Maid to Crave (Man Maid #2) (13 page)

She watched a play of emotions run across his handsome face. If not for what he’d just said, she would have kissed him. He had finally accepted his status as just her friend so to kiss him, no matter how much she wanted him at the moment, would mess up what they were doing…
being friends.
Right now that meant more to her than the shivers racing across her skin.

“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll forgive you if you can find a way to chase Kara back to her palace in California.” She finally giggled and rolled onto her side facing him.

“Well, it won’t involve any bump and grind, that I can promise. She’s a man-eater and she scares me a little bit.” He laughed. Then he leaned up, slid his arm under the pillow she was laying on and pulled her over so her head was laying on his chest. Wow. He smelled fantastic
.

It felt so good to lie against him. He was warm and big enough that she tucked into his side just perfectly. As they lay there enjoying the silence, she felt his whole body relax. Looking up, she noticed he slept. As if he wasn’t sexy enough awake, watching him sleep actually fully aroused her. She drank in the sight of him as he lay there handsome as sin with one arm above his head and the other one wrapped around her shoulders. She gently reached across him and turned off the light. He’d come over in the middle of the night…just to make sure she didn’t hate him.

Now that he’d made up with her, he slept like a baby. She smiled and snuggled back down into his arms. She was enjoying having a male friend, especially since it was Seth.

* * *

“Mommy, me and Seth are going to the gym and then to the store. Love ya, bye,” Zach yelled. The slamming of her bedroom door had her sitting upright and then clutching the blanket to her as she looked at where Seth had been sleeping. His side was empty. She got out of the bed and headed into her bathroom just as she heard Seth’s car start. She walked back over to her window, moved the blinds around that Seth had hung up and watched as he backed out of the driveway and headed down the street with Zach in the backseat.

She made her way back to the bathroom, still wrapped in the sheet, and was just about to close the door when Kara came barging into her room without knocking.

“Is he living here, Tori?” she asked indignantly. Then after realizing what she had just said, she took a deep breath. “You know I would never judge you, but if Daddy finds out you are living with a man, he’ll cut you off completely.”

As much as she wanted to tell Kara that she couldn’t care less if
Daddy
stopped funneling money into her trust fund, since she had never touched it, she remained silent. For once, the man who had treated her like a second-class citizen her whole life, when he’d been the one responsible for her creation in the first place, would actually do something to
help
someone. He just didn’t know it and he didn’t need to know it…
yet
. And neither did Kara.

At Tori’s continued silence, Kara straightened. “As much as I was looking forward to a nice visit, something has come up at home and I have to get back. I don’t suppose you could book me a flight? You know I’m technologically challenged.” Right
.
Kara needed to get back to tell on Tori to their father as if they were both still children.

“Let me grab a shower and I’ll come down and help you book a flight and then we’ll spend time together right up until you have to leave.” Tori smiled.

Kara pasted on a smile in return, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Tori prayed that fate would ensure one available seat on at least one flight out of Dayton. By the time Seth and Zach made it back, Tori had seen Kara safely encased in a taxicab heading toward the airport. If Tori had known all it took to ensure Kara’s visits lasted less than a weekend was to sleep with a stripper, she would have done it years ago. Apparently sex with the stripper was optional, but not a requirement for offending Kara.

Seth and Zach spent the afternoon cleaning the pool outside while she set to work on her plans for spending her daddy’s money
.
She started with contacting her old boss and felt like a teenager sneaking around to call a boyfriend as she watched Zach and Seth through the window to ensure neither came inside and overheard her conversation. After that, she moved on to calling in a favor to the CFO for the health network who owed her for coming to his home to retrieve vacation pictures he thought he’d lost off his wife’s computer.

By the time Seth had to leave for work, which she tried in vain not to think about, she had successfully set the ball rolling. She hoped that within a week she could eliminate some of the worry for the beautiful man standing in front of her, who had become one of her best friends in less than a month.

Her good deed would also get rid of the ball and chain around her own neck that came in the form of a balance statement once a month. As many times as she’d tried to tell her father she didn’t want his money—didn’t need his money—this might very well make her point and help Seth all at the same time. Her father couldn’t buy her silence or forgiveness, but he could pay for Caleb’s medical bills.

“Remember,
three
books tonight, boy,” Seth yelled at Zach who was heading up the stairs to his room. Then turning back to face her, he said, “I realize you managed to get rid of Kara on your own so you may not have forgiven me yet, but I have a favor anyway. Can you take Zach over to play some video games with Caleb for a while tonight? Ronnie’s out of town at another competition with Addie’s cheer squad, Ian has a fight and Rusty is doing something on the base. I’ll be at a club in Richmond tonight so I shouldn’t be too late.”

“What do I get out of this deal? Zach gets to hang out with Caleb playing games while I sit around being bored. Hardly seems fair.” She laughed.

Stepping up to stand so close to her that she could feel the entire length of him against her, he said, “You may not want to have sex with me, but maybe I could interest you in a different kind of pleasure. I’ve been told I give a mean foot rub. It’s a talent I learned from Ian of all people. Interested?”

He thought she didn’t want him. What gave him that idea? Was that why he had finally backed off with the flirting and the sexual advances?

“No, Seth. Not like this… I don’t want this.”

Her words…had he taken her to mean that she didn’t want to have sex with him…ever?

A small part of her was disappointed that any chance she had of experiencing what would probably be the most amazing sex of her life—
with Seth
—was gone. She reminded herself that she was dating Tim, and she stood the best chance of having a lasting relationship with
Tim
. At least Seth hadn’t been mad about being turned down. In fact, he almost seemed relieved. Maybe he wasn’t really attracted to her after all. Maybe in all reality she
was
too flat chested for him.

“Okay, how about a back rub instead?” he offered when she didn’t respond.

“We’ll play it by ear. How about that?” she nearly whispered.

“Okay.” He smiled and then leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth.

Chapter Eight

Tori finding out about his second job had been the best thing that could have happened between them. It somehow drew them closer, got rid of unnecessary stress and awkwardness. Aside from hating the fact that he now had to hide his attraction to her, their friendship was fantastic. Who knew chicks could be so much fun? He just needed to be a little more careful about touching her.

Spending the night with her last weekend had been a big mistake. Not because they had sex, but because they didn’t. Now the memory of waking up with her draped across his body was burnt into his brain. The image woke him in the middle of the night with an erection.

If the image of her naked back and tight little ass wasn’t bad enough, the next day, for good measure, he had given her what was supposed to have been an innocent kiss—a kiss of friendship and a way to say goodbye to what would never be between them. Instead, the feel of her soft lips against his had only kicked his libido into overdrive so that all he could think about was kissing her again…amongst other things. He had never wanted a woman with this intensity in his whole life and it was getting harder and harder to ignore his body’s reaction to her.

Pulling into the driveway of Ronnie and Kayla’s house, he crossed his fingers that Sergeant Buck would be the extra bit of help Zach needed to pass his reading test this morning. Addie met him at the door and held it open for him.

“Would you like some coffee?” Kayla asked with a smile when Seth stepped inside. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for getting Kara out of Tori’s hair so quickly. Well done, well done!”

“Sure, if you have enough,” he replied with a grin.

He followed Kayla into the kitchen to find Ronnie holding out a steaming cup of coffee. Marriage was doing the man good. He looked happy…
content
. Taking the cup from Ronnie and sitting down at the table, Seth looked toward Kayla. “So Tori told you what happened last weekend?”

“Yes, we’ve talked a little about it. I could have told you that your
job
wouldn’t have made a difference with her. She normally isn’t very judgmental, but the fact that it scared off her sister is just great. I love it. The way that woman speaks to Tori…” Kayla shook her head in disgust. “Well, I’ve got to get going. I have a meeting this morning. It was good to see you, Seth.”

After Kayla and Addie left for work and school, Seth finished his coffee and was about to head out early for Zach’s school when Ronnie stopped him by saying, “You really like her…Tori, I mean.”

“Yeah, she’s turning out to be a really good friend,” Seth replied.

“That’s good to hear, but good friends don’t cause celibacy…or do they?” Ronnie asked with a smug smile.

“I’m not sleeping with her if that’s what you’re asking. She has placed me in the ‘just friends’ category,” Seth replied with a frown.

Ronnie laughed a little and then laughed some more. All of Rusty’s warnings about some woman giving Seth a taste of his own medicine had come true. As much as his friends were enjoying it, he hated it. If it were any other woman than Tori Stewart, it probably
would
be funny.

Ronnie laughed a little more and then a serious expression replaced the humor. “You’ve got it bad. No action in more than a month for you is like a record. Did she really say she only wanted to be friends?”

“Not exactly but…I tried to, uh…and she…” He remembered that night at the club when he’d figured out that Tori was not only short, she was also lightweight, which had filled his head with images of the different things he could do with and
to
her.…

“She turned you down for sex? Did she say why?” Ronnie asked, obviously trying to contain his laughter.

“It wasn’t like that. At the club I…I danced for her and she wanted no part of it, or me,” he managed to admit.

“Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps the issue is with her, not you?” Ronnie asked. “I know when I first tried to hook up with Kayla, she didn’t think I was serious because she has this idea that she’s too heavy. I was blown away by it, but I figured out that women are
hard
on themselves so sometimes the hang ups are more about them than us.”

“I’m sure my stupid comments at your wedding didn’t help whatever issues she does have.” He sighed.

“Well, you may have lost the first half, but the game isn’t over yet. Put your game face on, man. I mean, hell, aren’t you supposed to be a professional seducer of women?” Ronnie laughed.

Was Ronnie right? Did Tori think he wasn’t serious about how much he wanted to get with her because of his stupid comments or the dancing? She was nerdy, mostly quiet, and a whole lot introverted. Thinking back over the past week since he had kissed her, she had seemed more relaxed around him, which he really liked. Most of the women he went after were much more aggressive than Tori. It was all an act with them. They were never just themselves. They were bubbly and giggly, or forceful and seductive, but not real.

As much as he wanted Tori’s body sprawled beneath his, begging for his touch, he kind of liked the way things were between them now. He was afraid to mess up that part. On Tuesday night, she had joined him and Zach for a sock war. Her laughter over throwing rolled up socks had left him feeling light-hearted, something he hadn’t experienced since before Caleb’s accident.

Wednesday night they went to the apartment and hung out with Caleb. Seth had finally been able to give her the foot rub he’d promised her while Caleb and Zach played the racing game they both liked so much. Her foot was smaller than his hand and only five minutes into it, he was glad for the carefully positioned pillow on his lap. She had let out a few sounds that his brain had connected with sexual satisfaction
.

Maybe she wasn’t completely immune to him. Maybe what worked with most women just didn’t work on her. When he tried to come on all hot and heavy like at the club, she backed off, but when they were just having fun together and she was relaxed, sometimes she even touched him. Last night had been proof of that.

Zach had begged Tori to order a movie off cable that Cody Manson had talked about and she agreed. By the end of the movie, her head had been in Seth’s lap, her arms hugging his legs while he played with her curls. It relaxed him as much as it relaxed her because he had slept better last night than he had since spending the night with her.

Ronnie was a genius. Seth
would
step up his game and maybe she would actually make a play for him instead. If she gave him any indication that she wanted to be more than friends, then he would make the sex so good for her that she would come back for more…again and again.

He and Buck made it to the school just as Tori and Zach were pulling in. Sitting in a crappy car with a big, slobbery German Shepherd should have been the last place to conjure up sexually explicit thoughts of Tori, but he craved her like no other. She was like an obsession. He had tried to convince himself it would ease up once he got between her thighs, but his gut told him this time was different.
She
was different. Caleb was right. She was girlfriend material, and she had become his friend. Instead of that making the idea of sleeping with her less attractive, it only increased his desire.