Lover's Revenge (2 page)

Now there was a thought
.

She might have forgiven the ex anything if she’d had a chance to experience a threesome with Jared. A wicked thought began to form in her mind. He had a lean, athletic build, and she remembered his muscular physique from the one time they’d worked out together at the gym.

“No, please stay. I don’t mind. As a matter of fact, why don’t you put your bags in the house? I was about to take a walk on the beach. You can join me, and it’l give us a chance to catch up.”

When a bright smile flashed across his face, she had to make herself not stumble back as a torrential shock of lust rioted through her system.

Dayna led him through the house to the last empty room upstairs. It was her grand’s favorite area in the house. The library.

“It’s not very big,” she told him after she stepped through the door.

With floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a stately cherry wood desk facing the massive picture window, there wasn’t a lot of room, but it had a couch that might be long enough to fit Jared’s frame. She motioned toward the sofa. “It’s actualy quite comfortable. I’ve falen asleep on it many times.”

He moved to stand behind her, and she resisted the urge to lean against him. Where were these feelings and desires coming from? In her mind, she knew the risk she took. He was the best friend, and rejection was not good for her soul right now, but standing in this room her grand loved, she had a feeling she’d been infatuated with the wrong guy. An intense desire to shut the door and seduce him sweled inside her.

“The view is spectacular,” Jared said, his voice low and mesmerizing.

She trailed her fingers over the high-backed leather chair in front of her in an effort to not to reach around and touch him. “My grandmother loved to sit here and read, or just stare out the window.”

“I don’t blame her.”

The sun had dipped, leaving only a crescent of its round shape above the midnight black surface of the water. Stars sparkled along the water like twinkling Christmas lights. Because the windows were up, she heard the waves crashing against the surf and snatches of conversation from her guests who were out by the pool carried on the wind.

Jared took her hand. “Let’s take that walk.”

Tingles of heated electric activity surged up her arm. Had he ever touched her before? If he had, she would have definitely remembered this shocking feeling, the need to slide her body against his and have her wicked way with him. Dayna looked down. “I want to change first. Do you mind?”

His gaze slid from her sandaled feet up to her face, and she resisted the urge to squirm, wondering what he saw when he looked at her. Did he desire her as she was
beginning
to want him? He was her ex’s best friend, but she had a feeling something besides her e-mail invitation made him come here, and she had to find out what it was.

“No. I don’t mind at al.”

She motioned behind her. “I’m right across the hal.” In her bedroom, she reached inside her drawer for a pair of purple shorts and a white tank top. There was nothing wrong with what she had on, but the plan simmering in the back of her mind required a wardrobe change.

Knowing Jared was on the other side of the door as she took off the shirt and capris she wore only intensified the craving twisting between her legs. Looking in the mirror she smiled. The shorts were skin tight and barely covered her ass. The tank top had spaghetti straps that left little to the imagination as her breasts puffed out over the top. She stopped to look at herself in the ful length glass and wondered what he would see when she opened the door.

Oh wel.

When she did, Jared’s eyes widened, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

He moved to the side when she crossed the threshold and nodded his head. “Yeah. Sure.”

Hmmm
, she thought. He wasn’t immune to her alure.

Dayna took the back stairs that led into the kitchen, hoping they wouldn’t run in to anyone. She grabbed a blanket from the laundry room, and once they got outside and walked down the steps, she slipped out of her flip-flops. She loved the feel of the sand against the bottom of her feat. He did the same and also roled his pant legs up.

Once they started to walk, she asked, “What has the great and powerful Jared Stephens been up to lately?” He laughed. The sound was like a seductive melody over her skin. Why had she never thought of him like this before? He should have been the one, not the other guy.

“I don’t know about al that great and powerful stuff, but business is going wel.”

Jared’s father owned a dozen or more car dealerships al across Florida. Whenever she turned on the television, she saw a commercial with either Jared, his brother, and/or his father on the screen. They sold every brand of car imaginable, and they had a knack for making entertaining and funny commercials.

“That’s good. Is your dad ready to give over control of the business to you yet?”

“It’s leaning that way. Maybe in a couple of years. It’s not that he doesn’t trust me. I think he’s afraid that if he stops working, he’l die or something. You know how he is. He likes to keep busy.”

Once they were far enough from her house and away from other people, she spread the blanket and sat down at the shoreline, leaving only enough room for their feet to get wet, but not the blanket or their clothes. “Your dad is a character. That’s for sure.” Closer to the water, the cool breeze caused her hair to tangle in the wind and stick to her neck. The salty air cleared her senses, and she heard seaguls cry and flap in the distance. He sat next to her, his arms on his knees with his shoes dangling in his hands.

“Do you remember that time when we al went sking and he just had to attempt the death slope?” he asked.

His family owned a cabin in Colorado and invited al of their friends and their son’s friends to join them last year. She smiled and grinned at him. “Oh my goodness. Why didn’t your dad understand that it was caled the
dead slope
for a reason? He almost gave your mom a heart attack.”

Jared set his shoes between his legs and leaned back on one elbow, his body tilted toward her. “Later that night my mom told me she’d threatened him with divorce if he ever did something like that again.”

“Oh please. Your mother would never divorce your dad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an older couple more in love. Do you know that I saw them kissing and snuggling by the fireplace later that evening after everyone else had gone to sleep?” Jared reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gently caressed her face before he dropped his hand back onto the blanket. Her breath caught in her throat as a shiver rushed down her spine.

“I swear, my brother and I fear the day when one of us wil walk into their house and catch them going at it in the middle of the kitchen. They act like a couple of twenty year olds sometimes.”

“I think it’s sweet.” She couldn’t see him clearly because the sun had completely set now, but she knew every nuance of his face and again, it surprised her. She guessed she spent just as much time with him as she’d done with the other one, and maybe that was why she was so familiar with him, so comfortable and felt so daring thinking about what she wanted to do. Or was there more to it than that?

“Your turn. Talk to me,” he said and leaned back, crossing his arms under his head. “What have you been up to?” Walowing in self-pity. No. She couldn’t say that. Gazing out at the ocean she told him, “I got a promotion.” Dayna heard the smile in his voice without looking at him.

“The nursing supervisor position? The old hag lady finaly retired, huh?”

“Yes. I was so surprised when they offered me the job.”

“I don’t know why. You deserved it. You’ve worked in the neo-natal ICU of that hospital for eight years. Every one respects you, and even the doctors listen to your advice. You were the right person for the job.”

She turned around to face him. “How do you know al that?”

“I was a sounding board too, remember, when you complained about her and the decisions she made.” He was right. Whenever she’d talked to her boyfriend about her job, he’d always brush her concerns aside and tel her not to worry about it. The only thing she had to do was work her shift and come home. If she didn’t like it, she could always change departments. But whenever she voiced her concerns when Jared was around, he always took the time to listen and give her advice.

“Did you alter the schedule the way you wanted? Let the lady who had three kids move to the day shift so she could be at home to do homework with her children and attend their sporting events?”

Now, he made her smile. “I can’t believe you remember that,” she said. “And yes, I did. When I first got the position, I sat down with each of my nurses and asked them which shift they’d prefer to work and why and what kinds of changes they’d like to see made. It took some work, but the last few months have run so smoothly and everyone is happy to come to work now. No one is complaining or caling in sick just for the sake of caling in.”

“I’m happy for you. I knew they’d offer you that position once it was open.”

“Yeah. You told me that. Many times.”

“Um. What about personaly? Are you…seeing anyone?” Dayna looked at him, but he’d leaned back and was staring up at the sky when he asked her the question. What was he thinking? She didn’t want to tel him she hadn’t found the courage to date anyone since the last relationship had ended so disastrously.

That she’d felt like a failure, less of a woman. “No. The new promotion has kept me pretty busy. I make it a point to work each shift every once in a while. I realy haven’t found the time.” After they’d sat for a while in silence, he said, “I’m sorry about what happened, Dayna.”

She crossed and then uncrossed her arms around her knees. She didn’t want to talk about
him
. “Why are you apologizing for something you didn’t do?”

Jared came up, picked up a rock, and tossed it into the ocean. “He was—is—my friend. What he did… You didn’t deserve that.”

Dayna stood and walked into the water, slicing her leg through the cool liquid and said, “Forget about it.”

“If I was lucky enough to have someone like you, I’d never fuck that up.”

That gave Dayna the opening she was looking for. She turned to face him. “And if you had me, say, for one night, what would you do with me?”

Even in the darkness, she saw his irises flair and smolder.

He was up in one fluid motion and came toward her, splashing water on her legs as he did. Jared didn’t touch her, but his nearness caused heated desire to slither down her spine. “I would worship every inch of your body. When I was done, you’d know you were the only woman in my life and no other could ever take your place.”
Here goes nothing
. “They why don’t you? Have me for one night.”

Jared moved closer until their toes touched in the water.

The look he gave her could cause a lustful and lethal combustion.

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

Dayna reached out, touched his chest, and wiled the butterflies zinging around in her stomach to settle. She stroked him right above the slit before the buttons began, moving her finger in a slow, sensuous circle. What she wanted to do was
tease
him,
tempt
him, but instead she struggled for breath as her skin connected with his. Every cel in her body blistered with unbridled need. “Who says I don’t?”

He grabbed her forearms and squeezed. It didn’t hurt, but it let her know that she was playing with a fire she might not be able to put out or contain once it started. “He could come crawling back. If we do this, how wil you feel when he does?” Slowly, she began to unbutton his shirt. Eager to see him naked, her tongue snaked out over her bottom lip. “I wouldn’t take him back if he came to me crawling across a pile of diamonds and gold.”

He enclosed both of her hands in one of his and tilted her chin up with the other. “Are you sure about that?” She moved around him to return to the blanket and glanced around. She took off her tank and removed her shorts, carrying her panties down with them. Once she stepped away, she was completely naked. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” His mouth was slightly open when she passed him and walked into the water, her back to him. The not altogether uncomfortable coolness of the water energized her body and made her feel like a sexy sea nymph.

Dayna stopped when the water covered her hips. She didn’t turn to look at Jared, to see his reaction, to see if he was stil standing by the shore. She smoothed the palms of her hands over the water in a wide arc and watched as her fingers glistened over the surface.

Even though it felt like hours, she knew it was only seconds when he came up behind her and trailed one of his hands down the middle of her back. Her reaction was instantaneous, hot, needy, want. The cold between her legs didn’t ease the fiery ache she felt, the desire to have him inside her.

Jared moved her hair to the side and applied a series of scorching, delectable kisses from her shoulder up to the underside of her ear. “I’ve wanted to do this for so very long.” His words thriled her, excited her as his lips moved across her shoulder blade, the back of her neck, the other shoulder, up to her other ear where he bit and tugged it into his mouth. “You are so beautiful.”

Pure and swift, pleasure bloomed inside her, and a delicious languor spread through her limbs. His slow, easy touch curled her toes and sent tingles to her bely. Like a cat, she rubbed her backside along his warm, muscular body. He groaned, and she felt his dick harden against her bottom.