Lost and Found (7 page)

She walked over to the patio doors and looked out in awe. She could now see the harbor, the lights of the city starting to flicker on, and the sky turning pink around the edges. She could also see his dog, the crotch sniffer. He eyed her suspiciously over the bone, and gave a half-hearted growl. She turned back toward
Duncan
and walked to where he was waiting by the glass coffee table. “Your dog seems very friendly. What did you say his name was?”

“
Hannibal
,” he said, looking pleased that she was still interested after the dog had accosted her. He handed her a glass of red wine.

“Hannibal the Cannibal or Hannibal of the
Alps
?” Jessie asked with a smile, taking a sip and nodding her head appreciatively. It tasted expensive.
Duncan
clinked his glass against hers.

“Cannibal. The conqueror is too obscure. Besides a dog like that needs a slightly threatening name. That’s also why he’s wearing the bandanna around his neck. It makes him look like an outlaw.”
Duncan
said, gesturing for her to sit down on the dove gray suede couch. She positioned herself in the middle and he sat down close beside her.

“It sounds like your dog is overcompensating for something,” she said. “Some kind of masculinity inferiority complex.” Jessie couldn’t believe she’d just said that. He was going to think she was casting aspersions on his manhood.

Instead,
Duncan
laughed. A deep, masculine outburst that sounded a bit rusty. Jessie got the impression that he didn’t laugh that often. She vowed right then to make him laugh as hard and as often as she could for as long as they were together. There was something tragic about this man.

“You could be right,” he said, taking her hand and braiding it with his. “Maybe he is trying to cover something up. Next time I take him to the dog park I’ll pay more attention to the butts he sniffs. Maybe I should trade in the bandanna for an actual scarf.”
 

“
Duncan
?” Jessie asked, hesitantly. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead. If it’s about dinner, it won’t be ready for another twenty minutes.” Actually the lasagna was just warming in the oven, but he wanted a little time with her before they rushed into dinner.
 

“I hope you won’t think I’m terribly nosy, but I just can’t help myself. How can you afford a place like this? Cops don’t make this kind of money, do they?” She said, waving her wine glass around at the room.

“No, it’s alright. It’s probably not what you expected. I received a trust fund when I turned eighteen, and this apartment was purchased with that money. My grandfather set it up when I was born.”
Duncan
looked embarrassed, like he desperately wanted to change the subject.

“I don’t believe it. I’ve never known anyone with a trust fund before. Why do you work as a cop then? You obviously don’t need the money.”

“Well, I kind of do, actually. I live off my salary because I gave up the trust fund after buying this place. And besides, I like being a cop. It’s the most challenging and rewarding job in the world. Everyday I see terrible things, but I also get to see justice done once in a while. It’s always been what I’ve wanted to do.”

“What would you be doing if you weren’t a cop?” Jessie asked, sipping her wine and shifting a bit closer to his side. He radiated heat and she loved the smell and feel of him.
 

“I’d probably be a high powered asshole in my family’s business, hating every minute of it, and sexually harassing my secretary whenever I got bored,” he said with a grin. He’d set down his wine, and had placed one hand on her thigh. His fingers moved in little circles that were driving Jessie crazy. She placed her hand over his, and looked down, noticing how small and white her hand looked against his huge tan one.
 

“What business would that be?” Jessie asked, setting her own wine down, she angled her body so she was facing his profile, and brought one knee up so it rested against his warm thigh. She couldn’t believe this was happening so quickly. It just felt so right to be touching him. It was like they’d known each other much longer than ten hours.
 

“I’m not going to tell you that,” he said, and turned his hand over. Now he had both of her small, soft hands in his much larger ones. He took the closest one and brought it to his mouth where he playfully nipped at one knuckle, and then the next. The other he placed palm down on his thigh, with his hand on top of hers.

“Why not? Is your family with the mafia? I won’t tell, I swear.” Jessie couldn’t believe this was happening. Here they were having this fairly normal conversation while he was exploring her right hand with his mouth. He was actually licking her palm and all she could do was ask stupid questions. Determined to be an active participant this time, Jessie began imitating his finger movements on her thigh earlier—just tiny little circles with her fingertips on the hard muscles near his knee.

“You’ll laugh,” he said into her hand. The puff of air against her slightly damp palm sent shivers down her back. She placed her palm on his cheek and gently turned his face toward her.

“No, I won’t,” she said earnestly, and moved forward until their mouths were just inches apart.

“What do I get if I tell you?” he asked, breathing against her mouth. Torturing her with an almost kiss.

“What do you want?”
 

“Kiss me. Really kiss me. I kissed you this morning. Now you should kiss me.”

Jessie sighed like he was asking a lot of her, and whispered an “alright” against his lips. She pressed her mouth to his and then moved back with a smile. “There. I kissed you. Now tell me.”

“That was the kind of kiss you give your maiden aunt. I said a real kiss. You don’t’ want to be a welcher, do you?”
 

“Alright, alright, I’ll try it again. If you insist.” This time Jessie touched her lips to his and then darted her tongue out to lick at his passive mouth. She pressed her lips to his again and his mouth opened slightly, so she flickered her tongue inside.
Duncan
sat perfectly still under her onslaught and let her experiment. As she grew bolder, thrusting her tongue into his mouth like he had that morning, he reached up and put one hand at the back of her neck to hold her mouth against his. Unable to stay docile for long, he began tangling his tongue with hers and devouring her mouth in a kiss that was aggressive, and primal.
 

With a growl against her lips, he put his arm around her and effortlessly lifted her until she was sitting across his lap. All Jessie was aware of was his mouth, the way it made her feel. She wanted to sit here and kiss him forever. The slide of his tongue and lips against hers made her entire body go liquid and tingly inside. She began sliding her hands down from his shoulders and over his chest, exploring the wide expanse with her hands.
 

She dipped the fingertips of one hand inside the neck of his shirt. His skin was very smooth. She quickly undid two of the three buttons at his neck and placed her entire hand against his bare chest. She could feel his heart beating hard and fast against her palm.
 

Duncan
stopped kissing her. He reached down and pulled the tail of his shirt out from the waistband of his pants and tugged the shirt over his head, throwing it to the floor. His hair got a bit mussed from the urgency of his actions and several dark strands curled onto his forehead. Jessie brushed them back with her hands and feasted her eyes and hands on his now very naked chest.
 

Duncan
’s arms and shoulders were heavily muscled, but he didn’t have the bulky, unwieldy body of a weight lifter, or the whipcord leanness of a long-distance runner. He looked like a man that had worked with his body all his life, like a carpenter, or a farmer rather than someone who spent his life in the gym. Veins snaked up his forearms and she could see rippling bands of muscles flex as she ran her hands over his abdomen. He had a warm, honey colored tan all over, and very little body hair: just a triangle in the middle of his chest and a line leading up from the waistband of his jeans to his navel. She followed that path downward with one fingertip and was surprised when he put his hand over hers to stop her from exploring further.
 

“I feel like I’m being examined under a microscope,” he said, reaching up to take her glasses off. “Maybe we should even things out a bit.” Dinner completely forgotten,
Duncan
had been willing to just kiss her and run his hands over her supple back. He was curious to see what she would do. He also sensed that this was a very big deal for her and didn’t want to rush anything, but he approached his breaking point when her hand brushed his lower abdomen. Any lower and he would lose all control. He loved the tentative way she touched him, but he had to see her, had to feel her under his hands.

He kissed her again, this time gently, just nibbling at her lips, tugging the full bottom one between his, and nipping it gently with his teeth. He began running his hands over her body, exploring it, and learning what made her sigh and shiver in response. He cupped her surprisingly generous bottom with one hand, and pulled her forward until her chest was pressed to his with the other.
 

Duncan
was very surprised when she pulled back, looked him in the eyes, and shifted in his lap until she was facing him, straddling his thighs with her white skirt spread around her, and her hands on his shoulders. He grasped her hips to steady her and pulled her tightly against him, watching the surprise spread across her face.

Jessie gasped at the way this new position brought her lower body flush against his. She’d only been trying to get easier access to his chest, but now her focus had shifted to what was going on below his waistband. She’d felt the hardness there, prodding against her hip when she’d been sitting across his lap, but now it was pressing against a spot on her body that suddenly seemed sensitive and aching for something more to happen.

Tentatively, she moved her hips against that hard ridge in his jeans.
Duncan
groaned and gripped her more tightly with his hands. She did it again, and that feeling of urgency began to spread. Everything in her body seemed focused on that one spot.
 

“Wait,”
Duncan
gasped, stilling her hips with his hands. “Don’t move for a second.”

Jessie didn’t want to stop. She wanted to grind her hips against him until that feeling between her legs drove her over the edge. She opened her eyes and looked at him expectantly. He didn’t look like he wanted her to stop either. His face was tight and he was breathing heavily, those amazing eyes heavy-lidded and dazzling in their intensity.
 

Duncan
soothed her fevered body with his hands. He needed to slow things down. It had been too long for him and he couldn’t take much more of this, but he wanted to see her first. He ran his hands up her chest and cupped both breasts through her blouse, testing the size and resilience of them with his palms. They were high and round and firm against his hands and he couldn’t help kneading them and imagining how it would feel to slide his aching cock between them and thrust until he came in a rush.

Jessie sighed and arched her back under his ministrations, dropping her head back as her nipples became erect against his palms. He leaned forward and breathed against one aching crest, while circling the other with his fingers. The touch set off a spark of sensation between Jessie’s legs and she cupped the back of his head with both hands to press her breast more firmly against his mouth.
 

Duncan
could feel the tension coiling in her body and he wanted to see just how responsive she was, so he placed his lips fully on one aching nipple, while gently pinching the other.
 

The feeling of his hot, wet mouth through the barrier of her blouse nearly drove Jessie insane. The friction was unbearable. She reached down and tugged on the hem of her blouse, needing to feel his heat on her bare breasts.
Duncan
reared back and watched her as she yanked the garment over her head. She was unbelievably gorgeous in her desire. With her spread thighs, soft open lips, and full, erect breasts straining against the filmy confines of her camisole, she was everything he’d ever fantasized about in his life.

He bunched up handfuls of skirt and pulled on it until nothing was between his aching hardness and her soft wetness except a scrap of silk, and his clothing.
 

She could feel him there, between her legs—so hard for her. It excited Jessie more than anything that she could have this kind of effect on his body. She shifted against him, just a little bit. He didn’t stop her, so she did it again. It was heaven. Sensation rocked through her and she put her hands on the back of his head again, pulling his face against her breast, while shifting restlessly against him.

Duncan
couldn’t wait anymore. He was so hard, he felt like he was going to burst. He smoothed the straps of the slightly damp camisole down her arms and her breasts were completely bare to his gaze. He clamped his lips on one pink nipple and trailed circles around it with his tongue, finally bringing the entire peak into his mouth.