Stuck On You (16 page)

She yanked open the door to see a handsome KT Masters as James Bond leaning against the doorframe. He was wearing an enigmatic expression so she froze, mid-leap.

He straightened and opened his arms. “God, I’ve missed you today.”

She launched herself at him. “I know. I never hated Lady Gaga before but now I hope I never hear that song again. Was that guy like eight-feet tall in his costume or what? I thought Britney was going to have to climb on your shoulders to get the crown on even after he took off the egg hat.” She wrapped her arms and legs around him and sighed as he cupped her rear with both hands. “Is this okay?”

He laughed. “Yeah, it’s okay with me. The neighbors might have a different opinion.”

She nearly fell as she tried to scramble back down. “Inside. Now. Inside!” The last word was a hiss that she was nearly sure he couldn’t hear over his own wild laughter. He staggered over the threshold and then slammed the door shut with his elbow to collapse against it. But he never let go of her butt.

She smothered his laugh with her lips, an open-mouthed seduction. He moaned as her tongue teased his. He drew back to catch his breath and nipped her bottom lip.

“Lola, I am very sorry to see that you’ve changed out of the latest and greatest in showgirl outerwear.” He ran his fingers under the loose leg of her knit shorts. “But these have their advantages.”

“Yeah, well, if you had to wear fishnets, you’d change out of them as soon as you had a chance too.” She tightened her arms around his neck and sighed. “You can let me down now.”

“Or we can just stay right here.” He trailed hot kisses down her neck.

“I need down.” She wiggled against him and they both gasped.

The feeling of his hands sliding over her hips as she stood and up along her back, burning through the thin cotton shorts and shirt, sent hot darts of pleasure low in her abdomen.

“I need to get a better look at you in this tuxedo.” She smoothed her hands down his lapels before she yanked the end of his tie. “You look so . . . good.”

He straightened his cuffs. “I know.”

“So modest, Teddy.” She laughed. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, Teddy is so
not
our thing, Lola.”

He slid out of his jacket and hung it over one of the chairs at the tiny dining table and yanked his shirttails out of his pants.

Laura nodded. “Right. Are you hungry, Kevin?”

KT unbuttoned the first three buttons and slid onto a stool across from Laura.

“I am hungry.” His stomach growled in agreement. “What have you got?”

“I made pasta.” She pointed vaguely at a pot on the stovetop.

She slid the plate across the counter. KT pointed at his shirt. “Maybe I should take this off.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t want to get sauce on my fancy shirt.”

Laura waved. “You should totally . . . get comfortable.”

KT laughed and slipped out of his shirt. The sight of him in his white undershirt and tanned skin and carefully coiffed hair was almost too much. “Eat quickly.”

“Can do.” KT picked up a fork and took a bite. “Mm. This is great.”

Laura wiped down the counter in front of him and tried to pretend that she was on top of things. “So Holly called today. They’re having a great time in Nashville. Shopping. Sightseeing. And shopping.” Laura ignored the first jangling alarm that went off and tried to savor the moment. She was supposed to be smarter tonight. They’d have some laughs and some sex and nothing too serious. But having someone to talk to about the day’s events was unexpected and special. Having him in her place, half-dressed, and rumpled after a long day felt like real life. The crazy hotel room had been adventure and fun. This was real.

KT nodded. “Can you imagine how much giggling is going on tonight?”

“I’m just glad the giggling is in Nashville. She works hard. I’m so happy you helped me give her this.”

“What do you mean?”

Laura shrugged. “Your job. Me. Helping you. That was what I needed to send her. And I enjoyed it. So, thanks.”

“I haven’t even paid you yet.” KT yanked his wallet out. “But we’re going to take care of that right now.” He pulled bills out of his wallet and slid them across the counter. “I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate everything you did to help.”

“Don’t forget the graph. That’s a fabulous graph.” She traced the outline of a twenty with a finger. “I hate this, taking money from you. It feels so wrong. Gross.” If she’d never had sex with him and he’d never offered to give her money, this would have been like any other temporary job. But she had and he did. And it made her uneasy, like every other reminder of how different their situations were.

KT put a hand over hers and squeezed. “I’m not going to pretend to understand how you feel. I’m just going to say that you’re a damn good assistant. I needed your help. I can’t imagine how I’ll get through the next two assignments without you.” The reminder that he’d be leaving soon made the silence stretch awkwardly between them. “And that makes me so damn sad.”

Laura smiled. “Yeah, me too.”

KT dropped the fork on his empty plate. “So what do we do?”

“I’m afraid the answer is recover. That’s all we can do at this point. Unless you’ve always wanted to live in Memphis. Because, I mean, I’d like to spend time with you. But . . . here we are.”

He wrapped her hand in his. “Or, if you’ve always wanted to try your hand on stage or screen, you could pack up Holly and bring her to Los Angeles. Got a huge house. Built-in grandmother. What’s not to love?”

“After one night? You think you’re ready to live with a manic spreadsheeter and her teenage daughter after one night?
That
could be the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done.” Laura could barely breathe. The fact that he’d even mention something like that said a lot about how KT felt. And it was crazy, but she felt it too, like he was the one she hadn’t been searching for and never thought she’d find but now she knew just how incomplete her life would be when he went away. Not that she could follow him back to Hollywood. She’d worked really hard and for a long time to build a life with Holly. She’d never let herself be vulnerable like she’d been at eighteen. Following KT would mean she was at the mercy of his whims and his regard and that wasn’t a place she wanted to be. Life was easy and fun for him. And when it wasn’t fun anymore, he could just make a change. Life with a planner like Laura and teen-angst Holly might get old quick. Here she had safety, security. She had family.

One corner of his mouth tilted up. “You’re probably right. There’s no sense in rushing into anything. We can make a decision tomorrow.”

Laura grimaced. “Right. We should know everything we need to know about each other and the future by then. I mean, six days is all it takes to know you’re ready to move in with somebody, right?”

KT slid off the stool and pulled her out of the tiny kitchen. His tanned and toned arms, the stark white of the thin shirt, and the crisp line of his tuxedo pants waistband around his tight abdomen . . . it was a lot to take in at once. She must have been frozen because KT laughed. “Lola, I love the look on your face, I really do. Want to show me your bedroom?”

“I don’t know if I’ll get used to seeing you like this. Ever.” She moved down the tiny hallway, past a door identified by a hand-drawn Elvis and carefully printed sign that said “Holly’s Room. Please Knock.” Next to it was a small bathroom. When they reached the end of the hall, Laura said, “It’s kind of small. There’s no tiki torch or sea breeze air freshener, but it’s mine.”

He wrapped his hands around her shoulders and guided her over to stand next to the bed. “It’s pretty much like I imagined it would be. Casual, nothing too flashy, but comfortable and neat.”

Either Willodean had hired an uninspired decorator who preferred beige and eggshell or she’d purposely chosen to go bland here. Regardless, it was a relief after so much time surrounded by Elvis’s greatest hits. Laura had added red here in there, in pillows on the couch, framed posters in the dining room, towels in the kitchen. And here in her bedroom, she’d chosen a red comforter and vivid prints on the walls. Maybe it was a little everyday but there were splashes of interest here and there and they were all hers.

Laura groaned. “You aren’t going to say something about how it matches my boring personality, are you?”

KT pursed his lips. “Nope.”

“You’re going to think it, though.”

He shrugged. “Maybe a little bit. Although I think there might be something else in there too. Maybe a little sexy, and unexpected. Something like that damn sexy top hat that you wear so well.”

“I really thought you’d like the new uniform, but I expected that to be more about the bared skin.” Laura narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me you have a hat fetish.”

KT wrapped his arms around the small of her back and pulled her close to lean his head in the crook of her shoulder. His laugh was husky and sent a thrill of pleasure to pool in her stomach. “I have a
you
fetish. I haven’t seen you in one damn thing that I didn’t imagine puddled next to the bed.”

“Even the funeral attire?”

He wrinkled his nose. “Especially the funeral attire. That made me hot.”

She laughed. “I don’t know what it is about you. Instead of my best underwear, I put on comfortable cotton.”

KT wrapped a hand around each hip and squeezed before he hooked a finger under the hem of her shirt. “I like fancy panties. I like comfortable Laura. I like naked Laura the best.”

“Then let me just take care of that for you.” She grabbed the hem of her shirt and began to yank, suddenly in a hurry to make KT very, very happy.

He held up a hand. “Wait. I want to enjoy this.” He stripped out of the rest of clothes and leaned back against her headboard. “Now then. I’m ready.”

Laura propped her hands on her hips. “Oh, really?”

He nodded. “Proceed.”

A naked KT Masters sprawled out on her bed was a sight that needed to be committed to memory for posterity. And the turquoise top hat part of her soul wanted to make sure that KT Masters never, ever forgot about her.

“So, you like soft cotton, right?” She slid the bottom of the T-shirt up over her stomach and let it drop as she stepped closer to lean against the mattress.

KT reached out to fiddle the hem of her shorts. “I like it in a pile on the floor best.” His eyes were hot but she could see the happy anticipation too. This was a man who enjoyed a nice game. She put a knee on the mattress and trailed her hand up the inside of his naked thigh, her fingernails a light tease. When he started to squirm, she stepped back and slid her hands under her shorts to slide them down her legs. She turned around and bent over to pick them up so that she could flash black panties. When he murmured something she couldn’t quite make out, she straightened and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, right, you want to see them on the floor.” She dropped her shorts back on the tan carpet.

She moved closer again and ran a finger under the leg band on her panties and twisted the hem of her T-shirt. “Let’s see. Which should I go for next?”

He didn’t speak but KT was staring intently at the hand rolling the edge of her T-shirt. “Right. Panties next.” She eased them off and kicked them to land on top of her shorts. “They weren’t all that exciting anyway.”

KT licked his lips and darted a glance up to her face. The smile was still there but he didn’t look like a man who had all the time in the world anymore. Laura crawled up onto the bed and settled over his legs. “I’ve missed you.” When she leaned forward to kiss his lips oh-so-sweetly, she was so gratified to feel him against her stomach. She kissed him softly again and each shift of her body against his caused a hitch in his breathing.

When he wrapped a hand in the hair at the nape of her neck to pull her closer, tighter against him, she braced her hands on his shoulders and rubbed her heat against his rock-hard thigh. They both gasped.

“Take off the damn shirt.”

Laura shook her head.

“
Please
take off the damn shirt.” KT tried a fake smile but the convulsive kneading of her hips told her he was ready to take that decision out of her hands.

She sighed. “All right. But you’re ruining all my plans.” She pulled the T-shirt up and off and tossed it in the general vicinity of her growing pile on the floor. The feeling of his hot hands smoothing up her sides turned the heat between her legs up a notch.

KT leaned forward to kiss her chest, between her breasts, right over her heart, as he unfastened her bra and smoothly slid it down her arms to throw it across the room. Laura tried to urge him back against the headboard. She placed a hot, wet kiss against the sensitive crook of his neck before trailing kisses over his chest.

“You are so beautiful.” She laughed at his snort. “No, you are. And sweet. And crazy.”

He urged her closer. “Crazy, yes. You’re making me crazy.” He leaned forward to tumble her onto her back and hissed as she arched to rub her stomach against his.

“I wanted to seduce you,” she said with a gasp as he sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. He teased with his tongue and then growled as he moved to the other breast to do the same.

“Damn, Lola. You did seduce me, you have. You are.” When he touched the aching bundle of nerves between her thighs, she squeezed his shoulders tight. And with every flick of his thumb and slow thrust of his fingers, her hips jerked. More than anything she wanted to be closer. She stretched her arms over her head and watched his eyes sweep hotly over her breasts and her stomach and her thighs. When he managed to meet her amused stare, he said, “Seduced. Completely.”

“Do you have a . . .” Before she could finish the question he was gingerly leaning over the side of the bed to yank his pants off of the floor. Once he’d taken his wallet out of the pocket, he tossed them back in the floor.

“You know those are going to wrinkle.”

He frowned at her over his shoulder as he opened the wallet to pull out a condom. Then he tossed the wallet down. He opened and quickly rolled the condom on before he eased himself back over her. “Forget the pants.”

His hands swept hot trails over her sides and down the tense muscles of her thighs before he spread her legs and settled over her. He hissed out a slow breath as he eased inside her. Each slow shift turned up the thermostat until she was melting around him.