The Taming of a Wild Child (6 page)

How they got to the bed he didn’t quite know, but a second later Lorelei was flat on her back, that jet-black hair tangling around her face, and he was on top of her, savoring the feel of her skin against his.

Oh, mercy
, Lorelei thought. This was … It … This was …
Mercy
. She just couldn’t grab hold of a thought for very long.

Donovan had amazingly soft skin draped over hard muscle, and the crisp hair on his chest left her nipples tingling. His hips moved tantalizingly as his lips mapped her skin, and she wasn’t sure if she was melting or going up in flames. Hands shaking with desire, she fumbled with his belt until Donovan finally took over.

Then it was just hot skin and hands that seemed to know exactly where to touch, driving her insane and right to the very edge. Donovan’s mouth …
Oh, dear God, his mouth …
She arched against him, her hands searching for
purchase on the sheets as she realized the cries she heard were coming from her.

And then the wave she was on broke, her mind going blank as violent tremors shook her to her bones. She heard Donovan’s growl as his mouth found hers, and he ate the scream that came when he drove into her in one hot, thrilling thrust.

Her orgasm just went on and on, and she anchored herself to Donovan’s heaving torso as she rode out the waves of pleasure until she saw fireworks and the world went black.

L
ORELEI’S EYES WERE CLOSED
, but she wasn’t sleeping. Even if he hadn’t slept next to her before he’d know; her breath didn’t have that deep, even quality of sleep. The cool sophisticate she’d been hours ago was gone. There were dark smudges under her eyes and a slight stubble burn around her mouth and jaw. That jet-black hair ran riot around her shoulders, the tangles sticking to her damp skin.

She looked earthy and sensual and far too tempting to be real.

But she was also uncharacteristically silent. Lorelei was not the quiet type, and while he really didn’t care for idle pillow talk, the fact she wasn’t saying anything at all bordered on unnerving. Lorelei
always
had something to say. About everything. But not right now. She faced him, but from her side of the king-size bed, leaving plenty of distance between them. So while there wasn’t exactly a wall running down the middle of his bed, there was a very respectable fence.

And it was probably electrified.

That realization kept his hands to himself when they itched to reach for her again. Instead, Donovan stacked his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. In reality, the only thing more insane than hooking up with Lorelei
was hooking up with her twice. He’d known it, but he’d let his little head do all the thinking.

What was it about Lorelei that turned him into a teenage boy who’d never laid hands on a real woman before? The lack of self-control or higher brain function was just embarrassing even to think about. Wouldn’t
that
be a surprise to all those people who liked to write those “Most Eligible” articles that painted him as some sort of Creole Casanova?

“Something funny?” Lorelei’s voice was husky—probably a side effect of all that screaming—and he turned toward her to see that her eyes were open and watching him. “You’ve got a little smile on your face.”

“Why? Are you thinking you’re the one who put it there?”

Her lips twitched. “If it were anyone other than you … maybe.”

“
Now
who’s wearing a smile?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.
That
was pretty damn amazing.”

The honesty of that purred statement floored him—figuratively speaking, at least. He was glad he was already lying down. Then Lorelei stretched, catlike, her back arching off the bed and drawing his eyes to her small but perfectly shaped breasts. The sensual movement caused his brain to short-circuit. Her skin seemed luminescent in the half light, the curves begging to be traced again. He knew how that skin felt under his hands, and how it would respond to his touch.

She laughed quietly. “I feel like I should thank you.”

That got his attention. He looked at her and grinned. “Well, you’re quite welcome,” he answered formally.

She shot him an exasperated look, but there was humor behind it, not irritation. “I
meant
for appeasing my curiosity.”

“And is it appeased?”

Lorelei stretched again—probably just to torture him—before collapsing back on to the bed with a sigh. “Definitely appeased.” She grinned and rolled to her side, propping her head on her fist. “I knew it was a pity I couldn’t remember last time. High marks across the board, by the way.”

This was a different Lorelei. Relaxed. Not biting his head off.
How novel
. “Oh, good. I was worried.”

She snorted. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“And somehow I’m not surprised that you do.”

The sheet across her legs shifted as she wiggled her legs. “As soon as I get full feeling back in my legs I’ll get dressed and call a cab.”

The casual statement did something bad to him that he couldn’t quite name. Trying to keep it out of his voice, he tried for a lecherous smile. “So soon?”

“I think it’s probably a wise idea.” She bit her bottom lip as she looked at the sheets tangled around her. “And I’m due for one, don’t you think?”

A second taste of Lorelei had only whetted his appetite for more. There were several inches of her skin he had yet to explore and, no matter how insane it was, he very much wanted Lorelei to stay exactly where she was.

Well, not
exactly
where she was; she needed to move about two feet closer. Or all the way back on top of him. That would be good.

Good Lord, when had he completely lost the big brain/little brain battle? Lorelei was offering him an easy out of this situation; he should be jumping on it, helping her into her dress and straight into a cab. Hell, he hadn’t brought a woman back to his place in years for the very reason that he didn’t know how to get them to leave. It was much easier to claim an early meeting or an important deadline
and make a graceful exit while everyone still had a smile on their faces.

It seemed that getting Lorelei to leave wasn’t going to be a problem, though. She was already pushing herself up and swinging her legs off the bed. Her movements seemed a little stiff, though, and her smile had lost its humor, becoming more forced. The casualness from just a few minutes earlier seemed to evaporate.

She reached for her dress, avoiding eye contact. “I’ve got to get up really early in the morning—for a breakfast meeting—so I should probably get on home.”

The irony slammed into him, causing him to laugh and earning him a questioning look from Lorelei. “I never knew until right now how utterly lame that excuse actually sounds.”

Shock crossed her face, but then her lips twisted in amusement. She knew she was busted, but he had to give her points for not denying it.

Lorelei stepped into her dress and began struggling with her zipper, twisting herself like a contortionist and making his shoulder hurt just watching her. Walking up behind her, he moved her hands away and they fell to her sides. She stilled, and he felt her sway slightly toward him before she straightened.

He wanted to slide his hands inside the dress, around the indentation of her waist, but he settled for just resting them on the flare of her hips, letting his thumbs stroke lightly over the bare skin of her lower back. He felt the small tremor that ran over her skin and heard her breath catch.

Neither of them moved, but the pull was real, palpable, like an iron filing trying to resist a magnet, and the small space between their bodies vibrated from it.

Zip the dress. Call her a cab
.

But why?

The
why
caught him off-guard. Why should he bustle her out the door like she was some kind of bad bar hook-up? He’d been working under the assumption that this was insane. Crazy. A bad idea.

But now he couldn’t quite articulate why.

They weren’t kids anymore; all that foolishness had to have a statute of limitations that had long since passed. Lorelei was smart, articulate, challenging—not to mention absolutely gorgeous. So why, then, was this such an insane idea? He didn’t want to marry her; he just wanted to get her back to bed. Why couldn’t they just enjoy this?

No reasons came immediately to mind.

What
did
come to mind was the sincere wish that she’d lean back just an inch or two … “At least let me offer you a drink or something.”

“The time to buy me a drink is
before
we …” She glanced at the bed, giving him a view of her profile, and swallowed hard. “Well, it’s not really necessary now.”

“Lorelei—”

“Look, Donovan—” She turned as she spoke, stepping back another foot and snapping that electric strand between them. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“No, ladies first.”

She ran her fingers through her hair, taming the tangles and pushing it back from her face. “I don’t want you to think that this … I mean, that
I’m …
” She sighed and cursed softly. “And here I didn’t think anything could be more awkward than last Sunday morning.”

“Just spit it out, then.”

“I just don’t want
you
to think that
I
think that this—that—was … um …
anything
.”

His surprise must have shown on his face, because Lorelei hurried on.

“It was great—really great—I just don’t …
expect
anything from you, okay? It just …
was
. It’s not—well, it’s not … Well, you know?”

Lorelei couldn’t keep eye contact, and Donovan found his temper rising as she muddled through her speech. “No, I don’t know. I’m not sure that was even English.”

She sighed. “I’m just trying to say that it’s all good now. I don’t expect this to be anything other than what it was. Or that it’s supposed to become anything.”

“I have to give you credit for honesty.”

Her smile was weak. “Thanks.”

“But that doesn’t make what you’re saying sound any less insulting and tawdry.”

She shook her head. “Oh, don’t be so thin-skinned. It’s not tawdry, and there’s no need to take it personally. I’m just trying to move past this.”

“Dare I ask why?”

“Because I think it’s pretty clear that’s the best idea. For both of us.” She shrugged. “It’s not like this can go anywhere.”

“I don’t recall saying I wanted it to.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

That was an excellent question. He only wished he had an answer for it. He leaned against the foot of the bed. “Not quite a week ago you told me to forget it ever happened, yet here you are.”

Lorelei’s mouth twisted. “I know.”

“Am I supposed to believe that this time you really,
really
mean it?”

“That would be nice.” She sighed, but then caught herself and crossed her arms over her chest. “You were pretty adamant about the whole forget-it-happened-thing yourself, yet here we are again.”

“Hey,
you
kissed
me
.”

“You weren’t exactly fighting me off,” she fired back.

There was that
. “I’m only human, Lorelei.”

“As am I.” She sighed. “I’ll be honest with you. You’re a good-looking guy, and there’s obviously chemistry between us. But we’re adults, and it looks like we’re going to be running into each other now. These chemistry experiments have to stop.”

“Because God forbid two healthy, consenting adults have sex just because they want to?”

He watched her swallow and then lift her chin. “Something like that.”

Whatever
. Lorelei should carry a warning label because, as a whole, she could drive a man right off the edge. And since he valued his sanity, he should probably just let this go. She had a point about chemistry: it was a great thing, but it could also be very dangerous and blow up in your face.

So why were they both still standing here?

“Then go.”

Donovan’s words dropped like a gauntlet and Lorelei felt like a fool. An idiot. The right thing to do would be to breeze right out of here, head held high.

But her feet felt nailed to the floor.

It didn’t help that Donovan was stark naked—and seemingly completely unselfconscious about it—and the evidence of what she’d be walking away from was impossible to ignore. She tried keeping her eyes on his face, but he looked like a freakin’ sex god, all tousled and sexy, and her mouth watered at the
acres
of skin and muscle to be explored and appreciated. And even though he was basically telling her to get lost, it was also
very
clear that he was interested in something else entirely …

Donovan cleared his throat and she snapped her eyes up, finding a focus spot on the wall above the headboard.

“If you’re going—go. Just lock the door behind you.”

Really, the only thing this lacked was him tossing cab fare at her. She didn’t know she could feel humiliated and irate at the same time. “There’s no need to be a complete ass about it.”

“You got what you wanted. Your curiosity has been appeased. And you don’t want to be too tired for that breakfast meeting.”

Donovan sounded downright annoyed about the whole thing. Which, coming from someone like him, seemed implausible enough to be amusing. The idea that she might have
offended
him was just … well, impossible.

Now she was standing here in Donovan’s bedroom, barefoot, her dress gaping at the front because it still wasn’t zipped, with a naked and
damn
pretty man who a few minutes ago had asked her to stay practically throwing her out onto the street while her legs were still wobbly from the most mind-blowing orgasm of her entire life. And she was ready to leave—
should
leave—but she didn’t really want to now.

Her life had turned into a farce. An X-rated farce.

Make a decision. Any decision. Do something other than just stand here
. Leaving was obviously the best option, but she hesitated. Why
shouldn’t
she take what he was offering? There were no strings attached: just a chance to relax and burn some sexual energy without anything being messy and complicated later. It seemed so simple, so easy … and so tempting.

She took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m kind of thirsty.”

Both of Donovan’s eyebrows went up.

“I’ll, um, call and reschedule that meeting.”

When Donovan didn’t move Lorelei wanted to die.
She’d read the whole thing wrong. He’d been messing with her. She should have pried her feet off the floor, not gotten pulled into a conversation. Now she’d have to kill him.

Then Donovan held out a hand. Relief rushed through her—only to be quickly swamped by a wave of desire once she touched him and his fingers curled around hers. He pulled her the few steps toward him until she stood between his thighs. Without breaking eye contact, he moved his hands to the straps of her dress, sliding them down her arms until the dress puddled on the floor again.

His hands splayed over her hips, sliding down over the outside of her thighs, then up to her waist. Strong fingers traced her ribs, then her breasts and her collarbones. Hooded eyes followed the path of his hands in an inspection that should have left her blushing and feeling exposed, but left her sizzling silently instead. She felt powerful, sexy, worshiped.

When Donovan began to retrace his path with his lips, her muscles began to melt. She swayed and reached for his shoulders for support. When his tongue slipped into her navel, her knees buckled, and only his hands on her hips kept her on her feet.