Only Jamie wasn’t backing off. And he was getting tired of living his life constantly looking over his shoulder.
The traffic in front of him moved forward and he followed suit, turning off into a parking lot a half mile up the road. Will had asked him to meet him for lunch at a rib joint and while he’d rather follow up on what was happening with Lucky, he’d decided a few ribs and some straight talk might be just what the doctor ordered.
Twenty minutes later, well into his second rib, he said to Will, point-blank, “I slept with her last night.”
His British friend gave him one of his best poker-faced stares. “Slept with whom?”
Colin put the rib down and wiped his hands on a napkin.
“So,” Will said, apparently realizing Colin wasn’t going to rise to the bait, “was it everything you imagined it would be?”
Colin met his friend’s gaze head-on. “And more.”
Will forgot nonchalance and raised his brows. “I was expecting a ‘no.”’
Colin grinned. “I know you were. But sorry, mate, I can’t give it to you,” he said, mimicking his friend’s accent.
They ate in silence for a few moments. “That good, huh?” Will asked.
“Mmm. And better.”
One night, right after Amanda had left Colin, the two men had finished off a twelve pack of beer and discussed how women might find these male exchanges. Will had surmised that since women romanticized everything, they’d be horrified to hear themselves being referred to by a rat ing system. Colin had liked to think women were more open-minded than that and had even been privy to a few female conversations where size had definitely been mentioned.
Will finished off his ribs then washed them down with the rest of his pint of beer. “So when do you take her home to meet the parents?”
Colin’s light mood took a dark nosedive.
“Uh-oh. I don’t know if I like the looks of that expression.”
“You can be such an arrogant ass, do you know that, Will?”
His friend crossed his arms on top of the table. “I daresay my irreverence is one of the things you love about me.”
Which was true.
Except his jibe this time had definitely hit the wrong chord.
“So you’re not taking her home to meet the parents, then?”
Colin gave up on the rest of his ribs. “We slept together, I didn’t propose to her.”
“Well, that’s good then.”
Colin stared at the bubbles lining the walls of his glass of club soda.
“It is good, isn’t it?”
“I don’t even know if I’m going to see her again.”
“Why not? Obviously you enjoyed the sex.” Will leaned back and allowed their server to take his plate. Colin bristled at the open way his friend eyed the pretty young waitress, because it made him wonder how often Lucky got the same attention. “Don’t tell me. She’s making serious noises already.” He sighed. “And why not? A doctor like yourself should be a good catch for someone of her station.”
He tamped down his irritation at Will’s continued underhanded jabs at Lucky. “To the contrary, she didn’t indicate one way or another that she wanted to see me again, either.”
“But she enjoyed the sex.”
“She very definitely enjoyed the sex.”
“So what’s the problem, mate? By all means have more of it, then.”
The problem was that he feared he was hearing his own brand of serious noises in his head.
“So, tell me,” he said, deciding he needed to change the subject, “how did everything go with pink ribbon number thirty-two?”
Will gave an exaggerated sigh. “I haven’t been half as lucky as you in that department, unfortunately. Get it? Lucky?”
Colin chuckled quietly and listened as his friend told him about his trials and tribulations with a woman who had decided she wasn’t going to have sex again until the day she was married.
8
AT TEN O’CLOCK that evening Colin sat on the same sofa he and Lucky had had sex on the night before, a psychology magazine open on his lap, the large-screen television flashing muted pictures of a newsmagazine show.
But his mind was on none of it. Instead his hand absently caressed the rich leather against which Lucky and her flawless skin had lain. And his mind focused on all that she’d said, all that she’d done up until she’d kissed him goodbye and left.
While Will’s words at lunch had made him a little hot under the collar, the fact remained that there were some real issues surrounding his connection to Lucky Clayborn.
But none of them stopped him from wanting her with a physical intensity that was foreign to him.
He’d called her number earlier, only to find it was out of service. A casualty of her unstable lifestyle? More than likely. Although he guessed Lucky was the type of person who would change her number just to keep people guessing. Just as she had prevented him from entering her place the night before, so she barred everyone from learning too much about her.
And for that reason he’d restrained himself from stopping by her place again. If he were to be truthful, he was half afraid he’d find she’d already moved on. Or might if he continued to invade her private sanctum.
He wondered how much those bottles behind the sink had to do with finding her peace of mind.
Colin picked up the remote, surfed through a few satellite channels, then he switched off the television altogether. He was all too familiar with addictive personality disorders. And while it was on record that Lucky had claimed her second D.U.I. offense had been the result of cold medication, he couldn’t help wondering how often she turned to those myriad bottles at her apartment to help chase away the monsters that were known to come out at night. He glanced toward the chess table set up to his left, recalling that they’d never gotten around to drinking those beers she’d brought them from the kitchen along with the pizza the night before. Also, he’d never detected a hint of liquor on her breath. But that didn’t necessarily mean she didn’t go back to her place at night and drink herself into a stupor.
He rubbed his face and sighed deeply, pondering what it was about this one woman that fascinated him so. She was prickly to a painful extent, yet soft and sexy and vulnerable. She needed help yet refused it. And she could take him to soaring heights of ecstasy with one little flick of her tongue or tilt of her lush hips.
The downstairs bell rang. He glanced at his watch, then put the magazine down on the coffee table and stepped toward the intercom. “Yes?”
“Colin? It’s Lucky. Hope you like chicken balls.”
He stood for a long moment grinning, then pressed the button that would allow her access to the lobby and the elevator.
He opened the door and leaned against the jamb. He was still standing there waiting when the elevator finally dinged and the doors opened to reveal her holding up take-out cartons.
“Ah, you were talking about Chinese food,” he said dryly.
She snorted inelegantly and brushed past him into his apartment.
Colin briefly closed his eyes, enjoying the scent of her as she passed. He hadn’t truly known how much he was looking forward to seeing her until that moment. Though he’d been darkly contemplating his connection to her only a short time before, now he wore a grin that didn’t seem to want to budge. And rather than dreading the rest of the evening he was now looking forward to it.
He turned to find her standing in the middle of the room.
“Where do you want it?” she asked.
Colin considered the provocative way she stood, her legs spaced slightly apart, her weight on one foot, calling attention to the shortness of her skirt and the tightness of her shirt.
“Hmm…I think the bedroom would work.”
TWO HOURS LATER Lucky straddled a sitting Colin in the middle of his gigantic bed. She was hot and sticky and she couldn’t seem to draw a full breath to save her life as he fondled her breasts, her womb still contracting from her latest clim
ax.
She propped her elbows on his shoulders and entangled her fingers in his hair. “What you do to me,” she murmured as she placed open-mouthed kisses all over his face then lingered on his delectable lips.
“What do I do to you?” he asked, nipping at the skin over her collarbone.
She managed to consider his question even as she reveled in the feel of him still filling her, the ache of her muscles from their second night of fantastic sex, and the hot proof of her passion for him wetting her thighs.
“You make me feel like I don’t know myself anymore. Like my body doesn’t belong to me.”
He chuckled softly and brushed her damp hair back from her face. “I think that’s the first time you’ve answered a question without challenging it.”
She searched his dark eyes, realizing he was right.
She rolled off him and groaned when her muscles pulled in protest. “I don’t know how much of this I can stand.”
Colin stretched out next to her, idly plucking her closest nipple. “I can’t remember having so much fun in the sack.”
She smiled as she stroked the hand that stroked her. “Then you’ve been missing out, doc.”
The bedding rustled as he shifted next to her. “No, it’s not that, Lucky. It’s…”
His words trailed off, causing her heartbeat to thicken.
“I don’t know about you, but that Chinese is looking awfully good to me right now.”
She climbed from the bed, put on her panties and her tank, then padded into the other room where she’d left the food cartons. The dim apartment’s only was illumination was golden pools of light from the moon that loomed large outside the windows. She wasn’t surprised when she felt Colin’s mouth against her shoulder and his ever-present arousal against her bottom.
“Here,” she said, handing him a carton over her shoulder along with chopsticks. “I hope you like Kung Pao chicken.”
“Mmm.” He seemed to like her flesh even more as he continued to nibble and lick. “I’d die for some Kung Pao chicken.”
He finally took the carton and they sat down across from each other at the gaming table against the window. As Lucky opened a carton of shrimp-fried rice and took a bite, she considered the view that lay ten floors below. The lights from the High Level Bridge twinkled, though she suspected it was more a trick of the wind. The waters of the Maumee River glistened darkly, sailboats anchored on this side of it, large ocean-going tankers on the opposite side. Spotlighted flags flapped lazily in the light breeze at International Park across the way, and it seemed every other window was still lit in the thirty-floor Owens-Illinois Building to the right of the Cherry Street Bridge.
She’d never really seen the city she’d grown up in from this vantage point. Shadows and cracked asphalt and roaring traffic was more a part of the vista outside her apartment window. But at least there were crickets and lightning bugs. Here she suspected there would be none.
“So what happened with your job?”
She blinked Colin’s handsome face into view. The pale light from the moon gave it a bluish cast, making him look even more striking, with his hair sloping over his brow, twelve o’clock shadow darkening his jaw.
She took another bite of rice then shrugged. “They fired me.”
His silence spoke volumes.
It seemed she’d taken great pleasure in shocking people for so much of her life that she was having a hard time with talking straight.
“But that’s all right. I landed a day job this afternoon.”
She wasn’t sure why she’d offered up the information. Normally she would have left her end of the conversation at “they fired me.” After all, it was nobody’s business but her own where she worked, how she survived. And it had been so long since someone had actually worried about her that it was…strange that Colin was now.
“Another bar?”
She smiled. “Do you want something to drink?”
She made her way to the kitchen, then came back with a couple of cans of sodas. She took note of his raised brow as she handed him one.
“What?”
He popped the top of his can and took a sip.
“I don’t know. I guess I was expecting beer.”
She sat back down and picked up her rice again. “No beer tonight. I want to be fresh when I start tomorrow morning at Women Only.”
“Sounds like a strip joint.”
She laughed quietly. “It’s a…actually, I’m not really sure what it is. But it’s definitely not a strip joint.”
She thought about how close she’d come to by passing the small business and actually going to a strip joint and sighed.
“The pay’s not much, but the girl who man ages the place…I don’t know. I liked her.”
“That’s good.”
Lucky looked across the small table to find Colin staring at her in a way that made the tiny hairs on her arms stand on end. “What?”
His grin made her stomach tremble. “Nothing. I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.”
Lucky returned her attention to her rice. She’d never been called beautiful before. Pretty, maybe once or twice. Sexy, definitely. But never beautiful.
But when Colin said it, she almost felt beautiful.
She reached across the table for the package of egg rolls, startled when he grasped her wrist.
“I think it’s time for dessert,” he whispered.
Before she knew it, she was being tugged into his lap back first.
Lucky gasped as she felt his rock-hard arousal press against her aching womanhood.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re insatiable?” she asked thickly.
His hands sought and found her breasts, then dove under the hem of her tank and cupped them tightly. “Has anyone ever told you you’re irresistible?”
He shifted them and the chair so that they were facing the window and the vista outside. She shuddered as one of his hands made a beeline for her crotch and stroked her through the material of her panties. Then the hand disappeared from her breast and a floor lamp flicked on next to them. She inhaled sharply when she discovered that the scene outside the window disappeared, the dark glass instead throwing back at her the image of herself straddling Colin. She hadn’t realized he hadn’t put anything on until that moment. His dark-hair-covered legs were spread, his manhood magnificently displayed beneath her own spread thighs. One of his hands tunneled inside her tank top and cupped her breast and the other worked its way inside her panties, boldly stroking her.
The sight was so powerfully erotic Lucky shuddered from head to foot. She found his hands with hers, covering them as he caressed and fondled her, until it was not only his hands doing the stroking, but her own as well.
An unbearable pressure built up low, low in her abdomen as he bit into her shoulder then pushed aside the crotch of her panties to reveal the dark-auburn thatch of hair there. He parted her damp flesh, showing her the core of her womanhood as his rigid shaft slid against it.
Lucky moved her hands to his knees and arched her back, her movements placing the knob of his arousal against her slick portal. A simple shift of her hips and he would breach the barrier. But rather than reaching for the condoms she noticed he’d put on the table, she worked her flesh down the length of him and back, avoiding penetration, reveling in the feel of her juices sluicing over his turgid flesh.
His left hand disappeared from between her legs and he was reaching around her to sheath himself. Then, finally, he thrust deep inside her.
Lucky instantly climaxed, shuddering all around him as she clutched his legs for balance. He stayed still, his gaze connected to hers in the glass. As soon as her spasms abated, he began to thrust again, his length entering and withdrawing.
A low, primal moan escaped from Lucky’s throat as she tilted her hips to meet his hungry lunges. His hands tightly gripped her waist, bring ing her down harder and faster, making it impossible for her to catch her breath. In the glass her breasts bounced, her
hair tumbled, and her mouth bowed open as flesh slapped against flesh, hard disappeared into soft, and she tumbled into a land she had never dared imagine existed.
She watched as Colin threw his head back and clenched his teeth, on the brink of orgasm. The moment his body stiffened, she bore tightly down against him and ground her hips, hitting spots that guaranteed she would chase right after him with a second climax.
For long minutes afterward, neither of them moved but for their ragged breathing. Then Colin was touching her again, his fingers branding her breast and her clit.
“I love to touch you,” he whispered harshly, kissing and licking her shoulder.
“I love it when you touch me.”
He grasped her hips and slowly withdrew, then tugged her so she straddled him from the front, putting them face-to-face. Lucky could no longer see their reflection in the glass. But she knew he could. She made the maneuvers necessary to strip herself of her shirt and panties, exchange Colin’s condom for a fresh one, then climb back on top of him. She tossed her hair so that it fell in long waves down the middle of her bare back, then pushed out her bottom so that all was revealed in the glass behind her.
She heard Colin’s deep groan then felt his fingers on her bottom where he parted her even further from behind so he could get a better look. She positioned herself directly over his rigid shaft then sank slowly down, well aware of the show she was providing for him. She was determined to create an experience he would never forget…and in turn earn herself an orgasm that she would always remember.
9
THREE DAYS LATER the manager of Women Only said to Lucky, “You have the look of a woman well sexed.”
Renae Truesdale was a few inches shorter than Lucky, but that didn’t detract from her dynamic presence. Around the same age as Lucky, Renae seemed to vibrate with a vivid vitality and sexuality most women would envy. Lucky had taken an immediate liking to her that first day when she’d approached her on the sidewalk. And three days later she felt the same.
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