Tempted by Trouble

chapter NINE


This was just great. Another perfect screw-up. How far they’d traveled from his office desk. From being on the verge of mind-blowing sex to finding out this was nothing more than business as usual for her. He wanted to pound the wall. Everything she’d said, or rather inferred, blared in his mind. Short-term. With any other woman, flexible and no strings would have sounded ideal. Easy and Carolina didn’t go together. Hard and slamming was a better fit for what came to mind with the woman in front of him.

He scrubbed his palm over his jaw, slowly grinding his teeth. The smell of her filled the air, sending him into overdrive, and ready to curl his fingers around her wrist. Hell, he’d show her to his bedroom. Then, he’d finish what they started.

A good plan to tamper down a fire that threatened to overwhelm his composure. He didn’t care if it was arrogance or his possessive nature or Carolina setting ground rules that amounted to a requirement of no rules except in two weeks she was out of here. Any other guy, with a woman like Carolina, would agree to whatever the hell the woman proposed.

This was some warped version of reality depositing her with one solitary carry-on in the guest room frequented by his family on holiday. F*ck. F*ck. And now, he was so f*cking far away from taking her as every cell in his body commanded.

All his thoughts jumbled together like scrabble tiles spilled across the floor.

Only a half-hour ago, he’d bordered on rapture getting back into the car. His one great idea boiled down to a game plan that included feeding Carolina whatever she wanted and then bringing her back to his house and stripping her naked.

“Are we joining your parents for dinner?” Carolina’s gaze tore into him convincing him his plans were about to dissolve.

“Is that what you’d like to do?” F*ck, he couldn’t believe the words he just spoken.

“I think the better your father knows me, the easier it will be to hear the news we might be forced to deliver.”

His tongue went numb. He’d been raised to agree to whatever a woman wanted and thankfully, all she was asking was to join his parents.

“Then, yes. I know they’re all more than curious about us. I’ll let them know.”

It was as though the oxygen in the room had been depleted. He still couldn’t figure out how getting Carolina naked had become a jigsaw with missing pieces. He’d only hours before had the most incredible pre-orgasmic foreplay that had expanded every sexual erotic boundary in his head and all they’d done was kiss, touch each other’s skin, and rub against each other. He sent a text to his father, jabbing each key as though his phone was the enemy.

Becca’s constant chatter filled the hallway and spilled over into the bedroom. Matt gazed at Carolina, unable to bring himself to just tell her this didn’t need to be short-term. Watching her, he was painfully aware that he was playing into his need to be safe. Her wide slate-colored eyes were safe inside this room. Outside, alone with her, not so safe.

He had heard her words. She wanted no strings that would put a hitch in her plans.

No matter how hard his body wanted her, his mind couldn’t stop harping on the ‘what if’s’ and seeing a future cloud of dust she’d leave behind as she’d undoubtedly do in a couple of weeks. After her assertion of wanting a clean break sunk into thoughts, no amount of coaxing on his part made him want to risk being transparent to a woman with an agenda. He already been down the road and saw no reason to race down a path ending in a steep cliff. This time he wasn’t about to leap wildly with an untamed filly from Miami.

Within the room, Carolina’s scent invaded his head. He swallowed and moved past Becca and stared into Carolina’s stormy eyes. “Becca, excuse us.”

He didn’t give his housekeeper another thought. All his energy was directed at Carolina.

“My father sent a message that dinner sounds good,” he softened his voice. He noted the change in her expression, the drawing together of her brows, perhaps some question she didn’t articulate. “Do you want to change for dinner?” he asked.

“Yes. Give me five minutes.”

“I want to get one thing straight about your odd reference to my housekeeper. I hate to admit it, but I allowed my mother to take care of arranging for housecleaning services, as well as hiring aunts and cousins for interior decoration. I’m not good with any of that sort of thing. I want the house cleaned, outfitted, and to be left alone. I rarely cross paths with Becca. Do you think I’m that foolish as to screw the person who has access to my home?”

“Oh, so you distinguish among employees. Should I be flattered or insulted?”

“That depends; is driving me crazy your intent or something you do to every man you meet?”

He swung around and headed out of the room. He waited for her in the foyer. They drove the short distance in silence and mounted the steps without words.

Dinner was being served and he wanted to wash up and cool down. Really, he wanted to slam his head against the wall until his mind stopped turning tail and leading him down some maze toward a safe solitary bed. He stomped down the hall and his mother passed by him.

“Matt, what’s wrong?”

“Not a thing,” he replied, as he forced a grin to shape his lips.

“Son, you’ll have to try harder, if that’s your best response. Just remember, the woman is always right. If you live by that one standard, you’ll always be a happy man. Know why?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Because when your woman is happy, you’ll be happy. Simple advice, son. Go apologize for whatever you’ve done. You’ll see.”

He opened his mouth to contest her statement, and then clamped his jaws shut. He was defenseless. No matter how he’d try to play it out, his mother was right. He was out of sorts because Carolina was riled. His mother patted his shoulder. The outside door to the patio opened and Carolina stepped inside.

“Evening, Carolina,” Mrs. McLemore called. “Mind what I said, Matt.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He moved in front of Carolina, blocking her path.

“We’ll be right up, Mom.” he said. Carolina’s eyes swam around his face. She inhaled and bit her bottom lip. Two bright dots immediately formed on her already pink cheeks.

“Let’s take a short walk,” he commanded softly. Without touching her, he led Carolina outside out toward the pool and away from his family’s sonar hearing.

“I don’t know what to tell you about being able to return to Miami without any complications. I guess that depends upon what you put in and what you take away.”

He watched her cheeks turn a deeper rosy color. She opened her eyes, less sure than before. He wished he had a way to connect his thoughts to hers. Regardless what scenarios kept playing throughout his imagination, his body responded to the warmth of her standing next to him, and a longing to possess her.

F*ck his fear. This would be an emotional train wreck but for a night — hell, an hour — with Carolina he would splay himself open, allow himself to be drawn and quartered. If only she’d show him that enthralling side of her he’d experienced earlier.

He took hold of her arm, encircling her forearm with his fingers. “If all you want is sex, then I think I can deliver the goods. Slowing down like we first discussed … I don’t see that happening. Do you?”

“I’d like to think it is possible. Being in an enclosed space, alone with you, is challenging. You’re right. Even in the same room, talking with your Mom, I can’t focus on anything but you and me.”

“Then what about sex? Just sex and nothing more. Let’s be as honest as we are right now. We both want each other. We don’t need anything else. But I want you, damn it. The hell with rules. Strings. Complications.”

Her gray eyes shimmered. “Can I think on your proposition?”

Oh, Jesus. He had to get past her or he’d take her into his arms. Or at least he’d try to and from her reaction, he didn’t need a neon sign glaring her less-than-enthusiastic response. This was worse than a woman who used him.

Carolina had somehow changed from passionate to apathetic. Was she so turned off by his want to possess? His nature to take and command was over the top and probably from her cosmopolitan lifestyle of Miami, uncouth and uncool.

Matt’s head spun. He had to get out of here. “We’d better get to dinner.” He would not beg her. If this was her style and he’d screwed up his chances, then shit. Better to find out now.

All through dinner, he attempted to keep up with the conversation. He smiled and forced a laugh. He drank a whole glass of iced tea, something he hated.

Each time his leg bumped against Carolina, his body awoke and his mind targeted the space under the table. His mother held the conversation together asking each person a question and then querying the others, bouncing comments off the walls and around the table. It was never quiet at dinner, even if it were just she and his father. Matt’s answers were automatic and required little to no thinking, except when his father asked about their plans.

“What are you two thinking?”

Matt blinked. “Excuse me, as in … ?”

His mother interjected, “What your father means, I think, is what are you doing the rest of the week?”

He cleared his throat. “Tomorrow we’re riding out and I’m taking Carolina around to see what it’s like on the ranch.”

“Maybe a picnic lunch would be nice?” His mother looked from his face to Carolina’s.

He inhaled, afraid to see the look of polite acquiesce he was certain he’d find. Instead her eyes were bright. Her lips were pink and her skin glowed.

“Would you like that?” he asked Carolina.

“Oh, very much,” she replied, smiled seductively. “I never knew how breathtaking Texas could be.”

• • •

By the time they reached his place, he wasn’t able to recall much of the dinner conversation other than Carolina’s responses, her soft sighs, involuntary gasps, and the rise and fall of her chest. The whole evening had tortured him.

He parked and glanced inside his home, wondering if a jack-in-the-box greeting was about to happen once again and completely ruin his chances of resurrecting Carolina’s passion and desire. The inside lights were dimmed and his Aunt Shawna and Becca had departed. He couldn’t dismiss the oddity of arriving home and finding Becca still present, even more odd that his aunt would show up unannounced, decorating order or not. Most days Becca was gone by three and their paths rarely crossed. She came in, took care of the house, and left. Questions were asked and answered via email or phone call.

More than likely, it was his mother that gave them a heads-up and recommended that some adults be on hand when he brought Carolina back to his house. He didn’t want to think that his uncle or father had reported their suspicions of a messy office and a girlfriend sequestered inside a bathroom.

He sat inside the car for a moment while Carolina retrieved a file from the SUV. Her movement in his rearview mirror stole his attention. She leaned over the trunk of his car, her neckline falling away and giving him a clear shot of her perfect creamy mounds. He exhaled as if punched in the gut. She repositioned and he flicked his attention to the side mirror.

She removed a stone from her sandal while she dangled her shoe from an arched foot, a dainty ankle, and slender leg … legs that had been wrapped around his waist just hours before. She came toward him planting one arched foot in front of the other, walking a straight line that made her hips kick out. His cock remembered and wanted to further experience more of the sexy Dr. Rodriguez’s bedside manner.

He opened his car door and stood directly in front of her.

“Oh, you scared me,” she said with a laugh.

The sight of her being so near electrified him. There was always this raw potent connection that filled him in her presence. For all her belief that she was experienced, he sensed she was nervous and not given to flights of crazy sex. For a brief moment, their gazes locked.

The air swirled around them, lifting the corner of her skirt, breathing life into him as he inhaled her scent of woman and something else, an imprint in his mind forming the shape of her body and the sound of her low laugh. He was overpowered and his neural pathways were jammed with competing sensory messages.

She didn’t meet his gaze and stared down at the ground.

“I think we’ll be alone tonight,” he said. He wanted to assure her there’d be no surprises. The reluctant grimace spreading over her lips delivered a shock to his inch-thick divining rod. He might not be good at finding water. He was exceptional at perceiving a less-than-receptive partner.

“I think a good night’s sleep will help put things in order,” she said. Her cool flinty gaze needed no other words.

“Ah, baby, you’re drawing a line in the sand. If that’s what you want … ”

For whatever reason, she was holding back. This wasn’t the time to push her. From what he’d seen, she could very well push back. Hard. Any attempt by him to cross a boundary she set was the same as seduction suicide. Sharp-tinged edginess crawled up his spine. His body wanted more of what he’d tasted earlier.

He was tempted to take hold of Carolina, press her up against his car, and show her how he intended to put her in order. He had to hold back or she’d leave, bolt like a filly unwilling to take the bit. Seducing this woman required patience and plans, not a rough tumble in the hay.

“I promise to be a gentleman. Let’s get you to the guest suite for your beauty rest.”

He threw his keys on the front table as he took in Carolina’s reflection in the mirror on the wall. Her profile was lifted as she gazed out the French doors onto the patio area.

“Both you and your parents have great outdoor living spaces,” she said.

“Thank you. We like to entertain family.” The patio with the free-formed waterfall and pool was magnificent and the one area he’d spent time planning and designing. He wanted it to be a place of respite and rejuvenation, a place reminiscent of his secret spring, located right outside his doorway.

He spoke to her reflection in the mirror. “Do you want to go outside?”

“Really, I’d like to lie down. I’m tired.”

He turned around and faced her. “Really? Is that how you truly feel?” He kept his voice level.

“It’s been a long day and I was up at four A.M. It might be eight for you, but I’m on a different time zone.”

He quelled the tide of his rising temper. “I don’t know how things got so turned around.”

“Probably for the best,” she countered. “I just don’t see how this would ever work between us.”

The storm finally let loose. The lasso he’d kept around his emotions unknotted. Instead of being able to take a breath, his throat tightened involuntarily. Every nerve in his body was rubbed raw with an urge to act not think. What happened to the woman that breathed fire into his veins and extracted as much passion as she infused?

He stood there, frozen into disbelief. Then in one swift movement he turned and took hold of her wrist and pulled her down the hallway.

“Here, go in and lock the door. I swear I can’t stand this push-and-pull we’ve got going on. I want you like no other woman, but if you can’t decide yes, then it’s no.”

No. F*cking. Way.