Thorn's Challenge - Brenda Jackson [40]
And his brothers were making matters worse with that stupid bet of theirs. He had refused to tell them anything; his relationship with Tara was not up for discussion. No one knew about their agreement, and other than the time they’d been seen together at Chase’s Super Bowl party, no one knew what was going on with them. He wanted to keep it that way for as long as he could. The family would find out soon enough that she was going to Bike Week.
Earlier, when he’d seen he would not get any work done, he had tossed his tools aside, stripped off his clothes and had taken a shower to cool off his heated body. That hadn’t worked. He got dressed and decided to go for a ride on his bike to let the wind and the chilly night air cool him down and take the edge off. But that hadn’t worked either.
There was only one way he could relieve what ailed him and he couldn’t risk going that far. Breaking his vow of celibacy before the race was not an option. Therefore, with Bike Week only a couple of weeks away, he needed to put as much distance between himself and Tara as possible. She was becoming too much of a temptation. That was why he had made the decision tonight to leave for Daytona earlier than planned and have Tara ride down later with one of his brothers.
The most important thing was that she be in Daytona when the race was over. There was no way he could hang around and run the risk of making love to her. But he was determined to leave them both with something to anticipate while he was gone.
Moments later he walked up to her door and rang the doorbell. He knew it was late but he had to see her. His body pulsed with something he had never felt before…urgency.
The sound of her soft voice hummed through the door. “Who is it?”
He took a deep breath and responded. “Thorn.”
He watched as the door slowly opened, exposing the surprise on her features. “Thorn, what are you doing here?”
He swallowed as his gaze took in all of her. She was wearing a short silk nightgown that only covered her to midthigh. Her hair was in disarray—as if she had tossed and turned while trying to sleep, and one of the spaghetti straps of her gown hung down off her shoulder. The total picture was ultra-sexy, enticing, a product of any man’s fantasy.
“Thorn?”
He blinked, realizing he hadn’t answered her question. “There’s been a change in my plans about Bike Week and I thought I should share it with you.”
He saw the indecision that appeared in her features. It was as if she was trying to make up her mind about whether to let him in. She was probably wondering why he hadn’t picked up a phone and called her instead of dropping by unexpectedly.
“I apologize for showing up without calling first, but I wanted to tell you about the change in person,” he added, hoping that would explain things to her although he was still confused as to what had driven him to seek her out tonight. All he knew was that he had to be alone with her if only for a few minutes. Hell, he would take a few seconds if that were all she would spare.
“All right, come in,” she said, then stood aside to let him enter.
The moment he walked into her home and closed the door behind him, he was engulfed with desire so thick he was having difficulty breathing. He had to force air through his lungs.
This wasn’t normal, but nothing, he reasoned, had been normal for him since he had first laid eyes on Tara. His life hadn’t been the same since that day. And watching her bare legs and the way her hips swayed under the nightgown she was wearing as she walked across the room before turning around to face him wasn’t helping matters.
For two years