Dangerous Grounds (3 page)

Think about your old gym teacher
, he told himself.
Don’t let this happen.

“Why do you want to sleep with me, Maddie?” he asked, his voice rough, his mind trying to get control of his body. “Why me?”

“You’re hot, Gabe.” She walked over and pushed the table away from his chair, then swung a leg over his lap so that she straddled him. “And this bad boy here that I’m sitting on tells me how much you want me too.”

His vision blurred as she moved herself against his erection. Even as he told himself to push her off him, his hips jerked upwards, grinding against her denim-clad heat.

His hands settled around her waist. “You know I don’t do relationships, Maddie.”

“Yes, I know. That’s why you’re perfect,” she murmured and grabbed his hand, sliding it up her bare stomach to cover the curve of her breast. Her nipple pushed into the palm of his hand. “You’re my rebound.”

“Rebound?” His hand massaged the soft fullness of her breast under the satin. She arched into him, a silent request for more. His hand continued a light squeeze, his fingers sliding with slow deliberation toward her areola, and then out again.

“Bradley broke up with me.” She groaned in frustration. “We’re doing way too much talking here. Please…”

She’d had a boyfriend. And not too long ago. The thought sent some type of unfamiliar emotion through him. It wasn’t exactly a good feeling, though.

She tried to move his hand to cover her nipple, but he wasn’t ready to do it just yet.

If she were still nursing a broken heart, she would probably regret this later. He couldn’t sleep with her. If she had been anybody else…anyone but Madison Phillips.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, his fingers moved to the center of her breast. Surrounding the firm nipple, rolling it and plucking it to further arousal.

“Gabe…” She gasped, grinding herself harder onto him. Her heat had grown more intense now, he could feel it. Smell it. He knew it by the slight glazing of her eyes.

The breath rushed from his lips.
Either stop this or finish it, Gabe.
Or maybe there was a way to do both.

He lifted Maddie off him and turned her around. With her now facing away from him, he pulled her back onto his lap. Her hands clutched his thighs as her head fell back against his chest.

“Gabe…”

“Trust me, Maddie,” he whispered in her ear. Both of his hands came around to stroke her breasts through the bra, back and forth over her nipples until her breathing grew slow and labored.

He kept one hand on her nipple, bringing it to its full length, while his other hand moved down her belly to the button on her jeans. With familiar ease, he slipped the button through the hole and, with slow deliberation, unzipped her pants.

She wore a tiny, silky pink thong. He slipped a hand under the material and groaned. Obviously she liked to shave. Or wax. His cock jerked against her ass as he moved his fingers over her smooth mound. He cupped her for a moment before moving further down to tease the swollen lips of her sex.

She whimpered, her legs falling open and over his knees, as she leaned back against him. Her breast arched further into his hand, and he squeezed her nipple in a light pinch. He busied his other hand, parting her folds, circling the perimeter of her vagina. Then, when she sighed, he pushed a finger into her sheath. He hadn’t found moisture until he’d slipped inside, and damn was she wet. She gave a guttural groan as her body clenched around him.

“Easy,” he whispered, telling himself as much as her. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had gotten him this hot. The smell of her, the feel of her. She intoxicated him like a drug.

He withdrew his finger just a bit, and then plunged it back in. Her body seemed more relaxed this time. His thumb slipped up to stroke her clitoris, and he was again rewarded when she cried out.

“Oh, God, Gabe…don’t stop. Don’t stop doing that.” She gasped as he again flicked his thumb over her.

He had no intention of stopping. He pulled his finger out from her hot channel, and then pushed back inside, this time adding a second finger. He closed his eyes, imagining it wasn’t his fingers, but his cock inside her. He wanted release just as much as she did. But he wouldn’t be having it.

His finger flicked faster over her, and she rotated against his hand. Her breath came quicker.

Her body started to tense, and he plunged his fingers to the hilt, letting his thumb drive her over the edge.

She contracted around him, gasping and shaking…and then collapsing back against him.

“Wow.” Her breathless voice sounded almost too loud in the silence of the room. “Gabe. Wow.”

She pulled away from him, stood, and turned around. “All right, your turn. Why don’t you take off your shirt and I’ll get to work on this guy.”

Her cheeks were flushed from her orgasm, her blue eyes shining as she reached for the zipper on his jeans.

He caught her hand and gave it a gentle push away. “Enough, Maddie.”

“Enough? We haven’t even started.” She laughed and put a hand over her breast, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. “That was amazing. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got going on down there.”

“It’s not going to happen.”

She glanced back at him, seeming to at last hear him. “Excuse me? But you’re still… You don’t want to finish? Then what was all that? What just happened?”

“That was for you, Maddie. It’s pretty damn obvious that I want you—”

“Don’t swear at me,” she interrupted, her eyes gleaming from anger now rather than sexual release. “You did that for me? For me?”

“I told you I wouldn’t sleep with you—”

“I didn’t ask you here to have you get me off, Gabe.” She stepped away from him and zipped up her pants, found her top and then jerked it over her head.

“I have a vibrator. I asked you here to have sex. Full-blown penetration and all. If you couldn’t bring yourself to do it, you should’ve told me to put my shirt back on and walked away.”

He should have, but she’d made it damn difficult. Gabe shook his head. God, this had become a mess. She was right to be pissed.

“Listen, Maddie—”

“Get out of my shop.”

“Maddie—”

“Get. Out.” She wasn’t yelling, but he’d have preferred it if she had been.

When she walked to the door and unlocked it, holding it open for him to leave, he knew this wasn’t the best time to make amends.

“I’m sorry, Maddie.” He walked toward her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and looked away, an obvious dismissal.

“And the name is Madison.”

Gabe sighed and walked out the door.

Madison locked the door behind him and fought the urge to slide to the floor and scream with humiliation.

Of all the unbelievable ways to get rejected. What the hell had just happened? Had Gabe just given her a pity orgasm? No, that couldn’t be it. It had been obvious that Gabe had wanted to finish the deed. But he hadn’t. Why? It couldn’t be because she was Eric’s little sister. That would be ridiculous. Wouldn’t it?

Of course it is, you twit.
It was so stereotypical. So freaking cliché. And, unfortunately…so true. Gabe would not touch her because of who she was.

Her anger diminished somewhat. Maybe he hadn’t handled the situation as well as she’d hoped, but in a way he was trying to be the good guy. He hadn’t even kissed her, she realized and frowned. Was that a bad thing or a good thing? Would she have wanted the kissing?

Madison walked over to the table where Gabe’s half-drunk mocha sat. As she picked it up, she had immediate flashbacks of what had happened ten minutes ago, and even though she’d just had the mother lode of all orgasms, she grew aroused again.

This was just wrong. There had to be a way around this, a way to make him realize how good the sex could be between them. He shouldn’t have left with a hard-on, and she shouldn’t have let him leave without experiencing that hard-on for herself.

She glanced down at the mocha and then took a tentative sip. She winced and swallowed the lukewarm liquid. Gabe was also an extraordinary liar. The mocha tasted like crap. She’d burned the shot again. That still seemed to be the one thing she couldn’t seem to get right.

She dumped the beverage down the sink and then proceeded to wash the mug, thinking about a couple of things. One, she would not be making drinks for customers any time soon. And, two, she had an orgasm to repay.

“It’s a nonfat, tall, and, a, umm, double—wait, decaf latté. To go.” Madison called out to Sarah as she shoved the customer’s payment into the till.

Sarah laughed as she went to work creating the drink. “Just remember the system. Once you learn the system it’ll get easier.”

Madison shook her head, relieved that their morning rush seemed to by dying down. It was Wednesday. They’d had three somewhat successful days. She’d calculated a minimum of three hundred drinks needing to be sold a day to keep the shop up and running. So far they were averaging about two hundred. But the espresso was good—when Sarah made it—and word of mouth seemed to be spreading fast.

She’d also allowed enough money in the bank and on her credit card to ensure that they had some leeway for a year or so.

Sarah handed the customer his drink, and after he left the shop, they were once again alone.

“Are you going to kill me?” Madison asked Sarah with a wince. “I know this has got to be way more chaotic than you expected.”

“This is fine, Madison, don’t worry about it.” Sarah went to the sink to wash her hands. “Trust me, I’ve seen and done much worse.”

“I promise I’ll hire someone else on soon.” Madison knew she would’ve been toast if she didn’t have Sarah. The perky, curly-haired blonde had saved her butt. “Take a break, Sarah. Lord knows you’ve earned it.”

“Thanks.” Sarah tossed the towel she’d dried her hands on back onto the counter. “I’m going to run over to the grocery store deli and grab something to eat.”

“You can help yourself to any of the baked goods we sell, if you want,” Madison offered.

“I would.” Sarah grinned. “But if it’s not deep-fried, I’m not craving it. And now that you know my vice, I’ll be back in a few.”

Madison laughed and watched her leave the shop. How did the girl keep in such good shape and eat such crap? She had to be one of those women who ran three miles every morning.

She helped herself to a bagel and pulled out one of the packets of cream cheese. She’d just finished slicing the bagel when the door chimed.

A thought hit her. She would have to make the drinks. Damn, what a way to lose a new customer.

“Hello,” she called out and then glanced up. “What can I—oh. It’s just you.” Her tone lost all trace of friendliness as the chaotic emotions from Sunday resurfaced.

Obviously Gabe was working, because he was dressed in his police uniform. Gun, badge, tight pants and all. And, Lord, if he didn’t look good in it.

“Don’t you have some bad guys to chase or something?” she queried with false innocence. “Or if this is your break, shouldn’t you be at the local donut shop?”

“Out to draw blood this morning, aren’t we, Maddie?”

And he still insisted on calling her Maddie. She forced a smile. She might be trying to get him into bed, but that didn’t mean she had to forgive him for Sunday night.

“Can I get you anything, Gabe?”

His eyes darkened, and she realized she’d said the same thing to him on Sunday. And then look what it had led to.

“I want to apologize,” he admitted after a moment. “Again.”

“All right.” She gave a slight nod and then her smile widened. “Let me make you a mocha.”

She saw the flicker of panic in his eyes and reveled in it as she started to prepare the shot for his drink.

“I thought you had some other girl working with you,” he asked, an obvious attempt to sound casual. “Someone else who was making the drinks?”

“Oh, yeah.” She gestured out the door. “She’s on her lunch and just ran to get food. But you seemed to like mine on Sunday, should there be a problem with today?”

She’d meant her statement to have a double meaning, and he must have noticed it because he didn’t answer. Instead his eyes dropped to her breasts, which were covered by a white shirt and black apron.

“Well, I sure as hell liked your outfit better on Sunday.” His voice had dropped an octave as he took a step closer to the counter.

She raised an eyebrow as she added chocolate syrup and then the grated chocolate to the drink. “I’m impressed. I thought I might have scared you off after what happened.”

“You kicked me out.”

“You deserved it.” She handed him the mocha. “I made it to go. I’m sure you have a route to be patrolling or something.”

He took the mocha, glancing at it with a tight smile, and then reached for his wallet. “How much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house.”

“Maddie—Madison,” he corrected himself. “I just wanted to make sure there weren’t any bad feelings about Sunday. I mean, I don’t want this to affect my relationship with you and your family.”

“Oh, it won’t.” She put on her most saccharine smile. “I have no problem with having you—my brother’s best friend—give me an orgasm. Even if you seem to. And I have no plans to tell my family about it either. So, look at that, we’re fine.”

He seemed skeptical by her response. “So all is forgiven and forgotten?”

“Yes and no. Yes, you’re forgiven.” Madison stepped out from behind the counter and took the few remaining steps that separated them. She whispered against his ear, “And, no, nothing’s forgotten.”

Her hand crept down his body and squeezed with just enough pressure between his legs.

“Maddie.” He groaned.

“I see, or feel, that I missed out on quite a bit Sunday.” She stepped back and smiled. “You are nowhere near being forgotten. We have a lot to do before I file you away as a memory.”

“You have got to be the most forward woman I’ve ever met.” He laughed, this time with real amusement. “And I’ve met some. How late are you open?”

Madison walked back behind the counter, making sure her hips swayed in a provocative manner. “Six. You’d better head out now, Officer Martinez.”