Debra Webb - In His Touch Box Set (Here To Stay, Up Close, Tempting Trace, Basic Instincts) (53 page)

And he had taken the bait.

But... there was absolutely nothing average about the man she had met tonight. Meredith fought the desire she felt for him all over again. He had been tall, over six feet. Her head had fit perfectly beneath his chin. The hard planes of muscle beneath the soft cotton shirt had been impossible to ignore. His arms had been strong, yet gentle, around her.

She closed her eyes and allowed his image to fill her mind. Thick, dark hair, a little long. Dark coffee-colored eyes, intelligent and eager. His features were strong, with a square jaw, prominent forehead and nose, but not too much so. His lips...

Her breathing quickened and grew shallow, her pulse too rapid. She attempted to deny the reaction, but it was impossible to do.

His lips were full for a man’s. His smile wide and very pleasant. Meredith licked her own lips. A new surge of desire coursed through her at the thought of touching his full, sensuous mouth.

Tired of fighting a losing battle, she reached behind her and tugged at her zipper. Slowly, she allowed the red silk to slide down her body. Her too-vivid imagination jumped into hyper drive, conjuring up the handsome stranger. She could almost feel his hands on her skin, touching her, learning her body. His lips would move along the column of her throat, tasting, teasing.

The dress slipped to the floor. She kicked off her shoes, first one, and then the other. Bare feet flat on the floor, she imagined the stranger kneeling before her, kissing her belly button. Then his tongue would tease the sensitive flesh above the silk band of her red panties. Then he would move lower still...

Meredith shivered. She stared at her nearly naked reflection. Her nipples were tight buds, her skin flushed with longing. Her chest rose and fell with the swift beating of her heart.

She wanted this man—this stranger—with every part of her that made her a woman. Frowning, she looked away. How was it possible to respond so fiercely, so quickly? In the past, she had dated men for weeks, months even, and never experienced a need so intense, so soul-shatteringly primal.

It had to be a fluke. For her. Some humans did not react so strongly to the opposite sex. She was one of them.

Retreating to the bathroom, she refused to define the experience any other way than as an anomaly. She adjusted the faucet to run a bath. This odd, spontaneous reaction probably wouldn’t happen to her again in a million years. She pinned her hair atop her head and slipped into the water’s warm embrace. She relaxed against the slick porcelain surface.

A month from now, if she ran into the same man, he likely would not even recognize her. And vice versa. She moaned as she allowed the water to work its magic on her tense muscles.

He would remain unknown.

The whole episode was nothing more than a freak chemical reaction. A textbook example of lust in its purest form.

And Meredith would probably never see the handsome man with whom she had shared one slow, sensual dance again.

Tomorrow night there would be some other man in some other place, and tonight’s charming stranger would be forgotten, just as if she’d never met him.

Totally forgotten.

~*~

Jake stared out the window of his site office. The men were working hard, in a pleasant cacophony of pounding hammers and buzzing saws. They moved in a well-attuned rhythm that came with years of familiarity and camaraderie. He was lucky to have such a capable and cooperative crew. By summer’s end, this phase of the subdivision would be built. The next house in the new Summerford Subdivision was nearing completion. The foundations were poured and ready on the next three. After that, phase two would begin.

Business continued to boom for Brandon Construction, but even that thought couldn’t snap Jake out of the blue funk he was in today.

It was
her.

He blew out a frustrated breath. The blond angel wearing the devil-red dress from Friday night.

He just couldn’t get her off his mind. No matter how hard he tried. Hell, he even dreamed about her.

Mornings were hard enough for a single guy without dreaming of a woman like that all night long. Lately, the whole damned day had been hard—or more specifically, he spent the better part of every day semi-aroused merely thinking about the mysterious lady who’d turned him inside out in a matter of minutes.

Dammit. How could any woman have gotten to him so fast? He knew all about rebound romance. But this wasn’t it. He hadn’t been in love with Cynthia. Sure, it had riled him that she had been the one to do the dumping, but the relationship hadn’t been that kind of relationship. That part bothered him more than being the
dumpee
.

Nope, he surmised ruefully, this had nothing to with rebound. Jake frowned. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what
this
was. He couldn’t be in love. He didn’t even know the woman’s name. Yet he wanted her more than he wanted to do anything else, including work.

He breathed a four-letter word. He wanted her, period. Any way he could get her. Right now, this minute. If... he could only find her.

“You’ve zoned out on me again, man,” Dan complained, waving a hand in front of Jake’s face.

He snapped back to the here and now. “What’d I miss?” Dan had accused him of zoning out at least twice a day all week long.

“The last fifteen minutes or so of my status report, that’s all.”

Jake turned to face his friend. “I guess I’m a little preoccupied.”

Dan lifted his eyebrows. “You guess?”

Jake kicked the chair from under his desk and dropped into it. “Okay, so I was off in la-la land,” he growled as he leaned back in his chair and focused his full attention on his site foreman. “What’d I miss?”

Dan scratched his Georgia Bulldogs T-shirt-clad chest and muttered an impatient curse.

“It’s Friday, man, give me a break,” Jake offered by way of an excuse. He clasped his hands behind his head and propped his feet on the desk, then crossed them at the ankles.

Dan folded his arms over his chest and studied him. “Your distraction has absolutely nothing to do with what day of the week it is. You’ve been like this all week.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Enough with the amateur psychology hour, let’s get this briefing over with. I have things to do.”

Dan shook his head slowly from side to side. “You’ve got no idea what you’ve done, do you?”

Jake dropped his booted feet to the floor and straightened in his chair. He couldn’t be still for more than a minute without lapsing into that same daydream. “Don’t even start, Dan,” he warned.

“You met the woman of your dreams—and judging from your weird mood all week—probably the only one for you, and you didn’t even get her name and number. That’s sad, my friend, truly sad.”

“I don’t want to talk about her.” Jake shot to his feet and paced the floor behind his metal desk. “I don’t even want to think about her. Besides, that theory is crap.” He shook his head and muttered, “The only one for me. Right.”

“But you do think about her.” Dan stood and pointed his finger in Jake’s direction. “She’s all you think about. You can’t keep your mind on business, no matter how hard you try.”

Jake glared at him. “I’m a man; I’m allowed to think about women. Especially one that hot.”

“Ah, no, no, buddy.” Dan shook his head in that irritating manner of his.

Jake hated that I-know-what-I’m-talking-about-and-you-don’t BS. Just because Dan was married didn’t mean he knew everything about male-female relationships.

“Don’t go trying to blame this on being horny,” Dan cautioned.

Jake braced his hands at his waist and gave his fiercest scowl. “I guess you have a crystal ball in your pocket, otherwise, you couldn’t possibly know what I’m thinking.”

Dan matched his stance, amusement gleaming in his gaze. “Actually, I left my crystal ball at home. But I don’t need one for this.” He cocked his head and gave Jake a meaningful look. “Your affliction is written all over your face, my friend.”

“You’re fired,” Jake said from clenched teeth.

Dan smiled. “You can’t fire me.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment. “You fired me yesterday, or was it last week?”

Frustrated, Jake turned his back on the only person who knew him better than he knew himself. And who was right 99.9% of the time. “Both, probably.”

Dan stepped up to the window to stand beside Jake. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “It’s not the end of the world, buddy, it just feels like it.”

“I can’t get her out of my head.” The admission pretty much deflated whatever male pride he had left. “I think about her all the time.”

“Then you’ve got to find her. It’s your only hope of keeping your sanity.”

Jake felt a muscle twitch in his jaw. “I’ve been back to the club every night. She hasn’t returned. And no one who’s been there has ever seen her before.” Desperation welled in his chest. Never in his life had he felt this kind of helplessness where a woman was concerned. He had tried talking to other women since that captivating night, but he just couldn’t work up any interest much less any enthusiasm.

This was crazy. But he simply could not get the beautiful stranger out of his head.

“Well, pal,” Dan said resignedly. “You’ll just have to keep going back until she shows again. If that one dance affected her half as much as it did you, she’ll be back.” Dan slapped Jake on the back. “Count on it.”

~*~

An entire week had passed, and still Meredith could think of little else besides the handsome stranger who had left her breathless. She tried. She definitely tried. She’d gone to a different night spot for the last six nights. She had flirted, danced, chattered—and felt nothing, not even the slightest tingle of response to any of the males she encountered.

Strictly for research purposes, she had to know if he could evoke that same reaction in her again. She had watched other couples meeting each night. None of them seemed to be struck with a case of lust as intense as the one she had experienced.

Her heart pounding already at just the idea of seeing him again, Meredith paused outside the entrance to the club. If he were here tonight, she would know for sure if what she had felt last time was real or blown out of proportion by her vivid imagination. Not to mention a major case of nerves. That first night she had been seriously anxious.

The connection couldn’t have been as mind-boggling as she remembered. Meredith shook her head. It simply couldn’t have been. The concept was irrational.

Firming her resolve, she gave her reflection in the glass door one final survey. She wore her hair down, just as before. The racy black dress hugged her like a second skin. She shook her head. How on earth had she allowed Shelley to talk her into this get-up? The dress laced up the sides, leaving most of that area bare and ruling out any possibility of underwear. Meredith had never in her entire life left the house wearing no panties.

Shelley had insisted that there was a first time for everything.

Well, Meredith Langston didn’t do sexy. She whirled away from the door. This was completely insane. She had no business here, dressed in this manner. Black stiletto heels clicked against the sidewalk as she hurried back to her car. Her unexpected success and the resulting publicity had obviously short-circuited her brain. She wasn’t thinking straight.

The image of a tall, handsome stranger flashed before her eyes and Meredith’s hurried steps slowed to a halt. How would she ever know if what she had experienced was real if she didn’t see him again?

Clutching her small beaded purse, she took a long, slow breath. Resolutely, she turned and headed back to the club.

She had to know, in both a personal and professional sense.

Meredith lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. Besides, no one here knew her. If she behaved differently, who would find out or care? Even Shelley was someplace else tonight.

She wrapped her fingers around the cool steel of the door handle and smiled with an unexpected burst of relief. Tonight she was Merri Lang.

And tonight she intended to follow her instincts... her most basic instincts, and each resulting impulse. The thought made her shiver.

Loud, thumping music greeted her as she strode down the long corridor leading into the crowded club. Others filed in around her, talking and laughing. The mirrored wall of the corridor captured her image, reflecting a dozen vixens in black in both directions. She didn’t miss the lingering gazes of the men she encountered or the scowls of their dates. Confidence bloomed, widening her smile. Men had never looked at her this way before. Of course, she had always made it a point to dress and behave conservatively.

Her smile stretched to a grin. So, it was true. Men were easy.

The place was packed. Meredith slowly scanned the crowded room. Every table was filled with couples drinking, laughing, or engrossed in intense, face-to-face conversation. The dance floor teemed with couples moving to the pulsating rhythm of the music. Colored lights cut through the semidarkness, flickering over the crowd of gyrating bodies. She studied the purposeful movements of the dancers. Enticing and suggestive, each carefully choreographed step represented a subliminal signal of courtship.

Graciously turning down the requests for a dance and the offers of a drink, she threaded her way through the crowd until she reached the other side of the dance floor. Her destination was the long bar on the far side of the room. Pausing within the fringes of the mob of dancers so as not to be noticed, her gaze moved quickly from one male occupying a bar stool to the next. Her hopes plummeted as she reached the final set of stools.

He wasn’t here.

She bit her lower lip to quell her bitter disappointment. What did she do now? Shaken beyond reason, she turned to go and found herself blocked by a broad masculine chest outfitted in a blue shirt. Her body instantly reacted. A vee of tanned skin captured her attention momentarily as she lifted her gaze to the man staring so intently down at her.

It was
him.

She had known it was him on some level before her brain confirmed what her eyes saw. That rich, dark gaze locked on to hers and her heart fluttered wildly. Was that relief she saw in his gorgeous eyes?