World Enough and Time (11 page)

“So, once you’ve finished having your way with Connor, what then?”

“I find someone else to have my way with, of course.” My confidence waned a tad. I could get over him, but he’d made my dating future significantly more complicated. The sexual satisfaction bar had been raised, and I doubted that men who could satisfy like Connor Graham were easy to find.

“Have you thought about coming back to Cheyenne after Connor leaves?” Mary asked.

My heart sank. “I’ve thought about it, but it’s not going to happen unless I hit the lottery.” Homesickness pulled at my chest. “I want to, though. God, I miss it.”

“Is it that expensive?” she asked. “I mean, a U-Haul or a plane ticket—”

“The horses.” I shifted my weight, staring at the pavement at my feet. “I can move myself, but I can’t afford to move them.”

“Have you thought about—”

“I’m
not
selling them.”

“Dan, if you’re miserable in Seattle, it might be worth considering.”

I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled. “That would be like asking you to sell your children. They’re all I have. I’m not selling them.”

“Point taken.” She sighed. “I just miss you.”

“I know,” I said. “I miss you too. And if it weren’t for them, I’d be back by now, believe me.”

“Still not crazy about Seattle?”
“I like it okay.” I shrugged for no one’s benefit but my own. “It’s just not Cheyenne. Aside from the horses, I have no reason to stay here.”

“Except Connor.”

“Right,” I said. “Connor, who’s leaving in a few months
and
is just a friend with benefits.”

“For the moment, anyway.”

“No, this is how it’s going to stay. I mean, he’s leaving. I couldn’t get attached to him if I wanted to.”

“Doesn’t mean you won’t.”

“I told you, I won’t.”

She was quiet for a second. “We’ll see about that.”

“Mary, I’m serious. Like I said, he’s fresh out of a relationship, I’m still getting over Matthew McDumbass as you so eloquently dubbed him, and Connor’s moving away anyway.”

“
Sure
you won’t want to go with him?”

“Absolutely. I’ve already done that with one guy, and I’m not doing it again.”

“Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Her tone was laced with skepticism. “Well, either way, I’m glad to hear you’re with someone who’s not a complete asshole.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Footsteps behind me turned my head. Connor and I made eye contact and my stomach fluttered when he smiled.

To Mary, I said, “He’s here, I have to go.”

She giggled. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Whatever,” I said. “Love you, sis.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up and dropped the phone into my purse just as Connor’s hands touched my hips.

When I turned around, he said, “Long time no see.”

I smiled. “Much too long.”

He kissed me, and a tingle of panic worked its way into my gut. As much as I wanted to convince myself I’d never follow another man, there were times when his kiss made me swear I’d move to the ends of the Earth at his whim.

This was one of those times.

Slow and gentle, as was his custom, with a hand in my hair and the other on my hip, he pressed his lips to mine and brought the world to a halt. The kiss deepened, and with the persuasive warmth of his mouth against mine, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t have done if he’d asked me just then.

When we separated, we both exhaled and my knees shook as the world shifted back into motion. He grinned, something in his eyes suggesting he knew exactly what he did to me.

“I’ve been waiting for that all day,” he said.

“You’re not the only one.”

He kissed me once more, lightly this time. On our way into the pub, he held the door and gestured for me to go first. When I walked past him, he put his hand on the small of my back and followed me into the pub. It didn’t feel at all like something territorial or an attempt to corral me and keep me close by, just comfortable contact.

We stopped beside one of the high tables, hanging back from the rest of the group while we got ourselves situated and ordered drinks.

“What are you drinking?” Connor pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“Mac and Jack’s.”

He smiled. “I should have known. Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He kissed me on the cheek and disappeared into the thin early evening crowd at the bar. While I waited for him, I looked around the room to see if I recognized any other faces from the last time. Though a few were familiar, I couldn’t put names with all of them. Susan acknowledged me with a nod and a wave, but she was wrapped up in a conversation with a goateed guy who probably had more tattooed skin than not. On the other side of the room, Kyle caught my eye while he shot pool with some of the other guys. He didn’t notice me, or if he did, he gave no sign. I wondered if he even remembered meeting me before.

A hand touched my shoulder and I turned, expecting to see Connor with our drinks, but to my surprise, it was Troy.

“Dani,” he said. “I thought that was you.”

My smile was tight-lipped. “Yep, it’s me.”

He shifted his weight and dropped his gaze for a second. “Listen, we got off on the wrong foot last time. I, um, I wanted to apologize for that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I offered a somewhat more genuine smile. “Really.”

“I’d like to make it up to you,” he said. “Could I, um, could I buy you a drink? Mac and Jack’s, right?”

“Good memory. But, no thanks.”

“Are you—”

“Mac and Jack’s?” Connor appeared beside me, glass in hand. When Troy’s posture stiffened, amusement curled Connor’s lip.

“Thank you,” I said, taking my beer.

“Well, anyway,” Troy’s voice was colder than the drink in my hand. “I just wanted to apologize for last time. I’ll see you around.” With that, he quickly walked away.

“Huh, how strange.” Connor tilted his head and furrowed his brow as if in deep thought. Then he shrugged and sipped his beer.

“What?”

“Troy’s usually such a friendly guy, and he didn’t even say hello to me.” He glanced at me and winked. “Can’t imagine what his problem is.”

“You know, I should go thank him,” I said.

Connor raised his eyebrows. “For?”

“Well, if Susan hadn’t wanted to hook me up with him, I wouldn’t have been here the night we met,” I said. “And if he hadn’t been such a dick to me, we wouldn’t have met.”

He grinned. “Maybe I should go thank him, then.”

“I don’t know,” I laughed. “He looks pretty pissed off. Might take a swing at you.”

“He’s just jealous.” He gave a flippant shrug. Then he set his beer down and leaned closer to me, speaking just loud enough for me to hear. “After all, when tonight’s over, he’s not the one who will be tasting you when you come.”

A shiver ran up my spine and I took in a sharp breath.

He grinned. “You think I’m kidding?”

“Not at all,” I said. “I just didn’t realize you were feeling quite so frisky tonight.”

“And you’re not?”

“Sure I am.” I put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer, dropping my voice. “Unfortunately, I have to keep it to myself because places like this frown on me pushing you up against the bar and sucking you off.”

It was his turn to shiver. He gulped and looked at me with wide eyes. Batting mine, I picked up my beer and took a drink. I’d never been quite so brazen, but he brought it out of me. He brought it out of me, and I liked it.

Sliding his hand around my waist, he let one finger slip between my blouse and my waistband, running along my skin. My breath hitched. In a low growl, he said, “Pity they don’t allow things like that, since these barstools are just the right height.”

I swallowed, but recovered quickly. “Definitely a pity.” I grinned, putting an arm around him and steering us toward the crowd of people we’d come to hang out with. “Especially since I’m not wearing anything under this skirt.”

Connor stumbled over his own feet and nearly dropped his beer.

“Easy there,” I said. “That’s alcohol abuse.”

He laughed again. “And you’re a tease.”

“Are you accusing me of lying?”

His eyebrows jumped. “You mean you’re serious?”

I just smiled.

“Dani, are—”

“Come on.” I tugged his arm. “We came to mingle. Let’s mingle.”

He followed, and just before we were too close to anyone else to keep talking like this, he whispered in my ear, “Just wait until we get home.”

We continued this little game throughout the evening. A touch here. A suggestive comment there. Even while we mingled with other people, our secret game of Arousal Tag continued. We kept it subtle, under everyone else’s radar, but I was acutely aware of every move he made.

Sitting at the bar, he closed his eyes and took a sharp breath when I drew the toe of my shoe up the back of his calf. After we’d moved to a booth with some other friends, he didn’t miss a beat in the conversation when his hand slid under my skirt and teased my inner thigh.

As the night went on, the moves became more subtle, but the responses were anything but. Every time he looked at me, my pulse raced and my temperature rose. When I brushed my fingers across his hand while he spoke, he completely lost his train of thought.

It went from a game of teasing and flirtation to a semaphore of desperation. Between the lines of every move and every comment was a simple message in our own horny version of Morse code, and that message became clearer by the second:
You. Now
.

If this went on much longer, I was going to be sending him an
S.O.S.
and dragging him down the nearest dark alley.

“I’m going to get another drink.” He picked up his empty Coke glass. “You want anything?”

The only thing that stopped me from answering him with total uncensored honesty was the group with whom we were currently chatting. I simply nodded and he went for the bar. Then I excused myself from the conversation and followed him.

I put my hand on his back, the light contact drawing his attention away from flagging down the bartender. When he turned to me, I stood up on my toes so he could hear me. Sliding my hand down his back and into the pocket of his jeans, I whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”

He gulped. A second later, the bartender appeared. Connor cleared his throat. “I just need to take care of my tab.”

Chapter Fourteen

We quickly made the rounds, saying our goodbyes as fast as we could without being impolite. Susan tried to stop me with a conversation about an upcoming horse show, but when my eyes darted toward Connor, she got the message.

“Go, go, get out of here,” she said, practically herding us out.

As soon as Connor and I were far enough from the pub’s windows to avoid being seen by anyone we knew, we stopped and kissed the way we’d needed to all evening. There was nothing slow or gentle about this kiss; his fingers were in my hair,
gripping
my hair, and the hand on my hip pulled me against him so I could feel just how hard he was.

Gasping for breath, I broke the kiss and whispered, “How far away is the Jeep?”

“Too far,” he murmured, dipping his head and kissing my neck. Then he stepped back, closing his eyes and holding my shoulders while he struggled to catch his breath. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to keep me from coming toward him or if he needed to hold himself back.

Our eyes met.

Without another word, we both turned and started down the sidewalk. Tapping into some previously unknown well of restraint, I kept my hands off him, forcing myself to wait until we were safely inside my apartment. I was too close to losing control, and if I tasted his mouth one more time, I was going to do something in public that was deemed gravely unacceptable by social protocols.

Up ahead, the Jeep came into view. Connor’s arm slipped around my waist and I stumbled. He held me upright, using my misstep as a chance to pull me even closer, and judging by the way he pressed his fingers into my hip, he used me for balance as much as I did him. Usually the very picture of control, he evidently had his limits as well.

He pushed me up against his Jeep, kissing me and pressing his hard cock into my hip. His hand drifted over the front of my shirt and he found my erect nipple through the fabric. He circled it with his thumb and I moaned softly, letting my head fall back.

“Jesus Christ, I can’t wait. I want you so fucking bad right now.” His voice shook with frustration that bordered on fury. “Dani, you just don’t know, you just…” He trailed off, kissing my neck.

“Let’s go,” I said. “I can’t wait either.”

Our eyes met again and he looked startled, like he hadn’t expected me to be just as insatiably turned on as he was.

He quickly pulled his keys out and looked down, frowning as he tried to find the correct key in his trembling hand. When he did, he unlocked the door and kissed me one more time. “Let’s go.”

I got into the passenger seat, thankful to be off my unsteady legs before they gave out. How we were going to make it up to my fourth floor apartment, I had no idea, because at this rate, I was going to be lucky to get out of this Jeep before I had to have him.

Connor got in and leaned across the console to kiss me.

“We’re never going to get home,” I murmured, surrendering to his kiss anyway.

“I know, but I—” Another long kiss. “Fuck, I want you so bad.”

“Then let’s get out of here.”

He stole one last kiss before he sat up and turned the key. He put the Jeep in drive and before he’d even pulled out of the parking space, his hand was on my thigh.

“Are you really not wearing anything under that skirt?” he asked.

“Would I lie to you, Connor?”

He bit his lip as his hand moved up my leg and under my skirt. Every inch he gained made it harder for me breathe, the anticipation of his touch making my head spin faster and faster. When his fingers found my pussy, I moaned, the sound underscored by the low growl that emerged from the back of his throat.

“Oh my God, you’re so wet.” He made a frustrated sound and the Jeep’s engine whined when he accelerated. His fingertips circled my clit, slowly, gently, electrifying nerves that were already drawing me away from sanity. The more he gave me, the more I needed, and I didn’t care who saw, who heard, who knew.