“Bonnie, I’m so glad to hear you say that.” She hugged her friend, who had doused herself with so much perfume Angela had to hold her breath. Bonnie never did anything halfway. “You are really brave. I know how painful it is to let go of something you thought was right.”
“No kidding.” She wiped away the beginning of a tear. “God, don’t make me cry, my eyeliner will run and I’ll look like a coal-mining raccoon.”
“Right. Never mind. Forget the sentiment.” Angela released her, backed away with her hands up. “You’re not that great. Really annoying, in fact.”
“Thank you. Perfect.” Bonnie checked her makeup in the mirror, heavier than Angela would ever wear it, but on Bonnie it always looked cool. “Now. Because I am no longer fooling myself over my feelings about Seth, you must therefore face your feelings for Daniel, too.”
“Oh! Look at the time.” Angela held up her wrist, which had no watch on it. “We have
got
to go or we’ll be late. You know Jack hates when we’re late.”
“Angela…”
“Busy, busy, busy.” She shoved Bonnie out of the way and took one last look in the mirror at the sexy black minidress she’d bought shortly after her divorce and hadn’t ever felt like wearing. Tonight, something in her had said what the hell. It wasn’t racy by club standards, just by hers. Solid black with wide shoulder straps, it had beaded fabric covering her breasts, which were on display more than in her usual wardrobe, and fell in flirty folds to midthigh. A good dancing dress.
They were going to a club called Noc Noc on Second Avenue, one of Bonnie’s favorites. Angela had to be in the right mood to enjoy crowds, drinks and deafening noise. Tonight she was. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened to her mood, why the skimpy dress had been the evening’s only choice. Why Ms. Stay-At-Home was excited at the idea of going to a club Bonnie said was lit and decorated like a vampire den. She felt reckless. Maybe a little desperate. Going dancing with friends was the perfect outlet.
Out in the hallway Jack waited, clearly impatient, looking extremely hot in jeans and a close-fitting shirt in blues and grays.
“What were you two doing, weaving cloth for your—” His dark eyes lit on Angela. He did a comical jaw-drop and clutched his chest. “Angela. My God. I think my heart just stopped.”
Bonnie giggled. “Doesn’t she look amazing?”
“You do, too, Bonnie.” He sidled up to her and ran his hands down her arms. “But I expect blatant sexuality every day of the year from you, so it wasn’t a life-threatening event.”
“I understand.” She kissed his cheek. “Thank you, dear.”
“You’re welcome.” He took each of them gallantly by the arm. “A couple of my friends are meeting us there. Seth isn’t sure he’ll make it but he’ll try. I invited Demi, too.”
“Gee, let me guess.” Bonnie spoke in a low voice, glancing around. “She’s busy.”
“Not surprisingly, yes, she is.” Jack led them to the elevator. “Ready for a night of dancing debauchery?”
“Absolutely. Lead the way.” Bonnie leapt, ballerina-like, into the elevator and spun around. “Hey, can we tell Noc Noc jokes?”
Jack and Angela exchanged glances.
“No.”
On the first floor, Jack propelled them past the locked entrances to their darkened businesses. Angela shivered stepping out onto the sidewalk. Not so much because the air was chilly again, which it was, but because the night felt sparkling new and full of exciting possibilities. What those were, she had no idea. But instinct told her she was in for a really great time.
Noc Noc turned out to be everything Bonnie said: crowded, hot and boisterous, dimly lit orange and red, vampire den, yes, or the inside of an S&M dungeon. But the food and drinks were good and not expensive, the booths large and comfortable, the dance floor not impossibly small and the bartenders friendly and quick.
All the ingredients for a fabulous time.
Except Angela wasn’t having one. She drank cocktails with weird names and too much sugar, ate too many tater tots, a specialty of the house that arrived in large amounts, hot and crisp, for only a few dollars. She danced with Jack, with his friend Blake, with Seth and with a couple of random guys who flattered her with their obvious attraction. She chatted, flirted mildly, laughed at jokes, made some of her own, went through all the motions, but the anticipation of having a really wonderful, special evening was falling flat. Something was missing. Something that would make everything fall into place, that would make her feel…right.
She hated to admit it. Hated to. But she knew what that thing was. That thing that would complete the evening here tonight, or anywhere else tonight. Or any other night.
Finally, after her third cocktail, she mustered her courage—or simply didn’t care anymore about anything else—and shouldered her way out of the crowd, heat and noise, into the blessedly fresh air outside. By the time she reached the sidewalk, her cell was in her hand.
“Daniel?”
His voice was lost in the shrieking laughter of a nearby group of girls.
“What?” She clamped a hand over her free ear. “I can barely hear you.”
“I said hi. Where are you?”
“Noc Noc.”
“Okay. Who’s there?”
Angela burst into alcohol-enhanced giggles. “No, no. I’m on Second Avenue at a
club
called Noc Noc.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of it. Couldn’t figure out why you’d call me this late with a knock-knock joke.”
“Unless it was a really good one.” She was smiling so hard that in a few seconds her cheeks would start hurting. Daniel was what she’d really wanted, what had been missing this evening. If she had any doubt, the wave of joy and contentment at hearing his voice erased it. Maybe she’d had one drink too many, but all her reasons for staying away from him seemed contrived and artificial, born more of fear than reason.
“Come dancing with me.” She didn’t ask, she ordered.
“Wow.” He laughed nervously. “I’m…not much of a dancer.”
“Oh.” She felt herself wilting into disappointment. Having come to the brilliant realization that Daniel was what her evening needed, it selfishly hadn’t occurred to her he might not feel the same. “You can come out and
not
dance.”
“I could. But Angela…” His voice lowered. Angela took a few more steps toward a quieter part of the street. “Jake isn’t here.”
“Oh.” She tried to figure that one out. “So the apartment would be lonely if you left?”
He chuckled. “Not quite what I was thinking.”
“What were you think—”
D’oh.
She knew what he was thinking. Point the first—he didn’t want to come out tonight. Point the second—Jake wasn’t home.
She got it.
A cold breeze whipped down the block, chilling her skin, moist from perspiration.
“Angela?” His voice had remained low, but she could hear him clearly, as if there were no way her ears would miss what he was about to say no matter how much noise was around her. “How about coming to dance with me over here?”
12
A
NGELA
STOOD
outside
Daniel’s building, taking deep breaths. The trip over to his house by cab seemed to have sobered her up completely, for which she was grateful. If something happened between them tonight—okay, something would happen between them tonight—she wanted to be clear-headed enough to use good judgment. To understand what she was doing and why. Because she knew without a doubt that one look at him would make her want to—
The building’s front door pushed out and Daniel was standing there, tall, solid and handsome, grinning as if he’d never stop. It was hard to associate this vital man with the pale imitation who’d walked into her bakery for the first time two weeks ago. “Thought you might change your mind if I didn’t come out and drag you in. God, you look amazing, Angela.”
She’d been right. One look and she was ready to jump his bones. She’d just put it that bluntly and be done with it.
“I’m…I was…” She started giggling. Not because anything was funny, but because he looked good enough to devour and she was so happy. No, she hadn’t been having fun at Noc Noc. Fun was now, fun was Daniel. He lit her up as if she was made of neon.
“You were what? I’m thinking you were on the verge of running away.”
“No, no.” She peeked at him coyly. “I needed time to prepare myself for the awesome experience of seeing you.”
“Ahhh.” He reached for her hand, drew her into the stuffy little space between the outer and inner doors. “And were you fully prepared?”
She whistled silently. “I nearly passed out, but managed to recover.”
“Glad to hear that.” He squeezed her hand, looking her up and down, sending shivers of anticipation over her body. “I’m going to need more time to recover from seeing you. You are stunning. I’ve never seen you dressed like that.”
“I never dress like this.”
“You should. Often.” He ran his hand down her bare arm. “But only around me. Otherwise I’ll have to fight through every man in Seattle to be with you.”
“Ha.” She gave him a skeptical look while her insides did a dance of pleasure. “It’s just a dress.”
“Oh, no. It’s not just a dress. It’s a body, also, the kind that makes men forget they’re civilized beings. And…” He touched her cheek in that sweet and tender way that managed to get her hot because she was as depraved as hell. “It’s you.”
“Oh. Well. Thank you.” She couldn’t stop smiling, even having just sounded struck stupid. Any second she’d start laughing. The man turned her completely goofy.
“Ready to go up?” He twined his fingers with hers. “No thoughts of running away?”
“Let me check.” She held his gaze, blue and warm and so, so wonderful. “No. Not one.”
“Okay, let’s go.” He turned to the door. And stopped. “Oh, God. I came down without my keys.”
“Oh, no!” Jake wasn’t up there. They were stuck.
“Our date curse continues, Angela.” He sounded more amused than upset.
She was the opposite, hastily scanning the row of apartment buzzers. “Can we bug someone to let us in?”
“Nah, I don’t want to bother people at this hour. We’ll just wait until someone comes along.”
Angela stared at him. Something was weird about this. Didn’t he want to be upstairs with her as desperately as she wanted to be up there with him? “Who’s going to come by in the middle of the night on a Thursday?”
He shrugged. “Gee, I don’t know.”
“Daniel!”
“Yes?”
“You’d rather be down here in this stuffy little box than upstairs with me?”
“I don’t know. What did you have in mind?”
“You are kidding, aren’t you?” She started laughing.
“No, I’m completely serious.” His voice was anything but. “What did you think the two of us might do upstairs in an empty apartment that would make getting out of here worthwhile?”
She couldn’t stop giggling. “If you don’t know, then—”
“Tell me, Angela,” he whispered. His face was serious now. Apparently she could stop giggling. He cupped the back of her head, holding it steady. “Tell me.”
Heat flooded her body. Pictures came to mind immediately, then words, and then a wicked idea. “I thought maybe we could sit on your bed together.”
“Close together?”
“Yes, yes, very close.” She moved until she was nearly touching his body with hers. “The lights will be low, maybe some music on. Something soft with a good pulsing beat in the background.”
“And then what?” His hands bumped hers. Their breathing was audible in the small space. Their chemistry was as palpable. Angela nearly regretted her plan.
Nearly.
“Then I’d like to take my dress off.” She put her hands to the solid planes of his chest, her heart beating so hard it felt as if it were about to burst out of hers. “And then I’d like to take your shirt off. And your pants. And everything else.”
“Mmm, I’m really liking this plan.”
“And then I’d like to do…something.” She pulled at his shirt until it exposed his skin, pressed her lips there once, twice, gave a slow lick with the very tip of her tongue.
“What kind of something?”
Angela slid her hands over his hips, down his thighs. “A kind of something I bet you’ve never done with a woman before.”
“Oh, my God.” He spoke on a groan. “What? Tell me.”
She was about to hit him with her punch line—read Mother Goose poetry to you—when her fingers encountered a bulge in his pocket. Not the normal are-you-glad-to-see-me bulge. A bulge that felt like—
“Keys!” Oh, he was
so
busted. And he’d totally upstaged her joke.
“No, no, tell me what you were going to—”
“The keys are in your pocket.” She smacked the bulge and folded her arms across her chest.
He gasped. “I had
no
idea.”
“You just wanted me to talk dirty to you.”
Daniel chuckled and dug out the set. “Can you blame me?”
“Yes.” No, not in a million years. “You will have to make this up to me, Mr. Flynn.”
“I will, I will.” He fit a key into the door. “Come upstairs and I’ll show you how.”
“Well.” She pretended to consider, thinking that this kind of teasing silliness had been a big part of her family life and completely absent from her relationship with Tom. What had made her think she could find happiness with him, with his family, in that totally foreign environment? Being with Daniel felt like coming home again. “I guess you could do that.”
He escorted her inside the building and they climbed the carpeted stairs in silence that was full of promise, full of unexpected emotion. Angela had no need to fill the quiet with chatter as she always had with Tom. She and Daniel had gone from silly teasing to this totally different kind of intimacy easily and with mutual understanding.
Bonnie was right. She was falling for him. Hard. Yes, too soon, yes frightening, but by now undeniable. And if Daniel turned out to be a jerk and crushed her heart, so be it. She’d live to love again.
She would.
That fact was probably obvious to most everyone on the planet, but for her it was a lightning bolt of realization. She didn’t have to have power over Daniel. That had been the wrong place to focus, the wrong way to approach him, with gloves on, hands up in strong defense.
She’d always had and always would have power over herself. And that was all she needed.
They entered his dimly lit apartment; he closed the door behind them. “Do you want anything? A drink? Something to eat? Glass of water?”
“No. Thank you.” Angela walked to him, feeling more whole and sure than she ever had. “Just you.”
He wrapped her in his arms, took her mouth with his. She responded, and without warning or preamble they caught fire, immediate, blazing and disorientingly hot. They devoured each other’s lips, pulled at each other’s clothes, greedy for the feel of skin, then stumbled through the living room and tumbled onto the couch, not even willing to go a few yards farther into his bedroom.
“Daniel.” She gasped out his name, grabbed his shoulder to pull herself on top of him.
“Wait.” He stopped her.
Wait for what? What was he doing? She pushed hair out of her eyes and saw him rolling on a condom. Thank God he had enough of his brain working to remember.
“Now.” He spoke urgently, pushed himself against the back of the couch and opened his arms.
“Yes, now,” she whispered, and climbed onto him, grasped his penis eagerly and guided it just barely inside her.
Ohhh.
They made the sound together, gazing into each other’s eyes. She lifted off, let her weight drop again. Another half inch.
Ohhh.
Up again and down, another inch that time as he stretched and filled her. Brief pause, then next time down nearly all the way, loving his hissed intake of breath, the way his eyes narrowed into fierce enjoyment of her movement. Up so he was almost free, another pause then she sank deliberately until he was all the way in, both of them gasping at the pleasure. Angela rested there, listening to their breaths catching, feeling more beautiful and desirable than she could ever remember, and more comfortable in her own body, knowing that Daniel wasn’t thinking of the woman he wished she was, but of her, Angela Loukas, naked and crazy about him.
The urge to move became strong; she used the muscles in her thighs to lift and lower in a regular rhythm, dropping her head, eyes closed to savor the feeling. She took it slowly, landing with him deep inside her, circling her hips to stimulate her clitoris, delaying gratification of her need to ride him harder. She wanted to be in this moment as long as possible, to be aware of Daniel and her feelings for him. Now that she was no longer afraid of them, no longer in denial, she wanted to take them out and examine them in as much detail as she could.
Up…and down. Up…and down, feeling him, feeling for him, until Daniel grasped her hips, urging her on. Angela gave in, increasing the pace and the arousal, throwing her head back, parting her lips, giving herself over to the delicious thrust and pull. His hands left her hips, arrived on her breasts, warm palms caressing her.
The touch sent her even higher, she used more strength, wanting him in and out faster, harder, keeping awareness of Daniel over her body’s animal need for release until that need took over and she panted his name, clutching his hard shoulders, tipping her pelvis forward so her clitoris ground against his pubic bone on every thrust.
Yes.
Yes.
Her breaths grew shorter, her muscles threatened to cramp. She couldn’t stop, couldn’t interrupt the sensation of being entered over and over, the slow and perfect rise to ecstasy.
Seconds before her climax hit, she opened her eyes, and found him watching her, his jaw tight, muscles taut with his own pleasure.
“Daniel.” She barely got his name out, felt her body flush. She was close. “I’m going to come.”
“Angela.”
“Right now.” She arched back, let the wave burn over her, felt him grab her and work his hips in a wild loss of control that bounced her up and down.
“You are so sexy.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “You’re making me insane.”
Oh, Daniel.
If she was sexy it was because he made her feel that way, every minute she was with him.
“Good,” she whispered. “I want you insane. And I want you to come inside me.”
He did, with a brief shout of ecstasy that tensed his body and flooded his skin with color. Joy swelled her heart and her throat. This man…
His eyes opened, bright blue, sated and happy. He pushed hair from her face, leaned in to kiss her, then brought her back against the couch with him and kissed her some more. And then more, and after that, more—long, sweetly passionate kisses.
Ohhh, she loved this. Amazing sex with an amazing man. And look at her. Angela Loukas was okay, blissfully okay, and still in control of herself and her emotions.
“I’m really liking the take things slow angle.” He stroked her hair, her arm, her back. “I wasn’t so sure the last times we went out, to the museum and so on, but yeah, right now I’m a total convert.”
She rolled her eyes, head resting against his shoulder. “Um, that’s great, Daniel.”
“Seriously. This is the best platonic date I’ve ever had. You were absolutely right that it would be better if we took things slowly until—”
“Okay, okay.” She laughed; she couldn’t help it. “So that didn’t work.”
“It couldn’t. It’s too strong between us.”
She lifted her head, feigning confusion. “What is?”
“Uh.” His eyes narrowed; he looked supremely uncomfortable. “You know. ‘It.’”
More laughter. “Chicken.”
“Yeah?” He poked her shoulder. “You define it then.”
“I will.” She snuggled in again; his arms came around her, making her feel protected, delicate and small. She was none of those things, she was a tough Amazon warrior princess, but right at this moment burrowing safely against a large, warm male body felt perfect. “That’s easy.”
“Yeah? Tell me. What draws us to each other?”