Playing with Fire (18 page)

As much as she wanted Derek, she was having trouble making the first move. She’d never been sexually aggressive and was too shy to take bold action. It’d been hard enough asking him to wash her hair, even though there was technically nothing sexual about it.

If the way her body throbbed was “nothing sexual,” then she was in for trouble if Derek actually did pick up on her signals and give her what she needed.

Macey finished drying her body and toweled her hair as well as she could, then went to the closet in her room and pulled out her pink terry-cloth robe. There was nothing sexy about it, but she didn’t really own anything sexy. And she wasn’t ready to be that obvious. She wanted Derek to feel what she was feeling without any props or contrived setups.

She ran a pick through her damp hair as quickly as she could, feeling exhausted and weak from her unfortunate disagreement with the gulf.

“There you are,” he said when she entered the kitchen. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d passed out again.”

There were enough cardboard boxes of Chinese food to feed the entire apartment complex and then some.

“Hope you’re hungry,” he said as he took out two dinner plates from the cabinet next to the sink.

“A little. Actually, a lot, now that I smell it.”

She heaped both fried and steamed rice on her plate, plus garlic chicken and pepper beef. An egg roll and two crab rangoons. She left all the soup for him.

“Hungry much?” Derek said from behind, looking over her shoulder. She could feel his breath on her neck and she shivered.

“Suddenly famished. Thanks for stocking up.”

“I thought there was enough for two or more meals, but that was before you tore into it.”

They ate on the living room floor, leaning against the couch. Derek quizzed her—skeptically, she could tell—about her sand castle lesson and the tips the Sand Man had passed along.

Macey didn’t end up eating all the food she’d taken. Halfway through the meal, she set her plate on the end table and stretched out on the couch, fatigue settling into every inch of her.

The next thing she knew, she was in her bed with Derek not even a foot away from her.

He’d carried her here with every intention of returning to the living room and sleeping on the couch. She was okay now, her brush with danger was over and everything was fine, but he hadn’t wanted to leave her. When she’d tugged at him sleepily as he tucked her in, he’d been so easily swayed he should be ashamed. He’d quickly put the food away and cleaned their dishes, got her bag and his clothes from Evan, then climbed in next to her.

Macey ran her fingers over his bare arm now and he realized she wasn’t just shifting in her sleep. She was more awake than he’d thought. A light outside cast just enough of a glow that he could make out her face, a mere two inches from his. “Dare…”

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.” It was one of the dumbest things he’d ever said to a woman in bed with him.

“I slept. Hard.” She trailed her fingers to his chest. “I didn’t want you to leave tonight.”

“Shh. I’m here.”

Stupid move number two: he reached out and pulled her even closer. He could feel her warm body, still in the fuzzy robe, along the length of his. Then he felt a bare leg curling over his. His body sprang to life and there was no hiding how he felt.

Before he could give himself yet another round of the you-aren’t-going-to-take-advantage-of-her-after-she-nearly-drowned talk, Macey’s lips were on his, decisive and insistent. There was half a second when he considered stopping her, but then he gave himself over to the hunger he’d tried to deny for weeks.

Their tongues tangled, explored, slid over teeth, lips, each other. He felt a primal urge to taste every last inch of her. He trailed his lips over her jawline to her ear and nibbled on it, making Macey suck in her breath and then let out her pleasure in the most alluring sound—half sigh and half moan—he’d ever heard.

He couldn’t keep his hands off her, every bit of her. She untied her robe and opened it, and he slid the sleeves off her arms one at a time. When he’d freed her from it, he tossed it to the floor and pulled her on top of him. Her breasts spilled over his chest and he palmed them as she returned her lips to his. He found one nipple and teased it, beaded it between his finger and thumb, feeling it pebble under his touch. He drew her upward so he could replace his fingers with his tongue.

In all the years he’d known Macey, he’d never once guessed she’d be this responsive and passionate in bed. She wasn’t shy with him in the least, contrary to what he would’ve expected. As if she needed to drive that point home, she slid his shorts over his aching shaft and down his legs, threw them over her shoulder, then took him in her mouth.

Sweet heaven. She was going to kill him and he was going to love every dying second.

He moaned and felt the pressure inside him building, climbing in no time at all. After all these years they’d known each other, it would be wrong for this to be over in thirty seconds flat, so he pulled her gently up to kiss her lips, and tried to slow things down.

“You’re making me crazy, Mace.”

“That’s kind of the point.”

He felt her smile as she kissed him again.

“I can definitely appreciate that, but I want to make this last,” he said huskily.

“Lasting is a good thing if you can do it.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Maybe.” She dragged her breasts over his flesh and he caught her up against him, stopping the friction but making the touch no less pleasurable. His hands moved lower to her perfect ass.

“I think I’m up to the challenge.”

“Up?” Macey whispered. “Yes. Definitely.” She groped him again to emphasize her point.

For the first time in months, Derek felt alive.

“Derek, please,” she said.

He worked his way up to kiss her lips, and stared into her eyes in the darkness. “Please what?”

“You are a wicked man.”

He grinned. “Wicked, huh?”

“Evil.”

“All this attention I’m giving you and I’m evil?”

He held his body over hers, not quite touching. When she arched her back to get closer, he moved just out of her reach. After a few rounds of cat and mouse, Macey directed his body to the exact place she needed him.

“Protection?” he whispered, sounding as needy as she felt.

She closed her eyes for a second, insanely tempted to be careless and stupid and do without.

“Nightstand,” she said. “Drawer.”

After their run-in in this very bedroom a couple weeks ago, she’d bought a box of condoms. Not because she truly thought she and Derek would need them, but because she’d experienced firsthand how thoroughly she lost her mind when he touched her. It’d been a huge just-in-case purchase. One she enthusiastically applauded now.

He leaned over, opened the drawer, pulled out a packet and sheathed himself, taking no more than five seconds. It seemed like minutes.

Finally, he moved back on top of her, and Macey wrapped her arms around him, treasuring this moment, wishing it could last forever. Their eyes met as he entered her, and she was so full of love for him that tears blurred his image. She tried to memorize every one of his features, his expressions, the sounds he made, because this wasn’t something that would happen again.

Derek whispered things to her—how beautiful she was, how good she felt. All of it made her melt a little more.

She ran her hands over him, loving the feel of his muscles, his strength, the hair at his nape, the angles of his face. Then she forgot about everything else as he pushed her higher and higher.

She held on to him as he took her to an intoxicating, amazing release. The sound of her name on his lips had a toe-curling effect, or maybe that was everything else he was doing to her body. Her heart expanded and over flowed with her feelings for him.

Derek pressed kisses to her neck, her jaw, her lips, nibbling and teasing her. She held him tightly, with no intention of ever letting go. Their breathing gradually slowed and he rolled to his side, taking her with him, their bodies still entwined.

He seemed just as reluctant as she was to let it end.

“If I’d known all it took to get you in my bed was to nearly drown, I would’ve thrown myself in the sea ages ago,” Macey said, unable to stop smiling.

His arms tightened around her. “Don’t even say that. I was so damn scared when I saw your head go under out there….” Derek kissed her forehead and brushed her hair from her face. “I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”

“Nothing did. You came to my rescue. Shh, no more about that. Let’s just enjoy this.”

He chuckled. “
Enjoy
is one word for it. That was pretty damn amazing, woman.”

“Not bad at all,” she said, stifling the grin that wouldn’t quit.

“Not bad?” He gripped her more tightly, taking her breath away. “Care to rephrase that?”

She laughed and tried to hold out, but then he tickled her at the waist. He was playing dirty, using info he’d had since they were kids to pinpoint her most ticklish spot. “The best.”

He loosened his grip and kissed her. “That’s more like it.”

Macey burrowed into his chest, taking in his scent, his heartbeat, his coarse hair against her cheek. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this content in her life.

“I love you, Dare,” she whispered as she drifted toward sleep.

Not noticing that Derek’s whole body tensed.

He should’ve left when she’d fallen asleep on the couch.

Regrets weren’t going to do anyone a damn bit of good, so he turned and walked away, straight to her front door. He let himself out into the muggy night and made his way home to his condo and his dog, who looked up at him from his brand-new kennel as if Derek had let him down, too, by staying away so long.

Derek took Burnaby outdoors to relieve himself and set out food and water. Then he went to his mostly unused bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Julie stared at him from the frame on the nightstand and his heart pounded.

“I’m sorry, Jules,” he whispered. “I made a big mistake.”

No, that wasn’t necessarily true. He might not have regretted it if she hadn’t been dumb enough to tell him she loved him. Her mind had been hazy and she’d been about to drift off, but she’d been conscious of what she was saying. She’d meant to tell him she loved him.

So now here she was, alone.

She’d totally screwed up. Saying she loved him made it sound as if she had future plans with him, wanted more from him. Well, of course, in a perfect world she did. But her world was far from perfect and she wasn’t after anything more. She’d told him that earlier and meant it. She’d gone into last night knowing they wouldn’t have a future together beyond friendship. Now it looked as if even that was ruined.

The pain she’d known would eventually hit her nearly knocked her out. Her eyes stung. She rolled over to her back to stare at the ceiling, unable to think of a single reason to get out of bed. Still naked, she shivered and bent to pull the twisted blankets up over her body.

It was time to go home.