He laughed huskily, pleased at her response.
“Hold my place, Princess, I'll be back. But right now I think we need to get rid of some encumbrances.”
She stared blankly at him and he laughed again.
“Clothes,” he said softly, tugging impatiently at his belt buckle.
“Oh, those,” she murmured, a seductive smile breaking across her face. With a careless flick of her hands, she tossed aside the top of her pantsuit.
His breath caught at the sight of her delicate bosom, the hard nipples standing upright from the rosy aureoles that surrounded her small milky breasts. And that smile … that smile promised heaven. He kicked off his boots and with fingers that fumbled, he dragged off his jeans and underpants, his shirt landing somewhere nearby.
Roxanne's eyes ate him, tasting every inch of his powerful body. He was, she decided dreamily, absolutely perfect, from the crown of his arrogant head to the soles of his feet. And in between was everything a woman could want. Her gaze dropped to his rampant sex. Everything and more, she thought breathlessly.
They stared unashamedly at each other, the sight of each other's body exciting, the look in the other's eyes arousing. Reaching out, Jeb cupped one of her breasts, his thumb moving slowly over the nipple, making her arch like a cat under a caressing hand.
His mouth hovered over hers and he bit gently at the corners. “You're still wearing more clothes than I am.”
Her arms went around his neck and she smiled, her eyes teasing him. “Well, I guess you better do something about that, hadn't you?” she murmured, her lips traveling along the length of his jaw.
“Yeah,” he muttered, “I'd better.”
He swept her out of the lower half of her pantsuit so fast it was a wonder it hadn't ripped.
The room was in shadows, the mauve and indigo shadows of the winter evening already sliding across the sky. It was quiet inside except for the occasional pop and snap of the fire in the wood stove—and the faint, excited sighs that came from the region of the couch.
The couch was wide and long, the cushions yielding, and until that moment, Roxanne hadn't realized how perfectly it could hold two naked bodies almost side by side. Face-to-face, their bodies nearly touching, they looked wonderingly at each other. Feeling as if she were in a trance, Roxanne brushed her fingers over his brow, his extravagant eyelashes, down to his wide, sexy mouth. At the touch of her fingers he gently nipped the tips. She purred, feeling a jolt of desire clear down to her toes.
“Yeah, me too,” he murmured, his heavy-lidded gaze moving over her slender length, making her tremble.
They came together as one, their mouths seeking the heat and pleasure of the other's. Jeb's fingers skimmed over her breasts, tantalizing her, making her ache. Reluctantly leaving her sweet mouth, he bent down, his teeth closing gently around one pink nipple, and Roxanne shuddered, delight sparking through her. She moved restively, her thigh brushing against his hot, hard sex, and it was Jeb who ached now, the sensation of her warm limb touching his flesh an exquisite torture.
They had both been celibate since that last time and the clamoring of their senses was overwhelming. Despite his best intentions, Jeb couldn't seem to hold back and when he touched her between her legs and discovered that she was already slick and wet and ready, he nearly went crazy with the need to plunge immediately into her.
His mouth found hers and he kissed her urgently, the thrust of his tongue and the slide of his fingers into her hot depths crowding Roxanne, pushing her to the edge. An orgasm, hard and powerful, ripped through her, and she bucked and shuddered in his arms, biting down on his shoulder to keep from screaming her pleasure.
He felt her response and his own body tightened and for one awful moment, he feared that he would lose it right there. He gulped in a breath, his hand moving slower more gently between her legs, concentrating on slowly bringing her down, forcing thoughts of his own pleasure away.
With dazed, slumberous eyes, she stared at him, smaller shocks of ecstasy still flowing through her. “I think I got ahead of you,” she murmured huskily.
He grinned tightly. “Don't worry, Princess, I'll get mine … and take you with me,” he muttered thickly, his mouth brushing hers, his fingers beginning a new dance, a new foray between her legs.
She gasped, feeling the pressure begin to build almost instantly, the need to taste again the joy he could give her urgent and demanding. Her hand clasped him, pulling slowly on the swollen, hard length of his organ. Jeb groaned, trembling under her touch. His mouth crushed hers, his kiss passionate and excited.
His caresses became frantic and Roxanne moaned, the violent writhing of her hips urging him onward. She was already on the brink when he parted her thighs and thrust deeply into her hot depths. The sensation of him buried within her, the heat and size of him, the fevered pumping of his hips, sent her over the edge. Her arms tightened around him and she threw back her head and gave herself up to the carnal glory, the world exploding in crimson and gold behind her lids.
Feeling her body quake with the force of her orgasm, Jeb lost control, his pace urgent as he raced to join her, to find the same blinding goal. He grasped her hips, plunging heavily into her. Her flesh tightened around him, frantically milking him, and with something between a groan and a growl, he joined her in paradise, his fingers digging into her hips, his big body pumping wildly into hers.
It was a long time before either one of them moved. And then it was with the slow, languid movements of bodies well satiated. His body gradually slipped from hers and they lay side by side on the couch, their arms entwined, their lips touching now and then, their hands and fingers lightly caressing the other.
They didn't speak, their eyes and hands and mouths did it for them, moving sweetly and tenderly over the other one. There was a rightness, a magical completeness about what had just happened, and Roxanne felt none of the panic and horror she had that first time they had made love. She didn't know if what she felt for Jeb was really love, the kind the poets sing of, or just an aberration, but she wasn't going to fight him any longer. She wanted to discover just what it was they shared. Primitive lust? Or love? She was still wary of it, still frightened by it, but she wasn't going to run from it. Not this time. Not now.
Jeb slid a finger down her nose. “What are you thinking?” he murmured against her ear.
“If I told you,” she said with a smile, “you'd be even more conceited and arrogant than you already are.”
“That good, huh?” He grinned at her, his black eyes soft and warm.
His expression changed in an instant and he leaped up from the couch as if he'd been hit with a fiery poker. “Jesus H. Christ?” he yelled, spinning around.
Alarmed, Roxanne sat up. “What? What's wrong?”
Jeb glanced back at her, a smile now on his face.
“That's the problem,” he said, pointing to Dawg, who stood in front of him wagging her tail. “She just put her wet cold nose on my butt—you try it and tell me you wouldn't jump.”
Roxanne burst into laughter.
Jeb's heart turned right over in his breast as he stared at her lying there, her pale skin almost glowing against the dark material of the couch, her face still soft from the passion they had shared. His eyes darkened and his sex twitched. He knelt down on the edge of the couch. “Laugh at me, will you,” he murmured, his hands reaching for her. He pulled her up into his arms and kissed her with explicit thoroughness.
Desire blasted through them and as he pushed her down onto the couch, following her body with his, he muttered, “Let's see how long you laugh now, Princess …”
Roxanne didn't laugh for a long time. A very, very long time …
Chapter
13
They made it to Roxanne's bedroom and bed … eventually. A makeshift dinner of leftover fried chicken and anything else that looked interesting that night was eaten in barbaric splendor among the piled pillows and quilts of Roxanne's bed. They couldn't seem to bear to be out of
each other's arms, although Jeb did scramble into some clothes at one point and go to his truck for food for the dogs and of course, later, he'd had to take the dogs outside.
Despite supposedly being banished to the great room for the night, the dogs pushed open the door to Roxanne's bedroom and followed them inside. After waiting patiently for the humans to quit squirming and wiggling around on the king-size bed, they joined them, Dawg curling up hard against Roxanne's back, Boss staking out the foot of the bed. Jeb and Roxanne looked at each other. Jeb shrugged and Roxanne laughed. “Leave them,” she said. “We'll see how it goes.”
It wasn't a restful night for any of them. At least three times the humans woke and kicked the dogs off the bed and proceeded to do more of that squirming and wiggling around before allowing the dogs to rejoin them. But all in all, everyone enjoyed themselves. Immensely.
Roxanne woke slowly the next morning, savoring the heat radiating from Jeb's big body on one side of her and the warmth of Dawg's body on the other side. She lay there a long time, a smile on her lips, her thoughts wandering to the night that had just passed. A faint flush rose in her cheeks. The things they had done, together and to each other … she could hardly wait to do them again.
She glanced across at Jeb lying beside her and a wave of tenderness swept over her. He was asleep, his black hair tousled, those incredible lashes of his lying like black fans on his cheeks, and that mouth … Her gaze lingered, remembering the feel of those knowing lips on her body. Whew! He was good. Very, very good.
Ignoring the tingling warmth spreading through her body, she stretched and immediately winced, places and muscles she hadn't known could ache, aching. She smiled. Oh, but it was such a pleasant, marvelous ache.
Careful not to wake Jeb, she pushed Dawg off the bed and padded to the bathroom. Five minutes later, teeth brushed, the remains of her French braid undone, she stepped into the shower.
She heard the bathroom door open and a lazy masculine voice say, “Got a toothbrush I can borrow?”
She peeked out from the shower, her pulse leaping at the sight of Jeb standing there in all his naked glory. Oh, and he was glorious. Those wide shoulders. That flat, hard stomach and broad hair-covered chest. And then there were those powerful thighs and legs and of course that wonderful source of pleasure hardening beneath her very eyes. She grinned at him and said, “Sure, look in that right-hand drawer—there should be half a dozen.”
He quirked a brow. “You planning on entertaining a lot of men?”
“What do you think?” she asked, the expression in her eyes hard to define.
What he thought was that he'd like nothing more than waking every day for the rest of his life and finding Roxy Ballinger in the shower. Not Roxanne of fame and fortune, but Roxy, the sweet, generous, giving lover of last night. Instead, he forced his thoughts in a different direction and said, “That living out here it's practical to stock up on things and save a trip to town.”
She smiled. “Smart man. So smart in fact, I might just even fix you breakfast.”
The sight of one rosy-peaked breast slipping into view made him forget what the conversation was about, until Roxy said gently, “Toothbrush. Right-hand drawer.”
“Oh, right,” he mumbled and turned around, giving Roxy a wonderful view of his splendid ass. Oh, my.
Teeth brushed, water thrown in his face, Jeb felt more awake, as did another part of his body. One part in particular seemed very wide awake, standing stiffly up from his body. He glanced at his jutting penis and shook his head. God, he was insatiable. The sound of the running shower was irresistible and before he knew what he was doing, Jeb joined Roxanne in the shower.
She didn't seem surprised. She smiled limpidly at him, and handing him a soapy sponge, murmured, “Oh, good. I need you to wash my back.”
He not only washed her back, but also very thoroughly washed her front; she returned the favor, paying special attention to his groin area. One thing led to another and it was quite some time later before they stepped out of the shower.
Breakfast was a comfortable meal and there was none of that morning afterward awkwardness. The new door locks were on the top of their agenda, and after a leisurely breakfast and the dogs' needs were seen to, dogs and all, they piled into Jeb's truck and headed for Ukiah.
Roxanne enjoyed the day. They bought the locks at Friedman Brothers, an impressively sized box of condoms at the local drugstore, and then grabbed sandwiches at Subway, including two plain roast beef ones, for Dawg and Boss.
It was a quick trip and despite the distance involved, they were back at Roxanne's place by 2:00 P.M. and fifteen minutes later Jeb was busy changing the lock in the front door.
Watching his deft movements as he took out the old lock and replaced it with the new one, she said, “Gee, I wonder what this is going to cost me?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her, his black eyes full of sensual promise. “I think I'll be able to, ah, come up with an appropriate payment.”
She walked over and kissed him on the mouth, her lips clinging. “Oh, I sure hope so.”
Jeb stayed the night again. Roxanne thought that she could really grow to like waking up with him in her bed each morning. She even liked the feeling of security it gave her to have Dawg curled up at her back and Boss at her feet. The dogs had just naturally assumed that they belonged on the bed too.
Thursday, Jeb rose with the dawn. It was back to work for him and after dropping a kiss on Roxanne's shoulder and telling her he'd call her later in the day, he'd dragged on his clothes and taking the dogs with him departed for his house.
Pleasantly exhausted from another night of fevered lovemaking, Roxanne barely mumbled a “good-by?” when he left, but when she arose a couple of hours later, she was conscious of being lonely and feeling slightly deserted. Standing under the hot spray of the shower, she decided morosely that he could have at least left her the dogs. He didn't haveto take everything with him, did he? She'd have liked the dogs underfoot for company.
That thought brought her up short. Since when did she need company? Hadn't she left her parents' home because she wanted to be alone? Hadn't she complained that she'd felt smothered with people all around her, constantly underfoot?
Dressed in jeans and a lavender sweatshirt embroidered with white and purple tulips, she wandered into the kitchen. She started the coffeemaker and fixed herself a piece of whole wheat toast.
A few minutes later, nibbling on her dry toast and sipping her coffee, she stared out the French doors in the great room at the valley below. It was a slightly overcast morning, a bit gloomy, and Roxanne decided that the weather fit her mood exactly. The snow was beginning to melt on the mountainside, more and more areas of green and brown showing up here and there. Even at this elevation, the snow on the ground rarely remained for more than four or five days. Oh, in the shady areas, there would still be patches of white that hung on for a week or two, but most of it disappeared before wearing out its welcome.
Having finished her toast, Roxanne turned away from the French doors and heaved a heavy sigh. She missed Jeb. She missed the dogs.
She made a face. Get over it. The man's got a job to do and the dogs are his, not yours. Get your own damn dog if that's what you want. But she didn't want a dog—she wanted Jeb!
Annoyed with herself for mooning over him, Roxanne threw herself into an orgy of housecleaning. She tidied the great room, swept the kitchen, made the bed, cleaned the bathroom, and washed clothes.
By noon the overcast had vanished and the sun was out. It was one of those crisp, bright, cool days for which northern California was noted. She ate a cheese sandwich and an apple with a glass of milk for lunch and after checking out the state of her cupboards, decided that some grocery shopping was definitely called for.
Scolding herself for not shopping yesterday when she and Jeb had been in Ukiah, she got in the Jeep and resigned herself to picking over what was on the shelves at McGuire's Market.
Actually, she was
pleasantly surprised at the variety of items that the store now stocked and she suspected that M.J.'s fine hand was behind the additions. The vegetable section had a small amount of just about anything a shopper could want, from limes to Chinese green beans. Impressed in spite of herself, Roxanne loaded up on cauliflower and broccoli, some fruit and other things before splurging on vine-ripened tomatoes and avocados. It had been years since she had really shopped at McGuire's and she spent several minutes just wandering around the store, familiarizing herself with the layout and just being curious. The meat counter impressed her the most and after picking up a package of boneless center-cut pork chops, a couple of New York steaks, four pounds of ground round, some lean stew meat, and a pot roast, she studied the neck bones. Now if I were dog, she wondered, which ones would I like? Finding two packages of big meaty neck bones that satisfied her requirements, she tossed them into the cart. Dawg and Boss were gonna love 'em. Just as she was preparing to move on, Tom Smith, who had been managing the meat department ever since Roxanne could remember, walked up to her. As a child she remembered the Tootsie Rolls he passed out to just about every kid in the valley and she almost expected him to hand her one.
“Howdy, Miss Roxanne. How're you doing?” he asked in his soft voice. He was a tall man, thin as a rail and bald as a cue ball. He was also one of the kindest, gentlest men Roxanne had ever known. He glanced into her cart and, seeing the neck bones, murmured, “Going to use them for a broth base?”
“Uh, no,” she mumbled. “I got them for some dogs.”
He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. “Well, if that's the case, let me go in back and bring you out some nice knucklebones—dogs really love 'em.”
A few minutes later, two gargantuan knucklebones resting in her cart, a small Tootsie Roll having mysteriously appeared in her hand, she moved on, smiling as she did so. Passing the mirrored window she knew opened to the store's tiny cramped office, she tapped on it. A second later M.J.'s face popped into view. Seeing who it was, she smiled.
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