Her hands shook as she wrapped it around her body, shook so badly she couldn’t tuck the end tight enough to hold the towel in place. In the end, she just stood there clutching it to her chest. “Brian, can you leave?” she asked. Her voice squeaked a little on the last word.
His eyes slid back up, a slow leisurely journey that shook her to the core. He shook his head and muttered, “Damn, Jaynie.”
Then he turned, grabbed the door and shut it behind him. Hard.
* * * * *
Damn, Jaynie.
More than an hour had passed and Brian’s husky, rough voice still echoed through her mind. She lay naked on the guest bed. She had long since kicked the covers away and the sheet lay in a tangle around her hips. Shivers raced over her flesh as she recalled the look in his eyes. That heat—it had surprised her. More, she was surprised by how she’d reacted to it. Like she hadn’t ever seen hunger in a man’s gaze before.
She had, but for some reason Jaynie couldn’t remember it affecting her quite like this. Dean had been her first lover, and her only one. She liked it that way and didn’t particularly care if it seemed a little old-fashioned.
She liked sex with him—it was hot, it was intense, or so she had thought. Jaynie hadn’t ever worried about their sex life and it wasn’t something they ever really talked about. At least, not since college.
The sex had always seemed good to her and he hadn’t ever voiced any complaints. Until this past week, she hadn’t ever really doubted herself as a woman.
Until this past week. Logically, Jaynie knew that was why Dean had said those things. He’d wanted to hurt her, though she didn’t really understand why. He was the one who’d screwed around. And damn, had he ever screwed around. She had a bad feeling that this wasn’t a new thing for him so how in hell could he act like she had betrayed him?
Not that it mattered. He had done it and his words had done more damage than Jaynie could have imagined. She was miserable, insecure, aching, scared and heartbroken. Under the weight of those emotions, the anger had flickered out like a fire deprived of oxygen. She wanted the anger back. She’d take the heat of anger over the chill of misery and loneliness any day.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find that anger. She couldn’t find that heat. Even though it was the dead of summer, she walked through the days frozen to the core.
Then Brian had inadvertently opened the bathroom door and the heat she’d seen in his eyes had melted some the ice inside her. But the anger hadn’t blazed back to life inside her. Oh, there was heat, but it wasn’t the fire of anger. It was every bit as potent as rage, and every bit of heady.
Jaynie didn’t think about what she was doing as she climbed out of bed and wrapped the sheet around her. If she thought about what she was getting ready to do, she would panic and run. She didn’t want to do either.
Kate was out on a date and she had waggled her fingers at them on her way out and said, “Don’t wait up.” Moving through the house in a daze, she paused by Kate’s bedroom at the foot of the stairs and stepped inside. As always, the light was on, and as always, the room looked like a tornado had swept through it. Lacy bras, panties and flirty little skirts were tossed haphazardly here and there. On the bed was a shopping bag and Jaynie peeked inside. The robe was nearly the same color of peach as the lipstick had been. It still had the tags on it and Jaynie used her teeth to pull them free, all the while staring straight ahead.
If she stopped to think about what she was doing, she’d freeze again. Jaynie was damn tired of being cold. She paused at the mirror and stared at her reflection. The peach silk lay against her tanned skin, clung to the stiff peaks of her nipples. She tied the belt tightly and then slid her hands under her hair, pulling it free from the robe. It tumbled down her back, the thick gold-streaked strands razor straight.
For a second, she hesitated, staring at her reflection. She closed her eyes and when she did, she saw Brian’s intense turquoise stare, hot and focused. If she started to panic or think, all she needed was that memory and she knew she’d feel steady enough to go through with this.
He wasn’t in his room. She turned and stared back down the staircase, uncertain of where he might be. He hadn’t gone out. She would have heard his truck if he’d left the house.
She headed back downstairs, made her way into the kitchen and from there she heard the muffled sounds of his breathing, strained and harsh. She heard metal clank as she opened the basement door. It was dim down there. Her feet were soundless on the carpeted steps as she descended.
Jaynie’s breath hitched a little as she stared at Brian. He was lying on the weight bench, his gaze on the ceiling, his features blank as he lifted the heavy bar up and slowly lowered it back down. He didn’t make any of the annoying grunts and groans that Dean liked to make when he worked out. The only sounds she heard were his heavy breathing. He did ten reps as she watched.
She waited until he put the bar down and sat up before she moved. She didn’t make a sound, she knew she hadn’t, but his head turned and for a brief moment there was a fiery heat burning in the depths of his gaze. Then he blinked and when he looked at her, his expression was shuttered.
That blank look cracked as she lowered her hands to the robe’s belt. She didn’t say anything at first, just opened the robe and stood there as he looked at her. He stared at her breasts and she shuddered a little when he licked his lips. His big hands clenched into fists and under the thin cotton shorts, she could see the swelling of his cock. His gaze moved down her body. Jaynie had to fight not to jerk the robe closed when his gaze fastened on her sex. A muscle jerked in his jaw and Jaynie felt an answering throb deep inside.
He wanted her. The relief that flooded her was unreal. It didn’t matter that he was probably just reacting to the physical stimulus of a woman standing naked in front of him. It was a basic, honest human reaction—a man wanting a woman. That was all she needed, to know that she hadn’t totally failed and that she could react. Men could want her and she could feel heat—she hadn’t frozen up.
“I need you to touch me,” Jaynie said softly when he finally looked up at her face.
“Jaynie—”
She knew what he was going to say and before he could form any words to try to talk sense into her, she shrugged her shoulders and sent the robe to the floor in a puddle of peach silk. “I don’t want anything more than you touching me, your hands on me. I’m not looking to find a replacement for Dean and you don’t need to feel anything more than what you’re already feeling. I need to be touched, Brian, and I want you to do it.”
His voice was hoarse when he rasped, “And when you wake up tomorrow, then what? You’re Kate’s best friend. You’re my friend and we work together.”
“None of that will change, Brian. You don’t need to lie to me and tell me that you love me. You don’t have to worry that I’m using you as a rebound guy after Dean,” she said softly. She took a step toward him. He took a deep, ragged breath and started to reach for her. When he would have dropped his hand, she took another step and caught it, brought it up and pressed it to her breast. His hand cupped her and he used his thumb to trace a slow circle around her nipple. “But I need this. Please.”
Brian figured he had every man’s fantasy standing right before him. A beautiful, sexy woman offering a night of sex, no strings attached. If it wasn’t Jaynie, he would have already been on her, but it was Jaynie. Jaynie with long legs, tanned, smooth skin and hair that fell nearly to her very nice butt, but nonetheless, it was Jaynie. He’d known her all her life.
She stared at him with stark eyes brimming with an emotion he couldn’t quite decipher and it made his chest feel strangely tight. I need this. Shit. Slowly, he stood up. Brian hooked a hand over the back of her neck and pulled her against him. She fit, he realized inanely. She fit against him as perfectly as if she had been made for him, her breasts pressing flat against his chest, the soft curve of her belly cuddling the ridge of his cock. Her hands came up and curled
around his biceps.
“You sure about this?” Brian murmured. He dipped his head and pressed his mouth to hers. Earlier, her mouth had been slicked with some shiny peachy-pink lipstick. Her lips were naked now but they were warm, soft and sweet under his mouth and the taste of her went straight to his head.
“I don’t do things I’m not sure of,” Jaynie whispered.
He glanced down. “I need a shower.”
Jaynie shook her head and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his chest. “No, you don’t.” Her tongue came out and licked his flesh.
His laugh sounded a little forced. “Uh, yeah, I kinda do.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the weights and then looked back at Jaynie. “I was hoping to wear myself out enough that I could sleep. I was lying in bed and I kept seeing you. It made me so damn hard, I hurt.”
A soft blush painted her cheeks pink and Jaynie looked away from him, suddenly shy. Brian stroked his hands down her torso, resting them on the curves of her hips. “You’re certain about this?” he murmured one more time.
She nodded, eyes still averted. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. It was a gesture he’d seen from her before, one she did when she was preoccupied, upset or nervous. But this was the first time that he’d ever felt moved to bend over and catch that soft, plump lip in his mouth. He almost did just that but he held himself back. Once he started kissing her, Brian knew he wasn’t going to stop and he hadn’t come downstairs expecting to have sex.
He bent his knees and wrapped an arm around her hips. Slowly, he straightened and as he stood upright, the wet heat of her sex pressed against him, scorching him through the thin layer of his shorts. “Upstairs,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her throat. Her legs came up, wrapped around his hips and Brian groaned, scared that he might come in that very second like some teenage boy.
Each step was an excruciating pleasure. It hovered between paradise and torment and by the time he made it up the two flights of stairs to his room, he was ready to press her against a wall and come inside her—right then, right there. He didn’t want to wait long enough to find a condom and please, please let there be one in his room.
“What are you doing?” Jaynie asked in a bemused voice as he set her down and grabbed his discarded jeans from the floor. He generally didn’t keep a condom in his wallet, but he wasn’t really sure where he might have one.
“Looking for a rubber,” he muttered. But there wasn’t one there and he dropped it on the floor and strode over to his dresser. The top was cluttered with change, a couple of lottery tickets, and a half dozen prescription pads from work. But no rubber. None in the top drawer either.
He heard a squeak and looked behind him to see Jaynie pulling a foil strip out of the bedside table drawer. She held it up for him and he counted them as he crossed over to her. There were five of them. As much as he hurt right now, it was possible he’d need every last one. He tried to take them from Jaynie but she tugged them out of his reach. “I’ll do it,” she murmured. She tore one off and tossed the rest onto his bed. But when she started to tear the packet open, Brian saw that her hands were shaking. She slid him a sidelong look.
She was nervous. More than nervous, Brian realized. He knew what this was about. That dickhead had done Jaynie some serious damage and Brian was just now realizing that it went pretty damn deep. Brian acted as if he didn’t see her shaky hands or the nerves in her eyes as he stepped around behind her. He cupped his hands over her hips and pulled her back against him so that the warm, round curves of her ass were nestled against the hard ridge of his cock.
“You’d better hurry,” he murmured against her neck. He rolled his hips once. “I’m dying here.”
“Can’t have that.” She got it open and turned in the circle of his arms. Steadier, she met his smile with a wide one of her own and glanced down. “You’re overdressed, Brian.”
“Not for long.” He shoved his shorts down and reached for the rubber but she pulled it away, smacking his hands.
She unrolled the condom down over his thick, aching length and each brush of her fingers—cool and slick with the condom’s lubricant—was another pleasure-filled pain. She took his hand when she was done and started to pull him to the bed but he pulled her up against him and turned, pressing her against the wall. “Here,” he muttered. He dipped his head, bit one nipple lightly, then stroked with his tongue. “Right here, right now.”
Somehow, Brian knew that slow and gentle wasn’t what Jaynie needed right then. She needed hard, fast and hungry. She needed to feel desired and craved and damn if he wasn’t up for that. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, arched into him. Their gazes locked and held as he pushed inside. No preliminaries, he took her completely—one hard, unrelenting stroke that buried his cock completely inside the snug, wet sheath of her pussy.
Her eyes went wide and her hips jerked. She tensed up a little and, though that involuntary tightening of her muscles felt like sheer bliss to Brian, he had a feeling it wasn’t helping her. She was so damn tight, so snug. Brian lifted her hips and pulled her in tight against him so he could rub against her clit with each stroke. He changed the angle of his thrusts and then he watched her eyes widen in reaction. Her pupils flared, her breathing hitched in her throat and the hands clutching his shoulders tightened. Her nails dug into his skin.
Jaynie licked her lips and Brian tracked the motion with his eyes. A groan rumbled out of him and he dipped his head, taking her mouth with his. She whimpered into his mouth. Brian captured the sound with his lips. The taste of her went straight to his head, exploding through his system like the fiery burn of whiskey. Just as potent too. In an attempt at self-preservation, he pulled his mouth from hers and then pressed it to her neck. Her skin was silken, soft.
Her nipples stabbed into his chest and he wanted to taste them. Brian wanted to pull out of her and go down on her, nuzzle the soft, wispy curls and then take her with his mouth until she screamed herself hoarse. Her body was an endless surprise—long legs, a tight ass, her big breasts topped with dark pink nipples. He could take all night discovering her body and finding out what made her sigh, what made her scream.
But his cock wasn’t going to let him take the time to do any of that. Brian couldn’t pull out if his life depended on it and he couldn’t take his time either. All he could do was take her hard and fast, thrusting into the hot, wet silk of her pussy and listen to her beg and plead. He worked a hand between them, sought out the stiff nub of her clit and stroked her there—quick, firm strokes that made her arch against him. Icy-hot shivers raced down his spine.
He had to come. His cock felt like it was going to explode.
But damn it, she had to come with him. He caught her chin in his hand and lifted her mouth to his. She moaned against his lips. Brian pushed his tongue inside her mouth and she met him, kissing him with the same burning hunger that had taken control of Brian. He skimmed his hands down her back. She shivered. When he cupped the silken flesh of her butt in his hands, he could have sworn her body temperature shot up fifteen degrees.
Damn, the heat of her.
Brian’s control snapped and he drove inside her, deep and hard and fast, as fast as he could. The sounds of them coming together filled the air—flesh slapping against flesh, their labored breathing, Jaynie’s harsh, ragged moans that rose into a hoarse scream as she started to come.
She climaxed around him in a series of convulsive little caresses that milked his dick like a silky fist. He couldn’t hold back anymore. He shouted her name and came so hard, he thought the top of his cock just might blow off.
His orgasm seemed to draw itself out, his sheathed cock jerking inside her sex and she kept clenching around him, those milking little convulsions emptying him, draining him completely.
It took a good five minutes before Brian could move. He pushed away from the wall, cradling Jaynie’s limp body against his. His legs felt weak and he had to lock his knees to keep from collapsing as he carried her over
to the bed. He half turned before he fell back, keeping Jaynie locked against him.
Brian might have dozed off but the loss of her body heat as she tried to pull away roused him out of his half slumber. He let her roll away while he dealt with the condom, disposing of it in the small trash can by the bed. Jaynie was still sitting on the edge of the bed and he watched with a pleased grin as she pushed herself up to stand on wobbly legs. But before she could take a step away, he reached up and wrapped his fingers around her wrist and jerked her back so that she tumbled into his lap. “We’re not done,” he muttered as he fisted a hand in the tangled silk of her hair and tugged her head back. He took her mouth, a little slower, a little more gently.
Gentle—this time was going to be gentle.
* * * * *
Jaynie moaned as another orgasm rolled through her. Brian lay sprawled between her thighs and this time when she said, “I can’t take any more,” he lifted his head and stared at her. The intense turquoise of his eyes burned into hers.
“I’m not done,” he muttered and the whisper of air as he spoke caressed her exposed, sensitized folds. He lowered his head and traced his tongue around her clit, circling it with teasing strokes before he moved lower and stabbed it inside her.
If he kept this up, Jaynie didn’t know what would give out first, her heart or her stamina. Exhaustion pulled at her but the swells of pleasure were so intense she couldn’t help but crave more. She fisted her hands in his thick chestnut curls and pulled. “Brian…”
He came this time, covering her body with his and taking her mouth hungrily. She tried to turn away but his hands cupped her head and held her still. Blood stained her cheeks red. She could taste herself on his mouth. She hadn’t ever liked to be kissed after Dean went down on her, but she couldn’t turn away from Brian’s kiss and within a couple of seconds, she didn’t want to. She wanted his tongue in her mouth and she wanted him to kiss her and keep kissing her.
One of the Guys Page 3