Take Me in Your Arms

by Judy Lynn Hubbard

  “God, I needed that,” he exclaimed long seconds later.

  “Me, too,” she whispered.

  He glanced at the bottle chilling in its bucket to his left.

  “Champagne?”

  “Yes.” He released her and popped the cork, pouring them both a glass in crystal flutes, then handing one to her. “Thank you.”

  “To good friends.” He raised his glass in a toast.

  “To good friends,” she echoed, touching her glass to his. She took a small sip and then sat her full glass to the side and leaned back against his shoulder. “This is nice.” His arms went around her, and she snuggled even closer to him. “Very nice.”

  “You’ll get no complaints from me.” They were silent for a while until he asked, “Are you enjoying the sights?”

  She giggled.

  “What?”

  “My eyes were closed,” she confessed, turning to smile at him.

  “Tired?”

  “No, happy.” She paused. “I really missed you, Cam.”

  Warning bells were blaring in the dark recesses of her purposefully sheltered heart that she was not only in quicksand but was sinking fast, but she seemed incapable of saving herself. She didn’t want to care about him, but she did—a lot. It was as simple and as complicated as that.

  “I missed you, too.” He fingered her face and cocked a thoughtful eyebrow. “Maybe I should go away more often.”

  “Don’t.” Her soft yet urgent order prompted a tender smile from him.

  Before she could stop herself, she reached up and kissed him passionately. She smiled against his lips at his obvious surprise at her actions. His arms went around her and he kissed her back, stoking the already smoldering flames within. She hiked up her dress to her knees and straddled his lap, her mouth never losing contact with his.

  Her palms rose to frame his cheeks, the soft hair of his light beard caressing her fingers, as she massaged the spots where his beautiful dimples made an appearance whenever he smiled. Their kisses had reached the incineration point when Cam pulled back slightly. Her hands moved to loosen his tie before releasing the three top buttons of his shirt.

  “Angela, what are you doing?” His voice was thick with passion, and it excited her beyond reason.

  “What does it feel like?”

  “It feels damn good, but—”

  “Don’t you want me?”

  “Of course I want you,” he groaned as her mouth made contact with his neck. “Always.”

  “I want you, too,” she murmured against his skin before trailing her mouth along his jaw.

  “Have you changed your mind about us just being friends?”

  The air was sucked from her lungs as she contemplated his question. She purposefully kept her face buried in his neck, hiding the conflicting emotions racing through her.

  “We can be friends with benefits,” she finally said. “Can’t we?”

  “Yes, we can.” Hands cupped the back of her head, pulling her mouth away from his flesh. Staring deeply into her eyes, he asked, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  “I’m sure.” And she was. She didn’t know where this was leading, but she knew she wanted Cam right here, right now. He smiled as intent fingers unbuttoned the remainder of the buttons and spread his shirt wide. Her eyes grew huge when they encountered his muscular chest and washboard abs. “Isn’t this what you want?”

  “Yes.” Cam’s fingers reached blindly behind him for the intercom button. “Jim, take us home.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His bared flesh was just too great a temptation for her mouth to resist. She caressed his muscled chest with lingering openmouthed kisses, enthusiastically and thoroughly tasting every inch of his exposed broad chest with her mouth, tongue and teeth.

  “Mmm,” she moaned appreciatively. “You must work out.”

  “I have a very extensive gym at home,” he said around a groan.

  “Keep up the good work,” she whispered against his flesh. Her fingers investigated every hard, sculpted indentation in his six-pack abs. He hissed a curse when her fingers inched lower and he captured her hands with his, stilling her sensual exploration.

  “Angela, you’re driving me insane.”

  “I hope so.” She kissed his neck, lingering, and tugged at her hands until he released them.

  “We’ll be home in about an hour.” His words came out on a hiss as she raked her hard nails up his sides and then down again. “Or less...Angela.” He growled her name.

  “That’s too long.” Having made up her mind, she didn’t want to wait another second. She was tired of living like a hermit. She wanted to be close to another human being. Correction, she wanted to be close to Cam. “I thought you wanted me.”

  “I want you anywhere and everywhere I can have you,” he readily admitted, hands freely roaming up and down her bare back. “I just don’t want you to have any regrets.”

  “I won’t. I’m tired of fighting this attraction between us.” She gasped as his tongue traced the outline of her ear. “We’re both consenting adults who want each other. We can be together without reading more into it than that.”

  “I agree.” He said exactly what she needed to hear to fuel her resolve to give in to their mutual desire.

  “Good.” She sighed in relief, which turned to a gasp when his hands squeezed her breasts softly through the thin material of her dress. “I know you’ve only been gone a few days, but it seemed like weeks.”

  “Much too long,” he concurred.

  He raised his head from her neck. Rapt eyes watched his fingers skim up her arms, to her shoulders, sliding under the thin straps of her gown. At her encouraging smile and nod, he slowly slid the straps down her arms, and then his hands moved to the back zipper and released it. She pulled her arms through the straps, causing her gown to pool around her waist, baring her breasts for his hungry gaze.

  “You are so beautiful.” His hands cupped her breasts, fingers lightly squeezing her sensitive flesh, provoking a groan of pleasure from her slightly parted lips.

  “Kiss me.”

  Without hesitation, he sealed his mouth to hers. Her arms encircled his neck, and his took up residence on her back. They both groaned at the feel of their naked chests pressing close for the first time, and their kiss automatically kicked into high gear.

  Cam’s tongue unapologetically slipped between her lips and past the barrier of white teeth to slowly yet feverishly tangle with hers. She inhaled deeply and felt drunk from the smell of his woodsy cologne coupled with his unique scent, which she craved and needed to sustain her as much as she needed air and food to live. They kissed long, hard and deep, seeming unable to get enough of each other’s mouths. Before things got out of hand, she forced herself to pull back and disentangle her well-kissed lips from Cam’s. They were both bordering on hyperventilation.

  “Do you have a condom?” She gasped the question.

  He maneuvered his wallet out of his inside jacket pocket, opened it up and pulled out several foil packets. She took one from him and ripped it open.

  “You came prepared.” She unrolled the latex and then went to work on unfastening his pants. She smiled. “Should I be offended?”

  “Absolutely not.” He nipped at her lips and growled when she freed him from his restrictive pants. “It’s better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.”

  “Oh really?” She chuckled at his excellent logic, and their hands battled for supremacy before successfully sheathing him together.

  “Mmm-hmm. Don’t you agree?”

  “Yes.” She arched against his unbending hardness. “I definitely do.”

  “Well?” His eyes twinkled in challenge.

  “Well what?”

  “I’m wait
ing.” His hands caressed her hips and then pulled the gown completely from her before trailing slowly up her back, pulling her closer.

  “For?” Goose bumps ran up and down her spine at his burning touch.

  “For you to take advantage of me.”

  “Don’t worry.” A sultry smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “I won’t disappoint you.”

  “I know you won’t, babe.”

  With a quick nip at his mouth, she rose up on her knees and slowly guided him inside her by unhurried, tortuous increments until she was fully seated. They both held their breath and neither moved, enjoying the pleasure of being intimately connected. Then, at his urging, she began to move, painstakingly, slowly, torturing them both. His mouth fastened on to her breast while his hands attached to her hips, showing her what he wanted—needed—and groaning approvingly when she wholeheartedly gave it to him.

  Angela felt like passing out from the exquisite pleasure quickly infusing her body. She hadn’t been with a man in quite some time, but had it ever felt like this—so good that she almost couldn’t bear it? So exquisite that she felt like she had died and taken up residence in heaven? So vital that she wondered how she had survived without this basic oneness for so long?

  Angela’s hands anchored to Cam’s head, forcing his scorching mouth from her flesh until their lips were fused in a series of carnal kisses—their tongues mimicking the now-frenzied movements of their lower bodies. Her nails bit into his unyielding shoulders, and his fingers were glued to her hips as he pressed up harder and higher inside of her. Her knees sank into the soft expensive leather seat as she maneuvered for leverage, intensifying the wonderful ache of escalating pleasure inside them both.

  Of course, such flawless ecstasy couldn’t last forever, and much too soon the earth opened up, swallowing them into a deep abyss of spiraling passion that had them groaning in unison, grinding impossibly closer until the mercilessly intense waves of their passion crested and rapidly overflowed, leaving in its wake blissful and utter contentment.

  The storm was momentarily spent, and Angela weakly collapsed against Cam as tiny yet explosive aftershocks fired through her fulfilled body. His hands gently rubbed her back, and he softly kissed her shoulder. The car effortlessly made its way down the busy street toward his house. They stayed that way for a long while, and nothing had ever felt so perfect or so right.

  Chapter 9

  “How was it?” Cam asked against her neck.

  “You have to ask?” Her voice was breathlessly airy.

  “Yeah.” He lifted his head from the crook of her neck and grinned into her satisfied eyes. “Tell me.”

  “It was nice.”

  “Nice?”

  She smiled at his offended tone. “It was good.”

  His frown increased, and her smile widened.

  “Just good?”

  “Okay, it was very good.” Her laugh turned into a moan when his hands cupped her breasts, and his thumbs rubbed across her hard nipples before he took one into his hot mouth, sucking and nipping until she relented. “Okay, okay, it was great, fantastic.” She clasped the back of his smooth head, holding his mouth against her tingling flesh. “Are you satisfied now?”

  He released her breast to lick at her lips, then he grinned wickedly and breathed into her mouth, “Not yet, but soon.”

  His mouth took hers on a slow, seductive journey, expertly rekindling the temporarily cooled embers of their passion. He pulled back slightly to nibble on her lower lip, before his tongue investigated the silky skin, and then he was kissing her thoroughly again. This went on and on until they were both breathless. He ended with sweet nips at her lips, and then his mouth reluctantly released hers. Angela opened dazed eyes to stare into his and felt herself helplessly free-falling. The ability to speak had deserted her and she shivered, but not from cold.

  Smiling at her gently, he picked up his tuxedo jacket and placed it around her shoulders. She shrugged it on. It was warm, inviting and smelled wonderfully of him. As if unable to resist, his mouth tasted hers again for several satisfying seconds, though he didn’t allow either of them to intensify the caress. She sensed he was waiting to get her home before devouring her again.

  To resist the temptation of his addictive mouth, she twisted in his arms until she reclined against his bare chest, legs stretched out on the leather seat in front of her, dreamy eyes staring out the dark, tinted limo windows, feeling safe and secure in her private little world with Cam. Another emotion was fighting to the forefront, trying to manifest itself, and she deliberately kept it corralled; she wasn’t ready to go there yet. Given her horrible history with men, she honestly didn’t know if she’d ever be ready to go there again.

  “Are you okay?” Cam’s question broke the silence.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re very quiet.”

  “I’m just thinking.”

  “About?” He kissed the top of her head, and she closed her eyes.

  Part of her wanted to confide her inner turmoil to him, but she wasn’t ready to bare her soul to him. Instead, she replied, “I was just thinking that this is turning out to be a very good night.”

  “You didn’t think it would be?”

  “No.” She released a silent sigh of thanks that he wasn’t going to press her. He had a knack of knowing when to back off, and she appreciated that. “I didn’t want to attend the ball at all. I made myself go because I was one of the organizers, and it was for charity.”

  “Why didn’t you want to go?”

  “I’m not much of a party person.”

  “Me, either.” His arms tightened around her. “That’s not true,” he quickly corrected himself. “I don’t mind private parties like this at all.”

  “This one was rather nice.” A dreamy smile lit up her satisfied face. “Wasn’t it?”

  “What do you mean was? It’s not over yet.” His promise, spoken into her ear, sent chills of anticipation down her spine.

  She half turned to smile at him. “No?”

  “Not by a long shot.” Their lips touched lightly, but that was enough to ignite the passion simmering just below the surface in each of them. Her palm rested against his stubbly cheek as they thoroughly refamiliarized themselves with each other’s mouths for long, fulfilling seconds. “You have the sweetest mouth.”

  “Yours is addictive.” To prove her point, she engaged in butterfly kisses with his smiling mouth.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She leaned in for one more spine-tingling kiss and then reclined against his chest again, pointing at the open sunroof. “Look at all of those stars. They’re beautiful.”

  “Not as beautiful as you.” She felt like purring as his strong hands insinuated themselves underneath the jacket to stroke her skin.

  “I don’t think I can hold a candle to them.”

  “They can’t hold a candle to you.” Her heart flipped at his words, which seemed to be spoken from a place of truth.

  “You have a wonderful gift for making me feel special.”

  “That’s easy to do because you are special.” He kissed the top of her head and then withdrew his hands from her. When she glanced questioningly at him, he said, “We’re almost at my place. I guess we’d better get dressed.”

  “I don’t want to move,” she groaned in protest.

  “That’s fine by me.” He wrapped her in his arms again and murmured into her hair, “You realize we’re going to have to walk from the car to the house.”

  At his teasing reminder, she sat upright, returned his jacket, grabbed her dress from the floor and pulled it on. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” She shuddered as he ran a hand down her bare arm.

  “I’m thinking I can’t wait to get you home.” He zipped her up and then pulled her close as his mouth gravitated
toward hers. “In fact, why should I wait?”

  * * *

  By the time they arrived at Cam’s, they were both redressed, though Cam had avoided her attempts to rebutton his shirt. His jacket was hooked over one finger, and his tie hung undone on either side of his neck. His disarrayed attire left little doubt as to what they had been doing in the back of the limo, but the driver’s face remained impassively polite as he helped her from the car and bade them good-night.

  Giggling like schoolchildren, they entered the house hand in hand. “Are you hungry?” he asked around a kiss as they stood in the foyer.

  “Yes, we left before dinner.”

  “Complaining?”

  “No, it was well worth it.” She fanned herself with one hand at the memory, and he laughed.

  “I’ll say it was.” He placed an arm around her waist and led her to the kitchen. “Come on, I can rustle us up something appetizing.”

  “I’ll help,” she offered.

  He switched on the lights, and Angela’s eyes took in the spacious kitchen. The room was larger than her living room. Every modern appliance occupied the cabinets. Polished stainless steel pots and pans hung suspended over a granite butcher block in the center of the room. The refrigerator, oven and dishwasher were all stainless steel. The floor was covered in gray tile, and white wooden cabinets completed the picture.

  “Very nice.” Angela ran her fingers across the refrigerator door. “I expected to find a personal chef in here.”

  “No.” Cam opened the refrigerator and peered inside. “I have a cleaning lady who comes in during the week, but I do my own cooking.” He turned to her. “What do you have a taste for?”

  “Um...” Appreciative eyes inspected his bare chest, visible through his undone shirt. He grinned, intercepting her gaze. “Something quick.”

  “Quick it is. I like to eat breakfast for dinner sometimes. How about you?”

  “It’s my favorite dinner,” she admitted.

  “Omelets?”

  “Perfect.”

  “OJ to drink, or something stronger?”

  “Orange juice is fine.”