AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Right now the signals he was giving weren’t good.
Music swelled on the other side of the door, something loud and…summery. She grinned. How sexy. A man who rocked out not to Godsmack or Staind but The Beach Boys.
“Yoohoo, Sam!” She knocked a little harder. “Freezing out here!”
He didn’t answer but the door next to his opened and the part-time guy from Sam’s shop stepped out and flashed her a grin. Handy they lived in the same building. “Hey, I know you.”
“Ditto.” She cleared her throat self-consciously, suddenly very aware of her bare legs. Her skirt came down to midthigh but skin as pale as hers probably stood out in the darkness. “Shep, right?”
“Right. So you’re looking for Sam?”
“I am. I think he’s home. I hear music.”
“Way to go, buddy,” he said under his breath, leaning around her to pound on Sam’s door. A minute later it swung inward and Sam filled the doorway.
She stared, stunned into silence. Had he always been so big? Did he just seem huger because she knew—hoped—she’d get to see all of him tonight?
Shep smiled and took off. “You are one lucky bastard, man,” he called out as he skidded down the icy steps.
She glanced at Sam and realized he seemed transfixed by the sight of her legs. “I’m not really dressed for the weat—” she began, only to be tugged inside mid-word, mid-thought, mid-breath as he framed her chilly cheeks in his bear paws and pressed his mouth to hers.
Everything inside her stuttered to a halt. Tangled nerves smoothed. His firm lips molded to hers and he licked her seam, his tongue hot and tasting of smoke and…marshmallows? Surprise had her opening for him and then he was inside, caressing every part of her though he possessed only her mouth. He stroked her and she felt it in her trembling calves, her tightening nipples, even the hollow of her stomach. And then he drove deeper, playfully battling, and the nerves quivering to life in her pussy focused all her attention on the center of her pleasure.
“Hi,” he murmured, rubbing his thumb over her lips as he eased back.
She didn’t open her eyes but she smiled, still feeling him on her mouth. In her mouth. “Hi.”
“You brought me flowers? That I crushed?” His rumble of laughter made her lids lift but only because she wanted to see his face. The soft light coming from the other room warmed his skin, making it glow. Flames flickered in his dark irises and she rose on tiptoe, desperate to kiss him again. “Rory,” he whispered, hauling her into his arms where she belonged.
Their lips met and clung just like the fingers she wrapped around his strong biceps. “Kiss me. Just kiss me.” He already was but it didn’t seem to matter. She couldn’t take enough of him inside her to quell the ache. She rubbed against him, wild in her need, helpless to fight it off any longer. The bags she held pressed awkwardly into their flesh and the cold container froze off her left nipple. She still couldn’t stop.
Her hands raced up his arms to his broad shoulders and she arched up to find him stiff and prominent where he met her belly. She couldn’t seem to get a solid grip on him because he kept moving and good goddamn, he was so tall—
“We’re melting the ice cream. It’s starting to drip.” He spoke against her cheek, his harsh pants heating her already burning face.
“Not all that’s dripping. Trust me.”
His groan blew hot over her ear and she shivered. “I’ll find out soon. You’re going to be spread out before me, all wet and open and warm and I’m going to spend hours learning every part of you. Where you’re ticklish, where you’re sensitive. Whether you go crazy when you come or if you go limp. How it feels when you take me in so deep there’s nowhere left to go.” He nipped her lobe. “And then, when you’re sure you can’t take any more, when you’re begging me to stop, I’ll go deeper.”
Her hands fell off his shoulders as his teeth grazed down her neck. “I’ll cast my vote for limp now,” she said weakly, turning her head so he could reach more.
He chuckled and worked the flowers out of her grasp, along with the bag containing the ice cream. “These are pretty. Thanks. Carnations. Pink it looks like. Hard to see in this light. Let me get them in water and the ice cream in the fridge.”
She pushed her trembling fingers through her hair and followed him into the kitchen, her knees still loose and on the verge of giving out. If he could do all that to her with a kiss, what would happen when they finally came together? Would she live through the overload to her senses?
“They’re pink and yellow,” she said when he flipped on the light and dumped the ice cream in the freezer. “I know they’re girly colors,” she added, worrying the handle of the bag she still carried. “I wanted white but they were out. Thought they’d help cheer this place up—” She broke off when he turned on the water and glanced over at her with a smile. “You know, that smile very effectively tells me when I’ve gone too far. So I’ll just stop while I’m ahead and say you kissed the fucking shit out of me, so what do you expect?”
“These are perfect. Thank you. Next time I’ll bring you flowers. What are your favorites?”
All she heard was next time. He could’ve threatened to set her on fire and the only words in her head would’ve been nexttimenexttimenexttime. “Mums. The fat gold and red ones people put on stoops. I always wanted a house with a porch and flower boxes and lots of mums.”
“I had that once,” he mused thoughtfully, arranging the stems in a coffee mug. He’d already neatly snipped the ends with scissors. “The house with the porch and flower boxes. Not the mums.”
“I bet it was beautiful,” she said, setting aside the bag that contained not only the letters he’d loaned her, but one she’d written for him.
“It was. Someday I’ll take you by. It’s for sale now. Some family will make a really happy home there, I bet.”
The fact that she heard absolutely no pain or regret in his voice was exactly what set her off. Tears flooded her eyes and she rushed forward to press her face against his back. Her arms encircled his waist and she hung on, gratitude and sympathy and need geysering up inside her, incapable of being contained.
