Fighting the Undertow Page 3

  All of that seemed rational, until they finished dessert. The next thing he knew, his arms were wrapped around her waist, though he wasn’t sure who’d initiated the embrace. As he explored her mouth with his tongue, sweet with dessert and tart with a hint of wine, the pounding of the ocean clouded his thoughts. He broke away long enough to close the windows. Then, before he could think of a good reason not to, he invited her upstairs.

  “Ian, I…” If she’d been about to voice second thoughts, he drowned her words with another kiss. When they reached his room, she threw open the window, inviting in the crash of the waves.

  Neither of them bothered to turn on a light. In the moonlight, she looked even sexier than she did with the waves playing at her skin.

  “You’re sure you want this?” Damn it, Winters, what if she says no?

  “Mmm hmm. Just a formality, but my roommate would kill me if I didn’t ask…”

  “Yes, I’ve engaged in risky behaviors. Yes, I’ve always used a condom. Yes, I’ve been tested, and I’m fine.” He held his breath, waiting to see if she’d ask for specifics. He’d tell her, but he didn’t know if she was up to hearing the details yet.

  “Me too. Well, except for the risky behaviors part.” Val tugged at the clip that held her hair back from her face. As thick curls spread across her shoulders, she found his lips and nipped hard enough to elicit a grunt of surprise.

  When she moved toward the bed, Ian was relieved not to have to navigate that particular transition. “Miss Vee?”

  “Yes, Mr. Winters?” Laughing at the feigned formality, she tugged him down beside her, sinking into the down comforter.

  “I was wondering something yesterday, and maybe you could help me come up with an answer.” Teasing his hands over her shoulders and neck, he brought them to rest in the silky curls that spread out around her head on the pillow.

  “Yes?”

  “When we were walking on the beach, the wind blew your curls around your face and…” He paused to tug at a few tendrils of hair, shining reddish brown in the moonlight. “I wondered if you might be that wild, that free…”

  “In bed?” Without embarrassment, she finished the question.

  Ian nodded.

  “With you, I think maybe I could be.”

  That was all he needed to know. She wouldn’t run blushing if he forgot himself and took things too far. But she wasn’t Lisa, either. Lisa had used him for the sex, for his friends, for the excitement of the forbidden. But he’d been so in love, he’d been blind to her motives, expecting nothing less than the honesty he’d offered her.

  As Val slipped her fingers under his shirt, he pushed aside the past and focused his attention on her. What frightened him wasn’t how much he wanted her ‑‑ though he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this hot and bothered for someone ‑‑ it was how much he wanted to be with her. To fall asleep with his head beside hers on the pillow, to see what those crazy, wonderful curls looked like in the morning…

  “Ian?” She tugged his shirt over his head and paused with her fingers on the button above his fly.

  Ian slid his hands under her shirt and unhooked her bra, and soon they sat naked in the moonlight. He leaned over and grabbed two silk scarves from a drawer in the bedside table. Val’s shoulders tensed under his hands, but as he trailed the silk over her skin, she relaxed.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes.” As the silk brushed across her nipples, she made a soft sound of approval.

  His balls were making a concerted effort to crawl up under his skin, and he hadn’t ached for anyone like this since high school, but he forced himself to go slow. Seeing as he wanted to avoid attachments, he shouldn’t be so afraid of scaring her away. But he’d reason that out later. For now, their bodies told him what he needed to know. The way she arched into his embrace. The shivers of fire that raced across his skin when she touched him.

  “No.” He moved her hand away from his cock and eased her down onto the mattress. Not that he objected to the heat that followed the path of her fingertips along his dick. But he wanted this to last until morning. God help him, he wanted to pull her close and watch her sleep as the sun rose.

  Val flinched as he draped a scarf across her eyes, but when he left it loose, she settled back onto the pillow and explored his body with her fingers. She stroked his hair while he sucked one nipple, then the next, and when he tried to sit up, she locked her hands behind his neck and guided his mouth to hers.

  He could tell by the way she nipped at his neck and jaw, by the way she tried to shift to her side when he rested his weight on her, that she wanted to take control. And he had no doubt she could. In fact, he looked forward to the night it would happen. But he wanted something else tonight. She protested when he knotted the scarf at the back of her head, but didn’t try to tug it away from her face.

  “Okay?” A few heartbeats of silence greeted the question, and he soothed his hands along her arms as he waited.

  “I think so.”

  Not wanting to spook her, he waited to see what she’d do next. Reaching out to find his face, she shifted onto her side and pressed her mouth to his. The heat of her kisses, the probing insistence of her tongue in his mouth, nearly pushed him beyond the thin shred of control he had left.

  What is it about her?

  As she moaned against his mouth, he traced his fingers down her stomach and teased the tight nest of curls before exploring further. When she reached down and curled her fingers around his balls, he captured her wrists and lifted her hands to rest on the pillow above her head.

  Trapping her wrists with one hand, he slid the other between her legs. The scent of sex filled the room as he parted slippery folds of skin, teased the delicate hood over her clit, and eased two fingers deep inside her.

  “Oh!” She twisted free of his grasp and dug her fingers into his shoulders.

  As he pressed deeper, stroking forward against her pelvic bone, she cried out, and her muscles clamped so tight he couldn’t move his fingers. If he gave much thought to what that would feel like when he buried himself inside her, he’d come here and now. Something about Val made him feel like a starry-eyed adolescent, with just about as much control.

  Distracted by her attempts to capture his cock between her palms, he raised her hands over her head again, paused a moment to give her a chance to say no, and then twined the other scarf around her wrists. Since her gasp sounded more aroused than startled, he pulled the silky fabric snug and knotted it to a bar of the brass headboard. Her body stiffened against him, and he waited to see if she’d ask him to free her hands.

  “Sorry. Not that I don’t like the idea of your fingers wrapped around my cock.” He brought his hands up to her face, soothed them along her cheekbones under the blindfold. “But I want this to last, and you seem determined not to behave yourself.”

  As he moved his hands from her face to the corded muscles of her neck, stroking away the tension, he waited for her to relax beside him. With a sigh, she let her head drop back on the pillow and stopped exploring the limits of movement imposed by the silky fabric.

  “Okay?”

  “It is now.”

  Still honest. Good. Her indecision had been as easy to read as the moment of fright when he’d twined the cloth around her wrists and tied the knot, as well as the moment of surrender when she’d accepted the restriction of her movements and her body had relaxed against his. He nibbled a path along her throat, and then ducked down to take her nipple into his mouth.

  “Now that you’ve explored my limits, do you plan to torment me all night, or do you suppose we might get around to the fucking part soon?”

  Laughing, he raised his face to kiss her. “I suppose.” He grabbed a condom from the bedside table and broke all prior records getting it in place. As he lifted her leg over his hip, pressing forward until the tip of his cock pressed against her pussy, she shivered and arched closer.

  “Brenda was wrong. This is exactly what I need.”

>   Ian froze. “Brenda Howard?” She’d said her friend owned a gift shop, and more likely than not, that had to be Bren.

  Val nodded, and in response to her impatient whimper, he rolled her nipples between his fingers. Damn, he’d known Bren since high school, and she knew Lisa too. If he wanted to be the one to explain some of the more interesting elements of his life to Val, he’d better do it soon.

  But not now. He grinned at Val’s muttered curse. “Impatient, Miss Vee?” Before she could answer, he drove inside her and eased back again.

  As she moved to match his rhythm, all other thoughts slipped away. Though her hands remained secured above her head, she embraced him with her legs, digging her heels into his back. As her panting grew more desperate, he resisted the urge to quicken the pace. Slow and easy, moving like the swell of the ocean waves, he buried his cock inside her then withdrew, over and over, until she trembled beneath him.

  “Deeper.”

  In response to her plea, he pressed forward until their pelvic bones ground together, groaning as her muscles gripped him like a ring of iron. As she tensed and shuddered, Ian gulped for air, pulled under as they came together. Wild and uninhibited, Val’s cries echoed through the room as her pussy clenched and released in rapid succession, milking aftershocks of heat and pleasure from his startled cock.

  Still struggling to catch his breath, Ian eased off her and collapsed in a boneless heap. If Abby and Tyler were home from their date, no doubt they’d heard her screams. He reached up to untie the knot that bound her hands and then slipped the blindfold off her face.

  “Damn.” What had they done?

  “Just what every woman wants to hear after sex.” Val’s voice held a hint of amusement, and he felt her smile against his cheek. “We didn’t manage to keep things light, did we?”

  “No. We didn’t.” He’d been part of her near the end, his breath matched to hers, craving the brush of her lips on his skin in a way that made him wonder if he could ever let her go. Reluctant to analyze what he’d felt, he grabbed a handful of Kleenex and reached down to remove the condom. Val intercepted his hands and grabbed the Kleenex. Cupping his balls in the palm of one hand, she slid the condom off with the other.

  “Mmm. I could get used to that.” She might be edgy about blindfolds and light bondage, but she wasn’t shy. “There’s a wastebasket by the bed.”

  His breath caught in his throat as she settled back beside him and stroked his thigh. The breeze billowing past the curtains raised goose bumps on his sweaty skin. Pulling her close to share his body heat, he tugged a corner of the comforter over their legs and wondered what came next.

  Chapter Three

  Which was his last thought before he found himself blinking in a patch of sunlight. He’d wanted to wake first, to see what Val looked like while she slept. Instead, he woke to find her looking at him with her chin propped on her hands, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  “Hey.” With a groan, Ian glanced at the clock. Not only would Abby and Tyler be up already, but seeing as it was Sunday, Nathan and Jeremy were probably already downstairs as well. Double damn. The last thing he wanted to do to Val right now was subject her to Sunday brunch with his friends.

  Val didn’t attempt to cover herself, but she didn’t make a move to touch him, either. When he cupped her chin in his hand, she pressed against his palm, rather than pulling away. At least, this wasn’t going to be awkward.

  They both jumped at the loud rap on the door.

  “Brunch is on the table. We blackmailed Tyler into cooking again, so this isn’t something you want to miss.”

  At Jeremy’s insistent pounding, Ian mouthed, “Ignore him.” Then he heard the rattle of the doorknob.

  “Damn it, Jeremy, if you open that door, I’m going to make your life a living hell!”

  Before Val had a chance to dive under the blankets, the door banged open, and Jeremy took a step inside the threshold. “Oops.”

  Now this is awkward. Glaring at Jeremy, Ian pointed at the door. “Get the hell out.”

  “Morning, Jeremy. Give us fifteen minutes to shower, and we’ll meet you downstairs.” Without flinching or attempting to cover herself, Val met the veterinarian’s sultry gaze.

  Jeremy uttered an insincere sounding, “Sorry to intrude,” and retreated to the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him.

  “Besides offering my humble apologies, I’ve got to say, I can’t imagine anyone handling that better.” Ian tangled his fingers in her disheveled curls and kissed the tip of her nose. As he studied the soft curves of her breasts and hips, and the long lines of her legs, he wondered how long they could stall before someone pounded on the door again.

  “When you work in the mental health field, you learn to control your emotions in the face of the unpleasant or unexpected.” The corners of her mouth tugged up in a delightful little grin. “Besides, the look on Jeremy’s face was priceless. I’m pretty sure Abby and Tyler hadn’t told him I was here.”

  “And that little bit of consideration ended up costing us, didn’t it?” He kissed the slope of her neck, and then found her lips. “Again, I’m sorry, my friends…”

  “Hey, it’s okay. I picked up that none of you are shy around each other, though I’m still sorting out the rest.”

  As she sat up and stretched, the curve of her back made Ian uncomfortably aware of his rock-hard morning erection, a detail that wouldn’t have been lost on Jeremy. At least Val suspected there was something going on with his friends. Maybe that would make it easier to explain things when the time came.

  “Hey, I’m sorry I fell asleep here. I didn’t intend to stay.”

  “I did.” Ian sat up beside her and snaked an arm around her waist, her skin soft under his hand. “Intend for you to stay, I mean. Come on, let’s talk in the shower.”

  He shoved her out of bed, chased her into the bathroom, and she laughed as he started the shower and lifted her into the spacious shower stall. Stepping in beside her, he let the hot spray ease his tight muscles and reevaluated his goals.

  Write the damn book. Don’t hurt Val. Don’t get hurt. How the hell was he going to accomplish all that?

  Her hair lathered with shampoo, Val leaned close to rest her chin against his chest. “So, where do we go from here?”

  “One day at a time?” That strategy had served him well in the past, and it seemed like the only viable option at present.

  “Sure. One day at a time.” She leaned back to rinse her hair, then shifted so he could have his turn under the spray. “When you’re ready, I have some questions.”

  “I know. I’ll try to answer them soon.” Reaching to turn off the water, he shook his hair, showering her face with droplets.

  He’d worry about her questions later. For now, he’d settle for navigating his friends’ questions at brunch without embarrassing Val.

  * * * * *

  As she polished off the last of her Belgian waffle, Val wondered what she’d gotten herself into. She’d never experienced half the passion she’d felt with Ian last night or, if she was going to be perfectly honest, half the affection.

  But damn it, Ian had “dangerous distraction” written all over him. One night with him, and sorting out her career plans seemed more like a burdensome chore than an exciting opportunity to start over. But she couldn’t make herself walk away, even though watching Jeremy run his tongue along the top of Abby’s ear set off warning sirens too loud to ignore.

  Tyler didn’t seem bothered, and Ian didn’t seem to think there was anything remarkable about a bit of foreplay at the kitchen table. Okay, so Abby had a thing going with the sexy vet, and her partner didn’t seem to mind.

  We’re all grown-ups here, right? Anything between consenting adults? Val shivered as she wondered just how far “anything” might go with this crowd.

  “You okay?” Ian stood as Val cleared her plate to the sink and started down the hall.

  “Yep. Just heading to the bathroom.” Where I’ll either collect m
y thoughts or climb out the window and start running. She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile, then turned and made her escape. “Back in a minute.”

  In the hall, she nearly plowed into six feet of… “Holy Mother of God, what in hell are you?” Her heart hammering against her chest, she took a careful step backward. Whatever, or whoever, it was took a step toward her.

  “It’s okay, Val, it’s just Kev.”

  Almost as startled to find Abby standing behind her as she’d been to run into a shimmering man in the hallway, Val hoped her knees weren’t shaking visibly.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. Since you seemed uncomfortable with me and Jeremy flirting at the table, I figured we should have a chat. But it looks like you’ve got other things you might want to talk about at the moment.”

  “Abby, is that, or he, real?” As she watched, the man in front of her thinned to a misty outline, then solidified into a more or less normal image of a tanned hunk in cutoffs and a blue T-shirt. As ghosts went ‑‑ she stifled a nervous laugh ‑‑ he sure wasn’t bad-looking. Those dimples must have charmed a lot of women in his day.

  “Val, meet Kevin. He likes to hang around sometimes. Kev, this is the first woman Ian’s brought home in a hell of a long time, so behave and don’t frighten her away.”

  “Uh…” This couldn’t be happening. She whirled to bolt back toward the kitchen, but the ghost grabbed her arm.

  Val stifled a scream. “Damn it, Abby, tell him to go away!” About two more minutes of this and she was going to pee her pants in terror.

  “He just wants to check you out. I promise, he’d never hurt you. In fact, if he likes you, most likely, you’re stuck with a bodyguard from the otherworld. He’s protective of Ian, and by association, anyone close to Ian.”

  Shifting nearer to Abby, Val disengaged her arm from the ghost’s grasp. Her skin tingled where he’d touched her. As she watched, his image thinned and wavered, but before he disappeared, he smiled at her again. His face looked boyish, almost vulnerable, below the thatch of sandy brown curls. And then he was gone.