After Hours

by Jodi Lynn Copeland

  For the sake of keeping his mind on work, he should say good-night to Caitlyn. Good-night and good-bye to all the questions she raised. He should, but he wanted her to come inside too badly. Her words belied his ex-wife’s claim that he was a lousy lay. Still, he ached to show Caitlyn the magnitude of his skills as a lover, for the sake of his ego, and, hell, because he’d slept alone for too damned long.

  “Trust me, cupcake, that was nothing.” He extended his hand to her. “Let me show you how good I can be. I promise not to scare you again.”

  Her tongue slipped out, moistening her lower lip. He groaned, wanting his own tongue on that plump lip. Wanting to burrow inside her mouth and remove all taste of that other guy. Possessiveness shook through him. He had neither the time nor the heart for anything lasting, but for tonight she could be his. For tonight he could take her to his bed and remember how incredible it felt to sleep with a woman’s warm, soft body spooned against his own.

  Her tongue pulled back in. She nodded. “All right. If you’re sure.”

  “I am.”

  She reached for his proffered hand. The heat of her fingers against his as he helped her out of the car sent a shiver coursing through him. That shiver grew as he led her up the walk to the front door and turned the knob. He’d bought this home for Marlene, for the family they’d have together. It seemed wrong to bring another woman here. Wrong to want to take that woman to his bed. But it couldn’t be wrong. He hadn’t been the unfaithful one who destroyed his belief in marriage and love once and for all. He couldn’t live in the past with shattered dreams forever. He pushed open the door and guided Caitlyn inside.

  Light bled from the crack beneath the kitchen door. Switching on the living room light, he led her to the wraparound staircase on the opposite side of the room. “Go on up. My room’s the second one on the right. I need to do something real quick.”

  He’d intended to leave it at that. Send her to his room while he dealt with the light in the kitchen, or, rather, Liz, who was inside cooking up her latest special, Mud Surprise. The coy way Caitlyn’s blond lashes fluttered against her cheeks made walking away without a good-bye kiss impossible. If he had only tonight to invest in her and her night-and-day personality, he would see they both enjoyed the next several hours to the fullest.

  She’d started up the stairs in anticipation of him following. One step up, her mouth was mere inches below his. Colin leaned forward and bent his head, slanted his mouth over hers. Her lips blossomed, parting to release her warm, damp tongue. She sank into his mouth, explored with slow licks, unsteady rubs. The moves were shy, almost virginal, and affected him more than her fast, lusty kisses ever could.

  He pulled her against him and rocked his hips into hers. Hers responded with a slow, rolling thrust. His cock hardened, pulsed with need. Her hands feathered through his hair, toying with the strands, tickling his ears. Needful in a way he’d never experienced—a burning that started in his mind and scorched a hungry path to his groin—he closed his eyes and took control of the kiss. Slipping his tongue between her lips, he explored with the same slow licks and unsteady rubs that she had. She whimpered against his mouth and sweetness exploded on his tongue, goodness that came from deep within her.

  Christ, who was this woman and how could she affect him this way? He didn’t do slow kisses with his eyes closed. He didn’t stand in the living room making out while his sister was one room away.

  Colin eased out of the kiss with the reminder of his sister’s presence. The last thing he needed was Liz discovering them. He opened his eyes to find Caitlyn’s still closed. Her lips pulled into a soft smile. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

  “He didn’t kiss me like that,” she said softly, dreamily, like she was coming down from her own personal cloud nine. “No one’s ever kissed me like that.”

  Who was she? he wondered again, and then shook away the question. Regardless of who she might be to others, to him she could be nothing more than the woman who’d share his bed tonight.

  Colin grinned while melancholy gripped him hard. So he’d have an empty bed come morning. So the fuck what? He was a big boy, he’d deal with it.

  He looked up the stairs, then back at Caitlyn. “Get your sweet ass moving before I do you right here on the staircase.”

  She laughed huskily. “I might like that. It sounds like a great deal of fun.”

  Now that sounded like the Caitlyn he’d first met. Ready to try anything, ready to give him a blow job in the back alley of a bar. His dick twitched. He spun her around and gave her bottom a whack. “Go. Now. That’s an order.”

  “Yes, sir.” She hurried up the staircase, her short dress fluttering with her steps and flashing peeks of her supple white ass.

  That’s what she represented for him. A fine piece of ass.

  Repeating that thought, Colin went to the kitchen door and pushed it in. Liz glanced up from putting the finishing touches on a lopsided heap suffocated with chocolate frosting. Or mud. One or the other.

  Licking some of the alleged frosting from her thumb, she gave him a sympathetic look. “I heard you drive in. Sorry the date blew.”

  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t hoping for much.” He wasn’t hoping to get away without his sister knowing he had company, either, but maybe tonight he’d be getting lucky in more ways than one. “I’m going to bed early. Work’s been taking a lot out of me.”

  “But what about the Mud Pie Bliss? I just finished it.”

  Colin feigned a yawn. It was better than giving into the shudder that threatened at the idea of sticking a fork in that dark brown heap and shoveling it into his mouth. “I’m seriously whipped. I’ll have a piece for breakfast.”

  “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see—” The floor over their heads creaked, and she stopped short to narrow her eyes and swat his arm. “You dog. You brought her home and weren’t even going to tell me.”

  He shrugged. “The walls aren’t that thick. I’m sure you would’ve figured it out on your own.”

  She tipped her head to the side and studied him. Her perceptive eyes gave him the urge to bolt before she opened her mouth and said something he had no longing to hear, tonight or ever. “You really like her, don’t you?”

  Shit. Too late. “It’s just for the night. That’s it.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I mean it. And I promise to have some Mud Heap—uh, Pie Bliss in the morning.” He moved to the door before she could ask any more questions he refused to take the time to consider. Pushing the door open, he called over his shoulder, “Good night.”

  Liz laughed. “Let’s just say it’s not half as good as yours is going to be.”

  4

  J oyce stood in the center of Colin’s bedroom, taking in the warm blues and greens of the decor and the king-size bed in the center, while her mind repeated one thought: She shouldn’t be here.

  Home was personal. Home was where you went to learn about someone. She couldn’t learn about him. Not without risking their relationship becoming about more than sex; her heart wasn’t ready for more than that. But, darnit, she also couldn’t allow Colin to believe she was the kind of girl to be with one guy while she lured in another. He was all she needed—more than enough.

  Not need in the traditional sense, either. Need as in burned for his touch. Just the thought of his tongue pushing into her sex had her clit tingling. Gracious, how sexy he’d made her feel, how undeniably naughty and desirable. Right up until the moment they’d been interrupted by an unwanted third party.

  That he not only believed her apologies but gave those of his own for the harsh way he’d reacted said so much about the man. He was both compassionate and trustworthy. The kind of guy a girl could get used to.

  Joyce pulled from her silent stare to look at a picture of a small lake surrounded by lush green grass and a plethora of vibrant, multicolored flowers hanging over the bed. No more thoughts of Rick and for sure no more thoughts of getting used to Colin being in her life. Just thoughts of the ph
ysical. Of redeeming herself as a sex goddess in his eyes. She’d let traces of the old Joyce slip out too many times tonight. She had to erase those traces from his memory.

  Showering was the next chapter in Achieving the Ultimate Orgasm. Cleansing your partner with your hands and mouth while keeping the rest of your body in sight but off-limits was supposed to have both of you desperate for release. When climax came, it was said to be mind-blowing. The climax she’d had earlier had been staggering, but, then, she didn’t have anything worthwhile to compare it with. Maybe it hadn’t been ultimate the way she’d believed. Maybe it had only been good.

  Shivering over the idea that an orgasm could be better, she moved into the bathroom connected to the bedroom by a doorway. She flipped on the light switch and quickly stripped off her dress. She paused to inspect her naked reflection, pleased when the sting of embarrassment didn’t heat her cheeks.

  An extremely late bloomer, she’d never been comfortable with her body. She’d been teased over it and her dry personality too many times as a kid and a teenager. She wasn’t either now, nor was she trapped behind a bad personal image built up by her ex-husband. She was a confident, appealing woman with a Harley streaking across her chest. A woman about to have really excellent sex.

  Smiling because for the first time she truly believed in herself, Joyce moved to the bathtub. She pulled aside the navy-blue shower curtain and turned the faucet handles. Hot water sprayed from the nozzle and steam raised thick in the air.

  “Joyce?”

  Colin’s voice drifted in from the bedroom and froze her on the spot. He’d called her Joyce. Not Caitlyn, but Joyce. No. He couldn’t have learned her secret. Not now.

  Her shoulders sank. Every bit of confidence drained away. She turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her. “In here.”

  He stepped into the bathroom doorway. His gaze slid over her body, lingered on her breasts straining against the towel and returned to her eyes to reveal lust burning in his own. “Very nice. Planning on sharing?”

  “Y—you still want me?” Dangit! He still wanted her even after learning what a dud she used to be, and she was doing her best to ruin it by stammering. Boldness was needed here. Assertiveness and attitude.

  She unwrapped the towel and let it drop to the blue-and-white-checked tiling. Her nipples hardened instantly, her sex moistening as Colin’s potent gaze zeroed in on the strip of trimmed blond curls covering it. He’d seen her naked back at the club, but it hadn’t been light there, not the way it was now. Here he could see every little part. Every little imperfection.

  Her heart hammered as she waited for his next words.

  On second thought, why wait? A sex goddess would never wait. A sex goddess would take matters into her own hands, literally.

  Joyce brought her hands to her breasts, cupping their weight and rubbing her thumbs across the sensitized nipples. The breath dragged in between her lips as pleasure shot to her womb. “Still like what you see?” She didn’t have to fake the breathiness of her tone. She’d never touched herself this way. It felt incredibly sensual.

  “You know I do, cupcake.” His lips curved into a sexy smile, bringing gentle laugh lines to the corners of his mouth.

  “Just in case you need further proof…”

  His hands went to his zipper, parting the fly and pushing the jeans and underwear down his muscular thighs. The tail of his shirt hid his cock, but she could tell its erectness by the way it pushed against the material. It wasn’t enough. She wanted to see all of his big, buff body the way he was seeing hers.

  “Take the rest off.”

  The demand in her voice stunned her. She nearly retracted the words when Colin responded with a mock salute and a teasing, “Yes, ma’am.”

  He pulled the shirt over his head, tossing it aside. Her mouth went dry as she took in the solid width of his sculpted chest and the crisp, sandy-brown hair that lined it. In the beginning Rick had pretended at being a snuggler, but truthfully that wasn’t his nature. He’d preferred to have sex and then roll over to sleep without so much as a good-night kiss. She prayed Colin wasn’t that way, because the idea of curling up against his warm, hard body, legs and arms intertwined, had her anxious to get the sex part over with.

  Joyce shunned herself for the thought. This wasn’t about snuggling. It was about the physical, and a true sex goddess would never want to rush things. Of course, once they had their hands on each other’s bodies, neither would she.

  As her nerves fired with the restless need to touch him, she traveled her gaze down his body, past his defined abdomen to his groin and gasped. “Oh, my gosh!” His pubic hair was gone. His cock seemed larger, his balls heavier as they hung naked between his thighs. “What happened to your hair?”

  He looked down. “Damnedest thing. I was blowing bubbles a little too close to my dick. One of them got stuck and I had no choice but to shave the hair off to get it out.”

  She frowned, not believing his joking tone. He had to be upset over his hairless state, and it was all her fault. Her and her idiocy. “The gum wouldn’t come out. I’m so sorry, Colin.”

  He looked back at her and smiled reassuringly. Trying to comfort her yet again. What a man. He shrugged. “Hey, no big deal. It’ll grow back.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Does it bother you?”

  “Does it bother you that my real name’s Joyce?” She held her breath.

  “Figured you just like your middle name better. While I still had some blood left in my brain, I put your driver’s license and cash on the end table by my bed. I grabbed them when I was undressing you earlier.”

  Heat chased through her at the reminder of the way he’d stripped her at the club, his long fingers and teeth working her dress off until she was naked and aching and frantic to feel him inside her. That heat turned to sweet relief as she realized the meaning behind his words. He didn’t know anything about her past. He only thought she went by a different name than her given one. She was still a sex goddess in his eyes.

  A sex goddess eager to bring her short-term lover to his knees with pleasure.

  Joyce stepped forward and caressed the freshly shaven skin that surrounded his erection. His shaft jerked toward her hand and her sex tingled with heady awareness of the way she made him want. As unexpected as it was, she liked him hairless. It made him seem so much more open to her. Closer somehow. It also made his cock easier to grip, to wrap her lips around.

  She went down on her knees and flicked her tongue across the arousal-reddened skin at the base of his sex. Cupping his balls, she massaged the sac, studying it with interest and not even a hint of the embarrassment she would have felt days ago.

  “This is really erotic,” she breathed against his groin. “I’ve never seen a man so naked before. It makes my lips anxious to kiss you. My mouth to suck on you.” The hunger thick in her voice made her hot, wet. Nipples throbbing, she ran her tongue up the length of his shaft, seeming to go on forever before she reached the soft, ridged head. “Gracious, you have a really big cock.”

  “Haven’t you heard size doesn’t matter?”

  Oh, gosh, had she offended him? She liked his large size. Really, she did. “I didn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. I thought I might choke on it at first the other night, but I didn’t. I was fine.” Joyce’s cheeks heated over the rambling admission. Before she could say anything else foolish, she opened her lips and sucked in the dark pink tip of his shaft. She suckled at the head, savoring the silky fluid that leaked onto her tongue. So male. So potent. So very, very good.

  Rubbing the ridge at the underside of his erection with her thumb, she looked up at his face. She swirled her tongue over the head, dipping into the tiny hole at the end, and murmured her delight. “Mmm…better than fine.”

  Colin’s features tightened, his mouth firming and his eyes going to half mast. Thickly, he said, “You’re the one who’s better than fine.”

  Electrified by the words, she drew him back into her mouth
, this time taking him in as far as he could go. Wrapping her hands around the thick base of his cock, she twisted in opposite directions while applying pressure with her lips. His hips shot toward her mouth and his fingers pushed into her hair.

  He groaned. “Ah, hell, cupcake. I’d like to let you go on sucking for hours, but I’m not going to last that long. And this time when I come, it’s going to be with your body loving me.”

  Joyce’s lips stilled on his shaft. Her heart beat fiercely. Loving him? Had he meant to call it that? No. She was reading something into words spoken out of lust. There was no love here, and there shouldn’t be. Couldn’t be.

  She concentrated on the physical, on driving him wild. Ignoring his words, she continued to milk him with her mouth and hands, twisting, licking, sucking until a moan erupted from his throat and his cock pulsed hotly between her lips.

  Slowly, she eased back, his sex pulling free with a pop. She stood and staggered, her hip hitting against the sink basin. He wasn’t the only one she was driving wild. She was more than a little light-headed, and cream dripped from her pussy down her inner thighs. His eyes opened fully, falling on the rivulets of arousal. His nostrils flared while his look turned primal, predatory. He started to reach for her.

  Heart pounding, she stepped back. He wanted to have her now. If she didn’t make her next move this instant, he would take her. And she wouldn’t stop him. Couldn’t. Not when every cell in her body sizzled with the need for his touch. “Shower time,” she said tightly, turning toward the bathtub.

  “Looks to me like you’re already wet enough.”

  The coarseness of his voice scraped along her nerves, already so bunched with sensual tension. She forced herself to focus on preparing the water, turning on the faucets and adjusting the temperature. She couldn’t stop her tremble as she lifted one leg over the bathtub ledge. “All ready.”

  “You can say that again, cupcake.”

  Colin’s strong hands wrapped around her arms from behind, lifting her against his aroused, solid body before she could move another inch. Holding her to him, he climbed into the tub. Hot spray pulsed between her shoulder blades as he lifted her arms, bracing them, palms down, on the tiling above her head. The position was incredibly subservient. It should have scared her. Instead, carnal delight shot through her, stripping the last of her nerves until they were so raw with want, it was all she could do not to beg him to take her now.