Satin Pleasures

by Karen Docter

  "Whatever the reason,” tendrils of long, silky curls tickled his neck as she kissed his jaw, "thank you."

  "You're welcome.”

  Dan's voice rumbled through him like thunder, warning of the storm to come if he didn't put at least two city blocks between them. Fast. But Tess was draped over his body, her breasts warming his naked chest through the thin weave of her short-sleeved sweater, and he'd longed for this woman forever.

  With one hand on her denim backside, he ground his hard length into her softness. "I've got to run, Tess."

  She wriggled on top of him. "You can't."

  His interest in nobility was waning. "Why not?"

  Lightly biting her lower lip, she smiled sexily and wriggled again. Her sigh tore at his insides, reclaimed a few hormones that had gone astray, and yanked his pulse up another notch. "Your belt buckle has snagged my sweater. I'm caught."

  Well and truly caught.

  Tess felt Dan's response and knew it was time to stop fooling herself. Their day at the wharf had been friendly on the surface, but her desire to be loved by this man had only dug deeper with each glance, each shared experience. The yearning had begun the first time she opened her eyes on the bridge and carried her to this moment when she could think of nothing but seducing the man.

  Making the single most irrational decision in her adult life, she brazenly leaned down to caress Dan's tanned collarbone with her lips.

  He jerked. "Tess! Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?"

  Yes. She knew. For the first time since the accident, she wanted to take something for herself without considering the cost. Dan was leaving. She'd never have another opportunity to live her midnight fantasy with the only man to invade her dreams, the only man to fill the emptiness in her life.

  "I know how to get untangled," she said, "but you'll have to be really still so we don't snag my sweater."

  "Oh." He sounded disappointed her concern was for her apparel. "I—"

  Her heart in her throat, she cut him off. "You have to be quiet, too." An unfamiliar playfulness struggled to escape her control. "I need to listen for tearing material."

  "Oh," he said again. Yet, this time, he didn't sound disappointed. His voice deepened to a husky rasp. "You need me to stay still and not mo...make noise."

  "Those are the rules." Dragging her lips along the heavily beating artery at the side of his neck, she slipped one hand between them to hold the sweater in place.

  Her fingertips on her free hand tucked into Dan's waistband, her mouth slipped lower. Her body wriggled lower. The sweater skimmed higher. Dan stopped breathing, his stomach clenched against her knuckles. She made progress, until the sweater was half off and her sensitized skin met the rough material of his jeans and his rock solid length. Her moan of appreciation was laced with frustration, with impatience.

  "I thought we weren't making noise."

  She looked into Dan's laughing green eyes and saw the strength of his kindling desire. "You're not allowed to make noise. This is my game, my rules."

  He chuckled. "Yeah, but this is usually a game for two and I thought—"

  Whatever he thought was lost because she pressed her lips against his taut belly before slipping out of the sweater. Straddling his hips, she stared down at him, her bravado fleeing in the face of his expression.

  His gaze swept the plain cotton crop top she'd worn in lieu of a bra. "Everything I've learned about the lingerie business these past few weeks," he murmured, "just flew out the window. You're the only woman I know who can make a plain piece of cotton look sexier than our sheerest peignoir."

  She forgot the game she was playing. Forgot everything but the heat crawling under her skin. Her nipples pushed against the ivory material. "It's nothing special." Her hands covered her aching breasts. "I can take it off."

  "No! Let me." Dan circled her wrists and held them behind her back with one hand. Brushing his palm over one nipple, then the other, he watched them peak. His hand on her lower spine, he pressed her down so he could suck one into his mouth, dampening the material.

  Tess gasped, arched her back, excitement skimming down her body. "I want...I need—"

  "What, honey?"

  "I need to get this off! I want to feel you." Escaping his grasp, she yanked off the top and settled her breasts into the soft hair on his chest.

  A tortured sound ripped from Dan's throat.

  Tess was shaken to suddenly find herself pinned on her back looking into the consuming gaze that had haunted her dreams for weeks. "Sweet mercy. I knew it would be like this with you."

  "You mean quick and dirty on your living room floor?" He smiled dryly. "This isn't the way I dreamed it would happen."

  She trailed a finger along one of the charming indentations that framed his mouth. "What was your dream?"

  "Which one?" He nibbled on the end of her finger.

  Fire raced up her arm. "There's more than one?"

  "Dozens." Dan's mouth chased the fire up her arm, over her shoulder, between her breasts to the tender skin below her ribs.

  "Can you tell me—" Her concentration shattered when he slipped lower.

  "There's one," he said, his breath cool against her feverish skin, "with you and a twenty foot waterfall on a deserted island."

  Where did all the air go? "I...I don't suppose a shower is the same thing."

  "No." His lips curved on her stomach. His tongue darted into her belly button and then out again, setting off a strong tremor that ended deep inside her womb. "But it's probably close enough."

  Barely able to think, Tess waved a hand in the direction of her bathroom. "It's that way."

  The passion in his tumultuous gaze scattered her senses every which way. "Are you sure?"

  There was a certain safety in knowing their expectations were limited to this night. "I'm sure," she breathed. Weaving her fingers through his hair, she tugged his head closer and kissed him with all the pent-up emotion she'd been stifling for weeks.

  She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  The thought barely registered on Dan's subconscious before he tossed it aside and immersed himself in the exquisite pleasure of exploring Tess's mouth. With the tip of his tongue, he possessively traced her lips, and then dipped inside to capture her spicy taste.

  His hands unsteady, he threaded them through her tumbled hair, anchoring her to him. Their tongues mated in a rhythm reminiscent of the way he wanted to love her. Sensations chased through his body and surged heavily to his groin.

  He lifted his head in a vain attempt to slow down. "Tess, honey. I want our first time to be perfect," he admitted, "but if we don't move now, we'll never make it out of the living room."

  Stroking his clenched jaw, Tess smiled. "It'll be perfect wherever you are."

  Her light touch steadied his resolve, yet started a different kind of burn inside him. Rolling off her, he took a minute to simply breathe, his pulse crashing through his chest like a spinning car through a guardrail. He'd never known how much he could want a woman.

  Not any woman. This woman.

  Still, he hesitated. What he did in the next few seconds would change everything between them. He’d sealed his departure in three months when he bought the fishing boat today. It was insane to start something he couldn’t finish. It wasn’t fair to Tess. “You deserve more.”

  She took his hand and drew it to her breast. "This is what I want. Please Dan, make love to me tonight."

  When he looked into her eyes and found his need and his desire reflected there, his hesitation slipped away. He stood quickly and pulled her with him through the apartment to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, he shucked off his clothes, and then turned to see Tess had done the same. All she wore was a soft smile and a pair of lace bikini panties.

  Catching her hand, he tugged her into the shower. The lace bikinis turned scandalously sheer under the stream of water, revealing the toffee-colored curls at the apex of her thighs. The pounding in his veins became a thundering dema
nd. "Damn, woman," he said hoarsely, "you're going to kill me."

  Tess ran both hands up his back. Her slick breasts crushed into his chest, her soft belly cradling his sex, she sighed. "But, I haven't done anything yet."

  She seduced him with a hot, wet kiss that wound sweetly through his body and centered painfully between his legs. Kissing a scorching path over his chin, down his taut neck, she placed her mouth over his nipple. Her tongue flicked the sensitive nub at the same time her hand found his hard length.

  "You feel so good." Her eyelids heavy with passion, she stepped back to watch what she was doing to him.

  Dan clenched his hands at his sides. He worked to curb his impulses, his instincts, but it was too late. With a muttered curse, he peeled Tess's panties down her long legs and tossed them around the shower curtain on top of his jeans, grabbing a condom from the wallet in his back pocket. Sheathing himself, he faced Tess. "I don't think I can—"

  Her fingertips against his lips silenced his concern. "Don't think."

  Hot water sluiced over their bodies like thousands of massaging fingers, his palms blazing a trail over Tess's curves. He cupped her full breasts, guided one rosy nipple to his mouth. He suckled until he thought he'd die if he didn't take her quickly. Stake his claim. Once, and for all. His hand trembled as it slipped down her body over the soft mound of her belly, her skin smooth, slick against his palm. With one stroke of his finger, then another, he tested Tess's desire.

  She leaned into his caresses, cried his name in a low moan of surrender, and his breath caught in his chest.

  Instincts screaming for complete possession, he closed the gap between them. For a moment, it was enough to hold her close. But when Tess rubbed sensuously against him, his need and desire and longing crashed over him and washed away his immobility. He lifted her, pressed her back against the wall, and thrust deeply into her incredible heat.

  She was so tight he froze, cursing his lack of finesse. "I'm sorry, honey. You aren't ready."

  Tess gasped when he moved to withdraw. "No! It's okay. It-It's been a long time." She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled his ear. “So long.”

  Dan gritted his teeth and forced himself to wait for her to adjust to the feel of him. He drew her unique scent into his lungs, inhaled her essence into every fiber of his being. Staring into her fathomless brown eyes, he was shocked to find the quiet peace he'd found only once before...on the road. He felt like he'd come home after a long absence.

  Tess began to move around him, her head thrown back on a moan. "Dan, please. Love me now!"

  Helpless to do anything else, he loved her until they both gasped, breathless and temporarily sated, the icy spray beating down, unheeded, on their overheated bodies. Then, he dried her off, carried her to her bedroom and loved her some more.

  ***

  When Tess awoke Sunday morning, it was after nine o'clock and she was tucked into Dan's side like she belonged there. Her hair had dried every which way against his chest and her skin tingled in several interesting places from a slight whisker burn, but she'd never felt more sated. Or more content.

  She was tempted to wake Dan. But somehow, between the third time he’d made love to her last night and this morning, her head had cleared enough to allow common sense to slink back in. She closed her eyes tightly...although nothing could hide what she'd done.

  Sweet mercy, what hadn't she done? In Dan's arms, she'd discovered another woman lived inside her. A woman without fear, without inhibition. With no thought but to find satisfaction and give it. Heat swept through her deliciously aching body, alongside embarrassment.

  Sadly, the one thing she didn't feel was regret. What was wrong with her?

  "So, how far into denial have we slipped?"

  Tess lifted her head to see Dan was awake and watching her. "I don't know about you, but I seldom slip." She shook her head. "No, I jump in. With both feet."

  "That's my girl." His smile was crooked. "You never do anything halfway."

  Her heart skipped at the thought of being 'his girl'. An impossible dream for an impossibly foolish woman. "This isn't funny, Dan." Frowning, she braced her hand on his warm chest, bent on escape.

  He followed her, pinned her to the bed with his body, his hands framing her face so she was forced to look up at him. "No, this isn't funny. It was inevitable, though, so denying what happened won't make it go away. We made love more than once. It’s a little late for regrets."

  "You don't understand. I'm upset because I'm not sorry!"

  He laughed. "That's clear as mud."

  Tess was horrified to find tears clogging her throat. She wiggled out from under Dan's comforting weight and scrambled off the bed. Feeling naked, literally and figuratively, she picked up a damp towel she remembered tearing off Dan and tossing to the floor last night.

  Surrounded by his masculine scent, she was unable to look him in the eye. "Dan," she started before she saw him sit up. Her eyelet coverlet gathered around his hips, a stark pool of snowy white against the darkness of his skin.

  Her heart knocking against her chest like a trapped sparrow, she tried again. "I don't regret what happened last night." It was one of the most beautiful experiences of her life, one she'd treasure when she was old and gray and alone. "But, we can't...do it, again."

  "You make it sound like we did something naughty, like sneaking a cookie from the kitchen without permission."

  Frustrated as much by her need to crawl back into the bed as her determination to stay out of it, she gnawed on her lower lip. "I already explained—"

  "I know. You're the mall manager. I'm a tenant." Dan smiled, obviously humoring her. "You know what, sweetheart? Despite what the media would like us to believe, most people manage to keep their sex lives separate from their careers. So, unless there's a company policy that forbids fraternizing with the enemy or you’re already done with me, I can't accept your argument."

  "There's no policy but… I...."

  She couldn’t finish, startled by the mental image of herself waving her white towel over her head in surrender. She never gave up on anything she really wanted. Did that mean she didn't really want to win this argument?

  Why not?

  The answer terrified her. She turned her back on Dan and stalked to her closet. Slamming through her clothes, she grabbed the first pants and blouse she could find, not caring if they matched. Then she dropped her towel and dressed.

  "Tess, what are you doing?" The amusement was back in Dan's voice.

  Digging a pair of shoes from the back of the closet, she slipped them on before looking at him. "I have to leave. Let yourself out when you're ready, and I'll—"

  It was then that she realized he'd come up behind her while her head was buried in the closet. He stood less than a foot away, and he was stark naked. Disturbingly naked. He repeated his question. "Tess, what are you doing?"

  Salivating like a love-starved nymphomaniac at a 'males only' convention. Tess looked away. "I'm getting dressed and going to brunch."

  "Without any underwear?"

  Her emotions, all mixed up in the first place, jumbled further. She was appalled when she burst into tears. Walking on weak legs to the bed, she sat down with a jerk. "No one will know." She sniffed.

  Dan sat down next to her. Almost as an afterthought, he pulled the sheet over his lap. "I'd know," he said huskily. "Then, we'd be right back where we started."

  Tess glanced at him. "I'm sorry. I guess I haven't—"

  "Made love to a man in a long time?"

  "I'm not used to—"

  "Waking up next to him?"

  "I usually—"

  "Avoid involvement," he paused to grin when she glared at him, "like the plague."

  She chuckled suddenly. He always did that, made her laugh and forget her problems. At least, for a while. "You're incorrigible."

  "That means 'loveable', right?"

  She was willing to change the definition in her dictionary. Dan's sense of the ridiculous was one of
the things she loved about him.

  Her breath hitched in her lungs. Sweet mercy. Is that what happened here last night? Had she made love with Dan because she was falling for him?

  No! Tess pushed the notion away before it could find firm ground. Last night was about sex. Nothing more. "I think the word you’re looking for is 'deluded'."

  Dan laughed. "Just checking."

  He caught her hand in his and threaded their fingers together. They sat quietly for several minutes before he spoke again. "So, do you want to tell me where you're going?"

  "I'm going to brunch at my parents' house in Pacifica." When he didn’t comment, she took a deep breath and made the second most irrational decision she'd ever made in her adult life. "Want to come with me?"

  She seemed to wait a long time for him to mull it over. "I'd like that, but I have a question first."

  Tess held her breath, afraid he'd ask why she'd practically thrown him out of the apartment one minute and invited him home to meet her family the next. She wasn't ready to analyze why she was behaving so strangely. "What's your question?"

  "Is this brunch 'formal' or 'underwear optional'?"

  Chapter Eight

  “Is this the one, honey?”

  Startled by the abrupt question, Tess dropped Irene Emory’s favorite vegetable peeler down the garbage disposal, right behind the apple she’d been paring for her mother’s fruit salad. She checked over her shoulder to make sure Dan hadn’t returned from her father’s small greenhouse in the backyard. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about, Mom.”

  Irene reached around her to dig the utensil and bruised apple out of the hole. “I prefer the fruit tossed in a bowl, Tessa Lynn, and you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve been here more than an hour, but you’re still flitting around like a nervous seagull with a kite string caught in his tail feathers.”

  Tess laughed at the childhood memory so she wouldn’t have to deal with her mother’s questions. The last thing she needed to know was that her daughter’s antsy behavior had begun the instant she opened her eyes this morning and found a real, live, naked shopkeeper in her bed!