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“Humiliating?” Slowly, he turned her over and cradled her in his lap. “Oh, Jules, I’m not trying to humiliate you. I just want to show you what you’re missing. Look at me,” he demanded, lifting her chin to face him. “Look at me, Jules.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes to his, almost surprised to see Ross. Her same, sweet, comfortable friend Ross. He smiled at her and she couldn’t stop herself from responding in kind.
“I’ve made a mess of this, haven’t I?” he asked. “As far as seductions go, I have to admit, this has been my worst.”
Unwilling to hear Ross berate himself, Julia immediately tried to console him. “Oh no. This isn’t your fault. It’s mine. I—I’m afraid I don’t know exactly how to do all of this. It’s been a long time since a man has touched me. A very long time, I’m afraid.”
“All the more reason why you should let me help you do a little research. Otherwise how will you be able to write your book?”
“I’ll never be able to write that damn book, Ross. Look at me. I’m a sex disaster.”
She tried to cover her bare bottom with her T-shirt somewhat desperately, suddenly embarassed to be so exposed.
“Not a disaster, Jules, just inexperienced. I could help you with that, if you would let me.”
“Help me how?” she asked. His earlier promise to help her research her novel still rang in her ears. Ross always had a plan and Julia shuddered to think what his devious, gorgeous mind was plotting.
“I think I’ve made it fairly obvious that I’m attracted to you. I have been for quite some time. Why don’t we work on this project together? I want you—very badly—and you need more experience—sexually. We could explore some of these things together.”
“Things?” Julia asked.
What does that mean?
“Jules, haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like between us? We’ve known each other nearly a third of our lives. In our work and in our friendship, we’re completely compatible. Wouldn’t you like to see if the same holds true in bed?”
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“So this is just an experiment?” Julia was disgusted at the prospect of having mindblowing sex as if it were some sort of science project. She was about to refuse, but his next words stopped her.
“No,” Ross interjected quickly. “Absolutely not. I’d simply like to take our relationship to another level. Come on, Jules. What do you say?”
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Chapter Three
“R-relationship?” Julia stuttered and Ross realized he’d made a grievous error. His Julia was terrified of anything even resembling love or a serious relationship.
“Jules, honey,” he said, adopting a carefree tone, “I’m horny as hell for you. You’ve become an itch I’m dying to scratch. Can you honestly tell me you haven’t wondered how it would be—between us?” Desperate to end the conversation, Ross slowly let his hands wander back down to her hot pussy, prodding gently at her wet opening. Julia’s eyes went wide and he watched as she struggled to continue their argument. The words died as he turned up the heat by leaning down to press his lips softly to hers. She moaned as his mouth skated over her lips and he continued his assault. Breaking the kiss, he studied her until he was sure all her damned overanalyzing thoughts were swept away by the pressure of his hands on her body.
At a loss as to how to convince his shy angel to take a chance on him without feeling threatened, Ross took the coward’s way out. Rather than speaking, he let his hands do the talking. He knew Julia’s main problem in forming lasting relationships was her fear of losing someone she loved. Her parents’ untimely deaths had wrecked her emotionally. Without any other family or friends around her at the time, she had no anchor to cling to and so she escaped into her own false reality. Hiding behind her writing exacerbated the problem as she allowed the lives and romances of her characters to satisfy her socially. Pretending to be the heroine in her novels, she could flee the dangers a true liaison would involve. In her mind, love equated loss and after so many years alone, she seemed unwilling to take that risk again.
Of course, the cat dying hadn’t helped his cause either. The fresh loss of the beloved creature only served to magnify the pain of losing a loved one again. The only way Ross could see himself forming a lasting relationship with her was by tricking her into it. If she thought he was only having sex with her to scratch an itch and help her with her new
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book, she would be more willing to take the chance. And once he had her addicted to his touch and attention, it would be only a small step to getting her exactly where he wanted her—in his bed, home and life. Permanently. At least that was what he hoped. When he felt her reaching the peak once again, he asked, “Haven’t you ever dreamed about this? About us?”
“You’ll laugh at me if I tell you about my dreams,” she replied breathlessly.
“Am I in them?” he teased.
Her sudden blush answered his question.
“Ah ha. Why the hell would I laugh at you? For fantasizing about me? Brown Eyes, that would be a compliment, not a joke.”
“Ross, I’m not exactly, you know.” She waved her damned hands around again as if that action should explain everything.
“No, I don’t know.”
“I’m not beautiful,” she said quickly, in her too-forthright fashion, unleashing all her fears on him at once. “My boobs are too big, my ass is lumpy, I’m carrying at least twenty pounds too many and I have no idea how to have an orgasm. What on earth could you possibly find desirable about any of that?”
Smiling, Ross bent down to kiss her adorable nose. “Your tits are gorgeous, your ass absolutely grabbable, I hate thin women, and I can teach you how to have an orgasm in about a minute and a half. Any other questions?”
“Is grabbable a word?” Some of her previous tension disappeared as she graced him with a shy smile.
“In regards to your delectable rear end, it should be. I’ll put in a call to Webster’s as soon as we get back to the city and make sure they include it in the next edition of the dictionary.”
“You really want me?” she asked again, clearly unable to believe his words.
“More than anything. Willing to give it a try?” His hands gripped her waist in a manner he was certain betrayed his need.
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“Well, I suppose, in the interest of research, I could be persuaded. I have this unbelievably demanding editor who is insisting on an erotic novel.”
“Man sounds like a slave driver,” Ross joked, thrilled to be teasing a half-naked Jules in bed.
She laughed. “Well, with any luck he is.”
Ross’s cock rose another three inches. “Talk about tugging on the tiger’s tail. Are we finished talking now?”
“Yes, we’re finished talking.” She snuggled closer to him.
“There’s this saying that comes to mind.” Ross lifted Julia up and placed her on her back in the center of the bed.
“What saying?” Julia asked breathlessly.
“Start as you intend to finish.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, get ready, Brown Eyes, because I’ve had ten years to think of all the ways I want to take you and I intend to try every one of them before we leave this cabin.”
“Oh my,” she answered breathlessly as Ross leaned over to claim her lips again in his possessive kiss.
Nipping lightly on her lower lip, he pushed his tongue into her mouth forcefully, showing her in no uncertain means how he intended to have her. Fast and hard. He paused briefly to lift her T-shirt over her head and watched Julia blush all the way up from her toes. She looked sexy as hell, lying beneath him, totally naked while he was still fully dressed.
“No bra?” he asked, his fingers skimming the tops of her breasts.
“I wasn’t expecting company.” Her breath caught on the words as Ross bent and took one nipple into his mouth.
“I like knowing you’re naked underneath your clothes. Ready for me.” He lightly bit the sensitive bud and was pleased by the moan that escaped her lips.
“Oh my God,” Julia muttered again as Ross laughed.
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“I think I’d prefer ‘Oh my master’, but whatever works for you,” he teased, pulling away to kneel beside her.
Julia blushed once again at his close scrutiny and he watched her lift her arms slightly to cover her body with her hands before apparently changing her mind and lowering them again. He loved all of her many facets—innocence wrapped in a sexy package, shyness mixed with just enough minx, and curiosity overwhelmed by full-blown desire. Her hazel eyes asked questions his body couldn’t wait to answer. Suddenly the intensity of the moment seemed to catch up to her and he watched as she attempted to stifle a giggle.
Grinning, Ross asked, “What’s so funny?” as laughter shook her body.
“I’m sorry,” Julia said after a few moments, gasping for breath as her laughter became even more unrestrained. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”
“Why not?” Ross asked, pleased to see her so happy. He loved Julia’s sense of fun and having her laughing in his arms, nude in his bed, was probably as close to heaven as he’d ever been.
“It just seems so strange. I mean, it’s us.”
“Us?”
“You and me, us,” she answered as if her explanation made perfect sense. “I mean, I’m lying naked in bed with you. You’re my editor, for God’s sake. My best friend and self-appointed big brother. We’ve known each other forever and a day and, I don’t know—” she stumbled, struggling to find the right words, “—I suppose I never really thought we’d do something like this.”
“Never?” Ross asked suspiciously. He’d caught his shy little writer casting glances at him before when she thought his back was turned. He refused to believe this attraction of his was totally one-sided.
“Well,” Julia began, a fresh blush staining her lovely cheeks, “I mean, maybe, I wondered what it would be like.”
“Just wondered?” Ross teased. “What about those hot fantasies?”
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“Ross.” Julia playfully slugged him on the shoulder. “You’re my editor. That would hardly be professional.”
“Oh, Jules, I can assure you nothing I plan to do to you tonight is going to be professional. It’s going to be hot and raw, rough and passionate—and extremely unprofessional.”
Squirming at his heated words, Julia reached up to pull him down to her for a kiss, but Ross resisted.
“Not yet, Brown Eyes.” Rising from the bed, and without breaking eye contact, he slowly pulled his T-shirt over his head. His erection grew as Julia licked her lips and he couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around her, claim her as his own. She glanced down at her own body, then her hand stole out to the blanket at the foot of the bed, no doubt to cover herself.
Sensing her worries, Ross leaned over the bed, drawing his hand down her side, gripping her hip lightly. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured. Her eyes lit up at his words—
and he saw her begin to accept the sincerity of his feelings. “I’ve never seen a lovelier woman.”
Rising again, he quickly shed his sweatpants, revealing the fact he was also lacking undergarments. The erection Julia had studied so intently by the fire, no longer concealed by thin boxer shorts, stood erect from a mass of springy curls. Worry lines creased her forehead as he bent to kiss her again.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered against her cheek. “We’ll go slowly the first time. I know it’s been a long time for you and I won’t hurt you.”
“Ross,” Julia started, her voice thick with desire, but before she could say more, Ross swallowed her words with his own lips upon hers. His hands worshipped her in time with the movement of his mouth, caressing her everywhere. No part of her body was safe from his exploration.
“I want you,” he growled, as he took her bottom lip between his teeth. “Open your legs for me, Jules. Show me how much you want me.”
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Spreading her legs, she gasped as Ross firmly gripped her knees, separating them even farther. Moving his hands up her inner thighs, he circled her swollen bud once more, slowly increasing the pressure. Each time he brought her to the precipice, he’d pull back, leaving her begging for something more, something he knew she couldn’t understand or anticipate, something she’d never experienced before. Ross felt his alpha male come to the forefront as he relished the thought of giving her her first orgasm. He intended to make it one she would never forget. Each time he sensed her imminent explosion, he backed off, denying her her release. He continued to torment her until she pounded her fists on his chest.
“Now!” She yelled the word at him and Ross could see in her face she would not be refused again. “Now, damn you!”
In response to her demand, Ross plunged two fingers into her hot cave while his thumb increased the pressure on her clit. The extra stimulation did the trick and Julia fell over the cliff, her joyous scream music to his ears. Gasping for breath, he watched as she slowly came back to herself on the bed, her gaze drowsy and relaxed when it finally landed on him lying fully beside her, one elbow bent beneath him, holding him up and over her. Never before had he felt such closeness to a woman and he hadn’t even found his own release yet. Julia was a gem, a priceless treasure to be cherished and adored.
“That was longer than a minute and a half.” Her words were spoken with a breathless chuckle.
“Complaining?” Ross added to her jest. “I could make you suffer even longer next time, Jules. In fact, I plan to.”
“No! You nearly killed me.”
“Ah,” he replied, “but what a way to go.”
Reaching up, she bestowed such a gentle, sweet kiss on his lips that Ross felt tears well in his eyes.
“I like being your first,” he whispered, his lips making their way down her throat, toward her breasts. “So many firsts,” he mumbled, sucking her nipple fully into his 38