One Week of Summer (6 page)

I could feel my cheeks heating up and I fought it.  But I couldn’t suppress my automatic apology.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yet you’re still sitting there.”

The coldness in his voice made me jump from the chair like it was on fire.  But once I was on my feet, I remembered I had nowhere to go.

The huge house was too far from my own cottage for me to walk there.  It was too far from
anything
for walking.  That was probably one of the reasons the rich built the homes up the mountain in the first place.

I considered whether or not Donnie would help me.  He might.  Except he’d made it clear his priority was his obligation to Teekay’s father.  If he had to leave Teekay behind to take me back down to the beach, I doubted he’d choose me.

And Teekay himself clearly had no intention of going anywhere.  I wouldn’t dare ask him to drive me home anyway.

He was pacing the room in his pajamas, a sullen expression on his face.  He paused in front of the window, opened it, and let the wind and the rain sweep over his body.

Any trace of the protective, caring guy who’d pulled me from the clutches of Kirby and her friends was gone.

Or maybe he was never there.

Yes, he’d saved me, but if I really thought about it, he’d been violently angry then, too.

I glanced nervously toward the closed door as the gravity of my situation finally started to hit me.

How had it even happened? 

I was always careful.  Well-schooled in the art of self-preservation.  I rarely, if ever, let my guard down.

How had I let myself go from an afternoon of solitude on the beach to being trapped in the bedroom of this possibly unstable man?

I wasn’t a crier, not usually.  Tears gave bullies fuel for their fires of cruelty.  But for the second time that day, my eyes burned.

Never before had I wished so desperately for a cell phone.  I’d never needed one before.

The fourth room,
I remembered.

The real one.  Teekay had tried to send me there. 

Maybe it’s a guest room.

Maybe I could go there, at least until the morning.

I took two steps forward, but before my hand could close on the doorknob, Teekay’s voice stopped me.

“Can I trust you, Maggie?”

It was an odd question to ask a stranger.  An intense one.

I turned in Teekay’s direction.  He’d sunk down into the chair I’d vacated.

“I get this feeling that I can,” he added, eyes closed. “I don’t know why. It’s been so long since I even
wanted
to trust someone…But I want to now, Maggie.”

For the first time, he looked vulnerable.  Even when Donnie had him pinned to the ground, he’d been far from acquiescent.  His body had been rigid with restraint at his forced stillness.

Now, he sat completely still again.  But it was different.  His powerful frame sagged in on itself.  The fist he’d used to punch Donnie hung at his side, already swollen, and the marks I’d left on his chest seemed even redder.

In spite of my worry, a sympathetic lump formed in my throat.

“Those girls back there,” I said softly. “They’re my life.”

His eyes opened. “What does that mean?”

“It means that day in and day out for the last four years, someone treated me like that. Until today when you stopped them. So, yes, I think you can trust me.”

“Come here, Maggie.”

I walked to him and stood dutifully in front of his chair.

“What did Donnie tell you about me?” he asked.

“He said you were dangerous,” I replied honestly.

“Did you believe him?”

“Yes,” I admitted in a whisper.

“Even though I just saved you?”

“Yes,” I said again.

I readied myself for an angry response.  But he just nodded, his face dark and hopeless.

“Good.”

I took a breath and I took a chance, remembering how so many times a kind word –
any
kind word – would’ve lifted me from the emotional downward spiral that always threatened to overwhelm me.

“Thank you.”

He frowned. “For?”

“For helping me today.”

His face relaxed into a smile. “You’re welcome.”

A gust of wind cut through the open window, making me shiver.  Teekay sprung to his feet and grabbed a chocolate-colored blanket from the end of his bed.  He wrapped it around my shoulders.

“I don’t even know why the hell you’re still here, putting up with me,” he said.

For the second time in one day, I made a joke. “Because it beat going home with Kirby.”

Teekay laughed. “Are you sure about that?”

I nodded as seriously as I could manage. “Completely.”

“I do think I’m doing the hero thing kinda wrong, though,” he stated thoughtfully. “I mean, I know there’s no Hero 101 course, but I’m pretty sure if there was the first day would include instructions on
not
scaring the shit out of the damsel in distress,
not
getting into a fistfight, and
not
letting the girl freeze to death, either.”

On cue, the blanket slipped down, and I shivered again.

“You need to get out of that dress,” Teekay said. “It’s soaked.”

“It’ll dry.”

Teekay grinned at my embarrassment. “If I wanted to keep you wet, Maggie, it wouldn’t be like this. The dress has to go.”

I flushed. “I don’t have any other clothes.”

As soon as they were out of my mouth, I realized the words sounded like a play.  Like a coy move in an attempt to get naked.

Teekay’s smile widened. “I’m aware. Does your dress have a zipper?”

“Yes.”

Before he spoke again, I knew what he intended.

“Let me help you, Maggie.”

I hesitated.  Teekay had that look in his eyes again.  The one that made me sure he was going to get his way no matter what.  And again, I felt compelled to comply with his wishes.  Without dwelling on the why, I slipped the blanket down and turned my back to him, my teeth chattering a bit as the cold air hit my bare skin.

Teekay touched the top of the zipper lightly.

“Does it stick?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Sometimes,” I whispered.

“Hmm.”

I felt a slight pressure on my back, and then the zipper began its descent, accompanied by Teekay’s hands.

What is it about the sound of a zipper coming undone that makes me tingle?
I wondered.

Teekay paused, just about halfway down.  He drew in a breath and I knew he was noticing that I wasn’t wearing a bra.  If I had any doubt, it washed away when his palm slid across my back.

I hadn’t gone braless for show, or to be sexy.  The dress simply didn’t require one.  But an unexpected rush of wantonness swept through me.

Because it
was
sexy – at least a little bit – to walk around like that with no one the wiser except me.

Me. And now Teekay.

Unconsciously, I leaned into his caress.  His hand wasn’t terribly rough, but it still contrasted sharply with how smooth my back was.  And the tiny path he made from one shoulder blade to the other left a raw feeling on my skin.  And it was amazing.

Teekay moved on.

He pulled the zipper to the small of my back and I had little choice but to drop the blanket to the floor so he could continue undoing it.

His hands maneuvered down, down, down, until they rested on my hips.

I couldn’t say it was comfortable.  But I could say it was uncomfortably enjoyable.

In seconds, the dress followed the blanket to the ground.

The scant fabric of my panties was sheer and left little to the imagination.  For all they covered, I might as well have been naked.

Now Teekay’s hands slid up instead of down.  They stroked my waist, then shifted forward.  They paused just above my stomach and I didn’t dare look down.  If I did, I would see just how pale my skin was.  I’d be reminded that my belly button was plain and jewel-free.  And most importantly, I’d catch sight of Teekay’s perfect, manly hands pushed against my very imperfect body.

I wanted – selfishly – to enjoy this fleeting moment.  To pretend it was real and not just the some hazy, morning-after-regret in the making.

My skin was warm everywhere Teekay had touched it and I was trembling with the anticipation of where his hands would move next.

“I’d like to kiss you, Maggie.” Teekay’s voice was full of need. “Are you going to ask me?”

Oh, god.

I wanted to do it.  I wanted to beg him.

My eyes were half-closed and my heart thumped.  I had no problem imagining how his lips would feel on my body.  Soft but firm.  Tender but demanding.

If it was just a kiss…

But it wouldn’t be.

I was naïve. 

I was mousey, just as Donnie said. 

But I was
not
stupid.

Very deliberately, so there would be no mistaking my reply for something else – I shook my head no.

Teekay wasn’t willing to drop it so easily.

Instead of pulling away, he moved closer.  His bare chest skimmed my back and his palms cupped the bottom of my breasts.

“You’re still sure about that?” he asked, his words rolling over me like thunder.

I nodded and made a noise that
almost
sounded like a yes.  Almost.

Swiftly, lightly, his thumbs lifted and drew a circle over each of my nipples. 

In spite of my attempt to hold it in, a little moan escaped from my throat.

He was quick to relocate his hands again, this time to my hips.  He gripped them firmly before issuing a rough command.

“Bend down and get the blanket.”

“How am—”

He cut me off. “Do it, Maggie.”

Submissively, I bent over the only way I could – straight forward.  And my lower body went the only way
it
could – straight back.  Into Teekay.

Standing that way, near to spread eagle, utterly exposed and so clearly the object of his desire, sent a shockwave of hunger through me.  Unfamiliar.  Unwanted.  Uncontrollable.

I tried to draw in a breath and it became a gasp.

His erection pressed against his flannel pants.

Ignore it,
I told myself.

But it was impossible.  He was hard and huge and hot.  So very hot.

I shifted, just slightly, and as my panties shifted too, I had no choice but to acknowledge the increasing dampness between my legs.

“Blanket,” Teekay reminded me, his voice as hard as his body.

My hands closed over the fabric and as I lifted it, it met the skin on my calves.  I was so primed – so on edge – that just the softness of the blanket made me groan.

Good god.

“Fuck,” Teekay growled.

And then his fingers were between us.  They moved my underwear aside easily and cupped me hungrily.  I wriggled against him, no longer able to pretend I didn’t want the same thing he wanted.  He parted the eager, willing folds of my sex and slipped one finger inside, then two.

“You’re wet for me, Maggie,” Teekay declared, sounding pleased.

I couldn’t deny it.  I couldn’t even form a coherent thought.

“If you ask me to, I’ll kiss you
here
,” he told me.

He ground his hips against my rear end slowly, and circled his thumb over my slickness.

“Just one little please is all it’ll take,” he added.

He drew his fingers out and stroked my clit in a frustratingly gentle way.  My body was ablaze with unmet need.  Never in my life had I wanted something the way I wanted Teekay’s hands on me. 

“Stubborn girl,” he murmured into my hair.

He thrust a finger deep inside me, then pulled it out and trailed it up my stomach.

I felt alive.  Disturbed.  Embarrassed.  And unfulfilled.  The range of emotions made me dizzy.

What did I let him
do? What more
would
I let him do? And what was he going to expect in return?

But Teekay just bent down and grabbed the blanket – which I now held in a death grip – from my hand forcibly.  He pulled it up, took a step back, and draped it over my shoulders.  I could feel every fiber in the fabric rub against every pore of my skin.

He spun me around, careful to hold the blanket in place.  I kept my humiliated gaze down, and after a second, Teekay sighed and grabbed my chin with two of his fingers.

Very briefly, I wondered if they were
the
fingers.  He tried to tip my face up, but in a rare moment of rebellion, I refused to give in.  Somehow, I knew that one look into his eyes would be enough to make me give in to anything – and everything – he wanted.