When he was done with her, not only would she acknowledge the heat between them, she’d willingly act on it, giving herself over to him completely and utterly, body and soul, begging him to fulfill her every need, her every aching desire. Then he’d prove once and for all that they were meant to be together, and they could start making up for lost time.
He stepped closer, close enough that he could feel a tremble move through her body, and dipped his head.
He cleared his throat and lowered his voice for her ears and her ears only. “So what do you say, Anna?”
Simmering blue eyes flitted over him and he could see the torment on her face, the need, the want, the uncertainty. He fisted his hands and resisted the urge to haul her body against his and press his lips to hers, anxious to explore her mouth, her breasts, between her legs, anxious to finally introduce himself to every inch of her body the way he’d longed to do for years.
“Do you want me or not?”
Dark lashes blinked over smoldering blue eyes. “I…want you.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and his heart settled back into a steady rhythm. He took in her watchful eyes and said, “Then lead the way.”
2
With Daniel tight on her heels, Anna could barely walk, let alone breathe. Good Lord, if she couldn’t put one foot in front of the other, how the heck was she supposed to paint walls, sew curtains and stuff down feathers into the throw cushions? She was liable to lose her mind, not to mention her resolve, with Daniel—shirtless, no less—in such confined quarters with her.
Just thinking about him on his knees, bent over that lover’s tub, all hard muscles and sinewy brawn flexing, rippling and relaxing again, had her nipples hardening, pressing against her thin dress and arousing her even more. What she’d do to fill that tub with bubbles and scented rose petals and haul him inside with her. By small degrees her body tightened and ribbons of pleasure forked through her. Deep between her thighs, her sex moistened, dampening her cotton panties. Anna pulled her sundress around her legs and prayed he couldn’t smell her arousal as it saturated the long hallway.
Okay, so she couldn’t deny that he was handsome, charming and charismatic, and she wasn’t at all immune to his blatant sexuality. But that didn’t mean she was just going to jump into bed with him, even though everything in the way he looked at her, everything in his body language, spoke of physical want and desire. Sure she wanted him to want her, but not because she was the one girl he couldn’t nail. She wanted him to like her for who she was, and for what she was all about.
She cast a glance over her shoulder and he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.
Trying for casual but failing miserably, she instructed, “Please put your shirt on.” She cringed. Damn she’d blurted that out with much more angst than she meant.
His brow rose a fraction. “Right. My shirt,” he said, his voice distant, obviously distracted. What the heck was he thinking about anyway?
After he pulled his blue, short-sleeved and form-fitting work shirt on, he stepped up beside her and they passed by Candace’s room. Daniel glanced in. He made a face when he spotted the Tantra chair. “What kind of rooms are you designing anyway?”
“Whatever we want. Pamina left it up to each of us. I’m pretty excited about it actually.”
“What kind of room has a Tantra chair and a floor-to-ceiling pole?”
“The kind that combines sex and exercise.”
He chuckled and the sound went right though her. “Ah, I should have known. Candace always was into fitness.”
“Lindsay’s designing a BDSM room.” She shot him a glance to gauge his reaction, fully expecting the wild and wicked Daniel, a big alpha male who enjoyed the conquest, to be intrigued by such a thing.
“I guess I can see her into that kind of thing.” He shrugged and seemed less impressed than she’d thought he’d be. A slow grin curled his mouth when he added, “And I see she’s still overly protective of you.”
Anna returned his smile. “That’s my Lindsay.” As she pushed open her bedroom door, his words sank in. “You seem to remember an awful lot about my friends.”
Not that she’d forgotten anything about him. She recalled it all, in fact. From their private backyard conversations, their long walks to school, to the sweet-sixteen party that she’d purposely excluded him from. And of course, she’d never forget the eye-opening conversation she’d heard between him and his friends the week before said party.
Instead of answering, he probed, “So we have an athletic room, a BDSM room…” He paused, giving her an opening.
“For my room—”
He cut her off. “Let me guess. A room for the romantically inclined.”
Anna studied him, and for a brief second she thought she spotted a little-boy-lost look. Something inside her stomach tightened. She remembered that look of vulnerability, had witnessed it many times when they were teens and had spoken to one another over the backyard fence, when he would stumble over his words and make her feel all weird and special inside. But it had all been an act, right? He was simply the confident quarterback out to win at all costs.
One strong hand slipped around her side and came to rest on the small of her back as he guided her to the door. At first touch sexual energy arced between them. The feel of his warm palm on her flesh did the most delicious things to her insides, and she bit down on her bottom
