She didn’t realize she’d stopped stroking him until he covered her hand with his.
“Don’t stop now,” he said, his breath coming out in a rush. “I’m enjoying myself.”
“Really?”
“You have very soft hands. I like being this close to you, too. You smell good.”
“Cotton blossom lotion.” Her grandmother had given her a selection of lotions, soaps and perfumes over the years and she’d always been saving them for when she’d need them. Tonight, she knew, was the time to crack the seals on those bottles. “I didn’t want to smell like chicken-fried steak, but you probably don’t want to know that, do you?”
“Chicken-fried steak isn’t so bad, but I’m pleased you went with cotton blossom. I like a lot of things about you.” He gently nibbled at her ear.
Heat started in her nipples and spread in ever-widening circles around her breasts. “Thank you for doing this for me.”
He pushed a stray tendril off her cheek. “Trust me, it’s my pleasure.”
His low, seductive voice rolled over her. The deep tones stirred her senses. “Not just the sex part, but for making me feel beautiful. Wanted.” For making her feel like a real woman.
“You are beautiful.”
She didn’t quite believe him, as much as she wanted to. “I’m nervous I’ll do the wrong thing.”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
“I want…” Don’t get shy now, Nell, she chided herself. “I want to do more.” Deep inside her a feeling she didn’t recognize grew and grew.
He guided her hand. “That’s good.” The corner of his mouth lifted.
His words were barely more than a whisper, but they echoed through her head. Nell took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and pushed his jeans down, feeling her knuckles skim across his hips, his thighs, and when she reached his ankles she stood, but didn’t open her eyes. She was so frightened and excited she wasn’t sure if she could speak.
“Look at me, Nell.” Riley’s voice sounded tight and hoarse.
She opened one eye. She was level with his smiling mouth. She opened the other eye, and let her gaze roam down to his strong chin. Then to the corded muscles in his neck. She studied the wide set of his muscular shoulders. He had a little scar just beneath his collarbone and she wondered what had happened. She found another little scar in the crook of his elbow. She glanced down and spied the tip of his erect penis. She bit her bottom lip. Oh! He was so big.
Riley dragged one foot out of his pants then the other, then he kicked them aside. “Touch me, Nell.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere you want. Everywhere you want.”
Nell reached and pressed her hand flat against his chest. She was going to have to work up to touching his penis. Living, breathing muscle contracted under her hand.
She put her other hand on his shoulder. She moved closer and planted a kiss right on his heart. He groaned. Nell felt power radiating from him. She moved her lips over his smooth skin. “You are so beautiful,” she murmured.
“Thank you.” He pulled her close to him, pressing her tightly to his chest. He kissed her, his lips soft, his tongue hard.
Nell felt his penis pressing into her through the light cotton material of her skirt. The moist heat stunned her. A flood of emotions raged inside her. Finally, she thought, she would know what other women knew, feel what other women felt.
Nell’s hands roamed over his body. She licked his skin, loving the salty taste of him. Riley trembled as she ran her fingers down the smooth skin of his back and then around his hips to the heat of his penis. She loved the feel of the smoothness in her hand. In all her life, she’d dreamed and wondered what a man felt like, and the reality exceeded all her dreams.
Nell giggled, feeling wanton and feminine. Had she known this would be so intoxicating, she would have found a man a long ago time, despite her grandmother’s warnings that men weren’t to be trusted.
She wanted to touch Riley everywhere. With her bottom lip caught between her teeth, she reached out and touched the tip of his hard penis and jerked back, surprised. The skin was velvety hot and silky smooth and slightly moist. As she curled her hand around him and stroked from base to tip, a moaning sigh escaped his lips. What had she been missing? Apparently a whole lot.
She wasn’t certain what she’d expected, but she found herself thinking about the sex education classes she’d had, and she realized how inadequate they had been. The classes had not even prepared her for the most basic of her emotions. The clinical aspect of sex was one thing, but the reality was far different.
She cupped him in both hands, running her palms down the sides. His penis seemed to jerk in her hand as if it had a mind of its own.
This is what women yearned for. She wrapped her fingers around him. Her eyes closed as she tried to imagine them making love, him on top of her, being touched by him, invaded by him. Her mouth opened, her breathing became labored.
“Nell?”
She looked up at him, letting go of his penis. “Am I doing something wrong?”
“The doorbell.”
She looked toward the front door. It might be rude, but she wasn’t home.
Before he could respond, the doorbell rang again. “Don’t answer,” he said, his voice harsh.
She smiled at him. “I don’t intend to.” Not for anything would she interrupt this session. If it was another floral arrangement from someone in town, the florist could leave the arrangement. If it was someone else, that person could come back when they realized she wasn’t going to answer.
The front door crashed open. “Hello?”
Nell froze with her fingers still wrapped around Riley’s penis.
“Nell, honey,” came a once-familiar trilling voice. “It’s Mama. I’m home.”
Chapter 4
Speechless, Nell stared at her mother. Lucy Evans stood in the entry, her eyes going wide first with surprise, then disbelief and finally mischief.
Lucy dropped her suitcase on the floor. The dull thud reverberated through the silent house. “Nell, honey, whatever is going on here?” Her dark eyes raked over Riley who, after a paralyzed moment, scooped his pants up off the floor and held them in front of him. “Or do I want to know?”
Sliding a glance at Riley, Nell noticed he’d hidden that wonderful part of himself that most intrigued her and that she’d so enjoyed touching. Her fingers still ached to touch him, but not with her mama standing in the doorway and staring at her with that all-knowing expression on her incredibly beautiful face.
The first thought into her head sent shame through her. Nell’s greatest fear had just happened, she had become just like her mother.
“Mama, what are you doing here?” Nell stepped in front of Riley to shield him from Lucy’s questioning gaze, giving him a chance to put his clothes back on. Her own clothes felt way too tight, but at least they were still on.
“I’m visiting,” Lucy replied.
The words sank in as Nell stared at her mother.
Lucy Evans hadn’t changed since Nell had last seen her over seven years ago. Her slender, petite body was as delicate as ever. Not one wrinkle marred her high-cheekboned face and her flawless, bronze-tinted skin glowed with vitality and health. Her eyes were large and tilted up slightly at the outer corners,