Slinging his arm around her, he shook his head with theatrical sadness. “I tried to tell you that, but you wouldn’t listen,” he said in a voice meant to be overheard. “Good thing I just happen to have a cabin where we can be alone again.”
“Mmm, I can’t wait.” She really couldn’t, which startled her as much as anything else had tonight. “But you know, I think I’d like to at least get in one dance.”
“Anything you want. Anything.”
She wouldn’t have traded that moment for the world. The moment where her ex-classmates went from crimson-faced with shame to green with jealousy. The moment where Sean looked at her like she was the only woman in the world.
The moment where she realized that while the scars of her past would always be with her, they would never again define her.
The glittering ballroom looked like something straight out of a fairytale. Crystal chandeliers sparkled from the high, open-beamed ceiling, a champagne fountain flowed at the back of the room where tables loaded with food lined the walls. Candlelit tables seated with former classmates and their dates and spouses lined the sidewalls, and in the very center, the dance floor teemed with couples moving to a classic love ballad.
As they stepped onto the dance floor, Robyn was grateful for both the crowd and the slow song, since she’d never been able to dance to anything with a fast beat, and the crowd would keep her from standing out.
Though with a man like Sean at her side, they wouldn’t not stand out for long.
“So,” he said into her ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck and began a slow, languid sway against him, “why the dance? Why not get out of here?”
“Believe me, I’d love to go. But I never attended any of the school dances. Not one. I’ve always felt like I was missing something because of it.” She cast a glance back at the entrance to the ballroom, where Gigi and Janice stood watching. “And this time, no one is chasing me away.”
Moving to the music’s rhythm, she tilted her head back to peer into his handsome face and gorgeous golden eyes, eyes that grew heavy-lidded as she rocked her body into his. “Besides, we’re here, so I might as well show you off.”
At the small of her back, where his fingers had been massaging the skin bared by the low-backed dress’s design, his hands stilled. “Might as well. Wouldn’t want to waste the date, right?”
“Did I say something wrong?”
A smile played on his lips. “No. I just want you to have a good time.”
His arms tightened around her, and she snuggled close, breathing in his clean, male scent as he led her around the floor, his steps fluid and sure. “Just one dance, and then I want to be alone.”
“Like I said, anything you want. This is your night.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to stop it, to quit saying wonderful things like that, but she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to keep being wonderful and to keep telling her what she needed to hear. To keep looking at her in that way he did, like he was doing right now with that gaze that was more of a caress.
“Robyn…what are you thinking right now?”
She looked around the elegant room at the people watching them from their tables and realized she should have been nervous, minding every step, every move. Instead, she was relaxed, enjoying herself, even.
“I’m thinking that these past few days have been amazing. And it’s all been because of you.”
Dipping his head, he slid his cheek against hers. “I was thinking the same thing. I can’t remember ever feeling this way with a woman.”
Pleasure speared her. Panic should have. But tonight was too perfect to worry about why his words should have bothered her, and instead, she just accepted that she was growing more and more comfortable with him.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, babe.”
She drew in a deep breath and looked up at him. “Have you ever been serious with a woman?”
“Never.” He spun her in a circle that took away the breath she’d drawn. “But I need to be honest with you. I’ve dated a lot of women.”
“How many is ‘a lot’?”
“More than I’m proud of.”
Some warped part of her wanted to ask for a number, but the other parts knew she might not like what she heard. “Never even a little serious?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t go into relationships looking for anything permanent.” His hand splayed wide against her back, and he pressed her close, wrapping her in his warmth. “But you aren’t just another name on my list, Robyn. I want you to know that.”
“I do know that,” she said quietly, marveling that despite what she’d said to him at her father’s cabin, she believed him. She didn’t want to, but she did.
The tip of his finger trailed up and down her spine in gentle, soothing strokes. “What about you? Anything serious in your past?”
This was something she never talked about except with Karen, but after sharing her fat and ugly story with Sean, she’d reached a level of ease with him that surprised her and left no hesitation when it came to revealing her past. “The thing with Damon was the most serious relationship I’ve ever been in. Which is pathetic, since it was more off than on in the two years we dated.”
Her entire dating history, in fact, was pathetic. She finally lost her weight—and her virginity—her senior year of college, and she spent a couple of years making up for lost time. It had been fun, at first. She’d traded up men like she traded up radio station jobs.
Then she’d gotten the position of a lifetime at KFAB. Six months later, she and Damon were dating. Six months after that, they broke up for the first time because he “needed space”. It didn’t take long for “space” to dump him and move to Paris, and he’d convinced Robyn he wouldn’t need “space” again. From that point on, their relationship remained steady but casual, until he got the job at the television station. Things fell apart quickly, and just before she could give Damon the boot, he’d done it. On a Post-It note. Stuck to her office chair.
“It’s not pathetic,” Sean said. “At least you tried. I’ve never made it more than three months.”
“Yeah, I tried.” For what reason, she had no idea. She’d allowed Damon to walk all over her, to treat her like nothing more than a prop at parties and an outlet for sex. But she’d also come to realize that she’d encouraged his treatment by keeping her emotions to herself, for giving him absolutely no reason to love her.
She’d learned her lesson. She’d opened up to Sean, and had been rewarded with a deep connection that was both frightening and thrilling. And although she still wasn’t sure how this fling would play out, she was beginning to think that no matter what, the positives would outweigh any negatives.
“Sean?” She pressed fully against him so her belly encountered the hard length of his cock. “Let’s go home.”
“You think we can make it all the way there?” he teased, as he nipped at her earlobe.
She groaned. “I just hope we can make it to the car.”
Chapter Twelve
The shrill clang of the alarm clock woke Sean way too early, especially given that Robyn hadn’t allowed him to get to sleep until well after midnight. The memory of what they’d done into the wee hours of the morning stirred his cock and made him smile. If she wanted to use her fine body to keep him awake for a month straight, that was okay with him.
Smothering a yawn, he rolled out of the spooning position in which they’d slept and hit the snooze button. When he turned over again, he found Robyn on her back, looking at him through heavy-lidded eyes. Norbert, who’d slept in his usual spot curled up behind Sean’s knees, meowed and jumped off the bed, annoyed by the activity.
“Hi,” she said in a raspy morning voice that sent his blood rushing south.
“Hi.”
Sunlight spilled through the slatted wooden blinds on the window, falling across her freckled shoulders in streaks of light, setting fire to her hair that splayed o
ut over the pillow. The dark green flannel sheet covered the gentle swell of her breasts, clinging to her curves. She looked good in his bed, but he’d known she would from the moment he laid eyes on her.
“You have to work today?” She rubbed her eyes.
“Unfortunately.”
She wriggled onto her side and dragged a fingernail inch by slow inch from his wrist to his shoulder. “Unfortunately? I thought you liked your job.”
“I like being with you more.”
A sleepy grin tipped the corners of her mouth. She sat up, pushed him onto his back with palms pressed to his pecs. “You always say the right things.” She nuzzled his neck, nipped lightly at his collarbone as her fingers threaded through his chest hair.
Desire shuddered through him as she threw a leg over his thighs, straddling his waist and cushioning his erection against the soft curls of her sex. He smoothed his fingers along her curved calves and then up her thighs to the firm flesh of her hips. Grasping her waist, he lifted her and settled her back down, sheathing himself inside her warm opening.
“You’re so beautiful.” He reached up with one hand to stroke her cheek.
She closed her eyes and rubbed against his palm like a contented cat, the sheer ecstasy of touching and being touched evident in her expression. He’d never been with a woman who enjoyed him like she did, who seemed to crave his innocent caresses as well as his sexual ones.
And their mutual enjoyment had grown since the reunion thing last night. He’d been shocked by the high school picture he’d seen, but he’d been even more stunned by the behavior of her classmates. No wonder she’d been so supportive about his cancer. He’d suffered the effects of a crushed self-esteem for a short two years; she’d suffered her entire life.
It broke his heart that his outraged reaction, something so minor, had affected Robyn so deeply that she’d transformed before his eyes there in front of her old tormentors. The wall she’d kept carefully between them had crumbled, leaving behind a woman who’d started to open up during the dance, and who’d laid herself bare to him later at his cabin, sharing everything about her childhood, her adult life, her love life.
His hopes for a real relationship with her had soared, and even though they hadn’t talked about it, he felt sure something permanent was now a possibility.
Even the sex between them had changed. He hadn’t believed it could get better, but the spark had intensified, and every time they made love, he left more of himself with her. It was exhilarating.
And daunting.
Never had he invested so much emotion in a relationship outside his family—his father had taught him that love was conditional. But now it was time to gamble.
As if she’d heard his thoughts, she opened her eyes and watched him, her gaze so noticeably free of the glint of misgivings that had always been there that his breath caught. She hadn’t said it, not verbally, but she’d told him with her actions that this wasn’t playtime anymore. She probably hadn’t even admitted it to herself yet, but she would. She had to. He’d never been a good loser.
He thrust his hips up, drove into her with the force of what he felt for her, and her eyes widened in surprise before they went smoky green, like a forest on fire. She nuzzled his palm and captured his index finger between her soft lips. Drawing his finger inside her mouth, she stroked the pad with her tongue. A moan dredged up from somewhere deep in his chest.
Her moist heat circled his finger and his shaft. Though her body remained perfectly still, he nearly lost it right then and there.
“Robyn. Baby, you’re going to get left behind in a second here,” he said raggedly.
She released his finger and angled forward to brace her hands on his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll catch up.”
Biting her lower lip in the way she did when she concentrated, she lifted and lowered her hips in an agonizingly slow rocking motion. He knew she didn’t need help, but in about two seconds he was going to be useless, so he dropped a hand between their bodies, dragged his thumb through her folds to the swollen bundle of nerves in the center.
He stroked her as he thrust upward, and she cried out, shuddered in her release. He went over the edge with her, his spasms intensified by hers. God, he loved how she did that, how she clenched him with her internal muscles and at the same time clenched him with her hands like she didn’t want him to go anywhere. That wasn’t going to happen.
Gathering his arms around her, he pulled her to him for his kiss, holding her close as their bodies came down from the high of sexual release. The alarm sounded again, reminding him that he needed to get up, but it felt too good to be with Robyn. He could spend all day in bed with her.
For the first time ever, he wanted to hang out with a woman instead of carving up the slopes. Before the cancer and accident, sex had been an extravagant way to kill time when he couldn’t be on skis. He’d enjoyed women and the pleasure that came with having one naked, but he’d never chosen sex over skiing.
Now he’d gladly give up his day on the slopes to spend it with Robyn. Todd would think he’d lost his mind, would accuse him of being pussy whipped, and truth be told, Sean would have said the same thing a couple of years ago. But something had changed, and it was a change he liked.
He kissed Robyn’s throat, feeling her pulse pound against his lips. “I have to get up, sweetheart.”
She sighed and rolled off him. “Probably a good thing. You’re going to wear me out.”
“Me? Wear you out?” Snorting, he climbed out of bed and pulled on pair of shorts. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
She propped herself up on an elbow. “Are you implying that I’m a nympho?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He winked, and she laughed. “Help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchen. I gotta clean up.”
He showered quickly, and when he stepped out of the steamy bathroom, it was to the smell of coffee. Not wanting to waste a moment of time with Robyn, he hurriedly dressed and went downstairs, where she sat at the kitchen table wearing a pair of his boxers and a T-shirt.
The intimacy of her body clad in his clothes got his libido charging again. Damn, she’d done a number on him.
When she saw him, she looked up from the old ski magazine she’d been reading. “I hope you don’t mind me digging through your drawers for something to wear.”
He stopped behind her chair and brushed his lips across the back of her neck. “You can dig through my drawers anytime,” he murmured.
She snorted, and he could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “Men.”
Chuckling, he grabbed a travel mug from a cupboard and filled it with coffee, hoping the brew was as strong as it looked.
“Oh, wow.” Robyn’s wonder-filled voice made him grin as he turned.
“Yes, my ass is nice, but I doubt that it’s worthy of such awe,” he quipped.
She gave him a “you’re hopeless” look and pointed to a page in the magazine. “You do have an ass worthy of awe, but in this case, it’s this ass.”
He walked over to the table and peered at the picture, which turned out to be a photo of him on skis in mid-air. “Yep, awe-inspiring.”
When she looked back up, she fairly glowed with joy, which put big blips on his trouble radar. She didn’t like reminders of his past life. She should have been sulking, not smiling.
“This article, it’s about you.”
“Well, it’s about the ski team…”
She flipped the page. “And here you are on the set of Oprah.”
“Okay, that part is about me…”
She pointed to another page, her movements animated and excited. “You’re signing autographs!”
Yeah, something was definitely off about this. He leaned down and looked her in the eye. “Are you okay? Do I need to get my medic kit?”
Laughing, she shut the magazine. “I’m great! Better than great. I just realized that what I’ve been looking for is right under my nose.”
He took a sip of coffee
, wishing it contained a shot of whiskey, because he had a feeling he was going to need it in a second. “I’m not following.”
“Well, you know how you said you wanted to help me with my job? I think I’ve found a way for you to help.”
“Does it involve sex?” he asked hopefully.
Grinning, she stood and padded to the coffeemaker, where she topped off her mug and turned around to prop a hip against the counter. “No, and it’s not my job, exactly, but you can still help.”
Not one shot of whiskey. Two. Or three. “Okay.”
Biting her lip, she looked down at her feet as though trying to get up the guts to speak. “The charity auction is tomorrow, and I still don’t have an emcee.” She peered up at him through thick lashes, a hopeful spark in her eyes. “You’d be perfect. Can you do it? Please?”
Damn and double damn. He’d love to help, and the auction thing even sounded fun. But he couldn’t get out of announcing the ski competition if he wanted to. God, he couldn’t even look her in the face.
“Robyn…I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to work.”
“Oh.” The devastation in her voice nearly killed him. Guilt settled in the pit of his stomach as she moved back to the table and plopped back down in the chair. “I know I shouldn’t ask, but can’t you get out of work? Can someone take your shift?”
What could he say to that? Yes, he could get someone to cover his shift if he were patrolling, but he wasn’t. He could tell her the truth, but now wasn’t the time, not when he needed to get to work and when she was already upset.
A few days ago, the fact that he didn’t tell her about the announcing job seemed like a simple omission—granted, an omission designed to get her into bed, but still, it had been innocent enough. But then he fell for her, and now it felt like a lie. A big lie.
An unforgivable lie that doubled in size every day he kept it secret.