Tempt Me Tonight (41 page)

She missed Joe. She hated it, but she couldn’t deny it. She thought about him all the time and constantly wondered what he was doing—working in the garage, playing with the kittens, eating a pizza, hanging out with Debbie and Kenny? She never once wondered if he was fooling around with Beverly Rainey—because she simply knew he wasn’t. At the moment, she wondered if he might wander into the Last Chance tonight to watch Kenny shoot pool.

She also wondered if he hated her for how she’d ended things. She knew it was weak, just like she knew it was weak fourteen years ago—but she simply hadn’t had the strength to face him. She’d been sure she’d break down into a weepy, sobbing mess. And she’d been just as sure of her decision—sure she needed a life that was steady, dependable, and completely within her control. When she’d gotten the call about making partner, she’d decided
that
was the sign she’d been waiting for. So she’d taken the easy way out. She’d left him.

Just like his father had. Just like Jana had, too. And even his mom, in a way.

Stop it. Right now. He’s out of your life. You have Kent.

They’d gone for margaritas. And they’d laughed and gotten caught up on each other’s lives—minus the Joe part—and Kent had been dumbstruck to hear she’d overhauled an entire restaurant in the time she’d been gone. He’d said, “Wow, I didn’t know I had such a multifaceted woman on my hands. Makes me wonder what
other
talents you possess that I don’t know about.”

More flirtation. And it was getting more serious—as in more sexual. She’d done her best to flirt back.

Of course, he’d be here tonight. And maybe…he’d stay until everyone else left, under the guise of helping her clean up. Maybe then he’d start to kiss her, and maybe they’d even end up in bed.

She let out a heavy breath. That would be great if she had any desire to touch anyone but Joe.

That boy’s trouble. Pure trouble.
And it just kept escalating, it seemed, even from a distance.

But you’ll get over that. Soon. You have to. Your real life is here. And he’s there. And Eden might as well be the moon for all Trish the High-Powered Attorney has in common with Trish the Café Girl.

It will all be fine—you’ll learn to love your life and your job again. You will.

Just then, the doorbell rang. First guest.

Smoothing her dress, she rushed to answer and found Kent on the other side, bearing a dozen red roses and a bottle of champagne—the perfect date. “Hey, beautiful—heard there’s a party here tonight.”

Sometime after nine, the doorbell rang—again. Trish looked up from where she stood at Kent’s side in a circle of coworkers, all toasting her rise to partner. Other guests dotted the loft—seated in the living area, or mulling about the spread of finger food spanning her dining table. The party was a grand success, and she was even having a good time—something she’d feared wouldn’t happen.

“Want me to grab it?” Kent asked.

She shook her head, replying with a teasing smile and a line from an etiquette book. “A good hostess always greets her guests personally.” She whisked toward the door, champagne flute in hand, then pulled it open.

Joe stood on the other side. Instead of roses and champagne, he held dark pink tulips and a gray kitten.

Oh boy. She nearly fainted.

“Hey, cupcake.”

“Uh…hey.”

He blinked, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable as he said, “Did I…come at a bad time?”

“Um…” He looked
so
good. He wore his usual faded jeans topped with a slightly snug tee, this one bearing the Jaguar logo. His snake coiled beneath one sleeve. “I’m kind of…having a party.”

“Oh.”

Oh God. He was just standing there, wondering what to do—and she was letting him.

“Come in,” she said.

“I don’t want to interrupt your party.” She could hear the rest of it, the unspoken part.
Your party where everyone is wearing a suit or a fancy dress and looking so different from me.

“You’re not,” she promised—even though she knew she sounded awkward, because suddenly everything
was
awkward. Because her earlier thought had been right—nothing about Eden, including Joe, fit with her life here. Eden and Joe, Indy and Kent—two opposite ends of the spectrum.

“I came…because I need to talk to you.”

Her eyes dropped again to the tulips—and Pepper. The more she absorbed the sight, the more speechless she grew. So she followed her gut impulse to pull him in the door and through the large, open loft to her bedroom, only glancing over her shoulder toward her stunned-looking friends to say over strains of Beethoven, “I’ll be back in a minute. Keep having fun.”

She shut the door behind her as soon as they were inside.

Joe turned to face her, still bearing what she couldn’t deny were the most perfect gifts he possibly could have brought. His eyes shone on her as blue and seductive as ever. “This is me…coming after you,” he said.

His words swept down through her, leaving her breathless. “What?”

“You told me I should have come after you all those years ago, and you were right. I was an idiot to ever let you go. So here I am. Here to tell you I love you, and that you can trust me ’til the day we die, and that there’s nothing I want more than you. I’m here to make you mine again—for keeps this time.”

Whoa. She reached a hand to the dresser to steady herself. He was saying all the right words, but…what about the roller coaster? About the hills getting smaller now? She wanted the smaller hills, had been
counting
on the smaller hills. Her heart beat a hundred miles an hour and her whole body felt energized simply by the sight of him, but…oh God, so many questions bubbled inside her. Not to mention the pressure of having a whole loft full of people just outside the door waiting to celebrate the new beginning of her career.

She dropped her gaze to the kitten in his hand, furry front paws waving cutely through the air. The cat’s sweet little face peered up at her as he released a tiny mew that clawed at her heart. “Why did you bring Pepper?”

“To help me convince you. I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me, but I figured
him
you’d have a hard time turning away.”

She smiled despite herself—he knew the way to her heart. “He’s pretty adorable.”

Joe tilted his head, eyes determined. “Is he convincing you yet?”

She sighed, stomach churning. “Joe. Oh, Joe.” Leaving him had been so hard, but she’d done it. And she’d felt…
safer
since returning here. Bored in ways, and wracked with a sadness that wouldn’t quit—but still safe. She hadn’t expected to be face-to-face with the man she loved so soon, and she’d quickly forgotten how he affected her. She’d never felt so torn between safety and…soul-stirring passion.

Joe stepped forward to lay the flowers on her dresser and pull open a deep drawer, lowering the kitten inside—so Pepper wouldn’t get lost, she presumed. She couldn’t help quirking a grin at the bizarre sight of a tiny kitty resting among her casual cotton undies.

But Joe didn’t look even slightly amused. No, Joe looked the way he had on the first night she’d met up with him back in Eden, like a man who knew what he wanted—and was about to take it.

“If he can’t convince you,” he said, “maybe this will.” And with that, he lifted both work-roughened palms to her face and brought his mouth down on hers, firm and hot. His tongue pressed between her lips and the sensation of being entered by him, even like that, sent a shiver rushing the length of her body.

And then—oh God—she succumbed. Simply succumbed.

Her arms circled his neck as his hands splayed over her hips, drawing her to him, warm and snug. “You look beautiful,” he breathed in her ear, and her whole being rippled with unstoppable desire.

“Take me,” she whispered back.

“What?”

She’d shocked him, but she didn’t care. Because that fast, she had to have him,
all
of him. “Take me, Joe. Please. Hurry.”

A groan erupted from his throat, his expression blazing with exactly the kind of heat that released her inner biker babe. His palms closed firm over her bottom, pressing her to the delectable hardness behind his zipper, and—oh God—she began to writhe against him without thought or decision, her body simply responding.

But then he began gathering the skirt of her dress in his hands, pulling up more of it, higher and higher, until there was nothing between his fingers and her rear, since she’d worn a thong to avoid panty lines. His breath echoed hard as he kneaded her, slowly beginning to back her toward the nearest wall.

He didn’t ask this time if it was okay to rip the panties—just gave a firm yank. She heard the lace tear, felt them fall away from her. Their eyes locked and her whole body tingled.

Through more hot, punishing kisses, she found the presence of mind to reach between them, unzip his jeans. When she reached inside, he moaned, and so did she.

Pushing her back against the wall, he lifted her, hands cupping her ass, and she scissored her legs around his hips as he pushed his way inside.

“Oh…Oh God,” she breathed as a raspy growl left her lover.

Their eyes met, his that same beautiful, almost shocking blue that she never quite got used to, no matter how many times she looked into them. He moved in her, slow, deep, their faces only a few inches apart. Classical music from the party echoed through the nearby door, reaching a loud crescendo, but the only real sound in the room was their rhythmic, labored breathing. Trish arched against him, taking him deeper, letting her eyes shut for just one moment of heady bliss before she reopened them because she wanted to see him,
needed
to see him, feel every
nuance
of him, here with her,
in
her. Her whole being felt liquid, moving against him, like one with his body as his fingers curled tight into her bottom, somehow seeming to stretch her, pull her, open her to him even further. All the pain she felt surrounding him mixed and mingled with all the ecstasy, all the blunt lust and heat, nearly blinding her with emotion. She’d never experienced anything so intense with another human being as in that feral moment.

His breath came warm on her neck. “I thought…I’d never…feel you…again.”

“Ohhh.
Oh, Joe.”
Her
breath turned thready, ragged.

“So warm for me, baby. So tight.”

Yes, yes.
She arched against him, pleasure opening up inside her, wider and wider, blooming like a flower beneath the hot rays of the sun. “Oh God,” she whispered, desperate and close, and then the climax crashed through her like a storm. She bit her lip, hard, trying not to whimper too loud, or—dear Lord—not to scream, thankful for the music beyond the door.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes to find Joe’s hard gaze still pinned on her, still fueled with passion as he carried her to the bed to lay her on her back. His thrusts inside her came harder, faster. Somewhere on the other side of the room, Pepper mewed. She bit her lip, more, more, wanting to cry out beneath the power of his slick strokes. Her fingers raked through his hair, over his back, then found his face, touching the dark stubble. “Ah. God. Now,” he said, and his eyes fell shut as he plunged hard, coming deep inside her, clearly trying to keep his own groans quiet, too.

They lay silent, recovering, when a knock on the door made them both flinch.

“Trish, is everything all right in there?” Oh God. Kent. She slapped her hand across her forehead. Dear Lord, how had this happened? If ever two opposing worlds had collided, this was that moment.

“Yes. Just fine,” she called, but she wasn’t sure she
sounded
fine. “I’ll be out in a minute—I’m just talking with an old friend in here.”
On my back. While he’s inside me.
Yeesh.

“That guy—is he…somebody important?” Joe’s deep voice drew her focus back to his eyes, mere inches above her.

How to explain? Especially considering how dazed she felt at the moment. “No. Yes. I don’t know.” She shook her head. “We’ve never…done
this,
if that’s what you mean.”

“Good.” His voice came low, possessive.

And Trish began to slowly return to herself, leaving the fog of orgasm and easing Joe off of her until they both sat up on the bed.

She felt his gaze. “Old friend, huh?”

She sighed. “Joe…”

“What?”

“I love you, I do. But—”

“But what?”

Her heartbeat hadn’t slowed, even after sex. Because this was about so much more than that. This was about…reality. Life. Forever. This was about…trudging on through the life she knew, where it wasn’t always pretty, but it was safe, because the only people who ever got hurt here were the people she defended or their accusers. For
her,
nothing was really ever at risk. And maybe she liked it that way. She must—or why had she come back?

“Joe, I…I can’t leave with you. I just made partner at my firm. Partner, Joe—do you have any idea how huge that is?” She shook her head. “I…can’t leave now, Joe. I can’t give that up. This is a huge achievement, too huge to walk away from. It’s everything I’ve worked for suddenly coming to fruition. And I told you, even if parts of the work aren’t satisfying, I make it that way…by doing my best at it.”

“Cupcake,” he said, looking her in the eye, “I’m not asking you to leave anything.”

She let out a breath, confused. “You’re not?”

“I called Lois Faulkner today.”

Her parents’ real estate agent? She knit her brow. “About the diner?”

He shook his head. “About the garage. I’m putting it up for sale.”

What the hell was he talking about? “What?”

“I’m putting it up for sale so that
I
can come
here
. To be with
you.
”

She simply gaped at him, stunned. Was he crazy? He couldn’t leave the
garage
—he just couldn’t.

He
was
the garage—it was his heart and soul. He’d never told her that, but she knew it—nothing had ever been clearer to her. For him to leave it made no sense.

“No, Joe,” she said simply.

He just looked at her. “No?”