Highland Fling (The McLaughlins) Page 20
The sound gained her attention. She tossed him a glance over her shoulder, her long hair spilling over her back in provocative ways that nearly rendered him senseless.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Fine,” he managed to spit out past the lump in his throat as he crossed the room. He dropped his clothes onto the chair beside the bed, grabbed a pillow and tossed it onto the floor.
She blinked at him and patted the mattress. Long lashes flashed over come-hither eyes. “It really is a big bed, and it would be foolish of me to let you to take the floor when that whole side is empty.” There was something very suggestive in her eyes when she lowered her voice and added, “Besides, sleeping together is what engaged couples do, isn’t it?”
Garrett looked at the soft bed, and the sexy woman sitting cross-legged on the other end of the mattress, his T-shirt pulled between her legs. Goddammit he knew he’d never be able to keep his hands to himself if he crawled in there with her. Even from across the room, the sweet smell of her skin drove him bat-shit crazy.
“I’ll take the floor.”
She pursed her lips and after a long thoughtful moment countered with, “I’ve been thinking. This is your room, so by rights I should be the one sleeping on the floor.”
“You’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“No, it’s only fair.” She tossed her pillow down and climbed from the soft mattress, determination etched on her pretty face.
“Look,” he began, running anxious hands through his hair as she stood there staring at him, looking like a sex-kitten that he’d do just about anything to hear purr. “I’m not going to take the bed and let you sleep on the floor. Not when we have a king-size mattress that could easily sleep five.”
A smug look came over her face. “Exactly,” she said, and he somehow felt that he’d just been duped. She blinked up at him with bright-eyed innocence as she bent over to pick up her pillow. Jesus Christ, she really needed to stop all that fucking bending!
“And don’t worry. I’ll try to refrain from touching you,” she said, tossing his teasing words back at him.
She flicked the lamp off and once she was under the covers, Garrett climbed into his side, keeping his back to her and his face toward the window. Clinging to the edge, he pulled the covers over his chest and concentrated on getting his breathing—and his hard-on—under control.
Since he hadn’t bothered to shut the curtains, moonlight poured over the bed, and he struggled to focus on something other than the woman beside him. He thought about work, his tours overseas, walking Jenny down the aisle.
Tallulah.
Goddammit. He lifted his head and punched his pillow, unable to get comfortable. Even with the slant of light, the room seemed to close in on him, the air growing heavier, more suffocating, by the minute. Silence hung for a long time, and the bed felt warm, hot even, making the tension between them that much more palpable.
She made a restless noise and shifted beside him, breaking the quiet. Garrett squeezed his eyes shut, staying still. Perfectly still.
“Garrett.”
Don’t answer. Don’t do it. Pretend you’re asleep.
“Yeah.”
Dammit.
Her voice was low, barely audible when she said, “We have the luncheon tomorrow and my entire family is going to be there.”
The worry in her voice did him in. With a sigh, he rolled onto his back. Her body heat reached out to him and fucked with his libido in ways he’d never before known. He worked to leash his control but his cock was so hard, craving the feel of her heat wrapped around it. Sweat beaded on his brow and upper lip. “And?”
“I’m a little worried.”
“What about?”
“What if we can’t pull this off?”
He shifted to his side to face her, and the second their eyes met, sparks leapt between them and nearly set the room ablaze. Her long loose curls tumbled in silken waves over the pillowcase, the erotic image straight out of his fantasy. Blood left his brain in a whoosh and headed south until his cock was at full attention, standing tall and erect like any good soldier ready to dive into battle head first. Head first… Ah, Jesus. He sucked in a breath but couldn’t seem to fill his oxygen starved lungs.
“It will be fine.”
“What if I blow it? I mean I blew it with Kat tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it. I told Brad too.”
“I don’t know, Garrett.” She exhaled an exaggerated breath. “We all know I’m an easy read, and what if…?”
Her voice fell off and common sense urged him to roll back over and let it go, to put an end to this conversation before it got him into a shit load of trouble. But with raw hunger overshadowing sensibility, he probed, “What are you worried about?”
“What if you touch me somewhere I’m not expecting it and I…flinch.”
His heart thundered in his chest, his body begging him to put her worries to rest by pulling her beneath him and touching her all over, with his hands, his mouth, his tongue. But he wasn’t going to. No, he understood she wasn’t a girl who took sex lightly—he’d seen it in her eyes, read it in her every gesture—and he wasn’t sure what kind of game she was playing, but he’d be damned if he was going to play it with her.
He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. You won’t.”
“How can you be so sure? If I couldn’t fool Kat, how will I ever be able to convince my entire family we’re a real couple? I mean, just say you touch me and I flinch, they’ll know in an instant something isn’t right.”
“I touched you tonight and you didn’t flinch.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Her voice dropped to a soft whisper when she added, “But you didn’t touch me here.”
He heard the sheets rustle and her arms moved beneath them. Unable to help himself, he visualized her putting her hands on her body, her breasts, between her legs. His cock swelled. Christ, he should have released the pressure in the shower. She made a sexy noise and the mattress dipped near him as she shimmied closer.
With her body only inches from his, his rock hard cock screamed at him to do something, like climb over her body and impale her until he gave them what they both wanted. He groaned in frustration, using every ounce of strength he possessed to keep his hands to himself. Okay, he needed to get the fuck out of her bed and he needed to do it now.
Walk away, Garrett, just walk away.
“Where didn’t I touch you?”
Ah, fuck.
She rolled onto her back as his fingers crept across the mattress. When he reached her stomach, he brushed her flesh lightly, drawing small circles over her abdomen with his thumb. He listened to her breathing change, become more erratic, and he fought valiantly to keep his shit together.
Her hand closed over his. “Here,” she said, as she guided his palm to her breasts. “You didn’t touch me here,” she purred, her sultry invitation smashing his resolve in seconds flat.
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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
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Highland Fling
Copyright © 2014 by Shelli Stevens
ISBN: 978-1-61922-186-4
Edited by Tera Cuskaden
Cover by Angela Waters
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First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: September 2014
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