Forbidden Fantasies Bundle(92)

“I’m not crazy—don’t think I am—it’s just that you keep slipping into my thoughts and my dreams.”

He could understand that and even sympathize with the annoyance he heard in her voice. That was real. And so was her scent: sunshine and something that reminded him again of homemade sugar cookies. He wasn’t sure how long he could wait to take a bite of her.

“So…what I’m thinking is we have sex—if you think that you’d be open to that?”

Open? He felt another punch of desire and struggled to focus.

“I’m not suggesting anything long-term. Just a brief liaison.”

“Liaison.” Relief streamed through him that he’d not only found his voice, but he’d managed to get his tongue around the word.

She waved a hand. “I just need to get you out of my system so that I can think again.”

“I’m in your system?” That was good to know, since she was definitely in his. Some of the blood seemed to have returned to his brain because he was thinking again, and he was pretty sure he could move.

Nodding, she drew a deep breath, then hurried on. “I know that you may not be as attracted to me as I am to you, but maybe there’s something that I could do. Some particular fantasy that you’re into. I’d be willing to experiment a—”

“Hold up.” He was tempted to let her go on, just to hear what she’d say, but he was even more tempted to see her eyes. He reached over and pulled off the sunglasses. Her eyes were almond shaped, like a cat’s eye. Funny that he’d never noticed that when she’d worn the owl glasses. And this close, they were the color of rich, dark chocolate flecked with gold.

“Why did you do that?” Zoë asked.

“I was curious about what you would look like without glasses,” he said. “In reality. In my fantasies, you’re always underneath me and I’m inside of you when I take them off of you.”

“Oh.”

He had the satisfaction of seeing her eyes darken and cloud.

She blinked. “Well…then, I suppose…” She blinked again. “Are you saying that you’ll have sex with me?”

She was so damn cute. He had to touch her then, drawing one finger along her jawline as he’d done so often in his fantasies. Her skin was even softer than he’d imagined. “You had me at ‘Would you like to have sex with me?’ Since then, I’ve been fighting off the impulse to drag you to the ground and take you right here.”

She blinked again and glanced back at the houseboat. “That’s probably not a good idea. We could be interrupted.”

“Good point.” Taking her hand, he drew her into the trees.



ZOË SWALLOWED hard as she walked with Jed. She was going to have sex with Jed Calhoun. In a minute, he would sink in. To her. In a minute, they’d actually do it. When he’d touched her, just that gentle stroke of his finger along her jaw, heat had arrowed through her, and her toes had curled. No man had ever made her toes curl before.

So why was there a little knot of panic forming in her stomach? She stopped short, and he glanced down at her.

“Having second thoughts?” he asked.

“No.” She looked up and met his eyes. He suddenly seemed taller. Sunlight was filtered through the leaves overhead, and in the shifting shadows, Jed Calhoun looked more dangerous, too. For some reason, that made her want him even more. The thought occurred to her that she might just be getting in a little over her head.

“What then?” he asked.

She moistened lips that had gone dry and searched for something to say. “Protection.” She tugged her hand away. “I have some condoms in the car.”

Before she could even turn, he had her hand again. “I’ve got it covered.” With his free hand, he patted his pocket. “And that’s not the only thing that’s got you hesitating. We don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, we do.” She met his eyes then. “I don’t think I could stand it if we don’t. It’s just nerves. I haven’t done this in a while.”

“Good.”

She watched in fascination as his lips softened and curved. Something inside of her eased.

“That means we’re in the same boat, because I haven’t done this in a while, either,” he said as he drew her farther into the woods. “But you know what they say? It’s like riding a bike. I’m banking on the fact that it will come back to me.”

They’d reached a small clearing where a hammock swung between two trees. It was so quiet that she could hear leaves rustling overhead.

“I never learned how to ride a bike,” she confessed as nerves fluttered again in her stomach. There’d been too many classes, all that extra math and science that her parents had insisted she take so that she could live up to their expectations.