A Hero for Tonight (10 page)

Her hands crept up and around his neck.
This is madness!
Kissing Shane felt so incredibly right and so good, but there were so many reasons why it was wrong.

Still, her knees trembled when his hand slid the bulky sweatshirt aside to mold to her hip. When he explored further, slipping up toward her bare breast, she kissed him back with a hungry need.

Shane’s hand settled over the injured breast. His touch gentle on her skin, he cupped her flesh and weighed it in his hand. Krista’s mind spun. When his thumb grazed her hardened nipple, she whimpered and slid her fingers into his hair, holding on tight.

He lifted his head, and she slowly opened her eyes to find him staring at her, but if she thought he was going to stop, one look at the heat in his gaze told her otherwise.

“I won’t be convinced it’s okay if I don’t look.” His voice was soft and laced with the tiniest bit of humor.

Krista wet her lips and nodded. “I understand.”

She followed his gaze as he lifted the hem of his old sweatshirt to reveal her naked breast. His hand still held the flesh in his palm, and she watched as he rolled his thumb across her nipple once more. Lightning lit up the sky outside the window, but the electric shock coursing through her had nothing to do with the storm. Her nerve endings were on full alert and responding to his fingers as he fondled her nipple again.

She heard her sharp intake of breath in the quietness of the room. Before she could find the strength to push his hand away, Shane bent and pressed his mouth to the swell of her breast. Krista slammed her hand on the edge of the counter to hold herself upright as her knees threatened to give out. Aching to feel his lips on her straining nipple, she bit her lip to stop from pleading as he slowly kissed her skin once more, slowly moving toward what she wanted.

“It does look just fine, but I really should kiss it better, don’t you think?” he whispered.

Krista couldn’t answer for his mouth had closed over her throbbing peak. All she could do was close her eyes and let the powerful sensations wash over her. The pull of his lips on the nub spoke to the center of her as she felt an answering heat pool between her thighs. Her body shuddered before she knew it, two strong hands spanned her waist and lifted her to the countertop.

Shane shifted to stand between her thighs, one side of the sweatshirt still hiked up, revealing a naked breast to his touch. Her hands clung to his shoulders as he lifted the gray material higher as a cool rush of wind washed over her other breast. As his mouth explored the uncharted territory of her aching flesh, the rain pounded against the kitchen window and thunder rolled through the sky. Lightning lit up the room even more, but Krista’s focus was on Shane as he suckled one breast while tenderly teasing the other nipple with his fingers.

She flung her head back and stared at a spot on the ceiling, fighting against the drowning sensations of wanting to throw caution to the wind and just spend the night in Shane’s bed.

His bed? What the hell am I thinking?
This had to stop.

Reality nudged her conscience, but then Shane’s lips rose to suddenly capture hers once more, and all reason fled when her tongue met his. One large hand settled on her bare thigh and his fingers inched closer to the moist heat between her thighs.

When Shane shifted his lips and kissed her neck, she struggled to breathe.

This is ludicrous!
What the hell was happening to them?

Using all the strength she had left, she pushed gently at his shoulders. “Shane,” she squeaked. “
Shane,
” she repeated in a firmer voice.

His head lifted. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? You don’t know?” She scanned his eyes. “It’s me, Krista. You’re kissing Krista Saunders in your kitchen.”

“I know who I’m kissing.” He smirked. “Hell, I don’t know what’s going on either, but it sure feels good. Doesn’t it?”

His hand gently squeezed her breast, and she yanked at the hem of her shirt to pull it down. Shane stepped back, and she hopped off the counter on incredibly unsteady legs.

She crossed the room and raked her hands through her hair, brushing it off her face. “We can’t do this.” He didn’t follow her, and she was grateful, or at least she told herself she was.

“Hell, I don’t know what’s happening any more than you do,” he offered. “But it’s better than fighting all the time. Isn’t it?”

Krista couldn’t argue with that. No wonder women fell into bed with him all the time. When Shane kissed you, all you wanted to do was drop your panties and say, “Climb on.”

Still, this wasn’t going to end well, and she had to be smart enough to stop. Her entire future dreams and goals depended on the relationship she had with his mother. Shane could easily sleep with her, walk away, and come out unscathed, but she knew herself better than that. No matter how much fun it might be in the moment, there was no way this could end any way but bad. Her breasts, however, tingled and the moistness between her thighs was hard to argue against.

The dryer buzzed, ending the silence between them. She raced toward the cellar stairs. “There’s my clothes.”

Happy for the escape, she flew down the stairs and glanced around, not sure where the washer and dryer were located. She recognized a Ping-Pong table from his parents’ house and what looked like a homemade bar complete with mismatched bar stools. One corner of the room was set up as a sitting area with more of his parents’ cast-off furniture. She headed for what she hoped was the laundry area when she heard him coming downstairs.

Not wanting to bend over to open the dryer, she squatted down to pull out her jeans and sweatshirt. Still-warm clothes in her arms, she stood as he reached her side.

“Sorry about that. I honestly did want to make sure I hadn’t, um, bruised you or something. You took a pretty hard hit.”

Krista couldn’t meet his eyes. “It’s not like when you guys get hit in certain places. I mean, it stings for a second, but it’s not debilitating. Thanks for the concern though.”

He didn’t say anything. When she finally slid a glance at him, his gaze was riveted on her half-naked body, setting her on fire once more.

“Shane…” she whispered.

Although her mind was sharp and clear, her body definitely sent out an entirely different message as she held his stare. The intimacy of their aloneness, even more so now in the basement of his house with the storm raging around outside, created an atmosphere of seclusion from the real world.

Shane reached for the clothes in her arms, but she clung to them, almost desperately.

“I don’t know what this heat between us is about, or why it’s never happened before, but I kind of like it.”

One sexy eyebrow lifted in invitation, and she tore her gaze from his to force the lie from her throat. “I don’t, so you need to back off.”

Shane wrenched back as if she’d slapped him. She glanced back as he raised both hands in surrender.

His face took on a hard, unreadable expression. “No problem. Sorry I misunderstood the signals a minute ago, but I would have sworn you were into me.”

Krista shifted in her sock-clad feet. She hated how Shane was looking at her as if she was a tease. But to continue what he’d started upstairs would be a disaster. The only way to ensure he kept his distance was to hit his ego.

“You’re not my type. I like bad boys, remember?”

His mouth quirked. “I can be as bad as you need me to be. I mean, if you’re really into that. You know I have the handcuffs and...”

That comment certainly didn’t help quell her arousal. Handcuffed to Shane’s bed while he did what he wanted with her body?

She shivered as a wave of desire raced through her and fought to reason with him…and herself. “You’re the good guy, Shane. The guy who fixes everything, saves everyone. You’re a hero, but I don’t need saving. Sorry, I’m definitely
not
looking for a hero.”

He stepped closer, and she realized that what she was saying was coming out as a challenge rather than pushing him away.

His hand reached out and stroked down her cheek, cupping her chin. “Not even for tonight?”

A shiver coursed through her that she couldn’t hide. He wasn’t getting the message to back off; of course, she wasn’t really being very clear about it since her body wanted nothing more than to slide down next to him in front of a warm fire and let him be her hero for tonight. She had to keep reminding herself that this was
Shane
, the one who couldn’t stand her most times. No matter how good it might feel tonight, tomorrow would be a whole different story. No, she had to put a stop to it.

Krista twisted her chin from his grasp. She scooted past him to the braided area rug in front of his mother’s old couch, turning to face him from across the basement. “It’s stupid to do something you know you’ll regret.”

“So, you’re saying it’s not that you
aren’t
into me, but rather you know you’ll regret it tomorrow?”

“Yes…I mean…no.” She dropped the pile of clothes onto the couch and scrubbed her hands down her face. He was making her crazy and making her mind mush.

Thunder cracked and a flash of lightning lit up the basement window. Droplets of rain melted down the glass.

Shane walked over and stepped behind the bar. He settled his hands on the top of the surface and smiled. “What do you think of my rec room?”

“I, uh, can see you and Dave hanging out down here.”

He grinned. “It’s great in the winter.” He reached up and took down two wine glasses from the hanging rack. “How about a drink before you leave?”

Krista pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. A drink was dangerous. Not only would it prolong her visit, but it would weaken her defenses. No, she definitely shouldn’t have any.

He pulled a bottle of wine toward him and worked the cork. “Come on, one drink. When was the last time we were in the same room without squabbling?”

“It’s not my problem you’re always finding fault with me or complaining about something I did, or—”

“Shhh, shhh, don’t go there.” Shane walked across the room with the two glasses of red wine. “Let’s just enjoy the moment.”

She accepted one of the glasses, unable to help feeling a bit like Eve taking the apple from the snake.

He lifted his glass. “To no arguing.”

She touched her glass to his. “To a peace treaty.”

As Shane lifted the wine to his lips; his gaze bore into hers. “At least for tonight.”

Krista narrowed her eyes as she took her own sip. Then sipped again. “It’s good. Is this from that new winery on the Finger Lakes?”

“Yep.”

He moved to the couch and sat down, pushing her pile of clothes aside. “Sit down and have your wine, then we’ll call for a cab.” His smile was warm and friendly as if they did this type of thing all the time.

Hesitating, with another look to the window as the rain cascaded on the glass, Krista sank to the far side of the sofa, keeping her pile of laundry between them. Folding her legs under her, she pulled the sweatshirt down over her knees and took another long drink of the wine, loving how it was already warming her insides. As the silence lengthened, though, she grasped for a safe topic of conversation. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

Shane set his wine down. “Yeah, but I’m doing nights this week. I can sleep in.” His voice grew husky.

Her hand shook, sloshing the wine, and it drew her gaze off his face. Heart pounding, she lifted her drink and finished it off as her imagination raced with images of spending a long rainy morning in bed with Shane.

Before she could set the empty glass down, Shane reached for it. “I’ll bring the bottle over.”

“I’m not going to have any more. Really, I have to...”

But he was already across the room and on his way back with the wine. “Have to what? The farm market doesn’t open until noon. Relax. Seriously, neither of us has anywhere we have to be.”

He refilled her glass and handed it back to her, but when she took it from his hands he didn’t let go.

“Actually, why don’t you just stay here tonight? The rain should be over by then, and we can worry about the truck and getting you home in the morning.”

She tugged at the wine glass until he released it. “I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”

“Why not? You don’t trust me?” Shane topped off his own glass and set the bottle on the floor. “I think we already established that I’m not your type. And if I really am the guy in the white hat like you say, I certainly wouldn’t take advantage of a guest in my home, especially if that guest wanted to drink a few glasses of wine.”

He settled back against the couch and seemed for all the world to have backed off. Krista took another sip and rested her head against the sofa back.

This
was
really nice. The wine made her a bit mellow, and her resolve to get home faded further away the more she sipped. She could just close her eyes and sleep down here, and then walk home when the rain stopped in the morning.

“How come you don’t have a TV down here? I would have thought you’d have a big screen, massive wall mount.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think I ever got around to it. I have one upstairs, of course, in the living room, but this is more of a hang-out room, not a TV-watching room.”