Not only was that true, but he was the first person besides Dimi to know her so well.
He gentled both his voice and his gaze. “I’m good enough to fix your town house, good enough to give you a hand beating up your dates when they go bad. Probably even good enough to develop a passing friendship with, but that’s all you’ll allow.”
She let out a disparaging sound, but didn’t know what to say because it was the cold, hard truth.
“Am I close, Cami?”
He was so close she could see the specks of light dancing in his amazing eyes. She could see the fair stubble lining his jaw. She could see his genuine frustration, and the fact that he cared enough to feel frustrated in the first place put an unexpected lump in her throat.
And yes, he was close enough to the truth to have her closing her eyes to it.
“No, you don’t,” she heard him say, and felt his hands on her face, cupping her jaw, lifting it to him. He waited until she opened her eyes again.
“Don’t hide.”
“It’s a habit of mine,” she admitted.
“Not with me. Don’t do it with me.”
“I don’t have a choice. You won’t go away like all the others.”
A shadow of a smile flitted across his mouth.
His very sexy mouth.
“I really don’t want to like you,” she said around that lump blocking her air passage.
Unexpectedly, his smile widened. “See?
You’re being honest with me.” He nudged her.
“Did it hurt?”
“Less than a tetanus shot.” She had to return his smile. “And you should know I don’t want to want you, either.”
“But you do.”
“But I do. It’s making me do dumb things.
Like wear this dress.”
His eyes were on fire as they slowly, slowly, slid over her body. “That wasn’t so dumb.”
For a long moment she looked at him, and he looked right back. It was doing funny things to her body. Her skin felt too tight. Her insides had turned to liquid, which seemed to pool in a bunch of places she hadn’t paid much attention to lately. “Tanner…what are we doing?”
“We’re finding ourselves attracted.”
“I don’t want to be attracted. I just gave up on men.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Don’t give up on all of us.”
Slowly she shook her head.
“Go out with me,” he said, having no idea where that command came from. “Let me show you we’re not all jerks. You have needs, stop shelving them and pay attention to what they are.” He thought about her never having had multiple orgasms, but that thought just made him quiver with the desire to show her what she was missing.
“Tanner-”
“Just one date, your fantasy date.” He didn’t add the multiple orgasm thing. He didn’t want to scare her off. But he’d really lost it here. He wanted her, in a totally foreign, not purely physical way, though he was still hard as nails from seeing her perfect, rose-tipped, pebbled nipple. Just thinking about it made his mouth water again.
“How do you know about my fantasy date?”
“You told me. Well, you told you, when you were talking to yourself on your answering machine.”
“Oh, God. How could I forget? You listened.”
“Unabashedly.”
She frowned. “And I’m not messing up all my dates to punish my father.”
“No? Then go out with me.”
“We wouldn’t work together.”
She was scared, her eyes huge. And suddenly his impatience with her faded. “Just one date,” he said softly. “You’ve been out with some real losers, Cami. Just let me show you how it could be. How it should be.”
“And then you’ll stop this.”
“Absolutely.” Probably.
Maybe.
Okay, no, he wouldn’t. But for Cami, this was on a need-to-know basis, and she didn’t need to know that. So he smiled. “Want me to prove to you how much you want to try this?”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t think-”
He leaned over her and set his mouth to hers. He had no idea what he was doing. Just the thought of Cami was a threat to his string-free heart, but he’d never wanted a woman so much.
From the very first touch of their mouths, he knew he was in trouble. Heat spiraled through his chest, shooting a straight line of fire to his groin.
Pure lust, he reminded himself, that’s what this was, and he whispered her name to remember that.
She parted those soft lips. She tasted like strawberry lip gloss and the promise of something even sweeter. Without thinking-which had become impossible with the draining of all his blood for parts south-he deepened the kiss, using his tongue to touch, swirl, caress and tease hers.
Without hesitation, she returned the favor, and within ten seconds he’d run out of air. Pulling back far enough to look at her, he slowly shook his head. “You’re right.” He ran a finger over her jaw, along her neck, his gaze dipping to the front of her dress, where her nipples were straining at the thin material, begging for attention that he was dying to give. “You obviously feel nothing for me.”
“You don’t get it,” she whispered, her lips wet from his.
“Tell me.”
“You were right about…the others. I went out with them, with all of them, because I knew I was safe. My heart was safe. I would never have given it to them. But with you…”
“With me what? You think I would hurt you?”
“Yes. No. I mean, with you I couldn’t keep my heart safe.”
“One date, Cami. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Then what?”
“Then you learn how to have a great date.”
“That’s all?”
“Sure.”
She pushed up to a sitting position and tipped her head at him.
“Honest,” he said.
“What do you get out of it?”
“You out of my system.”
Her lips curved. “Ah, a man with a motive.”
“We all have motives.” And his was to make sure he kissed her again.
8
H E WAS an incredible lover.
Sensual. Giving. Demanding. And she gave him whatever he asked for in that rough, serrated, sexy voice. Everything. Anything.
Shocking herself.
“More,” he commanded, sliding down her body, kissing every inch of her skin, bringing her up again, up to that jagged edge, holding her there, quivering, whimpering, begging…then flying as she came, again and again.
“Multiple orgasms,” she whispered in disbelief, and woke herself up. It was completely black when she blinked her eyes furiously, and she couldn’t breathe.
Surging up, waving her arms wildly in sudden panic, she heard the hard thump and hiss, and just before she hit the floor, as well, she knew.
She’d been on the couch, buried beneath the covers, with Annabel on her head. She’d been dreaming, dreaming hot, sweaty sex fantasies about her contractor.
“Not my fault,” she told the insulted cat as they lay on the floor, nose to nose. “It was his kiss. And you’re a bed hog.”
“Mew.”
“Okay, a couch hog.” Hauling off the tangled covers, she stared at her yellow polka-dot panties, which happened to be all she was wearing. Her hair was in her face, her skin hot and clammy, a reminder of what she’d been dreaming about. “I’ve got to do laundry,” she told no one in particular.
“No kidding,” Dimi said as she came down the hall and looked at her sister. She wore Cami’s favorite sweater, and as she zipped it up with one hand, she pocketed Cami’s mascara with the other. “I can’t find a thing to wear in this mess.”
“Try your own place,” Cami grumbled. “Or go to Mom’s, you moocher.”
“Mom doesn’t have near the same quality in makeup. And you might think about pulling those covers back over yourself. You have a man down that hallway, a tall, dark, sexy man who would probably fall at your feet right there on the floor if he came in here and saw you lying there like that, all rosy and glowing.”