Читать книгу The Millionaires' Club: David, Clint & Travis - Kathie DeNosky - Страница 11

Five

“A surprise for me?” Marissa asked, startled. “David, you barely know me!”

He framed her face with his hands and her heart thudded as she gazed up at him. “I intend to know you better,” he said, his honeyed voice escalating the reactions to him that she had already been having. His hands were warm on her face while his expression showed unmistakable desire. Her lips parted and she drew a deep breath, finding it difficult to get any air.

Torn with conflicting emotions, she caught his wrists. “This is a job. You’re my employer. David, we should keep this businesslike.”

“Give me one good reason,” he said quietly.

“So one of us doesn’t fall in love and get a broken heart.”

“Are you ready for a serious relationship?” he asked.

“No! That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Marissa exclaimed. “I trusted my ex-husband completely, and he used me and broke that trust. He was unfaithful and I don’t think he ever intended to stay married. He was just waiting while I worked to help put him through medical school. Right now, I don’t want to get involved with anyone again.”

“I don’t, either,” David replied. “That makes us immune to hurts. Just relax and lighten up. You were hurt, you need to get out and live a little, and some of the hurt might go away.”

“You should be in sales,” she said dryly, wondering if he was more than barely listening to her. “That’s the argument of someone who’s never been hurt.”

“I’ve never been through divorce,” he admitted, “but you can’t shut yourself off from life. Not you. You’re too filled with life yourself to withdraw from the world.”

“Argue all you want,” she said with exasperation, too aware of his thumbs moving lightly on her cheeks. “I’ve had enough experience with getting hurt and I know what I’m talking about.”

“You’d think I’m getting ready to propose. This is no big deal. Relax and enjoy yourself. I don’t think you’ve done that for a long time. Now, close your eyes, Rissa,” he instructed softly.

The nickname was a lick of fire along her veins. No one had ever called her Rissa or any other nickname. Said in his husky voice, it was special, filling her with warmth. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“I’ll be right back. Keep your eyes closed.”

She never heard him leave, realizing he could be very quiet when he wanted, but she knew when he stopped touching her. Why did she have such an intense reaction to the man? Why couldn’t she see him like she saw other men? Her excitement grew, more over David than over possibilities of a surprise. Why was he giving her a surprise? He had continually caught her off balance from the first moment she had looked across the counter into his green gaze.

“All right, open your eyes.” He stood in front of her holding a stack of boxes. “These are for you. Open the big one first,” he suggested. “Then the others make more sense.”

Conscious that he stood nearby watching her, she moved aside smaller boxes and lifted the lid on the largest box. Shuffling aside layers of tissue paper that crackled to the touch, she held up a lightweight black wool dress. It was slim, tailored and beautiful. “David, it’s gorgeous!” she exclaimed, and then realized all the implications.

“I can’t take this!” she gasped, turning to look at him. “This is a bribe, David Sorrenson!”

“Of course you can take it. It’s yours now. It’s not something I want,” he added dryly. “And it isn’t a bribe. It’s a gift.”

“You know I can’t take this. Sneaky and underhanded is what I’d call this,” she said, feeling as if she were drowning in his persistence and her own needs, knowing she was hurtling headlong into hurt with every moment they were together.

“Sneaky and underhanded sometimes gets you what you want. Now, stop arguing. It’s yours. Wear it with me Saturday night. I want to take you out. The Texas Cattleman’s Club has dinner dances twice a month on Saturday night. I want to take you to this one. Now, open your other presents.”

“You’ll go to any lengths to get your way,” she muttered, exasperated and delighted at the same time. He was coming on too strong, too fast, and she was too attracted to him, too susceptible. “Absolutely—”

He placed his fingers lightly on her lips. “Shh. Think it over before you disappoint both of us.”

He stepped close, sliding his hand around her waist and tilting her chin up to look down into her eyes. “As to going to any lengths to get my way—guilty as charged. Especially when what I’m after is a beautiful, sexy woman who has ruined my sleep and is driving me wild with her arguments. Wear the black dress and go out with me,” he coaxed softly in a seductive voice. “Let’s go out Saturday night.”

“What about Autumn?”

“I already have that taken care of,” he answered.

“How can I say no to that?” she whispered, lost in the depths of his gaze.

“Good!” he replied, taking the dress from her hands and tossing it on a chair. He leaned down to switch off the lamp, leaving only the flickering light from the fireplace and the light in the other part of the kitchen behind them.

Her breathing altered as he straightened, letting his gaze drift down to her mouth. “I’ve been waiting since yesterday, Rissa,” he whispered.

“I know I should say no to you.”

“Never,” he whispered, trailing kisses along her throat and over her ear. She inhaled deeply, looking at him so close. He was clean-shaven, his thick raven hair neatly combed.

“David, listen to me,” she protested, placing her hands on his forearms, a tactical error because every physical contact turned her brains to more mush.

“You listen to me,” he whispered, brushing her lips lightly, so tantalizingly, with his.

She could barely listen to anything except the thunder roll of her heart. “No, no and double no.”

“Yes, yes and triple yes,” he replied. “There’s no good reason to avoid a few hours out together, a few hours of dancing, good food and companionship, that has us both relaxed and content. Deny that one, Rissa.”

How could she deny him anything? “I’m lost,” she whispered without thinking. “Hopelessly.”

“Ah,” he said. Vaguely, she heard the satisfaction in his voice and knew she was defeated. How could she persist in a fight about going out with the man she had dreamed of having a date with for years?

His mouth possessed hers, his tongue stroking and playing until the blinding spiral of heat tightened and burst into searing longing. He had stormed her barriers and won the battle. She couldn’t resist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, snuggling against the solidity of him and hearing a groan caught deep in his throat.

“You dirty fighter,” she whispered, coming up for air and running her fingers through his hair.

“If I win, it’s worth it,” he answered, and then his mouth covered her reply and her battle ended. With a thrill she felt his hard length pressed against her, her thighs against his muscled thighs, her breasts against his sculpted chest.

While he caressed her nape with one hand, his arm held her tightly. Their breathing became ragged; his kisses deepened.

She knew she was playing with a fire that sooner or later was going to burn her to cinders, but she couldn’t stop. Not when his heady kisses melted every impulse to resist.

His hand slid down her back, and then he tugged her T-shirt out of her jeans and slipped his hand beneath her shirt. His hand was warm, callused, delightful. While fiery tingles increased, his hand slid around to cup her breast.

She gasped as new sensations shot through her, heating her further, driving her wild. When she pressed her hips against him, she felt his hard response to her.

He tugged away her T-shirt and flung it aside, unsnapping her wisp of a bra and pushing it off her shoulders. Then he cupped her breasts in his large, tanned hands, his thumbs circling and caressing her taut nipples.

She cried out, holding his strong upper arms, closing her eyes and immobilized by nerve responses that streaked from his touch. Trembling, she grasped him, wanting him, wanting everything, knowing she shouldn’t be wanting any of his loving.

Enjoy the moment danced through her mind. Just for a time. A time to lose her heart completely. She slipped her hands beneath his sweater, running her fingers through coarse chest hair, over his hard muscles, stroking his nipples and hearing him groan again, a sound lost in their kisses.

In seconds, he tugged his sweater over his head and tossed it away, pulling her close against him while he continued to kiss her.

She caressed his smooth back, wanting to touch and be touched, unable to believe that this was David who was kissing her and wanting her to go out with him. How many dreams had been spun around him, how many nights of fantasy! Now he was here, his strong arms around her, and he wanted her. He was wicked temptation and irresistible desire.

His hands were at the belt of her jeans when she realized where they were headed. She caught his wrists in her grasp, twisting slightly to look up at him.

“David, you have to stop. You’re going way too fast,” she gasped, melting under his gaze.

“You’re beautiful, Rissa,” he whispered, stepping away slightly.

Quickly, she picked up her T-shirt, yanking it over her head. As soon as she pulled it down, she again met his smoldering gaze, which was as potent as a caress.

His jeans bulged with his evident arousal, and he reached out to stroke her cheek. He stepped close and pulled her into his arms to kiss her again.

Even though Marissa intended to push him away, she wrapped her arms around his neck. David leaned back to look down at her. “Come out with me Saturday night,” he rumbled. “Say you’ll go.”

“I’ll go,” Marissa said finally. “But let me catch my breath. You go far too fast for me, David.”

Suddenly he grinned, an infectious, white-toothed grin that dazzled her.

“Yee-ha!” he exclaimed, throwing back his head and letting out another whoop. “We’ve got a Saturday night date!”

She couldn’t keep from laughing. “You browbeat me into it.”

“You call that browbeating?” he asked. “I have another name for it.”

“Seduction,” she said. “Watch out, David. You’re playing with fire.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“I guess with a Special Ops background, you like risks and life on the wild side, but I don’t. I don’t want more hurt.”

He tilted her chin up, lifting long strands of dark blond hair away from her face. “My last intention is to hurt you,” he said, and his voice held such an unmistakable note of tenderness that it made her knees weak.

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” she replied. “And slow down with the seductive kisses, because I have no intention of finding myself in your bed.”

“Is that right? I’ll remember that. At the same time,” he drawled, letting his hands slide down her arms and settle on her waist while his gaze drifted leisurely over her, “maybe my goal is to get you into my bed.”

Marissa sighed. “Half of me thinks you’re teasing and half of me thinks you’re serious and both halves are right.” She leaned over to snatch up her lacy bra and jam it into her jeans pocket. She turned to find him still watching her.

“Sit over there, and I’ll sit over here and we can talk,” she announced, trying to summon as much force into her voice as possible, knowing she was failing and he wouldn’t care, anyway.

“Darlin’, how about a compromise?” he asked, sweeping her into his arms and going to the sofa to set her down in one corner. He turned and sat in the other corner, twisting to face her and smile at her. “How’s this? There’s space between us, but I can still touch you a little.” Stretching out his long arm, he caught tendrils of her hair and twirled them in his fingers.

He was too close if he was in the same room with her, but at least she had slowed him down enough that she could gather her wits. She tried to ignore the fact that her body ached and tingled and burned for more. She could happily drown in his kisses for the rest of the night, but she knew where that would lead and that wasn’t what wisdom indicated she should do.

And that magnificent chest was still bare and still in touching distance. And far too distracting for a regular conversation. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked him, giving his chest a once-over again.

His brows arched. “You want me to put on my sweater? My chest disturbs you?” he asked with great innocence.

“You know what you’re doing,” Marissa snapped. “Go without your sweater. I can resist your chest,” she added, and he grinned, snaking out his long arm to grab his sweater and pull it over his head. He raked his fingers through his hair and it sprang back in thick waves. Marissa knew it didn’t matter a whole lot whether he had on his sweater or not because everything about him stirred her hormones.

“So if we go out—” she said.

“You said yes. When we go out—not if,” he reminded her.

“When we go out, who is taking care of Autumn?”

“I have that all worked out,” he replied smoothly, his fingers caressing her nape as he shifted a few inches closer to her. “I have a neighbor and fellow Texas Cattleman’s Club member and friend, Jason Windover, and his wife, Meredith. They have a little boy who was born in June of this year. We’ll take Autumn to their house. Meredith is great, and Jason is ex-FBI so Autumn will be safe. How’s that?”

“Ex-FBI? Autumn needs an FBI or Special Ops person around? Is she in danger?”

“She could be. No one knows because we don’t know anything about the mother,” he replied, letting strands of Marissa’s hair slide through his fingers. She found it difficult to keep her focus on their conversation. Tingles and aches tormented her while her attention was drawn like a magnet to David, and even though his chest was covered by his sweater, she knew it was there, temptingly close to touch and kiss.

“But you do know something,” she pressed.

“Yes, a little,” he replied, and related all the incidents of the night Autumn and her mother came to town.

“Half a million dollars! David, someone is probably after that money!” Marissa tilted her head to study him. “Out of the goodness of your hearts, you guys are guarding her, caring for her baby, safeguarding the money and trying to find out her identity?”

“Something like that,” he answered solemnly.

Memories flitted to mind, dredged up from the past as she studied him. “I remember some rumors about Texas Cattleman’s Club guys helping people in trouble. It’s true, isn’t it, David?”

“That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

“You don’t have any idea how much danger Autumn is in?”

“No, we don’t. Chances are, someone is after the mother and the money. Unless she kidnapped the child and took the money. Then that’s different. But I think it’s probably the mother who is in the greatest danger.”

“Well, I’m glad you told me,” Marissa said, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re safe here on the ranch. I have alarms all around the house and the outbuildings. I have dogs.”

“I met two of the dogs last week, and they’re as ferocious as pudding,” Marissa pointed out.

“They bark and they’re good about strangers,” David replied. “And I have six dogs on the place. The guys who work here have been alerted and Gertie is always cautious. My Dad wanted this ranch to be a shelter from the world and he started all this security stuff. Then, when I was in the military, I added to it.”

“You might have warned me.”

“You’re not in danger, or I would have. Besides, I’m close at hand.”

“You may be my greatest danger,” she replied breathlessly, because he was lightly caressing her nape.

“I’m no threat to you,” he replied blandly. “Wait until Saturday night and you’ll see that all your fears were for naught.”

“Right,” she replied, suspecting she was going to regret her Saturday night date with him for a long time. “And regarding Saturday night. Will we pick Autumn up on the way home?”

“Yes,” he replied, leaning a little closer and letting his fingers skim across her back and shoulders as he twirled long strands of her hair in his hand. “Or, Meredith said we can leave Autumn all night.”

“No way. We pick her up,” Marissa said firmly, trying to ignore the effect he was having just playing with her hair and lightly touching her. She was aware of each little tug and pull, aware when his hand stroked her. “Autumn is too little. I want to bring her back here.” She did not add that she also didn’t want the temptation of being alone with David.

He smiled. “I think I picked the best nanny in all of Texas. You’d think you were her mother.”

“She’s too little to leave with someone else all night long.”

“I won’t argue about it. As long as we have Saturday night, I’ll be happy to pick her up. As far as leaving Autumn with someone else—she’s here with us, instead of being with her mother, and she spent one night with just me, a totally inexperienced male, which was not the greatest for her. But if you want to bring her home Saturday night, that’s what we’ll do,” he said, and smiled at her.

“Thank you. It’s definitely what I want to do.”

“She’ll be in good hands, I assure you.”

Marissa stood and picked up the black dress and held it up. “This is beautiful,” she said. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I did what I wanted to do.”

“I’m sure you did!” she exclaimed, laughing and he shrugged. “I haven’t opened my other presents.”

Returning to the sofa, she picked up another box and opened it to find a pair of black pumps. She looked at him quizzically. “How’d you know what size to get?”

“Do I have the right size?”

She studied the pump. “Yes, you do.”

“My special magic.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, eyeing him and wondering when he had peeked at her things. “Well, they’re perfect. Now, what’s this?” She opened a fancy small box tied in a pink bow.

She opened the tiny box and lifted out a shimmering gold bracelet. “David, it’s beautiful! You shouldn’t have done all this.”

“I wanted to,” he said, taking the bracelet from her in his large fingers. “Hold out your arm.”

She did as she was told and he fastened the bracelet on her wrist. It caught glints of light from the fire as she twisted her wrist back and forth. “It’s beautiful!” She looked up at him. “Thank you for everything,” she said, deciding she would stop arguing with him about keeping his gifts.

“Wear it all Saturday night. That’s what I bought it for.”

“If you have seduction in mind, I can tell you now—”

Once again he stopped her, placing his hand on her lips. “Shh, Rissa. Just wear them and look pretty. That’s all. There will be time later for seduction.”

She didn’t know whether to be angry or pleased, and his words spun in her mind and she knew she would remember this moment forever. “The presents are a delight,” she said, turning the bracelet and watching it reflect glints of light in the gold. “Your motive might not be. You’re very sure of yourself.”

“Would you rather I bite my nails when I ask you to go out with me?”

“It would be a change.”

“I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”

She shook her hair away from her face, crossed her legs beneath her on the sofa and turned to face him. “Thanks, again. That was a delightful surprise.”

The phone rang and David crossed the room to pick it up. He talked softly and Marissa’s thoughts were on the gifts he had given her and the coming Saturday night date.

When he replaced the receiver and sat down, his expression was solemn. “That was Clint Andover. A man tried to slip into our Jane Doe’s room tonight.”