Seducing Liselle (6 page)

Must be from when he was injured
, she thought fuzzily, still distracted by the sight of his
spectacular ass.

“Lean forward.” He tapped her shoulders.

She stared at him, eyes drawn to the soft
skin on the inside of his wrist. God, she was totally losing it.

“Your core temp is probably still too low.
Lean forward so I can sit behind you.” He patiently tugged on her arms until
she did as he asked. When he slid in behind her, she shivered violently as the
warmth of his body hit the chill of her body.

“Oh my God, you’re so warm,” she said,
trying not to lean back.

He chuckled. “Lean back on me before you
break something.” He eased her down and she let herself slump against his
chest. He put his long, strong legs around the outside of hers.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said,
feeling like she was burning up and freezing at the same time. She could feel
his perfect muscles all along her back and butt. She didn’t know where to put
her arms. And was that his cock, or
was she imagining things
?
She tried not to squirm.

“
Shhh
.”
He tucked her feet under his and took her hands in his palms,
running his fingers over hers. “You’re freezing. I should have done this first
thing.”

She trembled as his voice rumbled in her
ear. She wasn’t sure anymore if it was from cold, or from the unexpectedly
pleasurable contact with a gorgeous man who wasn’t out to hurt her.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she
asked again, fidgeting. She tried to ignore the way his chest felt against her
back, but it was impossible. He was hard and warm and so very, very
comfortable.

He sighed. “Okay, honestly? I feel like a
jerk.”

She frowned, trying to crane her head
around and see his face. “Why would you feel like that? You’ve been nothing but
kind to me.”

He put a hand on her forehead and tucked
her into his neck and she stopped trying to see his expression. He smelled like
chocolate laced with a bit of smoke from the fireplace. God, he was warm. She
swallowed, trying to calm down the arousal surging through her. Her squirming
pressed the seam of her jeans against her pussy uncomfortably, but she wasn’t
about to move now. John was not only the nicest man she’d ever met, he was also
the most solidly built one, and here he was cuddling with her.
Willingly.
She didn’t have to bribe him with a blow-job or a
home-cooked meal or anything. It was enough to make her question her sanity.
Maybe
I’m dreaming
, she thought.

“My sisters didn’t tell me you were coming
until I’d already arrived for dinner. I wasn’t really happy about it. I’m still
pissed at your brother, even though he’s dead. I was afraid you’d be like him,
and I couldn’t have been more wrong. So I feel like an asshole.” He sighed into
her hair, his fingers idly stroking over the backs of her hands. “Then when you
explained a little about what growing up had been like for you, I had to face
up to the fact that my initial impression about you was completely wrong.
And mostly due to my own sense of frustration.”
He smoothed
her hair down, tucking a strand behind her ear. “I’m sorry.”

She shifted, still trying to get her legs
warm.
Stupid wet jeans
, she thought. “You shouldn’t apologize for
feeling protective. I had no idea what to expect, either.” She shrugged,
then
froze as the movement pushed her ass into his groin.
That was definitely his cock.

He sucked in a breath and moved his hand
to her hip, holding her still. “Easy. We don’t want to damage anything here.”
He sounded both amused and strained.

“Sorry, sorry,” she choked out, going
rigid.

“Hey, calm down. No big deal,” he
murmured.

His voice in her ear was
not
helping. She tried to relax and bit
her lip, holding as still as she could, but she was still chilly. A violent
shiver wracked her body. Her hips pushed into him, despite her best efforts. He
grunted and she flushed hot with dismay as she tried again to stop moving.

“I can’t help it, I’m still really cold,”
she muttered, hooking a hand over the back of the sofa to give
herself
something safe to hold onto. How the hell could she
still be freezing when a beautiful, amazing, sweet man was holding her against
his insanely hot body? She wished she could thump her head against something
hard.
Repeatedly.
Until she had
control of herself again.

“Hey, it’s okay. Relax,” he said, pulling
her hand back down into the blanket. He laughed, dropping his face into the
nape of her neck. “I’m the one who should be apologizing to you.”

“What? Why?” she asked, biting her lip
again. Maybe the pain would keep her from injuring the poor man.

“Uh, well, I’m just trying to warm you up
and my body is giving me a hard time,” he said, voice taut with some unspoken
emotion.
“Because you’re really beautiful.”

She stopped breathing. He thought she was
beautiful? “What—” She had to clear her throat and try again. “You think I’m
pretty?”

She could almost hear him frown.

“You don’t think you are?” he murmured,
tracing a finger over her cheek.

She shook her head. She was in her
forties. Guys did
not
think women her age were pretty, particularly not
when they were a bit plump and somewhat short. It was a rule, or something.

“That’s crazy. You are. You have gorgeous
hair, so long and shiny it moves like water through my fingers.” He demonstrated,
picking some up and letting it slide to her shoulder. “And your skin is pink
when you’re warm and you smell like vanilla. And you’re soft and curvy in all
the right places.”

She shivered again, trying really hard to
believe she wasn’t hallucinating from hypothermia.

He continued. “But aside from all that, I
can tell you’re beautiful inside, too, which is more important than all the
stuff on the outside. I knew as soon as I saw you with Beth. Your face when she
hugged you—” He broke off, voice thick.

Liselle
couldn’t believe he was saying these things out loud. “Am I
dreaming?”

He chuckled, tightening his arms around
her for a moment.
“No, of course not.
But I must be
insane, telling you those things when we barely know each other. I can’t seem
to help myself.” He cupped her cheek, pressing the warmth of his hand into her
face. She shivered a little, but not because she was cold anymore.

He cursed softly. “You’re still chilly.
You need to get out of these wet pants and skirt.” He moved his hand to the
waistband of her leggings. “Okay?”

Liselle
was too stunned to say anything or explain that she wasn’t
shivering from the cold anymore. Instead, like a ninny, she nodded her head. He
popped the button and slid down the zipper of her skirt. She helped him shove it
over her hips. He tossed it over the back of the sofa and hooked his thumbs
under the waistband of her leggings.

“This okay?” he
asked,
voice husky.

She didn’t trust herself to speak. She
nodded and lifted her hips, feeling clumsy and shell-shocked. Was this really
happening?

His breath in her ear was hot as he eased
the soft fabric down over her hips. The thin silk of her panties did nothing to
hide the blazing warmth of his erection against her ass, but she wasn’t going
to mention it if he wasn’t. For the first time in what felt like years she was
warm. Gloriously warm and almost … content, except for the way her libido was
yelling:
hot guy here! Woo!

John shifted behind her, pulling her
leggings out from under the blanket and tossing them to the floor. He settled
the fleece over them again and smoothed his hands down her arms.

Liselle
trembled, trying not to rub against the blazing heat burning into
her backside. She wanted to … oh did she want to. She wanted to turn around and
kiss him and take him into her arms and never let go, but she had to remember
this man wasn’t for her. He was too nice. He had his whole life ahead of him
and she was nothing but trouble.

Liselle
sighed as he tucked his face into her hair again. He seemed to like
doing that. She let herself savor the sensation, knowing she would soon be gone
and he’d forget all about her. That’s how it usually worked. She’d had
boyfriends before, more than one, but whenever the men she chose got too close
to her, too serious, something happened. The last one tried to hit her after
they’d been together for a year and she sure as hell wasn’t going to put up
with that after what she’d been through with her father and brother.

One guy she’d dated when she was in her
twenties had been promising: he’d seemed nice enough, but then her father had
shown up, somehow hunting her down through two name changes and a cross-country
move.
As soon as the bastard had started waving his gun
around and demanding money, her boyfriend had hightailed it out of there, leaving
her to fend for herself.
No
, she thought.
No more boyfriends.
But maybe I can indulge myself with John, just for a little while.
She very
carefully didn’t think very hard about the possible consequences of what she
wanted.

“Are you warming up now?” John
asked,
his voice low.
Sexy.
One of
the logs in the fireplace crackled, sending sparks shooting across the bricks.

Liselle
nodded, licking her lips as the heat from his breath wafted against
her skin. He rolled his hips a little, pushing his erection into her ass.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he murmured, shifting
again. “I’m just a little stiff, sitting still like this.”

Did he just say that? “Uh—
“ she
began, then choked on a giggle.

“Oh God, I didn’t mean it that way,” he
protested, chuckling. Then he moved again.

Liselle
swore she could feel the ridge of his cockhead along her butt. She
pressed a hand to his thigh, stilling him. The thin fabric of his sweatpants
did nothing to disguise the muscles in his leg. He was in really, really good
shape.

“
Liselle
?” he
asked, sounding wary.

She slid her hand lower, until her fingers
cupped the inside of his thigh. His breath caught and she could’ve sworn she
felt his dick leap against her ass.

“What are you doing?” he whispered. The
hand on her hair trembled.

“You’re so warm, and nice, and I just want
to touch you for a little bit. Can I?” she asked, knowing she sounded stupid,
but unable to stop. She was breathing heavier, nervous he would get angry or
worse, laugh at her.

“God,” he breathed, sounding choked up.
“Yeah, sure.
Of course.
Whatever you want.”
He smoothed a finger down her jaw then
cupped her shoulder.

She snuggled into his touch and let her
hand move to the top of his thigh. His legs fell open and she slid down further
into the couch. He was really putting out heat now and
Liselle
felt almost sweaty, too, but she didn’t want to move the blanket, didn’t want
to break the moment. She was actually getting what she wanted, for once. His
cock pulsed against her spine, hot and hard. She wondered what he’d taste like.
Would he be sweet or musky?

“Jesus,
Liselle
.
It’s not like I’m going to say no if that’s what you want,” he said, voice
husky.

Oh crap. “Um, did I say that out loud?”

He laughed, kissing her neck.
“Yeah.
You did.”

She squirmed, embarrassed all over again,
but didn’t stop. She ran her hand up his thigh until it couldn’t go any
further,
then
slid it down between his legs. She felt
his balls nudge against her thumb and turned her hand until she could cup them.
He shuddered and slid a hand under her breasts, squeezing her ribs.

“If you keep that up,
Liselle
,
it’s going to be all over in five minutes.”

She tipped her head back, enjoying the way
he felt on her palm: warm, delicate, so very, very sexy. He kissed her cheek,
lips trailing down her jaw. One of his hands eased up and over her breast,
thumbing her nipple through her sweater and it was her turn to shudder.

“Let me kiss you,” he said.

She had to take a moment to work out what
he wanted, already so aroused that her thoughts were tangling around each
other. “Yeah, okay,” she managed finally, easing her hand out and turning. She
knew her panties were wet and wondered if he would be able to tell.

He helped her, lifting her by the waist,
and then she was sprawling over his lap, legs on either side of his hips. His cock
slotted right up against her clit and she trembled as the heat of him
penetrated her panties.

“God, John,
are
you sure?” She had to ask. She couldn’t promise him anything more than this,
after all.