The Way You Look Tonight (12 page)

Only one hour left, thank God.

Rafe hadn’t come back to her house, but she’d seen him out the kitchen window, working even harder than he had the previous day, a look of intense focus on his face. He hadn’t looked her way once, which left her free to stare all she wanted whenever he came outside.

Her mouth watered even now just thinking about how beautiful he was, the way his muscles rippled and tensed as he moved. She’d had a couple of nice men as lovers over the years, but although she had a perfectly fine time in bed with them, her world had never spun off its axis, either. Some people, she’d assumed, were meant to give their passions to other things. Her parents had the law and economic theory. She had chocolate, and she’d tried to be satisfied with that, even though she’d always had a sense of it not being enough.

With nothing more than a handful of kisses, Rafe had stirred up her deeper passions in a way she hadn’t believed could be possible. And Brooke now knew she’d never be satisfied with anything less.

When the clock ticked down to the final forty-five minutes, and she finally left the kitchen to go back into her bedroom to strip off her clothes, Brooke shivered at the thought of Rafe melting on her tongue the way one of her chocolates did. It wasn’t hard to guess that she probably wasn’t like the women Rafe normally slept with. Not only because he’d used the word
innocent
to describe her, but also because tall, dark, handsome men like him were always with the sleek, exotically beautiful female equivalent.

She didn’t need to step in front of her full-length mirror to know that she was anything but sleek and exotic. Deliberately reminding herself that Rafe had already seen her in a bikini and had clearly liked what he saw, she went to take a shower. She’d never been a high-maintenance woman, but tonight she shaved and smoothed lotion on nearly every inch of skin in heady anticipation of his touch.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she blow-dried her hair, then opened her closet door and stared at her clothes.

What does one wear to be kinky?
Especially given that her wardrobe was entirely lacking in leather and chains.

Well, she definitely didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard. Good thing that would be hard to do, with a wardrobe that consisted almost entirely of sundresses, shorts, jeans, and tank tops. In the end, while she chose a simple white cotton dress with spaghetti straps and a fitted bodice, it was what she chose to wear under it—or
not
wear under it, to be more specific—that had her feeling truly sexy. Maybe even borderline kinky.

She couldn’t wait to see how Rafe reacted when he realized that she’d left both her bra and her panties in her dresser drawer.

Because no matter what he’d said about being more than she could handle, she knew she was safe with him. Only a true friend could give her such a great gift: the chance to play with fire, knowing all the while that he’d never let her actually get burned.

She was reaching for her makeup bag when she looked into her bathroom mirror and realized that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were already bright enough without any blush or mascara. Even her mouth was pink, as if just thinking about Rafe’s kisses had been enough to give her a just-kissed look.

Five minutes left.

Her heart had been beating a little bit faster all day long. Now, it pounded like crazy.

All night, all day, her brain had kept replaying his words:
"Last night, you called me wild. You’re right. I am wild."
Brooke took one last look at herself, but barely saw her reflection in her rising excitement.

How had she possibly lasted twenty-four hours?

She opened her bedroom door and walked barefoot into the living room. The way the soft cotton of her dress slipped and slid over her naked curves only increased her breathlessness, especially when she realized Rafe was already there.

He turned from the window, his hair still damp from a recent shower. He smelled clean and masculine and utterly delicious and looked beyond gorgeous in his jeans and T-shirt. Even his bare feet were tanned and beautiful.

For a long moment, they stood and stared at each other across the room, just as they had two nights earlier when he’d arrived on his motorcycle and she’d just come from swimming in the lake.

Finally, Rafe broke the heady silence. "The way you look tonight. In that dress. Jesus, Brooke, you’re beautiful." He seemed to lose the breath for anymore words at that point, and then they were both moving toward each other.

She didn’t know who reached whom first, just that her hands were suddenly in his and he was tugging her close. Every single movement, every touch, felt so right. So perfect.

So meant to be.

"It’s been twenty-four hours." He slid both hands up her arms and shoulders and neck until he was stroking her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "How do you feel?"

"I ache." Her confession was barely more than a whisper.

His dark eyes flashed with so much heat that the breath she was barely able to take caught in her throat.

"You ache," he repeated in a raw voice. "Where?"

"Everywhere."

On a groan, he was lowering his mouth to hers, and she could almost taste him when he stilled barely an inch from her lips. "Last chance, Brooke."

God, she could hardly think straight when she wanted to kiss him this badly, but she knew it was important that she make sense of what he’d just said. "For what?"

"To change your mind." A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Tell me to let go of you, and I won’t touch you again."

Just the thought of his not touching her made her gut twist painfully. "Don’t you dare let me go."

She clenched her hands in the fabric of his shirt to pull him closer, and their mouths met in a hot, borderline frantic kiss. She was desperate to make up for the one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes they’d lost, badly needed to fill in all the kisses they’d missed out on.

As if he could sense she needed soothing, he slid his hands into her hair and lifted his mouth just far enough away from hers so that their lips were barely touching. She could feel his warm breath on her damp mouth, and she shivered even as he kissed her again, more gently this time, just the barest press of his lips against hers.

His kiss was at once sweet...and commanding. Without a word, with just the barest of touches, he was slowing them both down, letting them savor each other rather than simply devouring without thought or appreciation.

And, oh, how he savored.

No one had ever kissed her like this, taking the time to taste every last inch of her mouth, from corner to corner, from the upper bow of her top lip to the lush center of her bottom lip. Her hands opened and closed on his shirt as waves of pleasure moved through her. And then his tongue was moving back inside her mouth to find hers, causing another sweet shock of bliss to shoot all the way down to her toes. Without a bra on, her full breasts were peaking hard against the bodice of her dress, and she instinctively moved her hands from his chest to wrap them around his neck so that she could press herself into him.

That was when he lifted his head to stare down at her with such heat and more desire than she’d ever seen on a man’s face. "You’re amazing."

"I’ve never felt like this before." With anyone but Rafe, she might have been shy about expressing her desire, might have been unable to put words to her erotic feelings. But she knew she was safe with him...even as the lust that spiked inside her was the most dangerously beautiful thing she’d ever known. "I’ve never needed anything,
anyone—
"
His teeth bit into her lobe, and she gasped with pleasure. "—as much as I need you."

A moment later his mouth caught hers again. She lost herself in his kiss, in his delicious taste, in the shockingly sensuous feel of his tongue stroking over hers.

"Tonight," he murmured heatedly against her lips, "isn’t nearly long enough for all the things I want to do to you."

"You can have as long as you need," she told him, her arousal ratcheting up even higher at the thought, the question, of what all of those
things
might be. As he lowered his mouth to the curve of her shoulder, she couldn’t wait to find out.

His teeth nipped into her skin at the exact moment he slid one slim strap down. Oh, how she loved the slick of his tongue over the small bite, and then the incredible sensation of his full mouth sucking against a part of her body she would have sworn wasn’t the least bit sensitive or sensual. A moment later, he was giving her other shoulder the same treatment, stripping her even as he tasted her flesh with a small bite followed by the warm lash of his tongue and then a split second of suction against her skin that had her trembling in his arms.

When he lifted his head, his eyes were blazing with the same heat and need she knew must be reflected in her own.

"I need to see you," he said, his low voice rasping over her skin as if he’d touched her instead.

"Yes," she whispered. "Please."

With the utmost gentleness, he moved his hands to her bodice and slowly slid the material down over the upper swell of her breasts, just to the point where her nipples were about to show. He stopped then and looked up into her face.

"You’re not wearing a bra."

"Only the dress," she confirmed for him.

His eyes widened. "Only the dress?"

She nodded and boldly reached for his hands, placing them over her hips so that he could feel the truth of her words for himself. His eyes closed and his nostrils flared as he cupped her bottom, then slowly ran his hands over her.

"So damned beautiful, Brooke."

She’d never heard anyone speak to her, about her, with such awe. But before she could tell him she thought he was beautiful, too, he was sliding his fingers through hers and tugging her toward the bedroom.

"I’ve already waited twenty-four of the longest hours of my life for you. I can’t wait another second."

They had just walked inside the bedroom when a loud knock came at her front door. Both of them stilled and looked toward the front porch, then back at each other.

His hand tightened on hers. "Were you expecting someone?"

"No. Maybe if we ignore them they’ll go away."

But, of course, the knocking came louder the second time. Rafe ran his free hand through his hair in clear frustration. A moment later, he was pulling Brooke’s dress all the way back up and sliding the straps into place on her shoulders. He lowered his mouth to hers for one last, hard kiss that would have spiraled off into more were it not for the continued pounding out front.

"Go answer your door before they break it down."

Rafe went with her into the living room, and when she saw who was standing on her porch through the picture windows, utter shock made her temporarily mute as she opened the front door.

"Oh my gosh." Mia Sullivan pulled a completely surprised Brooke into a warm hug on the front porch. "Look at you! You’re absolutely
gorgeous,
Brooke."

Adam Sullivan’s arms came around her next, the second Sullivan brother to hold her in the past fifteen minutes. When he let her go, his eyes were warm as they moved over her face, and he agreed, "Absolutely gorgeous."

The next thing she knew, Rafe was standing on the porch with the three of them, glowering at his siblings.

Chapter Eleven

Rafe couldn’t believe his luck. He’d waited twenty-four goddamned hours to have Brooke naked beneath him...and
that
was when his brother and sister showed up unannounced?

It had to be some kind of sick joke, karma coming back around to kick him in the ass for every bad thing he’d ever done.

Or, he thought with a tight clenching of his gut, was it a sign that he should keep his hands off of her?

Normally he would have been happy to see his sister and brother, but tonight all he wanted, right or wrong, was for them to turn around and go home to Seattle so that he could have Brooke all to himself.

"What are you doing here?"

"Surprise!" Mia said as she lifted a bottle of sparkling wine. "We came to toast your new house with cousin Marcus’s finest bubbly from Napa and to see what we can do to help you fix it up tomorrow before we head back to Seattle. Mom and Dad would have come, but they’re off sailing with Dylan for a couple of days. And for all we know, Ian may never return from London."

Rafe should have been grateful for his siblings’ help. Instead, all he could say was, "So you’re staying the night?"

"Rafe, it’s late. Of course they’re staying." Brooke gestured for everyone to follow her inside with a wide smile for his brother and sister. Where she’d been so loose in his arms just moments before, now her movements seemed a little stiff. "I’m so glad you’re both here. It’s been way too long."

Mia and Adam weren’t stupid—not even close—and they had to know something was up. It wasn’t hard to put the signs together: his crankiness at their unexpected arrival combined with her just-kissed mouth, flushed skin, and the fact that she was wearing the sexiest little white dress on the planet.

With nothing underneath it.

God help him.

Rafe’s hands fisted as he remembered the way Adam had hugged Brooke. Everywhere his brother was big and hard, she’d looked small and soft, and all Rafe could think about was ripping his brother away from her and tossing him headfirst into the lake. Adam was a good guy, but he was no saint where women were concerned. And Rafe could tell just how much Adam was appreciating Brooke’s exposed curves and creamy skin.

What guy with a pulse wouldn’t?

"We decided it would be fun to surprise Rafe." Mia’s eyes twinkled as she looked between the two of them. "And, boy, are we glad we did."

"Are you hungry?" Brooke asked.

"We ate dinner on the road," Mia replied, "but I’d love to take the bubbly outside and drink it while eating s’mores around the campfire." She lifted another bag that held graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate.