He pulled his truck beneath the stilted house and ran up the steps.
The house was quiet and dark. A glance at the sofa confirmed Summer wasn’t waiting to finish what they’d started.
With slow steps, he brushed his teeth and changed back into his pajama pants.
The door to the bedroom stood ajar, proving too much temptation to resist.
His forefinger gently pushed the door open.
Summer lay sprawled on top of the covers of his bed. She’d shoved the legs and sleeves up on her sweat suit, but the moonlight cast a definite glow to her sweating face.
Stubborn woman. Did she think he was going to attack her if she dared take off the sweats?
Maybe.
Out of nowhere, a growling ball of black and tan fur leapt at him.
20
Hot. Summer was so hot. She turned on the bed, wishing she were naked. Wishing Thorne was there, naked with her, while she was making wishes. Hey, why not? After all, things had progressed pretty fast earlier. Had Thorne not been called away, they could very likely have been sharing a bed.
A scream split the air, jolting her from her semi-orgasmic dream state.
Amid the yelling, Lola’s distinctive growl rose.
This could not be a good thing.
By the feeble light of the hall, Summer saw a man stood locked in battle with Lola. Thorne.
He did not appear to be winning.
Summer shook the remnants of her luscious dream from her head and rolled to her feet. Obviously her dog was intent on ruining any possibility of her wishes coming true. Heck, with the way her dog was mauling him, he’d probably run screaming into the night.
“Lola!” Squatting, Summer tugged at the growling, vibrating animal. “Lola! Be nice! Let. Go.”
Finally Lola released Thorne’s pant leg, allowing Summer to pick her up.
“I’m so sorry! I’ll lock her in the bathroom again so you can get some sleep without fear of dog attacks.”
When Summer returned, Thorne was in the bed. Her bed. Well, okay, technically not her bed, but still …
Swallowing in an effort to alleviate her dry mouth, she could only stare. Dang, he made one hot picture, moonlight reflecting off his broad, bare shoulder.
He smiled, his teeth flashing white in the dimness.
“Um, I can take the couch,” she finally said around the lust constricting her throat. Yes, she was horny. Yes, she’d been lusting after the firefighter spread before her like a smorgasbord before a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. But the fact was she was just too much of a chicken to do anything about it.
Still smiling, Thorne flipped back the corner of the sheet and patted the mattress.
Did she dare take what she so desperately wanted, what she needed?
She took a hesitant step closer. Then another.
“Summer?” The sound of his hushed voice caused her nipples to pucker beneath her sweatshirt.
Their gazes locked.
Even in the limited light, she could see the heat in his eyes.
His hand stopped her from crawling into bed.
“I’m tired, Summer. It’s been a hell of a day and night.”
Obviously she’d misread him. Before she could recoil, his warm hand gripped her knee, holding her in place.
“Stay,” he said, his thumb rubbing fiery circles on her knee through the cumbersome material. “I just meant I want to save my energy for more interesting activities.” He walked his fingers up to the juncture of her legs, causing her to squirm against his inflaming touch. He pulled her farther onto the mattress by cupping her sex with his palm and pulling.
When they were nose to nose, he whispered, “Lose the sweats. Please.”
21
Summer had never in her life been so uncoordinated. At one point, she suspected she may have elbowed Thorne in the jaw in her hasty effort to strip.
Breathing hard from the exertion—okay, maybe she was more than a little turned on as well—she finally slid beneath the covers. “Your turn,” she huffed out with a smile.
In response, he flipped back the cover to reveal all he wore was a smile.
It was her new favorite outfit.
Sliding eagerly into his arms, she couldn’t stifle the little shimmy of eagerness she did when his heated skin touched her. Full body contact. She loved it.
She wanted more.
His lips brushed light kisses across the end of her nose, her cheekbones, her forehead, avoiding her starving mouth and the deeper kiss she craved.
The strains of an old song—“Set Me Free”—filled the bedroom.
Crap! Her whole body tensed within Thorne’s embrace. Did Cory have spies who tipped him off as to the most inopportune time to call?
Mood instantly lessened, she eased from the heated promise of Thorne’s arms. If she didn’t answer, who knew what Cory would do in an effort to locate her? “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should probably get that.”
In answer, Thorne’s hot hands continued to stroke her as she leaned over the side of the bed and felt for her cell.
Pressing the button to quiet the obnoxious ringtone, she snapped into the hand piece, “What?”
“About damn time you answered your phone,” the nasal tone of her ex-husband echoed in her ear, setting her teeth on edge. “Where the hell are you?”
“None of your business, Cory. What I do and where I go no longer concern you. We’re divorced, remember?”
He responded, but it was difficult to pay attention with the delicious things Thorne’s hands were doing to her legs and breasts.
He tweaked her nipple, causing her breath to hitch.
“What’s wrong?” Cory demanded.
“Nothing; I—ah!” Thorne’s talented fingers stopped playing with her slick folds and slid deep. Her hips bucked, grinding against his erection.
“Are you with someone?”
“Again, Cory, none of your business.” Her hips wiggled in a little happy dance against the mattress when Thorne began kissing his way over the swell of her buttocks, occasionally taking little nips along the way.
“Is someone with you?” her ex persisted in a strident voice.
Thorne reached for the phone, his brow raised questioningly.
Nodding her permission, she relinquished the phone.
“Yes.” Thorne smiled and spoke directly into the receiver, then disconnected. He pulled her back against his heat. “Now, where were we?”
Much as she wanted nothing more than to lose herself in his arms, she felt compelled to explain. “He’s just going to keep on until he finds where I’m staying. You know that, don’t you?”
Leaning back, he looked down at her, his gaze so hot she wanted to tell him to forget she’d said anything. Forget her stupid ex-husband who had control issues. Forget everything except how it felt when they were together.
Finally he spoke. “Is that what you want?”
“Of course not! But this is Cory we’re talking about. His entire life, whatever Cory wanted Cory got.”
“Even you.” It wasn’t a question and it made her feel small and exposed. Maybe even a little stupid.
She didn’t like feeling stupid.
“Not anymore.” She yanked the sheet to cover her nudity, clutching it around her shoulders. “If it bothers you so much, you’re free to leave.”
“It’s my bed. My house, in fact.”
Staring at the sheet, she muttered, “I know. But at the moment, I have nowhere else to go. I can sleep on the couch if you—oh!”
His chest plastered against the sheet covering her, he gave a quick squeeze to pull her closer. “You’re not going anywhere.” His hot breath at her ear caused a little shiver of excitement to race through her. His teeth nibbled on her earlobe a second before his mouth began trailing a string of kisses down her vulnerable neck. “Unless you want to, of course.”
It took considerable effort, but she finally managed a tiny shake of her head as she dragged enough air into
her lungs to whisper, “No, I’m fine just where I am.”
“Just fine?” He growled against her neck, his hands slipping beneath the sheet to toy with her nipples and lower until his palm cupped her sex. “I can make you feel a lot better than just fine.”
No kidding.
But after her divorce, she’d sworn to never be the compliant partner again. While she was perfectly content to just lie there and relish all the delicious things Thorne was doing to her, a part of her screamed to be more proactive.
Hooking her heel around his calf for leverage, she flexed her thigh and pushed off the mattress, neatly flipping him to his back.
Now what? If she didn’t do something soon, he would resume control. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but it just wasn’t what she wanted. Not right now, anyway.
Pinning his hips to the mattress with her inner thighs, she leaned closer, allowing the tips of her nipples to graze his upper abs and chest as she made slow progress up his body until her lips brushed his.
“Ah-ah-ah,” she whispered against his mouth, wrestling his hands from her rib cage. Palms together, she stretched until her hands held his above his head. “You’ve done so much for me, let me do something for you for a change, okay?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “What did you have in mind?”
In reply, she dragged the tip of her tongue along the roughened edge of his jaw. Raspy and slightly salty. Onward, down his neck, then she nipped at his throat. “Mmm,” she purred, alternately kissing and nibbling across his shoulder. Heading south, she trailed kisses diagonally until she came to an erect nipple.
She paused, worrying the nub with the edge of her teeth, smiling against his skin at the harsh intake of his breath. Swirling her tongue around and around the nipple, she finally drew it into her mouth, swallowing a chuckle at the way the muscles in Thorne’s abdomen contracted against her with the action. Heat radiated from his erection where it nestled against her thigh.
His penis twitched, brushing her sensitized skin as she continued her trek, his powerful body vibrating beneath her questing hands and lips.
She was excruciatingly aware of his straining control. His muscles jerked and contracted beneath her lips and tongue. The powerful, musky scent of sexual excitement and testosterone wafted around her.
It would be so easy to give in, to do what they both yearned for her to do, to slide down and take him into her equally eager body.
But if she did that, she would be giving up control. She wanted to be the one doing the controlling, even if it was only for a little while.
Rolling to the right, she slid from his body and the temptation to let nature take its course.
Mind made up, she grabbed his erection in a less than tender, loving way, judging by the way he gasped.
“Oh!” He was pulling back. She tightened her grip. If she let him get away she’d never be in control.
“S-stop!” His back bowed off the mattress, his hands blindly grasping her arm where she held him in a death grip.
“What? Oh! I’m so sorry!” Could she be a bigger klutz? She’d planned to take him in her mouth, so she needed to get on with it before he decided she really wasn’t worth the trouble. Forcing a smile, she kept her eye on the target. “Let me make it up to you.”
Thorne clutched the sheet in his fist, panting. Had any other woman practically ripped his dick out by the root, he would want nothing to do with her. Ever. It had to be the undeniable fact that Summer was the one that made him react differently. Way differently. In fact, it sort of turned him on.
Maybe he was a latent masochist?
The drag of the sharp edge of her teeth against the tender skin on the head of his cock slapped that notion out of his mind.
Not wanting to make any sudden moves, he grasped the sides of her head, gently pulling until he disengaged her mouth.
Gaze locked with his, she absently stroked his fainting penis back to life.
“I-I thought you would like for me to do that,” she said in a sad-sounding little voice.
“I do, baby; I do. Just not right now.” Even in the dimness, he could see the hurt on her face. Damn it, what was it about the woman that made him want to tell her it was okay, even if it meant mutilation? “I also like it when you do this.” To demonstrate, he pulled her higher until he could stroke the head of his cock with the tip of her nipple.
His cock liked it, too.
“And this?” she asked in a breathy voice, rising to her knees. Leaning down, she sandwiched him between her breasts, then rocked gently, gliding his erection in and out of her cleavage.
His hips bucked off the bed. “Oh yeah,” he finally managed to say, gripping her and pulling her to straddle his hips.
Crunching his abs, he took her sweet-smelling nipple into his mouth, rolling the pebbled tip with his tongue before sucking it deep into his mouth.
They both groaned.
Her wet folds slid up and down his abdomen, grinding her pussy into him.
There was so much he wanted to do with this woman, so much he wanted to do to her, to have her do to him… .
But right now, he was heading fast into sexual overload.
He needed release and he needed it now. He groped between the mattress and springs for a condom.
With one last pull on her breast, he released her and looked up into her glazed eyes.
“But there’s one thing I’d like even better,” he said in a strained whisper as he made a new land speed record for rolling on a condom.
He wondered if she had any idea how much it turned him on when she sat rubbing her nipples like she was doing.
Grasping her hips, he positioned her, watching her smooth-skinned sex align with his sheathed and ready for action cock.
“Hmm?” She regarded him with a heavy-lidded gaze.
“Fucking you,” he grunted out as he flexed his hips.
22
Her eyes widened at Thorne’s graphic words, then widened more at the feel of his hardness probing her wetness a second before filling her.
Her breath caught. Her nipples puckered painfully. Her back arched. Yes! Her long dry streak was coming to an end.
Thorne thrust higher, his hands biting into the flesh, where he clutched her hip bones.
Against her swollen clitoris, his muscles contracted in an incendiary way, giving her the urge to rub against him as hard and fast as she could in an effort to reach the orgasm lurking just out of reach.
His abs bunched tighter as he came up off the mattress to suck on her aching nipple.
It made her impossibly wetter.
She clutched his head tightly to her breast, her hips bucking wildly of their own volition. Her increased wetness made it difficult to maintain her intimate contact.
Thorne sat fully up, holding her tightly against his heaving chest as he pumped into her receptive body.
Despite her wishing it would last forever, all too soon she felt it. The big O. And from the way her heart raced, her lungs seized, it promised to be a biggie. The orgasm to end all orgasms, the stuff legends were made of, the proverbial earth-shattering climax.
Poised on the brink, she held what little breath she had left, wanting to prolong the experience. To savor the thrill of it all. To … what the heck did he think he was doing?
Oblivious, Thorne pounded into her with single-minded determination. And from the way his eyes were scrunched shut, from the way his thrusts were increasing with the rate of his breathing, it was a safe bet the orgasm he was racing toward was not hers.
That would not do.
She finally drew enough air into her starving lungs to speak. “W-wait!” Hands spanning his corded neck, she squeezed and gave a little shake to get his attention. “Stop.”
It took a few more thrusts, but his lean hips finally stopped their furious pumping. His iron grip eased a tad.
Breathing hard, he opened his eyes, looking slightly dazed. “What? Why?” As if to change her mind, he ground against her, still
buried deep. “C’mon, baby. We’re so close—”
“That’s the problem! We aren’t that close. At least not now.” At his widened gaze, she shrugged and hurried on. “Thorne, it’s been a long time since I’ve, well, been with anyone.” She tilted his head until they were eye to eye. “There was a time when I thought I’d never be with anyone like this again.”
Her fingers stopped whatever he was about to say.
“Sex with you is great. It’s fun. But I need more. I need an earth-shattering, mind-blowing orgasm.” Allowing her eyes to plead, she wiggled to close what little distance remained between them. Their gazes met. “And I don’t care if it takes all night, I intend to get it.”
With a grimace, he eased from her body, ignoring her protesting gasp.
“Wait right here.”
23
Slipping on the tile, Thorne ran, buck naked, to the stack of boxes in the kitchen. Ripping open the tops like the madman he had become, he searched and tossed aside two boxes before he found the stash of sex toys junk his cousin’s fiancée had left.
If Summer wanted an earth-shattering orgasm, he damn well was determined to see that she got one. Or more.
Hell, if she was that horny, he had no problems with their copulating like bunnies all night long. Tomorrow was his day off.
The thought stopped him in his tracks.
If Summer was the one, and with each breath he was more sure she was, what lengths was he willing to go to in order to keep her?
He glanced in the bag of sexual goodies in his hand. Did he even know how to use some of that stuff?
A slow smile curved his mouth. Maybe, maybe not. But they could have one hell of a good time figuring it out.
He stopped after the next step.
Maybe he should check out the stuff first, familiarize himself so he didn’t look like a fool.
“Thorne?” Summer’s voice had slipped from huskily sexy to somewhat confused.
“On my way.” Gripping the bag, he strode toward the bedroom door.
It wasn’t rocket science; he could bluff his way through if necessary.
Summer knelt in the middle of his bed, the sheet pulled just high enough to cover her nipples. While Thorne had been out of the room, she’d practiced several alluring positions, finally settling on sex kitten / pinup girl. The cooler air from the open window tickled her bare bottom, then whispered up her spine, causing her nipples to pucker and ache beneath the edge of the sheet.
Feel the Heat Page 17