Too Charming (11 page)

Scott allowed a slow smile to creep across his face. Totally at ease now, he stared back at her, his grey eyes
smouldering. ‘I won’t disappoint.’

Megan wriggled uncomfortably in her seat. Suddenly she felt too hot.
Her blouse too tight. Her bra too rough against her nipples. What was that saying about not playing with fire if you didn’t want to get burned?

He gave her another scorching look and she pressed her legs together.

How about if she just wanted to get singed a little?

Chapter Eleven

Settling back into the luxurious leather seat of his car for the journey home, Megan could honestly say she’d enjoyed the meal.
The food, the company and the conversation. Scott was definitely smooth, but he was also very knowledgeable, easy to talk to and surprisingly funny. So much so that her sides were actually aching from laughing at his tales from court. She’d expected him to be erudite. She hadn’t expected him to have such a dry, wicked sense of humour.’

As he climbed in beside her, she smiled at him. ‘What is it about you and transport, Scott? I can almost understand the extravagance of the car, or the bike, but
both
?

About to start the engine, Scott stopped and turned to look at her. ‘Can I help it if I love to play with beautiful things?’

Of course he was talking about machines, but it didn’t stop her breath hitching at the dark, intense look he gave her. It made her believe, for one moment, that he thought she was beautiful, too. Clearly she wasn’t. Built more like a boy than a girl, she had what was at best described as an interesting face. Some men had called it unique; while that wasn’t exactly flattering, it had at least been better than
pixie features
, a phrase used by her first boyfriend who’d lasted a week. But when she looked in the mirror at her pointy chin and nose that turned up slightly at the end, she had to concede he’d had a point. The way she wore her hair – short and cropped – sadly didn’t help the situation. It did, however, make it easier to get ready for work in the morning.

She brought her mind back to Scott and his huskily worded statement. ‘Umm, I think you mean you like to play with fast and beautiful things.’

He smiled and inched his face closer to hers. In the dark of the car he looked intensely male. ‘Yep. Fast definitely works for me, too.’

She shouldn’t have been surprised by the kiss. God knows the heated looks he’d been giving her all evening had been a pretty clear warning sign. But apparently not clear enough. As his mouth settled over hers, hot, searing, melting, the breath seemed to rush from her body in a sharp gust. Then his lips were nibbling at hers, and his incredibly clever tongue was finding its unerring way into the depths of her mouth. He was, without doubt, a fabulous kisser. Of course he’d had a heck of a lot of practi
ce, but, oh wow, it was almost indecent what he was doing now. What he was making her feel with just a kiss. She sucked in a breath as she felt the heat of his hands sliding under blouse and then under her bra. He wasn’t stopping at a kiss.

A moan tore out of her instinctively, the same way her back arched as his deft fingers rubbed lightly over a taut, sensitive nipple.

‘Do you like to have your nipples touched?’ he asked softly, undoing her blouse with his other hand.

‘Umm …’
How the hell was she supposed to talk? To have any coherent thoughts when he was making her brain feel like mush? Briefly his hands disappeared to expertly undo the catch on her bra. Then his mouth left hers and the tongue that had stirred up so much desire when in her mouth now turned its attention to her nipples.

Megan knew she was in a car, in a restaurant car park. It didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered was that he carried on doing whatever he was doing with his tongue. She placed her hands on his soft, silky hair and pushed him closer to her, wanting more of his mouth, his tongue, wanting him to suckle her forever.
Her breasts, which had always been too small, too unfeminine, were now giving her more pleasure than she’d ever experienced.

‘Oh, God, Scott.’ Another groan, this time as his hands loosened the waistband of her jeans and crept inside her knickers. She had no time to wonder which ones she’d put on as his fingers delved into her heat. With a moan of sheer bliss she lay back and gave in to the pleasure he seemed intent on giving her.
The dual sensation of his clever fingers moving with the same rhythm as the tongue on her nipples soon had her crying out as an intense orgasm ripped through her body. Shattered, she collapsed against the seat.

Scott looked at her flushed face, her swollen mouth, and wanted like he’d never wanted before. His arousal strained in his jeans: an arousal he didn’t think was going to be satisfied tonight. Another time he would have pressed his advantage, driven her back to his place and made love to her until they were both sweaty and exhausted, but not tonight. Not with her daughter needing her at home. Still, he had, at least, given Megan something to think about.
To weigh in with all her other considerations. Whatever the hell they might be.

‘I guess it’s time we were heading back,’ he ventured when his breathing had started to
normalise. The thickness of unsatisfied desire still hung in his voice. Was still notable inside his boxers.

Megan nodded weakly. She’d just allowed Scott to make love to her in a car park. Christ. How had it happened that the cool, indifferent woman who’d been steadfastly pushing him away only a week ago was now a spent puddle on his passenger seat?

As he drove them home – the confident, sure hands that had brought her such pleasure a moment ago, now resting on the steering wheel – she suddenly remembered Sally. Where was her mind? She’d let this man dominate it so much that she hadn’t given a thought to her sick daughter, until now. Wracked with guilt she hastily pulled out her phone.

‘Mum, it’s me. We’re on our way back. How’s Sally?’

‘Darling I don’t want you to panic, but she’s still very feverish so we’ve called the doctor out. He’s with her now.’

‘Oh my God.’ Slumping down into the seat, Megan held a hand to her head, mortified. While she’d been groaning in ecstasy, her daughter had been burning a fever.

‘What’s up?’ Scott cast a quick glance at her, his concern evident.

‘The doctor is with Sally. She’s still hot.’

He nodded and she felt the subtle surge of power as he put his foot down on the accelerator. ‘We’ll be there in a minute.’

Nothing dampened ardour more than the thought of a sick child, Scott thought to himself as he sped through the streets. Minutes ago his mind had been full of Megan. He’d been imagining her body, hot and naked, beneath his. Moving with the same uninhibited grace as it had just now. Only this time with him inside her. Now all he could picture was Sally’s pale face.

As he brought the car to a stop on the drive, Megan leapt out and ran towards the front door. She seemed surprised when she found him right behind her.

‘Thanks, Scott. It was a good evening. Sorry to end it like this …’

He followed her into the house. ‘I’m not going anywhere yet.’

‘Look, Sally’s ill, we’re going to have to call it a night.’ She started running up the stairs. Resolutely he followed her.

When she reached the top of the stairs and gave him a hard look, he suddenly
realised what she was thinking. ‘Don’t tell me you think I’m hanging round just to pick up where we left off?’ he asked bluntly, shaking his head in utter astonishment at the look on her face. A look that told him that was
exactly
what was going on in her head. Feeling as if she’d kicked him in the stomach, he was about to vehemently deny her silent accusation when he realised where they were standing. He had no right to hound her outside her daughter’s bedroom, no matter how offended he was. ‘I’ll wait downstairs,’ he told her tightly. ‘I want to hear how she is.’

He was pacing the floor of the hallway when Megan appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘The doctor advises that we take her to hospital, just as a precaution.’

‘I’ll drive you.’

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, and despite his annoyance, his heart went out to her. Even more so when she reappeared, holding Sally in her arms. Worry was etched across her face. A face that was now almost as pale as the daughter she was clutching.

He bounded up the stairs, two at a time. ‘Here, let me carry her.’

Though she hesitated fractionally, she obviously thought better of it and shifted Sally into his arms.

The journey in the car was quiet. Sally slept on Megan’s lap in the back seat and Scott concentrated on getting them to the hospital quickly and in one piece.

Once there he again took hold of Sally as Megan went on ahead, rushing to the A&E desk. Thankfully the on-call doctor had already phoned and they were shown straight through to a nearby ward.

‘I’ll wait out here,’ Scott told her when he’d settled Sally on to the bed.

She shook her head. ‘Thanks so much, Scott, but you don’t need to wait now. It could be hours before we know anything more. I’ll be okay.’

‘As I said,’ he replied firmly, ‘I’ll wait out here.’ Did she really think he could leave them both now? Two people he’d become surprisingly attached to in such a short space of time.

Two hours later, Megan was feeling a lot happier. The doctors had seen Sally, pronounced that it was a virus, nothing serious, and set her up with an intravenous drip and some stronger medicine to bring the temperature down. That had been a while ago. Now she was feeling cooler and sleeping peacefully.

Figuring she wasn’t going to wake in a while, Megan wandered out of the ward to stretch her legs. She stopped in her tracks at the sight of a tall, broad-shouldered man, sat on one of the hard plastic chairs in the family area outside. His head had dropped forward on
to his chest, and despite the uncomfortable position, he looked fast asleep. God, she’d forgotten all about Scott – had naturally assumed he’d gone home. Slowly she walked towards him, cringing inwardly as she recalled how she’d initially thought he’d wanted to hang around just to finish what they’d started in the car. It was becoming increasingly clear that Scott Armstrong wasn’t at all the man she’d first believed him to be. He was a much nicer, kinder man. A better man. One that she could easily start to like, God help her. Really, really like.

As she neared him he stirred and opened his eyes. ‘Hey, how is she?’

Megan smiled as she watched him struggle to sit up, his once crisp white shirt now looking as if it had been slept in. Which it had. ‘She’s good, thank you. The doctor said it’s a virus. Her temperature is already coming down and she’s fast asleep.’

‘Phew.’ He stretched out his long, denim-clad legs. ‘Scary stuff, eh?’

‘Yeah, scary all right.’ Hesitating just a moment, she went to sit next to him, acutely aware of his body as it touched against hers. ‘Thanks for hanging around, Scott. I didn’t expect to see you here still.’

‘Why not? You’re still here.’

She smiled at his baffled look. ‘Yes, but she’s my daughter.’

‘And you’re my date.’

Jesus. His expression was so serious, as if he couldn’t understand why she’d believed he wouldn’t stay. She felt a gentle tug at her heart. ‘I’m sorry you had to spend the last part of the evening dozing off on a plastic chair in a hospital,’ she found herself whispering. ‘I’m guessing it isn’t the way you were hoping it would end.’

Once more he regarded her steadily, as if his glorious grey eyes could see into her very soul. ‘No, not exactly, but you don’t have to
apologise. I stayed because I wanted to. As I keep telling you, I’m not like the other men you’ve known. Don’t always expect the worst of me.’

‘It’s not ended the way I’d hoped, either,’ she admitted, trying to stifle a yawn but failing. Before she knew it he was gently draping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him and settling her against his solid chest.

‘Why don’t you close your eyes for a bit? Have a sleep. It’ll do you good.’

Megan shifted a little to make herself more comfortable and then started to close her eyes.

‘And anyway, how can you say this isn’t the way I wanted our evening to end?’ he whispered into her ear. ‘You’re sleeping with me, aren’t you?’

She laughed softly, and promptly fell asleep.

Though his body felt stiff from the angle he’d been dozing, Scott didn’t dare move. He didn’t want to disturb Megan, who was now breathing quietly, snuggled against his shoulder. As he looked down at her, his heart filled with a tenderness he hadn’t expected. What had started out as a desire to simply get this feisty, attractive female into his bed had taken a totally new direction. One he’d never envisioned it taking. Women simply didn’t have a serious place in his life, so it was hard to understand this aching feeling he had in his chest while he watched Megan sleep. He hadn’t even made love to her, for crying out loud. Not properly. Not where he could take time to enjoy her. To satisfy them both. But that would happen now.
e knew

He knew it. What he was interested to find out was where it would go afterwards, when the initial lust had been quenched.

He let out a short exhale, gobsmacked that he was even thinking that far ahead. He never had before. Then again, Megan was unlike any woman he’d ever met before. A woman in a man’s world, she was stronger, tougher and more stubborn than any he’d previously dated. But contrasting with that was her soft, tender, fun side. The one he’d seen when she was with Sally. And then there was the sexy, passionate side he’d glimpsed in the car. That was a side he knew he could bring out even more, if only she’d let him.

All in all, she was a whole lot of woman, he mused to himself.