His Southern Temptation (6 page)

“Does that hurt?” she asked as her fingers coasted over a large scar.

“No.” His voice muffled in the cradle of his arms.

“Where did you get them?” She realized she’d never asked before. They weren’t usually about getting involved in each other’s real lives. There were all about fun, good times, and escape.

“Here and there. Long story.” Lucky shifted slightly so his voice was clearer.

“An interesting story?”

“No. Just a long one.”

“Are all these from the Marines?”

He hesitated, the tension easing back into some of his muscles, and she regretted being so nosy. Truth be told, she probably didn’t want to know.

“From government service,” he said.

“So,
not
just the Marines.” He made no move, gave zero indication that he heard her at all. Obviously, he wasn’t going to answer. “Are you ever going back to them?”

Taylor slid her hands along his shoulders, using repetitive strokes to coax the muscles back into relaxation.

“No.” Lucky moved his head, making eye contact with her over his shoulder. She resisted the urge to move his head back into alignment. The serious expression on his face told her he needed to look at her while he answered the question. “I was serious about staying here. I’m going to buy Promised Land and farm. It’s overextended and I have the money to bail it out, so…”

Shock stilled her hands on his back. Lucky staying here to farm? It just didn’t compute with the image she had of the man—restless, craving travel, excitement, and danger. Growing up, he’d been hell-bent on getting out of Elliott as soon as he could, and now he wanted to tie himself to the land?

The thought that she didn’t know him at all in spite of their history made her uncomfortable. Nodding in a gesture of understanding she really didn’t possess, she turned her attention back to the task at hand.

“I surprised you.” His voice was muffled again as he moved his head to the cradle of his arms.

“A little. I figured you’d go into business with Jack Cantrell or something like that.”

“I’ll help out. Like the current missing persons case. I’ll find Sarah, and Jack is free to help paying clients.” He shifted slightly, his body elongating as he relaxed. “I’m having a hard time finding a woman to work the case. No one has the time, and I think it’s the best way to get the information I need. The girls know where she went. I can just feel it.”

“I told you I’d go in and talk to the girls.”

“And I told you I didn’t have a death wish. Your brother would kill me. Besides, that place is full of scumbags, and I think there’s a lot more going on there than just girls dancing in their underwear.”

“But I can help.”

“Tay, I appreciate it and you’re sexy as hell, but I don’t think you have the skill set to blend in.”

“I’ve worked the pole a few times.”

His sudden rotation over onto his back caused her to stumble back slightly, her movement halted by his grabbing her, pulling her close. Lucky’s hands grasped her waist, the heat of his touch searing her through the flimsy cotton of her dress and matching the flare that transformed his eyes to an intense blue.

“What did you say?” Expecting him to be shocked, she was taken aback by the edge of sexual interest in his question. His pupils were now dilated, dominating his baby blues and doing nothing to hide his arousal at her words. He liked it—the idea of her stripping turned him on. Okay, if he wanted to hear it, she’d give him all the details. All the details except the one about the Jolly Gent costume sitting in a drawer upstairs ready for her first night on the stage.

“I told you the other night I’ve worked the pole. Stripped. Not all the way, but down to a G-string. It was good money when I needed it.” Taylor dropped her voice to a low tone, her hands stroking his chest, tracing his obliques. The trail of hair tickled her fingers as she followed the path to the edge of his sweatpants. “Maybe I can give you a private show?”

He groaned, his body sending a mixed message as it arched into her touch and also tried to scoot farther back onto the couch. She followed him, kissing along his chest, tasting the alluring combination of his skin and the oil. With his body suddenly accessible, she couldn’t help but skim under the waistband and stroke across the damp tip of his erection. The impact of her touch caused his entire body to tense, a tight bow of need and desire. Emboldened by his reaction, she reached in, stroking his full length as she moved up onto the couch, straddling him until they were face-to-face. His lips were parted, his breathing harsh and rough as he lifted his head and took her mouth.

“Fuck. I have no willpower when it comes to you,” he panted against her cheek before trailing down to kiss the column of her neck. She titled her head, encouraging him as he tasted her skin with moist kisses and a tingling scrape of teeth. The burn heightened the pleasure, tightening her nipples as she rubbed them across the hard planes of his chest. As if he sensed her growing need, he stroked work-roughened fingers across her collarbone, her shoulder and the cleft between her aching breasts.

“Let me give you a happy ending.” She laughed against his mouth. “Although, normally, I’m not
that kind
of massage therapist.”

“Taylor, baby, there’s never going to be a happy ending for us,” Lucky murmured into the curve of her shoulder, his hand easing aside the strap of her sundress and allowing him unfettered access to her sensitive skin.

“All the more reason to take what we can.”

“And walk away with no regrets?”

“Tell you what, in the morning I’ll still respect you…” Taylor wove her hands through his hair, tugging to lift his head and force him to look her in the eye. She leaned in to brush her lips against his, her tongue sneaking out to taste because she couldn’t help herself. “… and you can blame it on the alcohol.”

Chapter Six

“There isn’t enough alcohol on the planet that could make me forget this,” he murmured as he traced her plump lower lip with his thumb. He could still taste her on his mouth, and he ached to take her kiss again. She’d made it clear she wasn’t staying, and sleeping together wasn’t going to make it any easier to let her go. “This is only going to end badly.”

“If you mean it won’t end in diamond rings and white veils, you’re right.” Taylor nipped at his finger, her teeth causing a sharp sting and a corresponding pulse in his cock. “But we can make some good memories. Have fun. Leave as friends.”

“You have no idea what you are asking.”

Taylor’s eyes flared with heat, this time her passion mingling with her anger and coating her words with a spicy bite. “I’m fine with just having fun. You know that. You won’t be the first man in my bed or the last, but I know you’re the one I want in it right now.”

He opened his mouth to speak, to tell her he wanted more than just three weeks with her and to walk away when she said no. But he wouldn’t, because when it came to Taylor he never did the right thing. He’d indulge now and pay the piper later. Leaning in, he took her mouth, invading her with his tongue, letting his body communicate his decision better than any words.

Taylor’s arms wove around his neck, bringing her sexy body in full contact with his own. Soft breasts crushed against his chest, toned thighs bracketing his own and her hot, moist sex grinding against the unbearably hard length of his dick. Lucky pushed back, his groin thrusting upward in the ageless search for the delicious friction that would get them both off. Frustration licked at the frayed edges of his mind when the perfect pressure eluded him at this angle, so he cupped her tight little ass in both hands and rotated them until she lay underneath him on the couch.

Taylor moaned, breaking off the kiss with an arch of her back that bared her neck and pushed her breasts against him. Unable to resist the offer, Lucky bent his head, pulling down the loose top of her dress to expose her nipples to his tongue.

“Oh, hell. Those are new.” He rocked back on his heels, lust amping him up like a shot of adrenaline. Taylor’s breasts, full and firm, were tipped by pink nipples pierced through with small silver hoops. “That is fucking sexy.”

Lucky leaned down, taking one hot bud of flesh between his teeth and tugging on the tiny hoop. Her nipple hardened to a fine point, the cry of need erupting from Taylor’s mouth slithering down his spine and settling low in his balls. He wasn’t going to last much longer with his wet dream under him and responding to every touch, lick, and suck.

He toyed with the ring, tugging it, rolling it, and playing with it, the metallic bite only adding to the sweet taste of her skin. Taylor writhed underneath him, hands scraping against the overly sensitized skin of his chest, her legs tightening around his waist to bring their lower bodies together in an unspoken, shameless plea for release.

“Kiss me, Lucky.”

He released her nipple, melding their mouths together and letting her take control of their frenzy. He was rewarded with her hand trailing down his stomach, her fingers releasing the tie on his sweatpants and shoving them down to his thighs, exposing his arousal to her touch. She wasted no time in taking him in hand, her fist stroking his dick from root to tip and making his eyes cross with the sheer bliss of every caress.

He fucked into her grip, his hips moving with a mind of their own since his brain had clearly left the building. On autopilot—he’d done this a million times in his dreams—he pushed aside her skirt, suddenly grateful she found panties too confining. The skin of her thigh was like silk, the calloused tips of his fingers tracing a path upward until the folds of her sex bloomed under his exploration, wet with her arousal and hot to the touch.

“Yes. Just. Like. That.” Taylor’s pleas, each syllable breathed out on a pant, drove him to do whatever it would take to get her to the place where speech was impossible. He wanted her breathless, mindless, and surrendered to his desire.

Taylor’s hand clenched his dick tighter when he brushed against her clit—once, twice, the third time wrenching a gasp from deep in her throat. Lucky inserted two fingers inside, her tight channel drawing him in deeper and promising just how good it would be when he buried his cock in her sweet little body. They rested their foreheads together, eyes locked, breath mingling, skin dampened with sweat, and the scent of their lovemaking perfuming the air.

They were easy lovers, in perfect sync, and now they expertly stroked each other, their caresses a test of wills to see who would break first from the unadulterated pleasure.

It was him.

The spark of his orgasm deep in his balls surprised him. All he could do was grit his teeth, sheer willpower momentarily staving off the release that was coming way too soon. He hadn’t had so little control since he was a horny teenager, wrapped around a girl in his truck, hitting every base but fourth and not caring as long as he came.

“Fuck. I’m going to—”

His words were cut off by her cry, her body clenching around his fingers as she climaxed. The brutal beauty of her fulfillment was seared on his eyelids as he closed his eyes and followed her over the ledge, his cock thrusting into her grasp with a desperate ruthlessness. He would have called it pleasure, but the word didn’t touch the waves of bone-melting sensation racing through his marrow.

Still shuddering from his orgasm, he collapsed, rolling to the side at the last minute in order to avoid crushing her under his dead weight. Lethargy, fueled by too much alcohol, settled in his limbs, making it impossible to do anything beyond cleaning them both up with a discarded napkin and dragging her close. Taylor melted into him, arms spanning his waist as she twined her legs with his. The drone of the television in the background was the only sound in the house beyond their breath settling into an easier rhythm.

“Holy shit. That was…” He pressed a kiss to her hair, her unique scent of coconut and sunshine easing him further into bone-deep relaxation.

“Stupid?”

“I was going to say amazing.” Lucky peered down at her, catching her chin with his finger to tip her gaze up to meet his own. No matter how this turned out or how he felt about it in the morning, he wouldn’t let her think she was anything less than amazing. He leaned down, capturing her lips with his, his tongue exploring her taste until she moaned under him. Releasing her mouth, his voice was unsteady when he continued. “You were perfect.”

“So, no regrets?” Taylor asked, her expression daring him to lie.

“I didn’t say that.” Now that blood was returning to his brain, he was starting to panic, but the exhaustion from a long couple of days and one too many beers was keeping it at bay. He didn’t want to think about it now. It was the coward’s way, but it was the path he was taking at one o’clock in the morning.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Taylor murmured on a yawn.

Lucky held her close as she snuggled back into his side, his breathing matching hers as they eased into a sweet rhythm. He knew they should get up and go to bed before they conked out on the couch, but thoughts were not enough to pull him out of the fleeting moment when he and Taylor were together and wanted the same things.

Too bad they couldn’t stay.

“Wakey, wakey, Princess.”

Yanked into consciousness by a loud voice and a startling shake, Lucky immediately slipped into Marine mode and reached for his gun. Confused when he couldn’t find his weapon, he sat up quickly. Too quickly. The ache in his head and slight tilt of the globe reminded him he’d had a few beers last night, and several previous nights with little sleep.

“Wakey, wak—” Teague’s voice grated in his head.

“Shut up.”

“Whoa. Drink too much last night?” Teague shouted the question at him, grinning when Lucky groaned and flipped him off.

Enough to act like a horny teenager and get to third base with your sister.

He didn’t say it. Yeah, he was hungover and grumpy, and there was no coffee in sight, but he didn’t have a death wish. Or a desire to damage their friendship beyond repair. He’d deal with what happened last night, but not before a shower and caffeine. Then he’d look for Taylor and they’d figure out how much of a mess they’d made.