Instructing Sarah (7 page)

He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, drawing her attention to the sprinkling of dark curls. It made her want to step closer and give him a good, long lick. “You agreed, Sarah,” he reminded her. “I just went along because it was clear you weren’t going to change your mind.”

“So, you don’t want to call me then?”

Oh God, it was worse than she’d thought.

He was already dumping her! Couldn’t he have waited until daylight, for crying out loud?

“I’d much rather whisper in your ear,”

he murmured huskily, stepping just an inch closer, “because you’ll be in my bed.” That stunning comment had Sarah’s jaw going slack, but he didn’t give her any time to digest it because he crouched low and lifted her high into his arms.

“Keys?”

“Hanging on the hook,” she stuttered out, not sure what she would do when tomorrow really did come. Tonight she was just glad he wasn’t dumping her.
Again
with the lack of pride and dignity
, she thought with self-depreciation. She ought to tell him no, shove out of his arms and demand he give her some sort of promise towards a future, but she was a coward. She didn’t want to hear him say that it had only been sex.

Greg took the keys and handed them to her. From her all too cozy position against the bunching, muscled plane of Greg’s chest it was amazing she held the keys steady. Still, she did manage to lock the door. As soon as the lock tripped into place, Greg was off and practically running back to his condo. Once inside, he didn’t stop his long, purposeful stride until he was in the bedroom. He laid her down gently and gave her body that intensely hot once-over that always managed to make her stomach all jittery.

“Those are truly adorable, baby,” he said, his entire face splitting into a grin,

“but off with them. No pj’s in my bed.

Ever.”

She peeked down at herself and winced. Winnie the Pooh was
so
not sexy.

She lifted to a sitting position and undressed, letting him watch. It all reminded her of the night before. Very quickly, he was out of his jeans and slipping in beside her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back against him. His leg came over hers, and his hand splayed wide over her belly, effectively holding her in place. She smiled in blissful contentment, but just as Greg reached up to turn off the light, something caught her eye.

Her panties. Perched atop some sort of award Greg had received. Then they were plunged into darkness and all she could think was how perfect it felt to be in Greg’s strong arms. She let go of a breath that she hadn’t been aware she was holding and asked, “Greg, don’t you want to—“.

He pressed a finger to her lips and whispered, “I didn’t come and get you because I needed to fuck. Just sleep, sweet Sarah. We’ll figure things out tomorrow.”

Six

It had hit him like a damned ton of bricks. One minute he brooded as he watched Sarah walk away from him to go to her own place. She’d had on the wrinkled skirt—the skirt she’d worn for
him
—and no panties. He ought to know, he’d been the one to pilfer them to begin with. Her sweet and tangy scent had clung to the tiny scrap of lace and he’d not wanted to let them out of his sight. Then, as she’d turned and waved, giving him that innocent little smile, he’d known that he was in love with Sarah Templeton.

Greg scrubbed a hand over his face.

Fuck, he’d been right from the beginning.

She truly should be named Sarah Temptation.

Now, here he sat on his front patio, waiting for his brother’s girlfriend to arrive, when all he really wanted to do was go to Sarah, take her in his arms, and tell her he loved her, make her say it back, and then explain to her that they were now exclusive.

But Trina had called, crying and near hysterics, insistent upon talking to him about Matt. He could kill his brother for whatever the hell he’d done because it had torn him away from Sarah’s willing flesh that morning. She’d been sweetly sated from the ear-splitting orgasm she’d taken as she rode him. She’d reminded him that he’d promised she could be on top and so he’d given in and let her run the show.

Watching her bounce up and down on his dick had been purely blissful. Christ, she was a vocal little thing, though. He’d need to build them a house, lest she get them both evicted.

After Trina’s badly timed crisis, he’d told Sarah that his brother’s girl was wanting a one-on-one and she’d hightailed it back to her place. A little too eagerly for his liking too. Damn, didn’t the woman care for him at all? He shook his head, knowing she had to care a little or she wouldn’t have chosen him to lose her virginity to. Then again, maybe he’d only been in the right place at the right time. Maybe she had really only wanted sex from the very beginning and he was no more special than a notch on her bedpost.

Again, Greg took a long swallow of his iced-tea and willed Trina to show. If she didn’t get there soon, he’d ditch the silly woman and tend to his own problems, which at the moment had a lot to do with Sarah.

He saw Trina pull into the complex in her little white Accord and he noticed from his position on the porch that she was crying. What the hell had Matt done to make her all weepy? He thought their relationship was unshakeable. It was clear Matt loved Trina and vise versa.

She parked and got out, wiping her eyes on a pathetic excuse for a tissue. He went to her, took her in his arms, and held her. Typically, she cried harder, and typically, he wanted to bolt, but he held firm and she finally quieted down. That’s firm and she finally quieted down. That’s when she started to spill her guts. In a rush of sobbing, mumbled words, he managed to figure out that she was terrified Matt was seeing another woman.

“There’s no way, Trina. I’m telling you, Matt loves you.”

“Oh, Greg. I just don’t know. It’s not like him to lie to me. He’s never lied to me.”

Her eyes pleaded with him. “Has he said anything to you, Greg? Anything at all?”

Greg shook his head and rubbed Trina’s

arm

soothingly. “No, honey,

nothing. You know Matt, he tackles problems head-on. If he were interested in someone else, he’d tell you before doing anything rash. I know he would.”

Trina was a tall, model-thin brunette who could pass easily for a movie star; however, she had the down to earth personality of a small town girl. She was sweet and lovable as hell and she’d been good to Matt.

Greg heard a diesel engine roaring into their complex and he flinched. “Uh, don’t be mad, Trina, but I called Matt.” She gave

him

that

deer-caught-in-the-

headlights stare and he said, “He’s here now.” She whipped around and slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to hold back another sob probably.

It didn’t work out too well.

Matt’s big, red truck rambled into the spot next to Trina’s car and the angry diesel shut off. Stillness hung in the air as Matt looked at Trina through the windshield.

“Oh my,” Trina mumbled.

Yeah
, Greg thought,
Matt’s royally
pissed
. He got out, and in two long strides was in front of them, his hands fisted at his sides, legs braced apart. “What on Earth are you doing here, Trina?”

Trina looked down at the ground, not answering. Matt stepped forward and placed his hand at the nape of her neck, forcing her head up to look at him. “What was so fucking awful that you had to come to my brother instead of me?”

“I saw you with her, Matt.” Her voice sounded lost and Greg felt terrible for her, as well as a little bit protective. Hell, she was practically a sister at this point.

“Matt, it may help to listen to her instead of trying to intimidate the shit out of her.”

Matt’s eyes never moved away from Trina. “Stay out of it, Greg.” To Trina he said, “Her
who
?”

Trina’s head shot up and Greg noted that her eyes had lost some of their sadness.

Now they were spitting fire. “The cute little red head, you big idiot!”

Matt stared at her as if she’d lost her mind before a wild laugh erupted from him.

“You’re laughing? You think it’s funny?” Trina said in disbelief.

“I interviewed her for a waitress job, Trina. I’m not seeing her.”

She pointed a finger into his chest and growled, “You were at the Tasty Freeze!”

Matt grabbed her finger and brought it to his lips, kissing it tenderly. “She’s pregnant, and married, I might add. She had a craving, so we did the interview there.” Trina’s face turned bright red and Matt stepped closer to her and took her in his arms. “I don’t want anyone else but you, darlin’. You should know better,” he softly chastised.

“Oh, Matt!”

Greg started to smile and give them their privacy, but motion across the drive caught his attention. Sarah was outside sunning herself. He knew that because he’d been watching her the entire time. Only now Blake, the bastard newcomer, stood over her, talking to her, looking at her. Greg heard her laugh when Blake crouched down and touched the tip of her nose with his forefinger. Greg saw red.

Without saying a word to his kissing guests, Greg closed the distance between him and Sarah. Every step closer, his anger rose another notch. As soon as he was within a few feet, they both looked up.

When his eyes landed on Sarah, her green pools heated and her mouth went all soft.

Blake stood up and stared at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a devilish expression on his too handsome face. Greg wanted to knock his head against the cement sidewalk just to mess up his pretty mug a little.

“What the hell is going on?”

Blake’s brows kicked up, feigning innocence, and Sarah quickly sat up. Greg couldn’t help it. He looked.

She wore a black, two-piece swimsuit and her hair was up in a high ponytail. She looked perky, adorable, and all of eighteen years old. Greg desperately wanted to shove her back into her apartment and out of Blake Richards’ sight, but it was too late.

He’d already gotten a good look at her and was still looking. It was truly beginning to piss Greg off and he did something he rarely did. He lost his temper.

He moved up to Blake and stood nose to nose with the man. “Since the very moment you moved in here, Richards, you’ve been hanging around Sarah. That shit stops now.”

“Greg!” Sarah shouted, no doubt embarrassed by his outburst.

Greg looked down at her and growled,

“Do you want him, Sarah?” She just stared, as if he’d completely lost his mind, compelling Greg to add, “Too fucking bad, you can’t have him. You’re mine. The minute you shared my bed you became mine.”

Sarah’s cheeks turned red and she jumped to her feet. “Look here, Greg Stiles.

I did not agree to anything more than sex.

Thanks, it was great. I’m done, good-bye!”

She turned to bounce back into her condo, but his arm snaked out and caught her around the waist, pulling her to a halt.

“Let go of me, or I swear I’ll maim you!”

She struggled so hard against his arm he was afraid she’d hurt herself. He swiveled her around to face him, then lifted her up in the air and glared at her. “No. I’m not letting you go. I love you and you’ll damn well be my woman!”

She stopped struggling and her eyes went as wide as saucers. Then her lower lip quivered and she started to cry.

Instantly, he felt like a total heel. “No baby, don’t cry, please. I was an ass. You can hit me if you want, just stop crying.”

She only buried her nose into his t-shirt and sobbed harder. “ Bloody hell, what’s with all the women today!” he grumbled.

Finally, she wound down and he breathed a sigh of relief. Women in tears w ere
really
not his thing. “Why are you crying, baby?”

“Because I love you too, Greg.”

He frowned. “And that brings tears to your eyes?” Surely, that wasn’t a good sign.

She shook her head and spoke so low he had to strain to hear. “It’s just that, I thought you just wanted sex and I was so worried that, since you’d already gotten it, there’d be nothing left for me to give you.”

Ah, so that was the problem. She really was an innocent. He quirked his head to the side and softly whispered, “You know, it occurs to me that men and women really ought to try to communicate better.”

She blinked up at him, puzzled. He leaned down and kissed her, licking the seam of her lips until she surrendered and opened for him. He dipped inside, taking possession of her mouth in the most basic of ways.

As he lifted away, Greg admitted, “I do love you. I thought you were an obsession that I needed to get out of my system, that after I had my fill of your soft, tight body, I’d be able to think clearly again. Truth is, my business partner was really hoping that’d be the case.”

“And?”

“Didn’t work out that way. Seems I’m going to have to keep you close if I ever hope to have another intelligent thought.”

Sarah smiled shyly. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to go about all dull-witted.”

“Exactly,” he murmured before he went about asking her properly. “Are we exclusive now, Sarah Temptation?”