Dirty Deeds

by AJ Nuest

  Thank Christ.

  Her hand skimmed up the inside of his thigh. An impending explosion coiled in his gut as she fondled his balls. Pursing her lips, she blew a teasing stream of air along the stiff curve of his cock and his thighs clenched. A dangerous force built and he fisted his hands.

  Shit, no. Not like this. He staggered away from her, wrenched open his nightstand drawer and ransacked the inside for a condom. Ripping open the silver packet with the edge of his teeth, he kept his focus on her.

  Numbers didn’t go high enough for all the things he wanted to do to her, but this first time, their first time, he’d make the call hers. “How you do want it?”

  Her lashes fluttered, mirrored by the pulse point in her throat, but the hint of a smile toyed with her lips. “Up until now, I think it’s fair to say things between us have been…hard. I don’t see why this should be any different.”

  He smirked. She had him there. And hard suited him just fine.

  His jaw stayed locked as he rolled the latex down until he was fully gloved. Keeping her centered in his vision, he crawled onto the bed as she fell back. He walked his hands along either side of her, his knee braced between her thighs. She smoothed her palms up his arms to the back of his neck and eased him down until their stomachs met.

  A sweep of his mouth across hers, and whatever doubts had been rattling around tumbled out of his head like a loose pair of dice. The way her moist folds quivered against the head of his cock, there was no wrong. Not with her.

  He pressed forward and moaned as the rim inched inside her. Tight. She was so damn tight. Her breath caught. A shiver wracked her body, and he cursed over the way her muscles clamped down around him. Another push, and he sank a fraction deeper. Fuck, she was like an elastic band. Slick. Hot. The perfect pressure.

  Her soft moan vibrated into his chest. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist. He drove forward, and the angle allowed him another small measure of heaven.

  His shaft pulsed, and he thrust his tongue into her mouth, swiveling his hips, stretching her to fit. She writhed beneath him, raked her nails down his back and clutched his ass. With his next drive, her hips rose off the bed and she guided him home.

  He gritted his teeth, beating his release into submission. He wanted to rock into her until she spiraled with him. So she would understand. Know how good and right things could be between them.

  Snaking an arm under her back, he crawled to his knees and wrenched her onto his thighs. Her spine bowed as she rose. She cupped her breasts and offered them up to his face. He flicked his tongue over one stiff peak. Pursed his lips and sucked the tight bud, hard, into his mouth. The globes of her ass cushioned his balls as she ground against him. Seizing her hips, he lifted and rammed her down to the base. His cock throbbed as she squirmed. Her panting increased. A second lift and he withdrew completely, glancing down between their sweat-slicked bodies.

  She was damp. Swollen and distended. One lick, and he could savor the taste of her while he came. The idea roared through his head, too tempting to resist. Bracing her in his arms, he collapsed to the bed, slithered down, and shoved her thighs wide.

  A sweep of his tongue and her sweet cream exploded across his taste buds. She slid her hands down the insides of her thighs and arched high. He shoved to his knees, grabbed her hips and drove into her again and again.

  Heat shot through his veins, saturating his cock. He thrummed her with his thumb and she sharply inhaled, went rigid beneath him. Her internal walls spasmed and flexed. The light in the room dimmed. The rumbling thunder grew distant. A second tight squeeze, and he tossed his head back as his orgasm exploded through his body in a shock of light. He pumped his hips, drawing out the ecstasy until every inch of his cock had been wrung dry.

  Weak, shaking, and already craving more, he fell forward and blanketed her with his body. “Shit, I think I blacked out for a second. Not sure I’ve never come that hard before.”

  Her weak laugh washed past his ear as she combed her fingers through his hair. “You know, I’m not sure I have either. And twice at that.”

  Hell, just the thought of how she’d convulsed around him had him gearing up to start again. “Eden…” He brushed a kiss down her throat and smiled as tiny aftershocks fluttered inside her. She groaned, wriggling beneath him, and he answered her with a slow grind of his hips.

  Yep. He chuckled, trailing his tongue along her collar bone. If he was smart, he’d remember to say her name a lot during sex. “Give me a few seconds and I’m sure I’ll be able to fix that.”

  “Uh-uh. Food first.” She raked her fingers through his hair again and he levered up from the bed. Shit, she was right. When was the last time either of them ate?

  “And plenty of fluids.” He pecked the knowing smile on her lips and flopped onto his back, removed the condom and headed for the bathroom. “Then I’m taking you again.” And again. “In fact, consider your weekend booked.”

  A driving gust spattered the windows as he reemerged from the bathroom. Eden rolled onto her side, elbow bent and head propped on her hand as he stepped into his flannel pants. A glance at her as he tied the drawstring, and he bounced to the mattress, scooping her against his thigh so he could sample the softness of her lips. “You wanna hit the shower before the weather gets any worse? I can give you some fresh clothes.”

  She leaned back from him, scowling. “Is that your way of saying I smell bad?”

  Oh, hell no. “The way you smell could be bottled and sold as an aphrodisiac. It’d easily bring in over a million an ounce. I was just suggesting an alternative while I go make breakfast.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Not a chance I’m letting you back in my kitchen.”

  Her jaw dropped, and he dodged left just in time to deflect the heavy pummel of her pillow.

  Chapter 13

  So this was the mysterious “afterglow” everyone was always blathering about.

  Eden turned under the hot spray and tipped her head back, smoothing down her coils as the water doused her hair and shoulders. God, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so physically sated. Or hell, if ever. Even after everything she’d been through the past few days, not one ounce of tension remained in her body.

  She had Kelly to thank for that. The man had wrung her out and hung her up to dry. Considering the way pleasure still hummed through every single one of her nerve-endings, it would be an outright lie if she didn’t admit having sex with him was one of the best decisions she’d ever made.

  A contented sigh coasted up from deep inside her as she turned and plucked the shampoo off the recessed shelf. The way he’d used his hands on her, the fierce hunger in his eyes whenever he glanced her way… She squeezed a dollop of shampoo onto her palm and then blew a droplet off the end of her nose. Cripes, and those lips. It was a damn shame she couldn’t figure out a way to carry them around inside her purse. God knew, his expertise when it came to the female orgasm would’ve come in mighty handy these past two years.

  She huffed. Without question, that Parsons woman was a full-blown idiot.

  The woodsy clean scent of sandalwood suffused the humid air. Tingles wound through her inner thighs as she worked her hair into a sudsy lather. Yummy. A quick scan of the label, and she stuck the brand name in her mental vault. Now she would know what kind of shampoo to buy if she ever wanted to relive her time with him once it had ended.

  Her lips twisted at the thought. Regret spread like a dark stain through her chest, and she stepped back under the water.

  Okay, what was her problem? Thunder unfurled over the steady hiss of the shower as she rinsed her hair. Experiencing such an emotional response to the idea of saying goodbye to Kelly was ridiculous. Sure, she’d promised to stick around until the case was solved and keep their sex life private, and dammit, she meant to live up to her word. But that didn’t mean their time together would last. Nothing ever did, and she wasn’t naïve enough to believe this…rapport or whatever the
y chose to call it would be any different.

  For her, relationships always had been and always would be temporary. Grabbing the conditioner, she squirted a double dose into her palm to tame her frizzy hair. Other than the sisterly bond she’d shared with Viv, embracing that philosophy had never caused her grief before.

  So, why now? What was the big deal?

  If she thought about it logically, the honest truth was, she and Kelly were just not meant to be together. From the very beginning, their lives had started down two separate paths that had landed them on opposite sides of the spectrum.

  Scooping the soap off the dish, she scrubbed at the nooks and crannies. Based on that story he’d told her about the senator and his precious, Oscar-worthy actress of a daughter, he was open to a long-term relationship—something she’d never done and was certain to flat-out fail at if she tried. At one point, he’d had feelings for the little snot, which meant he’d bought into the idea of falling in love—again, not something she was prone to believe in for a second.

  But that was beside the point. Regardless of how silly those concepts might seem to her, if he envisioned that picturesque future for himself then, damn straight, Kelly deserved to find someone who could give him every happiness. A woman who met certain criteria that just weren’t in her chemical make-up to provide.

  Romance, marriage, kids and white picket fences—those things were so not her bag. She didn’t have the first clue about what it meant to raise a family and had taken steps to make sure she’d never find out. Even if she allowed herself to play devil’s advocate, imagining a future with Kelly certainly wouldn’t change those aspects of her personality.

  Over time, he was bound to realize she was damaged goods. Soon after that, he’d grow tired of her constant schemes. Eventually, he’d start wanting her to become someone different. Someone she would never be. Reality would finally set in, and he’d come to the conclusion she was incapable of fulfilling his emotional needs.

  That crazy chick has too many issues.

  Agreed. Which would only circle them right back to where they’d started. A final rinse to send the conditioner and soap down the drain, and she faced the wall to twist off the shower.

  Until that day arrived, however, she wasn’t about to screw him over. For as long as she could, she’d do exactly as she’d promised, right up to the day Kelly came to his senses, when he stumbled across the startling revelation she was just too screwed up and asked if they could part ways as friends. Which was fine. God knew, he’d already given her way more than she’d ever expected.

  She snagged a fluffy, forest green towel off the bar and dried her body, bent at the waist and squeezed out her hair before tossing the towel into the hamper.

  Plucking the clothes he’d loaned her off the toilet, she stepped into a pair of blue plaid boxers three sizes too big, pleated the waistband and rolled it a few times to keep the shorts from sliding off her hips. The white A-shirt he’d given her was the thickness of tissue paper. Nice.

  Holding her hands to the sides, she eyed her reflection in the mirror. The way the material hugged her breasts, not much of anything was left to the imagination. Fabulous. Why not just walk around topless?

  She finger combed her curls and then slumped. Of course. That had probably been his intention in the first place, but she’d only brought one change of clothes along and preferred to save them for whenever she could get to her condo.

  Digging through her purse, she found her travel-sized toothpaste and toothbrush, her deodorant and few other personal necessities. Teeth sufficiently scrubbed and rinsed, she slicked on a layer of lip gloss, added a little mascara and squirt or two of perfume.

  The mouth-watering aroma of crispy fried bacon washed past her face as she swung open the bathroom door. Her stomach grumbled, and she stripped the feather comforter off the bed, wrapping it around her shoulders as she left the room.

  The end trailed behind her like a bloated bridal veil, and she stopped dead in her tracks as another, more stomach-clenching odor filled the air.

  Dammit. Case in point to the vast differences between them.

  The tart bite of smoldering pine put a major damper on her appetite, but she forced her feet those last few steps to peek around the corner into the living room.

  Kelly knelt before the fireplace, bottom lip curled over his lower teeth, the tip of his tongue holding it in place. Every muscle in his arms and torso flexed like some biologically enhanced superhero as he replaced the metal screen in front of the grate. A large blue blanket had been spread out on the floor behind him, the coffee table shoved back to the couch, and a platter of toasted sandwiches, a bowl of fruit, water bottles, a pot of steaming coffee and wide selection of other delicious treats awaited their impromptu picnic.

  Didn’t matter. The way orange firelight danced across his chest and turned his skin the shade of golden honey shoved ice chips through her veins.

  Eden fisted the comforter tighter around her shoulders and entered the room. He glanced at her and smiled, and her heart performed a double axel worthy of Olympic gold and plummeted straight for her feet.

  Double dammit. He wouldn’t get it. Not that his opinion should matter one way or the other. But it did.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid…

  His smile slowly faded. “What’s the matter?” A quick glance over his shoulder at the food, and he zeroed in on her a second time. “I thought women were into the whole snuggling before a fire scenario. Like in the movies with candles and mood music and all that romantic crap.”

  Wrong. Not this woman. A fire meant winter. Huddling under a dirty, threadbare blanket in an abandoned crack house. No electricity. No clean water or plumbing. Feeding garbage into the flames because she’d burned everything else and her fingers ached from the cold.

  Sharing such horrible memories with him, bringing up the worst time in her life after the trouble he’d gone to… Something inside her recoiled at the thought.

  “No, it’s lovely.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

  One of his eyebrows jacked toward his hairline. “Wow. Try to contain your enthusiasm.” A second passed as he searched her face and then nodded. “I hit a trigger, didn’t I? I’ve seen that glassy-eyed stare before in victims of PTSD.”

  Glassy-eyed stare? She frowned as he pushed to his feet and strode toward her, and a surprised squeak escaped as he scooped her into his arms, comforter and all.

  He walked to the center of the blanket and set her down, dropped to his ass facing her and tugged her legs onto his thighs. His arms clamped around her waist, and he shoved her forward until she nearly straddled his lap. “Okay, listen up. When I said I didn’t want any more secrets between us, I wasn’t asking you to rehash a bunch of shit from your past. I get that your childhood wasn’t a remake of The Brady Bunch, but that’s not a secret. Not after that story you told me at Malcolm’s, and the last thing I want is to make you relive something hard. Something that’s gonna make you shut down.”

  Holy shit. She slumped. No way was she that transparent. There was just no flippin’ way. She lowered her gaze to his chest, reached up and fingered the reflection of the flames in the St. Michael’s medallion hanging around his neck.

  More likely, the issue was the same as the first day he’d shown up in that downtown office. Even as complete strangers, he’d seen straight through her. Hell, he always had.

  His fingers tangled in her damp hair, and he tipped her head back. “If you don’t want to tell me something because it’ll drum up too many painful memories, then don’t. I get it. And I’ll state for the record here and now that I’m willing to wait until you’re ready.”

  Well…damn. She frowned. Okay, how in the hell did he do that? By stating as much, he’d just completely alleviated the pressure. Had made it so now all she wanted to do was spill her guts.

  Covering the back of his hand with hers, she turned her head to kiss his palm and then lowered their linked fingers to the bla
nket. She’d shared the details with no one but Malcolm, and even then only what she had to out of necessity. With her grief over his death still so tangible, it wasn’t like she’d have to dig very deep. The heaviness of those lost years bore down on her with the same weight as the elephant standing in the room.

  How wonderful. Kelly had just hit the jackpot. Too bad the prize was the emotional bankruptcy that encompassed Eden Smith.

  “Remember how I told you I spent some time on the streets before moving in with Malcolm? Well, those weren’t exactly my glory days.” A glance at Kelly’s eyes, and she shook her head. If one ounce of pity leaked into his baby blues, she’d probably blow a gasket. That particular emotion should be reserved for the weak. She didn’t want or deserve his sympathy. She’d given up feeling sorry for herself years ago. “The winters were difficult. People don’t come out as much and, when they do, they’re in a hurry to get where they’re going. Bundled up. Usually clutching whatever they’re carrying against the elements.”

  She rocked back on her bottom to gather her thoughts…or maybe her strength…and scanned the ceiling. Kelly’s arms didn’t budge and, as she returned to her original position, he scooted a little closer. Held her a little tighter.

  While she appreciated his efforts to ease her anxiety, she wasn’t sure he understood the source. She’d done a lot of questionable things in order to survive. Depending upon his reaction, this conversation might be over before it started. “Not that you’d ever have to, but imagine trying to pick someone’s pocket under all that heavy clothing. It doesn’t work so well. The subway offered better odds at times, but we were always scrounging, always hungry, always cold. The winter before Malcolm found me, we’d shacked up in this condemned house and took to burning whatever we could in the fireplace so we wouldn’t freeze to death.”

  Kelly’s eyes slammed shut. His jaw firmed. “Is there a reason you didn’t go to the authorities?”