by Jackie Lau
He dipped his head toward hers, and when she gave him a slight nod, he brushed his lips against hers.
So soft.
When he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, she opened for him. Her mouth pressed against his, and his tongue stroked hers, and he slipped his fingers into her mass of curls, as he’d longed to do all day. The real thing—it didn’t disappoint. He wanted this, and he wanted more.
“Well,” she said, pulling back slightly.
“Well,” he said.
“I didn’t expect that.”
Their mouths were close together, but he didn’t want any space at all between them.
He cupped her ass and picked her up, settling her on his lap. Now he could wind his arms around her as he kissed her again, as his mouth joined with hers and he tried to make her forget about all that had happened.
“Connor!” She laughed like she didn’t know what else to do.
“If you don’t like it,” he said, “then tell me to stop, and I promise you, I’ll stop.” He pressed a kiss to her jawline. “But I don’t think that’s what you want.”
Natalie was in his arms, kissing her way down his throat, and it was all a bit surreal. When she reached the top of his shirt, she loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button, kissing the spot at the base of his throat that had been covered all day. He inhaled gulps of air before dipping his mouth to hers and claiming it again.
She was all that mattered.
* * *
Natalie couldn’t wrap her mind around this. She’d known Connor Douglas for seventeen years, and she’d never considered kissing him before. But now her lips were on his.
How? Why?
She pushed those questions aside. They didn’t matter, because this was exactly what she needed after Rebecca’s wedding reception.
His mouth was gentle, yet firm. Playing her perfectly. As the kiss deepened, she adjusted herself so she was straddling his lap, pressing her chest against his to get more. More of the glorious sensations he caused to spread throughout her body. More of everything.
But when his erection pressed between her legs, she jolted back in shock.
“You want...” She jumped off the bench, vibrating with energy.
His lips quirked up. “Yes, Natalie? What is it that I want?”
She took in a deep breath as her inner muscles clenched. Five minutes ago, they’d been talking, she’d asked if he’d dated since his divorce, and then she’d told him he was rather handsome. That was how they’d gotten here.
Sort of. She wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened.
Connor stood up. He curled one hand around hers and placed his other hand on her waist. He stepped to the side and then back, swaying his hips.
“We didn’t dance at the reception,” he said, “though it wasn’t because I didn’t ask.”
“Did my rejection hurt your feelings?”
He pouted, and it was cute to see this giant of a man pout.
“You’re making up for it now,” he said.
“I don’t like dancing.”
“Never?” He slipped his hand inside the top of her dress and flicked her nipple with his finger.
Awareness radiated out from the taut peak of her nipple, and then he covered her breast with his hand.
“Do you like it now?” he asked, still swaying his hips.
“Touching your partner’s breast isn’t dancing. It’s not something you can do in public.”
“Ah. So you like private dancing.”
Her head was spinning. She didn’t know what was going on now.
But she wanted him.
“You’re trying to seduce me,” she said.
“Is it working?” His voice was soft. She felt it on her cheeks and the bare skin above the neckline of her dress.
“Yes,” she admitted. “You know it is.”
She shifted both of her hands behind his neck, and his hands circled her waist. The night air was cool against her warm cheeks. His lips covered hers again, and she kissed him back, their lips melding together, and yes, it felt so damn good.
“The moment I saw you walking down the aisle,” he said, “I wanted you. You’ve been driving me crazy all day.”
“All day,” she repeated faintly.
It had been a long time since a man had touched her like this—or even kissed her quickly on the lips. A very long time since she’d driven a man crazy.
“Just today?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Yes.”
This was just for tonight, and that was okay.
Two friends finding solace in one another. Skin against skin, arching bodies, heavy breathing. Just for a little while.
Parts of her life were crumbling, but she could hold on to him. He’d always been there for her, though never like this.
His hands slid to her ass. He lifted her up so her lips were at the same height as his, and he kissed her some more. She wrapped her legs around him and felt his hardness at the juncture of her legs.
“Connor,” she moaned.
He continued to work magic with his lips and tongue. She didn’t feel like herself, making out with a man in a public park, being pleasured as though she were a beautiful young woman, rather than someone who was supposed to be desperate to settle down because her biological clock was ticking.
Instead, she simply felt desirable.
“Are you sufficiently seduced to come back to my room?” he asked quietly, sliding his lips down the curve of her neck.
She arched against him. “Yes. God, yes.”
Chapter 9
Back at the bed and breakfast, Connor sat Natalie down on the bed and kneeled behind her, taking out all the pins in her elaborate hairdo.
She didn’t need him to do this; she’d rather he pull her dress over her head immediately. Hell, he could tear it in half if he wanted. It wasn’t like she was going to wear it again.
But he insisted. Slowly, he placed one pin at a time on the night table beside the bed, and curls tumbled to her shoulders. She couldn’t see him behind her; she could only feel his presence.
“That was the fourth time I’ve had my hair done,” she said, needing to fill the silence. “The first time was for prom, and I was a bridesmaid two other times.”
“I’ve never had my hair done.”
She giggled like a schoolgirl. “If my hair is rather stiff, it’s from all the hairspray to hold it in place.”
When he dropped another bobby pin on the night table, she looked at his large hands, the ones that had been exploring her body and would soon touch her bare skin. Everywhere.
She shivered.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered. “It’s not that.”
“Have you changed your mind?”
She shook her head.
“Let me take care of you tonight,” he said. “Let me give you whatever you need.”
She nodded, somewhat dazed, and her breath hitched. Nobody took care of her; they assumed she didn’t need to be taken care of.
“I think I got them all.” He set the final bobby pin on the table, and then he moved his hand to the zipper at the back of her dress and slowly pulled it down, kissing the skin he’d just exposed as he went.
He turned her around to face him, slipped the straps of her dress down her arms, and unhooked her bra.
“There,” he said. “Perfect.”
He took one of her nipples in his mouth. His hand moved to her other breast, caressing the pebbled skin before he pinched the nipple between his fingers. She released a shocked little cry.
“How long has it been since a man made love to you?” he asked.
She didn’t know how to answer. It had been two years since she’d last had sex, but he’d said made love.
The room was dim. Only the lamp on the night table was on, casting shadows over his face.
“Natalie?” he said.
“Too long. It’s been far too long.”
He laid her down
, her head on the pillow. Then he kissed her, his weight pressing down on top of her, and she couldn’t help but squirm. God, she loved being underneath him.
And then she remembered...
“Condom,” she said.
She didn’t have one, and she doubted he’d expected this to happen, either.
“I have a condom.” He brushed his lips over her cheek. “Don’t worry.”
He lifted her skirt and slipped his hand between her legs, against the wet fabric of her panties. He inhaled swiftly and slid the crotch aside, running his finger up and down her slit. She clenched the sheet in her hands as he pushed two fingers inside her and curled them upward. The pleasure of someone else touching her after years of doing it all herself was almost overwhelming.
His hands left her to tug her underwear down her legs. He slipped them off, along with her high-heeled shoes, and shifted so he was lying on his stomach between her legs. She breathed heavily in anticipation.
His tongue touched her clit. Just a light touch, then firmer as his mouth slid down, around her entrance. She bucked her hips against his mouth, and he continued to pleasure her with his tongue. He added his fingers, sliding inside her again.
So intimate, this act. An intimacy she hadn’t allowed anyone in a long time, and yet she was allowing Connor.
He circled his tongue over her nub, and as he stroked inside her, she spiraled up and up...and then clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her cry as she came for him.
He slid up the bed, a crooked grin on his face, and lifted her up so he could remove her dress, which was bunched around her waist.
“Better,” he said, once she was naked on her back before him.
But he was fully clothed, and that was a real problem for her. She slipped her hands under his jacket, and he got the hint and shrugged it onto the floor. Next, she pulled off his tie before she started working on the buttons of his shirt, revealing one inch of his chest at a time. Revealing more and more of his strength—she could feel the power of him. When the shirt joined his jacket on the floor, she ran her hands over his upper arms. Earlier, he’d picked her up so easily.
“Not bad,” she said as she admired him.
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re practically drooling. Looks like it’s more than not bad.”
“My God, you’re vain.”
He laughed before taking one of her hands in his and moving it to his crotch. She touched his erection through his pants, and he hissed out a breath.
There was no laughter between them now.
Natalie undid his belt and pulled down the zipper on his pants, her hand shaking slightly. Then she pushed her hand inside his boxers and wrapped her fingers around the hot length of him.
“Where’s that condom?” she asked.
He was out of bed in a flash and returned a moment later with a square packet. He placed it on the bedside table before he dropped his pants to the floor, followed by his boxers.
She licked her lips at the sight of him, jutting toward her. His gaze never left hers as he got onto the bed, one knee on either side of her hips. She reached for the condom and rolled it on, and then he opened her with his fingers once more, preparing her to take him. The lamp cast half of his face in light, the other half in shadow, as though he were wearing half a mask. It was Connor, her friend of many years, and yet it wasn’t—she’d never wanted Connor like this before.
He notched his erection between her legs, and she gasped.
“Good gasp?” he asked. “Or bad?”
“Good. Very good.”
She loved the pressure of him, so close to being where she needed him. She was desperate for more, but at the same time, she liked that he was taking it slowly, the pleasure gradually unraveling within her.
He pushed inside, inch by inch, taking her where no man had been in a long time.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Natalie.” He looked down from above her.
Her lips parted. When she nodded, he started to move. Rolling his hips in a steady pace, stroking in and out of her in the most intimate of ways.
She pulled him down so she could feel his skin against her skin, and he crashed his lips down on hers, exploring her mouth, exploring her response to his every action. She crossed her ankles at his lower back, trying to bring him even closer.
“You’re so fucking sweet,” he said.
Dimly, at the back of her mind, she found that amusing; nobody ever described her as sweet. But then he pushed deeper, shoving that thought away. Whatever he said and did, she would take it; she would accept it as it was.
He adjusted the angle so he rubbed against her clit on each stroke. His mouth was back on hers now. She started climbing to the precipice, her breathing harsh, her body strung tight with the need to go over the edge.
“Connor,” she gasped, wrenching her lips from his.
“Yes, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
He licked the tip of his finger, and then his hand was between them, running over the place where they were joined.
She needed to see it. Needed to see him entering her over and over. She pushed at his shoulder. He raised himself above her, and she watched his cock move in and out, watched herself take it all and wring so much pleasure from it.
He touched his wet finger to her clit. She jerked in response and rubbed herself against him, whatever she could do to get what she needed.
And yet the intensity of her orgasm caught her off guard. He lowered himself to her as she cried out, and she bit his shoulder in her enthusiasm. He pushed inside her again and again, and soon he was groaning with his own orgasm. She shuddered as he finished inside her.
Two years. How did I go without this for two years?
“Natalie.” He said her name differently when they were in bed together, like it was a gift he was so lucky to have.
He grasped the base of his cock and pulled out. Before he headed to the washroom, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She rolled onto her stomach. Her body felt...almost new. She was aware of it in a different way from usual, aware of how she could use it with a man.
She’d nearly forgotten.
Connor came back a minute later and pulled up the covers around them. He slung an arm around her, and she turned her head toward him.
“So,” he said.
“So,” she echoed.
“Do you want me to pick up your suitcase now?”
Suitcase? What was he talking about?
Then she remembered. It was at her parents’ house, where she was supposed to be sleeping tonight. Her parents were getting divorced.
Yet that seemed so far away now. She and Connor were cocooned in this room together, and nothing else could touch them, not tonight.
Connor. She was doing all of this with Connor. It should be hard to wrap her mind around that, but somehow, it wasn’t. Everything was simple right now. She’d just had sex and she felt blissed out, and that was all that mattered.
“No,” she said. “We’ll get the suitcase in the morning.”
He continued to look at her in the dim light, stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb, and it made her feel...cherished, somehow. Something she wasn’t used to feeling.
After pressing a kiss to her lips, he turned off the lamp, and she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder.
Chapter 10
Natalie opened her eyes. The goddamn birds were chirping outside the window, and sunshine was streaming into the room. Had she forgotten to close the curtains last night? And why was she naked?
She sat up with a jolt. She wasn’t in her childhood bedroom, but at the bed and breakfast.
In Connor’s room.
She’d slept with Connor last night.
He wasn’t in bed with her now, but water was running in the washroom. He must be in the shower.
Okay. This was okay. She’d had sex last night. With her friend, which might complicate matters, but she couldn’t deny that it had been good sex, and it was exactly what she’d ne
eded after Aunt Louisa had dropped that bombshell. She and Connor would go on like they always had. They’d put this behind them, pretend it hadn’t happened. She could do that. Now that it was daylight, she wouldn’t find him irresistibly attractive like she had last night, when she was in a weird state of mind.
The door to the washroom opened. Connor stepped out, a towel around his waist.
Maybe this wasn’t okay.
Because she still found Connor Douglas really fucking attractive, especially when his broad chest was bare and he was wearing nothing but a towel. She followed the trail of hair below his navel, down, down, down...
Get a grip. She sat up and pulled the sheet over her breasts, a little self-conscious.
“Hey, you,” he said.
This was Connor. She shouldn’t be feeling this way. He was just a friend. She’d known him for more than fifteen years without having such thoughts about him.
But her skin tingled as he sat next to her on the bed.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“Put on a damn shirt!”
His lips curved upward and crinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes. He had a very nice smile.
“What’s the problem?” he asked, gesturing to his chest. “You liked it last night.”
Her cheeks flamed.
Jesus. She couldn’t believe they were talking like this. And yet it had felt so simple and right yesterday.
He chuckled and flicked his finger under her chin before getting up and putting on a shirt.
Thank God. That was better. Except he sure filled out that T-shirt nicely...
“My suitcase,” she said.
He didn’t reply immediately, just dropped the towel to the ground before reaching for a pair of boxers.
Apparently, they weren’t shy around each other anymore.
She should look away. She really should. But she couldn’t help remembering how hard he’d been for her. Could she get him that hard right now? She bet she could. And then...
She swallowed. “My suitcase is at my parents’ house. Could you get it for me? I don’t want to leave the room in a wrinkled bridesmaid dress.”
He pulled on his jeans. “That’s my plan. Get your suitcase, and then we can go down to breakfast.”