Carly Phillips - Hot Item

“I’m not surprised Darla and company have planned some games,” Sophie said, laughing.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“You sound surprised.” She turned his way.

He cocked an eyebrow. “I shouldn’t be? I’d have bet you’d be-”

“Too uptight to let loose and have fun?” she asked, knowing exactly what he thought of her. She had to admit she hadn’t given him much reason to think otherwise.

“Your free spirit is something I definitely want to see firsthand.” He winked and kept walking.

A free spirit, she was not. She glanced down at her string bikini and acknowledged that tonight she was not the same woman from their flight down. She couldn’t afford to be if she wanted this time with Riley. But the fact that Riley made her want to shed some of her inhibitions was yet another reason to fear whatever was happening between them.

She glanced over the crowded pool, admiring the way the older crowd was enjoying life. “Let’s just say that when I’m eligible for a senior-citizen discount, I hope that I’m as happy with life as Darla seems to be,” she said as she rushed to keep pace with Riley.

“Fair enough,” he said.

As they reached the pool, the party was in full swing. Chubby Checker’s “Limbo Rock” blasted on loudspeakers while the guests mingled. Older men with bald heads or graying hair danced around the pool deck, grabbing any willing partner while the braver ones ducked beneath the limbo stick.

But what really made the party guests stand out was their attire or lack of it. The women displayed their assets in bikinis reminiscent of the movie Calendar Girls and their male counterparts wore Speedos in varying colors.

Riley shuddered. “I may never have a good night’s sleep again.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I know what you mean.” She’d much prefer Riley in his swim trunks to the tight Speedos. Who was she kidding? She’d prefer Riley out of his bathing suit, a wish that might come true later tonight. Her mouth grew dry with anticipation.

“Well, at least nobody here is one of your relatives,” he muttered.

Sophie paused, realizing that what for her was an amusing way to pass time until she found Spencer, was a life-changing event for Riley. She didn’t know anything about how he’d grown up or what the parents who had raised him were like, but he obviously wasn’t comfortable with the idea that this wild geriatric set comprised his family and their friends.

Unfortunately for her, she wanted to understand and help him deal with whatever emotions were eating away at him. “Riley-” She reached out and touched his arm. Warmth tingled straight to her toes. “These people are no reflection on you.”

He turned and stared at the place where her hand had made contact with his skin. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine,” he bit out.

She heard the rebuke, swallowed hard and removed her hand.

Instead of walking away in search of his father as she’d expected, he immediately grabbed her hand and laced his fingers inside hers. His thumb caressed the center of her palm and the massaging sensation was oddly erotic, definitely a way to tease and send her pulse rate soaring.

She heard his silent apology for snapping at her and she understood how deeply Spencer’s abandonment had hurt him. She wished she could ease his pain as much as she wished her heart wasn’t already engaged with this man.

“Do you see Spencer?” He surveyed the crowded pool area.

“To find Spencer I’d have to mix with the crowd, and frankly I’d rather not look at anyone that closely,” she said, deliberately changing the subject.

He chuckled, relaxing a bit. Her hand still in his, he pulled her toward the center of activity, the makeshift bar on the side of the pool.

“I’m so glad you two made it.” Darla greeted them with a frozen drink in her hand. She bent to take a sip but, instead of the straw, her lips hit the umbrella and she giggled like a young girl. She was dressed like one, too. “Piña colada anyone?” Darla asked.

“No thanks,” Sophie said.

“Margarita? Daiquiri? Tom Collins?” She offered the drinks, trailing off with a loud hiccup.

“No, thank you. Darla, have you heard from Spencer?” Sophie asked, undeterred.

“Well, if you two aren’t having a drink, that doesn’t mean I can’t have another. Rose is tending bar. Come meet my sister. Oh, Rose!” Darla called in her high-pitched voice.

Sophie shot Riley a glance. Darla was avoiding the subject and Sophie would bet she knew exactly where her brother was.

“Rose, this is Sophie Jordan and Riley.” She didn’t use his last name and Rose didn’t ask for it.

Sophie tried not to wince. Instead she glanced behind the bar where a bleached-platinum-blonde blended drinks, an oversize floppy straw hat on her head.

Sophie leaned closer to Riley. “Were you hoping for normal?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “I’ve accepted that in this family, there is no such thing.”

This family, not my family, Sophie thought. Well, if they were her long-lost relatives, she couldn’t say how she would react. “I take it your mother and stepfather aren’t-”

“Oddballs? No. They’re as conservative as they come. Mom’s a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy and my father’s a personal friend of Rush Limbaugh. Enough said?”

She nodded and tried to absorb the opposite worlds that surrounded him now.

“So good to meet you,” Rose said. “My daughter Amy told me all about you.” She glanced at Riley and winked.

Sophie wished Darla and Rose would outright acknowledge him as Amy had. Rose’s subtle winks and Darla’s pretense had to hurt. Almost like reliving Spencer’s rejection, she thought sadly.

“Good to meet you, too.” Riley leaned one arm on the bar. “Have either of you beautiful ladies heard from your brother?” Riley asked, turning on the charm.

“Ooh, he’s more handsome in person. Than in his pictures, I mean,” Rose said, stammering over her faux pas.

Sophie couldn’t stand it anymore. She hated how they were following some ridiculous mandate of Spencer’s that she couldn’t understand. She resented how they were sacrificing Riley’s feelings for their brother’s agenda.

When she finally got her hands on Spencer, she’d throttle him, but in the meantime she’d settle for taking on his sisters. “I’ve had it,” Sophie said loudly.

Darla turned her way. “Did you say something, dear?”

“Yes.” She perched her hands on her hips. “We’ve both asked you a question and you’re ignoring us. Have you seen Spencer?”

Darla blinked and Sophie realized she wore fake eyelashes. “Seen him? No, no. I can’t say I’ve seen him this evening. Rose?”

The other woman shook her head.

Sophie wanted to grind her teeth in frustration. “I guess we’ll check in again in the morning before we leave.”

“Oh dear! You’ve only just arrived. I’d hate to see you go,” Darla said with meaning.

It was probably the first honest thing she’d said all night. Sophie shook her head, oddly disappointed in these people. “If Spencer shows up, I hope you’ll let us know.”

“They will,” Riley said. “After all, why would they keep that information from us?” Riley asked, then without waiting for a reply, he pulled Sophie away from the two older women to a corner of the pool deck where they could be alone.

“I’m sorry,” she said, not really sure what for.

He treated her to a grim smile. “That means a lot coming from Spencer’s favorite Jordan sister.”

She glanced down at the concrete, unable to meet his gaze. “Actually I’m sorry for that, too.”

He lifted her chin with his hand. “It’s not as if you knew about me. Unlike them.”

“Isn’t that part of the problem? That Spencer denied his only son?” She drew a deep breath. “I don’t understand Spencer. From what I know of him he’s a good, kind man. To deny you goes against everything I believed about him. It goes against everything I believe in.”

And right now she believed in Riley. In what she and Riley could share tonight. She wanted only to stop dancing around their feelings and act on them.

“I vote we go back to the house.” She voted they go to bed, but she couldn’t bring herself to make the proposition out loud.

Instead she leaned up on her toes and touched her lips to his, letting her actions speak for her. She had no doubt Riley was as smart as she gave him credit for being and that soon enough she’d be in his bed.

RILEY SUCKED IN a deep breath, afraid to move, afraid if he blinked he’d discover he was dreaming. Because Sophie had touched her lips to his, giving him a green light.

Did she know how much he needed her? The desire between them was obvious. Mutual. The need was something else. She’d become an anchor in his suddenly turbulent life and, at the moment, he didn’t know where he’d be without her.

He clenched his hand into a fist at his side and held his emotions in check. Testing what she was offering, he parted his lips.

Sophie responded, tasting slowly at first, grazing his lower lip before finally touching her tongue to his. She tasted minty yet sweet, and felt soft yet hot, all at the same time. His dreams held nothing on the reality of kissing this woman. A woman who loved to be in control of everyone and everything in her life, yet whose body shook with tremors that told him she was barely hanging on to that control now.

Riley felt the same way. His body shook with desire, and with the difficulty of holding back, but he respected how difficult this overture must be for her and didn’t want to drive her away. Yet in its simplicity, this was both the most innocent and yet the hottest kiss he’d ever had, bringing everything to life inside him, including things he’d never felt before. Heaven help him when he thrust inside her body for the first time.

A warm, humid breeze blew around them and he couldn’t resist uncurling his fist and burying his hand in the soft curls of her hair. The weather teased her normally controlled hair much the way he teased her, he thought, unable to control a laugh.

“Something funny?” She stepped back, looking completely ruffled and thoroughly kissed.

“Just that I finally broke through your composure and I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would.” He paused to study her. “And so did you.”

“Cocky man.”

He shrugged. “Arrogant, too. Now let’s blow this joint.” In case his meaning wasn’t clear, he held out his hand.

She slipped her fingers inside his and they started for the exit. He wove his way through the partially naked older people at the party, doing his best not to gawk. They reached the gate just as they heard a shriek followed by a loud splash.

Riley turned toward the pool.

A bald man waved from the deep end. “Come join me, Darla!” His toupee floated beside him like a dead rat. His Speedo rose to the top next.

Sophie burst out laughing. “I wish I had my camera. Nobody would believe this.”

“If my stepfather was here he’d disown me for sure,” Riley muttered.

Sophie raised an eyebrow, curiosity written all over her intelligent face.

“Ever hear of Senator Harlan Nash?” he asked her. It was a rhetorical question, really. The man had made a name for himself with his right-wing conservative views and his close friendship with the current Republican president.

“No wonder you don’t want Spencer to acknowledge you now,” she murmured. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, sympathy on her face. But the twinkle in her blue eyes told him sympathy was the last thing he’d be receiving from her when they took off their clothes.

BACK AT THE HOUSE, Sophie trembled with desire. She’d been with other men but never one with the ability to reach past her walls. Never one who’d come to mean something to her so quickly. One day of watching him grapple with his family issues, and she wanted to help him figure things out. Of course focusing on Riley meant she didn’t have to deal with her own life: phone messages from the chaos at The Hot Zone and Athletes Only, calls from reporters asking for Spencer, and their Heisman-winning client-to-be still hanging by a thread.

But it was Riley she wanted to focus on now. She’d thrown all caution aside and she intended to enjoy it. Living for the moment wasn’t Sophie’s M.O., but with Riley it felt so right.

He dimmed the lights in the bedroom, casting a sexy, muted glow, then strode toward her. Wearing nothing but bathing trunks, he presented a powerful presence, all tanned muscle and gorgeous male.

He cornered her by the bed, sexual heat emanating from him in waves. Sophie’s legs shook and she lowered herself to the edge of the mattress.