Checking It Twice (7 page)

How long had it been since he’d experienced real sex that didn’t involve his hand? At least six months. Jesus. That was a long time for someone who loved the hell out of sex. Damn miracle he was still functioning.

He pinned his full focus on Jana, fully aware that his desire for her was likely displayed on every centimeter of his face. He wasn’t about to hide the evidence of his feelings. He’d instinctively known there was a connection between them even back when she’d only been a seductive voice on the other end of the phone line. She’d accomplished the impossible—recharged his sexual batteries and his mojo. Now he was panting at her feet, and he damn well wanted her to know it.

She swallowed, drawing his scrutiny to the rapidly beating pulse in the hollow at the base of her throat. He imagined kissing and tonguing that spot and the one right below her ear before exploring every single erogenous zone she possessed. Preferably while she was tied naked to his bed. Her nipples would receive his undivided attention first. He’d get them pebbled and hard and throbbing for his tongue while he stroked them with a feather tickler. He’d meander down to her bellybutton next, followed by the insides of her thighs. By the time he concentrated on her pussy, her clit would be slick and juicy, exactly the way he loved it. The tiniest flick of his tongue alternated with the feather tickler and she’d be squirming to get off, her body glistening with sweat and straining against the bindings he’d secured her into. Primed to ignite like a powder keg, she’d beseech him with those gorgeous eyes to make her come. And he would. So fucking hard she’d scream her throat raw.

“You’re staring at me like one of those cartoon wolves with lambchops hovering over their heads.”

He snapped back to his senses and caught her ironic expression. “What a coincidence, since I happen to love lamb.” He offered a slow—and hopefully charming—smile. “I suggest we have it for dinner tonight.”

She snorted. “Wow, that might have been the most presumptuous line ever.”

“No, telling you I want to have you for dessert would be my most presumptuous line.”

Her pupils dilated and a shaky breath slipped past her lips. “Good point.” She crossed her arms in front of her, presumably in an effort to hide the stiffening of her nipples. Like there’d been a shot in hell of him not noticing those luscious babies. Her attention veered to his presentation case. “A-are those my samples?”

He recognized a blatant diversion tactic when he saw one. Still, he decided to let her off the hook. For now. “That they are.” He waved toward the counter where the register sat. “Can I set up the display there, or would you prefer somewhere else?”

“Be my guest.”

Taking her cue, he rested the case on the Formica counter and unlatched it. “I brought my top six flavors in the Bodylicious line, along with a couple of seasonal offerings. After I impress you with those, I’ll bring out the big guns—the BodyScape Paints.”

“I’m all aquiver with anticipation.”

“Try out these products, and you’ll be quivering in all the best places, beautiful.” Satisfied to note the shallow intake of her breath, he unscrewed the cap on the Cherry Glide Bodylicious lube. “The base utilizes a high-quality coconut-oil blend. Completely edible, with a nice, clear yet creamy texture.” He squeezed a dollop of the liquid onto the pad of his middle and index fingers and reached for her arm. Cupping her hand in his, he grazed his fingers along the inside of her wrist. Her pulse leapt beneath his touch. Hot sparks of awareness sizzled between them, making his cock thicken behind his fly. He slowed his motions, lingering on the caress. “Works great for massage but is equally durable for more intense encounters.”

“I-Intense encounters?”

“Sex.” He locked her into his gaze. “Slow, deep, hard thrusting. Anyway you like it, Bodylicious has you covered. The only thing you’ll feel is the friction of skin on skin.” His thumb slicked along the hill of her palm, tracing her lifeline with small, gliding circles.

She swallowed. “That’s…good.”

“It’s better than good. It’s damn amazing. You should try a taste.”

He returned her stare with a crooked smile. “The lube. To appreciate it fully, you need to taste it.”

“Oh. Of course.” Her expression hinting that she’d seen through his sexual smokescreen, she leaned down and tentatively licked her wrist. His cock throbbed. Jesus. What he wouldn’t give to feel that wet pink tongue flicking over the head of his dick before sliding along the length of his shaft.

She straightened, revealing the wonderment splashed across her face. “How did you do that? It tastes fantastic. Not gross or artificial at all.”

“It’s a patented formula I’d been working on for a while, back when I used to be a pastry chef.”

“You used to be a chef?” She frowned. “You never told me that.”

“It was ages ago.” The reminder of yet another integral piece of his past with Kev was bittersweet. Those years of them going through culinary school together had provided some of the best moments of his life. Even with everything that’d happened, he still cherished those memories.

“What made you decide to leave that behind and get into this?” Jana gestured to his case of erotic goodies.

“It was pretty much a natural progression. I always wanted to combine my two biggest loves—food and sex.”

Their gazes locked again before she quickly glanced away. Curbing his grin, he screwed the cap back on the Cherry Glide. “So what do you think of Bodylicious?”

She perused the remaining assortment of lubes on the counter. “Put me down for two cases of each.”

“Don’t you want to sample the other flavors?”

“Nope. If they all taste equally good, it’s not necessary.”

“Okay, but you
are
trying the BodyScape Paints.”

Her eyes narrowed into a squint. “Anyone told you that you’re incredibly bossy?”

Suck Kev harder, baby. Yeah. Take that fat cock deep.
The ghostly memory of his words drifted into the ether as fast as they’d appeared. He offered Jana a broad smile. “Trust me, they never complained.”

She continued eying him shrewdly. “The take-charge type, eh?”

Sweetness, you have no idea.
“Again, I’ve had no complaints.”

Jana tapped her chin, her intense scrutiny of him unrelenting. “Let’s say I agree to have dinner with you. You’re not going to try and order for me, are you? I freakin’ hate that. It’s not like I’m going to insist on having lobster and king crab legs, for cripes’ sake.”

Giddy victory sang through his veins. “You can have all the lobster and king crab legs you can handle.”

“I was speaking hypothetically.”

“No, you weren’t. Admit it, Jana. This flirtation we’ve been playing at for the past year has been leading to this moment. You want me just as much as I want you.” He had too many years experience at reading the female body. There’d been no missing the way she trembled when he’d applied the lube to her wrist. Like him, she’d been imagining the lube-slickened glide of his cock stroking deep into her pussy, triggering all of her sweet spots to hum in anticipation of an intense, electrifying orgasm. If they didn’t end this night naked in bed together, there was a good chance they’d both self-combust from repressed need.

Shoving a strand of hair behind her ear, she regarded him intently again before another flicker of uncertainty swept across her features. “Okay, I admit it. I want to jump you like crazy.”

Growling in approval, he took a step toward her. She held up a hand, stalling him short. “But things are also weirdly complicated for me right now, Nick.”

“The dick for brains,” he stated flatly.

She nodded.

He wanted to punch a hole in the nearest wall. The notion of her heart being tangled up with another ate at him. Big time. He’d finally found someone who fired every single one of his cylinders after all these years of his desire being flatlined. It was fucking unfair to lose her to some idiot who didn’t even know what he was missing out on. Still, if there was one thing he wasn’t, it was a quitter.

Holding tight to his determination, he closed the tiny span of distance between him and Jana. “Forget about him. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“I keep telling myself that, but…” She dropped her focus to the floor. “I can’t,” she whispered, her voice wobbly.

He tucked his finger beneath her chin and gently nudged it upward, coaxing her to meet him eye to eye. “Give me a chance, and I’ll make you forget he ever existed.”

The tiniest ghost of a sad smile flitted across her mouth. “I don’t think a lobotomy would accomplish that feat.”

“Sweetness, that sounds like one hell of a challenge. One I’ll happily accept.” Moving his hand from her chin, he cupped her cheek, his fingertips grazing the soft tendrils of her hair. His thumb brushed the small smattering of freckles near her nose. Leaning forward, he caressed his lips over the tiny sun kisses. Her breath caught in her throat before puffing along his jaw with her shaky exhalation. Irises the color of cornflowers glimmered at him from beneath dusky, lowered lashes. In that moment, a meteor crashing into the center of the store wouldn’t have stopped him from kissing her.

Inching slightly to the right, he rubbed his lips over hers in the barest hint of a touch. Another shuddery inhalation slipped from her. He increased his gentle pressure on her mouth, and she obediently yielded, allowing his tongue unimpeded access.

He wasn’t prepared for the consuming hunger her taste brought out in him. Tunneling his fingers through her hair, he coaxed her closer, deepening the kiss on a ravenous groan. Sweet, velvety, sinful. She was all of those things and so much more. A lifetime of her kisses wouldn’t be enough to quench his need.

Dimly, through his haze of desire, he detected an odd laughing noise. It took him a second to remember her Woody Woodpecker doorbell. She broke away from him, and he silently cursed her customer and their incredibly ill timing. His gaze trekked to the door and landed on a familiar face. One he sure as hell hadn’t counted on seeing. At least not until he made a trip out to the Dockside.

“Kev.” He blinked, half expecting his best friend to vanish. Or morph into someone else. Maybe Jana’s addictive kiss had drugged him and he was fucking hallucinating. He grunted at the weird thought.

Rather than disappear, Kevin remained rooted in place. His expression was probably identical to the one Nick wore. Jaw slackened in apparent disbelief, Kev whipped his attention between Jana and Nick, his face going red before paling. When his focus steadied on Jana again, the look in his eyes was equal parts tortured and aroused.

A cold trickle of dread splintered through Nick, cracking him free of the stunned bemusement holding him hostage. He didn’t want to acknowledge the horrible suspicion slowly creeping through his bones, much less verify what his instincts were screaming. Because if what he suspected was true…fate just knocked him clean out with one hell of a curveball.

Unable to postpone the inevitable, he glanced in Jana’s direction. She was staring at Kevin, her fingers pressed to her lips. Lips that so sweetly returned Nick’s kiss seconds ago but were now trembling because of another man. There was no mistaking the hurt and confusion radiating from her in massive waves, adding to the damning evidence already piling up. The repercussions of it slammed into him with more impact than a Mack Truck.

Kevin was the dick for brains.

Fuck. Me.

Chapter Four

Kevin gaped at Jana and Nick. It took several moments to realize his overactive imagination hadn’t conjured the fantasy that’d tormented him for the past few days.

“Kev?”

Nick’s baritone broke through Kevin’s trance. They locked gazes, and he read the wary uncertainty in Nick’s eyes. A lifetime ticked by. Every tense word they’d exchanged five years ago echoed inside his head with excruciating clarity. Countless times since then he’d wished for an opportunity to take them back, but now that he and Nick were standing face-to-face, the words refused to budge loose.

A distressed noise slipped from Jana as she dropped her hand. He noticed her rosy, kiss-swollen lips, the visual of Nick’s tongue in her mouth playing like a hypnotic reel through his memory. The sight of them kissing had hit him harder than a fist to his gut, even while his cock swelled to life. He didn’t know which of the two sensations disturbed him more.

“Do…do you two know each other?” Jana demanded. Her voice hitched with a shaky thread of bewilderment.

“Yeah, we do,” Nick replied, beating him to the punch. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, Nick stepped forward, his expression still bearing that hint of trepidation while he focused on Kevin. “Good to see you.”

“Is it?” The question blurted free before he could stop it. A taunting barrage of those long-ago, not-so-forgotten angry words he and Nick hurtled at each other once again shouted inside his brain.

A flicker of some dark emotion skated across Nick’s features. The ghosts were there for him too. “Yeah, it is.” Somberness had replaced Nick’s typical grin, but his gruff sincerity left no doubt that he meant it.

A fraction of the tension eased from Kevin. At least until he glanced back at Jana. Then it returned with a vengeance.

What the hell was Nick doing here? And why had he been kissing Jana? Okay,
that
wasn’t too difficult to figure out. What red-blooded male wouldn’t kiss Jana if the opportunity presented itself?