Test Drive (22 page)

“Johnny,” she sighed and hugged him tight.

“Yeah, baby. Lara…” The bed rocked, faster now, and she came fully awake to the glorious feel of Johnny inside her, reminding her that sometimes dreams do come true.

He inserted a hand between them as he leaned up, and those clever fingers found her happy spot without err. The added stimulation set her off, and she cried out as she came hard around him, holding him inside.

A swear word, then he pulled out and spent on her belly, his breath sawing in and out while he moaned his pleasure. It seemed forever as she clenched and spasmed around the emptiness where he’d just been.

“Damn, honey. I left a mess. Sorry about that.” He reached beside him and found something to clean off her belly. Then he tossed it aside.

As she came down off her high, she realized what had almost happened. She froze.

Above her, Johnny tensed as well. “You okay?”

“You almost came inside me.”

He swore under his breath then lay next to her on his side. “I know. I didn’t mean to. Honest to God, I was half-dreaming you. I mean, I’m in bed, and there’s this sexy woman with perfect curves grinding against me. Then your hand wrapped around my cock, and I lost it.”

So, that had been real then. She blushed. Partly her fault, and except for almost having unprotected sex… “Wait. You were inside me. Without a condom.”

“Yeah.” He sounded a little too pleased about the fact.

She leaned up on her elbow, aware of his gaze straying to her mouth then her breasts. “So do I have anything to worry about?”

His lazy grin vanished, and his gaze snapped back to her face. “Huh? You mean… shit no. I’m not careless.” His cheeks turned pink. “Not usually, at least. I always use a rubber.”

“Even when your girlfriends sleep over?”

He turned even redder and lay back, slinging an arm over his face. He mumbled something.

“What?”

“I said they don’t sleep over. I either sleep at their place, or we go our separate ways.”

“So I’m christening a virgin bed?” Hard to believe.

“Not exactly. Damn, Lara. Do we have to talk about this? Now?”

“Um, let me think.” She popped him in the chest.

“
Ow.
”

“
Yes,
we have to talk about this now,” she said, feeling frantic. She did trust he took care of himself. But being with him felt
too
wonderful. She didn’t want to leave. And it looked as though she’d spent the entire night with him. In his bed, waking to have more sex with the dynamo. Without being conscious of it, she’d grown addicted to Johnny Devlin, as she’d always feared she might. “We did the horizontal mambo without protection, and I don’t know your sexual history. Well, except that you’re a horndog.”

“Now, baby, that’s not exactly true.”

She saw the grin he didn’t hide. “Oh?”

“Sure, there’ve been women over the years. Not as many as you’d think, especially not recently.” He sighed. “Look, I’m a stickler about keeping it clean. Had a problem back when I was a teenager that cleared up fast enough. Nothing serious, but it was enough to scare me straight. Trust me when I say you’re the first woman I went into without protection.”

“So your past blow jobs were with condoms too?”

He frowned. “Seriously? Hell no. I mean…”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, come on. I’m done with one-night stands, have been for years.” At her look, he amended, “Okay, months, but still. I’m different than I used to be. When I’m with a girl, I know if she’s clean or not before I…before we… This is really awkward.”

“You think?” Was it wrong for her to get a secret kick out of embarrassing the big bad stud?

He blew out a breath. “You want me to get tested or something? I’m due for a checkup anyway.”

She blinked at him. “Tested?”

“You know. You’re a nurse—almost. You know about this stuff. I can get a workup.” He grew animated. “Hey, you can get one too, then go on the Pill, and we can ignore condoms all together. Sounds like a plan, huh?”

“Hold on.”

He rolled over her and had her underneath him in seconds. “Well, why not? We both know this is the beginning with us, right? I mean, us hangin’ out and having sex, having a good time.
That
us. Or are you telling me last night was enough and you want to call it quits already?”

“Is this your way of trying to get me to go steady with you?” she teased, half-serious. He’d been quick to amend “the beginning with us” to being casual buddies who hung out and fucked. Which was what she was in the market for, all said and done.

Sex with Johnny had truly relaxed her. Orgasmic sex apparently cured tension and headaches. Who knew? Before Johnny, she sure the hell hadn’t.

Johnny stared at her. “I don’t know if I’d call it steady, but I’m a one-woman guy. I don’t do more than one woman at a time. I mean, there was that one night in Houston a while back, but…” He smirked at her.

“Shut up.” Knowing Johnny, he might not be lying about more than one woman in his bed. “I get that you’re selective. You have a lot of sex, but only with one woman at one time, and according to you, it’s safe sex.”

“I don’t know I’d say I have
a lot
of sex, but—”

“I don’t have casual sex.” Sadly. “Never have.”
Never
had
—until you.
Before he could contradict her, she admitted, “You’re different. I’ve known you for years, so we’re not exactly casual. Plus, you’re really good in bed.”

“Yeah?” He grinned.

“Please. Don’t act surprised. You rocked my world, but I rocked yours right back.”

“That’s true. You’re not half-bad when you’re naked.”

“So many compliments. I’m all aflutter,” she deadpanned, and he laughed.

It hadn’t been lost on her that he remained naked, his body all hard muscle and sexy lines. Not to mention that impressive part of him that seemed to stiffen when he shifted against her.

“So what do you say? I’ll get myself checked out, you do the same. We can be together, the two of us. No one else.” He shrugged, but his deliberate nonimposing tone alerted her to be wary.

“You’re saying you want an exclusive relationship that’s not serious?”

“We need to spell this whole thing out, huh?”

“Isn’t that your MO?”

“Kind of.” Johnny kissed her, then brushed her hair off her cheek with a tender touch. “Man, you’re fuckin’ gorgeous, you know that?”

“Stop changing the subject.”
And stop messing with my head!

“You’re also a hard-ass. But I like that about you.”

“So…?”

He sighed, loudly. “So…how about we keep this easy? We fool around, you and me. Like, we’re dating.”

“That does sound better than calling you my fuck buddy.”

He flinched. “Ouch. Look, let’s have fun together. Just you and me. Until you get bored with me and take off.”

He didn’t sound like he was joking.

“Yeah. That’s what’ll happen.” She snorted. “I’ll get tired of you, the guy who has women throwing their panties at him.”

“That is such crap. It happened just that one time at a concert.”

“I was kidding.” She stared up at him. “A woman really threw her panties at you?”

“Ah, so Foley never said anything about this?”

“No.” But she planned on cornering the big guy for answers.

“Right. Well.” He leaned into her, and his cock dragged over her belly, hard and ready to go. “Now that we have our status settled, how about I do you again?” He ground against her still-wet sex. “You get me hot and bothered by breathing. But naked… I can’t resist.” He kissed her until she forgot her own name.

But as he slid inside her on a groan, she put a hand on his chest. “Wait.”

He froze. “You’re killing me, you know that?”

“Not with the sex. I mean, just to clarify things—so we’re now dating? Having fun and having sex?”

“Yeah.” He started thrusting in and out of her, his eyes dark, cloudy with lust. “Just you and me. Fuck, you’re amazing.”

“So are you.” She groaned. “But I meant it about condoms.”

“I know, I know.” He withdrew and rustled in his side table again. “But can we agree that if we both check out I can fuck you bareback? Please?” He sounded so hopeful.

“Well, I’ll think about it.”

“That’s a yes.” He put the condom on and slid back inside her on a moan. “That means I’m it for you for the foreseeable future.”

“And I’m it for you, Romeo.”

“Yeah, you are.” He fucked her harder.

She couldn’t talk anymore, and neither could he. Her morning passed by in a blur of sex, laughter, and more sex. By the time noon rolled around, she thought her stomach might cave in from lack of nutrients.

“I’m so hungry,” she complained as she sat in her clothes from the day before.
I’m such a skank. An awesome, incredible skank. I rock!

Johnny had finished his shower and now dried off in front of her. And yes, Johnny Devlin naked, wet, and in only a towel was as good a sight as she and Rena had once thought it might be.

“We’re dating,” he said. “You and me.” A slow smile curled his lips. “How about that?”

“How about you keep this low-key, so when you move on to the next bimbo who can’t say no to you, it’s not such a jarring transition.”
For me.

“Now, Lara, you’re the only bimbo who matters.”

She tried to smack him, but he danced out of reach. Naked and laughing, he dressed in front of her. And all the while she kept asking herself what she thought she was doing with him, and why he made her so happy.

“I’m serious about my schoolwork,” she blurted. “That’s typically why I don’t date anyone. With me, school comes first. Oh, and family.”

“Gotcha.”

“I mean it. In fact, today I’m supposed to watch the girls for a few hours while Kristin and my mom work double shifts. Dad will get them this evening, when I’m working at Ray’s.”

Johnny sat down next to her on the bed and smoothed her hair behind her ear. When he used that gentle touch on her, watching her as if captivated, she wanted to melt. “I get you, Lara. You’re busy. No problem. I’m busy during the week too, and sometimes on weekends. Ah, I might as well tell you that lately I’ve been helping my dad at his place. I mean, he’s
supposed
to be replacing his general manager, but until he does, I’m helping to hold things together.”

“At the strip club.”

“Strutts.” He nodded. “He should have hired a new manager months ago. Tell you what. How about I help you with your nieces, you come out to Strutts sometime and watch me behind the bar. Working there… I mean, it’s not me trying to score, more like me protecting my little sisters. Who happen to get naked for a living. Yeah, it’s fucked up, but I’m not trying to get it on with anyone. Business and pleasure don’t mix.”

“If I get an earlier shift one of these nights, I could always meet you at Strutts.”

“
No.
I’ll pick you up. I don’t want you there without me.” He frowned. “The customers might get the wrong idea.”

“So you don’t want me dancing on a pole for you?”

“Not at all.” He stood and yanked her to her feet. “Now quit screwing with me, woman, and feed me.”

“Do I look like a walking kitchen?”

He chuckled. “No. But I know a great diner that serves breakfast twenty-four seven. You drive me there, and I’ll buy.”

“You’re on.” She let him lead her by the hand through the house. Even kept her hand in his as they walked to her car. Once there, he pinned her for a kiss.

When he broke away, they were both breathing hard. “We’ll be good together. You’ll see.” His smile, so sweet—and so intense. Johnny liked to keep things light, so she wondered if she ought to be concerned about the weight of his stare. Then he winked and gave her his trademark Devlin leer. “And when I say you’ll see, I mean you’ll see later tonight when I’m buried in you all over again.” He wiggled his brows. “My own personal version of a lube job.”

“Ew.” She grinned, aware he always made her feel like laughing, brightening her mood. “So you’re going to want to rotate my tires too, I guess?”

“Oh yeah. Let me get under that hood. I’ll lick it right up.” He smirked. “Told you I’d show you how I like to
eat
my dinner.”

She recalled their first dinner out together, when she’d warned him to eat his dinner, not make love to it. Boy, had she been wrong. “You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?”

“With you, Lara, everything’s up, all the time.” They both glanced down at his jeans, where she saw the hint of an erection. “Yep, hard and hurting. Guess you’ll have to make it better later.”

“If you’re lucky.”

“Baby, lucky is my middle name.”

* * *

After driving back to her place so she could clean up, they ate a terrific breakfast at a hole of a diner, then ended up getting the girls early. The afternoon with her nieces had been a cakewalk. Her nieces loved Johnny—Mr. Pink Unicorn Guy, or as Kay called him,
Pretty Johnny
—and flirted with him unmercifully while the four of them watched the two-dollar movie at the Mormont Theater, a tiny treasure her sister had found last year. Both Kay and Amelia had insisted Johnny sit between them, leaving their poor aunt stuck carrying a tub of popcorn and drinks.

Johnny had admirably stuck it out through a Tinker Bell cartoon and follow-up group-led fairy talk. He wasn’t the only guy in attendance, but Lara had a feeling he’d been the only nonparent there, excluding herself of course. But she was an official aunt, so she didn’t count. Leave it to Johnny to fit in during a fairy movie and fairy talk with little girls.

She couldn’t figure him out. He seemed to think she’d dump him before he tired of her. As if. The guy handled little kids in stride. He treated her to breakfast, had given her more orgasms in one night than she’d had from any guy in years, and continued to handle her as if she were special. Like they were really dating—which she guessed they were.

How had they ended up as a couple? Sex she understood. They had chemistry going for them, for damn sure. But she never would have guessed he’d want to take a sexual relationship to the next level. It was what she wanted…and it wasn’t. The time she would have spent doing her homework she’d spent with him. Tonight she had to work, and afterward she’d be too tired to concentrate on medical jargon and practice writing patient forms.