What Janie Wants (7 page)

Oh, that look. Lips parted just enough to let a man slip his tongue inside. Eyes wide and glossy, pupils so dilated the hazel barely showed. Zade couldn’t decide if Janie wanted to bolt, or take him to the sand and go at him right here.

She had a wild streak, for sure. It burned behind her gaze, sharp and sassy, but was tamed behind what sounded like a lifetime of expected behavior. How much would it take to set that passion free? To rile her enough to let loose and give herself free rein?

He stroked the length of her arms, and laced his fingers with hers. “I want to show you something.”

She swallowed and lifted her chin. “Show me what?”

Christ, that voice. Scratchy and broken. A dirty-thoughts and I’m-pretty-damned-close-to-losing-it-even-if-I-know-better voice. At this rate, she’d make him come like a sixteen year old with a stolen Playboy before he’d so much as kissed her.

He moved beside her, putting the ocean at their backs. “Uncle Arlo set you up with a pretty nice room, but this one’s the best.”

He couldn’t have framed the setting any better with his camera. Tucked at the deepest point of the cove with palm trees and tropical plants on all sides, save the beach, was his bungalow. Moonlight poured onto the mostly thatched roof, a big skylight in the center. The bungalow had weathered teak wood walls with an oversized sliding glass door across the front, and skinny native tree trunks held the patio’s overhang upright.

Janie paced forward a few steps, scanned the private inlet, and then glanced back toward the rest of the resort. “The Stargazer Bungalow.”

“
You’ve got a good memory.” And an eye for details. Something they had in common. He steered her up the scarred wood slat porch and tossed his loafers on the wide porch swing. “The couple Arlo and Dahlia bought the place from years ago lived here. You can’t fully appreciate Gypsy Cove until you see this particular room.”

“
But he said it’s occupied.”

“
He’s right.” Zade opened the sliding glass door and waved her in. “By me.”

The foot she’d lifted to walk across the threshold went back to the deck. “This is your place?”

“
For five more nights, it is.” He jammed his hands in his pockets and fought back a chuckle. “I realize what I’m about to say is the height of cliché, but there’s something I want to show you inside.”

Janie busted out laughing, a full, beautiful laugh that brought a firefly kind of peace to the space around them. “You’re right.” She covered her mouth, chest rattling as she tried to stifle her outburst. “That’s pretty bad. Even for a woman who hasn’t been on a date in two decades.”

A sheer curtain billowed between them. Zade caught it and held it back. “Then cut a guy some slack and go inside.”

She studied him and bit her lower lip.

Damn, he wanted a taste. To nip and lick that same spot. Devour her mouth until it was plump and two shades darker than her rose lipstick. “Arlo’s a wiry man, but he and Dahlia would castrate me if I hurt any woman, let alone, a guest. And that’s assuming my mother didn’t do the job first. But there’s no pressure. If you’d rather wait, we can go back up—”

“
I’m fine.” She took a breath and met his stare head on. “To be clear though, don’t expect anything more than a visitor. When I’m ready to leave, I’m leaving.”

He nodded, but on the inside he pulled a fist pump and gave himself a high five.

“
It’s lovely.” She paused in the middle of the bungalow, scanned the open floor plan, and meandered toward the small, but well-appointed kitchen along one side. “So what did you want to show me?”

Damn. If she’d laughed before, his next pitch would put her over the edge. He tried to couch his smile, but couldn’t hide the lip twitch. He motioned to the raised section along the back of the bungalow and the king size bed in the center. “If you want the full effect, you need to lie on the bed.”

She spun to face him, one eyebrow cocked high.

“
Seriously,” he said. “Swear to God, I’ll keep my distance.”

Strolling into the living area, she swept her gaze along the cobalt blue sofa and love seat and pursed her lips.

“
I’ll make you a promise,” he said. “The only way I’m getting in bed with you is if you invite me in. Deal?”

She dragged her nails along the chenille armrest, contemplated the beach behind him through the open sliding glass doors a moment, and nodded. “Fine. I’ll play.” She dropped her shoes and purse on the thick Spanish tiles and padded up the steps to the bed. “Any particular side?”

Guess he’d found a way to rile her after all. And thank God for that because spunky looked damned good on her. Fire and spirit. Flame and snap. He shook his head. “Wherever is comfortable, so long as I can watch.”

She planted her fists on her hips, studied the bed, shrugged, and went for the closest side. Despite her moxie, she settled carefully, mindful of the taut, neatly made covers. She snuggled down, rested her head on the pile of pillows, and laid her hands on her belly, one on top of the other. “Okay. Ready.”

The laugh jumped out faster than he could catch it. “Spoken like a true sacrificial virgin.” He ambled up the stairs.

The fingers on her top hand tightened.

He strolled to the nightstand beside her and reached for the small box mounted on top. “Look up.”

She gauged him for a good long pause, and lay back.

He pressed the red toggle switch on the box.

A muted metal click echoed through the room and a light, motorized whir kicked in behind it. Moonlight slanted above the headboard, a sliver at first, stretching inch by slow inch, bathing Janie in its pearlescent glow.

Janie sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes widened. “It’s like a giant moon roof.”

“
More or less.” The motor click-click-clicked, signaling it had reached the end of its track, and Zade punched the toggle back to neutral.

“
The Stargazer bungalow.” She rolled her head, and looked at him. “I’d never put the cover up.”

Zade chuckled and crossed to one of two bedside gold club chairs. “You say that now, but around five thirty in the morning, you’d be singing a whole different tune.” He eased into the deep cushions and sat back, arms on the armrests and knees wide.

Janie scrunched deeper into the pillows and drew her knees up at the same time. The moon did gorgeous things to her rich coloring, turning the contrast of her red hair and his white sheets into a sultry work of art. Fuck. He needed his camera and about ten memory cards.

Yeah, like that won’t make her hightail it back to her room.

She sighed and curled her toes. “You know, it’s not too much different from my house in Allen.”

His heart jolted and he snapped from languidness to high alert. “Allen?”

“
Mmm hmm.” She dipped her chin and met his gaze. “Texas. Just outside of Dallas.” She lolled back on the pillows, gaze aimed at the stars and a dreamy expression on her face. “Our place—” Her mouth tensed. “My place is on the outskirts of town. Not a lot of development so you don’t get as much of the city lights.”

A whopping thirty-five minutes tops from his place in Uptown. Son of a bitch. He could see her more than just this week, assuming they could get past her age hangup and she was interested.

She rolled to her side and propped her head up with one hand. Her hair was wild and free around her, all waves and layers. The kind of image that begged a man to dive in and take over. “It’s funny. We’ve lived there for nearly five years and I’ve spent more time outside in the last nine months than I spent the whole time before that. I can sit on the back porch for hours. Just a glass of wine, my Adirondack chair, and lots and lots of thoughts.”

A smart and thoughtful woman with an eye for details, and who was sexy as hell. The universe couldn’t have spun a better scenario.

And she only lived thirty-five minutes away.

She smoothed the comforter. “What are you thinking?”

God, he wanted her to touch him like that. To feel her hair trail against his skin while she worked her lips up and down his body. His voice caught a little on the tension in his throat. “I’m thinking I wish my camera was in my hand instead of in my closet. I’m thinking there’s no way in hell I can take it out of the closet without scaring you off. And so, I’m thinking it’s best I commit every damned detail of you stretched out on my bed to memory while I’ve got the chance.”

He lifted his hips a fraction and adjusted his cock. It was either that or cut off circulation to the one part of his body demanding the bulk of his blood flow. “Mostly though, I’m thinking I’d give anything for you to invite me to crawl across the bed and make damned sure the only thing you can do is feel.”

Janie froze, every muscle locked solid and her breath stifled. The only thing actively working was her heart, which after its initial stumble, had taken off at a gallop.

So tempting. So terribly tempting.

The shadows around him accented the sharp angles of his jaw and nose, and his voice dropped to a grumble. “Talk to me, Janie.”

And tell him what? That she wanted what he wanted as bad as he did, but she was terrified to give the green light? That she wasn’t sure she could take the disappointment in his eyes if things got serious and he saw what a quality sundress could hide? “What do you want to know?”

“
Tell me what you want.”

Touch. Passion. Contact. Skin. It all rushed in at once and seized her thoughts.

“
One word. One thing at a time.” His posture was loose, those powerful hands of his relaxed against the wide gold armrests, but the air around him seemed super-charged. So much so, she could almost scent a summer thunderstorm.

She swallowed and tried to catch her breath. Her answer leapt to her tongue, ready for launch, then stalled. Damn it to hell, she was a living, breathing human, not some freakish deviant. Why couldn’t she say what she wanted? Just own it. It was one night. One chance she may never get again. “A kiss.”

His fingers dug into the plush upholstery.

The surf crashed against the shore and amplified the tense moment, the sound as bold and passionate as the man watching her.

He stood and padded to her side of the bed.

With every step, her heartbeat surged a notch, and a deep, needy pulse built in her core.

He unhooked his watch. One of those chunky ones her son had begged her for two Christmases ago. Somehow the silver looked right on Zade. Manly. Effortless and stylish without being overblown.

As he set the watch aside, it clunked on the nightstand.

She fisted the cool, crisp sheets and fought the urge to trace the prominent veins that peeked from beneath his rolled sleeves. To pull him closer and nuzzle where the top two buttons of his shirt parted. To surround herself with his powerful scent.

What had she gotten herself into? Never mind age. Trifling with a man like this was tantamount to dancing in the middle of a giant bonfire bathed in gasoline. Her conscience knew it. Kept tapping at the corner of her oxygen-starved thought processes, but every other part of her thrummed and begged to writhe in the flames.

His gaze devoured her, bright blue and bold as a spring sky, framed by loose blond bangs. He straddled her thighs and caged her with his arms, holding himself above her, not touching. “A kiss.” He dipped closer, and inhaled deep. “Want to point out, you didn’t put any restrictions on your request.”