He shook his head. “That was the old Joe.”
“Oh. And now you’re new, huh?”
“Come on, what’s it going to hurt? We could have dinner and see where that takes us.”
“You mean to bed, right?”
“Would that be so bad?”
“If that’s all you want, why waste time on dinner?”
“I wouldn’t be wasting… Look, you’re getting the wrong impression here. I don’t want to go to bed with you. I mean, that’s not all I want.”
Sophie’s grin landed just over his shoulder. “Ah, Mrs. Cummings, have you made your decision?”
For the first time, Joe realised the shop wasn’t as small as he’d first thought. It consisted of more than one room, and they weren’t alone. The elderly lady, standing suddenly behind him, with the reddest cheeks he’d ever seen, had just come from the room to his right. Judging by the look in her eyes and the colour of her cheeks, Joe hadn’t a doubt she’d heard every word he said.
The lady seemed temporarily at a loss for words then seemed to suddenly remember why she was here. “I have, dear,” she said as she placed a silver-framed mirror on the counter. “I was wondering, have you any more of those pretty dried flower arrangements?” She smiled at Sophie as the younger woman came around the counter and took her hand. “I’m going to Dora’s at the end of the week, and you know how my sister just loves your arrangements.”
Sophie held to the woman’s hand as she put her other arm around thin stooped shoulders. “Why don’t we take a look in the next room? I think we have a few left. If there’s nothing to your liking, I’d be happy to make something up for you.”
“Oh that would be lovely, dear,” Mrs. Cummings said as the two ignored Joe and walked into the shop’s next room.
Joe sighed and walked silently out to his car.
He waited until the elderly lady left then re-entered the shop. “All right, suppose I buy something.”
“Suppose you do. What are you talking about?”
“I’m trying to get you to like me.”
Sophie turned her back on him and reached for her bottle of water. She took a drink and faced him again with a smile. “That would be a serious mistake, don’t you think?”
“Why? I’m a nice guy.”
Sophie only smiled for a response.
“Sophie, come on.”
“All right,” she shrugged as if her next words were no big deal. “I’ve always wondered what I missed. So why don’t we go to bed?”
He blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? Just like that?”
“Why not? We’re grown up. All right, let me rephrase. I’m grown up. I can decide to go to bed with someone, if I want to. I was only sixteen when we dated. And you were three years older, more experienced and ready to go off to college. You were a bit out of my league.”
Joe, obviously dumfounded, was momentarily unable to respond. Idly he wondered how this woman had somehow gotten the upper hand. Had she just insulted him? “You don’t think I’m grown up?”
Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know you well enough to say.” And that was the truth. She couldn’t judge the man on the little she did know.
“All right, you want to go to bed with me. Didn’t you just tell me it would be a mistake to like me?”
Sophie dismissed his remark with a light frown and a gentle shake of her head. “I don’t have to like you to have sex.” She took a deep breath. “You know, when I was a teenager, I heard about this woman. She was writing a book. In it she rated every man she ever slept with. All right, perhaps ‘slept with’ is the wrong terminology, but you get what I mean.”
Joe swallowed. “And what, you’re looking to rate me?”
She laughed at his bleak look, thoroughly enjoying this teasing conversation. “Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing for myself what all the fuss was about.”
“Jesus, nothing like putting a little pressure on guy,” he said, his voice slightly strangled.
“Well, if it’s only a little pressure, it shouldn’t bother you any.” She grinned at his sour look. “Being a kid, I thought she was disgusting, but reconsidering, she was quite brilliant, don’t you think? Imagine how hard those guys worked once they realised what she was about?”
Finally, he managed a dour, “When?”
If he appeared a bit glum about the prospect, Sophie thought he’d get over it soon enough. She smiled. “I have plans for tonight and tomorrow. Are you busy Friday night?”
“What time?” he asked without the slightest bit of pleasure.
Sophie grinned. For someone who appeared to be unhappy with the thought, he surely was an amicable sort. “I close the shop at six. Is eight o’clock all right?”
“Fine, should I bring—”
Sophie interrupted with a shake of her head. “Nothing. This isn’t a date. I’ll make dinner.” She laughed as she watched his brows rise, his gaze obviously confused.
“I thought this wasn’t a date. I thought you only wanted sex.”
“I have to eat, don’t I? As long as I’m cooking, I might as well make enough for two.” She laughed softly as she gave him a knowing look. “And you can be dessert.”
Joe didn’t like to admit to the truth of it, but if he thought of it at all, he would have said the woman was dessert. Sex had always been a simple if luxurious tasting after a good meal, leaving him content except for a vague itch to ride back to his place. He never stayed over. He made a point of it. He never wanted that much intimacy in any relationship. So what was bothering him? She was offering him exactly what he always wanted, what any man wanted. Sex. Pure and simple. No strings attached. Why then did he feel oddly used? It hadn’t even happened yet, and he felt what? Vaguely annoyed? What the hell was the matter with him?
Joe gave a deep sigh as he tried to figure it out. He left the shop without another word or backward glance, wondering for the first time if this was how a woman felt when confronted with a man like himself. Jesus, he hoped not. He wouldn’t want to make anyone feel like this. Sophie was a woman who would take some getting used to.
Chapter Two
Friday night, Joe rang her doorbell at eight sharp. He couldn’t count the times he’d decided not to come and changed his mind, knowing, of course, short of coming down with the plague, there was no way in hell that he would miss out on this night.
She opened the door, and he was made instantly aware of something white and, thank you God, skimpy and her clean scent. It was immediately followed by the mouth-watering aroma of tomato sauce.
“Meat balls and sauce?” he asked in amazement. “Did I miss Friday and get here for Sunday dinner?”
Sophie laughed as she opened the door wider and allowed him to step into the small foyer. “Sundays I go to my mother’s. And it’s not meat balls. It’s meat sauce and spaghetti, with garlic bread and salad. I hope you’re hungry.”
“Starved. I missed lunch today.” He followed her down the hallway towards the kitchen, admiring the movement of her hips, admiring especially her long, bare legs and lush, rounded bottom encased in white shorts.
He forced his mind from her body. “Who painted your house?”
“Why? Don’t you like the colours?”
“I think they’re great. It’s just that it must have taken forever.”
“Just about,” she agreed. “I had to use a tiny brush for big parts of it.”
“You did it?”
She laughed at his look of amazement and nodded. “And I don’t mind telling you, I’m not looking forward to doing it again.”
“Too bad, I was thinking my apartment could use a coat of paint.”
She shot him a saucy grin over her shoulder. “You can’t afford me.”
“I was thinking maybe we could work it out in trade.”
Sophie laughed and teased in return, “It’s always possible that you might end up owing me. Then what?”
“I’m open to all suggestions.”
“I’ll let you know later.
” Then seriously, she asked over her shoulder as she stirred the spaghetti, “Anything new?”
Joe shook his head. “No, you heard they found her.”
Sophie nodded. “I know.” And found herself asking, “Was it awful?” even knowing it was.
“As awful as it can get, I suppose. She was in that little strip of woods by the tracks, across from the lake.”
Sophie nodded again. “Jake told me. Let’s talk about something else, all right?”
Joe smiled. “I like what you’re wearing.”
Sophie looked down at her white halter top and matching shorts. She wore flip-flops and had painted her toenails a soft pink. Against the dusky hue of her skin he thought the pink looked especially delectable. “You look great.”
“Thanks. This is my first one-night stand, and I figured this outfit would be something easy to take off.”
Joe swallowed at the thought. He wasn’t sure he was crazy about that one-night stand crack, but he sure liked the idea of taking off her top and shorts. “I’ve heard there’s nothing like planning ahead.”
She chuckled at his remark. “Of course, I could have just worn a robe, but I thought that would be a little too obvious.”
He shook his head as if to disagree and leaned against the counter to her right. “Obvious would have been naked. And most men appreciate the obvious.”
“Mmm…that’s good to know. Maybe next time, although answering the door without clothes could pose a problem. And it’s really hard to cook if you’re naked.” She laughed. “You know, there’s always a little splashing, and the stove’s apt to get awfully hot.”
Joe’s mind had gotten stuck on naked and the knowledge that she didn’t overly object to the notion, except for answering the door. Of course, now, he couldn’t get his mind off her answering the door naked. He didn’t respond when she asked him to take two plates out of the cabinet. He hadn’t even known she was still talking.
“It would be all right if the man stood directly in front of the door, sort of blocking off anyone’s view, but his,” he remarked.
Sophie laughed, understanding why Joe was still standing at her kitchen counter, looking slightly dazed and hadn’t seemed to hear her request. “Joe, if I take off my clothes now, we won’t get to eat, and I’m hungry.”
A few minutes later, he sat before a huge plate of spaghetti and sauce. Sophie asked him to open a bottle of red wine as she put the salad and bread on the table.
“This is delicious,” he said after his first bite. “You should have opened a restaurant instead of your shop. You’d have people lining up down the street waiting to get in.”
She laughed. “You sound surprised. Didn’t you think an Italian girl would know how to cook?”
“Not one who looks like you. Besides, being Italian is no guarantee. My mother can’t cook.”
“Be fair. You’re mother had to support you and your sisters after your father died. She didn’t have time to cook.”
“This has got to be the best sauce I’ve ever tasted.”
Sophie smiled and watched him eat. “You weren’t kidding. You really were starving. Maybe I should keep you around. You’re good for a girl’s ego.”
A few minutes later, he rubbed his stomach. “I ate too fast. I always do when I’m nervous.”
“Are you nervous?” she asked clearly amazed. “Me, too.”
“You don’t act it.”
Sophie put down her fork and emptied her wineglass in three long gulps. She pushed her half-eaten dinner aside. “That’s because I’m trying not to think. And you’re not helping at all.”
Joe grinned as she took his empty plate and glass and pushed it with her own to the far side of the table. A moment later, she unsnapped her top and flung it over her chair. She was sitting there topless, her breasts swaying with her every movement. Joe was stunned speechless.
“I think it’s time,” she said. “Don’t you? Unlike you, I can’t eat at all when I’m nervous.” She stood, and with a quick movement of her fingers at her waist, her shorts dropped to her ankles. She stepped out of them and stood before him naked.
He had to clear his throat twice before the words would come. “Do you always strip down when you’re nervous?”
Sophie chuckled. “I’ve been known to. Ready?” she asked.
“Jesus, if I get any readier, I’ll be finished before we start.”
“Oh dear,” she said sweetly as she moved to straddle his lap. “We can’t have that now, can we?”
Joe didn’t know how he managed it, what with one luscious nipple at just about mouth level, but a moment later, his pants were at his ankles, while his shirt had somehow disappeared. He never would remember throwing it on the floor behind him, nor removing the three small packets from his pocket before his pants, like his shirt, simply vanished.
There was no time for foreplay, no time for much of anything but an overwhelming, tremendous need to be deep inside her. In seconds, he’d slipped a condom over his erection.
Wet and ready for him, she eased herself down the length of his cock. “Mmm…” she moaned softly as her body accepted most of him, her legs trembling as she strove to hold herself above him. “Give me a minute, you’re a little big.”
“And you’re a little tight.”
She shot him a quick grin. “Yeah, it’s been awhile.”
His mouth reached for an enticingly, sweet, pink nipple and sucked all he could deep into a furnace of heat. There was no way that he could hold back his appreciative groan. “God, you taste delicious,” he muttered as his mouth desperately searched out the other breast. His hands cupped her ass and played with the pliant, softness found there. “You feel so good.”
She closed her eyes delighting in the pleasure. He was so thick, so hard, she couldn’t stop her body’s response to him. She’d been thinking about this all day. With his mouth biting her nipple and his cock thrusting deep into her pussy, she was helpless to hold back a nearly instant and thunderous climax. She gasped as her body helplessly squeezed him, sucking him deeper into blazing heat and she found herself drowning in lusciously aching sensation.
Sophie leaned heavily against him, her face cradled into the warmth of his neck as aftershocks racked her body, and she gasped, “Lord, I can’t remember when anything like this…so fast…”
“Mmm…” he murmured in agreement. “Too fast. Way too fast. We haven’t even kissed yet.”
Sophie giggled as she realised he was right.
“Oh God,” he groaned as her body tightened around his cock. “Don’t laugh.”
“A bit anxious, weren’t we?
“A little.”
“Do you think it might be better if we kissed?”
“I don’t know. Are you willing to chance it?”
She leant back, her arms resting on his shoulders, her hands playing with his hair and she allowed a most innocent smile. “I don’t know. That was pretty amazing.”
“And you think it couldn’t get much better?”
She shot him a wicked grin. “I wouldn’t want to spoil anything.”
“I think we should try it.”
“Let’s have a little more wine first. I’m thirsty.” She reached to her left and grabbed a glass. As she filled it, she asked, “You don’t mind sharing, do you?”
“I don’t mind sharing with you,” he returned as his hands roamed over her, playing with her breasts, watching them shiver as he nudged them together then apart.
She offered him the glass, and he shook his head. “Hold it for me. I can’t stop touching you.”
“Mmm…” she murmured, as she brought the glass to his lips. “And doing a very nice job of it, I’d say.” She put the empty glass on the table.
“So you like this, do you?”
“I suppose one might get that impression.”
He laughed. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a brat?”
She grinned. “One or two have tried.”
“Meaning?”
&
nbsp; “Meaning, they usually went home with a bloody nose.”
Joe laughed. “You know, of course, that it’s against the law to threaten a police officer.”
Sophie couldn’t imagine anything better than sitting on an erection talking nonsense while a man played with her nipples. “I was nine.”
“You’re not nine now, thank God. Do you like this?” he asked as his fingers gently twisted her nipples.
She moaned her pleasure. “Is the Pope Catholic?”
He grinned at her response. “I think I like you Sophie Russo.”
“That’s good to know.”
“You know, I was a little shocked when you took off your top.”
“Were you? You didn’t expect to have sex with our clothes on, did you?”
“No. I’m not sure what I expected.”
“For one thing, you didn’t expect a good spaghetti sauce.”
He grinned. “Among other things.”
“But you’re happy I did?”
“I couldn’t be happier.”
“Me too. I love the way you’re touching me.”
“Especially where?”
“Especially when you play with my nipples.”
He smiled as she ran her hands over his chest and paid some attention to his. She felt his shudder. “Don’t touch me,” he said. “I want to play a little before we start anything else.”
Sophie leant back, her elbows on her table behind her as she allowed both of them this pleasure.
“You know what I’d like?” he asked.
“Dessert?” she returned, her grin purely wicked.
“I thought this was dessert.”
She smiled, delighting in his touch, wishing he’d never stop. “What?”
“I’d love it if you sat on your table.”
“Really? Now? Without clothes?”
“It’s best without clothes.”
She made a low sound deep in her throat. “That sounds interesting.”
“I can promise you, you’ll find it very interesting.”
He helped her on to the table and guided her hips to the edge. “But we still haven’t kissed.”
“The problem with kissing is, once we start we probably won’t be able to stop.”
Sophie's Pleasure Page 2
