Gypsy Road - Leather And Lace Part 2

Reaching across to Bethany, Rod took her hand and squeezed it. The texture of her skin was the finest satin. Unable to help himself, he brought it to his mouth and kissed the back and then the palm.

The little "Oh!" she murmured thrilled him. He'd been waiting all his life for a sensitive woman, one that responded to even the slightest touch from her lover. If Bethany's hand was this responsive, he could imagine all the other places he could pleasure. Her ears, her throat, the curve of her spine, her adorable little toes. That didn't even take into account the really fun spots, but he ached already.

He laced his fingers through hers, glancing at her to find her staring at their joined hands uneasily. But a minute later, her thumb caressed the pad of his thumb experimentally.

They arrived at the restaurant way too quickly for Rod. It meant that he had to let go of her hand, and he didn't want to ever set her free.

Just as he claimed, he got them a table with a smile. He usually flirted with the waitress, but she wasn't a better deal, so he didn't bother doing more than being irresistible with her.

When Bethany answered his question of whether or not she liked champagne, he ordered a bottle.

"So, tell me about yourself. How old are you? What's your favorite color?

What do you like to do?" He wanted to know every single thing there was to know about Bethany Briggs. Right away.

"Do you really want to know those things?" she asked, like she was confused at his enthusiasm to get to know her.

"Those and more."

Picking up her napkin, she folded it onto her lap. "Well, I'm twenty-four-years-old."

She was younger than most of the women he'd had. Maybe that was why she was still so sweet. Life hadn't showed her its ugly side, yet.

"I don't really have a favorite color. I mean, it depends on what it is. I like white cars, pink lipstick. . .deep brown eyes." She lowered her gaze, blus.h.i.+ng again.

The arrival of the champagne would have rescued her, but he couldn't resist teasing, "I think I qualify for one of those." He wanted to kiss her bad when her color deepened, because he knew he wasn't her usual type. But there was no doubt in his mind that she was as attracted to him as he was to her. She didn't know what to do with that.

He made a toast to possibilities and downed the whole gla.s.s while she sipped like a lady.

"Hobbies?"

"Oh." She set down the gla.s.s. "Um, I like to work, at my salon. I like to read." Looking embarra.s.sed, she murmured, "I don't know. I'm not very interesting. What do you like to do?"

He told her about the business he owned with his friends, told her a little about his friends too.

They ordered a minute later, and she surprised him by wanting more than a tiny salad. His experience had taught him that most women were hypocrites when it came to food. The first meal--always a salad. A week later, they were eating more than he did. He didn't mind that they ate a lot, but why not do it right from the start? It wasn't like their figure would change either way.

Finally, an honest lady. She ate what she ordered too, delicately, while she told him all about her brother. Apparently, she thought he was interesting enough to talk about, and Randy did sound respectable. But Rod didn't really care what they talked about, as long as he could watch her.

Every time she said anything about her brother, her cheeks glowed, her eyes sparkled, she lost her shyness. She even told him about how her parents had died and her brother raised her. Family history was something he rarely learned from his girlfriends.

He'd waited all night, and the only touch between them was in the car.

After they'd finished the meal and ordered coffee, he asked her to dance.

Actually, he got up and took her hand, tugging her to her feet without waiting for her to agree or disagree.

They joined the other couples on the dance floor, and he wasn't at all shy.

He took her in his arms, allowing no separation between their bodies. Though she seemed surprised and couldn't look him in the eye, she didn't try to push him away either.

Oh baby, she smelled like heaven, clean and flowery. Even her hair, which he buried his face in, smelled good. Her hands barely touched the sides of his coat, as if it would be too aggressive to put her arms around him. Never mind that he was surrounding her like a coiled boa constrictor. He felt like he was under a spell, it was so right.

The minute he started wondering if she wanted to get away, her body gave him a sign. Against his bare chest, her heartbeat was racing, as was the pulse in her throat.

"You feel good," he said into her ear, only inches from his mouth.

"What?" she stammered, sounding like someone who'd just woke up. "Yes, I feel fine."

He grinned. "Yeah. You do, but I meant your body feels good against mine.

In my arms."

She made a noise like a hiccup, and he couldn't help chuckling as he hugged her tighter. What a sweetheart. Man, he was going to enjoy getting her to give in to him.

Bethany led the way back to their table on legs of sponge. The conflict of emotions roiling through her body were strange and pleasant, and she was afraid of them, afraid to feel them in public or, worse, when she was alone with Rod.

He had held her so close on the dance floor. Closer than anyone had ever held her before. His body was so strong, he smelled so good. She had wanted to stay there in his arms forever.

There was fear involved too, because she couldn't control a man like this.

He was too wild and. . .experienced. That was exactly what Randy had warned her of before she'd a.s.sured him she would never see Rod again. When she'd a.s.sumed that Rod couldn't possibly be interested in her since he had someone as wild and experienced as Nicole Martini.

They spent another half hour over coffee, and when Rod asked her what else she wanted to do, she told him she was tired after working all day. It embarra.s.sed her to lie. Her salon didn't get enough business for her to leave it exhausted each day. The truth was, she'd never been less tired in her life. If she could trust him and herself, she would love to spend a few more hours with him. But she was feeling too much too soon, something she'd come to distrust since her experience with Scott Reeves.

Rod asked her again, once they arrived at her apartment building, making it harder for her to say no a second time. Her nervousness increased as he walked her up to her apartment and she unlocked the door. How was he planning to say goodbye? She never allowed her dates to kiss her on the first date, rarely even the second. Yet she wanted Rod to kiss her.

"Can I call you?" he asked when she turned back to him from her open door.

"Yes. Please. I can give you the phone number--"

"I already have it."

It wasn't listed, but if he'd gotten her address her telephone number wouldn't be any harder to get.

She nodded, keeping her eyes lowered. "Thank you for flowers. And dinner."

"I had a good time."

It was hard for her to believe. She certainly wasn't a "good time" gal. He hadn't gotten his money's worth from her. "I did too." Risking a glance at him, she hoped and dreaded giving him a go-ahead sign.

With his strong, tapered fingers, he lifted her chin. "Really? You really had a good time?"

He was touching her, looking right into her eyes. Blus.h.i.+ng was the most natural thing in the world for her to do. "Yes. I really enjoyed. . ."

"Just a hug. Is that OK, sweetness?"

He had to know that she couldn't say yes or no to that. Without waiting for it, he pulled her into a warm embrace. There was no room for her to maneuver if she wanted to reciprocate. Her hands pressed against his rock hard stomach.

Either she left them where they were, perhaps leading him to believe that she didn't like him, or she slid them around his waist on the inside of his coat because the outside would be impossible without pus.h.i.+ng him away.

Slowly, her hands trembling, she eased her arms around to his back and returned his hug. The feel of his muscled skin made her hands want to stroke, the way a piece of satin did.

He stroked her back, and she melted. It came as a shock to her when he pulled away, took her hands and kissed them. "I'll call you."

Before she could nod or say goodnight, he walked away. He hadn't kissed her.

Bethany had never been more disappointed in her life.

Rod let himself into his sister's house twenty minutes later, and was greeted by Josie's German Shepherd. "Hey, Cam." Cameron was only happy when he was the center of attention, so Rod kneeled down and petted him until the dog was all but drooling.

In his bedroom, Rod undressed and got under the sheet.

If he'd pushed just a little, he could have been in pretty Bethany's bed tonight. In his lifetime, he'd charmed his way into the bed of every woman he'd ever wanted. It would have been easy, but Bethany might never have looked at him again. She would have regretted it.

Just from holding her for a minute, he'd known he had to walk away unsatisfied or wake up to her humiliation. She aroused him that much, that a kiss would have been walking a tightrope for him.

Was he getting morals this late in life? Or was he half in love with Bethany? He'd only left her forty-five minutes ago, but already he missed her.

Glancing at the clock, he decided that n.o.body went to bed at nine o'clock, no matter how hard a day they'd had.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number he'd memorized while waiting for the delivery guy to haul all the flowers into her apartment. He wouldn't keep her up for more than a minute or two, just long enough to hear her voice for his dreams.

"h.e.l.lo?" Her voice was as pretty over the phone as it was in person. Only this way was right in his ear.

"Hi. Did I wake you up?"

"Rod? Um, no. I was cleaning up the bathroom. I wasn't expecting you to call so soon."

Cameron came in the room and jumped up on the bed, probably as relieved as Rod was that Nicole was gone and he didn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.

"This one doesn't count. I just wanted to hear your voice before I went to sleep."

"Oh," she said softly in wonder. He might not have heard her if the house wasn't so quiet.

"I'll still call you tomorrow."

"OK.".

"OK then. Night, sweetness. I'll be dreaming of you."

He didn't expect her to say anything, and she didn't because he knew she was blus.h.i.+ng.

Well, he knew for sure he wasn't getting morals this late in life.

CHAPTER THREE.

Bethany finally found the card the next morning while rearranging the flowers throughout the apartment. All it said, all it needed to say, was "Love, Rod."

Since her sleep had been light, she woke at 5:30. Following a shower, she sat in the kitchen sipping coffee as she looked at a large group of flowers in the middle of the table with the card propped against it.

Up until his call last night, she'd been worried she'd never see him again.

Why else would he walk away the way that he did?

In the '90's, men and women played games in love. Bethany knew that, and it was part of the reason she couldn't seem to fit into modern-day courts.h.i.+p.

The biggest truth was that she knew next to nothing about Rod Summers, so she certainly couldn't say anything for certain. Yet she had the feeling in the pit of her stomach that Rod didn't like playing games, either. He was so honest, so boyish and sweet. How could any of that be an act meant to tease her?

Still, she had to consider the fact that he went through women like clean socks. That was certainly part and parcel to modern mating rituals.

Love. Undying, tried and true love. It was what Bethany wanted.

Sighing, she lifted the card and traced the words with the tip of a nail.

She shouldn't be feeling this way, especially after only one date. And what would Randy say? He'd think she was so head over heels that she couldn't see if Rod was using her.

The only problem with that, she thought defensively as she replaced the card against the vase, was that she was not the kind of woman who fell in love easily. Scott Reeves was the only man she'd ever thought herself in love with and that had been seven years ago. She hadn't felt anything remotely like she was feeling now since Scott. Even he faded next to Rod. Randy would just have to accept that she was a big girl now.

Somehow, she didn't feel like a big girl inside. The mere memory of the way Rod had caressed her hand, kissed it, and held her during the dance and later made her tremble inside. How could she control him? How could she make him understand that she hadn't done even an eighth of the things Nicole Martini must have done? Would he respect her for her inexperience?

Oh gosh, she was wis.h.i.+ng for the impossible. She couldn't hold onto a man like Rod, because he would want too much too soon. Too much she couldn't give him. Men rarely settled for heart love over physical love. They didn't want to be told as much as they wanted to be shown.

Feeling dejected, she got up to refill her coffee cup. As her fingers closed around the handle of the carafe, someone knocked on the door.

She was accustomed to knocks on her neighbors' doors, sounding as though they were meant for her, but to be sure she went to the peephole.

Rod stood there. It wasn't even six o'clock in the morning, and she was still in her robe. She was always in her robe when he came unexpectedly.

Closing the robe around her matching pajamas, she tied the sash tightly and then unlocked the door. "Rod," she greeted breathlessly, trying not to check him out. He wore old jeans and a leather jacket. His stomach was bare again. For some reason, the thought that this man liked to be half-naked made her redden.

"Good, I was afraid I'd wake you up. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come over."

"I guess we shouldn't have had coffee so late," she said, realizing belatedly she'd admitted she couldn't sleep either.

Rod stepped in closer. "Had nothing to do with coffee, sweetness. I wanted to be with you again."