Waltz This Way Read online

  Love,

  The Dirty, Dirty Whore.

  “So here I am.” Mel gave Drew a condescending glare, much like the one’s she’d launched at Neil when they depicted the push- and- pull of a sexually tense paso doble. The glare that said, “impress me or die.”

  Oh, yes. She had on her dancing shoes and she was ready to rrrrumba.

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 125

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 125

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  126

  Da k o t a C a s s i d y

  Drew rose from the table he’d chosen outside the café, pulling out a chair for her when he caught sight of her, stomping across the parking lot like he owed her money. The table sat amongst the twinkling strands of white lights draped around potted arborvitaes and woven into the maple trees on either side of Daisy’s.

  Warm fi res blazed in chimineas scented with hickory wood that surrounded the intimate glass tables scattered in clusters.

  And it was all very charming, wasn’t it? Bastard could take his charming and shove it up his ass.

  “Hi, Mel. Glad you could make it,” he said with a cocky grin.

  She fl opped down in the chair, throwing her purse on the table, and eyeballed him when he sat back down, refusing to acknowledge how delicious he looked in his black fi tted shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was just a man. Just. A. Man. She’d repeated that over and over as she resisted the impulse to bathe in some hot wax and dig out her clumpy mascara.

  True to her word, she hadn’t shaved her legs or done much else to impress him visually. “So. Wow me.”

  Instead of being angry that she was demanding he entertain her, Drew laughed. “There’s no wow here. Just me. If that’s not enough wow— then I’m wowed out.”

  Mel’s eyes narrowed. Why wasn’t he rising to the bait? How unfair that he should be a gentleman when she’d spent the last day and a half turning him into something akin to Charlie Manson. “I thought this was going to be the best date ever,” she taunted.

  “You know, I gave that some serious thought after your sudden one- eighty the other night. I asked myself, ‘Drew McPhee, whatever could the wily Mel be up to, fi rst playing coy, then turning into some demanding shrew?’ And then it hit me that I didn’t really care what you were up to or what kind of game you’re playing. I’m not into games.

  As to the best date ever, that’s a lot of pressure to put on myself for a 9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 126

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 126

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  Wa l t z T his Way 127

  fi rst date, one you’re determined to see fail anyway. So I fi gured, screw that. It’s a nice night. Not too cold, but just cold enough that it’s invigorating. Just right for a hot cup of coffee. So instead of wowing you with my intellect and witty repartee, I’m just going to order some plain old coffee and enjoy an evening off. You’re free to stick around if a freebie’s your thing. I’m still in for buying you the obligatory coffee.

  It’s the least I can do after you drove all of two miles to get here.”

  Was that the sound of the reins of this date being rudely snapped from her hands? God, why did it have to be so damned sexy?

  Oh, no. She was the hunter in this game of cat and mouse.

  Just call her cat.

  Meow.

  “FYI, all talk and no action makes for a disappointing Drew McPhee.” Boom, baby. Take that, you cocky, sexy as hell bastard!

  Drew’s eyebrow rose while he sipped his coffee, the luscious temptation of his lips wrapped around the rim of the cup made a bead of sweat trickle between her breasts.

  He put the cup down and leaned forward as though he was going to tell her a secret. His grin was sly. “Trust me, sweetheart, you wouldn’t be disappointed by Drew McPhee in action. He’s just decided to take his action to a less demanding playing fi eld.” He said the words low and husky, shooting her another arrogant smile.

  Mel fought a purr of pure lust at his alpha stance. Must. Resist.

  Instead, she raised her eyebrow back at him with as much condescension as she could muster. “So much for making me eat my words,”

  she said with dry sarcasm.

  He sighed dramatically, shrugging his shoulders before raising a fi nger to catch the pretty waitress’s attention. “Well, you’re on a diet anyway, right?”

  Her eyes narrowed in suspicious embarrassment. “Who told you that?”

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 127

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 127

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  128

  Da k o t a C a s s i d y

  “Nate heard you turning down a piece of Mrs. Willows’s birthday cake yesterday because you said you’re on a diet.”

  Was nothing sacred? She rolled her eyes. “Right. A diet. So, seeing as there’s going to be no wow, I think I’ll head home, but thanks for the sort-of date. It’s been everything I’d hoped it would be and more.”

  In and out. Just like she’d planned. Why she was feeling a stab of regret that Drew hadn’t bothered to even attempt to wow her could be sorted out when she was at home. Alone. In her fl annel pajamas and fuzzy footies.

  Drew rose when she did. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  Nuh-uh. He wasn’t going to keep fl ashing the decent-guy thing in her face. She’d had it up to her neck in nice guy. He could stay here and pick his nose. “Thanks, but don’t bother. I’ve walked to my car a million times all by myself. I think I can manage. See you Monday.”

  She whirled around, heading off into the darkness to locate her dad’s truck.

  Drew’s chair scraped on the cement. “Oh, no, lady. I won’t have word getting out that I’m some kind of slacker on a date. I’m not going to let you ruin my reputation as a gentleman just because you have some kind of stick up your ass. I’m walking you to your car— like it or don’t.” His strides fell in beside hers.

  Mel stopped short halfway to her father’s truck, her lips thinned in anger. “Hold on. Did you just say I had a stick up my ass?”

  He barked a laugh fi lled with disdain. “I did. Did I mention it’s probably pretty big and uncomfortable? I’m guessing it would have to be for you to be so damned rude.”

  “Rude? I am not rude.” She stalked off, kicking up parking lot dust and avoiding the truth of his statement. Not to mention a public argument that could get back to Nate. The last thing she wanted was for Nate to feel any tension between her and Drew. That was proba-9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 128

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 128

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  Wa l t z T his Way 129

  bly one of the biggest reasons Westmeyer didn’t encourage the staff dating each other.

  And yeah, she’d defi nitely been rude. It was the perfect defense against Drew’s force fi eld of delicious. Go in with a grudge, whether the grudge was imagined or not, walk away unscathed and with your pride intact. There’d be no more falling for the fi rst kind word or fl irtatious gesture ever again.

  But instead of leaving her and her rudeness to mate and become one, Drew stalked right beside her. “The hell you’re not. Rude is showing up to a date with a shitty attitude and an even shittier out-look on something that didn’t even have the chance to happen.”

  She waved a fi nger in the air in his general direction while gravel crunched beneath her angry feet. “You were the one who said it would be the best date ever.”

  “After you threw down your lady gauntlet and dared me. But guess what? I decided you weren’t worthy of my best date ever.”

  Mel stopped short again. “Hah! I think you just aren’t clever enough to come up with something that’s wow- worthy of a best date ever.”

  He loomed over her, forcing her feet
to move backward. “Did you just call me stupid?”

  Squinting at him, she glared. “I called you ‘unclever.’ Not ‘stupid.’ ”

  His nostrils fl ared, making her heart thump in uneven beats.

  “That’s not even a word.”

  She craned her neck upward, rolling her head in a slow circle of

  “take that.” “It is now. I just made it up in your honor.”

  “While you’re making up words, why don’t you make up one for a woman with a sense of entitlement so big, it rivals the state of Texas in size.”

  Entitlement? Helllloooooo. Wasn’t it she who’d slunk off to her 9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 129

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 129

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  130

  Da k o t a C a s s i d y

  corner while Stan had taken everything? “How dare you call me

  ‘entitled,’ Captain Caveman!”

  His lips thinned and his eyes glittered. “Oh, I dare. You have some nerve expecting anything from anyone with the kind of goods you bring to the dating table,” he said between clenched teeth, positioning his body directly over hers.

  Was he making fun of her hairy legs and dejectedly grazed with a careless hairbrush coif? So she hadn’t dressed up for the occasion featuring the great Drew McPhee. Who had a sense of entitlement now? “Are you mocking my appearance? How shallow!”

  His mood shifted without warning when he shot her a dazzling smile. “No. I think it’s sort of sexy in a thrown- together way.” Then his expression returned to its original pissed off when he shouted,

  “What I’m mocking is your—”

  She muffl ed the next words he planned to hurl at her with her mouth.

  On his.

  !

  How they ended up in his apartment was a hazy journey of heavy breathing, lips and tongues preventing a great deal of clarity, and some mention of its location being right next door to Daisy’s Café.

  With the door safely shut, Drew’s hands reached for her, pushing her up against the cold metal, molding her to him, crushing her body against his until she thought she’d die from the sharp pleasure it brought.

  He was everything she’d been afraid he’d be and more. Mel was sure she’d regret that fl eeting thought later. Right now, he was doing things to her body that hadn’t ever quite been done in the way he was doing them, and her reason went the way of off-the-shoulder sweat-shirts and Duran- Duran.

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 130

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 130

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  Wa l t z T his Way 131

  His passion was an unrestrained force, palpable and fi lled with a heady combination of his lips and hands. Drew touched every part of her body through her clothing, making her hips jut against his to revel in the rigid strain of his cock through his jeans.

  Mel’s fi ngers plowed through his hair, devouring the slick sensation of his tongue with whimpers of delight. Sex with Stan had always had a certain amount of restraint attached to it she’d never realized until this wild abandon with Drew. She’d never felt as free as she did at this moment. Free to explore every tense muscle in his body with hands that shook and fi ngers that fumbled here and there in the process of relieving him of his clothing.

  She heard the pop of buttons on her worn fl annel shirt and groaned her approval when he shoved her bra out of the way to cup her breast with a callused hand. Pulsing- hot pleasure shot through her veins, making the ache between her legs almost unbearable.

  “Wait,” she gasped, forcing air into her lungs. “Nate.”

  “At my parents’ for the night,” Drew gasped back, driving her skirt upward and yanking her panties and leotard down with a rough jerk.

  Mel kicked them from around her ankles, spreading her legs wide when Drew plunged a fi nger deep within the folds of her swollen sex.

  She clutched frantically at his shoulders, pulling at the fabric of his shirt until he rolled his shoulders to remove it.

  When fl esh met fl esh, hisses of satisfaction mingled with the duel of their tongues.

  Mel’s knees began to crumble at the pressure of his lips consuming hers, the drive of his silken tongue exploring her mouth, demanding she return his kiss.

  Drew’s chest crashed against hers, scraping against her nipples, now exposed to the cool air. Mel whimpered when he pinched a nipple between his thumb and forefi nger, rolling it to a tight peak.

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 131

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 131

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  132

  Da k o t a C a s s i d y

  He reached the other hand under her ass, hiking her leg up around his waist to grind against her, wreaking havoc with her senses.

  Mel let her frantic fi ngers fi nd the zipper of his jeans, the rasp when she dragged it downward erotic to her ears, knowing she was revealing yet another layer of Drew.

  He groaned into her mouth, low and hot, sending a round of shivers along her exposed fl esh. Drew’s hips drove against her hand when she pulled his jeans down and enveloped his cock, thick and hot, in her shaking hands. He pressed against her hard to gain leverage, kicking his jeans from around his feet to free himself.

  Grabbing her around the waist, he hoisted her upward, letting the tip of his shaft caress her swollen clit. A deep, guttural moan slipped from their lips, a sound made in unison.

  Mel clung to his shoulders as he walked her toward somewhere.

  She couldn’t focus on anything other than this blinding need to have him hard within her, thrusting, quenching her insatiable need for him.

  Drew tore his lips from hers and muttered, “Condoms this way.”

  Vaguely, she realized it was a good thing he had some or in desperation she might have DIY’d it and used plastic wrap and twisty ties as a makeshift form of protection.

  And then she forgot everything but the feel of the soft mattress beneath her back and Drew’s sinfully heavy weight on her. There were no words, no sounds. There was just his cock driving into her slick passage with a force that left her dizzy.

  Mel cried out, burying her face in the muscles of his shoulder, biting her bottom lip from the sheer bliss of his possession. Her hands reached for his hair, driving her fi ngers through the thick strands, clinging to it, and wrapping her legs around his waist to allow him to drive deeper.

  Drew strained against her, slowing his driving thrusts, fi nding a rhythm that he seemed to realize brought her the most pleasure.

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 132

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 132

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  Wa l t z T his Way 133

  The crisp hairs at the base of his cock scraped against her clit, heightening the onslaught of new sensations. When the fi rst wave of orgasm tore through her, she arched her neck, rearing her hips up -

  ward to meet his.

  Drew gripped her hips, his fi ngers digging into her tender fl esh, making the next rush of release that much more exciting. Heat pooled in her belly and the electric jolt of pleasure spiraled upward and out of her control.

  Just as she thought she had nothing left in her, she fought a scream of unadulterated bliss when Drew drove into her for the last time, dragging another gut- wrenching climax from her body.

  He collapsed on top of her, taking harsh, raspy breaths of air while pulling her close.

  What had just happened between them didn’t hit her immediately. She was too wrapped up in the musky scent of his cologne and the safety the warmth of his arms around her left her feeling.

  In fact, it didn’t hit her until the next morning.

  It also didn’t hit her until they’d committed more lewd and las-civious acts than two porn stars on
a bipolar high …

  !

  She woke with the jolt of an unfamiliar bed beneath her and the scent of burned toast. Mel sat up, catching herself before she fell out of said unfamiliar bed. Her eyes brought the room into focus slowly, her blurred vision clearing in increments, her fuzzy thoughts coming in bits and pieces.

  She ran a hand over her tangled hair, pulling it from the drool it was stuck to at the corner of her mouth. Bleh. Cotton mouth. She swallowed to relieve the dryness and wrinkled her nose. No doubt, she had morning breath, too.

  Huh. Nice room. Lots of manly colors like burgundies and navy 9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 133

  9780425245507_WaltzThisWay_TX_p1-344.indd 133

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  16/12/11 10:51 PM

  134

  Da k o t a C a s s i d y

  blue strictly meant for only the manliest of men. The bed was a dark cherry with an iron frame.

  That must have been where all that clanking had come from last night.

  Last night.

  She gasped, putting her hand to her mouth to muffl e the obnoxious sound. Why her brain was just now catching up with her nymphomaniac- ish lady parts was a mystery. It wasn’t like she’d been drunk on too much coffee to know what she was doing.

  Oh, Holy Mother of God. She’d thrown herself at Drew McPhee in a parking lot without even a little prompting. One minute they were screaming at each other and the next they’d landed in his apartment, tearing each other’s clothes off like they were next up in a potato sack race at some nudist colony.

  Mel threw back the covers then realized she was naked. In broad daylight.

  Her eyes fl ew to the bedside alarm clock. Seven. Damn.

  She dragged the sheet from the bed, wrapping it around her during a frantic search for her clothes. Where the hell was her underwear? From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a straight- backed chair with a plaid cushion to the left of the bed. On top of it sat her clothes, neatly folded, and her purse.

  She scrambled to pull her bra on, wincing when she found a tear in the pink lace. Grabbing her fl annel shirt, she threw it over her head and pulled on her panties and her skirt, shoving her leotard into her purse.