Part 5 (1/2)
”I would.”
”Then you can decide if you want to back out.”
”I will not. not. I told you last night I'd accompany you.” I told you last night I'd accompany you.”
”But I thought we were meeting so I could convince you.”
He reached across the table and stroked the back of her hand with his warm fingertips. ”We're meeting because I couldn't stand to wait four more days to see you again.”
Wow. Talk about words going straight from one person's mouth to another person's heart. Or stomach. Or anywhere else.... Annie's thighs clenched below the table, and she scooched her legs together, suddenly very very aware of the tight seam of her pants. aware of the tight seam of her pants.
Because the words-plus that touch, and the intimate look in his eye-had definitely landed there. there.
”Since we're here, however, you might as well fill me in.” Smiling slightly, he averted his gaze and let go of her hand. ”Though, I think I might be able to venture a guess.”
”Oh, really? really?” Her tone held unspoken challenge.
He tilted his head, thinking about it. ”It's your high-school reunion and you're the last unmarried prom princess?”
She rolled her eyes. ”I wasn't the prom princess type.”
More the dairy princess. But she didn't want to mention the cows again until it was absolutely necessary.
Sean tried again. ”Your ex-boyfriend's getting married and you can't stand to show up alone?”
”Not even close,” she said. ”My only ex-boyfriend back in my old hometown can't get married legally, at least not in this state. Though he and his partner partner seem very happy anyway.” seem very happy anyway.”
Sean barked a quick laugh.
”I went through a sweet-and-soulful stage during high school,” she admitted. ”Primarily in reaction to my big, obnoxious, dumb-jock football-playing brothers.”
”Brothers? Older, younger?”
”Two older, one younger. All hardheads. No sisters.”
He nodded, then said, ”Football, you said? That's like a tame version of rugby, right?”
She grinned, looking forward to introducing this man to her brothers more by the minute. ”Right.”
He snorted in visible disdain, then speculated, ”I think I've got the picture.”
”What picture?”
”The Annie Davis picture. The desperate-enough-to-buy-a-date-for-the-weekend picture.”
She couldn't deny that t.i.tle.
He lifted his hands, ticking off the details on his fingers. ”You're incredibly pretty but single at the moment. You've had few boyfriends in the past, come from a small town and have a number of bossy, bl.u.s.tery brothers.”
The incredibly pretty part warmed her, though her first instinct was to deny it. She was was pretty...but not incredibly. Just in a girl-next-door way. pretty...but not incredibly. Just in a girl-next-door way.
Sean, however, wasn't waiting for her to agree. He simply kept going. ”So you blew a lot of money you couldn't afford in order to have a man on your arm when you go home for a family reunion. That way your brothers won't tease you, your parents won't be disappointed in you, and the rest of the folks back home won't pity you, hara.s.s you for leaving, or boss you around the way they did before you moved away. Am I right?”
Annie's jaw dropped. It was a good thing she hadn't popped another nut into her mouth because it would have tumbled out onto the sticky wood tabletop. That had been quite quite a mouthful. Quite an a mouthful. Quite an intuitive intuitive mouthful. ”How on earth...” mouthful. ”How on earth...”
”It isn't that unique a story.” His brow raised in rueful amus.e.m.e.nt, he added, ”You might be surprised how often I've heard it.”
He hadn't nailed it completely but was close enough to make her wonder if she was really so easy to read. Did he look at her and see only only the small-town girl with the spit-up stain on her s.h.i.+rt trying to please her family? Would he ever again see her as the stranger in the lovely yellow silk dress she'd bought specifically for the auction? the small-town girl with the spit-up stain on her s.h.i.+rt trying to please her family? Would he ever again see her as the stranger in the lovely yellow silk dress she'd bought specifically for the auction?
Again accurately reading her thoughts, Sean leaned across the table, his forearms resting on its surface. ”Don't.”
”Don't what?”
”Don't bring up that nonsense about us not being taken for two people who could be involved.” He swallowed visibly, the cords of muscle in his neck flexing before he said, his voice low, ”Because if physical attraction-want-is all it takes to prove we're a couple, n.o.body in your hometown is going to have one doubt as to why I'm there.” His gaze zeroed in on her mouth and his jaw suddenly clenched. ”They'll see the way I look at you and they'll know exactly how much I want you.”
Annie's lips parted and she breathed over them, needing more oxygen than she'd previously been inhaling. Because her heart was sending the blood roaring through her veins at four times its normal pace.
”And they'll see how much you want me, too. They'll figure we're already lovers and the desperation rolling off both of us is because we're being forced to act properly around your family. While secretly, they'll know we'll be tearing each other's clothes off the minute we are out of sight.”
She gasped out loud that time. Her clothes needed to come off now, now, considering how uncomfortably tight they were, how sensitive her puckered nipples were against her bra and s.h.i.+rt. considering how uncomfortably tight they were, how sensitive her puckered nipples were against her bra and s.h.i.+rt.
”No one will question a thing, Annie. I guarantee it.”
She'd begun to lean across the table, too, drawn closer by his words as if they beckoned with genuine magnetism. She couldn't voice a protest-couldn't manage a thought-when Sean lifted his hand and slid it into her hair. He cupped her head, tugging her even closer, until their faces met, their lips brushed.
Her eyes drifted closed as their mouths touched and opened. The warmth of his tongue against hers made her s.h.i.+ver and the slow lazy thrusts made her shake. Once again, she was kissing Sean in public, not giving a d.a.m.n that he had his tongue in her mouth when they were surrounded by strangers.
What woman would give a d.a.m.n when this man was making oral love to her, filling her senses and driving all thought and inhibition away?
Finally, after a kiss stretching over several long breaths, he let her go. He pulled back, just a few inches, and, without hesitation, returned to their conversation, as if he hadn't just rocked her world.
”Now, forget about trying to talk yourself out of it,” he said, averting his eyes and lifting his beer.
Seeing the way the dark liquid sloshed a bit on the top, Annie realized he was not entirely under control. He was just better at hiding his reactions.
”You haven't got the we-don't-fit excuse,” he added after he'd sipped. ”And there's no need to feel foolish or embarra.s.sed because you want to do something to make your life a little easier for a while by getting your family off your back...especially since they have no business being on it. So stop giving yourself a hard time.”
”It would make it easier,” she admitted, though her mind was still on their kiss and those sultry words.
She leaned toward him again, making up for some of the s.p.a.ce he'd taken by leaning back. With her forearms an inch from his, she was close enough to feel the warmth of his skin, yet not so close that she couldn't keep her head focused on what she had to do, rather than on how badly she wanted to stroke that skin.
Well, almost. almost.
But since he'd messed with her by saying those outrageously s.e.xy things, then kissing her-and stopping stopping-the man deserved at least a little payback. It wasn't much...but hopefully Sean felt her body's energy wafting toward his, mating and mingling over the table, though he didn't acknowledge it.
”So how close was I?”
She had no idea about him, but Annie had been pretty d.a.m.n close. To diving on him from across the table.
He chuckled softly, self-confident and self-satisfied. The man was c.o.c.ky. No doubt about it. ”I meant, my description of the weekend?”