Come Monday (5 page)

“Has anyone ever told you you’re arrogant?” she asked.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful?”

She closed her eyes and marveled at the fact they could still be talking when her body was practically shoving her into his lap.

“My mother used to tell me all the time,” she whispered. “Monday’s child.” Her lips rubbed against his as she spoke, but neither of them moved any closer into the kiss.

He placed his hand on her cheek, leaning back just a bit to gaze into her eyes and she wondered why he’d broken away without kissing her. “Is fair of face?” He finished the first line of the familiar nursery rhyme, a question in his voice.

She nodded. “I was born on a Monday.”

He pressed his forehead against hers.

“If you don’t want this to go any further, Keira, now is the time to say so. I’m interested in pursuing a relationship with you, but I feel I should warn you.”

“Warn me?”

“I’m not an easy man to be with.”

She pushed away and his hand dropped from her face. She looked at him as the images that had taunted her for weeks drifted through her mind. He’d inhabited her fantasies, turning them down paths she’d never dreamed existed. She blushed as she recalled the recurring vision of him bending her over his desk and spanking her into an orgasm. Had he been sending her signals of his true nature all along? Heaven knew he pushed every hot button in her.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

35

Mari Carr

“Are you familiar with the term
Dominant
?”

“You like to be in charge?” she asked.

“Not the adjective. The noun. I am a Dominant.”

“I’m not sure I know exactly what that means,” she admitted.

He sighed heavily and pulled away. “I’ve been battling with my conscience for weeks over approaching you at all, but the fact remains, I’m very attracted to you.

Painfully attracted.”

“I feel the same. I—” she started, but he shook his head, halting anything else she might say.

“Tell you what. Why don’t we just take this a step at a time? I’d love to take you out to dinner tomorrow night. Are you available?”

Actually she wasn’t. She was working the dinner shift, but she was fairly certain she could persuade Ewan to trade with her. He was scheduled to wait tables during the lunch rush. “I’d like to go to dinner with you.” He smiled. “Excellent.” He glanced over his shoulder at the bar before turning back with a wicked grin. “Now maybe we could test your brother’s reaction to this…” He lightly gripped her face, pulling her toward him as his lips descended.

His kiss was exactly what she expected—the perfect illustration of what she’d come to know about him. It was powerful, strong, commanding and she gave herself up to his touch, allowing him to control the moment.

She wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted before a menacing voice sounded from above her. “Want me to freshen up those drinks?” Tristan stood next to the table with his arms crossed against his chest.

Keira and Will broke apart and she giggled at the covert wink he gave her before turning to face her brother. “No thanks, Tristan.”

“Yeah well, I thought you were tired, Kiki. Maybe you should call it a night. Go upstairs to bed.”

36

Come Monday

She narrowed her eyes at her brother, prepared to emasculate him for pulling out her cursed nickname in front of Will.

“Kiki?” Will murmured from beside her.

“Don’t even think of going there, William Wallace,” she threatened.

Will laughed and rose from the table, reaching down to help her up. “Actually, I do need to be going. Why don’t we call it a night? Give us both a chance to rest up before our date tomorrow.”

“Date?” Tristan asked. “I thought you were working the dinner shift.”

“Ewan traded with me,” she replied, hoping she could get to her younger brother to make the swap before Tris did.

“I didn’t think teachers could date their students,” her brother commented, his tone belligerent. He was begging for a fight and Keira couldn’t wait until she had him alone to give it to him.

“I’m not Keira’s teacher anymore. In fact, I’m on a leave of absence from the college, so I’m not anyone’s teacher at the moment.” Will’s reply was smooth as silk and Keira grinned at her brother, daring him to try to find some other reason to convince them to cancel their date.

“Aren’t you a little old to be dating my sister?”

“Tristan Collins!” she said, amazed at her brother’s rudeness, but Will cut off her chastisement.

“I’m only thirty-five,” he said. “Hardly robbing the cradle. As someone once pointed out to me, eight years isn’t so vast a gap.” Now she understood why he’d grinned at her response that first night in his office.

Had he been thinking of asking her out even then?

Tristan fell silent and Keira decided to cut him off at the pass before he embarrassed her any further. “I’ll walk you out, Will.”

37

Mari Carr

He took out a twenty for the beers and started to hand it to Tris, but Keira waved it away.

“The drinks are on me,” she said as they headed for the exit.

Once on the sidewalk, they started laughing at the furious expression on her brother’s face. “I swear to you, I fully intend to kill him when I go back inside,” she assured him.

“Don’t do that. He’s merely looking out for his sister. I respect the hell out of him for it. Besides,” he pushed her back against the wall of the building, caging her in with his arms by her head, “you probably do need protection from me.”

“Ah, the Big Bad Wolf, are you?” she teased.

“Yep, and I’ve come to eat you up.” He leaned down and kissed her again, forcing her lips apart to invade her mouth with his questing tongue. She certainly felt as if he could devour her. He’d been driving her crazy for weeks. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, marveling over the softness. She’d dreamed night after night of touching it and now he was here, kissing her. She felt as if she could ride on this cloud forever.

He pulled away far too soon and sighed. “Damn, you tempt me, Miss Collins.”

“I think I like the sound of that,” she replied.

“There’s nothing I’d like more than to keep you out here all night, kissing those lovely lips of yours.”

“I definitely like the sound of that,” she added, attempting to pull his face down to hers.

He turned at the last minute, giving her only a chaste kiss on the cheek. She frowned, prompting a laugh from him.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven,” he said, pulling away.

She nodded.

“Wear something pretty. I’m going to take you out for a fancy dinner and show you off.”

38

Come Monday

She bristled slightly at his comment before she closed the feeling down.

“Keira, look at me.”

She gazed up at his face and saw him studying her intently. “There are many reasons why I’m attracted to you, but your beauty falls rather low down on that list.

Don’t misunderstand me, I like looking at you, but I
love
talking to you.” Yep, he was definitely a mind reader. “How did you know?” He grinned. “You shared your feelings regarding outer beauty in a poem you wrote. I understand that you’ve spent quite a bit of your life feeling as if you have to prove you’re more than just a pretty face. Besides, everything you think shows in your eyes.”

The damn poem. She really had shared more than she’d realized. Then she considered his last comment and decided in that regard, he was wrong. “No one else seems to have this amazing ESP ability of yours when it comes to reading my mind.”

“Perhaps I’m more alert or simply more in tune with you. I’m fascinated by you and that feeling terrifies me just a bit.”

“Why?”

“The new, the unknown, can always be a bit frightening.” She could understand that. Her feelings toward him scared the hell out of her and yet, she couldn’t resist his pull. He was the force field to her starship and she couldn’t wait to be engulfed in his power. She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge her odd thoughts. She’d be a fool to hand herself over completely to such a formidable man.

His finger touched her cheek gently. “I won’t hurt you.” She was only confused for a moment until he added with a smile, “Your eyes were speaking again.”

“I can see I’m going to have to develop a poker face with you or start wearing sunglasses.”

He shook his head. “No, absolutely not. I need to know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling if we’re ever going to get this relationship off the ground.” 39

Mari Carr

“Relationship,” she repeated, loving the sound, the idea of that single word.

“Good night, Keira.”

“Good night, Will.” He kissed her once more, softly, and then he was gone.

Will let himself into his apartment and dropped down onto his couch. What the hell was he doing?

He’d convinced himself his fixation on Keira had been based on the forbidden fruit theory. He’d been certain he’d only wanted her because—as his student—he couldn’t have her. He’d gone to the pub tonight to prove it to himself so he could move on, move forward, get her out of his head.

One look at the woman had blown that theory out of the water. His attraction tonight—freed from his principles—had elevated to a new high. He’d never felt this way about anyone. He’d never developed an emotional attachment during his affairs, never had a woman call to his heart, his soul. Keira was a sexual innocent and that only made his involvement with her more perilous. She was a vanilla girl and he struggled with the thought of taking her out of her safe, simple world and exposing her to his.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the soft cushion. He was exhausted from weeks of agitated sleep and never-ending hand jobs in his shower, attempting to relieve the tension Miss Keira Collins had wrought in his body. He recalled her kisses outside the pub as his tormented cock hardened again. He lightly rubbed the straining flesh through his pants as he remembered her staring at the desk in his office.

It would feel cold against my cheek.

That single comment had played over and over in his head until he thought he would die from the wanting, the needing.

Right or wrong, he feared there would be no turning back now. He wanted Keira, and God help him if she couldn’t accept him as he was—because he had the feeling she was the one woman with the power to rip his heart out.

40

Come Monday

Chapter Four

“You look great. Stop fidgeting.”

“I look like you,” Keira said, tugging on the collar of the gypsy-style shirt she’d borrowed from Teagan. Her shift had run longer than she’d hoped—damn tourist season—and she hadn’t had time to go shopping for anything new to wear. Her entire wardrobe consisted of practical pants, jeans and basic tops, so she’d been forced to borrow a skirt and blouse from Teagan. Problem was, her taste and her sister’s were as dissimilar as salt and sugar.

“You look great,” Teagan reassured again.

Keira glanced down at the wildly colored broomstick skirt and bright purple blouse and considered calling Will to cancel.

“Come on,” Teagan said, dragging her away from the mirror. “Let’s go wait downstairs in the pub. I can’t wait to meet this guy.”

“You act like no one ever asks me out.”

“Oh, I know guys ask you out, but you never say yes. I’ve gotta see the one who snagged you,” Teagan teased.

She let her younger sister pull her down the stairs and over to the bar. She sighed when she discovered Ewan and Pop helping Tristan mix drinks and Sean bussing the tables at the pub. Teagan was right. She needed to start dating more. Her family was acting like this was frigging prom night.

“I thought you were waiting tables on Sunday’s Side,” she said to her father and Ewan.

“And miss meeting this guy? Not likely. Joyce and Regina have things under control for now,” Ewan replied.

41

Mari Carr

Keira bit back a growl of frustration. “You can’t all be standing here like the Spanish Inquisition when he shows up. Just once, do you think you guys could try
not
to embarrass me?”

Tristan wiped up the counter with an evil grin and she knew he was loving that everyone had gathered round. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your family meeting the guy who’s taking you out. Isn’t that how it was done in the old days, Pop?” Keira narrowed her eyes, furious with Tris for pulling Pop into this humiliating scene as well. Pop loved to harp on the old ways of doing things and Tristan’s pointed question would just get her father fired up.

“It was customary for a man to meet the father. This young man of yours should want to meet me, Keira. It’s only polite, after all. Doesn’t he have any manners?”

“He’s a perfect gentleman, Pop, but I’m twenty-seven. Doesn’t that seem a little old for…” She gestured to all of her siblings gathered around.

“Did I miss him yet?” Riley asked, rushing out of the kitchen. “Freaking tourists and their special orders. Is he here?”

Keira sighed and looked at Tristan. “Couldn’t get Killian home from Iraq?”

“Not on such short notice,” her brother joked, enjoying her discomfiture.

“This is gonna suck,” she murmured. “Maybe I’ll just wait outside for him.”

“We won’t embarrass you, Keira. Promise.” Sean walked over and grabbed her hand. “We just want to get a look at the guy who was smart enough to ask you out.” Keira grinned and pressed a quick kiss on her baby brother’s forehead. “Thanks, squirt.”

“Keira?”

She took a deep breath and turned. Will was standing behind her and she tried to ignore that the room had gone suspiciously quiet. There were a lot of regulars drinking at the bar and no doubt Tris had spread the word about his sister having a date. More than a few interested faces turned in their direction.

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Come Monday

“Hi, Will.”

She saw him glance at her outfit and for a moment, she sensed his surprise. Luckily he recovered quickly. “You look beautiful.”