Seductive Reasoning (18 page)

“Yes, I do. Do you have any
siblings, Kate?”

Kate leaned against a rack of
lingerie and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah. They’re both doctors. They
never understood me either. My parents put a lot of their focus on them because
they understood them. Me, I was the black sheep of the family with my head in
the clouds, going off on adventures with Aunt Pandora.” She smiled. “I remember
the looks on their faces when I told them I was taking up yoga. I was all of
nine years old.”

An irresistible smile eased over
his mouth. “I bet you were a very precocious nine year old.”

“To say the least. After yoga, I
started mountain climbing, then Aunt Pandora taught me about aromatherapy and
astrology. After that I was hooked. When I became a teenager, I even made my
own clothes. I refused to shop with my mother. Her tastes were far too
conventional for me. I had my own ideas.”

“What made you settle on lingerie?”

“I always liked it. Even when I
wore jeans or cutoffs in the summer months, I wore some kind of lacy panties
underneath. I like to try out my creations before putting them in the shop. I
wear them, wash them, and test them to make sure they achieve the right male
reaction.”

“Do you have something like that on
underneath your dress now?”

Their gazes locked. Her heartbeat
thrummed in her ears. “I promised myself I wouldn’t touch you tonight.”

Surprise, tenderness, and need
swept over his face. Without taking his eyes from hers, he walked slowly toward
her. The light from the setting sun moved over his face in stripes of golden
light that shone in his eyes and on his beautiful mouth.

Kate sucked in a breath. “What are
you doing?”

Not saying a word, without touching
her, Seth walked to within an inch of Kate until she felt his aura sweep over
her like a soothing cloak. She almost drowned in the intensity of his eyes. He
licked his lips, and she grew wet. Her breath hitched.

“You never said anything about me
touching
you.
”

Seth’s intense expression filled
with desire and sensual promise of delights to come. What was he thinking? What
was going through that mind of his? Was he actually going to make love to her?

His tangy scent teased her senses.
Kate wanted to pull him close, caress him with her lips and tongue, but to keep
from reaching for him she raised her hand and brushed a strand of dark hair
from her eyes.

“I want you to keep your promise
and not touch me. Okay?” he murmured to her. The sound of his beguiling voice
resonated like a primal drumbeat through her body.

She nodded. Since they’d met he’d
been trying to avoid her seduction because he wanted to win. She had been
attempting to seduce him not just for the money, but to validate her own female
allure.

Or so she thought.

It seemed that Seth’s beliefs in
sexuality were changing. Was she responsible for that change? She liked to
think so.

More importantly, Kate needed him
to want her not because of her looks, but because of the woman deep within her
soul. Her image as a woman designing sexy lingerie for the express purpose of
helping women enhance their sex life, had shielded her from the world, from
becoming too involved and revealing the real Kate inside.

The frightened, insecure Kate who
believed she wasn’t accepted. That’s why there weren’t any men in her life. Men
never tried to look beyond the physical and poke holes in her sexual armor.
They never threatened to expose what she had fought for years to keep secret.

Seth traced the tip of his finger
over her cheek and lower lip. Unable to resist, Kate opened her mouth and bit
the soft pad of his finger. Her heart clamored in her chest. “Seth?”

He leaned toward her, opened his
mouth slightly, and sucked on her bottom lip. “Hmm?”

Kate started to reach for him, but
he pulled back. “Uh, uh. You promised.”

Kate felt the pulse quiver in the
side of her neck. He lowered his head again, bit gently into her flesh, and
soothed the bite with a sweep of his tongue.

“Seth, the relationship I have with
my family is ... complicated.” Her voice sounded hoarse and aroused even to her
own ears. “You haven’t really told me what your family is like or how they feel
about you being here.”

He kissed the corners of her mouth.
She listened to his ragged, unsteady breath as he continued to kiss her with
soft, little nips of his mouth. “Mother is a homemaker, Dad is retired. He
owned a sports equipment store. On weekends, they spend a lot of their time
outdoors, hiking, riding bikes, that sort of thing. I’ve always been the brain
in my family. Kind of the odd duck, but at least they have always accepted me.”

He had no idea how lucky he was.
Acceptance was always just behind her reach, an elusive piece of her life that
she could never quite grasp.

Seth brushed her lips with his,
slicked his tongue over her upper lip, and then suckled the flesh into his
mouth. He stopped and lifted his mouth from hers. A moan of disappointment slid
up her throat. “Don’t stop.”

“You want more?”

“Yes, please.”

Seth held her face in his hands and
tilted her head toward his. “Okay, but remember--no touching.”

Seth stroked his lips over hers in
a slow, even undulation. Her pulse thrummed erratically through her veins. He
sucked and nibbled. Hunger for him nearly overwhelmed her as a raw sound of
need scraped from her throat. Seth whispered her name and enticed her to open
her mouth for him by rubbing his tongue against her teeth.

Helplessly, she parted her lips. He
swept his tongue inside, tasting, demanding. Kate fought for her dwindling
self-control while her heart quickened in her chest.

Seth made emotions rise inside her,
feelings that made her almost believe that loving him would make her feel
accepted. His tongue tangled with hers in a gentle assault on her mouth. Kate
responded in kind, taking the kiss deeper to a more sensuous level. His scent
swirled through her mind, coated her skin, and made her believe anything was
possible.

Gradually, he lightened the kiss
and slid his tongue from her mouth. But he didn’t stop.

She couldn’t allow him to stop.

Seth planted kisses on her cheeks
and the sides of her neck, causing pleasure and longing to flare into tiny
fires wherever his mouth touched her skin. He tugged the lobe of her ear into
his mouth and gently nipped it with his teeth before soothing the love bite with
his tongue.

The past few days had made her
dizzy with the need to touch him. She’d never wanted to touch a man more in her
life, but Kate kept her hands from his face and body when he lifted his mouth
from her neck.

She felt bereft; longing darkened
her soul and crowded her heart. Seth leaned over and lightly kissed her mouth.
“Come with me.”

Kate watched Seth walk to a sofa
beneath the window in the shop. Lingerie lay draped over the back and brightly
colored cushions adorned the front. Seth sat down, curved the fingers of his
right hand, and made a motion bidding her to come to him.

Unfettered hunger swirled through
her body. She wanted him. She needed to touch him, to hold him. The need she
felt went beyond the physical and dug deep into her heart. Seth had become
important to her. Kate looked at him, unable to move toward him.

What should she do? Should she go
to him and risk breaking her promise not to touch him or let him come to her?
Seth tossed the cushions to the floor and stared into her eyes. His gaze burned
like blue fire and never left her face. “Come here, Kate. Don’t be afraid.”

She inhaled a sudden, uneven
breath. The front of her dress stretched over her breasts, the nipples already
taut and aroused. “If I do, I’ll touch you. I know I will.”

Seth smiled. Kate returned his
smile with a tentative curve of her lips.

“Don’t worry. I’ll do all the work.
Come here and sit in my lap.”

Her gaze shifted for an instant to
his lap, and she saw his blatant arousal. Time seemed to stop. The light faded
a little more and for one heart-stopping moment, Kate believed he intended to
make love to her.

Excitement zipped through Kate’s
blood as she moved to his side. Seth pulled her down into his lap, then pushed
her gently back to rest against his arm. His eyes bored into hers, a sensual,
completely male invitation. She opened her mouth to ask him to let her touch
him, but he laid his fingers over her lips. “Shh,” he whispered.

Seth kissed her cheeks, her eyes,
and she reveled in the caress of his lips on her face. His arousal pushed
against her fanny, and she had to fight the urge to rub against it. Seth
slicked his tongue over her lips. Once. Twice.

Every sexual instinct in her body
sprang to full, exquisite attention. With a groan, Seth splayed his fingers of one
hand around the back of her head and covered her mouth.

He slid his other hand under the
hem of her skirt and pushed her thighs apart. She opened for him willingly.

Now.
Finally, now
was all
her sexually charged mind could think. With his big hand, Seth gripped the edge
of her panties, eased them down her legs, and tossed them to the floor.
Tenderly, he separated the folds of her femininity and stroked the soft, wet
center of her sex. Kate felt her feminine elixir pour from her body and coat
his fingers.

She whimpered against the exquisite
assault and pushed her crotch against his hand. Her legs spread farther apart,
giving him complete access. Seth ruthlessly caressed the tight nub while still
more of her heat slicked over his hand. With each stroke, her moans intensified
and rose to a soft cry.

Her hands stayed fixed to her
sides. Though she wanted badly to touch him, she needed him to do this even
more.

“Remember, no touching, Kate,” he
implored in a mind-numbing, erotic voice. “Just feel and let go. Don’t hold
back from me.”

No. She could never hold back from
Seth. Never. Seth penetrated the tight, silky wet of her body. Helplessly, her
body gripped his fingers, wanting to keep them inside her always. The heat and
scent of her own arousal grew and perfumed the air. She watched Seth inhale
deeply and felt the strength of tiny hidden muscles as they clenched his
finger. The fire of her climax consumed her in one, long, flourish of
sensation. Her eyes glazed over.

She held her hands against her body
in tight fists determined not to touch him. Seth smiled and pulled her close to
him.

“Touch me now, Kate. Go ahead and
touch me,” he whispered.

Thank God.

Kate buried her face in the side of
his neck and murmured his name while the force of her climax still pushed and
prodded against his fingers.

She clung to him, and he soothed
her by rubbing his hand over her back and placing soft kisses on her neck. She
wrapped her arms around him and wished the week didn’t have to end.

Stars flirted in the night sky, a
vast unknown universe filled with innumerable secrets. The moon, as white and
clean as a new pearl, sailed through the ocean of black. The moon’s rays
floated down like a mist and lit the flower-filled meadow with silver.

            Seth sat in a folding
chair and adjusted his telescope. Kate sat close beside him with her face
raised toward the sky. Her arm brushed against his arm. Her knee kissed his.
Her hand touched his thigh. Heat radiated from her touch and gathered between
his legs.

He liked it. He was a here for a
reason--to show Kate the romance of the stars and moonlight around them.

He’d plied her with food. They’d
feasted on cold chicken and potato salad. They’d drunk wine from paper cups.
Then he’d enticed her with a brownie or two.

Her T-shirt stretched over the soft
mounds of her breasts and teased him with the taut peaks of her nipples. No
bra. The woman came prepared. What about panties? Was she wearing any under
that teensy weensy pair of denim shorts that showed miles of leg? Was she naked
and waiting for him to touch her again?

He’d done just that the night
before in her shop. What had made him cuddle her in his lap, caress her and
bring her to climax in his arms? Was he crazy? Nearly. Yes.

A light breeze stirred the evening
air, filled with the scent of clover, wild daisies and Kate’s elusive vanilla
scent. The smell of her brought back the vivid memory of the night he’d given
in, stripped her gown off and loved her with his mouth. Only his mouth. He grew
rigid and gritted his teeth against the sweet pain. If he had taken her, he
wouldn’t be in agony now. He would have gotten her out of his system. For good.
Only why did he think that making love once with Kate would be enough?

He skimmed his gaze over her
profile and listened to her slow, even inhalations. God, she was beautiful. He
fantasized about seeing her naked with the moon’s silver rays and starlight
sprinkling over her skin. He imagined unbuttoning her shorts, sliding them down
her delectable legs and nipping her behind her knees with his teeth. Then he’d
work his way upward. Slowly. Until he had his mouth on her again, until he
could taste her once more.

“Oh, look, there’s a shooting
star.”

Her words jerked him from his
erotic fantasy. “Yes,” Seth murmured and made an adjustment to the telescope. “You’ll
probably see quite a few of those.”

“I can’t wait.” Kate turned and
smiled at him. She gave him one of her sexy smiles, just a gentle curve of her
lips that made him melt inside. “In one of those astronomy books it says that
scientists estimate that about 200 million meteors hit the earth’s atmosphere
every day.”

He could have been knocked over
with a feather. “True. I must say I’m impressed.”

He turned back to his telescope
fiddled with a knob and cleared his throat. When facts and figures dripped like
that from her tongue, it made her even sexier. Why hadn’t she tried to put the
moves on him? She’d touched his thigh, but that was all. Irritated for reasons
he couldn’t fathom, Seth focused on a constellation.