Seducing the Old Flame (8 page)

Then again, some things apparently
hadn’t changed at all.
 
Like her
predilection for raw meat.

Tabitha curled up in Jason’s
white terrycloth robe and took the longneck he handed her.
 
Dinner had been scrumptious.
 
Not that she expected any less.

Not from Jason.
 
He always gave his best to everything he did.

It had been one of the things
she loved about him.

Well, not loved, but
appreciated.

She hadn’t loved him.

He sank into the overstuffed
chair perpendicular to the end of the sofa where she sat.

Her gaze met his.

She hadn’t loved him.

Their relationship was all
about sex and that’s what she’d focus on.

“Thanks.”
 
She ignored how his T-shirt stretched across
his broad chest and smiled at him, wondering why he’d sat so far away.
 
Was he reconsidering their agreement?

The thought pained her.
 
She wasn’t ready to walk out of Jason’s life.

He took a sip of his beer and
eyed her.
 
Normally being the center of
attention didn’t bother Tabitha, she relished in it, sought it even.
 
But Jason’s scrutiny saw too much.
 
Was this how a bug under a microscope felt?

“How’s the construction biz
going?” she asked, not able to stand the silence.

“It’s going.”

Well, really, he could at least
do his part to carry the conversation.
 
“Still building houses?”

“Yes.”

Tabitha gritted her teeth and
smiled.
 
“Tell me about them.”

“You want to hear about my
work?”

Finally a complete
sentence.
 
Sort of.

“Yes.”

He turned up his beer, took a
long drink, then regarded her some more.
 
Like he’d never really seen her.

“We’ve got several residential
projects going, but you may remember I’d begun bidding on commercial jobs even
before,” he paused.
 
“Well, a couple of
years ago.”

“I remember.”
 
She twisted a strand of her hair around her
finger.
 
“I take it you won some of those
bids?”

“All I could handle.
 
Despite the economy, Kelly Construction has
more than tripled in size during the last couple of years and we’re still
growing.”
 
Pride exuded from his
words.
 
“If I land the second phase of
the Savannah Blue Shopping Complex, the company will expand again.”

“So, it’s going well?” she
teased, liking the excitement in his eyes, in his voice.

“I can’t complain.
 
My bills are getting paid and I’m doing what
I love to do.”

“Banging a hammer?”
 
She took a drink of her beer, suggestively
rolling the cold bottleneck tip over her lower lip.

“Yep,” he grinned, eyeing her
actions with more than a little interest.
 
“What can I say?
 
I like to bang
things.”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth
and she lowered the beer bottle.

“Tabby?”

“Uhm?”
 
She didn’t look up.

“Come here.”

Her gaze met his and she set
her bottle down on the coffee table.

“There?”
 
She motioned to his lap.

He nodded.
 
“You aren’t supposed to question my commands,
sex slave.”

She smothered a smile.
 
Sex games she could handle.
 
“Yes, Master.
 
I forgot my place, Master.
 
Whatever you wish, my Master.”

“Tabby?”

“Uhm?”

“Get over here.”
 
He laughed.

Without another word she closed
the distance between them, stood directly in front of where he sat, and dropped
to her knees.

She ran her hands over his
jean-covered thighs, enjoying the feel of hard muscle beneath soft denim,
enjoying the way that unsnapped button at his waist teased at what was below
his zipper.
 
“You rang, my Master?”

“Shhh.”
 
He shook his head, clearly amused by her
antics, clearly aroused by her touch.
 
“You’re talking too much.”

“Yes, my—”

Jason placed his finger over
her lips, silencing her.
 
With the rough
tip of his finger, he traced the outline of her mouth, then stroked the silky
smooth skin of her cheek.
 
So soft.

Her eyes darkened to that of a
forest, magically green, magically enchanting.

Grazing his knuckles down her
face, down the curve of her neck, he nudged the edge of his robe open,
revealing a peek of the luscious mounds hidden beneath the thick material.

Gaze locked with hers, he
pushed the fabric aside, down her shoulders to where it hung, halted by the
belt tied at her waist.
 
Her shoulders
glowed milky white with a few faint freckles beckoning him to touch.

“You surprised me by showing up
here tonight.”

“Yeah, well, it was a bit of a
surprise to me as well.”

His hands brushed over her
creamy skin.

“I’m glad you’re here,
Tabby.
 
Whatever compelled you to show up
at my door, I’m glad.”

She averted her gaze, sucked in
a breath, then nodded.
 
“Me, too, Jason.
 
Me, too.”

Why did he get the feeling
there was more than met the eye?
 
More
than what she was telling him?

“Are you okay?”

“Okay?”
 
Her lovely forehead scrunched.

“As in, you’re not dying or
anything?”
 
His pulse picked up at the
thought that something might be wrong with her.

She shook her head at him,
flashing a quick smile.
 
“Do you think
I’d be here if I were dying, Jason?”

Probably not.
 
He’d be the last person she’d seek out if
that were the case.

“You tell me.
 
Where would you go?
 
Who would you want to be with?”

“Jenny,” she answered without hesitation,
then after more thought, she added.
 
“And
my mom, I suppose.”

He continued his fingers trek
over her shoulders, down her arms, up again.
 
“How is Jenny?
 
Your mother?”

“Mom’s on her meds and as long
as she stays on them things go okay.
 
She’s been married to the same man for a whole year this time.
 
That’s a good thing.
 
Jenny’s finishing up her last year at
UT.
 
She’ll graduate in the spring.”

“In Nursing?”

Tabby’s sister had always
wanted to be a nurse.
 
Possibly because
she’d spent her whole life taking care of her bipolar mother.
 
Tabby and she both had.
 
From what he’d gathered, both girls spent
more time cleaning up their mother’s messes than having a childhood.

“Yeah.”
 
Tabby smiled fondly.
 
“She’s in the Master’s program right now and
is working part time at the hospital in the critical care unit while she
finishes her nurse practitioner classes.”

“She always was a nurturing
little thing.
 
She’ll be a good nurse.”

“She already is.”

He stroked his fingertip down
her sternum, into the voluptuous valley.
 
“Lori graduated this summer.”

“Yeah, she told me.”

He paused at Tabby’s oops-I-didn’t-mean-to-say-that
expression.
 
“You’ve talked to my
sister?
 
When?”

Why hadn’t Lori said
anything?
 
He’d talked to her this
afternoon on his drive home.
 
She’d
called, caught him in rush hour traffic, and asked if anything exciting had
happened.
 
Now that he thought about it,
Lori had been fishing.

Tabby shrugged sheepishly.
 
“Today.”

Lori and she talked.
 
Today.

Yep, Lori had been
fishing.
 
For a Tabbycat-fish.

She’d snagged one helluva
problem for not telling him she talked to Tabby.

“You’ve stayed in touch with
her?”

“No.”
 
Tabby shifted her weight on her knees,
bringing his hand more fully in contact with her twin peaks.

Was she trying to distract him?

“I should have, but when things
ended between you and I,” she shrugged again, brushing her breasts against his
fingers.
 
“Well, I thought it best if I
cut my ties to Lori, too.
 
Our remaining
close would have put both of us in an awkward position.”

True.

“But you called her today?”

Her green eyes met his.
 
“To find you.”

He digested what that implied.
 
“Showing up on my doorstep wasn’t a spur of
the moment thing?”

She shifted again, enticingly
jiggling her breasts.
 
She was definitely
trying to distract him.
 
And succeeding,
damn it.

“Jenny mentioned your name last
night,” she admitted, licking her lips.
 
“And I wanted to see you.”

“And have sex with me?”
 
He traced over her breast, feathery light
touches that pebbled her nipples.
 
Two
could play this game.

“I’ve never quit wanting to
have sex with you.”

Well, hell.
 
What kind of an admission was that?

He was tired of games.
 
He cupped her breast, massaging the full
softness.

“Right now?
 
What is it you want, Tabby?”

She looked surprised that he
asked.
 
“You, of course.
 
That’s why I’m here.”

He closed his eyes.
 
This wasn’t real.
 
Tabby wasn’t here, wasn’t saying things he’d
have killed to hear her say two years ago.

He’d fallen off the side of one
of his construction sites and suffered from a concussion.
 
Had to have.

Her eyes glowing with desire,
with warmth, with emotion that wasn’t real.

And if it was, what the hell
was he going to do about it?

Chapter Five

“I want the remote,” Tabitha
said, holding out her hand and working hard to keep the mood light between she
and Jason.
 
During sex, everything was
just fine, but they couldn’t have sex constantly over the next forty-eight
hours.

“Not on your life.
 
This is my television, my remote, my couch,
and my apartment.
 
I have the
power.”
 
He flicked through the channels
again, grinning mischievously.

Channel surfing drove her
batty.
 
Always had.

But he looked darn cute
grinning with the remote held just out of her reach.

And just like her, he seemed
intent on keeping the mood light.
 
Maybe
their sexual downtime wouldn’t be so bad after all.
 
She hadn’t thought that part through.
 
The downtime, the what she and Jason would do
while not having sex.

Regardless, they needed to keep
it light.
 
That’s what this weekend was
about.
 
Light, fluffy, and freeing up the
emotional baggage that John and Jenny insisted she carried.

“I’m warning you, Jason Kelly,”
she threatened, striking a menacing pose.

A thick brow rose.
 
“Warning me?
 
With the full name treatment.
 
Uh-oh.
 
I’m in trouble now.”

“Are you mocking me?”
 
Her gaze narrowed and she fought the smile
threatening to break through any moment.
 
She grabbed for the remote and missed.

“Who me?
 
Never.”
 
He waggled the remote in front of her face.

“Okay, but just remember that
you asked for this and I did warn you.”

His lips quirked.
 
“I’m scared.”

“You should be.”

“You gonna sex me to
death?”
 
His eyes flashed with humor.

“No.”
 
She inched closer to him.
 
“That’s a fate too good for the likes of a
remote hog.”

He chuckled.
 
“A remote hog?
 
I’ve been called a lot worse.
 
By you for that matter.”

“I’m sure you deserved every
last name I’ve ever given you.”
 
She dove
for the remote again and landed sprawled across his lap.

“Can I help you?”
 
He grinned down at her, the remote safely
held out of her reach.

“That’s it.”
 
She launched into a tickle take-over,
automatically recalling the exact vulnerable spots where she’d elicit the most
reaction.

He squirmed beneath her,
carefully guarding the remote. “Hey, quit that.”

“Not likely.”
 
She pried her fingers under his arms to
torture his ribs.

He wiggled and twisted.
 
“Tabbycat, I’m going to spank you if you
don’t stop.”

“Spank me?”
 
She shot him a gutsy look and kept right on
tickling.
 
“You wouldn’t dare.”