Hot for Pepper (7 page)

“How’d you get so wet so fast, Pepper?” He nuzzled her ear and unfastened two more buttons. Working his free hand into her blouse, he covered her breast over her bra. Already stiff, her nipples hardened to tingling points.

She arched her back, pressed the aching bud into his palm. “Please do it now.”

“This?” He breached her with two fingers, a shallow exploration.

“More.” She squirmed and twisted, tightened slippery muscles in an attempt to draw him in.

Mitch cursed beneath his breath but forged deeper, filling her until her jaw slackened and a moan vibrated in her chest. He worked her without speaking after that. Strong fingers slicked deep. He pressed her clitoris with the heel of his palm until she cried out.

Overhead, footsteps shook the stairs as the staff made preparations for the party. Maybe they could hear her whimpering. She didn’t care. Mitch’s thrusting fingers didn’t falter, not even when she had to reach back and lock her arms around his neck for support.

“Mitch,” she gasped.

He responded immediately, his voice smoky and raw. “Do you want to come?”

Throat dry, she rasped, “Yes.”

He turned his fingers and stroked across the hidden spot that sent her over the edge the last time. Not enough to give her release.

“Are you sore?” he asked over her frustrated whimper.

She shook her head, bore down on his hand.

“Good. That’s good. I’ve been dying to get back into your pretty pink pussy.” Hot words in her ear and he returned to that spot, rolled it between his fingertips the same instant he pressed down on her clitoris. Fire licked down her thighs, weakened her knees.

She screamed before she shattered and came back trembling. Mitch supported her weight while whispering praise in her ear. Amazing, beautiful, and, frighteningly, love, warmed her skin.

Exhaling a shuddering breath, she turned her head to find his mouth. He threaded his fingers through her hair and sucked at her lips. Eventually, he kissed the corner of her mouth and whispered, “This was a mistake. You’re in no condition to take me and even if you were, I’m in no condition to last.”

Her inner muscles clenched, responding to the prospect of being filled again, of being left empty. “I don’t care. I want you inside me.”

He shuddered behind her and swept her hair off her nape. Kissed a sensitive spot at her hairline. “I should be the responsible party here.”

“So wear a condom,” she countered.

Mitch groaned. “You don’t take ‘no’ do you?”

“One of the things I learned in therapy.” She loosened her hold on his neck and reached out blindly. Less than a foot away, she found a shelf to hold onto. She very deliberately widened her stance and locked her knees. “Mitch. Please tell me you have a condom.”

“I do.” Foil crinkled in the dark.

Pepper rested her forehead on the backs of her hands as a new surge of wetness readied her. “Hurry.”

“Give me a minute.” His zipper hissed. “I only have one and I’ve never done this blind. I don’t want to drop it. I’m a little worried you’ll hurt me if I do.”

She smiled but her amusement faded with her next thought. “I bet you have a lot of experience.”

He cupped her hips and the sheathed head of his erection bumped her bottom. “Pepper. I do, but not with anybody who matters as much as you.”

Her chest tightened. Before she found words to respond, Mitch angled between her legs and filled her. His groan of pleasure raised goose bumps on her skin and from behind—from behind, his every thrust connected with that soul-shattering spot inside. He started slow but Pepper quickly realized he hadn’t lied. Urgency quickened his pace, tightened his grip on her flesh.

Pepper clung to the shelf, her breathing erratic. Her lungs didn’t want to cooperate, didn’t want to function on their own, and she couldn’t spare thought for them. Everything went to matching Mitch, maintaining his rhythm. She shoved back to meet him, relishing the bruising power of his abs against her buttocks. His breathing paced hers, harsh and jagged.

“Hold still,” he muttered, grasping her waist and anchoring her against his groin.

She shook her head, tried to rock forward, but Mitch was stronger and he was coming. His groan emerged as a curse. Pepper squeezed her eyes shut and focused, clamping down hard around him. She fought his hold and gained a fraction of an inch, worked herself on that fraction until heat built behind her ears. Prying her fingers free of the shelf, trusting Mitch to keep her from falling, she did what he’d done—ran her fingertips over her clit and brought herself over with him.

Together, they breathed hard in the stillness of the closet. Mitch responded differently to orgasm than she did—whereas she had no strength left, he seemed to gain power. His arms banded tight around her ribs, holding her upright and fusing their racing heartbeats into one slowly calming pulse.

Off in the kitchen, someone shouted an angry curse and glass shattered. Pepper knew she should care but she couldn’t make herself do it.

“Someone else can deal with it,” she whispered.

Mitch kissed the side of her neck and squeezed her. “Pepper.”

“Mmm?” She crossed her arms over his.

“I’m exhausted,” he said, and his weary voice echoed his confession. “Come to bed with me. Let someone else deal with it for the rest of the day.”

6

Midafternoon, the vibration of a cell phone woke Mitch from a deep sleep. He tightened one arm around the warm woman beside him and reached for the phone. “Robert” on the caller ID alerted him to his surroundings and stopped him short of answering her phone. Sending the call to voicemail, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. The mysterious man with the diamond for Pepper.

“Mmmm.” Pepper stretched and slid against him, draping her bare thigh across his groin. “Did the alarm go off?”

Her sleepy voice, husky and low, set off all his physical responses. His cock stiffened eagerly. Mitch searched out the soft skin beneath her camisole and spread his fingers across her lower back.

“You got a call,” he said to the top of her head tucked beneath his chin. He hesitated a beat before adding, “Robert. Do you need to return the call right away?”

She tensed and pushed up to sit beside him. Finger-combing bright, tousled hair away from her sleep-pink cheeks, she looked from the phone to him. “I should, yes. I should call back right now.”

His gut clenched. Mitch handed her the phone and sat. “I’ll clear out.”

“No.” Her fingertips grazed his thigh and she pinned him with the featherlight touch. “Stay with me. It won’t take long.”

He nodded his assent and she blew out a hard breath before pressing a button and placing the phone against her ear. The pulse at the base of her throat fluttered erratically. Mitch moved to sit behind her and draw her back to his chest.

“I was napping,” Pepper said, response to Robert’s greeting. “No. I didn’t check messages before I called you back. I need to talk to you about something.”

She fell silent, overrun by the masculine voice on the other end of the connection.

Mitch fingered the fragile strap of her top, peach silk as soft as her skin. He could easily snap the flimsy string and bare her breast to his touch. To distract himself from Robert, he lowered his head to nibble a particularly appealing freckle. Pepper’s breath caught.

She cleared her throat. “Robert, please listen. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to attend this evening. I’m going to stop seeing you. I’m…because I don’t want you. I want someone else.”

Robert dominated the exchange for another minute before Pepper interrupted. “For a long time. I’m sorry. I have to go. No, we really don’t have anything to talk about. Robert—”

Taking the phone from her, Mitch caught the tail end of Robert’s angry rant.

“You wasted my time and now you’re the only one who gets a say? You spoiled bitch.”

“Has she slept with you?” Mitch asked. “Has she made you any promises?”

“Who are you?” Robert demanded.

“I’m who you’ll talk to the next time you call this number. Think hard about the answers to those questions.” He ended the call and tossed her phone aside. “If he bothers you, I’ll deal with it.”

“He’s not really the harassing type,” Pepper said.

“Maybe not, but he doesn’t have you anymore. I figure a loss like that could change a man’s personality.” Her freckle drew his mouth again.

She shivered. “I don’t want to talk about him. But I didn’t do either of those things. Sleep with him or make promises.”

“I know.” His lips traveled to her ear and the alarm beside her bed sent up a shrill call.

“Damn,” Pepper muttered. Follow by, even lower, “Fuck.”

Mitch smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”

“I wanted to, um…”

“Um?” he prompted when she trailed off.

She met his eyes over her shoulder, cheeks bright red. “Put you in my mouth. I woke up wanting to do that. But now there’s no time.”

“Fuck that. Come on.” Hauling her from the bed, he pushed her ahead of him into the bathroom. “Two showers at the same time. Efficient use of water, efficient use of time and we both get exactly what we want.”

That evening, Pepper sagged against the mahogany door of Carlton’s study. Shock numbed the space behind her eyes. Tinkling feminine laughter, refined masculine conversation and the low strains of a chamber group traveled from the ballroom below as Carlton’s friends, business associates, and financial peers gathered in celebration. She’d been celebrating too, right up until Carlton pulled her away for private audience. She dragged a deep breath down her tight throat and released it on a sob.

Pepper, I know Hallsford is your home, but…

“What are you doing up here alone?”

Mitch’s low, smoky voice raised goose bumps on her arms. Not someone she would have turned to for comfort as little as three days earlier. Pepper covered her face and felt the wet trails of tears beneath her fingers. She hadn’t known she was crying.

“Pepper?” Strong fingers encircled her wrists and pulled her hands from her face.

Mitch stood too close, the loosened knot of his tie exactly at eye level. She stared at the naked hollow of his throat, at the faint shadow of beard on his skin.

“I’m…some bad news,” she managed after a hard sniff. She tugged on his grip. “I need to leave the party. Will you let Andy know and ask him to make my excuses? He knows everybody—he’ll know who needs to be spoken with so they’re not insulted.”

“No.” He pulled her away from the door, into the library across the hall. Someone had left a reading lamp set low in the far corner of the room. Mitch pushed her into a chair, crushing the bustle of her evening gown. Bronze tulle flared to either side of his legs as he crouched in front of her. “You left with Carlton. He returned alone and immediately sent a waiter to the bar for a double. What happened?”

Pepper sucked salt and lipstick from her lips, unable to repeat Carlton’s words.

Mitch’s broad hands covered her knees, hot through layers of stocking, petticoat and gown. “I know he said something to you. You had this same look in your eyes when…” He cut himself off and squeezed her knees. “Pepper.”

“When he told me Tibby was gone,” she whispered. The pain of losing her old pet echoed from her adolescence, but Mitch’s hands distracted her from the reminder. His fingers were long and tan, his wrists thick beneath the cuffs of his silk shirt and tuxedo jacket. She couldn’t recall him ever touching her before their kiss—more than a kiss—in the pool. Now, all she could think about was the comfort of his touch and how much she craved it. Remembered arousal mingled with her grief, muddling her focus.

He’d touched Andy. Scraped, bloody knuckles and bruises came of that, for both men. Pepper tried to focus on the time before she’d started thinking of Mitch as hers instead of Andy’s, tried to steer herself away from a new course of dependence. But oh she wanted to lean on Mitch and ask him to make everything all right.

“Damn it,” Mitch growled. His fascinating hands moved, leaving her knees cold. They reappeared on her cheeks. His fingers dug into her carefully pinned hair and he angled her head until their eyes met. “Tell me. Is something wrong with Carlton?”

The morning’s stubble was gone, leaving behind the clean line of his jaw. Gorgeous as he was in finery, she missed his rough-around-the-edges look. Wanted him rough again, wrapped around her the way he’d been before they had to part ways and dress for the evening.

“Pepper,” he said sharply, cutting through her mental fog.

Pepper frowned at her wandering focus and shook her head. The movement was small because Mitch didn’t relax his hold. Still whispering, she said, “Carlton’s fine. I…can I ask you something?”

Mitch’s thumbs grazed the corners of her mouth. “Ask.”

“Why do you keep coming back here?”

He exhaled. “I have an open invitation.”

“So does your sister, but she never comes.”

“Candace has her reasons for staying away.” Mitch glowered. “Why does everybody keep challenging my right to be here?”

“I’m not…I just wondered. Candace has reasons to stay away. What are your reasons for coming back?”

“Carlton gave me everything I have and made me everything I am,” he said.

She wet her lips. “So you come back for Carlton.”

Mitch swore beneath his breath. “And you. I keep coming back for you but I’ve been too damn stubborn to actually do anything about it until now.”

“Carlton wants me to leave,” she whispered, sidestepping his confession and processing it from another direction. “He thinks I’m too sheltered here. That I need to see the world. He’s arranged for a real-estate agent to help me find a place in Chicago. He called in some connections to secure a position for me at an art gallery.
Chicago
. Do you have any idea how far away that is? Did you know he was going to do this?”

“Baby, I didn’t know.” Truth in his words, but knowledge in his eyes. He drew her into his arms before she gave herself time to question the glint of knowing.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not sure any answers would really matter. “What am I going to do in Chicago?”

“You already know what you want to do. Nothing’s stopping you from enrolling in a nursing program now. Hell, nothing’s stopping you from enlisting, if that’s really what you want to do.” He settled cross-legged on the floor and pulled her across his lap, cradling her securely. “But I can tell you from experience, deployment sucks. Especially if you have any sort of affection for sex. And Pepper, I’ve been naked with you. You definitely have an affection for sex.”

Reluctant amusement penetrated her distress. She dried her wet face on the shoulder of his tux and raised her head. “Yes, I do enjoy it, don’t I?”

“Mmm-hm.” He rubbed small circles across her back. “And I think you enjoy your dainty heels and silky underwear.”

“Maybe I should re-think the military plan.”

“Maybe.” He rested his chin atop her head. “Chicago has several good schools. I’m sure at least one of them has a nursing program.”

“I don’t understand why there. It’s cold and busy and far away. I don’t know anybody in Chicago.”

“You do.” Mitch toyed with the small gold hoop at her earlobe. “You know me. I start a new assignment there in two weeks. Officer selection. It’s not a combat role.”

“That’s why Chicago, isn’t it? You and me.”

“Carlton knows. He probably always has. He called right after you sent your invitations and told me I’d better move my ass if I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Meddling of him,” she said.

“He does have a way of managing his environment.” Mitch caught her hand and raised it between them, unadorned by jewelry. “How close was I to missing my chance, Pepper?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Not very. Robert’s pushy but I’m not as much of a sissy as I look. I didn’t want him. Or anybody else. I wanted you.”

“Probably a good thing Carlton’s a management mastermind,” Mitch said wryly.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe after another ten years of therapy, I’d have shown up at your door and demanded you sleep with me.”

Mitch snorted. “Really?”

“No. Probably not.” Pepper forced herself to breathe through her fear of change and consider the appeal of possibility. “Are you in the market for a roommate?”

“I could be, if she provides references that say she pays her bills on time.”

“Carlton said my bank account is still my own.”

He slid his arms around her waist and kissed her temple. “He loves you.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“Do you know I love you too?”

“I’d begun to suspect.” She ducked from beneath his chin and tilted her head back so she could see his eyes. “I want to say it back.”

He shook his head slightly. “Not now. Wait until you can say it because it’s all you feel, not because it’s the only good thing you feel.”

“I’m going to say it soon,” she promised.

“I know you are. I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, however—” He cut off and slid his hand beneath the hem of her gown, finding bare skin. “In the meantime. Want to go find a better party? I know a place with massage oil and candles.”

She shivered and twined her arms around his neck. “How’s the booze?”

“Not great but I promise nobody will pass out drunk on top of you.” He stood and brought her with him. “You game?”

Pepper kissed his jaw and flattened her breasts against his chest. “You make me feel plenty of good things. Love isn’t the only one.”

“Heh.” He scooped her high in his arms and exited the library. “I’m going to file this away in the ‘successful missions’ folder.”