Tease Me (21 page)

She was propped up on one arm, and he pulled her around so that she was sitting on
the side of the table, her legs straddling his. He tucked his hands under her thighs
and lifted them to his hips. They both moaned as he
brushed against her. “What a damn shame.” He leaned over her, pressing her back, pressing
against her heat.

Her head dropped back, inviting him to taste fully the breasts he’d only grazed earlier.
They were amazingly distracting, and he took his sweet time satisfying his sudden
craving.

She gasped as he pulled one beaded nipple deeper into his mouth. “How do you do that?”

“This?” He playfully dragged his tongue across the shallow valley between her breasts.
“Or this?” He circled her other nipple with his tongue, then teased it gently between
his lips.

He urged her legs to lock behind his hips, then slid a hand beneath her neck and lifted
her head until she looked at him. In the space of several silent heartbeats, their
smiles faded. He looked deeply into her eyes. “Are you ready for me, Lainey? All of
me?” He was asking a far bigger question than the obvious.

Her pupils were huge, her lovely green eyes were drowsily seductive … but they held
his gaze with a certainty that told him she knew exactly what he was asking. “I guess
we’re about to find out,” she whispered.

It wasn’t the assured promise he wanted, but it was honest, and that was far better.
He began to press inside of her, delighting in seeing how her eyes changed, flashing
green fire. He decided he could easily spend the rest of his life watching her as
he made love to her. Her smiles, her laughter, her eyes that promised sleepy seduction
one moment, then snapped and crackled with heat the next.

No, he’d never grow tired of loving Lainey Cooper.

He buried in his heart the words that crept right to
the edge of his tongue and buried himself inside her at the same time.

They were half frantic and all wild, and it was over long before he wanted it to be.
He remained deep within her after their moans had slowed to deep breathing and their
shuddering bodies had relaxed. Tucker held Lainey tightly to him, cupping her head
to the curve of his neck as he leaned heavily against the table. “I don’t want to
let you go,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. “But I’m going to end up on the floor
if I don’t—”

“Climb up here with me,” she said, her lips warm and damp against his neck.

Just hearing her voice, he actually began to stir. He felt her smile as his own curved
his lips.

“Maybe I should have said climb up here
on
me.” Her voice was smoky and rough, and he hardened further.

He chuckled and held her even tighter. “Oh, Lainey, where have you been all my life?”

He felt her tense and regretted, for an instant, his comment. But though his timing
might not have been the best, he refused to feel bad for speaking the truth. His life
before her was the past, over and done with. But his life ahead was filled with possibilities,
and he wanted them all to include Lainey Cooper.

She lifted her head and he shifted to allow her to look at him. He hated what he saw
in her eyes, hated more what he knew she was going to say, but he also knew—had known
all along—that nothing, not even the powerful connection they’d just shared, would
circumvent the inevitable. There was no going around it, but he was determined to
get them through it.

“Tucker, you understood what I meant earlier.”

“You said this wouldn’t change anything. I agreed. It
didn’t, for me. I already knew how I felt about you, and I knew that making love with
you would deepen it, strengthen it, but not change it.”

“But that is a change. It alters the risk.”

“For me. It was one I was more than willing to take.”

She shifted against him, and he reluctantly let her move and sit up, though he kept
her legs around him and continued to hold her.

“Will you expect the same from me?”

He knew what she was asking. “I only expect you to be honest with yourself and with
me. As I said, I know how I feel, and I think I’ve made that pretty clear to you.
What you feel is something I can’t control. Only you can decide that.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Tucker.”

His heart tightened painfully, and he fought hard to keep that pain out of his eyes.
“I’m hoping you won’t.”

“But—”

“Shh.” He pressed his fingers gently to her lips. “I said ‘hoping.’ Whatever you decide,
be honest with me, Lainey. Even if it hurts. But promise me one thing.”

“What?”

He dropped a soft kiss on her lips, then brushed his mouth across her cheek. “Be just
as honest with yourself.”

ELEVEN

Lainey was closing up the café, her thoughts on Tucker, as they had been every minute
since they’d parted two nights before, when someone rapped on the front window.

With one hand pressed to her chest, she unlocked and opened the front door. “You scared
me half to death.”

Tucker stepped inside and out of the way, while she locked the door once again and
closed the blinds on the door and front windows. “You were expecting me, weren’t you?”

His expression was unreadable. “Yes, I was. I was lost in thought, I guess.” The truth
was, she’d been expecting him to pop up sooner. Lainey had had catering obligations
that had taken up most of her time during the last forty-eight hours, which was why
they’d agreed to meet tonight to go over their plans to help Minerva. But given Tucker’s
pursuit thus far, not to mention what had occurred two nights earlier, she’d jumped
at every sound, certain that when she turned, she’d find Tucker lounging
against the nearest wall, tree, or building, grinning confidently, ready with a new
plan of attack.

But he hadn’t. And now that he
was
there, he wasn’t smiling or lounging, much less attacking. It was only then that
she realized how much she had been counting on him to make the next move. She’d tried
to tell herself that she’d been pleased that he’d apparently decided to give her space
and to let
her
make the next move. His even expression and somewhat stiff posture as he slid onto
a stool at the counter made it clear that he was doing just that.

She should be thrilled. After their conflagration the other night, they were both
stepping back and allowing things to progress coolly and logically. So why was it
taking all of her control not to scream at him that there was entirely too much space
between them and if he didn’t haul his very fine backside off that stool and come
sweep her into his arms and kiss her senseless, she might go mad?

She knew why. And that was the reason she carefully kept her back to him as she wiped
down the last two tables. “I’m almost finished.”

“Take your time.”

Take your time
, she mimicked silently as she scrubbed viciously at a spot of dried ketchup. She’d
rather take him. And that was precisely what he was waiting for her to admit.

She moved to the last table. She’d admitted it to herself already. She’d spent two
long sleepless nights searching her soul, examining her past, pondering her future.
By daybreak she’d concluded that there was no denying she wanted Tucker Morgan, but
that was all she’d concluded. She was still confused. She still felt very strongly
that her focus had to be on helping Minerva. She’d never forgive herself if she allowed
her relationship with Tucker to take off on a whirlwind of lust and passion that was
certain to cloud her mind and very likely her judgment and, in the end, cause her
to screw up and make a wrong move or miss a possible solution, leaving her aunt to
suffer the consequences.

As the hours had passed with no sight or sound of Tucker, she was ashamed to admit
she’d even been tempted to take that risk. But when she looked beyond the situation
with Minerva, she realized she still wasn’t certain. She was afraid. Afraid to fail.
Afraid to jump … and fall flat on her face. Again. She was still working at trying
to be more responsible and levelheaded, and Tucker made her feel anything but. And
to confuse her further, he’d told her not to change, to be who she was, but he hadn’t
dealt with the results of her being Lainey Cooper.

She did know one thing. Whatever her past foibles had wrought, she was happy there.
She loved working at the café with Minerva. There had been discussions of her eventually
taking over, allowing Minerva to retire, if Lainey decided it was what she wanted
to do. Her soul searching had helped her to make that decision. Which only intensified
her feeling of responsibility to make sure that Minerva had something to retire on.

Where did that leave Tucker? He’d said he didn’t have to leave. But what would he
do if he stayed? She understood money was apparently not an immediate concern of his.
There was an incredible freedom in that, and she couldn’t believe he wouldn’t want
to take advantage of it and explore all the possibilities his business success allowed.
He couldn’t do that if he was tied to her, to her
life in Sunset Shores and all that it entailed. Even if he did choose her, how long
would it be before he regretted settling so soon? And in a senior retirement village
to boot?

“I think it’s clean. Unless you’re trying to change the color of the Formica.”

Lainey started guiltily. He was right behind her. She took a breath and carefully
smoothed her expression before turning to him. “Never can be too clean. The health
department has more rules than the IRS. Their inspectors are scarier too.”

He didn’t smile. “I think I have a plan that might get Minerva her investment back.”

Lainey sighed, feeling the weight settle even heavier on her heart. She’d read all
the papers. It hadn’t taken a lawyer to determine that Minerva had invested quite
heavily in Damian’s property development. “I’m all ears. It looked pretty cut and
dried to me. The investors don’t see any money until the condos are done and start
selling. It all looked quite legit, and she signed the contract and wrote the check.
Unless we can prove it’s a scam and they never intend to build those condos, I don’t
see how we can get her money back.”

“Why don’t you sit down before you fall down?”

She’d have been insulted if she’d had the energy. As it was, he was simply stating
the obvious.

“Rough day?”

Even rougher nights, she thought, but didn’t say it. She merely nodded and slid into
a booth.

“Is there still coffee on?” She started to rise, but he motioned her to stay seated.
“I know where it is, remember?”

She detected a hint of his old smile and felt a rush of
relief that was almost embarrassing.
Get a grip
,
Lainey. Think cool. Logical
. “It’s hot and fairly fresh. The mugs are stacked—”

“Got it,” he interrupted. She let him. Even when he was obviously playing the business
consultant and platonic friend, he didn’t make her feel remotely cool or logical.
If anything, her confusion factor had doubled.

“I spoke to that investor friend of mine again yesterday,” he said as he unlatched
the door and stepped behind the counter. “He has some other property he’s developing
in Miami, close to where this project supposedly is, and he looked into it. The land
is there and it is posted for the development, but ground hasn’t been broken.”

“So it’s legitimate?”

He filled two mugs and crossed back to the booth. “On the surface it is. It’s a tangle
of paperwork, but between us we managed to trace it back through several corporations
to a holding company.” He slid one mug in front of her and sat down. “Guess where
they’re headquartered?”

“Here?”

“Bingo. Actually, the offices are in Tampa, but that’s close enough. I imagine there’s
probably another company to which the profits are diverted tucked somewhere nice and
tax-free.”

She shook her head slowly, then sipped her coffee. “I don’t know, Tucker. It still
doesn’t add up to me. I can’t see Damian running something this big, legit or otherwise.”

“That’s just it, he’s not.”

“But you said—”

“We’re agreed Damian’s not stupid, right?” She nodded. “He knows what his strengths
are, and you’re right,
running something this big is beyond his capabilities. However, this is where the
money is.”

She set her mug down as understanding dawned. “He’s a partner, or in a kind of junior
executive sort of position.”

“Give the lady a prize. Damian marketed his best asset to the big boys—his skill in
getting people to give up their money—which he does for a cut of the take.”

“Can we prove this? I know if you explained this to Minerva, she’d believe it now.”
Lainey had decided to hold off telling her aunt anything until she’d had a chance
to talk to Tucker, knowing it would be easier if she presented a solution along with
the bad news. “But that won’t get her money back or Betty Louise’s or Bernice’s. Will
it?”

“First of all, proving it is close to impossible. These guys are slick and they’re
pros. At this point the thing is legit. It will be several years until they max out
their various lease and contract options—and bleed dry as many people as they can
in the process—before they fold up shop and disappear into the night.”