The Heart Heist (24 page)

As he pulled down the material of her dress, his eyes lowered to her plum-sized breasts. A good deal of Kerrin's inner warmth cooled. She bit her lip. "They're...very small," she apologized.

"Yes, they're small," Gary conceded. He glanced up at her with a sly smile. "But the nice thing is, they work just the same."

"They do?" This was on the unbelievable side.

"Oh, yes. Want me to show you?"

The air was cold across her breasts and nipples and she felt terribly exposed. Anything would be better than sitting on the car seat with Gary staring at her tiny breasts. "Okay," she challenged him. "Show me."

"I'm going to touch you," Gary warned, about a split second before the rough skin of his palm covered her naked breast. Kerrin shuddered, from deep, deep inside of herself. "Oh, God," she moaned.

But Gary wasn't done. His clever fingers circled the skin of her nipple, skin far more sensitive to touch than Kerrin had ever imagined. He watched with avid fascination as her nipple contracted. It hardened so tight Kerrin had to bite back a groan.

"I think you're starting to see what I mean." His low voice brushed along her nerve endings, right along with the touch of his caressing fingers. "Sweetheart, I'm going to put my mouth there now. And then I don't think there's going to be any doubt but that your breasts are one hundred percent operable."

Kerrin's fingers stabbed into the silk of Gary's hair as he settled his lips around one nipple. His tongue curled out and rubbed over its tip. A wall of heat went through her. When he opened his mouth and let his teeth gently nip her there, she thought she would self-immolate. With a sound of pleasure and surrender, she arched her back. Closing her eyes, she let him continue to stoke the fires at her breast.

Her whole body was throbbing, crying with inarticulate want. Kerrin's hands clutched bunches of his hair, his name moaned through her lips again and again. She was panting, her breath coming heavy and uneven. Gary's breathing was much the same, and it fanned hot and thrilling over her breast.

"Sweetheart?" His voice was strained as he looked up from her bosom, his eyes gleaming. "I want to make you come."

These words, put so baldly, went through her with a wild exhilaration followed by a wave of pure cold terror.

"No."

Before Gary could properly respond to this decisive reply, Kerrin began scrambling out of his arms. All of the heat and wanting were suddenly gone, as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over the wanton woman she'd just been. She wasn't wanton any more. She was back to being old maid Horton, dried up scaredy-cat; an adolescent in an adolescent's body that happened to have a chronological age that didn't fit.

"Wait a minute. Honey, don't move so fast." Gary winced as her knee brushed him in what was probably a vulnerable place. That seemed to decide him and he caught her shoulders while wrapping a leg over her body to still her frantic movements. "Just hold on," he rasped.

Kerrin didn't have much choice but to lie still beneath him as panic moved up her throat.

"Shh. Shh," Gary whispered against her cheek. "Just wait a minute, okay, while I...get adjusted here." He didn't move except to hold her still. "Shh. Shh. Mmph."

There was a hint of pain in his last utterance and Kerrin, who'd finally decided that he didn't mean to molest her, was moved to remorse. "Gary, I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No." A low chuckle escaped him. "I wouldn't call it that. Okay, I'm going to let you go now. But no sudden moves, all right?"

"All right."

Gary lifted himself off of her stiffly, cautiously. "Just stay put."

"I will," Kerrin promised.

"Good girl." He fell into a seat across the car from her and leaned his head all the way back. "Oh Lordy."

Kerrin was painfully aware that she'd made a terrible error. She'd led the man from one level of intimacy to the next, giving him every reason to believe she was willing to cede him everything. It had been cruel of her to start something she should have known she couldn't finish.

With his eyes closed and his legs sprawled in front of him, Gary heaved a deep, heartfelt sigh.

"Gary?" Kerrin murmured, ashamed. "I'm really sorry."

He stilled, but didn't open his eyes. "Sorry? About what?"

"I -- you know, about asking you to stop."

He opened his eyes then and raised his head to stare at her. "You're sorry," he repeated disbelievingly, "about telling me no?"

"Well -- "

"Sweetheart." Gary reached out and grasped her hand. He gave it a hard squeeze. "Don't
ever
feel bad about telling a man 'no.' That's a woman's prerogative. Absolutely." He gave her a concerned look as he dropped her hand. "Didn't you know that?"

"I, uh -- " Kerrin felt herself swimming in a morass of sexual ignorance. What an utter child she was! How idiotic he must find her.

Gary closed his eyes again with a frown and shifted his weight. "Gimme a minute here, baby, and I'll drive you home. At the moment I'm wetter 'n a mud skunk."

"A mud skunk?" Kerrin, struggling to raise the zipper on her dress, was momentarily diverted from her embarrassment. "What on earth is that?"

"I don't know," Gary admitted, "except that it must be something very, very wet."

Kerrin's hand stilled on her zipper as she belatedly caught his meaning. But a
mud skunk
?

His lips curved into a smile both amused and wry. "Do me a favor honey, would you? Don't tell anyone that his first time at bat with a woman out of the joint and Gary Sullivan shot it in his pants."

The wry smile broadened into a grin and then he started to laugh. Kerrin stared at him, aghast. How could he
laugh
?! How could he possibly
laugh
about something so...so...

So -- what? So primal, so earthy...so natural? She felt herself perched on top of a precipice. On one side was the safe cage of her own insecurity. On the other side was freedom.

Some choice. Her own laughter bubbled up from within. She wasn't exactly sure what he thought was so funny but she did know it was okay to laugh. It was okay not to be perfect at this particular human endeavor. Something like a ten ton weight, something she'd been dragging around for years, fell right away.

Gary reached to smooth a hand over her cheek, a cheek warmed with laughter. "That's much better, sweetheart."

"Oh, Gary." Incredible gratitude expanded within her. She turned her head, catching his palm against her lips. "You are the dearest, sweetest, most wonderful man I could ever hope to meet."

His expression underwent a swift transformation as a curt, embarrassed laugh escaped him. "Me? I don't think -- "

"Well, I do," Kerrin pronounced firmly. "Now, will you please do my zipper?" Turning her back to him, she raised a hand to pull her hair off her neck.

After a stunned moment, he complied, pulling the zipper up slowly, thoughtfully. When he got to the top he dropped a light kiss on the back of her neck. "Come on, honey. Let me drive you home."

Kerrin turned and met his eyes. His gaze was dark as night, sober, and questioning. She didn't say anything; she knew he could read what was in her own eyes. The next time they played this game she wasn't going to have to stop. She trusted him completely. There was not a speck of doubt left in her mind.

Gary Sullivan was her white knight.

The drive home was made in a deeply thoughtful silence. The stars were sprinkled across the night sky in glittering profusion as Gary opened the car door for Kerrin in the drive before her house. The crickets wheezed an enthusiastic string section to the bass note of a frog somewhere. There was a beautiful peace inside of Kerrin as she faced Gary.

With a deep sigh, he took her in his arms and embraced her, simply holding her close. The peace inside of her grew, warmed, expanded.

"Sometimes," Gary said, "you scare me to death."

Kerrin blinked her eyes against his chest. "I do? How?"

He hesitated. "You're way too nice to me."

Kerrin closed her eyes. She wanted to squeeze him, shake him, overtake him -- anything to make him understand this wasn't so, it wasn't possible. Instead she confined herself to smoothing her hand across his back, finding the curve of muscle there. "You're not used to that, are you?"

"No."

She raised her head to find his expression a mixture of caution and consternation. With a wry smile, she put a hand against the stubble of his beard. "Well, you better get used to it, my dear."

Gary quickly trapped her hand against his face. His expression intensified. "That could be dangerous."

"For you?" Kerrin shook her head. "I think the opposite is true."

He stared down at her. "I'm not going to have you forever."

The statement stabbed through her with an awful pain.
And she wouldn't have him, either
. "That just doesn't seem possible," she blurted out."

An unhappy smile twisted his lips as he brushed a finger across her mouth. "As you're so fond of reminding me, Kerrin: anything is possible."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They're a lot more interesting when they're older
.

Matt considered this piece of Gary's advice from his usual spot in the right-hand back corner of the classroom. From this position he had an excellent view of every student in the room.

This morning he used his vantage point to study Cheryl Bloch. She was wearing a stretchy knit top that he'd earlier noted showed everything a man could want to see. Cheryl turned her head to retrieve a dropped pencil, displaying her picture-perfect features. She already looked years older than sixteen. About ten years older.

Yeah, Matt decided, Cheryl was aging fast. If he thought about it, ten years from now she was going to look downright decrepit. The come-on expression that today was so sexy would become the jaded smirk of a woman who'd been overused. The tanned skin would become wrinkled, the large breasts sag. She'd look ridden hard and put away dirty.

The image of Cheryl Bloch ten years in the future did wonders for Matt's mood.

Up in the front of the classroom, Gary had moved the teacher desk to the side to give the first group room to teach about dental health. They were presenting their facts in a Jeopardy game format. It was about medium on the entertainment scale, Matt judged.

He turned his attention two rows up from himself, and clear across the room. From there, Elaine Gerard provided Matt a very nice view of her profile. He studied it closely, his head resting on the heel of his hand. She had one delicate bump in her nose, high cheekbones, and skin that looked the color of ivory against her dark hair. Her silky-looking hair was brushed straight back into a high ponytail, showing off her fine features. Her expression was serious and concentrated as she took notes on the presentation.

Now in ten years a face like Elaine's was only going to improve. Good bone structure didn't change. And what today appeared a somewhat gawky body was going to become a tall, slender, even regal, figure. No doubt about it. Elaine was going to be a looker.

This discovery was unutterably depressing. By now Matt had figured out he'd been wrong about Elaine the other day. She didn't like him. The moment of excitement when their hands had clasped had all been on one side: his. It only made sense; after all, she was going to be gorgeous in ten years.

He was still glumly staring at her profile when the girl turned her head and looked back at him. She must have sensed his prolonged scrutiny. At any rate, it was too late for Matt to glance away; she'd caught him in the act.

Their eyes locked and held. It was the craziest thing. There was something magical in her eyes. Maybe it was their color, like washed rain, or maybe it was their unexpected focus on himself, but Matt had never dreamed that simply looking into another person's eyes, straight on for long moments strung together, could be so incredibly exciting.

Pleasure washed through him as he kept up his side of the peculiar duel. The longer their gazes held, the higher his level of excitement rose; excitement and a species of power. A slow, irrepressible smile grew over his face.

As though he'd pushed some kind of button, a deep flush spread up Elaine's bare neck and into her face. Matt watched this phenomenon in stunned amazement. She tore her gaze away but it was too late. He could still see the flushed color of her skin.

He'd done that! Just by
looking
at her. Matt couldn't have felt more high in that moment, more full of masculine power than if he'd just dispatched a full-grown bull in the midst of a shouting arena of 'olé's.

"Matt?"

Startled, Matt looked up to find Gary frowning at him from behind his desk at the side.

"Yes, sir?"

"Why don't you move up to this seat at the front?" Gary's tone was definitely more order than suggestion. "You seem a bit distracted back there today."

A bunch of people turned to look at him but Matt couldn't stop smiling, even though he hated to be the object of curiosity. He was smiling like a fool while he backed up from his desk. A few people whispered; a couple started grinning themselves. Not even that could make a dent in his good humor.

He rolled to the front, still not able to control his grin. Gary gave him a brisk, assessing look, but seemed to remain baffled. "All right," he then said, addressing the Jeopardy group up front. "Please go on."

Matt took his pen in his hand and tried his damnedest to concentrate, particularly as he was now sitting directly under Gary's watchful eyes. But a heady intoxication filled him.

He'd been wrong about Elaine. She'd been nervous the other day because she
liked
him. She liked him! Every time Matt remembered the way his smile had made her blush, he felt a fresh wash of dizzying gratification.

The Jeopardy question answer was "Periodontics." Matt wrote it down in his notebook because he knew he was supposed to be writing something down. If he passed the quiz at the end of today it would be a sheer miracle. A far more pressing question loomed in his mind. Okay, so Elaine maybe liked him.