AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He did, lifting his palms away from her in a show of surrender. His heart plummeted as she crawled off him and gathered her clothes from the floor in one swoop. "I must've lost my mind," she muttered more to herself than to him. Hurrying to her feet, she stared down at him and shook her head sadly. "I cannot believe I almost did that with you of all people. I just... I can't believe it."
Turning swiftly, she hurried from the room. Raith didn't bother to move. He could only stare in defeat as he watched her perfect, bare butt race away. Then he fell back, thumping the back on his head on the floor and whispering a curse.
His shirt lay halfway across the floor, his pants remained wadded around his ankles, and his erection throbbed out a silent scream of denial. But he wilted there, immobile, and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. He'd been so close. Willow DeVane had been on top of him, actually frantic for it, and he'd gone and messed it up.
He had to be the dumbest man alive.
~ * ~
Wha
t a total jackass!
Willow's hands shook as she tugged on her clothes in the hallway, barely out of sight of Malloy. Horrified, embarrassed, completely aghast, yet still too horny to function properly, she couldn't believe she'd just about had sex with him, couldn't believe the way her body still blushed and tingled from his touch.
She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her prickling arms, trying to forget the feel of him stroking her. Closing her eyes, she swallowed a little moan of distress. But ohmigod. She'd almost had sex with Malloy. Not only did she not like him, but she barely knew him. Hell, she hadn't even learned his first name until tonight.
Willow had rules about this stuff. She loved to date men. She loved to kiss men. She loved to flirt with and totally entice men. But she typically didn't go too far with a guy. They had to meet certain criteria first, take her on a specified number of dates. And only a select few had progressed that far. Never did she have spontaneous sex... except for that first awful time when she was sixteen. But since then, she knew days beforehand whether she was going to let a man get into her panties.
Not so with Deputy Raith Malloy. He merely strolled into her life and broke all her rules, rules she had in place for a very specific reason. Why, if she just let any guy screw her, then it could be a Garrett Evans all over again. She already felt like the dumb sixteen-year-old idiot she'd been in high school, walking down the school hall the next day to overhear Garrett bragging about how he'd deflowered Willow DeVane.
Oh, yeah, she could already picture Malloy gossiping to his cop buddies. He had the lawyer lady naked and begging for it. The image made her skin chill. Oh God, how he was going to humiliate her. At least, this time, she didn't think herself in love with him as she had foolishly believed of Garrett, though a part of her had strangely respected him, until now.
Damn it. How dare he? How dare he break her rules? She had worked hard to remain cool and removed. She didn't deserve to have him tear her down. Fists clenching, she bunched her jaw and decided enough was enough. Malloy wasn't going to get away with this. He'd somehow tricked her into wanting him, into actually acting on it. But she wasn't going to let him think he was the victor by any means.
Ready to rip him a new one, she marched back into her living room only to jerk to a startled stop when she found him still lying on the floor where she'd left him. He'd had the presence of mind to lift his hips and yank his pants back up, but he hadn't zipped yet. Nor had he put his shirt on. He looked yummy, spread out on her carpet like some kind of sacrifice to the sex gods.
The look on his face caught her off guard, however. With his eyes closed and his teeth clenched in agony, he bumped his fists against his forehead, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid," to himself.
And just like that, she melted. Sucking in a silent breath, she wondered what this must've been like for him. Maybe he wasn't quite like she suspected. Maybe his whole plan hadn't been about conquering and then bragging about his victory. Maybe he'd merely been as swept away as she'd been, swirled into some kind of physical whirlwind that killed all reasoning and left him emotionally confused and stripped bare.
"You are so stupid, Malloy," he berated himself. "You had the most amazing woman in your arms…"
"Well, I'll agree with that," Willow murmured, her chest tightening with pleasure. Did he really think her amazing?
Leaning against the doorway, she gazed at the sexy man with whom she felt a sudden rare connection. He jerked at the sound of her voice and opened his eyes, immediately sitting up. His mouth opened as if to deny his own words.
She spoke over him before he could say something to tick her off, which he most likely would. "Tell me something, Deputy." Taking a leap unlike any she'd ever jumped before, she flashed him a soft, amused smile. "If I give you another chance, are you just going to screw that up too?"
"What?" Expression filling with alarm, hope, and wary doubt, he started to push off the floor to scramble to his feet, his eyes searching hers frantically for some inkling whether she was lying or not.
But Willow set her bare foot on his denim-clad leg to keep him from standing. "No. Stay down and answer the question. Do I bother to give you a second chance or not? Yes or no?"
He plopped back onto his butt and gulped as he swallowed. "Are you serious?"
The hoarse, uncertain tenor in his voice was all she needed to hear. "As a heart attack," she murmured, kneeling in front of him and smiling in amusement when his eyes went wide.
"Jesus," he rasped as she grabbed his jeans at his feet and tugged them down his legs.
"You better have that condom on by the time I get these all the way off," she warned in a silken voice. "Or else."
Quickly, he searched the floor around him and snatched up the condom so quick, she had to swallow back a laugh. She slowed her progress of slipping off his jeans to give him time. But he paused after grasping the package in both hands. Glancing her way, his blue eyes bored into hers.
Surprising the heck out of her, he lifted the tiny item and quietly said, "You put it on."
The pleasure that spiked through her was most gratifying. Raith Malloy obviously had some serious trust issues with women and protected sex. The fact he was going to allow her to touch his condom was humbling. But even more so was the fact he'd lowered his pride for her. The man was such a smug, arrogant guy, she never would've dreamed he would let her have her way.
"Malloy—" she started, not reaching for the package.
