B00AAOCX2E EBOK (28 page)

A shrill laugh of relief exploded from my mouth. “Bedside table.”

Our mouths fused together again and he walked us to the bed, sitting down with me still above him. Pulling away, his hands reached out to the top button of my pajama top, and for the second time that night, he undid each one, finally peeling the shirt back from my shoulders and flinging it aside.

And then it was just us; hot, damp and
naked
flesh.

His gaze drifted down slowly, taking in my shoulders, my breasts, my stomach, and lower still. They rose again, but instead of stopping at my eyes, he looked higher and lifted both hands to unfasten the rubber-band from my hair. His fingers shook my hair out and I shivered as the damp strands tumbled around my shoulders.

“Beautiful,” he whispered.

I blushed.

He held my eyes as he leaned over to reach into my bedside drawer, retrieving one of the foil packets from the bottom. He brought it to his mouth and ripped it open with his teeth. Then, palming the condom and using his arms, he pulled us back so that his head lay against the pillow.

I took the latex sheath from his hand and moved back so that I straddled his thighs. Without looking away, I wrapped my fingers around him and squeezed. His breathing grew shallow and fast. His hips jerked. Loosening my grip, I stroked him up and down, before finally releasing him to roll the condom over his length.

This is it. The point of no return.

Placing my arms on either side of him, I crawled up his body and hovered just above him. His hands came up and gripped my waist, the tips of his fingers biting into my skin as I rubbed against him. I folded forward and our mouths met in one more kiss. Then, inhaling, I sat back up and pushed my body down on him. I froze.

We both did.

Neither of us breathed, moved, made a sound for several seconds. We merely stared at each other in stunned amazement as small tremors shook our bodies. Finally, I released a ragged breath, and he followed suit.

His hands slid from my waist to my hips. His own hips pulled back and lifted again. He gradually pushed up until he was buried within me as far as he could go. My lips parted on a gasp as I sucked in several short and hard breaths. I didn’t exhale again after his hips sank back to the bed.

I swallowed and blinked in a daze, releasing a shuddering breath.
Now, that was…

The thought was lost to me as he did it again, this time rotating his hips in a deliberate circle before once again going slack.

Hot jolts of fire shot into my groin, down my legs, and spread outward. Ian started rocking his hips more steadily, and each time he moved, the flames climbed higher and higher, licking at my skin with a searing intensity that almost brought me to tears of delirium.

I started to close my eyes, but he reached for my face, forcing me to look at him. Grounding me. Wanting me there with him until the end – one which wasn’t far away.

Sweat beaded his forehead and upper lip as he thrust into me, and I met him at every point. My inner muscles started to clench at him, pulling him deeper inside, signaling that my climax was on the horizon.

I fought it off, wanting to wait and prolong the moment for as long as I possibly could, but my body wouldn’t obey. Before I could stop it, I shattered into a million pieces, exploding like a firework in a thousand different directions. My individual pieces hung suspended in the air as wave after wave of ecstasy rolled over me. Eventually, the individual pieces rejoined, but I was fairly sure that I came back together different than I had been before.

Once my eyes focused, I realized that Ian hadn’t sailed over the edge with me. I could see – feel – his desperation to climax. His hand came up to my neck and together we rolled so that I was on my back. He reclaimed my lips as he tucked my curves neatly into his contours. My eyes closed as his fingers trailed down my side, tucking under the curve of my knee and urging my leg up and about his waist.

Something unexpected swelled in my chest as I realized how well our bodies fit against one another, as if we had been sculpted just for this purpose.

Maybe we were.

My eyes opened and I peered into his face, searching for some sign that this was more than just a physical thing for him. In the low light, it was hard to tell. But there was no mistaking the message that passed between us in that moment, the recognition that this night was really happening and we both wanted it.

At the exact same instant, we began to move. Arms and hands clutched at shoulders and backs, pulling and pushing, trying to get even closer. I settled on cupping his ass, feeling the tight muscles move beneath his skin, flexing and releasing as the duration of his strokes grew shorter and shorter. Though I didn’t think it possible, pressure started building in my pelvis again.

I dug my heel against the back of his thigh as his hips drove forward one last time. And then, just as he buried his head into my neck and groaned his release, an unbelievable second orgasm rocked my body, sending me skyrocketing into the stratosphere.

I was awoken by the sound of the house phone ringing in the next room. My natural phone-reflex had me ready to jump out of bed, but the moment I attempted to lift my head, I groaned in exhaustion and let it drop again.

Let the damn thing ring.

Unfortunately, each additional ring was more jarring than the last, and by the fourth, I opened my eyes with a sigh. The bookshelf above my desk swam in blurry focus. I blinked to clear my vision. My eyes widened as the entire night came back to me in startling clarity. Shifting my gaze down revealed my cheek resting against Ian’s bare chest, just where it had been when we’d finally drifted off, sated and exhausted, sometime near dawn.

Capturing my bottom lip between my teeth, I tipped my head back to peek at him. He was still asleep, his face awash in a shaft of blue light breaking through organza curtains. His features were soft in repose, the lines and shadows that were his constant waking companions smoothed, making him appear very young. Slow and even breaths passed between his parted lips, and his long, lashes cast shadows upon his high cheekbones.

My chest swelled with emotion and a deep attraction that took my breath away.

He’s gorgeous.

I’d never been oblivious to Ian’s attractiveness, but it was like my eyes had snapped into focus after all this time. Our night together had been smoking hot. And passionate and intense… and now that I really thought about it, a little scary.

I’d always held back a piece of myself during sex. With Ian, I’d let myself go completely; thrown myself into it and put myself at his mercy to do with as he wished.

I could only wonder now if that had been a mistake.

I dropped my cheek down to his chest again. I wanted to believe that Ian wouldn’t have crossed that line between us if he didn’t intend to see this through. That he valued our friendship too much to make this just another lay. But I couldn’t deny the fact that he was essentially a player. Sex had never been a barometer of his feelings for a woman.

The dull rapping of a single knuckle on the door pulled me from my conflicting thoughts.

Careful not to wake Ian, I drew my knee out from between his legs and rolled back into a sitting position. Blood rushed to my head, and I held a hand to it as I looked for something to throw on. The knock came again just as I spotted my robe lying over the back of my desk chair, this time accompanied by a muffled, “Ivy?”

“One second,” I said in a hoarse voice, crossing the room and pulling the satin material over my naked body. I released a soft groan. It took a crazy amount of effort to lift my leaden arms. They felt like someone was pushing down on them. Either that or gravity had tripled in force in the last hour; my body did feel weighted down and sore; pleasantly so, but sore nonetheless.

Chelsea stood outside my door with an apologetic grimace on her face. “Sorry to wake you…” Her eyes darted over my shoulder to where Ian lay naked in my bed.

Clearing my throat, I pulled the door closed behind me and tied the belt at my waist. “No, it’s okay.” I yawned as I wrapped my arms over my chest. “What’s up?”

“That was your mom on the phone. She asked me to make sure you were up.”

I rubbed my face. “Huh? What for?”

“Something about you two going to brunch?”

“That’s news to me.”

Chelsea shrugged and held out her hands. “I’m just the messenger, and the message she asked me to pass along is that she’s going to be here in fifteen minutes.”

“Crap.” Could she have picked a worse time for one of her drop-in visits? “Okay. Thanks.”

“Sure.”

I reached for my door handle, about to go back in my room, when I realized Chelsea wasn’t leaving. She watched me with a small Cheshire grin, her eyes glittering. “What?” I asked.

Chelsea shrugged. “Nothing.” She backed up toward her bedroom. “You know, it snowed all night. I imagine it’s pretty cold outside. You should probably dress warm.” Her smile evolved into a full grin as she placed her hand on the doorknob and a small giggle passed through her lips. “May I suggest something in the turtleneck-variety?”

Okay, that was random.

Shaking my head, I turned the doorknob and entered my room. Ian was still asleep, having rolled onto his stomach while I was outside. One of his legs was bent to the side and the spheres of his taut buttocks were outlined by the sheet around his waist.

I took a moment to admire the view, before sighing and teetering on my feet.
Should I wake him now or…?

After
. I just wasn’t ready to face a potentially awkward morning after just yet.

I stopped by my dresser for some undergarments, and then went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. My arm and shoulder muscles made their protests known as I peeled my robe back over my shower. I reached for a comb to brush out my hair and then looked into the mirror.

Holy hell, Batman!
I looked liked I’d been doing… exactly what I had been doing. In short, I looked well and truly fucked.

Aside from the tangled and matted hair, my chin was chafed from Ian’s whiskers, my nipples were erect and bright pink, and there were several reddish-purple marks over my torso and chest. And was that a…? I moved in closer to examine my neck. Yep, that was a silver-dollar-sized hickey on my neck.

Chelsea’s turtleneck comment suddenly made a whole heck of a lot of sense.

How high school. But it sure had felt good.

Speaking of necks, the back of mine hurt like hell. So did my shoulders, lower back, and inner thighs, which screamed in protest when I lifted my leg to climb into the shower.

I stood motionless under the hot spray, waiting for the water work magic on my tender muscles. My eyes closed and I smiled as my mind turned back to the night before.

While our first joining round had been fast and fervent, we’d taken the rest of the night to learn each other’s bodies at a more leisurely pace.

My head dropped back against the tiled wall and goose bumps rippled over my skin as disconnected moments from our night flashed in my mind.

The nerves in my back sparked as I recalled Ian rolling me onto my stomach, dropping his mouth to the small of my back, and ever so slowly kissing his way up my spine.

My abdominal muscles contracted as I remembered the feel of his fingers dragging against my torso.

My breasts swelled as I remembered his mouth lavishing them with attention.

And yet, the moment that turned my insides to goo and got me the hottest at the same time was that very first moment. Right before we kissed. When the look in his eyes had been so desperate and hungry. When I’d known, in no uncertain terms, that he wanted me.

As I opened my eyes and reached for shampoo, I wished that certainty was still with me.

Questions and doubts already plagued my mind, racing though me at breakneck speed. How would he act this morning? What did last night mean? Were we together now? Did we destroy our friendship?

Ian was still asleep when I emerged from the bathroom, followed by a cloud of steam. Somehow, while sifting through all my questions and insecurities, I’d managed to convince myself that he’d be long gone.

Walking to the side of the bed where my laundry basket was, I leaned over to reach inside for a pair of jeans I knew were hiding somewhere in its depths. Sadly, I still had yet to put all the laundry away from my last visit to my mom’s house. Maybe I should have focused on putting them away during my cleaning fit, but I’d resisted just as I always did. I
really
hated doing laundry. I had just found the pair of jeans I’d wanted when I heard the bedsprings creak behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find Ian watching me with sleepy eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” He blinked, yawned, and then a deep frown crinkled his brow. “Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m having brunch with Mom.”

My answer smoothed the frown from his brow and I had to wonder if he thought I was running out on him or something. “Fun times.”

I yawned. “It might be, if I was more awake.”

“Cancel and come back to bed.”

I tried to decode that. Was that just a casual “come back to sleep” or an invitation to do more sexy, naked things with him? I shook my head. “I would, but she’s already en route. I’d say you could come if you wanted, but your eye….”

Ian brought his fingers to the swollen, discolored flesh and winced. “Yeah, she wouldn’t freak out too much,” he said with more than a touch of sarcasm. “How’s it look?”

“Painful. How’s it feel?”

“Painful.” He dropped his hand and looked at me full-on.

For such a heavy stare, one I couldn’t look away from, I was frustrated to find I couldn’t make out what was going on behind Ian’s mossy eyes. His walls were up in full force, even more so than usual. It seemed an unfair advantage, seeing as how I wore my heart on my sleeve – trying to hide what I felt always made it more obvious. He was no doubt reading a lot more from me than I was from him.

Unnerved by what he might be seeing, I dragged my eyes away. Glancing down reminded me that I was dressed only in the undergarments I’d brought into the bathroom with me. And I’ll admit, I came out that way on purpose, hoping that maybe if he saw me dressed in the scanty scraps of lace, he’d be overtaken by lust at the sight of me and drag me back to bed. And even though I’d have to tell him no, I couldn’t stay, I would know for sure that he still wanted me beyond what happened last night.