Just One Night: Sex, Love & Stiletto Series (15 page)

She broke off on this last part, embarrassed by the admission, and Julie squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“It’s okay to feel, Riley.”

Easy for Julie to say. Julie had someone who loved her back. Riley was terrified that if she opened up those floodgates, she’d turn into one of those needy women who puts her life on hold because she’s smitten with a man.

And Riley
was
smitten with a man.

She just didn’t want to be.

Then Emma tilted her head and brought the subject back to the elephant in the room. “How is it that you haven’t gotten laid at all since that night in college? I mean, Sam’s sexy and everything, but I don’t know that
any
guy’s worth being celibate for.”

“Well, it hasn’t been entirely intentional,” Riley muttered. “But you know how when you first meet someone and forget their name … and then you run into them again and don’t want to admit that you don’t know their name, so you don’t ask? And then by the tenth time you see them, it’s entirely too late to admit that you have no idea who they are?”

They nodded.

“Well, my sex life is kind of like that. I started out just waiting for the next guy after Dan, but then a year passed. Then another … and then I started freaking out, like, oh my God, I’m twenty-two and don’t know how to have sex …”

“And then you inadvertently became a sex ‘expert’ and you couldn’t admit that you hadn’t had any,” Julie guessed.

“Precisely.”

“There’s no shame in it, you know,” Grace said kindly. “There’s no one right answer on the appropriate amount of sex.”

Riley reached out and patted her friend on the knee. “Says the woman who’s getting plenty regularly.”

“I’m serious,” Grace replied, “I know you love
Stiletto
, but you don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for for the sake of this article—”

Riley’s mind flashed back to the feeling of Sam’s hands on her. The sound of their moans mingling as they finally—
finally
figured out what the other person wanted. Needed.

“Grace,” Riley interrupted. “I’m ready.
Seriously
ready. When Sam and I were … you know … 
busy
, I thought I was going to explode.”

“Yeah, I’m horny as hell myself these days, and it’s only been a year for me,” Emma
said.

Grace looked at her curiously. “A
year
? What’s
that
about?”

Emma shrugged and picked at a mushroom on her plate. “Sex just got sort of disappointing there for a while. I thought I’d take a break.”

“But it wasn’t always disappointing,” Julie said, fishing.

Emma hesitated before answering. “Not always. In fact, it used to be pretty great.”

Grace and Riley exchanged a mischievous glance. “Saaaay … when you were with Cassidy?”

Emma’s lips pressed together in a firm line. “No comment.”

Julie sighed and helped herself to a bite of Riley’s tiramisu. “One of these days, you
will
spill your guts about what happened with you and the deliciously sexy Alex Cassidy.”

“Who apparently set the bar way too high when it came to sex,” Riley said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Back off, McKenna. This evening’s session is about you. We need a plan. Something to convince Sam that Riley’s worth all this trouble.”

“Hey!”

“Oh no,” Grace groaned. “Last time Emma had a plan, I ended up secretly videotaping a man in a restaurant.”

“A man who just moved in with you,” Emma said triumphantly.

“She’s got a point,” Julie said. “That stunt in the restaurant with Jake was kind of the start of a pretty epic love story.”

“I know,” Grace said with a smug little smile.

Riley raised her hand. “We can have both, right? Epic love
and
a good orgasm.”

“I bet Sam gives great orgasms,” Julie said with a dreamy expression.

“Hands off,” Riley said, stabbing a fork in Julie’s direction before turning back to Emma. “You. Talk.”

“Okay,” Emma said, rubbing her palms over her thighs as her face scrunched up in consideration. “You said that he responded to you bringing that Brent guy over to your family’s house, right? Like the jealousy spurred him into action.”

“Sure, but he also called me on it,” Riley admitted. “That card has definitely already been played, and I don’t think he’ll go for it a second time.”

“Which is why we’re not going to play the jealousy card.”

“But that’s a classic,” Julie protested.

Emma shook her head. “Sam is smart and determined, and even worse, he knows Riley. We can’t dress her up in sexy clothes, because he’s seen that and has managed to keep his hands to himself—mostly. And we can’t parade another guy in front of him, because even if he fell for it, it might backfire and reassure him that she’s moved on.”

“So the plan is …”

“We give him exactly what he wants,” Emma said, a satisfied little smile on her calm features.

“But what he
wants
is for me to go back to being a little-sister figure who won’t come between him and his best friend,” Riley protested.

“Exactly,” Emma said, leaning forward. “And you’re about to become the best platonic little buddy he’s ever wanted and can’t touch.”

“Oh, I like this plan,” Julie breathed. “He’s been trying for years to eradicate the sexual tension between Riley and himself. But I’ll bet he never thought he’d succeed.”

“What good does this do me?” Riley asked, trying to keep up. “I want us to become
less
platonic, not more.”

“Well, that’s the thing about men,” Grace said, catching on to the plan. “Sometimes they’re so determined to get what they want that they don’t realize they were wrong.”

Emma lifted her glass in a victory toast. “Yep. And when he thinks the sexual sizzle between you two is completely gone, guess what?”

Riley smiled in awe, finally understanding. “Once it’s gone, he’ll want it back.”

“Yup,” Emma said. “And even more important? He’ll fight for it.”

God, she hoped Emma was right. She wanted this to work.
Needed
it to work.

Because when she put aside her sass and her pride and her carefully crafted sexy reputation, Riley was just like the thousands of women
Stiletto
spoke to every month.

She was a woman completely crazy about a guy.

It was time to get her happy ending.

It was time to get her
man
.

As it turned out, Riley had an ally in her oldest brother.

Granted, Liam didn’t
know
he was an ally. If he did, he would have canceled his business trip to Amsterdam and bought Riley a one-way ticket to a faraway convent. But as it was, Liam’s firm had landed a high-profile case with a Dutch hotshot, resulting in her brother being rather conveniently out of the country.

It was all the opening Riley needed to put Emma’s plan in motion, and Operation Don’t Mind Me, Just Think of Me as Your Sister was about to commence.

“Sam? You here?” Riley asked, opening the sliding door from his living quarters into the distillery. Apparently the man hadn’t learned his lesson from her last invasion and thought to lock the back door.

Of course this little visit wouldn’t end with a sexual proposition. Oh no. Quite the opposite.

Riley absently ran her hand along a wooden barrel, breathing in the now familiar sweet, bread-like scent. She’d never given much thought to the process that went into cranking out whisky, but she could sort of see how one might get enthralled with it. It somehow fit Sam … being out here alone with just the grains and the … well, whatever else went into whisky.

Or maybe
not
so alone, she realized as she stepped into the main part of the distillery and heard voices.

They were low, male voices, and she followed the sound until she spotted her prey. Sam was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt—gray this time—and talking to a couple of guys she’d never seen before.

Her throat hurt a little at the sight of him—at the memory of what they’d been doing last time she saw him.

Right before he walked out the door and left her naked and aching.

For a brief second, she thought about retreating. She hadn’t been counting on an audience for this performance. Then again, spectators might work to her advantage. He was less likely to be wary if he had his employees as a buffer.

His shoulders went back at the sound of her heels tapping, and his spine went stiff.

Okay, so maybe he was still wary.

Smart man
.

Riley had dressed carefully for this occasion, per her friends’ instructions. Simple black pants, a plain white blouse, and a formfitting black blazer complete with everyday black pumps that were professional without being stuffy.

It was the essential New York City work outfit that hopefully screamed,
hey, you’re just another errand I have to check off on my way home from work
.

Anything too sexy would put him on edge. Anything too far the
other
way would set off warning bells that she was up to something.

Although, judging from the deer-in-headlights look on his face, warning bells were going off regardless.

Don’t worry. I’m not here to seduce you. At least not in the way you think
.

“Hey!” she said, throwing him a megawatt grin. It wasn’t her usual I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile, and she saw from the slight narrowing of his eyes that he noticed the difference. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Obviously,” he said darkly.

His companions weren’t quite as grumpy, and the tallest of the group gave her a welcoming smile. “I can’t even remember the last time we had a woman at ROON. Much less a pretty one.”

Riley gave a tinkling little laugh as she came to a stop beside the men. “Aren’t you sweet? And I’m so sorry to barge in like this. I thought you guys would be all wrapped up by six, but I should have called.”

“Oh, why start now?” Sam asked.

“I’m Riley,” she said, extending a hand to the shorter man on her left and ignoring Sam altogether.

“Rob,” the man said, giving her hand a quick shake after a nervous glance at Sam. “And this is Adam and Cory.”

“You guys all work here?”

“They’re trying to,” Sam said, his hand finding her elbow. “How about I give you a call later.”

“Oh, I can wait until you’re done here. I just have the teensiest favor to ask.”

Sam blanched. No doubt remembering the last favor she’d asked of him.

She gave him a look.
You wish
.

“I think we’ve got everything we need for the new labels,” Adam said, clamping a hand on Sam’s shoulder and moving away. “We won’t keep you from this pretty lady any longer.”

Riley let her eyelashes flutter. “You’re sweet, but don’t get the wrong idea. Sammy and I here are just old friends. He’s like my brother.”

She saw his eyebrows creep up.

“Oh yeah?” Rob asked, looking at Riley with fresh appreciation now that she was no longer the boss’s woman. “You know, I can wait a few minutes if you want someone to walk you?”

Sam snorted. “Trust me on this one, Rob. If Riley accompanies you to the subway stop,
you’ll
be the one needing an escort.”

Riley merely gave a demure smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ve made this trek a million times.”

“A million, huh?” Sam asked quietly in her ear. “Where was I the other nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times?”

She ignored him, brushing past him without actually making contact before ushering Rob and the other guys out the door with a promise that she’d
absolutely
make sure that Sam would eat, but no, she wasn’t at all sure that it would improve his disposition.

Then they were alone.

A month earlier, they would have been circling each other and trying to ignore the sexual tension in the room.

A
week
earlier they’d have been all over each other, embracing that sexual tension.

And this time … the sexual tension was behind them.

At least that’s what she was letting him believe.

“How’s your mom?” she asked, following him to his bar, where he’d retreated the minute the other men had left.

“Good. Better. I talked to Carl—that’s her boyfriend—yesterday, and she’s at home resting. All of her tests came back fine.”

“I’m glad.” His hands never stopped their cocktail making even as he studied her. He
twisted the top off a jar of cherries, plucking one out with a toothpick and handing it to her before dropping one into each cocktail glass.

She let the silence last for several seconds before she forged ahead with the plan. “I came to apologize.”

Nothing. Not even a surprised blink.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked.

He held her gaze for several more seconds before shrugging. “Let’s just say that over the years, I’ve learned that any Riley McKenna ‘apology’ is best received with a helmet.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m finding that as much as you like to pretend you’re a straight shooter, nothing’s simple when it comes to you and men.”

She leaned forward, helping herself to another cherry from the open jar. “Sounds to me like you’re calling me manipulative.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

Riley shrugged. “Well, let’s just say hell’s frozen over and this apology is for real. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I’m mortified about the other night. Seriously.”

“By which part?” He poured the dark brown liquid into each glass. “The fact that you were going to sleep with a man for the sake of a story, or the fact that you chose me?”

“Oh, I’m used to the first one,” she said cheekily, clinking her glass against his. “Occupational hazard.”

“That’s what hookers say about STDs.”

She tilted her head. “Well, great news, Compton. It’s about to become
not your problem
.”

Sam studied her carefully, obviously searching for her angle. He got a little crease between his eyebrows that told her he couldn’t figure it out.

“Why are you really here, Ri? Was your tactic to apologize first to wrangle a corresponding apology out of me? Fine. I’ll apologize for leaving you in that hotel room like I did. But we both know it’s best that I did. It never should have gotten that far in the first place.”