by Deborah Camp
“Bunk beds for when the folks visit?”
He grinned, shaking his head at her. “This is my bedroom, smart mouth. It’s bigger and has an en suite full bath.” He pushed open that door and switched on the overhead light so that she could see inside.
The bed was queen-sized with nightstands on either side of it. A dresser, bench, and two rockers completed the furnishings. Large oil paintings of storm-tossed oceans and curling waves dominated one wall.
“Nice,” she said, noticing that he left her suitcase in the hall outside the guest bedroom. He went back for his luggage and tossed it on the bench at the end of the bed.
“I’m hungry. How about you?”
“Absolutely.” They’d stopped at a twenty-four-hour grocery and gas station to load up on easy to prepare food along with some candy bars and chips. “I say we pop one of the pizzas into the oven.”
“Excellent idea.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’ll carry in the groceries. You turn on the oven and make yourself at home.”
“Bring Frito’s crate in, too.”
While he fetched the grocery bags and dog crate, she switched on the oven and peeked into the cupboards to get an idea of where things were stored. She was happy to find cannisters of elbow macaroni, spaghetti, navy beans, flour, and sugar. Pepper and saltshakers in the shape of anchors sat near the stove and on the table in the tiny breakfast room that had big windows to let in the sunlight. By the time Matthew lugged in the groceries, Zaney was in love.
“This place is the bomb,” she declared, standing in the living room with her arms out and spinning around. “It’s perfect. I can’t believe that you don’t come here every weekend.”
“I like it, too, and I’m glad to escape the city to this place, but it can get dull. Being here alone.”
“But you bring your friends here, surely.”
“Yes, but a lot of my guy friends are married and they have plans with their wives and kids on weekends. Seth has been here several times, but he gets bored because he doesn’t like to fish or go boating.” He quirked a brow. “And I haven’t brought a woman here.”
She glanced down at herself and then back up at him, making him laugh.
“Except for you. I want to keep this private.”
Nodding, she pressed a finger to her lips and whispered, “I won’t tell a soul! It’s our little secret, Matthew.” Turning, she went to the kitchen counter and rummaged through the bags until she located the three-meat pizza. “Do you have a baking sheet or a round pizza pan?”
“I have baking sheets in that narrow cabinet by the stove. Where do you want Frito’s crate?”
“Set it there by the fireplace, please.” She opened the crate door and reached in to fluff up the pillow. Frito Pie ran in and plopped down before she could finish. “Are you ready for a nap, Frito? It’s been a long day, huh?” She closed the crate door, smiling as the dog curved his little body into a circle and tucked his snubbed nose under his tail. With a sigh, he closed his eyes, obviously contented.
“He’s all set,” Zaney said with a laugh as she stood up. Matthew had torn the plastic and cardboard from one of the pizzas and set it on the baking sheet. “Hey, let’s go outside while we wait for the oven to heat up.” She grabbed his hand and they walked out onto the porch. “This is prime property. You were lucky to find it.”
“The realtor said that the family didn’t want the house to be torn down so that a big, modern house could be built here. I assured him that I wasn’t going to knock it down. I liked it just the way it is. That’s why he sold it to me instead of to the others who wanted it.”
“The family had a lot of happy memories here, I bet.”
“Their parents purchased it twenty-five years ago. The other bedroom has bunk beds because the couple had twin sons.”
“They didn’t want to leave it to them?”
Matthew shrugged. “The twins moved away. One lives in Dubai and the other in Los Angeles. Neither one wanted the responsibility of its upkeep or even using it as rental income.”
“Their loss. Your gain.”
“I agree.” He rested his hands on the railing and leaned out to gaze up at the sky. “There are the stars I promised you, Zaney.”
She mirrored him, leaning against the porch rail to admire the twinkling lights. The sky was awash with them. “When I was a little girl, I could swear that I could see fairies up there fluttering their wings.” She squinted. “I can still see them.” She saw him grinning at her from the corner of her eye and her heart did a jumping jack. “Thank you, Matthew.”
“For what?”
“Getting me out of the dark city and to this lovely place with lovely you.” She turned, propping her backside against the rail and looking at him. His wind-tossed hair fell across his forehead and starlight glimmered in his sea-green eyes. He was so beautifully masculine he took her breath away for a few seconds. “I’m glad we met.”
He whipped his attention to her, his brows arching. “So am I. What brought that on?”
“I’ve been thinking about kismet again.”
“Oh, no.” He shut his eyes and shuddered in dramatic fashion. “Not that!”
She swayed sideways to bump her shoulder against him. “Yes, that. We were brought together at a time when we are both at loose ends.”
“We are?”
“I am. And you don’t have it all together, do you? Come on. You admitted that you’re getting tired of rotating bed partners.”
The muscles in his jawline flexed and he stared stonily at the water. “I don’t see how that has anything to do with us. We’re keeping it friendly, remember?”
She slid her hand across the railing and rested it on top of his. “I’ve been thinking about that. Like, constantly. I’ve been acting out of character over us. You see, when it comes to relationships, I’ve always been fearless. My mom taught me to be like that.”
“Fearless?”
“Yes. I don’t know why I balked the other night with you.” She turned and gathered the front of his dress shirt in her fists, pulling him around to face her. “What I do know is that I’m not sleeping in one of those bunk beds tonight.”
He went still and then blinked once very slowly. “You don’t think I’m sleeping in one, do you?”
She shook him, playfully. “No!”
“Then you’ll have to sleep in my bed with me.”
Catching the flicker of amusement in his eyes, she wrinkled her nose as she smoothed out the wrinkles she’d just put in his shirt. “Matthew?”
“Yes?”
“Why aren’t you kissing me? I thought you had game.”
His lips slanted in a cute, off-center grin before he dipped his head and slanted that grin across her lips. The sizzle was immediate, making her skin break out in goosebumps. Zaney’s arms went up and her hands were in his hair before she even registered the action. He pulled her against him and feathered light kisses across her lips. He teased her, flicking his tongue in and out, adjusting his mouth against hers, grinding and then lifting, sucking and then skimming.
Her head began to swim, so she broke away to back toward the screen door. She grabbed his hand and he walked with her into the house. Heading for the bedrooms, she glanced over her shoulder at his half-lidded gaze and rakish grin. When she stood beside his bed, she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, surprised to see that he wore an undershirt. Tugging it from his waistband, she whipped it off him, too, and then ran the flat of her hands across his lightly furred chest.
“I’m so glad you don’t wax.” She kissed the indentation at the base of his throat as she unbuckled his belt and unzipped his trousers. His deep chuckle made her pause and look up into his shining eyes.
“You are a little hussy tonight, Miss Miller.” He toed off his loafers.
“Am I?” She palmed his erection through his trousers. “Is that a steel rod in your pants or are you just happy I’m a hussy?”
“Both.” He took one step back fro
m her, gripped the hem of her shirt and peeled it off her. In the next second, her bra was gone, too, and his hands covered her breasts. He sipped in a breath. “You’re perfect, Zaney. Perfect.” He bent to take her left nipple into the warmth of his mouth. She clutched his hair and tipped back her head as white-hot feelings zipped through her. His tongue made lazy circles around her hard nipple. He captured her other one between his finger and thumb and squeezed until pleasure toppled pain.
In a blur, they finished undressing. Matthew lifted her and let her fall onto the bed. He crawled over her, his mouth seeking hers, his hands sliding down the sides of her naked body. She’d glimpsed and then felt his cock and her mouth hung open. He’d earned the “big dick” title. He wasn’t massive, but her body would definitely have to make room for him. She realized that he’d run his hands along the sides of her head and was staring into her eyes. He smiled.
“What do you like, Zaney? I want to please you.”
She blinked in astonishment. No man had ever asked her that. “Ummm. I don’t know. I like to do it. You know, the regular way. But I’m not a prude. If you want to do something else, then just say the word.” She lowered her brows, realizing that he was laughing silently at her. “I’m funny?”
He shook his head. “You’re fucking adorable, that’s what you are. Come on. You know what gets you off. Tell me. Do you like this?” He slipped his hand between her thighs and stroked her. She stilled and felt her eyes widen. “Yes? And this?” One long finger slid inside her, curled, and touched an erogenous zone that made her buck. “Most women do like that.”
“You have an advanced degree in this, Professor Birdsong. Just do your thing and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.”
He brushed his mouth lightly over hers as the finger inside her stroked in and out. He nuzzled her neck. “You smell like cotton candy.”
“I do?”
“Ummmhmmm.” He left butterfly soft kisses down the inside of her arm and across her collarbone. Then his mouth circled one of her nipples again and he sucked it deeper and released a happy growl.
Zaney’s back arched and she made a sound that was half-groan and half-whine. She’d always had sensitive breasts, but what Matthew was doing to her was beyond anything she’d experienced. His tongue was a sex organ all its own, lapping and circling, tapping and curling. He palmed her other breast, squeezing lightly as he continued his humming, growling noise that told her he was enjoying himself. The hand between her legs moved to rub against the hard nub that had begun to throb and swell. Blindly, Zaney swept her hands over his warm, toned body until they brushed against his hard, bobbing erection. She gripped him, giving him a tug or two that made him go still for a few seconds. His eyes opened to glimmering slits.
“You keep doing that and this is going to be over far too quickly.”
“But I want to touch, too.”
“Touch something else. I’ve wanted you so desperately that I’m barely holding back here, baby.”
“Don’t hold back,” she whispered to him, loving the pain that flickered across his face and the endearment that fell so naturally from his lips. “We have all weekend. I won’t judge you if this first time is fast and hot.” She arched against him. “In fact, that’s what I want. You inside me. Right now.”
He lifted himself on his elbows. “Are you on the pill?”
“Yes. Are you?”
He laughed. “You’re the pill I’m on at the moment. I’m getting a condom.”
“You have one?” She propped herself up, watching as he rolled off her and opened the top drawer of a dresser across the room. “I thought you said you didn’t bring women here.”
“I haven’t.” He glanced over his shoulder as he pulled a string of foil packets from under some clothing. “But never say never, right?” Winking, he joined her on the bed again and tore the corner of the packet with his teeth. With practiced ease, he sheathed himself.
She held out her arms to him. “Come back here, Mr. Ever Ready.”
His long, lean body covered her again and he pushed her legs farther apart with his thigh as he fisted himself. Staring into her eyes, he entered her in one long thrust that had her holding her breath as moisture filled her eyes.
“You okay? Be still and take a breath. Give your body a minute to adjust to me.”
Her lower regions tightened and burned. Then he moved slightly, out an inch or two and then back in. She felt herself grow slicker. The next stroke sent pleasure spiraling through her. Zaney closed her eyes and clutched his shoulders.
“Oh, yes!” she hissed. “Right there.”
His face nestled in the curve of her neck as his hips pumped, driving in hard, pulling out quick until her body fell into the same rhythm. The buildup wasn’t gradual. It came at her like a charging bull. One moment she was moaning with pleasure and the next she was sobbing Matthew’s name as her orgasm stampeded through her, making her tremble. Stars blasted against her eyelids and lit her up inside.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Matthew groaned as he continued driving into her, more erratically now. He groaned as he flung his head back. “God, you’re too . . . too . . . Zaney!” His body tensed and she felt his release skyrocket out of him and into her. Grasping his wide shoulders, she rode it out with him until his body went lax and his weight crushed her deeper into the mattress.
She tapped his back. “Matthew, I have to breathe.”
“Oh.” He rolled off, disengaging himself from her, and stared at the ceiling. A soft chuckle flexed his throat. “It wasn’t pretty or suave, but it was epic.”
She giggled at his description and became more acutely aware of her nudity. She grabbed the edge of the duvet and flung it over her. “I’d give it four stars.”
“Only four?”
“If I’d achieved more than one orgasm, you would have gotten that fifth star.”
He lifted one brow, still staring at the ceiling. “The night is young. I’m earning that extra star before dawn.”
“First, we must eat. My stomach is making weird noises.”
“Oh, is that your stomach?” He sat up and removed the condom. “Thank God. I thought it was your womanly parts.”
She managed to slap his shoulder before he stood up and went to the bathroom. Eyeing his merchandise, she looked forward to an evening of exploring his broad back, tight ass, and the sexy V on his lower abdomen that pointed to his impressive penis. He came back out and headed for the door. “I’ll pop the pizza in the oven.”
“You going to get dressed first?”
“No.” He veered to the bed and grabbed the corner of the duvet. In one quick yank, he flung it off her. “No need to cover up. I’ve seen, licked, kissed, and tasted the goods.”
She felt hot color climb into her cheeks, but she resisted the urge to cover herself with her arms and hands. Instead, she gave him a naughty grin. “Which part is your favorite?”
His heated glance moved from her toes to her eyes. Slowly, he leaned toward her and cupped her face in his hands. “I like it all, but this face is my favorite part. I never get tired of looking at this face.” He kissed the tip of her nose before straightening and heading for the door again. “Get up. We’re going to have a shower. Then we’ll eat. And then it’s round two. Or maybe round three, depending on how the shower goes.”
Her smile grew watery as tears collected in her eyes. The sweetness of his answer wrapped around her heart. More pillow talk like that and she’d be hopelessly in love with him.
Although it was tempting to not get dressed and stay in bed all day, Zaney finally persuaded Matthew to throw on some clothes and take her into the quaint town of Darien. Tucking Frito into her large tote, she and Matthew checked out the shops, had a drink in one of the bars, and strolled around the shore. After a few hours, they meandered back to where Matthew had parked the car.
“Let’s go for a drive,” he said, dispensing with the convertible’s roof with a touch of a button.
“Fancy,” Zaney noted, watching the roof
disappear into the trunk.
“Get a load of this.” He pushed a button on the dashboard and then laughed when she jerked as warm air rushed out of the headrest and onto the back of her neck.
“What in the world?” She twisted around to examine the vent under the headrest.
“Warm air when we have the top down and it gets a little too nippy. I want you to be comfortable.”
“Wow.” She faced front again. “You’re going to spoil me.”
“Would that be so bad?”
Her throat thickened and she busied herself with the seat harness. After sharing intimacies with him, she struggled with their new normal. When he complimented her, she took it more to heart. When his eyes locked on her, she went creamy inside. Glancing at him in his worn jeans and gray, Henley sweater, she remembered what he was hiding under those clothes and her temperature spiked again. The man had a rocking body – like someone in a magazine ad for male beauty. She’d seen her fair share of male models, nude or practically nude, and Matthew Birdsong could stand up to any of them and put most of them out of the running. If he asked her to name her favorite part of his body, she’d be hard-pressed to pick just one. He knew how to use that body, too. She had bruises, hickeys, and bite marks where none had ever been before.
In the shower, he’d taken her against the marble wall, rough enough to make her grunt with each thrust and shatter like glass inside when she came. Later, he’d bent her over the sofa in the living room and had gone at her from behind. He’d leaned over her and sucked greedily on her neck and shoulders. They’d made so much noise that Frito Pie had barked furiously at them.
Now Frito growled, wanting out of the tote. She opened it wider and he hopped out and made himself comfortable on the back seat.
“You don’t mind, do you? He won’t mess up anything.”