Red-Hot Nights: Daring in the Dark

She flicked a long-nosed, handled lighter and lit a candle by her bed. She crossed the room, lighting two wall sconces. They flanked a painting of a semi-dressed woman reclining on a divan. Very sensual. Like her. Like the room.

A sleigh bed dominated the windowed wall. A comforter in an elegant paisley pattern of bold reds, cinnamon and gold lay atop it. Matching gold-fringed pillows were piled against the headboard invitingly. A mirrored dresser filled the wall space between the bedroom door and wardrobe. Tawny moved over to a large triple-wicked pillar candle on her dresser.

She turned to face him, smiling. “I told you I had plenty of candles.”

She was even more beautiful with candlelight dancing across her face, flickering over her bare shoulders, casting the valley between her breasts into a mysterious shadowy place he longed to explore. Her smile faded and the perfume of the candles wafted around them, exotic scents that conjured images of hot sex, that stripped away his reserve and left him a man who ached for the woman he wanted and couldn’t have. Her lips parted and he could have sworn he glimpsed a reciprocal heat in her eyes.

“You shouldn’t burn them all. We don’t have any idea how long the lights will be out.” Nothing like a little censure to dissipate a mood.

“I have plenty. I’ve got a thing for candles.”

“What else do you have a thing for?” he asked, his tongue moving faster under the circumstances than his internal censor. And he was only human. They were alone in her apartment, in candlelight, her bed was right there and less than five feet separated them.

She wet her lips, as if her mouth was suddenly too dry and he felt another stab of familiar guilt—this time for making her uncomfortable. “That was a joke. My misguided attempt at humor. Do you have a radio with batteries so we can find out what’s going on out there?” Definitely time to introduce the real world. He needed outside stimuli to keep from drifting off into another fantasy of just the two of them.

“My boom box uses batteries.” She opened her closet door and stepped over the pile of clothes on the floor. She knelt down and bent over. He should look away, direct his attention to the painting on the wall, check out the dark New York skyline. Hell, watching paint dry would be better, far more noble, than staring at her on her knees with her amazing, enticing, drool-inspiring bum in the air.

She backed out of the closet, boom box in hand, and stood. She flipped the switch. Nothing happened. “Okay. Batteries that aren’t dead would be a bonus.” She upended the radio on the bed and opened the battery compartment. “Six C-cell batteries. I’ll have us fixed up in no time. I keep extras on hand.”

She rounded the bed to the bedside drawer where he stood. She pulled out two batteries and tossed them onto the bed. She dug a bit more, pulling out a third. “Three isn’t going to do it.”

Her skin glimmered in the soft light, her eyes were soft and luminous, her scent issued a siren’s call. He thrust his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. He’d been mad to agree to be here tonight. “No. I’d say it’s rather obvious we need three more.”

“I’ve got it covered.” Her smile said she was tired of him being a jerk. And he was tired of being a jerk, but it was better than giving in to his impulse to ease her onto the bed, peel her clothes off and become intimately acquainted with every delectable inch of her naked body.

She delved back into the drawer—obviously command central in her bedroom—and pulled out … the biggest vibrator he’d ever seen. Well, actually, he didn’t believe he’d ever seen a vibrator firsthand before. It was quite … large.

“Simon, meet Tiny.” Tiny was pretty intimidating from a man’s point of view. Not that he suddenly felt inadequate or anything. She unscrewed the bottom, dropped two batteries out and replaced the top. She put it back in the drawer and then pulled out a much smaller dildo with a smaller stem on the top of it. “This is Enrico and Bob.” She waved the toy in his general direction.

“Um, I gather the little guy is Bob because he …”

“Yep. You got it. He bobs up and down.”

Simon reminded himself to breathe—but not too heavily. This was going great. He should’ve abandoned her, along with his principles, and gotten the hell out of her apartment when he’d had the opportunity. He’d only thought it was hot before. He was burning up now. “I guess this answers the question as to what else you have a thing for.”

She pulled out a single battery and tossed it onto the bed atop the others. “There you go. Six C-cell batteries, and I promise they’re all in working order. Why don’t you put them in?”

3

MAYBE SHE’D GONE A TAD too far introducing her vibrator boys by name, but she’d had enough of his quiet sarcasm and disapproval. According to Elliott, Simon’s demeanor stemmed from being first-generation American. His father, a Brit, had relocated to New York before Simon was born to curate some museum or another. She didn’t care if his father was next in line for the British throne, she was tired of Simon’s hot-and-cold attitude. And if she was honest with herself, she was none too pleased with herself that he turned her on to the nth degree and annihilated her composure. Around him she couldn’t seem to think of anything beyond sex. With him. She’d nearly made a fool of herself when he’d put his hands on her shoulders. And then when he’d touched her breast … she’d come close to begging him to take her then and there, hard and fast, against the wall, in the hallway. Simon brought out a sensuality in her that she’d never known before and in some aspects frightened her with its intensity.

Silently Simon loaded the batteries into her boom box. His hands weren’t quite steady as he fumbled with the last one. Maybe the close confines were getting to him, too.

The radio blared to life. “… so, it looks like it’s a good old-fashioned blackout brought on by the incredible demand for a little air-conditioned relief from the triple-digit heat. Unfortunately, the lights are out across the Tristate area and authorities tell us they’re not sure when they’ll have the lights back on. It looks like it’s going to be a hot night, so just settle down where you are and stay put. In honor of the blackout, we’re going to open the lines for requests and dedications that have to do with hot and summer. And I guess we’ll be seeing a bunch of newborns nine months from now. Hey, you’ve got to pass the time somehow. Let’s start this set with an oldie, ‘Love The One You’re With’.” Tawny reached over and turned it off.

Trapped in her apartment with Simon for the night? Tawny bit back her panic. Danger signals exploded in her brain—her, Simon, candlelight—and already it felt as if the temperature in her apartment had increased a few degrees.

“Well, we can forget take-out Thai. Are you hungry?” Sure, leave it to the fat girl to bring up food, but dammit, she was starving. And it took her mind off sex. And Simon. And sex with Simon. Well, probably not, but she was still hungry.

He grinned and she was totally disarmed by the flash of his white teeth in the dim lighting. “I’m famished. I could chew nails.”

“I don’t keep much food on hand. There’s a deli a block and a half away. Do you think it would still be open?”

“It should. During the 2003 blackout, food stores were selling out because they didn’t know how long their power would be out. Better to sell it than let it ruin. I’ve even got some cash on me. Let’s give it a go.” He smiled with a touch of self-conscious eagerness. “And I wouldn’t mind burning a roll or two of film.”

Duh. He was a photographer. Of course he’d like to be taking pictures. And it was incredible how his whole demeanor changed when he talked about photography.

“Sure. Food and photographs. Works for me,” she said.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than lightning flashed and thunder boomed overhead. Rain fell in a sudden onslaught. Nothing, it seemed, was subtle or happening in small measure tonight.

“Or not. Okay. That’s it. I’m not planning anything else tonight because everything I plan gets trashed,” she said with a nervous laugh. They were stuck here. She picked up a small votive to lead the way back down the hall. “I’m not a culinary queen, but nails shouldn’t be necessary,” she said.

She didn’t comment when Simon blew out the other candles in the room before he picked up the radio and followed her. She had enough candles in the closet to carry them for a week, but it wasn’t worth arguing the point.

She was more than willing to bury the hatchet between them since they were stuck here together.

She snagged her wineglass on the way into the kitchen. “Good wine is a terrible thing to waste.”

“Ah, something we agree on.” Tawny waited for Simon to exchange the radio for his glass and the wine bottle. Given the minimum square footage of her apartment, they’d have no trouble hearing the radio from the kitchen. He followed her into the other room. Within a few seconds, several candles illuminated her galley kitchen.

“What’s that?” Simon asked. She followed his gaze to the top of the fridge. In the semidarkness, Peaches resembled a blob of prey more than a feline.

“Peaches, my cat. He likes the top of the refrigerator. He’s the one with a bad attitude and selective hearing.”

“Poor fella. You’d have a bad attitude, too, if you were a guy called Peaches.” Simon made a sympathetic noise in the back of his throat and surprised Tawny by reaching up to scratch the cat behind the ears. Peaches promptly hissed and swatted.

“He’s not Mister Friendly.”

“Neither am I,” Simon said with a self-deprecating smile as he leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, forget it, I’m not adopting you if you find yourself abandoned,” she said with a teasing smile, despite the flutter in her tummy at the thought of making Simon her own. “You’d probably be as bad-tempered and ungrateful as he is.”

“Duly noted,” he said with another smile that doubled her heart rate. “Why do you keep the wretch?”

“Because it was love at first sight on my part.” She glanced away from him. That almost sounded as if she had declared herself in love with Simon at first sight. A totally ridiculous notion. “He’ll come around sooner or later.”

Simon quirked a sardonic brow in the direction of Peaches. “I believe you’re an eternal optimist.”

“Call me Pollyanna.” She opened the refrigerator door and peered into the black hole, considering their limited food options. “The microwave or the oven won’t work. I’ve got leftover pizza. And I can throw together a fruit salad. How does that sound?”

“Better than nails.”

Tawny laughed, enjoying his quiet teasing and relaxing into his company. She pulled out the food and closed the fridge door. “Are you always so gracious and enthusiastic?”

“Yes, except when I’m in a bad mood.” He sipped his wine, and as if the camaraderie between them was unacceptable, she could almost see him retreating. She wanted him to stay. “It was monumental bad timing that I wasn’t the one delayed and Elliott isn’t here with you instead.”

Elliott. Right. Her fiancé. She twisted her ring with her thumb. Guilt flooded her. She hadn’t spared Elliott a nominal thought since his phone call. She shrugged. “It’s an emergency. We all do the best we can. I’m sure Elliott would rather not be trapped in the gallery with that acrylics guy. And while you might not be thrilled to be here, it’s better than being stuck on the subway.”