of her spine, the soft fullness of her bottom. “That feels good,” she whispered, and wriggled closer.
He scooped her up, into his lap, her thigh pressed against his rock-hard erection. He felt seventeen again, hot and horny, and desperate for relief.
But at seventeen he hadn’t known what he did now. That there was pleasure in waiting, in making the moment last and letting the desire build.
She pulled at the knot of his tie, loosening it enough to undo the top two buttons of his shirt. A shiver raced through him as her fingernails grazed his chest. “Do you like that?” she murmured.
“Yeah, I do.”
She laughed, a throaty chuckle, and nipped at his ear-lobe while she unfastened another button and slid her hand all the way inside his shirt, down toward his stomach.
He pulled her more tightly against him, trying to keep her from going farther. He couldn’t believe he was so turned on, so quickly. If she kept this up, he was liable to embarrass himself, and he hadn’t done that since he was a kid.
When she tried to protest, he silenced her with a kiss, then trailed more kisses down the satin column of her neck to the tops of her breasts. A breathy moan escaped her as he traced the curve of her cleavage with his tongue and his erection jerked in response. He buried his face between her breasts and inhaled deeply. Her perfumed woman fragrance flooded every nerve with awareness of her.
He slid his tongue beneath the fabric of her dress and found the hard bud of her nipple. She moaned again as he began to lick her and he brought his free hand up her leg, to the silk edge of her panties. He smiled, glad to see he wasn’t the only one turned on so quickly. She was soaking wet and ready for him.
As he stroked her, she arched toward him, silently begging for more. He hesitated only a second before laying her back on the table and reaching down to undo his fly.
TAYLOR HAD NEVER IMAGINED that a man she hadn’t seen in ten years would be able to make her lose control so quickly. As he kissed and caressed her, every atom in her ached for him. All the doubts and fear she’d battled when she’d walked into the reunion gave way to a flood of want and need. She wanted Dylan to kiss her, to touch her, to stroke her. She needed him inside her in a way she had never needed anyone before.
She cried out in frustration when his hands left her and opened her eyes to stare up at him accusingly. But then she saw that he was unfastening his belt and she grew quiet. Soon he’d ease this tension building within her.
She sat up, intending to hurry him along, but froze as someone spoke. “Do you think anyone will see us?” a woman asked.
“Nah. There’s nobody back here,” assured a man.
Taylor grabbed Dylan’s hand and stared at him, her heart racing. He helped her to sit up again and together they stared into the darkness behind them.
Shoes crunched on gravel. A woman giggled and the man rumbled an answer. Taylor thought she could make out two darker shadows moving toward them and then away. The voices faded and the air around them hummed with silence.
Dylan began buttoning his shirt again. “That was close,” he murmured.
She smoothed her dress, avoiding looking at him. “There’s one thing I forgot to mention. As a teacher, I have to be somewhat discreet.” She slanted a glance at him. “Although, since I’m going away, I suppose it doesn’t matter so much for me. But there’s your reputation to consider. We’d have to be careful.”
“How are you going to manage that if we’re supposed to be reenacting all those things we were accused of? I seem to recall some supposedly public spectacles.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Then you still want to go through with this?”
Was that doubt she heard in his voice? She turned to him, wishing she could see him more clearly in the darkness. “Don’t you?”
“Sure. But I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“You won’t.” She put her hand on his arm. “Thanks for helping me.”
He smiled. “It’s not exactly charity work. I intend to enjoy myself, too.”
Her stomach fluttered and she resisted the urge to grin like an idiot. No sense reading more into this than there was. “Yes, but I’m asking you to give up your normal social life and put yourself at my disposal for a few weeks.”
“Or months.” He smoothed his hand down her arm. “That doesn’t sound like such a bad deal to me.”
“Good.” She smiled and reached out to straighten his tie. “Then why don’t you meet me at my place in half an hour and we’ll get started?”
3
WAS THIS THE CRAZIEST thing he’d ever done—or the smartest? Dylan couldn’t decide as he followed the directions Taylor had given him to her house. He didn’t know how smart it was to agree to a no-strings-attached affair with a woman he hadn’t seen in ten years. Then again, he’d be crazy to turn down the chance to finally bed the woman he’d fantasized about for the past decade.
He found the restored bungalow Taylor rented in the middle of the block in an older section of town. He drove to the end of the street and parked in front of a shuttered minimart, then walked back up to the house. This time of night, the neighborhood was dark and silent. The still-warm evening air smelled of grass clippings and late-blooming roses. But when he brought his hand to his nose, he could smell Taylor, her spicy cologne and musky arousal, and he felt himself grow hard again.
He hurried along, his boot heels ringing on the sidewalk, echoing the rapid pounding of his heart. He felt the same edgy desire mingled with nervousness that he’d last experienced in high school, when he’d sometimes sneak into his girlfriend’s house after her parents had gone to bed.
As he passed the house next to Taylor’s, a dog began to bark. Great. All he needed was to have someone call and report him to police as a prowler. It’s all right, Officer. I can explain. You see I was on my way to meet a woman to do all the things everyone thought we did in high school. Why? Uh, because we can?
For some reason revisiting the past like this was important to Taylor and he was willing to go along with it. Maybe that made him crazy. Or very, very lucky.
The porch light cast a golden glow over her front door. He walked up the steps and raised his hand to knock, but the door swung inward before his hand met wood. Taylor smiled up at him, relief in her eyes. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t show up.”
“I stopped off for a few things.” He put his hand in his pocket and felt the packets of condoms.
“Come on in.” She held the door open wider. She was still wearing the formfitting black dress, but she’d taken off her shoes. Barefoot, she looked more vulnerable. More like the girl he’d known in school.
He moved past her and she switched off the porch light. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No thanks.” He stood in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, looking everywhere but at her. The furniture was elegant and feminine—dark
