They both laughed, his low, husky chuckles mingling with her lighter ones, the sound pleasant and very intimate in the close confines of the car. The lighthearted moment released some of the tension she’d sensed in him a half hour after arriving at her parents’. The evening had only gotten worse, and certainly more complicated than she’d expected.
Austin drove on, maneuvering the car through the streets of Pacific Heights. He wasn’t taking the normal way back to her condo, but she didn’t mind if he wanted to take a longer route, which would give her more time with him. It was Christmas Eve, and for the first time since she could remember, she dreaded being alone.
“Austin…” She fiddled with the strap of her purse. “I’m really sorry for my parents’ behavior tonight, and that you had to lie about owning your own landscaping business. I’ll be the first to admit that my parents can be judgmental, but they’ll come around.”
He glanced her way. “You planning on bringing me to another family get-together?”
Her heart thumped in her chest, and a flood of emotions shook her to her soul. There was no denying she enjoyed everything about Austin, from his humor and honesty, to the feminine way he made her feel. But he made her yearn for things that conflicted with everything she’d worked so hard to attain, and the strength of those feelings frightened her.
She gave a noncommittal shrug, which was the best she could offer him. “You never know.”
He stared at her for a long, intense moment, then switched his gaze back to the road. “Does it matter to you what I do for a living?” he asked quietly.
She glanced out her window to the darkness beyond, giving his question serious consideration. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit that on some level Austin owning Fantasy for Hire bothered her, because she disliked the thought that other women fantasized about him and lusted over that gorgeous body while he performed a sexy striptease for them. She was beginning to think of Austin as her fantasy, and she didn’t want to share. Jealousy was a foreign emotion to her, one she’d never experienced in a relationship with a man, but she quickly realized she wasn’t immune to the green-eyed monster.
So how did she answer his question without sounding like a possessive shrew? “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter to me what you did for a living. But I suppose I can learn to get used to you stripping for other women.”
“And what if I really did own my own landscaping business?” he asked, his voice slightly anxious. “Would that line of work make a difference to you?”
She studied his face, seeing the taut line of his jaw, the tense set of his shoulders beneath his cable-knit sweater, and the truth finally dawned on her. “You really are in that line of work, aren’t you? Along with Fantasy for Hire.”
He nodded, and turned onto another darkened street that climbed upward and overlooked Pacific Heights. “Yep. McBride Commercial Landscaping is a real, solid business. I’m not rich, but I’m successful enough to support myself, and I love my job.”
She tilted her head, fascinated with this facet of Austin’s life. “And Fantasy for Hire?”
“It’s been a lucrative business, and it helped to support me when I needed the money, but I’ve definitely outgrown it. I’m going to sell the business so I can devote my time to McBride Landscaping.”
The car rolled to a stop. Austin cut the engine and turned to look at her with searching eyes, as if gauging her reaction to his newest revelation. It struck her then, that as confident as Austin appeared, he harbored a few insecurities of his own.
“Why does what I think matter so much to you?” she whispered, breaking through the quiet that had settled in the car.
“Because this is who I am, Teddy,” he said, his warm gaze falling from her eyes, to her mouth, then back up again. “What you see is what you get, and I want to be sure you’re okay with that.”
Liquid heat pooled in her belly. “Yeah, I am.”
“I’m not some blue blood with a fancy investment-broker image, Teddy-”
She pressed her fingers to his lips to stop his words, and the jolt of electrical heat that passed between them made her shiver. “That’s probably why I’m so attracted to you.”
Gently, he grasped her wrist, lowering her hand so her palm pressed against his chest, so she could feel the steady beating of his heart. “And your parents?”
She understood the reassurances he was searching for. Her mother and father hadn’t issued full approval of Austin, and he wanted to make sure it made no difference to her. “Do you honestly think it matters to me what my parents think?”
His eyes burned into hers, hot and filled with an honest, primitive need that tapped into every responding nerve in her body. “I just want to be sure before we go any further.”
Knowing where the next step in their relationship would lead, an equal measure of excitement and apprehension swirled within her. “I’m…sure.”
The lazy, sexy grin that settled on his mouth was sheer male, and the dark look in his green eyes was very, very pleased.
Needing a moment to absorb what she’d just agreed to, she glanced around at their surroundings. Wherever he’d parked was pitch-black and deserted. They were alone, except for the breathless view of the bay below them and the star-studded sky above. A renewed rush of warmth seeped into her midsection.
“Where are we?” she asked, peering out the window.
His long fingers trailed along her shoulder and toyed with her silky hair. “It’s a secluded place that not many people know about.”
She cast him a teasing look. “And how do you know about it?”
He grinned, a wicked light brightening his gaze. “When I was in high school, I’d bring girls up here to make out with them.” He looked off in the distance, amusement in his expression. “One time, when I was sixteen and had just gotten my driver’s license, I brought a girl up here on a Saturday night. Not fifteen minutes later, another car pulled up, and it was Jordan and his date.” Austin chuckled, shaking his head. “He didn’t so much as get the chance to kiss his girl, because he was so furious at finding me up here, making out with my date.”
Teddy laughed at the fond memory he shared, reminded too much of how her own brothers had been with the guys she’d dated. Protective and ruthless. “It must be an older-brother thing.”
His thumb rubbed along her sensitive earlobe, then found the spot that made her shiver with pleasure. “You got caught necking, too?”
“No, never. I missed out on that particular fun.” She sighed with a small measure of regret, because she’d been too busy with debutante balls and country-club dances. And though she’d been rebellious enough to go along with the suggestion, no boy had issued the invitation. “I just meant that my brothers were overly protective of me, too. Who I went out with, where my dates took me, and all that stuff. Not that they had anything to worry about. The boys I was allowed to date came from prestigious families that were friends of my parents, and they wouldn’t have dared touched me the wrong way. I was deemed a ‘good girl,’ and my brothers made sure I kept that reputation.”
“Well, you’re all grown up, your brothers aren’t anywhere around, and I’m not one of those saps who come from a highfalutin family.” He leaned close, and her senses spun at the hot, hungry look in his eyes. “Wanna neck?”
Being a bad girl suddenly held enormous appeal. Feeling reckless, she met him halfway to the console. “Yeah, I think I do.”
The hand caressing her throat moved up and slid into her hair, threading through the warm strands. The last thing she saw was the sinful grin curving his mouth, then his lips covered hers and he was kissing her-long, deeply intimate kisses that brought her to a fever pitch of need in no time flat. Her body swelled with arousal, her breasts grew heavy, and an achy emptiness settled in the pit of her belly.
They made out like two lust-filled teenagers, both attempting to find a comfortable position that would allow them more freedom to use their hands without putting a crick in their necks. Austin managed to cup her breast in his hand, and when she shifted to move closer, his arm twisted awkwardly and fell away. She touched his thigh, but the other hand supporting her slipped off the console and she nearly bit his lip as the impact jarred her entire body.
A giggle escaped her. “This is crazy.”
He nuzzled her neck, his breath hot and damp against her skin. “But fun and kinda sexy, don’t you think?”
