by Jamie Denton
Her skin heated. “Not everyone.” She had memories, not fantasies. Delicious, sexy memories of their lovemaking.
“I fantasize about you.” His hand crept under the hem of her skirt, far enough that his fingers teased her exposed skin above the lacy tops of her stockings. “A lot.”
She dragged much-needed oxygen into her lungs and prayed the length of the tablecloth would prevent anyone from discovering them pushing the intimacy envelope.
“Really?” Not that she needed an explanation. Her memory was doing an excellent job all on its own.
He nodded and held her captive with his gaze. “Earlier,” he said quietly. “In the shower.”
She cleared her throat as the sensual flashbacks clamored for attention. “Uh, that wasn’t exactly a fantasy,” she whispered. More like one-hundred percent, authentic lovemaking. Her body tingled as she recalled how their bodies, slick from soap and steamy water, had come together in an explosion of need. Hot. Abandoned. And wickedly yummy.
His hand moved over her skin to massage her inner thigh. “That was a fantasy,” he said as he gently urged her legs apart. “One I’ve had about you for a while.”
A groan bubbled up inside her when the tips of his fingers feathered intimately over her panties. She let out a slow hiss of breath, convinced fantasy paled in comparison to her current reality.
He leaned closer, as if attempting to shield her from the view of the few patrons in the restaurant. Thank heavens he’d selected a booth in a dark corner. Intentionally? she wondered. Considering he’d already proven the extent of his resourcefulness, she wouldn’t put it past him.
“Have you ever pleasured yourself, Jana?” he whispered in her ear.
Electrifying shocks skittered over her skin. “Until a week ago, I’d never had an orgasm. What do you think?”
He pulled back to look at her. Desire, rather than disappointment, darkened his eyes. “What about that night on the phone?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” But, oh, had she ever ached for him.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her after a moment.
Physically he’d never harm her, she knew that as much as she knew the sun would rise in the east and set in the west until the end of time. Did she trust him not to break her heart? Not within a centimeter of his life.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I trust you.”
“Close your eyes.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, we are in a restaurant,” she said, but did as he asked anyway. “A public restaurant.”
“Tell me what you’re wearing—beneath your clothes.”
Location obviously meant little to a man intent on a path of seduction. “Panties and a bra.”
“That’s not very imaginative. What color are they?”
“Red. Like the color of ripe, juicy cherries,” she elaborated for him. “Or a velvet box of Valentine candy.” She opened one eye to look at him. “Or the color of my cheeks?”
His fingers stilled, and he chuckled. “Close your eyes.”
She did and felt his fingers brush lightly over her panties again. Like a junkie needing a fix, she leaned into his touch as if it were a drug that would take her into the sexual fantasy he was creating for her.
“You’re wearing lace.”
His deep, husky voice intoxicated her. His caress excited her.
“Is it a thong?” he asked. “Is the thin scrap of material massaging you, lightly teasing you so you’re becoming swollen? Wet? Waiting for my touch?”
In her mind, she envisioned the length of his fingers exploring her deeply. Hot, blazing desire rushed through her veins like water bursting through a dam. “Ben.” The whisper of his name sounded more like a whimper of need.
“Tell me what kind of panties you’re wearing, Jana. I’ll know if you lie.”
The pad of his thumb traced a slow and rhythmic pattern around her folds. In her fantasy, the moist heat of his mouth closed over her. “They’re boy shorts.”
“Hmm,” he murmured. “They’re damp. That makes me hot.”
She bit her lip when her mind conjured the image of his teeth gently grazing her while his tongue lapped at her. The restaurant faded away and they were in a secluded cove. The only thing between their bodies and the white sands of the beach was a blanket. Waves crashed against the shore in the distance as the sun kissed their bodies, and he kissed her intimately.
The first knot of tension tightened in her belly. Then another and another.
They were hedonistic sea nymphs. Naked and naughty, where nothing mattered except the pleasure of their bodies.
She was Botticelli’s Venus. Newly born and free to explore the pleasures of her body without constraint.
She was about to have an orgasm right in the middle of a restaurant!
Her eyes flew open, and she grabbed his wrist to urge him away from her before the world exploded. “We have to leave,” she told him, her voice tight with strain.
“Why?” he asked with feigned innocence. His gaze held hers as he pressed his hand against her with perfect tension-building precision. She squirmed beneath his touch. “You’re just getting started.”
Her fingers trembled as she reached for her forgotten glass of wine, draining the contents as if it were nothing more potent than tap water. “Ben,” she said as another tremor threatened to rock her. “If you don’t get me out of here now, I’m going to come right here.”
13
“IF YOU DON’T KNOW your body intimately,” Ben said, “then how do you expect to know what gives you pleasure?”
With her back against his chest, Ben held Jana’s gaze as they stood facing the full-length mirror of the sliding closet door. Their images were bathed in soft light from the bedside lamp in the other room, reminding him of a shadowed sensual portrait.
A sultry smile lifted her mouth. “Oh, I know what pleases me.”
He smoothed his hands down her arms. “Then tell me. What makes you fall apart?”
Apprehension filled her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? You know, when I…when you make me…” She shrugged. “You know.”
A slight blush tinged her cheeks. He bit back a smile at her sudden bout of shyness. Less than half an hour ago in the restaurant, she hadn’t shown him an ounce of timidity when she’d announced exactly how close she’d been to orgasm.
His ploy to distract her from the uncomfortable subject of past relationships rated as a success, even if the solution had left him close to the brink himself. A punishment he fully deserved, he supposed, but the situation had called for drastic measures. He just hadn’t realized how much physical pain his act of desperation would cost him.
The red stretchy lace of her panties rode low across her hips and barely covered the delectable curve of her bottom. The swell of her breasts rose and fell above a matching lace bra that left very little to his overactive imagination. He had absolutely no objections.
He covered her dainty, delicate hands with his much larger ones, slowly gliding them over the swell of her hips. His fingertips traced her skin, soft, silky and warm to the touch. “I want you to feel what I do when I touch you.” He dipped his head and nipped gently at her shoulder. “Know what makes your body respond. What brings you close to the edge and what it takes to send you flying over the side.”
“Ben?” Apprehension laced her whispered voice.
He kissed the side of her neck. “Shhh,” he murmured. “Just open your mind to the possibilities.”
A night of sensual self-discovery required her absolute willingness to accompany him on the journey. Whether or not she realized it, she’d been gifting him with her trust from the moment they’d first met. Tonight, they’d test the limits. No reservations. No regrets. No holding back. Tonight, he wanted all of her.
Could he accept, without reservation or regret, the precious commodity he demanded from her? He hadn’t lied when he’d told her he’d never been close to marriage. The mere thought of a lifetime commitment usually gave him hives. While he wasn
’t exactly ready to ask Jana to add Perry to her last name, he was highly suspicious of the stark loneliness that had hit him hard when he’d returned home to an empty house early this morning.
He’d gone on several runs after he’d left Jana on Thursday night, and had ended up bunking down at the firehouse to catch an hour or two of sleep before his regular shift on Friday. The squad had been ungodly busy with one call after another, and he’d put in another eighteen hours. When he’d started barking orders like an angry drill sergeant, the captain had had enough of him and threatened a week’s suspension if he showed his face at the firehouse before Monday morning. Ben didn’t believe Rick would actually suspend him, but when he started snapping at the squad from sheer exhaustion, he knew he’d better take a serious break before he completely alienated his men.
At first he’d convinced himself the only reason he’d decided to surprise Jana was to ensure he kept his distance from the firehouse for the next couple of days. This belief had been shattered by the sweet sound of her voice when she hadn’t yet realized he’d gotten into her hotel room. He had longed to be with her, sure, but how easily he’d accepted that knowledge made him think he should start checking for big red bumps on his body.
She tipped her head to the side, exposing more of the slim column of her throat. He nibbled, laved and kissed the delicate skin until she trembled.
With his hands still holding hers captive, he brought their intertwined fingers together up her hips and across her tummy. Slowly moving over her heated flesh to below her belly button, he dipped teasingly beneath the edge of cherry-colored lace. He stilled their hands as her eyes widened and her breath caught.
“I know you’re not ashamed of your body.” He eased their joined hands lower to sift through the blond curls hidden beneath her underwear. “Show me what you like, babe. Tell me how you want to be pleasured.”
She leaned against him, her bottom wedged tightly against his groin. The thoroughly sexy sight of her hands locked with his inching closer to her dewy center had him gritting his teeth. The intense pain and insistent throbbing of his erection made the idea of maintaining his control for much longer laughable.
The desire simmering in his veins turned hot and molten as together they explored her slick, moist folds. A deep groan of pure pleasure filled the air around them and he had no idea which of them had uttered the sound.
Her soft gaze filled with passion and remained transfixed on their reflection. Her lips parted and the breath eased out of her with a sensual rush of sound. Control slipped from his grasp. Need clawed him sharply. If he didn’t make her his soon, he’d go insane.
He pushed her further, reaching deeper to open her and accompany her on an exploration of a different level. “What do you feel, Jana?” He felt ready to come out of his skin and wasn’t sure how much longer he could last.
“Wet,” she whispered. She arched her back. “Swollen and wet.”
The combination of the warm flesh of her behind and delicate lace rasped against his erection. “So wet,” he murmured against her ear. Together they exposed the center of her, then pushed her even higher. “So hot.”
She whimpered as her body instantly contracted around the erotic invasion. “More?” he whispered in her ear.
“More.” She cried out as he answered her sensual demand. Her desperate plea tested his limits.
Using the pad of his thumb, he sought her most sensitive place and teased her closer to ultimate fulfillment. Her hips pressed downward, seeking more, needing more. Her breath came in short, hard pants as the tension in her body drew tighter.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he gently ordered her. “Watch yourself.”
“Don’t…don’t stop,” she demanded, her voice strained. A deep cry followed as she tensed, then flew apart. The pants of breath coalesced into high-pitched moans of total ecstasy. His control took a swan dive off the side of a cliff as her body exploded around their interlaced fingers, and she witnessed the awe and wonder in her own reflection.
He didn’t allow her body to cool, but turned her around and stripped off her panties before he lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his hips. Cupping her bottom in his hands, he pushed her back up against the wall, then guided her hot, moist heat down his rock-hard shaft until he was buried deep inside her.
She called out his name in a way that was purely primal and so filled with lust the sound shattered the wall surrounding his heart like a battering ram. She was totally and completely his, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Her fingers were like tiny knives digging relentlessly into his shoulders, but he never registered pain. Only pleasure. She could have ripped him to shreds and it wouldn’t have stopped him from guiding her hips harder, deeper down the length of his erection.
The last shred of his restraint crumbled. All that mattered was Jana and the beautiful intensity of the fierce giving and taking of their bodies and their hearts.
“Yes,” she hissed, then yelled his name so loud and free of inhibition he felt it reverberate through him. She shuddered around him, her feminine sheath clenching so tight, each contraction touched his soul. A fierce groan ripped from his chest and he thrust into her one last time, coming in a hot rush.
He rested his forehead against hers as the world slowly righted itself. Slowly, his senses resumed a semblance of normal function. The ringing in his ears stilled. The sound of her labored breathing penetrated the remnants of lust-induced fog. Or were those haggard breaths coming from him? He didn’t know and he didn’t care.
“Please tell me you’re on the Pill,” he managed once he caught his breath. He’d totally lost control, and although safety wasn’t an issue between them, he’d have only himself to blame for making love to her without the benefit of birth control.
“Yes,” she whispered.
The scent of their lovemaking registered, filling him with contentment now that she’d set his mind at ease. With their sated bodies still linked intimately together, he lifted his head and opened his eyes. His body instantly flexed the second he caught sight of their reflection in the mirror.
Her gaze met his and a weak smile turned up her mouth. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Humor laced her voice that had gone slightly hoarse. “I can barely breathe and you’re ready to go again.”
“Dammit, I love you,” he said without thinking.
A slight frown creased her brow suddenly. Wariness filled her eyes as she regarded him carefully.
Alarm coursed through him. What the hell did I just say? His heart thumped heavily in his chest. He had not used the L word. He hadn’t.
“Like this,” he added hastily.
She gave him a slow, gentle smile, chasing the caution from her gaze. “Like this how?”
Carefully, he untangled their limbs and eased her to the floor. “Pleasured,” he finally answered. “Very pleasured.” But that wasn’t completely true. Yes, he loved to see her sated, but…
She unhooked her bra, folded it neatly and set it on the luggage rack. “I’m going to take a shower.” She scooped up her panties and folded them, then walked into the bathroom. “Join me?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder.
“No,” he said. He wasn’t referring to her invitation, but the realization that his feelings for her obliterated a lifelong belief. He did possess a heart after all, and it’d taken Jana to go and steal it for him to realize he wasn’t emotionally bankrupt.
She shrugged, closed the door and the next thing he heard was the sound of running water. He couldn’t breathe. Hell, he couldn’t move. Shock did that to a guy.
Why? When? How?
Easy, he thought, as his heart rate calmed a fraction. Because she made it so simple to love her. The way her eyes danced with laughter, her easy smiles. How his heart always took an extra beat when her entire face lit up whenever she looked at him, even after he’d done something to tick her off. The way she refused to be bullied or let him have his way if it conflicted with her own wants, need
s and desires. How she never hesitated to tell him when she thought he was wrong. He’d be a gray-haired old man before he could name each and every reason loving Jana was so damned easy.
So what was he supposed to do now? Deal with it and move on had been his method of coping for too many years for him to ignore. He couldn’t come up with a single reason why his m.o. should alter just because he’d let Jana into his heart. He had to deal with his feelings for her, and together they would move on to whatever came next.
He walked into the bathroom and yanked the shower curtain aside. “No,” he said to her again, determined she understand exactly what he’d meant.
She pulled her head out from under the spray of water. “I heard you the first time.” A frown creased her forehead when he refused to relinquish the shower curtain. “Do you mind? That air is cold.”
He stepped over the side of the tub and slid the curtain back. “I don’t love you like this.” His heart started thumping again and his hand actually trembled when he reached up to cup her cheek. God, he’d never been more nervous in his life. “I love you, Jana.”
No frown. No wariness. Just a heart-stopping smile as she leaned forward to brush her mouth over his in a feathery kiss.
“I love you, too.” She scooped the bar of soap from the holder and handed it to him. “But you’re still not off the hook for scaring me half to death this afternoon.”
The woman certainly knew how to extract mileage out of a grudge. “Okay,” he said and crossed his arms. “What is it going to take?”
Her eyes danced with laughter. “There is that back rub you’ve been promising me.”
“That could lead to other things, you know.”
She narrowed the distance between them and slid her arms around him, her fingers pressing into his backside to urge him closer. “I adore a man who plans ahead.”
“HE DID WHAT?”
Ben’s thunderous voice startled Jana out of a deep sleep. She bolted upright, wondering what had caused him to bellow like a ferocious bear.
