He nodded. “Oh, yes. The right cushions, for example. Comfortable to sit on, but also flotation devices for safety. The right paddles. A wetsuit. All sorts of stuff.”
Canoeing was evidently serious business. Anna tried to look suitably impressed.
“Lead me,” she invited and leaned into his side.
He was happy to do just that.
Chapter Seven
“Anna. Anna, wake up,” a low voice murmured in her ear.
“Not again,” she muttered thickly, burying her face deeper into the comfortable warmth that pillowed her head.
A soft laugh answered her protest.
“Come on. You only have to tell me where you live,” the voice prodded insistently, and even half-awake she knew it wouldn’t let up until she answered.
Anna yawned and complied without fully waking up. She decided she didn’t care where she was as long as she could keep sleeping.
Jay looked down at the bright head resting on his shoulder and smiled. She’d fallen asleep on the way back to Portland almost as soon as the car started to move. Lulled by the motion, she’d curled up and snuggled against him like a child. He took it as another positive sign that she’d leaned across the narrow gap between the seats to put her head on his shoulder instead of curling away from him.
He hated to disturb her but he figured she’d want to get ready for work at her own place in the morning, instead of his. So they’d spend what was left of the night there. Tomorrow he’d make sure she had what she needed ahead of time.
It didn’t take long to find her townhouse. Since she was beyond waking, Jay fished through her bag until he found her keys. Then he squinted in the light coming from the porch that had been triggered on by the motion of the car as he searched for the one that looked like it fit the front door.
The first try proved his guess correct. Feeling triumphant, Jay left the door open while he returned to the car and gathered one unconscious Amazon up and lifted her clear. She wasn’t light but she felt wonderfully good in his arms. In fact, he felt sublimely protective and capable as he carried her inside and kicked the door shut behind them. She could trust him to take care of her. He’d get her safely and comfortably to bed.
In a sudden surge of protective tenderness, he dropped a kiss on her forehead.
She was definitely down for the count. Out cold.
“My princess of passion, I have exhausted you with love,” he chortled wickedly.
She didn’t even stir.
Since his hostess wasn’t about to direct him to her bedroom, Jay followed the traffic pattern and paused to look through doorways as he came to them until he found it.
A little bland. Not what he’d expected of an Amazon’s bedroom. Still, considering, he guessed he had proof that she didn’t do much in it but sleep.
The thought made his heart swell.
He pulled back the covers, set her carefully down on the bed, then found her alarm clock and set it. While she slept, he undressed her for the second time.
It was more fun when she was an active participant, Jay decided, but this way he could look all he wanted, so there were advantages to both.
She was well worth looking at, too. He couldn’t believe a passionate woman so obviously made for love had been untouched.
Blazing red hair made a trail of fire over the pillow and flowed over one breast down to brush at the enticing curve of her hip. Lower, more curls glowed in a fiery covering of feminine heat. A dusky nipple peeked through the whorls of hair that half covered her and he brushed it back to expose both full breasts to his view.
She was a sleeping Venus. As white as marble, but so warm to the touch. As soft as silk under his hands.
No other man had ever seen her like this, he thought as he undressed himself before joining her. It stunned and awed him. He sat on the bed beside her and the mattress dipped, bringing her against his hip.
She sighed softly in her sleep and reached for him.
Jay laid down to gather her in his arms again, marveling at the unexpected gift she’d given him. She shivered and he reluctantly pulled the covers over them both. He consoled himself with the thought that he could touch, even if he couldn’t look anymore.
He suited actions to thought and ran his hands over every inch of her curves and valleys. When she responded to his touch even in sleep, he felt deeply gratified. She was like a sleepy cat, arching into his caresses.
Arousal rushed through him. He was abruptly as full of need and as achingly urgent as the first time he’d loved her.
If he wasn’t careful, Jay thought his first night with her would also be his last.
She wouldn’t be too happy if she woke up raw and aching from his unbridled enthusiasm. Twice in one night was pushing it already. He couldn’t take advantage of a defenseless sleeping woman to satisfy his raging adolescent lust.
But he couldn’t hold her naked body in his arms and not touch her, either.
“I hope you appreciate this,” Jay muttered to her sleeping form as he got up again.
So he couldn’t sleep yet. He’d gladly give up a week of sleep for what he’d gained tonight. So he had to wait another day to know the soul-shaking joy of being joined to her fully again. He’d endured more. Been celibate for days. Lots and lots of them. It had been a very long time for him. So he could be deeply thankful his monkish life was over but it wouldn’t kill him to do a little more waiting for her sake.
Meanwhile, another unexplored facet of her lay exposed for his discovery—her home.
Jay slid his jeans back on and wandered around. He opened doors and peered into closets. Pulled out drawers and rifled through the contents. Everything was neat and incredibly organized.
“Good,” he decided out loud. “You can help me clean my closets out.” That way, there’d be room for her stuff.
There was no way they could live in her place. It was too small. Definitely intended for one person. Single occupancy only.
His house, on the other hand, had plenty of room for both of them. Plenty of room for them to grow in, too. He pictured Anna with a dark-haired baby in her arms and smiled. It was just possible that the step toward that future had already been taken tonight.
The future held some changes, that much was certain. He hoped she’d adjust to them fairly easily. One thing he decided had to change right away was her workaholic lifestyle. He’d make sure she came home at night and left work behind on the weekends. She probably just needed a reason. What better reason than himself?
He’d made her scream. He smiled broadly at the memory. Of course she’d want to rush home every night.
He continued through the darkened rooms, turning on lights and poking through the contents each area contained. Her reading material told him a lot. He’d already seen her stack of nonfiction books. The one on being bad he considered a very hopeful sign. Other than that, she had reference books and trade journals. Even, to his amazement, the Journal of Experimental Mathematics.
Who in the world would read something like that?
Jay shook his head sadly. Here was a soul crying out for fun.
No personal pictures lay on the tables or hung on the walls. In fact, the walls were heartlessly bare.
A holiday picture of Anna with her assistant was stuck to the refrigerator. Other than that, no Kodak memories anywhere. No old boyfriends, either. Although all things considered, he hadn’t really expected any.
The more Jay saw, the more deeply convinced he grew that never, in his entire life, had anyone ever needed him as badly as she did. In fact, in light of the total lack of evidence of the fun and frivolous he found, he didn’t think that anyone in the history of humanity had ever been needed as much as he was right then.
It was a good feeling. He didn’t think he’d ever been truly needed before.
Jay tiptoed back to bed, his body under control and his curiosity satisfied. He moved carefully to keep from waking her, although that was probably an unnecessary precaution.
His Amazon sl
ept like a log.
He grinned and spooned himself against her sleepy length. She might not love him yet, he reflected, but she needed him. She desired him in a way she’d never desired another man. She wanted him.
For now, it was good enough.
It was a starting point and he’d build from there to teach her lonely heart to love. She deserved to have it all, love and rockets, hearts and flowers, hand-in-hand walks at sunset. Forever.
“Watch out, woman,” he told her sleeping form happily. “You’ve met your match.”
The shrilling alarm pierced through the fog of sleep that clouded Anna’s mind far too soon. She had just gone to bed, hadn’t she? What was wrong with the timer? She groaned in protest and pulled the pillow over her head to block out the sound. She’d been having the most incredible erotic dream and if she could slip back into it she could enjoy the conclusion, something she’d been really close to judging by the pre-orgasmic quivering of her vaginal muscles.
Something was wrong with her pillow, though. It was too narrow. Too hard. And it wasn’t cooperating. She opened one eye to find out what the problem was.
The problem, she noticed, was that it wasn’t her pillow.
It was an arm.
Not her own arm, either.
While she struggled with that mystery, the arm tightened and hauled her up against a long, solid body. “Mm, good morning, precious,” she heard dimly. The shrilling alarm cut off and in the blessed silence, she could hear Jay’s heart beating under her cheek. One hand continued the lazy circles around her clitoris that must have inspired the dream. He did have talented hands.
“Did you sleep well? I did.” His drowsy voice was lazy with remembered pleasures. Not content to have her against him, he pulled her on top of him and fondled her backside affectionately. His hands cupped her bare cheeks and held her firmly against his morning erection.
Anna immediately lost interest in going back to sleep. The real thing was much more interesting than dreaming about it.
“Anna, Anna. You feel so good.” He shifted her slightly, the change in position allowing his penis to slide easily along the vaginal lips that were wet and slick from his arousing caresses.
Well, she thought sleepily. At least he could carry on a conversation for both of them. That was something. She thought he was possibly the perfect lover for a person with poor communication skills.
“I hope you feel as good as I do,” Jay continued. Another shift, and his hard tip against her ready opening left her in no doubt about what he meant. He moved his hips to probe gently, seeking entry.
Without thinking, Anna slipped her knees over his thighs and moved against him in response, liking the warm, blunt feel of him.
“Oh, honey.” His hands lifted her hips slightly then closed over her buttocks again to haul her downward while he simultaneously pushed up, filling her. She stretched to accommodate him.
“Anna. Oh, Anna. Tell me that doesn’t hurt,” he pleaded huskily.
“It doesn’t,” she answered with her eyes still closed and her body still heavy with sleep. He wasn’t too big for her at all. He stretched her and filled her and that alone was enough to trigger the pulsing sensation that was starting to feel both familiar and closely associated to Jay.
She was becoming conditioned to him, like Pavlov’s dog. Or maybe that should be Pavlov’s pussy, in her case. Soon she’d only have to look at his penis and she’d start coming. He wouldn’t have to touch her at all. She imagined standing next to him at work, looking at his crotch and trying to stay quiet while orgasm ripped through her and drenched her underwear from the conditioned response to stimulus. The erotic scenario speeded up the pulsing, building toward a peak.
“Good.” Relief was evident in his voice.
So was desire.
The single word was her only warning. She found herself abruptly rolled onto her back and then she gained some firsthand experience about “quickies”. Hard, fast and furious, he took her from rippling pleasure to violent climax in bare minutes.
He stayed buried in her, pressing deeper inside her and pushing her deeper into the mattress afterwards. She felt taken, claimed, possessed. Her body belonged to his and they both knew it.
“I can’t tell you how much I wanted that,” he whispered against her hair. “It was all I could do to let you sleep at all last night.” The rough ache in his voice would have told her he was sincere, even if the physical evidence of his urgency hadn’t.
Anna pondered the implications of that. “You mean you can do this all night?”
Jay smiled warmly at her before he kissed her thoroughly and lazily. Then he answered, “Anytime you feel up to it, baby, I’ll be happy to demonstrate.”
He braced himself up on one arm to look down at her and brushed her cheek with his fingers. She opened her eyes to meet his.
He looked disgustingly happy. His black eyes sparkled and a shock of hair fell in appealing disarray over his forehead.
“How about tonight?” He made the suggestion hungrily with a wolfish grin.
“Hmm.” Anna creased her brow in thought. Was it proper lover’s etiquette to spend every night together? She didn’t know. Once again, she found herself face-to-face with an abysmal lack of practical knowledge.
“I can’t believe you have to think it over. I made you scream,” he pointed out smugly.
“You did that just by opening your mouth,” Anna grumbled sourly. He was too aggravating to believe.
“In ecstasy, my passion flower,” he made the distinction pointedly. “Just the way I’ll make you scream and scream again tonight. Forget I even considered leaving a decision of that nature up to you. I’ve got you in my clutches and you won’t escape.”
With that, Jay abruptly withdrew from her and stood. For a moment she felt lonely and empty at the sudden loss. Then he reached for her and threw her over his shoulder as if she were a much smaller and lighter woman.
“Come, my beauty,” he declared with a piratical laugh. “We need to shower and get dressed. I’ll wash your back,” he added as incentive when she squirmed and tried to escape his hold.
“Put me down.” Anna tried to be firm but it was really very difficult to be assertive while naked and upside down.
“Soon, soon,” Jay assured her as he turned on the shower, seemingly in no hurry to relinquish his hold on her.
She delivered a sharp spank to his backside at that and laughed when he roared in surprised outrage at the unexpected assault.
“Oh, you think it’s funny, do you?” He set her down and shot her a look filled with dire unspoken threats. “Just wait, precious. Just wait. I’ll get you for that.”
Anna could imagine how, too. In the most enjoyable way. Maybe, she mused, she should spank him again.
It didn’t take long to shower and Jay made good on his promise to wash her back. Funny, she thought. She would have expected the morning after to feel awkward. Especially with a person who was, to all practical intents and purposes, a stranger. Instead, she felt comfortably at ease with him. How could she feel any other way when he was so talkative, so playful and so wonderfully lustful as he let her know in no uncertain way that he was eagerly looking forward to more?
Well, maybe that was normal. How would she know? She was really finding it irritating that he knew what to expect and she didn’t. In fact, she’d been offbalance ever since he’d seduced her on his couch before tying her to his bed. She’d expected Jay to be a good lover. She hadn’t expected him to be so attentive outside of bed. He’d taken her shopping. He’d obviously carried her inside and put her to bed last night. She couldn’t complain about any of it. But what, exactly, had he meant about not leaving decisions up to her?
“Ahem.” She made an unsubtle bid for his attention and met his eyes squarely.
“Yes?” Jay turned to look at her with eyes full of admiration. “You want me?” His voice told her that he certainly hoped so, and preferably immediately.
“Turn off your horm
ones for a minute,” Anna instructed, jabbing him in the chest with her index finger. “I want to know what you meant by that remark about ‘not leaving decisions of that nature’ up to me.”
He shot her an incredulous look. “I’m supposed to turn off my hormones when I’m standing in the shower next to a beautiful, naked woman?”
She frowned in warning. “Don’t try to change the subject.”
“What subject?” All innocence, he shut off the spray, then dug for towels and politely offered her one. He frowned unhappily when she immediately used it to remove his excuse for not paying attention. “Hey, I was enjoying that!” He protested the loss of his view in wounded tones.
Anna ignored his protest. “Come on. I want an answer.” She waited expectantly.
Jay hauled her up against himself and took away her towel. “You want an answer? I’ll give you an answer.” He kissed her deeply and thoroughly and left her speechless. Also breathless. He fondled her various parts for good measure.
“There. Any lightbulbs going on yet, wizard?” He smiled at her, warmth and good humor alive in his eyes.
While she stared blankly at him, he rubbed her dry and turned her toward her closet.
“I hate to say it, sweetheart, but you have to get dressed. We’ve got work to do today so we can play tonight.” He gave her a little push in the right direction.
Anna went, slowly. She noticed that he’d brought a change of clothes for himself. She guessed being lovers involved a certain amount of forethought and planning.
Well, she supposed she’d better get dressed herself. She didn’t think she was going to get a better answer out of him now, anyway. For a constant talker, it was irritating that he artfully managed not to say much.
She quickly pulled on underwear and then heard a shocked outcry behind her.
“Haven’t you ever heard of Victoria’s Secret?”
Hands on her hips, Anna turned to frown at Jay. “These are practical. I’m going to go to work, not out to paint the town red.”
He came up, enticingly half-dressed, and tugged at the waistband of her white cotton briefs. “Hm. They do have a certain appeal. I guess you can keep them.”
When Sparks Fly: Love and Rockets Page 10
