Close Enough to Touch (30 page)

Beth.
His hands were on Beth
Cantrell. His brain flickered through panicked thoughts.

Holy shit. His hands were on Beth Cantrell in his
brewery.

He felt her trying to step away, but somehow his hands
tightened on her shoulders as he glanced at the doors behind him. Jamie was
still in the kitchen. As long as he didn’t head out to the front room,
everything would be fine. No harm, no foul. No reason to panic.

Except, what the hell was she doing at the brewery? Had she
come to see him?

“Beth,” he started, just as she slipped away from his hold. The
tingling in his fingertips faded slowly, but now it had progressed to his
brain.

If Jamie walked into the front room, Beth would be awfully
surprised to meet him. Emphasis on awful.

When she backed a few feet away, Eric followed, hoping they’d
be unnoticeable in the hallway.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” She was just as stunning as she had been six
months before. Just as gorgeous and sophisticated. Her dark hair wasn’t pinned
up tonight, and it fell over her shoulders in soft waves. Her body, all long
legs and generous hips, had mesmerized him the first time he’d laid eyes on her,
and it was no different now. He drank in the sight of her curves until her dark
gaze slipped past him.

He looked behind himself again, but no one was there. If Jamie
walked in, if someone said his name…

God, maybe he should just tell her. Maybe it wouldn’t be that
big of a deal.
Funny thing, when you called me Jamie at the
business expo…I should’ve corrected you. My name’s actually Eric. Crazy,
huh?
And then she’d laugh and shake her head and tell him it didn’t
really matter because it had just been a one-night stand.

Yeah. Sure. He’d be lucky if she didn’t murder him right there
with one of her stiletto heels.

Beyond the adrenaline pushing through his veins, Eric’s skin
still prickled at the idea of being close to her again. Because he could still
picture that night perfectly. Her body naked. Her lips parted on a moan. Her ass
plump and firm, the muscles flexing as he fucked her from behind. Heat washed
over him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Heat seemed to wash over her, too. Her cheeks turned pink. Had
she come to see him? As anxious as he was, Eric felt a sudden, ferocious hope.
He wanted to touch her again. Wanted to feel those sparks. The lust. The
need.

He shifted closer, close enough to touch. When Beth closed her
eyes, he clenched his hands to fists and stopped himself while he still
could.

* * *

B
ETH
ALMOST
CONVINCED
herself she was just imagining him. He smelled the same.
And he looked exactly the same: dark-haired and tall, his brow furrowed in
worry, as if he never set his thoughts aside, no matter what month or week or
time it was.

“Beth?” he said again, and she suddenly felt as if she’d
swallowed a heart that was way too big for her chest. She wanted him to touch
her so she could turn to him. At the same time she wanted to edge around him and
run away.

She shook her head and opened her eyes.

He stole another quick glance over his shoulder before turning
back to her. “How are you?”

“Good,” she managed to say. “Great. I’m actually here with a
party.”

“Oh.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You know Faron?”

“Yes! I…” She shifted her purse to the other hand, then back
again. “Exactly. I know Faron.” It wasn’t quite a lie. They had friends in
common. They’d been introduced a couple of times over the years.

The hallway was too small, despite being five feet across. His
shoulders were so wide, and her memories too big, and the space just kept
getting tighter and tighter. He cleared his throat, and she saw that he was just
as uncomfortable as she was.

“I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I didn’t realize the party was here
when I agreed to come. I honestly didn’t mean to…”

“Of course not,” he said quickly. “Come by anytime.” But his
gray-blue eyes darted nervously down the hall again. Maybe he had a girlfriend
now. Maybe she was one of the servers.

Beth wished the floor would open up and swallow her and her
sickly thumping heart.

“I was just leaving,” she finally said.

Jamie stepped back. “Great. I mean, sure. Of course. That’s
good. Have a nice night.”

Mortified, she edged past him and hurried back to the party.
“Welcome back!” her date said when she found him and hovered a foot away.

“Thanks.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” She smiled and he handed her the beer she’d left
behind. When she saw the way her hand was shaking, Beth took a seat at the
nearest table and carefully set the beer down.

When he joined her, she hid a cringe. Was Jamie watching? She
took a sip of beer to try to wet her parched mouth.

Beth glanced toward the bar, but didn’t spy Jamie anywhere.
“I’m sorry,” she managed to say, then hesitated over his name again. “I…”

Davis!
That was his name. Not
David, but Davis, after Miles Davis, because this man had been cool since the
day his parents had named him.

Beth felt guilty for her snarky thought, but her guilt vanished
in an instant when she heard a girl cry out, “Hi, Jamie!”

Beth’s head snapped up so quickly that Davis’s voice cut off as
if she’d sliced his words with a knife.

“Beth? Are you sure everything is okay?”

Definitely not. She scanned the crowded area near the bar, but
she didn’t see him. While she watched, a cute blond guy in a brewery T-shirt
waved toward someone. A girl broke free of the group and gave him a big hug.

“Listen, maybe a going-away party packed with people you don’t
know isn’t an ideal first date.”

“No, it’s not that.” She tried to think of something witty to
say. Tried to concentrate on this man. Yes, he was hip and overeducated, but he
was also a nice guy. And his smile could melt butter on a cold day. In fact, the
moment she’d met him, she’d thought she might actually enjoy herself on this
date. That she might actually look forward to touching this man, to kissing
him.

For the first time in six months, Beth had thought maybe she’d
finally found another man who could turn her on. And like an evil genie summoned
by the thought, Jamie Donovan had popped back into her life, reminding her what
it had been like with him.

Yeah, she hadn’t had to
wonder
about whether sex with Jamie would be good. He’d turned her on just by feeding
her dessert. The way he’d watched her, his gaze glued to her mouth as her lips
parted. She’d wished—

Davis put his hand over hers for a brief moment. “I’ll say
goodbye to Faron, and then we’ll go.”

“No. I’m sorry! I don’t want to cut the party short for
you.”

“No big deal. Come on. Let’s find Faron.”

Davis took her hand again and led her through the packed room
to the tiny woman standing at the edge of a large group of people. Beth wondered
how tall she was without the perfectly round Afro, because even with it, she
wasn’t bigger than five foot two. A skinny guy with long hair had his arm draped
over her shoulder, a proprietary smile on his face. Faron wasn’t smiling when
they walked up, but her sweet face broke into a grin when she saw Davis.

She hugged Davis and then Beth before they said their goodbyes.
Faron’s husband had taken a job in Santa Barbara, but no one wanted to see her
go. Nobody seemed that broken up about her husband, though.

“Ready?” Davis asked.

“Yes,” Beth answered, realizing it was the most honest thing
she’d said all night. As she walked through the door, she dared one look back,
but Jamie was nowhere to be seen.

The sharp cold of raindrops on her face startled her from her
thoughts.

“Run!” Davis said, tugging her along. Beth ran, and by the time
they reached his car, she was laughing so hard with relief that she couldn’t
draw a breath. Davis reached to open the door, then shut it behind her before
dashing around to the other side.

“My feet are soaked!” she gasped, stomping her heels against
the carpet. “I think one of those puddles was more like a pond.”

“Your everything is soaked,” he corrected. He touched
her
cheek, sliding a wet strand of hair toward her temple. A drop of icy water
trickled down to her jaw, and then he leaned close and kissed her.

Beth inhaled sharply and felt him smile against her mouth. When
his lips brushed hers again, Beth told herself to relax, to enjoy it.

And there was no reason she shouldn’t. He smelled good. His
lips parted just enough to encourage hers to part, as well. And his hand was a
sweet touch on her jaw. Beth sighed and refused to think about Jamie Donovan. He
hadn’t wanted to see her any more than she had him.

But then Davis pulled back and the kiss was over before she’d
had a chance to make herself enjoy it.

“I’m really glad Cairo introduced us,” he said softly.

“Me, too.” And she was. When she wasn’t thinking about Jamie,
she could imagine this man being her lover. She knew from experience that a
first kiss said a lot about how a man would perform in bed. For example, that
guy two years ago who’d immediately thrust his tongue down her throat…that had
been his level of restraint and subtlety during sex, as well. Foreplay had been
something along the lines of “Brace yourself, I’m coming in!”

But Davis…he might be quite lovely.

“I admit, though…” He started the car and glanced at her. “You
weren’t quite what I was expecting.”

Her warm thoughts froze. “What do you mean?”

“Well, with the store and the advice column, and…you know.
Cairo and the rest of her friends are…”

Beth knew exactly where this was going. She smoothed a hand
down her skirt and hid a resigned smile.

“I just haven’t dated a woman with no tattoos in quite a while.
You’re kind of a rarity here in Boulder.”

She managed a genuine laugh at that. He was straightforward, at
least. She turned her gaze on him and let it slide over his body. He was older
than most of Cairo’s friends, and a little alternative without being sloppy.
Dark jeans and an expensive-looking T-shirt under a tailored leather jacket. And
though she could see the edges of a few tattoos peaking past his clothing, not
even his ears were pierced. Though there were always hidden spots.

“I get that a lot,” she finally said, offering him the same
honesty he’d given her. “I’m not what anyone expects, I guess.” Even though she
said it with a flirtatious smile, the words still squeezed her heart with a
painful grip.

“I don’t mind being surprised,” Davis answered.

It was the right answer, and she liked him, but as he pulled
away from the parking lot of the bar and turned toward Beth’s part of town, her
heart sank. She wasn’t what he’d expected. She never was. And she could already
see how this would end. He liked her well enough. He was intrigued by her. After
all, she was the manager of the White Orchid, a high-end erotic boutique. She
might look like any other professional businesswoman, but she spent her days
selling sex toys and expensive lingerie. And she spent her evenings giving sex
education classes and writing a new advice column as a sex expert.

On the surface, she was fascinating. But underneath it all…

Beth wrapped her hands tight around her purse and tried not to
think. She always thought too much. The only time she’d ever been able to turn
her brain off had been with…him.

It had been easy to dismiss her thoughts of him on previous
dates. She hadn’t been attracted to any of those men, so naturally, she’d
thought of Jamie. But now he was haunting her good dates, too, and she was
beginning to feel a little hopeless.

“I’m glad I didn’t pick you up on the bike tonight,” Davis
said. “Running through the rain is one thing, but it can be brutal on a
bike.”

She pictured Davis in his leather coat, leaning close against a
motorcycle, her arms wrapped around his waist. The picture should leave her
shivery. It would any other red-blooded woman.

Davis pulled into her driveway and shut off the car to come
around and open her door. He might have been raised by hipster Boulderites, but
he had been taught the niceties of dating. There was nothing wrong with this
man. And there was definitely nothing wrong with the way he kissed her once they
were safe beneath the shelter of her patio. “You’re all wet again,” he murmured,
his mouth sliding against the rain on her lips. Maybe she could be, if she let
herself give in. So when his mouth urged hers to open, Beth touched her tongue
to his. And what a nice tongue it was. Warm and slow against hers.

Beth kissed him and thought of inviting him in. He tasted so
good. He was tall and cute and, as far as she could tell, he’d look great naked.
His hand touched her hip, his fingers spreading along her curves as he deepened
the kiss.

Yes, she could let him touch her. She’d enjoy it. And probably
he’d enjoy it, too. But she wasn’t a girl with tattoos. And she had no hidden
piercings. And despite what she wrote in her columns, the things she liked to do
in bed were just as vanilla as everything else about her.

So he’d enjoy it, but he’d also be secretly puzzled. They all
were. Wasn’t the manager of an erotic boutique supposed to be…erotic? Wasn’t she
supposed to be a little freaky in bed? Or even better…a
lot
freaky? Shouldn’t she be better than other women?

Beth clenched her eyes shut and tried to turn off her brain,
but it didn’t work. It never did. She was too aware. Aware of the way his
fingers tightened a bit on her hip. He was getting into this. Getting aroused.
And she was just…thinking. Again.

She broke the kiss and drew in a deep breath. “Thank you,
Davis. I really had a nice time.”