Unforgettable (6 page)

Her cell phone continued to beep. What
the heck? She reached forward and grabbed it from her coffee table.
She hoped the noise didn’t wake EJ. She’d had a hard time getting
him to go to sleep tonight as it was.

Krista read the messages from
Jamie.

Are you there? I saw Neil
tonight.

Neil is a jerk. Thank God
you didn’t get involved with him.

You deserve someone much
better than that sleezeball. Call me!

Krista scrolled through, reading them
again. Where had she seen Neil and what had he done? She was about
to call Jamie when a knock sounded on her front door.

Setting the phone down, she tiptoed
over and peeked out the sidelight window and was surprised to see
Neil.

What the hell was going on this
evening?

She opened the door and stepped out
onto the front porch, closing the door behind her. She didn’t want
the voices to carry down the hallway to wake EJ.

“
What are you doing
here?”

“
I came to explain.” He was
out of breath.

She brushed her hair over one shoulder.
“Explain what?”

“
Tonight.”

Krista sighed. “I’ve been asleep. I
have no idea what’s going on. I do know I had texts from Jamie and
apparently you’re a sleezeball. However, I haven’t talked to her
yet to find out why. But since you’re here. Go ahead and
explain.”

He stared at her with an apologetic
expression. “I did a stupid thing tonight and I’m
sorry.”

She crossed her arms and leaned against
the cool brick but didn’t say anything.

“
I like you so much and I
don’t know why.” He grunted. “I don’t mean that the way it sounds,
but I am so attracted to you. I’ve never been this attracted to a
woman. And yet, you’ve pretty much told me over and over that it
isn’t going to work. Tonight was poker night at the club and I was
there.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Well, Jamie saw me with
a woman.”

Krista held her hand up. “We’re not
together.” Not that hearing he was with someone else didn’t
sting.

“
But I want to be. I don’t
want the other woman.”

“
You want to be with me,
even though I keep telling you it’ll never work. So you turned to
another woman? Or something like that.”

“
Fuck, yeah. Something like
that.” He rubbed his palms along his sides.

Krista stared at the older man. She’d
only seem him a few times in her life, but he’d always been so
collected, but right now the man who stood before her was frantic.
He didn’t hold that same controlled demeanor she was used too.
Instead he seemed unsure of himself.

“
I made a dumb mistake.” He
sighed.

Krista couldn’t understand why he was
so apologetic. “Did you sleep with her, kiss her, or anything like
that?”

“
No. I only met her when I
sat down at the table.”

Krista laughed. “You flirted with
another woman and now you feel guilty?”

Neil was silent a moment and stared
past her. Finally he looked back at her. “When you put it that way,
I can see how silly this is. But I didn’t want Jamie to tell you
anything that would upset you. She ran away so fast I didn’t get a
chance to explain what she saw.”

She chuckled more. “It’s fine, Neil.
Really. You can go home and sleep tonight with a clear
conscience.”

He growled. “Damn it, woman! The things
you do to me.”

Before Krista had a moment to respond,
his arms were around her waist tugging her to him. His lips
captured hers and then their tongues met. Krista was frozen at
first, until a fire seemed to ignite in her. She laced her arms
around his neck and stood on her tippy toes. Tilting slightly, they
deepened the kiss.

Nerves in her body tingled, especially
between her legs. Her panties grew moist and she couldn’t believe
she was this turned on from a kiss.

Neil pushed her so until her back was
up against the rough brick wall, and his erection pressed into her
stomach. Oh God, the feel of a man’s arousal. It had been so long.
So long since she’d wrapped her hands around a shaft and stroked it
up and down, listening to a man’s breathing to tell if it was
pleasurable or not. The feel of seeps of cum escaping as her hand
glided faster up and down.

Lost in thought, her hips began to
grind into him. His thigh pressed to her center. The rubbing and
grinding felt too damn good.

“
Krista,” he whispered
against her lips.

“
Don’t stop.” She tugged his
mouth back.

He whispered into her chin, “We’re on
your front porch. Let’s take this inside so I can really show you
how sorry I am.”

She shoved him away. “Crap. This went
way too far. You’ve got to go.”

He stared at her, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m confused. We were just kissing.”

She’d practically been dry humping his
leg. “This shouldn’t have happened. We can never happen. Forget
this kiss. Goodbye, Neil.”

She didn’t give him a chance to speak
again. She opened the door, jetted inside, and shut the door.
Leaning against it, she heard him mumble something.

Krista couldn’t believe
she’d just made out with him. And chances were if they hadn’t been
on the front porch, she’d have had
her
way with him. Damn, could she
have been any more wanton?

There was just something about that man
and she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He made her want to throw
all inhibition out the door. It was probably best she wasn’t going
to see him again.

Her phone beeped again from the coffee
table. It was probably Jamie. Krista sighed and grabbed the phone.
Sure enough, it was another message asking her to call.

Krista obliged and Jamie answered after
the first ring. “What have you been doing?”

“
I was asleep.”
And humping Neil’s leg.

“
I’m so glad you decided
against that guy. He was with another woman tonight. And that woman
was practically in his lap groping him. He liked it. I could
tell.”

“
Maybe he was just flirting
with her.”

Jamie sarcastically chuckled. “Oh no.
It was much more than that. They were going home together. I’m not
blind. Besides, he shouldn’t have been there since he’s met you. I
don’t care that he was playing poker or whatever.”

“
Jamie, chill. I’m not with
him and I made it clear I didn’t want to be. He had every right to
talk, flirt, or whatever with that woman.” Only she hoped after
that kiss, he didn’t return to the woman—at least tonight.
Hopefully he was going home to take a cold shower, much like she
needed.

“
For some reason I thought
you’d be a little more upset about this.”

“
I appreciate you being
there for me.”

“
That’s what friends are
for.”

She twirled a strand of hair. “I’ll
talk to you tomorrow, okay? I need to get some rest. And you need
to stay out of that club. Older men are nothing but
trouble.”

“
You might be
right.”

“
I’m always right. Now that
we have that established, life can go on.” Krista
chuckled.

“
Yeah, whatever. Go back to
dream world.”

“
Night.” She set the phone
back down on the table.

After switching off the TV and lights,
she headed to her room. Morning would be there fast and she needed
to get ready for a long night of tossing and turning. Her engines
were still on fire from Neil. And a finger wasn’t going to cut it
when she really wanted him to fill her.

* * *

Neil stared at his computer screen. He
needed to work, but all he could do was think about Krista and that
kiss. Good God, it had been beyond amazing. Never had a kiss had
him so freaking turned on. This woman had gotten her claws into him
and she wasn’t even trying.

Neil grunted and shoved back from his
chair. There was no use in even trying to work. He needed to get
Krista to give him a shot. She was a single woman. Nothing tying
her to where she was—that he knew of. So what was the problem? Why
didn’t she want to try? Or at least play a little.

Somehow he had to devise a plan for
this weekend. He’d get her to go out with him and give her a date
she’d never forget. One that would change her mind. Krista didn’t
want an extravagant date. If he wanted her to even consider a
relationship, he’d have to tone it down quite a few notches.
Something he wasn’t used to.

But first, he was going to call her and
ask her on a proper date.

Pulling the phone from his hip, he
dialed her number. After the fourth ring the voice mail message
came on. Now the question was, to leave a message or
not?

“
Hi Krista, it’s Neil. When
you’ve got a moment, please give me a call. I’d like to take you
out again this weekend. Hope you’re having a wonderful day. I’ll be
thinking of you.”

He pressed the
end
button. Was that an
okay message? Was it stupid?

What the hell was the matter with him?
Of course it was a fine message. Since when did he over think such
things. The more he got to know this woman, the more insecure he
became. Hopefully she was worth it.

* * *

“
Well, what did he want?”
Jamie stared hard at Krista.

Krista set the phone down on the
kitchen table. “A date this weekend.”

Jamie shook her head. “Are you going to
go?”

Krista chewed her bottom lip. It was
tempting. He was all she’d been able to think about. “I don’t
know.”

“
All morning you’ve defended
his evening out with another woman. And you finally confessed to
kissing him.” Jamie gave her a stern look.

Krista grinned. She couldn’t shake that
kiss. She was still turned on. Her lower body was craving an
intimate meeting with Neil. It had been quite awhile since that
part of her body had met flesh and not hard plastic.

“
I’m attracted to him in a
bad way. But then I think about EJ.”

Jamie sighed and rubbed her
arms. “Why is he holding you back so much? Don’t you think he’d
want his mommy to have a boyfriend
and
happy?”

“
Seriously? He’s seven. His
mommy dating a millionaire is the last thing on his
mind.”

“
You’re dating a
millionaire!” EJ stood at the kitchen doorway with a big grin and
wide eyes.

Krista hit her forehead with her hand.
“No, I’m not.”

“
Is that who sent the
flowers?”

She couldn’t just lie to him. “Yes, but
we’re just friends. That’s it.”

“
Think he’ll buy me anything
cool?” EJ continued in an excited voice.

Krista stared at Jamie, hoping she’d
see her pleading gaze to help her with this situation. She did.
“Did you ever finish building the Lego set I bought you? I want to
see it.”

“
Yeah. It was hard.” He
groaned.

“
Show me.” Jamie hopped up
from the table and at the doorway turned and mouthed
sorry.

Krista took a deep breath and hoped her
son didn’t repeat any of what he’d heard to anyone—especially
Todd.

But at the moment, she had to decide
about Neil. Since EJ was distracted now with Jamie, she grabbed her
phone and went out the back door to sit on the porch. Taking
another deep breath, she called Neil back. Maybe he’d be busy and
not answer.

“
Hello,
beautiful.”

She was never lucky. “Hi, I got your
message.”

“
Good. I’d really love to
take you out again and I promise, this time it won’t be on a
jet.”

Perhaps he had a yacht for this next
date. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

“
I’m not taking no for an
answer. One more date, that’s all I ask. Let me show you that I can
be the kind of guy you want to be with.”

It was hard to tell him no, especially
when she really didn’t want to. “Okay, but it needs to be somewhere
public.”

He chuckled. “Afraid to be alone with
me?”

Yes, yes she was. She’d be naked in no
time with her legs spread open. “I don’t want you getting the wrong
impression.”

“
I could wait a lifetime for
you, Krista. You’re special.”

Her heart did a flip-flop. This man
could make her swoon. He was trouble. “Saturday is best for
me.”

“
Then Saturday it is. How
about we make it a day date? I’d like to make the most of our time
together.”

“
Okay. Sounds like a plan.”
Jamie tapped on the door behind her and mouthed the word
Neil.
Krista nodded.
“Listen, I’m sorry to cut this short, but I’ve got to
go.”

“
I’ll be in touch soon about
our date. I can’t wait.”

“
Me too.” She disconnected
the call.