Pleasure Rush Page 7

  She fumbled with the keycard, completely missing the thin slot three times before Theo snatched the card from her hand and opened the door.

  They tumbled into the room. Theo caught her by the waist and pulled her flush against him. Deirdre’s head swirled in a hazy, lust-filled fog as his lips connected with hers. He backed her against the wall and held her hostage, his hands on either side of her head. With long, demanding strokes, his tongue plunged in and out of her mouth.

  “I knew you would taste like this,” Deirdre murmured. Her nipples tightened in anticipation, remembering with shocking alacrity what came next in this long-forgotten dance.

  Theo answered with more of his tongue, drilling it into her mouth with a power that made her knees weak and her panties dampen with instant arousal. His hands sought her breasts, closing around them. God, she needed him. It had been way too long since she’d felt a man’s hard body pressing against her, and there wasn’t a single man she wanted more than the one who was with her.

  She switched their position and pushed him up against the door. “I need you naked, Theo.”

  Deirdre reached for the hem of his shirt, but he stilled her hands. “Deirdre, wait. Stop,” he ordered.

  But she didn’t want to stop. If she stopped, she would think, and if she started thinking she would come to her senses and realize what she was doing.

  Theo caught her forearms and pulled her away from him.

  “Stop,” he reiterated with more force. “We’re not doing this when you’re drunk, Deirdre. That’s not how I operate.”

  “But I’m not drunk,” she lied. She was so drunk. She was pretty sure she couldn’t make it to the bed without tripping over her own feet.

  “Yes, you are,” Theo stated. He pitched his head back against the wall with a soft thump, his jaw stiffening in frustration. “I am not sleeping with you tonight.” He fisted his hands in her skirt, pulling it tight across her backside. He closed his eyes and let out a sharp grunt of humorless laughter. “Damn, I can’t believe I just said that.”

  “Neither can I,” Deirdre muttered, unable to shadow the hurt in her voice.

  Theo leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I don’t want you drunk our first time, Dee. I’m a bit more romantic than that.” He trailed a rough finger lightly down her cheek. “I’ll come by tomorrow and we can pick up where we’re leaving off, but with you sober.”

  “But…I—”

  He silenced her with another kiss, this one long and lingering and so powerful Deirdre felt her knees quake.

  Theo tore his mouth away from her. “I gotta get out of here,” he said on a shaky breath. He reached behind him and opened the door. With a knowing smile he said, “Take my advice: swallow two aspirin before you go to bed—it’ll make things easier in the morning.”

  With that he placed another kiss on her head and was out the door.

  Chapter 6

  The light streaming in through the crack in her curtain seemed more like a high-powered fluorescent beam than a small strip of sunlight. Deirdre tried to lift her head, but she was certain it had expanded to three times its usual size. She shut her eyes and grimaced at the pounding that intensified behind her closed eyelids.

  This was so much worse than she’d ever anticipated. Even the soft whirl of the ceiling fan above was amplified.

  She remembered the one time Torrian had come home drunk from a high school dance. She’d screamed at the top of her lungs, prattling on about the stupidity of overindulging. If she could stomach moving a single inch, Deirdre would go to his hotel room right now and apologize for yelling all those years ago.

  She concentrated on taking even, cleansing breaths, then with fortitude she didn’t know she possessed, she climbed out of bed and shuffled into the shower. As the water flowed over her head, Deirdre tried to recall just what she’d done last night to get to this embarrassing point this morning.

  She remembered Paige urging her to go to the luau even though she and Torrian wouldn’t be able to attend. She remembered being completely enchanted by the local food and the flair in which it had been presented. Trepidation skittered along her spine as she recalled the Hawaiian dancers and the internal debate she’d waged when the emcee had called for volunteers to join them on stage.

  “Oh, God,” Deirdre moaned.

  What in God’s name had possessed her to dance the hula in front of dozens of people?

  But dancing the hula wasn’t all she had done last night.

  “Oh, God!” She grimaced and leaned her forehead against the shower wall.

  How would she ever face Theo again? The fact that she’d come on to him like a groupie was bad enough. The fact that he’d turned her down made it a hundred times worse.

  But he hadn’t turned her down. Her recollection was fuzzy, but clear enough to remember that Theo had been on the verge of succumbing to her clumsy attempt at seduction last night. He’d stopped himself; he had been a gentleman when she had acted as far from a lady as she ever had in her life.

  Just when she thought she could not be more attracted to the man, he had to go and show her how gallant he was. She tumbled a bit more in love with him.

  But she still couldn’t look him in the eye.

  Deirdre shut the water off and got dressed. She needed coffee, a nice, strong Kona blend.

  She left her hotel room and headed for the elevator. When the doors opened, Theo was waiting inside. He smiled, broad and entirely too sexy for so early in the morning. He stepped off of the elevator, blocking her entrance.

  Deirdre pointed at the closing doors. “I…” she said, watching the numbers above it illuminate.

  “You were going somewhere?” Theo asked.

  “For coffee.”

  He chuckled. “Nursing a hangover, huh? Is your head still pounding, or has it dimmed a bit?”

  “Still pounding,” Deirdre answered with a resigned sigh.

  “You have a coffee pot in your room, don’t you?” He gestured for her to walk ahead of him. “It’s too noisy down in the lobby. It’ll only make your headache worse.”

  When they arrived at the door to her hotel room, he held his hand out. “Where’s your key? You couldn’t get this door open to save your life last night.”

  Had she really been that drunk? Had she been drunk enough to forget something of…significance?

  Deirdre’s stomach sunk faster than a ship anchor. “About last night,” she hedged.

  No doubt hearing the hesitancy in her voice, Theo bristled, assessing her with a shrewd, piercing gaze. “What about it?” he asked, his words measured.

  That sinking feeling reached emergency levels. “What exactly happened?” she asked.

  “You don’t remember any of it, do you, Deirdre?” The disappointment in his voice grated at her conscience.

  What had she done last night? This was why most women went through their wild and crazy drinking phase in their twenties. The fact that she couldn’t remember her actions from the night before was just plain pathetic.

  Theo rubbed the back of his neck. “I should have known better,” he said.

  “Known better than what?”

  “That you didn’t mean any of the things you said last night. That it was just the alcohol talking.”

  Lord, what had she said?

  Whatever it was, it had made Theo comfortable enough with her to think it was okay to come into her room and make her coffee. Their relaxed exchange in the hallway had been such a welcome change from the strained silence that had been the hallmark of their recent interactions. For just a few minutes, it was as if she’d had the old Theo back. She wanted to keep that Theo around for as long as possible.

  “You’re right. I don’t remember everything” —make that hard
ly anything— “that happened after we came back to my room. I do remember you putting the brakes on things, and I wanted to thank you for that. You could have taken advantage of me, and you didn’t.”

  “I would never do something like that, Deirdre.”

  “I know you wouldn’t,” she said. Deirdre started to speak again, then hesitated, not as sure of herself now that she didn’t have the benefit of alcohol shoring her up. But if she was going to embrace this bold new outlook, she needed to do so right now.

  She bit her lip, summoning the last dregs of the bravado she faintly recalled from the night before. “Can I thank you over lunch?” she asked.

  Theo’s eyes shot to hers, then he looked away, his gaze trained on the door. Deirdre could practically see the battle taking place in his head.

  “Just what is it you’re trying to do to me?” Theo asked in a strained voice. His tormented expression doubled her guilt. “One minute you’re into me, then the next you’re acting as if you can barely tolerate being in the same room with me. I don’t know what kind of thrill you’re getting from this game you’re playing, but I can’t keep doing this, Deirdre.”

  “I’m not playing any games,” she said. “I don’t remember everything from last night, but I do remember that you were more than ready to continue.” Without thinking she reached out and grabbed his forearm. Theo looked down at where she held him, then back up, staring at her with a look that made her question whether he really did want to start up where they’d left off last night.

  Deirdre scoured her inner being for the courage to speak the words she wanted to say. She took a fortifying breath and forced herself to look him in the eyes. “I want to spend time with you, Theo. I’m done playing games. Have lunch with me. Please.”

  The muscle in his jaw jerked as the array of emotions parading across his face told a story of the indecision vacillating back and forth in his brain. Deirdre waited in anxious silence, knowing that his answer would mean so much more than a response to a simple lunch invitation. If he said no to her now, he was likely saying no to her forever.

  His eyes opened and he looked down at her, his face completely masked of all expression.

  “Meet me in the hotel lobby at noon,” he said.

  She was so overwhelmed with relief at his albeit reluctant acceptance that her knees nearly gave out. “Thank you,” she said, unable to suppress a grateful sigh. “I’ll see you then.”

  * * *

  Theo burst through the side exit door on his way to the network’s rented mobile video unit. He was so keyed up he could easily jog the five miles to Ulehawa Beach. He had to calm down. After all, it was only lunch.

  But she had asked him.

  After turning down his invitation to dinner three times, she had been the one to initiate. No matter how hard he tried, Theo couldn’t halt the rush of anticipation that skittered along his skin at the possibility of Deirdre finally coming around.

  He had suffered through grueling training camps, punishing games and countless injuries over his lifetime, but leaving Deirdre last night, thoroughly kissed and wanting, had been the hardest thing he had ever done. From the minute he’d closed her door he’d wanted to walk right back in and take advantage of everything Deirdre had offered, knowing it was likely the only chance he’d ever get with her.

  But he had just scored another chance. Completely sober, and with at least most of her wits about her, Deirdre had just asked him to lunch.

  “There he is,” Theo heard Sara Faulkner call from a few yards away.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Theo said with an apologetic smile. “I got caught up with something this morning. I just heard from Christian a few minutes ago. He won’t be there for another half hour, so we have time to get to the beach and set up.”

  He and the crew headed to the truck. Before long they were cruising along Farrington Highway, which hugged the coastline and offered amazing views of the water. Theo commandeered one of the swivel chairs at the mobile unit’s control desk to go over his questions for the interview with Christian Hill, the second-year back-up quarterback the Sabers had signed as a walk-on. Hill had been promoted to starting quarterback this year and had shocked the hell out of the entire sports world, leading the league in just about every stats category.

  Theo only knew the kid casually, as he had been preparing to leave the Sabers just as Christian had joined the team, but what he knew of him, he liked. Christian was one hundred percent a California boy and a living, breathing nullification of the stereotype that black people don’t like the water.

  They pulled onto the beach and the crew quickly started setting up the equipment for this morning’s interview. Christian arrived a few minutes later, already dressed in a bright yellow wetsuit, his light brown, clean-shaven head glistening in the sun.

  “I thought you said you wouldn’t be here until ten-thirty?” Theo asked, capturing his palm in a firm handshake.

  “Man, do you see this water?” Christian exclaimed. “I couldn’t stay away.”

  Theo glanced out at the crystal-blue ocean and nodded in understanding.

  “I won’t keep you away from it for too long,” he said. “In a few minutes we’re going to join in on the live broadcast, giving viewers just a taste of what they’ll see in the taped piece that’s going to air later tonight. I’ll ask some basic questions about how you got into surfing, how the coaching staff feels about you hitting those fifteen-foot waves in the off-season, stuff like that.”

  “Sounds good, man,” Christian said.

  Due to wind gusts that wreaked havoc during the taping, it took more than an hour to get through both the live broadcast and the taped interview. Theo noticed that the nerves that usually bombarded him whenever he went on-air had not surfaced. This new resolve to land the spot on The Sunday Morning Kickoff overrode his anxiety.

  Besides, he didn’t have enough nervous energy to expend on being in front of the camera; all of it was being used up thinking about his upcoming lunch date with Deirdre.

  Instead of waiting for the mobile unit to take him back to the hotel, Theo called a cab. He’d asked Deirdre to meet him in the lobby at noon, but he knew it was damn near impossible that he’d make it back in time.

  Would she think he was standing her up?

  There was a certain appeal to giving her a taste of her own medicine, but Theo wanted her too much to care about petty revenge. He was still wary about all of this. He’d been rebuffed by Deirdre too many times not to be a little cautious, but the hope that she was starting to come around superseded everything else.

  He arrived at the hotel a quarter after noon and found Deirdre sitting on a sofa in the lounge area. The pensive look on her face caused Theo’s chest to tighten with unease. She was going to pull out of their lunch. He knew it.

  She spotted him and stood as he approached. Her expression turned from anxious to eager, and his chest nearly burst with relief.

  “I wondered if you were going to stand me up,” she said.

  So, he did get to sample vengeance. It wasn’t as sweet as he would have thought.

  “Why would you think that? I’m the same man who’s asked you out three times.”

  “And the same man I turned down three times,” she reasoned.

  Theo took her hands in his and met her eyes. He wanted to make sure his intent was unquestionable.

  “I told you earlier that I’m not playing games, Deirdre. That’s why we need to establish right now exactly what this is.”

  Her brows furrowed with confusion.

  “A date,” Theo clarified. “Not just lunch between friends, but a real, honest-to-goodness date between a single, consenting man and a single, consenting woman. Before we leave this hotel, you are going to acknowledge that.”

  She bit her bottom lip in that
same way Theo had seen her do a hundred times before, but he wasn’t moving a solitary step until she agreed to treat this lunch as something more than just a casual meeting between old friends. He wasn’t interested in friendship when it came to Deirdre, and he wouldn’t allow her to settle for it, either.

  “What will it be?” he prompted.

  The deep breath she exhaled seemed to struggle on its exit from her lungs. She glanced at the floor, then back up at him. With a tentative, shaky smile, she said, “Let’s go on our first date.”

  * * *

  “This is where we’re eating?”

  Deirdre frowned at the red-and-white checkered building that looked as if it had been catapulted from the 1970s.

  “I know it doesn’t look like much, but trust me, this place has some of the best food on the island,” Theo said. He stopped with his hand on the door and glanced back at her, his eyes sparkling with laugher. “Unfortunately, for you, they don’t serve alcohol.”

  “I think I’m done with the mai tais for now.”

  His grin was nothing short of sinful. “That’s too bad. I was having a good time with Tipsy Deirdre.”

  “Oh, God,” Deirdre groaned, shame heating her face. “What did I do last night?”

  Theo released the door handle and took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest, and tilted his head to the side, a curious look on his face. “You really don’t remember? That kiss was pretty unforgettable, Deirdre.”

  She’d prayed that that kiss had been a figment of her inebriated imagination. Had she really trapped him against the door and ran her tongue along his jaw?

  “Theo, I am so sorry for last night,” she said. “I don’t know what got into me.”

  “It’s obvious what got into you, too much liquor. But you sure as hell don’t have to apologize. Do you know how long I’ve been dying to kiss you like that?”

  This time her face heated for an entirely different reason.

  “Come on,” he said, opening the door and ushering her inside. “Let’s get something to eat.”

  Theo explained that the restaurant was a popular local favorite. Deirdre let him order for her since he seemed to know his way around the menu.