Thorn's Challenge - Brenda Jackson [26]
At first Tara hadn’t wanted to take the key Stone had offered her, but he had assured her that it was all right and that Thorn could probably use the company. But they had warned her to watch out for his bark as well as his bite. The closer the time got to a race, the moodier he became.
After what Thorn had told her the other night, she now understood why.
It had been three days since she had seen Thorn. Even now, the episode in her kitchen was still on her mind and was the cause of many sleepless nights. She would wake up restless. Agitated. Hot.
And Thorn was to blame.
But somehow, she had found the courage to brave the lion in his den to let him know of her decision about his proposition. She hoped like the dickens she wasn’t making a mistake and the plan she had concocted wouldn’t backfire on her.
She glanced around after quietly closing the door. Inside the building, the side entrance led into a huge office area with file cabinets on both sides of the wall. There was also a huge desk that was cluttered with metal and chrome instead of with paper. But what caught her attention were the framed photographs hanging on the wall. She walked farther into the room to take a closer look.
The first was a photo of Thorn and former president Bill Clinton. In the photo the two men were smiling as they stood beside a beautiful motorcycle. Tara then remembered that Thorn had built a motorcycle for the former president last year.
She then glanced at the other photographs, all of Thorn and Hollywood and sports celebrities. She couldn’t stop the feeling of pride that suddenly flooded her as she viewed the evidence of Thorn’s accomplishments. What she had told him the day they had gone bike-riding was true. He had gifted hands.
A shudder ran through her when she thought that the same hands that skillfully shaped chrome and metal into a motorcycle could also bring a woman to the epitome of sexual release. She shook her head, not wanting to go there, but remembering that the main reason she was here was because she had gone there…too many times lately. There wasn’t a single day that went by that she didn’t think of her and Thorn’s kitchen encounter. She wanted to believe that although he had kept his control, he had been just as affected as she had been.
With that belief, she had made a decision to show him that he had bitten off more than he could chew and she was more trouble than she was worth. She intended to turn up the heat by tempting him so badly that he would want to break things off with her before their relationship interfered with his race.
She saw it as the battle of wills, Mr. Experience against Miss Innocence. Thorn’s brothers thought she was his challenge. He thought she was his sweetest temptation. She was determined to become Thorn’s ultimate downfall.
The screwdriver Thorn was using to tighten a bolt on the bike’s fender nearly slipped from his fingers. His nostrils flared and his entire body went on alert. He swore he’d picked up Tara’s scent although he knew that wasn’t possible. But still, the mere thought of her had blood pumping into every part of his body and shoved the beating of his heart into overdrive.
He couldn’t help but groan under a tightly held breath. Boy, did he have it bad! He hadn’t seen her in three days and already he was imagining her presence and inhaling the essence of her scent.
He had tried not to think about her; tried not to wonder what she’d been doing since he’d last seen her, and if she’d given any thought to his proposal. A light shudder raced down his spine at the possibility that she would consider it. The very idea of Tara in his bed for a week nearly made it impossible for him to breathe.
He placed his work tools aside. With her so deeply embedded in his mind, it would be impossible to get any work done. He decided to call it quits for the night and grab a beer. And he may as well spend the night at the shop since there was definitely no one waiting for him at home.
Thorn had turned and headed toward the refrigerator