Friends and Lovers Trilogy 03 - Seduced (25 page)

He rubbed the back of his neck, narrowed his eyes. “You’re starting to piss me off.”

“Good. No reason why I should be the only miserable one in this room.” Desperate for breathing space, she shooed him aside and slid out of bed in one graceful move. Grace proved a true feat this morning. Ignoring stiff muscles, various aches, and the fact that she was naked, she brushed past Joe and into the bathroom.

She sensed his gaze sliding over her body, felt a delicious tug in her stomach, and a shameless tingling between her legs. She wondered if he suffered similar symptoms. Of course, instead of thinking about sex he could be exercising his psychology chops.
Textbook exhibitionist. Someone desperate for attention
.

She belatedly considered her robe. Although her robe was in the other room … with Dr. Bogart. Screw it. She’d never been overly modest. Viv said she took after her mother, a native born Brazilian. Gabriela had always been comfortable with her body, and sexuality in general. Sofia had inherited her liberal views, whereas Lulu wouldn’t even wear a bikini. The difference in the two girls had always been a mixed source of amusement and frustration to Viv.

Sofia imagined her grandmother’s twinkling eyes and Lulu’s infectious smile and experienced a pang of loneliness. Damn. Now, on top of everything else, she was homesick! She blew out a disgusted breath while snagging her toothpaste and brush. “This day sucks.”

“It’s only going to get worse,” Joe said as she started scrubbing her teeth. “As of today, I’m taking off the gloves.”

She didn’t know what that meant. Just now she didn’t care. She was two seconds from crying and she didn’t want him witnessing the breakdown. She rinsed and spit. “Will you please go away?”

“You’re scared.”

“Of course, I’m scared!” She clanged her toothbrush into an empty glass and splashed water on her face. “I was involved in some sort of heinous crime and now I’m being hunted by a couple of lunatics! Any sane person would be rattled.”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about you and me. What’s happening between us.”

She angled her head and found him leaning against the door jamb with his arms folded over his chest. Handsome, confident, and caring. She’d give anything to wake up with this man every morning until she was six feet under. Talk about a pipe dream.
Fight the tears. Fight the heartache.
“Nothing’s happening.” She swiped the bottle of antacid off the counter and poured four tablets into her hand.

“Those won’t help,” Joe said with a sympathetic nod. “Trust me.”

Those two words snapped what was left of her control. She looked away and tossed the pills in the waste can. “We had sex. Great sex, but that’s all it was. It didn’t mean anything.” She opened the glass door of the shower stall, stepped in. Heart pounding, she shut the door and shut out the world—specifically, Joe Bogart.
This isn’t real. This isn’t happening.
She turned on the faucet. The spray of water hit her face just as the first tear fell.

The door wrenched open. “Bullshit.” The look on his face had her backing flush against the wall. “I warned you last night, Sofia. It’s too late to back out now.”

As much as she tried to feign conviction, her voice trembled. “Last night was a mistake.”

“No, it was inevitable.”

She shook her head, choked out another lie. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you.”

“Wrong again.” He stepped into the shower fully clothed. The moment he laid hands on her she was lost. He pulled her into his arms and ravaged her mouth with a punishing kiss. Brutally possessive. Terrifying in its intensity. Hot water pummeled their bodies, yet it was Joe’s stormy kiss that washed away one failed affair after another, leaving her as untainted and vulnerable as a newborn.

His strong hands framed her face as he eased back and issued a throaty challenge. “Look me in the eyes, Sofia, and tell me you don’t want me.”

She gripped his shoulders to keep from sliding down the wall. Her bones had dissolved with most of her brain cells. They were crammed into an acrylic shower module, water blasting from the super pressure showerhead. He was soaked, his shirt and jeans plastered to his skin, his testosterone level fierce enough to warp the frosted pane of the door. Hands down, this was the sexiest moment of her life. The need to join with this man, here, now, was excruciating. “What I want,” she managed past the lump in her throat, “is a normal relationship.”

His gaze slipped to her tingling mouth. “Describe normal.”

“A relationship based on mutual respect and adoration. A relationship based on love. Not lust,” she clarified as every nerve ending pulsed with maddening desire, “
love
. But what I want, and what I seem destined to have are two different things.”

Joe stared down at her with a mixture of anger and pity. “Who the hell brainwashed you into thinking you don’t deserve to be loved?”

Her body trembled with the God-awful truth. “Every man I ever cared about, and who claimed to care about me.”

He dropped his forehead to hers, cursed under his breath. She felt the tension in his shoulders, in the air. “I’ve got news for you, babe. Sometimes lust and love come in one package.”

Apprehension stiffened her spine even as hope blossomed in her chest. “I’m not ready to risk it.”

“I am.”

No mercy. The man showed no mercy whatsoever, blindsiding her with another torrid kiss. She tried to fight the sensations, the primal calling. Damn him, she thought hazily as he plundered her mouth, his lips and tongue pirating the last of her clear thoughts.

One hand molded to the back of her neck, while the other roamed her wet, naked curves. His fingers trailed up her thighs, caressed her slick heat. She clung while he stroked her to climax, groaned when he kissed a hot trail to her breast and suckled.

Breathless and desperate with raw need, she shoved him back and ripped open his shirt. Buttons flew. She nipped and kissed his shoulders, his chest, while deftly working his fly. In a heated blur, she shoved the sodden jeans down his lean hips to his ankles, wrapped her hand around his delicious cock and sighed with the anticipation of making this man plead for mercy. She wanted to pleasure him, to torture him as he’d tortured her, and her mouth was the ultimate weapon.

Her mind glitched when he grasped her forearms and pulled her to her feet. “Not now,” he rasped, while spinning her around to face the wall. He grasped both of her wrists with one hand, anchored them high above her head. Her body quaked with anticipation as he smoothed his free palm down her back and paid lingering homage to her ass, before nudging her legs wide.

Sweat beaded on her forehead as the hot water pulsed and steam swirled. Her stomach knotted and her thighs quivered as his skilled fingers worked erotic magic. “Joe, please … I …” She gasped when the tip of his shaft grazed her pulsing folds, cried out when he slid home. Her heart raced as he drove into her hard and fast, again and again. He pressed his upper body flush against her back, and she trembled beneath his solid strength. Her breath stalled when he kissed the back of her neck, bit her shoulder, and whispered graphic instructions close to her ear.

This was nothing like last night.
This
was hot and dirty. He pounded her mercilessly until she screamed his name and her body quaked with an earth-rocking orgasm.

Sweet Jesus. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. Her eyes glazed over when Joe turned off the faucet and swept her up in his arms. Her pulse thrummed when he carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.

“That was lust,” he said, reclaiming her body in a position as old as time. “This is love.” He smoothed her wet hair from her cheeks and gazed deeply into her eyes as he entered her once more. Only this time he made love—slow, deep, and with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes.

She’d never felt anything like it. This crazy mix of sensual and sweet. Maybe he’s right, she thought as she pulled his head down for a soulful kiss. Maybe this was love.

He knew the moment she gave in, the moment she relinquished her heart. He saw it in her eyes, felt it in her touch. She wrapped her long legs around him, matched his languid rhythm. Her hands floated up and over his shoulders to cup the back of his head, and then she kissed him, a leisurely, impassioned kiss that pushed him over the edge. He’d never felt anything like it. This yearning, this bone-deep affection. She peaked and he followed. One last thrust and he was spent. Sweet Christ. Euphoria followed by contentment. So, this was what had his cynical brother spouting sappy drivel.

His joy was short lived.

A tear slipped through Sofia’s lowered lashes and his heart slowed to a grinding halt. Had he been too rough in the shower? The way she’d responded, he’d assumed she was turned on. But, Christ, what if he’d been wrong? What if he’d let passion cloud his judgment.

“Oh, God, Joe. What have we done?”

In an instant, he realized he had indeed allowed his heart to rule his head. He’d forgotten a condom. Well, damn. He thumbed away her tears. “Sofia, I …”

“I know. I didn’t think about it either. It happened so fast. I should get up and … ” She bit her lower lip, glanced away. “I should clean up.”

He stroked a thumb over her cheek, strived for calm in the face of a potential crisis. “Does this mean you’re not on the pill?”

She shook her head. “After Chaz, I vowed off sex for a year. I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t addicted to sex. I wanted to prove that I didn’t need to be in a relationship to be happy.”

Stunned, he absorbed and examined the news. How had he ever thought this complicated woman shallow? He couldn’t help asking, “How long has it been?”

“Eight months.”

“Were you happy?”

At last she met his gaze. “Most of the time.”

Knowing that she hadn’t been with anyone in months selfishly rocked his world. “I’m trying to feel guilty about making you break your vow, but it’s not working.”

Her full lips curled into a sad smile. “I really need to get up.”

Cursing himself as an insensitive jerk, he rolled off of her and watched as she snatched up her robe and escaped into the bathroom. She closed the door and he swung up into a sitting position. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d screwed up royally, yet he was having a hard time feeling bad. It had been a very long time since he’d felt this
good
. It wasn’t just the sex, although, damn, it had been nothing short of amazing. It was the emotional aspect, the connection he felt with Sofia that pegged this as a life-altering moment.

It wasn’t the first time he’d told a woman he loved her. He, like Sofia, had been in more than a few relationships, one of them serious. But, he’d never been so obsessed. So consumed. He’d never lost himself so completely in the moment as to forget protection. What if he’d gotten her pregnant? Again, he was having a hard time feeling bad.

Well, hell.

The door opened. Sofia stepped out looking particularly young and vulnerable. The pale blue robe complimented her dark skin. Her purple hair, though not as vivid as yesterday, proved an interesting contrast. Still damp, she’d combed the thick, shoulder-length mass back and behind her ears, exposing that gorgeous face. The face that would haunt his dreams for eternity. His heart slammed against his ribs when she regarded him with a shy smile. “Bathroom’s all yours. Can I pour you a cup of coffee?”

He blinked at her calm demeanor. So different from the angry, fiery woman he’d mauled in the shower. He dragged his hand over his wet hair, collected his thoughts, and stood. “We need to talk, hon.”

“I know … I just … could we talk over breakfast? I’m starving.”

Hallelujah. Getting food into this perpetually dieting woman took priority. Their discussion could wait. “Dig in.” He squeezed her hand as he walked past. “I’ll be right out.” He paused before shutting the bathroom door. “And coffee would be great. Thanks. I take it …”

“Black. I noticed yesterday.”

He was still smiling when he moved to the sink to wash up. The fact that she wasn’t cursing him or sobbing uncontrollably was a promising sign. He turned on the faucet and grabbed a washcloth and soap.

So, where did they go from here? He wasn’t about to ask her to give up her career, even though he wished she would. He couldn’t help feeling the entertainment industry was a destructive environment for someone as sensitive as Sofia. She cared and felt deeply. In turn, her outbursts were melodramatic by most people’s standards.

Joe found those flashes of sarcasm and temper challenging. He realized now that simple and peaceful had never been his ideal. Murphy was right. He’d spent the last several months avoiding rather than handling life. He’d been wallowing in self-pity while Sofia had made a self-improving vow and attacked a dream with conviction. It was a sobering realization.

Contemplating the future, he returned to the bedroom and tugged on shorts and dry trousers.

“It’s good,” Sofia said, around a mouthful of food. “Cold, but good.”

“Hard to go wrong with an omelet.” He tugged a T-shirt over his head and moved to sit across from her. “Sorry about the toast. I ordered it dry, but …”