If You Dare Read Online Free Page A

drink.
    “Your sister might have mentioned some of the people who will be here tonight. She’s a regular when she’s not working.”
    “She’s mentioned a few. I think she thought I might have something in common with your friend Keith since he teaches too.”
    For now the flirt was gone, but Joe wasn’t about to let the comment simply pass. “You know, when I was in school they didn’t make teachers like you.”
    She laughed. “Where I come from lawyers like you are nothing but myth.”
    He handed her the margarita and watched as she took a sip, remembering their earlier kiss and the way it damn near overwhelmed him. “I’m no myth, Cordelia. I’m about as real as they come and right now it’s taking every bit of my will power to stay over here.”
    He watched as she stopped mid-drink to send him a scorching glance from hooded eyes. “Who’s asking you to be super man, Joe?”
    That did it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. She could take all that anticipation BS and toss it out the window.  
    He reached her in five steps. Deliberately, he took her glass and set it on the counter. “I don’t know what’s going on here, Cordelia. But I just can’t seem to help myself.” And then he quit talking and let his lips finish the rest of what needed saying.
    As their lips met, he lifted her and set her on the sink counter. Stepping between her legs, he pushed her hair back and settled in for one hell of an all-bets-are-off-you-and-me-here-and-now kiss. The kind of kiss he knew she could never mistake for anything other than one hundred percent pure we’re getting naked later.  
    In that moment all thoughts of the party disappeared. All that mattered was them and now and everything else could just be damned.  
    And she responded just the same. Her tongue matched his thrust for thrust, and when he lowered his mouth to sample the skin below her chin he heard her moan, felt her press against him.
    Enough waiting. He’d imagined this all day, and he was taking this moment for all he could. Reaching up he ever so slowly pushed the bikini strap off her right shoulder and down her arm.
    He followed the path of material with his mouth, working his way little by little closer and closer to the cleavage that he’d fantasized over all day.
    He could tell by her short intakes of breath, her almost soundless whispers of yes, yes, yes, that she’d developed a clear appreciation for his kind of anticipation.
    With almost reverent movement, he lowered his fingers one at a time to the top edge of her swimsuit and stopped, drawing out the moment, taking in everything. Her closed eyes and parted lips, her inky hair brushing against his skin, the way the green sarong parted and showed long, muscular legs that practically glowed under the fluorescent kitchen lights. The way she looked ready for him, right this second, sitting on his stainless steel sink counter.  
    Against his fingers, her skin felt silky soft and he wanted to feel its every inch.
    And he might’ve had the chance if the doorbell hadn’t rung at just that second.
    Exhaling sharply, he leaned his head against her neck and closed his eyes as she sat up instantly with a breathlessly muttered “Oh good grief.”  
    At least she sounded as exasperated as he felt.  
    After stepping back, Joe settled both hands around her bare waist and lifted her back to the floor. “Don’t despair. The party will end eventually. And when it does, we will definitely take care of unfinished business.”
    For all his talk, Joe knew he couldn’t just stand there looking at her or the door would go unanswered. Thinking about what waited for them later left him wanting to know the feel of that soft skin of hers on freshly washed sheets. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to lose himself inside her.
    Her thoughts must’ve been running along the same lines because she took a deep cleansing breath and pushed him away.
    For a second she stood there looking at him with a