“Exactly, babe.” Meaning she couldn’t deny his claim. “Not that I minded, because Doc, you are hot.”
Lecia opened her mouth to protest, then realized what she’d be objecting to. She managed a very dim-witted “Oh.”
“Yeah, I think you’re a babe.”
Maybe it was where they were, and the fact that she had been living and breathing Anthony Beals for the past two days. But she was suddenly ballsy enough to follow this train of thought through to its logical conclusion.
She said, “You’re saying I could tempt you?”
“
Could?
Doc, you already are.”
His affirmation sent a zap of heat right to her vagina. But then she remembered what they were talking about, and realized she had just proven her point. “Aha!” she boasted. “There you go. Women tempt you all the time.”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but not every ball player is a philandering asshole. I’m human. I can’t say I haven’t been tempted. But when it boils down to it, a piece of ass for one night sure as hell isn’t worth me losing my marriage.”
It was strange, but her heart said she could believe him. She barely knew him, but there was a ring of honesty to everything he told her. Allen would have flat out lied and said he was never tempted by another woman, and as soon as she was out of the room he’d be screwing a patient.
“What the hell,” Anthony said flippantly. “See what happens when a guy tries to be honest?”
“I believe you,” Lecia told him. For some reason, it was important for him to know that. “I guess I have my own hang-
ups with infidelity. My ex. He believed that if he could get away with it, why not do it.”
“I don’t get some men. If I had a wife like you to come home to…”
Anthony let his statement hang in the air, but he thought about his own words after uttering them. Wasn’t that the way life went? The good ones got burned time and time again. They gave their hearts fully, only to have them trampled on.
Lecia was one of the good ones. She wouldn’t be here with him if she weren’t. And deep in his gut, he knew he could trust her. Unlike the woman who’d sworn to love him forever. He couldn’t imagine Lecia lying to him the way Ginger had.
But he
could
imagine her in his home, lying on his bed—
Startled at the direction of his thoughts, Anthony started the car. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but maybe he really ought to see someone when he got back to L.A. Someone he could talk to who would help him sort out his feelings. Because right now his biggest concern should be Ginger, yet he was getting a hard-on thinking of boning Dr. Love.
Anthony tried to keep his thoughts in check as he drove through the New Orleans streets. He suspected Lecia was thinking, too, because she was quiet. The silence seemed to stretch for hours, but it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes before they arrived in the French Quarter. Anthony pulled the car up in front of the Sheraton.
“Here,” he said, handing Lecia a handful of hundred dollar bills. “Pay cash.”
She looked at the money, then at him. “I’m sure they’ll want an imprint of a credit card. They always do at the bigger hotel chains.”
“You don’t mind using yours, do you? No one expects you to be traveling with me. There’ll be no questions.”
Lecia shook her head as she got out of the car. “No. I don’t mind. But this is a lot of money. You want the presidential suite?”
“A clean room with two beds. Or a king,” he added, then wanted to kick himself. The words had escaped, as if they had a mind of their own.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Lecia said, and closed the car door.
Anthony watched her walk toward the Sheraton, his stomach sinking with chagrin.
And I’m gonna head straight for the cold shower when I get in that room.
A cold shower was exactly what Anthony needed to give him a fresh perspective on the situation. His head was clear and his libido was no longer raging. With his thoughts of Lecia under control, he’d concentrated on figuring out his wife’s motives. And realized that the answer was probably a lot simpler than he’d thought.
A towel wrapped around his waist as he stepped out of the bathroom, he said to Lecia, “Maybe Ginger just needs therapy.”
Lecia looked up from her spot on the queen bed closest to the window. “Excuse me?”
“Ginger. I was thinking about everything in the shower, how nothing about her behavior makes sense, and I can’t help wondering if she just needs a bit of therapy. If she told me this big lie based on a soap opera, don’t you think she’s suffering some kind of breakdown? Then she runs her mouth to the media acting like she’s afraid of me, which is a total lie. I’m being quick to judge her as a cold, calculating bitch, but maybe she’s got some kind of emotional disorder and needs me now more than ever.”
Lecia didn’t say a thing. She gaped at him as if he had turned bright green.
Then her expression changed. Grew darker. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits as she shook her head.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re upset?”
“You want the truth?”
“Yeah.”
“Then yeah, I’m upset.”
A few seconds passed before Anthony asked, “Why?”
She got up and paced to the window, gripping the sill. “You really don’t want me to tell you.”
“Yeah, I really do,” he replied, wondering what was up with her.
“Okay, fine.” She spun around. “I’m looking at you wondering if I should smack you or commit you.”
“Whoa—”
“Ginger is suffering some sort of mental breakdown? For God’s sake, Tony, why are you grasping at straws? Do you want to live in the dark forever with blinders on, while this woman brings you down to the gutter?”
“I was only thinking out loud.”
Lecia threw her hands in the air, letting them fall and slap against her thighs. “The way it seems to me—but who am I to judge, right? I only listened to your wife tell me what a sick pervert you were—but it’s pretty clear to me that she wants nothing to do with you, so if you’re on this cross-country expedition in hopes of getting her back, you’re a bigger fool than I ever thought you were.” She marched toward him. “That woman doesn’t love you, Anthony. You hear me? She doesn’t love you. When are you going to get it?”
He swallowed as she stepped to within one inch of him. Her words bothered him, but not as much as they should have. “Are you finished?”
“That about sums it up, yes.”
“I don’t think it does.”
“Oh, please. No more about your precious Ginger.”
She whirled on her heel, but Anthony grabbed hold of her arm, whirling her back around so she landed against his chest. Lecia’s gaze flew to his, bug-eyed and questioning.
“No more about Ginger,” he said softly. “But how about this?”
And then, without warning, he brought his mouth down on hers and kissed her.
Lecia was stunned out of her mind, more so because Anthony had gone from arguing with her about Ginger than because he’d kissed her senseless without batting an eye.
And she was senseless. Because instead of pulling away from him, instead of telling him she wasn’t going to be a pawn in his I-want-Ginger-back game, she stretched up on her tiptoes and pressed her body closer to his.
Lord, but he filled her senses. His body was so strong, she wanted to stay in his arms all day. His unique masculine scent was utterly delicious. He knew just how to touch her to make her crazy with desire.
This man was dangerous.
As he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers, he pressed his fingers along her spine with a gentle yet firm touch. It was the kind of touch that said she was his for the taking.
And, God help her, she was.
“I want you,” he rasped, then pulled her bottom lip between his teeth. “Man, I love your lips. Even when you’re yelling at me, I love them.” He flicked his tongue over hers. “I love the way you taste.”
She wanted him, but not on the rebound. And certainly not
as some way for him to get back at his precious Ginger. She had to know this wasn’t about that.
She stepped away from him, backing against a wall. “One minute you’re talking about Ginger like you can save your marriage, the next you’re tonguing me?”
“You don’t want to do this?”
“Hell, yes,” she found herself saying. “But not if you’re going to run back to your wife.”
“My marriage is over,” Anthony said softly. “Hell, it was never a real marriage in the first place.”
That piqued Lecia’s interest. “What does that mean?”
“I liked her, respected her. I thought that’s all we needed for a happy union. And don’t give me that look. You have no idea what it was like watching my father play the marriage game like it was a recreational sport.”
“Your father?” So she had been right. “This is about your father?”
“He couldn’t even commit to getting out of bed in the morning. I swore I’d never be like him.”
“So you weren’t in love with Ginger when you married her?” she asked.
“Not the way I should have been. No, not at all, if I’m being honest with myself. There was mutual admiration, and I thought…maybe it sounds stupid now, but I really thought
she
loved me. And I figured that if she cared deeply for me, was someone I could rely on, I would never betray her the way my father betrayed my mother over and over again. I trusted her to be someone with whom I would build a future.”
Lecia didn’t tell Anthony that what he had done, marrying a woman for any reason other than love, was bound to have backfired.
“I’m sure you’d say my actions were foolish, Dr. Love, especially since it all blew up in my face.”
“I’ve made mistakes, too. I have no right to judge anybody.”
“Thanks, but after the way you’ve been trying to get me to talk, I’m sure you have a lot more to say on the subject. And I don’t blame you.”
“It happened. The point is that you learn from it.”
“I know. I need to think about the future.” He ran a finger along Lecia’s cheek.
She wanted to say something, but only a breathless sigh escaped.
“You think I’m wrong to want you, don’t you? I know,” he said when she didn’t respond. “Believe me, I’m trying to understand it myself. But you know what? I suck at figuring out my feelings, so right about now, I don’t want to analyze a damn thing.”
Lecia stopped breathing when Anthony curled his fingers around the back of her neck and drew her close. She landed against the strong wall of his chest with a soft thud. And before she could even utter a word of protest or caution, he pressed his lips down on hers.
Hard.
Her brain told her to end the kiss, push him away. Her heart told her to ride this exhilarating wave as long as she could.
Anthony’s hands roamed her body with the deliberate slowness of a person running a finger along a priceless antique. And it was the aching slowness that was her undoing.
Because there was tenderness in his touch. Untamed, tear-your-clothes-off passion, she was prepared for. Tenderness, she wasn’t.
His touch said that there was something more between them than a trained counselor trying to help out a guy who
needed her. Bizarre as it was, she had felt it from the first night they’d met on national television.
There had been a spark even then, an attraction she couldn’t deny. It was that spark that had her saying yes to go with him to Kahari’s place, then yes to this cross-country trip. All the while, her brain had advised her to be smart, but for once in her life she was following her heart.
And right now, her heart was leading her to the Point of No Return, a place that was dark and dangerous and absolutely breathtaking.
Anthony’s hands explored her body. She tentatively ran her fingers down his back. They stopped at the ridge of the towel around his waist. How easy would it be to slip the towel off and take that piece of forbidden fruit?
Her whole life, she had lived cautiously. Followed the rules. Never done a risky thing until she’d taken a stab at writing, something she had always wanted to do but was talked out of doing.
Being with Anthony might not be smart. It might be stupid as hell. But she was allowed at least one reckless act in her life, wasn’t she? She couldn’t think of a better way to unleash all the tension bottled up inside her.
As if they had a will of their own, her hands moved over Anthony’s firm butt, then up again, over his amazing back. She savored each muscular groove. If his back was any indication, she could only imagine how incredible the rest of his body felt. His pecs. Those thighs…
Ooh, those thighs between her legs. Would he be merciless with her?
As her arms looped around Anthony’s neck, his own hands ventured lower. She loved the feel of his big palms cruising over her body.
He cupped her butt. A slow groan rumbled in his chest and his fingers went lower still, discovering flesh. They tickled her skin as they ventured beneath her skirt, flirting with her naked backside.
He nibbled on her earlobe. “I love this thong.”
Who would have thought, but she loved it, too. Loved it because it made her feel sexy and desirable.
Anthony stepped forward, guiding Lecia backward. When her legs hit the bed they buckled, and she couldn’t help going down. Anthony covered her body with his much the way she had covered his body with hers twelve hours earlier.
“I want to do this, Tony. I really do. But—”
“No buts. You’re free, single, and disengaged. I’m separated and on the road to divorce.”
“But you’re a man.”
“What—you’re into women?”
She angled her head and cut her eyes at him. “Not in this lifetime.”
“Then why all this bullshit mumbo jumbo?” His lips found her neck. “I thought we were past the protests.” He stopped and looked at her. “Unless you’re not attracted to me.”
“Like that’s even possible.”
His smile lit his entire face. “That’s what I want to hear.” He buried his face in her neck once again.
Lecia’s eyes fluttered shut. The pleasure was so delicious, she nearly died from it. And he wasn’t even touching her where it really mattered.
“But…” She inhaled a deep breath and found the strength to speak. “I’ve been so out of the dating marathon. Not at the back of the pack—out of the race completely.”
“Who’s talking about dating, Doc?”
The truth was, it had been so long since she’d had sex that
she wasn’t sure she’d remember how. Wasn’t sure she’d be any good.
“I…” Her shoulders dropped fully on the mattress as she couldn’t think of any more excuses. She wanted this as much as he apparently did, wanted this as much as she’d ever wanted anything. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“Oh, baby.” His voice was incredibly gentle. So were his eyes. “There is absolutely no way you could ever disappoint me.”
Lecia’s heart thundered in her chest. She wasn’t only feeling lust, she was feeling something else—something she didn’t expect to feel. Something deeper than just a physical attraction, and that scared the hell out of her.
“But—”
Anthony covered her mouth with his and practically sucked the breath out of her. But damn if it wasn’t the best breath-sucking she had ever experienced.
After what seemed like endless kissing and groping, she managed to tear her lips from his and ask, “Do you have a condom?”
“Ah, damn it. No.” Anthony sighed.
“We can’t…we can’t do this without a condom. I’m not on the pill.” There hadn’t been a need—until now.
“No, you’re right.”
Anthony eased off her. Lecia was instantly cold where she had just been warm.
“I’m sure they sell some downstairs. I could go, but maybe you ought to. You’re the one who’s dressed.”
“Yes. That would make sense.” But Lecia was already wondering if she had made a mistake in halting their hot and heavy session. Maybe they wouldn’t pick up where they’d left off when she returned.
She snatched up her purse from the floor. She would buy the condoms, but who knew what would happen then?
“And while you’re at it, why don’t you pick up a new pair of boxers for me, and maybe another T-shirt. Some shorts. Whatever you can find.”
This was now turning into a shopping trip. There went her hot, passionate, reckless affair.
So much for ending her celibacy.