Naughty Little Wishes (Birthday Dare) (3 page)

He cast an uneasy glance over his shoulder. A dark pickup truck barreled toward Drew, oversized wheels spitting up water and gravel. He steered to the right, and heat blasted over his skin. The Kestrel jerked over uneven ground. As he fought for control, the tires caught traction. He pitched over the handlebars and landed in a small ditch. Bark and gravel dug into his skin. He lay there, recovering the air that had
whooshed
out of his lungs on impact. Nothing felt broken. The side of his head sank and cold muck covered his cheek. He had to move. As he rolled in the mud to his hands and knees, pain ripped through his left leg. He breathed through what felt like piercing daggers, waiting as it dulled to a manageable throb.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He blinked against the rain. As if he’d conjured her with his mind, Tab stood on the side of the road holding an umbrella. A golden-brown dress clung and fluttered around her thighs. He related to the look of shock on her face. Somewhere, God or the devil enjoyed the joke.

She swiped auburn curls from her eyes. “Can you get up?”

Sucking in a breath, he stood. His reconstructed knee held. He limped to the Kestrel, hoisted it on his shoulder, and picked up the bent front wheel.
Five thousand dollars down the drain.
Good thing the driver kept going. Jacked-up knee or not, he’d have kicked his ass for running him off the road.

He climbed out.

Tab stood next to a white sedan. “Well”—she raised her voice over thunder—“Are you going to stand there or are you going to get in?”

Drew felt the blood drain from his face. The passenger seat loomed in front of him. Why couldn’t the rain rinsing off the mud wash away the panic worming its way through his mind? People assumed he always drove instead of letting someone else to show off his Viper and the other kick-ass rides he owned. On business trips, they accepted his explanation of a rental giving him more independence. Only his assistant and Devin knew what he faced riding in the passenger seat.

Keep it together, Bode
. She wasn’t Shana, and they wouldn’t be driving down an ice-covered road in Virginia. Making a conscious effort, he loosened his fingers from the wheel frame. “Pop the trunk.”

He stowed the bike, shuddered out an exhale, and got in the car. Tab started the engine, and he clicked the seat belt over his pounding heart and took off his helmet and gloves.
Out through the nose, in through the mouth, or the other way around?
Fuck.
He hadn’t needed to use breathing techniques in years.

Dots of blood rimmed a rip in the side of his jersey, and his ribs stung. He squirmed and throbs waved down his leg. Pain. Yes. He’d used it as a diversion in the past. As he massaged the vertical scar running from lower thigh to calf, eye-watering discomfort stabbed into his knee.

Tab glanced at him “Are you all right?”

“Eyes on the road!”

“Don’t yell at me. I know you’re upset about picking grass out of your teeth, but that doesn’t give you the right to tell me how to drive.”

She looked at him again, and his chest squeezed. The sounds of wind and rain faded into white noise as he forced slow, measured breaths. Tab steered the car around a long curve. He leaned into it, dug his fingers into his thigh, and stomped on the floorboard.

“Let me know when your brake starts working and I’ll stop using this one.” She huffed out a breath. “It kills me when people do that. I was handling bigger things than this on the ranch by the age of twelve.”

And he could come up with twelve good reasons to take his chances in the rain.

She sighed in frustration. “I hate to confess this…”

Shit—now what?

“I’ve been driving in circles for the past ten minutes trying to find my way out.”

“Don’t you have a map on your phone?”

“Yes, but I thought I knew where I was going.” She took a hand from the wheel and pointed at him. His heart rate climbed. “Before you get all high and mighty, you may want to consider you’d still be on the side of the road if I wasn’t lost.”

“What’s the name of your hotel?”

“I’m staying at your corporate guest apartment, but that’s not where I’m going.” She fidgeted in the seat as if it had suddenly become uncomfortable. “Vanessa couldn’t make it. I’m helping you with your party.”

…

Drew slammed the car door and met Tab’s defiant gaze over the roof. He didn’t give a damn if Wynn okayed his assistant finding a replacement. Someone should have called him about the change.

Mitch’s red Jeep sat behind the catering van in the circular driveway. The security specialist would have to pull double duty and keep an eye on her.

Tab opened her umbrella, and he followed her up the stairs to his house. Her dress molded to her hips as they moved in a gentle sway. He couldn’t afford another botched conversation with Bob because of a distraction. No matter what, he was sorting out Harrison Global’s contract tonight.

“We need to talk.” His voice boomed in the entryway.

The attention of the catering staff in the adjacent living room snapped their direction.

“About what?” Her heels tapped rapidly on the tiles as he led her to the guest bathroom.

He ushered her inside and slammed the door shut. “Why are you here?”

She dropped her purse on the counter. “I told you. I agreed to do this as a favor to Vanessa.”

“You don’t belong here. I’m entertaining important clients tonight. This isn’t the type of party where you can spout crazy opinions and smear ice cream on your breasts.”

Tab’s cheeks flushed. “I understand perfectly. You aren’t the only one who scores clients with big bank accounts. I deserve a thank you for volunteering instead of insults and a lecture.” Anger emerged in her eyes as she poked his chest. “If you want things to run smoothly between us tonight, here’s some advice. Focus on your clients instead of my breasts so you don’t end up landing on your ass like you did before I found you.”

He advanced, and she flattened her palm. His heart thumped harder, and blood surged below his waist. Tab looked down, and her plum-tinted lips formed a soft “O.” A vision of her mouth wrapped around his cock exploded in his mind. His erection grew larger. Her gaze met his. He waited for the smart-ass verbal jab, but desire darkened her eyes. To hell with it. He was tired of lusting after her and denying the obvious.

He grabbed her by the waist and brought her flush against him. “That’s the problem. When you’re around, I can’t focus.” Her pulse ticked rapidly in her throat and lured him into brushing his lips over the spot. The same perfume that had taunted him in the lobby saturated his lungs. Need ignited. “You shouldn’t have volunteered.”

Chapter Four

Drew swept his lips from her neck to her cheek, and Tab’s heart pounded in anger and anticipation. His mouth found hers, coaxing, demanding. Releasing a gasp of fury and desire, she opened for the bold thrusts of his tongue. He cupped her ass and ground himself against her lower belly. She held on to his hips and rocked back. No more sniping. No more assumptions, just what his kiss and cock promised. Ecstasy.

She tugged at his jersey and Drew whipped it over his head. Her butt hit the edge of the marble, and he lifted her onto the counter. He shoved up her skirt and dragged off her black bikinis. Cool air whispered over her skin. His hooded gaze followed his hands as he stroked up her inner thighs and brushed over her slit. She widened her legs around him.

“Fuck, you’re already wet.” His lips grazed her earlobe, raising a shiver. “Tell me you have those damn condoms.”

One hand holding on, she grabbed her purse and upended the contents into the sink. He parted her and slid one finger inside. Her hips jerked with the clenching of her sex. Quarters, gum, a tampon, she batted them aside. A cloud of lust blurred her vision. She clutched his arm and dropped her forehead to his shoulder. “Drew, I can’t if you—”

He feathered his thumb over her clit, and delicious sensation rolled through her. “Do you want me to stop?”

She’d kill him if he tried. “What do you think?”

“I’ll make you a deal.” Open-mouthed kisses heated up her throat. “If you don’t stop looking for a condom, I won’t stop stroking your pussy. Is that too much for you?”

Cocky bastard
… She raised her hips into the next lazy stroke, and a moan she couldn’t hold back purred from her throat.
Cocky, talented bastard
. Reaching out, she fumbled past her phone and wallet. Finally landing a condom, she tore it open. Drew pushed down his shorts, snagged it from her shaking hands, and gloved his cock.

No preambles or questions, he thrust in, his hard, thick length grazing over the needy places inside her. Nerve-endings fired as he went deep. He pulled back and she clutched his hips, desperate for him to move. He made her wait, then slammed back in. They both groaned. Quick hard pumps bounced her on the marble. She wrapped her legs high on his waist, holding on as her sex pulsed greedily for more. He changed the pace to a slow, torturous grind, and she dug in her stilettos. She spurred him, uncaring if she marked his back or about the bruising pressure of his fingers digging into her hips.

He reached between them and strummed her clit. Tingling warmth unfurled from her toes and weaved through her belly and breasts. A hard spasm of pleasure lifted her hips, and a keening cry ripped from her throat. Drew grasped her by the nape and brought her down to his shoulder. The tang of salt saturated her mouth, and she bit into his warm skin, muffling sounds she no longer controlled. His thrusts grew more erratic, and she held on to him. His muscles bunched under her palms.

Violent shudders moved through him with his release. He burrowed his face into her neck, and deep groans hummed over her skin. Aftershocks moved through them both as they held each other, their short, ragged breaths filling the silence.

Her pounding heart slowed, and she unwrapped her legs from his waist. He held her steady as she eased farther back on the counter, then moved away to take care of the condom. His six-pack-plus carved into his abdomen with deep breaths.

Footsteps passed by the door and they froze.

Her cheeks flamed. She got off the counter, thighs aching in protest, and straightened her dress. Thankfully, Scotchgard and travel-friendly fabric had lived up to their claims. Inside, she felt like she’d experienced a heart attack in reverse.

Drew pulled up his shorts. “Are you all right?” The husky rasp of his voice along with the remnants of desire in his eyes sparked up visions of round two, maybe three.

“Yes.” Diverting her attention to safer territory, she picked her bikinis off the floor and placed them near her purse.

He retrieved his shirt and winced. Mottled bruises and angry-red slashes marred the side of his ribcage.

“You’re hurt.” She went to him and probed his side. Warmth seeped into her fingers, and she inhaled the faint scents of sex mixed in with his cologne and her perfume. He flinched away. Ignoring him, she bent down to get a closer look. Old scars webbed through new injuries. “It doesn’t feel like you’ve broken anything. If it hurts when you breathe, you may have cracked a rib.”

“Why doesn’t it surprise me you know so much about broken bones?”

She rose. “My brother was a bull rider, so yeah, I know a lot about injuries. Is there a first-aid kit in here?”

“No need. I’m good.”

Good. Right.
Of course he was. Her brother used to say the same when he kissed dirt after a bone-thrashing ride on the back of a thousand-pound bull. She looked at him and saw a flash of Corey, wounded, scarred, and holding in the hurt. Soft emotions spread through her chest. Without thinking, she touched the small abrasion on Drew’s cheek. “Let me help.”

His gaze closed off. “I’m fine.” He dragged his shirt on and went to the door. “Use whatever you need to pull yourself together. Leave your purse in my office.” He reached for the doorknob and paused. “Tab, I—”

“Don’t. We’re adults.” Tab gathered her belongings. She’d die if Drew said he was sorry for having sex with her. “There’s nothing to apologize about.”

“I’m not sorry.” His gaze held hers in the mirror. “But it can’t happen again.”

Heaviness settled in her chest. It hurt to admit it. “I agree.”

Chapter Five

What had she done? Tab stowed her purse in the cabinet and fussed with her dress. She hadn’t experienced an “oops, we shouldn’t have done that” moment with a guy since college. Luckily, they’d arrived at the same conclusion. Another angry sexcapade couldn’t happen. Like too much salt in a dish, their differences overwhelmed the goodness of hot sex. She’d take her lumps and lessons like a big girl and move on.

As she patted her hair into place, guilty conscience, the fiendish bitch, stomped on her bravado.
But you won’t forget.

Great. Did this mean she’d have to work on not strangling him
and
manage the urge to jump his bones at the same time? She should have listened to Jasmine and backed out. Stifling a groan, she walked out of the office and ran into a human wall.

“Whoa—careful. Hey Tab.” Mitch enveloped her in a hug. Since the barbecue, he’d stopped shaving his head. The close-cut, blond fade and dark suit made him even more devastating to a woman’s pulse. “I didn’t know you were still around.”

In need of friendly contact, she squeezed him a few seconds longer. “I’m leaving for Jacksonville in the morning. I got recruited to help out. I take it you’re back from somewhere exotic.” Jasmine had told her all of the contractors were required to spend one to two weeks at the Cape or at Bode-Wynn’s training facility in Montana after an extended assignment out of the country. It gave the contractors a chance to normalize before heading home.

“Yeah.” His expression grew guarded for a moment, but his easy smile returned. “I was supposed to be in Montana. Ethan sweet talked someone into switching the schedule and giving him an early pass so he could have an extra week with Jasmine.” He escorted her to the bar in the corner of the room. “It was also his turn to be here tonight so I got drafted, but I’m surprised to see you. I heard you and Drew went at it again like you did at the barbecue.”