“No hidden desires to be onstage, pretending to be someone else? No longing to hear the thunder of applause in your ears?”
“No. I’m quite content to sit quietly in the audience. I’ll buy a ticket for your production, Jamie—even if Earlene Smithee plays the ingenue—but I won’t do any acting.”
“Pity,” she said with an exaggerated sigh, reaching up to trail her fingertips along his firm jawline. “I have a feeling that gorgeous, sexy leading men will be in short supply around here.”
She was satisfied to see a faint color tinge his skin. He reached up to catch her hand. “You’re trying to embarrass me again, aren’t you?”
“And succeeding, apparently.”
He gave a quick, unexpected tug on her wrist that brought her up against him. “What does it take to make you blush, Jamie Flaherty?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “But you’re welcome to try.”
“I’ve always been one to enjoy a challenge,” he said against her lips. And then smothered her taunting reply with his mouth.
8
WHATEVER THEY’D been talking about completely left Jamie’s mind. The lunch Trevor had brought with him no longer held her interest. She was ravenous—but not for sandwiches.
He slid his hands down her back, slowly, pressing her more closely against him. It didn’t take her long to realize she wasn’t the only one with needs more urgent than food.
She slid her arms around his neck and parted her lips for him, inviting him to deepen the kiss—which he did, thoroughly. The cropped, olive-green top she wore with her khaki cargo shorts had ridden up when she lifted her arms, baring an expanse of skin at her midriff. Trevor took full advantage of the opportunity to explore. His palms were deliciously warm against the skin of her back. She could only imagine how good they would feel on the rest of her.
“Jamie,” he muttered against her lips, his voice rough. “We’d better stop this if we’re going to eat lunch.”
“Stop what?” She moved very slightly as she spoke, the lightest brush of her breasts against his chest.
He groaned. “That.”
She nipped at his chin, savoring the spicy taste of him, enjoying the quiver of reaction that ran through him. “This?”
His hands gripped her hips, as if he intended to push her away. Instead, he pulled her closer, bringing her more snugly against him. “You’re playing with fire, Jamie.”
“Are you warning me that I might get burned?”
“Maybe I’m more concerned that you’ll burn me,” he muttered, his lips moving over the soft skin behind her ear.
Her heart was beating so hard now that she felt almost as though she should raise her voice to be heard above it. And yet her words came out as little more than a husky whisper. “Maybe we’ll burn together.”
He shifted, and she found herself lifted against his chest, her feet dangling two inches above the floor. She looked into his face and saw that the humor was gone. His eyes glittered, and his cheekbones seemed suddenly more prominent, evidence of the tension that gripped him. “I can’t joke about this.”
Holding his gaze with her own, she said absolutely seriously, “What makes you think I’m joking?”
The moment seemed to last a very long time. Breaths were held. Limbs quivered. And then Trevor lowered her slowly to her feet, letting her slide down him, and covered her mouth with a kiss so perfect, so special that it brought a lump to her throat.
She hadn’t intended to give him her heart. It was the only part of herself she had planned to hold back. But damn if he hadn’t slipped through her defenses and stolen it, anyway.
She’d been infatuated with Trevor McBride when she was fifteen. A lot of things had changed since then, but her feelings for Trevor felt very much the same. Maybe they were even more serious now that she was mature enough to understand how very much was at stake.
She’d had so little to offer him then. He’d been the golden boy—with so much ahead of him, so little lacking in his life. But things were different now. She sensed a deep need in him—an aching hole—and she thought she just might have what he needed now. At least for a while.
The tender kiss finally ended. Jamie reached up to cup his face between her hands. She smiled tenderly when she asked, “What do you want now? Sandwiches or sex?”
He gave a quick, startled laugh, his grim expression suddenly easing. “Damn it, Jamie.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Was that an answer or just an expletive?”
Though her hands still rested on his face, he shook his head. “How can you look so completely serious when you say things like that?”