“What? No.” She laughed. “He was waiting for her to come down, throw her arms around him and kiss him. Then he’d know it would all be okay.” She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If I was Diane Court, you can bet that’s what I would have done.” Her eyes were glued to his mouth and her arms slid around his waist.
“I bet you would have.” Dane was done talking about fictional characters. There were more pressing matters to attend to. “How about we start with some kissing?”
She nodded, her hands twisting in his shirt as she leaned into him.
He ran his nose along her temple, down the side of her face, to nuzzle the spot beneath her ear. He breathed her in, letting her scent flood him. He felt her shudder, felt her hands slip beneath the hem of his shirt and pressed his lips to hers.
She tasted of lemonade. He couldn’t get enough of the taste. Her mouth opened for him and things went from slow and sweet to white-hot and all-consuming.
He let go of her long enough for her to tug his shirt up and over his head. Once it was off, he caught her close. The slide of her hands on his stomach and the hitch in her breath had him twining his fingers in her hair.
“Dane,” she whispered, tugging him back to the bed.
He braced himself over her, groaning aloud when she wriggled out of her shirt and pressed her lace-covered breasts to his chest. She felt so damn good.
Her hands trailed along his sides, up his shoulders, and down his arms—and all the while her lips explored his. Soft and hot. Greedy and giving. She wrapped herself around him and left him aching and breathless.
He gave in, tracing the contour of her neck and shoulder, side and waist. The feel of her lace-clad breast filling his hand made him groan, and she moaned, too, as he cupped her. She arched into him, reaching around to unhook her bra. He watched, her green eyes ablaze as she tossed it aside.
He stared down at her. Her want, for him, left him shaking. And damn did he want her, too. All of her. But when she hooked one leg around his hip, he buried his face against her neck. He had a choice to make. He wanted her, so bad it hurt but... It was too much, too fast.
He rolled off her, his hands gripping the quilt beneath him.Dammit. This was the right thing to do.
Tansy lay beside him, panting. “So...movie time?”
He closed his eyes and nodded. Looking at her would be a bad idea.
“Dane?”
“I’m trying to do the right thing here, Tansy.” He ground out. “Maybe, put a shirt on.”
She giggled and the bed shifted. “Done.”
He opened his eyes. “That’s mine.” He propped himself up on his elbows. Tansy in his Texas Viking Honey shirt was almost as tempting as Tansy out of his Texas Viking Honey shirt.
“I’ll give it back.” Her gaze traveled over his chest and down. “Oh.” Her eyes went round, locked on the very prominent evidence of his arousal pressing against his jeans. “Oh.” She nibbled on her lower lip.
She wasn’t going to make this easy for him. She never did. “Tansy.” He flopped back onto the bed and threw an arm over his face.
“Right. Movie.” She blew out a shaky breath.
Dane lay there until he heard the television come on. “It’s safe.” She was smiling. “What streaming service do you think the movie’s on?”
Dane tossed the pillows on the floor and lay back, pulling her against his side.
Hours later, after the movie and lots and lots of kissing, Dane was dozing on the pile of pillows on Tansy’s floor while she snored softly against his chest. The wooden floor was sprinkled in cookie crumbs and nowhere near comfortable but he was where he wanted to be. And that scared the hell out of him.
At two, he forced himself up. He scooped her up and onto her bed, accepted the fact he was going home shirtless, and tucked a quilt over her. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She smiled but didn’t open her eyes.
There it was again. That thread—tugging at his heart.Yeah, yeah. He grabbed his boots, turned off her lamp and tiptoed down the stairs with his phone’s flashlight on. The last thing he needed to do was trip over a dog or have a run-in with Lord Byron and wake the whole house. He pulled the front door open, slow and careful, then pulled it closed behind him.Free and clear and no one was the wiser.
It was when he was pulling away that one of the curtains in an upstairs window moved. He stopped, peering out into the dark.More like my eyes are playing tricks on me.It was after two in the morning, he was tired. The sooner he was home and sleeping in his own bed, the sooner he could dream of having Tansy back in his arms. He smiled all the way home.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“YOU’REAWFULCHIPPERthis morning.” Aunt Mags peered at her over her newspaper.
“Oh?” Tansy made herself a cup of tea. “I slept well.” After all the cuddling and kissing and being tangled up in Dane, it made sense that her dreams were full of him. Waking up, on her bed wearing his shirt, had ended all that deliciousness and left her full of uncertainty.
