Wicked Flower (14 page)

“What?” he asked. “Take your
paycheck. It’s yours; you’ve earned it. Don’t let my dumbass get in the way of
that.” He looked down at her belly, something he couldn’t keep himself from
doing. He’d watched Trista morph through the stages of pregnancy.
So beautiful.
Hell, he’d even seen Jaxon’s first wife,
Vangie
, soften from major bitch to motherly at times. But
he’d never seen either of them the way he saw Dani right now. He’d never wanted
to touch
Tris
or
Vang
.
Never been drawn to their bodies this way.
Good thing or
he’d have had his ass kicked by Lucky and Jaxon. He’d seen the cousins fight
each other and it wouldn’t be pretty. And those men loved each other. It was
shit the way the world had played this out. Dani deserved better. No matter
what kind of crap he might give her, he had an enormous amount of respect for
her. The kid would have a good woman in its corner. “You need to be thinking
about that little guy, right?”

“Yes. But...”

“But what?
You know the
one thing I see ruin people all the time is their pride.”

All these things he was saying,
they came from his heart. It was a place he didn’t normally speak from but this
one,
he couldn’t stop himself around her. As badly as
he wanted to be close to her again, he found he wanted to be honest. Even if it
didn’t get him what he wanted. And that shit was crazy. No one who knew him
would believe it. He could barely make sense of it.

“I know, you’re
right.”
She shook her head back and forth.

“Tell me.” He wasn’t used to
asking for so much and expecting so little in return. But for some reason,
Stefan knew he’d be happy with a smile, the same as he’d be happy with a kiss.
Of course, he’d be overjoyed if she gifted him her body. His mind flashed to
the unoccupied house he owned not too far from here that Mom had said no to. It
was furnished. They’d have their choice of beds, tubs, rugs by the fireplace. He’d
picked out only the best. A quick stop by a store and he could even get food to
cook her that dinner he’d offered.

“The minute I take that money
from you...” She shook her head and her face turned down.

The instant she said it, he knew
what she was referring to because he’d thought about that too and how it didn’t
matter to him but to her it was probably going to be a major sticking point.

Them.
Special
friends.
It
would work for him but not for her.

She wouldn’t sleep with him if he
was paying her in any capacity. He wouldn’t
lie,
he
wanted to sleep with her. But he also wanted to keep talking and teasing her.
Kiss her again. Feed her. He shouldn’t want it this badly but her fire had him hooked
like a
fiending
moth. Was he willing to give up over
something as mundane as money? Money meant shit to him. Fuck
no,
if that was her reason, he wasn’t giving up. She’d thank him for his
persistence, eventually. He wasn’t imagining their connection. It was strong
enough to have his ass out in a parking lot talking and not doing. Man, what an
amazing two weeks they could have.

“I get it. Looks like there’s only
one solution to this problem,” he said.

“Really?
What’s that?”

God, her hopeful cheer making
those words come out high and clear gave him the dangerous go ahead. Would he
take it?

Hell yeah he would.

“You’re not
gonna
like me very much after I say this.”

“You.
Are.
The.
Worst.
Tease.”
She stalled on each word, driving him insane.

“You like it and you know it.”
Conversation was so easy with this woman. He couldn’t shut up around her. Could
totally see
himself
talking to her in the middle of
sex.
Shouldn’t be thinking of her back at his Nashville suite.
He tried to think of anything else but her standing in his shower and him
soaping up her curves. Will’s goofy ass in the shower was quite a riot because
he was a bath product whore and loved
a certain
peppermint soap, even though it was so strong you could barely breathe when the
steam mixed in with the stuff. How many times had Will got that crap in his
eyes? Will’s burning eye dance did the trick. Stefan backed safely away from
wanting her at his suite in Nashville and got back in line with how hot it
would be to have her here and now in Moonlight. “Man, I scare myself sometimes.
This could actually work.”

“I do like you’re teasing.” Dani
grinned. “So stop being mean and tell me the solution,” she said.

So she did want him to figure
this out for them. “First you tell me why you’re so eager to find out. If
you’re willing to do that, then I’ll tell you.”

Fuck, his dick was so hard right
now. No surprise there. But his heart could take a break and stop scaring the
shit out of him with all the pounding. He tried to explain it away with a
mini-science lesson. She had him so turned
on,
his
damn heart couldn’t stop sending blood south.

She hemmed and hawed for a few
seconds and then tightened up her posture and spit it out. “You made me feel
like I was the only girl in the world this morning when everyone else made me
feel like dog poo.”

God, she was adorable. He’d
guarantee there was a second half of that she was leaving off. He’d put it out
there for her because he had no shame when it came to expressing his desires
but before he could, she spoke up again.

“And.”
He smiled. She
continued. “And fine, I’m woman enough to admit that I would hate for that to have
been our only kiss.” Then her smile was gone and instead, she frowned. “I
shouldn’t even be going there, but
I can’t
not
go there
. You scare me just as
much as you scare yourself.”

He swallowed his grin at her
sudden change in mood, trying to match it. But he couldn’t deny what was happening
between them. He waited a second, then took her hand in his, turned it palm
side up and trailed his pointer finger down the thick pink crease that
separated her thumb from the rest. She needed this physical release. The rush
and cleansing that only sex could give a person. He knew it this morning as
clearly as he knew it now.

“You’re fired.
Officially
off the payroll for the next three hours.”
His finger worked a shiver
from her and he watched her forearm muscle contract. She didn’t pull back.

“You put some thought into this,”
she said. Her voice turned soft and he wanted to pull her in closer, not give
her the chance to deny him again.

“Mm-hmm.
After that
you’re rehired.”

“So just for the next few hours…”

She was considering it.
Considering him.
The dark joy of taking from her and giving
to her egged him on.

“Oh. You misunderstand. I plan to
fire you for a few hours every day for the next two weeks.”
Fuck
please don’t
let her slap him. He hated being slapped by women.

“Unbelievable
Stefan Calderon.
You are wicked.”

“I know.” Was she aware of how
her smart reply turned him on?

“Here? Now?” she asked, surely
paying him back for his constant teasing and aware the ball was in her court. All
she had to do was say yes.

“It’s just a kiss,” he replied,
hovering inches away from her mouth.
“To start.”

“It was almost more.”

“Say yes and it
will
be more.”

****

“I can’t,” she said, staring at
his lips. Her throat went dry.

“You won’t,” he said back,
hovering closer, baiting her.

“It would be wrong. Your mom
would be very disappointed in me.
In both of us.”

Stefan reached over her from
where he sat in her passenger side seat and turned the key in the ignition.
Instantly the heater came to life, hissing and blowing air through the car. He
rested his hand on her steering wheel, his arm long and curved like a
protective cage keeping her where she sat. His tattooed fingers promised they’d
play nicely too if she gave his lips the permission they craved.

Inches from Stefan’s gorgeous
lips, another thought crossed her mind.

Thom,
you probably would not like him. But I do. I’m not sorry. And that’s all I care
about right now.

He didn’t swallow, didn’t take a
deep breath, didn’t even look her up and down, just stared into her eyes and
waited. Honestly, his intensity scared the shit out of her. But she uttered the
tiny yet powerful syllable anyway. It was the only thing she could say to this
man. For three hours? And they weren’t under Mrs. C’s roof and technically, she
wasn’t on the payroll right now?
To hell with everything
else.

“Yes,” she said.

His grin made her shudder as he
pulled that full lip of his between his teeth.

Chapter Eleven

He couldn’t stop talking to her.
He couldn’t take his lips off of hers either.

“You’re squirming. A lot,” he
said, wondering why it was such a turn on. Secretly, he stole a moment to
nuzzle up against the peach fuzz of her skin. There weren’t many soft or sweet
things he craved from a woman but Stefan was finding out the benefits of his
newly grown facial hair.
Will could
call him goat all
he wanted. That look, that little dip to the side of her head, when he scraped
her with his whiskers, was worth it.

“Beard,” she said so close to his
mouth.

“I thought you like.” He nudged
her chin gently again with his whiskers.

“I do.”

Oh
shit.

He rubbed it harder until her
breath caught, exciting him to the point of steel. Sex would be so good. “You
do,” he said and pulled himself closer to her using the steering wheel. He
found her waist with his hand and pulled her forward until he had her nearly
out of her seat. He stopped immediately when he felt her tongue abandon his.

“Okay?” he said low.

Her breath poured out and set
fire to his cock. Yes, he’d have amazing sex with
her,
cherish all those irresistible womanly curves. Fuck, her body was magnificent,
made to do exactly what it was doing. She’d made a baby and now held it warm
and protected. It was raw and sexual and he’d never been with a woman carrying
a child inside her. The unknown territory excited him. The curiosity he had for
her body kept him glued to her every nuance.

How would she feel about that?
Would she have really gone through with it earlier today? Would she now or was
she just torturing him?
Shut up with all
the thinking, Stefan.
But he couldn’t forget when she’d told him not to
make her come. It had been strange and contradicting to the need she was giving
off. He never thought this much.

He took a deep breath in an
effort to get away from his brain and sink back into her.
“Dani?
Sweetheart, are you okay?” Maybe once she answered him, he’d get back to being
lost in all her soft supple curves and that salt he’d tasted on her skin. She’d
busted her ass all day, he was sure of it, and even that thought of how hard
she worked turned him on beyond normal.

“No, I’m dying over here,” she
let out. “Stop talking, I only have a couple more hours until I turn back into
a toad. I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She shook her head but smiled and
nibbled his lip.

“I’m no expert, but I think you
mean a princess,” he said then pulled down on her track suit zipper, only a
couple inches, and laid a fingertip on her collar bone. He watched her skin
dimple while he pressed down. Flesh colored lace peeked out from her bra.

“No, you’re definitely no expert.
And neither am I.” She rubbed his arm. His muscles bunched. “I think the word
we’re both looking for is pumpkin.”

The only fairy tales Stefan
wanted to be tangled up in with Dani were the naughty kind.
“Fine.
Climb over here, pumpkin. But be careful.”

That gearshift of hers was
dangerous. If she lost her balance she could fall on top of it and land on her
stomach. More questions and curiosities about her barely swollen body than his
brain could currently handle throttled him into overdrive like she was his new
toy. He knew his body’s tendencies and cravings when it came to being with a
woman but this need to possess and claim her—and her baby for that matter which
was really fucking with his head right now—brought fire to his chest like he’d
never felt before. This shit was intense. He wanted to hold her.
Like she was his and only his.

He guided her clunky crawling
with both his hands until she was out of her seat and hovering over him. “Don’t
be shy now.” He reached down and found the lever to slide the seat back as far
as it would go. “There we go.” Then he caught two handfuls of her yellow velour
and pulled her into him. He kissed her while her knees settled on the
floorboard. What he’d die to do right now was feel her belly so he could gauge
how pregnant she was. When she flattened the rest of her gorgeous body against
him but protected her stomach, his sexual prowess wavered. Could he hurt the
baby?