“No more?” she asked.
“Not this time. Next time. Right now I have to…” he let the sentence drift, slipping to his knees and parting her thighs with his hands. He could smell the rich sweet scent of her fill his head, becoming dizzy with it. Charlie pushed his lips to her and tasted the juices between her legs. He licked until her hips started to pulse up to meet his mouth. Her body told him what to do and he followed unspoken orders. He held her legs flush and traced the hard knot of her clit with his tongue tip. “Stay still, Kimber.” He smiled in the dark.
“I can’t, Charlie,” she confessed.
Charlie latched onto her and sucked her in before resuming a steady, teasing lap with his tongue. Finally she gave in, capitulated to his torture and Kimber shook under him, coming hard and pulling at his hair with her hands. It stung, but in the best possible way. “Come, come, come up here!” she said and Charlie chuckled.
She pulled at him until he balanced over her, studying her face. “I’m safe. I’m on the pill. Clean bill of health for me. And you?” she said, nodding. She believed he was, this was a formality.
“I am. I’m clean as a whistle. Are you…are you sure about this though?”
She tugged him firmly between her legs. "I'm sure." When the head of his cock slipped along the slippery opening of her pussy, he groaned, slipping in without another thought.
Charlie’s hands moved over her with their own agenda to touch every square inch of her. Her small, sexy noises tugged at his cock and his soul. Her lips roamed his skin and he said her name softly in the dark.
Kimber reached up to touch his face and the touch pushed him just a bit too far. “I’ll be softer next time. I’ll be easier,” he promised and then caught her wrists up in his hand and pinned them high above her head. The motion jutted her breasts up to him and Charlie bent his head to nibble each pink tip until he felt the reflexive tightening in her pussy. The tight wet flesh bunched up around him and Charlie was in Heaven.
“I don't need softer, I don't need easier. It’s good. It’s so, so good,” she laughed but her eyes were serious and her jaw was set. “Right there, Charlie. You are right there in the most perfect place. The sweet spo—”
Charlie thrust hard and felt her break. Felt the orgasm overtake her in a undulating rhythm of pleasure and her release dragged him swiftly into his own. She cried out, tossed her head and he pressed his lips to her pulse so he could feel her heart beating as he came, a staggering force that slammed through him and he heard himself say it again. The tenderness in that one word scared him a little. It made no sense, but it really didn’t matter. His ears only reported what they heard and the tone it was uttered in. His voice sounded drunk with something more elevated than lust.
The word fell in the silent room accented by her breathing. “Kimber.”
Chapter 5
Wow. Had they just done that? Had she really just come sort of unglued and a little anxiety riddled in his house and then fallen into his bed without preamble? Was she still dreaming?
When Charlie smoothed her hair back and kissed her, she knew it was all as real as it felt. She kissed him back, sucking the sweet rich taste of her own juices off his tongue. “Wow,” she said.
His fingers traced along her skin, outlining a nipple, stroking her breast. Kimber shivered and he chuckled. “Wow, indeed.”
“I haven’t…well, it’s been a while and before that it wasn’t much good the last few times. Too much stress over the way I was being treated and…” She caught herself and trailed off. Kimber rolled to her side to face him and said, “Ugh, listen to me. You’re not my shrink, you’re my…um…”
“Neighbor? Friendly neighbor?” he asked.
She snorted and quickly covered her face. “Oh, god. Sexy. Yes, my friendly, helpful, hot, studly, oh-so-warm-and-soft-all-over neighbor.” She touched his chest just to feel the hard heat of his skin under her hand. God he was soft. And God he was hot-temperature wise-and oh, so, so easy to look at. Gorgeous, like some angel that had plunged into a nice soft bed to make her wishes come true.
Crap, she was losing it. Angels to earth and soft skin and waxing poetic over men she couldn’t have?
“Thanks,” he said. She could hear him smiling. “And hey, I hope I didn’t overstep my neighborly bounds.” His face was sober with thought and worry. “I don't want to be that guy who barrels in and takes over…well, I’m just sorry that we…”
Jesus! She sat up fast and threw her legs over the side.
“Kimber—”
“No, no. You're sorry! Again! Hey, if you've got regrets, I’ll just go back…in there. I’ll be in the other room and tomorrow I’ll see what’s up with the house.” She backpedaled, really and truly not in the mood to be used and then dropped by a man. Not even one as hot and seemingly nice and interesting as Charlie Brewster. It had been stupid of her to think he might be a bit different beyond being the only bisexual person she knew.
Maybe this was why his partner left, for goodness sake.
“Kimber, you’re not under—”
Something warm and furry moved under her foot and then a yowl to rival the wind filled the room. Kimber screamed and flailed as the furry something darted across the room, a barely visible dark streak flying across the room. “Jesus Christ on a cracker, what was that?”
“Tyra,” he sighed.
“As in the model?” She clutched at her heart and waited for it to calm down or simply break for good.
“As in the cat, Clarice named her. Now come over here and sit down for a moment. Just calm down.” He patted the bed and she thought it over. Finally, she walked forward on little steps and sat. She’d let him speak. He had saved her more than once tonight, after all. He at least deserved that.
“I didn’t mean I wished it hadn't happened. I was worried that I took advantage. Or came on too strong or made you anything other than…happy. It’s been a rough year. I’m having a hard time reading signals and knowing what to do. I always feel like I’m stepping on myself, or someone else. Which is worse.”
“I know that feeling,” Kimber admitted.
“Now will you please curl up with me here and keep me warm? We have quite a few more hours until sunrise and I sure could do with the soft feel of you and that cute little whistle snore thing you do.”
“What? I do not snore,” she gasped.
He laughed and she swatted at him even as she curled her feet under the comforter and snuggled down. “It’s cute,” he said and tugged her in tight.
“Cute my ass,” Kimber groused.
“That too.”
He started to breathe deeply and Kimber closed her eyes to listen to the peaceful sound.
* * * *
This time she instigated it. She turned, unable to sleep and he moved against her. Reflexively pressing the length of his body to hers for warmth. Kimber didn’t need much provocation. She was so attracted to Charlie it bordered on absurd. When he was face to face with her, it scrambled her thoughts. When he touched her, she felt like she would climb out of her skin, or maybe into his.
She took him in hand, running the tip of her thumb over the head of his cock. At first his breath caught and he mumbled lowly. His head turned to one side and then the other and he sighed. Kimber smiled. Working up a man like Charlie infused her with power, made her feel sexy and innately female.
Kimber squeezed gently, stroking her loose fist along his silken length. His hips pushed up involuntarily and his eyelids fluttered. His face awash in neon green from the glowing digital numbers on the alarm clock. “Kimber?”
“Right here,” she said. She pushed the covers back, shushing him when he started to protest. The pajama pants gave her no protest as she yanked them lower so that his cock sprang free. “I’m right here.”
“Wha—” But that was as far as he got when she stuck out her tongue and licked him. Then she touched the tip to his fresh hard-on. “Oh, jeeze,” he moaned.
“Exactly.” She sucked him in, the smel
l of their coupling filling her head. The whole room had the heady perfume of Charlie’s scent and the smell of sex. “Oh, jeeze, I can’t sleep, Charlie,” she whispered. She kissed his inner thigh and a small muscle there jumped under her lips.
“That's a problem,” he said, his big hands settling in her hair, stroking the bed-knotted locks. He brushed his fingertips over her forehead and she shivered. “Will this help you?”
She could hear the smile in his voice with her eyes closed, and it made her smile, too. “Maybe.”
“Always glad to help a stunning woman,” he said, but then his voice failed him as Kimber pressed low, taking him in deep, showing him how much she liked doing this to him. Her fingers ran along his balls and the insides of his legs. She walked her fingertips along his flanks and he chuckled in the dark.
“Thank you for calling me stunning, but pretty will do.” Kimber shucked her pj’s and climbed on top of Charlie. She could barely make out the expression in his eyes in the near dark. Her breasts pressed to his chest and the warmth of his skin heated her more. She settled her legs on either side of his hips, the wet slit of her pussy resting along the hard ridge of Charlie’s cock. “I want you in me, Charlie. Somehow that makes the caving in fear and the scary, wind sounds not so bad. You make me feel…”
She caught herself and bit her lip. What a stupid thing to say, she thought. It was too late, though, Charlie had heard her and he wanted her to finish that thought. He caught her wrists up and tugged gently. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said. She wriggled over is cock until his hands went lax and she was able to tug them free.
“Tell me, please. Kimber…”
Distraction is an amazing tool, Kimber knew. She rubbed the head of him against the wetness of her pussy. Lowered herself so that only the head of his erection slipped into her cunt. He held his breath. Under her hand, his heart jumped like something small and wild. “Later,” she assured him, though she had no plans to ever admit that aloud.
“Promise me?”
She slid down a bit lower, taking more of his shaft into the slippery heat of her body and his hands came up, stroking her sides so that her skin felt cool and her nipples pebbled under his touch. “I promise.”
Charlie’s hands found her hips and he took over. Clamping down on her skin, pulling her low as his own hips slammed up with each powerful thrust, seating him deep inside of her so that it stole her breath. “Oh—good,” she sighed.
“See who’s turn it is to say oh,” he laughed, but he held her tight and drove up into her until she hung her head, the tips of her hair swaying against his belly. Her hands pressed his warm skin and now the beat of his heart was like a drum, slamming up under her hand in a powerful rhythm. Kimber was surprised to feel the orgasm come rushing at her so fast. A warm rippling sensation of pleasure and need. “Charlie,” she said.
His hands bit into her flanks, her bottom. He pinched her a little and the pink ribbon of her orgasm wound out a little more. Unfurling low in her pelvis so that she felt a flush rush to her face, felt her pulse arc like a spark of electricity. “Yes, ma’am. I think you have something to tell me,” he said.
“I can’t—”
Charlie held her still and at his mercy. And then he stopped moving. “You can.”
“Charlie!”
“Hurry,” he said softly.
“Charlie,” she begged without begging.
His fingers pressed into her skin but he refused to move and when she tried to, he stilled her in his powerful grip. He wasn't into her. Certainly not into her the way she was into him. His playing field was way bigger and she was a small player in a big game. He clearly hadn't gotten over…
“Kimber,” he warned.
She took a big breath and said it, “I was just going to say that you make me feel safe. That’s all. It’s stupid and silly and I know it makes me sound like a—oh.”
Charlie was moving up and deep now. Thrusting harder than before. Holding her tighter than before. Fucking her so that her toes curled and her head fell back, the tips of her hair brushed her waist, his fingers plucking at her nipples so she fell right back into another orgasm. Softer but longer, less intense but sweeter. She let herself relish the sound of his release. That rough, deep growl of a man lost in his own satisfaction. Kimber gave into it and when Charlie pulled her in close to him and kissed her, she let him. When he covered her with the blanket and told her to sleep, she did.
* * * *
“It was a total fluke,” Kimber said. Sarah stopped dead in her tracks, coffee cup in hand. She stared. It was that stare. “What?” Kimber said.
“How in the world was crawling into bed with that handsome, studly man a fluke?”
“It just was. I was distraught and my roof had caved in and he was so hot and yummy and nice.” Kimber poured her own coffee and turned to the window. The flamingo’s reindeer antlers flapped in the wind jovially. Clarice had put a red nose on it, too. She had a sudden, fast urge to stomp back over to Charlie’s house and crawl back into bed with him. It had been very difficult to pull herself out of bed to sneak away.
“I agree with all of that. He is all those things and a bag of chips.”
“And bi,” Kimber reminded her.
“I’m still not buying it,” Sarah said. She sipped her coffee and joined her best friend in staring at the crazy pink lawn ornament.
“He even told me his partner had left and wanted to come back.” Kimber pressed her forehead to the cold glass.
“He’s a cop for Christ sake! Maybe he means that kind of partner.” Sarah was pissed now, Kimber could feel the low level annoyance like heat baking off a radiator.
She laughed. “Maybe, but why do I keep thinking the other way then?”
“Because you want to! Because Charlie Brewster, your next door neighbor, hunky, do-gooder, extraordinaire is suddenly safe as a little fuzzy bunny if you pin that label on him. He loses his power to possibly hurt you. He cannot bang you and leave you. He cannot make you fall for him and then dump you. He can forever and ever be the guy who lives next door to you and you banged once. Because he was nice.”
Kimber stared at her. “Would you like a cigar to go with your judgment, Dr. Freud?”
“Hey, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, sweetheart.”
“Be quiet.”
“So what did he say when you left him all buff and hard and raring to go?” Sarah asked.
“Um…”
“Um what?”
“I…see, I didn’t quite…”
“Kimber!”
“He was still asleep when I left!” she blurted.
“Oh, my god. The walk of shame times ten.”
“What?”
“Walking home in your clothes the next morning after a hookup. But sneaking out to boot?”
“I walked home in his clothes. Mine were all wet and whatnot.”
“Jesus. He’s a nice guy. And now you have made it all awkward and stuff. Now he’s going to wake up to…to what?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed and she turned on Kimber.
“Jeeze, lighten up. You look like something from The Exorcist.”
“How did he wake up?”
“I left him a nice numph,” Kimber mumbled.
“What?”
“I left him a note. A note! I left him a nice note and thanked him for rescuing me and for putting me up and for…his time.”
“His time? His time? Did he conduct an interview? Jesus, Kimber, you need to march over there and pray he hasn’t woken up and read your note. Nice or not.”
“I can’t.”
Sarah grabbed her and turned her forcibly toward the door. Kimber had already showered and changed into a red hooded sweater and some faded jeans. They were supposed to be going over logos for their business today. Instead, Sarah was barking at her and now, marching her to the front door like a bad dog. “You can and you will. You will pray he’s not up yet. You will destroy the note—hell, eat it if you have to—and you will talk to this
very nice, straight, I am telling you, straight man like a grown up. Got it?”
Kimber bit her lip and then Sarah shook her like an angry bear with a honey jar that wouldn’t open. “Okay, okay! Stop manhandling me.”
“Honey, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” she growled. “If you screw this up I’m going to kick. Your. Ass.” Sarah pushed her out her own front door and shut it firmly.
“Well, hell,” Kimber said and hugged herself against the blowing wind and snow.
Chapter 6
Clarice was yelling. Why was she yelling? Charlie turned and then remembered. He reached out but the other side of the bed was empty. His body warmed with the flashes of memory but his stomach turned over a bit when he saw the small piece of white paper on the side table.
Thanks so much, Charlie. Thanks for everything. Sorry if I imposed or confused things for you more. But I am truly grateful. You rock!
XOXO
Kimber
He rocked? Jesus Christ. He rocked. He made love with her twice, shared some mind blowing orgasms, fell asleep curled around her actually letting himself think that wow, maybe getting close to a woman again might be worth it, and…he rocked?
Charlie blew out a deep breath from his frustration and ran a hand through his hair just as his bedroom door flew open and Clarice stuck her head in. “Uncle Charlie! Someone is at the door.”
“Hi, Clarice.” He shoved the paper under the covers so she wouldn’t see.
Janette’s head appeared a moment later and she rolled her eyes. “I told her it was rude not to knock. She knows better.” Janette looked down at her daughter and frowned.
“Sorry,” Clarice said.
“Don’t tell me.”
“I am sorry, Uncle Charlie,” Clarice said, looking respectfully penitent.
“It’s okay. Just remember next time, okay?”
Clarice nodded, her pretty face sober. “Will do.”
That made him laugh.
“Go wait downstairs, okay. Let Uncle Charlie do his ablutions,” Janette said.
“What the heck are ablutions?”
Pretty In Pink Page 5
