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“How stupid was that?”
Very.
He tried lying down but that just kept him thinking about the colossal mistakes he’d made in his life. Being so rigid with Caroline about what he wanted to do once they got married. Letting his anger with her push him into a risky situation with another girl…who’d been after him for months. No, nothing hadhappenedin that situation, but Caroline hadn’t believed that. Hadn’t trusted him. Had accused him, found him guilty and dumped his ass, all in a five-minute time span.
All because she’d wanted to live, and he’d wanted to prove something.
Finally, sick of calling himself a bunch of names in his head, he got up and pulled his jeans back on over his naked body. Though the evening was slightly chilly, he didn’t bother with a shirt. It had been a while since he’d heard any noises coming from Caroline’s room, which was separated from his by only one thin wall.Perfect. Just perfect.
Going downstairs in the darkness, he made his way to the media room, still cluttered with overflowing ashtrays and half-filled glasses, and plopped down on the leather recliner. He dug around, came up with the universal remote he’d lied to Caroline about not having, and flipped on his TV.
He’d done about three minutes of serious channel surfing when the air suddenly changed. His body reacted to Caroline’s scent before his mind even registered that she was there. He grew tense, aware. He sat up straighter in his chair, not turning around, not needing to see her to know she stood there.
Caroline had always worn sweet, flowery perfumes when they’d dated. The college girl had been stuck in her Southern roots, with a tiny bit of a twang in her accent and a bit of steel in her spine. But since going west, she’d lost not only the accent, but also the light fragrance. Now her skin was perfumed with something headier. Warmer. A fragrance that had driven him crazy that day a few weeks back when they’d been sequestered in his car, looking for a place for her to live.
It wasn’t just her scent. He could swear he heard her breathing, felt her warm breaths touching the bare skin on his shoulders as she stood behind him.
He knew why she’d come downstairs. Knew it without a doubt. He’d seen the look on her face the day she’d come to Derryville and he’d shown her this place for the first time. She’d been waiting for her chance, forthismoment.
Caroline had deep urges and there were a few things that would always arouse her deepest desires. One of them was right here in this room.
Finally, unable to take the silent, heady tension anymore, he murmured, “I knew you couldn’t resist.”
She didn’t deny it. “No, I couldn’t.”
“I saw the lust in your eyes that first day.”
She edged closer. “You know me too well.”
“You want it bad,” he murmured.
“I do,” she admitted with a deep sigh. “Sobad.”
He nodded, still not turning around. He just stared at the giant TV screen and fingered the buttons of the remote, taunting her, building her tension.
“I believe you rented one room of my house. You think that entitles you to roam around late at night, dressed…” He cast one quick look over his shoulder, seeing her dressed in a pair of silky short pajamas that hugged those fine hips, emphasized her small waist, and revealed almost every inch of those sweet legs of hers. He gulped. “Dressed, like that?”
“Your flyer said house privileges.”
Run of the house. Yeah, that’s what it had said. “You’ve been lying up there waiting for your chance, right? Waiting until I got tired and relaxed so you could make your move.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
She stepped closer, until her hip was about even with the back of his reclining chair. He looked up and saw her staring, not at him, but at the irresistible force that had drawn her from her room. “It’s a high-definition plasma, right?”
He nodded. “With Pure Cinema II 3:2 film correction.”
She moaned softly. “Like being in a theater. You were lying about the remote, of course.”
“Of course.”
Both of them continued to stare at the TV, the one thing in his house he knew damn well she’d be unable to resist.
Caroline was a TV junkie. And his was top of the line.
“Sound?”
