Boy Next Door (Parkside Avenue Book #2) (11 page)

Cora glanced at her glass, and
noticing it was empty again, she placed it on the carpet at her feet, and
sighed.

Despite asking the question, I
didn’t want to hear the answer, so I changed the subject. “What do you think of
the steel waterfall?”

“Huh? Oh.” She turned the
sketchpad, considering it from different angles. “Is that what that is?”

“If it’s not your style, I could
always raise the side border and run a rocky waterfall into the swimming pool.”

“My home is not a cheap beachside
hotel.” Her eyes held a glint of distaste.

“I know. That’s why I went for
the steel. It’s modern and beautiful, just like the house’s owner.”

Cora’s attention shifted from the
sketch to me. “If that hadn’t sounded so cheesy, I might be flattered. It’s
been a long time since anyone has called me beautiful.”

My eyes roved from her red
painted toenails up the smooth line of her legs, briefly halted at the enticing
shadow cast by the hem of her skirt stretched over her thighs, and stopped at
her unusually coloured eyes. Every inch of her was stunning. “Get used to it,
because you’re going to be hearing it a lot more.”

Cora held my gaze, as if daring
me to come to my senses, and without looking, she placed the sketchbook on the
sofa and pushed off the cushion to kneel next to me. Her hands found the rug at
either side of my hips, and her head lowered until our faces were almost
touching. “Look at me, Johnny.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m looking.” I
broke her stare, for a second, to scan down her cleavage, before meeting her eyes
again.

“No. I mean really look at me.
Closely. I have lines around my eyes. They’re not going to disappear, and
they’re getting bigger every day.”

She had to be kidding. You’d need
a magnifying glass to see her flaws. “You’re beautiful.”

“And stretch marks, I have those
too.” She lifted one hand to smooth the side of her breast. “Here.” Her hand
dropped slowly and stroked across her lower abdomen. “And here.”

She must have known what effect
it was having. It was as if she were giving me my own personal lap dance. I
found her touching herself to be highly erotic, and I longed to reach out and
follow her lead. “I don’t care.”

“They’re not beautiful, Johnny.”

“Show me.”

I hadn’t expected her to comply,
so I was surprised when she sat back on her heels, lifted the hem of her blouse,
and pulled down the waistband of her skirt to expose a tantalizing sliver of
stomach. “See. I’m ugly.”

I ran my fingers over the faint
indents. “I’ve seen twenty year-old girls with bigger ones than that.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. I wouldn’t have
noticed them if you hadn’t pointed them out.”

The blouse dropped, along with her
eyes. “You’re just being complimentary to get me into bed.”

“No way did you just say that. Is
that what you really think?”

“Well aren’t you? Isn’t sleeping
with an older woman not on your mental list of things to do before you’re
thirty?”

“I don’t have a list, but if I
did, getting you to like me would be at the top.”

“I already like you.”

“You have a funny way of showing
it.”

“I let you kiss me, didn’t I?”

“Would you let me do it again?”

“Maybe.”

“Now?”

The corners of her mouth crept
up. “Maybe.”

I sat up and bottom shunted over
to her. “I don’t do too good with maybes.” Leaning on one arm to get as close
to her as I could, without us actually touching, I said, “A yes or no will do.
Preferably a yes.”

Cora’s eyes dropped to my mouth
and she licked her lips, before nodding slowly. I caressed her cheek with my
free hand and angled my head in, stopping short as she bent to meet me, and pulling
back. “Are you going to push me away again? Because there’s only so much
rejection a guy can take.”

She let out a small sigh. “I want
you to kiss me, Johnny.”

Chapter Sixteen

I wanted to kiss her too, badly, but
the devil inside me had other ideas. If this was the moment I’d waited for, I
wanted to hold on to the anticipation just a little while longer, so I stood up
and walked to the corner of the room.

“Where are you going?” Cora
asked.

I turned the knob on her ancient
stereo stack. “You realise this thing is almost an antique. You should think
about updating it to something sleeker, maybe even computerised.” Music filled
the room. “There’re some great integrated sound systems on the market
nowadays.”

“It was John’s. He liked the retro
feel. He also liked this track. Could you change it, please? Try number four.”

I pushed button four, and a slow
song filtered through the speakers. I held out my hands. “Dance?”

With a puzzled expression, she
rose to her feet, smoothed down her skirt, and approached me. “You continue to
surprise me, Johnny.”

My hands crept around her waist.
“I aim to please.”

She hooked her arms around my
neck and laid her head on my shoulder. As we swayed to the music, her fingers
played with the curls lying on my nape, and her warm breath heated my neck.

I’d hoped making her wait would get
her all hot and panting for me, but she relaxed into my hold and seemed quite
content, not flustered at all. On the flip side, I was more than flustered; I
was uncomfortable. A few minutes of close contact had me so hard it hurt, and
my jeans were in danger of cutting off my blood supply from the waist down. My
body’s reaction crushed the devil inside, and all thoughts of stalling vanished.
I eased away from her and looked deep into her eyes. She reciprocated, making
me all warm and fuzzy. An alien feeling, but one I’d be happy to get used to.

No longer able to hold back, I
dipped my head and brushed my lips against hers. It amazed me how she yielded
to the kiss, slowly increasing the pressure, using her tongue to tease me to
distraction. It was only our second kiss, but her mouth was becoming so
familiar, it was tempting to devour it all. I didn’t want to push her too soon,
so I resisted, keeping the pace languid and sensual. Small moans softly purred
in her throat, and an intense heat built between us. My hands moved from her
waist; one dropping to gently grip her ass, and the other sliding under the
cotton fabric of her blouse to follow the dent of her spine up to her bra strap.
I itched to snap open the clasp and reach around to her full breasts, but I kept
my reserve, hoping she’d allow things to go further this time.

She broke away, and I looked down
at her, heart pounding, waiting.

“I haven’t done this for a very
long time,” she said.

“What? Dancing?”

“No.” She shook her head. “This.”

Comprehension dawned. The light
was on amber, about to turn green. But was there some reason she couldn’t say
the word? Did I have to spell it out? “You mean, sex with someone other than
your husband?”

“Sex with anyone.”

“Not following.”

“Like I said before, John was
married to his job. He worked so hard; he was always tired by the time he got
home, and his interest in me declined as his responsibilities increased.”

“He didn’t know a good thing when
he had it.”

Her eyes filled with sadness. “During
our reconciliation, last year, I tried to elicit his interest. I really did,
but he always had an excuse.”

“And he left you again for
another woman.”

She nodded into her chest,
pointedly avoiding my gaze. “His disinterest convinced me I was undesirable.
His unfaithfulness confirmed it.”

“Trust me. That is not the case. I’ve
never wanted anyone more.” Or hated anyone more than her Ex. It was a crime
against mankind for a body like hers not to be touched, and loved, every single
day.

“That’s what I’m struggling to
understand.”

I pushed as much sincerity into
my eyes as I could. “Cora, I desire you.” I took hold of her hand and placed it
on my jeans. “Would I have this if I didn’t?”

Her eyes widened, and with the
lightest of touches, her other hand moved to my shoulder and continued down my
arm until we were holding hands. She dropped to her knees, pulling me down with
her. “I am tired of being alone,” she said. “I want to feel loved again.” My
heart raced. She had my undivided attention, as she moved to release her
blouse’s buttons, one by one, and parted the material. “So where were we?”

I didn’t need asking twice, and
reached up to cup a breast in each hand. “Right about here.”

Her eyes closed and she pushed
her chest forwards, inviting me to touch her more. I was only too happy to
oblige. Through the lacy material, her nipples hardened under the pressure of
my rotating thumbs. I leaned in to dot light kisses along her collarbone. Her chest
heaved; her breathing laboured. Touching her was better than all my birthdays
put together, and her body was the present I was dying to unwrap. I sought her
mouth again, as my fingers travelled upwards to bare her shoulders, then moved
back down to continue working her newly exposed breasts. It was as if I’d never
touched a woman before, exploring curves that were both soft and firm at the
same time. She pulled back and fought for air.

“Christ, you drive me crazy,” I
whispered. “I want to see you naked.”

Filled with a mixture of
excitement and terror, her eyes flicked to the lamp. “I-I …”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to be
embarrassed; you have a wonderful body.”

She took a deep breath. “You
first.”

“Suits me.” I couldn’t shed my
clothes quickly enough, and within seconds, I was kneeling in front of her
wearing only my boxers. “Bringing back memories?”

“That’s not naked.”

“Not what you said before.” I
grinned. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you all at once.”

“I’ve seen a naked man before.”

Part of me decided I was better
off not knowing, but the rest of me had to ask, “How many?”

“Just the one.”

“A one-man woman, huh?”

“Until now.”

I pulled her to me. “Until now.”

Easing off her blouse and
unhooking the offending elastic, I uncovered the hottest sight I’d ever seen, but
I still needed more. I had to expose every inch of this woman.

I scooped her around the waist
and swung her gently to the floor. She giggled and looked at me expectantly,
before I bent to nuzzle her neck and trail kisses down between her breasts. As
I smoothed a hand down her side and unzipped her skirt, I circled one pink
nipple with my tongue, attached my lips around it, and sucked, gently at first
then harder. Air pulled through her nose, as her back rose from the floor,
allowing me access to nudge the skirt down over her hips, and when my attention
switched to her other nipple, her panties followed. She kicked them off with
her feet.

Greedily, I scanned down the
length of Cora’s body. The thought of it had had me all bent out of shape for
weeks, and now it was mine for the taking. Skimming her stomach with the
lightest of fingertips, I inched lower to my goal, and below her soft curls, I
found it. Holy fuck, she was already wet for me. Her fingers teased under the
waistband of my boxers, and the sensation of her touching my ass drove me wild,
but I knew if my underwear came off, it’d be over in minutes, and I wanted it
to be good for her too, besides, I liked to play. I smoothed my finger between
her legs and slid inside. She tensed. “Shh. Relax,” I said, as I worked in
another finger.

“I …”

“Shh.” I silenced any protest,
she was about to make, with another kiss, and soon, her hips were mirroring the
movement of my fingers, her glorious flesh soft to my touch. She stilled, and I
broke away to look down at her closed eyes and ask, “Are you holding your
breath?”

Her eyelids flew open. “Shh,” she
said, glancing down at my hand, “and don’t stop.”

“I have a better idea,” I said,
as I began kissing a line down past her belly button. “I want to know if you
taste as good as you feel.”

A small sound, I couldn’t make
out, escaped her lips, as I replaced my fingers with my tongue and hooked my
arms under her hips. Her thighs parted in open welcome, and I pressed my tongue
deep inside her, alternating penetration with lapping and circling her sweet spot.
She shivered, and tugged on my hair. Any harder and I’d be balder than Paps.
Yeah, baby. I know. I’m good. I usually had to work a pussy for a good ten
minutes for it to purr. It took Cora about twenty seconds, before she shuddered
and struggled for breath.

I inched back up, and beamed.
“Nice, huh?”

“Amazing,” she said through
ragged breaths.

“And I’m not done with you yet,”
I said, reaching over her to the pocket of my discarded jeans and retrieving
the foil packet. I knelt up and straddled her, whilst ripping the packet open
with my teeth. “Now you get to undress me.”

She chewed on her bottom lip and
ran the back of her forefinger up my length, before hooking her thumbs into my
boxers and slipping them down. Her eyes widened as my dick sprang out.

My lip curled into a lopsided
smile. “He’s all yours. Treat him gently.”

I eased down to lie beside her
and enveloped her in my arms. She was trembling.

“Why are you nervous?” I asked. “I
thought we’d passed that.”

“I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Not possible. You could lie
there like a shop window mannequin and I'd still be happy to be with you. Now,
how do you like it?”

She smiled. “Just be you.” Her
hands reached up to my face and she pulled me into a kiss, as I shifted to position
myself between her thighs. With our chests pressed together, I could feel her
heart racing against mine. I kissed every part of her within easy reach, taking
my time, while my hands explored lower. She needed to be fully ready. Primed.
Her flesh felt wonderful under my fingers, every contact heated my blood to
boiling point. Finally, she reached between us and guided me in. I almost shot
my load right then. It was tempting, and I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to
be ready for action again, but after all my talk, I had to live up to my
promise.