by Jami Alden
He set his jaw and reminded himself to stay calm, stay focused, so he could have a reasonable conversation with Reggie and give her the apology she deserved. “That’s what I want to talk about. Do you want to have this conversation here, or can we go somewhere quieter?”
She stared at him for several seconds as Carrie and her new best friends looked on curiously. Finally, she slid off the stool and grabbed her purse. “Will you excuse me? My friend and I need to have a quick chat.”
Gabe took her arm carefully and steered her to the bank of elevators across the lobby. The second the doors shut she whirled on him. “You are unbelievable, you know that?” Dark eyes sparkling with anger and hurt, she poked him in the chest for emphasis. “You yell at me for a little harmless flirting, and then you have the nerve to invite that, that skank up to your room! You feed me this line about not getting personally involved with your clients, but I guess that doesn’t rule out banging a random woman on the road as long as I’m safely tucked in my room.”
“Reggie, first of all, I would never, as you put it, bang some random woman on the road when my first priority is your safety. I didn’t invite Katrina up to my room, she followed me.” He moved closer as he mounted his defense, until mere inches separated them. Reggie’s chin lifted, mutinous. Clearly, she didn’t believe a word.
Irritation danced on the edge of anger. One thing he wasn’t was a liar, and it infuriated him to no end that this woman in particular would think so. “At the risk of repeating myself, I take my job very seriously. And just as I don’t get involved with my clients, I don’t allow myself to get distracted by any other offers, regardless of how tempting.”
Reggie pointed her finger triumphantly. “Aha! So you at least admit you were tempted.”
“Not by Katrina—”
“You know what I think?” Her cheeks flushed with anger, eyes glaring daggers. “I think”—she poked him in the chest, hard—“that this whole hands off clients is a load of crap. I think it’s a convenient excuse because you don’t have the balls”—another sharp poke—“to tell me to my face that you’re not interested.”
That last poke did it. He’d spent the past several weeks in a state of semi to full arousal, trying to get the taste of her out of his mouth, her spicy, cinnamon bun scent out of his nostrils, and now she had the gall to accuse him of having no balls!
The last shred of sanity fled, overwhelmed by the scent of her, the heat emanating off her angry skin, the frustrated lust that had only multiplied after their wild coupling in New Orleans.
Grasping her ass in his hands, he jerked her hard against him. “I’ve got balls, all right, and right now they’re so blue they look like two smurfs on a sausage.” He met her shocked gaze and rubbed his painfully hard erection against the giving softness of her belly. “Feel that? Still think I’m not interested?” His breath came in hot pants as he bent down to capture her mouth in a rough, tongue-thrusting kiss. “Did it feel like I wasn’t interested in New Orleans, Reggie?” he growled against her cheek, biting into the plump flesh. “When I had my tongue buried in your pussy, when I fucked you deep and hard?”
Reggie moaned, rubbing against him as she fisted her hands in his hair and jerked his mouth to hers.
He sighed into her parted lips, making helpless sounds of need as his tongue sank into the sleek recesses of her mouth. He shoved her against the wall of the elevator car and feasted on her mouth as his fingers pressed into the voluptuous curves of her hips. Christ, this was insane, but he couldn’t fight it anymore. He was too turned on, too attracted to everything about her, to continue pushing her away.
A soft ding echoed in the elevator and a discreet “ahem” momentarily jolted Gabe out of his lust-filled haze. Lifting his head, he saw a middle-aged man standing in the open doorway of the elevator. With a sheepish grin, Gabe pushed away from Reggie, pulling her against him to hide the tented front of his trousers. It took an eternity to get to the eighteenth floor, but finally he had his door unlocked and Reggie in his room and in his arms.
Bracing her against the wall, he bent his knees so his aching cock lined up with the notch in her thighs, feeling the heat of her response as it radiated through the fabric of their clothing. As ravenous as he was for her, he wanted to take this slow, to savor every square inch of her creamy skin, linger over all the spots guaranteed to get her off like a rocket, and discover some new ones.
He wrapped one hand around her throat, stroking the tendons and the tender skin of her earlobe. He slid the other under the silky fabric of her blouse, flattening it against the hot skin of her belly, inching up until his fingers just brushed the underside of her breasts.
God, he couldn’t get enough of her mouth. Spicy and tasting faintly of vodka, her tongue rubbed against his. Her lips were full and succulent, like some exotic, delicious fruit he could feast on forever and never be sated.
She sucked on his tongue and he feared his cock would bust through his zipper. Her palm slid down the front of his pants and she grasped him, groaning in satisfaction as she measured the length and breadth of him.
Then, inexplicably, she was shoving against his shoulders. “No, stop,” she panted, tearing her mouth from his.
Gabe bent to stifle her protests with a kiss, but she turned her head away. He licked and nipped her earlobe instead.
“I can’t do this,” Reggie panted, ducking out from under his arm and putting a good five feet between them. Her lips were swollen and bruised from his mouth, the delicate skin around her mouth abraded from his beard. That, combined with the still dreamy look in her eye, gave her the look of a woman eagerly awaiting a good, long fuck.
So why was she stopping?
“You may be able to turn off your emotions like a faucet, but I can’t.” She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m not that tough, Gabe. When you sleep with me and then treat me like I’m barely an acquaintance, it hurts too much.”
Something cracked in his chest. He didn’t know what the hell was going on inside him, didn’t know what to tell her. But he knew he had to have her. He wanted her more than any woman he’d ever known, he liked everything about her, and the knowledge that he’d hurt her twisted in his gut. As logic tried to remind him of his last, disastrous relationship with a client, his gut told him to grab on to this woman and never let her go. Later, he might curse his foolishness, but right now he’d face any consequences just to get inside her again.
This had to be a dream. Gabe, the man who tried his damnedest to be a robot, was surely not tugging her blouse slowly but surely up her torso as he grinned his wickedly sexy grin. She grabbed his hands, stopping their progress north.
“Trust me, Reggie,” he whispered, so close she could feel the hot puff of his breath caressing her face.
She wanted to, God knew she wanted to. He kissed her then, gently, coaxing her mouth open, as though now that he knew her concerns, he was willing to take as long as he needed to convince her.
Not that it would take much effort. She sighed into his mouth, tracing his soft inner lips with the tip of her tongue, luxuriating in the delicious rasp of his beard against her fingertips. Her sex wept and throbbed inside her jeans. All he’d done was kiss her and already she was dripping.
He drew back, cupping her face in his big calloused hands. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, and kissed her so gently tears stung her closed eyelids.
She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about this time was different. This wasn’t the guy from Hawaii who wanted a simple night of great sex with no strings, nor was he the out-of-control sex maniac from last week. It was different, he was different.
Everything in his touch, his kiss, told her he knew exactly where he was, exactly who he was with, and exactly what he was doing. And that he had no desire to be anywhere else.
Tracing the sharp contours of his cheekbones, she opened to the luscious penetration of his tongue. “Are you sure?” she whispered between kisses. “I don’t want to wake up tomo
rrow and have you acting all cold and distant again like you don’t know me and there’s nothing between us.”
“Reggie,” he whispered, “shut up.” He pressed his forefinger against her lips.
She couldn’t resist. Closing her eyes, she sucked the digit inside her mouth, flicking the tip with her tongue. When he groaned she released it with a smile. Any lingering misgivings retreated in the face of white-hot need.
Electricity trickled down her spine as he unfastened the clip holding her hair up and threaded his fingers in the heavy strands. His hands slid to her waist, then back up, snagging her blouse along the way. This time she let him pull it up over her head.
Her own hands flicked open the buttons of his shirt and pushed it off his gorgeous broad shoulders. Really, the man should be an underwear model if he ever got tired of being a bodyguard. His torso was tanned golden bronze, highlighting his bulging pecs and the rippling muscles of his abs. Dark hair dusted his chest, converging in a silky trail that disappeared seductively below his waistband. Several scars nicked his torso, souvenirs of the dangerous life he’d led.
He tugged impatiently as the cuffs snagged on his wrists, then pulled her hard against him and made short work of her bra. “Mmm, I love the feel of you naked against me,” he whispered, rubbing his chest luxuriously against her breasts. His hands traced down her back, and he pressed his wet, open mouth to her bare shoulder. “Your skin is so unbelievably soft.”
The contrast of hot, smooth skin and the crisp abrasion of his chest hair sent sparks of sensation straight from her nipples to her groin. She was swollen and wet, chafing against the heavy fabric of her jeans.
Gabe scooped her up in his arms and walked the few steps to the bed, laying her back with a soft kiss to her belly. “I can’t wait to get inside you.”
She smiled.
He must have noticed, because he paused. “What?”
“Did you know that when you get turned on, your accent gets more pronounced?”
The heat in his dark gaze sent shivers pulsing through her. He settled his knees on either side of her hips and toyed with the snap of her jeans. “Is that so?”
She wriggled beneath him and ran her hands along the smooth sides of his torso. “Yeah. When you get angry too.” She licked her lips with a sly, catlike smile. “Problem is, it always makes me think of sex. With you. So now I get turned on whenever you get mad too.”
He unfastened her jeans and slid his palm in the front of her panties. Arching her back, she moaned as his middle finger slid between her plump lips, flicking the sensitive bud of her clit. “That sounds kinda kinky,” he said, exaggerating his drawl. “And here I took you for a nice girl.”
“Oh, I’ll be really nice if you keep doing that.”
His smile faded as he palmed her sex, dipping his middle finger into her slippery wetness. He leaned down and took her mouth in a hungry, thrusting kiss, then abruptly levered off her. Grabbing each leg in turn, he pushed up her pant legs and stripped her of her boots and socks. He paused for a moment, contemplating one spike-heeled Jimmy Choo with a naughty half smile. “Someday, sweet thing, I want you to cook me dinner wearing just these.”
Reggie stretched luxuriantly, feeling the heat of his gaze on every naked inch of skin. “That doesn’t sound very sanitary.”
He cocked his head as though considering that for a moment. “I’ll let you wear a hairnet.”
Reggie giggled as he stripped her of jeans and panties, then lifted her up the bed, until she rested against the oversize down-filled pillows. Then he turned and walked to the bathroom.
She levered herself up on her elbows. “Where do you think you’re going?”
He glanced back over his shoulder. “Supply run.”
She grinned and eased back against the pillows. Rummaging noises came from the bathroom and he emerged moments later, triumphantly brandishing a handful of foil wrappers.
Her eyebrow cocked as she shot him a speculative gaze. “Now if you were so dead set on keeping your distance from me, what are you doing carrying condoms around?”
He smiled sheepishly, his cheeks blazing with telltale color. “I suppose the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And as my grandpa always said, you gotta be prepared to take the heat.” He placed the condoms on the bedside table.
Her eyebrows raised another notch when she counted a half dozen. “Feeling energetic?”
“Ohhh, you have no idea what you’re in for, sweet thing.”
He flipped open the tab of his slacks and Reggie licked her lips as every nerve stood up and sang in anticipation. The throbbing between her legs increased in pace as he stood over her, rippling muscles gleaming in the lamplight.
She couldn’t keep from staring at his big, long-fingered hands at his fly, at the huge, cylindrical shape of his cock fighting the confines of wool gabardine.
Her tongue swept her bottom lip again.
To her frustration, instead of taking off his pants, he stood there, unmoving. She looked up and met his laughing, lust-filled gaze. “Reggie, darlin’, you keep lookin’ at me like that and I’m not liable to last long.”
Sitting up, she pressed herself against him and pushed his hands out of the way. “I haven’t exactly demonstrated amazing staying power with you.” Unable to resist the temptation, she leaned forward and nipped the taut skin of his belly as she jerked his zipper down and shoved his pants and boxers down off his hips. Grasping his surging cock in her fist, Reggie traced her tongue along the rigid curves of his abdomen, eliciting a soft rumble from his chest.
With a teasing smile, she eased up on her knees and rubbed the engorged heart-shaped head against the silky skin of her breasts. A pearly drop of pre-come oozed out of the tip, and she drew his cock to trace around her nipple until the dark pink bud was shiny and wet.
“You are askin’ for all kinds of trouble,” he growled in his sexy Southern drawl. Her pussy fluttered and clenched as his hands covered her breasts, plumping and squeezing the soft flesh around the steely length of his cock.
He held himself still, quivering with the effort to hold back. She couldn’t resist the temptation and bent her head to swirl her tongue around the silky tip. “Baby, I don’t know if that is such a good idea.” He swore softly as she traced her tongue along the vein that ran down its side, stroking and kneading him in her fist as her other hand fingered and teased his balls.
Her lips closed once again over the thick head of his cock, her tongue swirling against the sensitive ridge of flesh on the underside. She slid her mouth down, taking as much of him as she could into her mouth, then released him millimeter by millimeter, tongue following in a teasing path. His hands twined in her hair, strong fingers kneaded at her scalp as they guided her with firm but gentle pressure to take him deeper, until she could feel him pressing against the back of her throat.
She moaned around him as one of his hands stole down to pinch her nipple, sending a shock of heat through her abdomen. She’d never been so turned on performing oral sex, but his soft groans of pleasure and whispered encouragement made her feel almost as though she were sharing his pleasure along with him.
She looked up to find him watching her and released him for a second, shooting him a naughty smile as her lips closed over him once again. Watched him watch her as her lips lovingly devoured his pulsing cock.
“You have the sexiest mouth I’ve ever seen,” he said through clenched teeth. Groaning, he reached for one of the condoms and pressed it into her hand. “Suit me up, darlin’.”
With shaky hands, Reggie ripped open the condom wrapper and tried to remember the tips from her freshman dorm safe-sex workshop, the only other time she’d put a condom on anything. Back then it had been a banana, not nearly so distracting—or impressive—as Gabe’s gorgeous erection. She couldn’t help it. She had to give him one more kiss. His breath hissed out on a soft curse as her lips closed over him, her tongue savoring his heady, salty taste.
Then she slowly, carefully, rolled the
condom down his oh-so-majestic length.
Breathing hard, Gabe flopped back against the pillows and pulled her on top of him. “You drive me absolutely fuckin’ crazy,” he rasped.
The thick hardness of his erection prodded the pliant flesh of her buttocks. Her knees fell wide over his hips, and she reached down to guide him into position. Bracing her hands against his chest, she savored the long, thick slide of him, toes curling as he sank as deep as he could go.
They moaned in unison as she began to move, leisurely strokes up and down that he met with a rocking counter-rhythm. He watched her through slitted eyes as his hands and fingers traced down her back, stroked and pinched her nipples, grazed her legs, teased the sensitive crack of her ass.
Reggie threw her head back, moaning as his fingers circled the plump bud of her clit. She ground against him, holding him deep inside her as her pussy pulsed and clenched around him. “Oh God, I’m coming already,” she whimpered, swallowing him as deep as she could. He leaned up and captured her nipple in his mouth, sucking hard, flicking with his tongue until the sensation of his fingers and tongue on her and his cock throbbing inside her became unbearable.
Gabe struggled to hold himself in check as Reggie shuddered and spasmed around him. Her brow furrowed and her gorgeous lips parted as she sobbed in orgasm. Spent, she sank down against his chest. He kissed her flushed face, tasting the salty tang of sweat. Her heart pounded so hard he felt it vibrating throughout his entire body. He arched helplessly as the last shudders of her climax stroked him, nearly sending him over the edge.
He rolled so he was on top, bracing his weight on his elbows as his hands cupped her face. Her dreamy, satisfied look threatened to send him into overdrive. Holding himself motionless inside her, he bent and tasted her mouth, savoring her as she drew his tongue into her mouth.
Of their own accord, his hips began a slow thrusting, rocking inside her hard and deep. Her cinnamon and sex scent intoxicated him as he curled his fingers in her hair. She seemed to imprint him everywhere. Skin on skin, mouth on mouth. And deep inside, where she held him so sweet and wet and tight.
