Stormy Weather (6 page)

What’s he trying to hide
? She shoved her wandering thought to the very back of her mind. Cash could just be the kind of man who didn’t like talking about himself. Most of the time, she wasn’t so revealing, but something about Cash made her want to tell him more about her.

She still couldn’t deny he was one of the sexiest men she had ever seen. How could he make eating a sandwich in front of a fireplace without any lights on so damn attractive?

After he sat down next to her, Cash rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Now, the dancing light coming from the flames in the fireplace were highlighting the light dusting of dark hair on his forearms. The simple sight was turning her on.

Cash was asking her about Sasha, Akisha, and Genise, but all she could think about was how his firm lips would feel pressed against hers. Had she really been buried in work for so long that her body was this hungry for a man?

No, that couldn’t be it.

Yeah, it had been a while since he had a steady boyfriend in her bed, but she shouldn’t be this ready to jump on the first attraction man with a pulse.

Since the grand opening of
Luxury
, she had been in the company of several handsome men and not one of them turned her on the way Cash Garon did. There was something about him. He had her dreaming about him stripping her naked and then making love to her right here in front of the fireplace for the rest of the night.

“Fine, I’ll tell you more about me and then it’s your turn. No more pushing the conversation back towards me, deal?” she said, looking directly into his captivating gray eyes.

“Deal,” he agreed.

“While I was growing up, I hated being an only child because all of my friends had siblings at home to play with. I wanted the same thing as they did,” she confessed, removing her marshmallows from the fire. “So, I prayed that my mama would have another baby for me to play with. I think I did that for months and finally my dad told me I was going to be a big sister.

“I was so excited and couldn’t wait until the baby came home from the hospital. However, when my parents brought home three baby sisters, I changed my mind pretty quickly. I didn’t think it was so cool to be the oldest.”

“Why not?” Cash asked her.

“They got all of the attention from my parents and all I got to do was help out with them. In my mind, I never got to have any fun anymore with my mama because she constantly needed to see why they were crying.

“My dad went back into the military when they were about six months old. My mama tried to show me attention the best she could, but it was never the same when it had been just the two of us.

“I was mad at my parents for such a long time, because I wasn’t the center of their universe anymore. I had to share my time with three little sisters.

“As Sasha, Akisha, and Genise got older, they followed me everywhere. I couldn’t get any peace from them. So, of course, when I was a teenager I hated them even more because I would have to babysit them while my mama went back to work. Well, there’s my story. See, I told you it wasn’t all that exciting,” Rachelle said as she worked on getting her S’Mores together.

Breaking the chocolate apart, she placed it on top of the graham crackers and then added her gooey marshmallows. After everything was together, she gave it a good hard press before taking a huge bite. She savored how the melted marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers tasted. It was almost better than sex…
almost
.

“God, this tastes so unbelievable,” she moaned. “I don’t know why I don’t fix them more often.”

“Well, I can’t give my opinion since I haven’t eaten one yet.” Cash grinned, staring at her as he reached for the bag of marshmallows.

Rachelle’s felt her face grow warmer from embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she just acted like that in front of Cash. God, this guy was so bad for her peace of mind.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead and fix yours. I should have waited for you. My mother would get on me for having such bad manners.”

“Not a problem. I enjoyed watching the pleasure that crossed your beautiful face when you took a bite of the S’Mores.” Cash winked at her. He proceeded to put his S’Mores together, then took a bite. “Damn, you are right, this is very good.”

“Hmmm…you have something on your face.” She laughed, pointing to a smudge of chocolate at the corner of Cash’s mouth.

“Where is it?” His pink tongue darted out and licked the side of his mouth, but he missed it. “Did I get it?”

“No, you missed. It’s right here.” Leaning closer, Rachelle wiped the spot of chocolate off Cash’s face with the pad of her thumb at the same time his tongue came back out.

The feel of his moist, rough tongue brushing over the tip of her finger instantly sent a pool of moisture rushing into her panties. She could barely contain herself from moving in towards him for a kiss.

Hot desire lit up his smoky eyes as his gaze darted down to her finger, then shot right back up to her face. “I think I’ve had a change of mind,” Cash’s deep, rich voice confessed as his hand, dropped his S’Mores down on the rug next to his leg.

“What did you change your mind about?” she whispered, staring into his handsome face.

As much as Rachelle wanted to look away, she couldn’t because the pull between them was way too powerful
.
He had her body under some kind of spell. Her mind couldn’t break free.

Her pulse sped up as Cash’s large hand eased behind her neck and pulled her closer to his hard chest. “Your lips will probably taste twenty times better than any S’Mores ever could,” he growled before he captured her mouth in a deep, wet kiss.

She had been kissed before—the first time was in middle school by a boy she hated. However, she had never, and she meant
never
, been kissed so thoroughly as Cash was kissing her right now. Kissing Cash was one of the hottest things that had happened to her in a very long time.

His masterfully, talented tongue licked at hers like he was trying to draw the taste of her S’Mores from her mouth back to his. He devoured her mouth like it was the meal he had been searching for all night long. A sense of urgency drove her to get carried away with the man who was making her body feel so good.

Her heart jolted inside her body. He was so disturbing to her in every single way that he shouldn’t be. Rachelle though her feelings…no, attraction for him was intensifying the more his mouth controlled hers. His nearness made her senses spin completely out of control and she was having a hard time getting them back together.

The way he was taking control of her lips was almost criminal. Without a doubt, a pair of handcuffs should be slapped on his wrists and he should be escorted to jail for making her feel so good.

This wasn’t right at all. She should be pushing him away, but she wasn’t.

God, what if he made love as well as he kissed?

She constantly lectured her little sisters about breaking the ninety-day rule when it came to guys, but if Cash kept kissing her she was going have one hell of a one-night stand tonight and not feel a bit embarrassed about during the walk of shame in the morning from his room.

No! She couldn’t let that happen. She had to keep her wits about her. She needed to stop Cash before their kissing went any further and she
would
be begging him to strip her naked right here in front of the fire.

Breaking the hot kiss, Rachelle placed her hand on Cash’s chest and leaned her body away from his. Instantly the closeness she felt with him was gone and she regretted her decision.

“We need to stop,” she said, trying to be the responsible one. However, she ruined her chances by moaning when he jerked her back against his body and nibbled at the side of her sensitive neck.

“Please, stop,” Rachelle panted softly.

“Why?” He growled by her ear as his fingers stroked her back through her shirt. “Don’t you want this as much as I do? We don’t have to go any further than you want. I just don’t want to stop kissing you.”

Do it. Do it. Let go and do something crazy for once,
her mind taunted.

She shook her head. “We can’t do this. I barely know you. I’m a good girl. I don’t have one night stands with men I just meet.”

“If you let me make love to you, I won’t think any less of you, but you have to feel this connection between us. Sometimes things just happen and this might be one of those things. Just live in the moment,” Cash whispered, then ran his tongue across the shell of her ear.

“I will think less of myself,” Rachelle said, trying to clear her head. Cash was placing a spell on her. She had to get away from him. Everything her sisters told her about sexual chemistry was true. She couldn’t think about doing anything else but stripping Cash out of his clothes. She had to fight her own battle of personal restraint to not give in to her feelings.

“Please let me make love to you. You’re the kind of woman that makes a man want to make love to her for hours. Hell, I know that I’ve been thinking about it ever since my eyes connected with yours earlier tonight. I can’t figure out which thing about you I find sexier, your name or your body.”

God, she wanted to do this
so
badly, and from the feel of his rock hard cock poking against her stomach, Cash wasn’t lying about his feelings for her. He did want her as much as she desired him, yet she just couldn’t do it.

Chapter Six

Placing her hands
against his solid chest, Rachelle pushed Cash away for a second time that night. She had to keep him at arm’s length or he was going to mess with her well-organized life. She still wanted to look at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t do that while within touching distance of him.

What would her sisters think about her lapse in judgment tonight? She was the perfect and logical one in the family. She wasn’t a rule breaker and she was fighting
so
hard not to become one. She wouldn’t lose her common sense over a handsome man blessed with a sexy body. She
loved
being in control and, with only one hot-ass kiss, Cash almost took the power away from her.

“We really can’t do that again,” Rachelle whispered, placing her fingertips against her swollen lips.

“Why not?” Cash asked, his eyes searching hers. “What’s wrong with one tiny kiss? I thought we were getting to know each other a little better?”

She dropped her fingers away from her mouth. “I’m just not the spontaneous type. I have everything planned out. I don’t like getting off track, but more than anything I hate surprises.”

The corner of Cash’s mouth lifted up into a slight smirk. “Are you saying that I surprised you by how well I kissed?” The sound of his voice was an octave deeper. “I can promise you if you come back over here, I can surprise you even more and in so many different ways.” He patted the spot in front of him, making his offer so tempting, but she held back.

Rachelle was dying to crawl back across the carpet and let Cash do everything to her that he was promising, but she couldn’t. How could he take her seriously after he got what he wanted from her? She was sure that he had women coming on to him all the time; however, she wasn’t going to allow herself to fall into that same trap.

If he wanted a hot fling while he was on vacation then he would have to look somewhere else, because it wouldn’t be with her. Her body might want one thing, but she needed to make sure her mind was in control.

Ever since she was a little girl, everyone had taken her very seriously because of her ability to stay focused on the big picture. If she allowed lust and desire to take her over now, then everything she believed in would be worthless.

“No, I’m sorry. I can’t sleep with you,” she apologized, getting up off the floor. “I’m not saying I’m not very tempted by your kisses, but I can’t. We need some space from each other. So, I think I’m going to check on that breaker. I’m hoping I can get the lights to come back on tonight.”

“Wait,” Cash said as he jumped up. He stood directly in front of her, blocking her path. “Please let me apologize. I overstepped. I didn’t mean to pressure you into doing anything you weren’t ready for.

“I shouldn’t have moved so fast and kissed you. Yet, you were sitting there looking so beautiful by the fireplace and I couldn’t help myself. I still want to get to know you better. Think we could start over and go on from there?”

“Hmmm…I don’t know,” Rachelle answered, hesitant to give in to Cash.

“How about you think about it while I’m gone?” he suggested. I told you earlier that I was going check the breaker for you and I’m a man of my word. So, tell me how to find it.”

Rachelle tried not to focus on how good Cash looked in front of her, but it was hard not to do. She was dying to feel his warm, hard lips pressed against hers again. God, this guy was making her lose all of her abilities to think straight.

“Go all the way to the very end of the hallway and make a left. You will end up in front of a door and then go down some stairs. It’s on the wall as soon as you step off the last step. You won’t miss it. Are you sure that you don’t need me to come with you?” she asked.

“No… I think I can handle this all by myself. Just hand me the flashlight and I’ll be on my way.”

Bending down, Rachelle picked up the flashlight. “Here you go.”

“Oh, I did forget something,” Cash said as he took the flashlight from her.

“What?”

“This.” Before she could move, Cash grabbed her by the waist and yanked her against his body before she could stop him, and recaptured her mouth with his lips. This kiss was sudden but it was still as hot as the first kiss they had shared earlier.

“Thanks,” Cash said, then winked at her.

Spinning on his heel, he went down the hallway towards the door. She watched his wide back until he disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

Sitting back down in front of the fire, Rachelle stared blankly into the flames. She wondered what she was going to do about Cash.

Why wouldn’t he comprehend he couldn’t come into her life and make her body go all crazy?