“Hell, we hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet.”
She pulled her tote bag higher on her shoulder and increased her pace, tennis shoes kicking up dust in her effort to leave him behind. “I don’t expect we will, either.”
“That so?”
“Mmm-hmm. If I were a Magic 8 Ball, my answer would read ‘outlook not so good.’”
“Why don’t you let me shake you up a little? See if we can’t get a different answer.”
“My sources say no.”
Reed swallowed a laugh. Damn it, she was a feisty little thing. An image flashed through his mind of Julie astride him, hips undulating, head thrown back in ecstasy, and he groaned out loud. She sent him a wary look over her shoulder but didn’t stop. If he didn’t find a way to appeal to her, the vision would never become a reality. “I guess you don’t want to hear the challenge, then.”
Julie came to a halt and he nearly crashed into her back. “What now?”
He hid his smile. Underneath all that charm, he knew he’d sensed a competitor. Based on the contents of her bag, she’d nearly finished the damn hunt. Sure, his list was almost completed, too, but then he was a trained law officer. “How many items do you have left on your list?”
“One.”
“Same here.”
Her confidence slipped a little. “So?”
Reed shrugged. “Just thought you might care to make it interesting.”
“Next you’re going to taunt me. Say something like, ‘But if you’re not confident in your abilities, I understand.’”
“You said it, not me.”
She whispered something under her breath that sounded like hellfire, but he couldn’t be sure. Shifting on her feet, she considered him. “What are your terms, sourpuss?”
“Ladies first.”
Her arms crossed over her chest, enjoyment finally entering her eyes, and Reed barely resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. “If I find my item first, you show up to dance rehearsals tomorrow evening in a tuxedo. Not one word of complaint while Francois teaches everyone the waltz.”
He winced a little. Couldn’t help it. “That’s his name? Francois?” When she merely raised an eyebrow, he sighed. “Deal.”
“What are your terms?”
Reed knew Julie wouldn’t like his idea, so he took a step closer in case she tried to storm off. To his surprise, she didn’t back down when he brought their bodies flush, ran a hand over her hip, and let it linger there. “I assume, as part of these pole dancing classes, you learn how to…dance? Without the pole, I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” Julie replied hastily, a flush moving up her neck. He wanted to follow it with his mouth. “There might be…some of that involved,” she said shakily.
“Good.” His hand slipped across her shoulder to massage the back of her neck in slow circles with his thumb. “If I win, you dance for me. In my room. All of your clothes come off.”
She swallowed audibly. “Won’t that lead to sex?”
“Only if you want it to.” He brushed his lips over hers. “You don’t have to second-guess what I want. I’d take you right here if you asked me to.”
A whimper slipped past her lips. “I agree to your terms.” When her hands went to his belt buckle, Reed’s stomach muscles clenched. Their gazes connected. “That said, I wouldn’t mind getting a little preview.”
Reed pushed himself into her hands. “Take me out, then, baby. I’m already hard from watching you prance around in that little pink skirt.”
She lowered his fly and pushed his jeans down over his hips. Her words whispered across his mouth. “You want to give it to me hard, Reed?”
“You’ve never had it as hard as I’m going to give it to you.” Brain sufficiently scrambled, he captured her mouth in a slippery kiss, nipping her bottom lip as he pulled back. “What changed your mind? The cleaning?”
Julie hooked her thumbs into his boxers and slipped them down his legs, then rose to trace the skin under his jaw with her damp, parted lips. “I love a man who cleans.” She pulled back a little, teased his mouth with a swift kiss. “But I was the Tri Delt scavenger hunt champion four years in a row. I never, ever lose.”
Before Reed could ascertain her intention, Julie took off running for the resort, leaving him there in the woods with his pants and boxer shorts tangled around his ankles. With a hard-on to beat the band. Torn between fury, unbelievable pain, and grudging admiration, he yanked his pants up and took off after her. “I’m going to make you pay for that one, pixie.”
“It was worth it,” she yelled back over her shoulder, at least one hundred yards ahead of him on the trail. The resort became visible in the distance and he picked up his pace. So did Julie. Her feet were a blur as she sprinted along the concrete. It became apparent to Reed in that moment that he’d seriously underestimated the pixie.
“What’s your last item on the list?”
“A bell.” She didn’t even have the decency to sound winded. “You?”
“A newspaper.” He laughed. “Face it baby, I’ve got you beat. No way do you find a bell first.”
“Oh, yeah? Watch me.”
“Get ready to dance.”
“A victory dance, you mean?” Julie glanced back at him, humor lighting her face. Then, as if she hadn’t surprised him enough today, she mocked him, throwing his own words back in his face. “What changed your mind, baby? The cleaning?”
“Oh, you are asking for it now.” Suddenly, she veered to the left and took the path leading toward the hotel lobby. He followed right behind her as she threw open the heavy wooden door and entered the lobby at a dead run. Customers watched curiously as they raced past the plush seating area, dodging luggage carts and stray suitcases as they headed for the check-in area. An older man stepped into Reed’s path, forcing him to slow as Julie reached the front desk first.
When he realized her plan, his booming laugh echoed across the lobby.
Chapter Eleven
Julie heaved the entire stack of newspapers onto the front desk and smiled at the dumbfounded attendant. “I’d like to buy all of them, please.”
The young man studied her for a second, as if looking for signs of mental illness, then shrugged. Julie felt Reed come up behind her just as he finished counting the newspapers. She pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her skirt pocket and laid it on the counter, giving the young man her best smile as she did so. To her left, Reed sighed loudly. She ignored him.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any more in the back, would you, sugar? I’m in a bit of a pinch, you see. I’ve organized a papier-mâché craft hour for the children attending the wedding. Would you believe I went and forgot to bring newspaper? The main ingredient. Sometimes I think I’d forget my feet if I didn’t need them to walk. How long have you been working here? If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say quite a while. You’ve got an air of confidence about you. Yes sir, you do. My Aunt Sylvie always said that a confident man writes his own ticket in this world. Would you mind checking on those newspapers, darlin’? Bless your heart.”