“Good morning,” she said, putting her hand in front of her mouth.
He pulled her hand away from her face and kissed her. “You taste good this morning, honey.” He swept his hand down her body. “Look good, too.”
She flushed and buried her red face against his chest. He put his arms around her and held her. He didn’t understand it but Kate was more beautiful this morning than she had been last night. Her dark hair was thick and curled in disarray around her shoulders. The makeup she’d had on yesterday had worn off and her eyes were clear.
“You slept with your contacts in. Do you need to take them out?”
She shook her head. “I got the kind you can wear for a month. I had a really hard time getting them in initially.”
“Then why wear them?”
“Glasses were part of the old me.”
“So was I, but not anymore.”
Kate laughed. “Glasses have always been a mask for me to hide behind and I don’t want to do that anymore.”
He traced his hand over her shoulder and down her back. She shivered with awareness and her nipples beaded. She was so wonderfully responsive. He pushed her back down on the bed and then bent to lick each nipple. He blew gently on the tips. She raked her nails down his back.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Making love to you this morning,” he answered, kissing his way to her stomach and tasting her flesh there.
“Why?”
“Because I can,” he said.
He kissed her soundly, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth until she was writhing on the bed and moaning his name.
He continued to kiss and nibble his way down her body, taking time to draw her nipples out by suckling them. When she arched off the bed and clutched his head to her breasts, he decided to move lower, to nibble at her stomach and trace the faint scars left from her weight loss. He hadn’t realized how proud he was of Kate until now. She’d really taken charge of her life.
He moved lower until he knelt between her thighs and looked down at her. “May I kiss you there?”
She swallowed, her hands shifting on the bed next to her hips.
“No one has ever done that,” she said.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll stop,” he said.
Her legs moved and he took that as a yes.
He leaned down, blowing lightly on her before tonguing her soft flesh. She lifted her hips toward his mouth.
He wrapped his hands around her hips and drew her up to him, holding her to his mouth as he tasted her. He pushed her legs farther apart until he could reach her dewy core. He pushed his finger into her body and drew out some of her moisture; he lifted his head and looked up her body.
Her eyes were closed, her head tipped back, her shoulders arched, throwing her breasts forward with their berry-hard tips, begging for more attention. Her entire body was erotically beautiful in the morning sunlight.
He lowered his head again, hungry for more of her. He feasted on her body, carefully tasting the moist flesh between her legs. He used his teeth, tongue and fingers to bring her to the brink of climax but held her there, wanting to draw out the moment of completion until she was begging him for it.
Her hands grasped his head as she thrust her hips up toward his face. But he pulled back so that she didn’t get the contact she craved.
“Lance, please.”
He scraped his teeth over her clitoris and she screamed as her orgasm rocked through her body. He kept his mouth on her until her body stopped shuddering and then slid up her, holding her tightly in his arms.
He rolled over, keeping her with him until she straddled him. “Sit up, honey.”
She did as he asked, bracing herself on his shoulders. He shifted his hips until the tip of his cock found the portal of her body. The warmth of her against him made him realize he wasn’t wearing a condom. He reached for the one he’d left on the nightstand last night.
He quickly opened it. “Sit up.”
“Let me do it,” she said.
He handed the condom to her and with a little help from him, he was sheathed. He shifted his hips again and slipped the tip of his erection into her.
“Take as much of me as you want,” he said.
“I want it all,” Kate said. “But I’m not sure…”
He put his hands on her hips and guided her down on him. But the feel of her around him quickly eroded his self-control and he found himself holding her hips tightly while he thrust up inside of her, trying to get deeper. He pulled her legs forward, forcing them farther apart until she settled even closer to him.
He slid deeper still into her. She arched her back, reaching up to entwine her arms around his shoulders. He thrust harder and felt every nerve in his body tensing. Reaching between their bodies, he touched her between her legs until he felt her body start to tighten around him.
He came in a rush, continuing to thrust into her until his body was drained. He then collapsed on top of her, lying his head between her breasts.
A week later, Lance still hadn’t had the chance to talk to Lexi, who had gone back to DC. But he had managed to keep Kate on as his assistant. And he’d taken her to dinner every night—and made love to her most of those nights, as well.
The investigation into the fire was going painfully slowly. Mitch was back in DC and Lance hadn’t spoken to him since the Fourth. They were ready to get back to work at the main refinery. They needed to be producing barrels of oil each day, not sitting idle.
He picked up the phone and dialed Darius’s number.
“This is Darius.”
“Darius, my man, what news do you have from the refinery?”
“Not much. The arson investigator is still tracking the accelerant to try to find the source.”
“Do you trust the man?” Lance asked. “Is he competent?”
“Yes, I think he is. I’m going to call his office later. I’ll follow up with you when I have news.”
“Thanks, Darius. I appreciate you taking this case.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Indeed.”
“Speaking of friends… what’s this I hear about your engagement?”