Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set (18 page)

"Are you okay, Rey?" his mother called out again up the stairwell.

“Yes, Mom, I'm okay. I've got some paperwork to do so I have to go."

He didn't wait for her reply and walked away from the stairwell. The distinct sound of a door closing and the snick of a lock falling into place confirmed that his answers had apparently satisfied his mother.

Bianca was about to say something when Rey put his index finger on his lips and gestured for her to wait until they were inside. A moment later, he opened his door and they rushed in and closed the door behind them, like two kids sneaking in after curfew.

"I won't say 'You poor thing', you know. Not every man has a warm meal waiting for him, especially if he's single," she said.

Rey glanced at her, his mood still light from her earlier teasing. But when she leaned back against the door and looked up at him, his gut tightened with need. "There are some things a man might want more than a warm meal," he said and braced one forearm against the door above her.

Bianca met his gaze and swallowed. "Really. Like what?"

He bent his head until his lips barely grazed her. "For starters, a nice warm kiss," he said and proceeded to demonstrate what he meant, nipping at her lips with his until she opened her mouth. He tongued the fullness of her lower lip and breathed in the shaky breath she exhaled.

"Mmm, just like this," he confirmed.

Bianca met his mouth with hers, savoring the hardness of his lips and the soft wet slide of his tongue against hers. She moaned in the back of her throat as he leaned against her, his big body dominating her, becoming a part of every bit of her space.

"Rey," she murmured, shifting her hips to press against his and moving her hands to the waistband of his jeans.

Rey stopped kissing her to softly utter a questioning "Are you sure?"

“Very sure,” she said and he moved his mouth to the crook of her neck, biting at the sensitive spot he had discovered the other night.

Bianca inclined her head to give him greater access, loving the feel of his mouth and lips at that one erotic place, and grabbed hold of his side. He flinched as she did so and she realized she had accidentally brushed against the angry scratch she had noticed earlier.

That it bothered him so much told her it might be more than the scrape visible from the tear in his t-shirt and she gently eased him away.

"Let's go take care of this, Rey, as well as clean ourselves up," she said.

There was no argument, just a slight nod of his head. He took hold of her hand, turned, and led her to his bathroom, where she couldn't help but marvel at the space.

It wasn't overly large, just slightly bigger than a standard-sized bathroom, but whoever had designed it had made the most of the space.

"Did you do this yourself?" she asked as she ran a hand along the marble covering the walls which matched the light peach-colored stone on the floors.

Rey ducked down into the counter beneath the sink, but looked up at her and nodded. "It was my one luxury, although I wish I’d had the space to do a large whirlpool tub."

Instead of the tub, he’d installed an oversized shower with jets that came at you from both the sides and above. The enclosure was big enough to accommodate a man of Rey's size quite comfortably.

"This is really nice also," she said and ran her hand across the glass door of the shower.

He murmured his agreement, stood, and handed her a first aid box. "Can you help?"

Bianca peeked into the box and found an assortment of bandages, tape, and disinfectants. "I guess injuries are part of your job."

Rey shrugged and made a face. "The occasional smashed thumb or cut. Luckily nothing more serious. I try to run a tight ship to avoid major injuries."

From what she had seen of him and his workers during the course of the last week, that was very true. He insisted that everything be kept organized and the debris cleaned up to avoid falls and other accidents.

When he stood before her, she laid the box on the edge of the sink, grasped the edge of his t-shirt, and helped him remove it, revealing not just an angry scratch, but a larger nasty scrape and some bruising.

"What happened?" she asked and reached behind him for the first aid supplies. She removed some cotton gauze and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to cleanse the area.

Rey glanced at the area and swore. "Someone who wasn't watching what they were doing nailed me with a two-by-four. It had a really rough edge with a jagged point where he hadn't sawed it right either."

She nodded, doused the gauze with the antiseptic, and brought it close to the wound. "This is gonna sting," she said and winced on his behalf in anticipation.

She placed the gauze over the scratch, and he jumped slightly, his muscles tense. She leaned forward so she could see the area she was cleaning better and realized just how close she was to him and all that masculinity. As she finished swabbing his side, she placed a hand in the middle of his chest and noted the strain in his body.

She met his gaze and understood then that it had nothing to do with the pain of the slight injury. Moving even closer as she reached behind with one hand to toss the dirtied gauze into a wastebasket, her body brushed the length of his. It was only too easy to bring her lips to the wall of his chest and sample the saltiness of his skin.

"You taste good," she said, continuing to kiss and bite at the taut muscles of his chest while she raised her hands to hold his waist.

"Quite a compliment from a chef as good as you," Rey said as cupped the nape of her head with one big hand, slipped his other hand against the small of her back and beneath the edge of her t-shirt.

"Taste is just one of the things a chef considers."

She ran one hand across his chest and brushed it against the hard point of his nipple.

"We think about the texture of things, like how smooth or hard it is," she continued, passing her thumb across him and then replacing it with her mouth, suckling him.

Closing his eyes, Rey let the physical sensations she was creating flow over him. Let her words carry him to another place, one where had not been before.

"We think about the color of things, how rich and creamy it might be, and how it feels against our lips."

She demonstrated by raising her other hand to cup the defined muscles of his chest and took a teasing bite of his nipple before soothing it with her tongue.

He held her there, letting her explore him. Enjoying her mouth on his body. His breathing grew hard and rough and his body was aroused to an almost painful state. Still, he continued their little game.

"So tell me," he rasped, groaning as she wrapped her arms around his back and brought her body full against him. "Do I pass the taste test?"

She gazed up at him and for the first time, he noticed how flushed she was, and that her breathing was as unsteady and erratic as his own.

"If you were on the menu, I'd never have an empty table," she admitted and what little control he had snapped at that point.

Taking a hard hold of her waist, he lifted her off the floor, and moved the few steps until she was up against the wall, his hips cradled by the Vee of her legs. He kissed her then, a long, breath-stealing kiss that had her whimpering.

Grabbing hold of his shoulders, she lifted herself until she was straddling his hips and his erection pushed into the most intimate part of her. He rocked, pushing her against the wall, pinning her there.

She moaned and when he reached for the hem of her shirt, her hands were already there, helping him lift the t-shirt off.

Quickly she unclasped the front of her bra and her breasts spilled free against his chest. He slipped his hands beneath her buttocks and raised her until he grazed her tight nipples with his lips.

"My turn to taste," he whispered and took her into his mouth, suckling and biting her until she was clutching his head to her.

"Mmm," he said as he retreated and gazed at her. "Absolutely the best until. . ."

Bianca had no time to wonder at his meaning as he shifted away, forcing her to loosen her legs from his waist and find some stability on her feet again.

He bent, dropped a kiss on her breast, and then worked his way downward, dancing his tongue across the middle of her abdomen as his hands bracketed her waist. When his mouth reached the waistband of her jeans, he quickly undid the fastening and zipper and parted the well-worn material to reveal a triangular section of her belly.

He dropped to his knees, placing a kiss in the middle of the gap he had created, and reached down, got rid her of her sneakers and socks.

When he looked up, she met his gaze and any hesitation she might have had faded in the face of the desire and love evident in his eyes.

She tugged off her jeans and kicked them aside, leaving her standing before him in nothing but a pair of wispy, cream-colored bikini panties.

He spanned the width of her hips with his hands, his thumbs riding along the edge of the panties, teasing the soft skin of her belly with tiny little circles. He leaned forward, opened his mouth against her navel, dipping his tongue in before moving down a little, then a little more, slipping the panties away with his hands to free her to him.

She fell back against the wall as he put his mouth against her in the spot that had slowly been growing wet and swollen for him. He brought his hands around to part her, allowing him to kiss her in that most intimate spot.

She closed her eyes as the sensation weakened her knees and made her insides tremble.

Grasping his shoulders, she shifted one hand to cup his head as he savored her, his tongue and lips alternately licking and tugging at her, until she was panting. Then he increased the torture, sliding his thumb along the wet of her and penetrating her.

She came with a hard shuddering sigh that shook her body and made her nearly slide to the floor, until he rose and glided one hand beneath her buttocks to steady her.

He kissed her, his lips tasting of her passion and another wave of need curled through her. She fought it, wanting to share her completion with him. To feel him inside her.

"Rey, come with me," she urged, moving her hands to his jeans and undoing them.

He left off tasting her mouth only long enough to drop his pants and sheath himself in a condom. Then he was inside her, his long slow thrusts driving her up against the wall.

Rey groaned against her mouth, still spiced with the flavor of her, and slowed his movement, wanting to prolong their loving as long as possible. She was so wet, so fluid it was nearly impossible, especially when she again wrapped her legs around him, deepening his penetration until he was buried to the root of his erection.

"Bianca," he moaned against her breasts as he left off kissing her lips to relish the feel of her hard nipples in his mouth. To savor the sweet berry-like essence of them.

She was trembling everywhere as she clutched him tight, but Rey had to see her. Had to know what she was feeling with him buried deep inside.

He met her gaze. Nothing but love and amazement there.

"I want you, Bianca," he told her and she smiled, bent her head, and kissed his lips, her breath unsteady as she repeated his words. "I want you, too, Rey."

Resting his forehead against hers, he slipped his hands behind her back, surrounding her with all of him and cushioning her back. He drove into her, his thrusts growing faster and more determined as he sensed her peak approaching. When she cried out his name, almost like a prayer, it was his undoing and he joined her, his body emptying into the warmth of hers.

He continued pressing her against his arms and the wall, steadying her as their passion ebbed. The muscles of his legs protested the strain as she slowly relaxed and loosened her hold on his hips.

He slipped out of her then and gave a nervous chuckle, trying to smooth over the moment with a tender soothing kiss.

"Don't you think it's time that we got cleaned up?" he said softly, brushing away a damp lock of hair from her forehead.

She grinned and whatever unease he might have felt evaporated with the force of her smile and her words. "Only if you help me scrub my back."

Chapter Fourteen

Bianca lay in his bed, spent, pleasantly numb even, after their shower together.

The heat of the water combined with the heat of their passion had drained her of what little physical reserves she had left. She pressed a hand to her heart and wondered whether it could survive the wild ride as well.

For the first time in her life, she had jumped in, feet first, without truly testing the waters. She had only known Rey for all of a month. Had only really gone on a date with him once, she groaned silently.

But inside, deep in the heart that pulsed regularly beneath the palm of her hand, she knew him better than she had any other man. From the moment she had seen him, everything about him called to her. Granted, the physical factor was hard to ignore. Blame it on the pheromones, she mumbled to herself. But she knew there was more, so much more, about the complex and enigmatic man that Rey was that had formed a bond with her. One that went well beyond the physical attraction between them.