“Not quite.” His mouth slanted in one of those relentlessly bad-boy grins as his hands slid over the contours of her hips, fingers teasing under the hem of her tank, pulling it up until it bunched around her elbows. Eyes burning with appreciation as he studied her pose, arms overhead, half bound by the Lycra top. “Considering the way you’ve got me tied up, I think a few strings make sense … in the short term.”
Her breath hitched, her body clenching in response to his words—though she wasn’t certain whether it was the idea of Levi being tied in knots because of her, or the subtle erotic subtext of his statement as it applied to her immediate position.
Before she had time to consider, he’d pulled the tank the rest of the way off and tossed it aside. Set those big hands at her shoulders and gently pressed her back into the mattress so he could go to work peeling her yoga pants and panties free.
Stripped bare, she lay before him, watching the rise and fall of his chest as he surveyed the offering of her body.
Neither of her previous lovers had ever looked at her like this before. As if they’d enjoy spending the entire day just deciding which spot to start with first.
It was arousing beyond expectation to be on the receiving end of that kind of focus. Only the anticipation was beginning to make her squirm.
“Levi.” She pushed up to her elbows, peering down the length of her body to where he stood at the end of the bed.
“Damn, I like it when you say my name.”
Her brow arched, and she said it again, this time pitching her voice lower as though she were some kind of seductress instead of the mostly awkward, relatively sheltered woman she was.
His mouth slanted further and he reached for her foot. Circled the inside of her ankle with the thick pad of his thumb in a seductive caress that sent currents of electricity racing up her leg. Then carefully he positioned her heel against the comforter several inches to the side.
“Like this.”
Her nerves came on line in a flash. It was daylight. The room completely lit from beyond the thin sheer at her window, and Levi had just opened her legs to him in a way that left her totally exposed.
Her bent knee angled in, only his palm was there smoothing over the joint. “You’re beautiful, Elise. I’ve been going nuts thinking about you for a week. Let me see you.”
A week. Was it possible? Logic told her no, and yet the stark hunger in those blue eyes told her it was truth. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
Like this. Right now.
Relaxing into his touch, she closed her eyes. Felt the bed sag and strain beneath Levi’s weight and then the graze of his lips at the sensitive skin of her inner knee, the light scrape of new stubble along his jaw, the whisper-soft brush of his hair as he fit the breadth of his shoulders between her legs.
Fists curling into the bedspread beneath her, she moaned at the wet stroke of his tongue teasing close to the juncture of her thighs. “Levi.”
Thick fingers wrapped tight around her hip and ribs, reminding her what he’d said about hearing her say his name, and making her throb with the knowledge that she could affect him.
An open-mouthed kiss followed with a pulling suction that had her hips rising from the bed. “Levi, please.”
A low seductive laugh sounded as the wet heat of his breath washed over her center. “That’s even better. Let’s see what this gets me.”
“Oh God, Levi!” Her breath burst past her lips with his name—without thought, beyond control—earning another low satisfied growl and a repeat of that incredible crazy thing he’d done with his lips and teeth and tongue.
She started to writhe, felt her body slipping past her grasp, feeding control of itself to the man watching her with hooded eyes as he feasted on her pleasure. Slow licks and soft nibbles, gentle pulls and wicked thrusts had her gasping for breath just beyond reach.
Her fingers had found their way into the thick waves of his hair, and tightened as the tension simmering beneath the surface of her skin ratcheted higher.
“Enough … please.” She didn’t know how much more she could take.
“Not enough, you aren’t finished. I’m going to make you come like this.” He licked a slow circle around the aching bundle of nerves before stroking down … “Then I’m going to slide inside you …” thrusting in and out of her with his tongue to punctuate his words “… and make you come again. And again. And again.”
“Yes!” Sensation ripped through her center, drawing tight. Tighter. Concentrating into a kind of reverse pressure that built until her body bowed from the bed, suspended for a moment before finally tipping over the edge of desire. Then racing outward until the waves of her release washed through every nerve, cell, and extremity. Body slack and sated, she watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Levi shifted between her legs, kicking off his low-slung jeans. He crawled over her body until his hips rested in the cradle of her thighs, the solid length of him thick and straining against her belly as he reached for the condom above her head.
Their eyes caught and she couldn’t help the awed whisper slipping past her lips. “You’re amazing.”
The muscle in his jaw ticced once, twice, before he covered her mouth with a hot, demanding kiss tasting of her desire and that had her body pulling together once more. He pulled away with a firm shake of his head and a gruff promise. “And I’m not half finished yet.”
He couldn’t get inside her fast enough. Tasting her satisfaction on his tongue had been a decadent torture. So good and yet painfully not enough. Condom on, he pushed inside her, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of sensation. The stroke of her small heel, high on his back, the tight clasp of her body clenching rhythmically around him, and the breathy relief at his ear when he sank to the hilt.
She’d thought he was after another no-strings night. Not even close.
This wasn’t something he was giving up until he split town for good.
Pulling back and thrusting deep, he set a steady rhythm. Watched the tells of Elise’s face and body, working her closer to the next rise with each stroke.
She wouldn’t regret this. Wouldn’t get hurt or form any lasting attachment. She didn’t want a commitment any more than he did. But being his beck-and-call girl wasn’t going to fly either. So they’d have an affair. A short. Hot. Guilt-free few weeks of fun together.
Arching back, Elise let out a wild cry as her body clenched hard around him.
And he’d blow her mind while they did.
The bed was garbage. Sure, it had held up its end of the bargain, remaining upright when they’d put it through its paces. But barely.
Slitting an eye toward the window at the far side of the room, Levi figured it had to be pushing late evening based on the auburn tint to the sky.
Later than he’d thought. But after burning off a week’s worth of bottle-necked sexual frustration he hadn’t been fully willing to acknowledge, he’d been wrung out. Add to that, the softness of Elise curled against him—a novelty too tempting to ignore—and he’d slept.
It wasn’t that Levi didn’t enjoy the feel of a woman in his arms or that, like some guys, he couldn’t sleep tangled up with another person. He liked the press of a soft body and deep rhythm of a chest rising and falling with each breath. Liked the pretty scent of a shampoo that wasn’t his. What he didn’t like were the complications and potential for misunderstanding when he gave into the desire to pull a woman close and just drift off into the night.
Women got ideas when a man held them for too long without trying to get inside them.