Crimson and Clover (12 page)

Jay’s reaction was immediate, his body jerking halfway up off the bed, and Katie transferred her attention to his other nipple. His heart thundered under her lips as she sucked and nibbled, the low moans in his throat becoming more frantic. Katie raised her head and blew a cool breath across the wetness she’d created, wringing another moan from Jay.

The hair on his chest stopped just above his breastbone, and Katie delighted in the silky feel of the skin of his belly under her lips. She pressed hard against his lean ribs as her hands slipped down to his waist. Her mouth followed and encountered the indentation of his navel. She breathed into it and kissed it, feeling the shudder that racked him.

The flies of his trousers were held closed by buttons, and Katie went to work on them. She slipped her fingers inside his waistband to facilitate opening them and encountered the brush of coarse hair and the searing heat of his skin. In an instant she fumbled, finding it difficult to do something as simple as slip a button out of a buttonhole. After what seemed like hours, she had them all open.

Wriggling down his legs, she grabbed the hem of his trousers and pulled, the dark blue velvet bunching in her hands as the pants slid off. The smooth skin on the inside of Jay’s knee beckoned her to explore it with her mouth and fingers and she thrilled to the discovery of one of his sensitive zones when he shuddered. She stroked the softness of the back of his knee, but was too impatient to stay there long and resumed her journey up his legs until she reached her goal.

Katie drew in a breath of delight. He was fully engorged and she ran her fingers up the length of him, marveling at the feel — like velvet over steel. She let the backs of her fingernails trail over the sensitive head and felt him shudder again. Raising her head, she shook her hair forward, the ends of it brushing against him, and was rewarded by his moan of pleasure. With a deep sigh of anticipation, she settled herself between his legs, took the heavy weight of his balls in one hand and grasped him firmly with the other. She glanced up to make sure those mesmerizing hazel eyes were watching, then lowered her head and ran her tongue across the tip, tasting him the way she’d wanted for so long.

Jay didn’t move, but Katie heard him panting like a locomotive and muttering under his breath. She continued her thorough exploration of the swelling flesh under her tongue, making herself familiar with its contours, its texture, and its heat. Finally, she closed her lips over him and drew him into her mouth; that’s when Jay did move, thrusting his hips upward. And at that, Katie lost it. She lost all sense of herself, her consciousness dwindled to that hard, hot flesh and her desire to possess it, own it, draw it into herself. She felt his hands in her hair and as she wriggled her tongue, she heard him groan. A primal sound of desire came from the back of her throat in response. She felt his hardness jerking and swelling as she licked at him, nibbled him, sucked him — did everything she could to make him part of her.

Warm hands cupped her cheeks and raised her head. Jay sat up, breathing hard. “Not yet,” he whispered.

“No,” she agreed. “Not yet.”

Shrugging off his shirt, Jay leaned forward and she sighed at the feel of his lips against her neck. His hands found the hem of her dress and lifted, pulling the short wisp of satin and lace off her body. The warmth of his hands moved up from her waist with excruciating slowness and Katie arched her back, an impatient demand for him to touch her breasts.

He raised his eyes to hers and she gasped at the desire in those hazel depths. Mixed with it, though, was an implicit command; he would not be rushed. Lips trembling, Katie nodded, and Jay’s hands resumed their slow, aching meander upward, driving her mad until he cupped her breasts. His thumbs brushed over her tight nipples and she whimpered with pleasure. She’d never be able to watch him play guitar again without remembering the feel of his callused fingers on her bare flesh.

Lowering his head, Jay took one of her nipples in his mouth, his luscious hair falling against her skin, feeling just the way she’d imagined it would. Katie let her head roll back as the delicious tugging of his mouth sent lightning bolts of pleasure though her body. There seemed to be a glowing silver strand that ran from her breasts to between her legs and each gentle nip and flick of Jay’s tongue stretched it tighter until she thought she’d scream. She bit her lip and willed her body to remain still. He’d made it clear he wouldn’t put up with any impatience on her part and Katie was a fast learner. Her hands, though, refused to be controlled and they slipped down to grasp the silky hardness stiff against Jay’s belly.

She couldn’t stifle an exclamation of surprise when his teeth closed over her nipple in a bite harder than she’d expected. Jay looked up at her through his hair. “All right?”

Katie nodded. “More than all right.”

The slow, beautiful smile she loved curved his lips before he lowered his head again and blew a cool breath over her breast, making the sting from his bite change in an instant to unbelievable bliss. The motion of her hands had stilled and he reached down and put his hand over hers. “Don’t stop.”

She resumed stroking, squeezing, touching him the way she wanted to be touched. Jay raised a hand to cup the back of her head and the other insinuated itself between her legs. With his eyes holding hers captive, warm fingers slid under the lace of her panties, touching her with exquisite tenderness. Finally —
finally!
— she knew what it felt like to have him touch her and she moaned deep in her throat. Jay moved his fingers against her, back and forth, the slow, unhurried rhythm driving her mad with the longing for
more
. Katie trembled with the effort to remain still, her eyes pleading with him as her yearning rose higher with every stroke.

He smiled into her eyes and tumbled her onto her back, rolling on top of her. Tangling her hands in his hair, she pulled him to her and kissed him with the burning passion he’d ignited.

Jay pulled his mouth from hers, slid down and yanked her panties off. He spread her open with his thumbs and took his first long, slow taste of her. Katie arched her hips at the feel of his warm tongue, his hot lips. She was on the edge of climax when he stopped, moving his head to press soft kisses against the skin of her inner thigh. Katie lay panting until some of the tension began to drain from her body. The moment she started to relax, she felt the flick of his tongue against her again and that wild yearning began to build once more, growing higher and hotter until she was almost at its peak. Again he stopped, laying his head on her leg and panting with his own unreleased passion. When he returned his mouth to her aching center of desire, she grabbed his head in both hands, afraid if he stopped again she might tear him apart. He didn’t stop. Katie felt that incredible hunger building yet again, filling her, driving her mad; she cried out when Jay slipped two fingers inside her. He groaned and fluttered his fingers. The vibration of his voice against her sensitive flesh and the feel of his fingers took her over the edge into the most shattering climax of her life.

Jay moved to lie on top of her, panting with the exertion of holding himself in control. He pushed her legs wider and drove himself into her with an inarticulate sound. Still quivering from her own release, she gasped as he entered her, filled her, stretched her beyond the boundaries of what she thought she could take. Her flesh clutched at his, wanting to contain that incredible fullness, that invading presence that thrust into her with delicious relentlessness. And again she was consumed by that explosion within her, an ecstasy so great she didn’t think she could bear it. She gasped as Jay thrust all the way into her and froze. She could feel every inch of him and marveled at the quivering, jerking reality as he spilled himself inside her. He lowered his head, his hair falling across her face and cried out his own release against her neck.

After a moment, he pushed himself up on his elbows and gazed down at her. The sight — flushed face, lips parted, hair sweaty and tangled, and those hazel eyes, always intense and piercing — caused her flesh to convulse and clutch at him again. A deep sound was jerked out of him as he felt her tighten around him, still half-hard inside her. “Damn,” he whispered and covered her lips in a smothering kiss. Taking her with him, he rolled onto his side and held her close.

Weak sunlight filtered through the smudged windows of the launderette, but was no match for the cold air outside. Katie shifted her shoulders in discomfort as the chill from the window caressed her back. With a shiver, she got up and headed toward a row of seats away from the front of the building.

“I’m moving over here,” she called out to Maureen. “It’s too cold by the windows.”

Maureen looked up from tossing her wet clothes into a dryer and nodded.

Katie sat down, crossed her ankles and closed her eyes, and continued the pleasurable thoughts the cold had interrupted. She’d stayed at Jay’s over the weekend, returning home only that morning, and was still glowing inside and out. Sucking down hard on her bottom lip, she thought again about the feel of Jay’s hands on her body and the feel of his warm lips on her most sensitive places. Her hands curled into loose fists in a vain attempt to retain the feel of him against her palms. She’d been sexually active since the age of fifteen, but Jay Carey had awakened a sensual side of her she’d never dreamed existed. Though she’d left him only two hours before, she had to force herself not to rush back to his house.

“Sex-crazed idiot,” she muttered under her breath. Except that wasn’t completely true. Yes, the sex was outstanding, but that wasn’t the only reason she wanted him. When she was with him, she felt free to be herself with none of the awkwardness she usually felt during the early days of a relationship. Their conversation flowed with ease, and even the silences that fell between them were comfortable. She could watch him for long minutes without feeling the need to be covert and she knew it didn’t bother him. And when he was looking at her, she felt no desire to act a certain way, or worry about her appearance; she felt only a warm glow that came straight from his eyes. And when he touched her — oh, when he touched her — that warm glow turned to fire, incendiary flames that consumed her.

And she was consumed by him. She’d thought that once they finally scratched their mutual itch, it would relieve some of that tension. But it had only stoked the flames and they burned higher and hotter than ever. An almost unbearable ache to go back to him just so she could see him swept through her.

“Stop that,” she told herself aloud and shook her head to dispel the urge.

“Stop what?” Maureen plopped down next to her, crossed her legs and began jiggling her foot.

“Oh, nothing.” Katie grinned at her. “Just thinking out loud.”

“You’re apparently not thinking about Jay, then, because from what you’ve told me, you didn’t tell him to stop anything.”

“The word doesn’t exist when it comes to Jay.” The jiggling foot caught Katie’s eye and she frowned. Such an outward show of agitation was unusual for Maureen, and now that she thought about it, her friend had been jumpy all morning. “Maureen, what’s going on with you? You’ve been acting like a whore in church all day.”

The speed of Maureen’s foot increased. “It’s just that I want to ask you something, but I don’t know how to do it without sounding completely horrible.”

“If you shake that foot any faster, you’re going to go airborne,” Katie observed. “So stop being all uptight about it and just lay it on me.”

With an explosive sigh, Maureen put both feet flat on the floor. “All right then. I was wondering if you … well, if you’re interested … if you don’t want to, it won’t hurt my feelings a bit … ”

“Spit it out,” Katie laughed.

“Would-you-like-to-be-partners-in-a-clothing-design-business?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Maureen gasped and put her hands over her face.

“Are you kidding? That would be far out!” Katie pried Maureen’s hands loose. “Why were you worried about asking me that? I’d love it.”

“Would you really?” Some of the panic left her eyes at Katie’s affirmative nod. “Well, you see, the dress we made caused such a sensation that I’ve had loads of people asking me to do something similar for them. But I didn’t feel right about it since the dress was your design.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Katie snorted. “You sketched it, you made it. All I did was come up with an idea out of left field.”

“No, Katie.” Maureen’s expression was serious. “It’s
your
design. For me to use it and profit from it without including you would be wrong and I’d never do it. But I’ve been thinking and … ” Her eyes began to shine. “I think a blouse like that would be smashing. And can you imagine a pair of trousers?”

“Ooh, risqué.” Katie grinned. “I think I’d like those. But you won’t do it unless we’re partners?”

“Never,” Maureen declared. “It wouldn’t be honest. I was afraid to ask, though, because I didn’t want you to think I was just trying to get you to give me some of your money. Because I would never, ever do that. Ever. You know that, don’t you?”

“I love you, Maur.” Katie hugged her friend tight. “You’re the best person I’ve ever known. And I would never think you were trying to tap me for bread.”

Maureen returned the hug with a sigh of relief. “I love you, too. And since we’re obviously arse over elbow for each other, does that mean we’re partners?”

Laughing, Katie released her and nodded. “Under one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Since I can’t sew for shit, you have to let me hire someone to help you.” She held up a hand as Maureen opened her mouth to protest. “No, I mean it. I hear your sewing machine going all hours of the night and you need help. Don’t you want more time to spend with Nicky?”

“Oh, right. Hit me at my weak spot.” Maureen’s forehead creased in a thoughtful frown. “Actually, it would be nice to have some help.”

“I was thinking about asking Stephanie Glass,” Katie said, referencing their top-floor neighbor.

“That’s a super idea. She’s a good hand with sewing and we do get on; love her to bits.” Maureen smiled. “Think she’d do it?”