Virgin Seductress

The husky lilt of her sultry voice wrapped around him like silk. There wasn’t much about her that didn’t ring his bells. Riley watched her sway down the long hallway to the kitchen.

When she disappeared into the kitchen, he raced up the stairs two at a time. He ran to the end of the hall and into his bedroom, peeling off his sweaty coveralls and thinking if he was stealthy enough he could con her into an impromptu let-me-jump-your-bones dinner.

He took the fastest shower that he ever had. All the while his mind was racing, wondering if he had enough food in the refrigerator in case he could coax her into staying for said sexy dinner. Visualizing the contents of his refrigerator, he frowned. He had four to-go boxes from the diner, since he ate there almost every night. Not a lot to choose from. Nothing he could throw together and impress her with. He hoped green stuff hadn’t grown on them.

Then he remembered he had steaks. New York cuts. Chloe had gone shopping yesterday and brought over a pity basket for him. And they were thawed out. Thank God he was still friends with his ex-wife. He could fire up the grill and he’d be the dinner hero. He could make corn. He always had canned corn because he loved it.

Calm yourself down, boy. You’ll be done before you even started proper.

Checking his face in the mirror, he realized he had a bit of stubble on his chin, but decided just to leave it. Shaving would take too much time. Besides a girl he’d dated a few months back had told him it made him look sexy and wild. Sexy and wild was a good thing. Right? God, what was up with him? He was acting like a lovesick puppy dog.

When he was certain he smelled decent and his hair had been tamed, he went to the closet and yanked a black denim shirt off a hanger. He found his last pair of clean jeans slung over his leather reading chair. He had to make some quality time for laundry, especially since his housekeeper Mrs. Clark wouldn’t be home from visiting her pregnant daughter for another two weeks.

He ran down the stairs barefooted. About halfway down he stopped. Where the hell were his socks and shoes?

“Riley? Where are you?” Nell’s sweet sensual voice saved him from sinking further into thoughts of a past he could never repair.

“Right here.” He entered the bright kitchen.

She leaned against the center island’s butcher block he’d built, beneath the wrought-iron pot holder with the copper pots and pans he’d never learned how to use since he didn’t know to cook. He just liked the way the shiny pots reflected the sun in the morning. “Didn’t mean to take so long.”

She bent slightly and patted Chester on the head. “That’s all right.”

For the first time since she’d walked up his driveway, he wondered why she was here. Probably about the trellis on her house damaged by last week’s freak storm. He’d promised to get to that soon. “Is it the trellis in the backyard?”

Her eyes widened. “I beg your pardon?”

“The trellis. You remember. Last week. Storm. Trellis.” With his hand, he mimicked the trellis falling down in the wind. “I know I promised to fix it, but things have been…” His voice trailed away.

She smiled sweetly. “No, no. I mean, yes it still needs repair, and I know you’ll get that done, but I didn’t come to discuss the trellis.”

He opened the refrigerator and grabbed the glass pitcher full of sweet tea, the only thing besides scrambled eggs he really could make with any degree of confidence.

He used to be much better at seduction.

He smiled at Nell, who looked away, the color on her cheeks deepening. Don’t rush her. Let her think it was all her idea. “So why are you here?”

Nell tugged at the tight white collar of her pink uniform. “Did you like being an architect?” she asked instead of answering his question. He could see she was nervous and his curiosity grew stronger. What was on her mind?

Riley prided himself on his ability to put women at ease. He set the pitcher on the tiled counter and took two glasses out of the cabinet. He poured iced tea into each glass. “Yes and no. I liked the creativity, but not all the detail work. I like restoring old homes better.” He handed her the glass of tea.

She took a sip. “Did you like living in Chicago?”

He wondered what she was getting at. He watched, fascinated, as her little pink tongue moved slowly over her bottom lip. He caught his breath and gripped the back of the countertop. Have mercy!

“Are you okay?” Nell asked, looking concerned.

Another illicit fantasy flitted through his mind. “Fine. What did you say?”

She sipped her tea and took a moment to set the glass down before looking up at him again. “Did you like living in Chicago?”

He’d hated Chicago and once Chloe had wanted to be close to her aging parents he’d been happy to leave. “Not really. I’m a small-town boy at heart.” Forcing himself to let her take the lead was killing him. Let’s just jump on the dining room table and get to the fun stuff. Though he knew that would never happen no matter how he prayed for it. Nell Evans wasn’t the type of girl to jump into any man’s bed.

She took a deep breath, showing off her voluptuous breasts at their very best. “I want to ask you if you would do something for me.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. Here it comes. He looked deep into the chocolate-brown eyes that had haunted his innermost fantasies for most of his life. He could deny her nothing. “Anything.”

“Would you teach me about sex?”

Chapter 2

Okay, Nell thought, at the look of shock on Riley’s face. Maybe the direct approach wasn’t the wisest choice of action. As Riley continued to remain silent, his hand wrapped around the empty glass, astonishment showed on his face and in his deep brown eyes.

Her confidence began to deteriorate. Somehow, in the cold light of day, the idea she’d had in the deep of the night didn’t seem logical anymore. She’d been dreaming about the future and realized she had her future in the palm of her hand. She could finally, after so many years, make her dream a reality. She could finally go to New York, go back to school to become something other than poor, old, boring inexperienced Nell. But how was she going to fulfill her aspirations of being the quintessential New York City sophisticate if she was still a virgin?

Riley blinked at her a couple of times, then shook his head and screwed his finger in his ear. “Would you say that one more time for me?”

Wiping damp palms on her uniform, she swallowed the lemon-sized lump in her throat. She knew Riley wasn’t attracted to her. He liked pretty women. Thin women. Women who had perfected the art of conversation.

“I was wondering if…” she said in a timid tone. “Well, if you could…teach me how…” She stared at her shoes, noticing she had a spot of country gravy on the left tip and a smear of what looked like peanut butter on the right one. “About sex?”

He just stood there with his mouth open, staring at her as though he couldn’t believe her. She didn’t blame him. He had some of the most beautiful women in three states lining up to seduce him. Why would he even entertain the notion of making love to her?

He leaned against the counter, seeming to ponder her words.

Nell had to admit she just liked looking at him. He was tall and well-built, with the grace of a dancer and the movements of a panther. Wide shoulders tapered down to a trim waist and strong muscular thighs. His skin was a lovely shade of light cinnamon and his hair was cut close to his scalp. Little droplets of water still sparkled on the surface of his black hair.

Once upon a time, she’d dreamed about marrying and starting a family with someone like him. But those young-girl dreams had been abandoned as the years crept by and very few men had showed any romantic interest in her. But the times had changed. Now a horde of single men—and a few not-so-single men—were attempting to insert themselves into her life since word had spread about her inheritance. Greed was a huge incentive for any man to ask out a prissy, plain Jane like herself. “Riley, did you hear what I said?”

He slipped a finger under her chin and forced her head up to meet his gaze. “Why?”

The tip of his finger was warm on her skin. She tried to move away, but her feet refused to move. She even attempted to look away, but his eyes held hers. The intensity of his gaze burned her to the spot. “I have several reasons.”

“Name one.”

“Well—” She shouldn’t have come. Instinct told her to back herself away and hope he forgot she’d ever made this silly suggestion.

She took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound, her grandmother had always said. “Because I’m going to move to New York City.” Boy, did that sound dumb, but she simply didn’t know what else to say.

He blinked again, and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Oh, boy, she needed to say something else—something that made sense. “And because you’re the only single man in this town who hasn’t been calling me up on the phone, sending me flowers, sending me candy or telling me I’m the most beautiful thing that ever graced the planet now that I’m an heiress and have enough money to keep a good man in comfort. Frankly, that makes me think you like me just because I’m me. And that’s why you would be perfect.” Okay, she’d said it all, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a torrent.

Riley nodded, but didn’t say anything for a few seconds as if he needed to give her words time to sink in and make sense. He took his finger from under her chin. “I do like you for you, but what does moving to New York have to do with you needing to learn about sex?”

How did she explain her big dream without sounding dumb? It all made sense in her head. In New York, she didn’t have to be boring old Nell Evans, diner waitress and granddaughter of the stingiest woman in Mississippi. Nor did she have to be the daughter of the easiest woman in Mississippi—a woman who didn’t even know who of all the men she’d slept with, had been Nell’s father. In New York, Nell could be the woman she wanted to be. The one she knew in her heart she was destined to be. She just didn’t want to go there with her backwoods country ways showing like a ripped hem on her skirt. “I can’t be there and be a virgin.”

His dark eyes widened. “You’re still a virgin?” His voice held an almost reverent tone.