Look, But Don't Touch

2

BETWEEN KISSES they were soon naked and breathless on his bed, covered with a down comforter that gathered them close and cushioned them in warmth.

He plunged his hands into her hair, pulling it, kneading her scalp as his hot breath brushed her skin. His lips captured hers in great hungry gulps while his hips ground against her, his arousal pulsating with need. The power of his appetite demanded that she meet his every move with equal fire. She did.

Suddenly he pulled her hands above her head so that she couldn’t move. His mouth moved down her neck, tasting her nipple with his tongue and finally capturing it with his lips. Beneath him she writhed, trying desperately to entice him inside her. But he was not finished with her yet. With a hard tug she pulled away from his grasp. Hands free to touch, she explored hard muscles. Soft, pliable skin clenched in its wild need to be joined. Skin against skin, she was on fire, little sparks exploding outward, heating them both, making her wet with want. She knew he could tell she was with him. Pleasure throbbed inside her, growing stronger, frantic to be released.

Jesse was inside her and for a moment any thought of control was gone, until he realized what was happening and forced himself to still. “Whoa, lady,” he said in a tight voice. What was he doing, making love to her without protection? And why hadn’t she stopped him?

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Everything. Because professional call girl or not, he wanted her.

She squirmed beneath him, crying out with need. He wanted her and he’d gone too far to turn back, but if he was going to break his own code of ethics, he’d still be smart enough to protect himself and her.

He reached past her and fumbled in the drawer in the nightstand. He couldn’t reach it and had to lift himself up.

“Don’t go away,” she said.

He tried to open the packet, dropped it and cursed. The throb grew stronger as if liquid lightning pulsed through his veins.

“You don’t need that,” she gasped.

“You may not, but I do. I don’t take chances.” He grabbed the packet from the floor.

“Give it to me,” Cat said, pushing him to his back as she removed the contents and tossed the foil to the floor. She smiled. He didn’t have to worry, but a little interruption like this always heightened the tension. She slowly rolled the latex down. He moaned and she could feel the muscles in his body contract as she touched him.

“For God’s sake, get it done,” he growled.

“For my sake, I’m trying.”

“Let me.” He pushed her away, finished and moved back over her. Their eyes were only inches apart. Even in the dark he could see the same desire he knew she saw in his. She breathed in the air he breathed out. He felt as though he’d never been so close to a woman before. She made a desperate sound deep in her throat and reached between them to grasp the hard length of him. This time she clasped her legs around his body and forced him inside her. There was no thinking, only her woman smell, his smell and the slight salty taste of her skin. He filled her with the raw sense of his hot sex.

This time there was no stopping. This time he slammed into her and she raised herself to meet him. He heard her gasp for breath, crying out in pleasure. He felt the beginning of her climax and tightened his muscles in an effort to sustain the moment, then groaned and once again plunged deep inside her as release exploded through them both.

Jesse had some earth-stopping climaxes before, but never like this. As the tremors subsided, little sparks of aftershocks continued to fire. He lay there until his heart stilled and his breathing went back to near normal. Then, finally, he rolled off her, pulled her close beside him, and curled his arm around her shoulder.

“I don’t know what to say,” he murmured, no longer loving her with his lips or his hands, yet still connected to her more intimately than he’d thought possible. How could he explain what had happened, how he’d broken his own rule, first about making love to a woman in his own house, then about the kind of woman he’d just shared the most intimate experience of his life with? It had to be an effect of the storm.

“Talking after something like that would be a sacrilege.”

“But women like to talk.”

“Not this woman. That kind of climax is worth a thousand words and I don’t know one that would accurately describe it.”

He kissed her forehead, his fingertips drawing little circles on her shoulder, memorizing the feel of her.

“Neither do I.”

He continued to hold her as he listened to the sound of his breathing, her breathing, and the heated waves of silence.

She shivered and said, “I think it’s stopped raining.”

“Are you cold?” he asked, but made no effort to pull up the covers.

“No. Cold is the last thing I am.”

“You shivered.”

“I think it’s because this is a little awkward. I’ve never been in exactly this situation before.”

“What kind of situation?”

“This may happen to you all the time, but I generally don’t end up naked in the arms of a man I don’t know.”

“You don’t? You did say men were your business, didn’t you?”

“But that’s different,” she started to explain, then stopped. He wouldn’t understand. He was right. She made her living off men’s bodies. She even sampled their attributes once in a while. But her partners always knew that it was casual and temporary. By staying in his arms, she’d broken one of her own rules tonight.

“I know. You do your thing, then move on and it’s all over.” He couldn’t pretend he expected anything else. From the beginning, everything about her looks, clothes, those heart-attack legs said big bucks and the expertise to demand it.

“Well, yes.”

“So this is over?” His words came out before he had known what he was going to say.

“Certainly. I mean, why wouldn’t it be?”

“Business as usual?” he said, wondering why he was bothered by her statement. He agreed with her. Didn’t he?

“Well, no. This isn’t business,” she admitted, a curious catch in her voice. “It’s personal. Normally, I make it a point to enjoy each…encounter, recognize it for what it is and move on. But this is different.” She was beginning to get a strange feeling about what was happening between them. “Like you said, I’m a direct woman. Since I’m being honest, I’ll confess I wanted you like I’ve never wanted any man. And you wanted me. How does that make you feel?”

“Horny as hell,” he admitted. “This was possibly a mistake, yet I’m about one touch away from making another.”

She laughed dryly. “Well, at least you’re man enough to admit when you’ve made a mistake.”

“And to admit when I’ve broken a few of my own rules.”

“Maybe we both did.”

The warm cocoon was dissipating. Cat didn’t like the awkward feeling. Always before, she and her partner had been on the same page. Tonight neither she nor her one-night stand had taken the lead and the result felt like two pieces of wire still sparking but no longer connected. It was time to go, before she did or said something dumb like “Can I live with you and have your children?”

Finally she made an uneasy move away. When he didn’t pull her back, she said the first thing that came to mind. “You think that coffee’s ready?”

“I’m sure it is,” he said, then stood and held out his hand to help her up. “By the way, if this were a business arrangement and I wanted to hire you, what would you have said to me?”

She stood, slid her arms into his flannel shirt, gathered up her damp clothes and headed to the fire in the other room, trying to put some distance between her and the man who’d just ravished her gloriously. “You don’t understand. It’s me that would be hiring you. And, that’s easy. I would have started by asking you to strip. Then I’d make you an offer.”

She didn’t know why she’d said that. That was her wise-cracking, break-the-ice line for models. But this wasn’t a wise-cracking kind of man. Suddenly she was confused. She had to get dressed and leave. Granted, her El Camino was low to the ground. Granted, the flat areas of Texas flooded quickly. Granted, he wasn’t an ax murderer. And he hadn’t done anything she hadn’t wanted. In fact, he’d done exactly what she’d wanted. Yet, she had the urge to run.