When he grabbed her, the sensation of hard bare chest against naked feminine breasts took her breath away. At that very moment, she felt as if she’d been born for this. Born to be Reed Conway’s woman. Who he was and who she was didn’t matter. Whatever past history existed between their families was unimportant. Any shame or scandal that resulted from their affair seemed a small price to pay for such indescribable ecstasy.
Reed walked her slowly backward as he kissed her. She made no attempt to resist. The back of her legs encountered the edge of the bed. They ended the kiss. Breathlessly, they stared at each other. She wrapped her arms around his neck. With a gentle shove, he toppled her onto the rumpled bed, and with her arms clinging to him, she brought him down with her. He was big and heavy at first, but he quickly braced himself with his elbows and straddled her, stationing his knees on either side of her hips.
“What the hell is it about you, Ella Porter? I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.”
His hot gaze traveled from her face to her breasts, then lingered. Her nipples tightened even more. The bluesy moan of trumpet and the tinkling chime of the piano played around inside her head, lulling her, seducing her as surely as Reed’s passionate inspection.
He lifted her hand to his crotch and laid it over his erection. She knew what he wanted. While looking at him point-blank, she finished unzipping his jeans and in the process dragged them down his hips just a fraction. His sex sprang free. Impressively large. Undeniably rock hard. He was fully aroused and ready.
“This time I want us both naked,” he said as he proceeded to remove his jeans.
He hovered over her for just a moment before he reached down and grasped the waistband of her panties. She lifted her hips to help him remove the scanty garment. As she lay beneath him, totally naked, every inch of her body revealed to him, her insecurities came into play. Would he find her unattractive? She wasn’t a small, slender woman, no delicate hothouse flower. Would he find her full curves uninviting? Would he think her fat? It had never mattered this much that a man think she was beautiful.
He eased downward, setting one knee between hers to urge her legs apart. She held her breath as he lowered his body by slow degrees until his penis rubbed against the thatch of dark hair that covered her mound. He lowered his lips to her breasts, his breath warm and stimulating against her already pebble-hard nipples. Touch me there, she pleaded silently, but he seemed in no hurry to do as she wished. He rubbed against her, sending waves of longing through her; then, before she had a chance to pull him completely down on top of her, he slid to her side and flipped her over and onto her stomach. She gasped in surprise, completely startled by his actions. When she tried to turn over, he laid his hand in the center of her back and held her in place.
“I want to look at you…all over,” he said, his voice a raspy whisper. “And then I want to touch you and kiss you and lick you until you think you’ll go mad if I don’t take you. I want you begging for it.”
I’m close to that point right now, she felt like shouting. But instead she lay there…waiting. His calloused hands began a sensual survey, caressing her from neck to heels, then returning to cup and fondle her buttocks. While his hand slipped between her legs, he lowered his mouth to her shoulders, his lips warm and tender, his tongue wet. His teeth nipped, then his tongue soothed. She moaned with pleasure. But then he moved his attention to her hips, to her butt, and just when she thought she couldn’t bear anymore, he moved down the back of her legs and on to her feet.
His fingers sought and found her core, then began a repetitive stroking that soon produced a flood of moisture. Preparation for when he fulfilled his promise to take her. But only after you’re begging for it, she reminded herself. Her feminine lips swelled, folding around his fingers, as if trying to trap the feel of him.
“Please, Reed,” she whimpered.
“Please what?” He taunted her with his question, and by suddenly withholding his touch as he eased away from her.
She lay on her stomach, her cheek resting against the pillow. He was going to make her say it. Damn him! She turned over, her movements deliberately leisurely, as if an urgent sexual fire weren’t burning her alive. Avoiding any eye contact with Reed, she lifted her arms over her head and rested them on the pillow, the act thrusting her breasts forward. In her peripheral vision she noted that he watched her like a hawk circling its prey, ready to pounce when the time was right.
“Do you want me?” Ella boldly brought her hand down over her throat, letting her own fingers caress her skin. She looked straight at Reed and saw him swallow hard. “Do you really want me?” She ran her hand over her right breast and nearly cried out when her palm grazed her erect nipple.
“I want you, all right,” he said, his lips twitching with an almost-grin. “But if you think playing this little game is going to force me into taking you before you do a little more begging, then you’d better think again.”
A tremor of apprehension jarred her already crumbling composure. “I want you,” she admitted.
He simply stared at her.
“I want you so very much,” she rephrased.
He continued staring.
“Please, Reed, I need you.”
“Then tell me exactly what you want, babe, and I’ll give it to you.” He leaned over and nuzzled her mound, then kissed her intimately.
Ella thought she might unravel completely. Of their own volition, her thighs separated slightly, just enough for Reed to notice.
“You want that, too?” he asked, grinning. “Say the words, Ella, and I’ll go down on you first.”
The spot between her thighs throbbed unbearably. She reached out and grabbed his shoulders, her gaze focused on his blue, blue eyes. “Damn you. I want you to fuck me. Now.”
With a self-satisfied smile on his face, he parted her legs and slipped between them. He put his mouth on her and flicked out his tongue to tease and taste. She shivered. He slid one hand up her belly and to her breast. His fingers closed around her nipple, and when she moaned, he began moving back and forth from one breast to the other, giving each nipple equal attention. And all the while his mouth and tongue sucked and stroked. Pure sensation took control. She clutched the sheet on either side of her hips, bracing herself for the inevitable.
“I’ve never…this…” She gasped. “This is the first time…anyone…” His tongue worked harder and faster. She moaned. “Ah…ah…ah…” She clutched his head with both hands, keeping him in place, steadying his movements until he burrowed his tongue deeper and deeper.
She cried out when she climaxed, and the world exploded around her in a series of multi-colored lights. While she still shuddered with release, Reed came up and over her, lifted her hips and rammed into her. She took all of him fully and completely into her body, into the hot, wet depths.
His thrusts were deep and hard, driven by pure, frenzied need. She clung to him, moving against him, urging him on. He lunged and retreated, lunged and retreated. Repeating the process, the speed quickly increasing until he was jackhammering into her. Sensation returned to her feminine nub, and once again she felt the tightening that was a prelude to orgasm.
“I’ve never had two,” she murmured as she rose up to kiss his neck. “Oh, Reed…”
He was beyond speech, capable only of beastly grunts. His climax hit him hard. The sounds coming from his mouth were those of an alpha male, roaring to the pack that he had just made this female his personal property. As he jetted inside her, she fell apart, her second release even more profound than the first. She held on tight, her body milking his, draining his fluid while she shook with unparalleled pleasure.
He eased off her, slid to her side, and brought her close, confining her within his sheltering arms. Perspiration coated their flesh.
“Reed?”
“No postmortem, babe.”
She shook her head, then cuddled against him, a myriad of feelings bombarding her. She cared about this man—cared more than was good for eithe
r of them.
He kissed her temple, then draped his arm possessively over her belly. “Get some sleep. We both need a little rest before we go at it again.”
“I shouldn’t stay. I should go.” But actions didn’t follow her words. She lay cocooned in his arms, sated and safe.
How odd that she should feel so utterly, completely safe lying naked in the arms of a convicted murderer.
He woke with a start. The tape player he’d borrowed from Briley Joe had kicked off, ending the sexy jazz tunes. But a heavy rain beat down on the metal roof and thunder rumbled overhead. The lights he hadn’t bothered to turn off hurt his eyes. He eased out of bed and walked across the room to switch off the overhead light and the lamp, then closed the bathroom door more than halfway, so that only a two-foot panel of light spread across the floor. He reached down in the plastic cooler, retrieved a beer from the melting ice, and popped open the can. He sipped on the cold liquid as he headed back across the room. Then he sat on the side of the bed and drank his beer while he watched Ella sleep.
He’d had her twice, but he still wanted her. Maybe more now than ever. He didn’t understand this craving for such rare pussy. Why wouldn’t Ivy or somebody like her do just as well? Any woman should do—any willing female who would spread her legs for him. But that wasn’t the case. He wanted Ella. Only Ella. He wanted her every way a man could want a woman and then some. He’d nearly lost it when she told him that he was the first man who’d ever gone down on her. That confession made him want to give her more pleasure than she’d ever known. And her admission that no man had ever brought her to a second orgasm had given him a heady sense of power and pride.
He reached out, lifted a lock of her silky black hair, and curled it about his index finger. Ella was one fine-looking woman, and responsive to his every touch—as if he and he alone had the ability to bring her to life.
They were as wrong for each other as two people could be. The judge and the ex-convict. The housekeeper’s son and the senator’s daughter. If the truth hadn’t been so sadly, pathetically true, he would laugh.
Ella’s eyelids flickered. When she awoke, would she leave? Would she look at him with regret in her eyes? He didn’t want her to go. Not until he’d slacked his desire for her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, then smiled.
He loved her smile.
“Reed?”
“Yeah?”
“You didn’t poison my daddy’s three hunting dogs last night, did you?”
Chapter 22
“What the hell are you talking about?” Reed drew back, moving away from her, a wounded look in his eyes—eyes that only moments ago had been gazing at her so tenderly.
She realized instantly that he was innocent, that he honestly didn’t know anything about the deaths of her father’s beloved dogs. “Reed, I—”
He shot up off the bed, gloriously naked. “Don’t bother.” He snapped the words. “I take it that somebody killed Webb Porter’s hunting dogs, and of course, I’m the number one suspect.” He glared at her. “Is that why you came here—to accuse me? What happened, honey, did you get a little sidetracked by your lust for my body?”
“Don’t do this. Please, let’s don’t say things that we’ll regret later.” She started to rise from the bed, but became acutely aware of her nudity. What the hell? He’d not only seen every inch of her, he was personally acquainted with the territory. She crawled out of bed, stark naked.
Reed’s facial muscles tightened, giving him the look of a dangerous predator. “Lady, the only thing I regret is screwing you twice.”
She couldn’t endure his cold, unemotional stare. The man who knew her body better than she knew it herself had instantly become a stranger—a frightening stranger.
“I’m sorry.” She reached over and laid her hand on his chest.
He jerked away from her. “Not as a sorry as you will be if you come up pregnant.” His sudden smile mocked her. “I didn’t use a condom again tonight, Miss Ella. Now, wouldn’t that be something if I knocked you up?”
“Go ahead and lash out at me,” she told him. “If it makes you feel any better. I suppose I deserve it. But I just wish you’d listen to me. I’m sorry I asked about Daddy’s hunting dogs.” Her fingers itched to touch him, to grab him and pull him to her. But she didn’t dare touch him. Fury radiated from him. Strong and deadly. “I realize now that when I decided to come here tonight I told myself I needed to know the truth, that I had to come here and confront you personally about the dogs. But that was just a lie I told myself. The truth is…the truth is—”
“You want to know what the truth is?” He grabbed her upper arms, his fingers pressing hard enough to hurt. When she winced, he instantly loosened his hold. “The honest to God truth is that I did not kill Junior Blalock. I haven’t written you any letters or made any threatening phone calls or sent you flowers with green snakes. And I sure as hell didn’t kill Webb’s hunting dogs.”
“I believe you. And I’m sorry I asked about the dogs. It’s just that I loved Beau and Stonewall and Lee, and I needed to be sure that the man I…that you hadn’t poisoned them.”
“God damn it, I’d never hurt innocent animals.”
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She nodded. “Someone did. Someone poisoned those wonderful dogs. Daddy and I raised them from puppies.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I loved them almost as much as Daddy did. Stonewall was the runt of his mama’s litter and I bottle-fed him.” Ella swallowed her tears.
Reed stared at her. She could barely see the blurry outline of his body through her tears. When he touched her, she jumped.
“Don’t cry, babe.”
“Reed…”
He encompassed her in his embrace, his strong arms comforting her. She loved the feel of him, the power of his big body. While she wept against his chest, he cradled her buttocks and lifted her upward until they touched intimately.
“I’m an insensitive asshole,” Reed said. “About those things I said a couple of minutes ago—”
She kissed him, then pulled back and smiled at him, her face damp with tears. “You were trying to hurt me because I had hurt you. I understand.”
He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, then licked the teardrops from her eyelashes. “I don’t want to hurt you. Not ever. What I want is to protect you from anything and anyone who would harm you. Looks like I’d better start with myself.”
“I don’t want to hurt you either,” she said. “If you’ll let me, I’ll help you find out who really killed Junior Blalock. Will you let me help you?”
He grinned, but this time there was no anger or sarcasm associated with the smile. “Your folks aren’t going to like the idea of their little girl getting involved with a man like me.”
“I’m not a little girl.” She rubbed herself against him. “I’m a woman.”
“You sure are,” Reed agreed.
His penis swelled to life between them. Ella sighed, loving the feel of him. When he took her hand and led her toward the bed, she hesitated when she noticed the time glowing brightly on the small digital alarm clock sitting on the floor beside the bed. It would be daylight soon. She had spent the night with Reed.
“I should go home,” she told him.
“Want to sneak in before anyone realizes you’ve been gone all night?”
“Can you understand?”
“Yeah, I can understand,” he said. “Just tell me something, Ella. Are you ashamed that you spent the night with me.”
“No!”
“But you wouldn’t want the whole town to know, would you?”
She sighed. He had her dead to rights. No, she didn’t want people to know about her involvement with Reed. “I’m sorry, but—”
“You’re a Porter, a circuit court judge and a lady.” He poked her shoulder repeatedly, inching her backward until he toppled her onto the bed. “You can stay another thirty minutes, can’t you?”
“Yes.”
Her compliance si
gnaled Reed to take action. Within seconds he had joined her on the bed, lifted her up to straddle him, and impaled her with his stiff sex.
“Come on, babe, one last wild ride for the road.”
Ella unlocked the back door, then moved through the kitchen as quietly as possible, hoping she wouldn’t awaken anyone. Bessie never arrived before six o’clock, and there was no reason why the rest of the household wouldn’t still be asleep. As she headed upward, the back stairs creaked slightly, the whine echoing in the stillness of the dawn hour. When she reached the top of the stairs, she sighed. Just a short walk down the hall to her room and she was home free. No one need ever know that she’d stayed out all night.
Her hand hovered on the crystal doorknob to her bedroom door, but before she grasped it, she heard footsteps behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her father coming toward her. Uh-oh! She knew how she looked—as if she’d spent the night making mad, passionate love. Wrinkled. Mussed. Tired. Sated. And if she could smell sex on herself, then her father would, too. Her heart sank. She supposed she could lie to him and tell him she’d been with Dan, but her father would know better. And she’d never lied to her father, not once in her entire life. She wasn’t about to start now.
“You look like hell,” Webb said.
“I’m a grown woman, and if choose to stay out all night, it’s nobody’s business,” she told him.
“Agreed.” His gaze traveled over her. “You’d better get a shower and change clothes. You wouldn’t want your mother to see you looking like that.”
Ella nodded, relief flooding through her. “Thanks, Daddy. For not asking any questions.”
“None of my business, remember?” But there was no warm smile, no twinkle of devilment in his eyes.
Every Move She Makes Page 26
