Authors: Mackenzie Crowne
Unease ratcheted down his spine. Uncomfortable around men? What the fuck? “Why are you uncomfortable around men?”
She stiffened at the question but held her ground. “That’s another subject not up for discussion.”
Anger gurgled in his gut. “Did someone hurt you?”
She lifted her chin. “Not in the way you’re thinking. I don’t like to talk about my past. If that’s going to be a problem, you might as well go right now.”
Relief made him dizzy. The thought of some faceless man forcing her… He heaved a cleansing breath. “Fair enough, but you said you needed to start somewhere. Does that mean what I think it means?”
She raised a questioning brow.
“You’ve never dated anyone?”
She shook her head.
“Ever?”
Another shake.
“That would make you a…”
“Virgin.” Her squinted eyes dared him to comment.
Fuck!
His eyes slid shut. Sweat broke out on his brow. His libido howled in frustration, mourning the instant death of his lascivious plans for her seduction.
“I don’t see why my lack of a sex life would be a problem since—”
“Of course you don’t.” He opened his eyes to meet her gaze. “Sex complicates things, CC. Especially for a…when you’re a…” He held out a flat hand and indicated her body. “You know.”
The heat of her sudden smile stroked over him like caressing fingers.
He bit back a groan. “Why are you smiling?
I’m
about to cry.”
Her smile became a chuckle. “You can’t even say the word.”
“And you find that funny?”
“Hilarious.”
He ground his teeth hard enough to chip enamel.
“Actually, I’m kind of relieved.”
He coughed a pained laugh. “I’m glad one of us is.” Damn it, he should go. He needed to pick a fight or at least punch something. A few minutes abusing the heavy bag in Max’s gym might ease his need to put a fist through the wall. Damn it all to hell. A virgin. A fucking virgin. Huh! He could
too
say the word. He simply didn’t want to. Not when just thinking it made every fantasy he’d built around seducing the little blonde shrivel and die.
Fuck, bad analogy. He shifted uncomfortably. “This isn’t going to work. You’re a beautiful woman, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t…despoil virgins.”
She had the audacity to laugh, and her sunny humor was so completely seductive he couldn’t help his smile—until her cool fingers patted his cheek.
“There. That wasn’t so hard. Was it?”
He retreated a step. The hand he scraped over his jaw shook, and he quickly dropped his arm to his side. “You’re not thinking clearly. You teased me about being a gigolo the other day, and you weren’t far from the truth. I’ve been with a lot of women. Enough to know a woman like you needs a different kind of man.”
She crossed her arms, but the shadow of a smile remained in her eyes. “Is that why you tracked me down and showed up at my door?” Her brow puckered. “How
did
you track me down?”
Oh, no. They weren’t going there. “My point is, you need a man who’s in it for the long haul. That’s not me.”
“I guess you didn’t hear my first stipulation. I’m not interested in long term.”
Tuck scoffed. “You say that now.”
“Yes, I do say that now because it’s the truth.” The sneer curling CC’s lips surprised him. “Long term is for suckers. Consider yourself a means to an end, if that helps. I know exactly who and what you are, Kevin Tucker. My father and you could compare notes, so you’ll have to believe me when I say you’re exactly what I need. You’re charming”—she ran her gaze down his body and up again—”okay on the eyes, and you don’t know the meaning of permanent.”
Put that way, he sounded like the gigolo she’d called him. He’d never been anyone’s means to an end before and wasn’t sure he liked it. And yet, she still wanted him for her wacky experiment? She watched him in silence, but he didn’t have a clue what to say. She sighed, dropping her arms to prop her hands on her hips.
“You’re getting all worked up over nothing. I’m relieved to hear you don’t
despoil virgins
.” Her teeth flashed in a cheeky grin. “That sounds like a line from
Gone With the Wind,
by the way, but if you’d let me finish, you’d know I don’t plan to sleep with you.”
He forgot all about his intention to walk away. “Maybe you should tell me exactly what it is you’re proposing, because I’m not following you. What do you mean you don’t plan to sleep with me?”
“No offense, but if I ever do decide to sleep with a man, I won’t choose the type of man who disappears before the sheets have even cooled.”
As insults went, her barb hit its mark. So he’d slept with a lot of women. Big deal. The type of woman he spent time with understood the arrangement was temporary going in. Unfortunately, being a virgin—he fought a shudder—Little Miss Sunshine wasn’t his typical type. She wouldn’t understand the finer points of dating in the new millennium. “Is that so?”
She sighed. “I’m being honest. If Ronald had been agreeable, I’d be having this same conversation with him. I realize most men expect some physical contact with the women they date.
I
expect kissing and maybe some petting, but the relationship I’m after will be platonic.”
He cocked a brow. “Sorry, sunshine, but the kissing and petting you mentioned disqualifies what you’re describing as a truly platonic relationship.”
She cleared her throat. “Fine, semi-platonic. My point is, I don’t need to sleep with you, or any man, to test my theory.”
He shook his head. Dating wasn’t the only place she lacked experience. She didn’t have a clue when it came to what men expected in even the briefest of relationships.
She shrugged, obviously taking his head shake as a final refusal. “If you can’t or won’t help me, it’s no skin off my nose. There are millions of men in the city. Even if half of them are gay, I shouldn’t have trouble finding someone else.”
Why her casual dismissal should anger him, when he’d already dismissed the idea himself, he refused to consider. He had no business involving himself with a woman who didn’t understand how the game was played. Nothing but trouble in that, but when she spun toward the door, he snagged her arm before she took two steps and dragged her to a stop.
“Hold on a second.” He frowned. What the hell was he doing? He should get while the getting was good, but damn it, she didn’t understand the kind of trouble she was courting, laying out her proposition to the wrong kind of man. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to help you.”
She arched a brow. “That’s how it sounded to me.”
“Let me get this straight. You expect some kissing?”
She nodded. “Necessary to test the theory.”
“And petting?”
One shoulder rose in a dismissive shrug. “I’m curious. Sue me.”
“No need for that. Curious is good. What if I insist on a practical demonstration, just to be sure I know what I’m getting into, before I agree?”
She cocked her head. Challenge sparkled in her eyes as she repeated his tease from earlier. “Can you give me a minute to think about it?”
Shit. Though his mind screamed mistake, his libido was currently running the show. Permission to kiss the shit out of her with immunity? He couldn’t wait to get started. The laughter in her eyes said she expected a smile, but he couldn’t quite manage one at the moment. “I can make you swallow those words.”
She hummed deep in her throat and damned if she didn’t tug on a tiger’s tail. “Prove it.”
He didn’t hesitate, spinning her around by the arm. Wrapping her in his arms, he pulled her close enough to delight his body with the press of her soft curves against his hard angles. He dropped his head, swooping down to take a big taste of what he’d wanted from the moment he first laid eyes on her.
He demanded entrance, pressing his tongue along the seam of her lips until she complied. She opened her mouth. He plunged deep and retreated, only to plunge again. Honey and vanilla, sweet as the day was long, her flavor exploded over him. Her breathing hitched, became uneven, and he didn’t care.
No consideration was given for her inexperience or innocence. Frustration drove him as fire licked at his body. This woman had somehow claimed a place in his mind no other woman had occupied. Until he discovered the reason her scent and taste and image wouldn’t leave him alone, he had no choice but to go along with her screwy proposition. She’d made a tactical error, however, admitting to a curiosity at the physical consequences of her theory. Those consequences would no doubt burn them both. Little Miss Sunshine didn’t have the first inkling of how powerful carnal desire could be, but she was about to learn, because he’d be damned if he’d suffer alone.
With one arm, he clamped her closer and gave her a sampling of that petting she’d mentioned. His free hand found the bounty of breasts that had haunted his dreams. Full and firm, the tight bud of a nipple stabbed his palm through the thin layers of her bra and T-shirt. The blood fled his head in a frenzied race to his hardening cock and left him lightheaded.
She pressed closer, swelling his erection in a painful rush. The innocent roll of her hips both eased and enflamed him at once. The tentative swirl of her tongue over his brought forth an agonized groan. Damn. She might not know what she was doing, but she was a quick study.
He bent her backward over his forearm. The move arched her body into his from knees to chest. Her answering moan seeped through his crazed mind, and he straightened slowly, bringing her up with him. With a final nibble of that sexy, full lower lip, he broke the kiss and lifted his head.
She hung in his arms, a honey-dipped doll. Tousled, butterscotch curls framed the pale oval of her face. A soft slash of pink kissed the perfection of her cheekbones below the fringe of dark blond lashes resting against her smooth skin. Her chest rose and fell with her labored breaths. When her lashes fluttered open, languid passion, deep and true, darkened her eyes until they glistened like emeralds.
Shit. He was in trouble, and whether she knew it or not, so was she. The limitations she’d placed on her proposition were the unschooled demands of an inexperienced woman attempting to maintain control over a situation she wasn’t completely comfortable handling. If the need in her eyes was any indication, Little Miss Sunshine was doomed.
His chest bellowed like a thoroughbred after a trip around an oval track, making his voice husky and low. “Still need a second to think?”
“About what?”
Despite the fire raging in his gut, he chuckled. Although he wanted nothing more than to taste her again, he settled for a touch. Fingering a golden curl, he tucked the cool silk behind her ear. “Right answer. Any more stipulations I need to know about?”
She dropped her forehead to his chest. When she straightened a moment later, he let her go, and she stepped back.
Residual heat softened her eyes. “Can I get back to you on that? I can’t seem to recall any at the moment.”
He fought a grin and crossed his arms to keep from reaching for her again. He might be making the biggest mistake of his life, but her candid honesty charmed him almost as much as her honey sweet body. “You’ve got yourself a deal, sunshine,
if
you agree to
my
conditions.”
Some of the languidness cooled in her eyes. “You have conditions?”
He nodded.
“How many?”
He held up three fingers.
“What’s number one?”
“Three dates won’t do. I leave for Syracuse and training camp in three weeks. Give me until then or no deal.”
Several heartbeats passed before she nodded. “What’s the second?”
“I decide what we do on these dates.”
She shook her head. “I’m serious about overcoming the attacks, Tuck. That won’t happen if I don’t push myself. To do that, the dates need to be in public places.”
“Oh, I can guarantee you’ll be pushed.” He planned to do plenty of pushing. She wasn’t the only one with a theory to test. “We’ll deal with your fear of crowds, but from the sound of things, you don’t have a lot of experience just having fun. Stick with me.” He tapped a fingertip to her nose. “I’ll give you three weeks you’ll never forget.”
He smiled when she swallowed. Hard.
“And three?”
“I’ve agreed to your demands. I expect you to agree to mine. Unlike you, I know the pleasure a man and woman can find together when the attraction is mutual, and don’t bother trying to claim that isn’t the case here. You practically melted in my arms.”
She lifted her chin.
He grinned and held up a hand. “I’d never force a woman, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do my damndest to get you into my bed.” He wasn’t sure which of them was more surprised by his warning. A virgin. Damn, what was he thinking? The inner cautioning didn’t stop him from jumping in with both feet. “Knowing that up front, if you insist on finding yourself a test
stud, I’m your man.”
Chapter 7
Crossing the street beside Tuck, CC stifled a groan. A man, a test stud, was the last thing she wanted, especially an irresistibly sexy flirt like Tuck. She scrunched her nose in a cringe. Okay, that was a big fat lie. She definitely wanted. Holy crap, did she ever. New to the experience, she nonetheless recognized the irresistible pull plucking at her girly nerve endings like teasing fingers for what it was. Longing. Hot, hungry and…completely unacceptable.
Who knew a firm pair of lips and a satiny tongue could cause a woman’s normally logical thinking to misfire? By the time they’d finished brokering their deal, she’d been panting worse than Walter after a run.
Three weeks. Good Lord. His timeline coincided perfectly with her birthday promise, but she couldn’t believe she’d agreed to spend the next three weeks with Kevin Tucker. Agreed? Ha! She’d practically baited him into agreeing, even after he’d warned he didn’t plan to follow her rules. Had she lost her mind? Of course she had, but who could blame her when just the thought of kissing him again made her go all mushy and hot with anticipation?
A surreptitious glance to her side caught him watching her. Eyes full of teasing humor, he winked. The devil. She tore her gaze away. What was it about the guy? It wasn’t as if he were movie star handsome. His male appeal had definite rough edges, but the slight imperfections didn’t seem to matter compared to the twinkling humor found more often than not in his cobalt blue eyes. Gifted with more charm than any one man should be allowed, his type had brought about the downfall of women far more experienced than her. What chance did she have against all that grinning magnetism?