CHAPTER 12
Claire
Claire nearly choked on her burger. She swallowed with some difficulty because her throat had spasmed.
“What?”
He smiled. “You heard me.”
Oh, yes, she had. And so had her body, which suddenly went into incandescent mode, feeling as if streaks of lightning coursed through her, head to toe.
She raised the burger to her lips again, then put it down. “Did you just ask me to be your fuck buddy?”
His laugh sounded startled. “Really, Penny?”
“OK, then help me understand this.”
“All right. But first, humor me and answer a question.” His blue eyes captured hers, and she felt like the proverbial butterfly pinned to the board. “And be unabashedly honest, please.”
She stared at the open bag of ketchup packets, which she hadn’t touched. Somehow, she hadn’t wanted any, given what had happened last time.
“Have you been with anyone since our night together?”
Her eyes narrowed. “That is none of your business.”
“Isn’t it?” He picked up the shake, and she watched in fascination as he wrapped those gorgeous lips around the red straw and took a long pull. A shudder racked her at the memory of what he’d done to her with that talented mouth.
He ran his tongue over his lips. “What happened that night was once in a lifetime. Can you deny that?”
She opened her mouth but closed it at his raised eyebrow.
“Remember,” he said. “Unabashedly honest. Now, tell me, can you deny that it was uncustomary?”
She couldn’t. Not if she was being honest. And she had to smile at his choice of words—typical rich vocabulary of an attorney.
Never date a lawyer.
To her surprise, irritation grabbed her, and she wanted to tell that parent tape to shut up. He certainly was direct, unlike the typical attorney.
She plucked a fry out of the pile. “It was what it was and meant to stay in Vegas.”
His lips twisted. “An evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer.”
Oh my God. She pressed her lips together. Don’t laugh, don’t laugh.
“I’ll answer for my part. Yes, it was. That kind of thing occurs rarely, if at all.
I never believed it could until it happened to my brother, and even then, I didn’t quite understand it.
Now, I do. And since we both experienced it, I think we owe it to ourselves to go with it and see where it takes us. ”
She’d come here to tell him to stop pursuing her. And now …
“Why?”
“Because since that night, I haven’t been able to think of anyone else but you.”
Had he been with other women during that time? Why did the thought of it, the idea of him under someone else’s hands and mouth, make her stomach churn?
The truth was, she hadn’t been able to shove him out of her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried. At night, when she’d caved to primal urges, it was always images of Ian she’d conjured. To deny it would be a lie, and Claire wasn’t a liar.
“I thought of you too.” Heat rose up her neck and over her cheeks.
He studied her for a moment, and that knowing smile gradually appeared, the one that told her he could read her mind. “And when exactly did you think of me, Claire?”
He set down his shake and leaned toward her, causing an instant electric jolt that sent her heart into palpitations. Of its own accord, her body reacted, leaning into him until he was so close she could smell that fresh soap of his. It made her dizzy.
“No response? Then let me tell you when I thought of you.”
She was breathing erratically now, afraid of what he was about to tell her, yet dying to hear it.
“It started that morning when I reached out to touch you again but only found empty sheets that still smelled of you.”
She swallowed hard.
“And when I found that red imprint of your lips on the bathroom mirror.”
She closed her eyes. That had been an impulse she’d regretted, but at the time, it seemed like an appropriate goodbye, given she had no intention of leaving him a way to contact her.
“And when this flew to the carpet as I tried to get that wrecked bed back to some semblance of order.” He reached into his pocket, withdrew something, and opened his palm to reveal a round peridot stud.
The earring she’d lost in his bed.
“Every time I poured myself a Hennessy.” He closed the distance between them, his lips tracing the shell of her ear, causing a violent shudder. “And every damned time I lay alone in bed at night and tossed and turned and couldn’t get a wink of sleep until I wrapped my fist around my—”
“OK, OK! I get it!” She jerked away and scooted back, desperate to put distance between them. Because with him so near, she couldn’t think.
Then again, she could. All she could think of was launching herself at him and ripping off all his clothes right here in a public park in broad daylight.
This wasn’t normal. She couldn’t understand it. But neither could she deny it.
“Did you think of me at night, Claire? Was I in your thoughts when you were alone in bed?”
Yes.
She looked past him at the shimmering water.
“I thought so.” His gaze bore into her. She could feel it. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Her gaze flicked to his mouth, caught the flash of his beautiful white teeth as he drew in his lower lip, and Claire stopped thinking.
In one lunge, she gripped his shoulders and pushed him down, her upper body covering his. She looked into his eyes, reading in them a blatant desire that took her breath away.
He raised his head a fraction of an inch, bringing his lips to almost touch hers. His hand gripped her nape, but he didn’t pull her closer.
He waited for a beat. “Kiss me, goddamn it.” His voice was a low rasp. She’d heard that tone before, all through that night. The sound of it sent a hot pulse deep inside her, propelling her to that primal place where all she wanted was to get lost in him.
The last of her defenses crumbled. Fisting the fabric of his shirt, Claire crushed her lips to his.
Ian
He knew it.
What he remembered was still there but magnified a thousandfold, and it took everything Ian had to keep from flipping her over, shoving up that skirt, and taking her right there, under the blue Florida sky.
Somehow, he found the will to break the kiss. Claire buried her face in his throat, overcome, he hoped, by the same wave of lust that threatened to swallow him whole.
Speaking of swallowing, he shifted uncomfortably against the confines of his pants because plundering her mouth had vividly conjured the memory of sliding between those beautiful pink lips.
She’d treated his body like her own private banquet, feasting on him with a hunger no woman had ever shown for him.
He wanted that again. And again.
She shifted then, and he thought she meant to get off him, but instead, she moved to cover him completely. He felt her grind against him, heard her sharp inhale as he grew so hard, he thought he might explode.
She nuzzled his neck and inhaled deeply.
Ian dropped the burger.
“Penny,” he murmured against her hair, “what are you doing to me?”
“Using you for sex.” Her voice was muffled, and he felt the sting as she nipped his neck.
A strangled laugh escaped him. “I didn’t mean right now.”
The next second, she sat up and straddled him, using her flared skirt to cover both of them. “Too bad. I want you right now.”
Reaching down, she held his gaze, her green eyes wide and wild as a leopard’s. He realized she was adjusting her panties and settling on his rigid shaft. What had he unleashed?
“Claire—”
“Put up or shut up.”
She flipped her hair and, before he could even say a word, began rocking back and forth.
He lay there stunned for a few seconds, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. She picked up speed, grasping his hands and leaning down to take his mouth in a kiss so ferocious, it seemed to take possession of his soul.
A corner of his mind warned that someone could show up at any moment, but she was rubbing on him so hard and fast and with such raw desire on her face that he just stopped caring.
His fingers threaded through hers. He groaned as his entire body seemed to seize with the exquisite torture of doing this fully clothed. Not since he was a teenager had he experienced such a thing, and it sure as hell hadn’t felt this good.
“I am so close.” She leaned down and nipped his earlobe. “I want to use your mouth,” she whispered.
“Here?” he choked out. Letting her sit on his face here would take it too far. That didn’t mean he didn’t want to.
“Not that.” Her breaths were coming faster now. “Blow.”
Ah, yes. He smiled. Blowing in her ear did it for her, he recalled. “Turn your head.”
She did. He took a deep breath and, pressing his lips to her ear, exhaled on a long, deep groan, using the tip of his tongue to gently lave her earlobe.
That sent her.
He heard her gasp. She ground against him hard, froze for a moment, and then she began quivering again and again. He could feel her heat right through the fabric of his pants.
Jesus.
Thankfully, Claire was always quiet when she came.
He watched her face, her changing expressions a kaleidoscope of ecstasy as she rode out her orgasm on him, driving him insane.
He looked up into her face, at her parted pink lips, her flushed cheeks, her lowered lashes, and thought he’d never seen anyone look so beautiful.
At last, she stilled. She let go of his hands and collapsed on him, tucking her head under his chin, little tremors racking her body, radiating heat. She was like an engine that kept on purring.
What now? This was a first for him. He’d always been an active participant and took things to completion. His discomfort reached the point of pain, but his heart beat a victorious tattoo. Everything he wanted was in his arms again.
He kissed her temple. “Feel good?”
“Mm-hmm.”
She stirred, her hand slowly gliding down his chest. He held his breath. Whatever she meant to do, he wanted to let her, except they were in full view, and the clothes had to stay on. Her hand reached just above his belt, and he closed his eyes.
Something warm and wet swiped across his ear.
“What the—”