No, no, no. This was all wrong. Control, she reminded herself. Control, control, control. She could do it.
“—don’t you think?”
“Huh? What?” Embarrassed, Shay realized she’d zoned out and Joe was saying something to her.
His sexy laugh rumbled through her. “I guess old Joe really does have you hypnotized. You haven’t heard a word I said, have you?”
“Um, sorry.” She picked up her bottle of beer. “You know how I block everything out when my hero is on the screen. What did you say?”
“Not important.” He recrossed his legs at the ankle. “So, still got the love affair going on with Joe, huh?”
“Hard not to. He’s the ultimate.”
Joe was silent for a long moment, holding a paper plate with another slice of pizza on it.
“Question,” he said at last. “Did you ever, you know, see any of my games? Look at my stats?”
“Why, Joe Reilly.” She couldn’t help laughing. “Are you jealous of Joe Montana?”
“Of course not. Just curious.” He nodded at the screen. “But I measured up pretty good against him. Just sayin’.”
Surely her ravings about Montana never bothered him. He was an icon in his own right. No, wait. Only his ego was affected, right? Because she was sure Joe Reilly didn’t give a rat’s ass if she idolized him or not. All those women more than did it for him.
The program ended and the silence between them was suddenly thick enough to touch.
Shay cleared her throat. “I’m going to clean this up and then do some reading.”
“Here. I’ll give you a hand.” He sat up and reached for the empty pizza box at the same moment she did, and their heads collided.
“Ouch!” Shay rubbed her forehead.
“Oh. Sorry. Here, let me look at it.”
Joe cupped her face and turned her head so he could see where they’d bumped. Suddenly the air around them changed. Her heartbeat ratcheted up at the hunger that flared in his eyes and her breath stalled in her throat.
For a very long moment neither of them moved. Maybe it was curiosity to finally find out what it would be like to kiss him. Maybe it was the simmering heat of the moment. Whatever it was, she didn’t pull away. So slow the movement was barely detectible, Joe leaned closer and touched his mouth to hers. His lips were cool yet their contact scorched her, heat sizzling through her body clear to her toes. His lean fingers cradled her cheeks with a touch light enough that a whisper of wind would have brushed them away yet Shay was unable to move, afraid to breathe. Every brain cell froze and her heart was beating hard enough she could hear it pounding in her ears.
When Joe’s tongue came out to trace the seam of her mouth, everything in her body went liquid. Her pussy throbbed, her nipples sprang to life, and a desperate hunger gripped her. The soft glide of his tongue was like the touch of velvet, coaxing her to open for him, to accept him. When he slid it between her lips she welcomed it, opening wider for him and letting her own tongue begin a dance with his.
All her life she’d wondered what kissing Joe Reilly would be like. The reality was so much better than anything she’d imagined.
They stayed that way for what seemed forever, exploring each other’s mouths, tasting, licking. The scent of his cologne still tantalized her nostrils and invaded her senses. Everything faded away for Shay except this incredibly sensuous contact. This was not a voracious kiss but a testing. A sexy little dance where neither partner was sure who would lead. As his tongue swept in slow glides, touching sensitive nerves, she hummed with pleasure and explored his taste the same way. Back and forth, an erotic dance that needed no music.
When Joe finally lifted his head enough to break the contact, he stared at her, shock written on his face. Shay locked her gaze with his. Who should speak first? What should she say? What could she say? She’d just exchanged a totally erotic kiss with Joe Reilly.
Joe Reilly!
He still cradled her cheeks in his warm palms, as if unable to let her go. Still neither of them moved or spoke.
Shay was trying to unscramble her brains when Joe dipped his head again and this time there was nothing light or gentle about the kiss. It was a predator’s kiss, ravenous and claiming. His tongue was a slither of flame burning the inside of her mouth everywhere it touched. He didn’t wait for her to offer her own tongue as she’d done before. Instead, he tugged it with his teeth and closed his lips around it, sucking it hard.
He continued to cradle her face, using strong hands to tilt her head this way and that to give himself a better angle. His body, hard and muscular, pressed against hers until she was lying back against the cushions. One lean, jeans-clad thigh insinuated itself between hers, nudging against her quivering pussy through her skimpy shorts.
Her responses were primal, an explosion of the need that had been building for years.
One of his hands slipped down to her arm, then eased beneath her T-shirt. His warm palm cupped one breast, his thumb rasping over the hardened tip. The heat of his body permeated hers, surrounded it. A moan floated in the air and she wasn’t sure whose it was, exactly.
He trailed his lips across her cheek and down the length of her neck. She ran her hands along the hard muscles of his back down to his hips, pulling him more tightly against her. When she arched to him, he took little nips, then soothed the skin with his tongue. Every one of her nerves was firing, her body so hot she was sure she would instantly combust.
He licked the hollow of her throat where her pulse fluttered wildly.
More. I want more.
She dragged his shirt free of his jeans, yanking it over his head, and touched his naked skin with her fingers. His chest was just as hard as she’d imagined, and the curls of hair covering it just as soft and silky. Touching him was like sticking her finger in an electric socket.
She felt his hands grasp her own shirt, pulling it loose.
“Lift up,” he whispered and tugged the shirt over her head.
Next to go was her bra and then his mouth was on her, his lips closing tightly over a beaded nipple. Streaks of high voltage raced to her core as he fed on her like a man with an insatiable appetite. A man in the grip of unquenchable desire. She tried to touch him everywhere, suddenly frantic with need. He sucked and nibbled, the tug of his mouth reaching way down to her pussy.
Her brain melted. With his hot mouth back on hers, feeding impatiently, she was only vaguely aware of the movement of his hands everywhere on her body. Sliding into her shorts and cupping her ass, then easing around to find her very, very wet slit. When he slid two fingers inside her, she clamped down on him and rocked her hips, focused only on satisfying the need raging through her.
“That’s it,” he whispered, his lips at her ear. “God, Shay, you are so hot you’re burning my fingers.”
He moved against her, the heat of his body surrounding her. The hair on his chest brushed erotically against her naked skin as he shifted position slightly. He licked the shell of her ear and traced the line with his tongue. Her responses were primal, raw, uncontrollable. Shivers raced along her spine. She lost all sense of time and place, her entire being focused on the unexpected climax swirling up through her body. It had been such a long time, and her body was so eager, and this man seemed to unlock every one of her secret places.
“Let