A Man for All Seasons (11 page)

“Ty?” she asked dangerously.

“Mmm?”

“Are you looking down my dress?”

Hell. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“And you see nothing wrong with looking down my dress?”

“Nope. Everything looks good.”

Slowly she straightened and sat back on her heels. Her breasts jostled into place, mounding softly above her neckline. He waited until the last ripple was over before focusing on the way her dress stretched tightly across her thighs. She looked like an old-fashioned pin-up girl, except for the angry expression.

“And yet you had a problem when Paul looked down my dress.”

“You
knew
Paul was looking down your dress?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Marlie… He's…he's—”

“Axelle's brother?”

Ty ran his hand through his hair when he really wanted to
punch something. “He's a player. He was just out for what he could get.”

“Hmm.” Marlie sighed. “He could have had a lot.”

Ty knew. Everybody knew. “He's not serious about you.”

She got very quiet. Ty had been harsh, but better she get her feelings bruised now than her heart broken again later.

“So that's why you didn't like him looking down my dress? Because he's not serious?”

“Yes.” Finally, she understood. He exhaled in relief.

His relief was short lived.

“You were looking down my dress,” she said, thoughtfully. “Does that mean you're serious?”

He was toast.

Ty stared unblinking. There was no easy way out of this. “It's not the same.”

“Oh? Help me understand why Paul looking is bad, but you looking is okay.” She crossed her arms.

He wished she hadn't done that. He willed himself to maintain eye contact. “He's French.”

“Seriously.”

“I'm pretty sure. He's got an accent.”

“You're worse than he is!”

Worse? Worse than a man who would take what he wanted and drop her like a hot croissant? “That is not true.”

“At least Paul is open about appreciating a woman's body instead of being sneaky!”

Sneaky? She made him sound like he'd drilled a hole in the girl's locker room. “Pardon me for looking out for you—”

“You're looking all right.”

“Marlie—” Ty broke off. He was angry and frustrated and didn't want to say something he'd regret. “You want to fling yourself at Paul, fine. Go ahead. But I can't figure out what you see in the guy.”

“He makes me feel like a natural woman,” she said in a sing-songy voice.

“What I saw when Axelle and I came back into the kitchen did not look natural.”

“It's his mouth,” Marlie said and Ty remembered the way hers looked when she said,
“Poulet.”
His own mouth tightened.

“Paul's lips are full and sensual and he says the loveliest things.” She narrowed her eyes. “Yours are looking a little thin, especially with the expression you've got now. Like you're a dried-up prune who can't stand to see anyone having fun. And that's the way you looked. All. Night. Long.” She uncrossed her arms and pushed herself back on her knees. “You know what? I can't figure out what Axelle sees in you.”

She'd found his weak spot. Axelle was the ultimate in the type of woman Ty usually went for, but he felt her slipping away. Because of Marlie. And right now, looking at Marlie, he did not care.

Which was dangerous, for both of them.

Marlie was still talking as she looked for her charm beneath the stove and along the baseboards under the cabinets—but Ty was no longer listening. It was the same pattern—Marlie interfering with his love life because Ty was responsible for making sure she didn't get hurt.

Look what happened when he hadn't been around—she got tangled up with Eric. And when he saw her about to make the same mistake again and tried to steer her away, she yelled at him.

She'd never yelled at him before.

She'd never turned him on before, either.

The more he tried to suppress his desire, the stronger it grew.

She walked toward him on her knees, flipped her hair
over her shoulder and held it back as she bent to run her hand beneath the dishwasher.

Her dress had slithered up her thighs. Of course he'd stared at her. That was the whole point of that dress and he remembered telling her so. He was a man. He responded like a man and there was no way she could be unaware of the effect she had on him. He tried to be decent and she called him sneaky.

As she crawled forward, Marlie's knee caught the hem of her dress and pulled at the neckline. Ty held his breath. Absently she straightened to tug it back into place and glanced at him, catching his transfixed stare.

She stopped moving, or most of her did. It was the damn jiggling. Ty wasn't used to women who jiggled. Marlie left her thumbs anchored beneath the fabric's edge, but her fingers relaxed their hold and fanned out over skin. Caressing. Inviting. Then she smiled a little self-satisfied, smirky smile, tugged her dress upward and resumed her search for the charm.

Ty could feel the blood pounding in his ears. His body wanted her, but his mind didn't.

Actually, his mind was coming around as he watched her mouth move, watched her back arch, and looked down her dress again.

And then, he just let go. He let go of his memory of little-girl Marlie and let the image of grown-up woman Marlie take her place.

He enjoyed a few seconds of relief before hot, sexy Marlie shoved grown-up Marlie out of the way and said, “Come and get me, big boy.”

Ty took the brakes off his desire and it raced through him.

Angry Marlie-on-the-kitchen-floor was completely unaware of the cataclysmic shift in their relationship.

She looked up, and then straightened. “Is that all you plan to do? Stare down my dress? Or are you going to help me fi—”

Ty planted his hands on either side of her face and kissed her.

He hadn't planned to kiss her, hadn't even thought about kissing her. He hadn't allowed himself. He'd just acknowledged a general desire that he had no intention of acting on, and refused to dwell on specifics.

Except while his mind had been keeping things fuzzy, his body had been very clear about what it wanted and who it wanted it with.

Marlie.

That was the shocker. He wasn't supposed to want Marlie. He never dreamed he'd want Marlie. And yet here she was, almost, but not quite, in his arms. And he wanted her so very, very much.

He slid one hand from her cheek over miles of smooth, soft skin to her back and pulled her against him. Actually, her bare knees didn't slide on the kitchen tile, but his pants-covered ones did. Whatever worked. She was in his arms and his mouth was open on hers and since he hadn't anticipated ever being in this situation with her, he didn't have a plan. So he was going to wing it.

Kissing her would be a good place to begin.

Except it seemed that Marlie had started without him.

He felt a gentle tug on his lower lip and the tip of her tongue brushed across it. Heat washed over his skin, a prickly dry heat that woke up every cell and said, “Hang on. This is going to be good.”

Tilting his head, Ty leaned closer, softening his lips, moving them against hers, where they fit, oh-so-perfectly.

He tasted a lingering earthiness from the espresso with an underlying spiciness that was all Marlie. He'd expected sweet. And shy. Sweet, shy, good-girl Marlie—whose tongue was
now boldly stroking his. He shuddered. Sweet. And good, really good.

Her arms linked around his waist as she worked herself closer until they were pressed together from shoulder to knee. Her lush breasts pillowed his chest and her thighs invited him to sink into her. Part of him had already RSVPed.

Marlie had a plan and a good one, which meant she'd been thinking about this—about them. Together. The realization sent another wave of heat over him, burning away any lingering reservations he had about kissing her.

He slipped his tongue into her mouth, determined to give her the hottest, deepest, heart-poundingest kiss in the history of kisses. The kiss to obliterate the memory of any kiss she'd ever had, along with whoever had been doing the kissing. The kiss to redefine kissing.

The kiss she'd been waiting for her whole life.

M
ARLIE HAD BEEN SO ANGRY
at Ty. It was an anger fueled by the frustration of a three-year dry spell and two men determined to save her from herself. A few seconds more and she could have convinced Paul that she wasn't so petite after all, but no. Ty had come charging into the kitchen, shocked,
shocked
at what he'd seen. He'd treated her as though she were a teenager out with the grownups for the first time and flirting embarrassingly with a friend of her father's.

She was not a teenager and Ty needed to stop seeing her as one. Honestly, they'd gotten along great until he'd decided to buy the dates for her.

Paul would have been a great lover, perfect for testing the equipment and making sure everything still worked. Maybe even tweaking a few things here and there. Kind of a tune-up before a long road trip. A night with him would have been about mutual pleasure and nothing else. But it would have been
all
about pleasure. However, Marlie hadn't been pleased, and she'd been left all twitchy and full of restless energy. Worse, the bed she'd bought this morning wasn't going to be delivered until Friday. Not only that, but Ty had lost her charm, an expensive one that had three hens with ruby eyes sitting on a banner that actually said, “Three French Hens.”

Then, instead of helping her look for it, he kissed her.

Kissed her three ways to Sunday, actually.

She hadn't seen it coming and knew he hadn't either, because he'd just grabbed her, and then stayed frozen with his mouth open on hers. Marlie didn't know who was more surprised that they'd locked lips, but she recovered first. She figured Ty was waiting for some signal from her that she was okay with him kissing her. So she did her best to let him know she was more than okay. He took over from there.

For two people who didn't like each other, the chemistry between them was incredible. Then Marlie remembered that she did like him now, and the kiss got even better. Why hadn't they done this years ago? They'd wasted so much time. Being in Ty's arms felt so right, it was scary good. Ty was kissing her as though he'd never kiss her again, as if this one moment was all they'd ever have. Oh, no. They were going to have moments. More moments. And they were going to have them tonight.

 

T
Y POURED EVERYTHING
he had into kissing Marlie, starting with his recent sexual frustration, which had just added to the general frustration he'd felt with her for as long as he'd known her. He'd always wanted to be somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else, but there she'd been—stuck to him.

She was stuck to him now, but Ty didn't want to be anywhere else, doing anything else, with anyone else.

He breathed into her and inhaled the mingled air deep into his lungs until he was dizzy. Their mouths moved together so naturally that Ty didn't have to think or plan or analyze whether what he was doing was working or not. He was winging it and everything was perfect.

They'd connected in a way he'd never experienced. And it was just a kiss. Imagining more overloaded his brain. He
sucked gently on her lip and when she mimicked him, he felt the tug all the way down in his groin. His fingers threaded through her silky hair and he smiled against her mouth, thinking how much harder it would have been to comb them through her frizzy curls.

Marlie arched her neck and Ty pressed open-mouthed kisses to her jaw and below, settling on the pulse he felt beating against his lips. He sucked lightly, not wanting to mar the creamy, white skin, breathing in her scent, recognizing Marlie beneath the unfamiliar chemicals in the cosmetics and whatever she'd used on her hair.

He wanted to taste her. Ty licked her skin, and Marlie gave a small gasp that flared Ty's desire as though the tiny sound was a lit match tossed into a pool of gasoline.

This kiss had just become more than a kiss and he didn't care. Moving his hands over her shoulders, he pushed at the little sleeves that weren't doing anything except covering her skin, her smooth, soft, delectable skin.

He ran his fingers against the neckline across her back and teased his thumbs against the tight edge at her shoulders, the tight, very tight edge that stretched straight across her front, except for the tiniest gap between her swelling breasts.

That gap became his focus, his goal. He was going for the gap.

Ty kissed his way to the sweet spot just above her collarbone and heard her breathing quicken, noticing vaguely that it was in sync with his. He pressed his thumbs into the skin at the front of her shoulders, hoping to slip beneath the tight edge, but the stretchy fabric stuck to her.

Okay, that didn't work.

Marlie “mmmmed” encouragingly and grabbed his butt, which gave him an idea. Actually lots of ideas, but for now, he went with the one that had him returning the favor by grabbing one of her red-fabric-covered hips and holding her close. He
drew his knuckles from her shoulder over the gentle rise of one breast and paused at the shallow dip between the other rise.

He tucked a finger into the gap and Marlie trembled. Ty closed his eyes because, glued together as they were, Marlie's trembling caused some seriously good vibrations.

He tugged against the dress's tight line of defense as he kissed his way to the gap his finger had failed to widen.

Marlie inhaled deeply and Ty remembered the dress inching downward. Downward when her knee caught it. Downward as she tasted Paul's stupid spoonfuls of food, but not downward when Ty had his fingers tugging on the edge.

So he took his fingers away and substituted his tongue, delving into the gap as far as he could, tracing tantalizing curves.

“Ty…” Marlie breathed, clutching his head to her.

He skimmed one hand over her breast, but felt nothing, reacting only because he knew the flesh beneath the red armor was breast flesh and not stomach or thigh or elbow flesh. Which were all good fleshes, except maybe the elbow.

But they were not breast flesh and that's what he wanted to touch. From the way Marlie was squirming against him, she wanted it, too.

He kissed his way back to her mouth, his fingers spreading the moisture left by his tongue in hopes the neckline would slide down.

And it did. Maybe a half inch. He could measure, if he wanted, since it left an angry red line across her chest.

There had been no line earlier. Then again, earlier, she hadn't been hunting around on all fours. Gravity, previously his friend, had left the neckline with more of Marlie to contain, and contain it did.

Ty was not going to get into an undignified struggle with Marlie's red dress on the kitchen floor. No, he was going to
draw her to her feet, lead her upstairs to his room, and peel the thing off her. That was the plan. Ty always was better with plans.

Ty raised his mouth from Marlie's. He looked into her flushed face with her lips rosy from his kisses and was ready to put the plan into action.

“Mmm, Ty…” She threw back her head, shrugged her shoulders and inhaled deeply.

The neckline of the dress surrendered, slipping, slipping, until the blood thundered in Ty's ears and the air left his lungs and his hand was the only thing holding up the fabric.

He saw Marlie's mouth form his name. Saw her bite her lower lip. Felt her rock her hips against his. He lifted his hand and watched the dress whisper over her nipples.

Lust slammed into him.

Perfect creamy breasts, larger than he'd expected, and all Marlie. No magic bra with pads that boosted curves. In fact, no bra at all.

She'd gone out dressed like that? All evening, when Paul had been standing over her and Marlie had been stretching and the neckline had been slipping, there had been nothing but naked Marlie flesh beneath it?

Ty flashed to Paul's hand traveling up Marlie's thigh. Was she wearing
anything
under this dress? Spots formed behind his eyelids and he gasped a much-needed breath.

“You—you've got the most beautiful breasts I've ever seen,” he blurted out, glad he still had enough control to say “breasts” instead of tits, boobs, or cha-chas. And then blew it by adding, “In person.”

Marlie's throaty laugh was unlike any Marlie laugh he'd ever heard. “Your jacket is scratchy.”

“Oh.” He whipped it off and tossed it behind her, thinking it would provide some padding against the floor.

Which was the last complete, rational thought he had as
Marlie's fingers began working the buttons on his shirt. He couldn't wait for her slow, cold fingers, so he pulled the whole thing over his head, impatiently jerking the buttoned cuffs past his wrists. He inhaled sharply when her cold fingers touched his skin, but as her hands moved over his chest, he realized it wasn't cold he felt, but heat.

Ty was on fire for her. He quickly kissed her mouth, her throat, the top of her breast and teased her nipple with his lips, dimly hearing her whispered, “Yes,” as he tugged it into his mouth. With each stroke of his tongue, she squirmed against him, stoking the flames. Ty smoothed his palm down her back to her thigh. As he swept his hand upward beneath the hem, the dress rolled out of his way. All he encountered was bare skin which nearly killed him until his suddenly clumsy fingers registered material so thin, it might as well have not been there at all.

He raised his head so he could lower her onto his jacket and get rid of his pants and her non-underwear, not necessarily in that order.

Lying there, hair fanned out around her head, Marlie looked as though she was wearing a large, stretchy belt and nothing else. Belt. Right. He dragged air into his lungs and fumbled with his buckle like an overeager teenager. Except when he'd been a teenager, he couldn't have imagined that someday, he'd feel desperately close to exploding at the thought of sex with Marlie. Marlie, of all people. Marlie, for years his annoying friend, was now half-naked on the kitchen floor. Soon to be all naked.

Marlie slowly opened passion-filled brown eyes and locked her all-seeing gaze with his. She'd always been able to see through him, to know what he was thinking. That gaze had been his conscience. She never had to say a word. Knowing he'd have to face that look of hers made him do the right thing, even when he didn't want to.

Ty's fingers stilled as he stared down at her. He was about to have sex with Marlie.
Marlie.
And then what? What happened next? More sex? Excruciating awkwardness? The end of a friendship or…

Ty was having a very big problem with the “or” part. He knew Marlie wanted a husband and kids, had even told her to find a man who was ready. Was he ready? Was he even that man? Did he want to be that man for her? Did he want Marlie to be that woman for him? Together forever?

He didn't know. And until he knew, until he was absolutely certain what he wanted, until he had time to
think,
this had to stop. He owed it to both of them.

Marlie levered herself off the floor and reached for his buckle. “Forget what you were doing?”

Ty captured her hands and drew a deep, ragged breath. “Yeah.”

 

C
OMBUSTIBLE CHEMISTRY
. A sizzling, heart-pounder of a kiss. A touch that had every molecule in Marlie's body jumping up and down, yelling, “Yes! We like him! Can we keep him?”

She'd suspected how good it could be between them, but she didn't know if Ty had.

He knew now.

Definitely not ready for a wife and kids,
he'd said.
Find someone who's ready.
Did this mean he was ready?

Marlie searched his face. She'd pressed herself against him, felt the hard bulge below his waist and thought for sure she wouldn't be sleeping on the couch tonight. Then, just when things were getting interesting, he'd stopped, looking stunned. And now the hard bulge was just a bulge. Actually, more like a lump, and lumps didn't lie.

He didn't want her. She saw it in his eyes.

Marlie jerked her hands from his and deliberately pulled
her dress into place. As she did so, his gaze never left hers. The desire in his eyes faded and regret took its place.

Marlie was not
not
going to give her heart to a man who regretted something as wonderful as what they'd just shared; who could walk away from such obvious potential. Ty had a piece of her heart, he always had. But she wasn't going to give him the rest and keep herself from loving someone else.

He was watching her, trying to figure out what she was thinking when he should be trying to figure out his own thoughts. Ty drew a breath. If he apologized for kissing her, she was going to flatten his lump.

“I didn't plan this,” he said.

Not exactly an apology. For now, his lump was safe.

“I'm not sure what happened,” he continued.

“We kissed,” Marlie reminded him. “You had me half-undressed, spread-eagled on the floor.”

He winced. “I have no idea what I was thinking.”

This was worse than an apology. “You were thinking we were about to have sex. I know, because that's what I was thinking.”

Red stained his cheeks and throat. “Not a good idea.”

“You thought it was a good idea a few seconds ago.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Yeah. I get that a lot.” Marlie pushed her dress down her thighs. “Paul changed his mind, my fiancé changed his mind. What I want to know is, why did you change your mind?”

He had not said one nice thing to her. He'd kissed her until her knees would have given way if she hadn't already been kneeling on the floor, and now he was looking at her as though he was afraid she was going to pick out wedding china. Or cry. Or cry
while
picking out wedding china.

His mouth worked. “It wouldn't be fair to Axelle,” he said, clearly relieved to have a plausible reason.

“Oh, please. Like you were thinking of Axelle.”

“Marlie!” When Ty said her name, his fists clenched and unclenched. He was probably unaware of it.