Hot and Bothered

by Lori Foster

  “I taste like beer,” she warned, surprised by the huskiness in her voice.

  “Honey and ginger beer,” he answered, his tongue wetting a path down to her cleavage. “An exotic taste for an exotic woman.”

  His mouth met hers again, his tongue plundering and hers plundering back. Her thighs trembled to have him between her, his erection grinding into her but not hard enough. Shay yanked his shirttail out of his Wranglers and threw the snaps open, claiming his broad chest with her hands, then pulling her mouth from his to taste his salty chest.

  “And you taste like oak and rain and raw earth.”

  “A rank, water-logged tree, how appealing. Maybe I should start wearing a scent besides me and bull,” he chuckled as he brought her skirt up to her waist and tried to dive his hand into her panties. “What is this?” he asked with a frustrated look at her torso-encompassing top.

  “A bodysuit; it snaps between my legs.”

  Pulling his eyebrows together, he looked like a frustrated little boy. “Why’d you wear such a silly thing?”

  “To protect myself from you, I guess,” Shay said, surprised by the sudden realization.

  “Too late.” He grinned, the crow’s-feet around his eyes crinkling sexily. He pulled her elastic skirt down to the floor, then bent down on one knee. He drew her right booted leg onto his shoulder, nibbling kisses and bites as he went. Shay moaned and writhed against the wall as he kissed her inner thigh and closed in on the mound of her sex that was so hot and throbbing and ready for him she didn’t know how much longer she could stand to wait.

  His mouth opened wide, closing gently over her, sending his hot breath through the two layers of fabric. Shay braced her hands against his shoulders as a wave of sensation rippled up through her. Then, his teeth settled on one snap, pulling it free. His mouth moved away, nibbling her other thigh, before Shay cried out and directed his head back to where she needed him most. He grinned up at her, then teased around the second snap until she kicked him in the back with her booted heel before he finally pulled the last snap free with his teeth.

  “Satin and silk,” he said as he saw her pink satin panties. “I knew it.”

  Through the satin Luke ran his tongue along the cleft, stopping at her swollen clitoris to tease it through the damp fabric. As his callused hands slid her panties down, his lips and mouth found her center hot and wet for him. Shay moved against his lips, feeling the waves of color building behind her closed eyelids. She’d never had someone drive her to this so fast, with such wild abandon, and by doing so little. But it just made her want more.

  “I want you inside me, all of you.”

  “I want to make you happy,” he breathed between her thighs, palming her buttocks as he brought her to him again.

  “You will,” she moaned, pulling at his hair to draw him up. “I want to feel you. Up here and down there.”

  Slowly, reluctantly, he rose, biting a trail over the swell above her triangle of hair, his hand drawing her leg around his waist, his other hand working up under her bodysuit, drawing it over her head as she willingly shook it off. His fingers replaced his tongue, gliding slickly around her swollen center and into where she ached for him, diving repeatedly. Fumbling with his belt and zipper, anxious to free him, she moved against his hand. His mouth dropped to her breasts, licking at her nipples through the satin and lace of her bra as he released the clasp from the back. When the clasp was free, he pushed the cups out of the way and allowed a strap to slip off one shoulder. Luke’s tongue teased each nipple of her swollen breasts, until she was begging him to take them into his mouth. He began gently sucking, then drawing the nipple into his mouth hard, echoing the way she wanted to draw him into her.

  Finally she had his zipper down, but not free. He was too hard and big, filling the vee space tightly with his thick length. She shivered in anticipation.

  “Please, Luke, I want you now.”

  He withdrew everything from her, his mouth, his fingers. She felt desperately vulnerable, left hanging on the brink. Luke stared into her eyes. “Are you sure, Shay?”

  The way he said her name, all whiskey and leather, would’ve been enough to put her over the edge; she was that close. But she held herself together, waiting for him. “Yes, yes.”

  With a rough shove, he had his jeans down around his knees, followed by his Jockeys. She stared in awe at the raw masculine beauty of him for a moment. “It’s my turn,” she murmured.

  “No, we have plenty of time for that later,” he said in a thick voice, drawing her other leg around his waist as he handed her a packet he’d slid out of his jeans pocket. “You can do this for me.”

  Shay opened the condom and slid it down ever so slowly, watching with a feminine thrill at the power she had over him as Luke held himself unnaturally still, muscles steel tight. He threw his head back, closing his eyes and flexing his jaw at the pleasurable pain.

  “Did that have to take you so long?” he asked.

  “I can take longer,” she offered.

  “Later,” he promised.

  “We’re going to be very busy later,” she quipped.

  “Yes, we are,” he said roughly, cupping her breasts possessively as he brought his mouth down on hers with a brutal urgency. Shay loved it, answering each slash of his tongue with her own, drawing him with her hand to her center until he hovered just at the entrance. She moved into him, but he stilled her hips, staring into her eyes.

  The time was there, between them without a word, and he entered with a long, deep, slow stab. Time stood still for an instant as all the pent-up desire and passion rushed up to consume them. He plunged into her as hard. She rose to meet him, her hands gripping his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his hips.

  “Deeper, Luke.” He swallowed her cry as she flew over the brink. He drove her again and then again; before the waves of one orgasm could subside she was overwhelmed by the next until finally he plunged his deepest and shouted her name. As she felt him shudder in between her legs, she dived with him in a free fall that obliterated anything before in her life as meaningless.

  They’d melted into each other.

  The beating of their hearts was all Shay could feel for the longest time. She didn’t know how long he held her up, for she’d ceased to have the power to do it herself. Finally, he eased her to the floor and looked her up and down, the smile growing on his face with each inch of skin he perused.

  “You,” he said softly, “look absolutely incredible.”

  Shay looked down at the boots she still wore with her concho belt. Her bra dangled from one shoulder. “Hmm. It seems you haven’t done your job.”

  “I haven’t?” Luke looked hurt.

  “Certainly not,” she said in her primmest voice, or as prim as she could be standing naked yet accessorized. “You came here to help me get undressed. You haven’t quite finished.”

  “Well, come here and let me finish,” he said, pulling her to him by the tail of her bra.

  She slapped his hand away. “No, me first.”

  Shay ran her hand over his shoulders and pushed his shirt off, down sculpted shoulders and biceps and the sexiest forearms she’d ever seen. Then she moved down his abdomen, kissing a path and watching with a grin as his erection jumped in response. Her hands slid his Jockeys and jeans down until his boots stopped them. With her hip, she bumped him onto the bed, where he lay, propped on his elbows, grinning at her. She straddled his leg and yanked on his boot, pulling it free.

  He groaned and reached for her. “We’re not going to finish undressing you if you don’t get out of that extremely tempting position.”

  She knocked him gently on the head with his boot as she eased his clothing and sock off his long, sexy foot. Then, slowly, teasing him, she straddled his other leg and pulled the other boot off.

  “OK, now I have enough to remember you for a month,” Luke quipped, pulling her by her waist onto his thighs.

  “Only a month?” Shay looked over her shoulder at him with a c
ocked eyebrow.

  “I’ve got to keep you on an incentive plan.” Luke flashed a dimple. “There’s lots more hard work to do.”

  Hooking a forefinger beneath her bra strap, he slid it down her arm and over her hand, drawing the lace and satin over his nose. “Can I keep it?”

  “To add to your bra collection?” Shay turned back around, surprised to feel a jolt of jealousy.

  “Bra collection of one,” Luke said, sitting up to kiss her on her neck. He ran his hands down her neck, chest, over her breasts that leaped into his hands, nipples aching again for his attention, down her abdomen that quivered at his touch. His hands spanned her hips and turned her to face him, settling her in his lap.

  “How is that possible, considering all the girls and sweethearts and darlin’s before?”

  “Because they don’t get the chance to take theirs off,” he said, kissing her hairline as his hands worked magic on her every erogenous zone, many she hadn’t known were so sensitive.

  “I can see you’re into deep relationships,” Shay returned, reminding herself to take this night as a night of sexual fulfillment and nothing more.

  She was afraid it was already too late for that.

  “I’ll show you my kind of deep relationship, Shay,” Luke said, huskily, pulling her on top of him as he lay back.

  He filled her so deeply that she nearly cried out in release immediately, but he held her still until he felt her regain control. Then he claimed her breasts with his large hands, teasing them until she was back on the edge. He waited again, his gunmetal eyes holding her in place until he moved his hands down to her hips, slowly moving her, his hips undulating beneath, drawing himself in and out, rubbing her in just the right places, withdrawing and filling at just the right times to bring her to a pinnacle she’d never reached before. Finally, she could feel the colors building behind her eyelids and she speeded the rhythm, defying his quelling hands, moving her breasts against his naked chest. Then, she straightened, throwing her head back to feel the desire spiraling through them both until it changed into something else, something deeper, something shared. With cries of passion they turned into a kiss, Luke and Shay flew free together.

  As she fell asleep, nestled next to him, Shay wished she could make that moment last forever, and later she dreamed she had.

  Hours later, Luke awoke from the deepest sleep he’d ever known. Slowly he became aware of a feeling he could only define as wholeness. He felt Shay’s heartbeat against his chest, her body curving perfectly to his. He had one arm cradling her midriff, his leg thrown over one of hers. Her mahogany hair felt like rich silk against his cheek. Her honey-ginger scent mixed with the musky smell of their night of lovemaking. Each breath drove him to want to wake her and spend the day finding new ways to make her as fulfilled as he felt right now.

  Gently he ran his fingertips where the predawn light began to play along the satiny skin of her arm. He’d been sated, over and over again, last night.

  And, yet, he wanted more.

  Shay McIntyre had the incredible ability to read his body like she’d known it forever; more than her touch, even her words had been right—whether they were serious or teasing or begging or grateful. He’d been with more beautiful women, more experienced women, but none were as sexy as Shay.

  She stirred in his arms, murmuring in her sleep, her luscious lips opening to show him the cute, and extremely talented, pink tongue of hers. Luke forced himself to lie still when all he wanted was to see her amber eyes, eyelids heavy with sleep and satisfaction, waking up to him.

  Luke wasn’t sure how long he held her, savoring and thinking. The dawn light through the curtains grew brighter, and finally she awoke, stretching and wiggling against him. Luke groaned in her ear at the force of his arousal. “Good morning.”

  “It’s not morning yet, is it?” she yawned.

  Drawing her earlobe into his mouth, he tickled it with his tongue until she moaned and turned to face him. She looked down between them and back at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re insatiable.”

  “You make me that way.” Luke cupped her face in his hands and gave her a deep kiss.

  Drawing away, Shay gave him a playful push in the center of his chest. “No matter how much I might want to, I’m not doing anything before I take a shower.”

  Luke tweaked a nipple. She glared. He grinned. “Haven’t you heard of doing more than one thing at a time?”

  “I thought that only applied to chewing gum and jumping rope.” She slid out of bed.

  “I’ll show you what else it refers to.” Luke followed her into the bathroom, reaching to cup her bare buttocks. Laughing, she slapped his hand away.

  He put a hand on hers to stop her from turning the faucet. “Tell me how you like it, ma’am. Cold or hot or lukewarm?”

  “I thought you’d know after last night,” she scolded mockingly. “I like it hot as you can make it.”

  Luke leaned over to test the water for her. “This is as hot as the water gets, but I can make it hotter.”

  “Is that right?” Shay arched a brow as she stepped into the running water. “I guess you’d better get in and show me how.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Luke followed her into the small space, reaching down for the soap. Watching her throw her head back into the stream, her long neck stretching, he marveled that an act as simple as that could make him want to abandon his slow plan of seduction and bury himself into her right then.

  But Shay was worth the wait.

  He lathered his palms and knelt down, running his fingers between her toes, over her feet, up her shins, over her calves and knees to her water-slick thighs. He stopped to lather up and heard her whimper of need over the rushing water. Luke moved back to where he’d left off, running his hands over her buttocks, between her legs, and up over her triangle of pubic hair to her abdomen with that sexy swell just below her navel. He circled his finger in her navel and she grabbed his head in her hands to draw him into a lusty kiss.

  Luke drew back. “I’m afraid you’re not completely clean, ma’am.”

  “Around you, I’m never going to be completely clean,” she observed wryly as he went back to ministering to her midriff, back, and each breast in excruciating detail. Washing her armpits made her giggle, and he did it again just to hear the sweet sound.

  He kissed the hollow at her throat as he reached for the shampoo, working it into her gorgeous hair, massaging her scalp, rinsing it clean. Luke didn’t think he could wait any longer. He was harder for her now than he’d been after a day and night of foreplay. But she opened her eyes and pinned him with a quelling look. “My turn,” she said in that silky alto.

  She went slower, though Luke admitted it might have been his lust-altered perception, as she worked from his head down, her long, graceful fingers massaging his muscles, slippery on his skin. When she got to his erection she washed it with just the most torturous mix of gentleness and roughness. Luke pulled her back up to him, barely able to talk. “I think I’m clean enough,” he said, unable to keep his kiss from being rough. But she loved it, tugging at his hair, tangling with his tongue. He pushed her against the cold shower tile and drew back, then buried himself into her. And paused. She sighed his name. She felt so good, so right.

  There, in a shower in a no-name hotel in the middle of West Texas Nowhere, Luke Wilder felt like he’d come home.

  The water had long since gone cold. Luke looked into her passion-filled eyes. “Are you OK?”

  “No,” she said, her eyes heavy-lidded with lust. “I need you to hurry.”

  “Hurry?” he teased, pulling out ever so slowly and easing slowly in again, enjoying the myriad of sensual sensations reflected in her eyes. “How about that?”

  “No, that’s not it at all.” Shay shook her head almost desperately. “Faster.”

  Luke moved slower and dived deeper, again and again, until she was nearly panting. “How’s that?”

  “Like that, but faster.”

&
nbsp; “I aim to please.”

  “You do; you do,” she breathed, drawing his head to hers in a deep kiss that drove him to the edge. He felt her ready but drew back to look into her eyes as they both careened into that place that was new to him—not just exhilarating release, but bone-shaking in its ascension and incomparable in its spiraling peace. A few minutes later, after Luke had filled every inch of her face with feathery kisses, she protested the cold tile.

  He put her gently down. “I’m going to feed you.”

  “You’ve fed me about a half-dozen times, now.”

  “Real food, Shay. I want to keep your energy level high.” He winked.

  “I’m just going to stand here in the ice water for a minute and get my body temperature back from stratospheric to normal.”

  Kissing the single freckle on back of her left knee, Luke got out of the shower and, toweling off, stepped into the room to collect his clothes. He slipped into his underwear, jeans, and boots. He began to whistle, surprising himself at how light and joyful he felt. He might just break into a skip; he grinned at himself in the mirror at the silliness of it. Even as a boy he hadn’t ever felt like this, always dragging around the weight of expectation from his big brothers, the business, his father. Luke was labeled a carefree rascal, but the truth was it was a hard-earned reputation he was driven to uphold. The way he felt now—like jumping onto a passing cloud—might be ridiculous except he was beginning to realize this condition was something to take seriously.

  He was in love.

  Luke reached down to retrieve his hat off the floor and saw the manila envelope with an Austin return address.

  Luke’s stomach clutched.