Authors: Jasmine Haynes
Wow. “You’ve still got all your
clothes on.”
“I can do something about that.”
His shirt still halfway unbuttoned from their earlier bout on the couch, he
simply pulled it over his head and tossed it on top of her dress.
She ran a hand down his chest. He
unbuckled his belt, the rasp of his zipper filling the quiet room.
“Let me stand up.” He eased her
back as he rose, her gaze traveling up with his. Then he shucked his jeans,
reached for her hand, and wrapped her fingers around his cock.
He was long and thick and very,
very hard. Her throat dried up. Yes, he was beautiful there, too.
“You look at me like that much
longer, I’m going to come.”
She stroked his length.
He stopped her. “Get in the
middle.”
She moved to the center of the bed,
then turned to watch him as he leaned down to his jeans, pulled out his wallet,
and extracted a condom packet.
He glanced at her over his
shoulder. “Hope you don’t mind. I did come prepared.”
“I don’t mind.” She’d prepared,
too.
He let her watch as he rolled on
the condom, then crawled across the bed on his hands and knees. Sinking his
hand between her legs, he slid a finger over her clitoris. She moaned.
“You want the top or bottom?” he
murmured.
“Top.” She wanted to watch as she
guided him inside.
He flopped on his back beside her,
then pulled her over him. His cock nestled at her juncture. She rubbed lightly
against him, then rose. Stroking a hand down the condom, he lifted to her
opening. God, he was hard. She closed her eyes a moment to relish the feel of
just the tip inside her, then she leaned forward on both hands, watching as he
filled her.
“Christ, that feels good.”
Air rushed from his lungs as she
took him all the way and then settled, loving the feel of him inside her. His
hands on her hips guided her, forcing her to rise, then fall once more. Again.
When she found that perfect rhythm, he took her breasts, molding them with his
fingers.
“I knew you’d feel just like this.
Hot and wet.” He rose, taking a nipple in his mouth and sucking until a bright
shot of pleasure zipped to her clitoris.
She slid down against him, taking
him deeper and rubbing herself against his coarse hair.
He stiffened, suddenly, and not in
a good way. “Houston, we have a problem.”
“There’s something between my legs,
and I really don’t think it’s supposed to be there.”
Randi twisted to look behind her.
Royal had crept up onto the bed and was sprawled between David’s legs.
Holy Mack Moly. “Royal, down.” She
couldn’t even remember the damn Norwegian command. Her face flamed.
Mick had hated, absolutely hated
the dog on the bed.
After Royal slinked away, she
turned back to David. “I’m sorry. I forgot to put her back outside or close the
bedroom door.” She’d forgotten everything in her haste to have him. “She’s used
to sleeping with me. You’re not mad, are you?”
He cocked his head. “Why would I be
mad?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Though I have to say I’m not used to a dog
trying to nuzzle my nuts.”
Oh, this was mortifying. He’d leave
now. Just pull out and leave. “I’m so sorry.”
He ran his hands up her forearms,
then pulled her down by the elbows. “It’s all right. I don’t care. What’s
wrong?”
She’d cooked dinner to mush. She’d
forgotten the dog, left her outside to get sprayed by a skunk, then allowed her
to crawl up between his legs. What else could go wrong?
He shook her lightly. “It’s not a
big deal.”
Stupid, stupid, stupid. What must
he think? Terrible thoughts spiraled through her head, gaining momentum,
spinning out of control. Looking on the bright side didn’t work.
David rolled her beneath him and
stared down at her. Tears pricked her eyes. And she knew.
She wanted him to fall in love with
her. She wanted him to come back. Tomorrow. The next day. The next month. Holy
Moly, she’d done it again. Mixed up lust and love, and really, she couldn’t
tell the difference in what she felt about David.
It was all so like her relationship
with Mick. He’d wanted her badly, at first, so she’d fallen in love, hopped
into bed, then jumped into marriage so quickly she hadn’t a moment to even
think
about what she was doing. It had taken three years to finally admit her
mistake. She was a little slow on the uptake.
But here she was repeating the
pattern all over again.
David moved inside her, gently. He
pecked at her lips, then licked the seam with his tongue. “You’re perfect,
Randi, you don’t have to worry about anything but this.”
He dipped down to suck her nipple
in his mouth, let it pop free, then blew warm breath on it. Her body
involuntarily arched into his.
“You’re not going to make me stop,
are you, sweetheart?”
With a hand beneath her bottom,
David pulled her closer, angled her for a slightly deeper penetration. He
hadn’t a clue what was running through her mind, but he wouldn’t let her go
now. It wasn’t about fucking the hell out of a delicious woman, it wasn’t even
about getting off. It was about a warm sense of comfort that being inside her
gave him. It was her laughter that still rang in his head. It was the taste of
her, the scent of her, the feel of her skin along his body.
He slid deeper. “Say it,” he
murmured. “Say, ‘don’t stop, I want you to keep going, I love what you’re doing
to me.’”
She bit her lip. “Maybe I
overreacted about the dog.”
He pulled out, pumped fast twice,
then hit deeply again.
She moaned. “Yes, I definitely
overreacted. Don’t stop.” She raised her legs to his hips and her arms to his
neck. “I love the feel of you inside me.”
He rocked against her, thrusting
higher and deeper. Then he braced himself on one hand and reached between them,
finding her clitoris, stroking it. She groaned, and he loved the sound. Her
eyes closed, her lips gently parted, and he knew she was lost to the sensation
of his cock inside her, his fingers on her.
She tightened around him, inner
muscles working, and she cried out. He thrust harder, keeping her on the edge,
riding it with her until he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer, until the
wave slammed into him, tumbled him over, and he shouted her name as he lost a
part of himself inside her.
* * * * *
They’d fallen asleep with the light
on. David had slept like the dead, better than he had in weeks. Randi’s hair,
splayed across the pillow, shone golden in the lamplight. She lay on her side
facing him, both hands tucked child-like against her chest. Long lashes fanned
beneath her eyes, and her porcelain skin glowed.
He hadn’t intended on falling
asleep. But maybe this made things easier, even if cowardly. He hadn’t intended
on feeling anything for her either, besides just the plain fact that she’d
intrigued him. Shitty, however true it might be.
If he’d felt nothing for her,
though, he wouldn’t be slipping out while she slept. Hell, he hardly knew her.
He didn’t want to
feel
anything for her. He didn’t need another
complication.
And wasn’t that one helluva typical
male excuse.
He climbed from the bed as gently
as possible, gathered his jeans, shirt, and boots, then carried them into the
living room.
The dog lay curled up in the center
of the carpet. In the dim light spilling down the hall from the bedroom, she
raised her head to gaze at him with the saddest eyes. Dogs had that woebegone
expression down pat. Randi had thrown her out of the bedroom, and the dog had
not come back but lain on the carpet moping.
“Look, girl,” he whispered, because
hell, when she gazed at him so steadily, unblinkingly, he had to say something.
“You shouldn’t be going into your mom’s bedroom and sticking your nose where it
doesn’t belong.” The dog blinked. “You’re cute and all, but you just can’t be
crawling into bed when she’s got company. It’s not polite.” Dressed, he bent to
tie his boots. “It’s like being caught by the kids, ya know.” She stared, then
finally she whined, laid her head down, and closed her eyes.
David felt oddly rebuked, as if the
dog were saying he wasn’t worth listening to since he was sneaking out in the
middle of the night.
Shit. Definitely a guilty
conscience talking there. Should he wake Randi? Should he go?
In the end, he just acted like a
dickhead and left. He really didn’t know what he’d say to her. He didn’t have
any promises to give.
* * * * *
Well, that was that. She should
have stayed in bed and let him leave. She shouldn’t have hidden just inside the
bedroom door and listened to him talk to Royal.
Randi had started letting the dog
sleep on the bed the night she left Mick. He’d hated Royal. Hmm,
hate
was a strong word. He thought Royal was prissy and high-strung. He’d have been
happier with a Doberman. Something manly. But Royal was like...royalty. There
wasn’t a prissy bone in her body. Mick, however, had treated her like...a dog.
David had actually talked to her.
And Randi fell in love.
Just like that. Less than
twenty-four hours. She was such a sucker. She’d done it all over again, opened
her heart up to a world of hurt. Not much she could do about it now.
She was in love with a guy who’d
said good-bye to the dog but left without even waking her. Which said a lot
about the development of this non-relationship.
Randi used the bathroom, washed her
hands, then climbed beneath the covers on her bed. Reaching to shut off the bedside
lamp, she saw the caviar tube. After washing the dog, they’d forgotten all
about it. It sat like an ugly reminder of what might have been. Closing her
eyes, she bit her lip to ease the sudden pain in her heart. Then she clicked
off the light and clapped for Royal, who came bounding in, careened onto the
bed, and nuzzled her nose into Randi’s armpit.
That was the thing about animals.
They loved you unconditionally, were always happy to see you, and didn’t sneak
out in the middle of the night.
* * * * *
David felt like shit. He hadn’t
slept well after he left Randi’s. In fact, he hadn’t slept at all. Then his dad
had kept him and his brothers humping at the day’s job site with barely a word
between them. Sweating like a pig, David downed four bottles of water over
three hours. In the summer, it would have been nice to start early and cut off
shortly after noon, but for some reason, people didn’t like the sound of a
chain saw before seven in the morning. Gee, go figure.
They’d finished hauling the last
load to the dumps at around three, and finally, dog-tired, David had hit the
shower by three-thirty.
So why, at four-thirty, was he at
Randi’s with a load of two-by-fours in the back of his truck?
Oh yeah, to fix the front steps and
porch so she wouldn’t break her neck in the dark. The dog had set up a
ballistic racket when he arrived, so he’d let her out of the backyard to wander
around while he worked. She bounced around like a ping-pong ball, then settled
down on the porch. She didn’t run away, and damn, the little beast actually
looked like she was listening when he talked to her.
“Was she pissed when she woke up
this morning?”
Royal panted, and David gave her
some water.
“All right, don’t answer that
question.”
It really didn’t matter if Randi
was pissed. Not much he could do about it now. “And I am not fixing her porch
to make amends. It’s just the neighborly thing to do since she made me dinner.”
And gave him the best freaking night of his life, sexually speaking.
“All right,” he told the dog, “I
like her. Christ, I even like you. But I’m not looking for any of the serious
stuff right now.” She stared, sad brown eyes unblinking, just as she’d gazed at
him last night. “Don’t look at me like that.”
The dog flopped over on her side to
ignore him.
David leaned on the board he’d just
finished cutting. “Fine, I’ll tell her the truth. She has a right to know.”
All he got was another doggie
stare.
Years of doing the right thing, the
expected thing, allowed a niggling glimmer of guilt to slip through. In his world,
a man didn’t have casual sex.
Worse than the guilt was the notion
that last night was anything but casual. Randi was funny, sassy, bright, and
somehow sweetly child-like in her penchant to babble. She was also deeply
passionate. He had the feeling there wasn’t a casual bone in her body.
Dammit. David laid the board in and
screwed it down.
By six, he’d replaced four of the
rotted or missing boards in the porch and fixed the steps. The dog raised her
head, then jumped up for an exuberant barking session before David saw Randi’s
truck bumping through the ruts in the gravel drive.
She climbed from the truck, bending
down to fondle and chatter to the wriggling mass at her feet. Then she leaned
back into the truck, her jean skirt stretching across her backside as she
reached to the passenger seat for a grocery bag.
“Hi.”
David sensed a forced brightness in
her greeting and her smile. He felt the need for a little forced small talk
himself.
“Hope it was okay I let the dog out
of the backyard.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Randi looked
from his truck, to the sawhorses he’d set up at the side of the drive, to the
new planks in her front step. “What are you doing?”
What
was
he doing? Being a
good neighbor? Or searching for an excuse to wait for her on her porch?
Honestly, he had to admit it was more of the latter than the former, despite
what he’d told the dog. Despite what he’d been telling himself. He might not be
ready for any sort of serious relationship, but he wasn’t done with her yet.
Not by a long shot.