Not Another Bad Date

cupped her face. “You want to be with me.”

The corners of her full mouth turned downward. “You’re still as arrogant and full of yourself as you ever were.”

He smiled. “Probably.”

“That wasn’t a compliment!”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m right.”

She wrapped her hands around his wrists. “No, Zach. You’re mistaken. I don’t want to be with you.”

If she’d wanted him to stop, she’d said the exact wrong thing. He looked into her eyes, a subtle shade darker then they’d been a moment ago, and felt her pulse kick up a notch. “You’re not any better a liar now than you used to be.” He turned his face to the side to keep the bill of his hat from hitting her forehead and kissed her. A nice soft kiss that belied the savage lust beating his chest, pounding his groin, and urging him to push her up against the trophy case. Instead, he lightly pressed his mouth into hers, and his thumb brushed her cheek. Her lips parted with a little gasp, and she pulled his breath into her lungs. She put her hand on his chest, and the warmth of her palm spread fire across his skin and twisted his belly with pleasure and pain. She exhaled against his mouth, a slight puff of warm air that turned the pleasure and pain into an almost mindless need.

Adele pulled away, and Zach’s hand fell to his side. Within her chest, she felt her heart pounding, and she could hardly breathe. She looked into Zach’s sexy, sleepy eyes and she remembered his sneaky ways from fourteen years ago. How his light, teasing touch had ruthlessly made her want him even more. “You’re slick.”

He actually smiled as he reached for her. “Thank you.”

She took a step backward, out of his reach. “Again—not a compliment, Zach!” Every cell in her body was on fire. All he had to do was touch her, and every nerve ending twisted into a ball of yearning.

His hand fell to his side. “Honey, come here.”

She shook her head and took another step backward. “I don’t trust you.”

“Baby, you don’t trust yourself.”

That was true. She didn’t trust herself not to give in to his sneaky, slick ways, and that just made her mad. “What’s the matter, Zach? Can’t you find a willing woman to harass?”

Instead of getting angry like she’d intended, he laughed. “Finding willing women has never been a problem for me.”

“God, you can’t help yourself. You’re a pathological bragger.” She held her hand up and took another step back. “Not a compliment.”

“Arrogant. Slick. Pathological bragger. Anything else wrong with me?”

“You don’t have all night.”

“I’ve got ten minutes.”

“Not enough time.” She took another step back and stopped by the sign to the girls’ bathroom.

“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart.” He hooked his thumbs inside the front pockets of his jeans and drew her attention to the huge bulge beneath his button fly. “The right man could have you in the zone and screaming Hail Marys in ten minutes.”

He turned her insults into foreplay. Worse, it was working. She licked her lips and her brain went kind of fuzzy. “I’m not Catholic.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He shook his head and moved toward her. “Everyone has a come to Jesus moment on fourth and goal.”

“That’s something only a dumb jock would say.” Then, like the mature woman she was, she spun to her left and practically dove into the bathroom. She moved to the sink and placed a cool hand on the porcelain and one on her hot cheek. That was real adult. Call him a dumb jock and run away.

The door swung open and banged against the wall. “Stop running, Adele.”

She spun around and gasped. “You can’t come in here.” He closed the door and leaned back against it. She pointed to the tampon dispenser and stated the obvious, “This is the girls’ bathroom.”

He glanced about at the six stalls and two sinks before his gaze returned to her. “So it is.”

“You’ll get caught in here.”

He pushed away from the door. “It won’t be the first time.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I wasn’t until you came back into my life.” He moved across the floor toward her and took off his hat. “I see you, and I remember kissing you and touching you and making love to you. I want you more than I think I’ve ever wanted any woman.” He tossed the hat on the counter between the sinks. “I can’t help but wonder why you’re back in my life.”

“I’m here because my sister needs me.” She placed her hands on his chest and, for every step he took, she took a step back.

“I need you.”

“No. You want me.”

“Same thing.”

“No. Oxygen is something you need.” Her back hit the wall next to the last bathroom stall.

“Just be still,” he said, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “And stop running from me.”

“Stop coming after me.”

He shook his head as his brown gaze stared into hers. “I’m beginning to think I need you like I need oxygen.”

She knew the feeling. From beneath his cotton shirt, his hard, defined muscles warmed her palms, and instead of dropping them to her sides like a smart girl, she slid her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. What the hell. The curse will kick in. She lifted her face as he lowered his mouth to hers. His hands on her shoulders tightened, and for several long heartbeats, he remained perfectly still. Then he groaned deep in his throat and slid one hand to her waist. He brought her against his chest and kissed her. Like always, soft and sweet, creating a yummy suction as he drew her tongue into his mouth.

Adele dropped her purse to the floor, then plowed her fingers through the sides of his fine hair. Heat radiated from his chest and warmed her breasts. Her stomach felt light, her breathing heavy, as her nipples puckered into excruciatingly hard points. While his mouth made love to hers, she tried to remain still. She tried to keep her hands on the sides of his head and not roaming the hard contours of his chest and back, but then he slid his fingers beneath the bottom edge of her sweater and pressed his thumbs into her stomach, and she let her fingers do some walking all over him.

She pressed her legs together against the hot need pooling between her thighs. She reminded herself that they were standing in the girls’ bathroom at Cedar Creek High, and she could not pull his shirt from his Levi’s and feel his bare skin. She definitely couldn’t run her mouth all over him and eat him up like a hot fudge sundae, but until the curse kicked in and put an end to this madness, she was going to feel sexual desire pour all over her.

His thumbs fanned her skin and the tingling sensation spread up her chest. She turned her head to one side and turned up the heat. She gave him long, feeding kisses, and he pressed his erection into her pelvis.

“Mmm,” she moaned into his starving mouth, and wanted more before it all had to stop. He shoved a knee between hers as one hand moved from beneath her sweater to the top of her zipper. While his tongue plunged into her mouth, his fingers pulled the zipper down until it came free at the bottom. Then his hands were on her breasts, cupping her through her white satin bra.

He slid his mouth to the side of her throat, and her head fell to one side. “You don’t know how much I want you,” he groaned, as his hands slid to the back of her bra.

“Hooks in the front,” she whispered. Actually, she did know how much. He felt enormous and so hard that the pressure against her pelvis was almost painful. She lifted her knee up his thigh and wrapped her leg around his waist. He unhooked her bra and she rocked against him, feeling the hard pressure through her jeans and his.

His harsh breathing lifted his chest, and he pushed her sweater and the straps of her bra from her shoulders and down her arms. He pulled back to look at her, down at his big hands filled with the weight of her breasts.

“You’re the same as you were in college,” he said, his voice a harsh whisper.

“I’m older.” She gasped as his thumbs lightly stroked her puckered nipples, and she recalled the book about quarterbacks in his office and the quote about his “skilled hands.”

“Better.” He turned one hand and slowly brushed the backs of his knuckles across the aching tip of her breast. “Perfect.”