She lifted her arms, just as keen to be naked as he was to get her that way. She was wearing a black bra made of sheer lace underneath, her nipples clearly visible against the delicate fabric.
“Fucking gorgeous,” he murmured. Then he pushed the fragile garment out of the way and lowered his head to her right breast.
She arched her back as he tongued her nipple, drawing it into his mouth and sucking hard. Her fingers wove into his hair, and he could feel her heart pounding as he suckled and bit and licked at her.
“Yes, Beau. Please,” she whispered, her voice a ragged plea.
He transferred his attention to her other breast, savoring the way she shivered in his arms as he pulled at her. He wanted to feel her shiver like this when he was inside her. He wanted her tight and hot around him, utterly mindless with need.
Her hand snaked between them, rubbing his cock through his jeans, her palm sliding up and down his length before she started working on his buckle. It come loose and her fingers dragged his fly down. Then her hand was inside his jeans, slipping inside his boxer briefs to wrap around his rock hard, aching cock.
He swore against her flesh, unable to believe how close he was to coming. Everything about Lily drove him wild. The feel of her skin. The taste of her mouth. The bold, knowing way she touched him. The way her body arched into his caresses.
As if she could read his mind, she started tugging at the sides of his jeans, fighting to free him more fully. He lifted his head from her breasts, needing to see her face.
“You want this?” he asked, barely able to believe he was giving her an out when his body was so desperate for hers.
“Are you kidding me?” Her hair had come loose, and her mouth was puffy and red from his kisses. Her breasts were rosy, the nipples hard and wet from his ministrations. She looked like an utter wanton, the very picture of sex and sin and lust.
He reached for the stud on her jeans, and together they rid her of them and her underwear. The sight of her silky pubic hair made him weak at the knees, and he started to sink toward the ground, needing to taste her there, wanting to feel her response.
“No.” Her hand caught at his hair, pulling him up short.
He let out a short bark of surprised laughter.
“I need you inside me. Stop messing around,” she ordered.
He was pretty sure he’d never received a better order in his life. He pulled a condom from his back pocket, opening the packet and rolling it on in record time. Lily spread her legs wide, and he allowed himself the pleasure of sliding a hand between her thighs to test her readiness before giving her what she wanted. Plump, juicy flesh slipped beneath his fingers, so wet and ready for him his cock surged against his belly. He took himself in hand and positioned himself at her slick entrance, his gaze finding hers. She opened her mouth slightly, already panting, her eyes hazy with desire.
Holding her gaze, he thrust into her, feeling the tight embrace of her body as it accepted his invasion. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, her breath catching with a hitch. He withdrew, then slid home again.
She bit her lip, then groaned as he did it again. “Beau. That’s so freaking good.”
“I know.”
He started to move in earnest then, pounding into her, taking her mouth in a long, never ending kiss. She took everything he gave her and begged for more, her fingers and nails clawing at him. When he reached between them to find her clit, she swore, her head dropping back, and seconds later he felt the strong pull of her climax hitting her.
He watched it wash over her, watched the way she arched her breasts toward him, felt the kick of her hips, the urgency in her hands… and he was gone, too, coming in a long, shuddering pulse of pleasure, his cock buried deep inside her.
It took him a few seconds to come back into his body, and when he did, he became aware she was watching him, her gaze roaming over his face before dropping to place where they were joined together. He followed her gaze and was astounded to feel a surge of fresh blood to his cock as he took in the erotic panorama in front of him. Her thighs spread wide, her neatly trimmed pubic hair framing the soft pink of her sex, his erection still deep inside her.
Unable to believe he was still hard after the best climax of his life, he withdrew experimentally, watching the way her body fought to hold onto him.
“Again?” she asked, and he lifted his gaze to her face.
She was watching him, both eyebrows raised incredulously.
“You don’t want it?” he asked, starting to withdraw.
She locked her thighs around him, her hands clutching at his hips.
“Don’t ask stupid questions,” she said.
Then she pulled his head down for a kiss that let him know she was up for anything and everything.
*
Lily closed her eyes, reveling in the hot thrust of Beau’s cock inside her. She couldn’t believe he was hard again so soon, but she wasn’t about to object. Having him move inside her gave a new meaning to the word ecstasy.
He was so big and thick, and the way he stroked into her with so much power and control…
He leaned over her, pushing her weight back. Her eyes popped open and she had to let go of him and brace her arms behind her on the table to keep her balance.
“Good girl,” he said approvingly, and she understood he liked having her spread out before him like an X-rated buffet.
As she watched, he reached between them, his clever fingers finding the place where she craved his touch the most. She bit back a moan as pleasure streaked through her. She lost track of everything except him after that – the slide of him inside her, the stroke of his fingers on her clit, the way his belly muscles tensed with each thrust, the taut line of his shoulders, the glint in his half-closed eyes.
He leaned forward to kiss her as her second climax ripped through her, and she gasped against his mouth, completely at his mercy. He buried his face into her neck, his arms tight around her as he followed her soon afterward, his body shuddering into hers.
She felt as heavy as lead afterward and when he let go of her she fell back onto the table, sprawled in utter abandon, unable to do anything except breathe.
She drifted for a few heady moments, awash with afterglow. Then he withdrew from her, and it hit her that with one thrust of his lovely, thick cock, Beau Bennett had just set the benchmark for pleasure for the rest of her life. From now on, every man was going to be measured against the Bennett scale – and, she suspected, found wanting.
It was a pretty dismal thought to have hard on the heels of the best sex of her life, and she pushed herself back up to a sitting position. Beau was tucking himself back into his jeans, presumably already having dealt with the condom. She looked down at herself, spread-eagled on the table, not a stitch of clothing on her body, and realized that one of them was decidedly underdressed compared to the other. She slipped to her feet, slapping a hand down onto the tabletop when her knees buckled momentarily, refusing to take her weight.
“You all right?” Beau asked, but she could see the smile lurking around his mouth and knew that he was pretty damned pleased that he’d robbed her of the ability to stand.
“Don’t get too carried away with yourself. For all you know, I could have poor circulation,” she said.
His grin was cocky as hell. “Sweetheart, you don’t have poor anything from where I’m sitting.”
Despite the astonishing intimacy of the act they’d just shared, she felt the heat of a full body blush working its way up her chest and into her face. Desperate to cover, she bent to collect her jeans and concentrated on disentangling her panties from the legs. Predictably, they resisted her efforts, and she could see Beau smiling out the corners of her eyes.
Next time, he could be the one who stripped naked and she’d stay almost fully dressed. Then they’d see how amused and cocky he was.
She gave herself a mental shake when she registered her own thoughts. There wasn’t going to be a next time. If ever there was a one-
time-only event, this was it. In fact, it was the very definition of the concept.
She tugged her panties on, then pulled on her jeans. Beau passed her bra, and she slipped it on, smiling as a thought occurred to her.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I was just wondering if this means I failed my first self-defense class,” she said.
He laughed and she allowed herself to look into his eyes for the first time. There was a lot of warmth there, and a certain appreciative, very male glint of knowledge.
Well, she knew things about him now, too, so they were totally even.
She smoothed the hem of her sweater as she pulled it down, then turned and collected Andie’s long coat from where she’d let it drop when Beau kissed her. The beanie was beside it, and she threw him a quick look before slipping it on.
“Just so you can sleep at night without worrying about me contracting triple pneumonia,” she said.
“I appreciate it.”
She cleared her throat then, determined to get something straight between them.
“I’m going now. And I’m going to save you from trotting out whatever it is you say to women to maintain your lone wolf status. I had a great time, but it was just sex, and I am totally cool with that.”
An indecipherable emotion flitted across his face before he was once more Mr. Impervious.
“You like beating me to the punch, don’t you?”
She realized he was referring to the fact that, when the chips were down, she was the one who had jumped him. A lot of women would prefer to be the jumpee instead of the jumper, but she liked it that way. It meant she was in the driver’s seat. In charge.
“Thanks, Beau. For everything.” She set her hand on his shoulder, and leaned close to press a last kiss to his lips.
She crossed to her bag, grabbed the strap, and headed for the exit. She didn’t stop moving until she was safely ensconced in the cold interior of her car. Starting the engine, she punched the heater on and pulled on her seat belt.
A slow smile curved her mouth as she realized that parts of her body were still buzzing happily. Her smile widened as it occurred to her that in all the times she’d imagined sleeping with Beau – and despite her overt animosity toward him, there had been plenty over the years – she’d never imagined feeling this way once it was over. She’d always thought she’d feel cheap, or stupid, or guilty. Instead, she felt… good. As though he’d just given her something she hadn’t even known she needed.
So, not a mistake, then. Not a disaster. Something else entirely. Something necessary.
Feeling better than she had in a long time, she headed for Andie and Heath’s.
Chapter Nine
‡
The good feeling – all right, the afterglow – lasted into the following week, making her smile at odd moments and transforming even the most frustrating problems at work into easily surmountable obstacles.
“You’re in a good mood,” her boss said on Thursday, throwing Lily a questioning look.
Rhonda was in her early sixties, and despite her sometimes short temper, she and Lily got on pretty well most of the time. She’d inherited the small printing works from her uncle, and even though business wasn’t what it used to be, thanks to the internet and the advent of home printers, she still managed to drum up enough work to employ a small staff of eight and keep them busy throughout the year.
“I didn’t realize I was such a grump usually,” Lily said lightly.
“You aren’t grumpy. You’re just not usually all shiny and smiley. What happened? Did you get laid or something?” Rhonda asked.
Lily was used to her boss’s lack of self-editing, but Rhonda’s guess was so on the money she found herself shuffling things around on her desk, swapping her stapler with her sticky-tape dispenser pointlessly.
“That’s such a cliche, Rhonda. Great sex only makes little woodland animals come and sing outside your bedroom window in Disney movies,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure there isn’t a lot of sex combined with woodland animals in Disney movies,” Rhonda said dryly, crossing her arms over her skinny body. She was in-between hairdresser’s appointments at the moment, and her bold red hair showed white at the roots. “And nobody said anything about great sex.”
Lily swapped the sticky tape and the stapler back to the way they’d been, trying to formulate the best strategy for exiting this conversation with her privacy intact. Then she realized she didn’t care. She had nothing to hide, especially from Rhonda.
“Did I say great?” she said, sitting back in her chair. “I meant mind-blowing.” She gave her boss her brightest, most innocent smile.
Rhonda coughed out a laugh. “Well look at you go, little miss celibacy. Finally decided to break the drought, huh?”
“That would be telling,” Lily said.
Rhonda picked up her coffee mug and took a big mouthful before speaking. “Typical. Have mercy on an old married woman. At least throw me a few details.”
Lily propped her head on her hand and pretended to think about it. “What were you thinking? Girth? Heft? Angle of penetration?”
Coffee snorted out Rhonda’s nose as she tried to laugh and swallow at the same time. Murmuring an apology, Lily passed her the box of tissues from her desk to help her mop up. Rhonda gave her rueful look after she’d surveyed the damage to her sweater.
“I guess that will teach me for being a nosy parker,” she said.
“Sorry,” Lily said. “I could have timed that better.”
Rhonda waved off her apology. “It was worth it. Heft. I’m not even sure I know what that is.”
Shaking her head, Rhonda wandered off. Lily went back to the invoices she was typing up, keen to get them printed and in the mail by the end of the day.
She was pretty sure it wasn’t the last she’d hear on the subject from Rhonda, but she was confident she could hold her own against her boss’s good natured curiosity. One thing was for sure, the name Beau Bennett wasn’t passing her lips.
For starters, his reputation for being a ladies’ man was well-known in town. And even if it wasn’t, Lily had bitched about him more than once since she’d been working at the printing works, especially around the time when Andie and Heath were getting married. She could only imagine the amount of mileage Rhonda would get out of her massive back flip.
Andie called as she was slipping into her coat to make the short walk to the post office.
“You home for dinner tonight?” she asked as Lily grabbed her handbag.
“I am. I was thinking I could get take-out for us all, since we all know my cooking sucks and it’s my turn,” Lily said.
“Heath’s making chilli,” Andie said.
“Yum. I’ll grab some wine.”
“Is it wrong I like having you staying with us?” Andie asked.
“I’m not sure Heath likes it.”
“What makes you say that?” Andie asked, surprise in her voice.
“The way he looks at you sometimes. Like he’d like to take a bite out of you. I’m sure I’m cramping his style.”
Andie laughed. “His style is fine, don’t worry about that. Just fine.”
“Well, I figure I should probably be able to go home by the end of the week. Toby hasn’t found any sign that Darren is staying locally. Maybe he just drove in for the day to bully me and your brother scared him off.”
She’d spoken to Toby just that morning and been heartened by the news.
“You need to talk to Beau before you move back home,” Andie said firmly.
“Excuse me?” Lily asked.
“He’s the security expert. Only an idiot would look a gift security expert in the mouth.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a saying.”
“It is now. I’ve got to go. See you later, okay?”
Lily contemplated her phone for a second before shoving it into her pocket. On the surface of things, Andie was right. Beau was an expert in security, and he’d dealt with
lots of tricky situations over the years, situations she’d heard about via Andie. But Lily didn’t feel entirely comfortable turning to him for advice now they’d slept with each other.
This was the sting in the tail of what had happened between them. She didn’t want Beau thinking she was using the mess with Darren to try to parlay their one-off into something more. At the moment, she felt as though they’d both come out of their encounter as equals. He’d had a good time; she’d had a good time. They’d both been happy to leave it at that. Having to lean on Beau again felt as though it was going to muddy the situation.
But, as Andie had said, only an idiot looked a gift security expert in the mouth.
Her good mood slipping for the first time all week, she grabbed the letters and made the trek to the post office, grateful for the overhanging eaves along Main Street, which meant she was mostly walking on clear sidewalk and not wading through slush, mud, and snow. The queue was long, as it always was at this time of day, and it was after five by the time she returned to the printing works.
Rhonda was pulling on her jacket and winding her scarf around her neck as Lily entered.
“You heading off already?” Lily asked, surprised.
“Doctor’s appointment. Don’t ask,” Rhonda said, shaking her head grimly.
Lily hid a grin. No doubt she’d hear all about Rhonda’s gruesome appointment tomorrow.
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You head home, too. There’s nothing here that can’t wait till tomorrow.”
Lily considered her in-tray, then shrugged. “Okay. Why not?”
She could stop and grab some wine and beer for tonight on the way to Andie’s, maybe even see if the bakery had any of their crunchy sourdough left.
Her head was full of thoughts of a cozy night in front of Heath’s enormous fireplace, her belly full of chili and sourdough bread, as she changed into her waterproof boots and followed Rhonda out the door. She stood by while her boss locked up, then waved goodbye before heading for her usual parking spot at the rear of the building.
Snow and gravel crunched under foot, and she pulled the strap on her handbag higher on her shoulder as she neared the corner of the building. Her car was one of only three left in the lot, and she used the remote to unlock it as she crossed to her Honda.
Bound to the Bachelor Page 10
