by Niecey Roy
Craig nodded his head toward the door. “Around the corner to the left.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rach dug around in the side pocket of her purse for dark brown eyeliner to fix her makeup. Once she’d finished lining both eyes she gave herself a wink, looking more confident than she felt.
Leah said Craig’s ex was pretty. Blonde. She scrutinized her own hair and ran her fingers through wavy, windblown tangles. After straightening her blouse she stepped out of the bathroom and strolled to the kitchen, willing her heartbeat to return to normal.
Craig stood at the counter with his back toward her. She needed to leave. Pronto. His dark shirt splayed across the muscles of his back and she bit back a sigh. Maybe he’d been thrown into her life to test her willpower.
He turned, flashed the boyish grin she couldn’t resist. If this was torture it was the best torture she could ask for.
He pushed a glass of water across the table.
“Thanks.” Rach’s eyes followed his strong hands as he tidied the kitchen and rinsed the forks in the sink, all the while imagining those hands on her body.
“So what about your job hunt?” he asked as he wiped down the table. Rach wadded up the napkin, and fisted it into her lap under the table. This was as good a time as any to excuse herself from his apartment. Why couldn’t she get the words out?
“Not going so well. I applied at Dexler’s a couple weeks ago and thought I’d get the job easily, but a bitch from my past quashed that opportunity. Long story short, I’m still looking.” She sighed in frustration and dropped the wadded napkin onto the table. “I don’t know what to do. I have a degree, damn it! I’m not some teeny bopper just out of high school.”
She could have stomped on her own foot for spilling her woes, but she hadn’t had anyone to talk to about it since Leah was busy with Rick the Best Friend Stealer. The glare off the table from the light above them caught her eye, and she stared down at it, perturbed.
“It’s because you aren’t looking for the right job.”
He was right, but her temper flared anyway. “Oh really? I think I’m doing just fine.”
Not true, but her frustration had gotten the best of her. They both knew she wasn’t doing fine and his crossed arms and amused expression let her know she wasn’t fooling anyone. It irritated the hell out of her.
“Okay, okay.” His surrender didn’t make her feel any better. Instead, it ignited her anger and for some reason she found herself insulting him.
“Leah told me your dealership is a family business. You walked right into it. I don’t need a lecture from a spoiled rich kid.”
He bristled and stood, leaning over the table to stare her in the eye. “Maybe you need a lecture from a spoiled rich kid. Sounds to me like you don’t know what the hell you’re doing or you’d have found something by now. Acting like a brat won’t get you a new job, so don’t take it out on me. “
She’d been an idiot for thinking this highfaluting, Corvette-driving jerk would understand where she was coming from—which would be impossible since Rach didn’t even understand where she was coming from. In an icy tone, she said, “That’s your opinion.”
“If you weren’t in denial it’d be your opinion, too.” His eyes challenged her and she wasn’t up for it despite the fact she’d started it.
Rach made it to the front door before he put his hand on her arm to stop her. She shook it off and whirled to face him, ready to fire another insult to get him to leave her the hell alone, but all she saw when she turned around was concern in his eyes. Her shoulders sagged.
She wasn’t angry with him, but at herself for falling into the mess that was now her life. She’d done it to herself. His eyes narrowed, looking like he might shake her or yell at her, and Rach flung herself into his arms and crushed her mouth to his.
So maybe the rest of her life was a crap shoot, did that mean she had to give up this feeling, too? In his arms she felt alive and sexy and loved.
His arms wrapped around her and his hands drifted down her back to grasp her butt. In one fluid motion he lifted her off the ground and she wrapped her legs around his middle. She clung to him and he fisted his hands into her hair, deepening the kiss and robbing her of breath. If time would allow, she’d have stayed in his arms forever. She moaned against his lips and opened her eyes just a sliver to see where he carried her.
His bedroom. Didn’t she deserve this, a gorgeous man touching her, caressing her? And then it hit her—she wanted this gorgeous man to love her, not just to make love to her. Her heart thumped madly in her chest, the sound thundering in her ears, so loud she wondered if he heard it as well.
How could she feel this way for someone she’d only known a handful of weeks? Was it possible to desire someone’s affection when she’d spent most of their time together trying to stay away from him—or irritate the hell out of him?
Rach opened her eyes to stare into his, hoping he wouldn’t see her internal struggle of emotions. A man like him, afraid of commitment, would make a run for the hills if he had any idea what was going on in her head. If it frightened her, it would no doubt scare the crap out of him.
But all she saw in the deep blue of his eyes was the same desire running through her veins. Rach reached out and brushed her thumb across his forehead then trailed her fingers down the side of his face to the back of his neck, pulling him down to meet her kiss. Now was not the time to worry. All she wanted was to feel him against her, loving her.
He took his time undressing her. The caress of the soft cotton of her shirt as he drew it up and over her shoulders made her shiver. When it tugged free of her hair, he dropped the shirt at the end of the bed and replaced the cotton with his large hands, the pads of his fingers tickling her skin as he pulled her close. She needed him now, wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of her, yearned for that moment so much that it was an ache inside her belly. Eagerly, she hurried to remove her bra.
Craig stilled her hands, drew them up over her head and pinned them against the pillows. His mouth hovered over hers. “Let me.”
She didn’t argue. His fingers played with the clasp and in seconds the bra joined the blouse. She inhaled when his mouth found a nipple and suckled, shooting pinpricks of pleasure down her insides, past her navel, and straight to her core.
Rach squirmed under his mouth, his tongue teasing the already taught nipple. She moaned, she couldn’t help it, and when he groaned, she realized his body reacted with each sound. She moaned again and arched her back, letting him take as much of her as he wanted and this time when he groaned she wrapped her legs around him and drew him close so that the soft fabric of his slacks rubbed against her tummy. She whispered, “Please, Craig.”
That was all the invitation he needed. His eyes turned glassy and she reveled in the fact that she was the cause. Rach reached down to tug his shirt from his pants and pushed the buttons out of the way. He threw the shirt off, pulled the undershirt over his head and fell with her onto the bed.
“My turn,” she told him and rolled on top of him.
She placed herself between his legs and swiftly undid his pants. With a tug she pulled them off and dropped them to the floor behind her.
In the darkening room, his jaw muscle clenched in anticipation and she leaned down to pull his boxers off. His penis sprung to action and stood erect. She didn’t take her eyes off him when she bent to take him into her mouth. His flesh jerked inside her mouth. She trailed her tongue up the hard, silky length of him to play with the tip. His hands clenched the comforter beneath him and he moaned, “Red.”
Rach ignored his plea and drew him deep into her mouth again, sucking and running her tongue against his flesh. If she kept playing games, he wouldn’t last. She gave a final flick of her tongue, then climbed up the length of him and settled herself over his hips with his penis temptingly beneath her. She lowered her hips, the tip of him brushed against her moist flesh, and she leaned down to kiss him.
His mouth opened
beneath hers and she accepted his tongue inside to play with her own. She loved it, loved that she had the power to drive him crazy. Before he could gain control of the situation she pushed him back. Reaching down between them, she whispered, “Just relax.”
She held his swollen shaft still and slid down over him, slow, then stopped before he was fully inside. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, not taking all of him. She wanted to, yearned to, but the look of pleasure and pain that crossed over his face slowed her movement and she leaned down to kiss him again with him buried halfway inside of her. Her moist flesh pulsed around him, and she ached to seal the deal.
“Does that feel good?” she whispered over his lips. He grunted and grabbed for her hips. She almost lost focus with his touch, but steeled her legs so he couldn’t pull her down any further.
“Rach...” he moaned. She dropped just a sliver of an inch and he flexed inside of her. Amazing. Had she ever felt so sexy in her life? Not that she could remember. Being with him opened up a side of her she hadn’t known existed. It made her feel powerful, wanted.
“Yes?” she breathed, dropping down a little more. The heat of him inside her almost sent her over the abyss. She was slick with need and didn’t think she’d be able to hold out much longer. To excite them both she rose up, the tip of him barely inside, then slid back down in a slow, agonizing, erotic motion, again stopping before the movement was complete.
“Rach, I won’t last this way,” he argued, his voice ragged and lips pinched.
She bent to kiss him, lightly nipped his lips, and slid down over the length of him to the hilt. Her eyes widened at the sensation, and said, “Oh my—’’
Grasping her hips, he cut her off and rolled her beneath him in one swift movement. He took her lips with his and savaged them in a fierce, possessive kiss that left her reeling and her body burning beneath him. He pushed up into her and with the rocking motion of his hips, she cried out in ecstasy.
There was an ache deep in her belly, rippling inside her as he thrust into her. She met him each time, as if there were no other choice. His lips kissed their way to her earlobe, taking the tender skin into his mouth and she writhed beneath him.
It happened too fast, she didn’t want to come so soon, but when the shudders of release started to unravel inside of her and her legs tightened around him, she gave in and cried out in the quiet room. He covered her lips with his, absorbed her cries of pleasure, and he gasped. His body tensed over hers and she pulled him deeper into her as he collapsed onto her chest.
They lay that way, spent and sweaty for minutes until his breathing slowed and their hearts no longer pounded through their chests. Her brain, fuzzy and drunk, clicked back on. Mine, at least for right now.
Craig rolled off her chest to lay beside her, staring up at the ceiling barely visible in the dark. She wondered what he was thinking, hoped he didn’t regret what they’d done. A mistake didn’t happen twice. No, this time she’d wanted it to happen. She cared for him, more than she’d ever thought possible. She’d fallen for Craig the Angry Hot Guy, Craig the Jerk, Craig the Womanizer. Though she didn’t think of him as much of a jerk anymore, the womanizer part was still up in the air.
Rach rolled to her side and propped her head up on her hand. She could make out his face in the dark, but she couldn’t read his expression. He opened his eyes and she sensed the smile before she saw the shadow of it in the dark. Relief flooded through her.
He might have sensed her uncertainty because he rolled over and slid his arms around her middle, pulling her to his chest where he held their naked bodies together in the dark. She grinned against his flesh and snuggled closer, allowing herself to melt against him and relax. For once she blocked out all the doubt that normally plagued her. Not tonight.
Craig kissed her forehead and settled his chin on top of her hair. “I’m thirsty. Would you like a glass of water?”
“Mm-hm,” she answered with a sated nod, too weak for a better response. When Craig disappeared out the bedroom door she rolled to the end of the bed and stood up, her knees like jelly. She went to the adjoining bathroom. The lights came on with a brightness she wasn’t prepared for and she blinked against the stars she saw behind her lids. She stared at her reflection. Her lips were swollen and pink from Craig’s kisses. A smiled tugged at the corners of her lips.
The shower was oversized like everything else in his apartment and she reached in to play with the knobs until she was satisfied with the temperature. Stepping under the warm spray, she tilted her head back to let the water caress her skin. Rach was happy for the first time in a long time. Since she’d quit her job with Health and Human Services. She grasped a tall red bottle of body wash and squeezed the gel into her hand. The smell filled the steaming shower stall. His smell was all over her body and she smiled behind closed eyes.
When she stepped out and grabbed for a soft towel, Craig was there standing in the doorway, his eyes on her naked, wet body. She smiled and pulled the towel around her loosely, tucking the end in between her breasts.
“Why didn’t you join me?” she asked, amazed at how sultry her voice sounded.
He strode to her in three quick steps, taking her into his arms. “Let’s go back to bed,” he whispered against the wet skin of her neck. She didn’t argue.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rach opened one eye and scanned the room. Light peeked from behind the dark curtains, casting slivers of gold onto the deep brown walls. She opened her other eye and turned her head to peer at Craig, who was fast asleep next to her, his breathing soft.
Waking him was not an option. Sure, it had been amazing, utterly crazy, mind-blowing sex—everything she’d known it would be with him. Then the phone calls began and continued until around ten o’clock that night. Each one from Maggie, a woman who was supposed to be his ex, insisting they needed to talk. After the third call, Craig had gotten up to turn the machine on mute, but it hadn’t changed the fact the woman was desperate to talk to him and he wasn’t offering up any reason why. All night, Rach’s eyes had been drawn to the red blinking machine in the corner of the room, reminding her there was more about Craig that she still didn’t know.
She scooted to the right toward the edge of the bed, snagged the sheet and it tugged beneath Craig’s body. Sucking in a breath, she froze in place. The seconds ticked by and she waited, nervous, listening for his breathing to change. It didn’t. She resumed her slow side-scoot, inch by careful inch, until she’d left the warm sheets behind.
Just ask him why his ex is calling, that’s all you have to do. But she couldn’t make herself roll over, tap him on the shoulder and ask the question that had kept her up all night instead of sleeping like a baby in his big arms. Was there still something going on between them? She swallowed the lump in her throat. It was time to admit she’d fallen in love with Craig and the fear of rejection had her scrambling for an exit.
Rach tiptoed around the room to collect her clothes scattered all over the floor. The clock on the nightstand read seven a.m. She stole out of the room, quiet as a mouse, and gingerly shut the door behind her. In the living room, she hurried to pull on her wrinkled clothes and tripped over the leg of her pants when the doorbell rang.
“Fuck!” She hit the couch and landed with one bare knee on the carpet, the other leg stuck with her pants halfway up her thigh. She covered her mouth with her hand and held her breath.
When the doorbell rang again, Rach clawed her way up from the floor and pulled her pants to her waist, zipping up the fly and buttoning the waistband. The only way to get out of the house was to go through the visitor at the door. With the incessant door-ringing, Craig would soon awaken and she wasn’t ready for that awkward scene. She smoothed her tangled hair as much as possible without a pick and yanked the door open.
Only to be faced with a drop-dead gorgeous blonde dressed in a fitted navy pencil skirt and a fast-fading smile on plump red lips.
“I must have the wrong apartment.”
&
nbsp; Rach nearly shivered at the razor sharp edge to the other woman’s words. Self-consciously, she patted down her unruly hair and pulled her wrinkled blouse into place. Mornings weren’t her finest hour, especially before a shower and definitely not after a long night of steamy sex. At a loss for words, Rach stared. Finally, she stammered, “Uh, this is, uh, Craig Larsen’s apartment.”
The blonde stepped back, a stricken expression skewing her face, and Rach decided she didn’t have the wrong apartment, after all. Judging by the angry gasp, Rach guessed she was Craig’s ex, Maggie. She looked away from the pretty woman to the to-go coffees clutched in her manicured hands.
Bringing coffee to a man who’d dumped you was not normal behavior, and if they’d broken up months before she wouldn’t look as victimized as she did now. According to Leah, they hadn’t dated for very long, but the woman standing before Rach looked as if she’d just been hit by a truck.
Rach pasted on a smile, trying to ignore the anger simmering inside to a slow boil. She pushed the door open wider and said as cheerfully as she could muster, “Well, come on in. Craig’s asleep in the bedroom. Just…wake him up. I’m on my way out. Have a good day.”
Rach strolled past, hoping to appear indifferent even though her mind was seething at the insulting idea of being added to Craig’s list of conquests. She’d been nothing more than a one-night stand to him. All her fears about the morning-after hadn’t involved actually running into a flesh and blood ex.
She held her head high as she walked down the hall. Her red hair might have been an unattractive ‘froed out mess, but she still had her pride. Sort of.
She slid behind the wheel of the Toronado and reached for her cell phone, hands shaking so badly she nearly dropped it on the floor. The air inside the car was stuffy and she turned the key and fumbled with the button to roll the windows down. She breathed in deep the scent of fresh cut grass and ignored the wild eyed woman staring back at her in the side mirror.
