Читать книгу Virgin Seductress - J.M. Jeffries - Страница 9

Okay, Nell thought, at the look of shock on Riley’s face. Maybe the direct approach wasn’t the wisest choice of action. As Riley continued to remain silent, his hand wrapped around the empty glass, astonishment showed on his face and in his deep brown eyes.

Her confidence began to deteriorate. Somehow, in the cold light of day, the idea she’d had in the deep of the night didn’t seem logical anymore. She’d been dreaming about the future and realized she had her future in the palm of her hand. She could finally, after so many years, make her dream a reality. She could finally go to New York, go back to school to become something other than poor, old, boring inexperienced Nell. But how was she going to fulfill her aspirations of being the quintessential New York City sophisticate if she was still a virgin?

Riley blinked at her a couple of times, then shook his head and screwed his finger in his ear. “Would you say that one more time for me?”

Wiping damp palms on her uniform, she swallowed the lemon-sized lump in her throat. She knew Riley wasn’t attracted to her. He liked pretty women. Thin women. Women who had perfected the art of conversation.

“I was wondering if…” she said in a timid tone. “Well, if you could…teach me how…” She stared at her shoes, noticing she had a spot of country gravy on the left tip and a smear of what looked like peanut butter on the right one. “About sex?”

He just stood there with his mouth open, staring at her as though he couldn’t believe her. She didn’t blame him. He had some of the most beautiful women in three states lining up to seduce him. Why would he even entertain the notion of making love to her?

He leaned against the counter, seeming to ponder her words.

Nell had to admit she just liked looking at him. He was tall and well-built, with the grace of a dancer and the movements of a panther. Wide shoulders tapered down to a trim waist and strong muscular thighs. His skin was a lovely shade of light cinnamon and his hair was cut close to his scalp. Little droplets of water still sparkled on the surface of his black hair.

Once upon a time, she’d dreamed about marrying and starting a family with someone like him. But those young-girl dreams had been abandoned as the years crept by and very few men had showed any romantic interest in her. But the times had changed. Now a horde of single men—and a few not-so-single men—were attempting to insert themselves into her life since word had spread about her inheritance. Greed was a huge incentive for any man to ask out a prissy, plain Jane like herself. “Riley, did you hear what I said?”

He slipped a finger under her chin and forced her head up to meet his gaze. “Why?”

The tip of his finger was warm on her skin. She tried to move away, but her feet refused to move. She even attempted to look away, but his eyes held hers. The intensity of his gaze burned her to the spot. “I have several reasons.”

“Name one.”

“Well—” She shouldn’t have come. Instinct told her to back herself away and hope he forgot she’d ever made this silly suggestion.

She took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound, her grandmother had always said. “Because I’m going to move to New York City.” Boy, did that sound dumb, but she simply didn’t know what else to say.

He blinked again, and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Oh, boy, she needed to say something else—something that made sense. “And because you’re the only single man in this town who hasn’t been calling me up on the phone, sending me flowers, sending me candy or telling me I’m the most beautiful thing that ever graced the planet now that I’m an heiress and have enough money to keep a good man in comfort. Frankly, that makes me think you like me just because I’m me. And that’s why you would be perfect.” Okay, she’d said it all, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a torrent.

Riley nodded, but didn’t say anything for a few seconds as if he needed to give her words time to sink in and make sense. He took his finger from under her chin. “I do like you for you, but what does moving to New York have to do with you needing to learn about sex?”

How did she explain her big dream without sounding dumb? It all made sense in her head. In New York, she didn’t have to be boring old Nell Evans, diner waitress and granddaughter of the stingiest woman in Mississippi. Nor did she have to be the daughter of the easiest woman in Mississippi—a woman who didn’t even know who of all the men she’d slept with, had been Nell’s father. In New York, Nell could be the woman she wanted to be. The one she knew in her heart she was destined to be. She just didn’t want to go there with her backwoods country ways showing like a ripped hem on her skirt. “I can’t be there and be a virgin.”

His dark eyes widened. “You’re still a virgin?” His voice held an almost reverent tone.

She could feel a tingly heat infuse her cheeks. “Yes.”

“How did that happen?” He ran both his hands over his dark hair. “Or how didn’t it happen?”

Sex hadn’t happened because Nell wasn’t exactly the prettiest or most flirtatious girl in town. Nor was she exactly thin. And it didn’t help that her grandmother knew everyone in town and had had the ability to intimidate a marble statue into staying away from Nell. “Well, no one really ever asked me out, that is until I inherited millions of dollars.”

“You sound a little bitter.”

Yes, she was bitter. She’d spent her whole life in Wayloo and not one man had ever been interested until she became the town’s version of a cash cow. Who wouldn’t be bitter?

Since gossip about the will had spread, she’d been getting phone calls and had been sent flowers from every man in town who had aspirations toward wealth. Including the men who’d laughed at her in high school.

“You’re twenty-five years old, Nell,” he continued. “A fully-grown woman.”

She rolled her eyes. He hadn’t been forced to live in the maximum-security prison her grandmother had called a house, where her every move was accounted for. She had stayed with her grandmother out of guilt and some twisted attempt to win the old woman’s love.

Being a good girl had always earned her the only praise her grandmother had thought to issue. “I know how old I am. And trust me, I know about my lack of a social life.” She had to get out of his house and find herself a large rock to hide under and hope he’d never ever mention her being here. Or what she’d asked of him. Suddenly, the embarrassment was too much for her.

He crossed his arms over his powerful chest and rocked back on his heels. “I did.”

“You did what?”

“Ask you out.” He held up three long fingers. “Three times.”

How could he have been serious? No one paid her any mind. All the boys in the area had only wanted to date the pretty girls and she’d never measured up. Too shy and self-conscious, she’d always felt everyone was laughing at her behind her back. “You weren’t serious.”

She saw no deception in the depths of his velvet-brown eyes, but couldn’t believe for a second he thought she was worthy of a date, much less three of them. “We were ten years old.” She held out her arms. “You couldn’t have been serious.” Nell rubbed her forehead. “Were you?”

“Yes, I was.” He flashed her a wicked grin, showing his perfect white teeth. “When I was ten, I was a serious kinda guy.”

This conversation had taken a turn toward the ridiculous. He had to be pulling her leg. “Riley, that doesn’t count.”

His grin widened. “I asked you to the Sadie Hawkins dance when you were in eleventh grade.”

“You were playing a joke on me.” The year before, Avery Prescott, the mayor’s son, had asked her to the Winter Cotillion. She’d been excited that a boy her grandmother deemed good enough had actually sought her out and asked her to the formal dance. She’d been given permission to accept, but when the night finally arrived she’d been left standing in her baby-pink formal gown on the porch waiting for a date who had never intended to show up.

He shook his head. “I was serious as a heart attack.”

“I guess I was kind of gun-shy. I didn’t believe you.” She still remembered being devastated, and at school the next Monday, she’d discovered herself the victim of a cruel joke that had left all of her classmates laughing at her. From that time on, she’d hidden herself in her books, worked at the diner and taken care of her grandmother, who grew more delicate every year as her heart grew weaker. She decided she simply wasn’t the type of girl men wanted to make time for or go to bed with.

“I also asked you out for dinner about seven months after Chloe and I got divorced and again you turned me down.”

“You have dinner at the diner every night.” Of course she was always working in a restaurant full of other people waiting for their food and didn’t have the kind of time she’d like to spend talking to him. “Why didn’t I have a clue?” she asked that question more for herself than him.

“I’m guessing I wasn’t clear enough.” He leaned against the kitchen counter. “Why are you asking me to teach you about sex?”

She felt the blush start beneath the collar of her uniform and spread upward again. “All the single women in town you’ve been running around with say you’re the best at…you know…doing it.” Not that they’d actually said so directly to her. She’d learned a long time ago that most of the women in Wayloo thought she was invisible and talked freely in front of her when they came to the diner for lunch. But she wisely kept that information to herself. She tended to live vicariously through gossip.

His eyebrows shot up. “They do?”

She nodded, moving closer to him. “I figured you know the tricks. After all, you lived in Chicago for five years. Plus, I don’t have to worry about any of the mushy love junk.”

“Mushy love junk?”

Okay, maybe she shouldn’t have said it exactly that way. It did sound a bit rude and unfeeling. Riley wasn’t acting the way she’d envisioned in her mind. She’d thought he’d be…well…more flattered. “I know you’re not going to fall in love with me and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to fall in love with you.” Almost sure. Deep inside, she’d always had some odd feeling for Riley, but had never really taken it out and examined it. He was just another guy her grandmother had disapproved of, so why waste time on thinking about what-ifs.

“You don’t think you could love me?” he asked.

A woman like her would be a fool even to think about setting her sights on such a man as handsome and as eligible as Riley Martin. Since his divorce, the local gossips whispered that he’d been through almost all the single women in the tri-county area. Sex was in his bag of tricks. “It would be silly, since I’m leaving town as soon as I sell the diner and settle all my business. That’s why you’re so perfect. That and the fact that all the women say you’re very good at…well…you know.” She just couldn’t quite say the word sex. She imagined her grandmother sitting on a cloud looking down at her and being horrified at what Nell wanted.

Pride crossed his face. He reminded her of one of her grandmother’s prize roosters strutting through the backyard. “I’m flattered I rate town gossip.” A frown pulled his face down. “At least, I think I am.”

She set her glass of tea down. “I’m starting to believe that this was a very bad idea. I’ll be going.” She turned to leave, the bitter taste of embarrassment in her mouth. She’d given it a shot and had been shot down.

“Hold on,” Riley said.

Nell stopped, knowing she should keep on going, but curiosity was always a demanding thing. And it always seemed to get the better of her at all the wrong times.

“Nell.” Riley pushed away from the counter. “I didn’t say no.”

Nell’s breath caught in her throat. “No, I guess you didn’t.” He looked so big and solid and his mouth was so soft and inviting. She tried to imagine being kissed by Riley, but all she could remember was Jeremy Hill who’d cornered her in seventh grade and tried to kiss her. His kiss had been wet and totally unromantic.

“No, I didn’t.” He took a step toward her.

Her head said leave one more time, but her feet ignored the command. “Riley, may I ask you a question?”

He hovered over her. “You can ask me anything.” His voice had taken on a tone that sent a shiver through Nell.

She looked him straight in the eye. “Why did you ask me to the Sadie Hawkins dance?”

The corner of his mouth tilted up. “Let’s call it the lure of the forbidden.”

She wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, but she certainly wanted to know, if for no other reason than because she got a warm tingly feeling inside her, as if she was doing something really naughty. “I don’t understand.”

Riley closed the distance between them. “You are the eternal good girl with the hot, sex-kitten body. Why wouldn’t I want to go out with you?”

“I’m chubby.” She interrupted him. Her grandmother had told her so often enough.

His nostrils flared as his gaze traveled over her body. “Never. Voluptuous, stacked, loaded if you want to get crude. Everything is in all the right places and in the right amounts. But then again, girls like you were always off-limits to bad boys like me.”

And he had been a bad boy, riding his old motorcycle around town at all hours of the night with his black leather jacket and that sardonic grin all the girls used to squeal about.

Nell thrilled at his compliment. No one had ever told her such things before. For the first time she felt, well, almost pretty. “My grandmother used to say you’d end up in prison or in a trailer park.”

He grinned. “I was pretty bad, wasn’t I?” A look of pride filled his eyes.

She touched his forearm. His dark skin was corded with the structure of the muscles underneath. Tingles rushed up her fingers. She liked how it felt to connect with him. He was strong, powerful and sturdy, as though he could withstand anything. She hadn’t thought physical contact with a man could be so exciting. The hair on the back of her neck rose as a current of electricity danced through her.

“Was, but not anymore.” The words came out in a breathy tone she didn’t even know she was capable of.

“Well,” he said, “I haven’t taken a joyride in Mr. Anderson’s Pontiac in about ten years.”

She felt a laugh struggle to break free. Mr. Anderson had prized his old Pontiac so highly that every high-school boy tried to steal it for a backcountry joyride. Riley had been one of the few to succeed.

In a strange way she wanted to reassure him that as far as she was concerned he’d proven everyone wrong and she was proud of him. He’d become a nationally respected historical restorationist and had been featured on several PBS shows on historic preservation. The houses he restored were featured in magazines. “But you did something with your life. Something real special.”

“Yes, I did.”

“And you made some very important contributions to preserving this town’s history.” Not that she cared about Wayloo’s history, but some of the houses were just too pretty to let rot.

“You didn’t come here to talk about town history.”

“No,” she said in a breathless tone. “You’re right, I didn’t.”

His deep velvety voice was doing strange things to her. Things she shouldn’t let herself admit. After all, she had been talking to him almost every day for the last few years. Of course, they rarely had conversations outside of the diner. Maybe her grandmother was right. Just the mere mention of the word sex made a woman think strange things and want to throw caution to the wind.

“You came to talk about sex.” His eyebrows jiggled. “With me.”

She wanted to cover her flushed cheeks. She wanted to splash the cool tea all over her face. Focus, she admonished herself. Focus on what you came for, Nell. “Um, yes.”

“Why do you want to know about sex?”

She’d spent her entire life looking at life from the outside. She wasn’t going to be the same little mouse in New York she was in Wayloo. She’d be like those women she saw on television and read about in books. In charge of her life, sophisticated and free. “I want to fit in. When I live in the city.”

“What else do you want to know?”

His question surprised her. She’d already told him what she wanted.

He moved closer. “Do you want to learn how it feels to touch a man?”

She was tired of reading romances, of reading about women who knew so much more than she did. “Yes.”

Riley took another step toward her. “About how it is to kiss a man?”

She could almost feel his body heat. “Yes.” Every nerve ached. Despite the air-conditioning her body temperature rose and one side of her brain wondered why and the other side told her to go along with it.

He took another step closer. “And about how to please a man?”

Nell clasped her hands behind her back lest they stray toward him. “Yes.”

“Do you know what’s going to happen between us?”

She’d watched her share of episodes of Sex and the City. She’d read plenty of books. She wasn’t totally uneducated. In theory she knew what went on between men and woman. The practical part she understood, she just lacked the experience. “I know the basics.” Don’t I sound all worldly and wise?

He hooked his finger in between two buttons of her uniform at the gap that sometimes showed between her breasts. “Book-learnin’is only going to take a girl so far. We’re going to have to sleep together.”

She glanced down at his finger. At this moment the polyester was choking her entire body. “I think I can do that.” Maybe not. She felt as though she should run away and never come back.

He moved her backward until she felt the edge of the counter pushing against her hips. “Just wanted you to know how it’s going to be.”

“You’ll do it?” A thousand different emotions pushed through her until her breath seemed to stall inside and she grew light-headed.

“Yeah,” he replied, “I’ll do it.”

The way he emphasized the word it curled her toes. Nell let out a long breath. The last thing on her list completed. “Well, thank you, Riley.” She slipped sideways and turned to leave. Not that leave was the right word, escape was closer in meaning.

Riley grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. “We haven’t hashed out the details yet.”

Nell bit her lip. “Details?”

Something strange appeared in his eyes that sent a spiral of fire down to her belly so strong she bit her bottom lip. Her breath came in shallow gasps. Her body was so hot she wanted to pour the whole pitcher of cold tea over her head.

Riley pushed her tight against the counter, and she was powerless to stop him, even if she’d really wanted to.

He lowered his head, his mouth touching hers with featherlike gentleness. “Everything important is in the details.”

Nell’s mouth opened under the insistent pressure of his lips. Time stopped. She felt Riley’s hands move up her arms. Heat spiraled outward. Though she understood the biology of love, she didn’t understand the pounding wave of anticipation radiating through her.

His tongue slipped between her lips to caress her tongue. Nell’s eyes fluttered closed. The bottom of her stomach dropped out of her world. His body molded to hers. His broad chest flattened her breasts. Nell grabbed the fabric of his shirt in her fists. She stood on tiptoes and opened her mouth wider. Her first real kiss. The kind of kiss an adult man gave an adult woman. Nothing could have been more perfect.

His long, callused fingers climbed up her shoulders and locked behind her neck. The tips of his thumbs caressed her chin. Heat, desire, need overwhelmed her. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. She didn’t want the moment to end. Her nipples tightened in her too-restrictive bra. She wanted to free her breasts, to touch his bare skin. She knew this was bad, but everything felt so right. Her grandmother had lied. His touch was sheer heaven.

Then Riley lifted his head.

Nell couldn’t breathe as she stared into his dark eyes and saw her own startled-doe look reflected back at her. He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world.

His mouth tilted into a wicked smile. “I believe we’ve worked out the first detail.”

Nell wanted to touch the spot he’d kissed to capture the hot memory in her hand and keep it forever. “What’s that?”

“To see whether we have chemistry.”

She couldn’t relax, couldn’t make the heat inside her leave. “Do we?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah.”

Good, she thought. Now there was only one question left for her to ask. “When do we get started?”