The taste of
liquor and lemon stayed behind when he drew back a few inches. His hand still on
my neck, he gazed at me with something close to an apology in his eyes. That
and satisfaction.
Me? I probably
looked like a cat that was thrown into cold water. Stunned to the point where
no sound came over my lips.
“Thanks for your
help with the lemon,” he said in a voice so low I had to lip-read him.
I breathed in
slowly, but my heart was racing. “Uh-huh. Anytime.”
My bafflement
and dropped open mouth fueled his amusement. Ryan cocked his head, close to
letting go of the grin he bit down. Eventually, his hand slipped away from my
neck and he turned to his brother in law but keeping me close to him.
Rachel caught my
stunned face and offered me her compassion with a sheepish shrug. She skirted
her brother and engaged me in a conversation that didn’t give me much time to
breathe. Not quite what I wanted to do now when Hunter’s taste in my mouth was
all I could think about. But that woman was insatiable. She wanted to know
everything about me, even what I liked for breakfast.
“She’s the devil
in disguise, hunting for potential in-laws. Don’t let her make you sign
anything,” Ryan said over my shoulder, and I caught the spark in his eyes as he
reminded me of the marriage license his parents seemed to request from any
female visitors to their beach house. I shuddered but laughed when Rachel
slapped him on the shoulder for that remark.
“Let me save you
from the Spanish inquisition.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me off the bar stool
and giving me no chance to object. But then, everything was fine with me as
long as I didn’t have to answer more questions. Or so I though until I realized
where exactly Hunter was dragging me.
“You’re kidding,
right?” I resisted against his pull and made him stop just in front of the
stage.
He smirked over
his shoulder. “Nope.”
My hands started
to shake as he ushered me up the steps. He released me to talk to the guy
behind the mixing desk. The song filling the bar stopped, the silence eerily frightening.
I broke into a panic, sweat dotting my brow. Mouth dry and throat tight, I
turned around and faced the crowd. The club suddenly appeared ten times bigger
than when we had come in, with thousands more people…all staring at me.
Oh. My. God.
No way in hell
was I going to sing in front of them all. Grabbing onto what remained of my sanity,
my gaze darted to the stairs, and I started toward them. But Ryan’s arms caught
me around the waist, and he dragged me to the microphone. Paralyzed, I couldn’t
even fight him.
“You’re so going
to pay for this,” I hissed, feeling the rattle of my bones.
He laughed into
my ear, enjoying himself. “You can hate me later. Now, we sing.”
The music set off
with a stomping beat. I recognized the melody immediately, slightly relieved I
knew this remix of the old song by heart. A few seconds into the melody, Ryan
blared into the mike,
“Almost heaven…West Virginia…”
I—didn’t.
I just stood there
poker stiff and gaped at him, not believing he really did this to me. I wanted
to kick him, slap him, shout at him, and I was sure he read it all in my horrified
face. But what did he do? Held the mike in front of my lips. I had no choice
but to sing ‘Country Roads’ with him if I didn’t want to end up a complete
idiot in front of the crowd. So…I sang.
My voiced boomed
from the speakers overhead. Granted, it didn’t sound all that bad. Ryan’s grin
spread wider as he kept singing the lines with me. And I found I could keep my
voice steady and walk through the text as long as I focused on his encouraging
eyes. When the song picked up pace, I even felt a grin on my lips. Weird, but
with the seconds ticking by, and me not screwing up, I started to enjoy it.
Not long, and
the crowd was singing with us.
From the cool
way Ryan handled this, moving his body lightly with the rhythm, stomping his
heel, I wondered how many times he’d been standing up here in the past. Damn,
he looked incredibly sexy as he sang and danced to the music.
Suddenly, he
left me alone with the microphone. My newfound courage dropped to the ground in
a second, together with my stomach. I followed him with my eyes as he moved
behind me and I continued with the song. Taking my hands, he raised them above
my head and clapped them to the beat. The crowd followed suit, singing and
cheering us on. It was amazing.
The warmth of his
body pressed against my back gave me the feeling of safety again. I heard his
voice in my ear as he sang with me, but the rest of the club would only hear
me. I still hated him. But I had to admit it was fun all the same. And I
smiled.
Finally, the
song was over. I struggled to breathe even and rubbed the sweat off my
forehead. Whistles and shouts prompted us to perform another song.
Ryan flashed a
tempting grin. “What do you think?”
“I think I’m
going to kill you.” I laughed. “No way are we doing this again.” This time I gave
him no choice. I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the stage with me.
Rachel had
joined her husband behind the bar, his arms wrapped around her waist as both
watched us approaching. “That was awesome,” she said, beaming at me. “You’d
really make a sweet couple.”
After the horror
he made me go through? “Yeah, right.” I laughed. Too loud, still surfing on an
adrenaline high. I glanced at my wrist watch and decided a quarter to midnight
was a good time to go home. We said goodbye to Ryan’s family and headed out to
his car.
The cool air
felt wonderful on my face. I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks.
“Want to drive
again?”
I turned to him,
my knees still a little wobbly. “I think I’ll pass. The way I feel right now I
might very well wrap your car around a tree.”
Grinning, he
laid his arm around my shoulders and walked me to the passenger side. He held
the door open for me.
Streetlamps
illuminated the car’s inside in beacon-like intervals as he brought me home on
a casual cruise. I watched the lamps travel by my window for a while, then
tilted my head the other way and studied Ryan driving, which was a far more
captivating sight.
He responded
with a brief glance my way. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”
I definitely
enjoyed him. “It was okay.” I shrugged, but then I bit my lip and decided I
could give him something more of the truth. Through a snarky grin, I added, “Actually,
it was quite nice. But I still hate you!”
“I know.” His
chuckle resounded in the cabin. “I’m sorry I dragged you into hell on that
stage.”
“And you
should
be.”
As the
headlights of another car broke through the windshield, his brows knitted
slightly. He waited till the street was ours alone again then probed, “What
about the lemon surprise?”
“What about it?”
“Should I be
sorry about that, too?”
Him being sorry that
he was my first kiss? Warmth flowed through me when I remembered how soft his
lips felt. A good thing he couldn’t see my body tense in reaction. I tried for
a casual tone. “Nah. I should just have heeded your warning.”
“Yeah.” An
impish flash crossed his eyes. “Or maybe…just not.”
“Or maybe not…”
I agreed on a drawl, feeling the heat conquering my face.
“You liked it?”
On the straight road, he shot me a quick glance, teasing me with his beguiling
half-smile. I didn’t respond, so he faced front again and chuckled softly.
“Yeah, you did.”
My lips twitched.
I rolled my head back to the window side and decided to keep my thoughts to
myself.
Ryan stopped the
car a few houses away from mine not to give me away to my parents. As he walked
me home, I noticed the shimmer of light in Tony’s room and wondered what he’d
done tonight to be still up. But then, it wasn’t my business, like I had
learned this afternoon. I forced my thoughts in another direction. Ryan
Hunter’s way.
He made me smile
the way he watch me as we walked. In front of our shed, he braced himself, feet
planted firmly on the ground. I knew I was going to be catapulted up to the
roof again, and I so didn’t like it.
“What do you
say, Matthews? Shall we do this again sometime?”
Partying until
midnight? “Maybe we should. But let’s wait until my detention is over. I really
hate sneaking in and out like a criminal.”
He laughed quietly
and hoisted me onto the shed. A moan pushed out of my lungs as I landed on my
stomach and dragged myself further up, swinging my legs over the edge. Yeah, agility
and I had nothing in common.
“Good night,” I
whispered on the way to my room.
“Later ‘gator.”
I slipped inside
and grabbed my boy shorts and tank-top, thinking of this day and how weird it
turned out in the end. Kissed by Ryan Hunter. This was crazy. I was totally in
love with Tony, and yet I ran my tongue over my lips dreaming of Ryan’s
beautiful tiger eyes.
Heck, was he
thinking of me too right now?
With a long dreamy
sigh, I sprawled on my bed, reaching for the lamp on my night stand. But as
soon as the light went out, a rustle in the tree and then footsteps on the roof
of the shed made me switch it back on. My heart kick-started in my chest. This
could only be Tony. He must have seen me come home. And I wasn’t sure if I
really wanted to see him right now. Not just because I was still hurt about him
dating the bimbo. But because I’d somehow much rather see someone else again—with
the sexy brown eyes. Ah damn. I crawled out of bed and rubbed my temples that
suddenly started to hurt.
And then he was
there, sitting on my window sill, lifting his legs through. I swallowed hard,
taking a barefooted step back.
“Hunter. What
are
you
doing here?”
CHAPTER
12
“I FORGOT
SOMETHING.”
“You can’t just
come up here. I’m already in my jammies.” My protest was weak like a moth’s
wing-beat. In fact, I couldn’t care less about my current clothing. All that
mattered was that he was here. A burst of adrenaline swept through me.
Ryan walked
toward me with this predatory look and a sly grin. His gaze skated down my bare
legs. Shivers left a trail of goose-bumps on my skin. “I’ve never seen anything
sexier than those shorts on you.”
He blasted the
rest of the world right out of my mind when he hooked his finger to my
waistband and pulled me closer. My hands came up to rest on his chest. Stunned,
I gaped at him, my eyes wide.
This was too
close. But I couldn’t stop staring at him, at his lips... Screw Tony and my preserved
love for him.
“You forgot
something?” Shit, I sounded more like a toad than myself. “What?”
Ryan took off
his ball cap and tossed it on my bed. His hand moved around my waist, pulling
me even closer, his other palm shaped against my cheek and neck. He leaned in
so slowly that I thought I was going to die of anticipation. His gaze moved to
my lips and back to my eyes. He dipped his head.
The first soft
touch of his lips to mine rendered my eyes shut. I let him hold me, guide me,
work my mouth open with his kiss. A little shy, I shifted my hands up and
around his neck. He seemed to enjoy that because he pressed me harder against
him. My breasts got squeezed between us. His tongue brushed against mine, very
slightly at first. The intimacy of this move had me shaking to my core.
Ryan thrust his
hand into my hair. As he deepened the kiss, I finally responded with a
surprising moan. I let him engage me in a dance of lips and tongues, sometimes
eager, and then softly the next moment. The wonderful musky smell of his
aftershave filled my head, and I knew the scent would be edged in my mind
forever with the memory of him rocking my world tonight.
He inched away
and waited for me to open my eyes. With a half-smile, he leaned his brow
against mine. “By the way, I’ve known your name since the very day that you first
came to watch Mitchell’s soccer training in third grade, Liza.”
I bit down a
grin about his surprising confession. “Have you, really?”
His lips thinned
to a mocking line. “Um-hm.” He nudged my nose with the tip of his then took my
mouth again in a beguiling, slow kiss. His hands started to explore underneath
my top, skimming the sensitive skin along my spine.
I surrendered to
him, my knees getting weaker with the heat he ignited inside me, but he
supported part of my weight with a tight embrace.
“What the
fucking hell—!”
Ryan was pulled
away from me so fast I had no chance to protest other than with a grunt,
struggling to keep my stance.
“Take your
bloody hands off her!”
“No! Tony!” A strangled
shriek escaped me as he punched Ryan hard in the jaw.