Anything You Can Do(22)

Sometime during the game she saw Paula and Gordon from the corner of her eye as they came in, but they went straight to Paula's room.

Finally— "Check," Austin announced.

"And mate." Bailey unhesitatingly moved a knight into position, trying to refrain from smirking.

"Very good," Austin said. Damn! he thought. That gave her two in a row, for she'd definitely trounced him at the deposition. "Another game?" He had her strategies figured out now. He'd beat her this time.

Sometime later he slapped his palm on the tabletop and exclaimed, "Impossible!" when it became apparent the game was a stalemate.

"My sentiments exactly."

For a moment they glared at each other, then both shoved back their chairs and stood. Austin moved in long strides toward the refrigerator, intent on getting a cold beer. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bailey doing the same thing. Well, he could certainly walk faster than she could!

They collided in the kitchen doorway. He automatically put up his hands to brace against the collision and she must have done the same because somehow their bodies slammed together while their arms tangled around each other. The adrenaline of anger, the excitement of the game, somehow all got mixed up and misdirected. He could have sworn it all came from holding Bailey's sleek body against his.

Her face, inches from his own, was glowing, her green eyes blazing. She exuded life and vitality and challenge.

One of his hands, seemingly of its own volition, stroked her smooth neck while the other moved down to her slim waist.

This is crazy, he thought. Holding an untamed tiger in one's arms was definitely crazy but it didn't feel crazy. It felt wonderful.

He really had to stop.

Her full lips parted slightly, as if to take in extra breaths, her gaze never leaving his. Her hands caressed his back, deftly, gently, as he'd never realized yet always known she could.

Austin ordered his hands to move away from her body, but they were no longer connected to his brain. The right slid down to the firm roundness of her buttocks, pushed her pelvis against his arousal, while the left held her neck firmly as his lips touched hers. She returned the kiss hungrily, matching his own frenzy. He felt the strength and the softness, tasted pizza and beer and an elusive spiciness he immediately identified as Bailey. His tongue darted out, met hers, thrust, parried, retreated, and returned.

He couldn't think, didn't dare think, could only revel in the feel of her beneath his hands, against his body, moving with him in a frenetic rhythm. As she clung to him, his hand moved from her neck over her collarbone, down to her small, round breast, molding it through the soft fabric of her cotton blouse. His fingers searched for the nipple, his breath coming faster as he found it erect, felt her surge against him as he stroked.

Something gentle but insistent touched his leg repeatedly, but he had no attention left for outside distractions. This contest was consuming him. He couldn't get enough of Bailey. He had to have her, had to love her, doubted even that would be enough.

A sharp bark intruded.

Dazed, Austin jerked apart from Bailey, followed her gaze to the floor at their feet where Samantha looked up with indignation in her brown eyes.

Bailey sank to the floor, took the dog into her arms.

"Were you being ignored, sweetheart?" Her words were gasps, the same as his would be if he tried to talk.

Talk? How could he talk when he couldn't even think? Austin yanked open the refrigerator door and pulled out a can of beer. He popped the top, held on to the kitchen counter, and downed half the contents of the can then paused to breathe.

"Are you two finally taking a break?" Paula's voice came across the room.

"Yes," he gulped.

"We're finished," Bailey added.

She sounded so definite, but when he looked at her, in the split second before she looked away he saw in her eyes what he already knew. They weren't finished. They'd barely begun, and whatever it was they'd begun, it was like nothing he'd ever known or heard of before.

"Got to run, kids," Gordon said, giving Paula and Bailey a quick kiss. "Let's do my place tomorrow night. Austin and I will cook so we can eat something besides pizza."

Austin smiled as he felt control returning. He was a gourmet cook. No woman who kept dog food and mayonnaise in her refrigerator could possibly equal his culinary skills. "Great idea, Gordon."

"I'll bring dessert," Bailey said.

All eyes turned to her.