Читать книгу By Request Collection 1 - Jackie Braun - Страница 38

SHE’D drive someone else crazy some day.

Blake needed something else to take his mind off the persistent and distracting thought rattling around in his head. Problem was, his day’s routine was shot. He’d not had his morning run—he’d been ‘otherwise occupied’. And now the afternoon was slipping away and Lissa was still busy with Gilda. Probably catching up on last night’s success. He needed a diversion.

Food. He’d cook something for dinner. How long since he’d enjoyed a good home-cooked meal? He checked the pantry supplies, began compiling a list, then stopped. He had no idea what Lissa liked. Still, who’d not enjoy a good old-fashioned Aussie lamb roast? It could cook while he … what?

Waited for Lissa to come home?

The scene played before his eyes:

He’s just put the finishing touches on a complicated dish that took all afternoon to prepare. The leafy salad with a new mustard/pepper dressing is chilling in the fridge along with a bottle of chardonnay. He’s thinking cheese for afters, with a little quince pâté, some grapes … then a leisurely bubble bath and an early night …

Lissa rushes through the door, her blouse askew, her hair dishevelled from driving the convertible with the top down. Dinner meeting—sorry, did she forget to tell him? She fishes a couple of cherry tomatoes from the salad bowl in the fridge then a peck on his cheek on her way past. Don’t wait up, it’s going to be a long one—some after-dinner function to attend and, oh, would he mind collecting her dry cleaning before the shop closes?

Blake stumbled back a step, scowling. What the hell had happened to that bubble bath? What—

‘I’m back,’ Lissa sang out as she danced into the kitchen, her face glowing, her hair flying behind her. ‘Oh, you should see how the nursery’s coming along.’ She did a quick twirl. ‘It’s going to be stunning. And she loves the colours. And Gilda’s offered to make it a glittering affair with all her rich friends and Stefan’s going to take pictures for the PowerPoint presentation at the launch and everyone will see it. and. Hi.’ She exhaled hugely on the final word and smiled like sunshine.

Blake blinked, feeling as if he’d just been flattened by a runaway lawnmower. ‘Hi.’ He screwed up his shopping list, tossed it on the sink. She was wearing a lettuce-green sundress with cherries on and tomato sauce spaghetti straps. Damn the roast, he wanted to take her on the nearest available surface and feed on her instead.

But the domestic role-reversal scene continued to shimmer dangerously before his eyes. Damned if she was going to leave him home alone all night while she got up to … whatever.

Her smile faded a little. ‘You could sound more enthusiastic, it’s your business too.’

‘You’re enthusiastic enough for both of us.’ With an effort, he snapped himself back to the present and the vision of delightedness before him. She was here now, and for now she was all his. He pushed the uneasiness aside. ‘Come here.’

She stepped unhesitatingly into his embrace with the ease and comfort of a familiar lover, linked her arms around his neck and tilted her head up, her lips a breath away from his. ‘Have you any idea how I feel right now?’

‘Yeah.’ He smoothed his hands over her shoulders beneath the straps of her sundress and pressed his mouth against her neck. Impossible not to linger a moment, to feast on that almost translucent skin. ‘Oh, yeah.’ He lifted his head to watch her face as he ran his hands down her sides—the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips beneath skin-scented cotton. ‘You feel incredible. Good enough to eat, in fact.’ Lowering his lips, he rubbed them lightly over hers and tasted the faint bitterness of coffee, the stronger, sweeter hint of vanilla and almonds. He flicked his tongue out, sampled the corner of her mouth where the flavour was more delicate. ‘Gilda’s been feeding you.’

‘Mmm.’ She wriggled closer, tightened her hold and her breasts rubbed against his chest. ‘But I’m still hungry.’ She opened her mouth, took his lower lip between her teeth and bit down. ‘So hungry.’ she soothed the tingle with her tongue, then sucked gently ‘.I could eat you too.’

He lifted her off the floor and she clamped her thighs around his waist, her eyes hot, her rosebud lips parted. His blood thundered in his ears and hammered in his groin.

‘Yeah. Who needs a lamb roast?’ he murmured against her mouth as his fingers clenched around her bottom, bringing her intimate heat into contact with his belly.

His gaze remained fused with hers as he carried her to the kitchen island, set her on the edge of the smooth marble and pushed her thighs apart. Then he braced his hands on the counter top and leaned in while she twisted her fingers in his T-shirt, knuckles white, pressed against his chest.

Falling into the kiss was like leaping out of a plane and into the clouds. Fast and exhilarating, destination uncertain. And for the moment he didn’t care. The journey was enough.

The skinny strip of white lace was no barrier—a flick of his wrist, a quick tug and it was gone. Freeing himself, he plunged inside her. He heard her gasp; her eyes were wide and dark as he withdrew slowly. Plunged again. Harder, deeper. Faster.

He feasted on her sweet taste, swallowed her sighs as she met him beat for beat with an enthusiasm that rivalled his. They gorged on each other with mouths and tongues and teeth, the past forgotten, the future unclear.

She surrounded him, slick heat and damp, dark desire, the tight liquid tug pulling him towards completion too fast. Way too fast. The notion that he was here at last registered vaguely on some distant horizon.

Then no words, no time, no thought, just a fierce, fast, furious coupling. The need to possess her, a demand to drive reason from her mind so that he was all she knew—all he knew—hammered through his mind in time with his thrusts.

Lissa had never known such a frenzy of wants and desires, needs and demands. Her hands rushed beneath his T-shirt to find all those hard muscles beneath damp skin. He didn’t try to hold her or pin her down in any way and rational thought fled as she gave herself up to the whirlwind of sensations battering her. And, oh, how liberating to allow herself to be swept along in its wake, knowing she was safe, that she’d found a haven in Blake.

And somewhere amidst the maelstrom she found the eye of the storm, the calm, her centre.

She held tight to it as they raced together to the finish.

Moments later she slid her hands from beneath the soft cotton tee to wrap them around his forearms braced either side of her. Her thighs trembled, her whole body was limp and tiny exquisite aftershocks still shuddered through her body.

‘Lissa.’ Breathing heavily, he looked into her eyes and she saw a glimmer of concern. ‘I’ll replace the underwear.’

If that was all that was bothering him. She opened her mouth to answer and discovered her throat was dry. This new physical facet of their relationship was moving at warp speed and she was still trying to catch up.

But emotionally, Lissa knew she was light-years ahead. He would not want to know she was falling in love with him.

‘Lissa?’ He lifted her chin with a finger, searching her eyes. And she knew he was remembering their earlier conversation about no complications. No ongoing relationship.

She leaned forward, pressed a quick kiss on his lips. ‘No need. Thanks to you I have a whole new drawer full of undies,’ she assured him, swallowing the ball of emotion that had rolled up her throat. ‘And it was so worth it.’ Sunny but casual. ‘That was … fa-a-a-n-tastic.’ She stretched her arms, let them relax onto his shoulders and smiled. How could she not? She’d just been ravished on a kitchen counter. ‘Did I hear a lamb roast mentioned somewhere?’

His smile was. smug? ‘Too late to start now but I can do tuna cakes with a side salad.’

‘And he cooks too,’ she murmured, and kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘I’ll make the salad.’

‘No.’ He slid her off the counter and deposited her on the floor. His smile disappeared. ‘You’ll call Jared. He phoned while you were gone.’

Oh. ‘Right.’ She heard the message in Blake’s tone. She should have made that call earlier. ‘I take it you didn’t tell him about the business?’

‘That’s your task.’ He walked to the fridge and began pulling out ingredients. ‘He asked you to call him via webcam. He wants to see how you are for himself.’

With the satisfied glow of love-making in her eyes? Not flipping likely. ‘Oh, bother—the computer’s down, right?’ And her phone was too old for image-to-image capabilities.

‘I guess it is.’ He glanced at her as he set a bowl and chopping board on the counter where she’d been sitting moments ago. She felt herself colour. She’d never look at that counter in the same way again.

Taking her phone outside, she settled herself on a lounger by the pool in the fading afternoon’s warmth and called Jared. She started with an apology, briefly summarised what had been happening with the boat, then talked to little Isaac a moment, which gave her time to psych herself up for the next round of information.

‘Blake and I have gone into business together.’ As quick and easy as that, she thought.

‘I see.’

Clearly he didn’t.

She lay back and watched the palm fronds move in the breeze and told herself not to overreact. ‘He didn’t tell you because I asked him not to. I wanted to do it myself. Just listen first, will you?’

She hurried on with a quick overview, then outlined the details of her new partnership with Blake, his living-room makeover clause, the new clients she’d got and how fortunate she was to be getting her own business ra, ra, ra.

‘So, it makes sense to stay at Blake’s for now,’ she finished.

Silence.

She tracked the calming sight of flight of a flock of water birds as they skimmed the water.

Calm, calm, calm.

‘Is that wise, Liss?’

Calm vanished and irritation prickled between her shoulder blades but she kept her voice steady. ‘What are you implying?’ She flicked at an insect on her dress with a fingernail, then tapped on the lounger’s metal arm. ‘You know Blake—it’s not as if he’s a stranger.’

‘I know you had a little crush on him as a teenager but he’s been in the navy for fourteen years apart from that brief trip home when his mother died. He’s a sailor, for God’s sake.’

‘A clearance diver, to be precise.’ Jared knew about her crush? Her calm slipped another notch. ‘The naval equivalent to the Special Air Services.’

‘So he informed me,’ he replied coolly. ‘I am aware of what they do, Lissa.’

‘At least you know he’s not just any guy I picked up at a party.’ Like Todd.

‘Are you sleeping with him?’

She jerked upright. Forget calm, forget irritated, now she was angry. ‘Is that any of your business?’

‘My God, you are. It’s been what. days?’

‘Careful, Jared. Glass houses.’ She fought for composure; she didn’t want to argue long-distance.

There was a long pause. ‘He’s not going to hang around for long, honey. He’s buying himself a boat. Are you prepared for that?’

She knew. And she’d never be prepared. The heartache would come and the knowledge stabbed at her. She wished she’d thought to bring a drink with her to wash away the dry taste in her mouth. ‘I know all that. I’m not a kid.’

‘A man like Blake is not the settling-in-one-place kind of guy. He—’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sakes, didn’t you ever have a fling in your life? One wild, crazy no-strings affair with no unrealistic expectations?’ Then she frowned, remembering he’d been too busy being a parent to her, and said quietly, ‘No, I guess you didn’t.’

‘Is that what this is?’

She blinked back a sudden moisture, already storing memories of Blake in her heart. ‘What else would it be?’ What else could it be? She gave a light laugh for Jared’s benefit, but it came out loud, brittle and over-bright. ‘You know me. Always busy. Too busy for anything more and that’s not going to change any time soon.’ The world’s worst fibber. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll be gone and it’ll be over before you know it.’

‘What about the business?’ he said. ‘I hope you—’

‘Of course. Priority number one, but, as I used to tell you often enough, all work and no play.’

‘Just. look after yourself.’

‘Always.’

‘We love you.’ Gruff and stern. Not happy. Not happy at all.

‘Love you too.’ She did. She really did. But she forced a sunny-as-you-go smile into her voice. ‘Bye for now.’

She disconnected, leaned back and closed her eyes, moisture clinging to her lashes. Let him get used to the idea. No surprises when he came home from overseas.

Blake might already be gone by then.

Relax. Breathe. Don’t let Blake see you like this.

So while she got her emotions under control she reminded herself of the conversation and why she needed to listen to her head and not her heart. She didn’t need Jared to tell her Blake wasn’t the right man for her. Not long term.

She’d want too much from him—already wanted too much—and an ongoing relationship with a man who lived a million miles away on a boat just wouldn’t work. It was vital for her own well-being that she accepted their liaison for what it was and lived the next few weeks accordingly.

A short-term affair.

Blake leaned a shoulder against the open doorway and watched Lissa through narrowed eyes. He couldn’t see her face from this angle but she’d disconnected and stretched out as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

He’d been about to step outside when he’d heard her spill the status of their relationship to her brother.

He’ll be gone and it’ll be over before you know it. He’d seen the flip of her hand as she said it. Chuckled it even.

Amused and casual about it all, was she? She’d been anything but amused and casual last night, he remembered darkly.

She’d told it how it was—fun and games for as long as it lasted. A wild, crazy no-strings affair, he’d heard her tell Jared.

That was what Blake wanted too, he told himself. And what better way to de-stress than a fling with a gorgeous, fun-loving woman who knew where they stood? It had always worked before.

So why did he feel as if he’d been trussed with barbed wire and tossed overboard into a storm-ravaged sea?

He was a navy man, he reminded himself. He knew how to swim. Tension coiling through every muscle in his body, he pushed off the door frame. ‘Food’s cooked,’ he said. ‘You about ready to eat?’

She jumped at his voice and scrambled upright. ‘Sure am.’ Facing away from him, deliberately, he guessed, she rose, all loose-limbed grace, and stared at the tangerine-smeared sky.

‘I never tire of this view.’

‘Me neither,’ he agreed, willing to stand there for however long it took and watch her with the balmy breeze carrying her scent to his nose and the languid sound of a clarinet drifting from a house across the river.

Then she turned and she was smiling and the force of it hit him smack in the chest. He rubbed a hand over the tender spot, then said, ‘I’ll miss it when I go.’

Her smile remained but something in her eyes changed. His words had hit their intended target and he wished he’d kept his mouth shut. He wished he knew what she was feeling.

He wished to hell he knew if he was the only one suffering the same gut-rending, devastating force that held him motionless.

Rubbing her upper arms, she glanced away over her shoulder, as if a chill were stalking her. ‘It’s gorgeous outside. Why don’t we eat by the pool?’

They shared a bottle of white wine with their meal as the violet dusk settled into night and the insects chittered. He lit the tea candles he’d brought out with them so he could enjoy the way the light glinted on the gold highlights in her auburn hair.

He didn’t pay much attention to their conversation. He was too distracted by the sound of her voice and the way her hands moved as she talked and his own thoughts racing inside his head.

Until she said, ‘Gilda was telling me how you saved her life. She had other good things to say about you too.’

Thanks a lot, Gil. What he didn’t need right now was to have his life dissected, however well intentioned. The less Lissa knew, the less involved she’d be when he left. ‘I just did what anyone would have done.’

She spread her hands on the table. ‘I guess you’ve saved a lot of lives over your time in the navy.’

He shifted, uncomfortable with the conversation, and poured himself another glass of wine, drank half of it straight down. ‘It goes with the job.’

‘And do you—did you—like your job?’

‘It has its moments.’ He’d been thinking a lot about that over the past couple of weeks. He’d reached his personal horizon as far as the navy was concerned. It had been time to leave and plot a new course for his life.

‘So why did you join the navy?’

‘I always loved the sea. Its vastness. The solitude.’

‘Solitude? In a navy vessel?’ She grinned.

‘Yeah, okay, you got me there.’

‘I still remember when you left. Here one day, gone the next.’

He shook his head. ‘Not quite but it might have seemed that way.’

‘Heartbreaker,’ she murmured. ‘I cried for a week.’

He stared at her, remembering the young teenager and felt. odd. He was still uncomfortable by the whole idea that she’d more than likely projected her sexual fantasies onto him, a guy nine years her senior. ‘You did not.’

She lifted a shoulder. ‘Okay, maybe it was only a couple of days, but I might have if I… Not after. Never mind,’ she finished quietly. ‘It’s not important.’

And as if Lissa had conjured her up, an image of Janine shimmered in front of his eyes. The Ghost of Mistakes Past. His mood darkened. ‘Don’t stop now, it’s just getting interesting.’ He drained his glass, leaned back and gestured for her to continue.

She was silent a moment, then said, ‘Okay. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t hear the rumours.’ Her voice was as soft as the evening air.

‘Why would you?’

‘To spare you pain … or embarrassment maybe?’

He shook his head. Not pain, not any more. He’d taught himself not to react every time he thought of Janine. Not embarrassment because he didn’t give a rat’s ass what others thought they knew. ‘Don’t spare my feelings, Lissa. Either you believe the gossip-mongers or you don’t.’ Watching her, he reached for the wine bottle, raised it to his lips but didn’t drink.

‘I didn’t really know you back then. You weren’t real. You were more a. fantasy.’ She looked down at her hands, then back at him. ‘But I’m beginning to know the man you are now. You’re kind and generous, you’re a good listener, you care about others—’

‘But you don’t know whether to believe the rumours or not.’

She lifted her glass, sipped from it, set it down again. ‘Of course I don’t believe them.’

Was she telling the truth about how she felt? Or was it a carefully disguised attempt? He realised that what she thought mattered to him a great deal more than he’d have liked.

‘You can’t decide,’ he said, watching her. ‘You want to believe they’re lies but deep down inside you, there’s always been that doubt. Who is Blake Everett? Not the man you wanted to see, but the real man? Could he make a girl pregnant then walk away? Could he walk away from his own child?’

‘Stop it, Blake.’

‘And now we’ve had sex, you think a bit further. and you wonder, what if, just once, your pills don’t work? You ask yourself, ‘Would he walk away from me? Would he leave me to raise our child alone?’’

She shook her head, closed her eyes. ‘Stop.’

‘Maybe I could walk away. Maybe my upbringing convinced me that alone was best, that responsibility didn’t matter.’ He turned the bottle in his hands, studying the distorted image of the burning candle through the glass. Everyone had their own way of looking at things.

‘Or perhaps back then, I simply made the problem go away. Don’t tell me that never crossed your mind.’ He looked into her eyes, read the answer.

‘Blake, please, I know you better now.’

He picked up her glass, downed the rest of her wine in one long swallow and said, ‘Let me tell you about Janine.’