Chapter Twenty

He kissed her.  Hard.  Hot.  Greedily.  The tang of the wine she’d been drinking and her underlying sweetness filled him.  She was a little piece of heaven that he somehow knew would put him through hell.  But it didn’t stop him from wanting her, needing her.  He pulled her closer, her chest flush against his. He could feel her heart beating as erratically as his own.  With her knees spread wide across his lap, he pressed his hips up, his hard cock throbbing against her.  

With the wine dulling her senses, she braced her hands on his shoulders and fell headlong into his kiss.  His mouth alone had her hot and achy with a need she hadn’t felt in so long. She shifted restlessly over him, her knees tightening against his hips.  Her hips jerked against his as her swollen sex rubbed against the hard length of him.

Lust mingled with steam from the tub surrounded them as the kiss spun out.  A quiet moan escaped her lips as he pulled his mouth from hers and traveled down her long, graceful neck.  Reaching up, he pulled the clip from her hair, groaning against her soft skin as the rich, dark waves flowed over his hands and down her back.  Gently he tugged, tipping her head back his tongue tracing tiny circles around the spot where her pulse beat rapidly.

He peppered her chest with open-mouthed kisses as his hands slid up her sides, resting against the side of her breasts.  She was soft, supple, real.  No silicone or surgery for this woman.  He hadn’t realized how much he missed the feel of an un-surgically enhanced woman until he had one under his hands.  Everything felt different, better, like it was supposed to.  His thumb stroked the full under-curve of her breast.  It was pliant, soft.  He levered her up to stand on her knees, bringing her breast level with his mouth.  He took the hard tip, black fabric and all, between his lips and sucked.  Hard.

Her eyes slammed shut and her short nails dug into his muscled shoulders.  Fiery hot need pooled low in her belly.  Her body screamed for more, more, more.  She writhed against him; he pumped his hips up hard, grinding against her.  Abruptly she pulled away from him. The voice in her heart louder, even in her wine and arousal induced state, telling her this was wrong.  

Her breathing was ragged and her hand less than steady as she reached for her wine, downing the last of it.  “Rich...”

He kept his eyes closed, pretending not to hear her.  He didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to look up and see that look on her face.  

She slid back, perched on his knees instead of groin to groin.  “Rich” she tried again.  “I think...”

He cut her off with a kiss, his control at its very limits.  “Don’t think” he pulled her close again, the hard length of him pulsed against her belly.  “Tonight sweetheart, right now, don’t think about anything except how you feel.”  He kissed her again, taking her glass from her fingers and wrapping her arms around his neck.   “Just feel.”

All she could feel was his mouth and his hands.  Her fingers wound through the dark, damp strands of hair at his nape as she gave herself over to his kiss.  Again.  Her hips rocked against his as she tried to ignore the voice inside her telling her to stop.

Sensing her resistance wavering, Richie grew bolder.  His hands wandered over her slick skin, sliding around her lower back.  His fingers dipped into the bottom of her bathing suit.

She pulled her mouth from his, grabbing his wrists and slipping off his lap to sit next to him.  “I’m sorry” she said as she looked up at him.  “I just can’t.”

Blowing out a frustrated breath, he dragged his arm out of the water, wrapped it around her and hugged her close.  “I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but it’s okay sweetheart.  We’ll just wait until you’re ready.”

She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.  The wine, the heat of the tub and the man all taking their toll on her.  “When” she whispered.  “When will that be?”

Feeling her relax against him, Richie looked down to find her asleep.  With a sigh he shook her gently.  He needed to get her out of the hot tub and he didn’t want to risk hurting himself or her by trying to pick her up.  

She woke enough to climb out of the tub and he got a towel wrapped around her before helping her inside.  Depositing her on the couch he kissed her forehead.  “You’ll know when the time is right sweetheart” he whispered “then you’ll have to come to me.”   Collecting his clothes from the powder room, he shut off the lights and headed out to his car.

~

Turning her head, Stephanie pushed at her hair and the daylight burned her eyelids.  She groaned.  Her head felt like Tico was in there beating out an old eighties drum solo. “What the hell did I do last night?” she murmured and rolled over.

Not realizing she was on the couch she rolled off the edge, flailing as she landed on her ass on the floor.  “Son of a bitch.”  Righting herself, she sat with her back against the couch trying to get her bearings.  She blinked her eyes open and immediately closed them again. The sunlight streaming in the window had her brain screaming for the dark.  Leaning her head back against the couch cushion she tried to remember what had happened the night before.

Her eyes flew open again and she sat up straight.  “Richie.”

Scenes from the night before played through her wine-muddled brain.  Chatting and drinking wine in the kitchen.  Kissing.  Making dinner and his gift to her.  More wine. Eating, drinking more wine.  The hot tub.  More wine.

The hot tub.

She closed her eyes again.  Shit.  What the hell had she been thinking?  She shook her head.  She hadn’t been thinking.  She had been drinking.  She tried to remember, two bottles?  That could explain a lot.  She looked down at herself.  She still had her bathing suit on.  That was good.  Wasn’t it?

Moving carefully she stood and slowly made her way toward the kitchen.  The dishes were still piled in the sink and there on the counter, sat the empty bottle of wine.  It hadn’t been two, just one.  One very large bottle of wine.

She winced and ignored them as she licked her lips and opened the refrigerator.  God her mouth tasted like something died.  She grabbed a bottle of water, taking a healthy swig as she ambled to the door leading out to the deck.  Snagging her sunglasses off the counter she cautiously poked her head out the door.  The hot tub was off and covered, her wine glass must have been brought back in the house as the little table was empty now. And Richie was no where to be found.  She ducked back in the house and shut the door.  He must have gone home after she fell asleep?  Passed out?  God, she couldn’t remember.

She went back into the living room and collapsed down into the oversized chair.  Things had gone beyond friendly in the hot tub.  She remembered slipping as she stepped in and landing on Richie’s lap.  She also remembered how hot and hard he was against her.  How slick his skin was when she flicked his nipple with her tongue.  How delicious his mouth was when he had practically devoured hers.

Closing her eyes she shook her head in disgust.  There was no excuse for her behavior. There was also no denying the attraction between them anymore.  She couldn’t keep putting him off.  Not after last night.  She was sure nothing more than kissing and some seriously heavy petting had happened, but… she thought about being on his lap.  God, it had been amazing.  Her legs spread wide across his hips, cradling his hard, thick cock against her, his hands gliding over her hot, wet body; his mouth on her neck, his hands in her hair.  Heat pooled in her belly and spread lower as she thought about how they practically made love right there in the hot tub, with their clothes on.

But they hadn’t.  She was nearly positive they had stopped.  Sitting there she took stock of her body.  Nothing was sore; nothing ached, in a good way or bad.  They couldn’t have done anything more.  Could they?  She huffed out a breath.  Only one way to find out for sure.

She made her way up the stairs to her room.  She needed to call Richie.

Chapter Nineteen

Standing in her closet, Stephanie took a deep breath and blew it out as she pulled off her sweater and slacks.  Drawing on her favorite jeans she caught her reflection in the mirror.  Color rode high on her cheeks, and her lips were slightly swollen, her eyes were bright.  She looked like a woman who had been thoroughly kissed.  She thought about his lips and her nipples hardened.  Damn did she want him; she looked in the mirror again.  Well, at least her body did anyway.

Turning from the mirror she drew her bra off and tugged a soft cotton cami over her head and topped it with an ancient hoodie with a wide neck that slipped off one shoulder.  She needed to quiet the voice in her heart that was telling her this attraction was wrong.  But she just didn’t know how. 

Taking one last calming breath, she headed back down the stairs.  Stepping into the kitchen she found Richie right where she had left him, sitting at the breakfast bar.  Only now there was a purple gift bag on the counter in front of him.  Skirting the counter she opened a low cupboard and pulled out a skillet and a pot.  “I hope you like stir fry.”

“There you are” the corner of his mouth kicked up in a half smile.  “I was beginning to think you abandoned me.”  His eyes skimmed her and his body appreciated the fit of the jeans and the bareness of her shoulder.  He pushed the bag toward her.  “This is for you sweetheart.”

She set the skillet on the stove to heat.  “Rich, you sent me flowers today.  That was enough.”  She moved to the refrigerator to gather beef she had marinated that morning and the veggies she had cut last night before stepping back in front of the stove, “more than enough.  Those flowers were huge!”  She filled the pot with water and set it to boil and slid the meat into the skillet. 

Getting off the bar stool he turned her away from the stove to face him, “one thing you need to learn about me darlin’, I like doing the romantic gestures,” he cupped her chin, his thumb lightly caressing her jaw, “big or small.”  He reached behind him and grabbed the bag.  “Here.  I hope you like it.”  He waited.  Normally he was a flowers, candy, jewelry kind of guy.  Since he had done flowers that day already, he had to find something else but his favorite candy shop had been closed and he didn’t think jewelry would go over well this early in their relationship.  So he went an entirely different direction this one time.

She looked from his face to the bag dangling from his long fingers.  Mark hadn’t been like that.  Oh he would surprise her once in a blue moon, but it was usually a grander gesture, like that trip he took her on.  He had never been the flower and candy type of guy.  That didn’t bother her because when he did do those things, it meant that much more to her.

Richie didn’t move; the bag hung from his fingers, swaying back and forth.  He wanted to do little things for her.  He liked to do them.  So, he’d wait her out.  She’d take the bag eventually. 

Unable to do anything but take the bag from him, she set it on the counter and reached inside.  Her hand came back with something soft and dark brown.  Shaking it out, she noticed the design that ran down the one leg first.  She recognized these shorts; she had seen a picture of him wearing them when the band had been in Miami.  Holding them up in front of herself she smiled.  “I like them, but I’m pretty sure they’ll look much better on you than me.” 

With an almost embarrassed laugh he grabbed the shorts from her hand and sat back down.  “Sorry, those are my trunks.  There’s something else in there for you.”

She reached in again and this time she pulled out something soft and black.  Unfolding it she smiled and held it up in front of herself.  It was a black t-shirt with the White Trash Beautiful motif on the front.  It looked exactly like the red one he was wearing, except this one was slimmer, cut more for a woman than a man.  Dropping the shirt back into the bag she leaned across the counter and pressed her lips to his.  He was being so sweet to her.  “Thank you.”  

She stepped back and he watched her as she tended to her pots on the stove.  “You’re welcome.”  She really had no clue just how she was affecting him.  With that sweet little kiss he wanted to drag her across the counter, pull her down onto his lap and ravage every soft, delectable inch of her.

Draining his glass, he rattled the ice cubes.  But, he’d keep himself in check.  She wasn’t like the other women he had been with.  He had never worked so hard to get a woman into his bed and he kind of liked the chase.  She wasn’t easy and she wasn’t after him for anything other than his company.  It was a refreshing change.  But that didn’t make him any less determined to have some fun tonight.

~

Filling her wineglass once more, he set the empty bottle on the table and picked up their dishes.  “That was delicious, sweetheart.” 

She watched him set the dishes in the sink and turn on the water and stood to join him.  She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself.  “Whoa.” 

He came up behind her and settled his hand on her lower back.  “Steady there sweetheart, maybe you should sit back down.”  He nudged her toward her chair.

“Nope” she shook her head.  “I’m fine.”  She looked over at the empty bottle and her half-full glass.  “I can’t believe you made me drink that whole bottle!”

He chuckled.  “I didn’t make you do anything.”  He just wanted to see how loose she would get if she had a little buzz on.

She snorted out a laugh.  “Right.  You just made sure my glass was never empty.”  She picked up her glass and took another sip.  “Come on, leave the dishes.  The hot tub is waiting.”  She weaved toward the stairs, pointing at the small powder room, “you can change in there.  I’ll be back in a minute.”

Stumbling into her room she ransacked her dresser drawers for a bathing suit.  “Come on, come on, I know there’s one here somewhere” she muttered as she dug through her summer clothes.

“Success!” she laughed as her hand closed around the two scraps of black fabric.  Stripping out of her jeans and sweatshirt she slid into the bottoms and tied the halter top around her neck.  Grabbing the clip off her night stand she stopped at the hall closet and snagged two fluffy towels and headed back downstairs. 

Peeking into the powder room she found Richie’s clothes folded neatly on the edge of the sink and his shoes behind the door.  Stepping into the kitchen the dishes were piled in the sink, her wineglass was gone from the table and the door to the deck was open.  She could hear music filtering in through the screen door along with the bubbling of the hot tub.  He must be out there already.  A picture of him in his bathing suit flashed through her head.  Her mouth watered at the thought and her fingers fumbled with the clip as she tried to pile her hair up out of the way. 

With a steadying breath she stepped outside and found Richie already in the hot tub waiting for her.  He had lit the tiki torches surrounding the tub and her wine glass was waiting for her on the little table. 

“Come on in, sweetheart, the water’s fine.”  He smiled and held out his hand as his eyes roamed over her.  Several locks of hair had escaped the clip and trailed down her neck, a long, graceful, lovely neck that he wanted to nibble on.  The black bikini left little to his imagination and he was glad for the bubbling water.  He didn’t want the tent in his shorts to scare her off.

Taking his hand, she climbed into the tub only to discover she lost her gracefulness about two glasses of wine ago.  She slipped, her grip on his hand tightened and as she tried to right herself, her free hand slid across his chest to grip his bicep and she landed on his lap.  Turning her head she was eye to eye with his chest.  Unable to help herself and the wine having relieved her of some of her inhibitions, her tongue snaked out and licked his hard, coppery nipple.

At the touch of her tongue to his skin, his control snapped and his free hand cupped the back of her head, lifting it to his.  Their mouths met in a heated kiss and he shifted her to straddle his lap.  He knew she was more than a little buzzed, and he shouldn’t take advantage, but right now, he couldn’t think of anything but how right she felt and how sweet and hot her mouth was.