If She Dares (Contemporary Romance) Page 11

  Actually, she said she wasn’t in a healthy mental space for dating. Which was a temporary condition. Her momentary freak-out the other night notwithstanding, she was getting more sure of herself every day. She wasn’t going to remain emotionally hobbled forever—nor would he want her to. While he might not like the idea of another guy’s hands on her, he wasn’t a selfish prick. He looked forward, on her behalf, to the day when the strain of self-doubt in her eyes was a distant memory.

  But in the meantime, while she was still getting her feet back under her, he planned to do whatever he could to help. And if that meant letting her, in her own words, “shamelessly use him for sex,” well...he was a giver.

  * * *

  MAYBE IT WAS because she’d added the cape, or because she’d spent the better part of Wednesday night sitting very still and very naked, but Riley’s costume no longer seemed that revealing. It looked good on her and made her feel strong, self-assured. Hell, maybe she’d start working from home dressed like this to give her an extra boost when dealing with a difficult client on the phone or a string of code that didn’t want to behave.

  Funny that she was contemplating wearing her Halloween costume to work while Jack had been threatening to bring his work credentials to the party and call it a costume. She assumed that was a joke. She also figured he’d been kidding when he texted this afternoon that he might be a few minutes late because he’d be cutting eyeholes in a sheet.

  Guess I’ll find out in a second, she thought, swinging the door open at his knock.

  He arched an eyebrow, adopting a nefarious tone and rubbing his gloved hands together. “So...we meet again.”

  She grinned, drinking in the sight of him. She didn’t particularly have an opinion one way or another on “guyliner,” but it worked really, really well on Jack. She’d always loved his dark eyes, and now they seemed even darker and more captivating. “I like it,” she said. “But should I know who it is? I mean, are you a specific character or...?”

  “More of a generic evil scientist you can take down.” He leaned forward, his voice confidential. “Between you and me, if you wanted to capture me, I wouldn’t put up much of a fight.”

  “Better not let that information get out,” she said as she locked her door. “You’ll lose the respect of other evildoers.”

  He snorted. “Please. If they saw me going home with you, I’d be getting high fives.” He framed her cheek with his fingers. “Every man who sees you tonight is going to wish he was in my shoes.”

  “Except possibly Steve and James, the cute couple in 2-A.”

  “Okay. Maybe not them.”

  They’d fallen into the habit of taking the stairs together. She secretly preferred it because it gave them more time to talk or, recently, flirt. But tonight he tilted his head in the direction of the elevator.

  “Want to ride up to the roof?” he asked.

  “Sure. It’s unlikely we’ll ever get stuck in the elevator again.”

  His gaze traveled down her body, from the clasp of the cape at her throat to her boots, and he gave her a slow, predatory smile. “If I knew how to stop the elevator without setting off an alarm, we’d be in there for hours.”

  She fluttered her lashes at him. “But however would we keep from getting bored?”

  “Oh, I’d think of something.”

  * * *

  GIVEN THAT, AS RECENTLY as a month ago, Jack had gone out of his way to avoid dogs, it was a little strange that he was having his third conversation of the night about the benefits of owning one. It had started while he was in line to get fresh drinks for him and Riley, and he’d decided that it couldn’t hurt for the board treasurer, standing in front of him, to hear the story of a dog on the K-9 unit who’d saved a life. He wasn’t sure the heroics of a specially trained German shepherd would do anything to speed along the process of Riley being allowed to keep Mags in the building, but he figured it couldn’t hurt.

  The woman behind him in line had overheard and had begun chiming in about how much she loved dogs. When Riley had joined them and realized what he was doing, she’d given him a grateful smile and a wicked look that made him wonder just how she was planning to demonstrate that gratitude. The wrong one of us dressed as a villain. She’d had that Evil Riley twinkle in her eye all night. She might be nodding along to another tenant’s ideas about parking lot improvements, but the looks she kept shooting Jack over the rim of her glass made him want to throw her over his shoulder and find the nearest bed.

  When the couple he’d been chatting with decided to go dance, Jack decided they had the right idea.

  He went to Riley’s side and put his arm around her, giving the other woman an apologetic smile. “Do you mind if I steal my date for a dance? This is one of my favorite songs.”

  The woman beamed at him. “That’s so sweet. It’s almost impossible to drag my husband onto the floor.”

  “One of your favorite songs?” Riley asked as he led her toward the makeshift floor. She cocked her head, listening to the falsetto chorus of some Top 40 ballad. “Really?”

  “Never heard it before in my life. Come here, woman.” He slid his hands beneath her cape, resting them on the bare skin of her back, tracing the line of her shoulder blade. “Your cheeks are all flushed. Cold?” He’d be more than happy to take her back to her apartment and warm her up.

  She snickered. “It’s probably from alcohol. People keep buying me drinks.”

  The beverages had actually been donated by some of the tenants, but the cash bar was to raise money for an organization that helped troubled teens.

  “You have been very popular tonight,” he agreed. “Told you people would like the outfit.”

  “I think it’s more that they want to thank me for running against El Capitan. Or, in this case, El Capit-anna.”

  “Yeah, I...” Watching an astronaut dancing with a flapper, he temporarily lost his train of thought.

  “Jack?” Riley raised her head from his chest, glancing up at him with curiosity.

  “Sorry. That astronaut costume just... I had a moment of déjà vu.” He took Riley’s hand and twirled her, grinning at the way her cape billowed behind her. It hit him a second later. “Freddie Grimmelstone!”

  “Benedict Cumberbatch! Are we just blurting out names? Because Cumberbatch is fun to say.”

  He rolled his eyes at her. “Freddie was a kid from my...from where I grew up.” Even though he didn’t believe for a second that Riley would judge him if he’d said “trailer park,” he found himself editing his words. “He was two years older than me and about ten feet taller. At least, that’s how it felt when I was in first grade. He was horrible—used to take my lunch money, destroyed the Halloween pumpkin I put out one year.” Freddie also held court on the back of the bus, spreading stories about Jack’s mom. The worst part of the bullying was that a lot of the stories were true.

  Riley was frowning up at him in confusion. “And this Grimmelschmuck grew up to be an astronaut?”

  “What? Oh, hell, no. He barely graduated high school. But he dressed as an astronaut one Halloween, the year after the pumpkin incident.” Jack hadn’t thought about that night in years. He’d almost forgotten it had happened.

  Periodically, Cyndi Reed would notice that her son, scrawniest kid in the trailer park, was being picked on and would make noises about going to talk to the parents of the offenders. To Jack’s vast relief, she’d never followed through. But one Halloween morning, in a rare display of feistiness, she’d asked Jack if he wanted to play a little joke on the trio of boys who continually made his life miserable.

  “There was a tr—house near us that had been standing empty after the last occupant died,” Jack said. “It was near the edge of the woods. My mom suggested I find Freddie and his two henchmen while we were all trick-or-treating and tell them that someone new had moved in a
nd was handing out king-size candy bars.” She’d supplied him with the necessary evidence to make his story credible. “So off they went, toward the darkest part of the neighborhood. Just as they were about to approach the front door, my mother came tearing out of the trees in a hockey mask, revving a chainsaw—with the chain removed for safety reasons, of course, but they didn’t get a close enough look to notice that. They were too busy peeing their pants and hauling ass toward the next county.”

  Jack laughed at the memory. He and his mom had gone home to celebrate their victory with king-size candy bars. It had been the best Halloween of his childhood. How had he forgotten about it? He had a sea of memories depicting times Cyndi Reed hadn’t stood up for herself, but that night, in her own unique, chainsaw-wielding way, she’d stood up for her son.

  Riley was chuckling, too. But her smile faded as she asked, “Did those boys give you trouble about it later?”

  “Surprisingly, no. My theory is that they were too embarrassed.”

  “Ms. Kendrick?” The secretary of the tenant board, sporting a Bride of Frankenstein wig that had to be at least two feet tall, waved to them from the side of the dance floor. “Psst, Ms. Kendrick!”

  Jack steered them that way.

  Looking around as if checking to see who was within earshot, the woman whispered, “I just wanted to say I think it’s wonderful you’re running for the board.” It was a very loud whisper. Jack doubted the margarita in her hand was her first of the night.

  “Fresh perspectives are always a welcome change,” the woman added. “In fact, if someone wanted my position, I’d be willing to step down.” She peered at Jack. “Any chance you’re interested?”

  “No, ma’am. But, ah, thank you for offering?”

  With a sigh, she turned back to Riley. “I also wanted to tell you I’ll speak with Patrick, our treasurer. If he’s willing to approve your new petition to own a dog, I’ll vote with him. Without a majority, my hands were tied, but...”

  Jack didn’t hear the rest of her sentence.

  He was too busy remembering the last time his hands had been tied. He surreptitiously glanced down at Riley. What he wouldn’t give to have her in the same position, her incredible body his to explore. He wanted to find all the secret places that brought her pleasure, wanted to touch and taste and savor. On the other hand, based on what she’d said Wednesday about being able to enjoy sex without worrying about triggers, he doubted being in such a vulnerable situation was one of her fantasies.

  So he’d simply have to find out what her fantasies were. And do everything in his power to bring them to life.

  When the board secretary tottered away, Jack tugged Riley into a dark corner before anyone else could buy her a drink or promise her a vote. He traced her mouth with his finger. “Please tell me you’ve done enough socializing for one evening.”

  “Lord, yes. As someone who works from home, I never realized how draining it is to talk to people. I’m exhausted.”

  His heart plummeted. Too exhausted?

  Then she gave him her Evil Riley smile, and he realized she was messing with him. “Take me home and put me to bed?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Inside the elevator she tugged off the cape. “After the cool air outside, it feels stifling in here.”

  He agreed—he’d already discarded his own jacket, which was slung over his arm with the goggles jammed into the pocket—but he didn’t plan to let her remove any of the rest of her clothes without help. “I’ve been dreaming of peeling that costume off of you since the day you tried it on.”

  She met his eyes, a lazy smile curving her lips. “I know.”

  In the history of the world, Jack didn’t think it had ever taken anyone as long to unlock a door. He felt as if every nanosecond took its own eternity, but he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything impatient.

  He wasn’t the only eager one, though. The second they’d shut the door behind them, Riley tunneled her fingers through his hair and tugged him down for a hot, demanding kiss. He was so hard for her, he half wanted to take her up against the door and bury himself deep. But the last time they’d had sex, he hadn’t had the chance to touch her nearly enough. He planned to rectify that now.

  He stepped behind her, his hands moving to the column of hooks on the back of her top. While his fingers were busy with those, he pressed an openmouthed kiss to the nape of her neck, tracing her spine downward. Each creamy inch of flesh he exposed made him greedier for her. When he was finished unfastening the bustier, he unzipped the skirt-shorts combo and tugged. She was left in just the boots and a pair of lacy white panties so insubstantial they somehow made her seem more bare than if she hadn’t been wearing any. He took a moment to savor the picture she made, knowing the image would be seared onto his brain forever.

  “God, you’re beautiful.” Scooping her into his arms, he carried her to the couch. He set her down and removed the scrubs he wore with record-breaking speed. Then he knelt on the floor between her legs and unzipped one boot, sliding it off her leg with kisses dotted along her firm calf. He caught her foot in his hand, massaging the arch. “I like your toes,” he said, smiling at the in-your-face shade of red. “I don’t know if I remembered to tell you that last night.”

  “Thank y—” Her voice caught as he turned his head and placed a kiss behind the sensitive hollow of her knee. After he removed the second boot, he stood, but didn’t join her on the couch. He leaned down to kiss her, wanting to make her entire body come alive with sensation, wanting to make her feel the same blistering need he experienced every time she looked at him. He traced his lips down the line of her throat, sucking and biting gently.

  When he reached her breasts, capturing one peak between his teeth, she moaned and squirmed as if trying to press their bodies together, which wasn’t possible in their current position.

  Her sounds of arousal were tinged with impatience. “You should...oh.” Her head fell back as he sucked hard. “You should join me on the couch.”

  “I don’t think so.” He sank to his knees again, put his hands on her waist and tugged her toward the edge. “I like the view right here.” He circled his tongue around her belly button while his fingers shoved aside the wisp of lace covering her to stroke the plump, wet folds beneath. Her musky, aroused scent was making him crazy, and he couldn’t wait to discover the taste of her.

  When he lowered his head between her legs, her hands dropped to his shoulders. “Jack, I...” She sounded as if she didn’t know whether to beg him to continue or tell him he didn’t have to do this.

  Hoping to make the decision easy for her, he spread her thighs wider and licked her clit. She gasped, her nails digging into his back. Knowing he’d be wearing scratches from Riley tomorrow made him smile against her. When he flicked the hard bud with his tongue, she pressed a hand to her mouth. It wasn’t enough to stifle her cry of pleasure.

  After the other night, she was making a concerted effort to be quiet this time. You can try, gorgeous. But Riley was an extremely responsive woman, on the verge of losing control. He eased one finger inside her, then two, pumping them in the same rhythm as his mouth against her.

  She went wild, her fingers tangled in his hair, whimpering in rapturous desperation. Then her back bowed, and she shouted his name. He could feel her pulsing beneath his tongue and didn’t stop until she collapsed back against the couch. He scrambled to put on a condom and laid her across the leather cushions, thrusting into her lush heat. She was unbelievably wet; he could feel the last, clenching pulls of her climax, as if she was trying to pull him even farther inside her. He grabbed a small round throw pillow and slid it beneath her hips, tilting her up toward him so he could penetrate deeper.

  Coherent thought became impossible. There was only Riley and the urgent need to drive into her. When her second orgasm began building, he
took her mouth with his, absorbing her cries. Her inner muscles squeezed around him, and he came in a blinding rush.

  They collapsed in a slick, sweaty jumble of limbs, Riley flattened beneath him. I should probably move. There was no way in hell he could move.

  “Am I crushing you?”

  “Yes.” She sighed happily, locking her arms around him. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.”

  Oh, good. If she’d told him he was too heavy, he wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to do anything about it—although he would have given her permission to shove him onto the floor. Because he was a gentleman.

  His mind was blank, his thoughts scattered and carefree like leaves riding the breeze. But in a moment of passing lucidity, it occurred to him that if that Halloween pranking Freddie Grimmelstone was the best of his childhood, this was definitely the best Halloween of his adult life. And it was going to be damn hard to top.

  9

  AS SHE CLIMBED out of her car Sunday afternoon, Riley tried to remember the last time she and both her sisters had done something together. They’d let too long pass since their last fun outing or girls’ night. Maybe part of the problem was trying to line up three schedules, but there had also been months when she’d avoided them, avoided the pity and worry in their expressions.

  Or, perhaps, Riley reconsidered as she caught sight of her sisters, she’d avoided them because of the constant bickering. The two of them hadn’t even made it into the art gallery before they’d started arguing. They stood just outside the entrance, an almost comical study in similarities and contrasts. Rochelle was wearing an ivory blouse and navy pencil skirt as sleek and smooth as her chin-length bob while Wren, her hair a crazy halo of curls, had a fringe vest on over a maxi dress made out of five or six patterns stitched together. Yet they both had their arms crossed over their chests and wore nearly identical expressions of stubborn exasperation.

  Here we go again.