Authors: Janie Mason
He turned to find
Gigi
lying back against the pillows, crooking her finger at him.
The sight of her—perfect breasts that he wanted to spend hours worshipping, slender legs that he wanted to feel wrapped around his hips—made his already erect penis twitch in anticipation.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He tossed her the condom and crawled over her, holding himself up on his hands and knees.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and with surprising force pulled him down.
He resisted.
“I don’t want to squash you.”
She shook her head.
“You won’t, I promise.
I want to feel you on top of me.
Skin to skin from head to toe.”
Sean eased himself down on top of her, his erection nestled conveniently in the
vee
of her legs.
Christ, she felt good.
So smooth and soft.
As they kissed, he leaned one elbow into the mattress and stroked his free hand down her silky side and around the back of her thigh.
It wouldn’t take much to nudge her leg over and slip into her.
As if she read his mind,
Gigi
broke their kiss, gasping.
“Condom.
Now.”
She fumbled blindly for the package alongside her hip.
Finding it, she handed it to him.
Then, while he tried valiantly to unwrap the thing, she teased the underside of his shaft with the tip of her finger.
“You know,” he ground out in warning, “paybacks are hell.”
With a laugh accented by a delicate snort, she ceased her tactile teasing.
But no sooner had he covered his length and repositioned himself between her spread thighs than she was pulling him atop her.
“I want you,” she said.
“I’ve been going crazy, trying to pretend I was immune to you.
But,
God help me
, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Her admission made his chest swell.
She positioned him to enter her and he filled her body as fully as she had filled his heart.
“I haven’t been able to get you out of my head either.”
He kissed her, trying to communicate with his kisses all that he couldn’t yet put into words.
Their slow and easy rhythm rocked the bed, and the corresponding squeak bounced off the hardwood floors and echoed throughout the room.
He stopped kissing her and pushed up on his hands long enough to admire the woman beneath him.
Eyes closed and face radiant, she grabbed hold of two of the slats of the iron headboard and slid her arches along the backs of his thighs.
Her strawberry-tipped breasts shook with each of his thrusts, and she was so damned sexy, he had to hold back, resist pounding into her the way he wanted to, for fear of breaking the antique bed.
The employees and customers downstairs at the floral shop must be laughing out loud.
When she gave several small cries of delight, he knew she was approaching release.
He recaptured her mouth only a moment before her narrow passage contracted around him.
Her body gripped his erection in a hold so overwhelming that nothing could have forced him pull away.
She released the headboard and grabbed his ass as if she feared he might pull out.
Fat chance.
If anything, his pace quickened as he felt the onset of his own orgasm.
Too soon, he stiffened above her.
Face skyward and back arched.
Minutes later, Sean disposed of the condom and came back to the bed to lie behind her, his front to her back.
Gigi’s
hand shot to her stomach when it growled loudly.
Sean covered her hand with his and nuzzled her ear.
“Guess we worked up your hunger, huh?”
He’d rather sate himself with more of her, say for the remainder of the day, but he
had
promised her a meal and a movie.
He tickled her side and they rolled together, threatening to tumble off the bed.
“What do you say we grab that lunch and a take in a movie?”
She kissed his cheek with a resounding smack.
“Yes to lunch, but I’m not in the mood for a movie.”
She swung her legs off the bed and stood, searching the floor for her clothing.
“You don’t have to sell that idea to me.
So, what
are
you in the mood for?” Sean asked.
He lay on his side, his head propped on his hand, waggling his eyebrows.
“Other than me, of course.”
Her response was to roll her eyes and throw his briefs at him.
Then she picked up her panties and stepped into them.
“If I don’t have nourishment soon, I might not have the energy to make it back here.”
That did it.
Sean was out of the bed and dressed in record time.
“Seriously, where would you like to go?”
He followed her out of the bedroom, admiring the view of her rear end as it swayed ahead of him.
He hoped she was a fast eater.
She glanced at him as she gathered her purse and keys.
“I’ve been craving Romano’s.”
“Romano’s?
That’s what I had delivered here last night.
Didn’t you get—”
She chuckled.
“I take it you didn’t look inside your garbage can.”
Say what?
She’d put her pizza in his garbage can?
At his place?
“You came to my house just to throw away a pizza?”
The idea of
Gigi
coming to his house didn’t seem odd really, but he was sorry he hadn’t been there.
Maybe after lunch he’d take her there and show her around.
“Yep.
And the DVD is in your mailbox.”
She gave him a
neener-neener
grin, swung open the door and stepped out on the landing.
He pulled the door closed, pushing the button on the inside knob as she started down the stairs.
“But ever since I smelled that pizza I’ve—”
The door at the bottom of the stairs swung open and she lifted her head to see who it was.
Her hand grabbed for the railing as she descended to the last step.
Al Matthews appeared in the open doorway.
The look of surprise on his face intensified as his gaze went from her to Sean.
“Mr. Matthews!
What a nice surprise.”
The pitch of her voice sounded about an octave above normal.
Although a smile was plastered on her face, Sean could tell she was freaking out inside.
“I ran into Sean at the
laundromat
, and he offered to help me get all my baskets home.”
His stomach pitched.
“You live here?” Al looked at first
Gigi
and then Sean.
Sean held the man’s gaze, determined to keep his expression neutral.
Al broke the visual connection first to refocus on
Gigi
.
She wore her innocent face now.
“Yes.
Didn’t you know?”
She flipped her hand casually.
“You were probably too busy to note the address on my application.” She flicked her attention briefly between the men.
“Actually, Sean and I were pretty surprised to find out we live so close to each other.”
Sean felt his lips compress.
He’d known where she lived for over a week, but she was making it sound as though he’d found out just minutes ago.
Dawning truth made his gut twist.
She was going to pretend there was nothing between them.
Nothing more than co-workers who ran into each other while doing their laundry.
His blood turned molten.
What a fool he was for putting himself right back in the same pathetic situation.
He’d believed she’d changed her mind about him.
About giving
them
a chance.
What a fucking fool
.
He had to get out of here right now.
He’d been working hard to earn Al’s respect, and blowing his stack here would ruin that, big time.
“Well, I’ve got to hit the road.”
He looked at
Gigi
, doing everything in his power to mask his fury.
“My washer should be fixed by next weekend, so I doubt we’ll run into each other
any more
.”
His heart couldn’t take it.
Dating his neighbor George’s chainsaw-wielding niece had to be a lot safer than attempting to get serious with
Gigi
Thompson.
If there were ever a time
Gigi
wished she could roll back the clock—freeze it long enough to think things through and then resume play following a different course—this was it.
Okay, her explanations had been lame, but the immediate reaction to protect herself had been instinctive, to forestall the confrontation with Al until she’d had time to consider the ramifications and discuss their situation with Sean.
The events of the day had been unexpected and come about so quickly, she hadn’t had time to think about how to deal with Al.
They’d been making love less than a half hour ago, for goodness sake.
Obviously Sean couldn’t know everything swirling about inside her befuddled brain.
She
couldn’t even sort it out.
All he knew, all he’d heard, was her betrayal.
He’d tried to hide the anger and hurt, but she’d spotted the emotions as clearly as the clouds rolling in outside.
Although they’d known each other only a few weeks, she could read him as easily as one of her dog-eared paperbacks, the favorites she’d read time and time again and never tired of.
Love was the word she always used to describe those books, and she now realized, as much as she’d been fighting her feelings,
love
best described the way she felt about Sean.
Was any job worth sacrificing love?
No!
The jolt to her heart and the speed of her answer helped steel her resolve.
“Mr. Matthews,” she said, “I’ve just made a monumental mistake.”
Chapter Sixteen
Al’s gaze met hers, and for the first time she noticed fatigue, along with something else, trapped in the gray-blue of his eyes.
He sighed.
“I have a feeling I know what you’re going to say.”
Surprise joined the mass of emotions bombarding her.
Al spoke before she could reply.
“Sean’s been bothering you, and you’ve been afraid to tell me.”
Disappointment weighed heavily in his voice.
“No!”
She had already caused Sean enough trouble.
Setting the record straight was imperative.
“Sean has
always
been a perfect gentleman.”
What else could she say,
should
she say?
Her options seemed limited, but she hoped that the outcome didn’t reflect poorly on Sean.
“Mr. Matthews, although neither one of us meant for this to happen, Sean and I have become involved in, what I think is, a serious relationship.”
She looked with regret, out the door to the empty space where his car had been parked.
“That’s assuming he ever forgives me for just now pretending the opposite.”
She met Al’s serious gaze, shaking inside her white sneakers.
“Although I knew you
discouraged
relationships between coworkers, Sean said you actually have a strict policy on intra-office dating.
If that’s the case and I have to choose between Sean and my position, I choose Sean.
I’ll have my letter of resignation on your desk first thing Monday morning.”