Feel the Heat (18 page)

But not put
him
behind her. Oh no. He had plans for Lauren and their future, and tomorrow it would be time to talk about it. He hadn’t ever really seen himself as settling down in a relationship with one person for the rest of his life. But that was before Lauren and the instant connection that exploded between them.

But the circumstances up until now had been anything but normal. All her senses had ramped up, and his own had been overshadowed by the intense need to protect her. Now the danger was eliminated, the tension eased and in the morning, over coffee, he would talk to her about their relationship and where he hoped they were going.

He didn’t expect it to be easy. Lauren had spent much of her life holding people at arm’s length, much as he had. But during this time when he still didn’t have anything pressing with Phoenix, they could test the waters. Get to know each other more than just in bed.

When he entered the bedroom she was already under the covers, propped up against the pillows. Her freshly washed hair fell in a silken curtain around her shoulders, and her face had that newly scrubbed look. She looked good enough to eat, his mouth watering for the taste of her.

Smiling at her, he set the two snifters of brandy on the nightstand and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

“Give me five minutes to scrub off the day and we’ll have a nightcap to celebrate getting your life back.”

“I can get into that,” she told him, and patted the bed next to her. “I’ll keep your place warm for you.”

Hot might be more like it
, he thought, and seriously considered showering with cold water. Especially when the steam still lingering in the bathroom was filled with the fresh scent of her body wash and the shampoo she used. His cock swelled and hardened, and his balls ached with need. In that instant, he wanted her more than at any time since he first walked into the house.

Not tonight. She needs soothing and tenderness, not hot sweaty sex.

With ruthless determination, he turned the shower to its coldest temperature and stood under it until he was sure his balls had shriveled to the size of raisins. Probably looked like them too. He dried off with brisk movements, tied the towel around his hips and went into the bedroom to get clean shorts out of the drawer Lauren had given him in her dresser.

“You won’t need those.”

The husky note in Lauren’s voice made him turn, boxers still in his hand. His eyes widened and he nearly swallowed his tongue. She’d lowered the covers, leaving her naked to the waist. Her breasts, so round and plump, rested in her hands as if she was offering them to him. As he continued to stare she brushed her thumbs lightly over the tips and his mouth went dry as dust.

“Jesus, Lauren,” he breathed. “Have a heart.”

She licked her lower lip with a slow swipe of her tongue.

“I do,” she told him. “And a lot of other parts too. I thought you might want to check them out. Make sure they’re still in working order.”

He let the boxers fall back into the drawer and walked cautiously to the bed.

“This has been a very stressful day for you,” he reminded her. “And evening. I thought we both could use a nightcap and some sleep. I don’t want to push you when…” His voice trailed off as she rose on her knees, the covers falling away completely.

“I’m not some fragile doll, Troy. I’m a flesh-and-blood woman, and tonight I want to be treated like one. I want something good to wash away the taste of Nolan Switzer.” She held out her hands to him. “Please. Don’t make me beg.”

“Sugar, begging’s the last thing I expect you to do.”

And a man only has so much willpower.

He undid the towel and tossed it to the side, climbing up on the bed to straddle her, dipping his head to capture one rosy nipple with his mouth. Lauren clutched his shoulders and gave a soft moan that stirred all his nerve endings. He grazed the pebbled surface with his teeth while his hand palmed the other breast, kneading with a soft, gentle squeeze. Another moan escaped her lips and Troy’s cock flexed in response.

“Don’t be gentle with me,” Lauren pleaded. “Not right now. Please, Troy.”

His brain told him she didn’t know what she needed, but his body had a mind of its own. And he was past the point of exercising much control. Pushing her back against the pillows, he proceeded to ravage her breasts with his tongue and his teeth before lifting his head to take her mouth in a devouring kiss. Her tongue met his with eagerness, moving in an age-old dance of thrust and retreat.

He tore his lips away and trailed his tongue along the slender column of her neck and along the underside of her jaw. When he reached the place in her throat where her pulse beat rapidly, he pulled the delicate flesh into his mouth. He kissed a trail between her breasts to her navel, taking a moment to trace the furled flesh with the tip of his tongue.

Lauren writhed beneath him, her fingers clawing at his shoulders as her hips bucked up against him. With a wanton gesture she spread her legs wide, offering herself, silently urging him to go lower. Taste the slick flesh of her pussy. She was damn hot, completely turned-on, and the scent of her musk drifted up to his nostrils and drove him crazy.

He traced the crease between each hip and thigh but then crawled back up her body to smooth kisses across one shoulder, along her collarbone to the other shoulder then down through the valley of her breasts again. She writhed and moaned and tried to tell him with her body to hurry, hurry, hurry.

His cock brushed against her inner thigh and jumped in response.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

If he wasn’t careful, he’d come before he even got inside her.

Linking his fingers with hers, he raised her hands over her head, stretching out her arms in a way that made her breasts arch up to him. Hardened nipples tempted him, his lips closing around one firm bud and pulling on it as his tongue flicked back and forth over the pebbled surface. She writhed beneath him as he paid careful attention to first one breast then the other. He moved his mouth to trail a line between her breasts to her navel, her lips parted as she panted with need.

When he reached her pussy, he traced every inch of it with his tongue. He licked and ate gently into the softness of it, every intimate inch of it open to his exploration. He teased with his lips and his tongue, pulling at her now here, now there. Her arousal pooled in the heated flesh of her cunt and coated his tongue. Sweet. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of the sweetness of her.

When he captured the hot little knot of her clit, she bucked up against him, delicious sounds drifting from her mouth. She tried to squeeze her thighs against him, but his wide shoulders kept them spread apart. Her fingers gripped his, tightening as he drove her higher and higher, backing off then teasing her again.

It took every bit of his willpower to control himself. His cock was so hard and swollen and his balls ached so badly, he was afraid he’d come with no warning and embarrass himself.

Beneath him, Lauren writhed, the air punctuated by those little sounds of need and hunger he loved so much. At the moment she was finally reduced to begging, he shifted position and flipped her over to her stomach, lifting her to her knees. The rosy puckered flesh of her anus tempted him, his mouth going dry at the sight. Not tonight, he told himself, but soon. He would take her there, and she would be completely his.

But now he reached for the condom on the nightstand and rolled it deftly on with one hand. He positioned himself at the entrance to her wet cunt, gripped her hips and thrust into her with one long, slow glide. Her muscles tightened around him and he had to hold himself still, drawing in a breath to steady himself. Jesus, she just did it to him, as if she seeped into every pore of his body and owned him body and soul.

Lauren rocked back against him, her movements punctuated by breathless little moans. That was all it took. He drove into her again and again, the walls of her pussy scraping against him, rubbing every sensitive nerve in his cock, the head of it dragging erotically against her sensitive inner walls. He held out as long as he could, reaching one hand around and beneath her to find her clit and rub it between two fingers.

He felt her entire body clench even as she bore down on him, and the orgasm ripped through her. She pulsed around him, crying his name, rocking harder and harder. When he felt the final intense grip of her walls he let himself go, wishing there was no thin latex between them. That he could feel her naked pussy wrapped around him as he emptied himself in great spurts. His entire body shuddered with the force of his release.

Time seemed to stop as aftershocks rippled through them both, the still air broken only by the rough sounds of breath being drawn into starved lungs. Troy managed to catch his weight on his forearms so he didn’t smother Lauren, but that seemed to be all the strength he had left. She turned her head and when he looked down at her beneath him, her eyes were open, watching him, and a rosy flush suffused her skin. The smile she gave him would have made his cock harden again if he wasn’t so thoroughly spent.

He traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue before finally rolling to the side and taking her with him.

“I was afraid we might set the sheets on fire,” he grinned.

She laughed, a soft musical sound. “I’m not sure I would have noticed.”

“As soon as we can drag ourselves out of bed, I prescribe a hot shower, then something to eat. And finally a good night’s sleep.”

“Tomorrow I’ll call Mrs. Hauser back and tell her it’s all clear for me to help her.”

Troy tensed. “I’m still not so sure you should expose yourself again. At least not so soon after the last incident.”

“It will be fine.” She touched his cheek. “This is what I do, remember? Part of the package.”

“Okay. But you don’t go anywhere without me.”

“I can definitely get on board with that.”

Chapter Nine

“I hope I’m not calling too early.”

Lauren held her cell phone in one hand, a mug of fresh coffee in the other. Troy, sitting across the table from her, gave her a smile of encouragement. It was just after eight thirty, but she’d wanted to call Gayle Hauser as early as possible. She knew from past experience the anxiety people felt when someone they loved was ill and dying and modern medicine had nothing to offer them.

“Oh no, not at all.” Gayle’s voice was breathless with desperation. “I was just waiting a little bit to call you again myself.” She paused. “Is this good news? Are you calling to tell me you’ll visit my husband? That you’ll help him?”

“Yes. I called to discuss it with you.”

“So your stalker has been caught?” The woman’s uneasiness was evident in her tone of voice. “As much as I need you, I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

“No, everything is fine,” Lauren assured her. “I’ll still take precautions, of course, but the danger is past. Can you answer some questions for me about your husband’s condition?”

For the next ten minutes she made notes on her iPad as she asked Gayle Hauser about Clark’s medical situation. What kind of infection did he have? What had the doctors tried? How had it begun and when? And on and on until she felt she had everything she needed.

“All right,” she said at last. “I’ll come this afternoon.”

“Oh. Not until then? Can’t you come here any sooner? I worry every minute that he could be taken from me.”

“This afternoon,” Lauren repeated firmly. “Trust me, it’s the best time for me to be there. And I’ll be bringing someone with me, but other than that there should be no one else in the room except you and Clark.”

“Whatever you want,” the woman assured her quickly. “Anything. As long as you agree to help us.”

Lauren checked her watch. “Give me the room number. We’ll be there about one thirty. Why don’t you go back to Clark and tell him? You may think he can’t hear you but I bet he can. The sound of your voice will help him until I get there.”

“All right. Yes. I’ll do that. I sit with him all the time.”

“Then that’s what you need to keep doing. We’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Why not go now?” Troy asked when she’d disconnected the call.

“Doctors tend to get really funky about what I do.” She sipped her coffee. “By one thirty the lunch trays have been served and collected. Even though I’m sure Clark Hauser is only being fed intravenously, the nurses may be in and out of his room for something. By one thirty they’re finished, meds are taken care of and we won’t be interrupted until the shift change at three.”

He nodded. “Makes sense when you think about it. Do you want to stop somewhere and have lunch first?”

“I’d like that. But just something like a salad, maybe. And there are some things you need to be aware of.”

“Okay.” He reached for one of her hands, rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “Lay it on me.”

“Mrs. Hauser knows I’m bringing someone with me, but your primary job will be to hang out by the door and make sure no one comes into the room. I’ll insist Gayle Hauser stand away from the bed so I’m the only one in the immediate space with the patient. That way my energy doesn’t get diffused.”

“Sounds pretty simple to me.”

She shrugged. “You never know. Sometimes the family members insist on practically throwing themselves on the patient and it interrupts the connection.”

“Anything else?”

She nodded. “Sessions like this exhaust me, and I have to rest immediately afterward. There won’t be anyplace in the hospital for me to lie down without calling attention to the whole thing. I’m depending on you to get me out quickly and quietly, into the car and away from the hospital right away.”

“Will I need to carry you?” he asked. “I just want to be prepared.”

She shook her head. “No, but I’ll need your strength to help me make it out of there.”

He pushed back from the table, came around to her side and lifted her out of the chair. His large hands framed her face and his gaze locked with her. The kiss he gave her was deep and searching, but strangely not sexual in nature. More emotional. And a deep emotion at that. He raised his head and locked his gaze with hers.