“And every other room in the house.” At his questioning look, she added, “I started out on the back porch where I fed and watered the dog and the plants. Then I walked the dog. Then I bathed the dog upstairs thinking I might be able to wash off some of the extra hair. It didn’t work and so I had to vacuum the upstairs and the downstairs, on account of Twinkles having raced through the house, shaking and spraying everything with water and hair. Then I spent a good thirty minutes trying to wake up Uncle Spur from his noon nap—he sleeps like the dead. Then another hour trying to talk him into dropping the charges against the pastor’s mother—which he finally did. Then another hour convincing him to eat lunch at the diner before he went to the bowling alley to scope out women. Then I finally made it into the kitchen.”
“You sure you want to do this tonight? If you’re tired—”
“Annoyed maybe, but not too tired. Not for this.” She could tell by the way his eyes flared a bright blue that he knew exactly what she meant. “I’ve been waiting all day for this.”
He eyed her for a long moment, feeding the tension in the air with his hungry gaze before he sat down on the couch.
“Bring on the samples.” He held out his hands.
“I need your hands free tonight. This is a touch test.” She sat beside him and twisted around to reach for the blindfold draped across the back of the sofa. As she did, her nipple grazed his upper arm and sprang to life.
His eyes fixed on the reaction. He licked his lips and she knew what he wanted. To lean down, draw the tip into his mouth and tease its ripeness through the thin fabric of her blouse.
Instead, he swallowed and closed his eyes.
After last night, she’d half expected him to pin her to the wall the moment she’d opened the front door. She’d wanted him to.
Instead, he seemed reserved.
She knew she would have to stay on the offensive and push his buttons the way she had the night before, until he was so hot and bothered that he couldn’t help himself. He would respond then, and they would finish what they’d started last night. In the meantime…
She leaned into him and wrapped the satin around his face. Her breast teased him again, the friction of her nipple brushing back and forth sending a ripple of heat through her own body.
She caught a groan before it worked its way to her lips. She forced a calming breath as she walked over and turned off the radio. Silence settled in the room, disrupted only by the pounding of her own heart and the hum of the air conditioner.
She perched beside him and reached for the first sample.
“This is number one,” she said. “I’m going to smooth it onto your skin. Relax and concentrate on the sensation for a few seconds. Then use three words to describe the sensation you feel.”
She scooped a few drops of lotion and touched the tender skin on the inside of his wrist.
He sucked in air as she started to smooth the tingling sample over his skin, up and down, rubbing the lotion from his wrist, up the inside of his forearm. He groaned, the sound feeding the desire pulsing through her own body.
“Okay,” she murmured. “Three descriptive words.”
“Incredible.”
“And?”
“My…” He drew in a breath. “Pulsing. I feel pulsing. Like it has a life of its own.”
“No sentences. Just a descriptive word.”
“Electric.”
“That’s good.” She took a damp cloth drenched in alcohol and removed the sample from Austin’s skin before leaning over and reaching for his opposite arm.
“We’ll let that spot recover while we do another.” She applied the next sample, her ears piqued for every nuance of sound that escaped his sensual lips.
While the lotion was supposed to be turning him on, she was the one who felt on fire. Touching him. Hearing him. Wanting him.
“This is sample two.” She rubbed her fingertips against the dab of lotion, working it into his skin. Her fingers moved higher, taking the same path she’d used on the opposite arm. She smoothed the concoction along the inside of his forearm, working toward the bend of his elbow. His veins bulged, as if the blood flowed harder and faster at her touch. His arm flexed, his muscles tightening and rippling beneath her hand.
“Descriptive words,” she cued, retracting her fingers and waiting for his reaction.
“Burning,” Austin replied, his nerves buzzing at the warmth spreading along his skin.
Hot, yet not hot enough to be painful. Instead, it sent a wash of heat up his arm, clear through his entire body. He felt a bead of sweat slide from his temple, the moisture winding a path down the side of his face.
He’d perspired before. Hell, he spent his days outdoors in the blazing Texas heat, but he’d never really felt the sweat. The way it tickled along its path and wound down his jaw. His skin came alive at the sensation, along with the rest of his body. His feet flattened on the floor, his legs braced to keep himself from flipping her over and pressing her back into the sofa.
Just give it to her and get it over with.
That’s what he fully intended to do before all was said and done.
He’d come to the conclusion early that morning, after a sleepless night spent with his books, that the only way to get back to the business of finding a potential wife was to act on his attraction to Madeline. He was spending entirely too much time and effort thinking about having sex with her. Better to do it, burn off his damned lust, and get it over with.
But while she stirred his body in a fierce way, she stirred his curiosity even more. He couldn’t erase the image of her last night when she’d met him at the door in her bunny slippers. Nor could he forget the way she’d trembled and blushed when he’d stared at her a little too long. And he certainly couldn’t forget the look of surprise in her eyes when he’d made her come apart with his mouth. As if he’d been the first to taste her and drive her over the edge.
He’d taken the initiative last night when she’d worked him up. Not tonight. Tonight he wanted to see just how far she would go to get him into bed. He wanted to see firsthand if she had, indeed, turned into a bona fide bad girl. Or if there was still a little of the shy, naive, wholesome Maddie hidden deep inside.
“What did you say?” she asked, her voice as soft and stirring as her scent.
“Burning.” He clenched his teeth against the sensation. “Searing heat. Pure torture. Because it feels so good.”
“Perfect.”
Another sensation soon replaced the heat on the inside of his upper arm as he felt her soft touch again.
“Here’s the next sample.” Warm fingers folded the sleeve of his T-shirt up before touching another dollop to his exposed bicep. She rubbed and smoothed, working her palm against his skin, easing higher beneath the edge of his rolled sleeve and around to the sensitive underside of his arm. A tickling sensation drifted over his skin, but it didn’t make him smile. Instead, he frowned, doing his best to ignore the stirring sensation.
“Descriptive words.”
“It feels like you’re tickling me.”
“Then why aren’t you smiling.”
“Tickling as in teasing. Stirring.”
He could feel her smile. “That’s the response I was hoping for.”
He felt the sofa shift next to him as she stood and came to sit on his opposite side. Soft hair trailed over his arm as she turned and worked at his opposite sleeve, rolling the edge up until she’d exposed his bicep.
The lotion and the rubbing soon followed, but this time he felt a coolness. Almost like the cream he rubbed into his thigh muscles after a particularly tough day working his ranch. But this sensation didn’t soothe. It stirred him all the more and he barely managed a few descriptive words.
He was too worked up to talk.
He managed a colorful phrase, however, when the couch shifted again and she moved in front of him. He felt her hands on the insides of his knees. She urged his thighs apart and he had the sneaking suspicion that she’d settle
d on her knees between them.
“What are you doing?”
“The final sample.”
He didn’t feel a dollop this time. Instead, he felt her hands on top of his, her palms slick and smooth as she slid them up his arms. Her touch pushed beneath the edges of his T-shirt to his shoulders before easing them back down.
“How does it feel?”
“Wet.” He swallowed. “Warm.”
“It is,” and as she said the words, he had the distinct feeling she was referring to more than just her hands.
Her touch fell away for a few heart-pounding moments before she pushed up the hem of his T-shirt and touched his bare middle. He sucked in a breath as the slick, wet feel of her touch moved under his shirt, slicking over his abdomen and higher until her palms grazed his nipples. She rubbed the tips before trailing her fingers across his chest. Side to side, then up and down, then back to his nipples.
“Still wet and warm?”
“And hot.”
“There are no heat properties in this sample.”
“Not the sample. Me.” He reached up and pulled the blindfold off to find his suspicions confirmed.
She was kneeling in front of him, her hands still on his chest, one covering his left nipple while the other rested against his pounding heart.
“Is this part of the sampling test?” he asked.
She eyed him, her eyes dark and glittering. “Yes—” she licked her lips “—and I really need a taste.” She leaned forward and her lips closed over his right nipple. Her teeth caught him there, her tongue flicking out to ply the nub.
“Holy shit,” he ground out, his gaze fixed on her head as she suckled him. Her body wedged closer, pressing against his massive hard-on and he had the sudden image of her trailing her lips lower, unzipping his pants and taking him into her mouth.
Her moist red lips pressed against his skin and he threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her close. Where her hands had felt good, her mouth felt even better, and he couldn’t help himself. He’d reached his limit. He was this close to hauling her into his lap, pressing her back against the sofa and peeling her shirt away to sample her ripe nipples the way she was sampling his. He wanted to strip off her clothes and slide into her fast and furious, and end the damned attraction that had him so distracted.
And he would.
Before the evening was over he would do everything he’d been wanting to since the moment he’d seen her at Skeeter’s. But first, he had to see if she was all talk and no action, or if she truly had changed.
She leaned back on her knees and stared up at him, her lips slick and parted, her eyes hungry.
“Tonight is a touch test, not a taste test,” he reminded her.
“For the product. We’re done with that test. This is my own private sampling of you.”
His erection throbbed as her gaze dropped to his lap.
“I really want to see you.” Her slim fingers reached out and she unfastened the button on his jeans. “And touch you.” Her knuckles grazed him as she worked the zipper over his hard length. His entire body trembled in anticipation. He tilted up just enough to let her pull his jeans and underwear down to his hips.
His penis jutted forward from the dark patch of hair that curled around the base. The veins bulged, the skin slick and tight. Pearly liquid beaded on the ripe purple head.
“And taste you.” Before he could draw a deep breath, she leaned forward, flicked her tongue out and lapped up the drop of liquid.
Heat pulsed along his nerve endings, like a flame being passed over his skin. She licked him from root to tip once, twice, making him burn hotter, before drawing him into her mouth.
He closed his eyes as a groan rumbled from deep in his throat. Pleasure drenched his body and he braced himself against coming right then and there. He wanted this too much to have it over with so quickly. He wanted to feel her, to watch her, and then he wanted to thrust into her soft ripe body and plunge over the edge with her.
He forced his eyes open. Blond hair trailed over his lap and he reached down, pushing the soft strands back from her face so that he could see her red lips slide over his hard length. She suckled him, swirling her tongue around and around, pushing him closer to the brink until he couldn’t stand it anymore.
He cupped her face and set her away from him, her confused gaze colliding with his.
“Am I doing it wrong?”
“No, darling. You’re doing it right. Too right. I don’t want it like this. I want to be inside you.”
A smile curved her full, slick lips and she stood. She stripped off her clothes at the speed of light. He barely had time to feast his eyes on her full breasts tipped with ripe, rosy nipples before she leaned down and touched her lips to his.
He tasted his own essence on her lips and it sent a spurt of hunger through him. His tongue tangled with hers and he deepened the kiss, wanting to consume her the way she’d consumed him only a few moments ago. The kiss was hot and wet and mesmerizing. He couldn’t think. He could only feel. The softness of her lips. The tantalizing dance of her tongue, the softness of her knees against his hips as she straddled him and settled over his lap.
He cupped her bottom as his penis nudged her slick flesh. Electricity shot through him, along with a burst of reality. His heart pounded double time and he gripped her bottom to keep her from sliding down.
“My pocket,” he groaned against her lips, his chest heaving against hers.
“What?” Her eyelids fluttered open and he saw the confusion again. Once more he had the fleeting thought that she wasn’t nearly as experienced as she pretended to be. But then she reached down between them, gripped his penis and squeezed. His thoughts scattered as pleasure gripped his senses. He barely heard her soft “Oh” past the thunder of his heart.
She let go of him then and reached for his pocket. After a few frantic seconds, she pulled out the foil packet.
After ripping open the package, she pulled out the contents and reached between them. Her fingers brushed and stroked as she slid the condom down his throbbing length. She braced her hands against his chest and then drew him deep into her body with one swift, downward motion.
The pleasure was so intense that it sucked the air from his lungs. She gripped him hot and tight. His entire body went rigid and he clenched his teeth against the exquisite sensation.
“Don’t move.” His hold on her bottom tightened, his fingers pressing into her softness as he held her still. “Not yet.”
“I…” She licked her lips, her eyes bright with desire and a deep-seated longing that took his breath away. As if she actually felt more for him than lust.
Then she stared into his eyes and murmured, “I have to move.” And then she did, and the only thing obvious in her expression was pleasure. Pure, exquisite pleasure.
She rode him so well, her body clasping his as she moved up and down, side to side, urging him deeper with every movement. He braced his thighs, holding himself rigid as he massaged her soft, round ass and pressed hungry kisses to her lips and throat.
The sensation mounted until he feared he couldn’t take it anymore.
But he did.
He took every downward thrust, and he met her with an upward plunge. Harder, faster, until her forehead wrinkled and her cheeks flushed and her lips parted. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she arched her neck.
He caught her fierce cry with his mouth and gathered her close as she shook, her climax rolling over her, consuming her. Her body milked his hard length and the fierce spasms proved too much. He exploded, his arms locked around her as he held himself deep inside and her close to him, and rode the sweet tide of ecstasy.
It was several minutes later before Austin finally found his voice. “That was incredible,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against her soft hair.
“Mmm. I don’t think I ever want to move from here.”
The minute she said the words, his ears tuned to the steady bam, bam, bam coming from the front doo
r.
“Are you expecting anyone tonight?”
She leaned back and reality seemed to register. She closed her eyes. “It’s Uncle Spur. I locked the door in case he came back early. I was hoping he would make an evening of it—there’re an awful lot of women to look over at senior’s night at the bowling alley—but something must have happened. At least he had the good sense to hold off until we finished.”
As Austin helped Maddie with her clothes, he recalled her proposition: “Just once I want to know what it would feel like. You and me and sex. Some down and dirty, hot and heavy sex.”
Well, they’d had their once, and now it was over.
That’s what Austin kept telling himself as he pulled on his own clothes, then opened the door to a cranky Uncle Spur. He didn’t bother with small talk. He couldn’t. He was still wound too tight, still overwhelmed by what had just happened. He said a quick good-night, walked out to his truck and headed home.
On the way, he rolled the windows down and drew a deep breath of fresh air to push the scent of her from his nostrils.
Now he could stop fantasizing about what she would taste like, smell like, look like, feel like lost in the throes of an orgasm. He knew, and so he could stop wondering and get back to the business of finding himself a forever kind of woman.
He’d stopped wondering, all right. But he couldn’t seem to stop remembering. The knowledge followed him home, crawled into bed with him and distracted him even more than his fantasies.
So much for working her out of his system.
“I KNOW IT SOUNDS a little unconventional since we’re looking for sexy, but trust me on this,” Duane told Madeline when he phoned her early the next morning. “It comes from a very reliable source.”
Madeline took a big gulp of her diet cola, prayed for the caffeine to send her a wake-up jolt after a restless night spent thinking about Austin and wanting more. More of his kisses and his touches. Once hadn’t been nearly enough.
The notion might have made her a little nervous except for the fact that this was Austin. The man she’d thought about, fantasized about, wanted since the moment she’d written that love letter to him so long ago.
The Sex Solution Page 11
