“I’m sorry for what I said to you. I didn’t mean it. I just didn’t want Meredith to know that I’m not… the perfect mother and wife that she thinks I am. Come to find out she’s known that, since ninth grade at least, and was much less upset than I expected her to be,” she blurted and then took another drink for more courage.
He walked over and sat on the edge of the large bed off to one side of the room and looked at her as if inviting her to continue. It had been a good while since she’d had anything stronger than a glass of wine and the couple of long swigs she’d taken from the bottle left her a little unsteady on the unusually high heels she wore.
She ungracefully stepped out of the shoes and felt his hazel eyes caress her legs as she bent to pick them up and hold them in her other hand which now held her wrap, her clutch and the shoes.
Forcing herself to meet his eyes, she lost the battle with herself to remain strong, say what she’d come to say, and then leave the next move up to him, when his beautiful lips curved up in a lopsided smile.
“Did you want to sit down, Carla?” he asked.
How could she meet his gaze when that mouth had solicited an excitement in her that she still felt several hours later from when they’d last made contact with her skin? Did he know that’s what she was thinking about right now? Was that what was behind his grin?
Her knees grew weak so she moved forward and sat down a little heavier than she would have liked on the edge of his bed. Seeing that his beautiful lips still smiled down at her, she again took another long drink from the bottle. She would be drunk soon at this rate… courage not stupidity was what she was after.
“I sometimes let my emotions get the better of me… even the bad ones,” she said, handing him the bottle. “That’s no excuse for being so hateful toward you at the gallery, earlier. I realize now you… you will always be a cop. It’s who you are and I’m sorry.”
His eyes never left her as he also took a drink from the bottle and then offered it back to her before saying, “Is that all you see when you look at me, Carla? A cop?”
How could she answer that? Taking the bottle from his hand she again took another drink. Yes, she saw a cop when she looked at him but she also saw a man with amazing eyes, a good heart and that mouth.
Reaching across her body he took the bottle back out of her hand and she caught the smell of the cologne he always wore and the liquid courage took that opportunity to finally kick in.
Leaning forward, she pressed her mouth against his before he could pull back away from her. His mouth was incredibly soft for a man and it felt so good against hers. A soft kiss was all she got before he moved back from her. He stood up and took the bottle over to the desk and set it down. Then he came back and sat down next to her and said, “If all you see is the cop, then you shouldn’t be kissing me.”
“It’s not all I see…” she supplied.
“Then what? Tell me what you see when you look at me, Carla? Do you see a cop, a man, a friend or just a reminder of how much you miss your husband?” he asked.
The liquor hadn’t just given her courage, it was making her speak before she could even process what he asked and formulate a proper response because she heard herself say, “I know you were at the premiere with your… friend… but I didn’t like that. As much as I miss Doug, I know he doesn’t want me to be alone anymore. My only experience with the police was when they arrested me twenty five years ago. You’re not like those cops were though.”
“How were those cops? Were they mean to you?” he asked.
“No, they put handcuffs on me and it wasn’t my fault… it was all Jarod. I told them I didn’t know about the tickets being fakes… and I didn’t… but they put the handcuffs on me anyways,” she replied, remembering that night long ago and putting her hands together in front of her and looking at her wrists.
Reaching out, Greg took her hands and clasped them together and used one of his larger hands like a cuff to hold her hands in her lap then said, “Trina and I dated a long time ago for about thirty seconds. Now we are just friends… she’s the sister of my old boss who asked if I would take her to the premiere tonight. She’s dating someone else now but is really into art.” After a short pause he continued, “What else do you see when you look at me, Carla?”
“I see your mouth in my dreams, kissing my skin… like earlier… making me feel like…” she blurted and then clamped her lips closed.
“What does my mouth make you feel like, Carla?” he asked, moving closer to her. Just one more kiss from him and then she should go.
“Like…” she said as he moved even closer. “Like a woman… not just a mother.”
He leaned down close to her and pressed his lips against hers again. She struggled to free her hands from his grasp and wrap them around his neck but he wouldn’t release her. The kiss was making her belly flutter as he touched his tongue to hers.
After a moment he released her mouth and leaned his forehead against hers whispering, “Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?”
Did she want to know? She did not compare with Barbie in any way and if that was the type of woman he was used to dating, he had to be sorely disappointed with her or at least he would be.
“I see a woman who cries as often as she laughs. I see a woman who puts everyone around her first. So much so that she feels guilty for even considering doing something small for herself, let alone something big like continuing her education. I see a beautiful emotional soul who shivers when I touch her because she feels things so deeply,” he finished with his lips against hers.
Every hair on her body was standing up straight and she was surrounded by an electrical current that jumped from her to him as he kissed her again. He continued to hold her hands together in her lap with one of his but used his other hand to run his fingers through her hair and caress her neck. When he finally broke the kiss and pulled back from her it was to stare at her.
“Is that all you see when you look at me?” she asked nervously after seeing his piercing gaze strip her bare as though he knew her legs were jelly and her stomach a ball of sexual tension.
He kissed her a little more forcefully then and when he released her said, “I also see a woman who caught my attention from the first time we met. I stepped up close to you to look at one of Chuck’s paintings and you looked up at me just like this and your lips parted as though inviting me to taste them. I see a woman whose touch sets my body on fire like nothing I’ve ever experienced before… so much so that she reduces me to begging for her touch. I see a woman who I want to make love to a little more every time I catch her staring at my mouth. I see the first woman in my life that I am still willing to wait for.”
“You don’t have to wait anymore… I told you… I know that Doug would want me to be happy and move on with my life. I noticed you that day too but I wasn’t anywhere near ready for that yet. You’ve helped me with that process and I thank you for it. Now when I look at you, I just want to touch you so badly,” she said, trying to pull her hands free.
“I’ll let your hands go if you promise not to take over and just do this for me too. Again, I’m not a child… I’m a grown man who is going to participate in this, Carla,” he said.
Chapter Ten
He was normally a good judge of people and could easily predict how they would react in certain situations. Carla, though, always did the unexpected. Where she was normally shy, emotional and could easily allow others to trample all over her, releasing her hands and then trying to take back some control again was like trying to catch a bird.
A part of him had known she would want to take care of the growing inferno between them, just like she took care of everything else in her life, but he was wholly unprepared for her level of sensuality.
Once her hands were free she leaned forward and began kissing him. She never released his mouth while managing to stand back up and move in front of him. She began undoing his tie and then the buttons of his shirt.
> Those dainty hands on his shoulders and chest felt absolutely amazing. He realized he was in trouble long before she made it to the button of his pants. The onslaught of pleasure he felt knowing she finally wanted him only stopped by catching one of her hands in his.
The tables were turned on him yet again when she flipped her hand in his so that she was once more in control guiding his hand up the inside of one of her sexy thighs. Breaking her kiss for a moment she said the one thing that he hadn’t anticipated.
“Mmmm, touch me, Greg. I want your hands and mouth on me,” she said quietly as she guided his hand even higher under her dress.
Her breathing hitched as his hand cupped her cleft overtop of her panties. Standing before him he watched her head fall back on her shoulders while her hands tried to guide his shirt further down his arms.
He rubbed his hand along the silken material of her panties. The one barrier between his fingers and paradise. That scrap of material was the only thing keeping him from absolutely ravishing her right now. How could she expect him to make love to her when she was making him practically froth at the mouth?
In order to get his shirt all the way off he was forced to release her. She slid the shirt off one of his arms and then the other in such a way that she brushed up against his entire body and ensured that he could smell and practically taste her.
He tried to think of baseball or anything that would take his mind of the seduction of a professional. God… she was so damn hot! She deserved tenderness but if he didn’t get control of this situation…
One would have expected her to properly fold or lay his shirt across a chair. Instead she tossed it carelessly on the floor. Then she leaned forward to rub her mouth across his shoulder as he had done to her earlier. She released noises of satisfaction that made him so hard he actually hurt. The moan escaped him before his hands made it back to her waist.
He wanted to try and pull her away from him. For just a minute so he could breathe and get himself in check. Again she did what he wouldn’t have expected. She guided his hands up the outside of those soft shapely legs of hers. Dragging the hem of her dress up around her middle and only stopping when his hands were on either side of her hips.
This was what the phrase about a tiger in the bedroom was referring to. It was coined specifically for Carla Johnson. Her appetite for him was eating him alive but he was loving every second of it.
Hooking his thumbs under the flimsy string of material along each of her hips, he slowly pulled her panties down her thighs. She looked down at him. Her mouth parted softly and her bottom lip quivered. “I’m so wet…”she gasped before her head fell back on her shoulders once more.
All sense of decency escaped him at hearing something like that come from the normally prim and proper woman. He pushed her panties the rest of the way down her thighs a little rougher than he should have. Then he caressed her thighs, hips and waist as his hands slid back up her body taking the dress with it until she was standing before him gloriously naked.
“Take your pants off,” she ordered.
“Maybe we should…” he offered. He was so unusually out of control with desire for her that he actually feared hurting her in his current state.
“No… now, Detective,” she said breathlessly reaching shamelessly for the waistband of his pants. “I need you so bad right now I can’t stand it… please… pleasure me.”
In an effort to buy him some time to cope with her onslaught of blazing desire, he reached out and gently slid his fingers along her soft cleft. The wetness he was met with did not help his situation at all. Nor did the sharp gasp she emitted along with the words, “Oh God… yea.”
“Carla… baby, you are tearing me up. I’ve wanted you so badly for so long and you pushed me away every time. Now you are making me crazy and this wasn’t what I thought…” he tried to explain his feelings, but her soft, moist flesh against his hand wanted him more than it wanted an explanation.
Placing the small fingers of one hand on his mouth as though to shut him up, and pressing her other one over top his hand and pushing it firmly against the very core of her, she leaned down and whispered, “Harder, Greg…”
Thankfully he’d removed his shoes, socks and the belt of his trousers before she’d shown up at his door this evening or his next stunt wouldn’t have been so successful. With his mostly useless left hand he finally unzipped his pants. Sitting forward he managed to stand up and push them down his legs along with his underwear while his other hand never left her weeping body. She was putting every dream he’d ever had of her to shame as her hips and body moved in time with his fingers.
As soon as he was naked and had kicked the last of his clothes aside, her free hand found him. She wrapped her hand around his shaft just perfectly and he suddenly couldn’t breathe at all.
Gasping for air, he felt like he was drowning. When she stepped up close to him and kissed him so hungrily he found himself clutching her by the time she released him. He was unbalanced as all the blood rushed to the place that her talented hand now stroked as though she’d practiced making his body sing a song just for her a thousand times before.
“I’m dizzy, Carla,” he whispered against her mouth. “I want you worse than I’ve ever wanted anything in my whole life. Please… stop tormenting me with your beautiful body and talented hands… put me out of my misery.”
She released her hold on his overheated and excited body. Her hands stroked up his stomach to his chest which she gently pushed on until he was forced to sit back down on the bed. Giving him no reprieve from the skill she possessed at loving a man she followed him onto the bed, straddling his hips just as he felt her clench around his fingers. Unable to wait a second longer to possess her delicious heat he guided her hips down to him and nudged into her soft core. Oh man, she felt amazing.
“Carla… a condom… wallet,” he managed to choke out when his sense of responsibility managed to fight through the fog of sensual tension racing throughout his whole body.
“I’m safe and can’t have any more babies now,” she whispered against the side of his neck achieving what he thought was impossible… making him even harder.
“Good, I’m safe too,” he whispered as he tried to catch her mouth with his when she gently bit his neck and then backed up to look in his eyes.
Her gaze went straight to his mouth and again he tried to lean forward and kiss her lips. Instead of letting him, she backed up and shifted her hips which slid the last of him into her beautiful body. She rocked her hips against him and the pleasure of it had him groaning her name loudly.
“You’re big and you feel so good to me,” she told his mouth before her gaze finally met his again. Her hips found a rhythm that continued to bring him to the brink and then force him back from the ledge over and over again.
“Please, Carla. God, what are you doing to me?” he managed to say before his head fell back on his shoulders.
“I’m touching you, Greg Sanders… just like you ask me to,” she said before sucking the skin of his neck into her sweet mouth. “Do you like it?”
“Shit… yea. I fucking love it,” he gasped as she worked him over.
At his breathless admission she leaned her whole body back from his. She began moving faster and harder against him until she cried out in a husky voice that shot straight to his groin. The feel of her clenching tightly around him finally allowed him to slip over the edge of sanity into complete ecstasy. He cried out another admission as his body emptied into hers, “I love you, Carla.”
The words were out and he couldn’t take them back. Hell… he didn’t want to take them back. For a man who had once said he would never get married or have kids, he was completely and totally in love with a woman who had three… make that four kids. He managed to sit forward slightly so that he could wrap his left arm around her as well, rather than using it as leverage now that she was done with him.
He was enjoying the feel of her snuggled against him almost as much as he’d
enjoyed her version of touching him. She’d just ruined him for any other woman. No other woman had ever satisfied him like she just did or ever stood a chance of being able to. The loss of her skin against his was almost painful when she pulled back from him.
“Oh… I’m so sorry… did I hurt your shoulder?” she asked.
Finally able to catch her off guard he leaned forward and caught her mouth in a series of heated open mouth kisses that left his body wanting her again… and maybe again after that. Damn… he just wanted her… heart, body and soul! Night and day… always… forever.
“Did you hear me, Carla?” he said between kisses. “I love you, beautiful… I don’t want to be without you anymore. I’m not trying to replace Doug or what he meant to you. I would never do that to you… but damn it… I’m so in love with you. Please… say something.”
He watched as her eyes filled up with those tears that left him grasping at anything that would make them stop. Then she said, “I never thought I would feel like this again after Doug died. I was so afraid to allow what was happening between us to come to fruition… in case something happened to you too. I still am afraid of that. I mean you got shot for heaven’s sake!”
With her declaration she released him from the sweet warmth nestled between her legs. She got off the bed and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. He wanted to follow her but he also didn’t want to push her too far… especially now.
Being with her had changed everything for him. Somehow in his heart he’d known making love with her would seal his fate. She had drawn him in from the first time he’d laid eyes on her and hadn’t let him go since. Now he didn’t want to let her go either.
Laying back on the bed for fear his shaking legs wouldn’t hold him if he stood up, he listened to the shower start up. Carla had done all the work and it had felt so good… he was satisfied but wanted more. She hadn’t said she loved him in return but she hadn’t just left either.
Unexpected Ride Page 13