Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire

by Rebecca M. Avery

  Mia took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut. Wouldn’t help to think about that. One step at a time.

  “We can stop anytime. I mean it. If you’re uncomfortable, you just tell me, okay?”

  It was sweet. Really sweet. But it wasn’t necessary. She’d waited twenty-six years to do this. It wasn’t like she was some teenage girl being talked into it by her hormone-crazed boyfriend. “I’m nervous, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. Nerves and not sure are two separate things. I’m sure.”

  He smiled, cupped her chin and rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip. There was something affectionate about the gesture, something that wasn’t just about sex. That was nice. Oh, scary as hell, but nice.

  “Um, do you have a condom?” Look at her sounding all adult and normal. Of course, she’d practiced the line about eight million times.

  He nodded.

  “Okay. Good. That’s good. I mean—” He cut off her babbling with a kiss. Thank God for that.

  His hands slid into her underwear, cupping her butt and pulling her against him. She could feel the hard length of him through the cotton of his boxers. She tried to keep her imagination from galloping ahead because then she would lose all the good parts of this moment.

  Like him slowly pushing her panties farther and farther down until she was completely naked. He caressed her inner thigh, inching up as his mouth explored her neck and everything inside her vibrated with nerves and desperate excitement.

  When his fingertips brushed her sex she almost jumped. His finger stroked her, and the butterflies in her stomach slowed, overrun by a warm cascade of need.

  “D-Dell.”

  “Want me to stop?”

  “Not on your life.”

  His smiling mouth hovered just an inch from hers and he kept his eyes steady on her face as he slid his finger inside. The only sound that came out of her mouth was a kind of squeaky sigh. He kissed her, soft and languid, and it matched the slow rhythm of his caress.

  He was so close to bringing her to the brink, some of her hesitation and worry evaporated enough that she grew bolder. She moved against him, letting her own hands explore him. Ridges and dips, soft skin and coarse hair.

  His mouth grew more demanding on hers and she whimpered against it, so close to orgasm she couldn’t even think about being nervous as her hand dipped into his boxers.

  She closed her hand around him. Hard, hot to the touch, and when she stroked him, he groaned. That was just as exciting as what he was doing to her—knowing she was giving pleasure to him, too.

  It wasn’t all that different than bringing herself to orgasm, except it had been Dell’s hand inside her and his mouth on her and him in her hands and that somehow made everything way more fantastic.

  Yeah, way better than taking care of herself.

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah.” It came out breathless and not totally confident, but she was. Confident she wanted to do this with him. Now.

  Mia watched as he rolled the condom on. She pressed her legs together, completely excited and also a little bit freaked.

  He moved on top of her again and rested himself between her legs, but didn’t get right to it. Instead he touched her, gently stroking. When he entered her, it was with his finger. She hitched in a breath as he rubbed her closer and closer to climax again.

  When she was close, the thick tip of his penis replaced his finger. Mia bit her lip, ordered herself to relax as he entered her slowly. He continued to touch her, even as he inched deeper inside. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable feeling. Not quite painful, but not really all that enjoyable, either.

  His thumb brushed her. Oh, well, that felt good. Really good. She sighed against his neck, holding on. His strokes were slow, each one easier than the last. He said her name in a hushed whisper that made her heart turn to absolute jelly.

  It was strange. Both physical and emotional. Both perfect and uncomfortable. She wondered if she was doing it right, if it was okay, but then his thumb found the exact right spot and she was able to forget about nerves and concentrate on arousal.

  His breathing quickened, and so did his hand moving against her. Mia closed her eyes, let the sensation of him bringing her to climax by hand wash over her until the orgasm built again, falling over the edge with an intensity different than she’d ever felt before.

  Dell pushed inside her one last time, teasing out those last jolts of pleasure, then stilled and kissed her jaw. He buried his head in her neck.

  Was he done? He had to be, right? And she wasn’t a virgin anymore! She had half a mind to get up and do a little dance.

  His hand smoothed up the curve of her hip, and his mouth nibbled kisses against her throat.

  Silly to think it was perfect, but it so was.

  He pulled up, resting his weight on his elbows, then chuckled. “You’re grinning.”

  “Of course I am. I just had sex. Finally. What else would I be doing?”

  He laughed, pulling out of her. It was such a strange sensation. Being filled and then not. He kissed her forehead. “Good point. Be right back.” He disappeared into the bathroom.

  Was she supposed to go? Weird, in all her prep, she hadn’t really thought about the after part. Crap. Mia searched the room, remembered her shirt had been discarded in the living room. So had his.

  She took a break from worrying to do a little booty shake. She sat up, holding the sheet up to her chest. Maybe she could just take it with her to the other room. Put on her skirt, which was somewhere at the end of the bed, grab her tights, shirt. Give him a kiss and say “see you later” like a mature adult woman.

  That’s what they did, right?

  “Going somewhere?”

  Mia practically jumped, one leg off the bed and one still on. “Oh, well, I just wasn’t sure what the protocol was in this kind of situation.” Probably didn’t include using words like protocol. She pulled her leg back onto the bed, feeling weirdly self-conscious. He’d already seen her naked. He had quite expertly taken her virginity. What was there to be self-conscious about?

  He frowned, studying her and she felt heat rush into her cheeks. How did he not look ridiculous standing next to the bed completely naked with a thoughtful frown? So not fair.

  “The protocol is you’re supposed to stay. If you want.” He said it with a nod, then returned to bed, his arm sliding under her neck in one fluid, easy movement.

  Her cheek was pressed to his arm and going home seemed silly. Why would she leave when he wanted her to stay and she wanted to stay? What was the point in safeguarding her heart when it had never been broken before?

  “That…sounds good.” She snuggled in, closed her eyes, and reminded herself to live in the moment rather than dwell on something that couldn’t be changed.

  Falling for Dell was as inevitable as things ending between them, but well, that was life. And she really liked living if it meant even a little more of this.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dell slammed a palm to his alarm clock without bothering to open his eyes. Why the hell was he so tired?

  Oh, right. He opened his eyes and found no sign of Mia in the dark shadows of his room. He frowned and scraped a hand over the few days’ worth of growth on his chin.

  Maybe it was for the best she was gone. No attempts at awkward morning-after conversation suited him just fine.

  So why did he feel…disappointed?

  Not something he wanted to think about. He got out of bed, found a T-shirt and pulled it on. He needed a drink of water, about five gallons of coffee and then he needed to get himself to work.

  His head was full of jumbled to-dos when he stepped into the kitchen. And there she was. The sun hadn’t come out yet, but there was the faint glow of dawn infiltrating the room from the sliding-glass door next to the counter. She stood in front of it in the dim swath of light.

  Why that made his chest constrict wasn’t something he wanted to think about, either.

  She turned to face him, offering a shy sm
ile. “I, um, needed a drink of water.” She held up the ancient blue glass, then pointed out the window. “Foggy.”

  He crossed to her, words failing him. What was he supposed to say? Good morning. How’d you sleep? Want to get naked again?

  Since the third was a little too tempting he didn’t say anything, just stood next to her taking in the misty gray clouds that covered the outside world. He couldn’t see the house over the hill or the fields or even the shed just a few yards away from the door. All he saw was the wood of the back porch that connected to his house, then mists of floating, eerie gray.

  “Kind of pretty,” she said in a soft voice.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of creepy.”

  She shook her head, drawing his attention back to her. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and though she’d put on her shirt and skirt from the night before, her legs and feet were bare.

  A few weeks ago popped into his head, when Charlie had called her cute and he’d basically agreed. She was cute, but she had a beauty about her, too. It probably made him a little bit of a tool that he hadn’t noticed it then.

  He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and when she turned her head, he kissed her, because, damn it, why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he kiss her and keep kissing her while he had the damn chance?

  She leaned into him and the kiss, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to blow off work so badly. He pulled back, because deepening the kiss would be too dangerous when he didn’t have the luxury of being dangerous.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled and Dell wanted nothing more than to take her back to bed and stay there all day long.

  Which unfortunately wasn’t an option. He had a hell of a lot of work to do, and she probably did, too.

  “Stick around for breakfast. At least until the fog lifts.” No sense in her risking her neck or her truck driving on foggy roads just because he had things to do. And if he enjoyed himself over some peanut butter toast, what was the harm?

  She glanced around his kitchen. Since the week had been a little hectic it was a little messier than he usually liked to let it get. Dirty dishes, soda and beer cans, a few crumpled paper towels.

  “Housekeeping may not be my strong suit.”

  She chuckled. “Lucky for you I lived in the same house as Anna for many years. She’s the dirtiest person on the face of the planet. I once found a bowl of old cereal under her sink in the bathroom. This is spotless compared to her.”

  “Thank you, Anna.” He rubbed his thumb across Mia’s bottom lip because he wasn’t quite ready to step away, to completely give up the fantasy of a day of just them. No dirt. No seeds. No farmer’s markets or families. Nothing but what they’d had last night in his bedroom.

  And that scared him enough that he moved away to make breakfast.

  “We still have to talk about the seed thing. If we’re really going to split, we need to get on that. I’d planned to get my order in by Wednesday.”

  Dell’s muscles stiffened as he slid two pieces of bread into the toaster. “Right.” She was right. They needed to talk about that.

  Damn, he really didn’t want to. Suck it up, Wainwright. “What do you want on your toast? I’ve got peanut butter, grape jelly, honey.”

  “Butter?”

  “You want just butter on your toast?”

  “I grew up on a dairy farm. I could eat butter plain. No toast needed.”

  Dell chuckled. “Fair enough. Juice?”

  “Sure.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. She took a seat at his little kitchen table. Kind of strange, but he’d never really had a woman over for breakfast. Some women had stayed the night, but he’d never sat at the table his grandfather had built, had once sat at every morning with his grandmother, and eaten anything.

  Well. There was a first time for everything. The toaster popped and he focused on slathering each piece. In silence he handed her a plate, then went about pouring them both orange juice.

  When he finally sat she was watching him. “You know, you don’t have to do the seed thing,” she said.

  He looked at his toast. “I know.”

  “Because I get the feeling you don’t want to. So, if you don’t want to—don’t.”

  “It’s a good idea. Solid business decision.” He bit into the toast. Those things were true. But it didn’t make him want to do it.

  Was it too much to want to be able to do this on his own? To have Dad and Charlie and everyone realize he was capable? Mia’s help threatened that, and as much as he needed it and as much as it was nice of her to offer, he didn’t want to be in the position to take it.

  But he was. So man up, dude. “How about we skip the seed talk for this morning? We can talk about it over dinner. We can meet at Moonrise. Be very business official.”

  She cocked her head like she was trying to work something out but didn’t quite have all the pieces. “Why isn’t this official?”

  Dell grinned, reached under the table until his hand found her knee and squeezed. “I’m a little distracted.”

  Though her cheeks went a little pink, she did manage a completely ineffective scowl.

  “All right. We’ll discuss it at Moonrise, but you need to bring your paperwork and we’re not leaving until we’ve come to agreement. No more evasions or excuses. Got it?”

  He grinned and slid his hand up to the hem of her skirt. “I bet I could talk you out of that.”

  She leaned forward with what he was going to call her farmer’s-market glare. It was no-nonsense and all about work. Which meant he probably shouldn’t find it such a turn-on.

  “I bet you can’t. And that is not some kind of perverted challenge, Dell. It’s just a fact. This has to be done. And quickly. You can save your distractions for another time.” She jerked her leg so his hand slid off.

  “Okay.” Dell took a bit of toast, chewed thoughtfully. “But, just to be clear, after business is settled, we can go back to those distractions.”

  She bit her lip, but her mouth curved upward, anyway. “I guess.”

  “And you’ll come home with me.”

  Her smile widened. “I guess.”

  “Oh, don’t guess, sugar. I’d say you better be sure.”

  She shook her head. “You’re impossible.” But she was smiling, and so was he.

  * * *

  Mia pulled the truck into the parking space in front of her apartment. Her cheeks hurt from smiling the whole way home, an inner chorus of not a virgin, not a virgin, woohoo not a virgin! looping through her mind.

  And okay, she might have sung it out loud to her own melody once or twice on the way home.

  The fog had lifted and sunrise turned the sky a blazing orange. She was a little behind schedule after breakfast with Dell, but she just had to run through the shower real quick and change. Hopefully she’d be in and out before Cara even woke up to realize she’d never come home.

  Mia hummed to herself as she practically skipped up the walk. Still grinning, she opened the door, then kind of froze when she saw Cara in the kitchen, frowning.

  “Morning,” Mia offered carefully, trying not to sound quite as cheerful as she felt. “Not like you to be up so early.”

  “I got called in to work the morning shift and I didn’t have any work clothes clean, so I had to get up to do my laundry.” Cara folded her arms across her chest. “And do you know why I had to get up early to do my laundry? Because my sister, who would normally be helpful and do it for me before she headed off to the farm, never came home last night. At all.”

  Mia tried very hard not to grin. Damn right she hadn’t come home last night. Go her. “Sorry.” Except she wasn’t. Not even a little bit.

  Cara clucked her tongue. “The walk of shame after the second date. I’m not sure whether to be impressed or concerned.”

  “Don’t be concerned.”

  Cara crossed over to her. “Okay. So…you’re okay?”

  “Of course I am.”


  “And Dell was okay? I mean, was he not a jerk, not how was he in the sack. Although…”

  “I have to get in the shower. Dell was great. I mean, nice, not…” She gave Cara a little shove when her sister dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Oh, grow up. I have to get in the shower.”

  Mia ran through the shower, arrived at the farm only fifteen minutes later than usual. Luckily Dad was with Garth loading up the milk, so he would be too busy to notice.

  Mia worked through the morning, still assessing hail damage, retilling, determining what seeds were lost as best she could. When she took a break for lunch, she sat on the porch with Anna sharing a bag of pretzels and eating out of packets of tuna.

  Mia took a forkful of tuna out of the packet. If she could cut lunch down to ten minutes, she could still get everything on her to-do list done and have time to go home, shower, get ready and be at Moonrise by six to meet Dell.

  Just the thought had butterflies flitting through her stomach. They weren’t the debilitating ones she was used to when it came to social situations—especially guy social situations. No, these were more like how she felt before the market. Nervous, yes, but excited. Ready to take on whatever challenges it offered.

  “So, Kenzie said she saw your truck at Dell’s last night.”

  Mia practically choked on the bite of tuna.

  Anna smiled sweetly. “And this morning.”

  She coughed a few times. “Oh. Well.” It was totally pathetic for an adult to ask, but she had to know. “You didn’t tell Mom and Dad, did you?”

  “Oh, was I not supposed to?”

  Mia was fairly sure her heart had stopped before Anna laughed.

  “Calm down. Of course I didn’t tell them. I’d be locked in my room for twenty years if Mom caught wind of it. They’ve given up on Cara, but you’re the last paragon of virtue I have as an example, apparently.” Anna laughed again. “Not such a paragon of virtue anymore, though.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Mia tossed the packet of tuna half uneaten. She couldn’t stomach it. “I have to get back to work.”

  “Just don’t get knocked up. I’ll be totally screwed.”

  “Jeez.” Well, she finally understood why some people didn’t want to live in a small town and work with their family. Absolutely zero privacy about anything, ever. That had never been a problem before.