Anticipation (16 page)

Too late. She was already aroused — God, she’d been desperate for him for
months
— and now heat spread into her belly and up into her breasts.

She told herself to pull away, to put even more space between them, but he felt too good, his hands on her body so right. They fit so well together, responding instinctively to each other’s smallest non-verbal cues.

It would be like this between them in bed, too, she knew. Their bodies knew each other. He would make her feel so good.

Images filled her head as they moved across the dance floor. His mouth on her breasts. Between her legs. His cock inside her, driving her crazy. His tongue in her mouth, his teeth on her skin.

She moved closer, her hips brushing his again. This time, when he moved away, she followed, crossing a line neither of them had ever crossed before as she pressed herself fully against him.

A warning sounded in the back of her mind, but she pushed it away. She was literally aching to be close to him. She needed to feel his body against hers.

Eddie slipped his knee between hers and she rolled her hips, simulating the act she so desperately wanted. His hips undulated with hers, following her lead.

She closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of him, getting lost in the magic of having his hard body moving so close to hers. God, he felt amazing. She could almost imagine how her breasts would feel crushed against his chest. How his butt would flex as he pumped into her. How he would taste when she pressed her mouth to his skin.

Of its own volition, her hand slid down his back to his hips, urging him closer still. Every shift of his weight, every movement of his leg muscles sent ripples of pleasure through her as she all but rode his thigh. Caught up in the fantasy behind her closed eyelids, she slid a hand onto his ass, her fingers digging into firm, resilient flesh.

God, yes. Please, yes
.

“How many JDs have you had, anyway?” Eddie’s voice was an amused growl in her ear, shocking her out of the hazy fantasy world she’d descended into.

Reality hit her like a slap, and she snatched her hand away before taking a jerky step backward. Appalled, she stared at him, cold adrenaline making her heart slam against her ribcage.

What had she just done?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t — I’m sorry,” she blurted.

Eddie’s smile faded, to be replaced with a questioning frown. Blue realized — too late — that until a second ago, he’d thought she’d simply overindulged. Which meant she’d exposed herself even more.

For a long moment they stood frozen on the dance floor, lights flashing and hot bodies gyrating around them. No clever words or excuses surfaced to save her. Unable to hold his eye a second longer, she spun on her heel, pushing her way toward the edge of the dance floor. The moment she emerged from the press of bodies, she headed for the rear exit, panic exploding inside her as she began to understand what she’d done.

What she’d revealed.

She pushed the black-painted door hard and exited to the cool, dark quiet of the alleyway behind the bar. The pumping bass beat that had been a part of her body for the past few hours was left behind as the door swung shut. She swore loudly and raked a hand through her hair.

How on earth could she backtrack from this moment? What could she possibly say to smooth things over and make it like those seconds on the dance floor never happened?

Music spilled into the alleyway as the door opened behind her. She threw a glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, it was Eddie. Her stomach did a duck-and-dive as she saw his blank, unreadable expression.

Fuck
.

She turned to face him. He walked slowly toward her, stopping a few feet away. His gaze scanned her face and she did her best to mask the fact that her whole body was shaking with reaction.

“What just happened?” His voice was very low, very serious.

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

She couldn’t look away from his clear green gaze. She formulated a lie in her mind —
you were right, I was drunk, I forgot it was you
— but couldn’t quite force it out her mouth.

Eddie took a step closer, testing her. She held her ground, aware that if she fell back she’d expose herself even more. She couldn’t stop the trembling, however, her whole body vibrating in reaction to his closeness.

“If you were anyone else, I’d take what just happened in there as an invitation,” he said.

She opened her mouth to reject the idea, but for the second time tonight words failed her. She saw realization dawn in his eyes, watched the tension stiffen his body as he finally understood.

“Haven’t you ever wondered?” she heard herself ask, her voice barely more than a whisper. “About us? How it would be?”

He was so close she could see his pupils dilate as her words hit him, the dark pupil swallowing the green of his irises. Then he spoke, and his words tipped her world upside down.

“
Every fucking day of my life
.”

Her mind didn’t know what to do with his answer, but her body did. Without consciously willing it, she closed the distance, stepping so close there was barely an inch between them. His hand found her shoulder, sliding to the nape of her neck, his gaze locked with hers.

“You’re shaking,” he said.

“So are you.” His hand acted as a conduit, relaying his body’s reaction to her own.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, the barely-restrained demand in his eyes the hottest thing she’d ever seen.

“Tell me what you want,” he said.

Was it really that simple?

She knew it wasn’t, but she was so far gone, reason and common sense left far, far behind. All she could think about was the man looking at her as though he wanted to consume her and the need making her sex ache for fulfillment.

“You. I want you.” The words came from her soul, the most honest she’d ever uttered, and the moment they were out of her mouth the world got crazy.

The hand on her neck tightened and she dropped her head back instinctively, excitement kicking in her chest as his face descended toward her own.

Then his mouth was on hers, the fierceness of the contact tilting her head even further. His tongue swept into her mouth, brushing her own, and she forgot how to think.

How to breathe.

How to stand on her own two legs.

This was Eddie — finally — and he tasted of sweet heat, the rasp on his five o’clock shadow against the soft skin of her face the most delicious pleasure-pain she’d ever experienced. For a moment she was dizzy with a combination of disbelief and sensory overload.

This was happening
. After ten long years of yearning and lust and denial, this was happening.

Then his other hand slid onto her ass, gripping one cheek and dragging her close. She made a greedy, guttural sound as her hips found his and she discovered how aroused he was, how ready.

Needing more, she slid her hands beneath his T-shirt, running her hands feverishly over the taut smoothness of his belly and chest, reveling in how good he felt, how hard and solid.

Better than she’d imagined.

So much better.

“You taste so fucking good,” Eddie said as he broke their kiss. “Jesus, Blue.”

The next thing she knew her back was against the wall and her legs were locked around his hips as they ground together, her hands clawing at his back as she tried to get as close as she could.

She could feel how hard he was, how long and thick. Somehow she got a hand between their closely-pressed bodies, fumbling at his belt buckle. She didn’t care that they were in an alleyway. She didn’t care about anything except the need pounding through her.

She had to have him. She’d waited years. She wasn’t waiting another second.

His buckle fell loose in her hand and she popped the stud on his jeans as the blare of a siren split the night air. A police cruiser sped past on the street at the top of the alley, lights flashing frenetically, the shock of it enough to still her hands and make him lift his head.

For a moment they stared into each other’s eyes, both of them breathing hard.

“Not here,” he said. “Not the first time.”

She nodded, and he loosened his hold on her. Her feet found the ground, her knees not quite supporting her for a dangerous second. He gripped her hips, steadying her, his fingers digging into her flesh.

“My place?” he asked.

“Yes.” Her voice was shaky, unrecognizable as her own.

“I’ll get a cab.”

Even though he’d let her go, he still stood close, his body pressed against her own, clearly reluctant to break the contact. She didn’t want to lose the hard press of his body, either, but she also wanted much more than this.

“We should go,” she said.

It took him another beat before he took a gratifyingly reluctant step backward. The cold night air rushed in to take the place of his body heat and for a moment she simply stood there and blinked, her brain refusing to work.

“You okay?” he asked.

She took in the color along his cheekbones and the almost-feverish light in his eyes.

“Yeah. You?”

“I will be soon.”

His gaze raked her body hungrily, and her pussy tightened in anticipation. Without another word, she started walking, heading for the street. She spotted a taxi disgorging its passengers the moment she rounded the corner. Eddie strode past her, one hand raised imperiously to catch the driver’s attention, urgency in every gesture. Seconds later they were in the rear of the cab and Eddie leaned forward, giving the driver his address.

Eddie settled back as the cab took off. She gripped the arm rest on her side, wanting to slide across the seat and into his arms but knowing that if she did so they would be fucking right here in the taxi in no seconds flat. Eddie glanced at her, and there was so much banked desire in his gaze she knew he was battling the same urge, could feel the heat of their mutual desire shimmering in the space between them.

She looked away, unable to sustain eye contact. Staring blindly out at the busy streets, she willed the driver to put his foot down.

Her mind raced ahead, imagining how things would unfold. They would reach Eddie’s place, then he would take her inside and they would get naked and he would be hers. His skin against her skin. His mouth on hers. His body inside hers. They would be as close, as primitive, as urgent as two people could get.

Finally.

After what felt like forever, the taxi slowed as it turned a corner, and she recognized the house they were passing.

They’d arrived.

Chapter Eleven

She glanced at Eddie. He had one hand on the door handle, the other was a holding a fifty-dollar bill. The moment the cab stopped at the curb, he leaned forward and dropped the money into the driver’s lap. Then he threw Blue a look that was so fiercely demanding it was almost intimidating it was so uncivilized. Then he was out of the car, striding toward his darkened house. Wordless, she followed him. The click of the key turning in the lock was audible as she mounted the steps. When she followed him into the hallway, he turned on her like a predator, his mouth descending, his body slamming against hers.

Any control he’d had in the alley was gone, his mouth consuming hers as his hands found her breasts. She gave a low moan as his fingers grazed her nipples before palming her whole breast.

Pleasure burned through her, sweeping everything in its path, and she let her head fall back as he kissed his way to her throat. She made an inarticulate sound as he bit her then soothed the hurt with his tongue, her hips jerking involuntarily against his. His hand slid onto her backside and held her snug against him as he repeated the move. She shuddered, then gave a soundless moan as his hand left her ass to slide to the front of her body, his hand curving to cup the mound of her sex through her jeans. She pushed her hips forward, trying to increase the pressure, and he obliged, his fingers digging into the denim where she needed him the most. She started to pant, heated images coloring the darkness behind her closed eyelids.

“Bedroom,” Eddie muttered, his beard a rasp across her skin.

He gripped her hips, urging her backward up the hallway. Everything in Blue wanted to follow his lead, wanted to let him take her into his bedroom so he could lay her down and work his legendary wiles on her. He’d peel off her jeans and do things to her with his tongue and hands and cock. He’d make her sob and beg. He’d do whatever it was he did to make women bake him cakes and concoct excuses to try to get a second or third shot at being naked in his arms.

The thought was enough to make her dig in her heels and drag her mouth away from his questing kiss. She’d waited so long for this moment. Ten years. There were things she’d thought about during that time, things she wanted to do to him, and chief amongst them was the burning need to have him in her mouth. She wanted to own his cock. She wanted to wrap her hands around it. She wanted to consume it. She wanted to give him pleasure, to blow his mind.

She reached for his belt for the second time that night, her fingers nimble and sure this time. The stud on his jeans was warm from his body heat as she popped it open.