by Lee, Liz
Oh what the hell? Cordelia set her glass down too and took a step into the unknown.
Slow and easy. Slow and easy. Joe repeated he words in his mind as he watched Cordelia move toward him with her easy grace.
When she looked into his eyes, that big grin that said she knew just what he wanted to do to her covering her face, he had to push away his first response. Because no way in hell would slow and easy follow that.
Instead he lowered his lips to hers in a light kiss full of future promise. Pulling back, he looked down at her closed eyes, the expectant tilt of her chin, the way her lips were slightly damp from his, and he felt a surge of need shoot through his entire body.
Nothing new about that. He’d been feeling need for her from the minute he’d spied her in the airport. But damn, this was different.
Slow and easy. He had to remind himself.
“See there. I kissed you and we’re both still standing. No danger yet.”
He watched her eyes open, watched her smile up at him. “I thought you said you wanted to talk.”
Oh did he ever want to talk.
He reached up and pushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and then dragged a fingertip down her cheek.
“You’re right. You look good tonight. Sexy. Romantic. Soft.” He ran the finger from her cheek down her neck, over her collarbone, to the top edge of her silky white nightgown.
“I’m going to have my work cut out trying to talk, trying to cook, trying to keep my mind off what it would feel like to let go and sink inside you.”
He watched the blossom of pink that covered her face and chest at his words, felt his own breath catch when hers did.
“But I’m not going to do that, Cordelia.” He gave up the fight and pulled her to him, let his hands brush down her back, over her rounded backside.
He lowered his mouth to her hair and softly moved them both to the jazz music she had playing. “I’m not going to let go yet because as good as it would feel, it’ll feel better later.”
She looked up at him, her body moving as an extension to his, and he could see she’d bought into his plan completely. “So we’re going to take it slow, talk a little, eat a little and then when we make love, it’ll be even better.”
He tried not to focus on her lips, the way the top one tilted barely on the left side. “That’s right.”
God she felt good in his arms. Perfect.
“I don’t know if I can handle better, Joe. I might just incinerate on the spot.”
He laughed at her words, understanding exactly what she meant and knowing in his gut that as good as it had been it could be so much better. “Follow me on this, and I promise you’ll never forget this night.”
Her eyes clouded at his words and for just a second, he thought she’d changed her mind, decided maybe this wasn’t what she wanted, but then she smiled up at him and nodded. “Okay then. We’ll try this your way.”
Chapter Eleven
When she’d agreed to talk, to eat, to follow his lead, Cordelia had no idea what she was in for.
Now that she’d spent the last hour laughing, helping cook a taco dinner, and finally setting a place at the table, only one at Joe’s insistence, she couldn’t figure out why she’d ever hesitated.
She’d never had so much fun in her life. He made her laugh more than any person she’d met, and he didn’t even have to try.
She sat at the table and watched him carry in the final dish, a bowl of homemade guacamole, before he sat down next to her.
“I figure one plate means one less dish to wash. Besides, this way I get to do this.”
She watched as he dipped a chip and held it to her mouth.
When her mouth closed over it she closed her eyes and let the flavors wash over her. Salt, lime, avocado. Yum. He’d missed his calling when he’d gone into law.
She chewed the chip and opened her eyes when she felt his thumb brush lightly over her lower lip.
He shrugged and smiled teasingly over at her. “Sorry, you missed a bit. I couldn’t resist.”
With the next bite, he brushed her silk covered nipple with the same thumb, now damp from her lip. When she looked up this time, he didn’t bother trying to play it off.
“Hey, I’m only human.”
And so the entire meal went. Cordelia couldn’t believe how erotic it was to let a man feed her. Could barely breathe as Joe found reason after reason to lightly touch her body with that same thumb.
By the time Joe left to grab dessert, her nipples were pebbled against the silk material covering them and she wanted nothing more than to stretch out on the table and beg him to forget about dessert.
And he’d done this to her with a thumb!
They hadn’t even talked really either. Just laughed, teased, made sexy remarks that left her breathless and wanting more.
She was just deciding how to get up on the table and not break it when Joe walked in carrying a crystal bowl of fresh fruit.
And the determined look on his face had her shifting plans.
When he set the bowl on the table just out of arms reach, she decided she couldn’t continue.
Standing up she turned toward him. “I’ve changed my mind, Joe. Let’s skip dessert and talk and go straight to the sex, what do you say?”
He laughed and shook his head as he sat down and turned his chair to face hers. “We made a deal. Remember? Besides, this is where the fun really starts. Come on, sit.”
Oh man. Cordelia waved her hands in front of her face in attempt to cool off. She should’ve turned the tables on him. Given him a taste of his own medicine, but it felt good to just be there, to let him torture her with his tiny touches that certainly shouldn’t have left her so hot.
And then he was there, standing next to her, taking a piece of ice from his mouth. Felt a single droplet of water splash on her neck before she felt the slick ice against her pulse point.
“That better?”
She closed her eyes and nodded, wanting to sink into the sexual haze he’d been building all night.
In seconds she’d gone from hot to cold, and it was the best cold she’d ever felt in her life.
When he quit sliding the ice over her skin, she opened her eyes again and let him push her into the chair.
If he wanted to talk, eat dessert, whatever, she was definitely going to follow his lead.
Slow and easy. Joe’s mind pelted the words at him as he felt the push of his erection against his pants.
Damn he wanted her completely. Now. But he wanted to wait more.
Taking a strawberry from the bowl he smiled over at her. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You pick the topic. We each get to talk for two minutes and then I’ll ask you a question. If you get the answer right, you get to do whatever you want to me, but you can’t leave your chair. Wrong, and the chance shifts to the other person.”
He bit into the ripe fruit and enjoyed the sweet taste as he watched her process his idea.
“So this is a game?”
He nodded and took another bite of the strawberry. She watched him chew for a second. “Why not just talk?”
He swallowed the last bite of fruit and shrugged. “I’ve had fun so far, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but…”
He held a strawberry to her mouth. “Trust me. You’ll like this.”
She took his word on both counts, biting into the fruit and nodding her head.
“Okay, since I made the rules, I’ll go first, if that’s okay with you.”
She nodded again, and this time he could see the calculating look on her face as she remembered the reward for a correct answer.
She shot him a smile that promised retribution before she spoke. “Okay. Topic one. Cars.”
When he’d planned this game, he hadn’t planned on her knowing about his personal life first. He couldn’t help but laugh. “I forgot you spent the day with my sister.”
She shrugged. “You made the rules.”
“So I did. Okay, cars.
I grew up around cars. Rebuilt the first three I owned with my dad’s help. The first a La Baron with bench seats I never got to use the proper way because I sold it before I was old enough to drive. The second a Mustang I planned on racing, but never got around to, and the last a La Mans convertible. I used its seats the right way lots of times.”
Man he’d loved that car. “I raced when I was a kid, but decided I wasn’t ever going to make the big bucks doing that. Plus it scared my momma after a few wrecks, so I quit.”
The last wreck had left him in the hospital for a couple days, but he didn’t want to talk about that. “I still can pretty much fix most cars, and I change my own oil just because I like to.”
And his two minutes might not be up, but he wanted to end with this. “And the first time I thought about making love to you, you were sitting in my SUV, flirting with me, wearing that red dress I’ll never forget. I might not have bench seats anymore, but if you want, I bet I can take you out and show you why making love in a car is one of the sexiest past times known to man.”
She waved her hands in front of her face and laughed. “You still have that ice, I think I might need it.”
Good.
“Darlin’, I promise, before this night’s over, you’ll be seeing that ice again.”
Her eyes flashed pure heat at his words and he had to force himself to stay seated. “Okay. Question number one. And remember the stakes are high here. What was my second car?”
He watched as she closed her eyes, remembering his words. “I remember the last one because Taylor told me about that. And I know why you got rid of the second car, but I can’t quite remember…”
As she tried to recall he thought about what he’d do if she got the answer wrong. Something sexy as hell. Maybe…
“A mustang!”
Okay, so that would have to wait.
She laughed when he nodded and then he watched as her mood shifted. When she bit her bottom lip he wanted to reach out and smother her lips with his own. But she’d won the first chance.
“I can’t get out of the chair, right?”
He nodded and she took her time looking him up and down, biting her lip the entire time.
Finally she leaned forward and one at a time undid the buttons on his shirt before pushing it back and letting it fall to the floor.
When she was done she sat back and smiled and it was his turn to laugh. His turn to pick a topic.
“Okay. My turn to pick a topic. How about, sisters.”
Cordelia scrunched up her nose when she heard his topic. Could he have picked anything worse? Ugh!
“Okay, sisters. You already know Irene, so this will be interesting. Irene was always the most outrageous person in town. I know she became a show girl just to make my mother crazy.”
She knew because at one time, Irene had told her just that.
“But she’s still the same kind of sister now that she was when we were little. She gives me fashion advice, man advice, travel advice. She gets me out of comfort zone.”
All true, even though he didn’t know the half of it.
“She’s always encouraged my imagination. But sometimes the results aren’t so great. Once when we were little our Barbies went on a campout with a friend’s G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe built a campfire while we took the Barbies skinny dipping and when we came back the fire was completely out of control because G.I. Joe boy was watching us skinny dip. We got in so much trouble.”
She’d never forget her father’s stern face as he told her that following in Irene’s footsteps was a big mistake for a sweet girl like her.
“Later, in college after a night out, she and I danced on the pool tables at a local bar. We both almost got arrested when she started stripping her shirt off. In the end, we settled for matching tattoos instead.”
That first dare seemed so long ago.
“And I bet she knew just what she was doing when she had you pick me up from the airport. If not for Irene, I wouldn’t know you like to get me all hot and bothered simply by saying a few sexy words. That a single touch from you leaves me feeling like jelly. That multiple orgasms are possible even in the bath tub.”
She enjoyed the look on his face as she finished her two minutes. Yep, she’d shocked him. Yes, yes, yes!
“And now for my first question.” She stopped and tried to think of a good one. But did she even want him to get it wrong?
“Why did the Barbie campfire end up out of control?”
Joe sat back in the chair, lifting the front legs off the floor as he crossed his arms over his now bare, ultra sexy chest and smiled that slow smile that made her toes curl. Oh man.
“That’s an easy one. Your G.I. Joe buddy decided to get an eyeful and watch you and your sister skinny-dipping. Smart man. Now it’s my turn.”
He lowered the chair to the floor with a thud and Cordelia made herself breathe as he decided just how to spend his chance.
When he snagged another strawberry from the bowl of fruit, she wondered what he hand in mind.
And then he pulled her leg into his lap, letting the silky material of her nightgown part on either side and she didn’t wonder anything more.
She just watched and felt as he slowly unrolled the thigh high from that leg and tossed it across the room before slowly drawing the strawberry over every exposed inch of skin.
The way down was exquisite, sensuous as the smell of the fruit permeated the air, as she felt every tiny bump, the tickle of the stem.
The way up was tortuous as he slowly slid the berry over her inside calf, knee, thigh. She closed her eyes when he lifted her leg to his shoulder and continued the silent, upward trek, slowly, slowly until she felt the berry drip against the wetness of the thong panties that covered her.
“I want to taste you, right now.” His words were whispered on a ragged breath and she fought to keep from begging him to do just that.
“It’s still your turn.”
That was all the permission he needed.
Slowly he scooted her forward, lifted her leg a little more, as he lowered his mouth inch by inch over the skin the strawberry had covered. Until finally, finally she felt his hot breath there, just where the juice had dropped.
She felt the flick of his tongue against the material and pressed up from the chair, her own need exploding. She whimpered as she felt yet another flick of his tongue and she wished, hoped, silently begged him to whisk away the material that covered her from him, but he didn’t.
Instead she felt as his tongue brushed the outside edges of her panties, the silky, now drenched, material that covered her.
Oh God she wanted to feel…
She heard his moan coupled with her whimper as she pressed up again, and then the cool air as he lifted his mouth away. As he lowered her leg back to the floor.
She opened her eyes, not sure what was next. Hoping…
But then she saw his smile. And even though fire filled his eyes, she could tell he was ready to continue the game.
Slow and easy.
Damn, but that was difficult. Joe watched her thinking about what to ask next and knew he’d done the right thing by stopping. When they finally did make love tonight, she’d never forget this moment.
He didn’t know why that mattered so much, but it did.
Cordelia didn’t back her chair away. Instead she left it right where it was, her one bare leg a reminder of where his mouth had just been.
He didn’t know how in the hell was he going to make his mind work with his raging hard-on.
She took a deep breath and he noticed her nipples were still rock hard, her pupils still dilated, her lips still swollen.
Damn.
“Okay. Your turn. Sisters.”
He shook his head. “Hey Miss Imagination. Get your own topic.”
She shook her head. “No way. I choose sisters.”
He closed his eyes and wondered what she’d do to get back at him this time.
“Okay. Sisters. Taylor’s my only sister. S
he’s the baby of the family, so she’s used to getting her way, and that made for some interesting stories when we were younger. When I was ten and she was five, I let her play beautician on my hair. Before it was over, I was covered in makeup and in my mother’s heals and pearls.”
His mother still had pictures from that day and she threatened to blackmail him with them often.
“She always wanted to follow me everywhere, even when I was just doing guy stuff. She could’ve followed any of the other boys, but she wanted to follow me. Well, she and J.D. wanted to follow me. I swear they were joined at the hip from birth.”
He shook his head remembering how it had always been a given that Taylor and J.D. would live happily ever after.
“Once we had a club house set up out in the middle of this field. No girls allowed. Taylor hated that clubhouse more than anything. I think more because we let J.D. come in and not her. I was twelve by then and really didn’t care too much about the club, but the others did.”
He’d never forget the time and energy he and his brothers had put into that old hut.
“Anyway, one day Taylor went riding by on her pony and dropped a match on the hut. In a matter of minutes, the whole field was on fire. My brother Michael and I had to ride out and save her from her own damn fire. She’s always been kind of ferocious, but she’s never been malicious again. I’d say she learned her lesson about playing with fire. Until now that is.”
Moving to Vegas was likely to get her burned a whole lot worse than a stupid little field fire.
“My sister decided she likes you. Calls you Vegas, which is odd since you’re a Texan. But she said you thought I wouldn’t notice about your trip today. And for the record, I definitely noticed your wax job. And I can’t wait to see more of it.”
He stopped and waited to see her response but she just slid her legs open a little wider, letting him catch barely a glimpse of soft flesh.
“So now the question. Okay, it’s an easy one. Who was attached to my sister’s hip practically from birth?”
Cordelia didn’t think before she answered. She’d planned on sabotaging this answer with a quick I don’t know just to see what he’d do next, but she couldn’t let this slip by. She owed it to his sister.