by Jen Talty
Her body stiffened when his teeth grazed her nipple, letting him know her threshold. He wanted to help her explore what she really desired in a lover. What her body demanded. Help her understand her own sexual needs.
Yanking her underwear off, he knelt in front of her and stared up at the most incredible woman he’d ever known. “Show me?”
“Huh?”
He kissed the inside of her thigh as he glided his forefinger across her milky, wet skin. She moaned when he slid his finger inside. “Help me.” He took her hand, putting it over his, and gently rubbed her in a slow, circular motion.
She tried to pull away, but he kept coaxing her until she allowed him to press her hand over his, and then he studied her motions while he listened intently to her ragged breathing and soft groans. They crawled inside him and wound their way into places he’d been denying.
“Let me try,” he whispered, removing her hand and repeating the motions she’d shown him. Her moans grew louder. “Do you like this?” He kissed her sex and was rewarded with her fingers through his hair, gently massaging and coaxing him to go a little deeper. Maybe a little harder. Definitely faster.
Carefully, he pushed her back on the sofa then curled his hands around each slender ankle, propping her firm legs on his shoulders. She looked down, biting on her lower lip, and all of a sudden he worried he might not please her. That he might miss a cue and leave her feeling as though she’d been with one of those other men.
He buried his tongue deep inside her, rolling his thumb intimately across her nub.
He sighed with relief when the back of her feet dug into his shoulder blades. Her hips rolled, and the sexiest moans filled the air. He flattened his hand across her strong mid-section in anticipation of feeling it quiver and shake. He wanted to make her come over and over again until she fell into his arms, so thoroughly satisfied she’d never settle for anything less.
“Josh,” she whispered.
He looked up and found her face flush with desire. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Starting with her belly button, he kissed his way up her torso until he could look into her deep-ocean eyes. “What do you want me to do?” He palmed her cheek. “Tell me, please. I want to know.” He slid two fingers inside her, fanning his thumb across her hard-swollen nub, hoping it would coax her to open up to him.
“I want you to make me…while you’re doing…”
“Like on the patio?”
She nodded. “But just as I… If I…” Her chest heaved up and down. Her cheeks flushed. “If it happens, I want you to—”
“You want me inside you just as you start to orgasm?”
“Yes,” she said, panting.
“I’m going to have to stop what I’m doing so I can get undressed and put on protection.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
As he stood over her, unbuttoning his shirt, she propped herself up on her elbows, watching him as if she’d never seen or experienced anything like this before. It didn’t matter that he still wondered if she worked for Craypo, because this was just sex. He was just showing a beautiful woman, who’d been treated badly, what real lovemaking could be. If she were his enemy, he was simply keeping her close. Otherwise, it was the most wicked encounter he’d ever experienced. One that couldn’t be repeated even if he tried.
He studied her face while he removed his pants and underwear. It humbled him that she appeared to admire him nearly as much as he did her. She licked her plump, rosy lips as he covered himself with the condom. “Do you want just my fingers, like on the patio, or my mouth, too?”
“Oh…God…” she muttered, tossing her forearm over her eyes.
“Just tell me, so I can make this exactly what you want.”
“Both.” Her voice cracked as she breathed the word.
Her insides gripped his fingers, and he gently stroked her, watching her hips roll. When he brought his mouth to her, she shifted her hips, rocking them in a smaller circle. Her groans grew louder, and she whispered his name. He wanted to make her come, but didn’t want this to end, so when he thought she was close, he pulled back, watching her body thrash, reaching out to him for more.
Keeping a hand planted across her mid-section so he could feel the rumble of her orgasm rip across her body, he stroked her with two fingers while kissing her sex, wondering if he’d last more than thirty seconds inside her. He’d done this before, exactly how she’d asked, but no one he’d ever been with tasted like watermelon drenched in honey.
She twitched and jerked, her stomach contracting as her moans turned into throaty groans. She tightened around his fingers. “Yes,” she whispered as her body reacted in a violent eruption. “Please. Now.”
He positioned himself on top of her, hands at her head, holding himself up, as he dove deep inside her in one fast and excruciatingly exquisite stroke. He held himself steady once he’d entered her all the way so he could catch his breath. Her insides gripped him so tight, he couldn’t see straight.
Her hips ground underneath him, her orgasm still rocking her body. He held himself inside her for a brief moment before pulling out nearly all the way, then ramming inside her again, his control slipping into oblivion.
Her body reacted to his, counteracting his every move. He tried to keep his movements slow and methodical, but her body twisted and turned, pushing him to the edge.
“If you want to make this last longer,” he whispered, “I need to stop.”
“No!” Her body bucked, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist.
He grunted before taking her mouth, his tongue out of control as he tried to keep from ramming himself inside her, but she ground her hips against him in quick motions.
Her hands slid down his back until they cupped his ass and he exploded, driving deep into her, his climax lingering, making his muscles weak with pleasure. He stroked her slowly for long moments afterward, until his pulse returned to normal.
“You’re amazing.” He eased his full weight on top of her, burying his face in her neck. “Is that what you wanted?”
She sighed. Her fingers dug into his back, and she alternated between running her hands gently up and down his back, and a deep massaging pressure.
“Did it live up to how you fantasized?”
“I didn’t know that’s what I wanted until you asked.”
He groaned. “I bet there are a lot of things you don’t know you want.”
Chapter 5
The moment Delaney opened her eyes, she knew she wasn’t in her room at the Heritage Inn. No, she was in Josh’s bed, in his apartment, overlooking a spectacular view of the lake, wrapped in his blankets after a night filled with one unexpected orgasm after another. She had no idea sex could be that good.
Or that she’d want that much of it.
She blinked a few times, focusing on the blue water rolling gently against the dock, the sunrise turning the black sky to blue. Stretching, she smelled coffee, and sure enough, there was a mug on the nightstand, a packet of sugar, and a bottle of powdered creamer, with a note: I’m in the shower…
Josh was the man she’d been searching for in the men she’d dated over the years. He was perfect in every way. One of life’s cruel jokes.
She hiked the sheets up over her body as she reached for her phone.
One text from Gray Eyes.
Only 2 days left…
Bile hit the back of her throat as she stared at the case holding her phone, remembering how she had turned the camera on when they moved to the bedroom. She gagged.
It’s done. I’m going to go home today. You can get it then.
She rushed to send a reply then slammed her phone onto the nightstand, screen down, struggling to control the urge to vomit as she rolled her legs to the side of the bed.
Maybe she could duck out before he returned. All she needed to get was her computer from the Inn, and she could jump in her car and leave forever.
“You’re awake.”
She jumped as
Josh stepped from the bathroom, steam following him into the room, carrying the thick scent of fresh, musky soap. He wore a white terrycloth towel draped around his waist. Water still beaded in his blond hair.
“I can make eggs, if you’re hungry.” He stretched out on the other side of the bed. “But that is about the only thing I can cook. Maybe French toast, but I tend to burn it.”
“I’m still stuffed from last night,” she said, holding the covers to her chin. She needed to get out of this apartment before she burst into tears.
“Cake at two in the morning tends to ruin one’s morning appetite.”
She tried to laugh naturally, but it sounded more like a high-pitched shriek. “I’m not the one who brought it to bed.”
“I needed the calories after the workout I had last night.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you before,” she said. “You’re full of good lines and could probably get any woman into bed. You’re a player, but you don’t really act line one.”
“Because I’m not one,” he said.
“But you don’t want a relationship, which means you, for lack of a better words, play the field.” Her stomach turned over. Making him out be a predator of some kind wouldn’t change what she’d done. “You use women.” But maybe it might help her justify the next step in saving her brother.
“Actually, I don’t.” He rolled to his side. His face tightened. “I don’t trust women. I haven’t dated since I got burned a little over a year ago. You’re the first woman since then I’ve even been remotely interested in.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you haven’t been with anyone sexually in the last year.”
“Until last night, that would be a true statement.” He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I’m not using you, even though I’m not sure I’m capable of a deep, meaningful relationship. Then again, here you are, and I don’t want you to walk out the door.”
He covered her mouth with his lips in a hard, wet kiss. Her lips burned from the pressure, and she was sure he bruised them. “I don’t want just anyone,” he whispered in her ear, his tongue dancing on her earlobe. “I want you, but I have to be careful around you.”
“Why?” she asked, pressing her hand against his chest, tears burning the corners of her eyes.
“Because you’re the type of woman I could fall for, and I’m not ready for that.”
A long, agonizing moment passed as they gazed at each other. She couldn’t force her eyelids to blink, nor rip her gaze away. She had no idea how she was going to live with herself after this was all said and done.
He cleared his throat. “I have to be at work in forty minutes, so if we don’t stop this, I’m going to be late. I’d like to see you again tonight.”
“I’d like that, too.” She should have just told him she was going to write, or go out on one of those evening cruise boats. No matter what she told him, it would be a lie. She certainly had no intentions of seeing him tonight.
Or any other night.
“That’s my girl.”
“Please don’t call me that,” she said. “I don’t belong to you.”
“All right.” He cocked his head back, narrowing his gaze. “I don’t mean anything by it. Just a saying.”
“Okay.”
“I get home today at around six. Call you then?”
“Sure.” But she planned on blocking his number, otherwise she might be tempted to tell him the truth. Everything. Her brother. Gray eyes. Everything.
His tongue traced a path across her shoulder, up her neck, before landing on her lips. “I need to get dressed,” he whispered. “I’m sorry we don’t have more time this morning.”
“Don’t be.” She cupped his face, pressing her lips against his in what she knew would be their last kiss. “I’ll see myself out.”
“I don’t think so.” He jumped from the bed, finding her clothing and gently placing it on the bed, before finding a pair of his own jeans and hiking them up. “My mother would be very disappointed if I didn’t walk you home.”
“Suit yourself.” She fumbled with her clothing under the blankets.
“Being shy after last night?”
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I’m…ahh…”
“You’re beautiful and should be worshiped. Admired. Appreciated. Now, let me watch you get dressed since I'm going to be stuck on a boat all day in eighty-degree weather…alone… Better yet…let me take a picture.”
“No.” She wiggled quickly into her panties, then struggled with her shirt.
When she got stuck, he came forward and smoothed it down across her middle. “I was kidding about the picture.”
Slipping her legs into her skirt, she stood. “You really don’t have to walk me back to the Heritage Inn.”
“I want to.” Lacing his fingers through hers, he tugged her out of the bedroom and through the living room.
All she wanted was to pack her bags and drive away as fast as possible. Before lunch. Never to come back to this area…ever. “My phone,” she said as they reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the restaurant’s side parking lot. “I left it on your nightstand.” Her voice screeched. How could she be so stupid?
“I’ll go get it,” he said. “Wait right here.”
She was about to run up the stairs for fear he’d see what she’d done when someone grabbed her arm, yanking her into the humid air and dragging her across the pavement. “Hey,” she yelled, but a hand covered her mouth while someone else punched her in the gut. She kicked her feet up in the air, trying desperately to break free and protect herself from the fist that came hurtling toward her face, landing on her right cheek. Crackling pain ricocheted into her head while the noise around her muffled out as if she had been submerged in water.
Another fist hit the side of her head near her eye.
“Listen carefully,” a man’s voice said.
She tried to get a good look at her attacker, but her vision blurred…and he wore a dark hat pulled low over his head, his face silhouetted by the dark morning sky. The sound of footsteps pounding the pavement echoed with her heart. The second man had left, leaving her with the one who had hit her. She squirmed, but he tightened his grip and yanked at her hair so hard she figured he’d taken out a handful.
“I’m going to walk away, and you’re going run to your hotel to call the police. When they get there, you’re going to tell them that State Trooper Josh Burdett did this to you.”
“What?” She stopped squirming. “You want me to do what?”
“You tell the cops that Josh beat you, and you spent the night with him. You tell them he got rough with you when you didn’t do what he wanted. Now, where’s the camera?” The man twisted her and slapped her across the face and shoved her head to the ground. Immediately her vision blurred and a sharp pain jolted between her temples.
“Police. Freeze.” Josh’s voice rang out from somewhere across the parking lot. “Put your hands up. Back away from the lady, then kneel.”
Tires squealed in the background as a loud bang rattled her already pounding head. She heard footsteps and a few cuss words, followed by another loud bang. She curled up in a ball next to something hard and metallic.
“Two men in a four-door Honda Accord. Dark blue,” Josh said, his voice getting closer. “License plate GBH1289. Heading south on Route 9. I also need an ambulance at The Boardwalk.”
“No… No!” She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight, making her one eye hurt more, but she didn’t care. “You did this to me. You beat me! Get away from—”
“What are you talking about?” He knelt, grabbing her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “Do you know who those men were?”
“Let go.” She tried to shrug free from Josh’s firm grip, but to no avail. “Please! I need to do this. If I don’t, they’ll kill Liam!”
“Who’s Liam?”
“My brother. He’s being held…” She blinked, trying to focus, but crushing pain throbbed throu
gh her temple, and black spots danced before her eyes. “They are going to kill him.”
“Who and why?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know… I don’t know…” she whispered, cupping her face, feeling something wet and sticky on her fingers. “You did this to me… You hit me…”
“Let’s get you upstairs.” His strong arms eased under her legs and around her back as he hoisted her off the ground.
“No,” she said, but she didn’t have the resolve to struggle. “They are going to kill my brother if I don’t say you did this to me, and then they are going to kill me.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
* * *
Josh set Delaney on the sofa in front of the picture window, fighting the urge to interrogate her. The State Police were only ten minutes out, if that, and he needed to know exactly what he was dealing with.
“Take a breath.” He brushed her hair back, careful not to put any pressure against her swollen cheek. “Stay right here. I’m going to get some ice.”
She curled herself up in a tight ball, pushing herself deep into the corner of the sofa.
Quickly, he found a small bag and filled it with ice from the freezer, then wrapped it in a dish towel.
“What did those men want?” he asked, gently pressing the cold compact to her bruised face.
“I have to do what they said, or Liam’s dead.” Devastation and shame laced her voice.
He tilted her chin, dabbing the blood trickling down her cheek with a napkin, ignoring all the warning signs that told him to run, and run fast. He carefully kissed her temple before sitting on the coffee table. “What did those men want? Whatever it is, tell me, otherwise I can’t help your brother or you.”