Authors: Marilyn
Remember men don’t like clingy women.
Taking his hand in hers, she brushed her lips against his fingers. “Good night,” she whispered and walked inside her apartment before she surrendered to the urge to beg him to stay.
Closing her eyes, she leaned against the door. Perhaps the evening would have ended differently had she not fallen asleep on him. That would not happen again. She pushed herself away from the entrance door.
He filled her thoughts as she undressed and prepared for bed. After rereading the same paragraph of her e-book over and over on her tablet, she decided it was time to go to sleep. As she drifted off, her phone rang. Yawning and stretching, she reached for her cell phone lying on the nightstand. She glanced at the screen.
C. Dean.
Smiling, she touched the speakerphone button on her smart phone screen. “Hello?”
“Hi. I know it’s late, but I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“Not quite.”
“Good. I wanted to ask you to spend tomorrow afternoon and evening with me.”
“What did you have in mind?” Not that it mattered. It would take an act of God to keep her from agreeing to see him again.
“I thought we could have a late lunch, spend a few hours doing whatever you’d like to do, and then have dinner together—unless you’d rather do something else.”
“Something else? Such as?”
“I’m sure you can guess what I’d like to do but its ladies’ choice.”
She was too delighted to hear from him so soon to even consider playing hard to get. “I’d love to spend the afternoon and evening with you.”
“That’s music to my ears.”
She smiled. He sounded sincere. “Then we’re on the same page.”
“Great. I know you’re tired so I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll see you around 11:30 tomorrow.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Sweet dreams, Kira.”
“And to you, Carter.”
Still smiling, she put her phone down, turned off the light, and lay thinking about him until she fell asleep.
* * *
“About tonight,” Carter said.
“What about tonight?” Dan asked as they walked into his kitchen after their weekend morning run. He opened the refrigerator and tossed a cold bottle of water at Carter. “Let me guess. You’ve made other plans for tonight that don’t include coming to my party.”
Carter opened the bottle and drank half of the contents before responding. “Exactly.”
“Your date last night went that well?” He straddled one of the kitchen chairs.
Carter hesitated before deciding not to mention the effect having Kira kiss his hand the previous night had had on him. “It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.”
Dan grinned. “She sent you home with your tail between your legs instead of letting you spend the night with her?”
He shrugged. “I went home by mutual agreement, but we ended the evening on a positive note.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You can bring her with you tonight, you know.”
He nodded. “I know, but I’d rather not.”
Dan gave him a long look. “I’m guessing that means you want her all to yourself.”
“You guess right.”
“Hmm. You expect to score tonight?”
For some reason the question annoyed the hell out of Carter. “No I am not expecting to score and you know what? I’ll thank you to stop talking about her as if you think she’s easy.”
Dan stared at him for several moments before responding. “You’re far too touchy where she’s concerned to continue to pretend that she’s not under your damned skin, old son.”
He finished his water and tossed the empty bottle at Dan, who batted it away and into the trashcan. “Why don’t you get a life and stay the hell out of my business?”
“As long as we’re best friends, your business is my business—just as mine is yours. Why don’t you bring her tonight? Just stay long enough to let her know you’re interested enough to introduce her to your friends.”
“Who says I’m that interested?”
“I do. I’m eager to meet the woman who’s had such a huge effect on you. So bring her.”
“Maybe I will—if she wants to come.”
Dan rose and walked over to the range. “Steak and eggs?”
He nodded. “Sounds good.”
“You want to talk about her?”
He stared at Dan’s back. “Are you serious?”
Dan turned to face him. “Damn right I’m serious.”
“We’re not teenagers anymore.”
“You don’t have to be a teenager to want to discuss a woman who rocks your world to your best friend.”
He decided it was no point in disagreeing with the obvious. “You’re right.”
“So? Let’s talk about her.”
“Fine. What do you want to know about her? I’ll tell you the little that I know.”
Dan grinned. “Everything you know.”
After a breakfast washed down with a cold beer and a conversation centered almost exclusively around Kira, Carter left Dan’s apartment to go home to shower and change. Then, instead of doing something productive, he sat on his patio and thought about Kira. His eagerness to see her made the hours before he was due at her apartment seem endless.
No matter how much he admonished himself to get a grip on his emotions, the thought of seeing her again in a few hours left him feeling like a teenager caught up in the emotion and power of a first lustful crush.
He recalled her warm smile. Then his thoughts turned more carnal as he fantasized about slowly undressing her until every inch of her dark warm flesh was on display. Once she was nude, he’d feast his gaze on her large, natural breasts, her surprisingly sexy stomach, her big legs, and of course her exquisite pussy.
Damn but he wanted to fuck her so badly he ached. But even if it killed him, he would be patient. He knew that she didn’t want to be treated like an easy lay. And he wouldn’t treat her like one. He would not try to sleep with her tonight.
Chapter Six
Finally, it was time to pick her up. On the way to her apartment he stopped at a florist shop to pick up flowers and candy. When she opened the door and smiled at him, he longed to snatch her into his arms and smother her lips with endless, greedy kisses before pushing her against the nearest wall for a quick fuck.
Instead, he smiled at her. “Hi. These are for you.”
“Oh, Carter. The flowers are beautiful and you’ve brought candy too.”
“Hopefully the candy is half as sweet as you are,” he said and resisted the urge to lean down to kiss her lush lips. He turned his attentions to her apparel. She wore a blue dress that fell just below her knees. It didn’t particularly highlight any of her physical attributes, but it suited her. “You look lovely.” He said.
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand and smiled at him. “Come in and I’ll put the flowers in water and the candy away.”
He followed her inside, his gaze locked on her ass. Thoughts of holding her bare cheeks in his palms again just before spanking them aroused him.
Calm down, Carter. She wants to be romanced and you’re not adverse to romancing her. So no sex tonight. Just romance.
In the living room, she gestured to her sofa. “Have a seat.” On her way out the door she looked over her shoulder at him. “Where are my manners? Would you like a drink?”
He shook his head. “No. Thanks.”
“I’ll be right back.”
He nodded and walked across the room to look out her living room window. She had a view of an adjacent apartment building. He stood staring down into the street until she returned to the room ten minutes later.
“I’m ready.”
He turned to face her, smiling. “Great. There’s a nice park setting adjacent to my apartment complex. I thought we could have a picnic there. What do you think? Are you in the mood for a picnic?”
“I’d love to have a picnic.”
And I’d love to spend the next few weeks fucking you out of my system.
She frowned. “If we’re going on a picnic, I think I’d better put on a pair of slacks.”
“Okay.” He watched her walk out of the room before he turned to stare out the window again. When she returned she wore a pair of dark blue slacks along with a blue and white blouse. The blouse was loose and the slacks looked as if they would easily slide over her hips and down her thighs to provide quick access to her pussy.
“I am now ready to picnic.”
“Glad to hear it, but before we go, I wanted to discuss our plans for tonight.”
“I’m completely at your disposal.”
Didn’t he wish? “A friend of mine is having a party tonight. Since I backed out of going, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if we stopped by briefly before going out to dinner.”
He noted a reluctant look in her eyes before she lowered her lids. Damn. Her not wanting to meet his friends was not a good sign. “Is that all right with you?”
“I… I… Okay. Sure.”
But he could see that she was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of stopping by the party. “On second thought, why don’t we skip the party and spend the night alone? We can do the whole meet the friends thing some other time.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind if we don’t go?”
He was sure that her reluctance to even make a brief appearance at Dan’s party annoyed the hell out of him, but tonight was going to be all about pleasing her. If she didn’t want to meet his friends, he’d sure as hell better not fall for her.
Almost as if she’d read his mind, she placed a hand on his arm. “It’s not that I don’t want to meet your friends…”
It sure as hell looked as if she didn’t. “It’s okay. We can do it another time.”
Her relief was obvious. “Thanks for understanding,” she said.
He nodded, hoping no trace of his annoyance was evident to her. “Now that we have that settled let’s go enjoy a picnic for two.” He offered her his arm.
She slipped her arm through his and smiled at him.
Damn if his heart didn’t thump and his annoyance vanish.
You’re going to have to watch yourself, Carter. You can’t keep overreacting like this. She has no interest in meeting your friends. Any show of what you choose to think of as affection from her clearly means very little if anything to her. Get a grip or you’re going to find yourself in shit too deep to dig yourself out from.
On the drive to his apartment complex, he stopped at his favorite deli to pick up the sandwiches, juices, and side dishes he’d ordered early that morning. Then he drove to the picnic area. Since he had parked his car a quarter of a mile from the picnic area, he loaded up the food along with several blankets and two pillows in a rolling picnic hamper.
“What do you need me to carry?” she asked.
“Just that beautiful smile of yours,” he said. “I can handle everything else.”
She smiled. “You sure know how to close a deal.”
“My momma didn’t raise any fools.”
He found an ideal spot for the picnic. The tall trees allowed filtered sunlight to stream down onto the grass as well as provided a comfortable place to sit. A nearby brook and the sounds of the park provided pleasing accompaniment.
He spread out the blankets and placed the pillows and cushions against the tree trunk before they unpacked the food together. Seated next to each other they ate in relative silence.
Each time he glanced at her he found her looking at him. Meeting her dark gaze, he felt a stirring of emotion that did not bode well for retaining complete possession of his heart. What the hell was it about her that enchanted him so? Why did he have no regrets for having given up Jill to pursue her?
He readjusted the pillow behind his back and turned so he could study her profile. He’d spent time with and bedded much more beautiful women but at that moment he couldn’t think of a single other woman he’d rather be with. “Tell me about yourself, Kira.”
She put her water bottle down before she turned to look at him. “There’s really not much to tell that you don’t already know,” she said. “For instance you already know my name, you know where I live, where I work, how old I am, that I’m divorced, am just getting over a relationship I didn’t want to end. All in all I’m sure you know a lot more than I want you to know.”
“Tell me about yourself,” he said again.
“Since I’ve led a rather dull life, I’m not sure how much more there is to tell.”
He shook his head. “There’s lots more to tell and I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
She blinked, a quizzical look in her dark eyes. “Why?”
The question surprised him. He frowned. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have a thing for you.”