by Jill Shalvis
She was still in her black lacy bra and panties. And his tie…
No heels.
Her left ankle was propped on a pillow with an ice pack. Ah, yes. Her oh-so-sexy striptease.
Mark had taken care of her. While she processed this, he rolled off the bed. She stared at his bare chest and felt the urge to lick him from his Adam’s Apple to those perfect abs. And beyond too, down that faint silky happy trail to his—
“I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain, but you need to wrap it.” He nodded to a still plastic-wrapped Ace bandage next to the coffee on the nightstand. “Figured you’d want to shower first.”
Mouth dry, she nodded and very carefully sat up. He watched her as he reached for his shirt hanging off the back of her chair and shrugged into it. He tucked his shirt in, adjusting himself in the process before fastening his pants.
She swallowed hard at the intimate moment. “Thanks,” she said. “For bringing me home.”
He had a faint smile on his face as he studied her expression. “Anytime.”
“I’m sorry if I was…a handful.”
A small smile touched his lips. “Like I said. Anytime.”
With a deep breath, she got out of the bed. She figured he’d turn away and give her a moment of privacy, but he didn’t. He might not sleep with buzzed women, but he had no problem looking. He looked plenty as the sheet fell away.
“Pretty,” he said, and came close when she winced at the weight on her ankle. Lifting her up, he carried her into the bathroom.
“I think I can manage from here,” she said.
“Are you sure? I’m good in the shower.”
Since he was good at everything, that wasn’t a stretch. But she was definitely not at her best. “I’m sure.”
With a slow nod, he left her alone.
Stripping off her bra and panties, she limped to the shower, turned it on, then proceeded to smack her ankle getting in. “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. Dammit.”
And then suddenly Mark was back, whipping aside the shower curtain, expression concerned. “You okay?”
Was she? She had no idea. She was standing there, naked, wet. Naked. Lots of things were crowding for space in her brain, and oddly enough, not a one of them was embarrassment. “I’m instigating again,” she whispered, and tugged him into the shower, clothes and all.
Without missing a beat, as if crazy naked women dragged him into their showers every day, his arms banded around her. His hair, dark brown and silky and drenched, fell over his forehead and nearly into his equally dark eyes. He clearly hadn’t shaved and his jaw was rough with at least a day’s growth. His shirt was so wet as to be sheer, delineating every cut of every muscle on him. And there were a lot of muscles. He looked lethally gorgeous, and was lethally dangerous to her mental health as well, especially since all she could think about was ripping off his clothes to have her merry way with him. “Mark?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m naked.”
One big, warm hand slid down to her butt and squeezed. The urge to lift her legs around his waist was so shockingly strong, she had to fight to remain still. “I’m naked,” she said again. “And you’re not.”
“That could be fixed,” he said, volleying the ball into her court, leaving the decision entirely up to her. He waited with the latent, powerful patience of a predator who had its prey cornered.
“You turned me down last night,” she pointed out, smoothing a palm down his chest, taking in every well-defined muscle before sliding her hands under his shirt. “I’m not sure I could take a second rejection.”
“Are you still under the influence?”
“No. Was that your only barrier?”
His eyes were two fathomless pools of heat. “For now.”
“Then please,” she whispered, lending her hands to the cause, tugging up his shirt. “Please fix your not-naked status.”
With quick, smooth grace, he stripped out of his clothes, discarding them in a wet heap on the floor. God, he was so damn gorgeous. And that’s when she knew. Even though she’d made the rules to keep herself from drowning in him, she was in over her head and going down for the count.
* * *
MARK STOOD THERE with Rainey in his arms, the water running down them, the air steamy and foggy, unable to believe how good she felt against him. She was looking at his body, and getting off on it—a fact he greatly appreciated because he enjoyed looking at her, too. So much he was currently hard enough to pound nails. “Are you going to instigate again?”
“I’m thinking about it,” she said, water streaming over her in rivulets. “But for the record, this isn’t about liking each other.”
He traced the line of her spine down to her ass, slipping his fingers in between her legs, nearly detonating at the wet, creamy heat he found. “Because you don’t. Like me,” he clarified.
“Right.”
He ignored the odd pang at that, and tipping her face up to his, he kissed her, kissed her long and deep and wet, until she was clutching at him, making soft little whimpers for more, and he’d damn well lay money down that she liked him now. He had no business caring one way or the other, but suddenly he wanted her to. Very much. “We can work on the like thing,” he said. “We could start small.”
“Yes, well, there’s nothing small about you.”
Laughing softly, he went on a little tour, kissing his way down her throat, over her collarbone, to a breast. Her nipples were tight, already hard when he ran his tongue over a puckered tip. “How about this, Rainey? Do you like this?”
She let out a barely there moan but didn’t answer.
“Tell me.” Sucking her into his mouth, he teased and kissed, absorbing her sexy whimper, but when she still didn’t speak, he stopped and looked at her.
Her head was back, eyes closed, water streaming over her, so beautiful she took his breath.
Unhappy that he’d stopped, she lifted her head.
“Say it,” he said.
“I liked that,” she whispered.
“Good. How about this?” He gently clamped his teeth on her nipples and gave a light tug.
This ripped a throaty gasp from her and she tightened her fingers in his hair. “Mark—”
“Yes or no, Rainey?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, good, that’s real good. Now let’s see what else you like.”
“I don’t think—”
“No, we’re addressing the problem, as you so smartly suggested.” Dropping to his knees, he worked his way down her torso, kissing each rib, dipping his tongue into her belly button, making her squirm. “How about this,” he asked. “Do you like this?”
When she said nothing, he once again stopped.
“I liked that!” she gasped, her hips rocking helplessly. “Please, don’t stop.”
Gripping her hips, he held her still and moved lower, pressing his mouth to her belly, then lower still, hovering right over her mound.
Above him, she stopped breathing.
With a smile, he reached up and extricated one of her hands from his hair, placing it against the tile wall at her side so she’d be better balanced.
“Mark—”
“And this? Do you like when I do this, Rainey?” He kissed her thigh, her knee.
“Y-yes,” she whispered shakily. “I like that.”
He gently kissed that same spot again, running his palm up her belly to graze a breast. “I’m glad.” Carefully, he gripped her foot with the slightly swollen ankle and lifted it to the tub’s ledge, which opened her up to him and gave him a heart-stopping view.
“Mark—”
Unable to resist, he leaned in and kissed first one inner thigh, and then the other.
And then in between.
“Yes,” she gasped before he’d even asked, making him smile against her as his heart squeezed with a myriad of emotions so strong it shocked him. Affection, warmth, amusement and heat. There was so much heat, he could come from just listening to the sounds she ma
de. He kissed a slow trail over her center, lingering in the spots that made her cry out. She took her other hand out of his hair and slapped it against the opposite wall so that both hands were straight out, bracing her, and still he felt her legs quiver.
“Oh, God—” Apparently unable to say more, she broke off, panting for breath.
Loving the taste of her, he parted her with his fingers, using his tongue, his teeth, to take her even higher, then closed his mouth over her and sucked, slipping first one finger and then another into her.
“Mark!”
Yeah, she liked that. And he loved the sound of his name on her lips. He wanted more. He wanted it all, which he realized just as she came, panting and shuddering for him, whispering his name over and over as she did.
* * *
RAINEY WOULD HAVE surely fallen to the floor of the shower if Mark hadn’t caught her. She’d warned herself to hold back but that had proved difficult if not impossible. Still trembly and breathless, she found herself pressed between the cool hard tiles at her back and a hot, hard Mark at her front, the shower still pulsing hot water over them.
Before she could regroup, he cupped a breast, letting his thumb rub over her nipple as he slid a powerful thigh between hers, pressing in just enough to graze her heated, pulsing flesh, wrenching a moan from her.
“Rainey, look at me.”
Her eyes flew open and she blinked away the water. “I like that,” she heard herself murmur. Way to hold back… She leaned out of the shower and fumbled into her top vanity drawer for the sole condom she had there. A sample from somewhere. God bless samples.
His smile nearly made her come again. “Goal oriented,” he said. “I like that.” Dipping his dark, wet head, he pressed openmouthed kisses over her shoulder, nipping softly.
She slid her fingers into his hair and brought his head up, touching her tongue to his bottom lip, feeling the groan that rumbled from his chest to hers. Good. He was as gone as she was. It was her last thought as he took control of the kiss, cupping the back of her head in his big palm as his lower body ground into hers, sending shock waves of desire flooding through her.
She gasped when he pulled away, murmuring a protest at the loss of the contact, and then gasped again when he swiped everything off the wide tub edge at the opposite end from the shower head. Her shampoo, conditioner and face wash hit the shower floor, then before she could blink he sat and pulled her on his lap. His long, inky black lashes were stuck together with little droplets of water, his eyes lit with a staggering hunger as he spread her thighs over his, opening her to him. The very tip of him sank into her, stretching her, making her gasp.
He went still, his face strained, his entire body tense as he struggled to give her time to adjust. It took only a heartbeat for her to need more, and she rocked her hips against him to let him know.
“Slow down,” he rasped, voice rough. “I don’t want to hurt you—”
“More.”
With a low groan, he gave her another couple of inches and it was good, so good she sank all the way on him until he filled her up. The sensation was so incredible she cried out, but at the sound he went utterly still.
“Rainey, I’m sorry—”
“No, I like!”
He choked out a laugh at that, but she couldn’t put a sentence together. She couldn’t think past the deep quivering inside her that was spreading to every corner of her being. Instead, she rocked her hips again, mindless, trying to show him with her body how very okay she was.
Evidently he got the message because he began to move with her in slow, delicious thrusts, his big hands on her hips, controlling her movements.
He broke away from her mouth and locked his gaze with hers. His face was close, so close she saw something flicker in his eyes, something so intense it stole her breath. She couldn’t name the emotion, she only knew it matched what was going on inside her, and it was something new. “Mark, I need—”
“I know.”
And he gave it to her, slow and sure, his thumb gliding over the spot where they joined, teasing, stroking… He drove her to the very brink, then held her suspended there, mindless, beyond desperate for her release before he finally allowed it. She came hard, which he clearly liked because he immediately followed her over, her name on his lips.
A long moment passed, or maybe a year, before he stirred against her, brushing his mouth across hers. “Next time, we do that in your bed,” he murmured, still deep inside her.
Her body agreed with a shiver that made him drop his head to her shoulder and groan. They remained there, entwined, until the hot water suddenly gave way to cold, leaving Rainey gasping in shock and Mark laughing his ass off.
* * *
STILL GRINNING, MARK flicked off the water and eyed Rainey, who sat on the closed commode, chest still rising and falling as she tried to get her breath back.
He wasn’t having much luck either. It was crazy. He ran five miles a day and could keep up with his world-class athletes just about any day of the week, and yet being with her had knocked his socks off.
And rocked his axis.
Grabbing a towel, he wrapped her in it, smiling when she just stared up at him. He liked the soft sated stupor in her eyes.
She shook her head. “I’m turning into a sex addict.” She rose to her feet and gingerly put weight on her ankle. “At least now we know.”
“Know what?”
“That there’s some crazy chemical thing going on here. It happens, I guess.”
Yeah, it did happen. It happened a lot. But that wasn’t all that what was happening here, and he was smart enough to know it. So was she. “Rainey—”
She turned towards him and kissed him, hard. Deep. And deliciously hot and wet. But when he groaned and reached for her, she shoved free. “Sorry. My fault. You’ve got to put clothes on.” Pushing her wet hair from her face, she limped into her bedroom. With an impressive but frustrating talent, she managed to pull on clothes while keeping herself fully covered with the towel. “If I could stop kissing you, this wouldn’t happen,” she said. “When we kiss, I lose my inhibitions.”
“Yeah?” he asked, intrigued. “All of them?”
“No, not all of them. But most.”
A dare if he’d ever heard one. “Which ones don’t you lose?”
She snatched her purse off the dresser, the tips of her ears bright red. “You know what? We are not discussing this.”
“Can’t be up-against-the-door sex,” he said, enjoying teasing her. “Or shower sex. We’ve done both of those. Maybe you don’t like to do it from behind. Or I know, you have an aversion to dirty talk. Are there dirty talk parameters we should discuss?”
“You made me dirty talk while we were having sex,” she reminded him.
“You didn’t use any dirty words. Maybe you have some words that are okay, some that aren’t. For instance, my penis. Would you want me to call it a dick, or a cock? Or how about your sweet spot? There are lots of names for that, like p—”
“Seriously?” She planted her hands on her hips. “Out of all of our issues, this is the one you want to discuss?”
“It’s a good one.”
She shook her head. “I’m leaving.”
“This is your place.”
“Right. God, you drive me nuts.” She looked at her clock. “But I actually have to go to work.” She moved out of the bedroom to the front door.
In nothing but the towel around his hips, he followed her. “Rainey.”
“What?”
He maneuvered her to the door and kissed her. “Bye.”
With a moan, she yanked him back and kissed him, running her hands over him as if she couldn’t get enough before suddenly shoving him away. “Dammit, I said to put some clothes on!” She stormed out the front door, only to come to a skidding halt on her porch. “Crap!”
Her car wasn’t there.
She sighed and turned back to him. “I need a ride to work.”
When he smiled, she slappe
d her hands over her eyes. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“I’m adding smiling to the list. No smiling!”
“Why?” Pulling her back inside, he trapped her against the door. “Do my smiles make you lose your inhibitions too? All of them?”
“Maybe.”
“Okay, now you’re just teasing me.” He flicked his tongue over her earlobe and absorbed her soft moan.
“Argh!” Yanking free, she stormed back to the bedroom to grab his wet clothes, which she tossed into her dryer and turned it on. “You have to drive me to work. And you have to do it without making me want you. Got it?”
“I’ll try. But I’m pretty irresistible when I put my mind to it.”
9
MARK SPENT THE next three days wielding a hammer alongside his players at the construction sites during the day, practicing with the teen girls in the late afternoons, and handling Mammoth business at night. He also had dinner with his dad, who’d gotten wind of Mark’s interest in Rainey. Thanks, Rick. Ramon had told Mark that Rainey was a perfect fit for him, but they both knew what he really meant was she’d keep you with one foot in Santa Rey, where you belong.
Mark had his usual hundred balls in the air at all times, but in spite of doing the opposite of what his dad wanted, he couldn’t stop thinking about Rainey.
He’d tried calling and had gotten her voice mail—twice—and a new and entirely foreign feeling had come over him.
She was avoiding him.
Four days after the ballet, he walked into the rec center and ran smack into her. She looked up from her clipboard, an apology on her lips, which tightened at the sight of him. “You.”
Yeah. She’d been avoiding him. She was wearing cargo shorts that emphasized the toned, tanned legs he’d loved having wrapped around him, a UCSB T-shirt and her favorite accessory—her whistle. And suddenly he wanted to see her wearing that whistle in his bed.
Just the whistle.
“You’re early for practice,” she said.
