Rules of the Game by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online

smile that left his eyes dark and dangerous. “I guess we’ll both have to get used to it.”
    Leaning over, he opened her door. Brooke didn’t stiffen or shift away from the brush of his body against hers; she simply watched. As if, Parks mused, she were considering his words very carefully. Good, he thought as he stepped from the car. This time she’d have something to think about.
    â€œI like this place.” He didn’t touch her as they walked up the path to her house, though Brooke had expected him to take her hand or her arm. “I had a house in Malibu once.”
    â€œNot anymore?”
    â€œGot too crowded.” He shrugged as they walked up the porch steps. Their footsteps echoed into the night. “If I’m going to live out of the city, I want a place where I’m not forever stumbling over my neighbor.”
    â€œI don’t have that problem here.” Around them the woods were dark and quiet. There was only the bubbling sound of the stream and the music of tireless crickets. “There’s a couple who live about a quarter mile that way.” Brooke gestured to the east. “Newlyweds who met on a television series that folded.” Leaning back against the door, she smiled. “We don’t have any trouble keeping out of each other’s way.” She sighed, comfortably sleepy and relaxed. “Thanks for dinner.” When she offered her hand, she wondered if he would take it or ignore it and kiss her. Brooke expected the latter, even wondered with a drowsy curiosity what the pressure of his lips on hers would be like.
    Parks knew what she expected, and her lips, as they had from the first, tempted him. But he thought it was time this woman had something unexpected. Taking her hand, Parks leaned toward her. He saw from her eyes that she would accept his kiss with her own sultry reserve. Instead, he touched his lips to her cheek.
    At the brush of his open mouth on her skin, Brooke’s fingers tightened in his. Usually she viewed a kiss or embrace distantly, as from behind a camera, wondering dispassionately how it would appear on film. Now she saw nothing, but felt. Low, turbulent waves of sensation swept through her, making her tense. Something seemed to ripple along her skin, though he never touched her—just his hand over hers, just his lips on her cheek.
    Slowly, watching her stunned eyes, Parks journeyed to her other cheek, moving his lips with the same featherlightness. Brooke felt the waves rise until there was an echoing in her head. She heard a soft moan, unaware that it was her own. As hunger swept over her, Brooke turned her mouth toward his, but he glided up her skin, whispering over her eyelids so that they fluttered down. Drugged, she allowed him to roam over her face, leaving her lips trembling with anticipation, and unfulfilled. She tasted his breath on them, felt the warm flutter as they passed close, but his mouth dropped to her chin to give her a teasing touch of his tongue.
    Her fingers went limp in his. Surrender was unknown to her, so she didn’t recognize it. Parks did as he caught the lobe of her ear between his teeth. His body was throbbing, aching to press against hers and feel the yielding softness that came only from woman. Against his cheek, her hair was as silky as her skin, and as fragrant. It took every ounce of control to prevent his hands from diving into it, to keep himself from plundering the mouth that waited, warm and naked, for his. He traced her ear with his tongue and felt her shudder. Slowly, he brushed kisses up her temple and over her brow on his way to her other ear. He nibbled gently, letting his tongue slide over her skin until he heard her moan again.
    Still he avoided her mouth, pressing his lips to the pulse in her throat, fighting the urge to move lower, to feel, to taste the subtle sweep of her breast beneath the black silk. Her pulse was jerky, like the sound of her breathing. High up in