Turn Me On

by Faye Avalon

Baby, you have no idea.

  Shit. What was he? Sixteen? Couldn’t he keep his mind off his throbbing cock for two damn seconds?

  “How do you want to play it?” She turned to look at him and for a moment he was distracted by the pleasure sparkling in her hazel eyes. “Would you give us a heads up when you want photos, or do you want us to come on a regular basis, say once a week?”

  Once a fucking week wouldn’t do it. He’d want her to come every damn time he—

  “Reed?”

  “Regular basis,” he managed, giving himself a mental shake as he reached for a fortifying swig of caffeine.

  There was no damn way he was going to be able to wait for her. What if she never gave in to him? What if she really didn’t mix business with hot, rampant pleasure?

  Well, he just might have a plan to ensure that didn’t happen.

  But first things first. There were things he needed to know. Questions he wanted answered.

  “Tell me about your business,” he said as casually as he could manage. “Why did you lose it?”

  Her chin came up and her eyes grew serious. “One of those things. Lesson learned. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “You took your eye off the ball?”

  She put her notebook on her lap and reached for her coffee. “Something like that.”

  After taking a sip, she carefully put down her mug and caught her lower lip between her teeth. For a moment he took his eye off the ball.

  “I was an idiot,” she said at length. “Trusted someone it turns out I shouldn’t have trusted.”

  “Happens to us all.” He felt the need to reach out to her, to rub his hands over those stiff shoulders. “What’s your timescale? Plan?”

  She turned to him. “Now I know how you want us to work, I can run it past Tom and—

  “I’m not talking about the development.”

  Those hazel eyes turned wary.

  “What’s your timescale?” he repeated. “For setting up in business again. Can’t imagine you intend working for someone else indefinitely.”

  Again her chin tilted upward. Why the hell did he find that a turn on? “I don’t currently have a timescale or a plan.”

  He shook his head, but softened it with a smile. “First rule of business. Have a plan and a timescale within which to accomplish it.”

  She frowned a little and he knew it wasn’t the first time she’d thought that through. Her teeth worried her bottom lip again.

  Shit.

  “How much do you need as a start up?”

  Her frowned deepened. “I’m not sure that’s your business.”

  He ignored that. For some reason he wanted it to be his business. “Tell me what you have now, how much you can afford to borrow, and I’ll work you out a game plan.”

  “I—”

  “Unless you’re not that serious. In which case the way you’re going about things now is perfectly fine.”

  “I am serious.” She shifted toward him and he knew he’d played it just right. But then she hesitated, sighed. “It’s not exactly the right time for me to think about starting again. I’ve reconciled to the reality of having to put off my plans for a while.”

  “It’s never a good idea to put plans on hold. They have a tendency to fade into oblivion.”

  She shrugged those tight shoulders. “It’s just the way it is.”

  He stretched his arm along the sofa behind her. The urge to touch her was almost overwhelming, but seeing as he was intrigued by the air of resignation about her, he resisted. “Why don’t you spill? Maybe I can steer you in a direction you haven’t yet thought about.”

  Again she shrugged, then dropped back against the sofa inches from his arm. Her hair tickled his hand. All that soft silk. He imagined how it would look fanned out across his pillow.

  “I had a partner,” she said at length, looking down at her joined hands resting on the ubiquitous notebook. “We met almost eight years ago when we both worked part-time at a restaurant. She was doing business studies and I was at art school studying photography. When we both qualified, we worked for other people but both really wanted to set up on our own. We had the idea to go into business together. We’d accumulated enough money to see us through the start up and we did okay for a couple of years.”

  She leaned forward and took a sip of coffee. “Then Debbie met this guy, really fell for him. Apparently, he had debts, money trouble. To cut a long story short, she embezzled funds from our company to save him from bankruptcy. It basically ruined us.”

  Reed hated the tremble in her voice, and the way her stiff shoulders slumped. “You couldn’t continue on your own? Get a loan to keep you afloat?”

  She shook her head. “We already had a bank loan.”

  Because she dropped her chin down to her chest and wouldn’t meet his eyes, his antenna picked up. “Secured by what?”

  She hesitated, only slightly, but he caught it. “Various things.” She looked at him then, or rather glared. “Whatever you’re thinking it won’t be anything I haven’t already thought myself.”

  “What sort of debt are we talking about?”

  He saw the barrier slip right back into place. “It’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.”

  “Are you? Dealing with it?”

  “Slow and steady. Now can we talk about the development?”

  “I’d rather we talked some more about this.” He let his fingers drift into her hair. “Let me help you.”

  “It’s not your problem.”

  “My advice is free. People have been willing to pay a great deal of money for it in the past.”

  She looked at him steadily, then she laughed. It pleased him more than he could imagine, seeing that troubled look disappear from her eyes. “You really do have an ego the size of Pluto.”

  He shrugged, smiling himself. “Pluto isn’t the largest of the planets.”

  She laughed again and her shoulders relaxed.

  Unable to resist any longer, he leaned forward and touched his mouth lightly to hers. She gave in to the kiss, her hand finding his thigh and setting his blood racing. Deliberately, he kept things slow and easy, allowing her to set the pace. His patience was rewarded when she shifted closer, her fingers digging delicately into his thigh.

  Teasing his tongue between her lips, he found the warm recesses of her mouth. She tasted like nothing else he’d known. Tart and sweet.

  He had to have her. And while he knew she’d retreat, push him away, he let his own hand find her knee. He left it there, testing her reaction as he deepened the kiss.

  When she parted her legs a fraction, he took it as an invitation for him to continue. Never one to let an opportunity pass him by, Reed dipped his fingers along the inside of her knee and ran his hand slowly up her inner thigh. Just a few inches. Again, testing her reaction.

  Her response was to raise her hand to his face and intensify the kiss. He groaned and the little mewling sound she gave snapped the last of his defenses.

  Drawn to the heated honey of her pussy, he slipped his hand further along her inner thigh. She opened her legs a paltry inch. Lack of room, and his unwillingness to push her too hard, meant he was only able to brush his fingertip along the silky panel covering her slit.

  His cock pulsed, seeking freedom and satisfaction, but still he wouldn’t push. Not yet. Not until he knew she was with him all the way and would be too far along to back out.

  As if in response to his thoughts, she moved her hips and opened her legs wider, pushing herself into his hand.

  With deliberate intent, he held back. She went still and her forehead creased as she looked up at him. “You stopped.”

  “I need to know you’re on board with this. That it’s what you want.” His voice was so low, he barely recognized it. “You backed out before, and I get your reasons for doing that. I need to know you’re prepared to see it through and that you won’t regret it afterward.”

  She ran her finger along his lower lip. “I can’t pr
omise I won’t regret it, but it’s what I want. I can’t seem to help myself.”

  Music to his ears. He pulled her close to him again and took her mouth in a kiss filled with heady relief and hot expectation. He moved his hand between her thighs and palmed her through the damp panel of her panties. She groaned into his mouth as he kneaded her hot wet pussy, her head falling back against his arm as she shifted her hips again and widened her legs.

  He worked her, all that heat seeping through her panties and into his hand. She closed her eyes, her mouth opening as she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

  His cock strained. So badly he marveled it didn’t burst from his zipper.

  Releasing her, he slipped his arm under her knees and hoisted her up against him. “Bedroom,” he snapped when she looked at him in surprise. “I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll need to be lying down.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her through the sitting area, watching him with slumberous eyes full of wanton desire. “Maybe you’ll be the one who needs to be lying down.”

  He returned her sexy grin. “We’re about to find out.”

  In his bedroom, he lowered her to the floor near the mirrored wardrobe. There was enough light cast from the moon that he didn’t need, or want, to switch on the lamps.

  Lowering his mouth to hers, he wrapped his arms around her. The kiss was no longer slow and easy, but deep and erotic. Reed found it hard to snatch in enough breath, because she seemed to suck the air from him, devouring him with every breath she took. Fucking her would be the biggest ride of his life. He just knew it.

  Drawing away from her, he turned her around so her back was to his chest. As they faced the full length mirrored door, Reed clasped his hands at her waist. When she tried to cover his hands with hers, he drew them away and placed them at her sides.

  With his eyes on hers in the mirror, he began unbuttoning her blouse with agonizing slowness. His breath caught at the sight of her bra and the dusky nipples peeking through the white lace. He wanted to feast on those hard nubs, take each bud into his mouth and suck until she begged for more.

  But first he was the one who needed more. He needed to see her. Every inch. Then he’d feast on her, all of her, the whole damn night.

  Reaching between them, he slid down the zipper of her skirt until the material slipped to the floor. His gaze roamed over her, while she watched him almost warily in the mirror.

  She tensed a little as he released the catch of her bra. “Okay?” he asked, touching his lips to the side of her neck.

  She nodded.

  One by one, he slid the straps of her bra from her shoulders and took his time easing the material away. At the sight of her full round breasts his pulse hammered, keeping time with his eagerly throbbing cock.

  Cupping her breasts, he slid his thumb slowly across each nipple, until her head dropped back on his shoulder. In the mirror, she didn’t take her eyes from his for a second.

  He smiled to himself. Still wary, he thought. Still not sure of herself. Of him. He wanted to change that. He would change that.

  He continued to massage her generous breasts, feeling her nipples harden even more beneath the pressure of his thumbs. She swayed her hips a little, but he was certain she didn’t realize how the movement ground against his erection and caused him exquisite pain.

  Or maybe she did.

  The thought pleased him and he slid his hands down her ribcage, enjoying her sharp intake of breath as his fingers moved over her stomach. He let his fingertips dip just inside the lacy edge of her panties, sliding them along her trembling flesh until she gave that little mewling sound again.

  He reached for the sides of her panties and, meeting her eyes in the mirror, slowly drew them down until they fell to join the skirt pooled around her ankles. Apart from her low heeled sandals, she was naked, and he let his eyes devour her.

  She tried to turn and face him, but he held her in place. “Stay right there. I’ll want to see your ass, but right now I want your breasts, your sweet pussy.” He kissed her neck, still meeting her gaze in the mirror, and bit in gently. She gasped and closed her eyes.

  “Open them,” he snapped. “Watch me touch you.”

  When she did, he moved his hands over her stomach and felt her muscles jerk. With one arm around her waist he anchored her, then let his free hand glide toward the top of her mound. “A natural blonde,” he said as he flicked his fingers over her light covering of pubic hair. “Soft.” Another flick. “Silky.” And another. “How will you taste? Like your mouth? Tart? Sweet?”

  He touched the tip of his forefinger to her slit, and made her moan again. She pushed her hips back against him as she turned to look over her shoulder at him. “Please, Reed. More.”

  He pushed his finger deeper inside her, tugging her back against him when she tried to buck her hips. “You’ll have more when I see fit, princess,” he said as his lips brushed her ear. “Until then, you’ll take what I give you.”

  Her continued mewling pushed him over the edge. He pulled out his finger and spun her around to face him. Her face was flushed, her eyelids heavy, and she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.

  Her juices spread across his finger and he drew it to his mouth and tasted. “Oh yeah, tart and sweet. Perfect.”

  Her throat contracted as she swallowed, then her breath hitched as he lifted her into his arms again and carried her to the bed. Brusquely, he dumped her on the duvet. The time for pleasantries was long past. He felt almost out of control. Primitive. Primal.

  He shoved her legs apart and knelt between her knees. Reaching his hands underneath her ass, he hoisted up her hips. His heart hammered in his tight chest; his lungs squeezed with the effort of drawing breath. But damn it to hell, he had to have her.

  Lowering his head, he took her, pushing his tongue inside her tight pussy even as he released her ass so he could use his hands to open her slit.

  No finesse, he thought dazedly, just lust. Pure lust. Pure desire. He’d been reduced to one pulsing mass of need.

  Wanting to make her pay for that, he drove his tongue so deep inside her that she cried out. He used his thumb to find her clit, and began working her until she writhed on the bed, her hands flaying out as she searched for purchase.

  Her muscles contracted. She came. Hard and fast.

  While his heart continued to pound along with his cock, Reed withdrew his mouth. She looked at him through half closed lids, her breasts rising and falling as she grabbed for air.

  When her tongue slipped out to wet her bottom lip, Reed felt his cock jerk. He needed to be inside her. Now.

  He stood, watching her as he stripped off his clothes. All the while, her sultry gaze tracked his movements. She stretched sinuously and gave a little purring sound as he stood naked above her.

  Grabbing a condom from the drawer of his bedside cabinet, he sheathed himself, then moved onto the bed. He pushed up her knees again and knelt between her silky thighs.

  He shoved his hands beneath her ass, hoisted up her hips, and drove himself inside her. His cock, surrounded by all that pussy heat, pulsed and hammered into her. Fast, he thought dazedly. Too bloody fast. But he couldn’t stop the momentum as he pounded into her.

  She cried out, her hands grabbing his arms, her feet sliding against his hips as she was forced upwards with the power of his thrusts.

  Her feminine muscles gripped him, and when she moaned his name, he came so violently his whole body shuddered with a need he couldn’t control. He was a madman, he thought as he emptied himself. A fucking madman.

  He fought to gather his senses as he collapsed against her. Beneath him, Lissa lay trembling. Her eyes were closed, her breath coming in short uneven gasps. Shit. Hadn’t he planned to take things slow? Show her he was a reasonable man? Instead he’d pounded into her like there was no tomorrow.

  He only hoped he hadn’t ruined everything. That she’d still be open to his suggestion. His plan. He guessed there was only one way
to find out.

  Chapter Five

  For long moments, Lissa couldn’t move. Her lungs squeezed as she tried to grab much needed air, her heart pounded against her ribs. Reed lay on top of her, his own breathing as erratic and choppy as hers. She tried to focus, to bring her thoughts back into some semblance of order, but her body had other ideas and since Reed was still inside her, she couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything other than how amazing it had been, how amazing he had been.

  She’d never felt so thoroughly used, so deliciously wanton... In fact, the last time she’d come close to feeling this satiated, it had taken two men to do it.

  Hell.

  She drew in a much needed breath, but instead of calming her it pulled in the scent of Reed…and sex.

  It was hard to berate herself when what they’d shared made her feel so good. She didn’t want to question her sanity, or remind herself of the promise that she wouldn’t get involved with him.

  Her mental deliberations must have transferred to her muscles because Reed groaned into her neck. “Give me a minute. Right now I can’t move.”

  His words broke the spell, allowing reality to creep back in and along with it all her old fears and concerns. She dropped her arms away from where they’d been tight around his back.

  Not only had she thrown caution to the wind again in favor of fabulous sex, but she’d told him about her personal life, about her lack of business acumen. He probably thought her an incompetent idiot whose only credentials became apparent when she was on her back with her legs wide open.

  Since Reed still hadn’t moved and his breathing wasn’t yet under control, Lissa wondered if there wasn’t some truth in that. She knew she could satisfy men. Hadn’t Ethan and Marco told her she’d been the best fuck they’d had in a long time? Seeing as she was getting dressed at the time, as were they, it might simply have been that they were playing nice with her. Even so, she knew she wasn’t too shabby between the sheets. What did it say about her that sex was the only area in her life where she could feel confident in her abilities?

  Before she could ponder that depressing thought, Reed shifted. On another groan, he drew out of her and she felt his absence as cool air washed over her body. The heat of their passion now mingled with the chilly air and caused goose bumps to tremble along her flesh.