ProvokeMe (34 page)

“And you believe me.”

“I believe you.”

His smile could’ve rivaled the fireworks display over the
bay on the Fourth of July.
And it struck her stupid, as usual.

“Since I know you’re dying to know, I haven’t been with
anyone either.
Though I did go on a date last week and the guy kissed me.
Multiple times.”

“Where?”

She laughed.
“Nowhere interesting, pervert.”

“You’re saying your mouth isn’t interesting?” Spencer leaned
in and outlined her lips with first his fingertip and then, when she was on the
verge of a shudder, the tip of his tongue.
“I have to disagree.”

He locked his hand around her hip and dragged her closer,
cupping her jaw with his free hand.
He slanted his mouth over hers, swallowing
her stunned moan and sucking her tongue so deep she actually swayed.

It was like a dozen other kisses they’d shared but it
wasn’t.
Knowing he loved her, admitting she still loved him—even if she hadn’t
told him—made everything new and exciting.
And yet so unbearably familiar she
couldn’t stave off the tears that sprang into her eyes.

This,
this,
was what kept her up late at night,
missing him.
Needing him.
She’d never found anything approaching passion like
this with another man.
More, she didn’t want to.

His strong pulls on her tongue provoked a fierce drumbeat
between her thighs, the prelude to the storm of lovemaking her body hungered
for.
For once she couldn’t wait to be weak, to be driven past all rationality
to the place he brought her to so easily.

“Parking…lot,” she gasped between kisses, sure he wouldn’t
be able to hear her.
The roar of blood in her ears muted everything until she
couldn’t be positive she’d even said the words aloud.
“God, I can’t feel my
feet.”

Spencer laughed, the sound rumbling through his chest and
spreading warmth through every part of her not sizzling already.
He moved his
kisses to her neck, his mouth sweeping hot, wet trails of pure sensation.
“Let’s take the edge off.”

Before she had time to figure out what that meant, he pushed
her backward, shielding her with his body as he shoved up her skirt.
Protests
rose in her throat, dissolving in a scream he muffled with his mouth when the
blunt tip of his finger slid over her cotton-covered pussy.
He rubbed her clit
through the fabric, soaking her panties in the liquid proof of what he did to
her.

She rode his finger shamelessly, winding her hands through
his hair to make sure he kept kissing her.
As his movements sped up, he drove
her against the car, almost bending her over the trunk.

Thank God she didn’t have a lot of neighbors because her
respectable building was about to go right into the gutter.

Breathing hard, she looked up at him framed in the
moonlight, the breeze tousling his angelic blond hair above the dark blur of
his eyes.
He kept touching her through the material using just that one finger,
teasing her swollen clit until every inch of her body pulsed with need.

She reached between them and yanked his zipper, pulling it
down over the thick length trapped beneath.
Once she’d freed him, her hand
closed around his cock, hot and hard enough to give her the ride of her life.

Inwardly she crowed.
Apparently tiny ankles and
shampoo-commercial hair didn’t win every time after all.

“Yeah,
you
make me do bad things.” She eyed his
released erection as if it were a dish of chocolate mousse topped with a dollop
of whipped cream and a raspberry.
“Wanna rethink that?”

“Sorry to underestimate you.
You’re clearly a wild woman who
likes performing for a crowd.
Better?”

“Don’t always need a crowd but yeah, better.
Now I’m going
to earn my new reputation.”

Kelly slipped away and crouched in front of him, gripping
his hard-on in both palms.
He grabbed a handful of her hair, dragging her right
where they both knew she ached to be.

She slid her mouth over the head of his cock and sucked
lightly, smiling around him as he dropped his head back and the cords of his
neck stood out in sharp relief.
Darting her tongue around his width, she bathed
him in saliva until her hands slipped in the moisture she’d left.
She spread it
around, jerking him off while she leaned down to lick his balls.
The salty musk
of his taste made her press her thighs together, reminding her she was very
close to kneeling on the asphalt in a very expensive skirt.

“We’ll finish that inside,” he said between choppy breaths.
“Get up here.”

His eyes glowed in the faint sodium lights next to the side
door of her building—at least they hadn’t parked right out front—as he hauled
her up and drew her leg onto his hip.
“Of course you had to wear leather,” he
muttered.

“Don’t worry.
I’ll make it up to you by not wearing anything
for a while.
Same goes, by the way.” She wiggled until she could tear aside her
panties.
And tear they did.
“You’re staying tied up naked in my apartment until
I’ve had my fill.
Including swallowing every drop of your—”

He caught her mouth, swirling his tongue around hers in a
dizzying rhythm she matched beat for beat.
Without warning, he moved her into
position, sliding inside her in one smooth, heart-stopping thrust.
He was so
thick the first stroke actually hurt, even as wet as she was.
When she
flinched, he shifted, changing the angle and the depth.
Almost at once the
grinding friction was back, twisting through her belly, tightening her nipples.
Slickening the glides of his cock.

“Better?”

“Mmm.”

It was the best she could do.
Her pussy clasped him snugly,
her welcoming heat drawing him in to the hilt.
She breathed in his air and
moaned at each of his soft grunts.
It was as if they were one, bound together
by a shortening ripcord of pleasure.

“I feel you throbbing,” he murmured against her cheek,
bearing down so her clit got some benefit from the action too.

“Oh God, that’s so good.”

She rocked her hips and he groaned, holding her as close as
all their layers of clothes allowed.
Her heart raced, her starving cells
demanding oxygen.
She inhaled deeply, drowning in the scent of their lovemaking
with every breath.

Spencer again changed the angle and this time he hit the
sensitive spot deep inside her pussy.
Her thighs shook.
“Yes, yes,” she said
breathlessly.
Just a little more.
“Please.”

“I love it when you beg.”

He slid his tongue in her ear, simulating his movements
between her legs, and she let out a frustrated moan.
He knew exactly how to
push her up to the peak then keep her there, writhing like the animal she’d
become.
The orgasm just beyond her reach taunted her, promising her ultimate
ecstasy if she didn’t die first.

Kelly jerked at the sound of a door slamming and footsteps
approaching on the concrete.
She started to pull back but Spencer grabbed her
chin and tunneled deeper.
His cock hardened further, provoking a delighted cry
she couldn’t stifle.

“Look at me,” he demanded.
“Just me.”

She leaned back, sagging against her car as he churned in
and out, his hot gaze the center of her universe.
She couldn’t have looked away
if she tried.

Their hips moved together in soundless unison as a car
started two slots away.
It zoomed away in a hurry, its owner probably already
reporting the extremely lewd behavior he’d just witnessed.

“I bet he heard you crying out for me.” His erotically husky
voice spurred another rush of liquid around his cock.
“And he wanted you.
But you
belong to me, don’t you?”

“Yes.
God, yes.” She couldn’t fight the truth any longer.
She’d been his the first day she’d laid eyes on him in the break room.
Embarrassed by the sudden dampness in her panties when he’d looked her way,
she’d left without speaking.
But that night alone in her bed, she’d relived the
encounter and given it a much different ending.
She’d come so hard, her fingers
a poor substitute for the thick length inside her right now.
“Even the first
day I saw you I wanted you.”

“Wanted what?” he whispered.

“To fuck you.” She bowed her neck, her back arching as
tendrils of lust crept through her system, all the knots inside her coming
apart under the relentless onslaught.
“Like this.”

“Let me feel you come, baby.
Oh yeah.
Just like that.”

When he drew out and drove back in, she slammed her elbows
back against the car as she strained up, trying to take him as far as he could
go.
She contracted around him, her pussy spasming hard with the force of her
release, her cries rising over the breeze.
Lost in his own impending orgasm, he
didn’t even try to silence them.
He pumped, hips wild against hers, shooting
his seed deep as she clung to him and watched his face, desperate to see every
nuance.

Lying twisted beneath him against her car, she reached up to
stroke his jaw, helpless to stop the emotion flooding her eyes.
He didn’t tell
her not to cry or wipe away her tears.
Instead he lowered his lips to her
cheeks and kissed them away, wordlessly stitching together the last broken
parts of her heart.

“I love you,” he murmured.

It was so easy to say it now, when everything else but them
had been stripped away.
“I love you too.”

Epilogue

Three months later

Kelly sighed as she surveyed the empty space that surrounded
her.
The former shoe store had been bared to the rafters in preparation for the
new tenants.
Right now, the place was barren, just a shell.
Soon it would be
bustling with activity and filled to the brim.
With people, hopefully.
And
books.

So many books.

Spencer came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her
waist.
“What a way to spend New Year’s Eve, huh?”

“Yeah.
The cusp of a new year, the start of a new life.”

“You’re not about to start crying again, are you?”

She laughed, so far from crying she felt as if she could
light up the whole building with her excitement.
“Not even close.
I want to
dance.
Or maybe do cartwheels.
I used to be able to.”

“Now that I’d like to see.
How long can you hold
certain…positions?”

“You’ve seen me hold enough of them, answer that yourself.”
She leaned her head to the side as he kissed her neck, lacing her fingers with
his over her stomach.
“We’ll have to move fast,” she said after a moment.

“I’d be happy to.
Why do you wear so many damn clothes?”

She laughed again and smacked his meandering hand away from
the button of her jeans.
“I mean here.
We’ll have to get things done quickly.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the plan.
But we don’t want to rush.
Everything has to be perfect.”

“It already is.
Too perfect.”

Because he knew her way too well, he spun her around and
tipped up her chin.
“A minute ago you wanted to dance.
Now you sound
miserable.”

As the lump formed in her throat, she shook her head.
Of
course.
She couldn’t just let anything be.
“I’m fine.
It’ll be fine.”

“Kelly.”

“I’m not going to cry,” she said and smiled at his relieved
expression.
“I’m just scared.
The last few months have been a dream.
When am I
going to wake up?”

“You are awake.
We both are.
And if they’ve been a dream,
it’s because we’ve worked our asses off to get here.
We deserve this.
Both of
us.”

“What if—”

“What if is for tomorrow.
We’re living today.” He kissed her
nose.
“You’re the one who made me believe we could do this.
I couldn’t have
walked away from the store if I hadn’t hoped to God you’d be waiting for me on
the other side.”

She pressed her fingertip over his lips.
“See, stuff like
that will make me break my promise not to cry.”

“We’re going to make it, Kelly.
We already have.
Who else
but us would open a bookstore in this economy?
No one.
Every banker we talked
to said we were nuts.”

“They’re probably right.”

“But it didn’t stop us.
We poured our savings into this,
risked everything.
Even with The Book Nook right across town, even starting
from nothing with only hopes and dreams and plans, we didn’t give up.
Because
we’re about the books.
Even as things change, people still want to read.
And
we’ll find a way to reach those people.” He turned her toward the glass door
that still bore the name Funky Shoes.
“We want to give the gift books have
given us to everyone who walks through those doors.
It’s not about profit
margins and making a quick buck.
We’re in this for the long haul, baby.
And we
can’t fail.”

Every time she started to get scared, he was right there,
holding her up.
Reminding her why they were doing this.
Nail by nail, page by
page, moment by moment, they would ensure nothing could shake the foundation
they were beginning to build.

Right down the line.

“You know, some women might want to spend their first New
Year’s as part of a real actual couple doing something couple-ish.
Like going
out for a fancy dinner and dancing.
Or to a party.
Not standing around in the
sawdust spinning fairy tales.”

“It’s no fairy tale.”

“I know.
But I love yanking your very big, very thick
chain.” She patted his cock through his jeans—something he actually wore pretty
often now, amazingly enough—and grinned.

“We could still go out.
There’s time.
I even have a tux
somewhere.”

“Mmm.
I’d like seeing you in a tux.
And getting you out of
it.” She shifted in his embrace to kiss his jaw.
“Lucky for you, I’m not some
women.
And I couldn’t be happier if you rolled me in chocolate and licked me
clean.” She tapped her chin.
“On second thought…”

“We’ll do that for Valentine’s Day.” He laughed and tugged
her toward the door.
“But I do have something that I think you’ll like.
C’mon.
It’s out in the truck.”

She pretended to protest as he dragged her outside into the
cold.
“It’s freezing out here.”

“It’s good for you.
Helps get the blood moving.”

He led her toward the parking lot, empty except for his
exceptionally large pickup.
He’d traded in the Acura for the truck last month,
thinking it would come in handy since they were going to do as much of the
rehab work on the place as they could.
Considering neither of them were exactly
experts in that area, Kelly considered it a damn good thing Adam had come up
for Christmas and enlisted a bunch of his jock friends.
He intended to stick
around as long as they needed them.
Which Kelly figured would be right up until
opening day.

They weren’t lacking in other help either.
Tony and Cale had
signed on for as much manual labor as necessary.
She’d forgiven Cale for
picking up her PDA in the break room after he’d sheepishly apologized.
He’d
told her himself that he’d figured that would be a good way for Spencer to
notice her—at least after Marcia had convinced him that it was.
He hadn’t known
Spencer had noticed her plenty even before he’d seen the list, thanks to her
video session in his office.

Their hearts—all three of them—had been in the right place,
even if their brains hadn’t.
They were good people.
And that both men seemed to
hang around Marcia as if she’d spun the moon from strands of her golden hair
didn’t concern her.
As long as they were happy, she didn’t care what sort of
thing they had going.

In fact, she and Spencer secretly hoped they’d be able to
lure the guys away from the Nook once the store opened.
But they would never
ask.
That wouldn’t be fair and pretty shady to boot.
Besides, they already had
the beginnings of a staff.

Well, they had themselves and Marcia.
So building the staff
would take some time.

In a way, she owed Marcia and Cale.
They’d helped her out.
Spencer had been so pissed off about her sex list that by the time they’d
finally come together, he’d been ready to blow.
So it was all good.
Especially
once she’d explained he hadn’t been at the bottom of the list, but the top.

He liked being on top.
Most of the time.

For Christmas, Spencer had given her a new PDA, synced with
all the data from her old one.
He’d even left the list intact.
But he hadn’t
minded one bit when she’d been feeling particularly charitable after a
memorable session in the shower and destroyed the list entirely, replacing it
with one titled “The Only Man I Want To Fuck Forever and Ever, Amen”.

She’d been told she wasn’t ever allowed to delete
that
list.
Worked for her.

“Close your eyes,” he said when she skidded around the back
of the truck, nearly slipping on the ice.

“You trying to kill me?”

“All part of my diabolical plan.
No peeking.”

She kept her eyes closed, only opening them when he gave the
signal.
She stared into the flatbed of his truck, blinking like an owl for a
full minute.

“Do you like it?”

Unable to speak, she reached out and traced her fingertip
around the letters on the hand-carved sign made of rich cherry wood.
The man
even knew her favorite
wood
for cripes’ sake.

“It’s for inside.
Above the fireplace, I was thinking—”

She launched herself into his arms, catching him so
thoroughly off guard they almost pitched into the snow.
“I love it.
God, it’s
perfect.
I love you.
I so want to do you right here.”

Laughing, he plucked her straight off the ground, capturing
her mouth in a lusty kiss.
“Guess you like it.”

“Guess I do.”

“So we’ll get a neon sign done for the front and—”

“Uh, neon?” She drew back and patted his cheek.
As wonderful
as he was, he was still hopelessly clueless about some things.
“Not neon,
darling.
But yes, we’ll get one made for the front.
As close to this style as
possible.”

“Remember you want to do me,” he said as she stroked the
sign.

“Believe me, it’s at the forefront of my mind.” She lifted
the wood in both hands as he came up behind her and rested his hands on her
shoulders.
“
All About The Story.
That’s it.
That’s the name.
You’re a
freaking genius, Galvin.”

“I have my moments.”

“Oh yes you do.” She turned and leaned over the sign she
held between them to kiss his grinning mouth.
“And the best part of our story
starts now.”

The End