Thorn's Challenge

This, Thorn thought, is the next best thing to making love to a woman.

Bearing down, he leaned onto the bike as he took a sharp curve. The smooth humming sound of the bike’s engine soothed his mind and reminded him of a woman purring out her pleasure in bed. It was the same purring sound he would love to hear from Tara Matthews’s lips.

Even with Atlanta’s cool January air hitting him, his body felt hot, as a slow burning sensation moved down his spine. He was experiencing that deep, cutting, biting awareness he encountered every time he saw Tara. His hands tightened their grip on the handlebars as he remembered how she had looked standing in the doorway wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top. He found her petite, curvy body, dark mahogany skin, light brown eyes and dark brown shoulder-length hair too distracting on one hand and too attracting on the other. It rattled him to no end that he was so physically aware of everything about her as a woman.

Even when she’d lived in Kentucky she had invaded his sleep. His dreams had been filled with forbidden and invigorating sex. Cold showers had become a habit with him. No woman had been able to invade his space at work, but she had been there too, more times than he could count. Building motorcycles and preparing for races had always gotten his total concentration—until he’d met Tara Matthews.

He’d constantly been reminded of the first time they had met. He had arrived at his sister Delaney’s apartment late one night with his four brothers playing cards and no one had a clue where Delany had gone or when she would return. At least no one had felt the need to tell him. He had lost his cool and had been one step away from murdering his brothers. Tara had stormed out of Delaney’s kitchen, with all her luscious curves fitting snugly in a short denim skirt, sexier than any woman had a right to be. And with more courage than anyone had a right to have, she had gotten all in his face. She had straightened her spine, lifted her chin and read him the riot act about the way he had questioned his brothers over Delaney’s whereabouts. She’d told him in no uncertain terms what she thought of his foul mood. All the while she’d been setting him straight, his lust had stirred to maximum proportions, and the only thing he could think about was getting her to the nearest bedroom and zapping her anger by making love to her.

The quick intensity of his desire had frightened the hell out of him, and he had resented feeling that way. After Patrice, he had vowed that no woman would be his downfall again and he’d meant it. He wasn’t having any of that.

An ache suddenly gripped his mid-section when he thought of just what he would like to have. A piece of Tara would do him just fine; just enough so that he could get her out of his system, something the kiss hadn’t accomplished. He wanted to bury himself inside her as deeply as he could and not come out until he had gotten his fill, over and over again. Such a feat might take days, weeks, even months. He had never been in this predicament before and was working hard not to let his brothers know. If they had any idea that he had the hots for their baby sister’s best friend, they would give him pure hell and he would never hear the last of it. Even now the reminder of Tara’s taste was causing his mouth to water.

And to think she had invited him to hang around her place for an hour and a half and wait for his brothers tonight. He couldn’t imagine himself alone with her for any length of time and especially not for longer than an hour. There was no way he could have done that and kept his sanity. That would have been asking for even more trouble than he had gotten into with her at Dare’s wedding.

Squaring his shoulders he leaned onto his bike as he took another sharp curve with indulgent precision, relishing the freedom and thrill of letting go in a totally uninhibited way. It was the same way he wanted to take Tara when he made love to her.

The way he would take her.

That simple acceptance strengthened his resolve and made the decision he’d just made that much easier to deal with. The restraint and control he’d tried holding on to since first meeting Tara was slowly loosening. A completely physical, emotionally free affair is what he wanted with her. It was time to stop running and meet his challenge head-on.

His next race was during Bike Week in Daytona Beach and was only seven weeks from now. Seven more weeks of celibacy to go.

While waiting he intended to get Tara primed, ripe and ready, much like this very machine he was riding. However, even with all the similarities, there was no doubt in his mind that getting Tara in his bed would be a unique experience. He would get the ride of his life and centrifugal force would definitely be the last thing on his mind.

He smiled. Yes, it was time he and Tara stopped avoiding each other and started making plans to put all that wasted energy to good use.

Two

Tara heard the doorbell ring the minute she opened the oven to take out another batch of cookies. “Stone, can you get that for me, please?” she called out to one of the men busy setting up the card table in her dining room.

“Sure thing,” Stone said, making his way to Tara’s front door.

Opening the door, Stone lifted a brow when he saw Thorn standing on the other side. “I thought you told Tara that you’d changed your mind about tonight,” he said, stepping aside to let his brother enter.

“And I changed it back,” Thorn said curtly, meeting Stone’s curious gaze. “Why are you the one opening the door instead of Tara?”

Stone smiled. It was hard getting used to Thorn’s jealous streak; especially since it was a streak Thorn wasn’t even aware he had. “Because she’s busy in the kitchen. Come on. You can help get the card table set up in the dining room.”

“And didn’t you tell me the card game started at seventy-thirty instead of nine?” Thorn asked meeting his brother’s gaze.

Keeping a straight face, Stone said. “I don’t think so. You must have misunderstood me.”

The moment Thorn walked into the kitchen, Tara turned away from the sink and met his gaze. Surprise flared in her eyes and increased the rhythm of her heart. She swallowed deeply and looked at him for a moment then said. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”

Thorn leaned against a kitchen counter and stared at her. It was apparent seeing him again had rattled her. The way she was pulling in a ragged breath as well as the nervous way she was gripping the dish towel were telling signs. “I changed my mind,” he said, not taking his gaze from hers, beginning to feel galvanized by the multitude of sensations coursing through him.

Now that he had decided that he would no longer avoid her, he immediately realized what was happening between them and wondered if she realized it, too. He inwardly smiled, feeling that she did. She broke eye contact with him and quickly looked down at the kitchen floor, but it hadn’t been quick enough. He had seen the blush coloring her cheeks as well as the contemplative look in her eyes.

“There’s a lot of money to be won here tonight and I decided that I may as well be the one to win it,” he added.

Stone rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Are you going to help set up the table or are you going to stay in here and engage in wishful thinking?”

Thorn turned to his brother and frowned slightly. “Since you want to be such a smart-mouth, Stone, I’m going to make sure your money is the first that I win, just to send you home broke.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Stone said.

Thorn’s gaze then moved back to Tara with a force he knew she felt. He could feel her response all the way across the room. Satisfied with her reaction, he followed Stone out of the kitchen.

As soon as Thorn and Stone left the room, Tara leaned back against the kitchen counter feeling breathless, and wondered if Stone had picked up on the silent byplay that had passed between her and Thorn. Staring at him while he had stared at her had almost been too much for her fast-beating heart. The intensity of his gaze had been like a physical contact and she hadn’t quite yet recovered from it.

But she would.

Ever since Derrick, she had instituted a policy of not letting any man get too close. She had male friends and she hadn’t stopped dating altogether, but, as soon as one showed interest beyond friendship she hadn’t hesitated to show him the door. She’d been aware from the first that Thorn was dangerous. Even though her intense attraction to him had set off all kinds of warning signs, she had felt pretty safe and in control of the situation.

Until their kiss a few months back.

Now she didn’t feel safe and wasn’t sure she was in control of anything. The man was temptation at its finest and sin at its worse. There was something about him that was nothing short of addictive. She had no plans to get hooked on him and knew what she needed to do, but more importantly, she also knew what she needed not to do; she couldn’t let Thorn Westmoreland think she was interested in him.

Curious, yes. Interested, no.

Well, that was partly true. She was interested in him for Mrs. Chadwick’s calendar, but Tara was determined not to let her interest go any further than that.

Where is she?

Thorn glanced around the room once again and wondered where Tara had gone. After they had gotten things set up in her dining room, she had shown them her refrigerator filled with beer, and the sandwiches and cookies she had placed on the kitchen counter. Since then he had seen her only once, and that was when she had come into the room to tell them she had also made coffee.

That had been almost two hours ago.

He couldn’t help but think about what had transpired between them in her kitchen, even in Stone’s presence, although he felt certain his brother hadn’t had a clue as to what had been going on. Stone had a tendency sometimes to overlook the obvious. And the obvious in this case was the fact that just being in the same room with Tara made him hot and aroused. Judging from her reaction to him, she’d also been affected. Since it seemed they were on the same wave length, he saw no reason to fight the attraction any longer.

He wanted her, plain and simple.

First he wanted to start off kissing her, to reacquaint himself with her mouth until he knew it just as well as he knew his own. Then he wanted to get to know her body real well. He had always admired it from a distance, but now he wanted to really get into it, literally. He’d had nearly two years to reconcile himself to the reality that Tara Matthews was not just a bump-and-grind kind of woman. He hadn’t needed to get up close and personal with her to realize that fact. He could easily tell that she was the kind of woman who could stimulate everything male about him, and fate had given him the opportunity to discover what it was about her that made his senses reel and heated up his blood. The relationship he wanted to share with her would be different than the one he had shared with any woman, including Patrice. This time his heart would not be involved, only certain body parts.

“Are you in this game or not, Thorn?”

Dare’s question captured his attention and judging from his brother’s smile, Dare found Thorn’s lack of concentration amusing. Dare, the oldest brother at thirty-seven, was sheriff of College Park, a suburb of Atlanta, and didn’t miss much. “Yes, I’m in the game,” Thorn stated with annoyance, studying the cards he held in his hand once more.

“Just thought I’d ask, since you’ve lost a whole lot of money tonight.”

Dare’s words made him suddenly realized that he had lost a lot of money, three hundred dollars, to Stone who was looking at him with a downright silly grin on his face.

“It seems Thorn’s mind is on other things tonight,” Stone said chuckling. “You know what they say—you snooze, you lose—and you’ve been snoozing a lot tonight, bro.”

Thorn leaned back in his chair and glared at his brother. “Don’t get too attached to my money. I’ll recoup my losses before the night’s over.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “I think I’ll stretch my legs by walking to the living room and back.”

“Tara’s not in there, Thorn. She’s upstairs reading,” his brother Storm said smiling as he threw out his last card. At Thorn’s frown he chuckled and said. “And please don’t insult my intelligence by giving me that, I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about look. We’re not stupid. We all know you have this thing for her.”

Thorn’s frown deepened. He wondered how long they’d known. His brothers were too damn observant for their own goods. Even Stone, whom he’d always considered the less observant one, seemed to have sensed the tension between him and Tara. “So what if I do?” he snapped in an agitated voice. “Any of you have a problem with it?”

Dare leaned back in his chair. “No, but evidently you do since you’ve been fighting it for nearly two years now,” he said, meeting Thorn’s frown with one of his own. “We knew from the beginning that she was your challenge and even told you so. It’s about time you come to terms with it.”

Thorn leaned forward, both palms on the table, and met his brothers’ gazes. “I haven’t come to terms with anything,” he snapped.

“But you will once you put that nasty episode with Patrice behind you,” Dare responded. “Damn, Thorn, it’s been three years since that woman. Let it go. To my way of thinking you never actually loved her anyway, you just considered her your possession and got pissed to find out you weren’t the only man who thought that. As far as I’m concerned she was bad news and I’m glad you found out her true colors when you did. You’re a smart man and I don’t think you’re into self-torture, so relax and stop being stubborn and uptight and get over what she did to you. And for Pete’s sake, please do something about your sexual frustrations. You’re driving us crazy and it’s gotten so bad we hate to see you coming.”

Chase laughed. “Yeah, Thorn, it’s obvious you haven’t gotten laid in a while. Don’t you think that rule you have of not indulging in sex while racing is a bit much? By my calculations it’s been way over a year, possibly two. Don’t you think you’re carrying this celibacy thing a bit too far?”

“Not if he’s waiting on a particular woman that he’s set his sights on and he wants with a fierce Westmoreland hunger,” Stone said smiling, knowing the others knew the gist of his meaning. “Since we all have a good idea what he wants from Tara, maybe now would be a good time to tell Thorn just what Tara wants from him, Chase.”

The room got quiet and all eyes turned to Chase. But the ones that unsettled Chase more than the others belonged to Thorn as he sat back down. Chase smiled, seeing Thorn’s annoyance as well as his curiosity. He had shared the news with Stone about Tara wanting Thorn to pose for the charity calendar but hadn’t gotten around to telling the others yet.

“I stopped by the hospital today to visit Ms. Amanda, who’s had hip surgery,” he said, mentioning the older woman who worked as a cook at his soul food restaurant. “While I was there I decided to drop in on Tara to see if there was anything she needed for tonight. She mentioned that some lady who’s a big wheel around the hospital had stopped by her office earlier asking about you, Thorn. The lady wants you to pose for a charity calendar,” Chase said in a calm voice, explaining things to everyone.

“After talking to Tara, I got the distinct impression that somehow the lady found out Tara knew you. She wanted Tara to use her influence to get you to do it,” Chase added.

“Thorn doesn’t ‘do it,”’ Storm said, chuckling. “Didn’t we just establish the fact that he’s still celibate?”

Chase frowned and swung his glance toward his twin. “Can’t you think about anything but sex, Storm? I’m talking about posing for the calendar.”

“Oh.”

Chase refocused his gaze on Thorn. “So, will you do it?”

Thorn frowned. “Are you asking me on Tara’s behalf?”

“No. But does it matter? If Tara were to ask you, would you do it?”

“No,” Thorn said without hesitation while throwing a card out, remembering how he and Patrice had first met. She was a photographer who had wanted to do a calendar of what she considered sexy, sweaty, muscle-bound hunks, and in the process had ended up being his bed partner. His and a few others, he’d later found out.

Chase frowned. “It’s for a good cause.”

“All charities are,” Thorn said, studying his hand.

“This one is for children, Thorn.”

Thorn looked up and met Chase’s gaze. Anyone knowing Thorn knew that on occasion he might give an adult pure hell, but when it came to children, he was as soft as a marshmallow. “The racing team I’m affiliated with already works closely with the Childrens’ Miracle Network, Chase.”

Chase nodded. “I know that, Thorn, but that’s on a national level. This is more local and will benefit Kids’ World.”

Everyone living in the Atlanta area was familiar with Kids’ World and the benefits it provided to terminally ill children. “All I’m asking is for you to think about it and be prepared when Tara finally gets up enough nerve to ask you,” Chase added.

Thorn frowned. “Why would she need to get up nerve to ask me anything?”

It was Dare who chuckled. “Well, ahh, it’s like this, Thorn,” he said throwing a card out. “You aren’t the friendliest person toward her, but we all know the reason why, even if you refuse to acknowledge it.”

Glancing around the room to make sure Tara hadn’t come back downstairs, Dare continued. “The plain and simple fact is that you have a bad case of the hots for her and it’s been going on now for almost two solid years. And as far as I’m concerned, you need to do something about it or learn to live with it. And if you choose to live with it, then please adjust your attitude so the four of us can live with you.”

Thorn glared at Dare. “I don’t need an attitude adjustment.”

“The hell you don’t. Face it, Thorn. You’re not like the rest of us. Storm, Chase, Stone and I can go a long time without a woman and it doesn’t bother us. But if you go without one for too long, it makes you hornier than sin, which for you equates to being meaner than hell. And it seems that you’re deliberately holding out while deciding what to do about Tara, and it’s making you worse than ever. Don’t you think that in two years you should have made some decisions?”

Thorn’s intense dark eyes held his brothers’; they were all watching him like hawks, waiting for his response. “I have made decisions regarding what I’m going to do about Tara,” he said slowly, seeing the looks of comprehension slowly unfolding in their eyes.

“About damn time you stop backing away from the inevitable,” Storm said, smiling broadly. “I knew you would come to your senses sooner or later.”

“Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason at a time like this,” Chase said grinning. “But I’d think twice about whatever decisions you’ve made about Tara without her consent, Thorn. She’s quite a handful. I’ve seen her rebellious side and bringing her around won’t be easy. Personally, I don’t think you can handle her.”

“Neither do I,” Stone chimed in.

Thorn’s face darkened as he gazed at all of them. “I can handle Tara.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” Stone said smiling. “Her first impression of you wasn’t a good one, and I don’t think she likes you much, which means you’ll definitely have your hands full trying to win her over. I’m not so sure you’re up for the challenge.”

“I bet you any amount of money that he is,” Storm said grinning. “Thorn can do anything he wants to do, including taming Tara.”

“Don’t hold your breath for that to happen,” Chase said chuckling. “Have you ever really noticed the two of them around each other? They’re both stubborn and strong-willed. I say he can’t hang.”

“Okay you guys, pull back,” Storm said, slowly stroking his chin. “Thorn’s a smart man who plans his strategies well. Hell, look how he has trained for those races he’s won. If he goes after Tara with the same determination, then there won’t be anything to it. Therefore, I say taming Tara will be a piece of cake for Thorn.”

“No, it won’t,” Chase said chuckling. “In fact, I’ll be willing to bet a case of Jack Daniels that it won’t.”

“And I bet you a new set of tools that it won’t be, too,” Stone added shaking his head with a grin.

“And I bet you a day’s wage and work for no pay in your restaurant as a waiter that it will, Chase. And I also bet you that same set of tools that it will, Stone. Thorn can handle any challenge he faces,” Storm said, with confidence in his voice as he gathered up everyone’s cards to start a new game.

Thorn had been sitting back listening to his brothers make their bets. He looked over at Dare who just shrugged his shoulders. “Making those kinds of bets aren’t legal, and since as a sheriff I’m duty-bound to uphold the law, I’ll pass,” he said jokingly. “However, if I were a betting man, I’d say you could pull it off, but it wouldn’t be as easy as Storm thinks. Calendar or no calendar, Tara’s not going to let you just waltz in and sweep her off her feet. You’ll have to set yourself up on a mission,” he said, grinning, as he remembered the tactic he’d used to win the heart of the woman he’d loved. “Then you can’t play fair,” he added, thinking of the technique his brother-in-law, Prince Jamal Ari Yasir, had used to woo their baby sister, Delaney.

Thorn nodded. Set myself up on a mission and then play unfair. He could handle that. He’d put his plans into action later tonight when everyone left. Tara wouldn’t know what had hit her until it was too late.

Way too late.

Three

Tara’s heart, beating twice as fast as it should have, slammed against her rib cage when, after the card game was over, it became obvious that, unlike his brothers, Thorn had no intentions of leaving.

She closed the door and turned to him. The air in the room suddenly seemed charged. “Aren’t you leaving?” she asked, as she leaned against the closed door.

“No. I think we need to talk.”

Tara inhaled deeply, wondering what he thought they needed to discuss. While upstairs in her bedroom she had managed to get her thoughts and her aroused senses under control after convincing herself that her earlier reaction to Thorn had been expected. After all, from the first she had been physically attracted to him and memories of the kiss they had shared a few months back hadn’t helped matters. Then there was the way he always looked at her with that penetrating gaze of his. After thinking things through logically, she felt confident that the next time he looked at her as if he would love to gobble her up in one scrumptious bite, things would be different. She would be more in control of the situation as well as her senses.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, wondering if Chase had mentioned anything to him about the charity calendar.

He met her gaze. “About us.”

She lifted an arched brow. There was no “us” and decided to tell him so. “There’s no us, Thorn. In fact I’ve always gotten the distinct impression that you don’t even like me.”

Boy, was she wrong, Thorn thought. If anything he liked her too damn much. There were several emotions he’d always felt toward Tara Matthews from the first and dislike hadn’t been one of them.

He took a couple of steps forward, bringing him right in front of her. “I’ve never disliked you, Tara.”

She swallowed deeply against the timbre in his voice and the look of melting steel in his eyes. That’s the same thing his brothers had claimed when she’d told them how she felt last year. They had argued that Thorn was just a moody person and told her not to take it personally. But a part of her had taken it personally.

“My brothers think you’re my challenge,” he added, not taking his eyes off her.

“Why would they think that?” she asked. She had wondered about it the first time the brothers had mentioned that very same thing to her. But none of them had given her any further explanation.