“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not meeting him until later, too, out by the rose garden at midnight.” Then she grinned wryly. “Maybe our dates are hanging out together until later.”
His low, deep laughter curled through her. “In that case, why don’t we do the same thing?” He held his hand out to hers. “Care to dance?”
It sounded like a wonderful distraction to her. She placed her fingers in his warm palm, which felt so perfectly right. “I would love to.”
He led her outside to the patio, where the music was playing and the mood was festive. The next few hours passed quickly as they danced, perused the buffet, drank another glass of champagne, and then danced some more.
When a slow song came over the speakers, Alyssa turned to walk off the dance floor, but before she could escape Shane grabbed her hand and gently whirled her back around to face him. Before she could protest, he wrapped one arm around her waist, gathered her close, and secured her other hand in his.
He raised a teasing brow at her. “You thought you were going to get away, didn’t you?”
She wasn’t about to admit that yes, she’d been trying to avoid this kind of close contact with him. Her hormones just couldn’t take the feel of his hard, warm body pressed so intimately against hers.
“What if our dates are watching us?” she asked, using that as an excuse for him to let her go.
“Who cares?” he said, shrugging those broad shoulders of his. “I’m not letting you go until the song ends, so relax and enjoy yourself.”
How in the world was she supposed to relax when every single one of her feminine nerve endings were tingling with sexual awareness? She exhaled a deep breath that didn’t do much to dispel the tension humming through her veins.
As they swayed to the music, their bodies seemingly melted into one another, aligning in a way that was very seductive and arousing—as was the slow, rhythmic way his hips moved against hers. He slid a hand down her back, and let his warm palm come to rest at the base of her spine. A hard, masculine thigh pressed between hers, her breasts grew heavy, and her sensitive nipples peaked against the lacy cups of her bra.
Her pulse quickened, and she bit her bottom lip to hold back a groan of pure pleasure.
And still, he continued to torment her.
He pressed his cheek lightly to hers, and she felt his damp, heated breath caress her skin, could smell the warm, male scent of his cologne that did crazy things to her insides. Her knees went weak, as did her resolve to keep things platonic between them.
His lips grazed her jaw, then trailed down the side of her neck. She closed her eyes as a shiver rippled through her, bringing with it a need and hunger so strong it threatened every one of her defenses against this man who was her very best friend.
“You really do look beautiful tonight, Alyssa,” he murmured, his voice husky and rough around the edges. “Your secret admirer is one hell of a lucky guy.”
She didn’t know what to say, because at the moment she didn’t give a damn about her secret admirer, or what he might think about the way she looked. Shane made her feel beautiful, and sexy, and she wanted him like no other man she’d ever been with. And if they weren’t surrounded by other people in the midst of a party, she feared she would have given into that desire right then and there.
That startling thought was enough for her to put an end to their slow, tantalizing dance, even before the music ended. She tried to ease from his embrace, but he didn’t completely let her go.
She couldn’t look him in the eye, afraid that he’d be able to see just how affected she was by him. “I, ummm, I need to go.”
“Go where?” he asked, his voice too damn alluring.
“To meet my date.” She dared to finally look at him, and found him staring at her with such unnerving intensity. “It’s almost midnight.”
This time when she moved away from him, he released her, much to her relief, because she needed the physical distance. She went inside to get her shawl, saw that it was less than ten minutes away from twelve o’clock, and made her way out to the rose garden to regain her composure and clear her head before her secret admirer arrived.
Drew and Cynthia’s backyard was large and beautifully landscaped, and while Alyssa could hear the guests up at the house, it was quiet where she was, with only the bright moonlight offering her any source of illumination. She breathed slow and deep and paced restlessly along the short walkway, welcoming the cool evening air wafting along her over heated body.
Minutes later she heard someone approaching from behind, and with her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest, she turned around, fully expecting her secret admirer to be standing there. Instead she found Shane, and while she was surprised that he’d followed her out to the rose garden, she didn’t think her date would appreciate Shane being there when he arrived. If he even showed up.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked cautiously.
He came up to her and gently brushed away wisps of hair tickling the side of her face. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” she said, all too aware of the butterflies that had hatched in her stomach upon seeing him again. “Though I’m beginning to think we both got stood up tonight.”
He smiled at her, his dark eyes indulging her. “No man in his right mind would stand you up, Alyssa.”
She trembled deep inside, and she wasn’t so sure that it was the chilled air that had caused the reaction, but rather the rich, sincere tone of Shane’s voice.
“I’m starting to have my doubts about that.” She tugged her shawl tighter over her shoulders, using it for warmth and a protective shield from her response to Shane’s nearness, as well. “I just heard someone up at the house yell that there was only two more minutes left until midnight, and here I am standing in the rose garden with you, not my date, and I have no idea who he is.”
He pushed his hands into the front pockets of his slacks, his casual stance belying the direct and purposeful way he was watching her. “Don’t you think you’ll know him when you see him?”
Startled by his choice of words, she narrowed her gaze at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“The guy you’re waiting for could be standing right in front of you.”
You won’t need an introduction, her secret admirer had told her. “Is he?” she whispered in a strangled voice.
Shane’s expression never changed. “What do you think?”
Her head spun as bits and pieces of her on-line conversation with him filtered through her mind, fast and furiously . . . I want you to know that I’m very attracted to you and have been for some time now . . .you have beautiful blue eyes . . .I love your laughter. It’s husky and sexy . . . Your friend is a lucky guy to be able to spend the night with you.
She grew dizzy over the probability that Shane had been her secret admirer all along.
“Oh, God,” she breathed in shock. “You’re . . .”
“The One For You,” he finished before she could, giving her the screen name he’d used over the past few days.
And now, it held a deeper, more intimate meaning.
She shook her head wildly, feeling so overwhelmed and confused. “I don’t understand. What about the woman you’re trying to impress?”
Finally, a slow, hopeful smile lifted his lips. “You’re that woman, Alyssa.”
“You made all those changes for me?” she asked in disbelief. “Your clothes, your hair, this new image of yours . . .”
He nodded. “Because I hoped that those changes would show you that I can be everything you’re looking for in a man, inside and out.”
Her heart squeezed tight and tears burned the back of her throat, because she so wanted him to be the man for her, but she didn’t know if she could be the kind of woman he needed in his life. And she didn’t give a damn about his nice, preppy clothes and clean-cut image. She loved him just the way he was, before his transformation.
Oh, Lord, she love
d him. More than the sibling she never had. More than the best friend he was. She loved everything about Shane Witmer.
Up at the house, they could hear the countdown for the stroke of midnight begin. In ten more seconds, it would be New Year’s Day.
She stared at Shane, who was standing in front of her so patiently, waiting for her to make a decision—to say or do something to let him know where he stood with her now. But she couldn’t bring herself to speak. He’d gone all out to be her secret admirer and change his appearance to please her. He’d made himself vulnerable for her, and was now facing the possibility of her rejecting him.
As shocking as it was even to her, she had no intentions of turning him away.
But she was merely a woman, with a woman’s heart and needs, and she was only so strong. She didn’t want to be alone tonight. Didn’t want to go home to an empty bed and dreams of Shane. She ached for him, and it was a need she could no longer deny.
The guests at the party hooted and hollered and starting singing, Auld Lang Syne, as the clock struck midnight.
“Happy New Year, Alyssa,” Shane said, and made no move to hug her as he normally would.
No, she realized he was waiting for her to make the first move, whatever it might be.
Her mind told her to get the hell out of there before she did something she regretted later, but her emotions . . . oh, Lord, they were telling her to follow what was in her heart. What had been there for years.
Before she lost her nerve, or came to her senses, she closed the distance between herself and Shane, curled a hand around the nape of her neck and brought his mouth down to hers for a hot, deep, and wholly passionate kiss. And nothing in that moment mattered but kissing this man who meant everything to her.
Shane didn’t hesitate to respond. His warm palms framed the sides of her face, and he angled her head for a deeper, more demanding possession. Their tongues touched, entwined, mated, and she moved in closer, drawn to the heat of his body. Their hips aligned, and he was already hard and thick, and her own body softened, growing damp with desire, burning up with need.
Too soon he ended the kiss and stared deeply, steadily, into her eyes, so that there was no mistaking the depth of his feelings for her. “I want you, Alyssa.”
“I know.” Her words were hushed, almost a whisper, and it was a major battle to keep her fears out of the equation. “Even though I know I shouldn’t, I want you, too.”
“Be with me tonight.”
His request was simply, eloquently stated, leaving no doubt in her mind what he was asking.
Her answer was just as meaningful. “Yes.”
CHAPTER SIX
Alyssa had been in Shane’s bedroom many times before, but never under such intimate circumstances. They stood beside his bed, which he’d turned down, and gently clasped her hands in his much larger, warmer ones. They were both still fully clothed, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling so bared and vulnerable in her whole entire life, as she did in that moment.
“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?” he asked as he tenderly rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles.
Sweetheart. That was an endearment he’d never used with her before. Already there were subtle changes happening in their relationship, and they hadn’t even slept together yet. She didn’t want to think about the more devastating changes that might occur between them come the morning.
She reached up, pulled the pins from her hair, and let it tumble around her shoulders in a mass of disheveled curls. “Don’t ask me that question right now, Shane,” she said, because if he gave her too much time to contemplate the answer, he wouldn’t like what she had to say. The only thing she was certain of at this very moment was wanting this one night with him. She’d deal with everything else tomorrow.
“I don’t want to think about anything right now except you and me, together.” Smoothing her hands up his chest, she went to work on the buttons of his shirt. He’d removed his jacket and tie as soon as they’d walked into his house, which made her job of undressing him all that much easier. “Tonight, I just want you to make me feel.”
He charmed her with one of his devastatingly sexy grins. “Oh, I plan to.”
She wanted to make him feel, too, and set out to do so. As she bared his throat, she leaned in pressed her nose to his neck and inhaled his warm, male scent. When all the buttons on his shirt were unfastened, she pushed the fabric over his broad shoulders and along his arms while planting soft, warm kisses down his muscular chest.
He groaned raggedly and threaded his fingers through her hair as she flicked her tongue over a rigid nipple, then the other. Her mouth came back up to his for more of his slow, soft, sensual kisses while her hands unbuckled the thin leather belt at his waist. He reached behind her, unzipped her dress, and with a firm tug it slithered down her body and pooled on the floor at her feet. His slacks joined the array of clothing, leaving him clad in only his boxer-briefs, and her in a sheer, lacy bra and silky panties.
Lifting his lips from hers, he took a step back and looked his fill of her, his eyes darkening with a hungry heat as he traced a finger along the upper swells of her breasts, then into the full cleavage, where he found the front clasp to her bra and deftly unsnapped it. The cups fell away, releasing her heavy, swollen breasts to his gaze.
He pushed her bra straps over her shoulders and down her arms. “I’ve been waiting a lifetime to see your breasts, to touch them,” he murmured as he delicately plucked the stiff peaks, then filled his palms with the mounds of flesh.
The heat and pressure of his hands on her breasts felt so good, as did the scrape of his callused thumbs across her nipples. She ran her hands down his smooth back, let her fingers slip beneath the waistband of his underwear until she cupped his firm buttocks in her palms. Then she leaned into him, so her breasts were flattened against his chest, and began kissing her way down his torso, until she was kneeling before him and she was eye-level with the impressive length straining against his snug boxer-briefs. She nipped at him through the cotton, heard him growl deep in his throat, and started dragging that last barrier downward so that she could touch and taste him for real.
He fisted her hair in his hand and gently tugged her head back so she was looking up at him. “Alyssa . . . you don’t have to do this.”
She licked her lips. “I want to.”
In the next instant his underwear dropped to his feet and she was graced with the beauty of his completely naked body, all hot and aroused for her, which was such a heady thought. She wrapped her hand around his erection and brushed her thumb over the moist tip. His hips bucked toward her, and she smiled as she slowly took him into her mouth, every single hard inch of him. He tasted smooth against her tongue, the shape of him exotic and all male, and it didn’t take her long to discover the rhythm and friction that pushed him close to the edge.
He shuddered and his fingers tightened in her hair to pull her back up, and because she wanted him inside her when he came, she followed his silent command.
“God, you have such an incredible mouth,” he said as he grazed his thumb along her still damp bottom lip. “Now, it’s my turn. Lay down for me.”
She moved onto the bed, still wearing her panties. Shane crawled up over her, with his knees bracketing her thighs and his hands braced on the mattress by her head. His eyes were dark and hot as he stared down at her. “Do you remember what I told you during one of our on-line conversations about kissing being the best part of foreplay, along with all those sensitive, erotic spots I enjoy kissing?”
Her neck, her breasts, her belly, her thighs. Each body part began tingling in anticipation. “Yes.”
“Good, because I’m going to kiss you in every one of those spots.”
And then he made good on his promise. He started with her mouth and slanted his lips across hers, letting one kiss melt inevitably, enticingly, into another, until her entire body grew soft and pliant and anxious for his mouth to move on to those other erogenous zones.
; In his own sweet time, he nuzzled her neck and grazed his lips and tongue and teeth down her throat to her breasts. She gripped the sheets in her hands, writhing impatiently beneath him, and nearly sighed in relief when he closed his lips over a nipple, sucked her into his warm, wet mouth, and swirled his tongue along the sensitive tip.
He followed the curve of her breast with his lips, marked her with little love bites here and there, and pressed kisses along each of her ribs before dipping his tongue into her navel. By the time he reached the waistband of her panties, she felt as though she was going to come right out of her skin.
But Shane had more pleasurable pursuits in mind, and after stripping away that last scrap of material he settled between her legs, using the gentle pressure of his hands to spread her wide. He smooth his flattened palms up her thighs, followed by soft, open-mouthed kisses, until both met up at the most feminine part of her. His thumbs delved along her sex, then parted her flesh. She felt the heat of his breath first, the slow, languid stroke his tongue second, then two fingers push deep, deep inside her as he closed his mouth over her, giving her the deepest, wettest, hottest kiss yet.
The moan that escaped her was long and satisfying. Lost in the ecstasy of his selfless giving, she pushed her fingers through his shortened hair and lifted her hips, deepening his penetration. Her orgasm hit, strong and powerful, and she surrendered to the incredible, mind-blowing release with a low, keening cry.
She panted, trying to catch her breath, her rushed climax leaving her weak and pliable. When she finally came to her senses again she found Shane sheathing his shaft with a condom, then he was sliding up and over her body and lacing their fingers together at the side of her head. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and closed her eyes when she felt the head of his sex start to push inside of her.
“Open your eyes and look at me, Alyssa,” he demanded in a rough, barely restrained tone of voice.
Unable to deny him anything, she did as he asked, and felt her heart leap in her chest at the emotion shining in his eyes.
Guilty Pleasures: A Collection of 3 Super Sexy Novellas Page 9