by Helen Lacey
When he came back up to look at her, Scott was so turned on he feared his legs might give way. He gently coaxed her onto the bed, kissing her shoulder, her neck and her bountiful breasts. She undid his jeans and Scott sucked in a breath and took about three seconds to remove the rest of his clothes. He kissed her, over and over, everywhere, anywhere, light kisses, slow kisses, and pushed her briefs off in one movement.
And then he touched her center, parting the soft curls as he inched his finger inside her. Slowly, so excruciatingly slow, she pushed her hips forward. But Scott had no intention of rushing anything. Not with Evie. She was a woman who deserved to be loved right. And she’d chosen him to love her...even if only for one night. And he would make it good for her, despite the aching hunger he felt to be inside her and stay there until they didn’t know when he began and she ended. She was wet and hot and he teased the tender flesh with his thumb. She rocked against him and he found the pressure she liked, sliding his hand over her, gently rubbing the slick nub he’d found with his finger. He kissed her breasts and licked each tightly beaded nipple while he explored the heart of her and heard her breathing change as she came apart in his arms.
Watching her climax, feeling her shudder against him and say his name, was so sweetly consuming, that Scott experienced an unheralded tightness behind his eyes. He gave her a moment, pushing her hair from her face as she came back to earth.
She said something as she pressed her mouth to his chest and he caught the muffled words. “Absolutely,” he said quickly, twisted one arm around to rummage in the bedside drawer with eager fingers.
“That sure of me?” she asked, tracing hot kisses down his belly.
Scott grasped her chin and urged her to look at him. “Not really.”
She smiled, took the foil packet and laid it on the bed and continued her exploration of his stomach and then lower still. Not shy, as he might have expected, but a sensual, confident woman who kissed and licked his skin.
“Evie,” he groaned, and grasped her shoulders. “Evie,” he said again, more plea than statement.
Without a word she grabbed the condom, ripped open the packet and slowly and torturously sheathed him. She scooted up and Scott took her in his arms, rolling her beneath him as he supported his weight on his elbows. Her thighs dropped against the mattress and he found her slowly, looking directly into her eyes as they joined. She gripped around him and he rocked against her, filling her so completely he thought he might pass out.
Have I ever felt like this before? Has anything ever felt this good...this right?
“Say something,” she whispered.
“I...can’t,” he admitted raggedly, and began to move inside her.
* * *
In all her life, Evie had never felt so gloriously free, so totally uninhibited. Being with Scott, feeling the weight of his hard body and the heat of his possession, thrilled her in ways she hadn’t imagined. She had no fear, no lingering concerns about her imperfections. The moment he’d looked at her in her sensible underwear and smiled that sexy smile all her remaining body image issues faded. Whatever happened after these precious moments she didn’t care to know. She felt alive, desired, confident. She felt like a woman who’d met her match, who’d been in a state of sexual limbo only because she’d been waiting...for this night...this man.
She wrapped her arms around him and splayed her hands across his strong back, matching his movements so perfectly she wondered briefly about all her past notions of awkwardness and embarrassment when she’d imagined being with a lover after so many years of abstinence. There was none of that. Just two people who knew each other, somehow, who knew how to please, to pleasure, knew how to touch and stroke and give and take. And he felt wondrous—above her, against her, inside her, so much a part of her Evie wondered how she’d lived for so long without knowing such a feeling.
When the pleasure built again she went with it, matching his thrusts, his need. He kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough of her taste or her tongue and she kissed him back eagerly, their mouths mimicking the act where their bodies joined. And she held on, clinging, urging and giving. And then it came, lifting her up, taking her so high she clung to his shoulders and let the sensation pulse through her body in a wave of pleasure so powerful she felt as if she’d transcended to another level of being. When he joined her in that place, Evie gripped him with all her strength, feeling his back tense, his body shudder and finally let go to be consumed by a powerful release.
He stayed where he was for a moment, drawing in long breaths. Evie could feel the furious beat of his heart pounding. His lips nuzzled her neck and she tenderly pushed his damp hair back from his forehead. After a couple of minutes he roused and shifted from her.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he swung off the bed and headed for the bathroom.
Evie stretched her limbs and closed her eyes. Well, I’ve gone and done it now. She lifted her knees up, pushed back the bedclothes and wiggled beneath the sheet. When Scott returned she was respectably covered and didn’t linger to imagine why on earth she’d suddenly be shy about him seeing her naked, considering what they’d been doing for the past hour. He, on the other hand, didn’t seem shy in the least, because he came around the bed, still in a state of semiarousal, and sat beside her.
He grasped both her hands and held them within his own. “Everything okay?”
“Of course.”
“No regrets?”
“Not yet,” she said honestly.
It made him smile a little. “Fair enough,” he said, pulling the sheet back before Evie could protest, and looked her over with obvious admiration. He traced the back of his hand over her rib cage and then along the curve of her waist. Evie tried to grasp the sheet, but he pushed it back. “Don’t do that.”
Now the lovemaking was over, she could feel the fingers of reality grabbing at her. And for the first time since she’d entered his bedroom, she felt the burning scrutiny of his blue-eyed gaze.
“I’m not twenty anymore,” she said pointedly.
Scott continued to touch her. “I’d be very disappointed if you were.” His hand dipped lower, touching her intimately. “You have a lovely body.”
“Flawed,” she said, and thought how incredible his touch was as she gave him a very deliberate once over. “Unlike you.”
He grinned, probably with more modesty than he felt, and it made Evie smile. So, the man had a perfect body? Didn’t that simply make her the luckiest woman on the planet? She touched his chest and traced her fingertips downward toward his navel and the line of soft hair trailing down his faultlessly flat abdomen. When her hand came into contact with his very obvious erection, her libido did a wild leap. She wanted him again. And she knew he wanted her, too.
“Flawed?” His brows came together. “Are you kidding?” His hand moved across her thighs and then over her hips and belly. “This is beauty,” he said, kissing the sensitive spot near her hip. “And this,” he said, moving across, going lower, sliding his lips toward the juncture at her thighs.
And then neither of them said anything else for a long while.
* * *
Evie woke up alone. The clock on the bedside table flashed the time and she squinted to get a good look. Eight-forty? Impossible. She looked at light beaming through the crack in the curtains and shoved her face back into the pillow. She had to get up. There were guests to feed, things to be done. Guests who’d arrived yesterday and who would be wondering where she was, and if it wasn’t for Amelia’s and Flora’s advancing years she was certain they’d crack it up the stairs to find out what had kept her from attending to her usual morning routine.
What kept me from it is nowhere to be seen.
Evie doubted Scott had gone for his usual morning run. She couldn’t imagine he’d have the energy for anything after their night together. She certainly felt an aching lethargy in her limbs. Even her skin felt tired.
When the door opened about thirty seconds later and he wa
lked into the room, she was appalled to see how chipper he looked, considering that she wanted to pull the sheet over her head and sleep for the remainder of the day. He was showered, dressed in cargos and a white polo shirt and looked completely recovered.
“Breakfast,” he said, and Evie noticed the tray he carried.
Food sounded good, but she had to set her priorities. “I can’t,” she told him. “I have guests to—”
“All done,” he said, and carried the tray to the bed. “Sit up a bit.”
Evie jackknifed up immediately and clutched the sheet against her breasts. “What do you mean it’s all done?”
“Well, I could hardly let your paying guests starve. And you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t have the heart to wake you.”
“You cooked breakfast?”
He shrugged and placed the small tray on the bedside table. “I made toast for Amelia and Flora,” he replied with a smile. “I’m very talented.”
She knew that. Her body had experienced firsthand his many talents. “What did you tell them?”
He held out a coffee mug. “That you were laid up in bed.”
Evie struggled to keep the sheet in place. “Oh, God, what must they—”
“I said you were laid up,” he said quickly, grinning. “Not getting laid.”
Evie took the coffee, and the sheet fell to her waist. Scott looked immediately at her exposed breasts, and a flash of desire sparked in his eyes.
“I should still start moving,” she said, took a sip of coffee and placed the mug on the tray before she shimmied off the bed.
He passed her one of his T-shirts to wear. “Let’s go Christmas shopping.”
Evie’s eyes widened. Shopping? She took the shirt and quickly covered herself. “I’m not sure I—”
“I need to buy gifts for Callie’s new family,” he explained, and watched as she grabbed her clothes. “You know them better than I do. And I need to get something for my mom.”
Christmas gift shopping? Why not? It didn’t mean they were together. It didn’t add to their one-night, no-strings agreement. And it would give her a chance to prove to herself that she was completely in control.
“Okay. Give me half an hour.”
Evie rushed to shower and change into jeans and tank-style T-shirt and sandals. She wrote a note for Trevor, saying she would be in town for a few hours and back before lunch, then headed downstairs. Evie avoided the Manning sisters—certain they’d ask what she’d been up to and where she was going. She swung her tote across one shoulder and walked outside.
Scott was leaning against her car. “All set?”
Evie nodded and tossed him the keys. The drive into Bellandale took fifteen minutes and she gave him instructions directly to the larger of the two shopping malls in town. They parked underneath and headed up the elevator. Within the air-conditioned comfort of the mall, it was easy to forget about the rising humidity outside. While the Northern Hemisphere enjoyed the traditional cold weather, turkey and rich puddings, an Australian Christmas usually meant blistering heat, cold ham, shrimp and salads and icy beer. But Evie still got wrapped up in the festive season. She loved decorating her tree and buying gifts and settling in front of the television to watch Miracle on 34th Street with her son every year. She knew Trevor only tolerated the old black-and-white movie for her benefit and it made her love her son just that little bit more.
The mall was busy and shoppers were milling around retailers and freestanding stalls. There was a long queue of children waiting for a snapshot with Santa, and the charity gift wrap bar was in full swing.
“So,” Scott said, and lightly grabbed her hand. “The kids?”
“Books,” she suggested, and moved in the direction of the bookstore. She stopped when it became clear Scott wasn’t about to follow her.
He frowned and shook his head. “No books.”
She realized he hadn’t released her hand. “Not cool enough for the new uncle?”
“Precisely.”
Evie took a few seconds, then rattled off a couple of other options. Once Scott agreed to one of her suggestions, they headed for the toy store. And the fact that he still held her hand felt ridiculously natural. They walked through the mall and Evie didn’t miss how other women blatantly checked him out. A trio of pretty and preened twentysomethings sashayed past and one said something outrageously flirtatious toward Scott. Another from the group looked Evie up and down and raised her brows. At that moment Evie felt about as old as Methuselah. She pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms.
“Something wrong?” Scott asked, seemingly oblivious of the attention he’d garnered as they walked into the toy store.
“Not a thing,” she lied, and wished a great big hole would open up and suck her in.
What am I thinking? I’m thirty-six years old... He’s twenty-seven. I’m sensible. I should know better than to think this means anything. I don’t want it to mean anything...right? It’s just sex. Sex without commitment that I said I could handle. No strings. No attachment.
And thinking that, Evie realized, had suddenly become her undoing.
* * *
Scott was neck deep in trouble. He’d been determined not to get involved with Evie. And now he felt so involved he could hardly think straight. Evie was like...she was like the skin growing over his bones, the air in his lungs. Like no other woman he’d ever met.
Maybe it’s just because last night I had the best sex I’ve had in my life.
Sex could do that, right? Especially incredible, mind-blowing sex. It could warp a man’s reality; it could make him think things, feel things, wish for things.
But wishes were for fools. He was leaving in two weeks. He knew better than to start something. Two weeks and he couldn’t keep his fly zipped. Scott wondered if she’d want to make love again. He wondered how he’d react if she did...or didn’t.
As he bought toys for the kids, she kept her distance. Even as they headed for the gift-wrapping booth, she remained quiet. The regret she clearly felt seemed like a force field over her skin. He followed her to the music store and agreed with her suggestion of a gift for Callie’s teenage step daughter, Lily. Once the kids were sorted, Scott headed for a jewelry store to purchase something for his mother.
“What about this?” he asked Evie, ignoring the pushy salesclerk who batted her eyelashes at him as he dangled a gold chain from his fingertips.
She shrugged and then nodded. “You know what your mother likes.”
“I’m asking if you like it.”
He got her attention back and she slid sideways, bumping her hip against the counter. “It’s pretty.”
Scott got a quick image in his head of Evie wearing the necklace around her beautiful neck and nothing else. He shook the thought off and looked briefly at the clerk. “Bracelets.”
Minutes later he’d made a selection and the item was wrapped and paid for and they headed from the store. She declined coffee, cake and everything else he suggested. He wasn’t sure what he wanted. Being around her messed with his concentration and determination to stay focused on getting through Christmas and the wedding before heading back to L.A. where his job was waiting. The job he was determined he could do without distraction. But not being around Evie didn’t appeal, either. So he was screwed either way.
There was an uneasy tension between them and he didn’t like it one bit.
Scott drove her home and she didn’t wait for the keys or for him to haul his shopping bags from the rear seat. Back in his room he could hear her moving around the house, heard the telephone ring, heard the sound of low voices downstairs and imagined her explaining her absence to the ever-curious and relentless Manning sisters. With a brisk shake he decided to stop hiding in his room. He took off immediately and headed downstairs. The sisters passed him in the hallway, all smiles, and made their way out the front door. He waited until they were out of sight and headed for the front living room.
Evie was near the huge Christmas tree, fidd
ling with ornaments. She still wore her jeans and the tight tank shirt that had been tantalizing him all morning. He’d barely touched her while they were out, only taking her hand once or twice. Casual, that’s what he’d thought. But looking at her shapely bottom, he didn’t feel at all casual. He was aroused just by the sight of her.
“Callie called,” she said, and didn’t turn around. He wondered how she’d sensed he was there. “She said to remind you about your mother arriving tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know.”
She straightened her shoulders, still fiddling, still with her back to him. “You can put the gifts for the kids under the tree if you like. Unless...unless you’re still moving out.”
Moving out? That’s right. That’s what he’d said. That’s what he’d decided to do the day before. Move out and away from temptation. And complication. Too little too late.
“Is that what you want?”
She shrugged and continued her attention on the already perfect tree. “It’s not up to me.”
Scott took a step toward her. “Evie?”
“I don’t know what I want,” she said, and turned. Her green eyes shone brightly. “I’m not completely naive—I know a situation like this is different for a man than it is for a woman. Turns out I’m a whole lot more emotional about having a physical relationship with someone than I thought. We agreed it would be just sex, but I’m not really made that way. So I think it would be better if we went back to how things used to be.”
Scott stared at her. I’m off the hook. Only, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be.
She turned back to the tree. “I’m going to be in the studio for the next few hours. Please help yourself to anything you want.”
