Game On Box Set: Time Out\Her Man Advantage\Face-Off\Body Check Read online

  Until now.

  Had she ever felt so hot for anyone in such a short time as she suddenly felt for Taylor? No. Her relationships followed a certain predictable pattern. A few get-to-know-you dates, some kissing, and usually by then she knew if she wanted the man in her bed or not. Taking her time was important, not only for her personality but for her career. The last thing she needed was for some guy to blab private details to eChat Canada. So, she took her time, made sure she controlled things. All of which left her less likely to end up with a failure on her hands than someone who blundered blindly into relationships.

  Dancing with Taylor, simply dancing with the man on a crowded floor, felt like throwing out all her careful methods and rushing blindly into an affair.

  How had he done it?

  She’d come along thinking they’d fumble around the dance floor, he’d step on her toes or bump into other couples and she’d end up giving him a lesson.

  Instead, she was with this self-assured almost-stranger who had the most amazing body and the most delicious way of touching her. This was a fox-trot, for heaven’s sake, not some dirty-dancing bump-and-grind, but the effect on her senses of moving with him filled her mind with images of the two of them naked and moving together.

  Because this wasn’t dancing. It was foreplay. Somehow this man had gone from being a barely tolerated boor to the sexiest ballroom dancer around.

  Their fellow dancers were an assorted bunch. You could spot right away the older couples who’d been taking dance lessons and liked to show off their moves, and those who came because they liked big-band music, and there were a sprinkling of younger dancers too, out having a good time, taking an old-fashioned dance medium and making it new.

  Taylor’s big body pressed against hers as the floor grew more crowded and she felt the pulse beat of desire grow stronger.

  “Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?” he said softly against her hair. The mere whisper of his breath stirring the tendrils was like an electric charge.

  “Thank you.”

  Their bodies brushed as they moved, she felt the heat coming off him and her skin grew as sensitive as though he were caressing her. She heard her breathing change to the lighter, quicker breaths of arousal. What was wrong with her?

  The music changed to a slow waltz. He twirled her around the floor and she thought how well-suited they were and what a surprise that was.

  When the music ended, she was breathing rapidly and knew it had nothing to do with physical exertion.

  Amid the applause for the band, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I think we’ve got this dancing thing down.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “You want to take a walk?” he asked, suddenly, huskily. She nodded. If he’d asked her to go home to his place and throw off all her clothes she thought she’d have nodded to that too.

  They returned to their table where Taylor threw money down and then took her hand and led her out into the night. The sudden rush of cold air hit her, energizing her.

  There was a current humming between their joined hands that both stimulated and unnerved her. Determined to get some idea of who he was before launching herself into his bed—assuming he was thinking about it as much as she—she marshaled her thoughts.

  Behind them a quartet of Japanese girls giggled and shot each other with digital cameras.

  What exactly did she know about this man her body wanted to jump all over naked, she wondered. Next to nothing.

  Pull yourself together, Becks, she chided herself. Where’s your sense? Stay in control.

  They walked a little farther and she tried to take in the atmosphere of her adopted city at night; the tanker ships in the harbor twinkling with lights, across the water the north shore all lit up and the ski runs of Grouse Mountain stretching like a sparkling necklace. Her heels tapped on the sidewalks and she found this man beside her clogging all her senses.

  He looked, felt, smelled and sounded delicious. She hadn’t tasted him yet, but every part of her knew it wouldn’t be long.

  “Everyone knows about your brother, but nobody knows anything about you,” she said, deciding to come right out and ask. “What’s your story?”

  He glanced down at her and his eyes glistened as they passed under a streetlamp.

  “My story’s still being written,” he said, tightening his hold on her hand ever so slightly. “I hope you’ll be a part of it.”

  Oh, come on. What was she, stupid to fall for this practiced seduction? “That’s not much of an answer.”

  “Oh, I’ll tell you anything. Everything,” he said, running a fingertip down the slope of her cheek. She shivered, feeling the finger trace its path like a single raindrop.

  4

  BECKY LICKED HER LIPS. Tried not to notice the quiver of desire running through her body. “Tell me about your—I don’t know, childhood?”

  His index finger was busy, this time trailing a curve from her left collarbone to her right, leaving a trail of shivery heat in his wake. She could stop him, slap his hand away, well, she could if she had any willpower, but she didn’t. She let herself be toyed with, on a street in downtown Vancouver where any gawker with a pair of eyes could see them. Where any busybody with a digital camera could film them and her little erotic interlude would be uploaded to the internet in minutes.

  She was joking, but he seemed to take her words seriously.

  “My childhood was great. We had a pretty traditional family. My mom worked part-time as a nurse, which was a good thing with all the injuries in our family. Dad worked in forestry. He was a big, strong guy and he loved hockey. We lived on a lake and when it froze, we’d all be out there. He was the one who got us into the sport and I never saw him prouder than the day Jarrad got drafted.”

  He paused for a second. “We lost him a couple years back. A major heart attack. My mom moved to Victoria so she’s not too far away, but not too close either. She still nurses, gets over when she can.

  “I don’t know what else to tell you. I played a lot of hockey, hung out with the guys,” he said, his eyes seeming dark and mysterious in the dim light from the street. “Kind of like now. Except that now, I get to do grown-up things.”

  He stepped closer and her heart jumped. “Like this,” he said softly, maneuvering her into the entrance alcove of an upscale apartment building. “The adult kiss,” he said and covered her mouth with his.

  As his lips touched hers, lust slammed into her, flattening her the way Taylor’s body flattened hers against the thick glass door. She clutched at his shoulders, feeling at once overwhelmed and triumphant. He might be trouble, he might be a little rough around the edges, but she couldn’t stop her attraction to him. Her skin tingled as he pressed against her, her mouth opened under his and he thrust inside with greedy haste but with a finesse that surprised her. Giving in to the inevitable, she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

  This wasn’t an experience she was ever going to forget, she thought dimly as he took her mouth with the kind of fierce focus she imagined he’d bring to his hockey game. And, she hoped, his lovemaking.

  She was so carried away by his truly remarkable kissing, that she was only barely aware of a click and a whir.

  With a startled cry, she fell backward and realized the door had opened and she’d tumbled into the foyer of the apartment building.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered. She glanced around and saw a fountain wall, sleek granite floors, a couple of discreet elevators. She shook her head, trying to rattle her brains back into some semblance of order as the obvious answer to her question hit her. “You live here.”

  “I do.” He kissed her again, deeper this time, longer. Oh, she was lost. “Do you want to come up?”

  Even through the mists of lust she had to wonder at how convenient this all was. He happened to choose a dance place that was only blocks from his home? “Did you plan this?”

  A low chuckle was her answer. “No plan. No. I hoped.” He