“Shelley—”
“But I’m not a starry-eyed teenager anymore. If you’re looking for that kind of blind devotion, look someplace else.”
He closed the distance between them in several long strides. With angry hands he took her shoulders and shook her slightly. “Is that what you think I want from you? Hero worship? Infatuation? No, Shelley. You’re an intelligent woman and I respect your intelligence. But I want you as a lover, too. Naked and passionate and as hot for me as I am for you. And don’t try telling me that the thought of us together like that has never crossed your mind. You’ve all but admitted as much.”
He shook her again. “Didn’t you ever wonder what would have happened had I obeyed my impulse that night, carried you out of there, undressed you, looked at you, touched you, caressed you? By God I did, and cursed the morality that prevented me from ever seeing your body and touching it and tasting it and making love to it.”
She groaned and tried to bury her face in his shirt-front, but he wouldn’t let her. He captured her face between his hands and tilted it up to his. “You didn’t have a happy love life with your husband. You didn’t like making love to him, did you, Shelley?”
“Please,” she moaned and tried to escape his hands. He wouldn’t allow it.
“You didn’t like it, did you?” he demanded.
She held her breath for a moment, then shook her head furiously. “No,” she whispered, then said more forcefully, “no, no, no.”
“Ah, God.” He crushed her to him, rocking her back and forth slowly. His fingers laced through her hair to fit over her scalp and pressed her face against his chest. His lips brushed over her hair in a fervent kiss. After a while, he lifted her chin with his thumb.
His finger followed the heart shape of her hairline. “You’re so beautiful.” He mouthed the words rather than said them, but she understood. “I love the smoky color of your eyes, the shape of your mouth.” He outlined it with his fingertip. “Your hair is soft and shiny and natural, not twisted into some contrived shape.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. “You need to be loved, Shelley, by someone who appreciates the woman you are. Let me love you.”
“I don’t know, Grant.”
“We’re on your timetable. No pressure.” He kissed her then. His kiss was a deep and thorough melding of their mouths. He adjusted his body to hers and felt only a tremor of alarm when he cradled his manhood against her. His thumb stroked the warm skin of her neck and pressed against the pulsating vein.
“Will you go to the football game with me Saturday?” The question was a caress against her parted lips. He kissed her again with a gentle love bite on her lower lip. “After the game, the faculty is invited to the chancellor’s house for cocktails. Surely you wouldn’t be so cruel as to make me suffer through that alone.”
She thought his fingertip was gliding along the side of her breast under her arm, but his touch was so tender she couldn’t be sure. However, it was enough to make her breathless when she answered, “I guess I’d never forgive myself if I did.”
He sampled her mouth one more time, using his tongue like an instrument designed solely to give sensual pleasure. “I’ll be by Saturday at two.” He kissed her swiftly and hard, then left, closing the door behind him.
“Grant, slow down. Who do you think you are? The star halfback?” Her hand was locked tightly in his as he led her through the maze of the stadium parking lot toward the gates swarming with football enthusiasts.
“Sorry,” he said, slowing down. “I didn’t think an ol’ cheerleader like you would want to miss the kickoff.”
Ever since she had accepted his invitation, she had anguished over consenting to this date. Common sense dictated that she should have told him no. But each time she was with him, common sense seemed to desert her. If he felt confident enough to take her to the home of the chancellor of the university, why should she feel timorous about it?
She had answered his knock with a high sense of anticipation, and it was rewarded. He looked gorgeous. His dark hair was mussed as usual, but it gleamed in the autumn sunshine. He was dressed in a sport shirt and slacks that perfectly accentuated the lean, tough virility of his physique.
“You look great,” he said, taking in her striped skirt and a silk shirt that matched the cloudy-sky color of her eyes. Without pause or awkwardness, he drew her into his embrace and kissed her with the hunger of a starved man. After the initial shock of his thrusting intimacy had subsided, she wound her arms around his neck.
When at last they parted, each with a thudding heart and shortness of breath, he brought his lips against her ear and said, “We could skip the football game and have our own little match right here. I’ll referee and keep score. All you have to do is play along.”
She blushed furiously and shoved him aside to gather her blue wool blazer and suede purse. He was still laughing when he settled her into his sleek black Datsun 280 Z. They joked and teased while he negotiated his way through the heavy traffic on the way to the stadium. For the first time, they were relaxed with each other, meeting on equal ground as two adults, forgetting the dismal past and enjoying only the present.
“Aren’t football games fun?” he was growling in her ear now. They had been consumed by the throng. To keep them from getting separated, he had wrapped his arms around her waist and positioned her in front of him. He held her tight against him as they made their way slowly toward the ramp that led to their reserved seats.
His meaning didn’t escape her. She could feel the straining pressure of his masculinity against her hips. His breath in her ear, against her cheek, on the back of her neck, was a sweet airy caress. “I think you’re taking unfair advantage.”
“And you’re absolutely right.” He moved his arm up a fraction until it lay just below her breasts. No one in the mob would have noticed. “But can you blame a guy when he’s with the most beautiful woman on the whole campus?”
“Even more beautiful than Miss Zimmerman?” Shelley said with unusual cattiness, referring to the girl who had spoken to him outside Hal’s. “She’s obviously attracted to you and she certainly has a couple of fine attributes.”
“I like your attributes better.”
He jostled his arm enough to lift her breasts slightly and to convey his message loud and clear. Shelley’s sharp gasp caused the man beside her to whip his head around.
“Pardon me. Did I step on your foot?”
She shook her head. “No.” Grant’s chest vibrated with silent laughter.