All I Want Is You (6 page)

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Authors: Kayla Perrin

BOOK: All I Want Is You
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Chapter 7
When Chantal dropped Mikki off at the house, Mikki all but ran out of the car. She was certain that her sister had figured out that something had happened between her and Barry. How could she not have, with all of Mikki's blubbering about the man?
But maybe Chantal hadn't figured anything out. Maybe Mikki was simply being extra-sensitive. Though what was that whole part about Chantal thinking she and Barry would have gotten together in high school?
As if! They'd been friends, nothing else.
Mikki didn't want to think about Barry and whether her sister would soon put the pieces together of their raunchy night. She needed a distraction.
She would go to her old stomping grounds where she'd done plenty of thinking as a teen. The mall.
And she would kill two birds with one stone. Because she wanted to clear her head
and
get some new clothes for the next wedding dinner. She didn't want to be the only one in the room dressed for the office.
No, tonight she was going to wear newer, sexier clothes.
Seeing Barry last night had been more than alarming. It had been embarrassing.
It was one thing to have behaved shamelessly with him. It was another thing to have realized that she'd been wearing her comfy undergarments at the time—undies that her friends had labeled
granny panties.
But it was the ultimate embarrassment to have been wearing granny panties and then having to see the man again.
If the occasion arose a second time, she wanted to have something decent underneath her clothes—
Mikki stopped the thought abruptly. What was she thinking? Was she actually considering going to bed with Barry
again
?
Where on earth had that thought come from?
It was hypothetical, of course.
Whoever
she went to bed with next would benefit from her sexier choice of underwear.
And what if Alex called her up and wanted to reconcile? She would prove to him that she wasn't boring in the bedroom, starting by having a wardrobe that wasn't boring.
Although Alex had never cared what she wore and had been more interested in getting her naked as quickly as possible. He didn't need any enticements in terms of lingerie and sexy clothing. Alex had been turned on all the time.
But perhaps there was nothing wrong with changing her style. She hadn't caved to societal pressures before in terms of clothing, mostly because she hadn't been part of the popular crowd in high school. She had seen how superficial people got regarding the right shoes, the right purse, and all that nonsense. Mikki had always dressed for her own comfort.
So on some level, she thought it was ridiculous to start caring about dressing to impress when she hadn't thus far in her life. Clearly, Alexander had really done a number on her self-esteem, making her determined to show people—at least outwardly—that she was a sexy woman.
No more frumpy panties for her. She only hoped that whatever had happened with Barry, he had been taking off her clothes so quickly that he hadn't noticed her pathetic undies.
Mikki borrowed her mother's car and went to Miami International Mall, which was fairly close to her Coral Gables home. It had been her favorite mall to shop at while she'd lived in South Florida. Her sister was off tending to last-minute wedding plans, which gave Mikki the opportunity to head to the mall on her own.
It was stupid, going lingerie shopping in Florida when she could have had all kinds of discounts at the shop in New York where Isabel and Debbie worked.
But at that time, she hadn't run into Barry again . . .
I'm not doing this because of Barry,
she told herself, but that felt like a lie. All Mikki knew was that every time she thought of Barry, she felt a tingle of arousal.
Her first stop was Frederick's of Hollywood to check out their selection of lingerie. But she blushed when she saw some of the racy panties. Which was weird, because she saw all kinds of racy lingerie at her friends' boutique in New York.
But then, she hadn't been thinking of items to buy for herself. Items that would drive a man wild.
Alex had needed no lingerie to get in the mood, which was perhaps why Mikki hadn't bothered with any of it. But she couldn't go from conservative to risqué. So she left Frederick's of Hollywood, because this store was definitely not for her.
She went to Victoria's Secret, where she found more classic lingerie. This was more her style. Delicately embroidered push-up bras and lacy panties. Items that were pretty and sexy at the same time.
Mikki went into a changing room and undressed. As she slipped off her bra, she stared at her naked breasts.
And then came the image that had flashed into her mind yesterday, of Barry's lips wrapped around her nipple. She was lying down, arching her back. Moaning. And as Barry gently suckled one breast, he tweaked her other nipple.
Mikki drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes. She went with the thought, allowed herself to enjoy the image.
Then her eyes popped open. A memory?
Her body felt flushed, and in the privacy of the dressing room, she closed her eyes again. This time, the image that came to her was of Barry's face between her thighs.
Wetness pooled between her legs, and Mikki jerked her eyes open. What was she doing?
Fantasizing about Barry in a Victoria's Secret dressing room? That was crazy, wasn't it?
Trying to push the man out of her thoughts, Mikki set about trying on the various bras and liked the way her breasts looked in them. They gave her great cleavage, made her look bountiful.
She exited the changing room, prepared to buy most of what she'd tried on. En route to the cash register, she passed a table filled with thongs, and she paused to check them out. Some were lacy, some frilly—but all were the kind of panty she had never worn. Isabel swore by them, said that thongs were the best because you had no panty lines.
But there was something else Isabel had said. She claimed that wearing sexy lingerie made a woman feel sexier.
Mikki was prepared to discover just how sexy.
As she brought her mound of items to the cash register, a part of her once again wondered if she was doing this for Barry. As a way to eradicate the embarrassment she felt over the fact that he had seen her in the cotton undergarments she wore for comfort as opposed to style.
But how was buying sexy lingerie going to erase her embarrassment . . . unless she was actually considering sleeping with him again?
Gritting her teeth, Mikki realized that she had more than once considered the idea of going to bed with Barry again. More than once today alone. Not to mention the erotic images of him and her together that were definitely turning her on.
What Barry had said must be getting to her, those words he had whispered hotly into her ear.
Because you had a good time . . .
Those words, she was sure, had led to her erotic dream. To the steamy images filling her mind now. More and more she was wondering if she was beginning to remember their night together.
“Find everything okay?” the clerk at the register asked her.
“Yes,” Mikki said. She didn't meet the woman's eyes directly, still rocked by the erotic thoughts in the changing room. Rocked by the way her body, even now, was thrumming with sexual desire.
Leaving Victoria's Secret, Mikki hit more stores and bought short skirts, low-cut tops, and a few pairs of sexy boots and shoes. The items in her bags were not the kind she would typically wear, but she was ready to embrace her sexy side.
Several bags of purchases in her hand, Mikki went back through Sears and to the doors that would lead to her parked car.
But when she stepped out of the door and outside, her heart sank into her stomach.
Because there was Barry, walking toward her.
Chapter 8
Mikki gulped. The object of her lust was standing not ten feet away from her. How was it conceivable that he was once again at the exact same spot on the planet that she was?
Now she really had to wonder if Barry was possibly following her. He just
happened
to be at this mall at the same time she was, and at the same part?
His lips curled in a wide grin, making it clear he had seen her.
“Mikki,” Barry said cheerfully as he reached her. She had stopped walking, seeming to forget how to.
“Okay, be honest,” Mikki began. “You
are
following me, aren't you?”
Barry chuckled. “Maybe it's fate that we keep running into each other.”
Mikki's eyes widened, the fact that Barry was stating the same thing Isabel had making her feel unsettled.
“Do I scare you?” Barry asked suddenly.
Mikki guffawed. “Scare me? Of course not.”
“The way your eyes just widened—”
“So?”
“And then there's the fact that you seem unable to look at me . . .”
“I can look at you.” She met his gaze but didn't hold it.
“Only briefly,” Barry told her. “You look at me for a few seconds, and then you turn away.”
Mikki laughed. “Sounds to me like someone has ego issues.”
“Ouch.”
Mikki swallowed. She didn't mean what she'd said. It was just that a part of her wanted to run in the other direction when she saw him.
Either that or throw herself at him.
“If you were serious about not following me, then I assume you've come to this mall to shop. I'll let you get to it.”
“Victoria's Secret,” Barry said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Looks like you did some serious shopping. Not going to show me what you bought?”
“That's a little bit forward, don't you think?”
“Is it?” Barry challenged. “I've already seen you naked, after all.”
Mikki's eyes bulged once more. Barry did
not
just say that. Had he become a different person simply because he no longer looked like the geeky teen he had once been? Was that why he was being so bold with her?
And why did Mikki want nothing more than for him to kiss her?
But the last thing she wanted to do was acknowledge what he'd said, much less make it appear that his words were getting to her. Because he was enjoying this. Enjoying the knowledge that he had turned her into some wild woman in the bedroom.
“And you used to like showing me your radical purchases back in the day. All those outfits that went against the grain. Remember?”
A smile touched her lips. She did. “Well, that was a long time ago. A lot has changed.”
“Oh yes, it has. Most definitely.”
Was that his way of referring to the fact that they'd slept together? If so, Mikki had led him right into that one.
But she wasn't going to go there, so she said, “I've got to go. Lots to do before the wedding. Happy shopping.”
Mikki hustled off in the direction of her car, which was a short distance away, not daring to look over her shoulder. She hated that she would have to see Barry later, or ever again, given how much fun he was having at her expense.
She wasn't entirely sure that he wasn't stalking her. Irrational, maybe. But not impossible.
Even as she had the thought, she knew it was ridiculous. Barry was related to Ken. He had a perfectly logical reason for being in Florida, just as she did. It's just that she was flustered. She'd broken up with Alex, she'd slept with Barry, and now she would have to deal with him until her sister's wedding was over. Could life get any worse for her?
Mikki got to her car and searched for the keys in her purse but couldn't find them anywhere. “Come on,” she muttered. They
had
to be in her bag. “Where did I put you?”
As her fingers failed to close around anything metal, Mikki peered into the car. And she saw the mistake she'd made. Both the keys and her cell phone were on the passenger seat.
“Dammit,” she cursed. This could
not
be happening. Not now.
She stood there for at least a minute, wondering what to do. Then she glanced over her shoulder and saw that Barry was still standing where she had left him. Looking at her, he was clearly wondering what was going on.
Mikki didn't want to go back over to him. Perhaps it was the ease with which he spoke to her about what she'd purchased. Perhaps it was the fact that embarrassment ran through her veins every time she looked at him, given that she'd slept with him and couldn't remember it. And like a bad habit, she couldn't seem to escape him.
But she wanted to keep her distance. As much as physically possible.
Still, she was in a bind right now. Once again she glanced at Barry.
He was still standing in front of Sears, staring in her direction. Of course.
Oh, what the hell. If she needed his help, she needed his help. She didn't have to make a federal case out of it.
Drawing in a deep breath, she made her way back across the parking lot to the front of the mall where Barry stood.
“Car trouble?” he asked. “Or did you come back to spend more time with me?” He softened the question with a smile.
“I locked my keys in the car,” Mikki told him frankly.
“Fate,” Barry muttered.
Mikki narrowed her eyes at him. Now wasn't the time for jokes. “Do you have a phone? I also left that in the car.”
“Sure.” Barry produced a BlackBerry. “Who are you going to call?”
“Triple A,” Mikki told him. “My mother gave me the membership card when I took the car. And here I thought she was being extra cautious.”
“Word to the wise—the last time I called Triple A, it took two hours for the tow truck to arrive. And there's that dinner for the bridal party tonight. Food for thought.”
Mikki frowned. Then something came to her. She was borrowing her parents' car. Certainly they had another key at home.
“Actually, I'll just call my mother. She probably has an extra key for the car. Of course, she said she'd be baking all day, and my sister would have to go pick up the key since my parents only have one car . . .” Mikki groaned. Her sister likely wouldn't have the time to spare right now. “Damn, I just figured I would come out here, grab a few things, and then head back home. So much for that plan.”
“You know,” Barry began, “I can take you home. It's no big deal.”
Fate.
That was the word that popped into Mikki's mind. Because it certainly seemed as though the gods were conspiring to keep them together.
“If there's an extra key at the house, we can get it, I can drive you back here, you get the car—problem solved. No need to have your mother or father track down your sister when I'm right here.”
Barry was right. And there was no need to call AAA. In fact, no time to call them. She had to get home and get dressed for the dinner, as well as do her hair and makeup. Tonight, she was going to unveil her new image. It would be Mikki's way of showing to the world—and Alex perhaps, even though he wasn't there—that she was not boring sexually.
“I guess that makes sense,” she told him. “But don't you have your own shopping to do?”
“When I get you back here, I'll do my shopping.”
Mikki followed Barry to his vehicle, a black Ford Explorer that he was renting for his trip. It was large and roomy. Opening the passenger door for her first, he let her get seated, and then he took her purchases and put them in the backseat.
As Mikki got comfortable in the front seat, she remembered the last time she had been in a car with Barry. It had been the night of the Spring Formal, and she'd been devastated because she'd found her date, Chad Who-Cared-Anymore, in a corner of the darkened gym with Keisha, a cheerleader who was known to put out for all the guys. Barry had gone to the dance hoping that Tiffany would grace him with at least a smile and perhaps some time on the dance floor, but it hadn't happened. And once Mikki had learned that Chad was hoping to get lucky with someone who
would
put out, she had turned to Barry for comfort. As he'd driven her home, Barry had put her in a better mood by telling her all the ways he would torture Chad if he could get away with it.
As Barry got into the car, she looked at him. Really looked at him. Since running into him again, she hadn't done that—looked at him like he was the friend she'd once been close to.
Maybe it was hard to face him because they'd crossed that friendship line.
“What ever happened to Tiffany?” she asked.
“Tiffany?” He sounded surprised.
“You remember. You had a wicked crush on her in high school.”
“Ah, right. Well, as you know, that went nowhere.”
“I always thought she was stupid not to date you. You were such a sweetie, much nicer than that jerk she was involved with.”
“Only one girl I ever loved in high school.” Barry shrugged. “But she didn't love me back.”
Barry held her gaze, and Mikki felt a stirring in her gut. She glanced away.
“I'm assuming your parents still live at the same house?” Barry said.
“You remember where?” Mikki asked.
“Of course. How could I forget?”
“Thirteen years is a long time.”
“Not so long that you forget the important things.”
Silence fell between them as they drove, Mikki thinking about a past she would be happy to forget. She didn't have the worst high school experience ever, but it had been far from the best. She hadn't had a ton of friends, and she hadn't run in the popular circles.
Maybe that's why she and Barry had connected, because he had definitely not been in a popular crowd.
“Why do you look so unhappy?” Barry suddenly asked.
“I'm not unhappy.”
“If you're not,” Barry began, “you're doing a pretty good impression.”
Was she? Even as the question sounded in her mind, she realized that she was leaning against the car door, as though trying to put as much physical space between her and Barry as possible.
“It's just . . . it's being home,” she told him. “Remembering the past. Remembering that feeling in high school that things never quite worked out for me.”
Barry narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about? You're in New York, working for a law firm. That doesn't sound like things not working out for you.”
“How about the fact that I was supposed to come down here with my boyfriend? But he broke up with me last week, just in time for Christmas—and just in time for me to go to my sister's wedding like a spinster in the making.”
“Alex-the-Not-So-Great,” Barry said.
Mikki whipped her head in his direction. “You know him?”
“You told me all about him.”
“I . . . I did?”
Barry nodded. “Uh-huh. In the taxi. And in my hotel room, before . . . well, before. And afterward . . .”
Mikki stared at Barry. “Afterward what?”
“Afterward, you kept telling me how much better I was in bed than Alex.”
Mikki's face flushed hotly. Had Barry really just said that? Had she?
“Just keeping it real,” Barry explained as she looked at him. “In fact, you went on about how you only dated him because you thought he was the kind of guy you
should
be dating, and you were a little pissed that he turned the tables on you and broke up with you for such shallow reasons.”
“Oh my God.” What exactly had Mikki said?
“And for the record, you are not boring in bed. Absolutely not.”
Mikki couldn't look at him. How could she look at him? She didn't remember what she had said, what she had done.
“No need to be embarrassed,” Barry told her. “You were sharing your problems with me . . . just like old times.”
“Except for the sleeping-with-you part,” Mikki quipped. There, she'd said it.
“Yeah, there was that.” Barry breathed in deeply. “But you want the truth?”
Mikki looked at him, her pulse racing as she wondered if he was going to tell her that he had been messing with her all along. That they
hadn't
really slept together.
But he said, “I thought you were going to sleep it off in my hotel room. Because, yeah, you were pretty tipsy. But you . . . you weren't having it. I told you no, let's wait, but you were . . . Let's just say you were pretty eager to make love.”

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