Vicki Thompson - Pure Temptation & Old Enough to Know Better - Pure Temptation / Old Enough To Know Better

“And what?” He started the truck and switched on the air-conditioning. “You’re letting a guilty conscience run away with you. They aren’t the least bit suspicious of us being together.” He backed out of the parking space and headed down the street toward her house.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. You saw the way Mrs. Bellweather patted me and told me I was a good boy.”

Tess glanced over at him. “And is that what you intend to be?”

He pulled up at the town’s only stoplight and gave her a look that threatened to fry her circuits. “Depends on your definition.”

* * *

STAY COOL, MAC told himself. He was supposed to be the experienced stud, the one who knew the score. If he gripped the wheel tightly enough, Tess wouldn’t know that his hands were shaking. And if she noticed he was sweating, then he’d blame it on the hundred-degree temperature.

The reaction they’d gotten at the Nugget had convinced him of one thing—nobody would suspect that he and Tess had progressed to more than friends for the same reason he’d taken so long to come around to the idea. It was totally out of character for both of them. Even the Blakely brothers wouldn’t guess, if he and Tess could keep from tipping them off.

But oh, God, what had he done? His whole world was turning upside down. If Tess agreed, then they would become lovers this summer, assuming he didn’t turn out to be like his old dog George, who’d been taught to stay out of the living room when he was a puppy and now couldn’t be dragged in there. Mac wasn’t sure how deep his hands-off conditioning ran, but he might find out soon.

He’d already discovered he was more possessive about Tess than he’d ever dreamed. If he made love to her this summer, that possessiveness could get out of control. And he couldn’t allow that, because she was going to New York, and she’d meet other guys there. And that would lead to…he didn’t even want to think about where that would lead. He was setting himself up to go crazy, that’s what he was doing.

But he couldn’t see any other way around the problem.

“Are you really going to take me to my house?” she asked.

He glanced at her. She still hadn’t committed to anything. “Do you want me to?”

“Not really.” She was staring straight ahead, holding on to her little straw purse for dear life. Sunglasses hid her eyes, but her cheeks gave her away. They were the deep pink of the sunset lining the horizon. Her chest rose and fell quickly, making the pearl quiver in the valley where it lay against her golden skin.

The air in the cab grew sweet and thick with desire, until Mac felt as if he could lick it like a cone of soft-serve ice cream. “So you want to take that drive?” His voice was slightly hoarse.

“Yes, but I’ve figured out what we should do. Let’s go to my house and sit in the driveway for a little while, in case anybody notices. Then I’ll get down on the floor of the cab, and we can drive away to…wherever you had in mind.”

Instantly he became aroused. Apparently the old dog would be able to learn new tricks. “All right.”

She still didn’t look at him. “You know, we might not be able to do anything. We might start laughing or something.”

“Laughing’s okay. Laughing usually means you’re having a good time.”

“I mean because we feel ridiculous.”

That hadn’t occurred to him. “Do you think you will? Feel ridiculous?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should pretend you’re someone else.”

“Don’t do that.” The idea incensed him more than it probably should have. “That would be insulting.”

“Okay.”

He pulled into her driveway and glanced at her. The pretending statement had him going. “Who would you pretend I was?”

“Nobody, because you don’t want me to.”

“Yeah, but if I didn’t care, who would you superimpose over my face? Brad Pitt?”

She turned to him and took off her sunglasses. “I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. Forget I said anything.”

“Tom Cruise?”

“Mac, I won’t be doing it, so let’s drop the subject.”

He couldn’t drop it. He had to know who she thought was sexy. “Antonio Banderas? Mel Gibson?”

“All of them!” she said, clearly exasperated. “In a rotating sequence! With Leonardo DiCaprio thrown in for good measure! There, are you happy now?”

He stared at her. Good Lord, he was jealous that she’d imagine a movie star making love to her instead of him. He was in big trouble. “Sorry,” he said. “Feel free to imagine anybody you want.”

She looked at him as if he’d gone around the bend, which was pretty much true. “Okay.”

“Just don’t tell me about it.”

“If you say so. But if you’ve never tried it, you might want to reconsider. Some men get very turned on by hearing their partner’s fantasies about other men.”

“Somehow I don’t think I’d fall into that category.”

“If you say so,” she repeated. She seemed to be relaxing, if her superior little smile was any evidence. It was the kind of smile that told him she didn’t think he had the foggiest notion what he was talking about.

Maybe he’d have to take a look at those books of hers, after all. She definitely had him at a disadvantage. Sure, he’d glanced through his share of sexy magazines when he was a teenager, but he’d been concentrating on the pictures, not the text. He’d thought he’d be the teacher and she, the student, the way it had been all their lives. The idea that she might know more about sex than he did wasn’t entirely comfortable.

She unsnapped her seat belt. “I guess I’d better get down on the floor of the cab now,” she said.

“Wait a minute. It’s all dirty down there. You’ll mess up your dress.” He opened his door and reached around behind the seat where he always kept a soft blanket. He handed it to her. “Put that down first.”

“I remember this! We used to make a tent with it in your backyard!”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

She arranged it on the floor at her feet. “It’s like meeting an old friend, seeing this blanket again, still so soft and blue. The binding’s getting a little worn, though. What do you use it for, now?”

“Uh…different things.” Suddenly he didn’t want to tell her that he’d made love to several girls on that blanket. He kept it washed and tucked behind his seat to have handy if the weather was nice and the woman in his truck was willing. And now, dumb as it seemed, he felt as if he’d betrayed Tess by using the blanket that way.

She gazed at him. “It’s all right, Mac. I know you’ve had a lot of women.”

He shifted in his seat. “I wouldn’t say I’d had a lot.”

“Then my brothers must be lying. According to them, you’ve been to bed with more women than—”

“Does it matter?” He didn’t like the direction the conversation was taking.

“I guess not. In a way it’s a good thing. You’ve had lots of experience, so I assume you’ll know what to do.”

“And what I don’t know, you’ll be able to teach me.”

She looked at him, eyes narrowed. “You don’t like that idea much, do you, Mac?”

Damn, but she could read him like a book. She was the only woman who’d ever been able to do that. “Hey, I’m always open to new things.”

“I know you. You like to be the one who has all the answers.”

“That’s not true. I can take suggestions as well as the next man.”

“The experts all warn that sex is a sensitive topic, especially for guys. Maybe it would be best if I didn’t mention any of the things I’ve learned. I wouldn’t want to give you a complex.”

That did it. “A complex! Hell, woman, make all the damn suggestions you want! My ego can take it!”