Exposed to You (5 page)

It was like dipping her chilled flesh into a heated bath. She melted against him. Had he known his kiss would have that effect on her?

He came up for air an untold period of time later, but his mouth was immediately on her neck, one hand spreading at the back of her skull. Joy panted as he ravished her skin, her eyelids opened into slits, staring sightlessly at the light fixture on the ceiling. Shivers of sensation rippled through her as he rained kisses on her bare shoulders and paused to take a gentle bite out of the muscle.

She realized she was just sitting there, dazed beneath the tsunami of sensation caused by Everett. She reached into the opening of his robe as he continued to ravish her, a thrill of excitement going through her as she touched warm skin and dense muscle. He went still when her fingertips brushed against a small, erect nipple. He grunted softly and wrapped his hands around her wrists.

She looked into his face, surprised, when he pulled her hands away from his body.

“Let me touch you right now,” he said, his voice slightly gruff from arousal, his face tense and somber.

“Okay,” she said uncertainly.

A small smile flickered across his lips. He gently moved her wrists to the small of her back. “Arch your back,” he said. “Present your breasts to me.”

Confusion and alarm went through her at his words, but the sharp pang of arousal that tightened her sex trumped them. Her breath coming in shallow pants, she arched her back, causing her breasts to rise toward him. She saw his cock leap against the fabric of the robe. It was as if invisible fingers pinched at her clit.

She moaned raggedly when he squeezed one breast gently while he slipped a nipple between his lips. He drew on her with his mouth and she shifted restlessly on the couch. She pulled on her wrist, intuitively needing to hold his head against her, to rake her fingers through his hair, but he held her hands firmly at her middle back.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he soothed, lifting his head momentarily. “Keep still for a moment while I taste you.”

He lowered his head again and took a love bite out of the flesh he held cupped in his hand. Joy gasped. He continued to maraud the captive breast, using lips, teeth and tongue to stimulate her until Joy wiggled helplessly on the couch, desperate for friction on her sex.

“Everett,” she pleaded softly when he finally enclosed the nipple with his warm, sucking mouth. She made a choking noise, and he laved the crest with a warm, slightly raspy tongue as if to soothe her.

He lifted his head, spearing her with his stare. He smiled.

“You’re very beautiful,” he said, glancing at her flushed breasts. He placed his hand matter-of-factly between her thighs and pressed.

Joy gasped.

“It’s okay,” he assured, using his hand to gather the fabric of her dress, sliding it over her thighs. “Lean back,” he instructed. “Keep your hands behind your back, please.”

She followed his instructions, watching him mutely as he temporarily released her wrists and knelt on the floor. He raised her dress to her belly and let it drop. He deftly lowered her panties to her thighs, then spread her legs so that the fabric stretched tight. Joy moaned in anticipation when he firmed his hold on her wrists again with one hand, restraining her, and leaned into her lap. It embarrassed her a little, how aroused she became by the fact that he held her captive to what was to come.

He dipped his tongue downward between her labia. “Aw, Jesus, you’re so wet. You taste so
good
.”

She convulsed in a distilled spasm of pleasure as he laved her clit. She jerked in his hold, shocked by the sharp sensation. He held her in place with a spread hand at her waist and continued to press his tongue against her, his movements concentrated and eye-crossingly precise. She whimpered helplessly, Everett’s head in her lap, his tongue shooting her straight to heaven.

The pleasure he wrought was hot, forbidden and completely, utterly inescapable. He lapped at her, pressed her clit like it was a magic button, and before she knew it, she was riding the crest of the wave of climax.

Her muscles clenching tight, she thrust her hips against his warm, wet tongue and came in a delicious, pounding rush of release.

She gasped in the aftermath, her brain still spinning in the vortex of pleasure, her flesh still vibrating and singing in the aftermath of bliss.

She opened her eyes at the sensation of Everett’s open, warm mouth kissing her thigh.

Holy shit,
she thought dazedly as she gasped for air. It’d felt like he’d plunged her straight into the center of passion . . . the heady, intoxicating experience of being alive. Had she been so dead—or so afraid of death?—for so long now that she’d forgotten the experience?

Had she ever
known
what it was to feel alive to this degree?

It took her a few seconds to fully comprehend that Everett had stood and was walking toward the hallway.

“Where are you going?” she asked, disoriented.

“I should leave,” he said shortly.

“Everett?”

He paused and turned toward her. Joy lowered her dress and raised the fabric over her breasts. Her confusion altered to bewilderment when she saw how rigid his face was with arousal, how regret flickered across his features when he saw her hurriedly cover herself from his gaze.

“I really
did
just come here to talk to you,” he said hollowly.

“Oh,” Joy said stupidly. She stood and watched as he stalked out of her living room. She heard the sound of the dryer door opening and closing, and then the bathroom door shutting behind him. Disappointment smacked into her like a physical blow.

Of course
it would be better to cool off a little, to take things slower. Joy wasn’t even sure what was happening here. Whatever was going on between her and Everett was extremely powerful and potentially volatile. Better not to go so fast that she was utterly consumed.

Of course
she was lying to herself. How could she not long to leap into the blazing flames with Everett?

She pulled herself together and was in the kitchen rinsing out their mugs when he returned a minute or two later, completely dressed. She set the cups in the drainer and turned to face him. His hair was starting to dry, turning the color of it to a mélange of dark gold, pale blond and burnished light brown. He often was photographed wearing hats. Joy had a flash of understanding as to why. His hair was truly his crowning glory. He would draw attention and stares from quite a distance if he didn’t routinely cover it.

She wiped her hands on a dish towel and glanced toward the windows. “It’s still raining outside,” she said shakily.

He grinned and glanced significantly down at his clothes. “It’s okay, I’m already wet.”

So was she. She could feel the wetness between her thighs, the tingling sensation in her pussy from his masterful lovemaking.

“So, we’re definitely on for tomorrow night, right?” he asked.

She blinked in amazement at what she was seeing. Everett Hughes? Looking uncertain? Worried, even? Did he think she wasn’t going to agree to go out with him because he’d taken her on a mind-blowing afternoon ride to heaven?

“Absolutely,” she said with a tone of conviction.

He looked relieved. “I’ll come by and pick you up—say at around six o’clock? We’ll have a late dinner after the premiere,” he said.

“Sounds great.”

She followed him as he headed toward her front door and watched him step into his shoes. She was a little bewildered by the contrast between his raw sexual intensity just moments ago and his slightly uncomfortable, practical manner at present.

He slapped his wet cap on his head and turned to her. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then shoved one hand into his jeans pocket and reached for the doorknob with the other.

“See you tomorrow night,” he said.

Her front door shut with a click. Joy just stood there for a stretched minute, wondering what the hell had just happened to her.

Four

She spent a good portion of the time she was supposed to be sleeping enumerating all the things she needed to do the following day in preparation for the premiere. How did one go about getting ready for a date with the most eligible bachelor in the country? She’d have to get a manicure and pedicure and get her hair trimmed. She’d have to dip into her savings account and buy a dress.

In the moments she wasn’t having those anxious thoughts, she was busy replaying every second she’d spent with Everett in vivid detail. What had he meant when he’d said she’d be shocked by his sexual fantasies in regard to her? What specifically had he been thinking about? Joy had had several long-term boyfriends and one or two intense sexual affairs that hadn’t lasted long. Still, none of those experiences called to mind the experience she’d had with Everett out there in her living room . . . the way he’d restrained her gently, forcing her to face her pleasure head-on.

Excitement tingled in her flesh, sending teasing tendrils all the way to her clit. She slid her fingers beneath her panties and found herself wet. Eyes clamped tight, she imagined Everett looking down at her while his cock pounded high inside of her. He was telling her to take it all—all he had to offer, all she could take . . . and then more. She was powerless, a quaking bundle of clamoring nerves and naked flesh. He was ruthless, demanding more, fucking her like he planned to start a fire with the friction of their straining bodies and was close to ignition . . . so close.

She cried out shakily as orgasm shuddered through her, a hot, delicious rush that temporarily crowded out her anxieties and uncertainties about getting involved—no matter how briefly—with a man like Everett Hughes.

*   *   *

She woke up with so much stiffness in her muscles, she knew she needed to add some vigorous exercise to her to-do list. Otherwise, she’d grow tense and rigid as a board from all this nervous anticipation.

After her morning jog and yoga routine, she showered and stood before the mirror, nude. She ran her hand along her chest, neck, armpits and groin area, searching for swollen lymph glands, experiencing the daily dread of what she might find, but determined nonetheless. Then she quickly, efficiently completed a breast exam. She’d been diagnosed with a type of B-cell lymphoma and was now in complete remission. She’d seen how cancer could spread, however. Her mother had been riddled with it by the time she died. That fear was what motivated her daily obsessive checking.

She was taking her vitamins when she heard her buzzer ring. It must be Seth, she thought as she hurried toward the foyer, tightening her robe around her. Her uncle had been busy with a few publicity interviews and a demonstration of his craft at a local college yesterday, but maybe he’d decided to stop by and see if she wanted to do breakfast.

“Hello?” she said into the intercom.

“Hello, Joy?” came a bright female voice. “It’s Katie Pierce. I met you yesterday at the coffee shop?”

“Oh, yes . . . hello,” Joy said, amazed. What could Everett’s sister be doing here?

“I hope I’m not stopping by too early. Rill and I are staying with a friend who lives just around the block.”

“Not at all. Come right up the stairs. I’m in number three,” Joy said, pushing the button to release the lock on the front door. A few seconds later, Katie swept into her foyer wearing shorts and a tank top, her hair in a ponytail.

“I did catch you at a bad time. You were showering. I’m sorry,” Katie said, her green eyes flickering over Joy.

“No, I don’t mind if you don’t,” Joy assured her, waving vaguely at her robe. “I went out for a jog this morning and it was already stifling outside. I would have thought that storm we had yesterday would have washed away the humidity, but it seems to have made it worse. I was drenched by the time I got home, so I hopped in the shower.” She paused, noticing the garment bag Katie was holding in one hand. Katie looked where she was staring.

“Oh . . . I brought these for you,” she said, holding up the bag. She must have noticed Joy’s dumbfounded expression. “A few dresses? For the premiere tonight? Everett called me early this morning before he went for a round of publicity interviews at the Four Seasons Hotel. He was very grouchy. He can’t stand those things. Anyway, he asked me to bring by some dresses for you. I hope one of them works.”

Embarrassment swept through her when she recalled Everett’s and her terse, charged conversation on the previous day in the coffee shop. He had taken her initial excuse for why she couldn’t attend the premiere literally. In her shock over the unlikely unfolding of events, she’d completely forgotten about his suggestion that she borrow a dress from his sister.

“I’m sorry, Katie. Everett mentioned something about borrowing a dress, but I didn’t think he was serious,” she said, flustered.

“It’s sort of hard to know when to take him seriously, isn’t it?” Katie replied airily as she glanced behind Joy into her apartment. “I’m one of the few people on the planet he can’t BS, though.”

“Is that right?” Joy asked warily.

“
Bullshitting
is just another word for
acting
, isn’t it?” Katie asked, meeting Joy’s gaze and grinning. Her brow creased as if she’d just evaluated what she’d said and found it wanting. Her smile faded and she rolled her eyes. “Oh . . . that sounded all wrong. Everett is going to kill me. I just meant brothers tend to BS their sisters as a matter of course, and sisters tend to see straight through it. So you can take it from me. He’s serious about you.” She tilted her head and studied Joy with interest.

Joy cleared her throat. “I can’t imagine why. We hardly know each other.”

“Everett’s a creature of instinct. It’s why he’s such a great actor. Most people live by reason. Everett lives by his wits, and there is a difference.” She shrugged. “I could tell he was interested in you when he talked about you last year. It doesn’t happen often, that I sense he’s interested—
really
interested—in a woman, so it stuck in my head. I could also tell he was disappointed when I asked him about you a few months later and he said you’d disappeared from his radar, despite the fact that he’d been sending out signals that he wanted the opposite.”

I’d disappeared into the grim, day-to-day battle of fighting cancer,
Joy thought. She took a step back, disconcerted not by Katie’s frankness, but by what she’d implied. Everett had suggested he was interested in Joy to his sister, and that wasn’t his normal MO? Frankly, she didn’t know how to make sense of that.

She was reading in to Katie’s comment. That must be it.

“Please, come in. Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked, waving Katie into her apartment.

“I’d love one. I like your place,” Katie said as she followed her.

“Thanks. It’s coming along. I’m doing a little here and there, decorating on a budget. Here . . . let me take that,” Joy said when she turned around and realized Katie still carried the garment bag.

“Why don’t I show them to you while you get the coffee?” Katie suggested.

“Everett really did misunderstand. I didn’t expect you to bring over dresses—”

“Do you have a dress to wear?”

“No, but I’m going shopping later this afternoon.”

“See if one of these doesn’t work for you first, then.”

Joy opened her mouth to protest, but Katie was so natural and down-to-earth, it seemed churlish to continue to contradict her. Katie and Everett not only had the golden good looks in common, Joy realized; they also were both sublimely comfortable in their own skin.

Joy poured them both a cup of coffee while Katie draped the garment bag over one of her counter stools and unzipped it.

“These gowns are from my days in Hollywood working as a tax attorney. I used to represent a lot of old-school movie stars—or old
coot
movie stars, as Rill would put it. I’d have to attend a lot of boring soirees and fund-raisers.”

“You don’t practice law anymore?”

“Oh, yes . . . well, in a manner of speaking. I’m now a county employee, and only part-time at that. No more designer gowns for me, at least not on the scale I used to buy them,” Katie said ruefully as she tossed the garment bag on another stool. “You know, I’m excited for Everett’s new movie, but I can’t wait for this premiere to be over and done so Rill and I can get back home.”

“Where’s home?” Joy asked at the same time she held up a sugar bowl and creamer, her brows raised in a query.

“Just the cream, thanks. Vulture’s Canyon, Illinois. Pretty odd name for a town, isn’t it? It’s entirely fitting, trust me. Smack dab in the middle of the Shawnee National Forest. Wacky artists, isolationists and weird characters abounding. I’m proud to call it home. When I’m away from Daisy for too long, I start to feel like I’m missing a vital organ. I even miss Barnyard,” Katie murmured under her breath as she whisked several dresses into the air. She noticed Joy’s confused expression.

“Daisy is our little girl. She’s only five months. Barnyard is our dog, even though Barnyard thinks the entire town is his family. This is my first overnight stay away from Daisy. She’s staying with a good friend in Vulture’s Canyon—Olive Fanatoon. Olive takes excellent care of her, but . . . well, it’s hard being away. I miss her like sin. Thank you,” she said, accepting the cup Joy offered her. She took a sip and set it on the counter. “Okay, see if any of these appeal. Candidate number one—a little strapless chiffon number.”

Joy eyed the gown that featured a ruched sweetheart bodice, a metallic floral print and a pink sash. It was fun, flirtatious and very sexy—gypsy haute couture.

“It’s darling. It’s also made just for you, Katie,” Joy said honestly.

Katie peered at the dress as if she were seeing it for the first time. “Do you think so?”

“You’d look great in it with your hair down and a pair of dangly earrings.”

“Hmm, maybe you’re right,” Katie said, giving her a bright smile. “Guess I bought it for a reason. Okay, bachelorette number two—she may look simple, but once you get her on, she packs a punch.”

Joy made a sound of admiration when she saw the elegant, sleeveless white gown with layers of white beads and sequins and a graceful scooped neck. One thing was for certain: Katie’s gowns were far and away beyond what Joy could have afforded. Could she really borrow something so exquisite?

“It’s stunning,” Joy murmured.

“It is nice, but I’m leaning toward candidate number three. Perfect for a hot summer evening. With your coloring and figure, it’d be a showstopper,” Katie said, whipping around another gown. Joy gasped.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she said, instinctively reaching across the counter to touch the gown. The delicious fabric descended from a single twisted shoulder strap, falling in lustrous folds of tangerine fluid satin.

“It’d set off your tan and skin, and here’s the kicker,” Katie said walking around the counter and turning the gown. “It looks sedate, but it has a slit in the back that shows major leg action. I should have known you were a runner when I saw your legs yesterday in the coffee shop. The crowd will be left ogling in your wake.”

Joy laughed. “I’d rather do without any ogling.”

Katie waved her free hand. “They’ll be stunned speechless. You’ll never know it happened. What do you think? Everett will love it.”

“He will?”

“He loves color on a woman. Hates a washed-out palette.” She nodded toward Joy’s paintings mounted in the dining room. “I’m assuming those are your work?” Joy nodded. “Then I see you agree with Everett about color.”

“It is incredibly vibrant and rich-looking,” Joy murmured, sliding her hand along the decadently soft folds.

“Try it on?” Katie asked, twitching the dress temptingly in her hand.

Joy hesitated. She wasn’t much for glitz and glamour. But something about the dress—something about the idea of Everett seeing her in it—appealed to her. Maybe it was because, like Everett, the dress didn’t speak to her of pageantry and drama, but of vibrancy, sensuality . . . the risks and rewards of living.

She met Katie’s sparkling eyes.

“Are you sure, Katie? What if I spill something on it?”

“I’m not worried. I have a crack dry cleaner. Please say yes. I’m dying to see you in it.”

Joy bit her lip uncertainly and again touched the fabric, allowing it to seduce her. Katie grinned triumphantly when she took the hanger from her hand.

*   *   *

At ten to six that evening, Joy suspected she was on the verge of a panic attack.

She pushed a button on the remote control and the television in her bedroom switched off. It had been a mistake to turn it on. A local news station was doing red-carpet coverage of the
Maritime
premiere. Hundreds of people were congregated on Illinois Avenue. Guests were already arriving, flashing glittering smiles at the cameras and fans crowding behind waist-high barriers.

She felt like Cinderella on the night of the ball. A woman used to clipping coupons, doing her own sewing, and scouring her own floors didn’t wander into the world of the golden people without some major anxiety. It would have been bad enough for Joy to attend the premiere with her uncle and a few friends she knew from his special effects makeup company, but Joy had gone and made it worse. She’d agreed to attend the high-profile event with Prince Charming himself.

She placed her hand on her chest and forced herself to take a long, slow breath. The feeling of her breast draped in rich satin sent the alarming reminder through her that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Katie had insisted she didn’t need one—the fabric was ruched around her breasts, hiding the contours of her nipples. No one could tell that the only thing she wore under the gown was a tiny thong.

But
Joy
knew.

She felt naked—no,
worse
. The rich fabric slid and caressed her skin every time she moved, creating a sensual friction, a hyperawareness of her sensitive body.

She inspected herself in the full-length mirror. It was difficult to find flaws in her image. Her insecurities were just beneath the surface. The dress fit her to perfection, its flowing lines seeming to make love to her feminine curves, skimming and suggesting as she moved versus clinging obviously. She’d been fortunate in being left with a relatively innocuous reminder of her chemotherapy. The single strap that tied at her left shoulder covered her small port scar. She rarely wore much makeup, but knew the dress called for some dramatics. She’d focused on her eyes. The result was a smoky, seductive look.