She wanted his hands on her…now. At that very moment. She wanted all of him.
As she remembered what that was like, she grew incredibly warm, her lips parting as she drew in a shaky breath. A tingling in her breasts was a warning her nipples were hardening. She thought she was doing a good job of hiding her desire from him but the smoldering look in his eyes revealed she was only fooling herself.
He surprised her by moving, closing the distance between them. Grasping her hand, he wordlessly pulled her with him off the stage as though he knew exactly where he was going, past several self-absorbed actors and down the dimly lit deserted hallway.
Where he was taking her didn’t matter. He opened the first door he came to, which turned out to be one of the dressing rooms, and paused long enough to take a quick peek inside to make sure it was empty. When he was satisfied it was, he pulled her inside and closed the door.
Releasing an impatient sound that resembled a wounded animal, he pushed her against the door, and followed her there with his body. They came together like a raging storm. Elements battled for control as mouths clashed, tongues meshed, bodies melded in a firestorm of instant, uncontrollable passion. Mike’s hands were finally where Emma wanted them, starting with her throat and trailing a leisurely path of fire over her shoulders and down her arms, before falling to her hips and gliding back up her sides.
There was no hesitation in his sensuous touch when he continued the erotic journey to her breasts, which had swelled and were aching with need. Begging to be caressed. Her nipples peaked into hard little points, stabbing his palms as they smoothed over her breasts before cupping their full weight. She cried out beneath his demanding mouth, arching her body against him as overwhelming need coursed through her, matching his stormy ardor. When his thumbs grazed her sensitive nipples, liquid heat rushed through her body in hot, dizzying waves.
She tore her mouth away to catch her breath, moaning with pleasure when Mike ran his open mouth along the side of her neck to her exposed collarbone, and lower still to the deep part of her blouse. She was certain she was going to go up in flames when his tongue dipped inside her cleavage, teasing and licking her ultra sensitive flesh until she was a mindless, quivering mass. Her knees buckled.
Oh my god!
“Mike.” She gasped for air, unsure of the wisdom of what they were doing.
“Don’t say anything,” he rasped, gently pulling her blouse down until her shoulders were revealed. “Just feel.” He planted fiery kisses along the smooth flesh he slowly exposed.
She was feeling! Way too much, too fast. She’d been dreaming of this moment, yearning for it. Her clit was actually throbbing between her thighs, and moist heat dampened her panties. Her limbs were trembling wildly and she clutched Mike’s shoulders to remain on her feet.
Suddenly his hands were moving beneath her blouse and before she could murmur a protest, they were gliding slowly upward, bringing the material with them. Emma felt a cool draft against her midriff and then against her breasts. Their eyes clashed, and then Mike lowered his gaze to take in the bounty he’d just bared.
His low groan echoed through the small room as he bent his head, putting his open mouth on Emma. He took her naked breast in his mouth in an exquisite kiss that finished with a slow glide to the tip of her nipple. Once there, his tongue lazily circled the nub, lapping at it as if it was a tasty treat.
Emma shivered deliciously, burying her hands in his hair and holding him to her. As his tongue stabbed her flesh, she was painfully aware of his fully aroused cock where it pushed against her. The strength and fullness of him made her hungry, and bold.
Uncontrollable desire forced her hand down his powerful torso until she reached the top of his slacks. She hesitated only briefly, until passion overruled common sense. With a muffled cry of surrender she let her hand continue down the front of Mike’s zipper. She teasingly trailed her fingertips over his impressive hard-on until her actions drove him wild.
In a movement that bordered on savagery, he grabbed her probing hand and held it tightly against him, controlling the pressure while moving her palm up and down his rock-hard shaft. An unbearable ache filled Emma. A need so intense it frightened her. She wanted Mike’s cock inside her.
A gush of silken heat exploded through her body, soaking her panties. “Oh god! Her soft cry seemed overloud in the quiet of the room.
He shuddered in a moment of weakness. The metallic taste of blood filled Emma’s mouth as she bit down hard on her bottom lip. Her eyes misted over with deep emotion. Please don’t stop!
“Please don’t stop.”
Mike’s head jerked back so he could meet her eyes, and then he was cursing sharply beneath his breath. His mouth returned to hers. And when his hands went back to her breasts Emma’s made quick work of unbuckling and unzipping his slacks. She reached inside, pulled his cock out and moved her hand up and down.
“Sweet Jesus!” Mike shuddered beneath her administrations. His breathing turned ragged and his hands slapped the door on either side of Emma as if he needed the support to remain on his feet.
Emma used his moment of weakness to drop to her knees. Without hesitation she took his cock inside her mouth and began to suck and lick it like it was candy. Her tongue explored every ripple from the base to the smooth head, dipping inside the slit to taste the pre-cum gathered there.
“Oh fuck! I can’t take any more. I need to be in you now!”
Before Emma could prepare herself Mike pulled her to her feet. Together they worked at getting her panties off. Then he was lifting her against the door. As she felt his cock part her pussy lips and slide inside her, she wrapped her legs around him. A cry of pleasure echoed through the room. He was buried to the hilt.
They began to move against each other like animals in heat. No words were needed. Just two people lost in the moment. Both determined to reach the same plateau in the shortest amount of time.
Mike pounded into Emma over and over again. Each time forcing his cock further and deeper into her wet pussy. She gasped and cried with the intense pleasure of being filled so completely with him. Of feeling his balls slap against her.
Each time Mike’s shaft slid over her clit her pleasure heightened and the onset of an orgasm grew stronger and closer. Emma knew a few more thrusts and she wouldn’t be able to hold it back. And she didn’t want to.
“Damn you’re tight.” His voice was more like a low growl.
Emma didn’t have time to protest when he took his cock in his hand, manipulated her clit with it a few times, and then thrust it back into her pussy. She quivered wildly and cried out beneath his mouth, losing control.
“Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!” she chanted as her body shook with her climax.
The low groans coming from Mike and the way he was grinding his cock into her revealed he was coming, too.
They leaned quietly against each other until their bodies calmed and they were breathing normally again. Emma slowly lowered her legs when she felt Mike’s cock slip from her body.
“Damn.” His fist pounded the door above her head, rattling the fragile old wood. “I didn’t mean for things to go this far.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I only wanted to kiss you,” he explained, then laughed in spite of himself. “Hell, you make me forget where I am and what I’m doing.”
“Don’t blame this on me, Detective,” Emma whispered breathlessly, a trembling smile playing upon her lips. “Is it the wig?”
“Pardon?” Mike pulled back to search her eyes for the answer, his still dilated with desire.
The knowledge that she’d been the one to put that desire there made Emma heady with power.
“The blonde wig,” she repeated. “Is that what made you lose control? Some men can’t resist a blonde,” she said with humor.
His chest rumbled with quiet laughter. “Hell no. I wish it was that simple.”
“Why does it have to be so hard?”
“Emma…”
“I’m serious,
Mike. What are we going to do about this? It’s obvious we’re attracted to each other.”
He started to shake his head. “Emma…”
“Shake your head all you want, it won’t change the truth. Why else are we here plastered against this door with the rest of the world on the other side?” Her eyes followed him when he distanced himself from her. “Why else have we found ourselves in this situation? Is it just about sex?”
She watched as he ran his hands through his hair, his expression changing with his varying emotions. It was plain as the nose on his face that Mike didn’t know what to say or do.
Muffled voices in the hallway reminded her they were in someone’s dressing room and would soon have company. They were lucky no one had interrupted them earlier. She straightened her clothes, and went to the mirror over the vanity to inspect the damage to her makeup and hair.
Groaning, she felt her cheeks blush with guilt. She looked like a woman who’d just grabbed a quickie in a back restroom somewhere. She met Mike’s eyes in the mirror. He looked disheveled too, his skin still showing the signs of the heated lovemaking between them. Her fingers had definitely mussed up his hair, which he was suddenly running his fingers through for a second time.
“Melissa will be looking for me. I’ll leave first; maybe no one will notice.”
It was apparent he was going to leave the questions between them unanswered. Maybe he needed time to think.
“Mike?” He turned to glance back at her before opening the door. “What time Saturday?”
A frown appeared between his brows. “Saturday?”
He’d already forgotten, or, maybe he’d chosen to. “Fishing?”
“Oh, ah, we like to be out on the lake early when the fish are biting. Can you be ready around six?”
“I’ll be waiting at the dock,” she replied, wondering what she was getting herself into. Until she remembered Melissa would be there. How much trouble could they get into with a thirteen-year-old chaperone?
Chapter 14
Nursing a beer, Mike was sitting on his back porch in the dark, staring out at the glistening water of the nearby pond and listening to the chorus of crickets and frogs. The kitchen window was open above his head and he could hear Melissa humming while she finished up the supper dishes.
His thoughts drifted from topic to topic but always seemed to come right back to one in particular, Emma Stuart, which then caused him to take another sip of his beer. He vaguely wondered how many beers it would take to make him forget about her.
Forget about how wildly responsive she was. How she wasn’t afraid to show him her passionate side. Even when he knew her slightly reserved nature contradicted itself when she was turned on.
He took a deep breath, not for the first time asking himself why he was fighting his attraction to her so vehemently. Mike sensed the emotional side of a relationship with Emma would far outweigh the physical. Sex he could get from any woman. Only deep down he knew that wasn’t all he was getting from her.
And he was running scared. He couldn’t recall a time when another woman had affected him so strongly, making him think about something other than a good romp in the sack and maybe a decent dinner. That he could handle.
Emma made him think about forever after. For the first time in his life that he could remember, he wanted, needed, love. Just a sexual relationship with her was out of the question. Even though the sex between them was mind-blowing.
She made him yearn for cozy nights in front of the fireplace, or cuddling wrapped up in a quilt on a cold night as they rocked in the old swing at the end of the porch. Someone to kiss goodbye to in the mornings and hello to at the end of a workday.
Hell, Mike figured he was losing it. Maybe some day he could have those things again, on a permanent level, when he had time to devote to it. Now wasn’t a good time to be thinking about what he wanted. He grinned, hearing Melissa singing out of tune, and the next thing he knew she was opening the screen door.
“We’re still going fishing in the morning aren’t we, Dad?”
“Yep.” Mike was glad it was dark and she couldn’t see his frown. Tomorrow he’d see the root of all his troubles again, in the flesh. He hadn’t seen Emma since the night of the play and that had almost been a week ago. He’d purposely avoided the gym, getting his workouts with a good run around the lake in the evenings before dinner.
Now, like a sex-craved adolescent, he couldn’t wait to see her again. Just the thought of her produced a tightening in his body. Bringing the can of beer to his mouth he angrily swallowed half the contents.
The smile in Melissa’s voice was unmistakable.
“Good. I don’t know Emma except for what Amanda’s told me but she sounds cool. Do you want another beer before I go to my room?”
Did she sound a little too happy? “It’s kind of early to be going to bed, isn’t it, kiddo?”
“I’m not going to bed.” She laughed, in a voice that clearly said he’d lost his marbles for even thinking it. “I have an essay on Theodore Roosevelt due this Wednesday and want to get started on it.”
“Get started? How long have you known about it?” She hesitated, which told Mike long enough. “Never mind, just make sure you get it done.”
“I will.”
The door closed quietly behind her and Mike found himself alone again. He finished his beer, and tried to focus on a case he was working on, giving up after awhile. He might as well face it; he wasn’t going to get Emma out of his mind. Not as long as he was sitting there hard as stone.
* * * *
Emma waved when she saw Mike’s boat approaching in the distance, but her smile quickly vanished when he came close enough for her to see he was alone. She’d been looking forward to fishing with them all week, mostly because she’d get to see him again. Second because she’d have a chance to get to know Melissa a little better. From what Amanda told her, she was a sweet girl who was at the age when she needed a mother’s influence more than a father’s.
As the boat neared the dock she crossed her arms, giving Mike a stern look. “Where’s our chaperone?”
His mouth twitched, his eyes moving over her like a hungry shark that hadn’t eaten in a week. She was dressed for cool weather in jeans and a sweatshirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail that was rapidly coming undone. There was nothing at all sexy about the way she looked, yet Mike’s eyes told another story.
Her cheeks filled with a pleasant heat, recalling their last steamy encounter the night of the play, which she’d lived over and over in her dreams, day and night.
“Do we need a chaperone?” He reached for the dock, effortlessly pulling the boat closer so she could easily step down safely.
“I think one of us does,” she joked, bending to pick up the picnic basket she’d prepared and handing it to him.
Their hands brushed. “Are you worried?” His amused gaze held hers for a few seconds.
If anything Mike looked worried. Emma decided the best thing she could do was to change the subject. “What happened to Melissa?”
He took the things she handed him, and put them in the bottom of the boat behind his seat.
“An essay on Roosevelt happened,” he explained, taking her hand and pulling her in with him. “She thought she had until Wednesday but checked her notes this morning to discover it’s due Monday instead. Now she’s in a panic to get it done.”
He didn’t sound as if he believed her and Emma had to wonder about it herself. The boat rocked slightly with her added weight and she automatically braced her hands on Mike’s shoulders. For a moment they moved against each other. She struggled not to give in to the sexual pull being close to him created. Beneath her palms his body felt hard and strong and she could feel the heat of him through his clothes.
She smiled, and slipped her hands from his shoulders taking a step back. “I have to warn you before we take off, I’m not very good at fishing.”
“What part aren’t you good at?”
Was his vo
ice a little ragged? Emma liked to think she had that affect on him. It was the least she could do, considering he managed to reduce her bones into silly putty every time he touched her or got too close.
“Putting the bait on the hook part,” she managed to respond. “Especially if it’s a worm.” To get her point across she shuddered delicately.
Mike’s lips twitched slightly. “I guess I can live with that.”
“The casting and reeling in part too,” she continued in a sassy tone. “And if I’m lucky enough to catch anything, taking it off the hook might be a problem.” She shivered and made a face. “All that wiggling and fish are slimy. But other than that, I’m a pro.”
Mike crossed his arms, raising a brow at the same time, an amused smile breaking through and turning that sexy mouth of his into something Emma became hungry to taste. She swallowed with difficulty.
“Maybe I should have just asked what you’re good at.”
He had no business looking so hunky this early in the morning, filling out a pair of old, faded jeans as though he’d been poured into them. Emma recognized the tee shirt he was wearing beneath his open jacket as the one she’d ripped at the ball game. He hadn’t even made an attempt to mend it.
Before she realized what she was doing, her hand came up to finger the torn material, recalling the scratches that had lined his chest that day. “I’m good at a lot of things, Detective.”
Surely he knows I want him by now.
“Oh?”
She peered at him from beneath the sweep of her lashes. “But if you’re talking about fishing, I’m only good at cooking them, especially the ones without heads and tails.”
Mike threw back his head and let out a throaty laugh, the noise scaring the birds in the nearby trees into flight. “Come on.” He directed her to the opposite seat from him and forced her down. “Let’s go before I say to hell with fishing and take you inside.”
And do what?
His comment held her momentarily speechless. She enjoyed the playful banter between them, but there was no denying the smoldering awareness of each other that was simmering just beneath the surface, waiting to emerge and consume them if they let it.
PASSIONATE ENCOUNTERS Page 13