Part 5 (2/2)

Rod stumbled back out to the living room. Seeing her on his ”bed” didn't deter him. Slipping around her, he laid down again. He wrapped his arm around her from shoulder to fingertip before she could get away. He became a human clamp.

Unable to breathe, to understand a word of Randy's urgent advice filling her ear, Bethany glanced down at her nightie. In her haste to get the phone, she hadn't put on her robe, and her flesh was only a thin slash of silk away from his. He'd taken his vest off.

They'd fallen asleep together in the chair. She'd awoken at some point and gone to bed, leaving her door open. Rod wasn't a threat. After last night, how few liberties he'd taken with her willingness, she trusted him so implicitly. It should have frightened her. She'd never trusted Scott, even in the beginning.

Unlike Rod, Scott had taken what he could get and always pushed for more.

”Bethie? Are you listening to me?” her brother's deep voice penetrated the paralysis she was in.

”I'm sorry, Randy. I'm so tired, I'm not thinking straight.”

Pausing, as though her fatigue was also cause for worry, he finally relented. ”I'll call you later in the afternoon.”

”OK.”.

After the usual farewells, she leaned over as much as Rod would allow, to replace the receiver. As soon as she returned to a straight position, Rod wrapped his other arm around her hips, tucking her into him. Shocked, uncomfortable, on fire with longing, Bethany finally glanced down at him. He was asleep, with his head almost in her lap, looking so sweet she wanted to kiss him.

But she was really exhausted, it hadn't just been a ploy to get off the telephone. In this state, she was liable to do anything. Anything she'd surely regret later.

Taking hold of his arms, she attempted to extract herself from his hold, but he only cinched his arms tighter around her. He wouldn't let her go, she realized with less panic than she would have experienced at any other time in her life. If she wanted to go back to sleep, she'd have to do it here.

Glancing around, she acknowledged that the sofa was wide enough to hold them. He accommodated her easily when she lay down with him.

Her blush had no time to surface before she was asleep.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Bethany woke warm and comfortable, with no idea where she was. Her bed wasn't this hard and. . .

With a start, she realized she lay on top of someone. Rod. She was in his arms, in her bed. As silently as she could, she panicked, freezing up, afraid to move. Afraid he was awake and expecting. . .

Oh gosh, how had they gotten in here? Why was she sprawled on top of him?

She remembered nothing after she'd laid on the couch with him. As the world's lightest sleeper (unless she stayed up past her bedtime), she couldn't believe anything. . .intimate had happened without her remembering it. They were both still dressed. His zipper pressed into the skin just beneath her ribs hard enough to be as painful.

The click of nails in the hallway drew her gaze instinctively, and she saw the dog standing in the bedroom doorway.

The movement of her head had brought no reaction from Rod. Carefully, she raised her face to look at him. Sound asleep and looking as comfortable as he would in his own bed.

Bethany was mortified. In her twenty-four years, a man had never shared her bed, had never held her while she slept. Since he was asleep, she could admit to herself she liked both of the new experiences. His body was so warm and muscular, and she fit into him perfectly. Embarra.s.sed as she'd be if he woke, she couldn't help smiling as she looked down at him.

Nicole Martini had probably been right, last night, in saying Rod was a bad boy with a short attention span. But he also looked like an angel when asleep.

His brows were fine, silky arches over his closed eyes, and his lashes lay long and thick against his dark skin. This wasn't a dangerous man. When they got home last night, he'd been a perfect gentleman and he was even a gentleman in her bed. He hadn't tried to force her or seduce her in any way. She trusted him, frightening as it was.

Running into the woman Rod claimed to have dumped for her in the restroom had been quite a surprise to Bethany. To be honest, she'd been a little afraid.

Nicole was a woman who looked like she could take care of herself. She wouldn't relish losing. Yet Bethany's impression of her changed when Nicole said, ”He's gonna break your heart, you know. It's what he does best, honey” in a protective tone of voice. ”You're a sweet kid, and you don't deserve to be hurt without a forewarning. You're not in love with him, are you?”

Bethany had lowered her gaze at the bold question, only to find herself even more shocked by the dress Nicole wore. A dress that could better have served as a rubber band.

Why would Rod want her? Bethany had wondered. Nicole was certainly his type. ”I. . .I just met him. . .” she stammered before remembering that Nicole knew exactly when she'd met Rod.

Turning from the mirror, Nicole replaced the cap on a tube of vixen red lipstick. ”You deserve better than a couple nights in his bed, sweetie. He's a rogue, you're an innocent. I can understand why he'd be interested and why you'd be looking for a little danger. But take my advice, kid: Guys like Rod Summers are more interested in the flame than the fire. They run when the heat is on.

It's not worth it.”

Unable to respond, because she didn't know the other woman's intentions, Bethany had only been more surprised when Nicole squeezed her hand. ”We're on the same side, baby. I've been around the block, so I've seen my share of losers. Rod Summers is the kingpin.”

Bethany didn't know what that meant, but she didn't believe Rod was a loser. He was so sweet to her, she couldn't believe he could hurt and use her as thoughtlessly as Nicole Martini implied.

Looking at him now in the morning suns.h.i.+ne, she couldn't believe he'd be anything except the man of her dreams. Already he meant too much to her to accept Nicole's warning.

He was beautiful and sweet. Innocent, like a child, yet a s.e.xy, sensual, and virile man. For Bethany, it was the highest praise that he reminded her of her brother. It didn't matter to her what anyone said to denounce him in her eyes. Maybe he was different with her.

Still, it wasn't in her to rush things or to push them to the limit. As wonderful as his body felt against hers and his arms felt around her, she wasn't ready for it to become any more than that.

As carefully as she could, she eased herself away from him, hoping he was asleep soundly enough not to grab on to her and refuse to let go again. She managed to escape without disturbing him and retrieved some clothes from her closet.

While she showered, she wondered what his friends thought of her. Lori had become a little more friendly as the day progressed yesterday, and Bethany liked her. Lori's father was sweet and gruff. Morris had been too inebriated to a.s.sess.

Jon was funny and likable, though he'd embarra.s.sed her by coming on to her.

(She was sure he hadn't been serious.) Blackie hadn't said a dozen words to her or anyone else. Despite how much she disapproved of any kind of relations.h.i.+p other than a sisterly friends.h.i.+p he might have with young Lori, she'd liked him.

She sensed that, beneath the dark exterior of the man, goodness existed beside the torment.

None of Rod's friends treated her like an outcast. But she suspected it wasn't because they were too polite to be that rude, as much as it was that they were accustomed to Rod's undeniable instability with women. They'd simply learned to adapt quickly.

As she fixed her hair, she realized it was Sunday. She hadn't missed church . . . ever. It was 10:30 already. The morning service started in fifteen minutes. But what to do about Rod? Leaving him in her apartment alone would be rude.

After debating for a minute or two, she decided he'd most likely sleep until she got back at noon. She left him a note and gave his dog water before leaving for the church only a few blocks away.

The sermon was appropriate to her mood. 1 Corinthians 13--the ”love chapter.” She felt no embarra.s.sment or shame remembering the feel of Rod's lips against hers throughout the pastor's allocution.

Following the service, she stayed only long enough to talk a little with the pastor. He was young, and she'd gone on a date with him, years ago, though she wasn't attracted to him. His wife had died of cancer a year after he'd finished seminary and came to pastor the church. Bethany had felt bad for him, because he was lonely and heartbroken. He hadn't asked her out again after the first date, something she might never have given a second thought to if Randy hadn't asked her why.

She suspected her brother would approve of her dating or marrying a pastor, unlike his reaction to Rod Summers. How was she going to explain things to him when he called later in the day? She couldn't lie to Randy, and disappointing him. . . Well, the only time she'd sensed disapproval from him was when she'd told him everything about her relations.h.i.+p with Scott Reeves, after the fact. He hadn't liked being closed out of her life, even though what she'd had with Scott only lasted two weeks.

On her way home, she stopped to buy a can of dog food. Her apartment was quiet when she unlocked the door. Cameron ran to greet her, refraining from barking, thankfully.

For such a big dog, he was unbelievably gentle. He did everything short of melt onto the floor in ecstasy when he finished eating and she brushed and groomed his coat. Rod continued to sleep.

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