Temperatures Rising (5 page)

J
ust when she’d thought her and Terrence’s paths wouldn’t be crossing any more that week, she ran into him, of all places, on the elevator. And to make matters worse, he was the lone occupant.

“Going down, Sherri?” he asked, his voice lowering to too husky a pitch for her peace of mind. And it didn’t help the situation to know that for some reason he had invaded her dreams last night in ways he hadn’t invaded them before. They had been sexy. Naughty. And in her dreams he had been the one going down. The memory of it had the insides of her
thighs feeling damp. Now there he stood, leaning against the wall and looking sexy as all outdoors.

“Yes.” She hesitated a moment before stepping in and moving to one side, a safe distance away from him. The man was way too much temptation.

“Don’t think you can control yourself in here alone with me?” he asked in a teasing voice.

“I’m the one who should be asking you that,” she said, snapping out the words. Too late, she wished she hadn’t when she saw the darkening of his eyes. The look he was giving her had the pulse beating erratically at the base of her throat.

“Since you brought it up,” he said, his gaze roaming her figure from head to toe, “I was going to be a gentleman and control myself, but now I don’t think I will.”

She backed up and lifted her chin. “You will force me to do something against my will?” she asked.

He smiled that sexy smile of his and she knew she’d lost the battle already. That darn dimple did her in. “No, but I may force you to admit something you’re being rather stubborn about. Although our relationship goals in life are different right now, this very moment in time, we want each other and there is no way you can deny it.”

“I do deny it.”

“Let’s see for how long.”

He moved away from the wall and reached out and pushed the button to stop the elevator. Then he took the few steps separating them. She refused to back up, determined to hold her ground with him.

“I need this kiss, Sherri, so if nothing else, please humor me,” he murmured in a low voice.

The words he’d spoken had come as a surprise, and despite her reason for not wanting it to happen, she inwardly admitted that she needed the kiss, as well. So she did what he asked and humored him, although when his mouth settled on hers it was obvious neither of them was amused. Instead they were filled with one gigantic need.

Judging by the depth of their kiss, it was a need they were determined to fill. Just like the two other times their mouths had been joined, what they were experiencing was ultimate pleasure. The kind that slaughtered your senses, sent shudders through your body. As if they had a will of their own, their bodies pressed closer together in a way that bordered on indecent.

Sherri’s purse fell to the floor when she wrapped her arms around Terrence’s neck and sank even deeper into the kiss. She felt heated sensations all the way to her toes. This was the reason she’d tried to resist him. He had a way of making her not think
straight. The last thing she should be doing with him was locking lips, getting some tongue play.

Yet that was exactly what she wanted to do—and she was enjoying every minute of it.

When he pulled his mouth away, she nearly moaned in protest. But he didn’t move his mouth far. His tongue played around the corners of her lips. His actions ripped into what little control she had left. She felt overwhelmed by desire.

“Tell me I can come over tonight, Sherri. Let’s finish up what we started here,” he whispered against her moist lips.

She was tempted to concede. He was stirring up emotions within her that she’d never had to deal with before. The only excuse she could come up with was that her hormones were obviously out of whack. How long had it been since she’d been intimate with a man? Two years? Probably longer than that given the fact that she and Ben had never made love on a frequent basis. Whenever they could fit it into their schedules had worked well for them…or so she had thought. She’d found out later he’d been making love to someone else, a woman who worked for him. Someone who had no qualms about banging her way to the top. Sherri drew in a deep breath, not wanting to think about Ben’s betrayal.

“We’ve held this elevator up long enough. Time to get out of here,” Terrence said, breaking into her thoughts and taking her by the hand.

As soon as the elevator door opened, he stepped out and tugged her with him. Luckily they were in the parking garage, because he then pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. Sherri felt weak in the knees and felt blood rush to her head with every precise stroke of his tongue.

When he pulled back, she held on to him because it seemed the world around her was spinning. “Do I get to follow you home and spend some time with you?” he asked.

She looked at him, making a quick decision. She had tried to avoid him for two weeks and look what happened. Now she was behaving like a woman in heat. She needed to do whatever it took to get him out of her system, and if spending one night with him was the answer, then she would go through with it. Terrence had an allure she could not resist. At least not tonight.

“I need to think about it,” she said softly.

He nodded. “Promise me you’ll give it a lot of thought.”

She stared up at him, becoming hypnotized by the eyes staring back at her. Deep. Dark. Hungry. He
wanted her. There was no doubt in her mind. And she wanted him, but she had never been a person to engage in casual affairs. After her fiasco with Ben, maybe it was time to grab what she could and not believe in the forever after.

There was something about Terrence, the way he looked at her, the arrogant way he acted around her. In a way, she liked his arrogance. He was a self-assured man. Confident. A man who was persistent in going after what he wanted.

“I promise,” she said softly, not sure what was happening to her to even consider such a thing.

A struggle was taking place within her, and she wasn’t sure of the outcome. The only thing she did know was that since day one she had fought her feelings, tried to ignore her desires for Terrence, and it wasn’t working. She hated to admit it, but he had been a part of her every thought even when she hadn’t wanted him to be. Evidently he felt being smooth and debonair didn’t work with her and was now behaving like a bad boy. She’d never messed with bad boys before. All the guys she’d dated in the past, even Ben, had gotten a stamp of approval from her parents.

“If you make a decision in my favor, I’ll be at home tonight. I won’t be at Club Hurricane,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.

She doubted she would make a decision about anything tonight. She knew that any affair with Terrence, even a one-night stand, was destined to change her life forever. He was determined to set fire to a passion within her that had been left dormant for the past two years. Her nerve endings tingled at the thought of that happening.

“I’ve got to go,” she said, moving away toward her parked car.

“All right. And I hope to see you later. You do have my address, right?”

She nodded. Although she’d never been to his home, she knew his address. It was within a mile of where she was currently living. “Yes.”

And then she walked away and forced herself not to look back.

Feeling a sense of impending doom, Terrence stood with his hands deep in his pockets and watched Sherri walk away. Never had any woman’s decision meant so much to him that it had his stomach tied in knots. From the beginning he’d thought that he was the one calling the shots.

Now he wasn’t so damn sure of that.

When he’d first seen her he had quickly decided she was someone worth looking at, and there was no
harm in looking. Once he’d discovered she was Warrick’s niece, any thoughts of hitting on her vanished, although he’d seen no harm in a little innocent flirtation. But then he discovered looking and flirting weren’t good enough. He wanted to touch and taste her, to join their bodies together. The more he’d seen her, the more he had wanted her. Now he was driven with an impulse to strip her naked each and every time he saw her.

She affected him like no other woman had. For two weeks they had tried avoiding each other and he’d been fine with it, deciding a woman with marriage on her mind was the last type of woman he needed to get involved with. Yet the moment he had glanced at the glass booth and seen her in it, it was as if a part of her had called out to him, had made his desire for her keener, his obsession with sharing a bed with her even more defined.

He stood there and continued to watch as the car she’d gotten into drove off and disappeared. Now the waiting would begin. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he walked toward his car, thinking he needed to make love to her like he needed to breathe.

For him to want any woman that much wasn’t good. But for the time being, he was trapped by his desires and only she held the key for his release.

Sherri walked into the house, thinking that during the drive home her head should have cleared and her senses should have been back in check. But if that was the case, then why was she contemplating taking a shower, changing into something sexy and paying Terrence a visit?

And why on the drive home had she felt the need to constantly remind herself that she was a forever-after kind of girl, and just because Ben hadn’t appreciated her that didn’t necessarily mean the next guy wouldn’t? On top of all that, she also reminded herself she didn’t have the time to put into an affair, long or short. Her concentration was on her work at the station. She felt good knowing her uncle believed in her capabilities enough to leave her in charge of everything and everyone.

Including Terrence.

But only technically, since being in charge of the station included responsibility for anyone associated with it.

She moved through her living room and headed straight for the kitchen, needing a cup of tea. She always thought better while sipping tea.

A short while later she was sitting at the kitchen table sipping tea and trying to decide what she should
do. Why would a logical person like herself even contemplate doing something so illogical as having an affair, and with of all people, the Keys’ bad boy? A man with a reputation as a ladies’ man. A man who never, ever intended to marry. What was the sense in that? She took a sip of her tea and summed up the answer in five words.

She needed a memorable experience.

She was twenty-seven and had yet to experience the big O. At least not a real one. She hadn’t ever told anyone, including Kim, that her time in bed with Ben had always left her so unsatisfied that she had begun wondering what all the hoopla was about regarding sex. Though Ben had never complained and had in fact several times complimented her on the degree of passion she could generate in their bed, she’d always inwardly felt shortchanged. She smiled, thinking that she would love to see Ben now and confess that all those times she’d actually been faking it.

Her smile quickly vanished when another thought crossed her mind. What if Ben had been faking it, as well? What if the reason he had left her for another woman had nothing to do with her spending more time on the job than with him? What if that had only been his excuse for her replacement?

She took another sip of tea and thought about all those possibilities. A short while later she knew she had to know the truth. Could she satisfy a man in bed? Could a man satisfy her? She nervously placed her cup back down in the saucer. Maybe she was thinking too hard. She’d never underestimated herself as a woman. She was healthy, in good shape, dressed nicely. Men looked at her, Terrence wanted her. But all they saw was the book’s cover. What was really on the pages? What if she wasn’t capable of delivering when a man needed it the most?

She had to know the truth.

Convincing herself that she was doing this more for herself than for Terrence, she made her decision. One night with Terrence ought to give her the answer she wanted. One night and not any more and she would make certain he understood that. To make absolutely sure she wouldn’t be another notch on his bedpost, she went to get her cell phone from out of her purse.

She called Terrence. He answered on the first ring. “Hello, Sherri.”

She frowned. At times she detested caller ID. “Hello, Terrence. I’ve decided not to come over to your place. But you’re more than welcome if you’d like to come over to mine.”

He didn’t say anything for a second, and then, “I’d love to.”

“And, Terrence, just to make sure things are absolutely clear, tonight is the only night you’ll get invited to my home. There will only be tonight for us. There will not be any repeats.”

Again he didn’t say anything for a second, and then, “I’ll be there shortly.”

Sherri hung up the phone. She refused to be just another notch on his bedpost, but he could definitely be a notch on hers.

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B
y the time Sherri had showered and changed into something more comfortable, Terrence was ringing the doorbell. Although her outfit, a printed skirt and blouse lounging set, was supposed to be relaxing, she found that she was a nervous wreck.

Twice she was tempted to call Terrence and tell him that she had changed her mind, but each time she decided to go through with it. She deserved to know the truth about herself.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. He stood there, not surprisingly looking positively jaw-droppingly sexy. The man was as macho as they
came. He had changed out of the outfit he’d had on at the station and was dressed in a pair of jeans and a pullover. His hair appeared damp, which meant he’d showered and shaved.

“Terrence, welcome to my home,” she said, attempting to add a degree of warmth and hospitality to her smile. “Won’t you come in?”

“Yes, I definitely want to come in,” he assured her, stepping over the threshold when she moved aside.

When she closed the door and turned, he was standing in the middle of her apartment and glancing around. “Nice place, Sherri. It suits you.”

She chuckled, not sure what he meant by that. “Thanks.” She gestured toward the sofa. “Please have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?”

“No thanks, I’m fine,” he said, sitting down.

“All right, then I’ll get dinner—”

“Dinner?”

She saw the surprised expression in his eyes and understood. Evidently he’d assumed that he would be escorted immediately to the bedroom. “Yes, dinner. After the wonderful meal you had prepared for me at the club, there was no way I could invite you over and not return the hospitality. Although I didn’t have time to prepare anything, so I ordered
from a nice Chinese restaurant around the corner. I understand you like Chinese food.”

“And who told you that?” he asked, looking at her intently.

“Um, I think I overheard one of the technicians mention it one day during lunch. So do you enjoy Chinese food?”

He leaned back in his seat. “Yes, I enjoy a number of things and Chinese food happens to be on the list.”

“Good. It will only take me a second to set things up.” She turned toward the kitchen.

“Sherri?”

She turned back around. “Yes?”

He met her gaze, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he definitely had an agenda. He confirmed it when he asked, “Dinner isn’t the only thing I’m getting tonight, right?”

Her reaction to his bold question was instantaneous. Her nipples hardened and heat began forming between her thighs. “Why? Is there something else that you want?” she asked, trying to keep her body from quivering.

He smiled, and her gaze shifted from his eyes to his mouth. She immediately recalled the kisses they’d shared, and just thinking about the intensity of them had goose bumps forming on her arms.

“Yes, there’s something else I want. Do you want me to tell you what it is?”

She swallowed deeply. Not at any time did she doubt that he would. “I don’t think that will be necessary, and as far as what else you’ll be getting tonight, we will have to see. Some things are better when they are not planned or expected.”

He shook his head. “I happen to disagree. I have nothing against spontaneity, but it’s nice to know what’s in store. Accidents can happen when things aren’t planned or expected.”

She nodded, catching his drift. But in this case, as he would find out later, he had nothing to worry about since she was in good health and on the pill. “True, but a smart man and woman are always prepared regardless.”

Deciding not to say anything else on the subject, she moved toward the kitchen.

Terrence watched Sherri walk away. He was definitely prepared, since he’d put several condoms in his wallet. And just in case they decided to make it an all-nighter, he’d put a few in his jeans pockets, too. To be quite honest, although he’d hoped that she would, he’d been sort of surprised that she had called
him. He wasn’t sure of the reason, but he was not about to complain.

He heard her moving around in the kitchen and decided to check out the various paintings on the wall. A friend once said you could tell a lot about a woman by the pictures on her walls. In that case, Sherri must love animals, because he noticed several framed portraits of them. And one could safely say she liked live plants, judging from the many she had. Obviously she did a good job keeping them alive. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about himself.

“Dinner is ready.”

He glanced over in her direction and every nerve ending in his body vibrated. He meant to tell her earlier how much he liked her outfit and how good she looked in it. This was only the second time he’d seen her dressed in anything other than a business suit, and he couldn’t wait for later when he got to see her wearing nothing at all. Deciding the sooner they finished dinner the sooner they could move on to other things, he crossed the room to her.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she said.

He couldn’t help but smile at that. He was hungry, and once he got a taste of what he
really
wanted, he planned to gobble it up. “Yes, I’m hungry.”

And then, taking her by surprise, he leaned for
ward and captured her mouth with his, causing heat to immediately flare within him. And her. He felt it when he used his tongue to tangle with hers, stroking pleasure she probably didn’t want to respond to. But she was doing so anyway.

He broke the kiss and pulled in a deep breath. Just that first sensuous vibration made his stomach tremble and tempted him to lean over and capture her mouth again. But he didn’t.

“What was that for?” she asked in a low, stunned voice, searching his face and at the same time licking her lips.

He grinned. “I’d thought it was time to let you know that although you’re providing dinner, I intend to serve the dessert.”

He intended to serve dessert.

All Sherri could do was sit across from him at her dinner table and make an attempt to enjoy what was her favorite food—shrimp fried rice—while trying not to imagine what kind of dessert he would be serving. She had ideas, of course. And those ideas had heat settling between her legs.

“You okay?”

She quickly glanced over at Terrence. He was sipping his wine and looking at her. She wondered
if he knew what she was thinking, and if so, if he was amused by it all. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

He smiled. “No reason, other than you’ve barely touched your food.”

She glanced down at her plate. She had eaten enough. “I had a huge lunch today.”

She glanced over at his plate. It was clean. “I take it that you were hungry.”

He chuckled. “Yes, evidently. Well, at least since it was takeout, there’re no dishes to wash. Saves time.”

She met his gaze. Was getting her into bed all he could think about? From the look in his eyes, evidently so. She stood and began clearing off the table, and he automatically stood to assist. “You don’t have to help,” she said, hoping that he wouldn’t.

“Why don’t you go on into the living room and get comfortable,” she suggested. “You might want to check out my selection of DVDs. There might be something you want to see.”

“A movie?” he asked with the same surprise that he’d had when she’d mentioned dinner.

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes. It won’t take me long to finish up in here.”

He glanced at the table. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“I’m positive.”

“Then I’ll be waiting for you in the living room.”

I just bet you will
. As soon as he was gone, she let out a long breath. Anyone could tell she was out of her element with Terrence and serious doubt began to cloud her mind. What if the reason Ben had left her was because she’d been a disappointment to him? That meant chances were she probably wouldn’t be able to satisfy Terrence, either. How would she handle seeing him around the station knowing she’d been a failure in bed?

She leaned against the kitchen counter. Why hadn’t she thought this through before inviting him over? She knew the answer to that one. After that kiss in the elevator, she hadn’t been thinking clearly.

By the time she’d finished wiping off the table, she was a nervous wreck and knew just what she had to do. Terrence was expecting a little hanky-panky tonight, and somehow she was going to get out of it. After placing the chairs back neatly under the table, she pulled in a deep breath before walking out of the kitchen.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to detect Sherri was nervous about tonight, and that was probably the reason she was stalling, Terrence thought while flip
ping through her collection of DVDs, none of which he cared to watch. None of them would be able to hold his attention. The only action he was interested in was the one that would take place in Sherri’s bedroom.

If he thought he wanted her with a passion before, now his craving had doubled, possibly even tripled. It had been pure torture sitting across from her at the table while inhaling her scent, watching her eat and how, every so often, their gazes would meet in a heated clash. More than once he’d been tempted to push the food containers aside and have her then and there.

He needed to have tonight with her. Hopefully when it was over she would be out of his system, and his mind and body would go back to a normal state. He and Sherri understood what sharing a bed meant. Neither of them had any expectations beyond tonight.

“Terrence?”

He turned at the sound of her voice and once again he felt a tightening in his gut as he watched her cross the room to him. And when she came to a stop, it took all he had not to reach out and pull her into his arms and kiss her crazy. “Yes?”

“About tonight…” She was nervously twisting her fingers and her voice sounded unsteady.

He had an idea what she was going to say and knew immediately that he couldn’t let her. They were too close to turn back now, and he needed to reassure her that things would be all right.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he quickly placed a finger to her lips. “Don’t say it, Sherri. I feel your uncertainty about this, about us, but I want you to do something that you might find difficult to do.”

He saw her throat tighten when she swallowed. “What?”

“Trust me enough to believe that in this situation, I know what we both need.”

He watched as she studied his features and figured she was wondering how he could be so sure of what she needed. Inwardly, he was asking himself that same thing. It was scary, but he actually cared how she was feeling and he wasn’t running a game on her just to get her in bed. He was being completely honest. For a reason he couldn’t explain, one-night stand or not, he couldn’t and wouldn’t treat this affair like all his others. Although tonight would be all they had, it still meant a lot to him that she wanted things to happen as much as he did.

And he truly believed that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He’d discovered that she had the ability to say one thing while meaning
another, and as a man who was used to picking up vibes from women, he’d been able to home in on it. That was the reason he had been so persistent, working like hell to break through her resolve, wear down her resistance, so the two of them could have a night together they would both enjoy.

It was a gimme that he desired her more than any other woman, but there was something else between them, something he’d been trying to downplay, practically ignore. And it was something he wasn’t capable of walking away from until she was out of his system. He needed tonight.

“Trust has to be earned, Terrence,” she said softly, breaking into his thoughts.

“And I agree,” he said, holding her gaze. His stomach clenched when she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Earning trust would be the normal course of action for most people, but we aren’t most people, Sherri. I need you to trust me enough to believe this is the best course of action we can take to move on, to work each other out of our systems. This physical attraction has turned into a physical obsession, and there’s only one way to end it. But I need you to feel safe with me.”

Her lips tightened. “I do feel safe with you, Terrence, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

That’s what he needed to hear. “Good.” He reached out and took her hand. “Come here. Let’s sit down and talk awhile.”

Now it was her turn to look surprised. “Talk?”

He chuckled. “Yes, talk. And if we go beyond just talking, it will be left up to you.”

She allowed him to lead her to the sofa, and when she moved to sit down beside him he pulled her into his lap. She started to get up, but his firm arms kept her immobile. “Stay still. I won’t bite.”

She parted her lips to say something, but then immediately closed them. Good thing. He would have been tempted to break his promise and make the first move by kissing her. He had such a weakness for her mouth, it was almost unnerving.

He shifted positions on the sofa, and once he had her tucked in his lap the way he wanted, he glanced down at her to find her staring at him. “Comfortable?”

“Yes.”

“So,” he said, trying to ignore the furious pounding of his heart, “what do you think of Key West so far?”

That question kicked off a series of others, sparking a lot of conversation between them, some of it serious, most not. His goal was to keep her talking
so she could feel relaxed with him. And it was working. She sat up in his lap and shared with him how her cousins—Jackie, Reatha and Alyson—used to get into all kinds of trouble with their parents while growing up, and how Warrick was the one who would always come to their rescue. He could tell she was close to her uncle and sensed a special bond between them.

He couldn’t help but study her while she talked. That she had loosened up was obvious in her face. No frowns. No scrunching up of her forehead. No glaring of the eyes. She had smooth skin, beautiful skin. And her eyes, ears and nose were perfect. Then there was her mouth. He quickly decided not to go there.

In good time the conversation switched to him, placing him in the spotlight. And he did something with her that he typically didn’t do with other women. He shared a little about his pro career, his retirement from the game, his siblings, his father. He even went so far as to mention that his father was dating the woman who had been his secretary for over fifteen years. A woman everyone knew had been in love with him for years. He expressed just how happy he and his siblings were about the developing relationship and how they hoped to hear something of a planned wedding soon.