Unexpected Chances

The doctor in her disagreed. “Just make sure it’s not an emergency.”

He rolled off her and groaned, grabbing for his phone. “Hello,” he barked into his cell. “Mmm-hmm,” he said, then listened some more. “Exactly what I’m looking for.” More listening and then, “I’ll be there.”

His voice rose in definite pleasure, and she wondered if it was a role or a part in a movie he was talking about. She wondered, too, how preoccupied he’d be now that something big had obviously come up.

“Anything important?” she asked after he’d shut his phone down and rolled over to face her, head propped against his hand.

“Just some things I have in the works,” he said vaguely, his eyes twinkling.

“Sounds exciting.”

He reached over and rubbed his finger across her bottom lip. “Not as exciting as what I want to do with you,” he said and pulled her beneath him again.

FOUR

Before Dylan could pick up where they’d left off, Holly jumped up and headed for the kitchen to pull the lasagna from the oven to let it cool a bit before dinner. He took the few minutes alone to evaluate things between them so far.

He knew he’d made progress with Holly, but not enough for her to believe in a future. Certainly not enough to tell her that the phone call had been from a real estate agent who’d found him five acres of wooded land and the perfect setting to build a house not far from Acton. Dylan had reached a point where he was ready to settle down away from the insanity that was Hollywood. With or without Holly in his life, he planned to purchase property and make it his permanent home between movie shoots.

They’d already talked about his reasons for leaving and coming back now, but she was still skittish and unwilling to trust emotionally. He didn’t mind starting by winning over her body in the hopes that her heart and mind would soon follow.

He paused in her bedroom and returned with a blanket, spreading it out over the floor in the family room and waiting until Holly came out of the kitchen.

“Did we ever make love beneath the Christmas tree?” he asked her.

Instead of bolting or growing wary, a slow, sexy smile curved her lips. “Not that I recall. We’d have been too afraid of getting caught.”

“There’s no one to catch us now,” he deliberately hinted.

“You don’t say.” She stepped towards him, an extra wiggle in her hips. He couldn’t mistake the fact that she remained half-dressed in her jeans, bra and nothing else. She hadn’t opted to dress or cover herself, another good sign.

He sat back and waited.

“So if I were to undress right here, no one would mind?” she asked, becoming a teasing seductress in front of his eyes.

Before he could reply, she tipped her head to one side, and as he watched, she reached for and released the front clasp of her bra.

His breath caught as she slowly shimmied the straps off her shoulders and pulled the cups away so her full breasts were bare, and he was drooling.

“I sure as hell don’t mind,” he said, awed by her rounded breasts, flat stomach and sense of confidence, all of which turned him on.

“Then this won’t bother you either.” She unsnapped the button on her jeans and lowered the zipper.

He swallowed hard.

Hands at her hips, she eased the waistband down. He didn’t know where to focus first, the expanse of pale skin on her stomach or the blonde triangle of hair she slowly revealed when she’d hooked her thumbs into her underwear and drawn them down, too.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said, shocked he could formulate a coherent sentence.

She smiled.

Surely this physical trust had to mean he’d made more headway in breaching her barriers than he’d thought. If not, he was going to be one miserable son of a bitch in the morning.

But damn he’d enjoy tonight.

He reached for her, but she playfully smacked at his hand. “No touching until we’re equally at risk of being caught naked,” she said, laughing.

“If you’re asking me to strip, no problem.” He grabbed for the fly on his jeans, which had grown way too tight, but she stopped him with one hand.