Test Drive (12 page)

She snickered.

“I’m a precision kind of guy.” He let her ponder that one while he studied her face and, a bit more subtly, her breasts.

She glanced up but only saw him gazing innocently at her face. “Precision guy. Uh-huh. You’re shifty. I’m dealing.” She focused on the cards again.

Man, she was clever. Saw right through him. Brains always impressed the hell out of him, but wrapped in a package like hers, he had a hard time thinking about anything but making sweet love to Lara.

She kept her eyes on the cards. “And quit staring at me like I’m a lame bunny and you’re a big bad wolf.”

“I’m not—”

“Please. I can feel your pretty eyeballs all over me, Prince Charming. Drink your beer and be good, or your ass is out of here early.”

She sounded as if she meant it. The fact she’d make him
work
to earn her, perversely made him want to try harder.
It’s like she’s playing me, and I’m letting her.

He frowned. Was she? Was this all a game to her? Had she sensed the depth of his attraction and meant to use herself as bait? The way Amber had always been able to get what she wanted out of his father? Like dancing on a pole for money, she’d danced around Jack Devlin for affection. Then once she’d gotten it, she’d walked away without a backward glance, uncaring that she’d left more than one broken heart behind.

The sad thing was that his father continued to repeat the pattern. At least Johnny knew better.

Lara set down the cards. “I was kidding, Johnny. I mean, I don’t think you’re looking at me like that. It was a joke.”

The vulnerability in her eyes touched him. No, Lara wasn’t into games. Not like that. And man, did that make him want her more—and not just for sex.

Emotional asswipe. Grow a pair, Devlin.
He could almost hear Lou mocking him. He cleared his throat and felt his cheeks heat. “If you can’t feel me looking at you like that, I must be doing it wrong.”

She gave a relieved laugh and finished dealing the cards.

He spent the next forty-five minutes playing a kid’s game, when he could have been maneuvering his way into her bedroom. That he hadn’t tried to, that he’d enjoyed himself with her, trading barbs and just soaking up her company, told him more than anything that his interest in her meant something.

At first, all he’d wanted was to
do
her, to conquer the unattainable female. And sure, that was immature and beneath him, but he’d been a few years younger. Before he’d recognized that dimple she wore when she was happy. Or how her eyes turned a shade darker before she’d lay into a guy with a smart-ass remark, then laugh with rich enjoyment. Before he’d known she’d taste like heaven and addict him from one simple kiss. Now he wanted—he didn’t know what he wanted, but it wasn’t just sex. When was the last time he’d hung out with a woman for fun, no expectation of a fuck afterward?

Sure he wanted one. But tonight felt magical. He had no intention of ruining it. The only matter on his mind was how to get a second date with the sexy woman.

“War,” he said, pleased when two jacks popped up.

“Oh man.” She glanced from her pathetic card to his pile. “I have just enough. One card left…” She waited for him, and they turned their last cards over together.

His ace to her two of spades.

“That’s just sad.” He shook his head, flipped over her cards, and saw he’d won a face card and a few number cards. “I won the queen.”
If only.

She frowned. “You must have cheated.”

“For almost an hour? If I’d wanted to win that bad, I wouldn’t have stretched this out for so long.” He stood and stretched. “Ah, that feels good. Bathroom?”

She nodded to the hall and warned, “You’d better put the seat down when you’re done, or I’ll tell everyone you made a move on me and I laughed at your tiny pride and joy.”

“Now we both know that’s a lie. Tiny. Right.” Johnny had no problem when it came to confidence in his body. He laughed his way into the bathroom and came back to see her sitting on the couch, nursing a second beer. He’d already had two and had stopped himself from having any more. He did have to drive tonight. Unfortunately.

He joined her on the couch and turned to face her instead of dragging her into his lap. “There’s something we need to get clear.”

“Oh?”

He fucking loved that challenging light in her eyes. Antagonizing yet playful. “Yeah,
oh
. That comment you made about me enjoying the stripper lifestyle.”

“Do tell.” She set her beer down.

“It’s more a lifestyle proclivity than a fetish for strippers.”

“You are just whipping out the big words right and left,” she teased. “But color me intrigued. How is it a ‘lifestyle proclivity’?”

“Simple. My dad has always had a thing for strippers. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a good athlete.”

“I’ll bet you do.”

“But I grew up around ‘Daddy’s friends’ and saw most of them as mother figures.” Before they’d inevitably take off. “What can I say? My dad is fascinated with ti—ah, with breasts.”

Her lips quirked.

“Trust me when I say the glamour of naked breasts lost its luster years ago. Strippers are just hard-working women who happen to take their clothes off for a living. Pretty, sure. But a naked woman is just a naked woman.”

“Um, yeah, that’s the point.”

“No, it’s not.” He started to get annoyed. “I’m trying to tell you that I can look at a woman and see more than her body. I’m not all about tits and ass and nothing else,” he growled, disappointed Lara didn’t seem to understand him. “Knowing what they go through just to make a living has shown me they’re more than—”

She cut him off by knocking him flat back against the couch.

“Lara?”

Her eyes narrowed, and she maneuvered him so he lay under her. Shocked, he let her move him around like a puppet, wondering what came next. A punch? A kiss? Praying for the latter, he lay still. Then she kissed the breath out of him.

And his entire world spun out of control.

* * *

Lara couldn’t take it anymore. All night long she’d gotten new insights into Johnny Devlin, and they’d floored her. He acted like a playboy only interested in fixing cars or charming ladies. But Johnny was intelligent, had a vocabulary better than hers, and was downright
nice
. Well, maybe nice wasn’t the right word. But he had a good heart under that scheming soul.

She never would have guessed he’d be happy enough playing a juvenile card game, when he could no doubt have called Cara for a better time. And he hadn’t made a move all night, well, not counting that sweet kiss at the theater.

He was driving her
crazy
.

Those subtle glances at her when he thought she wouldn’t notice. Keeping her warm when she’d been cold. Going on and on defending women involved in a trade most men either jeered or leered at. A gentleman passionate about protecting others.

A girl could only take so much.

She had wanted to gobble him up when she’d pushed him onto the couch. This kiss… She loved the taste of beer on his breath, the feel of a strong man under her hands. God, his biceps were
huge
.

She learned the feel of his lips, the taut resistance of the broad chest under hers. Johnny had so much powerful muscle, yet he lay still, not dominating, but accepting her lead.

When she eased her tongue between his lips, he gave a loud groan and shuddered. She felt like a real queen with the power to command the tiger at her touch.

He broke the kiss, breathing hard, and stared up at her. “Fuck, Lara. You can’t just… I was trying to be good, damn it.” He drew her back down, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the sense right out of her.

So much for taking charge. She could do nothing but follow as he stole her breath and turned her body into a pliant mass of need. Everywhere they connected felt hot, and her breasts ached as she imagined him touching her intimately.

“Yeah, that’s so good,” he murmured against her lips before angling her head for better access.

She stole a short breath of air before falling under his sorcery once more. When he dragged her closer to his body, letting her feel all the hard places under her, she shivered and gripped his arms hard enough to leave marks. But that only seemed to entice him. Johnny threaded his hands in her hair, holding her right where he wanted her.

The feeling of being controlled made her melt, because she’d imagined a real kiss with Johnny, and it had been hot, but not half as good as the real thing. Lara squirmed on top of him, lost to a primal need.

“More,” he growled and hugged the small of her back, pulling her into a massive erection growing more solid beneath her by the second.

She moaned and ground against him, and he bucked up into her. She couldn’t think, lost to a lust she hadn’t felt in years, if ever. Never had she been so desperate for sex. She wrenched her mouth away and moved her hands to his face, cupping his cheeks. “Please,” she begged, not sure what she was asking for.

Johnny to make love to her? To ease the burning ache between her legs?

He answered by staring into her eyes and dragging his hands up her sensitive ribs to her breasts. Watching her all the while, he stopped before fully cupping her, then trailed his fingers back down toward her jeans.

Excitement had her inching up to give him more access. But Johnny gave a mean grin and changed the direction of his hands again.

“Uh-uh, baby. No rushing this.”

She blew out a breath and watched his hair flutter. “Kiss me.”

He accepted her hungry mouth, and as he did, his hands moved down to the bottom of her shirt again, but this time they slipped underneath.

When his palms met bare skin, she gasped into his mouth, and he penetrated with his tongue, mimicking what she hoped to hell he’d soon be doing with his cock. Once he eased back on the kiss, she moved her mouth to his ear and nipped his earlobe, gratified when he jerked up into her, his erection nearly poking a hole through her belly.

“Naughty girl.” He tilted his head up to give her better access, while his large hands finally found her breasts. He cupped the mounds, and she soaked her panties, so aroused she couldn’t breathe. His thumbs followed, riding over the crest of each nipple as he watched her lose all sense.

“So fucking sexy,” he muttered and somehow fitted his hands inside her bra cups, so his callused palms rested against her hot flesh. “Christ, I’m close.”

Close to heaven, was all she could think as she kept grinding over him, seeking a release that still wasn’t near enough. She kissed him again, mashing against his lips, desperate to come. How had she never noticed how good he smelled? And the taste of him went straight to that hungry place between her legs.

She kept touching him, finding purchase in the firm breadth of his chest. As she moved her hands, so did he. Pinching, teasing, caressing, his fingers were like magic, and she wondered if she might orgasm from just that. But then those clever fingers moved south, right where she needed them.

He delved down, unbuttoning her jeans and unzipping them in one smooth move before his fingers disappeared under her panties.

She cried out against his mouth and tried to take him inside her, but the stubborn man refused to finish with any haste. Instead, he slid his fingers along her folds, grazing but not giving her enough pressure.

“Lara, baby,” he whispered. “You’re so wet.”

“In me,” she begged. “Please.” She wasn’t sure what she meant, wanting his fingers, his cock, hell, anything to put out the fire burning her from the inside out.

He answered by shoving a finger deep inside her while another rubbed her clit.

Lara climaxed hard, gripping that finger for all she was worth as she yelled out and came.

He pumped a few more times against her while adding a second finger inside her.

Her orgasm seemed to last forever, and then her sensitivity became too much to bear. She reached between them to ease his hand away and rubbed against him in the process. Apparently that was the extra bit he needed to find satisfaction, because he groaned long and loud and stopped bucking against her.

“Yeah, oh yeah.” He closed his eyes, his fingers hot and damp against her belly.

She collapsed against him, burying her head in his chest while her hormones vacated what used to be a rational single woman wanting no entanglements.

Oh my God. I just got off with Johnny Devlin.

Johnny’s chest rose and fell, gradually easing into even breathing.

Lara had never hidden from confrontation, but she didn’t know what to say. One friggin’ date, and she’d let him do her? Could she be any easier?

Could she care any less?

She hadn’t had a man-stimulated orgasm in
two years
. And that included her last few boring boyfriends.

Nothing at all boring about Johnny though.
She still wondered what he looked like naked, and having felt him large and thick underneath her, she kept imagining what he’d feel like inside her. Perfection, no doubt.

She inwardly berated herself for being such a chicken and raised her head. Johnny turned his gaze from the ceiling to her. His voice sounded like gravel when he said, “I totally need to clean up.”

She flushed. “Oh, um, sure.” She slowly got up, feeling dizzy and still so relaxed she might as well have been a wet noodle.

“I know where to go.” He got to his feet and winced, then adjusted himself in his jeans before disappearing down the hall.

She fixed her own clothing, putting her bra back to rights and fastening her jeans. She’d have to clean up once he left, because no way was she going to drop her pants and wipe herself up in the kitchen.

What to do with him now was the question. Lara had no idea how Johnny would act. From what she knew, usually once he’d had his fun with a woman, he moved on. But he’d always been up front with his “girlfriends,” at least, that’s what Rena had told her. Rena knew everything about everyone, thus her career field in hairdressing—a natural fit.

She heard a toilet flush and the sink running. Johnny reappeared, looking calm and replete.