Lori Foster Read online

  Her heartbeat slowed, her pulse became sluggish. “You don’t mind what I do?”

  “I listened tonight. And I felt proud. And thrilled, because I knew I had you, I knew you couldn’t lie to that woman and tell her all about love unless you believed it yourself. You’ve just been…skittish because of your mother.”

  Lace went on tiptoe. “Don’t start analyzing me again.”

  “How about I analyze myself instead, then?”

  She waved a hand at him, indicating he should continue.

  “I’ve been scared to death of you, Lace. My father fell apart after my mother died, and it was like living with a shell of a man, no life in him, no laughter or caring for anyone but his own grief. He’s still not the same, though he pretends to be. I saw how it had destroyed him, and I didn’t ever want it to be that way with me. I could always keep a distance with women, could put on a show of being social, but I held back so much. Then you showed up and you argued with me about everything and stirred me until I was blind with lust, and still, even though I thought I didn’t like you, I couldn’t put you out of my mind. You obsessed my brain and all my male parts and I hated it.”

  “Did you hate me?”

  “I was too busy fantasizing over what I’d do with you to hate you. And then you got hurt and it was like taking a sucker punch in the stomach. I got to know you, and everything changed and I realized I didn’t have to worry about falling for you because I didn’t think you’d ever fall for me.”

  “You were wrong.”

  “I know.” He grinned. “You love me. Max explained it all to me.”

  “Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place.”

  Daniel laughed, his breath gusting out in front of him in a white cloud. The wind whistled and Lace huddled deeper into her cape. She was cold, but she wouldn’t pull her booted feet from the snow until she’d heard it all. This was more than she’d ever hoped for—and she wanted to commit every word to memory.

  “Max can tell you all about it later. But for now, will you come home with me?”

  “I have my car here.”

  “We can get it tomorrow. Tonight I need you.” His tone dropped, grew husky and seductive. “It’s been a lifetime.”

  More like two lifetimes, she thought, those words enough to satisfy her. She turned to go back inside. She told the night guard that her car would be left in the lot, so no one would worry, and walked back out to Daniel. They made it to his home in record time. And minutes after that, they were in bed together, their clothes scattered, their bodies straining together.

  Daniel moved over her gently, rhythmically, holding himself in check, watching her face. “Tell me again.”

  Lace, swamped in pleasurable sensation, struggled to pull her thoughts together enough to form coherent words. “I love you.” Her voice rasped and she threw her head back, her body arching up high against his.

  Daniel kissed her throat. “That’s it, Lace. That’s it.”

  She sank her fingertips deep into his shoulders. When the pleasure finally abated, she forced her eyes open and stared up at him. “Why didn’t you join me?”

  “I’m having fun just watching for now.” He pulled her legs higher around his waist and rested. “I can’t believe you love me.”

  “It defies logic, I know, but it’s true.”

  “Witch.” He thrust, a slow, even stroke, and Lace gasped, giving Daniel reason to smile in satisfaction. “When can we get married?”

  “I’d marry you now, Daniel, if you could manage it. I love you. Believe me, nothing will change that. You’re the most incredible man I’ve ever known.”

  “You don’t think I’m too conservative and boring?”

  “I think you’re too sexy for rational womankind, and intelligent beyond measure, and so caring and loving and good—”

  “Stop!” His laughter gave her pleasure and she tightened herself all around him. “Next thing I know, you’ll be trying to canonize me.”

  “No, I want you alive and healthy and hearty,” she said, moving beneath him, watching his expression shift, his gaze grow hotter, “so you can finish what you’ve started.”

  “You always did present a convincing argument.”

  A few minutes later Lace grumbled a complaint when she couldn’t find a blanket on the bed. They were all on the floor and she was getting cold now that they weren’t quite so active. Daniel, mostly dead to the world and any problems in it, pulled her close and threw one leg over hers. Lace snuggled up to his side.

  Lace thought he was asleep until his low voice filled her ear. “Will you use me as data for the next book?”

  She snorted, then smoothed her hand over his hairy chest. “Maybe, but not in the way you hope.”

  “You plan to ignore my awesome lovemaking techniques? Wasn’t that you who swore I was the greatest lover alive, who touted my every move, who—”

  “Stop bragging, Daniel. I intend to be the sole beneficiary of your expertise.” She levered herself up on an elbow and stared down at him. “But I do think I’ve learned a great deal about love. I understand now that it comes in various disguises, and that love can’t be second-guessed.”

  He eyed her serious expression. “Because I feared it and you didn’t believe it existed?”

  “Exactly.” It still unnerved her just a bit to discuss it, to realize how close she’d come to losing Daniel out of sheer stubbornness. “We both believed love, in whatever context, was to be avoided. But no matter how hard we both tried, we fell in love anyway.”

  “I didn’t stand a chance. You berated me and wore me down and flaunted your charms until I lay helpless and unable to defend myself.” He began toying with her breast, his expression enthralled. “I think of all those wicked things you did to me at the cabin, and I…”

  Lace tightened her fingers in his chest hair, challenged him with a look, and waited.

  Daniel took the precautionary method of holding her wrist and then kissed her nose. “And I fell in love.”

  Lace laughed. “A smart man always knows when to quit.”

  His arms went around her waist. “Ah. But an even smarter man always knows when to begin again.” So saying, Daniel flipped her onto her back and grinned down at her. “Now, where were we?”

  Lace touched his face, his shoulders. She loved him so much, she knew there couldn’t be anything threatening in her feelings, only happiness and contentment. She kissed his grinning mouth and whispered, “We were about to begin the rest of our lives.”

  “Hmm. Then we should definitely start things off right.”

  Lace found out exactly what he meant, and she had to applaud his decision. Making love with Daniel, holding him close and hearing his whispers of love was the very best beginning she ever could have imagined.

  ANNIE, GET YOUR GUY

  CHAPTER ONE

  ANNIE SAWYERS felt her jaw drop at the impressive pile of magazines, articles and books her friend had just carried in. She’d had no idea the topic could be so…extensive. “Good grief. Are all these on sex?”

  Lace huffed as she dropped the large stack onto the floor. “Every single one.”

  “But…I thought sex was…you know, pretty clear-cut and basic.”

  Lace chuckled. “Variety is the spice of life. And believe me, they make fascinating reading.”

  “You’ve read them all?”

  “These, and dozens more.” Lace was a well-known sex therapist and Annie’s best female friend to boot. Just recently, she’d married Annie’s older brother—to the shock of the rest of the family. Not because they didn’t adore Lace, but because Daniel was such a stuffed shirt. The two of them complemented each other perfectly.

  Lace straightened and gave Annie a smile. “If you’re not inspired after this, I give up.”

  Annie didn’t say it, but inspiration wasn’t her problem. It was feminine confidence, and lack of male response, that had her hesitant. “I don’t know, Lace. I mean, I don’t think Guy particul
arly wants me sexually inspired.”

  “No doubt about that! Which is why you’re going to seduce him.”

  Annie’s eyes widened. “But I’ve never seduced anyone in my life. Last time I tried that with Guy, he thought I was challenging him to arm wrestle. And he let me win! Do you know how humiliating that was?”

  After three blinks, Lace asked, “How in the world did he confuse—”

  “Maybe I should have taken off my clothes first? Do you think it’d help if I got—”

  “No! No, don’t do that.” Lace gave her a wan smile. “I’ll help you. Your seduction techniques will be unparalleled. Irresistible. Provocative. I promise, he won’t stand a chance.”

  “I dunno.” Annie felt the tiniest bit queasy. “What if I do this, take my best shot, give it all I got…”

  “Annie.”

  “…and he laughs at my technique and pats me on the head? That’s what he usually does, you know.” Annie frowned, hating her own hesitation on this particular subject, but still very aware of her irrefutable shortcomings. She was a wonderful businesswoman, strong, independent, capable, but she wasn’t beautiful and sexy like Lace. She wasn’t feminine.

  She had no siren’s call.

  For the most part, Guy thought of her as a tomboy and a little sister. She loved him beyond distraction, more so every day it seemed, while he was content to give her brotherly advice, and the occasional stern lecture on propriety. He didn’t seem to realize that her efforts at looking more appealing, more womanly, weren’t meant for the general male masses, but rather his very individualized notice. All he cared about was protecting her—the same as her two overbearing brothers. It was more than any mortal woman should have to bear, and was behind her request for help from Lace.

  Lace gave her a patient look. “Annie, Guy might not even realize you’re interested. He’s been with your family for a long time, now. And with you being the only female in a household full of males, he’s naturally adopted the same attitude as your brothers and father. It could be he just needs a bit of…encouragement.”

  Annie sighed. Guy was her very best friend, her confidant, and he knew her in ways her family didn’t. She’d been in love with him forever. Still, what Lace said did make a bit of sense.

  “I suppose that could be it.” Guy had been living in the Sawyers household since his early high school days. He and Daniel were sophomores when Guy’s father had to take an early retirement due to health problems. Guy’s mother and father had moved to Florida, but Guy and Daniel had been friends forever, played sports together, hung out together. They were both popular, and they’d had their futures mapped out. It only made sense that Guy would want to finish school in his hometown. So he’d been welcomed into the Sawyers household.

  Lace nodded. “Guy has pretty much adopted your family as his own. And now that I’m in the family, too, I see how they tend to put you on a very high, pastel-pink padded pedestal. They don’t want to think about you leaping off the damn pedestal in search of debauched entertainments.”

  Lace laughed. She’d always been amused at the way Annie was pampered by the men in her family. “I imagine Guy feels no one is allowed to have sexual thoughts about you.” Then, with a prissy voice, she added, “You’re too pure.”

  “But I don’t want to be pure!” To Annie, that word had almost become an insult.

  “Pure is rather boring, isn’t it?” Lace agreed. “But you haven’t helped that image by turning interested men away, you know. You’ve got ‘sweet and innocent’ stamped all over you, and it’s my guess the men in your family like it just fine that way. I know Daniel does. He’s fighting the image of you as a grown, mature woman with all his might, despite my encouragement to the opposite.”

  Annie’s groan was long and frustrated. If even Lace, whom Daniel adored beyond all reason, couldn’t turn Daniel around, how could she ever reach Guy?

  “Of course I turned men away,” Annie muttered. “The only man I want is Guy. I fell hopelessly in love with him when I was eighteen.”

  Lace sat down and crossed her long legs, her expression rapt. “Details if you please.”

  Annie stared at Lace, debating. The memories of that long ago day were precious to her, and she’d never had anyone to share them with. She hadn’t dared tell any of her female friends, not when they were all actively lusting after Guy themselves. And she could just imagine what would have happened if she’d tried talking to Max or Daniel about it. Her brothers gave new meaning to the term “overprotective.”

  She sighed, then opened up to Lace. “Guy had caught me crying in the backyard. It was Mother’s Day, and I was upset, though why I don’t know. I don’t even remember my mother, she died when I was so young. But it seemed so lonely that day. Dad always took off then, during every holiday, really, like he couldn’t bear the memories after losing Mom, but I know Mother’s Day was especially hard on him. And Daniel was studying, Max was probably off getting into trouble somewhere.” She glanced away. “And I just felt so…alone.”

  “I understand.”

  As always, Lace’s tone was gentle and commiserating. Annie really appreciated having a sister-in-law that she could confide in. It was a unique thing, and very nice. “Guy started out by sitting on the porch swing with me and patting my back in that awkward way men have when they don’t know what to do with a female. It really bothered him whenever I cried, I guess because I didn’t do it much. Being raised with all boys has a way of toughening a girl up.”

  Lace made a face. “I know they treated you more like a little brother than a sister.”

  “They did their best, especially since Dad was so withdrawn. And for the most part it was fun. I got to do all the things they did, fishing, swimming in the lake, playing baseball. They always included me. Well, except that one time when I caught them playing spin the bottle with a bunch of neighborhood girls. I thought Daniel would box my ears for spying.”

  “The hypocrite.”

  Annie laughed. “It made them very uneasy if I acted at all feminine. The first time I wore panty hose, or when I got my ears pierced, they harassed me for days. And I remember when I had to ask Max to go to the store for me to buy tampons. He actually said, what for, and when I just glared at him, his ears turned red!”

  “Did he go to the store and get them?”

  “Oh sure. Max would do anything for me, but he didn’t like it. After that, he made Daniel do all my shopping.” She laughed again. “When Max first noticed I’d matured, he accused me of ‘sprouting breasts’ as if I’d done it on purpose just to nettle him. He went out and bought me a bunch of vests. When I refused to wear them, he got into the habit of walking in front of me, so no one would notice.”

  Lace had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “Max is a rascal.”

  Annie shook her head. “As if anyone would notice such an unnoticeable attribute.” She stared down at her modest bustline. Puberty had come and gone a long time ago, so she supposed it was time to give up hope.

  Lace made a disgusted sound at Annie’s distraction, then prompted, “So you were in the backyard, crying, and Guy was trying to console you…?”

  Just the memory made Annie warm inside. “He patted my shoulder, then hugged me, asking me not to cry. He kissed my cheek, like he’d done a dozen times. I turned toward him, he drew a big shaky breath, and the next thing I knew, he was holding my face and giving me this killer kiss and it was incredible.”

  “You mean—”

  “Yeah—” Annie nodded enthusiastically “—tongues and all.”

  Lace struggled with a smile. “I was going to ask if that was your first kiss, Annie, not the actual particulars of it.”

  “Oh.” Annie frowned in thought before answering. “No, it wasn’t my first kiss, but it was definitely my first lust.”

  “Ah-ha. Got to you, did it?”

  “Boy did it.” The kiss had been a hungry, I-want-you-bad kiss. It had startled her a little at the time because it was the first time she’
d felt a man’s tongue, the first time she’d really understood lust, or wanting a man so much. She’d been hugged up to Guy’s muscled chest many times in the past, but that time it was different because he didn’t feel like a friend—he felt like a man, hard and hot and so sexy.

  She’d belonged to Guy ever since. She still wanted to curl up and savor the memory whenever Guy failed to see her as a grown woman. For at least that one moment, on that one day, he’d wanted her. Almost as much as she wanted him.

  Lace’s look was thoughtful. “What did you do when he kissed you?”

  “I’m not really sure. I know I stared at him and I kind of froze. Guy started apologizing, stammering all over himself, backing away as if he thought I might leap at him. Then he suddenly just walked off and he never mentioned it again. Since then, it’s almost like he’s avoided me. Except when he wants to lecture me on something.”

  Lace snorted. “He and Daniel are a lot alike.”

  “Like brothers.”

  “So Guy’s never kissed you other than that one time?”

  It was difficult trying to explain the way their relationship had gone over the past few years. Annie was twenty-five now, but Guy treated her almost as if she were still eighteen and off-limits. She understood his reservations when she had been young and inexperienced.

  But now? Well, she was still inexperienced, but he couldn’t know that for sure. And at twenty-five, she sure wasn’t too young. But whenever she got too close, he started putting up barriers and she hated it.

  “Once,” Annie said, dredging up the wonderful memories, “on New Year’s Eve two years ago, I took him by surprise. We were in the basement looking for more folding chairs because the party got a little bigger than expected. When the clock suddenly chimed and we heard all the shouts, Guy laughed because he knew everyone was kissing. I didn’t give him a chance to think about it. I…well, I sort of jumped him.”

  “And?”

  Frustrated, Annie muttered, “And he let me kiss him for all of about thirty seconds. Then he stumbled back like I’d slugged him. He accused me of being drunk even though he knew I hadn’t had a drop. He hustled me back up the steps, keeping me at arm’s length—and Guy has incredibly long arms. He spent the rest of the night glued to his date while watching me like I was a molester of innocents.”