Breaking the Rules (8 page)

“Maybe you could help me find it?”

“I have to get to the store. I have an appointment at ten-thirty. But if you do need a place to stay tonight…” She pulled the key out of the last lock and pushed past him to the stairs. Her hair flew out behind her as she dashed down the first flight.

“If I need a place to stay tonight?”

She turned around and put her finger to her lips, giving him a stern glare. Joe glanced around at the closed apartment doors ringing the narrow stairwell. He nodded and smiled.

“Cool.”

She dashed down the stairs so fast he had to jump them two at a time to keep up with her. No wonder she kept so trim.

“Hey, wait up!” he shouted, as she pushed out the door into the blinding brightness of the street.

She strode along the sidewalk, skirt flying behind her. An invitation to hot pursuit. Exhilaration jumped in Joe’s veins as he smelled the sea in the warm morning air—salt and seaweed and life.

He dashed past Susana, then turned and blocked her. She bumped into him, hair flying, breasts crushing deliciously against his hard chest.

“Ouch!” Her eyes glittered.

Joe dropped his bag and wrapped his arms round her, imprisoning her with his body.

“We’re not in your apartment any more. The rules are lifted.”

Her fingers tightened around his biceps, holding him at bay. “We’re out in the street.”

“I know.”

“People are watching.” Her eyes darted about his face.

“Do you care?”

She hesitated, teeth grazing her lip. “Not really.”

“Me neither.” He held her gaze for a minute as her pupils darkened with desire. “I’d like to kiss you.”

She tossed her hair, releasing a whiff of incense from its black depths.

Her fingers softened their grip but her wrists held firm. Pushing him back until her breasts were one or two inches from his chest.

From his heart. Which tightened, beating harder as heat crept through his muscles.

He’d kept himself firmly in the “off” position all night. Playing by the rules.

Her lips pressed together, skeptical. But her eyes were an invitation that summoned him to act.

Joe buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the exotic scent as her hair trailed over her face. He heard her swift intake of breath as he brushed her earlobe with his lips.

“I’d like to make love to you.” He whispered it so softly the words were barely more than breath.

She gasped and stiffened.

“Not now,” he whispered, lips brushing the pulse below her ear. “Now I just want to kiss you.”

He trailed his lips over her cheekbone, her skin smooth, silky and cool under his mouth. His arms held her tightly to prevent escape. He couldn’t bear to lose her now.

All night he’d held thoughts of her at bay. Visions of her that danced at the edges of his mind, taunting and teasing him. Curious thoughts about every hidden inch of her.

He’d played by the rules.

He hadn’t thought about the tiny dimple in the middle of her chin that deepened when she smiled. Or about her long, elegant fingers tipped with gloriously unvarnished shell-pink nails.

Or about the thighs that strode under her long skirt.

As his lips neared the corner of her mouth, her eyes flickered closed, black lashes falling like a curtain. Her lips softened, flushed with new blood.

While they were on her turf, he’d been good.

He hadn’t entertained the tiniest notion of finding her belly button in the dark, with his tongue. He hadn’t dreamed about exploring every inch of her with the sensitive tip of his nose, seeking the subtle private scents, the sweet, musky animal smells that must lie under that seductive veil of incense. He hadn’t fantasized about her lips.

But now he parted them with a soft lick of his tongue.

A tiny moan escaped. Her nails dug into his skin—a sweet agony that melded with the blissful sensation of losing his mouth in hers.

Then her fingers crept up his arms, and suddenly those mysterious breasts were pressing against his chest as her fingers threaded into hair.

Joe released a groan that got lost in the hot darkness of their kiss.

He’d kept himself in the “off” position all night long, but as his tongue roamed into Susana’s hot, welcoming mouth, “on” roared through his blood in a torrent that threatened to knock him off his feet.

His palms slid down into the hollow above her buttocks. He could feel the teasing lift of muscle where the sweet curve of her backside began and he fought to keep his hands from sliding down to cup their soft roundness.

You’re in public
.

His body didn’t care. Buried in the folds of Susana’s skirt, his jeans bulged. Tightness hummed in his nerves as his body came alive with dangerous arousal.

He shuddered as she licked his tongue. She’d softened, losing herself in the kiss, her hands drifting through his hair and down over his face. Her breasts crushed against him, braless and unrestrained, her nipples grazing his own as she strained upward on tiptoe.

One long finger trailed over his cheek and plunged into his mouth, breaking the vacuum of their kiss and probing along with her tongue in an act of unashamed discovery that almost made him lose it right there on a city sidewalk.

He clung to her to keep upright now, his arousal so intense that reality shimmered beyond his grasp. She withdrew her wet finger and dragged it down over his T-shirt, suddenly pinching his nipple hard as she reached it.

Joe jerked back, a wordless shout forming on his lips as they lost contact with hers.

His eyes shot open and he saw her face, just inches from his, her eyes black with desire. She panted, her breath coming in tiny gasps, her mouth open. She blinked rapidly and suddenly her hands flew to cover her swollen red lips.

The moment was over.

Joe dragged a hand through his hair, trying to catch his own breath. Trying to catch thoughts that flew wildly around him. His body stung with the unwelcoming parting from the soft, female flesh it ached so badly for.

“I’m sorry!” Susana’s eyes were wide with horror now.

“Don’t be sorry.”

“I hurt you. I don’t know what…” She shook her head, struggling for words. “I’ve never…” She dropped her head, still shaking it, her hair tossing about her face as she struggled for breath and words.

“It was magic,” he said, and reached his hand out to cup her chin and lift it. “I’ve never…” He shook his head too, still trying to untangle his messed-up thoughts. “I’ve never…either. Never like that. That was something else.”

He had no idea what he was trying to say. The physical sensations torturing his body were totally new. He was no virgin for sure, but he’d never known the torment of such severe and intense arousal.

Of such unexpected and intriguing behavior by a woman.

But Susana was no ordinary woman. He knew that before he kissed her.

And now he suspected he’d run aground on the tip of an iceberg that would change his life forever.

Susana stepped back from him. “I’m embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.” He blew out a breath of air as his glance jerked down to his bulging jeans. He quickly untucked his T-shirt to cover his very obvious arousal.

Susana pushed her hair off her face. Two pink spots high on her cheeks shone through her honey complexion. She bit a swollen red lip.

“I have to go… My appointment.”

“I know. Can I see you again? Can I come by later?”

His chest constricted. He couldn’t hear a no. If she said it, he’d come anyway.

Susana glanced about, suddenly aware of the street around them. Of the people pointedly ignoring them.

“Yes.” She breathed it, surreptitious, a secret message.

Joe let out an audible exhale of relief. “I’ll come here around seven, okay?”

“Yes.” She still looked dazed, as if she’d just staggered out of a burning building. “The buzzer’s broken. Just call up. I’ll leave the window open.”

A grin swept across his face. “You’ll hear me.”

He didn’t know what to say next. Certainly not “goodbye.” “See you later” was far too casual.

“You’re beautiful.”

Susana’s eyes widened for a second before she gasped and took off down the block, running.

Joe stared as her skirt flared out behind her and her hair tossed about her shoulder blades until she rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

CHAPTER 5

H
e’d gone to the bank alone. Deposited his check despite gaping disbelief and admonitions that no withdrawal could be made until it cleared. Whatever.

With a cash advance on his credit card he’d rented a nice apartment right on the water in Tribeca.

Was he excited about having a truckload of money and a snazzy waterfront loft? Nope.

Was he excited about seeing Susana again?

Hell, yeah.

He strode along Canal Street, whistling. Sailors were supposed to whistle, weren’t they? He wasn’t a sailor any more, and they’d been as glad to get rid of him as he was to get out. But that was all in the past. Suddenly he was setting sail on a new adventure and he’d whistle if he wanted to, dammit.

Canal Street thronged with people. Conversation buzzed and squawked around him in fifty languages. Huge dead fish on ice stared up at him, and rap thundered out of customized woofers as he wove through the crowds.

He picked up Chinese takeout as he strolled though Chinatown, still whistling. Tomorrow he’d call his contacts and line up some potential clients. His reputation should be enough to get him started, even in the competitive field of corporate Internet security. And because it was a different market it wouldn’t affect the no-compete clause he’d signed with his former business partner.

His former best friend. He threw back his shoulders and inhaled a deep breath of steamy city air.
Don’t look back
. One foot in front of the other. Keep on movin’.

Thoughts of Susana were a nice distraction. Thoughts of her almond-shaped black eyes. Of her long, prying fingers. Of her slim ankles and the world of mystery hidden by her long skirt.

Would the rules still be in place? Probably. But that was okay. He could wait.

At least he thought he could. He couldn’t tell quite what was going to happen with Susana around.

He laughed aloud, careless of what anyone thought. He was one more crazy man on an island full of crazy people, and that was okay too. He hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time.

Hope. That’s what Susana had given back to him. A little taste of it went a long way right now.

He crossed Delancy Street and strode along Susana’s block, heart thumping with anticipation. Merengue music pumping out the open windows of a car tickled his feet into a rhythm.

He stopped in front of Susana’s building. An ordinary brick walk-up, like all the others on the street. He couldn’t even see her top-floor window from where he stood in front of the doorway, so he crossed the street for a better view. Yellowed lace covered all the windows, but one was propped open. The lace flapped a little in the evening breeze.

She was waiting for him.

He put the plastic bag of Chinese takeout carefully down on the sidewalk next to him and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel!”

He grinned, watching the curtains. Wondered how carefully she was listening. When they flicked aside right away, he laughed aloud. Susana’s face appeared beneath the lace, smiling.

“The buzzer doesn’t work. I’ll come down.”

He picked up the Chinese and crossed the street. Almost as soon as he got there the front door swung open and Susana met him with a smile as broad as his own.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Oh, lord, he felt like a teenager on his first date. Acting like one, too. “I brought dinner.” He lifted the bag.

“Thanks.” Her lips pressed together as she struggled to suppress her smile. “So I’m Rapunzel, am I?”

“You live in a brick tower, and you’ve got long hair.”

“Not long enough, though, or I’d have saved you climbing the stairs.” She fought back another smile and turned to the stairs, then leaped them two at a time. Joe was glad of the opportunity to run up, since his whole body pounded with unspent adrenaline.

Incense hung in the air of the apartment, swirling amid the dust stirred up by their breathless entry. As soon as Joe entered he saw the parrot, shifting uneasily from foot to foot in its big black cage as it fixed one gleaming eye on him.

“Hello, Polly,” he said lightly.

The parrot let forth a stream of obvious invective in whatever guttural language it spoke.

“Milos!” Susana lifted a finger of warning at the parrot’s cage. Milos lifted his feathered wings in a threatening gesture and shook his head vigorously, all without taking his eye off Joe.

“Guess he’s not too happy to see me again.”

“He’s never happy about anything.”

Joe glanced at the bureau where the picture of Grandma stood. She didn’t look happy to see him either. “I brought General Tsao’s chicken,” he announced to the photograph.

Susana chuckled. “Come into the kitchen. We’ll eat.”

He told her about his business plan while they ate dinner. She looked impressed. Intrigued. She asked him how he’d managed to make so much money when he’d been out of the Navy only three years. He told her that the work he’d done in the service–systems security–had given him a unique skill set in high demand by corporations.

“So you are a rich man, and you plan to become richer.” Her eyes shone.

“Yeah. You like that?”

She shrugged. “What I think makes no difference.”

“Unless you think our destinies are still linked in some way.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. Maybe the mysterious hand of fate would get him under her skirt.

She held his gaze. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“What’s that?”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and her lips curved a little at the corners. “You have three choices.”

“Not that again.”

She nodded. “It’s the only way to know for sure.”

“Aw, come on, Susana. I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Look at the mess it got me into before.”