“I just want you to see something. I want you to understand.”
His head whipped around, his eyes pinning her in her seat. “Do you know how many women would love to get a car just for helping a friend out?”
He had no clue. “Then you’ll have no problem getting rid of it.” She snarled across the seat. Blood pounded in her ears. He just didn’t get it. And from the way his hands were squeezing the life out of the steering wheel he had no intention of figuring it out. Sophie leaned over and twisted the keys from the ignition.
“Hey!” David swiped for the keys as she scrambled from the car.
Sophie took the stairs two at a time, hoping it might make up for his long-legged advantage. He’d proven earlier running from him was a logistical impossibility. Panting, she had her key in the lock when his hands came down on either side of her. “Give me the keys, Sophie.”
Smiling wickedly she spun beneath him, holding out her keys. “You want to do the honors? “
“I’m not in the mood for games.” Her stomach caught at the feel of his breath against her face, fast and shallow. If only he was breathing like that because of her, and not because he’d gone up the stairs in only three long strides.
Reaching her hand behind her Sophie turned the doorknob, swinging the door open. She caught David’s hand as it slipped from the opening door and tugged him inside. “I just want to show you something, to explain.”
She tugged him through the dark living room, past the kitchen into the hallway. She pulled him through another doorway and hit the lights.
The light from the lamps covered with red silk scarves on the bedside tables reflected off the full-length mirrors nailed to the wall. The room was completely taken up by an enormous bed. Two tiny bedside tables flanked it. The white down duvet and piles of pillows seemed to shimmer in the dim lighting.
David peered down at her, his eyebrows knit together. Before he could speak Sophie braced herself and pushed him as hard as she could. “Lie down.”
Startled, he tumbled backwards. The only place to fall was on the bed. He scrambled up to his elbows. “Sophie,” he hissed as she bounced on the bed beside him.
“This will be over much faster if you do as I say. Lie down,” she commanded, scooting to the opposite side of the bed.
“Whatever game you’re playing—”
Sophie shoved him down on the mattress, pulling his legs up onto it.
“There,” Sophie said triumphantly. “See?”
David lay on his back against the pillows and crossed his arms across his chest.
“What is it I’m supposed to be seeing?” David’s nostrils flared as he ground his teeth together.
Sophie rolled to her side and propped herself up on her elbow. “Comfortable?”
He turned his head and narrowed his eyes. “If I say yes, can I have my keys?”
“How are your feet?”
“What?” he asked, looking down to the bottom of the bed. She smiled as the wheels slowly turned in his head. He sat up, turning his head from side to side as he surveyed the bed. “Where did you get this?”
Sophie pulled her legs beneath her as she sat up. “Getting it in here was quite a task I assure you.”
David lay down again and marveled. “I didn’t know they made beds this long.”
“They’re in my backpack, the front pocket.”
“What?” He wiggled his feet and smiled.
“Your keys.”
David made no move to leave. Instead he closed his eyes. She lay down, propping herself on her elbow so she could watch him. Here. In the bed she dreamed of him in. She wanted to touch him, but didn’t dare push her luck.
“I don’t want anything you won’t fit in.” She whispered the words so as not to betray the tumble of emotions she felt.
“When did you get it?”
“Last year, after my mom died and I sold the house. It really helped my fantasy life. You wouldn’t believe the limits a twin bed puts on a girl’s dreams.” She was babbling, definitely not sexy. Not when she finally had him in her bed.
“Is that when it started?” he said without opening his eyes.
Sophie was surprised his question didn’t ruffle her. “What? My fantasies about you?”
She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
“No, that goes way back. Back to when Daphne and Craig first started dating. He has always talked you up to her. I was sold, but Daphne…well, she doesn’t like to share.”
David laughed. Sophie hoped she saw him start to relax. “I became your fantasy and her nightmare.”
Sophie lay back on the pillows. “I never thought of it like that. I just always thought we fit, like kindred spirits, you know.”
“That’s crazy. We’re total opposites.”
“Only physically. You know that family comes first. Think about what happened with your dad. Your instinct was to protect him before anything else. You take care of everyone before yourself. I get that, hell I do that. Not everyone respects obligation.”
“You keep coming on to me because you see a chance to live out your fantasies.” Once he spoke the words he turned his head to face her. They were in such an intimate position anything but honesty was unthinkable.
“At first. But it’s more than that now. I’m comfortable with you in a way that I can’t even explain. I feel safe and it makes me bolder. It gives me the courage to say things I’d usually stifle, to do things I normally wouldn’t dare.”
“Is it me, or your fantasy of me?”
She moved closer, pressing her forehead to his. “It’s definitely you.” Sophie closed her eyes. Slowly, she focused her breathing to match his. She was almost dizzy from the masculine pheromones permeating the air, her lungs, her bed.
“I don’t want to hurt you. We can’t do this, Sophie,” he whispered. “I don’t want the things you want. I don’t want you to regret it.”
“I’ll regret never making love to you.”
“I’m not getting married Sophie, I’m not having kids. I’m not cut out for it. You’ll be great at it. You’ve waited this long, you should wait for that.”
Sophie pursed her lips together as she weighed his words. “I waited for you.”
She hated the tremor in her voice, hated the weakness of the admission. But oh, how she loved his reaction.
———
David’s body responded instinctively to her words. Sophie had laid herself open before him in a painfully honest way. He moved closer, finding her mouth and taking it. He didn’t have the words to tell her how she moved him, how he was finding it impossible to think of anything but her, how he actually understood why she had gotten so crazy about the car.
He knew kissing her would cure the ache in his gut that ate at him whenever she wasn’t around. He claimed her lips with a desperate demand. Her mouth answered back, fulfilling his needs, making him groan as she rolled closer. She yielded beside him, opening to welcome him with a tender, silken demand of her own.
Rational thought was extinguished by a torrential need to possess that he didn’t recognize. An entirely new sensation he found both unknown and completely irresistible. Sophie’s breaths were as uneven as his, her mouth unrelenting, her kiss urgent. He swallowed her pleading sigh and realized she was no more in control of the moment than he was.
If they both lost control he knew exactly where this would lead. He tried to stay in check. One of them needed to be able to think, to rise above such carnal desires. Trying to pull away he rolled onto his back. He hadn’t meant to encourage her, but she rolled right along with him. Now she was on top of him, her dark curls falling forward, framing them in their own world.
They were both adults, obviously consenting. She was warm and willing, and with her legs straddling him she had to know just how much he wanted her. The groan erupting from his own throat startled him to reality.
He cursed every part of his psyche that couldn’t just be the man she wanted him to be. How wonderful life c
ould be if he could just trust himself to be who she thought he was. But he wasn’t, and he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t take from her more than he could give back. He knew that as well as he knew he couldn’t walk away. Not now.
He just needed to push her further, to make her call it off. It would be easier on her if it were her idea.
“Show me,” he whispered, trying to get a handle on his ragged vocal chords.
“What?” Sophie breathed against his mouth.
“Show me what you like.” In answer, she ground her hips against him, teasing the ridge of him nestled beneath her.
He groaned again, raising a hand to her hip to still her. He would never be able to hold back if she did that even once more. “No.” He brushed the hair from her eyes as she stared down at him. “Show me.”
Her eyes sparked with realization. “You want me to…while you… I don’t think so.”
“Please?” he asked, kissing her softly as her eyes drifted close. She’d never be able to, and he’d be able to walk away without hurting her.
“What?” They fluttered open again, dark in their desire. “Why?”
“So I can see what you like.” He tried to focus, to calm himself. Pushing her past her boundaries had to work, he couldn’t think of another way. Especially since he was having a hard time remembering why what she wanted would be a bad thing. He rolled her onto her back and sat up.
Sophie propped herself up on her elbows and stared at him. “What are you going to do?”
“Watch you.” He scooted to the foot of the bed, wishing the room were big enough for a chair. He needed distance.
“So you like to watch?” she teased, her eyes gleaming. “From way down there?” She wiggled her foot at him.
His grin faltered. She was considering it. If she went through with it, there was no other way out. “I can’t promise I’ll stay here.”
She frowned, her bravado failing. “I don’t think I can.”
“Why not?”
“You want me to make a list?”
“I already told you what I want you to do,” he winked.
She sighed in defeat. “I don’t think I can relax with you watching me. And if I can’t relax, I won’t be able to climax.”
“Then we could never sleep together.”
“No!” She sprung up to sitting. “I mean, that’s different. We’d both be naked, both be vulnerable. This way it’s just me.”
He bit his cheek, pondering which argument to use.
“Maybe if you were naked.”
“What?” he choked, noticing the gleam in her eye.
“To provide visual stimulation. And that way you’ll be ready to join in.”
David’s breath caught. A trap. And he’d run right into it.
———
David had severely underestimated his ability to hold back. He had to remind himself to breathe. His mouth was completely dry, his stomach in knots. He was actually glad he had compromised and taken his shirt off because he was sweating. He was sitting on his goddamn hands to keep from touching her.
Thankfully, Sophie had closed her eyes. When she’d been watching him he had wanted to scream, groan, devour her. What had he been thinking? Asking her to do what he had been doing every night in his dreams since that first class? And that was all before he’d seen her naked.
He knew she was beautiful, had felt those amazing curves for himself. But always through the safety of clothes. Bare, the woman was downright lethal. And those hands, those tiny hands that wielded so much power.
Her strokes were light and feathery at first, tracing up and down while her other hand kneaded one ripe breast. Her breasts had felt amazing pressed against him through clothes, but in person they were absolutely perfect.
This was such a bad idea. He should end it now while he still had some blood left in his brain. But he couldn’t move, mesmerized by the show. Then she dipped a finger inside, spreading the glistening liquid she found across her inner lips she increased the pressure and moved from side to side. He didn’t know where to look as she concentrated on her nipple, pulling at the tip while she gnawed her bottom lip.
She picked up speed, the circles of her fingers getting smaller and smaller until they focused on the tight bud of her sex. Her shallow breaths grew rapid as she neared her peak. She rolled her hips, finding all the best positions to intensify her pleasure
Her head fell back, lips parted. He didn’t even want to breathe, didn’t want to hear any sound but the gasping of her breath. “Amazing,” he whispered, unsure if he’d said it aloud.
She smiled. “If you liked that, you should see me with BOB.”
He stiffened, lurching forward as if he might be sick. Exactly the reaction she was hoping for.
Sophie placed her still wet fingers against his arm, shooting him a devilish grin. “BOB, battery operated boyfriend. You wouldn’t believe how many batteries I’ve gone through lately.”
His shoulders relaxed as he finally let out a ragged breath. David lifted her hand from his arm, brought her fingers to his mouth and inhaled deep. She trembled as if the air he breathed was coming directly from her own lungs.
She was amazed by her own power, and more aroused than she had ever been. She fought against the drowsiness that always followed climax for her, not wanting to miss what happened next.
For once, nothing felt forced or awkward. The fear that usually grabbed at her belly was flooded out by waves of wanting. Excitement began to make her giddy.
You’re in control here she chanted in her head. Stay focused, and you’ll finally get everything you want. David placed one of her fingers against his tongue, closed his lips around it and sucked deeply. She felt her belly go concave as every fiber of her being focused on his mouth. Heat pooled once again in her stomach as he repeated the act on a second finger. No way was this happening to her again. She closed her eyes and tried to regain control over her body.
“Sophie, look at me,” he breathed across her skin. No way, he had barely touched her. She felt her muscles clenching, so close.
“Look at me or I’ll stop.”
Her eyes flashed open. “No,” she pleaded with him. She reached out and grabbed his hands, pulling him forward as she fell back on the pillows.
“Sophie, wait.” He held himself above her, shadowing her body with his presence.
She ran her hands along the hard lines of his arms. There never were more beautiful biceps.
“We can’t.”
“Oh, but we can,” she said sliding her hands across the rigid planes of his chest, down the ripples of his abdomen, straight to his belt.
His hand formed a vice over hers. Locking her gaze he shook his head. “I don’t have any condoms.”
“It’s fine, I’m on the pill.” She smiled, proud of recovering so quickly.
He pulled her hand from his pants, stretching it over her head. “What? Why?”
Now if this wasn’t a mood breaker. “So I only have to deal with PMS four times a year. But it comes in handy right about now, don’t you think?”
“Damn it, Sophie. You should never let someone come near you without a condom.”
“Dually noted,” she said reaching her free hand around his neck. She tried to pull him closer but he wouldn’t budge. She felt her heart stall as she met his gaze. The enormity of the situation crashed down on her. She was naked beneath this man, a man she’d been throwing herself at for weeks, a man who’d just watched her pleasure herself, and he was telling her no.
She closed her eyes and tried to breathe, tried to think of a way out with a shred of dignity. Her breath caught in her throat as David’s hot mouth caressed her there. She melted in the blissful feeling, the physical sensation and the emotional relief.
She arched, pressing herself against him, relishing the sensation of her bare breasts against the hard muscles of his chest. She stifled a whimper as he made his way down her throat, across her collarbone. He held his body above her, too far. She hooked her legs acros
s his hips, tilting her hips off the bed, pressing herself against him.
He dropped his body down, pressing her into the bed. “Sophie, play fair or I stop,” he growled against her skin.
Her skin cooled where it was wet from his mouth, heated where his breath caressed it. The sensation was amazing, almost making her forget how he had thwarted her efforts. And that he threatened to stop.
“I was trying to be fair.” The throaty tone of her voice surprised her. She arched up into him as best she could, given he topped her by over a foot and over a hundred pounds.
Using his hands to unhook her legs he rolled off her. “I mean it Sophie. I’m only human, I can only hold back so far.”
She rolled against him. “So stop holding back.”
———
He saw it then, the part of her he was trying to protect. The woman behind the bravado, the one whose hands trembled for a moment before she touched him, the one who bit her bottom lip before pushing ahead, the one he was terrified of hurting.
Sure, her words were bold, her actions brazen beyond her experience. And if she kept her eyes closed he could almost forget just what she was offering him. But when her eyes opened, he could feel her fear, all the way to her soul. She knew what she was doing, what she was offering and she believed he’d do right by her. He just didn’t deserve that kind of trust.
He’d been wrong to indulge himself with her tentative explorations. He’d pushed too far this time. He squeezed his eyes shut and searched for a safe exit. This was such a bad idea. Push her until she backs down. What idiot had thought of that? As if he had more control than she did.
Or was that just the excuse he was using to allow himself the indulgence of being with her? Because he just couldn’t seem to walk away. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman, any thing. But he would not be her regret.
“Sophie,” he whispered, pulling her closer.
“Please,” she breathed against his ear.
He fought his desire for her with the last of his will. He tilted her head up to look at him. Her eyes were glistening with desire, for him. A woman with more experience would have hidden that look of need, that honest response that was all Sophie, without pretense.
Compromising Positions Page 10
