Rules of Engagement (3 page)

But...

Rico’s gaze travelled over
Gina’s face, her eyes huge behind her glasses, her smile glinting
softly in the moonlight. His eyes followed the long, smooth line of
her throat, noticing how temptingly her rounded breasts held up
that dress. Her tiny waist was encased by a glittery belt, and the
skirt poofed around her like a pillow.

A pillow he wanted to burrow under.

No question about it. She was all wrong for
him.

And, suddenly, he simply
didn’t care.

“
Would you like to dance?”
he asked, standing and holding out one hand.

“
Inside?” she asked,
splitting her startled glance between him and the house.

“
Here.” He reached down and
pulled her to her feet.

She stumbled, just a
little, making it easy for him to slide his hands around her waist
and pull her closer. His erection, already hard, stiffened like a
lead pipe when her soft breasts crushed against his chest. She felt
incredible.

“
Now.”

“
Do you know what you’re
doing?” she asked breathlessly.

Rico gave her his most charming smile,
pleased to see her lashes flutter and feel her breath catch. He
shifted, catching her hand in his and lifting it to his mouth to
brush a kiss over her knuckles, then holding it against his
shoulder as he moved to the strains of Unchained Melody.

“
Let’s find
out.”

Gina’s breath caught in her
throat as Rico pulled her tighter against the hard delight of his
body. Her skin tingled and a naughty sort of heat swirled low in
her belly. Intense. He was
so
intense.

This was just a dance, she
reminded herself. Best man and bridesmaid. Almost an obligation.
Yeah, an obligation.

As they started moving—so
deliciously slow and gentle—to the melody of her favorite song, she
told herself to keep that in mind.

Because it’d be really pathetic to melt all
over a guy who thought of her as an obligation.

Their bodies brushed
against each other. Hard against soft, creating a sensual friction
that made her want to moan aloud and beg for more. Every shift of
his thigh pressed against the dampening heat between her
legs.

“
I like how you move,” Rico
said, his voice a little hoarse.

Startled, Gina glanced up
to meet his eyes. There was nothing obligatory about the desire in
that intense gaze. Instead, he was looking at her like she’d looked
at that cake earlier. With appreciation, temptation and not a
little lust.

“
Anyone can slow dance,”
she demurred softly, trying to avoid stepping on the glowing neon
emotional landmine.

“
I watched you earlier. On
the dance floor.” He gestured with their clasped hands toward the
party on the other side of the tall hedges, even though they
couldn’t see it from their own impromptu dance floor on the grass.
Then he said again, deeper this time, “I like how you
move.”

The fingers of his free hand skimmed up from
the small of her back to the bare skin of her shoulder blades. Gina
shivered at his touch, wishing for more. Just once, wishing she
were the kind of girl he’d go for.

Even if he only went for a little while.

She’d settle for fifteen
minutes. They could do a helluva lot in a
quarter-of-an-hour.

As if he could hear the
plea in her thoughts, Rico’s eyes locked on hers. The passion in
his dark depths made her mouth go desert-dry. She swallowed, trying
to find her voice. But she didn’t know what to say. All she could
do was feel.

Feel the wet heat dampening
her black satin panties.

Feel the way her nipples hardened, stiff
against the fabric of her fancy dress.

Feel her heart racing. Her breath catching.
And her knees going a little woozy because Rico was looking at her
like she was everything he wanted in a woman.

Giving in to temptation,
even as a part of her screamed warning, Gina reached up to brush
her fingers lightly over the scar on Rico’s jaw. Stubble grazed her
fingers as she traced the memento she knew he’d gotten in a nasty
encounter with a rocket propelled grenade over in
Afghanistan.

Then his mouth found hers.
He kissed like he danced. Slow, intense and incredible. As their
lips melded together, her heart raced. Tension, purely sexual,
tightened every nerve in her body until she wanted to beg. Her
fingers dug through the soft fabric of his shirt to the hard
muscles beneath. Oh, baby, he felt good.

Their lips did the dancing
now, slipping and sliding open-mouthed, their tongues tangling as
their breath mingled. His hands gripped her hips through the fluffy
fabric of her skirt, pulling her tight against him.

She gasped when she felt
the long, rigid proof that he was as affected as she was. How big
was he that she could feel him that hard, that thick, through all
the layers of fluff? And please, oh please, was she going to find
out?

Breathless, his mouth
released her so he could trail kisses along her
shoulder.

“
I want you,” he breathed
against her throat. His teeth nipped, his tongue soothed. “I want
you so bad.”

“
Have me.” Her offer ended
in a gasp as his fingers slid beneath the bodice of her dress,
scraping over her pebbled nipple.

Like he’d flipped a switch
marking the point of no return, Gina’s brain shut off and her body
took over. She grazed her short nails down his chest, loving the
way he groaned his approval.

“
More,” he directed, his
finger sliding back, then forth, back then forth over her nipple.
Tormenting, teasing and titillating in the most delicious
way.

Her fingers flew over the
buttons of his dress shirt until she had access to the gorgeously
muscled golden flesh.

“
This is a one time thing,
right? Just now. Not, you know, ever again?” Even as her mouth
raced over the warm, bare expanse of his sexy chest, a part of Gina
held its breath waiting for his answer.

“
Yeah, yeah,” he said, his
fingers quick and agile as they found her zipper. “One time. Now.
Incredible.”

Incredible
. As Gina’s dress fell to
the grass in a soft puddle of red billowing fabric, her body
agreed. It would be incredible.

But her heart, easily ignored in the rush of
sexual pleasure, wept just a little. One time.

One time only.

Rico was torn between the need to inspect
every sweet, delicate inch of Gina’s moonlit body. And the
desperation clawing at him to taste her. To have her.

She made the decision easy
when she moved out of the red fluff of fabric and stepped closer.
So close, the cherry sweet tips of her breasts brushed a line if
fire over his bare chest.

Rico groaned, his hands
skimming lightly over her shoulders, down her back and then cupping
the silk-covered delight of her curvy butt.

Holding tight, he lifted
her to meet his mouth. His tongue swept over hers. Need clawed at
him. She tasted delicious. Like champagne, chocolate and a
sweetness that was all Gina.

Her hands hurried over his
body. Squeezed his biceps, scraped his nipples, traced his belt.
Her warmth seeped into him, adding layers of heat to the already
aching hardness of his erection.

“
Now,” he muttered against
her lips. “Here.”

“
You’re crazy,” she
whispered right back. But her fingers made quick work of his belt
buckle.

Rico’s palms traced the
indention of her waist, then cupped the heavy weight of her
breasts. Fascinated, his thumbs traced the areola, then brushed
lightly back and forth, back and forth over the hardening
tips.

“
Getting crazier by the
second,” he agreed.

Body aching, he looked
around. Lifting Gina into his arms, he strode over to the rock wall
surrounding the pond and sat with her in his lap.

Before she could do more than gasp, he took
her mouth again, sliding his hands down the silky length of her leg
to slip one shoe off, then the other. Skimming his fingers back up
her leg, he didn’t stop until he’d reached crux of her thighs
protected by gratifyingly damp silk.

He slipped his finger under the fabric,
flicking the swollen bud and making her moan lightly. She was so
wet, so hot, so perfect.

He needed her. Now. Before
he embarrassed himself. And before someone came looking for
them.

“
Up,” he said, the added
urgency of possibly being caught adding a delicious
edge.

She stood, looking a little dazed and
shaky.

“
I can’t believe we’re
doing this,” she murmured.

“
Because it’s us?” His hands froze on his zipper. He wanted
her, yeah. But she had to want him back.

“
No, I’m thrilled that it’s
us,” she said quietly, a look so sweet and heartfelt in her eyes
that he felt something catch in his chest. “But I’d never have
pegged you for an alfresco kind of guy.”

Rico’s grin flashed, fast
and wicked. “Babe, when we’re through, you’ll realize there’s not
one damned thing I’m not willing to try.”

Her mouth rounded and her eyes lit with both
challenge and appreciation. Good. He didn’t want a wild girl like
her thinking he was too boring for her to keep around.

Quickly loosening his
slacks, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet to
grab protection. Gina gave him a sassy smile and a saucy wink as
she took the foil wrapper from his fingers. She waited, one brow
arched as if to tell him to hurry the hell up, while he shoved his
pants down. His erection sprang free, aching and ready for her
promised delight.

Gina dropped to her knees
in front of him, making Rico groan. The sight of her there, skin so
pale it glowed in the moonlight and her hair a tousle of curls
around her face, would be forever etched in his mind. Her eyes
locked on his, she leaned forward to brush a wet, open-mouthed kiss
over the straining head of his dick. It jumped, liking her touch.
She slowly, torturously, slipped the condom over his erection, her
fingers warm and firm as they moved down the length of
him.

Definitely crazy now, and afraid things
would end way to fast if he didn’t take back control, Rico pulled
Gina to her feet. She stood before him, naked except for those
black panties.

“
Time for these to
go.”

He hooked his fingers
through the tiny strips of elastic at each hip, tugging the fabric
down her legs.

“
You’re beautiful,” he
murmured. He understood the hot throbbing of his erection and knew
exactly what it wanted. But the throbbing ache in his chest? He’d
never felt this kind of need for a woman before. Not physically.
Never emotionally.

Gina was special.

His hands on her hips, he pulled her closer,
reverently leaned in to brush kisses over her belly, then down to
the tangle of curls between her legs. His fingers teased and
tormented her wet bud until she cried out, digging her nails into
his shoulders.

“
Rico,” she
begged.

That was all he needed. His hands holding
hers, he guided her back onto his lap. She straddled him, sliding
onto his throbbing length with a loud gasp of delight.

He groaned at the feel of her, so hot and
tight, surrounding him. She set the rhythm, up and down, an
undulating dance of pleasure.

His breath grew shorter. He
closed his eyes as the energy spun out of control. Her gasps filled
the air, tiny mewling cries of pleasure adding to the intensity of
his desperate need for gratification.

Gina moved faster. Rico’s
fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips, guiding her. Pushing
her to move harder.

Their bodies pounded together, slippery
now.

Passion tightened like a coil, waiting to
erupt.

As she cried out, he exploded. Fast and
furious, the power of his orgasm pounded through his body like
nothing he’d ever felt before.

But he’d damned well be feeling it again.
Rico’s arms wrapped tight around Gina, holding her close.

She wasn’t what he wanted.

But his body insisted she was what he
needed.

He didn’t plan to let her
go.

Even as she collapsed
against the hard strength of Rico’s body, Gina’s heart still raced.
Only now, it wasn’t passion pounding through her.

It was fear.

Nothing should feel that
good. Nothing should make her want so much. She was going to cry.
And this time it had nothing to do with ecstasy.

She’d always wondered about
Rico. She’d told herself that he couldn’t be nearly as good as he
seemed. She’d held tight to the comfort of knowing that even though
he was hot, he wasn’t her kind of guy.

Now she knew better.

He was even better than he seemed, and he
was everything she’d ever want in a guy.

And for just a second,
lying naked against his body while sexual delight shivered through
her, she let herself wonder if maybe, just maybe, she might be what
he wanted, too.

She could try and be a
little more normal. Tone down her looks, try for a chill attitude.
He obviously had no issue with her job, given that she worked for
his sister, so maybe...