Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies (16 page)

His gaze darkened as his lids fell to half-mast. In his eyes she read the war going on behind them. “Genie, your dad’s not here. Shouldn’t we go looking for him? Those men
—
”

“If we leave now we won’t get back to the mainland until dark. And you know Emerich’s men will be waiting for us. If we stay out of sight until morning, hopefully they’ll assume we’ve been and gone.”

“You think so?”

Why the hesitation? The old Kyle would have had her on her back by now.

Maybe she was making a mistake. Had she misread him?

With all her buttons already undone, she dropped her hands to her side. “I know it’s almost dark. It’s getting cold outside. In here, the fire’s going. If I know my dad, there’ll be wine in the pantry.”

“And food?”

“Most likely.”

“Good, cause I’m starving.”

What the heck? Obviously, she’d grossly misjudged how badly he’d wanted her earlier.

He turned toward the kitchen, made it a few steps, then as though he could read her disappointment, he turned back and said, “I know I kissed you earlier…” His words broke off for a tense moment. “I believe if we took this any further, if we…like this, with nothing else resolved…it would be a mistake.”

Disappointment crashed over her.

He was right. She knew darn well he was right. And he was trying to be the good guy here, and save them both from more heartache. And yet, there was still a hum pulsing dangerously through her body. It had been so…long.

“You did kiss me,” she acknowledged. “Long and hard. Twice. And we used to be good together, Kyle. This doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be about everything. All this has to be about is tonight.”

She shouldn’t do it. She knew she shouldn’t. Every warning bell in her mind was banging away, but her body had taken over the wheel, pushing her brain into the back seat.

She slipped her shirt off her shoulders and lowered the straps of her bra. “But if you think spending time with me without emotional strings would be a mistake, well, then you are, of course, entitled to your opinion.” With a flick of her wrists, her bra came undone and slid to the floor.

He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. His eyes swept down her body, lingering in all the places she hoped they’d linger. He stirred beneath his shorts and the fabric tightened around him.

Oh, yeah. He was definitely a big boy.

Chapter Eight

This was a mistake
. Kyle knew it and yet, as his mouth pressed against Genie’s, all he could think about was how good she tasted. How great she smelled. Her tongue thrust into his mouth, starting an avalanche of heat and need that spread through him like a wildfire. But as strong as it was, it couldn’t erase his confusion. What the hell did she mean no emotional strings? They weren’t strangers. He wasn’t someone she’d picked up in a bar for a one-night stand. He didn’t work that way. He didn’t have casual sex, especially with
her
. He loved her, dammit, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He wanted the next time they were together, if they were
ever
together again, to mean something more than getting off after a crazed, adrenaline-filled day.

He broke away from her, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He looked down at her, at her mussed hair and swollen lips, her eyes heavy with desire. She was intoxicating and definitely hard to pull away from. But she knew that. Genie worked every situation so she came out on top. It was a talent he’d always admired—but not when she used it against him. He would not let her maneuver him this time. She was the one who had disappeared. Who’d left him without looking back. Just because she was now willing to forget how badly that had ended, didn’t mean he should jump into her bed again.

She reached for him, her fingers unbuttoning his shirt and tugging it over his shoulders.

“What are we doing?” he asked. He really wanted to know.

“Enjoying the moment,” she whispered, and leaned forward to nibble on his neck. Her tongue was working magic with his nerve endings, making him momentarily forget his objections. He stepped back, forcing some distance between them. Everything was always a challenge with her, and it always had been. He’d best remember that, because when she was done playing, she’d get up and leave the table—or in this case the bed—without looking back. And he’d be the one stuck holding the losses.

Again.

“You are thinking too much,” she murmured, closing the distance between them. Her fingertips brushed against his skin, moving slowly and deliberately up his chest, leaving a trail of tremors in their wake. He couldn’t make himself move away. He missed her. Missed this.

But would one evening together again be worth the inevitable fallout?

Hell
no, it wouldn’t.

So why wasn’t he pushing her away?

She bounced up on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. He wouldn’t respond. He’d stay strong and not move. She’d get the idea, and—

But then her tongue thrust inside, sparring with his, and the heat ignited a fire low in his gut.
Damn
.

He grabbed her shoulders, moving his thumbs across the sensitive points in her neck. She might think she was a master game player, but he wasn’t half bad himself. And this time he knew what he was up against, and knew what was at stake
—
him. And his badly used heart.

She wouldn’t win. He couldn’t let her have that part of him again, no matter how far this went.

She pressed her body against his, her nipples pushing into his skin
—
hot little buds of pleasure. His hands skimmed up her arms, one cupping the back of her neck as his lips pushed against hers
—
hard. He dropped his palm to her breast, stroking, circling, teasing the little nub into a tight, hard bead. She moaned against his mouth and he smiled. Yes, he could play this game, too. And he could play it very well.

It was easy to do, when they were so good together. They belonged together and he knew it. She knew it, too. She was just too scared to admit it and let him in. To stop keeping secrets and telling lies. And as desire heated his blood to the boiling point, he could almost fool himself into believing that all he had to do was show her how good they could be together, and all their problems would be solved. But he knew better.

She might lust after him, but she’d never loved him. Not the way he loved her. If she had, she wouldn’t have left him like she had. And yet, he still wanted her.

Almost on their own, his fingers found the top lace of her panties and slipped inside the satin. Her moist heat beckoned him out of his dark thoughts. She was soft and pliant. He massaged her pleasure center until she blossomed, swelling and tightening. A husky groan escaped her mouth.

“Strings are good,” he whispered. “Emotional strings, all kinds of strings. Strings build trust. And trust builds intimacy.”

An intimacy he was determined to finally make a reality between them.

Once he freed her from her panties, he slipped two fingers between her moist folds, feeling her melt around him. She was hot, wet and ready. And he was throbbing beneath the thin cotton of his shorts.

“Strings tie and bind,” she murmured in response.

The musky scent of her desire filled his senses, making it hard for him to think. To plan and strategize. He buried his face in her neck beneath the silky strands of her hair, gently grasped her earlobe between his teeth, and sucked it into his mouth. He focused on the smooth skin and the way her hair caressed, almost tickling him, and tried desperately to ignore the slick heat filling his hand and her intoxicating moans crowding the air in the room.

He was rock hard and aching, but he couldn’t have her. No matter how irresistible she sounded, smelled, and felt. Not yet. Not until he made her stop playing at what they could be, and finally admit that she wanted him—all of him.
With no strings attached
.

He dropped his lips down to her breast, drawing her tight nipple into his mouth and sucked feverishly while moving his other hand around her backside and cradling her body in his loving grasp.
He had to stop. To pull away
. Her head fell back on a shuddering gasp and she trembled, unsteady on her beautiful long bare legs.
Now.
Before he went so far he wouldn’t be able to resist her. He kissed her deeply
—
a long, ravishing kiss. Then he took a deep breath, filling his chest with it, steeled his willpower, and pulled away from her. He peeled first one hand, and then the other, from her delectable body.

He let her go. Stepped away and left her standing unsupported on weak and wobbling knees.

She licked her lips, gazing after him in confusion. “Where are you going?” she demanded, her voice husky and a tinged with desperation. “Come back.”

He couldn’t help the smile filling his face as he turned and walked into the bedroom.

Oh, yeah. He’d come back all right. But on his terms.

This time he wanted it all.

…

“Dammit, Kyle!” Genie watched his fine ass walk away from her into the bedroom at the back of the cabin, leaving her standing in the living room naked and alone. And not in a way that invited her to follow. She buzzed with a need so strong it bordered on torture.

Damn him anyway! Part of her wanted to shrug and get dressed, and show him she would be just fine without him. Because she would. Of course, she would. But the other part of her, the stronger more insistent part, wanted to go after him and show him exactly why she wasn’t so easy to walk away from or forget. Right after she smacked him.

“Kyle,” she said again, her voice strong and insistent as she strode after him into the bedroom. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. It was growing dark outside and the room was dim. Dim enough that she couldn’t immediately see him. She stepped further into the room, her gaze sweeping the empty bed and the corners of the room. Suddenly he was behind her, pulling her roughly against his chest. Her backside pressed against his cock. It was long, and hard, and hot as a piston.

A thrill of anticipation raced through her.

“It isn’t always about you, Genie,” he growled. “About what you want and when you want it.” He ground against her and she knew she should be annoyed, but she
so
wasn’t. She was excited. More than she’d ever been. This was a side of Kyle she hadn’t seen before. Dominant. Uncompromising. And she liked it. She pressed against him and wriggled, feeling his stiffness fall into the groove between her cheeks. He wasn’t the only one who could play dirty.

He pushed her forward and she braced herself against the bed as he bent his knees and rocked himself in the junction between her thighs. The hard ridge of his erection slid against her sensitive flesh, back and forth.

“So wet. So hot,” he murmured, moving back and forth, sliding across the folds of her skin, but refusing to give her what she so desperately needed and slip inside her. No matter how she gyrated against him, he only teased and tantalized, coming so close only to pull back. His control was truly…unbelievable. He kneaded the round globes of her ass, his fingers spreading inward, the tips of them touching her in all her most sensitive places, while wielding his hardness expertly against her, teasing her mercilessly.

“Come on, Kyle,” she moaned as arousal pulsed within her, stealing her ability to think about anything but the feel of his hard tool shoving against her. He pitched back and forth, the friction driving her maddeningly close to the brink. So close, but not close enough to go over and find the release she so desperately craved. She wanted to scream with frustration.

“Give it to me!” she demanded, her voice echoing around the small room. “Now. Please,” she added almost desperately when he didn’t immediately comply.

“Where do you want it? Here?” His thumb teased the outside of her forbidden zone. Heat shot through her, making her gasp.

“Or here?” The rounded tip of his cock slipped between her folds, hovering just inside her sweet zone and causing an urgent clench of pleasure to sweep through her. A fine sheen of desire slicked her body.

“Oh, hell, anywhere.” She took a shuddering breath. “Just do it!”

If he didn’t fuck her right now, her need would surely implode, and she knew she’d have some sort of aneurysm.

And then he was sliding inside her, slowly and deliberately, like a hot knife cleaving through soft butter. She moaned as a rush of molten pleasure almost had her climaxing on the spot. He pushed deep inside her until she felt the hard wall of his hips against her bottom, and she started to writhe, pushing back against him as he swayed forward, slowly rocking, teasing, pleasing, as her body formed around him, a perfect glorious fit.

As he moved, tears of pleasure and intense need sprang to her eyes. He rocked harder, taking her closer to that place of utter, urgent hunger. That place of ultimate joy that she only seemed to find with him.
Damn him
. A place of warm intimacy where she felt truly loved and safe. A feeling she only had while lying in his arms, a feeling she’d missed too much.