by Ashlyn Chase
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A week had passed but Tyler had called her every night. Even when he was on duty he took the time during his dinner break just to say “Hello”, and “Good night”. Lexie wasn’t used to this kind of reliable attention and even though it felt great, something about it made her vaguely uncomfortable. Maybe he had picked up on that. The dinner hour had come and gone with no phone call from Officer Tyler Black. She tried to pretend it was no big deal and used the quiet evening to get a little work done.
Lexie read the letter again.
Dear Lexie, My boyfriend is eleven years younger than me. He makes me happy but I’m letting what other people think stop me from taking our relationship to the next level. No, he’s not a gigolo. He has a good job. In fact, he’s probably more responsible than I am. He wants to take me away for a weekend. I’d really like to let myself enjoy him, so why can’t I?
It was signed, Hot to Trot.
Damn. It has to be from Jolie. Lexie crumpled the ivory stationary and tossed it into the wastebasket. She tried to move onto the next letter but the one in the basket kept calling to her.
She thought about it and realized that even if it was from Jolie, she might learn a thing or two about her own situation if she pretended it was from someone else. Who 25
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knows, it could be a real letter since Jolie said this was happening more and more. And maybe because I know how this woman feels…
Lexie grabbed the letter and smoothed out the wrinkles. It didn’t look like Jolie’s handwriting. Okay. She’d treat it seriously, with her critical eye and shoot-straightfrom-the-hip style. Dear Hot,
It sounds as if your problem isn’t with him or with other people. The problem is you, babe. Why do you care what they think? Is the world going to come to a screeching halt if someone accuses you of robbing the cradle? Are these people and their approval going to be enough for you ten or twenty years from now when you’re living alone with your cats?
Lexie paused and reread what she had written. In her case, her career could come to a screeching halt. Tyler might not last as long as last year’s runway fashions. And how long had she wanted syndication? Probably since she learned how to spell the word. She went back to her work.
Has anyone been rude enough to offer unasked for advice on your situation? Or, could this be all in your head?
Maude had certainly made her opinion clear when she looked at Tyler hitting on her.
Tyler… Suddenly all six-feet of him appeared in her mind. How many times had he told her their age difference didn’t matter to him? And how about the way he looked at her with lust in his eyes? And damn if he couldn’t make her feel as if she could outshine any runway model.
“So what’s with the runway visuals all of a sudden, Lexie?” She glanced down at her shoes, turning her ankles this way and that, so she could admire the way the red stilettos made her legs look. “Maybe a model wore these on a runway once upon a time.”
Lexie stood, put on a pout and half-strutted, half-marched across her living room, one foot directly in front of the other as if she’d acquired supermodel status overnight. 26
Dear Sexy Lexie
On the turn, she lost her balance and stumbled against the arm of her overstuffed chair, nearly sending its side table and decorative candy dish crashing to the floor. She flopped into the chair. “The shoes might be magic but I guess they decide which miracles to bestow… Crap, I’m talking to myself again.” She did that when she was obsessing and had no one to talk to. Or maybe she was talking to the shoes?
She’d progressed in her personal growth since her husband’s death, hadn’t she?
Lexie thought back to that time. It had stripped her to the bone. Suddenly her successful, confident self hadn’t known where to turn or which way was up. She’d learned to trust her good friends and to count herself among them. As soon as she’d healed enough to emerge from her protective cocoon, she sank her teeth into her job. Her editor wanted her to try writing a column and she found an outlet she hadn’t known existed before. By using her “bad attitude” and leveraging it to her advantage, she’d taken out some of her anger at the world and turned it into constructive criticism. And the readers loved her for it. Some people needed a reality check in the worst way. She was there to give it to them with no sugar coating. Kind of like one of those TV judges but with good, tangible advice and a sense of humor. Only no one was on a witness stand clamoring for punitive damages. They were missing something from their lives. They either needed permission to go after it, or a slap upside the head and guidance to get out of their own way.
Right now, she needed both. She needed Tyler.
“Fuckin’ A.” She’d thought she didn’t need a man at all. Well, maybe for one thing and one thing only. Sex.
Why did that sound wrong? Shit. Because it was. How would Tyler feel if he thought he was just a piece of meat to her? How did she feel about settling for that?
It took a moment but as her stomach churned and tears burned behind her eyes, she knew. Damn it to hell, she knew she needed what the rest of the world was looking for. Love. Deep, “I trust you. I want you in my life forever”, love. 27
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Earlier in the week, he had called what they had “a relationship”. Flippantly, she had said, “Oh is that what this is?”
She picked up the phone. Realizing she didn’t know Tyler’s number by heart, she hung up. She could have said forget it and moved on but something wouldn’t let her. She grabbed her designer purse and rifled through it.
She found his number and called him.
“Tyler Black.”
He answered formally. Probably didn’t check caller ID.
“Tyler? It’s Lexie.”
“What can I do for you?”
Do for me? Was he upset? Had she taken him for granted so badly that he noticed it?
“I was wondering if you were free to come over—tonight? I know it’ll be late but I can leave the key under the mat.”
“Uh…Sure.”
Something was off. He wasn’t alone! Lexie steeled herself for the answer and asked,
“Did I interrupt something?”
“Well, sort of. I’m just wrapping up an arrest.”
She couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing.
“Is something funny?”
“No. Yes. My timing. I’ll talk to you later. Sorry for the interruption.” She snapped her cell phone shut, ending the call, yet, perhaps, beginning her new life. 28
Dear Sexy Lexie
Chapter Three
Late that night, Lexie awoke. A muffled scream escaped from her mouth under the thick blanket. Jerking straight up in her four-poster bed, the blanket slipped off her shoulders revealing her red satin nightgown in the soft moonlight. Tyler bolted upright beside her. She squinted at the clock on the nightstand. Three a.m.
“Lexie? Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” She breathed hard. “I had a nightmare.” Combing her fingers through her hair, she realized that her long tresses were probably wild from tossing and turning. She sighed and said, “Why didn’t you wake me when you got here?”
“You looked so peaceful. Plus, I’m off tomorrow. I figured we’d have plenty of time to um…visit. I didn’t want to interrupt your sleep.”
“Well, it’s interrupted now.”
“Talk to me.” Tyler extended his arm to offer a comforting hug. She eased into the warmth of his body. “I don’t know what it was about exactly. I’ve never had this particular nightmare before. It was nothing I could see. Everything was dark but I know I felt violated—personally violated.” She shivered and moved closer to Tyler’s hard chest. He held her tighter.
“I swear I’ve been asleep but I apologize if I couldn’t keep my hands off you. I love touching you, whether awake or asleep.” When she looked up at him, she caught him gazing at her curves in the red negligee.
Despite the late hour, she glanced down and found his cock
had risen to the occasion. Lexie didn’t respond to it. “Don’t try to tease me right now. Just hold me.”
He gathered her tighter in his strong arms and whispered, “If I could take your fears away, I would.”
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She relaxed slightly as his warmth reached her and slowed her shivering. “This dream wasn’t like a dream at all. It was more real. Like a vision. I was somewhere dark. What little I could see was accompanied by the most awful sensation. I could feel something very wrong.” Her voice sounded foreign to her own ears, soft and trembling.
“I saw a gun but that’s when I woke up.”
Tyler pulled the blanket up higher and asked, “Were you about to be attacked?”
“No. I had the feeling it was happening to someone else. Someone I cared about. I felt—helpless, terrified and something awful was about to happen. It’s hard to explain.”
He stroked her arm, kissed the top of her head and waited for more. Lexie sighed. “It’s three o’clock in the morning and I can’t even describe the damn dream, so let’s try to get back to sleep.”
“I’m here for you, Lexie. You know that, right?”
“Tyler…” She turned to face him and slipped her arms around his neck. “You’ll be careful, won’t you? On the job, I mean.”
The moonlight lit his handsome face. His sympathetic, deep blue gaze reached her in the soft light and melted her heart.
She leaned in and kissed him tenderly. He cradled her head in his hand and opened his mouth. Their tongues sought each other and swirled. When they finally broke the kiss, she nibbled his jaw and neck. She laid her head on his shoulder and murmured,
“Thank you and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your sleep with my ridiculous nightmare.”
“It’s not ridiculous if something frightens you and don’t worry about putting a damper on our night.” He whispered, “I love being with you.” His warmth was so welcome and she became aware that hugs and kisses weren’t the only things she craved from him.
Tyler held her body close and she felt his desire grow. He skimmed her aching breasts but settled for stroking her arm. Her lust for him was mounting. She closed her 30
Dear Sexy Lexie
eyes and tried to push it out of her mind. She’d given herself to him before. Why was she torturing herself like this?
She pictured him ripping the spaghetti straps of her satin nightgown, a flimsy barrier to his objective and taking her right there and then. He would pin her arms to the pillows and devour her breasts and then, still holding her arms against any protest, he would pry her legs apart with his knees and thrust his… Wait! What am I doing? Good Lord, it’s a good thing he can’t read my “impure thoughts”.
“Lexie, I…” Tyler exhaled and paused a moment. “I don’t know if this will make any difference to you. It might not be the right time but I have to tell you something and I’m afraid you won’t believe me.”
“Go ahead. I’m listening, not judging.”
He took a deep breath, ran his fingers over her skin and continued. “Being with you—not just being in bed with you but that too—it hasn’t been just about sex for me. We made love last week. It wasn’t anything to feel guilty about. You said you wanted to know if we even had a relationship. Well, we do. Our relationship feels pretty damn real and good, at least to me.”
She glanced down at his obvious hard-on and said, “I guess so.”
“Lexie, when I’m with you I can’t help it. I’ll respect your wishes but I want you. Love and happiness are always a gamble but I think we have a chance together, one worth enjoying to the fullest.”
Lexie wanted with all her heart to believe what she was hearing. She gazed at the attractive, surprisingly sensitive man before her. She realized she was drawn to him not only for his handsome face and body but also for his courage and honesty. At least, she hoped it was honesty. Intellectually she knew that he might be telling the truth or he might not. Deep in her gut she sensed his sincerity, yet there was something he wasn’t saying.
“I sense there’s more to it,” she said.
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“There is. Lexie, I want you so much and I’m not sure how long I can hold myself back. Just now, even though you were holding onto me because you were scared, I was afraid of losing control. I don’t know if you felt a premonition of being violated because of me desiring you and wanting to take you, right here, right now. Maybe you’re afraid of me and my, um, ‘gun’.”
Lexie sat back on her heels, surprised but not uncomfortable. A smile crept across her face. Looking down at the rumpled blanket, she found his hand and entwined it with her own. She kissed his knuckles and joked, “It’s your felony.”
“I’d rather it be consensual and not just for the obvious reasons.”
He inhaled deeply and she knew that whatever was coming wasn’t easy for him to say.
“I’m falling in love with you and wanting to make love is a natural, normal, beautiful thing. I know you want to take it slow but trying so hard not to feel this passion and excitement is very unnatural.”
Lexie looked into his eyes for a clue to his seriousness. She expected to find some sort of ruse born of lust there. Instead she found only the soft, shining look that she had known from her one previous, mature love.
He’s the first since Sam. There could be others. Or could this be the real thing? It’s not like I’m a hot to trot divorcée. I loved being happily married. The tug of her own desire, plus the confusion of her emotions, had her churning inside. Does it have to be this complicated?
She placed her hands on either side of his strong jaw and pulled his mouth to hers, offering what was meant to be a tender, understanding kiss. The moment to pull away came and went and the kiss continued, deepening and igniting something instinctual within her. She wasn’t sure what it was she felt but it had been a long time since she had felt it. Secure? Desired? Maybe loved? Joy flooded and spread throughout her heart and soul.
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Tyler’s hands caressed her shoulders and arms, moved to her back and then around to her breasts. As he touched and gently squeezed her nipple, an unmistakable clenching took hold. He reached down and found the slit in her nightgown that let him move his hand freely upward along her leg to her buttocks. Lexie knew she couldn’t—
and wouldn’t—stop him now. Finally his fingers slid into her labia. Her resistance dissolved with every breath. She found herself desperately wanting him to make love to her again.
This is not an impulse, she told herself. It isn’t wrong. I’ve wanted this too—all of it. He’s just brave enough to admit it.
“Tyler,” she murmured as she tried to leave his lips but she didn’t pull away. He clasped her body so close to his that she could feel his chest swelling, his heart racing. Her own began to pound in her ears.
Soon, she forgot whatever it was that she had been trying to tell him and simply let him continue their arousing, fiery kiss. She slipped her arms around his neck, allowing him to lower her onto the mattress. He covered her with his naked, muscled chest. She let go of his neck and caressed him. She felt the well-developed area around his biceps and became aware of his hard erection crushing down on her thigh. If he weren’t wearing his boxers, they’d be minutes and fractions of an inch from fulfillment. Finally she managed to pull back long enough to gasp, “I consent!”
Tyler grinned and rolled off her to one side, then he slipped her red satin spaghetti straps off her shoulders. She raised her back a few inches, which allowed him to pull the top of her nightgown down low. He held still for a moment, staring and breathing heavily as he took in the view. At last, he devoured one of her breasts. As she arched, he helped her to remove the tantalizing red gown, then returned to fondle her with one hand.
She clawed at his boxers and eased them over his engorged erection, finally forcing the barrier of black cotton down to his ankles. He removed them
the rest of the way with his feet. They worked themselves into a fiery frenzy. They clutched and kissed 33
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hungrily. They moved over one another’s nude bodies feverishly with responsive fingers, lips and tongues.
“Oh, God,” Lexie uttered over and over. Tyler had found her most sensitive area and his fingers were relentless as he zeroed in on her favorite erogenous zone with a zealous rhythm. His pleasure at watching her writhe was evident and his intense sapphire stare told her he wasn’t going to stop until he sent her over the edge. Her feverish vibrations climbed to the summit and took off. It was as if her mind had escaped her body for a while as she soared. At last she returned to her panting body and blessed the day he came into her life. He was all she could have asked for. She wanted the same release for him. He closed his eyes and moaned as she stroked his swollen, erect penis. She soon regained enough strength to crawl between his legs and take his cock in her mouth. She slid her lips over his shaft as far as she could go and sucked hard as she withdrew.
He moaned louder, then said she’d better stop. She continued until he cried out,
“For God’s sake, Lexie, stop or I’ll shoot!” She giggled and he begged her to come back up and lie beside him. He appeared temporarily paralyzed as she moved to his side and ran her fingers through his chest hair.
Soon he hauled his body onto his knees, grabbed a condom from the nightstand and applied it. Then he moved to her eager, waiting apex. He concentrated on her clit with his tongue, refusing to let up until he had repeatedly satisfied her while she shook and tried to stifle her screams. By the time he poised his hard cock over her parted legs, she was desperately craving a hard fucking.
She wanted him so bad that she thrust her pelvis toward him as he penetrated her and the depth of his reach sent her reeling. She met his every thrust with one of her own and they fell into a rhythm that created thrilling sensations and a voracious desire for more. After several patient minutes, Tyler moved in and out of her as if in a trance until she felt the vibrations and overt shock waves ripping throughout her body. At the same time Tyler shook with his own climax. She wanted to scream out in joy. The walls in her 34
