Misplaced Innocence (16 page)

The bra fell away from her body, and he was careful to avert his eyes and spend an excess amount of time laying the damp garment out to dry on the top of the bureau. He took another deep breath before moving back to where he had left her. He studied the safest six inches of her body. She was more shapely than he had imagined, for all her angles and loose fitting clothes she had a tapered waist that flared out nicely at the hips, the shadow of her bellybutton suddenly more erotic than it should have been.
 

Her eyes were closed again. A petulant whine came from outside the closed bedroom door. Scruffy, the ever-devoted pet, was waiting less than patiently outside the room. Over the beating sound of his heart, Jared could hear the tapping of her toenails on the hardwood floors. He took one more, quick look at Charisma. She was breathing deeply, her lips parted, her hands at her sides. If there were ever a time to sneak out of the room, now would be it.

He was almost in the safety zone when the hinges on the door let out a deafening squeak. Scruffy bullied her way into the room, leapt onto the bed and began to exuberantly lick Charisma’s face. Her eyes shot open, and caught Jared stepping out the door as she raised one hand to push the dog away from her face.
 

“Don’t leave me here alone.” Her voice was quiet, dimmed somehow, and it made him stop in his tracks. It was a voice he didn’t know how to refuse.
 

“Just locking up,” he murmured. He made his way back to the kitchen. The front door was locked and one by one each light he had turned on during his fevered search for Charisma was turned back off. The old dark house held a comfort Jared had found nowhere else. The wooden floors beneath his bare feet were smooth and familiar and he slipped back in the room, as carefully as he could. She was right where he had left her, uncovered and hogging more than her fair share of the bed.
 

He flipped that light off too, enjoying the darkness that brought with it the peace of not seeing her naked body, changed out of his blue jeans and t-shirt and slipped into his favorite, thread-bare flannel pants, snatched from his bedroom as he killed the lights. He crawled into the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping Scruffy, and tried to make himself comfortable.

He thought she was asleep already. Her breathing was deep, even, comforting to listen to. “Your bed is wet, anyway,” she murmured, her hand creeping out to graze his body.
 

“It will dry.” He smiled, his tone was light and charming, did not belie his anxiety. He hoped he was a big enough man to resist the temptation of her, her sweet body and smile, the whisper of her voice. She was definitely going to test his limits, though. He promised himself he would behave, despite the pleasant images the flitted through his mind. After all, how could she invite him into her bed and not expect him to want her?

He was still thinking about it when her hand reached out to clasp his wrist. “I’m sorry,” she said, and there was an achingly sad quality to her voice.

“Don’t be,” he reached out to draw his hand gently down her cheek before tangling his fingers in her hair. She keened into the darkness, settling her body close to his and he closed his eyes to wait for sleep. Sleep was a long time coming; she was so sweet and close, so dangerous and tempting.
 

Jared lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling and trying not to notice the lithe shape of her beneath the thin cotton sheet. He tried his hardest to occupy the least amount of space he possibly could. If he could fit even one more inch between his body and hers, he would take it. Every little bit mattered.
 

Even when sleep came, it wasn’t restful. He would toss and turn, jar awake to find he was close enough to feel her breath on his skin and revel in the faint floral scent of her hair. Then it would start all over again, and he’d be wishing he could think of anything else but her.
 

So when he woke up and found her body pressed into his it wasn’t altogether surprising. However, when the fog of sleep started to dissipate and he went to move away from her, he found her arms were firmly twined around his neck, her fingers gently lacing through his hair. One long leg had slipped in between his and he realized belatedly that he had moved onto his side. The palm of his hand rested on the gentle swell of her chest. He wanted to trace the arch of it, enjoy the shape of her body, but instead he yanked his hand away as though her soft skin were burning his calloused fingers.

He reached up to cup Charisma’s hand in his and began to loosen her grip.
 
He was almost free of her when she retracted her arms on her own and pressed her body tightly to his, the smallest sigh slipping from her mouth and getting lost in the breadth of his shoulder.

Jared paused, suddenly unsure of how he was going to escape from Charisma’s limbs and the pressure of her body against his. He could already feel the pressure of anticipation rising within himself and he did his best to will it away.

“Hmm,” she moaned again and nuzzled his chest, her hands escaping from his to wrap in the soft fabric of his shirt. Even through the shirt he could feel the gentle pressure of her fingers on his skin.

Jared stopped moving. He was as still as he could be, commanding his heart to quit beating so fast and his skin to stop being so warm. But Charisma was immune to his playing dead, and had begun to languidly run her fingers over his chest. In the dark he could make out the vague shape of her face, but no gleam of open eyes. She was half asleep and, he was quite certain, punishing him for existing.

He hoped her ministrations would stop if he was still long enough, but he had no such luck. Instead, she pressed even closer to him, allowing her hands to slip beneath the thin t-shirt and graze his skin.
 

He swallowed hard. If he had just left the room after she had fallen asleep the first time. If he had slid out of bed before she had tucked her leg neatly between his and wrapped her arms around him. But he hadn’t. And now here he was, rapidly losing control over a situation he had just barely had a grip on in the first place.
 

His first plan had failed. Miserably, if he were into telling the truth. And neither silence nor melting into his comfortable mattress was going to get him out of this.

“Charisma,” he graveled in her ear, and he hated the way the sound of his unused voice evoked memories of late night bedroom sessions and early morning company.

“Hmm?” The sound escaped her lips as she pressed them to his newly exposed collar bone, one hand clasping the neck of his shirt. He could feel the softness of her lips, the sudden moistness of her tongue on his skin.
 

“Alright, honey, you need to wake up now.”
 
His hands slipped up between them, capturing her by the shoulders and giving her a gentle squeeze.

“What?” she hissed, irritation lacing her words, her newly clenched fingers. He caught the slightest motion of her eyelashes flickering and took a deep breath.

But just when he thought he was going to be in the clear, he was separating himself as best he could from her slender, determined limbs, and making his way to the side of the bed, when the words were on the tip of his tongue to tell her he had to leave, she pressed herself back into him, erasing the precious few inches he had created between them. “I’m trying to sleep here,” she asserted in a sleepy voice with a husky edge.
 

Jared chuckled. “I’m sorry, I had no idea. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“That’s right. You should be sleeping too.” There was a tinge of an undertone Jared couldn’t place, but he wished he could; it seemed more important than the words themselves.

Her hand had begun that absentminded travel over his body, her fingers following the lines of his finely toned abdomen and resting on the waistband of his faded pants. She hooked her fingers into the band and let out another contented sigh.

Jared wished fervently that he was in bed with Maryanne instead. Even Schnookums was oddly appealing right now. He tried again, but he hadn’t even gotten out the first word when Charisma’s free hand was at his mouth, her fingers pressed against his lips. “I’m still sleeping. God, I never bother you when you are sleeping.”

He didn’t think now was the time to tell her she’d never had the opportunity to bother him while they slept. She removed her hand from his waistband, a small favor, but one Jared didn’t have much time to reflect on. Charisma scooted closer to him, raising her newly unemployed hand to rest on his face. The finger at his mouth traced the arch of his lip, with the other hand she followed the line of his jaw, dragging the pads of her fingers over the roughness of mid-night stubble.

He was so busy listening to the scratchy sound and focusing on the feathery touch at his mouth that he somehow failed to notice her move closer. He didn’t notice at all, in fact, until her mouth was hovering near his, her hands abandoning their wayward paths and wrapping back around his neck, her body pressed flush against his, burning him even through his shirt. He could feel the soft exhale of her breath on his jaw. He reached up and caught the back of her head with his hand, thinking he would be able to catch her attention and pull himself away from her.

Instead she let out another one of those breathy sighs, the kind that settled deeply into his skin and brought her face closer to his. Before he could even assess the best way to exit her grasp, her mouth as on his, tentative and demanding at the same time. Her hands had returned to trailing through his hair, sinking into the strands and tugging at the ends. Her teeth caught on his lip and she pressed down, rolled her tongue across his teeth and let it brush against his own.
 

He let her mouth explore his, enjoyed the feel of her velvety tongue. His lack of participation did little to deter the sweet assault and when a few moments had passed he let himself kiss her back. The hand he had let rest near her neck twisted into her hair, inducing another contented sigh from Charisma.
 

He was so involved in the kissing it hadn’t occurred to him that he could be touching her. In fact, he felt like he’d regressed to sixteen again, and there was no further pursuit than a long satisfying makeout session. But Charisma clearly felt no such thing and her hands were actively perusing his body, sweeping over the hard muscles of his chest and dipping beneath his clothing. Her feathery touches did little to discourage the activity and he knew he wasn’t going to feel a sudden inclination to stop.
 

The kiss stopped short for a moment while Charisma repositioned herself to be closer to him.

“What the hell,” Jared said with as much resignation as he could muster before rolling Charisma onto her back and settling comfortably on top of her. In the darkness he saw a flash of pearly teeth followed by sultry laughter. He couldn’t see it, but he knew her dimple had made an appearance, and he ran his thumb over where it would have been. His other hand pulled on the dark strands framing her face. Her hands had crept around his back, underneath his shirt, following the play of his muscles beneath his skin.

He was pretty sure this was the last thing he should be doing with a naked, probably concussed, fugitive-in-hiding, but he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself, so he let his mouth return to hers and enjoy some more of her sweet kisses. Her hands twisted into the fabric of his shirt and gave several sharp yanks, the unmistakable cue that he should remove the barrier from her reach. He pushed himself away from her and pulled the shirt off in one quick movement, already missing the feel of her body against his.
 

The shock of skin on skin greeted him when he returned to her. He melted into the heat of her skin, trailing kisses away from her lips, over her jaw and down the slender line of her neck. His hands ran a confident path down her body, brushing over the swell of firm breasts he had never given much attention when they had hidden beneath her too-big clothing. The pad of his thumb brushed over top of one pert nipple, eliciting a husky, moan that reminded him how crazy he was.

He had forgotten how close to naked she was. But now, her body wedged tightly between his thighs, her hips arching up against him and her hands wrapped tightly around his newly bared biceps, he couldn’t stop thinking about the little scrap of material and the junction of her thighs. She drew one small foot over his leg, letting it slip beneath his worn pants and brush against his skin.
 

It occurred to Jared then that if he didn’t get her completely naked right that moment, he might very well melt into a puddle and die. With a force he didn’t mean and couldn’t seem to squelch, he tore away from her and pulled the panties down the length of her legs. He took the time to memorize the feel of her silken skin against his fingertips, let himself wallow in the flowery scent that clung to her despite her late-night catastrophe and recent half-bath. Everything about her was perfect. The way she moved against him, the feel of her hands on him, the soft sounds she made and the space she occupied beneath his weight. He couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted someone so desperately.

“Come back.” The little plea slid across his skin and settled in the pit of his stomach.
 

“Trust me, I will.” Even he could hear the smile in his voice.

He could hear the grin in her throaty chuckle. Her hands returned to his head as he pressed more kisses to her thigh and ran his teeth over the sharp line of her hip bone.
 

The panties were finally freed and Charisma lay completely naked and available to his touch. He groaned as he settled back against her. When she kissed him again it was with a renewed sense of urgency. When they had settled back into a rhythm, he rolled away from her and was greeted with a disapproving whimper. Jared made himself comfortable next to her, enjoying the feel of her shoulder pressed into his chest and the feel of her legs trapped between his. They had begun a new onslaught of kisses and Jared was in no rush to stop. He was propped on one elbow, his free hand running over her curves, stopping to slip between her thighs and feel her heat.