As they left, Reesa saw Jillian wave out of the corner of eye.
Her best friend wasn’t even paying attention to her companion. She was too busy laughing at Reesa and shaking her head.
Reesa gave her a thumbs-up as she walked out the door with Shane.
*** *** ***
Since she had ridden to club with Jillian, Reesa had no problem riding to Shane’s place in his ancient Honda Civic. It was at least ten years old but in very good condition on the inside. How he folded his length into it was a mystery. She never knew seats went back that far.
“A big guy like you needs a bigger car,” she said with a teasing smile.
“What do you drive?” he asked.
“Toyota Sienna Mini-Van,” Reesa said, unashamed that her beloved Mazda Miata was now history. It was the only vehicle large enough for her transporting needs, but she wasn’t sharing that part of herself with him.
“No kidding?” Shane said, laughing at the image. “Do your feet touch the pedals?”
It was only a matter of time, she chastised herself. All men made fun of her height sooner or later.
“I had pedal extensions installed so I didn’t have to be on top of the steering wheel, but it would have been okay even without them. And yes, I’m short at five feet tall. Does my lack of height bother you?” Reesa asked.
Touchy about her stature, he thought, looking her over in the dark, wondering if it was memories of the tall, leggy blonde making her caustic. He could smell her perfume and feel the heat coming off her in the confines of his compact car. He reached over a hand and slid it down her arm until her palm was encased in his.
“You are at least fifty times more appealing than the blonde whose name I couldn’t remember,” he said truthfully.
“Thanks,” Reesa told him, laughing. “I don’t care if you mean it or not. I just appreciate you saying it so sincerely.”
“Oh, I mean it,” Shane said firmly. “I pretty much always say what I mean. That kind of honesty runs through the men in my family.”
She pushed his palm flat and measured her own against his. Her hand looked like a child’s hand next to his.
“You’re a seriously huge guy,” Reesa said a little nervously. “Are you like this everywhere?”
“I guess so. At six foot four, wearing a size fourteen shoe seems pretty normal to me. Or were you asking about some other measurement?” Shane asked innocently, noting she grinned and looked away.
In the darkness it was easy to just listen to his voice and forget the tattoos and the piercings, Reesa thought. She flipped his hand over and used both of hers to move his palm to the inside of her thigh, pleased when Shane responded by tucking his long fingers under her leg and cupping it. It felt so good, she thought, shifting to increase the contact. It had been so long since anyone had touched her intimately.
Another sigh slipped out as Reesa further relaxed into the intimacy of the dark car and the pleasurable company of the man beside her. He had a mesmerizing voice, and it would be easy to forget he was a stranger. She sternly reminded herself about the eyebrow ring, the tattoo, and that it probably wasn’t a good idea to get too comfortable.
Then she looked at his profile and smiled. Something about his appearance didn’t quite match the look in his eyes or the soothing voice. Yet the contrast was strangely fascinating to her.
“I bet you have a hard time finding shoes to fit you. My nephew wears a size twelve, and he’s only fourteen. I can see him being your size before he’s done growing,” she said softly. “Beadman’s at Fayette Mall stocks larger sizes. I’ve had some good luck finding shoes for Zack there.”
“Best place in town,” Shane replied.
It was amazing how they could talk so calmly about buying shoes when his hand was almost touching her crotch. Then he about had a heart attack when she slid down toward his hand, but just as quickly sat back up. He hoped no one saw the car swerving.
“Sorry,” Reesa said, glad the dark hid her blush. “I’m—it’s been a while for me. I’m a little anxious. I’m trying not to scare you off by how excited I am.”
He grunted in disbelief. “Scare me off? I’m the scary looking one,” Shane said, but he could tell she wasn’t scared, and it was suddenly relieving how much his appearance didn’t seem to matter to her.
He slid his hand up the inside of her thigh eliciting a groan from her and sending his own heartbeat into overtime. Her heat was calling out to be stroked. Shane couldn’t even remember the last time he’d wanted to explore a woman the way he suddenly wanted to explore the one he was touching.
He pulled into the driveway of his condo, glad to finally be able to put both hands on her.
“Oh, believe me I’m scared, but not of the way you look,” Reesa said, shaking her head, listening to his laugh. She liked his laugh and wanted to share something with him, just a little something which might make him think fondly of her tomorrow.
“Shane, your voice is as smooth as melted chocolate. It’s sexy as hell and balances out the scary tat and the piercings. They’re sexy too, but in a demon-from-hell kind of way. Your voice—your voice makes me glad you took me home with you,” Reesa told him.
“Ann, you’ve completely seduced me. Climb over here in my lap and tell me what you want so I can be sure I give it to you,” Shane told her, watching her from across the seat of his car.
When she swallowed nervously, he wanted to drag her over to him and take the decision out of her hands. He had to firmly order himself to not rush her.
“I—just touch me, touch me all over, and then I don’t care how you want things after,” Reesa confessed. “I just want to feel desired for a few hours tonight. Can you do that for me, Shane?”
Not trusting himself to give her a civilized answer, Shane got out of the car and walked around to open her door. The moment she stepped out, Shane lifted her up in his arms forcing her to lock her legs around his waist. Her laugh echoed in his mouth as his lips found hers in the dark.
This time he took his time getting to know the secrets he found between her lips. Nothing about her disappointed him. Instead, her small anxious tongue stroking his completely captured his interest and made it imperative to take their exploration party into privacy. Holding her slight body was no hardship for Shane, but he had already hit the point where he wanted more than just to hold her.
“Ready for a ride?” Shane asked, running with her as she clung to him and laughed. He backed her against his front door as he fished his keys out of his pocket and fumbled with the lock. He felt her fingers tentatively touching his eyebrow ring.
“No, it doesn’t hurt,” he said, answering the unspoken question. “Is Ann really your name?”
Reesa found it easy to tell him the amount of truth she had chosen to share.
“Yes. It’s my real middle name,” she told him.
Shane felt the truth of her words, but they did not satisfy him. He wanted to know her.
“If I fit inside you perfectly, will you tell me your last name?” he asked, stopping to hold her green gaze to see if he could find any regret about being with him there.
He didn’t.
Reesa laughed at his question, and her amusement made her green eyes sparkle like emeralds.
“No, but I’ll tell you my shoe size,” she promised. “It’s seems only fair.”
Chapter 15
Driving herself home from the showing drained Carrie of her remaining energy. When she got in the door, she sighed and let her body slump with tiredness.
“Michael, I know it’s only ten, but I have to go to bed. I’m completely wiped after the showing,” she said.
“Head on back. I’ll check the house and be there shortly. I bought some frozen yogurt bars if you want a snack,” he said.
“You care if I eat it in bed on your clean sheets?” Carrie joked.
Michael grinned. “Honey, you can do anything you want in my bed.”
Carrie rolled her eyes at his dramatic statement, but la
ughed.
She managed to use the bathroom and had stumbled tiredly to the bed just as Michael came back with two yogurt bars in his hand.
Michael watched intently as she peeled her dress clothes off and discarded them in a heap on the floor, mirroring the pile he tended to leave each evening. It wasn’t her normal habit. Normally, she hung, folded, or sorted her clothes.
Carrie must be really tired, he decided.
Sighing in relief, Carrie climbed naked in between the clean sheets, propping the pillows up so she could lean back on them.
Michael walked to the bed already hard for her.
“Here,” he said, sighing loudly. “Thanks for the strip show.”
Carrie took one and patted the bed. “Get naked and join me. I can’t do much for you in my condition, but I would still like your company.”
“Here then,” he said. “Hold mine while I strip.”
She smiled as she licked the drips from hers and then his. “Hurry they’re both melting.”
“Glad something is,” Michael said, stopping to watch what she was doing instead of undressing.
“Hurry up,” Carrie ordered. “Or I’m going to be eating both of these.”
“This is going to be one long night,” Michael said, his voice hoarse.
“I’m sorry I don’t have energy to play,” Carrie said, handing him back his bar when he climbed in. “These are good.”
“I wish I could show you a better way to enjoy them,” Michael told her.
Carrie bit into hers, the last bite falling off the stick into her hand. She licked the stick as the last tiny bite melted in her palm.
Michael polished his off neatly, pulling a completely clean stick from his mouth as she grinned.
“Show-off,” Carrie said. “I don’t suppose you brought a napkin.”
Michael shook his head, grinning back.
“You get that melted yogurt on the sheets, you’re changing them,” he warned.
Carrie used one hand to flip the covers off him and the other to streak a trail of melted yogurt over his stomach and then massaged the rest into the very prominent erection she had seen him climb into bed with. When Michael hissed, she bent and laved it off his stomach with her tongue.
“Carrie, if you do anything else I’m heading back to the kitchen for another one so I can show you how to play,” he said.
“If you did, you’d be my first for that,” she told him.
“Carrie,” Michael said, putting his hand on her cheek. “I wish I could have been your first for everything.”
What was it about this man, she wondered? Hating herself for wanting to give him yet another form of her virginity, she still bent her head to Michael’s lap. She ran an eager tongue over his length, exploring as he groaned, tasting the yogurt and spicy heat that was him. It turned out to be more fun than she’d imagined. Her heart racing over what she was doing was a shock that woke her right up.
When she was finally brave enough, her mouth slid completely over and closed around him as he whimpered her name over and over.
Mine, she thought again as she got lost in what she was doing, and Michael for once gave her complete control.
The thought of stopping never even occurred to her and when she held his wrists at his sides later as Michael climaxed, Carrie finally understood why so many men were into possessing the women in their lives.
It was a small victory, but she did indeed feel like he was hers.
She crawled on top of Michael afterward and made her own demand.
“Hold me,” Carrie pleaded, raggedly sighing over and over as his arms came around and held her close.
*** *** ***
The door gave and Shane finally stepped inside with Ann wrapped around him. He didn’t bother with the lights. After locking the door, he dropped his keys on a nearby table and walked straight to his bedroom still carrying her.
“It’s been about five months since I’ve been intimate with anyone,” Shane confessed. “It may not go so well the first time. You’re not going to bolt if it turns out poorly are you?”
Great, Reesa thought, Jillian was never going to believe that she had picked up a guy who looked scary and uncaring, but who was really just a big teddy bear on the inside.
“It’s been about the same amount of time for me as well. Let’s just say I’m a baseball fan, Shane. I’ll give you at least three chances at bat,” she said on a laugh. “Please try to make at least one of them a home run, okay?”
“Don’t worry. Baseball is my game,” Shane teased, relieved because he now intended to give her a night that would make her want to hang around the whole next day.
He sat on his bed with Ann wrapped around him and resting in his lap. He reached into the drawer of his night stand and pulled out a handful of condoms to hand to her.
“Here. Hold these for a minute,” he ordered, dropping several packets in between them for her to gather up.
Reesa choked on a laugh when she lifted a couple and saw the word maximum in shiny silver writing in the semi-dark.
“Shane,” she stuttered, choking on his name, closing her hand around the packets as she started to giggle. “Do you always intimidate your pick-ups this way?”
Shane turned on a light. “No. I don’t usually bring women home with me. I go home with them so I can leave after. You’re the first exception in a long while.”
“Then why do you keep these by the—no, never mind,” she said, wondering why the condoms were by the bed if not on purpose.
“I like to be prepared, and the bathroom doesn’t have much storage. Anything else you want to know? Check the dates, Ann. That’s why I turned on the light. There’s no use putting you down if we just have to leave again to buy new ones.” Shane said reasonably, admiring her laughing face and her easy drape over him. He was hardening under her squirming hips, but she wasn’t even noticing yet.
“For the record, Shane, I’m having a lot of fun already,” she said. “Looks like they’re good for another month. Wow. It really has been a while for you, hasn’t it?”
Shane shrugged at the truth which lifted her up and brought her back forcefully on his now obvious erection. He grinned from ear to ear when she laughed again, just before wiggling against his hardness and purring like a kitten.
Before he could make another move, she shoved her hands under his arms and shifted her weight forward, effectively toppling him onto the bed. Shane was a little surprised to see her sitting above him and smiling down into his face, but found he really didn’t mind.
Whatever her reasons for being there, Shane thanked the universe he hadn’t said no to her tonight. Both the laughter and the rising attraction between them was very promising.
“You are incredibly charming, Shane Larson. And it feels really good to laugh. No matter what else happens, I want to thank you for making me laugh tonight,” she told him.
Reesa outlined his shoulders and chest with her hands as she welcomed the end of the celibacy her new life had accidentally brought.
“Do you mind if I do the honors the first time?” she asked.
Shane grappled on the bed until his fingers found a foil packet. When he handed it to her, she laughed again.
Since he kept getting increasingly more aroused beneath her, Shane didn’t know what she thought was so funny. His wondering ceased when he felt her pulling his shirt up and over his head. Then she was unsnapping his jeans, freeing him to spring into her hand. A single stroke with her small, but very strong grip was the most heavenly thing he could remember ever feeling in his life.
The woman seemed to really know and enjoy what she was doing. Her experience and enthusiasm was a refreshing change from his usually hit-and-miss in the dark with a woman who barely knew or cared what was happening.
Lucky him, Shane decided, biting his lip as her hand stroked his entire length with long, deliberate strokes. With every pass, she got a little braver and learned a little more.
Shane got a little harder and
started getting concerned about losing control before he could reciprocate in kind.
“I thought I was supposed to be the one touching you,” he said, arching into what she was doing.
“You’ll get your turn,” she choked, her hand keeping a rhythm as old as time.
Then she stopped, ripped the foil packet she held with her teeth, and sheathed him in the condom almost without pause.
Shane noticed there was no hesitation as she wrestled the jeans down and off into the floor, nor as she rolled off him to remove her own in a few seconds.
He would have helped, but he was too stunned by her assertiveness to move. Maybe he also wanted to see just how long she’d stay aggressive and what she planned to do next.
She kissed his thigh as she moved back up his body, and gripped him again. He could see her head bent over his erection. Panic rose at the thought of what she might be planning. He’d never survive her mouth on him the first time. Talk about embarrassing.
“Do you mind if I—oh,” she said, as he lifted her up and over him again.
“Whatever you want to do, do it now,” he told her harshly. “I’m fighting myself to let you have control, Ann.”
“Okay,” she said, straddling him once more as she gripped and guided him into her.
Then Reesa forgot the rest of what she had intended to say. Instead, she moaned at how good Shane felt sliding inside her, filling the emptiness. It had been so long.
“More,” Shane begged lifting his hips, encouraging her to sink down further on him.
Reesa opened her eyes and leaned forward to look into his as Shane just instinctively rocked up into her welcoming heat.
“Yes. God yes,” he said. “You feel like heaven.”
He gripped her hips to hold her in place as he pushed the rest of the way inside, shocked to realize how relieved he was to be completely in her.
He froze though when Ann did nothing more than moan. Her thighs trembled as they surrounded him, her hips spread as far she could make them go.
Created In Fire (Art of Love Series) Page 16