Hot Buttered Yum (8 page)

A groan slipped from the back of Lucas’s
throat as Roni’s lips settled onto his.

Her arms were
bent at the elbows and locked around his neck, and her chest—her small, firm
breasts—pressed into him.

He didn’t move
at first, simply let her touch settle on him. He didn’t want to miss a moment. If
this was going to be his first and last kiss, he was going to savor it.

Only, she parted
her lips and the tip of her tongue touched him.

And hell, he was
a goner.

He still held
her silver heels. He dropped them and closed his arms around her waist with a moan.
He crushed her, hips to shoulders, against him, and then he opened his mouth in
return.

She slipped in
before he could.

Then they both
went into a frenzy.

They couldn’t
get close enough to each other, couldn’t get a good enough taste. Hands and
tongues stroked. He slid his palms to her rear. She went up on her toes and
reached for more.

He kissed her as
if his life depended on it.

He kissed her
until neither of them could draw in air.

They parted,
gasping for breath, foreheads together. His hands remained on her rear and he
squeezed, closing his eyes and savoring the feel of her taut curves. The door
above them creaked opened and they both froze. Female laughter bubbled out, at least
two women. He did not want to stop.

Apparently Roni didn’t either, since she didn’t move away. Instead,
she cupped his jaw and brought his mouth back to hers.

This time it was
slower.

He teased his
tongue inside her mouth, capturing her soft moan, and she roamed her hands down
over his chest. He could feel her fingers smoothing over him, missing nothing. As if painting him in her mind. A heady power surged through
his body to know that this woman wanted to examine him so thoroughly.

One hand cupped the
back of her head and he drank from her, tilting her head up to his and holding
her steady so he could get his fill.

He feared he
would never get his fill.

Her hands slid
lower and he sucked in a sharp breath. They trailed beneath his navel, but then
circled around to his back. He released the breath and buried his mouth against
her neck. She smelled like berries.

The door above
them slammed closed and feet moved across the deck.

Roni didn’t stop.
She reached her arms up to his neck again, arching her body into his and he
understood her needs. He had the same. She wanted his hands on her.

He was nothing
if not obliging.

With one hand
now at the base of her spine, his trailed the fingers of the other softly over
the smooth skin of her neck. As his thumb slid from the underside of her chin
to the base of her throat, her lips separated from his and she angled her head
back. She was like a cat stretching in the sun.

Only, she was
stretching in his
very
capable hands.

His coat lay on
the stairs behind her, and the bare skin of her upper chest glowed in the night
light. She was creamy and white and soft. And he was so hard it was painful.

He dipped his
fingers lower, trailing down her front. He brushed over the top curve of one
breast before following with his mouth.

He put his lips
to the spot above her breast, right above the neckline of her dress, and gently
sucked. She shivered.

Then he dropped
his hand to her waist, almost afraid to touch what he wanted.

They were in
public, with at least two women not fifteen feet above them, and he wasn’t sure
he could stop if he ran his hands over her curves. She didn’t seem to have the
same concerns. She reached for him and slid his hand with hers up her body.

He grew harder.

And there was no
way in the world he wasn’t going to do exactly as she wanted.

With a silent
plea for help, he crossed over her rib cage and circled his hand around her
breast.

“Oh, God,” she
whispered. The words floated upward and Lucas thought the movement above them
stilled.

He reached his
mouth for hers to capture any more noises she might make.

Then he gently
squeezed his fingers, pressing into her soft curve. He cursed the fact that
some women could feel so good. She fit his palm perfectly.

When she moaned
again and pressed more insistently into him, he slid his thumb over her nipple.

At the touch,
his eyes crossed, she ripped her mouth from his and groaned, and one of the
women above whispered, “I think someone is down there.”

That finally got
Roni’s attention.

Her eyes went
wide as she looked at him, but he didn’t remove his hand. He’d noticed
something very interesting, and those women could come down the steps if they
wanted, but he was going to find this out before he turned Roni
loose.

He moved his
thumb again, slowly over the crest of her breast.

Her eyes closed
as if in pleasurable agony.

His balls
tightened the same.

“Is that a
nipple ring?” he asked. He’d put his mouth to her ear and whispered as softly as
he could. His voice demanded an answer.

He felt her
throat move up and down in a swallow before she hesitantly nodded.

Oh, sweet Jesus.
His fingers clenched around her again and he knew that he would give any amount
of money in the world to see her naked.

“I need to go,”
she whispered. She pointed above them to the deck.

Right. She needed to
go. They were about to get caught.

Only, his thumb
was resting on her nipple ring and he wasn’t sure he could let go.

“Let’s go down
there,” a voice came from above.

Shit.

Lucas uncrossed
his eyes and somehow forced his hand from Roni’s
breast.

He looked at her
but she was diverting her gaze and straightening her clothes.

What in the hell
had just happened out here? He had never been knocked for such a loop.

And the woman
had a nipple ring!

“Roni,” he whispered. It came out like a plea.

She put a finger
to his lips and reached up to press one more—
very tiny
—kiss to his mouth. “I’ve got to go,” she breathed the
words. And then she was gone.

He was left
standing there, an erection the size of Texas, his coat and her shoes spread
out around him, and two nosy women heading his way.

Without a thought,
he scooped up the clothing and headed to the opposite side of the building
toward the parking lot. Presumably, he should stay longer and mingle with the
guests. The contest wasn’t just about winning challenges, but becoming a fan
favorite. He’d seen enough reality TV to know that the favorites got the votes
whether they deserved them or not. But there was no way in hell he was going
back into a roomful of strangers when he had the idea of Roni’s
pierced nipple running through his mind.

Probably no way
he was getting any sleep that night either.

But he gave
himself kudos for not following her down the street.

Because no way
did he think that either of them was going to be happy with just one kiss.

The clink of glasses sounded
from behind the bar at Gin’s as Roni led two women barely
in their twenties to a table by the all-glass patio doors. They’d requested the
seat so they could see the beach while they had a drink. Roni
smiled politely. She knew exactly what was out on the beach that they wanted to
see.

The same thing
she’d been sneaking peeks at since she’d gotten here.

She placed menus
on the ladies’ table, forced herself not to look out the patio doors, and
headed back to the hostess stand. She glanced across the room to the bartender,
Kevin Morris, as she went. It was two in the afternoon and Gin’s was mostly
vacant. Kevin seemed to be playing a game with the bottles of liquor, moving
them in and out on the display shelf. He was clearly bored.

The outside door
opened again and sunshine came in with Ginger. She stopped just inside the door
and stared at Roni, mouth agape, her blonde hair
glowing like a halo around her. Her personality was perfectly on display with
the ruffled, feminine blouse she wore, along with the faded jeans and work
boots to her knees. She pointed toward the back of the bar in the direction of
where the two women were seated. Roni waggled her
eyebrows at her friend.

“I take it you
know what’s going on out there?” Ginger asked.

Oh yeah. “Every
woman on the island knows what’s going on out there,” Roni
told her.

It was day two
of the competition and the men had been assigned their “attire,” along with
their partners, earlier in the day. Currently, they were busy preparing for the
Eleven Pipers Piping challenge.

Twenty-two buff,
hot men were spaced out along the coastline wearing kilts and learning to play
the bagpipe. Tonight they would stand in front of the audience and their
partner would blindly pull a Christmas song for them. Then the men would have
to play it.

Votes would be
cast for best performance, and if the partner guessed the actual song that was
played, they earned bonus points.

Roni had not spoken
to Lucas at that morning’s drawing. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d run
away the night before. But she was keeping her fingers crossed that he was
musically inclined. She’d hate for him to get kicked out so soon.

“Why aren’t you
out there with them?” Ginger asked.

“Why aren’t
you?”

Ginger rolled
her eyes and headed toward the patio doors. “I just got in from a nature tour.”

Ginger had
started the tours for school groups last year. She picked up a pair of binoculars
from the storage box tucked behind the piano.

“There are
binoculars?” the too-perky, blonde guest asked.

Roni smiled and
grabbed two more pairs. “Enjoy, ladies,” she said as she handed them over.
“Your server should be out any minute.”

“No hurry,” the
blonde murmured as she and the brunette stood from their seats and put the
binoculars to their eyes.

Roni watched the
three women standing shoulder to shoulder at the doors, their backs to her,
taking in the action on the beach. She heard a harrumph and caught Kevin
shaking his head at the small crowd. Yet if there had been a gaggle of
supermodel-caliber bikini-clad women out there, Kevin would be the first to
stare.

“Oh my,” one of
the younger women said softly. “He is
hot
.”

The brunette
briefly pulled back from the glasses. “Which one?”

“The one
straight ahead.”
The blonde pointed. “I heard he was caught making out during the party last
night. Underneath the deck.”

Roni stilled. Crap.
They were talking about Lucas. And her.

They had to be.
How many people could have been making out under the deck last night?

Casually, she
grabbed her own set of binoculars … not that any of them needed the glasses
to see the men. The bar was nearly on the beach. She stepped between Ginger and
the brunette, scooting her friend over, and zoomed in on the sight the other
three women were glued to.

Lucas and his
young, cute partner for the day had moved down the beach and were now right
there. Right outside her window. Roni
had never seen a kilt look so good.

She chewed on
her lower lip as she tried to nonchalantly eavesdrop.

“He was seen
carrying a woman’s shoes to his car,” one of them said.

Roni’s shoulders
tightened. She’d forgotten her shoes! She supposed that meant she’d eventually
have to speak to Lucas again. She only hoped she could do it without sticking
her tongue down his throat.

Or tugging that bottom
lip between hers.

Oh my geez, that
man had the best mouth. And he knew how to use it.

“The woman wasn’t
with him?” the other asked.

“No. She
probably met him at the hotel.”

“Barefoot?”

“Who knows?
Jamie and Rhonda caught them and she ran off. Must have taken her shoes off at
some point and didn’t have time to put them back on.”

“Well, who was
it?”

“No idea. But
Rhonda heard her moaning.
Loudly
.”
This last was followed by a moan of her own.

“I’d let him
make me moan any day,” the brunette pronounced.

The two women
grew silent, probably lost in their own fantasies about just what Lucas could
do to make them moan. The waitress arrived and the women returned to their
table to order drinks and appetizers. Ginger scooted in closer to Roni.

“Who is he?” she
whispered.

Roni eyed her from
behind her binoculars. Ginger hadn’t been able to make the reception to meet
the contestants the other night, nor had she been at the convention center yet.
Work kept pulling her away. And apparently she didn’t recognize Lucas from
lunch at the hotel.  

“Lucas
Alexander,” Roni said. “Contestant number
seven.”

“Have you met
him?”

What was she
supposed to say? She’d come darn close to offering herself on a platter? She
nodded and licked her lips. “Briefly.” Her voice came
out pinched. “I’ve met them all.”

Ginger gave her
a wry stare as if trying to figure out why Roni
suddenly sounded as if she were incapable of pushing oxygen through her
windpipe. Roni
would
tell Ginger about Lucas. She had to. She had to tell someone about that mind-melting
kiss. But she wasn’t about to do it where the other women could hear.

They both
returned to perusing the beach, and while Roni kept
her glasses trained directly on Lucas, she wished Ginger would focus farther down
the sand where contestant number twelve was practicing. He even had a dog with
him. Weren’t men with dogs supposed to be a lure? Instead, Ginger lowered her
glasses and turned to Roni.

Roni saw the
movement out of the corner of her eye but didn’t return the look.