‘The way you like it?’
It was true. Going out for dinner or something with Reuben would be just too weird. And what had put that idea in her head anyway? That wasn’t what Reuben and she were about. Was that why she had kicked off earlier? Because bringing her breakfast had just made things weird? She was glad things were back to normal. No relationship stuff. Just hot sex.
Reuben wondered if Hayley had any idea how hot she looked in those cut-off jeans and T-shirt. He doubted she saw herself that way. The natural look suited her so much. With a toned body like that and such a beautiful face, why bother to add any meaningless decoration? She must have guys begging just to spend time with her. Not that she ever seemed to notice them noticing her.
He’d seen all those testosterone-stuffed macho guys at the gym giving her the eye. It had made him want to protect her, right from the start. Maybe that was why she came in so late to work out, to avoid them?
Not to spend time with him. The thought didn’t rest easy.
She’d made her views on guys perfectly clear. She didn’t talk to him about it. Didn’t have to. And he never asked. He figured if she wanted him to know anything, she’d tell him. He was just grateful that she’d found her way into his gym and his life. And that she sometimes let him service her needs. Actually, it was often. She was a red-blooded male’s dream. Hot and up for exciting sex. No pretence. She was not interested in all that boyfriend/ girlfriend baggage. He should be ecstatic, but with Hayley he’d quickly got to a place where he wanted more.
He’d nearly blown it today. Thought that was the last he’d see of her. All over some stupid healthy breakfast. All over trying to show her that he cared for her, much more than just for the great sex. But here she was. And he wasn’t going to waste a minute of it showing her how hurt he was. She’d come back to him, hadn’t she? And he knew what she came for. The only thing she came for. So what’s a guy to do?
When he’d seen her standing in his doorway, his pulse had started racing. It was still racing. For a moment he’d thought she was going to fling the drinks in his face. He’d even thought for one stupid minute she might be acting a little jealous about Tammy and he liked it. Frankly, he didn’t know what he thought except he was so glad she was standing there, in his office, he wanted to kiss her.
He always wanted to kiss her.
It was about the only thing she’d never let him do. She sure was a complicated woman. But he wasn’t going to fall out over a simple little thing like that either.
Reuben took Hayley’s hand. He always moved real easy around her. Had the feeling she was the type that would bolt, the minute she felt under pressure. He wasn’t planning to let her slip away too easily. She brought out the dominant male hunter in him which he had to keep simmering beneath the surface. Asking her permission to act, rather than taking, the way nature programmed him to, was a simple little concession to make, if it kept Hayley coming back for more.
‘I’m just turning up the heat a little.’ He adjusted the temperature gauge outside the private sauna cubicle.
‘You see? You always need a little help, huh?’
She twitched her eyebrow in that sexy little way she had, that made him want to eat her alive. God, she could have no idea how easily she set the beast loose in him. It took everything he had and then some to hold back. He laughed. She thought it was at her joke, but it was the knowledge that if she knew what he knew, about how he felt around her, she would run and never look back.
‘A guy will take whatever’s on offer.’ Ain’t that the truth? Hayley froze and withdrew her hand from his. Damn his careless mouth. What a stupid thing to say. ‘I’m talking about the equipment. You know how I love my hi-tech equipment.’
He stood solid and motionless. Don’t make a false move. He wanted her. His body was hard for her. Didn’t know what he might do if she turned and walked now. The wait seemed endless.
She relaxed again.
He knew better than to be off guard like that. Had no idea what it was with her and men, but knew something bad had happened to make her so ready to run. It had taken months for her to trust him enough to work out late at his gym. Alone. Just the two of them. That offer to his business neighbour was the best idea he’d ever had. Then he’d had to creep up on her one step at a time, before she let him even touch her. Thank you, Lord, for making me sign up to that masseur’s course all those years back.
Reuben stepped into the outer changing area and pulled her inside behind him, letting the pine door swing to a close. He reached behind her head and drew the bolt across. ‘All nice and private. Do not disturb.’
‘That doesn’t apply to me, right?’
‘You, Hayley, can disturb me all you want.’ He knew the teasing was her way of distancing herself from any emotional connection. Just physical need. And maybe it worked. For her.
Reuben ran the backs of his fingers along her jawline and trailed a forefinger down over her soft throat to the little hollow at the base of her neck. The forefinger of his other hand joined it and he ran his hands outwards along the delicate sweep of her collarbone.
He loved those prominent little bones. He leant in to kiss them.
She was a fit woman. Worked out really hard to get like that. Probably had to be ready for anything in PI work. Not that he knew too much about that field of enterprise either. But he could wait until she told him. Despite her tough-girl façade, she still seemed fragile somehow.
‘May I?’ He tweaked at her T-shirt, requesting permission to remove it for her.
She nodded. She was standing so close he could see the wide dark circles of her pupils. She wanted this as much as he did. Almost.
He raised her arms above her head, holding them in place for a moment, and she left them up there on invisible bonds when he removed his hands to take her clothing from her body. She looked so desirable standing there, willing and obedient. It made his cock grow harder. The delicate precision of this little ritual dance he had to go through with her was the fucking horniest thing he’d ever known. It was as if she might disappear into mist if he made one false move. Yet he could make her do so much that he wanted, if he was subtle.
The holding back, the self-denial, drove him so crazy with lust for her, he was ready to howl at the moon. Wanted to throw her on the ground beneath him, pin her down, and sate his sexual frustration by pounding into her soft, tight little body. The world outside didn’t exist at this moment. It was just her and him. His focus on her drove the rest of life away.
Hayley dropped her arms to her sides. She was trembling slightly, but it was with anticipation. God help him, he hoped she would never be afraid of him. It took a lot for her to trust, he knew that as clearly as if she had said it. Her very actions told him better than any words ever could. He wanted to soothe her worries away. He cared about her, more than any woman he’d ever known.
Reuben ran his fingers down the sides of her body, over her ribs to her waist. She shivered under his touch. He felt all the little goosebumps across her skin. He spread his hands around her waist, spanning his fingers around her back and using his thumbs to caress her taut stomach.
He wanted to feel her sexy belly beneath his lips and dropped deftly to his knees. ‘It’s going to be OK,’ he murmured. He could feel her unease grow, just a little.
He had just enough room to kneel down in the confined space of the private changing area.
His fingers dipped beneath the low-slung waistband of the shorts that encircled her hips and he quickly released the silver button. His lips touched the little mark left by the metal rivet touching her flesh. He slowly lowered the zip, millimetre by millimetre, placing his gentle kisses where he opened the closure, wider and lower, to the bottom.
His warm hands enclosed the backs of her thighs, kneading the muscles upwards as high as he could go before the tight restrictions of the denim shorts stopped his progress.
‘Do you think it would be good to lose these?’ He tugged on the hem of her shorts.
‘You are wearing panties this time, I trust?’ He really hoped she wasn’t.
Hayley laughed softly. ‘Pretty ones.’
‘I think I want to take a look at those.’
‘Look all you want.’
He wondered if she was telling him to take his hands off? Was he going too fast? About to lose her? Please God, not now. He’d had enough empty nights of using his own hand to ease his sexual frustration, when she failed to come by. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t have any number of women at the gym who were willing to help him out on that score. They were always coming on to him. But since Hayley, he couldn’t go there any more. Perhaps that was why he had brought her breakfast? To remind her that he still existed.
God, he really had it bad.
Hayley distracted his thoughts as she rocked the shorts down over her hips and thighs and let them drop around her ankles. Reuben lifted each foot in turn, while she held onto his shoulders for balance, and freed the garment. He planted a firm kiss on each instep before he placed her foot back on the ground again.
He looked up. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t about to run. For that he gave a quick thanks to the heavens.
‘Pretty?’ he whispered, looking at her panties and echoing her own description. ‘I’d say beautiful.’
Hayley opened her eyes and looked down. He was caught staring at her mound but he wasn’t ashamed. She was beautiful. He kissed her firmly over the triangle of fabric at the apex of her thighs, pressing her against his face with two hands splayed over her naked buttocks. A thong. He smiled against her flesh.
His tongue worked its way along the edge of the fabric, teasing at her pussy underneath.
‘I’d say it’s about time I got a look at yours.’ Hayley reminded him breathlessly that she was still up above.
‘Seems fair to me.’ Reuben rose to his feet, admiring the full length of her underwear-covered body as he went. What she was doing as a PI, he’d never know. He thought he’d like a picture of her, naked, on his office wall to look at whenever he wanted. To masturbate over when he was alone.
She’d smack his face hard, if she had any idea he was having thoughts like that. He couldn’t help it. He was a guy. A very horny guy. And she was temptation incarnate.
Hayley lifted his T-shirt over his head. He helped her by leaning over so she could manage. He liked it when she undressed him. It added to the thrill. He stood patiently while she ran her hands over his chest, examining him with her eyes as much as with her fingers. Now his muscles were trembling and it definitely wasn’t fear. They wanted to explode into action. Fight, flight, or fuck.
He watched her at work. It was like she needed to be sure of what she was getting herself into. Who she was allowing the honour of sharing her body with. He felt that strong urge again to crush her to him and kiss her soundly. His lips burned to press themselves against hers. An urge he always had to fight. It was one of the first things he’d learnt when they got together.
Why would a woman who has let you fuck her body never let you kiss her? It made him feel bad. As if she wasn’t really giving herself to him. He could live with it. Had to, if he wanted the rest of her. But he wished … What did he wish?
She had frozen. It was as if the woman could almost read his mind. See into his dangerous thoughts.
He shook them away. Concentrated, as much as he was able with her butterfly kisses trailing over his pecs. He wished she would wrap her fingers around his erection and guide it straight home. He was beginning to feel the strain inside his jeans.
‘You want to open my jeans now?’ He was hesitant, feeling his way with her. He never thought he had it in the bag. Not with Hayley.
‘I hope you’re wearing underwear this time too,’ she jested, parodying his earlier comment.
‘Always. For you.’
‘Don’t get ideas, Reuben.’ That warning. Always in her voice. Don’t get any ideas. Don’t get too close to me.
He made a joke of it. ‘I’ve got plenty of ideas about what I’d like to do to you.’
That relaxed her more than if he told her he had feelings for her. Did he? Well yeah, one very strong feeling at this moment. And, thank God, she got that message loud and clear.
She unzipped his jeans and tugged them down, hands sliding over his narrow hips and down his hard thighs. He shucked them off to join hers.
‘Neat. Boxers.’
‘It’s not the wrapping that’s important. It’s the present inside. Would you like to see what I’ve got waiting for you? Here’s a clue. It’s hard as diamond and about to go off like a rocket.’
‘Let me have a squeeze and see if I can guess first. Like I do with all my presents.’ Hayley was so very good at teasing him. Minx.
‘Be my guest.’ If I can stand it for long enough. If not, watch out.
Hayley splayed her hand over his stomach, fingers pointing at their target. The warm, hard palm felt so good. Her hand caressed the solid roll of flesh below, making him draw an involuntary hiss of breath. He thrust up under her hand, unable to help himself.
‘Stand still,’ she demanded. ‘How can I feel it properly if you keep moving it around?’
Hayley continued to work her hand and fingers along its length, teasing around the contours, curving around the end and rolling the ridge between her thumb and fingers. ‘Whatever it is, you’ve left it switched on. I can feel it vibrating in there.’ She laughed at her own little joke.
‘Now I really know the meaning of cock-tease,’ Reuben said. He grabbed her, sweeping her off the floor. She squealed as he flung her over his shoulder like a jacket and carried her through the inner door to the sauna, grabbing up a heap of towels from a pile as he went. The sudden wall of wet heat made them both gasp to draw breath.
Chapter Four
It was hot in there. It had been getting pretty hot outside too.
‘Put me down, Reuben.’ Hayley found it hard to speak. Each time she opened her mouth, the scalding dampness robbed the words from her throat.
He threw the towels onto the lowest of the slatted pine benches along the back wall of the cubicle, then carefully slid Hayley down, making full frontal body contact all the way. She felt the raw power of his hard muscles scraping over her body.
Reuben held her tightly against him, his stare deeply penetrating her hazy vision. This was the moment, she knew it. The moment where he wanted to kiss her. Almost kissed her. Before he remembered and held back as time lengthened, tense and uncomfortable. She was almost embarrassed recalling the first time he tried it, and her crazy reaction. He never tried again. She wanted it that way. No man was ever going to make her kiss him.
Reuben released her, turned away, and folded a towel. Patting it, he indicated she should sit. ‘Start on the lower bench. A bit cooler there. Work your way up.’
Oh, she was working her way up, all right. A slow, deep throbbing like a jungle drum rhythmically pounded the hot blood through her veins.
He jumped onto the bench above and sat with his knees framing her shoulders. Hayley hooked her arms around his lower legs, stroking her fingers through the golden hairs, down over his foot and in between his toes. Being with Reuben felt natural somehow. Not awkward at all. Perhaps that was why she agreed to let him get even this close?
Reuben pushed the straps of her bra off her shoulders and kneaded the tight knots in her muscles between his fingers.
‘You’re all tensed up,’ he informed her. ‘That job of yours must be tough. It’s playing havoc with your body.’
She knew she went rigid. He had no idea what he was saying. Relax. ‘Most any job’ll do that.’
His hands were on the bra fastening at her back. ‘Can I take it off?’
She liked that he still asked. Took nothing for granted, unlike the creeps she encountered in her line of work. She nodded. His warm palms enclosed her, cupping her breasts like a living bra.
‘Scoot forwards.’ Reuben squeezed down a step into the space behind her back on the lower bench, creating a wal
l of hot, hard muscle for her to lean against. He flexed his fingers around her breasts, like an artisan baker lovingly caressing warm, pliable dough.
The sensations that coursed through Hayley’s body were at once stimulating and soothing. Her skin was hot and damp and perspiration flowed freely between her body and Reuben’s, allowing his skin to glide effortlessly over hers as he moved. Her hair was piled on top of her head and Reuben dropped his lips to her neck and nuzzled at the drops of moisture rolling down her skin.
Her breathing quickened and grew shallow. She could feel moisture gathering in her pussy as his lips travelled up to her earlobe where he nipped and licked at the sensitive nerve endings beneath her skin.
‘Oh Hayley.’ Reuben whispered into her ear, sending shivers tripping up her spine. ‘You’re so hot.’
She knew he wasn’t commenting on her temperature. ‘You make me that way, Reuben. When you touch me like that, I want to melt.’
He laughed low, in the back of his throat. He sounded really turned on. And when had she learnt to read him so well? But perhaps it was the other clue. She laughed gently at the unsubtle prompting of the huge erection flush against her spine. She rolled her hips back against it, drawing a little moan of pleasure from his lips.
‘If you do that much more, you know I’m going to come all over you, don’t you?’
Reuben’s fingers worked at her nipples and it was no massage job. He pinched and tugged until her breath fell hard and fast. Her hips rolled, her empty body seeking contact with something. Anything.
Strong hands grasped her knees, slowly parting her thighs, and they stroked their way upwards towards her panties. She felt divine, here in the darkness, the heat. Suddenly both of them wanted to be free of the thong that got in the way of Reuben’s fingers. Hayley lifted slightly, levering against his thighs. He leant forward, pushing her panties down from her hips to mid-thigh. She wriggled her legs to remove them the rest of the way and resumed her previous position unbidden, thighs open, inviting his touch.
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