“Jesus.” He laid his forehead against hers, gratified that she was as out of breath as he was.
“We need to get out of here.” Nell nibbled along his jaw, nipped his ear.
Adrian fumbled with his wallet, but Nell laid a hand over his, shot him a wicked smile. “I think you may have a little trouble getting up right now.”
She got up, sauntered around the table, then standing so her body blocked the view, she leaned down and before he could stop her, slid her hand down his hard length again. He barely refrained from groaning out loud.
“My treat,” she said, laughing when he grabbed her hand and pulled her away. Before he could hand her his debit card, she’d sauntered away with a wink. He took some consolation in the fact that her hand had been shaking and her pupils dilated—her casual act aside, she was as turned on as he was.
By the time she got back, he’d recovered enough to grab her hand and lead her out the door.
“I was supposed to buy you the drinks,” he said, letting her lead the way back to the hotel.
“You can pay me back some other way.” Nell smiled, her thumb tracing circles against the pulse in his wrist.
“Please God, tell me this hotel is close.”
Thankfully, it was only two blocks away. Still, Adrian felt like a randy teenager—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so desperate. As soon as the elevator doors closed behind them, he wrapped his arms around Nell and fastened his mouth on hers. She was right there with him, hoisting herself up to wrap her legs around his waist. He shifted his weight to balance them and slid his hands down to cup her sweet ass, groaning. Nell moaned in his mouth as his erection pressed against her, and he bit down on her lip while rocking back and forth into her center. Her head fell back as she gasped, thrusting against him, and he kept rocking, leaning his head forward and kissing the bare skin exposed by the gap in her shirt.
“Oh, god, hurry,” she panted as the doors pinged open. She slid off him and led him halfway down the hall before taking out a key card and unlocking the door.
She hit the lights, and Adrian shoved the door closed, then pressed her up against it, holding her arms above her head as he continued to grind against her, and devour her with his mouth, her moans hot in his ear. Bracketing her wrists with one hand, he tugged hard on her shirt and buttons went flying. Black lace covered her small, firm breasts, and he used his teeth to pull down the fabric on first one, then the other, then fastened his mouth on her nipple.
“Adrian,” Nell breathed, arching against him. She pulled her hands free so she could yank his shirt over his head. Tossing it aside, she slid her hands up his chest, then down again to his jeans.
While she unzipped his jeans, he did the same to her, sliding them down those long legs. He licked his lips at the sight of the matching black lace triangle that barely covered her and looking up, he smiled when he saw Nell lick her lips as well, her gaze riveted on the hard length of his penis as it sprung free from his boxers. Her long fingers grazed lightly up and down the underside of his cock. He hissed out a breath and unsnapped her bra. He cupped the soft weight of her breasts in his hands, his thumbs slow and soft across her nipples, and Nell groaned. His penis jerked in her hands, and Adrian knew once he slid into her, he was done for.
He kept one thumb caressing her nipple, and fastened his mouth on the other, all the while running his free hand down her soft, hot skin as she writhed. Torturing himself, he pressed his cock against the lace of her underwear, murmuring her name when he found it already damp. Swearing softly, he wrenched her underwear off, slid a finger through the soft curls and found her slick with desire.
“You’re killing me,” he murmured, pulling his mouth off her breast to devour her with another hungry kiss.
“Now,” she panted, her hands grabbing his ass and pulling him closer to her. “For God’s sake. Now.”
Adrian curled his finger up, deeper, rewarded by her desperate moan. He bit her lip, then trailed kisses down her neck, used his teeth to gently scrape first one nipple, then the other. He sank to his knees, kissed the taut muscles along her stomach, and kept going lower.
“Adrian, please,” she begged.
He removed his finger, replaced it with an open mouthed kiss on her center while she gasped. He slid his tongue in, swirled, moaning against her at the tangy, salty taste. He needed to be inside her. Now. But he kept going, his desire to feel her shatter against him nearly as strong as his desire to bury himself deep inside her. He kept licking, biting, sucking, and her moans and gasps grew louder. Adrian cupped one hand on her firm butt, bringing her close against his mouth, and making a “v” with his other fingers, slid them across her sex while his tongue thrust inside her. Nell rocked her hips frantically against him, her hands fisting in his hair, and when he increased the pressure of his fingers and added a not so gentle bite to her soft folds, she cried out, her muscles contracting around him.
When she slumped against the door, limp from her orgasm, residual shudders still wracking her body, he stood up and scooped her up in his arms. Her eyes were glazed, but her arms draped around his neck, and he leaned down to kiss her deeply before laying her on the bed. He took a quick moment to grab his wallet out of his jeans and get a condom.
Nell propped her arms up to watch him, parted her legs when he came back and joined her on the bed. She took the condom from his hand and slid it over his penis. He captured her mouth again, pressing against her center while she rocked against him, urging him on. He kept kissing her, loving the feeling of her tongue against his, knowing she could taste herself on his mouth. When her breath began to quicken again, he moved his hand down to rub against her center. Before long she writhed against him, then grabbed his ass, wrapped her legs around him and pulled him inside her.
Adrian groaned long and loud as he slid in and out, and it was just as he’d fantasized in the bar—those long legs tight against him, her nipples rosy and hard, her head thrown back in ecstasy as her muscles milked him deeper and deeper. He thrust as far as he could go and she took him in, calling out his name, matching his pace as he grew frantic, fucking her harder and faster. She moaned again, long and low, her nails digging into his back as another orgasm hit her and the pulsing of her around him was all it took. Lost in his own release, he pounded into her again and again until finally, spent, he collapsed on top of her, panting. Nell kept her legs and arms around him, her breath heaving.
When he finally felt like he could move again, he lifted his head. She smiled, her dark eyes sleepy.
“That was so worth buying you all those drinks,” she mumbled, and he chuckled, rolling off her.
He used the bathroom to clean himself up, and when he came back, her eyes were nearly closed. Adrian slid into bed next to her, draped his arm around her. She rolled over, nestled her sexy butt against his penis, which stirred, ever hopeful. She laughed sleepily. Within moments, her breathing evened out into sleep. Adrian felt the fatigue from the long day dragging on him. His last conscious thought was that he definitely hadn’t expected to end the day fucking the perpetually-hot Nell Stewart—and he felt pretty damn good about it.
Chapter 3
Nell woke sprawled over the very sexy chest of Adrian Perez, one leg thrown over his. He lay flat on his back, seemingly dead to the world, his long lashes closed over those dark bedroom eyes, one very talented hand—as she now had reason to know—cupping her ass in his sleep.
With the quiet and stealth of a CIA agent on a mission, she extricated herself from his grasp, inch by inch, and still, he slept on. The alarm clock was on his side of the bed, and she gingerly craned over him to see it was just shy of 7 a.m. Silently, she padded across the room and closed the bathroom door behind her. She turned the shower on as hot as it would go, then stepped inside, twitching the curtain closed.
As clouds of steam rose around her, she let the water stream over her hair, her face, and just stood, shoulders slumped, fighting against the tears burning her eyes. Nell remembered e
very detail—oh, she’d tried to blur it all out with the gin and tonics, and maybe the bar had been spinning just the slightest around her, but the decision had been clear. There Adrian had sat, more than six feet of sexy as hell, hot blooded man, looking at her with appreciation, even lust. She’d flirted with him at first just to make herself feel better. Paul had rejected her, but damn if other men didn’t want her. Flirting with one of his best friends held a twisted appeal.
And then, when he touched her, the lightening bolt of lust shot through her, shocking her at first, then filling her with shame. Because just hours ago, she’d told Paul she loved him. That she wanted to be with him, only him. Now here she was, turned on to her very toes by just one touch. Sure, Adrian was confident, smart, tall, muscular and dangerous—exactly the type of man she went for. But still. It wasn’t right. Was it?
Nell was always the first one to get on her soapbox and rail against the injustice that women who embraced their sexuality, who enjoyed playing around, who treated sex as casually as some men did, were called out as sluts, while there wasn’t even a word to describe men who did the same—they were just men being men. But last night, she felt ashamed, and then she felt angry that she was ashamed. After all, she wasn’t dating Paul. In fact, he’d been quite clear he wanted nothing to do with her.
She wanted to forget. And the best way to forget, that she knew, was hot sex.
Hoo boy, had that worked well, she recalled, sighing as she worked shampoo into her hair. The moment his lips fastened on hers, it was as if the rational part of her brain turned off. The drinks had fuzzed her mind just enough that she could give herself completely to his mouth, his hands, his tongue. God, that tongue. The orgasm that had slammed into her as he took her against the door nearly had her screaming.
Nell was very much afraid that it hadn’t been just the drinks that had bumped up the sex from scratch-my-itch to fuck-me-now-before-I-explode. Her breath caught, the water pelting against her suddenly sensitive breasts was enough to harden her nipples, and she felt herself grow wet at just the memory.
Not, she realized, the memory of kissing Paul for the first time.
She ran her hands over her face, trying to wash away the memories as well. What did it say about her that she was more turned on by a man she barely knew than the man she was in love with? The good, kind, wonderful man she’d known since childhood?
Maybe she just wasn’t wired for long-term after all. Maybe flings without strings would be all that ever rang her bell.
Feeling hollow at the thought, Nell stepped out of the shower, dried herself off, brushed her teeth. She fiddled around for a few minutes, before slipping on the hotel’s terry cloth robe that hung on the doorknob and squared her shoulders to face the music.
When she stepped out into the room, Adrian had opened one of the curtains so some light streamed into the room. Outside, early morning rain and clouds fogged the Seattle skyline. He sat on the bed, clad only in his boxers, his phone against his ear.
“Really?” he was saying as she walked in. He turned, gave her a quick smile. “Today? That’s great news. I’ll meet you at the hospital in a few hours.” Adrian finished the call.
“Your mom doing okay?” Nell asked, pulling the robe tighter around her.
“She had a restless night, but the doctor thinks she’ll be able to go home today,” he said
“That’s great news,” Nell said, then tried not to focus on the fact that he was nearly naked. On the bed, where he’d thrust into her over and over. She looked away before she could see any more of how the muscles rippled in his arms and six-pack in the clear morning light. She busied herself at her suitcase, then told herself to stop being an idiot. Forcing herself to smile, she turned and met his eyes. “Last night was great.”
He grinned. “Honey, it really was.”
Her smile came genuine now. Damn it, she liked the guy. “Thing is…”
Adrian held up a hand. “Let me stop you right there.” He stood up, and God, did every single inch of him have to be so hot? Could he put some damn clothes on? But no, he walked over to her, all cool and calm and mouth-watering, his eyes smiling down at her. “We both know what last night was. It was hot. Mind blowingly so. You wanted to forget your crappy day, whatever it was. And, I wanted to forget mine. That’s all.”
Nell let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t want it to be awkward between us. Lopez is a small place.”
“No awkwardness,” he assured her.
“Thanks.” She fiddled with her robe, and his eyes traveled down to the slit that revealed her leg. Amused, she waited for him to look back up at her, but when their eyes met and held, her amusement fled. Nell was achingly aware she was naked under the robe, held closed only by a loose knot. Just one tug on the belt, and he could slide his hands across her skin. Just one step closer, and he could take her mouth. And while minutes ago she’d been agonizing over the consequences of last night, as the silence between them grew, she felt her skin heating and wondered if she’d be able to resist if he touched her.
His phone chirped with an incoming text, and Nell let out a breath, took a discreet step back. Adrian’s lips curved in a small smile.
“It’ll probably be less awkward when we have more clothes on.”
“Right.” She forced out a laugh, then gestured to the bathroom. “I’m done with the shower.”
The thought of Adrian in the shower, water streaming down that hard, muscular body, made her shiver, and she knew she needed to get the hell out of there before she did something monumentally stupid. Again.
“I’ve got to head home. So, text me if you need a ride back in a few days.” It took all the acting skill she had, but she mustered up a sly look at him under her lashes. “I’d give you a goodbye kiss, but I know you won’t be able to resist me.”
He grinned. “Let me just say…you were amazing. Fly safe, Nell.”
Thankfully, he left her to get dressed, which she did at warp speed. Bag packed, she took a last look at the empty bed, then slipped out of the room to make the flight of shame home.
***
“YOU get a mimosa, and YOU get a mimosa, and I get a mimosa!” Brooke sang out, sliding a glass in front of Nell. Without fail, hearing the slim, ethereal Brooke bellow out her best Oprah imitation always made Nell laugh, and some of the tension of the past few days seeped out of her shoulders.
“Greasy hash coming up.” Her mom followed Brooke out to their little backyard patio where Nell finished setting out the silverware and plates. Jan arched an eyebrow at Nell. “For the hungover amongst us.”
“Bite your tongue,” Nell retorted. “I never get hungover.”
Her mother just looked at her.
“Yes, I had a few drinks last night,” she admitted, blocking out the memory of Adrian’s hot kiss in the bar. “Not hungover, though.”
Brooke patted her hand. “Girl, you can hold your liquor. Guests like you are why we can’t have an open bar at the wedding.”
Nell pretended to check the time on her phone. “Oh, look, you made it 20 whole minutes before you brought up the wedding.”
Jan laughed when Brooke pouted, leaned over to give her a quick kiss. “It’s my fault. I sent us down this road.”
And who would have thought it, Nell mused as she ate, absently pushing away their chocolate lab, Bob, when he nosed up against her, looking for a handout. Her dirt-under-her-nails gardener mother, who “dressed up” by putting on her one and only pair of dark wash jeans that didn’t have grass stains on the knees, had nixed Brooke’s original idea of a backyard wedding, and instead pushed for the whole works at the posh resort on Orcas Island.
“I want it to be a big deal. A public deal,” she had said when Nell asked her. They’d been pulling weeds together in Ryan and Zane’s garden, part of her rent payment for living in their guest house. Jan lifted her chin. “After all, we’re blazing trails here. We should be proud. I am proud.”
And, Nell’s eyes had stung with rare tears, for sh
e knew exactly what her mom meant. The one traditional element they wouldn’t be including was making family sit on one side or the other, because if they did, Jan’s family side would include only Nell, since her parents and brother had disowned her when she came out more than ten years ago.
Nell had leaned over and wrapped her arms around her mom, dirt and all. “I’m proud of you, Mom.”
It made all the wedding talk, with the endless decisions and worries, worth it, Nell reminded herself as her mom and Brooke fell into, once again, debating whether they should have dinner served family style or plated. And, they looked pretty cute as they argued, her mom with her worn flannel shirt, no make up, short black hair streaked with gray, and Brooke, her graying blond hair wavy to her shoulders, makeup done in light pastels, bundled up in a cable knit sweater she’d knitted herself. Nell finished up her brunch—which had tasted amazing and taken the edge off, not that she’d ever give up her “I never get hungover” badge of honor.
Jan removed Nell’s empty mimosa glass and replaced it with a steaming cup of coffee. She gestured towards Nell’s plate.
“Done?”
“Delicious,” Nell said, sipping the coffee.
“Good.” Brooke scooted closer, laid her hand over Nell’s. “Time’s up. Tell us what’s wrong, sweetie.”
Shit. Nell sighed and avoided their eyes, instead reaching over for Bob’s ball and winging it out into the yard. He bulleted off the patio like a rocket, delighted someone was finally paying attention to him. While the cottage was modestly sized with only two bedrooms, the backyard covered a quarter of an acre, plenty of space for chickens and an extensive vegetable and herb garden. Bob, well trained, kept to the paths rather than trampling over the new plants and ferreted out the ball from amongst the early spring spears of iris poking through the dirt.
Love in the Air: Lopez Island Series #2 Page 3
