by Elisabeth Naughton, Alexandra Ivy, Cynthia Eden, Katie Reus, Laura Wright, Skye Jordan
When he kissed her again, her lips parted, and he stroked his tongue into her mouth. He wasn’t prepared for the way she met it, the way she played with it, hungrily, erotically. Lust blasted a path straight through Meier’s body, bottoming out in his groin. He fisted the shirt at her waist and groaned into her mouth. Tightening his forearm, he pulled her belly against his erection and kissed her deeply, slowly, hoping she could add one and one for a sum of take-me-to-bed-now.
But even as the thought entered his mind, he knew it was too much to hope for. Too much, too fast.
He forced himself to break the kiss and pressed his mouth to her shoulder. Faith’s arms lay loose around his neck, her fingers in his hair.
“Damn,” he said, muffled against her shoulder. “I haven’t wanted anyone this bad in a long time.”
“Meier…” Her whisper was shaky, and he knew she was going to ask him to let her go.
“Just another minute.” He turned his face into her neck and breathed her in, musky, sweet, sultry. “I just want to hold you another minute.”
A shiver rocked through her, and he lifted his head. “Shit, you’re cold—”
“No.” Her eyes were clouded with a look he recognized—desire. And she cupped his face. “I want you. But…”
He could barely breathe. “But?”
Her eyes closed, and she turned her head. “God, I feel so stupid.”
“But what?”
“I haven’t been with anyone in so long, I don’t even know what sex is like anymore. The last man I was with was still mostly a boy, and I didn’t know any more than he did.” She opened her eyes and met his seriously. “I’m not stupid. I know you’re experienced. I don’t want to—”
He kissed her quiet, pulling away only when he was sure she wasn’t going to speak again.
“Don’t say disappoint me.” He sounded breathless, and a big part of him felt like a giddy kid again. “I can tell just by the way you kiss that you won’t disappoint me.” He ran a hand over her hair. “I can tell just by the way you’ve made me laugh over the last few days, you won’t disappoint me. You’re foolproof, Faith, and I’m the fool. You can’t disappoint me.” He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. “Even if you have to say no, even if you need to wait, you still won’t disappoint me.”
Chapter 4
You’re not looking for forever here, Faith.
She could do this. She wanted this.
Meier’s lips came back to hers. They were full and soft with an edge of abrasion from his stubble. And the way he used them made her forget her own name. She didn’t know this kind of kissing existed. The kind that seemed to slide through her chest and reach deep between her legs, making her want from shoulders to toes.
God, could she do this?
You’re looking for casual. You have to adjust your thinking.
He pulled out of the kiss, and Faith’s head spun. His fingers slid down the side of her face, then across her lips. “God, I love your mouth.” His lazy fingers pulled her lips open, then slipped inside. “Suck me, Faith.”
Holy. Shit. His words and the lust dripping from his eyes as he watched her lips wrap around his fingers shot excitement between her legs and made her sex clench.
He pulled his fingers from her mouth only to kiss her again, so hungrily, so passionately, another flash of insecurity burned through her, the insecurity that he was too much for her. That she couldn’t satisfy him.
Then she thought of him rushing over as soon as she’d called, of his disappointment when he’d realized she’d called for a favor, not for sex, and she pushed the uncertainty back.
You’re looking for the opposite of commitment, she reminded herself. It’s just sex.
She found her hands under his T-shirt, roaming warm skin pulled taut over all sorts of muscle. All sorts of muscle she needed up against her body in the worst way.
“Upstairs?” she said, breathless. “It’s small, and a mess, I haven’t had time to—”
He kissed her quiet again, lifted her, and sloshed through the water. At the stairs, he set her down, and his hands slid over a sore spot on her back. Faith winced.
Meier froze. “What?”
“I fell on the stairs earlier. I’m just sore in a few places.”
“Oh shit.” He started to release her. “I’m sorry—”
“I’m fine.” She gripped his shoulders and pressed against him. “And I’m sure you can make me forget all about it.”
A smile flashed, turning one side of his mouth. “I’ll get right on that.”
And as he walked her up the basement stairs and crossed the sales floor, kissing any skin he could reach, Faith pulled at his tee, dragging the fabric up his torso and over his head, then tossing it over the banister at the bottom of the stairs. And even in the changing light cast by the millions of tiny lights in the store’s windows and out on the street, she could fully appreciate how fit and muscular he was. He was simply beautiful.
“Oh, wow…” With no other words, she gave up on talking and put her mouth to better use by pressing her lips to his sternum and licking a path straight up his chest to his throat.
He was salty and male, and by the time her mouth closed at the base of his neck, Meier’s growl rolled through his chest, and his hands pulled at her tee.
They were barely even undressed, and this was—by far—the most passion she’d ever experienced. More passion than she’d known possible. And it just kept building and growing as Meier pulled her shirt off, stroked his hands up her back, threaded them into her hair, and drowned himself in her mouth. He was like a hurricane of lust, and all Faith could do was hold on while the storm raged.
When his hands roamed again, one cupped her breast, and the other slipped beneath the waistband of her jeans and popped the button. She sucked a surprised breath and dropped her hand to his wrist.
He stilled. “Tell me to stop, Faith,” he said against her lips before kissing a path to her ear and whispering, “Tell me to stop, and I’ll stop. On a dime.”
“God, no. Don’t stop.” She forced her fingers to uncurl from his wrist and slide up his arm, and instead of pushing her into a hard and fast and clumsy quickie like Dillon would have, Meier eased back, sliding his hand away from her zipper and across her hip instead. That gave Faith room to breathe, and she relaxed a little. “I can’t get enough of you. It’s just sort of new all over again.”
His moan of relief traveled through her like a torch, lighting her on fire. He covered her mouth with another scorching kiss, gripped her ass, and pulled her against his erection, where he met pressure, rocked and rubbed until Faith’s legs were weak.
Instead of continuing up the stairs, Meier lifted her onto the edge of the shipping counter along the back wall, pushing tape and scissors and pens aside, all while still kissing her. Then her bra clasp snapped open and Meier leaned away and let his gaze roll over her. Faith was breathing hard, dizzy, her shoulders propped against the wall with one hand fisted in the waistband of Meier’s jeans.
“Mmmm,” he hummed, his gaze hot on her breasts while he cupped her with both hands. “Beautiful.”
He skimmed his hands down her sides and gripped her hips, pulling her to the edge of the counter, where he stepped between her thighs. He encouraged her to wrap her legs around his hips, then fit his erection to her deepest ache and rocked into her as if they’d done this a hundred times before.
The pressure released pent-up pleasure, and it flowed through her in a hot, sweeping wave. Faith arched, her eyes closed. “Oh, God…”
Leaning in, he kissed her. Nipping. Licking. “Ride me, Faith.”
With his hands guiding her hips, he pulled her into a thrusting rhythm that mimicked the lusty kind of sex she’d heard about but never really believed existed. His eyes were heavy-lidded and hot, his expression tight with desire, and Faith had never seen a man look as sexy as Meier looked right then. His tanned muscles rolled beneath his skin, his hungry gaze roamed her breasts, and he fi
nally bent his head and covered one breast with his mouth. Sensation spilled through Faith’s chest, tightened between her legs, and she closed her fingers around the soft strands of his hair as one of those crazy sounds ebbed from her throat. Without thought, she arched into his mouth, then dropped one hand to the counter and pushed against it to rock her hips harder against his.
God, this was wild. This was a fantasy. Beyond a fantasy.
“Want you,” she managed between quick breaths.
His only response was a groan against her skin, moving his mouth to her other breast and sliding his fingers beneath the waistband of her jeans again. But this time, they slipped past the edge of her panties, too, and right between her legs.
Faith tensed and gasped, caught between shock and pleasure.
Until his fingers moved. Then pleasure wiped out shock, flooding her body and shutting down her mind. “Oh God.”
“Mmm,” Meier hummed, stroking her sex and making Faith shiver. “Damn, Faith,” he murmured, lifting his mouth from her breast and meeting her gaze. The look in his eyes was something she’d never seen before. So deeply intimate, so completely present, so intoxicating. “You feel so good. Soft, warm, wet. And so smooth.”
His words made her a little delirious, and she had to think to make sense of the last. After she’d heard about the new trend in personal care, she’d started shaving, just in case she ever did find the right man. And thank God.
Then his fingers moved, and Faith couldn’t think at all. His heavy-lidded gaze held hers as his fingers took slow strokes through her wetness, spreading it over her sex with soft circles that made her lift her hips into his hand. Made her breath quicken. Made her heart thud.
Then, without warning, his strong fingers pushed inside her, and her throat closed with the surprise of sweet, decadent pressure. Faith moaned. Dug her fingers into his arms. And moved against his hand.
“Oh baby,” Meier murmured, dropping his forehead against Faith’s. “You’re so tight.”
The hunger in his voice shot another burst of excitement between her legs, and her muscles clenched around his fingers.
Meier growled. Did something with his hand, adding pressure inside her while returning her thrust. The result was exquisite. Faith laughed out a low groan followed by a throaty, “Meier…”
He did that…thing…with his fingers again, and the knot inside her coiled tighter, the delicious pressure rose. Then his heavy thumb covered her center, shooting pleasure through her body. A sound came from her throat; she didn’t know what—a cry, a moan. Only knew she couldn’t stop making it as he touched her and touched her and touched her, in relentlessly languid, maddeningly gentle circles. Circles that brought her closer and closer to the best orgasm of her life.
“Meier.” Her eyes rolled back, lids closed. She should wait, shouldn’t she? Why was he doing all this if she should wait for him? “Oh my God, Meier—”
The surge came in a hot, hard rush. White-hot and explosive. Every muscle contracted, her back arched, her head fell back against the wall. She opened her mouth, would have screamed but couldn’t breathe, her pleasure so intense, her back cramped and her lungs burned.
And when the extreme pleasure faded into smooth waves of complete satisfaction and awe, Meier was right there, picking her up, turning toward the stairs, and heading to the bedroom.
* * *
Meier didn’t understand what was happening to him, but there was something profoundly sweet and extremely satisfying about pleasuring a woman as unselfish as Faith. And while she might think she was rusty when it came to sex, Meier found her incredibly fresh and intoxicating.
So intoxicating, he wasn’t going to be able to hold out for any more foreplay or multiple orgasms. He needed to get inside her. Needed it. But he also had to remind himself to take it slow.
He pushed through the door at the top of the hall and found about what he expected, a tiny one-bedroom apartment. Turning to the right, he stepped into her bedroom, releasing her only once he stood beside her bed, where he eased her feet to the floor. He groaned at the feel of her hot, damp, sweet little body sliding along his. The result was fucking electric. He couldn’t wait to get her naked and rub all over her.
She kept her arms wrapped tight around his neck, stretched against his body, and opened her mouth to him. He groaned, kissing her back with all the pent-up passion inside him.
Faith pushed her hands between them, working his pants and boxers past his hips. When she couldn’t get farther, she pulled from the kiss, met his gaze with a frustrated, “Let me get you naked.”
A thrilled coursed through his body. “You have no idea how often I’ve dreamed of hearing you say those words over the last week.”
She smiled up at him while she turned them in a circle, putting his back to the bed. Then she pressed a hand to his chest and pushed. He fell off balance and, with a laugh, fell back on the bed, taking Faith with him. But she wriggled out of his grasp and stripped off his pants, then her own.
“Whoa, slow down, sugar, I want—”
She faced him, lifted one knee to the bed, then straddled him, making Meier forget everything—including his own name.
“You were saying?” She dropped to her palms, swung her hair to one side, and kissed him again. A slow, deep, wet kiss that fried Meier’s brain. He framed her face, slanted his head, and took her even deeper, thrilling in the moan of desire rolling out of her. She suddenly broke the kiss with a breathless, “Condom?”
It took a second for Meier’s brain to function. He slapped at the bed until he hit his wallet. He’d barely pulled the square packet from the leather when Faith took it from him, ripped it open, and fitted it to the head of his cock.
Meier gritted his teeth, fisted one hand in the sheets, and dug the other into her hip. “Jesus, Faith—”
“Can’t wait,” she was saying, rolling the condom down his length. “Want you filling me so bad.”
Meier couldn’t even think. He was lost in the sensations her hands shot through his cock and wound through his body. Then she was kneeling over him, the head of his cock nestled in the wet folds of her pussy, and Meier gripped her thighs with both hands. “Slow, Faith.”
She lowered just enough to take his head and her eyes closed in a bliss-filled expression. Then she lowered again, swallowing half his cock, and the sound that came from her was part cry, part moan, all pleasure.
Pressure squeezed him. Luxuriant heat. Snug, soft, wet.
“So good,” she murmured.
Hell yes. “Better than good.” He stroked her hair back and framed her face. “Take all of me, Faith.”
She leaned her head into his hand and opened her eyes to his. Then she lowered until the head of his cock hit her back wall, and a look of pleasure-pain pulled at her brow. “God.”
“I’m yours, right here, right now,” he said, breathing hard from the restraint he used to remain still. “Own me, Faith.”
Meier pulled her into a kiss he hoped explained just how deeply, just how passionately he wanted her. How good he wanted to make this for her. How different this was for him. He could have sex with anyone, anytime. Sex was sex was sex. But this…this was different. This meant something. He didn’t have to know exactly what to know it was important.
And he wanted it to mean something to Faith too. Something more than just getting back in the game. So Meier held his orgasm back and lost himself in the feel of her skin, the shape of her body, the way they moved perfectly together, as if they’d already found their own ideal rhythm.
Thrilled at the way she quickly rose to her second orgasm. The way her lips parted. The way her head dropped back.
Meier took control of her hips, rising as he pulled her down, maximizing the thrust. And when her orgasm hit, she arched on a cry of pleasure, followed by a bucking, twisting frenzy as the climax peaked.
Her tight squeeze crushed Meier’s last strand of resistance, and his own orgasm slammed through him in a brutal, searing blast of pleasur
e.
Faith melted to his chest as tiny bursts of pure, vivid satisfaction continued to roll through him. His chest heaved for air, carrying Faith on the rise and fall where she lay against him, limp. He could feel her rapid heartbeat against his side.
He didn’t move for a long time. Didn’t want to move ever again. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, that was some seriously amazing sex. And Meier had had enough to know the quality didn’t stem from a physical reason.
Faith Nicholas was different.
Faith Nicholas was special.
And he and Faith Nicholas had something exceptional here.
But Faith Nicholas’s life also centered around small-town America. Which was as far from the center of Meier’s life as a person could get.
So Meier closed his eyes, and focused on the pleasure she’d brought him in the moment. Because he knew all too well it wouldn’t be long before these moments were gone.
Chapter 5
Faith piled one more extension cord on the mountain of supplies needed for the ice-sculpting competition and checked that box off her list. “Done.”
She leaned against the wall, hung her head, and closed her eyes. God, she was so tired. And not just no-sleep tired, but her-body-hurt-in-a-million-new-ways tired. Ways that made her smile, despite the discomfort.
Meier filled her mind for the millionth time that day, but this time, she remembered his silly little smile when he’d wandered around her room, the store, and the basement collecting all his clothes at five that morning, muttering ridiculous things. Like accusing her of making him crazy enough to strip in a public place and casting some spell that boosted his sexual appetite and leaving him forever a changed man.
Her phone chimed, and she smiled, knowing the text was from Meier. He’d been texting her all day. Faith straightened, rubbed tired eyes, and read the new message:
Dude, you left a hickey on my thigh.
The giddiness and joy from their night together bubbled up inside her until she couldn’t keep it in, and she laughed. All she wanted now was to close the store and spend every minute of every hour they had left in his arms.