by Lori Foster
Wow. Well, he wasn’t sure how much time they’d get. Louie could be at the door any minute and Nadine would no more ignore the needy cat than he would.
She dropped her arms, bit her lip and waited.
“I was an idiot,” Shohn said. “For not making a move, I mean. But Nadine, I’ve fantasized about you ever since I saw you in that wet T-shirt back when we were just kids. I know I talked a good game back then, but I hadn’t done any more than kissing.”
“You were only fourteen!”
“With a one-track mind. I’m told my uncle Gabe was the same.”
“The rumors abound, I know.” She snatched up a pillow off the bed and hugged it to her breasts.
“You’re denying me a great view there, babe.”
She gave him the same defiant look he’d gotten from Louie then tossed the pillow aside.
Nice. “Thank you.” Since it appeared they’d have this conversation before the fun got started, Shohn began tossing away the rest of the pillows. “What I’m saying is that until you came out of that lake, I had no clue just how much I loved breasts.”
She shifted her stance. “All men like boobs.”
“Yeah, maybe. But some of us more than others.” He pulled the comforter to the foot of the bed. “The thing is, with you, it’s more than just your awesome rack. It’s your great ass, too. And your shapely legs.”
She snorted. “Such a smooth talker.”
“I’m on the ragged edge here, honey. How smooth did you expect me to be?” He started around the bed toward her. “How about I get this shirt off you and I can just show you how much I appreciate every inch of your body?”
Her lips parted, her eyes went heavy and, right before he reached her, she grabbed the hem of the shirt and pulled it up and over her head.
Shohn thought his knees would give out. “Damn, girl, way to stop my heart.” If he’d ever seen a more enticing sight, he sure as hell didn’t remember.
Unsure where to put her hands, Nadine shifted. She settled on lacing her fingers together.
The shorts fit low on her hips and without the T-shirt, hid very little. Hell, his towel had done a more adequate job of preserving his modesty.
Now, with her standing there like that, it really was impossible for him to talk. His hands reached her before his feet caught up and he was already cuddling her big breasts as he stepped close and put his forehead to hers.
She inhaled deeply, saying with uncertainty, “Shohn?”
“You are so fucking gorgeous.”
She smiled. “Never mind.”
Shohn couldn’t concentrate on what she said; he was too busy touching her. Over her shoulders, down her back to her full hips, over her firm backside. Her waist nipped in, her belly a soft curve and those amazing breasts.
He brushed his thumbs over her pink nipples, now drawn tight, and couldn’t resist bending down for a taste.
When she said his name this time, it was an exclamation, not a question.
Shohn drew on her, curling his tongue around her nipple, pulling in a soft suction. Heat pulsed under his skin, made his muscles feel too tight. So many times he’d imagined this with Nadine. Years upon years of fantasies.
Now, finally, she’d be his.
Knowing that ramped up his need even more and Shohn lowered her to the bed, moving over her, releasing her breasts so he could savage her mouth instead. The kiss was hungry and out of control, consuming and so damned hot.
Nadine’s fingers tunneled into his hair and she held on while arching up against him.
Nice.
Going up to his elbows, Shohn looked at her hair spread out around her face, at her dark and heavy eyes, her lips puffy and damp from his kisses. So many emotions bombarded him that he didn’t know where to start. Wanting to fuck her but also wanting to...cherish her, he kissed her again, gently this time.
Nadine touched a hand to his chest. “Everything okay?”
No, not really. For the first time that he could ever remember, life felt amazingly...right. And, damn it, he hadn’t even known anything was wrong until it all got aligned so perfectly with Nadine.
“What are you doing to me?” he asked.
Her eyes flared. “Did you want me to do something?”
Shohn laughed. Yeah, he wanted her to do all kinds of stuff, but most of all, he wanted her to accept him.
She pushed at his chest. “What’s funny?”
“Nothing. I just feel good, that’s all.”
She stared at his mouth and sighed. “Me, too.”
Taking the hint, Shohn kissed her again, her mouth, her jaw, the fragrant skin of her throat. Near her ear he murmured, “I’ll feel even better if you lose the shorts, too. What do you say?”
“I say we should both get naked.”
Sounded like a perfect plan. He rolled to the side of her, but instead of taking off her shorts, Nadine sat up beside him and went after the snap of his jeans. It was a unique pleasure to see Nadine working over his fly. Her long hair hung down to tease his abdomen, her breasts swaying with her movements, her expression concentrated.
He held his breath as she eased his zipper down.
“Lift up.”
He did, and Nadine skimmed his jeans and boxers down to his knees. Sitting back on her heels, her small hands on her thighs, she stared at him.
What a beautiful picture she made, part innocence and a larger part seductress. She licked her lips, and he throbbed, he was so hard. “Nadine?”
“Hmm?”
Reaching out, he caught a long hank of her hair and gave a gentle tug. “Come here.”
She looked up at his face. “No, not yet.” Standing, she finished stripping off his jeans, then, without an ounce of fanfare, pushed her shorts down and off.
She seemed so focused on his nudity that she discounted her own.
Shohn couldn’t do the same.
When she reached for him, or more specifically, his erection, he tumbled her onto the bed and moved over her. “I need to get inside you, babe. Afterward, you can play touchy-feely if you want. Okay?”
Her body squirming against his, she said in a whisper, “Okay,” while lifting up to take his mouth.
He’d never last. Shohn knew it, but he couldn’t rush things, not with Nadine. She didn’t make it easy on him, not with the way she kissed him, how she looked and her scent and the excited little sounds she gave as he touched her.
He trailed a hand down to her hipbone, her voluptuous thigh, then inward, where he found her hot and wet and so damn ready.
She groaned, her whole body trembling, as he teased his fingertips over her sensitive lips, spreading her moisture, opening her. Lifting up to see her face, Shohn watched her while slowly pressing two fingers into her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she clenched around him.
“You have the prettiest eyes, honey. Open up and let me see them.”
Instead, she turned her face in against his chest.
“Nadine, come on, baby. Look at me.” He moved his fingers deeper, pressing until he heard her gasp, then slowly pulling out only to sink in again. Amazingly he felt her getting wetter, hotter, tighter. So close. In a barely there whisper, he urged again, “Let me see you.”
After a second she obliged him, and it leveled him, seeing her like this. For him. He kissed her bottom lip, her chin, the top of her breasts. Using his tongue, he trailed a damp path to one nipple then suckled while still fingering her.
Her hands gripped his shoulders, her nails biting into his muscles as she groaned. “Shohn.”
Carefully closing his teeth around her nipple, he tugged. Given the catch of her breath and the new moisture that bathed his fingers, she liked that.
Using his thumb and her own slick excitement, he teased her cl
itoris in a slow rhythm that soon had her moving with him. He forgot his own need while enjoying hers. She tightened more, her body stiffening...
“Shohn.”
He rose up again to watch her, loving her dazed and smoky expression.
She gave a raw cry, arching up to him, her head back as she rode out a powerful climax that went on and on.
Shohn stayed with her, waiting until the pleasure faded and her body sank back, boneless, to the mattress.
Sitting up in a rush, he found his wallet, donned a condom and was back over her, settling between her thighs, before Nadine had even gotten her eyes open.
She came about as he used his fingertips to open her.
As soon as he started pressing into her, she was with him again.
Chapter Five
Nadine wrapped herself around Shohn. A delicious sort of ecstasy still pulsed throughout her body, amplified by the way he slowly rocked into her.
It overwhelmed her, how right it felt to have Shohn covering her, his strong thighs pressing hers wider, his big hands covering her breasts even as he kissed her and strained over her. She felt stretched full by his size, and squirmed a little to adjust as he sank into her completely.
Groaning, he went still. “God, you feel good.”
She couldn’t help but tighten around him.
He groaned again. “I’m not going to last.”
Honestly, she didn’t think she would, either. “That’s okay.”
Bracing up on straightened arms, he drew three deep breaths while looking at her, cursed low and began thrusting, each time harder and faster than the one before.
The consuming way he watched her, the heat in his eyes and the flush on his high cheekbones all conspired against her. A spark turned into a flame, and soon a tidal wave of sensation washed over her again.
Shohn dropped down to her, his face tucked into her neck. She heard his reverberating growl, the way his body shuddered as he pressed hard into her one final time.
“Wow.”
She felt his smile on her shoulder. “Me, too.”
“That was...”
“I know.”
She hugged him tighter. He kissed her shoulder, her neck. They were both still panting, their heartbeats aligned, when they heard the scratching on the door.
Shohn moaned.
Nadine wanted to moan, too, but she couldn’t find the breath or energy to manage it.
Untangling his hand from her hair, Shohn stroked her shoulder, down her side to her rump. “Should I let him in?”
The way he watched her with so much tenderness made her tongue-tied. She drew one more necessary breath, and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Neither of them moved.
Louie was not amused. Nadine heard a funny noise and turned her head. One white paw was extended under the door, claws up as he felt around.
Nadine snickered.
Shoving up to his elbows, Shohn smiled at her. “Are you laughing at poor Louie?”
“Ha.” She pushed at him. “He’s going to destroy my doors.”
Shohn eyed that groping paw, and agreed. “Yeah, sorry. I guess I better get him.”
When he stood, Nadine scooted up in the bed to look at him. Mmm, mmm, mmm. She should have brought her camera to bed with her. Not that she really needed a photograph; if she lived to be a hundred, the image of Shohn Hudson naked in her bedroom would be forever emblazoned on her brain.
Shohn glanced back at her, but his gaze caught on the repellent. He frowned. “You didn’t want me to...I mean...”
“No.” She found the sheet and pulled it over her. “That was just in case he interrupted at the wrong time. Since we’re done—”
“Done? Speak for yourself, woman.” Before she could figure out what that meant, Shohn opened the door and walked out to the bathroom. Louie chased after him.
When he returned a minute later, it was sans condom. He stopped by the side of the bed, Louie following like a shadow, and stepped into his boxers.
Nadine wondered what to do. Should she get up and get her panties? They were way over there, on the other side of the bed by Shohn. But it seemed very inhospitable to stay in bed as he dressed to leave.
Grinning, Shohn slid in beside her.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable.” He rested on his side, his arm folded under the side of his face.
Louie jumped up into the bed, searched around and, after a level look of disdain at Nadine, curled up around Shohn’s head.
Going still, Shohn lost his smile. “What the hell, Louie?”
Nadine watched the cat paw Shohn’s hair, yawn and snuggle in. He looked like a cat hat, and she had to snicker again. “I think he’s going to sleep.”
Shohn closed his eyes. “Damn.”
Hoping Shohn wouldn’t object to the delay, she suggested, “Let him sleep for a little while before you go.”
“Go?”
Pride, she reminded herself. Shohn would leave, so better that she arranged things on her own terms instead of waiting for him to make the first move.
She tried out a bright smile. “That was...well...as I said, Wow with a capital W.”
His eyes narrowed. “You think so, huh?”
Oh, no. Her stomach dipped with apprehension. “You were disappointed?”
“What? No.” He started to raise his head, then remembered Louie and went still again. “Damn it, don’t put words in my mouth.”
Still unsure, Nadine asked, “So you were...satisfied?”
“Very.”
Her pulse slowed again. “Good.” Though, honestly, he didn’t look very happy about it. There were storm clouds in his eyes and his jaw jutted with challenge. Unfamiliar with the protocol, Nadine hoped to brazen her way through. “I’m glad we could get that out of our systems.”
“Out of my system? No way, lady.”
“No?” So he wanted her still? Again? “You don’t mean tonight, do you?”
Through his teeth, he asked, “Are you kicking me out?”
Not how she would have put it, but... “I assumed you’d leave, yes.”
“I have a cat on my head!”
There was that. Louie opened one eye, blinked at her then snuggled a little tighter and went back to sleep. His tail curled around Shohn’s face, over one eye and under his nose.
Grousing, Shohn gently rearranged the bent tail so that it was up on his forehead instead. Then he scowled at her some more.
Huh. If Nadine didn’t know better, she might think Shohn had feelings for her, that maybe he wanted more with her than just casual sex. But she did know better. She had the evidence of a lifetime and his reputation for serial hookups to help her keep her head and her heart grounded in reality.
Most likely, Shohn was used to women begging him to stay, but damned if she would.
“Nadine,” he said in warning.
One thing was certain. “You can’t very well be here when everyone shows up tomorrow.”
“Everyone being who?” He scoffed. “Roxi and Fred?”
“And the people who will be picking up and dropping off their pets.” Her pride demanded that she keep things private. She could bear the idea of being a fling, but that didn’t mean she wanted the rest of the world to know about it. Or at least, the world of Buckhorn County. It was the type of community that spread gossip fast, and rumor even faster. “Besides, if you ever expect Louie to get acclimated, he needs to be in your home, not mine.”
Shohn didn’t look happy about it, but he said, “I guess.” Reaching over his head, he stroked the cat and the loud gravelly purring started. “Can you continue to watch him for me when I work?”
“Sure.”
That lifted his frown. Instead
of petting Louie, he started petting her, her shoulder, down to her waist then her hip. He dragged the sheet along with him as he went and pretty soon she was exposed again.
She had always considered herself too plump, but the way Shohn looked at her made her feel perfect.
With his big hand on her belly, he asked, “You don’t want people to know we’re seeing each other?”
It wasn’t as if they were dating, so... “I’m a private person, Shohn. You know that.”
For a minute, he said nothing, just took his time exploring her body. When his gaze finally lifted to hers, it was sharp with resolve. “Come over to my place tomorrow after work.”
Oh, so tempting. Did he ask because he, too, felt the special connection? Nadine couldn’t keep her heart from filling with hope. Her stubborn pride, however, warned her to proceed with caution. “I don’t know...”
“I’ll convince you,” Shohn murmured. He left the bed amid Louie’s protests, going out of the room to retrieve the shirt and catnip. He set up a bed for the cat on the floor, and even managed to coax Louie to it.
Then he coaxed Nadine out to the hall, and up against the wall.
It was another two hours before he and Louie left—with the promise that she’d spend the night with him tomorrow.
* * *
Nadine’s agreement to spend the night with Shohn set the tone for the next two weeks. The hours, even the days, passed in a blur of swelling contentment. She stayed over with him and Louie, and left for work in the morning. At her job, they kept things platonic.
But alone in his apartment, Shohn dedicated himself to showing her new ways of making love.
And it was making love, at least for her. With Shohn, well, he was incredibly wonderful to her. But didn’t everyone say that about him?
“A chip off the old block,” she’d heard many times, referring back to his father, Dr. Sawyer Hudson, who was much loved and respected by everyone in Buckhorn. “Just like his uncle Gabe,” many noted, meaning Shohn was a charming seducer, though the Gabe she knew was a dedicated family man who watched over his three beautiful daughters with unwavering determination.
