Almost Perfect (18 page)

She opened her eyes to find him staring at her with a look of amused wonder.

"Did you just… ?"

"Oh yeah." She laughed and blushed. "Sorry."

"Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how hot that was? I nearly came myself."

"Don't you dare," she ordered, then blushed even more. "I mean—"

"Not until I get inside you, I swear." He shuddered when she licked his neck. "I hope."

"I did try to warn you."

"I may forgive you." He pressed kisses along her hairline. "On one condition. Lose the shirt. I'd rip it off myself but my hands are kind of full." He squeezed her bottom to demonstrate.

She glanced toward the sliding glass door where sunlight poured in. "Do you think we could close the draperies first?"

"Why?" He pulled back. "No one can see in."

"I know. It's just really bright in here."

He wiggled his brows. "I know."

"Joe, I'm not kidding." She crossed her arms over her breasts. "I'm not the same girl you remember. I'm thirty-two years old. I have… bulges. And cellulite. As much as I am dying to see you naked, I would prefer you not see me all that clearly."

"You want to see me naked?" The thought clearly flattered him.

" 'See' you naked?" She snorted. "I want to
draw
you naked. Preferably while I have my clothes on."

He considered it a moment. "Okay. Now, open your shirt."

Her heart skipped. "Are you saying you'll let me draw you?"

He arched a dark brow. "Those buttons better start popping open in the next two seconds, or they'll be popping off."

"All right, all right." She untied the shirttail at her waist. "Jeez, you are so demanding."

"Yeah, and I can tell you find it a real turnoff."

He was right, she realized. This alpha male side of him thrilled her on a purely primal level. Her nerves sparked with little thrills as she opened the shirt, then held in her stomach as best she could before spreading it open to hang on either side of her breasts.

His hot gaze fell to the abundant swells of creamy flesh over the bronze-colored bra. Feeling wicked and female, she unsnapped the clasp between the cups and parted the bra slowly. The brush of air puckered her nipples to aching peaks.

His expression went blank as he stared down at her, transfixed. "God, how can you be even more beautiful?"

She wanted to point out that she wasn't. She was bigger, true, but she wasn't as firm.

He didn't seem to care. Almost reverently, he pulled his hands from her shorts and cupped both breasts, stroked them softly. With her hands on the counter, she arched back, offering herself to him. -Glorious pleasure filled her at the feel of him lifting the weight of her breasts, at his mouth suckling one nipple and his fingers teasing the other.

Her legs tightened about his waist as pleasure built and built, then burst again, as bright and wondrous as it had been the first time.

He chuckled against her breasts, but she refused to be embarrassed this time. As her senses cleared, she grabbed his shirt and tugged, wanting to get to bare skin.

In one swift move, he had his shirt off and sailing for the far corner. He started to return to feasting on her breasts, but she held him back so she could have her turn touching him. Oh wow. He felt even better than she'd expected, she marveled as she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms.

The tattoos were like Celtic armbands, but the designs were Native American. They distracted her only briefly before she moved on to his torso. Her mouth watered as she learned his contours with her eager hands.

His muscles twitched at a touch here, a caress there, but he held himself rigidly still, allowing her to explore. When she leaned forward, though, to lick one flat, male nipple, his control snapped.

"Okay, that's it." He scooped her off the counter. "If I don't get inside you quick, this will all be over."

He strode toward the bed with her arms and legs wrapped about him. They tumbled onto the mattress, pulling at their remaining clothes until they were finally naked and free. And he was kissing her. Kissing her the way he always had. Long and deep, as if he could kiss her forever.

Her whole body sang with joy as he rolled her onto her back. He'd pulled a condom from somewhere and had it on with lightning speed. When he settled between her thighs, bracing himself on his straight arms so he could watch her, she smiled up at him and stroked his hard abs.

Nothing existed but the two of them and this moment. She lifted her hips in invitation. And when he sank slowly, fully, into her, stretching her and filling her, she laughed and came apart again, just like that. Just from the feel of him inside her once again.

"I love the way you laugh," he said in a low rumble, rotating his hips.

She smiled weakly and out of breath as he moved inside her. "I love the way you make me laugh."

She waited for him to take her hard and fast, in a blinding race toward fulfillment, but somewhere along the way, he'd learned restraint—learned that prolonged pleasure burned hotter and sweeter.

Slowly, he drove her mad with long, deep, calculated thrusts. She felt half crazed and on the verge of begging by the time he lowered his body over hers and took her mouth in a fevered kiss.

Yes
, she wanted to shout as she moved her hands down his back and cupped the tight backside she'd drooled over since seeing him again. She squeezed the flexing muscles, pulling him to her as she lifted her hips. Finally he gave himself over to that wild rush toward the pinnacle. They reached it together, and hung suspended for a moment, before he collapsed on top of her, boneles.s and spent.

"Oh God yes." She laughed again as she wrapped her arms about him. "I think I could do that about five more times."

He moaned into the pillow. "I thought you just did. At least five times."

"I said five
more
times."

Groaning, he rolled off of her the best he could on such a narrow bed and draped an arm over his eyes. "Okay, I'm game. Just… give me a minute. Or ten. To catch my breath."

She snuggled against him with her head on his shoulder. "And here I thought Rangers were tough."

"Honey…" He lifted his arm to look at her. "If I weren't, we never would have made it to the bed."

"I'm not that heavy."

"No, but you are that hot." He kissed her forehead, stroking her hair. "And that beautiful."

Ducking her head, she bit her lip to hold back a rush of words. It was all so much, so fast. Was either one of them ready for where they might be headed?

Chapter 12

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Joe grumbled as his butt grew chilled.

"It wasn't that hard."

"Actually, at the time, it was very hard. That's how you caught me in a weak moment." He felt ridiculous, lying facedown on Maddy's bed, bare-ass naked while she sat in the big armchair across the room drawing him.

"Trust me." She laughed. "You and the word 'weak' do not belong in the same sentence."

With his weight on his elbows, he watched her over his shoulder. She'd closed the drapes and set candles on every conceivable surface "for effect." The play of light over her face and hair provided a nice distraction. An even better distraction was the fact that the red Chinese silk robe she'd put on barely covered the vital regions. With the way she sat, curled up in the chair, he had a good view of thoroughly female thighs. Plus, each time she reached for a different color in the box of pastels, the robe gaped down the front, teasing him with glimpses of her breasts.

"Maddy?"

"Yes?" She reached toward the box.

"You know that ten-minute rest I said I needed?"

"Um-hm?"

"I think we can safely say I'm fully rested."

She went still, then dragged her gaze up his body to his face. "Oh?"

"Ho-yeah." He cocked a brow as he felt himself lengthen and harden against the mattress. "So why don't you put down that sketch pad and come back over here?"

"I'm not done yet." She changed colors again, frustrating him when the robe refused to gape enough to show a nipple. Then she sat back, tipped her head to study him. A grin played across her face as she went back to drawing.

"What is it you keep smiling at? You're not doing a caricature as a joke, are you?"

She laughed and blushed. "Trust me, there is no exaggeration going on here."

"Exaggeration?"

"A caricature is when you exaggerate the subject's natural features. Like if they have a big nose, you make it even bigger."

"So, if I turned over, and you drew my other side—"

"No, don't move! I'm almost done." She made a few more quick strokes, then looked around and fanned herself. "Is it getting hot in here?"

"Maybe you should take off that robe." He gave her a smoldering look.

"Hold that!" She grabbed another color. "That look right there."

"You mean you're drawing more than my ass?"

"Oh, baby, I'm drawing everything." She grinned from ear to ear as she worked.

"Maddy," he said in a low, even voice.

"Yes?" she answered, clearly distracted.

"Remember our agreement. You don't show this to anyone, right?"

She glanced up, blinked, and her silly grin shifted to something much deeper. Much hotter. "I'm definitely not sharing this. With anyone." She uncurled from the chair with seductive grace and headed for him with a sway to her hips that had his blood pumping.

When she reached the bed, she dropped the pad so it landed on the floor. As she moved to the foot of the bed, he looked down to see what she'd drawn. He expected to be embarrassed, but the sensuality of the image hit him at gut level. This was how she saw him: a hard masculine body covered in molten shades of skin glowing in candlelight, surrounded by rumpled sheets and dark shadows.

It was mesmerizing. And arousing.

He felt the mattress dip as she climbed onto the bed, then her hands on the backs of his calves. He dropped his head forward and closed his eyes as her hands slid up the backs of his legs. His body tightened as she cupped his butt, caressing the cheeks, then kissing them.