“I’ve never felt beautiful before.”
“You will,” he promised as he lowered his lips to hers. She knew he was telling the truth, too.
But, like the first kiss in the truck, it wasn’t a kiss that made her forget everything else. It was sweet—but not what she needed right now.
“Ian,” she said, her mouth moving without the express permission of her brain. If they were going to do this, she needed to be swept away.
“Easy, babe.” Then he tilted her head back even farther. The water ran over her scalp and despite the fact that she was naked in the shower with a man, it felt good. “Turn around,” he said after her hair was good and wet.
She did as he said—without looking down. He chuckled and said, “You’re something, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.”
He picked up her shampoo. “Your hair does things to me,” he said as he massaged the shampoo into her hair.
The pressure on her head was just right and the hot water sheeted over the front of her body. “I have trouble believing that. It drives me nuts. Totally unruly.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, his fingers sliding through the soapy curls. “I like that about it. Wild and untamed. When you sent me that picture?” He whistled low in her ear. “You really don’t know how crazy you make me, do you?”
As he said it, he shifted and she felt his erection push against her backside.
She could do this. She was in all the way. She took a deep breath and reached around behind her. Her fingers closed around him—barely.
Oh, God—were they even going to fit together?
Ian moaned in her ear. “I like it when you touch me,” he said, his voice deep and throaty. Then he pulled back before leaning forward so that her hand slid over his entire wet length.
He groaned again and that surge of power went through Lacy. She was doing that to him.
He raked his fingers through her hair and tilted her head to the side. He pulled one hand free of her curls and cupped her right breast, teasing her nipple between his finger and thumb as he kissed her ear, then the side of her neck and her shoulder, all while he slowly thrust into her hand.
She was just getting well and truly lost in the sensations when he pulled away. “Turn around,” he said, his voice husky with need—for her.
This time, she did not close her eyes and she did not look away. As she turned, she took in the full magnitude of his body.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. He was—well, he was huge. Her grip hadn’t been lying. But his erection fit him—it matched the broad, muscled chest and the thick thighs. “You really are built, aren’t you?”
He snorted and ran his finger under her chin, lifting her face up and tilting her hair back under the water. As the water ran over her hair and his fingers worked the last of the shampoo out, she thought he would let her observation slide.
Then he said, “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”
“Is it that obvious?” She tried to smile, as if it was a funny joke, but she didn’t quite make it.
That made him laugh as he turned her back around. “You keep acting like you’re sure you’re about to chase me out of this shower, and I’m over here mentally running through football game tape to keep from bending you over and taking you right now, right against the wall. Conditioner?”
She went very still. The line between desire and panic was thinner now because there was a part of her—a part she was more aware of than she’d ever been in her life—that wanted him to do just what he’d said.
“You’d—you’d do that?”
“Not for your first time,” he said, massaging the conditioner into her hair. “I told you—it’s going to be you, me and a bed. This...” His hands trailed down her back as he bent his head forward and skimmed his teeth over the spot where her shoulder met her neck. He cupped her bottom and squeezed. The intimate touch sent another spike of desire through her. “This is the warm-up.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He let go of her and picked up the washcloth and the soap. “Can I ask about the virgin thing?”
“Sure, I guess. I assume you’re not.”
She expected him to chuckle but instead he paused. “No. And I haven’t been with a virgin since my first time.”
“Oh. Okay,” she repeated, because what was she supposed to do with that sort of information? Be thankful he didn’t have a thing for virgins? Or be weirded out that he had so much more experience than she did?
He didn’t say anything as he washed her back. It was half bathing, half massage—and all good. She let her chin drop to her chest as the hot water ran over her front and Ian worked on her back. Muscles she hadn’t realized were knotted began to relax. She sighed in pleasure.
“Well?” he said, crouching to scrub the backs of her legs.
“Well what?”
“The virgin thing, Lacy.”
“Oh. That. It’s not complicated. I was raised to wait until I was married, and no one ever took it upon himself to try and change my mind.”
He stood and turned her around. She tilted her head back and let the water run over her hair. “Did you date?” he asked.
She sighed. “You really have to ask, huh? I would have thought all my supersmooth moves here would have answered that question already.”
Ian burst out laughing, and Lacy felt herself smiling along with him. It was better that he knew and it was out in the open, she realized. She didn’t have to pretend she was something she wasn’t.
“I...I like the way you touch me, too,” she said as he ran the washcloth over her again and again.
“Then we’re doing it right.” Seconds later, his mouth closed over her left nipple.
The shock of his mouth against her made her stumble backward and her foot slipped on the wet tub. Ian’s mouth came off her breast with an audible pop. She tried to catch herself, but Ian’s arms were around her waist and he pulled her into his chest. “Easy, babe,” he said, an amused smile on his face as every part of her front pressed against every part of his.
“Sorry. Not very good at this,” she said sheepishly.
One of his hands slid lower and cupped her bottom again, while he brought the other up and brushed her wet hair away from her face. “Don’t apologize. You aren’t going to chase me off. In case you missed it, I’m naked. Where am I going to go?”
She grinned up at him. “Second shower of the day, huh?”
“Totally worth it.” His tongue traced her lips. She sighed into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his waist and let herself sink against him, skin to skin.
Then a panicked thought occurred to her and she pulled away. “I don’t—for protection, I mean. Do you have?”
“Yeah, I’ve got condoms.” Ian crouched back down on his heels as he washed her legs again.
“Explain to me again how me owing you one means I get bathed?”
“Because it gives me the opportunity to do this,” he murmured as he pressed his mouth—Oh, God. He looked up at her as he slipped his hand between her thighs. When his fingers stroked over her, he said, “Open up for me,” in a tone that was part command, part plea.
If his touch didn’t feel so good, she’d be panicking. Was this what sex was—the small space between excitement and terror? Was he really going to put his mouth there? “What—what do you want me to do?”
Oh, that smile—that was positively wicked. “Can you put one foot on the edge of the tub and brace yourself with your arm?”
She did as he said. “Like this?” But that was as far as she got before he swept his tongue over her. Every single nerve in her body tightened. “Ian.”
“You taste so good, Lacy.” She swore she could feel his voice vibrate through her center.
With her free hand, she grabbed
hold of his hair. He growled against her skin as he sucked and licked her. “That’s it, babe. Let me do this for you.”
She held on to him for what felt like dear life. His hands and mouth were all over her, touching and rubbing and sliding against the folds of her flesh. She gasped and panted. “Ian—I’m not—I’m going to—I can’t stand much longer.”
“I think you can.” He locked one arm around the back of her thigh and held her up. His other hand—Oh. He slipped a finger into her, stroking in and out as his tongue traced circles around her clit. “Watch, babe. Watch what I do to you.”
“Ian—Ian!” She didn’t know if she was trying to pull him away or hold him closer.
He looked up and their eyes met and he smiled. Smiled with his mouth against her as he slipped two fingers inside and curved them and—and—
All her muscles tensed as she tried to scream, but no noise came out. All she could do was watch Ian unleash her orgasm. And all she could think was, Yes.
Then, almost as quickly as it happened, she came back down to earth. Her legs started to shake and she felt limp.
Ian stood and pulled her into his arms. “My God, do you have any idea how beautiful you are when you come?”
She knew she was blushing, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t thought it was possible, but that was even better than what she’d felt in the truck. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“Babe,” he said, reaching around her and shutting the water off, “we’re just getting started.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LACY WAS SHAKING so much she had to take it slow getting out of the shower. Ian took that as a compliment.
He could still taste her honey sweetness on his tongue as he followed her out and grabbed her towel. “Here.” Even though his dick ached and he was having trouble thinking straight, he started at her legs and worked his way up, buffing the towel over her backside.
She sighed, a sound of pure satisfaction. Then she turned in his arms and said, “I can touch you, right?”
“It usually works better that way,” he said with a grin, even as his pulse picked up another notch. He didn’t know how much longer he could play it cool. Yeah, it’d been a long while, but this need he felt—it went way beyond wanting to relieve a little sexual tension. He moved the towel to dry her hair.
But before he could, she leaned over and licked his chest. He watched in shock as her tongue swept over his pecs, right around the edge of his tattoo. Her hands flattened against his sides as she moved up, covering his neck, his jaw—until she finally got to his mouth.
The towel fell to the ground as he growled into her. He’d touched her; he’d gone down on her—all the things he’d promised to do. Now? Now was the part where he buried himself in her warm, relaxed and very willing body.
He pulled her against him and tangled his hands in her hair as her tongue tentatively touched his lips. He thought he was still in control until her fingers closed around his dick.
He moaned into her mouth. Days of sexual frustration peaked as she moved her hand up and down his shaft. He tore his mouth away from hers. “Bed. Now.”
One of her eyebrows lifted in amusement as she stroked him again in direct defiance of his order. “You’ve gotten to do everything to me. I haven’t gotten to do anything to you yet.”
He could not stand here and let her continue to pump him. After days of being with her? After that shower? He wasn’t that strong.
He had other ways of making her listen. He made sure his hands were under her butt before he lifted so he wouldn’t torque her ribs. When he picked her up, she made a little squeaking noise. “First off, I haven’t even started doing everything to you,” he told her as he carried her out of the bathroom and toward the bed. She gasped in shock. “Second off...”
Any other time, he would have thrown her onto the bed and pounced. But this time, he set her down and laid her out before him. “Second off, you have no idea what you do to me.”
He covered her body with his, careful to keep himself propped up on her right side as he kissed her. She kissed him back, looping one of her legs around his. She ran her hands down his back, grabbing at his butt and pulling him into her.
Yeah, foreplay was over. He pulled away long enough to grab the box of condoms he’d set on the bedside table and roll one on. “I’ll go slow,” he promised.
“We’ll—” She swallowed hard and looked down. “We’ll fit, right?”
“We will.” He stroked her sex, all wet and ready for him, and was rewarded with a low moan. “Okay?” Her eyes widened as she nodded. “Say it, babe. Say you want me inside of you.”
“I do,” she gasped as he slid a finger into her tight passage. “Don’t want to wait anymore.”
“That’s it—tell me what you like. Be honest with me.” He pulled his finger out and positioned his dick at her entrance. “I want this to be so good for you.”
She gripped him by the shoulders as he pushed into her—slowly, as he’d promised. She clung to him tightly. He watched her face. She didn’t gasp or jolt in pain. Instead, eyes wide, she said, “Oh—that’s—okay.”
“Okay?” He grinned. Not a ringing endorsement, but for her first time, that wasn’t a bad thing.
“Here—let me—” She shifted, her body tightening around him.
He groaned and said, “Lacy, you’re going to kill me.” He couldn’t help it—he flexed, pushing himself deeper.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she said, her voice full of wonder. “I thought...”
He cut her off with a kiss. “Lacy, there’s more to this than not hurting and I can’t hold myself back much longer.”
“Oh. Okay. Go on.” She dropped her head back and lay still.
Grinning, he kissed her as he began to thrust. This time, she did gasp—in surprise. “Oh!”
“Yeah, that,” he said, fighting mightily to keep his control. “God, you feel so good, Lacy.”
“Yeah?” Her breath was coming in shorter gasps. She shifted her hips again, taking him deeper. “You—you feel good, too.”
“Good.” He hefted himself up on both his hands so he could thrust harder. “Like that?”
“Yeah.” She made a high noise in the back of her throat—a noise he already recognized as her getting closer.
Couldn’t have that. He’d barely gotten going. He slowed way down, pulling out and pausing. “What? Don’t stop, Ian—don’t—Oh!” He slammed his hips forward, driving all the way into hers.
“I told you,” he growled as he did it again, slow and hard, “that I was going to make you come again and again, and I will always keep my promises to you.”
Her head fell back, eyes closed. She moaned while he drove into her again and again. He could feel her body tightening around his. “Look,” he ordered her, leaning back so she could see where their bodies joined. “Look at us. We fit, babe. We belong.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered as he slammed home again. Then suddenly her back lifted off the bed. “Ian!”
He fell forward and pumped into her. Everything fell away as he buried himself in her. Rodeos and bulls and ribs and children and everything he’d ever screwed up—all of his sins were burned away in the clear heat of this act with her. “Lacy—Lace,” he said as his climax roared out of him.
She cried out again as he came, clutching his shoulders and breathing hard.
Spent and suddenly exhausted, he barely managed to roll to the side so he wouldn’t crush her. He was gripped with a strange urge to tell her things—that the sex had been something different, something more than he expected it to be—but hell if he could make sense of the mess that was his head. Besides, he realized as rational thought started to return, if he started spouting stuff like that, she’d wonder what the hell was wrong with him. This was no-strings. Telling her more? Al
l about the strings.
So he kept his mouth shut and pulled her into his arms.
“Ian...” Unexpectedly, she curled into his side, her face pressed against his chest.
He lay there, trying to catch his breath and get his mind in order as he stroked her hair. The feeling of her body in his arms—okay, yeah, it’d been months since he’d last allowed himself to enjoy everything a woman chose to share with him.
But damned if he’d ever felt like this—as if he’d been sideswiped by a bull going at top speed. Lacy had chosen him to be her first. It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal and yet, now that he’d taken care of her? Washed her and dried her and made her forget everything but the way their bodies fit together?
He’d always felt that pull to take care of her. He hadn’t expected sleeping with her to make that pull feel this much stronger.
Sex was fun. He liked it; he was good at it. When he was a teenager, he’d been careless. And it wasn’t just that the carelessness had led to Eliot. Ian had cheated on girlfriends in high school. In college, at least he hadn’t had a girlfriend to cheat on, but that was only because he’d had his pick. His position on the football team had only increased his appeal and he used it. Shamelessly.
It wasn’t until it all fell apart on him that he’d realized he couldn’t go on screwing his way through college. So he’d stopped. For the past six years, he’d only given in to his baser urges when he couldn’t stand the loneliness anymore. And even then, it’d been about him. He’d been lonely. He’d been horny. Yeah, he’d made sure his partners were satisfied, but in the morning, he’d always felt anxious and crappy instead of relieved.
Lacy sighed in his arms. This—this was not crappy. This was something so different he had trouble naming it.
“Is it always like that?”
“Not always. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s worse. Sex is never predictable.” Just as he hadn’t predicted the depths of his feelings right now. He wanted to hold her close and stand between her and the world, keep her safe, and the whole time, he wanted her to be prickly and vulnerable and innocent at the same time.
Harlequin Superromance May 2016 Box Set Page 43