“You’ll be comfortable, then?” She imagined his master suite at Bullseye was pretty spectacular given what she’d seen of his living room.
“Very comfortable.” He circled the bed and stared out the French doors. “So where do you sleep?”
He asked the question with no particular inflection, but her body reacted as if he’d swept her into his arms. She shoved her hands into her back pockets to conceal their trembling and put on her game face. She’d get nowhere with him if he noticed how easily he could provoke her.
“I’ll show you.”
Cringing at the thought of inviting him into her personal space, Brandee nevertheless led the way back down the hall and past the kitchen. When she’d worked with the architect, she insisted the master suite be isolated from the guest rooms. Passing her home office, Brandee gestured at it as she went by and then strode into her private sanctuary. It wasn’t until Shane stood in the middle of her space, keen eyes taking in every detail, that she realized the magnitude of her mistake.
It wasn’t that giving him a glimpse of her bedroom might clue him in to what made her tick. Or even that she’d imagined him making love to her here. It was far worse than that. She discovered that she liked having him in her space. She wanted to urge him into one of the chairs that faced her cozy fireplace and stretch out in its twin with her bare feet on his lap, letting him massage the aches from her soles with his strong fingers.
“Nice.”
Apparently this was his go-to word for all things related to decorating. She chuckled, amusement helping to ease her anxiety.
Shane shot her a questioning look. “Did I miss something?”
“You must drive your mother crazy.”
“How so?”
“She loves to decorate. I imagine she’s asked your opinion a time or two. Tonight, your reaction to every room we’ve been in has been—” she summoned up her best Shane imitation “—nice.” Her laughter swelled. “I’m imagining you doing that to your mother. It’s funny.”
“Obviously.” He stared at her as if he didn’t recognize her. But after a moment, his lips relaxed into a smile. “I’ll make an effort to be more specific from now on.”
“I’m sure your mother will appreciate that.”
Deciding they’d spent more than enough time in her bedroom, Brandee headed toward the door. As she passed Sh
ane, he surprised her by catching her arm and using her momentum to swing her up against his body.
“Hey!” she protested even as her traitorous spine softened beneath his palm and her hips relaxed into his.
“Hey, what?” He lowered his lips to her temple and murmured, “I’ve been waiting too many years to kiss you. Don’t you think it’s time you put me out of my misery?”
She should’ve expected he’d make his move as soon as possible, and should’ve been prepared to deflect his attempt to seduce her. Instead, here she was, up on her toes, flattening her breasts against the hard planes of his chest and aching for that kiss he so obviously intended to take.
“I’m going to need a couple glasses of wine to get me in the mood,” she told him, stroking her fingers over his beefy shoulders and into the soft brown waves that spilled over his collar.
“You don’t need wine. You have me.” His fingers skimmed the sensitive line where her back met her butt, sending lightning skittering along her nerve endings.
She trembled with the effort of keeping still. Seizing her lower lip between her teeth, she contained a groan, but the urge to rub herself all over him was gaining momentum. She needed to decide the smart move here, but couldn’t think straight.
Summoning all her willpower, she set her hands on his chest and pushed herself away. “It’s not going to happen, Delgado.”
Shane raked both hands through his hair, but his grin was unabashed and cocky. “Tonight or ever?”
“Tonight.” Lying to him served no purpose.
Given the seesaw of antagonism and attraction, she couldn’t imagine them lasting two weeks without tearing each other’s clothes off, but she refused to tumble into bed with him right off the bat.
“Fair enough.”
Brandee led the way back into the main part of the house and toward the kitchen. When she’d made this wager, she hadn’t thought through what sharing her home with Shane would entail. She hadn’t lived with anyone since she’d run away from her mother’s house twelve years earlier. Realizing she would have to interact with him in such close quarters threw her confidence a curve ball.
“I’m going to open a bottle of wine. Do you want to join me or can I get you something else?” She opened the refrigerator. “I have beer. Or there’s whiskey.”
“I’ll have wine. It wasn’t an I-could-use-a-beer sort of day.”