SEVEN
THE CAKE WAS THREE TIERED, AND CRAIG WAS RIGHT, IT had been filled with candles—definitely more than thirty. It took him three tries to blow them all out. After everyone ate, they were led out a side door where a band had set up on the deck. People took seats around the deck and pool area where the band had started to play.
Gray led Evelyn to a cushioned love seat near the pool. They still had a great view of the band and the dance floor that had been created in front of the deck.
“In college, Craig always aspired to be a deejay,” Gray said. “And a singer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got up and sang with the band tonight.”
One of the singers got up to jam a seriously cool hip-hop tune, one of her favorites.
She half turned to face him. “I can’t quite picture him belting out a song like that.”
“Oh, you might be surprised. He’s the Vanilla Ice of our generation.”
“Not Eminem?”
“Not even close.”
She laughed.
A slow R&B song came up, sung by a female member of the band with a voice as smooth as melted butter.
Gray stood and held out his hand. “Dance?”
She shouldn’t, but she loved the song and couldn’t resist. “I’d love to.”
He led her down the path from the pool toward the dance floor. When he pulled her against him, she couldn’t resist the thrill as her body met his.
It was innocent, just a dance and nothing more, and the only reason he was holding her in his arms. The patio was crowded with people and they weren’t alone. Other couples merged in very close to them, trying to find their own spots to dance. There was nothing intimate about this, and yet as Gray looked down at her, his fingers grazed up and down the bare skin of her back. Electricity sizzled between them, and as she met his gaze, and it suddenly occurred to her that it didn’t matter how many people surrounded them—the chemistry between them was as intimate as it could get.
There could be a thousand people dancing nearby and it would seem as if it were only the two of them. The music was slow and sinful, her pulse had kicked up, and Gray only looked at her.
She was grateful for the public venue, because the intent in his eyes was clear. And if he leaned in for a kiss, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to say no.
Fortunately, she was fairly certain he wouldn’t do that in this crowd of people. But suddenly he moved them through the crowd, maneuvering her away from the others to a side patio shielded from everyone else. It was a walkway leading from the backyard to the front, only no one was here.
No one but Gray and her.
He took a step forward, pressing her against the side of the house, the brick still retaining the day’s heat. Not that she needed it. Her body was already in flames, and as he bent and put his mouth on hers, she couldn’t muster up a single thing to say or do in resistance, because kissing Gray seemed as natural to her as breathing.
He brushed his lips across hers—a tease, maybe, or a test to see if she’d push him away. She had no intention of doing that. Her br**sts swelled and her ni**les tightened, and with his body flush against hers, the only thing she wanted to do now was deepen the kiss and explore. So when he did, pressing his mouth more firmly against hers, she sighed in contentment.
Evelyn lost herself in the sensations bombarding her. Gray’s mouth was pure heaven, his slow, drugging kisses slowing down time. She felt dizzy, swamped with a heavy fog of desire that enveloped her in a hazy cloud. Gray swept an arm around her back to tug her against him, his fingers dipping toward her butt. They were just resting there—he was being such a gentleman, when all she wanted was for him to grab her ass and draw her closer.
And what kind of sex-starved woman did that make her? Granted, it had been a long dry spell, but she worked for his father, and now they were making out in the dark at his friend’s house and she was mentally complaining that it wasn’t going fast enough?
If this kiss had been happening in her hotel room—or in his trailer—right now she’d be figuring out a way to get him out of his clothes. With her hands on his arms, she felt the flexing of his biceps. She knew he had a body and she longed to see it, to feel it, on top of her, inside her.
She shuddered and his fingers dipped lower, his tongue delving into her mouth at the same time he grabbed a handful of her ass and drew her against his erection.
Oh, yes.
He slid his lips from hers and pressed a kiss to the column of her throat, using his teeth to nip at her flesh. Goose bumps pricked her skin and she could imagine his mouth—his teeth—on other parts of her.
Oh, most definitely yes. She would have to get him naked, and her, too. She wondered if Craig and Miranda had an extra bedroom they wouldn’t mind them using.
“I don’t know, but I sure as hell could ask them.”
She pulled back to look at him. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes. Hell yes. Let’s go.”
She grabbed his arms as the cold slap of reality hit her. They were an hour away from her hotel. At his friends’ home. And she wasn’t behaving at all like the woman who worked for his father. What must he think of her?
“Yes. Let’s go. Back to my hotel.”
His lips curved. “You sure you want to wait that long?”
His bottom lip was full. Sexy. She wanted to lift up and take a bite out of it.
Good lord, what was wrong with her?
The need for him warred with that damn logic and common sense that told her this was the wrong thing to do.
“No. I mean. No. We’re not doing this.”
Now he frowned. “This being sex.”
“Yes. I mean no. Definitely not having sex.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. She expected him to lead her out of the walkway. Instead, he leaned his hand against the wall and stared down at the ground.
Concerned, she asked, “Gray. Are you all right?”
“I’m going to need a minute here, Evelyn.”
She rubbed up and down his arm. “Is something wrong?”
He lifted his gaze to hers and gave her a wry smile. “It would help if you didn’t touch me like that.”
It took her a few seconds, then her gaze drifted to his very obvious erection. She took a quick step back. “I’m sorry.”
He laughed. “Don’t be sorry about that. I’m sure as hell not. Though I’m sorry we’re not seeing things through, but that’s your call to make.”