Velvet Haven

the drive home and tried to make her feel better. But Mairi was nowhere near feeling better. She was angry and hurt, and still aroused.
    Damn him.
    Tossing the towel onto the vanity, she decided she’d done enough wallowing in her thoughts. In the morning, she’d call Rowan and apologize for ruining her night. Rowan and Sayer had been getting along well. Her friend was actually laughing when Mairi had found her. Just because Mairi hadn’t scored with Bran didn’t mean Rowan had to leave when she did. Mairi had cheated Rowan of a night of pleasure, and it wasn’t fair.
    Back in the living room, she went to the bookshelf that housed her phone and answering machine. There was one message, and when the dark, velvety voice came over the speaker, she nearly dropped to the ground. Bran.
    How the hell had he gotten her number? Then she remembered signing the VIP clipboard. Obviously he was interested enough to search that out. Or maybe he just felt bad.
    Great. Pity was such a turn on.
    “I want to see you . . . Soon.” Mairi replayed the message. He had definitely said he wanted—no, needed —to see her again. She played it three more times before the entire message had soaked through her brain, which seemed to fill with lust at just the sound of his voice.
    He’d left a number, and she sat on the couch chewing her nail, wondering if she could call it. How desperate would it look? She glanced at the clock. It was after midnight. But he would still be up, something told her, still at the club. Beside her, Clancy panted and watched her with his head cocked.
    “I know, I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”
    She picked up the phone anyway, and started to dial the number she’d written down. Then hung up. She did it three more times before getting the courage up to let it ring. Two rings, and his baritone rumble was washing over her.
    “Mairi?”
    Was he expecting her call? Waiting for it? Her stomach churned and she lay back on the couch before she fell off.
    “Yeah, it’s me.”
    “Your voice . . . it sounds different.”
    Closing her eyes, she imagined him on the other end of the phone. His voice sounded different too. If it was possible, it was even sexier.
    “You are upset with me. You left tonight because you thought I didn’t desire you.”
    She pressed her eyes shut, mortified that he knew. She felt her defenses fly up, and she was about to speak when he went on, his voice low and urgent.
    “But I wanted you, Mairi. I still want you.”
    “Oh,” she whispered.
    “I would have taken what you were offering, but you’re not that type of girl. I’ve had easy lays before, and I didn’t want that. Not with you.”
    A perverse sense of pleasure washed through her. He had wanted her. Still wanted her. Suddenly she felt like giving him her address and inviting him over to prove it.
    “Mairi?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’d like to get to know you.”
    “What do you mean?”
    There was a pause that seemed to go on forever before he spoke. “Outside of sex. I’d like to know you as a person.”
    Like a date? He definitely didn’t seem like the dating type.
    “I like you, Mairi.”
    “I like you, too,” she replied.
    “So will you let me?”
    “Sure.”
    “When?”
    She struggled to think, but couldn’t. She swore she heard a noise, like metal on metal. Zipper . . . that was definitely a zipper.
    “Mairi?”
    “I’m, ah, I have this weekend off.”
    “Good,” he murmured, his voice thickening. “Where are you?”
    She swallowed. “At home. On the couch. What about you?”
    “In a bedroom at the club. Alone.”
    “Oh.” Her heart was beating too fast. She obviously wasn’t getting enough blood to her brain, because she was going to pass out at just the thought of him lounging in bed with his leather pants unzipped.
    She heard the bed creak, and imagined it was his large frame settling onto the mattress. Her fingers were shaking as she held the phone up to her ear. Clancy jumped off the couch and went to his bed, his nails clicking on the floor.
    “Who is there?” Bran demanded.
    “No one. It was my dog.”
    She heard the exhale of breath. “What are you wearing?” “My favorite robe.”
    “What’s beneath it?”
    She froze. Were they going to have kinky phone sex? She’d seen it in the movies, heard about it from her friends at work. But she had never done anything like this. She didn’t know how to do it, or if she could.
    “Are you naked, Mairi, beneath that robe?”
    “Yes.”
    He