Created In Fire (Art of Love Series) (23 page)

When she started to rise off him after her heart calmed, Reesa was shocked to find herself suddenly on her back with a giant man still buried inside her. Shane’s weight pinned her too effectively to move.

“You promised me three times,” Shane said firmly. “Do you keep your promises?”

“Always,” Reesa told him, meaning every word.

“Promise me I can come back inside you again in a little while, and I’ll let you up,” Shane said, pressing his weight on her, letting her feel every bit of how large a man he was.

“And if I don’t?” Reesa asked, grinning at his fierceness, the eyebrow ring glinting like a beacon in the dark.

“I don’t know,” Shane said, pushing down on her. “I’ve never wanted a second time so badly before. This is a new situation for me.”

Reesa had to work hard to hold back the sigh of contentment. Who would have thought she’d find this type of connection with a man who looked like him.

“No worries, Larson. I want you again already,” she told him honestly. “And I don’t have to leave until two.”

“You said you weren’t married, right?” Shane said, easing out of her.

“I’m not. That’s the truth. There’s no man in my life at all,” she said, already missing his weight. “But there are reasons I have to be home early. Don’t ask me. I’m not going to tell you my entire story. This is like a vacation for me. I need to not think about the rest of my life right now.”

“Okay,” Shane said, not liking it, but not seeing how he could force her to tell him more than she wanted him to know. “When I come back to bed, you’re going to show me how to touch you, how you want to be touched. I’m very good at taking directions.”

Or at least he would be with her if it killed him.

“Shane, you could give lessons in how to be good to a woman in bed,” Reesa told him on a laugh.

“No thanks. I’ve had my share of one night stands. They don’t usually work out this well,” he said, washing up at the sink.

“I know,” Reesa said, sighing. “I’ve had my share too. Unfortunately, that’s all I have time for in my life.”

He brought a wet cloth back to her, making her moan when he folded and draped it between her legs. He’d never done that before tonight, but he had the strangest urge to take care of this woman in the most basic ways. It was like everything about her called out to something protective in him.

He placed a large palm against the cloth, pressing the warmth against her. He laughed as she sighed in pleasure. It made him think of a hundred things he like to do with her and for her to make her sigh more.

“Why isn’t there some woman scratching my eyes out over you right now?” Reesa asked at last, surprised at his thoughtfulness, his sensitivity, and the way he still managed to look at her wickedly enough to make her nerve endings sing.

He pulled the cloth away, balled it up, and shot it at the sink, laughing as it fell in.

“Score,” he said, turning to her with a smile.

“And you’re going to again,” she said on a laugh, “but you still didn’t answer my question. It’s okay though, you don’t have to.”

“I’ve been busy turning my dream into a career, and I’m tired of leggy blondes whose names I can’t even remember,” Shane told her truthfully.

“Well there’s nothing more important than following your dreams. Life is too short not to just go for it,” Reesa said sadly, thinking of her sister and her brother-in-law who’d lost their dream just as it was becoming a reality.

Shane heard the sadness in her voice. He’d left the light on in his bathroom, so Shane saw in her gaze how sincere she was being.

“And you definitely broke the leggy blonde curse with me tonight. I’m about as far from that archetype as a woman can get. I know why I put the moves on you, but why did you say yes to me?” she asked. “I could tell you had reservations.”

Shane instinctively knew his gut honest answers, which ranged from “I intended to say no” to “Will you date me?” would only stop the next two times from happening. He was counting on being memorable enough to get her phone number, or at least her real name.

“I wanted to test out my tongue stud and you looked like a woman who would tell me the truth,” Shane told her simply, smiling into her inquiring gaze. Her eyes were very, very green, like a cat’s. He really enjoyed looking into them.

He also liked the way her eyes wrinkled at the corners when she smiled. Older woman, Shane decided, more interested now than ever. He wondered how much older. That might explain both her sincerity and her experience. He’d never really dated anyone older than himself.

Reesa looked at the ceiling. “Well, I’m usually truthful because it’s easier. So
truthfully
—when I walked over to you I only noticed how attractive you were,” she confessed. “Sorry. I’m sure you hear that all the time. Now I can only appreciate my good fortune because you’re as nice as you are attractive.”

Shane leaned over and ran his tongue along one of her thighs all the way to her hip. “So tell me the truth now, do you feel the tongue stud?” he asked.

Reesa nodded against the pillow. “Sure. It’s nice, I guess. I’m not sure it was worth whatever pain you went through having it done.” She bit her lip when he stopped licking and just looked at her. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m habitually opinionated—too much so sometimes. I didn’t mean to insult your choice of—body jewelry.”

The grunt Shane gave in reply was typical frustrated male and made Reesa laugh again.

“Are you sure it doesn’t do anything special?” Shane asked, putting as much wounded ego into his voice as he possibly could.

Then he bent over her again, pushed her legs gently apart, and licked inside her just a little forcing the tongue stud firmly against everything he found on the way back out and up.

Reesa raised off the bed, her heart hammering erratically in her chest at the shock of what Shane had done to her with a single stroke of his tongue.

When her startled gaze met his, it was all Shane could do not to dive back inside her body right then and there.

“The two times you promised me only count if something other than my fingers or tongue actually makes it back inside you,” Shane told her fiercely. “I just want to be clear before this goes too far and I get distracted with foreplay.”

Reesa sat up, crawled into his lap, and kissed him until their tongues were mating wildly. “You can have me as much as you want until I can’t stand it anymore. And the tongue stud is definitely hot.”

“Great. That’s all I was looking for—now tell me how to touch you,” Shane commanded, lowering her back to the bed and following her down.

“You seem not to be a breast guy, but could you—oh, yeah, that’s nice,” she said as his hands covered her breasts. “You make me feel small, but—protected.”

“We’re even then. You make me feel like my size is actually an asset,” Shane told her. “It doesn’t always feel that way no matter what size the woman is.

“How about this?” Shane asked, running a hand along her side.

“Very nice,” she said, arching.

“And this,” he asked, cupping her backside as he lifted her.

“Excellent—especially when you’re in the middle of—“ she paused, realizing this was more information than she had given any lover, more in fact than she’d ever been asked.

“You?” Shane asked, finishing for her.

It was unfortunate, Reesa concluded, that a one night stand was going to end up being the best sex of her life. Just her luck.

“Yes,” Reesa said at last, knowing she was going to remember this conversation as much as what Shane was doing to her.

“Now tell me the three most sensitive parts of your body to kiss,” Shane ordered.

“My neck, between my breasts, and—,” Reesa stopped because it made her a little nervous the way he was so intently listening to her answers.

“And?” Shane prompted.

“I like to be kissed on the inside of my thighs,” she said at last, closing her eyes.

“I’ll do that and help you find some other places,” he told her. “Can we start again now?”

“I thought we already had,” Reesa said on a laugh.

“No. This is just conversation. And just so you know, I intend to be in control this time,” Shane said, moving back down her body.

He held her wrists to each side of the bed as he put his face between her legs again and then had the realization it might be the last time. The urge to take her swiftly, brand her, demand she stay, shocked the hell out of him.

He made himself calmly lick inside her again, repeating the same thing he’d done before. She rose around him with a shudder and hissed out a breath with his name in it, heart hammering wildly again.

“Better leave that for another time,” Shane decided, crawling back up before he lost his sanity. “When you respond so strongly I start to lose my mind. It turns me into a beast.”

“Shane, you don’t have to be so restrained about everything with me. I don’t want you to hold back. I need you to live in the moment with me,” Reesa said, laughing at herself as she wondered why she was urging the man to potentially disappoint her after he had charmed her totally.

Shane was an incredibly nice guy if you bothered to look beyond the shell. If she had more time, she’d study his tattoo, ask about his family, find out his horoscope sign. Sure, she knew wanting to know more was not good—not good at all. But she actually
liked
the giant, tattooed wonder guy.

Jillian would kill her if she had any idea of where her mind kept going, Reesa thought.

“I’m restraining myself because I’m worried about hurting you if I can’t stay out of you now. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I’m going to do my best to exercise you at least two more times,” Shane said, laughing at her surprised expression.

“Hand me a condom then or put one on yourself,” Reesa ordered. “Clock’s ticking—and I want you too.”

“You are the bossiest woman in bed I’ve ever been with,” Shane told her, sheathing himself and rising over her once more. “Are you sure about me doing what I want?”

“Absolutely,” Reesa said, her entire body rising off the bed when Shane slid between her legs and pushed inside her wetness in one hard, steady stroke. “Damn, Shane. That alone is a thrill. You are one seriously intense guy.”

“I warned you,” Shane said, trembling in her arms, kissing her neck and bending his head to her breasts. “What are you doing to me, lady? It’s all I can do to be civilized with you.”

She struggled under him, and he finally eased his weight up. Then she shocked him by grabbing his hips and using them for leverage as she stroked him from below. He groaned and held himself up on his elbows while she did what she wanted. It was a first for him and the need to tell her was too strong to resist.

“You have no idea how many women never move at all. I thought women like you were just a fantasy,” Shane said, arousal turning his voice to a rough whisper.

Reesa stilled her movements.

“I’ve never been like that,” she said quietly, her voice a husky whisper in return. “And you’re—quite inspiring.”

Her flattery fed the flames of the irrational desire already licking at him.

Somewhere in the process of trying to be as memorable as he could, Shane’s control snapped. He found himself stroking harder than he should be in and out of the moaning woman. His headboard banged against the wall, keeping time and making him crazy. She moaned and called his name, arching and meeting his every thrust no matter how hard he drove himself into her.

Shane couldn’t believe he’d never done this before with any other woman but this tiny one. Instead of seeming upset by his fierce possession, the woman beneath him matched herself to his movements as if they’d been making love all their lives.

All Shane could think about as they moved together was that he’d never known it could be like this between a man and woman. He wanted to keep her and be able to do this with her as many times as she would let him.

“Tell me your real name,” he pleaded, drowning in the sensation of mating with an equal partner.

“Ann. My name is really Ann,” Reesa exclaimed, her body flying apart under his. “Oh God—Shane. Harder. Please.”

“How can you give me everything else, but not the truth about who you are?” he demanded, his combative tone shocking him when he heard it.

Then he lost himself inside her again as she shook and trembled under him in violent release. It was more profound than the first time. He wanted it never to end, but when it did—he instantly wanted to start all over. Sex with her was like nothing he’d ever known before.

When he rolled off her onto his side to remove his weight from her slight form, his stomach clenched when she moved quickly away.

“Stay—
please
,” Shane begged, grabbing her wrist in panic, feeling himself emotionally unraveling.
Down boy
, he told himself. “I won’t ask you about your name again.”

Yet Shane knew it was a lie even as he was saying it, but he would be more clever next time he asked. He’d make her weak with need and not meet it until she gave in and told him who she really was.

Reesa laughed softly, looking at his giant hand clamped around her tiny wrist. She should probably be worried that she’d gone home with a man tonight who could so obviously hurt her if he wished. Instead of being worried though, her instinct was to crawl on top of him and ask to be held.