Baily's Irish Dream: Baily's Irish Dream / Czech Mate. Stephanie Doyle
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Название: Baily's Irish Dream: Baily's Irish Dream / Czech Mate
Автор: Stephanie Doyle
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы
isbn: 9781474025768
isbn:
“They should have stayed dead until everybody left,” Daniel complained like a kid who was disappointed to learn that there was no Santa Claus. They headed back to their motel, enjoying the fresh air and the view of the mountains in the distance.
“You’re being unrealistic. They would have had to stay under those sheets too long. Besides, they deserved to take their bows just like any other actor,” Baily said, answering his compliant, but her mind was elsewhere. Now that the gunfight was over there was nothing to prevent them from returning to their tiny room. Maybe it had gotten bigger in the past few hours.
They reached the door of their motel room. Both were clearly reluctant to go inside. “If this were a date,” Baily noted, “this is where I would say thank you for a lovely evening.”
“It was a nice night, wasn’t it?” Daniel seemed slightly stunned. He couldn’t recall a date when he’d had as much simple fun. Innocent pleasure. This must be what it felt like to be a boy on a first date. Daniel was sure he must have felt this way before. If he had, it was too long ago to remember. This night, however, he didn’t think he would ever forget.
It was almost perfect. Almost. “You know if this were a date,” Daniel continued, “and you did have a nice time like you said you did, it wouldn’t be such a horrible thing if I asked for a kiss. Would it?”
“Daniel, I already told you that I can’t—” Baily started.
Daniel put two fingers against her lips to stop her excuses. “One kiss, Red. One kiss, then we’ll call it quits, go to bed, and never bring any of this up again.”
She couldn’t refuse him one kiss. She couldn’t refuse herself one kiss, either. Tilting her head slightly, she allowed him to press his lips against hers. First he was gentle, tugging at her lips with his own. Then he was playful, darting his tongue out to caress her lips and the seam between them. Then he was bold, pushing his body against hers until her back was pressed against the door and her arms had no place to go except around him. His tongue plunged into her mouth, conquering her with his intensity.
She tasted him and he was wonderful. She knew he tasted her, as well, and groaned with the thought of it. Baily could only hope that she was as pleasing to him as he was to her. Every good intention she ever had was about to fly out the window because she couldn’t remember the name of the person she was having those good intentions for.
Daniel chose that moment to end the kiss. He practically had to rip his lips off hers. For a moment they looked at each other and felt their chests beat against each other as their lungs struggled for breath. Baily wanted to tell him to forget Howard, or Harold, or whatever his name was and take her right there against the door hard and fast and so deep that she would never forget it.
Instead she said, “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow,” Daniel repeated. Then he backed off, leaving her arms empty. “A deal’s a deal.” He took the key from her hand, opened the door, and went inside.
Numb, Baily could only stare at the open door.
5
“ARE YOU ASLEEP?” The soft question filled the dark room. Even Miss Roosevelt, who was sleeping soundly on Daniel’s chest, pricked up her ears.
“No,” he replied with resignation. How the hell was he supposed to sleep with a cat on his chest and a woman’s soft lips on his mind? He told himself a hundred times that he could have taken her, should have taken her. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. Her lips said as much even if her words did not. But he had done the right thing. He’d let her go and denied both of them what could have been the sexual experience of their lives. Why had he done that?
“You were a real gentlemen earlier,” she said somewhat forlornly.
“Thanks.”
It wasn’t necessarily a compliment. She had rather hoped that he would have proven to be an absolute cad. She would have been seduced against her will, forced to make love with the man, and it would have been beyond her control. No guilt. All pleasure.
Instead he’d gone and ruined everything by listening to her.
Baily smiled at her own silly thoughts. Daniel wasn’t to blame; she was. She was the one who put up the hands-off sign. At the time, she had meant every word of it. It was only when he’d started kissing her that things had gotten a little hazy. Fortunately, he’d had the willpower to break away before things had gotten out of hand. And it was fortunate, she told herself firmly. She was too close to reaching her goal and fulfilling her dream of creating a family to be thwarted by something as trivial and transient as desire.
Oh, yeah, he had all the willpower. Baily, however, had needed a good five minutes to recover before she could even walk through the door. Daniel, already out of the bathroom, had snuggled into bed. Miss Roosevelt, evidently having forgiven him for his previous attack on her mistress, had huddled into a ball on top of him. Traitor.
It was the first time Baily could ever remember being jealous of a cat. And what made it worse was that Miss Roosevelt had gaped at her mistress as if she were crazy to pass up the opportunity to snuggle with Daniel. Evidently, he was a very good snuggler.
Now in the wee hours of the morning, Baily was feeling restless and very unsnuggled. It was only right that Daniel share in her insomnia. “So you can’t sleep, either,” she said, stating the obvious.
As if he could have slept with her only one foot and eleven inches away from him. Did she think he was made of stone? He hadn’t been able to close his eyes let alone sleep. Every time he did, he saw flaming red hair. Red hair spread out against a white pillow. Red hair clutched between his fingers. The only way he knew to prevent the erotic, ungentleman-like dreams that would surely come if he slept, was to stay awake.
Awake was no picnic, either. Awake, he heard her soft breathing, imagined the rise and fall of her chest, imagined her soft, full, and well-kissed lips parted ever so slightly. No, awake wasn’t any easier than asleep was, and now Red had just made it harder by informing him that she was having as much difficulty sleeping as he was.
“I see you’re having the same problem,” Daniel noted with a hint of smugness. The way he saw it, her suffering was of her own making. She was the one who’d established the rules.
“Yes, and it’s all your fault,” Baily snipped. She was tired and frustrated, feeling lustful and guilty all at the same time. If he hadn’t kissed her, she’d be snoozing sounder than Theodora right now. It was definitely all his fault.
“My fault! The way I see it, Red, this is all your fault,” he informed her, amazed at her audacity to blame him.
“My fault!” she exclaimed. “You’re the one who kissed me.”
“And you’re the one who said I couldn’t do anything more than kiss you. That’s why we’re both frustrated. I’m a gentleman, remember.” Daniel taunted her with her own words.
“I said you couldn’t do any kissing before you kissed me,” she retorted. “Then you kissed me, anyway. That’s why we’re both frustrated. Now that I think of it, you’re СКАЧАТЬ