Slow Hands

“You were there!”
    “Don’t be ridiculous…”
    “You came to the auction. Despite all your claims about how you couldn’t be trusted and I had to be the one to do it, you went anyway.”
    “Well, I couldn’t very well send you up against a professional without making sure you were okay.”
    Against a professional… Mmm, she could think of worse places to be than up against that man’s rock-hard body. Especially after having experienced what just fantasizing about him could make her feel.
    “After all, you are my baby sister.”
    That was about one layer too thick. “Bullshit. I bet you were the one who told him how to find me, even after I intentionally left without giving him my name.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Yeah, right .
    “And don’t try to claim you were looking out for me,” Maddy added. “You were dying of curiosity.”
    As usual, when busted, Tabitha didn’t even try to act repentant. “Well, it’s not every day all the rich bitches of this town go into heat over the same hound dog.”
    “He’s not a…” She quickly bit her tongue, not wanting to give Tabby any more ammunition.
    Too late. “Whoa-ho! You’re falling for him!”
    “Of course I’m not.”
    “But you want him.”
    “Of course I do.” Maddy wasn’t one to prevaricate, either.
    “So what’s the problem? Take him. You are in such desperate need of getting laid you might as well be wearing a Please Take Me sign.”
    “Charming. Do you kiss your fiancé with that mouth?”
    “My future husband is very proper. He hasn’t yet learned of the miraculous things I can do with my mouth,” Tabby said with a catlike purr. “But seriously, you know you want to have sex with that guy.”
    “Any woman would,” she admitted.
    “Of course they would. He’s gorgeous. It really is a good thing I talked you into doing it. I wouldn’t have been able to walk out of the hotel without at least a little taste.”
    A little taste. Sounded yummy. Only, she knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough. That would be like offering a four-year-old a little taste of his own birthday cake.
    “And I really can’t afford one more broken engagement. I’ll get a reputation.”
    “You love your reputation. And so do all the men who want to be the one to make you settle down.”
    Tabby chuckled. “Maybe.” Then she lowered her voice, sounding serious—tender—for a change. “But I really don’t want to do anything to risk losing Brad. He…he calms me. Settles me. And I think he’s exactly what I need.”
    That explained a lot. Honestly, Maddy had wondered about Tabby’s latest choice in husband. Because, though he was extremely wealthy, Tabby’s soon-to-be-hubby was average looking and staid compared to the other men she’d been involved with.
    “You might be right,” Maddy murmured, smiling at the thought of her wild-child sibling truly settling down.
    The serious, tender sister quickly disappeared. “Maybe you can bring the stud-muffin to the wedding. Wouldn’t Deborah just choke on her chateaubriand?”
    Shaking her head, Maddy said, “I’m hanging up now.”
    “Fine. But remember to call me after your date. You are going, aren’t you?”
    Hating to admit it, she said, “Tuesday afternoon.”
    “And hopefully it will last into Wednesday morning. Call me just as soon as he leaves. I want to know—”
    But before Tabby could finish, Maddy hung up the phone. Shaking her head, she sank back down into the cooling tub of water, now wanting the rapidly disappearing bubbles to wash away her irritation.
    Her first time in ages doing something to take the edge off and she got busted. Absolutely the only thing that could have been worse would have been if Jake had been the one who’d called.
    Then she thought about it. Jake calling while she’d been touching herself. Whispers on the phone. Shared fantasies. Secret desires.
    And she reached for the handle, sending another stream of hot, steamy water into the tub.
    * * *
    T HE INTRINSIC INNER “gentleman” who had been pounded into Jake’s personality since he was a kid rebelled at meeting Maddy for their date, rather than going to her place and knocking on her door. There had been a rule growing up in his house—dates, especially first dates, came inside and got the full family third degree, or nobody went anywhere. More than one of his sisters’ boyfriends had been introduced to their father while he was wearing his camouflage hunting gear and