Long Slow Second Look (6 page)

"Maybe that's where you want and need to be with him."

"I can't deny that I want it but I know he won't respect me in the morning. He calls women he sleeps with easy lays." I sighed. "It’s late. I’ll let you go, Sher."

"Okay, but you know I'm here if you need me."

I nodded. Although I knew she was sincere, Janine was very needy and tended to lean on Sher more than she did the rest of us. The last thing Sher needed was two emotionally needy friends constantly crying on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Sher. Talk to you soon," I said. After I ended the call, I stretched my arms over my head and lay back in bed. I relived every intimate moment I'd shared with John before I fell asleep.

Chapter Four

Amber

My ringing cellphone woke me the next morning. Rolling onto my stomach from my side, I reached under the adjoining pillow for my phone. The computerized voice read out a number and then asked, "Answer or ignore."

"Answer," I said sleepily. Then with my eyes still closed, I pressed the phone against my ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning. Did I wake you?"

At the sound of the deep voice, my eyes flew open and I bolted into a sitting position. "John!"

"You sound surprised to hear from me."

Surprised and delighted. "I am."

"I did say I’d call."

I glanced at my phone screen: 7:10 am. I activated the speakerphone and leaned back against my pillow. "So you did." I smiled, pleased to hear from him so soon. "’What can I do for you so early on a Saturday morning?"

"I was hoping you’d have breakfast with me."

"Today?"

"Yes. Today. There’s a café on the ground floor of my complex that makes fabulous omelets, French toast, pancakes, home fries…you name it and they make it. They serve breakfast until 11:30. What time can I pick you up?"

I hesitated. Deandre had hinted that if he could rearrange his schedule he’d like to spend most of the day with me. If I went out with John, I might not be available when he called. On the other hand, if I declined John’s offer and sat home waiting to hear from Deandre, he’d probably call late in the afternoon only to tell me he’d been unable to clear his schedule.

Even if he called earlier, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was delighted to hear from John and that I wanted to see him. "I can be ready by nine," I said.

"Great. I’ll see you then, Amber."

"Until nine," I said and ended the call. I spent the next ten minutes or so lying in bed smiling while recalling the feel of his big body pressed against mine and the taste and passion of his lips cajoling mine to part before I got up and headed into the bathroom.

When my apartment buzzer sounded just before nine, I waltzed through my apartment and glanced at the
visitor's pad by the living room door. My heartbeat quickened at the sight
of John standing in the lobby. He wore a shirt and a tie under an open leather jacket along with a pair of jeans that emphasized his long legs. Damn he looked good.

"Come up," I said and pushed the buzzer to release the door.

He smiled. "On my way."

Ten minutes later, I opened my apartment door for him. "Come in," I said.

He stepped inside, closed the door, and then leaned against it. And stared at me.

I arched a brow. "I know there’s nothing on my face, no food in my teeth or hair out of place. So why are you staring?"

He continued staring. "Do you want the truth or do you want to hear a pretty lie?"

Damn. What a question. "I’m not fond of men who lie to me, John."

"I’m trying to figure out what it is about you that intrigues me."

And just what was I supposed to make of a remark like that? After a moment of indecision, I decided to take it as a compliment. I smiled and leaned against him. "So you’re intrigued, Johnny mine?"

He nodded and slipped his arms around me. "Yes."

"I suppose you know that admission makes me want to flirt with you."

He bent his head until I felt his breath against my ear. "Who’s stopping you?"

I loved leaning against his big, masculine body while his cologne intoxicated my senses. "I don’t usually flirt with my friends."

"Neither do I." He slid his palms down from my waist to cup my ass. "Thankfully, we can rewrite the rules to suit ourselves."

Although there was a thong, a half-slip, and a skirt between his hand and my skin, I felt almost as if he was touching my bare ass. I moistened my lips and lifted my head to meet his gaze. "Are we talking renegotiation again?"

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

Even though I'd had a few very casual relationships in my mid-
twenties
that were little more than one-night stands, at thirty-two, it was time to think more long term. "Given your views of the women you sleep with, how can it be anything else? I'm not interested in being anyone's easy lay."

He massaged my rear.
"You can change my point of view."

"Why would I want to make the effort?"

He dragged his tongue along the column of my neck sending a thrill through me.
"Because I can make it a very pleasurable experience for us both."

I wanted to tell myself that his overconfidence annoyed me but the truth was it turned me on. There are few things sexier than a handsome man confident in his ability to rock a woman's world.

"There weren't going to be any benefits attached to our friendship," I reminded him.

"Exploring the vast area between friendship and easy lying could be fun
."

"Games are for boys, not men. And we've both already agreed that you're a man. Remember?"

He pressed a kiss against my neck and squeezed my ass before pulling me close to his groin. "An intriguing woman recently convinced me that games can spice up a relationship and with the right person they can be fun."

"For boys, not men," I insisted while trying to overcome the urge to rub myself shamelessly against him. "And the fact that you're a man is already well established." The kind that made a woman glad to have a tight, wet passage to welcome his cock.

"Don't quibble with me, Amber."

He said that as if he were used to having his way with women, which he probably was. Judging by how expensive his clothes looked and his condo, he must be very successful at whatever he did. A sexy man who had more than two quarters in his pocket was an exciting prospect. Of course, he'd be just as interesting if he lived in an efficiency apartment. And like countless women before me, I was eager to surrender to him. 

When I didn't respond, he caressed my face.

I
turned my head and touched my lips to his hand.

John turned me until I found myself between the door and his body.

"What are you doing?"

He trailed his fingers down from my neck to touch my breasts. "Thoughts of you kept me awake for most of the night."

"Really? What were you thinking?"

"I thought of your breasts…your ass…your mouth."

"What about my sparkling conversation?"

"I told you what kept me awake last night and it wasn't your conversation."

I smiled, pleased. "And do the body parts of prospective friends usually keep you awake at night?"

His lips twitched. "No."

I moistened my lips and met his dark gaze. "You were going to introduce me to some of your single friends."

He bent his head and paused with his lips a breath away from mine. "They’re all grown men. They can find their own damn friends. You’re mine."

"I'm not sure about that," I said. I know I sounded uncertain but he was so confident that I felt I had to offer at least a measure of resistance.

"I am."

Before I could decide if I wanted to respond, he pressed his lips against mine with an insistence that quickly sent what felt like a surge of heat sizzling through me. I parted my lips and welcomed his tongue into my mouth as I felt his hands sliding around my body, and up my skirt and under my slip to cup my nearly bare ass cheeks.

I pulled my lips from his. "Hey. Watch where you're putting your big paws."

"Why should I? This round beautiful ass is mine. Remember? I can touch it as often as I like." Without waiting for a response from me, he settled his mouth over mine again.

I trembled and sucked his tongue into my mouth as he caressed my cheeks before palming my bare ass. He pulled me closer and deepened his kisses while keeping my lower body pressed against his groin.

It had been so long since I’d been intimate with a man that I had to struggle to retain a measure of commonsense. No matter how much I wanted it, allowing him to go much further was out of the question.

When I felt his fingers sliding around my body from my ass, I tore my mouth away from his and gripped the wrist of the hand on a quest to touch my pussy. "Johnny…Johnny…"

"Yes sweet?"

"No."

"No? You sure?" he asked, his voice brusque.

I wasn't but I nodded anyway. "Yes."

"You don't sound sure."

"I am," I insisted.

He exhaled before slipping both hands from my thong and turning to lean against the door beside me.

I straightened my clothes with trembling hands and waited for him to speak.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

I’m not sure what I’d been expecting but it wasn’t that. "I might have plans for this afternoon and evening."

He moved away from the door and stood in front of me. "Let’s spend the day together."

"That’s a tempting offer, but—"

He caressed my cheek. "Then surrender to temptation."

I'd never wanted to hop into bed with a man more. "How long has it been?"

"How long has what been?" He trailed his fingers down to the side of my neck.

"Since you’ve been with one of your…easy lays?"

"Why do you ask?"

I caught his hand and held it in mine before he continued the downward trajectory toward my breasts. "Because you seem a little on the horny side."

He laughed and drew his hand from mine. "We could kill a few hours after breakfast before having lunch. Then we could kill another hour or two before we stop by my brother's place for a drink before we have dinner out. Then we could spend the rest of the evening doing whatever you like."

That would be tumbling naked into bed and having sex until we were exhausted. "Thanks, but I’m only prepared to commit to breakfast."

"Why? Expecting him to call?"

He sounded annoyed, which turned me on because it probably meant he was jealous.

I shrugged. "He said he might."

"And you’re content to sit and wait for a call that may or may not come?"

He made me sound desperate and I wasn’t. Yes, I’d been after Deandre for a year. And yes I'd been celibate for over a year but I had dated. Neither of the two men I'd seen casually during the last year had been able to tempt me into bed.

"Why sit waiting for him when you can spend the day with me?"

"You think rather a lot of yourself. Don't you?"

"As a matter of fact I do. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

I liked my men tall, handsome, and self-assured. "You never answered my question about when you'd had your last easy lay."

"And I'm not going to unless you're prepared to discuss when you last slept with a man," he said. "Are you?"

I shook my head. "But I think I have a right to know so I'll know how hard you're going to push."

"I'm going to push as hard as I need to in order to get what I want."

"And what is that?"

He offered me his arm. "We can decide how much detail we want to share of our individual intimate lives over breakfast."

"It's just breakfast," I said. "Nothing else."

He bent his head to pepper my mouth with kisses before he responded. "We'll see."

I slipped my arm through his. When he pressed a long, moist kiss against my ear, I knew he was going to test and push my boundaries to the limit. I went with him anyway.

* * *

Amber

Against my better judgment, after a breakfast I could barely remember, I went up to John's condo with him.

The moment the door closed, I found myself pressed against the adjacent wall and held there by the weight of his body as he slipped his hands up my dress to cup my ass. "You're wearing too many clothes, sweet."

Although I hardily agreed, I decided a token protest might be in order before complete surrender. "John?"

"We can talk later," he said.

I pressed against his shoulders. "John—"

"Later," he whispered and kissed me breathless while grinding his groin against me.

Oh hell. I was so aroused I could barely marshall the energy or will to push against his shoulders one last time. "Johnny…no."

He trailed his mouth from mine to my ear. "Don't say no. I want to take you to bed," he whispered.

Every nerve ending in my body screamed out,
Yes!
I ignored them and pushed him away. "It's a good thing you're not a boy who can't take no for an answer," I laughed in an effort to relieve some of the sexual tension threatening to explode between us.

He narrowed his dark, sexy gaze but remained silent.

There was no doubt he was pissed.

I turned away.

He caught my hand and turned me back to face him. "I'm serious. I want to sleep with you."

And Lord knew I wanted to sleep with him. "I know you do, but you know I have hopes for a relationship with Deandre."

He nodded. "I know."

I stared at him. So what? I was supposed to hop into bed with him and ruin my chances with Deandre? "I've already told you I'm not interested in a one-night stand with you."

"What the hell makes you think I only want one night with you?"

While my desire warred with what little remained of my commonsense, my phone rang. Deandre's ring. I froze and then turned away, looking around for my shoulder bag.

John caught my hand before I could bend down to pick it up from the floor near my feet. "Don't answer it," he said.

"It's him."