HandsOn (5 page)

His hands moved frantically over her body, heating her blood
wherever he touched. His heart raced against her breast, the rapid staccato
beat matching her own.

She tore at his shirt and pulled it from the waistband of
his pants, sliding her hands under the fabric so she could make contact with
his skin. His stomach quivered and his breath caught and held. She could entice
that kind of reaction from him?

Wow. For the first time in her life, she felt wanton and
desired.

Mark pulled his mouth from hers and rained heated kisses
across her jaw and down her neck. She shivered, goose bumps popping up on every
inch of her skin. When he sank his teeth lightly into that spot between her
neck and shoulder, she whimpered and scraped at his back with her fingers.

His skin was on fire. Her body was fully engulfed in flames.
She needed that inferno doused and now.

Mark tasted the sweet skin of Lara’s neck again, his body
hard and aching to sink between the soft flesh of her thighs. This he hadn’t
planned on, had no way to fight it. She fired him up hotter than a breaking
story, and right now all he wanted to do was make love to her, article or no
article.

The rest he’d worry about later.

Reaching behind him, he pulled her arms from around his back
and moved her a bit so he could look at her.

Her lips were swollen from his demanding kisses, her hair
mussed from his fingers tangling in the silken tresses. Her nipples were
clearly outlined against the flimsy dress, erect and begging for his touch. He
wanted his mouth on the perky tips, wanted to taste her there. Hell, he wanted
to taste her everywhere.

If he were polite he’d ask her permission, ask if she wanted
to make love, ask where her bedroom was.

Fuck it. He wanted her and her body sure as hell was giving
off the same signals. Without a word he swept her up into his arms and walked
through an open doorway.

Ah. Bedroom. He laid her on the bed, taking a moment to
admire the view of her long legs, gorgeous hips and breasts.

But he knew with Lara he’d have to tamp down his urges a
bit. Throwing her dress up and plunging into her wouldn’t be a wise choice.
That might be exactly what he needed, but she needed much more. And he’d damn
well planned to give her everything she needed, and then some.

He’d think about the whys of that later.

Easing onto the bed next to her, he let his hands roam
freely over her body, not wanting her to change her mind at the last minute.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, burying his face in her
neck and nuzzling against her soft hair.

“Am not,” she whispered.

“Are too.” He slid his hands underneath her and pulled her
so they lay on their sides, facing each other. When he swept his palm over the
material covering one breast, she gasped.

He caressed the distended bud through the thin material
covering it, rewarded with her whimpering moan. When he closed his mouth over
her breast, she cried out and threaded her fingers through his hair, holding
him closer.

The taste of silk and woman was intoxicating. The taste of
Lara was intoxicating. More so than any woman he’d ever touched. He was in way
over his head with a woman like her. Eagerness and innocence made her lethal,
dangerous.

Wherever he touched, she responded fervently. Her whimpers
and moans drove him crazy. His cock throbbed, insistent on having its way, and
he was finding it difficult to win out over his demanding libido.

“Lara, look at me.”

Her eyes tightly closed, she didn’t want to open them. The
sensations were indescribable, delicious and wicked, like her fantasies. She
didn’t want to open her eyes and find out none of this was real. But she did as
Mark asked, shocked to see his darkly aroused gaze. When he thrust his hips
against her, she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out in ecstasy.

“I want you.”

She wanted to ask him to say it again, she’d heard it so
infrequently in her lifetime. How did one respond to a statement like that?
“Thank you.”

He laughed. “Thank you? How about you want me too?”

“That’s kind of obvious, Mark. You can tell by my body’s
biological response to you.”

He’d show her a biological response or two. He slipped the
thin straps of her dress over her shoulders and down her arms. Her bra followed
next, revealing her small breasts. She fought the urge to cover them with her
hands, but he pushed them away. Her tiny pink nipples were gorgeous. No way was
he going to allow her to cover them.

“Your body’s biological response, huh? You mean, like these
hard nipples?” He petted one and it puckered and stood up as if reaching out to
him.

“Yes.”

“And are you wet for me, Lara?”

Oh, God. She couldn’t answer that. “I…I…”

His fingers seared her leg, then blazed a forest fire up to
her thigh. When he slipped his knee between her legs and ran his fingers
further upward, she couldn’t hold in the groan of pleasure.

He made short work of sliding her panties off. She was on
fire, craving his touch, desperately needing his hands, his mouth, his body on
her.

She thought it couldn’t get any better. But it did. Right
when he cupped her sex with the palm of his hand. She shuddered, her body
writhing against him.

“Oh yeah, you’re wet all right.”

Mortification mixed with excitement as he slowly moved his
hand over her aching clit. Sparks shot into her belly and she silently begged
him to send her over the edge. She was close, so very close.

“I’ll bet if I pet you a little bit you’d come all over my
hand, wouldn’t you, wildcat?”

He really was psychic. “Yes. No. I don’t know, maybe.”

“Shh, quit talking. Just feel, Lara. Let me please you.”

Please her? He was damn near killing her! But she bit her
lip to keep from saying anything more. Until he touched her again. Then she
couldn’t hold back her response.

“Oh Mark, yes. That feels so good. Right there, yes, there.”

She couldn’t help talking now, needing him to caress that
magical spot.

“There? Tell me, wildcat. Do you like it when I touch you
there?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Soft, like this, or a little harder?”

His voice was as seductive as his fingers, both sending her
spinning out of control. “Yes, like that. Now faster.”

His husky laugh had her shivering and rocking against him.

“That’s it baby, come for me.”

She’d never done that before. Never had an orgasm in front of
a man. But the roller coaster was heading downhill now and she could do nothing
to stop it. His fingers coaxed a response she couldn’t have denied if she
tried. When he slipped two fingers inside her and grazed her clit with his
thumb, she exploded, screaming as her climax raged through her like an out of
control train.

She clung tight to Mark’s arms as he continued his carnal
assault. He didn’t let up until she relaxed her hips and fought for breath.

Then he pulled her against his chest, his hard-on rigid
against her thigh.

It had never been like that. She’d never seen stars when she
came, she’d never told a man what she wanted, despite all her research.

Wow.

Not much of a vocabulary for a Ph.D., but it was the best
she could come up with right now.

Chapter Five

Mark fought for restraint, his body coiled tight with the
need for release. A release he was desperate to spill inside Lara.

He was right. Lara was a wildcat in disguise. Verbal and
exciting and so goddamn sexual she nearly had him coming in his pants,
something he hadn’t done since puberty. Her whimpers and moans and the way she
told him exactly how she wanted him to touch her was more stimulating, more
arousing, than any woman he’d ever been with before.

The way she came apart in his arms made him crazy with the
desire to rip off that flimsy little silk thing she wore and plunge deep and
hard inside her.

And that’s exactly what he was going to do.

Only a knock sounded at the door before he could. Lara’s
eyes flew open and she clenched his arms.

“You expecting someone?” he asked.

“Uh, no. It’s late. I don’t get visitors.”

“What about Bob?” The guy Mark wanted to conveniently forget
about, but obviously hadn’t. Then again, Lara sure had.

She frowned. “Bob?” Then her eyes widened. “Oh, Bob! No, it
wouldn’t be him.”

The pounding at the door continued. Lara stood and brushed
the wrinkles from her dress, her face coloring. “I’d better see who it is.”

“You do that.” In the meantime, he’d do some math
calculations…anything to make his throbbing erection subside.

And while he was at it, he should exit Lara’s bedroom, just
in case it was Bob at the door.

He stepped out in time to see Lara trying to shoo her friend
Nancy out the door. The attractive brunette peered over Lara’s shoulder and
grinned, then waved.

“Hey there, Mark. How’s it goin’?”

It was going fine until you showed up
. “Great. How
are you?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I left my bag here earlier and I’ve
got to have it for work.” She brushed past Lara, winked at Mark and said, “I am
so sorry for interrupting.”

“No problem.” Actually it was a huge problem. The huge part
he was attempting to cover up right now. He jammed his fingers through his hair
and blew out a sigh loaded with frustration.

Lara stood at the doorway, her lower lip firmly in the grasp
of her teeth. She looked first to Mark, then to Nancy, and said, “Nance, wanna
stay for some coffee or something?”

Bag in hand, Nancy shook her head as she headed for the
door. “Are you insane? You two obviously want to be alone. I’m outta here.”

Lara grabbed her arm. “You don’t have to leave so soon. We
were just—”

“I know what you were just doing and I feel awful for
barging in. Now get back to doing it and forget I was even here.” She hugged
Lara and ran out, giggling with yet another mumbled apology.

By the time Lara closed the door and turned to Mark, he
pretty much figured that ignoring Nancy’s interruption wasn’t going to happen.
Whatever heat they’d exchanged had now cooled considerably.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking more at the furniture than
she was at him.

“No big deal. It’s late and I have a family thing to do
tomorrow anyway.” He stepped to the door.

“But you…that is, I did but you didn’t and I…”

He laughed at her discomfort. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll
take care of that next time.”

“Next time?”

“Yeah. I’m busy tomorrow, but how about Monday? I could come
over, we could share a pizza, just talk a little. Or maybe you’d like to go out
somewhere.”

“Um, you want to go out with me again?”

Mark wondered who’d knocked the hell out of Lara’s
self-esteem. “Of course I do. That is, if you want to.”

“I guess. I mean, sure, I’d like that.”

“Great. Call you Monday.” Before she could stutter out
another sentence, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, long, hard and so
deeply that his cock sprang to life again. He’d better get the hell out of
there before he did have his turn at release. This was all happening too fast.
He had to be more subtle.

Logic warred with his brain, and since his brain currently
resided in his aching dick, it was a helluva battle. But he finally pulled
away. “Night, Lara.”

“Night, Mark.”

She closed the door and he slipped into his SUV. Sexual
tension still clung to every part of his body.

Lara had surprised the hell out of him tonight. First, she
looked nothing like she usually did. Not that there was anything wrong with her
before, but he’d found that harried and frazzled look indicative of her
scatterbrained personality. And actually kind of sexy.

Yet listening to her talk at the club tonight, so confident
in her assessment of sexual mores and body language, impressed him. Maybe he’d
have to sit in on one of her lectures, learn a little bit more about Dr. Lara
McKenzie.

Only to play the game better, of course. Once she agreed to
do the article with him, their relationship would be strictly business.

His main goal was his career. Success was just around the
corner, he just had to play his cards right.

Lara’s innocence and naiveté should make that part easy.

And if he kept telling himself that, maybe he’d start to
believe it.

* * * * *

Lara refused to watch the clock. She had work to do. Only a
teenager would pace the house waiting for a boyfriend to show up. First off,
she was way past the teenage years, and second, Mark wasn’t her boyfriend.

Nevertheless, he’d been due to arrive a half hour ago and
still hadn’t appeared.

“Quit doubting yourself, Lara. He’s going to show up.”

She was going to have to stop talking to herself. But old
insecurities had reared their ugly heads, making her doubt her abilities to
attract a man. It had been a long time since she’d been involved with anyone,
and certainly no man had ever given her the shattering orgasm that Mark had.

Nancy had been right, much to her chagrin. He had slipped
his hand up her dress and given her an ear-splitting orgasm that night. Her
body heated at the thought of what she’d allowed him to do, how easy it had
been to take her over the edge.

And then he’d left without satisfaction. Unless he hadn’t
been as turned on as she had.

No, he had been. She’d felt it. Boy, had she felt it. Quite
impressive too. Bob would be jealous.

A giggle escaped and she wound her arms around herself,
feeling stupid for standing there dressed up at six o’clock on a Monday night.

She should be working. Okay, she’d tried to work all day.
But work led to sexual thoughts, and sexual thoughts had led to images of her
and Mark and the things they could do together.

How long had it been? Too damn long to remember. Not since
that disastrous relationship in grad school. Larry Unger. Tall, blond,
good-looking. Sports star, too. Track or football or something like that.

He’d clung to her for an entire semester. They’d seen each
other every day. He’d been so sweet to her, hugging her, kissing her, taking
her places.

The lovemaking hadn’t been spectacular, but that had been as
much her fault as his. Still, she’d thoroughly enjoyed having a guy like Larry
pay attention to her. They’d grown so close they even did homework together.
She’d helped him with all his papers.

He’d graduated with honors.

And then she’d never heard from him again.

Lara vowed to never get involved with a man again after that
disaster. And she’d held herself to that vow. Until she met Mark.

But Mark was different. She’d already given him the
interview. He’d been the one to ask to see her socially. He had no ulterior
motives other than interest in her as a person.

What a refreshing change. She’d like to be able to trust a
guy. She’d been so dumb back then, so blindly trusting.

Nice not to have to worry about that happening again.

Lara jumped at the sound of the doorbell, her heart thumping
against her chest. Really, this heart-pounding, sweat-inducing panic attack was
ridiculous. A man coming over shouldn’t thrill her this much.

But it did. She opened the door and sighed. A guy shouldn’t
be able to look so good dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and a sleeveless
shirt. Yet, Mark did. “Hey there.”

“Hey yourself. You look gorgeous.”

She looked down at her plain yellow sundress and wondered
what he saw that she didn’t. He was the one who looked good enough to eat.

And didn’t that thought just gel in her mind and conjure up
all kinds of wicked images? “Thanks. You look pretty darned good yourself.”

Mark stepped in and pulled his hand from behind his back,
producing a dozen coral roses. She stopped breathing.

“Thought you might like these.”

Like them? No one had given her flowers before. Ever. With
hands that had begun to shake, she took the flowers. “Thank you. They’re
lovely. I’ll just go put them in a vase. Please, sit down and make yourself
comfortable.”

She rolled her eyes as she walked into the kitchen. She’d
just sounded like a fifties sitcom wife.
Please sit down and make yourself
comfortable
? She wondered if there were any books on how to carry on a
social conversation without sounding like a moron.

“Would you like a drink?” she hollered, arranging the roses
in a vase of water.

“Not right now.”

Lara shrieked as Mark slipped his arms around her waist.

“You scared me!” She started to turn, but he held her tight.

“Don’t move. I want to smell you.”

When he pressed his lips against her neck and inhaled, she
shivered and nearly dropped the vase. Setting it carefully on the countertop,
she braced her hands on the sink, fighting back the desire that washed over
her. His body pressed full-length against her back, denim jeans brushing her
legs and setting her afire.

He moved his hands over her waist, down her hips, squeezing
the flesh there until her legs shook.

“I didn’t mean to start anything,” he whispered, his voice
husky and aroused. His erection nestled against her buttocks, creating a wet
arousal between her legs.

“Yes, you did.”

“Okay, maybe I did. Maybe I couldn’t wait to get my hands on
you. Want me to step away? We could sit down in the living room and talk about
books and stuff.”

Books and stuff? Was he insane? His body tucked against hers
had her thinking myriad thoughts, none of which centered around sitting in the
living room and talking about books.

Emboldened by his desire for her, she leaned back and cupped
his neck. “I don’t want to talk about books and stuff. In fact, I don’t want to
talk about anything at all.”

“Good answer.” He spun her around and pulled her against
him. His erection brushed the sensitive spot between her legs and she nearly
died from the sensations arcing through her.

When his mouth came down over hers, she grabbed for his hair
and held him close, searching out his tongue with her own.

She was starving. Literally starving for this kind of
intimacy. It had been so long…correction, it had never been like this. She’d
never felt this way about a man before, and she welcomed every sensation, both
deliriously sexual and profoundly emotional.

Her desire for Mark had become an all-consuming passion that
threatened to swallow her up and leave nothing behind.

And she loved it. Wanted it. Needed this more than she
needed to breathe.

He dragged his mouth away from her lips and kissed her neck,
licking at her earlobe. He whispered, “Tell me to stop if you don’t want this.”

All the while his hands flipped open the buttons on her
sundress, one by one. His knuckles brushed her breasts—how could that be so
incredibly arousing?

With two fingers he deftly popped open the front clasp of
her bra. When he cupped the globes in his hands, she gasped. “No. Don’t stop.”

His half-hooded eyes were nearly black. “Make sure this is
what you want.”

She stilled, wondering what he meant. Was he as insecure as
she? No, it wasn’t possible. And yet, he’d sounded that way. “This is exactly
what I want. Now will you shut up and make love to me?”

A low growl escaped his throat and he kissed her hard,
rocking against her sex. He bent down and slowly slipped his hands under her
dress, raising goose bumps against her thighs. Her legs trembled when he
reached her panties. She nearly fell to the floor when he slipped his fingers
under the strings at her hips and pulled them down her legs.

“Wow. When I give a command you sure obey quickly.”

His grin was lethal. Wicked and filled with sexual promise.
She gulped back the nervous jitters and concentrated only on watching him pull
his jeans and shirt off.

He hadn’t worn underwear. Holy hell, that was sexy!

His body was magnificent. Tanned, muscular in all the right
places, but not overly so. She wanted that body covering hers, wanted to feel
his weight against her, inside her.

“We’re in the kitchen, Mark.”

“So? You can only do it in the bedroom?”

It was the only location she’d had sex so far. “I guess
not.”

“Ever done it on the kitchen table?”

She looked at the wobbly-legged, chrome and laminate table
and envisioned a disaster. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Fine. I have another idea.” He scooped her into his arms
and sat her on the countertop.

“My butt is freezing up here.” She wriggled to get down, but
he laid his hands on her thighs, his fingers tucked just inside the hem of her
sundress.

“Not for long.” He pushed her back and pulled her legs down
over the edge, then kneeled.

“Oh God.”

“Oh yeah.”

He started at her knees, touching and placing light kisses
against her skin until she wanted to scream at him to get up and fuck her. Then
again, there was nothing more thrilling than seeing this dark-haired devil’s
face between her legs.

As he moved upward, he lifted her dress. Inch by agonizing
inch. When he licked her inner thighs, she arched her back and let out a low
moan.