of thick lashes, and her tongue came out to wet her lips. She was going to kiss him again.
Not if you kiss her first.
And why not? So far she’d made all the moves. He wanted to taste her, wanted to remember how good she felt in his arms. And damn it, he wanted some kind of reaction from the lower half of his body.
He eased his head forward, meeting her halfway. She framed his face in her hands and pulled him closer. He slid his fingers up her shoulders, over the curve of her neck until they rested just below her ears. His lips met hers. Cautiously at first.
A soft mingling of flesh. Kiss and retreat. Kiss again. Longer this time. His tongue darted out. He wanted her taste, wanted to remember, wanted to replace the undesirable memories with better ones.
This time, the urgency of youth was absent. Instead, there was a slow, sensual exploration, a gentle seduction. This is what she should have had the first time. Not his clumsy attempts.
That thought sent a jolt of reality over him. With a ragged sigh, he pulled away and leaned back against the headrest of his seat.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
It would seem his humiliation knew no bounds. He gestured downward with a casual flip of his hand. “Nothing. That’s what’s wrong. My mind says yes. Unfortunately, my mind and my body are on two different wavelengths.”
“I guess this is where I get the it’s not you, it’s me speech,” she said.
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was either that or die a slow death from embarrassment. “I think it’s definitely safe to say it’s not you, Payton. Apparently I have more issues than Time magazine. Who knew I was so fucked in the head over something that happened twelve years ago.”
She rotated her wrist up to check her watch. “Not that I don’t enjoy dampening a man’s ardor, but I really need to be getting back. I have the rehearsal supper this evening, and I have to drive back to Beaumont to the hotel to get ready.”
He saw through her flippant front. He knew he’d hurt her. Again. Not physically this time. His chest felt heavy with regret.
“Payton?”
She looked up.
“You don’t know how much I wish…how much I wish that things were different.”
She grinned, though her chin trembled just a bit as she spoke. “So what you’re saying is that you wish like hell your cock would cooperate so you could prove to me what a stud you’ve turned out to be.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have put it like that exactly,” he muttered.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Maybe we’re better off just being friends and calling it good.”
As he started the engine and drove back down the dirt road, her last words echoed in his ears. Friends. Hell, he was friends with Gracie. He didn’t want to be friends with Payton. It didn’t feel like enough all of a sudden. He felt an odd sort of ache, deeper than his skin, deep in his chest. Like someone had dropped a bowling ball down his throat. And he was hard-pressed to put his finger on why.
Two days ago, he was just fine. Two days ago, he didn’t have a care in the world beyond his job and his friends. But two days ago, Payton hadn’t walked back into his life.
Chapter Four
She’d spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening thinking about him. She’d cruised through rehearsal and the dinner afterward on autopilot, smiling when appropriate, performing most of the tasks with half a brain.
Now that the shindig was winding down, Payton mulled her course of action over a glass of wine as she watched Brenda smile up at her husband-to-be as they talked with both sets of parents.
True, probably the smartest idea would be to leave this thing between her and Wes alone, go back home to Houston after the wedding and forget she’d ever seen him again. But that wasn’t what she wanted to do, and she had this little problem called an impulsive nature. She pretty much tended to do what she wanted, regardless of the fact that she might regret it afterward.
And she wanted Wes Hoffman pretty badly. But why did she want him? That was a harder question to answer. Was he a challenge? Maybe, but that still didn’t explain the deep-down flutter that started the minute she saw him in the bar.
She drummed her fingers along the side of the crystal goblet and took another sip as she contemplated her options. It wasn’t as simple as showing up at his house again and asking him if he was interested in a one-night stand. While he might very well be interested (he was a guy after all), his lack of physical response to her was a rather huge stumbling block.
Yeah, that ruffled her pride, even though she knew he found her attractive.
What she needed to do was get around his little psychological roadblock. A teeny-tiny smile attacked her face as an idea formed.
Ambush.
Maybe he expected her to be all sweet and innocent, goodness and light. He did still see her as a sixteen-year-old virgin. She nearly snorted wine out her nose at that idea.
Yeah, what she needed was a plan of attack. A way to knock him off his feet and get him to see her, not some little girl he felt guilty for hurting.
Or…
Not see her at all.
She looked at her watch and calculated the time she’d need to drive back to her hotel and get ready. An hour, tops. She set her wineglass in the window behind her then dug out her cell phone from her purse. Hopefully his number was listed.
Wes walked through the lobby of Payton’s hotel and down the hall toward the room number she’d given him. There were a thousand reasons he shouldn’t be here. One, he had to work in the morning, two, he needed to just let sleeping dogs lie and three, what the hell could she want?
He’d gotten a phone call from her—surprising enough to hear her husky voice over the line, but then she’d asked him to come to her hotel. Ten o’clock. She’d been very specific.
He should have declined, just said no. But here he was, standing outside her room like a moron on his first date. Despite his initial desire for her to leave and for him to never see her again, he knew that was his embarrassment and discomfort talking. The truth was, she intrigued him. He was curious, and he knew she was equally intrigued with him.
He knocked sharply and waited. Within a few seconds the door opened, and his eyes widened. Payton was half-hidden by the door, but what he could see was downright jaw-dropping.
One long, slender leg peeked seductively around the door. Dainty lace, hip-hugging panties—could you call something that only covered an inch of flesh actual panties?—twined over her curvy hip.
His gaze followed the bare flesh from the waistband of the panties upward until it met with a matching bra. Pink. Sexy and feminine.
She smiled at him, white, perfectly straight teeth flashing as she opened the door wider. “Come in, please.”
He started forward on shaky legs, swallowing convulsively when she turned to walk in front of him. The panties rode high, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of the swell of her ass. Her hips rocked in a gentle motion and he had to catch himself as his head began mimicking those motions.
She stopped at a chair that was situated at the foot of the bed. “Sit,” she said as she gestured downward.
Dumbly he eased into the chair and looked up, his gaze riveted to her. “Payton, what’s this about?”
She leaned down and put a finger over his lips. “Shhh.” Her lips hovered provocatively over the finger pressed against his mouth. “This is my show.” She reached over and picked up a long black piece of satin from the bed. It trailed across his legs as she circled behind him.
She placed one hand on his shoulder and looped the sash around the front of his neck. Then she raised it until it brushed across his face. With gentle fingers, she positioned it over his eyes.
As the room went dark, he raised his hand in automatic protest, but again she whispered in his ear. “Shhh. Trust me. You’ll like this.”
He let his hand fall as she gathered the material tight around his eyes. She tied it in the back, and he sat there, wa
iting for what she would do next.
He jumped when her lips met the curve of his neck. She kissed a soft line upward. Chill bumps broke out on his arms as her warm breath blew over his skin.
Then she sank her teeth into his earlobe, and he nearly came off the chair. Her tongue swirled around the tender flesh before she sucked the lobe back between her teeth. With a gentle nip, she moved away again.
A slight movement of air alerted him to the fact she’d walked back around the chair. A faint rustle could be heard and then she placed both hands on his knees, slid them up his legs until she grasped his hips.
She straddled his lap, moving in close until her pussy cradled his groin. A surge of excitement shot through his system. His dick came to life after its long stint of dormancy. Okay, so it had only lain dormant for two days, but to a guy it was a fucking lifetime.
He swelled painfully against his jeans. He heard her light chuckle just as she curled her fingers around his hands and lifted them.
She placed his palms on her legs and kept her fingers wrapped around his wrists. Slowly, seductively, she guided his hands up her body. Over her hips, naked hips. She’d ditched the underwear. Oh hell.
Up her waist, sliding sideways over her taut belly. Finally up her ribcage until his knuckles brushed the undersides of her breasts.
Unwilling to let her control the progress any longer, he cupped her breasts and worked his thumbs over her nipples. Soft, velvety, he loved the texture and weight of her breasts. Definitely a C cup, maybe a smaller D.
She shuddered against his fingers.
“Like that?” he murmured as he continued stroking the tips.
In response, she gripped his hands, holding them tighter over her breasts.
“Touch me,” she whispered.
“Show me where.”
She wiggled on his lap, moving back. Then she guided his right palm from her breast, down her silken skin, lower until he felt the curls of her pussy. They brushed across his fingers, damper the closer he got to her flesh.
“Oh, you mean here.”
“Mmm hmmm.”
He coaxed the lips apart and eased one finger over the hot, moist flesh between her legs. She jerked in reaction when he stroked her clit.
“You’re wet.”
“Because I want you,” she whispered. “And I think you want me.”
“Oh, yeah, sweetheart. I want you.”
She cupped his bulging groin, gently squeezing. She laughed huskily, her mouth close to his ear again. “Yeah, I’d say your earlier problem might be a non-issue now.”
“I do love an inventive woman.”
“I’m just a woman willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants.”
He turned his head in the direction of her voice, his lips colliding with hers. He kissed her, long, hot and hard. He reached up to cup her face, holding her against him as their tongues explored new territory.
He moved his mouth down her jawline then below to the tender skin of her neck. She moaned softly as he nibbled and sucked his way to her shoulder. Her fingers gripped his shoulders, digging into his skin.
In the darkness the blindfold brought, he found his other senses heightened. Every touch, every taste counted. They were his only means to explore her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her.
The plump swells of her breasts rubbed over his chin, and he reached out with his tongue to lap at her nipple. He sucked it between his teeth, enjoying her sharp intake of breath.
He alternated licking and nibbling. He wanted to taste every inch.
Suddenly she pulled away, climbing off his lap. When he would have protested, she once again pressed a finger to his lips.
“My show, remember?”
He grinned and nodded.
“Good, then stand up.”
He stood like a good boy ever hopeful of receiving his reward.
“Take your shirt off,” she murmured.
Impatiently, he yanked at the T-shirt, pulled it over his head and tossed it aside.
“Oh, nice,” she purred as she pressed both palms to his skin.
He flinched when she touched her lips to the hollow of his chest. As her tongue melted over him, her hands moved lower, between them, working at the fly of his jeans. He shifted back an inch to give her more room to work.
He was so hard he was going to have a permanent cramp in his cock if she didn’t get his jeans off soon.
The grating sound of his zipper echoed in the room, and then she slid her fingers inside his jeans, working past the band of his underwear until she cupped his balls.
With her other hand she worked his jeans over his hips, taking his underwear with them. Cool air rushed over his groin, a direct contrast to the aching heat her caresses wrought.
His jeans fell the rest of the way to the floor and he stepped out of one leg and then the other. She gripped his hips, and he felt her body slide down his as she got on her knees in front of him.
Not seeing was torture. He imagined how she must look, kneeling in front of him, his cock inches from her mouth. She hadn’t made a single comment about his size, a fact he found enormously relieving. The last thing he wanted was to ruin the mood.
He reached out, wanting to touch her hair, coax her closer, guide his cock inside her hot, wet mouth. She chuckled and pushed him away.
“Patience. I’m enjoying the view.”
Her fingers circled his dick, gliding up and down his rigid length. The other hand closed around his sac, her finger rubbing the seam on the backside.
He rocked forward on his toes as her breath tickled over the head. Again she stayed his motion and continued her exploratory caresses.
He groaned. “You’re killing me.”
“Oh, no, I haven’t gotten to the killing part yet.”
Lord, he couldn’t wait to die then.
She grasped his dick, working it in an up-and-down motion. Then she slid her delicious mouth over the head, paused and let his cock sink deep. He nearly came all undone.
Her tongue rasped the sensitive vein on the underside of his cock, and she moved back and forth. When he butted against the back of her throat, she swallowed, the action milking his erection. A thousand volts of electricity arced through his body like a streak of white-hot lightning.
As she pulled away, a tiny spurt of fluid spilled on her tongue. She swallowed and lapped at the head as if wanting more. He wanted to give her more.
She braced herself against his thighs and slowly pushed herself up, allowing his cock to slip from her mouth. He stood there, waiting for her next move.
She pulled him forward. Then her hand fell away from his, and he heard the chair being shoved aside. A moment later, she returned and walked him backward until the backs of his legs came into contact with the bed.
“Lie down,” she directed.
He sat on the bed then reclined.
“Move farther up.”
He complied, scooting until his head was on one of the pillows. He reached down, testing to see if she was close, wanting to touch her.
The bed dipped, and she straddled his waist. She bent down to kiss him then slid her mouth over his cheek to his ear.
“Do you want to taste me as much as I want to taste you?”
“There’s not an inch of you I don’t want to taste,” he said.
He felt her smile against his ear. “I want you to lick my pussy while I suck your cock.”
“I love a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I want. I’ve known since I saw you in that bar. And I intend to have you.”
“I never argue with a lady.”
“Smart man.”
She lifted off of him again. She rotated then straddled his face, lowering her pussy until she was just inches from his mouth. He could smell her, sweet, slightly musky. Sexy as hell.
He cupped her ass, positioning her better so he could begin his exploration. As his tongue flicked out to circle her pussy entrance, he
r mouth sank over his cock, and he moaned low in his throat.
Her ass quivered against his fingers as he gently worked his mouth over her clit. One thing he had learned since his first encounter with Payton all those years ago was that a woman didn’t want to be eaten like a damn potato chip. She wanted to be teased, savored, enjoyed like a fine wine. Sipped at, not gulped.
She writhed against his mouth, squirming as he continued his exploration. Her breath came in gasps around his cock, sending sparks through his groin. He arched into her as she twisted against him.
He took his time, nudging her with his mouth, licking, nipping then soothing the delicate folds. Each time his tongue swept over her clit, it tightened and a tiny spasm quaked through her body.
“Are you close?” he whispered.
She moaned. “Yes, but not yet. Please.”
He smiled and lessened the onslaught of his mouth. “I want you to come in my mouth. I want to taste you.”
She tore her mouth away from his dick and wrapped her fingers around it, moving up and down in slow, long motions. Her chest heaved against his belly.
He parted the soft folds of her pussy, stroking, feather-light. He wanted to see her splayed out over his chest, her femininity bared for him, but at the same time, having to rely on touch and taste was exciting. New. A little disconcerting but in a titillating way.
Slowly, reverently, he pushed one finger inside her, feeling the way the walls of her vagina gripped him. Sweat beaded his forehead as he imagined what it would feel like for his cock to be surrounded by such sweet heat.
When she began to shudder uncontrollably, he withdrew his finger and gripped her ass again, pulling her down to his mouth once more.
His tongue found her clit, and he gently sucked the taut bud into his mouth. She moaned and rocked back as her mouth paused on his cock. “I’m going to come,” she gasped out.
He said nothing but swirled his tongue downward, plunging it into her opening. She tensed over him, and a surge of honey spilled onto his tongue. Her legs shook, her body shook, her fingers tightened around his cock.
She cried out as she undulated her hips in his hands. He held her, coaxing her orgasm with his mouth. Several long seconds later, she slumped against his body, her breath coming in big heaves.
She eased off his body. Again he felt the bed dip as she got up. He heard the crinkle of a wrapper. Soon she returned, climbing onto the bed.
She grasped his cock and slid her mouth over the head, sucking and licking down then back up again. Then she rolled a condom on. He waited, nearly breathless with anticipation.
He flinched as her lips met the sensitive skin just above the base of his dick.
“Ready for a ride, cowboy?”
“Oh hell yeah,” he ground out.
Chapter Five
Payton applied lubricant to Wes’s latex-sheathed cock, wiped her hand on one of the hotel towels then tossed it aside. Her body was still trembling from her orgasm, but she couldn’t wait to have him inside her.