Pretend It's Love (9 page)

For a moment she let herself believe that she belonged in Paul’s world…no matter how dangerous she knew it to be.

W
hen the drinking game had devolved into dirty questions that made the girls giggle, they all agreed to call it a night. Libby hugged Gracie, and they made plans to catch up and discuss the cocktails for the wedding.

“They’re two peas in a pod, aren’t they?” Des said, folding his arms across his chest. “She’s good for you.”

They stood at the front door, the summer breeze rolling in and carrying the scent of eucalyptus from the yard.

Paul raised a brow. “How so?”

“She’s smart, fun. You’re not chasing random tail at the bar anymore, you seem…focused. Happy.”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

Happiness wasn’t something he’d ever worried much about before. He was an easygoing guy. Something that came from having low expectations. But he’d realized that there was a big difference between avoiding disappointment and being happy. Watching Libby kick goals tonight made his chest expand with pride. He was rooting for her, they were a team.

And that made him happy. The
real
kind of happy.

He said good-bye to Des and Gracie, his arm around Libby’s waist. Her head rested against his chest, hair falling loose of its pins. As the door shut, she stepped out of his grip.

“I have to call a cab,” she said, pressing her fingers to her temple. “There’s no way I can drive like this.”

“You’re not catching a cab on your own.” He shook his head. “Stay here.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Nice try.”

“I have a spare room, the bed’s got fresh sheets and everything. You’ll be comfortable.” He gave her a pointed look. “And safe.”

“I catch cabs by myself all the time.” She collected the empty shot glasses and tumblers from the table and carried them to the kitchen.

“Don’t tell me that.” He followed with the remainder of the bowls and glasses.

“And I don’t want you getting any ideas.” Her words were punctuated by the clatter of the plates being lowered into the sink.

He laughed. “Too late.”

“You’re terrible.” She shook her head, but a smile twitched at the corner of her lips.

“I’m a guy, and you’re the hottest woman to ever set foot in my house.” He reached around her to place the glasses in the sink, his arms brushing her waist. “Plus, I don’t like unfinished business.”

“Unfinished business?” She blinked, her eyes wide as saucers.

He trapped her against the sink, and the memory of kissing her at his parents’ house flooded him, chased by the vision of her beneath him. He was hard as a rock just thinking about it. Restless energy filled him with the need to touch, taste. Consume.

“You, me, your couch.” His hands skimmed over her waist. “An untimely visitor.”

She dropped her gaze, her hands coming up to his chest. God, he wanted those hands on him. He wanted that luscious, perfect mouth of hers on him. He wanted it all.

“So you got publicly dumped, too?” she asked, her cheek coming to rest on his chest.

If there was a quicker way for his libido to nosedive he couldn’t think of it. “Why do you want to talk about that?”

“I want to know you, Paul. I get the feeling it’s something that made an impact on you.” The heat from her breath came in slow puffs through his shirt, tickling his skin.

He shielded himself against the memory. “I came home and found her packing her things; she thought I was going to be out the whole day. Turns out she’d been cheating on me.”

“And she admitted to it?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed against the bitter taste in his mouth. “It was a bit hard for her to deny it when he was standing right there.”

Her mouth dropped, and she looked at him with exactly the kind of pity he’d wanted to avoid. “Did you know the guy?”

I more than knew him; I’d spent every Christmas, birthday, and family event with him. He was my blood, my family.

“Yeah, I knew him.” His muscles twitched.

Though he’d long stopped grieving the loss of both Sadie and his cousin, the hurt still kicked up from the bottom of his soul every so often like dirt at the bottom of a lake. He hadn’t spoken to his cousin since that day, hadn’t even uttered his name once.

“Do you want to hear my story?” She tilted her head.

Did he? Knowing her pain wouldn’t make him feel any better, knowing that she understood didn’t make a difference…did it? But chances were she hadn’t asked to benefit him.

“Sure.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear, toying with her dangling earring for a moment. “Spill.”

“I was sleeping with my TA at university.” She let out a laugh, though her hazel eyes didn’t crinkle as they normally did. “Not quite as cliché as sleeping with the professor, but close enough. I though he was the smartest, most brilliant man on the face of the earth.”

“He couldn’t have been that smart if he dumped you.”

“He was smart when it came to manipulating people to get what he wanted. But then he was done with me, and I didn’t take the hint. I tried calling him, texting him. When I approached him about why he was ignoring me, he told the coordinator that
I
came on to him and asked that I be removed from the class.” She shook her head. “I had to explain my side of the story to the professor
and
the faculty coordinator. It was utterly humiliating, and in the end I gave up trying to get people to believe me. I was wrong about us getting serious, but I at least thought he respected me intellectually. Turns out he had female students lining up, and he’d chew them up and spit them out on a regular basis.”

“So we’re in agreement that relationships suck.” He smoothed his hands over her shoulders and down the lengths of her arms. “What I don’t understand is why you’re punishing sex.”

She laughed. “You’re doggedly persistent, you know that, right?”

“It’s not the worst thing I’ve been called by a long shot.” He slipped his hands around her waist and dropped them down to her lower back, drawing her closer.

“I don’t want anything to mess this up; we’ve got a good thing going here.” She shrugged. “I’m making headway with Des and, if I can get my products into First, I’ll have the proof of success all these other restaurants want. We’ll get your mixology idea off the ground, and I’ll do my bit by playing happy girlfriend at the wedding. We both walk away friends. No pain, no mess.”

“Sex doesn’t have to change that.”

“What if you fall in love with me?” she teased.

“You’re sexy as hell and smart to boot, but there ain’t no chance of that, Tiger.”

He couldn’t fall in love with her, no way, no how. Ambitious, well-to-do girls like Libby—and Sadie—wouldn’t go the distance with him. They were always hungry for the next thing—they wanted more. And he couldn’t give it to them. But what he could give them was the best damn sex of their lives.

A strange sensation twinged in his gut. This was exactly what had led him into an endless string of women warming his bed, and he was supposed to be done with that.

So why did Libby make him feel like it wasn’t the empty kind of encounter he’d grown to hate?

She nodded, splaying her fingers flat against his chest. “Good.”

“Is that a yes?”

“I don’t believe you actually asked me a question.”

He picked her up and set her on the edge of the kitchen bench, nudging her legs open so he could stand between them. The stretchy material of her polka dot skirt rode higher up over her thighs, revealing a flash of hot pink satin.

“I asked you to stay the night.”

She waggled a finger at him. “You
told
me to stay.”

“You want me to beg, Tiger?” He pressed his lips to the hollow at the base of her neck, his teeth scraping at her skin. “Not gonna happen. If anyone’s going to beg, it’ll be you.”

Her head lolled back. “I don’t beg.”

“Oh you will.” He kissed farther down, his hands deftly popping the buttons on her blouse. “I won’t let you come until you beg shamelessly, incoherently. I’ll hold you right on the edge until you say my name like it’s the only word you know.”

Her whole body trembled as his lips made it to the edge of her bra. Hot pink satin outlined with yellow lace, colorful and bold just like her. Hard nipples pressed against the fabric, drawing his eye and then his mouth. He tugged the cup down until he could taste all of her.

“Is that a yes?”

She sighed, her eyes fluttering closed. “You still haven’t asked me.”

“May I fuck you into oblivion?”

She laughed, her finger threading into his hair and yanking his face up. “Well, when you put it like that…”

“Say it.”

“Yes, Paul.” She brought her mouth to his in a hot open-mouthed kiss that set his whole body alight. “Yes.”

Chapter Nine

S
omehow they made it to his bed, though he was sure he’d find a trail of clothes leading like breadcrumbs to his kitchen in the morning. That was a problem for tomorrow, however, because he was certain about one thing—Libby wasn’t leaving his bed until the sun came up.

Copper strands of hair fanned out across his pillow like silk streamers. She stared at him with hooded eyes, her hands reaching out.

“First things first, Tiger.” He came down between her legs and blazed a trail with his mouth from belly button to the waistband of her single remaining item of clothing.

“Don’t rip this pair,” she said, her back arching as he pressed a kiss between her legs. “They’re too pretty to go into the trash.”

Pretty was an understatement. The swatch of pink silk against her pale, white skin was striking. Captivating.

It made him want to catalog every dirty thought he’d ever had and play them all out at once.

“I’m impatient,” he murmured against the silk before tugging the panties down her legs. “I don’t want to waste a second.”

He threw them to the side before capturing one ankle in his hand and hooking it around his waist.

“We have all night.” She reached for his boxers, dipping her finger beneath the elastic to brush against his cock. The gentle scrape of her nails along his length dragged a moan from his lips.

He moved closer, allowing her to grasp him fully. “I’m going to need it. There’s too many things I want to do to you.”

Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. “Are you sure I can keep up?”

“Don’t worry about that. Let me drive,” he said, pushing his boxers down and discarding them over the edge of the bed. “You just lie back and enjoy.”

“Hmmm…” She wrapped her fingers around him and stroked slowly. “I like the sound of that.”

His hands came down beside her as he lowered his face to hers, capturing her mouth in a deep, searching kiss. She tasted of marshmallow and chocolate, sweet. Decadent.

Through the haze of arousal and desperate desire, fear settled over him. Something felt different. Having Libby in his bed wasn’t just about sex. It wasn’t scratching an itch like he had in the past. He wanted to drown in her, he wanted to use his body to show her that she was beautiful, worthy. He wanted to erase her past hurts and make her feel whole.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you shouldn’t be frowning during sex, right?” Her teeth nipped along his jaw, her tone teasing.

You got what you wanted, enjoy it. Don’t think about anything beyond this. There
isn’t
anything beyond this.

He bent his head and drew a nipple into his mouth, running his tongue over the tightened peak. Her moan echoed in the quiet room, awareness gripping him and quickening his pulse.

“I’m concentrating,” he said, burying his face between her breasts. “I don’t want you leaving until I’ve licked, kissed, and fucked every inch of you.”

“You do have a way with words.” She let out a throaty laugh as her head lolled back against the pillow and she arched against him. “Or maybe you’re just good with your mouth.”

“You should know the answer to that already.”

A sly smile passed over her lips. “Refresh my memory?”

“Gladly.”

He worked his way down to the juncture of her thighs, pressing kisses along the sensitive join of her hip. Warm flesh greeted his mouth. Goosebumps rippled across her skin as he trailed his fingertips over her thighs, skating around the part where she wanted him most. Her hips bucked as she fought for control, but Paul stayed true to his word.

“This is the part where you beg, Tiger.”

He drew her clit into his mouth only to let it go a second later, lavishing maddening kisses all around her. One palm flattened against her stomach, holding her where he wanted her. Where she wouldn’t be able to move without his permission.

“You can’t make me,” she panted.

“You’re so close.” He blew cold air over her sensitive flesh, alternating direct pressure and feather-light licks. “It would be a shame not to hear that wonderful noise you make when you come.”

“Paul,” she growled.

“Yes, Tiger?”

Silence. She was stubborn, something he’d grown to appreciate. But he wanted her to know that in the bedroom she was at his mercy. This was his domain and if she bent then he would give her everything.

“Dammit.” Her fist came down hard on the bed as she bucked her hips against his mouth.

“Say it.”

“Please, I need it.” She tangled her fingers in his hair and yanked him into place. “I’m begging.”

“That’s all you needed to say.”

Her nails dug into his scalp as he applied the perfect pressure with his tongue, lapping at her until he tipped her over. The sound of her cries set his nervous system aflame. She trembled even after he drew his lips away, immediately curling into herself as the last shockwaves of orgasm ran through her.

He crawled up the bed and drew her to him, her back lining his front. Hot skin against hot skin. Wrapping his arms around her, his fingers traced the peaks and valleys of her beautiful body. He felt so…alive.

“It’s not so bad to let someone else be in charge.”

She turned, her face tilting up to his and catching the moonlight streaming in through the window. “Don’t get cocky now.”

He grinned. “Too late.”

Shaking her head, she slipped out of his grasp and pushed him back against the covers, straddling him. His hard-on brushed the creamy skin of her inner thigh. Wanting spread through him like a drug, heightening his senses, switching on the part of his brain that screamed
more, more, more.

Rolling her hips in circles so that she bumped her heat against him, her eyes glittered. “Payback’s going to feel so
very
good.”

His fingers bit into her hips, his cock twitching with each brush of her satin skin. “Just because you’re on top doesn’t mean you’re in the driver’s seat.”

He reached out to the drawer beside his bed and felt around for a condom. The foil crinkled as he ripped open the packet, cutting through the air heavy with arousal. He sheathed himself slowly, not missing the way Libby’s eyes watched him intently.

“Do you like to watch?” He wrapped his hands around himself and stroked.

Pupils dilated, her breath hitched. Even in the dim light he could see the flush that crept across her cheeks, extending down her neck and matching the rosy shade of her nipples. Her hands curled into the bedspread as she watched, enraptured.

“I’ve never…” She swallowed. “I’ve never seen a man touch himself before.”

The admission was fuel to his already out of control fire. He wanted to burst, but he controlled each stroke as though it were a master in resistance, power surging through him all the while.

“Do you like it?”

She licked her lips. “Very much.”

“If I keep this up the show will be over before it’s begun.” He released himself, reaching for her.

She came to him easily, her hips lifting to position over him. As she sank, a haze fell over him. His eyes rolled back, everything else fading away until it was just the sensation of her surrounding him.

“Paul,” she gasped, her palms coming down on either side of his head.

“Easy, Tiger.” He moved her hips to meet his thrusts, controlling the pace. Drawing out their pleasure.

Hair tickled his chest as her head rolled forward, the sheet of copper surrounding them until it felt as though they were the only two beings in the world. The pad of his thumb caught her lower lip as his hand curled around her jaw. She kissed the tip of his thumb, drawing him into her mouth and sucking in a way that made him want to combust.

“Keep that up…” he threatened.

“And what?” She blinked her long, black lashes at him. “You’ll cross the finish line.”

She squealed as he grabbed her hips, flipping them so that he hovered over her, still buried deep inside. Reaching down between them, he found the sensitive nub of her clit and started a slow assault. His favorite kind.

Her head pressed back into the pillow, eyes squeezed shut. “Oh my God—”

“I’m not going to cross the line until you scream my name again.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth, catching her bottom lip between his teeth.

“You drive a hard bargain.”

He chuckled against her throat, inhaling the scent of dampness on her skin mixed with faded perfume and soap. And something else…something uniquely her.

“It
is
hard.”

She laughed, the sound dissolving into a cry as she reached the peak. He could have held back, but in that moment he wanted to give her everything: pleasure, completeness, satisfaction. He was at her service, there to command and form her pleasure.

“Paul,” she whispered as the waves subsided. “Don’t leave me out here alone.”

“I won’t.” He thrust into her, driving toward the pinpoint of pleasure that blurred his vision and stole his breath. “I won’t.”

When orgasm hit he drowned in her. He didn’t realize that he’d been calling her name until the rawness hit his throat, the echo of their lovemaking heavy in the air. Her arms wound around his waist, holding him against her.

For the first time in forever, having another’s arms around him didn’t feel like a trap.

L
ibby shifted, the haze of sleep slowly evaporating as she opened her eyes to the sunlight streaming through a window. A window with wooden slats and a distinct lack of color. In other words, not her window.

Head thumping, she tested the severity of her hangover by trying to lift her head from the pillow. Moderate, certainly not her worst, but she needed to down a painkiller and a bottle of water. Stat.

Heat prickled along her skin, the weight of Paul’s arm heavy across her midsection. The bare skin of her back was fused to his chest, the backs of her thighs pressed against him.

What a night.

Heavy breathing told her he was still asleep…perhaps she could wriggle out and make a quick getaway to avoid the awkward morning-after chitchat.
Would
it be awkward? They had no expectations of each other, and they weren’t in a relationship. They both shunned emotional entanglements.

Last night was nothing more than two people with mutual attraction blowing off a little steam. Or a lot of steam, as the case may be. For a moment she wondered how many women had woken up in his bed.

None of your business, don’t even think about going there with him.

Aching limbs and niggling thoughts aside, Libby felt like a million bucks. Clearly all she’d needed to lessen the weight on her shoulders was a good, old-fashioned romp between the sheets. And too many orgasms to count. Paul was relentless, pushing her harder and higher each time until her body had nothing left to give.

“What was that little shiver for?” His sleepy voice sounded in her ear, his lips brushing the back of her neck.

“I think you’re dreaming.”

“Feels like it.” He brushed his lips along the ridge of her shoulder. “I don’t ever have a beautiful woman in my bed when I wake up in real life.”

“Do you kick them all out before the sun comes up?” She rolled onto her back so she could see his face.

A hard mask settled over him, his eyes cold. “Something like that.”

“I don’t expect you to make me pancakes.” Her hand came up to trace the hard line of his jaw. “Just so we’re clear.”

“So I should put the milk and eggs away?”

“You don’t fool me, Paul Chapman. I know exactly what you want, and it’s not breakfast.”

He leaned over her, locking her down with his thigh and capturing her mouth with his. “You read me like a book.”

“Right now you sound a lot like a teenage boy’s diary. Sex on the brain.”

He pretended to be hurt. “What else am I supposed to think about when you’re lying there all naked and perfect like that?”

A warmth kindled in her chest. “My sparkling personality?”

“Not going to happen.” His fingertips traced the length of her throat, his thumb skirting over the hollow at its base.

“What about how I’m a sharp business woman?” Her eyes fluttered shut as his hand trailed down to cup her breast.

“Tiger, all of those things are wonderful. But right now the only thing I want is to taste that sweet honey of yours.”

Her sex clenched, but she resisted the urge to give in to him. “I really should go. I’ve got a lot of planning to do for the wedding.”

His hand dipped lower, a flat palm smoothing over her belly to cup the gentle ache between her thighs. “What if I’m not done with you yet?”

“The best thing about sex without emotions is that I don’t have worry about hurting your feelings.” She sucked in a breath as he traced a line up her inner thigh.

“No, you just have to worry about your own.” A dark shadow passed over his face, his eyes intently burning into her.

Something about the look unnerved her, as though she were crossing into new territory and wandering in the wrong direction. That was the problem with Paul, he drew her to him like a magnet. She knew she should leave his bed, she had work to do and an exciting opportunity in front of her.

But nothing else seemed to matter when he touched her.

Her worries about her business, about her father…everything melted away. But she didn’t belong here with him. Her focus
had
to be on her business if she had any chance of making her own money and getting her own place. If she had any chance of being successful.

Not to mention that this relationship was fake because she could never be with someone like him…perfectly charming and sexy as hell. She wouldn’t put herself in a situation where she had to compete for his attention. Been there, done that.

Never. Doing. It. Again.

“You know you’ve stopped telling me not to call you Tiger.” His lips curved into a smile. “Does that mean I’m getting to you?”

“Or I’ve just realized that your persistence knows no bounds.”

Deep down, in some dark corner of herself that she’d deny until the end of time, she’d grown to like it. A nickname signaled belonging, affection. Things she’d been hard up for most of her life, and he’d given them to her even when her reaction was to keep him at a distance.