Jill Shalvis - Out Of The Blue

In all the excitement, she’d completely forgotten her own state of undress. He sounded a little unraveled when he said, “You’d better get covered, too.”

Laughing nervously, she grabbed the sheet and wrapped herself in it, wondering if it was too late to get back on task, wondering how to get close enough to kiss him.

“I’ll gather my things,” he said. “I’ll sleep downstairs somewhere until morning.”

“No, that’s—”

“Yes.” His voice was suspiciously husky. His eyes were dark, his mouth grim, and he purposely avoided looking at her. “I’d better go now. Um...Hannah?” He sounded hard pressed for air as she got out of the bed. “The sheet, it’s not quite covering...”

She craned her neck and saw that he was right, she hadn’t managed to cover her backside. She was giving him quite a show of panties, which never seemed to stay in place. “Oh!” Grace under pressure. She had no choice. She jerked the sheet around her and took a step toward the bathroom where she would hopefully disappear into thin air.

But true to form, she tripped and fell flat on her face.

Zach rushed around the bed, and before she could so much as take a breath, she was scooped against that wonderfully hard, sleek chest she’d so admired.

“You okay?”

Aside from being a bumbling idiot...yeah, she was just dandy. “I’m fine.”

“Okay, then.” And he withdrew those arms, though his gaze lingered a bit where the sheet dipped down, revealing the top of her lacy chemise. “I’m sorry about intruding,” he said.

“It’s not your fault.” She stared at his jaw which was almost within reach of her mouth. If she could just lean in and connect...

But he turned his head away so that he was no longer looking at her. “I was really asleep,” he said. “Really out of it.”

She could see that was true, his exhaustion was palpable, and guilt filled her. “I know.” She felt a twinge of shame at her deception, and at not being totally honest with him. “This isn’t the way our guests are usually treated.”

He looked at her then, his gaze filled with all the heat and longing she’d hoped for.

She’d done it!

Then he let her go and stood. “I don’t exactly feel mistreated.” With a tight smile, he walked out of the bedroom.

* * *

“BE HOME, BE HOME,” Hannah prayed silently, huddling on the edge of her bathtub, gripping her cordless phone close to her ear.

Her other ear strained for any hint of movement beyond the bathroom door, which she’d shut herself behind for a moment of privacy.

She had no idea what Zach was doing out there, but she certainly didn’t want him to hear this.

“What?” came the very welcome, very irritated sound of her brother’s voice.

“Thank God you’re there,” she whispered into the phone.

“Of course I’m here, it’s three in the morning on this side of the country. “What’s the matter? You okay?”

“I’m fine. I need...information.”

“Now?”

She glanced at the closed door, behind which was Zach, sexiest man on earth, wearing nothing but jeans and attitude. “Right now.”

“Okay, make it good. I have to work at six. As in three hours.”

“It’s...about...” She let out a long breath. “This is difficult.”

Michael was a few years older than her. He’d gone to school with Zach. They’d been fast friends, and together had caused more than a few mothers to bite their nails to the quick. If anyone knew how to create a seduction, it would be Michael. “Listen, I need to know how to...” Just say it. “Seduce a man.”

Utter silence.

“Michael?”

“I couldn’t possibly have heard you correctly.”

“I think you probably did.”

He swore. “Okay, let’s pretend it’s perfectly normal for you to ask that of me, I’d like to know why you want to seduce someone. Now. After snubbing your nose at men for years.”

“Because I’ve matured?”

“You’ve always been mature.”

“Okay, then because I just realized what I was missing.”

“Hannah. Seriously. Why?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Humor me.”

She sighed and took another glance at the closed door, hoping Zach couldn’t hear her. “I don’t want to be a virgin anymore,” she whispered.

There. She’d said it. “Now will you help me or not?”

“Hannah—” He swore again, and she imagined him sitting up in bed, hair as wild as hers, frustrated because he couldn’t strangle her. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“So you don’t know how to do it either.” Disappointment hit her like a wave. Now what?

A choked sound came over the phone. “Oh, I know how to seduce someone,” Michael assured her. “I’m just not sure I want you to know.”

“Karrie told me all I have to do is flash skin, then kiss him, then flash more skin. That’s all. But it didn’t quite work, and now I’m wondering if—”

“Wait a second. Back the train up. You flashed some guy skin?”

“I tried,” she admitted miserably.

“Who, Hannah?” He sounded tense. “Who is this you’re attempting to seduce? And why now, all of a sudden, are you tired of being a...a—”

“A virgin, ” she hissed. “See? You can’t even say it, you must understand why I don’t want to be it!”

“Okay, look. I’ve got some time coming. I’ll fly in for the weekend, we can talk—”

“No!” God, that was the last thing she needed right now, her big brother going all big brother on her. “Can’t you just tell me where I went wrong?”

“Hannah—”

“ Please, Michael,” she whispered, suddenly, ridiculously close to tears. “I have to do this. I want to do this. I just need a...a tip. That’s all.”

He let out a long, slow breath. “I can be there in a few days—”

“No.”

“I want to discuss this with you—”

“No. Either give me a tip or go back to bed.”

“Use a condom,” he said through his teeth. “Promise me.”

“Done.”

“Okay. What Karrie said.” He sounded strained. “It should work. God. I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but despite what women think, we...men like a little romance too. Music, candles... Dammit, this is so stupid—”

“No, it isn’t!” Excitement and renewed hope filled her. “I have candles—” She broke off at the knock at the bathroom door.

Then came Zach’s low, unbearably sexy voice. “Hannah?”

“Thanks, Michael,” she said quickly. “I’ve got to go.”

“Hannah, wait—”

“Love you.” She disconnected, stared at the door, chewing on her bottom lip.

Romance. Music. Candles.

She could do that.

“I CAN’T LET YOU sleep on your own couch,” Zach said firmly, for the third time. “Take your bed. I’ll be fine downstairs.”

“Oh, Zach. No. Not when this is all my fault. But it’s only because I—” Hannah looked at him, her eyes half closed, with soft shadows beneath them. She held herself in a way that told him she was every bit as tired as he was.

No wonder. It was well past midnight and she’d probably been on her feet since early that morning, serving people, running around and taking care of the inn.

“Come on,” he said quietly. “Time for sleep.”

“Only if you stay here.”

“On your couch.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Both of them stood in her bedroom, staring at the bed in question, which was still a little mussed from Zach’s first attempt at sleeping.

It was a vivid reminder of how Hannah had slid into it with him, how he’d come fully awake with her sprawled beneath him, locked in his arms.

She was dressed now, having hastily thrown her clothes back on, but she hadn’t been dressed then, and he knew he’d never forget how she’d looked wearing nothing but a few scraps of silk. Or the way she’d looked at him, devouring him with her eyes as if she’d never seen anything like him.

It’d been a long time since he’d felt that hard, fast shock of arousal, but he’d certainly felt it then, even as out of it as he’d been.

Hell, he still felt it.

Quickly, he glanced at her, wondering if she had any of the same thoughts racing through her mind.

It was hard to tell, since she wouldn’t meet his gaze no matter how he craned his neck.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t very in tune to women, at least at the moment. Living undercover as he had, within a tough crowd of gangbangers and basically the scum of the earth, he hadn’t even been in close proximity to a woman in a long time.

Too long to possibly guess how to handle this.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t mind going downstairs.”

“I’m positive.” She flashed him a shaky smile, and moved over to her dresser. With a smile still pasted on her face, she lit a match and held it to the first of three candles she had there. “I mean we’re both adults, right?” She lit the second candle, then shot him another smile. “There’s no reason we can’t both— Ouch!” She dropped the now burned-out match and brought her fingers to her mouth. “It’s nothing,” she said before he could move toward her. “Do you like candles, Zach?”

Zach figured he must have missed something in his exhaustion, because he definitely hadn’t followed her train of thought from the bed to candles. But there was no missing her nervousness. He lifted her chin with his fingers, planning on gently telling her to relax, that he would take the couch, and she the bed, and they could both get some desperately needed sleep.

But at the feel of her soft skin, the strangest thing happened. Something close to an electric current jolted him, only it wasn’t painful. No, it was much worse than that, it was...nice. Warm.

Which made it very dangerous.

He wasn’t looking for nice and warm. He wasn’t looking for a woman to stare up at him as Hannah was, with wonder and awareness.

Hell, all he’d been looking for was a bed. Okay, and maybe a woman, but someone else, someone...temporary. Hannah wasn’t a temporary woman, she was his sister’s friend, a woman who would always be around in some form or another because of that. That didn’t equal temporary, not in his book.

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