Clear as Glass

by Lynn Kellan

  A long leg twined around his thigh, squaring his hips with hers.

  His erection found the warm vee of her legs and he thought of the fresh box of condoms he bought yesterday, stashed in his bedroom. In hindsight, he should’ve scattered the rubbers throughout the house on the chance he’d find himself in the position he was in nowhis rock-hard groin aching to drill through the denim cloaking hers.

  She cupped the back of his neck to pull his mouth to hers for a hungry kiss. “Lie on top of me. Let me feel your body.”

  He shifted, bearing down on top of her with a ravenous thrust of his hips.

  “Mm.” Her head tipped back, exposing the arch of her throat.

  Mitch stared at the throb of her pulse in the delicate hollow of her neck and realized he’d misjudged her. This woman wouldn’t shatter under his weight. Strength coursed beneath her beauty. The countless miles she’d run honed a lean body capable of matching him, thrust for thrust. How’d he get so damned lucky?

  He got up on one elbow and brushed the edge of his thumb against the nipple jutting against her sports bra.

  Smiling, she arched into his touch.

  If touching her like this made her happy, he’d never let go. He bent his head and kissed the hard little bump protruding against her bra. Desperate for more, he slid his fingers under the snug elastic band and touched the lower curve of her breast.

  Jaye grabbed his wrist. “Please don’t. We need to go slow.”

  “Slow?” He saw the want glittering in her gorgeous brown eyes and was sure he misheard her. “Don’t you want me to undress you?”

  “No.” She pulled his hand out of her bra and placed his palm on top of her cotton-clad breast. “Keep me dressed. It’ll help us stay sane.”

  “Too late. Sanity left me the instant you took off your shirt.”

  She stroked his head, his shoulders, his back. “You look so good. Like a real man should.”

  “Do you know what you’re doing to me?” He genuinely wanted to know, because if she thought he’d muster any restraint while she caressed him with such hungry adoration, he couldn’t hold back. “If you keep touching me like that, you’ll never get rid of me.”

  “You say the best things.” A smile sparkled in her gaze. She touched her mouth to his.

  He groaned, silently acknowledging he was hers. She owned him. Giving in to defeat, he made love to her with their clothes on, familiarizing himself with every stitch of her bra, every crease in her jeans. His body became a never-ending fuse, burning for release.

  The fire sputtered to a dim yellow glow, plunging the living room into semi-darkness. Mitch felt a draft creep along the floor and stroked his hand down Jaye’s cool back. “You’re cold. Stay here while I feed the fire.”

  He knelt to toss another log on the embers, stirring the coals with the iron to reignite the flames. When the hearth radiated a warm blaze, he turned and caught sight of Jaye lying on her side, watching him.

  “The room is warmer now.” She grinned. “Thank you.”

  Her gratitude warmed him better than any fire could. He stayed put, admiring her long legs clad in denim, the sexy plane of her bare abdomen, and the beautiful curve of her breasts above her bra. Her short hair was mussed from his caress. Dangerous emotions swirled deep in his chest. “You look like an angel.”

  A rosy blush colored her cheeks. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and got up on one elbow. “Watching you feed the fire reminded me of the first night we met. When I watched you turn away to pull off your sweatshirt, I stared at the lettering across the back of your shirt and thought an entire sentence could fit between your broad shoulders.”

  He returned to her, kissing her slender hip, her sexy belly, and the pretty contour of her shoulder. “What sentence would you print between my shoulders?”

  “Hm.” She pursed her lips. “Beware of frightened women who carry metal flashlights.”

  Busting out in a laugh, he traced her jaw with the back of his knuckles. “I can’t believe you hit me in the nuts that night. I was just going to change your tire.”

  “No good deed goes unpunished.”

  He leered at her. “You thought I was a sex-crazed murderer.”

  “In my defense, I was spooked by all the noises coming from the forest. When I realized how big you were, I worried you might carry me into the woods and use me as bait to catch whistle pigs.”

  “Forget the whistle pigs. I wanted to carry you into the woods and keep you to myself.” He gazed into her radiant eyes. His mirth drained away, replaced by a terrible awe. When this woman left, would he find another reason to smile?

  Drawing him closer, she cupped his face and pressed kisses along his cheek.

  Pained he didn’t have much time before she’d be out of his reach, he bowed his head to hide the vulnerability in his gaze.

  The warm tip of her tongue darted inside the sensitive shell of his ear. Shivers shot down his neck and coursed down his back. Her lithe body strained against his, flattening her breasts to his chest. Her magical mouth made him shudder with lust. He panted against her neck and warned, “Don’t kiss my ear, pixie. You’re driving me crazy.”

  She gazed into his eyes. “The way you look right now is driving me crazy.”

  He fisted his hands, tilting his ear toward every little nip and lick of her mouth. Carnal pulses rippled through his body. Out of his mind with pleasure, he drove his hips against hers.

  “Feels good.” She moved in tandem with him. “Everything about you feels right.”

  “Jaye.” Her name fell out of his mouth like a prayer. She had no idea how much he needed her, how much her touch affected him. He felt an overwhelming urge to possess every secret part of her until she was his—body and soul.

  He shifted to one side and unbuttoned her jeans with an adept flick of his fingers, pulling down the zipper so he could slide his fingers inside the warm denim. The hot moisture from her sex made the crotch of her panties slick as silk.

  She sucked in a gasp and grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t worry, pixie. I’ll keep a layer of clothing between me and the parts of you I’m dying to touch.” Just the sight of his hand in the open fly of her jeans shot his arousal into orbit. Now that he’d forged his way into the forbidden warmth between her legs, he’d do anything to stay there.

  A red flush bloomed across her chest. She looked up with hazy eyes. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

  “I know I’m pushing the limits, Jaye, but we only have two weeks before you go. In the rare times I have you to myself, let me make you feel good.”

  A soft whimper escaped from her throat and she lay back, hitching up one knee to give him better access to the vee of her legs. “Maybe just once.”

  He slid the thin wet fabric of her panties across her sex. Teasing. Exploring. Searching. A little more pressure nudged his fingertip into her hot, wet crease. The wet satin panties sank into soft flesh. A slow stroke slid his finger against a small, hard ball the size of a pea. Excitement flared. He circled a fingertip around the hidden pearl.

  She gasped and closed her eyes. “Oh.”

  “You’re so damned sexy,” he growled in adulation. He kept his touch light and slow. Using the delicate seam in the crotch of her panties, he rubbed the satin fold against the small nerve bundle he’d discovered. Small, light circles made her eyelids quiver. Up and down strokes made her pink mouth open. Combining the two made her spine arch off the floor.

  She grabbed the back of his neck. “Mitch.”

  Her legs clamped around his hand and the slick warmth beneath his fingers pulsed in strong, rhythmic jolts. She was coming apart in his arms. Elation clamped over his soul. He’d proven, without a doubt, that he could love her no matter how many barriers she put between them.

  Slanting him a smile, she stroked his hair and let out a soft laugh.

  His little pixie was loose and satiated, her graceful arms and legs melting into the sleeping bag. Needing to get closer, he pulled her leg ov
er his ass and thrust the bulge in his jeans against her crotch. In that erotic moment, the truth slammed him hard between the eyes. This woman was all he ever wanted.

  She tightened her leg around his hips. “Holy wow. If it’s this good dressed…”

  The thick layer of denim around his lower half felt like a prison, locking him from her. He rolled to one side, unzipped his jeans, and hooked his thumb into the elastic waistband of his boxers. “Would you touch me, Jaye?”

  “Mm.” With a throaty sigh, she reached for him.

  Cool fingers stroked down the length of his rigid shaft and whispered back to the top. The pad of her thumb rubbed the aching tip, igniting the last few feet of his fuse.

  He claimed a deep kiss. The wet heat of her mouth made him think of place between her legs that was wet, hot, and ready. “Let me make love to you, Jaye.”

  “Not while we’re working together. Makes things too complicatedbut I love touching you.” Her soft lips traced the shell of his ear.

  “Honey, don’t.” He didn’t mean it. He’d have a heart attack if she stopped.

  Her lips found his earlobe, pulling the flesh into her warm mouth with a gentle suck.

  Having just a small part of him inside her detonated his control. He grabbed her hand, loving the feel of her fingers wrapped around his shaft, the feel of holding her while she held him. “You’d better stop stroking me or I’ll come in your hand.”

  “Didn’t I just do that to you?”

  “Yes, but that’s different.”

  “Not at all.” Her thumb slipped out of his grasp. With a soft caress, she spread the moisture that had gathered at the tip of his erection. “You aren’t supposed to give all the time, you sweet man. It’s your turn to take.”

  He’d grown so used to giving without taking, he couldn’t believe Jaye wanted him to climax in her hand. The idea shivered up his legs to curl around his groin. So tempting. He released her hand and rested his temple against hers. “Did you just call me sweet?”

  “Mm hm. You’re selfless, funny, and you make my heart bounce off my ribs every time you kiss me.” Her free hand trickled a soft caress through his hair. Her chest pressed against his. Her soft abdomen brushed against his rigid belly. She gifted his erection with firm downward strokes and whisper-soft upstrokes.

  From head to foot, he felt loved. The burning fuse inside him reached the base of his hard on, igniting a powerful spasm. Pleasure exploded, pouring out of him in long, stunning pulses. Twisting the sleeping bag in his fists, he bore down on her lean body with a hoarse groan as an orgasm shot out of him. After the last spasm faded, he barely had the energy to brush his mouth against her ear. “I think my head just exploded.”

  She laughed. “I’ll take that as a complement.”

  With a careful turn of his hips, he rolled off her and reached for his T-shirt. He wiped off her hand, astonished at the amount of milky liquid he’d propelled into her palm. Complications, his ass. Even though he hadn’t made love to her, things had just gotten a helluva lot more complicated between them.

  “Now I know why you like sex,” she murmured.

  “How so?” He tossed away his shirt and pulled the edge of the sleeping bag over them.

  She snuggled against his bare chest, pressing an affectionate kiss on his scarred collarbone. “Having sex is fun and feels really good…when I’m with you.”

  A ferocious surge of emotion clogged his throat with feelings he dared not voice. Opening up to Jaye would be downright suicidal considering she was leaving in two weeks, so he kept his mouth shut and tucked a pillow under his head. Wrapping an arm around her, he stared at the dying embers in the hearth. The woman of his dreams cuddled close, her warm breath fluttering across his ribcage. His heart pounded beneath her lips.

  He thought of the three-hour trip to Syracuse and knew he’d make the drive every weekend to see her. Problem was, he could hardly make it through a day without kissing her. How would he last an entire week?

  A piercing anguish stabbed through his chest. He couldn’t walk away from his family business. From what little Jaye had said about working for her father, she couldn’t abandon her obligations, either. Their relationship would never work.

  He was falling for a woman he could never have.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jaye’s bed felt like a slab of marble. Her hip ached. She reached for the light on the nightstand and bumped into something solid…and warm. A shoulder?

  Breath buffeted her temple. A warm palm slid up her back. “You okay, babe?”

  The unfamiliar endearment kicked Jaye’s heart against her ribcage. In the inky darkness, she explored the nearby torso. How had David gotten so big? Her hand travelled up a thick neck and touched a pelt of ultra-short hair. Mitch.

  She touched the shell of his ear, the rugged plane of his cheek, his straight nose. When her fingertips whispered over his closed eyes, she knew he wasn’t fully awake.

  “I’ve got good news, pixie. You don’t snore.” He brushed a drowsy kiss against her temple.

  She smiled. Even when Mitch was half conscious, he was a loving man. “I’m relieved to hear that. If I made too much noise, I was worried you wouldn’t want to sleep with me.”

  “Fat chance.” He patted her rump. The playful spank transformed into a hungry caress. “I’ll be damned. There’s a gorgeous woman beside me. Wasn’t a dream, after all.”

  Indeed, her body confirmed that last night’s activities were very real. Her lips were swollen from Mitch’s kisses, her chin tender from the graze of his sprouting whiskers, and her legs still felt weak from the intense orgasm he’d given her. Not knowing how to thank a brawny glassblower for making her toes curl without sounding flippant, she shifted her gaze to the window. The first blue light of dawn appeared. “I wonder how much snow we got.”

  “Only one way to find out. Flick the switch by the window and look outside.”

  She scrambled out of the sleeping bag’s warm cocoon and did as he suggested. The garage lanterns threw a sheet of light across a thick blanket of snow. “Wow. We got a ton of snow. It’s beautiful.”

  On a cold morning like this, walking around in just her bra and jeans wasn’t smart. She tucked her arms across her sports bra and shivered.

  The floor creaked. Mitch’s warm arm curled around her waist and pulled her back against his warm chest. “We got at least a foot of snow. Damn. I should go to the factory and plow the parking lot. I’ll never get this stuff off the pavement if it freezes.”

  “Can I tag along?”

  His mouth hovered near her ear. “It’s Saturday, Jaye. Don’t work. You haven’t taken a day off since you’ve arrived.”

  “Work wasn’t what I had in mind. I wanted to take pictures of the meadow. Think of how pretty the sunrise will look.” As the dim dawn crept over the front yard, the snow took on a magical blue hue. She couldn’t wait to capture the image in her lens. “Besides, photography is fun.”

  “As fun as football?” He smiled against her cheek. “Or as fun as sex?”

  She squeezed his arm. “Nothing is as fun as sex.”

  He laughed. “Where have you been all my life, woman?”

  “Hiding behind a computer.” She turned to kiss the handsome indentation beside his smiling mouth. “Need help shoveling the driveway?”

  “No. I’ll just put the blade on my truck and push off the snow.” He laced his hands at the small of her back and grinned. “Want to take a shower?”

  “Yes. I won’t be long.”

  He nodded towards his bedroom. “I remodeled the master bath three years ago. Put in a huge steam shower. Plenty of room for two.”

  “I think we’d better use separate bathrooms.” If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up in his bed by evening—maybe sooner. She tapped the large male hand exploring the curve of her bottom. “I’ve got a feeling not much cleaning would go on if I showered with a glassblower like you.”

  Mitch chuckled. “Glassblowers are very thorough. Every inch
of you will be soaped and rinsed, twice.”

  The memory of his lovemaking made her body go heavy and slick, but getting anywhere near his bedroom would be a huge mistake. After her debacle with David, she wasn’t getting into any co-worker’s bed again. She backed away, pointing like he was some overgrown, unpredictable puppy. “Stay.”

  He folded muscular arms across his chest and watched her retreat.

  The sight of him bare-chested in jeans made a smitten grin lift her mouth. She swept her gaze across the ragged scar along his collarbone, the impossible breadth of his shoulders, and the well-defined muscles flanking his flat stomach. “You are really good-looking, Mitchell Blake.”

  His lowered his gaze to the floor and swiped one hand down his face. “How long will you work for your father?”

  The grim tone of his voice surprised her almost as much as the question. “I’ll probably work at our company until I retire.” The notion felt like a life sentence, smothering the frothy happiness bubbling inside her with a heavy slap.

  “I figured.” He turned abruptly and walked into the kitchen.

  Jaye saw the resigned acceptance on his chiseled face and knew he understood. Being born into a family business meant she could uphold her father’s legacy, or live with the guilt if she didn’t. No choice existed. She’d been raised to continue what her father started…which meant she must leave everything else behind. Jaye listened to the sounds of water tumbling into a coffee pot for a moment. Rather than go to Mitch, she headed down the hallway to shower and dress.

  During the short drive to the factory, Mitch didn’t say a word.

  Jaye ignored the sad ache inside her chest and held the reassuring weight of her camera. By the time they pulled into parking lot, she’d already thought of numerous pictures she wanted to capture. She headed into the meadow and the thick quilt of snow muffled the single-minded scrape of Mitch’s plow against the pavement. The moment she peered through her camera’s viewfinder and depressed the shutter, she felt better.