by Arianna Hart
She was reaching up to grab the bottles, which always seemed to be on the tallest shelf she could reach, when she felt hands reach around her and cup her breasts. She could smell Hunter, and her body shivered in awareness. His hands were kneading her breasts, and it felt decidedly wicked to be doing something so intimate in the storeroom with a hundred people just outside.
“Watching you all night is driving me crazy. I’ve been hard since this afternoon in the cellar,” Hunter growled in her ear before biting the delicate lobe.
Marley’s knees wobbled and she slid against the strong frame behind her. She could feel the evidence of his desire, and it made her feel powerful and hungry at the same time. Oh, yeah, he appealed to all her senses all right.
“I have to get back or Tiger is going to get buried,” Marley moaned, wanting to do nothing more than stay right where she was.
“I know, but I didn’t want to be the only one suffering.”
“Thanks for sharing,” she muttered dryly. She pulled away reluctantly and went back to the bar in a daze.
—
Hunter watched hungrily as Marley locked the door behind Tiger. He had waited patiently while they cleaned the bar, counted the cash, took care of all the hundreds of chores that were keeping him from her.
Every time he looked at her he could feel himself getting harder and harder. She was just so damned sexy it made him ache.
He knew it was going to be tonight, it had to be tonight. If he had to wait much longer he’d lose his mind. Hell, he was losing brain cells by the second due to lack of oxygen. All the blood that was supposed to go to his brain had traveled further south. He had made a trip to the drug store earlier today to pick up some protection; the little foil pack was burning a hole in his back pocket right now.
Hunter waited by the stairs; he didn’t want to give Marley any room to run. He wanted her to be as eager for him as he was for her, but if he had to do some convincing first so be it.
“Is that it? Are we done?” he asked as she walked towards him.
“That’s it,” Marley said a little nervously. She stopped a few feet away from where he was standing by the stairs.
“Good.” Hunter grabbed her arm and pulled her into the stairway. The waiting was over. Sliding one hand behind her head, Hunter tilted her face up to his and devoured her mouth. Those lips had been driving him crazy all night, and he just had to taste them.
She responded to his kiss with a ferocity that made him think she’d made the decision not to stop things this time. Hunter didn’t dare stop the momentum.
Too many times now he had gotten his hands on her only to have her pull away. Please God, let this time be different.
Sucking her lower lip between his teeth, he bit gently on it, then soothed it with his tongue. He used it to open her mouth and explore, dueling with hers.
Hunter pulled his hands out of her hair and ran them lightly down her sides. He brushed her breasts teasingly until he heard her groan in surrender.
Hunter’s brain ceased to function when Marley pulled his hand to her breast. His fingers actually shook as he pulled her shirt off and saw her in nothing but a black, lace bra.
“God, you’re beautiful,” Hunter growled as he bent down to lave her nipples at last, sucking them through the rough material. His hands were steady enough to undo the clasp of her bra, and he was rewarded by seeing the creamy mounds tumble free.
“Oh, Marley.” He held the heavy bundles in his hands almost reverently, kneading them and sucking her nipples into his mouth one at a time. The little gasps she was making were egging him on, urging him to touch her, taste, to never let her go.
Marley was running her hands through his hair, up and down his arms, over his chest. She even teased his nipples through his shirt as he sucked on hers. As her hands drifted down to rub his length through the denim of his jeans, he had to take some deep breaths to keep from coming right then and there.
“You’re playing with fire, you know,” Hunter told her as she pulled off his shirt and trailed kisses across his chest.
“I’m already burning,” she murmured as she reached for his belt.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
They fumbled with each other’s clothes, peeling them away. Hunter grabbed the foil package out of his pants while he still had the presence of mind to do so.
“Here, let me,” Marley whispered as she grabbed the packet. She held him in her hands first, running her hand up and down his length. Her other hand cradled his balls, tugging on them gently and sending him searching for some control.
“If you don’t put that on soon it’s not going to matter. I’m holding on by a thread here.”
Marley didn’t say anything, just ripped the package open with a smug grin. He was just going to have to do something about that grin.
After he was sheathed, he lightly cuffed her hands behind her back. If she kept running them over him he was done for. The coolness of the condom gave him back a little control, which he desperately needed when he got a good look at Marley’s black, lacey underwear.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Hunter used his teeth to pull the silken web over her hips. He could see her knees buckle when he exhaled on the trip down. It was his turn to grin now.
“Why don’t we go upstairs,” Marley whispered breathlessly.
“I’m not going to make it that far,” Hunter admitted as he ran his fingers over her swollen bud.
When he slid his finger inside her tight sheath and ran his thumb over the nub, she groaned and almost slid down the wall.
“Stay with me, I’m not done yet.” Hunter delicately licked her most sensitive spots. He had to clench his teeth to find that elusive control when she exploded almost immediately. Her inner muscles grabbed and squeezed his finger while she spasmed above him. He wanted to feel her spasming around him.
“We’ll go for style points later, but right now I just need to be inside you.” Hunter hoped her moan meant agreement because he couldn’t wait any longer.
Sliding his body along hers, he stood up and pulled her against him so that he could wrap her legs around his waist. He gently probed her entrance; it was a tight fit, and she whimpered a little as he pushed on.
“Shush, shush, just relax, we’ll take this slow and easy,” Hunter murmured against her forehead. Sweat was beading on his own forehead; he could feel it slipping down his back as well. His control was fading fast, he was so close to heaven, she was so hot, so wet, he didn’t know how much longer he could go slowly.
“I don’t want to take it slow and easy, but you’re just so big,” Marley murmured against him.
The slow pace worked to get him fully sheathed at last, and Hunter knew nothing had ever felt so good, so right in his life. Marley was squeezing him with her legs, urging him on. He needed no further encouragement.
“Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride.” Hunter grabbed her hips and braced her against the wall while he thrust into her. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, so he freed a hand and teased her sensitive nub again. When he felt her start to shake, heard her rapid breathing, he slammed harder. The pressure was building, growing inside of him. God, he’d never felt like this, like his whole universe was contained inside this delicious body next to his.
He vaguely heard the sound of something falling on the other side of the wall, but couldn’t have cared less what it was. The whole building could fall apart around his ears as long as he was inside Marley, he didn’t care.
Two more thrusts and Marley was screaming into his shoulder. That was all it took to pull him over the edge after her. His body exploded with the most amazing pleasure he could imagine, making him shudder with the enormity of it.
Hunter leaned against the wall, Marley’s legs slid bonelessly down his body, and she almost fell when they wouldn’t support her weight. Hunter smiled again. He felt better right now than when he had won his first race. In a way he had been in a race; one that he was glad he did
n’t win.
“Why don’t we go back to your place and go for endurance instead of speed this time?” Hunter asked, dotting kisses along her face and neck.
Marley’s eyes opened wide for a second, then she ducked under his arm, away from him. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it on quickly.
“I don’t think that is such a good idea. I have to be back down here in eight hours. If I spend all night in bed with you I won’t have any energy to get through another shift.” Marley wouldn’t look at him as she pulled her shorts back on and collected her discarded shoes and socks frantically.
“Hey, did I just miss something here? We just finished the most mind-blowing experience I’ve ever had, and now you’re giving me the brush off?”
“I’m not giving you the brush off, I just don’t think it’s a good idea if you spend the night in my bed. You must be tired, too, and it will be just as busy tomorrow night.” Marley was fiddling with her hair and clothes nervously. Her hands fluttered around her like butterflies, never staying in one place for long.
Hunter could have sworn her eyes help the panicky expression of a spooked thoroughbred.
“Trust me, I have more than enough energy.”
Hunter didn’t want to sound like he was begging to have another go around, but he couldn’t help but feel that she was pulling away from him.
“Listen, Hunter, it was great—fantastic, even—but having sex with you is not my only priority. I have a responsibility to the people who work here and who come here. I can’t spend all my time in bed with you until you leave in December.”
“So that’s what this is all about, the fact that I’m leaving?”
“No, it is about the fact that if I’m going to work effectively tomorrow night, actually tonight, then I need to get some sleep. Don’t make more of it than there is.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chapter Eight
Marley awoke sandy-eyed and grouchy. She didn’t have the energy to work out this morning, and she was sore, too. She forced herself to do it anyway. Just for one week, she wished she could eat whatever she wanted without having to exercise to keep it off her hips. While she climbed her way to nowhere on the stair machine she thought about what had happened the night before.
She didn’t regret making love—no, wait, it wasn’t love, it was lust. She didn’t regret what happened, it was the most exciting, most overwhelming experience of her life. It was just that she wished it had ended better.
Marley knew she had overreacted when Hunter suggested moving to her room, but the thought of him invading her personal space scared the living daylights out of her. That was so ridiculous. She had already shared her body with him, she shouldn’t be afraid to let him into her apartment.
But she was.
Making lov— having sex, she corrected herself, with him in the stairwell was different from waking up next to him in the morning. Her stomach quivered at the thought of waking up and seeing all of that tanned muscle next to her in her small bed. But that wasn’t the point.
She had to get herself together. She had never let a man spend the night in her apartment in her life. She wasn’t going to change her mind now. Hunter was going to leave in six months; she had told herself that she could keep from falling for him, and she would. It was going to be an understanding between two consenting adults with the knowledge that it was going to end before Christmas. If she let down her guard now, how would she feel later?
Heartbroken?
No! She wasn’t going to let her heart get caught up with a playboy racecar driver who only cared about his cars and his races. If she wasn’t careful, she’d just become one more girl on his circuit. She was not going to wait anxiously for him to come around whenever he got a free moment from the track. She certainly wasn’t going to give up her job, her home, her dreams just to follow him around the country until he got tired of her and left her alone and penniless.
How often had that happened to her mother?
Marley grimaced at both the memory and the pain in her legs and moved to the weight bench. Her mother would drop everything in a second for any man.
Marley had lost count of the number of times her mother would announce that Joe Loser was moving in with them until he got on his feet. She always thought that when he did get on his feet he would marry her out of thanks, if nothing else. It always ended the same way; he’d get on his feet and race out of the apartment, sometimes with their possessions as well as Vivian’s heart. Then Vivian would cry on Marley’s shoulder about how all men were pigs and didn’t know a good thing when it was right in front of them. Until the next one came around.
That wasn’t going to happen to Marley. She knew better than to trust any man. She could have her affair with Hunter, but it was going to be on her terms.
Her body quivered in mockery at thoughts of his head bent over her chest. She had never experienced a need so overpowering in her life. He could have taken her on the barroom floor and she would have let him.
And he knew it too.
Okay, pull yourself together. They had sex, great, mind-altering sex, but that was all it was. She had to keep her plan in place. It was perfectly fine to enjoy Hunter while he was here, but she wasn’t going to be nursing a broken heart when he picked up and left her.
But, boy, she wasn’t going to like it either. Her heart already had a catch in it just thinking about that, and he’d only been here a few days.
Marley was trying to tame her rowdy hormones when there was a knock at her door. Knowing it was Hunter, she paused. Should she answer it? Was he still mad? She didn’t want to fight, but since their apartments shared a wall, he knew she was up. She couldn’t exactly ignore it and hope he’d go away.
Before she could make up her mind what to do, Hunter walked into the room.
“How did you get in?” Marley almost dropped the weight she was holding.
“There was a spare key on the ring you gave me. I decided not to bother you if you were still sleeping. I just wanted to use the phone, my cell is in the car.”
“Oh, sure go ahead and use it.” Marley’s pulse had started doing the Cha Cha as soon as he walked in.
He must have just gotten out of the shower because he smelled like soap. He was wearing khaki shorts and a T-shirt that showed off all his muscles.
She felt like a sewer rat. She hadn’t showered yet; her hair was sticking to her in damp curls from the sweat pouring out of her body. She was wearing a sports bra and a pair of loose shorts, and her hair was piled on top of her head. She couldn’t believe he was still in the same room, and looking at her with a sparkle in his eye, no less.
Wasn’t he supposed to be mad about last night?
Why couldn’t he be like a normal man and show her the reactions she expected? He shouldn’t be looking at her like she was a life-sized chocolate bar, he should be bitching at her about the way she left him in a rush last night.
But he wasn’t. His hot eyes were roaming over her body with enough heat to make her nether lips swell and her nipples tighten.
All the thoughts and recriminations about keeping it light and on the surface flew out the window. One look at those twinkling blue eyes and her brain gave up the fight to stay rational. Her body shivered with remembered pleasure. Five minutes in the room with him and all common sense fled.
Hunter stretched his arms over his head, causing his muscles to bunch and ripple.
Common sense? Good riddance.
—
Hunter knew he should have left Marley alone after the way they had parted last night. He’d been royally pissed off, but after a shower, a cold one, he realized he couldn’t blame her for panicking. With her background, he’d have to remember to keep things slow and easy.
He was going to give her some space, but he couldn’t help himself from using his key to walk through her front door when he heard her up and around. When he saw her on her back on the weight bench, he thought fate might be smiling on him yet.
>
She wasn’t wearing a skimpy leotard, but other than that she met all the requirements of the fantasy he had playing in his mind since he saw the workout room.
“I hope you don’t mind, but you see, I have this little problem here. Maybe you could help?” Hunter pointed to the bulge in his shorts “Um, that isn’t exactly a little problem, Hunter.”
Hunter groaned as Marley licked her lips without taking her eyes off his shorts.
“Why don’t you let me shower, then we can deal with the ah, situation.”
“No, don’t get up. You see, I’ve had this little fantasy working for a few days—”
He crossed over to where she was sitting up, the weight still in her hand. He could see her nipples trying to thrust against the tight bra and had a positively wicked thought. He leaned over and kissed her before she could guess what he had in mind; she tasted of mint and hot lust. He couldn’t get enough of her. She sent more adrenaline through his system than watching the starting flag come down.
As soon as she moaned, he made his move. He pulled her bra up over her head and wrapped her hands in the stretchy material, using the weight to bind them. With her hands held gently behind her back, he had free access to her luscious breasts without her teasing hands pushing him over the edge.
“Hunter, help me, the bra is stuck, I can’t get my hands free,” Marley said between gasps of pleasure.
“I know. Just let go and enjoy it. When I’m done I’ll let you take over, deal?”
“Deal!” Marley gasped out as his teeth teased her engorged nipple.
Hunter smiled at her reaction. She was slick with sweat, she smelled musky and earthy, and it turned him on more than he thought possible. He quickly stripped her of her shorts and then got rid of his own.
His erection was thrusting straight up and ready for her, but he pulled his control from some dark corner of his mind.
“I’ve wanted to do this for days,” Hunter growled out as he trailed his tongue between her breasts to lave her navel. He spread her legs so they were on either side of the weight bench, then pulled her hips to the edge of the bench so he could have the best access possible.
