That's Amore (9 page)

After dropping Justin off it was possible that Paige would just want to go home, and he was on shaky ground as to whether or not she would want him to join her.

No, hell no, he was not taking Justin to his mom’s.

“I’ll see what Paige wants to do.”

Liar. He was a total liar.

Only a man who didn’t want to have sex would tell Paige what was going on.

But since he did want to have sex, and right
now
, he would wait until the morning to explain things to Paige.

What difference would it make?

Just the difference between his cold, lonely, empty apartment and this place with a warm, willing, and eager Paige in his arms.

No contest.

HE MUST BE CRAZY to be doing this.

Paige tore through the bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet and looking under the sink, knocking over toothpaste and toilet paper willy nilly.

It didn’t feel like she was crazy. It felt like she was in love. With Jeff. Again.

Maybe she had never stopped loving Jeff. Maybe if she had had a little more confidence, she would have called him herself after their night together and gotten the whole thing straightened out three years ago.

That didn’t matter now.

What mattered was that she was here, alone, well sort of alone, if you didn’t count Justin, with Jeff, and she wanted to make love to him.

Hence her very embarrassing blurting out of exactly that. Jeff hadn’t seemed to mind, though. The look on his face showed he clearly wanted her as much as she wanted him.

The love thing she would deal with later.

Right now this was about giving in to three years’ worth of desire, patiently stored up and ready to go.

Boy, was she ready to go.

Giving up on the bathroom, she hovered in the doorway of the bedroom. If she were a condom, where would she be?

Easily reached. In the night stand, that’s where.

Tiptoeing carefully around Justin, she pulled open the drawer. Eureka! There they were. A completely unopened box of condoms.

Grabbing them victoriously, she vowed to give her cousin Loraine a big thank you gift for being such a Girl Scout, always prepared.

Forcing herself not to run, she went into the living room. Jeff was setting her cell phone down.

“Did someone call?”

“Uh, it was Gina.” He stood up and started towards her, strutting in her direction in a totally sexy way that distracted her.

If she didn’t look at his chest she could think. Or his mouth. Or his hair. Or his… she’d better just look at the floor.

“Has there been any change?” Paige felt guilty for looking forward to a passionate night when Gina was suffering imprisonment. Some friend she was.

“No, no change. Gina’s fine though.”

Don’t look, don’t look… Paige blew it. She looked up at him, unable to resist. Whew. He was hot, plain and simple.

While she drooled, his eyes dropped to the box in her hand.

“You found some.”

“Yes.” Paige was overcome with embarrassment. The passionate moment between them had passed and she felt ridiculous standing there with a box of protection in her hands. Protection that she had darted all around looking for.

Afraid that her desperate desire was in her eyes, she stared at the wall to her right and concentrated on slowing her heart rate. Right now it was doing a way too rapid tha-thunk, tha-thunk.

There was a black and white framed photo of a flower on the wall. It looked like a daisy. She started counting the petals, willing herself not to blush or throw herself at him like a sex-starved maniac.

Wait a minute. She was a sex-starved maniac.

“Hey.” Jeff took her hand and pulled her closer until her nose was snuggled into his warm chest.

She offered no resistance. Embarrassed or not, she wasn’t walking away from this opportunity.

Then he bent down and took her lips with his. It was heat, it was passion, it was her love for Jeff rising up and blending together until she went weak in the knees and whimpered.

His arms came around her tighter. She clung. Their mouths dipped and swayed and tasted, his teeth nipping along her bottom lip in a way that sent bursts of heat zinging through her body.

This was the way she remembered him tasting. Warm and clean, a light smell of aftershave clinging to him. And this was how she had felt that night. Cherished, loved, desired.

Yet there was a difference this time. She wasn’t letting him guide her now. She was meeting him half way, touch for touch, kiss for kiss. She was a woman now, on equal footing. Her desire was as strong as his, and she wasn’t ashamed of that.

This time she knew it wasn’t just a crush. This time she saw it for what it was. Love.

The word sent shivers racing across her skin.

“Cold?” he murmured.

“Hot,” she told him truthfully, tugging his shirt out of his waistband.

“Then let’s get these clothes off.” He stepped back, forcing her hands to fall away from his shirt.

She made a tiny sound of protest. She wanted her hands on that rock solid chest of his.

He admired her for a second, his chest rising up and down, and she burned under his gaze. She didn’t want to wait. She had waited long enough. With a small smile, she lifted her shirt up and off, flinging it on the floor behind her.

It pleased her to see that the move surprised him. More than surprised him. His eyes were bugging out. She reached for her bra hook.

“No.” He caught her hand. “Let me.”

She expected him to just reach out and rip the thing off of her. Instead, he taunted and teasing, tugging here and there, rubbing his fingers against her nipples and dipping into her cleavage with his tongue.

Torture. He had no idea what he was doing to her. “Jeff,” she panted as she raked his shoulders with her nails.

“Hmmm?” Jeff pulled the front of her bra down and sucked on the swell of her breast.

Eek. She had no idea what she had been planning to say. It was probably stupid and inconsequential. In fact, anything would be meaningless right now compared to the feel of his mouth on her and his fingers tracing down her back and cupping her… oh, my.

He was backing her up, pushing her left and right until the back of her knees hit the couch and she went down with the grace of a tipped cow. She wound up spread eagle and on her back, her breasts escaping up and over the top of her bra.

“Jeff.” She scrambled to adjust herself to a more vampish pose, sure this couldn’t look good from his perspective.

“What?” He dropped down on her and grabbed her shorts. In an instant they were off.

She forgot what she was going to say again when his thumb went to work, gliding over her panties and down lower, then back up, then down.

Dizzy. She was getting dizzy with desire. Lift her legs, that’s what she wanted to do. Meet him half way. Force him to do more instead of this tease torture.

Except that her legs were stuck to the leather couch. She frowned in impatience and lifted harder.

“Aah.” They gave with the burning sensation that reminded her of a leg wax job. Added to that was a loud suction sound. Limbs went flying, and her knee collided with Jeff’s chin.

“Damn!” He grabbed his jaw, and shook his head.

“Sorry. I was stuck to the couch.” She giggled, feeling giddy and wildly in love. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, but horny,” he said with a rueful grin as he rubbed his chin.

Paige laughed out loud. “Well, we can fix that, you know.”

“I was hoping you could.”

As Jeff unzipped his jeans and started tugging them down, Paige decided this was as good a time as any to tell him. She rested on her side and watched him, the light from the window playing across his bronzed chest.

“Jeff, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Well, you’re not a virgin, so it can’t be that,” he joked with a wicked grin.

Distracted by his sudden nakedness, she reached out and touched him softly, running her fingers up and down him.

He groaned.

“I’m not a virgin, obviously, but I want you to know that I’ve never… I haven’t… been with anyone else.” She kept her fingers moving, deliriously enthralled by the effect she was having on him. “That night was my one and only time.”

Jeff was speechless. His eyes, which had been half closed enjoying the feel of her hand on him, flew open to study Paige. Had he heard her right?

In the three years since their mind blowing night together she hadn’t been with any other man?

Damn, that was sexy.

It made him feel possessive and powerful and grateful that this gorgeous woman wanted to share her body only with him, and no other schmuck out there.

Just this schmuck.

And if he had anything to say about it, she’d never be with any schmuck but him.

He was in love with her. There was no sense in trying to deny it anymore.

It had taken him ten years to admit it, but there it was. Paige meant the world to him.

Whether or not she’d marry him, well, that was up to her. But this time he wasn’t going to talk her out of being with him. He was going to encourage it.

He leaned over her and fingered her hair gently. “Gorgeous, I don’t know what to say.”

She must have her reasons why she was willing to be with him in a way she hadn’t been with any other man, and he hoped like hell those reasons had something to do with love. But now wasn’t the time for asking. Now was the time for showing.

Those blue eyes stared up at him with trust and passion as she said, “You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know.”

Now that he knew, he decided to change his tactics. This was all about Paige and giving her pleasure. He’d waited three years to hear her moan again, and he intended to make her moan all night.

He put his mouth on the underside of her breast, moving back and forth over the silky skin with his tongue. She was tangy and hot, and her breath was falling over his cheek in warm blasts as she gave little gasps of pleasure.

That sound spurned him on, made him reach up and pull her taut nipple into his mouth and suck gently. He wanted to bite it, to tug and nip and pull, but he forced himself to take it slow.

Paige was inexperienced and he wanted nothing but pleasure for her.

“Harder,” she said on a moan.

He looked up, startled, his mouth falling off of her.

“No, don’t stop. Suck harder.”

That raspy begging went straight to his groin and squeezed. Hell, hell, hell. Paige wasn’t straight out of college anymore and he had to remember that.

She was a full blown woman and while she might not be experienced, she certainly knew what she wanted.

Instead of answering, he just obeyed. He sucked hard, letting his teeth graze her nipple.

Her cry was so loud, so passionate, that he found himself pulling back to taunt her. When she whimpered, he came back, this time placing his mouth on her breast while his hand slid down between her thighs.

Her panties were still on, so he brushed his hand under the waistband and into her moistness. One, two strokes and Paige exploded.

He felt the shudders course through her body, and the sweaty sweet smell of her satisfaction as she gripped his shoulders and rocked into his finger.

“Jeff,” she moaned.

“Paige, you’re so beautiful.” As she relaxed, he kissed her on the mouth, sucking her bottom lip.

Then she looked him straight in the eye, her face flushed and cocky and said, “Can I be on top? I wanted to try that last time but was afraid to ask.”

Jeff nearly hit the floor again. His body jumped and pulsed in agonized anticipation. Did she have any idea how sexy she was?

He hovered over her as she lay on the couch, her hair cascading over the leather cushions, and he feasted on the view. “You don’t need to ask, gorgeous, just take what you want.”

“Oh.”

Paige sat up and looked him over, up and down. She knew how this was supposed to work in theory, but didn’t exactly know how to implement it. But she was a smart woman. She had a degree and dealt with complex financial matters on a daily basis.

Though this probably fell more into the realm of physics, she could still figure this out with a little trial and error.

She waited until Jeff was done fumbling with the box of condoms, then she got on her knees and placed herself on his lap. Step one. Very good.

Pleased with herself and his hitched breath, she pressed against his erection, but used it only as her own brand of teasing. Meanwhile, she concentrated on wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him, her tongue swirling around his.

His masculine scent filled her nostrils and as she rubbed her breasts against his hard chest, she felt the cool sheen of sweat on his skin. She felt powerful, in control, responsible for the naked desire in his eyes and the urgent mating of his tongue with hers.

Jeff’s hands were on her back and they slid lower and lower as every inch of her quivered. Now, it told her. Take what you want.

She lifted her hips and with coaxing fingers guided Jeff to her. Then she held her breath, hoping she had done this right, and lowered herself down onto him.

Jeff groaned. She sighed. Aah. Step two. Very, very good.