. Good
food, great friends and a hot, classy woman who was going home with him
tonight. What more could a man want?

* * * * *

Missy’s entire body was humming when she
unlocked the door to her apartment several hours later. T.S. was right behind
her, his bulk surrounding and sheltering her, constantly reminding her he was
there.

The evening with their friends had been
fun, making Missy realize how much she’d missed that kind of thing over the
past few years. Oh, she and Candy did stuff together, but it was different with
a group. Tonight had been an eye-opener.

She’d become too rigid in her life. She’d
had to be that way in the beginning in order to survive, but she was a mature
adult now with her life under control. She knew who she was and what she
wanted. She was different from her parents and brothers. She could afford to
relax and simply enjoy life a bit more, not always be so focused on a goal.

She’d forgotten how great it was to sit
around with friends, drink beer and eat way too much good food. They’d laughed
and joked and talked about work and mutual acquaintances. Nothing cultural
about the evening. Just plain old-fashioned fun.

Thankfully, she’d worn a dress and didn’t
have to worry about the button of a pair of pants popping open. It really was
Lucas’ fault. The man had produced the most sinful chocolate cake for dessert.
With raspberry filling, no less. Of course she had to have a piece. It was only
polite.

She groaned and kicked off her shoes.

“You okay?” It was the first words T.S. had
spoken in a while. He’d been unusually quiet most of the evening.

“Too much cake.” She hung up her coat and
purse and sighed. It was good to be home.

One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Yeah,
that was a killer cake.”

“Lucas wooed Candy with baked goods.” She
smiled at the memory of the magnificent brownies he’d brought to work for
Candy. They were still her favorite cookie.

T.S. stood just inside the door, boots and
coat still on. Her stomach roiled and it had nothing to do with too much cake.
“Aren’t you staying?”

“Do you want me to?”

Missy frowned, not quite able to read his
mood. “If you want to. If you’re too tired, I understand. You didn’t have to
follow me home. I can get home on my own just fine.”

She thought she heard him mutter “I know”
under his breath, but couldn’t be sure.

Enough was enough. She wasn’t in the mood
to play guessing games. “Look, if this is the ‘it’s been fun’ speech, then just
give it and leave.” She crossed her arms over her chest to keep from showing
how badly she was trembling. She’d known it was inevitable, but she’d hoped for
longer with him. But if he was going to break things off it was better to do it
quickly.

He scowled and stalked toward her. “Has it
just been fun?”

She snorted, ignoring how large he seemed
as he loomed in front of her. She might be almost as tall as him, but T.S.’
shoulders dwarfed hers. “It’s been fun all right, but at the moment, not so
much.”

“I don’t like what I’m feeling for you?” He
might have been talking about having a root canal without painkillers for as
miserable as he sounded.

“Me either,” she shot back. She hadn’t
planned on getting so close so fast. On many levels, T.S. was so wrong for her.
On others… Well, he was too right on other ones. She wanted him to the point
where she couldn’t stop thinking about him. At work. When she was working out.
When she went grocery shopping. It was crazy.

“So what do we do about it?” His dark,
stubbled jaw made him appear dangerous and very sexy.

She looped her arms around his neck. He
automatically caught her around the waist and pulled her close. “What do you
want to do about it?” She rubbed up against his erection, loving his hardness
and heat.

“Damned if I know,” he gritted out. “But
this will do for starters.” He kissed her and she tasted need and desperation.
She returned it, giving him her tongue and then coaxing his into her mouth.

She lost all sense of time and place as the
kiss went on and on. His hands clutched her ass. She was almost desperate to
get closer to him and tugged at his coat. He swore and pulled away long enough
to shove off his coat and drag off his shirt.

Missy gave a low murmur of approval,
running her hands over the large expanse of sculpted muscles. T.S. was one fine
specimen of manhood.

He captured her mouth again and then bent
down, put one arm behind her knees and scooped her off her feet. He carried her
down the hallway to her bedroom. Missy would never admit it aloud, but she
loved being carried by him. It made her feel feminine and delicate and cared
for. Not something a modern, independent woman wanted to admit, but there was
no denying it. A woman her size didn’t get carried very often. In fact, T.S.
was the first to ever do so.

T.S. lowered his head and kissed her. There
was a sense of urgency about the act that permeated her awareness. She wanted
to ask him what was wrong but was swept away by the sheer physicality of the
situation. Sex first. Talk later.

Her feet hit the floor and she didn’t waste
any time. She wanted him naked. Wanted their bodies joined together, flesh to
flesh.

She reached for her zipper as he bent down
and undid his boots. The muscles in his shoulders bunched and rippled, his
biceps bulged as he removed them and went to work on his jeans and boxer
briefs.

Then he was naked, his cock jutting proudly
in front of him. She was still totally dressed. “Let me help you with that.”
T.S. reached around her and tugged down her zipper. The metallic hissing sound
was loud in the otherwise quiet room. The muted sound of traffic and the city
seemed far away from them. Nothing could touch them here.

T.S. peeled the sleeves of her dress down
her arms, exposing her one inch at a time. He paused occasionally, licking and
kissing her flesh. God, she was so hot. Her panties were damp, her pussy
swollen and wet and her breasts ached.

But more than that, her heart yearned for
T.S. To be as close to him as possible. To hold him and never let him go.

Her dress fell to her waist and then
slithered over her hips, pooling around her ankles. His fingers traced the lace
on her bronze-colored bra. “You look good enough to eat. Sweeter than anything
Lucas could ever create in his kitchen.”

The man was seducing her with words alone.
That and the hot, lusty expression in his piercing golden eyes.

His fingers twisted the front closure,
releasing it. The bra cups peeled back. “Oh yeah.” He brushed his lips over one
pert nipple, then the other. “Riper than any raspberries.” He nuzzled her skin.
“Richer than any dark chocolate.”

Missy moaned and clutched at his hair,
pulling him closer. He laughed and nipped at her flesh before soothing it with
his tongue. “You want me, don’t you, babe?”

“Yes.” Did she ever.

“Mmm.” He made the sound of pleasure as he
eased the bra straps down her arms. The garment joined her dress on the floor.
His thumbs hooked into the waistband of her panties. He didn’t hesitate to
shove them down her thighs. She gave her hips a wiggle and felt his thick
erection against her stomach.