Bodywork

by Marie Harte

  And there was the truth—she’d fallen for Shane Collins. If she’d believed in love at first sight, which she didn’t, she might have admitted her fascination with him when she’d called him Mr. Tall, Dark, and Rude.

  “Shelby?”

  “What?”

  “Did you want dessert?” he asked, and she noticed the waiter hovering. “They have a terrific cheesecake.”

  “Sure.” She softened even more toward him. The blasted man had remembered her favorite dessert. Everything about him added up to her dream man. When they talked, he listened. He’d been through his own relationship hell and had survived. He made love like he’d been built to please. He had a great job, family he loved, and friends she actually liked. His neatness nicely tailored her organized if slightly messy aesthetic. And they liked the same kinds of movies.

  But he had yet to meet her mother and Ron.

  “I hope dinner tonight wasn’t too hard to bear.” Shane must have noted her quiet. He looked way too serious for a guy who’d downed three beers.

  “I’m fine.” She forced a smile. “Honestly?”

  “I always want you to be honest with me. Truth hurts, but it’s better than a lie.”

  He had that right. “I’m worried about my mother.”

  “How’s that?” He moved back when the waiter arrived to clear their plates. After the guy set down their dessert and coffee and left, Shelby explained.

  “My mother is a whirlwind. She’s loud, opinionated, and likes to think of herself as a hippie lost in the concept of free love. She married my dad, had me, and left him when he grew too boring for her, I guess. I haven’t seen the man in twenty years.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. He faded away, but Ron took his place.” She smiled. “He’s the perfect fit for my mother. They design together, believe in the same weird stuff, and generally love me to death.”

  “So what’s not to like?”

  “They’re overprotective. They check up on everything I do. And they are always involving themselves in my life. I love them. I do. But they’re a lot to deal with.” She swallowed audibly, taken by the compassion in his gaze.

  “Afraid they won’t like me?”

  No, that they’ll scare you away. “Not exactly.”

  “Shelby, we can keep our relationship, such as it is, to ourselves if that’s what you want.” He sounded so caring, she wanted to cry. God, if her mother ruined this thing she had going with Shane, she’d never forgive the woman.

  “Could we?” Then what he’d said penetrated. “Wait, ‘relationship, such as it is’?”

  “Well, we have sex, and we’ve been on one—or if you count tonight—two dates. You said you only wanted something physical.”

  “So did you.” Panic set in. What had she done wrong this time? He sounded as if he wanted to break it off with her. Was that why he was okay keeping everything a big secret?

  “And maybe I changed my mind. I want the chance to be with you. Dating, Shelby.” He cut a bite of cheesecake and lifted it for her to eat.

  She blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and took a bite, the flavor bursting on her tongue.

  He watched her eat, looking satisfied.

  “Boyfriend-girlfriend, hmm?” She took some dessert in her fork and lifted it to his lips.

  He ate it, and the act became an intimacy tying them together. Giving and taking freely from each other.

  “That’s what I’d like, but I don’t want to rush you.”

  She frowned. “You’re being awfully gentle with me. Afraid I’ll bolt?”

  He chuckled. “We’re being honest with each other, aren’t we? Yeah, I’m afraid you’ll leave. That I’m not what you signed on for. You wanted a no strings attached hook up, and like always, I fucked it up.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just… you make me happy.”

  “I do?”

  “You really, really do. And I don’t just mean in the bedroom. I want this to last for as long as it can, and I tend to go right for the things I want in life, a lot faster than most people are comfortable with. No, get that panicked look off your face. I’m not proposing.” He chuckled. “I’d like to go out with you in public. To call you my girlfriend. To hang around my family and hang around yours. That’s a pretty big commitment right there.”

  “You got that right.” She blew out a breath. Especially because I’m falling in love with you. And it’s not my mother I’m worried about screwing us up. It’s me.

  “You need time. No problem. That’s something I can give you. We stick to the plan for now.”

  “For now,” she agreed and reached across the table for his hand. “I just…I need to think about this.”

  “Fine. But don’t forget. Breakfast on Sunday at your house.”

  “And Monday night at your place. For the fun stuff.”

  He winked, and relieved she hadn’t ruined anything by being honest, she polished off the cheesecake. Nice guy that he was, he let her.

  When Shelby left him at his house, she felt as though she’d come full circle. The sexual fling she’d intended had blossomed into a romance, and she planned to embrace it. She just needed to wrap her mind around it.

  After he kissed her goodbye and went inside, she drove home, thinking hard. Would her mother approve of Shane? Hell yes. He had everything going for him, including a wonderful family. Shelby loved Lorraine and had liked what she’d seen during her brief meeting with Chad Collins. After overhearing him badger Shane about protection and spending time together, she knew she’d like him as much as she liked Shane’s mother.

  George was terrific. And Shane… Scary as it was to feel, she loved him. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and maybe she was blowing an intense crush into something more, but she respected him a lot more than she’d ever respected Rick. Shane didn’t seem intimidated by her career or ability to think for herself. He liked being with her and didn’t seem to expect her to change for him. And he listened to her, something Rick had pretended to do but never actually done.

  Shane knew she liked cheesecake and romance books. He gave her the rough sex she craved. And he held her and kissed her like he cared, because he did care. He’d had her for sex from the get-go. There was no reason to pretend to like her to get into her pants, as he’d said. He genuinely liked her for herself, a novel idea.

  She smiled as she pulled into her driveway. After letting herself into her house and locking up after herself, she fell asleep and dreamed about Shane.

  Saturday passed too slowly, a mundane day spent doing chores she’d put off for too long. Then Sunday arrived, and with it came Shane, bright and way earlier than expected.

  Never a morning person, she greeted him at the door wearing her robe and a scowl.

  “Hey, sunshine.” He held up a paper bag that smelled delicious. In his other hand, he held a holder carrying several cups of coffee.

  “Now I know I love you,” she murmured and took the coffee from his hands.

  He held onto it, and she looked up at him.

  He stared at her. “What did you say?”

  “What?” She couldn’t think past the need for coffee.

  “Nothing.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Nice hair.”

  “Screw you.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  She grunted at him and took her coffee to the counter, where she fixed it with cream and sugar. She inhaled it and felt almost human again. Until she realized Shane was seeing her in all her morning glory. If this didn’t scare him away, nothing would.

  “You’re cute when you’re half awake.”

  She frowned at him. “You said ten.”

  “It’s ten fifteen.” He chuckled when she whipped her gaze to the microwave clock. “Yeah. I can see I’m not the only one who’s time-impaired. Just so you know, I’m always late.”

  “Oh. Well, as you can see, I’m not a morning person.”

  “Me either.” He took a cup of coffee from the holder she hoarde
d by her side and drank it black. “But I cook.”

  “And clean.” She made a face at him. “You’re almost too neat to be a guy.”

  “Funny.”

  “That or you’re secretly gay. Ron is so neat it makes my teeth ache.”

  “Now who’s stereotyping?” He fished a pastry out of the bag and handed it to her.

  She bit into it and groaned. “So good,” she mumbled with her mouth full.

  He shook his head. “That is the ugliest bathrobe I’ve ever seen. Neon green terrycloth? Didn’t they stop making those in the eighties?”

  “Hey!”

  “Your hair is sticking up in the back. You have jelly on your lip, and you put way too much sugar in your coffee.”

  “Look, you idiot, I’ll drink my coffee any way I—”

  “So why do I have the urge to make love to you right now? Right here?”

  Her annoyance quickly faded. “Um, even with my morning breath?”

  “So maybe we won’t kiss.”

  She had to laugh. “Yeah, don’t spoil the romance by cringing near my mouth.”

  “You know, there are other things you do very well with that mouth,” he rasped. “I am in love with that tongue of yours.”

  She let him draw her close and ran a hand down his front to grip his erection.

  He hissed and closed his eyes. “Yeah, like that. But I want your mouth over me. I want to watch you take me between your lips and see you suck me off.”

  “But we didn’t schedule this. Isn’t today a date day?”

  “Fuck schedules.” He unbuttoned his fly and unzipped his jeans. Then he lifted his cock out. He pulled on the collar of her robe, tugging her down. “Let me fuck that mouth.”

  She had no interest in her coffee or pastry anymore and set them down. She knelt before him, intrigued that she aroused him, even in her ratty bathrobe. Shane was a handsome, successful man. He could have had any woman he wanted for the asking. Yet he wanted her.

  “Open your robe for me.”

  “I’m not wearing anything underneath,” she warned.

  “Let me see those tits.”

  She remembered that he’d said he wanted to fuck them and grew wet. She straightened and bent closer to his crotch. “Slide through me.” She cupped her breasts and pushed them together, pleased when he moaned her name.

  “Just a few times. I don’t want to come on your tits. Not until tomorrow night,” he said in a low voice. He thrust at on odd angle and positioned his cock between her breasts. He slid that thick, hot shaft between her mounds, his sac velvety smooth and taut when she felt him.

  He swore and straightened. Then he grabbed himself with one hand and with the other palmed her head, pushing her back down. “Open up, baby. Blow me.”

  She knelt, quivering. The request was an order, because he knew how much she liked it when he was demanding. He pushed his cockhead between her lips, and she drew him in, licking with firm strokes of her tongue.

  “Fuck, yes. That’s good sweetheart. So sexy.”

  She could feel him staring at her as she took him deeper. Unlike the way she’d pleasured him before, this time he fucked her mouth. She opened wide and took what he gave her.

  “Play with yourself,” he said hoarsely and held her hair from her face so he could see himself fucking her. “I want you to get off while you I shoot down your throat.”

  She moaned and masturbated while taking as much of him as she could. Dirty, sweaty sex in the morning with the man of her dreams. Even when he came, filling her mouth and trickling down the back of her throat, she didn’t mind, satisfied by his orgasm.

  But he wouldn’t let them be done. “Uh uh. You didn’t come,” he said, panting as he caught his breath. He withdrew from her lips and stood her up. Then he lifted her onto the kitchen counter and spread her thighs over the robe tucked beneath her. He latched onto her nipple with his mouth and fingered her pussy.

  “God, Shane.” She writhed under him, in lust and love and flying with feeling.

  He added another finger while he toyed with her clit. And then he sucked her other nipple into a tight peak. She tightened around him without thought, clamping on those fingers that didn’t fill her the way his cock did.

  He released her breast to whispered into her ear, “Come, baby. All over me.” Then he flicked his tongue into her sensitive canal.

  She reached her pinnacle and drenched his fingers, her climax muddling her ability to think. He returned to suckling at her breast while she came down from such intense pleasure.

  Slowly, he withdrew his fingers, a self-satisfied male watching his lover with possession, which she hadn’t wanted. Or had she?

  She was shaky and confused and in love. “I’ll be back. I need a shower. Alone,” she said before he could offer to join her.

  He smirked and glanced at the pastries. “Don’t blame me if there’s nothing left when you’re done.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Don’t tease, baby.”

  With a laugh that ended in a groan, she left him in the kitchen. She returned twenty minutes later to find him snoozing on her couch. He’d left her coffee and several pastries. As she’d expected. The man didn’t have it in him to be selfish.

  Stupid thought. Of course he does. He’s human. Her conscience demanded she not be blinded by lust and affection. No one was perfect, and there was no such person as her dream man.

  Yeah, but Shane would never knowingly hurt me. I don’t think. And that was the problem. She didn’t know. But how could she? Only time would show her the real Shane Collins. But time was something he’d promised to give her. Why not take him up on his offer and see where this relationship took them? Because even she could see that there was more than outstanding sex between them.

  She grabbed another cup of coffee, still warm in the container. As she fixed it and crossed to the couch, she watched Shane sleep. He seemed boyishly innocent in slumber, and she pushed a bit of hair from his eyes, taken with his handsome face.

  “What am I going to do with you?”

  Apparently, only time would tell.

  She sipped her coffee and contemplated the future. Worst case, best case… Did she have the courage to try again? But wouldn’t not trying make Rick the winner in the end? He’d been the one to spoil what could have been a deep and wonderful friendship between them. Why let him ruin her future with Shane?

  The more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn’t want to be the old cat lady at the end of the day, afraid to live her life and take a chance on love. She’d already been dumped once and lived through it. She could handle it again if push came to shove.

  But as she stroked his hair, she knew Shane leaving would be different. It would hurt so much more, because she cared about him in a way she’d never been able to care for Rick.

  What to do about her heart—that was the question. Because it already belonged to Shane.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Shane didn’t regret his time with Shelby Sunday morning. Having unscripted sex had felt right. More like something a boyfriend—a lover—might do. He was sorry to have fallen asleep on her couch, though she didn’t seem to mind. He’d woken up, his head in her lap, to see her watching an old movie. They’d spent half the day watching a Twilight Zone marathon on TV.

  Monday evening had been like his other forays into the forbidden with Shelby. One smokin’ hot sixty-nine that had him coming like a geyser between her soft lips. The woman had a way with her tongue that made him see stars with little effort. Now he had a hard time looking at her mouth without getting an erection.

  But hell, there were worse ways to suffer.

  The rest of the week dragged at work. Not being with Shelby was tough. He tried to keep his phone calls sparse because he didn’t want to seem needy. He continued to question himself about her. Was he in love with her or responding so readily to a woman with whom he had chemistry? Sure he liked her. She was beautiful, driven, and successful. And
she made love like a dream. But was his attachment just part of his pattern when it came to relationships?

  He’d wanted to talk to Mac about it, but Mac didn’t understand. Mr. Love ‘em and Leave ‘em didn’t want connections. He wanted casual dates and one night stands. But that didn’t work for Shane.

  He thought about asking his mother or father for advice, but he didn’t want to get their hopes up. If he wasn’t careful, his mother would find a way to screen Shelby’s medical transcripts looking for ways to improve fertility.

  Shane wanted Shelby, sure, but a baby? The familiar panic he normally experienced when dealing with issues of marriage and all that followed didn’t come. And he couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially when he spent sexual and nonsexual time with Shelby.

  They played miniature golf. He won. They bowled. She won and rubbed his nose in it, giving the word competitive new meaning. They liked Scrabble and Jeopardy, and he managed to drag her out for a few runs around Green Lake…after getting her to spend the night. A real treat considering she let him do whatever he wanted to her in the morning. He was no morning person, but God, the sex was incredible. But then, with her it always was, and he had to admit, the physical connection between them helped everything else fall into place.

  They’d seen Maggie and Mac since their night at Botelli Mia’s and played off their dinner. According to Shelby, Maggie said nothing more about her emergency at the gym, and Mac had been equally cagey about it. The liars. But Shane didn’t mind their involvement, especially now that they seemed to be leaving well enough alone. He didn’t trust it, but he decided not to question a good thing. And Shelby was a very good thing.

  Staring at his office walls two weeks later on a Thursday morning, nonplused, he wondered when he’d first accepted the idea of Shelby in his life on a permanent basis. He wanted to spend time with her every day. Her staying the night was the highlight of his week, because it meant he got to cuddle with her after sex, something she’d been the one to suggest. But every time he came inside her, he wondered what it might be like to make new life. He didn’t want kids with just anyone, but with Shelby.