Chapter Two
Remi Douget tried to feel bad about scaring the sexy woman, really he did. But what heterosexual man in his right mind would regret watching the world’s most perfect pair of breasts bounce and sway as Kelli jumped in fright?
Dark hair the colour of fine milk chocolate tempted him. He wanted nothing more than to yank this stubborn, curious woman into his arms, pull the offending rubber band out of her hair and claim her for his own, once and for all.
Granted, when he’d tried that before it hadn’t gone so well. Or actually it had, until Laurann had called to confirm their date the next day. By the time he’d tapped his phone off Kelli’s expression had shut down, revealing only shallow, polite interest. Since then, no matter what he tried or said, she had never again let that wall down between them.
At the time he’d been less than interested in fishing in the same pond for the rest of his natural life. When Kelli changed her mind and turned down his dinner invitation, Remi had given her a charming smile and shrugged the disappointment off his broad shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” A feminine, ringless hand pressed above her plump breast as if to calm her racing heart. “Where’s Jesse?”
Calm and cool, Douget
, he silently reminded himself. This woman had become an obsession. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, even when he knew and understood her rules. If they dated it would only be each other. No other men for her, which he really liked, and no other women for him—that was the detail he hadn’t seemed able to wrap his mind around, even if he’d changed his mind. Was he ready to commit to one woman? Even if it turned out to be for only a few weeks or months? The thought had given him hives until sometime last week, when his younger brother Gabe had teased him about turning into a monk.
Shocked, Remi had realised it had been months since he’d felt interest in another woman. He’d kept himself so busy with work reality hadn’t intruded until Gabe had shoved it in his face. It seemed he was a one-woman man after all, so long as that woman was Kelli.
Damn his love-soaked family history. Every member of the Douget family knew their future spouse as soon as they laid eyes on them. Love at first sight and all that. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe the fairytale. Experience with his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles finding the perfect person to complement them and their lives tended to make anyone a believer.
When he’d first met Kelli, he hadn’t thought he was ready for the whole one and only thing, but time had passed and no other woman had even stirred his attention. Like the good Cajun man he’d been raised to be, Remi gave in to the hand of fate. Kelli was meant to be his in every way, just as he would be hers. The trick would be getting her to admit the truth.
Getting his head back in the game and conversation, Remi smiled, making sure to flash his dimples. Mimi always told him he could get away with murder flashing those cheek pockets. Then again, his grandmother had also told him when he met
the one
Remi would fall harder than a gator in a sinkhole.
“Jesse had a flat. She called me to fix it, but before I got there the idiot tried changing the tyre herself.”
Narrow shoulders straightened in feminine outrage while suspicious eyes sparked. His cock hardened. “She’s an idiot for trying to change a tyre herself?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Jesse’s an idiot because she doesn’t know how to change a tyre and that’s how she ended up breaking her hand.”
Worry darkened Kelli’s heart-stopping, jade eyes. “Oh no, is she okay? Does she need some help?”
His heart softened at the genuine concern she showed for a girl Remi considered family. “She’s doing fine. Mad at herself for getting hurt, mad at me for sending her to the hospital and probably pissed at Walker for volunteering to take her home.”
Those tense muscles relaxed at his words. “Yeah, I can see where that would tick her off. Would you let me know if there’s anything I can do to help her out?”
“Of course. Now let’s see what you’ve managed to get into now, shall we?” He swept his hand out in front of him, a gentleman to the last as he motioned Kelli to lead the way. If that made him look like some kind of well-mannered knight, fine with him. Really, all he wanted was the chance to ogle Kelli’s fine butt some more without being caught.
Within moments, Remi mentally dived into her computer, blocking out everything but the numbers and symbols scrolling in front of him. Briefly, he was even able to ignore Kelli and the delicious scent of her skin as she leaned over him. One hand casually pressed to his shoulder, she guided him through her last few moments before the computer had gone ‘apeshit crazy
’
, in her words.
Twenty minutes later, he’d found the problem, neutralised it and restored all the documents hiding behind the security firewall.
“You’re amazing,” she whispered in relief.
He couldn’t help it—he let his poor, tortured dick do the talking for him. “Women are always saying that to me.”
The bright, happy smile on her face quickly died as his thoughtless and egotistical words registered. “I’m sure they do, Remi.” With a fluid grace, Kelli slipped away from the desk, ensuring a wide space of distance remained between them.
“Shit.” He ran a distracted hand through his hair and pushed up and away from the heavy desk. “I didn’t mean it that way, Kelli.”
The stubborn woman only crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her magnificent breasts up and out. Mouth watering, Remi licked his lips and tore his gaze away from the tempting, pale orbs.
“What other way could you have meant it?” Her foot tapped an uneven rhythm against the soft, thickly woven carpet.
Under his breath, he swore again. Two choices as he saw it. First, he could try to play it off and ease away her suspicion. That would allow him to retreat and form a different plan to gain her attention in a positive way. The second choice—his stomach knotted—meant being open and honest with the possible mother of his future children.
Honesty sucks
, he thought. “Okay, here it is, Kelli. The absolute honest truth for you to make of it what you will.”
That cute, pointed chin he wanted to nip with his teeth jerked up and down, but otherwise she remained motionless.
Here goes everything
, he thought with a miserable sigh.
“My family has this thing, this legend, or…not really a legend, since we know it’s true.” Shit, this wasn’t coming out nearly as smoothly and calmly as he’d planned. Restless, he paced the huge office, which was bigger than his first apartment. What woman, person, needed this much space to work all day on a computer?
“So there’s a legend, but it’s not a legend to your family?” she prodded.
“Yeah, okay. So, as far back as anyone remembers, my ancestors have married for love. Love—not money, political gain or power, which is strange considering it used to be pretty much a given to marry for those reasons alone.”
He saw the moment he’d piqued her interest as her head tilted to watch him, her shoulders relaxed their stiff posture. “Your family documented this?”
“Yeah, but there’s also letters, diaries and stories handed down from generation to generation.”
“It sounds sweet, but what’s that got to do with me?”
In his mind, Remi saw the emotional cliff crumbling beneath his feet as he took a leap of faith and jumped. “Because you’re the one for me. You were the one for me three months ago, but I was too stupid and stubborn to understand or accept it. It’s been that long since I’ve been with anyone else or even wanted to think of someone else. Something about you got into my blood and you’re all I can think about. No matter what else is going on in my life, what I’m doing or involved in, you’re there.” He pressed his fist to his chest right over his heart. Then he took several hesitant steps in her direction and flinched when Kelli moved away from him.
“I’m not going to turn into stalker guy or anything like that,” he tried to explain without sounding like a bigger fool. “I’m asking for you to give me another chance to do things right. To treat you as you deserve to be treated and to show you there’s more to me than the inconsiderate jerk you’ve met.” Taking a deep breath for courage, Remi slowly crossed the room. Gently, he tilted her face to look at him. “Can you do that? Give me—give us—another chance?”
Kelli said nothing, shock immobilising her. She just stood there with his finger under her chin and blinked those big, innocent green eyes at him. Thinking he’d pushed too much, Remi dropped his arm and backed away. “Look, I’m sorry if I got out of line. It’s just being in the same room with you is hell on my restraint…and my cock. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were a witch who’d put a spell on me.”
He blew out a frustrated breath, slammed the lid on his temper. Frustration gnawed at his gut at the thought of what he must do. Walking away wouldn’t kill him, but it sure as hell wouldn’t feel good. “Kelli, I can’t get you out of my mind. I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you, but I don’t want to freak you out, so I’ll take off. Call me, please, if you ever change your mind about us.”
He had turned to leave, his cock only half-hard in his disappointment, when a soft hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked down and his body flushed while his heart did a weird flip Remi did his damndest to ignore. God, this woman could lead him around by his cock if she only knew.
“This is kind of a shock,” she said softly, her hesitant gaze rising to meet his. “I’m not sure what to say or do, but I do know I don’t want you to walk out of here. Somehow it feels like this has happened too quickly, but not quickly enough.”
“Then I’ll stay,” he easily agreed, his heart pounding madly in his chest. “I’m sorry for the way I acted before, Kelli. I was a jerk who couldn’t admit to what I felt and I made both of us miserable.”
She nodded her head and dark strands of silky hair sprang from her loose ponytail to frame her delicate, heart-shaped face. “Dare I ask what changed your mind?”
This time, he didn’t hesitate to tell her the truth, looking straight into her eyes and speaking from the heart. “No other woman appealed to me. Like I said, I couldn’t get you off my mind. You were the only person I wanted, not only in my bed, but also in my life. The things I felt…
feel
for you scare the crap out of me. I’ve never wanted to share the personal aspects of my life with a woman. Yet there you were, doing nothing but looking gorgeous, and I wanted to take care of you, protect you.” Remi blew out a breath. “No matter the history of my family, those feelings make my knees shake. And I didn’t handle the fear very well.”
“So, what…? You’ve had an epiphany and suddenly everything’s fallen into place?” She shook her head before he could respond. “No, don’t answer that. Because the truth is I’ve been thinking about you, too—way more than I should. If tonight’s what it takes to get us out of each other’s systems, then I say we go for it. Tomorrow will deal with itself.”
He cocked a brow at her. “Spell it out for me, Kelli. I want there to be no misunderstandings or mistakes about where we go from here. Because I sure as hell intend to convince you to give me more than one night, but for now I’ll take whatever you’re offering.”
He watched her chest swell, her heavy breasts rising with the motion. “Sex, Remi. I’m suggesting—no, I’m saying—let’s have sex. We’ll both scratch whatever itch we have, then get back to our regularly scheduled lives. You’ll do your best to convince me and I’ll do my best to resist you.”
Ninety-five per cent of the blood in his body shot straight down into his cock at Kelli’s husky yet evocative words. The words were everything he’d ever hoped to hear…three months ago. Now… Well, things had changed. Hell,
he’d
changed. No way could he chance losing her when he was so close to finally having her. Besides, he’d given her fair warning of his intentions.
He kept his tone level even as his heart pounded and blood thundered through his veins. “You want a one night stand?”
The bravado in her bright eyes faltered at his blunt words, but only for a moment. Then her chin tipped up in a way Remi was becoming way too familiar with. “Are you suddenly morally averse to one night stands?”
A lump formed in his throat as her words stabbed home. Hell, yes, he was averse to the idea, at least with her. He wanted a hell of a lot more than a single passage of hours with this woman. Hadn’t he told her that? Explained it?
Again, he kept his intentions to himself. There were ways to express what he was feeling, including the changes in his mind and heart, that didn’t require words. Maybe it was time to do a little less talking and show Kelli a lot more action.
“I’d like to see a whole lot more of you.” He cocked his head to the side in challenge. “I’d love to touch and taste a whole lot more as well. If we do this, then you need to know what I want from you.” He was honest, not sure how much more pressure his poor dick could take. Already he could feel the imprint of his zip on the tender flesh. One touch and he’d blast off. Hell, he was turning himself on just thinking of the things he wanted to do. “I’m going to want to go down on you, to lick and suck those sweet juices from your pretty pussy until you scream my name and pour your honey down my throat. I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to suck me off, either. There have been plenty of nights when I jerked off thinking of fucking your beautiful mouth.”
Her bare feet shifted restlessly on the carpet. His words were getting to her, if the hard points of her nipples were any indication. “Um…okay. Is that it?”