Tough Luck (A-List Security 1)

“How is offering me…driving lessons different?” Keeping up with Daniel’s brand of logic made my brain cramp.

“That’s me giving you a different kind of space.” He made an expansive gesture. “Space to explore. Being patient about whatever pace you need. Giving you room to make mistakes.”

I had to cough again. “Not making me feel great about my performance, Danny.”

“Oh, hush.” He lightly pushed at my shoulder. “Your performance got us both off in under ten minutes. Win.”

“Win,” I echoed weakly. “Was it really that fast? Felt like hours to me.”

“Yup. And now you see why I need a repeat stat. My only complaint is that I want more. But seriously, someday you’re going to want to be a decent boyfriend. I’m easy to please. I’m the perfect practice dummy.”

“You’re not a dummy.” I gave him a stern look. Boyfriend. That was a whole different solar system from the one I currently occupied. I wasn’t sure what that would even look like, let alone what being good at it would mean. But I did want to please Daniel. He wanted more. I wanted more. And I couldn’t deny being curious as hell about what more would be like. I could use some help filling in my imagination gaps. “You really want to fool around with me again?”

“Uh-huh. Badly.” His gaze swept over me, and he sighed like I was a big slice of chocolate cake he wasn’t allowed to have. “Say the word, and I’ll be on you like the moss on those rocks.”

“Word.”

His lower lip came out. “Come on. I’m serious here.”

“Maybe I am too.”

Chapter Seventeen

Cash

It was surprisingly fun messing with Daniel.

“Oh.” His mouth made a perfect circle. He blinked, his doubletake so comically obvious I had to laugh.

I was still laughing when he sprang into motion. All one hundred sixty-five pounds of him launched at me. I had twenty years of hand-to-hand combat training and about a dozen ways to safely deflect him, and I still let him knock the wind out of me and topple me over. My hat went skidding across the blanket to land near our half-eaten sandwiches.

“Wow. That was easy.” He grinned down at me.

“I’m getting soft in retirement,” I fake grumbled.

“Soft is definitely not what you’re getting.” Straddling my waist, he rocked against me for emphasis. Electricity zoomed up my spine and down to my balls, and that was all it took to be fully hard. And so was he. Damn. Ten minutes might be a generous estimate as to my staying power.

“None of that.” Careful to not hit his head, I deftly reversed our positions.

“Oh.” His nose wrinkled. “You kind of let me win, didn’t you? I don’t even know how you flipped me that smoothly.”

“Practice.” It was my turn to grin. Later I’d have to sort out why I agreed to his silly plan. Later. Right then was for smiling, and if I was an idiot for even entertaining this idea, well, at least I was going to have fun being stupid for once in my life. “Lots of practice.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ve got your practice right here. Kiss me.” Even pinned by my greater size, Daniel still managed to have the upper hand. He bucked upward, intent clear.

“Here?” A breeze ruffled my hair. “We’re outdoors. And it’s the middle of the day.”

“Newsflash, Cash. People have sex during daylight hours. And we’re alone on private property, right? Just us and the birds.”

I didn’t want to confess that my sum total of experience involved very late-night ill-advised decisions. “Uh-huh.”

“We’re safe, right?” He’d pitched his voice to be reassuring, but there was enough uncertainty there to make me bend down and give him a quick kiss.

“We’re safe.” I did feel safe with him, maybe more than I’d ever felt with another person. My jumble of emotions remained terrifying, but somehow, he made it safe to poke at the pile, explore things I’d buried from myself. Funny because his brother was one hundred going to kill me, but right then, I was safe, and all I wanted was to kiss him again, so I did.

I moved so I was more lying next to him rather than pinning him to the picnic blanket. The night before had been a wild bronco ride, an overwhelming rush of sensations, one on top of the other. Now, I forced myself to take my time, little kisses, soft explorations. However, Daniel was having none of my measured pace, using a leg to drag me closer and meeting me kiss for kiss.

Each time our lips met, my heart pounded harder, and tremors kept racing through me like I was freezing and burning at the same time. Feverish. That was it. I wanted him so badly, and I didn’t ever want to be cured, wanted to wallow in the way every sense felt more alive. The air was crisper, sky bluer, the scent of moss and his shampoo stronger, and his moans louder.