Pleasure for Pleasure (15 page)

Josie suddenly had the feeling that her mother's odd
behavior in recent months was connected to some kind of elaborate matchmaking plot. Would she really go so far just to get Josie and Trent together?

Trent frowned. “I wonder if she and my dad have some kind of history?”

“No way! My mother has never, ever shown an interest in a guy her own age. At least not since I've been old enough to tell.”

Josie ran through the possibility again in her head. The center had been located right next door to Anthony O'Reilly's business, but so what? Back then he hadn't owned the building where the center was located— Trent had bought it after taking over the store—so their contact with each other probably had been limited to passing on the sidewalk, exchanging hellos, maybe chatting about neighborhood business. But being attracted?

The possibility was just too weird to consider.

Besides, Trent's father had been married back then. And Rafaela, many faults as she had, abided by a strict policy of never messing with married men.

Trent looked relieved by Josie's assurance.

“So where should we go?” he asked, holding up their bag of dinner. “Your place or mine?”

Josie had left her car keys for her mother to take herself and Anthony home. “Your apartment is closer.”

“Which place would be more conducive to tonight's lesson?”

“Oh,
that.
” With Trent so near, and the possibilities so endless all of a sudden, Josie was having a hard time remembering what tonight's lesson was even supposed to have been. “I left the lesson plan at home.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you really need a lesson plan?”

“I like to be prepared.”

“Can't you go by memory?”

“My memory tends to be, uh, a little shaky when you're around.”

He slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her close. She could feel his breath on her face now, and her entire body warmed instantly.

“Oh, yeah? Why is that?” he asked.

Josie tried to think of what Erika would advise her to say. Honesty was the best policy, right?

“Because you turn me on.”

E
VER SINCE
Trent had gotten a look at Josie in that formfitting little black dress and those strappy heels, he'd felt all his reservations about her vanish.

She sat on his lap, her pelvis firmly pressed against his erection, and the look in her eyes told him she meant to have him, one way or another. Something about Josie had changed, something fundamental. This couldn't be the flirty tease he'd grown up lusting after. She never would have let his hand go as far up her dress as it just had moments ago, to confirm she wore not a scrap of underwear.

Damn if he didn't want her more than he'd wanted a woman in years. Why did his lust always have to multiply by ten when Josie Marcus was involved?

She gave him a measured look. “Why don't you tell me what you'd like to learn tonight?”

Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

Trent mulled over the options, then suggested, “How about a lesson in foreplay? I've been giving that subject a lot of thought lately, and I even have a sort of extra credit project on it.”

“You did a project for
me?
”

“You do accept extra credit, don't you?” he asked, teasing.

Josie shrugged, the corners of her mouth down-turned in a suspicious little frown. “I've never thought about
it, but I guess I can't say no. My curiosity is certainly piqued.”

She bit her delicate pink lip, and the gesture was wildly erotic. He imagined those lips, swollen from teasing, tempting, tasting, kissing parts of him he'd bet Josie would never agree to kiss.

Well, the old Josie. This new Josie that had just hopped on his lap might have learned a thing or two in the past couple of years, may have even learned something from that ridiculous sex school.

Trent reached for the magazine on the end table and opened up the erotica short story collection. He flipped to the story he'd read at least twice since swiping the magazine from Josie's waiting area.

“Hey, where did you get that?”

“I found it at the center. I didn't think you'd mind if I borrowed it.”

“I didn't realize you enjoyed women's erotica.”

“It's part of my research into the female psyche.”

“I bet.”

“Oh, I almost forgot the most important part.” He lifted her off his lap and stood, then went to the kitchen for matches and candles.

He'd bought just about every candle he'd seen at the store earlier. As he arranged them on the coffee table, Josie stared, wide-eyed.

“Okay, I'm impressed. You're the first guy I've ever met who had one scented candle in his apartment, let alone fifty of them.”

“What can I say—I'm a Renaissance man.”

She snuggled herself into the corner of the couch and watched as he lit each candle.

Trent turned off the overhead light to maximize the mood created by the blaze of candles. Then he settled
in at the opposite end of the sofa from Josie and pulled her bare feet onto his lap.

“Tonight,” Trent said, “I'll be doing an erotic reading.”

She looked at him, then the magazine, then him again, her eyes wide. “Wow.”

“Why so shocked?” He could hardly resist cracking a grin. Her reaction was even better than he'd imagined.

“You've been listening, haven't you?”

He shrugged. “To be honest, I got the idea from one of your students that day I dropped in on the elderly women's sex class.”

“You
have
been listening.”

Trent found the spot where he wanted to begin reading.

“‘Sabine stretched out long upon the grass, her every sense on alert at the nearness of the stranger. Just as he had every afternoon for the past two weeks, he watched her. Watched as she disrobed at the edge of the lake, watched as she dipped her naked body into the cool green water, and watched still as she lay in the grass letting the sun dry her damp skin.'

“‘Sabine grew more and more curious about him each day, so that when he finally emerged from behind the bushes, she felt as if she already knew him. He was younger than she'd imagined, perhaps even younger than herself. His body was strong, graceful and unblemished by age—a body made for pleasuring a woman.'”

Trent paused to wet his lips. “Ready for more?”

Josie wiggled her toes. “Mmm-hmm.”

If he had to guess, he'd say she was loving every minute of it. Her attention was focused on him as if he were about to reveal a long-kept secret.

“‘She couldn't take another moment of his watching.
The distance between them had become a field of electric current…'” Trent continued to read, glancing up occasionally to see Josie getting more hot and bothered as the story went on. He was having a similar reaction, and it surprised him that even he found the candles to be a turn-on.

When he finished the story Josie smiled. “A-plus on the extra-credit project. That's exactly the kind of foreplay women love.”

“Oh, yeah?” Trent smiled and began to massage Josie's feet. “How about foot massage? Is that a good thing to do?”

She closed her eyes and moaned. “Definitely.”

He worked slowly, paying attention to each foot, then moving upward. Her calves, her thighs, her hands, her arms, her shoulders.

Josie went limp, fully enjoying the massage. He rolled her onto her stomach, then worked on her back until his hands ached. The rest of his body ached, too, for an entirely different reason. The experience of having full access to Josie's body, without touching it in an overtly sexual way, was sweet torture.

When he stopped, she rolled over and sighed. “That was incredible.”

He was kneeling on the floor next to the couch. Josie reached out and touched his brow, traced the scar on his left eyebrow, one he'd gotten at a baseball game when they were kids.

“I remember when this happened. You bled all over first base and Jimmy Santiago passed out at the sight of all that blood.”

He laughed. “I forgot all about that. We teased Jimmy for years afterward.”

“Is that why he stole your prom date?”

“Maybe.”

He'd always told Josie that she had been his backup date. They'd argued over it a million times.

“Don't start in on prom just because I mentioned it,” she said.

But he couldn't resist. “You were such a tease.”

“Was not.”

“You wouldn't even give me a good-night kiss. Other guys were losing their virginity, and I was going home to take a cold shower. What a prom date you were.”

“You didn't deserve a kiss. I was your fourth-choice date!”

He grinned. “Well, that's what I told you back then, anyway.”

She smiled. “Jerk.”

“What can I say—I was a dumb teenager.”

“Now there's something we can agree on.” She laughed, pulled a pillow off the couch and walloped him with it.

Trent caught her arms and pinned them up over her head. “So, if I let you go, are you gonna get up and give me
my
massage now, or will I have to demonstrate my skill in the ancient art of tickling?”

Josie's eyes narrowed. “There's no such thing as a free massage, is there?”

His voice took on a husky tone as he whispered, “I can think of better things I could give you for free.”

A slow smile spread across her lips. “Yeah? I'm waiting.”

He secured her wrists in one hand and trailed the fingers of his other hand down her arm until he reached her breast. There, he lingered, tracing a slow spiral inward until he reached her nipple.

When he found her neck with his lips and sucked gently, she gasped and arched herself toward him. She was so ripe, so sweet, so tempting… No way he could resist. But if he didn't slow down, he'd never be able to act out the all-night seduction he'd started with the erotic reading and the massage.

He paused and flashed Josie a wicked look.

“What?” she asked, immediately suspicious.

“Oh…just this.” And he launched into a tickle assault, buying himself a few minutes to regain his cool.

Josie screeched and tried to fight him off, but she was giggling too much to be any real threat. Trent climbed on top of her and went for her ribs, realizing too late that his new position, straddling her, wasn't exactly going to ease his desire. She wiggled and squirmed until the remaining cushions fell off the couch and her dress had worked its way up to reveal that she really wasn't wearing any underwear. Trent feared his zipper would burst from his straining erection.

“Uncle! Uncle!” Josie cried.

He stopped tickling but kept his fingers poised to continue if need be, while making a concerted effort not to stare at the sexy thatch of curls peaking out from beneath the hem of her dress. “Does that mean I get my massage now?”

“Sure,” she said, fighting a grin.

Trent narrowed his eyes. “Why don't I believe you?”

“Because you know me too well?”

Trent tried to ignore the heat where their bodies met, but it was impossible. He wanted Josie now—no more playing around.

“Not as well as I'd like to know you,” he blurted,
unsure exactly what he meant by that, except that he wanted to know every intimate detail of her body.

Josie's expression turned serious. “We shouldn't…”

When her voice trailed off, Trent leaned over and kissed her—a slow, coaxing kiss.

“I need lots of hands-on practice, teacher. Lots and lots,” he said when he ended the kiss.

Josie's answer was a kiss of her own, passionate and deep. Their tongues danced in a prelude to what their bodies would do together as they fumbled to remove each other's clothing.

Her dress, with its thousand tiny buttons, proved too great a challenge for their urgent need, so Trent simply pushed it up to her waist and paused for a moment to admire her naked lower half. Breathless with desire, he slid the straps of her dress down over her shoulders to reveal her naked breasts—she'd gone braless, too—then leaned in to taste each one.

Josie slid his shirt from his shoulders and he shrugged it off, but there was no time to remove his slacks, not when she reached down and massaged his throbbing cock with her small, perfect hands. Trent forgot to breathe as she found all the right spots. Finally he had to nudge her hand away so he could take what he couldn't wait another moment for.

He found a condom in his wallet and, with shaking hands, he tugged it on in record time.

He grasped her hips and lifted her body up to meet his, then thrust into her with as much restraint as he could manage. She was slick and hot, ready for whatever he could give, so he tossed aside his restraint and began a fast, urgent rhythm.

Josie clung to him and met his thrusting with her
own. As they kissed, their moans and gasps mingled together, until they built up to a point of no return.

Their climax came fast and simultaneously, before Trent even had a chance to slow down and linger over their pleasure. Her release was as intense as his, judging by the way she cried out and convulsed against him.

He saw fireworks behind his eyelids, felt waves of pure ecstasy wash through his body, and sensed a tug of something deep inside his soul.

This just felt…right.

When they finally settled against each other to rest, Trent brushed aside a few strands of blond hair that had sprayed across Josie's eyes. He traced her jawline with his fingertips and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek.

Josie smiled a slow, peaceful smile. “That was intense.”

Now wasn't the time to analyze the emotion that swelled in his chest. Not when they had all night to slow down and explore each other.

“Yeah, intense is a good word for it. How about we take this to the bedroom, maybe even get all the way undressed?”

Josie tossed a glance at the bag of carry-out, forgotten on a nearby table. “I was thinking we could head for the kitchen. I sort of worked up an appetite.”

For the first time that evening, Trent noticed that he was hungry, too. He pushed himself off of Josie and stood, then helped her up from the couch. “I guess I can let you eat, if you have to. But I've got plans for you tonight, woman—”

She smiled as she tugged her dress back into place, depriving Trent of a glorious view of her perfect breasts. “Come on, Stud Boy. I know some interesting uses for pasta.”

 

J
OSIE LOOKED AROUND
at the circle of faces in the seminar, many of which had grown more than just familiar
to her in the past few months. These were people she knew intimately in an odd sort of way.

There was Sheila Beckley, who loved oral sex and whose husband found it an awful chore to perform that particular task. There was Miles MacGruder, who was overcoming a fear of vaginas, acquired when he discovered his previous wife had been cheating on him for years. How he and the current Mrs. MacGruder had managed to get together, what with his fear and all, was beyond Josie.

And there were Todd and Sandy West, who loved to have sex so much they came to the center for new ideas every week.

Together, the regulars at the Lovers for Life Center formed an odd sort of family, with Josie now at its center. Without intending to, she'd become the new Grande Dame. She'd taken her mother's place.

And for the most part she'd managed to be an utter and complete failure.

She was no closer to saving the center now than she had been when she'd first taken it over. Thinking about her imminent failure was getting her nowhere, so she tried to focus on the seminar discussion that had gotten away from her. Tonight's topic was “Living Fantasies: Revealing Your Innermost Desires To Your Mate.”

“…hot wax on my nipples,” Sandy West was saying.

Ouch.

“And the handcuffs? They stay on during sex?” her husband asked.

“Oh, yes.”

That must have wrapped up Sandy's secret fantasy,
because everyone looked to Josie to guide the conversation onward. Except she'd spaced out so totally she had no idea what they were supposed to discuss next.