Collide (18 page)

It was in the way he knew she needed to be
held and cuddled after sex, with his body still inside her, his
arms wrapped around her, his heart beating in tandem with hers.

“Give me five minutes.”

She whirled around and ran upstairs, pushing
the voice of reason out of her head as she tumbled into her bedroom
and ripped off her sweats. She caught sight of herself in the
mirror over her dresser and paused.

Holy hell. Was that really her?

Bobbi crossed the room and bent over for a
closer look, her gaze running over the flushed cheeks, excited eyes
and messy hair. Her stomach rolled with nervous tension and every
cell in her body felt as if it was on fire.

She touched her mouth and for one brief
moment, such sadness washed over her that tears pricked the edges
of her eyes. It had been so long since she’d felt this way. This
alive.

This out of control.

At twenty-five, there was something
bittersweet about that.

“Oh Bobbi, don’t be so dramatic,” she
murmured and then set about freshening up.

It was closer to ten minutes later that she
made her way back down the stairs. Shane was where she’d left him,
leaning against the door, his dark eyes settled on her. There was
no light grin on his face—there was nothing light or easy about
him. There was only an intensity that she felt like a physical
touch.

“Ready?” His voice was low, hitting that
timbre that always screwed with her body. It rolled over her skin,
hot and teasing, and she knew as she gazed up at him, that their
‘deal’ was in full effect. There was no way she was not getting
some of what he had tonight.

For a moment her fingers halted as she laced
up her boots. She just had to be a grownup about it and not let the
white noise get in the way. The noise that begged for more. The
noise that had never seemed to go away. She would take what Shane
offered and nothing more.

A slight smile touched her lips as she
finished tying up her snow boots.

“I am,” she said airily. “Are you?”

She pushed past Shane, yelled goodbye to her
father and Gramps and prayed that the cool air would do something
to ease the heat inside of her.

Because if not…if she didn’t find a way to
control the need she felt for Shane—if she didn’t abide by the sex
with no strings idea—this night just might prove to be the
beginning of her fall. And considering how fast and hard she’d
fallen years ago, Bobbi Jo knew it was a long, long way down.

The moon hung low in the sky and its soft
glow on the surrounding snow made it look like a bed of twinkling
diamonds. The temperature hovered near the freezing mark, and with
the wind long dead and the smell of hickory wood burning, it was a
gorgeous night to sit around a blazing bon fire.

Shane and Bobbi had joined the others a few
hours earlier, hitting the trails that they’d all traversed many
times in the past—Michigan boys and snow went hand in hand. And
while he hadn’t been on his Ski-doo in years he had been pleasantly
surprised to find it in mint condition out at White Hall. But then,
his Grandfather had been the kind of man to make sure these kinds
of things were looked after.

Shane pushed aside thoughts of his
complicated past and a relationship that hadn’t been finished. He
thought of the unread letter from Niall and as much as he wanted to
read his grandfather’s last words to him, he couldn’t bear to
actually go through with it.

Not yet.

So he’d whisked Bobbi back to the carriage
house where he’d brought his sled and the two of them had headed
out into the woods surrounding New Waterford. There in the shadow
of the Porcupine Mountains, they’d cut through the late winter
snow. It had been exhilarating and with Bobbi pressed tight to his
back, Logan, Pete, and Rick along for the ride, it felt like he’d
stepped back in time.

Something he needed to be wary of. Visiting
White Hall had ripped open a lot of pain and Shane knew the ghosts
of his past weren’t always kind, and most of the time they loved
nothing more than to kick him in the ass.

His eyes lingered on Logan and Billie as they
melted into each other across the way. Near the edge of the circle,
the two of them were deep in conversation as if they were the only
two people there and when Logan cupped Billie’s face and pulled her
in close for a kiss, something twisted inside Shane. Something
dark, and hard, and bittersweet.

He’d been that much of a fool in love before
and it had hurt like hell when he’d crashed and burned. He thought
about the hurt and anger and the stupid things he and Bobbi had
done to each other. It was a testament to the breadth and depth of
their feelings that they’d fucked up so royally and though he knew
he wanted that second chance with her, he had to ask the
question…

Were they strong enough to survive another go
at it? Did she even want it? They’d danced around each other for
months after he’d come back to New Waterford. Not always polite or
nice or civil. But he’d known there was something there, some loose
thread from their past that dangled free, looking for an
anchor.

He just wasn’t sure she wanted to be tied
down again. At least not to him.

The woman beside him shifted and he glanced
at Bobbi. She’d long tossed her fluffy white hat and her hair
haloed her head in a mess of dark silk that fell against her white
jacket like shiny ink. She was chatting with Pete Tortolini’s new
girlfriend, Brenda, a redhead with a gigantic laugh and a beautiful
smile. New to town, Brenda had an easy way about her and Pete was a
lucky guy.

“So, Shane,” Brenda grinned up at him, “I
hear you paint.”

He stretched out his long legs and shook his
head. “Not as much as I’d like to, but yeah I mess around when I
have the time.”

Bobbi frowned. “You more than mess around.”
She turned back to Brenda. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s really
good. He was supposed to go to the New York Academy of Art but,”
she stumbled over her words.

Shane realized that most everyone around the
fire was listening as Bobbi glanced up at him. “Um, well—”

“Spit it out Barker,” Shane said lightly.
When she remained silent, kicking her booted foot into the snow he
turned to Brenda. “Aside from the fact that my father absolutely
hated the idea and refused to pay for my tuition, which considering
I’d just flunked out of Michigan State I guess I don’t blame him, I
compounded matters by ending up in jail and blowing my chance.”

“Oh,” Brenda said, not skipping a beat. “Well
at least you had a lot of time to perfect your technique.” She
smiled and settled into Pete’s arms. “Though I suppose the scenery
wasn’t all that inspiring.”

“Nope.”

“A lot of black and white stripes,” she
replied.

“Actually, plain, dull blue if you want to
get specific.”

“Zebra stripes would have been more
interesting.”

“Yep.”

The next few moments were filled with
silence, broken only by the crackle of the fire and Bobbi’s steady
foot in the snow. But then Rick Lainey jumped to his feet and
started the worst rendition of Jailhouse Rock anyone had ever
heard, accompanied by a pathetic Elvis impersonation. No surprise
really, the guy had no rhythm, and by the time he was done everyone
joined in and the heaviness had vanished.

By the time the party moved indoors it was
approaching midnight. The air was still chilled, the stars still
shone and the buzzing sexual tension between him and Bobbi had
reached fever pitch.

Shane glanced up at the sky and breathed in a
shot of cold air as he walked across the back deck and eyed the hot
tub. His body thrummed with energy and he thought that it was
probably a bad idea to be thinking the thoughts that he was
thinking.

He and Bobbi had got busy in this particular
hot tub on more than one occasion and he wasn’t real sure he’d be
able to keep his hands to himself. Sure, the other couples were
there, though Logan and Billie had left more than an hour
earlier—one guess as to why—but still, the thought of Bobbi in the
skimpy black bikini he’d spied in her bag, strutting around the
place, had his gut tightened into knots.

Lord knows the woman wasn’t into hiding her
body and why should she? It was hot. Hell, back in the day she’d
been known to doff her top on occasion and then there was that one
time they’d had sex in park, in broad daylight just as church was
letting out…

But, she was different now and he wasn’t so
sure he wanted anyone to see any part of her that was meant for
him.

“Shit,” he murmured as he yanked on his black
swim trunks and eased the material away from his already straining
erection. He really needed to stop thinking of Bobbi Jo as his.

He glanced at the patio doors—Rick should
have been out by now—and briefly wondered where everyone was, but,
with a shrug took a step toward the bubbling hot tub. Brenda was a
good sport and he had a feeling she would have no problem pointing
out the fact that Shane was sporting one hell of a hard on.

He sank into the hot water, hissing at the
sensation as the liquid slid across every inch below his waist.
With a groan, Shane settled back, grabbed his beer from the edge of
the tub and took a good long drink. He heard the door open behind
him.

“About time, Lainey. I was wondering where
you all got to.”

“It’s me,” Bobbi said softly.

He cocked his head to the side, his heart
thudding at the sound of her voice. “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re gone.”

“Gone,” he said softly. Shit.

“Yes.”

As soon as the word left her lips, Shane
heard the distinct sound of the snowmobiles out front. Seconds
later the noise had diminished and he knew the sleds had been
swallowed by the surrounding forest.

“It’s just you and me,” she said.

“Why are they gone?”

“I asked them to leave.”

“You asked or told?”

A pause.

“What do you think?”

Right.

Shane closed his eyes and prayed for
strength. He knew that tone. That underlying huskiness in her
voice. It meant she wanted something, and even though his dick was
doing the fucking mating dance in his shorts, he wasn’t so sure
this was a good idea.

He didn’t want this to be just about sex. Not
anymore.

Slowly, he turned around and swallowed
hard.

She was a few feet from him, standing in a
pool of moonlight, as naked as the day she was born.

Holy hell, but she was the most breathtaking
thing he had ever laid eyes on. Hands down. No one came close to
Bobbi Jo Barker. Not in his books. Not in this lifetime. Not in any
lifetime past or in the future. It just wasn’t possible.

She advanced on him, her long legs closing
the distance between them like a dancer crossing the stage, full of
grace and catlike sensuality. Her breasts bounced as she walked,
the nipples erect from the cold and his gaze moved hotly over both
of them.

When she stopped, just beyond the edge of the
hot tub, he croaked. It was a juvenile, angst-ridden teenage sort
of sound, but what the fuck? He could barely speak.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Her eyes were shadowed, their blue depths
dark and huge in her face. That hair that drove him crazy with its
texture and smell was all over the place. It looked like she’d just
tumbled out of his bed, and her mouth, Christ that damn,
intoxicating mouth, was open enough for him to glimpse her even
white teeth.

And that tongue.

The one that had starred in so many of his
porn star fantasies.

Bobbi ran her tongue, along her bottom lip
and took one more step toward him, hands loose at her side as a
smile tugged the corners of her mouth.

Shane’s heart thudded—hard—and he exhaled.
She was trying to kill him, because dammit if his eyes weren’t on
level with the sweet, enticing V between her legs.

Don’t look, man. Be strong
.

His eyes remained fixed to hers, though sweat
now beaded along his forehead and his top lip. It could have been
because he was sitting in water that was 102 degrees but he highly
doubted it.

He was on fire for one reason only and it was
standing inches from him.

She took two more steps up until she towered
over him, forcing his neck back, and then placed one foot onto the
edge of the tub. With a wicked grin that would tempt a goddamn monk
to distraction, she looked down and whispered.

“Don’t you know?”

She angled her foot, moving her knee
slightly, opening up her hips and the crevice there at her
junction. He couldn’t help himself. Slowly his gaze lowered from
her face, down past her breasts and the soft dip of her stomach.
Lower still he went, until he stopped. Until his eyes feasted on
her pink, shiny folds and her swollen clitoris that peeked
through.

Shane clenched his jaw together so tightly it
was painful and he stifled the groan at the back of his throat. She
was wet. So goddamn wet.

So wet for him.

He could smell her, and that male part of
him, that caveman fucking Tarzan part of him erupted, and it took
everything he had not to grab her hips and pull her down. He wanted
to lick her into a frenzy. Watch her come. Watch her writhe beneath
him and take him deep. He wanted all of that.

And yet, he wanted more.

“I thought,” he began hoarsely but then her
fingers were on his mouth and he was silenced.

I thought we weren’t gonna do
this
.

“Don’t think, Shane.” Bobbi slid into the tub
beside him. She grabbed the beer out of his hand and took a long,
slow, drink.

He watched her throat move—slowly,
seductively—as she drank. And of course his thoughts went south.
They went way south and it sure as hell wasn’t a bottle he
envisioned those luscious lips wrapped around.