Blind Date Disasters & Eat Your Heart Out

7

CAMI THOUGHT she’d have to be tricky to avoid Tanner, but since he avoided her first, she had no trouble at all.

He used loud tools, a loud crew and even louder rock music, and spent every moment doing just his job.

He even avoided Dimi, unknowingly, of course, when she came in after work the next afternoon to steal a snack.

“Not even a courtesy hello,” Dimi whispered to Cami on her way out the door. “I’m late for a date with my mechanic or I’d stay and mess with him to see he paid for that. Do you realize he didn’t even give me the customary you’re-a-loon look?”

“He’s mad at me.”

“Why?”

“Because…well, it’s complicated.”

“Honey, with you it usually is.”

Cami should have been able to explain the truth to Dimi, but since she’d just come to it, and it wasn’t exactly flattering, she held her tongue.

She understood Tanner’s anger and frustration. She really did. And the worst part of it was, he was more right than he could know. Cami did let others railroad her into their wishes. She did it because she knew those wishes would never lead her heart to true happiness, so in a way, it meant she was always safe.

She had no intention of leading her heart to true happiness ever, because she didn’t believe in it.

There. She’d thought it out loud, now she’d deal with it. And Tanner.

Somehow.

He was still ignoring her. No teasing, no hot looks, no discussions that were deep and uncomfortable and oddly exhilarating.

No nothing.

She missed him. Stupid, since she was the one who’d wanted to do the avoiding, dammit. But though she had come to terms with the fact she wouldn’t go for love, ever, she didn’t plan on giving up other joys.

Such as lust.

This was the age of the woman. She could want a man, physically, and have that be it. And though it made no sense whatsoever, she wanted Tanner.

His crew left a few moments before him. Her client-not Mrs. Brown, who’d dumped her like a bad habit after she’d unmanned her son-had left, as well.

Just music and tools to compete with, but Cami hadn’t been a beauty queen in high school for nothing. She knew how to get a man’s attention.

She just didn’t know how to keep it.

Dressed for the part, she slipped out of the bathroom and pulled the plug on his portable CD player. The rock music died.

She also pulled the plug on the orange extension cord that ran down the hallway and disappeared into her bedroom.

Abruptly all was silent.

“What the-” she heard Tanner say, with some colorful words added on the end of that.

Raising her brow, she followed the extension cord and found him standing in the middle of the room, back to her, arms extended over his head, holding a nail gun.

“That’s not funny, Juan,” he said without looking. “Just because you have a hot date and have to leave early, some of us still have work left to do. Plug it back in.”

“It’s not Juan,” Cami told him, fascinated by the play of muscles stretching his T-shirt taut across his back. His arms were pretty nice, too, all damp and tense and straining.

She thought he might have sworn again, softly this time, before slowly lowering the nail gun.

At the sight of her, his eyes flared with heat, stroking her destroyed ego just a bit.

“Hi,” she said, running her hands down her sundress. She’d worn a sundress on both of her dates, but those had been relatively conservative.

Sleeveless, but loose and flowing and flowery.

This sundress was siren red, short as sin and just as snug. So snug, in fact, she hoped there wasn’t a fire or some other natural disaster be cause she wouldn’t be able to run for help without hitching the skirt to her waist, which wouldn’t be exactly ladylike. Not that she was going for lady like at the moment.

“You weren’t wearing that a few moments ago when you came prancing down the hallway with a bag of potato chips.”

Damn, her sister had stolen her chips. Again!

Somehow she knew Tanner should be told about Dimi, and now would be a good time, but keeping that part of her life to herself was deeply ingrained.

“Don’t tell me,” he said in a low, rough, nearly strangled voice. “You’re going on another date in that.”

“No, I wanted to talk to you.”

“In that?”

“What’s wrong with it?” She smoothed the bodice, which lifted her breasts up and out so far she didn’t dare breathe or she’d pop out.

Definitely not ladylike.

Still, her body was demanding air-it was funny that way-and she couldn’t hold her breath another moment, so she drew in the shortest one she could manage.

Tanner’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Don’t do that,” he said, lifting a hand as if to stop her.

“I have to,” she said, dizzy with effort. “Or I’m going to pass out.” And because suddenly she really felt her world fading, she put her hands to her knees and bent over.

Tanner swore again, far more vividly than before.

Definitely he was still mad at her.

She heard his nail gun hit the floor. Then, from her bent-over position, his feet appeared.

“Sit down,” he commanded.

She thought about that. “Can’t.”

“Why?”

“My dress is too tight.”

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly her world spun as he swung her up. One of his arms supported her back, the other was beneath her knees, leaving her no choice but to throw her arms around his neck. And because she’d been wondering what his strong shoulders would feel like beneath her head, she set it there. Then she sighed, because it felt heavenly. He felt heavenly.

“Cami.”

Just that, just her name, in a voice so serrated and sexy she nearly sighed again. She felt his arm supporting her back, his fingers angled just beneath her breast. It tingled.

His other arm held her legs, which meant the fingers of that hand were on the bare skin of the back of her upper thigh.

Nice. She wished he wasn’t still so mad at her, wished that she could explain herself better, that she was as good at talking about her feelings as he was, because maybe then she could make him understand that this attraction could be a beautiful thing. Temporary-since she couldn’t think permanent-but beautiful.

Thinking that, and melting just a little, she sighed.

Then remembered she wasn’t supposed to breathe or she was going to pop right out of her dress. With an odd mix of dismay and anticipation, she glanced down. Yep, her nightmare had come true. Definitely that was half a breast straining free of the red material, including a nice peekaboo shot of one rosy, hard-tipped nipple.

“Cami,” Tanner said again, in a voice so low and tight her entire body shivered.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pulling one hand from around his neck, covering her bared breast with her fingers.

“You’re killing me,” he said huskily.

“Does that mean you’re not still mad at me?”

He let out a rough laugh that held no humor. “Look, you wanted to talk, and I’m trying to remember that, instead of doing what I want, which would be to press you against that wall there and taste what you’ve just offered me up.”

Visions of that very thing danced in her head and made her bones melt.

“Listen, Cami, client or not, crazy or sane, for better or worse, you’re making me so hot and bothered I can’t think straight. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“That you…want me?”

“I want you so bad I’m weak as a baby.”

The sound that escaped her was far more like a whimper of pleasure than of mortification, and his eyes practically smoldered. His chest rumbled with a groan and he closed his eyes to the sight she’d unwittingly planted on him. “Talk,” he said through his teeth.

“I…forgot what I wanted to say.”

“Why?” he asked the ceiling. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I don’t even know what ‘this’ you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you?”

Then she was falling, as he’d dumped her on the couch. Standing over her, hands on his hips, his chest rising and falling harshly. “I tried to talk to you before you went on either of those ridiculous dates,” he said. “You didn’t want to.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No. You wanted surface stuff, like how’s the weather and can you redo my town house kind of talk. I’m trying to stick to that, because I understand you don’t want more, but in that dress, it’s nearly impossible.”

“I didn’t mean to flash you,” she whispered.

“What did you mean to do?”

“Make you notice me.”

“Done.”

“Make you hot.”

“Done.”

Nervous, she licked her lips, and he groaned again. “Maybe you don’t realize the truth here, so let me spell it out. I want more from you than you can give. You’re too busy giving to everyone else. You give them your all and leave nothing for yourself, and I can’t stand it. I want a woman who knows her mind and isn’t afraid to speak it. I want-”

“I know my mind and I was trying to give it to you,” she said in her defense. “It’s just that I couldn’t hold my breath and talk at the same time, so I chose breathing and you saw what happened.”

“Yeah, you nearly gave me heart failure!”

He wasn’t talking to her, as she’d wanted. He wasn’t even lusting at her at the moment, which would have been nice, too. But he was yelling at her, which was better than being ignored, but not quite as good as, say, getting a filling. “What did you mean, you want more from me?”

“I’m tired of sending you off on dates you don’t even want, then having to rescue you. I’m tired of you saying yes to everyone but yourself. I’m tired of you dressing up for men too stupid to appreciate you. I’m tired of-”

He broke off and clamped his jaw shut. Then he shoved his fingers through his already unruly hair and turned in a slow circle before facing her again, where she was still sprawled on the couch.

“Tired of what, Tanner?”

“Tired of fighting your wall.” He sank to the coffee table next to her. “You have one, you know. Made of stone. It’s probably from watching your father flit from relationship to relationship, or maybe it’s from fighting your mother’s strong will, I don’t know. But whenever I try to get close to you, you add another layer, fill up your moat, and hide behind it.”

Not only was that true, but he was the first person besides Dimi to know her so well.

He gentled both his voice and his gaze. “I’m good enough to fix your town house, good enough to give you a hand beating up your dates when they go bad. Probably even good enough to develop a passing friendship with, but that’s all you’ll allow.”

She let out a disparaging sound, but didn’t know what to say because it was the cold, hard truth.

“Am I close, Cami?”

He was so close she could see the specks of light dancing in his amazing eyes. She could see the fair stubble lining his jaw. She could see his genuine frustration, and the fact that he cared enough to feel frustrated in the first place put an unexpected lump in her throat.

And yes, he was close enough to the truth to have her closing her eyes to it.

“No, you don’t,” she heard him say, and felt his hands on her face, cupping her jaw, lifting it to him. He waited until she opened her eyes again.

“Don’t hide.”

“It’s a habit of mine,” she admitted.

“Not with me. Don’t do it with me.”

“I don’t have a choice. You won’t go away like all the others.”

A shadow of a smile flitted across his mouth.

His very sexy mouth.

“I really don’t want to like you,” she said around that lump blocking her air passage.

Unexpectedly, his smile widened. “See?

You’re being honest with me.” He nudged her.

“Did it hurt?”

“Less than a tetanus shot.” She had to return his smile. “And you should know I don’t want to want you, either.”

“But you do.”

“But I do. It’s making me do dumb things.

Like wear this dress.”

His eyes were on fire as they slowly, slowly, slid over her body. “That wasn’t so dumb.”

For a long moment she looked at him, and he looked right back. It was doing funny things to her body. Her skin felt too tight. Her insides had turned to liquid, which seemed to pool in a bunch of places she hadn’t paid much attention to lately. “Tanner…what are we doing?”

“We’re finding ourselves attracted.”

“I don’t want to be attracted. I just gave up on men.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

“Don’t give up on all of us.”

Slowly she shook her head.

“Go out with me,” he said, having no idea where that command came from. “Let me show you we’re not all jerks. You have needs, stop shelving them and pay attention to what they are.” He thought about her never having had multiple orgasms, but that thought just made him quiver with the desire to show her what she was missing.

“Tanner-”

“Just one date, your fantasy date.” He didn’t add the multiple orgasm thing. He didn’t want to scare her off. But he’d really lost it here. He wanted her, in a totally foreign, not purely physical way, though he was still hard as nails from seeing her perfect, rose-tipped, pebbled nipple. Just thinking about it made his mouth water again.

“How do you know about my fantasy date?”

“You told me. Well, you told you, when you were talking to yourself on your answering machine.”

“Oh, God. How could I forget? You listened.”

“Unabashedly.”

She frowned. “And I’m not messing up all my dates to punish my father.”

“No? Then go out with me.”

“We wouldn’t work together.”

She was scared, her eyes huge. And suddenly his impatience with her faded. “Just one date,” he said softly. “You’ve been out with some real losers, Cami. Just let me show you how it could be. How it should be.”

“And then you’ll stop this.”

“Absolutely.” Probably.

Maybe.

Okay, no, he wouldn’t. But for Cami, this was on a need-to-know basis, and she didn’t need to know that. So he smiled. “Want me to prove to you how much you want to try this?”

She let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t think-”

He leaned over her and set his mouth to hers. He had no idea what he was doing. Just the thought of Cami was a threat to his string-free heart, but he’d never wanted a woman so much.

From the very first touch of their mouths, he knew he was in trouble. Heat spiraled through his chest, shooting a straight line of fire to his groin.

Pure lust, he reminded himself, that’s what this was, and he whispered her name to remember that.

She parted those soft lips. She tasted like strawberry lip gloss and the promise of something even sweeter. Without thinking-which had become impossible with the draining of all his blood for parts south-he deepened the kiss, using his tongue to touch, swirl, caress and tease hers.

Without hesitation, she returned the favor, and within ten seconds he’d run out of air. Pulling back far enough to look at her, he slowly shook his head. “You’re right.” He ran a finger over her jaw, along her neck, his gaze dipping to the front of her dress, where her nipples were straining at the thin material, begging for attention that he was dying to give. “You obviously feel nothing for me.”

“You don’t get it,” she whispered, her lips wet from his.

“Tell me.”

“You were right about…the others. I went out with them, with all of them, because I knew I was safe. My heart was safe. I would never have given it to them. But with you…”

“With me what? You think I would hurt you?”

“Yes. No. I mean, with you I couldn’t keep my heart safe.”

“One date, Cami. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Then what?”

“Then you learn how to have a great date.”

“That’s all?”

“Sure.”

She pushed up to a sitting position and tipped her head at him.

“Honest,” he said.

“What do you get out of it?”

“You out of my system.”

Her lips curved. “Ah, a man with a motive.”

“We all have motives.” And his was to make sure he kissed her again.