Deodorant. Definitely deodorant.
Later, stepping into the shower, she decided she’d even shave her legs.
Why? She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but as she glided the blade up her thigh, two words repeated themselves in her mind.
Bad Penny.
Bad, bad Penny.
An hour later, Penny left her personal refuge and stepped up to the Wrights’ front door. The house felt quiet, with all the curtains pulled shut and no TV or music playing.
She knocked softly, at first, and upon receiving no answer, rapped harder.
Still, no answer.
What if he’d fallen? Or had a bad reaction to his medicine? Had she already failed Mrs. Wright by allowing something tragic to befall the local hero?
Don’t be silly, Penny.
But she needed to check on him. She’d promised.
Turning the knob, she was surprised, and yet not, to discover it had been left open. She pushed on the door and then stepped inside.
“Hello?” she called out.
“Up here,” Chaz replied.
He wasn’t dead.
That was good.
She followed the sound of his voice and climbed the stairs. “It’s me, Penny.” She felt a little uneasy just walking in but the man was injured, for heaven’s sake! “Are you decent?”
An exasperated grunt could be heard from the end of the hall but he didn’t answer.
She followed the sound to the open door and peeked inside. He was sitting on the bed wearing those same sweats.
And nothing else.
Although he seemed to be attempting to put a sock on.
A pair of athletic shoes was lined up neatly on the floor a few feet away.
He dropped his foot, still bare, and looked up. “This is fucking ridiculous!”
His hair was mussed and the bed unmade. “Did I wake you up?” She walked forward and kneeled down in front of him. “Give me those.” Of course, nobody could put socks on one handed. He obediently handed them over and relaxed.
“Going for a run?” she chided him.
“I can’t spend every waking hour in this room. I’ll go crazy…”
Penny grasped one foot in her hands and suddenly became aware of the fact that she was touching him again. Not pressing her body up against him like she had in the car but she had her hand on his smooth, naked foot… and was in his bedroom.
“Your feet are cold.” She rubbed both of her hands along his ankle, his heel, his arch, and his toes. She then stretched the sock and slid it on.
There were little specks of hair on the top of his foot and toes.
An aching, heavy feeling settled around her thighs and groin.
Holy hell, even his feet turned her on.
Taking hold of his other foot, she tried to be more aloof and efficient as she slid the sock up and over his ankle. “Where do you want to go?” He shouldn’t be trying to go anywhere.
“The kitchen.”
“You need socks for that?”
“My feet were cold,” he reminded her.
She rose from the floor and looked around. She supposed she could help him find something to eat.
And then she caught sight of the mirror on the wall.
In the clear reflection, she could see her own window perfectly.
In fact, she could see her desk, her laptop, the towel she’d thrown over the chair yesterday.
When she’d been looking in.
Oh, God.
Oh, God!
She glanced at him and the look on his face told her all she needed to know.
She had to get out of there.
No wonder he’d teased her. No wonder he’d played with her!
He knew she’d been watching him. And God help her! She’d done more than watch him.
She pivoted and made a move for the door but a strong arm grabbed her from behind.
“It’s okay, Penny. It’s no big deal.” She felt his breath by the side of her face, by her ear. It was hot, moist, trying to dismiss the fact that she’d… Oh, God!
She wanted to sob. She was mortified.
Absolutely.
Mortified.
He pulled her against him, just as he’d attempted in the store.
She’d never done anything like that in her entire life, and now to realize he’d been watching her… while she’d watched him… touching herself at the same time…
“It was hot.” His breath whispered on her skin.
As he turned her to face him, her bones, oddly enough, could no longer hold her body up. She collapsed into him, both in shame and in… something else. She covered her face with her hands. She was embarrassed and humiliated, and at a complete and utter loss. “I can’t do this anymore,” she cried. She didn’t seem to have control of herself anymore. “I don’t even know how to live anymore. I’m so s-s-s-sorry.” She was shaking.
And then she was sobbing.
For the second time in two days.
But this time, she was not alone. This time, she let her tears fall onto Chaz’ naked chest and the bandage wrapped around him.
Big gulping sobs. Pressing her into his chest, he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Shh… it’s okay. This isn’t about butt-pillow girl, is it?”
She laughed and then sobbed again.
So much for putting makeup on.
And then his hand was in her hair.
“I don’t even know.” She barely got the words out. He was massaging her scalp and getting his fingers all tangled up in her outrageous curls.
He bent his face down closer to hers. “It was one of the hottest things I’ve ever done.” His mouth was by her eye now.
“But–” she moaned. “But I’m so much older than you.”
His response was to grind his hips into her. “You don’t feel old to me.”
He was rock hard, pressing into her belly with just her T-shirt and his sweats between them. And now his mouth was on her skin. Licking and nipping until he found her mouth.
His tongue flicked at the crease in her lips for only a second before he thrust it in.
She couldn’t help it. Just this time. Just this man. She couldn’t help but open up for him.
He tasted so… so… so incredibly, gloriously male.
Her own hands wound up and around his neck. She wanted to wrap her legs around him, too. She wanted to climb him. She wanted to mold herself to him.
She explored along his teeth with her tongue.
She’d completely forgotten what this felt like. Kissing. Kissing because she wanted to. Because she couldn’t help herself.
Not out of duty or habit.
The heaviness between her legs turned into an ache which spread up into her breasts.
He’d untangled his hand from her hair and hitched one of her legs around his waist.
Penny dropped one of her hands and tried to pull him closer.
“Ah! Oh, fuck!”
He dropped her leg and grasped his shoulder. He moved so quickly that she fell back onto the bed.
In her unbridled passion, she’d inadvertently squeezed his wounded shoulder.
She would have fled except she needed to make sure she hadn’t maimed him first.
“Penny.” He spoke between gasps of pain. “Don’t you dare run. I know that’s what you’re thinking.” He released his shoulder and stood facing her. “You are not leaving me in this condition.”
The obvious raging erection beneath his sweats begged for attention.
When would she admit to herself that she needed to break free of who she’d become? That she wanted to leave the old Penny behind and become somebody else for a little while? Somebody who took what she wanted and embraced sexual need? Lust?
With his feet braced, he stood directly in front of her, his hand in her hair again.
“You want this, Penny. Just admit it.” He pressed his hips forward, the material of those sweats brushing her face.
Without even thinking about it, she reached up and gr
asped his waistband.
She let her fingers dip inside and slide around to his hips.
And then she slowly…
Tugged.
Down.
When was the last time she’d done this? How many times had she done this?
She thought she could count on less than two hands the amount of times she’d given her husband head.
And less than one hand the number of times she’d wanted to.
But she wanted this. Every inch of it.
No, strike that, she needed this. She needed to take this heavy, pulsing cock into her mouth.
She released the sweats and wrapped her fingers around him.
It was hot, hard, and silky.
And grew larger before her eyes.
She glanced up. Chaz watched with a hooded gaze.
“Are you still in pain?” The grimace he made resembled his expression after she’d nearly maimed him.
He groaned and pressed himself forward. “Not my shoulder, sweetheart.”
A part of her could hardly believe she was in his room, sitting on his bed.
She was going to let her body take over. She would ignore the taunts of unworthiness for now.
Leaning forward, she flicked her tongue around the head. A bead of liquid escaped, salty, warm, slick.
Carnal, animal hunger assaulted her. She swirled her lips around the tip and then slid him into her mouth.
With her hair twisted around his hand, he rocked his hips a little. “Oh, fuck, Penny. Fuck.”
He rocked his hips forward again, this time pressing himself deeper into her mouth. She relaxed and let him slide to the back of her throat.
Her breasts ached, and she squeezed her legs together.
He pulled back and then coaxed himself deeper. She didn’t need to be coaxed. When he pulled back, she sucked.
She sucked him right back into her mouth.
Both of her hands clutched at him now. Even his ass was all muscle. She kneaded the muscles there, where she could, pressing him harder into her.
She knew she couldn’t take him all the way but she’d do her damnedest. Breathing through her nose, she relaxed and listened to his moans and the sounds of him moving in and out.
She’d never felt this way before.
Never.
She’d scoffed at women who’d claimed to like this. She’d considered it degrading, overly submissive.
A little gross.
She squeezed the small amount of flesh she could get ahold of at the bottom of his cheeks.
He pumped forward.
“Touch yourself, Penny. Touch yourself for me,” he rasped.
She was no longer wife, daughter, divorcee… She was a woman who needed one thing more than anything else.
She pulled the material of her skirt up and spread her legs.
Her panties were more than a little damp.
She rubbed her hand over the silky material in tandem to his thrusts. Her scalp was beginning to burn from his tight grip in her hair. Harder now.
Faster.
And then he pulled himself out of her mouth and was on the bed with her. “I need your help, Penny,” he said. “Get your panties off so I can get in there.” He was on his back, pulling her skirt up around her waist. Careful not to injure him again, she scrambled as elegantly as she could to comply with his demand.
And then she was straddling him. God, but she was wet and he was hard.
She lowered herself, not caring about anything else in the entire world. The house could have been on fire. They could have been in the middle of an earthquake. Hundreds of people could have been watching. All she cared about was the way this felt. The way he felt.
The fact that he was filling an emptiness she’d not even realized she’d had.
But oh, how she needed him in there.
Deep.
And he stretched her. She could have sworn he pushed against her womb. He was deeper than any man had ever been. She lowered herself further and gasped.
Right there.
Oh, God, right there.
CHAPTER SIX
A Woman Like Penny
It took every ounce of self-control not to come in her mouth. She’d seemed enthusiastic enough but he hadn’t known for sure.
There was something about her.
Tumbling blond curls, eyes that changed from brown to green, and sweet, soft curves.
And a velvety mouth and an even more velvety cunt. Tight, hot, and wet.
His shoulder was killing him but there was no way in hell he would stop.
He’d seen this need inside of her from the beginning. The tension he’d felt from her had left little doubt.
Watching her in the mirror yesterday had confirmed his suspicions.
And now, all of that tension, all that pent-up need, was wrapped around him, sliding heat along his length.
On all fours, she rode him almost mindlessly.
She was still fully clothed. Her skirt gathered at her waist, though, revealed the most incredible womanly thighs. He’d done nothing to remove her T-shirt and bra. With the use of just one hand, there was no way he could maneuver her shirt over her head.
At that thought, he reached out, pulled her down so that his teeth could capture her collar and then…
Rip!
He tore it off – ripped it straight down the front, revealing a thin practical bra and pale, vulnerable… lickable, tasteable skin.
Her eyes flew open and she lost her rhythm. “I want to see you.” He’d not apologize. And then he thrust his hips upward.
“Ohh.” Her head fell back. “Oh, fuck me. Oh, please, just fuck me.” She looked like she would cry if he didn’t.
He needed no additional encouragement.
He only wished he had the use of his other arm!
But she was helpful. Moving, grinding, riding, and gliding along him.
He pushed her bra straps down her arms until they were tight around her elbows. With hungry fingers, he scooped his hand inside one of the cups of her bra, freeing one breast, and then the other. They felt heavy in his hands but they were also pert. How had he never found breasts like this before? Leaning forward, he took one nipple into his mouth. When he tugged and nipped, she moaned again.
Her low, sexy sounds nearly had him exploding then and there.
He sucked and then tugged harder. Her nipples were like pebbles. He kneaded the other one with his hand.
And she kept grinding.
And moaning.
Thank God they were alone in the house. Hopefully, the neighbors on the other side weren’t home this morning. He’d hate to think what kind of report they’d give his parents if they were.
Not that he cared, but he knew she would.
It was as though everything she needed, the only thing she needed, right in this moment, was something only he could give her. She needed a man who could fully appreciate the want inside of her.
And he, in turn, needed her. She wasn’t looking for a guy to show off to her friends. A guy she could take out to the clubs. She wasn’t looking to land a pilot.
The things other woman chased him for seemed to be the things Penny needed to look past.
Because she hadn’t been going to take him seriously. She’d fought it.
She hadn’t stood a chance.
Sure as hell, this was ninety-nine percent physical but he felt something else. Something in her soul tugged at him.
Ever since that fucking blast! He’d been harassed by gnawing anxiety, frustration… and a blood-sucking worthlessness. The notion that he wouldn’t fly again, that he was no longer the go to guy, had taunted him.
And then he’d caught Penny watching him.
Not knowing who he was. Not knowing anything about him. She’d watched him.
She’d watched him with that innocent but ferocious hunger.
And in doing so, she’d chased away those taunting voices of irrelevance.
She needed him. Something had gone very wrong in her
life, leaving her lost and second-guessing her own worth.
And a woman like Penny… needed to feel treasured, beautiful… lusted after.
Being inside of her, engulfed by her warm, tight heat, he felt connected on an almost spiritual level. Which made no sense at all.
It made him wonder. About fate, destiny, all that crap he’d never really thought of.
He was pretty sure she’d come more than once already, and yet she wouldn’t stop to catch her breath.
Chaz put a hand on her hip and raised himself up off the bed, meeting her but slowing her down at the same time.
She sat straight up on top of him now, her head dropped back, too heavy to hold up. Chaz, clutching one of her thighs, drove their motion. And then…
“Oh, fuck, Penny.” He barely managed to get out, “Condom.”
It took a minute for his words to penetrate her thoughts.
“No.” She fell forward and moaned, “Oh, shit. Do you have any?”
Every single day of his life, since turning sixteen, he’d kept condoms in his possession. In his wallet, his shaving case, his dresser.
Except for now. When his mom had collected his belongings from the barracks and then picked him up from the hospital, she’d failed to grab the box of condoms out of his bathroom.
Chaz slid his hand up from her sweet little tush and then rubbed her back. “I don’t.”
At which point, she collapsed heavily on top of him.
He was still hard, inside her, but the pain in his shoulder had decided to make itself known again.
She raised one of her legs and rolled off but when she went to get up from the bed, he stopped her. “No, stay here a minute.” He didn’t want this to end. He was inexplicably fearful that she’d throw her clothes on, run out the door, and never talk to him again.
Which was not something he was used to.
She hesitated. “I’m not on the pill.”
“That’s not what I mean. Come back here.”
He reached out his good arm and indicated she lay beside him. Looking uncertain, she tentatively crawled across the mattress, put one hand on his chest, and then curled up beside him.
His situation was painfully obvious. If he had the use of his other hand, he could do something about it. His cock twitched as though demanding attention.
And then, thank God, Penny trailed her hand downward. “It’s all messy.” She flicked her eyes up at him. He couldn’t remember being with a woman who was so apologetic about her sexuality. “From me.”
The Mile High Madness Page 46