“I didn’t say it would be easy, honey.” His hand found hers, and he laced their fingers together, mostly to still her nimble fingers, which were driving him crazy. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it, amazed at how silky soft her skin was. “Were you dreaming about the person who hurt you?”
“Yes,” she said, reluctantly.
Beth pulled her hand from his and ran the tip of her index finger over his nipple, causing it to pucker instantly. His dick started twitching in his boxers as he lengthened.
He made a rough sound in his throat and recaptured her hand, stilling it. “Beth.”
She tugged on her hand, and he released it. Then she resumed her slow exploration of his chest, her fingertips stroking the contours of his torso, outlining his muscles and following the shapes of his bones. She traced his collarbone down to his breastbone, her fingernails gently scraping his chest hair. She followed the trail of hair downward toward his belly, and his dick rose up beneath the covers.
“Sweetheart, now’s not the right time,” he said, trying to do the right thing, though it was getting harder and harder.
Beth’s face burned. Why was this was so hard! She’d read enough romances to know perfectly well how to seduce a man, but she wasn’t sure she could pull it off. She lacked the confidence to think she could honestly entice him.
She was desperate for something to take her mind off her nightmare, to dispel the lingering traces of that monster from the edges of her memories, so she took a huge leap of faith. She slipped her fingers beneath the bedding and quickly found what she was looking for. His erection was pushing hard against his silk boxers, and she took hold of him. He was as hard as a steel rod in her hand, and she was shocked by the girth of him. She tried to imagine him fitting inside her. Good God.
Shane groaned, his entire body responding to her touch. “Baby – ”
Beth tightened her grip on his erection, giving him a tentative squeeze, and his body bowed off the bed.
“Fuck!” His hand came down over hers, but this time he didn’t try to still her fingers. His chest heaved with his rough breath. “Beth!”
She took courage from the ragged tone of voice. She wanted to forget the nightmare lingering in her mind like an oily black cloud. She wanted to forget everything except for the sexy man in her bed. And she knew of only one thing that would accomplish that. Oblivion.
“I want you, Shane.”
She wasn’t used to initiating sex, but right now it felt right. It felt necessary. He was as hard as stone in her hand, and the sound of his harsh breath soughing in his chest gave her some sorely needed confidence. She slipped her hand inside his boxers and wrapped her fingers around his bare flesh, shocked at how hot he was. Her fingers traced the line of a thick, pulsing vein that throbbed just beneath the velvety skin covering his rigid penis.
His voice was strained. “Beth, honey, I don’t think – ”
She stroked his cock from the root upward, caressing his velvety soft skin. Her fingers crested up and over the crown of his penis, and she felt a trace of wetness there, which she caught with her palm and spread over the fat head of his cock. It was like putting a lighted match to dry tinder.
Shane groaned loudly as he shoved his erection into her tight fist. He grabbed her face and pulled her to him for a blistering kiss.
“Beth,” he groaned against her mouth, thrusting himself into her fist. “God!”
Shane’s mouth was fierce on hers, eating at her, sucking and biting, as if he wanted to devour her. His tongue pushed into her mouth, twining and twisting with hers. Before he’d always been such a polished kisser, but right now it was just primal.
“Christ, you make me lose my mind,” he groaned into her mouth. “I am so fucking desperate to be inside you.”
“I’m not stopping you,” she said as her heart hammered in her chest. She reveled in his violent reaction.
Shane tore his mouth from hers, scowling as he looked at her. His hand covered hers, slowing her strokes. The knowledge that it was Beth’s hand on him had him so damn close already, and he sure as hell didn’t want to risk coming in his fucking boxers. “Do you have any condoms?”
“What?” She had never in her life bought condoms.
“Condoms. Do you have any?”
Beth shook her head. “No. Don’t you? I thought guys always carried condoms.”
He barked out a short, harsh laugh. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have any on me right now.” He groaned. “No condom, no sex, sweetheart. Unless you think your roommate keeps a stash of them?”
“Oh, God no!” she hissed. “I am not asking Gabrielle for a condom!”
Shane chuckled. “I don’t blame you. Earlier I thought she was going to castrate me. I don’t want to antagonize her any more than I already have.”
Beth groaned when his words finally sunk in. No condoms, no sex.
Shane levered up and turned them so that she was lying down and he loomed over her.
Beth looked up at his grinning face. The bastard! How could he be so flippant when she was burning up here?
“I know what you need,” he said. His mouth descended on hers, tasting and teasing hers with slow, languorous kisses.
He was right. She needed this. She needed him.
Shane threw back the bedding and slipped his hand underneath her nightgown. His fingers traveled up her torso, skimming past her underwear as he pushed her nightgown up to her waist. Her belly quivered beneath his fingers as he rimmed her belly button with the tip of his index finger, making her squirm in response. Then he reached higher and cupped her left breast, kneading the small mound gently and marveling at the softness of her skin. He squeezed her nipple lightly with his thumb and index finger. When she stiffened, he released her nipple and stroked it gently.
She was very conscious of the fact that when she was lying down, her chest was rather flat, certainly nothing like the ample chests of other women he’d undoubtedly been with. There was no comparison, and she couldn’t help feeling inadequate. Even though he’d said it didn’t matter, it had to. Her face burned, and she tried to push his hand away.
“What’s wrong?” he said. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No.”
Shane’s hand plumped her left breast, molding her soft flesh into a little mound. He gently pinched her nipple again, then rolled it between his index finger and thumb. She cried out as his touch streaked along her neurons to a conspicuous spot between her legs that just seemed to grow hotter and wetter with every touch.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” Shane said, gazing down at her. “I would give anything to be inside you right now.” There was a wistful frown on his face. “But that can’t happen right now, so I’ll just have to improvise.”
“Improvise?”
He kissed her again, a sweet mingling of their mouths. Then he dipped his head down to her breast and drew her nipple into his mouth, teasing the peak with quick lashes of his tongue. When he suckled her languidly, drawing on her nipple with his tongue and lips, her body bowed.
Shane released her nipple with a wet sound and scooted down the bed, kissing and nibbling his way down her abdomen and past her belly.
“Where are you going?” Beth reached for him in a futile attempt to draw him back up. Her heart rate kicked into overdrive as a sinking suspicion formed.
“Not very far, I assure you.” He pressed his face against her white cotton panties, right over her mound, and inhaled deeply through the fabric. Before she could react, he had her panties down her long legs and had tossed them over his shoulder onto the floor. His eyes were locked on her sex as he petted her mound.
Beth pressed her legs together. “Shane, no! What are you doing?” It had been almost 24 hours since she’d showered, and the last thing she wanted was Shane sticking his face between her legs.
“I’m improvising,” he said. “We don’t have any cond
oms, so I’m going with Plan B.” His hands were on her knees now, and he tried to open them, but she resisted. “Open your legs, sweetheart,” he said, patting her knee.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not?” he said, not even trying to suppress the grin on his face.
“Because!” Even in the semi-darkness, she swore she saw him roll his eyes.
“Beth, open your legs.” He was using that tone again – the “you-will-do-what-I-say-even-if-it-takes-all-night” tone.
Why did that turn her on so much? She should yell and scream and call him a bully, but instead, she felt herself growing wetter. And so damn achier. Still, he had no business sticking his face down there right now. “No!”
“Sweetheart.”
“Maybe some other time,” she said. “After I’ve showered.”
“Showered? Honey, you don’t need to shower. I want to taste you, not some floral body wash. If you don’t open your legs right now and let me in there, I’ll lay you over my knees and spank you.”
An undignified snort escaped her before she could rein it in. She didn’t know which would be more horrifying: his mouth on her down there or a spanking. She gazed down the length of her torso at him, surprised by the earnest smile she saw on his handsome face.
“Pretty please,” he said.
Reluctantly, she relaxed her legs and let him pry them apart, and the air felt cool on her hot, damp flesh. He settled himself between her thighs, his face just inches from her crotch, and she groaned, covering her eyes with one hand.
She shuddered when she felt his warm breath between her legs. Honestly, she didn’t know if she could do this. “Shane – ”
“Relax, sweetheart,” he said.
“But I haven’t – ”
“Beth, honey, there is no reason on Earth why I wouldn’t want to put my mouth on you right this minute. If you’ll let me put my mouth on you, I promise to make you come until you can’t see straight.”
When she felt his fingers gently open her folds, she raised her head and watched in horrified fascination as he touched the tip of his tongue to her clitoris. His tongue lapped at it, and her entire body jerked as if she’d been shocked by a live wire. She cried out a garbled and inarticulate sound.
“It’s okay, honey.” He flicked his tongue against her clitoris, and she jumped. His broad shoulders filled the space between her thighs, pinning them wide open, and he pressed forward. “Just relax.”
She dropped her head back on her pillow and growled in frustration. “Relax? Are you crazy?” How the hell could she relax with his face between her legs?
No guy had ever done this to her before. Sure, she’d read about it a million times and always found it thrilling, but she wasn’t prepared for the reality of it – the intensity of it, the thrill. It was just too much – his hot mouth, his breath, his tongue, teasing and invading. Her body shuddered as pleasure ripped through her, from her heated core straight up her torso. Her body bowed off the mattress as high-pitched and desperate sounds came out of her.
Shane’s hot tongue took two big swipes of her slit, and then suddenly his mouth was voracious and demanding. His tongue zeroed in on her clitoris, lashing it relentlessly, battering that tiny, sensitive piece of her until she was rocking her hips against his mouth, crazed with lust, all of which left her breathless.
Shane worked at her, stroking, nibbling, suckling. At one point, his teeth latched onto her clit, so very gently, but the sensation was enough to make her want to scream. She had to cover her mouth with her hands.
Her belly clenched when a wave of intense pleasure radiated out from the little bud that was the focus of his attention. When she felt his finger swipe down her slit and tease the opening to her core, she began to thrash. He held her steady with one hand on her quivering belly, while he slipped his index finger slowly inside her opening, gently pushing through swollen, wet tissues. His finger curled inside her, searching as it stroked her. He lingered in one spot, stroking slowly and methodically, and she trembled as an unfamiliar anticipation built deep inside her.
He glanced up at her. “You okay?”
Beth nodded, too mortified to speak as she watched him.
Shane’s finger continued stroking inside her, bent on its slow, methodical campaign to drive her insane. She felt the sensation grow, swelling and peaking like a tidal wave as it picked up energy, just waiting to be unleashed. He was relentless in his goal, stroking her mercilessly. She recognized the impending explosion, so she grabbed the pillow beside her and covered her face with it in a desperate attempt to muffle her cries. A loud keening wail – desperate and needy – escaped from her, smothered by the pillow she held pressed to her face. His finger slowed its stroking as the wave began to wane.
Beth removed the pillow from her hot face, sucking in lungfuls of air as her body wound down from the most tumultuous orgasm she’d ever experienced.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, her voice little more than a throaty whisper.
Shane wiped his face on the sheet, then came up over her on all fours, smiling down as he kissed her soundly. “Has anyone ever done that to you before?”
She was shocked to smell and taste herself on him, earthy and salty and warm. “No.”
“I didn’t think so,” he said, looking very pleased with himself.
“So that was Plan B,” Beth muttered, once she had caught her breath.
“What did you think?” he said as he collapsed beside her on the bed, a little breathless after his exertions.
“If that was Plan B, I don’t think I’d survive Plan A,” she said. “Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t have any condoms.”
Shane chuckled. “Did it pass muster?”
Beth laughed. How in the world could he be so sexy and so funny and so reassuring at the same time? He’d pushed her past her comfort zone on a couple of occasions before, but he’d never pushed her this far.
As her racing heart began to slow and breathing became easier, Beth closed her eyes and savored the residual tremors of the best orgasm she’d ever had. She remembered him threatening to spank her just minutes earlier, and she imagined herself lying across his lap, his broad hand on the curve of her buttocks. After what he had just done to her, the idea of baring her bottom to him didn’t seem quite as shocking as it once would have. Maybe it would be fun to try.
“Are you all right?” Shane said as he pulled her close.
“More than okay,” she said, her limbs like jelly.
He tugged her nightgown down over her thighs and then covered her to the waist with the sheet and quilt. As her eyelids started drooping, she felt his lips in her hair.
“Can you sleep now?” he said in a low voice.
She felt his erection pressing insistently against her hip. “But you haven’t—”
“Next time,” he said. “Tonight was about you. Go back to sleep.”
She couldn’t help feeling selfish. He was the first man to go down on her, and he’d just given her a mind-blowing orgasm in the process. Surely she should return the favor.
“Sleep,” he said, almost as if he’d read her mind. He rolled Beth to her side and spooned with her, wrapping an arm around her waist.
Beth sighed. She liked this. She liked him. She liked how she felt when she was with him. For the first time, she could see herself letting go with someone, not just with sex, but with a lot more – with herself. She could see herself telling him everything, about the darkness, about her nightmares. She wanted that so desperately. She wanted to be able to trust someone that much.
When she shifted her legs, she realized she was bare beneath her nightgown. “My panties are on the floor.”
“I know.” He seemed unconcerned about that fact.
She laughed. “I was just wondering if I have the energy to find them.”
“You don’t. Now go to sleep.” His hand slipped beneath the bedding and found its way between her thighs
.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Chapter 13
“How long is she going to sleep?”
Beth woke to Gabrielle’s plaintive voice.
“As long as she needs, Gabrielle,” Shane said, his voice quiet. “She had a rough night. Let her sleep.”
“She never sleeps this late.”
“Well, today she’s sleeping in. Go away before you wake her.”
Beth cracked open her eyes, surprised to find the room so bright. She looked at the clock beside her bed. It was after ten! Gabrielle was right; she never slept this late. “I’m awake,” Beth said.
Gabrielle stood in the bedroom doorway dressed in her running clothes. Her face was flushed, and her hair was damp. “Do you want breakfast?” she asked Beth.
Beth rolled onto her back and looked at Shane propped up in bed beside her. He was dressed in faded jeans and a t-shirt, and there was an open laptop computer on his lap. His hair was damp, and Beth realized he’d already showered.
“Good morning,” Shane said. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the mouth. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
Plan B had certainly done the trick. After coming like that, she’d fallen into a deep, undisturbed sleep. In fact, it was the most restful sleep she’d had in a long time.
“Where did the laptop come from?” she said. He hadn’t had it with him when he came back last night.
“A friend brought it to me this morning,” he said, “along with a change of clothes. I thought I would work a while and let you sleep. You’ll need your rest for tonight.”
“What’s tonight, Shane?” Gabrielle said.
Beth had already told Gabrielle she was having dinner tonight with Shane. Why was she playing dumb?
“We have a date tonight,” Shane said. “Dinner at my place.”
Beth felt a curious fluttering in her belly when Shane referred to their plans as a date. Were they really dating? And what, exactly, did that mean to Shane?
“Dinner?” Gabrielle eyed Shane suspiciously, and then she looked at Beth. “Does Tyler know about this date?”
Vulnerable: (McIntyre Security Bodyguard Series - Book 1) Page 11