Her eyes darkened and he sucked in a breath. She was thinking about it—and she was turned on.
“Piper,” he crooned. He plucked the glass out of her hand and set it on the bedside table.
“I don’t like you.” She leaned forward.
The feeling was mutual. She was impetuous with an unforgivable side of rude. Plus, she’d insist on being in charge of any relationship she had, and he’d never let anyone—male or female—dominate him, in bed or out.
“Got it.” When he leaned forward to meet her halfway, their foreheads touched and he caught a whiff of salt and tequila and something else. Something all Piper.
“You owe me,” she whispered, like she was trying to convince herself.
“A bet’s a bet,” he agreed. Besides, if she got tonight, then he’d get another night. His pulse picked up as he thought about the possibility.
“So we’ll just get each other out of our systems,” she said, nodding like they’d both agreed to something.
“Piper?” He whispered her name against her mouth.
“Yeah?” Her tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip.
“Shut up.”
He kissed her because he suddenly needed to, and he had no idea why. He’d never planned on kissing Piper, but her eyes said she might be thinking the same things he was, and heat shot through him at just the possibility. Her fingers curled in his T-shirt, tugging him closer, so he slid his hands along her neck, threading his fingers through her flyaway curls to hold her nearer still. He kissed her and she kissed him back, her mouth softening. Opening up to let him inside. Her breath came in little catches and he was pretty sure the rough groan he heard was his own. His brain had her name on a desperate soundtrack of Piper Piper Piper.
Her fingers discovered the hem of his shirt and tugged. Perfectly willing to help her out, he broke off their kiss long enough to help her draw his T-shirt over his head. She tossed it somewhere, wriggling out of her own shorts, and then ran her hands up his chest and over his shoulders. Perfect. He found her mouth again or she found his. He wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. They were kissing each other again, long, slow, hot kisses. Her tongue swept into his mouth, taking charge, and he wanted to grin. And thump his chest. Roar out his pleasure. Any or all of the above.
Instead, he slid a thumb beneath the strap of her tank top, nudging the narrow strip down her shoulder. Taking the hint, she shimmied her arms out. He had to open his eyes. Her bra had teased him the whole way here, and, yeah...Piper had fabulous taste in lingerie. The satin cups were edged with something lacy and perfectly, wonderfully naughty.
“You’re beautiful,” he said hoarsely.
“More kissing,” she demanded, uninterested in his opinions.
Kissing he could do. He swept his hands up and cupped her breasts through the soft fabric, rubbing a thumb over the plump curves as he gave her what she’d asked for. More kissing, more touching.
The familiar sound of trucks pulling into the driveway had him breaking off. Shit. Daeg might as well have marched a mariachi band down the driveway. Cal pulled back with a groan, resting his forehead against hers.
“This is why locking the door is a good thing.”
The hard rap on her front door was followed by a brief pause. Cal could practically hear Daeg running the pros and cons of opening it. In a community as neighborly and tightly knit as this one, that was what you did. You knocked—and then you came in.
“You called in the cavalry?” Piper sat back. Her hair was drying into wayward corkscrews. Margarita making had apparently trumped finding a hairbrush. She looked sexy and mussed and the last thing he wanted to hear was Daeg’s repeat knock.
He sat up and her hands fell away. “I figured you’d want me gone at some point, and I didn’t want to walk.”
Right. Because they both knew it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility she might kick him out and make him hike the five miles back to town. In the dark.
“Would I do that to you?”
He looked at her. “I’m not sure. But we haven’t always gotten along.”
“Because you were bossy.”
“You were reckless.”
She made a show of looking down at her exposed bra. Daeg pounded again and called something. “Case in point?”
“Maybe.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and settled back. “As long as we’re clear.”
He didn’t know if her words were his cue to leave or not, but he swung his legs over the side of the bed and went to collect his keys.
* * *
PIPER’S WEEK HAD, frankly, sucked. Del planned on selling the dive shop out from under her. She hadn’t gotten the Fiesta contract. Yet. She hadn’t gotten the contract yet. Nothing was going the way she’d planned and, really, that had been the case since the man who’d been lying on her bed had pulled her out of the water five years ago.