Getting His Way: Sapphire Falls Book Seven (14 page)

She did. Not a moment’s hesitation that time. She ran her hands up his chest, over his shoulders and down his arms. The thick muscles were hard under her touch and so warm. Even through the cotton of his shirt, she could feel how warm his skin was.

“Now kiss me.”

Tess hesitated. The kissing thing. This was where she’d gotten tripped up last time. The kissing had been too
nice
and sweet the other night. She wanted to see his chest. She wasn’t sure she wanted to kiss him.

And wasn’t that the stupidest thing?

“Can you take your shirt off?” she asked, studying the gorgeous bulge of his biceps under the edge of the sleeve.

Bryan cleared his throat. “
You
can take my shirt off,” he told her.

She looked up. He wasn’t smiling now. Huh. But she really did want to see his chest. She slipped her hands under the bottom of the shirt and slid it up, revealing his hard abs, his ribs, the soft dusting of hair over his well-defined pecs and then up over his head. He moved his arms only enough to let her get the shirt off, then he put his elbows right back on the couch behind him as if fully comfortable being naked in front of her.

He was magnificent. Not that Tess had seen a lot of naked males, but she’d certainly seen shirtless ones. One of the best things about living in Sapphire Falls was that there were lots of farm boys here, and farm boys went shirtless a lot.

She’d even seen Bryan shirtless before. Swimming, playing basketball down at the park, biking, running. But wow, having him
right here
.
Under her
. Within touching distance…

Hey, he was within touching distance.

Immediately, Tess flatted her palms on his chest again, running her hand over his hot skin and hard muscles. Muscles that tensed under her touch. She noticed that he gripped his hands into fists and tensed his jaw, but otherwise didn’t move. He let her explore—chest, shoulders, arms, abs.

She looked up at him as she neared his fly.

As if reading her mind, he said, “Go ahead, honey. It’s all yours.”

It was like Christmas, her birthday and the first day of summer vacation all rolled into one. She ran her hand down the front of his jeans, over the steel-like flesh behind it. Bryan sucked in a soft breath while Tess blew one out.

Wow. She liked that.

As she traced his shape behind the denim, her thoughts went to all the hot romance novels she’d read. The ones she liked best used the word cock. And they talked about the guys’ cocks being big. She had nothing to compare to in real life, but Bryan felt absolutely perfect to her.

“Tess,” he said huskily. “You’re killing me, honey.”

She looked up. “Sorry.” She kept running her hand up and down his length though.

He gave her that sexy half-smile again. “Killing me in a good way. Kiss me.”

Dammit. There was that kissing thing again. Okay, well, she wanted it to be different than it had been in his office. Maybe she needed to show him that. She’d read enough romance to know something about hot kisses.

She kept her hand against his cock but leaned in and ran her other hand behind his head and into his hair. She touched her lips to his and ran her tongue along his lower lip.

She felt the low growl rumble through his chest where it was pressed against hers. A thrill shot through her and she opened her mouth.

But Bryan didn’t follow her lead. He kept his lips closed even as he tipped his head slightly to press their mouths together more fully. Tess didn’t
hate
the kiss, but she wanted more. She sensed he was holding back, and she knew exactly why.

She pulled back. “If I put my hand
in
your pants, can I get some tongue?” she asked.

Bryan’s eyes widened. “What?”

“What do I have to do to get you worked up enough to
kiss
me?” she asked. She reached for the hem of her tank top, for the first time realizing that she was dressed in only a tank, bra, cotton shorts and panties. She ripped her shirt off. “Does that help?”

Bryan’s hands were clenched tighter now as he took in the sight. “Tess—”

“Or do you need this too?” She pushed off his lap and stripped out of her shorts. It wasn’t until they hit the floor next to the coffee table that she realized she was now almost naked in front of Bryan Murray.

She was never almost naked in front of
anyone
, not to mention doing it in front of her biggest crush of all time. She worked on
not
sucking her stomach in. That was something she’d been trying to be less self-conscious about. She wasn’t fat. She was curvy. She took care of her body but, yeah, she still had a little tummy. But that was okay. She needed to love herself as she was.

But dang, in full light with Bryan looking her over slowly from head to toe, it was really hard not to suck in.

Hell, it was hard not to run screaming from the room.

“Jesus, Tess.” He breathed out.

She was going to just tell herself that was a good
Jesus, Tess.
She really had no idea. Maybe she’d just surprised him.

She glanced down at her light blue silk bra and plain white panties. She hadn’t been expecting company. Especially company that would be seeing her underwear.

“Now will you
really
kiss me?” she asked, hoping to distract him from the mismatched, distinctively unsexy bra and panty set—that wasn’t even a set.

Maybe she should take them off too so they wouldn’t remind him that she didn’t know that much about being sexy. Of course, with them off, her large breasts wouldn’t be pushed up and her tummy wouldn’t be covered—by anything.

She wasn’t sure she could actually suck hard enough to make
that
okay.

Finally, Bryan pulled his gaze to her face. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“The really-kissing-me thing?” she asked, propping a hand on her hip, frustrated anew and less concerned about her panties.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want this sweet, lips-only stuff. You kiss like you’re fourteen and don’t know what you’re doing.”

Bryan’s eyebrows shot up. “I
what
?”

She nodded. “You kissed me on the lips once, and I know that’s not how a guy kisses a girl he wants to have sex with. I want hot, wet and hungry.”

His eyebrows went even higher. “Hot, wet and hungry?”

“Yes. Dammit. Like the Ferris wheel five years ago.”

He shook his head. “I am
trying
to kiss you…”

“Nicely,” she supplied. “Sweetly. Romantically.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, you kind of suck at nice, sweet and romantic,” she told him bluntly. “But,” she added as he looked offended, “I’ll bet you do hot, wet and hungry
really
well.”

Bryan seemed to be thinking that over while studying her face. Then his gaze dropped and went over the rest of her. Thoroughly. Slowly.

And
there
was the hunger part.

“Come here,” he finally said.

Chapter Six

Oh, please, please, please
, Tess thought as she happily moved forward and climbed back into his lap. She sat waiting, not sure what she should do.

“You want hot, wet and hungry, huh?” he asked. He moved his arms, dropping his hands onto her thighs and running them up and down.

Thank God she’d shaved that morning.

Really—did women who were having regular sex have to shave
every day
? And remember to match up their panties and bras? This might be a lot of work.

Then he ran his hands around to her butt, and she realized that she had never been so happy that she’d started running as she was in that moment.

Tess knew her butt was a lot tighter than it had been before the running. It was still a little wider than she liked, and there was no question that she had hips, but she was surprisingly fine with having Bryan appreciate the swells under his hands. He seemed to like them. He kneaded her flesh and she felt her body getting hotter.

He slid his hands up her back, running them up and down either side of her spine. She arched slightly, resisting the urge to purr.

“Take your bra off.”

She did hesitate for one breath. She had large breasts. She needed heavy-duty sports bras for running. She’d had to order them online. She had gone down a bra size or two since she’d started losing weight, but she was by no means perky up there.
But guys like breasts
, she reminded herself. Maybe Bryan was a breast guy.

Tess reached back, undid the hooks and let the bra slide down her arms.

Bryan sucked in a deep breath as she tossed the bra to the side, leaving her naked but for her panties.

She was
naked
except for her panties on
Bryan’s
lap.

This couldn’t be real.

But when he brought his hands around to cup her breasts, brushing his thumbs over the stiff tips, it definitely
felt
real.

“Damn, Tess, you’re beautiful.”

She liked that a lot. And it made her nipples stiffen even further.

“Harder,” she almost whispered.

Bryan’s eyes became a deep green she’d never seen before. But he said, “Let’s take it easy, honey.”

Dammit. She didn’t want easy. Her hands flew up to cover his. “Please.”

“Tess—”

“
Please
.” She knocked one of his hands out of the way and took her nipple between her thumb and finger, tugging rather than brushing over it. Her pelvic muscles tightened and she gave a soft moan.

“Holy shit,” Bryan muttered. But he did mimic her action that time, pinching her right nipple.

She moaned louder. “Yes.” It was so much better when he did it.

He leaned in and cupped the breast she was fondling, plumping it and bringing the nipple to his mouth. Tessa’s head fell back as he licked and then sucked gently.

“
Harder
,” she told him again.

He didn’t hesitate or argue that time. He sucked harder, and Tess found herself pressing down in his lap in an attempt to relieve the pressure building between her legs.

He played with her, using his fingers, tongue and mouth for a few minutes. When he leaned back, his eyes were dark and his breathing uneven.

Tess wasn’t sure she’d ever breathe normally again. Because even when this was over she was going to replay it constantly.

She ran her hand over the hard ridge of his erection, and he cursed. He grabbed her hand. “Can’t take that, honey.”

She frowned. “That’s not good.”

“It’s so good. But I need some control here.”

“No, you don’t,” she said quickly. She wanted him out of control. She wanted things hot and fast and wild. Maybe she could push him to that point. “Just go for it. Do whatever you want. Lose control like crazy.”

He chuckled softly but shook his head. “No way. This is your first time. That’s not how it’s going to go down.”

She huffed out a breath, and he laughed louder.

“Trust me, Tess. We’ll get to everything. I promise.”

“Tonight?” She suddenly had a suspicion that was
not
what he meant.

And sure enough, he shook his head. “Not tonight. But we’re going to have some fun.”

“So you
don’t
want to take my virginity?”

He sucked in a sharp breath. There really was something about that word, or the concept of her virginity, that got to him.

“Tess, there is no way in
hell
I’m
not
going to be that guy,” he told her so sincerely she felt her toes curl. “But we are
not
going to rush into that.”

Well, crap. He was going to seduce her. He was going to make it special. Damn him.

“Oh, wait—do you need one of those pump things or pills or something?” she asked as the thought occurred…without
really
thinking. She’d googled sex and spinal cord injuries about a year and a half ago. Before she realized that Bryan being back in Sapphire Falls meant
nothing
for her sex life.

But in her defense, he’d muddled her brain with horniness.

He pulled back quickly, taking his amazing mouth farther away from her breasts. That was too bad. “What?”

“I read that with spinal cord injuries, sometimes guys need help with pumps or pills to get an erection,” she said, blushing to the tips of her toes. But the guy had had her nipple in his mouth. Surely they could talk frankly about this stuff. They kind of needed to, didn’t they? This was one part of this whole thing that had her a little intimidated. She didn’t have experience with guys with regular erections. and she sure didn’t know about how to help it along in a situation like Bryan’s.

He coughed. “I, uh—”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” she said quickly.

“I’m not embarrassed,” he said. He shoved a hand through his hair.

A hand that had just been making her nipples feel really good.

Dammit, she needed to stop talking.

“I haven’t needed help for a while,” he said. “There was a short period when I needed pills to sustain long enough. But that’s been good for…” He coughed again. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem.”