Turn Up the Heat

by Lori Foster

  “Don’t move, love. Stay just like that.” Brick reached back and grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt to strip it off over his head.

  She peeked at him, breathing faster, attention rapt.

  He kicked off his shoes, shoved his jeans down and took off his socks at the same time.

  Merrily’s gaze dropped fast to his dark, tented boxers, but he didn’t dare remove those yet or he’d never survive. He fished his wallet from his jeans pocket, quickly located two condoms and put them on her nightstand. He kicked the jeans aside.

  Taking his time looking at her, he stepped closer again. “You nervous?”

  “No.” She met his gaze. “Not with you.”

  He braced his hands on the wall at either side of her head. “I’m on the ragged edge here, honey.” He tried to draw on lost reserves, but he had none. He put his forehead to hers. “I don’t want to rush you, but I—”

  “Shh.” Tentatively, she touched his chest, stroking through his chest hair, up over a shoulder, down his side. “Do you know how you look?”

  “Like a really horny guy? Yeah, I know.” He put his nose to her temple and breathed in her warmed scent. It wasn’t enough, not even close. He kissed her cheek, nipped her earlobe, opened his mouth on her throat.

  If he could just hold it together long enough to get her caught up again—

  Ah, hell. Her small hand gripped him through his boxers, sending his breath to hiss out in a rush of sensation. “Merrily...”

  “I want to take my panties off now.”

  “Yeah, okay.” He panted. “You gotta turn me loose first, love.” It took everything he had to lift her hand away from him, then he forced himself to step back. “Go on.”

  She blushed, either with embarrassment or excitement, he couldn’t tell.

  He tortured himself by watching as she put her thumbs in the narrow waistband, bent at the waist—damn, but her breasts looked amazing when she did that—and straightened again.

  Naked.

  His heart rapped so hard into his ribs, it almost hurt.

  “Your turn,” she said.

  Without taking his gaze off her body, he shoved his boxers away and reached for her. “Come here.” Pulling her in close he took her mouth while touching her everywhere, over her breasts, down her narrow back, over that amazing backside.

  Between her thighs.

  When she started to reciprocate, Brick tumbled her into the bed and pinned her hands down. She tried to complain, but he kept on kissing her even while locking both her wrists together with one hand.

  With the other, he explored her sweet little body, over her breasts, her ribs, the slight rise of her belly.

  She twisted her mouth free. “Not fair.”

  “Tough,” he whispered while watching her face. He pressed his hand between her legs and instantly stilled her struggles. “Mmm. You like that?” He touched his fingertips over her, delved down, pressed in and found her creamy, wet, swollen and hot.

  “Brick.”

  Such a thin, sweet voice. “Merrily.” Seeing her like this both exacerbated his loss of control and softened his need. “Just relax and let me enjoy you.” With his fingertips now damp, he found her clitoris, touched oh-so-gently.

  Her back arched and her heels pressed into the mattress. “I want to enjoy you, too.”

  That near desperate demand made him smile. “You will, love. I promise.” He licked a nipple, circled with his tongue and said huskily, “But first things first.” He suckled at her breast while continuing to finger her so carefully.

  Every little move she made, each raw sound from deep in her throat, made him that much more determined to see her climax as a foregone conclusion. He knew once he got inside her, he’d last a minute, maybe less.

  “You’re so sweet, Merrily,” he whispered against her nipple. Carefully, with the very edge of his teeth, he tugged on her. “So soft, and so wet.”

  She twisted, panted.

  He dipped his finger into her, pressed a little more until he heard her breath catch. “So damned tight, too.” He paid close attention to what she liked—and what she loved.

  When he wedged a second finger into her, she didn’t pull away, even though he knew he stretched her. Using her wetness, he slicked his thumb up over her and saw her teeth clench.

  Yeah, she liked that, liked being filled while he stroked her little clit.

  His testicles tightened, but he fought off the surge of release. At that moment, he wanted to see her come so bad, he could almost taste it.

  That thought made him groan. Yeah, he would taste her, soon, but not just yet. He didn’t want to do anything that might interrupt the rise of her pleasure.

  He tugged at her nipple again, kept the sweet friction going between her legs, and suddenly she bowed, crying out, her thighs trembling. Her moisture bathed the fingers he had buried inside her, and it almost pushed him over the edge.

  As soon as she started to quiet, the second her body slumped back into the bedcovers, Brick sat up and ripped open the condom packet with his teeth. He rolled on the protection, turned to her, moved over her.

  “Open those pretty knees for me, Merrily.”

  Still gasping shakily, eyes closed and body lax, she shifted her thighs. Brick settled on her, used his fingers to part her hot, wet sex, and slowly entered her.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “OH.” WHAT A WAKE-UP, Merrily thought, as Brick pressed into her. He was so large and solid, and while she felt slight discomfort, it didn’t really hurt.

  In fact, once she got her eyes open and looked at him, she found it wildly exciting. “Brick.”

  “Yeah,” he growled. “Me—and only me.”

  Never had she seen a man look as he did, sort of savage, clenched all over and very hot.

  Braced above her on his forearms, his teeth locked, his gaze devouring her, he pressed relentlessly forward.

  With excitement spiking through her again, Merrily put her hands to his bulging biceps. His skin burned with an inner fever. God, he was...incredible.

  “Okay?” he asked through his teeth.

  For an answer, Merrily slowly wrapped her legs around him, locking her heels at the small of his back. “I won’t break, you know.” She stroked his jaw. “You don’t have to hold back.”

  “Don’t.”

  One word, a warning, but she couldn’t stop the curious exploration of her fingers over his furred chest—or the automatic flexing of her inner muscles as she tried to accommodate his solid length.

  “Ah...God.” His big body tensed, strained, and he growled, “Sorry” before filling her in one strong thrust.

  She gasped. Okay, now that hurt a little.

  Shocked, Merrily held on to him, but she didn’t have time to worry before he was rocking slow and deep, his face in her neck, his powerful chest brushing back and forth across her sensitive nipples.

  Discomfort faded beneath the sweet, sliding friction.

  And deep inside her, with each long stroke, he touched...something. Oh, yes. There. She lifted into him more. Dug her fingers into his solid shoulders to better brace herself. “Brick.” And then, as sensation spiraled away. “Brick.”

  She’d thought it was amazing before, but now, with him in her, over her, a part of her...

  He gave a long, vibrating groan, went still for one taut, suspended moment of time, then thrust more urgently and Merrily knew he was coming, too.

  She couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

  She couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.

  Big as he was, it felt nice when Brick sank down to rest on her, one of his hands tangled in her hair and cupped around her skull, the other scooped under her bottom. His heartbeat rocked them both, and heat poured off him.

  After a minut
e, he stirred, his mouth touching her shoulder, over to her throat. With great effort he lumbered up to his forearms again.

  Saying nothing, he watched her, almost looking into her heart.

  Would he know that she’d already fallen in love with him, that she’d fallen hard the first time she saw him sitting in her section of the diner?

  Until she’d met him, being a virgin hadn’t even factored into her busy life.

  After meeting him...would she ever want anyone else? Doubtful. After Brick, all over men would pale in comparison.

  All too solemn, he bent down and took her mouth—and...seriously? He kissed her like he planned to start all over again.

  Shivers chased over her skin, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight.

  When his hand slid down her side to her hip, she accepted that, yes, he planned to do this again.

  Oh, boy. She hummed approval, gave him her tongue when he came looking for it, and lost herself in ripe sensation.

  With Brick making love to her, she couldn’t worry about tomorrow. She could only enjoy right now.

  * * *

  EVEN WITH BOTH dogs in the room, Eloise roaming over the foot of the bed, Brick slept soundly. Not that she minded. He was so beautiful she could have stood there all day looking at him. On his stomach, one muscled arm folded up under his head, one hairy leg exposed from beneath the sheet, he was the most incredible man she’d ever seen.

  Even in her imagination, she couldn’t drum up a vision more appealing than him.

  Her breath shuddered out in a long sigh. Dundee tipped his head, unsure what they were doing, curious and a little worried at the idea of a big male in the bed.

  Still. Because he’d stayed the night.

  Did that mean anything?

  Dolly circled the bed, trying to find a way up, but it was too high for her and Merrily didn’t lift her up. Not yet.

  Should she wake him? She dragged her gaze away from his magnificent body—and it really was incredibly magnificent—to see the clock. How late did he usually sleep?

  He’d made love to her twice last night before leaving her collapsed and numb in the bed while he went to check on the animals. He came back, woke her to say that he’d taken them out to the yard for a bit, given them more treats and they were now content and asleep.

  Then he’d started seducing her all over again. She hadn’t realized that men were so voracious. Or maybe Brick was more voracious than most. He was certainly more...everything else. Bigger, more muscular, incredibly handsome—he was more than any other man she’d known.

  Afterward, she’d been too spent to protest when he’d brought a cool washcloth to the bed and tended to her, then tucked her in close to his chest, covered them both and told her to sleep.

  Just before dawn, he’d awakened her with small kisses along her arm down to her wrist. The second she got her eyes open she saw the heat in his and knew what he wanted. Or at least, she’d known part of what he wanted. The rest... What a surprise.

  He’d sucked at her fingertips with blatant suggestion until she felt the tug of his mouth everywhere on her body.

  She learned it wasn’t at all the same when he did kiss her everywhere, telling her again to “part her pretty knees” and making her insane with the stroke of his tongue, the touch of his teeth and a devastating suckle that had her shivering again just thinking about it.

  She closed her legs together tightly to contain the memory, both of what he’d done and the things he’d said.

  More than once, he’d called her “love.”

  He said such nice things, telling her she was sweet, treating her as if she were somehow special to him... Oh, how she loved it.

  Because she loved him. Did she stand a chance of winning him over before he tired of her? Would it be unfair of her to try, when he’d told her up-front what he wanted—and what he didn’t?

  She wasn’t a virgin any longer. But she was still new to sex, so maybe that’d be enough, for now, to keep him—

  “What’s wrong, love?”

  Her gaze shot to his face. “You’re awake.”

  “And you look melancholy.” He rolled to his back, stretched those long limbs out with a soft, deep groan and came up to one elbow. Dundee turned circles in excitement, so Brick called him over, gave him a few pats, then reached down and scooped up Dolly to help her into the bed.

  Merrily’s heart swelled in her chest.

  “Come here, you.” He reached out a hand to her.

  She set the coffee aside and let him draw her to sit near his hip on the bed. He fingered the T-shirt she wore as if he might want to remove it. But with both dogs being so attentive, he contented himself with touching her hair, tucking it back. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.”

  His hand settled on her hip. “Did I disappoint you last night? Did I underwhelm you? Is that why you look so glum now?”

  “No!”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up, letting her know he only teased. “I expected to find you all smiles, maybe even giggling, especially after that last time when you—”

  Merrily smashed her hand over his mouth, then looked nervously at Dundee, who looked back. “Shh.”

  After kissing her palm, he lowered her hand and muffled a low laugh. “He doesn’t understand, honey.”

  But Dundee continued to stare at her, and it made her uneasy. “You don’t know that for sure.”

  He turned to the dog and said, “She is incredibly hot, Dundee. So hot I still feel singed. She wore me out with her excesses. Sorry, bud, but it’s true.”

  Dundee barked—and it almost sounded like agreement.

  “Oh, stop.” She noticed how Tom and Stan strolled in and joined him in the bed, too. He now had a highly interested creature audience. “I made coffee.”

  “Did you? Damn, woman, could you be more perfect?” A glance at the clock, and he groaned. “You should have woken me up. Jesse will be here soon.” He went still, then quirked a brow. “Unless he stayed the night next door?”

  “I didn’t see his truck when I went out for the morning paper.”

  “Then he struck out.” Brick grinned, and in contrast to his expression, he said, “Poor guy.”

  Merrily took Dolly and moved aside. “You should have time to shower.”

  “But I don’t have time to have you again.” With no reserve at all, he threw back the sheet, stretched again and left the bed—gloriously naked and awesomely aroused.

  It left her speechless.

  “Morning wood,” he said by way of an explanation. He lifted her chin to bring her attention to his face. “You wanna shower with me?” But before she could answer, he shook his head. “No, scrap that. I’ve been excessive and I have to cool it before you think I’m a sex-starved ape.”

  “I wouldn’t—”

  He cupped her face, gave her a resounding smooch and headed for her bathroom. “Give me ten minutes, then I’d love a cup of coffee.”

  At his retreating back—and sexy backside—Merrily said, “Towels are in the cupboard. Help yourself to whatever you need.”

  He lifted a hand in acceptance and continued on his way.

  Wow.

  In something of a fog, she pulled on jeans, then turned and headed out of the room. The animals all padded after her.

  To keep herself busy and avoid dwelling on Brick in her shower, Merrily started breakfast. She had bacon cooking, eggs on the counter and bread in the toaster when Brick strolled in shirtless, hair damp, face freshly shaved and jeans unsnapped.

  “Smells great,” he said while she ogled him. He came right up to her and kissed her more thoroughly. “Sorry, love, but I made use of your razor and toothbrush. Hope you don’t mind.”

  Still mute, she shook her head, making
him grin.

  “Look at you, being all domestic.” He clutched his heart. “It’s almost too much, I swear.” And without missing a beat, “Coffee?”

  “Oh.” She set aside her spatula and fetched a mug from the cabinet. “Creamer in the fridge and sugar on the counter.”

  “I take it black.” He poured himself a cup, sipped, and hummed his appreciation. “Damn, love, but the whole package is a little much.”

  “Whole package?”

  He saluted her with the coffee cup. “Looking like you look, being as sweet as you are, smokin’ hot in the sack, then proficient in the kitchen, too. And to top it off, you love animals. What else is there?”

  “Uh...I don’t know.” He left her so confused she had no idea what to say. “I think you’re...the whole package, too.”

  “Perfect.” When Dundee went to the backdoor, Brick automatically opened it to let him out, then stood there to keep watch. “I think I’ll use that to segue into tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “I want to come back. Or stay over.” He shrugged. “Your choice. I prefer the latter, but if I stay, I’ll at least need to head home for supplies.”

  She was starting to feel like an idiot with her one-word questions. “Supplies?”

  “My own toothbrush and razor. Clean boxers.” His gaze darkened and he looked her over. “More rubbers.”

  “Oh.” The bacon popped, and she jumped. She quickly removed it from the pan and put it on a plate. Before cracking the eggs, she willed her jumping nervousness to quiet, kept her back to him and asked as casually as she could manage, “You mentioned staying over again?”

  Without her hearing his approach, his hands settled on her waist. He nuzzled behind her ear. “Mmm. I need more of you, love. What do you think of that?”

  The egg she tried to crack smashed into the pan. She stared at it dumbly.

  Brick eased her aside. “Why don’t I do the eggs? You can check on Dundee and Dolly.”

  She watched him scrape her egg mess into the garbage can, then expertly crack four eggs into the skillet. Talk about perfection... No man should look that good in his jeans, be such an incredible lover and know how to cook, too. It just wasn’t fair.