Just That Easy (3 page)

She had to change the subject, him talking about her being a
bad girl was sending her into a hundred kinds of hot, everywhere.

“You confuse me. So, why the hell are you wandering around
like a college kid, at what? Couple of years shy of thirty? Shouldn’t you have
the plan all going, some kind of job with a big institute studying global
warming, wife and one-point-four kids on the way?”

“Thirty-one, actually. Do I look like I follow the crowd?”

“Right. No. You look, and talk, as if you are extremely
smart. Very thoughtful. Okay, not
as if
you are, you are. You make
really straight-out, almost obnoxious comments, but you don’t come off as an
asshole when you do it, you get away with it. Yet, it seems deliberate.”

“So now who’s the psych doctor? Okay, you, it’s your turn.
You’re avoiding.”

His fingers moved up her hand to her wrist and he slid them
around it. He rubbed a tiny circle just over the pulse at the base of her hand
with his fingers. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Fine. I
had
a plan. So far, my part of it is going
really well. I moved here because of someone else. Who is probably on wife two
and mistress number who-the-hell-knows-by-now. I liked the town so I stayed. I
write, I love it, I get to travel a bit, free to choose what I do and when.
People don’t always know how to take me. I talk too much, I get nervous and
giggle. My whole life was kind of a mess from the start, I mean very start, and
I’m not going there. Met my fiancé in college, made a plan to do the whole
white-picket-fence thing, live the nice little color-inside-the-lines life, but
then it all just fell apart. Once I started writing the stuff I do, I found out
I was good at it. Really good at it. Now it’s like trying to refold the map
once you’ve opened it and got it all twisted up, it’s just never going back the
way it was. Mostly I’m boring, really. I kind of thought I was going to live
like Mrs. Cleaver and discovered somewhere along the way I’m more like Morticia
Addams in a soccer mom’s body. There, how’s that? You got the whole package in
one breath.”

Why couldn’t she give smart, short answers, then shut the
hell up? Jesus, Teryn, give your whole fucked
-
up life history in one
rambling sentence, why don
’
t you.

“Honest. I like that, you don’t hold anything back, even for
all those nerves. And you don’t have a soccer mom’s body. Not even close and
you know it. Why the hell would you want the white picket fence and all that
bullshit? You left out the part about why you’re here. I mean, right here,
right now. With me.”

His eyes looked directly into hers, locking her gaze. His
fingers kept up the slow, lazy circle on the warm skin of her wrist. He licked
his lips again.

May as well throw it out there. “Because, you just don’t
seem real to me.”

“I’m real. What do you want?”

“I have no idea. None at all.” That was a lie, and she was pretty
sure he knew it. “What do you want?”

“You.”

Back to that confrontational honesty. The word was like a
vise clamping down on her belly. She wriggled in her seat.

“So, we’re talking just get up, head out, go at it? That’s
it?” Dear god, as brutal as it sounded, that’s exactly what she wanted to do.

“It sounds a lot better in my head.” He laughed. “Okay, I
like you. I think you are interesting, and I really do want to get to know you
better, but right now my head is blocked by the idea of you naked. Why sit here
and deny we’re both thinking it? I know we’re supposed to talk all night, get
to know each other, avoid sex because it’s not the politically correct thing to
do. I think it’s ignorant to pretend we don’t have chemistry going on here.
Physical chemistry exists, Teryn. It’s fast, it’s intense, and you know we have
it. Should we pretend we don’t really want to just forget the rules and dive
into each other, like I know damn well we can?”

“Right. Hey, how ya doin’? Want to fuck? Sweet, see you
round!” The retort was tough, but her guts were coming unglued. His hand felt
warm on her wrist, almost possessive.

“Why not? Except for the see-you-around part. What I mean,
is, why avoid the elephant in the room? I say let’s just go for the total
intimacy, make the connection complete and see what happens. Get past that
first distracting rush of lust and see what comes from there. Why not try to
have it all? With any luck, we can spend as much time together as we can stand,
doing whatever we decide we want to do. Talk, read to each other, have sex,
hell, go bowling, who knows.”

“You are so much weirder than I am.” She couldn’t help the
giggle.

“I’m glad you think so. Can I make a suggestion?”

“Shoot.”

“Maybe you want to climb out of your safe little box and
decide to live life.”

“That’s it? I’m not sure what you mean. Other than you want
sex, but we’ve covered that.” She cocked her head at him, fiddling with her
glass again.

He laughed. “That’s pretty much it, yeah. What I mean is,
life isn’t some kind of pre-determined little script that says you have to
choose a role and stick to it. Like your little picket fence. Life is something
you live and you can’t plan for it sometimes, hell, most of the time. That’s
what I want to do, see what’s out here in the world. Find what fits into my
life that’s missing, just live and see where I end up. Like here, right now.
With you.”

The intensity of his words felt as if she were facing down
the entire Roman army, lined up in front of her, waiting for her answer.
Defend, or conquer?

Deflect.

“I do travel, I mean, I don’t just sit in my house and dream
up things. I go out and see life.”

“But do you live it? Do you try new things? When is the last
time you took a chance and did something new?”

“Today.”

“Before me.”

“No comment.”

“That’s what I thought.” His eyes penetrated hers and she
just couldn’t help but be a bit persuaded. This was the biggest, yet flat out
straight ploy anyone had ever taken to get her into bed. Which in itself felt
like a compliment. The contrast of him telling her straight out, without guilt,
what he wanted, against his natural obvious charm and appeal, made her head
spin. In a not so bad way.

“You figured out all this after an hour, and one drink.”

He grinned with satisfaction. “If you’re observant, and we both
are, it’s not that hard. I don’t know everything about you but I know
everything I need to know to tell you I’m curious, you excite me, and I want
more. Lots more. It really can be that easy, you just have to let it be. I’ll
show you. What do you say?”

She’d already given in to the fact that there was no way she
could get up and walk away from him. No one had ever laid out that he wanted
her, point blank, and felt confident that saying it didn’t rate him an asshole.
Authority never had appealed to her, but he wasn’t telling her what she was
going to do, he asked. Teasing her with the knowledge that he knew damn well
she wanted to.

His sharp awareness of every little thing going on between
them felt so intense. Highly personal but not intrusive. Had he been focused on
just himself, she’d have sensed it, and it would have changed everything. But
he wasn’t. He focused on her, with an intensity that felt as if he actually
cared, that she mattered. She could almost see him watching, learning with
every word that came out of her mouth. He was a contrast of totally assured and
self-possessed, mildly confrontational, but easygoing and down-to-earth all at
the same time. No mistake, she wanted more of him. Like he said, lots more.

“What are you going to show me?” Her voice came out nearly a
whisper.

He shifted on the seat, leaning closer to her. “First, I’m
going to take you home with me. I’m going to make you some really, really good
chocolate cappuccino, because you are going to need the caffeine, and chocolate
is just plain sexy. Then I’m going to do things to you that are going to make
you so glad Al left me in the library to go have a little fling with Derrin,
that you won’t even believe it.”

His words were like a long, spiraling dart, descending
slowly, so slowly, down the center of her belly, right between her legs. Her
thighs tensed together, a quiver running through them. God she was sitting in a
bar getting wet just from some guy talking to her. She blocked, to cover her
quickly melting reserve.

“Pretty confident, aren’t we?”
Confident my ass, the man
is fearless!

“And you are going to discover that you can do things to me
that’ll probably have me screaming your name to the neighbors.”

This time the shudder passed all the way through her, the
vision of them connected head to toe, his tanned face contorted with ecstasy.
“You’re assuming quite a bit about me.”

He gave a shrug and the now familiar grin, clearly her lack
of affirmation didn’t dissuade him. “I have faith.”

“In what?”

“You, for one. Tell me you have no idea how to make a man
wild, Teryn—even if you haven’t had the chance to do it—and I’ll tell you that
you are lying to my face. Tell me you don’t want to, and I’ll get up and leave
right now. I’ll still know you’re lying, but I’ll do it, just tell me.” He sat
back and just looked at her expectantly.

“This is kind of nuts.”

“There you go,
now
you’re starting to get it. Come
on, we can walk from here.”

He stood, holding out his hand, looking at her as if he had
every expectation she was going to jump right up and follow him out of the bar.

How could she not?

* * * * *

Two blocks later they were up the outside stairs to the top
floor of a converted house, and he unlocked the door to the apartment. Teryn
still didn’t believe he was for real, or have any confidence this was much more
than a brief release to the pent-up need for some sex that had been nagging at
her for quite a while. No man came on this strong unless he was used to getting
his way, and that kind of man was never satisfied with just one woman. The
heady way his personality overtook her still felt good, at least for now. Most
likely this would be over and done by morning, if not sooner.

It didn’t matter, a year was a long time to go without sex,
and she was here for the promise of what would at least be the best bad boy
she’d ever had. The decision had been made based on that and not much more. She
had no expectations. The situation was in complete contrast to her nature, her
life, but his point had hit home—you have to take chances and live a little. At
the point when he closed the door behind her and folded her into his strong
arms, kissing her hungrily, she didn’t care anymore.

Grant wanted to take his time, to lead her on a slow
seduction. Make it last. Not waste the fact that fortune had smiled on him by
bringing her back into the library tonight to get those books. That she’d
actually agreed to come with him. Which seemed miraculous in itself. He’d been
completely surprised by the instant hard-on she’d caused him when he very first
saw her, that something about her reached out and slapped him to attention when
she walked in.

He knew exactly what. She seemed so innocent. So damn open
and without guile that it was like the pure white lightning his best friend
Nolo made when they were in South Carolina. Except just like the white
lightning, what looked clear and innocent would knock you on your ass with its
power before you even realized what was coming.

The woman carried herself as if she had no clue whatsoever
that she had a body made for absolute immersion in sin, that the things she
wrote were so intensely sensual. Not just sex on paper, a complete experience
of her characters having sex right in your head. Sweet sex, desperate sex,
hell, the down-and-dirtiest raunchy hot sex he’d ever had, and he hadn’t even
had it, he’d read it. When she had walked in she moved as if that was the last
thing you’d ever think was in that pretty little head. Nervous, sweet, chatty
and lacking confidence enough to even realize she could wrap any male within
sniffing distance around her little finger. He had to have her, taste her, feel
that hidden desire under all that innocence. He’d never had a woman who didn’t
automatically want something from him, who didn’t even know she was giving him
a raging hard-on that would take hours to satisfy.

Her down-to-earth detachment had even started to make him
forget she was the one who’d written the book that had been driving him insane
with need for three days. It smacked him back into remembering when she’d made
that comment about the vision of Al fucking Derrin in her head, and his. She’d
seen him visualize it, she’d visualized it, and all of a sudden he realized how
well hidden she kept that part of herself.

Except she couldn’t seem to control when it reared out
involuntarily, or maybe she didn’t necessarily want to. The fact that she
didn’t seem all that comfortable with showing it made him want to challenge her
and pull it out of her, one dirty little thought at a time. Especially since
when it did come out, she really seemed to want to just damn let it.

Now, somehow, the planets had aligned and he was walking
straight into the paradise where he might be doing every hot crazy little thing
to her that he’d been imagining since he’d seen her that first time. And he
didn’t want it to be over too soon, take the chance she’d bolt if he didn’t
spend enough time making her feel as if she should stay, that he had something
more besides his uncontrollable libido to offer.

He’d planned to start with her senses, make her that
cappuccino he’d promised. Maybe drizzle some of the chocolate straight into her
sinful-looking little mouth and lick it off her lips. Fuck her on every surface
in his apartment that would hold them, and taste every damn inch of that luscious
body.

Then the smell of her skin floated over him again as he
leaned in close behind her to close the door of his small apartment and the
thinking was over. It was the second time she’d been close enough to fill him
with nothing but that sweet, musky essence. Not perfume. Much, much better,
like drowning in a pool of heady black tea mixed with something tropical, like
coconut and rose petals. Sweet and sharp, dark, provocative. The same as that
first time they’d walked out of the library and it had kicked him in the head,
or more accurately, the balls. He’d known then and there he wouldn’t survive
the night if he couldn’t taste that beautiful skin, feel every inch of her
against him. This time the kick came even harder.

Just one kiss, to quench the raucous rush of blood in his
ears and elsewhere. A small taste of her lips, just enough to dull the need a
little. Except as his lips connected with hers, the need erupted into a full-on
firestorm of impulses rushing through him.

He pulled her into his chest, closing his mouth over hers
with far more need than he’d wanted to let go of. His effort to kiss her slowly
was a small one, quickly defeated by her passionate response. Which surprised
him. Sort of. As unaware of her sexual power as she seemed to be, he knew she
had it in her head. He just didn’t know if it was going to show up live and in
person with him or not.

Oh, but it did. Once her soft, warm tongue slid between his
lips in answer to his kiss and began twisting against his, seduction was the
last thing on his mind. The sweet-looking little natural beauty had yanked his
thoughts right from his head and the only thing he could see were those
almond-shaped green eyes.

Even half closed with the rush of heat flowing between them,
they still seared into him. The first second he’d actually seen them, wide and
innocent-looking at the shock of finding him standing there behind the library
desk, he’d felt himself melting into them as if they were green lava.
Everything she felt flew through her eyes. Expressive, sultry, flashing emerald
with a deep green, almost black ring rimming them. She could have used them to
her advantage but seemed completely unaware of her power to do it. That’s what
had really thrown him. When she’d looked at him with that surprised stab of
temptation, and then flushed as though he could tell what she had been
thinking. And he could, it all played out in her eyes in a mere second.

He pushed his tongue deeper into her mouth, searching,
wanting to taste every little piece of her he could connect with. Sliding his
arms around her waist, he pulled her in tighter, lifting her to slide up over
his body. He felt her wrap herself around him like a purring cat and could feel
the tremors running through her body. His cock jumped knowing she wanted him as
badly as he did her.

“Damn, you feel good.”

“Mmm hmm…you too.” Her little hum against his mouth set his
blood on fire.

He could feel the nicely toned muscles of her belly sliding
over his hips through the very thin cotton of her T-shirt. He liked a woman
with a little bit of strength. She felt tight, strong, except it was wrapped up
in the softly molded curves of her hips and full breasts, the cleavage peeking
from that thin low-necked shirt he’d been stealing glances at almost nonstop.
It was hard to pull a man’s gaze from the soft vee that gave way to full,
natural breasts. Just thinking of her perfect breasts brought his hands away
from her waist to finally feel the weight of them in his hands. He’d been
wanting to do that all night.

As if all night had been more than an hour.

He rolled his thumbs over her nipples, hard and jutting
through the fabric of her bra. He heard her exhale a low gasp and made small
circles over them so he could hear it again, the tiny sound crashing through
his throbbing cock like waves on a beach.

Not wanting to lose the tight pressure of her belly pressing
into the straining ridge of his cock, he backed her hard into the door. His
lips traveled down her neck, consuming her skin, teasing her with his teeth.
She seemed just as eager, opening herself up for him to explore. Her hands went
to his hair and she tangled them there, urging him to keep up the discovery of
her bare skin with his mouth. He licked her from the hollow behind her ear all
the way down over her collarbone, to the lush space between her breasts as he
held them in his hands, the scent of her overpowering him once again as he
buried his face there.

He licked his way under the satin-edged bra.

A groan escaped him as he just barely slid the tip of his
tongue over the dimpled edge of her nipple, and she ground her hips into him.
Needing more, now, he pulled her hands from his hair, lifting them over her
head. He slipped her shirt up and off, paying no attention to where it went
from there. The bra was gone just as fast, flung to the side as his hands
slipped behind her, pulling her shoulders forward, bringing those beautiful,
full breasts to his eager lips.

He pulled one tight nipple into his mouth, rolling it on his
tongue, sucking it lightly. The noises coming from her pushed him, hard. Deep,
husky moans of pleasure came from her as he dug in, devoured first one generous
mouthful of dark-pink nipple, then the other. Urged on by the feel of her
twisting and arching beneath him, he kept his arms locked tightly around her
and continued his assault. So much for slow.

“You taste incredible.”

Her answer back wasn’t with words.

A wave of black haze enveloped him as he felt her slim
fingers sliding the zipper of his jeans down over the shaft of his cock,
pulling it free and closing her fingers tightly around it. Damn she did that
fast.

A thick groan coursed through him. Everything disappeared
except the feel of her fingers sliding smoothly over him, his mouth went slack
for a moment, and it felt as if it was all he could do to breathe.

Clamping his mouth once again on her breast, he pulled the
tip gently between his teeth, tugging on it, rewarded with a gasping moan as he
let it go. His hands slid beneath her firm ass, lifting her nearly to his chest
as he carried her easily from the doorway to the table just a few feet away. He
had to lose the contact of her fingers with his aching cock to move her, but
the reward of tasting the skin just above the waist of her jeans and the sweet
perfume of aroused female coming from between her legs was enough to flood his
senses with a whole new thrill of electricity. Trying not to give in to the
urge to just rip her jeans from her, he yanked the buttons open, nipping at her
belly with his teeth as he pushed them down over her hips.

Thick pulses pushed through his already grindingly hard
erection, her lifting her hips to expedite his access to her flesh didn’t do
anything to reduce it. Taking advantage of her raised position, he used one
hand to pull the denim from her creamy white thighs, panties and all, and used
the other to hold her there, her slick pink female prize just inches from his
tongue.

He looked up at her, her eyes hazy, mouth open slightly. She
had a wickedly full, soft mouth. It sent a shiver through him, thinking about
it wrapped around his cock. First, though, he needed to taste her, bury his
face in all that slick wet cream and suck at her clit until she screamed.

She bit her bottom lip in anticipation, leaning back on her
elbows as she watched him move his mouth slowly toward her. It was so sexy that
she didn’t show any embarrassment, wanted to watch his mouth as it descended
into her. He slid his tongue between the warm, wet folds, finding the hard knot
of her clit, lapping at it slowly. Pleased she was unable to hold his gaze and
threw her head back with a hoarse, primal groan as, he worked his tongue
steadily over the pulsing knot. He held her ass tight in his hands, lifting
her, pressing her even closer into his mouth.

He licked straight down her entire wet slit and back while
she twisted her hips, locked hard in his big hands. Every little groan, every
thrust of her hips, he felt straight through him to his cock. If he kept this
up long, he wouldn’t make it much farther. She tasted so good that he almost
laughed when he realized she reminded him of an Almond Joy candy bar. His
favorite.

He licked and sucked along each sweet wet fold, then slipped
his tongue deep into her, tasting so much sweeter than he’d dreamed about. His
tongue slid back up to make little teasing circles around her clit. Her legs
were parted wide, she cried out. She clutched at the edge of the wooden table,
her breasts heaving with the rise and fall of her chest. The involuntary
rocking of her hips pushed her pussy harder into his mouth. She was wide open,
not a hint that she had any sense of concern for being splayed out on his
table, his mouth buried in her.

She tasted so damn good. Sweet, creamy, full of heat and the
taste of desire.

He tortured her with his tongue as long as he could hold
out, wanting to lick every inch of that sweet, wet pussy, but he was aching to
feel her fingers close around him again. Lowering her to the table, intending
to show her exactly what he wanted, he was hit head-on by her complete lack of
holding back. As soon as he released her she sat upright in a burst of energy,
her mouth seeking his, plunging her tongue between his lips, licking at his
mouth, her own wetness there. She yanked at his shirt, and he helped her get it
over his head, barely breaking their lips apart to do it. Next she was shoving
hard at the waist of his jeans, giving him the cue he needed to get them off,
which he did happily. Immediately he felt the sweet reward of her hand wrapping
hard around him, this time her thumb rolled tantalizingly over the head,
pulling a slick bead of wetness down with it. It made his belly tighten that
she’d known exactly what he wanted, needed.

“Fuck that’s good.” He leaned his head back, eyes rolling
shut.

The knowledge that he was right, this woman was going to
make him scream her name like an animal—if not today, then not too far in the
future—brought a deep, wicked laugh from the pit of his belly. He opened his
eyes to see her looking at him. Satisfaction coursed through him as he felt
even more intense pressure from her hand, stroking him smoothly, deeply. Her
eyes looked for the source of his odd laughter, but her hand never skipped a
beat.

He leaned in close to whisper in her ear. Her head tilted
back, opening her throat to him and he bit her gently.

“God, Teryn, you’re driving me insane. Didn’t I tell you
what you would do to me? Do you know how beautiful you are?”

The tightening grip, faster stroke of her hand, and the
stuttered little cry she let out against him was answer enough. He let his head
fall back, consumed with the waves of almost painful pleasure rippling from
each stroke of her hand. It was the feel of her soft lips clamping down hard on
one of his own stiffened nipples that sent him reeling into an explosion of
heat, the blood pounding through him rushing so fast he could hear it like a
roaring in his ears.