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Authors: Katie Allen

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BOOK: One-Two Punch
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“Really?” Beth’s voice was steadier. When Harry wasn’t touching her, she could actually speak somewhat coherently. “Most people…um,
eat
in their kitchens.”

“It’s my junk drawer,” he explained, his voice still rough as he rolled on the condom. “I have everything in there.” As she opened her mouth to respond, his hands found her ass again and Beth instantly forgot what she was going to say.

Drawing her hips toward him, Harry plunged into her, filling her completely with a single thrust. Beth pressed her forehead against the hard surface of the island, panting, feeling her body adjust to his invasion and stretch around his cock.
It’s amazing,
she thought dazedly,
how he seems to fit me perfectly.

Harry began to stroke in and out, and all thoughts left her mind, shoved out by rushing sensation as he pounded against her, his hard thrusts moving her body against the smooth stone of the island. His roughness drove Beth higher and her vulnerable position, stretched across the marble, feet unable to touch the floor, excited her even more.

He gripped his fingers deep into the flesh of her hips, pulling her against him with each plunge, and her ass burned pleasurably with the heat of his spanking. She came hard, screaming his name, muscles squeezing brutally around his cock. His thrusts came faster, rougher, more erratically as he lost control and exploded into orgasm, his release jerking from him in endless shudders.

Beth felt Harry’s hand rest against her back briefly before he groaned and pulled out. Feeling empty without his hard cock filling her, Beth sighed soundlessly, her cheek resting against the marble and her breath fogging the glossy surface. Wrapping his hands around her lower ribs, he gently pulled her away from the island and set her carefully on her feet, keeping his hands against her until he was sure she was steady.

He dropped a kiss on her shoulder and Beth turned to look at him, smiling at him a little shakily.
This man could be dangerous to my peace of mind
, she thought, and her smile faltered. Watching her seriously, Harry leaned over to kiss her so softly, so gently, that it almost made her cry.

“I’ll be fine. I just live a few blocks from here,” she explained for the fiftieth time.

She wasn’t sure if she should be charmed or exasperated by the stubborn set of Harry’s mouth.

“I’ll walk you. Charlie opened the gym this morning, so I’m free.”

Beth shrugged, giving in. When she thought about it, she was happy that their night together didn’t have to end quite yet. Glancing down at herself, she made a face. She wasn’t quite as excited about her outfit. She had pieced together the remains of her workout clothes and topped them off with an enormous hoodie borrowed from Harry to block the morning chill.

“I look like I don’t have any shorts on,” she commented, tucking the sweatshirt around her hips, only to have it slide toward her knees again. With a sigh, she let it go.

“You’ll have to bring some clothes over next time,” Harry told her. Beth gave him a sideways look, her heart leaping at the “next time”.
I’m such a dork
, she thought.

Shouldn’t a twenty-four-year-old have enough experience to know a one-night stand from a…what? Longer stand?

“That was too fast, wasn’t it?” Harry’s words yanked her out of her contemplations.

She tilted her head at him curiously and he continued. “I know we’ve just been out once—actually, we haven’t been out at all—” He shook his head. “Whatever. I shouldn’t have mentioned you bringing stuff over, should I?”

Beth blushed. “No, I…umm…it was…”
Nice
, she thought in exasperation.
Way to be
coherent.

Scowling, Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m supposed to wait a couple days and then call you—I know that. And then I ask you out for next weekend or whenever and you tell me you’re busy so I don’t think you like me too much and then we end up going out
two
weekends from now—well, fuck that.”

Dropping his arms, he stalked toward her, backing a wide-eyed Beth into the wall by his front door. “I want to see you tonight,” he growled, bracing his hands against the wall and trapping her in the cage of his arms. “I already want you again and if you make me wait two
fucking
weeks before I can be inside you, I’m going to go insane.” He dropped his head and kissed her hard.

When he finally pulled his head back, Beth sucked in a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“Okay what?” he asked, the blue heat of his eyes burning into hers.

She swallowed. “I’ll bring clothes with me the next time I come over.”

“Tonight?” It was more of an order than a question but Beth didn’t mind.

“Tonight,” she agreed.

With a pacified grunt, Harry kissed her again and stepped back. He opened the door for Beth and she stepped out into the gym on shaky legs.
God, he’s hot when he’s
bossy
, she thought. She gave a slow smile, starting down the stairs as Harry locked the door. Hot, bossy and very eager to see her again, she mused, her grin growing.

Harry caught up with her, tossing his arm around her shoulders as they weaved their way through the equipment and the early morning crowd.

“Morning, Charlie,” Harry greeted him. “Everything okay?”

Charlie looked at the two of them, surprised, and then grinned. “Everything’s great, boss. Hey, Beth. How’re things?”

Blushing, Beth gave him an awkward wave. “Umm…fine?” she muttered and Harry laughed. She elbowed him in the stomach.

“Oof,” he grunted, although he didn’t lose his smirk. “Remind me to quit teaching you how to fight.”

“You’ll still be my coach, right?” Beth asked, his teasing reminding her of her concern. She would never have guessed it but she liked boxing—the training part of it, at least. It wasn’t just a means to an end—or a means to a Harry—anymore.

His arm tightened around her in a hug. “Of course. You can’t pay me though. I’ll feel like a boxing ho if you do.”

“If I don’t pay you,” she argued as they walked out into the early morning sunshine, “doesn’t that make
me
the boxing ho?”

“Ah, the old ‘boxing ho’ conundrum.” Harry nodded sagely. “Only one way to settle this.”

“What’s that?” Beth asked.

“In the ring.”

She snorted. “Okay. I’ll win.”

Raising his eyebrows, Harry said, “Think so, do you?”

“Well, duh. You can’t hit a girl.” She grinned at him triumphantly.

“Right.” Harry thought for a second. “Then there’s only one
other
way to settle this.”

“Yeah, I know where this is—”

“In bed.”

“You’ll win there,” she told him.

He looked pleased. “You think so?”

“Of course.” Beth blushed but pressed on. “Even after one night, we both know you have the upper…hand.”

Harry’s eyes blazed at that. With a twist of his body, he had her pressed against the brick wall of an old house and was kissing her. Arousal was instant, shocking her with its intensity. Beth wrapped her hands around the back of his skull and kissed him back—hard.

With a groan, he raised his head, panting. “Fuck,” he gritted out. “Any more of that and we’ll be giving the kiddies walking to school an x-rated show.”

Beth just stared at him, dazed by the desire that still ran hot beneath her skin. It was as if her body was a stranger’s, with powerful, unfamiliar emotions and needs.

“You okay?” Harry asked, peering at her closely.

She gave herself a shake. “Sure,” she said, pasting on a casual smile. “Come on, if I don’t get home to change I’ll never make my bus.”

“I’ll drive you to work,” he offered but Beth shook her head.

“I can still make it. As long as you don’t…distract me,” she told him with a teasing smile. “See?” She pointed. “There’s my building.”

Harry followed Beth up the three flights of stairs to her apartment. Although he was preoccupied by the sway of her shapely ass as she climbed the steps in front of him, he still noticed details about her building, none of which made him happy.

“Half of the light bulbs are out,” he grumbled, eyeing the dim corners of the hallway. He turned to see Beth struggling to turn her key in the lock. “Here,” he told her, shouldering her aside. “Let me do that.

“The door to the building was wide open,” he complained, fiddling with the key until he heard the lock click. “Anyone can come in.”

“Thanks,” she told him when he held the door open for her. “Yeah, the landlord isn’t very good about getting things fixed and it’s an older building, so everything is always breaking. The rent’s cheap though.” She stepped over a white envelope on the floor as she walked into the apartment. “Come on in.”

Harry closed the door and turned the deadbolt. Her apartment was…interesting, he decided, glancing around. He was used to the exposed ductwork and open spaces of his loft. Her place had small rooms painted funky colors, battered wood floors and a general feeling of tattered corners and lopsidedness, as if everything had settled unevenly over time. It seemed cozy and comfortable enough but the security sucked.

Bending over to pick the card off the floor, he glanced at the front of the envelope. It just said “BETH” in printed, block letters.

“You have a letter,” he called out. She had disappeared while he was checking out her apartment.

“It’s just a card from the mystery man. I get one every day,” she yelled back. Harry followed the sound of her voice to the bathroom, which was as small and ancient as the rest of the place. She was adjusting the spray on the shower in her shorts and torn tank top, which was almost enough to distract him from the card he held. Almost.

“Mind if I open it?” Harry asked, turning the envelope over.

She shrugged. “Sure. It’s always the same thing though, so don’t expect anything too exciting.”

He ran his thumb beneath the flap, tearing the envelope as he opened it. It was a greeting card with a photo of two lovers walking on the beach. Harry made a face.

“I know—my secret admirer has really bad taste, doesn’t he? Although the flowers were pretty enough, I guess,” she admitted.

“Flowers?” Harry looked up from the card.

“Yeah—they were delivered to me at work.” She glanced over her shoulder at him.

“It’s not a big deal—I don’t even know who this guy is. It’s not like I’m ever going to date him or anything.”

On the inside of the card was a printed verse, syrupy and rhyming. Underneath, in the same block letters as those on the envelope, was written, “WE WERE MEANT TO

BE TOGETHER.” There was no signature.

“I don’t like this.” Harry tossed the card next to the sink. “Have you reported this guy to the police?”

Beth looked at him quizzically. “Why? He sends me cards. That’s not illegal.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Harry corrected, “No, he
brings
you cards. To your extremely unsecure apartment, where you live alone.”

“Cap’n,” she soothed. “It’s fine. He’s just a lonely, shy guy with a crush.” She pulled her tank top over her head and tossed it away. “Now, are you going to wash my back or not?”

Although unconvinced, Harry was distracted as Beth stripped off the rest of her clothes and stepped into the shower with a come-hither look over her shoulder.

“I’d rather wash your front,” he told her, his voice suddenly raspy.

“Well, get in here then,” she ordered and he was quick to obey. He’d do something about this secret admirer of hers after their shower, he decided, yanking his shirt over his head.

Chapter Five

Sheri made a beeline to Beth’s desk as soon as she arrived at Anchor Paper, blurry-eyed but glowing.

“My God,” Sheri sighed. “I can tell you had a disgusting amount of fabulous sex just by looking at you.”

“Why don’t you say that just a little louder—I don’t think everyone in the warehouse heard.” Beth tried to look stern but ruined it with a huge, sappy grin. “And it was tons of very, very, very fabulous sex.”

Sheri rolled her eyes but leaned in closer, eager for details.

“I’m not going to give you the play-by-play,” Beth scolded. “Let’s just say it was amazing and leave it at that.”

“Mmm-hmmm.” Sheri looked skeptical. “And how do
you
, Miss I’ve-Only-Had-One-Other-Lover-In-My-Entire-Life, know what amazing sex is?”

“Well, there were the multiple orgasms and the have-to-have-it-now sex in the kitchen and then in the shower— Hey!” Beth cut her defensive rant short when she saw Sheri’s smug expression. “You’re trying to get the details out of me through insults, you sneaky weasel!”

Sheri grinned and shrugged. “It was worth a try. Kitchen and shower in one night, huh?”

“Well,” Beth tried unsuccessfully to force down a blush, “it was
all
night. And this morning.”

“You stayed the night?” Sheri hooted. “Our sweet little almost-virgin has fallen with a vengeance!”

Since she definitely knew she had fallen, and dangerously fast, Beth could only shrug.

“What’s he like—besides the sex, I mean? Or did that even come up?” Sheri asked, leaning on the high edge of the reception desk where Beth sat.

“Of course it came up—I was there all night and we had to talk a
little
, didn’t we?”

Beth answered indignantly.

“Hah. You’d be surprised how little talking is required.” Sheri smirked, gesturing for her to continue. “So what’s he like?”

“Nice.”
Okay, that sounded lame
, Beth thought, and tried again. “Protective. Sweet.

Commanding.” On the last one, she blushed even hotter. “Hot. Ex-Army. Smart. Funny.

Hot. Did I miss anything?”

“I think you covered all possible attributes of a dream man, some twice. Now elaborate.” Sheri fixed her with a stern glare.

Beth sat back in her chair, her eyes dreamy. “Well, he insisted on walking me home this morning before work. I didn’t have any clothes other than what I had on last night to work out in and those were a little…damaged.” She didn’t meet Sheri’s eyes when the other woman snorted with laughter.


Anyway
,” Beth stretched the word out. “He waited while I showered—okay, so he helped me shower.” Her blush was not going away any time soon. “And then he was determined that he was going to walk me to the bus stop, even though I told him that I was perfectly safe at seven in the morning.” Beth knew her smile was positively fatuous as she remembered the goodbye kiss he had given her when her bus had pulled up.

BOOK: One-Two Punch
8.86Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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