Make Your Move (12 page)

It was necessary lightness after the arguments and intense emotions they’d been through earlier. Getting their feet beneath them again, finding their balance.

Still, as they walked, she couldn’t help but start to let some of the problems of the day leak in.

“You’re worrying,” he said, perceptive.

“A bit. Ginger is making a job decision, and I wasn’t a hundred percent honest with her.”

“It will work out. There’s no way we’re letting Jason damage your business.”

“I hope so. I hate to mention it, to spoil the evening, but what are we going to do about him?”

Dan drew in a deep breath.

“I have an idea. I didn’t want to ruin our dinner talking about it, but I think the thing we need is some leverage, to keep him from doing any more damage. I have a thought on how we may get that.”

“You broke into his office and couldn’t find anything. I can’t prove he came to the bakery and threatened me. He’s got us up against a wall, and he knows it.”

“Then we just have to get creative,” Dan said, lifting her hand to his lips to kiss her fingers, sending shivers down to her toes.

“You’re good at being creative, I’ll hand you that,” she said, not thinking about Jason, but about getting home and getting very creative with Dan.

“Hey, don’t distract me—until later,” he admonished, settling his hands on her hips where their abdomens pressed against each other in the most inviting way. Jodie could feel he was at least halfway distracted, and loved how easily she could turn him on.

“Okay, so what’s your evil plan?”

Dan sighed. “Okay, if we must. I talked to a guy earlier, while you were in the shower. He’s meeting us in the morning, or I can meet him, if you’re busy, but his company experiments with specialized listening equipment.”

“Like bugs and that kind of thing?”

“Yeah, but very high-tech kinds of stuff. He might be able to give us a hand with this. Maybe lend us something that could help us trap Jason.”

“You want to bug Jason?”

“Yeah. Maybe we can get him to confess or at least threaten you so we have proof. Then we have some leverage. We don’t even have to take it to the police. All we need is him knowing we have it, so he’ll leave you alone and keep the formula to himself. But we need something that will really keep him in line. I haven’t worked that part out yet.”

Jodie blinked. “Wow. This is kind of sexy, Ellison.”

“Glad you think so. Maybe I should tell you about my government projects sometime if that kind of thing turns you on,” he teased.

“Everything about you turns me on,” she said, feeling vulnerable making the admission. “But I can’t imagine how we’d get Jason to confess to anything. If I’d had a
bug in the bakery the other day, maybe that would have helped, but I don’t.”

“We’ll find a way.”

“We only have two more days.”

Jodie nodded. “So it’s like wearing a wire?”

Dan started moving again, walking, his hands moving in gestures as he explained the technology. She couldn’t help but grin at how geeked-out he could get at this stuff, and of course she didn’t understand most of it. She did listen, though, and one thing became very clear to her.

“I know you do a lot of important work, and I don’t ask about it because I figure most of it’s over my head, but also, I know a lot of it is secret, government stuff,” she explained. “But I’d like to hear more about what you
can
tell me. I want to know more about what you do. I bet your projects save a lot of lives, don’t they?”

“Some of them, yeah. I’d like to think so. Though they aren’t really my projects. I help out, offer what I can to the team,” he said, and she could tell he was uncomfortable with her admiration.

“It’s pretty damned noble, no matter what. I was selfish, thinking only about how much I missed you when you weren’t here, but you go lock yourself up for months at a time, and help people you’ll never even meet. That’s awesome, Dan,” she said, meaning it.

“Well, thanks. I would love to tell you more sometime,” he said huskily. “Knowing you admire my work means a lot,” he said, turning her to him. “It means everything from you.”

He walked her slowly backward under a tree where
colorful leaves scattered around them in the wind, and their kisses turned hot. The cold, rough surface of the tree’s bark was a stark contrast to the hot form of his body against hers, and she enjoyed being in between.

Jodie found she was even more aroused by thinking about Dan and his work, and how incredible this man was who could also make her knees turn to water with one touch.

They pulled apart as a family of tourists out for a late-night stroll walked closer.

“Makes me feel like my life’s pursuit of baking cookies is so silly,” she said gustily, with a sideways smile as they began walking again. “And being so worried about it. It’s pretty lame, I guess.”

“No way. Your work makes people happy on a daily basis. I’m not sure there is anything more important than that. People can be having a miserable day, come by your bakery and feel better. You can see that in your customers and how much they appreciate what you do. Don’t play that down. We’re all good at different things. You’re creative, and you’re a nurturer.”

Jodie stopped in her tracks. “A
nurturer?
Are you out of your mind?” She laughed. No description was ever further from her idea of herself.

But Dan, apparently, was serious. He continued. “You take care of people. You feed them, watch after them, care about their problems. It doesn’t mean you’re a doormat—you’re anything but that—but I would probably have wasted away in school without you. They would have found me one day a dry pile of dust at my desk,” he joked, but she could tell he meant it.

“The people at the bakery know you care, too, and that’s what keeps them coming back. It’s why you became friends with Ginger and worried over her problems. It’s why you were so upset with her, and feel so bad now. You connect with people, Jodie, and you have a brilliant way of sensing what they need and how to deliver it. Which makes you crazy good in bed, by the way,” he said with another grin.

She wanted to rail against his comments, but his perspective gave her an entirely new view of herself.

She’d always seen herself as, well, a sexy bitch. Determined businesswoman, seducer of men. But a nurturer? It would take her some thinking to get her mind around that.

“Well,” she said with a soft smile. “I do like that last part. Maybe we should head back to your place, and I could nurture you a little?”

“Just a minute. I want to pick up something to bring back with us,” he said mysteriously, pulling her with him into a small dessert and coffee shop.

Jodie saw him go directly to the counter, where he ordered two raspberry croissants and a jar of the shop’s signature chocolate sauce.

“Mmm. That will be wonderful, the sauce on that pastry,” she said in approval as they took their purchases and left.

Dan smiled slightly, his look warm and promising. “Who said it’s for the pastry?”

Jodie’s heart just about stopped in place, and Dan smiled wickedly as he hailed a cab to take them back to his apartment.

“Mind spending the night at my place?” he asked.

Jodie eyed the chocolate sauce. “I’d love to.”

They couldn’t keep their hands off each other in the cab, but when they got to Dan’s place, Jodie was surprised when he stopped her as she tried to tug away his jacket, wanting to get him naked as quickly as possible.

“I’m not complaining, believe me, but it’s usually been fast with us,” he said, framing her face with his hands. “I guess we’ve been making up for lost time, or wondering how much more time we’d have,” he said, looking at her so intently that she shivered from the intimacy of it.

“Sometimes fast is good,” she said, pressing a kiss into his palm.

“It’s all been good. Every second of it. But tonight, we’re going slow. We had our date, and took our time over dinner,” he said huskily. “Now I plan to take my time over dessert.”

Jodie’s heart actually slammed in her chest. She was worldly, sexually experienced, but the way Dan was looking at her—like she was the dessert—made her feel vulnerable and unsure what to expect.

“I love you, Jodie,” Dan said against her lips, “and I hope you don’t mind me saying it. Or showing it, because that’s what I intend to do tonight.”

“No, I don’t mind at all,” she said on a whisper, wishing she could say the words back, but knowing that accepting his love seemed to be enough for Dan at the moment.

He led her into the bedroom, and she gasped at the sight she found there.

Champagne chilled in a bucket, and there were rose petals on the bed. Dan smiled, lit several candles and then turned off the lights. He picked up a remote, and soft music played in the background.

He took the chocolate sauce out of the bag and set it on the side of the bed.

Jodie caught her breath long enough to say, “You did all of this?”

“Do you mind?”

“Absolutely not. It’s beautiful.”

She was used to one-night stands and the quick, frantic sex that happened when things were just about sex. No one had ever done anything like this for her before, and she registered an emotional tightness in her throat that she had to fight back.

“It’s so…romantic,” she said, still taking it all in.

This wasn’t just about sex and, surprisingly, that was okay with her.

“Come here.” Dan stood by the huge bed looking so handsome she felt like she had been lifted out of real life and into a fairy tale.

She walked over to him, happy to comply. He seemed so unlike her usual Dan. Commanding, sexy and in control. She wanted to do whatever he said, and gladly.

All she wanted was to please him, to be deserving of his love.

“Turn around,” he said softly, and she did. He eased the zipper of her dress down, pulling it gently from
her shoulders and easing it down to her feet, where she stepped away from the pool of fabric.

She heard his sharp intake of breath as he ran a finger along the small of her back, tracing the pattern of the dark blue lace of her panties. She shivered under the light, teasing touch.

“I bought these just for you,” she confessed. “For tonight.”

No one else had ever seen them on her. No one else ever would.

“I’m glad you decided to wear them after all,” he said, raining kisses along her shoulders and down her back, nibbling all the way down as he pushed the lace to the floor, as well. Jodie was trembling for the caresses, but stood in place. “You’re so beautiful.”

He worked his way back up her body, slowly, and undid the bra, letting it fall away. He walked around her, taking her in in a slow, purely male perusal before he faced her, still completely clothed.

She could see the possessiveness in his gaze, and it made her even hotter. He started to say something, but words failed. For her, too.

Instead, he kissed her, and she moaned as her sensitive nipples rubbed on the fabric of his suit. It was wonderful, but she wanted him naked, too, and said so.

“In a little while, don’t worry,” he said. “We have time.”

He bent and slipped his arms under her back and knees, picking her up and carrying her to the bed, where he laid her down.

“Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, as he was still dressed.

“I just want to remember every second of this night,” he said, undoing his tie, and then slipping out of the rest of his clothes, leaving the expensive suit in a pile on the floor as he reached for the chocolate sauce.

“I’ll be back in a second,” he said, pausing, then he left the room.

Jodie frowned, wondering what he was up to, but she heard the hum of the microwave and smiled.

He reappeared in the doorway, the warmed, open jar of chocolate sauce in his hand.

“I told you I planned to take my time over dessert,” he said. His weight on the side of the bed, he dipped a finger into the jar and considered where to start.

Each nipple was treated to a gob of warm chocolate, which he thoroughly sucked away, leaving her writhing.

He painted a chocolate path down the middle of her belly, and lower, following the path with his mouth, licking every bit of sweetness from her skin, but denying her the satisfaction that she craved.

“You’re evil,” she said as he rolled her to her stomach. He gave the same treatment to the length of her spine, and continued to kiss and lick chocolate from the backs of her thighs and the tender hollow of her knees.

“Dan, I can’t take this anymore,” she said, half laughing, half warning him. “Make me come, or I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.”

There was a pause, silence.

“I wish you would. I’d like to watch,” he said, and
she smiled, realizing what he was asking for, and she was more than happy to comply.

Rolling back over, she propped herself up on the thick bed pillows and met his eyes as she dipped her own finger into the chocolate sauce. She had some control now, and planned to tease him exactly the way he’d been torturing her.

She worked her nipples with chocolate-covered fingers until she saw Dan’s nostrils flaring, his jaw tense, erection jutting in her direction as she lifted a breast and licked the chocolate off herself, never dropping her eyes from his.

Letting her thighs fall open so that he could see everything, she trailed her fingers down between her legs, unabashedly stroking herself to a swift climax that shuddered through her, but was hardly enough to satisfy.

Dan’s expression was so wrought with hunger, she nearly purred. She knew he wasn’t hungry for chocolate. To see how much he wanted her and to see the love he had for her reflecting in his eyes, she was humbled.

Holding her hand out to him, she pulled him down to her. “I need you, Dan,” she said, and hoped he heard all of the other emotions she held underneath the words.

“I need you inside of me as deep as you can go,” she said tremulously.

He accommodated, pulling her calves up over his shoulders and thrusting forward, filling her without hesitation.

“I love you, Jodie,” he said as his arms slid around her, and she held on, too, her hands tight on his shoul
ders as he drove into her, then stopped, holding her still, his body buried to the hilt in hers.