Man Of Few Words (3 page)

He had taken her home that night to a boring brick ranch house with rented furniture, but they’d fallen on the striped sofa practically mauling each other with kisses. Duff had released a sexual being that she didn’t think existed. His few more years of experience made a huge difference. He didn’t grope. He caressed and poured attention on her, caring if she was ready for his cock to push into her heat. From that moment on, she wanted no other man. Duff, over the year that they dated, broadened her sexual horizons.

He still had that hold on her libido as evidenced by the definite throb that happened between her legs the moment she’d heard his voice. It became undeniable as she studied his back while he made a corridor through the people entering the bar. He’d clearly decided that they were heading to his place. Even knowing that her mind made all their sexual encounters better than reality, she wanted him naked as she rode his thickened cock. She hated that she would consider doing it again despite how he had left her without any words of love or encouragement.

But, it was John Duffy. Everything about his physique and his face and his personality pulled her to him. She was Odysseus listening to Duff’s siren song, but no one had tied her to the mast. With a word, maybe two, she’d say yes to spreading her legs, granting him entry to her already wet pussy and letting him take her to that moment when she forgot anything else existed. She craved that oblivion, because it gave her emotions a place to go—deep inside her—where she could ignore their cries for resolution. She closed her eyes when they stepped onto the sidewalk outside the club. The strains of a song asking if she should stay or go drifted through the door.

Chapter Three

Fuck this indecision. I’m going with him.

“It’s not like Stone is watching us. If you want to bug out, you can. I’ll use the standard line that a gentleman doesn’t talk about such things.”

Duff’s words surprised her. He never used to turn down an opportunity for sex, and she’d left the option open. Talk about role reversal. She’d become the lusty one. “You can use that line, but let’s give you something to withhold.” She waited for him to answer with her hands on her hips.

He stared at her with his mouth agape.

“Look, Marine. When you gain tactical advantage, you don’t stand around. Where’s your car?” She wished she’d driven, then she could be the one leaving him laying in bed wondering if she’d call. Because that is what she planned to do. Her brain had clicked to the place that felt right, good, and perfect. Maybe it was Stone bringing up the past, or maybe it was the chance to enjoy herself without any guilt. Whatever it was, she was heading for a hell of a night. One romp. Nothing more. Love him. Leave him. No getting involved.

“Right.” He shook his head as if he cleared his disbelief. “This way.” He pointed to a parking lot to the left. As her high heels clicked on the brick sidewalks, she heard him ask, “Are you serious about this?”

“Yes. If your place isn’t clean, we can try this inn up the street.”

He pulled her arm so she had to look at him. “Kirsten, I’m having trouble believing you.”

She didn’t blame him. From giving him the cold shoulder to inviting herself back to his place was a huge leap. She wasn’t going to explain her thought process though, mostly because she couldn’t explain it to herself. Knowing he used to appreciate action, she reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys, leaving him no room for disbelief. “Do you still drive a sports car?”

“Had to go for something with a real backseat. I have a—”

She put her hand over his mouth. “Stop. I don’t want to hear it unless you are about to tell me that you have a wife, in which case, I’m not interested.”

“No wife.”

Relief released the coils that had formed in her legs. She’d been ready to run inside. “Good.” She pressed the keys into his chest. “Shut up and drive.”

He took the keys, unlocked the doors, and they both got into the car. After they exited the parking lot for the road that fronted the bay, he asked, “Mind if we make a stop?”

For the love of Pete. Doesn’t he understand expediency? “Where?”

“Some place to buy protection.”

“No need.” She reached into her purse and pulled out the strand of condom packs that Suzy had given her for making professor. Her roommate had used the always be prepared reason for the gift. “This should be enough.”

“You came prepared.”

“I’m tempted to let you think that. You happened along on the night that my best friend wants me not to act like a stuffy professor. Not that I am, but I know how to play the role.” Tonight would be a role of control—not dominatrix, but certainly not the follower. She smiled at being the person on top and calling the shots.

“Very glad of it. One less obstacle.”

As he slowed to pass through the toll booth to the beach, she cleared her throat. This night had to be about sex, only sex, no delving into past thoughts or emotions. Especially not emotions. “I have rules.”

“Should I be scared?” He guided the car past the vehicles bringing people to the bars along the small boardwalk.

“You’re tough, or you used to be. I think you can handle these. They’re simple—no talking about the past or asking too many questions about life. I want this to be a fantasy.”

“Not thinking about what we once did will be difficult. I drive by the place where you got drunk on strawberry daiquiris every day. You undressed in the car and threatened to stand up through the sun roof unless I let you go swimming.”

She only remembered it because he told her what had happened the next day. “We had sex on the beach. First time for both of us.” Her laugh erupted as a huff. “That came out wrong. You know what I mean. That was obviously not our first time at sex.”

“Just on the beach, with sand, and the tide coming in over our feet.” Duff had drawn out the telling of the story to her on their next date, while all the time being amazed that she hadn’t remembered any of it. “I thought the cops were going to find with how loud you were.” Of how she’d run into the water and then run out, jumping into his arms and locking her legs around his waist. She pressed her lips against his and demanded sex. “You had no shame that night.”

“That’s what happens when a girl has too much rum.” Part of her wished she had real memories of that night. Because she’d still lived at home when they’d dated, their sexual escapades usually happened in a car or in a borrowed bedroom during a party. Quickies. Good ones, but still nothing long and elaborate.

“What about tonight? This isn’t due to rum.”

“No.” She weighed the pros and cons of telling him her reasons for going home with him while she stared at the beach houses as they drove down the two lane road. Even under the orange light of the streetlamps, the bright purples and corals of the condos and rentals stood out. On the list of reasons to have sex with him was that she’d be guaranteed a night she’d remember. They could take as long as they wanted. She was tempted to put that in her rules—long-slow fucking, changing positions at least three times.

Then, she had the long list of cons. Although she told herself she wouldn’t have any guilt about leaving him, she wasn’t a jerk and would have a difficult time taking on that role even for a short time. Revenge sex had consequences, mainly regret, and she didn’t do well with that.

She wouldn’t tell him the biggest reason to fuck him silly tonight before leaving—closure. She doubted this would give her any, but perhaps she’d gain some strength and a will to make a real search for a man who wanted to stay in one place.

Duff eyed her from the driver’s seat, wondering why she wouldn’t elaborate, and what that could mean. Kirsten stared out the window, disinterested in him. Alarms went off, but he ignored them. The only danger to him were the crazy flight patterns his thoughts were taking. He shouldn’t care why she wanted to go home with him. He should be happy that she’d said yes after such a chilly hello. She’d granted him a chance to win her affection again.

From the first moment that he recognized her standing at the edge of the bar, he marked this occasion as special. No lieutenant colonel of a father intent on controlling his daughter’s future stood in his way, not after all this time. The night had to be wonderful for her. Every touch should send her into rapture so that she’d return for more. Then he’d worm his way into her heart and finish what he started when he was younger, getting her to be a permanent part of his life.

When he let her into the one bedroom apartment that overlooked the Gulf of Mexico, he wished he had collected cool furniture over the years instead of giving most of it away before moving here. The table with two chairs and generic couch labeled him as a loner and possibly a loser. He waited for her to comment on his state of living.

Instead, she slunk over to him and draped her arms around his neck. The heels she wore brought her almost to eye level. Zings of pleasure traveled down his spine as her fingers traced up and down his nape. Her eyes challenged him and, for a moment, her directness reminded him of a drill instructor. Except he’d never smelled a DI that reminded him of sunshine and sand, and he bent his head to inhale more of her. In that instant, he wanted nothing more than to forget any of the long years had passed. He needed to be twenty-four again, laughing at his good fortune of finding a girl with class when she had her clothes on but who tossed that out the window the moment she lifted her shirt.

Her nose nuzzled his ear. “How about we start some of that reminiscing?”

Words escaped him, so he answered with his hands sinking into her hair, pulling her into a kiss. Her lips brushed against his like silk. Their fullness delighted him and brought him back to a time when they were younger, their flurry of kisses and tangles of tongues inevitably leading to sex.

She pressed her tongue against his and grabbed his neck with her hands. Thrills passed through him, as if he were on his first solo airplane flight, performing loops. Like all his flights, he wanted this to last longer than a short sortie. Although she communicated fast and furious with her hips pressed against his, he intended slow, sensual, deliberate, like a cross-country flight with plenty of time for refueling.

He slowed her pace by pulling away from her lips and tasting the silky flesh of her neck. While his heart beat a furious rhythm and his cock strained against his pants, he willed his hands to toy with the tiny buttons that decorated the shoulder of her blouse before lowering his hand to the outside of her breast.

She moaned and grabbed the waistband of his pants. “I’m not used to you going slowly.”

He smiled, pulling her earlobe between his lips. “I’ve changed.”

He nibbled the space just behind her ear and she gasped. “Obviously.”

Fighting his own urge to rip her clothes from her body, he stood straight and smoothed his hands over her long sleeves. “So have you. Almost every inch of you is covered,” he teased, even though he liked the idea of unwrapping her piece by piece.

She frowned. “It’s cold outside. It’s kind of cold in here.” She crossed her arms.

“Then let’s warm you up.” He scooped her up like a groom in a fairy tale and headed to his bedroom. Her breasts pressed against him as she held onto his shoulders, and his need exploded as they rubbed against his chest. Those would not stay covered for much longer. His mouth watered at the thought of pulling a nipple between his lips. Hoping to make her laugh or smile, he dropped her on the bed.

She grinned and stretched her arms above her head, giving him a good view of how slim she’d stayed. Full hips curved beneath a slender waist that accentuated her perky breasts. “That’s more like it.” She kicked off her shoes. “Grab my purse, though. We’re going to need those condoms. Knowing Suzy, they’re scented or ribbed or nubbed or something unexpected.”

He snatched the condoms out of her purse and placed them on the bedside table before stretching out beside her. “I like the look of you on my bed.” He truly did. She fit in with his Spartan environment. The only ornament he’d ever need was her.

“Really? All dressed? I think we’re wearing too much.” Her playful nature seemed out of character. He remembered her being much more serious and focused, and he wondered if all of this night were a game for her. Changing that would be a priority for him.

He fluttered his feet, which caused his flip flops to drop to the floor. “My shoes are off now.”

She rolled onto her side. “That won’t be enough.” She raised his sweater and pouted. “A T-shirt?” She shoved away from him and stood. “That’s it, Duff. Get off the bed and take it off now. All of it.”

Tonight, everything about her surprised him, her impulsiveness, her playfulness, and her forcefulness. He liked this version of Kirsten, at least for tonight. “I’m leaving on some for you to remove. You should, too.” He took off everything except his underwear.

She tossed her blouse at him, revealing a trimmer torso and fuller breasts than he remembered. “Nope. Get rid of the barriers. All of them.” Her skirt hit his chest, and she wasted no time pulling her stockings off her legs. With a flourish, she dropped her bra to the floor. Her tight nipples pointed upward like they used to, but they’d darkened to a rosier shade of pink. How he wanted to bury his face in between those glorious globes.

Blood rushed from his head to his cock with lightning speed. The fabric of his underwear grew painful. Want was too delicate of a word to describe his desire for her. Having her beneath him had become a necessity.

“I see that worked.” She pulled her panties from her hips and stepped out of them, before ripping the covers off the bed and crawling across it. His heart thumped so hard that he felt his ribs move. With one hand supporting her, she yanked the boxer-briefs over his thickened shaft. He licked his lips in anticipation of her next move. Plunging into her hot, moist pussy could wait if she wrapped her full pink lips around his cock. His memories of her sucking his shaft were of a tentative young woman, unsure of how to please him. The woman stalking him like a hungry tigress would take him to much higher heights.

He reached his hands out to her, welcoming her as she continued her crawl across the bed toward him. She licked her lips, and he leaned his hips forward in a silent plea for that mouth to pleasure him. When she slowly stood, planting her feet between his, he mourned a short moment that her lips weren’t wrapped around his cock. Any sadness ended when her hands slid up his legs. Tangs of pleasure shot to his groin.